T he Ariston Group is an Italian leading corporation in heating systems and related products. But recently it became the center of a diplomatic clash between Italy and Russia. Indeed the Russian branch of the group, Ariston Thermo Rus, has been expropriated by the Kremlin and acquired by Gazprom, Moscow’s top multinational energy enterprise. It all started on April 26th […]
Author: A Star-Revue Contributor
A Brooklyn Bus Ride, by Gene Bray
I get on the B61. 2 stops up a tiny lady, maybe Mexican, gets on with a 60 inch tv, holding it the way you march with a rifle. It soars 2 feet above her head. The tv that makes you feel like you’re in a movie theater. The tv that also makes your neighbors feel like they’re in a […]
The beauty of Edo at the Brooklyn Museum, by Roger Bell
The installation of the Brooklyn Museum’s special collection of 100 Views of Edo is on view until August 4. With the cherry blossoms clinging to the branches and the blockbuster “Giants” also on view, the museum offers an especially diverse and powerful experience. Hiroshige’s serial masterpiece launches into our Spring of 2024 from the Spring of 1856 as we watch the […]
Participatory Budgeting Vote Week, by Katherine Rivard
Council Member Shahana Hanif, her staff, several artists from the nonprofit Arts & Democracy Project, and a handful of volunteers all gathered in the Old Stone House in Park Slope on a Monday evening last month. At the start of the meeting, each person introduced themselves and stated their artistic skills, before being assigned a project and getting down to […]
Ongoing Efforts from the Department of City Planning, by Katherine Rivard
It has been a busy year for the Department of City Planning (DCP). The city has seemed weighed down with budget cuts, constant media attention on crime in the subways, and sexual assault allegations against the mayor, and yet DCP has continued its work, publishing Principles of Good Urban Design for New York City (a tool for creating better neighborhoods) […]
WALKING WITH COFFEE vol. 4 by R.J. Cirillo
Jean-Paul Sartre was right! (maybe) We’ll skip the millennial interview and let a Boomer rant this month. The main threat to society, from my born in the ‘50s point of view, is the trending reduction in human contact. The millennials I have spoken in the past few months don’t seem to be bothered by this, i.e. the dating apps and […]
A Swedish Baedekar, by Dario Pio Muccilli, Star-Revue EU correspondent
Sweden is to Europe like the Amazon is to South America. It is a land full of lakes and forests that hug you the very moment of your arrival. Getting on the bus to leave the airport you are driven through a nature scenario, with snowy trees extending miles. If you were sweating in the plane because of your ski […]
Some winners in the local sandwich derby, by Kathleen Rivard
In today’s carb-phobic society, salads are often viewed as the morally straight choice, but sandwiches remain the underdog lunch option: humble, comforting bundles of flavor and texture. But every sandwich is a gamble. Will you pay for a meal you could have easily made at home, or will you be rewarded with a combination more creative than you could’ve mustered […]
WALKING WITH COFFEE: A Boomer talks with a Millennial
Boomer – R.J. Cirillo Millennial – Heather Corbo (hospital pharmacist living in Gowanus) We are at Absolut Coffee on Atlantic Avenue near Hoyt Street, sitting with coffee in ceramic cups. R.J.- “Growing up as a Boomer we always stopped and, like we are doing now, had our coffee. I see more people now, especially your generation, walking with their coffee […]
How much should you pay for a good sandwich in Brooklyn? by Jeremy Skehan
Gaby Gignoux-Wolfsohn and Noah Wolf, the founders of Sea and Soil Sandwich Shop, believe the answer might be different for every customer, and even change day to day. That’s why, from the start, their worker-owned co-op has employed a sliding scale to allow each customer to choose the price that best fits their budget. “We use a sliding scale to […]