Taken as a whole, I think Mediaite’s five questions for Micki Maynard –whose new book looks pretty good — is more or less on the level, save one thing:

Car Chase: Bullitt or French Connection?
Bullitt. Have to pick Steve over Gene in this case (but loved Hoosiers).

No fucking way.

Full disclosure: I’m personally lukewarm on Steve McQueen, but I think we can objectively conclude that Bullitt’s straight-laced-by-comparison demeanor has nothing on Gene Hackman’s hard-drinking, rough-talking, dirty-coppin’, pickin-your-feet-in-Poughkeepsie Jimmy Doyle. San Fran is a fine place to set a film — no coastal bias here. Its probably a really nice place for a joyride. But when it comes to the breakneck, the wide boulevards and highways of the west haven’t got a thing on straight up New Yorkin’:

It starts with Doyle requisitioning a vehicle, which is unassailably badass, and speaks to his bubble-gum-and-bailing-wire style (meanwhile, McQueen — man of pomp and circumstance — is spinning the tires of his ‘68 Mustang 390 CID. On a side note, McQueen’s perp is also driving a ‘68 Mustang. What are the odds?)

We follow Doyle from Bay St. and Stillwell Ave. in Brooklyn, the terminus of the West End Line (on the D train), up Stillwell, onto 86th Street and finally right into New Utrecht Avenue, ending at 62nd Street Station, where gun play ensues.

But check this out:

The chase was filmed, unusually and not entirely legally, at full speed, with real pedestrians and traffic, though there are five staged stunts too.

Admittedly, one of things well known about McQueens Bullitt is that he did a bunch of his own stunts (there’s even a cut, which I can’t seem to identify, in which McQueen is apparently deliberately leaning out the window of the ’stang so everyone knows its actually him. Props to that, but I’d like to see him try it doing 70 on Stillwell.)

My major problem with the Bullitt chase is that it lacks the precision required to careen in traffic under the elevated rail. Present-day Brooklynites might be familiar with the intersection of Broadway and Myrtle Ave. A McQueen attempt through there would probably end up looking a lot more like a game of Burnout than anyone desires. See for yourself:

The bootlegging barons of the prohibition era must be smiling in their graves.

The state government last week awarded $800,000 to the Brooklyn Brewery to jump-start their $6.5 million expansion in Williamsburg.

[New York Post]

For a bit of background on Brooklyn Brewery’s expansion, see this Times article from last year. The gist: People moved to Brooklyn precisely because awesome stuff like the Brooklyn Brewery is there, which, in its time of growing pains, risked being priced out of its own namesake. The $800,000 injection will help to jumpstart the brewery’s plan to add 13,500 square feet to its operation, increasing brewing capacity nearly six-fold.

Martha Stewart showed up at Brooklyn Flea this weekend. Beeooooorrriiinng.

Except, I wonder if she’s familiar with the Brownstoner blog — which I’m not allowed to read because I didn’t pass the requisite credit check — because if not, she might be confused as to why this guy self-declares as a “Brown Stoner”

Brown Stoner?