Shortly after I moved to New York to work in publishing, a friend of mine beelined across the room at a party, grabbed me by the arm and shrieked, “I’m reading the most awesome book! There’s this kid in it, and he’s living with a crazy psychiatrist and his family, and they try to predict the future by looking at the shape of their poop !”

Such was my (admittedly incomplete) introduction to the writing of Augusten Burroughs.

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No matter how long I live in Brooklyn, no matter how many times I get off the L at Bedford Avenue, or spend the afternoon in Fort Greene Park, I don’t really think that anyone will really be able to call me a hipster. It’s probably because of this that I love looking at (and talking about) hipsters. They fascinate me. However, as far as I’m concerned, hipsters can only come from, live in, or hang out in Brooklyn. There may be plenty co-habitating in Alphabet City or repopulating Astoria in the hipsterian image, but to me, they’re a different breed.

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It’s no secret that the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, hosted by the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, is one of the best cultural events of the year. The garden, located on 52-acres of lush greenery just north of Prospect Park, has always been a kids’ wonderworld. This coming weekend marks Sakura Matsuri, also known as the Rite of Spring. There are more than 60 events, planned on both Saturday and Sunday, with plenty of family-friendly activities. Here are a few highlights:

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Welcome to the Daily Buzz, your daily events listing on neighborbee blog. Need something fun to do tonight? Too lazy to look through hundreds of listings? Then look no farther! Have an event you want us to list? Send a note to tips@neighborbeeblog.com.

Today’s picks: a star-studded comedy show, a tumblr meetup, and free chicken and waffles with a side of electro party jams.

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Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the comedic stylings of Greg Johnson.

Why Greg Johnson? Well, for exactly three years now, Greg’s been holding down Friday nights at Rififi, and he’s celebrating tonight with a blowout anniversary show. A mere sampling of tonight’s lineup: Greg, stand-up legend Todd Barry, The Daily Show’s John Oliver and Best Week Ever’s Nick Kroll. All for a mere $5.

So check out this sampling of Greg’s material, then see you tonight at 8 pm at Rififi (332 E. 11th St, between 1st and 2nd Aves). Can’t make it tonight, so you’d prefer to stalk Greg at some later date in the future? Check out his blog or mayhaps his MySpace page .

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Gansevoort Plaza open for business (Streetsblog)

W Hotels offer bikes to their guests (NYTimes)

Broken Union Square escalator approaches 1 year anniversary of disrepair (Curbed)

“Mistakenly approved” crane-collapse building would have to have been a 33 floor doctor’s office (NY Post)

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Gansevoort Plaza open for business (Streetsblog)

W Hotels offer bikes to their guests (NYTimes)

Broken Union Square escalator approaches 1 year anniversary of disrepair (Curbed)

“Mistakenly approved” crane-collapse building would have to have been a 33 floor doctor’s office (NY Post)

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Imagine a place where you can eat and drink all you want, it’s not a holiday and no one will look at you funny for stuffing your face. I call it… heaven.

Actually, it’s called Brooklyn Eats . Sponsored by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, this food, wine and beer tasting event will take place next Wednesday, April 30th at Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

While on the event was on hiatus last year, the last Brooklyn Eats in 2006 contained an amazing 44 food participants. With Brooklyn boasting more than 1,000 restaurants in its fine borough, one can only imagine that there will be an even bigger selection this year.

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With millions of blogs on the internet, how is a reader supposed to know what/who to read? neighborbee blog is here to help. Every Friday, The Swarm will feature a guest blogger that we think is one of the internet’s best. Suggestions? Send ‘em to tips@neighborbeeblog.com.

neighborbee blog’s very first guest on The Swarm is The Assimilated Negro, or TAN. One of the web’s most unique and entertaining voices, TAN’s work has appeared everywhere from College Humor to Jewcy. This week, TAN tells neighborbee readers where to go in Astoria.

TAN Guide to Astoria

Waddup homies and homettes! I go by T.A.N. (The Assimilated Negro), and as you have no doubt deduced from my use of jive and aggressive tone (if not the word negro), I’m a black man. Rumor has it I do a lot of talking about race and stuff. I also take a long time introducing myself. Hi again! Word.

All that said, today I have no agenda aside from dropping some neighborhood knowledge on your dome. So! I just recently discovered Astoria, and while I had heard buzz about Queens as the New Brooklyn, I wasn’t really up on all the hip multiculti action going on out there. But it’s really kind of nice, and not yet totally hipster gentri-f’d, so get out there before it’s too late. Towards that end I’m going to shine some light on 4 jewels Astoria has to offer so you can know something besides the Beergarden.

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Although it isn’t quite May yet, the summer movie season starts now. Okay, maybe it’s more like the pre-season games before the real thing begins, but the studios have shrugged off their post-awards show winter doldrums and have started rolling out the movies they really care about–or at least the ones that can get a respectable opening before the real blockbusters begin. (See: Iron Man, next week!) Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from this weekend’s new releases.

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