“They have the magic touch, where they can take a topic and turn it into a T-shirt slogan, yet not lose touch with the issue,” said Ben Popken, one of the managing editors of Consumerist.com, a Web site specializing in consumer advocacy and personal finance. “They’re geniuses at doing that.”

Their most recent and ambitious effort, “Stadium Status,” which will be shown for the first time Tuesday evening at the Brooklyn Public Library, takes on local sports franchises that get millions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives while their neighbors scramble to make ends meet in a sour economy. The idea that luxury lives next door to poverty is not lost on the filmmakers.

“In this city you can have the poorest and the wealthiest, sometimes in the same ZIP code,” Mr. Penn said. “But even in this huge city, people feel separated and that shouldn’t be. I hope our films can show that one way or another we are all connected.”

Befitting an Internet invention, the trio’s origins date back to the days, four years ago, when Mr. Penn and Mr. Kam were fans of each other’s blogs.

“I felt like there was a voice in my head that I didn’t hear anyone else using,” Mr. Penn said. “I wanted to read between the lines, to write about what was going on in New York City with politics, relationships, movies. Anything that came through my head.”