Young Los Angeleno

Marissa Gluck (yet another Queens native living in Los Angeles) won the inaugural YM Travel Contest and claimed her prize today in the form of a Gridskipper post about L.A. architecture that's best imagined as curvy pools among "snow"-capped hills.

Poof, Gone, and Adios Motherfucker

I think I drank 10 bottles of this stuff last night. I have no other way to explain how I lost my bag (contents: iPod, brand new digi-cam I bought on Sunday, and worst of all, work stuff) sometime from 1am to 3am in the vicinity of the Magician and 151.

UPDATE: Bag was recovered from 151 after all. "Stay of Intervention" miraculously granted once again.

YM Interview: Bucky Turco, Editor-In-Chief of ANIMAL magazine

The Mystery of Bucky Turco unravels like a poorly rolled joint...

Where are you from?
Long version: I hail originally from the eastern lands where driving around from parking lot to parking lot and doing drugs is the socially accepted norm. Short version: South Shore Long Island
(Blogebrity background here.)

Please share a personal (and hopefully interesting) NYC taxi story.
There is a tiny strip of 2nd avenue that is hot (as in "known for drugs" you prudes), like literally 2 storefronts worth on the southwest corner of 2nd Ave. and 28th St. Anyway it was pouring like biblical times and I was fumbling with quarters in front of this bodega considering whether or not to take the bus. I was a quarter short so instead I hailed a cab. By the time we hit 23rd street DT's (as in "undercover cops" you prudes) pulled over the cab and pulled their guns and told me to get out. I got out with my backpack and they checked all my pants pockets. They told me sorry they thought I was buying heroin. I was like, "Do I look like a fucking junkie, jeez." So I got back in the cab and gave praise onto Festivus. The fucking knuckle heads didn't check the backpack: 2 ounces of the raw Diesel safe and sound. Gotta love NYC's finest (as in "weed" you prudes!).

Time travel question: What era, day or event in New York's history would you like to re-live?
It would have to be July 13, 1863, the starting date of the NYC Draft Riots. Would have loved to burn down a few police stations and government buildings.

9pm, Wednesday - what are you doing?
Getting home from all the post-work free drink events and then doing my first bong hit of the day.

What's your New York motto?
It's more of a commandment then a motto: "Don't know thy neighbor."

Best celebrity sighting in New York, or personal experience with one if
you're that type.
At the 3rd issue release party for ANIMAL magazine (shameless plug #1) we had this artist Pat Conlon (shameless plug #2: he's also part owner of Epstein's Bar stop by and get a drink) in the magazine and he is good friends with all the dudes from Lords of the Rings. I mean we had the hobbits, elves and even Gollum up in the party. But the best was watching one of my annoying Long Island friends who was totally jammed up (as in "coked up" you prudes) following around Elijah Wood and Sean Astin asking them "Where is the road to Mordor" in a sort of demonic cackle using the best Ork impersonation his grinding jaw could muster.

Describe that low, low moment when you thought you just might have to leave NYC for good.
When I was evicted along with a weed addicted roommate (fuck what those hippies tell ya, every millennia someone actually does get addicted to weed) out of a $350 2br (yes, that would be $175 each) on Rivington and Pitt St back in 1993. I almost actually considered moving back to Long Island for a nano-second but then my life flashed before me and ended up going to Hunter College to stay in the $190 a month dorm. Thank you Tap and Pell.

Just after midnight on a Saturday - what are you doing?
Staying as far away from Max Fish as possible. Fucking amateur's night out.

What's the most expensive thing in your wardrobe?
A pair of $300 ugly Nike black leather air max's. I totally bought them for status but never wore them.

Where do you summer?
In an air conditioned office in the Chelsea Market. Although every once in a while my rich friends with boats take me fishing on the Great South Bay.

Who do you consider to be the greatest New Yorker of all-time?
Bucky Dent. Only because he has helped bring legitimacy to the name Bucky.

What was your best dining experience in NYC?
How about what is, instead? Going into Mama's and smiling and being overly cordial while the extremely jaded staff reluctantly serve me with full knowledge that I have neither tattoos nor a dirty t-shirt.

Just how much do you really love New York?
As much as a rich man loves his money.

What happened the last time you went to L.A.?
I hung out with Danny Boy from House of Pain and he showed me a real gun made out of gold with 4 leaf clovers.

Medication: What and how much do you take?
No meds here, Klonapin is for pussies.

Of all the movies made about (or highly associated with) New York, what role would you have liked to be cast in?
Definitely the kid in Kramer vs. Kramer. Dustin Hoffman is my hero.

If you could change one thing about New York, what would it be?
Bikes lanes, coffee shops, and an immense Red Light district. What ever happened to the "go back to your roots" movement?

The End of The World is finally happening. Be it the Rapture, War of Armageddon, reversal of the Sun's magnetic field, or Williamsburg stops sucking. What are you going to do with your last 24 hours in NYC?
Hopefully impregnating Jessica Coen so that the prophecies can finally be fulfilled and the anti-Christ can be born.

Bucky provides a bonus picture of Diane Sawyer on 9/11. He was her cameraman.

YM Travel Contest #1

Be the first to name the exact location of this photo and win a "Guest Post" on Gridskipper.

UPDATE: We have a winner. Answer is in the comments and here (click on image 1). Congratulations to Marissa Gluck of Los Angeles, California.

The Extra Y is for Why?

This isn't from last night but it sure as hell feels like it. Sorry A.J., I swear I only had 14 of the 32 Stellas.

I'm a PT, She's a PT, Wouldn't You Like To Be a Pretentious Twat Too?

Never fun opening the coffin of a dead joke but I just wanted to clarify a point about an earlier post since some people got the wrong idea. I hold both David and Alex in high regard, if not as model citizens (one of those cats has a serious bourbon fixation) then at least as interesting writers I'd rather read than 75% of the garbage out there. Pretentiousness wasn't really the point and normally I only use the phrase "pretentious twat" in family conversations. I went with it because there's a certain Alex Balkish quality to it, not as recipient but as deliverer. I really enjoy reading his music musings (as well as David's teen exploits) which were the not-so-sturdy base of my joke that fell flat on its twat. It was more about age and how those little fucks are younger and infinitely more talented than me. Naturally I'm jealous.

Squeezing Blottered From The Stoned

Mark your calendars for the nights of Oct 11-13 in blood, which doesn't necessarily have to be your own. There's going to be a (straight face, keep it...I know you can do it) Blottered launch party at the worst bar in NYC, Crime Scene, which is wholly appropiate and not for any name-related theme. The special occasion coincides with a certain northern California contributor, unfortunately not Jackson West, who insists on reading his resignation letter in person (though oddly written in third-person) at the event. He will also be honored with a Blottered Lifetime Achievement Award: magnum of Coors Light and a Big Maccer. The other nights will be rounded out with drinking activities (perhaps we'll continue with the "Three Nights of Blottered" to mark the miracle of an ad-free blog updated daily with no oil, money, fire, generator, spark plugs, key cards, mental energy, or regular contributors with interest) that will ensure he never returns to Our Universe's Capital or let me know if he does.

Motivation (Or, I Sometimes Use a Picture of Jeff Jarvis)

"I have a sign on my wall I look at all day long: starting is easy, finishing is hard. Anyone can start a blog network."
- Jason Calacanis describing a typical work day

Jessica Coen + Cocaine = Paris Hilton

Who's destroying lives, bitch?

Jessica Coen Cocaine [Google Images]

Hey, Old Man, Are They Biting Today

Please say you didn't call someone out for... oh yeah, you did.

This is far from examining a return to the baroque picaresque novel in Rienaldo Arenas's El Mundo Alucinante but since I don't regularly browse bookshelves or know a cunt lick about comp lit (and it took a quick Google search to dig up that convoluted Cuban reference) I'm gonna use my "Get Out of Study Hall Free" card here and rock the ages under the aegis of being the most aged to egg it on.

Slurp on this, homefries.

David Amsden (RMHS '98) says:	Alex Balk (TMFTML) says:	Both mean:
Lunchtime, Richard Montgomery High School, 1994... there were only two options when the bell rang: A) the cafeteria... or B) 7-Eleven...	During our freshman year of high school Nonesuch put out a record called Late in the 20th Century, a compilation of the avant-garde music the label was, at that time, known for.	I’m a pretentious twat
That the expression "brainfreeze"—meaning the needling headache brought on by drinking something too cold too quickly—was trademarked in 1994 says it all: The point is masochistic, to find pleasure in pain, to embrace evil over good.	The track began with a woman's voice saying, “You know who's in New York? Remember that guy John somebody? He was a sort of a...” Then, over various musical textures, the phrase was repeated, disassembled, and reassembled. It might sound like your worst nightmare now...	I’m a pretentious twat
Slacker-hating sophisticates can now pretend to be slackers, projecting a false sense of value onto the very suburban childhoods that felt so valueless at the time.	...but to a pretentious 14-year-old marking time in the suburbs it was an all too rare reminder that there was a whole other world, not far away, where real art was possible and discussions about music didn't consist mainly of whether you would, given the opportunity, do it to Debbie Gibson.	I’m a pretentious twat
...typically indulging in some heroically seed-strewn marijuana on the way over.	(and if you can do that, please also send us some bourbon; we remember having a hard time getting it back then)	I’m a pretentious twat
Which brings us to 7-Eleven's glistening new Manhattan outpost.	Which brings us to The Fiery Furnaces, and advance copy of whose Rehearsing My Choir recently came our way.	I’m a pretentious twat
With misguided nostalgia comes a tendency to fetishize the mundane because the truth is either too earnest (I miss being young!) or just plain sad (When did I become this person?)	We've listened to Choir twice now, and, while it's equally fascinating and annoying, we're pretty sure that if someone mailed it back to the us at 14 we would have spent weeks poring over it, letting every note make its case.	I’m a pretentious twat
...after three furious sips, the overly self-aware brain will be frozen, all meta-oriented cells will be annihilated, and, for a few painful seconds, we will all be bumbling freshman again.	If you're young, patient, or just more open-minded than we, you might want to pick this one up.	I’m a pretentious twat

No Retreat Baby, No Surrender

Primary Day: The Left, Over

* "A Victory For Ideas" I guess, but certainly a devastating blow for blogger endorsement potential. Rasiej got just 5%??? Shit, *I* could have done better than that with a bullhorn and a truckload of Red Bull. So much for covering the city with a wi-fi blanket before winter.

* NYTimes reports low turnout in a city-wide primary day shocker and I can personally attest that the voting at the Anna Silver School on Essex and Stanton was rather light, even see-through, at 8pm. As the only person in the gym who wasn't a volunteer or cop, I have to admit I was rather moved when no less than five people thanked me on the way out.

* YM Team Party Crash of the Anthony Weiner Election Night Party:
"Malcolm Gladwell was the only recognizable face...Weiner entered with Bruce Springsteen background music...'famous' girlfriend Gigi Stone was nowhere to be found...some guy from the NY Sun hit on me...and someone stole my shoes when I went dancing!! Fuck those Democrats!" Submitted by R.

* Joe Klecko, former New York Jets all-pro star and Cannonball Run small-role star, ran over and killed a homeless man on the Major Deegan the other night?!! Granted this isn't politically or even criminally connected but holy shit, where was the coverage on Gothamist or Deadspin??

YM Endorses Andrew Rasiej; Even Plans To Vote

Got an email from a friend who actually follows local politics and he offers his picks for tomorrow's Democratic primary. They look as good as any I would randomly pull a lever for so I'm going with them all -- except his public advocate choice. Young Manhattanite is giving its one and only genuine endorsement to Andrew Rasiej for Public Advocate. There are plenty of specific reasons, none of which I'll go into now except that incumbent Betsy Gotbaum is wretched and awful. I say that without bias, vengence, an agenda, or any real knowledge of the issues but I'll never forgive her for not answering my request to do a Gawker Interview way back when I soiled that blog with them. So Mr. Rasiej, these were written in August 2004 and if you're MAN ENOUGH (that's right, let's advocate it out, bitch) then I would love to know how you would answer these.

1. Talk on the man. How is Bloomberg doing?
2. There's all this clamoring about noise pollution like the car alarms, horns, booming stereos, ear-deafening motorcycles, street corner lovers quarrels, and musical ice cream trucks. Isn't the real problem all these complainers or do you have a better idea of what needs to be done about obtrusive noise?
3. It's no secret your predecessor, Mark Green, is pretty full of himself. How do you approach the humble-pie position of NYC's Public Advocate?
4. The rap group Public Enemy wrote the song "911 is a Joke" which struck a chord with many people, of all colors and gun wound severities, in the early 90's. Of course the city-wide hotline 311 is far less controversial but do you think it's worthy of musical praise or scorn?
5. What's your biggest fear of the West Side Highway Stadium? That maybe the Jets will eventually win the Super Bowl again and the streets would be covered in more green and white vomit than the last 10 years of St Patrick's Days strung together?

Holy helliot shitzer, now I realize how much those sucked and maybe that's why she never answered. Oh well, good luck either way. As for the rest of you limp-dixies, here's that email I was talking about:

Hi all -- tomorrow, Sept.13, is the Democratic primary in NYC. Since I managed to leave for CA without voting absentee, I'll miss all the fun of voting. To make up for it, I'm passing on to you my recommendations for various offices in hopes of compensating for my lapse. Take these as you will. If you're registered to vote -- please vote!

Mayor -- I'm for Freddy Ferrer, doesn't really matter, Bloomberg will romp in November. I'd like Freddy to win the primary without a runoff (requires his winning 40%) to save the city the expense of another primary runoff election.

Public Advocate -- Norm Siegel, progressive activist and head of NY Civil Liberties Union. The incumbent, Betsy Gotbaum, sucks (in a word), her NY Times endorsement notwithstanding.

MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT --- SCOTT STRINGER. If you do nothing else, vote for Scott. No other candidate is viable in that race except the obnoxious Eva Moskowitz. Skip the mayor's race if you like, but vote Scott if you live in Manhattan. Endorsed by NY Times, leader of a successful effort to reform the state legislature in Albany, a visionary leader.

Manhattan District Attorney -- Re-elect the great Robert Morganthau, stop the obnoxious death penalty supporter Leslie Crocker Snyder.

Manhattan Surrogate Judge --- Kristin Booth Glen, I've met her, she's great.

City Council District 2 (E. Village, LES, Gramercy): Gur Tsabar, endorsed by NY Times and best chance of stopping Rosie Mendez, who is heir to the Margarita Lopez/Scientology organization.

City Council District 5 (Upper East Side): Jessica Lapin

My Friends Call Me "Broc" For Short

..."At first I was too excited about seeing my name all over TV," wrote another member in response, "but as this hurricane progressed I will always remember my name associated with tragedy."

Katrinas can expect three to five years of stoking bad memories before the sharpness of the pain recedes, said Katrina Cochran, a disaster relief psychologist who has worked with victims of the Oklahoma City bombings and the Sept. 11 attacks.

..."How about doing away with names?" asked Katrina Heron, author of "Safe: The Race to Protect Ourselves in a Newly Dangerous World" (HarperCollins 2005), and a former editor at The New York Times Magazine. "Every time this horrible natural disaster strikes some group of people gets sideswiped."

Ms. Heron has an alternative idea. "I think we should name hurricanes after vegetables we hate."

What's in a Name, Katrinas? [NYTimes]

I’m so done with the New York Times lottery section (or “anyone want to blog about lotteries?”)

Sick of mainstream media's coverage of state, national, and international (Spain Lotto or Asian Winnings!) lotteries? Do you give it up for scratch-off tickets in a bad way? Yeah, same here, the itch is greater than Courtney Love's Lice Canyon. TOP Media is looking for passionate lottery bloggers who love numbers, games of pure chance with no trace of strategy, and standing in lines. Let's show the Post they're not the only game in town. Please send an email stating your interest and in 200 words or less how you would turn this page into six fresh and edgy posts a day. Including a resumé reduces your chances of consideration to a snowball in Bin Laden's cave.

DENTON SERVES UP TWO WHOPPERS, OXFELD HOLDS GREASE CATCH PAN

NEWS BLOG SHITS ITS PANTS, WIPES THE SCREEN
Might be the worst re-design ever

CRAZY "KNUCKLEBALL" OF SPORTS BLOGS IS BOTH LIVE AND DEAD
Clever, yet subtle, re-purposing of Gridskipper logo

PSA for PDA

This email was recently shot across the No Data Digital Divide:

all,

no data has been selected to dj a charity event tomorrow night (Thurs. Sept. 8th). asking us to dj is probably charitable work in it's own right, but i think this cause is somewhat more noble.

the link has all the deets, but for those too lazy to click, it can be distilled to this:

+$25 for all the wine (merlot, suck it Sideways!) and beer (stella) your belly can handle.
+8pm-midnight
+@ Hotel Hill (359 Bowery, Apt 3 - corner of E. 4th St.)

note: the last time we dj'd there, the party ended at 8am...and that was only because some old lady climbed up four floors of fire escape to tell us to shut up. don't believe me? i wrote a song about it. wanna hear it? here it goes.

dens+grellan+randy
www.nodata.dj

Closure Ain't Just A Forest In Arizona

Excuse me while I take one last piss on this camp fire to put it out for good. (Steph, I still hope we can meet for drinks at some point. Your watering hole or mine.)

Dear Andrew,

I received a note of apology from Stephanie Klein. She posted a version of it on her web site in the comments to the June 4, 2004 blog entry which has been edited to exclude my words. I have replied to her and would have posted my reply next to her comment but found that the [comments have] been turned off on that entry. I thought you would be interested in the conclusion of the whole affair.

Sincerely,
Gerald Fierst

Yes, I would and here is his reply:

Dear Stephanie,

Thank you for your note of apology.

We all absorb ideas from so many folks and, energized, transform them into our own expression. It's always been that way with creativity, and it's why so many of us want to be New Yorkers - To bounce off of each other's lives, and work, and inspirations. I am flattered that you were studying my web page and using it, and I probably would have given you permission to use the ideas if you had asked, happy to be referenced. As is, I was a bit stunned that the paragraph had been lifted verbatim, as if no one would ever notice.

The injury of plagiarism isn't that something irreplaceable has been stolen, or that my few sentences were so special, but that you didn't recognize the debt you owe to another creative person. You are a very lucky woman. Your talent and work met time and place to win you some recognition and fortune, but most artists in our country strive all their lives to be recognized, let alone make some money from their work.

I think apologizing has become a bit too common a formula for politicians and journalists and celebrities. 'Fessing up and being more careful in the future is fine, but the appreciation of the work of others (even those who satirize and trivialize you - which in a way you did to me) is more important.

Sincerely,
Gerald Fierst

Oh Noooo, Mr. Three-Dollar Bill!

It's like that point in the evening when you've stayed too long at a party and finally look up from the bottom of an empty drink to realize, "hey...you're all fags!!"
- A very loose approximation of a comment by Choire Sicha in a long-ago TMFTML post about, what else, ass-fucking.

Anyone will have the same revelation concerning the blogosphere in general after minimal poking and sniffing around its inner crevices and outer folds for a couple months. "Man," you'll say to yourself, "this blogging stuff is all gay." Like, really gay. But don't take my word for it, Jossip's David Hauslaib launches the "all gay, all day" Queerty blog and inadvertently makes Seth Mnookin eat a big one.

A.J. Daulerio: Do you think blogging is gay?
Seth Mnookin: Wow. That's a tough one. How about: no.

She Got A TV Eye On Me

Taking the Manhattan to Maryland Express where I hope to de-zombiefy some nephews and nieces with actual books. Back on Tuesday.

Shlomo, Pass the Moo Goo Gai Pan

Someone forwarded me Gothamist's completely classless Hurricane Pantry post that's now been edited for basic human decency. While I hesitate to even share the original since the focus should be elsewhere, I present it only as an act of free information to help you decide who deserves your future blog-reading patronage. Oh yeah, what he said.

The NYC Foodie's Guide to a Hurricane Pantry

Although it has yet to reach the five boroughs, Katrina is on the minds of New Yorkers. She isn't predicted to descend upon our fair city, but reports of her wrath down South have shaken many to core - looking for some sort of distraction from the onslaught of disaster-related news updates.

And what more appropriate distraction for a vittles-obsessed New Yorker than building a food shopping list? Which Big Apple provisions would you want on-hand, if you needed to hunker down at home or flee to environs unknown to escape Katrina? Some weather-withstanding suggestions from the over-obsessed foodies at Gothamist:

* Dr. Brown's Black Cherry Soda (supplemented by Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray, if you are so inclined).
* A pizza pie or two or three from John's or Lombardi's. (Remember, artfully made, thin-crust New York pizza still tastes good at room temperature, if reheating isn't an option. And makes for a particularly tasty breakfast in a pinch.)
* Dried fruit, nuts, olives, and freshly made hummus and baba ganoush from one of the many Middle Eastern grocers that line Atlantic Avenue.
* Knishes that could endure the tests of time and tumult, from the Lower East Side's legendary Yonah Schimmel.
* Full-sours and half-sours aplenty from Guss's.
* Black & White cookies from William Greenberg Jr. Desserts - or even Zaro's. (We're pretty sure the shelf-life of these ebony and ivory treats is almost as long as that of a Twinkie.)

And, what would you add to your Hurricane pantry list of must-haves?

* NOTE: In all seriousness, a much more appropriate activity for a concerned, food-obesessed New Yorker is to help fill up the nation's network of food bank pantries to assist Katrina's victims. Here's a link to America's Second Harvest, if you'd like to make a donation.

Posted
by VittlesVamp in Food Shopping


(BTW, could this list be any more stereotypically Jewish? I'm surprised they left out Chinese food.)