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New York City
Gothamist is claiming that this new humorous mural on the corner of Grand and Wooster in downtown Manhattan is courtesy of infamous street artist Banksy and executed by the painters at Colossal Media, the same company responsible for all those hand painted billboards in Soho for H&M, among others.
Photographer Jay Maisel purchased 190 Bowery, a six-story, 72-room, 35,000-square-foot building, 42 years ago for $102,000. He still resides there with his wife and daughter. Today it's worth anywhere from $30 million to upwards of $70 motherfucking million. That is an insane ROI.
Along with the usual financial difficulties faced by artists this Manhattan neighborhood back then "was where people ended up, not where they aspired to live." And when Maisel moved in "the main floor was knee-deep in garbage and coated in soot." Despite its unassuming and graffiti marked exterior, today:
The house now feels like a dream world, or a benign version of the vast hotel in The Shining. Hallways go on forever. Rooms are filled with projects in various phases of completion. The renovations, mostly done by Maisel, are very “artists live here.”
I want to live there.
Read more here.
This receipt was found at a Chase ATM on 45 Wall Street showing a savings account balance of exactly $97,084.23 after he withdrew $100 (probably to buy lunch). As the Consumerist points out:
...this guy knows what he's doing; note how the balance is just under the $100,000 limit for full FDIC coverage.
Uhm, right! That's why I too keep my savings account balance under $100,000.
And I just heard that JP Morgan Chase purchased my bank Washington Mutual. So this means that I too now can access the same ATMs as this account holder without having to pay a transaction fee! Cha-ching! Money in the wallet and two dollars closer to $97,000.
[Via]
While waiting for a friend in Union Square I spotted the laziest dog walker ever:
A Segway looks questionable as it is...but a fake Segway? Even worse. Terrible look for this guy. Just walk your damn dog.
Despite the turmoil in Wall Street and the national economic distress, a few acclaimed chefs wants to introduce three epic dining event, starting November 11 at Per Se, featuring 20-course dinners that will cost $1,500 per person (seating limited to 65 people at each dinner).
This fall Sir Thomas Keller and culinary whiz kid Grant Achatz will join together to host three 20-course dinners at Per Se, Alinea, and The French Laundry. Each chef will prepare ten alternating courses, "creating a tasting menu that spans the very best of their creations while honoring a 12-year relationship that has defined 3 of the very best restaurants in the world."
If your life is fucking awesome, I mean, really fucking awesome, like you shit money, and you are dating Megan Fox and having more sex than you know what to do with, then swing by this website for more information on dates and reservations. And then afterwards let me know how it feels to be a GOD.
Otto Cedeno gets interrogated by Julia Allison during Fashion Week. If it makes you feel any better Otto, I totally had no idea who this Fern Mallis chick was.
This is a great unexpected snapshot by The Sartorialist. As he wrote about this photo:
This shot was just fine until that bus drove by and blew up her dress....now it's perfect
This photo is a yes.
New York Magazine sent writer Neel Shah out about town during Fashion Week with a mission: Hit on tall leggy models. How'd he do at the Prada party?
May Andersen, Elite Neel: [Sidles up] So how about you and I get away from all of this? St. Barts this weekend? May: I only travel with people I know, sorry. Neel: I think we've met before. May: I don't think so. Neel: Are you sure about that? Wasn't it François's party in Bridehampton? May: [Turns away] Neel: Okay, this isn't going so well. Let's start over. How do I get you to come home with me? May: I'm the wrong person for this. I'm a huge bitch [laughs]. I never get "picked up." I like to be the one who pursues. Neel: Well what if I were superrich? May: It's a start.
Neel buddy, she's not even worth it. May doesn't like sushi. Don't tell her this but that's pretty much why I broke up with her. How can someone not like sushi?! Terrible.
Read rest here.
[Via]
British billionaire and Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley recently visited hot spot Pink Elephant here in Manhattan and well, decadence and unlimited credit be thy name: He ran up a $216,107 and 51 cent bill there in one night, including approximately $60,000 in tips to waitresses and a four figure tip to security (who I think got the raw end of the deal). How'd such a tab come to be? Well, ordering 175 bottles of Cristal Champagne, the club's entire stock, is one way to account for some of that.
He arrived at around midnight with a group of male and female pals and started ordering Cristal right next to the dancefloor. Before long he was out of control. The waitresses were amazed when he ordered 100 bottles of Cristal and proceeded to hand them out to clubbers and spray them over his friends.
And here's a copy of the actual bill:
At this point you would think the club manager would just remove the charges for the grey goose mixed drinks, Heinekens, and Red Bulls. Those two digit charges just look petty and make the bill appear aesthetically odd.
Read more here.
[Via]
Wendy's today was a surreal experience. While Wilco's song "Impossible Germany" was playing inside, an odd choice for a fast food joint I would think, I also spotted...Wendy herself.
The MTA will be running a 30 day trial run of double-decker buses in New York City.
Beginning on Thursday, the 13-foot-tall, 45-foot-long, 81-seat bus will alternate service on local and express bus routes: BxM3 from Yonkers to Manhattan, the X17J between Staten Island and Manhattan, the M15 limited on First and Second Avenues, and possibly the M5 along Fifth Avenue (if the tree pruning along the bus lane goes well).
Great. Note sarcasm.
What I've learned from the obnoxious double-decker tour buses that crowd around my office's block is that this just means New York City will see more bus billboards that will now be twice as large with advertisements for upcoming movies or invitations to go visit Tulum or Paris.
Hey MTA: Less novelty distractions and focus instead on installing digital service signs announcing the ETA for trains in all the subway platforms, and finishing the 2nd Avenue subway line. Kthnxby.
From Julia Allison's "lifecasting" of New York's Fashion Week (Come on, Ashley, get with it. I know you're always right out of the frame of all these front row pictures at the shows. Don't deny it. Get those iPhone stalkerazzi photos up!):
I suppose the line between fashion and costume is rather blurry and gray.
"I don't get it. What's so funny? Why are we laughing?"
"I don't know, man. Whenever a hot girl is laughing, I join in. So shut up and just laugh."
"HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA."
Had a relatively uneventful weekend, but it was still fun.
Met up with Pooja to go visit some gallery exhibit openings around her neighborhood in Chelsea aka an open bar pub gallery crawl. Even the garbage bags are artsier in this neighborhood.
One of the galleries we visited.
Aw, sad. Hollywood sign is on fire. I really like this piece actually.
Pooja preferred this one.
This was also interesting. In lieu of paint brush and paint, try a handgun and bullets.
Close up.
While waiting outside a restaurant, we noticed this taxi cab that had lights flashing like a police car. It was one of those masked police cars. So TRICKY! Memo to self: If throwing up in a cab, be sure it's not this one.
Dinner with Stan and one of Pooja's friends, Vijay (I think that's your name!). We are all wearing the male uniform du jour. Hahahah. But mine is striped, okay?
The AC was broken in the restaurant which made it boiling hot. Vijay requested a bucket o' ice.
Hah. Not sure what I'm doing here.
Pooja's friends Vijay and his gal Audrey drinking the sake.
Afterwards, we went to the Frying Pan, which is basically a bar...on a boat, for some party. Once we got there, Pooja started complaining about her heels. Being the good friend that she is, Audrey offered to switch shoes.
The transfer...
And the switch! Stan wouldn't trade shoes with me though. Way to not be a team player Stan.
Not our beers. It's kinda random to see a bottle of green Tabasco sauce in a place like this.
Mmm, Tabascy.
On our way out, Stan and Pooja pose with the...actual frying pan.
Saturday afternoon at the height of the rainstorm in Brooklyn, at least, I headed out to Stan's apartment for pizza, beer, and Guitar Hero.
There's something perfect about the aformentioned trifecta combo of pizza, beer, and Guitar Hero on a rainy weekend.
The rules for interns at the New York Sun, newspaper that makes the New York Post look like a NPR mouthpiece, are downright draconian! Gawker helpfully got a copy and highlighted the extreme ones.
I cannot wait to say "goodnight" to this rag of a newspaper when it goes out of business. The day will come.
To see rest of the "Guidelines for Interns" click here.
In addition to rock stars and French ministers, we can now add world class famous chefs, such as Mario Batali to the Croc Fan Club.
We scuttled away avoiding eye-contact with them until my girlfriend glimpsed a pair of bright orange crocs under the table. She firmly grasped my forearm and whispered,
“That’s Mario Batali.”
Me: “No way. Which one? Where?”
“The one in the orange crocs!”
What more validation do you people need??? Crocs are a YES. I heard Kanye, Marc Jacobs, and John Mayer have started wearing them as well. Allegedly.
After work on Thursday I went to Dave and Busters in Times Square for a work outing. On a side note, following the law that requires chain restaurants to list calorie counts, it is shocking how many calories are in 99 percent of the items on the D&B menu. Wow.
This photo cracks me up, mainly due to the combination that Lorenzo has going here: Funny Transformers t-shirt, huge glass of beer, and a plastic orange uzi. It's almost art.
Here I am with Dana gettin' our ethnically ambiguous terrorist hurtin' on! I freakin' loved this game. I like the assault rifle style controller, which is more comfortable over a sustained period of play, as well as the single-semi-auto fire switch located near the trigger. Added a nice depth to the game play. [Photo credit: Lorenzo]
Gina and Oliver with some serious Gatling shooting action. These games are a good distraction and stress reliever from a busy work week!
I won a crapload of tickets!!! Okay, maybe not. This machine was undergoing some maintenance or something.
A jumping...game. Perfect for...jumping photos. Although this game is surprisingly more difficult that it seemed! So I just went for some style points here. [Photo credit: Lorenzo]
Skee ball! My future penthouse apartment loft in Soho is going to have a couple of these machines.
This was one of those "fully immersive" games... It just made me motion sick. [Photo credit: Lorenzo]
The End.
The latest fall season merchandise at the Gap is the first big test for their new and much buzzed-about head designer Patrick Robinson, whose arrival at the Gap has been welcomed by analysts as well as the fashion peanut gallery where a fashion magazine recently eye-rollingly anointed Robinson a "megabrand messiah."
Reinventing Gap, the nation’s largest specialty apparel chain, has been fashion’s equivalent of Merlin’s stone for much of the last decade, as sales and profits have dipped, along with its image among young consumers. Mr. Robinson, 41, is the third designer to attempt to pull the sword since Gap began to publicly acknowledge its creative personnel in 2003, and the most closely watched because of his popularity with industry insiders and his finesse with casual American sportswear. His fall designs have generated promising reviews, but also concern about whether a single designer — one with a mixed track record — can revive a brand with 1,155 stores in the United States in the midst of an economic crisis.
The next time I pass a location, I may stop in to see what all the buzz is about. Maybe with Robinson at the helm, this iconic yet problematic store will fill a gap in my apparel needs.
Read more here.
Update: Color me very unimpressed. The issue of fit still hasn't been resolvedL their "smalls" fit me like a medium. Dear Gap: I am not built like Howie Long.
I passed by this street billboard today that was made from turf and advertising Monday Night Football on ESPN. It actually made me pause to take a closer look and snap a photograph of it. Nicely done, NFL.
I wonder how long before someone splashes some paint on it.
[Via...ME!]
I will be attending this event. Details copy and pasted from the e-mail I received this morning: OBAMA EVENT DETAILS:
When: 7:30AM Sunday, April 13th, 2008 Where: Union Square South (NYC) What: An Obama ad for Moveon.org
What to expect: Upon arriving you will be handed a flyer with a release and a letter on it: O, B, A#1, M, or A#2. This will tell you where to stand.
We want this to look like it happens organically. Once we establish everyones place, we will ask you to scatter. You will have 10 seconds to return to your letter.
We will only have 30 minutes to rehearse and 30 minutes to film. We have to be out of the park at 8:30AM.
Please be on time and please listen to Diego (The guy with the megaphone).
We have all been inspired and motivated to do this by Barack Obama and hope you join us to make this possible.
Thank you!!!
The Spell Obama in Union Square Team
Please contact:
spellobamaunionsquare@gmail.com
or
Kid robot 
This is his charging station. Haha. 
