Tuesday, December 14, 2004
It Happened This Year: New York Magazine—Blogosphere Mash-Up
I’m going to leave the personal retrospective for another time. There’s no use crying over spilled whiskey, and even less use bringing tears to others by spilling it in their eyes over and over again. The people I have hurt, betrayed and owe money to know who they are. Luckily I know who they are also, and I’ve done a good job of laying low.
Nonetheless, when one finds oneself as fascinating as, to be honest, we all find me, it’s hard to write about anything else without the proper inspiration. Thankfully, we have the year-end issue of New York Magazine. It’s got some superb pieces, by writers I love to read—Jay McInerney, Vanessa Grigordiadis, Chris Lehmann, Kurt Andersen, David Amsden, Hugo Lindgren. But I don’t know any of these people—unless you count the awkward moments with Vanessa at last New Year’s Eve party, full-on bourbon induced black-out conversations with Chris in Union Square dive bars or the recent whiskey-in-the-ear incident at the twentieth anniversary of Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City. And I’m far more interested in people I know, if simply because, by virtue of their proximity to me, they remind me of myself.
This got me thinking, don’t we need a blogster year-end wrap up? What if New York Magazine had asked blogsters (and a few writers who just drink with bloggers) to cover their year end stories? Well, they probably would have got a lot of notes about how all the pieces were going to be late because everyone was too hungover to write anything. In a last ditch effort to save the issue, however, the editors could have just complied the earlier blog writings on the assigned stories. It would have looked something like this.
[Ed. Did you really just go through every single one of the stories in the year-end section of New York Magazine and replace it with stories by bloggers? Uhm, yeah. Sorry about that. Sometimes I changed the titles of the stories but they are all thematically linked to the stories from New York. Ed. Did you forget your meds today? Does it show? Ed.A wee bit, laddy. Well, I actually would have liked to link to individual posts for each one rather than just the entire lbog but I couldn't find all the pieces I wanted. You can help if you want by finding individual permalinks? Ed. Oh, no. You're on your fucking own with this one. Maybe one of the nutters who read this will help, though. I doubt it. They're always drunk.]
Nonetheless, when one finds oneself as fascinating as, to be honest, we all find me, it’s hard to write about anything else without the proper inspiration. Thankfully, we have the year-end issue of New York Magazine. It’s got some superb pieces, by writers I love to read—Jay McInerney, Vanessa Grigordiadis, Chris Lehmann, Kurt Andersen, David Amsden, Hugo Lindgren. But I don’t know any of these people—unless you count the awkward moments with Vanessa at last New Year’s Eve party, full-on bourbon induced black-out conversations with Chris in Union Square dive bars or the recent whiskey-in-the-ear incident at the twentieth anniversary of Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City. And I’m far more interested in people I know, if simply because, by virtue of their proximity to me, they remind me of myself.
This got me thinking, don’t we need a blogster year-end wrap up? What if New York Magazine had asked blogsters (and a few writers who just drink with bloggers) to cover their year end stories? Well, they probably would have got a lot of notes about how all the pieces were going to be late because everyone was too hungover to write anything. In a last ditch effort to save the issue, however, the editors could have just complied the earlier blog writings on the assigned stories. It would have looked something like this.
Introduction—By Manhattan Transfer
The Republicans Got Us Drunk—by Swamp Citizens Meghan and Will.
McGreevey Covers His Ass—by Rob Sterling.
Overdone Meatpacking District—by Andrew Krucoff
Continuing Internet Fantasies—by Nick Denton
We Still Cousins? Why Iraq Won’t Work—by Steve Sailer
You’re Apartment Sucks—by Curbed
The Malling of New York—Gothamist
One Generation of Iconic Bars Makes Way for the Next—by NYCBP
Sex and the City—by Paul Frankenstein
Shhhhh…It Girls—by The Superficial
Martha Stewart’s Book Cooking—by Elizabeth Spiers
How the POD People Killed the DJ—by Stereogum
FreshDirect’s War Against the LES—by Lockhart Steele
Banking: It’s Not All Coke & Hookers Anymore, Except When It Is—by DNasty
Satellite Radio—by BuzzMachine
Poor Baby High Line—by Choire Sicha
Firefighters—by Maccers
Let’s Kill All the Architects—Curbed
Anarchy in Hell’s Kitchen, Or the Plot Against the GOP That Didn’t Really Work Out–by Hereitype
They Tore Brooklyn Down, And Put Up a Basketball Court—by Tennessee Whiskey
We’re In Charge of the Party That Isn’t In Charge of Anything—by Swamp City
The Yankees Go Down—by Lockhart Steele
Memories of Ice Rinks and Blood Feuds—by Ben McGrath
Poker? I Just Met Her—by La D
Cupcakes Take New York—by Standard Deviance
Step on a Crack, Get Electrocuted—by Gothamist
Old People's Clothes Against Young People's Clothes-by Meghan Stier
Get your hair did—by Maccers and Eurotrash
Slice of Life—by Slice
Getting Brazilian—by Ali-Z
When We Say Food, We Mean Sushi—by Night In the Big City
Honey I Blew Up the Museum—by Manhattan Transfer
My Own Private Art Museum (Or How I Got Maud, Maccers and Sarah Into My Apartment)—by Terry Teachout
Movies That Don’t Suck—by Cinetrix
The Most Important Women Playwrights I Have Known—by Manhattan Transfer
Does Anyone Remember Laughter?—by Nichelle’s Newsletter
How to Score Drugs and Influence People—by Uch
Art As a Bad Idea-by TMFTML
I Heart Jon Stewart—by Lindsay Robertson
[Ed. Did you really just go through every single one of the stories in the year-end section of New York Magazine and replace it with stories by bloggers? Uhm, yeah. Sorry about that. Sometimes I changed the titles of the stories but they are all thematically linked to the stories from New York. Ed. Did you forget your meds today? Does it show? Ed.A wee bit, laddy. Well, I actually would have liked to link to individual posts for each one rather than just the entire lbog but I couldn't find all the pieces I wanted. You can help if you want by finding individual permalinks? Ed. Oh, no. You're on your fucking own with this one. Maybe one of the nutters who read this will help, though. I doubt it. They're always drunk.]
