A 32-year-old "aspiring novelist" finally has a room of his own. He won some weird housing lottery he had applied for years earlier, for people whose income was below $49,625. "I'm persisting in this weird feeling that this will all be taken away from me by some Kafkaesque bureaucratic oversight," he tells the NYT. Yeah, but what's his monthly maintenance?
Thanks, health and public policy journalist Maia Szalavitz, for finally writing some Heath Ledger News We Can Use. Her service-y piece for HuffPo is called "What We Can Learn from Heath Ledger's Death: Don't Mix Downs!!!" In a perfect world, it would run in the crappy health section of every major Sunday paper, instead of "TEARFUL CHILD THANKS DEAD ORGAN DONOR" or whatever. Here's how to avoid dying like Heath Ledger:
According to a new study, a group of "photo editors at a magazine" looked at pictures of cookies and were then more likely to take a smaller amount of money sooner rather than a larger amount of money later. What does this mean for you? If you are a photographer, scent your portfolio with a Chocolate Chip Yankee Candles or just take a lot of pictures of cookies. Related: poor people will buy sweaters if they smell cookies too! [ScienceDaily]
"Hey, put that croissant down!"
The Street is a website for wealthy people. And how do they keep their money? By refusing to give it to homeless people, who are the number one cause of personal bankruptcy. As a service to its readers, the Street offers this Dr. Katzian video on how to avoid giving your pocket change to people without adequate funds for food and shelter.
Some "permalancers" at Viacom's MTV Networks scored significant gains today when the company announced that they were rolling back changes they'd made to contractor benefits—though there are still issues regarding benefits for contract employees who haven't been at work for more than a year. Freelancers at the entertainment giant and at other places of "employment" are still in limbo, in many ways.
Is anyone confused by all the fuss over freelancer benefits in the Viacom mess? Freelancer, permalancer, part-time employee, full-time employee: What's the difference anymore? Why are Viacom's independent contractors complaining about having their benefits cut when the general impression is that freelancers don't qualify for benefits in the first place? Where does the actual, you know, law come down on this issue? And do most media companies abide by it? Let's learn more!
You know where you can find the motherlode of hot, floppy-haired pseudointellectual boys? At the Film Forum on West Houston Street, for every screening of "Control," the second best movie ever made about Joy Division. Seriously, the audience there was like a party where only geekily-stunning, faux self-effacing, Da Capo book-loving and INCREDIBLY EMO 27-year-old boys were invited. Sigh.
You know where you can mine the motherlode of hot, lightly-bearded intellectual boys? At the Sunshine Cinema on Houston Street, for every screening of "Into the Wild," Sean Penn's film of the Jon Krakauer book about the boy who ditches society. Seriously, the audience there was like a party where only geekily-stunning, self-effacing, book-loving and yet non-emo 27-year-old boys were invited. Sigh.
We were going to do a Definitive Guide To What Bands To See At CMJ—but you know what? I am old and I hadn't heard of a single band playing tomorrow, the first day of the crack-orgy of band showcases. One of the few shows I recognized was the Thursday night back-to-back of His Name Is Alive and St. Vincent at the Knitting Factory; sounds like heaven. (Also, hello, I am old! And yes that was true and also a blatant attempt to get on the list! Heh.) Anyway, I started to do some investigation, but once I found out that "AIDS Wolf is a Canadian noise rock band," I figured I would just sit this one out. Instead, let's turn this guest-host arrangement (in the immortal words of Laurie Anderson) inside out—why don't you tell us what to maybe see this week? [CMJ]
"Ok, some kind of crazy shit is up with Time Warner Cable. Last night my DVR completely wiped itself, causing me to lose the latest 'America's Next Top Model' AND 'Gossip Girl.' A cursory survey tells me that the same inexplicable DVR-wiping occurred to other friends at different points in the week. Other friends say their boxes (heh) have been stuttering and stopping, which mine did before the great DVR incident of 10/11/07. WATCH THE IMPORTANT SHIT ON YOUR DVRs PEOPLE. Conspiracy is afoot." Everyone is so bilious today!
So, because we have a problem with alcohol and we desperately needed something to quell the tremors, we just stopped by Shark Bar, which is on the corner of Mulberry Street. Guess what we noticed? The San Gennaro Festival has started! If you've never heard of the festival, you should know that it's the greatest street fair in New York, because it lasts eleven days and it sells all the same crap as every other goddamn street fair but likes to pretend that it's Italian-themed! It celebrates some saint from Naples or whatever. Anyway, if you haven't gone, you should go, but we want to make something clear: The people you see at the feast are NOT REAL ITALIANS. They are street fair people, and two weeks from now they'll be setting up their sausage stands in some other location, where they will wave "Hi" to the guy who sells the $2 socks and the lady with the grilled corn covered in farm cheese. REAL ITALIANS do not work street fairs.
When you hear "peep show" you probably think of video cubicles that reek of Pine-Sol and bleach (one person per booth, please!). Now, with the closure of The Playpen, looks like Manhattan has but three actual live-girl peepshows still in operation. Come with Intern Sheila on a trip to Times Square.
From the mailbag: "What is an acceptable time for the non-observant Jew to leave the office today? 4? Is 3:30 pushing it?" Well, ONE non-observant Jew who won't be named just left here at 3:12, so we'd say you're safe to go now!
Today Kent Brownridge, Jann Wenner's former right-hand man and the honcho of new Alpha Media, the former Dennis Publishing, shouts the praises of media headhunter Karen Danziger. She's the exec vice president of Howard-Sloan-Koller Group, and she was the one who suggested somewhat frightening former Rolling Stone guy Jim Kaminsky as the new editor of Maxim. Brownridge tells Portfolio: "Karen Danziger, the only headhunter in the editorial world that I think is worth anything, and she's worth a lot — I love her; she's my sister, shrink, priest, whatever — she gives me a list of people that I should go see, and on it is Jim, and I think, oh, well, Jim." Heh. That's how we felt about Jim too—but then Kent got all frothy on him, and hired him. We've met Karen—she's fun, mouthy, doesn't like idiots, and she dresses like the high-end version of a sharp Long Island lady. But is she all that? Your experiences sought, anonymity guaranteed.
From the mailbag: "Gawker, I am looking for a sponsor for our hockey team that will be competing at Chelsea Piers. The team is a good group of guys all working in the city. One works for Howard Stern, one for Bear Sterns, multiple ad agency guys, etc. What we need is a team sponsor. We will proudly wear any jersey and team logo, anything. If you could help us get Summer's Eve, we will gladly be called the Douches. Let me know if you can help out with this request. It's 8k for a season, but we are open to any and all offers - including those who will pay for the jersey's only. Thanks for your help. Of course, if you help us land a sponsor we will get a Gawker logo on the jersey." Do you ever feel not so fresh? We do!
