NY Quits, YM Too.

Monkey see, monkey do. Follow the leader. Duck Duck Goose. The first cigarette I had, at age 14 or so, was stolen from some adult figure, at this time I dont recall who. (mom) My friend and I smoked it behind his garage, and it made me light headed and dizzy. It was very enjoyable, fun and illicit. I remember the big smile it put on my face, and how great I thought it was.

Those days are in the past now; and it seems others at YM might also want to try. This staff member suggests calling NY Quits, NY States free Smoking cessation program. (free nicorette, woohoo!)

UPDATED: day two three smoke free. Thank you NY Quits.

The Enogoration. If You Act Now, (and only if you act now) You Can Buy Something You Dont Need For 40x26x The Cost

Brian Selter, "A TV Decoder and media reporter for The New York Times." Retweets @davidseguin -- "An eBay user is already hawking a 1/21/09 edition of the NYT. http://tinyurl.com/a563uz"

You might recall the hubbub in nyc with regards to procuring a newspaper after election night in November. The gentleman who sets up his papers on my corner was sold out by 6:30 am that morning, 45 minutes after setting up. Newspapers appeared on Ebay that day for hundreds of dollars, and stayed at that price for a few days, until most everyone learned that you could just call the newspaper and get one mailed to you for cost, or a few dollars premium. But not before a ton of people did their American duty and overpaid for something they didn't need, just because they could.

Anyways, as Brian Selter pointed out in his Retweet above, some enterprising soul is already selling on Ebay the right to receive a copy of January 22nd's paper, the day after inauguration. 40$ and it is yours. That way you can save yourself the trouble of picking up the phone and buying one for cost direct from the NYTimes.

But it's the items description in this auction which really adds extra value.

IN THIS LOT YOU WILL 100% SURE GET A NEW YORK TIMES COPY OF OBAMA ENOGORATION !!

Addendum: Hamilton Nolan at Gawker helpfully notes the correct percentage increase for buying this paper today on Ebay at 26 times the original cover price of $1.50, and not the 40 times initially reported here at YM. Oh does that make me wistful for the good ol' days when the NYTimes was a cool $1.00.

I Used To Live In Northampton MA - Andrea Rosen (Now I Live In NYC)

"Trying to 'make it' in New York right now is like knowingly exposing yourself to elements in a blizzard. But I do enjoy being a member of the city, even if it only means I can decry the authenticity of a Gossip Girl scene."

I was introduced to Brooklyn resident and Tumblrer Andrea Rosen after reading an online account of a mugging she was recently the victim of, discovering shortly afterwards that she was raised in Northampton MA, a small working class affluent bedroom community in Western MA of 30,000 people that I grew up in.

Andrea agreed to an interview for I Used To Live In Northampton, and it begins below. NOTE: Any hyper links in the article were added by me for added value.

I Used To Live In Northampton - Andrea Rosen, 22, Williamsburg

You used to live in Northampton Ma. Where about, and for how long?

I was born in Hamp in 1986 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, which sits on the cusp of Northampton proper and Florence, the hamlet of the city I've never seen as authentically "Northampton." My family lived in a house a few blocks from Smith College, right off of Elm Street, until 1998, when we moved to a larger house one street over.

Tell me a little bit about your Northampton. What did you like about it, dislike about it?

I liked straddling the line between "Hamp" and "Noho." "Hamp" was old Northampton: high school athletics, Joe's Pizza. "Noho" was new Northampton: the boutiques downtown, the vibrant arts scene. I always sensed a bit of intra-city resentment between the two camps.

When and why did you come to nyc? and what are you doing here now?

I took some time off of college and wasn't sure I wanted to go back right away. I decided to try New York for a little while, since my when-I-grow-up ideal was to work for a magazine. I was offered an internship at Time Out New York for the spring semester of 2007. I moved a few weeks later and simply never left (I celebrate my two-year anniversary this month). Now I work for alternative weekly The L Magazine, where I manage various online goings-on and contribute to bar & restaurant coverage. I came to New York to be a writer, but I've found the burgeoning tech scene suits me.

Can you talk about any notable nyc experience since you've been here?

Notable is all relative in New York, isn't it? Most of my "notable" experiences in the city have been humbling ones: getting mugged in Chelsea last weekend, having to vacate a table at Rose Bar so a pre-Wrestler Mickey Rourke could have it, scoring my first freelance writing job only to compose a really embarrassing column that will haunt me for the rest of my career.

Are there any similarities btw Northampton and NYC that you are aware of?

I see so much of Northampton in Brooklyn: the high volume of young residents, the overwhelming support for local artists. Both are full of creative overachievers, which will always keep things interesting.

"I see so much of Northampton in Brooklyn:" You mean like the outrageous real estate values, class frictions, and gentrification from the monied elite?

Ha. Hmm...I suppose it's the illusion that we're a community of hardscrabble artist-types. When in fact, we live the way we do because we have the means to.

How's your life in nyc now? Do you find it enjoyable, a struggle, both?

It's certainly a hard time to live here. It's a hard time to live anywhere, but national experiences feel so immediate in New York. It seems like everything happens here first, which is thrilling when it's a good thing (the New Kids on the Block reunion) but terrible when it's a bad thing (sad traders with file boxes week). Trying to "make it" in New York right now is like knowingly exposing yourself to elements in a blizzard. But I do enjoy being a member of the city, even if it only means I can decry the authenticity of a Gossip Girl scene.

What do you want out of nyc, and what do/are you giving back?

What do I want? Honestly, an enviable career and lifestyle. What will I give back? A few bon mots, hopefully.

http://andrearosen.tumblr.com

More IUTLIN (now I live in nyc):
Korey White
Rosa

Twitter Is Like Those Cameras In London That Watch You Do Bad Things On The Street

My Twitter account recently:

+Terry richardson isnt on facebook. i was jus like "hey i added u las nite" he was like "ha ppl tel me tha all th time but its not me" #

+Wow. jus saw james gandolfini (tony soprano) go off on a street cart vendor on 79th and 5th. was jus like tv, he was angry and said fuk you #

+Ray Kelly should turn his frown upside down #

+Pretty sure i saw cindy adams this morning on 5th and 57th. She didnt look happy but she prolly isnt #

+Long line of about 40 ppl waiting for soup kitchen tu open on 3rd ave btw ave A and B http://twitpic.com/zan0 #

+I love marc jacobs i want to be his friend i want to watch movies with him -overheard at party #

+Saw kevin bacon roll thru the 14th st 8ave subway station las nite and take an extended gander at group of young woman waiting for the train #

+Man, i dont even have a quarter for a debbie cake! -Guy talkin to his friend bout bein homeless and having no money #

+On the m101 bus uptown, driver must be in his early twenties, he didnt want to say. His dad drives and his mom works at the post office. # says its ok, u can put in 25yrs and retire at 55. But he wants to pursue other things. He put his app in 4yr ago and got the call 2yrs ago. #

http://twitter.com/Newyorkist

I Used To Live In Northampton - Korey White

Steamed Crap. 140th and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. Sounds About Right.

New York Color

That's what I'm supposed to write about here. The "color" of New York. So I'm risking my job here with this post, but I do remember that YM is also a music blog, so hopefully I can sneak this post in without much protest from the publisher. Maybe I can add some NY Color by adding a small note about my dad who arrived in nyc in 1972, and lived on 2nd ave btw 51st and 52nd in a time when Cartier Love bracelets were $280 and came with Cartier's signature on the underside. So that's a small bit of NY color, and the photo at right should count too, for the Kennedy tie in what with Caroline's bid for a Senate seat here.

Speaking of $280.00, that comes to $1,373.48 adjusted for inflation in 2007, though today a Cartier Love bracelet will set you back $3,600, which can be a pleasant reminder of just how much of a nice fucking we are all getting, every which way you look. If these was a team post, Andrew would add some poignant words right here about stagnate wages, weakening of unions, classism run amok, destruction of the social contract, etc..putting a nice big bow on my accusation about getting screwed. But it's not a team post, so he didn't write anything. You get it anyways though, right?

So yah, I want to write about music too. I just read an article in the WSJ about some kid named Ben Hur, and how he sold a lot of albums because some blogger in Kentucky blogged about him on his live journal. I want to help ppl sell albums as well, I like music, and this is a music blog, so I wanted to try this mp3 blogging out.


Did you know that the above song is the original, and the one we all know by Laura Brannigan was a cover? Yup, Italians.