Joe Pompeo | The New York Observer

The Bed-Stuy Bronfman

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:04:51 -0500

On a cold, miserable afternoon in mid-November, Ben Bronfman stepped out of a cab in front of the United Nations and walked through the security checkpoint, past the clusters of tourists in the lobby, and up to the Delegates Dining Room on the third floor, where there was a fancy luncheon to ramp things up for the big U.N. climate showdown that’s taking place in Copenhagen Dec. 7 through Dec. 18.

A few minutes...

Private Practices Strapped, Upper East Siders Swarm for Swine-Flu Shots at Humble Clinic

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:15:24 -0500

A little over a month ago, as the second wave of the great H1N1 hysteria of 2009 began to swell, it seemed like vaccines would be made available to any New Yorker who’d decided he would rather not gamble on contracting the feverish, vomit-inducing, kinda-maybe-sorta-lethal porcine plague.

Things didn’t work out that way.

Shots are in short supply, and children are getting special permission to cut to...

The Shame Spiral

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:20:34 -0500

It had been eight years since Drew Katchen, a 32-year-old Web producer who works for a major media company in New York, had been in touch with an old friend of his from his home state of South Carolina.

“She was cool. I always really liked her,” he said.

Mr. Katchen was delighted one afternoon when a message from this individual, titled, “Flashback,” popped into his Facebook in-box.

“I decided not to...

Brooklyn Indie Label Saves Sinister Songsters Just in Time for Halloween

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:00:42 -0400

There’s certain kind of music that seems to have been created for no other reason than to have a soundtrack for the month of October, when everything’s starting to get dark and cold and spooky. Nick Cave is one example. Ditto much of Tom Waits’ canon. Leonard Cohen ultimately fits into this category, too.

As does The Black Heart Procession, a haunting indie rock outfit oft-compared to the aforementioned artists, which hails—ironically enough—from...

The Little Helper's Little Helper

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:20:28 -0400

In July of 2007, comedian Michael Showalter was at a bar in Park Slope doing stand-up about an unwitting experience he’d had with a prescription drug called Seroquel.

The scenario: Mr. Showalter couldn’t fall asleep one night thanks to some noisy construction outside his Flatbush Avenue apartment, so his girlfriend suggested he take one of these pills she happened to have lying around.

“It’s a chill-out pill,” she told him, reassuringly. “It’s nothing.”

...

Former Band Members Tell Lady Gaga: Hey, You Can Ring Our Bell!

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:25:43 -0400

A few weeks ago, the Internet spit up some footage of a pre-fame Lady Gaga, the 23-year-old breakout pop star from Manhattan whose outrageous wardrobe and weirdo live performances have made her a cultural phenomenon to suburban tweens and Marc Jacobs alike.

The videos, captured on Jan. 20, 2006, depict a slightly younger, entirely more normal-looking Lady Gaga, then still known as Stefani Germanotta, performing with her rock group, the Stefani Germanotta Band,...

Is Glossy Art Mag Tar, Alexandra Kerry's Baby, In the Gutter?

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:52:44 -0400

October 2008 may have seemed like the worst time to start a new magazine, but that didn’t deter Evanly Schindler, the founder and former editorial director of BlackBook, from starting a thick, indie arts biannual called Tar under the rubric of a media company called Tar Art, which he’d founded two years earlier with former Diesel public-relations bigwig Maurizio Marchiori.

The first issue arrived on stands with much fanfare and a crowded party, perhaps...

The Foodiots

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:08:04 -0400

At around 10:30 a.m. on a recent weekday, Todd Kennedy, a 31-year-old product developer at a major New York media company, walked down the hall to the office of his co-worker, Antony Petersen, and without so much as a “Morning” or “What’s up, dude,” abruptly inquired, “So what’d you make for dinner last night?”

“Oh, I got some beautiful rock shrimp,” replied Mr. Petersen, who is 39 and Australian. He explained the meal down...

Poet Jim Carroll Left Behind Sad Punk Compatriots, Unfinished Novel

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:25:25 -0400

Jim Carroll, the legendary Manhattan poet and punk rocker, died of a heart attack on Friday, Sept. 12, at the age of 60.

On Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 15, the day before a private funeral service for family and friends, some New Yorkers who knew Carroll shared their memories of him with the Transom.

“Jim was a true poet in anything he did,” said Lenny Kaye, guitarist and longtime collaborator of singer Patti Smith,...

Nick Cave Shaves! Rock Snob Reads Raunchy Passage From New Novel

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:19:38 -0400

If there is one man in the rock-snob canon who can rattle off a series of filthy expletives without sounding anything less than utterly eloquent and polite, it is Nick Cave.

On the evening of Monday, Sept. 14, the 51-year-old Mr. Cave, best known for his role as the sinister singer-songwriter of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, was sitting crossed-legged on a small stage on the fourth floor of the Union Square Barnes...

Taking Monticello

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:08:58 -0400

It was a bit of a gamble for the British concert promoter Barry Hogan to hold the first New York installment of his traveling All Tomorrow’s Party festival at a dated Borscht Belt summer resort in the Catskills.

It was last September, and he’d assembled something of a dream lineup for the aging indie set, including the first U.S. performance in 16 years by Scottish fuzz-rockers My Bloody Valentine and much hyped...

Trad Men

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:57:04 -0400

For everyday New York men who strive to be reasonably well dressed, it can be a daunting experience shopping for clothes that won’t make you look like an ass.

Simply traverse the labyrinthine corridors of Barneys, Bergdorf and Bloomingdale’s, where the all-over-the-place mess hanging from the men’s racks is enough to induce migraines: Are pink ties metro or macho this week? Should slim-fit jeans really be this tight? Why do these scruffy flannel lumberjack...

Tiebreaker! Two Big Bryan Bros. Profiles Duke It Out

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:20:30 -0400

This week’s New Yorker (dated Aug. 31) and the Aug. 30 Sunday New York Times Magazine both contain lengthy profiles of professional tennis twins Bob and Mike Bryan.

Sure, the pair has become one of the best men’s doubles teams in the game’s history, with an impressive 54 pro tournament titles. (The record for a men’s doubles team, held by Aussies Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, is 61.) But haven’t they been around...

Twitter Co-founder Jack Dorsey Plans Move to Manhattan

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:32:00 -0400

On the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 11, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey prompted a ripple of buzz online when he uploaded a grainy photo of himself and Mayor Michael Bloomberg tweeting from their smart phones at Gracie Mansion.

Mr. Bloomberg was updating his own Twitter account, normally maintained by his staffers, for the first time ever that day, an event his campaign had been hyping up. Mr. Dorsey’s visit to New York happened to coincide...

Fire Wars! Local Han Solos Battle Blaze at Skywalker Ranch

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:18:05 -0400

Filmmaker George Lucas had a bit of a scare last week when a brush fire crept up to the edge of Skywalker Ranch, his 4,000-acre property in Nicasio, Calif.

The Marin County Fire Department received a call at 1:52 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, that a fire had started at the Banta House, an adjacent estate once owned by the Doobie Brothers, where a wedding was scheduled to take place two days later, said Battalion...

Capote in Cape May? Oscar Winner Washes Up on Beach, With Kids

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:01:12 -0400

Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffmann was soaking up rays last week on a beach in Cape May Point, N.J., a quaint family shore town at the southernmost tip of the state, according to a fellow visitor.

Mr. Hoffman, who will star in the Public and LAByrinth theaters joint production of Othello in September, was first spotted on Friday, Aug. 7, with his longtime partner, Mimi O’Donnell, and their three children, 6-year-old Cooper Alexander, 3-year-old...

Socialite Tattoo- thusiasts Say: Thank God It's Friday!

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:00:30 -0400

One weekend later this summer, the tattoo artist Friday Jones will trek out to the Hamptons town of Amagansett to the summer home of two Upper East Side art collectors, who are clients of the Manhattan-based interior designer Wayne Nathan, who invited her out for the trip. The plan is for Ms. Jones, who is covered in tattoos and has wild long hair dyed various shades of red, to set up temporary shop, offer...

She's Got a Crush! Courtney Love Flirts With Youthful Downtown Music Agency

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:57:48 -0400

Is Courtney Love changing representation? The Transom has learned that the Hole lead singer and widow of Kurt Cobain has paid a few visits recently to the East Village offices of Crush Management, the young, downtown music agency that’s made stars out of teen-approved pop-punk bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco.

Crush Management declined to comment, but sources close to the company, which oversees the careers of about 20...

Male Brooklyn Policy Wonks Go Ga-Ga for Four Square—What’s Next, Gents? Kickball with Marty Markowitz?

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:32:29 -0400

As the nightlife mobile app Foursquare gains popularity among the city’s digerati, the classic playground game four square is taking Brooklyn politicians and City Council candidates by storm.

It all started on July 4, when Michael Freedman-Schnapp, volunteer coordinator for Brad Lander, who is running for Bill de Blasio’s Council seat (Mr. de Blasio is running for public advocate), challenged Councilman (and city comptroller candidate) David Yassky to an impromptu four-square game on Bedford...

The Artful Lodger

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:41:11 -0400

Jake Bronstein and his girlfriend, Kristina Hoge, were lounging around on a flowery retro love seat in the living room of their South Williamsburg apartment on a recent Thursday evening, drinking Miller High Life out of frothy beer mugs and enjoying a cool breeze that was blowing in from their backyard. Their dog, a young Collie–German Shepherd mix named Cash, was lying on the floor next to their wide-screen TV, chewing on a bone.

Reed It and Weep: Legendary Lou, Velvet Underground Singer, Greets Groupies at Book Signing with Schnabel

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:54:44 -0400

Lou Reed, legendary frontman of the Velvet Underground, and Julian Schnabel, noted artist and filmmaker, were sitting at a rustic wooden table inside the Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea on the evening of Thursday, June 25.

The two longtime friends were there for a book-signing and cocktail party celebrating the forthcoming release of Berlin, a new collection of photographs taken during Mr. Schnabel’s filming of a tour Mr. Reed did in 2007 to revive his...

The Veil of Cashmore! Geek Gets Some at Internet Week

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:42:36 -0400

Pete Cashmore, founder of the massively popular social media news blog Mashable.com, was near the bar chatting with dropi.io’s Sam Lessin at The Observer’s Internet Week Kickoff Party last night at the Puck Building.

Dressed in a grey vest and pinstriped white button-down shirt, the handsome young tech entrepreneur had flown in from the U.K. a few days earlier for Internet Week New York.

“For me it kind of feels like a homecoming,” he said, in...

Marketplace of Ideas: Dollar Van Demos!

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:31:24 -0400

Perhaps the quirkiest of all the startups we encountered at The Observer’s Internet Week Kickoff Party last night at the Puck Building was Dollar Van Demos.

Some quick background: Dollar vans are privately owned vehicles that typically service New York neighborhoods that are underserved by mass transit. Back in February, the Sunset Park-based husband-wife duo of Joe and Iara Revitte teamed with producer/videographer Patricia Gray to launch a YouTube Web series in which they produce...

David Johansen's New York Dolls Return to Old CBGB, Now John Varvatos' Place

Wed, 06 May 2009 07:00:00 -0400

On Tuesday, May 5, the John Varvatos boutique at 315 Bowery was perhaps the only nightspot on all of the Lower East Side where someone in his late ’20s or early ’30s might actually feel young.

Like, really young. Slightly-out-of-place-because-he-does-not-yet-have-any-gray-hair young.

Not that this was a bad thing, especially considering the reason for this demographic role-reversal was a rare and intimate appearance by the legendary New York Dolls, who took the stage around 9:45 p.m. in...

Time-Lauded Toque Dan Barber Anticipates the Michelle Obama Effect

Mon, 04 May 2009 08:35:30 -0400

“I was shocked,” Dan Barber told the Daily Transom.

Last week, the 39-year-old executive chef and co-owner of Blue Hill in Greenwich Village and Westchester’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns (and nominee for outstanding chef at tonight's James Beard Foundation Awards) found his name printed among those of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Tiger Woods, Arianna Huffington, Tina Fey and the founders of Twitter, to name just a few, when Time magazine released its annual 100...

Ohmmm! Even Lazy Moby Turns Out For Star-Studded Transcendental Meditation Benefit

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:00:00 -0400

David Lynch likes to swim in “an ocean of consciousness,” which he was describing to a sold-out crowd at Radio City Music Hall on the evening of Saturday, April 4.

“It is an ocean of infinite intelligence. Creativity. Happiness known as bliss. Infinite universal love. Energy. Dynamic peace,” mused the 63-year-old filmmaker, dressed in a black suit and a yellow tie that was brighter than his signature silver pompadour, at the beginning of a star-studded...

This Graying Man: Morrissey Does New York Tour, Grown Manchildren Weep for Joy

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:58:33 -0400

Promptly at 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 26, Morrissey walked onstage at Carnegie Hall dressed in a dashing black tuxedo and rattled off a nonsequitur that could have been a Smiths lyric.

“And to think, it was by Grand Central Station I sat down and wept,” the British rock icon and former Smiths front man said to the several thousand screaming fans who had come to see him play at the stunning venue....

Last Night in Dumbo for Gersh Kuntzman's Brooklyn Paper Crew

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:27:50 -0400

On the evening of Thursday, March 26, staff members of The Brooklyn Paper gathered at their favorite Dumbo happy hour spot, a bar and restaurant called Superfine, for one last round of post-work drinks in the neighborhood the scrappy weekly broadsheet has called home for the past five years.

Editor in chief Gersh Kuntzman, looking quite reporterly in his ensemble of running sneakers, blue jeans and a purple button-down with the sleeves rolled...

Gossip Girl Sings! Sonic Youth Returns! And Where’s Your Famous Blue Raincoat?

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:03:53 -0500

It was just confirmed that U2’s Bono and the Edge are scoring a Spider-Man musical that’s set to hit Broadway next February. A bit out of left field, no? But also not a bad PR boost for the Irish rockers’ 12th studio album, No Line on the Horizon, which is out this week on Interscope. This will probably be the blockbuster release of the spring—unless, maybe, those long-awaited comebacks from rappers Dr. Dre and...

Calvin Klein's Triumphant Return to New York

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:59:12 -0500

There we were, lurking the front row about 20 minutes before the start of the Calvin Klein men’s show at CK Inc.’s West 39th Street headquarters on Sunday afternoon, when a storm of flashbulbs signaled what appeared to be the arrival of the first A-List celebrity. Um, is that Kurt Cobain?! the Daily Transom wondered for a split second, squinting its eyes in disbelief. Oh, never mind! It was just Jared Leto, with his...

Kelly Cutrone on Ashley Dupre: 'I Really Like This Girl!'

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:30:41 -0500

By the start of Andrew Buckler’s men's wear presentation at 5 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, the news had already spread that former New York governor Eliot Spitzer's costly paramour Ashley Dupre had been venturing out for Fashion Week.

The previous morning, Ms. Dupre had shown up unexpectedly at Yigal Azrouel’s women’s show. Mr. Azrouel’s front-of-house PR manager (and MTV reality show personality) Kelly Cutrone seated her in the front row. Although Ms....

Robert Geller Wins GQ Award

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:11:35 -0500

Yesterday, we reported on GQ's and the CFDA's second annual Best New Menswear Designers in America contest, whose six finalists were feted Wednesday evening at Rockefeller Plaza. OutKast's Andre Benjamin and his new clothing line Benjamin Bixby may have seemed like the crowd favorite, but the winner is New York's own Robert Geller, GQ announced this morning.

The German-born Mr. Geller, who is a favorite at the influential downtown men's boutique Odin, began a traineeship...

Antonio Azzuolo Tones Down the Chuck Bass in His Latest Collection

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:00:21 -0500

Shortly after 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12, the song “Out of Time” by the Rolling Stones came on in a West Village studio a few blocks from the Hudson River, and 15 boyish models wearing Antonio Azzuolo’s Fall 2009 collection lined up in front of a foot-high stage. It was the beginning of Mr. Azzuolo’s third New York Fashion Week presentation for his budding men's wear line, a.a., which blends slim, meticulous tailoring...

Get Ready to Rock With Sonic Youth

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:17:26 -0500

Happy Thursday! Pitchfork has breaking details about Sonic Youth's highly anticipated 16th studio album and followup to 2006's Rather Ripped: June 9 release date; title is The Eternal (as in, Sonic Youth has been around for an eternity and they are eternally cool!).

The Eternal will be the first album by the band, newly signed to Matador Records, to be released on an indie label since its landmark 1988 LP, Daydream Nation. Guitarist Thurston...

Andre Benjamin Will Move to New York 'If Benjamin Bixby Stays Successful'

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:20:10 -0500

If GQ’s second annual Best New Menswear Designers in America competition Wednesday night, held in a sprawling loft in Rockefeller Plaza, had been a popularity contest, it’s safe to guess whom the winner would have been: Andre Benjamin, known to fans of the genre-bending hip hop duo OutKast as Andre 3000, and to members of the fashion world as the creative mind behind the clothing label Benjamin Bixby.

Mr. Benjamin spent much of...

Hot Tickets: Throbbing Gristle at Brooklyn Masonic Temple; On Sale at 3 p.m.

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:03:01 -0500

We hear via Brooklyn Vegan that Throbbing Gristle, the pioneering avant-garde/industrial/post punk band formed in England in the mid-1970s, is playing New York City for the first time ever on April 16 at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. They're also scheduled alongside The Cure, My Bloody Valentine and Paul Weller for day three of the 2009 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. a few days later. As Prefix points out, Throbbing Gristle,...

The Hipster Rent Boys Of New York

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:18:26 -0500

On a recent Wednesday evening, Robert was with a client in Greenwich Village. It was a first-timer who’d called him a few days earlier to arrange a meeting at a bar on 9th Street so they could speak face-to-face before closing the deal he'd proposed earlier.

When Robert arrived, the man, in his mid-60s and, Robert said, “handsome and fit for his age,” was sipping a...

We're Thrill-ed! King of Pop's Video Getting Stage Treatment

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:51:13 -0500

Big news in theater today. The video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is being turned into a musical! As Chris Jones at the Chicago Tribune reported earlier this afternoon, The Nederlander Organization, which controls Broadway in Chicago, has acquired the rights to the epic 1983 music video featuring 14 minutes of dancing zombies and Mr. Jackson mutating into a werewolf. The organization also said Mr. Jackson "will be personally and fully involved in the creation of...

It's That Time Of Year Again: Village Voice Releases Pazz & Jop Poll

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:06:25 -0500

We'll refrain from those tired, "Does anyone still read the Village Voice?" jokes and instead just get right to the point: today, the troubled alt-weekly released its 2008 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll, an annual assesment of that which influential music scribes think you should be listening to. Brooklyn's T.V. on the Radio had the No. 1 album with Dear Science, while the ever-amazing M.I.A. topped the singles list with her Clash-sampling hit, "Paper...

News From Cannes: Nick Drake Tribute Due Later This Year

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:23:54 -0500

In music news today, all attention seems to be focussed on yesterday's big inauguration kick off in Washington D.C., which featured massive performances by the likes of Bruce Springsteen, U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Beyonce. But from Cannes, France, where the Midem music conference is currently taking place, news comes about a forthcoming tribute album to Nick Drake, the late, British singer-songwriter who enjoyed a posthumous boost of fame in 2000 when the title...

Something to Sing About: New York City Opera Names New Director

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:24:09 -0500

The New York City Opera just sent out a release announcing the appointment of George Steel, former executive director of Columbia University's Miller Theater, as its new general manager and artistic director. Two months ago, the Paris Opera's Gerard Mortier, who was supposed to become City Opera's general manager starting with its 2009/2010 season, backed out of the position, citing budgetary restrictions. (Aside from being homeless at the moment, City Opera has also been...

Where's Your Famous Blue Raincoat? Leonard Cohen to Play Beacon

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:44:47 -0500

OMG did we just read that Leonard Cohen is going to play his first American show in 15 years? And that it's going to be in New York at The Beacon Theater on Feb 19??? According to Reuters, Mr. Cohen has been touring Canada and Europe since May, "forced back on the road after his ... former manager and lover Kelley Lynch misappropriated more than $5 million, reducing his retirement account to $150,000. A...

From East Village to E-commerce: Chic Boutiques Say Internet Is Just The Thing for Spring!

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:28:43 -0500

Nov. 5, 2008, was a hectic day for Abiri Ward and his wife, Nina Wolff, co-owners of the East Village clothing boutique Cry Wolf. At 8 a.m. that morning, Cry Wolf launched an online store. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Wolff went into labor.

For most of the afternoon, Mr. Ward sat in front of his computer fielding phone calls and email inquiries about shipping and sizes in between timing Ms. Wolff’s...

Happy 50th, Motown!

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:12:38 -0500

Here we are, working all day long, worrying about deadlines and fact-checking and such, and we didn't even know until around 4:30 p.m. that today is Motown's 50th birthday! Thank goodness for Reuters, which tipped us off to the news with a look-back at the influential soul-music empire. (Coincidentally, an obscurish soul 45 we recently purchased on eBay, albeit not one that was released on Motown or it's affiliated Tamla/Gordy labels, arrived on our...

A New Springsteen Album Is Exciting, But What About the Super Bowl?

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:18:13 -0500

This week's issue of Rolling Stone has a piece detailing the making of Bruce Springsteen's forthcoming album, Working on a Dream, due out Jan. 27 on Columbia Records. Today, the magazine's Rock & Roll Daily blog wonders what Mr. Springsteen's performance during this year's Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 1, which might very well be the most widely-viewed performance of The Boss' career, will do for album sales. According to the blog: "Last...

Might U2 Swing a Singing Spiderman Into the City?

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:48:12 -0500

Last we checked in on the members of U2, they were auctioning off a rare Basquiat painting at a Sotheby’s Contemporary Art auction in London back in July. Today there's news about the iconic Irish rockers that's sure to excite fans, thespians and 8-year-old boys alike. Spin.com reports, via Q magazine's recent interview with U2 guitarist The Edge, that he and singer Bono have been writing songs for the forthcoming, Spiderman: The Musical. “I...

Elephant Polo, Anyone?

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:46:26 -0500

There were five seconds left in the World Elephant Polo Association’s amateur division championship in southern Nepal, and the New York Blue Elephant Polo Club was up 5-4 over the Tiger Tops Tuskers. It was a stifling Friday afternoon in December, and the New York Blue was moments away from becoming the first American elephant polo team to take home a gold trophy.

In the first half, they held the Tiger Tops scoreless, an impressive...

Change Hipsters Can Believe In--Obama Gets Indie Rock Bash In Washington

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:49:00 -0500

When Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on Jan. 20, all of this "change" we've been hearing so much about will be measurable by a number of factors: His race. His persona. His vast departure from the policies of George W. Bush and his superior ability to form a complete sentence. But perhaps more than anything, we'll be able to measure that change by the fact that...

The New Phone Phobics Use Gizmos For Everything But Talking

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:17:45 -0500

Sarah Morrison, a Williamsburg resident in her late 20s who writes for Missbehave magazine, had no problem copping to the fact that she often ignores friends’ phone calls.

“I’ll sit there and watch the phone ring and be like, ‘UGH! Why are they calling?’” said Ms. Morrison, “99 percent” of whose plans are made via text, email or “BBM” (that’s BlackBerry Messaging for all you Luddites out there). “People...

Vegetables Are the New Meat!

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:16:13 -0500

Glenn Bunger, a 38-year-old teacher from Manhattan, was driving in rural Pennsylvania last month when he saw a roadside farm. Screech! Mr. Bunger had been seeking a plump pumpkin into which he could carve the Barack Obama sunrise logo, but as he perused the crates of fresh produce, something more impressive caught his eye: an enormous, perfect-looking butternut squash, placed on a table between pots of mums and some perennial herbs.