There’s just no nice way to put it: the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards sucked. And it didn’t even suck because of a shitastic trainwreck performance like last year, but because it’s obvious that MTV just doesn’t care anymore. Continue…
Monday, September 8, 2008 0:53
We here at NYU Local tend to get really excited about New Media, and rightfully so - New Media is what this whole enterprise is all about. It’s about a total commitment to exploring the new world of possibilities for journalism that a web-based platform opens up. That leads us in a dramatically different direction than, say, NYTimes.com, which mostly exists to aggregate content that goes into the print version. Sure, they have some pretty good blogs (I’m a big fan of the Freakonomics blog) and some video, comments, and other things, but if you look at the articles that make up the bulk of the site, they’re written in the same style that’s served the Gray Lady since time immemorial.
That’s not New Media, at least not as we see it here - it’s Old Media that you can look at on your iPhone. What we do here is centered around the basic assumption that it’s not just the medium that’s evolved, but the rules underlying what journalists do. And we’re at an interesting point in history where everyone is trying to figure out what the hell that means.
Continue…
If Starbucks isn’t highbrow enough of a place for you to be spotted working hard on your newest screenplay or The Next Great American Novel, consider Paragraph, a workspace for writers located conveniently in a 2500 square foot loft on West 14th Street. From the website:
Paragraph was created by writers for writers, with an understanding that writers work best in a quiet, comfortable space away from the hurry and obligation of urban life.
The area has a writing room, with 38 “partitioned desks” (cubicles) where “members secure the right to a desk, a lamp and a power strip in a shared space where they can ply their trade day and night,” says the New York Times. There is also a kitchen and lounge area, where writers can presumably chat about Proust and lament the hardships of being a starving, struggling writer in New York City.
But there’s a catch - you can’t be too much of a starving, struggling writer to join: full-time membership for a year costs $702, or $117 a month. That’s more than it costs to maintain the obligatory writer’s smoking habit, so make sure you publish a book or two (like The Devil Wears Prada) first to be able afford it.
“Basically, it’s just a quiet place to write,” says one of the proprietors of Paragraph.
Photo: Ruby Washington/The New York Times
Sunday, September 7, 2008 23:24For those of you who sort of watch Gossip Girl just ’cause, you know, you’re bored and it’s on and turning it off would be a lot of effort and it’s not a big deal because you’re not obsessed or anything, loitering around Ludlow and Rivington at 8pm this Tuesday might not be a bad idea.
Saturday, September 6, 2008 13:09In what could easily be called one of the worst party attempts in the history of lame events, our 3rd North party flopped pretty hard. Good news is that the site is a hell of a lot better than our entertainment efforts. Keep reading.
Friday, September 5, 2008 21:40
—– This week, in City, we are featuring our Ultimate Guide to the City. We want to help those of you who are new to New York (as well as those who have been basking in the sun and drinking margaritas for too long this summer) get (re)aquainted with the basics of living in New York. On Tuesday we will present Food and Getting Around, on Wednesday, Things to See, on Thursday, Online Resources, and on Friday, Nightlife.
Editor’s Note: The author submitted this article anonymously, at approximately 7 a.m., through my dorm window, tied to a brick. It was written primarily on twenty- and fifty-dollar bills, some in better condition than others. Many were in tatters and would have been unsalvageable but for the care and dedication of the NYPD’s forensics unit who worked in conjunction with several prominent Dead Sea Scrolls scholars – including NYU’s own Rabbi Lawrence Schiffman. The Editors would like to emphasize that there is no way to assure the veracity of the author’s multiple, potentially libelous claims and that we do not condone this often illegal, but always unsafe, behavior. We print this as a public service – to exhibit the depths to which one can sink when immersed in the Nightlife of New York City.
Friday, September 5, 2008 17:02
It’s easy to lose track of music’s current events in the summer. Lucky for you, we’re ready to help catch you up. Blogs never take a vacation, so for those of you who might have actually spent some time outside instead of on the internet this summer, this is what you missed. For those who remained plugged in, I am sorry. Continue…
Editor’s Note: Brad will be blogging weekly about local politics, especially in relation to NYU.
“NYU professors should be teaching those kids something about civic responsibility. Why aren’t there any students fighting this with us? They’re ignorant of the realities that NYU brings upon the rest of us here. They’re too caught up in this theory or that concept and don’t even care about what’s happening to our community – no respect for the history here…”
These were the words I faced from a button-clad activist upon my first venture to a Community Board 2 (CB2) public hearing this summer. Each speaker – all community members – one after the other repeated the same cries against NYU’s development.
The comments had been directed towards NYU’s development plans for the Provincetown Playhouse on MacDougal, which NYU intends to make into new Law School facilities. Though the university has promised to preserve and restore the building’s façade, as well as the walls of the structure, the community members who spoke voiced unanimous opposition to the project. Their claims were based on historic preservation and persistent opposition to NYU’s expansion throughout the Village.
Friday, September 5, 2008 14:09
From unwelcome fondling to the sort of heat and crowding that always leaves me swearing I’ll never descend below street level again, travel on the subway has its issues. When it comes down to it though, it’s the cheapest, most efficient way of getting around and I’ve learned to deal with a groping here, a foot stepped on there. Last night, however, I found that there is one Subway behavior that I pretty much refuse to grow accustomed to:
Pissing on the floor. Seriously. It happened.
I was on the downtown 6 train at about 2am, sitting in a relatively empty car save for the three bums in various stages of repose. I get it, they’ve got nowhere to go and $2 to enter the subway and ride around all night isn’t bad. Peeing in your sleep, on the other hand, is bad. It’s particularly bad when you’re sitting across from me because I’ll probably take a picture and put it online.
Photo: Cody Brown
Friday, September 5, 2008 12:27Tuition at NYU has gotten a bit ridiculous and Max Stephenson wants you to pay his. Well, $2.50 of it. In the weeks before school began, Max, a freshman, sent an email to friends, family members, and tangential aquaintences, asking them for a small contribution to his tuition fund and promising every contributor a piece of his graduation gown four years from now.
Asked to comment about the success of his plan, which has garnered more than $5,000 in two weeks, Stephens said, “I was confident there were a lot of nice people out there who believe in kids and their education. Thankfully, I was right. Looks like I’m going to be a (gownless) NYU graduate!”
Interested in throwing your $2.50 into Max’s hat? Contact him at mstephenson@AccessHybrid.org
Friday, September 5, 2008 12:09