New York Archives

How I Read the Approval Matrix

JULY 19, 2007

One of my favorite features of New York Magazine is the Approval Matrix. They place a bunch of items on a two-dimentional axis with Brilliant/Despicable on the x-axis and Lowbrow/Highbrow on the Y-axis. I've always wondered if everyone else reads it like I do. So, I thought I'd show you how I read it. Here is this week's matrix if you want to check it out yourself.

Posted in Design, Music\TV\Film\Media, New York at 8:43 am.
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The Blizzard of State Street

FEBRUARY 12, 2006

Yes, we got 26.9 inches of snow today. Good times. I've posted a photoset on flickr.

Posted in New York at 6:29 pm.
1 Comment |

My Transit Strike

DECEMBER 22, 2005

It's now day three of the transit strike. I won't bore you with idle banter about who's at fault and who's not, but I will tell you about how I got to work.

Tuesday: I didn't. For day one, I decided to do work from home. I could do that just about every day. Despite the potential distractions, working on my laptop while watching transit strike updates was quite productive. As an added bonus, I got Taco Bell for lunch, something that is relatively difficult in this city. Fast food is definitely awful for you, but it's tough to beat a double-decker taco.

Wednesday: As much as I enjoyed the comforts of my apartment, my boss wanted me in the office. Understandable, but disappointing. Being 8 miles from my office, I didn't feel like a 2 hour stroll. So, I opted to ride my bike. Aside from the expected discomfort of riding in 20 degree weather, the ride there was relatively easy. Madison Ave. was closed off to general traffic, so I only had to contend with a few buses and police vehicles. The ride home was far worse. Fifth Ave. had a lane blocked off, but there were tons of people crowding the streets and traffic was awful. The only real positive was the few entertaining cyclists I encountered along the way. Some folks just love to weave.

Thursday (today): Even if I could have biked today, I wouldn't have. Instead, I decided to try and hitch hike. A coworker had done it successfully yesterday and I thought it might be fun. So, I made up a sign* (as you can see to the right) and started walking. Luckily, before I could even take out my sign I head, "Anyone going to the Upper East Side?" I raised my hand, found out I'd get as far as 3rd and 46th and hopped in the back of his Geo. It was tight, hot and he had on Hot 97, but there was very little traffic and I got to work by 8:45. Mike, Bobby and another unkown were all nice. None of us had much sympathy for the TWU.

Tonight I'm staying in Soho and will probably walk downtown a bit (into the next zone) and catch a cab. If anything of interest happens, I'll be sure to share.

* Before making my sign, I had read a post on Speak Up about signs with really poor typography. Being a designer, I would have none of that. So, I broke out Gotham, since it was clear, readable and appropriately named.

Posted in New York at 10:52 am.
1 Comment |

It's, Like, a Bajillion Degrees

JULY 19, 2005

I know it's been hot everywhere these past few weeks, but New York City has been painful. Today, the heat index was over 100 degrees. Obviously, that's hot. But when you're in a city packed as tightly as New York, the X factor plays a significant role.

The mysterious X makes your shoes sweat and turns the air into rotten butter. It makes my air conditioning cry blood. Other cities aren't like this. I've been in Chicago for Taste of Chicago when it was 95 degrees and it wasn't as bad. Imagine being surrounded by one million fat, sweaty tourists and thousands of pounds of hot italian beef, then know that New York is somehow worse. I don't know how or why, but it is.

This is why I am currently singing songs to my window A/C unit. I think it just whispered, "Put me out of misery." I wish I could, but it's only July 18th. There's way too much summer left.

Posted in New York at 11:23 pm.
2 Comments |

Wanna See the Eels With Me?

MAY 25, 2005

I'm gonna go pick up two tickets to see the Eels on June 30th at Town Hall. They're going to be touring with strings. Does anyone want to be that 2nd? Tickets will be $30.

Even if you can't make it, I would like to strongly recomend you pick up their new album, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. E is a mad genius and this double album is pretty awesome. If you don't trust me, listen to Metacritic, who show it is the 9th best record of the year and the 82nd best since they started tracking reviews in 2000.

Posted in New York at 4:12 pm.
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