Vito Override: Disgraced Politician Ponders a Second Act
Oolong Suckers: Beware of Friendly Strangers Inviting You for Tea
A Long Strange Sip: (Mis)Adventures In New York's Crazed Cocktail Scene
Vito Override: Disgraced Politician Ponders a Second Act
Million Dollar Day: Riding Along with Real Estate Reality Star Ryan Serhant
I Like Bike
Hate Crime in the Village
Not So Lonely at the Top: John Turturro Scales Great Heights in the Service of Ibsen
Silver: Stay and Deliver
Million Dollar Day: Riding Along with Real Estate Reality Star Ryan Serhant
7:45 AM: Ryan Serhant, the former hand model/soap opera actor-turned-real estate superstar, beats The Observer to his Tribeca office by an hour. “I’m always the first one in,” brags the 28-year-old broker at Nest Seekers International, a boutique real estate brokerage firm.
He has been up since 4:23 a.m, was at the gym by 5 a.m. and in the office shortly thereafter. When we offer to go for a bleary-eyed coffee run, he yells from his office, “Don’t forget to write about how you were an hour late!” Read More
I Like Bike
I ride a bicycle in New York City.
It’s not a political act. It’s transportation.
A lot has changed since I started in 1978, but the inescapable logic of cycling here hasn’t: Things are close together. The place is mainly flat.
It’s not for everyone, which is part of the allure. It demands an attention—to Read More
Hate Crime in the Village
As Mark Carson walked through Greenwich Village with a companion early Sunday morning, another man taunted him with vile homophobic slurs. Then, with no warning, Mr. Carson was fatally shot in the face. Mark Carson was murdered because he was gay.
This is the sort of crime we associate with locales far removed from the Read More
Not So Lonely at the Top: John Turturro Scales Great Heights in the Service of Ibsen
At the Brooklyn Academy of Music, once a night, John Turturro has been climbing a steeple. To a quiet drumbeat, he goes hand over hand up the side of a tilting house, and when he reaches the top, he does not beat his chest like King Kong.
“I’m just trying to be careful,” he said last week.
His wife and friends watch from below, panicked and exhilarated, and the audience feels the same, joined together for a few minutes in the timeless tension of wondering whether or not a man is going to fall. Read More
Silver: Stay and Deliver
Sheldon Silver should not resign as Speaker of the Assembly.
He should—he must—take the lead on authentic reform and genuine accountability in Albany. He has to change, and he has to create change. Calls for independent commissions simply won’t get the job done. But through his absolute control over the Assembly, Mr. Silver already has Read More
War of the Words: Sharp-tongued Honorees and Attendees Spit Daggers at NYC Galas
There wasn’t a drop of red wine at the New York Historical Society’s perennial Strawberry Festival luncheon last week, and Shindigger was left to wonder: wasn’t it five o’clock somewhere? Sure, there was a delicious quinoa, truffle and herb salad, but that wasn’t why everyone had turned out. It was to see Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski receive the Women in Public Life award. Read More
The CLIO Awards: What’s The Big Idea?
The 54th annual CLIO Awards ceremony, held last week, seemed to straddle some kind of line between innovation and industry nostalgia—much like the ads they were celebrating. Instead of The Waldorf Astoria, they were held at the Natural History Museum. Instead of Paul Newman, who gave the keynote speech on a recent episode of Mad Men, the ceremony was hosted by Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet. And instead of dinner, there were hors d’oeuvres during a pre-ceremony cocktail hour.
But some things never change.
“What this night is really about is getting through these awards as fast as we can so we can all go drink again,” Mr. Stonestreet said, to cheers. Read More
Adult Swimming with Kanye West
“Tru$t U$,” read the sign behind the bar of the Roseland Ballroom last Thursday night, as a couple hundred reporters, ad sales reps, financial backers and celebrities crammed into the performance space to see the Adult Swim upfronts. Well, that wasn’t exactly true—most people weren’t there to see the new lineup of shows that will air on Cartoon Network, or to rub elbows with Lake Bell (Childrens Hospital), Paul Scheer (Filthy Sexy Teen$), Seth Green (Robot Chicken) or Aziz Ansari, who will be doing a voice cameo on Venture Bros. Instead, they were there to see the night’s entertainment: Kanye West.
Somehow, Adult Swim, owned by Turner Broadcasting, has always managed to book the most impossible talent for its upfront events. Two years ago, Jay-Z performed a 50-minute set; last year, T.I. was the main draw. But something about booking Mr. West—who had been the star guest and musical entertainment at the Met Gala the previous week, and would be closing out the season of Saturday Night Live two days later, and whose new album (the title leaked to the press: Yeezus) drops June 18—was an extra-special get. Read More
