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The Year Observed

The Year Observed

The Most Excellent Hot Messes of 2013

By Observer Staff 12/31/13 1:00pm

13 Photos

Two time Super Bowl MVP, ladies and gentleman.

We sexted, we filibustered, we shot selfies at Nelson Mandela’s funeral. We made bad websites. We were led astray by cronuts and tempted by imaginary girlfriends, and we shamed our dogs on Facebook. Let he among us who has not twerked pop the first hip bump! We hurled epithets at photographers, stunk up the basketball court and humiliated our spouses. Atonement in January’s harsh glare is nigh, but first, a salute to some of the year’s more colorful newsmakers. Read More

The Year Observed

The 13 Most Internet Things of 2013

By Molly Mulshine 12/31/13 10:37am

(via knowyourmeme.com)

While some people may have spent 2013 paying attention to current events, fashion or culture, we at Betabeat spent the past 12 months absorbing dumb Internet things, as always. What makes a thing an Internet thing? It has to be something that wouldn’t have occurred pre-Internet, and it has to be absurd. Read More

The Year Observed

Status Symbols of 2013

By Jennifer Ashley Wright 12/30/13 2:00pm

9 Photos

Dior's Andy Warhol Bag

Bill De Blasio might be coming onstage to the sound of “Royals,” but some of us have seen a diamond in the flesh. That said, “Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece” and all the other stuff Lorde has never seen feels fairly 2003 (and “tigers on a gold leash” haven’t been chic since Scarface).

Here are the items that separated the royals from the pretenders in 2013. Read More

The Year Observed

The Biggest Media Deals of 2013

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 12/27/13 11:30am

BLOOMGARDEN - 2013 YEAR OBSERVED - MEDIA DEALS

This year, cautious optimism at the state of the industry replaced the gloom and doom of a particularly rough 2012.

Deals were made, Silicon Valley money was invested in legacy publications and promising start-ups, and journalists found shelter in the increasingly porous world of branded content. Instead of an ever-higher body count, 2013 brought announcements of deals and acquisitions. Read More

The Year Observed

Here Comes the Fun: Our Top Five Celebration Destinations

By Benjamin-Emile Le Hay 12/26/13 1:00pm

LE HAY BENJAMIN - 2013 YEAR OBSERVED - HOTSPOTS

After a few dull years of under-stimulating clubs and lounges—and too few late nights of appealing debauchery—things improved a bit this year, as a new swell of NYC party spaces helped amp up the fun. Few of these venues broke barriers in terms of artful conception, but their success was realized, in part, due to an aptitude for accommodating fanciful design schemes while also permitting attendees the elbow room to move and mingle. Basically, if you weren’t having a good time in 2013, you were at the wrong parties. Read More

The Year Observed

Party People: Best Guests of 2013

By Neesha Arter 12/26/13 10:00am

11 Photos

Alexa Chung (Right)

With all due respect to Salman Rushdie, some party guests are just better than others, and it’s not just about good looks and stylish clothes. To be a must-add to any NYC guest list, you must be witty, you must be smart, and you must be nice. Here are the people we spent 2013 hoping to snag a seat next to at any table. Read More

The Year Observed

Politics: Winners and Losers

By Colin Campbell 12/23/13 3:27pm

POLITICKER - 2013 YEAR OBSERVED - WINNERS AND LOSERS

Of course, there are the obvious winners: Notably, Bill de Blasio, who crushed Republican Joe Lhota in an historic landslide after 20 years of Republican (or at least non-Democratic) rule.

But less glaring is the wide range of supporting players, interest groups and even grassroots activists poised to share in the spoils of the new administration, elbowing out those who backed losing candidates.  Read More

The Year Observed

The Trophy Craze That Wasn’t: The Biggest Real Estate Deals of 2013

By Kim Velsey and Chris Pomorski 12/23/13 10:00am

21 Photos

The Biggest Deals of 2013

In time, porcelain chips, silver tarnishes, silk fades and even the bubbliest trophy market goes flat. Nothing lasts forever, least of all the giddy highs of the ultra-luxury housing market, particularly one whose effervescence involves a lot of hot air.

Alas, the deal that kicked off 2012’s trophy craze—the $88 million sale of Sandy Weill’s 15 Central Park West penthouse—looks more and more like a one-off with each passing month. The biggest sale of 2013, a six-story “loft mansion” at 144 Duane Street, clocks in at less than half that amount—a mere $43 million—and $11 million less than the top co-op sale of 2012. The bloom is off the rose. Or rather, the shine is off the trophy. Seems there are only so many Russian billionaires to go around. Read More