Sub city.

Sub City New York from Redglass Pictures on Vimeo

This video is about that moment in New York when you emerge from the subway and find yourself in a new and sometimes unexpected world. Nothing is better…

More NYC metro(card) love.

via My Modern Met

Last year, artists Jean-Pierre Roy and MIchael Kagan had a brilliant idea. They would recycle the countless, used MetroCards New Yorkers mindlessly throw away and turn them into something amazing. These discarded pieces of trash would serve as canvases on which to create miniature works of art. They would call the show Single Fare.

Last night I decided to clean out my purse – who knew that would make me nostalgic for New York City. Floating around the bottom of my huge purse were three MetroCards I collected during my trip last month to New York. This blog is always an ode to my love of New York City, so I thought a photo from the Sloan Fine Art Gallery on the Lower East Side would be perfect for today’s post.

The making of a New Yorker.

In “The Making of a New Yorker” author John Steinbeck writes something that encompasses a lot of my summer experience in New York City…

ew York is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it-once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough. All of everything is concentrated here, population, theatre, art, writing, publishing, importing, business, murder, mugging, luxury, poverty. It is all of everything. It goes all right. It is tireless and its air is charged with energy. I can work longer and harder without weariness in New York than anyplace else…

via A Society Story

Drop cap artwork from www.dailydropcap.com

Happy hump day.

surprise ball on Vimeo by kate spade new york

ize does doesn’t matter. The best places in New York to shop are not always the GINORMOUS department stores or multi-level mazes on Broadway. Sometimes the best places are narrow store fronts that require you to ‘suck-in’ and turn sideways to let another shopper squeeze by. They are marked by conspicuous signs. And they are found by navigating the “mean” back alleys of Soho and West Village. So Happy Hump Day – here’s a video from two great shops I have enjoyed visiting in New York. In this video the team at Kate Spade New York (hello well-known designer name) shows you the magic of a “special ball” from kiosk (hello new find).

Speaking of Kate Spade…

Whoever is running the Kate Spade social media marketing projects – applause to you. Obviously I am liking your video on vimeo, but the other content you have is so much fun too: behind the scenes photos, an aesthetically designed facebook page, a blog titled ‘Things We Love‘ AND a shout out to a St. Louis business (that I am obsessed with) – there is only one thing I can imagine still wanting… an invitation for a job! Hire me, I’m in love!

(Drop cap art from www.dailydropcap.com)

Being stupid.

Stupid is as stupid does right? Well if that’s the case then Diesel was stupid with “Be Stupid.”

Starting in January the apparel brand used an online, print, and outdoor advertising campign developed by Anomaly London to barrage us with images of teenage girls flashing cameras, the desire to think with our balls, and the idea it was socially savvy to have a hangover.

I can see why groups of protective moms and Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority were pissed.

But stupid is as stupid does. And as a society, we can be pretty stupid. Want to know why were stupid in this case? We bought into it.

Diesel’s “Be Stupid” campaign did exactly what it preached to its clients to do. It acted stupid. It tread the line, it went against middle-America norms, and it made some mistakes. That is what made it work – the company bought in to its own advertised philosophy. By being stupid, Diesel got people mad and it made them talk – that is how to get attention in this age.

And let’s be honest, you can’t really argue with the philsophy Diesel created as the core basis for its ads. The brand asked people to go after their hopes and dreams, to not be stopped by convention, and to not be afraid to fail. Sounds pretty Disney-esque to me…

Add bold colors, bold print, pretty people, and bass-heavy music – it is no wonder the younger set of consumers loved it and, six months later, the campaign is still in full swing.

(Below are photos I took on 5th Avenue of the Diesel store)

14th Street FML subway stop.

@huffingtonpost provides quite the array of news. One minute it tweets “Proof that Justin Bieber fans are craaaazy - http://huff.to/aCESyK” and the next it informs me “BP may agree to set up a massive victim’s compensation fund - http://huff.to/cs8Pd8.” But it’s ok, I keep following because I like my Bieber fix to be mixed with some news that actually makes me feel like a competent, slightly informed American citizen. This may be all journalists can ask for from a population that may turn the news on but tunes it out… but that’s a post for a later date.

Today @huffingtonpost led me to a New York related story and, because I’m pretending to be a real New Yorker (minus the love for the Yankees), I decided to read on and to now add a bit to the discussion.

image via CNET - click on it to check their story out

The the article says:

The MTA promises to change new signage at a 14th Street subway station that now boasts a profane internet punchline.

Because the M train is replacing the V train, a previously innocuous subway sign now reads FML.

For the uninformed, FML is internet slang for “f**k my life.”

Best change ever. Do we really live in a society in which A) people automatically think “f**k my life” when they see those three letters in a vicinity near each other and B) is the abbreviation FML really so offensive the MTA needs to create a new way to display the info? I guess we do. In a few days the sign will read FL and have the M line displayed below.

I find the whole thing ironic. This weekend I hopped on the subway not too far from where the “FML stop” is. As I sat down, a huge group of teenagers jumped through the door before it could close. The string of profanities I listened to for the next thirty minutes not only broached FML, but also a lot of things involving a lot more creativity and imagination. And it’s not like the teenagers were the only ones. This is NYC we are talking about, not bible belt Missouri!

So thanks @huffingtonpost – now I know I need to head to the 14th street stop ASAP so I can get a picture of the infamous FML sign before it is gone.

Other perspectives:

CNET

The Village Voice

Disinformation

City chic.

Image from Come Out and Play

Remember when I said New York is the city that never sleeps – well I forgot to mention that New York is also the city that never goes out of style.

I live most of the year in Columbia, Missouri. While the city will always be near and dear to my heart – its closest relationship with high fashion comes via “guest” designer lines at Target. New York fashion is an addicting drug and I am the desperate addict. No matter where I go I’m confronted by temptation and my brain just cannot say no; Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, BCBG, J. Crew,  YSL, Zac Posen, Anthropologie, American apparel – pick your poison. The best part is, you don’t even need to be rich to afford these indulgences. Places like Century 21 and Feline’s Basement practically give away goods for free (aka 70% off) or you could always adventure into some dark warehouse in Chinatown to haggle your way through an “it fell off the truck” deal (not that I would ever do that… on a regular basis).

But it is more than just the designer names and a shopper’s compulsion that drive me to these conclusions. It is the people of New York that truly make it a city always in style. A morning commute on the 1 Line proves this. The red subway path runs from The Bronxs to Brooklyn and stops at every major New York attraction in between – Columbia University, Central Park, 42nd Street, Rockefeller, Battery Park, NYU – it has it all. The people on the 1 come from every background and each have their own flair (and not the type from Office Space). The business suit sits next to the gardener jumpsuit who sits next to the artist smock. At some point during their early morning bumpy ride below the living city, each passenger’s style rubs off on the other. That is what keeps the city perpetually in the lookbook and that is what makes New York uniqely fashionable, no high-end labels necessary. Great news for a broke intern…

Empire state of mind.

“In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
Theres nothing you can’t do. Now you’re in New York,
These streets will make you feel brand new,
The lights will inspire you.” (Jay-Z/Alicia Keys – Empire State Of Mind)

Chuck Bass I've been watching you too - Gossip Girl reruns are prepping me for NYC, because, we all know, the way things are on television are just like they are in real life.

In just a few weeks time I will be on a plane headed for the ‘concert jungle’ and for a summer in THE city, New York City – can’t wait!

So is the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys anthem the theme song for my summer? Too soon to decide, but it is a good lead-off song for the playlist. The motto for this playlist? Work hard, play hard…

Work hard:

I am so lucky to have the opportunity to be one of 50 editorial interns for Time Inc. and to work in the Sports Illustrated for Kids department. There is no opportunity in Missouri that can compare to this; I will get to work with experienced professionals, at a reputable publication, and in a professional atmosphere. I am excited for whatever journalistic opportunities I will be given this summer and I will jump to take on any project out there. The internship is my ticket to an amazing summer so I will make sure I do everything possible to earn it.

Play hard:

St. Louis to New York – culture shock right? With only three months to experience the greatest city on Earth, you can bet I will be busy. Dave Matthews says to “Stay up late and make some memories,” in his song So Right.

I don’t know if that quote actually is the best approach to take toward college, but it will be my approach for this summer. Sleep is not an option when you have a limited time in a city that never sleeps. I will never be younger and more full of life than I am right now – time to take advantage of it and take advantage of an experience I will not get again.

I will fake the Ivy Leage cred while living at a Columbia University dorm and I will walk the ‘working girl’ walk while slaving away in an office in Rockefeller Center – what more can I possibly ask for?

… Maybe a map for the subway, hmmm.