My friend Sean sent me this copy of a letter he sent to an apartment broker’s company management about how his wife was yelled at and harassed by the broker when she tried to find an apartment. It’s a lovely, heart-warming tale of bullying, harassment, and attempted bribery right here in good ol’ Brooklyn. Enjoy! (All phone numbers and e-mail addresses have been redacted to protect the innocent and not-so-innocent, as the case may be. Warning: the language is not for the squeamish.)

To Whom It May Concern:

As you can clearly see from the text message I have forwarded below, one of your “representatives”, Seth (xxx.xxx.xxxx), has gone above and beyond his duties in representing your company.

Backstory:

My wife called Seth in regards to an ad posted on Craigslist for a 1 Bedroom Apartment for rent in Greenpoint. Upon making contact with Seth, my wife was asked the following:

“When do you need to move by?”

When my wife explained to him that we were flexible, as our current lease was month-to-month, Seth responded with the following (which is pretty similar to what he said to me in his text message):

“People like you will never rent the apartment, and if you want to see the apartment, you need to give me $1000.00.”

My wife asked if that was his broker’s fee, he said no, that the broker’s fee is one month’s rent, but the $1000.00 was to just “see the apartment”. My wife, shocked and upset, then tried to explain to him why we were moving (repeated break-ins in our building), but Seth decided he should scream at her, saying “show me the money, you fucking cunt”, and then he hung up on her.
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I don’t know what’s funnier – that local NBC newscaster Sue Simmons dropped an f-bomb in a live promo spot for the 11:00 news on Monday night, or that the NY Times wrote a 2-page article about it.

Look, I know she’s a newscaster and should remain professional on the air. Apparently she wasn’t aware the promo spot was live – most of the time they are taped and edited later – so she slipped up. I’m sure plenty of newscasters and other on-air professionals do this all the time. And it’s not like you don’t hear the f-bomb dropped every day walking around New York City streets. Hell, you might even see it on this blog later today. Shocking!

In any case, she apologized. Let it go, NY Times. Find some other minor thing to make a fuss over.

Rockefeller Center is more than just a touristy destination. Spend more than a few minutes there on a quiet day and you will get a good feeling form this little midtown gem. Photo taken with a Sigma DP1.

This was put in place a few days ago, but if you haven’t noticed yet, here’s your heads-up. The folks at Metroblogging HQ are hard at work making the Metblogs sites even more awesome, as stated by Sean:

Our team of coding lolcats has been hard at work this week and after taunting them with many cheeseburgers we have two fancy new features to show off. Check out the bar just up top there – previously you’ve only been able to see the most recent post followed by the second most recently followed by the third and so on. Now you can see them that way, or by clicking one of the other tabs you can also see them sorted by what has the most active discussions going on in the comments right now, as well as what our fancy internal magic has determined to be the most popular. I can’t tell you exactly how we figure it out, but I also can’t tell you that it’s not 100% based on us throwing darts at our laptop screens or a triple blind survey of kids hanging out at Starbucks on Melrose. Enjoy!

Don’t forget to read stuff and comment on stuff to help make those pages get more populated.

If you happen to be in midtown this weekend and see some art walking down the street, don’t be alarmed! The art is in the form of tattoos, and the wearers are probably in town to attend the NYC Tattoo Convention at the Roseland Ballroom. This is approximately the one millionth year that the NYC convention has been at Roseland, and it’s always a good time, even if you just go there for people-watching. Lots of amazing artists, both local and from all over the world, come to this convention, some of whom you’d have to travel a very long way to see otherwise. Some of my favorites include New York Adorned’s Chris O’Donnell (just around the corner in Brooklyn) and Dan DiMattia of Calypso Tattoo (usually very far away in Liège, Belgium). There are also plenty of piercers on hand if you want to acquire a new hole or some new jewelry for an existing one, and several companies selling tattoo-themed wares such as Lucky Girl Handbags. I’ll be heading over to the convention sometime this weekend, probably hovering somewhere near the Lucky Girl booth trying not to drool on their handbags. (What? They’re very nice.)

The NYC Tattoo Convention is this Friday, May 16 through Sunday, May 18th at Roseland Ballroom on 52nd Street, just west of Broadway. Hours and ticket info are on their website. See you there!

Photo from hamishrobertson.com

Something that’s always struck me about New York rainstorms is their affect on your umbrella. After almost any major rainstorm, you can walk through the city streets and find the corpses of many ruined umbrellas who could not handle the wind of the storm. I have struggled with my own flimsy umbrella which is conveniently collapsible, but will flip out with the slightest gust. I tried going the raincoat route, using something I affectionately called my urban poncho, but my hood bothered me by constantly falling in front of my eyes and obscuring my peripheral vision.

Yesterday I had it. I was sick of holding my umbrella down to avoid (or just hold off) the flip out. I’d been eying those adorable, clear, dome umbrellas and yesterday I decided to buy one. The second I stepped out into the rain it was worth it. I had to walk a few avenues and found myself securely underneath a strong (yet cute) umbrella, watching the many suffering umbrellas around me that might not have lasted the night.

The Camera Club of New York is a long lived organization that has been around for over 100 years. It is THE club that helped photography gain acceptance as an art form. The movement by Alfred Stieglitz was started right here in our city. It became a forum for the advancement of the new art form with lectures given by some of the world’s famous photographers, Steichen, Atget, and Avedon. The Camera Club is steeped in rich tradition that makes me proud to be a New York photographer. I went to see their new space recently at 336 W. 37th st. They have juried exhibitions and some of the best darkroom rental rates in the city; provided that you sign up for at least 3 months or a year. The Camera Club is for serious photographers who want a forum to present their art and a place to create it. I urge anyone who has even a remote interest in photography to go and view their exhibition space or attend a lecture.

Last night, I saw something I’ve never seen before – either in the city or anywhere else. At Regal Cinemas in Union Square, after seeing the movie Iron Man (which I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend), the men’s bathroom had a line twice the size of the ladies bathroom. It was bizarre. The men’s line wrapped out into the hallway, while there was barely a wait for the women’s. I don’t whether it had something to do with the gender ratio of the audience for Iron Man, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before!

I run around the city quite a bit, on foot, on the subway, and sometimes in cabs. I try not to take cabs as often as I used to because public transportation is cheaper, greener, and better for me, what with all the walking and climbing stairs and whatnot. But sometimes, when I have to race from a doctor’s appointment in SoHo to a customer meeting on the UES, I gotta deal with the cabs.

I have a love/hate relationship with NYC taxis. One of the things I’ve come to like for its convenience yet despise for its annoyances are the credit card/infotainment devices in the back of most (if not all) cabs now. They’re touch-screens, and they have the option for you to turn them off, which I always do for a couple of reasons – one, I don’t want to watch TV all the time, and two, I get motion sickness if I read things while I’m in a moving car, and I just can’t tear my eyes away from the news ticker when it’s on. However, a few weeks ago, I was in a cab whose touch screen didn’t work. I couldn’t turn it off – the mute “button” didn’t work, nor did the off button. The driver couldn’t override it either. So I just hung my head out the window, much like a dog, and tried to ignore it.

I also had the privilege of seeing one of them reboot itself after an error. It was running Windows 2000. Way to stay current!

I do like the ability to pay via credit card. I usually pay cash, and always tip in cash, but every once in a while I have to get somewhere and don’t have the cash on hand. I know the last couple of taxi strikes were about this issue (among others) – the drivers said that many people who pay by credit card don’t tip and they get less of a cut because of the credit card fees.

So what do you think? Do you like the little news and ad TVs in the cabs? Like the convenience of the credit card machines?  Think cabs are for rich yuppie assholes? Confess!

Photo from innatirving.com

My mother and sister hosted a lovely bridal shower for me last weekend at Lady Mendl’s. A historic brownstone, Lady Mendl’s has a lovely exterior and a ridiculously elegant inside. High ceilings, ornately-carved furniture, and large windows fill this refined establishment.

As it’s just a short walk from Union Square, I thought I’d arrive with moments to spare. But by some odd stroke of luck, nearly all the guests arrived early and I entered to find a full house of guests! We’d reserved one of the private rooms and it was the perfect size for an intimate party. The space feels like some (very wealthy) person’s sitting room – and this just creates a warm vibe.

I unfrazzled myself with the help of some delicious champagne cocktails – the guava and champagne was particularly tasty! The atmosphere made for easy chatting and mingling until the lunch and tea were served. The meal consisted of a yummy salad, a selection of delicious finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, and chocolate-covered strawberries with candies. Everything tasted wonderful, and looked adorable at the same time!

After I’d opened my gifts, one of my bridesmaids remarked that she’d like to live at Lady Mendl’s and I agreed.