Gawker: users guide

Midtown East

Joshua Stein — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:20:48 EDT

There's a lot to unpack in Midtown East. A bunch of neighborhoods rolled into one, the area stretches from Gramercy Park in the south to the Upper East Side, from 5th Avenue to the East River. It contains the sadness of Murray Hill (AKA Murray Hell) as well as the triumph of Tudor City. If there is a vast media conspiracy, this is its home turf. We sent Joshua "Virgil" Stein and Richard "Doré" Blakeley to show you the way in this, the last installment of Gawker's User's Guides.

Previously: Chelsea, TriBeCa, NoLIta, Williamsburg, Park Slope.

Chelsea

Joshua Stein — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:15:46 EDT

Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows spoke for many of us when he sang, "Something about the buildings in Chelsea just kills me/Maybe in a month or two/Maybe when things are different for me/Maybe when things are different for you." His lyrics embody so very many of Chelsea's qualities: deadly, confusing, kind of dumb, a little gay. As part of our ongoing quest to document every single neighborhood in New York City, we sent Richard Blakeley and Joshua David Stein to report from the fields of Chelsea.

Previously: TriBeCa, NoLIta, Williamsburg, Park Slope.

TriBeCa

Joshua Stein — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:20:25 EDT

TriBeCa is the closest thing Manhattanites have to the Garden of Eden. Farmer's markets line the streets. Apple cider flows from fountains. Robert DeNiro can often be seen putzing around Nobu and the preschools are filled with angelic cherubim. As part of our handy Users Guide series, Joshua David Stein and the ever-perky cameraman Richard Blakeley explore the wilds of the most expensive zip code in the city. P.S. Our apologies to Drew Nierpont for the completely inaccurate pronunciation of his last name. Turns out it's Jewy not Frenchy.

NoLIta

Joshua Stein — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:50:42 EDT

Though small and seemingly transparent, NoLIta is difficult to decode. Bordered by Lafayette on the west, Bowery on the East, Houston on the north and Kenmare on the south, the neighborhood is densely packed with models, boutiques and "artists." We sent Joshua David Stein and video guy Richard Blakeley to report.

Earlier: Williamsburg, Park Slope

Williamsburg

Joshua Stein — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:52:17 EDT

Williamsburg, nestled along the river in northern Brooklyn, has perhaps been New York's fastest-changing neighborhood in the last decade. Now subject to a massive waterfront rezoning, the homeland of hipsters is threatened with doom, just as it was when actual poor people lived there a couple of years ago. As part of our series of Users Guides, we've sent Joshua David Stein and Richard Blakeley to report from Bedford Avenue, the Champs-Élysées of New York City.

Previously: Park Slope

Park Slope

Joshua Stein — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:20:15 EDT

Our jury is still out on Park Slope: Do we love or hate the expensive, brownstoney neighborhood that sprawls down westward from Prospect Park? As part of our User's Guide series, we sent Joshua David Stein and Richard Blakeley to deliver us the definitive report on Park Slope.

How To Befriend A Blogger For Real

abalk2 — Thu, 10 May 2007 17:25:07 EDT

The Politico is offering its audience of congressional pages and lobbyist interns a handy list of ways to get the ear of the blogosphere. While their tips are directed at those who want to make contact with political bloggers, many of them can be applied to those who blog about things like, say, media and celebrity gossip. And cats. And cheezborgahs. We've taken their suggestions and adapted them to let you know how to get your whatever placed right here.

1. Bloggers cover stories that interest them, not all the news that's fit to print.
Guess what, we don't care about Darfur! I mean, sure, we care in the sense that human suffering on a mass scale is a terrible thing to have to hear about at dinner parties, but if it's not about vagina pictures or poetesses like Meghan O'Rourke (or, ideally, a combination thereof), we can't do anything with it. It's great that you want to save the environment and everything, but our Joel Stein jokes aren't going to write themselves, unlike Joel's. Just send us the stuff we can use.

2. Bloggers are lone individuals with limited amounts of time rather than large institutions with a space quota to fill.
This is decidedly not the case for us. Sure, we're lone individuals (for good antisocial reason), but we have MASSIVE quotas. We need whatever we can get. Except crap about Darfur or the environment that isn't about lady-flowers.

3. Bloggers write about topics in their areas of interest from a particular point of view.
Absolutely. Here's a handy guide to who is interested in what and how they'll write it. Emily likes stuff about how the ladies are oppressed by the patriarchy. Also feline friends. She will write with strident wit. Doree is interested in media shenanigans and anything that makes kids at Columbia look stupid. She will drill down. Josh is all about restaurants and real estate. He will use many words which you will have to look up in the dictionary, and might have sex with your girlfriend. Balk tosses off whatever falls out of his brain, often without regard to spelling or logical conclusions. He is also interested in finding a new job, one that involves getting or dispensing alcohol. Choire is a master at examining the intersection of class and culture in New York. Expect many exclamation marks. Also at this point, he will basically do anything to get with any kind of man. Particularly one with a big neck and a beard, maybe a little bit dumpy, 38-44, under 240 pounds, tall is good but short works, preferably with a six-figure salary. He is both desperate and serious.

4. Bloggers need material for posts rather than quotes from both sides.
Yep. We don't even give a shit if it doesn't even have one side!

5. Consider giving exclusives, especially to more prominent bloggers.
Again, yes. Who's more prominent than us? Maybe the panda chick from Gothamist. Or 874 other weblogs. Even so, we love exclusives. They make our owner happy, which keeps him off our backs for a little while. (Ten or so minutes, but you have no idea how valuable, and soothing, those ten minutes are. It's like right after you put the lotion on but before you put it back in the basket.) Also, we are total whores for exclusives. We will so quid whatever your quo is.

6. Bloggers aren't party operatives.
This is true on across the board. Don't assume that because we've said something nice about you once we'll always follow your lead. We make our own decisions and call things as we see them. Unless you've got an exclusive, in which case we'll say whatever you want, and trash our mothers in the process.

7. Less is more.
Right. Guess what happens the third time we hear about your amazing product/brilliant blog/penis-erecting pill in a single day? It goes into the trash folder alongside all the e-mails from Choire telling us "PLEASE TO USE, PROPER PUNCTUATION, YOU COMMA, SPLICERS." Sure, sometimes we forget about things, but if you've e-mailed us something five times in two hours and we haven't done anything about it, there's a reason: We don't give a shit. And you're pissing us off.

Simple enough, right? Keep those cards and letters coming! And those sweet exclusives. Our goal is to get to the point where we don't have to produce an original material at all, except all of your original material, of course. Won't you help us make that dream a reality?

Netiquette: How to befriend a blogger [The Politico]