Beautiful Girls are Sick-Literally!

Psychology Today is reporting that beauty can be very misleading.  In it they claim that although most people automatically assume pretty people are healthier, Brandeis researchers are saying that they’re wrong.  In our distant past, humans often sought out beautiful faces because it was a key indicator of a healthy mate.  Today, however, that no longer is the case.  Attractiveness and Health have a zero link in men, and a NEGATIVE link in women.  “Beautiful Girls” may be more likely to leave you “suicidal” (Sean Kingston), and now, it seems they may be more likely to leave you with a nasty cold.

Victor Luevano of Brandeis suggests it’s because attractive women are more social and pick up more pathogens, though “that still needs to be tested.”  Women who are healthier are also the ones that SMILE more often.  So, maybe if you find a beauty who smiles a lot, the two will cancel each other out.  Stay away from the models, those girls are always pouting.  Though on the otherhand, catching a virus after making out with a model may not be THAT bad…

Cool.

Two really cool things we came across and wanted to share

The first has to do with our favorite toy, LEGO. The Storefront for Art and Architecture at Kenmare and Lafayatte is currently showcasing conceptual urban housing designs and one is an amazing version of New York City created out of Legos. We haven’t seen it yet, but apparently the details are intense and include New Yorkers doing various things including street graffitti, working, going to Dean & Deluca, and even going at it. Gothamist does a good job reporting on the exhibit as well as a link to a fantastic flickr site with tons of photos to check out. Oh and get there before November 24th.

Second, brings us to the amazing work they are doing at Sony BRAVIA. They released their “play-doh” commercial October 4th but we just saw it today and thought it was pretty f-ing cool. It is the most ambitious piece of stop-motion animation ever undertaken. Created by ad agency Fallon London, the commercial took a team of 40 animators three weeks choreographing the models to create the 100,000 still images required to produce the 60-second ad.

“Technically this is the most difficult thing I have ever done,” said the ad’s director, Frank Budgen. “It is an incredibly difficult situation to control. You have New Yorkers wandering through frames and you have no say over it because we’re doing it for real.” Previous ads by BRAVIA have included releasing 250,000 bouncing balls on San Francisco and creating pyrotechnical paint display in Glasgow, though the latest one in the Financial District of NYC tops them all. Watch the video below which, besides the bunnies includes effects such as a 200 square foot purple plasticine wave and a whale “swimming” through the streets of Manhattan - all while locals go about their daily lives.

John Varvatos wanted to be a Rock Star when he Grew Up.

Today the Post confirmed the rumors swirling around town about the legendary music club CBGB, which met it’s fateful end recently. John Varvartos will officially be moving into the space this Spring. Apparently Varvatos himself has been a long time fan of musicians and the rock scene. Alice Cooper is even the face of his latest ad campaign. Maybe it’s not SO bad. I mean with a Chase opened next door and a Starbucks down the street, the street isn’t exactly like it used to be anyway. Racked had their money on the space being another Duane Reade. We’ll take Varvatos over THAT. Others are not as tolerable of the ever-morphing neighborhood (from the Post):

Musician Bill Popp, who played CBGB from 1981 until its closing last year, mourned the Bowery’s turn for the purse. “Now it’s going to become a contrived type of store, with prices only for the yuppies who are taking over the neighborhood,” he lamented.

Yes there ARE a lot of Yuppies around Bill, but maybe John will come up with a new line to fit into the old rock space. Maybe a Rock ‘n Roll line? Of course it will be at yuppie-hipster prices, but what else would you expect? CBGB wasn’t exactly selling $5 tickets or giving out free t-shirts last year either.

Girlfriend can’t catch a break!

Though her solo rap career has been floundering, Foxy Brown has a new solo gig at Rikers Island, where she will be in solitary confinement for the next 76 days. Seems like Foxy hasn’t warmed up to other inmates at the world’s largest penal colony, and has been getting into scuffles, despite not having her normal weapons of choice (cellphone, blackberry, or hair extension glue).

We have to say we are a bit surprised by the buxom diva’s recent misbehavin’. “Jay-Z’s right hand bitch” just seems so articulate and pleasant in this interview.

“Hey! We’re not just fat - we’re ugly, too”

That is the headline on Philly.com today. Travel and Leisure and CNN just came out with the result’s of their “American’s Favorite Cities of 2007” where they took the top 25 urban destination areas and rated them on their culture, people, food and dining, cityscape and more. New Yorkers are sitting pretty cool. New York was ranked #1 in more categories (14) than any other city in the poll!

We took the top scores for Big-Name Restaurants, Ethnic Food, Theater, Classical Music, Underground Arts Scene, Luxury Boutiques, Shopping for Jewelry and Shoes. Plus, it was ranked No. 1. in the Stylish People and Diversity categories. The Big Apple’s Museums/Galleries ranked No. 2 overall. In a special question asking respondents to vote on the most over- and underrated cities in the survey, New York unfortunately also earned the title of the most overrated city in America.

For the entire report head here: America’s Favorite Cities

The most ugly city is Philadelphia Filthadelphia. Hopefully they will clean up their act and cut down on their cheesesteak consumption!

Topper and Tinsley

Famous socialite Tinsley Mortimer has been quite the self-marketer over the years, and it’s certaintly paid off for her. No one would call into question the fact that she is one of the few leading the social circuit circus in this town. Well, at least a certain circuit of charities, galas, and fashion shows that mean the WORLD to some people, and absolutely nothing to many others. In any case, does anyone else out there every wonder where in the heck Topper Mortimer (husband) is? He is almost NEVER pictured alongside his wife, and the opportunites are many (she was photgraphed by PatrickMcmullan over 2,000 times last year alone). We admit, we are a little curious. Which is why, this Sunday’s Style Section of the Times was particularly satisfying. In an article titled “Why is the Blond Smiling?”, writer Eric Konigsberg put the spotlight on the Tinsley’s other half. Here’s what we learn:

-Topper and Tinsley eloped when they were 18. They met at private school Lawrenceville in NJ and couldn’t bear the thought of not being together after graduation. This was subsequentially annulled in the Dominican Republic. Seems his parents were not too happy about the union and forced the reluctant pair to it. Though they remarried in 2002 it may still be a somewhat sensitive subject for Topper.

-He is both “extremely proud” of his wife’s accomplishments in the fashion industry as well as obviously a little embarrassed stating:

“It’s not necessarily the type of goal that anybody should strive for, going out every night for the sake of self-promotion and getting their pictures taken,”…“And I mean, these are girls who went to good colleges. You would think they’d have something better to do.”

-Topper himself is not in any rush to be the social butterfly his wife is. He thinks that people get involved in benefits because of the credit they get and wants to see the actual results of said events. “I just never liked the whole thing with everybody trying to gain status from being involved in these charity events. I mean, I’ve always been a person who likes to take the wind out of fancy people’s sails.”

-Tinsley is quick to point out “Topper has this life in New York because he grew up here, so he doesn’t NEED the social thing. To him, it seems frivolous.”

-Topper is now working for the wealth management firm Guggenheim Partners, has remained in close touch with every single member of his elementary class from Buckley and is described as “an affable and unpretentious fellow, a workaholic” by friends. He also loves his wife, no matter what she does.

What’s Tinsley up to these days? She was one of the few American socialites (including Fabiola Beracasa, Amanda Hearst, Zani Gugelman and Bettina Zilkha) sent by Fendi to The Great Wall of China for the first ever runway event on the Great Wall.

Pinche

 [photo from NY Mag]

Are the days of La Esquina becoming more and more numbered?  Recent trouble coupled with hour sheer boredom of the place lead us to believe this may be the case.  The famed dinning spot with a shady cast of characters is certaintly not cause for concern for Jeffrey Chartier who, NY Mag is reporting,  just opened HIS own taco stop shop across the way at 277 Mott street (by Spring)…We aren’t going to question what Jeffrey says is: ”the first real authentic taqueria in New York City”, as he is making sure that the even all meat is butchered on premise (the meat is chopped with a machete on an avocado-tree trunk).  What we are going to question is the naming of the place “Pinche”.

According to our ever so trustworthy “Urban Dictionary”, while Pinche CAN mean “the kitchen boy” in Spain, it more than likely refers to the all-purpose insult enhancer used in Mexico:

“It would be roughly equivalent to the use of *fucking* in English. If Jay (Silent Bob’s hetero life mate) spoke Spanish, he would say *pinche* A LOT.
Pinche is strongly associated with cursing in Mexican Spanish and the very moment you use it gives you away as a Mexican national. So you pinches gringos take that into account if youre trying to pass for an Argentine or whatever.”

Pinche is also used in Mexico as an adjective to describe something as insignificant, lousy, miserable or worthless.  So, either he’s literally giving la esquina the finger or telling the world he sucks.  Ah, Mexican Slang, leaving us scratching our heads once again…In any case, Jeffrey claims that “La Esquina is nowhere near authentic as far as I’m concerned.” Let the taco wars begin!

“Don’t It Always Seem to Go”..

“…That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”

Joni Mitchell perfected these lyrics in her “Big Yellow Taxi” song. Years later, several artists, including Counting Crows, Amy Grant, Sheryl Crow, etc. have done their own renditions of the popular tune. It is meant to call attention to the tragic effect humans are having on mother earth “They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot.” Today, this song titled after our beloved big yellow cars, is reminding us that we take a lot for granted. Round Two of the Taxi Strike is happening and we are getting fed up. Those screens are pretty neat the first time you see them but we think, though many of them are annoying and weird, the driver’s have very valid points.

First of all those cool screens seem to be majorly fucking up all the time. No one’s impressed. We think they should have spent 100% of their efforts perfecting a simplified credit card reader instead of trying to wow us with touch screens that have proven time and again to be more trouble than their worth. We have personally tried using our credit card in such cabs and it ended up being such a waste of OUR time that we can’t imagine what the drivers are feeling. New Yorkers may be bananas at times but they aint stupid. No one is buying the bells and whistles. Well, we are going to be prepared this time around. The map above marks out the strike zones and Gothamist gives you a good guide to getting through this rough time.

Marc Jacobs the Bad Ass

The mid-life crisis of designer Marc Jacobs seems to be continuing on…and it’s something we are just fascinated by.  Here’s a photo from the shot Mr. Jacobs did for Arena Homme Plus magazine, which he is on the cover of for their winter/spring issue.  Jezebel reports on the more interesting pieces of the article including these tidbits:

-Marc has several weird tattoos, including one of Carol Anne and our favorite, the M&M (shown above).

-He is a grown up now, at 44 years and recently discovered his love of jewels:

“I have become very addicted to jewelry lately. I started to buy myself diamonds on my birthday this year — I was 44. I bought myself diamond earrings, put them on and thought, I like this. So then I bought myself a bracelet. Then I bought myself a necklace. Then I bought myself a watch. Then I thought, ‘You’re turning into Pharrell Williams.’ Actually I am not turning into anybody. I am probably going through some phase, but I am enjoying every minute of it.”

-He got the M&M tattoo on his birthday because he wanted his own initial but only in the “context of something really stupid”

-He admits he may be experiencing a mid-life crisis, though is enjoying every minute of it.

We say: Enjoy away Marc!  This character almost lives up to the nerd-in-glasses-and-prep-clothes-yet-really-a-druggie look you won us over with when you entered the scene years ago.

From our Inbox

We have just recieved word that fortunately unfortunately Armani Cafe on Boston’s Newbury street has closed down…We will be on the scene this weekend to sniff out the situation…though right now it is just a vacant space.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat…It’s The Head of the Charles Weekend

Lots of options for the Yuppie-Wasps out there this weekend.  If Horse Races aren’t your thing, consider heading up to beantown for the annual Head of the Charles Regatta.  It’s the world’s largest two-day rowing event established by the Cambridge Boat Club members, and attracts more than 300,000 spectators.  This weekend is set to be especially big as the weather in Boston will be at unusual highs for this time of year.  All of the Ivy’s will have their teams representing but there will also be youth, master and veteran age groupings representing more than 500 clubs, colleges and universities worldwide.  Entries will come from the US, UK, France, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, Russia, Peru, Holland, Denmark, Australia, Slovenia, South Africa, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Taiwan, Japan, and China.  Many of the collegiate teams can look forward to going head to head against the US team who won gold at Syndey and are set to go to Bejing for this summer’s Olympic games (pictured above from last year’s HOTC).

Unfortunately, alcohol was banned from the official areas marked off along the Charles River for the event a couple of years ago, but if you tire of the tents, the funnel cakes and apple cider, there are a multitude of Irish pubs in Boston that will provide a great local to catch the 3 pm kickoff of the World Cup Rugby match tomorrow of South Africa vs. England.

And, if you still don’t think you are getting your weekend’s fill of Europeans/Bostonians/Wasps, there’s always the Armani Cafe on Newbury Street  (pictured above) which is like Boston’s try at a Felix’s /le Bibloquet/Nello’s for a Sunday Brunch.  Expect to see more than a couple ed hardy hats, remember that Boston is the go-to college town for the latin/euro crowd.  It’s worth a trip just to see their display of cars outside, that and the calamari.

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