It is all about New York (Just ask Bina)

If You have not seen Stephen Colbert's duet with Alicia Keys check out Bina's post from a few days ago. Now it appears everyone is getting in on the game. And while folks from New York will tell you there is only one "real" city, CNN reports there are more than 100 remixes of Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind" online. Most are rewritten for other cities. I'll take their word on the numbers, but just go to You Tube and search "empire state of mind" and any your city. You're likely to find something.
Below is one that made me laugh, an ode to the 6,000-person farm town of New Holland in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
"I thought it would be really cool to make a song about my hometown, which is the exact opposite of New York City," said college student Matthew Besson, who wrote "New Holland State of Mind."

Window on the world

NYC is known for its holiday window displays. You can often find long lines in front of Macy's, Bloomingdales and gawkers at Saks. This is a twist on the holiday window and it is also drawing a crowd.

Lost and Found

Have you ever lost something on a bus, plane, or train?

According to this article in the San Francisco Examiner, here are some of the things people lose on BART, a mass transit system in San Francisco:

- Prosthetic limbs

- Teeth (dentures, gold teeth)

- Porn (magazines, videos)

- Sex toys

- Backpacks full of drugs

Oddly enough, across the way in New York, things are not much different, according to an article in the New York Post:

- Prosthetic limbs

- Used cooking pot

- Trumpet

Nude Model Arrested at Museum

Nudity in art is nothing new, but nowadays it may not be entirely legal. A woman was arrested for stripping naked at New York's Museum of Modern Art in order to pose for photographer Zach Hyman.

Slice of Your Wallet

This caught my eye: $5.00 for a slice of pizza in Brooklyn, at Di Fara pizza.

What?

Isn't that a little too much for a slice?

One of Di Fara's founders states that they use only the best ingredients, and that's why they charge $5.00.

Around where I live in Southern California, the going rate for a New York-style slice of pizza is $2.50. How much would you expect to pay for a slice?

Hear All About It (On Your Cell Phone)

When you think of an museum audio guide, you probably think of those large devices that hang around your neck, or the ones that look like giant cell phones.

However, with almost everyone owning a cell phone nowadays, audio guides have taken to the great outdoors. New York's Central Park is offering an audio guide accessible by cell phone. Want to know about, say, the Sheep Meadow? Matthew Broderick will tell you about it if you call 646-462-0997, followed by 35. Of course, you don't have to be in Central Park to hear about it.

This service is offered by a company in San Francisco, Guidebycell. A map of other locations that offer audio guidance can be found here.

image: http://daily100.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/photolavande-audioguide.jpg

Area Code Identity

For the longest time, it felt like your area code was a part of your identity in New York City. Instantly it told people if you were from Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island, Queens or Brooklyn. That's a good and a bad thing, but you were saddled with that area whether you wanted to claim it or not. I think 212 (Manhattan) used to be the most coveted area code.
With the explosion of cell phones, more area codes have been added over the years. We're up to 5. Now comes word that we need at least a 6th to supplement 718 and 347 by 2011.

I wonder if we further dilute who we are by adding more area codes? I am sure that's silly...

Teeny hotel rooms

$1.71 per square foot, per night.

$1.76 per square foot, per night.

Those are the rates you would pay at two different New York hotels. The only difference is, at the $1.76 rate, you can buy only about 56 square feet of space. At $1.71, the minimum room size is about 500 square feet of space.

"Micro hotel rooms" are not new -- but they are attracting more attention as a business model in recessionary times.

The Most Expensive City

You knew you needed a lot of cash to live in the Big Apple, but how much? The Center for an Urban Future came up with a staggering number (only when compared to the rest of the country.) I say that because I think New Yorkers only shop in NYC so they come to accept these prices.

Want to soak in the atmosphere of the big city? That will cost$123,322 a year. In Houston, that same standard of living is $50,000, but you'd have to live in Houston (not that there is anything wrong with that.) The average rent in NYC is 53% higher than San Francisco. San Fran is the second most expensive city in the country.


New Yorkers pay in many other ways... with long commutes and higher prices for basics. Yet, year after year, a new group of people move to the big city to live their dream. The movies have solidify NYC as a place where anything is possible. I certainly believe that.

What are your impressions of NYC?