Listen up bros: Just because someone (the dorky bloggers, for instance) are telling you that a certain trend is over, doesn't mean that it is. You see, ironically, the people whose job it is to write about popular culture are often some of the least adept at being part of any trend larger than themselves. I mean, Jesus, look at Chuck Klosterman. Great writer, but you'd never want to take him to the prom.
When blogs started decrying "The End of Bottle Service" back in September – just about the time when all the bankers lost their jobs – we took it with a grain of salt. Especially since bottle service — the costly habit of buying extremely marked-up spirits at a club for the experience of being treated like a VIP — has been announced "over" essentially since it began. In 2007, Michael Gogel of Lotus announced bottle service was on its way out "now that anyone with a credit card can order it."
But with a recession well under way and jobs falling by the wayside, can we truly call this an end to the practice of using your plastic to gain door entrance and a stream of hot ladies all night? And who are we to tell you what to do, anyway?!!
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Even after attending Thrillist/Showtime's house party last night at 23 Gramercy Park South, I'm still not sure what prompted those guys to take a $25 million mansion and convert each of the rooms into a set from one of the station's premiere shows (except Secret Diary of a Call Girl, which already hit splitsville, and was replaced by a room promoting Toni Collete's new show, The United States of Tara). But it was so well-executed that you couldn't fault the half-baked idea: most of the rooms didn't seem like straight set-pieces from the shows so much as a prop master's wet dream.
Also: all of the bathrooms were for decoration only? Which was weird. And you weren't allowed to sit on the chairs in the rooms, except when you could, and it was decided arbitrarily by the giant security guards standing in the narrow hallway. Just like on a real studio lot!
The highlight was the Dexter dining room, complete with vials of blood on the table the approrpiate forensic webbing done by Mr. Morgan on the show.
Mad props to the interior design team for the evening, one of whom was apparently seen getting lucky out on the back patio later that evening. Awww, they deserve it for such a swell job!
More pics after the jump:
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That junket invitation Thrillist and JetBlue extended to most media and bloggers across the spectrum, for a flight to Vegas for one-day of partying before flying back? The New York Post, famous for its entanglements with free swag offers, sent two reporters on the flight, but at least one claims it was just a social outing — a media party taken to the next level. Don't let that stop a back-from-vacation Jeff Bercovici from calling 'em out on it. [Portfolio] Update: Turns out of of Bercovici's own, at Conde Nast cousin Vanity Fair, was also on the flight.
So many in-the-know email lists, so much room in our spam filter. It seems that just like blogs, these newsletters (don't let them hear you call them that!) are popping up every day. So which of the top of the crop do we hand our email address over to? Our current email newsletter subscription status is as follows.
DailyCandy: Unsubscribed, sometime last year. Found it less and less the top dog in its space. And cutesy illustrations are so 2006.
Thrillist: Subscribed to New York, Los Angeles, and National editions. Delete all three almost every morning without opening them. Today's New York edition was about Stickk, a website where you make binding contracts with your friends to fulfill promises. We don't need this irrelevant stress.
UrbanDaddy: Subscribed to New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Jet Set and "National" editions. Open almost every email and usually find useful food and nightlife options, but a roving capsule hotel above Paris? No spanks.
Very Short List: Unsubscribed. Like we need another reason to think about Barry Diller everyday.
New York City Nonsense: (Very recently) unsubscribed. The latest about bike advocacy, Brooklyn loft parties, and bizarre art shows, this list is sent to discerning Brooklyn hipsters and/or NYU seniors without an established circle. For anyone who hates the L or has a real social life, trekking out to Bushwick for a random forest-themed party becomes more trouble than it’s worth it. Which is why it took us until last week to ditch our subscription.
Haute Look: Unsubscribed. But not by choice. They never accepted our subscription application. They must be VERY exclusive! You know, in the way that A Small World isn't.
