Apparently, Slate didn't think too highly of the New York Times' latest "trend" story about married couples who sleep in separate bedrooms. Check out the picture on the bottom left!
Sheer genius! Say, maybe Slate could start a new feature wherein they make fun of lame Times' articles by doing photo mock-ups of the original topic? We can't wait to see what they do for Thursday Styles!
Sometimes we just want to hug the New York Times for offering us those small, insightful glimpses into the lives of the eccentrically rich. Thanks to their thorough tutelage, we've already learned all about how rich people fight depression (they refurbish their kitchens!) what rich people do in the morning (they cause traffic jams in front of the 92nd Street Y!) and now, the newest trend for married couples with two different sleep schedules…customized apartments with master his and hers wings
Apparently the newest "big thing" in custom architecture is his/her master bedrooms, to accommodate husbands and wives with different sleep schedules, and—presumably—occasional "houseguests." Kidding! The article is quick to point out on at least four or five different occasions that the separate bedrooms have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the couples' sex lives.
More about this not-sex-related trend after the jump!
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Congratulations to Salma Hayek!
Her rep has confirmed to Star magazine that Salma is pregnant., and that "she and her fiance, businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, are expecting their first child."
Which is so much more interesting than those "pregnancy or person-who-ingests-actual-food" photos we're generally subjected to. In any event, the Hayek confirmation proves an interesting twist in this recent celebrity pregnancy epidemic.
Let's take a look at the official scoreboard!
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Is it just us, or has Renee Zellweger jumped aboard the latest Hollywood trend?**
And no, we're not talking about nose-candy and diet pills, (those timeless "trade secrets" are far more enduring than any passing fad) nor do we mean to imply Renee's suddenly started shilling for Windsor Pilates or even ProActive.
No, we're referring to that somewhat more recent phenomenon, whereupon attractive actors/actresses make a conscious decision to hideously alter their appearance in a brazen attempt to show their audiences (i.e. the Academy) that they're far more than "just another pretty face."
You know, like Academy Award winner Charlize Theron did for Monster, Nicole Kidman for The Hours, Cameron Diaz for Being John Malkovich and Nicholas Cage for, well, TBD.
Anyway, we're not yet sure what dramatic role Renee is gearing up for with her new 'do, but we anxiously look forward to seeing her go up against Penelope Cruz, Hillary Swank and Kate Winslet in next year's Oscars.
With Cathy Horn holding down the Fashion Week fort, the Styles had a chance to break out an article on their favorite topic: trends. And while we don't normally hone in on the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times, when Warren St. John pens an in-depth article on the status of Facebook (with the term TMI in the headline no less), we can't help but be drawn in.
Facebook is changing the face of social networking, claims the piece, with the site's additional newsfeed feature. The new "feed" documents all blog updates, friend adds, photo uploads, and just about every other open book feature available on Facebook, and sends that update to everyone in a member's network. This is all truly fascinating and all, really, but what struck us as the "trend" in the piece was the discovery that there are actually people out there whose job it is to track these changes.
Those who study social networking sites say that users’ comfort with revealing intimate details about themselves comes in part from a perception that in the din of life online, there is a kind of privacy through anonymity …
“The issue isn’t transparency but scope,” said Clay Shirky, who teaches in the interactive telecommunications program at New York University. “People are willing to be transparent to friends, as long as they are in control. Facebook violated both of those conditions.”
Those who study social networking sites? Study them. We always knew New York University was progressive with it's make-up-your-own-major stuff. But this "interactive communications" sounds like it might be an actual department at the school. Um, we just hope anyone who majors in that decides to minor in something that will help them get into law school.
When Information Becomes T.M.I. [Warren St. John, New York Times]
We sort of don't know what to do with this article about "trend" pieces in the New York Times. Especially trend pieces in the Sunday Styles section (where the photo at right is ripped from). What we gather, so far, is this:
• Making fun of Styles trends is trendy. (So common and trendy, it's not even hip anymore.)
• Writers used to need three things to make a trend, but now they only need two.
• Or they can pull trends out of their asses.
• The sexual personas of men in New York is no longer a cool trend.
• Trend pieces are actually just Mad Libs which Times writers fill in with words like "BlackBerry" and "Park Slope."
• Most people like trend pieces when they are not in the Times.
• If a story is the least bit engaging, bloggers will pick it up — and only then do journalists feel they have succeeded in making up a trend.
Off The Record [2nd Item, Michael Calderone, New York Observer]
We were interested in this article titled "Clearly obsessed: The city goes off the deep end for water." We thought to ourselves, Yeah. You know? New Yorkers really are obsessed with water. And this article goes on to give wonderful insights about that. Among the highlights of this piece pertaining to the obsession New Yorkers have with water:
• If you like designer labels, you can get really fancy water from finewaters.com.
• Should New York water should be more purified? Or would cleanliness ruin the dirty bagel taste we love so much?
• The only reason we drink water at restaurants, is because waiters ask us to. (Their favorite part of the job is pouring glass after glass.)
• American water glasses, like everything else, tend to be larger than in Europe.
• Ice, water's funky sister, now comes in three forms: cracked ice, perfect cubes, and big chunks.
See, it's true. New Yorkers really are obsessed with water. It's not just a bunch of random (admitedly fun) facts thrown together. This is a real trend, proved by hard numbers, stats, and evidence. Honestly, we're shocked the Sunday Styles didn't have an article on how head over heels New Yorkers are for water, like, six months ago.
Clearly obsessed [Mark Ellwood, Daily News]
Hey everyone, listen up. Boys are stupid, too! Not just girls, ok? Boys can be just as stupid as girls. They can be arm candy, and bank accounts, and starfuckers just as well as girls can.
NBC said it before, and today on Today, they said it again. Honing in on "mimbos" or "himbos" Campbell Brown grilled Atoosa Rubenstein on who the "it" stupid boys are today.
We applaud the Today show and NBC for their fight against this sexism. It's so easy for editors of men's magazines to sit up there and say word for word "Paris Hilton is stupid" or "Hilary Duff is completely vapid and worthless." It's about time we gave guys like Wilmer Valderrama and Kevein Federline the same type of attention and accolades for being total fuckin' idiots.
Talk about progress.
Stupid girls? Don't forget the stupid boys [Paige Ferrari, MSNBC, May 5, 2006]
Girls can be bimbos, but can guys be himbos? [Today Show]
It's not easy for many Manhattanites to "get" but Brooklyn is a big, big place. It is, in fact, the largest borough of New York, and as many of you may already know, would be the fourth largest city in the U.S. if it were still independent from New York City.
But how will Brooklyn go down in history? As a city divided. Apparently there is not enough room in this town for all the overprivileged white people with too much time and not enough money on their hands. Despite their common refusal to "work for the man" (who is probably your uncle or something) they just can't come together as one.
The North Brooklyn of do-it-yourself fashion and vinyl siding (Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick) just feels separate from brownstone South Brooklyn (from Fort Greene to Park Slope). South Brooklyn is rich and pretty; North is rougher-edged and moody.
Hmm … we guess we can agree with that generalization — but only because we are biased towards the pretty part. But there are other, more subtle differences between Park Slope and Williamsburg, the borough's respective south/north capitals.
It was the bracelet that sealed the woman’s Williamsburgness, the extra work involved to a) find and purchase the lime-green bangle bracelet, b) remember one owns it, c) remember one also owns lime-green pumps, d) remember to put them both on, during the same morning. Williamsburg girls don’t forget the bangle, that’s the point.
And hopefully you can all sleep better tonight knowing that the only thing separating you from an emo rocking Kafka reading MisShapes following N. 6th dweller is a lime green bangle bracelet that she a) bought at Urban Outfitters, b) put on the day she purchased it c) realized it matches her shoes, and d) have been wearing both the bracelet and shoes since November.
Brooklyn Civil War:It’s North vs. South,Ratner Against Ledger [Suzy Hansen, New York Observer]
• Hey, New York Times! Yeah, you. 1999 just called — they want their "crazy Chinese tattoos are fake" story back. [NYT]
• Tales of an ex-newspaper addict are really, really terrifying. We feel so … so disoriented. [New City]
• Because when you get three friends or more together, buying movies online for $20 is so much cheaper than going to the theater. [ABC]
• Those deceptive little Trader Joe's winos are really pushing the buck. [Gothamist]
• Oh, Jim Romenesko, you got us good! When we accidentally clicked on something that led us to a "Bonnie Fuller plagiarized James Frey" tag, we got so excited. And so totally punk'd. [Romenesko]
• Katie Couric to CBS, Merideth Viera to Today, and Mimi Rogers to The View. And we're sure Elizabeth Spiers is just eating up the potential for media/Wall Street crossover. [Gawker, Ad Age]
• David Carr may think that indie mags can't make it, but Jefferson Hack is going to try to hack it down unda' anyway. [WWD]
