cityrag

sunset season
it's the time of year when soft, beautiful sunsets fill the NY skyline. sundown in midtown over the Hudson this week...

buying an old house in the Catskills
as summer approaches and NYer's start to think about getting out of town on the weekends, we'd like to give a hearty endorsement to renting or buying a cheap house in the Catskills! we're born and raised NYC and have hit just about every summer vacation spot within 4 hours of the city. and for summer fun, the Northern Hudson Valley has become our favorite spot. no crowds, little traffic (2-3 hour drive), swimming holes, waterfalls, yard sales, country auctions, mini golf, demolition derby's, county fairs, unending scenic roads, trails and mountain views, old abandoned inns, history everywhere, good restaurants and shopping and it's CHEAP!

historic home from the 1700's for $75,000 (available!)

buying an old home upstate can be a particularly rewarding experience for people who live in the city. with NYC prices being so insane - it's an opportunity to own real estate (the prices upstate are still low but it's a hot market and great investment), and while you pay the mortgage you get to enjoy your weekend home! places under $100,000 with owner financing are still out there (this one is "sale pending" but a nice example.) for years we rented a $600 a month 4 bedroom house overlooking the Hudson with a bunch of friends. then we bought the house down the street and it's changed our lives (for sale by owner!) over the years lots of our good friends have gotten places in the area.

it can be tricky finding a house to rent upstate. sometimes the NYTimes has listings, but most of the local papers (where the house rentals are listed) are not online. we recommend getting to know the area by exploring over a couple weekend trips, grabbing a bunch of local papers, a good map and cruising around. the areas we love are Ulster, Greene and Columbia Counties in the heart of the northern Hudson Valley (but many people love the surrounding counties also.) the Rip Van Winkle Motor Lodge is a cool spot to explore from. they have little cabins, are near a sweet country village, and are centrally located. pick up a Catskill Mountain Guide at the info booth as you get off the highway for maps lots of cool tips and attractions, and local papers will tip you to auctions, events and real estate agents. Rip Van Winkle Realty is a good real estate office that's centrally located, and with MLS these days (Multiple Listing Service) through any agent you can see all listings for all agencies.)

Update: we were tipped by a friend that the NY Times published a big piece on Catskill the same day as us!

pinch me
watching the Gotti show this week, we couldn't help notice how pronounced Victoria Gotti's nostrils have become, like 2 little black tunnels going into her head...

a bewildering aspect of celebrity plastic surgery is that the people who get it done aggressively start to look WORSE after each procedure! one of the these telling signs is the over-pinched nose. when they pinch the nose in, the nostrils flair out. so people who have overdone nose jobs (like VG and LaToya Jackson), get these creepy pronounced black holes where their nose once was. Victoria Gotti's a good example of somebody who looked much better before she had work done.

tattoos and cocktails
artist Steve Butcher is showing his wonderful Fresco Tattoo Paintings at Superfine Bar and Restaurant in Dumbo/Brooklyn through the end of this month. a nice opportunity to grab a cocktail and bite and take in some really cool art!

secret buildings
every once in a while we stop and notice a strange building we've walked by a hundred times for the first time... (41st off 9th Ave)

sun king
on his throne

Bill likes touching dopey women
just in from The Smoking Gun... Attorneys for the woman suing Bill Cosby for sexual assault claim that at least ten other women are prepared to testify about "prior similar sexual assaults and/or drugging incidents"

more dark dirt in Bill Cosby's "Prior Bad Acts". we photochopped the image above using a pic from Sarah's killer ongoing contest called MoshBoy! (this one's by Kris)

man boobs yes, mullets no
a couple awesome shots from da fabulous JJB peeps... Jim Carey's put on a few but that's fine, cuz we LOVE US SOME MAN BOOBS! if Jim was here right now we'd grab a handful...

but Taylor Hanson's new mullet scares us. Taylor, what happened? you used to be the hot one, now you're Carol Brady...

and bonus link: Towleroad has a shot of Ashton Kutchner's buldge in long form!