January 2008
49 posts
I'll Miss You, Landmarc
In December I sent the following letter to the Murphys, the husband and wife owners of my favorite local restaurant Landmarc, via postal mail. I have yet to hear back. Ricky Van Veen 93 Leonard St. #6 New York, NY 10013 December 12, 2007 Marc Murphy and Pamela Schein Murphy c/o Landmarc 179 W Broadway New York, NY 10013 Dear Marc and Pamela, Hello from a neighbor. I moved to Tribeca in...
Trimming The Fat
Remember this rant about how Tumblr’s ease of use would faciliate diarrhea-like excessive blog posting? Well, it’s come to fruition. Right now I’m following 35 people. Most of those people know how to use Tumblr responsibly and only post when they have something worthwhile to say. Others don’t, and it’s causing me “TMI-tis” (just coined that: the...
What I Learned Today →
Guess who has the best Tumblr? Amir’s girlfriend Diana. Each topic is carefully selected and then analyzed well. She doesn’t just sloppily reblog facts that she reads — she actually takes the time to dig in and explain the topic in “real person” talk. Also, lots of bullet points, of which I’m a fan.
WatchHardly Working appearance.
Textworthy Celeb Deaths →
I wrote this article a year and a half ago. I guess we can put Heath in the “textworthy” category because I’ve gotten a few. My guess is that he had his entire portfolio in long equities. Too soon? Probably.
Attention Wire Fans →
“It’s a new day in Baltimore.”
Ricky Van Veen's GET EXCITED →
The talented Andrew Wilkinson of MetaLab redesigned my web site, RickyVanVeen.com. Rad.
WatchJosh Proposes on Vimeo (via Vimeo)
Retired Shirts - a photoset on Flickr →
I’m in the process of moving and thus cleaning out my closet. I have shirts that I never wear but I’m afraid to throw out because I have an emotional attachment to them. They’ve traveled with me and sat in every closet I’ve had for the past nine years. Today I decided that would change — I’ll throw out the shirt, but take a picture of it and let it live forever...
Annamarie Tendler →
Tonight I helped Anna purchase a domain and set up a simple website for her hair styling and makeup business. I haven’t messed around with HTML in literally years. It’s so rewarding to tinker with something until you get it right. Being a programmer must be great — little bits of satisfaction from problem solving on a daily basis.
TED | Talks | J.J. Abrams: The mystery box (video) →
Watch this before seeing Cloverfield.
YTMND - LazyTown: CrazyCake →
I know I’m late to this party, but I just saw this (via Nick Douglas’ article on Gawker). This song is so good you can just let it loop on your computer speakers.
Bathroom Karma
Jess Coen wrote a great analysis of workplace shared bathroom standoffs. Funny, well thought out, and extremely accurate. I love seeing what great writing she’s capable of after finally detoxing her brain from this style of posts— scrounging for page views with lazy schlock. Though it’s understandably tempting: getting traffic is easy if you’re simply willing to be an...
Urban Legend ER - CollegeHumor video →
Watch this and then Digg it if you like it!
Trick Question
Which Silicon Alley website recently posted an article making fun of an otherwise unnoteworthy recently graduated female, posting pictures from her Facebook account and making comments about her weight? Surprise – it’s not CollegeHumor! Keep it up Nick, and we can hire you to write our weekly “Frat Chat” column!
Zach responds to my last post: This is bunk. At some point, we were all sloppy lowlifes, aka new Internet users. For many people, I assume, MySpace is their first Internet experiece (“I need to get me a myspace!”). Of course it’s going to be like a daycare center with toddlers running around smearing ice cream on the carpet! The fact is that most users don’t realize the...
“MySpace, with its cluttered layout, can suggest an online incarnation of the broken-windows theory—surface disorder begetting actual chaos.” (from this week’s New Yorker) Oh Gladwell, you keep popping up everywhere like a state fair whack-a-mole. I’ve never really thought about applying the broken windows theory to web design, but it makes total sense. Careless design...
New Topical Busted Tee →
Sundance
Yo, I’ll be there Jan 18-27. You going? Reblog this and let’s form a crü ( — zachklein Dear Zach … that’s awesome! I’ll be there from the 20th-28th! I was going to post something similar to this, since I figured I must know someone else going … we’re going to be doing daily video updates for Indy Mogul. — justin GUYS! Don’t go to Sundance!...
"Corey Worthington, Legend" →
“I suggest you take a long hard look at yourself.” “I have. Everyone has. They love it.”
Attention Males →
It’s January 14th. Time to make those Valentine’s Day reservations. OpenTable, one of my favorite websites, is a great place to start. If you hate your girlfriend, try this place. Note: Any self-important restaurant not on OpenTable can go fuck themselves.
Lucky Dice Airlines
rubenfm asks, “If they want to get us, they’re still going to get us, but not through sneakers and mouthwash. How long are we going to line up like sheep to go through this process, and will ever it return to how it was? Can’t there be a middle ground?” The solution is to dissolve the TSA. Airlines which choose to offer security will offer it, and customers can pick....
“The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83....”
– eBay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
VotePoke →
Easy to use tool for finding out if you’re registered to vote.
Keith Faison Show- with guests David Wain and Paul... →
This is fucking amazing. Keith Faison hosts a show on Manhattan cable access.
Thinking about Government
… These questions presume that ending laws that force altruism (ie, ending welfare) would equate to laws against helping people. I think the results would be quite different. People who currently help the downtrodden would continue to help the downtrodden. In addition, some wealthy people, relieved of the obligation to pay taxes, would take charity a little more seriously because they could...
Looking For A Place To Live?
I’m moving out of my apartment in a month or so. I live with three really great people in Tribeca and the apartment is amazing. If you know anybody who is looking for a place to live ($2500/mo), shoot me an email. ricky at collegehumor.
Watch“moments before cup chicks,” my first collaboration with amir as writer/performer. this is an exclusive: it doesn’t go up on collegehumor for another fifteen minutes. — samreich
Presidential Debate Question I Just Daydreamed...
“Hi. This is a question for all the canidates. So, any thinking person who’s read more than one book knows that you can’t be both intelligent and religious. Which one are you? Please limit your response to twenty seconds and please include the answer to the question in your response.”
“Nostalgia is a fool’s game in New York.”
– from a fascinating article by Burkhard Bilger in this week’s New Yorker.
Sam Is Funny:
tonight i saw seth macfarlane and alex borstein live at comix. they did a parody of “you don’t bring me flowers” called “you don’t eat my pussy.” i put my arm around elaine in mock sentimentality. seth saw this and started laughing so hard they had to stop the song. i’m not a star fucker, but seth macfarlane. wow. — samreich
Weird
I was walking along the street in Mexico and some guy yelled out of a cab “Ricky!!!” I walk over to the cab and the yeller is Jason Segal, the actor, who I’ve never met in my life.