Subway: Wide Load!

The return of the full-bodied afro. Love it, girl! Thursday eve on the 6 downtown train (in case you want to stalk her yourself).

Maplewood, N.J. Househunting!

Who needs to pay a million bucks for a home in the beautiful suburbs around Maplewood, N.J.? I've come across some lovely properties in the right nabes that are within my price range. Jersey, here I come!

Maplewood, N.J.: Parade Of Homes

Maplewood, N.J., is a township in Essex County, originally developed as a weekend town for Newark residents. It maintains something of a country-home aesthetic. The small downtown is wholly quaint, and residences are predominantly twenties clapboard or brick Colonials.

“It has this small-town sweetness; it’s more like a town in the Berkshires than the suburbs,” says writer Marina Budhos. Population, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, is 23,867. It sure has been nice to be No. 23,868 for a few days.

And now, our grand parade of homes! No cookie cutters here!

Snow: A Beautiful Dusting

Just enough snow in Brooklyn this morning to coat a beautiful dusting... over the black soot that remains from the previous 12 snowfalls. Lovely.

Magnificent NYC Cityscapes: CMMooney

Photog CMMooney offers some of the most profoundly beautiful cityscapes of New York on his Flickr site. His work is jaw-dropping in its craft, his keen eye and the editing techniques he employs.

'Son, There Used To Be Stores That Sold Nothing But Books...'

Looks like the writing is on the wall for Border's bookstores. The Wall Street Journal reports that the 674-store chain is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. Rival Barnes & Noble is also struggling.

What a decade of changing technology. First, record stores vanished one by one as digital downloads became the status quo, with Tower, HMV and Virgin Records shuttering their doors, until even New York City was left without a record retailer.

Next came Blockbuster, which didn't stand a chance against newer, simpler technologies like Netflix, Redbox and on-demand.

And now the iPad, Kindle and other E-Readers have eradicated good old-fashioned brick-and-mortar retailers of paper with words printed on it. Books, they were called. Between 2007 and 2009, E-sales grew 366%, according to the Assn. of American Publishers, as hardback book titles dropped 7%.

It's a world dominated by Amazon and Apple out there. And that may not be such a good thing.

Amid Massive Increases, MTA Chops Service... Oh Well, Fuck You

On Dec. 30, the New York subway made the most radical increase in its history, upping a 30-day unlimited card from $89 to $104, a 17% increase, while a weekly pass escalated from $29 to $37. Single rides roared from $2.25 to $2.50.

Thank you, MTA, for not only fucking New Yorkers in the face of corrupt overtime policies and pensions that conjure the 1950s... but cutting service to the point that today, I waited 25 minutes for a goddamn train to arrive—which of course, meant that by the time it pulled into the station, there were approximately 500,000 paying constituents crowding into the train. What a lovely experience. Come on, if you're going to raise fares, at least let the trains run with some consistency. Grrrr!

Ice Ice Baby

This historic doorway in Brooklyn Heights makes clear that the spring thaw is nowhere in site. Brrr!

NYC Blizzard: We Ain't Seen Nothin'

We complain about lackadaisical snow removal in 2011? Ha, ha, har. Imagine what it was like clearing the unpaved roads of New York City during the blizzard of 1888... shoveling horse-drawn carts full of the white stuff to be carried away. 1948... Better, but still no day at the races, as this snazzy taxi stuck on an icy street shows. Inset: December 2010.

NYC's Rental Market: Hippest Nabes?

I don't put much stock into the social ramifications of the chart below, which claims to show the most popular nabes in New York City, based on a single variable: where rentals are up. Nice try, but this is little more than statistical intrigue. How about the hoods where people are buying? Where retail is thriving? Highest percentage of successful eateries and taverns? Mix it all up and then we might have a meaningful study.

For what it's worth, according to nakedapartments.com, the "most popular" nabes in Manhattan are the Upper West Side, West Village, Upper East Side, East Village and Greenwich Village. (Aren't West Village and Greenwich Village the same damn thing?) In Brooklyn, Williamsburg comes out on top, followed by Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene and Greenpoint. In Queens, Astoria beat out the trendy Long Island City, while in the Bronx, Riverdale, home of Archie and Veronica, wins out.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I believe this means shit.

More interesting: The top 5 amenities that renters search out: pet-friendly buildings, elevator, doorman, washer/dryer, laundry in the building and outdoor space.