GREATEST HITS: PX This [The Blahg]
Hi! Thank you for your "search"!
This website is currently undergoing changes as it continually progresses, so the entry for which you are seeking has likely been archived within "The Greatest Hits – PX This [The Blahg]". It was removed from its original location in preparation for the upcoming release of PX Me (The Sequel to PX This). If you would like more information and/or further clarification on this particular narrative, please read PX This – The Revised Edition and/or PX Me (coming soon).
And so without further ado— by popular (search engine) demand, we proudly present THE GREATEST HITS of PX This [The Blahg]
[*** warning: Eats, Shoots and Ladders Leaves freaks, please CLICK HERE* and HERE before reading any further. then take that favorite book of yours and stick it up your ass. thank you! ***]
"John Gulager, Project Greenlight"
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2005. 11:48AM:
last night i went and had drinks with GUESS WHO
JOHN effing GULAGER! yay!
… and of course i could tell all sorts of interesting things i learned from him about the filmie business and hollywoodie stuffs and afflecks and weinsteins and moores [oh my]—
but i shan’t. because john-gulager very distinctly said to me: "don’t go writing any of this up on that thingie of yours now."
(mind you he said "now," so i guess you’ll just have to wait for PX Me to come out, eheee.)
oh and in case you’re wondering, john-gulager’s wifey diane-goldner loooves her totally fierce geld-iaz Feast Premiere dress. actually she told me she probably would have rocked it last week at the Emmy’s instead, had she and john-gulager not been invited like "sooo last minute." stupid hollywood.
anyhoo. john-gulager actually read PX This, can you believe it?! he said he "started in the middle and then continued to the end and then started at the beginning" whatever the hells that means. something about my book not giving him the impression it absolutely needed to be read chronologically (even though hellooo, the fucking thing is like totally chronological, no?).
whatever.
i only mention it at all because other peoples have said the same sort of thing to me too and i must say it kinda makes me a little nuts.
oh but john-gulager did call me "the truman-capote of the restaurant industry" so that was great! [i guess?] and eeheee he even called himself "the BIG johnny-g" ha ha ha ahaa haaa.
anyways. here’s a picture of john-gulager saying "hi there!"
he was talking to marcus-dunstan [co-screenwriter of Feast] right at that moment and he even handed me his cellie to say hello, isn’t that sweet? marcus-dunstan was really nice on the phone, i said congratulations on "the bestest Project Greenlight season ever!" and he replied "wow, thank you so much!"
…anyhoo. yay! GO GULAGER!
MONDAY OCTOBER 2, 2006. 10:18AM:
… check it, it’s diane-goldner [john-gulager's wifey. remember them?] in her fierce geld-iaz dress!
if you click that little photo then it will take you to the special WireImage page, where you will also see a picture of my beloved ben-affleck right smack up there!
so basically my dress was at the Feast premiere with ben-affleck— where i’m sure at some point in the night he must have been forced to gaze upon my beautiful geld-iaz creation and admire it in all its exceptional splendor. heee, okay now tell me that’s not trippy in some bizarro cosmic way…
*********************************************************************
pxthis.com archives
This is an abbreviated version of Abbe Diaz’s diary/blog entry on September 26, 2005 and October 2, 2006, for archival purposes only. A far more detailed, thorough, and incisive account is to be included in Diaz’s upcoming second book, PX Me (The Sequel to PX This) – Coming Soon in the Autumn of 2011
* "…The intellectual community, as usual, showed itself to be timid and divided, and even the most unexpected graphologists engaged in controversies regarding their inconsistent analyses of my handwriting. It was they who divided opinions, overheated the polemic, and made nostalgia popular…. Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future." – Gabriel García Márquez
* * * * *
Have you heard?
Until the release of PX Me (Autumn 2011), this website will henceforth be updated only intermittently (approximately once or twice a week).
Abbe Diaz’s new (daily) blog is now at: abbediaz.com
GREATEST HITS: PX This [The Blahg]
Hi! Thank you for your "search"!
This website is currently undergoing changes as it continually progresses, so the entry for which you are seeking has likely been archived within "The Greatest Hits – PX This [The Blahg]". It was removed from its original location in preparation for the upcoming release of PX Me -The Sequel to PX This. If you would like more information and/or further clarification on this particular narrative, please read PX This – The Revised Edition and/or PX Me (coming soon).
And so without further ado— by popular (search engine) demand, we proudly present THE GREATEST HITS of PX This [The Blahg]
[*** warning: Eats, Shoots and Ladders Leaves freaks, please CLICK HERE* and HERE before reading any further. then take that favorite book of yours and stick it up your ass. thank you! ***]
"Miami Beach… Nobu… Jeremy Piven…"
tue 12.28.05: seasons greetings!
well i had a really really fun holiday, maybe the funnest holiday ever!
marc-bagutta and i went to miami beach for a few days. of course we stayed at The Raleigh as usual. it’s always our first preference because all our favorite new yorkers are running that place. and it’s pretty too.
anyhoo the whole trip was great, joey-krutel entertained us the entire time. our first night we had dinner at China Grill because apparently ingrid-casares and tommy-pooch throw the wednesday night parties there. China Grill was a little better than i expected, it was actually quite satisfying. the menu looks really expensive— until the courses arrive and you see how big the food is. like for example one salad is a mountain of lettuce enough to feed an army of bunnies.
the next night we had drinks at The Sagamore and then dinner at Prime112. with jeremy-piven!
i was totally psyched because it was just last week i was telling marc-bagutta that Entourage is my new HBO obsession, i even dragged him out of bed at 10pm last sunday to make him watch it with me. so it was great that i had an Entourage anecdote to share with jeremy-piven.
jeremy-piven is really nice and he actually looks much better and younger in real life than on teevee. evidently he was just nominated for a golden-glob for best supporting actor so yay for jeremy-piven.
Prime112 is cute and all i suppose, but the food kinda sucked— marc-bagutta’s chicken was flavorless, my spinach was overcooked and salty, and my filet mignon was dry as a bone even though it was medium rare. it was tough and cartilagey too, if i picked it up and tossed it across the table i could have given jeremy-piven a black eye. but of course it was all gigantic portions, i guess that’s just a miami thing. quantity, not quality.
afterward we all went to Privé. but it was completely empty so instead we went to Opium Garden which is really the downstairs/outside section of the same nightclub but it has a different name and entrance. it’s sorta pretty actually. anyhoo Opium Garden was totally packed. or maybe it just seemed that way because every trick and ho in the place came by to shake their T’s and A’s at jeremy-piven and then they would crowd around and congregate trying to look nonchalant.
ha ha ahaa the funniest was when this real estate broker friend of joey-krutel commented "omygawd they busted out jeremy-piven for all the little jewish girls."
the next night was even more fun, joey-krutel invited us to another dinner with jeremy-piven, this time at Nobu. Nobu was eh but i must say i think it was probably the "hottest" ugly restaurant i have ever seen in my life.
joey-krutel also brought sofia-vergara to be the date of jeremy-piven, she is a hott latin star. i know this because back in 1997 i got a phonecall at the geld-iaz flagship boutique from sofia-vergara’s "manager," he was trying to get free clothes for her— he told me how she is "crossing over," she is like the "model/actress version of selena."
see here’s a photo of jeremy-piven at Nobu, and that’s sofia-vergara on his left behind the glass.
yah so after dinner lance-burstyn was supposed to drive jeremy-piven straightaway to Mansion (which is also owned by Opium/Privé) because they had named him the official "host" of the party but jeremy-piven wanted to ride with sofia-vergara (and friend) instead. sofia-vergara decided to make a pitstop at Casa Tua on the way, so she kidnapped jeremy-piven.
but lance-burstyn was not at all amused, because Casa Tua is an ingrid-casares joint but it was Mansion that paid Nobu to feed jeremy-piven. and guests (that’s us). lance-burstyn rolled down the window to scold sofia-vergara but she retorted: "wellll he saaay he want to comb weeth ausss…"
so of course we all had to pitstop too because lance-burstyn was "babysitting." sofia-vergara took jeremy-piven upstairs to meet ingrid-casares but the party was pretty quiet so we all bounced fifteen minutes later. lance-burstyn was pleased about that so he was assuaged, he snickered "ha nice try ingrid."
then we all went to Mansion. but hee eheee lance-burstyn got agitated again because sofia-vergara eschewed the valet and went searching for a parking space with jeremy-piven. so as her SUV was disappearing up the block, lance-burstyn was cursing something like "where the fuck is she going geezus christ sofia can i PAY the fucking 20 dollars?"
finally jeremy-piven and sofia-vergara (and friend) came stumbling around the corner and we were all swept inside and it was great, lance-burstyn had a big table with bottles and glassware and the whole shebang. and again like 10,000 hos came by just to jiggle their booties and put on a BIG SHOW for jeremy-piven.
it was all very easy and faboolous though and now i am totally spoiled from being part of jeremy-piven’s entourage all weekend, it makes me want to make like a new year’s resolution: either i roll PX goddammit or i just don’t roll at all.
the next day lance-burstyn stood us up, he must have completely forgotten he insisted on lunch. so marc-bagutta and i went to The Delano instead. where we ran into boris & barbara-becker with their two adorable miniaturized supermodelly sons.
it was great, jeremy-piven happened by as i was chatting with barbara and i introduced them so then i looked faboolous. later jeremy-piven told me he was totally sweating barbara-becker, he wanted to kick it to her so he was bummed he didn’t realize in time boris and barbara are divorced or he would have kicked harder.
then we left miami beach and we got lucky (yay!) we scored the last two seats on an earlier plane because our original one was delayed we could have been stuck at the airport for three hours because of the snowstorms. one of the flight attendants looked just like a big young james-gandolfini so the whole voyage was a real bug out watching tony-soprano point out the emergency exits and demonstrate proper usage of life vests and serve beverages and cookies. i really wanted a snapshot of him too but he scared me so i didn’t get one.
* * * * *
pxthis.com archives
This is an abbreviated version of Abbe Diaz’s diary/blog entry on December 28, 2005, for web archival purposes only. A far more detailed, thorough, and incisive account may be included in Diaz’s upcoming second book, PX Me – The Sequel to PX This (Coming Soon in the Spring of 2011)
* "…The intellectual community, as usual, showed itself to be timid and divided, and even the most unexpected graphologists engaged in controversies regarding their inconsistent analyses of my handwriting. It was they who divided opinions, overheated the polemic, and made nostalgia popular…. Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future." – Gabriel García Márquez
GREATEST HITS: PX This [The Blahg]
Hi! Thank you for your "search"!
This website is currently undergoing changes as it continually progresses, so the entry for which you are seeking has likely been archived within "The Greatest Hits – PX This [The Blahg]". It was removed from its original location in preparation for the upcoming release of PX Me -The Sequel to PX This. If you would like more information and/or further clarification on this particular narrative, please read PX This – The Revised Edition and/or PX Me(coming soon).
And so without further ado— by popular (search engine) demand, we proudly present THE GREATEST HITS of PX This [The Blahg]
[*** warning: Eats, Shoots and Ladders Leaves freaks, please CLICK HERE* and HERE before reading any further. then take that favorite book of yours and stick it up your ass. thank you! ***]
"St. Barth… Isle de France… Billy Joel…"
sun 01.16.05: … so our first day was fun we roamed around the grounds with billy-joel and katie-lee and their two scrunch faced pugs, and they told all about how they looove st.barth— they got engaged there and then went back a few months ago and got married there too.
oh and by "grounds" i mean the Isle de France. see, when johnny-podell originally invited us to his "place in st. barth’s" i assumed he meant his house but what he really meant was his big private residence club dual-villa 2BR 2BA with outdoor kitchen/dining and private pool at The Hotel St. Barth – Isle De France on the Baie de Flamands that he visits regularly seven times a year (duh).
that night after we settled in, johnny-podell took us to Le Ti for dinner. which was nice. i might have enjoyed it more if we didn’t almost plunge off a cliff and die on the way there. [you think i'm kidding oh i so am not.]
Le Ti is big (with three separate dining rooms) and it’s all red and velvet and really loud music, it even has its own boutique that carries "sexy" type clothing all in like fur and leather. [yes i said fur and leather. in the caribbean. whatevs!]
evidently the boutique has a fashion show every saturday night and then around midnight peoples start to go crazy dancing all over the place, even on the tabletops.
anyways that was our first night.
the next day was sunday it rained all day so we went into Gustavia and we had lunch at Nikki Beach. Nikki Beach is cute and fabulous, it’s right on the Baie de St.Jean and it’s all white with beds and drapes just like you’d expect. i’ve noticed the boudoir thing is really popular these days (Bed, Duvet, Shore Club, etc) but personally i can’t stand it. i mean i get it, it’s supposed to be "hot" and "sexy" and comfy and all, but really when i see peoples all lounged about with their feet and limbs and asses and whatnot sprawled all out like roadkill while they are dining out in public i think it just looks kinda hideous.
like for example, when acquaintances visit you in your home you don’t generally receive them in your private quarters unless maybe you’re sick in bed or something, yes? so when i see this eating-in-bed fad becoming all the rage i just have to wonder what comes next— dining while squatting on toilets maybe.
yah so, then that night we had dinner at K’fé Massaï which from what i gather, is the favorite restaurant of all the native st.barthelemese. the menu is simple, just three prix fixe menus (at €29, €39, and €49) consisting of three courses each and the food is very good.
then it was monday and the sun was shining so we chilled at the beach. and it was great, billy-joel came over and plopped to chitchat. and he told us all about how he and his wife are going to donald-trump‘s wedding, but he "wouldn’t have realized" he was expected to sing at the reception had he not picked up a newspaper one morning and read all about it. so then apparently billy-joel decided to make up a song about The Donald, he even busted out with part of the little ditty for us.
it was really amusing and i would love to tell all about it but i don’t want some gossip rag to come along and read this and "scoop" the story and print billy-joel’s song lyrics and ruin the wedding surprise. maybe i will google the wedding date and then i will tell about the lyrics that day instead.
anyhoo billy-joel also said how his wife katie is an "incredible chef" and a "real foodie," so i gave her a copy of PX This (hee ehee i didn’t tell her i wrote it, of course) and she told me all about how she is working on some teevee pilot thingie with david-rosengarten called "A Matter of Taste," and she is thinking of doing some sort of book thingie too.
anyways so then later that night johnny-podell, marc-bagutta, and i went for dinner at Maya‘s because katie & billy-joel raved about it, they said they’d dined there last saturday night.
Maya’s was very quaint and provincial. and we just happened to run into billy-joel and katie in the parking lot on their way out after dinner, so apparently they liked it so much they dined there again. katie recommended "the fig and mozzarella salad" and "the salmon" to me so that’s what i ordered. johnny-podell remarked he’s been there a few times already and he always sees lots of stars like chevy-chase and jack-nicholson and harvey-weinstein and other peoples like that all the time.
on tuesday it was windy so we decided to go to a different beach called Saline (pronounced suh-leen not say-leen). and we had lunch at a really cute cafe that had great burgers but i can’t remember its name now. which is really terrible of me, so if you happen to be in st.barth and you want to try it, it’s right next door to L’Esprit Salines.
during lunch we met the nice woman who runs the Vintage store in Gustavia and she told us Saline Beach is windy too, so she sent us to a different beach instead called Governeur which is way up the mountain and back down again and the beach was very pretty indeed but unfortunately we almost got killed on the drive back. twice.
then on wednesday we shopped in Gustavia all day and drove all over the island. that’s the thing in st.barth, you see. driving driving and more fucking driving. we stopped for a drink at the hotel Carl Gustaf. very pretty.
then marc-bagutta and i had a sunset cocktail back at the Isle De France and billy-joel came over to join us and ordered a "mojito sans sucre avec swit and lo." i vaguely recall he mentioned something about performing at The Beacon soon. and he also commented something about singers getting old and losing their pipes, i can’t remember exactly because i was a little nervous and starstruck and drunk.
but i did notice billy-joel spoke with a cute little european accent so i think maybe he is learning french now or something, he has that strange "assimilation" affliction that peoples who speak perfect english sometimes get when they are conversing with foreigners.
then later we had dinner at La Vela which came highly recommended by the Hotel St.Barth. it was okay. it was designed to look kinda like a boat inside with little portholes and everything.
thursday we had lunch at Dõ Brazil on Shell Beach. i had ribs and fries and a "bailey’s colada."
later that evening during our new st.barth sunset cocktail tradition, we met carlos-sandoval who is a filmmaker and Sundance award winner. he’s really nice. a bit later johnny-podell sat down to join us and then so did billy-joel and katie-lee. billy-joel said "jimmy-buffet is in town" and so they were on their way to meet him for dinner at Maya’s.
finally friday night was dinner at L’Esprit Salines with johnny-podell, marc-bagutta, and a group of friends from NYC we’d run into on the beach earlier in the week— one of them was scooter-weintraub who manages sheryl-crowe. that night was the most fun of all, they took us to see the big beautiful house they always rent whenever they visit st.barth and then they gave me a tiny polka dotted bobble headed turtle as a gift, just because they could tell i really liked it.
the next morning we heard we totally missed an impromptu billy-joel concert at Le Gaïac at Hotel Le Toiny, he performed Georgia On My Mind, evidently because the house piano singer had already sung New York State of Mind.
fri 01.28.05: … thanks for reminding me about billy-joel’s trump wedding song lyrics.
i noticed the donald/melania wedding pictures on lots of covers of papers and magazines and stuffs but i didn’t really read the pages upon pages and pages of articles so i have no idea whether billy-joel’s wedding surprise was written about anywheres or if he even did get to sing it after all. well it’s been over week now so i don’t remember the words so clearly but i do recall billy-joel saying when he discovered he would be singing at the reception he decided to write a little ditty to perform called That’s Why the Donald is a Trump. and the part he performed for us went a little something like this (sung to the tune of That’s Why the Lady is a Tramp):
if he likes you/ maybe he’ll hire you
but watch your back/ he might turn around and fire you.
that’s why the donald is a trump.
what’s with that hair/ and that crazy combover
and smack in the middle is this clump
that’s why the donald is a trump.
* * * * *
pxthis.com archives
This is an abbreviated version of Abbe Diaz’s diary/blog entry on January 16 and 18, 2005, for web archival purposes only. A far more detailed, thorough, and incisive account may be included in Diaz’s upcoming second book, PX Me – The Sequel to PX This (Coming Soon in the Spring of 2011)
* "…The intellectual community, as usual, showed itself to be timid and divided, and even the most unexpected graphologists engaged in controversies regarding their inconsistent analyses of my handwriting. It was they who divided opinions, overheated the polemic, and made nostalgia popular…. Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future." – Gabriel García Márquez
GREATEST HITS: PX This [The Blahg]
Hi! Thank you for your "search"!
This website is currently undergoing changes as it continually progresses, so the entry for which you are seeking has likely been archived within "The Greatest Hits – PX This [The Blahg]". It was removed from its original location in preparation for the upcoming release of PX Me -The Sequel to PX This. If you would like more information and/or further clarification on this particular narrative, please read PX This – The Revised Edition and/or PX Me (coming soon).
And so without further ado— by popular (search engine) demand, we proudly present THE GREATEST HITS of PX This [The Blahg]
[*** warning: Eats, Shoots and Ladders Leaves freaks, please CLICK HERE* and HERE before reading any further. then take that favorite book of yours and stick it up your ass. thank you! ***]
"Nick Denton vs Leigh Haber"
thu 01.18.07: oh my gawd last night is without a doubt going down in my own little personal history as one of the FUNNEST nights i have had (or will have) ever in my whole fucking lifetime
eeheeheheee haha hahaaa check this shit out:
yah so last night was dinner at WaverlyInn. i invited leigh-haber to join me for a nice evening out because i was having a really shitty week and i totally deserved a respite (and i wanted to celebrate leigh-haber’s Modern Times).
anyways
somewhere amidst the bottle of Montagny and the fantastic conversation and the massive pot pies and the jon-bon.jovis and karolina-kurkovas and andre-harrells and graydon-carters and brian-mcnallies and eric-goodes and sante-d’orazios and sean-macphersons and jimmy-mccaffreys etc etc etc i tap leigh-haber on the elbow and declare, "hey look it’s nick-denton."
leigh-haber takes one glimpse at nick-denton and responds, "oh. hmm. should i say something?" and before i even have a chance to completely execute my shrug, leigh-haber is out of her seat and across the room ohmygoodness i was so fucking proud of her she’s like totally my hero.
apparently leigh-haber said to nick-denton [right there in front of his entire dinner party-of-six GO GIRL]: "ya know, last week i was promoted (because i worked my ass off and i’m finally getting some dues) and it should have been a nice day for me, but instead of feeling good about it, i had to feel miserable, because i was both promoted and eviscerated on the very same day, by a bunch of people who have absolutely no inkling who i am."
[or something like that, i admit i'm paraphrasing but i know the word "eviscerate" was definitely in there.]
nick-denton then evidently replied: "i didn’t see the item."
so then leigh-haber retorted something like: "well as the owner of Gawker, i believe you bear a certain level of responsibility."
nick-denton conceded.
and then leigh-haber came back to the table and i was positively BEAMING for her no joke i was totally the [hot. smokin] freaky asian chick GLOWING in the corner.
a little whiles later, as we were strolling out of the restaurant, theWaverly higher-powers decided they wanted to buy us a round of drinks [because i am so fucking fierce like that], they insisssted we sit down again at a front bar table and enjoy a cordial or digestif. so leigh-haber and i accepted, we got nice and cozy in the corner by the fireplace and let them kiss our fucking rings.
so then of course leigh-haber and i were afforded a lovely view of nick-denton leaving after dinner, but pausing for a minute (after a quick glance thrown our way) to tap at his Blackberry(?)Treo(?)Sidekick(?)whatever.
i turn to leigh-haber and i guffaw: "look, maybe nick-denton is texting his editor about you right now aahahahahaahaa"
and then nick-denton was out the door.
so then leigh-haber and i sat for a while and enjoyed our drinks and the sparkling witty banter of The Little Dog Laughed‘s douglas-carter.beane (who just happened to be seated next table over) and right as leigh-haber was lamenting that perhaps being called "the next judith-regan" wasn’t "exactly the best compliment"—
GUESS who walked into the restaurant.
judith fucking regan i SWEAR TO GAWD. ha ha hah hahhahh ahahahhahahaa you think i can make this shit up, i can’t.
so. today i just want to extend a really warm and heartfelt thank you to leigh-haber. for making my evening just the bestest night ever.
and also to say i’m sorry, but i just couldn’t resist.
even though leigh-haber sent me a gracious and lovely e-mail this morning asking me to please not comment on our night out together on my silly little blahggety blahg thingie—
sweetie you’re smoking crack there was NO WAY IN HELLS i was going to keep this one to myself.
ANYHOO
the other thing for which i wanted to thank leigh-haber (and i bet she doesn’t even realize this) is that last night she really opened my eyes and helped me with something of a little internal dilemma.
see, i have been sorta struggling with this here blahg thingie lately. it just so happens i am lucky enough to have been offered a couple of small investments from some very nice (and apparently brilliant, with astoundingly remarkable foresight) peoples who, for some reason, think possibly there is some $$ to be made here somehow (selling ads or some shit). but
i have been ruminating to myself just HOW in gawd’s name will this be possible— i mean
do this EVERY DAY? how could i possibly, i’m not that fucking interesting.
and so lately, my inner turmoil has been:
should i use the mountains and mountains and mountains of nightlife industry "insider" 411
[ahahaa scratch that. 411? bitch please, i got Google all up in this mutherfukker. no joke]
that is fed and spread to me incessantly— the kind of stuffs i think other interweb bloogie thingies would kill for—
[like for example how Morandi is set to open like any millisecond now but already there's a shade of drama in the kitchen, i can't wait to see how that shit plays out... and how BoweryHotel is lookin gooood... and how LafayetteInn is looking even better, and all their "pre-opening" guests are faaabooolous... and how ChinatownBrasserie had better make that dimsum shit work, boy... and how masaharu-morimoto and stephen-starr just might be beefin with each other and maybe they'll get divorced pretty soon... and how alan-yau is making ian-schrager's life a little bit of hell... and how theCoreClub is ummm maybe not exactly impressing their members so so much... and ya know. stuff like that. oh but i digress.]
—but are told to me unwittingly. in casual conversation. by my friends and acquaintances and "colleagues" and other peoples i love and admire and respect.
i don’t want to be frank-bruni or adam-platt or alan-richman or steve-cuozzo with their frikkin (obnoxious) one-star three-star go-here don’t-go-there they’re-worthy/unworthy let’s-shut-this-fucking-place-down bullshit.
i don’t want to go peeking in the cracks of the plywood trying to expose projects that haven’t even fucking started yet.
i don’t want to go sticking my fat obtrusive face in peoples’ businesses just to say mean things about them, because it’s "funny."
and i definitely don’t want to go clamoring for ugly photographs of "celebrities" [hell, everybody takes a bad photo sometimes yes even someone as totally smokin as me] just so i can make them look stupid and then exploit them.
well
last night with leigh-haber i realized i don’t have to. hells, my life is pretty darned amusing sometimes. and no i’m not a "business," i’m an ARTIST goddammit.
(eeheee geezus, i really can take anything in the universe and make it all about me)
thanks leigh-haber. and thanks to you too BigHomey
:)
*** Gawker’s next-day response to this narrative is here –> “Leigh Haber Takes Her Complaints Straight to the Top” ***
* * * * *
**pictured: Nick Denton, former Gawker blogger Emily Gould
pxthis.com archives
This is an abbreviated version of Abbe Diaz’s diary/blog entry on January 18, 2007, for web archival purposes only. A far more detailed, thorough, and incisive account is to be included in Diaz’s upcoming second book, PX Me – The Sequel to PX This (Coming Soon in the Spring of 2011)
* "…The intellectual community, as usual, showed itself to be timid and divided, and even the most unexpected graphologists engaged in controversies regarding their inconsistent analyses of my handwriting. It was they who divided opinions, overheated the polemic, and made nostalgia popular…. Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future." – Gabriel García Márquez
GREATEST HITS: PX This [The Blahg]
Hi! Thank you for your "search"!
This website is currently undergoing changes as it continually progresses, so the entry for which you are seeking has likely been archived within "The Greatest Hits – PX This [The Blahg]". It was removed from its original location in preparation for the upcoming release of PX This Too (The Sequel to PX This). If you would like more information and/or further clarification on this particular narrative, please read PX This – The Revised Edition and/or PX This Too (coming soon).
And so without further ado— by popular (search engine) demand, we proudly present THE GREATEST HITS of PX This [The Blahg]
[*** warning: Eats, Shoots and Ladders Leaves freaks, please CLICK HERE* and HERE before reading any further. then take that favorite book of yours and stick it up your ass. thank you! ***]
"What’s the deal with New York Magazine / GrubStreet’s "Two for Eight"? Is it all just bullshit or what?"
TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2009. 11:18AM
okay so
this is the THIRD time i’ve caught a discrepancy in their uhhh "reporting."
as you may or may not recall, i previously posted about the other two times in the [private, password-protected, soon-to-be-defunct] "members’ only forum"–
specifically, i said this:
May 29, 2009, 11:18 AM
… last night was dinner at CentroVinoteca. and the place was slammed.
and that made me think "huh." cuz the day before, i had called the restaurant to try and make a reservation for friends of mine (who had tried themselves, but couldn’t get a table). and even though the hostess was very sweet saying they could accommodate me, i could tell it was going to be a bit of a nightmare for them so i told them never mind. and then i made arrangements with my friend to dine together with them another time instead, and so that made everybody happy and satisfied.
lo and behold i look yesterday morning and i see on grubstreet: "Tables Available at Centro Vinoteca" for two at 8pm.
and i was all: 
— but then i brushed it off thinking i guess it’s possssible (?) they had a cancellation? but didn’t call me? hmm. okay.
and so last night i mentioned this to one of the managers in charge of the reservationists. and he personally told me: "it’s IMPOSSIBLE. there was no way grubstreet was offered an 8pm table at 4pm. WE WERE BOOKED."
i also happpen to know there was also another time grubstreet had the same "Centro… Tables Available…" title but when you clicked on the link, it stated there was in fact "no" table available.
but when i pointed the discrepancy out in the comments section, they merely crossed out their previous entry and changed it to suit their title.
now
yesterday i happen to look and AGAIN i see: "Tables Available at Centro Vinoteca and Trestle on Tenth; Allen & Delancey Mostly Booked"
and i think to myself: "really? REALLY?! if Allen&Delancey is AGAIN ‘mostly booked’ with a ‘nearest availability at 6:45pm’ on a MONDAY night with RAIN in the forecast, then that is pretty incredible. as a matter of fact, it’s so incredible, i would like to see this for myself. obviously they are doing something right, and perhaps i should go and see it with my own eyes and then i can LEARN something about what they are doing so right."
mmhmp. yah– oh i learned something all right.
- firstly i phoned Allen&Delancey myself at 6pm. and SOMEHOW i managed to score a reservation for two at a time much MUCH closer to an 8PM time slot than the reported "earliest availability" at "6:45." i was even told "it would be a pleasure" to accommodate me (twice even). and in case you were wondering whether it was my totally awesome PXness that got me the table— no. sorry. i booked it under a pseudonym.
- i (and my guest) then arrived at Allen&Delancey a tad early– at 7pm.
there was ONE couple at the bar and two deuces in the dining room.
- i promptly phoned CentroVinoteca and inquired "heyyyy… just curious… how many people are at your bar right now (at 7PM)…?"
i was told: "18 people at the bar. and 4 deuces in the dining room."
- so then i asked: "and are you booked at 8pm by any chance?"
the answer: why yes! they are! (imagine that!) but they have an availability later in the evening if i’d like, but sorrrrry– not quite at 8pm.
hmm. really. well that’s interesting.
by the time 8:05pm rolled around, Allen&Delancey had seated one 8-top, and two more deuces. plus one other couple at the bar (totaling 6 covers in the front bar area, and 16 in the dining room).
does that sound like "mostly booked" to you?
(by the way– A&D, much like Centro, has approximately 12 seats at the bar and about 70 seats in the dining room.)
ya know
it’s no secret i have disagreed with Eater many times in the past. but AT LEAST their resy-whateverthefuck thing they run (which grubstreet, arguably, did bite off Eater) has the number of ring-a-dings, and the exact response given, and sometimes even the name of the person who answered the phone and whatnot.
i must admit– it DOES add a bit of plausibility (not to mention entertainment value) to the whole sordid exercise.
which brings me to my point:
- what IS the point, do you think, of this whole "two for eight" bit, hmm?
i mean– OSTENSIBLY, they are trying to do the restaurants and patrons some kind of favor or something, yes?
but, having inquired over and over again– it seems there is, in fact, no value in this for the restaurant OR patrons, as CentroVinoteca (for example– look ! "all grub street posts tagged ‘Centro Vinoteca + two for eight’ **– all 50 times — a good 2 to 3 times MORE than any other restaurant on that list!) has confirmed that NEVER since its inception has ANY customer EVER expressed their last-minute reservation and/or arrival was due to the awesome efficiency and convenience of grubstreet’s "Two for Eight."
[in contrast however, "Top Chef" is invoked innumerable times, as are leah-cohen's recent appearances on the cover of the NY Times City section and CBS's weekend Morning Show.]
yah so— incidentally, my dining companion while all this was happening last night, just happens to be a restaurateur.
his take on the matter (?):
"i don’t get it. what’s the point of this? it doesn’t make me happy to hear other restaurants aren’t doing so well."
mmhmmm. well
maybe it doesn’t make HIM happy
but i guess it makes SOMEONE happy.
doesn’t it?
at the very least, as an avid and devoted reader (and fan!) of grubstreet, i would kinda looove to hear them explain what’s going on here.
but hey, maybe that’s just me.
** UPDATE: Well, lookee here— the hyperlink provided no longer allows viewers to see how many times a particular restaurant has been featured in Gribstreet’s "Two for Eight." Imagine that! Good thing we’ve got a screen capture!
Click to enlarge —> 
*********************************************************
pxthis.com archives
This is an abbreviated version of Abbe Diaz’s diary/blog entry on June 9, 2009, for archival purposes only. A far more detailed, thorough, and incisive account is to be included in Diaz’s upcoming second book, PX This Too (The Sequel to PX This) – Coming in the Autumn of 2010
* "…The intellectual community, as usual, showed itself to be timid and divided, and even the most unexpected graphologists engaged in controversies regarding their inconsistent analyses of my handwriting. It was they who divided opinions, overheated the polemic, and made nostalgia popular…. Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future." – Gabriel García Márquez
NOTE: Unless otherwise dated, the comments listed below reflect the discussion that occurred in the Forum @ PX This subsequently, at the time of the original entry. They have been re-created here. If you require an un-edited copy of the original discussion, please e-mail px.this@gmail.com
GREATEST HITS: PX This [The Blahg]
Hi! Thank you for your "search"!
This website is currently undergoing changes as it continually progresses, so the entry for which you are seeking has likely been archived within "The Greatest Hits – PX This [The Blahg]". It was removed from its original location in preparation for the upcoming release of PX This Too (The Sequel to PX This). If you would like more information and/or further clarification on this particular narrative, please read PX This – The Revised Edition and/or PX This Too (coming soon).
And so without further ado— by popular (search engine) demand, we proudly present THE GREATEST HITS of PX This [The Blahg]
[*** warning: Eats, Shoots and Ladders Leaves freaks, please CLICK HERE* and HERE before reading any further. then take that favorite book of yours and stick it up your ass. thank you! ***]
"Beyonce @ Cipriani 55 Wall"
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2005. 11:18AM:
… so last night was the official finale for this season’s Wall Street Concert Series at Cipriani55Wall featuring beyoncé! holy cow she’s gorgeous. i got to sneak in earlier and watch her rehearse and everything, she was all dressed down like she just rolled out of bed, and still she was so beautiful. actually i think she looked better without all the pancake and glitter and whatnot. don’t get me wrong, she was stunning during the concert, but just in her jeans without any makeup— no joke, she looked ten years younger.
anyways, it was a great extravaganza, beyoncé really put on quite the show. she sang and danced and changed her outfit so many times.
eheee at one point she handed her microphone down to alex-rodriguez standing in the audience so he could sing-along, and omygoodness. that poor boy couldn’t carry a tune if it was shaped like a baseball bat.
and the performance in the audience was almost better than the show onstage. all the big ballers (shot-callers and brawlers) were in da house, everybody was glossin and flossin, on and on’in, till six in the mawnin. or something like that.
i saw damon-dash & piddy-diddy & harvey-weinstein & vivi-nevo & flavio-briatore & of course giuseppe-cipriani. i think jay-z arrived late, i didn’t spot him at all until almost the very end of the concert, he was backstage watching from the sidelines and it seemed even beyoncé was surprised to see him there, she looked over when the jumbotron abruptly caught him lurking in the wings and she suddenly beamed and blushed like lovestruck teenager. aww.
oh and harvey-weinstein was totally sweating my dress. i’m just sayin.
… yah so aside from that
last monday (october 31) was a… halloween dinner at Matsuri
… and it was lots of fun everybody was all dressed up in funny costumes. eric-goode was a boyscout. sean-macpherson was a totally convincing jesus-christ. sante-d’orazio was an archbishop. rachel-williams was ummm heidi? saint-paulie girl? something like that. and fisher-stevens was himself.
oh and valentino-garavani & his homeboy giancarlo-giametti were themselves too. do they have halloweenie in italy? i guess not.
… afterward was another party at Crobar…
mark-baker was a pirate. and the lovely vicky-andren was a stepford wife. oliver-stone was some kind of military soldier or veteran or something, i think.
and then later i heard was heidi-klum & seal & usher but i didn’t see any of them because we left by midnight.
finally was a stop at LaEsquina… serge-becker was dressed as a gimp which was totally the best costume all night.
pxthis.com archives
This is an abbreviated version of Abbe Diaz’s diary/blog entry on February 22, 2005, for archival purposes only. A far more detailed, thorough, and incisive account is to be included in Diaz’s upcoming second book, PX This Too (The Sequel to PX This) – Coming in the Autumn of 2010
* "…The intellectual community, as usual, showed itself to be timid and divided, and even the most unexpected graphologists engaged in controversies regarding their inconsistent analyses of my handwriting. It was they who divided opinions, overheated the polemic, and made nostalgia popular…. Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future." – Gabriel García Márquez
Greatest Hits: PX This [The Blahg]
Hi! Thank you for your "search"!
This website is currently undergoing changes as it continually progresses, so the entry for which you are seeking has likely been archived within "The Greatest Hits – PX This [The Blahg]". It was removed from its original location in preparation for the upcoming release of PX This Too (The Sequel to PX This). If you would like more information and/or further clarification on this particular narrative, please read PX This – The Revised Edition and/or PX This Too (coming soon).
And so without further ado— by popular (search engine) demand, we proudly present THE GREATEST HITS of PX This [The Blahg]
[*** warning: Eats, Shoots and Ladders Leaves freaks, please CLICK HERE* and HERE before reading any further. then take that favorite book of yours and stick it up your ass. thank you! ***]
"PX This Mercer Lobby Screaming"
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2005. 11:38AM
omygawd i got thrown out of theMercerHotel yesterday!
aha hah hahaa aah
oh okay that’s not ENTIRELY true. actually i left quietly of my own accord— because i am more than sufficiently aware lois-freedman (director of operations for jean-georges restaurants) doesn’t even HAVE the fucking authority to kick me out of theMercerHotel.
yah so anyways it was a real scene oh you should have been there— the best part was when lois-freedman started screaming at marc-bagutta at the top of her lungs "GET YOUR GIRLFRIEND OOOUT OF HEEERE! I’LL CALL THE COPPPS! IF JEAN-GEORGES WAS HERE, HE WOULD THROW HER OUTTT PERSSSONALLY!" i swear i thought her head was going to start spinning all around like that demonically possessed chick in that spooky exorcist movie.
and there were lots of other peoples (like dean-winters for example) sitting in the hotel lobby too trying to quietly enjoy their wine and tea and whatnot so they got some free entertainment. oh! i am sooo BUMMED i didn’t have any pxthis business cards on me to pass around like "thank yooou, we’ll be here all week."
by the way if you’re wondering why in the world lois-freedman would suddenly just bust out with her bestest impersonation of large-marge the lady truckdriver in Peewee Herman’s Big Adventure— alls i can say is: hmm. beats me!
so then anyways today we called ABhotels corporate office trying to understand why we are supposedly "NOT WELCOME EVVVERRR!"
they were very surprised to hear the news and so sweet saying this is not the case at all since we are such good and frequent patrons of theRaleigh in miami (and plus cuz we’re so faboolous) we are welcome "ANYTIME… ANYWHERE…" they even offered to send me a written apology.
yay!
[they also said something along the lines of "lois who..?" but oh never mind.]
anyhoo. oh yah so that same day after we’d left MercerHotel my pal "bunny"kim (who also used to work for jean-georges) and i went over to CiprianiDowntown to have some bellinis, because the poor thing needed a drink since she was so suddenly and unexpectedly subjected to lois-freedman’s freaky ballistic apeshit episode—
and hee eheee it was great, when we recounted to everybody what just occurred in theMercerHotel lobby, they were so amused and felt so sorry for us they comped our drinks and sent an entire meal from the kitchen too.
then afterward since we were in the area, we decided to pop into Kittichai around the corner.
and it was great, it just so happens dwayne-collins who also used to work with us for jean-georges is now the general manager of Kittichai. so when we recounted to everybody what just occurred in theMercerHotel lobby, they were so amused and felt so sorry for us they comped our drinks and sent an entire meal from the kitchen too.
and right then chef cedric-tovar happened to walk in, and it was great, when we recounted to him what just occurred in theMercerHotel lobby, he was so amused and felt so sorry for us he invited us over to Django (so he could comp our drinks and send an entire meal from the kitchen too).
geezus if we had kept going, we probably could have eaten for free all week long all over downtown NYC! ha ahaah
… but we were totally stuffed and couldn’t handle any more food so instead we decided to head over to Butter to check out the new monday night party thingie by richie-akiva & scott-sartiano & ronnie-madra.
it was really bunny-kim who wanted to go, so i was kinda totally prepared to despise every last minute of the experience. but actually, it wasn’t bad!
and i saw liev-schreiber & drea-dematteo & andre-harrell & sean-lennon & vincent-gallo & (of course) the olsen-twins. and that was just in the mere 40 minutes we stayed, a whole mess of other faboolous peoples were pouring in just as we were trying to get the fuck out. maybe i’m just too old fer that shit…
pxthis.com archives
This is an abbreviated version of Abbe Diaz’s diary/blog entry on February 22, 2005, for archival purposes only. A far more detailed, thorough, and incisive account is to be included in Diaz’s upcoming second book, PX This Too (The Sequel to PX This) – Coming in the Autumn of 2010
* "…The intellectual community, as usual, showed itself to be timid and divided, and even the most unexpected graphologists engaged in controversies regarding their inconsistent analyses of my handwriting. It was they who divided opinions, overheated the polemic, and made nostalgia popular…. Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future." – Gabriel García Márquez
GREATEST HITS: theForum@px.this
PX This hereby presents The Forum’s Greatest Hits, a thread-by-thread archive of the most fascinating discussions from <"theForum@px.this" --- our online F&B oriented community IP.Board (founded in 2007) made virtually obsolete by the re-launch of theBlahg, pxthis.com, on August 31, 2009.
[theForum@px.this will be fully and permanently dismantled upon the definitive completion of its archive.]
RATATOUILLE writer: big PX This fan! :
Started: March 17, 2008. 2:54PM by *abbe* • Closed: August 10, 2010 11:34AM • Archived at 5,695 Views
PRIMARY SUBJECT : Ratatouille by Brad Bird
ADJUNCT SUBJECTS : abbe diaz, Quentin Tarantino, Rosario Dawson, PX This.
GIST OF TOPIC : How come there are so many coincidences between Ratatouille and PX This, hmmm…?
SIGNIFICANCE: There are a whole lot of coincidences between Ratatouille and PX This, mmkay. WHY IS THAT?! Is it like, a sign from the cosmos— or is Brad Bird (and/or Quentin Tarantino) totally sweating us? Whatever, you decide.
We’re just sayin’.
RATING: ★★★
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: Ratings range from zero to five stars and reflect the discussion’s entertainment value, from amusing to hilarious, with edification taken into consideration. Hyperlinks contained within are subject to change.
The archives of theForum@px.this have been edited for the sake of clarity, brevity, and squeakiness. [If you require an original unedited copy of the discussion, please e-mail px.this@gmail.com]
***********************************************
** See also :
● Do You Like Pictures?
P.S. Go on and NETFLIX THIS. You know you want to!
GREATEST HITS: theForum@px.this
PX This hereby presents The Forum’s Greatest Hits, a thread-by-thread archive of the most fascinating discussions from "theForum@px.this" — our online F&B oriented community IP.Board (founded in 2007) made virtually obsolete by the re-launch of theBlahg, pxthis.com, on August 31, 2009.
[theForum@px.this will be fully and permanently dismantled upon the definitive completion of its archive.]
Jean Georges Enterprises: Shit, meet Fan. Fan, Meet Shit [Part 2]:
Started: July 27, 2007. 11:50AM by *MoneyMan* • Closed: August 5, 2010 11:17AM • Archived at 40,980 Views
… CONTINUED from Jean Georges Enterprises: Shit, meet Fan. Fan, meet Shit. [Part 1]
PRIMARY SUBJECT : Jean-Georges Enterprises LLC
ADJUNCT SUBJECTS : Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Director of Operations Lois Freedman, Attorney Caroline Richmond, Starwood Capital, W Hotels, Spice Market
GIST OF TOPIC : "Famed N.Y. Chef Sued for Skimpy Wages…" etc.
SIGNIFICANCE: When we last visited this topic, New York magazine was pulling the figurative foot out its mouth and Jean-Georges Enterprises was pulling the figurative foot out its ass.
The discussion continues to speculate on subsequent events, most notably the irrationality of Jean-Georges Enterprsises official release of some kind of half-assed statement admitting to "no wrongdoing."
Ha ha ahaa OK, did you catch that? The company was sued three times for essentially the same offense against the laws set forth by Department of Labor, but they, despite settling the suits in a cumulative amount totalling somewhere in the millions of dollars, "admit to no wrongdoing."
Oh, but it starts to get really good when evidently, some attorney named Caroline Richmond implies the workers of the industry from whom their wages were stolen should drop their lawsuits attempting to get their rightfully earned money back, because this really awful economy will force all those poor poor multimillion dollar restaurants to close down, and then all these workers will lose their jobs anyway. Behold!:
"All these people that have stolen from the employees all live in multi-million dollar homes, and now they want to bitch about how getting sued over money that they had no right to take in the first place is going to hurt their businesses? Boo hoo hoo.
These assholes never gave a shit that FOH’ers were living in tiny shoeboxes with roommates all this time. I’m pretty sure that in these ‘uncertain economic times’ that these people need the $3300 more than you do, you greedy fucking bitch….
Not to mention the fact that if it had been in reverse, and an FOH’er had been caught stealing money from the house, that person would have been fired on the spot. But her argument is that the FOH should shut up and stop upholding the laws, because they’ll lose their jobs…
The workers are suing to get money that they earned, back. The owners never had a right to that money in the first place. So if anyone should be giving up anything in these ‘uncertain economic times,’ it’s the lawyers that should be giving up their fees, if they’re so worried about these businesses failing."
Told ya! We "strange, strange world"— we so smart. We even make lawyers look like jackasses!
Especially when the discussion thread progresses over several months to eventually reveal how all these poor poor restaurants that can barely afford to stay in business after giving all the money they don’t admit to stealing back to the workers— are opening new multiple ventures. All over the world.
With earnings estimated at somewhere near the "$100M" mark. <— By the way, you’ll recall we only know that amount because it comes to us via this gem: "While JG marches his way to $100M, you’ll still be standing there holding your tired basket of gripes and getting old."
Ooooh, so right. Look, here we are! Just holding our basket.
RATING: ★★★★★
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: Ratings range from zero to five stars and reflect the discussion’s entertainment value, from amusing to hilarious, with edification taken into consideration. Hyperlinks contained within are subject to change.
The archives of theForum@px.this have been edited for the sake of clarity, brevity, and squeakiness. [If you require an original unedited copy of the discussion, please e-mail px.this@gmail.com]
***********************************************
** See also :
• Jean Georges Enterprises… [UPDATE] <--- Verrry interesting discussion going on in the comments section here!
• Jean Georges Enterprises: Shit, meet Fan. Fan, meet Shit. [Part 1]
• GrubStreet (& Gridskipper): Ignorant (& Stupid)
• “Mercer… Lobby… Screaming” starring Lois Freedman
For more on this subject, read PX Me – The Sequel to PX This – Coming Soon in the Spring of 2012
GREATEST HITS: theForum@px.this
PX This hereby presents The Forum’s Greatest Hits, a thread-by-thread archive of the most fascinating discussions from "theForum@px.this" — our online F&B oriented community IP.Board (founded in 2007) made virtually obsolete by the re-launch of theBlahg, pxthis.com, on August 31, 2009.
[theForum@px.this will be fully and permanently dismantled upon the definitive completion of its archive.]
Jean Georges Enterprises: Shit, meet Fan. Fan, Meet Shit [Part I]:
Started: July 27, 2007. 11:50AM by *MoneyMan* • Closed: August 5, 2010 11:17AM • Archived at 40,980 Views
PRIMARY SUBJECT : Jean-Georges Enterprises LLC
ADJUNCT SUBJECTS : Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Director of Operations Lois Freedman, Jay McInerney, Herve Descottes, Starwood Capital, Catterton Partners, W Hotels, Spice Market
GIST OF TOPIC : "Famed N.Y. Chef Sued for Skimpy Wages…"
SIGNIFICANCE: In 2004 Abbe Diaz publishes (the original) PX This, chronicling four years of her employment in the NYC Food & Beverage Industry. Not long afterward, Jay McInerney pens a "sycophantic five-page article" in New York magazine rhapsodizing about Jean-Georges Vongerichten and refuting several key issues raised in PX This, without ever actually mentioning PX This. Hysterical. (No, really— the apparent attempt at "damage control" is so camp, if you read PX This and then read the article, you’ll totally LOL! and squirt like coffee out your nose or whatever.)
Soon after, the NY Post reports: "Restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten is so annoyed by the success of his former Maitre D’ Abbe Diaz’s new tell-all book, he is forcing his employees to sign confidentiality agreements. They were also banned from discussing [the book] at work." Huh! Weird, right? Kinda makes you wonder what’s in that thing, doesn’t it?
Fast forward a little while later, and Abbe Diaz just happens to get thrown out of Jean Georges restaurant. Riveting!
Then another "sycophantic" item suddenly appears in New York magazine, comparing Abbe Diaz’s writing to "text messages tapped out by the jittery, manicured thumbnails of an ex-model at Rose Bar at 4 a.m." whatever the hell that means. Also, there’s something about the workers of the NYC Fine Dining Food & Beverage Industry being a "strange, strange world." Imagine that.
Hilariously, subsequently New York magazine is then compelled to report that Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his restaurant group have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by employees of eight of his eateries for the misappropriation of tip wages earned by staff— to the tune of $1.75 million.
In any case, all of that is discussed herein— by a bunch of people who seemingly used to work for Jean-Georges, duh. Oh, plus there’s some really fascinating big money corporate Gordon Gekko kind of talk, if you’re into that sort of thing. Ooooh, we "strange strange world." We so smart.
The discussion gets so long and elaborate, we had to split it into two parts. Part 2 forthcoming…
RATING: ★★★★★
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: Ratings range from zero to five stars and reflect the discussion’s entertainment value, from amusing to hilarious, with edification taken into consideration. Hyperlinks contained within are subject to change.
The archives of theForum@px.this have been edited for the sake of clarity, brevity, and squeakiness. [If you require an original unedited copy of the discussion, please e-mail px.this@gmail.com]
***********************************************
** See also :
• Jean Georges Enterprises… [UPDATE] <--- Verrry interesting discussion going on in the comments section here!
• GrubStreet (& Gridskipper): Ignorant (& Stupid)
• Jean Georges Enterprises: Shit, meet Fan. Fan, meet Shit [Part2]
• “Mercer… Lobby… Screaming” starring Lois Freedman
For more on this subject, read PX Me – The Sequel to PX This – Coming Soon in the Spring of 2012
GREATEST HITS: theForum@px.this
PX This hereby presents The Forum’s Greatest Hits, a thread-by-thread archive of the most fascinating discussions from "theForum@px.this" — our online F&B oriented community IP.Board (founded in 2007) made virtually obsolete by the re-launch of theBlahg, pxthis.com, on August 31, 2009.
[theForum@px.this will be fully and permanently dismantled upon the definitive completion of its archive.]
New York Magazine’s GRUBSTREET and Gawker’s GRIDSKIPPER
(Addressing Their Remarkable Ignorance and Outright Stupidity):
Started: February 21, 2008. 11:44AM by *Dick Johnson* • Closed: June 28, 2010 11:17AM • Archived at 84,619 Views
PRIMARY SUBJECT : GrubStreet’s Former Managing Editor, Josh Ozersky
ADJUNCT SUBJECTS : Former GridSkipper Blogger, Chris-Mohney. Chef/Restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
GIST OF TOPIC : Josh Ozersky is a biased, unethical, sycophantic tool. (This discussion thread essentially proves it. Lots of quotes, hyperlinks, etc. contained within.)
SIGNIFICANCE: In February of 2008, Abbe Diaz was asked to leave the bar at Jean Georges restaurant’s Nougatine before she could even finish her drink. That story itself is pretty entertaining.
However, it gets downright hysterical after GrubStreet’s Josh Ozersky chooses to recount the anecdote thusly:
Ungrammatical Forum Poster Tossed From Jean Georges, Gets Revenge in Ungrammatical Forum Post
We’re always leery of the strange, strange world of Abbe Diaz and her online forum, PX This, but a media alert titled Blogger Tossed From Jean Georges was difficult to resist. As you might expect, Diaz a former maitre d’ at Jean Georges who wrote a dishy book about her experiences in the business was in fact the blogger tossed, a cringe-inducing event publicized by the pilloried herself. (All of Diaz’s entries on PX This read like interminable text messages tapped out by the jittery, manicured thumbnails of an ex-model at Rose Bar at 4 a.m.) We include it here entirely for purposes of education: Remember, if you dog someone you worked for in a book, don’t go to his restaurant unless you know he won’t be around.
Abbe Diaz promptly responds in the comments section of that item:
How flattering! I would much rather sound like an ex-model at Rose Bar than a sycophantic journalist who gets all his information from press releases, any day of the week.
Here’s another "educational" tip for you: Don’t mistreat your staff members (or people in general, for that matter), because there’s such a thing in the universe called "karma," and its faces are plentiful and powerful.
Cheers,
abbe diaz
PX This.
p.s. Dear "Bookseller": Grub Street gives me a link, because right now I happen to be the most prominent voice of "the little people."
Y’know, the ones without whom the Industry to which Grub Street pays soooo much attention, wouldn’t even exist. *
*Note: For unknown reasons, Abbe Diaz’s comment in rebuttal to Josh Ozersky has since been removed from New York magazine’s website.
Good thing we saved it here! (And a whole lotta other fun stuff, too!)
Anyway— luckily, the Daily News also chooses to write their own account of the incident in a far more objective manner, and seeing as lots and lots and lots more people read the Daily News than Grubstreet, that was oodles of fun and cause for much celebration amongst Diaz’s "strange, strange world."
The discussion thread progresses over several months until it is eventually revealed that New York magazine will not renew Josh Ozersky’s contract as Managing Editor, and he is leaving GrubStreet to become Blog Editor for CitySearch. This, of course, would have been of little or no relevance to us (the NYC Food & Beverage industry professionals) had Josh Ozersky not made such a glaring jackass of his ignorant self prior. As it turns out, it was instead utterly priceless.
A few more weeks progress, and then it is revealed Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his restaurant group have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by employees of eight of his eateries for the misappropriation of tip wages earned by staff— to the tune of $1.75 million.
Again, this revelation would likely have been satisfying at best, but thanks to Josh Ozersky’s misplaced sycophantic contretemps, it ends up knee-slappingly uproarious to us, the "strange, strange world" of NYC’s Food & Beverage industry professionals.
The discussion finally culminates several months later, with the announcement of Josh Ozersky’s departure from CitySearch and the demise of his own personal unsuccessful "Feedbag" blog, created after his egress from GrubStreet.
Fascinating.
RATING: ★★★★★
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: Ratings range from zero to five stars and reflect the discussion’s entertainment value, from amusing to hilarious, with edification taken into consideration. Hyperlinks contained within are subject to change.
The archives of theForum@px.this have been edited for the sake of clarity, brevity, and squeakiness. [If you require an original unedited copy of the discussion, please e-mail px.this@gmail.com]
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*Pictured: Anton Ego, food writer, Ratatouille
** See also :
• NEWSFLASH: Josh Ozersky is Unethical (and/or "Dumb")
• NEWSFLASH: Josh Ozersky is a Dweeb
For more on this subject, read PX This Too – The Sequel to PX This – Coming Soon in the Autumn of 2010
GREATEST HITS: theForum@px.this
PX This hereby presents The Forum’s Greatest Hits, a thread-by-thread archive of the most fascinating discussions from "theForum@px.this" — our online F&B oriented community IP.Board (founded in 2007) made virtually obsolete by the re-launch of theBlahg, pxthis.com, on August 31, 2009.
[theForum@px.this will be fully and permanently dismantled upon the definitive completion of its archive.]
Started: October 1, 2007. 3:49 PM by *Ferret-n-Chicken!* • Closed: June 24, 2010 11:28AM • Archived at 17,670 Views
PRIMARY SUBJECT : Who would play the "lead character" in the TV/Cable/Web extravaganza PX This – The Series ?
ADJUNCT SUBJECTS : Actress Marja Allen Vongerichten, Thandie Newton, Gary Dourdan, Michelle Malkin, eater.com
GIST OF TOPIC : "DANG. DAT BE A LITTER A’ FINE BITCHEZ! WORD."
SIGNIFICANCE: "DANG. DAT BE A LITTER A’ FINE BITCHEZ! WORD."
Also: PX This – The Revised Edition is about (among other things)… a certain chef, see. Who just happens to have this wife. Who just happens to be an actress. Who just happens to look a lot like Abbe Diaz.
Do you seeee the possibilities? Freaky.
Oh, and also: Who would play YOU ? Mwuahahahahahahahahahaaaa
RATING: ★★★★★
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: Ratings range from zero to five stars and reflect the discussion’s entertainment value, from amusing to hilarious, with edification taken into consideration. Hyperlinks contained within are subject to change.
The archives of theForum@px.this have been edited for the sake of clarity, brevity, and squeakiness. [If you require an original unedited copy of the discussion, please e-mail px.this@gmail.com]
***********************************************
*Pictured: Abbe Diaz, Marja Allen Vongerichten, Thandie Newton
** See also (earlier): Abbe Diaz gets Personal
For more on this subject, read PX Me – The Sequel to PX This – Coming Soon in the Spring of 2012
* * * * *
Have you heard?
Until the release of PX Me (Spring 2012), this website will henceforth be updated only intermittently (approximately once or twice a week).
Abbe Diaz’s new (daily) blog is now at: abbediaz.com
GREATEST HITS: theForum@px.this
PX This hereby presents The Forum’s Greatest Hits, a thread-by-thread archive of the most fascinating discussions from "theForum@px.this" — our online F&B oriented community IP.Board (founded in 2007) made virtually obsolete by the re-launch of theBlahg, pxthis.com, on August 31, 2009.
[theForum@px.this will be fully and permanently dismantled upon the definitive completion of its archive.]
THE HOSTESS DIARIES CONSPIRACY
Started: May 27, 2008. 12:47 PM by (Forum Administrator) *jo* • Closed: June 22, 2010 11:56PM • Archived at 15,935 Views
PRIMARY SUBJECT : New York Times article "My Year at a Hotspot" by Coco Henson Scales, July 11, 2004
ADJUNCT SUBJECTS : Former gawker.com Managing Editor Choire Sicha, Former New York Times food critic Frank Bruni, Former Hue hostess Coco Henson Scales (and friend, William Diggs)
GIST OF TOPIC : Did Choire Sicha and/or Coco Scales (along with Frank Bruni) "conspire" to misappropriate the subject matter in PX This for their own glorification and/or personal gain?
SIGNIFICANCE: In June of 2004, Abbe Diaz purchases a short-running advertising spot within gawker.com to help publicize her book, PX This (Diary of the "Maitre d’ to the Stars"). Within several weeks of that advertisement, the aforementioned article in question, “My Year at a Hotspot,” appears in The New York Times, ostensibly written by former (prominent PX This "character" Karim Amatullah‘s) Hue hostess, Coco Henson Scales.
Gawker Editor Choire Sicha declares the article the "best celebrity venality exposé ever!" and goes on to exhort, "if Gawker had a required reading syllabus, it would consist entirely of this article." He then further exalts the article by declaring Coco Scales "The People’s Hero" on his personal blog as well, choiresicha.com (now semi-defunct).
Within hours, "fans" of PX This ("anywhere from 15 to 35 people") send e-mails to Sicha drawing attention to Diaz’s book, with at least one pointing out Diaz’s status as a former Gawker advertiser. Diaz herself forwards a mention of her book in the Daily News to Sicha. Sicha responds via e-mail to Diaz (and at least one "enthusiast") but, despite referring to himself as a “big fan,” fails to publicly acknowledge the existence of Diaz’s book in any way.
It is later discovered the climax of Scales’s riveting narrative is completely fictional.
Upon speculation as to how a fictional essay (by a previously unknown/unpublished writer) could possibly appear in the New York Times as a non-fictional feature in the first place, it is discovered Choire Sicha "dated Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni for a few months."
Scales has written nothing since.
RATING: ★★★★
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: Ratings range from zero to five stars and reflect the discussion’s entertainment value, from amusing to hilarious, with edification taken into consideration. Hyperlinks contained within are subject to change.
The archives of theForum@px.this have been edited for the sake of clarity, brevity, and squeakiness. [If you require an original unedited copy of the discussion, please e-mail px.this@gmail.com]
* * * * *
*Pictured (from boston.com): Choire Sicha, Former Gawker blogger, Emily Gould
** See also:
• GAWKER.COM
• Gawker Loses "Ignorasshole"
• Nick Denton vs Leigh Haber
• Freelance Writer Wanted (for investigative piece on The Hostess Diaries Conspiracy)
For more on this subject, read PX Me – The Sequel to PX This – Coming Soon in the Spring of 2012
GREATEST HITS: theForum@px.this
PX This hereby presents The Forum’s Greatest Hits, a thread-by-thread archive of the most fascinating discussions from "theForum@px.this" — our online F&B oriented community IP.Board (founded in 2007) made virtually obsolete by the re-launch of theBlahg, pxthis.com, on August 31, 2009.
[theForum@px.this will be fully and permanently dismantled upon the definitive completion of its archive.]
Started: Nov 21 2007, 01:58 PM by *what’s anorexia?* • Closed: February 17, 2010 12:10PM • Archived at 44,539 Views
PRIMARY SUBJECT : Former gawker.com blogger Joshua David Stein aka "the ignorasshole"
ADJUNCT SUBJECTS : Former gawker.com blogger Emily Gould. Gawker owner/publisher Nick Denton. Former NY Post journalist and gawker.com blogger Ian Spiegelman. Former Gawker managing editor Gabriel Snyder. Former Grubstreet blogger Josh Ozersky. Brian Grazer.
GIST OF TOPIC : Joshua David Stein is an ignorant asshole. Also, a hypocrite. And apparently, a bit of a horntoad who slept with his co-worker. Lots of links and quotes and whatnot provided. Some jabs at gawker.com too, because "they suck" in general.
And then everyone at Gawker who was ever a jerkface suddenly quits or gets fired. Riveting.
SIGNIFICANCE: Abbe Diaz and Joshua David Stein have serious beef from way back (Sept 2007). The guy is a tool; this thread pretty much proves it.
Also, *abbe* randomly drops a comment in a Gawker item, and houses owner Nick Denton’s ass. Fun times.
Gawker bans Abbe Diaz from commenting at Gawker [weak sauce!] because they’re immensely intimidated by her. Twice.
RATING: ★★★★
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: Ratings range from zero to five stars and reflect the discussion’s entertainment value, from amusing to hilarious, with edification taken into consideration. Hyperlinks contained within are subject to change.
The archives of theForum@px.this have been edited for the sake of clarity, brevity, and squeakiness. [If you require an original unedited copy of the discussion, please e-mail px.this@gmail.com]
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For more on this subject, read PX This Too – The Sequel to PX This – Coming Soon in the Autumn of 2010
= "personne extraordinaire"