PX This.

PX Me. (How I Became a Published Author, Got Micro-Famous, and Married a Millionaire)

When Abbe Diaz published her journal, PX This – Diary of the "Maître d’ to the Stars" [née Diary of the Potted Plant] in 2004, she’d had no idea Read more…

"… I later purchased an Apple computer, and it was with that machine and others that I used to create everything I’ve done since then. Yes, they were more expensive, but greatness has a cost. If it weren’t for the innovations of Steve Jobs, much of the last 16 years for me may never have happened in the way they did. I honor and respect a legend, someone who will go down in history as one of the greatest inventors the world has ever known. Like every technology executive, Steve Jobs inspired me to lead, but to also be firm with your beliefs. What I will miss the most are those stories of a decision maker whose instinct shaped the world we know today." – my friend (and inspiration), Tony Zeoli, founder: netmix.com

"and this is how i roll." – abbe diaz, commercial artist / designer / author ; pxthis.com / abbediaz.com / geld-iaz.com

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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

OMG, did you feel that?! The earth moved, the walls trembled, the chandeliers swayed… it was an earthquake! Here, in New York City! Wow.

We mean, on the one hand, it’s a little scary. On the other, it’s a relief, because we thought maybe we were going crazy— we looked out the window, and nobody out on the street even seemed to notice a thing. And on the third hand (just roll with it), we thought maybe watching this first episode of Brosephs was JUST. THAT. GOOD. It rocked our world, literally!

Har har aharr. Ready for even more laughs?

Then watch it.

:)

Hilarious, wasn’t it? It was co-written by awesomely talented F&B superstar, Kevin Coyle. Does he, uhh— look familiar, by any chance? (Aside from his numerous big television commercials and whatnot, we mean.) Well, soon you’ll be seeing even more of him, so stay tuned. Yay!

** See also (earlier): Introducing: Brosephs

Hey, has anyone ever had a "horrible boss" by any chance? We know we know— it’s like, sooo totally unlikely in the F&B industry!— but we’d just thought we’d ask. Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? Diaz?

Oh, there I am! Lookit that: "Abbe Diaz, a 42-year-old living in Greenwich Village, had so many bad experiences working in New York City restaurants that she wrote a book about it, PX This. (Diary of the ‘Maître d’ to the Stars’)…"

Aww maaan, did they leave out the part about the boss that would undermine potential business/customers simply to… oh forget it never mind. (Thanks, Daily News!)

However, if by some chance you’d like to know more about my crazy contemptible crackheaded mutherfukkers "horrible" bosses (and sooo much more), you know where to go! You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! It’s the… oh you get the picture.

Yay, me!

* * * * *

Have you heard?
Until the release of PX Me- The Sequel to PX This (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

Thank You, CBS!

Evidently, PX This recently appeared on CBS’s The Insider— but unfortunately not in NYC, since apparently it’s been canceled here? Aww, boo.

Oh well! For a closer look at the segment and a bit of a peek behind-the-scenes, you know where to look…

Yay!

Thank You, NBC!

Look, PX This was on LX-TV! Yay!

Mmmm… peacock….

:)

** See also (earlier):

• good morning, Australia [The Morning Show]

• [CBS's] the insider

* * * * *

Have you heard?
Until the release of PX Me (Summer 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

Ohh, so you wanna know a little bit more about Nick Rytting, you say? Well, far be it for PX This, your expert in everything F&Bulous in New York City, to deny you by failing to satiate your intense curiosity. (You’re welcome!)

This is Nick Rytting, currently the General Manager of The Box and the former manager of longtime über-hotspot La Esquina.

Nick is 20-something years old, with medium-to-dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He primarily plays for Team Rainbow, but has been known to date girls on occasion, when they helplessly succumb to his irresistibility by throwing themselves at him mercilessly. He was born in East Someplace, Utah but considers New York City his "other" home. He likes vegetables, good wine, designer clothes, kind "geniune" people, Mariah Carey, and references to his uncanny resemblance to Hunter Parrish. His dislikes include meat, possessiveness, insidiousness, the cost of airfare, and arriving at the party "on time."

In short, we absolutely adore Nick Rytting, and we’re sure you would too.

:)

This has been a PX This PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

* Black and White photo of Nick Rytting by Kristin Brown

abbe diaz’s NEW BLOG

OK, seriously?! We’re going to try this again, one last time.

According to some emails, mobile texts, and Facebook messages, it would appear that several regular PX This visitors completely missed the memo. So here’s the revised edition:

Until the release of PX Me (Summer 2011 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

[Full details are located here.]

Thank you!

Salon 403: Love is…

Congratulations to Lelaine Lau of Salon 403 for another wonderful and successful event last night, "Love is…"

Love is one of those things that is nearly impossible to quantify or describe, and difficult to define beyond "a strong affection for". And yet we know it when we see it or feel it, receive it or give it. It’s also an energy and a visceral feeling. It’s positive and uplifting and healthy. It encompasses so much more than just romance, and yet that is the first thing most people think of when they hear the word. So what is love to you?

Love Is is a celebration of love of all kinds as told through the stories of my presenters. Love Is is meant to be an expression of the various ways that love manifests. Love Is is a storytelling event and an interactive art project.

Please join me at the next 403, where presenters including chanteuse, French punk, and cult icon EDWIGE BELMORE, singer/songwriter DAVID RALEIGH, writer and cartoonist ANTHONY HADEN-GUEST, Super Sprowtz founder RADHA AGRAWAL, purveyor of love KATIA TALLARICO, lifestyle consultant WILSON MESA, model and muse PETEY WRIGHT, and other members of the 403 community will share what love is to them.

French painter, poet and conceptual artist JULIEN ISORE will also present his LOVE project – an experimental and interactive international art work and "advertising campaign" for LOVE. The aim of the campaign is to combine materiality and immateriality and transform humanity into a work of art. Julien’s work explores theoretical questions about metaphorical thought and the process of imaginary, and his campaign has captured the hearts of people all over the world from Lisbon, Paris, Shanghai, Brussels, Los Angeles, Geneva, Bogota, Stockholm and Bombay. This is his first LOVE campaign in New York City.

Love Is will feature the cuisine of CAMILLE BECERRA, a NYC-based chef and restaurateur known for incorporating the Latin spices of her heritage and her dedication to the farm-to-table movement. A top graduate of the Academy of Culinary Arts, she went on to open the popular Paloma in Greenpoint, which lasted 3 years before being shuttered by fire, and she competed in Season 3 of Top Chef. Most recently she held a series of wildly successful pop-up restaurants called The Hunger, which drew raves from the likes of Tom Colicchio and Todd English.

To see more photographs of this fantastic evening, you know where to go…

G’Night, Australia!

Thank you so much! It was really a lot of fun.

(For more of a behind-the-scenes look at the live-via-satellite appearance of PX This on Australia’s The Morning Show with Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies— you know where to go…)

Let’s try this again!

According to some emails, mobile texts, and Facebook messages, it would appear that several regular PX This visitors completely missed the memo. So here’s the revised edition:

Until the release of PX Me (Summer 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

[Full details are located here.]

Thank you!

Coming Soon: PX Me – The Sequel to PX This [How I Became a Published Author, Got Micro-Famous, and Married a Millionaire]

hi,

before anything else, i would just like to say thank you to everybody for all your continuing encouragement and support, i really appreciate it.

the next thing i guess i should do is clarify about the books, since i know there are a lot of new people here from the Daily News article and whatnot, looking for more information or elaboration. thank you for your interest!

from what i gather, some news/gossip outlets got it wrong; PX This (the book) actually came before PX This (the blahg), not vice versa.

also, if you want the stories mentioning the celebrities or whatever, that stuff is actually mostly in PX This (the book), and less here in the blahg or in PX Me (as was reported).

my next book, PX Me (How I Became a Published Author, Got Micro-Famous, and Married a Millionaire) is technically a sequel to PX This, and will chronicle the things that have happened since the first book was published. obviously, if you’ve read the first book, you’ll have a more profound understanding of the second.
but if you’ve never read PX This (and/or don’t intend to), that’s okay too— i sorta anticipate your interest in PX Me will stem from your curiosity about how to publish a book and possibly all the rest of it offered in the subtitle. that’s fine, that’ll work.

in any case, if you’re still reading this letter, wow i’m so grateful, that must mean you’re really intrigued. likely, you’re one of this blog’s regular readers (as opposed to the many inquisitive seekers led down this path by the google gods) and to you goes my deepest gratitude.

you know me well by now, better even than some of my closest friends (seriously! but more of that later, in PX Me). some of you (and you knooow who you are) have asked about "the fashion" — "where’s the fashion? what about the fashion? how come there’s no fashion?" — since clearly you’re well aware that PX This (the book) was, ironically, more about fashion than it ever was about restaurants, but it just so happens the dining-loving "audience" caught onto the book first.
you smart cookies, you.

well. incidentally, now is the time for me to really hunker down and get to the final editing of PX Me. as you’re perhaps aware, it’s been delayed several seasons already.

although this blog has a number of great contributors and exponents, they, as you’ve probably surmised, all still maintain full-time jobs within the F&B industry. and unfortunately, there’s simply no way i personally can edit this blog every day and also write my next book— it’s not just the amount of time involved, but also: trying to switch my brain from one type of writing to another every day is just too hard for me. sorry!

i’ve wracked my noggin for a solution and voilà! you, my beloved homies, inspired the bestest one. so, NOW you finally get "the fashion." hooray!

for the next several months while i work on PX Me, PX This (the blahg) will be updated less frequently, only about once or twice a week. hopefully that will amply satiate the restaurant-lovers and the scrutinizing googlies.

in the meantime, my daily blogging will consist mostly of photos— of— you got it. "the fashion." that way i can maintain my "brand’s momentum" (that’s book-marketing jargon, see) but still not have to switch my brain back and forth every day.

if you’re the type of visitor who comes for a daily "fix" of PX This and would like to take a gander at what comes next, please adjust your bookmarks and follow the white rabbit. you won’t have to visit two websites to stay informed of PX This, because i will gladly alert you every time it’s updated and offer up a handy hyperlink ladder from down in the rabbit hole.

are you ready? blue pill or red pill? if you want substance, well— i try. sometimes.

but if you want style— wooo child, have i got you covered.

here we go. please click here –> http://abbediaz.com

thank you so much again.

xoxo,

abbe

p.s. the "style blog" is currently in the process of being fully updated. hopefully by the time you see this, it will all be caught up to the present day.

hey, did you happen to see The Daily News this morning?

awesome, isn’t it?

well, if you happened to see the thingie on Hamptons.com the other day too, i just wanted to point out that my full statement was actually:

"Oh geez, why does it always boil down to Gwyneth Paltrow? …I’m far more fascinated by the logistics and implications of a multi-billion dollar food-and-beverage-as-entertainment industry that literally hoodwinks and exploits its most devoted followers and passionate patrons, not to mention what it does to its dedicated laborers. Or maybe the burgeoning self-sufficient sustainability of creative careers, what with the proliferation of personal technology and the Internet and all. Or even just plain life as comedy in general. But with this pervasive victory of triviality over substance, every time people mention my name, it’s stupid Gwyneth Paltrow. Can we move on already? Oh, no? Okay, then. Yes it’s true. Gwyneth Paltrow is a total creepface."

ha ha ha ahahaa. i’m just sayin.

thank you, Daily News! yay me!

* * * * *

Have you heard?
Until the release of PX Me (Summer 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

Thank you, Hamptons.com!

Damn, now that’s one of the bestest, intuitivest, most comprehensivest things about myself I’ve ever read. (Except maybe the title. But whatever!)

Thank you!

"Celebrities Stink (Mostly): Maître D To The Stars Names Names" – Hamptons.com

We’re sure the tantalizing trailer for "My Brother Nancy" wasn’t enough to satiate your immense appetite for the totally awesome fantastic-ness that is Michele Brilliant. Don’t worry! We got more. (And it also includes a healthy dose of supermodel Jenny Shimizu! Yay!)

Check it out. You know you want to.

You’re welcome!

:)

Uh-oh. Ugh… oh!

(sigh.)

from: Hollywood Professional/Producer Dude <***@***.com>
to: px this <px.this@gmail.com>
date: Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 10:47 AM
subject: RE: ***

Hey there,
 
Yeah, I read that story… a while back. Sucks. But that’s Hollywood. A while back, *** and I were pitching a motion picture treatment I wrote with *** called ***, which was about a guy who ***. Two weeks after we met with some big players, *** (director of ***) announces he’s doing a movie called *** that had roughly the same plot. Suddenly, no one’s returning calls.
 
Sigh.
 
Anyway, if I may (now, this is a preface phrase that obsequious assholes use before they convey a contrary opinion, but I mean it in the best possible way here), I think you might be approaching TV the wrong way. Here’s my thought:
 
Episodic television is expensive and largely unprofitable, unless you’re among the top 20 shows on TV. It can cost upwards of $1 million per episode to produce a new show from scratch, and then the networks have to pray they get their money back before the show gets canceled in the first season. ABC’s biting the big one this season. I think only one or two of their new shows are making any headway in the ratings. The rest will likely be canceled by season’s end.
 
Reality TV (as much as I hate uttering the phrase) is far less risky, and can cost as little as $100,000 per episode to produce. That makes it almost instantly profitable, even if the show is only pulling a .1 or a .2 in the Nielsens. Moreover, look at what MTV was able to accomplish with that collection of STD-ridden train wrecks on Jersey Shore. I mean, ye gods. I wouldn’t touch Sooki to push her away, let’s be serious. But there they are, making money hand over fist (no pun intended) with the most insufferable group of TV personalities this side of the cast of Sex and the City (quick joke – Sarah Jessica Parker walks into a bar, and the bartender says, “Why the long face?”).
 
But here’s where you could shine, because you’re actually smart and witty and you have an attitude that is nothing short of a force of nature. In that context, I think you could offer a show that’s always unpredictable and interesting, because you just don’t give a shit what people think about you. You wear you integrity like a Vera Wang with body armor as an accessory. And frankly, in the context of episodic television, I doubt you’d be able to find an actress who could capture your personality well enough to portray you. I think most of the actresses who might audition for the role would, at best, come off as a conceited bitch, because your personality is more complex than I think television can capture through a scripted series.
 
David Chase (creator of the Sopranos and one of my favorite TV writers because of his long run on The Rockford Files) once said the TV is a prisoner of dialogue, because there is no budget for action. Honestly, I don’t think your life and experiences can be captured through talking heads on a screen. It’s situational, chaotic and goes from the ridiculous to the sublime in a matter of seconds. I can’t think of too many TV writers who could capture that without trivializing it.
 
So, my suggestion for you is to think about a reality show that can capture your life as it is, maybe even revisiting some of the people and places from your blogs and your book. Good TV is about conflict, and you don’t have to look too far to find it. Like you, I am convinced that Darwin was wrong. The unfit have survived, and we have allowed them to breed at an alarming rate. Putting someone like you out there, I mean really out there, could make for some really good TV – better than any shit some pothead TV writer could concoct…

… Signed,
Hollywood Professional/Producer Dude

* * * * *

(sigh.)

• See also (earlier/related): Who Would Play You?