2010

You are currently browsing the yearly archive for 2010.

If you want to read what this series of posts is all about, go here.

Disclaimer:

So I thought I’d do a pros and cons for each of the cities (NYC and LA) based on 15 categories of my choosing – i.e the kind of things that are important to me about a place that I chose to live. For example, since I don’t have any children, so you won’t see “education” on the list, but I do love to eat sandwiches, so “food” will definitely be on the list.

Keep in mind these are MY pros and cons…pros and cons that I have come to after living in LA for five years (2000 – 2005) and then living in New York for five years (2005 – 2010).  This is intended to be a fun (and funny) list, and is not to be taken seriously, but I hope some of you, especially those of you who have lived in both places (or experienced them) will enjoy it. Come back tomorrow for Round 13.

12.  CRIME

This one is simple if I base it on personal experience.

In LA my car stereo was stolen (sort of my fault, I left the car unlocked accidentally).  A year later my car was stolen from right in front of my apartment (not my fault).

Nothing has been stolen from me in New York.  Advantage:  NYC

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If you want to read what this series of posts is all about, go here.

Disclaimer:

So I thought I’d do a pros and cons for each of the cities (NYC and LA) based on 15 categories of my choosing – i.e the kind of things that are important to me about a place that I chose to live. For example, since I don’t have any children, so you won’t see “education” on the list, but I do love to eat sandwiches, so “food” will definitely be on the list.

Keep in mind these are MY pros and cons…pros and cons that I have come to after living in LA for five years (2000 – 2005) and then living in New York for five years (2005 – 2010).  This is intended to be a fun (and funny) list, and is not to be taken seriously, but I hope some of you, especially those of you who have lived in both places (or experienced them) will enjoy it. Come back tomorrow for Round 12.

11.  CLEANLINESS

New York is incredibly clean for such a large city and I’m constantly impressed with the efforts I see to keep it clean.

The trash situation is not great however.  In most of LA (in my experience at least) there are garbage and recycling cans, and trash can be taken to these at anytime during the week…in NYC there are no garbage cans that get put out on the street (not that I’ve seen at least) and in my personal experience (though I know there are places where this is not true) I have to put my trash on the sidewalk in front of my building on very strict deadlines (after a certain time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights for trash and recycling)…this means that the trash inside my house is driven to a degree by that schedule which can be frustrating.  Worse however is the fact that sometimes the trash doesn’t get picked up…for whatever reason…weather, holidays, strikes, etc.  But that doesn’t mean people stop putting it out…and that gets gross…really fast.

Additionally, while the street sweepers in LA were bothersome because of parking…it did seem like they actually somewhat cleaned the street.  In NYC it seems more like they, as boss likes to say “just spread the trash juice around”.  I have to agree.  I’m sure they do something…or the city would have moved on already…but from my perspective it’s hard to tell what the street cleaners are actually cleaning.

The thing that really loses this for NYC however, is that I never once stepped in dog shit in LA.  Now maybe that was partly because my feet rarely touched the ground (moving from automobile to destination in the span of six steps or less) but whatever the reason, if I never have to step in dog shit again (or walk on an entire street that smells like dog shit) I will be happy.  This can happen in LA.  Advantage:  LA

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If you want to read what this series of posts is all about, go here.

Disclaimer:

So I thought I’d do a pros and cons for each of the cities (NYC and LA) based on 15 categories of my choosing – i.e the kind of things that are important to me about a place that I chose to live. For example, since I don’t have any children, so you won’t see “education” on the list, but I do love to eat sandwiches, so “food” will definitely be on the list.

Keep in mind these are MY pros and cons…pros and cons that I have come to after living in LA for five years (2000 – 2005) and then living in New York for five years (2005 – 2010).  This is intended to be a fun (and funny) list, and is not to be taken seriously, but I hope some of you, especially those of you who have lived in both places (or experienced them) will enjoy it. Come back tomorrow for Round 11.

10.  TRAVEL

Both Los Angeles and New York are in vibrant areas of the country where a lot of amazing stuff is only a few hours away.

While living in NYC I have traveled to:  Maine (on of my favorite places ever!), New Hampshire, Shelter Island, Philadelphia, and Cold Spring.

While living in LA I traveled to:  Las Vegas, San Francisco (another favorite place ever), San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Avila Beach, Ojai, Santa Barbara, Oakland, Sedona, and Salt Lake City.

The reason for so much more travel?  It’s simple…I owned a car.

While there are many places very close to NYC, the fact that I don’t have free and easy access to a car really limits how much I can travel.  The first expense you must consider before going anywhere is how you’re going to get there…and while some public transit is relatively cheap (the Chinatown bus springs to mind) a lot of it isn’t…especially if it’s travel by “rent a car” which, within the city limits can be outrageously expensive.  Additionally, in many cases depending on where you’re going (for example Adam and I were trying to go to Vermont for a few days) even if you take a train you’re likely to need a car rental as well once you get there.

There’s nothing wrong with travel that is not a car, in fact having done the train ride to Philly many times I find it quite painless and enjoyable…but I’m just personally a car girl.  I don’t like worrying about how I’ll get around once I arrive in my vacation location, and I like the freedom of traveling by car, being able to control when I stop and where, and how long my trip takes. It’s really convenient and relaxing to me…Running late?  No problem…there is not exact departure time for MY CAR.

NYC does have the advantage in the sense that Europe (and many other places I’m interested in traveling to) are much much closer by plane than flying from LA, however, one of the few places MUCH easier to get to from LA, and a place my parents love to go (and bring family with them when they can), is Hawaii.  Hawaii, a place that will likely always be a destination for my parents (and hopefully a place they’ll keep wanting to invite me to) is an utter bitch to get to from NYC…I think 11+ hours or something crazy for a flight (not to mention hella expensive)…and just hope you don’t have to connect through Chicago…cause then you’re totally fucked and will (as happened to Adam and I once) have to DRIVE HOME TO NYC FROM CHICAGO.  Yeah, so I’m going to let Hawaii proximity edge out Europe proximity, and then let the car aspect take LA the rest of the way to the win.  Advantage:  LA

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Wonder Woman says:

I haven’t been dedicated about trying to build my twitter…but I think maybe it’s time to get serious.  Follow me on twitter and I promise…nothing…except that I only twitter if there’s news/new posts or if legitimately think I’ve got a shot at being reasonably funny.

Give it a try…you can always drop me if it doesn’t work out…although in truth I hate that…so if you’re not sure maybe you should just stay put…hmmm…this didn’t go as planned.  Regardless!  Follow me on twitter! 79semifinalist.

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I cheated this week and picked a couple…but I have really good reasons, I swear.

First of all, this…from Batman & Robin #14:

And am I wrong?  No, I’m not.  It’s crazy f’ed up panels like this that make The Joker one of the greatest villains of all time.  Also, look at Damian all trussed up and painted like a clown…hilarious and also horrifying.  Awesome stuff.

And this, also from Batman & Robin #14:

It’s panels like this that make Batman the single greatest superhero of all time.  Look at the that silhouette!  A-MAZING.  And I don’t deny that Bats is my favorite and thus I’m totally biased…but aren’t all we comics geeks unreasonably crazy for certain characters?

But this, from Batgirl #14, which is a double (triple?) cheat, because it’s a page, not a panel, also deserves mention.  I’m a fairly vocal non-fan of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, and I don’t love the book, but I continue buying it because I think it’s an important book to have out there for girls and women – and in the hopes that I will manage to fall in love…eventually.  I also think Bryan Q. Miller IS actually doing a pretty great job finding Steph’s voice.  Case in point, this page, which is executed perfectly.  I’m not always crazy for Garbett’s art but I think he nails Steph in panel 3.

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I talked about this at length with DC Women Kicking Ass yesterday, and then came across this great ladies version of the DC 75th Anniversary logo today via Geektress.

I don’t know that I would have picked Black Canary – I think I’d go Wonder Woman, Batwoman, Supergirl, and perhaps…Catwoman.  Regardless the choice of using the tights (since Canary doesn’t have a logo) is pretty inspired from a “recognition” point of view as she’s instantly recognizable, but I have admit that I’m not wild about the idea that a character is recognizable via fishnets…that seems like a bit of a step backwards…but this is the reality we live in!

Anyway, I was going to do my own version…but I’m not sure I can do a better one than this (and who knows when it will shop up) but this has inspired me to at least try.  We’ll see!

If you want to read what this series of posts is all about, go here.

Disclaimer:

So I thought I’d do a pros and cons for each of the cities (NYC and LA) based on 15 categories of my choosing – i.e the kind of things that are important to me about a place that I chose to live. For example, since I don’t have any children, so you won’t see “education” on the list, but I do love to eat sandwiches, so “food” will definitely be on the list.

Keep in mind these are MY pros and cons…pros and cons that I have come to after living in LA for five years (2000 – 2005) and then living in New York for five years (2005 – 2010).  This is intended to be a fun (and funny) list, and is not to be taken seriously, but I hope some of you, especially those of you who have lived in both places (or experienced them) will enjoy it. Come back tomorrow for Round 10.

09.  PEOPLE

This one is tough.  Personally, I find the people in both cities to be pretty great.

I have far more friends in LA than I have in NYC, but I don’t think I can blame that on the city or its inhabitants.

I find New Yorkers in general to be pretty friendly people, despite the stereotype; but I find the same to be true for Angelenos, also despite the stereotype.  I think technically I’ve encountered more horrible rudeness in NYC, but that’s probably more to do with being out “amongst the people” more in NYC…and more “trapped in my vehicle” in LA.

I guess I like that in NYC you can say you just came from your therapists office and five people around you go, “Hey, me too” while in Los Angeles people would look at you like you just showed them your tits.

But in Los Angeles I like that people seem less judgmental in general…like they probably wouldn’t hold it against you that you just showed them your tits.  Advantage:  PUSH

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A new She Has No Head! – a conversation with DCWomenKickingAss blogger Sue about comics and “stuff” – check it out!

Isn't this DC 75th Anniversary logo that leaves out Wonder Woman whack? We think so.

If you want to read what this series of posts is all about, go here.

Disclaimer:

So I thought I’d do a pros and cons for each of the cities (NYC and LA) based on 15 categories of my choosing – i.e the kind of things that are important to me about a place that I chose to live. For example, since I don’t have any children, so you won’t see “education” on the list, but I do love to eat sandwiches, so “food” will definitely be on the list.

Keep in mind these are MY pros and cons…pros and cons that I have come to after living in LA for five years (2000 – 2005) and then living in New York for five years (2005 – 2010).  This is intended to be a fun (and funny) list, and is not to be taken seriously, but I hope some of you, especially those of you who have lived in both places (or experienced them) will enjoy it. Come back tomorrow for Round 9.

08.  LIVING SPACE

My small (approximately 450 SF) two-bedroom apartment in New York is really quite lovely with its hardwood floors and nice light, it’s also in a safe and relatively convenient Upper East Side neighborhood and has a shocking amount of storage (an unheard of four closets, plus four large overhead storage spaces).  However, it’s up four flights of narrow gross stairs, regularly smells like trash/Thai food from the Thai restaurant down below and has a kitchen with approximately 1 square foot of counter space (don’t get me started on the tiny fridge, tiny oven/stove,  and minute cabinet space).  That’s what I get for $2100/month…and honestly, for Manhattan, it’s not a bad deal.  When Adam and I looked for a new place three plus years ago brokers found out what we were paying for what we currently had and they told us we were crazy to move (we didn’t move).

In LA I shared a huge two bedroom (easily 1,000 SF) apartment with my (awesome) roommate Kyle.  We had a nice big eat-in kitchen with crazy amounts of counter space and tons of cabinets and a full size fridge and stove/oven.  We both had decent size bedrooms with closets and two big windows and the living room was large enough to comfortably house a big couch and chair, ottoman, coffee table, entertainment center, bookshelves, an aquarium, and behind a privacy screen my elliptical trainer and a massive heavy bag set up.  It was the living room that dreams are made of.  The apartment also had hardwood floors and nice light.  It was on the ground floor (no narrow stairs!) and the bathroom actually had drawers.  DRAWERS!

You know what else it had?  Don’t lose your shit New York – it had a LINEN CLOSET!  Why have you never heard of linen closets New York, why!?!?!  For that decent location in Studio City we paid $1050…even if you add a couple hundred bucks to it (since it was in 2005, not 2010) it’s still a great deal in comparison.

I also really miss having access to convenient outdoor space in NYC.  In LA, because I lived on the ground floor I could spend time sitting on the steps to our apartment, or even in the somewhat crappy courtyard, and be outside without being far from home, in NYC the closest I get to outside near home is an open window.  Sad.  Advantage:  LA

Tags:

If you want to read what this series of posts is all about, go here.

Disclaimer:

So I thought I’d do a pros and cons for each of the cities (NYC and LA) based on 15 categories of my choosing – i.e the kind of things that are important to me about a place that I chose to live. For example, since I don’t have any children, so you won’t see “education” on the list, but I do love to eat sandwiches, so “food” will definitely be on the list.

Keep in mind these are MY pros and cons…pros and cons that I have come to after living in LA for five years (2000 – 2005) and then living in New York for five years (2005 – 2010).  This is intended to be a fun (and funny) list, and is not to be taken seriously, but I hope some of you, especially those of you who have lived in both places (or experienced them) will enjoy it. Come back tomorrow for Round 8.

07.  CLOTHING

This is a tough one, because I love winter clothes – boots and hats and scarves and peacoats and trenches and fingerless gloves, all of it – and I look much better in winter clothes than summer clothes.

However, in LA you can go an entire year without wearing socks, and I HATE socks.  And I LOVE sandals.

I did once have an unfortunate encounter going to dinner with friends in January in open-toed dress shoes and a shockingly low temperature for LA in 2004 (36 degrees!) but it was one incident in five years – which really – isn’t so bad.

If this category was “fashion” I’d give it to NYC in a New York minute…as far as I’m concerned NYC beats LA at fashion with its eyes closed (is that enough puns?)…but this is about clothing, not “fashion”, so it’s more about what I enjoy wearing, than how great others look.  Also, if I have to compete with the most stylish of New Yorkers I’ve got no shot.  If I have to compete with the most stylish Angelenos…I might be a contender (on a good day).

Anyway…back to socks and sandals…even though you can wear sandals for probably six months out of the year in New York, but a heavy peacoat just about never in LA, I’m still going to have to give this to LA in part because the workplace dress codes in LA are far more interesting and flexible.  And that goes beyond just clothing.  I never had people question my two colored hair, combat boots, sandals, tattoos, or piercings when living in LA, despite the fact that I had a quite respectable job, yet in NYC I run into a lot of pretension and snobbery over those same things (although not at my work, because I work at awesome places).  Lighten up NYC.  Thanks to year round sandals and less pretentious attitudes, I’m giving this to LA, sorry peacoat!  Advantage: LA

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