London in New York

So little time
Try to understand that I’m
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody’s changing
And I don’t feel the same

-Everybody’s Changing, KEANE 2005

As the world evolves around me, I find myself wondering what truths are worthy of respect and which fiction tellers are harmless and which of them are dangerous and need to be exposed for what they are. The coming months may force me to make choices about those truths and the players in our society who are more than mere minstrels or court jesters given a platform by those more powerful to assist them in protecting authorized truth while assisting the culture of distraction in diverting our citizens into creating lives based on illusion, free of serious questions and introspection while the Chess Game plays in the shadows outside the view or understanding of the general population.  Sometimes it matters not if you are more talented if those who are more powerful will help script your legend, even if it is but a house of cards, based upon an illusion.   Say nothing and one risks being on the wrong side of human history, while the wrong folks write the history books and I do not know if that is something that I can stand by and allow, even if I have to go down swinging.  Just because you wave the flag does not mean you are a greater patriot than those who question the motives of those who wave the flag in the name of their countrymen in pursuit of an agenda which may ultimately undermine their station as citizens, our station as citizens of America and this planet, yours and mine.

Notes: This blog is brought to you by my friends at The Silver & Gold Emporium and the creator of The Tribeca Calendar. In terms of full disclosure, when I say that this message is brought by someone it is based upon inspiration provided by friends who are entrepreneurs,  local citizens, thinkers, painters, writers, sales men and women etc.  From here on out those of you who inspire me with ideas, dialogue and wisdom that lead me to a higher level of learning will get a plug because it is folks like you who are sustaining me, even if I am but a poor man’s Norman Mailer, Jimmy Breslin or Dan Rather, and as a result I hope and pray that in these tough economic times that the good folks who help me in some small way to plug onward are able to do similarly themselves.

And they were singing bye bye Miss All American Internet Pie…..she posted a press release and someone else’s photos under her editorial byline…before you knew it she was stealing her competitors style designs……manipulating unsuspecting masses with scripted story lines…..

The recent critique(s) leveled on one of the leaders of the Scissors Mafia, Ms. Rachelle Hruska on this blog and in Scallywag & Vagabond, in the words of Michael Corleone in the Godfather, is not personal but is strictly business—– all in the name of media transparency. Rachelle is objectively speaking girl next door pretty, if not downright gorgeous. In fact, this blogger ranked her as one of the Top 10 Hottest Women in New York City in March 2009, although in truth I did not even factor in The Fox News Babes.  Combined with a persona that is equally part holly go lightly (I do not want to offend anyone) and Suzanne Stone Maretto (see Nicole Kidman’s Stepford Wife like character in To Die For), persona, she is the perfect vessel, her looks or package being part of the deception.

I’m a marionette, just a marionette, pull the string
I’m a marionette, everybody’s pet, just as long as I sing
I’m a marionette, see my pirouette, round and round
I’m a marionette, I’m a marionette, just a silly old clown

Like a doll, like a puppet with no will at all
And somebody told me how to talk, how to walk, how to fall
-Abba (1977)

With all due respect, however, while I do not think Rachelle is idiot savant or unpleasant to have a cocktail with, it is quite evident after a few simple conversations with Rachelle that once you get beyond her fabulous looks she is one of the most intellectually light headed and insincere people you will meet on the social circuit in this town.   A conversation with Ms. Hruska is about as controversial as a dialogue with a slice of Wonder Bread.  Thus, as I stated in a prior blog post:

Her rise as a media figure is as curious as it is well, odd. That a woman of such average intelligence has “accomplishments” regularly bestowed upon her is clearly an attempt to suggest otherwise. Idiot? No. An insightful independent journalist with fascinating opinions? Hardly. Ambitious and insincere as all hell?  Absolutely.  One who studies  the curious rise of Ms. Hruska can only be left with the impression that she is but a Trojan Horse or prophylactic for the agenda of others.

So you will forgive me  and perhaps others who have questioned who and what is behind the rather curious rise of Rachelle Hruska as one of New York’s leading new media entrepreneurs. That it took this long and the CW High Society scandal for more people to recognize her as an empty vessel or Trojan Horse with powerful backers who have scripted/crafted her legend is interesting indeed.

Her legacy was built through convenient alliances and a legend built by Steve Lewis, Lockhart Steele, self style Harvard social networking guru’s, gawkerites and techies who got a little starry eyed looking at an All American piece of ‘PIE’ (ass) and thus helped turn her into some “Wierd Science” project while lifting style points from competitors and employment standards that would make Norma Rae blush.  Like WOW (gushing out loud), check out the hot internet babe. She ain’t quite Cindy Margolis but she can shake and bake and they made her, even as the term FRAUD floats about lingering in the air.

*Note: This piece also appears on Scallywag & Vagabond by permission of the author.

Reference Links

On Jumping Sharks: Rachelle Hruska, Tinsley Mortimer, Sarah Palin Building Bridges to Nowhere

Rachelle Hruska: Social Journalist or Helping the Scissors Mafia Take Over NYC

GuesofaGuest.com Violates Charity Event Coverage Protocol

Rachelle Hruska-Media Whore/Manipulator for Hire

The CW High Society Scandal & Rachelle Hruska’s Pay for Play Platform

YES VIRGINIA, There is a Social Mafia in NYC

A cultural re-awakening and re-enlightenment is what is needed in New York City. Andy Warhol is dead and the Studio 54 crowd that continues to have a lock on New York Nightlife and whom or what gets promoted and written about, needs to go the same route and step aside or get more creative for our culture to evolve.   Or in the words of Ayn Rand ”Every aspect of Western culture needs a new code of ethics – a rational ethics – as a precondition of rebirth.”—Christopher London, January 2009 in The End of Social Life.

Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus and also a bit of a “Social Mafia” so to speak in NYC. Truth told there are corridors where only certain scribes or photographers are made to feel welcome, while others are made to feel less significant, their presence or coverage less desired. But often it has nothing to do with the quality of your prose, the images you take, the style of your blog or its readership.

When I wrote about The End of Social Life in New York City more than a year ago, I was summarily dismissed by Cityfile with the snarky comment: “Sounds like someone needs to hit a benefit tonight and have a drink!”

There are a group of people in this town who celebrate themselves, highlight only the works and good deeds of their friends while acting/posing around a rather broken social construct with themselves as the top bananas or the gatekeepers. To quote my ex girlfriend who her self worked in the field of public relations, albeit at a more exclusive level: “They are stars in their own show.”

You can’t change the attitudes of self promoting, fame seeking douchebags nor should anyone worry that someone who is an empty vessel for the agenda of others has a successful blog.  Truth is that looking pretty in a Keith Lissner dress, casting yourself as a modern Holly Golightly while swilling champagne at Cipriani replacing Breakfast at Tiffany’s, all while printing press releases and images taken by someone else hardly makes one a “New Media Entrepreneur” even if you have your own Wikipedia entry and a Godfather or godfather(s) shepherding you through the corridors of power, especially if you truly have absolutely nothing interesting, insightful or critical to say.

Make no mistake, GuestofaGuest.com is part of the genre of the social aggregation and nightlife industry blogs that exist as a dumping ground for all the content that is not fit to print in a magazine or that publicists cannot wrangle editors to make space for in their magazines. With the decline of the print medium event planners and publicists need a dumping ground for content that cannot be published elsewhere.  If you are a blogger, this is a good thing. Why, because if you distinguish yourself online, as some nightlife and lifestyle bloggers have (see: ChiChi212, Scene B Seen, Scallywag & Vagabond), capture an audience, perhaps even a thinking or discerning audience, you many find yourself being courted like the New York Times.

Elevate, don’t salivate or get angry at those who have sold themselves out to appeal to the lowest common denominator and who will print literally anything and extol the virtues of Satan as long as they are getting paid, for that simply ain’t journalism.

What you can do, is simply work to Change the Phucking Game!!!  Do not play the kiss my ass I will kiss your ass school of new media journalism propagated by those who desire to join the existing social order.  There are lots of fascinating people, places and things going on in New York City.  One need not simply cover the same folks night in and night out or suck on Devorah Rose’s proverbial penis (not that there is anything wrong with transsexuals or transvestites or even suggesting that someone is similarly atypically GLAM), or that of  any other reality celebrity come editor of a Social Life Magazine, or for that matter extol the virtues of legendary photographers who after 25 years still have a hard time taking photos with ambient lighting or that are actually in focus. Talent abounds in this town when you search for it outside the existing and preferred social construct.

EPILOGUE: This blog also appears by permission at Scallywag & Vagabond, although the editor of that blog chose to edit out some of my language in the last paragraph pertaining to Devorah Rose and attribute it instead to Tinsley Mortimer, presumably after consultation with Ms. Rose. For the record this editor does not endorse that change, nor do I have an issue with the Socialite known affectionately as ‘The Tinz” marketing her designs.

HIGH SOCIETY is Faux Society on the CW

‘High Society’ on the CW starring socialite Tinsley Mortimer, otherwise known as ‘The Tinz’, and an ensemble cast of urban trust fundafarian’s, fauxsocialite’s, criminals, tranny’s or those suspected of possessing extra equipment, who will probably need to come clean ala Lady Gaga to persuade non-believers, and frauds has been one of the most over hyped reality shows. This launching pad for New York Socialite Tinsley Mortimer received incessant media attention for months preceding its airing this week.  As anyone who lives in New York City who attends a few social events may attest to,  her cast mates are those who have been positioning themselves for reality fame virtually since birth and their lives are a seeming caricature of the persona’s of themselves that they hope to play on screen.  At this stage of the reality cycle, one cannot be sure that the quest for fame is not an Andy Warhol gene passed down into the offspring of today’s social creatures. The reviews, however, are now in.  Most are not good. By most accounts,  High Society should be more appropriately titled High Times, as you would have to do many a bong hit to believe that this is what is representative of ‘High Society’ in New York City. Whereas High Society has generally been defined as the ‘fashionable elite‘, the phrase has even been used as a brand of a porno magazine but never before for  fame seeking douchebags who hustle designers for free clothes to wear on T.V. during their dance with fame.

Today I received notification of a series of blog posts on Scallywag & Vagabond ridiculing the participation in the staging of CW’s High Society by a certain Media Whore/Manipulator for Hire who operates a pay for play platform known as Guestofaguest.com.  Scallywag & Vagabond, much like this blogger did 7-8 months ago, called into question the “bona fide” press/journalist credentials of GuestofaGuest.com Founder, Rachelle Hruska.

In the fall of 2009, my blog entitled  “RACHELLE HRUSKA: Social Journalist or Helping the Scissors Mafia Take Over NYC?” was viewed by many as a hit piece.  Mutual friends and acquaintances of both myself and Ms. Hruska, including those of whom do not have their own wikipedia entry like Ms. Hruska crafted for herself, thought that it was impolite, disrespectful of her stature.  Some even suggested that perhaps I was jealous of her success.

While Rachelle’s total lack of transparency bordering on fraud was so obvious to me,  I just wondered why it took so long for someone else to actually comment on this subject.  It is thus with all due respect that I tip my hat to Scallywag & Vagabond for their dissection of Ms. Hruska. It showed tremendous chutzpah, bravado…and well phuck it, I will say it straight up, big balls so generally not apparent today in the mainstream media.  Mazel Tov to Scallywag and Vagabond.  I  got a lot of grief for essentially pointing out that Rachelle Hruska was oddly being promoted as the Queen Bee of a new brand of pay for play social journalism in New York City and the agent for the Scissors Mafia Poseurs who were taking over New York Nightlife.  The woman even appeared as a talking head on selected stories on certain mainstream media outlets. Anyone with half a brain could see that after about two seconds, she looked much like Sarah Palin looking down at her palm for notes. But if you are pretty, smile into the camera perhaps the masses will not notice your lack of expertise. I was told by several folks to lay off Rachelle because she was cute, nice and sexy.  Since when do we give a pass to those who deceive simply cause they kind of look good?

THE BIG MISTAKE

Some have made the mistake of buying into the assumption that Rachelle Hruska is actually some kind of a journalist in the first place, rather than an extension of the public relations arm of certain individuals and brands.

Many find it confusing because her brand of “journalism” is to run a press release supplied to her and her staff of writers with a few minor edits, so that the blog basically reflects what those with influence seem to want her to say. That she then gets positioned for appearances on television so that she can serve as their mouthpiece is not surprising, but there should be fuller disclosure about who and what is behind the rise of Rachelle Hruska.   While Rachelle has  worked the room and become known as the queen bee of the scissors gang mafia that occupy the nightly culture of distraction in the city, while promoting the meaningless social advancement agenda of the retards that permeate around Club Land Nightlife, she is still very much a work in progress who has made some powerful connections to enhance her celebrity and media profile. So, they put her on TV and allow her to speak because she looks good and not because you will hear anything of intellectual import spewing from her pretty lips.   She knows how to follow the script provided to her.  Her rise as a media figure is as curious as it is well, odd. That a woman of such average intelligence has “accomplishments”  regularly bestowed upon her is clearly an attempt to suggest otherwise.  Idiot? No. An insightful independent journalist with fascinating opinions?  Hardly. Hence, one who studies  the curious rise of Ms. Hruska can only be left with the impression that she is but a Trojan Horse or prophylactic for the agenda of others.  Perhaps, as certain individuals have surmised, that her “accomplishments” are the result of a team of people who have USED her to advance their own agenda. (See:  Steve Lewis of Blackbook Mag; Facebook stalking - Winklevoss Twins or  (see Wikipedia), founders of  GuestofaGuest.com who consistently receive favorable social press in said social blog).

WHY IT MATTERS

Consider the disparate treatment provided by GuestofaGuest.com in July 2009 to two presumed Gubernatorial Candidates, David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo, which violated charity event coverage protocol to sling mud at a sitting Governor who merely attended a charity event. This is important to consider especially considering  Scallywag & Vagabond’s exposure of Ms. Hruska’s less  than transparent, pay for play journalism. Ask yourself whether the lack of transparency in reporting and representation allows her to have an impact to an audience of younger readers while appearing independent.  If the CW could “buy” Ms. Hruska, did the Cuomo campaign buy her as well? Inquiring minds want to know.

David Paterson: Southampton’s “After Ten” Party Draws A Ritzy Crowd, David Patterson Remains A Horrible Governor

Andrew Cuomo:  Fundraiser, West Village Penthouse, although it may have been a mistake to take a photo, with this guy.

Fact is in America 2010 the American Media landscape is littered with lots of pretty faces with empty heads all too eager to be famous themselves, who report to the dumb down masses while collecting a check from someone who tells them what to say and when. Nobody (with half a brain) will ever confuse Ms. Hruska with Walter Cronkite. The fact is simply that GuestofaGuest has simply lowered the bar for what idiots might perceive is actually journalism and therein lay her ability to make an impact on an unsuspecting public when there is a lack of transparency.

In conclusion, while  I have heard of folks “jumping the shark”,  one has to wonder whether the Tinsley Mortimer, Rachelle Hruska (who herself knows something about jumping sharks), Devorah Rose, Jules Kirby et al etc. ensemble is akin to using WaveRunners to vault over the sharks straight over a Niagra Falls like plunge to oblivion or taking a long walk off a bridge to no where. You’d really have to be “high” to think that this is ‘High Society’ rather  than perhaps High Society as imagined by the bastard anal love child of Satan and Narcissus, one that had to be extracted by colonic to remove all remnants of the fecal child from the lower colon of Narcissus.