mad max meets dr. brilliant, helps me find two apartments

From the NYtimes article on Craigslist:

"Lately, Mr. Newmark's pet project is making sure that apartment rental agents in New York do not post in a section reserved for no-fee apartment listings."

also:

"Dr. Brilliant, noting that Craigslist has had buyout offers from numerous major Web sites, said that the secret to its popularity was that it did not strive for profit at every turn. The result, he said, is that the site feels welcoming and authentic - attributes missing from dozens of profit-maximizing sites that have floundered or failed."

I guess that when I get my PhD I'll have to pick some other sinister surname since that one is spoken for. I like when things feel welcoming and authentic, especially when it means that I can read anonymous posts requesting sexual partners for the one or two day liasons. Wasn't there a documentary made about a day in the life of Craigslist? I'm willing to bet it is better than 90 percent of anthro focused on American culture. Dirty little secrets, old word-processors and the man with the van - the essence of the bazaar.

First day of school: ahhh! Went to czech and the dude only spoke czech! All of my notes and things are still in storage and all the books in Columbia's library are from the cold war "revolucni odborove hnuti" = revolutionary trade union movement, fyi.

I'm sure that in the next week weeks I'll be boring you with my return observations to NYC, since I feel like a lucid dreamer walking through familiar streets full of strangers. Today I am going to say that iPods, cell phones and PDAs make people look even more like cyborgs on the subway than ever before. The retro technofetishism reminds me of badly rendered Illustrator advertisements from the dot.com boom. The ultimate democracy of the cellphone = the belt clip, just like any other tool in a man's arsenal. I wish that iPods and cell phones had leashes like wallets do.

Also, on Saturday I saw a woman wearing white cotton balloon pants that tapered at the leg, down to little Debbie Gibson flat shoes. She was wearing a white cut off sleeve tank top, long straight earrings and a white snap cap. After having gone briefly to the blah blah parking lot show in Williamsburg featuring all the usual suspects (Liars, Panthers, Lightning Bolt on the same bill? It's still 2001!) I was convinced of Luke Luckydragons comment about how everyone in Brooklyn dresses like Mad Max extras doused in neon paint. It's like some weird bike messenger chic. In short --tough, dirty, and outside.