NYC Singalong -- April 16, 2019

Cartier Catches Your Eyes

New York City is home to great architecture (newsflash, I know) but what's most interesting about great buildings are the stories behind them.

Every notable structure in this town, if you delve deep enough into the backstories, always reveals a fascinating tale of big personalities and big egos mixed with economic urgency and flat out greed -- all set against the backgroud of American and NYC history. 

One such building is on 52nd and Fifth Avenue, the gorgeous flagship store for Cartier, the world famous jeweler. The building has operated as Cartier's NYC headquarters for more than 100 years (since 1917) but the history behind this building is as interesting as its contents.

These two articles (here and here) give you an in-depth look at a building that, when you pass it on the street, you might find beautiful but not otherwise think about twice. 

Think again -- and learn more. 

Interview: Brianne McGuire on Staying Sexy in Quarantine

It’s been about a month since NYC and the rest of the world fled into lockdown – and, at the moment, there’s no real end in sight. The socioeconomic impact, the mental health fallout, and the overall societal repercussions of this situation will play out in totally unpredictable ways. However, there’s one thing that we can all predict: now and forever, people are gonna get horny. So in the age of COVID-19, how do we stay sexy in quarantine?

No one is probably better prepared to answer this question than my previous interviewee Brianne McGuire, creator of the SEX COMMUNICATION podcast. She was kind enough to do a brief follow up interview with Mr NYC about how she’s handling life in quarantine and how we can stay sexy during this unprecedented time.

So what are you doing or working on while in quarantine? How are you and those close to you feeling these days?

I’m currently working on the relaunch of GRAPHICPAINT as a custom web application — our launch date got pushed to the end of April / early May because of COVID-19. I’m also continuing to produce and publish new episodes of the SEX COMMUNICATION podcast; recording new interviews, editing content, etc. I did just finish a dedicated site for the show since it will be moving from the GRAPHICPAINT website once the relaunch is complete — check it out at sexcompod.com!

As for how I’m feeling, pretty shitty most days! I haven’t had an income for some time and this whole global situation has made my job search even worse. I keep thinking of the saying, “rejection is protection” and that my not getting hired is the universe telling me to focus on building my own income, i.e., focus on getting the new GRAPHICPAINT off the ground as it will be a subscription-based platform and potentially can support me. Fingers crossed!

Has anyone told you about any positive or negative impacts of being in quarantine on their relationships and sex lives?

A lot of people have confided in me about feeling frustrated during quarantine. Many of us are in isolation with no physical partners and it is really tough being without bodily contact if that’s an important part of their life. I’m currently quarantined with my roommate but sexual connection is not on the table for either of us so I have been really craving hugs, kissing, sex, etc. The positive side of this is that we’re kind of forced to get in touch with ourselves, physically and spiritually. Masturbation can save us all!

How has this situation impacted your libido or sex life? Are you more or less horny these days?

Because I’m often depressed, my libido is not great and I am definitely much less horny than normal. Low libido plus not being quarantined with a partner equals high frustration but little motivation to masturbate.

What kind of things do you think people might want to explore sexually, both as couples and individually, while in quarantine? What kind of sex and masturbation tips would you give to men, women, and couples?

Masturbation is definitely something I would recommend diving into if you are quarantined alone. However, if you are like me and sexually unmotivated, I recommend turning to explicit media! My podcast SEX COMMUNICATION has lots of audio porn episodes available and it’s a really low-pressure way to introduce some sex content into your life and routine. Of course porn is good too, but the benefit of the audio porn on my show is it’s REAL; real people having real sex. Yes it’s a shameless plug but I don’t care.

What other advice would you give people and couples, about keeping their relationships strong and their sex lives hot, during this time of crises?

Record your own audio porn! Seriously — and then send it in to the podcast so we can share it anonymously and help some other folks get off. It may sound like I’m kidding but our best content is crowdsourced and there is something incredibly freeing and arousing about recording audio of sexual activity — no one can see you so you can be as filthy and freaky as you like without feeling judged. Low-key exhibitionism! 

As for other advice: STAY SAFE. Do NOT invite anyone over to have sex — you would only be inviting outside contamination in and it’s just not worth it. We each have all we need to get off (our own bodies and minds) plus countless sources of sexual content online. 

Also — tell someone you love them.

I will! Thanks Brianne!

Review: "Cry of the City" (1948)

As a big fan of the noir genre, I've often griped about how most NYC noir movies are nowhere as good as LA noir movies -- and that's still true. But recently I saw a NYC noir movie that was really good -- Cry of the City from 1948.

It concerns a professional criminal named Martin Rome who has recently been arrested for killing a cop during a robbery gone wrong. He escapes from a prison hospital and tracks down a crooked lawyer who wanted to get him to plead guilty to another crime he didn't commit (in exchange for representing him and preventing him from "getting the chair") while he also tries to get help from his family and find "his girl", the beautiful Teena. Meanwhile a cop named Candella who grew up in the same neighborhood as Rome hunts him relentlessly, his pursuit turning into a obession. The movie is set in the grimy world of post-war Little Italy and downtown Manhattan, back when it was still a working class place, where cops and hoodlums co-existed and were even related. 

It's a dark, brooding movie, a story about people trying to be more than they were born into, more than they are, the world conspiring to keep them exactly in place.

This is noir at its finest. 

Victor Mature plays Candella, the cop on a mission. He's a handsome but troubled soul, and Mature fills him with complex humanity -- you get that there's more to the man than what we see on the screen. He also has the movie's best line: "There won't be any shooting in this house so long as momma's here." Richard Conte plays Rome -- the anti-hero of this story -- and he's intense, scary, and disturbingly likeable. I honestly hadn't seen these actors in anything except for Conte -- 24 years after this movie, he'd appear as Barzini in The Godfather. This movie also marked an early appearance of the actress Shelley Winters who would go on to have a huge career.

So, if you're in the mood for a real NYC noir flick, check it out. 

And now for something completely different ...

... from a very different time, from a very different city, from a world totally uncognizable today ... drumroll ... here are a bunch of NYC supermarket commercials from April 1985!

They might make you nostalgic, they might make you weep, they might make you happy, they might make you verklempt -- but they are a reminder that the more things change, the more things stay the same -- plus ca change and so forth -- we'll always need groceries. 

Why Us?

The writer and New Yorker Peggy Noonan points out in this column that, for the third time in 20 years, NYC has become the epicenter for a global crises -- 9/11, the 2008 meltdown, and now, COVID-19. 

And she asks a very simple, understable question: why us?

Because when you're the center of the world, as she indicates, "The city of skyscrapers draw the lightning." These types are horrors are "the privlege of living in the most exciting little landmass on the face of the earth."

Indeed. 

Queen Elizabeth II said, after 9/11, that grief if the price we pay for love. And this kind of nightmare is the kind of experience we pay for living in the great city of dreams, the most magical city in the world. 

And it's worth it. And it always will be.

Don't Forget Chinatown Stories

Read more about this series. 

The Racial Impact of COVID-19 in NYC

This probably comes as no surprise but the people suffering the worst from COVID-19 are the people who mostly suffer the worst in life -- black and Latinos, and those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.

Blacks and Latinos are dying at twice the rate of whites in NYC. It just goes to show how persistent and ingrained inequalities are always exacerbated in a crises. Ironically, it's Asians that are the least impacted -- considering that this crises started in China and so many people have been avoiding Chinese businesses and have been openly racist towards Asians in general.

Classic Mr NYC

A little over a year ago I interviewed Billy Procida, the comedian and host of The Manwhore Podcast, to get his take on the complexities of gettin' busy in NYC. His interview, like his podcast, was a sexy and rollicking good time.

Well, Billy, like the rest of us, is hanging tough and socially isolating but he's doing it in a very interesting way -- he's staying with his girlfriend and her boyfriend in a Jersey City apartment. Yes, he's part of a triad, a polyamorous relationship, and they are camping out together in non-traddional style. They're even doing podcasts together where they talk about, and analyze, this very interesting situation.

Recently Billy was interviewed by New York Magazine where he talks about his current living arrangements. I strongly reccommend reading both interviews since Billy is a very entertaining guy.

Couple of additional thoughts: I don't know Billy or his lady personally but I know other non-monogamous couples and they are actually some of the nicest people I've met. It's quite amazing to see people who can be so open and loving (literally and what not) with each other. Also, from this article, I learned about the word "metamour" -- another way of saying "eskimo brother". If you don't know what either term means, Google them.

Cuomo Announces Drop in COVID-19 Deaths