Dean D'Agati (dotcom)

Today has been the WEIRDEST day.

The plan for today was to take my mid-term, and go to work… I guess both of those things did happen, but in the midst of a very strange turn of events.

The day started with me waiting for the bus. My class is 20-25 blocks from my dorm, so I usually take the NYU bus in the morning and walk home in the afternoon. The bus was really late though, which normally wouldn’t be a problem, but I had a mid-term today, and I didn’t want to be late, so I decided to grab a cab.

Luckily, I got one quick, but the driver wasn’t some Indian dude named Hassan (lol, stereotypes), but rather an old Jewish lady. She was hilarious and was so interested in my life, but she drove like an old lady, and I was in a rush. She saw an ad for a MTV’s The Buried Life on the side of a bus and told me how strange the question “What do you want to do before you do?” is, hah.

So we get down to 9th Street on 2nd Ave, when she tries to cross over to 3rd Ave… BUT NO. There is a random parade/mob/riot/protest about freedom in Tibet or something?! It was ridiculous. As punny cab lady put it: “Don’t they know you have an exam to take!? If only it was raining so it would rain on their parade.”

After about 5 minutes of sitting in PARK, I gave up, paid the lovely Jewish women who told me to have a nice flight tomorrow, yeah, she knew all about me, and rushed to take my mid-term.

When I finished (failing it), I checked my phone to see that today is jetBlue’s 10th Birthday and that they will be hiding out in different parts of Manhattan giving out 1,000 free plane tickets. I WANT IN. I only had an hour and fifteen minutes to get lunch and be at work, but when I saw that jetBlue was downtown, I hopped on the subway to try to find them.

The tweet they posted said: “We’re at Broadway & Dey St. Find us and bring a birthday card for JetBlue!”

When I got out of the Subway at the City Hall station, I started walking toward the nearest Duane Reade to buy a birthday card when who walks by me? MAYOR BLOOMBERG! Like, our shoulders were about 2 inches apart at one point. It was so cool. Totally made up for the fact that I did not win a free jetBlue ticket, but the story continues…

So I walk into Duane Reade, and as soon as I do, some guy runs up behind me goes to the cashier and yells, “Do you guys sell birthday cards!?” I looked at him and was just like “jetBlue?” and he was like “Yep.” Once I had picked out a card and was waiting in line, I heard people in front of me on their phones saying “NO, THEY’RE OUT OF TICKETS?!”

I went down to Broadway and Dey anyway, and jetBlue wasn’t there, but there were hundreds of confused people roaming around with a cell phone in one hand and a birthday card in another. My guess is they didn’t see Mayor Bloomberg today though, so, I win ;)

Turns out the next location they went to was University & 12th which is RIGHT by NYU… but I was at work so I couldn’t even try to show up. It’s all good though, I already have a jetBlue ticket to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow at 7pm. SEE YOU SOON 954!

dean Pictures, Text bloomberg, bus, cab, downtown, fly, free, jetblue, jew, mayor, nyc, nyu, protest, tibet, tickets, weird

Today I did something new. For the first time since I’ve lived in New York, I actually left the state of New York (other than to go to Florida, of course). Today I went to… NEW JERSEY.

Now, as a New Yorker, I’m pretty much, as Lily from How I Met Your Mother so beautifully describes, “programmed to despise and loath New Jersey and all that it stands for.” See this clip:

…but if you’ve seen that whole episode, you know that Marshall really comes to love New Jersey. See this clip:

I hate to say it but, I actually had a little bit of a Marshall moment today. I don’t by any means hate New York (I mean, come on) but Newport, New Jersey has stuff that Manhattan doesn’t! Like TARGET. I love Target, but what do we have here? K-Mart. Who shops at K-Mart?

And everything is so much cheaper! I got 10 pairs of socks for $10 and sales tax is only 3.5%!! It’s 6% in the FtL, 7% in Miami, and 8.875% in NYC!

There was also this ridiculous mall called Newport Centre that was big and spacious. Just ask Marshall, big and spacious doesn’t exist in Manhattan.

But hey, just because Jersey City (Newport) is nice doesn’t mean I can’t hate the rest of the state. You won’t find me in Newark anytime soon. NYC ALL THE WAY ;)

Check out some more pics below. Click for full size.

*Video clips property of CBS Corporation.

dean Pictures, Text, Videos cheap, hate, how i met your mother, jersey city, love, new jersey, newport, nyc, target

This is video I took in Washington Square Park today, and if it’s warm enough to roll your PIANO into the park, then Spring must be right around the corner, and seriously, it can’t come soon enough.

Today was in the upper 40’s and sunny, nicest weather we’ve had in a while. The snow from last week is finally almost all melted away, and the forecast for this weekend looks amazing. 50 & sunny both days! We haven’t seen 50 degrees since when? October?

Speaking of warmth, I can’t wait to go home to Florida on the 11th and get some serious heat. High of 81 my first day back. Love it ;)

dean Text, Videos florida, heat, nyc, park, piano, spring, warm, washington square

This morning, I woke up to a phone call at 7:00am. Normally, I hate when phone calls wake me up since they are usually a recorded message telling me I’ve won a free 3-day, 4-night all-inclusive trip to the Orlando resort area, but this time was different. This time, it was a call from NYU alerting me that all classes today have been cancelled and that the University is closed. SNOW DAY NUMBER 2!

I was supposed to work today, though. I kind of wanted the hours since I only get 4 a week, but whatever.

It’s still snowing outside. We’ve gotten over 20 inches so far, which is ridiculous. All kinds of record breaking.

Here are some pics I took today and yesterday. I didn’t go out in it this time. I’m ready for Spring, yo. Click for full size.

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dean Pictures, Polls, Text 7am, cancelled, cold, no school, nyc, nyu, snow, snow day, weather

Today in my Hollywood Auteurs class we watched Marie Antoinette. It’s a pretty chill class because pretty much every week, we watch a movie, and then spend a little time discussing it afterward.

Today’s class started off the same way it normally does: my teacher came in late, and we watched the movie. I had never seen it before, and it was pretty good, but when it was over, my teacher turns on the lights, comes to the front of the class and says (in his heavy Italian accent): “Okay so today we are going to discuss Marie Antoinette, with the editor of the movie.”

Turns out Sarah Flack, the editor of Marie Antoinette, was sitting in the back of the room the whole time, and she told us about the experience and took questions. Sarah has edited some LEGIT movies too like Away We Go, Dan in Real Life, and Lost in Translation.

She was really nice and I’m glad she came. Her newest movie, Somewhere, comes out later this year so look out for that.

Also, NYU Tisch Film class of 2014 & CCHS class of 2010 student, Nicole Payton, and I went on a little adventure in the snow today. Sweet.

dean Pictures, Text class, editing, film, hollywood auteurs, marie antoinette, nyc, nyu, sarah flack, tisch

I have some big news.

Starting in September of 2010, I will officially be a resident of New York, and will have a permanent address in Manhattan. In September of 2010, I will be getting an apartment.

IT’S HAPPENING!!!!

I’m sure you have a lot of questions like:
-What kind of apartment?
-Where will it be?
-Will you live by yourself?
-Will you live with roommates?
-When do you move in?

I don’t have answers to any of those questions yet. All I know is that I’m getting an apartment next year in New York City, probably the East Village. Let the search begin.

dean Pictures, Text apartment, east village, housing, move, news, nyc, nyu, official, questions

(…and by man I mean child who gets to work 4 hours a week for hardly more than minimum wage.)

Yesssssss, I finally started as a Studio TA this past Friday. It’s actually a really sick job because I basically just hang out in the Tisch 12th Floor TV Studios and help the kids if they have any problems.

Speaking of problems (how’d you like that transition?), I have one of my own. I took a (sort of) easy semester this semester (no production class) so that I’d have plenty of time to work, but I only got four hours a week. Every Friday from 8:45-12:45. It’s fine, I mean, it’s something, I just would have liked a little more.

Either way, it’s 8 bucks an hour, and hopefully next semester/year I’ll be able to pick up some more hours and get more $$$$$$$$$.

Hey, deandagati.com hoodie giveaway this Sunday night. Just saying.

dean Pictures, Text hours, job, nyc, nyu, studios, TA, tisch, work

Last night I went to go see CollegeHumor Offline which was a live 90-minute show featuring all the guys (and Sarah!) from the CH Originals sketches (like Brohemian Rhapsody, POV: Guy Stuck in Class, and Prank War).

The show was awesome and it was at the Gramercy Theatre which is literally two blocks away from where I live, but the greatest part of the night was actually meeting the cast after the show. Amir even gave a shoutout to his favorite website ever:

Here are some more pics… Click to enlarge.

More video is coming soon!

dean Pictures, Text, Videos amir, cast, collegehumor, gramercy, jake, meet, nyc, offline, sarah

I live in Gramercy Green right now. The nicest dorm at NYU. How did that happen? Because for some reason, sophomores get first pick of dorms. Seniors get second pick, and Juniors get last, so basically as a Junior next year, I’m screwed. (Freshmen have their own dorms.)

Honestly, I’m so done with dorm living. While I’ve been really lucky and had some really good roommates over the past year and a half, I just don’t like having a roommate. I want my own room… not to mention that as a Junior, I would be thrown in the shi…. um, crappiest dorms that you could ever imagine.

If I want to live on campus next year, I need to put down $1,000 by February 25th. But that’s just it. I don’t want to put that money down because I don’t want to live on campus. I want an apartment. My mom, however, is not feeling this because she thinks it’s going to cost too much money, not be safe, etc. (I can’t insult her on here because I’m pretty sure she reads my blog. Hi, mom.)

I’m having some problems though. Just about all of my best friends are either trying to become an RA, living in NYU housing, or already have plans elsewhere. So where do I live? Who do I live with? Can I get my own room?

All these needs to be figured out by the 25th, even though I can’t start apartment hunting until a month or so before I actually want to move in, which is in September.

Does anyone have any advice for me? =(
(deandagati@nyu.edu if you don’t want to post it on here)

dean Text apartment, dorm, gramercy, living, money, nyc, nyu, room

Duuuude, I was posting one of these like every day. Man.

This week has been legit ridic, yo.

Anyway, Happy belated V-Day, everyone.
Mine was lovely, I spent it writing a paper.
Idk what happened to this being an “easy semester.”

So I went to Outback Steakhouse the other night since there’s one just a couple blocks down and I had never been to one in New York before. The meal was good, the waiters were friendly, whatever, whatever, but when I was looking at the menu, I noticed that the prices seemed higher than I remember them being at Outback in Florida.

When I got home, I did a little investigative work.

I went to outback.com, clicked on locations, typed in my home zip code of 33330, and pulled up the menu. At Pembroke Pines Outback Steakhouse, a Ribeye costs $19.95.

Then, I went back to compare. I typed in 10010 as my zip code and pulled up the menu again. Ribeye? $25.50! Whatttttt.

Ripoff.

dean Pictures, Text expensive, food, nyc, outback steakhouse, restaurant, ripoff, steak