Dean D'Agati (dotcom)

Last week in my writing class, my teacher was telling us about some candy store downtown. When we asked if we could go, she said that yeah we’d take a field trip there next week.

I feel like most of us (myself included) didn’t think she was serious. Before class today, we started scheming of ways to remind her that she promised us a trip to a candy store, but when she walked in, she had printed maps directing us from NYU to Economy Candy on Rivington Street.

best. class. ever.

dean Pictures, Text candy, class, downtown, field trip, nyc, nyu, tisch, writing

(Yeah, I’ve basically replaced my regular camera with Hipstamatic.)

I’m so happy that it’s baseball season again.

Last night, I went to a Yankees game against the Angels as part of their Home Opening Series. When we got there, it was t-shirt weather, but by the time we left it was 12-layer winter weather & pouring rain. I guess we were lucky that we got the tickets through NYU and were given the worst seats in the house because we were so far back that we were covered and didn’t get rained on.

None the less, saw my second in-person Jeter home run and the Yankees won 6-2.

Here’s a video of the fans in the Grandstands trying to get a wave to go around the entire stadium:

dean Pictures, Text, Videos baseball, cold, nyc, nyu, rain, wave, yankee stadium, yankees

You know what I hate more than NYU cable? Internet rants like this one. But I have to do it… just this once. I’m sorry.

Dear NYU Campus Cable,

You are the worst TV provider in the history of television.

Last year, you gave me 66 analog channels. Analog? It’s not 1985 anymore dude, get with it. All of the channels come in fuzzy and stretched because I, unlike you, live in the now and have a widescreen HDTV.

This year, you thought you were making yourself awesome by adding 6 digital, HD channels. First of all, 6? That’s not very impressive, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. But oh wait — I can’t get them. My TV says “NO SIGNAL” on those channels more often than they actually come in. I get my HD channels via antenna. ANTENNA. This is what you’re making me resort to… and my antenna is somehow more reliable than your cable services.

Oh and hey, thanks for NOT giving us YES, the Yankees station. I only live in the heart of New York City, why would I want to watch the reigning World Series champions? You give us the Mets station, of course. Because everybody watches the Mets and all. Oh, and you know what’s even better? How when the Yankees games are on national stations like ESPN or TBS, but are then BLACKED OUT IN NYC to force New York viewers to watch on the Yankees channel — but oh wait, we don’t get that channel…. just like the other hundred basic cable channels we don’t get…

Hey remember when Jay-Z performed a benefit concert that was broadcast live from Madison Square Garden? Of course you don’t, because we don’t get Fuse. Hey remember when you wanted to know if you should bring an umbrella to work but the regular news wasn’t on? You got wet didn’t you? Because we don’t get NY1. Hey remember that time Vince hooked up with some hot girl on every single episode of Entourage? Of course you don’t, because we don’t get HBO.

So when you, Mr. NYU Cable Executive, go to your lovely home in Westchester tonight and turn on your 873 channels of HD on DirecTV, think about us, the probably-going-to-work-in-the-TV-industry-but-can’t-even-watch-decent-TV-in-my-dorm-because-of-you students.

I’m getting an apartment next year so that I can get a decent cable provider like Time Warner.

I hate you.

Sincerely,
Dean D’Agati

dean Pictures, Text cable, channels, nyc, nyu, nyu campus cable, tv, yankees, yes

My license still says Florida, but as far as the United States government is concerned, I’m officially a New Yorker. Last night I filled out my Census form thing for NEW YORK. But that still wasn’t enough New Yorker for me… so today, I got a library card. That’s what the locals call BIG PIMPIN.

So for my New York City Social History class, we have to write a 10-page research paper that’s due pretty soon. We got to pick from a topic list, but almost everybody chose the same topic (aka the only one that is even remotely interesting) which is something along the lines of how do 1950’s sitcoms like I Love Lucy reflect race & class relations in New York City during that period.

I’ve got one of those professors who is really against websites as sources so I had to do it old school and search for some I Love Lucy books at Bobst (the NYU 12-floor monster of a library). They had a whole bunch but since everyone is doing the same topic, they were all checked out… so I turned to the New York Public Library for help.

(uh oh, I can feel this post getting long…)

I don’t know about you, but when I think of public libraries, I think of disgusting, old, rundown places full of employees that hate their job, coworkers, and life. Turns out, it’s not like that at all — at least not in New York. They have branches all over the city including specialized branches like the one I found myself at today: The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Let me just say: this place was NICE. I don’t usually get too excited about… books… but they literally had multiple books for every TV show you could think of. They had a Who Wants to be a Millionaire book. Come on. So I signed up for my library card, and got me some I Love Lucy books.

That was all the work I accomplished on my paper today. I got some books.

Turns out, the library was in the Lincoln Center Plaza, which is an area west of Central Park, and I seriously think that even though today was my first and only day there, it’s one of my favorite areas of NYC. It’s right next to Julliard, and they even had a group of Julliard kids, dressed in suits, playing music in the plaza.

Also in the area is Apple’s newest store (which I had to stop in and play with another iPad, of course), and the Shops at Columbus Circle in the Time Warner Center which was basically like an extremely upper class mall (check out their site). So nice, right off of Central Park.

Pictures from everywhere are below, click for full size, and have a fantastic Friday. YES.

dean Pictures, Text bobst, central park, columbus circle, julliard, library, lincoln center, new yorker, nyc, nyu, paper

I’ve previously discussed my disapproval of Leno stealing The Tonight Show back from Conan, so I havent been watching it anymore, but recently The Tonight Show partnered with NYU for Jay Leno’s Short Film contest. It basically involved making a 90 second or less short film in an extremely short period of time with some crappy little Flip camera. No professional equipment.

I didn’t actually know about this contest and therefore didn’t enter, but other kids did (apparently) and the top 3 films were not only shown on The Tonight Show last Wednesday (been meaning to post this for like a week…), but their creators were flown to LA so that they could be on the show.

Sick? Yes. Watch:

dean Text, Videos california, film, la, leno, nbc, nyc, nyu, tonight show, tv

APRIL FOOLS was on Thursday and while I don’t generally get too into it (or into it at all), I feel like there were a lot of good jokes this year. Here are my favorite three from the internet…

1. NYU Newspaper

2. Google changes name to Topeka.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/different-kind-of-company-name.html

and finally…

3. Bieber or Die

dean Pictures, Text, Videos april fools, bieber or die, google, jokes, justin bieber, newspaper, nyc, nyu, topeka

So guess who’s in town?

Yes, a dinner at Bobby Flay’s restaurant, Mesa, which requires reservations weeks in advance, and a free shopping spree at D’Agostino (grocery store) can only mean one thing: the rents are in town.

They actually just left… but I’ve been meaning to write this post for a couple of days now so I think I’m just going to roll with it.

Other prime dining establishments of the past few days include Blue Smoke BBQ, The Hairy Monk, and The Chelsea Market… all of the above: better than Palladium Dining Hall @ NYU.

There are actually reasons why I like when the fam comes to New York other than the good food, but none seem to come to mind right now ;)

ALSO.
Just a little over a month until the semester is over, so that means lots of work over the next 39 days but it comes with the reward of a four month summer in Florida so I’m ready, let’s get it done.

PS. I hope everyone survived April Fools.

dean Pictures, Text april fools, bobby flay, dinner, fancy, food, food network, free, mesa, nyc, nyu, restaurant, summer, work

Today was a rainy, cold, miserable day, which is why I opted to do some of my favorite rainy day activities: class, train rides, and chillaxin at JFK Int’l Airport!

So my parents & sister were flying up to Vermont today so that they could check out some Vermont colleges that my sister might be interested in (lol, I know). To fly from Ft. Laud to Vermont, you have to connect here in New York at JFK and while their flight here was no problem, their 11am flight to Vermont was cancelled. jetBlue couldn’t put them on another flight until 5pm, so that meant 6 hours in T5 @ JFK.

Lucky for them I’m an amazing son/brother and went to Queens to hang out with them at the airport (I mean, it was a legit reason to skip class so who wouldn’t!?)

But after an 11AM class, 5 train rides, and a 6:30PM class, I’m exhausted…. counting down the days to summer….

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dean Pictures, Polls, Text airport, class, family, jfk, nyc, nyu, skip, summer, train, vermont

Friends of mine know all about Gramercy since I’ve blogged about it before and talk (brag) about it all the time now, but I wanted to write a post specifically talking about the pros and cons of Gramercy since it’s the time of year that everyone is checking out dorms for next year, and when I was trying to find info about Gramercy last year online, there wasn’t any.

My posts generally show up pretty high in Google searches, so if you’re an NYU student who came across this page through Google, here are some deetz that you won’t find on the NYU Housing site and a video tour to go along with it.

Gramercy Green is a dorm for sophomores. It’s technically for “upperclassmen,” but since it’s the most popular dorm on campus, you’re chances of getting it if you’re not a sophomore are slim to none. It was originally built as a luxury apartment building, so it has styles of all kinds, but every apartment will have:
-Hardwood floors
-A huge kitchen with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and a touch screen microwave.
-An all-marble bathroom with ridic water pressure in the shower.
-Floor to ceiling or almost floor to ceiling windows (depending on the style).

Gramercy has rooms for 2-6 people. I live in a studio, so it’s just me and my roommate, and I would definitely recommend the studio option because it’s a HUGE space for just two people. It’s more space than my bedroom & common room combined last year at U-Hall and the kitchen and bathroom are only shared by 2 people. They also have two-bedroom suites for 4 people, three-bedroom suites for 5 people, and three-bedroom suites for 6 people. (Rooms with 4+ people have two bathrooms so that’s another plus.) There might also be an option for 3 people too but I’m not actually sure.

Here are some pros & cons.

PROS:
-Amenities. Kitchen, bathroom, wood floors and everything else I just mentioned.
-More space than you’ll get at most other dorms.
-EVERYTHING is new. The building is less than 2 years old, not some historic 200 year old landmark that hasn’t been renovated in 87 years.
-The Sub-Cellar has TV lounges, a game room, private & group study rooms, a gym, and more crazyness.
-There are laundry rooms on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st floor as well as a big one in the cellar. I KNOW RIGHT!? It’s amazing.
-The neighborhood is awesome. 3 blocks from Madison Square Park (and Shake Shack!) which is one of my favorite parks in NYC. The streets around the building aren’t always crowded like they are in Union Square.
-Duane Reade on the ground floor.

CONS:
-It’s far from campus. The walk is about 20-25 depending on the lights & how fast you walk. There is a bus, but it’s often unreliable and ALWAYS crowded. Trying to take the bus to get to 9:30 class is a deathwish. I don’t mind the walk if it’s nice out, but it can be tough in the winter.
-It’s nowhere near NYU Dining. The closest dining hall is Palladium, which is still 9 blocks away.
-The elevators are ALWAYS a problem. We only have 3 elevators here, and the building is like 22 stories or something. They are always crowded and always require a pretty significant wait. The views are great on the upper floors (I live on 17) but it would definitely be to your benefit to get something lower so you can use the stairs.
-The fire alarm goes off…. A LOT. And when I mean a lot, I don’t mean like once a month or something. It goes off every single week. Sometimes multiple times during the week. We’ve had three 2AM evacuations so far this year. The smoke detectors are extremely sensitive so when idiot kids fail at cooking or light up in their rooms, the whole building will be evacuated… and like I said, elevators are always a problem. It’s not fun trying to get back in.
-The soundproofing between rooms is great because I never hear my neighbors, but the sound proofing between your room and the hallway is nonexistent. In fact, I hear people screaming out there as I type these words. And a dog barking. Sweet.
-It’s more of a residential area so there are less stores and restaurants that are open 24/7 than there are in the Union Square area.

Here is a video I made at the beginning of the year. I made it for Facebook, that’s why it feels like I’m talking to specific people, but hopefully it can help you guys out, too.

Despite the cons, I definitely still recommend Gramercy for your sophomore year.

If you have any questions, post them down in the comments and I’ll try to help you out.

dean Pictures, Text, Videos 17th floor, bus, campus, cons, dorm, gramercy, help, nyc, nyu, pros

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