lunchtime musing: Overheard in New York

[chanaleh]

Ahhhgod, I love Overheard in New York. There are many more Overheard sites, now, but NY is the classic. Something about the very place-bound personality of it makes it just work in a way that Overheard in the Office never will.

(I recently subscribed to the overheardnyc feed for about a day, and had to take it off because it's really too much of a good thing. But now I've signed up for the weekly 10 best by email.)

And, y'know, half the wit/charm/attitude really is in the headlines. I don't know how they do it. Someday I will internalize the ear for it enough to submit something really quality to the semiweekly Headline Contest. But mostly I look at them and... draw a complete blank. Then the winner comes out a week later and it's golden. They also print the 5 runners-up, and normally four if not all 5 of those are as bad as anything I'd have written, but there's always one winner that absolutely strikes it. I just don't know.

Plus, visualizing NYC always makes me think "hey, jessruth, I've gotta figure out when I'm coming to visit you guys". :-D

Comments

[marmota.livejournal.com]

ovrheardboston is low-traffic, and also has its moments!

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

Wow. It has been a really long time since I looked at that site, and it confirms my sense that I really could not live there, even though these random snippets of conversation are frickin hilarious. Who can pick just ten per week!?

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

and it confirms my sense that I really could not live there

I'm kinda with you. I wouldn't really want to live there... all the time. I do enjoy it in moderate doses, though. :-) When I was in junior high, I totally, totally wanted to grow up and move to NYC. Like, immediately. (Then in high school I started studying 19th century British literature and American Romanticism, and I fell in love with Boston and decided I would have to live there, instead. So.)

[jessruth.livejournal.com]

Plus, visualizing NYC always makes me think "hey, jessruth, I've gotta figure out when I'm coming to visit you guys". :-D

I second that!

This is a great column. A lot like Metropolitan Diary in the NY Times.

[ceo]

I must confess the shameful truth: I harbor a small amount of disappointment that I came out with a couple of eminently quotable remarks during my last trip or two to NYC and none of them made OINY.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Did you submit them? ;-) Or were you hoping someone else would Overhear?

[ceo]

The latter.

How do I get this 10 best?

[drwex]

I could stand a dose of that...

Re: How do I get this 10 best?

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/pages/subscribe-email.html

Glad to be of service. :-)

Re: How do I get this 10 best?

[drwex]

Done, thanks.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

OINY is such fun. Back when I was in the appropriate fandom I wrote some Overheard in Metropolis pastiches.