Gridskipper Interview:
This Is What We Do Now
Continuing our series of interviews with winners from the Urbs: 2005 Urban Blogging Awards, here we have a communiqué from This Is What We Do Now, which fought it out for World's Best Urban Blog.
Name: Larry
Blog: This Is What We Do Now
Age: 24
Birthplace: Manhattan
Favorite street food: ABC gum.
Most humiliating urban experience: I got pistol-whipped by a guy in an Uncle Pennybags costume on Avenue D once. Afterwards we went to Odessa for some scrambled eggs, and I stole his monocle. A few hours later he died because he forgot he was allergic to dairy.
Celebrity whose sex tape you'd most like to post as an online exclusive: Raphael nailing April O'Neill.
Where do you live?
Alphabet City.
Why do you live there?
Because Muzarella Pizza is the best pizza place in the City.
What do you like about it?
I really like that the residents of the neighborhood think there are too many bars.
What do you hate about it?
The fact that Route 85A, despite being located on Avenue A between 5th and 6th Street, has the audacity to charge $5 for a fucking Bud Light. Bud Lights do not cost more than $4 south of 14th Street. This is a scientific fact.
List your top three favorite cities worldwide.
1) Atlantis.
2) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
3) Cheesequake, New Jersey.
How long have you been blogging?
About a year and a half.
What prompted you to start blogging?
I saw it as a means to an end. I've been publishing my writing since college (albeit to an audience of approximately three people), and blogging seemed like the best way to get myself out there and hope that the right people took notice. I'm not afraid to say that I would FUCKING LOVE to get paid to blog, or land a book or sitcom deal. If Jason Mulgrew can get a TV deal, why not me? I would be the happiest person in the world if I were presented the opportunity to be paid to write. And yes, I have no shame.
What made you choose the particular subject of your blog?
As my blog doesn't really have a particular subject, I don't really have an answer for this. If I were drunkenly harassing a stranger in a bar about my blog (not that this has ever happened), I'd probably describe it as a "New York-centric humor blog written from the perspective of an infant."
What's your favorite thing about blogging?
Definitely all the free cocaine doled out at the many fabulous blogger parties I am invited to on a weekly basis.
What annoys, disgusts, revolts, or repels you about blogging?
Though I pretend it doesn't bother me, certain anonymous insults are so poignant I often cry myself to sleep at night. As much as I try to block out the scathing indictments of people I've never met, I really have great respect for people who don't have the balls to stand behind their words.
What urban blogs do you read regularly?
Petroleum Jelliffe, Spinach Dip, The Daily Dump, Slack LaLane, The Assimilated Negro, A High Class Jackass, Fauxy, [decentcontent], The IJC, Girlspoke, Tribute to Nonsense, Childless Whore, Fat Asian Baby, Such Great Heights, Tales of a Delectable Redhead, NEsery, and Smell of Wine and Cheap Perfume. Honestly, if you want to be shamelessly plugged, all you have to do is add me to your blogroll, shoot me an e-mail, meet up with me for a beer, and/or fuck me. It really ain't hard to get on my good side.
Any urban blogs you think deserve more attention?
All of the above.
Creepiest blog-stalker experience to date:
I actually do have a stalker who periodically calls me. I have no idea how she got my number and why she has absolutely nothing better to do with her time, but she did claim to have a sizeable rack so I don't mind putting up with the occasional harassment.
Worst thing anyone has ever called you, on your blog or another blog:
Hispanic.
How long do you think you'll keep blogging?
I'll quit my own site once Denton finally asks me to helm a Gawker Media blog.
Colbert Closer: Would the phrase that best describes winning an Urb be "life-changing and humbling," "shatteringly orgasmic," or "the pinnacle of human experience"?
We all know the pinnacle of human existence is eating Tang's beef with broccoli whilst downing a 40 and getting a blowjob, so that can't be it. If by life-changing and humbling you mean averaging roughly five more visitors a day, now we're gettin' somewhere.
This Is What We Do Now [Official site]
Previously: The Urbs: 2005 Urban Blogging Awards Winners, Gridskipper Interview: Losanjealous, Secret Dubai Blog, Buck’s Fishing & Camping Photo Fracas, New Metblogs Born
