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New York Press makes it's annual attempt at relevancy this week with it's list of the 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers. Sigh.
We always really want to like this list, but it just never quite lives up to our hopes. They get some good bits in there ("Sometimes it’s funny when a Jewish-American named Larry gets into wacky adventures due to being stubborn and shortsighted. Unfortunately, Larry Silverstein is no Larry David.") but they get just as many clunkers in too. Most of the usual suspects are listed and if not they're probably in the "2005 Loathsome Alumni" list. Those mentioned include: Bruce Ratner, Larry Silverstein, Cardinal Egan, Roger Toussaint, James Frey, Jonathan Safren Foer, Judy Miller, John Sexton, Hily Kristal, Pataki, Schumer, Gawker, the Meatpacking district, and so on.
Reading it we found ourselves having the same reaction we did last year:
Gothamist certainly finds many of the people on the list objectionable, but most of them are so regularly dissed in the media anyway that seeing them dressed down by the Press doesn't afford much schadenfreud-ic pleasure. As well, if the alt-weekly feels compelled to go negative like this once a year, shouldn't it at least do a compendium "Least Loathsome" list? Surely, there are 50 New Yorkers who are smart and elegant and good-hearted enough doing their jobs and making the city better to counterbalance the perceived vulgarity, meanness and greed of the people on the list.
But as the Press didn't take our advice (it's ok, we won't hold it against them), we ask you, dear readers, who are the least loathsome New Yorkers?
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Also tends toward a misogynistic tone...
Least loathsome New Yorker hands down is Ray Alverez, propreiter of Ray's Candy Shop on Ave A at 7th st. Best coffee, milk shakes and ice cream and at the best prices. Open 24 hrs a day and always happy and welcoming. Though i think Ray only works the graveyard shift.
Agreed - that list is really, really mean-spirited and way off the mark in many cases. Their analyses of many "issues" are barely factual. Plus some of the people they name have given a lot of time and money to really good causes and I don't think are nearly as evil as made out to be. It's hard to make a list of top 50 new yorkers - I think they tend to fly under the rader more. But maybe a good idea for gothamist to take suggestions from readers and do a list?
least Loathsome NYer - not Gothamist
Yeah, Ray Alverez is tops.
i agree 99% with their MP district dialogue, minus one small bit ... hell was no straight bar.
Bravo, NY Press, for including the evil Sexton on your list.
two key points here
a) loathesome != evil
b) it's the new york press, 2006 incarnation
sexton is evil, should have been ranked higher
I gave up on NYP the day Amy Sohn left. I didn't even realize they still printed that whiny rag.
I love the fact that The Strokes made the list.
You've completely lost the ability to punctuate the words "its" and its sound-alikes.
egads, Amy Sohn is a crazy bitch.
Jesus, people read NY Press?
Forget about picking on Gothamist and its inability to distinguish between "its" and "it's." How about that NY Press cover? What's a "villian?" Is that short for "vaudevillian?" Looks like Gothamist isn't alone in needing a copy editor (or at least a proofreader).
The worst list yet. It's kind of sad that they've chosen to continue doing it, since it's something Matt Taibbi brought with him from The Buffalo Beast (whose "Most Loathsome Americans" lists consistently kick the NYP's ass in comedic value and social relevance), and Taibbi and his group are all gone.