at the least, lizzy ratner could have credited me (or jessica kirschner) as a contributing author of her most recent NYObserver article. i don't ask for much, but considering that basically everything i have ever written on this site seems to have been used as fodder for her piece, i think that's the least she could do.
see for yourself:
With her party-girl personality and not-quite–New York sensibility, Lauren is the classic Murray Hill Girl: a being of sheltered origins and country-club aspirations, overpriced jeans and, yes, skinny legs. (Her male counterpart has many of the same traits, except he wears overpriced cargo shorts and pastel-striped button-downs.)
or ...
Walk down Third Avenue on any summer afternoon—or better yet, just stand outside the large Tasti D-Lite that seems to function as a kind of village square—and you will see one of the greatest parades of fashion-victim sameness since white Keds hit the market in Wilmette. Everywhere you look there are girls teetering about in the latest Cosmo Girl trends, like kept-wives-in-training: there are girls dressed in low-riders and girls with Tiffany’s rings (always on the middle finger, to show they’re still on the marriage market), girls with expensive highlights and girls lugging those boxy doggie-carrier purses that celebrities like Ashley Olsen love so much. And, of course, they are all wearing cell phones, dangling from their ears like giant clip-on earrings.
what do you think?
update: the observer does not archive articles, but an almost full text version can be found here.
she totally ripped you off.
Posted by: alizinha | July 07, 2005 at 09:39 AM
At first I thought "Lizzy Ratner" might have been a pen name of yours, until I realized she didn't use the word jappy once.
Posted by: Larry | July 07, 2005 at 10:42 AM
I think that you should complain to her boss at the Observer. Reporters commonly mine blogs for potential stories, but this chick went way too far in appropriating your material.
Posted by: Dick Bass | July 07, 2005 at 11:12 AM
She's just pissed because of all the competition. Now she'll NEVER get married.
Posted by: L'Emmerdeur | July 07, 2005 at 01:23 PM
At least Curbed gave you credit. And I'm sure that Mediacrity guy feels your pain as well.
Posted by: Joslyn | July 07, 2005 at 02:54 PM
At least Curbed gave you credit. And I'm sure that Mediacrity guy feels your pain as well.
Posted by: Joslyn | July 07, 2005 at 02:54 PM
Did you talk to Lizzy on the phone or in person? I gave her an interview for this article, and she was really sweet. Although I think she definitely used your blog as inspiration, I don't think she ripped you off. I can see a lot of the things she and I talked about in the article, and {thankfully?} I'm not credited. {Although, I thought the nod to me by mentioning CosmoGIRL! was really funny} She obviously did her homework and got a lot of quotes from the offenders, so I don't think you guys need to shit on her.
Posted by: mariana | July 07, 2005 at 02:56 PM
Did you talk to Lizzy on the phone or in person? I gave her an interview for this article, and she was really sweet. Although I think she definitely used your blog as inspiration, I don't think she ripped you off. I can see a lot of the things she and I talked about in the article, and {thankfully?} I'm not credited. {Although, I thought the nod to me by mentioning CosmoGIRL! was really funny} She obviously did her homework and got a lot of quotes from the offenders, so I don't think you guys need to shit on her.
Posted by: mariana | July 07, 2005 at 03:01 PM
I don't think it's anything to get too worked up about. I was sure she would mention you at some point. But then again, it's not like anyone can own the Murray Hill subculture or the reporting thereon.
Posted by: ManhattanTransfer | July 07, 2005 at 05:25 PM
Unless Lizzy Ratner is related to Bruce Ratner I've never heard of her and I certainly didn't talk to her.
I did think some of the similarities from the article were a bit coincidental, but I'm not too worked up. Other than once or twice referring to myself as the unoffical mayor of MH, I certainly claim no exclusivity on the the neighborhood. I just wish she would have given me a shout out, that's all.
Posted by: the ijc | July 07, 2005 at 11:19 PM
No one is interested in ripping off your unoriginal and unfunny schtick
Posted by: Gob | July 08, 2005 at 03:19 PM
I thought you wrote it at first too. It's brilliant though.
Posted by: Princess Anonymous | July 11, 2005 at 04:10 PM
I was sorry not to see you mentioned, too, but I did think it was a fun article.
Posted by: John | July 11, 2005 at 04:34 PM