Stars... They're Just Like Us!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 11:37AM They also have to deal with obnoxious people walking backwards or stopping suddenly when everyone else is moving forwards!
This post is brought to you by Nathaniel's hatred of tourists in Times Square where he unfortunately found himself once this weekend. Tourists can magically transform a breezy 8 minute walk to a subway to a 35 minute nightmarish ordeal of erratic human movement. Turning 8 minutes to 35 is a feat as miraculous as feeding thousands with five loaves of bread ...only way less altruistic.
P.S. This amusing gif comes to us via my friend Matt's blog where he runs to Madonna's defense (as he do) about the gleeful takedowns of W.E. in Venice. Matt also shared an incredible video of previously unseen "Vogue" video footage. Lots of blooper-like stuff after the two minute mark. It's always so fun (though rarer than it used to be) to see Madonna laugh at herself / her surroundings.
Madonna, NYC, Venice, W.E., music videos
Reader Comments (19)
I hear you (I live in Barcelona).
PS Loved the gif and the Vogue video!
My university was rife with that kind of start-and-stop, traffic-stopping irritation. You would sometimes see people get physically pushed off the sidewalks into the grass (or mud, on a bad day) after the people behind them just couldn't take it anymore.
Not that I approve of such measures, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't seriously consider doing it myself on more than one occasion.
I live in London and I have the same issues / grievances with tourists in the summer, get out of my way already, I need to be somewhere :)
i love how you use the word altruistic in describing your awful suffering.
oh, i pity you. poor nathaniel.
let people visit new york (or barcelona for that matter). it's not like you don't understand enchantment with something or someone (this post is about what anyways?).
I like Matt's article...W.E takedowns in Venice seem quite exaggerated
Whatever award they give out at the VMAs for best directing should be renamed the David Fincher Best Director Award.
I think anyone who comes to New York should have to go to walking school and pass a test before they're allowed outside.
LOL, you're being a grumbler here Nathaniel. Even arrogant. It's not like you're the only one who has "privilege" to walk streets of New York.
The tourist season around here (Madrid) has its peak in spring, I think. My complaint isn't so much the tourists (though it must be a usual destination for French school boys/girls- big groups, yay!), but local people who can be as annoying as the tourists. If you're a local there's no excuse. As tourists we all look dumb looking around, taking pictures, taking all the time in the world to walk, but when you're a local, why oh why do you walk as if you owned the streets, why do you walk against the flow of people? Isn't there a universal rule stating that one should use the right side so that we don't walk on each other all the time?If there is, why is it over when crossing the street? Maybe we, urbanites, go to the gym not to feel better or healthier, but to develop broader shoulders we can use against the others when walking down the streets, as some sort of mutation?
BTW, I've been a tourist in Times Square (sorry about that) and yes, it's ridiculously populated by tourists, specially for a place with not that much space for pedestrians. It seems a place made more for traffic than for people, but tourists don't know that until they're there.
I hear you, Nathaniel. I commute to work in NYC every day through Grand Central, and it is absolute hell trying to catch a train that is leaving in one minute when people randomly stop walking to take a picture of that damn ceiling. I can't stand it. My sister worked near Radio City for a couple of years and during the winter months she could barely walk around her building because of all the tourists (and probably some locals, too) wanting to get a picture with the damn tree.
And that gif is hilarious/adorable!
On the Metro escalators in DC the mantra is "stand to the right". It gets so bad with tourists people just yell "Move right!" so we can actually get to our trains. When I travel I am always pulling friends off the sidewalk when they stop to gawk at something.
Vogue! Best music video ever!
Yes I hear those who say Nathaniel is being a bit of a grump, but when I've been to NYC I learned quickly to go with the flow of the traffic, that is, walk fast (or be trampled to death?) If I want to take my time and be easy-breezy, I'll pick a relatively empty side street. the funny thing about NYC is that there are certain areas that are wall-to-wall bodies (Madison Ave, Times Square, the main street of Chinatown) but take a right turn and I could find a charming neighborhood, a quiet teahouse, etc - just by getting off the more famous thoroughfares.
And, there's really nothing to see in Times Square, folks. Honestly.
Hear hear Nathaniel! For me though, I just kind of push people if they're in my way. Why yes, us New Yorkers are very welcoming. Could you tell?
Adam, fellow DC resident right here! Or just outside DC, anyway. I always enjoy the shouts of "Move right!" when using the Metro. And really, isn't it kind of common sense to stand on the right? Did you not notice that every other person is standing on the right, and nobody is standing on the left?
I can understand people being pokey on the sidewalks. But if I'm trying to catch a train, you'd better get out of my way. I don't have time to wait twelve minutes for the next one.
GIF:
"Yes, back it up, back it up. Keep it coming! *bump* Who the fu---oh my god, fucking Madonna. I am so sorry...I'll go die now."
Philip - hee, exactly!
Nathaniel, I can understand you. I live in a small city, and in summer the cruise ships arrive and you have groups of 50 people just stopping in the middle of the street...
Philip -- i know. in that last beat of the gif you can totally tell that it dawns on the woman that she's inches away and nearly collided with MADONNA herself. funny
That gif is pure amazingness. I love the last frame of it. LOL.