Neil Patrick Harris spills some How I Met Your Mother secrets while out promoting his other projects.
The recent New York Times article The Domestication of a Dive details writer Joel Hinman's 35 years of life in a fifth-floor Manhattan apartment. He first moved in with a housemate, and now, the father and husband lives in the same 2,500-square-foot apartment with his wife and young son — for less than $1300 a month.
A friend of mine lived in a San Francisco apartment for 12 years, and also reaped the benefits of living long-term in a rental: his six-bedroom apartment was ridiculously below market rate. Tell me: how long have you lived in a rental, and did you get to benefit from cheaper rent because of it?
Source: Flickr User drooooo
Did you know that Washington DC residents are renting out their homes for the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration? Residents can stand to earn a pretty penny: the pictured home is renting for $550 a day! The practice is becoming so popular that there's even a website dedicated to the cause. Whether you're a DC resident looking to rent out your house for inauguration weekend, or a homeowner or renter who'd like to do a short-term sublet for an upcoming vacation, it's better to be safe than sorry when offering your home to a stranger. Douglas Culkin, president of the National Apartment Association, notes that, "By taking some basic precautions, people can leave their homes feeling like they have done their due diligence to ensure a smooth renting experience.”
To see tips from the National Apartment Association, read more
Did You Ever See Rent on Broadway? Sad news coming from New York's Nederlander Theater today: Broadway musical Rent is closing after a 12-year run. The last performance will take place June 1. Opening in the spring of 1996, Rent enjoyed immediate and explosive success with both critics and audiences, despite (or perhaps because of) the story's focus on AIDS, drug addiction, and poverty.
Sad news coming from New York's Nederlander Theater today: Broadway musical Rent is closing after a 12-year run. The last performance will take place June 1. Opening in the spring of 1996, Rent enjoyed immediate and explosive success with both critics and audiences, despite (or perhaps because of) the story's focus on AIDS, drug addiction, and poverty.
I was one of those crazy, obsessed fans when the musical first opened, traveling into the city with my high-school friends to get cheap tickets to the show several times. We'd even wait around afterward for glimpses of the actors emerging from the Nederlander. Later we followed their careers, from Anthony Rapp's solo album to Taye Diggs appearing on Ally McBeal and Jesse L. Martin getting his gig on Law & Order.
Did you ever see Rent on Broadway? What are your fondest Rent memories?
When I was an angsty, misunderstood teenager, I wanted few things more than to see Rent on Broadway. It was, after all, a musical for "our generation." I was a sucker for the story, which seemed then like edgy political commentary, and of course I loved the semi-racy, semi-rockin' soundtrack.
Well, apparently I'm no longer hip, and neither are my fellow 20- and 30-somethings who fell hard for Rent the first time around. See, Rent is being remade for British theater — and the producers are calling their show a "contemporary" take on the musical.
Ouch.
This version is "digital production for a digital world — more a pop opera than a rock opera," the director told Variety. He also said that the "grunge-style electric guitar" is all but gone from the soundtrack. Gone the way of flannel, old-school Smashing Pumpkins and the stereotypical Generation X slacker, I suppose.
Granted, Rent is itself a remake of La Boheme, and its story is pegged to a very particular time and place. Parts of the story were feeling dated already when the movie version came out two years ago. But saying Rent needs to be retooled for a younger, cooler generation makes me long for the days when "Seasons of Love" felt deeply meaningful — and maybe even revolutionary.
Don't let her short stature and baby talk fool you, cuz Will Ferrell's landlady ain't kidding around about collecting the rent. It's now or never Will, and this chick is fully prepared to make a grown man cry if you can't cough up the money owed for the month. Why? Don't ask.
