A colleague of mine, a photographer, told me she's decided to leave New York after living here for many years. She's a native of a European country, and although she loves New York, it's gotten too expensive for her, so she's moving back to her homeland permanently. She just decided abruptly, fearing burn-out.

Expensive is definitely the word, and burn-out too, yet the town is in no way as interesting as it was when living here was cheaper. It's become commercialized and plastic in many ways, and has lost its gritty edge. Or maybe that's just my weary perception of things, after thirty-three years of living here and finally starting to fear that I'm just another mug in the crowd after hoping I'd turn out to be something special?

Yes, I suppose I would have less to complain about if I were making better money or I were famous and hobnobbing with the glitterati. If I got to put my hand on some tabloid hottie's knee, I might feel less gloomy. For creative people in particular in this town, fame and fortune are, strangely enough, not merely to be sought for their own sake, but as an antidote to the continual stress of New York, its wear and tear on the ever-aspiring personality.

So, not having fame or fortune here, after dreaming you'd get it, is like not having access to one's medicine, one's tranquillizer.

Who wants Prozac? Just put Jessica Simpson on my lap...

Speaking of tabloid personalities, Vanessa Mannillo, who is now seeing Simpson's ex, should never be seen in public without makeup. There's a shot of her in the current OK magazine that shows her strolling on the beach with a well-scrubbed face. Ye gods! She is plain. What a disappointment. I guess she needs the paint.

All right, so I'm being catty...spank me if I deserve it...alas, my nose is pressed up to the candy store window, but I don't have the money for a treat! I just have a bagful of sour grapes instead.

Moving along...

When I was a kid, I used to read mostly Marvel and DC Comics, but my sisters would read Archie and Betty & Veronica. So I'd check out B&V, whose images had been perfected to a pinup-like gloss by the late artist Dan De Carlo. Betty & Veronica represent the yin and yang of my sexual personality. I'd like a nice girl like Betty, who could act bitchy like Veronica in the bedroom...

Anyway, I was at the newsstand today and I see the Archie company is trying out a new style of art for Betty & Veronica. Allow me to say "Ye gods!" again. Comparing this new art to the old style is like putting thrift store art next to views of Japan by Hokusai...meaning, you really appreciate the graceful beauty of the original Betty & Veronica style when you see the "contemporary" mode, which looks like the kind of art they used in subway advertisements about getting young people to practice safe sex. It tries to be relevant and modern, full of trendy details, but ends up looking bland and stodgy.

My guess is that the "New" Betty & Veronica are going to eventually go the way of the "New" Coke as Betty & Veronica Classic asserts its immortality, just like Coke Classic did.