Financial District & HBO Does It Again

Tomorrow is my first day at a new job. I cannot say that I know for sure what this company does, or what I am doing for it, but I do know that it is at an address I had no idea existed: 11 Broadway. Before I got this job, my knowledge of Manhattan was fairly good on the Upper East and West sides, strong in midtown between 3rd and 7th, and good in Union Square and the Village. Even in the Village, the lowest number I've seen Broadway go to is in the 600s. In midtown, the building addresses look more like phone numbers. 11 Broadway can only mean that nether region of Manhattan: The Financial District.

I don't mean to denigrate the Financial District. It is a center of American and global commerce. It houses Wall Street, Battery Park, and has views of the Statue of Liberty. That said, it is rather one-dimensional. If you don't want to walk past banks and investment houses, you could take in a museum: The Museum of American Financial History. You see what I mean? At night, save for the South Street Seaport, there is precious little going on. Of course, I won't be there at night, but a place that is so alive in the daytime should have something to do at night. For all its money and power culture, the Financial District is kind of like that rich friend you have. He seems to have it all from far away, but as you approach you realize that money is all he has going for him. Plus, he is overrun with tourists trying to take pictures in front of the New York Stock Exchange. This metaphor kind of got away from me.

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I started watching the HBO show "Entourage." It is a hilarious depiction of rising acting star Vincent Chase and his boys; Eric, his business saavy manager and best friend, Turtle, his corpulent gofer and best friend, and Johnny "Drama" Chase, Vincent's older brother and current falling star. All of them live off Vincent's dime, and while Eric has a certain hunger to make it and take Vincent to the heights of Los Angeles demi-god, the others are content to go along for the ride. Eric tries to steer Vincent to substantial roles in good movies and build a solid career, while Drama and Turtle try to steer Vincent to parties with truckloads of hot women willing and able to submit to Vincent's good looks, charm and celebrity. Rounding out the cast is the phenom that is Jeremy Piven as super agent Ari Gold. Brash, over the top, and constantly chasing money and women, Piven is pure brilliance as Gold. He is the Ego to Eric's Superego in Vincent's life, while Turtle and sometimes Drama act as the unabashed Id. The show is produced by Mark Wahlberg, and is sort of based on his life getting started in LA with all the hangers-on and getting used to celebrity life. It is like Sex and the City, if Sex and the City were in LA, were funny, and had realistic and engaging plots. Beyond that, the similarities are shocking. The second season has just gotten started, and I am hooked. You should be watching this, because come Emmy time, I think this show might pull a statue or two.