DBlack
DBlack

Adventures of Hipster Sociopath Grifter

Read all about NYC's favorite little sociopath:

http://www.observer.com/2009/style/hipster-grifter

And a more recent update on her adventures and whereabouts:

http://gothamist.com/2010/03/12/kari_ferrell_hipster_grifter.php
The opinions expressed here are those of the individual and not those of StreetAdvisor.
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54 Comments

uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
its amazing that an ordinary rip-off artist like Kari Ferrell manages to get press coverage at all.. will not be shocked if she gets her own reality series or even a book deal soon..
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JenMac
JenMac 2yrs+
How did this happen? I have never understood it . . .
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
What a head job, that chick. She's so so so pathetic, and got famous for it. You're right, a reality TV show is not far off.
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
I still find this hilarious, though! Then again I like making fun of hipsters, so...
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
Oh jeez. I wonder what the reality show would even center on? I find pathological liars pretty trite...
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@NeverSleeps I can see her doing a road trip across America with no money in her pockets, sponging her way from shore to shore...
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DBlack
DBlack 2yrs+
Doesn't it seem like there are a lot of people around getting famous for nothing, or for something really stupid? Was it always this way, or is this only the case since the advent of reality TV?
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DBlack
DBlack 2yrs+
BTW, they made a reality TV show about artists:

http://omg.yahoo.com/videos/work-of-art/11098

I think this is an indication that producers have run out of ideas and the reality TV phenom is finally on its way out.
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@DBlack I blame the internet for all of it. And maybe MTV's The Real World.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Oh, yeah, the Real World...it does seem like this whole reality TV silliness started with that show.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
I got to hear a reality TV producer squirm in her seat as the husband of somebody at a party was grilling her about the meaninglessness of what she produces. The guy was saying things like..."How does what you do actually contribute to society." and the producer had not a thing to answer back, not one thing. Finally she comes up with..."Well it pays my rent." which made her look like an even bigger jackass. I relished watching that exchange.
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DBlack
DBlack 2yrs+
@Uraniumfish And do you think that producer was at all affected by being asked such straight questions? I sometimes wonder if people in TV and in advertising shouldn't be required to take some mandatory ethics courses. I wonder how some of these people sleep at night.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@DBlack unfortunately its all about the money, reality shows enjoy a huge fan following currently , maybe they appeal to the inner voyeur of most folks..who wants to know what the neighbors are up to?
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JenMac
JenMac 2yrs+
I guess the one thing it does for society is that whenever someone watches a reality show . . . er, they feel better about his / herself? I mean, I don't watch them, but if I happen to, I kinda feel like -- well, at least those people are way worse than me. . . .
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
I don't know - if it pays her rent, it pays her rent! I'd like to write the Great American Novel, but if someone pays me to write content for a boring website I'll do that while I wait for the Great American Novel to sell! She's not forcing people to watch, nor is she forcing people to make fools of themselves on TV. I'll save my disdain for tobacco lobbyists and such
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist agreed! I guess it all boils down to we have bills to pay and we will do what it takes to pay them.
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JenMac
JenMac 2yrs+
Yeah, I'd probably go after the big corp life destroyers before anyone at MTV or Fox. Not that the producers are adding to the value of life in any way. But, at least they aren't backing people off of a ledge either?
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist Ha... what are you trying to say!!! A boring website...?
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Well, there's an audience for this stuff, yeah, but I just. Don't. Get. It. Why do people watch this stuff?
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@Uraniumfish Maybe for the same reason that they read The National Enquirer?
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@NeverSleeps Yeah, which I also don't get. Sigh.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@NeverSleeps do people actually read the National Enquirer? I always see the issues displayed near the check out of my local Duane Reade and I cant help but wonder at it many outlandish and far-fetched cover stories. Surely folks dont fall for them?
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DBlack
DBlack 2yrs+
@Uptowngirl Some people read it ironically, for fun. It would be pretty sad if people read it as a source of news, though I guess there have to be those people out there too.
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
@BroadwayBK - not this website! I actually really enjoy writing travel content in general, so I seek it out most of all. But I have in the past done really, REALLY boring website text - sometimes the money is too good to turn down!
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist you echo my thoughts but I am currently writing SEO travel content for a really good client which is totally cramping my style as the client is requesting the incorporation of really weird keywords.
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JenMac
JenMac 2yrs+
@uptowngirl: aren't encounters with "the man" the worst as a writer? That's what I call one of my bosses . . . she's a woman.
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@uptowngirl Someone besides Fox Mulder must be keeping that publication in business! It's been around for so long.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@JenMac Hah! I love when The Man is a woman.
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
It's a pity my favorite jobs are among the lowest-paid (ghostwriting YA paranormal lit - but I can't say for whom/what company, obviously). I have so much fun doing it! It's like my guilty pleasure.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist That actually sounds really fun... do those types of lit not sell very well? Why is it such a low paid position?
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DBlack
DBlack 2yrs+
So the reality TV show about artists I mentioned earlier has bombed, as we all knew it would:

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-08-04/art/work-of-art-gets-its-own-crit-from-three-village-voice-writers/
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@DBlack I guess none of us are surprised.. can you really create an artwork in 24 hours who ever thought up this show doesnt really know or even understand art.
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@DBlack Yes..that sounds dreadfully boring. And, like uptowngirl says, what kind of art could anyone possibly churn out in that short of a time frame? Why don't they just play some nice sleep elevator tunes and put all their viewers to sleep instead of wasting their money on programming?
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Wow- a reality TV show that I haven't heard of? Not surprised that it bombed. The best/most successful reality shows are the trashy ones, or the ones that are just sneakily trashy - like The Bachelor. (Yes, it looks all polished and sweet - but it's a harem, people! A harem!)
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
The stupidity of that reality TV show about artists just makes my eyes roll to the back of my head...
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
I don't know, @uraniumfish. I feel like it makes more sense than Top Chef, because audiences can see and appreciate the work, whereas in Top Chef we can't "taste"/judge the work at home.
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JenMac
JenMac 2yrs+
Top Chef kills me. Padma Lakshmi -- just go away. What the hell right do you have judging food?
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DBlack
DBlack 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist The point is that the "work" is a sad farce that doesn't deserve to be called art.
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DBlack
DBlack 2yrs+
On the topic of sad art, I was just at BWAC this weekend and it was a sad stretch of mediocre art everywhere. I was bored within five minutes and preferred to just go look at the water than at yet another set of lame paintings. Sometimes I think there are too many artists on this city, and most of them are pretty awful.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@JenMac I so agree with you..she is such a put on and now she is a jewelry designer to boot with a line that sells at Bergdorfs no less.
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@JenMac @uptowngirl I am not convinced that Padma Lakshmi even eats anything.
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JenMac
JenMac 2yrs+
I know that most people in entertainment are total social climbers but she just rubs me the wrong way. She left Salman Rushdie like a hot potato the minute she got on that show. And, I'm sure she married him for love in the first place.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@NeverSleeps I agree but years ago she had a cooking show on the food network where she used to cook up dishes that were crafted out of slightly modified versions of classic South Indian recipes. Since Indian food was not that popular back then the show was a big hit because of its exotic value I guess. Then she went on to hitch her bandwagon to Mr.Rushdie ( who has an uncanny knack of attracting young, good looking women even though he is not exactly what we would call good looking ) and the rest is history.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@uptowngirl So did marrying Rushdie make her career?
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@Uraniumfish well it brought her into the limelight and once you're in that spot things usually just fall into place don't they? soon after she married him she landed Top Chef which became a monster hit and she soon discarded him.. happens all the time doesn't it?
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
@uptowngirl But wasn't she a well-off TV personality pre-Rushdie? They probably met at a fundraiser.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Do you think Rushdie married her cynically, knowing it would be short lived, or did he really love her. It's hard to tell what these people are thinking, marrying someone who so obviously is using you as a stepladder.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@NeverSleeps I don't think she had the kind of fame that she has now and that marriage to Rushdie certainly helped.


@Uraniumfish Who really knows for he is quite the ladie's man who has been married four times already.
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-466815/Why-Rushdies-rushing-divorce.html

Yes, apparently Rushdie is known for his roving eye, his cheating ways - and perhaps he was just finally getting what he deserved from Padma (even if we still don't like her).
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
I've read more than one source describing Rushdie as insufferable and highly self-important. The two probably deserved each other.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Sounds like every male writer I've ever met, and I think I've met my share. Not one of those guys can keep his hands to himself. Seriously, it's pathetic. I've known writers for most of my life and have been hit on by men DECADES older than me, and with several children at home, and with what you would have expected to be happy marriages. HAs put me off the idea of ever dating a writer, ever.
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
I'm a (female) writer and I like to say I can keep my hands to myself just fine! But I can see why male writers have a rep for being skeezy old men. Salman Rushdie hangs around Oxford every now and then...he's such a player!
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
He sounds like a complete creep to me.
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JenMac
JenMac 2yrs+
Well, I guess if they both were just doing it for gain, then no one loses. . . .
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