Well, I learned something today about a word I’m supposed to know as a real estate broker.
The owners of the Triple Mint Blog tell us that their name derives from the “somewhat breathless term real estate brokers use to describe a property that’s in absolutely immaculate move-in condition”.
We do? Must be a New York thing. My next New York buyers, I promise, I’ll use that phrase on you. Anyway, I was awfully glad to see the name has meaning, it’s not just random post-modernism like you find on so many blogs.
Fellow Simpsons fans will recall Moe Syzlak’s definition of postmodernism: “weird for the sake of weird”.
So not only is the blog educational, the author tells us that it’s not just “another hopelessly self-obsessed New York site”. The elephant that comes up in the room when they say that, of course, is Curbed.com. Everybody links to Curbed.com, no doubt because even though they’re hopelessly obsessesed, they have good page rank. And playing PR Polo is an even bigger room- elephant with most webmasters than Curbed.com will ever be.
As for whether Triple Mint is hopelessly self-obsessed, I disagree. I think a blog that’s about what it’s about is a good thing, and have said in my remarks here repeatedly that I enjoy local content. Let’s be fair: New York has room for more local content because, as of the last census data, they had quite a few local people there. More than Oakland, for example. Way more than Cameron Park.
In the case of Triple-Mint, however, one post left me stymied, so sometimes local content may go a bit overboard, perhaps. The author writes:
“If, as some magazine writer recently opined, Richard Meier is the Prada of architecture, then certainly the Swiss team of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are its Helmut Lang–the brand for the real insiders.”
Duh, what’s a Prada? Who’s a Helmut Lang? I know, I know, it’s the Internet, I could look them up. Then again, I guess if you’re talking about brands for real insiders, it makes sense that members of the No-Homer club like me would feel a bit left out.
Still, I recommend you give Triple Mint a look, especially if you’re interested in fine urban architecture and the like. Certainly if you’re a real insider or any kind of New Yorker, even a faux New Yorker. The blog features all the good technical / design features I look for in a blog, and lots of material about the goings-on in New York real estate
And let’s face it: your post-modern credentials will be radically enhanced if you say something like, “Curbed? Are you kidding? They’re so ten minutes ago. Have you seen Triple Mint?” I’ll bet the authors would thank you, too!