AMANZING (adjective): informal variation of “amazing” (causing astonishment, wonder or surprise) that attempts to blunt the dulling effect of overuse and cliche’. A wordjuvenation. A bibliosuction. The younger generation seems stuck in the A’s when picking superlatives, often settling on “amazing” or “awesome,” if not both (as a lone exception, you might also note how frequently young servers will call your food order “perfect”). My coining of “amanzing” was in gentle mocking of this and of the Netflix show “Selling Sunset” (at once self-mocking since I can name all the characters and have my clear favorites). For the uninitiated, it is a highly formulaic reality TV program centered around the upmarket LA brokerage called the Oppenheim Group, led by the two brothers Jason and Brett Oppenheim. In an endlessly looping parade, the wildly overdressed and all-female agents immodestly strut their baubles from the office to oligarchic house listings and back. When they do stop for meals, they mostly just devour each other in a ritual of cyclical back-biting and open confrontation that any fan of “The Real Housewives” franchise — The OZEMPIC Games — will find eyerollingly familiar (and strangely addictive). Friendships and alliances are as fleeting as a cucumber foam. The conversations are devoid of any political, cultural or historical infusion (surely by design), leaving us the two-item menu of real estate porn interwoven with mudslinging realtors who dress like porn stars. And yet what’s not to like? Amanza Smith is a former NFL cheerleader for the Indianapolis Colts who works as an interior decorator for The Oppenheim Group. She is actually one of the coolest and down-to-earth of the bunch, and the term “amanzing” is in honor of her contribution to the continuing and blissful contraction of my cultural horizons.
But our recent trip was to NYC, not LA. And when my wife and I travel to potential hotspots, we play an informal game that we now call “Celebrity Sushi” (unpublished data suggests that upscale sushi restaurants have a strong hit rate, as does 5th Ave). We spent three days in New York and, after setting the OVER/UNDER at 1.5 celebs (my wife took the OVER), we saw no less than 7! They were as follows:
Dylan Baker (on 5th Ave carrying a large book)
Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany (at Bondst, a sushi joint!)
John Stamos (at “Gutenberg! The Musical!” He went on stage, which was clearly pre-arranged, but we prefer to believe he was attending the show anyway)
Michael Imperioli (on 5th Ave at a crosswalk)
George Stephanopoulos (on 5th Ave at Central Park wearing large headphones)
Ubah Hassan (on 5th Ave leaving Saks Fifth Avenue)
Great Exudations 