Game, set and match to the kid in the fancy apartment!

Wow, two thumbs up to Loren Kreiss, the not-unwealthy kid profiled in the NYT Real Estate section and predictably lambasted on Gawker. (NB: As usual, I blame the NYT and its obsession with class and money). In subsequent items, however, Gawker started coming around, lauding his actual-workingness, and throwing in some Spanish. Today they put him on the spot with a game of Ten Questions, and he performed brilliantly, with a perfect mix of candour and self-deprecating quippery (plus managing to make me misty for a travertine console. So that's where I could put my keys!). Maybe it's just the ghostwritten wisdom of a publicist, but he plays the game like a pro, throwing appreciative props to the NYT and to Gawker commenters, bringing wealth and privilege back to family and hard work, adroitly skirting the $6,000-per-month rent issue, making his Mom sound cool, and showing humility in the face of Swedo-hegemony. Throw in a bit of raunch at the end and you've got a winner, especially paired with this kind of level-headed gentle-hearted blue-state attitude:

First off, I don’t consider being called gay an insult, and of course I see how people would make assumptions. I wouldn’t have moved to Chelsea and worked in the interior design business if I wasn’t comfortable in my sexuality. I also wouldn’t be ashamed if I were gay, the truth just happens to be that I’m straight. Sorry if that’s disappointing to your readers.

And THAT, Jared Paul Stern, is how one makes good use of Gawker.