POLITICS BUZZ: Shepard Fairey's five-foot tall “Hope” portrait is headed to the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, to be hung Inauguration Day. They won't reveal how much they paid for it, which means it cost approximately a butt-load.

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The Best Links:

1. Obama’s ‘Hope’ Portrait Goes to Smithsonian
2. Obama’s ‘Hope’ Portrait Headed To Smithsonian
3. Obama “Hope” Portrait Goes to Washington

CULTURE BUZZ: Joan Acocella, a Manhattanite herself, answers in Smithsonian why her fellow city dwellers are so often thought to be rude - it’s because they’re smart! As New Yorkers, we must admit we would have trouble imagining Ms. Acocella coming to our overpriced, underwhelming outer-borough apartment and thinking us Mensa material.

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The Best Links:

1. Why Joan Acocella Thinks New Yorkers Are Pretty Nice (If You Get To Know Them)
2. “It is Downright Knuckleheaded to Assert That Nice People Are Dumb”
3. New Yorkers “Work So Hard to Live There, It Only Makes Them Love The City More.”
4. New Yorkers = Media Nerds?
5. Why New Yorkers Don’t Let Paul Mccartney Catch Them Texting
6. “Heh, Who’d of Thought New York Would Have Something to Say About Kingdom Living?” [Church & The City]