if i ever see that car commercial again, the ad with the new york yankees' derek jeter tooling around in a ford whilst jay-z's "empire state of mind" plays in the background, i might have to take a hostage. don't get me wrong. i ♥ new york. i'm indifferent to fords. though i hate derek jeter as a yankee, i respect him as a player. what gets me is that friggin' song. i know it's got the state nickname in the title & all, but it's been played SO often & in SO many places that we risk opening a black hole if we continue to revisit it. let's instead honor new york by co-opting "across 110th st." since interpol's now irrelevant, maybe they can sell off "NYC?" i'd even tolerate the sting version of "englishman in new york" for a while if it meant putting "empire state of mind" to bed. of course, all of these songs are about new york city & not new york state, but that's ok, because new york state is pretty much all about new york city anyhow. deal with it, schenectady.