Ready for your close-up, Eastie?

According to a Globe story, South Boston is looking a bit too spiffy to play the rundown neighborhood it once was, and so film and TV productions that need the hardscrabble look have to shoot elsewhere -- including East Boston.

"They said Eastie looks like Southie," said state Representative Brian P. Wallace, a South Boston Democrat. "I cracked up. Eastie's always been 15 years behind us, so that's no problem."

Ouch. There are some spots in this neighborhood that haven't physically changed much since Bill Clinton first took office, but there are plenty of pricey condos and renovated properties in East Boston. Maybe Rep. Wallace doesn't get here often, but we'll take his comment as a harmless poke and laugh it off.