Monthly Archives: March 2006

Remember what I was saying about the economic perks of white-collar city life? Look at all the boozy expense-account lunches, the "free" tickets to the opera, hell, even the packets of post-its brought home from the office. No one’s going … Continue reading →

Yeah yeah, I know Lindsay hates it and all. But I honestly thought that Crash was the only good film of all the nominees, and I’m very happy it won. Especially since I placed a bet on it winning at … Continue reading →

Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light™, gets the full-on takedown treatment in the LA Times today. I’ve long been fascinated by this man, his art, and his marketing. I still have vivid memories of walking into the Thomas Kinkade shop at … Continue reading →

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A fired-up principal with a revolutionary educational philosophy takes over a failing inner-city public school, and turns it around so impressively that before long it’s the the school that every parent wants their … Continue reading →

I’m not a businessman, and I doubt I ever will be. But here’s a hypothetical for you: You’re a television executive at Screen Gems International, and you strike a deal to sell fifty feature films into the UK. The price … Continue reading →

I seem to be an object of fascination for the chaps at Eater, who masterfully get all meta on my Chubo entry. "Is he food blogging for the people, or is he in it just to try to save his … Continue reading →

Piggybacking on someone else’s wifi connection must be a major problem. The Sunday New York Times has a big story on it, quoting people from all over the country, and featuring the work of three reporters. The headline? "Hey Neighbor, … Continue reading →

Does the UK need its own, Guardian-branded, version of the Huffington Post? The Guardian, for one, certainly seems to think so. Jemma Kiss reported on Thursday that it will have "more than 200 columnists and expert commentators" when it launches … Continue reading →

Tim Harford has just moved, to one of the grimmest parts of Hackney. Just outside the back door is a "massage parlour", a kebab shop, a jerk chicken joint and a betting shop, not to mention flowers for the young … Continue reading →

Gore Vidal is on form today: I was eager to see the movie about the two sheepherders, actually is what they are, they’re not cowboys.You can see there’s not a cow in the movie, just a lot of sheep. You … Continue reading →

This is not a beautiful webpage. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? And looked at in a certain way, this particular webpage is capable of changing the world. It’s run by Deepesh Agarwal, out of a … Continue reading →

Earlier today, Mexico came out with a press release with a far-from-natty headline: "Mexico Announces Clearing Spreads, Reference Yields and Preliminary Proration Factors in Connection With Its Invitation for Offers." The first sentence, written in fluent and incomprehensible legalese, is … Continue reading →

Thomas Kuhn has a lot to answer for. Ever since his book, people writing about science love to talk about conflicting views, rather than the much more realistic and boring facts, whereby models are slowly honed and refined. Now, that … Continue reading →

I went to Chubo last night. Just like every other time I’ve been, the meal was wonderful. The menu is inventive without being pretentious; the service was friendly and knowledgeable; the food was utterly delicious. It’s pretty much the perfect … Continue reading →

Frank Bruni is impressed by the name and typography of Whym, a new restaurant on 9th Avenue. At least, he likes it more than he does the food. I stopped by recently for dinner, curious about the food, curious as … Continue reading →

Manhattan’s flower district, on 28th Street, is not long for this world. What the merchants needed – a whole city block with easy truck access and non-astronomical rents – simply can’t be found in these days of frothy residential real … Continue reading →

"No Top 10 Car is American" says Consumerist today – but it’s more than that. Every last one of the Consumer Reports Top 10 autos is Japanese, even the top pickup truck. America is now far more worried about its … Continue reading →

Let’s say you lose $900,000 to Nigerian 419 spammers back in the 1990s. What are the chances that you would ever fall for such a thing again? This time for another $2 million? According to Louis Gottschalk’s declaration, he had … Continue reading →

Nick Denton has done it. Jason Calacanis has done it. Even Jake Dobkin has done it. If they can do it, I can too! I want to build a blog empire for profit! But how should I do that? Where … Continue reading →

This weekend’s issue of the New York Times magazine is devoted to real estate. Wonder how many times the word "blog" appears. Apparently the mag is over 200 pages, which means lots of porntastic ads for new developments: may they … Continue reading →

Guillermo Nielsen, Argentina’s finance secretary during that country’s endlessly-drawn-out debt exchange, has the cover story of Euromoney magazine this month. (Sorry, it’s behind a subscriber firewall.) "Nielsen reveals all," says the headline, which might be over-egging the pudding a little, … Continue reading →

Well, since it seems to be the subject du jour, here’s Laren Spirer’s take: Mario’s cherished lardo, which is nothing more than pork fat, was served in a china dish on a silver tray next to the butter, a fabulous … Continue reading →

Leventhal was right, of course: Del Posto got its inevitable three stars. On the other hand, Leventhal was wrong. Reading the review, there’s no nitpicking, no on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand. In fact, I’ve never read an NYT restaurant review which makes me want … Continue reading →