Monthly Archives: December 2003

Sharon Waxman shames the New York Times

The New York Times, in its efforts to transform itself into a truly national newspaper, has of late decided to beef up its coverage from the third most important city in the country, Los Angeles. LA has never had anything … Continue reading

Posted in Media | 6 Comments

So close but so far away

(A quick note of explanation from Felix: sea ice has blown back towards Halley, and where it meets the sea ice which never detached itself in the first place, there’s a five-foot crack which precludes moving heavy equipment off the … Continue reading

Posted in Rhian in Antarctica | 6 Comments

Selling Apples

There’s a lot of garbage written about Apple, but the cover story of the latest issue of Fast Company seems pretty fair, if unoriginal. (Innovation on its own doesn’t make money: who’d’a thunk?) The bit which piqued my interest was … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | 21 Comments

Before and After

Note from Felix: Due to email cock-ups, I received both these blogs at the same time. So here they are, Before and After. Before, Part 1: Arbritrary day, arbritrary time. I feel as though we are floating through a mirage. … Continue reading

Posted in Rhian in Antarctica | 2 Comments

The Freedom Tower

The design for the Freedom Tower – the big signature building which is to rise at the northwest corner of the World Trade Center site – was unveiled with great pomp today. Grand speeches were given by George Pataki, Michael … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | 51 Comments

Distributed decision-making

I spent a chunk of this afternoon at Bush in 30 Seconds, a website from the people who brought you moveon.org. The purpose of the website is to find a 30-second ad which can then be run in Bush’s State … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 4 Comments

Opera on the radio

Anthony Tommasini is on holiday; in his place yesterday (the "critic’s notebook" feature on the front page of the New York Times arts section), the Metropolitan Opera ran a 2,000-word fundraising drive under his byline. Or maybe he wrote it … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | 20 Comments

Ice-castles at Signy

This is fairy-tale romance country. Well, my kind of fairy-tale anyway. A long, long time away, in a land far, far ago, is an island. This island, Coronation Island, has mountans like you have never dreamed, snow covered, rearing out … Continue reading

Posted in Rhian in Antarctica | 5 Comments

The Death of Klinghoffer at BAM

Last night was a sad day for New York classical music: it marked the departure of Robert Spano from this city, after eight years as music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The fortunes of the two have diverged wildly: while … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

“War”: What is it good for?

When I was growing up in London, I occasionally suffered a mild bout of cognitive disconnect when I heard words used for purposes which went slightly beyond my own ideas of what they referred to. For instance, when London Underground … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 1 Comment

Port San Carlos, East Falkland

It was hailing when we got to the Falklands. Really hard. Then snow, sun, rain, sleet, you name it, all within the hour. “A cross between Dartmoor and the Scillies”, “like Scotland but with penguins”, “Bryher with more rust”, “Landrover … Continue reading

Posted in Rhian in Antarctica | 4 Comments

Uninspiring shortlists

What do you do when you’re presented with a short-list of eight or nine candidates and none of them is particularly appealing? That seems to be the case, now, with both the World Trade Center memorial and the Democratic presidential … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Politics | 5 Comments