Author Archives: Felix

Here’s a question for Curbed types or anybody else: where’s the best place in NYC for hailing a cab? I’m looking for somewhere you can get a cab more or less immediately, at more or less any time of day … Continue reading →

My sister’s blog has now been spun off to its own site, rhiansalmon.com – which has just been updated with a fascinating post about the results of all the science she was doing in Antarctica. By measuring lots of different … Continue reading →

I’ve just been to a screening of An Inconvenient Truth, the new film about climate change featuring Al Gore. Gore, it turns out, has spent the past few years perfecting a new stump speech, this one solely dedicated to the … Continue reading →

Once upon a time, there were "apartment houses", which soon got shortened to apartments. In England, we have flats. Sometimes, when people start talking in real-estate jargon, you might hear about condos and co-ops and duplexes and other such arcana. … Continue reading →

Lauren Rouleau of ReganBooks just sent me an email asking if I would like a review copy of These Things I Wish, the new book from Lee Pitts. ReganBooks has taken a popular internet meme, which has already been published … Continue reading →

Bill Keller, the editor of the New York Times, weighs in today on the subject of the Sudan advertorial. Here’s what he has to say: I know that the executives on the business side of The Times argued long and … Continue reading →

I love this story about a $218 trillion phone bill. Yahaya Wahab said he disconnected his late father’s phone line in January after he died and settled the 84-ringgit (U.S. $23) bill, the New Straits Times reported. But Telekom Malaysia … Continue reading →

Keith Kelly in the New York Post yesterday: Art & Antiques has been sold to Curtco Media, which aims to bring a new sense of urgency to a once sleepy cultural backwater of publishing that is suddenly percolating to life. … Continue reading →

You can take your news straight, or you can take it with a generous dose of snark. Either way, the story seems clear. Here’s Amy Norton, of Reuters: Middle-schoolers who sport alcohol-branded T-shirts and caps may start to drink sooner … Continue reading →

According to Eater, my new neighborhood gastropub, EU, having failed to get its liquor license, has now been barred even from operating as a BYOB: the full story is unclear, but it seems as though the police busted the police … Continue reading →

I was wrong. When I came back from Marfa, I was convinced that it didn’t really matter what happened to Donald Judd’s gallery works, because his real masterpieces are permanently installed at Marfa. But now I’ve seen the show at … Continue reading →

Does the FT have a web strategy? I just spent a bit of time clicking around ft.com, and there seemed to be big problems with the subscription firewall. If I clicked on a story with a blue "s" for subscription-only … Continue reading →

Updike reviews Fernanda Eberstadt’s Little Money Street in the New Yorker this week. Here he is talking about Gypsy girls: Her value, as a virgin, is ascertained not by the young groom on the wedding night but, according to archaic … Continue reading →

Two things struck me about this story. Firstly, it’s well known now that HIV+ individuals can lead long and healthy lives. What I was less aware of is the fact that the same is true of people with Aids. The … Continue reading →

Rents in Leipzig are cheaper than rents in Manhattan! This astonishing news is brought to you by the New York Times. But they still manage to get it wrong: What Mr. Amrhein is paying, per month per square foot, in … Continue reading →

Why isn’t there a free wine database on the web somewhere? It could start in the US, but very easily expand worldwide. The problem is that wine is the ultimate long-tail business – I would say that more wine sales … Continue reading →

I’m a big fan of Mark Hurst and his This Is Broken website. But today’s entry, to me, speaks much more about the ridiculous level of American self-entitlement than it does about bad design. Hurst stayed at the Marriot Monterey, … Continue reading →

Bill Buford is about to become a household name. His new book, Heat, is a guaranteed bestseller: it’ll be on airplanes and beaches around the world this summer. It’s funny, accessible, and as addictive as Mario Batali’s lardo. The book … Continue reading →

At six o’clock on a freezing Chimayó morning last week, I dragged myself out of bed and onto a porch, where a friendly B&B proprietor had left me a cordless phone. The reason was that a radio program, Democracy Now, … Continue reading →

Click on the picture for a small gallery of photos from my trip to the Southwest.

In January 2005, Curbed noted an apartment for sale on Water Street being sold on the strength of its fabulous views – views which, it seemed, were doomed. Last month, the new owner of the apartment wrote to The Ethicist: … Continue reading →

I just had a phone conversation with a woman from gather.com, who wants to republish my blog posts, especially the media criticism. Does anybody have any opinions about this site? Is there any advantage to my posts having two permanent … Continue reading →

I’m back. Had the most wonderful holiday in New Mexico and West Texas. If you’re thinking about heading out that way, I can highly recommend southern New Mexico, especially the strip of desert from White Sands National Monument, in the … Continue reading →

Off to points west. Don’t expect any new posts until early April.

My eyebrows went up when I saw this report from the Minnesota Daily: Atheists are America’s least trusted group, according to a national survey conducted by University sociology researchers. Based on a telephone survey of more than 2,000 households and … Continue reading →