Author Archives: Felix

The New York Times magazine

Posted on May 9, 2004 by Felix

It is with no small degree of sadness that I have to report the death of the New York Times magazine. When I first arrived in New York, it was a vibrant and interesting book, and its editor, Adam Moss, … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | 3 Comments

A waste of valuable space

Posted on May 1, 2004 by Felix

The front page of the Sunday New York Times is probably the most valuable journalistic real estate in the world. It’s where the Times puts its biggest investigative pieces, in the knowledge that people are much more likely to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | 1 Comment

Conductors under attack

Posted on May 1, 2004 by Felix

First Simon Rattle, and now James Levine: it’s been a bad week for hugely-admired conductors being sniped at in the press, all the more so for me personally, since these are both at the very top of my list of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | Comments Off on Conductors under attack

Crappy financial journalism

Posted on April 30, 2004 by Felix

A couple of news stories today piqued my interest with unsourced statements about financial markets which didn’t make a lot of sense to me. First of all there was a column by Ed Dravo in Slate, which said that When … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | 8 Comments

Japan

Posted on April 29, 2004 by Felix

After spending two and a half weeks wandering around Japan, I am, naturally, an acknowledged expert on all things Japanese. Not. All the same, working the "fresh pair of eyes" principle to its bones, I’ve decided to list here some … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 5 Comments

Out of Blog AutoReply

Posted on April 1, 2004 by Felix

This website is going to be very quiet for most of the month of April, as Felix Salmon goes on holiday to Japan. Sorry about that. Also, for blogspam reasons, I’m not letting anybody comment on this website while I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Out of Blog AutoReply

Amanda Hesser

Posted on March 24, 2004 by Felix

"Poor Amanda Hesser" has got to be in my Top Five list of Food-Related Things I Never Thought I’d Say, along with "Ken Friedman’s music policy is beloved of both the New York Times and Charlie Rose" and "soy products … Continue reading →

Posted in Restaurants | 20 Comments

Buying and selling bonds

Posted on March 17, 2004 by Felix

Back in February 2001, Deutsche Bank was very bearish on a major US telecommunications company. In a credit review, the bank’s analyst said that "per concerns/trends summarized above, [the company] will be downgraded,"adding that "we seek a cap at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Irwin at the Guggenheim

Posted on March 10, 2004 by Felix

It’s Art Week in New York – a bit like Fashion Week, only bitchier. The Whitney Biennial‘s just opened, the Armory Show is upon us, and -scope is setting up shop on 9th Avenue. The upshot is that there’s more … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 2 Comments

Really Silly Syndicators

Posted on March 6, 2004 by Felix

Those of us who subscribe to the brand-new Slate RSS feed got an update this evening: a new story had been added to the website. Now Slate doesn’t actually put the content of its stories into its RSS feed, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 16 Comments

Kerry’s flip-flops

Posted on March 6, 2004 by Felix

So. It’s Bush v Kerry, and the battle lines have already been clearly drawn: flip-flopping Massachusetts liberal vs strong leader with moral clarity. And for all that Kerry might be leading in the polls at the moment, I agree with … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 2 Comments

Art and technology

Posted on March 4, 2004 by Felix

Arts bloggers love to get all techno-utopian about the way in which advances in technology, especially the internet, are wonderful for the arts. I’m far from convinced: I think technology can cut both ways. Take recorded music, for example. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 1 Comment

WTC update

Posted on February 28, 2004 by Felix

It’s been two months since David Childs unveiled the Freedom Tower in a blaze of publicity. Since then, of course, most of the WTC attention has been focussed on the memorial, with a little left over for Santiago Calatrava’s magnificent … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 5 Comments

FreshDirect on the LES: WTF?

Posted on February 24, 2004 by Felix

Lockhart Steele is not much of a crusader, it would seem: he will fight for FreshDirect delivery on the Lower East Side only until they start delivering to him. Then, he’ll just give up: his latest post completely fails to … Continue reading →

Posted in Announcements | 7 Comments

Gay marriage: Where’s the backlash?

Posted on February 22, 2004 by Felix

Anybody remember that in the wake of the Lawrence v Texas decision, everybody was talking about the anti-gay backlash which would only intensify if gay marriage started getting onto the agenda? Well, guess what: gay marriage is about to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Monet in Vegas, part 2

Posted on February 19, 2004 by Felix

Joseph Clarke, over at unfolio, calls me one "of the blogosphere’s great arts writers" today, which is more than enough reason for me to link to him. He also joins in the Monet debate, and adds some new arguments of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Monet in Vegas

Posted on February 16, 2004 by Felix

Tyler Green is, I daresay, the best art blogger in the world. But today he harshes, quite unjustifiably, I think, on Malcom Rogers, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Rogers’ crime, in Green’s eyes, is to … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 11 Comments

The ethics of blogging

Posted on February 15, 2004 by Felix

Over the course of the past year, I’ve had quite a lot of experience with the intersection between blogging and journalistic ethics. I have been accused, and have accused others, of blogging unethically. And yesterday, I said that one website … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | 11 Comments

Urban retail

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Felix

I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog writing about a big new Manhattan development. It features a landmark office building designed by David Childs, and is meant to be one of the most important new shopping and dining … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 5 Comments

Who designed the WTC memorial?

Posted on January 19, 2004 by Felix

One of the more intelligent comments about the World Trade Center memorial competition – I can’t seem to find who said it, right now – was that with some 5,200 entrants, the winning design would not be one individual’s uncompromising … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 5 Comments

Long-form reporting in the New Yorker

Posted on January 17, 2004 by Felix

In his profile of Larry David in this week’s New Yorker, James Kaplan finishes with an anecdote. David is sitting in his editing suite, working on a scene where he gets egged by a carful of teenagers. He can’t work … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | 5 Comments

Victims’ families

Posted on January 16, 2004 by Felix

Wednesday’s Guardian led, reasonably enough, with the suicide of Harold Shipman. The headline, though, splashed across the front page, was peculiar: "The final betrayal". Here’s how the story started: Just after 6am yesterday, Harold Shipman, described as a man addicted … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 1 Comment

Maybe they can sign up Britney as a spokesperson!

Posted on January 14, 2004 by Felix

We’ve known for a while that the Bush administration’s fiscal policy can roughly be summed up as "throw money at anything that moves; reduce taxes on anything with money". But this really takes the biscuit: the White House has now … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Hey! It’s a brand-new Dey!

Posted on January 2, 2004 by Felix

The New York Post has a great scoop today about the new Santiago Calatrava PATH station at Ground Zero. Unfortunately, the Post spins the story as being about Libeskind’s Wedge of Light: the headline is "PATH Plan May Dim Libeskind’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 3 Comments

Sharon Waxman shames the New York Times

Posted on December 31, 2003 by Felix

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