Author Archives: Felix

Notes on London

Posted on May 31, 2001 by Felix

1. The wastebins are back! The wastebins are back! Finally, that empty bottle of Oasis Classic Lemon which you drank while walking down the street has somewhere to go! I can’t remember exactly when it was that they went – … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 1 Comment

Notes on reading the New York Times personals section

Posted on April 30, 2001 by Felix

1. There are ten columns, and five categories. "Women seeking men" takes up 8.5 columns; "Men seeking women" takes up slightly less than one; "Men seeking men" is about half a column. "Women seeking women" and "Recreation and hobbies partner" … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | 1 Comment

Sleaze in the UK and USA

Posted on April 22, 2001 by Felix

The USA is the world’s greatest democracy, right? It has a written constitution incorporating all manner of checks and balances which largely preclude the sort of sleaze allegations which have plagued Cabinets both Tory and Labour in recent years. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 1 Comment

Lulu at the Met

Posted on April 12, 2001 by Felix

I’ve just come back from a performance of Berg’s Lulu, at the Metropolitan Opera. It’s a great piece, of course, although weirdly much of the audience didn’t seem to think so: it was noticeably thinner by the end than it … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 1 Comment

How the mighty are fallen

Posted on April 4, 2001 by Felix

What do Goldman Sachs, CSFB, and Salomon Smith Barney all have in common? They all came in somewhere below Rothschild’s in the European M&A advisory league tables for the first quarter of 2001. The Guardian knows where the story is: … Continue reading →

Posted in Finance | 1 Comment

Twisted ankles and jerking knees

Posted on April 3, 2001 by Felix

Not exactly known for sensationalism, the British Journal of Sports Medicine has just published what sounds like a very interesting study showing that among amateur basketball players, those who wore shoes with air cells in the heel (that’ll be Nikes, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 1 Comment

Sourcing

Posted on April 3, 2001 by Felix

Noticed two extremes in anonymous sourcing in daily newspapers today, both annoying. The first comes from the Guardian: A source close to Mr Smith said he understood that the museum, which incorporates the South Kensington Museum, the National Museum of … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | 1 Comment

Profiled writers hit back on the web

Posted on March 1, 2001 by Felix

In the past week or so, we’ve seen David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times profile Dave Eggers, and Michael Wolff of New York magazine profile Andrew Sullivan. Both pieces were, rightly or wrongly, perceived as hatchet-jobs by their subjects, … Continue reading →

Posted in Media | Comments Off on Profiled writers hit back on the web

Traffic

Posted on February 4, 2001 by Felix

Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic is a great film, there’s no doubt, especially when compared to most of the rest of the dross which came out in the year 2000. I would be very happy if it won the best picture Oscar … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | 1 Comment

Mucko’s wish list

Posted on February 2, 2001 by Felix

The internet is exciting and new, we all know that. And we also know that it can be used for nefarious purposes. But today I came across something I never really thought I’d see, although in retrospect it was obvious … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Film | 13 Comments

The urge to complain about Some Complaining About Complaining

Posted on January 29, 2001 by Felix

The king of the post-ironicists, Dave Eggers, has been holding an email conversation on his website this week all about how we really should stop criticising people and start encouraging artists. It’s called Some Complaining About Complaining, and so far … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Media | 1 Comment

Alex Ross on John Adams

Posted on January 3, 2001 by Felix

In the latest issue of the New Yorker, the magazine’s music critic Alex Ross has a profile of John Adams. That, in itself, is no great surprise, and in fact the profile tells us little new about the composer. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 1 Comment

Umbrellas

Posted on December 15, 2000 by Felix

Friends, I wish to bring up a question I find most vexing, a question I shouldered yesterday at the same moment as I raised my Japanese golfing umbrella to the heavens in the face of an unexpected rainstorm. Now as … Continue reading →

Posted in Humour | 2 Comments

The art of gift giving

Posted on December 15, 2000 by Felix

I have an old LP at home, I can’t play it, because I don’t have a record player. But it’s sitting there all the same, a 12-inch plastic pill which never fails to make me happy when I’m feeling blue. … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | Comments Off on The art of gift giving

Dancer in the Dark

Posted on September 29, 2000 by Felix

The vast majority of the people I know in New York seem to have both seen and loved Dancer in the Dark. But one or two have hated it, including Jonathan Foreman, of the New York Post. One of Jonathan’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | 2 Comments

Patria

Posted on July 14, 2000 by Felix

Are New Yorkers becoming Parisians? It started in my friendly local bike shop, Bike Works on Ridge St. Me: Hi there. Me: Hi there. Me: Excuse me. Man: (Looks up.) Me: I was wondering if you had any bike helmets. … Continue reading →

Posted in Restaurants | 1 Comment

On giving to charity

Posted on March 22, 2000 by Felix

Steven Landsburg, the “armchair economist”, wrote a piece on the internet about how everybody should give all their charitable contributions to one charity. Read it, and then read my reply: Steven — You’re right, your theory on giving to charities … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Finance | 1 Comment

Notes on campaign finance

Posted on March 9, 2000 by Felix

Aditya Chakrabortty was kind enough to draw my attention to a piece in the Washington Post about George W Bush’s money situation. The numbers are mind-blowingly scary, it’s true. George Bush has already spent $64 million, not counting the millions … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 1 Comment

Notes on jaundice

Posted on March 7, 2000 by Felix

When I was growing up, I used to get extremely excited whenever a letter arrived for me in the mail. Just as I could never understand why grown-ups didn’t just eat Mars bars the whole time, I couldn’t comprehend how … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 1 Comment

Eyes Wide Shut

Posted on July 20, 1999 by Felix

So yes, I went to see Eyes Wide Shut last night. In a nutshell, it’s an incredible film. One of the best films by one of the best directors ever. Now it’s not everyone’s cup of tea — David Plotz, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film | 2 Comments