Posts tagged as Weird
DSK Does Not Live in Brooklyn
Attention: Mail for former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn should be addressed to 153 Franklin Street in Manhattan, not that address in Brooklyn. Though the folks in Brooklyn appreciate this shipment of Hebrew books for him. (!!??)
The State of Current Musical Fame According to the Coachella Poster
Oh, look, the Coachella music festival lineup is announced! (The festival takes place in the desert in spring. Mostly indie-hippies attend.) And a good point is made: what conception of the fame and relevance of its performers does the festival seek to convey? To the poster! READ MORE
I Finished "Mockingjay" And I Feel Weird
In the end, I did not love Mockingjay, and neither, really, did the Slate book club. (Spoilers galore there, but also, it's clear they're all a little baffled.) The book suffers from a very admirable impulse by the author to not give us any wish fulfillment or narrative thrill. Significant action takes place off-stage! Our heroes are not "protagonists," which is a fine thing, except perhaps in a revenge-action YA book. (Even I did want a little agency out of our agents!) And every character in the book is exhibiting advanced PTSD. What does get recounted is rather profoundly grim: flying baby limbs, madness, gore, murder, you name it. It's fascinating that this very popular series is so terrifically adverse to being popular or well-liked. Or, you know, is not adverse to having really impressively horrific bloodbaths every other page. Kudos!
Bros Icing Bros Website Declares Itself Over
And then it was gone. So long, Bros Icing Bros Dot Com. We'll maybe never know why you appeared, and why you left.
Jeff Koons Unnecessarily Shoots Rabbits for "They Gay?" 'NYT' Mag Cover
For this coming Sunday's New York Times magazine, Jeff Koons has apparently provided photographs of two bunnies. Just two days ago, the Times reported on the decline in work and income for professional photographers. After claiming that amateurs and their low pricing were hurting professional photographers, a claim that is total baloney-newspapers and magazines changed their rates and the amount of work they commissioned, is actually what happened!-the Times started to make sense: "Professionals are also being hurt because magazines and newspapers are cutting pages or shutting altogether.... And while magazines once sniffed at stock photographs, which are existing images, not original assignments, shrinking editorial budgets made them reconsider." And here are some of the stock photos that could have been used by the Times mag instead of randomly hiring one of the world's most expensive photographers! READ MORE
Real Estate Royalty Report All Is Well
This odd profile today in the Times of the current state of New York office-building-owning real estate royalty indicates that they are all just fine and dandy! The Rudins, the Dursts, the Roses-they have weathered the storms (now all long past, apparently?) and there's not a single bit of data in this accounting about any upcoming lease expirations or negotiations or regarding any possible dropping of rental prices per square foot. The only bit of contrast to their apparent success offered is the disaster facing solely residential developers, like Shaya Boymelgreen, in deep trouble for having jumped wholeheartedly into providing a glut of luxury condos. Somehow still, the Speyers end up on the outs here, due to their recent loss of Stuyvesant Town-even as, just last June, they were the family dynasty to worship. Also: not a mention of the arriviste Trumps or the Kushners.
Mayor Street Brawl
Things mayors shouldn't do when upset with stories that say charges are still open on your alleged participation in a 1948 gang rape: get into a fistfight, on the street, with the publisher of the town newspaper. And then? Have the city attorney say "he started it"! To wit: "The Mayor has indicated [publisher Bob] Zollinger forcefully poked him in the chest with his index finger." Ah, New Mexico. Good grief, ladies! (via)
Goldman Sachs Issues a Strong Buy on The Cheesecake Factory!
Yesterday, Goldman Sachs sent out their market research advisory on the restaurant industry in the Americas, with "five themes that will dictate restaurant stock performance in 2010." The outlook? SUNNY! There will be a "high end resurgence"! Also, an extremely high chance of people desiring cheesecakes! READ MORE
Louis Vuitton Has Cleopatra Jones Riot Grrl Accident
I mean, man, things are really happening over in Paris at the shows. First the Chanel bomb went off-Lily Allen, hay barns, ugliness-and now all this afro-headed girl-kitten post-early-Courtney-Love extremely inelegant and slightly militaristic business from Vuitton. Can you stand it? I think I cannot. Also here is the thing with the afros that every model is wearing on the runway: Vuitton is one of the only luxury brands that is happy with its substantial black client base, both here and in Europe. Is the afro thing a fun, knowing wink? Is it mockery? It makes me awkward. Also you know, maybe next time, black models-although at least they had some!-with long natural hair? No? And let us say it again: there is nothing for men to wear.
Odd Trends: The Oft-Photographed Lawyer
Above the Law is all up on our favorite trend in law firm websites: you can't just have one picture of the associate or partner, you must have two or three. This is great for those of us who hire lawyers based on looks! Or for other discriminatory reasons, ahem. Have a bias against fat, thin, Mexican or ginger? You are in luck. Cox Smith is the brave firm that requires three shots; Ballard Spahr has just two. There is so much fun in these websites that I cannot stop browsing them.
