« December 2004 | Main | February 2005 »
January 31, 2005
A degree in fashion design?
Sixty Minutes, my favourite television program until Rathergate, tonight shows several 21-year-old women who went to one of those colleges that advertises on The Jerry Springer Show thinking that it would launch their careers as fashion designers. (Instead they ended up under a mountain of debt.) Such people, almost all of them women of low self-esteem and dreams of stardom, are a dime a dozen in New York City.
It seems strange to me that people would engage in fashion design as a course of study. Studying art is a bit more understandable--a piece of art by an artist of mediocre calibre who hangs out a shingle might still fetch $1000. Most people who would by a $1000 piece of art won't buy a $1000 shirt, and the cost of hanging out a shingle isn't so easy. In one fashion company I consulted to, there were not more than 50 designers of 5000 total employees. And designers were far from the only ones with sexy jobs--think perhaps of the folks who write the catalogues, determine product placement, and go overseas to do sourcing.
Why don't these wannabe-designers just study business: finance, accounting, general management, product development, entrepreneurial venturing, marketing? I'm not a particularly fashionable person, but I somehow ended up doing apparel strategy, sourcing, and operations for two multi-billion dollar companies. And, in fact, the vast majority of people in these companies--many of whom had very sexy jobs--had business backgrounds. Accounting may not be fun, but learning accounting is a much better way to score a sexy job than learning fashion design.
Posted by adrianjo at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 30, 2005
The biggest defeat for terrorists this century
The mainstream media don't often pause to reflect on America's victories--the civilized world's victories--against terrorism, dictatorships, and evil. Although perennial moron Ted Kennedy is already asking to "look beyond" the recently concluded Iraqi elections, it would be quite unfortunate to overlook the importance of millions of Iraqis turning up to choose their own government for the first time in a half-century. The terrorists have put their all into stopping or at least delaying today's vote, and 72% of Iraqis told them that they failed:
Some came on crutches, others walked for miles then struggled to read the ballot, but across most of Iraq (news - web sites) millions turned out to vote Sunday, defying insurgent threats of a bloodbath.Suicide bombs and mortars killed at least 35 people, but Iraqis still came out in force for the first multi-party poll in 50 years. While turnout was scant in some areas, such as the Sunni city of Samarra, elsewhere it exceeded expectations.
Many cheered with joy at their first chance to cast a free vote, while others shared chocolates with fellow voters.
Meanwhile, here is the about-to-win-a-Pulitzer photo of a teary Iraqi woman with a stained finger indicating she voted. Click to enlarge:
More photos on powerline.
This is why we have 150,000 soldiers fighting every day to expand the self-evident truth that it is the right of the people to select their own government.
Posted by adrianjo at 06:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Baby it's cold outside
In the spirit of this being the middle of winter, here are some pictures of the middle of winter around the world. CLICK TO ENLARGE:
 | Portage Glacier, in Alaska's Chugach National Forest. June 2001. More. Click the image to enlarge. |
 | Skiing at Mt. Hutt, New Zealand. August 1, 2001 More. Click the image to enlarge. |
 | The Birkeneau concentration camp (aka "Auschwitz II") in Oświęcim, Poland. Feb 14, 2004. More. Click the image to enlarge. |
 | Two yaks walk along a road near Yotang Pass in the Himalayan Mountains, elev. 11,234 ft, central Bhutan. Feb 8, 2003. More. Click the image to enlarge. |
 | Everyone knows that Chicago is the "Windy City" (so named because politicians couldn't stop bragging about the 1893 World's Colombian Exposition). How windy is Chicago? Well, the Drake Hotel used to hang ropes from its side so that pedestrians who were caught in Chicago's notorious winds could hang on for dear life. Here is another incident where a winter storm caused a window-washing rig to come off my former apartment building and crash to the ground, killing three people in cars on the Magnificent Mile. March 9, 2002. More. Click the image to enlarge. |
 | The Great Wall of China is quite cold in February, but also devoid of the giant tour-groups that normally plague the monument. Feb 14, 2003. Click the image to enlarge. |
 | A group of Mahayana Buddhist monks in Bhutan "monkeys" around. Photo by Kuensel. Winter 2004. Click the image to enlarge. |
 | St. Adalbert's Church, c. 10th century, lies in Krakow, Poland's, c. 1257 town square, the largest in Europe. The Bohemian nobleman St. Adalbert, b. 939, is one of the key figures in making Poland Catholic. Greater Krakow is the boyhood home of, among others, Oskar Schindler and Pope John Paul II. Feb 15, 2004. Click the image to enlarge. |
Posted by adrianjo at 07:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 29, 2005
Reports from behind enemy lines
There is a new Ivy League Republican weblog, describing itself as follows: "Students from one of the oldest sports conferences in the country discuss politics and everyday happenings from a Republican point of view." The academy, and particularly the old Ivy-covered buildings in the East, is a bastion of liberalism. (Witness the reaction to Larry Summers arguing that there might be inate differences between men and women's brains.) Read reports from behind enemy lines. I might contribute from time to time...
Posted by adrianjo at 10:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Odor of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Pinesol
I was planning today for the period between the end of spring classes and the beginning of summer classes. There is a trip to Russia planned, and it conveniently ends a few days before the 63e Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco and the Festival de Cannes. I noticed on the seating plan the tremendous number of mega-yachts docked in Hercules Harbor--three of the ten largest private yachts were docked there last year. Have a look here. Alas, classes start a week before the festivities on the Riviera:(
In other news, a local rocket scientist, CEO, habitual party-goer, and Columbia MBA student sponsored a party at Crobar last night. Some of his artwork was on display. His company is the world leader in tunnel advertising (could you imagine such a thing?) If you are interested in placing an ad on said artwork in your subway, it'll cost you $100K a month.
Crobar NYC is actually popular, unlike Crobar Chicago, which peaked in the mid-1990s when Dennis Rodman occasionally turned up. I lived near Crobar Chicago and frequently ended up walking by in the morning, when the place emanated odors of alcohol, tobacco, and Pinesol. At other times, the club was always dressed-up but with nowhere to go, or maybe nobody to come.
Posted by adrianjo at 02:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 27, 2005
Shaking it down at Columbia
The first edition of Columbia's b-school student newspaper came out today, and I made the front page! Actually it is a picture of me looking somewhat gawky with two classmates "shaking it down" in Evelyn Lounge above the caption, "Not bad... not bad."
The other mention was in the cluster column, which reported: "Congrats to the winners of our contested cluster positions. Adrian looks like he will be the great, gawkish [sic] sort of Cluster Chair, who is already assertively sending out emails." "Gawky", guys, not "Gawkish".
Posted by adrianjo at 03:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 26, 2005
Paris -- Hilton and France
I'm missing the birthday party of Ames, Miss style.com, and Robyn tonight. And I feel bad about that. But I'm sorta doing homework and mostly watching American Idol and The Simple Life II, where my friend Paris Hilton is on Staten Island charging guys $5 to get punched, or $10 to get kicked in the 'nads. I just wish I could make it to Staten Island to participate.
But it's a bit trickier getting to Staten Island because the "C" line of the New York Subway is down. Yesterday a vagrant lit a fire in the subway and caused a short circuit. How long is the subway going to be down? Five years. That's right--only in New York would it take 5 years to repair a subway line. I wish that it would only be in New York that vagrants would be allowed to wander freely despite the millions of my tax dollars that go to services to the homeless, but Chicago coddled bums the same way. The Wall St. Journal even rings in:
Only in Manhattan could a burned-out switching system take years to repair. Most cities pretending to be world class would have long ago replaced 1930s-era wiring, and that certainly would have been true of New York when Robert Moses ruled. But for decades New York has been quite literally mortgaging its future by taking on debt and putting off infrastructure upgrades in order to keep feeding its out-of-control public sector unions....
Californians were descending into a similar mire a couple of years ago with a dysfunctional political class in Sacramento, but they were fortunate to have the initiative process that allowed them to elect an outsider like Arnold Schwarzenegger. New Yorkers are stuck waiting for the C Train.
I was impressed with my ability in July when I single-handedly took down a small part of the electric grid in Paris (France). When it comes to repairs, not even Parisiennes are as slow as New Yorkers.
Posted by adrianjo at 09:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 23, 2005
The milestones of my life
A friend sends this account of her 25th birthday "to keep you informed of the milestones in my life"...
Since Melissa and I will be living with each other soon, we/I decided to start a wall of shame in our new place to follow up the wall of shame in Turtle Creek and at the Hamptons house.Anyway, I decided to sacrifice myself on Friday night, also known as my 25th bday... the first piece of evidence that will be added to our wall of shame is my emergency room bracelet.
Well, I hope you get better soon so that we can make our way to Connecticut to try the clam chowder at your dad's club.
Posted by adrianjo at 09:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What a Metro says about a city
The New York Metro is among the world's oldest undergrounds (I think London, Paris, and Istanbul beat it). A city's metro is often reflective of the city itself. Consider the spotless Scandinavian metros like in Copehagen or Oslo--one can barely feel them start or stop, but they are expensive and infrequent. The Singapore subway indicates to pax exactly where to stand for "smoother alighting and faster boarding." The people stand in perfect lines inside the subway. The Paris Metropolitain's art deco signage is almost as much a symbol of the city as the Tour Eiffel.
In New York, the subway is fast, crowded, scratchitti-scarred, often smelly, a bit confusing, and very frequent. It starts and stops quickly, often throwing passengers who don't have perfect balance. Yes, just like the city itself.
Posted by adrianjo at 05:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 21, 2005
Quotable quotes from Columbia, part I
Supply Chain professor: "When I wake up in the morning and think of the Central Limit Theorem, I get a smile on my face."
Wow, and to think that I have had three courses discussing the Central Limit Theorem and never realized just how beautiful it is. Actually, it really is a thing of beauty... curvy as a woman yet as logical as a Republican.
Guy leaving the class early: "I have to visit the gynecologist."
Woman at the bar: "I was getting dressed today and I couldn't find my boobs."
Actually, she said "boots." I just misunderstood.
Indian professor: "You don't care about where your spices come from. You just add them and eat your curry."
I will post more as I remember them, and an update on the gynecologist visit...
Posted by adrianjo at 04:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Whatever happened to Corzine's Goldman sensibilities?
It's a good thing that the first Republican president, Abe Lincoln, didn't have today's Democrats (such as Jon "How much for that governor's mansion?" Corzine) questioning everything he did. Here is Jon Corzine's response to Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, unearthed by Powerline:
We join the president in seeking charity for all. Charity is a fundamental American value, and we look forward to working with the president in handing it out. The president failed, however, to present the details of his charitable program.Indeed, his speech was an exercise in evasion. The president opened his remarks by seizing upon the alleged "progress of our arms" as an excuse for an abbreviated address in which he declined to discuss the crucial issues to which Americans demand answers -- the repeated failure of our military for the first several years of the war, the suspension of our constitutional rights, and the balance of trade deficit. Most importantly, even assuming that we win the war, the president failed to explain how we will win the peace. "Malice towards none [and] charity for all" is a nice slogan. But it is not an exit strategy. Nor did the president say how long our troops will remain in the South, how many of them will make the ultimate sacrifice, and what it will cost.
The president's speech was also an exercise in deception. He claimed to have done everything in his power to avoid war. His failure to use the Europeans as mediators, or even to consult with them, went unmentioned. Americans also will be saddened to learn of the president's denigration of the attempts by the South at pre-war negotiations. In his eagerness to slay dragons, this president has plainly failed the global test.
The president harped on the "colored slaves." He claimed that "this interest was somehow the cause of the war." But the president well knows that ending slavery was never part of the original justification for fighting this war. It is simply an after-the-fact rationalization, developed after it became clear that we had no plan to defeat the South. Nor can the president honestly claim that the slaves are better off in their current, parlous state than they were prior to the war when they lived in peace and tranquility.
The American people will also be disappointed by the president's unwillingness to admit his mistakes. The closest he came was when he acknowledged that "neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained." It is unfortunate that the president deflected attention from his own errors by attributing them to the South as well.
Most disturbing of all was the president's constant invocation of God. The Democrats worship God just as much as the Republicans do. I myself was a choir boy. But religion is a private matter, and thus not a fit subject for an inaugural address. Americans will be particularly shocked by the president's attempts to ascribe the suffering brought about by his administration's recklessness and incompetence to "God's will." The president may shrug his shoulders and call it "the judgment of the Lord" that "all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil be sunk." We Democrats see this for what it is -- the outsourcing of responsibility for our economic well-being.
Posted by adrianjo at 03:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 19, 2005
A Quickly comment makes it into the Post
Jon Costas (mayor of my hometown) delivered his State of the City address on Tuesday, summing up his first year in office. One of the most interesting aspects of being a political advisor is watching the press reaction the next day.
(By way of background, Jon was elected mayor in late 2003, defeating a 20-year incumbent who had a 71% approval rating. I was Campaign Director.)
Jon is a good speechwriter and getting better. Jon's Achilles Heel is that his speeches aren't particularly saucy, so I try to add a bit of paprika. Take for instance this line in the Post-Tribune's article:
“Make no doubt about it, the condition of our roads stinks,” Costas said. “We have lost ground over the years, and it is time to stop ignoring this elephant in the corner.”
After I saw that in the paper, I had to look up "elephant in the corner" to make sure that the phrase wasn't misused. Thank goodness for Saphire's New Political Dictionary.
The papers covered the city's improving financial situation fairly well, but there was barely a mention of the fact that Jon doubled the annual job creation rate touted by the previous mayor. I suppose that this is an issue in speechwriting--a figure may be newsworthy, but without hitting it hard, it will get buried. The snow may not have been removed perfectly, but 400 more residents are employed in sustainable, non-retail jobs than a year ago. That's a pretty good first year, especially after the prior mayor touted 200 jobs/year.
The Post's beat reporter, Jim Stinson, is a pretty good local political reporter whose articles are usually quite fair and balanced. The campaign had trouble with Jim because he did his job and didn't just repackage the campaigns' press releases. For whatever reason, Jim didn't cover the State of the City, and we ended up reading this boner in the Post:
[One attendee] gave the speech mixed reviews. He said the annexation of 1,600 acres on the city’s west side mentioned both in the speech and in the plan concerns him.“That’s a lot of roads,” said [the attendee], a former president of the Chamber. “The plan is good, but the total funding is not clear.”
He wonders where the money will come from.
“A lot of the projects are very vague,” he said.
Vague? Gee, this is why there is a cadre of city leaders fleshing out exactly what it means and a 20 page plan sitting on the table. Is the Post sure that this wasn't intended as a comment for Quickly?
Posted by adrianjo at 10:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
My donation to the Democrats and tsunami victims
Democrats have been up-in-arms over the $50M pricetag of the inauguration, paid for with private funds, saying that it is "inappropriate" to have a "lavish ceremony" while "at war." This is, of course, largely the same class-warfarism and populism that lost Democrats the last election. If the Democrats want to have a party too, I'd be happy to give them a pitcher of sour grape juice.
The nightly parties/events/celebrations at business school oscillate between bare bones to lavish on account of our being poor-hoping-for-riches grad students and not really knowing whether we can/should be frugal or profligate. It might also be that it's very hard to be frugal in New York, where Hotel Gansevoort's bar charges $14 for a vodka-cranberry. (It costs $3.75 at Semento's.) Last night was a tsunami benefit at PM Lounge, a small place in the meatpacking district with enough velvet rope to lasso a steer. I don't have pictures... at least none that can be posted. You should have turned up...
Posted by adrianjo at 03:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 18, 2005
Someone in Turtle Bay has a brain
There is an encouraging article in the Financial Times today discussing the predicament the UN finds itself in following (1) overseeing the biggest fraud in history, oil-for-food, (2) punting its moral responsbility in Darfur and Rwanda, (3) resisting bringing democracy to Iraq, (4) allowing the massacre at Srebrenica... and the list goes on. The man appointed to reform the UN, Mr. Mark Malloch Brown, actually seems to get it, judging from his comments to the FT:
It was possible to see the first wave of the crisis as inspired by the US critics of the UN, but as a clearly neutral voice like Volcker starts to opine as he did in the commentary of the audit, it's a lot harder to shrug this off as a rightwing conspiracy.
The FT writes:
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mark Malloch Brown warned the UN that there could be worse to come and that its management would feel the consequences from an investigation into allegations of corruption in the "oil-for-food" programme, which the UN administered for Iraq."The crisis is still building," Mr Malloch Brown said. "It's very hard after [last] week's revelations to believe there isn't going to be some pretty tough stuff on management."
Reforming Turtle Bay has proven an extremely difficult job, from the fecklessness of the Security Council to the cushy low-level bureaucrats. It is encouraging, however, to see that the current UN reformer seems to understand the magnitude of disappointment with the UN. Let's see if he can make anything of it.
Posted by adrianjo at 12:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
In bed with 25 new friends
Last night's Cluster Y social event involved about 25 people climbing into bed together at Duvet, a month-old restaurant and nightclub that is quite prominent on the radars of New York's glitterati, despite last call coming at 11.30. Three cheers to Revi for the hook-up for us non-glitterati. Duvet is a bar that looks like a Turkish harem without all the colorful tiles. Giant beds litter the bar, with sheets and lots of comfy pillows and little "reserved" signs. Alessandro provides these fotos and more on his website:
About 25 Cluster Y'ers in bed together:
Me with Jun (Korea) and Yang Yang (China). In one of the more memorable Cluster Y foul-ups that did not come from me, Yang Yang asked Jun, "so, what part of Japan are you from?"
This is some sort of bedroom business school argument. I think they were discussing long-run marginal supply curves. Either that, or they're practicing gang symbols:
Posted by adrianjo at 12:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 17, 2005
Don't mess with Tibet
Tova's website has a link to a new Tibetan photography exhibit in California. As frequent readers of Transatlantic Zeppelin know, I follow the news out of neighboring Bhutan quite closely, and it is always quite tragic to see what the Chinese occupiers have done over 50 years of systematically destroying Tibet, physically and culturally. For example, of Tibet's 6000 monasteries, just 13 remain. All the bleeding-heart liberals who think America is unjustly occupying Iraq need to see a bit of the world beyond the Upper East Side and central Paris. They might go to Bhutan, see a culture similar to the one being destroyed by China, and realize that real injustice does exist in the world, just not in Iraq.
Posted by adrianjo at 12:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Pictures from Columbia
Cluster Y's favourite Italian, Alessandro, provides these photos from recent social events.
Below: The Italians and I meet at Uptown Kitchenette for brunch, where I learn some new Italian: "ho molta fame," or "I am very hungry." The woman on the far right works/worked in the Firm's Milan office.
I wasn't at this event, but here are several more Y folks and an honorary member, Dierdre's sister:
Here is Alessandro learning the distinctly American joy of eating a big sloppy hamburger.
Posted by adrianjo at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 16, 2005
I may get chirrosis, but no way lung cancer
I have been in New York City now two weeks, and I have been out every night except two. 12 nights of 14 is certainly a record. It is quite enjoyable that New York's smoking ban means that I can go out and return healthy and with clothes that don't reek of burned tobacco bits. It seems that among the clubgoers, most support the ban. For one, it's a bit of a relief from the peer pressure when smoking is illegal.
It's now 2AM and there is a big helicopter with a spotlight circling around over Harlem... probably somethin' goin' down. Meanwhile, I just got back from 203, a bar down on Spring Street in the Village. 203 is a bar with no sign, no name, and big curtains drawn over the window. It's part of a current trend among bars to disguise themselves so that only "people in the know" even know that the place is a bar. Actually, the velvet ropes and bouncers kinda give the place away. It was somewhat gratifying to step outside and hear a hot blonde pleading with the bouncer to be let in. New Yorkers don't go out until midnight or later, so if you turn up at 9pm you can enjoy "exclusive" clubs sans bouncers, sans crowds, sans begging.
UPDATE: The helicopter circling around at 2AM was because of a shooting some dozen blocks away.
Posted by adrianjo at 01:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 15, 2005
I am Duffless
All you guys who tried to convince me that Hillary Duff is hot are full of it. Here is proof:
Posted by adrianjo at 02:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 12, 2005
Designer winter apparel in the Himalayas
Kuensel, the sole newspaper in the country of Bhutan, published this picture this week under the caption, "designer wear":
The black jacket under the furs is probably yak hair/fur. Also notice the traditional daggar.
Posted by adrianjo at 01:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
George Soros doubles down on $27M
The Democrats lost the 2004 elections for many reasons. For one, the "party of the working people" that claims to want to get big money out of politics has increasingly come to be funded by wealthy billionaires rather than a grassroots base of $50 to $5000 donors. (Howard Dean notwithstanding.) Republicans thus get some credibility in claiming to represent the middle class.
George Soros, who made his billions breaking the backs of small countries, has decided to double down on the $27M bet he lost in 2004, the Financial Times reports. If at first you don't succeed...
A group of billionaire philanthropists is to donate tens of millions more dollars to develop progressive political ideas in the US in an effort to counter the conservative ascendancy....
Far from being disillusioned by the defeat of John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, the billionaires have resolved to invest further in the intellectual future of the left, said one person involved. Their commitment to provide new money comes amid criticism of the efforts of high-profile donors such as the Hungarian-born Mr Soros to sway US politics, as well as doubts about the effectiveness of record funding in helping the Democrat cause in 2004.
When Jon was running for Mayor in 2003, the committee forbade him from investing his own funds in the race. The reason is simple: raising small amounts from many people invests many people in the race's outcome. The Democrats may have plenty of funds, but at the end of the day money helps but motivated voters decide the election.
I agree with criticism that John Kerry wasn't a flawed candidate so much as he was running on a flawed or incoherent platform. To that end, Soros may be making a wise investment if the left can build its intellectual capital. But that requires a Clinton-like move towards the right, something many Democrats object to. Soros may just be doubling-down in the Democrats' civil war.
Posted by adrianjo at 09:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 10, 2005
An Italian's view of NYC
One of my classmates (Cluster Y!) at Columbia provides an online fotoalbum. It's written in Italian, but check out the pics of New York City and vacations in Italy.
UPDATE: Here is a link to a good social club for people from Europe or interested in Europe.
Posted by adrianjo at 04:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Sultan's Harlem
“Harlem, where I live, is iconic, mythic, larger than life, known throughout the world. It is the home of jazz and black culture. It is feared as an impoverished, crime-ridden ghetto.” Thus begins the paradox of Harlem as described by local historian Michael Adams. The one-time home of Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Norman Rockwell, Langston Hughes, the Globetrotters, Marcus Garvey, DMX, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Maya Angelou, and Alicia Keys (a Columbia alumna) is today undergoing a controversial regentrification as New Yorkers "discover" its elegant brownstone rowhouses, bustling 125th Street, and affordable rents. Memories of 1960s race riots, when half of Harlem was burned to the ground, have started to fade. Community groups have lured in a Pathmark, Hennes & Mauritz, Old Navy, and Staples. There’s even a Starbucks a few doors down from Bubba's office on 125th St.
Not that this is without costs. Despite its having been declared "the capital of the black world" by Nelson Mandela, most of Harlem has never been owned by blacks: the homeownership rate is only 14% (vs 69% nationally). Soaring property values (caused by white migration) do not benefit renters (usually black). Hence the sometimes-strained state of race relations in today’s Harlem: Harlem is experiencing perhaps more positive and more negative change than any neighborhood in America.
To be sure, there are still plenty of difficulties in Harlem. A few nights ago there was a drug bust a few houses down, and a year ago there was a murder a few blocks away. The owners of a nearby café were mugged twice before opening. The landlady has a lot of street smarts from 44 years of living in Harlem and has taught me such urban survival skills as how to hail an unmarked taxi, how to prevent bums from pawing through my trash, and how to avoid the more-menacing streets.
I hope that this doesn’t deter visitors, who can discover the culture that made Harlem so legendary: bars that are a time-warp to the 1940s, Sunday gospel, amateur night at the Apollo (which gave rise to Chris Rock, among others), and even the new Starbucks for the Trixies. And, if not, it’s one express subway stop to Columbus Circle and two stops to Times Square.
 | The building where I live in Harlem, designed by Cleverdon & Putzel, 1888. |
 | Detail of the brownstone portico |
 | "Everytime a dumpster appears, there is hope." --Maya Angelou |
 | At one time, much of Harlem was "shells" like this unit on 120th St, with the windows broken and roof fallen in. Until a few years ago, many were hangouts of prostitutes and drug dealers. Around 1980, a shell like this would have sold for $25,000 or less. Nowadays, shells can run $500,000 or more—completely unrestored. |
 | The Apollo Theater has hosted virtually every major black performer of the 1930s and 1940s, including Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker, and later Lauryn Hill and Michael Jackson. |
 | Columbia’s campus is designed on a classical English plan. The campus was formerly located at what is now Rockefeller Center. Columbia is the second-largest private landowner in New York, after the Church. |
Posted by adrianjo at 02:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 09, 2005
A distinguished Wharton alumna
Ned Flanders on the Simpsons once dates Lindsay Nagel, a Wharton MBA who ends the date thusly: "I'm getting a fax. Uh-oh, I've just been indicted." Linday (who was convicted of a sex offence) joined Wharton alumni/crooks Frank Quattrone and Michael Milken. Well, it looks like the alma mater might now also have the dubious distinction of having a killer among its alumni:
Police in Delaware and Philadelphia spent the holidays trying to unravel the circumstances that led to the fatal bludgeoning of a Temple University medical student two days before Christmas.The result: Irina Malinovskaya, 22, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, is awaiting a preliminary hearing on charges of first-degree murder, police said.
On Thursday, Malinovskaya, a Russian citizen residing in Philadelphia, was charged with killing Irina Zlotnikov "with a blunt object." Zlotnikov, 24, of Philadelphia, was also a Russian citizen, New Castle County Police Cpl. Trinidad Navarro said yesterday.
...
The victim's unidentified 32-year-old boyfriend, also a Russian citizen, returned to his home in the Brandywine Hundred section of North Wilmington at 12:40 p.m. on Dec. 23 and found Zlotnikov bloody and unresponsive, Navarro said.
(Source: Philly Inquirer, 2 Jan 05, not available free online. Photo from a facebook.com entry believed to be Malinovskaya's)
Posted by adrianjo at 05:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A fraudulent use of orange
My favorite political blog is Powerline, who broke the 60 Minutes scandal that forced Rather to resign, and who continue to point readers to things like this Mark Steyn column in everyone's favourite South Side newspaper:
At midday Thursday, as George W. Bush was about to be confirmed formally as the winner of the presidential election, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, described by Agence France-Presse as the "Democratic former presidential hopeful," led 400 other Democrats in a protest outside Congress. Presidential-wise, they may be former but they're still hopeful. So they were wearing orange, the color of the election protesters in Ukraine, who overturned their own stolen election with an "orange revolution."
I wore an orange scarf--a soft cashmere scarf that later made me feel like a limousine liberal--until Dec 26 in support of Ukranian democracy. That the Democrats, the only major American political party with a Communist wing, have appropriated this symbol of anti-Communism shows how ridiculous Them Dems have become. But Steyn is the columnist and I am not, so he makes the point better:
In Ukraine, the one side poisoned the other side's candidate. His face broke out and his hair turned gray. John Kerry's hair is fabulous and for much of the campaign his glowing moisturized skin looked like an orange revolution all by itself. He was obviously worried about being poisoned, which is why he nibbled so tentatively during his pretend lunch stop at Wendy's and only took a couple of sips when he was doing his impression of a regular guy drinking beer at that sports bar in Ohio.
The Ukranian election, was, of course, stolen. Dick Lugar said as much. But why is it that Democrats keep losing elections in the districts run by Democrats? It's a bit like losing a football when playing at home, with referees paid by the home team, and with the opposition playing with only two men. Having worked elections since 1995, I know that it's not hard to electioneer a few votes either way. When your party runs the district, a bit of electioneering can happen. But it's virtually impossible to electioneer in your opponents' districts.
What happens on Election Day is that the Democrats lose and then decide it was because of "unusually long lines" in "minority neighborhoods." What "minority neighborhoods" means is electoral districts run by Democrats. In Ohio in 2004 as in Florida in 2000, the "problems" all occur in counties where the Dems run the system. Sometimes, as in King County in Washington, they get lucky and find sufficient votes from the "disenfranchised" accidentally filed in the icebox at Democratic headquarters. But in Ohio, Bush managed to win not just beyond the margin of error but beyond the margin of lawyer.
Posted by adrianjo at 01:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 08, 2005
Is this New York or Seattle?
So far since I've moved to New York City 5 days ago, it has rained every single day. It's raining now, which is really putting a crimp in the black market sales of Fat Albert DVDs along Martin Luther King Drive. Thank goodness it's not necessary to go all the way to Canal Street to find copies of movies still showing in the cinema.
Posted by adrianjo at 11:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 05, 2005
It feels like the Firm's training, less the unlimited booze
I am suffering from lack of internet access in New York; hence the slow updates. Best Buy promised on January 1 to set-up my broadband "within 48 hours," but it still hasn't happened. Now I am in the Starbucks on Malcolm X Drive on a hotspot.
Fortunately my stuff will arrive tomorrow and I will be able to unpack. I am meeting a ton of cool people at orientation and look forward to filling everyone in through a subsequent posting. eanwhile, my Christmas cards sit written but unmailed... sorry!
Posted by adrianjo at 04:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 02, 2005
A three-year tour
One of my father's old sailing buddies sent this report of the past year, which he and his wife spent cruising their 46' sailboat around the Caribbean. This narrative starts in Grenada.
Hurricane Ivan decided to form way south - in an area that does not normally see hurricanes and started tracking toward the Caribbean - specifically it was tracking toward Martinique, north of us putting us in the 'safe' quadrant of Ivan. ...Problem was, Ivan did not follow form moving west more than north and before we picked up on it - or all of the weather prognosticators - it was headed right for Grenada. Too late to sail to Venezuela or Trinidad - Trinidad actually had the same hurricane warnings we had, sooo.... we stripped the boat, moved around to another anchorage, Clarks Court Bay, and put out anchors and also tied to two moorings. We chose not to go into the Marina that is located there, and got the hell off the boat. Instead, we checked into a local hotel, along with a number of other cruisers from the Marina. Winds were forecast to be 140 - the strongest hurricane ever to be that far south.
When the Hurricane did hit it was an experience - the hotel, where we stayed, lost its roof and top floor. Electricity was lost very early in the storm. Needless to say we did not sleep that night. The next morning a group of us started the long walk to the Marina/anchorage.
A horrible experience that walk - total devastation all around us. Basically all houses had lost their roofs, if they were not totally blown down, trees down, utility poles etc. Looting had already started at 7am. There was no police or military anywhere.
The marina was gone - all the boats piled on top of each other - Psyche was floating on her waterline - about 30' from shore obviously with no 'life threatening' damage - what a relief.
... Our boat had been hit by an airborne trimaran that was on the mooring next to us and ended up on land. The next few days were a nightmare - no power, no water, looters, gun shots around us, etc. In between we helped our friends salvage their belongings from their sunken boats. There was no government. ... We stood guard during the night with flash lights to keep away looters.
...
In the meantime I did get a visit from an insurance adjuster and moved the boat to Trinidad on Sep 20 for repairs. I was very lucky to make it down here quickly, i.e., before many of the other damaged boats locked up all the contractors and skilled boat help here in Chagauramas, Trinidad. Well, it is now Christmas and we are still working on the boat.
Posted by adrianjo at 11:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 01, 2005
Why I like Paris
It's no secret that I enjoy spending time in Paris. Perhaps because my hotel of choice in Paris is La Castille, it's not well-known that I am quite the fan of Paris Hilton. Is she a good representative of American 24 year olds (of which I am one)? Maybe she is actually just "famous for being a slut," but I quite admire Miss Hilton. In fact, Miss Hilton, who I prefer to say is "famous for being famous," was named #2 on Barbara Walters's 2004 Most Fascinating list. With so many myths floating around about Paris, it's easy to overlook her positive qualities, so let's address some of those myths:
Myth 1: Paris is super-rich. Paris's family's fortune is estimated at $300M, which means that there are thousands of Americans wealthier than Paris. It takes $750M to get on the Forbes 400. Granddaddy William Hilton barely makes the list at $775M (#383), and the fortune will surely be diluted severely when divvied up among the 8 kids. In fact, Paris is fourth generation wealth, the fourth generation being when fortunes start to fade. (Exhibit 1: breakup of the Pritzker empire in the fourth generation.) It's about time a Hilton started to make her own money. Even if Paris had her parents' $300M, it would barely be enough to buy and support a large motoryacht.Myth 2: Paris is lazy & stupid. The girl has her own fashion line, a trademark tiara, a best selling book, a TV show, a trademarked name, a chain of nightclubs (under development), a million endorsements (like that Snoop Dogg commercial), and was star of perhaps the most famous pr0n of all time and a great episode of South Park. I have none of this. OK, so she didn't write the book. She may be lazy. She may be an heirhead. And I could do a pr0n. But she can't be both lazy AND an heirhead.
Myth 3: Paris is a moocher. In fact, since she turned 18, she has made all her own money when she could have lived off the family fortune. Unlike most almost-24-year-old heiresses, she makes more than she spends. Sure, she lets her Bentley run out of gas in the middle of the street in LA, but I've nearly done the same with my boss riding in my rental car.
Myth 4: Paris is a slut. Paris should be darling of the women's movement--she's a career women who's leading an enjoyable life. It's refreshing to see a woman use her femininity to get ahead rather than fretting over it in some gender studies course. And if Paris were really a nasty slut, she would have ponied up the $5K for implants long ago. Then the Enquirer would have to lay off those magnifying glass jokes. If you want a nasty slut, try Kate Faber.
Myth 5: Paris has no talent. Paris is an entertainer, and she does a fine job of it. Example 1. Example 2. Example 3.
All in all, I don't think Paris is really that bad. Ask Men has a nice, nuanced write-up on "why we like her," which makes the point that Paris's breezy attitude, charity work, and joie de vivre are rather appealing assets. I couldn't agree more.
Posted by adrianjo at 01:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack