Friday, March 13, 2009

Balenciaga Logic



This top goes for $50.000. Yes, 50 K.

Now, what could the 'text' of such a top be?
-The wearer is recession-proof.
-The wearer is not recession-proof but this is her/his effort to laugh in recession's face.
-The wearer needs to have Balenciaga becase, to her/him, Balenciaga is about all the right social codes.
And many other textual reasons.

Obviously, information like this is more than just about post-Fashion Week, the new lines of the year, and how much the prices are. I am also one of those individuals who finds information like this to be about the economics of exclusivity.

Just how much is one willing to buy for exclusivity?
Well, apparently at least 50K.

Read more here.


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No Kebabs in Lucca, Italy


Consider the following:

"In this deeply conservative city, where even Sicilian food is considered ethnic, there are already four kebab houses, testaments to Italy’s growing immigrant population and the fact that many Italians, especially young ones, like eating non-Italian food. Offering kebabs at $5, the restaurants are also a bargain in difficult times.

Under the new law, these four can stay, but the banning of new ethnic and fast-food restaurants within the city walls has struck many here as contrary to the rules of free-market capitalism and the notion that Italy can offer more than visions of its long-dead past.
...
Lucca allowed the kebab shops to open in the first place only because city officials did not know what they were, Filippo Candelise, a Lucca City Council member who handles economic development, said in a recent interview in the medieval palazzo that houses city government.

Mr. Candelise defended the new regulation as essential for Lucca’s future. “We absolutely reject the ‘racist’ label,” he said. “We simply want to preserve our cultural and historical identity.”

So, if you find yourself in beautiful Lucca and you might be in the mood for a kebab, stop and stock up in Rome first and then head up. I'm certain the "buccellato" will taste scrumptious then.

I don't care much about meats anyway, as I tend to roll vegetarian-ly mostly, but I do care about the, what I call, the democratization of the tongue.

What think ye?

Read it all here.




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graph per ny times

Team Jon Stewart

This week, the tip of the hat goes to the importance of critical thinking and Jon Stewart for teaching the rest of cable news a thing or two about it.


Sorry, Jim Cramer.
I'm with Jon Stewart on this one.
Well, actually I'm with Jon Stewart a lot of the time.
CNC's Mad Money host, Jim Cramer, doesn't quite cut it for me. He makes a lot of noise, wears odd shirts that look like they're cutting the circulation to his arms, and, most importantly, engages in bizarre theatrics when giving us business news.

Cramer's show is a good example of how bad form can mess up what could be good content.
Stewart's Daily Show, on the other hand, is an example of how good form can adequately inform good content and, in the process, prove to be informative and funny.

Yup, I'm on Jon Stewart's side. He believes in critical thinking. Maria Bartiromo, get a clue from him, yes?
Here is why the Stewart vs Cramer 'word war' started.



And this is how all the other cable shows went to town with it.






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