Monthly Archives: July 2006

We all know about the cult of the opening weekend: film producers will do almost anything to maximise their opening weekend gross. In the case of the the new Oliver Stone film, World Trade Center, that includes standard tactics like … Continue reading →

Stephen Dubner, co-author of the global bestseller Freakonomics and resident of the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is not happy with his lot. Turns out he’s part of that small minority of Manhattanites who owns a car, and he feels … Continue reading →

This is just a wonderful, wonderful story (via the excellent StreetsBlog). It turns out there’s a cycling union in Holland (where else), which actually does really useful things instead of just screaming and shouting a lot. In this case, they … Continue reading →

There’s been some very interesting activity this month in the comments thread on an old post of mine about Summit Communications. Since I don’t expect anybody to plough through more than 12,000 words of comments, I thought I’d summarise the … Continue reading →

Vonage has had a torrid few weeks since it went public in May at $17 per share: the stock closed today at just $6.84. And who better to weigh in on this state of affairs than our old friend Henry … Continue reading →

Dana Stevens is Slate’s new film critic – this is a good thing, since Slate’s last film critic, David Edelstein, was dreadful. But can you see a pattern emerging from her last three reviews? You, Me and Dupree: "A fantasy … Continue reading →

My local branch of the New York Public Library is coming to the end of its Summer Book Sale, where books which are surplus to requirements are sold off for 50 cents (paperbacks) or $1 (hardbacks). There’s not much left … Continue reading →

Thank You For Smoking: 5/5. Witty, smart, hilarious. See it. Pierre Huyghe at the Tate: 4/5. Witty, smart, gorgeous. See it. (And I’m not even a Pierre Huyghe fan.) The Rem Koolhaas pavilion at the Serpentine: 3/5. Smart, gorgeous, pointless. … Continue reading →

I was in Europe for the past three weeks, hence the light posting. I travelled around London and Germany, and although it won’t surprise anyone to hear that the public transportation system in Germany is much better than it is … Continue reading →

So here’s the idea: Emily is an underemployed realtor in New Jersey, married and about to have kids with her financial consultant husband, Steven. She then finds out that Steven is having an affair with her best friend Laura. Coincidentally, … Continue reading →

On his own site, Nick Denton calls it "battening down", against rising costs and an entirely hypothetical downswing in entertainment-industry advertising expenditure. In the New York Times, Denton goes a bit further: "We are becoming a lot more like a … Continue reading →