Serfs with too much money
Pete Wells concludes his review of San Francisco’s Saison restaurant as follows:
I do know, that for all of the extraordinary demands it makes on diners, Saison delivers a meal that is at least as extraordinary.
Before we get here, Wells tells us of the extraordinary price ($298 for a tasting menu), extraordinary reservation policy (you must cancel at least three days in advance or lose your money) and extraordinary lack of hospitality.
This being his second visit to the restaurant, now in a new location, Wells notes gratefully
the staff this time was kinder and less cocky
What I want to know is did he leave a good tip?
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Tags: California, culture, dining, San Francisco
The trumped up war between the generations
Are the old taking from the young – or the young taking from the old? Both, according to the right.
The motive is to undermine public support for entitlements. Who’s winning or who’s losing, in their view, depends on the opportunity.
TRUMPED UP WAR BETWEEN THE GENERATIONS
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Tags: culture, generations, health care, liberals, Obama, politics, right wing, Social Security, Washington
Grouchy Friday
The predominant business model for social media is getting others to work for free. That bothers me.
STOP ASKING ‘HOW DID YOU LIKE…?’
Tags: culture, technology
Quelle bargain. $4,000 off the suit’s retail price
Ya gotta love the WSJ. Alex Brazilian writes of a website selling last year’s Jil Sander paisley pencil skirt and matching jacket she pondered buying at Barney’s last summer. Her conquest:
I snapped it up on the Outnet, saving around $4,000 dollars on the retail price, and plugged a gaping hole in my wardrobe: the perfect daytime wedding ensemble.
Do you hear the voice of disapproval?
Moi? Spending more on my clothes than perhaps I should (though on a far lower scale,) I have sneaking respect for the writer’s forthright desires.
Some of us need Jil Sander ensembles. Some of us need a used Honda Accord (just sold mine for $2,500). Some of us can afford both, though I doubt these two markets overlap much.
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Tags: consumption, culture, fashion, WSJ
More demographic cliff baloney
Some conservatives cry “disaster” over falling fertility rates — a sneaky way to continue their attacks on Social Security and Medicare.
THE SILLINESS OF DEMOGRAPHIC PANIC
Tags: culture, demographics, generations, Medicare, Social Security
Amazon isn’t into “local”
Corgis on an Amazon lunch break
Amazon deals harshly with states and cities demanding that it collect sales taxes on the stuff it sells their residents. The local stores it competes with have to add these taxes to the bill.
Read this tale of brass knuckles applied in South Carolina.
Actually, read the whole Seattle Times series, Behind the Amazon.com Smile.
Amazon has done very little philanthropy in Seattle, where it has plopped its headquarters in the South Lake Union neighborhood.
While Microsoft and Boeing support the cultural institutions that help make Seattle a magnet for the creative workers all tech companies crave, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos didn’t even show up at a local luncheon to receive an “Executive of the Year” award.
But it does let workers bring their dogs to work. How enlightened.
AMAZON RULES THE SALES-TAX JUNGLE
Tags: Amazon, culture, labor, Seattle, South Carolina, Washington state
Men on men’s dress
My Valentine’s Day rant about how women make the effort but men don’t drew an unexpected response. Most of my correspondents were male and most agreed with me.
Some samples:
from SAN ANTONIO:
I do not understand how young women can be attracted to young men who pay little attention to their attire. I do not understand how mature women tolerate the slovenly dress of their mate.
Especially, as you point out, when these women dress very attractively.My conclusion is that it is the women’s fault. Maybe they are giving up and are simply allowing their men to be boys.
from SHENANDOAH VALLEY, VIRGINIA:
It has been said that clothes make the man I rather think that clothes convey what the man is made of. Bye the way, at tonight’s Valentine Day’s dinner at a restaurant with my wife, I will be wearing a suit, tie, cufflink starched shirt and polished shoes. I like to think I was brought up correctly by parents who instilled in me a sense of respect, proper dress and manners for all occasions.
from a conservative in SHREVEPORT, LOUSIANA:
I applaud your venture into fashion commentary and urge you to expand and continue this trend. I seldom find the adjectives used above appropriate to your columns on contemporary politics.
and this surprising response from BAKERSFIELD, CALIF:
My wife does not dress up for me; she
dresses up for other women. If she were dressing up for me she’d take
my advice about what I like to see her in. I, on the other hand, want
to look nice for her. I take her advice, especially on which tie to
wear. That’s fine. But when you write about women looking great while
men look like slobs, consider their respective motives. Women want to
outshine other women, not impress their husbands. Men want to be
comfortable and unpretentious.
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Tags: culture
Cheap labor Republicans speak
On immigration, it’s a big guest-worker program or no enforcement. So says WSJ’s Kimberley Strassel:
organized labor remains opposed to central pieces of reform, in particular a guest-worker program. That mechanism would allow low-skilled immigrants to legally fill temporary labor demands, and it is absolutely necessary if we are to avoid a future flood of illegal immigrants.
How about arresting employers who repeatedly hired illegal labor? That could work, too.
Tags: culture, immigration, Kimberley Strassel, labor, Republicans
More on Aaron Swartz
This is one of the times when a column of mine is drawing fire from the left. The criticisms are heartfelt, but as one who is paid for writing, I see my defense of intellectual property rights as a call for justice.
Tags: Aaron Swartz, academia, culture, media, technology
A fair and balanced laugh
Thanks, Ross Douthat, for lightening up this gray morning with your musings on the upcoming Obama address.
Your right jab:
I’m going to keep this brief, because we’re all cold and there’s always a chance that the House Republicans might start imitating the Donner Party if we stay out here too long.
Your left jab:
I always knew my fellow liberal elites were self-involved, self-dramatizing and out of touch: I was in academia, remember? But the kind of mood swings I’ve had to put up with have been absolutely ridiculous.
Can’t agree with Douthat’s conclusion that Obama governs as any wild-eyed lefty, but the laughs are most appreciated.
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Tags: culture, Democrats, liberals, Obama, Republicans, right wing, Ross Douthat, State of the Union
