Monday, May 6, 2013

Observations from the Window 5.6

This is out of nowhere but I opened the paper yesterday morning and there was a full page ad for a new Woody Allen movie. I do not like Woody Allen or his movies, enough said.

A bit of trivia I didn't know until recently. Malala Yousafzai's father Ziauddin named her after Malalai, the Afghan Joan of Arc, who died during the 1880 Battle of Maiwand carrying ammunition to the Pashtun fighters at war with the British in 1880. If you somehow don't know anything at all about Malala this article from the Vanity Fair is a good place to start.

Deloitte’s 2013 Art and Finance report was released last month and 83% of the collectors said emotion was the most important reason for their buying art. Nothing surprising there but 59% rated investment as one of the primary reasons for buying art, up 20 points in just two years, and 29% think art is a good place to keep their money in troubled economic times. This is something I have never quite understood because if the economic times are troubled who has the money to buy the art that you invested too much of your own money in? Worldwide auction prices have actually declined in each of the last two years. Art investment funds are growing in popularity too with 7% seeing them as their primary investment. So as their primary investment they invest in the volatile art market and the volatile stock market at the same time. Good luck with that.

Anthony Weiner, even the name seems to bother me now. It's not so much what he did that bothers me but that he was stupid enough to do it at all. Now he may run in the Democratic primary for Mayor of New York pitting him against Christine Quinn which which means his name is everywhere lately and that doesn't help at all. But worst of all he did what he did while married to Huma Abedin, former and future top aide to Hillary Clinton, and her I just adore. Just another reason I think Hillary should run for President. Here is a link to an old Vogue article about Abedin, pre-Weiner, which suits me just fine.

I was reading a review of a new fragrance, yes such things exist and yes I wrote that, but you are going to have to wait until later for that story.

It was a full weekend and I hope you had a happy Cinco de Mayo and a winning Derby Day. I also hope you didn't drink too much tequila and bourbon, it's not a good combination. Not that I would know.