Life As A Saudi Prince
In today's New York Times coverage of King Fahd's death in Saudi Arabia, I couldn't help but notice this rare insight into the hard-as-nails Saudi royal parenting method:
Still, King Saud was strict. In an interview in the early 1970's, then Prince Fahd recalled the time his father locked him in a room for over two hours because he had had a fight with a neighbor's son. The King knew the other boy had provoked the quarrel, but wanted to show impartiality, Fahd said.
OVER TWO HOURS??
journalism-ish , middle east-ish , new york times-ish by tangentialist at 10:32 AM on 01 Aug 05 | Perm-a-link | TrackBack (0)
New York Times Ruminates On Class, Tries Not To "Sound Too Rich"
The New York Times, for the next three weeks, is publishing a series of articles called Class Matters, the first of which appeared in today's issue. Though they point out that "the series does not purport to be all-inclusive or the last word on class", the first article drills deep into contemporary American class structures and the state of upward mobility (short version: not as common as we think). One key argument in this first article is that class is no longer (and maybe never was) as simple as Lower, Middle, and Upper--we look, by necessity, to several factors that delineate our place in society.
The best part, as always, is the How Class Works learning aid crafted by Ben Werschkul and his geek minions. (Werschkul, where's your blog? I've saved you a spot in my RSS reader!) Pick your occupation, education, income, and wealth to see where you stand in the class firmament. I always liked percentiles when they came back high, but I was shocked to find out just where my mix of smarts and dollars put me. Fortunately, this elegant tool has helped me to find the secret to true class happiness: become a surgeon, get a professional degree, make more than $100K a year, and be worth over half a million. Ah, sweet 96th percentile; I shall never fail you again.
journalism-ish , new york times-ish , social studies-ish by tangentialist at 04:18 AM on 15 May 05 | Perm-a-link | TrackBack (0)
Masa: Four Stars, A Thousand Bucks
Masa chef/owner Masayoshi Takayama nearly slays Frank Bruni, scoring a four star review in the New York Times. In doing so, Masa becomes the first Japanese restaurant since 1983 (Hatsuhana, crowned by Mimi Sheraton) to receive that honor. As Amanda Hesser's last review as interim critic, back in June, she gave Masa a glowing but cagey 4-question-mark (????) rating, leaving the final call to Bruni -- a fantastic food writer, by the way -- who opens the review by describing his friend's appreciation of Masa's sublime toro:
His eyes grew instantly bigger as his lips twitched into a coyly restrained grin. Then the full taste of the toro, which is the buttery belly of a bluefin tuna, took visible hold. Forget restraint: he was suddenly smiling as widely as a person with a mouthful of food and a modicum of manners can. His eyes even rolled slightly backward.
A prix fixe session at Masa (you don't get to call the shots) will put you back $350 per person before tax, tip, and sake; so basically, four figures for the best sushi two people are likely ever to eat. If I read the review correctly, a meal at Masa is both inexcusably expensive and obscenely luxurious, and if Masa has done little else, it has made me wish I were the Times' head restaurant critic, so that I might be able to have this kind of sushi for lunch at least once in my life.
With Per Se just down the hall at the Time Warner Center, this puts two four-star restaurants within feet of each other. Bruni's cleaning up over there! What's next, Jamba Juice?
food-ish , new york times-ish , review-ish by tangentialist at 05:17 AM on 29 Dec 04 | Perm-a-link | TrackBack (1)
New York Times' Year In Multimedia
The New York Times has posted their 2004 Year In Pictures, with Vincent LaForet, et al, killing it as usual. This is yet another classy interactive number for the Times, concluding a busy year of great multimedia pieces. I love that the paper and its reporters have been willing to invest money and time in the multimedia sidebars that have accompanied more articles in more sections this year than ever. While a few seem like mere afterthoughts to the article, many of them manage to bring a narrative light to the written pieces that really makes them compelling. It's nice to see the Times strive beyond its reputation as the Paper of Record and distinguish itself as a true observer of life in New York.
One of my favorite Times multimedia pieces this year was Invention for 900 Hands, a six-part series by James Barron that follows the construction and sale of a Steinway piano. Hearing the piano's voice develop from week to week made a cliffhanger out of a story that would otherwise have fallen through the cracks of the Metropolitan Desk.
Also, search the archives and watch any of the pieces on Africa, and catch Kristof on Darfur.
journalism-ish , new york times-ish by tangentialist at 03:36 AM on 27 Dec 04 | Perm-a-link | TrackBack (0)