Hard Times All Around

From the Wall Street Journal:

According to a new survey by Prince & Assoc., more than 80% of multimillionaires who had extra-marital lovers planned to cut back on their gifts and allowances. Still, only 12% of the multimillionaire cheaters said they plan to give up on their lovers altogether for financial reasons.

Of course, any study of millionaires and their mistresses should be taken with a large grain of salt. The survey–a subset of a larger wealth study–polled 191 individuals with a minimum net worth of $20 million who said they had lovers of at least a year or more (this to screen out the one-night stands, etc.). About two thirds of the respondents were men and one third women. All were married and all had personal control over their finances, meaning the women and men surveyed were the primary wealth holders in their homes.

....The most surprising stats in the study relate to gender and what might be termed “length of service.” Fully 82% of men in the study said they planned to lower the allowances to their mistresses, while more than three quarters planned to provide fewer gifts, less expensive gifts and fewer perks, like jet rides, resort vacations and top restaurant meals.

....The duration of the relationship also seems to play a role in the economics of high-end cavorting. The study found that more than two thirds of the millionaires who had been with their lovers for three or more years planned to cut back. That compares with less than half for those with a tenure of one to three years.

Here are a few of the public comments that followed the article online:

by Hardchoices:

Before September the 15th, I’d promised my mistress both a breast enhancement and a liposuction for the Holidays. Now I can only afford one or the other…so she’s going for the enhancement next month.

But, if things get much worse she’ll have to choose between enhancing just her right or just her left breast. Truth be told, I don’t really care. I love her just the way she is now.

by Mr. Contrarian:

If the wealthy are essentially “selling off” their mistresses, then it would seem that we may be on the verge of a buyer’s market. Thus, the middle class can afford to be happy again!

by Polyga-miss:

Mistresses???!!! Hell, I’m gonna have to “lay” off half my WIVES go!!! And boy will I miss them….but at least I get to keep my truck.

Atlas Shrugged Me Off (I'm so happy I get to finally use that in post heading)

The Atlasphere is a dating site for admirers of Ayn Rand. As we enter an unprecedented period of government bailouts and economic interventions, there seems to be a resurgence of interest in her work and philosophy of Objectivism. Here are a few excerpts of user profiles:

Zak, Long Island, New York:

I am rational, integrated, and efficacious. So far, I’ve never met a person who lives up to the standard I hold for myself (except online).

I take my relationships seriously. I am simply not attracted to many of the women in this world. I do not “hook-up” with girls. I only kiss those who deserve, and so far I have only encountered one who did. I would love to find someone I can learn something from; someone who challenges me to think; someone I can feel like I’ve won, rather than lowered myself to.

thustotyrants, Selden, New York:

[I am] short, stark, and mansome. (author's note: Mansom? Great word!!)

You should contact me if you are a skinny woman. If your words are a meaningful progression of concepts rather than a series of vocalizations induced by your spinal cord for the purpose of complementing my tone of voice. If you’ve seen the meatbot, the walking automaton, the pod-people, the dense, glazy-eyed substrate through which living organisms such as myself must escape to reach air and sunlight. If you’ve realized that if speech is to be regarded as a cognitive function, technically they aren’t speaking, and you don’t have to listen.

Found over at nymag.com

Telling Everyone To See "Tell No One"

Directed by Guillaume Canet and based on Harlan Coben's best selling thriller, Tell No One is the best film of the year so far. A perfectly constructed thriller. From its flawless pacing to its sophisticated narrative, it proves once again that the French are making better thrillers than anyone else out there.

Taking Design Just A Little Too Far

via Trendhunter.

So You Think YOU Can Dance?

Millions Of Miracles

At birth, male anglerfish have no digestive system, and thus are unable to feed independently. They must find a female anglerfish, and quickly, or else they will die. When he finds his female, he bites into her flank, and releases an enzyme which digests the skin of his mouth and her body, fusing the pair down to the blood vessel level. In other words, his body merges into hers and he will spend the rest of his life inside her. All that will be left of his original self are his reproductive parts for breeding.

There are millions of miracles of love staring us in the face every day.

"It Was Borrowed Prosperity" - Peter Schiff

NPR's Planet Money has a great interview with Peter Schiff here.

For those of you who don't know Peter Schiff, watch this clip to see how he schools everyone at MSNBC, FOX, CNN on the economy. He predicted, with unbelievable detail, exactly what has happened to our economy. It's a jaw dropping clip.

And what he has to say about what's coming next is not very pretty.

Subway Architecture

A collection of great metro architecture over at oobject.com

Moscow


Paris

Snoop Dog, Martha Stewart. All Hood.

For anyone who doubted if change was coming...

You Just Got That Much Cooler

Next time you're at some painfully hip gathering and are struggling to find something obscure and cool to throw down in the conversation, pull out Darondo as your music trump card.

From Wikipedia: "William Pulliam, who performed in the 70s under the name Darondo, was a funk and soul singer who sounded like a combination of Ronald Isley and Al Green. Little known by anyone except serious enthusiasts of that genre, Darondo is highly respected by that limited audience. The mythology surrounding Darondo is that he was a pimp, although he denies this claim.

Darondo recorded three singles and played four shows in the ’70s and then stopped and drove home in his Rolls Royce after he opened for James Brown. Later he traveled the world collecting interesting artifacts, became the king of Bay Area cable with three shows per day, and worked as a physical therapist coaxing patients to walk again."



As a side note, the dude that posted this video has a whole series of him dancing to classic and obscure tracks. He made a dance video every single day for an entire year. Some great songs selections here. The dancing is pretty enthusiastic too.

Mel Torme Is Coming Home Baby

Mel Torme performing his swingin' "Comin' Home Baby" on The Judy Garland Show. Swingin'.

RJDJ (This iPhone app is rad)

RJDJ is an amazing little iPhone application that creates aleatoric music from ambient sound in real time. It’s like having a tiny, tireless DJ Shadow in your phone, mixing constantly.

The 44th President Of The United States

How good it feels to once again be able to say, with pride and honesty - "only in America would this be possible". That is what tonight means to the entire world.

Peanuts Melancholia

Nice piece over at Slate by Dana Stevens on why she loves the melancholy Peanuts holiday specials.

Happy Halloween

Everybody should be someone else just for one day.