Trolling around Manhattan for a series of vaguely art-related events, I found myself having a drink at one of those typically midtown Manhattan hotels, where all the clientele are bankers. And where there are NYC bankers/wankers, there are models nearby. In the bathroom I encountered a few pretty underage models who were in distress over [...]

I passed by a gaggle of local New Haven high school kids processing from their hotel prom into limos and yellow school buses. They were en route to the ‘after-party,’ whatever that can entail at age 17 and in shiny synthetic visions in satin reminiscent of Olympic figure skating, TV ballroom dancing, and bridesmaids circa [...]

The opening of the Francis Bacon exhibit at the Met was full of semi-elderly men in well-cut suits and well-preserved women wearing furs, in spite of the balmy weather. Art openings are my all-time favorite venues for ogling people, as they provide a compelling mixture of stuffy socialites, wealthy wannabes, preening pimps, and on occasion, [...]

The kids of my generation can be inordinately absurd, evidenced by the fact that I just used the expression “inordinately absurd.” Instead of being defined by fiery social change and the advent of free love, we are mired in Adderall addictions and trips to the therapist, where we grapple with our ennui, our parents’ divorces, [...]

It’s an abandoned university dorm room in the middle of the night. The place gets eerie at this time of year, when all the undergraduates are gone, except for a few straggling seniors awaiting graduation. My friend is an artist and uses her oversized single as a studio. She says, “It’s great—I keep lumber, and [...]

Valentino: The Last Emperor, the new documentary about the famous Italian couturier, is an explosion of diamonds, dandies, pugs, and real estate porn. It was difficult to discern the exact theme of the movie, except for to say: “Valentino is a divine Italian gentleman who leads a life of decadence, is very demanding about the [...]

Sometimes it’s nice to steal things even when it’s not necessary. In fact, rich people are often the most dangerous ones prowling through luxury department stores. I’m sure that Winona Ryder had something other than pinching pennies on her mind when she scooped up 5,000 dollars worth of Marc Jacobs and Gucci items at her [...]

I found a wayward Mother’s Day card soaked and dirty on the streets of New Haven, under one of the flowering trees next to an elaborate wrought iron gate. I am not sure if the card ever made it to the mother, or if it merely fell out of the son’s pocket en route to [...]

In Connecticut a man just turned himself into the police for the brutal murder of a 21-year-old philosophy student at Wesleyan University. He and the girl weren’t strangers but met two years ago when they both enrolled in a summer course at NYU on “Sexual Diversity in Society.” He became obsessed by her and proceeded [...]

At a lovely British Art Center lecture on Victorian paintings, which are notorious for being no body’s favorite, the overriding theme was Morrison’s Pills. Or, something to do with philanthropy and a rich English man who patronized the arts thanks to the phenomenon of his diuretics.
Gauche things to mention while lecturing at the Yale Center [...]