I attended “Speech Day” at Stowe School this weekend in Buckingham, England. A friend of mine was receiving a prize for mathematics. In typical British form, there was a vintage car show on the campus’ front lawn, with Aston Martins, Morgans, beautiful old Jaguars, big-ass Bentleys, etc. etc. Numerous cricket matches had been advertised on [...]

I attended the annual “American University Club Cocktail Party” at the pimped-out Parisian mansion of the US Ambassador’s house. Eager for a romantic prospect to pop up in the form of a dashing young diplomat with a British accent, Italian sartorial sense, Parisian address, and American education, I ended up surrounded by a lot of priggish lawyers [...]

Five masterpieces by Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Modigliani, and Léger were stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris last week, estimated at a value of 123 million dollars. The culprit was caught on tape, masked, dangerous, and sneaking through a window. He or she took the time to remove the paintings out of their [...]

Blenheim – an 18th century palace nestled among resplendent gardens, shimmering lakes, and stately trees- is England’s Versailles. With 2500 acres of verdant fields and elegant rose gardens, it’s no wonder the English gentry flock here for picnics by the river and a little afternoon delight in the property’s arboretum. Tourists come to see where Winston Churchill spent his childhood [...]

In the dead of night on the streets of Rome there is a shop open that is full of junk (gold 1980s fanny packs, pink corsets, ancient basketball posters, styrofoam mannequin heads, American political pins, odd designer handbags, etc. etc.). It’s called “Miss France,” because Maryse Fabre, the 74-year-old French woman who runs it, was [...]

I was recently living it up in Rome when I found myself at the Villa Aurelia overlooking the moonlit city. The party was sponsored by the fancy schmancy American Academy, which pays distinguished scholars to come chill in Rome and write esoteric books.
Since I don’t speak Italian, and I don’t know anyone in the Roman [...]

Renowned film director and creeper Roman Polanski faces more allegations of sexual abuse, this time by the middle-aged British actress Charlotte Lewis. She claims Polanski forced himself on her back in 1982 when she was a budding 16-year-old starlet. Though there was no mention of champagne and Quaaludes, the potent mixture with which Mr. Polanski once [...]

Park Avenue has never seen so much dirty clothing: a new art installation at the Armory involves a five-story crane randomly picking up and releasing garments from a 25-foot-high tower of used clothes. “No Man’s Land” is the work of the famous French artist, Christian Boltanski. I saw the Parisian version, “Personnes,” at the Grand Palais [...]

There is a group of young men and women willing to sell their virginity in a live auction so that filmmaker, Justin Sisley, can capture it for his documentary/“sociological experiment.” These guinea-pig-virgins are getting paid up to $20,000 each, in addition to 90% of the winning bid for their v-cards. The remaining 10% is being [...]

On a recent girl’s night out on the town, I found myself in a palatial hôtel particulier off Paris’ fashionable Avenue Montaigne. The place was swarming with well-dressed older men just jonesing for their next Russian girlfriend. I was happy because the bar flowed with pink champagne and there were pimped out neon lights making [...]