Did you know those yellow waffle carts around town basically sum up the history of one of Europe's most advanced countries? It's true. "Wafels & Dinges truck might just be the perfect metaphor for Belgium." Oh, also? You should know that there are 3,426 Belgians living in New York City and Diane von Furstenberg was born in Brussels. [NYO]
You might imagine that Wall Streeters who have fallen on hard times since the credit crunch would find jobs in similar fields, or hold out for another gig in finance. What could compete with the heady rush—and heady renumeration—of managing millions? Well, how about making cupcakes at kids' birthday parties, which is what Harvard grad and ex-Bear Stearns VP Jessica Walter has been doing since losing her job. Or running a neighborhood hair salon, the new career of erstwhile securities investor Jeff Salmon, or teaching university statistics like ex-structured finance exec Gary Witt.
It's 75 degrees and partly cloudy in New York City at the moment. Feel like going skiing? To satisfy the millions of New Yorkers clamoring to ski in the middle of August, not one, but two, indoor ski slopes are now in the works. The first is the massively delayed Meadowlands Xanadu in New Jersey, now slated to open during the summer of 2009. But yesterday a second such project was unveiled: A group called Riverhead Resorts put down a down payment to build a $2 billion resort on Long Island, which will feature a 35-story ski mountain inside a climate-controlled dome. (The picture on the left is from the indoor mountain in Dubai, in case you're wondering.)
Martha Stewart got together with Jim Cramer yesterday to chat about her time "abroad" (as Cramer called it) or "Yale" (as she prefers to refer to it ), and just what the media mogul learned from her stint behind bars: "I can really do without. But I don't think the homemaker should do without." Nice one, Martha! She also discussed her new line of products at Wal-Mart and mentioned a recent visit to Wal-Mart HQ, where she found herself incredibly impressed with how the retail giant treats its employees. (Maybe she can find jobs there for all those MSLO staffers who were laid off?) A clip of her appearance after the jump.
If we're to believe the result of a Daily News reporter's experiment, your liver actually knows the difference between regular beer, wine, and spirits and "organic" alcoholic drinks, which supposedly contain fewer additives and chemicals and pose less risk of a bad hangover. The risk of waking up in a stranger's bed? About the same. [NYDN]
Top Chef's Tom Colicchio turns 46 today. Also celebrating: Marquee co-owner Noah Tepperberg is turning 33. Dealmaker (and Bill Clinton golf partner) Vernon Jordan is 73. Artist Andres Serrano is 58. Ben Affleck is 36. Times style editor Trip Gabriel is 53. And producer Linda Ellerbee is 64. Saturday is the big day for Madonna: The material girl will officially be 50. She shares her birthday with Kathie Lee Gifford, who is turning 55, and Steve Carell, who's turning 45. On Sunday, Robert De Niro will be 65, the same day Jorge Posada will be 37, Jonathan Franzen celebrates his 49th, and Sean Penn turns 48.
John Gutfreund isn't having a good summer. The former chief executive of Salomon Bros (and the man who ended Mike Bloomberg's career on Wall Street) has had the apartment at 834 Fifth Avenue he shares with wife Susan slapped with a $430,000 lien by the IRS. Fortunately he won't have to pay anything to drown his sorrows. His son, JP, started a tequila company last year. [NYP]
What the world has been eagerly awaiting for so many months now: fresh photos of a shirtless Barack Obama, via the AP. Taken during his vacation to Hawaii this week, the health conscious can rest assured that he has just as little body fat as his doctors said he did. Now you'll have to hope and pray that John McCain doesn't decide to take a vacation of his own anytime soon. After the jump: more photos of Obama frolicking in the surf as well as firm evidence that the Illinois senator is both losing weight and extremely loyal to blue bathing suits.
Ben Stiller making his way into the Good Morning America studios ... Madonna's son David getting caught in the rain on the Upper West Side ... Robert Downey Jr. leaving his hotel in Midtown ... Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard walking to a toy store in Brooklyn ... Ugly Betty's Becki Newton signing autographs outside ABC ... Lisa Rinna walking around Midtown ... Kelsey Grammer and his wife returning to their hotel after a visit to the doctor ... and John Mayer walking near his apartment, completely covered up with a scarf over his face.
If you're wondering whether you're going to be employed this time next month, you're not alone. A recent survey found that nearly two out of three Americans are worried about losing their job within the next year. And how could they not? Hardly a day goes by without a bank announcing that several billion dollars has gone up in smoke, or that they've taken in several billion from the government of Dubai, Qatar, or Mongolia in a desperate attempt to keep their heads above water. Then there are the layoffs: a total of 463,000 jobs have been shed this year and many more cuts are on the way. (Unless, that is, you work in one of the few professions that does quite nicely in times like these, like bankruptcy law and repo services.) So are you going to be next? Maybe! Which is why you should know what to do—and how to behave—before and after the hammer falls and you're told to pack up your cubicle. Below, our guide to coping with the fact that your investment bank/law firm/media company has decided you're redundant.
Hope you don't already have anything important planned for the end of September: ABC just announced that the week of September 21st is "National Stay at Home Week." How convenient, especially since it's premiere week, too! We're just hoping that Regal Cinema's "National Go-to-the-Movies Week" doesn't conflict! [Variety via NYM]
What promises to be an onslaught of publicity for Tatiana Boncompagni's novel Gilding Lily is just beginning. The book, which sounds more than a little autobiographical, isn't out till September 9th, but HarperCollins released a video of Boncompagni (in a low-cut dress, natch) poking fun at the high society her characters inhabit—which is a neat pre-emptive measure against being dismissed as yet another author of shallow chick lit. Because if she deliberately wrote it that way, it's actually satire! See Tatiana laugh at herself and her ilk after the jump.
Because nothing says rock 'n' roll like a group of grandfatherly types in suits, Michael Bloomberg, Clive Davis and Billy Joel gathered yesterday to announce the opening of New York's branch of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Opening in November on Mercer Street, the 25,000-square-foot space will contain memorabilia like Bruce Springsteen's first car, Elvis Presley's motorcycle jacket, and some stuff Joel "found around his house." [NYSun]
