Starting a magazine August 11, 2006
Posted by Niels in : Magazine , 1 comment so farI’m diving in. I bought How to Start a Magazine
It looks like my original plan of whipping up a magazine before the spring semester is not going to work out. But I’m hopeful that we can get a pilot issue out by then.
Craig and I talked for a while today to come up with a 10-word catchphrase that describes what our magazine is all about. We didn’t have any trouble, and got quite a few clever ones, which I find encouraging. Next step is planning out two years worth of editorial content. This will be tougher. We’re giving it 24 hours.
Your thoughts?Cologne testing August 9, 2006
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 2 commentsYesterday was a blast. I went cologne testing with Deepthy. Forget wine tasting - I spent three hours smelling different colognes and haven’t so much fun in a long time. And this is coming from someone who’s never worn perfume in his entire life.
I prepared by browsing through basenotes.net and made a list of colognes that I wanted to smell. Some of them had really fascinating descriptions, like Thierry Mugler’s A*Men, a chocolate/coffee/caramel cologne that won Basenotes’ best scent competition three years in a row. Or there’s Guerlain’s Vetiver, a “harmonization of citrus, wood, vetiver and tobacco” that has also consistently been a top fragrance.
Having never even smelled a bottle of cologne before, I decided to start off slow and stopped by Sephora first. My list consisted of fairly unusual and distinctive colognes (would like to avoid the “oh, you smell like my ex-boyfriend” if at all possible), so I didn’t find too many among Sephora’s mainstream scents. I did learn a few things, though. As enticing as it may sound, walking around with your arm smelling like chocolate is really unsettling. People had told me that colognes interact with your natural oils, but it was still surprising to see how much. Some fragrances smelled completely different on the testing strip than they did on my skin. (Yeah, that last one was a women’s scent, but it didn’t smell that feminine until I put it on.)
To track down the remainder of the scents, I headed to Bloomingdale’s with Deepthy. When you start looking for cologne, go somewhere with a knowledgable sales staff who can describe the differences between the scents. It was like going wine tasting for the first time and learning the difference between reds and whites. I discovered that some “marine” scents actually smell pretty good on me, which I never would have anticipated. And I started to be able to pick out which colognes really were distinctive, and which just smelled like all the others. We had a great time.
But there were still a few unusual colognes that even Bloomingdale’s didn’t have. So it was off to Barneys. Barneys was a blast. I found a few scents at Bloomingdale’s that I liked and was even considering purchasing, but the stuff at Barneys put it to shame. And I am well known for having a lousy sense of smell.
We tried a number of limited edition artisan perfumes, some of which were incredibly complex, others beautifully simple. Barneys has these large tubes set up with continuously circulating air, into which you can spray a fragrance. The top notes dissipate quickly, leaving the midnotes and basenotes that really make up a fragrance’s true character. I remember one in particular that smelled like a flowery meadow in Hawaii, but just smelled like grass when sprayed on a card. Incredible. Unfortunately, my arms were still covered with colognes from Bloomingdales, so I’ll have to go back this weekend to see how the fancy stuff smells on me. It’s embarrasing how excited I am about it.
Your thoughts?Robbed again August 8, 2006
Posted by Niels in : Personal , add a commentAlthough I’m in New York for the summer, I’m still the house manager for my apartment in Berkeley. It’s been tricky relaying rent and deposits and bills through the phone and email, but my roommates have been flexible and we’re making it work.
I got a call from one of them today, letting me know that we were robbed yesterday.
I was surprised how little it bothered me. Maybe I’m just getting used to it. I was robbed over Christmas break my first year in Berkeley. I remember feeling so violated then. A stranger had rummaged through my home, pawed through my personal stuff, and much of what he took had more sentimental than monetary value. The robbery was actually part of the reason I moved out of south Berkeley, to get somewhere “safer”. Oh well. So much for that.
I feel bad for my housemates. Since the first robbery, I triple backed up all my files, got renter’s insurance, and furthermore have most of what I really value with me here in New York. My housemates weren’t so prepared. Most of them lost laptops, some with irreplacable data.
It’s interesting to live in a world where intangible 1’s and 0’s are our most valuable possesions.
Your thoughts?Beautiful people August 7, 2006
Posted by Niels in : Personal , add a commentI went to People last night. I don’t know what was going on, but I have never been in a bar with so many attractive men and so few attractive women. It wasn’t the 3 to 1 ratio of guys to girls that struck me. We’ve got that in San Francisco. But I swear, every guy there was a 6-foot tall, 200-lb muscular man mountain with chiseled male model good looks.
Talking about this later with my friend Deepthy, she reminded me of New York’s 50% rule. A lot of clubs here won’t allow your group in unless it’s 50% female. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it first. So if you want to go to a bar to meet girls, you’ve got to find them somewhere else first, then take them to a bar so you can go meet girls? That’s insane.
It’s a bit like slashing prices. First one bar does it, then another bar does it, and finally everyone has to do it or risk being the only bar in town completely populated by guys. As Deepthy points out, People doesn’t have that rule, and I won’t be going back to it. Next weekend I’m heading to the meatpacking district. If I’ve got to compete with male models, I want a hot celebrity to show for it.
Your thoughts?Blind as a bat (so not that bad off!) August 4, 2006
Posted by Niels in : Links , add a commentWith all the stories of war and murder in the media, sometimes I start to think about how fragile people are. Then I read something like this. Ben Underwood, a blind 14-year old boy from Sacramento, uses echolocation to get around. That’s incredible.
Your thoughts?