Average customer rating:
- Exquisite
- Mugler makes the clothes that make you say "Oooohhh, AHhhh."
- Wow!
- dazzling!
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Thierry Mugler: Fashion Fetish Fantasy
Thierry Mugler , and
Claude Deloffre
Manufacturer: Stoddart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1575441055 |
Amazon.com
Thierry Mugler's perfume "Angel" comes in a bottle shaped like an off-kilter star; it's a telling choice. At first glance, Mugler's designs seem like a 1970s version of space age, with lots of pointy spears, big shoulders, and gravity-defying basques, all executed in his shimmering, "classic" materials--vinyl and leather. But the real influence is late 1920s and '30s Hollywood, the days when Edith Head and Adrian were designing gowns for Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, and Jean Harlow. And it's these outsize personalities who are the key to Mugler: his ideal woman is a dominatrix-cum-star; fashion for him is a "very demanding mistress." So he fills his runways with character supermodels (Jerry, Eva, Naomi, Cindy) and an eclectic mix of stars (Cyd Charisse, Diana Ross, Sharon Stone, Ivana, Tippi Hedren)--in Mugler's words, "personalities who know and accept who they are and fashion themselves accordingly."
This beautifully designed book brings together more than 250 photographs--some by the man himself, others by stars in their own right (Helmut Newton, David LaChapelle)--from his diverse ventures: the first public fashion show, George Michael's "Too Funky" video, Macbeth for the Comédie Française. The collection proves Mugler to be an utterly distinctive, yet endlessly inventive, talent. --Alan Stewart
Customer Reviews:
Exquisite.......2003-04-18
To refer to Mugler merely as a fashion designer would be off target and a great injustice. He has, over the years, managed to transcend the limitations of conventional clothing design and develop his work into an amazing and dazzling art form. This book exemplifies the way photography, art, design and adornment can be brought together and crafted into something unique.
Mugler's designs are staggering, drawing on influences too diverse to adequately list. These are fantasies of the imagination; marine and insect worlds, avian and feline; couture fetish, European old aristocracy, the African and Oriental, along with Metropolis style sci-fi. The photos are beautiful, reminding me of Pierre et Gilles. There are stark graphic locations captured in a superb minimal style, and also many dynamic shots from fashion shows. It is a book of images that renders its few words almost unnecessary.
On the back cover is a quote - "Fashion doesn't suffice. I try to pass on a feeling, a sensation... I always tell stories. Stories about women. From the spy to the madonna, to the heroine, the goddess, the small Parisian, the secretary. I create clothes women will wear in these imaginary adventures." Mugler breathes life into dreams. An inspiring and wonderfully produced book.
Mugler makes the clothes that make you say "Oooohhh, AHhhh.".......2002-12-16
This collection of images and commentary on the creative work of Thierry Muglerserves you some killer imagery of famous people wearing infamous couture..Hardly a single item you would sport at a PTA meeting but, then, would you want to ever GO to a PTA meeting? An unbridled imagination, combined with the technical and architectural skills required bringing his visions to life, are made obvious as you slowly turn the pages ( with scrupulously clean hands, thank you ) and imagine a world where you play the starring role with Mr. Mugler as your wardrobe master..Don't try to attempt to recreate these garments at home. These get-ups come from a PROFESSIONAL!! Wear them at your own risk and don't turn your back on any houseguests who express an interest in this book.It is tough to find and sports a hefty price tag. I keep three copies in the house..and they are all tagged with a Low-Jack!! Glorious production values, high quality paper, and a front cover that defies adequate description make this title a MUST for the dreamer on your holiday shopping list..
Wow!.......2002-02-27
Beyond the bland, banal and often sleazy worlds of fashion and fetish there exists a hidden and beautiful world exemplified by Mugler's work and friends (whom he acknowledges with exquisite charm and tact on page 188). All these people 'get it' at a level of subtlety and taste that the lesser practitioners will never understand. They understand the power of bodily eroticism, the magic and mystery of masks and concealment, the attraction of helplessness (try to walk in those shoes and you will understand, too) coupled with the dangerous appeal of domination and submission.
FFF is to EXTREME as vintage wine is to mere plonk. Of course EXTREME had to be assembled as a Met show/book toying with cultural anthropology with the mainstream in mind, but although excellent (and so rated by me and others) EXTREME pales into insignificance by comparison with FFF. FFF combined extremes of other kinds: extreme eroticism, extreme physical transformations, extreme emotional danger. It is hugely to the credit of everyone involved, including models, photographers and the celebrities who comment with dazzling power, that it all comes off as beautiful and powerful, never beyond the bounds of taste. When you read those names, and consider what they have done in their own worlds, you will find yourself thinking (at least I did), that these are people whose persons and work you have admired, whom you would like to know in person, with whom you could have unusual and interesting times. They include Pedro Almodovar, David Bowie, John Epperson, Tippi Hedren, Ute Lemper, Julie Newmar, Jennifer Tilly (yes!), Bruce Vlanch and Raquel Welch, all relentless pushers of the cultural envelope.
Tension is the great sexual aphrodisiac and FFF is all about sexual tension expressed with body, face and hand adornment that is at the very limit of what can be done. My copy is not for sale, ever.
dazzling!.......1998-12-22
Wonderful eye-candy - page after page of beautifully innovative photography of Mugler's imaginative creations. Much more than just a fashion book. Highly recommended!
Amazon.com
History, as Henry Ford said, may be bunk, but as author Joseph Roquemore's book about 350 historical movies reveals, it's good box office. An independent scholar from Chicago, Roquemore measures his chosen fictions against the facts of 150 episodes in world history. Beginning with movie subjects drawn from the past 3,000 years, he spins sprightly, dense, witty essays on, for example, Jesus' life (Jesus of Nazareth), Spartacus's revolt (Spartacus), the Salem witch trials (The Crucible), JFK (JFK), and, well, Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves). The essays are at their best when he pauses to consider the flotsam: a piece on King David estimates Goliath's height (an inch or two taller than Michael Jordan); one on Jesus slows enough to reflect that his "public career was eerie, strange, dreamlike." And he lists the sights Wyatt Earp would have first seen coming into Tombstone--25 saloons, 14 casinos, and "a restless sprawl of tents and cabins."
He grades historical feel as high as historical facticity. So Pat O'Connor's grim Irish gestalt movie, Cal, is called "one of the best period films ever made"; other kudos go to Steven Soderbergh's King of the Hill, the Sally Field tear-jerker Places in the Heart, and Das Boot, for its "stinking look." Still, where there's history there's subjectivity; Roquemore browbeats the philosophically disquieting The Thin Red Line for being "pretentious," and dresses down Oliver Stone for littering JFK with so much error that it "makes Cinderella look like a BBC documentary." Exceptions aside, anyone interested in the historical or the hysterical will get a kick out of this fascinating book. --Lyall Bush
Book Description
From
Birth of a Nation to
Braveheart and
Saving Private Ryan, here is a compulsively readable and endlessly browsable book that brings to life for film buffs, history lovers, students, and teachers the real stories behind the stirring events on screen.
No medium is more effective than film in bringing to vivid life the epochal events of our past; yet none is as prone to sometimes dangerous distortions of fact and emphasis.
History Goes to the Movies separates fact from fiction for more than three hundred important historical films, in the process enhancing both viewing pleasure and historical understanding.
Organized into twelve categories such as "Biography," "The American West," "World War Two," and "Ancient, Classical, and Medieval History," the book includes chronologies for each historical period covered. For every film, a detailed essay is provided describing the historical context and events portrayed, a brief plot summary, and an assessment of the movie's accuracy and entertainment value, concluding with suggestions for further reading and viewing.
Comprehensive, entertaining, scrupulously researched, and often bracingly opinionated,
History Goes to the Movies will turn your VCR into a clear (and accurate) window on all human history. For every moviegoer who has wondered, "Did that really happen?"--here at last is the answer.
Customer Reviews:
Inconsistent and Inaccurate.......2006-07-05
History Goes to the Movies : A Viewer's Guide to the Best (and Some of the Worst) Historical Films Ever Made, by Joseph H. Roquemore.
I recently finished reading this and can't recommend it. My attitude can be summed up by saying that I don't trust the author's qualifications either as a reviewer of cinema or as an historian. Glaring mistakes abound in his recitation of historical "facts". Worse, the author frequently allows his political views to dictate his cinematic opinions, i.e., a film that promotes left-wing values or ideas cannot be any good, regardless of any other considerations. The biggest crime is inconsistency: many films (that he doesn't like) are slammed for the most minor of historical inaccuracies, while films that he *does* like get passes on even the most absurd of historical gaffes. Finally, the choices and classification of films into different historical periods is somewhat eclectic; some very obvious films are completely omitted, and many of the films reviewed were never intended as "history" of any sort!
That being said, there are some good points. There are a lot of films covered here, a number of which I had never heard of or knew very little about, and I wouldn't mind checking some of them out. Roquefort's grasp of history seems better in some eras than in others (as is true of most of us, I guess) and when he's accurate he makes some good points. Overall, however, I cannot recommend this book to anyone with a serious interest in either history or cinema.
Must-have for history & movie buffs.......2005-01-20
Review by Ben M. Wolk www.bzponline.com
Before proceeding with this review, I'm going to register a personal complaint: Joseph Roquemore stole my idea. Long before coming upon his History Goes to the Movies in a catalog, it had been my ambition to write precisely this book. By what form of osmosis Rocquemore picked my brains, I can't imagine.
I am, however, glad he did, because his work is far better than mine promised to be -- better, too, than other similar books on the market, such as the pretentiously academic Past Imperfect. It is, in fact, a monumentally ambitious work that is as informative as it is entertaining, and as well-written as it informative.
Roquemore recognizes that historical films, far from being mere entertainment, are a potent force in molding public perception of past events and, by extension, contemporary society. "...they're not just movies," he states in his preface, and throughout his book he endeavors to counter the "blatant disdain...for solid, reliable history."
Roquemore's approach is simple. He presents a brief essay -- the longest run about two pages; some are half-a-page -- to serve as a tapestry against which the movies can be discussed. Thus, his piece on the Roman Empire acts as background for six different films. (In some instances, it's one essay/one movie.) He follows this with the movie reviews: 314 total, ranging from pre-history (Quest for Fire, which conjectures on the daily lives of our animal-skin-wearing ancestors) to the first Gulf War. His canvass is broad, ranging from sword-and-sandal war epics to period romances. He even includes one documentary: Woodstock.
The essays are uniformly excellent; I hesitate even to call them "essays," denoting as that does something far duller than Roquemore offers. They are, in fact, micro-histories: concise, informative, vigorous, and witty; peppered with revealing anecdotes and surprising bits of trivia. (My favorite line: "JFK makes Cinderella look like a BBC documentary.") Roquemore's prose is not only entertaining but sure-footed and professional, as one should expect from a speechwriter and communications director with a doctorate in English literature -- according to the book's back cover.
Another of Roquemore's refreshing traits is a refusal to be "objective." I mean by this, not a disregard for facts, but a disregard for the academic notion that the historian/critic should pass no moral judgment on the subject he presents. This of course is nonsense: there has never been an objective critic, and those who claim to be so (or think themselves so) are indulging in self-delusion.
Roquemore, as the publisher aptly puts it, is "bracingly opinionated." More simply, he calls 'em like he sees 'em. Oliver Stone's Nixon is "historical biography at its very worst." The 1993 remake of Shadowlands he calls "a gloomy dirge," while The Ten Commandments is "Entertaining -- but slim pickings for history buffs," and Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun ranks as "a potboiler all the way." There are no sacred cows here; Rocquemore never fears to take on even the most respected and "untouchable" films: Schindler's List, Mississippi Burning, Citizen Kane, Michael Collins, Titanic, and even Gandhi ("a propaganda debacle of the first rank") all endure heavy criticism. I should add that his critiques are more substantive and better-documented than my out-of-context quoting indicates.
Conversely, Roquemore doesn't stint on praise where he thinks it's due, and a number of movies -- well-known and obscure -- win his applause. Braveheart is "a sweeping biography" and "a terrific film;" Conagher "matches -- or tops -- Hollywood's best westerns;" and Tora! Tora! Tora! is "dynamite...guaranteed to knock your socks off."
Roquemore also deserves praise for not playing favorites: he judges on merit rather than personal likes or dislikes, and it's not rare to find him praising the factual fidelity of an actor's performance in one film and excoriating the same person a few pages later. One never gets the sense that he criticizes a movie or director or actor simply because he doesn't care for them or their previous work.
For all their high caliber, Roquemore's essays do slip on occasion. In his piece on medieval freedom-fighter William Wallace, for instance, he states that Wallace's comrade Andrew de Moray "died in the field at Stirling." It's true that Moray vanishes from the historical record shortly after the battle of Stirling Bridge, but no reliable evidence corroborates a battlefield death. In fact, there is an extant letter that post-dates Stirling on which both Wallace and Moray appear as signers.
More significantly, Roquemore is sometimes blinded by his enthusiasm -- or his irritation. His piece on the Reformation-era theologian and politician Sir Thomas More is one long commendation: More is described as a model of conscience, good-will, forbearance, and high-minded idealism. That More possessed all these qualities is undeniable; but in his awe, Roquemore fails to mention that More was also a zealot who vigorously persecuted religious dissenters, among them the courageous Bible translator William Tyndale. (There is, incidentally, a very fine movie about Tyndale, God's Outlaw, which Roquemore does not include.)
Similarly, many people will take exception to Roquemore's favorable view of Richard Nixon. He does an admirable job of dispelling myths about Nixon (i.e. that he was a drunkard, a "trashmouth," and so on) and also of putting into perspective his foreign policy achievements. But, as with More, he glosses over or ignores Nixon's many shortcomings: his failed economic policies and his desperate, deceit-riddled grasp to stay in power.
Roquemore can be unfair, especially in his judgments of the movies themselves. He describes Anthony Hopkins's portrayal of C.S. Lewis in the 1993 Shadowlands as "dull" and "sullen." I agree that Hopkins failed to capture Lewis's personality (especially when judged against Joss Ackland in an earlier version of Shadowlands), but his performance is neither dull nor sullen; in fact, he seems rather to enjoy himself.
And sometimes Roquemore is simply irrelevant: in his review of Gettysburg -- a "made-for-TV potboiler" -- he goes so far as to criticize the "pompous" musical score. Pompous or not (personally I consider it a terrific score, and I know a number of people who agree), what does it have to do with the film's historical value? On a similar note, Roquemore mentions that Braveheart (which he likes) won four Oscars, but fails to mention that Dances With Wolves (which he doesn't like) won nine. (I also like Braveheart and dislike Dances With Wolves, but you see the point.)
All of which, I hasten to add, is trivial nitpicking in the grand scheme of Roquemore's book. No doubt, every reader will find something to disagree with in History Goes to the Movies -- I did myself -- but it is still, for all its small faults, the most exhaustive and authoritative work of its kind, educational, stimulating, and outright fun.
I'm toying with the idea of writing to Joseph Roquemore to ask him for a revised edition, or better yet, a Volume Two: History Goes Back to the Movies. Consider the slew of historical and period films that have appeared in the few years since Roquemore's book was published: Troy, Alexander, The Passion of the Christ, Gladiator, King Arthur, Luther, The Messenger, The Patriot, Master and Commander, The Alamo, Gods and Generals, Cold Mountain, Gangs of New York, The Last Samurai, The Missing, The Aviator, Pearl Harbor, Windtalkers, Band of Brothers, The Pianist, We Were Soldiers, The Manchurian Candidate remake, Black Hawk Down, Tears of the Sun...and this doesn't include upcoming features about Hannibal of Carthage, yet another Alexander the Great movie, plus Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, about the Third Crusade. Add to this any number of relevant films that Roquemore simply had no space for -- Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, the aforementioned God's Outlaw, Chariots of Fire (an excellent period piece/biopic), and some of the half-dozen Joan of Arc films on the market -- and you have all the makings of another book.
I would write it myself, but...
Excellent reference guide for movies and history.......2003-09-28
This has become one of my bedside books. I love not only the movie reviews themselves, but also the insightful summaries of the related historical events, sometimes rather obscure and difficult to find in mainstream history books.
I do disagree with Roquemore's judgement sometimes: for instance, he definitely did not do his homework as far as "Braveheart" is concerned, as I believe another reviewer has already noted. And I don't understand why he chose to review the 1934 "Cleopatra" rather than the far better known 1963 version - which is also better history, by the way, apart from the overly extravagant costumes and sets.
As for his supposed political biases: he obviously dislikes PC movies of the "Dances with Wolves" sort, and as far as the Spanish Civil War is concerned, he is skeptical of the Republic, which is very far from being pro-Franco. Finally, when reviewing Oliver Stone's "Nixon", he says something to the effect that, without exonerating Nixon, it is clear that everyone involved (including the press) behaved badly during the Watergate crisis - - this kind of thing.
As already mentioned, Roquemore tears to shreds Oliver Stone's movies (as far as their historical content is concerned) - rightly, in my opinion.
That is what leads some to regard his views as "right-wing". I consider this to be utter nonsense. Actually, I strongly suggest that those whose historical perception of the Kennedy - Nixon era has been formed by Stone's films would profit greatly by reading this book.
Bring it to the video store.......2002-01-07
Believe the favorable reviews here; disregard the unfavorable. Roquemore's ratings don't trumpet one or the other sort of politics. Rather, the book focuses on historical accuracy-i.e., objective truth. Movies that are true to fact receive more stars than fictionalized "based ons." Yes, this penalizes Oliver Stone, but properly so.
That being said, Roquemore knows a good yarn when he sees it. For example, his review of Billy Wyler's "The Westerner" (three stars out of five) begins: "One of the finest westerns ever-and a hatful of hokum as historical biography." So Roquemore does acknowledge cases where history properly is sacrificed to drama.
One more point: Roquemore includes enough (lucid) historical background with each movie that the book is a great and informative read on its own.
My trips to the video store begin with a list from "History Goes to the Movies."
A must-have for history and film buffs........2001-12-31
I LOVE this book. When I stumbled upon it two years ago, it became a Christmas present to every member of my family and my best friend (all history buffs). My friend recently told me it was the best present I'd ever given him, and on the top five of all presents he's ever received.
I particularly enjoy military history and war flicks, and this book is very strong in that category. While I disagree with Mr. Roquemore as to a few movies, I found, over and over, that he had picked up on fine points that I thought no one -- except me -- would ever care about.
I was totally unconscious of any political slant to the book. The political issues raised by the reviewers here came as a complete surprise -- from out of left field, one is tempted to say. But it is fair to say that if Oliver Stone is your idea of the Good Housekeeping Historical Seal of Approval, you probably won't like the book. Or history. The rest of us should look forward to the read.
I very much want to see the book updated and expanded. Please, Mr. Rouquemore, . . . More. Doug Jordan
Average customer rating:
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The Joy of Claude Debussy
Denes Agay
Manufacturer: Music Sales Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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| Books
ASIN: 0825680298 |
Customer Reviews:
Bursting with useful advice - six stars!.......2005-12-08
What I can never do is beat weaker people. You know how it is - if they don't actually blunder a pawn or two, if by some miracle everything stays level, you just don't know how to create the opportunities for them to go wrong, and the game ends in a disappointing draw. You and I need to know how to create opportunities for Mr Average to go wrong. And here, I think, professor Beim can help enormously! "In positions where the pieces are highly mobile, any mistake can be decisive." Dynamic chess! In other words, no matter how beautiful your opponent's position may be, and how superior to yours in terms of pawn structure and piece locations, it is always possible that you may have dynamic resources that make his static ones worthless. It's always good to make a weaker opponent think - he is more likely to go wrong than you are! And if all your pieces are leaping around like wolves then he really has to think. This is a book bursting with useful advice, such as the idea that you have to take the pieces as a whole and make the best of the whole team, not just put each one where you think it looks nicest. Or like "exploiting a dynamic advantage requires resolute action without delay." Like tennis perhaps - you might be in completely the wrong place, having been pushed around the court by your opponent, but if you have the ability to jump and stretch and contort your body, it may just be that you can win the point - then appear on countless sports pages as a twisted demon of a being with a blurred ball travelling somewhere between ground, arm, and high-kicking legs! ...but you have to seize the one moment you can do this, otherwise you're just a guy on the ground with grass stains on his pants. Beim gives you loads of instructive examples, masses of ideas, then expects you to try them out for yourself. It's like a university degree course! OK it's work but you come out with some kind of Ivy League degree, not a $30 certificate from an Internet site saying you've got a PhD in Rocket Science and Exploding Pumpkins. Real work, real results, and a lot more points at those local tournaments!
Magnificent explanation of dynamic considerations.......2005-10-28
Your modern grandmaster plays very dynamically, yet much of literature still treats chess as if it were a static game. Some authors/publishers have recognized this transformation, most notably Gambit with its fine middle game series that began with Watson (Secrets of Modern Strategy) and Yermolinksy (Road to Improvement).
"How to play Dynamic Chess" by Beim is a book that deserves to join this select group of modern middle game classics. This is an incredibly readable book, explaining many profound ideas in the most accessible and straightforward terms.
It is fascinating to see how chess hs changed over the decades. Not the rules, but the way the best players approach the game (i.e. witness the cut and thrust games in the recent world championship tournament in San Luis).
The instruction in "How to Play Dynamic Chess" is set around complete games, and the annotations represent some of the best - and wittiest! - chess writing I've seen.
Don't let this treasure pass you by.
It is a good but not great book.......2005-10-18
I do think this book is instructional but I don't like the style.
Classic instruction from a first-class trainer.......2005-02-20
This book, along with Lessons in Chess Strategy (by the same author) is a total gem. I am not alone in thinking this. On the web newsletter Chess Today the reviewer Dan Aldrich wrote that "after reading this book I have but one question - who is Valeri Beim and why has he been hiding so long? These are two of the finest treatises on chess strategy ever written".
In fact Beim has the credentials - he is a grandmaster, and, perhaps most to the point, a former head trainer at the chess school in Odessa. He is also a great storyteller. How to Play Dynamic Chess is divided into five large chapters, and within those chapters are a large number of deeply instructive games. Many of these games are classics from the former Soviet era, and, as Beim was part of this world, we see the personal touch throughout. A typical intro: "And now, yet another game by Efim Geller! Isn't this overdoing it? But what else can I do, when he had so many fine "breakthrough" games to his credit?"
Mr Beim, show as many Geller games as you like! I could be instructed by them all day long.
If you are serious about improving, this book could take you to master level and even beyond.
Book Description
The bestselling author of Philistines at the Hedgerow probes the secretive world of Manhattan luxury apartments, where real estate costs the most and matters even more.
Customer Reviews:
Great Little Read.......2007-01-06
This is a great read - especially if you've never really understood what the big deal about co-ops v. condos is or even just don't know the difference. The gossipy tidbits in the middle make it interesting, yet it is still fact-filled. Steven Gaines did a great job with this work!
Seems like Coop Boards have more power than the IRS.......2006-06-24
This book was great! Another fascinating look at the New York real estate market and where there is no limit on what you'll pay for a place to live. Very interesting in how those coop boards can bring potential owners to their knees. The book was well written and provided much insight into property ownership and real estate brokers.
The Sky's The Limit - That says it all!.......2006-03-28
Gains takes you inside the history of many of the top buildings in NYC (A.K.A.- good buildings or GBs) as well as a beginning to present time chronicle of the often stuffy co-ops and the new money, free-frawl condo market. From the builders to the star brokers and super famous buyers, you get a real sense of how top end real estate shakes out in the big city.
Interestingly, he visits the market at the turn of the twentieth century and the boom and bust cycles that created massive fortunes and whipped so many out. A super great conversation piece is that in 1903 there were pre construction condo flips going on at a frenzied pace, and how did that end... I will say that after the depression, which was a few cycles later, luxury apartments that sold for $50,000 were on the market for $500. I welcome every opportunity to be reminded of the cyclical nature of real estate.
Talk about name dropping; how's Andy Warhol, Madonna, Babe Ruth wandering the Anasonia in his bathrobe, Ron Perelman, Denis Kozlowski, Donald Trump, Jerry Seinfeld, Donna Karan, Steve Jobs, Bruce Willis, Steve Jobs, Bruce Willis, Steve Martin, Tommy Hilfiger and Henry Kravis.
Also interesting is how zip codes can often peg your social and financial status, your religion or ethnic background, or your sexual preference.
The deal driven super-brokers Dolly Lenz and Michael Shivo shed some light of what it takes to be a top producer in the super competitive NYC market.
Dolly Lenz the top producing broker, who raked in $3 billion in sales started buying studios when she was 25 years old with her husband and within a few years owned 31 studios.
Michael Shivo on what it takes to be a successful broker-at least an average IQ and a strong will to work. "I don't do drugs, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I work 18 hours a day and I don't sleep. I think sleeping is a waste of time. All of the energy that you see is from real estate."
I'm real estate investor myself that went from $0 to $25,000,000+ in holdings in less than 5 years starting with $0, only the equity in my house. I also wrote a book: A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate: A True Story About the Ups And Downs from Wall Street to Real Estate Leading Up to Phenomenal Returns. It's a step by step, play by play of how my partner and I built our real estate company in a way that anyone can immolate.
Good Luck, Happy Reading.
My Blog: bloglines.com/blog/KevinKingston
Real Estate in the Big Apple.......2006-02-21
Fifth Avenue is the address against which all others are measured, according to Gaines. It is 6.5 miles long, mostly high-end retail space and skyscraper office buildings. On the 1.5 miles facing Central Park there lives the greatest consolidation of private wealth assembled in one place.
Some would say 820 Fifth Avenue was the best address - certainly its co-op board has taken a very aggressive position and repelled three billionaires, including Revlon Chief Ronald Perelman. "The Sky's the Limit" provides insights into co-op board motivations and methods, as well as those of the city's most successful real estate agents.
820 Fifth Avenue has 12 apartments (one/floor), with 7,000 square feet each. Prior residents include a former N.Y. governor, Arthur and Mrs. Murray, Alfred Sloan (former G.M. Chairman and CEO), Pierre Lorillard (tobacco magnate). Co-op applicants are required to provide detailed and certified financial statements (purportedly to ensure that they can cover any unforeseen maintenance required), and respond to a number of lifestyle questions (boards are very concerned about how their new neighbors and their families will comport themselves). The finished product can weight 5 lobs, and cost $10,000 in accounting and legal fees. Co-op boards are likely to look disfavorably on public figures (likely paparazzi disruptions), those who are single (who know what the spouse will be like; questions about attention-grabbing lifestyle), too many Jews (give me a break - I'm just the reporter here), and overly-ambitious renovation plans (long-term noise, dirt). Finally, an interview is also required - timeliness and appropriate attire are important! Gaines reports that about 5% of applicants are turned down. However, he also tells us that many boards are exclusively represented by a selected real estate agent, and one of their primary jobs is to pre-select those who are brought before them.
The original intent of the co-operative plan was to life a million immigrants out of tenement housing - eg. 20 families in sub-divided, freezing housing, sharing one toilet. Under the initial 1879 proposal groups would band together and build a fireproof house, with separate living quarters for each family. However, problems with neighbors and the practice of leasing units out for parts of the year prevented the practice from taking off - by '53 there were only 162 co-operatives, vs. 5,797 apartments in NYC. There are now over 3,500 in Manhattan and 10,000 in all five boroughs.
Condominiums developed partly to avoid co-op boards, and between 1985-1988 over 15,000 were built. At first it was thought that realtors would play little role in their sale, but events have proven that idea wrong. Gaines provides considerable detail about how several successful realtors work, and fight amongst each other.
Finally, it was also interesting to read how even New York City real estate has had its low points - eg. the latest being in the late 1970s, thanks to high-crime, high welfare numbers, and the city being on the edge of bankruptcy. Top units at that time fetched only about $250,000 - vs. today's commonplace $10+ million.
Surprisingly interesting!
Tired Recycled Gossip and No Story.......2005-12-31
I bought this book because amazon recommended it and I was very disappointed. It's a series of unconnected interviews with crass self-promoting real estate brokers, with a few boring socialites I've never heard of thrown in, for spice I think, but they're really just bland. Speaking of bland, who cares about Tommy Hilfiger and why start the book with him? I knew most of the supposedly hot celebrity tid-bits already--they're all recycled from old gossip columns. For $26.95 (okay, even for $18 plus shipping on amazon), I expect more than a 250-page clip-job. Page Six is free on the web! But worse, there's no story, no narrative to speak of, no characters you can care about. It feels as if Gaines was rushing this out, or cashing in on his last, equally disjointed but somewhat more amusing book on the Hamptons, or just phoning it in. What a waste of paper not to mention my time and money!
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- Doodaaa : The Balletic Art of Gavin Twinge
- Earls of Creation : Five Great patrons of Eighteenth century Art
- Enlightening Remarks on Painting by Shih-T'Ao (Pacific Asia Museum Monographs)
Books Index
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