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June 2008
Who said anything about gold medals?
China is investing a record amount to host this summer’s Olympic Games, but its leaders don’t expect to displace the United States atop the medal tally, a top Chinese official said.
Despite maintaining a massive system of state-run schools that find and train the nation’s top athletes and dramatically boosting funding for the national team over recent years, “it is unrealistic to expect China to earn more gold medals than the US,” said Cui Dalin, a deputy director of China’s State General Administration of Sport, the Beijing Today newspaper reported on Friday.
Many experts, however, think Chinese officials are simply trying to downplay expectations. A report released last Monday by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted that China will top the United States in the medal count by a tally of 88 to 87.
“As the host nation in Beijing and (with) an economy which has grown very strongly since 2004,” China is likely to win 88 medals at the Games, said John Hawksworth, the report’s author, the Associated Press reported.
“David can sometimes slay Goliath in the Olympic arena,” he said.
China won 63 medals during the Athens’ Games, finishing behind the United States’ 102 medals and Russia’s 92. China won 32 gold medals in Athens, second behind the the United States’ 35.
Many experts believe China has adopted a gold-or-bust strategy where athletes - often driven to excel by monetary rewards - are put through grueling training that stress perfection.
Beijing may be trying to keep medal expectations low to avoid possible embarrassment. But Cui predicted that China’s athletes would have advantages in taekwondo, diving, ping pong, shooting and weightlifting.
“Chinese athletes have made breakthroughs in some sports, such as boxing, rowing, sailing, fencing, men’s wrestling, the pentathlon and trampoline, but the results are less certain,” Beijing Today reported.
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Neocons accused of undermining Europe
Europeans tend to blame Americans for everything: childhood obesity, financial turmoil, mindless television entertainment. Now Europeans are even blaming Americans — well, just neocon Americans — for Ireland’s recent rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, designed to make Europe stronger by streamlining the European Union’s balky bureaucracy.
The words were clear: “Europe has powerful enemies on the other side of the Atlantic, gifted with considerable financial means.” The speaker was France’s Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet, addressing a pro-European rally in Lyon, France last weekend.
According to Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper, he was putting the blame for the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty on some surprising shoulders: neoconservatives in the United States. “The role of the American neocons was very important in the victory of the ‘no,’ ” Jouyet said.
The newspaper said it has been alleged that U.S. funding helped support one of the most powerful groups campaigning against the treaty, Libertas. Libertas has said that its main gripe with the Lisbon Treaty is that it was anti-democratic and could undermine Irish business interests.
So why would American neocons want a rejection of the Lisbon Treaty? It’s not really clear from the article. But it does point out that John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that the treaty would “undercut NATO,” something that would be a huge mistake.
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Wanted: Best Movie of the Summer
What’s the best movie of the summer according to at least some British critics? “Wanted,” starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. “It is an in-yer-face blockbuster like nothing else this summer, and it’s going to be enormous,” said London’s Telegraph newspaper today. But the review said it’s not Angelina who keeps the film engaging but the Scottish actor McAvoy, “who throws himself into this supreme trash with the conviction of a brand-new Everyman action hero - shorter than usual, freaked out, and constantly apologizing.” The review said that the overall story — while entirely daft — is utterly entertaining.
The reviewer also liked “Hancock,” which stars Will Smith as a slovenly superhero with anger management issues. “For everything that doesn’t work in ‘Hancock,’ there’s a sort of structural anarchy going that’s refreshing - it rebels against even the adolescent formulae of rebellion to give us something more adult. It also has one quality that your average superhero flick never does: You haven’t the faintest clue where it’s going.”
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American panda charms China
Pandas have long been China’s most valuable diplomats. Beijing has offered them — often at rental prices of $1 million a year — to nations and zoos around the world. Zoo Atlanta has two Chinese rental pandas, as well as a 2-year-old cub.
Now “Kung Fu Panda,” the Dreamworks animated film, is proving that America can profit from pandas as well. The film has proved a favorite among Chinese moviegoers, setting a record in a least one Chinese city for opening-day revenues.
“Kung Fu Panda”-emblazoned T-shirts, bags, caps and toys have sold “like hotcakes at cinemas,” the China Daily newspaper reported.
The paper added that “Audiences eager to observe the Hollywood take on the panda image were obviously not disappointed” and said many Chinese “thought (the movie) represented Chinese values.”
Audiences were also apparently impressed by the film’s message that with enough self-confidence — in the film referred to as a secret ingredient — anyone can make it: The film’s main character, Po the panda, goes from being a noodle maker to a kung-fu master, a message that resonated with Chinese trying to find their own successes.
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Fading Stars and Stripes at Wimbledon
As Wimbledon gets under way this week in London, the TImes has released its list of the greatest 100 Wimbledon players in history.
Here are the top 10: 1) Martina Navratilova 2) Billie Jean King 3) Chris Evert 4) Steffi Graf 5) Helen Wills 6) Pete Sampras 7) Louise Brough 8) Jimmy Connors 9) Boris Becker 10) John McEnroe
Incidentally, the defending champion Roger Federer of Switzerland is No. 17 while Serena Williams is No. 34.
Over all, the United States is the best-represented country. But it’s a different story this year. The British media has made a point of hammering away at the fact that there hasn’t been an American male winner of a grand slam title in five years. According to a report in the Guardian newspaper, the causes are manifold — the number of sports tennis must contend with, poor coaching, and the fact that, despite the success of the Williams sisters, most American kids still view tennis as a “country club” sport. And if there are no Americans at the very top of a sport, the country just stops caring.
According to the newspaper, the British would never do that.
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Britain: Martha Stewart not welcome
Martha Stewart, the doyenne of all things domestic, has been refused entry into Britain because of her criminal convictions for obstructing justice, according to today’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.
The 66-year-old lifestyle guru, convicted four years ago in the United States for obstructing justice, was planning to speak at the Royal Academy and to hold meetings with several figures in the fashion and leisure industry. She was due to travel within the next few days.
A spokesperson for Stewart said the business magnate loves England and has lots of friends in Britain and hopes the matter can be resolved soon.
Britain’s Border Agency said it would not comment on individual cases. But a spokesman added: “We continue to oppose the entry to the U.K. of individuals where we believe their presence in the United Kingdom is not conducive to the public good or where they have been found guilty of serious criminal offenses abroad.”
Obviously the government believes Stewart to be a more dangerous threat than someone like Ibrahim Mousawi, a chief spokesperson for the Lebanese organization Hezbollah, which has been linked to terror attacks. He has been allowed to speak at conferences and tour the country this year.
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Are McCain and Obama seeing eye to eye on China?
Two of Barack Obama’s foreign policy advisers are in China this week.
A chance for Obama to gain an advantage over the Republican John McCain in terms of relations with China?
Not really.
With its growing military might and economic clout, you might think China would spark policy debates between McCain and Obama.
But there are no significant differences between McCain and Obama when it comes to China, says Ivo Daalder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who advises Obama. “There is no alternative but engagement” with China, Daalder said in Beijing.
Philip Gordon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution speaking at Beijing’s Tsinghua University on Wednesday, said he also has been “struck by the degree at which China is not a big issue in this election.” Gordon also advises Obama.
Obama and McCain may want to keep China out of the spotlight. While China has been an easy target for past presidential candidates (Bill Clinton promised in his 1992 campaign that he would not “coddle dictators from Beijing to Baghdad”), whoever is elected will have to deal with the Asian behemoth.
The similar approaches of Obama and McCain have left Chinese intellectuals silent about which candidate they favor.
“You almost don’t see any strong views in the Chinese intelligentsia toward the two candidates,” said Xiao Geng, the director of a Brookings Institution center at Tsinghua University.
“Whoever is elected basically will go back to expected policies,” he said. “The relationship is too important.”
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Say hi! First Chinese tour group heads for the US.
American airline executives were likely smiling as the first group of Chinese tourists to travel to the United States under a new agreement left for Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
The agreement between Beijing and Washington allows Chinese tour groups to organize leisure trips to the United States and could be a boon for airlines including Delta, which began to offer a daily non-stop flight between Atlanta and Shanghai, China’s financial hub, in March.
“As U.S. airlines ground their planes and axe jobs at home to stave off record high fuel costs, the Chinese … tourist market is offering a glimmer of hope,” the China Daily reported on Tuesday.
The number of Chinese tour groups could grow quickly. Last year, 41 million Chinese traveled outside of their country, a 19 percent rise over 2006, according to Chinese government data. The United Nations World Tourism Organization predicts that 100 million Chinese will travel abroad in 2020, when China will be the world’s fourth-largest source of outbound travelers.
The policy shift was allowed by a memorandum of understanding signed by Washington and Beijing last December.
The bilateral agreement - knows as Approved Destination Status - allows Chinese tour companies in nine Chinese municipalities and provinces to organize leisure tours. Previously, mainland Chinese could only travel to the United States for business or to visit friends and relatives.
Other American carriers welcomed the new policy.
“The Approved Destination Status agreement offers a huge opportunity,” Sidney Kwok, director for the China market for United Airlines, told the China Daily.
“We believe the number of Chinese tourists in the US will see double-digit growth annually,” he said.
Boeing has estimated that demand for transpacific flights will grow at an average annual rate of 6.2 percent until 2026, the highest of any international route. Within 20 years nearly 40 percent of air travel worldwide “will be to, from or within Asia Pacific,” the company state in a presentation to shareholders last year.
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Tiger Woods wins over a tough fan: The British press.
Tiger Woods’ U.S. Open victory this week — his 14th major — has the British press wondering whether he could be the greatest ever sports star in history.
“At this year’s tournament, Woods proved that he not only possesses extreme levels of talent and professionalism, but the same measure of endurance and courage too,” said today’s Guardian newspaper. “Woods arrived at Torrey Pines unfit and struggling for form, but he simply would not let a physical weakness manifest itself into a psychological one - the mark of a true champion.”
When wondering who could possibly match Woods, the newspaper said that tennis star Roger Federer is the obvious choice from the present crop of sports stars. “But his inability to overcome Rafael Nadal on clay to win the French Open surely puts him behind Woods,” the paper said.
Perhaps then Pele? “He was more professional and was every bit as inspirational for Brazil,” the paper continued. Muhammad Ali, too, might give Woods a decent run for his money.
Readers wrote in with their own choices, which included Diego Maradona, Lance Armstrong, and Michael Jordan.
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Obama goes Euro …
“Obamamania” could be about to cross the Atlantic. Barack Obama is planning his first overseas trip since he launched his U.S. presidential bid in February last year - and Britain is penciled in as part of a possible European tour next month, according to today’s Guardian newspaper.
The paper predicts that the Democrat would be a huge draw in Britain, sparking great excitement.
Last week, a survey of global attitudes towards the U.S. election by the independent polling firm Pew reflected his popularity overseas, with 74% of Britons saying they would have confidence in Obama as president compared with 44% for his Republican rival, John McCain.
In France, where the president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has invited Obama to visit the Elysee Palace, support for the Democratic senator is even higher: 84% in favor compared with 33% for McCain.
In other political news, London’s Independent newspaper said that President Bush may be on the verge of converting to Catholicism after receiving a hugely warm welcome from Pope Benedict.
“It was a Vatican visit such as no other head of state has ever enjoyed. Instead of greeting him, like all previous high-ranking visitors, in the papal library of the Apostolic Palace, the Pope took Mr. Bush round the medieval St John’s Tower then gave him a tour of the Vatican gardens, culminating in a brief open-air concert by the Sistine Chapel Choir.”
Also fueling the rumor that Bush, a lifelong Methodist, was about to convert is the fact that the president’s brother, Jeb, the former governor of Florida, converted to Catholicism on marrying his wife Columba, a Mexican.
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Port-au-Prince goes high-tech: solar-powered traffic signals
Traffic in Haiti’s congested capital is a nightmare, with narrow winding streets often so packed with pedestrians and vendors there barely seems space for vehicles.
For decades, drivers have largely ignored stop signs and red lights, the streets instead governed by a free-for-all ethic that leaves most foreign visitors holding their breath, if not closing their eyes in prayer. With electrical power service spotty at best, the red lights never seemed to work anyway. But now solar-powered traffic signals have been installed at key intersections all over Port-au-Prince. With their attached battery banks, the lights operate 24/7, towering above the chaos in an optimistic attempt at imposing a bit of order. Somewhat unbelievably, drivers obey, dutifully stopping on red and waiting to go - at least most of the time - until the signals turn green. Sometimes the cars even wait in orderly lines, a true novelty. But a block past the new signals laissez-faire descends again, horns blaring as giant trucks do U-turns in the middle of the street or lines of cars veer into oncoming lanes to dodge broken-down vehicles. Old habits seem hard to break.
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Mexicans split when it comes to U.S.
A new poll reveals just what Mexicans think of the United States, and the result is decidedly lukewarm. The Mitofsky Group asked Mexicans what they thought of 10 countries, and the U.S. fell squarely in the middle. Its cumulative score of 19.4 was enough for 5th place (37.3 percent had a favorable view of the the States while 17.9 percent had a negative image).
Mexicans’ favorite country? It’s France, followed by Spain, China and Argentina. And Mexicans apparently aren’t big fans of Castro as Cuba got the worst rating (-4.7), just a hair behind Colombia (-4.6).
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South Korea’s beef with the United States
As tens of thousands of South Koreans flooded cities to protest this week, it created a worry for Washington as reflected in a story by the Yonhap News Agency: “Beef protest raises specter of anti-American mood”.
The demonstrations - sparked by a decision to lift a 5-year-old ban on American beef because of mad cow disease - have been driven partly by domestic concerns, particularly a slowing economy.
But South Korea has grown from an agricultural backwater into a world economic power over the last 50 years and the protests also reflect wounded pride: South Koreans don’t want to feel like the United States, which stations tens of thousands of soldiers in their country, is calling the shots.
That anger was on display in Seoul, South Korea’s capital. After the government walled off the center of the city from protesters, some people posted up leaflets calling the wall part of “the U.S. state of South Korea,” according to The New York Times.
I’ve seen that wounded pride on several trips to South Korea. In 2006, I sat with Korean university students and watched their national team beat the United States in the World Baseball Classic. The students erupted with satisfaction when South Korea won. One local newspaper smugly described the victory as a humiliation heaped on “the vaunted U.S. major leaguers”.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak seems to have stoked that nationalism by accepting the U.S. beef, which some Koreans believe is not safe.
Unless Seoul and Washington can find a face-saving way to convince Koreans that their government isn’t kowtowing to the United States, the protests are likely to continue.
President Bush is scheduled to visit South Korea early next month. He’s certain to dig into a few American steaks and argue they are perfectly fine. He’s also likely to hear why South Koreans have a beef with the United States.
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Auf Weidersehen Mr. President.
Germany never much liked President Bush, currently in Europe on a farewell tour. But one thing’s for certain: he was able to unite Germans like no one else. According to today’s Der Spiegel, hating the U.S. president was about the only thing the country could agree on in recent years.
“One almost has to feel badly for German journalists, editorialists and political cartoonists,” the newspaper said. “In just a few short months, Mr. Reliable will no longer be available for lampooning. The German media’s greatest foil is riding into the sunset.”
The newspaper lamented the fact that the president will soon cease delivering a steady stream of material for headline after Bush-bashing headline.
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when Bush-bashing became Germany’s new national pasttime. Even during his campaign against Al Gore, George Bush Jr. was portrayed as the not especially bright heir to the Bush family throne. Political cartoons were suddenly full of cowboy hats and sheriff’s stars.
Even the massive wave of sympathy for the United States following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 did little to improve Bush’s image in Germany, and once it became apparent that the U.S. president was intent on invading Iraq, it was open season.
Left-wing Die Tageszeitung was among the first to go on the offensive. A piece on Jan. 15, 2002 documented a mysterious “Pretzel Attack” against Bush. According to the tongue-in-cheek piece, “the pretzel was arrested by the Secret Service and taken to the prison camp Guantanamo in Cuba for interrogation.” Another headline on the occasion read “Guten Appetit Mr. President.”
With Bush nearly gone, it’s hard to imagine how German media will fill the void. Will Michelle Obama or Cindy McCain become the press’ new whipping girls? It’s a tough job but somebody’s going to have to do it.
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Think $4 gas is bad? Haitians paying almost $6 per gallon
Skyrocketing gas prices are all over the news in the U.S. as Americans fume each time they go to the pump and the price seems to have leaped another fifty cents.
Impoverished Haiti is feeling the pain, too, but drivers here pay the equivalent of about $5.75 U.S. a gallon, up by almost double in the past year.
While oxcarts are still prevalent in the countryside and the vast majority of Haiti’s nine million residents are so poor they can barely afford food, much less a car, Port-au-Prince’s streets are still packed with choking traffic.
“Everybody in Haiti is complaining about high gas prices,” said Lesley Jean Baptiste, 42, who drives a bus between the capital and the provinces. “We had to raise our ticket prices and it’s so bad we’re losing passengers, but there’s nothing we can do.”
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Please, please just tell us he’s not wearing kilts …
Donald Trump, the rapacious New York developer, is in Scotland this week, visiting his roots as part of a charm offensive designed to win approval for a planned $2 billion golf resort.
But so far many of the Scots interviewed by the Times of London dismissed the billionaire’s tour this week of the Isle of Lewis, where his mother was born, as nothing but a PR stunt.
Indeed it came just 24 hours before the Donald’s scheduled appearance today before a public inquiry called to hear evidence about his proposal to build “the world’s greatest golf course” on sand dunes in Aberdeenshire.
The development, which has been condemned by environmentalists because of the alleged damage it would do to wildlife on the 1,400-acre site, was referred to a public inquiry by the Scottish government after local officials rejected it last year.
Ever since he announced his plans to build the resort three years ago Trump, said to be worth at least $3 billion, has spoken repeatedly of the love for Scotland he inherited from his late mother, Mary Ann MacLeod, a native Gaelic speaker who met Trump’s father after emigrating to America as a young woman.
If approved, the project will include a five-star hotel, a golf academy, and 1,000 holiday homes.
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Haitian kids love American cartoon characters
Haitian culture is a fascinating mix of African, Caribbean and French influences, which swirl together in the streets of Port-au-Prince in ways that can dazzle and confuse foreign visitors, especially Americans.
Billboards sport indecipherable phrases in Creole, the meanings sometimes becoming at least partly clear from accompanying photographs of bottled water or beer or happy young Haitians using the latest cell phones.
But American culture still intrudes and is nowhere more noticeable than on the signs and billboards advertising kindergartens and preschools, which at times seem to be located on nearly every corner.
No Haitian kindergarten’s sign seems complete without an American cartoon character. Winnie the Pooh, Goofy, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck beckon children to come play and learn, their jaunty images plastered in bright colors on cement block walls in even the most depressing neighborhoods.
While American corporations sometimes make headlines when they track down small businesses that use the characters without licenses, trademark disputes seem unknown in Haiti.
The characters are so ubiquitous it would take an army of lawyers to even make a dent.
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Sex and (Mexico) City
Mexico City fashionistas sip cosmos (or more likely mojitos) at exclusive bars and shop for shoes by cutting edge designers. Of course this world is just one small slice of the hemisphere’s biggest city, which has fallen head over heels for the new “Sex and the City” movie. According to a poll in the Mexico City Reforma newspaper, 92 percent of Mexico City’s denizens liked the move and nearly 70 percent say it was as good as the original series.
So who do Chilangos (as Mexico City residents are called) most identify with?
It’s probably no surprise that 40 percent go with Carrie, but in second place is the prim and proper Charlotte, with 20 percent. Wild child Samantha (who would probably fit best into the city’s raucous nightlife scene) is third with 15 percent, while staid Miranda apparently doesn’t connect with Mexico City audiences (just 5 percent).
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Haitians intrigued by US presidential race
Beset by almost daily kidnappings, terrible poverty and a food crisis that triggered riots in April, Haitians could be excused for paying scant attention to the U.S. presidential race.
But some Haitians — mostly the educated and the island’s tiny middle and upper classes — are watching closely, mindful of a long history of American involvement with their impoverished Caribbean nation.
Many are intrigued that a black man, Sen. Barack Obama, is poised to claim the nomination of one of the major American political parties and will head the ticket in the fall.
“A lot of Haitians are talking about it,” said Fritz Pierre, 36 an unemployed mechanic who makes a living changing money for foreigners in Petionville, a suburb of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. “Haiti is a black nation and I think he’d be more likely to help us because he is a black man.”
But other Haitians said Sen. Hillary Clinton was their first choice, because they feel Bill Clinton was a good president who helped Haiti. “Bill Clinton was a gem, smart and powerful,” said Sergot Soufrance, 38, who sells flowers in Petionville. “I preferred Hillary, because Obama doesn’t have as much experience. But I’d love to see Hillary as his vice president.”
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Asians cheer Obama’s victory
Senator Barack Obama “rewrote American history” when he claimed victory in the Democratic primaries, The Press Trust of India editorialized.
The South China Morning Post, the largest English-language newspaper in Hong Kong, called Obama’s win “a turning point in U.S. politics.”
Across Asia - a continent with roughly half of the world’s 6.6 billion people - people welcomed Obama’s victory.
“There has never before been an American presidential candidate like Barack Obama,” the South China Post wrote in a Thursday editorial. “Charismatic, black, multicultural, urbane and an orator, he has captured the imagination with his platform of change.”
Indonesians have been particularly supportive of an Obama presidency. Obama lived in the predominantly Muslim nation from age 6 to 10 with his mother and Indonesian stepfather.
“Indonesians are very confident that Indonesia-U.S. relations will be much warmer when Obama is at the helm in the White House,” the Jakarta Post newspaper said on Thursday.
“They also believe the world will be much more peaceful under Obama and that the nightmare under George W. Bush will pass as bitter history never to be repeated,” the newspaper added.
In Japan, which has had a close relationship with the United States during the administration of President Bush, some experts have worried that a Democratic president would seek closer ties with China - to Japan’s detriment.
But former Japanese ambassador Ryozo Kato said that Obama “is the only politician who delivered very meaningful speeches about the bilateral relationship with Japan ahead of the respective U.S. visits of [former] Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda,” the Yomiuri Shimbun reported last week.
He added that Obama is “a very pragmatic person” and said that “Whoever will become the U.S. president, it’s important that Japan remain a nation that is not negligible”.
China’s state-run media did not editorialize on Obama’s win. The Chinese government traditionally has favored Republican Party candidates because they have been more likely to promote free trade - helping Chinese exports.
But Jin Canrong, an expert in international relations at People’s University in Beijing, said many Chinese intellectuals welcomed Obama’s victory.
“The intellectual community feels that it shows that multiculturalism in the U.S. is growing and the mainstream is becoming more tolerant,” Jin said.
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Yeah, but will they miss Cheney?
Sen. Barack Obama has barely had a chance to claim the Democratic nomination and already Europeans are salivating over the idea of a new era in American politics.
Gushing the most today is the London Times which — in its lead editorial — claimed the senator had reawakened worldwide admiration for the land of opportunity.
It recalled the days of Rodney King and the Los Angeles riots when the world saw proof that America’s social fabric was still riven along racial lines. Then, despite the years of racial harmony displayed on TV by the likes of The Cosby Show and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the failed presidential campaigns of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton dented any rising optimism that change had come. Indeed Americans were forced to wonder whether they could ever elect a black president and also whether a black candidate could ever move beyond racial history to offer a color-blind message.
The paper said: “Such questions have been answered by Barack Obama in a way that has already rekindled America’s faith in its prodigious powers of reinvention — and the world’s admiration for America.” He could still lose the White House “but today at least the tide of history seems to be with him. Win or lose in November, he will have gone farther than anyone in history to bury the toxic enmity that fueled America’s Civil War and has haunted it ever since.”
Obama’s Republican opponent, “too tough to die”, embodies many strengths that Obama can only applaud. “But he has his own. The epic continues. Act II starts now.”
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IHOP goes upscale in Mexico City
But in Mexico City, IHOP has become the Next Big Thing (The first IHOP opened in Monterrey a couple years ago). The Reforma newspaper reports that on a recent afternoon the wait time for a table was nearly two hours. Weekends it seems it’s impossible to get a table without a reservation. And IHOP in Mexico is decidedly upscale: there’s valet parking and the first restaurant is located in the exclusive neighborhood of Lomas de Chapultepec. Upcoming branches will reportedly be located in ultra-sophisticated areas like Santa Fe and Polanco.
A reviewer for Reforma was at a loss to explain the restaurant’s popularity in the DF: “The place doesn’t have much charm,” wrote Myrna Martinez. “The decoration is so simple that it borders on austere.”
IHOP isn’t the first American chain to migrate across the border to be reborn as a trendy, upscale status symbol. Starbucks have become meeting places for city’s wealthy youth, Chilis is a hotspot for movers and shakers and Blockbuster serves an upper-class clientele.
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Gone With the Wind is a goner …
Slammed as one of the biggest flops in London’s theater history, the musical adaptation of “Gone With the Wind” will close June 14, three months ahead of schedule, thanks to poor ticket sales.
The musical, written by Margaret Martin, a novice playwright from California, was set to run until Sept. 27. It blew into London’s West End only weeks ago, opening on April 22.
A delegation of tourism officials from Georgia even traveled to London in mid-May seeking to capitalize on the production in an effort to entice planeloads of British tourists to Atlanta and Savannah. But the show has suffered under the weight of bad reviews from British newspapers. As a result plans for a Broadway production of the show have been put on hold.
Nicholas de Jongh, a critic for London’s Evening Standard newspaper, said recently that: “Connoisseurs of big, bad musicals must rush to catch Gone With the Wind in case it’s quickly blown away in gales of ridicule.” Another charged that: “Rhett Butler kissed Scarlett O’Hara like a frenzied dental hygienist.”
The show’s early closing is a serious setback for the production’s financial backers — who included heiress Patty Hearst — as it generally takes about a year for a show to break even.
The musical starred former reality TV star Darius Danesh as Rhett Butler and Broadway actress Jill Paice as Scarlett O’Hara. It was directed by Trevor Nunn of Cats fame.
Despite the drubbing from the media, those involved with the show still insist that audience members have continued to express enthusiasm over the quality of the production.
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