A podcast about books, art & life — not necessarily in that order
Ahoy, ahoy, dear readers! I’m way too busy reading pharmaco financials and analyst reports to spend much time blogging. Updates will be pretty light until July 4thish. (Of course there’ll be an Unrequired Reading this Friday! Don’t be silly!)
Just so you get your fix, the 0-fer of the week is . . . Ezra Pound!
Now I gotta get back to work. Later!
A “Key Figure” from sanofi-aventis’ annual report:
The title of this post is from one of my favorite Woody Allen movies
(UPDATE: Summamabitch! sanofi got revenge on me! I was about 80% of the way through its profile, for an issue that goes to press early next week, when I got a pharma e-newsletter with a link to the following item:
Sanofi-Aventis Plans Job Cuts
M2 Europharma – Jun. 22, 2009
22 June 2009 -French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis (EPA: SAN) may further cut jobs after the 927 lay-offs in 2008, business daily Les Echos reported on Monday (22 June), quoting trade union sources.
Sanofi-Aventis management is expected to announce the plans for major restructuring at an extraordinary works council next week. Employees are particularly concerned over positions in the research divisions.
The drug maker has been affected by the launch of generic versions of some of its key medicines. Within the coming months the generic version of its anti-cancer drug Eloxatin should …
Of course, the full announcement’s only going to come after the company’s profile is off at the printer! Grr!)
Oh, sure! You can take it easy, while I’m slaving away over these darned pharma-profiles! You’re lucky you’re so cute!
What I’m reading: Plutarch’s lives of Timoleon and Aemilius Paulus, and Seth’s amazing comic about Canadian designer Thoreau MacDonald (it’s in an anthology called Kramers Ergot 7
What I’m listening to: Greatest hits collection of Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, after reading this short post by Ta-Nehisi Coates. (He thought she was high yellow?)
What I’m watching: The Original Kings of Comedy, Big Night, Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs, Manhattan and Hot Rod, the latter of which was inspired by its recent My Year of Flops writeup.
What I’m drinking: Miller’s & Q Tonic
What Rufus is up to: Getting the last of his stitches out, learning how to hang out by himself again, and building up his stamina. I can’t believe we went 3 weeks without a walk outside of the yard. I’m glad it’s not hot out.
Where I’m going: Pharmaland. Lots and lots of Top Companies profiles to write!
What I’m happy about: That it’s not raining right now.
What I’m sad about: That my dad got pasted with an attack of gout this weekend, which means we have to put off our Father’s Day lunch till next Sunday. And that we’ll have to take the red wine off the menu.
What I’m worried about: Getting all of those profiles written and then laid out in time to put the issue to bed by July 2.
What I’m pondering: Whether crystal meth would help with that.
Time Lapse Round One from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.
Hat tip: Caroline Flyn at The Browser. (She posts a lot of wonderful links, but I don’t think she has a blog of her own at this point.)
Hot off the presses! Or my RSS reader. Whatever. Just click “more”!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: June 19, 2009”
In the “I wish I’d made this up” department, the following press release just rolled through my healthcare newswire:
GLASGOW, Scotland, June 17 /PRNewswire/ — Transform Cosmetic Surgery Group has revealed that despite the drooping economy Scots men are opting to perk themselves up this summer by booking in for moob removal surgery and finally getting their insecurities off their chests.
Transform revealed that although there has been a 44 per cent increase in the procedure across the UK, the group’s Scottish clinics have seen the popularity of the procedure increase by 80 per cent from 2007 with 40 operations being carried out in 2008 compared to 2007’s 22.
Transform’s Scottish clinics also found that the number of enquiries for the procedure ballooned in the spring time from men who were preparing to shed layers of clothing during the Scottish summer months.
You really need to read the whole thing. I guess I need to have Boob Week on this site sometime.
Last week (?) (seriously, I can’t keep track of days anymore), the police officer who handled the report for Rufus’ dog-attack case stopped by. Because of that letter I got from the Akita’s owners stating that Rufus had walked into their yard, I wanted to check with the officer that the report hadn’t been changed from the once I’d received. He supported the initial report and said that nothing had been changed; the Akita (King) attacked Ru outside the property.
We talked for a bit after that; it turns out that the policeman is a neighbor of ours (which answers the question of why I occasionally see a squad car parked in the driveway of a nearby house), and had seen the Akita unattended in its yard many times. Also, he was glad to see that Rufus was alright, because he last saw our boy the night of the attack, and things looked pretty bad.
Near the end of our conversation, I said, “Y’know what burns my ass? It’s been more than 3 weeks since their dog ripped the hell out of Rufus’ leg, and they haven’t asked once how he’s doing. I can understand them not wanting to come by, but not even a note?”
He said, “That tells you who they are.”
“That it does.”
Today I discovered that it was probably better that they stayed away.
Continue reading “Rufus See Well”
Last week, I posted about the Leroy Smith viral marketing campaign, which I thought was a hoot. At that time, I mentioned that I frequent the basketball website realgm.com.
One of my other regular destinations is Page 6, the gossip section of the New York Post. It’s one of the few ways I have to stay in touch with the popcult, since I don’t watch a lot of TV and haven’t listened to the radio in my car in a few years. I enjoy seeing the bold-faced names and reading of their canoodling, even if I’m not sure who’s whom. The blind items can be pretty entertaining, too.
But sometimes the ads catch my eye. They’re usually for Broadway musicals or condos. Sometimes, the ads for a TV show like 90210 take over the entire page.
And sometimes you get Denise Richards.
When I saw the animated tower ad this weekend for the second (!?) season of Denise Richards’ reality show on E!, “It’s Complicated”, I assumed I was looking at a parody ad for one of those “Scary Movie” flicks. Why? Because this was the first of three slogans/catchphrases:
“Flaunt my funbags.” Oh, I’m sorry. I mean, “FLAUNT MY FUNBAGS.”
I, uh, wow. I don’t have anything to add. Anyone help me out here?
What I’m reading: Finished Tatsumi’s Good-Bye
What I’m listening to: My iTunes library, on shuffle. I’ve been working at home a lot (keeping an eye on Rufus), so I haven’t been driving much. Hence, not much music.
What I’m watching: Adam’s Rib, Solaris (Soderbergh, not Tarkovsky), and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
What I’m drinking: Miller’s & Q Tonic, and Bardolino Chiaretto 2007 rosé.
What Rufus is up to: Recovering faster than we could’ve hoped, and back to his full (1- to 1.5-mile) walks! If he gets his endurance up by next weekend, we’ll take him out for a Sunday grey-hike!
Where I’m going: Nowhere. It’s a thrilling life, I tellsya.
What I’m happy about: That my wife, half-watching this trailer on Robert Wilonsky’s Ultimate Trailer Show (which really should have its own website), perked up after a few seconds and said, “Oh, it’s the other guy from that Peter Riegert movie!” Which would be Local Hero. Which would be yet another reason why I love her so.
Also, we took one look at this movie —
— and she said, “It’s your boyfriend, Sam Rockwell!” Oh, and she took care of Rufus for a few hours on Saturday while I went out, ran some errands, and had a little time alone.
What I’m sad about: That Timoleon had to let his friends kill his brother Timophanes. (Seriously: Plutarch’s story of his life is just amazing, especially when he gets to the segment about Dionysus the younger’s post-tyrant life in Corinth.)
What I’m worried about: That I’ll go ever stir-crazier, working at home.
What I’m pondering: Whether Mickael Pietrus is lying about being French and is actually from Rapa Nui.