mbf tod@y

Coffee Culture Thrives in Moscow

"Starbucks, the Seattle-based corporation with almost 9,000 company-operated stores around the world, opened its first Russian venue last fall in a suburban shopping mall in Khimki. The largest coffee shop brand in Britain, Costa Coffee, opened the chain's 1,000th shop last month on Pushkinskaya Square, ambitiously planning on 200 more locations in Russia over the next five years. To these seemingly late newcomers, Moscow's ratio of one coffeehouse for every 3,187 people is an opportunity for growth. Although arriving in an already established coffeehouse scene in Moscow, Western chains are banking on their brand familiarity, the attractiveness of quick counter service and Russians' growing incomes. "Moscow, with its vibrant economy and cosmopolitan culture, is the right place to start in Russia. For a market with a quickly emerging and upwardly mobile middle class, Moscow has a low concentration of cafes," said Mojtaba Akhbari of Starbucks, which opened two more locations in March at the Moskva-City business center and at the Belaya Dacha Mega Mall." (Mario Antonova, The Moscow Times)

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Moscow, the Model City

A marvelous miniature Moscow that is being stored in the local city town-hall, courtesy of English Russia

See it here in all its gloty.

Moasca, capitale del mondo

"Basta tornare nell’Arbat per ricordarsi che Mosca è una metropoli da 11 milioni di abitanti. L’antica Ulitsa Arbat è un mercato a cielo aperto davanti alla casa dove visse il poeta Puskin prima di trasferirsi a Pietroburgo e morire in duello. In piazza, la stazione della metro ha la forma di una stella rossa. Qui puoi cominciare un tour parallelo nei sotterranei della città, nella metropolitana più bella del mondo, forse anche la più efficiente. Stazioni come opere d’arte: lampadari, mosaici, affreschi, statue. I migliori artisti russi si alternarono a decorare, progettare, dipingere. E se riesci a non perderti tra le stazioni segnate in cirillico, è bene fermarsi almeno a Ploshchad Revoljutsii, Park Kultury (fuori, c’è la casa di Tolstoj e il grande Gorkij Park) e Majakovskaja. [...] Fuori, in negozi dove trovi tutto, dal costoso caviale alle divine aringhe, dal pane alle brioche, dalle matrioske a confezioni dal contenuto incomprensibile, donne e uomini si aggirano con cesti in mano. «Fanno la spesa? Ma che ore sono?», chiedo. Ivan e Lena ridono: «Siamo a Mosca, non a New York». (Matteo Nucci, XL)

Leggi

Moscow Is Europe's Hottest Property

Hot Spots
City	2008 Ranking	2007 Ranking
Moscow	1	18
Istanbul	2	11
Hamburg	3	9
Munich	4	4
Paris	5	1
Lyon	6	5
Frankfurt	7	27
Stokholm	8	3
Berlin	9	25
Helsinki	10	6
Source: Urban Land Institute / PricewaterhouseCoopers Emerging Trends survey.

"It looks like good news if you have money to invest but bad news if you are looking for a place to rent. If you want more bang for your buck then the Moscow real estate market is the place to be, according to a Europe-wide survey of market players released Tuesday that put the city on top of the table for investment prospects. But in the rollercoaster world of Russia's property boom not everything looks so rosy, as those polled also ranked Moscow the riskiest city to do business in. Moscow's meteoric rise, up from 18th last year, is due in large part to investors turning away from Europe's traditional markets to tap into new opportunities, the annual report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute said"(Mark Delany, The Moscow Times)

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Moscow Subway: 175th station!

"A new metro station, Strogino, opened Monday, serving a largely residential area of western Moscow. It is the 175th station in the system, reached on a new section of the dark blue line following Krylatskoye station. The tunnel between the two stations runs at an incline of 45 degrees - close to the maximum possible for a metro line. The simply decorated station was designed by architects Alexander Orlov and Alexander Nekrasov. It has an exceptionally wide granite platform, 12 meters across, with oak benches. The lighting is also much brighter than usual in the metro. The new station will eventually link the center with the suburb of Mitino." (Anna Malpas, The Moscow Times)

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Steve Slattery Eats Tacos

as I said: Download SLATTERY2.mp4

Pasha Face Control, the Arbiter of Cool.

"The bouncer known as Pasha Face Control sits in a purple crushed-velvet booth at the entrance. Diaghilev Project is quiet except for the bartenders getting their nightly, premadness briefing from the floor manager. A thin light permeates the club. Standing 5 ft. 9 in. (just over 1.7 m), with a slight build and a languorous gaze stretched across his face, Pasha Face Control hardly looks like a bouncer, let alone Moscow's most famous front man. But that is exactly what he is. As he explains to me who gets into Diaghilev, he speaks with an almost Talmudic earnestness. Everywhere else, Pavel Pichugin, with his blue jeans, button-down shirt and windbreaker, would look totally unremarkable, but in Moscow at this particular post-Soviet juncture, he is not Pavel; he is Pasha Face Control, the Arbiter of Cool." (Peter Savodnik, TIME)

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Madrid's Air Tree

"In Madrid, Spain, a unique, hulking structure is currently being built. An "Air Tree," it's designed to both affect the surrounding environment and act as a social center. It's loaded up with solar panels that create electricity that's sold to the local electric company. It's completely self-sufficient, powering itself and using the money it makes from selling excess energy for upkeep. It also produces oxygen like a tree, hence the name. And as for it being a social center, it's designed to be a public gathering place. It's really pretty cool, a completely unique idea and one that, unlike most out-of-the-box ideas like this, is actually being made a reality.  (Adam Frucci, Gizmodo)

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Chris Anderson in Milan

"Chris Anderson, direttore di Wired - mensile americano di riferimento per la tecnologia - non ha dubbi. E, sbarcato a Milano, sale sul palco per sciorinare un concentrato dei concetti alla base del libro che lo ha reso celebre a livello globale: "The long tail. Why the future of business is selling less of more" (La coda lunga, perché il futuro dell'economia è vendere una minor quantità di un maggior numero di beni). [...] Il ministro Gentiloni ha rinnovato il proprio impegno perché in Italia siano superati gli ostacoli che ancora impediscono un accesso generale alla rete. (Massimo Russo, La Repubblica)

Chris Anderson is currently doing missionary work in technologically and bureucratically challenged countries. Indigenous shamans and politicians - namely the one who recently suggested that all blogs should be regulated by the State because freedom of speech is fastidious - promise new rules for new economies and pizza for everybody.Shiny happy people are holding hands.

Holland Herald on Milan

The September issue of Holland Herald, the KLM in-flight magazine, has a special feature on Milan written by Jane Szita, "MIlano alla Moda". 8 pages that basically summarize why I always felt alien in the city where I was born and and where I spent way too many years. Here are some gems:

"The customers at Dolce & Gabbana's Martini Bar in Milan, much like the place itself, have a studied glamour. Bronzed girls dazzle with Just Cavalli, five-inch silver heels and Donatella Versace hair. Brioni-suited businessmen look dandyish as they sip champagne. Even the cleaner is wearing a figure-hugging black dress and crisp white apron. The Bar is D&G's circular, black, theatre of fashion, and everyone here looks the part." (Jane Szita, Holland Herald, Sept. 2007 p. 20)

"When it comes to looking good, the Milanese are prepared to pay. "People here spend so much on clothes," says Marion Harber-Radice, a British-personal shopper, sitting on the terrace of Il Salumaio, a restaurant on the Via Monte Napoleone, at the heart of the ritzy Golden Triangle shopping area. All around us manicured shoppers, laden with bags bearing exclusive logos, are sitting down to lunch, beautifully dressed in blindingly white trousers or black shift dresses, complete with towering heels and coordinating jewelery. Most look as if they were going to some formal function. "You have to dress up to go shopping in Milan," explains Marion. "You get much better service that way. If you're not dressed up, you're not taken seriously". (Jane Szita, Holland Herald, Sept. 2007 p. 23)

"A portion of that money [78 million euros, the value of the Italian fashion industry, Ed.] is made on Via della Spiga, where a fashion photographer is shooting a new Roberto Cavalli advertisement, featuring a motorbike, two girls in a mini-skirt and a boy in a skinny suit. A Milanese man with sharp sunglasses and slicked-back hair stops to rearrange his tie in the shop window behind them. He is holding up the shoot, but he takes his time, and no one seems to mind [being from Milan, I don't believe this for a second, Ed.]. After all, they know that looking good is a serious business" (Jane Szita, Holland Herald, Sept. 2007 p. 26)

As I was reading this, at 30.000 feet up in the air, I immediately reached for the barf bag. There was no turbulence, but Szita's description of the city was so effective that it almost made me puke. When people ask me why I cannot stand Milan, I used to quote lines from Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho or Glamorama (the ending, usually). I now have a brand new repertoire of involuntarily funny quotes.