Extreme wealth

[Telecaster]

People who are compelled to flaunt their wealth, and the stuff they've bought with it, are also highly likely to be tasteless. The one is related to the other.    Lack of self-awareness & self-regard, the need to be paid attention to (thus the public loudness & tacky/gaudy "æsthetic") and so gain a kind of sense-of-self & sense-of-worth from the outside in…it's all of a piece.

-Dave-

[Alan Klein]

A few years back, I attended the Association of International Photography Art Dealers, or AIPAD, as it’s more commonly known, held at the Park Avenue Armory, in NYC. There were lots of Ansel Adams B/W prints.  Many dealers apparently sell his stuff. I saw three different Sunrise over Hernandez prints.  One dealer had his at around $80,000; another at $115,000 and the last at around $140,000.

So I'm standing at the last dealer, the one with the $140,000 edition,  when in flows this attention grabbing couple.  He, a rather ordinary fifty something year old dressed to kill, and she, a knock-out blond about half his age.  So I overhear him telling her, "This is nothing.  My Hernandez cost me $180,000."  As they drifted away, he had a smile on his face.  And she, well, I think she was impressed.  I was.  But not about the $180,000.  Or that he had an Adams Hernandez.  I was impressed that he had such a hot girlfriend.

[Rob C]

A few years back, I attended the Association of International Photography Art Dealers, or AIPAD, as it’s more commonly known, held at the Park Avenue Armory, in NYC. There were lots of Ansel Adams B/W prints.  Many dealers apparently sell his stuff. I saw three different Sunrise over Hernandez prints.  One dealer had his at around $80,000; another at $115,000 and the last at around $140,000.

So I'm standing at the last dealer, the one with the $140,000 edition,  when in flows this attention grabbing couple.  He, a rather ordinary fifty something year old dressed to kill, and she, a knock-out blond about half his age.  So I overhear him telling her, "This is nothing.  My Hernandez cost me $180,000."  As they drifted away, he had a smile on his face.  And she, well, I think she was impressed.  I was.  But not about the $180,000.  Or that he had an Adams Hernandez.  I was impressed that he had such a hot girlfriend.

He didn't have a hot girlfriend: his wallet did.

:-)

[32BT]

He didn't have a hot girlfriend: his wallet did.

:-)

Gives new meaning to: is that your wallet? Or are you just glad to see me?

[Rob C]

Gives new meaning to: is that your wallet? Or are you just glad to see me?

Middle of the day really is a creative time for you!

:-)

[Telecaster]

During my CA trip this past June my friend (who I was visiting) & I went out to dinner, for kicks, at a very tony restaurant. The kind of place where the diners are there to eye each other up as much as have a meal.    The couple at the table left of us, from my perspective, were the stereotypical old dude and much younger blond woman. Old dude was going on about some business thing or other while young woman lapped it up with what was clearly exaggerated interest. The played and the player. At one point I happened to look over and lock eyes with the woman. Probably had an amused look on my face. In response she gave me a wry smile. Hope she's getting whatever it is she wants.

-Dave-

[petermfiore]

During my CA trip this past June my friend (who I was visiting) & I went out to dinner, for kicks, at a very tony restaurant. The kind of place where the diners are there to eye each other up as much as have a meal.    The couple at the table left of us, from my perspective, were the stereotypical old dude and much younger blond woman. Old dude was going on about some business thing or other while young woman lapped it up with what was clearly exaggerated interest. The played and the player. At one point I happened to look over and lock eyes with the woman. Probably had an amused look on my face. In response she gave me a wry smile. Hope she's getting whatever it is she wants.

-Dave-

Dave,

They always do until they don't...And then they do in court.

Peter

[Rob C]

Seems that unless you get it right early on, the mating game is a pretty miserable, expensive experience.

I can understand the therapeutic desire for the hot wheels: takes you to a different place, even if, when you park, it's just the same old place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj0o0QO2riY

;-)

[KLaban]

As a couple who have lived most of their lives living hand to mouth I'm sure we would risk a taste-bypass in exchange for extreme wealth.

;-)

[petermfiore]

As a couple who have lived most of their lives living hand to mouth I'm sure we would risk a taste-bypass in exchange for extreme wealth.

;-)

May I be smitten with such an affliction. Just long enough, to be determined by me.

Peter

[Jeremy Roussak]

May I be smitten with such an affliction. Just long enough, to be determined by me.

Your thought has been had before, Peter. From Fiddler on the Roof:

     Perchik: Money is the world's curse.
     Tevye: May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover.

Jeremy

[petermfiore]

Your thought has been had before, Peter. From Fiddler on the Roof:

     Perchik: Money is the world's curse.
     Tevye: May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover.

Jeremy

I Know....I first heard that line on Broadway in the sixties as a young boy, and have been wish for that horror ever since. LOL

Peter

[Jeremy Roussak]

I Know....I first heard that line on Broadway in the sixties as a young boy, and have been wish for that horror ever since. LOL

And I heard it in London, in the sixties, as a young boy. We must be of an age, Peter - you can't be 244 after all, despite the claim in your profile.

Jeremy

[Rob C]

As a couple who have lived most of their lives living hand to mouth I'm sure we would risk a taste-bypass in exchange for extreme wealth.

;-)

Hand-to-mouth is, after all, a relative experience.

My hand-to-mouth is another's heaven, but yet another's suicide call.

I sort of guestimate that after the first forty million squids one can become content, complacent, even. And possibly, therein the danger of losing the lot.

They used to say that he who dies with the most toys wins, but that was a very '80s thing, and paid no heed to the sense of responsibility those goddam toys bring after the unwrapping. Today, post-2008, I think folks have a different take, and possibly think of high numbers in terms of survival insurance rather than acquisitions.

I had a business friend who was always looking for expansion. He ended up losing most of what he had, wife included, for nothing more than, on the one hand, chasing his long-gone youth and, on the other, dreams of even more wealth than he had amassed already.

Lucky the guy who finds his level and has enough squirreled away to make it last his lifetime.

Rob

[petermfiore]

And I heard it in London, in the sixties, as a young boy. We must be of an age, Peter - you can't be 244 after all, despite the claim in your profile.

Jeremy

I must fix that...Imagine to be 244. That would be something, but living that long I certainly would run out money.

Peter

[RSL]

Not necessarily, Peter. You could make a living appearing in a circus.

[Rob C]

Not necessarily, Peter. You could make a living appearing in a circus.

Brilliant!

[Telecaster]

Your thought has been had before, Peter. From Fiddler on the Roof:

     Perchik: Money is the world's curse.
     Tevye: May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover.

I saw Fiddler On The Roof, with Zero Mostel, at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit in 1976. Members of the Fisher family were in attendance that night, and Mostel played up quips like the one above for maximum laughter. There were tears of mirth running down many faces. Mine may have been among them. 

Fiddler… actually premiered at the Fisher in 1964, in a kind of shakedown cruise, before moving to Broadway.

-Dave-

[petermfiore]

I saw Fiddler On The Roof, with Zero Mostel, at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit in 1976. Members of the Fisher family were in attendance that night, and Mostel played up quips like the one above for maximum laughter. There were tears of mirth running down many faces. Mine may have been among them. 

Fiddler… actually premiered at the Fisher in 1964, in a kind of shakedown cruise, before moving to Broadway.

-Dave-

I saw Zero Mostel twice, once as a lad in the 60's  and then in 1976 whilst I was learning how to wield a brush.

Peter

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... I saw three different Sunrise over Hernandez prints.  One dealer had his at around $80,000; another at $115,000 and the last at around $140,000...

Too bad they were all fake.