Sugar mamas + Greek gods = hot dates

IT IS the revenge of the sugar mamas. With the power of their Prada purse, they are now invited to take part in an evening of speed dating with Greek gods below 30 years old.

The event is only open to women aged at least 40 and who have a minimum of US$5mil (RM17.5mil) in the bank. Male participants will be judged solely on their looks. Applications are trickling in already.

This is “Speed Date: Sugar Mamas”, organised by Pocket Change, a weekly e-newsletter launched last year that delves into the finest and most expensive things in New York and Los Angeles.

Details like the date and venue are still in the works by Pocket Change, which chronicles topics such as the most expensive haircut in LA (US$500) and New York’s most expensive whiskey (US$38,000 a bottle).

Three months ago, Pocket Change held a Natural Selection Speed Date for Rich Guys and Hot Girls. It was headline news not just in local tabloids; even CNN and wire agencies picked up the story.

Oh, the shame of it all, you say?

“We knew it was going to be controversial. But there is an unspoken truth about dating and levels of attraction ... and what part money plays in that,” said Pocket Change co-founder Jeremy Abelson.

“People are so hesitant to come out and say it. Women are so hesitant to say 'I want a man who is rich'. But if you ask a woman, 'do you want a successful man', all of them say yes.”.

During an interview at his office in Soho, he played out a telephone call from a woman who was fuming about the event.

“How dare you do this? Rich, fat old men can judge women by the way they look? Shame on you! I will tell the next US president Hillary Clinton, if she is in power, to shut you down. Power to ugly women! Drop dead, go to hell,” she yelled.

That was just one of the many angry calls and derogatory email messages that Abelson received. But he is unfazed. Pocket Change events are held for fun, he explained.

“Our other co-founder came up with a saying ‘if it’s not fun, we are not doing it’. We live by that,” he declared. “Money is no doubt an aphrodisiac but I would never say that money can sustain a healthy relationship.

“You know, a Ferrari and a great pair of breasts can make a perfect evening. That is a recipe for an incredible evening. But what does it lead to? There needs to be more depth, more chemistry,” he said.

The February speed dating got almost 1,600 women and 500 males applying to take part. The entry fee for hot women was US$50 (RM169); moneyed guys paid US$500 (RM1,695) and must also submit proof of financial standing; and the event was limited to 40 “couples”.

“It was incredible,” Abelson said. “At least half of them had some sort of post-event dating activity. Many of them have reported that they are still dating.”

He conceded that the speed dating events were hatched from a business standpoint and the need to make a splash.

“We could buy two ads in Gotham Magazine, but that would accomplish nothing. Our branding gets out there, but it does nothing for our business,” he said.

Pocket Change, Abelson said, was a small e-publication with 47,000 subscribers in New York and 60,000 in Los Angeles.

“So we run these events, get people talking, bloggers writing, and the press interested,” he said. It was a big revenue generator and branding platform.

Abelson said he had always been intrigued by new business development; how companies bring in money. “Providing good service is one thing, but how do you make a business grow?” he mused.

“We have a long way to go with Pocket Change. There are acquisition talks with real estate operations for them to purchase the business. We have more markets to go into, more events to run, more newsletters to publish.”

For now, Pocket Change is focussing on New York and Los Angeles.

“If there are any two places in this country that are notorious for enshrining luxury, it’s definitely them. These are the only two cities where you can have a US$1,000 (RM3,390) omelette, and where people speak seriously why 10 ounces of caviar is worth US$1,000.”

Pocket Change, he said, would report all this in a fun, entertaining way.

He loves what Pocket Change is doing. “And what I really love is the power of the Internet and the emerging media. I see myself gravitating towards that.”

Move over Hollywood, New York City is here

The Big Apple is even bigger onscreen. With about 100 TV shows made here annually and 276 movies shot last year, New York reigns on celluloid.

BRIGHT lights, rolling cameras, non-stop action; this city is a blockbuster hit itself in the starry, starry world of TV and films.

From classics such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s to NBC studio's late night comedy Saturday Night Live, Gotham is the most filmed city in the world.

“This is a US$5bil (RM17bil) a year industry, employing some 100,000 workers,” said commissioner Katherine Oliver of the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (MOFTB).

King Kong scaled the Empire State Building here. And Spider-Man fans can’t possibly forget Uncle Ben telling Peter Parker outside the New York Public Library that “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

The 2003 Bollywood film Kal Ho Naa Ho, which is the fourth-highest grossing Indian movie to date, was shot in the borough of Queens, where there is a huge Asian population.

“There used to be many productions which faked New York in their movies but we are changing this gradually,” Oliver told a group of foreign journalists last week. “Now, a lot of films done here are faking other cities.”

Martin Scorsese’s The Departed was set in Boston but made mostly in New York. Sex and the City, which Oliver described as an amazing postcard of New York, faked a big part of Paris in its season finale; most of the scenes were actually shot in the West Village here.

The opening credit should go to the MOFTB, which introduced an incentive programme that includes tax credits and free permits. Shooting in public locations such as parks is free. In other cities, like San Francisco, it could cost US$200 (RM680) a day.

“Films and TV productions that complete at least 75% of their stage work in the city will get up to 15% refundable tax credits,” Oliver said.

To support productions “from script to screen,” the city provides free advertising on phone booths and bus shelters to promote a movie launch.

“We also work closely with the police department to make sure traffic is flowing and pedestrians are safe during a movie shoot,” Oliver said. Such police assistance is free; and plus free parking, would save the productions US$20,000 (RM68,000) per week.

The MOFTB is incredibly accommodating as it believes that these productions are a great boost for the city. It even shut down for several hours Times Square for Tom Cruise’s Vanilla Sky in 2001.

Each year, at least 50,000 visitors descend upon locations made famous in films. Organised by On Location Tours Inc (www.screentours.com), there are four types of tours – Sex and the City Hotspots (covering 40 locations where the characters live, shop and dine), Sopranos Sites, Central Park Movie Sites, and the New York TV and Movie Sites.

The New York TV and Movie Sites tour takes visitors to the apartment building used in Friends, the bar in Coyote Ugly, just to name a few. Tour prices range from US$15 to US$40 (RM51 to RM136).

Plenty of movie trivia are served during the tour when the bus passes by notable sites.

The Devil Wears Prada made used of the St Regis Hotel; James Gandolfini of The Sopranos lives in Greenwich Village where Jennifer Lopez used to own an apartment in the same building.

“Jenny’s no longer on the block,” said tour guide Roseanne Almanzar.

Central Park, Almanzar said, was the most filmed location, and Plaza Hotel the most filmed building in the world.

She said the MOFTB would place “no parking” signs along the stretch where a shoot would take place.

Law & Order, which has completed 17 seasons, is a New York institution. CSI: NY, despite its name, is made mostly in Los Angeles.

“I’m so offended! CSI: NY is so slick. New York isn’t like that at all. New York is grungier,” said Almanzar, a native New Yorker. The current hit Heroes faked New York as well.

According to her, Sandra Bullock’s Two Weeks Notice in 2002 was pivotal in bringing back film production to New York.

“It was a big deal; it was one of the first to be filmed here after Sept 11.”

Last year, New York City recorded its highest number of TV, film, commercial and music video shoots ever, totalling 34,718 days.

Currently, at least 19 movies, 13 prime time TV shows, 32 daytime and late night shows are being produced.

It is never a wrap in New York.

Nothing to lose for visitors to Atlantic City

IT WAS a drizzly morning, but the group of aunties and uncles at Brooklyn’s Chinatown did not seem to mind as they waited for the bus that would take them to a gold mine, so to speak.

That’s Atlantic City in New Jersey, a seaside resort better known for its 11 casinos.

Throughout the journey, passengers stayed glued to the onboard TV screen, which was airing a TVB drama, To Love With No Regrets starring Amy Kwok, that had been dubbed in Mandarin.

A return ticket for the two-hour bus ride from New York City costs just US$15 (RM51). For this bunch of middle-aged people, there really isn’t anything to lose.

One casino, in a tie-up with the bus company, provides US$20 (RM68) cash for each customer as an inducement to visit this mini sin city, whose official slogan is “Always Turned On.”

Visitors are not required to show proof that they had spent the money at the casino. They are also given a voucher for a free bowl of noodles.

Thus, it is no big gamble at all for these “coupon-carrying retirees,” as one newspaper puts it, to come to Atlantic City. They could spend their day at leisure there, besides taking a stroll along its boardwalk.

This particular bus company runs four daily trips to Atlantic City; the last bus back to New York is at 4.30am.

However, the stakes are higher for the casinos, some of which face declining returns. Although the casinos collected US$5.2bil (RM17.7bil) in revenue last year, there is stiff competition from gambling machines in nearby states.

More recent reports stated the New York state government had closed a deal that would allow for a Las Vegas-type casino in Catskills, about 137km from the Big Apple.

“A number of my parents’ colleagues were laid off early this year. They had worked at the casino from day one,” said Ashley Joanne Sunder, who runs a coffee stand at Trump Taj Mahal.

Another of her mother’s friends opted to retire, she said.

Growing up in Atlantic City, the 18-year-old Sunder saw the town change through the years.

“New stores came up, and some neighbourhood shops disappeared,” she said.

It was tough for her to say whether she was okay with its reputation as a gambling city.

“The casinos have provided jobs for the people here,” she acknowledged.

A plaque outside Trump Taj Mahal was unabashedly complimentary of real estate tycoon Donald Trump, praising him for being kind and caring.

“He has provided amenities that enhance the quality of life for our residents,” it said.

Besides Trump Taj Mahal, two other casinos here carry the name of The Donald, by which he is sometimes known; there’s the Trump Plaza and Trump Marina.

A number of these casinos look quite similar, with endless rows of slot machines and rather flashy themes.

It isn’t all about gambling, though. There is golf, shopping and night entertainment. At the tourist information centre, there are even flyers promoting “Malaysian cuisine” at a place called Melaka Restaurant.

Its menu offers dishes in interesting language and spelling. There’s “bobo cha cha”, “kari ikan kepala”, “lady finger belacan” and “achat”, described as Malaysian pickled vegetables with peanut sauce.

Families come to Atlantic City for day trips, too.

“I am here to see what it’s all about,” said hairdresser La Toya Augustine, who drove from Connecticut to celebrate her sixth wedding anniversary.

While her husband tried his luck at blackjack, she explored the sprawling casino with their two children.

“I would certainly come again, at least to gamble and have some fun,” she said.

It is clearly a gamblers’ paradise. Giant billboards shouting out the names of the casinos greet visitors, while others promote poker tournaments.

“Let’s play!” one of them boldly declared.

It’s a bidding no gambler can say no to.

Fighting for a voice in N.Y.

THERE was a spring in their steps as they marched around midtown Manhattan to mark Vasakhi, the Sikh New Year. It wasn’t a boisterous affair but echoes of “I’m Sikh and I’m proud of it” was almost unmistakable.

Men in turban and women wearing the dastar (head cover) lined the streets to watch last Saturday’s parade.

“This is a proud day for me,” said computer engineer Iqbal Singh Grewal as he munched on prashad, a cocktail of nuts and sweets that was handed out during the procession.

Prashad is usually given out at the end of a religious service; the person receiving it symbolises his acceptance of the teachings of that day.

New York is home to an estimated 50,000 Sikhs, mostly stereotyped as taxi drivers and convenience store owners. Many of the newer immigrants these days start out at construction sites.

Iqbal Singh, a New Jersey resident, has called America home for the past 20 years.

“The Sikhs have gone through a lot, especially after 9/11 when some people began calling us Talibans,” he said, although he personally felt that such harassment had been minor.

But groups like The Sikh Coalition do not take it lightly.

“We created a website the day after Sept 11. Within six months, we received 300,000 reports on hate crimes, and harassment at school and at the workplace,” said Amardeep Singh, executive director of The Sikh Coalition, the largest such organisation in the United States despite having only four full-time staff.

“We are getting more complaints than we can handle,” he said. The coalition is funded by private donations and charitable organisations.

Amardeep Singh found that the average American would look at a Sikh and think Osama bin Laden or Taliban.

“There is definitely a lack of understanding and ignorance of the community,” he lamented, noting out that male Sikhs were not allowed to serve as traffic policemen unless they removed their turbans.

“This is despite the fact that they have passed all the required written and physical tests,” he said, pointing to the irony that this happens in New York, the most diverse city in the world.

Born in Connecticut, Amardeep Singh, 36, was introduced to alienation from young; he was the only Sikh in his school. “The kids used to call me Gandhi. They thought he was a funny figure with his dhoti,” he said.

In the early days, there was no gurdwara. Then several Sikh families banded together to establish one, he recalled.

He observed that harassment against Sikhs paralleled the historic or tragic moments that took place in the United States. “During the Iran hostage crisis in 1979, people would ask me whether I was from Iran. I would get crank calls, asking me to go back to Iran,” he said.

“The 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City led to warnings that Sikhs would be blamed for it, although the man behind it was Timothy McVeigh. And after Sept 11, we were told to return to Afghanistan.”

Harsimran Kaur, an attorney with The Sikh Coalition, related the case of a Sikh woman who was harassed by her superior at work last year.

“He would say things like ‘take off your turban if you want to work here. Besides, I want to see your long hair’.” The woman defied his instructions and was then ordered to wash the bathroom, which was not part of her job. She was eventually fired.

“We filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in October last year,” Harsimran said. The case is still being reviewed.

In a way, the community has made big strides here. Last year, five Sikhs were elected to the Queens County Democratic Committee, a victory of sorts as it signalled their entry into local politics.

“It is the lowest level of elected officers in New York City but it gives them a chance to join the meetings of the Democratic Party. It provides them with a platform; it gives them an important first foot in the door. They are slowly getting inside it,” Amardeep Singh said.