Monica May Be Too Late
Monica Lewinsky’s having a hard go of it in the book deals department. Apparently, the big bucks aren’t there for a tell-all book since she’s busy telling all for free. And at least one publisher feels the market for political intern-turned-celeb books is saturated: “I think we’re all bimboed out,” says Larry Kirshbaum of Time Warner Trade Publishing. (From Aug. 10 Time)
* Facts of life: The percentage of married women who were employed or seeking employment in 1960: 32. In 1998: More than 60 percent. (From Aug. 4 Family Circle)
* Think about it: While roughly half the world’s population has yet to even make a phone call, the arrival of satellite telephony will allow globetrotters to make a digital wireless call from almost anywhere on the planet. (From August Wired)
* A sign of the times: There’s hardly a place on earth free of tourists servicing their wanderlust, so says Bob Fisher, a longtime editor of travel guides.
“What was once exotic and out of the way is now covered with tourists’ footprints,” he says.
He first wrote about Ubud, an Indonesian mountain village known for its woodcarvings, about 30 years ago. Since then, the local woodcarvers have added figurines of Elvis to their religiously inspired line of maidens and mythological animals, and, Fisher says, “the maidens’ breasts have definitely gotten bigger.” (From July 27 Newsweek)
* A sign of the times 2: Though the ‘90s started as a decade of job insecurity, a funny thing happened after corporate America tried to slash-and-burn its way to prosperity: good workers were suddenly in short supply.
Now we’re in the post-downsizing era and just to lure good employees, some companies are turning to nonmonetary perks. Neversoft Entertainment, a Hollywoods computer-games designer, not only allows workers to bring their dogs to work, but also supplies the Milk-Bones. When Timberland Group, a Michigan insurance firm, built a new 12,000-square-foot office for its 25 workers, it added extras such as a golf driving range and a gym. Atlanta-based Revenue Systems gives every employee access to its fleet of BMWs. (From July 20 Newsweek)
* A national whine: By the reckoning of the Academy of Leisure Sciences, Americans spend about $1 trillion annually in pursuit of leisure, more than they spend on health care, or cars and trucks or housing.
Does a trillion bucks buy happiness? The academy says not exactly. While Americans study leisure time and throw money at it, they don’t get much satisfaction from it. Evidence suggests we don’t even have a lot of good ideas about what to do with it. We don’t enjoy it; we work at it or waste it watching television, say researchers. Yet we constantly complain that we don’t have enough of it.
The real question is whether, at a trillion a pop, we can afford more vacation time or longer weekends? (From summer Wilson Quarterly)<