An encore appearance of "This Is a Scam"

[This ran originally in January '09 and it deserves a second airing]

I'm filing this one under "how-to," as in how to avoid being scammed. I retrieved an e-mail bearing this coupon from my spam filter on Monday and I just want to do a little public service here.

Direct Buy is a scam. Their entire business model preys on the general public's ignorance of commerce to fleece them all the more. If you agree to pay them a several thousand dollar membership fee, they will help you bypass supposedly predatory retail mark ups. But I have a dog in this race, so rather than blow a lot of hot air I'm going to turn this over to the kids at Consumer Reports. To wit:

To evaluate the pitch, we went undercover at two DirectBuy franchises in New York. Both gave us the same hard sell and offers of up to 70 percent off retail prices if we were to join. Only after an hour and a half of sales pitches and video testimonials from members did we learn the membership fee: $4,900 to $4,990 (plus tax) for three years and then $190 a year for seven more. Financing is available at 17.75 percent.

After the fee disclosure, we discovered that we had to sign up on the spot or never come back. We couldn’t bring DirectBuy’s “confidential” prices elsewhere to comparison shop, the representatives said, because this would likely anger retailers who might then retaliate against the manufacturers by refusing to sell their merchandise.

The fine print in the DirectBuy contract says you cannot return items, cancel orders, or terminate your membership. When we asked if, after plunking down $5,000, we could cancel and get a refund, a salesperson said, “You’ll have to check state law.” A review of New York state law revealed that the three-day cooling-off period for canceling contracts wouldn’t apply in this case.

Tacked onto the cost of merchandise—which you select from catalogs since DirectBuy has limited showrooms—are a 6 percent handling fee, shipping fees, and tax. Goods are typically shipped only to your local center, so you might pay additional fees to actually get your new stuff home.

All of this hoopla and added expense so that you can buy stuff at what end up being typical retail prices. Don't believe the hype. Do yourself a favor and study before you make a major purchase or better yet, train yourself to shop for value instead of price. Do all of that yes, but for the love of God, stay away from these people.

A shower head that gives me pause

This is the Sculpture shower head by Vado.

But reminds of a little something by Caravaggio.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1597

I can't look at that fixture without thinking about Perseus' run in with Medusa.

Perseus Beheads Medusa, Laurent Honoré Marqueste, 1901

It would be an interesting way to start the day. Just don't look at the shower directly or you'll turn to stone.

Detail from Perseus Beheads Medusa, Laurent Honoré Marqueste, 1901

Beaux Arts reborn with Siematic

100 years ago, American architects flocked to the École des Beaux Arts in Paris to be schooled in the decorative arts. The ideas and inspiration they brought home spawned the Beaux Arts movement and they yielded what's arguably the most famous example of the Beaux Arts style in the US, 1911's New York Public Library.

The Reading Room

The Map Room

Now that is what my friend Tom would call a Beaux Arts pile.

The Beaux Arts movement of a century ago was the great amalgamator. Beaux Arts buildings and the Beaux Arts style borrowed heavily from the decorative styles that preceded it and combined everything into fanciful and exuberant buildings and rooms. Beaux Arts embraced the modern by absorbing the past.

Around 100 years later, Siematic teamed with superstar designer Mick de Giulio to interpret Beaux Arts for the 21st century. As was the case 100 years ago, Siematic's Beaux Arts honors the many forms that came before it and presents something utterly new.

Beaux Arts Flannel Grey

Beaux Arts Flannel Grey

Beaux Arts Magnolia White

Beaux Arts Magnolia White

Beaux Arts Magnolia White

Beaux Arts Salvia Green

Beaux Arts Salvia Green

Beaux Arts Salvia Green

That my friends is some amazing kitchenry. The photos above from the Flannel Grey kitchen pretty much do it for me. Bravo Siematic!

Marc Newson's bathroom

Marc Newson is an industrial designer and creative genius. This is his iconic Embryo Chair.

And thanks to David Nolan, this is his London apartment as profiled in The New York Times on 24 February of this year.

I love his library.

The paneling is architectural salvage, believe it or not. Despite the omnipresence of zebra skin rugs these days, I don't hate it here.

This is the kitchen.

I think it's a little too cute but I love the simplicity of it.

This is a great photograph.

I love the curve of the hand rail and the peek of blue in that field of white. Beautiful photograph, and I wonder how it plays in real life.

Finally, this bathroom is what prompted David to send me this article.

The article describes this stone as slab marble and it's absolutely beautiful. However, I spend a lot of time around marble and slab stone and I'm not so sure that this is marble. I have never seen marble with such pronounced stripes. It's possible I'm sure, but I suspect that this is a quartzite and not a marble. Can we hear from a stone expert? Quartzite or marble?

A new layout poll

Here are a handful of layout options I have in front of me. I like the one that's up and running now but I've been getting mixed reviews. I made up some samples so let me know if any of these work better than the others.

Option A: Pleasant and Non-Threatening

Option B: 3-D House of Flies

Option C: Miss Sandy Sandstone

Option D: Rusty the Diesel

Option E: Down Down Yellow and Brown

Option F: The Tired and Expected Cliché

So there are six options. Bear in mind that this is a temporary fix and that I have a new logo that will get folded into this version and will be the linchpin of the final version. That final version ought to be ready by summer. Now, my goals are simple. I want the template to come second to my content but I want the template to show off my content better than my old template did.

I want it to be kind of serious, but not too serious.

I want it to look like something other than the cheesy, canned template that it is.

With that said, I welcome your feedback. Thanks gang.