Adventures of an Entrepreneur

It’s obvious from “Blue Jasmine” that Woody Allen has been to Hell; what’s more, he imagines some of the neighborhoods there that he was spared from visiting. It’s a movie about pain and loss—and specifically, it tests the limits of the bearable, particularly among those who have never had to bear much. In a peculiarly negative and inverted way, the movie displays Allen’s own lifeboat in a sea of trouble and shows what happens when someone doesn’t have one of her own. The subject is the idle rich, the problem is idleness, the crisis is self-delusion in the face of fear and despair, and the basic material of the movie is the definition of identity. And, as it turns out, Allen’s vision of a modern-day Job is simply someone without a job.

I absolutely loved this film, possibly because I’ve encountered people with similar characteristics. I’d consider it a combination of being self absorbed, but more self centered than anything. More often than not, a result of self induced isolation- not wanting to be bothered. According to the 48 laws of power, “Isolation is dangerous”. Which truly is; yet in today’s times can you blame one for the desire to do so? Lol

As much as Martha Stewart or Oprah—and perhaps more than any musician—Jay Z has turned himself into a lifestyle. You can wake up to the local radio station playing his newest hit, spritz yourself with his latest cologne, slip on a pair of his Rocawear jeans, lace up your Reebok S. Carter sneakers, watch baseball star Robinson Cano smack a couple of hits in an afternoon game, and grab dinner at The Spotted Pig. On the way to Jay Z’s 40/40 Club for a D’Ussé cognac nightcap, sign up for streaming service Tidal and hear his latest collaboration with Beyoncé. He’ll profit at every turn of your day.

Empire State of Mind (Penguin/Portfolio, 2011) reveals the story behind Jay Z’s rise as told by the people who lived it with him, from classmates at Brooklyn’s George Westinghouse High School and the childhood friend who got him into the drug trade, to the DJ who persuaded him to stop dealing and focus on the music. Now with new interviews with industry insiders like Alicia Keys and J. Cole—more than one hundred in total—this book explains just how Jay Z propelled himself from the bleak streets of Brooklyn to the heights of the business world.