Tuesday, March 28, 2006

 

Ok, so are these guys way smarter than me, or WAY stupider?

I saw their office when I was last in new york, and almost died laughing.
http://www.ozymandiusrealty.com/about.cfm
for those of you unfamiliar, "Ozymandius" is a Shelley poem about the hubris surrounding permanence and importance of humanity--physical structure in particular.

And clearly these dudes have read the poem because they post it on the site. What I can't tell is if these upscale real estate developers get it or not? Are they selling a cool, educated lifestyle: "You are smart and cultured and cool. We all get the inside joke. it's just real estate, cool people don't get caught up in material posessions?" Kindof like Citibank counterintuitively advertising quality-of-life.

Or are they just flat out dumb, and think it is a poem about power and awe? This has to be settled.

This is important because of the theme of my junior year of HS yearbook which was....."the Lovesong of J. Alfred Proofrock." Why? because yearbook editors being yearbook editors, they took our egomaniacal/charismatic english teacher's suggestion to "revisit this poem every 10 years" literally without figuring out why he might instruct us to do so.

Comments:
It is about time we re-read that poem...
 
I think they get it. Unlike our yearbook editors.
 
why do you give them the benefit of the doubt?

What would you think if Donald Trump (also a real estate developer) named a company "Ozymandius Realty?"
 
I apologize for sounding like an cynical intellectual snob, but the cultured ironic real estate developer? I give that the Dolphin. Now if Anthony T.J. Marano is a joking reference to Frank T.J. Mackey from Magnolia, then I may change my mind. But then again, if it's a non-joking reference to Frank T.J. Mackey from Magnolia, then it's game-set-match.

Toss-Up: Yearbook editors' lack of context or Horizon editors being in the administration's pocket? I'm surprised they haven't renamed that paper for a wealthy donor yet. Or have they?

Also, this is just a gratuitious plug. Unlike the rest of you, I wasn't smart enough to get anything out of "J. Alfred" in HS, but my favorite English professor in college, the late David Kadlec, gave a reading of it that totally highlighted the shifts in momentum and it was one of the most memorable classes I've ever had. I highly recommend his book "Mosaic Modernism." A nicer and more enthusiastic professor you'll never meet. Which was surprising since he looked like a basset hound.
 
Hahah one of the founders went to Brown!
 
please re-read the poem. what follows is my tongue-in-cheek lit crit and the reason I named my company Ozymandius , 16 years ago.

The poem is often cited as exposing the ephemeral nature of material things and a critique of aggressive acquisitiveness as a path to personal happiness. To me it also points up two things, "you can't take it with you" and "its fun to have a lot of real estate while you are here."

Also, the name Ozymandius always reminded me of Oz, as in the Wizard of Oz, who, though neither all powerful or all knowing did turn out to be a pretty decent fellow, and had one hell of a cool castle. This double entendre was entirely intended to draw a subtle and hopeful comparison between the Wizard and myself
 
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