Is Marxist Heir Jamie Johnson Actually Becoming Kind Of Hot?

Moe — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:40:26 EST

Anyone who saw the documentary Born Rich loves its narrator/maker/protagonist/self hating rich kid Johnson & Johnson heir Jamie Johnon. But no one who saw Born Rich could have anticipated the dramatic shifts in Jamie (and also maybe, the public conscience) that have led to him turning into OMG an actually convincing stud. He is profiled in the March issue in Men's Vogue, and wow! He looks hot kinda! And nothing warms my cockles like:

"You've exhausted my patience!" erupts the late Nobel laureate Milton Friedman. "I have?" replies Johnson in disbelief.

The profile's author is investment banker-turned-novelist Dana Vachon, whose book Mergers And Acquisitions was all about, you know, how guys who go into investment banking who are not Social Darwinism True Believer types can find themselves, like, disillusioned and also tired from the long hours. Vachon, a rich person, poses the question I'd be too busy ranting about the pharmaceutical industry to ask: what happens when you, like, run into one of these rich people you hate in Palm Beach?

The One Percent has less sympathy for the Fanjul family, the Florida sugar barons accused of polluting the Everglades. When I mention that — his own East Village residence notwithstanding — his social calendar may set him across from a Fanjul in Palm Beach or Manhattan at some point, he grows uncomfortable. "I don't know what that's gonna be like," he says. There follows talk of the difficulty of one person to really judge another, then a few failed sentences, finally a long breath. And for a wavering moment, Jamie Johnson looks like someone in a Jamie Johnson film. Then he decides to say what he means. "We're subsidizing an industry that trashes the environment, and then we're using tax dollars to pay for the cleanup and repair. It just so happens that the Fanjuls represent that."

Swoon!

Why Jamie Johnson Turned His Camera On The Rich And Powerful [Men's Vogue]

Should Depressed Little Rich Girl Just Give It Up And Go On Prozac Already?

Moe — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:00:56 EST

Hey guys, you can get out the machetes! It's a poor little rich girl, and she's writing in to a British advice column because she thinks her trust fund ruined her life. "I think it's good for me to be employed but... there is no motivation for me to stick anything out," Francesca writes the Telegraph's Lesley Garner. Francesca is 26, rich, depressed, disillusioned, dilletantish, and anxiety-plagued, but she doesn't want to go on antidepressants because she doesn't "want to surrender ownership of my emotions to some pharmaceutical company." (And isn't that just the bitch that is capitalism? It's much more fun to usher a pharmaceutical company to colossal riches on the backs of popular mood-altering drugs and sugar substitutes...but how to cope once you not only have access to all that dough and all you can think to look at it was, "Wow, that was a really worthwhile endeavor for society, amassing a multibillion dollar fortune convincing 30 million Americans they need depression meds for the rest of their lives." Whatevs.)

(Oh yes, and related, Johnson & Johnson heir Jamie Johnson's second movie The One Percent apparently debuts tonight, not that anyone thought to invite little old yours truly.) Anyway, I think Francesca should get off her high horse and get into ADD drugs. Lesley thinks Francesca should get a fun roommate and go to therapy. No seriously, I think Francesca should probably allow her depression to fester a little longer, get a job waiting tables because it's the quickest way to transfer feelings of self-loathing to others, and come to my house one day and answer all the calls I get from telemarketers, thus prompting the terrible cycle of realization: "Wow, a lot of people have to work in telemarketing for a living," followed by "Wow, I bet they thought telemarketing was bad until they all got replaced by computers." Then I'll sell you some ADD drugs and you'll be on the path to recovery.

"Being Rich Is Ruining My Life" [Telegraph_

Jezebel: born rich

Is Marxist Heir Jamie Johnson Actually Becoming Kind Of Hot?

Should Depressed Little Rich Girl Just Give It Up And Go On Prozac Already?