Dubai Binge & Burj

Burj Borg Al Arab Hotel, with a Reception Lackey on Every Floor
Seeing the leftovers of Dubai's real estate binge, in Lauren Greenfield's excellent photos at the NY Times' Lens blog, makes me jealous.  If only Bloomberg was a better emir, and his conniving developer eunuchs had more testosterone, we could compete!

Left, what the Rockefeller Center ice rink could look like if Bloomberg did not squander so much time in the harem.

Below left, the Burj, tallest soon-to-go-bust edifice in the world, a mooring mast for a future Hindenburg.  Then below right, real estate, oil, and finance hustlers party at Plastik, a club that bills itself as "Exclusively For The Filthy Rich And Aesthetically Perfect."


And while us unaesthetic slobs are stuck with the Newtown Creek Wastewater Plant -- that just sits there stinking -- the Dubai sheiks get the pretty lights, soft rumbling sounds, and no-doubt Frankincense-scented aroma of the nightly sewage convoy below.


Photos: Lauren Greenfield (minus my slight change to ice rink TV)