Ahmadinejad Loses Debate, But He's Still a Fashion Plate

Despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to sneak in to yesterday's super-duper controversial debate between stylish Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the considerably less stylish Columbia University President Lee Bollinger. Instead, I hung around outside with the protesters, which is just as well, since a couple of dozen journalists were doing the same thing, and if there's one thing a journalist doesn't know - and, in fact, there are quite a few things - it's how to cover a protest. Given such a situation, a journalist will almost inevitably go around "interviewing" people. This is the worst mistake a journalist can make. First of all, who gives a shit? Second of all, seriously, who gives a shit? Third, journalism is stupid and pays almost nothing. The money's in real estate, man. Fourth, these people carry signs for a reason. The guy with the "Ahmadinejad = Hitler" sign, for instance, probably thinks that Ahmadinejad is kind of like Hitler. The guy with the "We like Ike" sign, meanwhile, is probably just being ironic. God bless him. Luckily, I was on hand to cover the real story, which was, of course, fashion. Take Ahmadinejad, for instance. He's a fashionable guy. Sports jacket, no tie, sensible haircut, relatively well-trimmed beard (relative to that part of the world, anyway). A lot of buzz about Ahmadinejad these days. But overexposure is a dangerous thing. Give him three years, and he'll be starring in