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Counselor Senior Editor Michele Bell's slanted view of the world.
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Wednesday
May 28, 2008

The Good, the Bad & the Slimy: Memories of this year’s Asian shows

Filed under: Asia, Travel

Hi Everyone — 
 
Having just returned from a debaucherous Memorial Day weekend in Avalon, NJ, where I disgrace myself each summer, I’ve asked a colleague to guest blog on my behalf while I tend to my quivering liver.
 
In the past, Rich Fairfield, ASI’s senior vice president & publisher, and I have attended the Hong Kong and Canton shows held each year. This year, Rich took pity on me — and my crazy deadlines — and gave me a reprieve. Staff Writer Elaine Wong, who speaks fluent Mandarin and Cantonese and whose family hails from Guangzhou, attended the shows with Rich. (He made a wise choice in bringing Elaine, as the only language I speak fluently is Snark…). Not only was this Elaine’s first time at the shows, it was her first time ever in Asia. Read on for her recollections of and personal insights on the country and the shows, which are refreshingly less jaded than mine would be…

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Monday
May 19, 2008

No Sex (But Lots of Fun) and the City

Filed under: ASI Shows, Fun

Hi Everyone —

The week of May 5th week was the first-ever ASI Show in New York City and it was a blast! This year’s Counselor Top 40 banquet was held at the quintessential New York hot spot Cipriani, and it was fantastic. At my table were my pals Jo-an Lantz from Geiger, Scott Siegel from R.S. Owens and Gemline owner Jonathan Isaacson, who is this year’s Counselor International Person of the Year. Jonathan’s knowledge on the topic is so vast and his passion for conveying the widespread impact that pricing issues in Asia will have on our industry is so contagious, that he actually has me saying things like this to my girlfriends over cocktails: “Prices on items imported from China have been so cheap due to its government’s refusal to let the yuan float against the U.S. dollar; that’s going to change as China is now exporting its inflationary markets to the U.S.” It would be at this point, if my life had its own soundtrack, that you’d here the crickets chirping over the Grey Goose, as my friends gaped at me, slack jawed.

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