Best-selling Canadian author, Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point), explores the financial factors behind the acquisition of the new Brooklyn Nets--a deal that involves much more than basketball, apparently. The article, published in September for Grantland, points out how factors like the recession, eminent domain, ambitious real estate plans, and wealthy politics are really what were at stake.

A man buys a basketball team as insurance on a real estate project, flips the franchise to a Russian billionaire when he wins the deal, and then — as both parties happily count their winnings — what lesson are we asked to draw? The players are greedy.

One of Uptown Manhattan's most peculiar residencies is up for grabs this year--the infamous Pumpkin House! Located at 16 Chittenden Avenue and named rightfully so because of its underpass shape, the 3000 square foot home is on the market for a mere $3.9 Million. Real estate experts report that the space has been a bit of a "tough sell," as the prior owner had so much trouble repairing its roof and facade that it eventually tired him out! Nevertheless, the unique abode is going to be featured in this Thursday's episode of HGTV's "Selling New York." Who knows, maybe we'll be convinced to buy?

In case any of our readers are in the market for an island residence, we present to you the Villa Tre and Li Galli Islands, a jaw-dropping, three-island paradise located on the Amalfi coast of Italy. The land houses a huge mansion with 19 suites, 3 salt-water pools, a spa area, a helipad and boat launch area! Price, you ask? Try € 195,000,000. 

How about a beach front property fit for a kingdom, let alone a king? With a little help from Sotheby's International Realty and a cool $59 million, you can snag up Castillo Caribe, a 48,000 square-foot luxury estate on the Cayman Islands, complete with tennis court, wine cellar, theater, and cave-inspired spa! Quick, where's our wallet?

New York City's downtown Chelsea neighborhood is getting ready to welcome a new, $1.8 Billion dollar tenant! Announced late last week, Internet giant, Google, has acquired the second largest building in the city for that amount. The structure, a 2.95 million square-foot goliath that occupies 15th and 16th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue, is the new home of Google Headquarters!

[via Reuters]

Assouline and the Council Of Fashion Designers Of America recently conspired to create Fashion Designers At Home, a photo-book dedicated to the residencies of over 100 of the most revered fashion designers of our time. Some of the residences featured include Ralph Lauren's Colorado Ranch, Betsy Johnson's NYC apartment, and Oscar De La Renta's Connecticut estate, among others. The book retails for $65 here.

Check out these pool like, Asian inspired, zen filled and most likely feng shui certified bath tubs designed by German based company Käsch. To quote the Kohler faucet commercial, design a bathroom around this!

Please join us in supporting Michelle García and her documentary "Tell’em Who You Are.” Michelle will be screening exclusive clips from the film followed by a Q&A session.

About the film
The U.S.-Mexico border occupies a mythical place in the U.S. psyche, a wasteland of lawlessness, dirty and wild. With that image firmly rooted in our minds,, the U.S. government sold the public on the idea of a multi-billion dollar Border Wall across hundreds of miles of the southern border.

Turns out, there’s some truth to those tales and legends.  Blood once soaked the brush country and Tejano and Mexican rebels sacked towns and traded gunfire with Texas Rangers and Army soldiers. My heart pumps with the blood of those rebels, I am their heir and successor and the spirit of their cause summons me home.

Tell’em Who You Are is a return home, the embattled South Texas frontier, to recover memory, the historical memory of the Tejano-owned land that will be lost to the wall. Fighting on the front lines of Border Wall battle are the descendents of those largely known Tejano rebels and revolutionaries, continuing in a struggle for respect that began over a century ago. Our ancestors, the bandits and outlaws of Hollywood stories were actually Tejanos defending and protecting their land,identity and dignity from colonization. More than a century later, their fight is now ours.

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Camaradas El Barrio
2241 1st Ave/115 St./ Manhattan
Donation at door: $5 bucks

About Michelle
Michelle García is a writer, reporter,  subway rider and Texas highway driver.

By Juleyka Lantigua
Forget about your parents' dreams of you becoming a doctor or a lawyer. That's so last century. If you'd like to have a say in, and a nice chunk of the proceeds from, the U.S. economy post-bailout, you must become skilled at trading in the real currency of the coming decades: information.

Yes, folks, we are witnessing the demise of money (actual, physical and printed on paper) as the unit that determines the real-world value of goods and services. As the global economy resettles, the really valuable stuff will be information, loads and loads of it. With that in mind, I have compiled a list of 10 very hot careers that savvy folks will want to get into on the ground floor.

Forensic Accountant -- this is the guy who finds the money people and corporations try so cleverly to hide. Salary: $45,000 to $100,000

Economics Professor -- she's the one who gets the call from the Speaker of the House to make sense of a meltdown, on a global scale, of course. Salary: $54,000 to $89,000

Financial Newspaper/Magazine Editor -- he's the one who gives the rest of us a vocabulary and finance primer when stuff hits the fan. Salary: $45,000 to $75,000

Data Security Analyst -- he's the gatekeeper at the big financial houses, who keeps the hackers at bay. Salary: $67,000 to $84,000

Bank Auditor -- she's the watchdog stationed at major banks, but works for the Federal reserve. Salary: $45,000 to $55,000

Corporate Appraiser -- he's the guy who tells companies what they're worth, based on assets, liabilities, working capital and everything in between. Salary: $72,000 to $90,000

Internal Auditor (Corporate) –- she's the one who makes sure the company stays on this side of the law. Salary:  $77,500 to $101,500

Compliance Executive –- he's the one who reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission about how well the company is following corporate governance requirements. Salary: $132,500 to $181,250

Data Miner -- she's the one who uses software to dig through massive databases, crunching numbers and spotting trends used for market research, and even money-laundering rings. Salary: $60,000 to $120,000

Intellectual-Property Attorney -- he's the one who makes sure the people who manipulate the information get to own that information, and reap all the rewards. Salary: $60,000 to $86,000

"Juleyka Lantigua is a journalist and editor whose work appears in national newspapers and magazines. For more info visit: www.juleykalantigua.com."

Parkingspots.com is a new service currently available in the U.S. and Canada that  connects those needing a parking spot with those looking to earn some extra cash by renting their parking spots. The service allows you to find parking close to downtown, the airport, your office or home.You can search by city, by postal or zip or by using Google maps.

This service has been designed to help solve that often frustrating experience of trying to find affordable, convenient  parking. 

For more info visit: www.parkingspots.com