The dreaded (and final) oral exam went fine, and turned out to be easier than anticipated. Every time the read-everything-the-last-night thing works (and it always seems to) it makes me feel I'm getting off ridiculously cheap. Now, a practical histology exam tomorrow and the final next Friday are all that stands between me and summer vacation. Although they're both bigger than oral exams, they don't include explaining things in front of groups.

So I'm having breakfast, checking my mail and going through Newsweek issues. My father's been subscribing to this magazine for years, so in a way I've grown up with it. As a kid, I'd mainly look for cool pictures and wonder at all the cigarette-ads, never a common sight in Sweden.
It seems to me now though, that while pages sporting Marlboro or Rothman's still appear, they've had to give in to newer products. It's not too cool to smoke* anymore, nor does it project an image of success.

And these ads are all about success. They are, without a doubt, aimed at the businessmen of the new world.
The they-exist-somewhere-out-there breed of men, it seems to me, who go for the feel of a suit, fly business class only, strive to achieve the 24-hour-global-office state where they always can be productive, write off vacation time rather than call in sick, and wear Patek Philippe chronometers which they don't actually own, but merely look after for the next generation, supposedly the you're-to-be-just-like-your-father generation of Businessman JR:s now learning how to shave.

I'm thinking that these are, perhaps, a new kind of Gentlemen for a new time. The replacements of David Niven, Roger Moore and Michael Caine. More money, less class. More success, less style.