Going on a lion hunt

Congrats, you get a week off. And I'll be TV and internet-less, conveniently considering current events. A parting note:

Be afraid, be very afraid

How lazy exactly would you have to be to wrap yourself up like a sausage?
I mean, really, count a few calories and go for a walk if you're a little bulge-y. Or learn to love yourself as you are (the sooner you get that figured out, the better, for long term mental & physical health). Not saying it's easy, but it's a part of growing up, kids.

Besides, ultimately, it’s going to come off. (See Bridget Jones).

Unless you’re sucking it in to impress other women (you’re not bedding), in which case, how does it feel to have your self esteem that externally generated? And how sad is that?

A spot of color for the home this fall

NYT style's personal shopper found this vase, and I approve.

"The Confetti vase, made in Vietnam with strips of magazines, is resin-lined and watertight; $45 at Homenature, 6 Main Street, Southampton, N.Y., (631) 287-6277."

She is the dancing queen

The Ultimate Tango Guide, for my long-lost-in-the-ivory-tower Che-ista. Maybe she'll come back as Eva ...

What are you wearing?

Here's my fav collection for fall thus far, Katie Zorn. Simple. dramatic, and playful.

Don't let smoking do this to your fashion sense

I can't bring myself to publish this photo on the blog, so use your mouse, kids. It's so, so sad. While smoking is inherently unfashionable, it doesn't have to be this bad.

And, on a funny side note, Republicans not voting for Britney .

Click, Don't Scroll

to Yahoo and check out this Team America trailer for the latest movie from the South Park boys. Movie comes out October 15th ... conveniently. It's going to be funny ...

Abandonment Issues

Is blogging just a temporary infatuation? Are people really going to be reading these centuries from now? And do we care?

Regardless, I vow that this blog will never seek to make its (few) readers feel stupid or insufficiently cerebral. Or unfashionable, for that matter. 'Kay?

Speaking of fashion, I'm having a hard time with this trend. I mean, isn't the point of heels to make legs look longer and feet slender and graceful? These just turn them into BamBam feet.

Retro vs. Metro

I'm suspending judgement on this, still mulling it over, and may comment further later, but I wanted to throw it up there to see if it sticks. My only comment at this time is that I think the print ads, sans identification of familiar faces like Al Franken (at least, familiar to the awake), were more effective.

Drowning in Olympics coverage

and choking on US medal count, pt-uck, but check this out. Fareed's not catching up with Jon S., but this is good stuff:

The more intelligent question is, given what we knew at the time, was toppling Saddam's regime a worthwhile objective? Bush's answer is yes, Howard Dean's is no. Kerry's answer is that it was a worthwhile objective but was disastrously executed. For this "nuance" Kerry has been attacked from both the right and the left. But it happens to be the most defensible position on the subject. {...} Perhaps Iraq would have been a disaster no matter what. But there's a thinly veiled racism behind such views, implying that Iraqis are savages genetically disposed to produce chaos and anarchy. In fact, other nation-building efforts over the past decade have gone reasonably well, when well planned and executed.

But while we're on the topic of the Olympics, random notes from Kelli Anderson at SI:

Bonus content for the trivia-inclined: Because I know you're wondering and because I bothered to look all this stuff up while stuck on a media bus for an hour and a half this morning after my small vat of coffee from Starbuckopolis had run dry: Pieter van den Hoogenband does not actually have the longest collection of letters in the roll call of Olympic swim champions. That distinction belongs to Halyna Prozumenshchykova, a Soviet who won the women's 200 breaststroke in '64 in Tokyo -- unless you include spaces, in which case Hoogie wins by a fingernail.

And I thought it was about the size of your feet ...

You don't know extremist

The Washington Post (sign up -it's worth it) records MoveOn's response to the Swiftboat Veterans anti-Kerry ad (I'm not going to link it, find it yourself).

"George Bush: Take that ad off the air," says the 30-second spot from MoveOn.org PAC. {...} The MoveOn response -- airing in the same four markets in Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin, and on CNN and Fox News -- begins by attacking President Bush's military record. {...} The ad quotes Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as calling on the Bush campaign to condemn the "dishonest and dishonorable" ad.
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt called MoveOn "an extremist organization" making "completely baseless attacks." Schmidt said, "They have continued that tradition with this one, impugning the honorable service of the president in the Air National Guard." Noting that the campaign has praised Kerry's military service, Schmidt repeated Bush's call for both campaigns to denounce all ads by independent "527" groups, far more of which have aired in support of Kerry. But he did not denounce the content of the Swift boat group's ad."

I would like to say that this administration doesn't know the meaning of the word extremist, but the fact is, they do, and they disrespect each of the 1068 US & coalition troops killed and 5867 (officially) wounded every time they toss it around to describe those who disagree with them.

Whew. Just rescued the cat from a cornered mama opossum. Betcha that damn Barney couldn't take on an opossum.

Are you really going to re-elect this guy?

"Secondly, the tactics of our—as you know, we don't have relationships with Iran. I mean, that's—ever since the late '70s, we have no contacts with them, and we've totally sanctioned them. In other words, there's no sanctions—you can't—we're out of sanctions."—Annandale, Va., Aug. 9, 2004

Courtesy Jacob Weisberg of Slate.

the story of the Hurricane

The photos of the destruction on Captiva and Sanibel Islands this weekend made me pause. Not that hurricanes aren't inevitable, but it's sad to see a place I knew and loved as a child so arbitrarily tossed like a salad.

Have enjoyed the invocation of the powers that be by various authorities and residents of FL. ""One of the few downsides of living in paradise is that God gives us hurricanes from time to time," {Gov. Jeb} Bush said. "But it is still paradise." Seems fitting that the God who "gave" us this President would also hand out a hurricane here and there.

The return of Muffy and Chip

Now I do feel old. Preppy is back? While I've seen more than my share of flesh that should have been covered in the past few years, I somehow think this is just a combination of short teenage attention spans and clothing manufacturers constantly seeking ways to attract Gen Y's disposable income. Since when do teens care about being "classy and appropriate"?

The official handbook was quite amusing, but I wonder if kids will really get it this time around.

only in canada

I hardly know what to do with this. Only in Canada could a show such as this be conceived. They're going to pick 68 guys and whittle them down to a team of 6 ... who will then, presumably, play the Maple Leafs? 'Nuff said.

Olympic style

There's a reason governments aren't allowed to dress their citizens on a regular basis. Thank the rings for the people at Roots for making olympic clothing fashionable, or at least, not painful to look at. We won't mention those countries with less fashion sense, or whose nationalism overcame their sense of fashion somewhere between country X and Athens.

Brief opening ceremonies overview - loved the water, loved the parade of greek style. Not a big fan of the glowing womb, but I yield to pregnant women everywhere for their feelings on that one. The point was well made. Also, what fun to see that St Lucia comes first in the Greek alphabet - fun to watch US & Canadian newscasters fight to explain the order to viewers without linguistic experts.

Icons we mourn: Julia Child

The French Chef, while not an icon of style, passed away today, taking her excellent sense of humour, scorn for fat-free cooking and love of gin with her. She will be missed. In her honour, check out the bibles, Vol 1 & 2, of French cooking.

Naomi Klein makes me happy

"Last month, I reluctantly joined the Anybody But Bush camp. It was "Bush in a Box" that finally got me, a gag gift my brother gave my father on his sixty-sixth birthday. Bush in a Box is a cardboard cutout of President 43 with a set of adhesive speech balloons featuring the usual Bushisms: "Is our children learning?" "They misunderestimated me"--standard-issue Bush-bashing schlock, on sale at Wal-Mart, made in Malaysia.
"Yet Bush in a Box filled me with despair. It's not that the President is dumb, which I already knew; it's that he makes us dumb. Don't get me wrong: My brother is an exceptionally bright guy; he heads a think tank that publishes weighty policy papers on the failings of export-oriented resource extraction and the false savings of cuts to welfare. Whenever I have a question involving interest rates or currency boards, he's my first call. But Bush in a Box pretty much summarizes the level of analysis coming from the left these days. You know the line: The White House has been hijacked by a shady gang of zealots who are either insane or stupid or both. Vote Kerry and return the country to sanity."

Read on.

BTW, doesn't it just make you crazy when TV shows subtitle "foreigners" speaking English? We don't subtitle Bostonians, southern Californians or Arkansans, why would we subtitle people from Bombay, Ghana or Yorkshire? Because we don't think our tender ears can handle their accents?

Chatter chatter chatter

Well, we bought it, again.

Whither goest thou, PBS?

The chattering classes rise up!

I'm shocked that it took Bush seven minutes to collect his thoughts on 9/11 - does he have that many?
Equal marriage is too important for judges to decide? You've got to be kidding me. That's why we HAVE judges!

Why does he keep smirking? Iraq, stem cell research, equal marriage, the campaign, all smiles. Must be easy to throw every decision based on the black and white of "does this promote a "culture of life"?" I'll take nuance, thanks.

btw, for those of you missing my style notes, I WISH Laura & Larry had got together to discuss what each other would be wearing during the interview. Do we really need to see two people in lavender on CNN at one time? Maybe it's code ...

Citius, Altius, Fortius ... Ulterius

This weekend, take some time off to watch one of two awesome sporting events - the PGA championship at Whistling Straits, or, of course, the 2004 Summer Olympics. But if you can, watch the Olympics on CBC - coverage will be live, hour after hour, and you'll actually learn something about non-American athletes. And about the history and culture of Greece, which may not be covered by NBC, as it's not in the "coalition of the willing". Even Slate recommends it.

Douchebags of Liberty, a short list

Feel free to make further suggestions:

Bob Novak, for outing an undercover CIA agent, and for defending Swiftboat Veterans for Truth.

Rick Santorum, (R-PA) for equating homosexuality with incest.

The Department of Homeland Security for - this week ALONE - giving border patrol agents the power to deport, and raising the terror alert level AGAIN.

John Ashcroft, for more reasons than can possibly be linked to here.

In a side note, the President appeared on an OLN bass fishing show, indicating once again that, Yale and Harvard education to the contrary, he's really just one of the little people. Presidential dog Barney was there too, although this was not an opportunity to observe fishing from the dog's perspective, which is a good thing, as terriers are really good at shaking the s*** out of fish. I used to own a terrier, so I'm a fan, but they're not very presidential as dogs go. You need something big and sporting like an Irish setter, or small but with a regal air, like a Parson (jack) Russell Terrier. But little terriers with skirts just don't qualify - too much like corgis. Oh, wait, this just in, I'm sorry, the Bush family used to own an English Springer Spaniel, named Spot, (son of Millie, Bush 41), so I guess they were closer to the ideal before Spot's untimely death in February. Today's lesson, for those of you who aren't breaking the law or blogging because you're concerned about your future political careers, something to consider when purchasing a pet. After all, no one's going to vote for a President with a ferret.

Wow, that White House website is seductive.

Where is your rainbow?

Again, the love is for Jon Stewart. Check out Colbert's segment tonight (rpt 8/10 @ 7)on all the "minorities" in the DNC tent and how to make them fight and get along - SO funny. Plus Bill - really, he should have his own TV channel - all Bill, all the time. I want him to read me the dictionary. Also, for a reminder that we used to have a president who could answer spontaneous questions, check out the CBC's Clinton interview with Peter Mansbridge - one of the few men who are as tall as they appear on TV. A little slice of heaven.

"You're the worst kind. You're high maintenance but you think you're low maintenance."

in memory of "When Harry Met Sally", ("If you need a root canal Sheldon's your man, but humping and pumping is not Sheldon's strong suit. It's the name. Do it to me 'Sheldon', You're an animal 'Sheldon', Ride me big 'Sheldon'. Doesn't work."; "But I'd like the pie heated, and I don't want the ice cream on top. I want it on the side, and I'd like strawberry instead of vanilla if you have it. If not, then no ice cream, just whipped cream, but only if it's real. If it's out of the can, then nothing."; "'Joe and I broke up.' 'When?' 'Monday.' 'You mean Joe's available?'"; "'I don't think he's ever going to leave her.' 'No one thinks he's ever going to leave her.'" and so many more) we bring you "Days of the Week Underpants" . Really, these are fun - silly, but fun. Fabulous girl won't even insist that you wear then on the correct day. Because sometimes you need a secret to giggle about in the middle of the day. AND they make "Sunday", because God thinks you should wear cute undies every day - you know she does.
And make sure the one who gets to see them has a great sex name.

My "Daily" moment of Zen

I would go anywhere with Jon Stewart. Anywhere. Anytime. I would walk, in the shoes I had on at the time (and you know what those can be like), without sunglasses or lipgloss, up and down all the hills and across the bridges on a windy day from my house to my office at high noon if Jon was with me. Don't give me your Steven Colberts or your Rob Corddrys. (besides, I don't think I can take the good senator in a fist fight - at least not in aforementioned shoes - plus the whold concept of women fighting over men is beneath us). I want JON.
Thank you to Jon Stewart for finding the needle in the haystack of Bush's recent speeches, the use of the phrase "turning the corner" TWENTY THREE times in FIVE speeches.

moment to ponder that.

Maybe they think, if they just keep saying it OVER AND OVER AGAIN, we'll believe it? Seems to be Tom Ridge's plan. Or maybe he can't remember very many new phrases, so they have to get him to repeat and repeat one until he gets it, and then he can move on to the next one - remember "America is safer" two weeks ago?

Nice response, John.

Umm, books anyone?

In what I fear is the continuing story of the accomplishments of the self-help industry, now we have more magazines devoted to encouraging shopping. Now, the fabulous girl is a shopping devotee, but somehow, "reading" about shopping seems to take it to a new level. I want to read about crossing the Atlantic on a raft, as an example of something that one is unlikely to do, but that sounds interesting. But we are all capable of shopping, and really, do we need a monthly 400 page magazine to tell us how? And again, how exactly does this qualify as "reading"? And do you REALLY want to compare yourself to Maxim?
"Everything in Lucky has a caption and a context," said Kim France, editor in chief of the magazine. "Lucky located a magazine reader who may not have been a magazine reader. It's a little like Maxim in that regard."

Isn't the idea of fashion magazines to inspire us to add individual pieces to our own fabulous wardrobe? I posit that these magazines want to increase the cookie-cutterification of women everywhere for the benefit of their advertisers. How many times have you seen a woman between 20 and 60 in a terrycloth "skirt" and layered tanktops with flipflops this summer? (Age appropriate dressing is another issue I promise to address at later time). Do we really want to live in Stepford that badly? Now I can't buy stuff I see in these mags, b/c I'm too likely to see it on the street. Thank heavens for places like Anthropologie, where the stuff is at least in limited quantity.

I'm also a little concerned that "shopping therapy" is getting out of hand -"Shopping's therapeutic benefits are in full cry in an article called "Re-tales" - in which a suddenly divorced woman says, "Shopping became a way of creating a future when someone else had just pulled the past and the present from under my feet." " I mean, if you have a bad day, by all means, pick up a new lipstick, but consuming mass quantities isn't really going to get you through a divorce.

cocktail memories

So MY memories of peach schnapps date most strongly to Grade 11 and the local all-boys' private school formal dinner dance. The event itself is a blur, but the morning after breakfast party (so named although little was actually eaten) on an enormous lawn in someone's parents' backyard (really, I think this event was created by local shops so that, not only would we require a dress and accessories for the evening itself, but also something cute and presentable to meet someone's parents the next morning that didn't clash with hangover face). Anyway, Grant Scott pulled a mickey of peach schnapps out of his inner tuxedo jacket pocket and started spiking our morning orange juice - I think Grant was a fan of the "keep drinking" hangover cure. Sticky and almost too sweet in the June heat, but o-so-tasty. So thanks for that, Grant. Here's a more adult beverage - the cosmopolitan as we knew it is almost gone ...
From The Fairmont Olympic Hotel's "Celebrity bartender Michael Vezzoni" (does that make him a bartender to celebrities, or a celebrity in his own right? Anyway ...)

Cosmolini (cross between a white cosmopolitan and a belini)
2 oz Absolut Vodka    
1/2 oz White Cranberry Juice
1/2 oz. Triple Sec    
1/2 oz Peach Nectar
1/2 oz Peachtree Schnapps   
1 oz Champagne
1/2 oz Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

Pour all ingredients, except champagne, into a martini mixer filled with ice. Shake and strain into an ice cold martini glass. Top with Champagne. Garnish with an orange twist.

I feel obliged to share that Stoli has come out with peach vodka, but that might be too much - dust off your peach-o-meter and let me know. MMMM. perfect for August.