Monday, January 09, 2006

Guilty Pleasures

Yes, my daughter has hooked me on the show "Project Runway". I wish I could think of one redeeming feature for this "reality" show, but I can't. But I like it. I'm not that interested in fashion, and the runway models are all painfully thin; I just like the personalities, and the conflicts. I can see the tension rising, week by week, and even though I know it is heavily edited to define each participant by their worst emotions, I enjoy watching it. It will be one of those guilty pleasures, like the Star Magazine.

He said:

Wallace Stevens
Table Talk

Granted, we die for good.
Life, then, is largely a thing
Of happens to like, not should.

And that, too, granted, why
Do I happen to like red bush,
Gray grass and green-gray sky?

What else remains? But red,
Gray, green, why those of all?
That is not what I said:
Not those of all. But those.
One likes what one happens to like.
One likes the way red grows.

It cannot matter at all.
Happens to like is one
Of the ways things happen to fall.

She said:


Dorothy Parker
From Sunset Gun

The Searched Soul


When I consider, pro and con,
What things my love is built upon-
A curly mouth; a sinewed wrist;
A questioning brow;
a pretty twist
Of words as old and tried as sin;
A pointed ear; a cloven chin;
Long, tapered limbs; and slanted eyes
Not cold nor kind nor darkly wise-
When so I ponder, here apart,
What shallow boons suffice my heart,
What dust-bound trivia capture me,
I marvel at my normalcy.


Friday, January 06, 2006

Social Scene

My mother accuses me of abandoning my blog.

I successfully got her hooked on "Project Runway" while I was home for the holidays. So successfully that a woman who swears she cannot stay up past 10PM was awake and bitching about Santino at midnight last Wednesday!

Anyways, we got a new episode this Wednesday, so here is my rundown:

Nick: Pretty. I like the color. It is similar to other dresses he's done, but they were pretty dresses, too, so who's complaining?

Daniel: I loved the fabric. There has been some discussion over at Television Without Pity's board whether it makes the model's ass look fat. Because "looking like you eat regular meals" is the new "fat," apparently?

Andrae: Drama Boy is pulling it together. I'm no longer even tempted to mutter "Don't poke the crazy" when they interview him. The dress is nice, though I wonder whether her clothes coming out of the suitcase wrinkled is Nicky Hilton's big problem in life. I did especially like the restrained sparkle when the model walked. That is the proper use of sequins and figure skaters everywhere should take note.

(Off topic: Please send Tim Gunn to tell Stephane Lambiel that he is skating the Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," not Survivor's "Eye of Tiger." There's just no excuse for that costume.)

Santino: Setting aside his personality and the fact that he doesn't seem to wash his hair on a regular basis, the dress isn't bad. The color was a little washed out and the style very reminiscent of his first dress. I think he went a little overboard with the ropey bits and shredded skirt, but that's his look and anything is better than the offenses against taste that were his underwear challenge.

Kara: Very pretty; would have been even better in a bright color. Like a lot of the others, this is a dress that I can only appreciate from afar and could never wear. I'd look pregnant, my breasts don't support themselves and I'd worry about flashing the world with a skirt that short...

Chloe: A lot of people have commented that this dress and her "Clothes Off Your Back" dress are really similar, which I can see. This one didn't seem to fit the model as well; different fabrics, I suppose. Or maybe I'm just looking at her and thinking "Eat a sandwich, please!" I liked the braid going down the back, but wasn't entirely keen on the flouncy skirt.

Emmett: I don't care. I like Emmett. I liked this dress, too, especially she walked and you got the shimmer effect from the layers. I'd have liked it better if the skirt hadn't been attached to a baby-doll dress, but that seems to be the style everyone's going for...

Diana: Nice on top, but messy on bottom. I liked the skirt in her sketch better; that may be the inexperience in taking things from paper to life under pressure showing up.

Zulema: Ick. Everything's all bunchy. And her model always looks miserable. Please, stand up straight and stop letting them do such awful things to your hair.

Guadalupe: The front wasn't bad. Not Nicky Hilton's style or really meeting the challenge in any way, but not bad. The back looked like the model sat down and stood up again with a garbage bag bunched up at her butt. And the sleeve thingy was completely unecessary.

Marla: Okay, Marla was on my last nerve. Three times she was told that her dress looked like the photos of Nicky that they gave the designers. I don't know why you'd want to copy that dress, anyway; it wasn't that pretty to start with and essentially flattened out what little chest Nicky had.

Winners and Losers: (Or Whiners and Losers, if you will)

I liked Nick's dress better, thought it would photograph better where-ever Nicky Hilton deigned to Appear (more contrast than the grey) and Santino's ego hardly needs to be fed.

I put my finger on something that really bugs me about Santino: he's all about making himself look good, more than making the client or the model look good. (He's the Mel Gibson of Fashion.) He's like this big Artist and the clothes are his creations and any other use of the creation as a garment to be worn by people simply doesn't enter the equation. Which has it's place, but Santino needs to understand that if he really wants to be the Next American Fashion Designer, he's gonna have to think about the practicality of what he does at some point. Otherwise, he's never going to move past the niche market of people who want over-the-top clothes.

Marla bugged, but I doubt that Guadalupe was going to make it to fashion week, so she had to go at some point. My money is on Marla going out next week. She just seems out of her depth, though I'm sure the time constraints are contributing to her difficulties. I hope she pulls something out next week that satisfies her even if it doesn't satisfy the judges; it would be sad if she had such a relentlessly negative time with what could be such a great opportunity.

Someone at TWOP said watching Marla was liked seeing a bunny get run over by a Hummer. Guadalupe had some spirity left; I just was never too keen on her whole Look.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Questions I Wish I Hadn't Asked

I went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for an antibiotic. I hate to take these things, but after blowing bloody snot into Puffs for three weeks, I decided I wasn't going to get better on my own, so I saw the doctor, who diagnosed a sinus infection, and prescribed some powerful antibiotic to cure me.

As the pharmacist handed me my powerful pills, I asked him if there were any side effects I should watch out for.

"Well, take it at night," he said, "because it will make you very drowsy, but eat something with it, and drink lots of water."

OK, drowsy I can handle - a bed time snack and a bottle of water and I'll be fine.

Then he continued: "Yes, take it at night. You will go to sleep and not notice that your heart feels funny".

Not notice that my heart feels funny? "What do you mean funny?"

"Oh, you know - just funny".

"You mean my heart might race?"

"No . . arhythmia - irregular heartbeat. It's only dangerous if you have heart disease".

I confess to having an enlarged left ventricle, but he says that won't be a problem.

"Just drink lots of water, and go to sleep, and you will be fine. It's not very risky".

I go home and read the package insert, which also warns me of drowiness, dizzyness, nausea, diarrhea, headache, and trouble sleeping. I am to notify my doctor if I get yellowing of the eyes or skin, a yeast infection, or a rare, but serious intestinal condition that can occur weeks after taking the medication and produce abdominal pain and bloody stools.

Then I call my sister, who is a certified medical assistant, and she is very reassuring. Her doctor has prescribed this antibiotic many times, and she has never heard of anyone having serious side effects or any kind of heart problems. My 92 year old father is taking this antibiotic and has not had an irregular heart beat. He did develop a yeast infection, and the whole bloody stools thing, but he is, after all, 92, and recently had surgery for colon cancer. So I decide to take a chance on the medicine.

I take it at bedtime, with food and water, and go promptly to sleep. My heart feels no funnier than is usual for one who sometimes suffers from panic attacks. My sinuses feel better all ready.

The Land of Counterpane

When I was sick and lay a-bed
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay
To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills:

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.

Robert Louis Stevenson