Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Gay Marriage


Its so well summed up!

The Worst is yet to Come... Brother, you have no idea!

"The average American used to be able to borrow to buy a home, send their kids to a good school [and] buy a car," Davidowitz says. "A lot of that is gone." The end of rampant consumerism is ultimately a good thing, he says, but the unraveling of an economy built on debt-fueled spending will be painful for years to come.



In the video Davidowitz makes the assumption that people are spending less and thus must be saving more. I don’t think that is quit right, many people I know can’t save money… they don’t have enough of it. I know I am living paycheck to paycheck, and it isn’t easy. I will say however, that people have stopped living above their means and began surviving to make ends meet.
Simply: if people aren't spending the money and people aren’t saving the money, where did the money go? It’s not like we have less monetary currency. Someone spends a dollar at a company, that company pays someone a dollar and they then spend that dollar. I doubt if the companies are hording the money at the top so thus the money must be pooling at the bottom like Davidowitz suggests. Though, being at the bottom I can say: I don’t know anyone who is not depleting their savings trying to pay rent and food.
But then where did the money go? I didn’t exist… it was loans and credit, spending the dollar we never had, accustoming the companies to getting money that didn’t exist and inflating the prices (if we will pay 2 dollars then they will charge 2 dollars, even if we only actually have 1). Then the debt got too big, we couldn't pay off the credit cards, after that we defaulted on the loans and then realized we can’t buy whatever whenever. This is how the economy should have always been, before was an illusion. That’s where we are at, not saving… but not spending what we don’t have. Which is good, but i think could be a big threat to the middle class.

I have been desperate for a new pair of shoes, having worn mine for the last 4 years. But to pay off rent and food each month, breaking even. I don’t get paid enough because the job market is flooded. How am I going to get new shoes, I can't even save for them or pay them off of credit.
I wonder if the difference between a recession and a depression is the difference between wanting to buy a new pair of shoes but knowing the value of that money and savings; and not at all even being able to even save for a new pair of shoes. Many of Davidowitz's observations are correct, except for people aren’t saving the money instead of consuming-- they’re just not capable of consuming.

Obama's Foreclosure Package: Click here to watch the video

New York Fashion Weak

NY Fashion Week
Thus far one of the best summaries of the recent fashion week was by Kathy Horn of the New York Times. Oddly, my praise of this is less about the fashion and more about the coverage. She is so dead on and purely poetic. She “senses a fight between the good girls and the bad” and describes the “models with floss colored hair.”
Click here to watch the video. (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/02/17/fashion/20090218-fashion-feature/index.html)

In this I heard and underlining tone of either indifference or disappointment . If you’re trying to reflect the people and era, to resonate with culture and stay relevant at this time, then, just because we are in a depression doesn’t mean we want to see all black. A point so potently highlighted by Horn: “just because its black, doesn’t make it chic.” (hahaha- ouch, but true).

Established Designers:


Marc Jacobs

Anna Sui

Donna Karan

Jill Stuart

New Designers

Aussie designer Michael Angel

New comer Jason Wu (known for the inaugural gown)

New Comer Lanvin


All the black only makes the depression worse. After the fashion week, I was greatly disappointed with how the designers were unable to appropriately adjust to this time leaving a general mood of discontentment and a deep disconnect. The age restrictive, Jacob, “couldn’t answer the unanswerable” and didn’t know how to deal with the recession, so he just designed pretty dresses.
Where was the creativity? Does any one really want to see a black jacket and tights or a garish 1980s flash-back. Where is the creativity, the trend setting, the edifying relevance and, most important, the style?
My humble suggestion, to deal with “the unanswerable,” is quite easy to answer- elation in simplicity. I wanted to see vibrant, intense colors (breaking out of the gloom), energetic patterns on familiar fabrics. Offer all fashion in one piece.
To still maintain relevance: neglect overindulgence (like that of costume designer Patricia Field). Instead of heaping on pricey layered outfits, exotic textiles and mountains accruements, I wanted a powerful piece. A direct, single fashionable force calling for only minimalist accessories (simple shoes, purse and coat [if any]). Lose any of the unnecessary. Trend setting should be made in the brilliant colors, cuts, forms and folds on basic material.
I was hoping for the designers to take on this challenge, break through the gloom and empathize with the audience. Maybe the newer designers have experienced this era first hand and better understand the remedies for the situation. At the end of the day I felt the classic houses fell through and saw the newer designers rise to the occasion.


How drab? London's Fashion Week

An interesting side note, the recent fashion weeks are at a little bit of war, British capital faces a cut from six days to just four because the New York organisers want to push their shows a few days later. According to the council, Fashion Week attracts nearly 5,000 buyers, journalists and designers from across the world and injects 20 million pounds ($43 million) into London's economy. Maybe this will put the pretentious designers in the right place once they see the fanfare slowly dying.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Top Five V-Day Stories!

For all those love birds out there, I have compiled a few of my favorite stories of love on this very special day. Here is my ode to Valentines Day, a collection of the top 5 stories from this week …

#1-- Man wakes from one-night stand to find lover’s name carved into his flesh
A woman was convicted this week after a fling ended in disaster for a man who woke to find his one night hook up had engraved her name into his skin.
Mr. Robinson woke to find his body decorated with scars and cuts on his back and chest, and 'Dominique' written on his upper right arm with numerous slash marks on his left arm and shoulder.
Mr. Robinson said he panicked, “when I woke I was covered in blood. Dominique was snoring. I just had to get out of there… I'm scarred for life,” he told The Sun.
He told police he had drunk vodka and taken Valium and was not awake during the incident.
“I can't believe she did this to me and I hate her.” Well, you want to know how to avoid this… DON’T FUCK RANDOM PEOPLE. Sucks that you are going to have to permanently carry around what was supposed to be a one night stand. Well, hope you learned a lesson Mr. Robinson –though there is a silver lining at least you weren’t chopped up in little pieces or given an STD so ferocious that you genitals rot off like some of the others on this list.

For more on this story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1136287/One-night-stand-man-wakes-lover-carved-arm.html

#2-- Paying for Whores on Company Cards Covered Up.
Well, I am sure that many of the Wall street banker are pleased about the 700 Billion Tax cuts that passed today. This is bound to make the bankers’ Valentine’s day happy… and make New York hookers even happier! Watch the video:

#3— Vals Day to Die For
Those CEO aren't so bad in comparison: Today, a business man in India was handed the death penalty, a rarely enforced sentence reserved for only the most scandalous crimes. He was convicted after a large amount of dismember body parts from women and children were discovered, which ere perpetrated by an established banker and his slave. Not all serial killers get press, here is another link to remind one: careful who you couple with this Valentines Day: http://www.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment/top-10-unknown-serial-killers.html

#4 Happy VD
Recently, Black Syphilis has become a pseudo-legendary STD that causes the purification of ones genitals (men… you get to see your dick rot off). So horrific and pu
trid is this disease, that if you contract it you are quarantined in Thailand (or South-East Asia) and America will close its border to you. The malignant bacteria is said to manifest many of the same symptoms as standard syphilis, but does so with alarming speed and terminality. Unfortunately, there is no known treatment or cure for Black Syphilis. According to the fable, the tertiary phase of the disease results in the infected decay of one's genitals, and in men, will cause the pecker to eventually rot off.
Today the disease is rumored to exist primarily in Thailand. In the American military, should a person contract the dreaded disease abroad that they would be forbidden from reentering the US.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Black%20Syphilis

#5-- The next top Valentines day story needs no introduction -two names: Rihanna and Brown
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/02/extent-of-rihan.html
http://www.wonderwall.com/#wallState=6__/music/Mad-Man-1510218.story%3F%26rnd%3D1234561021687
http://omg.yahoo.com/news/carrie-underwood-chris-rihanna-rumors-are-getting-ridiculous/18874
(On another side note, I feel really bad for her. I was never really a fan of hers and never really
understood her popularity but I’m amazed how the shit has turned against her. There are so many false rumors like she gave him herpes, it was caused by Lieone Lewis and that even Carrie Underwood [what?] had a hand in it. This is ridiculous, a poor girl was beaten unconscious by a man and then left on the side of a road… and this is what she gets? Apparently, the abuse could have been going on for a while. Celebrities have not fared much better, did anyone see the TI interview. He talked about how cool Chris was, everyone is fine and Bronw “doin’ normal,” why wouldn't he, and really passive about everything. You know what TI, shut up and go to jail. Rihanna’s Myspace is filled with scorn while Chris’s is filled with support. WHAT! Is this the culture that hip-hop has created for women. Has it digressed that far? Strip ‘em or screw ‘em; beat ‘em and leave ‘em).

If you enjoyed these stories you might like: http://blackheartsparty.com/
It's a survival guide for the bitter or an out post for twisted love.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Fun Posting! Evolution in Overdrive

Here are some fun things,  the video is of an ape that walks upright (remarkably well). I thought it was a bit of a coincidence because yesterday I found a story about a fish that had grown webbed legs (posted further below).  In the video, zoo care takers feel the ape is brain damaged-- could that mean that our bipedal evolutionary heritage could have spawned from emulating other retarded chimps?! Wouldn't surprise me. I am no zoologist so my "feelings" don't have much pull, but the ape looks to be socializing quit normally, and responds the to the same stimuli in the same time frame as the other apes. She also appears to have normal movements and motives (other than the obvious upright walking). 

Monkey Walks Like A Human


Then from SlightlyWarped.com: A worker of the Malaysian Fisheries Development Board (LKIM) in Batu Maung, Penang, made this unusual find when she was given the 1.7kg fish by a fisherman at the jetty recently. 

When contacted, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Muka Head marine research station head Prof Dr Zulfigar Yasin said this is the first time he had heard of fish with legs found in the Malaysian waters. Similar discoveries have been found in South Africa.

http://www.slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/curiosities/sharkwithfeet.htm

Maybe evolution is starting to kick in full force! Perhaps triggered by enviromental changes or global warming or *insert random useless Buzz word here*. 

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Monday, February 02, 2009

Snap Shot

Here is one of the best snapshots into the American mind, a micro-culture from a cross section of ages, backgrounds, education levels and regions. People from all over the country (from the very smart to the very ...odd) come to ComicCon in San Diego. It is a mix between nerds and nonconformists. One interesting thing to pick up on is: see who most of the people dressed as "bad guys" are voting for...