Mad Men: "C'est Magnifique"

Weeds: Nancy And Celia

(Click on the images for high definition)

Dynasty's End

Internet Manners

“The velocity and volume on the Web are so great that nothing is forgotten and nothing is remembered, like closing time at a blue-collar bar in Boston.

"Everyone’s drunk and ugly and they’re going to pass out in a few minutes.”

(Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic, on the toxic state of online manners)

Sookie And Bill

Anna Paquin And Stephen Moyer, with Stephen Moyer's daughter.

Lost Boys

The Lust Map And "True Blood"

Geographers from Kansas State University have created a map of the spatial distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins across the United States.

This map highlights the concentration of lust.

It's no wonder that Louisiana was chosen as the setting for "True Blood."

Across The Universe Redux

We watched "Across The Universe" again last night.

You should, too, particularly as an antidote to all of the "Remember Woodstock" crap that's being foisted on us right now.

This is a beautiful, impressionistic, accurate depiction of the times.

I Never Knew Minnie Mouse Had Breasts

August 11, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. --A 60-year-old man has been convicted of groping a woman in a Minnie Mouse costume at Walt Disney World.

John William Moyer of Cressona, Pa., told the judge he is innocent. His son said before sentencing that his father would never inappropriately touch a woman.

He was convicted Tuesday of misdemeanor battery and sentenced to write the victim an apology, serve 180 days probation and complete 50 hours of community service. Moyer must also pay $1,000 in court costs and possibly undergo a mental evaluation.

The victim says she had to do everything possible to keep Moyer's hands off her breasts.

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Information from: Orlando Sentinel, http://www.orlandosentinel.com

Everyone's A Star

"At a wedding in Lake George, N.Y., this summer, a middle-school math teacher was chatting with another guest, Reid Rosenthal, a finalist in the reality series “The Bachelorette.” Someone snapped a photo.

"The teacher, who requested anonymity to avoid being teased by her students, was surprised a few days later when she received a notice from Facebook that she had been tagged in a photo. Mr. Rosenthal was also tagged.

"Soon the creepy e-mail messages started, the teacher said.

“Oh, my God, do you know him?” wrote one gaga “Bachelorette” fan who somehow found the photo. “I need to be set up. I’d be perfect for him.”

“It was irritating,” the teacher, 30, said. “I would never do something like that.”

"The photo was quickly untagged and now the teacher has strengthened her Facebook privacy settings, preventing strangers from viewing her profile." NYT

Morning In America

“Things that I thought were unacceptable a few years ago are now commonplace in my house,” she said, “like all four of us starting the day on four computers in four separate rooms.”

"Technology has shaken up plenty of life’s routines, but for many people it has completely altered the once predictable rituals at the start of the day.

This is morning in America in the Internet age. After six to eight hours of network deprivation — also known as sleep — people are increasingly waking up and lunging for cellphones and laptops, sometimes even before swinging their legs to the floor and tending to more biologically urgent activities." (New York Times)

Tom And Gisele

Just because it's been a while

Mad Men, Woodstock, And The Death Of Fashion

"There’s a reason why no one has created a computer program that allows you to create a cartoon version of yourself as a hippie."

"It’s because that’s called a Halloween costume and at one point or another, we’ve all dressed as a hippie, knocked on a door, and said 'Trick or treat, man.'’’ Boston Globe

While I love Janis Joplin (above) and think she was the most powerful performer I've ever seen, the writer is right about Hippie fashion.

On the other hand, the fashions featured in such exquisite detail in "Mad Men," set in 1960-1964 (the final years of what we think of as the Fifties) have inspired a make-your-own-avatar site, which has been wildly popular. And they have influenced current fashion as well.




Time certainly has a way of separating the wheat from the chaff.

Okay, But What Does KUTGW Mean?

"Kate Washburn didn’t know what to make of the email a friend sent to her office with the abbreviation “NSFW” written at the bottom. Then she clicked through the attached slideshow, titled “Awkward Family Photos.”

"It included shots of a family in furry “nude” suits and of another family alongside a male walrus in a revealing pose.

"After looking up NSFW on NetLingo.com—a Web site that provides definitions of Internet and texting terms—she discovered what it stood for: “Not safe for work."

As this article in today's Wall Street Journal demonstrates, you probably should have some sort of basic reference document at your disposal in order to de-code the bewildering number of abbreviations cropping up in today's social discourse.

"The consequences of misunderstanding the lingo can be mortifying. Cassandra McSparin, 23, of Jim Thorpe, Pa., knew a woman whose friend’s mother had died. The woman texted her friend: “I’m so sorry to hear about your mother passing away. LOL. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

"It turns out she thought LOL meant “Lots of love.”

Totally Gratuitous Football Post

I visited the Patriots training camp the other day, which happened to be Tom Brady's birthday.

His teammates gave him a cake.

It's great to have the boys back in town.

Million Dollar Baby

For anyone who was inspired and moved by Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby," you just have to be rooting for Gina Carano this Saturday night:

"Enrolled in psychology classes at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Carano was 30 pounds too heavy, rudderless, half-lost to drinking and chatting up other girls’ boyfriends by the time a friend’s muay Thai instructor finally called her a mess. And the church of athletic redemption narratives found itself another lost soul.

“I’ve only answered to God, sometimes my family, sometimes not, and fighting,” Carano said. “No relationship, no boyfriend, girlfriend; it’s the only thing that has kept me focused.”

"In time she was traveling the world, taking fights in Thailand and staving off concerned relatives. After a while she started making money. After a while she developed a sense of mission.

“I want it to be easier for other females to be able to walk into a gym and train, because it changed my life,” she said. “I live in Las Vegas, where it’s difficult to meet a gentleman who doesn’t think of you as a stripper or a piece of meat. I like the training and the lifestyle. I get to wake up and focus on myself and being better. It eliminates all the drama when you have to think about somebody punching you and taking your head off.” New York Times

Her next fight is on Showtime, August 16.

Meryl Streep And Amy Adams

"The film is food porn."

I know some people who can't wait to see "Julie and Julia," which opens this Friday, so here's a little background on the film's genesis, and on Nora Ephron, the Screenwriter and Director.