I am just not the sports fan everybody thinks I am... I missed the Giants big win. Seriously.
So, while I will congratulate them on their win, I can't help but find it sad and hypocritical that NYC can put together and pay for a parade in 2 days flat for a very wealthy, well paid & subsidized sports team (that plays in New Jersey) and refuses a parade for Iraq Vets.
Have any of these guys put their life on the line or sacrificed one iota of what every Iraq vet has given, as a matter of course, to this country?
Mayor Bloomberg cites concerns about televised images of a "Victory Parade"... really? I missed that news...
What about a "Welcome Home and Thank You for Everything" Parade? Iraq vets certainly deserve both the honor & the investment.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Wishing for a Canyon of Real Heros
Saturday, September 25, 2010
This is JUST WRONG!
What's next? "Pederasta" Pants?
(Yes, I purposely misspelled that too...)
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Saturday, August 14, 2010
I Love Men
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Can't Buy Me Love...or Taste.
It's incredibly wonderful to be able to have the luxury of a beautifully made and perfectly fitted garment on your body. Here, even the most unlikely fit - even very corseted or tight- is actually comfortable over long periods of time. And yes, many Luxuries cost money, (and so they should) from custom-made-anything to having a private jet, or driving that Cobra...
This is not "Luxury". This is just pure silliness.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Dissappointed, Angry & Disgusted...
the rear for the sake of oil.
Then some dumbA Alaskan Senatornamed Lisa Murkowski blocks the bill to raise the liability
cap on the oil companies clean up bill...
Sorry for the rant, but when the heck are we gonna revolt???
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Friday, April 16, 2010
Eat KFC & fight Cancer???
I got this in the mail today:
This is a WTF? Moment.
I cannot imagine who thought this was a good idea, or if The Susan G. Komen fund is either:
a) desperate for cash
It also completely diminishes what they are here to do. Which in a nutshell is to improve women's heath and treatment.
Promoting tie in to a sodium and grease packed meal like KFC's is WRONG. Obesity, yes, that'll help your breast cancer outcomes...
It also targets the people who need least to be targeted with this kind of garbage, people who eat like sh*t anyhow, who more than likely already have more than their fair share of heart disease, diabetes, you name it.
This country is already such a mess with our obesity rates, I don't see how we will ever stem the tide if this type of practice keeps up. On top of all the garbage there is out there marketed as food.
Yesterday I saw a woman, standing, on the street. she was not old, but she had to lean against the building to support her considerable weight which I would venture to guess to be at least 600 pounds. Seriously one of the largest ambulatory people I have ever seen in NYC. Less than 20 years ago you NEVER saw this in NYC, not even close.
Our bodies are not built to support this. (neither is our transportation system) HOW do you get around? I cannot even imagine the limitations (not to mention health) issues this forces on people.
& It's much worse outside of the city. (It is very hard to sit in a restaurant in places like rural PA and have any sort appetite for food when seated across from people this size- and it's about impossible to avoid.)
I felt for the woman on the street, but...at the same time it's hard to figure how someone gets to that point. And then, how on earth do you turn it back? It's freeking hard to lose weight!
I am no chubby basher. I prefer a curvy figure over an anorexic one any time, but I doubt 300-600 lbs can ever be considered simply overweight for most women. That's a serious health issue.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Death by Fashion
In NYC the other day somebody died by low-hanging pants.
(I had to add this photo- yes we actually see this (and lower) in NYC, midtown, Herald Square - uh... like 25 years after the fact...it's like a mohawk - 35 years after the dole... )
I have to say here that I have always wondered when this would happen.
For way too many years, there has been this low-hanging pants thing going on and while you see it less and less in the city, it seems to get more and more extreme each time you do.
It's to the point where the pants are belted around under the butt & up a just trifle in front, since it ain't gravity holding them up! And bizarrely it's a look almost always affected by (grown?) men.
Also nobody seems to pay much attention to the brand of underwear they are exposing- as they did in the old days. It was a big deal back when....
Anyhow, I've always thought, "What if you have to RUN! ???"
Well it finally happened. Guy robs an apartment and has to flee down fire escape. Pant fall. Crash. Guy gone.
Has a "fashion" statement ever added to the annals of the Darwin awards?
There are other types of fashion victims, but Low-Hanging Pants, really becomes Darwin.
LHP are nowhere near as dramatic (or gory) a statement as blowing your nose and blowing your brains out. (Italy, 15th century & the rage for blond hair - probably a costume history myth, but still.. )
Or as quirky as what was the madness followed by death (by mercury) that inspired the character of the "Mad Hatter". That was more a workplace hazard, and would be an OSHA thing today.
Or as merveilluese-ly, tragic as clingy, wet muslin dresses in stone mansions in winter. (France & England early 19th century) Pneumonia anyone?
Or as "elegant" as the pallor achieved by sucking on real lead pencils slightly later. (shudder) These last two are pretty Darwin.
And, Thankfully no where near as hideous nor as finally game changing as the combination of voluminous skirts and flame. (Santiago Chile in 1863 & the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist fire where the seamstress's long skirts hampered escape & exacerbated the danger.)
And face it, death by Low-Hanging Pants will never leave a segment of society reeling, as Isadora Duncan's did in 1927 via a scarf caught in a car's tire.
The list of fashion victims goes on and on, but there are not too many that really fit into the Darwin category (improving the gene pool by removing yourself from it) Since they are mostly historical, many are horrific tragedies and they are often unknowingly inflicted, by self or otherwise.
So, if you do know of any, particularly modern instances, morbid curiosity compels me to ask you to leave a comment.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
What is Good Design?
This subject has come up repeatedly over the past few months as I have been informally helping a friend navigate their way thought the complex and confusing morass of getting a website designed & made.
Having lived through (an ongoing process btw) a ton of trial and error scenarios, massive amounts of research and even taking a basic (pretty darn hardcore, to me!) html class, since my site first went up. A dear friend, asked me what to look for in a designer & what was important in a site, and what to look out for.
I hoped to help him avoid some of the pitfalls.
He went through the seeking a designer process - nightmarish in itself, especially when you are a creative person talking a different language to an often purely technical person who thinks they are a "designer". This was very difficult as my friend is a highly creative person, but seriously clueless when it comes to anything, and I mean anything technical. Basic explanation of SEO, html, code, analytics, etc - he sorta gets it but....
However, one thing that he got, and got immediately was the fact that the site had to be searchable and indexed on Google. It is his business after all.
He falls in love with an incredibly visual designers work. It's Flash of course, I tell him no flash, or only a little. The designer explains it's fairly a new "searchable" Flash. And sends along tons of documentation and very detailed explanations of how it works. I look into it, my friend looks into it and lo! sure enough it is a searchable form of flash. We check out other sites using this and they do come up in search. Tons of questions to designer (and more research on our end) mostly regarding HOW searchable. Repeatedly the answer is it's searchable AND deep linkable. WOW!
He goes with this designer, it's an information heavy site, He's writing his text with key words, search text etc, etc. Everytime he's on the phone with the designer search and accessibility comes up at least 3 times, every e-mail it's re-iterated. OVER AND OVER & OVER AGAIN.
After 3-4 months, of a ton of work on the "designers" end (obviously,the guy worked hard) for my friend (hair pulling and something akin giving birth), as well some loss of respect on my part, because I do not like repeating myself, ad nauseam, because of a serious intransigence on the part of my friend against organization, writing things down, looking them up or even making the effort to try and think out and extrapolate from what he has already learned. So I feel a bit abused for my efforts on this count, but it's over now. Thank God.
So anyhow, Site goes up, site is gorgeous. Two months later, 2 hits on actual site. Friend wants to punch a wall (In lieu of designer) and so do I. Site is DEAD IN WATER and UNSEARCHABLE. Other Gaia Framework sites we see on web are infinitesimally searchable and indexed on google, JUST EXACTLY AS DESIGNER INSISTED THIS ONE WOULD BE. WHERE IN ALL THIS DID DESIGNER NOT HEAR, READ AND UNDERSTAND THE CLIENTS UTMOST NEED?
THIS IS NOT GOOD DESIGN it is a ART PROJECT. The "designer", from a highly regarded IT school (specializing in web "design") was not was taught even the basic premise of GOOD DESIGN! Neither of us feel it was a scam, or intentional on the "so called" designer's part, but a complete F*%k up on "designer's" part. But now my friend has to wait several months for it to be corrected????
Design, must also function. It is not divorced from whatever practicalities and needs brought it into existence. Design is also commerce. A house no one can live in is not a house.
Years ago I knew another fashion "designer", who was asked by a store to design them some special mannequins for display. She was super creative and the perfect flighty airy "designer" type that people get so enthralled with at times. She kept her project under complete wraps, designed and had custom-made several 10' tall, to-scale, articulated mannequins. Surprise! She actually got them to the shop and set up in the window, before it dawned on her...
Design is different from Art. ART is approached consciously as such and is not beholden to function. ART usually becomes becomes commerce after the fact. Art needs no function beyond it's existence. DESIGN serves a FUNCTION and is usually created in Pursuit of that function, whatever it may be. Design embraces and makes use of technology and craftsmanship with an understanding of both aesthetics and use. Design makes the ordinary extraordinary, it can makes the mundane a joy. Design brings ART into the everyday world and is accessible to everyone.
DESIGN bears a burden. Whether that be to make someone look fabulous & feel great through fashion. Or to create a beautiful AND FUNCTIONAL web page, that people will SEE.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Nice Work if you can get it.
( I will refrain from comment on the pants....)
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Disappeared on Yelp?
Turns out that's not the case, it's actually a 2 month cancellation fee, "like a cell phone plan", said the salesperson. (make that Very Pricey) So sitting down to do a little research, you immediately find all these Yelp! conspiracy theory kind of links... But, ideally you'd like to find a real, live, local business that actually has one of these "enhanced" listings, but so far in my casual perusal of Yelp! I have not found one of these. I did ask for referrals but got none. Perhaps I did not press enough.
Anyhow, then I go in to take a look at my regular (as in free) listing, which currently gets an absurdly, measly one view a week. (I know this from a weekly e-mail update I get from Yelp! business, but how do I know, really? It is rather pitiful, for all the build-up Yelp! gets.)
And LO, the reviews my business had are GONE! POOF! & DISAPPEARED, as if it was Argentina in the 1970's. Weird,Weird.
I am just really curious now, I would love to hear from any actual (especially NYC, local) businesses who have tried "enhanced" advertising on Yelp! Seeing that my existing reviews have disappeared, does not bode well, but BOY, do I wish I had a salesperson like the one from Yelp!
Update 1/14/10: Just got off the phone with Yelp!, and I was HUNG UP on when I pressed to find out why my reviews had disappeared and wanted a better explanation than "filters" to prevent spamming. I am sorry, a few reviews does not constitute spamming (how come they weren't filtered immediately if this was the case? Why disappear months down the line?) The excuse that the reviewers may not be "very active" reviewers does not hold water either, since I ran across one review - indexed on Google - long, long before I ever signed up for Yelp! business in March 2009. Then too, if Yelp! is partial only to those users who post tons of reviews, isn't that a bit skewed in and of itself? It kinda becomes more of a popularity contest for the reviewers than a useful tool, especially for smaller businesses.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Are you eating Pink Slime?
I suspect this feeling will continue for quite some time, and it will guarantee I will never, ever again eat a hamburger that I have not made myself, from meat the butcher has ground from one cut, right in front of me, where I can see it.
(I may relax this rule should I ever move to Argentina, where food is treated with a great deal more respect. but here...)
I know this is not a New Years subject, but well.... how about drinking pickle juice as a hangover cure? No? I didn't think so...
Thankfully we don't eat anywhere remotely like what I suspect is considered the average American diet, so this will not be a change so much as an even more conscious avoidance...
I am worried for my cats, who we affectionately call "can"-ivores since they basically refuse to eat anything that does not come out of a can- seriously, you know they ingest far, far more "meat" than we ever would.
What is bizarre, and what Danny comment on immediately is the nowhere in the article does it even mention or consider the toxicity of Ammonia, yet the FDA has approved the injection of ammonia as a treatment of the "PINK SLIME" that is added to the so called "meat" that is used in schools for hamburgers and the like to feed CHILDREN?
Approved it to the point that they considered the "beef product" exempt from INSPECTIONS? Ammonia at such High levels that it could be smelt in FROZEN chunks of the stuff? AND YET NOT LISTED AS AN INGREDIENT?
WTF? Why don't we get the CPSIA on their ass? While they are on their way to regulating small domestic manufactures of children's products out of business because of phalate and lead dangers, (dangers overwhelmingly found found in products made oh, in China? As if they stand a chance in Hell of actually regulating anything that comes from China?) CPSIA should instead take on AMMONIA LEVELS in FOOD that kids (and adults) are being FED.
The chances of ingesting an ammonia-tainted hamburger, (or many) is obviously far more likely, than eating say, a metal button from any country, at any age. Pink Slime just won't choke you.
Happy New Year & Enjoy your Fish and Tofu....uhhhh....wait a minute....
Friday, November 27, 2009
Black Friday Events
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Thursday, November 19, 2009
Work in Progress
Sunday, October 4, 2009
What drugs were they on?
Who, really, actually believed this would work?
...with a whole line of leggings under her belt? (I don't like to be catty, but really...sad)
& I have noticed they have recently updated the leggings website, with slightly better teeny-tiny leggings pictures, but still crappy looking "enlargements" of details.
But... what's with the Marilyn Monroe fixation??? A gigantic insult to Marilyn, who did exhibit both talent and taste in her public life. Yes, I get the drug-addled comparisons they allude to, but please...
I seriously do not get the reference to Marilyn on leggings with quilted leather knee patches. But I would really like to know who set up this deal for her. Imagine what they could do if they actually had some talent to work with!
The whole thing is fascinating but really, really depressing for the Fashion Industry everywhere...
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Monday, March 23, 2009
Ah Ha! The Mystery is solved...
Which one day I hope to eventually address, along with updating the whole bunch of stuff. My Men's wear area is the orphan of the site, which is a shame as it's really the bulk of what I do these days.
Anyhow, the other day I got a Google Alert with a link to my videos on YouTube, so I go check it out , of course it is some silly, harvester site or whatever they are called, capitalizing on "sexy" and "models".. ho hum. But, wait! There is only Part 1 showing up.
So I go to you tube and look at my account and lo, NO Part 2! Some notice saying I'd been sent an e-mail (when? I never got it. I hear from YouTube like- never. Once I got a Peta Freek cussing me out in Spanish...but that's about it.)
Just a little note, that because some Jesus and Mary Chain was playing in the background (guitar noise and a couple of lytrics for maybe 7-13 seconds) the whole thing was ripped off of YouTube. I would have been perfectly fine if they'd removed the music altogether, even from the rest of the 6 minutes. But no, no option to remove background music, just a stupid (bad) music generator with ADVERTS!
Gimme a break! Live DJ- with a theme, no playlist, a few seconds, and they take the whole thing down?
Today first thing, front of the New York Times Business Section was the answer.
Eventually I will learn how to get that pesky video up in it's entirety, here on this blog somewhere, and WB can bite me. (and I am sure alot of other po'd people)
The only thing I ever watched on You Tube was vintage Music Videos (especially Roxy Music- STYLE- personified, the Best!) Now it sounds like a ton of that sort of stuff is gone. What's the point?
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Wilson's Leather Out of Business?
I must have missed something.
Wilson's was still in business???? That Company should have been put out of it's misery years ago. Seems that for the last 15 years or so it's been one of the most mis-managed, poorly merchandised, directionless retail outlet concepts out there. To go from being one of the largest retailers in the country... (how they did that I guess was by being everything to everybody - good idea!- that worked!)
Every single re-invention over that time was incredibly ill-conceived, poorly executed and just plain wishy-washy. No point-of-view whatsoever. The merchandise always left me scratching my head, sub-par in quality, styling and fit- It's looked like a car crash for ever. Nobody behind the wheel.
I'd hate to express this with regards to an "American" company, but we all know Wilson's hadn't manufactured anything in this country in years so...
Thank you for pulling the plug.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Iconic Punk Elvis Presley
I have been very lax in posting lately- and I have to go through my comments, but I had to post this today. I got in this afternoon and got some questions on something I'm selling on ebay- I have way too much stuff and way too little space- like everybody else in NYC and I periodically clean out my closets this way... So I listed this Iconic '70's punk t-shirt that I reworked: 
Well, today when I got in I'd received this "Question" from an E-Bay member:
Q: This shirt should be burned! People who don't know anything about the king of rock n' roll design shirts like this! It is very rude to put a negative design over such an important picture from our history! Elvis was and is the only civilian to ever walk into the White house with guns! (my italics) Elvis did and is still giving to so many people! He has touched so many people with his huge giving heart! From giving money, charity, cars, houses,free tickets,jewelry, food, animals, clothing, medical care and trans. to & from, & the shirt off his back etc! There is Presley Place foundations that help people in need and also are providing help to the huricane victims so they can rebuild New Orleans. What other celebrity can you name that has done all this alive and dead? Before you sell such degrading shirts you should watch documentries on the "USS Arizona memorial in memory of Pearl Harbor" and also "Elvis meets Nixon" just to mention a few so you can get a glimps of what an amazing man Elvis was!!!
- cheyka123
It's pretty much common knowledge that Elvis was wacked out of his gourd during the time he accepted the DEA badge from Nixon, and who on earth thought it was a good idea to let anybody into the White House with a GUN? That's Special???
(Although, nowadays... I am being completely facetious here, or can't you tell?)
I must say, I was warned. You see this t-shirt has a back story. My brother wore the original to Graceland- I don't know when, I guess pretty soon after it was opened to the public. From the way he describes it he was physically hauled out of the place due to the uproar the shirt caused among the hardcore Elvis fans, who unfortunately lack any sense of humor or irony, and apparently don't get the concept of freedom of speech- or live and let live. It's not a personal attack, It's a FREEKIN t-shirt!!!
cheyka123 - please keep your child away from the loaded gun you keep in your bureau and remember your spell-check....
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Now playing: Tunng - Bullets
via FoxyTunes
Thursday, April 17, 2008
He'll take Dubai
I had the bizarre experience of working with this guy when he was working with Lauryn Hill. I could say I was lucky to not have been ripped off by him. But come on, when a stylist (or anybody for that matter) goes on and on about how (insert boldfaced name here) pays them $10,000.00 plus a day and flies them around for personals etc., and in the next sentence complains that what they want so desperately to purchase from you is too expensive... is that not a tip-off?
It was odd- I was introduced to Lauryn Hill and went to her home for fittings, and couldn't figure out why they were working with Derek. She and all the people I met were exceedingly genuine, nice and all very,very serious about their work, no BS here. Derek Khan, while he can be charming and all, is a consummate and frankly bald faced bullshitter. I kinda had him figured as cheap entertainment. How could you not take this guy with a massive mountain of salt?Seems they had no patience with him either since almost immediately Derek was out of the picture & the next I hear of him is the jewelery debacle. Laughed then too.
Dubai can have him and Hof Jewellery is likely being taken for a ride, have fun! Wait- don't they do lashing, cut off hands and other hardcore punishment in that country? Maybe it'll work.
Damn!
Digg
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Now playing: New Order - World in Motion
via FoxyTunes
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Why I rarely shop
No wonder! I get into my studio and try them on & the elastic in the upper arm is so tight my arm goes purple in like 3 seconds! What the hell? Who the fuck is watching their production??? The upper arm elastic- when removed, measures 6 1/2 " total. That's your wrist.
The dress must of cost them about $10.00 to make, (Sri Lanka) since it appears it wasn't worth it to them to have the elastic changed once they caught the problem. The exploitation of cheap labor winds up creating so much waste. That this dress was put out at retail with this glaring problem? I guess the company doesn't care much about the product or the customer.
(Shit, my name on my label means something- am I that much of a dinosaur?)
It took about a minute to remove the elastic and do a much needed tack at the front of each dress- it will take another minute to replace the elastic when I get some. I'm happy. Now back to work.
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Monday, March 3, 2008
Custom Made and Hairy Situations
I think it’s great that actual custom made, bespoke or whatever you’re going to call it, or at least something close to it is getting some attention & may become easier to find.
Clothes actually made-to-measure. I am thrilled that younger guys are becoming aware that there are options besides jeans and ill-fitting OTR suits. It can only grow awareness across the board.
But... “Any idiot can run a tape measurer around you,” Hello? I really hope this was a typo.
That quote just sucks so much. Besides the obnoxious tone, it only highlights the speaker’s ignorance as to what it is they are claiming to do. I'd certainly hope he’s not the idiot with the tape.
Next, I don’t watch Project Runway as a matter of course, but when I came across this excellent post I had to see what the fuss was about.
So I checked out the PR entries as well as Tim Gunn’s comments, which show a real bias against both the hair and Chris’s costume design background. It is a good reminder as to how stuck in rut the industry mentality can be. All too often everything winds up safe, safe, safe, for the powers that be. Then, invariably, the refrain “There’s nothing new” when sales & styles aren't up to expectations. Beats me.
I agree completely with the writer that the use of human hair should have been a non-issue, as well as a lot of other points made, and I love reading something written by someone with a background in fashion history. It’s a real treat.
