goddess of clarity: a blog about politics, culture, and serenity
Archive: December 1 - December 31, 2007
December 24, 2007 — 07:50 EST
The stockings are hung by the chimney with care (see below) and Mr. Goddess and I off through the snow to PA for Christmas Eve. Wherever you end up, have a happy holiday!
—lori.
December 21, 2007 —23:28 EST
Unflattering Politician Photo of the Week
(Bad Hair Day Edition)
Gosh, look at that poor old lady.
This photo is practically the textbook definition of "unflattering." It's not fair, of course. There are so many additional ways for a woman to look bad than a man. Rudy Guiliani doesn't have to worry about whether his hair color is even (or whether he even has much hair at all). Joe Biden doesn't have to worry if his lipstick is fading. Both men are older than Clinton, too, and neither of them has ever been described as "wrinkly" or "jowly."
Actually, I think Clinton's official campaign photo is much scarier.
Yikes! It's like her forehead is emerging from the beige walls behind her.
—lori.
December 12, 2007 —23:28 EST
Gosh, anyone reading this blog lately would think that all I do is watch Project Runway. I promise you that's not true. Not entirely true anyway.
The Goddess Watches Project Runway
(so you don't have to)
9:57 -- I've picked a new favorite. It's Kit. Sorry 'bout that, Kit. Hope you make it past tonight's episode.
10:00 -- So the commercials have been teasing the fact that something awful is going to happen to Jack. Since Jack is HIV positive, I'm expecting the worse.
10:03 -- Another twist this week: models wearing clothes that don't fit. The reason they don't fit is that these women have all lost lots of weight, and the challenge is to create a new look using the raw materials from their old clothes.
10:03 -- And Steve draws the wedding dress. "It felt like death on a stick."
10:05 -- Wow, Sweet P is last out of the bag again! That's every time so far.
10:07 -- Kevin and Elisa love making clothes for real women. Victorya ... doesn't. "These women are not typical model size, and that's a problem."
10:12 -- And poor Jack is gone. He has a staph infection on his face, and he needs to leave to get treatment. Though I'm not writing off the possibility that in true Project Runway style we will be seeing Jack again someday.
10:18 -- Yeah! Chris is back! My favorite! Sorry Kit.
10:22 -- Time for Tim's critique. It looks like Christian did the same jacket that Nina called "disco 80s" in the Sarah Jessica Parker episode. And Steve is "courageous" for hardly using any of the wedding dress.
10:24 -- Tim: "I've made more bad decisions at 3 o'clock in the morning than I can count." And much hilarity ensues in the work room.
10:31 -- Surpise, surprise, Christian thinks his garment is the "fierce." "We are totally going to be in the top."
10:33 -- Surprise, surprise, Ricky is crying.
10:34 -- And Steve is in trouble. Kevin and Victorya help him out, but he has to resort to gluing his garment "for the first time in my career." I live Steve a lot, but I think he's going down. I predict it's either Steve or Chris who'll get the Auf.
- Sweet P -- liked it
- Jillian -- liked it
- Ricky -- liked it (love)
- Chris -- liked it
- Christian -- loved it!
- Victorya -- liked it
- Elisa -- liked it
- Kit -- loved it!
- Kevin -- loved it!
- Steve -- hated it
- Rami -- loved it!
10:41 -- The highest scores: Kevin, Jillian, Christian. The lowest: Elisa, Steve (from a wedding to a funeral), Chris (all she needs is a beret and a cigarette and she's Paris hooker from the 40s)
10:57 -- Wow, Christian won! I'm stunned. I thought Kevin had that one in the bag.
10:58 -- Yep, Steve is out. Bummer dude. Auf Wiedersehen!
—lori.
December 5, 2007 —23:28 EST
It's Wednesday night, and you know what that means ... yep, it's Project Runway night! I've got my slipper socks and vanilla pudding at the ready; it's Fashion Time!
First a quick re-cap of the first three episodes. Simone got auf'd in Episode 1 for making a dress that was not as ridiculous as Elisa the Venutian hippie-child's, but is was still badly made and pretty boring. Rami wins with a very flowy Grecian goddess dress that's not really my thing. In the next episode, the challenge was to design an outfit for "fashion icon" Sarah Jessica Parker (my current fave Chris actually cried when she walked in). And guess what? This time Elisa ends up in the top three -- with her teammate Sweet Pea -- for her "polymorphic" dress (whatever that means)! But the winner is Victorya, with another look I didn't really like and she was in the top three the first week too. And the odd man out this week is Marion, whose sad-sack potato sack outfit was compared to both a Pocahantas costume and Cousin It. And last week's episode was a first for Project Runway: menswear! NFL Running back Tiki Barber was the guest judge, and the winner this time was Jack, who very smartly did not try to make a complete suit in the time allowed. The bottom three designers did produce some unbelievable crap. Sweat Pea's shirt looked like it had been stitched together by a toddler on My First Sewing Machine, and Carmen didn't even make a shirt! She just wrapped a piece of fabric around her model's neck and hoped for the best. Alas, the judges were not fooled and Carmen was sent to "clean up her space."
Now, all caught up? Are we sitting comfortably? Let's begin.
10:01 -- Quote of the week: "Project Runway should have a perfume. It's a mixture of tears, sweat, and Chinese food."
10:02: -- After last week's male models, it's back to model-picking time. Jack as the winning designer decides to swap. He takes Ricky's model, Lee, and Ricky is all pissed like he owned Lee after two weeks or something. Whatever!
10:04 -- Time for the challenge. Working in teams of three, the designers will create a three piece collection based on really crappy trends from the past like shoulder pads and neon and dancewear as casual wear.
10:13 -- The teams are starting to fray around the edges. Jillian is the leader of her team, and she's not too confident in Kevin's pattern-making abilities. And Victorya is so bossy you'd think she was the leader and not Ricky.
10:16 -- It's the commercial break and I'll confess that I am worried about Chris. He's flown under the radar in the first three challenges, never in the top three, never in the bottom. Now he's team leader on a team designing shoulder pads, dancewear, and baggy sweaters. I worry he may find himself a little ... exposed. The judges like to kill off team leaders.
10:22 -- Tim arrives to weigh in. He loves Christian's team, doesn't see cohesion in Chris's team, Jillian has a lot of work to do, and team Ricky is not looking very well finished.
10:25 -- Wow, I'm surprised that Ricky didn't smack Victorya. She was "disappointed" that Ricky couldn't make decisions and he was just not making the decisions *she* wanted. Meanwhile, poor Jillian can't bring herself to chase up Kevin, who has apparantly spent the whole day making a pair of shorts.
10:33 -- Steve is concerned with Chris's jacket. I hope he's wrong. And Victorya is busy smashing her models boobs to make a flat look, before she finally defers to lingerie designer Ricky's ideas about letting the boobs breathe. Meanwhile Kevin "pulls a magic rabbit out of his ass" with his overall shorts.
10:41 -- Runway show! Here's my take:
- Team Jillian (overalls, poodle skirt, 70s flare)
liked it - Team Chris (shoulder pad, baggy sweater, dancewear)
liked it - Team Christian (pleather, zoot suit, fringe)
didn't like it - Team Ricky (underwear, neon, cutout)
didn't like it
10:44 -- There's a clear winner. And it's Jillian. Cool. I liked hers. And Christian is in too. That means Chris is in trouble! "How could you be a leader if you can't lead yourself?"
10:50 -- Man, Ricky has cried in every episode.
10:51 -- Uh, oh. They really hate Chris's jacket.
10:57 -- Shit, Chris is in the bottom two!
10:58 -- Dame, I knew it! Chris, Auf Wiedersehen!
—lori.
December 3, 2007 —18:33 EST
I started off last month talking about one dad, and now I'd like to talk about another: Mr. Goddess's father, who passed away a couple weeks ago.
He was the quintessential Scottish gentleman. He could not abide the half-empty glass or the unoffered cup of tea or Mr. Kipling's cake. And he could not have been kinder or more welcoming to a 19-year-old American who had the good fortune or misfortune to fall head over heels for his oldest son. He served in World War II, and I loved hearing his stories about the crazy Yanks who crossed his path in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. And whenever Mr. Goddess and I would catch the ferry at the end of a visit, his dad would stand on the pier and wave until the ferry was out of sight.
I'll miss him, and I'll always be grateful to him for being such a good father and for making Mr. Goddess the all-around smashing guy that he is. The world needs more Scottish gentlemen.
—lori.
