Speed debating revisited

Back in April, The Brian Lehrer Show here in NYC had a particularly memorable segment on speed debating.  It's pretty damn incredible what these kids can do, but unfortunately the final product is a garbled mess of words and a whole lot of stuttering---I don't even want to say what it sounds like to me, but use your imagination.  In my 11th grade history class we had debates on a pretty regular basis and I totally sucked at it, so I ain't gonna put these kids down. But let's just say, I don't understand the point of speed debating if you can't understand what's being said, and the final product is just hilarious.  Take a listen--fast forward to minute 5:21 to here the speed debating in all its glory.  

70 in August

It's been the coolest, least humid August in NYC that I can remember--it makes me think that fall is just around the corner.  ($5 dollars says we'll have an indian summer in September.) So when it's 70 out instead of 100, seeing the stores offering their fall wares makes some sense--and I can't help but thinking what pieces in my own wardrobe I have to update (umm, threadbare cardigan and riding boots with holes in the toes--say hello to the goodwill pile.) Can you believe this trench is gap? I'm in love.  Since the arrival of Patrick Robinson, gap has been looking pretty good.  I love the whole European nonchalant-ness of the collection.  And you know that Michele Obama loves gap--that lady has style.   

Style me yours

I've been reading fashion magazines since I was about 14 (exact moment: Taking the amtrak to Harrisburg for a family outing, needing something to read, bought Elle magazine with Kirsty Hume on the cover wearing a yellow fur vest--mod was the theme. changed my life forever)--so when I started this blog I thought I'd probably end up blogging a majority about fashion.  But honestly, and I never thought I'd say this, I've been kind of growing out of it...politics, the environment, economics, community, etc have entered my life, and fashion in comparison seems pretty frivolous and shallow. But that doesn't mean i've disowned her, and replaced my sigerson morrisons with birkenstocks--not at all.  I still subscribe to all the fashion mags and save every one, check out style.com everyday, get way too excited for Fashion week, and shop too much too often.  

So it didn't surprise me at all then that I would become OBSESSED with these teenage fashion/shopping blogs (I just added the best one to my blog role--childhood flames.) The T Style Magazine had a piece about them in last week's magazine called "Post Adolescents" and as soon as I had a free moment, I checked them out.  Looking at Childhood Flames (the blogger is a 15-yr old in Portland--ok, I feel REALLY OLD) and the others brought back this wave of nostalgia and weirdly, identification.  These girls care about the clothes, the designers, the models, the personalities, and the magazines like I do: not as a superficial industry based on looks and money (which of course it is), but as a creative industry that promotes self expression and a visual history.  I don't know if that makes sense--it's hard to describe.  It's important to understand the way these bloggers, myself, and any other serious fashion follower looks at fashion, it is not about the person wearing the clothes, it's always about the clothes.  What means more to these girls (and me) is NOT "look at me, I'm so hot, and I have money" it's, "look at these shoes, and the shape of this coat, and do you know what inspired this shirt?"  And that's what I've always loved about fashion, because every piece in every collection has a story, an inspiration, a historic reference.  

I don't know if I could just stop caring about current events and start daily self-portraits or create a closet tour, but a part of me really wants to.  Fashion is a big part of my life, and I am glad for it.  It's like the former fashion blogger for Jezebel said, "I really care about what I'm wearing, but I also read Maureen Dowd, and care what she's saying."  I really butchered that quote---she said something like that, and I'm too lazy to search it out.  But you get my drift.

Well, this is timely

Going back to my little rant about walking NYC and what I am calling "ped-rage"--this little piece appeared in the Times' Week in Review section this past Sunday. Enjoy, and please do listen to the man. xoxo

Um, can you just walk?

I'd like to add to the list of rages (road, 'roid, etc) something I'm calling "pedestrian rage."  It's like when you are trying to cross the street, say Broadway at 14th street here in Manhattan, and it literally takes you 10 minutes.  Not because you have a broken foot and are on crutches, no, because a couple in front of you are hooking up in the middle of the street, and then there is the lost tourists stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and the there is the group walking four across followed by the moms and their giant strollers--you basically get the picture.  I know not everyone is a fast walker like myself, but seriously, when is it ever smart to hold a conversation with a buddy in the middle of the busiest sidewalk in Manhattan--come on.  I've even stopped saying "excuse me" and just pushing these idiots (maybe nudging is a better word.)  Sure, I've gotten looks like "you bitch," "hey, you just hit me with your giant LL Bean boat bag," and "what's your hurry, can't you just enjoy the congested, polluted, dirty streets like the rest of us?" Nope, I can't, and after 7 years of putting up with it, I'm tired, frustrated, and just plain stressed.  I have what you call ped-rage so just get the hell out of my way.

I love how I googled "pedestrian traffic" and a pic of a mob of people and clowns popped up.  So fitting.

Slob of the Week

I think commentary is pretty unnecessary. So because you lied through your teeth, ran for president though you knew this story would surely leak out and cost you your career, and your wife is struggling with cancer, you, John Edwards, are the slob of the week. Sad.

You have no new messages

Hi y'all, I'm back--miss me? By the looks of things, probably not.  I wish I could say that I was on a summer vacay getting a tan and relaxing as my reason for not blogging--the truth is, I was just being lazy. I've been thinking a lot about this blog, other blogs, the blogosphere in general, and "real" journalism and reporting, and what the prior is doing to the later (hint: ruining it.) It got me down, so I sort of fell off the blogging horse. The catalyst to my funk was this Eric Alterman piece in The Nation about new media erasing "old media" like newspapers, and the serious shit we'll be in when real journalism disappears. I am a news junky, and the day I can't buy an actual newspaper or magazine, or the NYT goes all digital, or actual reporting is replaced by the AP, Reuters, and bloggers, is a day I hope never arrives. Unfortunately, it's kind of here, and me blogging here is adding to the whole mess. So I had a crisis of sorts. Then it occurred to me that I could blog about how much I love the Grey Lady, the thick-ass September fashion magazines, every single news, current event, and monthly magazine out there, plus everything else still printed and sold daily, weekly, and monthly. I NEVER EVER want to see them disappear. So come on advertisers, put some money back into print journalism. The readers are still out there. We need these guys--and seriously, if the future of journalism is people like this dude, or this blog, we are all kind of doomed.

In the mean time, at least I have something to blog about.