NY Fashion Week: It’s not just an exhibition, it’s a competition

Who would’ve guessed the entire universe would be a-twitter over Lady M’s dinner frock? Ah well, it is New York Fashion Week: when a young men’s fancy turns to runway dreams.

Dreams, nightmares - what difference, at this point, does it make?

I know it conflicts with the Sochi Olympics, butt what’s more important - a once-every-4-year event in which the world’s finest athletes gather to compete for their countries and hopefully win a place on the medal podium, or a semi-annual  runway competition to see who can make anorexic girls (and boys) look the most fantastically foolish?

So much creativity, so few gold medals for effort

The last 2 pictures, above, are from Thom Browne’s Fall 2014 women’s collection. His menswear offerings (below) may shed more light on the, uh, “challenging” aspects of his women’s collection.

Yes, these are from the men’s collection

I think Thom intends to capitalize on his Big White connections:

At a luncheon held in the East Room, the ceremony honored representatives in every category of design from architecture to technology, butt the fashion design is always the most anticipated announcement. This year the honor went to Thom Browne, an outstanding American designer who reinvented the men’s shrunken suit,

to land one of those juicy government contracts reserved for preferred capitalist cronies, to design the uniforms for our new civilian national security force:

“Just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded”

Yes, that’s lipstick on the toy soldiers. And if you have a problem with that you’re probably a racist homophobe.

Other designers presented more traditional (by comparison) offerings. This little number, for example, from the ever creative Betsy Johnson, perhaps paying homage to one of her early role models:

Phyllis?

No silly! Not Phyllis Diller, Lady M!

Black sparkles and “statement” necklace practically scream “NY Fashion Week”

So, to pick up our spirits after the inevitable post State Dinner let down – and to commemorate NY Fashion Week’s wrap up – I’m introducing a new, this weekend only, Olympic fashion event: “Who Wore it Better”

I see Sara B already kicked this competition off yesterday with this submission:

Here is my own offering for the French State Dinner gown “Who Wore it Better” challenge:

Lady M or Cinderella?

Be sure to tune in this weekend, when our competition heats up… all previous frocks are fair game and it will be a participation sport. So do your homework, as MOTUS intends to lay low and watch the Olympics. 

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Abby L Call, Kent Clizbe on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Towering Over Our Little French Friend in Tall Cotton…Candy

A progressive leftist known for his blatant cronyism, corruption and scandal hit the shores of the Potomac this week; nobody noticed.

It takes a little man in a little coat to make BHO look presidential by comparison

Butt buy a new dress, throw a big party, and everybody sits up and takes notice.

If I may say so, I think it’s a lovely dress; designed by Carolina Herrera and fashioned from luxurious fabric in black and liberty blue.

Although I’ll grant you, it does show better “standing” than “mooving.”

Still, do you see what proper fit and sleeves can do for a woman? Compare:

So let’s have no more complaining; as usual, it could have been much worse.

Unfortunately, since François’ most recent peccadillo - involving another woman – resulted in the breakup of his 7 year affair with another “another” woman, for whom he left the mother of his children.

On the occasion of his election, Hollande is congratulated by his then current lover, Ms. Trierweiler while sitting next to his former lover (and mother of his children) Segolene Royal, and current lover Julie Gayet (far right, back row) 

As we’ve discussed before, Hollande is proof that Henry Kissinger was right about power being the ultimate aphrodisiac: women sexually attracted to powerful men by the vicarious power-surge associated with riding the proverbial coat tails.

And in Hollande’s case, some very short coat tails

Now, on to the intimate dinner for 350 we threw for our little French friend: under the bigtop on the south lawn. Naturally pictures were banned butt I snagged this contraband for you. That’s “Big Guy” way up in front. Worth a short trolley ride to attend, no?

The big top was all done up in mauves and blues, reminiscent of Monet’s Water Lily's paintings (he was French, you know!).

Lady M sat between François and Stephen Colbert – what a hoot! Mary Jane Blige sang her little heart out butt, sadly, no dancing. Since the French President arrived stag, the protocol chief decided dancing would be too awkward. As if that’s ever stopped us in the past.

 

 

The menu was elegant as usual, starting with cocktails (on the “short trolley ride”) and smoked Maine salmon, and moving on to a first course with American Osetra Caviar (from fished raised in tributaries to the Big Muddy!), a "Winter Garden Salad," billed as a homage to Lady M’s Kitchen Garden. As you might imagine, in the middle of this Arctic Vortex our winter garden crops are not terribly prolific right now. In fact, there were barely enough weeds to go around, so we tried to magnify their effect (like unemployment payments) by serving them in a goldfish bowl.

 

“Garden” salad in a “terrarium:” clever!

Naturally there was “Dry-aged Rib Eye Beef”, from a family farm in Greeley, Colorado, served with a “Jasper Hill Farm Blue Cheese Chip” and accompanied with “Charred Shallots, Oyster, Mushrooms, and Braised Chard.” And for dessert: “Hawaiian Chocolate-Malted Ganache and a bon bon plate with house made cotton candy.”

Wait a minute: “cotton” candy, and chocolate bon bons? Isn’t that a little…racist?

And not that anyone cares, butt if past experience is at all indicative of future performance, this little affaire de France cost us a cool half a million dollars. And not even any dancing!

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Sheli Patenaude, Patty Heil, Susana Patrick, Abby L Call. Richard Foss, Doris Fritsche Bergmann, Kent Clizbe, Fred Hopkins on facebook, and @batfreight on twitter, snark on Godlike Productions and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

“Because Work is a Beautiful Thing” No, wait; that’s not right.

Mike Rowe has a message for America:

“It’s time to get back to what America does best. Because work is a beautiful thing.”

Now I’m confused. Is work a beautiful thing, or is following your bliss a beautiful thing? It looks like Lady M is coming down on the side of…work!? How did that happen?

“First Lady Michelle Obama Announces that the Construction Industry Will Hire 100,000 Veterans Over the Next 5 Years.”

Did somebody forget to take their wake up pills this morning?

And she’s making it sound like she thinks that’s a good thing. Boy, she has really got to get more sleep. I sure don’t see how putting our veterans back in the work force is going to help us get more young invincibles to sign up for Obamacare. Oh wait, maybe if their employers don’t offer healthcare they’ll have to sign up with us! So maybe that’s why Big Guy just granted new Obamacare waivers with the stroke of his pen. [Warning: crony capitalism at work here.]

Butt I digress, this is about Lady M’s I Military Families press conference. As always, her little people prepared stories for her to read about people she doesn’t know, has never met and couldn’t care less about:

“And Larry’s story highlights the fact that these jobs don’t just give our veterans the chance to collect a good paycheck, but to build careers for decades in the future, careers that give them the ability to support their families and climb the professional ladder.  And I believe, and my husband believes, that our men and women in uniform should be able to start pursuing these careers the minute they hang up their uniforms.” 

I’m still getting mixed signals here though - how can this be good? What about following our bliss? What if poor Larry is really just another one of us poor shmoos, trapped by the dreaded job lock?

Note to self:remind Lady M that after the big 5-0, staying up all night fighting starts to show on the face the next morning.

Don’t tell me that Lady M didn’t get the memo! We really need to work on our administrative skills around here because we appear to be working at cross purposes here. Maybe I should talk to our PR staff, they’re pretty good at getting talking points out. And while I know it’s not Lady M’s or big Guy’s fault, this is beginning to look like a failure to communicate.

In fact, it looks like we even forgot to send our “work is a choice, not a requirement” memo to our former car company. And let me be perfectly clear: GM still owes us unquestioning loyalty and gratitude for bailing them out and then waiving $11 billion of the original $50 billion you lent them. So I think we’re going to have to pull this Cadillac ad, which – despite hawking our green electric car agenda – seems to be extolling the same work ethic that Mike Rowe is.

Again, let me be clear: Work in the Time of Obama is just un-American.

N'est-ce pas?

I think the Obamas know more about what America needs than either GM or Mike Rowe, and it sure isn’t hard work. That is so last century. What we really need now is a 21st century Soma. We’re working on it, here’s what we’ve come up with so far:

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and Kent Clizbe, Sandy Peterson, Abby L Call, Susana Patrick on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Le Affaires d'Etat

 

Off we go! Our going-to-dinner entourage and bomb squad

Yes, I saw the headline too: “Date night for the Obamas: President and First Lady enjoy romantic Mexican meal together as they prepare to spend Valentines Day apart.”

A ghost sighting outside the Oyamel restaurant Saturday night

Okay, we did have dinner on Saturday at Oyamel, Jose Andres downscale Mexican restaurant that specializes in tacos and guacamole that cost twice as much as they do at a real Mexican restaurant. Butt let me be clear: this was most assuredly NOT a “romantic” dinner. What part of “downscale” do you not understand?

And furthermore, let me ask you this: while it can be delicious, does anyone think of Mexican food when they think “romantic” dinner?  We’re talking frijoles refritos here, people. Or if you’re enjoying them at Oyamel, “Slow-cooked refried beans stuffed with melted Chihuahua cheese, served with Mexican cream and fresh tortillas.”

 Frijoles refritos con queso at Oyamel Cocina Mexicana: honest!

EEE-uuu! That does NOT look appetizing. And to make things worse, Lady M – national spokesperson and cheerleader for all things green - insisted on ordering a side of “Col de bruselas estilo San Quintín: Crispy brussels sprouts with a chile de árbol sauce, pumpkin seeds, peanuts and lime.”  Are you with me here?

Col de bruselas estilo San Quintín; I’m sure they were green at one time

Now we have refried beans paired with a member of the cruciferous (which rhymes with “sulfurous” for a very good reason) family. How many of you are thinking “date night” at this point?

And that’s not all. We also enjoyed some Cachetes de puerco con mole amarillo: “braised house-cured Kurobuta pork cheeks with a mole of guajillo and costeño chiles, served with heirloom rebosero frijoles de olla
and chochayotes;” paired with a variety pack of authentic Oaxacan tacos as a chaser:

Lengua guisada: Braised beef tongue with radishes and a sauce of roasted pasilla chile, tomatoes, onion and garlic

Pancita de puerco al pastor: Seared house-cured Shenandoah Valley pork belly in a sauce of tomatoes and guajillo chiles,served with pineapple, onions and cilantro, and the best of the batch,

And everyone’s favorite:

Chapulines: The legendary Oaxacan specialty of sautéed grasshoppers, shallots, tequila and guacamole.

 

Are you feelin’ the love yet?

Pig Cheeks, cow tongue, pork belly and crispy grasshoppers: allow me to repeat - NOT a “romantic dinner.”¹

Meanwhile in international news, see if you can identify this famous person:

She “clawed her way up from humble beginnings to become one of the most divisive women in the country.” 

No, don’t be silly, I said international news: it’s the lovely Valerie Trierweiler, former First Squeeze of French President Francois Hollande. She’s been taking nervous pills and frolicking at the beach with girlfriends ever since being unceremoniously dumped by Francoise for a younger, newer model squeeze. Hollande will arrive in D.C. tomorrow for his official state visit sans an official “First Companion.”

Lady M had been planning the dinner for over a year and is very disappointed that Valerie will not be in attendance. They struck it off right away, and seemingly had a lot in common, Lady M having “clawed her way up from humble beginnings” too.

Off course, unlike Lady M, somebody probably showed Valerie all the trap doors.

Not that we’re putting notches in our boob belt or anything,

 

butt that’s already two down.

Not a record, butt we still have plenty of time.

I did stumble upon an interesting little tidbit while researching today’s post that I’m just going to pass on to Big Guy without further editorial comment:

“Currently the most unpopular French president of recent times, Hollande's approval ratings ticked a notch higher after the affair was revealed.”

I’m just saying: you just never know when someone might be ready to break out of his job lock to follow his bliss.

¹This may not be exactly what the First Couple ordered, butt due to a lack of total transparency I’m projecting what I think they would order.

Linked By: Abby L Call, Kent Clizbe on facebook, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network

Sochi 2014 - A Crony Capitalism Showcase: “The $51 Billion Xanadu”

You know how it is: once one thing goes wrong it just seems like everything else goes wrong too.

Take Sochi for example. It started with the dangerous face water, and the “pee with a friend” toilets for two (my guess is they forgot to order and/or install the stall walls, butt who knows).

Soon journalists began complaining about more dangerous traps that were being laid for them: coverless manhole traps and elevator-less elevator shafts.

As a rule western journalists aren’t a demanding lot, having turned a blind eye to Russian leaders’ proclivity for whacking their enemies and otherwise violating human rights. Butt mess with their accommodations, and you’ll never hear the end of it:

German photographer Joerg Reuter arrived in the mountains and found the first room offered to him to be full of construction debris, with yellow-brown water and appliances that didn’t work. The next room had construction workers still sleeping in it. The third room had a stray dog in it.

Still, the show must go on: NBC’s breathless awe of Mother Russia’s hand in “one of modern history’s most pivotal experiments” (absent comment regarding its complete and utter failure) led some pundits to wonder if Russia had paid for product placement in their coverage.

Yet right from the start, there were signs this whole thing was going to spiral completely out of control.  It started when that winking snowflake went rogue: deciding to follow its bliss rather than simply become another cog in the wheel.

Then there was the mascot bear that bore an uncanny resemblance to BHO, during his bob Costas interview:

And then, the PR nightmare with one of Putin’s torch lighters turning out to be a “racist hater” - which is code for Republican. How did that happen?

Meanwhile, across town, a persnickety Norwegian team complained that the cross-country/biathalon course the Russians constructed was too short. Turned out they were right: 130 feet short to be precise, if precision happens to be your bliss, which it obviously isn’t if you’re a Russian contractor. Don’t worry, they fixed it, busting right through that snow:

Which actually proved harder work than busting out of a bathroom which inexplicably self-locks from the inside butt only unlocks from the outside. Thankfully the door appears to be constructed out of drywall and corrugated cardboard:

Because how else do you save money when you only have $51 billion to spread around to your friends and political backers?

Well, let’s wrap up this analysis of what can go wrong once one little thing goes awry. After all, it could happen anywhere there is a major transformation underway; anywhere the principles of free market are set aside in favor of the “economics of favours” and you end up with capitalism without capitalists. I tell you it’s an ugly, ugly thing; and once it starts, there seems to be no bottom.

It appears that you can go from the sublime to the ridiculous in seemingly the blink of an eye.

Team USA, left to right: Lake Placid (‘80), Albertville (‘92), Nagano ('’98), Atlanta(‘96), Salt Lake (‘02), Turin (‘06)

…you can see where the transformation begins, in Vancouver, 2010:

…culminating in this year’s metamorphosis. Just a word of caution for future transformers, not every transformation results in a beautiful butterfly (just ask the Russians about that). Sometimes you get moths that are only good for eating your clothes – which in this case might be a blessing.

If you’re getting an ugly Christmas sweater vibe going with Team USA’s Olympic costumes, you are not alone.

I’m not saying this mess is Big Guy’s fault.

It’s just that Team USA Olympic uniforms never used to look like you grabbed your Aunt Kate’s sweater to throw on with your jammie bottoms.

I think it’s just that BHO is used to delegating the details of his transformational projects to contractors who used to be roommates of Lady M. And he’s not familiar with the management convention of following up on them to ensure they are actually doing what they’re supposed to do. That’s what all the other functionaries are for.

Like I said, don’t you just hate it when something goes wrong, and then – like the proverbial dominoes - everything else follows suit? I think we should keep a close eye on things around here because otherwise things could turn very ugly, just like they did in Russia.

I’m talking about the Team USA sweaters at the Sochi Opening Ceremonies of course.

Why? What are you talking about?

Did I already mention that the Salt Lake City Olympics that Mitt Romney saved was one of the few Olympic venues that ever make money on the games?  Oh yeah, I guess I did.

Linked By: Abby L Call, Susana Patrick, Far North Dallas Tea Party Patriots, Sandy Peterson on facebook, and @ValCSilver on twitter, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Cross-Posted on Patriot Action Network