Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Daily Candy Is Getting a Little Out of Control

Yes, I get Daily Candy emails. No, I rarely read them, though sometimes they will announce the soft opening of new restaurants and other interesting local events. Often, when I've looked at them they will be thinly veiled advertisments for local artists slinging "highly affordable" jewelry one $400 bracelet at a time. Given the economic enema colonic Gigli recession of the last 14 months, these ads seem even more absurd.

But I decided to take a look at one of the emails they sent me today. It involves the launch of "neck accessories." My initial smirk was somewhat mitigated by the cute picture in the email.

Oh, ok, maybe this will be an interesting way to update an old top. But unisex? I click on the link. Even Sergei the model doesn't look very happy about the $171 Mayflower doily he has around his neck.

Image from Revolve Clothing

Friday, September 25, 2009

Thursday, September 10, 2009

This Week in Hypocrisy: Family Values OC Assemblyman Resigns


Michael Duvall is was a Republican Assemblyman from the conservative womb of California that is Orange County. A married man with two adult children, he has been a consistent proponent of "family values." This of course means he is staunchly anti same-sex marriage. From the OC Weekly:

In 2008, 
Duvall blasted efforts to condone gay marriage. Legislatively, he has 
proposed bills to aid the insurance industry and government contractors 
feeding off the state's massive transportation kitty.
 He has offered a law to alter the First Amendment rights of Americans by
 banning anti-war activists from putting the names of fallen soldiers on 
T-shirts with messages such as "Bush lied" on the front and "They died" on the back; he observed that the dead soldiers fought to protect freedom, and "opportunists" should not be allowed to "exploit" the sacrifices with political messages opposing war.


Such thinking impressed certain constituencies. Earlier this year, the man who never graduated from high school received "100 percent" approval scores 
by the California Republican Assembly, the state's leading conservative outfit, and the Capitol Resource Institute (CRI), a fierce guardian of traditional family values.


"Assemblyman Duvall has been a consistent trooper for the conservative causes," CRI president Karen England announced in March. "For the last two years, he has voted time and time again to protect and preserve family values in California. We are grateful for his support of California
 families.'"

Turns out he meant other people's families. Recently a tape of him surfaced wherein he brags about an extramarital affair, accidentally broadcast live from his microphone before the start of a legislative debate.

Here are a few choice snippets of what he shared with his coworker:
"She wears little eye-patch underwear," said Duvall, "So, the other day she came here with her underwear, Thursday. And
 so, we had made love Wednesday--a lot! And so she'll, she's all, 'I am going 
up and down the stairs, and you're dripping out of me!' So messy!"
"And so her birthday was Monday," he said at the Wednesday, July 8 committee hearing. "I was 54 on June 14, so for a month, she was 19 years younger than 
me. I said, 'Now, you're getting old. I am going to have to trade you in.' And she goes, '[I'm] 36.' She is 18 years younger than me. And so I keep
 teasing her, and she goes, 'I know you French men. You divide your age by 
two and add seven, and if you're older than that, you dump us.'"

Full KCal9 Video
Wow. Not only is it just kind of nasty, it turns out the affair is with a lobbyist for an energy company. And, not surprisingly, Dvuall was the vice chair on the Committee on Utilities & Commerce. Coincidence? I doubt it. As one spokesman said to the OC Weekly, "He's old and fat. She's hot, blonde and about 20
 years younger. He could have never gotten a woman like that before he got
 this job.'"



Picture from OC Weekly

(Wo)man's got a point. On a funny-if-it-were-not-so-tragic note, Duvall also sat on the Assembly rules committee which handles ethics allegations of member wrongdoing.

Duvall resigned on Wednesday

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Boycotting of Obama's Speech on Education

Ok, this is a new level. I can see this from the crazies who think that Obama is a foreign-born Muslim, but from Republican leadership? Socialist Indoctrination? It's the president's speech to school-age kids about staying in school for frack sake. I had to sit through this boring shit in public school and so should everyone else.

Guardian Article

Wait, are public schools socialist? Oh noes!!!

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

I think there was a chapter in Das Capital about this

Southwest Air to charge $10 to board early

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The early bird gets the overhead baggage space -- at least on Southwest Airlines Co.

Dallas-based Southwest said on Wednesday it started charging passengers $10 each way to board flights before general check-in starts, but after premium passengers, including those flying Business Select. (Full Article)

It pays to be the early bird. You have to pay to be the early bird. Come on man, as if lining up for Southwest flights wasn't stressful and awkward enough. I wonder if there will also be a surcharge if you want to be on a plane without unauthorized parts.