"That's The Way These Society Types Eat Their Candy Bars"

Remember that Seinfeld when Mr. Pitt ate his Snickers with a knife and fork? Well, yesterday C, she who is far artsier than I, showed me stuff from this design agency Populärgrafik, and she and I are both loving these photos from from their Land of Milk and Honey collection. They remind me of that episode, and I'm so sure that's the precisely what they were shooting for here.





Why does that strawberry soda look so fantastic? WHY? Clearly I need an afternoon snack.

A Piece Of That "Our"

At some point, I'll stop posting this kind of stuff. But not now. From Judith Warner's most recent op-ed for the NYT "Tears to Remember":

"The glory of Barack Obama is that there are so many different kinds of us who can claim a piece of that 'our.' African-Americans, Democrats, post-boomers, progressives, people who rose from essentially nowhere and through hard work and determination succeeded beyond their parents’ wildest dreams are the most obvious.

But there are also people who respect intelligence and good grammar. People who see their spouse as their 'best friend,' as Barack called Michelle on Tuesday night. People whose children have the same knowing look as Sasha and Malia, who are probably more excited about their puppy than about their father’s presidency."

Michelle O.

Let's not talk/think about how long it took me to make this collage at Polyvore.com
Much has been made of Michelle Obama's style, and with good reason: She's mastered the high-low mix (yellow J. Crew cardigans and floral White House Black Market dresses elitist? Yah, no), she wears American (unlike Jackie Kennedy, who preferred Frenchies), and she favors up-and-coming designers (above, black and red Narciso Rodriguez on Tues. and bright floral Thakoon in August) and relatively unknown ones (Cuban-American Isabel Toledo—purple dress above—and Chicago-based Maria Pinto) instead of the stuffy, old-lady styles from peeps like Oscar de la Renta that Hillary and Cindy McCain reach for. Needless to say, the fashion folks heart her and are fighting to get their clothes on her back. And, since whatever she wears turns into retail gold, Oprah Book Club-style, here are the designers (all born in the U.S.A., young, and, by sheer coincidence, multi-culti) that def warrant her attention and resulting sale boost.

Doo-Ri Chung, one of Anna's faves, who took home nice CFDA awards in 2006.

Derek Lam, who's been around for a while but never evs gets the attention he deserves.

Phillip Lim, whose sensibility would make M.O. even cooler than she already is. And me even more jelly than I already am.

Rachel Roy, who's stuff is super sleek 'n chic. (BTW, R.R. is one of the prettiest people EVER, which makes it near impossible not to hate her.)
All runway pics from Style.com, Spring 2009 collections

In return for this sage advice, Michelle, I request only your hand-me-downs.

The Case For Statistics (Like My Endorsement Is Required)

In the days leading up to the election, T was calm and confident. The polls were good! Intrade had it in the bag! And I, on the other hand, was an f-ing wreck. I'd read Politico, Huff Po, The Daily Beast, 538, and Gawker all day and then watch Colbert, Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow, and the best election team on zee television at night. Now, part of this stems from the fact that I'm an impatient person who just wants things to happen, dammit, no matter how bad that thing's gonna be. But it's also that I don't have nearly enough trust in numbers now that I spend my life in letters. But, alas, Nate Silver has renewed my faith. Check it:

Right now, Barack Obama has 63.7 million popular votes to John McCain's 56.3 million, whereas third party candidates have roughly a collective 1.6 million. That works out to 52.4 percent of the vote for Obama and 46.3 percent for McCain ... conspicuously close to our pre-election estimates of 52.3 percent for Obama and 46.2 percent for McCain.

This was as of last night, and so every last vote hadn't been tallied, but...yah. Sold to the girl in the orange sequins blog.

Right Now It's Impossible Not To Miss University of Chicago

The Daily Beast has an article today about why Chicago is (or should be) America's new cultural center, and it's chock-full of U of C references. Which makes me wish I was spending my rainy fall day in the C-Shop. In a booth, duh.

Why Am I Loving This?

Um, kiiiiiinda obsessed with the album art of Britney's Circus, out on her birfday, 12/2. She looks glam, and that's not something we've been able to say since the turn of the century (see exhibit Halloween pics). She's wearing Rodarte (per Fashionista), which is about as un-Trashy McTrasherson as you can get.

And you know what else I'm excited for? MTV is doing a 90-minute doc For the Record about Brit that will air 11/30. 90. F-ing. Minutes. Sharpie it into the calendar. Oh, who are we kidding: It's MTV. They'll show it back-to-back-to-back for weeks. EEH!

Those Kennedys

Not to make this all about race or anything (cause it clearly isn't), but...

"There's no question about it...In the next 40 years a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother has."

—Robert F. Kennedy, from the Washington Post on May 27, 1968

Pic from here