Five Bucks Coffee?

I mention Starbucks quite often. It's after all a ubiquitous text for most people in modernity.
I was just given a t-shirt with this logo on it: Fivebucks Coffee.

Ha.
I get a kick out of it for all the right reasons.
Reactions?

WorkOut's Jackie Warner Fails to Work Out

If you're interested in watching affectation at its best and a hub of stereotypes covered in LA-styled everything, watch Bravo's Workout.
First off, the reason why I'm blogging about this is because of this NY Times article about it. In the words of my good friend, Joanna, the poet, 'yee gads!'
The article, like the show itself, reeks of stereotypes which I suppose, is what makes it bearable to read. The only decent line in it states: "WorkOut's Jackie Warner Fails to Work Out."

Friends of mine encouraged me to watch the show's premiere. I did. I have yet to waste a precious hour the way I did Tuesday night at 10:00 ET.
Not only did the show not entertain or give me tips about working out (as, well, it purports to be a show about working out, after all, or so I was led to believe...), but I have yet to feel more guilty about time management, or should I say mismanagement.

The star of the show is Jackie Warner. Warner seems to be fully enamored with her own image. This 21-century, LA Narcissus seems dismissive of others and fully and immodestly unapologetic about self-love. And, like most bona fide narcissists, Warner demands that it all be about her all the time.
I suppose it makes some measure of sense that the show be the way it is.
I just know it's not something I want to watch.
It perpetuates fully foibled perceptions of what some call 'California folks' and it fails to impress on all accounts.
I don't know about you but I'm retiring my remote control. Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm is, still, the only reason to watch some TV. And it's not even TV, I'm told, it's HBO on Demand.
And Bravo's WorkOut might just work out if it actually features some working out. But I seriously doubt it will ever deliver.

Money + Happiness?

"To put it in today’s terms, owning an iPod doesn’t make you happier, because you then want an iPod Touch. Relative income — how much you make compared with others around you — mattered far more than absolute income...."
A most excellent piece on the NY Times today. Read full feature here.

Flying in Style with Lufthansa

Rana Florida over at creative classroom just posted this. I had to feature it as well. What do you think?

'I had the rare pleasure of flying Lufthansa, classe primo. What an amazing experience. Not only was the food delicious and the cabin spacious but the flight attendants were not surly! And the best part of all..every seat had a ROSE!
So typically after I fly, I rename the airlines. For example.
United is U-FRIGHTED
Northwest= NorthWORST
Southwest = SouthWORSTEST
US Air = US SCARE
Air Canada- SCARE Canada
Continental - Conti-HELL-tal
Delta - Schmelta
Aeroflot - AeroFLOP
American - Ameri-CANT
So for now, Lufthansa gets to keep it's name. Please share your monikers for the airline carriers.'

Hyper Sarkozy Likes to Text Message but Keeps Silent on Hich Culture

Chateaubriand once noted that “Taste is the good sense of genius.” France's president Sarkozy is being criticized for what many in France thinking is his apparent lack of interest in high culture.
The NY Times features a provoking spread on him today. It mentioned many things including the following, "the hyperactive Mr. Sarkozy reportedly text-messaged somebody or other while with the pope."
Hmm.
Here is a section from the article:
'Every French president since the liberation has cooked up some such pharaonic new museum or opera house or library or initiated some legacy-minded cultural program, until now. Mr. Sarkozy’s taste is said to be for Lionel Ritchie and Celine Dion. (Mitterrand mulled over Dostoyevsky; de Gaulle consumed Chateaubriand.) The current president’s fondness for showbiz pals, his marriage to the Italian model-turned-singer Carla Bruni and the appointment of a culture minister, Christine Albanel, who is intelligent but widely regarded as weak among Mr. Sarkozy’s ministers, have combined to produce something of a culture shock.'
Full feature here.
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Urban Chic or Cheeky Urban

Sartorialist surprised me with this concoction the other day. I have much to say about the wall. The abundance of expression ends there, however.

Dayton's Creatives

Richard over at creative class observed this about the creatives up in Dayton.

'The University of Dayton is nationally recognized for developing student entrepreneurs. Its entrepreneurship program has been rated the fifth-best in the U.S. for the past two years by Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review. Students in the program become entrepreneurs, with many opportunities to learn by running actual businesses.'

A most excellent piece about the entrepreneurial spirit of educational programs.
Read full feature here.

Angry Chick Music in English via France

Hat tip to Bamber over at Prettier than Napoleon for the pointer.
Watch this. It's kitsch, absurdly puerile, yet tremendously appealing. Bamber calls it 'angry chick music from France' and well, i can't top that.
What think ye?
I thought, move over Alanis and Ani, there's a new sheriff in town!

Joanna Straughn's Poetry

Joanna Straughn simply gets poetry. Her understanding of the mechanics of language and its lexical intricacies comes across ever so naturally and effortlessly.
Her structures are also some of my high-frequency borrowings. Her coinage 'disturbances of creations' as featured in the poem "Doves," lives happily in my daily verbal bank.
Straughn captures language with a unique kind of lexical sensitivity. At the same time she has the ability to see what most of us fail to discern, and in turn knows how to convert into language fundamental and poetic truths.

In “Tea Things” the poet writes, “Into one of the cups, I slowly poured tea/And offered it to someone else./The mouse’s song is not so different from the bird’s./The mouse’s nest is not so different from the bird’s./Oddly sometimes things are as they appear./But how can you tell?”
She knows how to clothe the unutterable with the appropriate mantle of expression. I read Joanna and I think,
‘yes, yes, I now know how to phrase what I sensed.’

The poet does that throughout her creations. She provides textual space for that which is left unattended. Like a seer, she has the sight and insight to observe things hidden and difficult to see and, in turn, translates them into beautiful structures.

I just finished re-reading Joanna’s book Instinct and the last thought I had was that poetic truth does indeed lie in the hidden treasures of the quotidian human experience. I encourage you all to get a copy of Instinct. It's emotionally and intellectually enlightening as well as poetically nourishing.
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Yankee Stadium

The Yankee Stadium will attract a different sort of crowd soon: the Pope and a Pope-listening audience.
Per the NY Times,
'The pope will straddle second base in Yankee Stadium, but stand over center field at Nationals Park in Washington. There are 100,000 ponchos on hand in the Bronx in case of rain, while three Polish nuns have dusted off a gold and silver garment, hand-woven more than a century ago, for the pontiff to wear at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the capital.'
Read feature here.