Here's a list of what's annoying me in a mild sort of way about living in Cake Eater Land this weekend.

1. It's been raining cats and dogs here for the past couple of weeks. I am annoyed with our sunless state. I am also annoyed that the new landlord has yet to purchase a lawn mower because the lawn looks like crap. Well, let me amend that: the lawn always looks like crap, but now it looks like overgrown crap in the few spots where there's actually grass. My current nickname for the lawn is "The Savannah." I fully expect that Marlin Perkins and Jim will show up soon to film an episode of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom because the grass is so tall that there's probably some interesting wildlife in there.

And there's a profusion of dandelions, too. Woot!

I am also annoyed that the new landlord has yet to tell me what I can and cannot do in regards to my plantings. With the Great White Hunter-exlandlord and Tweedledumb, anything you wanted to do that made things look nicer, well, they were for it---as long as you didn't expect them to pay for it. Hence I have a nice little landscaped flower bed full of lilies and hostas. I always border this with impatiens, because a. they're colorful and b. they're one of the few annuals that do well here in the Hinterlands. I also put out some pots on the front porch, as well, and when we had the roof of the garage as our deck, the husband built me some flower boxes and I filled them with pots of pansies and petunias. Well, since the deck is no longer stable enough for the average sized human to walk on, I have to rely on these other areas to satisfy my gardening jones. I have no idea if I'm going to be allowed to do these things this year. We'll just have to see.

And no, the man has not called the plumber to see what's wrong with my dishwasher, either.

2. The church that resides across the street from us has once again allowed clubs from the local high school to use their circular drive for fundraising car washes.

Sigh.

So, it seems we're back to being subjected to shouts of, "CAR WASH!" every Friday and Saturday afternoon. They shout this at cars who are going above thirty mph and who are prevented from stopping by the laws of physics and traffic. So, these drivers---may God smite them---honk their horns, repeatedly, to show appreciation.

Said honking gets quite annoying when the eighteen-wheelers that barrel through the neighborhood to avoid traffic on Hwy. 100 join in on the action.

This, of course, says nothing about how scantily clad these teenagers are. They bare their young bodies in a barely decent sort of way in an attempt to bring in customers. Yes, I know, it's a car wash. They're going to be dressed in swimsuits and the like. Ok, that's all well and good until you see what these kids do. One of the more popular ways to bring in customers is to hold a large poster directly over the midsection of your body to make it appear to drivers that you're naked. They've apparently learned that sex sells. (Hmmm. I wonder where they got that one?) I've never once seen a faculty advisor tell these kids to knock it off, either. It makes me feel like they're hooking for funds to support the marching band or the swim club or the track and field club, etc. One, I suppose, could also make comments about the luring of pedophiles if one was so inclined.

Surprisingly enough, the pastor of this church, when I've spoken with him in the past regarding this, has no issues with this behavior. Neither does he mind that all of this behavior is happening in his church parking lot. Apparently being concerned with "community involvement" is more important than the prostitution of children for extra-curricular activities funding. Yay for the Lutherans! They've got their priorities in the right place!

3. The obnoxious Cake Eater neighbor is weaseling his way into our lives. Even more than he's already done so.

I cannot tell you what it is about this guy that sets me off. He just bugs me. There is something there that not only makes me dislike him, but creeps me out as well. And most people don't creep me out. He does. In a I-don't-want-to-be-alone-with-him sort of way. He's definitely a Cake Eater---someone who is concerned with conspicuous consumption strictly for the sake of Keeping Up With The Joneses---and his new area of Cake Eatery behavior takes him into the land of computers. And he's adopted the husband as his guru. He keeps buying computers---as in there are four people in their house, and they now have five laptops, two desktops and a PSP. FOR FOUR PEOPLE. Of course, the guy has absolutely no idea what the hell he's doing with all of this technology, so this is where the husband comes in. He keeps it all straight for them.

Which gets annoying when the Cake Eater neighbor calls at ten at night and expects the husband to come running to solve whatever problem has arisen now. Because we live next door, of course, in the immortal words of Martha and the Vandellas, there's nowhere to run to, there's nowhere to hide. Fortunately, the husband has no issues with saying "get bent" when this happens. But this doesn't apparently stop the Cake Eater neighbor from trying it on again and again, because the man has no familiarity with the concept of boundaries.

Furthermore...well, this is great news for the husband, but I'm leery. The man has decided to set the husband and this other guy up in a computer fixit business. He's funding it, he's got retail space for them---the works, in other words. The store opens for business on Monday. I'm happy for the husband---really I am. This is a big deal for him and I'm happy he now has the opportunity to see one of his visions come into being. That's wonderful and all that. But...

...I wish someone else who was dishing out all of this largesse. Someone who didn't give me the creeps and who didn't feel that it was all right to stick his nose into our personal business. Which he does. All the freakin' time. Sigh. Oh, well. I suppose you have to take the good with the bad. I just hope I don't blow it for the husband the next time the Cake Eater neighbor makes some suggestion about what I should be doing with my time. Because he apparently feels my life is now his business. {Shudder}

And if there are annoyances, there is, of course, also good news...

The downstairs roommate who I mentioned in this post from last week, well, he's doing wonderfully. He rested over at his girlfriend's last weekend, and he's now back at the house. He took the week off from work, but while it definitely looks like he had surgery recently, he looks pretty good, considering. Everything's good and they're thinking they got all of the cancer. I was chatting with him the other evening and he's really hoping they got all of it, because if they didn't, they'll have to operate again---and will have to remove all of his lymph nodes.

Keep your fingers crossed for him.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:49 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Let's have a little hot link on link action this morning.

• The Wiz is back from his muy importanto business trip and has posted on the bling-bling. The words "chrome" and "Craftsman" are lavished about. Go and read what he has to say.
• Some of the other Naked Villains have followed the example of their fearless Maximum Leader and they, too, have thrown their own two cents in on the jewelry thing. I must admit, I'm not all that surprised to find out that the Minister of Propaganda has his ears pierced. (He works in the film industry. If that's your story, boy, I fully expect you to stick with it.) I wonder what Madame Sadie thinks about this development and if Smallholder has suddenly gone back up in her rankings as a result.
• I'm a little hurt that no one bothered to tell me that PUFFY DIED! I would have sent flowers, I swear, but I didn't know!

  Anyway, I look forward to his reincarnation. Which I'm assuming will happen more quickly that if it had been a human who'd died, rather than a fish. Fish years being what they are and all.

• I must admit, I adore The Girl Child.

  She reminds me of someone. Hmmmm. I don't know. Who could it possibly be? Oh, yeah. That's right. It's me. Just ask the Cake Eater Mother for confirmation on that one.

• Doug doesn't quite know what to make of this development.
• Silk chats about growing up and how good things can come out of "disagreements" in bars.
• I'm a complete and utter dunce: I almost forgot to remind you to go over and take part in the Carnival of the Babewits, hosted by the most gracious WitNit.

That should keep you occupied for the time being.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:29 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Anyone else watch Quentin Tarantino's CSI last night?

Quickie review after the jump. more...

Posted by: Kathy at 12:57 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I hadn't heard about this one until the husband clued me in last night.

Billionaire developer Donald Trump has officially thrown his support behind a plan to rebuild the Twin Towers at Ground Zero in practically the same form they were in prior to the September 11 attacks with a few safety modifications.

Trump implored Governor George Pataki to discard the plans for the 'Freedom Tower' presently on the table, describing the design as 'the worst pile of crap architecture I've ever seen in my life,' according to a report published in 'Newsday.'

Wednesday, Trump held a news conference at Trump Towers on Fifth Avenue to announce his support for a 'taller, stronger, more beautiful version of the World Trade Center.'

The design, drawn up by engineer Ken Gardner and architect Herbert Belton would make the new towers one story higher than the previous ones. It would preserve the footprints of the original towers but would have improved fireproofing and more staircases and means of escape in case of emergency.
{...}

Now, I'm not Donald's biggest fan. There's way too much waste in that man's lifestyle to make me ever think that being that rich would actually be fun. (If having a billion dollars in the bank can be classified as being "F You" money, one would think that it would get you out of boring black-tie charity dinners. But noooooo. Apparently you have to go to a lot of those dinners if you're The Donald.) But, I will admit I watched season one of "The Apprentice" and while I may think that "Trump Ice" bottled water is just plain stupid, the man knows what he's talking about when it comes to business: sales, sales, sales; if you can't market it, you can't make money on it; but most importantly, if you say you're going to do something, do it, and stop fucking about in the meantime.

I appreciate that.

That's why I'm pretty darned happy he's stuck his nose in on this one. It's time they stopped fucking about and just built the buildings. Every day construction of the new Towers is halted, is one more day that goes by that tells those bastards they've won. The Towers have to be rebuilt. It's not only a matter of New York pride, but is also one that belongs to the entire nation. And it's being held up by a few prima donnas. This is where Trump's brilliance shines through: he knows he'll never actually get to build the new Towers. It'll never happen. He knows this. He's simply using his reputation to get the chosen people to work.

Trump's smart enough to know that by inserting his nose into the mix, they'll be scared enough by that prospect alone to actually get moving. Because Donald isn't exactly known for his spectacular good taste and I can see where some hoity-toity architects would get their asses in gear just to prevent his taking over the project. Trump, undoubtedly, knows this. If he has to take one for the team to get it done, he's apparently willing to turn his back into the pitch.

Good for him.

{Hat Tip: Martini Boy}

Posted by: Kathy at 10:07 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Jonathan has his review of Revenge of the Sith up.

{...}What is most satisfying about Revenge of the Sith is that it finally delivers us back to the beginning, to the Star Wars we loved; to the Star Wars we still remember after all these years. Sith and the other prequels will, happily, soon be forgotten.

Ouchie. Georgie Porgy Puddin' and Pie's going to need a band-aid.

Fear not, my devoted Cake Eater Readers, I'm assuming that he won't have any problems finding one with R2-D2 or Yoda on it in his medicine cabinet.

Posted by: Kathy at 09:06 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Good For Her.

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) -- A pregnant student who was banned from graduation at her Roman Catholic high school announced her own name and walked across the stage anyway at the close of the program.

Alysha Cosby's decision prompted cheers and applause Tuesday from many of her fellow seniors at St. Jude Educational Institute.

But her mother and aunt were escorted out of the church by police after Cosby headed back to her seat.

{...}The father of Cosby's child, also a senior at the school, was allowed to participate in graduation.

{my emphasis}

Adrianne, who it seems is finally done with her thesis, says:

{...}You can fight abortion, and you can fight unwed motherhood,* but at some point (for example, the point after conception) you're going to have to choose which one is worse. Even making equal punishments for each doesn't actually work for impartial condemnation of each; as it's much easier to have an abortion without anyone knowing about it than to carry a child to term and give birth without anyone knowing about it, a pregnant girl faced with a specific punishment has the option of choosing birth and certain punishment or abortion and punishment only if discovered. And, unless I am mistaken, while traditional Catholic teaching does not approve of unwed motherhood (nor the behavior that led to it), after the fact they prefer it to abortion. Practices such as kicking pregnant girls out of school (not quite what they did in this case) and firing single mothers and potential single mothers, while they'll keep your school or company cosmetically pure-looking, will have the effect of encouraging abortion over illegitimacy. {...}

I wholeheartedly agree.

I know I have related this story before, but you'll forgive me if I choose not to spend time trolling around the archives looking for it. It's a pretty simple one: most of you will know that I went to Catholic school for twelve years. Eight years were spent at a co-ed parish grade school, and high school was an all-girls school. The policy was quite simple at the high school: if you became pregnant, you were kicked out. No appeals were allowed. Interestingly enough, to prove Adrianne's point, there was this one girl in my class who, toward the end of senior year, became pregnant and procured for herself an abortion by asking her friends to chip in and pay for it---even though she could well afford to pay for it out of her own pocket. (She didn't want her parents to find out and they would have if she hadn't spent her allowance on clothes. I know. Rough life. Guess what? I went to a school that had plenty of spoiled little girls. Go figure.) The only adverse effect she suffered was that word spread to the boys' school down the road and she couldn't find a prom date to save her life.

I still have a very hard time with this one. This rich bitch admitted, point blank, that she'd had an abortion, but no one ratted on her because a. she would deny it to the administration and b. her parents were big donors to the school, so it would be unlikely that anything would happen anyway. Plenty of wonderful, deserving girls were booted from that school, and one rich bitch got away with it and never had to pay a penalty for her behavior. I'm sure I could call up my niece---who now attends this same school---and ask her if the policy is still the same, but I suspect it is.

Moreover, the fathers of these babies were never held accountable for their actions by their respective schools. When a girl was kicked out of school, there was never a reciprocal booting at the boys' school down the road. It's a double standard that it seems is still in practice today, given the father of this girl's child was allowed to take part in graduation, rather than being banned, like she was.

I can completely understand about the setting of an example. Of having a zero-tolerance policy. Yet, let's be honest about one thing: it takes two to tango. If you're not holding the father to the same degree of responsibility that you hold the mother---particularly in this instance---what sort of example does that send to other young men? It cuts both ways. Just because you don't have irrefutable proof of his actions in the form of an expanded belly does not mean he is not culpable. In this day and age, when everyone is bleating on ad nauseam about how society is going down the crapper because of same-sex marriage, the divorce rate, the everpresent evil that is abortion, single parents, etc. one would think that it would be a good thing to be consistent and apply condemnation equally, instead of simply resorting to age-old attitudes that have never worked.

One of the reasons I always thought it was very unfair the girls were kicked out was because, while the babies were the result of premarital sex, the school seemingly ignored that these girls were nonetheless respecting the doctrine of life by seeing the pregnancies through. Their actions in this respect, to my mind at least, should have been celebrated and held up as an example of what to do should you find yourself in this situation. But it never was. The premarital sex thing was apparently the more important lesson to teach of the two. They just seemed to assume no Catholic girl would ever go and get an abortion.

Well, they were wrong, weren't they?

Posted by: Kathy at 12:51 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Ms. Feisty has an important question.

{...}What is the real skinny on thin women?

Which is more attractive and why: Thin Kate Moss - Gweneth Paltrow types or women with voluptuous curves?{...}

All I can really say is that no one ever stuck their head out of their car window and yelled, "NICE ASS!" at me as I walked down the street when I weighed 110 pounds. Surprisingly, ever since I gained weight, I get this all the time.

Hmmmph.

Take it for what it's worth.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:29 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 That's an "Amen" from this corner, hun! ; )

Posted by: Christina at May 19, 2005 12:54 PM (z2S93)

2 [shrug] I've always looked a stiff wind can blow me away. Can't much help that, so curves are non existant in my experience.

Posted by: Ith at May 19, 2005 02:59 PM (BR1Us)

3 On the few occasions, when out on the town with the wife, when some one said "Nice ass!" I wasn't sure if they were talking about her lovely physical attribute or making a degrading comment directed at me!

Posted by: The Wizard at May 19, 2005 05:24 PM (isqUU)

4 Just look at the reaction to Lindsay Lohan. Everyone was obsessed with her. Now she dropped about 200 lbs (from a starting weight of 110) and everyone is wondering what the hell happened.

Posted by: Kevin at May 20, 2005 12:14 AM (e7I2/)

5 My favorite example: Chicago, with bag'o'bones Zellwegger making Catherine Zeta-Jones actually look *fat* by comparison, but there was no question which one of the two was attractive.

Posted by: Adrianne Truett at May 20, 2005 08:08 AM (LyYK+)

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I present to you, my devoted Cake Eater Readers, your chuckle of the day.

26 elements have been added since 1923. When will it end?

Posted by: Kathy at 11:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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WRITE something, dude.

Posted by: Kathy at 02:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Step away from the photoshop, Steve-o.

It's for your own good, I promise.

Although, I have to admit, I like the one with Reagan and Goldwater. Heh. I also like the new llama portrait. I always knew Robbo had the braided bun thing going on.

Posted by: Kathy at 02:07 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Ith is right on about last night's House episode.

It was incredibly clever storytelling. If you missed it, well... you're just going to have to wait until the reruns come along this summer.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:32 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I went running yesterday. For the first time in God-only-knows-how-long. I only ran for a mile, thinking I'd best not push it. That's it's been a really long time, and that I'm really out of shape. That I didn't really want to be in pain tomorrow (today) and if I pushed it, well, I'd be prostrate on the sofa, begging the husband to feed me bon bons.

All I can really tell you is that one mile for me is now pushing it.

And all I really want right now is to lay on the sofa and have the husband feed me bon bons.

Posted by: Kathy at 05:55 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 I went running yesterday Silly girl! What on earth would you go do something like that for?!?!

Posted by: Ith at May 17, 2005 06:24 PM (ZZOLQ)

2 It sucks to start running again. I ran throughout college and my military service with a pr in the 5k of 16:12...I have since been injured and I have not been able to run a lot. I get out there thinking that I should be able to run a sub-20:00 5k with little to no training...not so much. I was able to do a few 5ks at around 25 minutes and a half-marathon at around 2 hours...not my best but it is a start. Running is a cruel mistress. Keep with it and go for the pr.

Posted by: cleversponge at May 18, 2005 10:47 PM (tyOvJ)

3 I'll be back at it tomorrow. My legs are just reaching the end of the pain stage. One soak in the tub tonight should cure all the ills. Or so I'd like to think, because if it doesn't, tomorrow is really going to blow.

Posted by: Kathy at May 18, 2005 11:36 PM (cgZvM)

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You've undoubtedly heard about what Georgie Porgy Puddin' and Pie had to say the other day at Cannes, right?

Well in case you hadn't, here's a wee bit of reading material to go with your sherry this evening.

"Star Wars" director George Lucas says that although he wrote the original film during the Vietnam War, his six-part saga could apply to the war in Iraq.

''In terms of evil, one of the original concepts was how does a democracy turn itself into a dictatorship,'' Lucas told a news conference at Cannes, where his final episode had its world premiere.

''The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable.

''On the personal level it was how does a good person turn into a bad person, and part of the observation of that is that most bad people think they are good people, they are doing it for the right reasons,'' he added.{...}

In response, Mr. Chenkroff has written an open letter to Mr. Lucas.

{...}You might be aware that all of us who saw the "Star Wars" trilogy throughout the communist world saw it as an entertaining, yet still nonetheless powerful commentary on the current world events. We simply couldn't escape the conclusion that the militaristic and freedom-crushing Empire with its legions of stormtroopers is a futuristic version of the Soviet Empire, which had conquered and enslaved hundreds of millions of people like myself. For us, of course, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and all the others fighting to restore the Republic were brave oppositionists and freedom fighters in the truest sense of the word. Like the Western movie goers, we too cheered when the Death Star was destroyed (twice), but whereas for our counterparts in the Free World this was just a great cinematic climax, for us it embodied the hope ("A New Hope", if you pardon the pun) that one day the specter of totalitarianism will vanish and we will be free again.

Apparently, however, we were wrong - we didn't read your movies correctly.

{...} May I also add that whatever your thoughts about the United States and its supposed descent from a democracy into empire, had the Rebels won, you would have never had a chance to film a critical allegory on your own government. At best, your artistic output would have consisted of short features about the 150% increase in the wheat harvest, and at worst - if you had stayed true to your conscience - you would be dreaming your "Star Wars" trilogy from behind bars.

{...}But if in your mind, it's the United States that has slowly transformed itself into an evil Empire, and therefore, logically all those who stand up to it are our story's true heroes, than I have to say that the Dark Side is very strong indeed, and I have crossed over a long time ago. If America is the Empire, then please prepare a black helmet and uniform for me too.

Go read the whole thing.

{Hat tip: Fausta}

Posted by: Kathy at 05:46 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Steve-o, in a Deep Throat sort of way, picks up where Newsweek left off. He has the scoop on what was actually swirling around in the toitys at Guantanamo instead of a copy of the Koran.

It's an exclusive. *Must Credit The Llamas*

Posted by: Kathy at 11:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hot Damn!

WASHINGTON - Wine lovers may buy directly from out-of-state vineyards, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, striking down laws banning a practice that has flourished because of the Internet and growing popularity of winery tours.

The 5-4 decision overturns laws in New York and Michigan, which supporters said were aimed at protecting local wineries and limiting underage drinkers from purchasing wine without showing proof of age. In all, 24 states have laws barring interstate shipments.

The court said the state bans are discriminatory and anticompetitive.

"States have broad power to regulate liquor," Justice
Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. "This power, however, does not allow states to ban, or severely limit, the direct shipment of out-of-state wine while simultaneously authorizing direct shipment by in-state producers."

"If a state chooses to allow direct shipments of wine, it must do so on evenhanded terms," he wrote in an opinion joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.

The ruling means that legislatures in the 24 states barring out-of-state shipments will have to review their laws to make sure in-state and out-of-state wineries are treated equally. As a result, states could choose to allow wineries to sell to consumers directly, but could also bar all wineries from doing so.{...}

Hurrah for interstate commerce!

{Hat tip: Absinthe and Cookies}

Posted by: Kathy at 11:39 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Feisty Christina has a new home! Right here at Moo Knew!

Woohoo!

Make sure you go over and welcome her to our little home!

Posted by: Kathy at 08:48 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I'm not extraordinarily fussy with language. While I like playing with it as much as the next writer, more often than not I have a tendency to stick with plain language to drive my point home. So, really, I'm the least likely candidate to pick on someone's use of language, but, on Fox News Channel over the past couple of days there have been a few linguistic follies repeated ad nauseam that have driven me to the point of distraction.

Just to get them off my chest, and to entertain and enlighten you all, I shall list them out here.

1. "Shot Dead." As in, "So and so was shot dead on an L.A. freeway and it was broadcast on live television." I cannot tell you how much I hate these two words when they are thrown together. I will not quibble that "shot dead" is efficient language. Two words are used to get a message across, instead of five or ten or fifteen, which is handy when you have a word count to pay heed to and there are other things to focus on because their death is not the real story, but rather an unfortunate by-product. Yet, I cannot help but feel it's callous language. That its usage alone denies a victim of their dignity. I hate this phrase. It knocks someone's death down to two words. How cruel is that? Particularly when the rest of the story is nothing but hot air or bloated speculation meant to fill air-time, rather than to inform? The repeated usage of this phrase irks me to no end.

2. Filibustering. As in, "Senate Democrats are filibustering Republican judicial nominees." I did a doubletake on this one last night. It was so blatantly wrong that it stuck out like a sore thumb. This, to put it mildly, is inaccurate language. This is lazy language. If you took this literally, you would be well within your rights to believe Teddy Kennedy is out there on the Senate floor right now, a coffee cup full of scotch at the ready, reading the collected works of William Shakespeare into the Senate record. He's not. Neither is Hilary Clinton warming up her vocal chords by singing scales at a piano bar in Georgetown. They're not filibustering anything. Yet. The Democrats have threatened to filibuster Republican judical nominees; they have not, however, followed through. There is a difference. The threat of the filibuster is not the same thing as the actual filibuster itself. Yet, as far as the media is concerned, it is. Hence the liberal usage of the word "filibustering" to describe something that hasn't happened yet. In the process of using this lazy language they are misleading people. They skip over procedural steps that the public should be informed about; they are creating a foregone conclusion where there is none.

Since the Republican leadership is threatening to get rid of the filibuster altogether, it might behoove this news channel (and all the other ones) to describe the filibuster correctly, so as not to mislead their audience on this very important bit of news.

Ok, I feel better now. Throw your own lingustic pet peeves into the comments section. You'll feel better, too. I promise.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:25 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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That's how the line goes, right? I can't remember my Hamlet this morning, but the sentiment fits.

What the hell does this mean? How can the Cake Eater Chronicles be #445 in the Ecosystem?

Does not compute. Does not compute. Does not compute.

Just in case you're thinking I believe this blog should be higher, think again. I believe it should be lower in the rankings. A few weeks ago I was in the seven hundreds. Now I'm in the mid-400's? Something's really wrong.

All I can think is that the Ecosystem must have been consuming large quantities of beer (hey, maybe it's been hanging out with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?) is drunk and is about to let loose with one heck of a belch.

UPDATE: Title fixed.

Posted by: Kathy at 09:26 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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You know, I always had this idea that France, and Paris in particular, appreciated art. After all, they've got the Louvre. Impressionism, the Grunge Movement of the late 19th Century, started there as a backlash to the overstylized manuevers of the Romantic period and the Salon that appreciated them. Van Gogh whacked off his ear in Provence. Picasso did some of his best work in France. I could go on, but I think you're getting what I'm saying: France, and again Paris in particular, has always been associated with art and the appreciation thereof in the minds of many people.

Not so anymore. Courtesy of Fausta, we have this lovely tidbit:

The French art world is reeling after this week's announcement by the billionaire businessman Francois Pinault that he is pulling the plug on what was to be a major new gallery of contemporary art in Paris.

The 69-year-old tycoon, who is a close friend of President Jacques Chirac, was planning to put on display his 2,500-strong collection of late 20th century works in a futuristic museum to be built on an island in the river Seine.

But on Monday Pinault said that he was so fed up with planning delays and other bureaucratic obstacles that he had decided to stop the whole project.

Instead, his collection - including pieces by Miro, Jackson Pollock and Jeff Koons as well as British artists Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin - will be housed in the magnificent 18th century Palazzo Grassi on the Grand Canal in Venice, which Pinault bought last month.{...}

Gallery-owner Emmanuel Perrotin said that "once again it holds up to ridicule the sluggishness of the whole French system".

"Here was someone who wanted to build a museum as big as the Pompidou centre... Seen from abroad, Paris keeps its image as a small town in the provinces."

Francois Pinault has been buying modern art for more than 30 years
Even the left-leaning Le Monde newspaper agreed: "The fiasco has sent a clear message, discouraging anyone tempted by a similar adventure.

"It underlines the supreme difficulty of launching an initiative in the field of the arts outside the path of public aid. This situation is untenable. The state cannot do everything.{...}

Fausta shows her shrewdness yet again when she says:

"I have the distinct impression that the Boulogne-Billancourt bureaucrats assumed that the Pinault project was "a done deal"(*) and that Pinault wouldn't dare locate the collection anywhere but in France.

Clearly, they were wrong."

What have we here? A France that was so unenthusiastic about the fact a private entrepreneur wanted to set up an art gallery that would be good for the economy that the entrepreneur in question became completely frustrated and set up shop in Venice. I'm not a business world junkie, by any stretch of the imagination, but even I know who Pinault is and he has a reputation as a shark. The article mentioned that he owned Gucci, and this should tell you something very important. Gucci was the subject of a hostile takeover by LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy), another French luxury goods maker a few years back. Bernard Arnault, the head of LVMH, tried for a very long period of time to get Gucci under the LVMH umbrella and ultimately failed. Pinault was the man who benefitted from Arnault's battle: he was patient and let Arnault do all the heavy lifting, then swooped in as a white knight on Gucci's behalf and snaked the company out from under his competitors nose. This shows that the man is canny and has plenty of patience. That he lost patience with the French government in all its local and national flavors should tell you something is not quite right here.

For all their moaning and whining about the assault on French culture, it doesn't even seem as if the French appreciate it enough these days.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is just a friendly, Friday-ish reminder from me that when you think you're life is shit, and you're weeping and wailing about it, and in general feeling sorry for yourself about nothing serious, well, just remember there is somebody out there who's life definitely is shit.

As the wise man once said, "Perspective matters."

The new landlord moved into the Cake Eater Pad on May 1st, and we're pretty happy with the guy. So far, so good. He's a little loud when watching the NBA playoffs, but that's forgivable. I get a little loud when I watch the news. It's all good. The only issue I have with him is that he keeps putting off calling the plumber to see what needs to be done about my dishwasher that has been on the fritz since last fall. No worries, though. He'll get to it eventually; he's not ignoring me out of spite or cheapness like the Great White Hunter and Tweedledumb would have done. He's young, too. As in his middle-twenties. Neither is he married. Hence, he has a roommate, who is yet another really nice, unmarried young man in his mid-twenties.

Well, the husband was chatting with the roommate last night and during the course of the conversation the husband learned that the roommate is going into the hospital today for surgery. He told the husband because he wanted to let us know that no one was going to be around this weekend, as the landlord is out of town on business. You see, the reason for the surgery is that he has testicular cancer and he has to have something (I think you can probably guess what) removed. The husband didn't give me many details about the conversation, because I think he was a bit stunned and didn't ask. The offer of "if you need anything at all, please let us know," was proffered, but I don't know that the guy feels comfortable enough with us to take us up on it. And that's fine: we've only known him for thirteen days.

I just saw him walking to his car to go to the hospital. His girlfriend was with him and he looked determined. He was carrying his suitcase, swinging it mildly, like he knew he wasn't going to be able to do that when he came home, so he was going to get in as much of that activity while he could. He was walking with a distinct purpose, like the time had finally arrived for him to go off to war, and there was no need to dither about like a sentimental fool. It was inevitable. The thought, "let's get it over with" was written all over his young face. His girlfriend looked resigned, maybe even a little tired, and her lips were puckered with worry. She was dressed comfortably in a polar fleece, basketball pants and cross-trainers for what will undoubtedly be a long day of sitting around a hospital, waiting for doctors to come and tell her what the scoop is.

Life, at this particular point in time, is sucking pretty badly for these two people. But it's obvious that they've acquired helmets and have put them on, to protect their noggins from whatever might come flying at them in the next few days.

I suppose this should serve as a friendly reminder that no matter what you're going through, it could always be worse. Sometimes we need a reminder every now and again of this fact. If you're feeling sorry for yourself this morning, and are weeping and wailing about your own problems, well, take a lesson from these two people: get your own helmet and batter through your own problems, because, after all, it could be worse.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:49 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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