Business Meeting

[Photo by KPA]

I managed to catch these four bankers (?) in the banking district of Toronto (its "Wall Street" on King and Bay) at the Mies van der Rohe Toronto Dominion Centre a couple of days ago. The cows in the back are by Canadian sculpture Joe Fafard titled "The Pasture" which I describe in a previous post:

The sculptures above are titled "The Pasture" by Joe Fafard. They look like they are in the tradition of Pastorals:

The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an idealized manner, for urban audiences. As a noun, a pastoral refers to a single work of such poetry, music or drama.

Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty

[Photo by KPA]

ODE ON A GRECIAN URN
By John Keats

THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal—yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearièd,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea-shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of its folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul, to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

O Attic shape! fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form! dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'

The Useless Ilana Mercer Is At It Again

Ilana Mercer, with whom I corresponded for a while until she cleverly called me an idiot without actually attaching the word to my name, is at it again. Here are some posts I did on Mercer's libertarianism (however much she denies it), her writing style, her recent book, and her support of Ron Paul.

I go to her site to see what libertarians are saying. We need all the information (and thought processes) we can get, so we don't get blind-sided like I did with her crass reaction to my positions.

Here's what she recently wrote about Ameerah Al-Taweel, Princess of Saudi Arabia:

Is Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel the most beautiful woman in the world? Indisputably. Her face is simply exquisite. Poise and manners are perfect too. Mrs. Al-Taweel’s simple, rich-girl solutions to endemic unemployment sound more left-liberal than classically liberal, but her heart is pure and she is bright. Married to “Buffett of Arabia,” Ameerah Al-Taweel is also terrifically wealthy. I hope she does not pick up any ho-like mannerisms while in America.

Since my blog is interested in, "how art, culture and society converge," and many of my posts discuss beauty, I simply cannot go without commenting on the so-called beauty of this princess as opined by Mercer. (Of course, Mercer is not only talking about the woman's physical beauty, but her beautifully decorous manners as well, with no sarcasm intended.) I often dislike commenting on innocent bystanders' uncontrollable features such as their looks, but this Saudi Princess is no innocent bystander, as I will show later in this post.

This Saudi royalty is no masterpiece. Her strangely compressed/elongated face doesn't have the delicacy or refinement of a true beauty. There is a fetishistic pull towards highly placed Third Worlders that some people in the West respond to. Ameerah Al-Taweel's large, darkly kohled eyes are her attractive features, and are part of her exoticism. Mercer could be reacting to that.

Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel as a: Western woman, a Muslim woman,
an Oriental Princess, a devout wife. How many hats (robes, dresses)
does she wear? Which one is the real her?

Al-Taweel is often photographed wearing chic, designer Western clothes, looking as smart and well-groomed as a Catherine Deneuve, yet she hails from a country which mandates that women cover up in dark, dreary robes. Al-Taweel does appear at times with black head-coverings, but her reasons are unclear. Is it is camaraderie with her Muslim sisters? Is it to please her husband? Is it her whim for the day?

As for Al-Taweel's non-physical attributes, I just cannot find it. She may be soft-spoken, but she clearly promotes the anti-female, sharia-based legal system in Saudi Arabia (with a different set of rules for herself, of course), advocates polygamy through her own marriage to bigamist Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal (who is also twice divorced - Muslims style?), agrees that women cover up Muslim style, as a physical manifestation of the restraints on women.

She prattles on about allowing women the vote by 2015 (four years from now, when anything could happen, including rescinding this "permission") and being an advocate for women driving despite this newspaper headline just today: Saudi woman to be lashed for driving car.

She is a hypocrite, but more precisely, she lives as an elitist Third World autocrat (or an autocrat's wife), with one set of rules for herself, and another set for the masses.

So this is the "beauty" that Mercer chimes about.

As Keats writes:

Beauty is truth, truth beauty, --that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

A writer who cannot discern this is not to be trusted.

Chaz Bono Still On Prime Time TV

From Chas to Chaz, Bono's Journey:
Chastity Bono turns to Chaz Bono.
That means she no longer has to be a lesbian
with her girlfriend (pictured above right)
she met before turning trans.

I wrote about Chaz Bono's participation in Dancing With the Stars, and how it remained in the competition for another week, which I concluded was due to the "freak show" factor.

Well, Chaz is back again, despite a weird, creepy dance routine, and actually being the worst in the competition. I'm pretty sure it is still the freak factor that keeps it on the show for another week.

The good thing is that all the other celebrity dancers are really quite good, as was the one eliminated (an Italian actress, and probably the reason she was voted off is because not many people would know her). So, the trick is to keep an eye on Chaz and study its behavior and actions, as a reference for other "trans" freaks in our brave new society. Their aggression can really only be countered by our aggression, but we have to know what we're fighting against first.

(Serious) Design Flaws of a Vera Wang Gown: Or, How Vera Wang is a Mediocre Designer

Arianna Huffington with her daughters
in the October 2011 Vogue
Left: Isabella in Vera Wang
Right: Christina in Prabal Gurung
Center: Arianna in Lanvin

Vera Wang's dress in the October 2011
Vogue, work by Arianna Huffington's daughter

Here's more on that much-touted, mediocre designer Vera Wang.

To the detriment of being called racist, I repeatedly find myself bewildered at the subtle ineptitude I find in "Asians" - the category in the West which now includes Chinese, Korean and Japanese (but probably a more accurate term would be East Asians, since South Asians includes the far different race of Indians, Bangladeshi and Pakistani, also from the Asian continent).

For example, I was in the bank yesterday, withdrew some money, and asked the teller for my balance. She wrote it on a piece of paper. I said I would prefer a print out, so that it is an official record. Her response was a mixture of lies (that I had already finished a transaction and the system had switched off), laziness (unwilling to log back into my account) and possibly ineptitude, the cause of which I haven't figured out other than if the system does shut down after a log off from a recent transaction, she doesn't know how to turn it back on for the same transaction. All this was communicated to me in broken English in a Chinese accent.

(As a side, but important, note, there is a huge influx of Chinese in Toronto these days. I think many are entering on "economic" and "education" immigration quotas. I think there is also a racial component to their ability to enter Canada relatively easily. Blacks and Muslims, and to a lesser extent Indians, appear to be more "different" than whites, so the Chinese are a better choice to fill the immigration quotas promised by almost all the political parties. Their contribution in both those areas are suspect, and I will provide some information, research and conclusions on these soon.)

Back to the Chinese teller. If I had been really difficult (I did throw back the scrap of paper at her after telling her it was unacceptable), I would have asked for her manager, reported her behavior, and indicated that this wasn't the first "lack of communication" that had occurred with Chinese tellers in the bank, who either: don't understand sufficient English to be tellers; or don't have sufficient training to be tellers. I suspect it is a combination of all the above.

This isn't an isolated incident. It happens at coffee shops, in department stores, even on streets where negotiating the sidewalk with Chinese pedestrians is a weird event where they seem to think that ceding the sidewalk space is the responsibility of the other person - something which I no longer do, with interesting effect.

Back to Vera Wang. Above are the dresses from the October 2011 Vogue issue where she designed one of the dresses for Arianna Huffington's daughter, Isabella. (The other is by another "Asian" designer, Prabal Gurung, but more on him in a later blog post, but here is his odd, mediocre - there's that word again - Spring 2011 collection.) Below are close-ups of parts of Wang's dress, with my critique of what's wrong with the dress.


- The fabric: For a "flowing gown" which this dress seems to attempt to be, why use such heavy fabric, which rather than flowing seems to be dragged down by its own weight?

- The collar area: This shapeless, formless cut looks like a cheap, quick cut by a mediocre tailor.

- The gathering: These shapeless gatherings add nothing to the aesthetics of the dress. In fact, they make it look like some home-decor fabric, like a curtain.

-The waist: There is no distinct cut or shape for a waistline, other than a weird gather around the waist. The drop waist with a thick inelegant band makes the dress even more shapeless. Isabella is a thin girl, with very little of a waist. This dress gives her no figure, nor helps accentuate a waistline through cut or tailoring.

- The sleeves: Isabella's thin arms are dwarfed through the gaping holes that pass for sleeves. Longer sleeves, or some busy pattern even on these short sleeves, would have made her arms more attractive.

- The "train": For want of a better word, that's what the fabric dragging at the back seems to resemble. But what the dress looks like is a long gown with a piece missing in the front.

- The color: The red color has a blue tint. Red with a blue tint is cold and dark. Why not go for a more festive brighter red? After all, Isabella is only 21. I think color in design is a very important part, which often makes or breaks the design. Wang was unable to deliver in this category.

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Entries on Vera Wang at Camera Lucida:

- Vera Wang's Aggressive Asian Outreach: Part I, September 21, 2011
- Vera Wang's Aggressive Asian Outreach: Part II, September 21, 2011
- Vera Wang's Aggressive Asian Outreach: Part III, September 22, 2011

- Vera Wang vs. Amsale Aberra, August 9, 2011
- Wang's Wedding Dress Fit for a Vampire's Bride, August 24, 2010
- More Thoughts on Chelsea's Wedding, August 7, 2010
- Vera Wang: Wedding Dress Designer?, July 29, 2010
- Modern Bridal Wear, January 27, 2010
- The Global Runway: Part 3, August 4, 2006

Lesbian Freaks on Prime Time TV

Jane Lynch (right) with her "wife" Embry
and "daughters" Haden (left) and Chase

In my previous post, I wrote on Glee actress Jane Lynch who "married" her female partner.

Here is more sordid information on the lives of these lesbians.

Lynch's "wife" Embry had a lesbian relationship with another woman, Kimberly Ryan. During this period, Embry and Ryan both underwent in vitro fertilization, and had a daughter each: Chase (Ryan's IVF daughter) and Haden (Embry's IVF daughter).

Embry adopted Ryan's IVF daughter Chase.

The "family" split up when Ryan converted to Christianity. Ryan is now married to a man. She decided to stop Embry's visitation rights to her IVF daughter Chase (and Embry's adopted daughter). But Embry won the court battles, and can visit with her adopted daughter Chase.

The story is sordid, ugly and depressing. The details are here.

The offspring of these unnatural unions, and conceptions, look weird. Haden looks like Michael Jackson's IVF kid Blanket - with those bewildered-looking eyes.

Lesbians and Other Sexual Freaks on Prime Time TV:Jane Lynch and Chaz Bono

From Chas to Chaz: Bono's Journey:
Chastity Bono turns to Chaz Bono.
That means she no longer has to be a lesbian
with her girlfriend (pictured above right)
she met before turning trans.

Right: Family photo with Jane on the right
Left: Jane with her "wife"
Jane Lynch, the ebullient lesbian, doesn't need (want?) a sex
change, and wears pants or dresses, depending on
the occasion. She still calls her "partner" her "wife" though,
seeing as they recently got "married"
[Photos from Jane Lynch's new book "Happy Accidents"]
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I wonder what set off the triggers that eventually changed these young girls? They weren't particularly attractive as young girls. Could it be that they're rebelling against, angry at, the taunts and rejections they got in the school yard? Young friends teasing them that they looked different? That they were too tall, too fat? Bullies who took advantage of their shyness? Mothers who didn't come to the rescue, but told them to "go out and fight back?"

I always wonder what turns people into lesbians or homosexuals. Camille Paglia, the famous anti-lesbian lesbian thinks that it is the relationship with a cold and distant mother which triggers off lesbians, and a close and cloying one which sets off homosexuals.

Here's what Paglia writes in her book "Vamps and Tramps" about lesbians:

A once lesbian-friend, now married, declared to me that lesbians suffer from "buried rage, with a desperate need for consolation. I see a persistent pattern among white middle-class lesbians: they often have a decorous, passive-aggressive mother, who uses her daughter as a proxy to act out her secret ambivalence towards men, in the person of the never directly confronted husband. Caretakers on the surface, lesbians are seething with unacknowledged hostility...

Well, these photos seem to show that. Although the Cher photo somewhat belies that. But Chastity was part of a show business family, and I would think that Cher really had no time for her except when she was on stage and performing with her. But Cher was genuinely shocked, upset and hurt at her daughter's change of, well, person. I think in a normal family, she would have been more the pestering, ever-present mother (would Chas have turned Chaz too, then?). Chaz, as an adult, could have figured that out, and forgiven her mother. But revenge is sweeter than forgiveness, I would think. Revenge to pay back that absent mother, irrelevant of the reasonable reasons. So, Chastity went the self-destructive route. Some revenge. If life was so unbearable, she could have just left. But true to her narcissism, she preferred to stay in the limelight, and shock her mother with her public, exhibitionist act.

Here's Cher's account of her reaction to the sex change:

"I was hysterical one day because I was calling Chaz's answering machine and I realized it was her old voice, and then I said, 'Chaz is there a way I can save it because I will never hear that voice again?' And there wasn't, it was gone.

"That's the most traumatic thing that has happened to me in this whole thing - hearing her voice and knowing I'll never hear it again."

[S]he avoided seeing Chaz - whose father is the singer's late husband Sonny Bono - for a long time after he began treatment because she was so nervous.

..."I was so nervous...I hadn't seen her and I was putting it off...If I don't recognize her, what will happen?"

Cher also admitted she still doesn't feel "comfortable" referring to her offspring as "him" rather than "her".

..."At some point, I'm gonna have to start calling her 'him'. It doesn't seem comfortable to me yet. Actually I just can't remember and I guess I'll start forcing myself but I'm not sure she cares."

The "transgendered" "Chaz" Bono, "daughter" of Cher (who herself has transformed her face and looks very different from her original looks) is a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. I think DWTS is one of the few good shows out there where contestants have to fight for their position as the best Celebrity Ballroom Dancer through about twelve weeks of hard competitions (some actually have to withdraw because of injuries). The professional dancers have dedicated most of their lives to ballroom dancing, and are graceful dancers, humble individuals, and good teachers. They know showmanship isn't all, and talent and hard work are also part of their success.

So, how did "Chaz" Bono, the "transgendered" freak (Bono is a guy on top, but female at the bottom) make it so high up in popular culture to get invited to do a show like DWTS, and to stay on for another week of competition (the contestant with lowest number of audience votes is sent home, and Bono made it through the first week)?

I think that people are just interested in the freak factor, and the spectacle another week with Bono will bring.

Still, I'm not sure if "transgendered" freaks are more acceptable in our current society, as much as they attract attention and curiosity. I think society has always been like this (think of circus freaks) where such creatures are inspected and viewed within confined areas apart from society, but don't participate in normal society. Today's freaks appear to be more accepted (they walk our streets like ordinary members), but they're not quite there yet. Anyone who sees Bono, and knows about its transformations, will not help gawking. And Bono received death threats when its participation in DWTS became known, and the DWTS set has had to hire bodyguards.

Lesbians are another story these days. I suppose it could be that they haven't altered any anatomical parts that society is more lenient towards them. Or because there have been some in the spotlight (Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell) who have been aggressively using their platform to tell their audience that they are just like them (they want love and family, only that they have a slightly different version of what family is).

Actress Jane Lynch, a lesbian who recently "married" her "partner," got the hosting job for this year's Emmys. She made a joke about her "marriage" at the Emmys with co-presenter Elizabeth Moss, another actress:

[Lynch quips]: "A lot has changed since 1955, women can marry other women. Hi Peggy [a character in the 1960s TV show Mad Men]"... Moss replied: "Does that mean that women don’t have to sleep with men anymore to make it to the top?" To which Lynch dryly replied: “They still have to do that."

But that is obviously changing, or has even probably changed, if we look at high-placed public figures like DeGeneres and O'Donnell. And lesbians (and homosexuals) have managed to convince contemporary society that their way of life belongs in the mainstream, marriage and all. If we've come so far with lesbians, I don't see why the transgendered cannot come out of their viewing cages, and live unaffected lives in normal society. It is just a matter of time.

September Sunflower

September Sunflower
[Photo by KPA]

This is a photo I took yesterday of a potted sunflower in a shortcut alleyway, behind some highrises and next to a parking lot. It suddenly appeared there a few days ago.

It's been non-stop rain (parts of some days clearing up for a while) for about a week now, so I hope this cheery blossom sticks it out for a little while longer.

Diamonds at the DNC Fundraiser

At the DNC fundraiser, Michelle Obama is wearing:
- A $15,000, 2.9 carat diamond Lotus cuff
- A $15,350, 2.17 carat diamond Gothic cuff
- A $11,800, 1.73 carat diamond Quatrefoil bracelet

So much for fundraising.
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I've been trying to avoid commenting on the $42,150 diamond bracelets (that's plural - there are actually three) that Michelle Obama wore at the DNC fundraiser, as reported by the ever vigilant Drugde, now off his busy roster but commented on at the link he provided at theDaily Mail:

Michelle Obama dazzled in true First Lady style at the DNC fundraiser this week, her left wrist dripping with diamonds as she supported her husband at the party event. In total, she sported an astonishing $42,150 worth of bracelets to the New York Democratic Party dinner. Designed by Texas-based jeweller, Katie Decker, the three white gold cuffs glittered and sparkled, catching the spotlight as she spoke to the high-powered audience.

The First Lady, 47, chose to wear Miss Decker's Lotus cuff, with 2.9 carats of diamonds, costing $15,000, the Gothic cuff with 2.17 carats of diamonds, costing $15,350, and the $11,800 Quatrefoil bracelet with 1.73 carats of diamonds to the Gotham Hall event.

And I have to mention, once again, the odd dress that the stylish First Lady is wearing at the fundraiser. Her dress is by a British (Nigerian?) designer (yes, I got the Nigerian part right, here's his short bio:

Since arriving on the London fashion scene in 2004, Nigerian-born Duro Olowu has impressed the right people with his vibrant mix of African prints, seventies tailoring, and unlikely color combos. A high-waisted patchwork boho dress—known as the “Duro”—put the brand on the fashion map, and became a cult item in 2005 after being discovered by American Vogue editor Sally Singer and Julie Gilhart of Barneys.)

Olowu's "Duro dress" is the kinds of patchy, colorful gown that Michelle Obama wore to the State Dinner for China's President Hu Jintao last January. I don't know what happened to the color in her "Duro dress" at this DNC, but it is the same kind of patchy cut that seems to attract her attention these days.

And one would think that a woman would worry about how a dress looks on her, but our statuesque First Lady has no qualms about showing us her muscular frame all for the good cause of raising funds. A commentator at a funny (and serious) discussion on Michelle's physique at the View From the Right writes that Michelle is really one of the Williams sisters - those muscular tennis players who also have their own, unique tennis fashion sense.

Here is a recent post I did on Michelle Obama's pushy, muscular style, The Black Woman in The White House, where I write:

[Obama's] wife, as usual, pushes at us her large, muscled body, and lacks the sense of decorum or prudence to cover those bulging muscles.

Michelle Obama, in a Duro Olowu
pant suit, overalls? at the DNC
fundraiser. Maybe she'll include
some of Oluwu's Spring 2012
collection in her wardrobe.

Vera Wang's Aggressive Asian Outreach: Part III

Left: Bridal gown from a Vera Wang ad campaign in Vogue's September 2011 issue
Right: The same gown from Verawang.com Fall 2011 collection

[The gown is an off-white, almost yellow color. Wang has also made wedding gowns in dark gray, which are advertized on her website. I wrote a blog on that titled "And the Bride Wore Black." Most brides in the West still prefer to wear traditional white.]
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Vera Wang's campaign ads - for all her products from home decor to bridal wear - are also in the September 2011 issue of Vogue (a full eight pages). They are in Harper's Bazaar, as I wrote in this blog entry, and this website says that they're in September 2011 of Elle.

The September 2011 Vogue issue also had major feature article on China titled "Made in China," which I blogged about here.

The above wedding gown has the same strange "knotted" points that I describe in the 2011 Emmys gown that Wang designed for television actress Sofia Vergara. It is also characteristic of the "mounds of chiffon," i.e. a shapeless structure, which I describe here in wedding dresses Wang designed for Chelsea Clinton and other public personalities.

My other point, as I've written in the second part of "Vera Wang's Aggressive Asian Outreach," is that Wang uses exclusively a Chinese model for all her magazine campaigns. Her website is a little more "diverse," but her breakdown there is: three Asians, two whites, one Hispanic, and no blacks for the Fall 2011 collection. This is not representative of the general American population, and she has made the Asian category the dominant one.

I don't mean to belabor the racial aspect of Vera Wang's ad campaigns, but I'm only writing about what I'm observing. As I've written in several other posts, Asian "triumphalism" seems to be growing in the West, in social, cultural, academic, and even marital (inter-marriage) spheres. Partly it is their aggressive drives, and partly it is Western culture which, for some reason, seems to be under some Asian spell. As a cultural blog, my job is to report on these trends, and to decipher their origins, and their consequences.

I will be writing more on this, and more on what I see the consequences are (although I don't see them as positive).

Exterminationist Liberals

Image via Druge

Here is a comment by View From the Right's correspondent Daniel L. on "exterminationist anti-Semites":

I think there are two possible alternatives to Kevin McDonald being an exterminationist anti-Semite. First, that McDonald supports letting the Jews live in gentile societies, but only with some other method of eliminating Jewish influence--perhaps through a pervasive system of anti-Semitic laws. Second, that McDonald has never actually thought his positions through to their logical conclusion. This second option may seem unlikely, as McDonald would seem a man of some intelligence, but let us not underestimate the mind-rotting effects of anti-Semitism.

I am inclined to believe that one those two options is true, rather than that McDonald is an exterminationist anti-Semite, if only to give the man the benefit of the doubt that he is not a total monster.

Substitute "anti-Semite" with "liberal" (and all else accordingly), and you get the "exterminationist liberal":

I think there are two possible alternatives to [name your liberal (Obama, x?)] being an exterminationist liberal. First, that [x] supports letting the [non-liberals] live in [liberal] societies, but only with some other method of eliminating [non-liberal - conservative?] influence--perhaps through a pervasive system of [liberal] laws. Second, that [x] has never actually thought his positions through to their logical conclusion. This second option may seem unlikely, as [Obama?] would seem a man of some intelligence, but let us not underestimate the mind-rotting effects of liberalism.

I am inclined to believe that one those two options is true, rather than that [Obama, x] is [an exterminationist liberal], if only to give the man the benefit of the doubt that he is not a total monster.

I got this idea of destructive liberals from Jim Kalb's book The Tyranny of Liberalism and his article "PC, the Cultural Antichrist." Here's what I wrote (quoting from Jim Kalb's article):

I've been trying to get fascists and liberals together in my mind for a while now. Kalb writes this, as though in answer to my (silent) quest.

There are two basic solutions to those problems within modernity, the fascist one and the liberal one. The fascist solution is to say that purposes are objectively binding and therefore provide a standard of what's right if you get beaten up when you don't go along with them. On that view the purposes that count are the purposes of whoever's in a position to do the beating--that is, whoever is the top guy on the top team. So the basic principles of government are "we're number one" and "the will of the leader is the highest law."

It sounds like Triumph of the Will, the film produced by Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's visual and artistic spokesman/handmaiden. The film, which every film student watches because it really is a feat in cinematography, begins with Hitler descending the heavens down to Nurenmberg, a divine creature (god himself) come to save the decadent Germans. Little did these common folk know that his project was their annihilation, and to raise something better from their ashes. The great Götterdämmerung. It almost worked, the annihilation part, anyway.

But as Kalb writes, fascism, whether in governments or in day-to-day interactions, loses because how much beating (metaphoric or literal) are people going to take? It seems that liberals are the high I.Q.ers of fascists, and are careful where and how they land their punches.

Kalb writes:

[Facism]'s a nice clear system, and it's got some logic behind it, but it doesn't work very well. It was tried and it lost. For that reason, the liberal solution won out.

That solution is a bit more complicated. It starts by noting that all our purposes are equally purposes, and infers that everybody's purposes equally confer value. Each of us is equally able to make things good or bad just by thinking of them as good or bad. That makes each of us in a sense divine. Our will creates moral reality. Instead of the wonder-working leader of fascism you get the divine me of liberalism. It's every man his own Jesus.

So how do liberal leaders get all these equally stationed demi-gods to follow them? It is still sheer will, I would think, of maintaining a semblance of liberal equality, but working with (and secretly ruling with) brute fascistic superiority, through a lot of lying and deceiving.

Vera Wang's Aggressive Asian Outreach: Part II

Asian model for Asian designer

The above image is part of a six-page Vera Wang ad campaign in the September 2011 issue of Harper's Bazaar magazine. The Asian model is the same throughout. The pages advertize the ever-growing Wang fashion empire:

- Vera Wang Lavender Collection which, as Wang describes it is "all about youthful joie de vivre." I went through all forty-one items and couldn't find a single redeemable one.

- Vera Wang Eyewear

- Simply Vera Wang (which the above model is advertizing), which Wikipedia describes as: a modestly priced line of merchandise created by a high-end designer that retails at more moderate prices.

I'm sure that Walmart's products are a good deal more "modestly priced" than those in Simply Vera Wang. Looks-wise, why buy an ugly, "cheaper" Vera Wang dress when you could buy an ugly Walmart dress for a fraction the price. I'm pretty sure ugliness doesn't discriminate.

Here is a photo of the model above, with her profile:

Shu Pei, the Chinese model
in the above ad campaign
for Vera Wang

"Vera Wang's Aggressive Asian Outreach: Part I" is here.

Vera Wang's Aggressive Asian Outreach

Vera Wang is all over the place these days. She's made a name as a wedding dress designer, but now she's dipped into perfume creation, home decor, jewelry design, non-wedding dress fashion design, and footwear. Her flatware is not particularly spectacular, and is even a sub-par repetition of old ideas. Her non-wedding fashion design is truly atrocious. I'm not sure if she's following some inner vision, or if she's just too lazy (or incompetent) to come up with better work. Her most successful perfume, "Princess,"  is a cute fruity/floral concoction which suits the teen-age girl she's using to advertize it (are teen-age girls just easier to please?).

I think it is a lack of creativity (paradoxically) when a designer branches out into a thousand different directions. It is an inability to do one thing well, hoping that different (very different) categories will provide the variety and interest lacking in the individual pieces.

These few years have certainly been the year of the Wang. I wonder how long she will last? She has enough of a fashion empire and following that she will continue to hold her position indefinitely (probably at a slightly lower level, and a little out of the limelight), and she's clever enough that she'll come up with (or her team will come up with) some interesting items to keep her viable.

To her advantage (does she know this and is exploiting it to the fullest?), the contemporary public that she caters to has lower standards of beauty and craftsmanship. Since ugliness is one of the elements that our modern world advocates (along with shock factor, a constant need for new things, and a disdain for traditionally crafted objects), Wang probably won't have a difficult time convincing women that indeed wrapping grey, crinkled chiffon around ones shoulders is a very modern (i.e. a very good) fashion statement.

Wang also subtly copies other designers. Closer inspection of even those "borrowed" ideas shows that her rendition are below par to the originals. We all have a limited set of materials to work with, and all creators and inventors leap off what their predecessors have done. But, the finished product should be: a). better than its inspiration, and b). demonstrably different, so that one doesn't get called out for plagiarism. I think Wang is skimming pretty close to crossing these lines.

Her bridal gowns do have a certain ostentatious quality about them, but again, I think that is a strategy she uses to detract from their lack of craftsmanship and creativity, and ultimately, beauty.

Below I compare Wang's gowns with those by other designers to show her "borrowing" strategy. And I also show the subtle lack of finesse which our crass, modern public cannot detect.

Sandra Bullock at the 2011 Oscars in a Vera Wang gown


Sandra Bullock's 2011 Vera Wang Oscar
dress with similarities to Renee Zellweger's
2005 Carolina Herrera Oscar dress


Ultimately, Carolina Herrera failed with this dress. So
it is strange that Wang would make a dress so similar to it.
The odd protrusions at the breasts, especially pronounced
in Wang's version, and the sculptured bodice detract from
the flow of the dresses.


Wang's 2011 Emmy
dress for Sofia Vergara


Backs of Sofia's and Sandra's Wang gowns with the odd pouches
at the back, especially pronounced in Sandra's dress.


The strange gatherings tied with knots, the asymmetrical
side train, the darker red chiffon protruding from underneath, make
this an oddly designed dress. I think it looks superficially attractive,
as do many of Wang's gowns, but closer inspection always reveals
oddities, such as the ones I've outlined. But this dress works because
the actress - Sofia Vergara - is attractive, with a well-shaped body. Wang
is clever at finding the right model to display her goods.

Just poof it up, and voila, you've got a wedding dress!

Vera Wang's "mounds of chiffon" wedding dresses

- The dress on the left is what Wang designed for Kim Kardashian's wedding.
- The middle dress is one Wang designed for Kate Hudson in the movie "Bride Wars"
- Chelsea Clinton wore Wang's "mounds of chiffon" for her wedding dress

I don't know how Wang got to be so successful, other than her aggressive strategy of being all over the place at once. She also clearly pushes her products in as many magazines as possible (even the prestigious ones like Vogue have taken on her cause). And her items displayed on department store shelves, especially her perfumes, gives her name recognition.

This is, I think, a new style of competition (and goods) we are to expect from Asians in higher levels of society of this multicultural world of ours. I see this everywhere, from store managers, university and college instructors, film and literary producers, even construction workers (my neighborhood is filled with Chinese construction workers who don't even speak English). Even the internationally, the Chinese keep taking bold steps.

Jennifer's Momentary Radiance

Here is Jennifer Aniston in 2000 at her wedding with Brad Pitt. (What exactly is Pitt's full name? Wikipedia has the answer: William Bradley. Not once have I heard or read anyone call him William or Bradley. Such is our age of infantilized men - see previous post.)

She looks so radiant and happy, with her flowing locks and pretty veil. This is what Pitt destroyed. His liaison with Jolie, with three biological children (and of course the three adopted) is non-matrimonial. There were rumors of a pending marriage, but they were soon squashed.


Here are the Pitts in 2004, a year before they were to divorce. Brad was wearing his dark shades in public more frequently. I wonder what he was trying to hide? I remember noticing around this time that Jennifer was looking more and more uncomfortable, less radiant, and somehow, despite the designer clothes, unkempt (especially her hair).

Modern Couples

"Jennifer Aniston beamed at Justin Theroux
as they headed to lunch in New York's West Village
today" (according to the Daily Mail)

Here is a photo of Jennifer Aniston out with her new boyfriend. She was part of that famous celebrity couple JenBrad/BradJen, which doesn't sound as meaty as the Anjelina Jolie, Brad Pitt combination Branjelina, which formed after Brad Pitt cheated on Jennifer and went on to have his exciting life with Jolie replete with Third World babies.

However much we put them on pedestals, movie stars still provide us ordinary folk with some scripts for life. For example, it's a good thing to have a multi-culti family, even though we obviously have to manufacture it through adoption or other child-producing alternatives like sperm banks or in vitro fertilization.

And of course there's fashion. Every fashion magazine or Hollywood variety show will display endless images of our favorite celebrities, and what they're wearing on and off the red carpet. And these provide us with styles for us to emulate (although we have to be a little creative with 1/100th the budget).

Well, here's Jenn in New York's West Village, and that's how to look urban and chic. Well, it's not quite the chic that InStyle would advocate, but at least it's a down-to-earth variation.

I sometimes wonder if it is men who set the style. After all, Theroux looks happy to be with Jenn, which means he must be happy with how she looks. His outfit matches hers, and somehow I don't think she's the style chief here, since she often wears lovely clothes.

I think there's a bully tactic going on. Liberal Hollywood seems to fetishistically cling to ugliness, and everything around it has to follow that code. Theroux, with his black layers of untucked shirts and sweaters, his gray, faded old (dirty?) jeans, his childish hat, and the undone shoe laces on his jackboots is dead serious about his appearance. He wears the favorite eye-gear of modern celebrities, the dark-tinted aviator glasses, to hide his expression. His infantile, undone laces are part of the jackboot foot gear, marching on and ready to kick aside any contrarian.

So poor Jenn really has no choice. Either she shows up looking like a guerrilla fighter or she doesn't show up at all. Although I think that there would be a lot of "convincing" going on to get her there to dutifully support her terrorist boyfriend.

Justin Theroux in his modern
jackboots. Untied laces doesn't
diminish the hardness
of their kick.

The Black Woman in The White House

The Obamas at the Arlington Cemetery

Larry Auster from the View From the Rightt sent me this photo of President and Mrs. Obama who were in the Arlington cemetery as part of the 9/11 commemorations. I said about Obama: "Yes, it is shocking. Hands in pocket, relaxed in a tie-less suit, strolling around a National Cemetery. Shameful."

Here's what I wrote back on Michelle Obama's appearance:

His wife, as usual, pushes at us her large, muscled body, and lacks the sense of decorum or prudence to cover those bulging muscles. She's truly ugly. Here she is arriving in Pennsylvania, and later in NYC. This is what she wore to both memorials: strange, short, stiff dress, above the knees; thick gladiator belt, above the waist; short, shrunken sweater. Further down the link of photos, you can see a weird, loose stitch on the side of the dress. And the back is bare, with buttons going all the way down. This looks like some mediocre prom dress, rather than attire for a memorial. And this is supposed to be First Lady material.

I have posted many blogs on Michelle Obama's sartorial and physical appearance (see the list at the end). I cannot but conclude that she:

- Has no fashion sense.
- Deliberately "pushes at us her large, muscled [dark] body" as some kind of silent revolt against White House white ladies.

Here is one of the first posts I did on Michelle, who's wearing a sequined argyle sweater backwards:

What is this?! Sequins, argyle, asymmetry, pearls, a tank top/t-shirt,
turquoise/teal mix, buttons on the back. This is the aesthetic sense of a truly clueless woman.

Try doing all of those at once.

And here I compare her to the elegant First Lady of the Czech Republic:

She is in Prague now...a cultured, sophisticated, European city. And this is what she gave them!

- Flats again
- Shirt untucked, which looks like some cheap, wrinkly cotton
- Plain (too plain) black skirt
- A shapeless overcoat - looks like a sweater coat!
- A bow? A really big bow (is it to reinforce Obama's...BOW?).

Her dress at the State Dinner for China's President Hu Jintao warranted this:

I had vowed not to do anymore fashion pieces on Michelle Obama. But this takes the cake. The dress she wore to the State Dinner for China's President Hu Jintao looks like some kind of modern tied-dye African costume, clumsily cut as though somewhat was "cut happy" with the scissors, and with parts which look like they were assembled together with safety pins. There is that odd asymmetrical, off-the-shoulder look that Obama seems to like so much. And she's holding some kind of miniature shawl (scroll down to the second image [in the link]) which has no relation, either in design or in proportion, to the rest of the dress. Bloggers (and Drudge) are calling this her tribute to "China Red", but I don't see that, especially with all the black "tie-dye" criss-crossing pattern.

I compare Jackie Kennedy's casual style on the beach with Michelle going off on vacation in sloppy t-shirt and shorts: "Jackie Kennedy managed to have great, styled hair even at the beach. Michelle Obama going on holiday...No comment."

Her children also don't pass the scrutiny test. Ordinarily, I would let them alone (modern youth fashion is difficult enough as it is), but Michelle does have some say in her pre-adult children's appearances, especially given the family they represent. But in this post "Malia Obama's Peacenik T-Shirt," I write that there is a strange dynamic where Michelle seems to be using Malia's teen-age rebelliousness to project her own beliefs.

In "Michelle Ma Belle? Still no sense of style" I wrote a more complete profile of what I think her style sense is, and what her role is in promoting her image:

Firstly, what people see in her sense of style is really what most "career" women are wearing these days...

The surprising thing about career wear for women these days is how pleasant and feminine they look. I simply think it is the natural tendency for women to want to look attractive and "pretty" (if you can be that at the office). 80s style macho women is out.

So, I think there is that modern career woman's sense of style that Michelle is copying very successfully.

Another factor is I think the traditional black American sense of style, which is colorful and vivacious. She seems to have grown up in a pretty traditional family, and I expect her mother and other women would have instilled in her this formal and attractive style.

Thirdly, she is surrounded by stylists, experts and high-level designers, so it is not easy to go wrong.

Despite all of this, she makes atrocious mistakes, which I think shows her lack of understanding of clothes, her lack of style, and her lack of an eye for beautiful things...

My conclusion to all this is that I think she is stubborn. I also think she doesn't respect the people around her, who expect some decorum and style out of her on all occasions. She is not really willing to relinquish her ordinary/career woman role for that of a much more subtle and high-level office which scrutinizes everything down to the bracelet on her wrist...

But, there is a final and more subtle reason, I think, for her choices. I've noticed this with black celebrities. They seem to want to form their own style, different from the white world around them. I think Michelle, in her own uncultured way, is trying to be The Black Woman in the White House.

At the end of the day, Michelle Obama is making some kind of political/cultural statement with the kinds of dresses she dons at official occasions. Livia Klausova, the First Lady of the Czech Republic, must have understood that when she appeared in her carefully put-together "superior design of the string of pearls, the lovely pale pink/gray color, the gray fur trimmings, all beautifully coordinated" to greet the First Lady of the United States.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Camera Lucida Blog posts on Michelle Obama

Obamascare
Michelle Ma Belle
Doing Good for an Audience of One, Maybe Two
Obama's Enemy List
Michelle Obama's Non-Fashion Sense
Photo-Op for the Obama Family
Malia Obama's Peacenik T-Shirt
The Chic Homesteaders
Michelle's Inelegance Exposed
Michelle's Insolence
Michelle's Fashion Sense

Indian Gardenia All Year Round

Indian Gardenia Perfume Oil

I wrote recently about the Body Shop's White Musk perfume oil. Rummaging through my old cosmetics boxes recently, I found another Body Shop perfume oil: Indian Gardenia. This 2004 perfume has been discontinued (according to the perfume blogs). The Body Shop revived it as White Gardenia, but the notes to this newer version are different, and there is no perfume oil, but an eau de toilette spray.

The core flower of Indian Gardenia is...the gardenia. This is a flower that is very hard to incorporate into a perfume. It often has a sharp, acerbic scent (both Elizabeth Taylor and Marc Jacobs have launched gardenia-based perfumes, but not very successfully). But the gardenia in Indian Gardenia comes out warm and slightly sweet. I think what helps is that it has the heavier jasmine and sandalwood, and the sweet/spicy clove to ground it.

Notes for Indian Gardenia:
Top notes: Rose Petal, Neroli, Crisp Orange
Middle notes: Indian Gardenia, Yellow Champaca, Jasmine, Lily of the Valley, Carnation
Bottom notes: Amber, Sandalwood, Clove

I associate this perfume oil with an Indian movie, Devdas, that came out in the 2000s. I hardly ever go to see Bollywood productions, but for some reason, I thought that this might be worthwhile. Bollywood movies are famous for their "musical" aspects, and the exaggerated acting (and actions), and I've never been attracted to them. Perhaps it was because it was showing in ordinary theaters (at least two, as far as I can remember) and not some hall in the Indian section of town, that I decided to watch Devdas. And I wasn't disappointed. I liked it so much, I think I went back to see it three times, and even looked for the DVD (which I never found).

Here is the synopsis for Devdas:

At the time of its release, 'Devdas' (2002)...was the most expensive Bollywood film ever made—and every rupee shows. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali...spared no detail here, from the costumes to the choreography. The sumptuous sets literally shimmer, enhanced by artful cinematography.

But what's most engaging about the film is its wrenching story of separated lovers...The novella 'Devdas' was written in 1917 by esteemed Bengali author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, and it's so beloved by Indians it has been made into a film 12 times, in various Indian languages, including three Hindi versions. This adaptation features Shahrukh Khan as the doomed Devdas, Aishwarya Rai as his childhood sweetheart Paro, and Madhuri Dixit as Chandramukhi, a courtesan with a heart of gold.

More on the movie here.

Madhuri Dixit (the courtesan with a heart of gold) is an enchanting dancer. She has a very good singing voice also. Aishwarya Rai, who plays Devdas's childhood sweetheart, is apparently the more famous of the two. At least, I'd heard of her. She's tried to cross-over into films in the West, and she won various beauty contests, including Miss World in 1994. But Madhuri is the true talent, and the true beauty. I don't often get Indian dancing and singing, popular or classical. I appreciate the forms in the classical dance, and the rhythms in the popular, but I cannot get submerged into them like I would in ballet or modern dance.

But Madhuri's dancing is different. I thought she might have a ballet background, but her biography indicates that she's a trained Indian classical dancer. She is very musical, and doesn't exaggerate her movements, as I've watched other "Bollywood" dancers do. Her singing voice is also gentler than the higher pitch that the women often have, as does Aishwarya's voice.

Here is Madhuri in Devdas dancing (and singing) to Maara Dala:



In this video, you can compare her dancing and singing to Aishwarya's, both of which Madhuri of course does much better.

What do you do with a face like Bodhi?

----------------------------------------------------------- Holy Bodhi!

These aren't Bodhi, but they're like the dog I pass by almost daily who likes to sit on a cold granite bench by my supermarket, and whom I've now befriended.

The first time I saw him there I asked the owner what his name was.

"Brody."

"Hi, Brody!"

"No, no. Not Brody. B-o-d-h-i. It's a kind of a Buddha."

" Oh, OK. Hi, Bodhi!"

Then I went home and looked up "Bodhi."

"He looks like a Bodhi" I told his owner the next time I saw them.

Here's Wikipedia on Bodhi (more at the link for those who wish for more enlightenment):

Those who obtained the enlightenment by following teachings of the Samma-Sambuddha are obtained enlightenment through Savaka-Bhodhi. This is the easiest way to get enlightenment. They have to do concentrated meditation (Bhavana) to develop Samadhi(Samatha meditation). Then with developed mind they have to think about Three marks of existence (Samsara) which is Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta.( Vipassanā meditation). Doing this with big effort they will understand Four Noble Truths clearly. So they will attain Nirvana(get enlightenment).

"Hi Bodhi," I now say whenever I pass by him. And Bodhi gives me a veritable greeting, getting up from his slouch, shaking whatever tail he doesn't have, and putting on a wide dog-grin on his sad face (his owner's description - "he always looks sad."). Then I stroke his giant head, which he offers with a gentle drop, say goodbye and walk on. Once he even offered me his paw, and not having the smarts of a dog, his owner had to tell me that I was being asked for a handshake. I obliged, charmed at this unexpected request.

The other day, he looked especially alert with a twinkle in his eyes, and I asked his owner if he had been cooped in all day, and was happy to be out. I think he was just pleased to see me, his visitor by his concrete throne, who strokes his head and says, "Hi Bodhi!"

Lars Hedegaard in Toronto: Sharia in Denmark

Lars Hedegaard, president of the International Free Press Society, whose comments on Islam earned him a guilty verdict of "hate speech" in Denmark, was in Toront recently on his way to New York for the 9/11 commemorations. He appeared on Sun TV's "The Arena" hosted by Michael Coren.

The short interview is in the above video, but what was startling was his information about multiculturalism, Islam, the European Union, and how these three elements have combined to create an Islamic presence, and Islamic fort, of Middle Eastern Muslims in Denmark, who live and govern with their own set of cultural and religious rules, including Sharia:

Starting around the 5:46 point:

Hedegaard: Our ruling class, those in control, whatever you want to call them, see an advantage in splitting the far too homogenous nation of Denmark, by importing people who will not integrate into society, because it's easier to control and rule a society where you're not faced with a unanimous people which share the same values.

Coren: Is it that contrived? Is it that dark?

Hedegaard: I'm afraid it is. I'm afraid it is. And even behind that you see the hand of the EU, the European Union. They've conducted this policy ever since 1973 when they entered into a compound, a compact, with the Muslim countries of the Middle East because of the fear of an oil blockade. We had one in '73, you know.

So they entered this contract with these countries, or their rulers rather, that you are free to send your surplus population to Europe. We will not attempt to integrate them, nor will we try to force them to abandon their culture or their values. We will see to it that they have the right to be governed by sharia law, basically, if they see fit to do that.

Bat Ye'or's New Book

I just got a hold of Bat Ye'or's new book Europe, Globalization, and the Coming of the Universal Caliphate, hot off the press! Amazon.com says that publication date is September 16.

It is a concise, five-chapter book, and the contents mince no words. "The Destruction of the Nations of Europe" is one chapter. And the link between Europe and Islam is under the chapter "The European Union and the Organization of the Islamic Conference: A Common Struggle." There are two chapters on multiculturalism, one simply titled "Multiculturalism," and the other "Multiculturalism, the OIC and the Alliance of Civilizations." Multiculturalism seems to be synonymous with the "Globalization" of the book's title. So much for independent, unique world cultures. Multiculturalism is simply an anti-Western, anti-nations ideology, which Islam seems to grasp to instil its Ummah.

I've started the first chapter, and there's already some eye-opening, if not startling (new to me), information about Islam.

I will do a review of the book as soon as I can.

Here is a list of books by Bat Ye'or.

Sane Commentary on The GOP Debate

Republican candidates at the September 7, 2012 GOP debate

Here's what Lawrence Auster and his commentators say about the Republican debate at the View From the Right (VFR).

The Empty Landscape of Libertarians

The Persistence of Memory
1931. Oil on canvas,
9 1/2 x 13" (24.1 x 33 cm)

Salvador Dali, Spanish, 1904-1989
----------------------------------------------

The world of libertarians reminds me of those empty landscapes of the surrealists, where normal natural laws are not followed (aren't libertarians big on "Natural Law"?). I especially got this imagery after reading (well 3/4 of it) Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

I try to find some redemption in the ex-Canadian and now a somewhat obscure American libertarian "pundit" Ilana Mercer. I have her site book marked but don't click on it until some big news hits the screen. Yes, the Republican debate, with Ron Paul in the mix, merited that click.

As usual, I read a couple of lines of Mercer's barely-a-blog, then skim to the next paragraph, but by then I've found something that annoys me. Then I switch off. Then I try to be fair and return to finish the sentence or the paragraph I started. No can do. I'm out.

Here's what irritated me at my most recent skimming:

- Under the post Wrong About Ron:

First sentence of first paragraph:

The DC Establishment, left and right—the engorged organism I call the media-military-congressional complex

Mercer has some fascination for alliterations. But even poets don't use them as frequently as she does. That to me is a lack of imagination. Also, it is a psychological indication of inner, unreleased anger (shooting out those words! We are talking about the surrealists, here), and writing a weekly punditry might be psychotherapy for her.

This one especially takes the cake with its crude imagery (try not to visualize that image) and its ugly stabbing at the military (Mercer was a regular writer at the mad Justin Raymond's Antiwar.com).

- And in Perry's Political Pedigree:

Ron Paul was one of only 4 congressmen to endorse Ronald Reagan’s campaign for president.

This is about when I stopped in this one. A libertarian candidate as a spokesman for Ronald Reagan. What happens when Ron Paul has to start using the military, for example. Will he channel Reagan then?

So yes, this is about when I clicked out. Mercer is not as smart as she thinks she is, which is perhaps a defect amongst libertarians. I would try to psychoanalyze, but I think Dali, and his fellow-painters, would do a better job.

Now, I should really go back and finish Atlas Shrugged.

White Musk for Autumn

The Body Shop's White Musk
(15ml of this "perfume oil" goes a long way)

The fragrance designers for the Body Shop are really talented. I wrote about the fragrance Moroccan Rose here, where I say that it "wins hands down" as the rose scent for the summer, beating out recent "designer" rose perfumes.

Now, a more autumny scent is available, although it has apparently been in the store's inventory for many years (since 2005). Here are some reviews for White Musk Perfume Oil on Fragrantica, a popular perfume discussion board:

Miss Guerlain:

Can`t find any faults in this light loveable fragrance. It`s ultra-feminine, sweet. And also sexy & innocent at the same time!! And so cheap too, great!

Wristsniffer:

It's light, clean, polite, sweet, and romantic...

Coco76:

soft, powdery feminine scent. very simple and beautiful and not too hard on the pocketbook either. smells more expensive than it is.

faceon:

Ive had lots of compliments after wearing this, which is a bit annoying as it is the cheapest of all my perfumes!!! :-)

I think the body lotion is really good too - especially as a base for something else maybe...

Choctawamama81:

This has to be one of my favorite musk scents. It's delicate, subtle and has a wonderful powdery feel.

Once again, as with the rose in Moroccan Rose, all three notes in White Musk are infused with the signature musk scent:

Notes for White Musk:
Top: Lily, Musk, Basil, Ylang Ylang
Middle: Lily, Musk, Jasmin, Rose
Base: Orris (Iris root), Amber, Patchouli, Musk,
Vanilla, Peach, Jasmine, Oakmoss, Vetiver, Rose

The Body Shop designs understated yet unique bottles for its perfumes. White Musk's small, round flask is no different.

Holding On to Female Harmony

The Wilson Phillips sing Hold on.
Here is the movie version where the trio
does a cameo at the wedding finale

There are so many things wrong with the movie Bridesmaids that I'm not going to spoil the gag (literally) lines by writing about them. One thing I'll say, though, is that it redeems itself somewhat near the end by showing the characters achieving some level of "grown-upness," and I actually felt sad rather than critical at their too-late-in-coming change of state (although some did have a change of heart too). They had lost too much by the time they attempted to take different paths. Still, the acting was bad, the "jokes" were of the toilet bowl level, the story was simplistic, and even some of the scenes between the two rival bridesmaids were unnecessarily vicious (so much for feminism and female solidarity).

But, the final scenes brought on the female trio the Wilson Phillips at the wedding - yes, it does finally take place - singing their 1990 debut song Hold on. The tune is poppy, but well-written. And why not, pop songs are a form of folk music, and many will live down through history (I keep referring to the Beatles when people belittle pop music).

The lyrics to Hold on may be lacking, and they have a little too much pop psychology in them as in "No one can change your life except for you," but they are earnest and honest. And weddings are meant to be sentimental.

I've always liked female harmony. It has a soft and gentle quality. And the Wilson Phillips do have very good voices.

The Wilson Phillips are related to various famous 60s musicians, so their talent is perhaps genetic.

Hold On
By the Wilson Phillips

I know this pain
Why do lock yourself up in these chains?
No one can change your life except for you
Don't ever let anyone step all over you
Just open your heart and your mind
Is it really fair to feel this way inside?

Chorus
Some day somebody's gonna make you want to
Turn around and say goodbye
Until then baby are you going to let them
Hold you down and make you cry
Don't you know?
Don't you know things can change
Things'll go your way
If you hold on for one more day
Can you hold on for one more day
Things'll go your way
Hold on for one more day

You could sustain
Or are you comfortable with the pain?
You've got no one to blame for your unhappiness
You got yourself into your own mess
Lettin' your worries pass you by
Don't you think it's worth your time
To change your mind?

Chorus
I know that there is pain
But you hold on for one more day and
Break free the chains
Yeah I know that there is pain
But you hold on for one more day and you
Break free, break from the chains

Some day somebody's gonna make you want to
Turn around and say goodbye
Until then baby are you going to let them
Hold you down and make you cry
Don't you know?
Don't you know things can change
Things'll go your way
If you hold on for one more day yeah
If you hold on

Don't you know things can change
Things'll go your way
If you hold on for one more day,
If you hold on
Can you hold on
Hold on baby
Won't you tell me now
Hold on for one more day 'Cause
It's gonna go your way

Don't you know things can change
Things'll go your way
If you hold on for one more day
Can't you change it this time

Make up your mind
Hold on
Hold on
Baby hold on

Cultural Muslim Beaten Up By Muslims for His Book on Muslims

This highly sexualized image of  
Gabrielle Dipersico, co-author of
Wake Up Call, with her pouting
lips, heavy make-up, tousled hair
and bare breasts, is on the cover of
the book.

The print at the top of the book reads:
"An Awakening that's Socially Unacceptable"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paris Dipersico, a writer from Canada who identifies himself as “We are Muslim, but we were raised in Canada” was assaulted by Muslims, and continues to receive death threats from Muslims, for his fictional book Wake Up Call.

Here is the Amazon.com synopsis of the book:

[Wake Up Call] begins with the awkwardness of adolescence, of [a young boy] trying different addictions and exploiting different sexuality to see where he fits in.

And the Toronto Sun informs us:

Released in June, [Wake Up Call] has been accused of being pornographic, celebrating drug use and mocking various religions

About the author's take on Islam (posted at Amazon.com):

Although [being] brought up in a Muslim household, [Depersico] questions the very existence of God and says: "Islam is a religion of 'peace' and Muslims will kill you to prove it."

Depersico's Muslim assailants and took him to a forest where they beat him and left unconscious, from Wire Services Canada:

Author Paris Dipersico has been discharged from Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital after he was dragged into a forest and beaten unconscious by two male assailants Wednesday morning. Police said the victim’s hands were bound and Det. Sgt. Anthony Odoardi said they are confident the attack was targeted due to the controversial nature of his book Wake Up Call...

More from the Toronto Sun on Depersico's assault:

Raised Islamic, Paris Dipersico, 24, reported being dragged from his bicycle Aug. 17, tied up among trees, then beaten briefly unconscious by two Muslim men.

Accused of being gay, they then “called me a Jew in Arabic and said the Jews are paying you to write this against Islam,” the author of Wake Up Call said Thursday.

Depersico is getting support from Canadian law enforcement (and reporters) because he was attacked for his homosexuality. The Toronto Sun states that "Halton police are treating [the] attack...as a possible hate crime."

But Muslim wrath is beyond our control. Any misstatement of the Koran, any challenge through debate or writings of the religion, any perceived insult, or aberration (such as a homosexual who calls himself a "cultural Muslims") will incite their ire, as we have seen in countless examples from the Dutch politician Geert Wilders to the "Danish cartoonist" Kurt Westergaard. Yet, Wilders, and in his own clumsy way Kurt Westergaard, are there to defend Western culture, to be able to live in societies run by Western principles.

Dipersico's attachment to Western society is ambivalent at best. His statement "We are Muslim, but we were raised in Canada [why not and we were raised, why the apologetic "but"?] I think reveals that his true loyalties lie with his non-Western, culturally Muslim background, and not the Canada where he grew up.

But the wrath for Muslims who denounce their faith is strongest. It is unacceptable to Muslims that a Muslim who was once a believer (or born a believer) reject the faith. Being born a Muslim is enough to tie one to Islam for life, with no capacity to leave. That is how Muslims view Dipersico, and his situation.

But we should not support authors like Dipersico either, whose book Wake up Call is anti-religious (not just anti-Islam), misogynistic, anti-Western culture, anti-marriage (and monogamy), and pornographic.

His prescription for the West is: to espouse all-permissive sexuality, and to give free reign to homosexuality; to remove religion from our culture, and more importantly Christianity; to destroy marriage (and hence the family, which is built on marriage). He mocks and belittles monogamy, and there is a subtle hint of misogyny in his statements, which is is found amongst homosexuals and Muslims (I wonder if he ever thought that these two had some (at least this one) common ground).

Depersico's acknowledgment of his background as "We are Muslim, but we were raised in Canada" was not enough for his Muslim attackers. His ambiguous declaration of his identity is more of a cultural identification rather than a religious one. His writing showed that he had maligned the religion. Discussing his book in this video, Dipersico says that "...much of the book is autobiographical."

Depersico wants it both ways. He wants his Muslim cultural identification, but he also wants to remove, or subdue, the elements of Islam that he doesn't like (namely its death sentence on homosexuals), with the help of Canadian law, culture and society. This way, he can live his blend of a Western and a Muslim life, while parasitically using Western culture and society to achieve this.

Increasingly, in multicultural Canada, non-Western identities are boldly coming to the fore. This is in effect an anti-Western stance. This means cultural groups are taking advantage of the useful and beneficial elements of Western, Canadian culture, which then allow them to live their lives in varying degrees of their non-Western cultures and religions.

So far, I know of only one prominent non-Western counter-Jihadist (and in his way, a leader) we can trust to support our society. Sam Solomon, the former Muslim and Sharia law expert (and enforcer), who converted to Christianity, has acknowledged that to combat Islam, we need a spiritual force that is stronger than Islam. In his wise and thought-out perspective, he believes that Christianity is the best spiritual combatant against Islam.

Therefore, we do not need "allies" like Depersico because they are not really allies of Western culture. They side with us because of the common cause against Islam, or at least the Islam which they do not like. And we need allies who are at least sympathetic to Christianity, since without Christianity, there would be no Western culture.

The Halton police had no choice but to protect Depersico on compassionate (and professional) grounds, . But as the presence, and strength, of Islam in the West grows, and as discontented "Muslims" like Depersico keep voicing, and writing about, their griefs, we will only see more of these death-threat types of reactions by Muslims.

And Muslim infidels like Depersico receive the harshest predicament of all, since they once accepted Allah, but now have rejected him, the highest spiritual crime one can commit in Islam. For how long can we keep taxing ourselves for such alien bodies living in our societies?

The only solution is to stop Muslims from coming to our cultures, and to remove those already here and return them to their own Muslim countries where they will not be "tempted" to malign the Koran, or go against Islam, whether inadvertently or deliberately. At least we will be saving their lives (or from life-long death sentences). Since I've stated above that the strongest weapon against Islam is Christianity, we can only advocate the conversion of Muslims to Christianity, en mass if possible. But missionary work in Muslim countries is too dangerous, so our mission is to encourage from a distance.

We need to make our countries as Muslim free (or as free from Muslim dictates) as possible. If not, we will live with sporadic violence, which might well turn into full-on upheavals as Muslims attempt turn our countries into an Islamic Ummah, something which they, as Muslims, have no choice but to follow. Here is Lawrence Auster's "What to do about Islam: a collection" at the View From the Right, for detailed analyses, and concrete proposals.