Bill Cunningham, New York

Bill Cunningham, New York

There's gentle documentary about New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, Bill Cunningham New York. He started off as a hat maker (milliner), and eventually got into fashion photography. His early major post was with Women's Wear Daily. But, after the lady's journal mocked his photographs of ordinary women in the street wearing designer clothes by juxtaposing them with wealthy socialites wearing those same clothes, he quit. He continues to take photographs of fashion on ordinary women in the streets and on socialites, and has his column in the New York Times Styles section as a regular feature.

Cunningham appears delicate and humble (I think he really is humble, but not self-effacing), but his photographic method is feline, and almost predatory. There are moments when he waits, with humped shoulders, looking like a wild cat about to pounce on his prey. He has a strange method where, still humped over, he brings his camera high above his head and takes shots of whatever is below. I think experience has shown him there is always something (or someone) interesting in the crowd beyond his sight.

New York City is his palette, and he travels throughout the city on a bicycle. He is somehow able to take out his camera and shoot the passing scene of New York's street style as he rides his bike. He has never been in an accident, at least as far as I could learn from the film, but he has had his bike stolen twenty eight times.

He wears a blue jacket, which has become his uniform of sorts. He originally found it in Paris, where it is the uniform for garbage collectors. I think he likes the sturdiness of it. He wears a plastic poncho which covers him and his camera through rough weather, and which he regularly patches and repairs.

He started out at Details magazine, where the editor would give him a hundred pages (limitless, to any photographer) to fill per issue. This freedom of creation has passed on to his New York Times assignment, where, although his newspaper space is limited, he nonetheless has the whole of New York City with which to fill his blank pages.

Perhaps his fame now allows him access to the most prestigious in the fashion world - famous people will stop and pose in their latest regalia for him to photograph, and famous fashion editors will sing his praises. But, I think it is his unassuming personality that convinces people. They don't fear malice or mockery from him. Through his humbleness, he also convinces everyone he meets, from the street to the gala dinners, that they are worth photographing.

He has lived for decades in a rent-stabilized artist's studio in Carnegie Hall. During the film, he was in the process of getting evicted - Carnegie Hall wanted the spaces for educational facilities. He has since moved into more spacious quarters.

He has an infectious cheerfulness about him. Perhaps that is why everyone, from people in the street who know nothing about him, to the high society in their designer outfits, allow him to take their photographs.

There was a serious, emotional moment in the documentary when he said that he goes to mass every Sunday (I think he said at St. Patrick's). He started to well-up, and it took him a while to collect himself. He gave no explanation for his emotions. I think that now in his early eighties, he must be thinking about his mortality, and his place in the afterlife. The interviewer, to his credit, left him alone.

He was drafted into the Korean War. He said it came naturally for him to wish to fight for his country. Throughout his life, his family has thought that he was a homosexual. This genuinely perplexes him, although he says he understands that a fashion photographer is not a very manly profession, in their eyes at least. But to the contrary, it needs the hardy, steely determination that he has, which allows him to do death-defying maneuvers such as cycling through New York City traffic. His determination is apparent everywhere. He even fights, in his own affable way, with his photo editor, who finally gives in to his unwavering persistence.

There were many gently funny moments in the film, but the funniest was his story of how he photographed the 1960s hippies and their clothes in Central Park, all in black and white. The psychedelics were lost in his two-toned photographs. He recounts this with his signature laugh, but that is how he told all his stories.

He calls fashion "the armor to survive the reality of everyday life." Getting rid of fashion "would be like doing away with civilization."

He has become more than a mere fashion photographer. His real subject, his muse, could be New York City.

Yellow Curtain

[Photo by KPA]
Sovereign Ballroom in the King Edward Hotel

Above is (a corner of) the "Sovereign Ballroom" in the King Edward Hotel (whose exterior I photographed here). It reminded me of Edith Wharton's interiors. Wharton has written a book on home decoration titled: The Decoration of Houses. In it, she describes her impressions of woman's nature, which she relates to different rooms in the house. I have written about Wharton's interior designs (architectural and human) in this blog post.

Wharton has also written a book called The Decoration of Houses, which I had revisited (no pun...) recently...

Here is her impression of houses and women:

I have sometimes thought that a woman's nature is like a great house full of rooms: there is the hall, through which everyone passes in going in and out; the drawing room, where one receives formal visits; the sitting room, where members of the family come and go as they list; but beyond that, far beyond, are other rooms, the handle of whose doors perhaps are never turned, no one knows the way to them, no one knows whither they lead; and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes.

[A] little sad. Perhaps it is no wonder given the marriage she had. [My original blog post describes her ill-fated heroines, who might reflect her unhappy marriage with a philandering husband who eventually divorced her.]

Flowers behind the King Edward

[Photo by KPA]
The back of The King Edward on Colborne Street
is calmer than the more ostentatious
main entrance aptly located on King Street.
The hotel takes up a full square block, with King St. and
Colborne St. north to south, and Victoria St. and Leader Lane
east to west. It is also only a block away from Leader Lane
to the Anglican St. James Cathedral on Church and King.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here below is some architectural background and royal history (of sorts - Hollywood/celebrity and British) about the King Edward hotel, which is now part of the Le Méridien hotel chain.

Built in 1903, the King Edward was Toronto’s first luxury hotel. New York City had the Waldorf-Astoria, Paris had The Ritz and soon enough, a group of Toronto elites decided it was time for their city to join the ranks.

They formed the Toronto Hotel Company in 1899 with this goal in mind. After going through two architects and near-bankruptcy, the King Edward was opened in 1903 with eight floors and 400 rooms.

It was built to impress from the onset, boasting a barber shop, a mahogany cigar bar, a drug store, a bank, separate parlours for men and women, and a golden-coloured ballroom.

“It’s pretty amazing, from the columns to the ceiling,” said Tim Reardan, the hotel’s general manager. “It’s pretty breathtaking to see the attention to detail in the architecture.”

The Crystal Ball Room came just in time for the roaring 20′s, part of an 18-story, 500-room addition to the hotel in 1921.

The room hosted many special occasions including King George VII’s appearance at a state dinner, a reception for actress Jean Harlow, and an announcement to Canadian doctors and nurses that a cure for polio was found.

Other memorable figures followed.

“The Beatles, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton…all of that happened at the hotel, which is impressive,” Reardan said, adding his favourite famous check-in was when John Lennon and Yoko Ono stayed a night during their bed-in for peace.

But with the rise of the Great Depression came the fall of the hotel’s golden years. Several near-bankruptcies, dramatic changes to the original interior from frequently-shifting ownership, a falling occupancy rate and even a demolition proposal in 1974 threatened to end the King Edward’s reign.

Fortunately for the hotel, the City of Toronto named it a heritage site to preserve the building, yet the interior continues to change. Recent purchasers Mishorim Development Ltd. began renovations this year and are converting three floors into condos.

The Crystal Ball Room is next, but hotel staff said it will be to transform the room into a place suited for weddings, receptions and the like.

They added Mishorim is the first owner of the King Edward in 40 years that plans to take on the costly retrofitting of the room so it can stand up to modern fire codes.

About the Le Méridien hotel chain:

The Le Méridien brand was established in 1972 by Air France "to provide a home away from home for its customers." The first Le Méridien property was a 1,000-room hotel in Paris — Le Méridien Etoile. Within two years of operation the group had 10 hotels in Europe and Africa. Within the first six years the number of hotels had risen to 21 hotels in Europe, Africa, the French West Indies, Canada, South America, the Middle East and Mauritius. By 1991, the total number of Le Méridien properties had risen to 58.

Currently it is:

[A]n international hotel brand with a European perspective, formerly headquartered in the United Kingdom, with 130 properties. It is owned by Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide.

Le Méridien is a global hotel chain with a portfolio of more than 120 hotels in over 50 countries worldwide. The majority of its properties are located in cities and resorts throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the Americas.

[Photo by KPA]
The main entrance, with the royal crowns on the doors

Here is a pdf file (50 pages) which relates the history of the hotel. There are many vintage photos and drawings of:

- Famous guests and royalties
- The hotel (internal and external)
- Vintage banquet invitations and photographs of banquets
- Vintage posters, advertisements and postcards through the decades
- Services and attractions for the Edwardian ladies and gentlemen
- Murals of Canadian history
- Various hotel services (such as bellboys, liveried drivers and doormen, and kitchen staff)
- Original architectural drawings
- Newspaper clippings from as far back as 1903
- The 1921 skyscraper expansion
- Toronto's King Street in the 1920s, with cars and pedestrians 
- Popular dance and jazz bands performing in the hotel ballroom
- The CKGW radio station studio in the hotel from 1928 - 1933
- Toronto's Centennial celebrations in 1934
- As well as some more contemporary accounts of the hotel's history

The Ontario Heritage Trust has placed an historical plaque in front of the building.

Summer Solstice

From CTV News:

The countdown to summer ends when the much-loved season officially arrives Tuesday afternoon, bringing with it dreams of cloudless skies and endless sunlight.

Summer officially begins at 1:16 p.m. on Tuesday – the summer solstice and the longest day of the year.

Environment Canada expects the season to start off with a daytime high of 24 C and a mix of sun and cloud. The rest of the week, however, could be a bit of a downer.

Thunder showers are expected across the Toronto area on Wednesday, with more rain and slightly below-average temperatures predicted through Saturday.

Temperatures are expected to hover between a low of 16 C and a high of 24 C through the next four days. Normal temperatures are highs of 25 C and lows of 15 C.

Environment Canada predicts sun to return to the region on Sunday, bringing with it temperatures in line with the norm.

In its official summer forecast, Environment Canada said Toronto's summer will be hotter and drier than normal throughout June, July and August.

Last year was the third-warmest summer since the environmental agency started keeping records in 1948.

Tall Ships, Seagulls and Blue Lines

The Kajama at Harbourfront
[Photo by KPA]

The tall ship Kajama, which sails tourists around Toronto's Lake Ontario, has a lofty history. This is what the promotional website writes about her:

Launched as the Wilfried in Rendsburg, Germany in 1930, the Kajama traded under sail for nearly 70 years. She was a familiar ship in ports from Northwest Spain, through western Europe, and as far north as Norway and Russia. In 1999, Kajama was delivered transatlantic by Great Lakes Schooner Company and restored to her original profile.

We are proud to offer this 164' three-masted gaff-rigged schooner, which can comfortably accommodate parties of up to 225 people. Your group can enjoy deliciously prepared meals in Kajama's spacious single dining room (a 1006 square foot, open, and airy venue that enjoys natural lighting and ventilation through massive skylights).

I took the above photo yesterday, along with shots of a hazy lake Ontario. My camera is an old digital apparatus, with an optical viewfinder and a liquid crystal display (LCD) viewfinder. I have problems with taking photographs outdoors - just a minor inconvenience :-). When there is too much light, the LCD viewfinder screen gets washed out by all the light, and it's hard to see the image. I can always use the optical viewfinder, but I find framing shots difficult through the tiny device. I asked a camera salesman what to do about the LCD viewfinder, and he exclaimed "It's a little tank. You can drop it, and still have a functioning camera!" He meant don't worry about small details like viewfinders, I guess. And I haven't yet followed his strategy to test the camera's hardiness.

The camera nonetheless takes good photos. To solve (somewhat) the problem of framing shots, I determine what's in the frame based on the shapes and objects I recognize on the LCD screen, and through the optical alternative when the screen is just too bright, and by viewing the scene directly. It takes a while, but it is also helps me (forces me) to make better decisions about what to keep in the frame and what to leave out. This often results with better shots.

I took the above shot of the schooner in full daylight with lots of sun, and with the added complication of light reflecting off the lake. It didn't help that the schooner started to move - pretty fast! - during my trial and error attempts. I didn't see the gull, and I must have released the shutter just as it was entering the viewfinder. And not only that, it was positioned exactly along the schooner's horizontal rope, as though using it as a guide for its flight. The gull's presence anywhere in the photo would still be interesting, but chance (or luck) was on my side in its perfect positioning. The streaks of pale blue in the sky would have been a difficult nuance to see on/through the viewfinders, and I was concentrating on the whole ship to take these delicate lines into consideration. With so many uncertainties, technical and natural, I have to somewhat forfeit control to nature, chance, human activity, etc. when taking photos.

My frustrating camera has become a fixture in my handbag, covered by a lens secured with masking tape (the camera salesman told me that the lens cover is not available since the camera in no longer being manufactured). How can I abandon it now that I've figured out its idiosyncrasies, and it has never really failed me?

"The Pasture" at the Toronto Dominion Centre
[Photo by KPA]

Toronto's "Wall Street" on King and Bay gets calm, docile cows, sitting placidly on well-mowed grass, with the skyscrapers as their shade.

The real deal has a Charging Bull.

Canadians are (not so secretly) envious of Americans, and mimic their culture in many subtle ways. Yet, aggressive assertion (America's péché?) is frowned upon. Let's put up our feminine, resting cows as symbols of our alternate competition.

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.

A man in business attire was sitting reading a paperback, facing these ruminating cows. No charging through aggressive business meetings for him. It was a little comical.

Hot and Hazy

[Photo by KPA]

The hazy summer is already here. Weathermen are predicting a hot and humid summer. The lake front provides respite from the heat. But, after the cold and wet spring, a few months of sun is welcome.

Paul (McCartney), Again

Celine Dion sings "Beautiful Boy" I think better than Lennon
( or Ono) and gives it a slight country/rock rhythm

I've asked the "psychological" question: "Are you a Paul or a John Guy" in the tradition of classifying people into one of two groups (more than two just gets too complicated) to better understand them. My subjective classification is just that: subjective. It's not scientific, nor particularly accurate (although I like to think it simplifies the world for me), and can be harsh on those who may be Paul, or may be John guys, depending on the year, song, mood, etc. I admit I like some of John's solo works, such as his ode to his young son (Beautiful boy, here's Celine Dion's version), and some Paul songs, I'm sure, wouldn't stand the scrutiny of time - "which ones!" I ask.

Most people would see Lennon as the group leader. But, I think McCartney was the better musician (all-round, lyrics and melody). Lennon used his activist/political negativity to propel whatever creativity he may have had. Perhaps he was in deep competition with McCartney, and his wife Yoko Ono didn't help much - Beatles members have said that she was a major factor in the group's split. When he was not proving a political point, he came up with pretty (simple) songs like "Beautiful Boy," but like I've said, they are few and far between.

There is another more sophisticated (elitist?) classification that I silently monitor: "Are you a Mozart or a Beethoven Person?" Bach could enter the equation here, but both Mozart and Beethoven people tend to like Bach, whereas it is often a sacrilege for either to admit admiration for the opposite team.

I'm a Mozart person myself. I've written about Mozart:

The incredible thing about Mozart is how accessible he is, without losing any of his musical complexity. I think he does this by keeping his essential melody (often enchantingly beautiful) always within the listener's reach.

He bends and rotates the melody, without ever putting the fear into the listener that the melody would get lost in a myriad of incomprehensible notes. Each note, however distant and distinct from the original, makes perfect sense, and is as natural a progression as the air we breathe...

But, he never leads us far from the origin, and never teases us too much, although he loves to tease. His music may have some jest and playfulness in it, but it is, down to the simple piano sonatas, very serious. Each note was chosen with a certain aim, and is as precious as the next.

Here's what I wrote about McCartney's 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard:

McCartney still has it in him to pull off those unexpected melody shifts, clever, even ingenious lyrics, and a certain charming optimism despite some of the dark moods of his songs.

I see parallels between McCartney and Mozart, at least in their creative methods.

So, in the logic of my analogy here, Beatles songs are like Mozart's melodies. That is a high order to place on a pop song. But, Mozart was not the exclusive elitist classical music aficionados believe (hope?) he was. He was a popular musician, who used folk and popular influences to write some of his music.

McCartney keeps coming up with his delicate, deceptively simple, melodies after his bitter split from the Beatles. Here is an article which describes his acrimonious departure. Soon after, he released his solo album McCartney in 1970, which he re-issued with some bonus material in 2011. McCartney II was released just before McCartney's split from his band Wings, in 1980. There were no bands breaking up for Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, which came out in 2005.

Some Truth to Some Conspiracy Theories

My observations about the Weiner-Abedin marriage may not have been so wacky after all. I was debating whether to post my previous blog articles [1, 2] on the Muslim/Jewish union and how it might reflect Muslim infiltration into the higher levels of American politics, but it looks like I might not be the only one with this idea. Eliana Benador, a writer at the Washington Times, explains (the article is in pdf form since the original was pulled off from the Washington Times site):

The [Weiner-Abedin] marriage is interesting in that Abedin’s family obviously approved of the match. This is highly unusual for what appears to be a traditional Muslim family...

When looking broadly at the Anthony Weiner–Huma Abedin union, we have to wonder if the coupling of a Jewish American man and a Muslim woman of her pedigree was fostered by love or by a socialist political agenda...

Since its inception, Dar Al-Hekma College [where Huma Abedin's mother is Vice Dean] has counted on the blessing of Saudi Arabia’s ruling elite...

Huma Abedin married...Anthony Weiner [and] former President William J. Clinton officiated at the ceremony. [T]he Clintons, as well as powerful politicos such as George Soros, are devotes of Saul Alinksy, who is considered “the founder of modern Community Organizing.” From my position, I clearly see that the actions of this group signal their socialist agenda, which includes domination of the U.S. by a Muslim ruled world.

Which begs the question of whether Huma Abedin been groomed by family and political leaders to carry this agenda forward?

[Note: Ba'at Yeor, a respected writer on Islam, has discussed the possibilities of a world-wide Muslim Caliphate. Below is what I wrote on her visit to Toronto last summer:

[Ba'at Yeor]...has a new book coming out which is titled: Toward the Universal Caliphate: How Europe Became an Accomplice of Muslim Expansionism. (Note: The book will be available in September 2011 at Amazon.com and is titled: Europe, Globalization, and the Coming of the Universal Caliphate.) She explains that her new book will delineate the global network that bodies like the Organization of the Islamic Conference are building in order to finally construct their worldwide Ummah.]

The Imam of New York has stated: “I would tell her [Huma] to be a little bit patient. In our book, if you think your wife, or husband, is doing something unacceptable, you start by counseling her.” Counseling? For whom, Huma or Anthony? The Imam’s statement seems to state that Huma is in need.

Regardless, those are words of compromise offered by a leading Muslim Imam trying to make us forget that the Koran actually advocates stoning wives for adultery while turning a blind eye toward the sexual mis-deeds of the husband.

It is also important, when looking at this situation, to remember that observant Muslims practice Taqiyya , an element of sharia that states there is a legal right and duty to distort the truth to promote the cause of Islam.

The question that begs to be asked, however, is, has Huma been groomed to access leading political movers and shakers to advance the cause of Islam in America, including a politically positioned marriage to Congressman Anthony Weiner?

I've never heard of Eliana Benador, but here is a respectable Wikipedia profile on her, not withstanding her catchphrases such as "socialist political agenda" in the above article.

Again, I'm not sure how much of a minutely planned Abedin family Muslim conspiracy this is, as a way into American government at high levels in order to covertly influence politics. Huma herself may not be fully aware of (or fully complicit in) these activities, since her disappointment in the recent photos of her seems genuine.

But as I concluded in my previous post on this subject:

Getting close to a Muslim (even an "ex" Muslim) comes with its string of contradictions, confusions, and possible conspiracies. In any case, putting a woman who has such strong family ties to Jihadist-type Muslim groups, however much she may deny those ties, comes with dangerous consequences.

Such is our contemporary world, where alliances and allies can be deceiving.

Hillary's Judgement

I made an intuitive leap of faith when I sensed something wrong with Huma Abedin's wedding dress, and wrote last week in my blog entry "Huma's Predicament":

[Huma] got married in an admittedly lovely embroidered dress, which earned her a spot in Vogue magazine (see above photo), but which is not the traditional white (in all its variations) that Western modern brides wear. I though her dress was decidedly non-Western, and looked like the glittery Middle Eastern and Indian dresses where, after all, Huma's family is from.

And here is what she says in Vogue about her dress:

"I wanted to look like an Indian bride... And I wanted it to complement a jeweled chocker that belonged to my grandmother, an heirloom which my mother and her sisters have worn at their weddings."

...[B]y marrying Weiner, Huma, who is described as a practicing Muslim, appears to have gone against her family and her background, in effect cutting herself off from her Muslim roots. Still, even the infamous Hirsi Ali didn't totally abandon her Muslim "culture" (and religion, since one doesn't exist without the other) and is trying to make it a reality within her Western life.

Perhaps that's what Huma was hoping to do. After all, she chose the Indian brocade dress as her wedding gown.

But there is the possibility that Huma could be practicing taqqiya.

I should add that Abedin didn't change her last name (to Weiner) on her marriage, but kept her Muslim name.

Here's Lawrence Auster, at the View From the Right, quoting a blogger who calls himself Ben the Barrack:

BOMBSHELL: Weiner's In-Laws and the Muslim Brotherhood

I teased this story a bit on my June 12th program. For those of you who listened, you know what this is about. For the rest, former PLO member and ex-Muslim Brotherhood activist Walid Shoebat has unearthed some shocking discoveries. Among them is that Anthony Weiner's mother-in-law is a card-carrying member of the Muslim Brotherhood. What makes this a national security issue is the fact that Weiner's wife is also Hillary Clinton's closest adviser.

I read Ben the Barrack's article, and here are some of his observations I highlighted from the article:

- According to translated Arab sources, it has been learned that the mother of Huma Abedin – Huma is Anthony Weiner's wife and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff – is an official member of the Muslim Brotherhood; Saleha Abedin belongs to the women's division known as the Muslim Sisterhood.

- Huma has a brother named Hassan Abedin who is a fellow with the Oxford Centre For Islamic Studies (OCIS).

- The OCIS consists of an increasing number of Muslim Brotherhood members who sit on the Board. OCIS has Al-Qaeda godfather, Omar Naseef as well as the notorious Muslim Brotherhood leader and suicide bombing supporter – Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi listed as OCIS Trustees.

- Huma accompanied the Secretary of State to the Dar El-Hekma women's college in Saudi Arabia. Huma's mother is the co-founder and a Vice Dean at the college.

- [Huma's mother] Saleha Mahmoud Abdeen (aka Abedin) [is] a member of the woman's arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

- It is sacrilege in Islam for Huma’s mother to accept the reality that her daughter is married to a Jew, a marriage that is considered null and void by the highest authorities in Islam (but as I wrote above, there is the possibility that Huma could be practicing taqqiya).

- Huma Abedin is a practicing Muslim and is still well-connected to her family. She also has access to highly sensitive State secrets – admitted by Hillary herself – as well as significant influence in the Obama administration.

Getting close to a Muslim (even an "ex" Muslim) comes with its string of contradictions, confusions, and possible conspiracies. In any case, putting a woman who has such strong family ties to Jihadist-type Muslim groups, however much she may deny those ties, comes with dangerous consequences. But, I don't assume that Hillary Clinton would scrutinize her close Muslim aide in any manner, since it's those radical Muslims who are the problem, not the moderate, Jewish-U.S. Representative-marrying, moderate ones like Huma Abedin.

Green Gourmet Burger Co.

[Photo by KPA]
(The reflections of the signs on the door windows are
from stores across the narrow Charles Street)

Gourmet Burger Co.'s customers are discerning. Not any burger will do, and not any architecture either. And the owner has chosen well, with the dark purple window shades and the black and white contrasting paint. Bright, pretty petunias decorate the dark railings of the downtown store (there are four other locations in Toronto). John Ward, Gourmet Burger Co.'s owner, came from Australia to Canada bringing with him "fast food that wasn't processed, pre-frozen or prepared in a micro-wave," - the Australian way? The burgers look standard fare: 6oz GBC Burger, Double Cheeseburger, and a few exotic flavors added in (does Aussie Burger count as exotic, with fried egg and pineapple?). But John promises:

We start with the freshest local ingredients, 100% Canadian farm raised beef, aged for a minimum of 30 days delivered daily right to our door.

His stores are also "green" (I always see whatever object that is described as green coated in thick coats of fluorescent lime green paint). He also assures us that we can "feel great about taking our delicious burgers away as all [their] packaging is 100% biodegradable."

His prices are surprisingly reasonable (but how high can burger prices really go?). And the ever-diligent John also provides us with a nutritional rundown of each burger. Cleverly, he doesn't combine the usual "meat, topping, bun and condiments" in one reading, but gives us each score individually. "280 calories for a chicken?" you might ask. The real story is more daunting. The full meal (without "toppings") can reach 1500 calories.

"Enjoy!" says Gourmet Burger Co.'s attractive on-line menu.

The above photo is the store near Bloor and Yonge, on Charles street.

"My Funny Valentine" for All Occasions

Frank Sinatra sings "My Funny Valentine"

I recently heard "My Funny Valentine" on one of those store muzak without the words, remembered some of the words, and searched for the song on-line.

Here's what I found about its origins:

"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical Babes in Arms in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green. After being recorded by Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis, the song became a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 1300 albums performed by over 600 artists.

Babes in Arms opened at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway, in New York City on April 14, 1937 and ran for 289 performances.[1] In the original play, a character named Billie Smith (played by Mitzi Green) sings the song to Valentine "Val" LaMar (played by Ray Heatherton).[2] In the song, Billie pokes fun at some of Valentine's characteristics, but ultimately affirms that he makes her smile and that she doesn't want him to change.

The song was performed by male and female vocalists over the years. Looking at the lyrics, I think it could be sung by either a male or a female. But, I think a female rendition has just a little more authenticity. I somehow don't think romantic men would list these (minor) faults in the object of their desire. They are usually all gushy about her beauty and other wonderful attributes. Women might be a little more realistic about physical attributes (and even "smartness, perhaps preferring kindness).

Here are the lyrics. There is a longer version at the beginning which I've left out, since most of the interpretations use the shorter version. I've posted the beginning lyrics at the end of this post. Here are the commonly sang lyrics:

My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart

You looks are laughable, unphotographable
Yet you're my favorite work of art

Is your figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little bit weak?
When you open it to speak, are you smart?

Don't change your hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay.
Each day is valentine's day

Above, I've posted the video of my favorite version by Frank Sinatra, who sings it straight (and not too slow) in his inimitable, confident style.

The black jazz singers, Sarah Vaughan, Etta James, and both male and female, sing it with too much scatting (which I've complained about here about Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday singing "Am I Blue," although a young Ella Fitzgerald performs "My Funny Valentine" with restrained charm). The energetic Welshman Tom Jones, with the modernized instrumentals, gives it a rock vibe. A surprising actress-turned-singer is Michelle Pfeiffer (I've always liked her as an actress) sings it in her movie The Fabulous Baker Boys. Contemporary black singers perform it with too many riffs and improvisations (known as melisma [pdf article]), which overloads the melody. Linda Ronstadt, whom I never used to like, sings it with a pure voice. Melinda Doolittle, who was a highly placed contestant at American Idol a few years ago, imitates Anita Baker, who I think performs it much better. Melinda overdoes the improvisational melisma and overloads the melody with too many notes, to the detriment of the song. This is common among black singers today.

There are a couple of non-vocal versions, including Miles Davis on his haunting trumpet (whom Sting- formerly of the band the Police - does a great job of channeling). Chet Baker also performs it on his trumpet, although I haven't listed his version, since he drags his melodies so much that it is hard to sit patiently through them.

Below is the list of singers who've also attempted the song (I've linked to their Youtube or other audio performances):

- Frank Sinatra - in his inimitable, powerful, confident voice
- Ella Fitzgerald - in her younger days, sings it surprisingly straight
- Miles Davis - on his haunting trumpet
- Tom Jones - gives it a strong rhythmic, R&B flavor
- Linda Ronstadt - sings the complete version
- Michelle Pfeiffer - who has a good voice, considering we know her almost exclusively as an actress (she sang this in The Fabulous Baker Boys). Diane Lane was another actress who surprised me with her singing in The Cotton Club.
- Sting on the trumpet. He says it is a tribute to Miles Davis. Another surprise like the actor Richard Gere playing a good trumpet solo in The Cotton Club. Sting sings (less charmingly) before he starts playing.
- Anita Baker, who unlike many of the black pop singers, gives it a jazzy/bluesy flavor
- Melinda Doolittle, a long-gone American Idol finalist (she sang this on the show), who seemed to be channeling Anita Baker.

Here are the beginning lyrics, which many singers left out:

Be hold the way our fine feathered friend
His virtue doth parade
Thou knowest not my dim witted friend
The picture Thou hast made
Thy vacant brow and Thy tousled hair
Conceal Thy good intent
Thou noble upright, truthful, sincere
And slightly dopey gent

Coco's Rose Denial

Rosa centifolia

I wonder what the very modern (or modernist) Chanel, who said that a woman shouldn't smell like a rose but like a "woman," would make of my retort to the sales attendant (a woman) that rose (and lavender) are not old-fashioned?

And isn't the rose (in smell and metaphorically) the most "womanly" of all the flowers? What woman wouldn't want to smell, or look, like a rose, even secretly and privately?

Of course Chanel's contention is between the feminine being, and the woman. Feminine is weak and dependent (on men); woman is strong and independent, who can define, and redefine, herself. Or so Chanel thought.

As Mimifroufrou says in her article, perhaps Chanel did start this revolution against the rose and against femininity. Creating a synthetic perfume is like creating a "new woman," replete with all the characteristics that Chanel-the-creator (as she saw herself) would have liked her to possess. Perhaps she was the first pre-feminist (anti-female?), at the cusp of the feminist revolution (she made Chanel No.5, the anti-rose scent, in 1921); the first to negate, or downgrade, beauty and especially feminine beauty; the ancestor to our contemporary fashion designers and trend-setters, who like good students, are exchanging beauty with some other notion, like "hip" or "avant-garde," (or "modern" as Chanel might prefer), exclaiming that "beauty is irrelevant!" and that women shouldn't act like feminine beings, but instead like...what?

What would she make of the Return of the Rose, albeit in modest, but very successful, scents like The Body Shop's Moroccan Rose, and the trend continuing in the more upscale variatons?

How strong the rose is! It (or its destruction) is emblematic of a whole revolution - the feminist revolution. But look at how its making a comeback

Rose is not a rose is not a rose is not a rose

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose
Gertrude Stein

Below is the link to a great article on Coco Chanel's contradictions, which I noted in her meticulous choice of the rose for her perfume Chanel No. 5, yet hiding it behind a lot of words (such as: this is not a rose perfume), and camouflaging it in the perfume.

"Of Gabrielle Coco Chanel and Roses: Chanel No.5 as The Anti-Rose Scent"
By the perfume critic at Mimifroufrou.

Rose for Summer

A basket of pink rose petals at Grasse, in Southern France,
the "perfume farm" where Chanel harvested her
Rosa centifolia for her perfume Chanel No.5.

There are many new (or newish) scents that are promoting their rose notes for the summer. Here is a list I've made by asking semi-sympathetic sales women to guide me to the rose perfumes, and if I could try the scents.

- Prada: Infusion de Rose
- Bulgari: Rose Essentielle
- Givenchy: Very Irresistible Givenchy L'Intense
- Dolce & Gabbana: Rose the One
- Estee Lauder: Pleasures (in all its variations)
- Estee Lauder: Beautiful (the original from 1985)
- Stella McCartney: Rose Absolute
- Perfumer's Workshop: Tea Rose
- Victor and Rolf: Flowerbomb - La Vie en Rose
- The Body Shop: Moroccan Rose

The Body Shop's Moroccan Rose, which comes only as an eau de toilette, and not in a very attractive bottle, wins hands down. And it sells for half the price of the other designer perfumes, at CAN$23, and imbues the rose in all three of its notes. It is a true rose fragrance.

Still, some of the expensive concoctions (like Stella McCartney's, Prada's and Estee Lauder's) have produced strong, solid rose scents. I haven't figured out yet if this is a real turn in women's designer perfumes (floral designer dresses are also in this summer), or if it is a temporary, fashionable trend. But I would trust the "plebeian" Body Shop, which is perhaps more in touch with ordinary women. Rose is not a hidden, or a structural, component in the Moroccan Rose, but is liberated in its full glory through all three notes. The Body Shop has released the ultimate rose imbued fragrance.

Notes for Moroccan Rose Notes:

Top: Rose, Spices, Amalfi Lemon
Middle: Rose, Mimosa, Orange
Base: Rose, Musk, Vanilla, Virginia Cedar

Most of the other perfumes camouflage the rose scent with some kind of fruity top note. I'm not sure why, although one sales woman says that rose tends to smell old fashioned (like lavender). I disagreed with her and said that people are afraid to try true perfumes these days, so we are stuck with watered down, undecipherable eau de toilettes. She wasn't happy with my opinion, although her colleague (a male) appreciated it (I usually go to him if he's around), and I joked he should hire me!

I don't think it should be hard to manufacture a pure rose perfume. The Body Shop has done it. And I would think one can attempt it at home and come up with a reasonable, if not short-lived, scent.

Here's a website which discusses how to make rose water:

1. Gather rose petals. You will need a about a 1/2 a pound or more depending on your use. Pick your rose petals in the morning for best results.

2. Place the rose petals in a large colander and give them a quick rinse in cold water.

3. Place the rinsed rose petals on a piece of cheese cloth and tie at the top to make a pouch. Place the pouch in a large glass bowl. Barely cover the rose petals with boiling water. Place plastic wrap securely over the top of the bowl. Secure with string or a large rubber band.

4. Let the roses steep over night. In the morning pour the water into a glass jar such as a mason jar. Over the bowl twist the cheese cloth to press the petals and squeeze out all water. Add that water to the mason jar.

5. Keep rose water in a lidded jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Rose water can also be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months.

The May 2011 edition of Canada's Glow Magazine has a full two-page article on rose or rose-based perfumes titled: "Rose Redux." Here are some which the article considers rose-based classics:

- Chanel's No. 5 - 1921
- Guerlain's Shalimar - 1925
- Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps - 1948 (that old?!)
- Elizabeth Arden's Red Door - 1989

Chanel famously said that "a woman must smell like a woman and not a rose," a quote that was also used in the 2009 film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky. And yet she went through great troubles to find "just the right rose" by harvesting roses in Grasse, in southern France, where she cultivated the Rosa centifolia for her No. 5. She put the rose scent in the middle notes, giving the perfume a cohesivea (if mysterious) presence.

Notes for Chanel No. 5

Top notes: Ylang-Ylang, Neroli, Aldehydes
Middle notes: Jasmine, Rose, Iris, Lily of the Valley
Base notes: Sandalwood, Vanilla, Vetivier, Musk, Chives, Oak

Yet, Chanel believed she was making a completely new creation with No. 5. She said:

"I want to give women an artificial perfume...Yes, I really do mean artificial, like a dress, something that has been made. I don't want any rose or lily of the valley, I want a perfume that is a composition."

This is not surprising, since I write in a previous blog entry that:

The 1920s were the peak of Chanel's creativity. It was in that period that she launched her signature perfume Chanel No. 5. During that era, film making, photography, music, theater and dance were all meshed together forming a kaleidoscope of art. The more "applied arts" like design and fashion were also taken seriously, and were included in the artistic activities.

It is a testament to her vision that her Chanel No. 5 has endured for close to a century now, keeping close to the original.

Other (lesser?) perfumes like Elizabeth Arden's Red Door or Guerlain's Shalimar keep introducing newer addition to the notes as well as dramatically changing the shape of their bottles - here's Shalimar's bottle design over the years. Nina Ricci's lovely L'Air du Temps has been truncated into L'Air, and the perfume has accordingly been diluted. The original L'Air du Temps bottle has precise carvings on its bottle, and the birds on the stopper are better designed. The box is a distinct yellow. The bottle for the new L'Air is more whimsical (and airy - perhaps suiting the perfume more), and the carvings on the bottle, including the birds, are less defined. The package is a dull gray/pink box. The promotional photo I've linked to underlines this "airiness" even more; the actual bottle is a little darker, and the pink a little grayer.

Chanel's bottle has changed its shape somewhat between its creation in 1921 and four years into 1925, but it has remained true to Chanel's 1925 design through the following decades.

Blog Links

- Camera Musica - Posts of musical recordings
- Well-Patterned - Design works
- Articles - On art, culture and society

Iris Grid

Iris Grid

[Photo by KPA]

Here is another in my (developing) series of flowers growing in nondescript corners. This bunch of iris is next to the downtown Metro supermarket. I would have thought the "gardener" would have filled the whole length of the brick wall with these purple wonders, but this is the only bunch there. It still brightens the day to walk by them.

One of the "dairy products" servers was sitting in the sun a few feet away from the wall, and I said how lucky he is to have them there. He hadn't noticed them, and thanked me for pointing them out.

The leaves in front of the iris are variations of the "common" hosta plant, which held my attention long enough that I tried to produce a small watercolor version of a leaf a couple of years ago.

Hosta Leaf

[Watercolor by KPA]

After the Rain

John Coltrane

Anthony Weiner at the View From the Right

For the past week or so, Lawrence Auster at the View From the Right (VFR) has been writing several posts on Weiner and the political, social and cultural implications of his behavior. To find all the articles, you can search VFR's Google box available on the side panel of his website.

Huma's Predicament

Huma Abedin in her wedding dress

Weiner's heightened visibility in the media these past few days reminded me that he recently married Hillary Clinton's right-hand woman Huma Abedin. Laura Wood at The Thinking Housewife writes about Huma's reaction to these embarrassing incidents, which of course are a betrayal of her and of their marriage, saying that Huma is avoiding reality by continuing with her global travels to immerse herself in work that is as far away from her husband as possible, and that this avoidance of reality is a feminist's way of warding off pain and intimacy.

I see Huma's behavior another way. She got married in an admittedly lovely embroidered dress, which earned her a spot in Vogue magazine (see above photo), but which is not the traditional white (in all its variations) that Western modern brides wear. I though her dress was decidedly non-Western, and looked like the glittery Middle Eastern and Indian dresses where, after all, Huma's family is from.

And here is what she says in Vogue about her dress:

"I wanted to look like an Indian bride... And I wanted it to complement a jeweled chocker that belonged to my grandmother, an heirloom which my mother and her sisters have worn at their weddings."

Oscar de la Renta, the designer who created her dress says (in the same Vogue issue):

"I made her a dress that reflected her history... It was like dressing Scheherazade, the beautiful Queen from One Thousand and One Nights."

Abedin continues in Vogue:

Being a political power couple comes with just one drawback: "Our schedules are so busy" Abedin says, "that we don't have time for a honeymoon!"

I wonder where I've seen that word "power couple" before?

Other commentators have speculated that her marriage was a way to avoid scandalous links between her and Hillary Clinton, with whom she spends much of her time as an aide. This might have some grain of truth.

But by marrying Weiner, Huma, who is described as a practicing Muslim, appears to have gone against her family and her background, in effect cutting herself off from her Muslim roots. Still, even the infamous Hirsi Ali didn't totally abandon her Muslim "culture" (and religion, since one doesn't exist without the other) and is trying to make it a reality within her Western life.

Perhaps that's what Huma was hoping to do. After all, she chose the Indian brocade dress as her wedding gown.

Weiner marrying Huma is less of a puzzle, since many liberal Christian and Jewish white men are attracted to non-Christian, non-Western and non-white women, and make concessions for those cultural and religious differences in their marriages. I've written about this here. Practicing Muslims, on the other hand, are very unlikely to allow their religion to be altered. When this does happen, it is almost always the Muslim woman who makes those changes, and this usually means abandoning her religion.

Perhaps Hillary Clinton, Huma's obvious mentor, suggested Weiner's eligibility to her. From the amount of time she spends with Clinton, it looks like she's taken on the role of Huma's family, and Huma's marriage with Weiner would indeed be the kind of arranged affair that is in keeping with the traditions of her Eastern background.

I think Huma went on these lengthy trips so soon after her marriage to avoid the reality of a Muslim woman married to a Jewish man. Perhaps there is a sense of disappointment at the lost opportunity at love, as Laura suggests, since Huma still lives in a Western society and is imbued with its culture. She may be trying to reconcile Muslim and Western traditions to the best of her confused ability.

There is no excusing Weiner's awful conduct in his marriage, although the media report that this is somewhat of a long-term habit of his. But a globe-trotting wife, and so soon after their wedding, would put a strain on any marriage, and any groom, "sexting" or not.

And back to the strange liaison between a "practicing" Muslim and a Jew. Sam Solomon, a Muslim convert to Christianity, explains in his book El-Yahud: Eternal Islamic Enmity and the Jews that the biggest animosity Muslim have towards other non-Muslims is for the Jews. How did Huma reconcile this with her Jewish husband?

Another odd thing: Hillary Clinton's husband was also caught in a strange, ambiguous sex scandal - his narcissistic fantasy was a young intern who was more an object of his fantasy rather than a real sexual partner. How strange is it that Huma should find a husband who would cheat on her in a similar way?

Since this blog is partly concerned with beauty [see here, here, here, here, and here for my recent commentary on beauty], why do people keep calling her stunning? She is tall and slim, and has long hair, and wears expensive-looking clothes, but there is nothing beautiful about her looks. Her face is gaunt, with exaggerated features. She does, admittedly, look like the fashion models of our time, but I've never found them beautiful, and they're not chosen for their beauty, but for their unique (odd, strange, alien?) looks. But perhaps people want public figures to look beautiful (in the classic sense), and the stodgy Hillary doesn't fit that bill, so instead they turn to Huma, Hillary's aide, like some kind of displaced loyalty, who is closer to that expectation.

I had set aside the September 2010 Vogue issue, where she is photographed in her wedding dress, to write about these very thoughts and especially to critique her Eastern-inspired wedding dress. But I guess I wasn't anticipating this type of scandal, just something simpler, like a divorce down the years due to irreconcilable differences.

Corner Flowers

[Photo by KPA]

These were arranged in a large gray urn in the corner of the mall entrance at the Atrium on Bay. Spring flowers are sprouting all over the city. No-one could tell me the name of the pink flower, which is some type of climber (I thought some kind clematis, but one lady said that's not it, and she has it on the tip of her tongue, but couldn't remember).

Hirsi Ali and Ferguson busy making babies

Hirsi Ali and Niall Ferguson,
no longer a "power couple"

Geert Wilders lives in effective house arrest in his country the Netherlands, and now is in court to defend, and save, his country and the West from encroaching Islamization.

Meanwhile, Hirsi Ali, his former countrywoman, former refugee asylum seeker to Holland from Somalia, former Dutch parliamentarian, and now an American citizen, is busy making illegitimate babies with her British boyfriend Niall Ferguson, according to the Britain's Daily Mail. Ali is pregnant by the British historian, who abandoned his wife and children to start a steamy affair with Ali after he met her at a New York event a few years ago. Ali came to New York to work with the American Enterprise Institute. She is now an American citizen, but everything about her, including her time in Holland, reeks of an opportunistic, global traveler - a nomad, as she correctly identifies herself in one of her books aptly titled Nomad - who will set up tent wherever it is most convenient.

In America, she started a non-profit organization to help Muslim-born women (whether believers in Islam or not) in the West, caught up in Islam's honor killings and other fierce misogynistic behaviors. As I wrote here, the plight of Muslim women is not our problem. The majority of Muslim women do not renounce Islam, but want the best of both worlds - a free life (possibly in the West) with the freedom to continue practicing the religion that has effectively persecuted them (how can we help people like this?). This is in some fashion how Ali is living her life. She hasn't renounced her "Muslimness" although she has a lot to say about reforming Islam to suit her feminist and Westernized lifestyle (see my blog posts here: 1, 2, 3).

Here is what I wrote on Ali in "Islam's Missionary Women":

Hirsi Ali insists that the West downplay one of its hallmarks, Christianity, in order to enter into a secularized unit to subjugate a totalitarian-inclined Islamic world, especially against its women. By declaring that only a West dependent on reason rather than religion can tackle this, she demands a solution that would throw out one of the prime Western traditions – that of Judeo-Christianity – which has historically been successful in defeating previous Islamic threats. Her Enlightenment-biased views allow her to boldly state “ The enemies of reason within the West are religion and the Romantic Movement”, as though Western tradition prior to the Enlightenment (which she gets chronologically wrong by putting the Romantics into the fray) is merely an amalgam of religious fanatics and sentimentalists.

News about Ali is always strange. It looks like she's has been trying to have a child for a while. Here's what she wrote about wanting to have a child in her book Nomad (via the Daily Mail):

I have struggled whether to have you on my own or to marry your father . . . having a child is a personal choice. It’s not only a personal choice; it’s a very selfish choice. I want to have you for me, for my delight, to enrich my existence.

The Daily Mail informs us that she had asked her doctor to have her eggs frozen in case she got too old to have children. So, I would conclude that her pregnancy was a priority in her torrid affair with Ferguson. (By the way, Ferguson, has previously cheated on his wife with eight affairs in five years, according to an earlier article in the often accurate Daily Mail, and I write here that there is no guarantee that he will change his ways with Ali.)

It is interesting that the Mail has posted a photo of Ali in her blue dress, which I also posted here, and which I described as "a gaudy electric blue satin dress, looking both vapid and glitzy at the same time." But it is probably the only one they have where she stands in amorous link with Ferguson.

Ali has become an inconsequential speaker for the West by a non-Westerner. Her articles for the American Enterprise Institute are infrequent, and I haven't heard of any important engagement or activity in which she's recently participated. Perhaps the media (and anti-Jihadists) have come to the conclusion that her role as a non-Western mouthpiece speaking up for the West was too much to hope for.

Ferguson dedicated his latest book Civilization: The West and the Rest to her, writing that she "understands better than anyone I know what Western civilisation really means – and what it still has to offer the world." He may have to reassess his view of her, and consequent admiration for her.

More on Sarah Palin's Family Values

The Palin Family: from Wasilla to Washington

The article on Sarah Palin that I linked to via the American Thinker in my previous blog post is a slightly edited version of the one I originally sent. I wasn't as sympathetic towards Sarah Palin a the editors made me out to be.

The American Thinker's editors tried to make my article as Palin-sympathetic as possible, focusing on the admittedly harsh liberals. I didn't intend for the article to suggest "bad liberals vs. good-but-misguided conservatives." In fact, I wrote that female conservative commentators were taking Palin's side purely for feminist reasons, rather than conservative ones, and were unable to assess some of the legitimate criticisms made on Palin by non-conservatives.

Also, my original title was "Sarah Palin's Lost Opportunity" and although the title the American Thinker gave the article is a reasonable "Sarah Palin: whose family values?", it doesn't address my point, which is that Palin had a chance to enter conservative American politics as one of the few female Vice Presidents, and perhaps the first female President, but her chaotic family life and liberal beliefs (as a conservative candidate) became detrimental to that objective.

To be fair to Thomas Lifson, who is the editor, and with whom I was corresponding, I think he was also trying to appease the reactions from his readers. But, even this abridged version didn't help, since I got 106 responses, the majority of which were unsympathetic towards my piece (to put it mildly), although a few saw my point. One commentator wrote:

It hurts when someone is honest about the hypocritical nature of conservatives on family values, doesn't it? Well done.

But perhaps my approach was not nearly as radically conservative as the American Thinker commentators opine, since I was still willing to give a female candidate a chance to hold the highest position in the country.

I posted the unrevised article at Camera Lucida.

From Wasilla to Washington

The Palin Family: from Wasilla to Washington

The above photo is from an article in the Daily Mail: Sarah Palin 'pulls daughter Willow out of school so she doesn't ruin Presidential hopes'. Is this is Palin's attempt to prevent Willow from turning into Bristol?

The whole family is positioned as though they're players in some kind of grass chess game. Track, for some reason, is without his new wife Britta (did he marry her for her name?!). Bristol, holding her "out-of-wedlock" son Trig, got even more famous from Dancing with the Stars and is in the works for another reality TV show, which includes a new face and a new, live-in boyfriend. Piper might actually be the one to watch. She's the one positioned closest to Palin, even a little ahead of her. It's not clear what Todd Palin will be doing if they ever make it to Washington, but he doesn't look comfortable with the spotlight. Palin, for some reason, continues to hold our fascination, partly because she's an attractive female, and partly, of course, because of her chaotic family life.

I keep forgetting that Sarah Palin has a young toddler who has Down Syndrome. And that she has another son, the eldest of her children, who just married his "high school sweetheart" - isn't that what Sarah did too? Track Palin (let's leave those names aside for now) is 22, and was enlisted in the army. His 21-year-old wife plans to be a nurse and work in a local hospital. The attention has mostly been on Bristol, and to a lesser degree Palin's other daughters, that I forgot that she has a large family of five children. And she will be a grandmother the legitimate way! She must be happy there are no scandals to get in the way of her Presidential run this time around. But she's keeping a close eye on her blossoming teenage daughter Willow, according to the Daily Mail article above, and has pulled her out of school to be home-schooled.

Here's an article I wrote on Palin for The American Thinker almost two years ago now: Sarah Palin: whose family values? It looks like Palin still hasn't learned that being away from home will likely result in a strained, if not dysfunctional, family life.

Toronto Facades

[Photo collage by KPA]
Top - L-R: - Bank of Montreal; Elgin Theatre
Middle - L-R: - Northern Ontario Building; the Sterling Tower;
Bank of Nova Scotia; Windows of vacant building across from
the Elgin Theatre (I think it's being renovated)
Bottom - L-R: CIBC Mellon; 357 Bay Street; The Bay at Queen Street

Here are shots of building facades in downtown Toronto, mostly south of the downtown, below Queen Street and near the harbor. I find them to be the most interesting in the city. Most of these buildings are banks: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal. The two on the top right are of the Elgin Theatre, and the bottom right is the Bay department store. The building with the grand golden doors is a commercial complex. All these buildings are close to the "banking district" on King and Bay, and few were built later than 1950. Even the (in)famous Toronto Dominion Centre (here is my blog post on the complex), by Mies van der Rohe, was completed almost fifty years ago in 1967. Contemporary architecture so far (there's hope yet) doesn't compare to these older buildings.

More Summer Road-Side Flowers

It's still officially spring, but the warm weather feels like summer. Buildings are given the summer touch with flowers. Here are a couple.
Rhododendrons at the Eaton Centre
[Photo by KPA]

Behind the Eaton Centre, there is a restaurant with a patio flanked by giant rhododendrons, which make the concrete passageway pleasant to walk through.

Potted pansies at Fran's diner
[Photo by KPA]

Local office workers fill up Fran's diner on Shuter Street during lunch (and early dinner) hours, but it is still one of Toronto's best kept secrets. Partly because the restaurant has a rather drab and gray exterior, and it is on a side street. But colorful potted pansies in the (now open) patio give it a welcoming presence in the warmer months. For winter, there's still the red and turquoise furniture with stainless steel chairs, and an airy interior (and of course daily specials - bacon and eggs go for $5.45 while coffee is extra but with "bottomless" refills).

Van Cleef & Arpels: Waves and Moon Landings

In a previous blog entry, I posted a selection of Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry from the Cooper-Hewitt exhibition, Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels. The "Nature" and "Transformations" categories have a couple of unique designs:

Moon Landing Pendant Brooch
Is the red stone symbolic of the human
heart (presence/visit)?


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

Waves Bracelets
One can see the sand particles
swirling under the water.
(Larger image here)

Van Cleef & Arpels

Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels (through July 4)
at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

Make sure to check all the links on the Van Cleef & Arpels exhibition pages (Video, Innovation, Transformations, Nature, etc.) to view selected items. The last time I was in New York, the Cooper-Hewitt was beginning a major construction project. It was impressive to visit the Andrew Carnegie Mansion, which is the museum's main building. It looks like parts of the museum are in full function with the Van Cleef & Arpels exhibition. The renovations should be completed by 2013.

Cooper-Hewitt Re: Design
Video on the renovation plans

My Favorite Things - Better Version

This is a better version of "My Favorite Things." The previous video cut off part of the ending.

This is longer - a whole 21 minutes! But, it is probably truer to the spirit of Coltrane.