I thought it was a particularly good episode, and surprisingly politically direct, for TAL.
They get political sometimes -- their episode about the Lancet study of Iraqi deaths was great.
The amount of straightforwardly political stuff has been going up steadily. I think the trend started with Katrina. That's when I first noticed it, at least.
Glass has some powerful knowledge of rhetoric. I'm glad he's on our side.
The horrible old couple from the first story just desperately need to die.
While I wouldn't go so far as to wish them death, I did find her "It's mah property!" whine pretty irritating.
Ira Glass and Bill Moyers are my two favorite media people.
It's not so much of a policy as it is as it is a really unfortunate loophole. In order to apply for permanent residency, one needs to establish that one has the standing to do so. This is either accomplished via a fiancee visa (plus a marriage certificate), or a spousal visa, or by filing the immediate relative form having arrived on some other visa.
The other thing that they need to establish is that the person's standing (like marriage) is still current when the green card is granted. Makes sense, to the extent that there *are* concerns about fraud. The trouble with this is that it can take several months to years for the application to process. Ours went unusually quickly, and shivbunny's green card took him about three and a half months, and we were approved without an interview. But if he'd been held up in a background check, it could take years. And if I'd died in the interim, he'd be denied, even if he would have been approved had the process gone quickly.
They've reformed the process some. It used to be all too common for asshole abusers to try to keep their new mail-order bride under control by refusing to file for the green card; under VAWA, they've made it possible so that an abuse victim can file for a green card on her own. (It's not an easy process, but it does remove the power from the asshole.)
But there's no provision for widows and widowers, and what's really unfortunate/ironic is that a widowed foreign spouse, just by the numbers, is probably married to an American soldier who died for the country that's going to deport her because they couldn't process the petition fast enough. And there's absolutely no legal recourse for her.
It should be a really easy loophole to close. Like, one line.
(Of course, the gender of the petitioning spouse under VAWA is irrelevant. It's just that there aren't really all that many mail-order husbands who end up abused.)
It should be a really easy loophole to close. Like, one line.
According to the piece, the loophole is closed. The Ninth Circuit emphatically told Immigration that Congress's clear intent was that the spouse of a deceased citizen shouldn't be automatically denied. The Administration has been fighting it every step of the way, and finding other ways to expel these people (using, for instance, REAL ID).
Is it possible that tracing abuses of the administration's legal team could be researched? How much money is being wasted on legal fees over cases like these?
God, what fuckers.
Cala-- A friend of mine told me a story about one of his roommates who was English and had to move back to England for 6 months. In the mean time his fiancee had a baby. I guess that that makes it a little bit easier to disprove fraud, but boy..what a mess.
Glass has some powerful knowledge of rhetoric. I'm glad he's on our side.
Nothing against Ira, but as long as he is safely contained within the hermetically sealed world of NPR, preaching to the converted, the VRWC doesn't have much to fear from his rhetorical gifts.
It pains me to say it, but the only genuine media threat to the conservative narrative comes from popular entertainment and celebrity culture. That's one reason why forrays of Hollywood celebrities into political activism make the right wing so apoplectic, and why the Right has demonized Michael Moore so relentlessly.
Stretching the point a little further, one of the reasons I back Obama is that he is inspiring heretofore politically passive members of the creative class to contribute their talent to the cause. The fact that the most skilled creators of media/advertising/entertainment content skew overwhelmingly liberal is a hugely underleveraged advantage of our side, and if Obama can help unleash it, a genuine realignment is possible.
...inspiring heretofore politically passive members of the creative class to contribute their talent to the cause....
Did you miss the Clintonista Hollywood '90s? There were times when they were the only people who could stand the Slickster.
Cala, that law is to keep your Canadian dude from killing you. Canadians often do that once they get the green card. I sometimes worry about Mr. Mary Catherine.
Canadians are more to be pitied than feared, John, murderous as they may be. They don't feel emotion or pain the way god-fearing Americans do, and so when they see us enjoying liberty from the dependable maple syrup prices and healthcare that they presume bedrock realities, they are driven to lash out.
The Administration has been fighting it every step of the way, and finding other ways to expel these people (using, for instance, REAL ID).
Thing is, the court ruling won't be enough. Every immigrant has to have a sponsor (barring a few exceptions), and in the case of spouses, the spouse must be the primary sponsor of the immigrant. So saying 'don't automatically deny them' doesn't mean much given that their case will likely end up being denied because their sponsor is dead and unable to meet the income requirement posthumously. I think it would take some sort of legal or policy change so that the spouse would be able to self-sponsor.
And one of the bizarre bits of immigration law is what happens while you have an application pending. You're still legally present, but in a lot of cases, the visa you were on has expired. And if your application is denied, you end up being counted as unlawfully present from the day you would have gone out of status were it not for the application. So if they find that they're not eligible, they're already overstays. And deportable.
And to complicate matters further, there are cases where the immigrant doesn't even have an application pending. The fee to adjust status is $1010 right now; some people can't afford it, and some people (I call them jerks) take their sweet time filing for their new brides because of the sponsorship requirement. (They're not sure, you see, and she might take all their money.) If the person dies before their spouse has filed, there's absolutely nothing that can be done. They were already out of status, and thus deportable, but most of the time ICE doesn't care about someone who isn't actively coming to their attention.
You're still legally present, but in a lot of cases, the visa you were on has expired. And if your application is denied, you end up being counted as unlawfully present from the day you would have gone out of status were it not for the application. So if they find that they're not eligible, they're already overstays. And deportable.
When my green card was pending, I was able to be paid by my employer only because I was able to reclaim some time on my H1B, from a stretch when I had been out of the country. Otherwise it'd have been poof, there goes half the family income. It nearly happened anyway, as an administrative computer system decided to terminate my contract anyway.
As an added bonus, when you go out of status on a H1B in my state, your driver's license also expires and you are not entitled to another one until you get a new visa or permanent residency. No driving for you! Actually, this isn't quite true, but no-one at the DMV knows the policy and so a letter from some much higher up individual was required to get around that one.
Did you miss the Clintonista Hollywood 90s?
No, I'm aware that Hollywood celebs contribute money and run their mouths about their pet causes, but the broader creative class (the scriptwriters and graphic designers and what have you) have had next to no impact on the conduct of campaigns or the branding of the party, which remains firmly in the hands of the political equivalent of rustbelt manufacturing.
But they're so nice.
But it's true, Cala! In fact, I have a date with one tomorrow.
I think that he's on an H1B annual visa which meant that getting laid off a couple of years ago was tricky and screwy with his immigration status.
19: The Kung Fu Monkey guy goes on and on about that. I might be inclined to split hairs with him, but I tend not to want to criticize entertainment industry people for fear of being thought envious.
Be careful about marrying him, because once he gets his green card he might kill you.
It pains me to say it, but the only genuine media threat to the conservative narrative comes from popular entertainment and celebrity culture.
And, by the same token, why it's suggested that the so-called urbanist agenda (or any argument for implementing more sustainable practices) is better off making its case by projecting a new image of what's cool, hip, attractive, sexy -- make them want it -- than by attempting to legislate its way to its ends.
So goes the thought.
20: If it's annual, it's probably that pain-in-the-ass TN thing.
18: Yeah, we had a weird period where they wouldn't let shivbunny get a driver's license because his K-1 had expired, but the formal 'receipt' from his adjustment of status package hadn't yet arrived, and they needed to see that. This was during the big backlog this summer, so it took us six weeks from submitting to just get a receipt, and another 90 days for the work permit, and you'd be surprised at how hard it is to strive for newlywed bliss on one grad income, with one person now housebound and the other person a few months behind on her dissertation.
My general opinion is that the Real ID should be crumpled up and shoved up the ass of the nearest bedwetting legislator.
Yeah, don't marry him before the first date because there's too much immigration paperwork.
Lemme tell you sumthin', them Canadians is sneaky. Always schemin', them people. Sure, to your face they'll tell ya, "Si, Senor, manana," but every single one of 'em has a switch knife.
29: Go home, Emerson, you're drunk again.
Watch your drink BG!!!
And write on your hand in permanent ink, "I do not want to get married tonight!!!"
Just like Memento.
My worst posts are before I start drinking. Coffee nerves.
Is it still possible under some circumstances for an American women to lose her citizenship by marrying a foreigner?
women s/b woman (although mass marriages may be governed by some other law)
Also, the increase in married and/or dating commenters has really slowed down Friday and Saturday night threads.
Also, the increase in married and/or dating commenters has really slowed down Friday and Saturday night threads.
Is that the problem? God knows I am infinitely more likely to be home and noodling boringly around as an old married woman than I was as a single young thing.
Carnal desires ruin everything, guys.
Is it still possible under some circumstances for an American women to lose her citizenship by marrying a foreigner?
Marry a Canadian and find out.
39: I'd have to become a woman first. Or become a Canadian and then marry an American.
This married commenter is also here! And also noodling boringly around.
I demand that you entertain me!
I sometimes worry about Mr. Mary Catherine.
Mr. Mary Catherine is half-Canadian, which makes him better able to protect himself.
I demand that you entertain me!
Penny Arcade is having a 10-word story contest. The prizes are some collectible card game nonsense, but very short stories can be fun. We could have a round of those. Ill start by quoting Alan Moore's, from a similar feature of six-word stories in Wired last year:
"Machine. Unexpectedly, I'd invented a time"
- Alan Moore
Maybe the slow commenting is the result of warmer weather.
It seems like just a few minutes ago North Carolina wasn't losing by 26.
45, 46: Dear sweet Jesus, how can that be? I've been wasting my time with my kids all day and have ignored the game. I'm stunned.
Also, I'm half Canadian, or all Canadian with American parts grafted on, and I haven't killed anyone in days, whether for love, money, or citizenship.
so my opus
'she cyberstalked him. he got a girlfriend.
they never met'
Did you miss the Clintonista Hollywood 90s?
No, I'm aware that Hollywood celebs contribute money and run their mouths about their pet causes, but the broader creative class (the scriptwriters and graphic designers and what have you) have had next to no impact on the conduct of campaigns or the branding of the party, which remains firmly in the hands of the political equivalent of rustbelt manufacturing.
Knecht, I believe you said that 3 hours ago.
Did you miss the Clintonista Hollywood 90s?
No, I'm aware that Hollywood celebs contribute money and run their mouths about their pet causes, but the broader creative class (the scriptwriters and graphic designers and what have you) have had next to no impact on the conduct of campaigns or the branding of the party, which remains firmly in the hands of the political equivalent of rustbelt manufacturing.
That comes from carrying your Blackberry in a front trouser pocket. Arrrrgh.
KR doing the Timewarp again, who says it's lame around here on Saturday night.
Do you have different comments assigned to different pockets?
UNC's cut the lead to 17. Christ, what a way to start the game.
||
White tie liveblogging: this is boring as hell. Except for Blume's cleavage.
|>
I always imagined hell having at least something interesting going on.
Where are you and blume? Blume, where is tweety? it is even more boring in my house. Can you post cleavege pictures?
After all that, you are so jaded as to be bored in your finery?
if you omitted 'this is'
could be a perfect 10-word story
(But of course you are. I hope you get to eat something nice, at least.)
I always imagined hell having no cleavage.
If only Dante had been a mineralogist.
I'm actually not sure what sort of affair might be white tie. I'm having trouble envisioning the scenario, therefore. A fundraiser, or what?
Okay, it's picked up. The food was pretty good; the wine was awesome. I imagine hell would have copious cleavage, it'd just be leathery or otherwise unfortunate.
Hell would have cleavages, but no cleavage.
Are you actually wearing a white tie, Sifu?
should be six words? i thought this yr's contest sets an example, ok, submitted again
a bit autobiographical :)
'she cyberstalked him, they never met'
He is, I'm sure. I told him to buy a tuxedo rather than rent, but he decided to go whole hog. I believe that it was a gilded age theme party.
6 words:
Kansas up 28. Comeback. Not over.
6 words:
Bad groceries made beautiful bread pudding.
I hope Sifu's wearing muttonchops.
UNC, greatest comeback ever? Fuck me.
Oh man, if UNC pulls this off, Apo's going to be out setting stuff on fire and overturning cars.
Is it still possible under some circumstances for an American women to lose her citizenship by marrying a foreigner?
No.
Heels? Bitches.
Thus always to traitors.
Kansas won that game twice. In a rout both times. Little trouble in the middle there though.
There are certainly teams that UNC might have spotted 28 points to and still have won, but Kansas is certainly not one of them. Kansas played a great game and deserved to win.
PS -- Hey, Rock Chalk -- stay classy.
NC had no answer for Kansas's size inside. Those three big guys -- Kaun, the blond white freshman, and 00 -- were just overwhelming. Hanborough is the perfect example of the scrappy undersize player who only really looks good at the college level. He's not really a force.
It was a great game but I was reminded once again of how much worse the college game is than the NBA, and how much worse it is today than in my youth when NBA-calibre players typically played at least three years.
Of course, everything is worse today than it was in my youth.
It pains me to say it, but the only genuine media threat to the conservative narrative comes from popular entertainment and celebrity culture
For a review of how that narrative has played out the past several weeks read Glenn Greenwald today.
Key section:
Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:
"Yoo and torture" - 102
"Mukasey and 9/11" -- 73
"Yoo and Fourth Amendment" -- 16
"Obama and bowling" -- 1,043
"Obama and Wright" -- More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)
"Obama and patriotism" - 1,607
"Clinton and Lewinsky" -- 1,079
He also cites Howard Kurtz's latest column, which is infuriating in its disingenuousness. In fact, there's a bit of a narrative about Obama as an elitist starting to take hold in the media, and that could prove troublesome for him. As if Kurtz himself was not leading the charge. But via Rox Populi, I see that a movie is being made about Gary Webb and the "Dark Alliance" series on the CIA/Contra crack cocaine connections (and surprise surprise, Howard Kurtz led the dishonest establishment paper counterattack on that one). Go Hollywood! They may driven by vanity each and every one, but they can at times turn out truer product than the creeps back east or those across town at the LA Times.
Of course, everything is worse today than it was in my youth.
Surely salad is better now.
83.3: Everything was better when you were twelve.
PGD, you remain a mere child to this very day.
I believe that it was a gilded age theme party.
AKA "the most tone-deaf theme for a society event EVER"
Is Tweety "in society"? I really don't get Boston. BGirl seems to go to things like this, too. Is everyone in Boston "in society"?
Half of this blog came over on the Mayflower.
Is everyone in Boston "in society"?
Everyone who's anyone, dear.
90: That other half aspires to have done so.
Sifu wore a white tie, and in retrospect, is at least half-ashamed to admit how well it suited him to go as a robber-baron. He promises to make a very generous donation, though, in hopes of having the wing of a library, or maybe the lounge of an airport, named after him.
90. Hey, come on, my ancestors came over on the Mayflower, but they were child-abusers and murderous harlots.
Normal folk! Not Puritanical in the slightest.
Half of this blog came over on the Mayflower.
For real. I'm surprised this blog even allows comments from the riffraff who cannot demonstrate a Mayflower connection.
Emerson: enough of your false modesty! Your blood is blue, if tainted.
Mary Catherine is so proud of her long line of Irish ancestors, all named Pat or Mike.
Except for the ladies, all named Mary Something.
84 is fucking depressing. Shut up, JP.
85: yes, all kinds of high-end foodstuffs are more widely available now. Thai food was still mildly exotic in the long-lost days of my youth, somewhat like Chinese food during Emerson's Depression-era upbringing.
my ancestors came over on the Mayflower, but they were child-abusers and murderous harlots.
Didn't most of those migrate to Virginia, not New England?
Another ancestor died owning two scalded hogs and a barrel of tar. If that doesn't put me in the elite, what does?
I'm quite sure that if I have British ancestors, they were transported.
97: Well, you're wrong, of course. Some of them were named Denis (or Dinnis, or Dinny), and one of them was called Dominic, and another went by the name of Jeremiah (which is actually a bizarre translation of Irish to Latin to English, which basically means Diarmuid). Nothing wrong with Michael or Patrick, though.
I can never remember if Apo is a UNC or Duke supporter.
Oh yeah, the other place. Now 103 looks like I'm trolling him.
White tie suited me swell. Why should I be ashamed? I earned my invitation the old fashioned way: by doing nothing.
It's surprisingly hard to find out what Harvard Law was charging for tuition in the 2005/2006 academic year.
Wait, nemmine, got it.
Thanks, Wayback Machine!
Why should I be ashamed? I earned my invitation the old fashioned way: by doing nothing.
No shame in being a social parasite, just so long as you can maintain the cheeky insouciance of that "devil-may-care" attitude that too often eludes one's inferiors.
Jeremiah (which is actually a bizarre translation of Irish to Latin to English, which basically means Diarmuid)
This is my father's name.
On the topic of homeland security, we just started watching "Spooks" (it showed in the US as "MI-5"). Wow, that got brutal fast. The episode we just watched was especially shockingly intense given that it was episode two.
I prefer to think of myself as a social symbiote.
Wow, Charlton Heston died.
Quick, pry his gun from his cold dead fingers.
I don't even think they're cold yet.
I don't even think they're cold yet.
All the better. Rigor mortis is a bitch.
Quick, pry his gun from his cold dead fingers.
Also, take his watch.
118 brought a smile to my face, a near-impossible task these days. Thanks.
Alas, no more masturbating to The Ten Commandments
OT:
Had to take the CPI this morning. Is " I am fascinated by fire" a question to spot liars, because hey, everyone loves fire? Or does answering "True" mean they're flagging you as a pyro?
I've got to agree that anyone who answers 'no' to "I am fascinated by fire" is lying.
"I sometimes dream of things that I'd rather not talk about". "My body is covered with green spots". "When I was a boy I preferred picking flowers to playing with toy trucks." I loved the Minnesota Multiphasic.
Alas, no more masturbating to The Ten Commandments
jms made me laugh out loud. Nice way to start the day. (Laughing, not masturbating to The Ten Commandments.)
115 cracked me up. I'll always remember Heston for a wonderful op-ed he wrote once where he explained that when he was young and poor, he fed his family by posing nude for art classes. So really, there's no excuse for anyone going on welfare or food stamps.
May he rest untroubled by damn dirty apes.
Charlton Heston's dead? Who will play God in the movie of my life now?
I can see a market in marrying terminal ill Americans. Perfect for fraud.
Not really. At least, that's not a strong reason to have an automatic widow denial; there's already a number of hoops to jump through that are supposed to minimize marriage fraud. And I doubt if the marry-a-terminally-ill American fraud market is larger than the marry-a-rich-misogynist-American or skip-town-on-a-tourist-visa market.
Let this be a warning to all of us. Unfogged is very important indeed, but not important enough to die for! Don't let your relentless procrastination ethic kill you!
Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.
New Orleans blogger Ashley Morris just died, too. I need to write a eulogy about how much I liked him for the way he was mean to me.
Sifu, that's what you're for, isn't it?
I don't plan to die of obsessive procrastination anytime soon, BTW. Don't anyone get your hopes up.
Today's Washington Post Magazine has an article on how noisy restaurant are. And another on annoying call center people.
133 sure, do not :)
hope you will like this, JE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbuhkbNtgkY&feature=related
the lyrics are great, i wish i could translate
a very tragic clip, the boy is in heaven now, RIP
he was my classmate's son
oh, i think you already listened to this song, it was on my CD compilation i sent you
I posted this in the National Geographic thread but meant to put it here.
'My ancestors might have been "in society," but I'm not. I only go to one black-tie event a year. It's sort of a self-run party, not even really catered, and it's hosted by several people. (They do have to have a bartender.) Tweety is way more connected than I am.
At Harvard, all the Houses have formals, so they're wind up being a lot of opportunities to wear black tie.'
The Harvard things aren't really expensive events or anything, but most of the guys I knew in college owned a tuxedo.
When I was in college, I dated a boy at the conservatory, and they had a formal. It was very strange to me to realize I was in a room with hundreds of people who all owned tuxedos and formal dresses. Orchestral musicians, of course, but they were rich, and from old families. This was all perfectly normal to my Boston old-money boyfriend. I kept trying to explain that if they held a formal at my college, it would mostly be people in dress shirts and slacks, or shifts from the Gap, because people like us don't own formalwear. He was appalled.
New York, too, from what I can tell, is very dressed down, even "in society," compared to Boston. I don't think it's just a money thing; I think Boston is sort of its own place, from what I can tell, very tied to families in a way that New York, surprisingly, isn't anymore.
For example, my ex Max is from an extremely wealthy family, and is, if anyone is, "in society," but he owns two suits, both of them over ten years old and way too big, and one of them seersucker. Tuxedo events just don't come up very often.
In my church it was proclaimed from the pulpit that you could attend in work clothes as long as they were clean and mended. Someone in the congregation had raised the issue WRT someone else, presumably a poor farmer.
I'm certainly not saying NYC is better in this respect, but class distinctions are more subtle. Everyone wears jeans, but it becomes easy to distinguish between expensive jeans and cheap jeans. So it's not that one "can't wear jeans" to the opera or to a nice restaurant, but that one shouldn't wear, like, mall jeans, like the tourists do. Class snobbery here can make one long for an atmosphere in which everyone just has to wear the same damn suit at certain times.
My university tuxedo was absent-mindedly stolen and then lost by an Old Etonian, which I think is quite sophisticated.
At the opera in NYC, with the exception of the gala opening, anyone in a gown or a tuxedo is nearly certain to be a noob/tourist*. No one would bat an eye at jeans, but the standard look is "rich Euro."
*Or a very, very old regular.
143: We've discussed opera dress here before, but it was a sad sad day when I realized that, unlike Nick Cage and Cher in Moonstruck, I was never going to swoop into the Met in a chocolate velvet gown with a one-handed man in a tux at my side. Movies are cruel.
Or a very, very old regular.
I think these people exist nearly everywhere (though unevenly distributed). He's in formal wear cut in 1954, she might be rocking a fox stole or something. It's like a little timewarp.
Everyone wears jeans, but it becomes easy to distinguish between expensive jeans and cheap jeans.
That's why I'm skeptical at the dress-down idea for the opera, because it just seems to shift the snobbery to a different kind rather than eliminate it. While there's a difference between a cheap suit and expensive suit, at least it's still a suit, which shows you were making an effort. In mall jeans (heaven forfend) you can't show that, but the snobbery doesn't go away.
I don't know what kind of cred I've developed that I'm ruining by saying this, but this is the first time I've been to a formal event that's not a prom.
I did get to wear a tea-length gown to Severance Hall once when my aforementioned conservatory bf snagged the front of the center box for Shostakovich 10. We were the only people under 70 in the boxes. I was the only woman wearing anything with a waist. Half the people behind us in the box were snoring loudly. I felt very out of place, but it was the best thing I've ever heard live.
I think these people exist nearly everywhere
Yeah, even in Portland, where most people are slobs by NY standards. At galas and major opening nights in Seattle, you might see nearly as many kilts as tuxes.
I used to own three tuxes when I was performing regularly with a choir: the tails I've had since high school, the tailless jacket I got to conform to the wardrobe limitations of my fellow singers, and another that ended up in my closet for unknown reasons. I had to rent for my wedding, because it was in the morning, and evening dress was out of the question.
103-105: Now 103 looks like I'm trolling him
I'm afraid the troll was on the other foot, Apo's team is UNC. For some reason I was moved to misdirect.
It was fun to dress up. When Tweety picked me up at my house, I felt weird about going out on the street in my getup, but I got used to it over the course of the evening.
Strangest thing was wearing a cleavage-baring outfit. Noticing people looking at it. But that doesn't have to do with formalwear; I just don't normally wear that kind of thing.
but he owns two suits, both of them over ten years old and way too big, and one of them seersucker
If owning a seersucker suit - and not even in the south! - doesn't have anything to do with class, I don't know what does.
Oh, at arty black tie NYC events, you'll see all sorts of crazy stuff: men in, say, Yohji Yamamoto manskirts and women in elaborate gowns of their own design.
CA was a choir boy (Head Chorister, in fact!), but they wore gowns and Elizabethan collars. They actually recorded albums and were in a movie -- so there is lots of awesome evidence of CA with his bright red bowl cut.
just seems to shift the snobbery to a different ^and more pernicious kind rather than eliminate it
There's no more irritating snobbery than the kind that strives to disguise itself as egalitarianism.
I wish I had cleavage. Unless I'm wearing really ill-fitting undergarments, the most I can manage is a sort of hillocky-looking business. I have worn (in public!) a dress cut down well below les tits, but the effect is sort of lost without a nice crease-looking thing in the middle.
There are certainly plenty of formal events in New York. I would wager at least as many per capita as Boston, if not more. It's just, you know, bigger.
151: it was fun to look at; who can blame them?
If owning a seersucker suit - and not even in the south! - doesn't have anything to do with class, I don't know what does.
At a friend's request, I wore a seersucker suit as best man at his wedding.
151: it was fun to look at; who can blame them?
You can blame the patriarchy, but you can't blame them.
Actually white tie was pretty fun to wear. I like it better than black tie; waistcoasts are funner than cummerbunds.
I tied my bow tie all by myself, like a big boy! That was also quite satisfying.
I opted against wearing the mickey mouse gloves to the event, which ended up being good, since the only people wearing them were wait staff.
155: I think those dresses are meant for women without significant boobage, aren't they?
I'm going to a wedding this summer at which seersucker is (slightly tongue-in-cheekily) encouraged. Still thinking about whether I really want to do that.
You should have at least brought the gloves along so you could smack someone with them if they stared too long at Blume's cleavage.
Come to think of it, a friend of mine also wore a seersucker suit as a groomsman. Am I wrong in thinking that it is a much more costume-y suit option than other summer wear (like a linen suit), though?
161: It's supposed to look like this, though, right? It doesn't look like that on me.
155: I think those dresses are meant for women without significant boobage, aren't they?
To really rock those dresses, I think you've got to have the perfect amount of boobage: enough to fill them out a little, but not so much that you need serious foundation undergarments, which wouldn't work with that kind of dress.
Was very glad of my decision to wear a bra last night, even if it showed a little. Saw way too much old-lady saggage.
Oh, I was thinking of a different style, with a more open V, where you're really showing off your bony solar plexus.
For a dress like that I think you'd need a balconette bra meant to push your boobs together. Hardly anyone's boobs form a line all on their own.
I have worn (in public!) a dress cut down well below les tits, but the effect is sort of lost without a nice crease-looking thing in the middle.
Oh my god. I look good in those (sans crease-looking thing, not built that way), but I don't think I could bring myself to wear one in public. I do wonder how women do it.
Sifu is a connected, wealthy, member of old Boston society? SOMEBODY EXPLAIN!
167: Yeah, I guess mine's more of an open V, but I definitely don't have a bony solar plexus, just rather smallish boobs for my frame.
Ditto 167.1: I was thinking of a different look.
165: they look pretty cramped in that picture.
Am I wrong in thinking that it is a much more costume-y suit option than other summer wear (like a linen suit), though?
I suppose it depends on the linen suit. Going all Tennessee Williams/pre-Castro Havana in a white linen suit would be a costume for anybody less slim, cool and handsome than Douglas Fairbanks, I think, but other colors would probably be less flashy than your average seersucker.
Plus, honestly, I don't think you need to have the my-cups-runneth-over look in order to look good in a dress with that kind of neckline.
I too thought that the current super-plunging necklines were designed for more... restrained racks. I like that my tits are set in such a way as to create pretty cleavage, but it also means that it is a very, very short trip from respectable to hoochie.
The only time I wore that dress without a camisole was when I had a date with a guy and I didn't know what he had planned, so I wore that dress to meet him, looking rather sexy, and he informed me that we were going over to the house of some friends of his to play cards. So I spent the whole night hunched over a table in my totally inappropriate dress, feeling really awkwardly exposed. I'd wear it again that way, but not without knowing what activities were planned.
Sifu is a connected, wealthy, member of old Boston society? SOMEBODY EXPLAIN!
There are events that connected, wealthy members of old Boston society go to. Oftentimes people who aren't connected, wealthy members of old Boston society also go those very same events. Crazy, I know.
Cleavage photo reference in the flickr group, you perverts.
so I wore that dress to meet him, looking rather sexy, and he informed me that we were going over to the house of some friends of his to play cards.
Oh arrgh! That sparked a really visceral feeling of sympathy for me.
173: I have a realize nice tailored (not white) linen suit and a panama hat. I refuse to believe that is a costume, because it's too darn awesome. Seersucker, on the other hand, is sort of ludicrous.
In the words of Nanker Phelge:
Well I'm sitting here thinking just how sharp I amYeah I'm sitting here thinking just how sharp I am
I'm a necessary talent behind every rock and roll band
Yeah, I'm sharp
I'm really, really sharp
I sure do earn my pay
Sitting on the beach every day, yeah
I'm real real sharp, yes I am
I got a Corvette and a seersucker suit
Yes I have
179 is so beautiful. I am in awe.
Cleavage photo reference in the flickr group, you perverts.
That is a seriously lovely dress on you, Blume.
179: Is it behind the Unfogged flickr group "for-pay" firewall?
Hardly anyone's boobs form a line all on their own.
It's that lack of party discipline that's holding back women's lib.
Seersucker, on the other hand, is sort of ludicrous.
Though I have seen it worn convincingly by old men. Those white shoes are necessary.
186: all opportunities to monetize are in Blume's court.
Those white shoes are necessary.
Quite. The ensemble is wholly ridiculous to behold and to be beheld in.
Thanks, all!
The dress really was great. eBay comes through for me again!
Blume, you really do look terrific!
Sifu looks good in low-cut seersucker and white shoes? SOMEBODY EXPLAIN!
My ex looked pretty awesome in the seersucker, but he never had the guts to wear it in public, and ended up in the other boring suit every time. For a boring wealthy middle-aged white guy, he did have some extravagantly weird tastes in clothes. Lots of wallpaper-floral-looking button-downs and fox-hunting jackets.
The friend who wore it in a wedding went whole hog, with a straw hat and a saddle shoe variant of those white shoes.
193 would look better if it was shapely, low-cut, and worn with white slippers.
If you look at the pic of me and helpy-chalk on our graduation day that is up on the flickr group, you will see (kind of behind my head) a guy wearing a seersucker suit and straw boater unironically.
It is a very, very short trip from respectable to hoochie.
You only live once.
Lots of wallpaper-floral-looking button-downs
The dude on the left in this picture has some kinda weird suits.
The real reason Ogged's not here.
200: Looks like my coffee-shop brother. He would wear a shirt like that under certain circumstances.
The Senate had a "seersucker Thursday" in 2006, c/o Trent Lott. Frightening picture.
Blume's pic is inspiring. Beautiful, excellent! (Must think of gathering needed to wear such dress.)
203: Norm Coleman's teeth are scary.
Forget seersucker and boaters. I want to see people in boaters and those broad-striped jackets as are depicted on, for instance, the Tor edition of Three Men in a Boat.
I would happily wear a seersucker suit on a hot day, but the white shoes are out. Also, I have recently discovered that rayon Hawaiian shirts are pretty much ideal summer wear.
These guys, though that one's a little dowdier than the admittedly nonexistent two on the book jacket.
The web informs me that such jackets were worn by mods? 'Streuth? Would a Small Faces–era Rod Stewart have been boater-bedecked?
Since we're already totally OT, a random advice bleg: Where should my GF and I go for a long weekend vacation in two weeks? Major cities are out, just by personal preference. But I will wear a suit, if it helps.
Sifu knows what I'm talking about.
I keep trying to find a picture of the sort of floral shirt I'm talking about, but they're hard to find. Something sort of like this, except with huge, like 5" pastel-colored camellias all over it. Really, really girly, and therefore weirdly masculine on a thin-framed, strong-jawed dude with salt-and-pepper hair.
||
Last night I saw Dave Longstreth play a solo show, because the female singers were ill. There were around twenty people and he sang without a mic. At the end he was grinning and said, "I've never played a show like this before," and he hugged everyone.
Without the female singers, I was made acutely aware of how weirdly he plays guitar, and of how wonderful a choice Damaged was for the album cover idea.
|>
215: Here in NYC, destroyer? And you didn't invite me? I desperately want to hug Dave Longstreth.
I've definitely seen photos of mods in those wacky club blazers. Positively menacing!
I'm going to see Dave Longstreth this Friday!
I really can't imagine somebody wearing this kind of thing, but people must.
If you get that jacket from 220, and you get it in polyester, there is no hope for you in this world.
210: Savannah. Best two-day trip imaginable, most gorgeous city in North America (TM), beautiful food, riverfront, tons of historical parks full of menacing theatrical crazies, and it's just gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Big scene for drag queens, too.
Probably driving, from Boston. Flying is possible but it would have to be that much more compelling. The best idea I've had so far is a gorge-our-way-around-Vermont tour, maybe setting up base in Burlington for a day or two.
You know AWB, I, uh, have this extra ticket for the dirty projectors on the eleventh, so I was wondering, like, maybe you'd like to come along?
Talking about flowered shirts reminded me that I think I still have a bleeding madras very tight (tapered to a narrow waist) paisley shirt from the 60s in the back of my closet.
I wonder if it's worth anything.
Oh dude, and Dälek is playing the day before!
Gorges are cool, Nathan. Do the gorges.
Those boating blazers remind me of The Prisoner:
Number 6: Where am I?
Number 2: In the Village.
Number 6: What do you want?
Number 2: We want information.
Number 6: Whose side are you on?
Number 2: That would be telling. We want information information information.
229: I dressed as number 6 for Halloween a few years ago. Piped blazer, tennis shoes, khaki pants, and a white balloon on a string attached to the back of the jacket. Exactly one person got it, but they seemed very amused.
210 -- Take your bikes to Chincoteague. It's too early to swim, so you'll have the beach to yourselves. Ponies, too.
223: My Fargo / Atlanta niece loved Savannah.
And they said "Lights out"
And it was lights out
And they gave Number 2 Number 2's medication
I know what Number 2 wants and Number 2 knows what I want
Information
Information
Information
You won't get it!
By hook or by crook, we will.
a white balloon on a string
Li'l Rover!
230: I'd dress like that for Halloween, but I think people would think it was too close to how I usually dress.
In 2002, I painted a couple of themed calendars for a kids' camp I worked at. One was based on Tenniel's illustrations for Alice, and the other was Prisoner-themed. My attitude toward the camp shifted before the second month.
Oh no, you let the wrong word slip
While kissing persuasive lips
The odds are you won't live to see tomorrow
Secret agent man, secret agent man
They've given you a number and taken away your name
Here in NYC, destroyer?
Nope, here in Princeton, NJ. Students only, also. As someone in the audience yelled, "This is a different kind of frat party."
Which should not be taken as too self-congratulatory; still a frat party.
220: We had to buy all our shit from there!
Thankfully, no one really wears the boat club blazers, except maybe a couple twats from the more prestigious clubs. Blues blazers, however, I have seen around (though never the half-blues, like Tweety linked in 208).
Yes, I am of the faction who considers Number 6 to be John Drake. I suppose a bunch of you folks prefer a separate but similar creation theory.
As a child, I wore blue blazers from Brooks Brothers.
ALL THE TIME.
243: I've never understood why people think that. Is McGoohan really so angry and compact all the time as Drake?
243: I'm with you.
When we did our Prisoner marathon in high school (all the episodes on a big stack of old TVs, with a giant subwoofer pushed up against the back of the couch we were sitting on; all the episodes in a row: gosh, that was a mindfuck) we started things off with an episode of Secret Agent Man, just to get the lay of the land.
231: Take your bikes to Chincoteague
Assateague, isn't it? Not a bad idea -- off the Maryland coast. It's beautiful if you're into the (still, at this time of year) slightly chilly windswept beach and dunes and scrubby trees. Camping.
The gorge idea may be Quechee Gorge? Slightly touristy in itself, though not this time of year, fun for a long weekend, with b&b's in the area. There's the Vermont Raptor Center near there, which is very cool if you're into owls and hawks and such. Don't know if they're open for the season yet. I'd go for that.
203: I like seersucker, but that is a scary picture. Seersucker is not meant for women, and that one guy on the right needs longer pants. Does seersucker come in other colors?
As a child, I wore blue blazers from Brooks Brothers.
ALL THE TIME.
That explains so much about Ben. Mr. Sartorial.
Oh good, a clothing thread. I can be semi-on topic. At the risk of starting an argument, may I ask for opinions on attire for this interview I have on Tuesday?
I know that the standard advice is, "Just wear a suit, dummy" and recognize that this may well apply in my case, but I am also concerned that I may be interviewing in a situation where a suit really would be overdressing. The company is smallish (~100 head count, I believe), is in Silicon Valley, and is in the biotech industry. I am interviewing for a scientific programmer position. It was also founded by some former academics.
Anyone who comes to a grad school interview here in a suit and tie would likely be viewed as toolish and out of place; some of our faculty candidates aren't even that dressed up (though I don't think those guys got the job). Obviously the business world--even in a technical field--is going to be more formal, but it still seems that there might be situations in business where a suit and tie would be too formal.
So I guess my question is, can I go wrong with a suit?
That said, I never wore a suit to any of my interviews in that approximate region of the world. After the first interview, I gave up on wearing a tie, too.
251: Typical attitude of someone Boston society folk.
Yeah you know me: can't be too formal.
What the hell did I just say?
It doesn't make sense!
247 -- No, I meant Chinco. Not that there's anything wrong with camping on Assateague. Chinco is nicely quiet this time of year, but not so quiet that there isn't stuff to do in town; and with bikes, it a quick trip from town to the beach.
