PR All-St★rs 2, EP 5: Androgynous Avantgarde-itude

We start off with Not Heidi, Carolyn Murphy, going all androgynous on the catwalk with a very low, very low, cut sleeveless tuxedo jacket, and telling the designtestants that this challenge is all about avant-garde androgyny. There was mostly silence from the designtestants, though their eyes looked like deer caught in the headlights. I’m sensing great highs and horrendous lows.

But then Georgia Chapman enters the workroom--I absolutely j'adore Georgina....I have a wee crush on her style and her accent and I'm thinking of being her for Halloween next year--and throws the monkey-wrench at the group. A second look? For a male model? In two days?

ALTHEA

"Our looks need to be sexless."

That was said roughly sixteen minutes into the show and were the first words uttered by Althea last night which leads me to believe she will not be at The Tents.

Her edit all season long has been invisible. We rarely see of her from her, until Joanna Coles comes in, and this time was no exception.

Joanna was worried that Althea's high-colored coats were a little too Eyes Wide Shut religious ritual robes, and Althea enthusiastically said, "Yeah!"

Um, Althea? Those were costumes, dear, and you were told No Costumes!

"I'm very excited by my coat."

Except this wasn’t a coat challenge, and a coat--even one that looks cool and modern--doesn't really say androgyny.

It did, however, say safe.

And invisible.

Again.

JOSHUA

"It's totally fun."

This is Joshua's challenge because he often seems to be dressing androgynously. And I'll give him props for the way he catwalked in Anthony Ryan’s male look; and it looked good on him, But, you just know he walks a pretend catwalk every day in his head, so, well, there's that...

But his taste level, as always, is a little suspect. He wanted to do ass-less chaps on the male model--possibly because it would give him a chance to touch the male model's ass often. But, luckily, cooler heads, a la Anthony Ryan, talked him down from what was sure to be an Auf-ful cliff.

But then he does fur, and tells Joanna Coles he's going trim it down like a pony.

Was that code for something because it made absolutely no sense to me?

"All I can truly think is pure innovation."

Well, I have more thoughts. Like how the female model doesn't look androgynous at all; fur sleeves do not androgyny make. Now, his male model looked hot .... I mean, the clothes looked hot, though it did seem a little robe and sweat pants.

And safe. This really pissed Joshua off because he thinks he should have gone Top Three. Backstage, he went after Ivy for every word she said, but, and kudos to Ivy, she stayed all Zen.

I think Joshua will crash and burn in the coming weeks. I don't see him at the tents at all.

IVY

"To me, androgyny means it can be worn either by a male or a female"

Thanks Ivy for the Project Obvious Award of the evening.

I'm feeling like Ivy might truly have a heart, the way she helped Casanova with his work, and spotted him some change at Mood, and didn't cut a bitch [Joshua] backstage. Maybe the soup kitchen did rub off on her?

Plus, I loved her getting all fun and flirty while measuring the male model's inseam; it might have been the angle, but I thought she copped a feel ... or maybe that's what I would have done.

What I wouldn't have done is make those kind of ill-fitting, no crotch-room, diaper-looking things for the male model. 

"I feel like my two looks really executed the challenge."

Not so much. Ivy. You're still all about the sheer. Take a look back at the first five episodes ... she's all about the sheer. And she's making that jacket again.

But, as she said to Joshua, the judges seem to like it because she's still safe.

For now.

TOP THREE

ULI

"This challenge threw me for a loop, because I usually do all feminine, very flowy, soft dresses."

But I thought you were Nuli, er, New Uli?

But, unlike that other designer who makes only girly clothes, Uli stepped way out of the box and managed to try something new and different. And elaborate. As she said, "Two looks? Two days? Six pieces?"

Still, she managed to infuse a little humor into the show when she explained to Joanna Coles about the ball room in her male model's pants. It reminded me of my favorite Boy George line, when he was asked to model clothes in a Japanese ad; he said the pants felt like a cheap hotel ..... No ballroom.

Love it!

"My models look so fantastic."

I thought they looked cool and very Road Warrior. I think Uli really rose to the challenge and created some great pieces for both models.

Isaac loved the safety pin trim on the female model, and called the looks "sick in a good way" and called it "sophisticated androgyny." Guest judge Jason Wu thought the male model's pants might have worked better on the female, while Second Guest Judge Robert Rodrigues loved the downtown vibe of both looks. Not-Heidi loved that both looks, and the separates, could be interchanged male-to-female and back again, which is what androgyny is all about. Georgina Chapman loved the looks but hated the leggings on the female model.

Uli gets a pass this week, but she was much stronger for having stepped up.

ANTHONY RYAN

"It's gotta be avant-garde, too?"

And this makes me worry about him, because he designs very nice clothes but he has a hard time stepping it up; I'm thinking avant-garde is his Kryptonite.

But it wasn't because, when presented with the idea of dressing a male model, he took the dress he'd already begun and turned it into his male look. The only misstep he may have had was when he conferred with Joanna and said he might do the man's pant out of yellow; she was worried he'd look a little waspy--and that doesn't mean he'd look like he was from Connecticut. Luckily for Anthony Ryan he listened to her.

"I really love the men's look."

And I did, too. Were I a few years younger, and definitely not living in Smallville, South Carolina, I would have bought that outfit and worn it until it fell apart. The female outfit seemed a little too feminine to be androgynous--the leggings seemed a wrong choice--but both looks worked well together.

Isaac loves Anthony Ryan: "You're so good every week." Robert Rodrigues said both looks were very wearable, while Georgina loved that Anthony Ryan listened to her--and you'd be a fool not to listen to that Goddess--and stepped it up. Jason Wu thought his looks were well-made and looked expensive.

He might have taken the top spot had his female model been as androgynous as the male.

And again, I would have rocked that one.

Now, add a floral turban and a cigarette in a mile long holder, with a cat in my lap, and it might still work.

EMILIO

"Avant-garde but not costume."

Keep that little morsel in mind.

He decides that an androgynous look for a female would be an outfit made from a man's suit fabric, with wide fins on the outside of it. I was worried; but when his male model was thrown into the mix--and Sidenote: that was one hot male model--he decided to do the two looks the same with just a slight tweak.

Which I think worked to his advantage because even when Joanna Coles critiqued his work she couldn't tell male from female.

"I nailed the look."

Now, to be fair, I loved the looks. I thought he did totally nail the androgynous aspect and the avant-garde part, as well. But I couldn't help but also get a costume feel from it--he is, after all, a Tony nominated costume designer. I kept seeing a revival of Ain’t Misbehaving' in his looks.

Still, Georgina loved his attention to detail, though she worried about the fins making the model look waist-less. And Robert Rodrigues also had a problem telling the male from the female looks, while Jason Wu said his looks were completely androgynous. Not-Heidi couldn't even discuss the outfit because she was getting all tingly in the ladybits by the "painfully gorgeous" male model.

I feel her pain.

Isaac thought the looks had richness, but worried they might be too "heavily reliant on a hat." Whatever that means.

But he deserved the win for being the only one to completely create two androgynous looks.

BOTTOM THREE

CASANOVA

"All leather .... with cut-outs."

Uh-oh. But, I think Casanova has really improved since his season. His looks--while they might miss the direct mark of the challenge--are so well executed; he even has Emilio in shock at how fast and well he works.

But.....leather.....and scorpion cut-outs? I didn't get it, and I didn't get it when he said he wanted them to look like armor. I also didn't get when he put the male model in gold leather pants that were supposed to look like biker leathers. I didn't see it, though, a hot male model in gold leather does sound yummy.

The female model, however; Oy. The pants were all kinds of wrong, and I couldn't help but think she would be better off in an Oscar show musical tribute to a movie that starred The Rock. Too many scorpions.

And too much gold leather had Joanna worried, and Casanova even thought he was missing the mark.

"It doesn't look androgynous at all."

No, it did not. They looked sort of cool, but he totally missed it. Robert Rodrigues just didn't 'get it' and Georgina thought they weren't bad designs, they just weren't the right ones for this challenge. Isaac loved the idea of armor, but thought the male model looked more like an accessory to the female model. Jason Wu said it wasn't androgynous or avant-garde.

It could have signaled the end for Casanova, except that two others had their own awful designs out there last night. 

LAURA 

"Nothing about my aesthetic is androgynous."

In the words of the immortal Dmitry: Then you are a one-trick monkey and should pack your pinking shears and go.

All episode long all we got was that she's a girly girl and designs fabulous clothes for women and to her men should wear Italian suits and ....

Shaddup already. You have one aesthetic and that really won't get you anywhere. Sheesh. Even Uli managed to bring it to this challenge and yet Laura was just out of sorts, saying she can't do anything she doesn't "feel". She also doesn’t "feel" Ivy and Casanova helping each other because this is a competition ... or maybe Laura doesn't know how friendship works.

I think she'd best prepare to "feel" her way home.

Joanna Coles pointed out to Laura that her lapels don't match on her outfit--maybe her aesthetic is the mis-match--and then Joanna got off the second bets line of the night because it's "exactly the kind of thing Georgina Chapman will swoop in on like a crow to a carcass."

"It's really well-made and it fits."

Wow. High praise for your own work, no?

The female model's look, looked female; I guess to Laura, tight pants with cut-out says androgyny? Or maybe a male model with cut-outs on his shirt, baring his nipple, says avant-garde. What woman, other than maybe a nursing mother, would want to wear that man’s shirt?

Isaac said it all when he gave Laura the Sad Eye and said, "This was really hard for you, wasn't it?' Jason Wu thought she had too many ideas, all of them bad? Carolyn Murphy couldn't stop looking at the gold buttons and the cut-outs, and said it was too much. Robert Rodrigues called it over the top while Georgina summed it all up with "She missed it."

This was hard for Laura, but hard for me, too, because I had to look at it. And we'll have to look--and listen to--more of Laura next week because she didn’t get the Aufing she deserved.

KAYNE

"I'm thinking of everyone that's really androgynous, like Adam Lambert, Lady Gaga, and David Bowie."

I'm thinking this is gonna be a hot mess. I'm thinking he's gonna throw a bunch of stuff at his female model, and, well, he threw himself at his male model, until he man declared that he liked girls.

he ended up with a herringbone duo, with the female model wearing a leather clown collar--thanks to Laura for that line--and his make model wearing booty shorts. Thankfully Kayne changed his mind about having the male model wear heels down the runway.

"I'm absolutely pumped."

Going home can do that to you .... only he didn't know he was going home when he said it. I didn't get androgyny from either look; I just got female from both. And not really the kind of female that any woman I know would want to wear. The herringbone loafers are the man wear as awful as the leather flirty collar on the female; and that stupid scarf on the man? Was he supposed to an androgynous Sean Connery in a 60s Bond film?

Isaac thought the yellow shirt—which had been a smiley face until Joanna Coles beat some sense into Kayne—cheapened the outfit, while Carolyn Murphy wanted the woman to take her shirt off; and here I thought Emilio’s male model made her hot. Isaac said it was atrocious, and it must have been because he made it clear that this was the first time this season he was calling a look atrocious.

 Georgina simply wanted an Edit.

And Kayne was edited out of the show.

MY TAKE

Kayne needed to go. As Isaac said, he's good at sewing, but his design style is all over the place. Next week I'm hoping Laura bites it, followed by ......

I see Emilio at The Tents and I think he’d have a good show; a lot of costume looks, maybe, but interesting. I also see Anthony Ryan at The Tents because he’s bringing it this year.

But who else?

Josh? No. He’s too wack-a-doo.

Ivy? An entire collection of sheers? If I wanted that, I’d head to the drapery department at JCP.

Laura? Dear.God.No.

Casanova? Maybe. He’s really stopped with the Grandma Whore looks he used to do.

Uli? Maybe. She stepped it up last night, too, and if she promises to bring something beside flirty flowy and soft, well, I’d watch her.

What did YOU think?

I Didn't Say It ....

Dolly Parton, on entering a drag queen contest as a ‘Dolly Parton’ and losing:

"They had a bunch of Chers and Dollys that year, so I just over-exaggerated -- made my beauty mark bigger, the eyes bigger, the hair bigger, everything. All these beautiful drag queens had worked for weeks and months getting their clothes. So I just got in the line and I just walked across, and they just thought I was some little short gay guy.. but I got the least applause."

Proves the old adage: drag queens make more convincing Dolly’s than the real thing!

Nate Silver, American statistician, sabermetrician, psephologist, writer, and predictor of election results, on being gay:

"I've always felt like something of an outsider. I've always had friends, but I've always come from an outside point of view. I think that's important. If you grow up gay, or in a household that's agnostic, when most people are religious, then from the get-go, you are saying that there are things that the majority of society believes that I don't believe."

I get this, but I’ve learned that being different is good; it’s hard work, because lotsa folks would prefer you not be different, but in the end it’s the best thing to understand that different is good.

Frank Ocean, openly gay singer, on his own coming out:

"The night I posted it, I cried like a fucking baby. It was like all the frequency just clicked to a change in my head. All the receptors were now receiving a different signal, and I was happy. I hadn't been happy in so long. I've been sad again since, but it's a totally different take on sad. There's just some magic in truth and honesty and openness. I had those fears. In black music, we’ve got so many leaps and bounds to make with acceptance and tolerance in regard to that issue. It reflects something just ingrained, you know. When I was growing up, there was nobody in my family—not even my mother—who I could look to and be like, 'I know you’ve never said anything homophobic.' So, you know, you worry about people in the business who you’ve heard talk that way."

Funny, he seems to be echoing what Silver said.

Angus Jones, ‘actor’ who makes $350,000 an episode on Two and a Half Men, on how being a Christian means you shouldn’t watch filth, like his TV show:

“Please stop filling your head with filth. Please. People say it’s just entertainment. The fact that it’s entertainment. Do some research on the effects of television and your brain and I promise you you’ll have a decision to make when it comes to the television…It’s bad news. I don’t know if it means any more coming from me. But you might have heard it otherwise. But watch out…A lot of people don’t like to think how deceptive the enemy is. He’s been doing this a lot longer than any of us have been around…You cannot be a true, God-fearing person and be on a show like that.”

And yet he is on a show like that and cashing a huge paycheck for doing so.

Hey Angus, why dontcha just quit the show over your new religious beliefs and stop collecting that hefty paycheck. And then take all the money you’ve made off that filth and give it away, like to the ‘church’ to which you belong.

Do that and then go away.

PS Angus has already backtracked on his statement, probably because he realized he can't live in a mansion in Bel Air while being a Starbucks barrista.

Pat Robertson, batshit crazy wingnut, on the alleged war on Christmas:

"Atheists don’t like our happiness, they don’t want you to be happy, they want you to be miserable...They’re miserable so they want you to be miserable.”

The only misery an atheist, or even an agnostic might feel, is when people like Robertson feel their beliefs should supersede the beliefs of everyone else.

Funny think, Patty, most atheists and agnostics just want you to keep your religion out of their lives, not the other way round.

John Boehner, GOP Hounddog from Hell, reversing course, and now saying he’ll work to repeal Obamacare through oversight:

"The tactics of our repeal efforts will have to change. But the strategic imperative remains the same. If we’re serious about getting our economy moving again, solving our debt and restoring prosperity for American families, we need to repeal Obamacare and enact common-sense, step-by-step reforms that start with lowering the cost of health care. [...] Congress has a constitutional responsibility to conduct thorough oversight of the executive branch, and congressional oversight will play a critical role in repealing Obamacare going forward."

Apparently Crying John learned nothing from the last election.

If the majority of Americans wanted health care repealed, we wouldn’t be getting ready to watch Barack Obama being sworn in as president.

AGAIN!

Rick Santorum, on being open to run for president in 2016:

 "I think there's a fight right now as to what the soul of the Republican party's going to be and the conservative movement, and we have something to say about that. I think from our battle, we're not going to leave the field."

Honey6, you may not leave the field, but you’ll be standing on it all alone, in a stupid sweater vest.

The GOP got the smackdown last month because of their narrow-minded views and if you think they’re going to keep that stance up next time, and risk losing the White House for a third time, you need a good sit down.

And a stylist.

Dolly Parton, on those age old rumors that she’s gay—something she has in common with Oprah:

"Like Gayle [King], her friend, Judy, my friend, they just think that you just can't be that close to somebody. Judy and I have been best friends since we were like in the third and fourth grade… We still just have a great friendship and relationship and I love her as much as I love anybody in the whole world, but we're not romantically involved."

I never thought Dolly was gay.

Now Oprah ………

Random Musings

Overheard at Work:

Co-worker: What generation are you?

Bob [clearly annoyed]: What?

Co-worker: What generation are you?

Bob [ready to strike]: WTF are you talking about?

Co-worker: You know, Baby Boomer, Generation X, Gen Y? Which one are you?

Bob [smiling smugly]: I'm Gen FAG.

GQ magazine just named Mitt Romney one of The Least Influential People of 2012.

Funny, the American people gave him that honor three weeks ago.

As happens, I have been painting the house again, this time tackling a hallway that we want to turn into an art gallery of sorts, with favorite art pieces and photographs. I often say that painting this house is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge because once I get to the end , it'll be time to start over again.

On a related note, one of the things I loved when I saw this house were the nine-foot ceilings, but, having to climb a ladder to cut in around the crown molding and move that ladder up and down the hallway several times to hit all four walls, makes me long for six foot ceilings.

I wouldn't need a ladder then, but, well, I'd have to duck under lights and ceiling fans all the time.

Funny Tweet:

I don't like Justin Bieber.

I don't like what he calls his 'music' and I don't like his petulant little Mean Girl attitude when he drives like a mad man and then cries about being followed by photographers. \But this story makes me like him even less, and makes me wonder.....did he give up on education just because prepubescent girls like him?

First, he was to be given the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last weekend and he showed up to accept the award in overalls.

And then laughingly Tweeted about it: “I met the Prime Minister in overalls lol"

But when people began to deride him for his choice of attire, Little Miss Justin scrunched up his face and said, “The pic of me and the Prime Minister was taken in a room in the arena where i was performing at that day. I walked straight from my meet and greet to him, if you 'Hayley' expect me to have a change of clothes let a loan a suit at that specific time that’s crazy, It wasn’t like it was like I was going into his environment we were at a hockey arena. Wow am i ever white trash hayley peterson lol.”

Um, Missy Justin? I can almost guarantee that any teenaged girl like yourself would have had at least one other outfit to wear backstage somewhere. And I'm sure you weren't sitting around the arena eating pork rinds when you got the word that the effing Prime Minister of Canada would be giving you an award, so maybe one of your minions might have taken the time to get you into a Garanimals suit.

Bitch.

Now, on to his lack of education: he asked the Twitterer, Haylie, if she expected him to "have a change of clothes let a loan a suit at that specific time."

The future of America, people, let 'a loan' the future of the world.

Again. Bitch. 

LoveLoveLove that Chad Michaels was inducted into the RuPaul Drag Queen Hall of Fame.

I so wanted her to win.

Apparently some 3.5 million people--sadly, including myself--watched the not-so-much-craptastic-as-just-plain-crap Lifetime "event" Liz & Dick starring Lindsay "Where's my career?" Lohan. Lifetime is beating the drums, calling it the fourth biggest first-run cable movie of the year.

Number four.

In related news, Lindsay Lohan was found under the bar at the Chateau Marmont, weeping into a Cosmo and nibbling on Adderall, saying, "I'm .... number .... four! I'm .... number .... four!"

Asshat Of The Week: Tony Perkins

Isn't it sickening that the AFA, with it's focus on God and religion,
is praising legislation maiking it legal to murder people.
If God was real, she'd be rolling over in her grave.

The GOP Never Learns

Proving yet again that you cannot teach an old dog .... or, in this case, an old white male elephant .... new tricks, House Speaker, and avid crybaby, John Boehner has announced who will chair all of the major House committees in the next Congress. 

Oddly enough, they're all Republicans; more odd, though, is that they are all white men.

Yes, folks, the party that was soundly beaten in its bid for the White House because they chose to ignore Black, Latino, LGBT and women voters, and instead focus on people that look only like themselves, have made no effort to unite their party through diversity.

There isn't a single woman or minority included in the mix of 19 House committee chairs; the lone female committee chair that House Republicans currently have, Florida Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, is stepping down because her term is up. And even though there are two lower-tier House committees awaiting a chair assignment--the Ethics Committee and House Administration --neither committee has a single woman or minority member.

Go figure.

Democratic Senator from Washington, Patty Murray, made note of the non-change, non-progressive, non-inclusive, continuation of GOP policies in a Tweet: "Disappointed to see House committee chairmanships in the 113th Congress will not include a single woman. -PM."

While she isn’t the only Democrat taking note of the Business As Usual GOP, there isn't one Republican willing to discuss the issue.  A House Republican leadership aide declined to comment on the lack of diversity in the party's committee leadership, but did note that GOP leaders put four women in party leadership: Cathy McMorris Rodgers is the new House Republican Conference Chair: Lynn Jenkins of Kansas is conference vice chair; wingnut Virginia Foxx of North Carolina is conference secretary; and Ann Wagner of Missouri will represent freshman members in party leadership.

Of course, to be fair, House committee chairs are typically chosen based on their seniority on the committee, but that only serves to focus more attention on the fact that minorities and women have never been a part of the GOP machinery.

In the 113th Congress, Republicans will have 20 women on their side of the aisle, while the Democrats have more than three-times that amount; and there are less than ten House Republicans who are minorities. By contrast, the House Democratic Caucus will have a majority of women and minorities for the first time in history.

And still the GOP, despite having felt the sting of defeat last month for their non-diversity, non-inclusion, of women, minorities and LGBT voters, have decided to keep on keeping on with the way the party has look for decades and decades.

The more things change the more the GOP stays the same.

source

Michael David Dunn Killed Jordan Davis For Playing His Music Too Loudly

There are all kinds of sayings that make no sense at all, and there’s at least one that can outright drive me up a wall.

A watched pot never boils. Really? Never? Never ever boils?

All in a day's work. Um, okay. Whatever.

But the one that gets my goat--Oh yeah, That really gets my goat is another one I don't understand--is the one that goes Guns don't kill people, people kill people. It should probably be rewritten as Guns don't kill people; people use guns to kill people.

It should have been a lovely day for Michael David Dunn. He was in Jacksonville, Florida last week for his son’s wedding, when afterward he decided to stop at a convenience store with his girlfriend. He parked beside an SUV with four teenagers sitting inside, and, as teenagers are apt to do--I remember because I was a teenager once--they were playing their music very loudly.

And Michael David Dunn didn't like it. After his girlfriend went into the store, Dunn made a comment to the teenagers about their music being too loud because, you know, it's his place to tell other people how to live their lives. Well, an argument between Dunn and the teenagers ensued, and then Michael David Dunn, a gun collector, pulled out his gun and fired into the SUV between eight to nine times. 

Two shots hit and killed 17-year-old Jordan Davis.

Michael David Dunn's girlfriend came back to the car with the wine they needed and Dunn drove off, telling his girlfriend that he had “fired at these kids.” They continued on, and it wasn't until later, as they sat in their hotel room, probably drinking the wine the girlfriend had purchased while Michael David Dunn was shooting at teenagers, did they learn from a news report that someone had died during the shooting.

Naturally, as people do, Michael David Dunn, and his girlfriend, immediately checked out of their hotel room and went home.

Unluckily for this murderer, a witness to the shooting took down Dunn’s license plate number, which, on Saturday, helped police find Dunn’s house, where he was then arrested. Dunn told police officers he shot because “he felt threatened and that is the reason he took action.”

The music was too loud.

Now, how disgusting are these people? Michael David Dunn, for deciding that the best way to end an argument with argument with teenagers over their musical tastes and volume level would be to shoot at them? Or, maybe his girlfriend, who, after learning that Dunn had opened fire on kids in a parking lot, decided the best option would be happy hour back at the hotel?

Yes, those two morons are disgusting, but let’s add to the mix one Robin Lemonidis, Dunn's attorney, who issued this statement about his client:

"It will be very clear that Mr. Dunn acted very responsibly and as any responsible firearms owner would have acted under these circumstances."

He acted responsibly to the playing of loud music by pulling out a gun and shooting at people, killing a seventeen-year-old boy. This is responsible? This is how adults act? Civilized human beings? Or raging lunatics?

There is some thought that Michael David Dunn, murderer, will use that old chestnut, the Stand Your Ground Defense--much like the one used by George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case, also in Florida. But, Jacksonville Attorney Gene Nichols believes that will be a tough defense to make in court:

"Mr. Dunn is going to have to answer the question, 'Why did you not call the sheriff's office? If you are reasonably protecting yourself, why did you leave the scene, get in the car, and the next day, flee the jurisdiction of Duval County?' … There's no indication that Jordan or anyone else in that car had a gun, there's no indication that they were any threat to Mr. Dunn."

This latest shooting death of unarmed teenagers by gun-toting lunatics in Florida comes just a week after a Florida task force found that the “Stand Your Ground” law is mostly fine as is and recommended only small changes.

So, I guess in Florida, if you don't like the volume of someone's music, you may consider that a threat and pull out a firearm and murder a defenseless human being.

Guns don't kill people; Michael David Dunn used a gun to kill a person.

And he needs to go to jail for a long time. And his girlfriend needs a jail cell of her own, as well.

source

Architecture Wednesday: Village Penthouse

It's not the biggest penthouse I could find--just two bedrooms--but it features a massive landscaped and irrigated terrace with a water tank.
A water tank that has been converted into a separate cottage with its own central air, heat, cable, and 24-foot ceilings! 
In Greenwich Village.
The cats can have their own space on the roof, and we'll still have room for guests.
What's not to love?

via HomeDSGN

Pretty Things

Last week we took our houseguests down to Brookgreen Gardens, which is along the coast, south of Myrtle Beach. 

It was founded in 1931, by Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington, as a kind of “garden museum’, to preserve the native flora and fauna of the Low country, and to display objects of art within that natural setting. Brookgreen Gardens is a National Historic Landmark with the most significant collection of figurative sculpture in an outdoor setting by American artists in the world and it also has the only zoo accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums on the coast of the Carolinas.

It’s quite a peaceful place to spend a day ……. and I took all kinds of pictures that day, with the hope of turning some of them into photographs to hang along the walls of a hallway in our home. These are some of the pictures i took, along with some of the ways i manipulated the photos to frame.

Click to emBIGGERate.

The original photo...

... and after playing with it.

I loved the simplicity of the faces ....

This is a Native American statue that is quite morbid,
but ultimately fascinating to look at ....

.... a little contrast .....

.... and a little color.

Lily pads ......

.... turned brilliant

Up into the trees ......

.... and then highlight some color.

The stairs to "Beyond The Garden Wall" ....

I love playing with the photos, cropping, coloring, contrasting. Some of them turned out so much to my liking that it's just a mater of mattes and frames and :::bam::: art wall.