urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile slightly tainted and tipsy, always fabulous and fascinating thomas bistritz 2009-01-08T17:23:15Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:429835 2009-01-08T17:23:15Z 2009-01-08T17:23:15Z maybe i have abandoned me journal<br />oy<br />but i didn't mean to<br /><br />i'm currently writing "intoxiqueer"<br />and performing every now and then<br />oh, i'm also partying quite a bit<br /><br />just have nothing to write here<br />as it all goes in the next book<br /><br />perhaps i'll eventually get inspired<br />and return to this old thing<br /><br />new year, new goals<br />but an old frame of mine urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:429762 2008-11-10T15:57:04Z 2008-11-10T15:57:04Z an article in the times<br />that i think really show<br />the absurdity of the world<br />we now live in<br /><br /><b>Bake Sales Fall Victim to Push for Healthier Foods</b><br />By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN<br /><br />PIEDMONT, Calif. — Tommy Cornelius and the other members of the Piedmont High School boys water polo team never expected to find themselves running through school in their Speedos to promote a bake sale across the street. But times have been tough since the school banned homemade brownies and cupcakes.<br /><br /><a name="cutid1"></a><br />The old-fashioned school bake sale, once as American as apple pie, is fast becoming obsolete in California, a result of strict new state nutrition standards for public schools that regulate the types of food that can be sold to students. The guidelines were passed by lawmakers in 2005 and took effect in July 2007. They require that snacks sold during the school day contain no more than 35 percent sugar by weight and derive no more than 35 percent of their calories from fat and no more than 10 percent of their calories from saturated fat. <br /><br />The Piedmont High water polo team falls woefully short of these standards, selling cupcakes, caramel apples and lemon bars off campus in a flagrant act of nutritional disobedience.<br /><br />“I know obesity is a big problem, and it’s good the school cares,” said Sam Cardoza, a senior who briefly became a successful entrepreneur last year when chocolate chip cookies were banned from the cafeteria. “At the same time, you shouldn’t stop a kid from buying a cookie.”<br /><br />California is a hatchery of food trends, but its regulations are not the country’s strongest.<br /><br />From 500 to 600 school districts nationwide now have policies that limit the amount of fat, trans fats, sodium and sugars in food sold or served at school, with the strictest rules directed at elementary schools, said Jamie Chriqui, a senior research scientist with the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The idea is that policy interventions to reduce consumption “will do for junk food what smoking bans and taxes did for tobacco,” Ms. Chriqui said.<br /><br />In California, sports drinks, which can contain almost as much sugar as soda, are still allowed in middle and high schools, but sodas, including diet sodas, will be banned from all schools next year. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Kentucky has the strictest regulations on school nutrition, with sugar and sodium limits on beverages that eliminate most standard sports drinks. <br /><br />“Before, it was the chips, the Hostess cupcakes, the Little Debbie doughnut sticks,” said Ginger Gray, the director of school nutrition for the Kenton County School District in northern Kentucky. Now, only pure fruit juice and low-fat or skim milk are allowed. The district’s most popular dish is whole-wheat stromboli made from scratch, Ms. Gray said, adding that she leans toward foods that families can cook at home. “You’re teaching them habits for life,” she said.<br /><br />The regulatory focus on school nutrition has been gaining ground nationwide in recent years, amid concerns over childhood obesity and a lack of access to healthful food. Sixteen states have set standards for so-called competitive foods that compete with meals, like à la carte cookies, cinnamon buns and soft drinks. And, yes, this even affects bake sales. <br /><br />In Chula Vista, Calif., near San Diego, sales plummeted at Hilltop High School’s multicultural food fair, an annual fund-raising event for the foreign language and global studies departments that has traditionally featured bratwurst, breadsticks with marinara sauce, apple pie and root beer floats. “This year was really hard,” said Jade Wagner, a senior, referring to the half-bratwursts and nondairy diet root beers. <br /><br />If bake sales are out, “healthy” fund-raisers, like carwashes and balloon-o-grams, are in. In Oakland, Calif., new traditions are replacing old ones: a “Healthy Halloween” vegetable platter for kindergartners at Montclair Elementary; power bars and apple slices at the after-school homework club at Crocker Highlands Elementary; a Caesar salad-making class, a weekly organic produce stand and “nutrition breaks” replacing snack breaks at Peralta Elementary. <br /><br />In Berkeley, birthplace of California cuisine, food served at school is free of bovine growth hormones, irradiation, hydrogenated oils and known genetic modification. <br /><br />Birthday celebrations are not immune from nutrition watchdogs: around the country, there is growing pressure to forgo cupcakes in favor of nonfood treats. <br /><br />“I don’t think all celebrations need to be around food,” said Ann Cooper, the director of nutrition services for the Berkeley school district. “We need to get past the mentality of food used for punishment or praise.”<br /><br />In Guilford, Conn., the school district’s health advisory committee has decided that birthday parties belong at home. At A. W. Cox Elementary, birthdays are celebrated with an extra 15 minutes of recess, special pencils or a “birthday book club” with commemorative inserts. “The children have totally refocused,” said the principal, Merry Leventhal. “They’re happy to celebrate in these other ways.”<br /><br />A recent study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale found that, contrary to parental fears, children were not compensating for the absence of sugar or fat at school by raiding the refrigerator at home. “Some people think that kids have this internal potato chip monitor, but there’s no evidence of that,” said Marlene B. Schwartz, the center’s deputy director. “People really do eat what’s in front of them.” <br /><br />In California, bake sales are waning because ingredients cannot be regulated. Sales are banned during school hours but may be held a half-hour before or after school.<br /><br />The ban on bake sales has not been met with universal enthusiasm. The Piedmont Highlander, the school newspaper, editorialized about “birthday cakes turned into contraband” and homemade goodies snatched from students “by the long arm and hungry mouth of the law.”<br /><br />Even some nutritionists question whether banishing bake sales is the best approach. “It concerns me we’re not teaching moderation,” said Stephanie Bruce, the president of the California School Nutrition Association, who works in the Ontario-Montclair School District in Ontario, Calif. <br /><br />Melissa Luna, considered the über-mom of Crocker Highlands Elementary in Oakland, said that sometimes calories mattered less than the importance of a cause — like the bake sale organized to raise money for Christopher Rodriguez, a student who was shot and paralyzed last March by a stray bullet from a gas station robbery while he was taking piano lessons across the street. The sale, attended by members of the Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics, raised $30,000. <br /><br />In Berkeley, Anna X. L. Wong, a kindergarten teacher at Jefferson Elementary, incorporates “good foods” versus “bad foods” into the curriculum and offers her students healthy snacks, including edamame — her version of preventive medicine. <br /><br />“We talk about the word ‘courage,’ ” Ms. Wong said of her young students. “That means being brave enough to try new things.” <br /><br />now, i am all about<br />eating good, healthy foods<br />but we all have a bit of a sweet tooth<br />from time to time<br />and should be able to fulfill it<br /><br />i don't want to be told<br />what i should and should not eat<br /><br />everything in moderation<br />including moderation<br /><br />a cupcake, brownie or cinnamon roll<br />every once in a while won't kill you<br />although some people seem to think<br />this will<br /><br />absolutely absurd<br />and utterly ridiculous<br />if you ask moi urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:429349 2008-10-21T18:01:40Z 2008-10-21T18:19:33Z a toast to<br />an <i>extremely</i> witty man<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=blackwell.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/blackwell.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><i>"the worst bitch in the world"</i><br /><br /><b>mr. blackwell</b><br />1922 - 2008</center><br /><br /><ul>Mr. Blackwell, Fashion Critic, Dies at 86 <br />By DOUGLAS MARTIN<br /><br />Mr. Blackwell, a designer of over-the-top fashions and originator of the outlandishly satiric, but globally ballyhooed worst-dressed list, which likened Elizabeth Taylor, a frequent honoree, to a dirigible and called Julia Roberts “Godfather III in drag,” died on Sunday in Los Angeles.<br /><br /><a name="cutid1"></a><br />In his extravagantly solipsistic way, Mr. Blackwell (as Richard Blackwell chose to be known) said for years that he was somewhere between 39 and 100 years old, and looked even younger if you squinted. But the fact is that he died at 86 of complications of an intestinal infection, his publicist, Harlan Boll, announced.<br /><br />Understatement, of course, was unknown to Mr. Blackwell, who once designed bejeweled toilet seats, which failed to sell because they were uncomfortable to sit on. His autobiography began: “Multifaceted as a Cartier diamond, razor-tongued as Noel Coward, volcanic as Vesuvius erupting, wickedly controversial as Paris in the ’20s.” <br /><br />In fact Mr. Blackwell really did marshal grit, ambition and his fabulous, completely unselfconscious, ultimately charming immodesty to climb from poor Brooklyn boy to stage and movie performer to radio and television personality to talent manager to fashion designer to author. In an interview with The Chicago Tribune in 1991, he described this persona as “planned” and “programmed” — right down to four or five face-lifts, depending on the telling.<br /><br />In the 1995 autobiography “From Rags to Bitches,” he wrote that he aimed “to become my most unforgettable creation; king of the caustic quote, arbiter of good taste and bad, the ultimate mix of madness, marketing and media attention.”<br /><br />Mr. Blackwell could not have cared less that almost nobody, particularly in the fashion industry, took his annual lists, 48 in all, very seriously — as long as everybody read them. And how could they not? Diana Ross, he said, was “a Martian meter maid”; Martha Stewart dressed like a “centerfold from the Farmer’s Almanac”; and Ann-Margret was “Marlon Brando in a G-string.”<br />Poor Miss Taylor, in another version of his list, “looks like two small boys fighting under a mink blanket.” <br /><br />The name Blackwell was given to him by Howard Hughes, the mogul-cum-producer who at one time signed Mr. Blackwell to a movie contract. The use of Mr. as a first name came in the late 1950s to go with Mr. Blackwell’s new ultraglamorous clothing line. <br /><br />But he had real ideas and accomplishments to back up this lovingly sculptured identity. He claimed to be the first to present a line of superfeminine women’s clothing on television, an assertion that seems to have provoked little argument, as well as the first to make designer jeans for women, a more controversial statement.<br /><br />If Mr. Blackwell was not the first designer to make his line available to plus-size women, he certainly was among the most noticed. He made dresses up to size 46 and shaped them to accent the curves of the feminine figure.<br />The New York Times in 1963 quoted a buyer from San Antonio as saying, “When he designs a dress, he keeps in mind how a woman wants to look across a table.”<br /><br />Richard Sylvan Selzer was born on Aug. 29, 1922, in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, where he was reared. He so feared his stepfather that he slept in the alley with a broken bottle to protect himself. He wrote that he was a child prostitute in Central Park, but told his mother that he made money by walking rich people’s dogs.<br /><br />He also made hats for wealthy socialites in his attic and took on small acting jobs. He, his mother and brother took the streamlined Super Chief train to Los Angeles, where he continued his career as a child actor, sporadically going to school with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. His part in the movie for which he changed his name, “Vendetta” (1950), landed on the cutting-room floor.<br /><br />Mr. Blackwell eventually left acting to be a Hollywood agent and began to design clothes for his clients to emphasize their sexy figures. He started the House of Blackwell in 1958. By the early 1960s he was making clothes for Jayne Mansfield, Jane Russell and Nancy Reagan, among others.<br /><br />Mr. Blackwell’s partner in both the talent and fashion businesses was Robert L. Spencer, who was also his personal partner for many years. Mr. Spencer survives him.<br /><br />Mr. Blackwell’s popular success as a designer prompted interest in his first worst-dressed list in 1960, and his acid wit long sustained it. But another list, one in which he sincerely praised the best-dressed women, provoked only yawns. “Who’s going to print anything sweet?” he asked.<br /><br />In the 2008 list, Victoria Beckham placed first among what Mr. Blackwell called “10 Titans of Taste-Free Terrors.” Presumably referring to skirts, he bitingly noted her “skinny-mini monstrosities.”<a name="cutid2"></a></ul><br /><br />as a writer,<br />i absolutely admire mr. blackwell's<br />style and incomparable wit<br /><br />alliteration, puns, rhymes<br />snazzy and snarky<br />just my brand of vodka<br /><br />what a fabulous fashion independent<br />whose own "queen of mean" brand<br />kept us reading and reading, year after year urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:429119 2008-09-27T18:09:33Z 2008-09-27T18:09:33Z a toast to<br />a damn good actor<br />and a damn fine person<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=1-7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/1-7.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><i>"i picture my epitaph: 'here lies paul newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown.'"</i><br /><br /><b>paul newman</b><br />1925 - 2008</center><br /><br />failure?<br />no, not at all urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:428821 2008-09-18T00:42:08Z 2008-09-18T00:44:35Z i never write here anymore<br />and although it makes me sad<br />it's because i pour all my writing<br />energy into "intoxiqueer"<br />the follow-up to my first book<br /><br />after a long day, i tried to take a nap<br />but because bored<br />so i sat down to write more<br />but the words poured out of my<br />like molasses instead of lava<br />so i took a walk to chinatown<br />to grab dinner and clear my head<br /><br />i attempted to take a photo<br />with my phone but it was full<br />so i clicked thru to delete<br />old ones that i had forgotten<br /><br />here is my collection<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=4-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/4-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />please</center><br /><br /><a name="cutid1"></a><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=7-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/7-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=6-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/6-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=5-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/5-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />sondheim in the city<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=4-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/4-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=3-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/3-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />a spider chills in brooklyn<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=2-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/2-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=1-3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/1-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=6-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/6-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=8-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/8-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />from my day in asbury park<br />a story in the next book<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=9-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/9-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=2-4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/2-4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=1-5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/1-5.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=9-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/9-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=2-3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/2-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=1-4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/1-4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=3-3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/3-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />story of my life<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=4-3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/4-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />definitely dates the pictures<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=5-3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/5-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />rocky raccoon?<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=6-3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/6-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=7-3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/7-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=8-3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/8-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=9-3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/9-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=3-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/3-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=5-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/5-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />hehe<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=7-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/7-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />admist all that beauty<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=1-6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/1-6.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=8-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/8-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />you tell me</center><br /><br />lovely evening;<br />it's finally fall<br /><br />are things getting better?<br />i'll cross my fingers urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:428644 2008-08-29T23:18:41Z 2008-09-18T00:19:12Z the current book i'm reading<br />martin torgoff's <i>can't find my way home:<br />america in the great stoned age, 1945-2000</i><br />presented me with an idea i have long<br />thought about, wished for and hoped<br />would someday return to me:<br /><br /><center><i>"as compelled as we were over the years to try to recapture the sweet, giddy rush of that first year of highs, it would turn out to be as irretrievable as one's own virginity"</i></center><br /><br />completely profound and true<br />the first time is always a rush<br />the first few years are always a rush<br />and somewhere you turn jaded and wilt<br /><br />nothing will ever compare to that<br />first cigarette with shanna<br />nothing will ever compare to that<br />first time toking with omar<br />nothing will ever compare to that<br />first real good shit with dan<br /><br />irretrievable, yes, and always a memory<br /><br />sometimes it's fun to wish we could relive it<br />but that's because we romanticize the past<br />it wasn't <i>that</i> good, but in our minds it was<br /><br />silly how it happens like that<br /><br />outside earlier, i saw the epitome of nyc<br />and, subsequently, the epitome of my life<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=flower.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/flower.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a></center><br /><br />the beauty in the gutter<br />surrounded by vices<br />surrounded by trash<br />drenched in sewage water<br /><br />but somehow, <br />when it all comes together,<br />the image is still beautiful<br /><br />so fucking beautiful!<br />(and really, <i>every</i>thing is)<br />just sometimes in a slightly "left of center" way urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:428479 2008-08-22T20:39:25Z 2008-08-22T20:39:25Z a toast to<br />a very witty person<br />(and my favorite writer)<br />on the 115th anniversary of her birthday<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=untitled.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/untitled.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><b>dorothy parker</b><br />1893 - 1967<br /><br /><i>"as only new yorkers know, if you can get through the twilight, you'll live through the night"</i></center><br /><br />this is one of hundreds,<br />perhaps thousands,<br />of quotes to choose;<br />that's the mark<br />of any great writer<br /><br />you made it through many nights<br />my dear ms. parker<br />and tonight is one more<br />if only in our thoughts<br />and through your writings<br /><br />happy birthday dottie urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:428217 2008-08-07T08:36:56Z 2008-08-21T23:48:48Z i can't sleep<br />so i'm revisiting<br />an old favorite<br />and hanging with holden:<br /><br><br /><center><i>"what really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it"</i></center><br /><br><br />sigh<br />i can only wish<br /><br />but darling,<br />call me any, anytime urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:427955 2008-08-05T00:39:39Z 2008-08-05T00:39:39Z we all have these days<br />and sometimes it feels<br />so good to be bad<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="69" /></center><br /><br />no, i have not abandoned my journal<br />but rather doing a lot of writing<br />on the side that i am all written out<br /><br />i have so many stories--<br />good, bad and in between--<br />to share from the past few months<br /><br />guess you'll have to buy<br />the second book to hear them<br />or wait for my one (wo)man show<br />whichever comes first<br /><br />kiss kiss urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:427636 2008-07-24T10:20:50Z 2008-07-24T10:22:28Z empress nympho defines diva<br />decked out, powerful<br />and a bitch who knows <br /><strike>what</strike> who she wants<br /><br />(and oh, bless ms. madeline kahn<br />a phenomenal actress and comedienne<br />as well as an inspiration of mine)<br /><br />be still my beating heart<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="68" /></center><br /><br />couldn't you just see demanda <br />draped in gold lam&#233;<br />with that fab jewelry <br />and nifty hairpiece?<br /><br />and not to mention the eyeliner... urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:427463 2008-07-22T19:28:47Z 2008-07-22T19:28:47Z a toast to<br />an outstanding <strike>actress</strike> person<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=estelle.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/estelle.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><i>"age does not bring you wisdom, age brings you wrinkles" <br /><br />"you can do anything you want to do"</i><br /><br /><b>estelle getty</b><br />1923 - 2008</center><br /><br />as with every homosexual,<br />i grew up watching<br /><i>the golden girls</i><br />and<br />as with every homosexual,<br />hearing the news of her passing<br />makes me terribly sad<br /><br />a legacy of laughter<br />genuine comedy<br />and love for people<br /><br />always an advocate<br />for the gays;<br />you couldn't ask<br />for a better individual<br /><br />a woman to be remembered<br />for her brilliance<br />and her beauty<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="67" /></center><br /><br />thank you stella urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:427064 2008-07-20T06:43:43Z 2008-07-20T06:46:27Z sadly,<br />this is more true today<br />than it was back in the day<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="66" /></center><br /><br />soylent green may<br />not yet be people<br /><br />but soylent green<br />is definitely <br />high fructose corn syrup<br /><br />it's everywhere<br />in everything<br />and it's terrible<br />and digusting<br /><br />i made a decision<br />last year to never<br />buy anything with<br />hfcs in it<br />and it've been succesfull<br /><br />i don't support that shit<br />and you shouldn't either<br /><br />seriously,<br />watch out kids!<br />it's not science fiction anymore;<br />it's really happening before our eyes urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:426848 2008-07-18T05:55:53Z 2008-07-18T06:01:35Z predictions,<br />past life<br />or <br />only on a good night?<br /><br />though<br />probably more<br />of me and him<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="65" /></center><br /><br />definitely<br />demanda after<br />a couple of cocktails<br /><br />sigh,<br />how i stole his heart<br /><br />definitely<br />a good night urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:426730 2008-07-08T03:03:02Z 2008-07-08T03:03:02Z ever had one <br />of those days?<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="64" /></center><br /><br />a frequent sight<br />at apartment one<br /><br />it's not pretty<br />but pretty damn fun urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:426403 2008-07-07T20:20:25Z 2008-07-07T20:20:25Z last night the bbc<br />hosted an eddie izzard marathon<br />and after hearing this lovely idea<br />i am <i>dying</i> to participate<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="63" /></center><br /><br />what fun! urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:426090 2008-07-04T22:35:37Z 2008-07-04T22:35:37Z the boyfriend knows everyone<br />including tom wopat<br />so he scored us from free tix<br />to see <i>a catered affair</i> last night<br /><br />it was such a lovely show<br />moving, delicate<br />not a musical<br />but a play with music<br /><br />simple sets<br />simple costumes<br />simple music<br />anything more and<br />the simple story<br />would be lost<br /><br />harvey fierstein's book<br />was fleshed out<br />and full of life<br /><br />john bucchino's score<br />felt like a glorious<br />movie's soundtrack<br /><br />ninety minutes<br />of beautiful performances<br />and true heart-wrenching acting<br /><br />definitely not<br />musical theatre "acting"<br /><br />faith prince was superb<br />she was contained,<br />like a true housewife of the fifties<br />touching when she finally let loose<br />and captivating to watch<br /><br />i can see why the show<br />was a box office flop:<br />it wasn't showy<br />there were no bix production numbers<br />a small cast<br />and smart, endearing performances<br /><br />it wasn't mindless,<br />and, sadly, broadway is now geared<br />towards tourists who don't want to think<br />like the wretched <i>xanadu</i><br /><br />but i loved it<br />yes, definitely my type of theater<br />and a delightful evening<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="62" /></center><br /><br />patti lupone was good in <i>gypsy</i><br />but mama rose is a flashy role<br />and easy to endlessly praise<br /><br />faith prince was brilliant<br />and i do believe that perhaps<br />she was looked over<br /><br />i was really moved and...<br />just thank you urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:425791 2008-07-01T04:33:48Z 2008-07-01T04:38:00Z <center><lj-embed id="61" /></center><br /><br />the end of pride month<br />but pride here in new york<br />was gloriously fabulous<br /><br />beads and bangles<br />sparkles, spangles<br />i adore it all<br /><br />yes, gay pride<br />but more so an admiration<br />of self-appreciation<br /><br />thank heavens<br />my life is shameless<br />i love who i am<br /><br />happy pride my darlings<br />i hope it was as spectacular<br />as mine definitely was urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:425582 2008-06-27T03:41:00Z 2008-06-27T03:41:00Z <center><lj-embed id="60" /></center><br /><br />well, maybe not finishing<br />but definitely entering<br />the world of the hat<br /><br />and having some incredible<br />and also not so incredible<br />experiences<br /><br />but thankful<br />and happy<br /><br />enjoying every bit<br />and yet very dizzy<br />from the height urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:425440 2008-06-19T00:18:43Z 2008-06-19T02:59:39Z there's a girl who lives<br />somewhere in my building<br />i don't yet know her name<br />but what i do know is<br />she's asian<br />she's pretty<br />she walks with a cane<br /><br />i first spotted her<br />a few months ago<br />screeching as she tried<br />to walk up and down the stairs<br />to the basement to throw away<br />some garbage<br /><br />she couldn't bend her knee<br />and i knew she was in pain<br /><br />a couple weeks later<br />i saw her again with who<br />i can only assume was her mother<br /><br />they had gone shopping<br />and left the bags in the lobby<br />while she helped her daughter<br />get into the elevator<br /><br />the look of pain and hurt<br />in mother's eyes really touched me<br />and i immediately grabbed<br />their shopping bags and placed them<br />into the elevator<br /><br />i saw her again today leaving<br />while on my way to the deli<br />i held the door for her<br />and we both stepped into the rain<br /><br />she did not have an umbrella<br /><br />"may i walk with you," i asked<br />although she going in the opposite direction<br />she smiled and i held my umbrella<br />for the both of us to the corner<br /><br />"thank you," she said graciously<br />as we parted ways<br /><br />now, it's not that i feel bad for her<br />and i definitely do not pity her<br />but i don't like seeing others hurting<br />and when someone needs a little help<br />it's in my nature to offer it<br /><br />if i can make someone's day a bit brighter<br />by just being kind, then i feel good<br /><br />perhaps it's the pisces in me<br />that fuels my compassion<br />but i'd like to think<br />it's the human spirit<br /><br />we've grown too cold, bitter<br />and insensitive to other people<br />we need more empathy, more caring<br />for we cannot leave others behind urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:425036 2008-06-18T15:08:45Z 2008-06-18T15:15:06Z a toast to<br />a fucking fabulous dancer<br /><br /><center> <a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=175008Cyd-Charisse-Posters.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/175008Cyd-Charisse-Posters.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><i>“i think that in all my dancing i play a role. <br />to me, that’s what dancing is about. it’s not just steps.”</i><br /><br /><b>cyd charisse</b><br />1921 – 2008</center><br /><br />a movie legend<br />a dance goddess<br />an unparalleled talent <br />with the most valuable legs<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="59" /></center><br /><br />work it sexy urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:424821 2008-06-15T19:51:03Z 2008-06-15T19:51:03Z a fire burned down the<br />seven hundred year old church<br /><br /><center><lj-embed id="58" /></center><br /><br />oh,<br />the horrors from the motherland! urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:424655 2008-06-11T16:21:21Z 2008-06-11T16:34:15Z obviously it's no secret<br />i don't follow "trends"<br />and i find "trendy" people<br />to be sheep, but somehow<br />i still love reading <a href="http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/"><u>the sartorialist</u></a><br />probably because it isn't about trends<br />but about visually interesting looks<br />that inspire and spark my creativity<br /><br />so, i was pleasantly surprised<br />to look at yesterday's photographs<br />and find pictures from a "jazz age lawn party"<br />on governor's island--which i was at!<br /><br />it was a bit too hot for madamme to dress up<br />so instead of throwing one of my '20s outfits together<br />i donned shorts and flip flops, but that doesn't<br />mean i wasn't eyeing the outfits<br /><br />the sartorialist posted this photograph<br />and, ironically, it's the same get-up<br />that made me turn to the boyfriend and say,<br />"i should've fucking dressed up!<br />i would look stellar in that!"<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=6088par-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/6088par-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a></center><br /><br />yes, i do have a great eye<br />thank you very much<br /><br />(i also believe i have that parasol, as well) urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:424440 2008-06-09T00:12:59Z 2008-06-09T00:22:17Z with thrift being the new chic<br />and "staycations" being the trend<br />katherine suggested a bunch of us<br />take a day trip to governor's island,<br />a former military base and coast guard headquarters<br />to hear the dreamland orchestra play old standards,<br />complete with '20s garb, dancing and vintage automobiles<br /><br />i was more interested in the history though<br />and spent most of the time walking with the boyfriend<br />to see all the different buildings and hear stories<br />of the islands history and architecture<br /><br />it was like being on any old college campus<br />with a hint of gatsby's hamptons making it<br />the perfect way to spend the sunday of one<br />of new york city's hottest heatwave weekends<br /><br />and it was all free!<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/7.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a></center><br /><br /><a name="cutid1"></a><br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/6.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />picnicking<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=28.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/28.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />and dancing<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=25.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/25.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=24.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/24.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=1-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/1-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />the fort<br />built to keep out the brits<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=26.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/26.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=11.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/11.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=27.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/27.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />the gym<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=12.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/12.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />the admiral's residence<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=16.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/16.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=13.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/13.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=14.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/14.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=15.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/15.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />of course<br />the boyfriend and i snuck past the rope<br />and down into the maid's quarters<br />at the admiral's house<br /><br />it was dank, dark and fun!<br /><br />(others followed our lead)<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=21.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/21.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=22.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/22.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />the governor's house<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=29.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/29.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=23.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/23.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />the former arsenal<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=20.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/20.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />perhaps the former ordinace?<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=17.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/17.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />the lawns are filled<br />with unusual sculptures<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=18.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/18.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=19.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/19.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=10.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/10.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />the jewish chapel,<br />which is noticeably smaller<br />than...<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/9.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />the protestant chapel<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=8.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/8.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />that only has one small chair<br /><br />(i was not compelled<br />to take pictures of <br />the catholic chapel)<br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />the hospital<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=2-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/2-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />the mess hall<br /><br /><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/5.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a></center><br /><br />manhattan who?<br />it was a whole 'nother world<br />to get lost in<br /><br />yes, a lovely free<br />and fabulous way<br />to spend a hundred<br />degree day! urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:423993 2008-06-02T16:04:18Z 2008-06-02T16:07:59Z a toast to<br />a very stylish man<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=02LAURENT_XLARGE4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/02LAURENT_XLARGE4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><i>"fashions fade, style is eternal"</i><br /><br /><b>yves sauint laurent</b><br />1936 - 2008</center><br /><br /><ul>Yves Saint Laurent, 71, Is Dead; A Giant of Couture for 45 Years <br />By ANNE-MARIE SCHIRO<br /><br />Yves Saint Laurent, who exploded on the fashion scene in 1958 as the boy-wonder successor to Christian Dior and endured as one of the best-known and most influential couturiers of the second half of the 20th century, died on Sunday at his apartment in Paris. He was 71.<br /><br /><a name="cutid1"></a><br /><br />During a career that ran from 1957 to 2002 he was largely responsible for changing the way modern women dress, putting them into pants both day and night, into peacoats and safari jackets, into “le smoking” (as the French call a man’s tuxedo jacket), and into leopard prints, trench coats and, for a time in the 1970s, peasant-inspired clothing in rich fabrics.<br /><br />Mr. Saint Laurent often sought inspiration on the streets, bringing the Parisian beatnik style to couture runways and adapting the sailors’ peacoats he found in Army-Navy stores in New York into jackets that found their way into fashionable women’s wardrobes around the world. His glamorous evening clothes were often adorned with appliqués and beadwork inspired by artists like Picasso, Miró and Matisse. Above all, he was a master colorist, able to mix green, blue, rose and yellow in one outfit to achieve an effect that was artistic and never garish. <br /><br />Among the women of style who wore his clothes were Catherine Deneuve, Paloma Picasso, Nan Kempner, Lauren Bacall, Marella Agnelli and Marie-Hélène de Rothschild. <br /><br />Mr. Saint Laurent achieved instant fame in 1958 at the age of 21 when he showed his Trapeze collection, his first for Christian Dior following the master’s death. But unlike many overnight sensations, Mr. Saint Laurent managed to remain at the top of his profession as fashion changed from an emphasis on formal, custom-made haute couture to casual sportswear.<br /><br />For many years after he opened his own couture house, in 1962, his collections were eagerly anticipated by fashion enthusiasts, who considered his the final word on that season’s style. His influence was at its height during the 1960s and ’70s, when it was still normal for couturiers to change silhouettes and hemlines drastically every six months. <br /><br />Among his greatest successes were his Mondrian collection in 1965, based on the Dutch artist’s gridlike paintings, and the “rich peasant” collection of 1976, which stirred so much interest that the Paris show was restaged in New York for his American admirers. “The clothes incorporated all my dreams,” he said after the show, “all my heroines in the novels, the operas, the paintings. It was my heart — everything I love that I gave to this collection.”<br /><br />Originally a maverick and a generator of controversy — in 1968, his suggestion that women wear pants as an everyday uniform was considered revolutionary — Mr. Saint Laurent developed into a more conservative designer, a believer in evolution rather than revolution. He often said that all a woman needed to be fashionable was a pair of pants, a sweater and a raincoat.<br /><br />“My small job as a couturier,” he once said, “is to make clothes that reflect our times. I’m convinced women want to wear pants.”<br /><br />A Rare Retrospective<br /><br />By 1983, when he was 47, his work was recognized by fashion scholars as so fundamentally important to women’s dress that a retrospective of his designs was held at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first time the museum had honored a living designer. Diana Vreeland, the legendary magazine editor and the doyenne of the Costume Institute, who masterminded the exhibition, called him “a living genius” and “the Pied Piper of fashion.”<br /><br />“Whatever he does,” she said, “women of all ages, from all over the world, follow.” That exhibition was followed by retrospectives in Paris, Beijing, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tokyo and Sydney, Australia.<br /><br />But the New York exhibition could be considered the peak of Mr. Saint Laurent’s career, for after that he settled into a classical mode of reinterpreting his earlier successes. The boy wonder had turned into the elder statesman. He said in an interview in 1983: “A woman’s wardrobe shouldn’t change every six months. You should be able to use the pieces you already own and add to them. Because they are like timeless classics.” <br /><br />Yet because so many of his early designs seeped into the public domain of fashion (and into many other designers’ collections), he managed to retain his stellar position in the world of fashion through his retirement in 2002. <br /><br />Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent came a long way from Oran, Algeria, where he was born on Aug. 1, 1936, to Charles and Lucienne Andrée Mathieu-Saint-Laurent. His father was a lawyer and insurance broker, his mother a woman of great personal style. He grew up in a villa by the Mediterranean with his two younger sisters, Michelle and Brigitte.<br /><br />His mother and sisters, all of Paris, survive him. <br /><br />The young Yves was said to be a quiet and retiring child (and as an adult was also often described as quiet and retiring), who avoided all sports except swimming and developed a love for fashion and the theater at an early age. After seeing a play by Molière when he was 11, he recreated the play in miniature, pasting the costumes together. As a teenager, he designed clothes for his mother, who had them whipped up by a local seamstress. (His mother became his greatest fan, sitting in the front row at all his shows and wearing no one else’s designs.)<br /><br />Although his parents wanted him to study law, Mr. Saint Laurent — lanky and brown-haired, his blue eyes framed by glasses — went to Paris when he was 17 to try his luck in theatrical and fashion design. He briefly studied design at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, leaving because he said he was bored. Shortly thereafter, he won first prize in an International Wool Secretariat design competition for his sketch of a cocktail dress. This led to an interview with Christian Dior, who noted an uncanny resemblance between Mr. Saint Laurent’s cocktail dress and one he himself was working on. Recognizing the young designer’s talent, Dior hired him on the spot as his assistant. <br /><br />Dior’s Protégé<br /><br />For three years, Mr. Saint Laurent worked closely with Dior, who called him “my dauphin” and “my right arm.” After Dior died suddenly in 1957, shocking the fashion world, the House of Dior named Mr. Saint Laurent its head designer. At 21, he found himself at the head of a $20-million-a-year fashion empire, succeeding a legend, the man who had radically changed the way women dressed in 1947 with the wasp-waisted New Look. <br /><br />Mr. Saint Laurent’s first collection in his new position, shown on Jan. 30, 1958, was based on the trapeze, a youthful silhouette that started with narrow shoulders and a raised waistline, then flared out gently to a wide hemline. The collection was received with great enthusiasm, and Mr. Saint Laurent’s name was well on its way to becoming a household word across Europe and America.<br /><br />He was credited by many with rejuvenating French fashion and securing his country’s pre-eminent position in the world of haute couture. Newsboys shouted his triumph across the streets of Paris while he waved to the crowds below the balcony of the House of Dior on the Avenue Montaigne. The dauphin was crowned king.<br /><br />His last collection for Dior, in July 1960, was based on a “chic beatnik” look of knitted turtlenecks and black leather jackets. It was less warmly received, though eventually the style became the uniform of the avant-garde.<br /><br />In September of that year, Mr. Saint Laurent was called up for 27 months of compulsory military service during the war France was then fighting in Algeria. He had previously been given deferments because 2,000 jobs depended on his talent.<br /><br />About three weeks after his induction, he was hospitalized for a nervous collapse. In October 1960, the House of Dior gave his job to Marc Bohan, his former assistant. In November, Mr. Saint Laurent was discharged from the army and entered a private clinic near Paris. In later years, he suffered from depression and a dependency on alcohol and drugs, a dependency he attributed to the drugs he was given in a military psychiatric hospital. But he almost always recovered in time to take the ritual walk down the runway, however unsteadily, at the finale of his shows.<br /><br />In January 1961, Marc Bohan’s collection for Dior was a huge success. Mr. Saint Laurent sued Dior for severance pay and damages after the house refused to reinstate him after his army discharge. He was awarded 680,000 francs by the court, then about $140,000. <br /><br />In September 1961, Mr. Saint Laurent announced plans to open his own haute couture house in partnership with his lover, Pierre Bergé. Mr. Bergé remained his lifelong business partner and was responsible for the company’s financial success, although they split up as a couple in the early 1980s. The fledgling house was backed by J. Mack Robinson, an Atlanta businessman, who later said his confidence was based on the excitement Mr. Saint Laurent had created when he replaced Dior. <br /><br />His Own Collection<br /><br />The first Yves Saint Laurent collection was shown on Jan. 19, 1962. It was the beginning of a success story that led eventually to a ready-to-wear line sold in the designer’s own Rive Gauche boutiques around the world; to hundreds of licenses for scarves, jewelry, furs, shoes, men’s wear, cosmetics and perfumes, and even cigarettes; to set and costume designs for the ballet, theater and movies (most notably, for Catherine Deneuve in “Belle de Jour” in 1967); to a listing on the Paris Bourse, and to a host of awards, including the French Legion of Honor in 1985. <br /><br />The House of Saint Laurent had various owners over the years, including Lanvin-Charles of the Ritz and Squibb-Beach Nut. In 1993, in a $636 million transaction, it became part of the state-owned French pharmaceuticals conglomerate Elf Sanofi, but 43 percent of the fashion group remained in the hands of Mr. Bergé and Mr. Saint Laurent. In 2000, Gucci Group bought the ready-to-wear and fragrance divisions of the company, while Mr. Bergé and Mr. Saint Laurent retained the haute couture business until the designer’s retirement. Under Gucci, to Mr. Saint Laurent’s vocal displeasure, the YSL ready to wear line was designed by the American fashion star Tom Ford. <br /><br />“The poor guy does what he can,” Mr. Saint Laurent said of his successor. <br /><br />Mr. Ford, who simultaneously designed the Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent collections with an overtly racy and sexualized aesthetic during those years, left the company in 2003; the Yves Saint Laurent collections have since been designed by one of Mr. Ford’s former assistants, Stefano Pilati. <br /><br />In January 2002, Mr. Saint Laurent announced his retirement in Paris at a press conference at his couture house at 5 Avenue Marceau, where many fashion editors and teary-eyed friends of the house considered the possibility that Mr. Saint Laurent had felt pressured to resign. He and Mr. Bergé denied that, and a week later announced plans to turn the house into a museum, which has since displayed exhibitions of Mr. Saint Laurent’s tuxedo jackets and the clothes he designed for Ms. Kempner.<br /><br />‘Opium’ Wars <br /><br />The designer, of course, managed several times to create controversy during his career with, of all things, his fragrances. In 1971, he appeared nude in an advertisement for his men’s cologne YSL. Then, in 1977, he named one of his women’s perfumes Opium, which led to charges that he was glamorizing drug use and trivializing the 19th-century Opium Wars in China. Its slogan was “Opium, for those who are addicted to Yves Saint Laurent.” In 1992, his plans to call another perfume Champagne prompted a lawsuit by French wine makers (the Saint Laurent company lost).<br /><br />In another legal battle, Mr. Saint Laurent won a 1994 suit in the French courts against Ralph Lauren, whom he accused of copying the design for his tuxedo dress (a style Mr. Saint Laurent reinterpreted many times over the years). <br /><br />In 1992, a celebration at the Bastille Opera in Paris of the 30th anniversary of the House of Saint Laurent was attended by 2,750 admirers who applauded as 100 models took to the stage in clothes from the three decades. Writing about the event in The New York Times, Bernadine Morris said, “What was wondrous about these clothes, besides their breathtaking beauty, was that nothing looked dated.”<br /><br />As befitted his success, Mr. Saint Laurent lived elegantly. All his homes — including famous ones in Deauville, France, and Marrakech, Morocco — which he shared with a succession of French bulldogs, always named Moujik, were lavishly decorated and filled with antiques and artwork by his favorite artists, who included Picasso, Cocteau, Braque and Christian Bérard. He often said that Bérard was one of the greatest influences on his designs, particularly in the use of color.<br /><br />“Every man needs aesthetic phantoms in order to exist,” Mr. Saint Laurent said at the announcement of his retirement. “I have known fear and the terrors of solitude. I have known those fair-weather friends we call tranquilizers and drugs. I have known the prison of depression and the confinement of hospital. But one day, I was able to come through all of that, dazzled yet sober.”</ul><br /><br />what more can i say?<br />i'm sad<br /><br />sigh urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:winkandsmile:423922 2008-05-30T03:06:44Z 2008-06-02T16:07:21Z a toast to<br />a very funny man<br /><br /><center><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/?action=view&amp;current=korman.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/riydah/korman.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><i>"funny is when you're serious"</i><br /><br /><b>harvey korman</b><br />1927 - 2008</center><br /><br />preach on<br />play it serious<br />the situation<br />the characters<br />the dialogue<br />play it all serious<br />there's humor in that<br /><br />everyday people<br />in everyday circumstances--<br />that's comedy