The news is bad



You might ask yourself "what is this"? It's a grainy cell phone picture of an accident that happened the other day a couple blocks away, in the early evening. I was on my way to the post office to get my latest Netflix package in for the last post (because I am obsessive about milking that membership dry) when I heard about 8 bazillion police cars a block away. Now, I am not a normally bloodthirsty person, but I wsa curious what was going on in my quiet residential naighborhood. This silver Mazda somehow managed to jump the curb and plow into a house on Oakhurst Drive. Newsworthy, huh? I would think so: it's not usual for cars to enter the living rooms of houses. Not unheard of, but not usual. I dutifully emailed it to the local newspaper, who didn't care to run with the story. Oddly, neither did the teeny throw-away Beverly Hills paper. The TV news of course didn't, since the Action McNewsTeam Helicopter wasn't right on the scene, or more likely perhaps Lindsay Lohan wasn't driving the car. I know what Britneys pubes look like, I know every detail of the sad saga of Anna Nicole Smith, and I feel as if I should have my own Oscar, what with all of the recaps (L. O. V. E. Helen Mirren, but can we move along?). What I don't know is why a car took out the corner and red-tagged a house firmly in the heart of 90210.

Thanks, Fourth Estate.

You of course have read or heard about pinhead Tim Hardaway and his rant about gay people. If you have not seen Gay actor and activist George Takei's response, click through. Oh, Mr. Sulu, I totally want to buy you a drink!

Bravo's newest show is "Top Designer". I am so far not being sucked in as much as with Top Chef, but that still might happen. Top likes? Goil, who is as cute as a button. Top dislikes? Hate to say it, but Todd Oldham's spray-tan and his line readings: his interactions with people are fine, but his reading of the scripted lines is oddly sing-song.

Oh, and I am sorry but Kelly Wearstler can no longer judge anybody. Not with that hellish crimped 'do she showed up in for episode four. Kelly, sweetie, Heart lost that look in the 80's, k?

The ever dutiful Downtown News has noted that the Grand Avenue project adjecent to the new Disney Hall has been approved by the city of Los Angeles. including a lot of tax breaks. Specifically, there is a subsidy to the hotel portion of the project that existing hotels such as the Bonaventure (a fixture in downtown) objects to.

Seems to me that there is a desire to get some more press-worthy projects in downtown before the news gets out that the bubble has already burst. Seriously, houses with actual land are languishing in neighborhoods that are already gentrified, you think that your vaporware housing in downtown are going to attract buyers? Make me an offer...

The 7th annual Basenotes awards are in, and I am happy to write that the blog I contribute to Perfume Smellin' Things has taken the bronze medal for perfume blogs. I am very happy for Columbina's achievement, and proud of my small contribution to it. The Gold and Silver winners as well as all the worthy nominees are at the Basenotes site. One of these days when I get back East, I am totally making these ladies meet me at the Algonquin for cocktails!

Happy Valentines Day!!

In a perfect world, all of us would be coming home to Vin Diesel (well you can insert your desired hunk here) with a little something from Sweet Lady Jane (Victoria, if you are reading this we totally have to go next time you're up here) who will retire to run a nice bath for us while we munch.

It's not a perfect world, but I think I might just stop by on the way home

I hope all of you have a lovely V-Day!

Sniffapalooza came to LA this past weekend, and of course I had to attend. I will of course be posting about it on Columbina's Blog.

Anna Nicole Smith died today. I thought I'd let you know that, just in case you have not checked any other sort of media in the past eight hours. Whatever you think of Anna Nicole, it is sad that she died so young, and that her son died at such a young age: that must have been incredibly hard for her. I'd need something serious to deal with that. Like a vodka drip. Sad.

Now that I have gotten that rare bit of niceness out of the way, can the media please move on from this? It's now 10:32 PM PST, and except for the weather, the 10 pm news has been All Anna Nicole, All The Time. I liked Anna Nicole, but this is not Princess Diana or Mother Theresa or Marilyn Monroe. Interviewing Z-list celebrities about it isn't going to make it less sad, pointless and vaguely squalid.

Sadly, the craptaclarization of the news has moved from West to East. When I moved to Los Angeles, I was appalled at the local news. We had local newscasters who would read the teleprompter with apparently not thinking- and god knows who wrote it? Two of the most memorable quotes: "Heavy snow in Chicago and other parts of the northeast" (which I suppose can be explained by the fact that quite a few here don't know anything that's East of Central Avenue; some never go east of Lincoln), and the corker: some botoxed baloon-head nattering on about "the leaning Tower of Pizza, France's most famous monument". The last time I was in New York, I noticed as a former resident that the talking heads they have now make Bill Boggs look like Edward R. Murrow. The reason for this rant? I went to the BBC news website to try to make the point that there is important news out there. That we are far too tuned into the culture of celebrity, and the Brits are showing how it's done.

On the BBC homepage? "Former Playmate Smith dies at 39", higher up on the page than both the LA and NY Times. Right next to it in the right rail? "What fashion tip has Donatella Versace given Hillary Clinton?"

I guess we get the news we deserve.

Pansy's Fun Facts

For the past few years I have had on the back burner the idea of getting Dual-Citizenship. One of the fun parts of having had a set of grandparents who emigrated from Ireland is the fact that I can (with some research) apply for Irish citizenship. The benefits? I can live, buy property and more importantly work in the EU. After I leave the US on my American Passport, I can travel on the Irish one (which I suppose would be helpful since everyone in the rest of the world hates us). The only hitch? All of the documentation. I've gotten my birth certicate, the birth, marriage and death certificates of my parents, and the death certificates of my maternal grandparents. Now I need to get the birth certificates for my grandparents and their marriage certificate. Sadly, I didn't pay enough attention to Mom's stories about my grandparents (long dead when I was a kid: we seem to be people who marry late, breed later and die young) so I don't know what part of Ireland they were born in, and when they were married. Things being what they were, the "city" where I grew up barely can get it together to get the names right on the death certificates, much less note the birthplace. For some reason I'd really like to do this: I'm very proud of my English family that went to the new world and founded a random town in Connecticut on the way to the Airport, but somehow getting this dual citizenship thing will honor my mother's side.

Wish I knew someone in Ireland..



Pansy's Rants

"Top Design" has come to Bravo. You thought "Project Runway" was gay? The not-so-naked lust Ilan had for Sam the diabetic-hottie chef on "Top Chef" was gay? "Top Design" makes them all look like "Bassmaster".

I may be hooked.

I think from now on I call the network BravMo