Monday, April 16, 2007

Barneys, The Secret and some quality (and tacky) TV viewing

Songs of the day:
"Rapture" - Blondie
"I Know You, I Live You" - Chaka Khan

Yesterday I saw my friend Sfashionista for the first time since she gave birth to her adorable baby boy. As always, she looked amazing and we had a great time. Instead of rolling to brunch like a slob, I wore a pretty Tory Burch tunic dress a friend gave to me. I received many compliments. I will no longer wear track pants to brunch. The two guys next to us had on shorts and baseball caps. I get it if you are at a casual place but we were eating at Barneys. At a dinner party last weekend, a friend wanted to know when did it become okay for grown ass men to dress like sloppy 14 year-old boys? Is this a So. Cal thing? I don't remember men in NYC, DC, Houston or Austin and def. not in Rome dressing so young.

After brunch we did some window shopping. I wish I had some money. I saw my former neighbor Jason. He is a shoe salesman on the first floor. On that salary (and I assume commission), he was able to buy a condo (which are very expensive around here), owned a Jeep and a 5 series BMW. I don't miss him playing his music extremely loud or trying to keep track of all his girlfriends but he was a really nice neighbor.

I saw a fantastic pair of Christian Louboutin shoes (well, several really) and I am glad to report I did not whip out my Barneys charge card. I have so many expenses coming up and there was no way I could justify spending $570 on a pair of shoes. None of that "cost per wear analysis" was going to work. I did charge a Diptyque candle as a gift to myself for all the drafts I have completed on my novel. The scent Baises is my favorite. I do not have a bunch of scented candles in my apartment and it has been years since I bought a Diptyque. I didn't feel guilty about that purchase.

A friend gave me a copy of THE SECRET. I started to read it yesterday. It's all about the principal of postive thinking. I will finish it this week.

I watched "60 Minutes". Lesly Stahl interviewed the three lacrosse players from the Duke rape case. Sfashionista (a Duke alum) and I had a long conversation about the controversy. What if the boys had come from poor families and couldn't afford top legal advice? If I were the parents I would sue the prosecutor, and the 88 Duke professors who convicted the guys in the press might want to apologize. Every crime accusation must be taken seriously. However, once things don't add up, you drop the charges. No one brings a case to trial unless they feel they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt a crime has been committed.

This case made no sense. There were no DNA matches, one of the alleged rapists was at a restaurant at the time of the attack and had an ATM receipt/was recorded on the bank camera, the other stripper said nothing happened. How can you do a line up without any decoys? The D.A. had a tough election coming up and thought this unstable women's story would help him win. It did but now he might be disbarred and could face criminal charges of his own. Regarding the accusser, I feel sorry for her three kids, there is something truly wrong with her. Where is her family?

I happen to catch the show "Killing Pablo Escobar" on the History Channel. Fascinating. The writer Mark Bowden was interviewed along with government officials, Delta Force ops, Escobar's former allies etc. If the movie ever gets off the ground I wonder who will be cast as Escobar. The movie will make "Scarface" seem like Romper Room.

The Sopranos had me cracking up. Best line of the night,
"Who is Leonardi Da Vinci?" asked Phil Leotardo
"The guy who wrote the Da Vinci code," said by one of his nephews. Then Phil's wife, a devont Catholic, went off on a mini-rant about the book.

I have a feeling something bad is going to happen to Christopher.

Now for the trashy part. I LOVE NEW YORK. WTF? If someone trashed my mom on national TV I would be salty as well but Tango acted like he didn't know what he was getting into. I want to know what hair care products Real uses. It's so healthy. 12 Pack? I don't even know what to say.

CHARM SCHOOL - I am glad they told the girls that their past behavior was not cute and people were laughing at them not with them. I did say "oh damn" when Mo'Nique thought Saaphria's (sp??) name was her nickname and said it was just wrong. Oops.

I hope the girls will learn something from the experience but man do they have some serious issues.

2 comments:

Paula Puryear Martin said...

That was so fun! I feel like I had brunch, went to Barney's, wore that fabulous Tory Burch dress, and bought the shoe salesman's condo and BMW myself. Thanks for a very fun bit of vicarious social life. I'm a Duke alum, so I watched the whole debacle with sadness. I was stunned it went on as long as it did, but it also makes a certain tragic sense. Durham is an old Tobacco plantation town and the race/class dynamics are intense. Early on, before the clear evidence presented itself, this would have clouded everyone's vision (from the Take Back The Night student protestors, to the black Durham community, to the University community, to the prosecutors) -- which only underscores how important it is that we not rush to judgment, as we so often do in our media culture. The presumption of innocence has been eroded beyond recognition, which is a tragedy. The other tragedy is that this young woman, who sounds like she's in need of serious professional help, will likely never receive it. After all, she's poor and black, and she lied. If only she were famous, she could say she's sorry, go to rehab, and make it all go away.

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

P. I forgot you went to Duke as well. I have to say I was shocked that Imus didn't announce on Rev. Al's show that he was going to to rehab.

Prior to Mr. Gibson and Mr. Washington's troubles I didn't know one could even go to rehab for using slurs.