Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Everybody saw this coming.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

You are here: Home / Popular Culture / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Activism, But *Cutely*!

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Activism, But *Cutely*!

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This post is in: 

Because we need a break… okay, *I* need a break. Rep. AOC’s gown is all over the news, anyways:

IMO the front of the dress references a waitress uniform (the buttons, the pocket flaps), but maybe that’s just me?


Per the AP:

… The gala, which raises money for the museum’s Costume Institute, was pushed last year from its traditional May berth and morphed this year into a two-part affair. It coincides with the opening of “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” the first of a two-part exhibition at the Met’s Anna Wintour Costume Center.

This year, the gala is co-chaired by Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman and Naomi Osaka. Honorary chairs are Tom Ford, sponsor Instagram’s Adam Mosseri and Vogue’s Wintour, the latter the doyenne of the Met Gala since 1995.

The two-parter marks the Costume Institute’s 75th anniversary. The Met Gala raises the bulk of the institute’s annual funding, including a larger gathering scheduled for May 2. That date reclaims the first Monday in May for the gala and will celebrate the exhibition’s second part, “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” in the period rooms of the museum’s American Wing…

The Met Gala — short for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala — raised more than $13 million in 2019 for the Costume Institute, which is the Met’s fashion department. It’s the museum’s only curatorial department that has to fund itself and has an important friend in Wintour, who tends the guest list. She has raised so much money for the Costume Institute over the years (with estimates up to $200 million) that the wing now bears her name.

Tickets cost $30,000-plus, but that doesn’t mean the stars ante up. They’re often hosted by brands and companies that buy tables for thousands more and are accompanied by top designers who dress them.


Aurora James is an activist / fashion designer, per her Wikipedia page. If she paid for both tickets, I’m guessing she got earned-media value for her money.

‘Coming out of my shell’ –

NikkieTutorials; Marsha Johnson

Reader Interactions

249Comments

  1. 1.

    MagdaInBlack

    I love Billie Eilish being who ever she damn well wants to be. And oh my AOC stirred some shit with that dress.

  4. 4.

    germy

    When Brian Schwartz asked how AOC’s dress got paid for, he was merely continuing the fine tradition of questioning the price tag of everything every Democrat does or proposes.

    May the Schwartz be with him.

  11. 11.

    germy

    Speaking of fashion icons:

    gawker.com/politics/bi-icon-kyrsten-sinema-needs-her-special-juice

    Sen. Sinema’s wine mom vibe was confirmed yesterday in a tweet from Jordan Uhl, who captured screenshots from an Instagram account called @womenwholovewine that shows the lawmaker liking several posts. The gist of every one is, essentially, “Mama needs her grape juice :-)”

    While going through the @womenwholovewine account, I noticed that Sinema does fave a lot of the posts, but notably does not fave any of the posts that one could argue contain an actual joke.

  13. 13.

    debbie

    Between last night’s Israeli security flaw and this morning’s news of the death of a prosecution witness in Bibi’s trial, am I wrong to wake up feeling Clair Danes-y?

  16. 16.

    germy

    1. Which two supermodels — a candle and a Christian wife — have procured fake vaccination cards for the event?
    2. Which famous-family sibling and his singer girlfriend broke the new rules and won’t get vaccinated? They might share one kiss, but not at the Versace table, which has replaced them with a newly minted/frequently papped couple (who may arrive on a bike).
    3. Which actress claims that she will be filming the second season of her hit show instead of attending the Met Gala, but she’s actually just unvaccinated?

    gawker.com/celebrity/blind-items-met-gala-2021

  18. 18.

    germy

    @debbie:

    I’ve got a sinclair station in my town.  Their weatherman is the most accurate of all our local stations, but the political reporting is all thinly-veiled editorializing.

  20. 20.

    Central Planning

    Besides Billie Porter, do men ever wear something to these events that isn’t a black/gray tuxedo? Why does it appear that women are the only ones making statements?

  21. 21.

    Suzanne

    Someone should point out to the GOP that taxing the rich is so uncontroversial that the rich people invited her to be there.

    I mean, no one invited Elise Stefanik or Josh Hawley or Ben Sasse. Just saying.

  24. 24.

    John S.

    @Suzanne:

    Those people you listed weren’t invited for another good reason: Generally speaking, conservatives are not very fun. Look at all recent attempts at conservative “humor” in movies. Just cringeworthy shit.

  25. 25.

    Steeplejack

    @MagdaInBlack:

    I like A.O.C. I don’t agree with all of her positions, but she is media-savvy in a way that other Dems [*cough* Chuck Schumer *cough*] could learn from, and she is an absolute master at not only deflecting GQP attacks but bouncing them back with devastating effect. We could have much worse (and do!) at the left end of the party.

    I liked her “Tax the Rich” dress and her comment about “breaking the fourth wall.”

  26. 26.

    Kay

    Ben Jacobs
    @Bencjacobs
    · 18h
    INBOX: Donald Trump explicitly and falsely claims that the California recall is rigged

    Knew they were going to do it every election. The rigged election grift is too lucrative to give up.

  29. 29.

    lowtechcyclist

    With reference to Rep. Maloney’s dress, maybe it’s time we updated the ERA. In 1971, women’s equality was still controversial (the past really is a foreign country), and trying to pass LGBTQ rights would have been unthinkable.  Well, it’s 2021, and LGBTQ equality is just plain overdue.

    So we should try to pass an ERA that guarantees equal rights not just on the basis of sex, but sexual orientation and gender identity. (If that last is the proper term for trans and nonbinary rights; I’m not always up on the latest lingo.)

  33. 33.

    Ohio Mom

    @Central Planning: If you go to the NYT’s slide show, a good number of men wearing statement pieces. But generally, no, they don’t rise to the level of the women’s outfits.

    I found myself with mixed feelings about AOC’s presence but then remembered I don’t have to have an opinion on everything. Politicians need rich friends, like Willie Sutton, she’s going where the money is. Was that too cynical of me?

  34. 34.

    gene108

    @Central Planning:

    I saw some pictures of guys wearing things slightly off from a typical tuxedo.

    Two wore denim/ cowboy-ish clothes. One guy had a white tuxedo top with white sweatpants and sneakers.

    There others in more colorful clothes, even if the pattern was tuxedo-ish.

  35. 35.

    Immanentize

    @Steeplejack: I like AOC too. For one thing, she seems to drive all the right people crazy and forces errors.

    “Look, a Congressperson at a Gala!” is not the winning PR gotcha the media blowholes think it is. Except to other such spouters.

  36. 36.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Central Planning: Not that long ago, dress was a form of lekking behaviour for men, too.  [the time of Beau Brummel, etc]  These days, lekking takes other forms.  Do you remember in the 90s, some men would carry fake cellphones ?  Men would put their cellphones on the table at restaurants during dates, as a way of impressing their dining partners with the (uh) size of their equipment.

  37. 37.

    Suzanne

    @John S.: Dude, agree. Conservatives aren’t funny, they aren’t stylish, they don’t have charisma. I bet they’re terrible in bed, too.

  38. 38.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: They must know it is gonna be a big huge loss, to start beating the “stolen” drum circle so soon. Which is good, because in an off election, if they get blown out, it will make the claim more ridiculous in the future. Especially if some of the AZ audit folks end up in legal trouble.

  40. 40.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    If it hasn’t already it will be a reason to run. Either win or ride the Right wing gravy train for a couple of years. Can’t lose. Probably shouldn’t have gutted all the campaign finance regulation.

  42. 42.

    Immanentize

    @Ohio Mom: Also it is probably good to remember that the Met is just a short subway ride from AOC’S District. It’s in the neighborhood (i.e. local donors).

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    @germy

    When hearing the name Sinclair didn’t evoke revulsion.

    Alternative link to skip directly to the thunder lizards.

    Where are the dinosaurs now? Is there really a Lost World? The dinosaurs were never lost, just relocated. The creatures were offered to the Smithsonian Institution, but were turned down. The dinosaurs were then retired and dispersed to different parks. While working for the EPA in Texas, I took a daytrip to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, TX, about 100 miles southwest of Dallas, to view dinosaur footprints. Much to my amazement, I was also able to revisit my childhood dinosaur friends, Apatosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex. They were permanently put out to pasture in Texas, just like many of the nation’s racehorses.…

    Where do the other New York World’s Fair dinosaurs reside? Triceratops is in the Museum of Science & Industry in Louisville, KY; Stegosaurus went to the Dinosaur National Monument in Jensen, UT; Corythosaurus is in Independence, KS; Ankylosaurus lives in the Houston, TX Museum of Natural Science; Struthiomimus went to the Milwaukee, WI Public Museum; and Trachodon lives in the Brookfield, IL Zoo. Sadly, Ornitholestes was stolen and never recovered. Source

    ;)

  47. 47.

    different-church-lady

    Jake Maccoby
    @jdmaccoby
    ·
    22h
    If Joe Biden mandated not walking off a cliff we could wrap this thing up today

  51. 51.

    Tony Jay

    When they’re clutching their pearls and pre-emptively declaring themselves the winners of Optic War Eleventy-Billion, you know that they know that you know how much they hate and fear the optics of a left-wing Democrat using the Met Gala as an opportunity to make a statement and looking damned fine doing it.

    Plus, loved the pictures of Britain’s Emma Raducanu enjoying being young, gifted and completely in the madness of her moment at the event. That girl’s going to need a purse the size of the Arthur Ashe Court to contain all the money, endorsements, clothes and modelling jobs people are going to be throwing at her. Fingers crossed she’s as smart and level-headed as she appears to be, because 18 is hella young to be handed the world on a plate.

  52. 52.

    different-church-lady

    @Immanentize: So basically the Met Gala is a Halloween party with a bunch of people standing around awkwardly saying, “Is that a superhero outfit?” only with millions of dollars?

  54. 54.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Congresswoman Maloney was a longtime sponsor of the Corporate Transparency Act which requires disclosure of the real owners of shell companies. The act was added to the defence bill last December, which was then passed over trump’s veto. A Forbes writer described the Corporate Transparency Act as the most important finanancial reform legislation in decades.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    @Tony Jay:

    I hope she can withstand the stress and pressure which seems to have effected other players. It’s tough to enjoy the sport knowing how tough it is on the participants

    ETA: How horrible to be so young and not enjoy what you’ve dedicated your life to.

  59. 59.

    Tony Jay

    @Suzanne:

    Consider the colossal arsehole who had to drop out of running against Obama for his Senate seat in 2004 when it came out that he’d tried to pressurise his then wife into having sex with multiple other men at an underground sex-club.

    And his wife? This lady.

    Yeah, they be a deeply weird bunch.

  64. 64.

    WereBear

    @Tony Jay: I also enjoyed her take on things, celebrating who she is.

    Sports and show biz are two areas where performance can overcome prejudice: results are undeniable. Also, music: once people could audition from behind a screen!

  66. 66.

    John S.

    @Tony Jay:

    Plus it’s nice for a public face of the UK to represent the fact that multiculturalism and immigrants are not detrimental to society.

  67. 67.

    Tony Jay

    @Baud:

    It’s even more incredible. Becker was in the top 20 at the time and, though young, was known on the Men’s Tour as a definite threat. Raducanu might have been well known to the movers and shakers at UK Tennis, but she had to pull out of Wimbledon with anxiety and basically hadn’t competed for 18 months before that.

    Yeah, it’s one of those familiar “Are the writers just phoning this in?” scenarios. I watched her play every round from the qualifiers and have to admit I was just waiting for reality to come smashing in, but somehow she just kept on making winning look ridiculously easy.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I think it’s really damaging for the Republican Party to never admit they lost. That’s the other thing the claims of fraud do- they allow Party leaders, pols and the base to deny they lost which means they don’t change anything.
    Presidential incumbents usually win. Trump should have won. He had boatloads of money, a rabidly engaged and loyal base and his administration turned the executive branch into a full time campaign apparatus. He had every advantage.
    But they had no post mortem of any kind because they never admitted he lost. It just hurtles foward to the next cycle, no introspection or examination of what they do or why they do it.

  74. 74.

    Steeplejack

    Pandemic status report: The Sighthound Hall mob has decamped to the beach house in Rehoboth Beach to quarantine from the plague. Brother-in-law tested positive last Thursday; Bro’ Man got the positive result on his PCR test last night (after testing positive on an at-home test Saturday). Daughter (7 next month) is positive but asymptomatic; son (age 5) is negative so far. Bro’ Man doesn’t see how son can avoid getting it, but if it’s mild and asymptomatic, like his sister, that could be a bit of a silver lining—almost like a kid vaccine. ?

    Bro’ Man’s breakthrough case is anything but mild. Yesterday he told me that he coughed so hard and so long through the night that his back hurt. And he drenched the sheets with sweat. He says to stay masked up when necessary, and he’s righteously pissed at all the unvaccinated assholes roaming around.

    They abandoned Sighthound Hall so that various contractors could continue working to finish a big summer renovation (including kitchen). That was supposed to be finished a few weeks ago, while the mob was in Rehoboth for the summer, but, hey, construction.
    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    As for myself, I tested negative on an Ellume at-home test that I finally found yesterday after a lengthy search. I wanted the Abbott BinaxNow test, but there were not any to be found anywhere.

    My only exposure was having lunch last Wednesday with Bro’ Man (before even his husband tested positive). I would have followed the CDC guidelines and done nothing (no symptoms), except that on Saturday I gave my Trader Joe’s friend a ride home from work. I had just found out about my brother’s positive at-home test, so we were both masked for the short time we were together. But I felt like I should get tested to be on the safe side.

    The Ellume test is something of a hassle—you have to download an app and run it with your phone Bluetooth-connected to the testing gizmo—and it is expensive, almost $40 for one vs. two for $24 for the BinaxNow test. Here’s a pretty good video on the Ellume test procedure. It’s glacially slow in places but comprehensive. (I was surprised how hard it was to find a good video.)

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    Always doing the work ??????

     

    Rep. Lauren Underwood (@RepUnderwood) tweeted at 2:30 PM on Mon, Sep 13, 2021:
    Today is a big day for my Black Maternal Health #Momnibus Act! I am thrilled to see these critical investments to advance maternal health equity being considered by @FrankPallone & @EnergyCommerce as part of the #BuildBackBetterAct. Let’s pass this legislation & save moms’ lives!
    (twitter.com/RepUnderwood/status/1437498822045978626?s=03)

  79. 79.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Right.  We stress over his turnout in 2020, but the GOP lost big in 2018 and he cost them AZ and GA and gave us the Senate.  We won’t know for sure until 2022 and 2024 how things will shake out, but I have a hard time seeing how the GOP can be successful being Trump-like without having  Trump’s unique….qualities.

  81. 81.

    rikyrah

     

    Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) tweeted at 6:44 AM on Tue, Sep 14, 2021:
    The “every election we lose was fraud” trend in GOP politics is a good example of msm journalism ignoring trends on the right and also how Trump just sealed, magnified trends already in process on the right for at least two decades. Manufactured vote fraud claims …
    (twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1437744072882536456?s=03)

  82. 82.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    I know vaccination was required, but i still would have preferred seeing more masks.

  85. 85.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Steeplejack: I went through that a few weeks ago–kid was having cold-like symptoms, we needed results too soon to go PCR, and I gave her one of those expensive tests that use a phone app because the BinaxNow was completely sold out at the drug store (she tested negative). The availability of these things is a real problem.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I might become a poll worker again. I had to quit because I was arguing too much about the voter ID law (they weren’t following the rules) and it was too stressful and bad for my law practice because I can’t run around fighting with everyone in this small a town, but I think I’m ready to head back in. I feel strongly about voting rights and I can be intense.

    How the shift is arranged doesn’t make any sense to me, too. It’s 10 to 12 hours and all the exacting work that has to be done just right is in the last hour. Nine hours of rote followed by one hour of precise recording is a bad workflow. I think they should split the shifts in half. They won’t though because then they have to recruit twice as many people.

  88. 88.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Right, and as you’ve pointed out, the decline in quality can only accelerate in that scenario. It would be one thing if Republicans had no real power, but in places where they do, they are wreaking havoc, and it threatens all of us. They’ll either be curb-stomped by voters for their recklessness, or they’ll drag us all down.

  90. 90.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lowtechcyclist: With the original ERA, one of the things that drove people away from it was the worry that might imply more expansive gay rights, maybe even gay marriage!

  92. 92.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: but I have a hard time seeing how the GOP can be successful being Trump-like without having Trump’s unique….qualities.

    So do they. Hence all the gerrymandering, voter suppression, etc.

  94. 94.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @zhena gogolia: I’m kind of mystified by the event. I don’t understand why anyone wants to go, or why other people want to look at the clothes or the celebrities. I don’t understand celebrity-ness in general. I occasionally enjoy gossiping about people I know. But people I don’t know? I don’t care.

    I’m doing my pop-up book sale in my building today. We’re all supposed to be masked, and everyone who lives here is vaccinated.  I hope I sell a few books. I did manage to get my book trailers in a play list on my laptop and will run them in a loop, hoping the motion attracts buyers. Yay Techno-Me!

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    There’s just no attention to quality. The school board candidates they’re promoting- they’re all anti-vaccers, Q people and insane racists. People will notice when they’re actually on a school board! The candidacy and campaign is really the high point. It’s all downhill from there.

  97. 97.

    Betty Cracker

    So this is a thing that happened over the weekend at a festival in Indiana:

    The float was the brainchild of the Republican Party in Porter County, which issued a sort-of apology on FB that concluded as follows: “We wished no disrespect and regret that our tribute to the lives lost and those who continue to serve was to some perceived in bad taste.”

    Gee, ya think? Unbe-fucking-lievable.

  100. 100.

    Tony Jay

    @debbie:

    @WereBear:

    Fingers crossed. She certainly seems to be doing it the right way. Living in the moment, not checking her phone, just enjoying the fact that all that hard work and dedication payed off and she’s got a shiny trophy to prove it.

    Hopefully she does the even smarter thing and stays the hell away from the UK for a while, playing in more ranking tournaments and working towards getting into the Top 20. I shudder to think of how overwhelming the UK Media will be when she’s back on home soil, not to mention the beady-eyed desperation of Flobalob to get his slimy paws all over her for a PR photoshoot.

    Yuck. Stay away, girl, you know it makes sense.

  101. 101.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m a guy, so i can only write about this as an observer.

    I read once a woman wrote that fashion for women, is like sports for men.  So to run with that analogy, what obviously talented sportsman in some game, would *not* want to participate at the highest level they could attain in that sport, unless it was somehow inordinately costly to them?  And so, why should we be surprised that people like AOC would want to participate in this sort of thing?  She’s a young and attractive female, and in the normal course of things, she’s rather fashionable.  It follows as night follows day, that she’d want to participate in such an event, b/c it’s one of the big events for young, fashionable ladies, one would think.

    And all of that doesn’t include what @Ohio Mom: said about how it makes sense for her to see and be seen — rich people give political contributions, too.

  103. 103.

    Tony Jay

    @John S.:

    Absolutely, but it’s a monument to how incredibly low the UK’s official political discourse has sunk that the case even has to be made.

    It’s the fat, white, well-monied minority who are screwing up this country, not the hard-working brown one.

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    Still a tad peckish after a late din-din, so am munching on some grapes. Opened the container and there’s a label on the inside: “Crisp and Exotic with Sweet Grape Jam Flavor.”

    Grapes that taste like a product made from grapes? Who knew?

  110. 110.

    Gin & Tonic

    @NotMax: Several times we have bough a whole smoked whitefish from an artisanal purveyor upstate. It’s packaged in a large clear plastic bag with a label that says “Warning: Product Contains Fish.”

  112. 112.

    prostratedragon

    The Met Gala — benefit cocktails and banquet for the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, not the opera company — has been a social big deal in NYC for years, so it does indeed make sense for someone like Ocasio-Cortez to attend. Wikipedia comes through.

  118. 118.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Kay: And look at the young bloods in the party. They have absolutely no interest in governance or law or anything. They’re just campaigning (well, their weird form of campaigning) permanently. Many have done this in past decades, but the new twist comes from social media (I think). One of them (Cawthorne?) openly states that he’s not interested – at all – in constituent services or anything else in the job description. He’s just non-stop performing to the crazies.

  120. 120.

    Immanentize

    @Gin & Tonic: 1964. In Tomorrow Land. I was fascinated by this moving diorama they had about future transportation. I was just looking, and looking, but my family moved on. Maybe not an accident? I was 4, I don’t remember it well. But it was a scene replayed often at family gatherings where somehow I became the villain.

  123. 123.

    Woodrow/asim

    @rikyrah: That is an amazing outfit!

     

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I don’t understand why anyone wants to go, or why other people want to look at the clothes or the celebrities.

    I’m not a celebrity tracker, yet — as a fashion-oriented person myself, and once/future costumer? I adore events like these, problematic and all.

    I think a lot of it is that Western fashion in general tends to thumb noses at much of the pretense of our culture, while also shaping them. For example: events like there are where the banality of male fashion is starting to get reshaped in these times, esp. with Queer Icons like Nas X and Porter now walking the scenes.

    It doesn’t make up for…a lot of years where stunts like these were just same-old same-old, with a few fashions in various levels of “daring” (skin-baring, “riots” of color, and such like). But that’s also centered around the most interesting part of this, for me, in some ways — using high-end fashion, and esp. red carpet looks, as a weather vane around where culture is going.

    Because: although the old saying about skirt hemlines and the American stock market isn’t true, these events tend to showcase how comfortable certain classes feel. That people like Rep. Ocasio-Cortez are now infiltrating that discussion is, in and of itself, an interesting trend. It might be, for example, that the “entertainment wealthy” are more invested in a broader critique of our culture, one that — for all our Springsteens and NWAs — has really been on the edge of entertainment media for the last few decades, not at the forefront.

    That’s just a guess — it’s not like this is a style tread that is as broad/wide as the sheer trends of the later Obama era, after all! But it’ll be interesting to see how far this might go, as well as the efforts to just have a broader array of people attend these events in general.

    I know that’s a lot of words for “I like pretty clothes,” but we spend a lot of money on those clothes, y’all, as a culture. And that has always,  and will always, say something about who we are, and what we dream of.

  126. 126.

    hueyplong

    @Immanentize: That’s weird.  Sounds exactly like the 1939 thing, with the World of Tomorrow.  And in the same spot (the Shea Stadium/Citi Field plot), I think.

  132. 132.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: The only good arts to come out of the government was the short period when the WPA was doing wild stuff all around the country — plays, murals, music. But that got shut down PDQ.

  133. 133.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: I lost my youngest at the Forest Park Balloon Race once. We went into a tight scrum with him right behind me and his brother in front of me. Came out the other side without him. 30 seconds later I found the terrified little guy hiding behind a garbage can.

  135. 135.

    Ken

    @Betty Cracker: “We wished no disrespect and regret that our tribute to the lives lost and those who continue to serve was to some perceived in bad taste.”

    “It was a simple mistake to make, since we have been in our bubble for two decades and no longer have any idea what regular human beings consider normal.”

  137. 137.

    Chetan Murthy

    @zhena gogolia: Let us imagine a world with effective progressive taxation: the real thing, actually effective.  Will there be no sports?  No spectator sports?  I doubt it.  And so in like manner, I think it’s foolish to imagine that there will not be hierarchies of those who go to salons, society ladies, etc.  And so there will inevitably be such “galas”.  Maybe they’d be less obviously such displays of wealth, but they’d still exist.

  139. 139.

    Steve in the ATL

    Two months ago, a friend of 30 years sat in our living room and told us that the vaccine was unnecessary and that all one needed was HCQ and vitamin D.  Shockingly (sarcasm alert), he’s now down with COVID.

    I’m finding it hard to maintain my customary level of disdain and zero sympathy now that it has happened to someone I know and like.

  143. 143.

    NotMax

    @hueyplong

    Yup. Flushing Meadows Park, land formerly used as an ash dump. And still a place where the streets of some surrounding neighborhoods are paved with … mud. #1 – #2

  146. 146.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: I am not talking about your run-of-the-mill charity gala. This is something much huger, and almost monstrous in my view. But I’m clearly a minority of one around here.

  147. 147.

    Ken

    @hueyplong: I think most of the Fairs have had a World of Tomorrow. It’s fun to look at what they thought the future would be like, especially where they got it badly wrong. The exhibits of computers are particularly amusing.

  148. 148.

    Woodrow/asim

    @Baud: Is there any world in which government support of the arts is exclusive?

    I think at various points, yes, Communism. But they also proscribe art in ways that makes even the old patronage system look free-wheeling, so not a great model, that :)

    If it was me, thinking back on my dance days — what would make a massive difference, indeed a cultural Cambrian explosion of artistic effort, is when you get an honest Universal Basic Income. The ability to live w/o the fears that drive us today would likely see a lot of people start to take up, and produce, art. A lot of it won’t be…great, yet that’s not the point– there will enough good stuff, and more crucially, enough time for the so-so to get great.

    We can see it today to a limited extent: some arts, like creating music, have become easier and more broadly open thanks to tech + leisure + broader categories, like hip-hop and electronica. That’s created a massive flood of music that I don’t think we, as a culture, have really thought much about.

    But other arts don’t currently have these kinds of levelers in terms of production. Learning dance takes a lot of time and energy — not to mention risks to your body that, if injured, could harm your ability to do your day job. So a UBI (along with universal health care) changes the game massively for arts like that, s it allows people to focus on learning it without penalty. It also allows those arts that don’t currently have the financial support to have a large cadre of full-time professionals to do so, but that’s a somewhat different topic…

    …sorry, today is rambling day, it seems. :)

  149. 149.

    zhena gogolia

    I had no idea this blog was full of deep-pocketed fashionistas.

    We haven’t even gotten into the subject of why a serious museum would have the kind of exhibitions the Costume Institute does.

  150. 150.

    Baud

    @zhena gogolia: I don’t know that much about it, and if it weren’t for AL, I would have remained blissfully unaware.  Maybe I would agree with you if I knew more about the backstory about the event.

  151. 151.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thats what happened! Except I just stayed where I was (as instructed a million times) and it was more like 5 minutes (so reports my Mom). There may have been crying.

  154. 154.

    zhena gogolia

    I also wonder if anyone here remembers when the arts were far better funded by the government than they are now. The NEA and NEH had real budgets. It wasn’t a Communist-style situation by any means.

    But I give up.

  160. 160.

    Immanentize

    @zhena gogolia: Why would a museum have the kind of portrait paintings, almost exclusively of dead rich white guys, that they do? Why would museums collect works that were designed and executed for the rich art patrons?

  164. 164.

    Chetan Murthy

    @zhena gogolia:

    We haven’t even gotten into the subject of why a serious museum would have the kind of exhibitions the Costume Institute does.

    One role of museums is to preserve accurately the history of our species, right?  Material culture is part of that history, and the clothes we wear are a part of that material culture.  I’m a guy, and at some level, clothing is just something I wear b/c it’s a uniform.  But I can recognize that that’s not the case for a lot of people in our society.

    I’m not a fashionista at all, believe me.  But the mere fact that, for instance, women all over the Western World seem to have gone gaga over the sister of Kate Middleton (Pippa?)’s *hat* seems to be a sign that maybe it matters.

  165. 165.

    Ken

    @Baud: I take it the Balloon Juice gala has been called off.

    The problem is getting the cat into the designer dress. And then while you take the pictures, it’s always glaring at you with a definite “there will be revenge” look.

  170. 170.

    Chetan Murthy

    @zhena gogolia: I barely watch spectator sports.  But I can see my fellow males: it wouldn’t matter how flat you engineered incomes to be, there will always be a robust market in spectator sports, and there will always be a hierarchy of sports players.  And the world’s (or country’s) best will be celebrated in an outsize manner. They will be feted, showered with gifts, etc.

    And this will be true of the women who run and/or attend the most exclusive salons in the country, also.  There will always be a pecking order, and there will always be jostling both gentle and brutal, for admission to those salons.

    We inherit this from our primate cousins: men in a pecking order based on violence, females in a pecking order based on grooming.  You can’t change that.

  171. 171.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @zhena gogolia: Speaking for myself, I don’t care one way or the other. Some people enjoy going to and/or talking about these things. Whatever floats their boat.

  172. 172.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Well that close up of AOC in her dress is a side of AOC one does not normally see. lol

  173. 173.

    prostratedragon

    @Woodrow/asim: Learning dance takes a lot of time and energy
    And space, as do many of the other arts. In addition to universal basic income and single-payer health care, some protection from gentrification for studio space, where it exists, would be good. Think how many trendy neighborhoods got their start when artists who had set up in large but less-desired spaces got priced out by people who wanted to be near the buzz.

  174. 174.

    Immanentize

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I’m finding it hard to maintain my customary level of disdain and zero sympathy now that it has happened to someone I know and like.

    I have faith in you! Those qualities will soon return. But in the meanwhile, be sweet to your friend.

  176. 176.

    Steeplejack

    @Woodrow/asim:

    Ramble on! Good points.

    The average laptop—maybe iPad—has more music production capabilities available than the Beatles had for Abbey Road.​

    Similar for independent filmmaking.

  177. 177.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @zhena gogolia: I was saying that fair taxation would make the Met gala go away.

    It wouldn’t. Some people like to be seen. How can one be seen if there is nothing to be seen at?

  178. 178.

    Ken

    @Geminid: I wonder if that’s because packagers are allowed to inject a certain amount of “solution” into meats, allegedly for flavor but mostly so they can sell water for $5.49 a pound. I know the stuff has sugar and salt, maybe it also has some protein byproduct that might include gluten?

  180. 180.

    FridayNext

    @Central Planning: 

    Because the entire fashion industry, and the Met Gala specifically is premised on the monetization of the objectification of women? No one cares what men wear to the Met Gala or on any red carpet.

  181. 181.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy: actually the thing that surprises me is we aren’t  seeing  more weird and creepy Conservative AOC slash fiction disguised as Opinion or Political pieces considering how the Right was about Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton.  Maybe to many Conservative guys got chlamydia from their fiances girlfriend to be up for that kind of stuff now.

  182. 182.

    Winston

    I bought a Samsung reconditioned A20 with unlimited voice and texts from Tracfone. Phone cost $49+plan $199/year. Not too shabby. 4G with 32GB rom. It’s an upgrade from my now defunct LG Sunset, which I really liked and used for 7 years and cost me about the same per year. Hope I get 7 years out of the Samsung. I really appreciate all the input from Jackals last night. Thank you all so much.

  184. 184.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Steeplejack:

    I liked her “Tax the Rich” dress and her comment about “breaking the fourth wall.”

    What would be worse for America…having the rich pay their fair share of taxes (including merely collecting back taxes owed and yet unpaid) or the elimination of Social Security benefits?

  186. 186.

    Woodrow/asim

    @zhena gogolia: It’s not the kind of event elected Democratic officials should be participating in, IMO.

    I disagree. A massive issue is that these rich folx who prop up art (hello, Sacklers!) never meet Democrats. They can cut checks and look saintly over art, and maybe a bit for some kid’s charity — but they live in a world isolated from even the kinds of backgrounds an Eilish or esp. someone like Rihanna, comes from.

    I mean, does someone really think either of the NY Reps who attended are suddenly going to turn to the Dark Side because of rich people cooties from attending posh events? Seriously?

    On the other hand, you can bet both of them are damn happy to talk to the rich, n spaces they feel safe in, about what the ERA, or better tax balance, actually means to them. And even if that didn’t happen this time — they showed up and made a political statement that goes into media that normally pretends to be apolitical, and that matters, as well.

    There’s a lot of frankly crap opinions about how Democrats should operate. This, in contrast, should be our space, should be friendly to us, while also allowing us access to people who tend to only live in an echo chamber made of $1000 dollar bills.

    Let’s break that down, y’all.

  187. 187.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: When I was much younger, I was a bit of a club kid. Going out to hear live music, dancing, having a great time…. Dressing up in somewhat outrageous ways was part of the joy. And seeing others do so, also. People do it when they go to the opera, when they go out to a nice restaurant, when they go to the rodeo — my people did it when went to see the Psychedelic Furs.

  188. 188.

    glory b

    @Baud: Well, to me, the fact that she went at all shows that yeah, she’s in the establishment now.

    The people who put together the guest lists for the Met Gala know exactly what she is about. It’s not as edgy as some in the media would make it to be.

  190. 190.

    Immanentize

    @Gin & Tonic:

    All this chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter ’bout
    Shmatta, shmatta, shmatta,
    I can’t give it away on 7th Avenue
    This town’s been wearing tatters

  191. 191.

    glory b

    @Woodrow/asim: Eh, these people are mostly left leaning anyway, the Sacklers (and those types) don’t go to the Met Gala as much as the film, fashion, and art people do. People that rich aren’t out there hoping for paparazzi pics and social media buzz.

  192. 192.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Matt McIrvin:

    @lowtechcyclist: With the original ERA, one of the things that drove people away from it was the worry that might imply more expansive gay rights, maybe even gay marriage!

    And in the 1970s, the vast majority of Americans were somewhere on the scale from uncomfortable with to vehemently opposed to the notion of rights for gays.

    Not so much anymore, thank goodness.

  193. 193.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Woodrow/asim: Yes, Stalin’s Soviet Union was an artist paradise, even get your ego stroked by having the great man himself view your work, all provided you were willing to do the kind of art Stalin wanted.

    The problem with the arts revolution and the internet it was an accident and it’s clear the tech dude bros don’t like it one bit and desperately want and app to do it.

  194. 194.

    NotMax

    @Ken

    Paradoxically one of the least visited attractions at the Columbian Exposition of 1893 was the massive Machinery Hall, showcasing the mechanical wonders ringing in the future. The open to the public boiler room there was so gigantic one could barely make out detail from the far end.

    Thing was that it was not a series of static exhibits, all the machinery was functional and when in operation in unison raised a din so loud and cacophonous that it was reported it quickly drove outdoors the fraction of fairgoers who set foot inside.

  195. 195.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: Oh yeah. I used to go to wkend caver gatherings of 200-500 cavers. The first time I wore some colorful and a bit out there clothes, I was amazed at how much female attention I got. They’d look at me and think, “This guy looks like fun, I’m gonna hang out with him for a bit.”

  197. 197.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Immanentize: I was listening to that song, which was my favorite at the time, when 1979 turned into 1980.  I had surprisingly good musical taste for a 12-year old.

  198. 198.

    Woodrow/asim

    @FridayNext: No one cares what men wear to the Met Gala or on any red carpet.

    There is a massive men’s fashion industry — smaller, and with its own issues, yet still highly relevant and even innovative. I’m not here saying that the fashion industry isn’t a whole-assed Problem on many levels, but erasure of the male side of the house is, for me, really frustrating.

    As someone who follows these things — people do actually talk about male fashion. I just pointed out, above, how a number of folx who ID as male are getting talked about in today’s Met Gala coverage, and not just as one-off novelties. This, in fact, has been going for a few years now, with men choosing far bolder fashion concepts than I ever thought I’d see!

    Is it on par with women’s coverage? No. But compared to a decade ago, it’s massive.

  199. 199.

    Ken

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: There is a (possibly acrophyal, as wikipedia notes) story that Stalin was shown two possible designs for the Hotel Moskva, and said “yes, do that”, so the two wings were built to different designs.

    The hotel has since been demolished, and replaced with the Four Seasons Hotel, not to be confused with Four Seasons Landscaping. Hmm, the boss makes a mistake and none of the flunkies want to tell him, so they all end up looking slightly ridiculous — it’s true, history doesn’t repeat, but it echoes.

  200. 200.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Chetan Murthy: I recall the drooling being pretty mainstream media back in the day. Heck, at work once, one of the wingnuts came up to us at break and started babbling about Michelle Obama’s ass being a Liberal conspiracy to destroy American decency and make all of us gay.

    So I am going with swollen conservative testicles. Tucker clearly is concerned about something,

  202. 202.

    prostratedragon

    Teasing the NY fashion world: Emerald City Sequence: Green, Red, Gold, The Wiz. (Note filming location)

    Always wondered whether that scene was inspired partly by the Green Ball:

    in 1934, Bernays was asked to deal with women’s apparent reluctance to buy Lucky Strikes because their green and red package clashed with standard female fashions. When Bernays suggested changing the package to a neutral color, Hill refused, saying that he had already spent millions advertising the package. Bernays then worked to make green a fashionable color.

    The centerpiece of his efforts was the Green Ball, a social event at the Waldorf Astoria, hosted by Narcissa Cox Vanderlip. The pretext for the ball and its unnamed underwriter was that proceeds would go to charity. Famous society women would attend wearing green dresses. Manufacturers and retailers of clothing and accessories were advised of the excitement growing around the color green. Intellectuals were enlisted to give highbrow talks on the theme of green. Before the ball had taken place, newspapers and magazines (encouraged in various ways by Bernays’s office) had latched on to the idea that green was all the rage

  204. 204.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Ken: Sounds like Beria was in charge of the project Stalin look art, film, radio and writing as a serious part of his vision of communism. Waiting for Hitler has a whole chapter on how Stalin would personally smooze with his art collective and critic their work and then of course all the artists would fight over who was Stalin’s favorite.

  205. 205.

    Winston

    Florida fashion for men: Summer; black shorts, black polo, sandals. Winter; black shorts, black polo, black socks, sandals.

  209. 209.

    Suzanne

    @Chetan Murthy:

    I read once a woman wrote that fashion for women, is like sports for men.

    I have close to zero interest in fashion in my personal life, but I love looking at the Met Gala outfits every year, and I like some of the fashion blogs. It’s an art like any other, and I think it’s criticized for being unserious and shallow specifically because it’s a thing associated with women and gay men. Sports are freaking silly, too, when you think about it — why would anyone possibly care about perfect strangers playing a game? — but it’s not perceived in the same way. Fashion takes me out of the everyday a bit, it gives me something interesting to consider about how people move through society. It’s like painting or pop music or cinema or furniture-making, and it’s okay that it isn’t everyone’s thing.

  210. 210.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I’m finding it hard to maintain my customary level of disdain and zero sympathy now that it has happened to someone I know and like.

    Yeah, but I still want to take those people I know and care about, and shake them by the shoulders and say, “now, do you get it?”

    I wrote here several weeks ago about my wife’s cousin who was in the hospital for 17 days with Covid.  She’s lucky to be alive,  she still needs oxygen, and she’s looking like she’s going to be one of the long-haulers.  Her husband got it too, and was in bed for three days, but no hospitalization necessary, thank goodness.

    They’ve got two kids of high-school age, and two in elementary school.  Not a single one of them has been vaxxed, even now.  Their thinking is apparently, “we’ve all either had it or been exposed to it.” Neither of which is a magic bullet against this plague.

    They’re evangelicals in central Florida, so they’re getting their information from all the wrong sources, of course, and this won’t make them skeptical of those sources. Drives me nuts.

  211. 211.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: For caving? As varied as the caver. Everybody had their own sense of what worked best for them. For me it was light clothes that shed water quickly. I could keep my body temp up as long as I wasn’t too wet. I was always trying new stuff too. I’d see somebody wearing a type of footwear that I’d never thought of before, and if it made a kind of sense, I’d give it a try and weigh the pros and cons of it after a few trips.

    Outside of caves, we’d generally wear whatever we could find in the Goodwill reject pile.

  212. 212.

    laura

    I’m a plain Jane and shallow as ditch water and sadly, my dressing up to swan about days are mostly in the rear view mirror, and yet I’m a sucker for fashion and enjoy the life’s rich pageant events like the Met Gala for fancy people being all fancy and such like. But I’m obsessed with this book: The Fabric of Civilization: how textiles made the world by Virginia Postrel. Before there was guns steel and germs, there was thread (well, there were germs tbh). Textiles and trade and commerce, gender and division of labor – this book has it all.

    Also, confiscatory tax rates to wring the idle capital out of the soft pink palms of the too rich and used for the common good – but also fashion as art and imagination. Porque no los dos?

  213. 213.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @glory b: yeah, these tweets nailed it for me

    lease mess with Texas @agraybee 12h

    It takes guts to say tax the rich in a room full of Democrats and Europeans.

    I’m sorry but if Anna Wintour lets you come to her party you’re not punk.

    as usual, this is brilliant politics if you think (left) twitter has 8 Senators and 26 electoral votes

  214. 214.

    Ken

    @laura:  I find it amazing how much time used to be spent spinning thread. People — well, let’s be honest, women — carried a bag of fiber and a spindle everywhere, and when they had a free moment they spun. Meaning they didn’t have a free moment, though at least it’s the sort of work that allows you to chat.

  215. 215.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Ken:

    @OzarkHillbilly: So what is typical garb for caving?

    Like OzarkHillbilly said, it varies with the caver.  I eventually settled on coveralls over cutoffs and a t-shirt.  The idea being once I got out of the cave, I could strip the coveralls off, which would shed most of the mud that had glommed onto me inside the cave.

    Damn, I miss caving.

  216. 216.

    laura

    @Ken: All of that Ken! All. Of. That. And how thread was valued less than the eventual textile because the thread spinning took so long, if you valued the thread, you couldnt ever afford the finished product.

  217. 217.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @lowtechcyclist: Damn, I miss caving.

    The preteen daughter of a buddy of mine once said,”Caving… It’s like fun, only different.”
    Which summed it up to perfection.​

  218. 218.

    Barbara

    @laura: ​ I like looking at red carpet photos, but I have to admit that the Met Gala has left me cold for a while now. Most of the highlighted garments look more like Halloween costumes than fashion, and I guess I dislike the wink wink about being “woke” when you are wearing a $10,000 dress. However, I think Anna Wintour looks great.

  219. 219.

    Barbara

    @Steve in the ATL: ​You can hope they get better and even help them out without sympathizing with the stupidity that landed them where they are. My sister’s former BF was arrested for drunk driving and spent time in jail (it wasn’t a first offense). We helped him get through it, we didn’t wish him harm, but it was sayonara as soon as he did manage to start getting his life back together.

  220. 220.

    germy

    Look, I don’t want to punish anyone’s success, but the wealthy have been getting a free ride at the expense of the middle class for too long.

    I intend to pass one of the biggest middle class tax cuts ever — paid for by making those at the top pay their fair share.

    — President Biden (@POTUS) September 14, 2021

    “Yes… Ha, ha ha… yes!”

  222. 222.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @Chetan Murthy: Actually Beau Brummel was the originator of dull clothes for men.  Only dark blue or black, beige or cream or black pants, white shirts, black hats, natural short hair.  Now his clothes fit like a glove so he looked fabulous, but no color.  He often shamed his mentor, the Prince Regent, who at times would wear green satin coats.

  224. 224.

    germy

    my position on the met gala is that the only public events politicians should be attending are state fairs, corn feeds, pancake breakfasts, the like. the median age of attendees should be >50

    — jacob (@jacobdotgov) September 14, 2021

    if you play it right you can get away with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, depending on what it’s for

    — jacob (@jacobdotgov) September 14, 2021

  225. 225.

    Ken

    @germy: if you play it right you can get away with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, depending on what it’s for

    A new bridge paid for with funds from a bill you voted against, for example.

  227. 227.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Knew they were going to do it every election.

    The biggest problem with this is that the press doesn’t know how to call them out on it. They treat it like it’s in good faith, when we all know it’s totally in bad faith. They know there wasn’t cheating, but the press won’t just say that over and over. It plays into their base’s idea that Republicans cannot lose, they can only be cheated out of what is rightfully theirs, as they are the ruling class.

  228. 228.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @laura: The Fabric of Civilization…thanks for the rec, it sounds very interesting.

    I taught myself how to sew masks during COVID and got pretty good at modifying patterns for more layers and better fit. Couture is not a passion of mine but if you look at it as an artistic construction project, there’s much to admire.

  229. 229.

    Ohio Mom

    Zhena gogolia:

    I’m conflicted myself. I get that all cultural and charitable institutions have to lure rich people into contributing, and that fundraising is an incredibly competitive field.

    Also, most of the outfits at the Met Gala were indeed stunning in their creativity and craftsmanship. Even the less successful efforts (some of those get-ups were downright awkward) had layers of meaning and metaphor, much to unpack. The old art student in me was captivated.

    But all that in-your-face Versailles vibe! Probably not any worse than most of what the ultra wealthy do out of our sight, I’m just uncomfortable to be reminded that we live in a second Gilded Age and all the ways this shapes and constricts our lives as members of the 99%.

    There is also something about everyone there being reduced to being a celebrity, as if celebrity was the highest value. AOC and Carolyn Maloney, Amanda Gorman, Simone Biles, the list goes on — their hard work and achievements end up being equivalent to the Kardashians who are essentially famous for being famous.

    As much artistry and accomplishment that was present, as good as the cause being supported, the Gala feels more like a demonstration of excess for and in itself. It comes off as wealth porn.

  230. 230.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Presidential incumbents usually win. Trump should have won. He had boatloads of money, a rabidly engaged and loyal base and his administration turned the executive branch into a full time campaign apparatus. He had every advantage.

     

    And a MSM that bent over backwards to try and normalize him.

     

    There was someone on Twitter who asked the question yesterday of why the Media didn’t make more of when the Woodward tapes were released.

     

    I thought it was obvious.

    The media was clinging to the INCOMPETENT label when it came to Dolt45’s COVID Response.

    The truth was what many of us on our said had said that it was –

    it was DELIBERTATE MALICE.

    And, if it was indeed DELIBERATE MALICE, then they don’t have any ‘ both sides’ wiggle room to play with to try and continue to normalize Dolt45.

  231. 231.

    Betty Cracker

    @germy: Prediction: there will be a chorus of hosannas from the exact same people who were shitting on AOC five minutes ago for saying essentially the same goddamned thing. Taxing the rich is a policy that most Democrats support, and it’s popular with the American people. Yay, Biden! Brava, AOC!

  233. 233.

    rikyrah

    @OzarkHillbilly:

     

    “If anybody believes that the previous administration would’ve evacuated any Afghans to the US much less tens of thousands as President Biden did, I would suggest they ask the Kurds their opinion of that.”

    Rep. Tom Molinowski

     

    KAPOW!!!

  235. 235.

    Miss Bianca

    @Steeplejack: I agree. I find some of her posturing kind of annoying/infuriating, but *man*, has she got great snap-back capacity. If her game on constituent services continues upwards *and* she works her way into the Democratic leadership on a national level (which looks very likely), AOC will be a force like Nancy Pelosi. We should all be so lucky.

  238. 238.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker:

    the exact same people who were shitting on AOC five minutes ago for saying essentially the same goddamned thing.

    “shitting on” meaning expressing even the slightest skepticism about the actual effectiveness of this and other stunts?

  239. 239.

    different-church-lady

     

    @Steeplejack: I have found that the best revenge on the prematurely smug is to say nothing at all. They expect an I-told-you-so, and it will drive them absolutely batty when you don’t provide.

  241. 241.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Miss Bianca:

    Yep. I have a friend who is way more into social media than I am. She jokes that right after “Never fight a land war in Asia” should be “Never get in a Twitter fight with Chrissy Teigen.” And she thinks A.O.C. is almost in that class already in her social media skills.

  243. 243.

    Darkrose

    @Ohio Mom: But all that in-your-face Versailles vibe! Probably not any worse than most of what the ultra wealthy do out of our sight, I’m just uncomfortable to be reminded that we live in a second Gilded Age and all the ways this shapes and constricts our lives as members of the 99%.

    What I like about the Met Gala is that it’s not about the ultra wealthy. Yes, the attendees are rich, but they’re the creative classes–millionaires, but not billionaires. You don’t see Bill Gates, or Jeff Bezos, or Elon Musk, or the surviving Koch brother at these things. What you do see are some incredibly talented artists, musicians, and athletes–many of them BIPOC–getting a chance to shine and have fun dressing up, which is one of the most human of impulses.

  245. 245.

    tmflibrarian

    @different-church-lady: It’s actually a fundraiser for the Costume Institute at the Met. Caring for textiles is incredibly expensive and fussy, yet provides far more information about the daily life of those in the past than a marble sculpture. It’s just that those types of archived items aren’t always able to be on display due to fragility.
    Politicians (and many celebrities) don’t pay for tickets–they’re just the draw for the really rich people to donate to an aspect of the Met that isn’t as flashy as a famous painting or ancient artifact, so is often overlooked otherwise.

  246. 246.

    J R in WV

    @Betty Cracker: 

    how about this 9/11 parade float in Indiana?

    OMG, not only is it in terrible taste, it is also a terrible execution, with nothing to scale. What a catastrophe in every way !!

  249. 249.

    J R in WV

    @Miss Bianca: ​
     

    I find some of her [ Ocazio-Cortez’s ] posturing kind of annoying/infuriating, but *man*, has she got great snap-back capacity.

    The only competition for AOC’s wit is perhaps Ms Jen Psaki, who is a gold medalist in the witty come-back in a hostile environment. The two of them own the category ~!!~

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