Because it’s always a competition.

So there haven’t been many posts lately. I could make up some lame excuse, but basically I don’t have one, and I’m a bad liar even when you can’t see my face giving it all away.

You may have noticed that my brilliant friends have been popping up more and more around this parts. But it just didn’t seem fair that I got to get all this amazing street cred all to myself. So please, when that gets up and running in the next few days, check out what witty and hilarious things I had to say about them, or what they think about themselves, depending on the laziness factor, at the top of this page, under “Contributors” and “Mentionables.”

Also I was in the Times this month. Mothers, they always find a new way to embarrass their children. But UChicago thought it was worthwhile enough to retweet

What I particularly liked about this piece was the nature of the comments. As follows, the most uplifting thoughts:

Tough Love:
December 10, 2010 12:13 pm
Aww get over yourself! Show up, pay attention, and do your best. After that, it is just a crapshoot.

— BJ

The Depressing:
December 10, 2010 12:47 pm
I also went to the University of Chicago, and graduated with an honors degree. On graduating, I did exactly what your daughter is doing, and I unfortunately ended up in a job I grew to hate in a dead-end industry. Now, five years later, I’m going back to school to get the qualifications I need for a career in a field for which I have real passion. My point? Applying for colleges taught me to be good at applying for things. Having to face the realities of a bad job market and the lack of choice that entails taught me a lot more about myself and the things I truly value. I hope Kate has the degree of freedom the author suggests she will, but I’m guessing it won’t be quite that easy.

— Not so sure

The Really Depressing:
December 10, 2010 2:49 pm
We have 2 recent college grads in the family. Grad 2008 –magna cum laude, English major, several PR/journalism internships in hand — has cobbled together 3 part-time jobs and is still looking for a full-time-with-benefits position. Grad 2010 — Ivy grad in chem with honors — found a lab job that will cover his rent and not much more. Their friends are working a variety of jobs — cashier, waiter, temp secretary, etc. Not a career path in sight.

I fear for the kids who have tried to enter the workforce in the past two years. The entry level jobs that should have been open to them are gone, or are demanding 3-5 years experience (because employers can now get experienced people to take entry level positions). And when the economy finally recovers, I fear that these grads who have been making do in a terrible job environment will have potential employers wondering “Why did she work in Home Depot for three years?” and will pass them over for recent grads. A lost generation of employees…

Good luck to Kate. She will need it.

— lp

Corrections: A few weeks ago, one Cassandra Breckenridge wrote me an email, correcting some factual errors in what I assume was this post, as I have unfortunately not written about the Real Housewives since (this Camille/Kyle drama is really stressing me out. I want petty drama, not real hatred. Bravo, take note). She noted that Kim and Kyle, the ones who are half-sisters with Kathy Hilton, do not have the last name Hilton. Their last name is Richards, as Kathy’s was before she married. Cassandra, thank you for writing in. In my defense, in episode 1, Kim talked so much about Paris and being a Hilton that I think I was blinded by that connection.

My opinions about what beauty is and how much it should matter change a lot. But here’s some stuff I’ve been reading/consuming lately, mostly thanks to Netflix instant, which has a lot of awful movies, but a consistently great documentary collection. Even my mom was impressed.

1) “To me, the key to beauty, is to constantly learn, and grow, and do things, have adventures. Maybe they just learned how to garden, and they’ve never done something like that before, or roller skate, or been to the arctic, or backpacked, or, you know, just did something, so that you see it in their eyes. That to me, absolutely, 100%, is beautiful.” — Cheryl Tiegs

2) “I love beauty, it’s not my fault…I know what women want. They want to be beautiful.” Valentino Garavani, Valentino: The Last Emperor

3) Anyone who hasn’t seen it should watch the BBC mini-series The Human Face with John Cleese and Elizabeth Hurley that came out in 2001. The section about Beauty (all on Youtube, with part 1 of it embedded below) is my favorite, but the other three episodes are great too.

Colson Whitehead’s The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found is how I felt then, and how I feel now.

My block, circa backintheday. Photographer Richard Press’ site
has lots of beautiful photos, but his ones of the Fulton Fish Market are definitely my favorite.

Image by Richard Press

Now, in order from best to less best, weirdest to most normal, I present:

1) Seriously — cats are allowed to roam free in Ikea at night, but I’m not?

Ikea releases 100 cats into its UK store [Doobybrain]

2)

This slideshow rounds up the combination of Ikea with another great amenity, sex with strangers.
Best of Craigslist: Ikea Sex

3) Ikea Hacker. DO IT YOURSELF.

“The fashionable Lourdes – who runs a Macy’s clothing line with her mom – sported ankle-high leather boots, a black skirt and a plaid sleeveless shirt over a white T-shirt. She clutched a cell phone, with a multicolored wristband on her right arm offset by an assortment of bracelets on her left.” Sounds like she’s really pushing the fashion envelope for teenage girls. Multicolored wristbands?!

When I found out she was class of 2014, I felt olddd. But then I watched the interview with these kids, and it didn’t seem so long ago that I was hanging out with them, saying mildly inarticulate things.

Let the drama begin! Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon has fashionable start at LaGuardia High School [The Daily News]

“One might wonder why the Girl Scouts have been spared the painful attacks that have been launched upon the Boy Scouts by the Left in recent years. The reasons are simple: the Girl Scouts allow homosexuals and atheists to join their ranks, and they have become a pro-abortion, feminist training corps. … If the Girl Scouts of America can’t get back to teaching real character, perhaps it will be time to look for our cookies elsewhere.” — Hans Zeiger, Republican candidate for Washington’s House of Representatives.

I definitely had a hidden agenda. Those vests can be misleading.

The Girl Scouts are selling you lesbian, baby-killing feminist militia cookies [Feministing]

Mostly the thunderstorms. The midwest is so much better on all that weather stuff. Thanks to my Dad for this one; he sent it to me when I was abroad and missing the USofA. I guess we like weather in my family (but really only when safely inside and surveying from a distance).

Lightning strikes three of the tallest buildings in Chicago at the same time! from Craig Shimala on Vimeo.

I know everyone has their own way of remembering, but some ways are wrong.

French newspaper the latest to badly exploit 9/11. [Copyranter]