Camera Lucida

New Web Project: Reclaiming Beauty: Please Donate Using the Payapl Button On the Right

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:58:00 +0000

Garden in the Cloisters , New York
Discussed in: Garden Guide: New York City pp. 33-37
Cloisters Flowers
[Photo by KPA, August 2012]

I have started a new web project, which I've titled "Reclaiming Beauty."

In the "About" section, I've described it thus:

This is a site which aims to reclaim beauty. It is a group effort, with the vision that it becomes a movement.

Please take a look, make a comment, pass on an idea. Join us.

"This is complete system failure and I’m going to get to the bottom of it."

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 19:19:00 +0000

The program Face the Nation interviewed Senator Lindsey Graham this morning about withholding the nomination for the CIA directorship from John Brennan, and the confirmation as secretary of defense of Chuck Hagel until more information is provided about what happened at Benhazi.

Below are quotes from the video (posted above) on Graham's position:

I don’t think we should allow [John] Brennan to go forward for the CIA directorship, [Chuck] Hagel to be confirmed as secretary of defense, until the White House gives us an accounting. Did the president ever pick up the phone and call anyone in the Libyan government to help these folks? What did the president do?

He continues:

I don’t know what the president did that evening. I don’t know if he ever called anyone. This was incredibly mismanaged. And what we know now — this seems to be a very disengaged president. What did he do that night?

This was incredibly mismanaged. What we know now seems to be a very disengaged president.

And

This is complete system failure and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.

The president was just disengaged and the Department of Defense never launched one airplane to help these folks for seven-and-a-half hours. This is complete system failure, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.

The above image is of President Barack Obama at a Press Briefing in the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013. He looks as though he hasn't had a full-night's sleep, with red, blood-shot eyes and blue, heavy lids. I wonder what is keeping him up? The Narcissist/Revolutionary-in-Chief is probably more running scared than dwelling on any guilt.

Improving the Name of the "Beauty" Site "To Reclaiming Beauty"

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 14:32:00 +0000

I have reconfigured my website on beauty and called it "Reclaiming Beauty." Our current situation is more dire than appreciating beauty. We have to reclaim it from the nihilistic, anti-beauty climate that is percolating in our culture. Please support this initiative.

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I am raising funds to initiate my project "Reclaiming Beauty."

Please use the most convenient method to submit the funds:
- Contact me by email, and I can send you my mailing address
- Contact me by email, and I can send you information for direct deposit into my bank
- Use a secured Paypal deposit method by linking to the Donate button on the side

Thank you in advance for your interest.

I will send a gift, from my own "Trillium Series" designs, for the corresponding contributions:

$20 - Brooch/Button

$35 - Note Cards (Pack of ten)

$55 - Mug

$75 - Tote-Bag

$100 - Wall Clock

Fundraiser for New Project "Reclaiming Beauty"

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 22:27:00 +0000

I am raising funds to initiate my project "Reclaiming Beauty."

Please use the most convenient method to submit the funds:
- Contact me by email, and I can send you my mailing address
- Contact me by email, and I can send you information for direct deposit into my bank
- Use a secured Paypal deposit method by linking to the Donate button on the side

Thank you in advance for your interest.

I will send a gift, from my own "Trillium Series" designs, for the corresponding contributions:

$20 - Brooch/Button

$35 - Note Cards (Pack of ten)

$55 - Mug

$75 - Tote-Bag

$100 - Wall Clock

Male Politicians Kissing Female Politicians

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:19:00 +0000

Laura Wood, at The Thinking Housewife, has a post up which she has titled:

When Did Political Figures Start Kissing Each Other?

I think the more accurate question for the corresponding images is:

"Why are male politicians kissing female politicians?"

The two photos Laura has posted are of male politicians kissing female politicians. She has captioned the photos thus:

- "Interior Secretary Nominee Sally Jewell kissing Outgoing Secretary Ken Salazar"

[It is actually the other way around.]

- "Sally Jewell hugging Obama."

[I would venture to say that it is Obama who "initiated" the hug, and Jewell happily responded.]

I think it is a residue of the male instinct to protect females. It is like the combat zone modern-day American soldiers who run after female soldiers trying to save them.

It is also the new era of male politicians kissing their wives in public, and gripping onto their hands as they approach those intimidating crowds and podiums. Romney does it, Obama does it. How about Hilary? It is Bill who does the kissing, even if his wife is politically more important than him.

Former President Bill Clinton introduces,
and kisses, his wife,
Former - through resignation -
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
before her speech at the Clinton Global Initiative
on September 24, 2012.

Male politicians know that politics, like war, is a deadly game. They must instinctively realize that these women are in the line of fire, from voters, from fellow-politicians, and definitely from rivals. Seeing a woman, a matronly, grandmother-type woman, a young, attractive female, or anything in between, will spark their protective instinct.

Of course, in this era of equality, females will go to the end demanding equality, and believing they have achieved it in these moments of high-level assignments. Yet, if the male chauvinism (the kind, protective type) were removed, they would be in the combative fray, like the men, and wouldn't be able to handle it.

In the photo, Obama looks on benevolently and approvingly. Would he have that same expression if the two protagonists were male, and were just (normally) shaking hands? I don't thinks so.

Of course, this is another, documented, visible, reason for not giving females prominent political positions. Their vulnerability will distract some (most?) men.

The Convoluted Mind of Equality Seekers

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:19:00 +0000

View of Museum Gustavianum in Uppsala
Artist, Johan Gustaf, 1756-1820
8 (H) 14 (W) cm (sheet)
Watercolor on paper
[Image Source]

The Swedish newspaper which Lars Hedegaard edits, Dispatch International, is temporarily open for the public, without the required fee-paying access. This is to give us a glimpse of Hedegaard's work. Hedegaard is president of the Danish Free Press Society, a branch of the International Free Press Society. I have met Hedegaard twice. Once on a trip to New York to participate in IFPS activities, and another time at a lecture in Toronto.

Hedegaard was recently attacked by an "Arab looking" man. As Diana West recounts, a gunman posing as a deliveryman [it looks like a mail delivery to me] shot Hedegaard on his doorway, but missed. What kind of shooter misses at such close proximity to his target? Nonetheless, no-one is reporting that this "Arab looking" man is a Muslim assassin. Hedegaard is a vocal critic on immigration, and especially immigration of Muslims. He was convicted of hate speech in Denmark, but was acquitted. He lives under the constant threat of assassination like his fellow-Dane cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.

Dispatch International has an interesting article on one of its pages (I have reproduced the full article below, but here is the link).

Miserable Swedish skills at the universities
Artilce by Maria Calendar

Gloom and despair rule among the university lectures in Sweden. The language skills of the students are so bad that it is becoming hard, bordering on impossible, to conduct classes.

”Far too many of them simply do not understand what we are saying,” as nine historians of the universities of Uppsala and Linköping write in an opinion piece in the Swedish daily Uppsala Nya Tidning.

Sweden has dropped like a stone in all surveys of language skills conducted over the last 20 years. The alarms have been sounding for a long time, and the lecturers have requested effective reactions, but nothing has been done.

”The reason that we are going public with a verbal emergency call is that the students no longer have the required tool to even absorb humanist science: the language. The majority of the students coming to us from high school haves problems with the language,” the historians write.

Inger Enkvist, professor in Spanish at the University of Lund, knows the problem intimately. She has written several books and opinion pieces about it. In her latest book ”God och dålig utbildning – internationella exempel” (“Good and bad education – international examples”), as recently as last week, she again tries to make people aware of the issue.

"The problems are well-known to the lecturers, and all surveys point in the same direction. Among the skillful as well as among those having a harder time at school, Sweden stands out with declining reading skills, year after year," says Inger Enkvist to Dispatch International.

The problem has several roots, she thinks. One is the public perception of the teaching profession, which has declined so much that it no longer attracts inspired and ambitious teachers. Another is the laissez faire mentality of the 1960s and the 1970s, which provided evidence that no proficiency requirements are demanded of the pupils in primary school or in high school.

"If you merely show up, the demands are fulfilled. It is useless to discuss the quality of university education when the level of primary schools and high schools have been permitted to fall so drastically. It is not unusual that 8th grade pupils have entry-level reading skills. No single teacher can fix that at the university," says Inger Enkvist.

The attitudes of the students also leave a lot to be desired. Many exhibit what Inger Enkvist calls a “primary school mentality”, even at the university. They lie on the benches with their caps drawn down, they are insolent to the teachers, and they come and go as they please.

"It is all about rights, rights, not about the work they themselves need to do.
Effort and responsibilities. They are missing the basic insight that one cannot acquire knowledge without effort. Many students have an entirely flawed perspective."

Many students of immigrant background, young women in particular, are very ambitious and outshine their ethnic Swedish classmates in Swedish skills. But there is also a problem in that one can be admitted to the university by studying “Swedish as a secondary language” at high school. And even passing the mandatory language test to attend university is frequently not sufficient.

"The test is far below what is considered normal high school level. And the Swedish skills of the students are frequently too superficial, the language too simple, to work at university level," says Inger Enkvist.

The future looks gloomy, if one doesn’t urgently improve the Swedish primary and high schools, she thinks. Strengthen the position of the teacher and improve the image of studying, reintroduce discipline work habits and begin to making demands — these are all required actions.

Dispatch International has asked for comments from Minster for Education Jan Björklund, Liberal People’s Party, but his press secretary Eva-Marie Byberg declined the request.

Inger Enkvist, the Spanish professor cited in the above article, neglects to connect the dots. It is not Swedish students who are lacking in...Swedish. As Enkvist herself says: "[T]here is also a problem in that one can be admitted to the university by studying 'Swedish as a secondary language' at high school. And even passing the mandatory language test to attend university is frequently not sufficient."

Enkvist understands the problem is primarily a problem of poor Swedish comprehension from non-Swedish speaking students who haves somehow managed to infiltrate the university. But she throws into the basket: lazy (Swedish) students, insufficiently prepared (Swedish) high school students, unskilled (Swedish) teachers, the (Swedish) laissez faire mentality of the 1960s and 1970s. The blame falls squarely on the Swedish students. I.e. the native-born, white, non-immigrant Swedish. The ambitious immigrants, and especially those ambitious women immigrants, cannot be at fault and cannot be criticized.

I wrote above that Enkvist neglects to connect the dots. More precisely, Enkvist doesn't, cannot, connect the dots. To do so would be to declare that non-Swedish students perform worse than their Swedish counterparts. And that would be racist. And to add to this egalitarian mix (egalitarian for non-Swedes), Enkvist emphatically adds those ambitious immigrant young women (but which ones, and where?).

The university has a long and rich history. According to this site:

In 2007 the Museum Gustavianum celebrated its 10th anniversary. The Gustavianum building is much older. Some sections are from the Middle Ages. It is Uppsala University's oldest preserved building erected in large parts during the 1620s.

The name comes from Gustav II Adolf who donated funds and land for a new university building. Previously, the University was run in a house from
the Middle Ages south west of the Cathedral.

Contemporary view of the university
[Image Source: Dispatch International]

At some point, Westerners are going to have to realize that their countries are being hijacked as they watch, and that so-called representatives like Enkvist are giving them away without a struggle. At some point, Western dignity will have to be resotred.

"This Country Would Fare Better Without You"

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 02:31:00 +0000

[Image from VFR]

I've reproduced below the full article "Standard Lying Politician" from the View From the Right which was posted on VFR on February 3, 2013 (I got the title for this post from a comment I sent in response to the VFR article). I've included comments by readers, including mine.

STANDARD LYING POLITICIAN

Here is Obama engaging in a standard gesture of dishonest politicians: posing for a photograph of himself hunting or shooting at targets, so as to create an image of himself as pro-gun (not to mention as being a regular guy), when in fact he seeks to dismantle gun rights where they really matter: self-defense and resistance to tyranny.

Critics of this PR photo are quoted at length in the New York Post.

- end of initial entry -

February 4

James N. writes:
Anyone who has ever fired a shotgun knows that photo is a fake.
LA replies:
You’ve got to be more specific, monsieur.
James N. replies:
By the time hot gasses are leaving the muzzle of a gun, the equal and opposite reaction (recoil) is at maximum. No one can stand erect, with the comb of a shotgun too high on the shoulder, and not react to the huge force being exerted by the recoil.
LA replies:
And therefore? He was firing a blank?
James N. replies:
Could be a blank (I didn’t think of that), or Photoshop.
John writes:
Those of us who have fired shotguns know that Obama’s pose is an incorrect stand for shooting skeet. If Obama has just fired, why isn’t he showing recoil, such as the cheek wrinkled? The stock pressed into his shoulder? What is the puff of smoke to the right of the muzzle? In an article at American Thinker, an analyst who knows guns lists all the things wrong with the picture of someone who says he likes to go skeet shooting. The author concludes, “All in all, this was staged like everything else in President Obama’s life.”

More than 200 commented on the article. Many are experienced shooters quite critical of the picture and believe the picture was photoshopped.

On the other hand, Sarah Palin, a real woman, shows good form while teaching skeet shooting to her daughter Bristol. Mr. Obama shoots, like, well, Bristol Palin.
Kidist Paulos Asrat writes:
I think you are being generous towards Obama. The more I try to understand him, the more I realize that he is insidiously evil. He wants destruction, and destruction of the white West, in order to give us his utopia.

I think in this regard he is even worse than African black dictators, to whom he has been compared. You could say that black dictators were fighting their rivals, the whites, the best they know how. I don’t think they aimed to destroy their countries. And in some sense, in some historical sense, one could argue that the physical land was theirs.

Obama carries his blackness like some kind of yoke. But he is still an American. Even a black American ought to have some love and respect for his history and the people he lives alongside. The people who created the country in which he lives, and has prospered. Obama is set to destroy his rivals, cleverly and systematically. This means he is out to destroy whites, cleverly and systematically.

Why is he shooting that rifle? Why does he have to show us that image? I think he is running scared. I think he thinks that whites are beginning to see through him, and he has to appease them somewhat. But, it is probably too late for appeasement, and I personally think it is too late.

By the way, I know people like Obama. Black, non-white people who have an evil hate for whites, and who go out of their way to find any possible way to destroy them and their works. It is easier to get away with this in Canada because of the multicultural laws, and the Human Rights Commissions, which are another way of destroying whites. I always say to these people: “Just go back to where you came from.You don’t belong here. You don’t love the country, you don’t wish it well. It would fare better without you.”
LA replies:
I did not mean the description “standard lying politician” to be an exhaustive critique of Obama. I was merely speaking of this photograph. I agree with what you say about him.
Joe R. writes:
Kidist Paulos Asrat wrote:

“I always say to these people: ‘Just go back to where you came from. You don’t belong here. You don’t love the country, you don’t wish it well. It would fare better without you."

Oh dear. If she said that in the UK they would clap her in jail alongside Emma West.

--------------------------------------------------------

Actually, I've had emails calling me racist for saying these kinds of things. When this continued (and I realized it wasn't some kind of eccentric prankster) I went to the source of these emails, I found it to be a forum mostly frequented by Asians and whites.

Finally, I decided to give these cyber-terrorists their own medicine. I started to reply to their emails with:

"One more email from you and I will track down your identity and report you to the Human Rights Commission for racial harassment."

A report to the HRC by a non-white is taken very seriously. These people knew that, and I received nothing more from them.

I am watching PBS Pioneers of Television program as I write this post, and tonight's focus is The Miniseries. Roots is one miniseries being discussed. At the very end, one of the slaves, George says: "Kunta Kinte, he never forget where he come from. He never forget Africa."

Of course, this is said in the spirit of black racial pride, according to the film, but it speaks of the deep discontent blacks have in America. So I wasn't wrong, or callous, when I say: "You don’t love the country, you don’t wish it well.”

I would say the same to Obama, "You don’t love the country, you don’t wish it well." He cannot go anywhere though, so his dilemma, and his anger, is unresolvable, in his own eyes. I don't know what the solution is for people like Obama, whose deep set discontent is what a large majority of blacks feel. Perhaps humility is their only answer, not the forced and undignified humility that slaves suffered, but the humility that this is all in God's hands.

New Site: Beauty

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:37:00 +0000

I have started a new project. It is bigger than a website.

I hope to reclaim beauty from the avant-garde, nihilistic environment that surrounds us. Rather than fight it, I thought I would start a site that would be a study of beauty, a critique of our current beautyless, or anti-beauty, environment, as well as a place to give and receive practical guides and accounts on how to acquire and reclaim the beautiful.

I hope to have a list of regular contributors to the site, who will eventually become part of a bigger movement.

I have called the site simply "Beauty," although I do add a qualifier which says "For Body, Mind and Spirit."

Here are the preliminary stages.

Beauty.

The Raised Fist of The Revolutionary-In-Chief

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:39:00 +0000

Obama's cleverly uses Michelle's aggression to act like the "good guy." Yet, he is following in his politics the exact same dismantling of white society that Michelle is blatantly advocating. His expression above is a benevolent cringing at the loud vocals probably emitting from Michelle. Yet, she clearly behaves this way because he never tells her to stop. He wants her to behave like this. Their private conversations must be full of raised fists.

I saw this image of the Obamas and their raised fists while searching images on my Michelle Obama "fashion" posts, but I didn't want to detract too much attention away from Michelle's aggressive personality as seen through her clothes.

This is what I wrote about her:

Perhaps her real persona is the aggressive militaristic, black power one, where she is following her smart husband's intentions, which he is reticent to disclose to us.

In an email exchange with Jeanette Victoria, this is what I said about the Obamas:

I can actually see her turning ugly. Is that why Obama is so nice to here - kissing her in public, and all those intimate dances during their parties? And he also needs her irrational (black power) anger, since he's not going there in the same way. He's smartly sticking to "politics."

And in an email to Laura Wood of The Thinking Housewife I wrote:

By the way, Jeanette's Star Wars analogy with Michelle's entrance sparked my follow up post on Michelle. And there is much there besides a pictorial one (e.g. Obama's underlying aggression, and Michelle as his female Captain).

The email conversation with Jeanette turned to evil characters in current films (I had done a blog post on a film referencing Little Red Riding Hood and which turned into some kind of were-wolf rapist story.

Jeanette writes:

Check out Lost Girl it's a Canadian show.

I replied:

I missed that! Actually, I don't have the cable channel Showcase.

So this is one of those girly, super-heroine, "mysterious" beings, who just wants "The Truth." And Good for the world! I wonder when the wolf (the bad white male) will show up. Of course if he shows up as a black male, she would forgive him, and even hook up with him, as Larry Auster keeps showing us.

Laura has this image up in a post which she titles The Revolution Lives.

James N., a reader of her site writes:

They [the Republicans] are constantly stuck down in the weeds arguing details, details about which Obama cares not at all. Obama is a visionary, he has his eyes on the prize (the destruction of America), and for him all the twists and turn of the political process are simply means to an end.

James N. is being sarcastic when he calls Obama "a visionary." But I think Obama takes his role of changing America, and he surely calls himself "A Revolutionary."

My Friend Muni

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:26:00 +0000

When I used to teach English as a Second Language, I had a friend called Muni, or at least she wanted to befriend me. For some reason, I was wary of her. I found her zealous attempts to reform the ESL program to be too aggressive. And she wasn't as good as she thought she was; I covered a few classes for her and saw her teaching method (I would insist that she give me her lesson plan since I was't going to improvise).

She was a singer, and performed Indian songs with her husband . "We are artists," she told me. Her program always included and "some western songs to make the audience happy" she said. She had musical talent, but her voice was too weak for performance. She invited me to a few of her concerts, including one Eid performance. She was Muslim.

Those days, I was just beginning to understand the slow incursion of Islam into Canadian society. One Ethiopian Muslim, who also worked in my building (he "counselled" "new comers"), once sat me down and lectured me on how the Ethiopian Amhara (the group I come from) mistreated other ethnic groups, including Muslims. I knew his version of Ethiopia's past was wrong, but listened anyway. I didn't have the language or enough knowledge to argue with his adamant lecturing. But I think he lectured me so that I would be a mouthpiece and relate his views to my family, rather than any strong urge to "convert" me. He never wanted an Amhara mingling with his Somali/Oromo tribe.

Canada was also just beginning to embrace multiculturalism with a vengeance, which in my naive way I rejected, and Muslims were going through all kinds of petitions, political and otherwise, it include Muslim holidays in the official calendar. But, it was more insidious, since they were also working on eliminating Christian references, including the infamous "War on Christmas."

Muni always wore long skirts and loose blouses, with flat shoes. I thought it was some musician/artist thing. It looked gauche, like someone going for some look, but ended up looking a little odd. But she never dressed in these "western" clothes for her concerts, rather she wore glittering Indian saris. Her husband, with whom she performed, wore Nehru style shirts to these performances. I think her everyday clothes were her attempt at covering her body in accordance with Muslim dress codes. For her performances, she went back to her Indian (she was Bangladeshi) roots, and wore the beautiful saris. I think her audience expected this of her, despite their Muslim background. Sometimes (very, very few times), culture trumps religion.

They had two children: a son and a daughter.The son was about sixteen when I knew them, and the daughter about twenty three. This daughter always wore super-mini skirts. I could never understand why Muni would let her wear such clothes. "I don't want her to leave us" she said once, without my asking her. The daughter married a Muslim man, and I don't know what happened to her or her appearance after that, although I'm sure it has changed.

Muslim's seem uncharacteristically lenient toward their daughters until they get them married off. The husband is always a Muslim, or a Muslim convert. Then, the duties of a married Muslim woman has to take over, however modern she may seem (like Muni) if she want a harmonious family life. Honor killings are not necessarily for western-fashion attired unmarried girls, but for those who abandon their families for a non-Muslim man, or by conversion to Christianity.

Muni invited me to her home a couple of times. It was a little sparse and conventional for "artists" but I noticed that there were several Islamic paraphernalia, including a koran prominently on a table. After a while, I stopped accepting her invitations (she once started a "friendly" conversation about the Amhara, which I realized was a jab at my Christian background). But that wasn't the real reason I detached myself. I realized that she will always be a Muslim, and that she was reaching out to friendly-looking and friendly-seeming people to inject her Muslim culture, and who will be some kind of ambassadors to relay that image into the larger society.

I don't know what has become of Muni, and her family, but her efforts have not been in vain (not with me, but with Canadians in general). Mosques dot the landscape, Muslim holidays are openly celebrated, hijabed women are on the streets, and any "racist" comments towards Muslims can bring down the iron fist of the Human Rights Commission.

When will the rest of Canada learn?

Deconstructing and Reconstructing The First Lady of Power

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 18:26:00 +0000

In my last couple of posts (here and here), I wrote about the militaristic appearance of Michelle Obama in one of the events for her husband's inauguration. The first post was her entering Capitol Hill for the swearing-in ceremony wearing a Thom Browne coat.

A reader, who saw my post at The Thinking Housewife, emailed me to say she looked like something from Star Wars.

I put the Capitol Hill entry photo together with Darth Vader's in a following post, to the approval of the Star Wars afficionada: "Oh my the visual is absolutely perfect!!"

At The Thinking Housewife, Perfesser Plum writes:

I’ve detected a typo in your heading [Michelle Obama: Militant and Girlish]. I’m sure you meant to type,

“Michelle Obama: Militant and Goulish.”

She looks like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix, only more masculine.

Well, above is Michelle with the great company of Darth Vader and Neo.

The Neo reference might be the most pertinent.

MORPHEUS: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?[Source]

We could ask the First Lady the same question, who could pass it on to the President.

It is odd that it is so easy to find other "personas" for Michelle Obama. As I wrote in my previous post on her: "We would never have imagined Jill Biden, Laura Bush, Jackie Kennedy, or even the formidable Barbara Bush as Darth Vader or Boris Karloff."

I wonder why that is? All I can conclude is that she is in a place and role so alien to her, that she has to keep reinventing herself to fit the role she thinks she should have. She seems to narrow it down to an ultra-feminine, girlish appearance, or an over-charged militaristic one. Perhaps her real persona is the aggressive militaristic, black power one, where she is following her smart husband's intentions, which he is reticent to disclose to us.

She Looks Like Something From Star Wars

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:55:00 +0000

Jeanette Victoria sent me an email on my post First Lady of Power (FLOP?) with this comment:

You know she looks like something from Star Wars.

To which I replied:

Very Funny!

She sends in later:

LOL I also read "jack boots by designer Reed Krakoff" as Boris Karloff LOL [She] does look like some futurist scarey nightmare.

We would never have imagined Jill Biden, Laura Bush, Jackie Kennedy, or even the formidable Barbara Bush as Darth Vader or Boris Karloff.

The Racist, Immigrant-Hating, Mayor of Toronto Keeps His Job

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:05:00 +0000

Mayor Ford of Toronto got into a lot of trouble for daring to say that non-white immigrants were not assimilating into Canadian culture. He said this after a bout of shootings by blacks. In a moment of un-censored bluntness, he said that these immigrant criminals should be deported back to their countries of origin.

He was also outspoken about the huge homosexual bully activists when he refused to attend (lead) the "gay pride" parade last year, which I wrote about here.

He then went into financial scrutiny for embezzlement charges, and if found guilty would have been removed from office.

He has been cleared of these charges, and will remain in office.

I hope he continues with his feisty, and honest, leadership, to prevent Toronto's further take-over by aliens.

First Lady of Power (FLOP?)

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:29:00 +0000

Michelle Obama's sartorial decisions for the various presidential functions are being discussed all over the media, so I will also pitch in. Most critics are looking at the cost of her outfits, but I will look at their design.

It isn't the first time I've critiqued Michelle's outfits. I've always found her dress decisions to be fascinating. She has a whole army of designers and stylists to help her, yet she always manages to look off.

So here's my brief take on the clothes she wore to the most important days of her husband's life (I think this second term is even more important than the first, since Obama has made it clear that he intends to finish off what he started during his first term).

Michelle wore designer Thom Browne's (not spelled Tom Brown, God forbid the conventionality) what looks like a military coat for the Monday of the inauguration events, including the visit to church and while walking a couple of stretches of the procession down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.

She "accessorized" the coat with purple gloves and a fashionable reference to jack boots by designer Reed Krakoff, who had created an interesting blouse for Anne Romney, which I wrote about here. Krakoff also designed the "shrunken sweater" and the pattern-less dress Michelle wore at the official swearing in, which I write about below. Is jackboots how Krakoff sees Michelle, along with a juvenile shrunken sweater? It is interesting that these designers want a powerful, militaristic Michelle, yet also want her to look innocuously feminine (almost like a small girl), as though to sartorially dampen the former with the latter. And Michelle obliges.

Here's what Krakoff gushes about her:

It was such a pleasure to work with someone so iconic. She really epitomizes the Reed Krakoff woman, a woman of incredible strength and modernity and a woman who knows her own sense of style. That's the most gratifying part of it. She's the ultimate person to dress.

Thom Browne's ensemble includes the Michelle "touch" with that studded belt. I'm not sure how Michelle got to Browne. He's a morbid, "avant-garde" type of designer. One of his runway shows involved models climbing out of coffins with gauze wrapped around their heads. She has worn his clothes twice before.

Browne says he designed the coat/dress inaugural ensemble based on a silk jacquard tie design.

He says in an interview:

She has a really strong sensibility and style of her own. And she likes well-tailored clothes so the inspiration was doing something that looked tailored and structured and fitted through the body and somewhat A-line for the skirt and the dress ... something that's as strong as she is as a person and as an individual

So, I wasn't far off in surmising that Browne was giving Michelle a masculine, power look.

Yet, the "reverse" patterned dress beneath the coat (the squares are white) makes it look lighter and more whimsical. It is more like a frock rather than a dress. The black squares give the coat a heavy and stern look. Her top is her familiar shrunken sweater. Once again, these designers vacillate between an aggressive, dominant Michelle, and a subdued, girlified one.

J. Crew's designer says about the "already sold out" belt:

The embellished belt the First Lady wore over her Thom Browne coat wasn't a belt. "[It] was actually a sash—she fashioned it into a belt," Lyons explains. "We won't rerun that. She did her own thing to that, and out of respect, we'll let her have that moment."

It was hard to imagine that a seasoned designer would produce such an ugly item. J. Crew's designer Lyons explains that she was only partially responsible for it. I'm sure it is against the advice of her stylists that Michelle decided to stud-up this belt.

Michelle herself never seems to know if she wants to be a power woman or a debutante. Her long (new, as everyone reminds us) bangs say "small girl" but her very heavy make-up, probably with false eyelashes, almost says bordello woman.

Below are Cathy Waterman earrings Michelle wore with her coat/dress outfit. She wore a more subdued pair of diamond studs for the church service, along with grey heels, but changed all this to for her harsher look for her walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I couldn't find a better image, nor a copy of the earrings at Waterman's site. It is meant to go with the Thom Browne outfit. It matches, of course, but compare that to the lighter, more visible (but not overwhelming) pair that Jill Biden wore (which I've posted below).

Below is a close-up of her stylishly gloved hands holding the bibles (plural) for Obama's swearing in.

The studded, military-style belt becomes the background to the swearing in. And true to the strange, alien, nature of the ceremony, Obama had two bibles at the Monday event. Martin Luther King's was there (it was Martin Luther King Day that Monday, after all). But, its real purpose was underline Obama's adamant "integration" of blacks, and the signs of his administration to come. The Lincoln Bible was also a nod to blacks.

Jill Biden's coat, which she wore at the same event, although a plain grey, has a feminine touch with the bow. It is made from silk and wool, so has a subtle sheer. Her designer is Lela Rose, who isn't exceptional (she's no Dior), but she somehow managed to put together this elegant piece for Mrs. (Dr.) Biden.

The dress under the coat is also by Lela Rose. It is not a complete match (or a "reverse" match like Michelle Obama's coat-dress ensemble), but works well together with the silver/grey coat.

Below is Jill Biden's mature "bangs" and subdued makeup. I am also struck by Jill's amiable, almost humble expression, compared to the hard, over-confidence Michelle portrays.

And the white sapphire and mother-of-pearl earrings she wore were designed by Kara Ross, which Ross describes as "maze button drop earrings," and which fit proportionally, with the overall outfit.

The Obama family was in the Blue Room of the White House for the official swearing in. Michelle wore a blue dress. For the Blue Room? But the color might be the only thing worthy of the room, and even that is too dark against the turquoise blue of the room. It isn't blue, but a black and blue undecipherable pattern. Again, she opted for a frock-like dress for this formal room and formal occasion. The designer is Reed Krakoff, who is "thrilled" that she chose his design. He also provided her with the shrunken, cropped sweater, which Krakoff calls a "bolero," which is now becoming her signature.

The Obama children showed up in birthday party frocks to the official swearing in, looking uncomfortable under the watchful portraits behind them. Young Sasha seems to follow her mother's fashion "sense" with that gladiator belt she's strapped around her light and summery dress. Malia, as I've noticed before, seems to be rebelling against something (her outspoken mother?) with the odd mini-dress. By late adolescence, young women usually want to look pretty, but perhaps not in our era.

The red gown Michelle wore to the inaugural ball is by Jason Wu. It is similar to Wu's sack-like dress he designed for her for the last inaugural ball in 2008, and has the gladiator cut she has worn in other occasions that shows off her powerful upper-arm muscles. Wu must be learning fast, to keep his post as court designer, unlike J. Crew's team who had to relinquish their final stamp on their design for their inability to read the First Lady's desires.

Foul Films and Exhausted Actors

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 22:45:00 +0000

I wrote recently about the Foul Films that make up our era's movies. I reviewed Anna Karenina with Keira Knightley, and discussed why I would not watch Django Unchained.

One of the actors in Django Unchained is Leonardo DiCaprio. I think he's a talented actor, and has managed to show good performances in a number of films in the past ten years, including The Aviator, Revolutionary Road, The Departed and Catch Me if You Can. I think his break out role was in Titanic, in 1997.

Recently, though, he's gone into the dark side. He acted in a couple of movies bordering on the horror genre, Inception and Shutter Island (I review them both here, under the blog title Zombie Zeitgeist). They are both so insidiously evil, that I kept having recurring nightmares, in day light (one of the films deals with disintegrating buildings). I was temporarily rendered paranoid.

During an interview after the Golden Globes, he says that he's taking a break from filmmaking. He looked tired and weak. The reason he gave for his break was that he felt that he'd been going non-stop for a number of years. But that should be par for the course for actors.

I think the real reason is that Django exhausted him, with its evil and violent theme. His role in the film was as Calvin Candy "A ruthless plantation owner."

Here is an interview he did for the film's promotion:

This was my first attempt at playing a character that I had this much disdain for. It was an incredibly uncomfortable environment to be in... I've seen racism growing up but the degree I had to treat other people in this film was disturbing. It was a very uncomfortable situation... One of the pivotal moments for me and this character, was this initial readthrough, and I brought up, 'Do we need to push it this far? Does it need to be this violent?'... And [the actors and Quentin] said, 'If you sugar-coat this people are going to resent the hell out of you.' By holding the character back you're going to do an injustice to the film. That was the thing that ignited me into going where I did with the character.

Hypocrite-In-Chief: Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:19:00 +0000

Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises,
for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.
Edmund Burke

The image above is from the NRA video recently released, which I've posted below. The NRA has captured the arrogant lift of Obama's chin, which I wrote about here:

...Obama's [has a] defiant and arrogant (with the "Mussolini" chin lift) expression. Yet, there is the vacant, frightened look in Obama's eyes...that I've often observed. When intent and action don't jive, something shows, somewhere.

It looks like I'm not the only once to call President Obama a hypocrite, although I think I identified it first (I hadn't heard the word referred to him before I used it). My post was related to Obama's eulogy for women, and yet when it comes to putting his words where his mouth is, he doesn't deliver.

The NRA has recently released a video ad where it exposes Obama's attitude toward security for his children vs the security for the children of ordinary Americans.

To be fair, the President's children are in far greater danger than ordinary children, yet, no security in this era where any kind of character is allowed to attend public schools, is hypocritical, and worse callous (I would call it evil).

Below is a quote from the NRA video (the full video below that):

“Are the president’s kids more important than yours? Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school? Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, but he’s just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security.”

It is easy to be a "champion" of the weak. But to use them for one's gains is the height of hypocrisy.

Obama has armed security to guard his daughters at school, yet he's on a national mission to eliminate guns from American homes.

Hypocrite.

But people aren't sitting quietly:

Thousands of gun owners across America have had enough of the Obama administration’s attack on the Second Amendment – and they’re preparing to take their concerns to the capitols in at least 47 states this Saturday, Jan. 19, at 12 p.m.[Source]

I think there's a more insidious reason for Obama's zeal. Much of gun violence and gun-related deaths are committed by blacks, both against blacks and whites. Their guns are illegally acquired.

Rather than target this small, but toxic group of criminals and murderers, Obama has made it a generalized "gun control" issue. He has made it a national issue, rather than a racial one.

Ordinary citizens who could protect themselves from any criminal or murderer, black or white, now have less ability to do so, at least according to Obama's desires.

So, rather than identify the problem, Obama is making ordinary (white) citizens pay for the crimes of blacks.

Glamorous Gowns, Foul Films

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 22:39:00 +0000

Here's a new type of gown which I haven't seen before, but which I think works: A long skirt with a short blouse/jacket.

Anne Hathaway, on the left, is wearing a Chanel "suit" with the top and the skirt
Sienna Miller, right, is wearing Erdem.

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I watched the Golden Globes pre-show fashion file, where the actors parade on the red carpet, mostly to show what they're wearing, and less so to talk about their films. This red carpet file is strictly for the women, since the men don't have much variation in their attire. Whatever the actors and actresses say about their films is either redundant, boring, or occasionally funny (and not worth the wait for this sliver of humor).

I sat through parts of the awards show in the Beverly Hilton Hotel, and was especially curious to see who won the Best Film category. I tuned back in for this at the very end.

The only film I have watched this year is Anna Karenina, which I posted about here. This is unusual, because I make it to at least three or four films a year, however disappointed I usually get. I did a post on Quentin Tarantino's evil film Django Unchained, after I saw him being interviewed on some show. The link above discusses both Keira Knighltey, who acts in Anna Karenina, and Django director Quentin Tarantino. Django Unchained won Best Screenplay for a Motion Picture at the Golden Globes.

None of the films sounded attractive, imaginative, interesting, beautiful, thought provoking, educational, or any of the normal reasons one goes to the movies. Instead, they sounded like horror movies with grotesque story lines, or with over-the-top sexually active characters, or just plain boring. Also, it costs about $15 to watch a movie these days, which is about 2/3 the price of a dinner in a restaurant, which preferable to sitting in a dark room being terrorized by a sadistic film director.

So, I was surprised when all (98%) of the women came to the Golden Globes dressed in classic - and I mean those classic Golden Ages of American Cinema - gowns. I shouldn't be surprised, though, since this has become the standard actress persona: make ugly films, but dress up in beautiful gowns in public appearances.

There were glittery dresses, chiffon, pleats and gatherings, puffed-up ball gowns, and elegant dresses outlining the figure.

The couple of actresses who blew it were the anomalies. I will write about the designers who produced these ugly gowns and the actresses who wore them, and why I think they did so, later in another post.

So, why are women dressing to the nines for these film awards shows?

I think it is their intrinsic, instinctive, reaction to the ugliness in the films which they have been forced to act in. As much as we berate actors their life styles, the reality is that they cannot abandon them that easily and still need the films to finance those life styles. It's the only way they know to earn their living (or, more precisely, to pay for their life styles). Clever agents and film directors exploit this need, I'm sure. Also, if an actor is away from the screen for too long, he gets forgotten by the masses who pay his bills, and by the directors who give him jobs, so he basically has to take whatever is available.

Therefore, we get ugly, violent, evil films. Yet actors parade around in beautiful costumes.

This is a type of decadence, isn't it, to wallow in some kind of elitist beauty, yet allow one's soul to be gripped by evil?

Beauty alone is not enough.

Below is presenter Tina Fey, wearing a glamorous and attractive gown by L'Wren (yes, that's her name) Scott. Here is what Fey said during her presentation:

"Quentin Tarantino is here - the star of all my sexual nightmares."

Potty Mouthed Golden Globe Presenter
Tina Fey, in fantasy film diva dress

Canada: From High End to Junk Food

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:11:00 +0000

This is the Bowering home decor store (I got the image
from this site), which was torn down to make room
for more of the food court.

The food court is in the background
I got the image [a larger view] from this site.
Here is a larger image

Below are photos I took. They are a little blurry since I didn't want to spend too much time taking photos of people, but I think that actually captures the mediocrity of the place.

Light and airy design, but not appreciated

Multi-Culti Strollers

More Multi-Culti Strollers

For the Low End Palate

[More images of the mall, showcasing its attractive architecture and design, here]

I didn't get too close to the people waking by the pretty pale blue board announcing the beginning of "Delicious" (people don't like their pictures taken by anonymous cameramen), but during the ten minutes or so I was there, 90% of them were non-white. I saw hijabed women, black families, and "modernized" Middle Easterners. One white couple walked past, fast and in a hurry to get to its destination. All the other "patrons" were strolling around, looking at whatever few attractive items remain in the stores.

The area just before the boarded up place is the food court. I just couldn't take a photo of that ugly and depressing area.

In the mall, near the post office and by Old Navy, is a huge Dollar Store, which really means super-cheap Chinese goods (items range from 99 cents to about $10). How can a high class mall stoop so low?

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I've written about deteriorating "suburbia" cities surrounding Toronto. Suburbia used to be a place where middle class families bought their homes, with gardens and picket fences, to avoid the big city, but not to be too far away from it since that is where the fathers worked.

Now, suburbia is becoming a destination for immigrants, who come with some money they saved up for the immigration process from their home countries, but once here lose that money through expenses they hadn't anticipated, like remaining unemployed for long stretches, or being under-employed. This results with insufficient funds with which to raise their families, according to the standards of this country.

Canadian suburbia is becoming (has become?) a dismal, barren place.

The prime example of that, I am convinced, is Mississauga. I will provide data for that as I find it. The census data (from 2006) gives an erroneously high figure (i.e. doesn't correspond to 2012), according to my books.

One way to tell how a city is faring is by looking at the surroundings.

One way is to look at the shopping centers, what they provide, and the clientele that visits them.

I've briefly talked about Square One, the main mall in Mississauga, which touts itself as "the biggest mall in Canada." I wrote here about Square One:

My local mall which used to be a large, pleasant place to visit, with several high end stores, and quite a few restaurants. During the past year or so, I've wondered how these stores sustain themselves. The mall is not as crowed as it used to be, nor as crowded as other malls. And I've speculated that a good number of the goods don't get sold and that some stores must be functioning at a loss.

And described a cash-strung immigrant couple trying to buy a high-end hand bag.

The couple was trying to use a credit card/cash combination to buy the handbag. They had two credit cards, one the woman carried, the other belonging to the man. The woman's card was rejected. They asked the woman at the cashier to check on it, since they thought it should have cleared. This took about five-seven minutes for the cashier to tell them that the card was rejected due to insufficient funds. The answer seemed to satisfy the couple.

I went looking recently for a home decor store The Bowering. I looked and looked (this is the biggest mall in the country, after all, and I always get lost in it), but couldn't find it. Finally, I asked at the information booth and I was told that it had been discontinued. I then remembered all those exorbitant "holiday" sales, of 75% or more, which were actually "going out of business" sales.

I went to the spot to see what was to become of the space. There was nothing up, except a large board covering the whole wall which says:

Delicious is just the beginning. Food Central. Open Summer 2013

I couldn't figure it out, so I asked what that meant. "Oh, it's going to be more food stations." The Bowering was right after the food court in the mall (which I run through as fast as possible, with its unpleasant seating arrangement and unappetizing fast foods).

So that is the slow decline of a once active, attractive shopping mall: bring in the immigrants, then add some cheap, fast food stations they can afford. Then they can wander through the mall, using it like a street they would stroll through, window shopping at nothing, and have a $3.99 McChicken for energy.

I took photos of the closed-down section, partly to show the mall that is still attractive (bright and airy), and the food court which deadens it.

Where Irish Souls Watch Over Us

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:49:00 +0000

"Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky"
On Sunday, there was intercessory prayer for Lawrence Auster, who writes at the View From the Right.

I participated in this intercessory prayer.

It was difficult to find a quiet place in the place I am currently residing. Instead, I went to a nearby Irish pub (yes, I did go there!), Failte's, to participate by saying my prayer for Larry's health, and to give a toast to his health.

It was late on a Sunday evening, so the "pub" which is also a restaurant, was quiet and almost empty.

I went there for a number of reasons:

The first time I met Larry was in 2009, when I went to New York to participate in an event for the Danish Cartoonist Lars Westergaard. I went with a group from Canada called the International Free Press Society. Larry knew about my trip to New York, and he and I met separately. He gave me a spot to meet in the middle of Manhattan. He had never met me before, but I had my blog up, with my photo, for a couple of years by then. He politely came up to me and asked "are you Kidist?" rather than make a rude assumption. We walked for many blocks up Fifth Avenue, with Larry pointing out various New York landmarks and spots. At some point, we went inside to get some refreshments. I ordered a diet coke, and Larry talked about ordering a whisky. But he was too polite to do so, and we sat drinking diet cokes together.

Recently, I was in New York to attend a Christmas dinner for readers of View From the Right readers. Many of his friends were there. Later that week, I met up with Larry for dinner. I ordered a red wine, and he decided on a whisky. I am not versed with the types of whiskies, but he relished the taste (and the smell) of the drink.

The restaurant where we had this meal is called Toast. My toast is also in memory of this evening.

On the same trip in New York, while on the subway or on the bus going from one place to another, Larry would recite poetry from memory by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. He said reciting these poems (aloud or silently) helped him to completely absorb his attention and put him in a calm state (it is true that Yeats is a difficult poet, and requires a high level of concentration). I had read over the years many poems he posted by Yeats, and grew to know, and somewhat understand, these poems.

Finally, the group dinner held for VFR readers was in an Irish pub/restaurant in mid-town Manhattan, Kennedy's (the link is to the photos I took of the restaurant's interior, in the "Library" where we had the dinner). This was the third time this group had met in this restaurant, and I was there for two of those dinners.

At Failte's, which apparently means "Welcome" in Gaelic, I ordered an Irish Coffee, which has whisky in it, so I thought this would be one way to remember Larry by, and "toast" him for renewed health.

At the same time, I recited periodically the short prayer that Kristor had suggested to us:

O Lord, I pray [that you] bless, keep and heal [your] servant, Lawrence. Amen.

I had been in Failte's before, and it is an oasis in an otherwise barren and ugly "suburbia" of Mississauga. This "city" is an odd mixture of quickly built high rises in the "city center," large areas with bland town houses, and a small section which apparently houses some of the most affluent of Ontario, with beautiful, old homes next to recently built mansions.

The high rises in the "city center" and the bare-bones town houses are a quick fix to the increased immigrant population that arrived there within the last ten years or so. Many of the high rises are quickly and poorly constructed, and the town houses, even if they look somewhat attractive, are also poorly built, with bad ventilation, thin walls, and tiny "gardens." Mississauga has the highest concentration of newly arrived immigrants in Ontario, and possibly also in Canada. I have never seen so many hijabed Muslim women, Chinese speaking in various Chinese languages, and Indians who understand little English. All speak heavily accented English, and their children seem to have developed some kind of idiom depending on their origin (India, China, the Middle East, etc.).

A long highway cuts through this "city center." Somehow, Failte managed to keep its beauty in this desert, and stands in an island surrounded by these high rises and noisy high way. It is right across from Square One, "the biggest mall in Canada" as one shop assistant told me, and has a giant parking lot as its back yard.

My first visit to Failte's a few weeks ago left me so surprised that I returned a couple of times just to take photos. The waitresses and barmen were obliging, and I assured them that the photos weren't for commercial purposes, but for my simple blog. Then, I would sit and have a cup of coffee, a wine special, or one of the Irish beers. Harp Lager is becoming a favorite. Yesterday was the first time I had the Irish Coffee, topped with a mountain of whipped cream.

The restaurant is divided into various rooms, where patrons can get a feel of Ireland, I'm sure. The manager told me that the original owner traveled back and forth to Ireland, bringing back objects and material to set up the restaurant. The design was based on an "original Irish pub."

I sit in the "Victorian Parlour," which sounds pretty English to me, but I suppose Ireland went through a "Victorian" period as well. What is interesting about this space is the turn of the twentieth century photographs on the walls of stern men. Perhaps they are ancestors of Yeats. Other sections of the restaurant include a grocery store, a music room with an upright piano, a small coffee area with hard, wooden chairs and tables, a couple of bar areas with stools, and toilet signs for "Mna" and "Fir," with the appropriate figures to avoid embarrassments. Irish humor is evident with large clock that shows "Gaelic time" according to the sign above it.

Meehan, who may have been a one-time owner

The Victorian Parlour

Harp Lager

Stained Glass Divider

Old Irish Whisky

Glass Carving

Ceiling Mural

"Cead Mile Failte"
Inscription above the main entrance to Failte's which means:
"A Hundred Thousand Welcomes"

From Failte's website

Here is a poem by Yeats which Larry recently posted at his site:

THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE

THE TREES are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine and fifty swans.

The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold,
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?

This is the illustration he posted at the end of the poem, in his entry "Update":

[All photos by KPA, unless mentioned otherwise]

Daily Episodes of the Icompatability of Immigrants: Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:50:00 +0000

I've written previously about the incompatibility of non-Western people with life in Canada and the US. I have also privately said that non-Western people live inferior lives, economically at least, than Westerners (whites).

My local mall which used to be a large, pleasant place to visit, with several high end stores, and quite a few restaurants. During the past year or so, I've wondered how these stores sustain themselves. The mall is not as crowed as it used to be, nor as crowded as other malls. And I've speculated that a good number of the goods don't get sold and that some stores must be functioning at a loss.

Just this week, this speculation was proven right.

I went into The Bay, a major Canadian department store which is (still) in the mall, to redeem a gift card I got for my recent birthday. I already knew what I was going to get: A Nine West dual-colored handbag, in burgundy, chocolate brown, and the sides in black.

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I opted for a sturdy handbag from Nine West.The bag was in a pile of sale items in a box. It was reduced from $125 to $56, close to a 50% reduction.

I had seen this bag before, and was even ready to get it at its $125 price a couple of months ago. But I decided against it (after asking the saleswoman to put it on layaway for a couple of days - until I thought more about it).

The only way I buy expensive items from The Bay is when they have their end of season clearance sales, when items are reduced by 50% or more. The last item I purchased was a winter's coat, down by 75%, during one of the seasonal sales.

I think this is the way the store gets rid of its "out of season" or "discontinued" stock, in order to leave room for new items.

The Nine West handbag looks like it is discontinued. It is very hard to find online (Vividly Frame by Nine West). That must be the reason for its large reduction. It was just taking up room.

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I stood behind a couple waiting my turn to buy the bag. I thought it would be a quick and easy transaction. But, I waited, and waited, and realized I wasn't getting anywhere. Then I started to pay attention to what was going on.

The couple was an Indian husband and wife. They talked to each other in one of the Indian languages, and their English was not fluent, and was heavily accented. The wife was there to buy a handbag from the relatively expensive handbags brand Coach (the cheapest handbags start around $100), and this woman looked like she wanted something for around $300.

A bag similar to what the woman bought

I asked the woman at the cashier if she could just quickly take care of my purchase, since the couple looked undecided. She asked me to wait. I walked around looking for another cashier, but couldn't find any, so I came back and asked her if she could take care of my purchase since the couple was still not ready. She asked me to wait, again. Then, I asked her if she could call for assistance, but apparently she couldn't do that either, although at this point I didn't believe her.

I started to pay attention to what the problem was with the two customers.

The couple was trying to use a credit card/cash combination to buy the handbag. They had two credit cards, one the woman carried, the other belonging to the man. The woman's card was rejected. They asked the woman at the cashier to check on it, since they thought it should have cleared. This took about five-seven minutes for the cashier to tell them that the card was rejected due to insufficient funds. The answer seemed to satisfy the couple.

Before they bought the bag, the ignorant cashier asked them if they would like to apply for a Bay credit card. This would give them some percentage off their goods at the time of the application, as well as other benefits once they receive the card (which apparently takes some weeks before it is issued, I think due to credit checks). Of course they said yes. The cashier then gave them a long form to fill out, which they did. Then the cashier asked them for two pieces of ID, one with a photo. Neither had such an ID. So their application form was thrown out.

This took another ten minutes or so.

The woman was clutching dollar bills in her hand, and this together with the husband's credit card went toward the purchase.

Since the section was a "designer" section, the cashier then went through the long process of finding the right Coach box, which she had to assemble, with tissue paper to cover this expensive bag. Once the bag was covered and in the box, she then started to put tape around the edges of the box, and to look for a smart, Bay, paper bag that would fit the box.

Another five minutes passed.

It took a good twenty to twenty five minutes before the woman took my bag and the gift card. I waited that long because I was already in the store, and had no intention of coming back. By then I had decided to be as pleasant as possible until I had my purchase was safely in my hands, which took about five minutes (or less).

Then I looked at her name tag, and simply said "_______, I am going to report you to the head office." She wasn't some young, flighty store attendant, but a mature middle-aged woman, who should have a better handle of the customers. She looked (and sounded) Middle Eastern to me, once again with accented English, with many grammatical errors. She was dumbstruck when I told her of my intentions (she understood what I said; she just didn't know how to react). I just walked away.

My thoughts, after I having assessed the situation, are:

- Why is this Indian woman buying a $300+ handbag, when she clearly was uncertain about her finances?

- All this talk about immigrants saving the Canadian economy through their hard work and enterprising ways is clearly showing itself to be false. How can this couple, with their lack of English, and lack of ability to work out their finances, going to be the kind of people to help the Canadian economy, let alone its culture?

-There was a time when assimilation of immigrants, even non-Western immigrants, seemed possible to me. Now I think it will not happen. The latest influx of immigrants seem deficient in language, experience and ability, while the more established non-Western ones have no interest in integrating with the white, British culture that has been Canada's identity for centuries.

- Studies show that all immigrants who came into Canada in the past twenty years or so haven't improved economically, and some are actually worse off than when they came to Canada. How can these people "help" Canada?

- All non-Western immigrants are changing Canada, slowly but surely, making it bereft of culture and wealth. How will white Canadians react to this, after they realize that it is their hard work and that is fueling the immigrant economy?

- Finally, I'm pretty sure that we will come to some kind of collision, either violent (we already see that with "random acts of violence" committed by immigrant youth in more affluent sections of the country, and the subsequent increased police presence all over the city), or more stringent economical and cultural "laws" which will attempt to deflate the power that has so far been given to immigrants through multiculturalism.

This Indian couple is a symbol of what we can expect, and what is to come.

Hypocrite in Chief

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 20:15:00 +0000

The Weekly Standard posted the photo below with the text:

...[January 8, 2013's] White House photo of the day...includes 3 women and 5 men, not including President Obama himself.

The title of the January 9 Weekly Standard article is: "White House Trots Out Women Advisors in Latest Pic."

The photo has the following text:

"President Barack Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office, Jan. 8, 2013. Attending, from left, are: Kathryn Ruemmler, Counsel to the President; Mike Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics; Chief of Staff Jack Lew; Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett; Counselor to the President Pete Rouse; Nancy-Ann DeParle, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy; Senior Advisor David Plouffe; and Director of Communications Dan Pfeiffer. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)," the caption reads.

The White house "trotted out" the women after the New York Times posted its own version of Obama's cabinet on January 8, with the photo (posted below), from the New York Times article:

Obama’s Remade Inner Circle Has an All-Male Look, So Far

The caption to the photo reads:

President Obama on Dec. 29 with senior advisers in the Oval Office. The only woman facing the president was (look very closely) Valerie Jarrett, whose leg is just visible in front of the desk.

Even the formidable leftist New York Times is not happy with Obama.

Prayer Vigil for Larry Auster on January 13

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 09:02:00 +0000

Photo of Larry Auster outside his brownstone apartment on January 10, 2013,
taken by his friend Dean Ericson

A prayer vigil will be held for Larry Auster from 5:00 to 6:00 pm on Sunday, January 13. More information here.

Paris Versus New York: The Brooklyn Bridge Versus The Eiffle Tower

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 08:38:00 +0000

I've written about Vahram Auratyan book Paris Versus New York here, where I discuss his juxtaposition of the New York and Paris skies. Here is another juxtaposition which doesn't work quite as well (most of Auratyan's New York and Paris corresponding images are dead on): The Brooklyn Bridge in New York paired with the Pont des Arts in Paris. Auratyan is trying to find a corresponding steel bridge in Paris, and Pont des Arts is probably the only (interesting) one. I've written about the Brooklyn Bridge here, including its architectural history, and I have also posted a large collection of photos of the bridge.

That is not to say the the Pont des Arts is any less beautiful. It is a lovely link between a the majestic Bibliotheque Mazarine and the Louvre grounds. But Auratyan could have chosen a side view of the bridge, showing the metalwork, rather than the wooden footpath.

Pont des Arts side view

Illustrations from Vahram Auratyan's New York Versus Paris
This is his "Brooklyn Bridge/Pont des Arts" juxtaposition

He should have put the Eiffel Tower in this duo, but he put the tower next to the Statue of Liberty (which was a French gift to New York, so it works culturally perhaps, but not architecturally or stylistically, at least superficially - and aesthetically).

My juxtaposition of New York Versus Paris: Brooklyne Bridge Versus The Eiffel Tower. The images are illustrations from Vahram Auratyan's "New York Versus Paris"

Above is my juxtaposition of New York Versus Paris, putting the Eiffel Tower with the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, so it is even in the same era as the Brooklyn Bridge:

In the late-nineteenth century, engineers began experimenting with new ways of using iron and steel. Traditionally these materials were used for transportation structures such as bridges, train tracks, and railway stations. Through trial and error, engineers developed steel skeletons made of vertical columns and horizontal beams to support tall buildings...These design innovations were also used in the construction of famous structures such as the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge.[Source: Museum of Modern Art, Rise of the Modern City]

There is a larger bridge, Pont du Carrousel, which crosses the Seine to the Louvre. It is a little further up the Seine than the Pont des Arts. It is a reconstruction of an older, ornate bridge, but now looks like a slab of concrete. Perhaps Auratyan would have used this with the Brooklyn Bridge were it still standing in its original form.

Drawing of Pont du Carrousel
"Vue des deux rives de la Seine prise du Pont Royal", around mid-1800
Possibly by Gaspard Goubot who also did other delicate watercolors of Parisian buildings and structures.

Turn of the century photo of the old Pont du Carrousel
Date: 1er janvier 1900
Source Les Panoramas de Paris

The current Pont du Carrousel looks like this.

New York Skies

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:56:00 +0000

Someone asked me recently which city I prefer, Paris or New York.

I have lived in Paris from age nine to seventeen, when I went to the U.S. to attend college. I eventually got to know New York really well. Even though I have never lived in New York, I did spend long summer periods in the city, and my university in New Jersey was close enough that I would go into the city quite regularly for day trips.

I replied that despite the uncontested beauty of Paris, there is something grand, modern and dynamic about New York. I sacrilegiously said that Paris is "old fashioned."

I prefer New York.

Here is a funny, and very accurate, book Paris Versus New York, by Vahram Auratyan, an Armenian writer and graphic artist, who admits he is a lover of Paris, but nonetheless captures the spirit, humor and beauty of New York. One of my favorite sections is "Sous le ciel de Paris" vs. "New York October Sky." It is true that Paris has a lot of grey days (through fall, winter and spring). Early fall in New York can be magical. And winters, despite the cold, have many bright, sunny days, with a lighter, but still brilliant blue sky.

The Right Direction

noreply@blogger.com (Reclaiming Beauty) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 10:59:00 +0000

The right direction leads not only to peace but to knowledge.

C. S. Lewis
Mere Christianity
P. 93
Harper Collins, 2001