Clothes, part II

Says The New Zealand Herald guest columnist Polly Vernon, "Her favourite shop and new employer is Jigsaw - she hasn't yet graduated up to designer and, right now, she's too sensible to imagine how one could ever spend that kind of wedge on frocks" -- the her being Kate Middleton, of course. It's the complete opposite of moneyed American women from what I've observed, and I daresay Polly Vernon is correct in her assessment of Ms. Middleton. What does all this signify? I don't know, but I like thinking about it.

Oh, that dress.

One day, in talking fashion with one of my esteemed colleagues (hello!), we decided that the defining characteristic of American women is that they love expensive clothes and accessories — albeit bought at a 70 per cent sale event — while British women love the cheap stuff.

As if to prove the point, Kate Middleton left for work on the day of her birthday wearing that £40 dress from Topshop.

Cue Chelsy Davy — who, I know, is from Zimbabwe, but whatever. Writes FemaleFirst.co.uk:

Chelsy Davy stepped out in a Topshop dress as she left a Mayfair night club recently.

The 20 year old girlfriend of Prince Harry seamed to be following in the footsteps of Prince William’s girlfriend Kate Middleton who wore a Topshop dress on her 25th birthday.

Middleton was pictured wearing a £40 black and white dress which sold out in every size on- line and in store within 24 hours of her wearing it.

A spokesperson for Topshop told the Mail:' Chelsy is a fashionable young aspirational girl and a classic Topshop customer.'

There's something very wholesome about rich kids wearing High Street brands, and being labelled "aspirational".

Hotter than ever

From the New York Times: "The make-believe winter collided with reality: People wore T-shirts as they ice-skated on the wet and slushy rink at Rockefeller Center, and the Polar Bears held a moment of silence, turned their backs on the Atlantic and headed toward the boardwalk, a protest, albeit an underdressed one, against global warming."

72-Degree Day Breaks Record in New York by Manny Fernandez

...and Action!

In today's Los Angeles Times, we are told by writer Henry Chu that, "in India, where being gay is a crime, a royal son was shunned when he told his secret. Now he fights to change the law and public mind-set."

Entitled "Prince is out but not down", it is a charming, Hollywood tale that will warm your heart.

P.S.

...and the Cutest Outfit Award goes to this girl.



More photos at the Yahoo sports gallery.

More on the view from here

A person will develop an instinctive feel for something once they've done it long enough. I've lived among Americans for about twelve years, in their country. When I lived in other countries, I spent 90 percent of my schooling years in the American education system, so I was always around Americans for a large part of my life.

It used to irritate me when my cousin, who had never left Malaysia before and had only been in the States for two or three years, made blanket statements like, "Americans don't brush their teeth before having breakfast" like he was some kind of an expert.

Being American is a complex thing. They might seem very laid back on the surface, always guffawing and sharing jokes with strangers, always on a first-name basis with everybody, yet they are everything but laid-back. Underneath the loosy-goosy outer layer, there is an uptight Puritan. They are good about brushing their teeth, flossing after meals and going to their dentist every six months. They dress very carefully, never wearing a black brassiere under a white t-shirt. Armpits are always shaved and smothered with deoderant. Clothes are always dry-cleaned and pressed before being worn to a party. There is always enough small change in the wallet for tips.

Their sense of humour (like holding a big sign at a baseball game that says "Bachelor's last game!") is subtle. Only a certain type of person can go to a ballgame holding up a sign with an irrelevant message and have it be funny.

If I went to a ballgame with a huge, cardboard sign that said something stupid like that, it wouldn't be funny -- I guarantee it. I would be told to put that thing away because I'm blocking the view!

Alright, it's official

While standing in line at McDonald's near The Container Store on 19th and 6th a few days ago, I overheard a woman behind me talking on the phone, saying:

"Nobody in the room got up but I told myself, 'I fricking need to leave.' So now I'm outside buying an ice cream. How was your meeting?"

Pause.

"Was John there?"

Pause.

"Ha ha! So he posted?"

Pause.

"I mean, did he show up?"

Posted—it has now entered the lexicon as a verb in reference to people, meaning "to appear", as in when you click publish, a new blog post appears on the Web.

More on the view from here

For the past two weeks I've been observing American attitudes towards the World Cup and writing about it here. It seems I was too quick to dismiss them as uninterested in the sport, because I overheard a guy on the bus yesterday saying to someone on his cell phone, "I'm taking the day off tomorrow to watch the game," referring, obviously, to USA v. Ghana, in which Team USA must beat Ghana in order to stay alive. I'm quite impressed! I think a reassessment of my assessment is in order.

[Update: Team USA lost. Go Ghana!]

More on the view from here

In the USA (East Coast), World Cup matches are shown on one of either two channels: ESPN2 or ABC. It is also aired on the Spanish network based out of Florida called Telemundo, with commentary in Spanish. Just to show how behind Americans are in terms of appreciating football, kick-off for Iran v. Portugal was 9:00 a.m. our time, and while Telemundo was busy broadcasting the scene from Frankfurt Stadium with the singing of the two national anthems — momentous occasions, the singing of national anthems — ESPN2 was showing ...a commercial!

How we watched Iran v. Mexico

A friend of Hooman's came over this morning and the three of us went to O'Nieal's to watch Iran v. Mexico, thinking it would be nice to see the match in hi-def. Well, the picture came through beautifully alright, but get this: we had to watch without sound. The bartender was upset at having to change the channel away from the Red Sox v. Rangers game, and when it came to turning on the volume he drew the line. It was so as not to disturb the other patrons who were having Sunday brunch — fair enough. At half-time, we left O'Nieal's and wandered down to Washington Street to see if there might be a better place to watch the second half. Hooman ducked into East L.A. and by a stroke of luck, not only was the game on, there were also four Mexico supporters at the bar already. Okay, so they were rooting for the other side, but, nevermind. They were football fans!

In we went. We pulled up some stools and made ourselves comfortable under the television set, which was not as good as O'Nieal's fourteen-inch, flat-screen, but it would do. It turned out the Mexico fans had been watching the game without sound too, so all eight spectators (by that time, another friend of Hooman's had joined us) persuaded the bartender TO TURN ON THE SOUND, for the love of God! Grumbling something about tyranny of the minority, he gave in. "After this, we're watching Priscilla Queen of the Desert," he pouted.

Fast forward to the 76th minute, and Queen Eddie (our bartender) was wearing his bifocals and shrieking "Arriba Mexico!" at the TV as the second goal was scored. His explanation: "When I see sweaty bodies I get excited." At the 79th minute, Mexico scored their third goal and a guy at the bar tapped Eddie on the shoulder and asked if he was going to throw a party. Suddenly remembering himself, he retorted, "The only party we're going to have will be the one in my mouth," as he reached for the remote control.

Ten more minutes and the game ends. The TV is back on mute; the bar's sound system is once more blasting its cheap music. And that was how Hooman, Lubos and I watched IRN v. MEX.

[Update: The best part was, a guy walked in to the bar just as the match was ending, turned to his friend and said, "Dude, Ireland lost to Mexico

More on the view from here

World Cup evidence: Yesterday, a lone girl wandered the streets of town wearing a yellow Ecuador t-shirt. And between the hours of eleven and twelve-thirty, I heard sporadic shouting from the building next door.

Other than that, it's like there is no World Cup.

What the World Cup is like from here

The World Cup starts in 3 hours, according to Persian BBC News. If not for the countdown clock on their front page, I wouldn't know this. The USA is so isolated from the rest of the world it can sometimes be suffocating.

It's terrific to be here, but the price is being cut off from the rest of humanity.

This guy catches foul balls

Baseball season is well underway here, Stateside. Unless you live(d) in America and like baseball, you're not going to find this website particularly amazing. But if you're like me and you've lived in America for eleven years on-and-off, including several years in a city with an "amazin'" baseball team, and you like quirky Americans, you might like this.

>> Link: Stories and strategies from Zack Hample, a fan who's collected 2,803 balls from 40 different Major League stadiums...and counting.

Also, yesterday while watching Mets Weekly — a television magazine show on everything to do with the Mets baseball team — I was highly entertained by the following story about nicknames for Howard Johnson, a player on the 1986 World Series Mets team. The story was told by an old man they interviewed. [I'm a beginner baseball fan so I didn't recognize who he was, but he's probably somebody big in the baseball world.]

The story goes:

"Howard Johnson" was truncated to Hojo,
which then became the dimunitive Hojy,
which then, because of Ali Haji-Sheikh (a football player), turned into Haji,
which then turned into Sheikh,
which then lengthened to Sheikazoid,
which then shortened to Zoid,
which then degenerated into Z.

The old man who was telling the story chuckled and said, "Here's a man by the name of Howard Johnson whose nickname was Z." I think he chuckled for the same reason I chuckled, which is that baseball is so rich with these quirky facts you've just got to love it.

[Pic of Howard Johnson swiped from a site I googled.]