Know what you get when you spot isolated instances of various television personalities wearing a tie of a certain color? A Times trend story! Eric Wilson spotted folks like Brian Williams, Keith Olbermann, and Bill O'Reilly all wearing ties of a purplish hue in recent weeks, which is apparently their way of announcing they're staying neutral in this heated political climate, where, duh!, wearing a red tie is an obvious sign you're in McCain's camp and wearing a blue tie is the equivalent of licking Obama's feet.
So certain of this trend, Wilson even hooked semi-respectable people into his charade, getting GQ creative director Jim Moore to declare, "Purple is the new neutral," and Bergdorf Goodman's men's fashion director Tommy Fazio to insist, "There are other ways of not being partisan.”
We've seen pure coincidences manufactured into trends before, but OMG, this is ridiculous. Here's why: CONTINUED »
The newest exercise craze set to go global (viral?) is Kranking, for which participants will need Krankcycles — "stationary arm bikes, basically, with just a seat, a suspended front wheel, and hand-pedals where handlebars normally go" — and kneepads to bow down and worship Johnny G, the creator of Kranking and its predecessor, Spinning. [NYer]
Green noise. Green fatigue. Eco-anxiety. For as many ways to describe how trendy it is for upper-middle-class types to start caring about the environment, there are equally as many ways to describe another environmental trend: Mother Earth backlash. For all the hype surrounding saving the planet, from Al Gore's horror film to the demands that you stop drinking bottled water, the same people who initially jumped on the bandwagon are now, you're to believe, falling off it from exhaustion. Naturally, the trend-happy media has been quick to jump all over the latest "it" thing: that saving the planet might just be the newest form of American apathy. [CJR]
Need a place to cool off this summer? You could always visit one of those public pools, which are teaming with children's pee and, worse, children. Or you could turn to Google Earth, which will helpfully identify your neighbor's swimming pools courtesy satellites floating around the planet. Then, when you find one that's deep enough for canon balls, you can alert your friends on Facebook that you're planning a pool party at someone else's home, like these jerks in Britain. The technology is also helpful for locating trampolines, bouncy houses, and Slip'N'Slides that don't belong to you, too.
Just as we do when we visit the most-emailed photos on Yahoo to see what's registering on America's cultural radar, let's check in to see what the most-viewed videos are on MSNBC.com, in order: "Myanmar cyclone kills thousands," "Tragic ending for filly Eight Belles," "Cyclone causes widespread devastations," and "10 messiest celebrity meltdowns." [MSNBC Video]
Y’know how we’ve been all flippant and snarky (we hate that “word” but it seems appropriate) about The New York Times as of late? Complaining about their bullshit, hokey, juvenile coverage of “chick flicks” and TV chefs using the f-word? Well, bilious as we’ve been, we haven’t harbored hatred for the paper, just an acute feeling of disgust with wasted opportunity. It’s hurt us to see pages of drivel that could have been used for good. Today, however, we officially hate the Times:
One trend we already discovered Americans love is emailing each other photos of fat people. Taking another gander at Yahoo's most-emailed photo list, a new phenomenon emerges: You really want your friends and family to see conjoined twin newborns!
CONTINUED »
The latest from the New York Times Land Of Make Believe Trends comes from an article about pregnant women who, no longer content to just clean out a closet, want to renovate their entire home before their expensive accessories pop out.
Typically, projects resulting from the nesting instinct have been small-scale affairs — a cleaning jag, a den converted to a nursery with a little paint and drywall, a changing station built into a laundry room. But lately, even as the housing and renovation markets have slumped, some pregnant nesters have been getting more ambitious, spurred on by the widespread home-improvement mania of the last decade and by the plethora of design-themed magazines and television shows.
Typically?
But lately?
Horton Hears a Who?
Jack Shafer: Still pissed newspapers are writing about pharm parties that nobody has ever been too. (Next edition: The invisible swing voter!) But are these pill soirees indeed taking place here and there, but not commonplace throughout every planned development in the suburbs? Perhaps not: In the 1960s, the urban legend of pharm parties first began, except back then they were called "fruit salad parties." Cuter. [Slate]
Unlike basketball or Greco-Roman wrestling, however, squash does enjoy a prestige that some think makes it attractive to college admissions boards. With roots in the English public schools of the 19th century, squash conveys an aristocratic quirkiness, a bit like a taste for Sanskrit poetry. More than its preppy cousins lacrosse and rowing, it is also considered a cerebral sport — chess in short pants.
–Excerpted from Alex William's piece ["And For Sports, Kid, Put Down 'Squash'"] from the Style section of this past Sunday's New York Times
Many of us (ourselves included!) have shelved the possibility of having kids until some distant, unforeseeable future when we're suddenly transformed from immature borderline alcoholics to surprisingly functional adults with longterm career aspirations, non-messy apartments and, potentially, significant others. Which is why we were alarmed to hear about the growing phenomenon of women who become grandmothers before they reach the age of thirty.
Like 29 year-old Leticia Magee, who (as our friends at Stereohyped put it) "had her daughter when she was 13, and the girl, now 15, has just given birth to a baby boy, who will hopefully be taught the virtues of condoms by age 7." [QCTimes]
Apparently, not everyone is so keen on the growing number of major corporations who are using "nonsense" domain names or "familiar-but-misspelled words" as part of an effort to soften their online images. Take, for example, Anthony Shore, a seemingly ill-tempered man whom the Washington Post introduces as "the global of director of naming and writing" [Ed: Easiest job ever?] at Landor Associates.
"It just feels like they're throwing in the towel," complains the naming elitist. "It's easy to find an existing word and drop out a letter. It's easy to come up with arbitrary sounds, or to just add an 'oo.' It's far more difficult to come up with names with real words that have meanings and connections with people."
“Andre,” said Mr. McKenna, “you look amazing!”
ACTUALLY, he did not say it in quite that way. It happens that the adjective “amazing,” pronounced with a bunch of superfluous vowels, is how fashion types, and also certain urban gay men and also one or two tuned-in heterosexual copycats, lately express their approval. Amazing has replaced such locutions as “genius” and “major,” which today sound even more old-hat than “fabulous.”
“You look amaaaaazing,” Mr. McKenna said.
–Excerpted from "A Cover Girl Who's Simply Himself" from the Sunday Style section of the New York Times [NYT]
Have you heard: there’s this new thing called roller derby? Actually, it’s an old thing, from the 70s, but it’s totally hot, like right now!
Normal women—astronauts even—like to take out their aggression in the rink. And yesterday was the Gotham Roller Derby Championship. That’s a totally fresh angle on the story about the Gotham Roller Derby from two years ago. Let’s give it 850 words in the City Section. CONTINUED »
• Joke's over. South Carolinian democrats stubbornly refuse to allow a comedian to run for the leader of the free world as a publicity stunt.
• Tennis truly is nothing like Hollywood. Example: Martina Hingis tests positive for cocaine; she retires in disgrace. Lindsay Lohan goes to rehab for cocaine use; she comes back with a ProActiv sponsorship and a shiny new movie deal.
• 60 Minutes proves way more effective at apprehending criminals than To Catch A Predator.
• Jacob the Jeweler is sent to prison, thereby depriving hardworking celebrities of their much-needed bling. Meanwhile, being incarcerated hasn't stopped Jacob from launching his own $80 vodka, called "Bocaj" (his name spelled backwards). Which we think it truly "C-i-t-o-i-d-i."
Editorial Director
