Redecorating

I realize times are tough. More than 20,000 jobs were lost in a single day this week. Everyone needs to cut corners & save & be constantly aware of the bottom line. I even saw ACADEMY AWARD WINNER, MIRA SORVINO shopping at the outlets with her family in PALM SPRINGS 2 weeks ago. More power to her.

But the JOHN THANE story is just obscene! You know this guy. He used to head up MERRILL LYNCH. He’s the guy who paid out 15 BILLION in bonuses to ML Execs even while profits were in a freefall & all the while waiting for a Government bailout. But more to the point, despite showing a catastrophic loss for the company, THANE was busy fiddling while Rome burned to the tune of $1.22 MILLION to redecorate his office!!!!!!!! The invoice included a $87,000 RUG, $28,000 for four pairs of curtains and….. $1,405 for a wastebasket!!!!!!! Can any family in the entire country read this without wanting to PUKE. Seriously????

Now, the really troubling thing to me is that the rug & the curtains & God Help us the waste basket, were all ordered by the designer MICHAEL SMITH, whom Thane hired for the redecoration.

Michael Smith is a very talented Los Angeles based interior designer frequently featured in the now defunct (as of today!) DOMINO Magazine. His understated style is a little too “MITCHELL GOLD-BOB WILLIAMS-CRATE & BARREL for me; but he has legions of fans. Smith’s credo is so simple, sparse, & plain that I am shocked he could even find, let alone use, a waste receptacle that costs in excess of $1,000!!! The floors of his own Los Angeles home are covered in a type of sea grass or sisal that I wonder where on earth he obtained an $87,000 rug!!!!

Another troubling aspect to this whole disgusting tale is that the FIRST FAMILY; The Barack Obamas, have HIRED Michael Smith to be their personal decorator in The White House!!!!!!! Oh, but I hear that the Obamas have him on a strict budget of $100,000!!!!!!
Sorry Michelle, it looks like YOUR wastebaskets are coming from OFFICE DEPOT if that’s your limit!

Jesus!

WOW The week That Was

Couldn’t you just feel it? That maybe, just maybe, we can turn this damn ship around? And how lucky we are that perhaps we found the exact right Captain to do it? And with a First Mate as gorgeous & capable as the fabulous MICHELLE OBAMA by his side; how exciting will it be to watch PRESIDENT OBAMA navigate these rocky waters?
OMG enough with the Nautical metophors already. But seriously I love watching our history unfold this week. And at the risk of seeming petty let me defend my criticism of Michelle’s fashion choices.

I enthusiastically applaud her support of young, upcomimng AMERICAN designers. This is laudable. And without going into great detail about all that was wrong with the two Inaugural ensembles, let me just say: BAN THE BLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every girl knows that DIAMONDS in DAY TIME are just plain wrong. Which is why even MRS. BERNIE MADOFF only wore a simple gold wedding band most of the time. I liked the color of Michelle’s daytime outfit but to have a garish diamond broach that was so large it seemed to be a choker & could be seen from JUPITER was, in my opinion, just tragic. But this is not the first time that the now house hold name ISABEL TOLEDO took one of her deceptively simple designs & ruined it with the wrong accessory. Toledo made a gorgeous black tunic & evening pants for Mrs. Obama to wear to a CALVIN KLEIN dinner and the whole sensational effect was ruined with the appearance of a large, over-done, diamond & (I suppose sapphire & ruby) necklace. Yea, I get it.. red white & blue! But like it was a prize from a gumball machine. Yuck! And while I am being honest I have to say I HATED the little dress from today’s Prayer Breakfast. The silhouette was lovely in belted black. But then the addition of a chartreuse & purple print (with GRAPES!!!!) was just…ummm….ugly~ I am sorry but I think the AMERICAN FASHION INDUSTRY particularly VOGUE; are just USING Mrs.Obama to sell a lot of ugly clothes by designers that are already in the stores & have a lot to lose by failing commercially. And I do not want a helpful Mrs. Obama to be used that way. Go with your gut Michelle.

Of course my favorite moment form the Inauguration was when the helicopter carried away the disastrous GEORGE BUSH. But even better than that was that the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY deigned to punish the PRINCE of DARKNESS, DICK CHEYNEY by putting him in a wheelchair for his final curtain call!!! Oh& it never really occurred to me but DICK CHEYNEY resembles no one so much as the evil MR POTTER (also in a wheelchair) in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Besides the wheelchair karma we can be content to know that no matter how long her served or how many loathsome deeds he was responsible for; the entire country NEVER, EVER PRONOUNCED his name the way he wanted which (apparently is) CHEEEEEEENEY! Not CHAYNEY) Sorry….DICK! That IS Perfect!

Oh & lest we forget TODAY the ACADEMY AWARD Nominations were revealed. As the former partner of someone who would always wait up til dawn waitng to hear his name called even for performances that were D2DVD (that’s Direct To DVD) Iknow how anxious a time this can be. And all I really want to say is how happy I am that SEAN PENN Was nominated for his uncanny Harvey MILK. And also for my sentimental favorite performance for Best Actor by RICHARD JENKINS in THE VISITOR a film that was by far my favorite this year (I am still replaying scenes in my head…beautiful!) But I scremed out loud when the name MELISSA LEO was called for BEST ACTRESS! A trruly great performance. Bare, no frillls & freaking REAL!! She’ll never win, but all actors should be required to watch her in that role!