kitchen porn

Mitchell Gold got a new husband AND a new kitchen....

I do not think it is too much to go out on a limb and say this is what my kitchen in heaven will look like. See more from Messers Gold and Scofield home do over.

dinner

 First real dinner I have 

cooked in a while.

Turkey

cranberry sauce 

jasmine rice

broccoli

large salad

no te metas con Texas

The new phone book is here!!  The new phone book is here!  No, that's not right, the new HOUSE SEAT APPORTIONMENT'S are here!!!!  

Yes, we just lived through a ZERO year, time for some fresh faces!

Lenard's Loser: NEW YORK and Ohio

Big winner  : TEXAS and Florida.

Now then, this is not really a surprise, people have been moving to the Sun Belt for years. My only question is how much will the all powerful GOP in Texas let the folks who are making their population increase, elect their own Representatives ?

You have to also remember that Congressional Representation is how the Electoral College is figured out and all... making Florida, the new..... well, Florida.

Kyle and Martha sitting in a tree...

 ( Or is it Kyle and Edward R. Murrow sitting in a tree ? )

Yall know that we here at the k+b are nothing if not fanatics about journalistic integrity, right? So, when sitting on a hot hot hot story, we double check with all our sources to make sure that we are not going to step on too many toes, in our ongoing fight for truth, justice, the American way and longer lasting nail polish.

So after checking with the main players in this story, I was given the green light to go forward, only if we did not use any of the names, or changed them ... to protect the innocent... done.

( Martha , seen here in 1961 , paying her 
way through Barnard, as a CHANEL model! )

Yesterday was all the busy here around , folks just in and out of the house and things coming and going ( photos to follow ) but, I did catch a little bit of Martha's Morning Show, - which I have been pretty slack about watching lately - AND low and behold.... I know someone who has been.....lets go with, very close, with one of Martha's guests. NOW WITH OUT LETTING YOU KNOW WHO ANY OF THESE PEOPLE ARE - other than Martha, let's just say  the theme of the show was "how to be a better vegan."

Now the guest, who we will call " the king of all the hippies " does all sorts of good things for the world etc, and is, I am sure, a lovely person.. and he also had .. a relationship.. with a very close personal friend of mine ( who by the way has EXCELLENT hands and feet...) putting me TWO DEGREES AWAY FROM MARTHA STEWART, and well making my friend ONE DEGREE AWAY FROM MARTHA STEWART!

Yes, I am going to keep a packed bag beside my door for when the phone call comes to visit Cantitoe Corners! ( or Skylands, or Lilly Pond Lane, etc....)

Good Times

So, it has not been above freezing here, in like a week, still lots of ice and snow around. I think in some parts of the country they call this Winter. And now, as of this morning I can tell you first hand, that we are getting tree pollen!  Good times indeed....Commence coughing, sneezing and eye rubbing.

Well, let's face it, the coming of wide lapels would have done them in anyway.

MUCH more from the 1973 SEARS catalog 

HERE

look at it, and just try and pretend you did not

dress just like this, IF not in these exact cloths.

( husky plus tuff skins.... 'nuff said )

All of the intnernet is abuzz this morning with a torrent of gloom and doom coming from the offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce : ( from huffpo, but it is all over )


The "Mad Men" madness has reached a fevered pitch, and a terrible ending may be in the script.The Emmy-winning show is the subject of a bloody battle between creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner and network honchos at AMC. The show has yet to be renewed for a fifth season, and the sides are far apart on a deal.
Money is the issue, Deadline and The Daily report, but it has nothing to do with Weiner's contract; the two sides were close to agreeing on a two year, $30 million deal for the mind behind the acclaimed period drama. Instead, the struggle involves budgeting in other areas, namely advertising and even actors.
The two publications have sources indicating that AMC wants to cut two minutes from each episode, in favor of more commercials, as well as integrate product placement into the show. Given that it's set in the 60's, the kinds of brands that they could include -- or at least their labeling -- would prove interesting. No consumer electronics, for sure. Additionally, the network wants to make a major change in the show's DNA, by cutting two actors to cut costs. Neither of the actors has been revealed.
Predictably, Weiner has balked, and thus, no deal for season five has been made. ( the rest )
more from the LA TIMES .

A very dirty little well kept secret is that .... not all that many folks are watching everyone WE know's favorite show. That stupid zombie mess that AMC came up with to fill the time between Mad Men showings did like three times the ratings. So who knows.... all we can really do it hope for the best. I mean, let's face it, they are all dead from all that drinking and smoking by now, anyway.

Obsession, Obsession..... Obsession.

( sung to the tune of Tradition )

Welcome to your Republican Party in 2010!

2 + 2 = " you are a dirty rotten whore who wants to kill your baby"

What is the capital of Illinois ? " you are a dirty rotten whore who wants to kill your baby "

chemical formula for basic table salt :.... well you get the picture.

JOBS JOBS JOBS.. errr.. kowtowing the the MOST extreme element of the American Christian Taliban. Just yesterday from every ones favorite frothy mixture we get :

CONCORD, N.H. — In his latest trip to New Hampshire, Republican Rick Santorum says the Social Security system would be in much better shape if there were fewer abortions. The former Pennsylvania senator and potential presidential candidate was asked about Social Security during an interview on WESZ-AM radio in Laconia on Tuesday morning. He says the system has design flaws, but the reason it is in big trouble is that there aren't enough workers to support retirees. He blamed that on what he called the nation's abortion culture. He says that culture, coupled with policies that do not support families, deny America what it needs – more people.

Santorum has been a frequent visitor to New Hampshire, which holds the earliest presidential primary.

YEP!   The current budget woes ,wait for it : you killed your baby.....

hope I die before I get old...

( news flash : they didn't )

A new movie coming down the pike, looks very interesting.

TEENAGE

A New Film by Matt Wold

based on the book by Jon Savage

Jon Savage is the writer of England's Dreaming, the definitive history of the Punk Movement, that became the film The Filth and the Fury. God Save the Queen and all.

Pre war universe, there were no " teenagers " ... that Gap time between childhood and Volvo ownership. Post war, fat rich America didn't think little Dick and Jane needed to get married and start farming quite so early. But it was not with out its consequences....

I just saw , somewhere, a good long piece on the woes of women folk today and their longing for a grown up to marry. Turns out in 2011 little princess Ashely is finishing up her phd, md, juris dr. etc, while prince Tyler has been sitting on his ass playing video games, basically still in footie pj's...
The infantilization of the American male is complete! ( somehow my side wins..) An example of this would be current Hollywood, where my (12 year old) Thirty-five year old brothers reign supreme :

TOP TEN 2010 MOVIES

( things that make you go boom )

1 Toy Story 3 BV $415,004,880
2 Alice in Wonderland (2010) BV $334,191,110
3 Iron Man 2 Par. $312,433,331
4 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Sum. $300,531,751 ( one for the ladies )
5 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 WB $294,915,214
6 Inception WB $292,576,195
7 Despicable Me Uni. $251,513,985
8 Shrek Forever After P/DW $238,736,787
9 How to Train Your Dragon P/DW $217,581,231
10 Tangled BV $198,526,569 3,603 $48,767,052
11 The Karate Kid Sony $176,591,618
12 Tron Legacy BV $171,891,000


Our male attention span is that of a not too bright fruit fly ( with add ) .. we are going down and taking you all with us, From an NPR story last week we get :


Stop by one of the 200 or so Borders stores that soon will be closing, and you can pick through the rubble. Under the Everything Must Go signs, you will find the building blocks of the last half-century of popular culture — in discounted disarray.Here are the self-help books that promise to make us better people. There are the novels — by Tom Clancy and Janet Evanovich — that make us think about the world we've created. Over there are history tomes and workout tapes and compilation CDs and bright boxes containing the do-it-yourself language course Rosetta Stone.
Most of these are well-conceived, thoughtfully crafted objects — colorfully packaged, gift-wrap ready — for the home, the office, the dorm room, the nursery. They are whole things — meant to be consumed from beginning to end, front to back, A to Z. The problem is: We just don't do whole things anymore. We don't read complete books — just excerpts. We don't listen to whole CDs — just samplings. We don't sit through whole baseball games — just a few innings. Don't even write whole sentences. Or read whole stories like this one.
We care more about the parts and less about the entire. We are into snippets and smidgens and clips and tweets. We are not only a fragmented society, but a fragment society.  ( the rest )

Talking 'bout my G-g-g-eneration.....( yeah, its all their fault..)

K & K ( or is it a C )

 Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and you have to remember that Miss Kiara  belongs to the school of, if the sun is up, you need to be up. Meaning she will stand on what ever body part is closest to your head at the crack of dawn and just look at you... I did get her to go back to bed this morning...

 She loved the long walks we have been going on.

 Still some patches of ice and snow on the trail.

 Beautiful the last few days, but cold, January cold...

She went home this afternoon, Koda has been asleep since she left.

more tales of the city...

 New Orleans in this case....

 Neil did meet Armistead and Chris on the second night of them  being down in the Big Easy...I hear there are pictures of the two of them together.

I would have been a rowdy tween at a Justin Beaver concert.!

" which Mouse did you like the best?" " What the heck was up with eating that foot and all.." " How much did you love killing Beauchamp off " ?.... He and I are facebook pals and he wrote that he was having drinks with a lady ( a famous lady! ) who was once married to a friend of mine's , room mates father , I mean he and I are CLOSE......more to come as the details ( some, I hear, may be pg 13! ) and photos get back to me.....

RIP Geraldine Ferraro and Happy Birthday Paul Weir

Not really that big of a stretch, the two are forever linked inside my brain.

It a dark and stormy night......

ONE BILLION FOR HIV/AIDS RESEARCH

Life well lived......

Screen queen Elizabeth Taylor has left behind a fortune worth at least $600 million, much of which is expected to go to the AIDS charities she championed for decades. Her famous jewelry collection, valued at an eye-popping $150 million in 2002, is likely to be auctioned off with the bulk of the proceeds going to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and amfAR, the AIDS charity she helped found in 1985, according to WFLD/Fox TV Chicago. "From what I understand, she seems to have been very wise about her investments," said a financial planner who has worked with other Hollywood A-listers. At the time of her 1994 divorce from her last husband, Larry Fortensky, Taylor's net worth was estimated at $608.4 million. That figure could now be well in excess of $1 billion. During the 1990s, Taylor reportedly earned about $2 per second, or about $63 million per year. Her famed perfume, White Diamonds, earned more than $70 million last year, according to reports.

hat tip JMG

slumber ( not ) party

Ya'll just don't know what a good thing this is....

Beck's butt boy, David Barton: Jesus Opposed The Minimum Wage

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

What is , we are hoping, for the last time this season

our front yard

my pal John said on the facebook yesterday

he was enjoying watching his kid play baseball....

beautiful day today, but cold

Koda on the prowl

and, my dog can read

RISKY BRISKNESS

a haiku by Dana and Kyle

SPRING IS FUN AND BRISK

POSIES IN OUR MIDST

TO SOME AN ALLERGIC RISK

THE END OF THE 20th CENTURY - part one

DAME ELIZABETH TAYLOR, DBE

1932 - 2011

MOVIE STAR .

Before it gets all out there, and too, too cliche'd, " The Last Movie Star ". There were others... I mean the Lady was in the public eye for SEVENTY YEARS, but, she really was the brightest. Call it genetic or what ever , the fandom came really really early. If you were a little inside boy in the mid and late seventies, she WAS the headline, the cover, the gossip. But let's start where it started " just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out in the dark " . YES, I know, not her movie, not at all her life.. but it fit.

My Highlights

there are LOTS of movies

• Lassie Come Home - 1943. Can not tell you how many times I have watched this ( let's go with it was on a loop in College Park...).. Most people think this was her first, it was really her second.. the first being more of a walk on. Bit part.. I mean the star was the dog, but the presence ( and eyes ) was there. ( don't get me started on the old folks house when it was time for Lassie to leave...) The start of her life long friendship with Roddy McDowall.

• National Velvet - 1944. A star is born. She seems so much older in this one than the Lassie movie. This is when most folks saw her. She cuts her hair, and Pie wins....

• Father of the Bride/Fathers Little Dividend - 1950/1951. Love these two, a total time capsule. Post war, booming America and the start of the rat race. The cloths, the drama, the furniture... the caterers. She married husband one during this movie.

• A Place in the Sun - 1951. The best of the 50's soapy movies, Montgomery Clift at his prettiest, she about to explode, but sad, poor Shelly... 

1956 - 1966

Queen of the Universe

Giant - 1956. My FAVORITE Sunday morning movie, of all time. Liz, Rock and Jimmy Dean... If you live under a rock and have never seen it, run, don't walk.Ms. Taylor's footprint in the mud is one of my all time favorite movie scenes. She is woman, hear her roar..... very odd ending, I've never read the Ferber novel.. I should. Jet Rink..... all there was to say.

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - 1958. Sex on a stick. Very VERY late 50's sort of re-write. I think I think I have blogged about my WAY over the top fascination with Brick and Skipper..... It really was a little bit of a stretch to think of the hottest the world had to offer NOT having sex, and Brick getting all manly there at the end.. but still, the top of every ones game. A must see.

• Suddenly Last Summer - 1959. Freaky deaky! and some kinky sex to boot, 1959, this had to raise eyebrows. Katharine Hepburn, more Montgomery Clift and Liz : Lobotomies can be fun. Whats not to like about a little boy on man cannibalism ??

• Butterfield 8 -1960. Callgirl with a  hear to gold. Oscar #1, which really, was for the past three movies, and having died for a few minutes

• Cleopatra - 1963 . The end of old Hollywood. She did not want to make this movie.. and said  " sure, I'll do it, for a million dollars " knowing it would never happen. It did.....I love this movie, even thought it is a lot of look. An early memory is a two night ABC Sunday/Monday night at the movies... a very young Kyle. Watch it, just to see her at the peak of her power... a force of nature. There have been movies made about the making of this film.. and it was the birth of Burton - Taylor.

• The V.I.P.'s - 1963. really a throw away, but keep an eye on TMC and watch it just for the cloths....

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf - 1966. The violet eyes in black and white, and smokey all over. BOOZY, BRAWLEY and just all out fun.. from a distance. Oscar #2.

Lots and lots after, but these were the Golden Age.

AIDS ACTIVIST

1985

Nineteen freaking eighty five... NO ONE was standing up for AIDS victims, and she came out, as the Queen of Old Hollywood.... the exact same crowd that lied about homosexuality for all those years , and was in your face. Rock Hudson had just died.... fighting until the very end to keep it " in the closet" and Elizabeth Taylor blew the doors of a million closets. 

Through amfar and her personal aids foundations she raised hundreds of millions of dollars . More that that she was a face, a presence, a warm body when the rest of the country was staying away from public water fountains. She testified before Congress many times, was there until the end. She saved many lives...

THE HUSBANDS

(Hey, some of us marry not date)

 1.) Conrad Hilton, Jr. (1950–1951)
2.) Michael Wilding (1952–1957)
3.) Mike Todd (1957–1958)
4.) Eddie Fisher (1959–1964)
5 & 6.)Richard Burton (1964–1974, 1975–1976)
7.)  John Warner (1976–1982)
8.) Larry Fortensky (1991–1996)

THE JEWELS

The big two

(The BIG two)

The Taylor-Burton Diamond

Yeah, she had a diamond with her name on it.

69.42 carats in a pear shape.

The Krup Diamond

( she wears it every day )

 33.19 Carats, just deal with it
at the time she bought it - or it was bought for her-
it was the most ever paid for a single diamond

She also owned the famous Price of Wales Feathers, previously owned by the Duchess of Windsor

some of the highlights
there are MANY MANY more:
some emeralds

some diamonds and pearls

some sapphires

and
the famous La Peregrina Pearl

La Peregrina  pearlsAfrican slave who found it at Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama, to Europeankings and queens. Most recently, the pearl belonged to Elizabeth Taylor.

mary 1st of England, 
wearing the pearl-really

A life most well lived. She had FUN.. big fun.. not namby pamby 2011 fun, but BIG ASS close down all of Rome or Paris or New York City, drink, dance, fall in love, BIG love. Beauty beyond compare with talent to match -  AND she did damn good work, for people that no one would even touch.....

The planet is a lesser place with her loss.

"