Keep your wits about you...

This could be the beginning of a huge new movement. I leave it up to you which kind.

Merry Christmas from the Cabal!

We at the Cabal of Style wish all those of those who chose to celebrate this holiday a merry Christmas. On a side note, if you're escaping from holiday festivities into the blogisphere Dan Drezner has a link to a story in the Chicago Tribune about the changes in consumer behavior and the popularization of the credit card in the nations of the former Eastern Bloc. To me, the applications to Iraq seem obvious. They're already gettin mobile phones. Can plastic be far behind?

Why Eat Beef...

...when Godiva offers so many scrumptious offerings for the holidays, not to mention the current outbreak (if one can call it that. I probably shouldn't) of mad cow disease. Here's a few factoids for your consumption.

Enjoy.

Queer Eye-a libertarian conspiracy?

Just a thought-where else have gay rights (at least the right to be in-your-face flamboyant) and guilt-free shopping (and not "it's organic and free trade so it's OK" shopping, but good old, brand name purchases) meshed so nicely?

Leave it to Beaver reruns

That's what it's been all about lately. That, and walking around through my newly-gentrified (haha) 'hood, looking at the little dogs as they pass by. Most have on sweaters or coats--those who don't start to look naked once you get used to seeing them clad (and, often, shod). Today I saw the best yet: a dog with it's very own, proportionally-correct Burberry plaid scarf. That a dog--a small Jack Russell Terrier, looked like--may be more put-together than many people is something we should all consider when dressing ourselves. Not that I'm specifically advocating Burberry or anything, but perhaps these small UES residents have something to teach the rest of us.

Fortune Favors the Bold!

Have you ever seen my favorite Albert Brook's movie, "Defending Your Life"? Having seen it, this discovery hardly seems like a surprise to me.

Little Buying Spree

I can't help but buy different kinds of media. It's a sickness. However, as opposed to previous buying sprees, this one seems fairly diverse. Over the past, I've gone from books to movies to music. However, in the past couple weeks, I've managed to buy one of all three. The day after I got home, I purchased a copy of White Light/White Heat by the Velvet Underground. Two days ago, I was at Best Buy and spotted a copy of Dark City for only $5.99! That's not a deal to be missed. Then today I purchased a copy of Of Paradise and Power by John Kagan. I'll write a review of this last one. Maybe the other two, if I'm bored. It already appears, at least for now, to be the kind of work that academics don't consider major, yet gets cited all the time, like the Clash of Civilizations, the Coming Anarchy, or The End of History and the Last Man. If that ends up being the case, Kagan will help frame the debate, whether he's right or wrong, and whether academics like it or not. I'll let you know what I think.

Diet Anything

Got sushi in the neighborhood (UES, word) tonght; two women seated at the next table wanted diet Coke. The place was out-bizarre, since that's the UES version of a house wine. "Do you have diet anything?" asked one. "Is green tea caffeinated?" asked the other. The woman seated at the table on the other side of me (it's kind of a girly place) was head-to-toe Burberry. A man was charged for a minute amount of rice for his toddler and all hell broke loose, the manager was summoned, and a certain family may never go back to a certain sushi place ever again, ever.

New York, how I've missed you.

Nationalism and air travel

After my plane from Geneva to NY stopped short after an attempted takeoff, the bewildered, queasy, and frighened passengers were told that an engine was reportedly "abnormal," but that engineers from Zurich would investigate and, if things looked OK, we could take off. Lovely. When a flight attendant noticed my state of anxiety (could it be the franglais yelping that clued her in?) I was reassured that the airline was Swiss, and that the Swiss couldn't possibly screw up. I was then assured by the man seated next to me that our pilot was German. A religious Jewish woman asked him if that was supposed to be a good thing.

All told, the plane made it, thanks, of course, to the superior aviation ability of certain Western European nations. Like, whatever.

Two of my favorite people

Andrew Sullivan likes Rufus! Or at least he likes "his music." Yeah, sure, whatever you say Andrew. But he's not a fan of the singer's left-wing politics, since apparantly Mr. Wainwright is a libertine more than a libertarian, or something along those lines.
(andrewsullivan.com)

Last days in Paris, several dilemmas remain...

How many pastries can one U of C student, preparing for winter hibernation, eat in 2 days? Can any cheese be legally brought back to the States, or will I end up being written up in the Maroon for getting caught at customs with illicit dairy products? If I had to buy just one (more) pair of shoes, which would they be, and how, given very limited luggage capacity, would I get them back home? Should I take the train or a cab to the airport? Argh!

On a less angst-ridden note, Aaron's right, the blog is doing well hit-wise; I would like to take the opportunity to thank my family and Aaron's family.

A Big Day for the Cabal

We just passed 100 hits! Good for us. I hope those numbers keep on climbin'. If you're coming in from Crescat, as most of you surely are, thanks for the visit and we hope to see you again soon. I just got in from Vienna last night and I'm still getting back up to speed. Major Blogging operations will commence again, shortly.

Those damn ads

The big youth movement here in Paris is a little bit of everything--somewhat goth but also into Bob Marley, pro-Palestinian but also frequently pro-anarchy--but the movement's focus is clearly its "anti-pub," or anti-advertisement, activities. (No, the French are not protesting British drinking holes; "pub" is short for "publicité.") Scrawled over nearly all ads in the Metro--ads for department stores, electronics, Uma Thurman movies; ad content doesn't seem to be the issue--is "marre de la pub," or, often, "la honte" ("the shame"). Apparantly the seemingly innocuous posters urging you to, say, buy a different brand of deoderant are actually something to get worked up about. Why, of all things to protest, of all anticapitalist things to protest, have ads in population become such a popular target?

Many Parisian ads are merely gratuitously sexual images that may or may not be urging you to buy any identifiable product. In one such ad on the Metro, a man is whipping himself, which, I've been told, means he wants a better long distance carrier.

I am honestly curious as to why so many radicals here seem so hell-bent on tearing down and defacing ads on the Metro, and am wondering whether this is a big movement in NYC and Chicago, too, but one that I had somehow missed.

Vienna Waits for You...

As it's my last night in Vienna, I thought I might throw up some links and some reading suggestions. Here's a couple of great novels about the transition to modern Austria. I highly recommend them both.

The Radetzsky March by Joseph Roth

The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig

See y'all back in the states.

What's the best misspelling of "stupid"?

Though I might vote for "stewpid" just to be a contrarion, Keith Burgess-Jackson seems to stand firmly behind "stoopid". It's a decent summation of why liberals think we conservatives are, how do you say, 'not at the peak of our mental powers'. Though it would have been nice to examine the similar good/evil dynamic that conservatives seem to project upon liberals and their intentions, I think the opposite conclusion is fairly obvious. Needless to say, the parties could stand to get to know each other, not as politicians, but as men and women with differing outlooks on the world. "Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends?"

A Step in the Right Direction

There are two principle areas where Bush has been a has been hipocritical: the budget and on trade. It looks as though the administration is making a solid step to reverse the latter. To be honest, I'm not sure I know enough to comment on whether or not steel subsidies were a good idea, but I tend to be of the mind that if a business is struggling, it's better to let it be defeated then to waste money and capital keeping it alive with government assistence. It only acts as a drain on the economy, forcing money and labor to be diverted from other possible uses that could actually compete on an international scale. Like I said, I'm a novice with global economic issues. If you'd like to go from a "know-nothing" to a novice, I recommend this book. It's fun, it's short, and you might learn something.

Fun With Colors and Shapes

I didn't realize that the New York Times was in the habit of assigning projects that could be completed with construction paper and glue. It's a fun look at the images that could define a campaign if any of these politicos had a fun bone in their body and a little spirit of adventure. There seem to be two kinds of posters: one that a candidate would actually use and a poster that's really nothing more than a parody on the campaign. Dean gets the former, Kerry gets the latter. All in all, I think Dean and Gephardt get the two best posters. If I were either of them, I'd scoop the rights up right now. Clarks, however, is very revealing. While it's funny, it's just too hip for a presidential campaign. That kind of advertising might work for selling iMacs, but I doubt whether it could sell a president. Go have some fun.