A Christmas List That Could Make a Saudi Prince Blush

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud enjoying his in-flight glamor shot, which comes standard with the purchase of one gilt throne.

Christmas is upon us, and with this most wonderful time of the year comes the opportunity for millions of debt-strapped individuals all over the country to spend themselves back into prosperity. Below I have assembled a collection of items so unreasonably expensive and tacky that they would make even the likes of a Saudi prince blush. Lo:

A Call to Re-Occupy Your Parents' Basements

Kanye West, reasserting his importance in the political arena.

Today I make my voice heard. For today I write as a disenfranchised member of the Millennial generation! I will not, however, take to the streets. No; rather, I call on those who have - and in doing so embarrassed a generation with your braying of trite Guevarra-isms and paradoxical admiration of Guy Fawkes (do you want to blow up Parliament or endow it with more power?) - to retreat and take on a more manageable foe.

One Year Blogiversary: An Exercise in Neglect

Today marks one year since I started this blog. I have decided that if I ever want to get this thing off the ground I will have to do one of two things:

Write more, or, hire Vladimir Putin's publicist.

In the spirit of celebration, I post for you a retrospective of the finest Putin setup shots, starting with yesterday's "discovery" of Grecian urns. Please enjoy.

"Ugly" And Other Things You Can't Say In Ten Years

Notoriously ugly painter, Odd Nerdrum, in one of his many ugly self portraits, in his breathtakingly ugly figurative style.
(Note: my favorite self portrait of Mr. Nerdrum is not even safe for thinking about at work.)

Last week, the fine people at New York Magazine brought a critical issue to the forefront. Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with the sexual habits of Sarah Palin's children, nor even the last outfit Michelle Obama wore to that function that made her simultaneously down-to-earth and glamorous. No, it was the heretofore unseen sufferings of... The Homely:

Conscience of a Liar

Paul Krugman accepting the Nobel Prize in Economics, 2008.

Paul Krugman is showing himself to be disingenuous again:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/the-glenn-beck-debeers-connection/

How does this account for investors outside of the U.S. buying up bullion (not to mention private and central banks) in significant volume? Is one to assume that the debt crises taking hold of the Portuguese, Irish, Italian, Greek and Spanish economies have less of an effect on the price of gold than Glenn Beck? Not to mention the inflationary consequences of tripling the money supply since 2000. If people are forced by law to deal in fiat currency, it should not seem unnatural that they hedge against their paper with commodities, especially in times of irresponsible monetary management.

And, on a less relevant note De Beers did not create the demand for diamonds with a clever ad campaign. Louis XIV effectively replaced the pearl with the diamond as the world's most sought-after precious stone when he commissioned the French Blue in the 1670's. What De Beers DID do was make an already desirable commodity more accessible by dramatically increasing the supply, for better or for worse.

Less relevant still is that Krugman looks embarrassing in tails. It's as if Dopey decided to go white tie.

Men of the World Demand Equivalent to Fascinator; Mexico Answers

The Royal Wedding has come and gone, and while it was more or less inconsequential to the men of the world, it has introduced the word "fascinator" into the global lexicon. A fascinator can be defined as a sarcastically small hat, generally garnished with plumage of sorts. It is known to be almost always unflattering unless you are a beautiful Englishwoman of means or a dog.