The Roomorama Blog

Dear Governor Palin,

We support you and really want to help with your subsequent interviews. Here, allow us to recommend two websites that we personally have found really useful over the years:

1. Google
2. Wikipedia 

You may want to check them out. 

Sincerely, 
Roomorama 

 

“Why don’t we pick up trash, paint it white, and call it Shabby Chic?”

“Daddy, love the animals! Thanks for taking me here.”
“No problem kid, where does mum take you on her days? To school? Gets old, doesn’t it?”
The American Museum of Natural History: Helping divorced husbands win over their children since 1869.  

Time for Roomorama’s favorite game — choose your tagline!!!
a) The Hall of Human Origins: No sign of God. 
b) The Hall of Human Origins: Thanking evolution, one short hairy and ugly monkey at a time.
c) The Hall of Human Origins: Look out for the taxidermied homo sapiens under the “Today” section.
d) The Hall of Human Origins: Proceed at your own risk. Museum not liable for onset of existantial crisis.

 

Meta meta universe. Man could not afford trip to safari or to the zoo, had to paint paintings; representations of representations. Cites static nature of subjects that help him draw cleaner lines, and eventually, paintings of sharper images and higher resolution. 

 

I stood in awe, and all I could think of was Ben Stiller holding a flashlight.

 

This is Lowe’s room, daughter of Obedient and Son’s founders Christina and Swaim Hutson. More fascinating pictures on how they live here. 

 

Why does McCain refer to Obama as “Senator Obama”, but Obama refer to McCain as “John”?

(yeah, that’s all I have to say.)

Tony Alamo from Flagstaff, Arizona was arrested after state police raided his compound, removing six girls ages 10 to 17. On marrying young girls, he is quoted as saying, “In the Bible it happened. But girls today, I don’t marry them if they want to at 14-15 years old. We won’t do it, even though I believe it’s OK.”

If you ever meet a pastor that looks like that (left), dressed up all Miami Vice, how could you not think he is a fraud? Or in this case, a freaking perverted manipulative son of a bitch. 

What we should be ashamed of is not how society has produced a monster like him: but how he has thousands upon thousands of followers who place their trust in him, and who put up wit his perverse literal interpretation of the Bible.

“Quite a boring outfit, I apologize. It was too boring for me to wear even to drivers ed so I ended up changing. Triple lace up Ann Demeulemeester boots worn with silver coated Superfine jeans and a random charcoal tee.” 

– [Left] Jane Aldrige of SeaofShoes. Roomorama’s a huge fan.

Jane, what you are wearing is what I would wear on a date. And it still would have taken me hours to finally come up with an outfit that looks like that. To me, what you have on is a look. I also would have spent previous weekends at every store in town looking for a t-shirt that is as flattering as your random charcoal tee.

Please do not apologize. Boring is my summer camp t-shirt and denim shorts I wear all the other times when I am not on dates.

We all love you here, and really wish you become big in the fashion industry one day, but seriously, if that’s too boring even for drivers ed, is life becoming a little too needlessly stressful?

And, just curious, what do you wear to Walmart?

Since moving into my new place months ago, I finally had my first neighborhood moment today — a 30 minute conversation with my local laundry guy. It sealed our friendship, and I am now officially part of a community. I cannot wait to sign a petition or oppose something or the other. One day, I might just be able to work alongside my neighbors removing weeds in some “green space”. CANNOT. WAIT.

Anyway, my laundry guy tells me, in halting English, that he used to live in Queens (probably Flushing. Not stereotyping…just…chances are…), but since his daughter got into Hunter Elementary, supposedly 1 of 15 girls out of 2000 kids who sat for the entrance exam, he had to live in Manhattan for his daughter to qualify for this public school. And so he hauled his family across the East River (probably took the  7 train) and set up shop in Manhattan. It was hard for him to find a rental because of “discrimination and stuff”, so he took the leap and bought his own condo instead: “….so I buy!” he said with gusto as he hammered the air with his left fist.

He spent the other 28 minutes convincing me that the current economic crisis is all part of the US government’s plan to hurt developing economies. I wasn’t listening — all I could think of was him stir-frying some mixed vegetables in his UES apartment, the airborne oil-aroma permeating the whole floor, soaking into some knee-length cashmere sweater hanging by his neighbor’s door; his daughter on the way to school, walking out of the building with some Jenny Humphrey, who totally ignores her although they see each other every morning; his wife pushing a red cart bursting with wet plastic bags into the elevator, where a tall, blonde lady stands with her Equinox-toned slender arms wrapped around a Whole Foods cloth bag with a baguette sticking out.

His daughter has better study so damn hard.

[Photo: Racked]

Hermes holds its annual sample sale this week — where all of New York comes together to help the luxury brand pay off a year’s worth of bills.

Some shoppers, using Hermes-speak, share shopping tips on Racked:

“…Then the miracles started happening! A round of GM cashmeres came out unbeknownst to me (insert wails of grief here), and Menelle was an angel and handed me a perfect pink GFII GM cash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ”

“…But the waiting by the stockroom strategy really paid off, because the mousses started flying! In my bag fell a cobalt blue Cheval a Fleuri GM, a violet/grey Bolduc GM, a blue PM POO and a black/yellow/hot pink Ronde de Jockeys. Also spotted were turquoise/white/blue GM Soleil, turquoise PM Cheval a Fleuri, hot pink Bolduc PM, black GM Au Gre de Vent, pastel GM Au Gre de Vent, light blue GM Danse, an acid yellow PM Alternateur, chartreuse stole whose name escapes me but is cursive letters; same design in orangey-pink PM.”

Seriously, WTF?! I mean, there is shopping, and there is SHOPPING. Bewildered readers asked for clarification, and a different commenter jumped in: 

POO = Pierres d’Orient et d’Occident - a scarf design 
GM = Grand Modele ie large size 
PM = Petit Modele ie small size 
Cash = cashmere 
Changeant scarves change colour according to how the light falls on them.

A good source for reference ishttp://www.hsci.hermesscarf.com/index.php

So the next time you comment on your friends’ clothing, or think you know one bit about shopping, just remember there are people out there who would probably look at your shirt and tell you its PANTONE color. 

Calling all rich masochists: Just 17 days to your next Lollapalooza, The Chicago Marathon (Oct 12). Be patient! Indeed, this is a stuff white people like.

People who take part in big city marathons deserve a chapter of their own in any psychology textbook. Is a sense of achievement worth months of training, registration fees, and flight and hotel headaches?

But my marathon running friends have made me wiser. Apparently, some successful human beings out there go around looking for big defined goals to work towards, as a metaphor for other areas of their lives. A big city marathon is one such goal: It’s defined, takes a lot of physical and mental preparation, and is difficult enough to deserve a little respect. If you’ve never been a POW, a missionary in Africa, or survived a kidnapping, settle for running a marathon or two. Once a marathon is completed, what is say reaching a sales target, or surviving a long meeting, right? 

It’s not just about running 26 miles. Anyone could plan a route around their town. It’s about searching online for a large coordinated marathon, registering for the event, booking flights and hotels, taking vacation days from work, and telling all your friends. One needs to be heavily vested. Expensive and hard-to-cancel goals work best. Only the fear of wasting time and money can make a human being get up at 5am to run in the cold.

After deep thought, we at Roomorama have decided that registering for a marathon is indeed the best psychological maneuver to keep a life disciplined and healthy. We support every one of you masochists out there. 

In fact, we are here to help. No need to waste money on hotels, spend that cognitive dissonance on a new pair of Oakleys. Take a look at what we have on our Chicago listings.

[Photo: Annie Leibowitz, Vanity Fair]

Seriously, gunning for an 8th Tour de France win after surviving cancer and winning 7? And doing it all to raise cancer awareness, and to sell more of those yellow LiveStrong bands for a buck? Honestly, I’m getting a little sick of those bands, isn’t there an easier for me to show my support for cancer victims? The rubbery material and bright yellow is not always each to match. 

He wakes up at 5.30am, goes through hours of pain, and is looking to buy a place in Aspen just to train in the mountains; he presumably makes it to the Tour de France next June, only to be hounded by the French press: They hate him so much they would probably spike his water with drugs just to disqualify him. In fact, they may just cancel the whole tournament — “Want to win another one??!! Go organize your own! Putain! ”  (because the French only speak in italics.)

Please please please Lance, I really just want to see you date hot starlets like one of ‘em Olsens. I want to see you pick up golf and suck at it. I want to see you tour the world and charge $10,000 for an inspiring speech. I want to see you adopt children from Africa, appear in RED campaigns with Bono, raise funds by auctioning off your bike, yellow jerseys, and sweaty tights.

Just don’t race again. I don’t know how inspired I can get anymore. Let’s just focus on celebrating and exploiting the story to do good? After the 7th time, we’ve long sweated it out together, and its high time for simply enjoying the post-coital cuddle. 

 

In a recent issue of Vanity Fair, George Hamilton writes about a holiday with Elizabeth Taylor where a journalist took topless photos of Liz. George gallantly hunted down the photographer after a night of phonecalls, but just as the photographer surrendered the negatives, right in front of George and Liz, this discussion ensued:

A sly grin crept across that beautiful face of hers [Liz]. The violet eyes lit up. “I like them. Don’t you? My breasts look rather good, don’t you think?” She passed the roll to me.

“You look spectacular,” I was forced to admit.

“What about the hat?”

“I think it works. Reverse chic.”

“I hate censoring the press anyhow. Not my style. I’m a First Amendment gal.”

The room seemed to bulge as we released our collective breath. The Spanish shooter went a little weak in the knees. I felt a wave of exhaustion sweep over me. But all that was important for now was that Elizabeth was happy. I never had a chance to see the published pictures. All I know is that Elizabeth sold a lot of perfume.

So Liz Taylor basically let the naked pictures go and benefited from the publicity? No doubt she was already famous by then, but this little twist does sound a lot like the olden day version of a Paris Hilton tape.

Those Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfied ads were head-scratchers, and have been abruptly pulled off the air. But now with the “I’m a PC” campaign (above), I sort of get the idea. Microsoft is for people like you and me — the everyday man that is cool in their own way, and who don’t bother shouting about it. 

I think they are right to see the Mac as being a bit elitist with their ads mocking the PC guy. With these series of “I’m a PC” ads, Microsoft is telling everyone, look, we all know the majority of us use the PC, so who is the Mac to tell us that we are uncool? A great message. 

Funny - why has it taken Microsoft so long to tell a compelling message?

I have been getting a little bored of the Warhol 70s vs present day New York comparison. Greenwich Village blah blah blah…

Candance Bushnell’s new book One Fifth Avenue, speaks to a New York that is quite different from when she wrote the “Sex and The City” column back in 1994. The differences in lifestyles and preoccupations of New Yorkers back then, just over 10 years ago, are picked up by Bushnell’s sharp eye to a degree that you would think there was at least a generation that seperated the two New Yorks. It’s like the world went into warp speed through the 90s and to today. 

Some interesting nuggets, off the New York Observer review: 

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(that would be the last time the two would appear in the same sentence…promise)

NY Times just introduced TimesPeople, a tool that helps readers keep track of their NYT footprint, share it, and look at their friends’. In their own words:

For example, when you recommend an article, comment on a blog post, or rate a movie or restaurant, these activities will become visible to other TimesPeople users in a special toolbar at the top of every NYTimes.com page. You’ll also have a personal page that keeps track of your TimesPeople activities and lets you browse your network of readers.

With a similar but less complex community push, Gawker just introduced a new format to their comments section. A simple fix that makes a big jump in readability: Comments are now threaded, allowing conversations to take place.

[Read more →]