Oh good lord. A friend just got engaged to this guy. (He's as charming as he sounds.)

I can't wait to see where they register. You may have to give us minute-by-minute updates on the progress of their betrothal.

The Notorious Mr. Smay.

"Notoriety isn't as good as fame but it's heaps better than obscurity."--Good Omens

Back-To-School clothing ads, 1957

eta: A line of clothes for "plump" girls called Chubbettes?

Can you buy gift cards for gas stations? 'Cause that would be a cool gift for a number of people I know. ( like recent grads). For people in need of practical gifts, but not sure how they would take that kind of thing -- I disguise it. For one friend I got disposable cameras for her kids for Christmas -- and then a grocery gift card to pay for the pictures. More $$ than she would need for that - so she could spend her paycheck on xmas.

brenda -- that guy lives in my neighborhood. or his brother or cousin. the guy in my neighborhood spends all his time suing the city. so he doesn't have to spend money on keeping up his building

Can you buy gift cards for gas stations?

I was thinking, "What, you buy x-mas cards for your gas station attendants?"

wait ... gas station attendants -- you mean people run these places?

Who else do you buy the candy from? Unless they have candy machines....

My family is all about the lists, at least for Christmas. (My sister and I have gotten into the habit of Amazon.com gift certificates for birthdays, which suits each of us just fine.) My sister's 8 years older than I, and left for college when I was 8. After that we were never in the same city for more than 2 weeks in a given year. 32 years later I'd know what color and style sweater would appeal to her? Sorry, not likely. And as her kids were born after I'd moved out of state there's no way in hell I'd know what to get them without a list. Her husband always needs driving gloves. I don't know why—maybe he sacrifices them to the gods of power-boating every April in a lavish ceremony redolent of WD-40 and myrrh. Meh, gloves I can find.

I wish my sister and her brood would pay more attention to Dad's lists, to be honest. They get him the belt/driving mocs/scarf/whatever that he asks for, and then they also get him some nifty techie thing that he can't figure out, loses the instructions and a couple of pieces for, and then asks me to make it work for him.

beth, my nephew got me a gift card for gas from BP. I'm pretty sure there are other gas stations that do the same thing.

It was a very welcome gift. When even a trip to Chicago becomes something to debate over because of the price of gas, having a gift card to help defray the cost was very nice.

We've talked about this before, but now it's a book: [link]

In his provocative new book, photographer and actor Leonard Nimoy (best known to the public from his role as Spock on Star Trek) captures images of full-bodied women, some of whom are involved in what is known as the “fat acceptance” movement. “The average American woman,” Nimoy writes, “weighs 25 percent more than the models selling the clothes. There is a huge industry built up around selling women ways to get their bodies closer to the fantasy ideal. Pills, diets, surgery, workout programs… The message is, ‘You don’t look right. If you buy our product, you can get there.’” In The Full Body Project, Nimoy challenges dominant notions of the ideal feminine figure as represented in the media and fine arts.

Fore SF-istas:

Last Gasp, in conjunction with the ArtNowSF and Juxtapoz Magazine monthly party Suite Jesus, is having a special book release event for “Full Body Project” featuring models from the book this Friday, August 22nd at 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco.

Maybe Spock will be there....

eta: Link is worksafe, but clicking on the picture takes you to Nimoy's site, which is not.