The Hamptons: Life’s a Beach

As I stepped out from the bus with tinted windows and took a look around, I thought for a second I was a millionaire…

Allow me to explain: My friend Robin Leacock invited me to spend the weekend in the Hamptons with her. Robin is a filmmaker and has had several successes working on documentaries. Between the two of them, Robin and husband Robert Leacock have worked on such films as “It Girls,” Madonna’s “Truth or Dare,” Al Pacino’s “Looking for Richard,” and Christy Turlington’s “Catwalk.”

Robin had a big wedding to attend to on Thursday nigh, so I missed driving up with her, but luckily the bus, pardon, the “luxury liner” that goes to the Hamptons lives up to its name. This bus provides free magazines, movie are screened, music is available, and water and delicious snacks are handed out to passengers sitting in very comfortable leather chairs with lots of leg room.

Robin zoomed to pick me up in her cool white beach jeep, her blonde hair flowing in waves behind her as she drove. We were on for a fun night. Read More »

Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Scarf? The Censure of the Keffiyeh

When fashion becomes a crime worthy of the expulsion of winsome celebrity chef Rachael Ray from the billboards of Dunkin’ Donuts, it is clear that the laws of sensibility have been hurled through the moral window.

The advert, depicting Ray and her luminous gnashers against a be-blossomed backdrop, evokes the anticipated summer ambiance and a rapacious craving for the glazed fancies.

Unless, of course, you are a member of the Fox News posse, for whom this is no ordinary advert: it is the manifestation of terror, the teasing tentacle of subversion, and a candid infringement on the security and morals of American society.

The means by which the cheeky chef and her cup of coffee prompted such outrage is inscrutable to the eye of the average individual, yet by viewing the image through the murky vision of the scandal-mongers, all becomes less clear.

Certainly, it is a scarf. A black and white scarf – in paisley, no less.

But wait, as the vision clouds further it resembles a… a… keffiyeh? Read More »