“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

Several weeks ago I did a piece called “Is Everybody High Line?” which talked about the much anticipated opening of the High Line, that lovely patch of park/stroll fest (whatever) that stretches from the Meatpacking District to the West Chelsea Gallery District. The sound alone sounds like the hippest channel on Earth. It surely is lovely, especially at night. But it’s much ado about little. Nothing has received more press than the High Line except maybe the passing of Michael Jackson. The pomp and circumstance around this clinking clanking clattering collection of collagenous junk was way over the top. It’s… Read More »

No, I have not yet seen The September Issue yet…film or magazine. I’m going to do the ritual this weekend, see the movie then flip through Vogue. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, I think Anna Wintour is fierce. Anyone from Lauren Wiesberger to Maureen Dowd can say what they want about Anna, but they are simply riding her Oscar de la Renta coattails. Having worked for years in Hollywood, inside the inner sanctum of celebrity, you learn really quickly that “those” people are not what they seem. When I moved to Los Angeles, my goal was to… Read More »

Don’t ask me why I am doing this entry about vintage advertising. Really? You want to know? Here’s the train of thought. I received an email about a new underwear company that ties in each purchase of underwear to a charitable organization. I know, doesn’t socially conscious underwear sound tragic? It does to me. Sure, I like helping whenever I can, but my underwear is not going to support anything but what it is designed for, if you get my drift. So, I started googling around underwear world and came upon a few vintage ads for underwear. Since we now… Read More »

Many of you must know by now that I have coined the phrase “fotz”. There ‘s many applications to this term. But, what, do you ask, is FOTZ? Etymology: What started out as a sarcastic reference to something that is or someone that “thinks” they are fascinating. So, it went from fascinating to fotzinating to fotzy balloons to fotzy to the currently, most used…fotz. Here are a few good examples. Bing is fotz. What Madonna wore to the Costume Institute Gala was fotz. George Bush was fotz…still probably is. Most Republicans are fotz. Susan Boyle’s first makeover was fotz. People… Read More »

The headlines in the newspapers these days are scarier than the first edition of Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis. With the kooks around the country coming out in droves to air their crazy anti-Obama madness, I’m almost afraid to leave my house for fear of some right-wing zealot on the attack with a loaded gun. And New Yorkers, listen up. Don’t think just because you are in New York City that you are any safer from that crowd. Once Rudy Giuliani turned this city into Disneyland and all the horrendous corporate types came swarming in, plenty of conservative kooks must… Read More »

Michelle Obama is fierce…but…not everything she wears works. Today’s New York Daily News did a pictorial on “Michelle’s Smashing Summer Style”. Now, I will be the first to say that Michelle is fierce…she has had quite a few sensational looks since entering the Vanity Fair International Best Dressed List. But like every other human, one can not be flawless 365 days out of the year. Unless you are Blaine Trump or Carolina Herrera. That said, since Michelle–prior to White House duties–was a working attorney mom, she definitely proved a great sense of style, considering lawyers are known for their fashion… Read More »

Hair is probably the most complicated issue of our time. Perhaps second to universal health care…but an issue of the highest, most unprecedented order. Oh, yeah, and world peace. On second thought, hair is the number one issue for mankind and the other things follow suit. How can I say that? Well, admit it. You spend more time thinking about your hair as opposed to Obama’s heath care plan or the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. Therefore…hair wins…horrendous as that sounds. These days with regards to hairstyles…everything goes. But, someone needs to be the voice of reason to prove… Read More »

My usual routine is to brew a pot of coffee, read the headlines online and determine what’s my story of the day…then start writing. Somehow nothing struck my fancy. Sure, there is the health care issue (debacle) that is exploding in our faces. The fact that right wing fringe lunatics are leading the charge and changing the dynamic of getting universal health care is heartbreaking. But not shocking. And that Sarah Palin still gets this much airtime? Well, it’s all just wrong. In an effort to shake the Glenn Becks out of my head, I perused the gossip websites only… Read More »

The Party’s Over has become one of the more fun entries on I Mean…What?!? It gets lots of laughs from the viewers, and while that is the main reason for everything, I must say it brings me unending joy to research “who’s” out there, or shall I say the “who are you’s” that are out there getting photographed at events. Things that are shocking need no introduction as pictures speak louder than words…therefore…… Read More »

Of all the people on Earth, The New York Times Style section felt the need to ask an uninteresting person to share their Woodstock (or lack thereof) experience on this, the 40th anniversary of the pivotal, generation-changing event. Elsewhere in The Times, Gail Collins did a fantastic Op-Ed piece on Woodstock. Then again, I’d read her grocery to-do list. But, The Sunday Style section would not live up to the oxymoron title I have bestowed upon it without at least one article worthy of a mention in I Mean…What?!? Today we have a writer, a proud Baby Boomer (zzz), who… Read More »