► Every year, the snobs at the Color Institute sit around a conference table and flip through color swatches to select the color of the year. For 2026 they selected Cloud Dancer (Govt Name: PQ-11-4201TCX). First, let's examine the name. Cloud Dancer sounds a horse running the 5th at Belmont. Or maybe the committee members are fans of  the movie, Dances With Wolves. IMO, Cloud Dancer has a whiff of American Indian culture appropriation. Now let's talk about the color.  Based on the swatch below, I could describe it as grandpa's dingy undershirt after 17 washes. Or classroom whiteboard, circa 2016.  In the old days, this color was called off-white or eggshell white. A spokesfailedartist for Color Institute (CI) coughed up this eye rolling explanation:    Read More "At this time of transformation, when we are re-imagining our future and our place in the world,  Pantone 11-4201 Cloud Dancer is a discrete hue offering a promise of clarity,”...

  ► I'm not into trends these days. Frankly, most of them suck. In the era I grew up, we had kick ass trends that included big glam rock hair, acid washed jeans, leg warmers, and mullets. When I heard of "danglecore" I thought it was planking's idiotic cousin. I visualized people dangling off  buildings, or highway overpasses, grain silos, or parking ramps. NOPE!  Danglecore refers to people dangling cutesy charms and stuffed animals on their backpacks, purses, jeans, coats, etc. Anywhere you can dangle an overpriced or bedazzled knick knack. The trend got its start with Labubus....which is this decade's Beanie Babies. Even fashion houses and the rich are fawning over danglecore. Fendi is selling $1,000 charm in the shape of bowl of fettuccine; Bottega Veneta a $650 leather kitty; and Gucci a $850 charm.   Read More Comment : Pfft...motorcyclists and the dive bar leather crowd have been doing danglecore for decades with wallet chains. So have janitors with 80 ke...

I will say upfront that she is not a favorite and has never been, so if you are a superstanley, please exit the article because this will hurt your delicate sensibilities. Shoo. Save yourself some tears and hurt feelings. I ask this earnestly, already knowing the answer, but I will ask this question anyway...Is there anyone on the planet who can make the case that Blake wouldn't have disappeared long ago, a forgotten cable TV actress who may or may not have rubbed on Leo DiCaprio's plastic Ken bump if she hadn't married B list Ryan? Can they say without falling into a fit of giggles that she was headed for several acclaimed starring roles? Blake was never good; she was demi-okay, but she never nailed a role or showed any fantastic range or reason that she even had a career after Gossip Girl. As for Leo, she did go on an obligatory bike ride with him, so I feel like that was a signal that Leo tried to get his reportedly impotent teenie weenie to play with Blake's girly b...