There’s nothing like commercials to tell you who the advertising world thinks your tastes mean you are.  If you mostly watch prime time network TV, you may never notice much of a bias (people with money to spend who eat?), but explore the weirder networks or late night TV?  It can get pretty funny.  The next time you’re home sick, try watching daytime TV.  You’ll find that Madison Avenue expects you to be a bored young mom, an impending ITT Tech student, disabled, or someone in desperate need of joining the military.  (I’ve noticed that on at least one network, the Army ads predominate until about 6 pm, at which point the Marines take over.  I would comment on that except that I’m pretty sure my Marine friend would never let go of it if I did.)

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been watching a lot of design shows recently.  As you might expect, the commercials that go along with design shoes are primarily designed to create the overwhelming urge to repaint every room you have in new and groovier and possibly more environmentally friendly colors.  This is sort of unfortunate for me given that I don’t own my apartment, but Sherman-Williams may break me yet.  Even funnier, I got a kick out of watching professional bull riding with the boy the other night, at which point I suddenly became part of a bow-hunting, bass-fishing demographic with ads that started with lines like “I will not be ashamed to be a MAN!”  Uh, I am part of the Stetson-owning, Tex-Mex eating demographic who at least knows what Dickies is, but I kind of doubt that I’ll be buying a truck bed liner any time soon.

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Friday is here again.  THANK GOD.  Need we say more.

Here’s your dose of snarky, hilarious goodness to kick off the weekend …

Someone should start a variant for NYC!  Any singles (or otherwise) out there want to give it a shot?

ZOMG. *drools*

Does anyone do flat-out gorgeous better than Versace?  I would have to be getting married in this dress to justify its price tag, but Versace never fails to include at least one thing in every season’s line that reduces me to total idiocy and incoherent lust.  Had I mentioned that’s just about my favorite color?  It’s completely over the top, but…

Excuse me while I go gibber.

So if you haven’t noticed, a few of us here at Femmeiniste are, um, obsessed with Mad Men.  (If you don’t know what that is by now, there’s nothing I can do for you, I’m sorry.)   So imagine our squeals when we hear that Sesame Street, another one of our favorites, is doing their own personal tribute to Mad Men this season — eeeee!!  This marriage of the perennial gold standard in children’s programming plus the BEST show currently on TV (well, season 3 starts on August 16) is sure to be awesome.  And now to add to the fun, Jezebel.com is offering up some Muppet casting suggestions here.

I especially like the Elmo-Pete Campbell concept – brill.  Be sure to read the comments, where one particularly witty contributor has submitted her own vision of what the episode will be like – CTW, are you listening?

For another fabulous pop culture –> Mad Men tribute – be sure to check out Homer Simpson-as-Don here …

And let’s remember, Sesame Street has a long and distinguished history of clever parodies of hit TV series.  For examples, check out this, this, and this.   Love the citrus in eyeglasses!!

You have heard me ranting about flip-flops in the past.  Allow me to be a curmudgeon yet again.  LEGGINGS.  I know they’re popular, but I haaaaaaate them. They are wretched.  Can they go away now?

To begin with, let’s admit: leggings only look tolerable on a VERY small minority of women.  Legs that look fine bare and look fine in pants can look bulgy or spindly in leggings.  There was a big spread of pictures in July’s Vogue of Sienna Miller wearing leggings.  Sienna Miller can wear leggings.  Me?  I’m tall enough but I’m still not even sure that I can wear leggings or if my legs are too muscular to get away with it.  Sadly, the fact that leggings only look good on a minute fraction of the female population doesn’t keep lots of and lots of people from wearing them.  Even if your legs look okay, they always end at the ankle, leaving a bright flash of skin before the shoe to draw the eye.  Woe betide you if you then pick the wrong shoe.  If you do, the leggings will make your feet look comparatively enormous, and the flash of skin will make sure no one fails to notice that you are wearing rowboats on your feet.  I have trouble imagining an outfit with which you could wear leggings that wouldn’t be better served by skinny jeans or tights except the ones that are straight of the 1980s, and I am SO not going there.

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Gorgeous wall art inspired by the natural world in brushed steel from Artful Home.

I mentioned last week that my latest fascination is interior design.  This might actually be a good thing, since I actually have to stop and think before purchasing a piece of furniture about whether it would fit into my space, whereas periods of shoe obsession, not requiring that period of reflection, can turn into a fiscal bloodbath. As you may have guessed from my past posts, I’m just the tiniest bit obsessed with biology, zoology, and the natural world in general, and my obsession extends to my taste in interior design. My ideal space would have some warmth, some color, simple lines with a bit of an Asian influence, and a big splash of  the organic in the form of nature photography, driftwood tables, you name it.

Luckily, these days the marketplace (and the internet) are full of decor inspired by the natural world.  After the jump, a collection of my favorites.

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