This fall, the always on-point geniuses at Christian Dior give the fashion world a fresh, flirty surprise with their ready-to-wear designs.

This dress, for example, takes traditional fall hues (like deep red and burnt orange) and dares to make them pop out of the monotonous crowd. The contrast of a fun geometric whirlwind against the radiant white is striking and playful while maintaining the unique Christian Dior sophistication that people just can’t take their eyes off of. In addition to manipulating a perfect color combination to absolute impeccability, this piece takes a familiar shape and brings it to another level by allowing for large ruffles in a bubble skirt that culminate to form a young perfection that captures the evolution of Christian Dior’s lasting vision.

*Photo via: Style

The span of David Bowie’s career is absolutely amazing, spectacular even. Over the course of five decades, David Bowie has accumulated over 20 studio albums varying in genres as out of this world as the man himself. From psychedelic folk to glam rock to electronic to synth pop/punk, David Bowie has spanned the world of music and stood the test of time. With a list of songs familiar to so many generations of music lovers over a hundred strong, David Bowie’s music is, without a doubt, classic.

Not only has David Bowies music touched the lives and imagination of millions, his over the top personalities have also had a huge impact on popular culture. From his beautiful androgyny to his outrageous costumes to the creation of his out of the closet persona Ziggy Stardust: David Bowie changed the world of rock in a way that is still quite apparent in some of the coolest bands on the scene today (Dresden Dolls, Any Day In June, The Cure). Without his influence, who knows if the more glamorous side of rock-n-roll would have ever become quite so, glittery.

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“We’re Not in Kansas Anymore”: Premiere Episode of 90210 (AKA Degrossip Girl Junior High School Musical).

So, yeah. It’s been over eight years since they left us. They’ve grown up and changed in the interim. So have we. So has Beverly Hills. So has America, television, fashion, the media, the genres of YA entertainment and youth culture, the very notions of “teen” and “family.” It’s been a long time since Kelly was a Spring Princess and Brenda didn’t give a damn, since Dylan took Brandon to the Green Room, since Donna and her first mother Nancy modeled at the mother-daughter fashion show.

We can tell lot has changed, because really, there’s no way we woulda gotten a blowjob scene within the show’s first five minutes from the OLD gang.

But the more things change in our favorite zip code, the more they stay the same, because, lucky for you, am I back to Rant about it! (However, now, I actually have a word limit.) But we can’t skimp on the beginning, can we?!

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With 22 games left in the season it is now do or die time for the Dodgers.  They currently sit 1.5 games out of first place, behind the D-Backs of course.  They start a crucial three game series against those first place D-Backs and they have to sweep if not, at least win two out of the three games.  If the Dodgers end up sweeping the series it will vault them into a 1.5 game lead.  If they win two of three they will be only .5 games back of the D-Backs which is better than 1.5.

The end of the season is near and what better way to make up ground on the first place team than to beat the first place team.  Not only is this series important because they are playing the D-Backs, but after this series the Dodgers go on a long road trip.  They will be on a 10 game road trip and it is always harder to win on the road than at home.  The road trip will consist of the Padres, Rockies and the Pirates.

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“I am so in awe of my garment.” ~ Blayne

Project Runway started off this week with Suede’s revelation that there are only four measly guys left.  Color me shocked.  They’ll all go home eventually but for now, they’re keeping some around for entertainment’s sake.  Otherwise, we’d all fall asleep this season.  Let’s face it, there’s no Christian or Chris March or hell, even Sweet Pea to keep us watching so we’ll settle for third-person mumblings from Suede and Blayne’s flippant claims about wanting to marry Mary-Kate Olsen. (Don’t they look alike? Blayne’s the third Olsen!) It’s not awesomely crazy like last season but, hey, we’ll take it.

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How did I get through a whole summer without Tyra?

At least I had Gossip Girl reruns to satiate my desire for dramatic, narcissistic bitches until the increasingly ridiculous Tyra brought her latest batch of would-be beauties to my TV set last night, for the inaugural episode of America’s Next Top Model’s 11th cycle (yes, I used the word inaugural to tie in to the barely believable political theme of the first photo shoot).

While this cycle’s girls are indeed some of the most gorgeous I’ve seen to date on ANTM, more importantly, they are by far the dumbest. Clark (the chick with a cool boy’s name who looks like Blake Lively/Kristin Cavalleri hybrid – yes I watched Laguna Beach too, does that surprise you?) couldn’t even figure out what bureaucracy meant in the “get out the vote shoot.” And while we’re on the topic of the photos, which showcased each new gal posing with a heavily-accessorized voting booth that was supposed to represent a political issue we must all go vote for or against come Nov. 4, I must ask: Is bureaucracy really an issue I can vote against? Because I’m all for that. And I didn’t realize cloning was a huge platform for those running for office this year. Wasn’t Dolly the sheep cloned over ten years ago? I’m sincerely glad this show came out after I’d left high school, when I could have actually been stupid enough to think they were really tackling some major world issues.

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Montana Avenue has a couple of staples, Father’s Office probably being the most popular amongst them. Beyond the beer and burger, Montana Cafe and 17th Street Cafe have been there forever, and Babalu even survived a fire. Fireside Cellars has an impressive selection of high-end wines, but the Duck Blind is the only liquor store around that sells high-end nudie magazines. With a constantly revolving selection of specialty stores pitching blink and you’ll miss them trends, it’s easy to ignore a new store opening.

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We’ve met a bunch of new people. We’ve been titillated. We’ve been Plot-Bludgeoned. On with the second episode of the two-episode premiere of 90210 2.0! (It’s called “The Jet Set.” More like “OMG He’s Got a Private Jet!!!” Set.)

Wacky Hijinx Alert: the rival high school literally—LITERALLY—trashes West Bev, so Dixon is all conflicted and has to choose between bonding with his new teammates by retaliating and respecting his Dad-Principal by taking the high road. Dixon shows respect for both by appropriating a Drunk Grandma-suggested prank of letting pigs loose on the Palisades High field… just like his dad did back in the day. Aw, have a Lifesaver, son!

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Difficult to understand at times, yet embodying the fears, anxieties and hopes of perhaps every single person struggling with the ever looming idea of facing life, Momma’s Man manages to touchingly capture an idea that’s so introverted, yet so universal: the fear of growing up.

Directed by Azazel Jacobs (The GoodTimesKid) as a tribute to his parents and childhood, “Momma’s Man” chronicles the saga of Mikey (Matt Boren), a husband and new father who, after stopping off at his parent’s house during a business trip to New York, finds it impossible to leave. With no rhyme or reason attributed to his actions, Mikey begins to make up excuses about why he can’t seem to come home. One day, his flight is delayed, the next, his flight has been canceled, Mikey continues to put off his departure, much to the dismay of his wife Laura, (Dana Varon), who continues to leave him panic-stricken voicemails to no avail.

While his mother (Flo Jacobs) is more than happy to have her son back at home, his father (Ken Jacobs) grows continuously worried about Mikey’s extended vacation from life. As the days pass by, Mikey emotionally and physically creeps back into his childhood.

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Initially, “The Magnificent Adventures of Heartache (And Other Frightening Tales)” could only be heard on iTunes and MySpace. The time it spent on those two giant arenas of the digital world helped Jason Reeves garner tons of acclaim.   Consistently in the Top Five Acoustic (unsigned) and Top 20 Overall (unsigned) on Myspace and the winner of the “Top Folk Album of 2007.”  Reeve’s indie album got the attention of Warner Bros. Records who couldn’t pass up the opportunity to distribute his album on a much larger scale.  “The Magnificent Adventures of Heartache (And Other Frightening Tales)” is radio ready and listener friendly and has a lot of critics recalling the beginning stages of such successful careers as Jason Mraz and John Mayer.

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How Washington Sold Our Soul For Saudi Crude
By Robert Baer
Three Rivers Press, CA; 238 pp.; 2004
Reviewed by Mark Biskeborn

Baer delivers an intriguing memoir about his glory days as a CIA operative in the Middle East. He writes in an informal style, telling his operations stories like a thriller novelist while overdosed on those dark-green Turkish espressos.

The premise ties his stories together in one neat package: It’s all about the oil. Obviously, were there no oil in the Saudi Peninsula, the have-nothings would have no reason to resent the billionaire princes. The Royal family pays off the radicals to avoid massive revolts. ’Let them eat cake,’ as Marie Antoinette once said. Without these petrol-dollar pay-offs from Royalty, the extremists would have no money to arm and indoctrinate their young. Without petrol-financing, the fundamentalists would have hardly any means to carry out coordinated operations.

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Maybe I should just die. Maybe I should stop seeing theatre.  Maybe L.A. theatre should die.

It’s not that this production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune is demonstrably bad, it’s that the production is just not good.  What is it then? I don’t know. I am tired of seeing sucky theatre.  Though I dare say there isn’t any other kind. At least I haven’t seen anything worth while. Except one piece about five years back. I don’t remember the name of the play but it was brilliant. That one was here and now gone, can’t get it on DVD. Aside from that I’ve only seen one other stand-out performance let alone an entirely notable production. That particular performance was by a talented young man who later popped up as a cast member on Judging Amy. I’m sure the lure of television and it’s big money was much more enticing than doing little Rilke plays in Venice. Even if Mr. Rahm liked doing little plays in little theatres he still wound up on Television.

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