"This beauty, this icon! I'm so so happy I met her!!!! We spoke about our amazing Armenian journeys!"

In case you're wondering what happened when Kim Kardashian met Cher: They talked about their amazing Armenian journeys!

In case you are wondering why I ended up there � at Cosmopolitan � this morning, it was a journey. Not an amazing journey, and certainly not an Armenian journey, but a journey nonetheless.

I was going through my email and saw another ad for one of these fashion catalog companies and I contemplated blogging something that I've been trying to figure out how to articulate, something about the radical difference between catalog models and runway models. Runway models look fierce, mean, contemptuous, ready for some nonexistent battle. These clothes are not for you. And I am not for you. Peasant! Something like that. By contrast, catalog models look bizarrely weak, as if they are swaying in the wind or about to fall over. They look sleepy and dreamy and so damned accessible I'd fear for their safety if they lived in reality.

I was distracted by the expression on one model's face. She's trying to smize. Remember smizing? It used to seem important to figure out how to get your eyes into the smiling shape without having your mouth smile. Nobody talks about smizing anymore. Or do they? That would be bloggable � if the expression that peaked in public consciousness around 2009 has faded utterly away. But it hasn't faded utterly away, because I found it in Cosmopolitian, which was trying to be cute and flippant. Blecch. Not bloggable.

And yet, I had found something that broke the bloggability barrier for me: the claim that Cher had deigned to share "amazing Armenian journeys!" with Kim Kardashian.

By the way, that phrase "Amazing Journey"... that's something from somewhere. Another non-amazing journey into Google immediately delivers the answer. It's one of the tracks on The Who's "Tommy": "Deaf, dumb and blind boy/He's in a quiet vibration land/Ten years old/With thoughts as bold/As thought can be/Loving life and becoming wise/In simplicity/Sickness can surely take the mind/Where minds can't usually go/Come on the amazing journey/And learn all you should know...."

"Journey" is a much-overused, trite word. (And that was already so back in 1973 when former members of Santana and Frumious Bandersnatch formed the band named Journey.) It's used to bullshit about one's personal narrative over the course of a lifetime, but the original meaning of the word "journey" is one day or one day's travel. (See the French word "jour" (day).) There's no way to return to that meaning. "Journey" has made a long journey from that literal place. But I'd be able to like it if it meant that. I'm oriented to living in the day, day by day. It's an orientation that blogging indulges.

A lone holdout juror...

... in the case of Etan Patz.

ADDED: Why are there photographs of the jurors? In the comments, someone says that the holdout juror "looks like a smug little prick & probably glad that he let the guy off." This is a man who held out for 18 days of deliberation. How do you expect a man who just did that to look?

Adam Sirois, juror No 11, said Hernandez's guilt had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt. During a press conference held at the conclusion of the trial, a smirking Sirois sheepishly raised his hand to indicate that he was the juror who was responsible for the mistrial.

Sirois told reporters Pedro Hernadenz's apparent mental health issues were a major concern for him, and that he could not convict the defendant solely based on his 'very bizarre' confession, reported ABC News.

So there are photographs because the jurors gave a press conference. The photographers must have taken thousands of pictures of Sirois's face, and the newspaper editors have chosen one, one that supports the "smirking... sheepishly" characterization. If he "looks like a smug little prick" to you, that's because the editors decided to help you think that and because the man just had an 18-day experience and was the kind of person who could stand up for his beliefs in a group setting for more than 2 weeks. Most people would cave and go along to get along. These people are much more likely to have a pleasant, unremarkable face.

AND: Amy Davidson in The New Yorker: "The doubt in this case was not just reasonable. It was, and is, profound."

ALSO: It should be clear that the jurors chose to give that press conference. They knew they didn't have to do it. And yet, if they had not taken advantage of the opportunity to engage with the press as a group, the press would have sought them out individually. 

Feeble contradictions in the sidebar.

Found, just now, at New York Magazine...



So, what do you think: Will acting like a nice person go well for you or badly?

A Drudge screen-grab.

This jumped off the page at me:



Elements that caught my attention: 1. Cropping the photo to give the impression that the big word over Hillary's head is "universe," as if she's running for Mistress of the Universe, 2. The crushing banality of a daughter defending her mother, 3. The atrocious green "housecoat" Hillary has on and its contrast with Chelsea's studiously youthful get-up, 4. Hillary's grandiose hail-to-the-people wave in contrast with Chelsea's little-girl ooh-I-see-somebody-I-know-in-the-crowd wave, 5. The subtle similarities and differences between Chelsea's big toothy grin and Warren Beatty's famous smile, 6. The sense that Warren Beatty stands in for and represents all of the Lotharios of this world, including the (Bill) Clinton fool, 7. I wrote "the (Bill) Clinton fool" because the words, as cropped, behind Chelsea's head are "the Clinton fou," and fou = fool, 8. And now I'm getting into weird flights of possibly over-educated fancy, but the Swedish playright August Strindberg wrote an autobiographical novel in French that was titled "Le Plaidoyer d'un fou," which translates to "The Defense of a Fool." Wikipedia says (somewhat ineptly):

As his stormy marriage to Siri von Essen was coming to an end, August Strindberg feared there was a secret conspiracy between the women of Europe, and they were planning to silence him by conducting a campaign to make people believe he was insane. Strindberg therefore decided to hurridly write a book revealing the truths about the marriage.

Oh, what fun we would have if Bill Clinton came to believe there was a vast female conspiracy that was planning to silence him by convincing us that he's insane and he had to hurriedly write a book to reveal the truths about his marriage.

Hillary Clinton "is one of the most finest, most upstanding, most honorable people � always trying to do the right thing."

Said Chuck Schumer on "Face the Nation," doing damage control on the Hillary email story. And, yes, he did say "most finest." That was the tell.

ADDED: If you're wondering why I'm not blogging more this morning, it's because I got side-tracked into watching the Sunday shows. I've got notes on various things I want to say, but I need the transcript to do it properly, since transcribing everything is difficult. But that Schumer line set off my urge to transcribe. Schumer, by the way, has been the best defender of Hillary Clinton this morning. He is able to maintain emotional control and keep that smile he always has on his face.

By contrast, Lanny Davis (on "Fox News Sunday") was the definition of flop sweat. Far from smiling, Davis bared his huge, overwhite, fake-looking teeth so aggressively I feared he might take a bite out of Chris Wallace. Davis swung wildly, attacking Wallace for interrupting and for misreporting, and that brought out the fighting spirit in the usually mild-mannered Wallace. More about how that played out when I get the transcript.