Oprah Redeems Herself By Going Vegan For 21 Days May 22, 2008

I recently gave up Oprahism after my mother, my older brother, several of my friends, and Nan Talese kept pointing out Oprah Winfrey’s self-important sanctimonious bullshit. It was like the world would not sleep until I stopped worshiping Oprah — I just couldn’t take it anymore!

“Okay, okay! I’m done,” I said. “I don’t like how she constantly interrupts the people she’s interviewing to take about herself either. I don’t like how Hollywood she’s become. I don’t think she needs a YouTube channel. I don’t like her magazine. And I hate how she never replied to that fan letter I sent her 10 years ago!”

And then it happened. Exactly one month after giving up Oprahism, I heard the news: Oprah was going vegan for 21 days.

“How can you say you’re trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?” she wrote.

Oprah said she’s not sure how going vegan will change her life, but is up for the challenge.

“Don’t know if I’m going to feel better or worse, but I’m willing to try to see if my body at least feels differently,” Oprah blogged.

By day two of Oprah’s new vegan life, she was extolling its virtues to her legions of fans.

“Wow, wow, wow! I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying,” she wrote.

Satisfying meatless meals, now that’s what I’m talking about! And if Oprah stays vegan, the possibilities are awesome. Vegan fast food restaurants will be replacing McDonald’s’ left & right.

My dream of walking into a greasy & inexpensive burger joint and saying “I’ll have a tempeh burger with fries. And for dessert, I’d like a Tofutti banana split please” may very well become a reality now.

You’re back on my good side — don’t blow it, Oprah!

Tim Gunn: At Least Hillary’s Well-Groomed February 6, 2008

Tim Gunn has been making the rounds lately, and that makes me happy. Because Tim Gunn is great. I just want to hug him, and mind you, I’m not a huggy person. Anyway, he recently talked with Newsweek about fashion in politics, and simply put, the man speaks truth. Here are some key moments:

Is there any female [in politics] who pulls it off well?
I think Hillary should be taking a lesson from Nancy Pelosi, I really do. She, for me, is fashion on the Hill. She has a femininity yet a professionalism, and she has style. She’s also not afraid to be a woman, and she celebrates it. She’s not ever remotely vulgar or provocative in what she wears, but I have to say, she’s a very sexy woman.

What’s your take on the current candidates, as a group?
I look at them and I feel like they’ve stepped out of the 1980s. And what really disturbs me, deep down in my very core, is whether these candidates really think that having people talk about your clothes in a positive way could be a bad thing. To think that they might answer yes horrifies me.

I hate to keep focusing on Hillary, but is there anything she’s doing right?
[Pauses] You can say I responded with utter silence. [Laughs] But let me put it this way: her clothes fit her, she does have a polish, and she’s well groomed. Those things are all good. But it’s like she’s wearing a whole body of Kevlar and she wants to make certain as much of her is protected as possible. I just want to say to her, “Hillary, don’t be afraid to wear a dress!”

What would you say a politician should avoid wearing, at all costs?
Well, I hope no one’s going out on the campaign trail wearing a pair of Crocs.

I love you. Are you referring to the Bush photo?
Yes. And now you must ask me whether I was surprised, because the answer is no. I will summarize his entire fashion presentation in one phrase: shlumped-over and drooling. I hope I don’t end up in some Iraqi prison for saying that.

But wait — there’s more! He also stopped by The Daily Show to talk to Jon Stewart about New York Fashion Week — the “Super Bowl of fashion,” Gunn says, where people go to “get fashioned,” joked Stewart.

Gunn offered this refreshing insight into the world of fashion:

“I’m the first to encapsulate this realistically. Nobody needs it. We need clothes, do we need fashion? No. And fashion, when it’s good, comes out of a context that’s societal and cultural and historic and economic and political — so it’s of a time and a place.”