rook Street is one of the latest collections from Ralph Lauren Home. While, I suppose a woman could feel comfortable here on a permanent basis (maybe add a throw pillow or two for a splash of color), this is an absolute perfect retreat for any eligible bachelor. It's definitely a throwback to old Hollywood, (not unlike his Bel-Air collection from a few years back) offering an unrefuted masculine and timeless elegance. I've always wanted to live in a space large enough to be afforded a sitting area within my bedroom. How wonderful would it be to have the  edginess of the crocodile-embossed bureau neighboring a leather Chesterfield (my favorite) accented with a fur throw, as shown below; a true juxtaposition of hardness and softness, at their very best. Even though my bedroom suite is only a couple of years old, I suspect that it cannot possibly hurt to add a few of these pieces to my Christmas Wish List. Oh, who am I kidding? Come Holiday, I'd be quite content to just receive a new set of linens from this collection.

Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if every couple's marriage proved to be as wonderfully loving and beautiful as their engagement portrait? If two people could, through their ups and downs, refer back to this picture and remember the person with whom they first fell in love, well, what a wonderful world it would be (cue music...) I took these engagement photos today of Carrie and Paul for their wedding next spring; they are defintely in love. A love that I'm certain will last long after this picture has yellowed and faded. Congratulations, to the both of you!

I did very little Photoshop on these two, but I did change Carrie's lipstick on some of the pictures for a punch of color. What do you think? 

Kim Kardashian is, whether we care to admit it or not, one of the faces of the "new celebrity"; someone who's famous for either nothing in particular (except blatant displays of sexuality) or something infamous (sex tape!). I don't mention this as of a way of disparging her, as much as I feel that this is truly a sad commentary on the celebrity culture in America.

The days of celebrities being groomed by the studios, where their private lives were indeed private, and of them acting in public as we'd like to assume they did in private, seems to be well behind us. What with the help of the paparazzi and grocery-store tabloids maybe it's just no longer possible or plausible for any of the latest "celebutantes" to maintain any semblance of style, grace or decorum, where tjeir every sinegle move is being documented. Either way, Miss Kardashian has  quite obviously adopted the adage "Carpe Diem" as her mantra. But, at what cost?  

Overall, she does have a nice body, though, and as a photographer, I must admit to liking the silver-toned shots of Ms. KarAssian. I'd like to think that this photo shoot will be as close as she'll ever get to the "Silver Screen." But then again, wasn't the same once said of Paris Hilton?

              (W Magazine, November 2010 - Photos by Mark Seliger)

       Why must I torture myself by buying the annual issue of the Forbes 400 magazine? Like many, part of my interest lies not only  in the "Who's Who?" of the list, from year to year, but  I've also come to enjoy the  aspirational  quality of it all. It's sort of like ripping that picture of a  Ferrari out of a car magazine when you're a child with the hope of one day owning it. At this point, though, I'd have a better chance of owning the Ferrari, than being included on this list. Especially since  they've upped the ante to now read the FORBES 400 BILLIONAIRES.

Remember just last month how most of us would have been content in raising our hand when answering the  
now archaic question, "Who  Wants To Be A  Millionaire?" Ah, simpler times.