distraction

While I [very much against my will] listen to the Neighboy and his female guest say the words "anyways", "like" and "y'know" on average 10 times per minute....

From the 17 September issue of Chicago Tribune Magazine,

Vicente Wolf's 12 Favorite Things
[Vicente Wolf is, according to the article, a "world-reknowned" interior designer. Some of you may better-recognize that word if spelled "renowned".]

1. Thom Browne: I like his perspective on men's fashion. He ties traditional elegance with a fresh point of view.


2. Funny Face, Two for the Road, Auntie Mame: I saw each [film] at a different pivotal point in my life. They all have an incredible sense of glamor and style.


3. Buffalo Vodka [sic] by Zubrowka: Buffalo grass flavors the vodka.


4. Annick Goutal Gardenia Passion cologne: It's wonderful. It smells of gardenias.


5. Benjamin Moore Super White paint: It's hard to find a white that is untinted and straightforward. A lot of whites have a pink cast or a blue cast. This has no cast.


6. 1963 Lincoln Convertible: I don't own one. I've been looking to buy one for the last 15 years. I rent a car.


7. Jack Gilbert: His poetry reflects a realistically positive point of view on life. They're heavy in a positive way. In other words, his poems leave the glass "half full."


8. Music from Buddha Bar [a Paris nightclub]: It's a mix of different esoteric tunes.


9. Bangkok: I've been going there for the last 30 years. I love the Thai people and I love staying at the Oriental Hotel.


10. Speedwalking: 5 1/2 miles, three times a week.


11. Anichini linens: I like them lightly starched, pressed and changed every other day.


12. L'Impero restaurant and Alto restaurant in New York City: I am a partner in both those restaurants and I designed them as well. I've never believed in having partners, but this experience has been great. We respect each other and admire each other and we won a James Beard award. It's been fun.

---

1. J.Jill: I look at the catalogs and think, "Eh, nothing's thrilling me." I go to the store, try on 5 items, and buy...5 items. Their clothes fit me really well, the style is clean without being trendy, and the prices are not outrageous.
   For fancy stuff, I can almost always find something that I will love at J.Peterman. What's with the J.'s?
   Levis, Eddie Bauer, and VS round out my top picks.


2. Singin' in the Rain, An American in Paris, and The Lady Vanishes: My big three, as far as 'classics' are concerned. I'm not half-in-love with Gene Kelly, and the latter is as elegant (and still surprising) as a film can get.


3. Man Kind [blueberry green] Tea from Republic of Tea. Mellow but obviously blueberry, this stuff kicks ass. And it does good, too.


4. Nicole Miller perfume--though it's best (on me, at least) when countered with a drop of...Polo for Men. I'm not kidding. And on a guy, I am amazed to admit: Drakkar, my affection for which only reinforces Samuel Johnson's definition of a love that is not one's first: 'the triumph of hope over experience.'


5. Maple. The wood, not the flavor. Light, smooth, heavier than hell.


6. Jaguar XK Coupe--MSRP: $75,000; with my option package: $88,000. Exterior color: slate. Interior color scheme: charcoal/aluminum. I don't own one. I have driven a Honda for years. This is a "if I fell in a hole in front of a store owned by a rich jerk" car.


7. Charles Bukowski: His poetry reflects a pessimistic, argumentative, alcoholic, depressing point of view on life. There is something about his work that makes me want to cry or kill myself. Or write poetry.


8. Music from the NM's, which are a series of 8 (so far) mixes that I've made for Dino. The mixes themselves never did have the desired effect; he seems to be impervious to such subliminal efforts. But they make me happy--I like being the person capable of creating such a thing, the one who can love so obviously and so well. And it's some really good music, too.


9. LaCrosse, the beer-drinking land of one-way streets and cheese and a "suburb" that is seemingly devoted entirely to one pursuit: shopping. I apologize for this extremely non-upper-Midwest attitude, but I have to say it: LaCrosse is cute. There are tons of awesome places to drive around, the rivers (the Mississippi, the Black and the LaCrosse converge here) are gorgeous. There are lots of good restaurants--if you're going, try the Freight House--and fabulous local shops and stores like Pearl Street Books and The Company Store. Of course, there's still all sorts of quaint (read: weird) stuff there, too, like Bikini Yacht Club and that bread store downtown that makes EVERYTHING smell like slightly funky, slightly wet baking bread.


10. Walking with Dino. Not "to" any place or "for" any reason, but just 'cause. Usually while one or both of us carry some ridiculous container of some beverage that is either too hot to drink or too full to walk while carrying. Not walking for exercise, but walking...to not be still.


11. Fieldcrest Classic rugs for the bath. Cushy and soft. Nice colors. I have four in my bathroom, which just isn't big enough to require four rugs. That's how much I like these rugs.


12. Sorrento's ranch. They have the best New York strip. And it is, without a doubt, the best--most comfortable, most relaxing, yet still so nice--place to eat, in my experience.