There is a Bald Emu Somewhere Shivering....

Ahhh!   Academy Ball 2012.  Who wore it best, worst, and "oh no she didn't."  Sources say the event sucked and they had some dance floor issues?  Sources also say it was so bad that some "regulars" ditched school after the assembly....errr concert?

My circle of friends looked at the ticket prices again this year and ditched it off the social calendar again - it hasn't been what it used to be as an event in easily 10 years, so it's not so tough an event to miss.  After all if we want to rub shoulders with inappropriately dressed nobodies who think they're somebody, well we can go to the car show, can't we? And how many times are we going to see Yo-Yo Ma sweat on the stage of the Academy?  This is an event where the ticket prices are too high and every year there is less that entices you to go.  (And apparently can it be said I am not the only one who feels that way since other chatter on the street is the numbers are down on this event?)

We'll start with the photos from Main Line Times Flair.  Should we start with worst dressed?  Who is that overly feathery Kelly Boyd woman kidding?  Man, did she mug an Emu for that dress?  And What is with the tough girl pose for Main Line Times? Paparazzi pose or perp walk?  Lordy, auditioning for the character "Rizzo" in a Grease re-make?  Susan Scovill captured Ms. Emu too.  And wow, she also better learn to cover up the buzz-face better, poor darling. (Susan's photos found here)

There were also a lot of women dressed as "meet my breasts and my escort is short"  .

Philly Chit Chat has some awesome photos - my fave of HughE's thus far is of a woman named Alexis Williams  - that red gown is a simple, stunning knockout and THAT is a pretty girl.  HughE has more in the Philly Post.

But seriously, some of the photos of the women I have seen, they look like aging hoochie coochie gals and I don't mean that to be kind. 

Main Line Times Flair has tons of photos and pretty much my favorite gown is the one worn by Leslie Ann Miller.  It struck me as Jackie O meets Audrey Hepburn in a modern hue. VERY pretty.  I bet you thought I was going to say Ms. Jody McNeil Lewis, right? Nah.  Sometimes it doesn't pay to advertise---and well, I think she has looked better other years. Elizabeth Mahoney's hair was all wrong and her make-up too washed out for her  gown, and that Diane Woosnam looks like she had a Fashion Emergency...and lost. Her "gown" was tea lengh and her shoes looked like versions of slides you come off the beach in.

I think that is what annoys me most of all about this event now.  This is a white tie event and half the women and men do not in my opinion, know what that means.   And lordy, some of the men? Their white tie doesn't fit right and they look like head waiters.

Some other photos found here on smug mug

And an end note is an article in Philadelphia Magazine called Confessions of a Main Line Housewife: Amy Burnham Tells All By Michael Callahan - I love the line "And if you don’t know her, you’re probably nobody."

Really?  A lot of us didn't know her before this.  The take-away of this article? Name dropper. And ummm, not all Main Line Housewives are surgically enhanced...just saying....

Ciao Paterno

So first he was dead.

Then he wasn't dead.

And then he was dead again.

And then we found out it was for reals as they say.

How do you feel about Joe Paterno? How will you remember Joe Paterno?

This piece on Philly Post, was rather thoughtful:

How Will Paterno Be Remembered?

The legendary coach did make Penn State a better place.

By Mike Bertha 1/22/2012Comments 0

For me personally, I am somewhat ambivalent.  I don't bleed blue and white for Penn State University, and I think my only comment was the way his career ended and the utter hypocrisy I hear out of Penn State folks now.  They couldn't say enough nasty things when the sex abuse scandal broke.

In truth, they probably broke Joe Paterno when they gave him the boot, and I am not sure he should have been tossed the way he was. 

After all, the buck did not really begin or end or stop with him with the scandal, did it?  I mean let's be honest, he acted in the academic puff cloud chain of command he was conditioned for like Pavlov's dog. And if you have ever known anyone who works at a college or university level, if you don't play by the rules set out by the trustees and administration of wherever, you are out in the cold.  Colleges and Universities are like crazy, insular feudal societies.

And now Gov. Corbett has flags flying at half-staff.  But it wasn't soooo long ago, he and others couldn't distance themselves any faster or further could they?

Joe Paterno was a complicated man, as most human beings are.  But I can't help but still feel sorry for him and his family on some level.    I think there are a lot more people more culpable than he.

Child sexual abuse is a horrible, horrible thing, don't misunderstand me.    But at the end of the day I can't help but feel in part that Paterno fell on his sword, and this literally sped up his death.

He was a man, not a god.   How will you remember him, if at all?  

I still think authorities need to look harder at those trustees and former and current administration.

I hope the poor man is at peace now. 

 I found a great piece to read on CNN:

Mourning Joe Paterno, a flawed hero

By LZ Granderson, CNN Contributor

updated 10:56 AM EST, Mon January 23, 2012

I am sitting here in front of my computer, looking at the headline that former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has died, and I honestly don't know how or what I should feel. If he had passed a year ago, it would be a no-brainer. For a World War II soldier who dedicated more than 50 years to one institution and one wife during a time in which examples of both grow rarer by the decade, it seems flags should be flown at half staff.

But then there's Jerry Sandusky

And then there's Paterno's silence and then ... well with all due respect to the Paterno family, his loved ones and the Penn State community, uninterrupted mourning becomes difficult.


Now for those reading this column expecting a glowing obituary for a renowned coach who truly deserves one, you may want to click elsewhere as this is not that kind of a piece. And for anyone hoping I rip Paterno to shreds, again you will need to look elsewhere.

I am writing for those of us trapped in the middle -- for those who watched the Penn State story unfold without the ability to see the world in black and white.

To Hell in a Hand Basket

I just spit out my coffee on this one.  I was perusing PhillyChitChat.com   the "Hair O' the Dog" Coverage  and I love love love Hugh E but he wrote:

"Last week in my Philly Mag column I touched on the fashion at the Hair O Dog, but today we're going to take a closer look.

Many regard the Hair O Dog as the first big event of the 2012 social season. For some people this is the only event they will attend all year long as it has all the aspects of a great event."

Huh? Really?  Beauty must be in the eye of the beholder, because all I know consider this a tackyfest kick off.

They have a website and all that, but wow, where has society gone if this considered big doings.....NOCD people, NOCD.

Hugh E. Dillon takes glorious photos, but truly he is being very generous.

Oh Goody! We ARE Amused....

I stumbled upon a web site I had forgotten about once again completely by accident.   Proper Philadelphia and The Real Main Line  - it is by R.C. Atlee Home Media (whatever that is, whoever he thinks he is)-- the masthead has some amusing snob appeal (it's like name dropping on the web.)

Anyway, it's still a bit puffy stuffy in places but the photography is at least not so annoying to view.   Philadelphia Magazine's "Party Pics" - is like  a big view of What Not To Wear meets "can you believe the work she had done?"  and while I have always loved Susan Scovill's coverage of events her website is now simply too busy with ad after ad so stacked on top that it is a chore to scroll down and when you scroll down "Susan Scovill" is almost neurotically stamped across the photos REALLY REALLY  LARGE.



I know photographers are proprietary about their photos, but Susan Scovill should really take a peek at another website that amuses moi, Hugh E Dillon's PhillyChitChat .  Hugh E has discreet stamping on his photos so you can see the photo but not poach, and he has locked photo galleries via smugmug where one can purchase photos  if you so choose.

Anyway,  peeking in this Proper Philadelphia website, I discovered something about a First City Troop Ball from it looks like 2008.  Very amusing.  Some people look properly pickled.  Apparently they held another one recently.

Of course what it doesn't say is that no young lady wants to be in a drinking song of the First City Troop.  If I recall what I was told, it was sort of like being a rugby queen.


Proper Philadelphia is a curious site, but I am still confused as to the haphazard nature of things getting posted on the site - like an afterthought at times....it is still not, however, much of a cousin to New York Social Diary, which as far as "high society" websites go, is amazing and fun.

The gent behind Proper Philadelphia also stars on a web page that is most curious - I will share the text as I discovered it:

Robert Atlee Hodgson (abt. 1980- ) American; Philadelphia.
Born Robert Christopher Hunter Hodgson in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania to parents Bryan Hunter Hodgson and Sara Oechsle Atlee Hodgson. Reared in Philadelphia's "Main Line" section, still resides there. Sister Caroline. Attended preparatory school in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania before University.

R.C., as he is called by a certain set, sang on stage as a child and professionally before becoming disenchanted with fame. Now, Atlee Hodgson is noted for being wary of cameras (especially at social events). Atlee Hodgson was also, at one time, a promising young painter, following in the footsteps of his mother, an artist.

Step-grandson of Philadelphia businessman Robert Dreisbach, President of Mexican packaging corporation. Spent great deal of young adult life abroad in Mexico and elsewhere. Speaks fluent Spanish and French.

Noted for active charity work, presence on Philadelphia and New York's younger socialite crowd. Professionally, Atlee Hodgson is rather ambiguous. His source of personal income, if any, is unknown.

See further articles about Atlee and Hodgson families, including William Augustus Atlee, W. Atlee Burpee, Robert Hodgson I, and Brian Houghton Hodgson.

Very strange. But still amusing....

Just Say "No" America

He's baaaaccckk! That loser ex-Senator from Pennsylvania who is crazy, homophobic and god knows what else and made people pay for his home schooling experiment. 

Yep, Rick Santorum rode the delusion train to Iowa. 

Trust us as Pennsylvanians when we tell all Americans out there that truly, you don't want Rick Santorum to even take out your trash.  He's not anyone's cup of tea. Thank goodness he and Sarah Palin never got together as a couple back in the day.  (Could you imagine? Fright Night, for sure.)

Here, read the article written by Philadelphia Daily News guy Will Bunch if you don't believe that this warning should be heeded:

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The Rick Santorum that America doesn't know by Will Bunch (Attytood)

Dear Mommy and Daddy, My Teacher Gives Good Head?

Disgusting.

Sorry but what the hell is wrong with Valley Forge Military Academy that they hired a camp follower as a guidance counselor? 

She wasn't teaching the ABCs, apparently, but the more lurid side of the birds and the bees.

Mind you I have said it before, that this is hardly the first time VFMA has been in the news negatively.

But this, this is just disgusting.  What is up with schools who hire touchy-feeley employees and teachers?

Today apparently an arrest warrant was filed by Radnor Police against Symantha Hicks.

Lady, they were your students...good god woman, you want "I give good head to boys" on your resume??? 

Gross, just gross.  Teach your children well indeed.

Main Line Suburban Life > News

Former VFMA counselor to be charged in connection with an alleged sex offense

Published: Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Radnor police have issued an arrest warrant for a former counselor at the Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne in connection with allegations of inappropriate contact with minors at the school.

Police say Symantha Lynn Hicks, 30, of Horsham is being charged with numerous counts of furnishing alcohol to minors, corruption of minors and one count of a sex offense of unlawful contact with minors.

In early December Hicks was fired as a counselor after school officials learned of what it described as “inappropriate actions involving Academy Guidance Counselor Mrs. Symantha Hicks and two cadets.”

Radnor police filed a criminal complaint Jan. 3 to District Magisterial Judge John Tuten who signed off on an arrest warrant....“Mrs. Hicks is remorseful and regrets the circumstances that have resulted in criminal charges,” her attorney, Richard Hark, said.....“She understands the gravity of the offense and is remorseful about the occurrence that took place,” Hark added. "She understands that one of the ultimate consequences of these charges is that she will be unable to work in any teaching capacity for many, many years.”

Warrant issued for ex-VMFA staffer accused of cadet contact

Police: VFMAC Counselor Gave Oral Sex to Cadet

A former employee is also accused of supplying alcohol to cadets.

• BySam Strike
• Email the author

Simply gross.  Sleazy screwed up woman.  If she has a family and children of her own, how truly awful for them.

Having a Bad Hair Day...

Why is snarky having a bad hair day?  Because I just tore tufts of it out when a friend called to say "guess who is the President of Radnor's Board of Commissioners?"

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH............Noooooooooooooooooo...it's true, that old goat Bill Spingler, King of the Malapropisms is finally President after a million and a half years of hanging around.

Bill Spingler is representative of old school,  Delco politics. (Not a compliment)  And ya know what Spingler?  That is an opinion.  Mind you, you would never allow anyone to say that to your face at a meeting, because we all know how you like to zip through process and avoid public comment unless it's your own.

However, Radnor residents have no one to blame but themselves.  There could have been a different outcome, but that would have meant people would have had to get off their asses and voted him out of office.

It will be an interesting year, here's hoping it's not disastrous.  Spingler, given his habits is not one who needs more power, he needs a babysitter.  Will Bashore be back for that letter of reference Slick Billy promised back in the day? 

Will cronyism and political back scratching favoritism rule the day in 2012?

Will they ever use the ethics bord or will Spingler abolish it?

And here I thought it was bad enough that Rick Scrotorum...errr Santorum did well in Iowa...but then again there is no accounting for taste in politics. And in Radnor, it's historically two steps forward, ten steps back.

This may be the year of the fool in Radnor. Or a ship of fools, take your pick.

Dashing off to get coiffed and a massage....I earned it after this news. And gack to the Main Line Media News reporter who waxed poetic about Spingler becoming President.   And oh yes,  Ardrossan came up -Radnor needs a little swamp land, after all:

After the meeting, Spingler, a self-employed real-estate broker who grew up in Strafford and moved to Radnor when he married in 1962, was asked about his goals as the board’s new president. He said he will strive to “shepherd issues” and “put votes together.”

He said he will also be an advocate for encouraging responsible residential and commercial development.

“We have a great community now but we have to let it grow,” he maintained.

Another goal is to seek acquisition of a portion of the Ardrossan-estate land, the largest undeveloped tract left in the township, when it becomes available for sale to create passive open space, explaining that it would make for an ideal contiguous addition to Skunk Hollow and Saw Mill parks.

Cha-ching!  Billy loooooveeeess OPM (other people's money)

Iggles of Giggles...Classy Mummers...and more

Would it be so bad if Coach Mormon and his screwed up druggie kids left the area?  Would we really miss Andy Reid?  Maybe they could take that dog abusing Michael Vick with them?

Truthfully, I don't really care one way or the other, but since everyone seems more concerned over the future of the Iggles versus the state of the economy, the Iowa caucuses, fashion, and world peace...what the hell....in for a penny, in for a pound....they should send Lurie's bitchy wife on a long vacation too....but she might have to leave Southfork in Wynnewood with those godforsaken lights, huh?  Jeff Lurie, who is he but another guy with gobs of money?  

If Philadelphia only had the Flyers and The Phillies, I for one would be perfectly content.  But for those who have a burning desire to read all on Philadelphia's sports teams, don't miss Philadelphia Magazine's new article about who is gay in Philadelphia sports land.  I for one don't give a shit who any of them sleep with....won't change my life one way or the other...

But seriously, I am more concerned about the Iowa caucuses.  We can't vote for Obama again (and that was such a nice multi-million dollar, tax-payer funded Hawaii vacation too), and the Republican candidates doing the Iowa tap dance are pretty much a bunch of kooks...can't believe Santorum is back - what a freak he is. And also, what about Obama signing into law President-sanctioned spying?  Every one out there should read what Michael Conrad wrote...

Our country is falling apart, no scratch that has fallen apart.  But in Philadelphia, hell all we're worried about are the G.D. Iggles.

Say,and I loved the corporate branding on the Mummers parade - apparently it is now bought to us via one of those tacky casinos/ slots parlors?  But I suppose it's a natural relationship after the hookers earlier in the year....nice fight on New Year's Eve too by the way.  So classy our mummers...






6ABC: Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie to hold news conference today

Updated at 11:09 AM today

Inside the Eagles: Wide 9 to drive Birds’ decisions on defense

Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer

Must Not See T.V.: Look Out The Psycho Single Chicks Are Baaaaa-cc-kkk

Lordy, the show that will not die is back.  The Bachelor is here for 2012 and I just wonder, where do they find all the psycho girls? 

One girl bought her horse, the other her grandma.  And they were the normal ones....

This show cracks me up and it's like watching a car crash, you can't look away....the Barbies' bios can be found clicking here. 

One of my favorites is the faux blogger, Jenna Burke...her blog is called "The Over Analyst" and it is so parochial and like an unmade bed, I wonder how she can claim it as a blog .  She says in her blog:

"I enjoy analyzing. It’s one of the things people may consider a problem, yet it’s one of the things I really like to do. I think it makes us more interesting and leads us to new discoveries. Overanalyzing happens because you really have a deep interest in learning about life, the good and the bad. I embrace my desires, I feel inspired and I witness the beauty.

xx

JENNA BURKE"

Well a 5th grader seems smarter than she is and certainly could blog better. And OMG the tears on this one. The Over-Analyst needs a shrink.    And she definitely ain't no Carrie Bradshaw...

Seriously, where do they find all these psychos that give young single women a bad rap?   Why don't they just rename the show "Fatal Attraction"?

E! does a funny recap (click here), and so does the NY Daily News (click here)

The best part of this show is I now have a new organic winery to check out thanks to the "bachelor" Ben Flajnik - it's either called Envolve Winery.  But as for the show? Dumb as dirt.

Happy New Year! Manure Piles R Us!

This was sent to me this morning via a comment - I chose not to publish the comment as it was just a link to an article.

Swirl and flush and horse manure rings in the New Year in 2012!  It's like the Daily Local is the unpaid PR machine for West Vincent...and in Radnor stay tuned to see who becomes President of the Board of Commissioners...if it beomes Spingler, look out....

But in West Vincent, is anyone curious about something EPA-ish that chickenman wrote about on December 21st? Ick. 

West Vincent voids Ludwig's condemnation order

Published: Tuesday, January 03, 2012

By SARA MOSQUEDA-FERNANDEZ, smfernandez@dailylocal.com

WEST VINCENT — Township supervisors unanimously approved a motion to relinquish the condemnation of the Ludwig's Corner Horse Show Grounds during a meeting on Dec. 27.

The motion came as a result of the supervisors' vote to rescind the condemnation of the 33.2-acre property during a Dec. 16 supervisors meeting.

Supervisors' Chairman Kenneth I. Miller Jr. said the process has cost the township about $5,000.....During the special meeting, the supervisors defended their initial decision to condemn the grounds, both before and after the vote.

According to Miller, the township will continue to proceed with the Ludwig's Corner Strategic Vision and Community Design Plan....The decision to rescind the condemnation came after members of the horse show community spent weeks rallying and assembling before the supervisors against Resolution 20-2011, which announced the condemnation of the horse show grounds......"It's up to the horse show," said Supervisor Clare Quinn. "If they opt not to do it, and if they have lead on their property, if there's lead on the property that's their doing."