2_SUGARS. They’re not having fun. They are probably pumping each other up in private while expressing anxiety in pms. They are a fandom – we all know how those work. They wanted to see Harry Meghan do the Cambridge stuff, make appearances, interact, be playful together, laugh together. The Cambridges didn’t cling but were clearly a unit.
3_The Sugars are not having fun because the pda with Harry and Meghan is “off” and they know it. There is no eye contact, no he says something and she laughs, she says something back and he laughs, people around them enjoying it. It’s weird. Sugars are looking for their romantic “fix” and it’s not there. Every time they have an appearance Sugars hope they’ll get more but it’s always the same.
4_so I know they are disappointed. The politics of fandom mean they can’t admit it to the whole fandom, but you know little clusters of them worry among themselves. Added to which her fashion fails, and the rest of the RF giving them the Big Chill, this is not playing as they expected.
5_Sugars may play the race card, but that would only work if Meghan truly looked great, but her looks were being picked apart anyway. Or if she were clearly doing a stellar job but getting unfairly dinged for not being robotically perfect. However, Meghan is a hot mess and they can see it for themselves, both fashion and job performance. So they are left with spinning themselves.
I can’t speak as to the politics of fandom, but I do think Meghan set some expectations that she cannot hope to meet now. That’s part of the problem.
Another part of the problem is that Meghan is “getting” stuff based on absolutely nothing. The fun part of watching the seating arrangements, events, loaned jewels, family orders, etc… is that they were supposedly based on work done, personal relationships, discretion, lack of scandals and stuff like that. Meghan is “getting” stuff based on absolutely nothing–heck, she’s likely getting them because she’s a complete fuck-up and needs the extra help–and that makes the “gets” absolutely meaningless. It’s hard to fan-girl that.
Isn’t that interesting? One would expect her to take some time to just enjoy life with the man she supposedly loves, particularly since they spent very little time together during the “whirlwind courtship.” But instead they take breaks and go their own ways and focus on photo ops.
Agree: MM wants max attention 100% of time.She wants to be in the spotlight always just for being who she is.
IMHO (1) problem is there is ZERO content behind all her communication. There is nothing original, creative or authentic, nothing that is productive or contributes, Whether it was her bad acting in Suits, vapid superficial blog with photos of her hugging black children posted weekly from her 2 outfit Rwanda trip, can’t handle a knife cooking show, photoshopped fashion shoots or her self congratulatory “humanitarian” speeches and articles.
Empty vessels make most noise.
As a society, are we more focused on image and surface appearances than any time in the past? I was at two networking events in the last 2 days and the marketing, branding, image, PR people far outweigh the people who develop, grow, build and create the important stuff. That’s the only explanation for how she got where she is. Or do you have another?
Your blog makes you sound like a really sane and rational person so….what fascinates you about her?
No, I don’t have another explanation. This entire “relationship” has been an exercise on branding vs. substance, imo. Meghan is the Pets.com of the royal world. I mean look at all the fantastic work that Will is doing right now, but all we hear about is Meghan’s fluff. That’s the world we live in.
Two things keep me riveted to this train wreck. First, I’m totally fascinated by the Talented Mr. Ripley aspect of it. I really do think that she is a chameleonic con artist using other people to rise up the fame the ladder. She has done it twice before and this time will be no different. I fully expect her to ditch “violent and controlling” Harry in two years and drive off with a royal toddler and a truckload of “official Di collection” and Cartier diamonds.
Second, I’m baffled by the BRFs actions. Why are they allowing this? Are they really this dumb? They probably are, but, cheesus, this is extreme. They are trying really to inoculate themselves from racism accusations with sleepovers with the Queen and tons of stories about how much Charles loves her, but they must know that it’s not going to help.
You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.
Gratuitous Holocaust comparisons are unhelpful. But, if your bar for evil is the Shoah, then everything else comes up short. Where does the Shoah comparison work? In the propensity for simply numbing out, of shutting down, of tuning out. As one of my friends said: “I guess this is how ordinary Germans felt.” No. Numbness is a luxury that we can ill afford. The role of the Jews in this crisis is to say: Once upon a time, we saw how the process started. It is not necessary-Please God!-that it wind up in the same place for us to be able to blow the shofar and to say that we promised to be silent-never again.
Awww you’re a cutie. I’ll do my best but @norwegianroyalfamily might be able to help out if I get something wrong:
1) Why don’t princess Martha Louise’s daughters have titles? I know she gave up her own style and duties and stuff but shouldn’t they be at least something ! In Norway- as in most places- you get titles based on your father so ML’s children are styled with their father’s last names.
2) Do you think they will have access to the tiaras when they grow older? I expect they’ll have access for weddings and major events like birthdays and so on. I don’t expect they’ll attend as many tiara events as IA though.
3) Do you think prince sverre magnus will still be a working royal when Ingrid Alexandra becomes Queen? And will his offspring have titles ? I think he’ll follow Martha Louis’s pattern and do engagements but at a lesser level than his sister. I don’t know the title system well enough in Norway to know if they get titles but I know the King pretty much has the control over it. He said SM would be His Highness instead of His Royal Highness and I can see his children having the same, but still being a Prince/ss if Haakon is King.
So this is a couple of months later but here are my answers/confirmation of basically what you said
1) Why don’t princess Martha Louise’s daughters have titles? I know she gave up her own style and duties and stuff but shouldn’t they be at least something ! First of all, you gotta remember that Norway isn’t Swedenandthey give out titles differently. There aren’t any Dukes/Duchesses but rather you’re a Prince/ss or not. Since Märtha Louise was born at the time when women didn’t have a right to be in line of the succession, naturally her (younger) brother was the only one prepared to be the future monarch. But I feel like having limited people having titles is a good thing as Maud, Leah and Emma are not close to the throne and having title it would mean they would have to by working royals or the would give it up. And with Royal Family wanting to be as “short” as possible, Märtha Louise is not the heir, and her daughters don’t have any titles.
2) Do you think they will have access to the tiaras when they grow older? I agree with you, Jess, on that. However, I don’t feel like they’ll be attending many major event so we’ll see. If there’d be any huge celebration like Harald and Sonja’s 80th birthday celebration, I’m sure they would wear a tiara. But I’m 100% sure they’ll have a tiara on their wedding days unless they won’t want that.
3) Do you think prince sverre magnus will still be a working royal when Ingrid Alexandra becomes Queen? And will his offspring have titles ? I don’t see him as a working royal. At the moment, the royal family has 4 working royals (Harald, Sonja, Mette-Marit and Haakon) and once Ingrid gets older she’ll join them. I see Magnus as Astrid. She attends some engagements, usually gala dinners or some openings, as does Märtha Louise so he’ll probably follow their footsteps. I feel like in the future if Magnus has children, they won’t get any titles (or just style since being a boy gets your legal offsprings titles). But I hope that by then women and men will be completely equal and I think that the royal family will be operating the same way so that’s why I think Ingrid’s children will be the only ones having titles and style, while Magnus’ won’t. But we’ll see. Usually males only get their titles down on their offsprings but since Norway hasn’t had a case like that (Haakon VII had one son only, Olav had two daughters and a son, and Harald has a son and daughter) and law prevented women from ascending to the throne, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Dr. King used to say you have to be maladjusted to the problems, to the issues that you see around us. Robert Kennedy was maladjusted. Martin Luther King Jr. was maladjusted. They had the ability to get in the way. Today we’re too quiet, we’re too silent. We need to find a way to push and pull, and disturb the sense of false peace, and the sense of false order that we have in our society today. – Rep. John Lewis
Martin Luther King Jr. and more civil rights leaders
meet with Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Johnson at the White House – June 22, 1963
“It was Carol she loved and would always love. Oh, in a different way now, because she was a different person, and it was like meeting Carol all over again, but it was still Carol and no one else. It would be Carol, in a thousand cities, a thousand houses, in foreign lands where they would go together, in heaven and in hell.”
“We looked initially at David Lean’s B&W classics, such as Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948), both shot by the amazing Guy Greene. They’re timeless, the cinematography is stunning, and they set very high bar to reach in they way they evoke emotions.
However, B&W movies are not the perfect visual references to show to studio executives wanting to make a big budget production in colour. So we also talked about certain painters that Ken [Branagh] and Dante [Ferretti, production designer] had in mind. The usual references for candle-lit period dramas are Flemish painters, such as Rembrandt and Vermeer. But these have been done many times over, and were not playful enough for Disney. That was the trick. For the more joyful moments in the movie, they asked me to consider the paintings of Fragonard, an often-overlooked artist. Fortunately, the UK has many of his works at The Wallace Collection in London. The Fragonards are colourful and playful, and I could see how they could open-up new cinematographic opportunities. The “The Swing” in particular, is slightly naughty and flirtatious, and there’s a direct reference to it in the movie.
For the darker, more wretched moments in the movie, we again avoided the typical references, and looked at the works of the French Baroque painter Georges De La Tour. They are unusual, dark, but with bold lighting and strong compositions. I’ve loved his work since being a student at Central St Martin’s and “Joseph The Carpenter” is a masterpiece.
Whilst these painterly references gave us two strong starting points to counterpoint the joy and drudgery within the story, we also wanted a way to treat the seemingly benign but evil step-mother – for her to appear more like a film noir femme fatale. So I suggested that we also consider the portraiture work of Joseph Walker, cinematographer on many of Frank Capra’s best-loved movies, inventor of the zoom lens, and a forerunner of the Hollywood glamour look, and also the large format portrait photography of George Hurrell, upon whom Walker had great influence.” — Haris Zambarloukos on finding the looks for the movie
African wild dogs are social pack animals. (Reuters)
Poachers use wire snares in many parts of Africa to trap wild antelope, but collateral damage occurs too. African wild dogs, one of the world’s most endangered mammals, are often caught by these snares. Due in large part to this poaching practice, the population of African wild dogs has dropped by 90 percent – to 6,660 – in the last century.
So, zoologist Brandon Davis and his team formed the Painted Dog Protection Initiative and designed specialized collars to protect the animals from these deadly entanglements.
The African wild dogs’ susceptibility to snares arises largely from their social nature. They are pack animals that move in groups and look after one another.
African wild dogs are social pack animals. (Reuters)
“They will lick the wounds of the injured,” Davis said, explaining that these animals are “one of the few species that actually care for their injured.”
When one wild dog is snagged by a wire snare, others will return to care for the packmate, and then get trapped or injured as well. If enough traps are present in a snare line, an entire pack can be caught.
Wire snares are lightweight and low cost traps, so they are easy to obtain and use. It takes only a light touch to trigger the wire loop to tighten down on the animal’s neck.
Davis’ team tested the specialised collars on domestic dogs. (Brandon Davis)
Davis’ team noticed tracking collars – used in research to keep tabs on a wild dog’s location – helped animals caught in snares to avoid suffocation. So, the team built custom collars with rivets and clips that allow a trapped animal to breathe and break free.
Now that testing is completed, the Painted Dog Protection Initiative plans to deploy ten collars with wild dogs living in at-risk packs in Zimbabwe. They aim to build 100 additional collars, which could protect 20 percent of the wild dog population in Zimbabwe.
Interesting article with very subtle criticisms. The “experts” want her to wear better made and less expensive clothes as well as more British designers. I do not think that’s what is going to happen.
I lol’d at this one. I thought I was the only one who noticed that hem.
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge’s Wedding Dress and accesories
Designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, the wedding dress (The ivory gown of white satin gazar with overall lace applique work with floral detail, the full skirt with box pleats, the back leading to a 9ft train. The lace bodice with V-neck line and long sleeves. The lace detail incorporating the rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock) is on display alongside the magnificent Cartier ‘Halo’ tiara (A diamond ‘halo’ tiara formed as a band of 16 graduated scrolls, set with 739 brilliants and 149 baton diamonds, each scroll divided by a graduated brilliant and with a large brilliant at the centre; original red leather box, with later Garrards label.) lent by The Queen to The Duchess on her wedding day; The Duchess’s wedding shoes, hand-made by the team at Alexander McQueen (ivory shoes with lace embroidery); the diamond earrings commissioned by the Middleton family as a personal gift to the bride from her parents; a replica of the bridal bouquet(A wedding bouquet of lilly of the valley, hyacinth, sweet william, myrtle and ivory) and a veil made of layers of ivory silk-tulle with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers.
House of Brat 