1. That ain't the good ole USA, it's the Grove, a cheapjack simulcrum. If it didn't (presumably) offer a tax base for the adjacent Farmer's Market (a genuine piece of respectably sentimental Americana), nobody'd put up with that shit. An outdoor mall's an outdoor mall; Beeg Vhoop, as my German-born philosophy professor used to say.

2. PDA's are for children who can't afford their own townhouses with heavy drapes... The best fucking is always done in private. (There are exceptions to this rule, but it's complicated and there isn't time to type it up.) I've cited this passage from Paglia here before, but it hits the spot; she's talking about Anne Heche and Ellen Degeneres (remember them?): "Nor was the gay cause helped by the grotesque way both women reportedly behaved at the black-tie White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 26. Who among the heterosexual guests were ostentatiously nuzzling and necking like that? -- always the sign, by the way, of people insecure in their own mutual feelings. In a photograph that will live in infamy, the two women are standing with the tuxedo-clad president of the United States, a formal situation that demands dignity and respect. But Heche has her arm obnoxiously thrown around Ellen's shoulders, as if it were the annual softball picnic of a small-town gay bar." - Salon, 5/13/97

Not only that, the horndog kids in that photo look Hispanic, not frog.

Lovelife not going well, Crid?

They look Hispanic because this is Los Angeles, not Paris.

They are kissing, not humping each other.

If not for the Apple store at the Grove, Gregg and I probably never would've met. (Gregg is not known for being a social butterfly/gad about town type.)

Try Monsieur Marcel at the Farmer's Market. Go in late afternoon and sit at the counter if you aren't too uncomfortable on the chairs. Tragically, the lamb chops with melted goat cheese on top don't seem to be on the menu right now.

Make out afterward at The Grove or hump wildly in the parking lot.

A perfect evening!

As a civic attraction, The Grove is to the Farmer's Market as a bratty little brother is to a teenager's date.

seconds that last like days...
c'mon crid are you telling me you can never remember that... even if it goes to hell later, those seconds were worth living, weren't they? turn away and leave them alone in rememberance and hope, you old curmudgeon.

Naw, just that when I was doing it, I too was a silly little goof trying to prove things about my reproductive fitness to strangers who shouldn't have been bothered.

Aw! I think the couple in the picture is cute, when it is out of the way like that. The story about the White House is too much though.

Beloved boyfriend and I do a bit of sparkin' as he calls it, and have been caught holding hands at dinners.

Not sure if I was ever being good kitty on his lap like that with such a crowd nearby . . . pretty positive actually. In quieter spots it is nice to have a long smooch with dearest.

Your observation of getting down to the real business in private is right on.

For Sunday delectation - a PDA by Brit alpha male Richard Branson...! (Book cover idea, Amy?!)

Yes, it is his girlfriend.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1171739/Er-Richard-Branson--wont-fast-naked-model-round-Necker.html

First of all, this guy Branson's outta control. Three weeks ago they say he nearly got into a fistfight with a 26yo racing driver with whose girlfriend he was flirting. (And that was after Button had won the fucking race, the Australian GP. What's a guy got to do?)

Secondly, while not technically incorrect, it's just not right to call Branson an alpha male. I'm not an expert on him, but I read the autobio ten years ago. This isn't meant to impugn his integrity in any way... And I'm sure he's a horrible man to have as an adversary, and ferociously competitive, and he's obviously brilliant.

But too much of his success is based on his charm, positive thinking and a boyish, almost femininely winning demeanor. His success has always struck me as sui generis. He's like that extremely popular kid in high school who you don't resent. You gotta be born with a spirit like that: It's not something you aspire to. Calling it "alpha" makes it sound like he achieved dominance of the herd on the savanna through a series of confrontations. But it's always felt like all Branson needed to do was show up at the edge of the edge of the jungle and say "Hi guys!"

Maybe he is outta control, Crid. Dunno.

He is very, very shrewd though. An alpha trait, I think.

(I mainly thought the pic was obnoxiously funny.)

Jody Tresidder,

Is there any way to tell if that is a real picture? Looks Photoshopped for some reason. Very good 'Shopped, but just does not look exactly real.

Suki,
I know what you mean - but the photo is, I think, legit. (Although I was wrong to say the cheeky woman is the long-married Branson's girlfriend - she is apparently simply a friend of the photographer, Stephane Gautronneau. My mistake - I misread.)

It appears to be part of a "Vanity Fair" spread - if you look at further credited shots from the same VF layout on this blog (scroll down):

http://stylistbrighton.blogspot.com/

> she is apparently simply a
> friend of the photographer

Y'know, considering how little Richard Branson has to do with my personal life (and certainly how little bearing I have on his), I'm remarkably pleased to learn that he's not being abjectly lecherous with girlfriends in front of his children. I always kinda liked the guy.

Me too, Crid.

I've always vaguely admired the factoid that his eldest daughter is a doctor, too. The photo shoot took place on the Caribbean island where he was married, he famously owns it.

'Zactly. I went to the Wikipedia or someplace last night and read that he had two kids. "Well, what sort of monsters are they?", I wondered, thinking of the Spelling kids, and then came the word "Doctor"... Ah, sweet relief

I'm confused. A cell phone ringing in public is the height of rudeness and drives you crazy, but people shoving their tongues in each other's mouths in public is charming? That's insane. I might need to receive a phone call but there is no reason they can't wait for privacy and then, straight, gay or dressed in daipers, do whatever the hell they want. I know plenty of people who agree with me that anything more then holding hands, a hug or a peck on the cheek is usually pretty damn offensive. Couple's, have a heart for those of us who haven't found true love and keep PDA to a minimum.

Doesn't bother me a bit. I don't crawl all over my husband in public, but we're old married folk. Anyhow, I don't see any groping, and it appears that they've at least gone off into a corner.

I've never been to France, but in Argentina you see this sort of PDA all over the place. No big deal.

It could be worse: In Santiago, Chile, I saw an old lady squat and pee in the crowded public square... it was particularly crowded because it was Palm Sunday.