Flexitarian?...From Paris

Pick up any magazine, and you'll easily stumble into a celebrity who claims to be a vegan or a vegetarian. Note Chelsea Clinton's recent vegan confessions.

Move over Chelsea and Alicia. Make room for "Flexitarians." A new 'sexy' term trotted out for those of us who want to be cool, but don't want to give up meat. From what I understand, a flexitarian is a part time vegetarian.

I reflected on that great exchange from the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (paraphrased):

"What? You don't eat no meat? Fine. I'll make you lamb."

Probably afraid of upsetting Moslems.

Is Obama Afraid to Go to Ground Zero on 9/11?

Science Fiction

How to get into 20 classic science fiction shows: The ultimate guide

Even if you're a massive science fiction fan, there are probably still some great shows you've yet to discover. But for massively long-running shows, where to begin? Here's our guide to how to start watching twenty classic science fiction shows.

It should be pointed out that this guide is meant for potential new fans, not people who already love these shows. We advise in quite a few instances to skip entire seasons of shows, and that's not something a big fan of a show is likely to agree with. But this is all about the best way to get hooked on a show, and we of course recommend checking out the rest of a series once you've sampled the best of what a show has to offer.

We're also focusing more on seasons of shows than specific brilliant episodes, because it's easier to reach consensus - and thus make useful recommendations to the most people - on an entire season than one particular episode. So, let's start with the biggest, most daunting science fiction franchise of them all...

Star Trek: The Original Series

Since it only ran three seasons, the easy answer is just to tell you to watch all of it. Unfortunately, the third season has a whole lot of badness in it, which is the result of slashed budgets and the influence of new producer Fred Freiberger. (He also presided over the similarly derided second season of Space: 1999.) There are a few decent episodes in there - "The Tholian Web" is probably the best of the bunch - but most of the classics are to be found in the first two seasons, and almost all the notoriously awful episodes ("Plato's Stepchildren", "Spock's Brain") are season three entries. So just stick with seasons 1 and 2, then head into season 3 with extreme caution.

http://io9.com/5629229/how-to-get-into-20-classic-science-fiction-shows-the-ultimate-guide

Update (part II) on Marie Antionette Michelle...From Paris

Robin Givhan, WashPost fashion critic and chief apologist for Michelle's clothing choices, praised Michelle for her fashion during Michelle's summer vacays.

..."she managed to convey a middle-of-the-road Americanness. She represented the populace in a manner that was approachable buy savvy." Robin noted that this Gaultier blouse wasn't "ostentatious."

What? Are you kidding Robin? Jean Paul Gaultier? Uber-French- uber-expensive Gaultier? I'm guessing that Gaultier "approachable" blouse set taxpayers back about $1,000.

Michelle is desparatly out of touch. Robin is too. How many ordinary Americans could drop huge money on one article of vacation attire? Michelle should not be surprised that ordinary Americans are not impressed with her lavish clothes and lavish vacations.

Michelle should not be surprised more and more Americans are less and less impressed with her.

Update on Michelle

Byron York reports that White House aides cautioned Michelle Obama against taking her trip to Spain in August. They warned her that the trip, during which she stayed at a glitzy five-star hotel in Marbella, would hurt her image. That is just what happened, according to polling data.

The First Lady decided to take the trip nonetheless. Afterwards, she reportedly was surprised by the intensity of the uproar her posh vacation on the Spanish Riviera caused. It is difficult to say whether the affair, including her reaction to the uproar, speaks more to Michelle Obama's arrogance or her cluelessness. Perhaps the unifying theme is her sense of entitlement.