Sweaters: some styles to look for

Now that it's sweater weather in our part of the world, here are some styles to get you excited about dressing in layers. Our favorite is the sweater dress! You can shop for this look at thrift store to department store. Happy hunting!

Artist to turn death row inmate into fish food

A Denmark-based artist is planning to use the body of a Texas murderer as fish food for an installation in Germany after the man is executed. The project aims to spark debate about capital punishment, he told The Local.

Confessed triple-murderer Gene Hathorn has willed his body to artist Marco Evaristti, who plans to freeze dry the corpse and have exhibition visitors feed it to a tank of goldfish.

“This may seem obscene,” Evaristti told The Local of the idea he conceived in April. “But I don't think there is anything wrong with this kind of art piece. If you kill people with the authorization of the state it is a heady matter, and to make fish food with a dead body that is going to rot six feet under anyway is not such a big deal.”

Goldfish have a particular relevance to Evaristti's message against what he calls “state authorized homicide.” In 2000, he made headlines with a controversial installation of 10 functioning blenders containing live goldfish in Denmark.

“The new idea is to turn it around,” Evaristti said. “If you were against killing the fish in the blender, think about what will happen if the fish don't eat. The audience has to participate to be human by giving food to the fish if they are good people, otherwise it will be a big fish cemetery.”

Evarissti has been to visit Hathorn, 47, at his Livingston, Texas prison four times, and says he will attend his execution, which is pending a final appeal. The two have developed a personal relationship and correspond regularly by mail, Evarissti said.

The Chilean artist, who is known for making meatballs out of his own fat and serving them to a dinner party in 2007, hopes to exhibit the new work in Germany because it has the most powerful “avant-garde” influence in the European art community. He said he has had several offers from public institutions, which he prefers to more elite galleries.

“It is important to show the work where the audience is normal, and maybe don't normally go to exhibitions,” he said. “It's important that it's not just the elite, but those who get a political vote on issues like these.”

He also hopes to bring the installation to New York so that a US audience can contemplate capital punishment, he said.

There has been some question as to whether the donation of Hathorn's body for such a purpose is legal, but Evarissti says he believes there won't be a problem after discussing the matter with Texas authorities.

“Normally the inmates donate their bodies to science experiments, and this is kind of an art experiment,” he said.

Kristen Allen (kristen.allen@thelocal.de/+49 30 67798168)

Unglamorous Germany

‘Why Germans never bought into the celebrity culture’

Some say Germany lacks a celebrity culture of the kind that exists in the United States - an egalitarian world-view and a dose of intellectual snobbery means that the cult of fame has never taken off here in the same way.

To read this article in its entirety, visit


The Local : Germany's news in English



Below is a comment in response to the above quoted article.

a female voice Says:
August 7th, 2008 at 7:34 pm

I love how unglamorous Berlin is. As a female, in general I can walk around looking however I like without feeling judged or watched. It’s refreshing to speak with men without feeling like I’m being checked out like a piece of meat. In fact, I think this lack of superficiality is just what I love most about Berlin. It allows me to function on a daily level as a human being and not as an objectified female. I feel empowered here.

I loved stepping foot in Berlin upon returning from Italy. It’s so wonderful to be able to engage on a human and intellectual level instead of constantly batting off stupid men or feeling pressure to meet up to a certain image standard. Getting off that plane and looking at all the low-key black-clad booted and stockinged women and men, I didn’t feel any pressure to be anything in particular other than me.

I get this wonderful feeling sometimes when I see model pictures of human beings inside stores here that wouldn’t make it past the drawing board in the US.

Call me crazy, but I even love the staring Germans in the subways and on the streets simply because they aren’t staring for sexual reasons. I love that. They’re just staring because they’re bored, or curious, or thinking, maybe evaluating me or maybe some other stupid thing, but at least I don’t get the feeling they’re objectifying me and judging me either on the basis of my glamour and beauty or lack thereof, or trying to manipulate me into feeling anything.

I’m allergic to people who want to make me be like everyone else by accepting their poisonous glamour standards. I’m glad I don’t watch TV. I think beauty standards are fascist, propagate the very worst of the status quo, and do a disservice to people, especially women.

From my feminist point of view, I reject celebrity standards because I function not based on a societal standard but because I am me and I express myself. I just am, the people around me just are, and that’s enough for me, and I want that to be enough for me. We think, we do, we coexist, we are. I don’t need others’ approval. I also don’t want to fall into the nasty glamour lie when someone seeks my ranking of them on a scale I don’t want to use.

I feel passionately about this. Thank God for unglamorous Germany.

RAIN BOOTS - Our 26 Favorite Styles

SO - since we love the rain boots right now, here are some of The Gown Rack's favorite styles, with prices -- conveniently linked to online checkout!

(these particular styles were found at shoebuy.com)

Seriously, a must-have for this fall and next spring. Oh, and make sure to look at the last few pairs at the bottom ... COWBOY RAIN BOOTS! Hysterical!

Nomad Puddles - Blue/Green Umbrella (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Puddles - Navy/Yellow Dots (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Puddles - Black/Pink Umbrella (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart
Nomad Puddles - Red/Black Plaid (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Puddles - Black/White Plaid (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Puddles - Black/White Large Dots (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart

Sperry Top-Sider Pelican Lug Tall Boot - Magenta Paisley (Women's) $59.95 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart

Sperry Top-Sider Pelican Lug Tall Boot - Tan Paisley (Women's) $59.95 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart

Sperry Top-Sider Pelican Lug Tall Boot - Black Tweed (Women's) $59.95 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart

Sperry Top-Sider Pelican Lug Tall Boot - Charcoal Plaid (Women's)

$59.95
Free Shipping Both Ways!
View Details | Add to Cart



Nomad Puddles - Tan Leopard (Women's)

$46.50
Free Shipping Both Ways!
View Details | Add to Cart

Nomad Puddles - Fuchsia/Purple Dots (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Puddles - Tan/Rose Plaid (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Puddles - Black/White Small Dots (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart
Nomad Puddles - Red Bandana (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Puddles - Black/Red Dots (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Puddles - Purple Pucci (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart
Nomad Puddles - Grey/Yellow Umbrella (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Puddles - Black/White Bandana (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Puddles - Black/Tan Argyle (Women's) $46.50 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart

Nomad Puddles II - White/Black Floral (Women's)

$51.95
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Nomad Yippy - Black Card (Women's) $48.95 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Yippy - Black (Women's) $48.95 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart		Nomad Yippy - Rose/Skull (Women's) $48.95 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart
Nomad Yippy - Blue Plaid (Women's) $48.95 Free Shipping Both Ways! View Details | Add to Cart

Nomad Windy - Blue Combo (Women's)

$43.95
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LANCE IS COMING! Long live cycling!

Lance Armstrong will compete again in Tour de France

ARMSTRONG AIMS FOR 8TH TOUR TITLE

Mercury News Wire Services

Article Launched: 09/09/2008 07:40:06 PM PDT

AUSTIN — Lance Armstrong is getting back on his bike, determined to win an eighth Tour de France.

Armstrong's return from cancer to win the Tour a record seven consecutive times made him a hero to cancer patients worldwide and elevated cycling to an unprecedented level in America.

Armstrong, 36, told Vanity Fair in an exclusive interview posted on its Web site Tuesday that he was inspired to return after finishing second last month in the Leadville 100, a lung-searing 100-mile mountain-bike race through the Rocky Mountains.

"This kind of obscure bike race totally kick-started my engine," he told the magazine. "I'm going to try and win an eighth Tour de France."

Armstrong's comeback trail might bring him through the Bay Area.

The cycling journal VeloNews reported on its Web site that Armstrong will compete with the Astana team in the Tour de France and four other road races, including the Amgen Tour of California, which winds through the Bay Area in February. The other road races would be Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia and the Dauphine-Libere.

In a video statement on his foundation's Web site, Armstrong said details — such as a team and schedule — will be announced Sept. 24 at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City.

"I am happy to announce that after talking with my children, my family and my closest friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the

---

global cancer burden," Armstrong said in a statement released to the Associated Press. "This year alone, nearly 8 million people will die of cancer worldwide. ... It's now time to address cancer on a global level."

But there are no guarantees Astana will be allowed to race in the 2009 Tour de France. Race officials kept the team out of the 2008 race because of previous doping violations.

If Armstrong and his team aren't invited in 2009, he plans to appeal directly to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"I've already put a call in to him," he told Vanity Fair.

In the Vanity Fair interview, Armstrong told the magazine he is 100 percent sure he will compete in the Tour next summer.

"I think it's great," said longtime teammate George Hincapie, who added he spoke with Armstrong on Tuesday morning. "Like I said earlier today, without Lance half the teams in this race probably wouldn't be around. He's done more than anyone for the sport, especially in America and around the world."

Armstrong noted in the magazine interview that other athletes in his age range are competing at a high level, specifically 41-year-old Olympic medalist swimmer Dara Torres and 38-year-old Olympic women's marathon champion Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania.

"Older athletes are performing well," he said. "Ask serious sports physiologists and they'll tell you age is a wives' tale."

Age might be an issue for Armstrong in the Tour de France. Only one rider older than 34 has won the Tour — 36-year-old Firmin Lambot in 1922.

The sport has missed Armstrong's star power, though skeptics refuse to believe he could win seven Tours without the help of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong has been in several public spats with officials at the World Anti-Doping Agency.

"There's this perception in cycling that this generation is now the cleanest generation we've had in decades, if not forever," Armstrong told Vanity Fair. "And the generation that I raced with was the dirty generation."

Although many riders were caught doping, Armstrong never tested positive and always has maintained he was a clean rider, using hundreds of passed drug tests during his career as proof.

With his riveting victories over cancer and opponents on the bike, to his work for cancer awareness and gossip-page romances, Armstrong has become a modern-day American icon.

He was an established sprint champion when he was diagnosed in 1996 with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. Doctors gave him less than a 50 percent chance of survival.

Surgery — he has a half-moon scar on his head from the brain operation — and brutal cycles of chemotherapy saved his life. From there, it was determination and powerful self-discipline that led him back to the bike.

His stunning win at the 1999 Tour de France was just the start. He went from being a sprinter to a technical expert who could climb mountains at speeds that punished other riders.

Armstrong's goal every year was to win the Tour de France, the sport's biggest race, and he dominated the Pyrenees and Alps like no other rider ever had.

His Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer awareness, but his social life has done just as much to keep him in the spotlight.

After his divorce from Kristin, the mother of his three children, Armstrong has had high-profile relationships with rocker Sheryl Crow, fashion designer Tory Burch and most recently, actor Kate Hudson.

Associated Press Writer Jerome Pugmire in Paris contributed to this report.

Amsterdam Tips

Second-hand shopping
Posted 16 January 2006

If you like vintage clothes and accessories, you'll love Amsterdam. The best places to go for second-hand bits and pieces are:

Noordermarkt: on Mondays the Noordermarkt in the Jordaan, one of Amsterdam?s most authentic areas, is filled with stalls selling vintage clothes and accessories like bags, shoes, belts and jewellery from the sixties, seventies and eighties.
Noordermarkt; tram 6, 7 or 10

Waterlooplein: More vintage shopping at the Waterlooplein, a ten minute walk from the Rembrandtplein, bustling with merchants six days a week. Definitely the place to go when you're looking for leather jackets, fur coats, jeans, or home ware from grandma?s era.
Waterlooplein; metro 51, 53, 54 or tram 9

Zipper: If you're more into indoor than outdoor shopping, one of the best places for fashionable vintage is Zipper. The checked blouses and oversized baseball shirts are men's favourites, women like everything at Zipper.
Zipper; Huidenstraat 7, 1016 ER Amsterdam (0031-20-6237302) and Nieuwe Hoogstraat 10, 1011 HE Amsterdam (20 623 70353)

Laura Dols: A no-go area for men, but women will love this shop. You'll enjoy browsing the dresses and skirts they sell at Laura Dols. From the thirties all the way up to the eighties; if Marilyn Monroe were still alive, she would be shopping here.
Laura Dols; Wolvenstraat 6-7, 1016 EM Amsterdam (20 624 9066)

Hyperlink to The Gown Rack

FALL FASHION

Seen on the street, or in the shops all over Europe: Here are some of TGR's favorites for this fall!

• GUMMY BOOTS a.k.a. Rain boots
• Trenchcoats - WHITE is classic
• Warm and colorful HATS!
• Scarves