<![CDATA[Jezebel: Baggage]]> http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png <![CDATA[Jezebel: Baggage]]> http://jezebel.com/tag/baggage http://jezebel.com/tag/baggage <![CDATA[New Bill Could Make Air Travel Marginally Less Awful]]> One of the many things that makes air travel so shitty these days is checked-baggage fees, which cause people to clog both overhead bins and security checkpoints with their carryons. But now, Sen. Mary Landrieu has proposed a bill that would guarantee fliers one free checked bag, force airlines to clearly advertise all additional fees as part of the ticket price, and mandate "certain minimum standards" for air travel. Predictably, the airline industry does not like this. Steve Lott, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, told the Washington Post, More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5862317&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Can Barack Obama Unite The Country's Skinny And Fat?]]> Were you aware? Oprah Winfrey's endorsing Barack Obama. And it kind of looks to be working! He's leading in Iowa, and almost leading in New Hampshire. And in South Carolina, the state of the mulatto lovechild rumors that sunk John McCain not eight years ago, demand for tickets to an Oprah-Obama appearance has been so strong they had to change venues from an 18,000-seater stadium to a bigger one. And here's something also weird: according to the Economist Obama is actually the favorite Democrat candidate amongst Republican voters. What now? According to all the major news sources, it's all part of the Oprah effect. Why all this fuss over what a celebrity thinks? A Nation story inadvertently explains why:
She to many people Oprah embodies a comforting sort of motherly everywoman, whose embrace has been perhaps too comfortably nonpartisan. If some part of her audience felt betrayed when she lost more weight than the average soccer mom, it stands to reason that they'll feel betrayed when she takes an overt stand in the political realm.
More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=331005&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[My Week With A $4000 Snakeskin Handbag]]> Perhaps you recall: I own one handbag. Which is why under normal circumstances, I might have glazed over today's Daily Mail story on the booming python handbag industry, wherein poor Indonesians venture into the jungle and risk being eaten alive by the 20-foot long endangered snakes they are trying to trap so they can nail them to trees, peel off their skins and toss their still-living carcasses into piles where they eventually rot to death, then repeat the process so they can sell them for a few bucks a yard to middlemen who sell them for a few more bucks a yard to luxury goods companies who sew a yard or two into $4,000 purses. Because, you know, there are dogs dying in Iraq, and I can only take so much bad news in one day, and it takes a lot of brain power to process how $4,000 + willful participation in such an orgy of pointless cruelty to serve the same function as my admittedly gross $20 canvas bag could possibly be worthwhile. Well, meet my status bag! It's a python skin Lambertson Truex (yours for $3,995!) and as a special treat for being such a good blogger, Anna borrowed it from Bag, Borrow or Steal, so I wouldn't humiliate myself at Fashion Week... Did it help me? Hurt my enemies? That's what the jump is for, guys! More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=302057&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Somehow, swastikas slipped into a floral...]]> Somehow, swastikas slipped into a floral print used to make purses at Zara and now Zara's recalling them. If apparel retailers weren't so divorced from the people who actually make their shit we would be skeptical someone along the Zara supply chain thought of this as some sort of subversive joke, like back when we lived in Hong Kong and someone made a killing selling red T-shirts with huge swastikas and fake Helmut Lang logos on them. You would see teenagers skateboarding around town wearing them and just think to yourself, "Man, kids are fucking stupid no matter how innately good at math they happen to be." And yeah, yeah, Buddhist symbol, we know. [Telegraph] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=301355&view=rss&microfeed=true