Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Armchairs Awry

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf (R) meets with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Islamabad June 27, 2006. Rice pressed Pakistan to work better with Afghanistan to fight resurgent Taliban forces on a trip to the region on Tuesday. EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/Press Information Department/Handout (PAKISTAN)
Whoah, like, this is editorial use, right?

Anyway, I've written before about how all bets are off when Condi traipses to foreign lands where matching armchairs belong to different metaphorical hierarchies. The above shot shows just how different a photo-op can be, and I can't say I like it. Please note that Pakistan understands the set-up: two matching armchairs with a low table between, and a small, tasteful flower arrangement in the center. But then, alas, President Musharraf got greedy and decided to keep the matching armchairs all to himself, humiliatingly relegating Condi to a tacky sofa off to the side. Also, hello? Where's Condi's flag? Is there any indignity the American Flag musn't endure these days? TSK! And finally, I'm not totally sure if the small, tasteful flower arrangement is really that or an appetiser platter. Clarity, people, clarity!

HOWEVER, Princess Doctor is pretty in pink, don't you agree? And that's what really counts.

UPDATE: I now realize that Condi 'n' Pervez (LOL) really are seated in matching armchairs, as is proper. Note that the empty chair behind the table doesn't match the other two and is actually an errant, extraneous chair which totally throws off the axis of the shot. Oh, for shame! That's why I didn't catch it; who, after all, could possibly make such an elementary blunder with such a simple set-up? Oh for shame, Pakistan, for shame. And let's not let the pseudononymous photographer off the hook either, because she totally should have snapped her fingers and drolly intoned, "Darlings, lose the background clutter. There's a love."

4 comments:

Carmen Sutra said...

Hated it!!

I think the superfluous chair is where Osama usually sits while he pulls Pervez'ses'z strings.

And apparently no one gave the lamp the message that today's color is beige beige beige!

Karen Zipdrive said...

It looks like they paused at our local furniture resale shop, "Too Good to be Threw" for an impromptu photo op.
No matter where one is in the world, schmaltz is schmaltz.

Anonymous said...

If you rub the lamp, out pops Barbara Eden!

Unknown said...

Hey..do you think she is like a traveling rockstar? you know..they all have lists of what they require prior to their arrival..her list would include the flower arraignment and of course matching armchairs..