Alexandra the Great

Let me start off by thanking an old friend of mine for introducing me to Tuesday Morning. From the commercials I'd seen with Lauren Bacall, I had guessed it was some combination of William Sonoma and a high-end clothing store. Lo and behold, it actually sells all kinds of cool stuff for really, really cheap prices. That's including, of course, LEGO, of which I got my fill on my first visit. Life is good.

Anyway, I went to visit a different location over the weekend for more LEGO goodies. I didn't find anything to my liking, but I did find something else: Alexandra the Great.

Using a cute, Russian teenage babe to sell something as intellectual as Chess is pretty shrewd. If Michael Jordan can sell Nike's, then a Chess grandmaster can logically endorse a chess set. Still, this marketing move seems primarily intended to make the hearts of geeky boys go a-flutter at the prospect of speaking and playing (Chess! Playing Chess, you pervs!) with this exotic, brainy beauty. Additional pictures of her on the box cover (different from the box above) with her in various evening and casual wear confirms that suspicion. I have to say, though, that I find it a bit refreshing that some young men out there may be forming an ideal of beauty that goes beyond Brittany Spears and Hillary Duff.

For the record, the girl's full name is Alexandra Kosteniuk and she has her own website.