that this kind of thing happens in your name?
Monday, December 31, 2007
from www.salon.com :
May 16, 2007 | Eight years ago the Rev. Jerry Falwell warned parents that BBC children's television star Tinky Winky was a hidden symbol of homosexuality. Falwell died Tuesday at 73, and the world wanted to talk to Tinky Winky.
"They're calling again, again, again," he said by phone from his home in Islington, in London. A spokesman said the former "Teletubbies" costar got more than 100 calls from reporters in the hour following news of Falwell's death.
"Oh dear, it's easy to say the wrong thing here," he said. "Tinky Winky sad whenever someone dies, but ..." He left it hanging there.
In a 1999 article in his National Liberty Journal headlined "Tinky Winky Comes Out of the Closet," Falwell pointed out that Winky could be taken as representing gays.
"He is purple -- the gay pride color, and his antenna is shaped like a triangle -- the gay pride symbol," Falwell wrote. "The character, whose voice is that of a boy, has been found carrying a red purse in many episodes and has become a favorite character among gay groups worldwide."
In the resulting media firestorm, gay-rights activists called for Winky to come out while Christian groups demanded the BBC fire him so that he couldn't, in Falwell's words, "role-model the gay lifestyle."
"It was traumatizing, really," says Winky, who now owns a holistic healing center and makes occasional appearances on British TV. "I'm a very private Teletubby. I just wanted to get away, go over the hills and far away. But when you're 7 feet tall and purple with an antenna on your head and a TV screen in your belly, where are you going to go?"
Winky says he tried to contact Falwell after the article came out, but the evangelist wouldn't take his calls.
"I wanted to know why he didn't talk to me first," Winky says. "It's not like I'm hard to reach. Have the pinwheel call me. But really I just wanted to clap him on the head with Tinky Winky bag."
The star never has clarified his sexual orientation, insisting on his privacy and denying rumors over the years that he had affairs with two of his costars on the 1997-2001 show, the male Dipsy and the female Po.
"We love each other very much," he says. "Big hug. But it's not like that. It was a kids show, know what I mean? And this Falwell guy and his followers wanted to turn us into something else. We weren't modeling a gay lifestyle and we weren't trying to corrupt anyone's kids. We were just kids ourselves, really. Give us a little Tubby toast or custard and a film of some kids washing clothes or something, that's all we needed. We didn't give a shit about modeling a lifestyle."
Tinky Winky sounds angry. The wounds are still raw. Winky chuckles. "I must say, though," he says, "without getting into too many details, we had a girl in the group who ran around this kids show yelling, 'Cooter! Cooter!' And I'm the gay one? Do me a favor."
Through a spokeswoman, Po declined to comment for this article.
Winky says the Teletubbies stay in touch, and he remains friends with both Dipsy, who owns a nightclub in West London where Winky is often seen, and Po. Winky says he and Laa-Laa never really got along during the show's run, but, "We're fine now. We've come to appreciate each other."
Asked about Falwell's death, Winky turns serious and chooses his words carefully.
"I'm not going to pretend I'm sadder than I am," he says. "There were late nights during the dark times when I wished to hear news like this. I'd be lying if I denied that. I don't feel that way anymore. I like to think I've grown over the years, gotten past all that pain.
"But at the end of the day, I'm not terribly sad, and I think a lot of people feel the same way. Jerry Falwell was a divisive person, a hateful person, and what I've tried to be all about, in the Teletubbies days and since then, has been love. I've got to keep it that way. I don't want anybody feeling good about it when it's my time for Tubby bye-bye."
May 16, 2007 | Eight years ago the Rev. Jerry Falwell warned parents that BBC children's television star Tinky Winky was a hidden symbol of homosexuality. Falwell died Tuesday at 73, and the world wanted to talk to Tinky Winky.
"They're calling again, again, again," he said by phone from his home in Islington, in London. A spokesman said the former "Teletubbies" costar got more than 100 calls from reporters in the hour following news of Falwell's death.
"Oh dear, it's easy to say the wrong thing here," he said. "Tinky Winky sad whenever someone dies, but ..." He left it hanging there.
In a 1999 article in his National Liberty Journal headlined "Tinky Winky Comes Out of the Closet," Falwell pointed out that Winky could be taken as representing gays.
"He is purple -- the gay pride color, and his antenna is shaped like a triangle -- the gay pride symbol," Falwell wrote. "The character, whose voice is that of a boy, has been found carrying a red purse in many episodes and has become a favorite character among gay groups worldwide."
In the resulting media firestorm, gay-rights activists called for Winky to come out while Christian groups demanded the BBC fire him so that he couldn't, in Falwell's words, "role-model the gay lifestyle."
"It was traumatizing, really," says Winky, who now owns a holistic healing center and makes occasional appearances on British TV. "I'm a very private Teletubby. I just wanted to get away, go over the hills and far away. But when you're 7 feet tall and purple with an antenna on your head and a TV screen in your belly, where are you going to go?"
Winky says he tried to contact Falwell after the article came out, but the evangelist wouldn't take his calls.
"I wanted to know why he didn't talk to me first," Winky says. "It's not like I'm hard to reach. Have the pinwheel call me. But really I just wanted to clap him on the head with Tinky Winky bag."
The star never has clarified his sexual orientation, insisting on his privacy and denying rumors over the years that he had affairs with two of his costars on the 1997-2001 show, the male Dipsy and the female Po.
"We love each other very much," he says. "Big hug. But it's not like that. It was a kids show, know what I mean? And this Falwell guy and his followers wanted to turn us into something else. We weren't modeling a gay lifestyle and we weren't trying to corrupt anyone's kids. We were just kids ourselves, really. Give us a little Tubby toast or custard and a film of some kids washing clothes or something, that's all we needed. We didn't give a shit about modeling a lifestyle."
Tinky Winky sounds angry. The wounds are still raw. Winky chuckles. "I must say, though," he says, "without getting into too many details, we had a girl in the group who ran around this kids show yelling, 'Cooter! Cooter!' And I'm the gay one? Do me a favor."
Through a spokeswoman, Po declined to comment for this article.
Winky says the Teletubbies stay in touch, and he remains friends with both Dipsy, who owns a nightclub in West London where Winky is often seen, and Po. Winky says he and Laa-Laa never really got along during the show's run, but, "We're fine now. We've come to appreciate each other."
Asked about Falwell's death, Winky turns serious and chooses his words carefully.
"I'm not going to pretend I'm sadder than I am," he says. "There were late nights during the dark times when I wished to hear news like this. I'd be lying if I denied that. I don't feel that way anymore. I like to think I've grown over the years, gotten past all that pain.
"But at the end of the day, I'm not terribly sad, and I think a lot of people feel the same way. Jerry Falwell was a divisive person, a hateful person, and what I've tried to be all about, in the Teletubbies days and since then, has been love. I've got to keep it that way. I don't want anybody feeling good about it when it's my time for Tubby bye-bye."
Movies I saw this weekend...
So, this weekend I saw a couple of new releases - Aliens versus Predator: Requiem (or AVPR as it's referred to by those "in the know", I guess...Aliens versus Public Relations, maybe?) And, gotta say, it was not my favorite. I was a fan of the first movie.
but this one was just kind of lame. It picks up right after the first movie - with the crazy alien-predator hybrid bursting out of the chest of the last predator. The Alien-Predator (AP) goes all nutso and kills the remaining Predators and the ship crashes to Earth near some small town in middle America ('cause you know, America has such a gravitational pull that it can not only pull the Autobots and Decepticons from space but also Predator ships, ET's ship, basically anything that wants to be on a movie screen here will be pulled towards America...movie logic 101). Well, the aliens go on a bit of a rampage - men, women, children, and dogs are all killed so there's pretty much a no holds barred kind of logic here. Characters are introduced, you learn a little about them and then whammo, they're toast. The characters you spend the most time with however get little to no back story - you get more info on the characters on the sidelines than you do about our Main Guy and Main Girl. We know the Main Guy just got back into town from prison and the Main Girl is apparently home on some sort of military break...apparently this means that only outsiders will survive so know that if an alien outbreak happens, you're only chances of survival will happen in another town/city nearby. There are a couple of shocks and surprises here and there - one character unexpectedly bought it even though, in hindsight, I do recall seeing that scene in an early trailer for the film...but it was still kind of shocking. And then there's the sort of lame-ass attempt to tie it into the Alien's mythology...I didn't get the reference at all and it seemed tagged on and lame but KP explained it to me. You know how the first AvP had the guy who becomes the model for the robot guy in Aliens? No? Well, it did...anyway, apparently he had a business partner - some Asian woman - and at the end of the film she's given a weapon and so the dirty path to the future is all set to begin...or something. Whatever...I give it a C-
I also got a chance to see I Am Legend this weekend and it, my friends, was amazing. It was a very quiet and thoughtful film for a majority of the time and then it took a crazy Hollywood ending twist at the end - heroic sacrifice, happy ending, blah blah blah. I remember reading back somewhere that Smith got in trouble for "giving away the ending" but...well, the ending wasn't shocking or surprising so I don't know what the big deal was.
Will Smith plays a virologist who is working on a cure for what was originally a cure for cancer. That virus started to mutate and turned pretty much everyone in the world into these pale and scary mutant freaks that scream and jump and attack everyone...The opening shots of an abandoned Manhattan (it was quarantined and the bridges in and out of the city were destroyed) are amazingly quiet and still. Nature is taking it back. Plants are bursting up out of the cement and sidewalks - deer are running wild, flocks of birds are here and there and, strangely, there are some lions...I guess they maybe escaped from the zoo? Smith is the only person in the city that he knows of but he's left a repeating message on all AM channels that states he'll be at the bridge at noon everyday..."if you're out there...you're not alone" he promises protection and food and shelter to anyone who hears the message. His only companion is Sam, his dog. Sam is, frankly, the most expressionistic dog I've ever seen...you'd think she understood everything Smith said. Smith is coping with being alone (for nearly a thousand days now) by setting up mannequins throughout town. I love that he returns movies to the Blockbuster before taking new ones. This is his new life and you get to watch him live it for a good portion of the film...you get to see him struggle with trying to find a cure (while working on rats), hunting for food, taking care of his dog, working out, etc, etc and you get flashbacks to see what happened when the outbreak happened and he had to let his family leave without him. You get to see all the tragedy that this man has already been through and you get to see him struggle to keep going towards finding a cure...he's not even sure that there are other survivors out there. It turns out that, like, 1 out of every 500 people might be immune - that's one out of every five hundred people on Earth - the population went down to, like, some million or such...there's a LOT of room on Earth now...if you can find other people, that is. When the unthinkable happens (both good and bad) and the end of the movie begins to come near you really get to see what a great actor Smith is...I've always written him off as a Summer Blockbuster idiot...I blame that opinion on the fact that he did a movie with Martin Lawrence...nobody can respect that kind of choice. I never saw Pursuit of Happyness but I've heard it's great... now I'm willing to check it out. Watching Smith deal with all the losses he's dealt and all the hope he's both given and is taken away from him...he's just great all around. He basically carries this film. I can't wait for the DVD to be released so I can see the "original ending" that didn't test well with audiences because it wasn't happy enough...it was probably more true to the film and will only add to my enjoyment of this surprising blockbuster.
but this one was just kind of lame. It picks up right after the first movie - with the crazy alien-predator hybrid bursting out of the chest of the last predator. The Alien-Predator (AP) goes all nutso and kills the remaining Predators and the ship crashes to Earth near some small town in middle America ('cause you know, America has such a gravitational pull that it can not only pull the Autobots and Decepticons from space but also Predator ships, ET's ship, basically anything that wants to be on a movie screen here will be pulled towards America...movie logic 101). Well, the aliens go on a bit of a rampage - men, women, children, and dogs are all killed so there's pretty much a no holds barred kind of logic here. Characters are introduced, you learn a little about them and then whammo, they're toast. The characters you spend the most time with however get little to no back story - you get more info on the characters on the sidelines than you do about our Main Guy and Main Girl. We know the Main Guy just got back into town from prison and the Main Girl is apparently home on some sort of military break...apparently this means that only outsiders will survive so know that if an alien outbreak happens, you're only chances of survival will happen in another town/city nearby. There are a couple of shocks and surprises here and there - one character unexpectedly bought it even though, in hindsight, I do recall seeing that scene in an early trailer for the film...but it was still kind of shocking. And then there's the sort of lame-ass attempt to tie it into the Alien's mythology...I didn't get the reference at all and it seemed tagged on and lame but KP explained it to me. You know how the first AvP had the guy who becomes the model for the robot guy in Aliens? No? Well, it did...anyway, apparently he had a business partner - some Asian woman - and at the end of the film she's given a weapon and so the dirty path to the future is all set to begin...or something. Whatever...I give it a C-I also got a chance to see I Am Legend this weekend and it, my friends, was amazing. It was a very quiet and thoughtful film for a majority of the time and then it took a crazy Hollywood ending twist at the end - heroic sacrifice, happy ending, blah blah blah. I remember reading back somewhere that Smith got in trouble for "giving away the ending" but...well, the ending wasn't shocking or surprising so I don't know what the big deal was.
Will Smith plays a virologist who is working on a cure for what was originally a cure for cancer. That virus started to mutate and turned pretty much everyone in the world into these pale and scary mutant freaks that scream and jump and attack everyone...The opening shots of an abandoned Manhattan (it was quarantined and the bridges in and out of the city were destroyed) are amazingly quiet and still. Nature is taking it back. Plants are bursting up out of the cement and sidewalks - deer are running wild, flocks of birds are here and there and, strangely, there are some lions...I guess they maybe escaped from the zoo? Smith is the only person in the city that he knows of but he's left a repeating message on all AM channels that states he'll be at the bridge at noon everyday..."if you're out there...you're not alone" he promises protection and food and shelter to anyone who hears the message. His only companion is Sam, his dog. Sam is, frankly, the most expressionistic dog I've ever seen...you'd think she understood everything Smith said. Smith is coping with being alone (for nearly a thousand days now) by setting up mannequins throughout town. I love that he returns movies to the Blockbuster before taking new ones. This is his new life and you get to watch him live it for a good portion of the film...you get to see him struggle with trying to find a cure (while working on rats), hunting for food, taking care of his dog, working out, etc, etc and you get flashbacks to see what happened when the outbreak happened and he had to let his family leave without him. You get to see all the tragedy that this man has already been through and you get to see him struggle to keep going towards finding a cure...he's not even sure that there are other survivors out there. It turns out that, like, 1 out of every 500 people might be immune - that's one out of every five hundred people on Earth - the population went down to, like, some million or such...there's a LOT of room on Earth now...if you can find other people, that is. When the unthinkable happens (both good and bad) and the end of the movie begins to come near you really get to see what a great actor Smith is...I've always written him off as a Summer Blockbuster idiot...I blame that opinion on the fact that he did a movie with Martin Lawrence...nobody can respect that kind of choice. I never saw Pursuit of Happyness but I've heard it's great... now I'm willing to check it out. Watching Smith deal with all the losses he's dealt and all the hope he's both given and is taken away from him...he's just great all around. He basically carries this film. I can't wait for the DVD to be released so I can see the "original ending" that didn't test well with audiences because it wasn't happy enough...it was probably more true to the film and will only add to my enjoyment of this surprising blockbuster.
Ron Paul vs Crazy Christians!
Okay, in no particular order here are the things that amused me over the weekend - all in seperate entries so you can just read the ones you like.
There's this crazy intersection in town - a four way stop: on one corner there's a bank, the other corner is empty, then the local Target and sad excuse for a Mall make up the other two. This is where people with issues like to gather to scream at people in cars. There's a group of Crazy Christians in town - I don't even really know what their relgious affiliation is exactly. They dress their small children up in their Sunday best and make them hold signs that say such delightful things as: "Ask me why you're going to hell" (not that that wouldn't look great on an employee's name tag. 'Hi, I'm ___________ feel free to ask me why you're going to hell for shopping at Wal-Mart!' - it'd be great) or "Catholicism is NOT a religion!" - that one I just straight-up do not get. Of course it's a religion...it has a book that has rules in it. Of course, by that understanding of what makes a religion I guess Dungeons and Dragons is a religion...and if you think that that's funny then you don't know people who play Dungeons and Dragons.
Anyway, those people were out in force - one guy was screaming something I couldn't understand on a bullhorn (don't scream while on a bullhorn...it just defeats the purpose of amplfying your voice, idiot...) and everyone else was all dressed up with signs saying all sorts of things like "God hates you!" and such. Good times...however, mingled amongst these people was another group of folks. Ron Paul supports (insert ominous music here)!!!
So, I was a little confused - I don't really know alot about Mr. Paul but from what I've read he seems to be a decent person...I have a few friends who are all about him..of course, they're not here in Panama City...I was surprised that Ron Paul had gotten down here already - I guess fads more faster now thanks to the internet. And they knew that a lot of people didn't know who Ron Paul was because they had hand-written signs that said "GOOGLE RON PAUL!" ...honestly. There were also some waving American Flags and they were all dressed very nicely. Well, I was confused as to why Ron Paul would want to associate with the crazies...craziers? But I'm in the middle of a mission...I have to pick up some stuff at Best Buy (which is near the mall) and then head to Target. Well, as I'm pulling into Target I notice police cars approaching the intersection with their lights flashing. I pause long enough to think "Hmmm, that should be interesting..." and as I'm leaving Target (I was only in there for about 30 minutes...I'm a power shopper) I noticed that the Crazy Christians have either left or been asked to leave. Now, I don't know for certain what happened...and based upon that fact I shall now tell you what I hoped happened.
One of the Ron Paul people turns out to be a gay Catholic and actually dares to go up to one of the Crazy Christians and ask them why he belongs in hell. The Crazy Christian (CC) starts his ramble about what he's been told - he's reciting this stuff because the kid is only about 17 and knows that if he doesn't say what his dad (the guy screaming over the bullhorn) says then he'll get beaten with the Holy Stick again when they get home after Dad partakes of the Jesus Juice. The Ron Paul Guy (RPG) has pre-planned and logical counters to everything that CC says and so the CC figures that if he just starts to repeat himself at the top of his lungs then RPG will back down - it's what he's learned from his dad who also has these same basic debate techniques. Well Bullhorn Bully (BB) comes over and starts to scream at RPG and some pushing and shoving commences - maybe initiated by the BB or maybe by RPG - I dunno, it happened so fast it was hard to tell - but suddenly the Ron Paul People and the Crazy Christians are all having a turf war! They are screaming at each other such wonderful things as "Google Kickin' Your Ass, weird-o!" and "Ask me why Ron Paul belongs in hell!" ...okay, so this is obviously why they have to write down their slogans - they're not too good when put on the spot. But still...a turf war is still something exciting! ...but then the cops show up and it turns out that the Ron Paul folks asked the right people if it was okay for them to hold a little Google In at the intersection and the Crazy Christians just decided to do it on a whim (and a bottle of Jesus Juice) - so the Ron Paul folks win the corner...for now.
Good times in Panama City...
There's this crazy intersection in town - a four way stop: on one corner there's a bank, the other corner is empty, then the local Target and sad excuse for a Mall make up the other two. This is where people with issues like to gather to scream at people in cars. There's a group of Crazy Christians in town - I don't even really know what their relgious affiliation is exactly. They dress their small children up in their Sunday best and make them hold signs that say such delightful things as: "Ask me why you're going to hell" (not that that wouldn't look great on an employee's name tag. 'Hi, I'm ___________ feel free to ask me why you're going to hell for shopping at Wal-Mart!' - it'd be great) or "Catholicism is NOT a religion!" - that one I just straight-up do not get. Of course it's a religion...it has a book that has rules in it. Of course, by that understanding of what makes a religion I guess Dungeons and Dragons is a religion...and if you think that that's funny then you don't know people who play Dungeons and Dragons.
Anyway, those people were out in force - one guy was screaming something I couldn't understand on a bullhorn (don't scream while on a bullhorn...it just defeats the purpose of amplfying your voice, idiot...) and everyone else was all dressed up with signs saying all sorts of things like "God hates you!" and such. Good times...however, mingled amongst these people was another group of folks. Ron Paul supports (insert ominous music here)!!!
So, I was a little confused - I don't really know alot about Mr. Paul but from what I've read he seems to be a decent person...I have a few friends who are all about him..of course, they're not here in Panama City...I was surprised that Ron Paul had gotten down here already - I guess fads more faster now thanks to the internet. And they knew that a lot of people didn't know who Ron Paul was because they had hand-written signs that said "GOOGLE RON PAUL!" ...honestly. There were also some waving American Flags and they were all dressed very nicely. Well, I was confused as to why Ron Paul would want to associate with the crazies...craziers? But I'm in the middle of a mission...I have to pick up some stuff at Best Buy (which is near the mall) and then head to Target. Well, as I'm pulling into Target I notice police cars approaching the intersection with their lights flashing. I pause long enough to think "Hmmm, that should be interesting..." and as I'm leaving Target (I was only in there for about 30 minutes...I'm a power shopper) I noticed that the Crazy Christians have either left or been asked to leave. Now, I don't know for certain what happened...and based upon that fact I shall now tell you what I hoped happened. One of the Ron Paul people turns out to be a gay Catholic and actually dares to go up to one of the Crazy Christians and ask them why he belongs in hell. The Crazy Christian (CC) starts his ramble about what he's been told - he's reciting this stuff because the kid is only about 17 and knows that if he doesn't say what his dad (the guy screaming over the bullhorn) says then he'll get beaten with the Holy Stick again when they get home after Dad partakes of the Jesus Juice. The Ron Paul Guy (RPG) has pre-planned and logical counters to everything that CC says and so the CC figures that if he just starts to repeat himself at the top of his lungs then RPG will back down - it's what he's learned from his dad who also has these same basic debate techniques. Well Bullhorn Bully (BB) comes over and starts to scream at RPG and some pushing and shoving commences - maybe initiated by the BB or maybe by RPG - I dunno, it happened so fast it was hard to tell - but suddenly the Ron Paul People and the Crazy Christians are all having a turf war! They are screaming at each other such wonderful things as "Google Kickin' Your Ass, weird-o!" and "Ask me why Ron Paul belongs in hell!" ...okay, so this is obviously why they have to write down their slogans - they're not too good when put on the spot. But still...a turf war is still something exciting! ...but then the cops show up and it turns out that the Ron Paul folks asked the right people if it was okay for them to hold a little Google In at the intersection and the Crazy Christians just decided to do it on a whim (and a bottle of Jesus Juice) - so the Ron Paul folks win the corner...for now.
Good times in Panama City...
Friday, December 28, 2007
this was emailed to me by a friend of mine - I thought it was funny. It's originally from Misfile. And that's all I know about it...I just think boobs are funny and worth worshipping.
Me = Shallow, but sexy.
Today the Bagel Girl asked me if I was gay. I replied with the usual "Why?" and she then countered with the "My friend thinks you're hot" response. Good times...I gotta admit, I do enjoy it when girls flirt with me - hell, I enjoy it when anyone flirts with me...it makes me feel validated - sadly, one too-long look across a room makes me feel more accomplished than people coming up to me after a production and telling me how good I was...I'm so shallow it hurts. Ah well, whatcha' gonna do...
Nothing much...
So, after two days of horrible winter weather (we're talkin' like the mid to low 30's here, kids...and I know that in the real world where there exists FOUR seasons that that's not bad but here..damn, that was rough)- anyway...damn parenthetical statements always get me off-track...anyway we have now once again returned to Spring-type weather. This morning I walked out of the house in a polo and jeans and was actually kind of happy with the weather.
In other not-quite-news I recently got the first season of Dead Like Me and have been enjoying it rather thoroughly. It's pretty funny albeit sort of redundant at times - it's about this girl who gets killed in a ridiculous manner and becomes a Grim Reaper. It turns out that Grim Reapers are pretty much just like us except for that special job they have of escorting souls to the other side. The Reapers are broken up into divisions - Accidents, Murders, Maulings, etc, etc, etc...however, Reaping doesn't pay and so they all have to get day jobs. Jasmine Guy (Whitley from a Different World...jeez, I loved that show) is a meter maid by day and a reaper...well, whenever the ETD (Estimated Time of Death) of her mark of the day is. Their boss, a guy by the name of Rube played with fatherly charm and world-weary fatigue by Mandy Patinkin, hands out their daily marks on post-it notes. It's not nearly as glamorous (flossy, flossy) as you'd think.
In a related story - I saw the Sweeny Todd film this weekend and enjoyed it. Johnny Depp actually has a nice voice and Helena Bonham Carter was quite charming as Ms. Lovett. She's no Angela Lansbury or Patti LuPone but still. I knew some other people who were at the theatre at the same time and afterwards the inevitable discussion of movie vs. theatre production came up. One of the girls there said "I liked it more - I could never watch the theatre version because I can't accept Angela Lansbury as a singer." ...honestly.
here's Ms. Lansbury in one of my favorite songs from Sweeny Todd - A Little Priest.
and, even more entertaining and bizarre, Bea Arthur and Angela Lansbury singing Bosom Buddies from Mame! Love it...
and don't forget that classic Bedknobs and Broomsticks - kind of a Mary Poppins with a witchcraft twist...would probably never be allowed to made these days in order to protect our poor brainless children who are unable to form their own opinions (see: The Golden Compass, Harry Potter, the "old school" Sesame Street, etc, etc, etc)
In other not-quite-news I recently got the first season of Dead Like Me and have been enjoying it rather thoroughly. It's pretty funny albeit sort of redundant at times - it's about this girl who gets killed in a ridiculous manner and becomes a Grim Reaper. It turns out that Grim Reapers are pretty much just like us except for that special job they have of escorting souls to the other side. The Reapers are broken up into divisions - Accidents, Murders, Maulings, etc, etc, etc...however, Reaping doesn't pay and so they all have to get day jobs. Jasmine Guy (Whitley from a Different World...jeez, I loved that show) is a meter maid by day and a reaper...well, whenever the ETD (Estimated Time of Death) of her mark of the day is. Their boss, a guy by the name of Rube played with fatherly charm and world-weary fatigue by Mandy Patinkin, hands out their daily marks on post-it notes. It's not nearly as glamorous (flossy, flossy) as you'd think.
In a related story - I saw the Sweeny Todd film this weekend and enjoyed it. Johnny Depp actually has a nice voice and Helena Bonham Carter was quite charming as Ms. Lovett. She's no Angela Lansbury or Patti LuPone but still. I knew some other people who were at the theatre at the same time and afterwards the inevitable discussion of movie vs. theatre production came up. One of the girls there said "I liked it more - I could never watch the theatre version because I can't accept Angela Lansbury as a singer." ...honestly.
here's Ms. Lansbury in one of my favorite songs from Sweeny Todd - A Little Priest.
and, even more entertaining and bizarre, Bea Arthur and Angela Lansbury singing Bosom Buddies from Mame! Love it...
and don't forget that classic Bedknobs and Broomsticks - kind of a Mary Poppins with a witchcraft twist...would probably never be allowed to made these days in order to protect our poor brainless children who are unable to form their own opinions (see: The Golden Compass, Harry Potter, the "old school" Sesame Street, etc, etc, etc)
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
End of the Year
Well, the end of the year funk has set it - Christmas has passed and New Year's is looming. Between those two signposts there lives a time of quiet dread - where you review your life and decide what to resolve to do in the next year. Those resolutions are, by and large, laughable and disposable - you can promise to work out, to save money, to be nicer to people, to dance like nobody is looking, etc, etc - most of those will have been tossed to the side by the second week of January.
I know a few things to be true:
1) I do not want to be here this time next year - when my lease is up I wanna be prepared to move somewhere...anywhere
2) I'm sick of talking the talk about wanting to do something in entertainment (writing/acting/directing, etc) and want to start walking the walk - I am definately not getting any younger and am probably already on the far edge of the median age for those who work in the industry anyway
3) I am prepared to move to California - this has been a recent development. My friend CH tried to get me to move there years ago when she was there and I was never in the mood for it - it always felt wrong. Now I have a few friends who live there and would be okay with moving there
4) I know that I know nothing about writing for television (which, I think, is what I want to do most) and so I know that in order to learn these things I'm going to have to teach myself. Failing that, I need to do long distance networking via some of my friends in Los Angeles...
Other than that, everything else is up for debate.
In other news - it is freaking cold today! I'm one of those whiners who complain about how it doesn't feel like Christmas at 70 degrees but now that it turned low 30's overnight...well, shut my mouth and turn up the heat!
Also, have discovered the Scissor Sisters and am loving their album Ta-Dah - can't wait to collect 'em all :)
I know a few things to be true:
1) I do not want to be here this time next year - when my lease is up I wanna be prepared to move somewhere...anywhere
2) I'm sick of talking the talk about wanting to do something in entertainment (writing/acting/directing, etc) and want to start walking the walk - I am definately not getting any younger and am probably already on the far edge of the median age for those who work in the industry anyway
3) I am prepared to move to California - this has been a recent development. My friend CH tried to get me to move there years ago when she was there and I was never in the mood for it - it always felt wrong. Now I have a few friends who live there and would be okay with moving there
4) I know that I know nothing about writing for television (which, I think, is what I want to do most) and so I know that in order to learn these things I'm going to have to teach myself. Failing that, I need to do long distance networking via some of my friends in Los Angeles...
Other than that, everything else is up for debate.
In other news - it is freaking cold today! I'm one of those whiners who complain about how it doesn't feel like Christmas at 70 degrees but now that it turned low 30's overnight...well, shut my mouth and turn up the heat!
Also, have discovered the Scissor Sisters and am loving their album Ta-Dah - can't wait to collect 'em all :)
Friday, December 21, 2007
For The Gay Geek...
So I've been stuck looking at this website for easily an hour now - I've always been a closet comic book fan but I had no idea how many closets had been opened in comics! Check out The Gay League for information on all the gay, bi, and is he/isn't he heroes in the comic universes! I've just looked at the bio pages I haven't even begun to explore this awesomely fascinating website...I'm a loser.
Spidey's Secret Revealed!
from Blog @ Newsarama:
Spider-Man’s stunning secret revealed!Friday December 14, 2007, 1:30 pm
Gail Simone demonstrates why she should be given whatever Spider-Man book she wants:
Seriously. I maintain that Spider-man has represented repressed homosexuality for a good many years. Which is one of the reasons I like him so much.
She elaborates:
I’m serious about this…have you ever noted how many of the stories are about how icky icky girls ruin Spidey’s playtime? And how many of the females are clearly drag queens?
Spidey’s gay, and MJ’s a beard.
Spider-Man’s stunning secret revealed!Friday December 14, 2007, 1:30 pm
Gail Simone demonstrates why she should be given whatever Spider-Man book she wants:
Seriously. I maintain that Spider-man has represented repressed homosexuality for a good many years. Which is one of the reasons I like him so much.
She elaborates:
I’m serious about this…have you ever noted how many of the stories are about how icky icky girls ruin Spidey’s playtime? And how many of the females are clearly drag queens?
Spidey’s gay, and MJ’s a beard.
Why I love Jake...
I can't believe I missed this when it originally aired - but here's Jake Gyllenhall doing his DreamGirls impression on SNL!
How many of these did YOU believe?
from Robert Roy Britt w/ www.LiveScience.com
but I took it from www.yahoo.com:
Popular culture is loaded with myths and half-truths. Most are harmless. But when doctors start believing medical myths, perhaps it's time to worry
In the British Medical Journal this week, researchers looked into several run at full tilt.
Myth: You should drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
Fact: "There is no medical evidence to suggest that you need that much water," said Dr. Rachel Vreeman, a pediatrics research fellow at the university and co-author of the journal article. Vreeman thinks this myth can be traced back to a 1945 recommendation from the Nutrition Council that a person consume the equivalent of 8 glasses (64 ounces) of fluid a day. Over the years, "fluid" turned to water. But fruits and vegetables, plus coffee and other liquids, count.
Myth: Fingernails and hair grow after death.
Fact: Most physicians queried on this one initially thought it was true. Upon further reflection, they realized it's impossible. Here's what happens: "As the body's skin is drying out, soft tissue, especially skin, is retracting," Vreeman said. "The nails appear much more prominent as the skin dries out. The same is true, but less obvious, with hair. As the skin is shrinking back, the hair looks more prominent or sticks up a bit."
Myth: Shaved hair grows back faster, coarser and darker.
Fact: A 1928 clinical trial compared hair growth in shaved patches to growth in non-shaved patches. The hair which replaced the shaved hair was no darker or thicker, and did not grow in faster. More recent studies have confirmed that one. Here's the deal: When hair first comes in after being shaved, it grows with a blunt edge on top, Carroll and Vreeman explain. Over time, the blunt edge gets worn so it may seem thicker than it actually is. Hair that's just emerging can be darker too, because it hasn't been bleached by the sun.
Myth: Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.
Fact: The researchers found no evidence that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. It can cause eye strain and temporarily decreased acuity, which subsides after rest.
Myth: Eating turkey makes you drowsy.
Fact: Even Carroll and Vreeman believed this one until they researched it. The thing is, a chemical in turkey called tryptophan is known to cause drowsiness. But turkey doesn't contain any more of it than does chicken or beef. make fewer mistakes.
"Whenever we talk about this work, doctors at first express disbelief that these things are not true," said Vreeman said. "But after we carefully lay out medical evidence, they are very willing to accept that these beliefs are actually false."
but I took it from www.yahoo.com:
Popular culture is loaded with myths and half-truths. Most are harmless. But when doctors start believing medical myths, perhaps it's time to worry
In the British Medical Journal this week, researchers looked into several run at full tilt.
Myth: You should drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
Fact: "There is no medical evidence to suggest that you need that much water," said Dr. Rachel Vreeman, a pediatrics research fellow at the university and co-author of the journal article. Vreeman thinks this myth can be traced back to a 1945 recommendation from the Nutrition Council that a person consume the equivalent of 8 glasses (64 ounces) of fluid a day. Over the years, "fluid" turned to water. But fruits and vegetables, plus coffee and other liquids, count.
Myth: Fingernails and hair grow after death.
Fact: Most physicians queried on this one initially thought it was true. Upon further reflection, they realized it's impossible. Here's what happens: "As the body's skin is drying out, soft tissue, especially skin, is retracting," Vreeman said. "The nails appear much more prominent as the skin dries out. The same is true, but less obvious, with hair. As the skin is shrinking back, the hair looks more prominent or sticks up a bit."
Myth: Shaved hair grows back faster, coarser and darker.
Fact: A 1928 clinical trial compared hair growth in shaved patches to growth in non-shaved patches. The hair which replaced the shaved hair was no darker or thicker, and did not grow in faster. More recent studies have confirmed that one. Here's the deal: When hair first comes in after being shaved, it grows with a blunt edge on top, Carroll and Vreeman explain. Over time, the blunt edge gets worn so it may seem thicker than it actually is. Hair that's just emerging can be darker too, because it hasn't been bleached by the sun.
Myth: Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.
Fact: The researchers found no evidence that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. It can cause eye strain and temporarily decreased acuity, which subsides after rest.
Myth: Eating turkey makes you drowsy.
Fact: Even Carroll and Vreeman believed this one until they researched it. The thing is, a chemical in turkey called tryptophan is known to cause drowsiness. But turkey doesn't contain any more of it than does chicken or beef. make fewer mistakes.
"Whenever we talk about this work, doctors at first express disbelief that these things are not true," said Vreeman said. "But after we carefully lay out medical evidence, they are very willing to accept that these beliefs are actually false."
Honestly...
I work at the only office that A) doesn't believe in Christmas breaks of any sort. I have Christmas Day off - I'm afraid that that will be it. and B) doesn't believe in Christmas Bonuses of any sort. And they wonder why they can't keep staff members? Amidst all the yelling, brow-beating, and blamestorming that happens in this office the pot of gold at the end of the year rainbow has now been withdrawn...actually, I don't think it was ever there to begin with. Hell, even my other job which has no full time sales associates so that it doesn't have to pay out benefits - even that place lets us get some Christmas Cash to spend and allows us to pick a candle, ornament, toy, candleholder to have for free...c'mon, if I get more benefits from my sad-ass Part Time RETAIL job then there is a serious problem here...
Thursday, December 20, 2007
I'm so proud of Mississippi...
The most amazingly funny things happen in America...
from www.snopes.com :
13 August 1999
Jackson, MS -- Bolstered by the state of Kansas' recent measure removing the requirement for the teaching of evolution in public schools, yesterday afternoon the Mississippi legislature passed a bill eliminating fractions and decimal points from the mathematics curriculum of all public secondary schools in the state.
"Despite the coincidental timing of the measure, this was no whim," asserted Mississippi state senator Cassius de Spain. "We'd had the issue under consideration for several months now."
The bill, which cleared the Mississippi Senate by a vote of "a lot" to "a little" (with "this many" senators abstaining) after some initial confusion over how many votes constitute a "majority," directs public secondary schools in Mississippi to emphasize whole number arithmetic in mathematics courses and orders the removal of questions involving non-integer mathematics from standardized state tests after 1999. The fate of percentages remains undetermined as educators attempt to work out an alternative scoring method for tests.
Judith Sutpen, chairperson of the Mississippi Senate Education committee, defended the legislature's action against charges that it was motivated by "controversial religious beliefs."
"This has absolutely nothing to do with religion," she told reporters at a press conference Friday morning. "We're simply seeking to make mathematics more accessible to schoolchildren by de-emphasizing the elements that so many of them find confusing. It makes no sense to try to train our students how to think logically, then present them with nonsensical concepts such as 'irrational' and 'imaginary' numbers."
Senate minority leader Cora Tull indicated that religion did play a part in the passage of the legislation, however, maintaining that "if cardinality is good enough for the Catholic church, it ought to be good enough for the children of the great state of Mississippi." She added that "'improper fractions' have no place in any respectable school system, public or private."
Freshman senator John Sartoris of Brookhaven elaborated on the reasons for his colleagues' support of the bill: "We're sick and tired of hearing about how everything in our culture, from art to entertainment to education, is aimed at the 'lowest common denominator' of society. We're took aggressive action to do something about it yesterday by eliminating that denominator."
School librarians expressed concern about whether they will be able to continue categorizing books according to the Dewey decimal system once the law goes into effect, but Jason Compson, chief librarian for the Greater Biloxi School District, opined that "anyone who couldn't beat that pinko Truman doesn't deserve a place of honor in our schools' libraries anyway."
Several senators indicated that an additional measure aimed at removing "irregular verbs" from English classes might be in the offing.
from www.snopes.com :
13 August 1999
Jackson, MS -- Bolstered by the state of Kansas' recent measure removing the requirement for the teaching of evolution in public schools, yesterday afternoon the Mississippi legislature passed a bill eliminating fractions and decimal points from the mathematics curriculum of all public secondary schools in the state.
"Despite the coincidental timing of the measure, this was no whim," asserted Mississippi state senator Cassius de Spain. "We'd had the issue under consideration for several months now."
The bill, which cleared the Mississippi Senate by a vote of "a lot" to "a little" (with "this many" senators abstaining) after some initial confusion over how many votes constitute a "majority," directs public secondary schools in Mississippi to emphasize whole number arithmetic in mathematics courses and orders the removal of questions involving non-integer mathematics from standardized state tests after 1999. The fate of percentages remains undetermined as educators attempt to work out an alternative scoring method for tests.
Judith Sutpen, chairperson of the Mississippi Senate Education committee, defended the legislature's action against charges that it was motivated by "controversial religious beliefs."
"This has absolutely nothing to do with religion," she told reporters at a press conference Friday morning. "We're simply seeking to make mathematics more accessible to schoolchildren by de-emphasizing the elements that so many of them find confusing. It makes no sense to try to train our students how to think logically, then present them with nonsensical concepts such as 'irrational' and 'imaginary' numbers."
Senate minority leader Cora Tull indicated that religion did play a part in the passage of the legislation, however, maintaining that "if cardinality is good enough for the Catholic church, it ought to be good enough for the children of the great state of Mississippi." She added that "'improper fractions' have no place in any respectable school system, public or private."
Freshman senator John Sartoris of Brookhaven elaborated on the reasons for his colleagues' support of the bill: "We're sick and tired of hearing about how everything in our culture, from art to entertainment to education, is aimed at the 'lowest common denominator' of society. We're took aggressive action to do something about it yesterday by eliminating that denominator."
School librarians expressed concern about whether they will be able to continue categorizing books according to the Dewey decimal system once the law goes into effect, but Jason Compson, chief librarian for the Greater Biloxi School District, opined that "anyone who couldn't beat that pinko Truman doesn't deserve a place of honor in our schools' libraries anyway."
Several senators indicated that an additional measure aimed at removing "irregular verbs" from English classes might be in the offing.
A couple of music video's...
So I have been reading about the Scissor Sisters for a while now and I finally checked out some videos on YouTube and, by George, I think I like 'em! I will admit that what finally sold me on it was when I read somewhere that Jack Shears loved Dolly Parton and saw some clips of him interviewing her - the look of absolute delight in his eyes sold me on the guy. Anyone who can love Dolly that much has to be okay...
and here is my absolute favorite video by Melissa Etheridge - I love it and it's always stuck in my mind as one of the sexiest videos ever made...until Slave 4 U came out...but now I believe that the Britney Spears who made that video is dead and gone and we're now stuck with another useless celebrity who does nothing worthwhile.
and here is my absolute favorite video by Melissa Etheridge - I love it and it's always stuck in my mind as one of the sexiest videos ever made...until Slave 4 U came out...but now I believe that the Britney Spears who made that video is dead and gone and we're now stuck with another useless celebrity who does nothing worthwhile.
A drive, an imagined conversation, a birthday, and time zones...
So this morning, much to the chagrin of the Ugly Lady in Ugly Car, I took Beach Drive to work today. It's the nice scenic route. Nice houses, nice view, nice 35 mph Speed Limit - which, of course, implies that you should be going 40 mph. The UL in UC was obviously in much more of a hurry since she kept rushing up to meet my bumper and then falling back a few yards to throw a little hissy fit about me obviously not getting the hint and then repeating these steps - all along the stretch of road. It was sad. She can't help it that she's capable of road rage first thing in the morning - I mean, that takes some kind of serious commitment. I don't get road ragin' until after work when I just wanna get home! At that point I pity anyone who isn't in as much of a hurry as I am - I finally figured out that the Rush in Rush Hour has nothing to do with the speed of the cars - just the people in them.
As I enjoyed my drive to work (not including my momentary fears of being knocked off the road by UL in UC) I started to have imaginary conversations in my head. Am I the only one who does this? I like to try and script out moments that may or may not ever actually happen. This morning I spent some imaginary time with my nephew, AA. In my mind AA was a teenager and was coming to me for advice on all sorts of things - in reality the kid is only approaching 9 months and only comes to me to tug on my necklage and drool on my face. I want to be that uncle that I've always wanted to have - the one that you can call when you need advice from outside the home. When Mom says one thing but Dad says another...you need a tie-breaker and you know Grandma and Grandpa will always side with their respective kids. The Uncle is the one to go to...I hope. Of course, AA has more than one Uncle. He's got me, his mom's brother, and whoever else the Grandma's and Grandpa's have decided is worthy of being called Uncle. It's tough to fight for the attention of a 9 month old - mainly because everyone else wants it, too. The real test comes when the kid turns into a teenager and suddenly has his own thoughts and issues and wants to have discussions instead of lectures. I want to be that Uncle who encourages him to think for himself, to not always follow the crow, to find his own path, to love and care for people, to know when to let people go, to learn how to handle everything that life throws his way - I guess I wanna be a surrogate father without all the 24/7 responsibilities. I want to be there just for the big things - I want to tell him how to handle his heart the first time it's broken, I want to help him figure out what to get his Dad for Christmas...I don't want to scold him on his report card or work out a chores list. I want to help him write an A+ paper about something he's never had an interest in before - I want to teach him that knowledge can be both powerful and entertaining. I want to teach him that ultimately it doesn't matter what his opinion is just as long as he has one. ...I think alot about this, I guess.
I forgot PR's birthday - I feel like such a schmuck. He called me on mine. I made a mental note to call him on his but my mental notebook is filled with two work schedules and a rehearsal schedule. I will give him a call as soon as it's reasonable to assume that he's awake - I have this difficult problem with time zones. It's ridiculous - especially with my poor friends in California. I'm always like "Well, it's 5pm here...what is it, like, 8am there?" And, God, even my friends up North get the same thing - which is totally ridiculous because I used to live up there so I know it's only an hour ahead...of course, I also like to live in a world where everyone other than me gets to sleep until 11am or so. Like nobody else has to be at work at 8am regardless of their time zone. Oh, and let's not even talk about my friends overseas or in Hawaii (I don't know if that is implied by overseas...overseas has a distinctly "Not America" feel to it) - I get totally confused there...it becomes more of a "It's 5pm here...what is it, March there?"
As I enjoyed my drive to work (not including my momentary fears of being knocked off the road by UL in UC) I started to have imaginary conversations in my head. Am I the only one who does this? I like to try and script out moments that may or may not ever actually happen. This morning I spent some imaginary time with my nephew, AA. In my mind AA was a teenager and was coming to me for advice on all sorts of things - in reality the kid is only approaching 9 months and only comes to me to tug on my necklage and drool on my face. I want to be that uncle that I've always wanted to have - the one that you can call when you need advice from outside the home. When Mom says one thing but Dad says another...you need a tie-breaker and you know Grandma and Grandpa will always side with their respective kids. The Uncle is the one to go to...I hope. Of course, AA has more than one Uncle. He's got me, his mom's brother, and whoever else the Grandma's and Grandpa's have decided is worthy of being called Uncle. It's tough to fight for the attention of a 9 month old - mainly because everyone else wants it, too. The real test comes when the kid turns into a teenager and suddenly has his own thoughts and issues and wants to have discussions instead of lectures. I want to be that Uncle who encourages him to think for himself, to not always follow the crow, to find his own path, to love and care for people, to know when to let people go, to learn how to handle everything that life throws his way - I guess I wanna be a surrogate father without all the 24/7 responsibilities. I want to be there just for the big things - I want to tell him how to handle his heart the first time it's broken, I want to help him figure out what to get his Dad for Christmas...I don't want to scold him on his report card or work out a chores list. I want to help him write an A+ paper about something he's never had an interest in before - I want to teach him that knowledge can be both powerful and entertaining. I want to teach him that ultimately it doesn't matter what his opinion is just as long as he has one. ...I think alot about this, I guess.
I forgot PR's birthday - I feel like such a schmuck. He called me on mine. I made a mental note to call him on his but my mental notebook is filled with two work schedules and a rehearsal schedule. I will give him a call as soon as it's reasonable to assume that he's awake - I have this difficult problem with time zones. It's ridiculous - especially with my poor friends in California. I'm always like "Well, it's 5pm here...what is it, like, 8am there?" And, God, even my friends up North get the same thing - which is totally ridiculous because I used to live up there so I know it's only an hour ahead...of course, I also like to live in a world where everyone other than me gets to sleep until 11am or so. Like nobody else has to be at work at 8am regardless of their time zone. Oh, and let's not even talk about my friends overseas or in Hawaii (I don't know if that is implied by overseas...overseas has a distinctly "Not America" feel to it) - I get totally confused there...it becomes more of a "It's 5pm here...what is it, March there?"
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Test test...is this thing on?
Okay, let's try blogging in the deep end of the pool away from the safe and shallow waters of the MySpace experience. I'm interested to see what happens but hey, now my friends who have a MySpace aversion can still read my ramblings! And I understand those aversions...I have one for Facebook. No real reason, I'm sure it's perfectly wonderful and has tons of fans...but I just can't commit to it. I have a commitment problem...so bad that I can't even commit to not committing so I do have a Facebook account but I never use it...or at least never inhale while using it.
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