Monday, January 31, 2011

Well.. he isn't blond and his name isn't Cade, Aikmen or Harman - but I love him anyway

And yes Thurmond, I know about the nincompoop curse - but Brett Hundley is the Bruin that breaks the rule.
.

UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel promised the moon but delivered a swoon last season, leading to an upheaval on the coaching staff. The push toward Wednesday, the first day of the NCAA signing period for football, has produced only nine oral commitments thus far.
Neuheisel is sticking to his vision: "I liken it to a foundation on a house. You drive by a home, and it looks like the foundation takes forever. But you have to get it right. … The next thing you know, the house is finished."
The foundation of UCLA football under Neuheisel has been built not with 2-by-4s but with 4-by-8s. UCLA was 4-8 in 2008 and again last season, which has led to speculation that 2011 could be a make-or-break season for the gung-ho coach.
Into the eye of that storm has stepped Hundley, who is ranked second in the nation among quarterback recruits by Rivals.com.
UCLA fans felt their hearts go pitter-pat when Hundley committed. It became puppy love when he enrolled early to participate in spring practice. And when Hundley won the quarterback pass challenge at the Under Armour high school all-star competition in January, then threw a 58-yard touchdown pass in the game, obsession set in.
"Other students joke with me, and sometimes I really sort of enjoy it," Hundley said. "But I haven't done anything and I'm the savior?"
Hundley, though, was something for UCLA fans to grasp during stumbles on the recruiting trail, such as when Point Loma High's Christian Heyward, rated a top-10 defensive tackle, dumped UCLA from his finalist list and kept San Diego State.

Say It Ain't So

Our Tivo died.
.
It is a sad day in black rock (actually it was a sad sad week-end).  It was only a few (5) years old - but it was well loved and lived a full life.  Even in passing it saved money - since I had one I got about 50% of the brand new super-sized one.
.
The new one shipped today.  Black arm bands are being worn until it arrives.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Events Conspire In The Mid-East

No one has really rolled this all up into 1 package for us all - but events are rushing headlong in the Middle-East to hell knows where.  These are some things you might be peripherally aware of, but maybe you haven't thought about all of them at the same time.
.
1. Revolutions in the street are happening in Egypt and Yemen - after the Tunisia Revolution.  This is critical to us in the states because a stable Egypt is what we have long based our foreign policy on in the region.
.
1.a If Egypt goes more populist, the piece treaty with Israel could be repealed.  The majority of factions vie'ing for power in Egypt rail against Israel with the same intensity that Rush Limbaugh rails against Democrats.  If anyone takes power they could either attack Israel (unlikely) or open arms pathways to the Gaza Strip (hugely likely). (a more Democratic Mid-East - careful what you wish for)
.
1.b Yemen is the current hotbed of Al Quada.  We have responded by bombing the countryside - with the support of their government.  If the government is overthrow, we will have a government that is hostile to us AND has easy access to Saudi cash.
.
2. Hezbollah has taken over Lebanon this week.  After driving Syria out, the United States and Israel -rather stupidly - decided to break Hezbollah in Lebanon, rather than deal with it (Hezbollah in Lebanon even sent a representative to talk to us under Bush).  But America cold-shouldered the group and Israel attacked them.  Both of us - a little to cocky.  Israel got sent home in shame and Hezbollah took the US snub and returned back to their traditional allies of Syria and Iran.  Well as of this week they are in charge in Lebanon - and not afraid of Israel.
.
3. The Palestinian Authority on the West Bank is in fuck-all trouble for agreeing to Israeli demands to keep much of Eastern Jerusalem. Two weeks ago, Al Jezera (the "free press" of which we in America always tell people to adopt) has reveled that during negotiations a few years ago, the Palestinians agreed to hand over much of East Jerusalem to Israel in a land swap.  This has pissed off the Palestinians for 2 reasons.  Less important - but more as a campaign issue - Palestinians have always said they want all East Jerusalem back.  It is an empty by effective promise (think Republicans and a Balanced Budget).  MORE IMPORTANT - Israel said no.  We always hear from Israel that they offered Yassar Arafat 99% of what he wanted and he said no.  This "proved" to Israel that Arafat wasn't negotiating in good faith.  Well, since then the Palestinians offered Jerusalem and their current settlements to Israel for a land swap they agreed to before.  Israel's dismissal of this "proves" to the street that Israel isn't negotiating in good faith.
.
The Palestinians that want peace now have no partner to talk to, and very little leverage in the government.
.
4. Israel has the most hard-line government in recent history. Their Foreign Minister has dismissed talk of a 2 state solutions, his party is pushing to make Arabs Israeli's non-citizens (he wants not as Israeli state, but a Jewish Only Israel state).
.
Add to this Iran that would love to stir up any trouble to get the mid-east focus off them.
.
Events Conspire.

Just a thought

My testicles have been drawn up so far into my body, I may go through puberty again when they drop in the Spring.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Okay: An Admission

So tonight I got "Snow Special" tickets for a fantastic show in the West Village ($15 due to snow!).  So I go down with my iPod  and walk through the West Village.  See an AMAZING show.
.
And leave, happy, my iPod my own little sound track, through white streets that weren't ploughed yet and devoide of cars and yes. .. okay yes... it was.
.
it was...
.
pretty.
.
There I admit it.  Happy now!

Snow Details

So, this was 50th Street.  Turns out we go 19 inches last night.  And now we have this odd issue.
.
Seems there is no place to "put" the snow.  "But Scott," you say totally reasonably, "Isn't Manhatten an Island!"
.
Yes, but apparently you aren't allowed to dump snow in the ocean or a river.  Who knew!

Definition of a "Unknown Unknown"

So when Donald Rumsfeld talked about Iraq he talked about things we know, things we don't know, and things we don't know we don't know.  Which is actually extremely apropos in Foreign Relations.
.
Look at the Middle East now.  At the beginning of the year there were things we didn't know (and still don't) were, Will Iran Get a Bomb?  Will Isreal Attack Iran Before It Gets a Bomb?  Will Iraq now allign with Iran?  these were unknown, but we knew they were out there.
.
But there were things we didn't know that we didn't know.  For example, we had no idea we didn't know was Will a lone demonstrator and Twitter cause enough turmoil in Tunisia to Bring Down the Government?  Will This New Street Power Bring Down Egypt, Jordon or Algeria?  What does an Egypt run by  The Muslim Brotherhood mean for peace in the region?  These are things that were also unknown, but we didn't even know they were out there.
.
The world is a complex place.

Roof Next Door

I check the snow based on the (very very cool) roof on the next door building.  This is all from last night.

Musty versus Musky

So I was worried the other day about old age and … (how do you say) smell.  I would get to the end of the day, and I could actually smell myself being ..you know ripe-ish.
.
Which is horrible, because I can’t smell at all – so I am thinking how bad must this be?
I mean, the indignity, first the eyebrows sprout, then hair grows on the ears, the chin droops.. now musty smell.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
.
Then I check my deodorant.  See, I like a roll on  and the homestore across the way gets roll-ons for men from foreign countries (US only has roll-ons for women).  Which is fine and dandy.  I usually get a nice beachie roll on scent from South Africa.  Well, when I purchased my last one I accidently purchased one that was call “African Wilds”.
.
Turns out I was smell MUSKy not MUSTY.  I changed it out for Gillette Gel – which is goopy and yucky, but at least I no longer smell like a wildebeest out in the sun too long.

Morning Snow


So it schnowed last night.  This morning the sidewalks were totally snowy and Trevor was hard pressed to pee (don't even pretend like he could poop in this stuff).
.
This was the scene outside this morning on 42nd Street.  Luckily I only have a few buildings to go before I get to the Port Authority and then Times Square.  All of those are cleared regularly - so actually not to much trudging for me.
.
Eddie has the real schelp across Times Square and then another 1/2 mile to 30 Rock.
.
Anyway - it wasn't horrible.  Just gungy.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

You know how some people..How when it comes to presents you never know what to get them - they always say "I don't want anything"

.
.
You know how some people..how when it comes to presents you never know what to get them - they always say "I don't want anything"
.
.
.
I am not one of those people.
.
I like this a lot! (via restoration hardware of all people)
.

Is the "Education" problem really a "Poverty" problem?

There is an interesting article in Salon about why jobs aren't coming back from China, debunking myths.  One "reason" it tackles is that US Education system is terrible.  They believe (and have some inputs) that this is a problem of poverty and should be treated as such, not a problem of education per say.
.
The claim that America’s K-12 system is inferior to that of other industrial nations is another myth whose purpose is to divert the attention of the American public from the real reasons for the offshoring of U.S. industry. Much has been made of the fact that, according to theProgram for International Student Assessment (PISA), the U.S. ranks 12th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in mathematics. But the countries at the top of the list in 2009 -- Korea, Finland, Hong-Kong China, Singapore, Canada, New Zealand and Japan -- tend to be small or homogeneous or both.
.
The overall PISA scores of American students are lowered by the poor results for blacks and Latinos, who make up 35 percent of America’s K-12 student population. Asian-American students have an average score of 541, similar to those of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. The non-Hispanic white American student average of 525 is comparable to the averages of Canada (524), New Zealand (521), and Australia (515). In contrast, the average PISA readings score of Latino students is 446 and black students is 441.
.
Unlike Asian immigrants, many of whom are college-educated professionals, Latino immigrants tend to be less educated than the American average. And both Latinos and blacks are disproportionately poor. American students in schools where fewer than 10 percent of the students needed subsidized lunches score 551 on average -- above the average of any of the 34 developed countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Americans in schools where at least 75 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches average 446, second to last among students in OECD countries. America’s public school system works quite well, for non-poor native students. It is overwhelmed by a disproportionately black poor population, which suffers the legacy of centuries of discrimination, and a disproportionately unskilled and illiterate foreign-born population. Instead of scapegoating America’s K-12 schools, we need to combat family poverty directly, by means of job creation programs and a living wage, while admitting fewer poorly educated immigrants.

Michelle, Michelle, Michelle - My Little Magpie

Michelle, Michelle, Michelle (My Belle)...
.
Yet again she schelps out another lie that has been debunked, this time (in the State of the Union Rebuttal) she talked about 16,500 new IRS agents. (Last time it was the $200,000,000 a day trip to India - a huge ass debunked falsehood).
.
Actually LIE is a little harsh. I think she is like a magpie, she sees a nice shiney trashy comment and has to repeat. In this case embellish. She is not only repeated this flasehood - but railed against it as it already happened.
.
Here is the deunked link.
.

Q: Will the IRS hire 16,500 new agents to enforce the health care law?
A: No. The law requires the IRS mostly to hand out tax credits, not collect penalties. The claim of 16,500 new agents stems from a partisan analysis based on guesswork and false assumptions, and compounded by outright misrepresentation.
FULL ANSWER
This wildly inaccurate claim started as an inflated, partisan assertion that 16,500 new IRS employees might be required to administer the new law. That devolved quickly into a claim, made by some Republican lawmakers, that 16,500 IRS "agents" would be required. Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas even claimed in a televised interview that all 16,500 would be carrying guns. None of those claims is true.
The IRS’ main job under the new law isn’t to enforce penalties. Its first task is to inform many small-business owners of a new tax credit that the new law grants them — starting this year — which will pay up to 35 percent of the employer’s contribution toward their workers’ health insurance. And in 2014 the IRS will also be administering additional subsidies — in the form of refundable tax credits — to help millions of low- and middle-income individuals buy health insurance.


(continued at the site).

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Less An Abberation Than a Movement Based on Lies

When I published a note a while back about the Tennesse Tea Party wanting to whitewash history texts to remove references to slavery by our founding fathers (LINK), I thought it was a stupid abberation.
.
But now, it appears that it is a full blown Tea Party Meme (and lie) to rewrite history.  Our founding fathers were intelligent men, in many ways years ahead of their time.  Unfortunately, on the subject of slavery, this isn't true.  Despite the lies of Michele Bachmann to the contrary.
.

Sarcasm 101

I do like this post from Salon - just for the sarcasm it shows..
.
.Our Tea Party overlords in the House of Representatives are a new breed of Republicans, who've rejected the divisive social issue of the past, and who are focused solely on restoring limited, Constitutional federal government. Also they are going to ban gay marriage in Washington, DC, because it's gross.
.
As surprisingly few Americans know, Washington, DC, despite being a bustling metropolis with a larger population than the entire state of Wyoming, has no voting representation in Congress, and Congress has ultimate control over the governance of the city. So when Republicans take control of Congress, they really enjoy screwing with the town, which is full of liberals and minorities.
.
Ohio's Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee,says he'll push for a vote to ban gay marriage in the district.
.
Washington began performing and recognizing same-sex marriages last year, despite the best efforts of national conservative groups, but Congress could end the practice at any point. Jordan sponsored a gay marriage ban in the last Congress. While the new Republican House would probably pass the ban, it probably wouldn't go anywhere in the Senate. Which just means that the Republicans will have to wait until they take the Senate.

And Now No More Taco Bell

Knowledge is an ugly ugly thing. Taco Bell "Taco Meat" is only 36% Beef.
.
What is the other 64%?
.
Water, isolated oat product, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat), soy lecithin, sugar, spices, maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose), soybean oil (anti-dusting agent), garlic powder, autolyzed yeast extract, citric acid, caramel color, cocoa powder, silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent), natural flavors, yeast, modified corn starch, natural smoke flavor, salt, sodium phosphate, less than 2% of beef broth, potassium phosphate, and potassium lactate.
.
I hate that.
.
I found out because Alabama sued them saying they can't advertise as "beef". Hell, they can't even advertise as "Taco Meat Filing" because it isn't 40% beef.
.
sigh . . . . (link)

Ha Ha: Joke's On Me.



Well, well, fucking well.
.
So.
.
Snowing. Three days.
.
Not 1 day like they forcast. And snow, then slush, then snow, then freeze. Lovely to walk Trevor in.
.
Of course, it didn't happen this bad until this winter. No! We moved her in 2006, only to have 1 bad storm per winter (and we were usually out of town during the storm).
.
Why this winter, you ask.
.
Because we sold the Palm Springs house - and I am being punished by the Minerva: Goddess of California. And I must say, Minerva - you are one vindictive Be yoch.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Loving Lavin

Steve Lavin has been very well received at St. John's where they have won games over Notre Dame and Georgetown.  Granted, it is still a long slog, but it is a tough conference (they barely lost to 25th Cinci).
.
Anyway, I am glad to have him back.

SIX - Scooter is not amused

Six Degrees.

That's Fahrenheit too. It is -14.4 C.

And, if you can see the face, it is 6F now, with a projected high of 18 and a projected low of 15. Time to update the projected low dummies!

Also of note, Trevor is a lot less tra-la-la smelling when it is 6 degrees. Walk briskly, pee, walk briskly, pee, walk briskly, poop, go home with one last stop at the trash can to empty what remains. It would be great if it wasn't so freaking cold.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Bow Wow

So Reeve Carney (upper left) is Spiderman. He lives in our building. In the middle is the young woman who plays Mary Jane.
.
Reeve has 1 great song in the second act.
.
Mary Jane might have a good song or two, but I don't really remember. Is she did it got lost in the gigantic mess that is "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark". I know Glenn Beck has praised it. I am positive (POSITIVE) that he did this so when the reviews come out calling it a giant turd - he will say the elites hated it. But trust me, it is a giant turd. Even the tourists who paid great money to see it were swaying the Emperor has no clothes.
.
A giant turd with a wonderful opening (amazing performers suspended by clothing aerially weaving a garment - beautiful). A giant turd with some fun action where Spiderman, The Green Goblin and Reeve swing out over the audience; often while lip syncing.
.
In fact, cut all the songs and the stupid stupid stupid second act - and you have a pretty good 45 minute show that would work at any theme park. Not Vegas, it isn't nearly as good as the cirque de soleil shows, but definitely Universal Theme Park or any one of the Great Americas.
.
And this isn't just Scooter the Snob.
.
Eddie practically chewed off his own arm to leave the show at half-time.
.
He couldn't because I had people showing up at the house for a little birthday surprise party afterwards that I finally had to tell him about because he got really really made we couldn't leave.
.
And not just us. Everyone.. EVERYONE talked about how bad it was on the way out. Even the little kids complained there was too much singing in the second half. True, it is a first half of forgettable songs and horrible acting -but at least it had lots of tricks and riding through the air for the kiddies. The second half grinds with ballads, most sung but a giant female spider who sounds good, but isn't that attractive with 8 legs.
.
This show prove to Bono that not everyone can write a Broadway musical. He has to learn the craft before putting crap out there. Even Elton had Lestat before Billy Elliot.
.
Re Reeve. At one point in the second half he gets to sing a song that is very much in his style (he has a rock band - before he was an actor) - and he is great in it. He moves wonderfully and theatrically - but Julie Tamore keeps him in his Peter Parker persona way too long. He plays wimp for 3/4s of the show. I mean Spiderman is cool only in the suit. Without the suit he is a wimp.
.
And the show was slavish to the movies for no reason.
.
Pee Uuu


Friday, January 21, 2011

Hippo Birdie Pump'kin


.
My honey is a handsome man. Happy Birthday to a great partner, friend and (in CA) spouse.
.

Holy Moly!!!




Weather in the land of the Minnesota Neppls.
.
And now all of Ed's discussion of Riding his bike in the garage makes sense.
.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Angels in America 20 years on…

Well I finally saw Angels in America last night for the first time since 1992.
.
How is it ..It is impossible for anyone to see Angels in America for the first time now.

Don't get me wrong. It might be the first time you see it. But it is then now. Then as in history. Then as in removed. Then as in not now. Thank God.

Let me explain. In 1992, everyone who had AIDS died. Everyone did or would. In the 18 months after I saw Angels in America I probably went to 10 funerals – including my lover’s. And I skipped dozens of others. So the anger, the pain, the invisibility was terrifyingly real (hard to imagine now that there was a time thousands of dead gay people were invisible – but we were. Now we are everywhere, mainly as a result of watching so many thousands die).

Angels in America screamed out that we will fight death. We will not go quietly (like we ever could). Pryor Walter is still alive 5 years later in the play – which seemed more like wish fulfilment than reality.

So how is it possible to see if through last century’s eyes? It is like watching yet another play about the Potato Famine or the Holocaust. Those wereterrible, sad phases of history. But it is history. Thank God. And now the constant brooding specter of death hanging over AIDS in particular and gays in general is history. Thank God!

Now... on a pure “how was the play” level, it was amazing. The Mark Taper show was played on a nearly empty stage – which was confusing, but made it more ethereal. Today's show handles the huge number of scenes and sets amazingly well with grace and seamlessly. They do it by having 2 main sets that revolve (but people pushing them) that handle the 5 major sites. The other scenes occur in between the 2 sets or on the proscenium – it sounds confusing but it isn’t. And where separate characters come together in a delusional space (either you know what I mean or you don’t – but trust me) the cross out of these sets wonderfully.

As for people – baby Zachery Quinto rocked! Rocked! He plays Louis and makes an unsympathetic character hold your attention. Christian Boryle as Pryor was really good, but the original, Stephen Spinella, had the role essentially written for him – it is hard to get him out of your mind.

Finally, I didn’t like this Roy Cohen. I saw Ron Liebman in the role in LA. He won the Tony for it in New York. He FUCKING WAS ROY COHEN, YOU ASSHOLE, AND DON’T FORGET IT! Honey, can you connect me to the 202555 1239. Girlie – come on here, I can’t get an outside line. FUCK TALKING TO THE DOCTOR IF YOU DON’T DO IT RIGHT THIS MINUTE I AM GOING TO STRANGLE MYSELF WITH THE IV. DO YOU WANT THAT? THE DOCTOR WILL FIND ME DEAD. Ok, thank you. No, don't ring back call. NOW NOW!! See, that wasn’t so hard, Thank you.

Yes that is Ron Leibman as Rachel Green's father on Friends. That's were most people know he from.

ah crap... (expletive - not description)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Geary's New Signature Theater Down the Road from Us

Last night Eddie and I saw "Angels in America - Millennium Approaches" at the "Signature Theater.
.
The Signature Theater is a small (very small) little theater near us on 42nd - past 10th.
.
If you have visited us within a year - you have seen a new building going up about a block away. This is the new "Related" building - by the same group that did the Time Warner Building.
.
Inside the new building they are also building a new 3 stage home for the Signature Theater Group. It was designed by Frank Geary.
Now if you look at the chunky space you see the signature of Frank Geary - who knows sound design beautifully - but loves his weird ass shapes.
.
The picture above and below are the space in current building process, versus plan.

Look in to the stage from the balcony.


It is so very Geary. Isn't it. It should be a really cool space.
.
The pictures above this have all been of the Main stage. But the picture immediately above is the smaller "End" Stage (seats 299). It will be cool.

IRAQ was behind 9/11: Remember that - Now Obama's Team is Doing it

Okay, not "it" Iraq - but "it" the same lie, report, repeat with Wikileaks. Let's not be fooled. Again.
.

Remember when Iraq was supposed to be behind 9/11?
.
At the time 70% of Americans believed it. Why - a combination of a lying government and a supplicant press. (I say supplicant because it isn't as loaded as "ass kissing, lazy, unvetted Press")
.
70% believed a non-truth - easily disprovable.
.
Because, in large part, of a press that happily parrots a lie. Even on the rare occasions they may "question" what someone "in the administration" says - they show "both sides" of the argument. Like there is a second side of a lie.
.
Well shame on whoever believes the crap being spewed about Wikileaks now.
.
As in the "Fool Me Once, Shame on You; Fool Me Twice Shame on Me"
.
Here are some lies - and the facts.
.
Wikileaks has caused deaths in Afghanistan. LIE
Truth: "We have yet to see any harm come to anyone in Afghanistan that we can directly tie to exposure in the WikiLeaks documents" Pentagon spokesman.
.
Wikileaks has set back American Diplomatic Relations. LIE
Truth: "Now I've heard the impact of these releases on our foreign policy described as a meltdown, as a game-changer and so on. I think those descriptions are fairly significantly overwrought," Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense. "The fact is governments deal with the United States because it is in their interest, not because they like us, not because they trust us and not because they believe we can keep secrets." Link
.
WikiLeaks has published "thousands of classified State Department cables" and posted "thousands of secret diplomatic cables". LIE
Truth: Wikileaks has published just 1269 Cables. AND they published them only after they were published in the NY Times and the Guardian of London (among about 6 newspapers they have shared them with). LINK They have over 250,000 cables, but they are actual vetting them and not sharing ones that might really harm people. In fact - they have shared them all with the US Government - so it is a calculated lie by our media and government.
.
.
Now kids, I am not saying Wikileaks is great or anything - but for goodness' sake, as intelligent people who (hopefully) vote WE HAVE TO TAKE A MODICUM OF INTEREST IN WHAT THE TRUTH IS or shut up about it. And if CNN and FOX can't investigate and report on the truth... well then, shut the f up. And if they won't (and they won't) then people must take two minutes to find the truth on their own.
.
Heyzues, we comparison shop for the lowest price of cell phones or cans of tuna. Those same skills can reveal what is going on in the world.
.
Don't let this be another Iraq and 9/11. We Americans are not dumb. Let's not let ourselves be.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

As Always Select to Grow

Some fascinating thoughts on "Modernism" vs "Primitivism"

So Salon has a story that makes me think. It transcends traditional Left / Right ideas (ignore the picture associated with it - which equates Tea Parties to Primitivism). It says that as a societal people we have divided into Primitivists and Modernists.
.
The author finds that people on the left and right both long to turn their back on the present and retreat into the past. He finds the lack in hope of the future pretty sad and compares it to the dark ages when people had tools from Roman and Greek times and used them, but longed for a lack of enlightment.
.
It's interesting - I am reposting some thoughts from the end of his essay. But read the whole thing if you think it is interesting.
.

The New Left of the 1960s and 1970s longed for small, participatory communities, and rejected the giant organizations that New Deal liberals had taken pride in. In the 1980s and 1990s, new urbanists converted most progressives to their nostalgia for the ephemeral rail-and-trolley based towns of the late nineteenth century. GM foods, which New Deal liberals like Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson would have embraced as a way to feed multitudes while sparing land for wilderness, were denounced by progressives who favored “heirloom” turkey and melons that the Pilgrims might have eaten. The increasingly reactionary American left, disenchanted with nuclear power plants and rockets and suburbs, longed to quit modernity and retire to a small town with an organic farmers’ market and an oompah band playing in the town park’s bandstand.

The Dark Age that began in the 1970s continues. Today’s conservatives, centrists, progressives -- most look like regressives, by the standards of mid-20th century America. Tea Party conservatives argue that federal prohibitions on child labor are unconstitutional, that the Fourteenth Amendment should be repealed, and that the Confederates were right about states, rights. Religious conservatives, having lost some of their political power, continue to their fight against Darwinism. Fiscally conservative “centrists” in Washington share an obsession with balanced budgets that would have seemed irrational and primitive not only to Keynes but also to the 19th-century British founder of The Economist, Walter Bagehot. And while there is a dwindling remnant of modernity-minded New Deal social democrats, most of the energy on the left is found on the nostalgic farmers’market/ train-and-trolley wing of the white upper middle class.

Here’s an idea. America needs to have a neomodernist party to oppose the reigning primitivists of the right, left and center. Let everyone who opposes abortion, wants to ban GM foods and nuclear energy, hates cars and trucks and planes and loves trains and trolleys, seeks to ban suburbia, despises consumerism, and/or thinks Darwin was a fraud join the Regressive Party. Those of us who believe that the real, if exaggerated, dangers of technology, big government, big business and big labor are outweighed by their benefits can join the Modernist Party. While the Regressives secede from reality and try to build their premodern utopias on their reservations, the Modernists can resume the work of building a secular, technological, prosperous, and relatively egalitarian civilization, after a half-century detour into a Dark Age.

Well This is New... and AWFUL

Okay, I know that this isn't new for most of you - but it is brand new for the boy form LA. And so I will explain to those of us lucky enough to have spent our lives out of the white death.
.
So there is still snow on the ground from the Christmas Blizzard (NO!! it hasn't been warm enough to melt yet - don't even go there.).
.
Last night some rain(ish) fell and puddled on top to the snow or just on the street.
.
Then the temperature fell and the gungga froze. A little. So there is a little sheet of ice, over slush, over snow.
.
Then, as I was walking Trevor to Pets At Play, it was raining. So there is rain puddle, but right below it a sheet of ice, then more freezing water, then snow/slush.
.
Dis - cust- ing!
.
Slippery, dirty, made curbs a nightmare.
.
Trevor hated it, I hated it.
.
I. HATE. WINTER.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Danes in Blue Lagoon 2



So in my final attempt up the Danish Count - here is the good Danish Gymnastic Team at the Blue Lagoon picture.
.
As always click to expand.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Ouch!

I gotta admint, I liked the Dilemma. I thought it was a change of pace and Channing Tatum is a taste side dish. Sure, there were problems. A LOT of problems, but I liked it.
.

Salon's reviewer did NOT.
.
Some of the best of his worst was reserved for Vince Vaughn...
.
But let's get back to Vaughn, who seems to have spent his 30s living hard and appearing in one crappy guy comedy after another, with ever-diminishing returns. ... He was charming and roguish, with exquisite comic timing, and appealed to women with his good looks and men with his frat-house conviviality.
.
Since then:
"Be Cool," "Wedding Crashers," "Fred Claus," "Couples Retreat." I mean, woof. That's less a career trajectory than a limo ride in a 2002 Hummer that smells of barfed-up Jägermeister. And if we're still being honest and if we admit that female celebs face this kind of scrutiny all the time, let's add that Vaughn doesn't look so great these days. He plays opposite Kevin James here, and both of them are swathed in untucked, tentlike garments. It's not altogether clear which one of them is supposed to be the handsome star and which one the chunky sidekick.
.
ouch!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Tennessee Party Wants to Protect Childern from Learning Bad Things About the Founding Fathers

Ah... the Tea Party...
.
Apparently we didn't know this, but we were scarred buy knowing that our Founding Fathers were not perfect. So they have demanded that Tennessee change their fancy teachin' books to tell how perfect they were. Regardless of the truth.
.
Let me quote from the Memphis newspaper web site...
.
The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”
.
Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.
.
Well that is helpful. Apparently early Americans did not "intrude" on the Indians or have slaves nor were they hypocrites. This is all "made-up criticism". Thank God the Tea Party is here to bring the truth to the people.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Teaching a Pig To Sing


It is worse than a waste of time to discuss Sarah Palin or her comments today. It gives her a forum, it takes up valuable air and energy that could be better spent on doing anything else (bar shooting a Congresswoman or making a map to suggest doing the same).
.
Either you do not like Sarah Palin, and believe that Congress Woman Gillford - who was shot - might have had a point when she said that the SarahPAC map with her district in the cross hairs lowers the level of civic discourse.
.
Or you love Sarah Palin and believe, like she, that slightest attempt to get her to admit her rhetoric might be over the top is the equivalent of "blood libel". That it, any request for her to tone down her rhetoric is morally the same as accusing all Jews of killing Christian children to bake into passover meals.
.
Any discussion of this is truly like the proverbial "teaching a pig to sing", it frustrates you and annoys the pig. And in this example I mean the metaphor both back and forth - I am not calling her or her followers a pig. I am just as stubborn on this. For I am no more likely to listen to someone extol the virtues of Mrs. Palin than her backers are likely to listen to me.
.
And thus ends the nincompoopery discussion of Mrs. Palin until something fun happens with her and Levi again.

The White Death

Birth through mid-40's, living winters in California did not leave me with an appreciate of Winter.
.
In fact I tended to fear winter. I remember flying over the country and seeing it blanket in white. As everyone else ooo'ed and ahh'ed, I worried about the plane going down and me dying of frostbit and succumbing to the White Death.
.
But now I live in New York. I no longer fear the White Death.
.
My fear has transformed into a nice healthy disgust.
.
I do not like snow or winter and I think a couple of the "seasons" (as in "I miss the seasons" big sigh) are totally overrated.

My Gross Elbow is All Better


My elbow, which blew up like a balloon and then slowly leaked down - is all flat again.
.
yay!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

BUZZZZ - Wrong Answer

I hate to disagree with two renowned female sociologists, but they are wrong and I don't want women to think this. I saw this crap-ola from an article in the Huffington Post titled "So Why Is He Angry At You?". It is just hogwash (and over pysco-analyses ... no one wants you to be "mommy's tit").
.

Infidelity as Aggression

Have you been wondering why the man who cheated on you is also so furious at you? Where does he get off blaming you when he was the one who cheated? When my ex told me he was leaving I kept asking him why he was so angry at me, what did I do that was so terrible? He insisted that it wasn't about me. "Why do you always think everything is about you." he'd snap at me. I guess he meant it was about her--he fell in love with someone else. Then why was he so angry at me? Why did he blame me for the demise of the relationship, why did he seem to feel entitled to leave me for someone else, why the constant rage? I was bewildered by that.

"Dumping someone is certainly an act of fear, aggressiveness and symbolic violence. When an individual dumps a partner he expresses narcissistic rage comparable to a child's temper tantrum," explains sociologist Catherine B. Silver, in an essay in Cut Loose; edited by Nan Bauer-Maglin. This is the difference between men who are simply unfaithful but want to stay in the marriage and men who find someone else and dump their wives--the act of aggression. Why are some men so cruel? It's all about neediness. He needs you to admire and approve of him, but hates himself for having these unacceptable, "unmanly" needs. Men see us on some level as their mothers and when mommy lets them down they get mad, especially if their actual mommies let them down when they were kids. My ex's mom let him down big time by totally ignoring his emotional needs. I was supposed to take mommy's place and be the big tit, but I fell down on the job. When men hit middle age this internal conflict intensifies because they see that most of their life is over and they're never going to get whatever it was they wanted from mommy, i.e admiration, unconditional love. They direct their hatred at us, their longtime wife/mommy combo, because they're so dependent on us. Finding a new love cuts the umbilical cord. Of course the same pattern repeats with the new love, but by that time the marriage is long over.

.
Ladies, you are over-thinking men again. Men are SIMPLE SIMPLE creatures. I have dumped enough people to know that this is major-league bullshit (and used someone else to get out of a relationship -like nearly all men). Here is the poop-ski.
.
Men are chicken. We don't want to break up and will continue in a relationship long after it is gone from fun -> okay - > a drag. We don't have the backbone to say we don't want to be with you. So we wait until we meet someone else. This new love FORCES us to break up. Now it isn't our fault and it isn't your fault. "Love just happens" (yes I know that is a crock of shit - but it works when you are living with a harpie that spends your Birthday in Mexico with another man - but I digress.)
.
We don't usually end up with those people. You know, unless we have a lot of Catholic guilt. And, heavens yes it would be better for everyone if we had some backbone. But we don't. We aren't furious at you - we are often annoyed at ourselves.
.
And you. After all, we now have the un-arguable excuse.. We meet someone else. We can honestly say it isn't your fault. So stop asking.
.
I'm not saying it is fair. In fact, I am saying it is not fair. But it is unfortunately the truth.

Better: Not Great

So after a day at home in bed I feel better. Not great, but better. I don't think it was the BIG flu, but a stomach flu that is "going around".
.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Eddie and I at the NOH8 Photo Shoot


Us.
.
Come on - aren't we cute? Eddie wanted to be sure our wedding rings showed.