Scott sent me this. Apparently it reminded him of me. Just because I needed a little help hooking up my DVD/VCR to a new television set which, incidentally, he was not able to do either. So that project waits for a visit from my father next week. In the meantime enjoy this PSA. It's adorable.
One of my classmates sent me this clip. Perhaps only the other Shakespeare geeks in my program will find this funny, but I thought I'd post it just to give you all a little insight into how I've been spending my days here. Enjoy.
How will I ever save the planet if I KEEP FORGETTING TO BRING MY FREAKIN' EARTH-FRIENDLY REUSABLE GROCERY BAG TO THE STORE??? UGGHhhhhhhhhhh!
UPDATE 7/24/08: Okay, so today I FINALLY remembered to bring my green eco-bag to the Westside Market. The checker began to bag my groceries in a combination of both paper AND plastic (good heavens!) when I stopped her and said proudly "No, no--I have my own bag."
"Oh, no problem," she responded and switched the groceries to my reusable bag. Then she piped in with "I'm gonna give you some information on some specials we're having this month."
"Okay, thanks"
"All kinda organics and green products. Ya know..."
"Great, thanks."
"Some really good buys."
"Okay, I appreciate it."
So even though nothing I bought today was organic, my earth-friendly reusable grocery bag has me pegged by super-market checkers as an organic-eating, crunchy granola, tree-hugger. And I don't even wear patchouli!
Well, this one caught me by surprise. Beloved comedian George Carlin died this week. I'm late in reporting it because of the whirlwind past few days I've had plus a big event at work. But more on all that later. George Carlin was a groundbreaking comedian among the counter culture voices of the '60 and has been influencing young comedians ever since. His ability to question convention and mores of the day while making it side-splittingly funny indeed helped spread the causes of his generation through the voice of humor. This is the mark of a true satyirst, on a par with Oscar Wilde or Will Rogers.
I was first introduced to George Carlin by Mr. Heumer, my 7th grade social studies teacher. More on him later, too. Mr. Heumer's curriculum included all parts of social history including music, art and even humor. He brought in a recording of George Carlin's famous Baseball/Football comparison. As was quoted in his New York Times obituary:
"Baseball is a 19th-century pastoral game,” he said. “Football is a 20th-centurytechnological struggle. Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park. The baseballpark! Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium sometimes called SoldierField or War Memorial Stadium.”
Way back in 7th grade George Carlin spoke to me. Anyone who would dare poke fun of two of America's most beloved and most macho institutions and make them seem completely ridiculous was my kind of guy. George Carlin was 71
"A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne'er-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida; the one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."
The Reagan Diaries were recently edited by author Doug Brinkley and published by Harper Collins.
Meet one of my new internet guilty pleasures: Chris Leavis. Chris hosts a website and internet show called CuteWithChris.com. I discovered him quite by accident one day on youtube.com. Okay, I was drawn in by his good looks and after watching a few of his video clips was delighted by his smart, silly, snarky sense of humor. Chris claims that his website is for posting pictures of puppies and kittens, but if you hop on over to there you'll notice it's also an outlet for Chris' considerable creativity. From what I can tell Chris is a Hollywood based actor who does this to amuse himself and literally thousands of others. Chris says his fan base consists of teenage girls, crazy cat ladies and jolly gay bears. Recently he even did a CuteWithChris LIVE stage show. He sold out the 99 seat theatre in 85 minutes. Isn't internet fame amazing?
Check out the clip below to see what Chris is all about. (FYI--he's way cuter than any of the animals he posts on his site.) If you want to see more, just search Cute With Chris on Youtube for a way to waste hours on a Presidents Day off with silliness. Enjoy.
Remember the movie Election? I loved it. With the tone of the current democratic primary races I can't help be reminded of it. Apparently I'm not alone. My sister sent this. Enjoy the clip!
I found this over at Scott-O-Ramawhose astute observations never fail to impress me. Once again, it's funny because it's true! Or should I say it's SAD because it's true. Click on image to enlarge.
My friend Peter, former window dresser, costume designer and devoted gay son, loves to act as his mother's personal stylist. Today he thought he'd take advantage of the after Christmas sale at Sak's Fifth Avenue. After selecting several gowns to take home for her perusal and carrying them around the store, a very PC sales lady asked him "Would you like a dressing room?" to which Peter replied in disgust "I beg your pardon! Do look like a 12?"
Consider this the third in a trilogy of Jewish themed posts from me. I'm not actually Jewish, but growing up as I did in Northern New Jersey with many Jewish friends, living as I do on Manhattan's Upper West Side and having a decent knowledge of a few choice Yiddish words, I often say I'm Jewish by Association. I was invited to a belated Hanukkah celebration this weekend that I am unable to attend, so in honor of my Jewish friends I thought I'd post this video. It's a scream with a kick-ass vocal by Motown legend Darlene Love. You may remember it from SNL a couple of years ago--but it holds up. Enjoy!
Oy, Vey! Talk about a faux pas! It seems well-known New York grocer, Balducci's, has some unorthodox ideas about how to celebrate Hanukkah. A shopper spotted the sign "Delicious for Chanukah--Boneless Spiral Ham" and couldn't resist taking a picture of the bone-headed blunder (right), no doubt committed by some clueless goyishe meat clerk. The story has been making the rounds in the New York papersand local television stations.
Non-plussed by the mistake, most Jews interviewed for the story seem to be taking it in stride getting a good laugh out of it rather than being offended. Balducci's issued an apology via their website and said they would be re-training their employees. Yeah--that'd be good.
I first met Dave Brousseau, cartoonist and author of the episodic gay comic strip A Couple of Guys, when I was on tour in Louisville several years ago. At the time I was a chorus boy living in the Village on Christopher Street with my boyfriend and a Jack Russell Terrier. Coincidentally, Eric, one of the main characters created by Dave for the strip, is a chorus boy living in the Village on Christopher Street with his boyfriend--and a Jack Russell Terrier. Dave came up with the character before he ever met me, but when we did meet it seemed destined that we should become friends.
Since Dave lives in Louisville, KY and his strip takes place in New York's Greenwich Village he makes trips out here every so often to take pictures of the neighborhood to try and keep the strip as accurate and current as possible. His mutli-racial cast of characters represent the unique cross section of people drawn to Greenwich Village life, from a Black militant lesbian to a bi-curious teenage skater dude. A Couple of Guys has sometimes been described as the gay Archies but with wittier characters who deal with a range of topical issues that would be completely foreign to Jughead and the gang.
Once in a while Dave will consult with me about specifics of showbiz or most recently enlisting my help to snap some pictures of the Oscar Wilde Bookshopin which an upcoming strip takes place. During a visit to New York a few years ago Dave took some pictures of my current apartment which made it into the strip as the home of a sex crazed slutty bartender who bears NO RESEMBLANCE TO ME WHATSOEVER, Mom. I've never tended bar in my life!
A Couple of Guys appears in many gay publications around the country including the Dallas Voice, In Newsweekly (Boston), HotSpots! (South Florida), and The Letter (Louisville). Archives of A Couple of Guys can be found on Gmax and Planet Out. Check your local gay papers and see if they run A Couple of Guys. If they don't, contact the editors and tell them to! (They should contact Qsyndicate.com) You won't be sorry. Below is the strip featuring my apartment. Dave turned my dog into a cat, but that's my kitchen, my bathroom, exposed brick, etc. But don't worry, I got rid of those floral pillows a while ago. (Click image to enlarge.)
As I've mentioned before, I'm a fan of the ABC hit Ugly Betty. I am also a fan of Broadway legend Patti LuPone. So imagine my delight when I learned that Ms. Lupone will grace the cast of Ugly Betty with a guest appearance to air this Thursday night at 8PM Eastern. Yes, it's true. Patti and Betty--TOGETHER. A gay man's dream come to fruition hatched in the recesses of some brilliant casting director's twisted uber-homo mind, no doubt.
The episode is entitled "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Ms. LuPone will play the mother of Marc (Michael Urie), who is the assistant and "seeing-eye gay" to Willamina Slater (Vanessa Williams). Here's how the episode has been described:
"Marc, promising to help Betty with inside info for Daniel, convinces her to pretend to be his 'girlfriend' when his suspicious mom, Mrs. Weiner (LuPone), arrives in town. Things go from bad to worse when Mrs. Weiner invites herself to dinner at the Suarez home and Betty's whole family has to play along..."
Hilarity is sure to ensue! It always does, doesn't it? That wacky Betty always finds herself in a pickle! As if that weren't enough, Judith Light will also appear on the episode in her recurring role as Claire Meade, the drunk domineering matriarch of the Meade family.
But more than the sheer delight of Patti AND Betty AND Vanessa AND Judith Light appearing in the very same Ugly Betty episodeis the impact the rare phenomenon of Musical Theatre royalty colliding with campy TV has on a generation of gay youth. Years from now in a bar somewhere a group of gay men will be swapping stories about "when they knew" as gay men often do, you know. And no doubt one of them will say "I knew I was gay the night I saw Patti Lupone guest star on Ugly Betty!"to which his peers will exclaim "ME TOO!" If, perchance, you overhear them, offer to buy a round of drinks, sit them down and tell them the story of the night Ethel AND Carol AND Della AND Ann Miller all co-starred on an episode of The Love Boat. Our story goes on.
Money was tight this year so Scott and I decided to keep our Valentine plans pretty simple. I volunteered to make a nice dinner, have the candles lit in the fireplace (it's non-working--decorative only), we'd enjoy our meal together and settle in for a quiet evening just the two of us. I'm pretty adept in the kitchen so I thought nothing of this. I can throw a pretty good meal together without even thinking about it. I do it all the time and can even time it to be ready when Scott walks through the door on his way home from work. Protein, starch, vegetable and sometimes even desert. Very Donna Reed.
Last week as I sat in the waiting room at my therapist's office I perused her Martha Stewart Living magazine. I came across the recipe I mentioned yesterday on the very last page. It didn't look that difficult and I've made Linzer Cookies before. In fact I've tried several different recipes in search of just the right one. Well, if this is Martha's recipe, I thought, it must be good. Plus with that beautiful photo of them on the cover how could I go wrong? What a perfect valentine. I ripped the recipe out and shoved it in my bag.
I make it a point to read recipes all the way through before trying them. So I knew I had to toast the pecans and cool them completely beforehand (figure 30 minutes for that). I knew the dough, which was easily assembled, had to chill for a full 2 hours before rolling out. I knew that after rolling the dough out to an 1/8 inch thick, I had to put the pastry board back in the fridge to chill the rolled dough for an additional 20 minutes before cutting the cookies out. (Calculate 40 minutes for this, there were two halves to be rolled). Fine.
Finally, I preheated the oven. That's when the alarm went off "BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, Warning: Carbon Monoxide. BEEP BEEP BEEP!" It was DEAFENING! Over and over again, "BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, Warning: Carbon Monoxide. BEEP BEEP BEEP!" Carbon monoxide? What the hell do I do about that? Is it the oven? How much time do I have to live? Should I call 911? And what about the damn cookies I've already invested over 3 hours in? Not to mention that I haven't even started dinner yet.
A frantic phone call to my father followed. He told me to open the window (which I had already done) and then described the chemical make-up of carbon monoxide to me in great detail (he's an engineer) assuring me that it was most likely not the gas from the oven, but something burning off inside it. "Probably grease," he said. The VERY IDEA! "My oven is perfectly clean, Dad!" He then instructed me to just turn the oven off and see if the alarm stops. Great. Now I'll have to preheat all over again but maybe I won't die.
I used the opportunity to start dinner. The alarm stopped and halfway through dinner prep I preheated the oven again. Now I'm browning pork chops and cutting fluted little hearts out at the same time. And because it's a Martha recipe, she has to add the additional step of straining and reducing the cherry preserve filling. Why cherry and not raspberry like every other Linzer recipe? Well, I'm sure they had a big editorial meeting over at MSO Headquarters and decided to go with cherry because the color is more Valentiney. So now I'm reducing cherry perserves on the same stove top on which I'm braising pork chops. The cookies are in the oven with no alarms sounding and are sharing space with a baked macaroni and cheese I planned for a side dish. By the way, have I mentioned that I still hadn't showered at this point?
So, with the mac and cheese baking, I managed to dust with confectioners sugar and glue together a respectable amount of cookies with their reduced cherry preserve filling. The pork chops still had 20 more minutes to braise. To hell with a vegetable. I made a mad dash for the shower.
Just as I was working my hair up into a nice big shampoo commercial lather, my buzzer rings. My apartment is now 40 degrees from having the windows open for the last two hours. I clutch a towel, but still manage to drip water all over the floor on my way to buzz my gentleman caller in. I unlock the door, hop back in the shower and hope that it is indeed Scott at the door and not Norman Bates, because I'm a prime candidate for the Psycho shower scene at this point. Luckily it was him. The house was still a mess and a mountain of dishes were piled in the sink.
I threw something on and we sat down for our meal. I began apologizing for the mess and the lack of vegetable and the fact that it was freezing and that the flowers I planned to arrange were still in the cellophane. I explained how I was going to trim the pork chops into heart shapes but there wasn't time and I just wanted everything to be perfect for him. "Relax," Scott said "everything IS perfect." And that's when I burst in to tears--because he was right and I believed him. It WAS perfect. We were together. And really what else mattered? To hell with Martha.
This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzz! Oh, sorry, Mary, thank you for playing. Good answer but you rang in after the buzzer--you needed to ring in before the 2000 election. You know, before you campaigned for your father and the Republican party which has done everything in its power to keep people like you from becoming parents. And forgive us, indeed what bad taste it is to use children as political props--at least your child anyway. It was in bad taste when the Christian Right did it and its still bad taste.
Okay, next question: What about the thousands of "blessings from God" languishing in foster care? Are they deserving of parents even if some godless same-sex couple wants to adopt them even though everyone knows queers don't make good parents?
Every piece of remotely responsible research that has been done in the last 20 years has shown there is no difference between children raised by same-sex parents and children raised by opposite-sex parents; what matters is being raised in a stable, loving environment.
Bzzzzzzzzzzz! Ooooh, sorry, Mary, once againgreat answer, just after the buzzer.
And that concludes this round of "Day Late and a Dollar Short." But don't worry Mary, we have some lovely parting gifts for you: a lifetime membership to the NRA, 10 years of newsletters from Focus on the Family and tickets to Pat Robertson's 700 Club for you and Heather--that woman you live with. Enjoy!
And so it seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree--Daddy Dick isn't responsible for answering Wolf Blitzer's questionson the subject and neither does Mary have to own up to why she would support a political party that actively campaigns against her own interests. It's just more of the "do as I say, not as I do" attitude of the Republican party headed by a couple of guys who've never seen battle in their lives but continue to wage an immoral war at the cost of billions of dollars and the death of thousands of other people's "blessings from God."
If you'd like to read more on the hypocrisy of Mary Cheney, check out Dan Savage's colorfulresponse. He's spot on and nails the situation completely.
Couldn't resist posting this one. Thanks to Andy, who could always appreciate some good political satire, for sending it.
Well, this one caught me by surprise. Beloved comedian George Carlin died this week. I'm late in reporting it because of the whirlwind past few days I've had plus a big event at work. But more on all that later. George Carlin was a groundbreaking comedian among the counter culture voices of the '60 and has been influencing young comedians ever since. His ability to question convention and mores of the day while making it side-splittingly funny indeed helped spread the causes of his generation through the voice of humor. This is the mark of a true satyirst, on a par with Oscar Wilde or Will Rogers.
From the Reagan Diaries, entry dated May 17, 1986
Oy, Vey! Talk about a faux pas! It seems well-known New York grocer, Balducci's, has some unorthodox ideas about how to celebrate Hanukkah. A shopper spotted the sign "Delicious for Chanukah--Boneless Spiral Ham" and couldn't resist taking a picture of the bone-headed blunder (right), no doubt committed by some clueless goyishe meat clerk. The story has been making the rounds in the New York papers and local television stations.
I first met Dave Brousseau, cartoonist and author of the episodic gay comic strip A Couple of Guys, when I was on tour in Louisville several years ago. At the time I was a chorus boy living in the Village on Christopher Street with my boyfriend and a Jack Russell Terrier. Coincidentally, Eric, one of the main characters created by Dave for the strip, is a chorus boy living in the Village on Christopher Street with his boyfriend--and a Jack Russell Terrier. Dave came up with the character before he ever met me, but when we did meet it seemed destined that we should become friends.
As I've mentioned before, I'm a fan of the ABC hit Ugly Betty. I am also a fan of Broadway legend Patti LuPone. So imagine my delight when I learned that Ms. Lupone will grace the cast of Ugly Betty with a guest appearance to air this Thursday night at 8PM Eastern. Yes, it's true. Patti and Betty--TOGETHER. A gay man's dream come to fruition hatched in the recesses of some brilliant casting director's twisted uber-homo mind, no doubt.
Last week as I sat in the waiting room at my therapist's office I perused her Martha Stewart Living magazine. I came across the recipe I mentioned yesterday on the very last page. It didn't look that difficult and I've made Linzer Cookies before. In fact I've tried several different recipes in search of just the right one. Well, if this is Martha's recipe, I thought, it must be good. Plus with that beautiful photo of them on the cover how could I go wrong? What a perfect valentine. I ripped the recipe out and shoved it in my bag.
From the NY Times, Mary Cheney on her pregnancy: 
