Bush-cotting ...

are ya listening to the bushie-league-ness? I sure ain't.

hey, fans!

The new feature made possible with this lovely template is the Comment action. At the end of each post a Comment option is automatically created (when creating a post, one can opt to select No to prevent the comment option).
Comment allows anyone to make a quick note on someone's post without going to the trouble of an entire post.
Look for it!

Sing along, everyone!

Feeling down about the prez and his latest or previous lies? Need a pick-me-up? Launch this song for a little break: I hate Republicans

30-second bunnies theater ...huh?

Many times have I stolen post ideas from the genius that is Snarky, the best blogger on the planet (says me). So, why not steal again?



"The Exorcist"
This site she found is also genius (lots o' genius going around): Classic movies told in 30 seconds, by animated bunnies. What kind of crackhead comes up with this? The genius kind! See for own self: Go to the bunnies

this just in ...

well, not quite. Apparently, the info has been out there, but I just caught on. Do you find it annoying while posting a blog that you cannot easily do bolds, itals, or post links and photos? Well, some browsers have easy buttons for this and some do not. Safari, our prefered browser at Skyloft, for example, does not have these easy to use buttons. Netscape 7.2 and the latest Explorer do. Check out this article on Blogger, Blogger Browser Matrix, for details.

Back from black

Hey, gang!

Decided that the new year called for a new template, and coming back from the blackout was a good time (not sure about the dots, but ...). Hope to figure out the code a bit more to add back the fav links.

A big, "HEY" to Greg and his picks of 2004. I always have trouble picking my best of anything, but I have to agree with "Spotless." Here are some others to continue Greg's discussion:

Best new-found* band and best concert: Scissor Sisters, of course! Thanks, Dave & Paul!

Best album: Not really good at this one, since I don't buy that much music anymore. Scissor Sisters by default. Or Greg's pick of Loretta's disc.

Music listened to the most: Lots of Sam Phillips and Rufus Wainwright

Favorite newly-discovered* cuisine: Vietnamese, probably; love that pho!

Best wine: Tensley Syrah, hands down! Consumed at Alan's birthday dinner at Bouchon. Thanks, Al! Very small production from winemaker Joey Tensley of Carina Cellars. Santa Barbara County wines were one of the big stories of 2004 (thanks to "Sideways" and just a lot of good wine coming from the county's three AVAs), and Tensley's fruit is sourced there. His Tensley Wine Co. brand is a side project. Along with being winemaker at Carina, he has been winemaker, also, at Beckman, another favorite! Trick is, you can't find Tensley wines out here! I bet nearly all bottles are pre-sold or go straight to restaurant lists (like Buchon's). Keep an eye out for me guys, eh?

Job thrill of the year: Spoke to my idol: cooking teacher/cookbook author/legend Marcella Hazan, on the phone, in Italian!

Recipe of year: Well, it could be shrimp and grits even though it was published just this week, we tasted it in the TK (test kitchen) in December, prompting me to make it for Christmas brunch in Charleston, S.C.--ironically the birthplace of the dish--whereupon it became an instant hit and tradition. But since my list seems to be becoming more and more All About Me, then I'll tout my own recipe for chicken thighs with onions and arugula, which was picked for the Top 10 recipes of the year by our staff.

But, enough about me!

Best cookbook: Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie; or maybe Bouchon, but haven't cooked from it yet, myself, coz the boss has a death grip on it; however, it's beautiful, large, lushly-photographed, and has received great reviews elsewhere; or maybe Quick and Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes, everyone loved the dishes we tested.

Best Web launch: Stitch, of course. And I still want that Jonathon Adler pony.

Best service industry addition: Netflix ... and thankyou Blockbuster for your lame attempt at competition (lying about "no late fees" is stupid genius), which did nothing but make Netflix cheaper. Yeah!

Best TV show (or should that just be HBO since regular TV can't compete: Deadwood; love that Timothy Olyphant! (also check out Go photos)

Best fashion development: Wouldn't know! Are you kidding?


*Meaning not necessarily "new" but new to me in all my slow-to-pop-cultureness!

Best Of 2004 List

Ok, so I don't think I saw enough films or listened to enough new music to name a top ten list, but I'll take my swag at my favorite films and albums of 2004:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind remains my far and away favorite film of the year. Eternal is a brilliant story about the important role that memory plays in our lives. Are we simply the compilation of a lifetime of memories...or can we truly swipe the slate clean? It asks these questions and provides the analysis in an entertaining and beautiful way. My runners up are Bad Religion, Pedro Almodovar's smart noir film that keeps you guessing and features stud boy Gabriel Garcia Bernal in drag throughout and The Incredibles, the Pixar animated film about a family of super heroes making heroics out of everyday living. Pixar took full advantage of animation to achieve scenes a camera and live film could never duplicate.

My music choices are also simple and somewhat mainstream. Green Day's American Idiot is an amazing rock opera for this decade. Not quite as trascendant as Nirvanan's Nevermind, it nonetheless rocks throughout and nicely presaged the results of the Presidential elections in its theme of church versus state. Runner up for 2005 is Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose. Jack White was smart to mine the underutilized talents of this country legend. Loretta brings gusto to the lyrics in a way that Jack's sister Meg or any other modern female songstress could never do justice.

Ya can't say "tits" on the radio, but ya can say "shit" on TV

stayed up to watch SNL with Colin Farrell and the Grammy-nominated Scissor Sisters, and staying up that late (all the way until midnight) is very difficult for me. Just ask anyone from the Alan Flatt Birthday Brigade.

Colin was pretty good in some bits; not so in others. But in everything, he was pretty handsome. The Sisters did "Take Your Momma Out" and "Comfortably Numb," their Grammy song. Jake Shears didn't disappoint baring his chest in both performances, although the Oscar-night gown-like pants suit, open to the navel, with big swooping lapels and a completely open back down to his ass was a touch odd.

So they didn't do the Tits song, and so they didn't say tits on live TV, but at the end of the show Colin did his little thanks bit and said "shit" ...

well, if you can say "shit," then can't you say "tits"?!

just wonderin

That's Bullshit James! That's Bullshit!

Hi All,

A quick blog entry to tell you that I am just back from 9 days in Costa Rica with my friend Dean. The trip was fun but definitely a bit more third world than even I expected. One thing I have learned about travel is that it teaches you so much about yourself. Each trip helps refine what you like and don't like. On this trip, I learned that I really like the fact that we can toss toilet paper into the bowl after wiping instead of into an open container next to the toilet. Ditto for paved roads, accurate road signs and sidewalks. On the flip side, the canopy tour in the cloud forest was one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. River rafting was awesome too. Dean and I agreed we could have made an occupation out of staring at the ass of our hot 21 year old rafting guide who was going commando beneath his tight surf shorts.

On the trip we ran into a group of guys on an Alyson Adventures gay tour. One of the guys was Wes, the winner of Bravo's Boy Meets Boy competition. Wes was beefier in person than on tv so Dean decided that victory must have meant consuming the competition. Wes was very cute but a total attention hound. The starfucker in me was totally smitten when he started making fun of how my shorts looked in the blacklit rooftop bar we were standing in. He has a website, wesculwell.com

Hope all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

blogging again

hey!

yes, yes, the monkey won, but at least Illinois and California did our bit.

moving on ...

and the newest news in town, the event we've all been waiting for, the retail and design debut of the season, of the year ... Stitch's Web site! In a word: fabulous. Chris and I are already on the board. so start your shopping, folks! (of course, always remember to shop at Atys, too!)





stitchchicago.com

it's been added to Fav Links, boys and girls. easy shopping while you get caught up on the latest blogs

Gay couple has banal sex

From the latest Onion:

MINNEAPOLIS—Jerome Ostrowski and Barry Lipner engaged in the practice of banal sex Monday, sources reported. "After we got home from Don Giovanni's, the restaurant we go to pretty much every Monday night, Barry started giving me one of his predictable mood-setting backrubs," Ostrowski said. "After five minutes of that, he mounted me and put in a hundred or so quick thrusts. All in all, not one of our more memorable encounters." Lipner said that Ostrowski's reciprocal act of fellatio was "serviceable."

... this is no commentary on the poster or his husband.

Bushworld

Last night I saw Maureen Dowd interviewed at the Herbst Theater. It seemed that all in the audience were frustrated that JFKerry is running such a weak campaign and Maureen is as well. Perhaps the problem is just that he truly is a weak candidate and that is the one thing we may never get the swing voters to look beyond.

Loved the Pedro article, Joe.

All about Pedro

"One of the happiest moments of my life was when I got to Madrid for the first time. If you are born a person like me, you are condemned to live in a village for your entire life. The good thing about living in such a small town is you realize very soon what you do not like. ... To live in that town for the rest of my life would have been like death. I came to Madrid with a definite ambition: to make films."

required reading in the Times Sunday Magazine

Get your kicks

From the Kinsey Sicks



This song is hilarious. And they have a few political tunes that are fun right now such as this.

Trampolina is my fav.

Read more about the girls here.

oh yeah - let the games begin!

gotta love those Greek show producers! dig that basket on pink arrow boy?

FUCK OFF BUSH . . . . and the rest of you conservative, ignorant, white bastard FUCKS!

hee! hee!

Tact is for people who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic.

... from snarkymalarkey

Checking In

Hi all. I am fine. A quick update - I spent the last several months shutting down San Francisco operations of TechTV. Friday July 30 was my last day and the business is now officially in LA. Comcast made me a last minute job offer in LA but at that point I had already psychologically had myself here. I have to admit that having spent many weeks in LA over the past months, I am starting to understand some of the appeal. Still, I have never gotten as much attitude as I did at the Wilshire Blvd Whole Foods store. What up with that??? I'm here buying the brown rice sushi and Fuji water just like you sister!

My plans are to take off the month of August and get my head together on what to do next. The job market in my field seems better and the severance from Comcast was decent so I am not sweating it yet. I will go to Michigan to see family in the next few weeks.

For those keeping track, things with JB have ended. I spent most of May and June making myself sick wrestling with the idea of moving to Atlanta. Ultimately, it was something I couldn't bring myself to commit to. Once JB understood I wasn't coming, he chose to distance himself and we have not spoken. It wasn't an easy decision and August is as much about wrapping my head around what just happened as anything.

On the literary front, I am reading several books now and over the weekend started Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. It has me positively seething with anger!! I have been tuning in to Fox News on occassion just to see their spin. Last night it was Laura Bush all softly lit and dressed in red talking about being a devoted wife who keeps her opinion to herself since "my husband was voted into the oval office, not me". Bill O"Reilly is tossing her softball questions and fawning over her to the point of almost falling out of his chair. He refers to himself as a journalist and then gushes about what a great job W is doing and how divided the country is over issues like gay marriage. Two sentences later he mentions gay marriage again, this time to be sure the audience knows the "Liberals" support gay marriage. This guy knows how to use a wedge issue. Seething!!!

mini tutorial

ok, so a few days ago, Boyer had a legitimate beef about creating links from blogger. Seems blogger has taken away its easy links function. But no fear, here are some codes to use.

when making a link to a word in text, use this coding:

(a href="http://www.websitenamegoeshere.com")link word or words here(/a)

... pretend that the ( and ) in this example are actually chevrons <>. I cannot write the code that way because it would create a real link!

the coding must be exact, or it ain't workin. Once you click on Publish Post, blogger will give ya an error msg if something is missing, etc.

for a photo, use:

(img src="image link goes here" /)

again with the parenthesis subbing for the chevrons ...

Alert your Lesbian friends

well, Sparky has done it again. Where does she find this stuff? Does she surf all day? Does she type random words into google between cups of dark dark coffee?

so, the site is dykedolls.com. And yes, one can purchase fun dolls. Complete with add-ons! No questions, just look ...