two-oh-oh-three

Best social event:
The August Blackout

Best social development:
Episcopal Church consecrates openly gay bishop
Robinson's partner, Mark Andrew, hands him his miter
during the consecration ceremony.

Best social development forced by law:
The Smoking Ban
"The city's antismoking law was championed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who saw it as a health initiative to protect restaurant and bar workers from being exposed to secondhand smoke. In July, the state followed with an even tougher smoking ban. Even if the city were to repeal its ban, the state's would remain in effect — something that has not seemed to make much difference to the smokers and businesses who continue to blame the mayor for their woes and lobby to have the city's law amended."

missed connections

If a team of extraterrestrials were to swoop down to earth to study humanity, they would deduce -- correctly, I think -- that we are dream-struck when young and dream-struck, too, in later life, only chastened by failures and a growing remorse about missed connections.
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987
There is something about upstart dreams colliding with implacable circumstances that is deeply, if not uniquely, ours.

But i digress...

Olivia Hunt has been working on her suicide note -- her fourth attempt, since she's having trouble getting the tone right. But in truth, Olivia's whole life feels like a rough draft.

And Bear in Mind: "NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU PROMISE TO COOK OR PAY THE RENT YOU BLEW IT CAUZE BILL BAILEY AIN'T NEVER COMING HOME AGAIN"

Yet when he died in 1990, the man who had been so generous, so profligate with his talent was largely derided or ignored. Where had he gone wrong? What Made Sammy Run?

Seeking to free Jesus the man from the symbol of Christ

(christos is the word for ''messiah'' in Greek)
via NYTimes Sunday Book Review : 'American Jesus': Our Favorite Philosopher"

On Jan. 20, 1804, Thomas Jefferson ordered from a Philadelphia bookseller two copies of the King James Version of the New Testament. An unflinching rationalist, Jefferson deeply admired Jesus the man but disdained the cloak of doctrine and mysticism in which he'd been draped. And so, despite all his duties as president, Jefferson found the time to sit down in the White House with his Bibles and, over several evenings, excise with a razor all those passages that related to the virgin birth, the resurrection, the incarnation and anything else that smacked of the supernatural. Only about 1 in 10 verses survived. Raised an Anglican, Jefferson became enthralled with the Enlightenment, and he came to see tenets like the Trinity and transubstantiation as "an engine for enslaving mankind."
not just humane, but human
"In fact, Jesus was a Jew" declared Rabbi Stephen S. Wise before a crowd of 3,000 at Carnegie Hall in 1925. Jews had traditionally been led to believe that Jesus had never existed. "And Jews should accept him as one of their own." Today, Jewish scholars are in the forefront of the movement to recover the historical Jesus, and even Christian researchers have come to see him as more and more Jewish.

You don't have to be a Christian to love Jesus. Mormons, Hindus, Buddhists and other groups not in the mainstream have all sought to remake Jesus in their own image, to steal Jesus away from Christianity, freeing him to be all things to all people.

i heart ny in the winter

waiting for Ice Floes to Glide By

appealing concept

"If looking beautiful becomes as easy as buying a car or a dress, will beauty - or an imitation of it - become so commonplace as to be meaningless?"

i heart london

Brightening Up London: Wellington Arch

"People change and forget to tell each other."

Lillian Hellman

mood

And it's not even New Year's Eve yet.

What the Fuck is Turducken?

Turducken is a dish, usually served around the holidays, that is made by cramming a boneless chicken into a boneless duck, which is stuffed into a boneless turkey.

THE ROAD TO TURDUCKEN

Turducken is not for the weak of heart, in more ways than just cholesterol, but fear not, concerned traveler -- you are not alone. No, you are not alone. Turducken's popularity is surging, which shouldn't come as a shock, considering the "more is more" mentality that has emerged in the last two decades.

Judging 2003's Ideas:

The Most Overrated and Underrated


OVERRATED: America
What Americans overrate most is — America. They imagine that they live in the most democratic nation on earth...

UNDERRATED:Honesty
...what could be more terrifying than the prospect of a society that no longer has the desire, the will, the energy or the ability to distinguish between the truth and the spin that our leaders would prefer us to believe?

perspective

Iran Earthquake Toll Climbs to 25,000
"Five thousand people were killed on the spot and there are 20,000 people under the rubble."
"The city is ruined. More than 70 percent of it is destroyed."

Felix Awards

La Dolce Musto

Unlike a great celebrity or an internationally renowned event, my annual Felix Awards do need an introduction, but rather than waste time trying to come up with a truly appropriate one, let's just get on with the honors—the wacky wrap-up of the year in tears, fears, queers, and male brassieres. These tawdry trophies make the Golden Globes look relevant. And the Felixes go to . . .

KOOKY BEHAVIOR: Scott Peterson's amour, Amber Frey, held a press conference to announce that she didn't want any more publicity.

KOOKIER BEHAVIOR: Madonna said, as her fame threatened to wane, that she'd just gotten her values straight. and fame is not that important anyway.

KOOKIEST BEHAVIOR: Michael Jackson said in a televised interview that he regularly conducts sleepovers with kids, sharing cookies and stories with them. "It's charming," he cooed, insisting on the sweetness of the whole scenario. "Who's Jack the Ripper in the room?" Gee, I don't know . . . you?

SHEER INSANITY: We were fighting for the liberation of Iraq, but on our own shores, celebs who spoke out against the war—the Dixie Chicks, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, and Janeane Garofalo—were crucified, making one wonder when we were going to liberate the freakin' U.S., you know?

AND IN 100 YEARS, WILL ANYONE BELIEVE . . . : That, furious at the French for not joining our attacks on Iraq, righteous Americans consumed shitloads of french-fried potatoes with the stipulation that they be called "freedom fries"? Can someone say "les morons"?

EVEN BEYOND THAT: Disgraced "reporter" Jayson Blair tried to turn his shameful career of lying and evasion into a near triumph, whereby he gloriously brought down the archaic house of The Washington Post. (Yes, I know it was The New York Times. I purposely threw in that mistake to see if it would make me famous and get me a book deal.)

WAIT, EVEN BEYOND THAT, PEOPLE: Critic Roger Ebert hated Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny, so Gallo publicly wished Ebert would get cancer. Not long afterward, Ebert announced he had cancer. Note to Gallo: I loved The Brown Bunny!

iceblog!

Antarctica: The Best Place in the World to Be Naked
"Antarctica is a fun place to be naked, because it just seems so improbable that anyone would want to be naked in Antarctica."

via gothamist

Lawrence Grecco: Turkish Wrestling

via Fleshbot

mr. df's theme

born free

free as the grass grows... free as the wind blows... born free to follow ur heart.... live free ... and beauty surrounds you.... the world will astound you... each time you look at the sun...

CAROLYN HEILBRUN (1926 - 2003)

"One cannot make up stories; one can only retell in new ways the stories one has already heard."

"Rational suicide'' is what some call killing yourself to avoid something worse. The phrase has a stoical, ancient Roman ring to it -- think of Brutus, Cleopatra, Seneca. For them, the alternative was humiliation and execution. For us, it's pain, senility, the dragged-out deathbed of the modern hospital, the cumulative debilities and losses of old age. ''Quit while you're ahead was, and is, my motto,'' wrote Carolyn Heilbrun, explaining why she had long intended to kill herself at 70.
The Lives They Lived

more quotes:
Ideas move rapidly when their time comes.

Today's shocks are tomorrow's conventions.

. . . a relationship has a momentum, it must change and develop, and will tend to move toward the point of greatest commitment.

Ironically, women who acquire power are more likely to be criticized for it than are the men who have always had it.

catching up with movies

the company
Robert Altman’s latest film is about a season with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, and even by Altman standards, it’s plotless. It fits no category—“docudrama tone poem” probably comes closest.

how i feel...

black and white

Know this one dude who’s a drunk. He drinks cause he’s lonely and NOW he’s lonely cause he drinks.
GeekSlut

Flush with activity

All the world's a stage - but especially New York's bathrooms.

The other night during intermission at "The Boy From Oz," two men got into a fight in the Imperial Theater's loo.

"A husband was defending the honor of his wife, whose hair had been pulled by the other guy," according to our spy.

The brawl, which spilled out into the lobby, was eventually settled by police. Our snitch says that the tiff "was just as entertaining as the play."

Then there were the two guys caught by security in a rest room at the main branch of the Public Library right before the premiere party for "Cold Mountain."

These gentlemen weren't fighting -in fact, quite the opposite. The pair agreed to disengage before Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and the rest of the cast arrived.

Daily News Dish

new york, new york

NYPost

two movies: one contrived, the other sweet

cold mountain
"The film, freely adapted by Anthony Minghella from Charles Frazier's best-selling novel, is an episodic romance that begins like a war movie and ends like a western, and it requires an old-fashioned critical idiom to do it justice. It is, as my predecessor Bosley Crowther might have said, one heck of a classy picture."

stuck on you
"With "You," the Farrelly Brothers have a big, steaming order to deliver; they have to compete with the legacy of their own bad taste, which they compensate for with a quality that some may find even more repellent — sentimentality."

Merry Christmas!
Feliz Natal!

all my love!

Street art

Satan's Laundromat

ouro preto, minas gerais

Shortly after its founding in 1698, Ouro Preto became the center of the greatest gold and silver rush in the Americas to that date. It still resembled a boom town when it was given city status in 1711 with the name Vila Rica. A decade later it became capital of Minas Gerais captaincy, which even today is one of the principal mineral extracting regions of Brasil. In late 1790's a group of intellectuals and professionals assembled here to plan Brazil's independence from Portugal. The movement known as Inconfidencia Mineira was promptly crushed by the Crown and its leader, a dentist, immortalized as Tiradentes (toothpooler), was executed and beheaded. His head was publicly displayed in the streets of Rio as a warning against those with similar views. In 1823, a year after Brazil's independence, Ouro Preto was named capital of Minas Gerais province. In 1897, however, because of transportation difficulties the capital was transferred to Belo Horizonte (40 miles [65 km] northwest).

Ouro Preto today lives largely in the past. In 1933 it was declared a national monument and the surrounding region a national park, so that the city's elaborate (mostly late 18th-century) public buildings, churches, and houses might be preserved or restored. The city has many extremely ornate (gold leafed) Baroque churches; religious architecture and sculpture reached its zenith during the mid 1700's under the skillful hands of Antonio Francisco Lisboa, better known as Aleijadinho ("Little Cripple"). The Church of Sao Francisco de Assis and the façade of the Church of Nossa Senhora do Carmo are his masterpieces. Its museums and churches are rich and beautiful.

Myth Vs. Reality: The Straight Man's Guide to Enjoying Gay Sex

#3 - It's Not Gay If You're Just Getting a BJ From a Guy
AMBIGUOUS.
Here we have a case with subtle distinctions - this can still be 100% straight if
A) he's paying you and
B) you need the money for hard drugs.
If you can afford the crack without the john's patronage, then you should admit that you are at least a little bit gay; it's ok.
Sit And Spin: December 2003

Three Cheers for Swine

"Broad-minded though we take ourselves to be, lust gets a bad press. It is the fly in the ointment, the black sheep of the family, the ill-bred, trashy cousin. . . .
Love pursues the good of the other with self-control, reason and patience. Lust pursues its own gratification, headlong, impatient of any control, immune to reason. . . . Love grows with knowledge and time, courtship, truth and trust. Lust is a trail of clothing in the hallway. . . .
And judging from our actual choices rather than our moralizing, we like lust well enough. Advertising agencies fall over themselves to suggest that their products enable us to excite lust in others, but nobody ever made a fortune from prescribing ways of making ourselves repulsive. . . .
There is no such thing as a decorous or controlled ecstasy, so we should not persecute lust simply because of its issue in extremes of abandon. Indeed, such experiences are usually thought to be one of life's greatest goods, and a yardstick for others."
The NYTimes: An excerpt from a forthcoming book on lust, written by Simon Blackburn, a professor of philosophy at Cambridge University, appears in December's New Statesman magazine.

This is a Christmas story

But this is a Christmas story with a difference.

Its hero is a man whose first name is Natale, which in Italian means Christmas.

In the words of his nephew, Angelo, Natale Morea is "an oddball: a homosexual and a transvestite". He was born almost exactly 57 years ago in a village near Taranto, in the "heel" of Italy, and to be born a homosexual, let alone a transvestite, into a poor, socially conservative, southern Italian village, is to begin life already bearing a heavy cross...

Read his story here.

Black and White Photography: Olafur Eliasson's Tate Modern Weather Project

For brazilians, history was written differently

"On 17 December 1903, the Wright brothers, in the USA, made use of a rudimentary catapult (with an inclined plan) to throw into the air their Flyer biplane, having flown close to the ground for a short hop of 40 metres (in subsequent flights they managed to fly for 200 metres). Santos-Dumont, however, would be the first to build and fly an aircraft 'heavier-than-the-air' by its own means of propulsion."
HISTORY OF THE BRAZILIAN AIR FORCE

cock talk

"Q: Cut vs. uncut?
A: Uncut, of course. You have to ask?

Q: Is there such a thing as too small?
A: Possibly, but you'll probably have better luck talking a lady into embarking on A-levels if you're on the petite side. Vibrators are a sound investment.

Q: Is there such a thing as too big?
A: Only in certain positions. I had a long-term relationship with someone who was simultaneously porn-huge and the bend went the wrong way. Lube and patience, boys. Don't injure your woman.

Q: How long is too long?
A: Past the end of the appointment, in my case. When the juice runs out in anyone else's. Be sure to stop pounding for a second or two and check how your partner's getting on."

Guardian Unlimited: "The winner in The best written category however is Belle de Jour, the diary of a London call girl. There's obviously a prurient and titillating element, but the quality of her writing took her blog well beyond that. Some judges were concerned it was a work of fiction, but even if it is, it remains an impressive piece of writing."

"So, just to clarify - I am Jewish (er, not religiously observant, obviously). I prefer uncut. Do we have a problem with this?

I mean, it was okay to be a working girl, but not so okay to like the goyim?"

A man is what he is, not what he used to be.
- Yiddish Proverb

Self-Portrait as Obscure Object of Desire
Finding in other men the mythology of the self: Jack Pierson's 'Self Portrait No. 4.'

Portraiture has always revealed as much about the artist as the subject. If you think about the difference between portraits by Richard Avedon and Robert Mapplethorpe, each photographer has a signature style. Remove the names of their subjects and you're left with a collection of portraits that become as much a self-portrait as the artist's own likeness. In effect, Mr. Pierson has taken that idea one step further by omitting the names of his subjects, assuming their identities and calling his collection "Self Portrait."

Picasso, unsatisfied with the face of his portrait of Gertrude Stein after 80 sittings, painted one based on a mask of an Iberian sculpture. When people protested that the portrait did not resemble the subject, he is said to have commented: "Everybody thinks she is not at all like her portrait, but never mind. In the end, she will manage to look just like it."

American Brandstand 2003

(American Brandstand is a chart based on the brands that appear in the lyrics of songs in the top 20 songs of the Billboard Hot 100.)

There were 82 different brands mentioned in the Billboard Top 20 in 2003.
Of the 111 songs in the Billboard Top 20, 43 had brands in the lyrics
The most mentioned brand - MERCEDES BENZ.
The artist who mentioned most brands - 50 Cent.
Only one branded song was not connected to hip-hop or R&B... Good Charlotte's 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'.
The most amount of brands in a single week of the Billboard top 20 in 2003 was 47, on April 12th.
The most brands crammed into one song... 14 - by Lil' Kim in 'The Jump Off'. "

2003 New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Best Picture The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
Best Actor Bill Murray, Lost In Translation
Best Actress Hope Davis, 1:American Splendor 2:The Secret Lives of Dentists
Best Supporting Actor Eugene Levy, A Mighty Wind
Best Supporting Actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog
Best Director Sofia Coppola, Lost In Translation
Best Screenplay Craig Lucas, The Secret Lives of Dentists
Best Cinematographer Harris Savides 1: Elephant 2: Gerry
Best Non-Fiction Film Capturing the Friedmans
Best Animated Film The Triplets of Belleville
Best First Film American Splendor

*** Best Foreign Film City of God ***

my heart grew active When you came into view

I’ve got a crush on you, sweetie pie
All the day and night-time give me sigh
I never had the least notion that
I could fall with so much emotion
mr. df's professing his romanticism

it's starting to feel like xmas

I received in the mail today a gift from my not-so-secret santa: Woody Allen Classics

She is in Singapore. That's REALLY far from the north pole.

It's a great idea: Secret Santa was developed by Tom Coates from plasticbag.org exclusively for the 'world blogging community'.

I feel that I belong!

They are only my daydreams and, occasionally, my muses.
spilt beans: crush database

that fine line

obsession Definition: [n] an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone
crush Definition: [n] temporary love of an adolescent

The chances are slim but were Joe to stumble upon my blog and read the post 'Santa Susan' he could very well form in his mind this wrong idea that I am a crazy fan.
To clear it up: I have never heard him play and I only found out his name and who he was because of a certain 'nurse' I was dancing with.
That said, he could still think I am crazy.
Well...
If the choices are mentally unhealthy and/or emotionally imature, than I am in trouble.

Romantic Fatalism

The longing for a destiny is nowhere stronger than in our romantic life. All too often forced to share our bed with those who can not fathom our soul, can we not be forgiven if we believe ourselves fated to stumble one day upon the man or woman of our dreams? Can we not be excused a certain superstitious faith in a creature who will prove the solution to our relentless yearning? And though our prayers may never be answered, though there may be no end to the dismal cycle of incomprehension, if the heavens should come to take pity on us, then can we really be expected to attribute the encounter with the prince or princess to mere coincidence? Or can we not for once escape rational censure and read it as nothing other than an inevitable part of our romantic destiny?
Alain de Botton

what santa susan brought me

someone new to obssess over:
Joe D'Espinosa

"Joe D'Espinosa began DJing professionally in 1990 in his native Boston. He is best known for The Saint-at-Large White Party (New York), Real Bad X (San Francisco), Gospel Brunch (Washington), Aftershock (Los Angeles & San Francisco), The Pavilion (Fire Island Pines) and he has also spun records for the nation's top clubs and events in Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Montréal, Houston, Atlanta, Provincetown, Rehoboth Beach, and Nashville."
Centaur Music

proud: Joe D'Espinosa: cd one The Poem Remix Delicious Inc. Sitting In The Sun Dialect Beautiful Day House of 909 Right Back To Love Subsystem featuring Pepper Mashay Kings Are Groovin The Disco Kings Take You There Ronni Simon Joy Kathy Brown Free The Messengers featuring Lisa Millet Unspeakable Joy Kim nglish/tr> Give It All You Got Disko Method Right Back To Love Subsystem featuring Pepper Mashay

TRANNY' CASTRATES SELF, FAKES BIAS CRIME

via e-at-l mr. jj

NYC CLUBLAND: new year's eve

"I think the Victor party has the strong potential of being a nightmare, cause Crobar will be THE CLUB of nyc and everyone and their mother, str8 and gay, will want to be in there-- be prepared for tons of b&t people who usually don't go out going there for their one wild and crazy night, chaotic lines, long waits, etc..

depending on pricing and buzz, I may very well just pass that and go right for sf for junior"
Message Board: THECIRCUITDOG.COM

red

via mr. jr, my new idol

truth
they aren't "love handles"
if no one loves you
sarge

enter SusanMorabito.com

i heart ny

The City: "Bashir Saleh knows that to a real New Yorker regular means milk, two sugars."

Questions for Raymond Damadian

Scanscam?
The scientist who thinks he was cheated out of the Nobel Prize swears he no longer wants it anyway, thank you very much. So what does he want?

"What do you think it means to be the author of an idea?

It depends on its potency, but I can tell you that the pain and torment scales directly with the magnitude of the idea.

What long-suffering innovators come to mind?

They all suffered. Newton was subjected to a lot of harassment and got progressively more cloistered, and Semmelweis died in a mental institution.

It's a cliche to say creative people are brilliant but unhinged?

It's an issue of cause and effect. It's hard to understand what a person's going through unless you've been in the center of it. People call you mad -- it's tough stuff to go through."

Social Networks

"Technology has outpaced our physical ability to manage the social network. Duncan Watts, author of this year's book ''Six Degrees,'' has wondered whether our primitive ancestry gives us a hard-wired tendency to attend to only our immediate associates, like family and friends. Our online persona may be rich with friends and contacts; it may make us feel popular and deeply valued as we trade tips about the best Australian Shiraz or converse about the best way to get to Burning Man. But our offline persona still gets stuck in traffic on the way to the liquor store. Our online persona may manage a Web-based cocktail party of three degrees -- a party that would include our friends, the friends of our friends and the friends of our friends' friends. But our offline persona, juggling the demands of family and work, can barely return the telephone calls from the first degree."

quote of the day

Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is like expecting the bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian. twhs

TWICE AS NICE

"OutKast doesn't budge from the top of Billboard's Hot 100, but the rap duo from Atlanta also moves up from 3-2. With "Hey Ya!" (Arista) in pole position for the second week, and "The Way You Move" sliding into second, this is the third time in Hot 100 history that the same duo or group is occupying the top two slots." BILLBOARD

note from editor-at-large mr. jj: this chart 'record' comes with a LOT of provisos....
in the past, a double-sided single was usually listed 'side a / side b' ,
in the same chart position (unless the second side became a hit much later than the A side did).

i'm also pretty sure he's missing Donna Summer from his list
of acts that have succeeded themselves at number one. i *think*
she did it with 'Hot Stuff' and 'Bad Girls'.

BOÎTE: Crobar Cometh "When the D.J. switched from pounding techno music to Missy Elliott's 'Work It,' a few Ashton Kutcher and some Liberace lookalikes headed toward the dance floor, but most guests stood around, clutching their cocktails."

Jose & Jose
I'm the Jose on the left. The other Jose is my oldest friend here in NY. We know each other from Brasil - we like to say we grew up playing with the same dolls. He has been a safe port, an assurance that while I've lived many lifes before they are not disjointed episodes - he is proof that it was a process as he witnessed them all.
It feels good to have someone around that has known me for my entire gayhood.
Now he is moving back to Brasil. For love. Of the country and of his boyfriend. And I feel lost.
I'm loosing my references...

AUDIO:

SANTALAND DIARIES
by David Sedaris
forwarded by mr. dw

Another Photoshop Contest: Partial Symmetry

Without prejudice
has Britain finally accepted homosexuality?

"Is the mainstreaming of homosexuality only successful when done with a knowing wink? There's a vast gulf between the cute campery of the likes of Brian Dowling and an actively sexual gay man. Norton may rattle on about sex, but it's comic, not erotic. And, as Queen Victoria would doubtless have appreciated, lesbian visibility lags way behind - or when present, it's often used to up the sauce content."

succulent.
hardy.
thorny.
easy to take care of.

thinking of you!

Life in the Big Snapple

"I was in a good mood since today was sponsored by Endo Pharmaceuticals, makers of Percocet®, which got me thinking about how nice Endo was to sponsor a whole day and how nice they were to make Percocet® and how, when I got back home, I could score some online since I love me some Percocet®. (Normally, I'd have hit up my little local drug store, but it closed last month after Rite-Aid became the official NYC Family Pharmacy)."

Quote of the day

"Weirdly, sadly legitimizing the lives of two people of the same sex who love each other scares John and Jane Moron far more than our nights of sodomy."

Sullivan backlash

politX: "Ninety nine point nine percent of bloggers do it because they love it. They plough their own money and time into the enterprise without a thought of reward. Sullivan does not need the money to fund his blog; he needs the money to fund himself so that he can blog. There's a difference."

the end of ironing ii

Sir Mick Jagger
"Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones lead singer, who was once a scourge of the British establishment, received its ultimate accolade on Friday when he was knighted by heir to the throne Prince Charles in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace."

Go to the back of the queue!

via memefirst

heavy rotation

Habanera

from One Second by Yello

American Splendor
"This oddball indie movie about cranky Cleveland cartoonist Harvey Pekar was the most original movie of the year: a sweet-and-sour American wonder." Newsweek: Top Ten Films of 2003

The best movie I saw this year. Unless Cold Mountain delivers (a favorite recent book, hard to imagine translated into movie although I felt the same way about The Hours and it more than worked).

"There is a key scene in the film American Splendor in which our nerdish hero Harvey Pekar accompanies his still-more-nerdish sidekick, Toby, to a showing of the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds. Toby, it transpires, is a devoted fan of the movie, which he interprets as an exercise in self-empowerment and a clarion call to arms. Harvey is more circumspect. Appraising the film's cast, he dismisses them as 'preppy Ivy League nerds. Not real ordinary slob nerds like us'.

The irony here is that American Splendor is everything that Revenge of the Nerds pretended to be and wasn't. The winner at this year's Sundance festival, the film offers a salute to your bona-fide 'slob nerd'. Its stars are a motley collection of dysfunctional file clerks, twitchy comic-book artists and 'self-diagnosed anaemics' who emerge victorious over the bastions of mainstream cool (as represented by MTV and the David Letterman show). In its wry, warts-and-all fashion, American Splendor celebrates the cult of the downtrodden, the sensitive, the occasionally malodorous. It's the movie that assures us that yes, it's OK to be a nerd."
Guardian Unlimited: "We are all nerds now"

Brazil blasts Catholic Church's opposition to condom use

"The director of Brazil's national AIDS and sexually transmitted disease program last week sent an open letter to the Catholic Church criticizing the church's opposition to condom use to prevent HIV infections. Alexandre Grangeiro said he sent the letter because the church's attempts to discredit condom use 'could not go unchallenged. We don't want to stir up controversy, but when the church tries to shut down discussion about condoms and claims to use scientific criteria to show they don't work, we have to clarify the facts. The church is wrong to insist that condoms don't protect and could be committing one more crime against humanity.' Church leaders say abstinence and fidelity within marriage are the best ways to prevent the spread of HIV. In a statement in response to Grangeiro's letter, Cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo called the government's efforts to stop the spread of HIV commendable, but noted, 'it doesn't appear [condom usage] is adequate. Scientific research shows that there is a significant percentage of infection, even with the use of condoms.' Other Catholic officials in the past have alleged that because HIV is so small, it can slip through pores in latex condoms, a statement most scientists have said is untrue."
via advocate.com forwarded by mr. jj

ALL THE VERMEERS IN N.Y.

Girl With a Pearl Earring
Jan Vermeer (c1665)
(she is NOT one of them)

different pearl

"My next observation will probably hit some nerves, but I have also never seen anyone over ten inches who did not engage in homosexual sex, even if it was limited to just oral sex performed on him. (Yes, even me.) The reasoning for this is not truly clear, but some of it is that many gay men will embrace and sometimes worship those of us who are in double-digits, and often the feeling of power will be too invigorating. Sometimes the guy will pass it off as 'just satisfying some poor fag,' or lessening the impact by accepting payment ('well, he paid me'). There is also that old standby as well -- 'man, was I drunk last night!' However, the fact remains that men of extreme size will endeavor in gay sex"
WHY I HATE BOOGIE NIGHTS
by Jonah ['Omigod, it's like a giant yam'] Falcon

Dear Santa:

MY DREAM HOUSE IS FOR SALE: Weekend house, Chicago area; 2 bedrooms; 2 baths; 2,233 sq. ft.; newly renovated; furnished; asking $6 million; will consider any reasonable offer above $4.5 million.

Happiness
Tom Jobim & Vinícius de Moraes

Tristeza nao tem fim. Sadness never ends
Felicidade sim. Happiness does

(this version, by Suba, in Brazilectro, Vol. 5)

thanks mr. jj for the tip

THE greatest Snowglobe!

¥¸¥ã¥±¤Î¿¿»÷¤¹¤ë¤ª¥Ð¥«¤µ¤ó

"See some Japanese folks posing like people on famous album covers, or at least attempting to do so. It makes me wish I understood Japanese. I've never wished I understood Japanese before."
via weblog wannabe

the end of ironing

Fatal Consequences of Excessive Masturbation:
You can go blind!

"Masturbation is a healthy sexual behavior. Like other behaviors, when over practiced or addicted it can lead to both psychological and physiological imbalances. "

I asked a certain doctor (friend of mine, who has recently moved to bluer pastures) for his professional opinion on the subject and he answered: "true dat... why do you think i had to have lasik?"

Maleness isn’t always strength or assertiveness.
Femaleness isn’t always surrender, passivity.
Pop culture clichés, nothing more.
Pansexual Sodomite's take on sissyphobia reminds me of one of my early posts, Scavenges of a man hunt.

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life"
Samuel Johnson

And Johnson was NOT wrong. I lived in London back in my twenties and cried the day i left, vowing that i would be back to the place i had chosen to spend the rest of my life.
Ah, the passions of one's youth...

Anyway, that was just the segue to one of my favorite - and very sad - Caetano Veloso songs, from the self-titled 1971 album:

London, London
Caetano Veloso

I’m wandering round and round nowhere to go
I’m lonely in London, London is lovely so
I cross the streets without fear
Everybody keeps the way clear
I know, I know no one here to say hello
I know they keep the way clear
I am lonely in London without fear
I’m wandering round and round here nowhere to go
Oh sunday, monday, autumm pass by me
And people hurry on so peacefully
A group approaches a policeman
He seems so pleased at least
And it’s so good to live in peace and
Sunday, Monday, years and I agree
I choose no face to look at
Choose no way
I just happen to be here
And it’s ok
Green grass blue eyes
Gray sky God bless silent pain
And happiness
I came around to say yes
And I say
While my eyes
Go looking for flying saucers in the sky
While my eyes
Go looking for flying saucers in the sky

David Ely: Iraq Deserves Capitalism: "Remember all that Bush rhetoric about how the entire war should be for the good of the Iraqi people? Someone explain to me how restricting free trade, thereby denying a chance that the best contractors to do the job might have a shot, can be in Iraq’s best interest?"

Bush Defends Restrictions on Iraq Contracts (washingtonpost.com): "Paul Martin, who is set to become Canada's next prime minister on Friday, told reporters yesterday that he found it difficult 'to fathom' the decision. 'I understand the importance of these kinds of contracts, but this shouldn't be just about who gets contracts, who gets business,' Martin said. 'It ought to be about what is the best thing for the people of Iraq.'"

NYT OP-ED: "Just when it looked as if there was a chance to expand international involvement in Iraq, President Bush has reversed field again and left the European allies angry, the secretary of state looking out of step, and the rest of us wondering exactly wat his policy really is."

Torremolinos, España

et tu, rosa II

"The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed Rosa Parks, a legendary symbol of the U.S. civil rights movement, to sue the rap group Outkast, which named one of its songs after her." Herald Tribune

law.com: "Parks' lawyers, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. of Los Angeles and Gregory J. Reed of Detroit, claimed that since the song had nothing to do with Parks, it was used only to exploit her celebrity to sell records. As a result, the song was an unauthorized, commercial appropriation of Parks' name that tarnished her legacy, her lawyers said."

'Though consumers frequently look to the title of a work to determine what it is about, they do not regard titles of artistic works in the same way as the names of ordinary commercial products'

From Rogers –v- Grimaldi case in which actress Ginger Rogers filed a lawsuit against a film entitled "Ginger and Fred" about two Italian cabaret performers who made a living by imitating Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Rogers argued that the title created the false impression that she was associated with the film.

"If we see a painting titled "Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup", we’re unlikely to believe that Campbell’s has branched into the art business. Nor, upon hearing Janis Joplin croon, "Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?", would we suspect that she and the carmaker had entered into a joint venture."

When weighing up Mattel's claim of infringement of its "BARBIE" trade mark - when Danish band Aqua released Barbie Girl in 1997 - Judge Alex Kozinski compared the case with Andy Warhol's "Campbell's Soup" works as well as the content of a well-known Janis Joplin song

CLASS ACT

'It's a really unattractive sight to see an actor or actress who really wants an Oscar. And you often see it on the show, you see their faces and the desperation is so ugly.

'Desperation is not a quality I long for. I'm over the Oscar. Sometimes people win it and you think, 'This can't be true.' It's a little bit of a popularity contest, too.

'Sometimes it's right, but it's wrong just as often, so I don't care. I'd rather make movies that lots of people saw and liked. I'm happy with the results.'

Bill Murray couldn't care less and his 'Lost in Translation' was probably the best performance I saw this year...

heavy rotation

Midnight Lady [Deep Rose Mix]
one of the songs in
Back to Basics
Thanks mr. dw. Miss you.

she sounds more legit than 'belle de jour'

Pussy Ranch: "Recently-transplanted Minneapolite enjoys being fingered on roller coasters, virgin daiquiris and cheating in class elections. Jaded already-Minneapolitan enjoys geekery, stamps, fervent sex, and several types of very pale ale."

And when she calls this is a very naughty photo, she means it.

I HEART the West Village

Bluejake: Day 4 & Day 5
"West Village was (...) settled in the 1700's by Dutch farmers. Residents moving there to flee cholera and yellow fever epidemics downtown in the 19th century swelled the population, but port activity along the Hudson gave the area the rough-and-tumble grit that so appealed to the literati and social marginals it was synonymous with for most of the 20th century. Generations of writers gathered at the White Horse Tavern, founded in 1880 at Hudson and West 11th Streets, including Dylan Thomas, Norman Mailer, Michael Harrington, William Styron, Vance Bourjaily, Pete Hamill and Frank McCourt.

Gays and lesbians remain very much a part of the neighborhood, where Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, based in Westbeth, has 800 dues-paying members. On Christopher Street, Bailey-Holt House was the first permanent residence for formerly homeless people with AIDS. It now has 44 residents and is completing a $1.5 million renovation. The rectory of St. Veronica's Roman Catholic Church on Washington Street is home to the House of Love, a 17-resident hospice for men with AIDS. It is staffed by the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa."

If You're Thinking of Living In | Far West Village: Hipsters, Meatpackers and Families, Too

pre-conceived ideas and generalizations

Plasticbag: On the Geography of the Bloggies... has generated a lot of heat. The subject can be expanded to cover many other awards and 'best of...' lists and even my our daily life.

"Currently [the Bloggies are] organised roughly like this:

* Best Asian
* Best American
* Best Antipodean (Australia and New Zealand)
* Best Canadian
* Best European / African
* Best Latin American

There seem to be a few problems with his grouping to me - firstly there's no category for the Middle East, and I think this year that's going to be a more obvious omission than ever given Salam Pax and all the webloggers around Iraq and Israel. Secondly, having separate categories for Antipodean, Canadian and American weblogs, but not one for British/Irish ones seems rather random considering that both Canada and Australia/NZ have much smaller populations in general and smaller weblogging communities in particular than the UK and Ireland. And finally, the grouping of Europe with Africa seems to make the possibility of Africa weblogs becoming seen rather unlikely."

Being classified and restricted by a classification does not make many people happy.

Mercurial points out that "certain people do not like to be lumped with their politically divergent neighbors" but it is Guide to Ease who gets it right: "The discussion is inherently political, so don't even try to propose a categorization scheme and state that it is more correct."

Adding to the mess: Brazil has the 2nd biggest blogging community after the U.S. yet it seems Brazilian bloggers had a hard time been nominated - maybe there aren't any worthy, i don't know. But, in my case, a Gay Brazilian blogging from New York on no specific subject - if it were left up to me, none of the categories fully represent my intentions.

We can discuss this forever and never agree on anything - awards rules are set by whoever is giving the award - and as with the Nobel, the approach should be that you don't lose the prize, only win it .

quote of the day

"There is a line that even those bereft of taste and woefully lacking in tact dare not cross because to transgress in such a manner violates common notions of decency, fairness, and the very humanity that can be found at the core of each of us." The Minor Fall, The Major Lift

ah-america: et tu, rosa?

"The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Monday for civil rights icon Rosa Parks to proceed with her lawsuit against OutKast and others over the rap music duo's hit song with her name as its title."

"Ah ha, hush that fuss
Everybody move to the back of the bus
Do you wanna bump and slump with us
We the type of people make the club get crunk"

"The song, "Rosa Parks," released as part of the 1998 album "Aquemini," was nominated for a Grammy award. The lyrics do not mention her by name, but the chorus says, "Ah, ha, hush that fuss. Everybody move to the back of the bus.""

you can't lose the Nobel prize, only win it

"We are a society that talks too much about "entitled," not enough about "unbecoming."
[The Wall Street Journal]

Nobel protester wins alternative prize: Stockholm ceremony proceeds despite dispute.: I find it disturbing and embarassing that a famous scientist can be such a big baby.

"In one of the most vitriolic acts of academic indignation on record, Raymond Damadian -- a pioneer of magnetic resonance imaging -- last week bitterly criticized the committee for giving the prize for medicine to Britain's Peter Mansfield and America's Paul Lauterbur, to be presented in Stockholm on Wednesday. (...) Damadian -- a creationist who believes the world is only 6,000 years old -- is claiming he is (...) being shunned for his beliefs."
Taipei Times
(I know, I can't believe I am quoting the Taipei Times...)

GRAMMY 2003: THE ONES I CARE to see win

Record Of The Year: Hey Ya! (Outkast)

Album Of The Year: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Outkast)

Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical: Outkast

Best Urban/Alternative Performance: a tie
• Milkshake (Kelis)
• Hey Ya! (Outkast)

Best Rap Album: another tie (but Outkast's is not RAP...)
• Under Construction (Missy Elliott)
• Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Outkast)

Best Short Form Music Video: Hey Ya! (Outkast)

Best Female Rap Solo Performance: Work It (Missy Elliott)

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group: Gossip Folks (Missy Elliott Featuring Ludacris)

Best Rap Song: Work It

If you follow my blog (does anyone?) you know of my LOVE for Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below, the best album I've heard in a long time. I guess the Grammy nominations and the fact Hey Ya! is #1 on BILLBOARD validates my adoration - Thank God! Even the video for 'Hey Ya' was nominated...

You think you've got it
Oh, you think you've got it
But got it just don't get it
Til theres's nothing at all (Ah!)
We get together
Oh, we get together
But separate's always better
When there's feelings involved (Oh!)
If what they say is 'nothing is forever,'
Then what makes (What makes? What makes?)
Love the exception?
So why oh, why oh
Why oh, why oh, why oh
Are we so in denial
When we know we're not happy here?

Also, Tasty got a nice mention at the Times (AND a grammy nomination):

"For her current hit "Milkshake", the R & B singer Kelis got a devastating synthesizer track from the Neptunes and added some simple rhymes: "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard/ And they're like, It's better than yours." (If you're puzzled by the innuendo, the frothy video should help you figure it out.) Throughout her appealing new album, "Tasty" (Arista), she flattens the tunes while emphasizing the beats — whether she's sighing or whispering or rapping or chanting, her voice makes a great rhythm instrument."

NOT TO BE CONFUSED

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
WITH
Guess Who Came at Dinner

Have you ever wondered . . .

if the library were like amazon.com