Frankie Goes To Hollywood: "Born To Run"
Question of the Day
Okay, so you walk into the Mead Hall and Rothgar the Devious leaps from his tiny chair and throws a mug of frothy ale right in your face! He challenges you to a Dragon Battle! Your inventory is: A health potion, Shartak's Shard, a hemp lasso, the Stink Helmet, and a giant fucking ruby.
What do you do?
Signs of the Impending Apocalypse
This gasbag is still talking.
Limbaugh 'thanks God every day' for Obama's political problems:
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said that he "thank[s] God every day" for the political difficulties facing President Barack Obama.Blah blah blabbity blah.
Limbaugh told Fox News in an interview to air on "Fox and Friends" tomorrow that the difficulties facing the president's agenda are in the best interests of the country.
Limbaugh also drew some snickers for his dance moves this past weekend while serving as a judge at the Miss America pageant.Barf. Pbbbt. Fart.
He told Fox's Gretchen Carlson, a former pageant winner, that he is "a huge supporter of women," and was impressed by the political knowledge of many of this year's contestants.
Limbaugh also suggested he could be "Mister America," if there ever were such a contest.
"[T]his is Miss America and if there is a Mr. America out there, it is me -- so this is a perfect fit!" he said.
Chronicling the Life of a Bigot
Because it's just too early for a Fred Phelps bio, HBO is developing a biopic of anti-gay swizzle stick Anita Bryant.
"She is a fascinating person on every single level. The twists and turns of her life are incredible" says exec producer Chad Hodge. Wevs. Like I need another film about an unlikeable asshole.
In 1977 [Bryant] launch[ed] a crusade to repeal a new Miami-Dade County ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.Whatever. It's not like I have HBO anyway.
"As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children," she said. Her Save the Children coalition got the new law overturned within a year, and it took 20 years for it to be reinstated.
Celebrating her victory, Bryant promised she would "seek help and change for homosexuals, whose sick and sad values belie the word 'gay,' which they pathetically use to cover their unhappy lives."
She stayed on the anti-gay rights cause with speaking tours and went to California to support the Briggs Initiative in 1978, looking to mandate the firing of gay teachers, which failed. Archive footage with Bryant was featured in the 2008 film Milk, which chronicled Harvey Milk's campaign against the initiative.
Hodge, who is looking to talk to Bryant about the project, said he is going for a nuanced portrayal of her and "what drove her to do the things that she did."
[Cross-posted.]
Last Lost Open Thread Before the S6 Premiere
Ille qui nos omnes servabit.
I know, I know, but considering Iain and I actually woke up shouting "HAPPY LOST DAY!" at each other this morning, and all I want to write about, think about, or talk about today is Lost, I've actually shown remarkable restraint!
And speaking of restraint, this article about the Lost S6 premiere getting leaked online is awesome:
The first hour of the final season of ABC's "Lost" has leaked online, and the reaction is not what industry insiders expected.LOL! When Iain and I heard about this, our collective reaction was exactly the same: Why on earth watch some shitty bootleg?! HELL NO!
Though preview content for heavily serialized dramas such as "Lost" is typically frantically consumed online, the sixth season of the ABC hit has managed to build to such an epic level of anticipation that many fans are doing the unthinkable: refusing to watch the leaks.
When the opening scene from the premiere popped up online after a fan promotion Friday, users of one popular social network site voted to "bury" the video.
"Why spoil it now?" wrote one fan with the moniker MyWhiteNoise. "I'd rather watch it in hi-def and surround sound than ruin the surprise and watch some (low-quality) video."
To TV executives, such statements are like something from an alternative universe, the polar-bear opposite of how young, Web-savvy viewers typically respond to content. Fans usually embrace any short cut that skips the linear TV and advertiser-supported experience.
"We never had a show like 'Lost' before that had these kind of fans that love it so much that they don't want to know what happens before the premiere," said Michael Benson, co-executive vp marketing at ABC. "Fans feel like they own this thing, just like we do."
On Monday, fan commitment was given an even greater test when the entire premiere appeared on YouTube. The video was taken from hand-held cameras discretely shooting during a fan screening on Oahu. The Hawaii event itself was a revelation -- can any other TV drama rally 12,000 fans to an island in the South Pacific? Some flew in to see just the 44 minutes of video that ABC will air Tuesday night.
Yet when the inevitable YouTube copies appeared on Sunday, many videos only received a few hundred hits as online fans registered their disinterest in crummy bootlegs.
Five hours, 49 minutes...
[Use this thread to SQUEEEEEE!, make predictions, ask questions, share Lost-related funnies, whatever you like.]
Feel the Homomentum!
Top Defense Officials Seek to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell':
The nation's top two Defense officials called on Tuesday for an end to the 16-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" law, a major step toward allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the United States military for the first time in its history.It's a good start. Now let's get this thing done.
"No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens," Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said it was his personal belief that "allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do."
But both Admiral Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told the committee they needed more time to review how to carry out the change in policy, which requires an act of Congress, and predicted some disruption to the armed forces.
...In the interim, Mr. Gates announced that the military was moving toward enforcing the existing policy "in a fairer manner" — a reference to the possibility that the Pentagon would no longer take action to discharge service members whose sexual orientation is revealed by third parties or jilted partners, one of the most onerous aspects of the law. Mr. Gates said he had asked the Pentagon to make a recommendation on the matter within 45 days, but "we believe that we have a degree of latitude within the existing law to change our internal procedures in a manner that is more appropriate and fair to our men and women in uniform."
The official rationale for forcing soldiers into the closet has always been troop cohesion (or some wacky variation thereof)—which has long been debunked at this point. It's an unjust, homophobic, misogynistic policy; it's been a piece of shit policy from Day One that asked soldiers to fight for an equality they aren't afforded; and it's long past time to consign it to the dustbin of history.
Don't Stop, Don't Let the Door Hitcha Where the Good Lord Splitcha. Just be gone.
Quote of the Day
"The young lady I'm looking about running against, Senator Gillibrand, who I know and like, she flipped on this and I might add President Obama is not in favor of marriage equality...So in some ways I have a better position than the president on this."—Former Congressperson Harold Ford, who is looking to mount a primary challenge to New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and thus seeking to shore up his liberal credentials. And he apparently thinks the way to do that is by showing support for same-sex marriage and using demeaning, misogynistic language in the same breath.
The "young lady," Senator Gillibrand, is four years Ford's senior.
(More) Lost Facts!
Top forty-two actors who should be on Lost but haven't been (in descending order):
1. Bud Cort
2. Kevin Corrigan
3. Melora Walters
4. Peter Krause
5. Sophie Okonedo
6. Lainie Kazan
7. Konstantin Khabensky
8. Clint Howard
9. Seu Jorge
10. Gabby Sidibe
11. Delroy Lindo
12. Elias Koteas
13. Catherine Keener
14. Grace Zabriskie
15. Don Calfa
16. Kyle Secor
17. Ming Na
18. Iggy Pop
19. Dominique Pinon
20. Natasha Richardson
21. Ute Lemper
22. Lorne Greene
23. Alyson Hannigan
24. Phillip Baker Hall
25. Philip Michael Thomas
26. Anna Thomson
27. Brian Bremer
28. Wes Bentley
29. Miriam Shor
30. Erick Avari
31. Glenn Shadix
32. Barret Oliver
33. John Hannah
34. Bob Balaban
35. Joan Chen
36. Chris Eigeman
37. Mike White
38. José Mojica Marins
39. Stephen Geoffreys
40. Lauren Velez
41. River Phoenix
42. Macaulay Culkin
(See also here, here, here here, here, and here.)
[Cross-posted.]
Oscar Noms
Here's the full list.
Yay! Gabby Sidibe, nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Precious. Yay! Mo'Nique, nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Precious. Yay! Meryl Streep, nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Julie & Julia. Yay! Matt Damon, nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Invictus. Yay! Kathryn Bigelow, nominated for Best Director for The Hurt Locker.
Maybe this year will finally see a woman win Best Director.
Check out the dearth of female screenwriting nominees across both categories (original and adapted). By my count, one—Terri Tatchell, co-writer of District 9.
Wow.
UPDATE: In comments, Shaker just_em pointed to this post in which Monica notes that Lee Daniels, who directed Precious, is "only the second African-American director to garner a Best Director nod (John Singleton was the last for 1991's 'Boyz In The Hood'). Precious also holds the distinction of being the first African-American directed film in the 82 year history of the Oscars to be nominated for Best Picture."
"After 82 years, it's the first film nominated for best picture directed by an African-American," Daniels said. "Isn't that great? It's so exciting."Indeed it is.
Maybe this year will finally see an African-American win Best Director.
Rahm Emanuel's Such a Charmer
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has apologized for referring to liberals as "retarded" during a strategy session last summer.Via. (Also.)
A White House official said Emanuel called Tim Shriver, the CEO of the Special Olympics, last week after his comments were reported in a Wall Street Journal article.
"Rahm called Tim Shriver Wednesday to apologize and the apology was accepted," a White House aide said. "The White House remains committed to addressing the concerns and needs of Americans living with disabilities and recognizes that derogatory remarks demean us all."
It strikes me as rather fucked-up that Emanuel would apologize to someone who is an advocate for the intellectually disabled, and that Shriver would accept on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities (though he is not intellectually disabled himself). Does that not necessarily communicate the message that disabled people can't understand bigotry, can't understand an apology for expressing it, and lack the capacity to accept (or not) that apology? Was there no one with intellectual disabilities who could have been an ambassador for the Special Olympics (or some other advocacy organization), who could have spoken to Emanuel directly?
Or, more importantly, to whom Emanuel could have offered his regret directly?
That is, of course, a rhetorical question. There are indeed plenty of people with intellectual disabilities who could have been involved in this communication so that it was not one privileged man apologizing to another privileged man.
The whole exchange just seems to reinforce the very narratives about people with intellectual disabilities that the Special Olympics purports to challenge. Icky.
I'll also just quickly note that, although the word should not be used that way, Emanuel clearly called liberal Democrats "fucking retarded" as an insult—and he has yet to apologize to them.
Blog Note
There are still some issues being worked out on the site. I know that some people are still experiencing some technical problems, and some features are still missing, but we're working on it as fast as we can. Something in the code of our old template quite suddenly became incompatible with Blogger (as a result of a Blogger update), and we have been literally rebuilding the site over the past few days. Given that reality, we've had remarkable little downtime and few glitches, thanks to the combined efforts of Portly Dyke, Space Cowboy, Iain, and myself. And I appreciate your continued patience as we get everything working again.
Once we're reasonably sure everything's back in working order, I'll make a note, at which point you can let me know if you're still having unresolved problems.
My profound thanks again to Portly, Space, and Iain for their time and talents and hard work.
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
Strips One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107. In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman and a biracial queerbait telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.
Ricky Gervais Really Wants Me to Hate Him
Every time I see this guy's name in the news, it's another disaster. This time, it's an interview with the Times headlined "Ricky Gervais: Bad parents should be sterilised. Fact." Um, whut? He didn't really say that, even in "jest," surely?!
So it's no to God, no to marriage, no to voting — "Can't be bothered" — and no to kids, too, a decision he and Fallon made ages ago because they "just didn't fancy it. Too much hassle. Not something either of us wanted to do. We just ... didn't fancy dedicating 16 years of our lives. And there are too many children, of course".So, Ricky Gervais' "humorous" definition of an irresponsible parent who should be sterilized is a poor, fat woman who wears leggings, eats chips, and smokes. Um, okay.
A population problem? "Yes, but it's where it's condensed. It's not too many people, it's too many people with nothing, too many unwanted children, too many people who are poor and struggling, as opposed to too many people. If they all had a good quality of life, no one would complain. What there is, is too many useless people. Too many people who shouldn't have children."
Should we impose a limitation, then? "Yes, based on ... stupid, fat faces," he snarls. "If there's a woman in leggings, eating chips with a fag in her mouth, sterilise her."
You think we should sterilise chavs? He laughs: "You said 'chavs'; I didn't. I described an irresponsible parent. Chavs could be included in irresponsible, though."
And this is "funny" because poor people are rubbish, and fat people are gross, and women are bitchez, and leggings and chips and cigarettes are only for fashionable, thin, rich people. Har har!
Know what makes it even extra funny? How forced sterilization exists! Oh my aching sides.
Yes, yes, I know—I'm the Most Humorless Feminist in all of Nofunnington. What else is new? As long as "jokes" about sterilizing poor fat women constitute mainstream "humor," I'll be wearing my Humorless Scold badge without regret.
[Previously: Ricky Gervais Thinks Rape Is Hilarious, Parts One, Two, Three, Four.]
Antiques with Deeks: Books
Following up on yesterday's post about my trip to the antique mall, let me share another great find: Three delightful little books.
I am disappointed to say, there was not one boner in any of the illustrations featured within. In fact, it was mostly text! And here I thought they might be collections of photographs by Wilhelm von Gloeden. No such luck.
Oh, and who's that in the background? Is that Gabe Kaplan?
Why, yes, it is! It's an official Welcome Back, Kotter puzzle. Unfortunately, at only twelve pieces, it won't be offering much of a challenge. That's a real shame, but I won't do a puzzle that's less than twenty-four pieces.
Even better! The mate to the Kaplan puzzle: It's the entire Sweathog gang! Horshack! And Epstein! And Barbarino! And a bunch of other people I don't recognize. Who is that old guy on the left? The principal? More importantly, is Sweathog one word or two? Or is it hyphenated? These are mysteries, to be sure, that will haunt me until someone corrects me in comments.
(Continues tomorrow.)
[Cross-posted.]
Prince of Peace, My Ass!
Welcome to American Christianity 2.0: Jesus was a punk-ass bitch. Or something:
In the back room of a theater on Beale Street, John Renken, 42, a pastor, recently led a group of young men in prayer. ... An hour later, a member of his flock who had bowed his head was now unleashing a torrent of blows on an opponent, and Mr. Renken was offering guidance that was not exactly prayerful.The "predominantly white" churches' recruitment strategy combines "fight night television viewing parties" with lectures that equate ultimate fighting to Jesus Christ fighting "for what he believed in," which calls to mind one of my favorite sermons, the Grapple on the Mount.
"Hard punches!" he shouted from the sidelines of a martial arts event called Cage Assault. "Finish the fight! To the head! To the head!"
The young man was a member of a fight team at Xtreme Ministries, a small church near Nashville that doubles as a mixed martial arts academy. Mr. Renken, who founded the church and academy, doubles as the team's coach. The school's motto is "Where Feet, Fist and Faith Collide."
Mr. Renken's ministry is one of a small but growing number of evangelical churches that have embraced mixed martial arts — a sport with a reputation for violence and blood that combines kickboxing, wrestling and other fighting styles — to reach and convert young men, whose church attendance has been persistently low.
The goal, these pastors say, is to inject some machismo into their ministries — and into the image of Jesus — in the hope of making Christianity more appealing. "Compassion and love — we agree with all that stuff, too," said Brandon Beals, 37, the lead pastor at Canyon Creek Church outside of Seattle. "But what led me to find Christ was that Jesus was a fighter."Et cetera. Man good, woman bad. Fight good, empathy bad. Compassion and love yadda yadda, but it's time to kick ass for the Lord! You get the drift.
The outreach is part of a larger and more longstanding effort on the part of some ministers who fear that their churches have become too feminized, promoting kindness and compassion at the expense of strength and responsibility.
"The man should be the overall leader of the household," said Ryan Dobson, 39, a pastor and fan of mixed martial arts who is the son of James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical group. "We've raised a generation of little boys."
This version of Christianity is not merely one of the most aesthetically objectionable I can imagine from a social justice standpoint, it's also incredibly dangerous. The toxic mix of a religion inextricably linked with physical aggression, war rhetoric, white male supremacy, a masculinity defined in contradistinction to anything viewed as feminine, and everything summarily dismissed as feminine that is remotely associated with compromise and tolerance—that is the stuff of fascism; that is the stuff of crusades.
Here's Why, Newsweek
I got a pleading note from the subscription department at Newsweek regretfully informing me that I was now a "former" subscriber unless I renewed right away. Across the front of the envelope and inside, they asked me to "please tell us why" I was not renewing my subscription.
Okay, here's why:
1) I'm not impressed with the new layout.
2) They've replaced a lot of good reporting with thin gossip and political snark. I'm an unpaid blogger, and that's my shtick.
3) George F. Will. Feh.
I wrote that on the back of their letter and I'm sending it back in their post-paid envelope. I don't think it will make any difference, but it gets the point across.
