Duncan Sheik, he of "Barely Breathing" fame, has returned to what he does best: annoying me.
Bret Easton Ellis' shittiest novel (no mean feat, that) is being adapted to the Broadway stage. Yes, Duncan Sheik is writing lyrics to American Psycho: The Musical.
Terrific.
Just When You Thought You'd Heard The Last of Duncan Sheik
Intelligence: New and Improved!
The agents and key family members arrived in back in the US on January 17th. The family members met with officials from the Justice Department and the FBI to plan a way forward.
"One of the principal reasons why his family came back is because they had complete trust in the US system of justice and believed that Umar Farouq would be treated fairly and appropriately," the senior official said. "And that they would be as well."
The FBI and Abdulmuttalab's family approached the subject and "gained his cooperation. He has been cooperating for days," the official said.
LOST Snack-Plate Review
While the entire PortlyDyke household agreed that last night's LOST was OMG!-arific, my home-made onion dip also got rave reviews.
I thought I'd give you a partial picture of the snack layout for last night, (recipes below).
I'm thinking of renaming this onion dip recipe to:
What-A-Mind-Fuck Onion Dip
Portly's What-A-Mind-Fuck Onion Dip
1 cup sour cream (we use Nancy's Organic)
1/3 cup (or so) finely diced onion (coarser if you like it that way)
Pinch (or more to taste) Garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste (start with 1/8 teaspoon if you need a jumping off point -- I prefer lots of pepper)
Balsamic Vinegar
Brown the diced onions in a medium hot skillet (in butter or a dash of oil) -- be sure to brown them until they are quite tender and getting a little brown color throughout.
Blend with sour cream, add garlic powder, salt, pepper, and vinegar. (I usually blend the spices in first, then add the vinegar to taste dash by dash until the tart balances the sweetness of the cream. I also depend on the color to know if I've got the vinegar balance right (it gets that slight brownish creamy color).
(Note: Even better the next day)
Portly's Let's-Watch-It-Again Deviled Eggs
12 Eggs
1/4 cup very finely diced celery
1/4 cup very finely diced shallot
3 tablespoons Mayo or Vegenaise
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
salt and pepper (to taste)
chili oil
paprika
Hard-boil eggs (use whatever method you like, but make sure the yolks get hard enough to pop them out easily) -- cool eggs (I keep them in cold water for at least 30 minutes). Peel eggs and cut them in half. Pop the yolks out into a bowl.
Add celery, shallot, mayo, and relish to yolks, mix thoroughly until it's smooth and fluffy. Add salt and pepper to taste, then chili oil to taste (careful with that stuff -- a drop or three goes a long way -- but if you're daring, they're pretty good spicy!).
Fill the egg halves with the yolk filling, sprinkle with paprika. You can also garnish them with a sprig of fresh parsley or cilantro on top.
Before serving, wrap Dharma beer labels around drinking glasses.
Wednesday Blogaround
This bloground brought to you by Shaxco, distributors of Portly Dyke's Delicious Onion Dip.
Recommended Reading:
Shark-fu: Dearest Graydon...we need to talk.
Jaclyn: The Second Sex at the Super Bowl
Chris: US Baptists 'Knew Taking Children out of Haiti Was Wrong'
Jill: Do you live in the United States? Here are some stats that will make you want to move.
Tigtog: This is why the "it's just sci-fi, it shouldn't have to be PC" argument is crap.
SarahMC: Thinking in Pictures
A. Rahman Ford: Race, Disability, and Denial
Leave your links in comments...
Fact-Check on Abstinence-Only Sex Ed
It has been all over the news the past few days that a new study purportedly shows "found for the first time that abstinence-only education helped to delay [students'] sexual initiation."
Our friends at the Guttmacher Institute took a look at the study and noted something significant (pdf):
An abstinence-only intervention aimed at young, urban African-American adolescents successfully delayed sexual initiation among participants in the program, according to a well-designed new study, "Efficacy of a Theory-Based Abstinence-Only Intervention Over 24 Months," by John B. Jemmott and colleagues. While the evaluated program is the first abstinence-only intervention to demonstrate this positive impact in a randomized control trial, it was not a rigid "abstinence-only-until-marriage" program of the type that, until this year, received significant federal funding. The evaluation, therefore, adds important new information to the question of "what works" in sex education, but it essentially leaves intact the significant body of evidence (pdf) showing that abstinence-only-until-marriage programming that met previous federal guidelines is ineffective.This is an important distinction, and it will be useful information to have at one's fingertips when the Jemmott study is used by abstinence-only until marriage advocates to argue that abstinence-only sex ed is effective.
This study isn't a game-changer. Reproductive rights advocates who have long championed comprehensive sex education have always been in favor of including information on abstinence. (That's what makes it comprehensive.) The difference is that feminists endorse making abstinence merely one part of a broader sex ed curriculum, and don't endorse linking abstinence to marriage.
So basically this study, if anything, reinforces the existing position of comprehensive sex ed advocates. It doesn't lend credibility to the resoundingly-debunked position of abstinence-only until marriage brigade.
If we had responsible media, that might have been clear.
My Turn to Spew
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-o_O) continues to baffle thinking mammals everywhere with yet another award winning theory that compares health care reform critics to blacklisted communists:
BACHMANN:He said that in Japan, to wait and get health care is almost impossible. You get on a list and you wait and you wait and you wait. But he said this is something people don’t know: in Japan, people have stopped voicing their opinion on health care. There are things that are wrong with Japanese health care, but people are afraid of voicing. 'Well why is that,' I asked. [He said], 'Because they know that would get on a list and they wouldn’t get health care. They wouldn’t get in. They wouldn’t get seen. And so people are afraid. They’re afraid to speak back to government. They’re afraid to say anything.' Is that what we want for our future? That takes us to gangster government at that point!Never mind that there's absolutely no proof whatsoever that what Bachmann describes is even happening in Japan, she actually expects people to believe that any involvement of our government in health care would result in a patient-reject list being distributed to every hospital and medical professional in the entire country.
Since Bachmann can apparently say absolutely anything she wants without any fear of consequence, I think I can do better. Here goes:
Michele Bachmann is a well-known terrorist in certain circles, having terrorist ties going back before 9/11. While most people know her as a politician who makes a habit out of spewing nonsense, what most people don't know is that it's a clever diversionary tactic that contains secret coded messages for Al-Qaeda operatives. The more absurd the statement, the more important information is being transmitted. Investigations have found that as a result of Al-Qaeda's #2 and #3 operatives constantly getting killed or captured, Bachmann is now ranked in the organization at an all-time high of 105223. Bachmann is being monitored while questioning of the failed Christmas day bomber continues.
Hey - it's up to her to disprove it!
Lost Open Thread
OMFG. We have so much to talk about! When the new episode started last night, Iain and KBlogz were laughing their asses off at me, because I was so excited I literally had goosebumps up and down my arms and legs. They were probably both secretly thanking Maude I didn't piddle on the goddamn floor like a puppy. And I gotta say: The episode did not disappoint. It was, without question, my favorite season opener ever. I LOVE YOU, LOST!
[Recommended Reading: You may enjoy this interview with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, who shed a little bit of light of WTF is going on—but are careful, as always, to give us just enough to be tantalizing and not enough to spoil.]
This gasbag is still talking. Part 2.
This is the extended Limbaugh quote I referenced yesterday (emphasis mine):
Oh, I'm a huge supporter of women. What I'm not a supporter of is liberalism. Feminism is what I oppose, and feminism has led women astray. I love women. I don't know where all this got started. I love the women's movement — especially when walking behind it. This idea that I don't like women is absurd. This is Miss America. And if there's a Mr. America out there, it's me.I love when Rush Limbaugh is walking behind the women's movement, too. All the better so he can kiss my fat ass.
Antiques with Deeks: Anthropomorphs
Part three of my trek through the antique mall. (See also parts one and two.) Today: A giant bunny.
I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but this fucking thing is probably three-and-a-half feet tall. I am going to guess this ragged, creepy bunny in a too-wide tie is some remnant of Easters bygone. I'm not sure why his legs are sans fur, other than some value engineering on the part of the manufacturer. Whatever. He wasn't worth the $200 price tag.
I also found a great showroom dummy. He was a little boy with fire orange hair painted upon his fiberglass skull. He had little curls on his brow that were much like flames one might paint on the front of their van to give the impression of great speed, as if the vehicle were a rocket reentering the atmosphere. There was glint in this boy's eye and a smirk on his face that was just not right. Frankly, he was kind of scary, and I tried to imagine what kind of store would want this in their window.
I can't really go into what happened to the photo, so please don't ask. Just trust me that it was pretty fucking awesome. But alas, I am unable to share it with you. But hey, I feel bad about that, so I'll repost something I saw on another visit:
Robocephus. A singing, dancing Hank Williams Jr. And no, there is no way this grotesquery qualifies as an antique. Not by any stretch of the imagination.
(Concludes tomorrow.)
[Cross-posted.]
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.]
