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Dear Melissa and Aaron, Sit down. And shut up. The more you talk and kvetch and moan and play the Poor Me card the more you sound like hateful homophobes and bigots and small-minded, narrow-minded, close-minded, no minded fools. That said, let me backtrack in case anyone has forgotten who you are: you’re the Oregon baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowman’s same-sex wedding because God. You know, because God handed down that Eleventh Commandment Thou Shalt Not Bake Cakes For Queer Weddings. Or something. And then the couple you inflicted your bigotry upon sued, and you whined some more about God and Jesus and how, in your Bible, hate and homophobia are accepted, until the state of Oregon said what I said at the beginning of this letter: sit down and shut up … and bake that cake. But you still refused so you decided to cut off your nose to spite your face and close the doors to your shop, and create your Bigot Baked Goods in your own home so you can still spread the hate; and keep talking and kvetching and whining and moaning.  I mean, how else do we explain your appearance — a freaking’ cake decorator — at the Values Voter Summit [VVS], AKA Hate The Gays Summit? And for those who don’t know, the VVS is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group because, well, it is a hate group. And poor Melissa, so distraught over being asked to perform a service for which her business was created, to bake a cake, began weeping as she talked about how her rights were violated and how much she misses talking to straight couples about their weddings: “For me personally when I would sit down with them I just would want to know everything about her wedding. I'd want to know about the flowers, her dress, the centerpieces, her colors, the way her hair is going to be. I would even want to talk about 'where are you going on your honeymoon?'" And you can’t do that with a gay couple? And, well, even if you could, what business is it of yours to stick your nose into other’s business? You are asked to bake a cake, not interview me and ask me about my wedding; you are to bake a cake, for which you will be paid, and with that money you can live your life and keep hating. But instead, you decide to deny a gay couple’s request for pastries and shutter your business and then take to the road on a Pity Party Tour. You’re an idiot, Melissa, if you don’t see that refusing to bake a cake, i.e. do your job, for a same-sex couple is not at all different from running the Woolworth lunch counter in the South back in the middle of last century and telling Blacks that they can’t eat there because, well, again, God didn’t want Blacks and Whites sittin’ next to each at lunch. You don’t see that; all you see is a same-sex couple and that’s just disgusting. But I’m done with you, Melissa, because you don’t get it, you won’t get it, and one day, in the very near future, you will be an asterisk in the march toward marriage equality; an asterisk leading to the story about the idiot baker who shut her doors rather than bake a cake for gay couple. One day, in the very near future, and long after that, people will giggle at how ridiculous you were, and probably still are. And now, for you, Aaron, and what you said at the VVS: “To be told they’re going to force me to convey a message other than what I want to convey — it flies in the face of the Constitution. It’s a violation of my conscience. It’s a violation of my religious freedom. It’s horrible to see your own government doing this to you….We had to shut the shop down. Melissa does very limited cakes out of our house. I mean we're facing in excess of $150,000 of damages for this, just for simply standing by my first amendment rights." First off: you were not being told to convey a message; you were asked to bake a cake. And you were not asked to condone the wedding, go to the wedding, sing at the wedding, dance at the wedding, drink at the wedding, or even eat the freaking cake at the wedding. You were asked to do a job for which you opened a public business. And if it’s cost you $150,000 that’s just a small price to pay for being allowed to be a bigot and run around the country and complain to a group of like-minded bigots and homophobes. And them after your appearance at HateFest, you took to Facebook to continue talking about Poor You, and you decided to use anti-gay activist Rick Warren’s “Two Huge Lies” lie in your post: “Our culture has accepted 2 huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. Second is that to love someone means that you must agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.” First off, it isn’t a lifestyle, and if you think it is a lifestyle, first go get a dictionary and look up the word, and then explain to me what the ‘heterosexual’ lifestyle is. What this is, what being gay is, is a sexual orientation, just like being straight, only we are attracted to members of our own gender. It’s not a lifestyle, it’s a life, so, when you’re done whining, stop spreading that lie. Secondly, no one, no one, least of all Rachel and Laurel are asking that you agree with them, or love them; we’re just asking you to bake a cake, get paid for it, and then shut up. Seriously. Shut up. People are already finding you two ludicrous and it’ll only get worse from here on out. Imagine your grandchildren opening a history book — or, by then it’ll probably be a history app — and finding your names listed as being anti-gay, anti-equality. Imagine your grandchildren laughing about that. Gosh, what were they thinking? It was just a cake? Just a cake. Sincerely, Bob and Carlos Gay and getting married. get used to it. |
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An Open Letter to Melissa and Aaron Klein
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Random Musings
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Overheard at Work: Me:CJ? Can you pass me that folder? My Boss: His name is Clinton ... Me:Funny, when he introduced himself to me he said his name was CJ so I'll call him CJ. My Boss:Well, his name was Clinton. Me: Well, If I were to call people by names that others suggest that I call them, you can only imagine what names I'd be hurling at you ... starts with an 'F' and ends with an 'r'. It's a wonder I'm employed at all. |
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Remember when Tim Tebow would score a touchdown and drop to his knees and pray to God or thank God, or just settle for a moment, and people began selling the T-shirts. Well, when Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah intercepted a Tom Brady pass and returned it for a touchdown he did the same thing: he stopped and thanked his God, too. The difference? Abdullah was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Oh yeah, he’s Muslim, so maybe that explains why. I guess in football, you can beat your wives and girlfriends, have drug problems, anger issues, but you can’t bow down to thanks your God unless you’re a Christian. Uh huh. |
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Bette’s back! Midler, that is; she is releasing a new album entitled “It’s The Girls!” produced by Mark Shaiman. It is said to be an album of covers, but only from girl groups, from the 19030s through to today. Think Bette does The Andrews Sisters to The Supremes to En Vogue to Destiny’s Child. It drops — look at me with the industry-speak — November 4th and should be fa-a-a-a-bulous! |
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Out there to California, Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law a bill outlawing the "gay panic" defense in court. Yup, no more The gay guy asked me to dance so I shot him fifty times defense. It makes California the first state in the nation to enact this kind of law, and it’s about time. |
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On TV last week we watched the premier of How To Get Away With Murder, starring the beautiful Viola Davis — quite possibly one of the greatest actresses ever — as a law professor and defense attorney. It’s from Shonda “Scandal” Rimes so it has that same, WTF just happened feel to it. It also has some nice eye candy, like Alfred Enoch as the naïve, yet quite hot, law student, Billy Brown — a personal hottie favorite of mine — as Viola’s cop boyfriend, and Jack Falahee, as the Is he gay or is he just having gay sex to close the case student. A trifecta of hot men, with Viola Davis to boot! |
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Paybacks are a bitch, especially when the payback is $242,000. This week a federal court yesterday ordered former GOP Senator Larry Craig — AKA The Airport Bathroom Toe-Tapper — to pay the government back the $242,000 in campaign funds he used to pay lawyers after being busted trying to hook-up with a dude in a Minneapolis airport restroom. Craig, a complete and utter homophobe, bigot and all-around tool, says he was entitled to use the funds because was traveling on official Senate business. Official Senate business is looking for a blow job in an airport john? Sorry, Larry, I ain’t buying that any more than I was buying your story about having a wide-stance. You’re queer, dear. |
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After the highly successful ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the organization Check One Two has created the Crotch Grab Challenge hoping to raise awareness about testicular cancer and encourage men to self-examine down below. One of the first men to cop a feel, so to speak, was Hugh Jackman, who Tweeted out that photo and challenged Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Strahan and Ricky Gervais. It sounds like a good challenge, but it annoys me because I have been begging to grab Huge Ackman’s crotch for years. PS He's really packing! |
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What the hell is wrong with the Secret Service these days? An intruder hosp the fence at the White House and they’re too busy placing a Starbucks order to notice? He races across the lawn and they’re taking selfies? He enters the White House — enters.the.White.House — and they’re challenging one another to the Crotch Grab? Or, howsabout the time they let an armed man onto an elevator with the President? It’s ridiculous, unacceptable, and all kinds of wrong, and now Julia Pierson, the boss of the Secret Service, has stepped down. Good; here’s hoping they put someone in charge who realizes that they have ONE JOB: protect the President and the First family. If they can’t do that, get rid of ‘em. |
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Filed under: I Don’t Know What To Make Of This In Ohio, a white lesbian is suing a local sperm bank, charging that they mistakenly sent her sperm from an African-American male and not from a white guy. Now, this women and her partner adore their mixed race baby, but say they are having difficulty raising her in an all-white community. The suit further states that the plaintiff fears the child will not be accepted by her "all white and unconsciously insensitive family." Hmmm, is it the mixed race baby, or the fact that you’re a lesbian couple that has your neighbors are twisted. Either way, who gives a f**k? |
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I Didn't Say It ...
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Eric Holder, US Attorney General, on whether or not the country is ready for marriage equality nationwide: "Yeah, I think the country is ready for that. I think all the polls certainly show that. The reactions to the continuing number of court cases that have found same-sex marriage to be constitutionally mandated -- the polls have shown that the American people, I think, are prepared to accept that. Now this has been a sea change. This is something that has happened, I think, relatively quickly. Part of it is generational. I talk to my kids, who seem, no problems with this, no issues with this at all. But I think it's more than a generational change. I think that people who know folks who are gay, who are lesbian, and who are their friends, their coworkers, they see the moral side to this. Um, it's a civil-rights issue. From my perspective, it is the civil-rights issue of our day — gay and lesbian equality." Hopefully he can see this through before leaving office, though I do agree, no matter when it happens, it will be sooner rather than later. |
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Ted Cruz, Teabagging Senator, on his quest for the White House: "Contrary to media reports this morning, Heidi and I have not made any decisions about political plans past the mid-term elections. Clearly we have an overzealous supporter out there making freelance comments, but to be clear, no decision has been made. Whoever this 'anonymous advisor' was, he or she had no authority to speak, and doesn't know what they're talking about." Even Cruz knows he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever becoming president. He just wants to boost his own — in his head — popularity. |
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Richard Blanco, inaugural poet whose Until We Could is being used in a Freedom to Marry video, on his own coming out process: "I really didn't end up coming out until much later in life ... and what really fascinated me as a writer and as an investigator is, how does that happen? How is it that moment by moment the next notch of courage, the next notch of self-understanding — even though you know you're gay at 12, 13, 14, those words can't even enter your mind. You can't even have the vocabulary; you don't say ‘Gee, I think I'm gay.’ No, it doesn't happen that way. It's just a slow sort of easing into, and all the little things that propel you to that place, all the people that support and move you an inch in that direction. The moment of coming out is really the end of a story — and the beginning of a new one, obviously, but it's really the whole life story to get to that moment." It is a process, and it takes however long it takes. Since we are all so different, our own coming out, our own coming to terms with being gay and what that means to each of us, our family and friends, is a different path. All that matters is the end point: coming out. |
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Jesse Tyler Ferguson, on realizing he was gay: "I kind of learned that I was gay from other kids. I didn’t know what that meant. When you’re that young, you don’t know who you’re attracted to. You don’t know anything. I just knew I was different and I realized by the way other kids treated me that I was gay and that for them, it was not okay.” I remember hearing that, too, when I was a kid, and not really knowing what it meant, except that it meant I was a target …. Until I realized it just meant I was attracted to boys and then it was So what? Who cares? |
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Would You Hit It?
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Allen Leech is an Irish actor who made his acting debut with a small part in a 1998 production of A Streetcar Named Desire. He made his first major film appearance in Cowboys & Angels and earned an Irish Film & Television Awards nomination in 2004 for his performance in Man About Dog. He gained some international fame as Marcus Agrippa on HBOs Rome, but is perhaps best known as the Tom Branson, chauffeur who married well in the BBCs Downton Abbey. And that begs the question … Would.You.Hit.It? Yes or No. |
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PR 13 Ep 11: Storage Wars … or … The Bitterest Loser
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Well, well, well, wake up to Heidi! Actually, wake up to the surprise [?] that sometime during the night, while you slept, someone crept into your room and left a Samsung tablet on the counter and that’s where you find Heidi the next day, directing you to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and uttering words like “unlock” and “”doors” and “keys.” Korina thinks they’ll be making clothes from keys. I know! At the Brooklyn Navy Yard, they find Tim waiting in front of five storage lockers; five lockers, six designers? Is this like musical chairs and one will be Auf’d before we start? Nope, this is another designer favorite: team challenge! Tim pulls out the Dreaded Button Bag™ and whittles the six into teams of two. Everyone wants Kini, but Amanda wins him; Emily and Korina are paired, while Sean gets Char — whom he worries about because she can’t sew … “as well as the rest of us.” Ruh-roh. Now together, the designers have $500 to bid on any storage container — some may end up with two containers — and use whatever is inside to create two cohesive looks; they have two days to make treasure from trash. The first container — chairs and couches — goes to Korina and Emily for just $25. The second containers is filled with children’s toys and plastic pool floaties, but Amanda spots a painting at the back — Psychedelic Yeti — and she must have it; for some reason Kini goes along and they buy it for $190. The third bin — which looks like an actual shipping container with a couple of dressers — goes to Sean and Char, while the fourth bin, the biggest thing inside is an old wedding dress, is won by Korina and Emily. The last containers, has all kinds of leather and mesh — bondage bin? — and Sean and Char, who have the most money, get that one. The designtestants head back to the workroom and gets started … until Tim shows up with a Twist: there must be a third look, created from fabrics purchased at Mood, but still a cohesive part of the mini-collection. All set? Let’s rip …. |
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AMANDA AND KINI Amanda and Kini are thrilled, WELL, Amanda’s thrilled because she has the fastest Sewer on the PR at her side, but one thing they also have is a pair of giant egos, thinking they’ll win because they picked the weird bin and because, well, Kini, who wants to use soccer balls to make a skirt while Amanda seemed laser focused on the painting.  But then Tim comes by and he is less than impressed; he says what they have created is a “lot of look” and that Kini’s soccer ball skirt and fur bomber jacket is “teenage hooker.” As for Amanda’s Yeti dress, he hates the hanging plastic tablecloth pants and seems to think it’s coming off as amateur hour. Amanda and Kini, so sure they’d win, start over. LOOK #1 Pink crop top with pants AMANDA SAID I think this looks super bold. I SAID It’s cute, and simple, but the directional arrows to the vagina are off-putting, and not just because I don’t swing that way. LOOK #2 Soccer ball dress with fur coat KINI SAID It doesn’t scream teenage hooker anymore. I SAID You’re right. It screams low-class call girl in a bathmat jacket. LOOK #3 Graphic top with full skirt KINI SAID It’s totally glammed up in a funky way. I SAID It does have drama, but I felt it was a little safe. WHAT THE JUDGES SAID Nina likes the collection, and loves the Soccer Ball dress; but she asks to have the bathmat, er, ottoman jacket given to the girl in the pink, and then purrs, So much better already. The Adorable Zac Posen™ dubbed the third look clueless, er, Clueless, as in the movie, meaning he liked its 80s vibe; he, also, loved the Soccer Ball dress. Heidi felt their collection was the most creative, and loved the drama of the evening gown look, Guest Judge, and former PR winner, Christian Siriano, called their clothes young and hip, and said they were the kinds of clothes every young girl would want; he did, however, as I did, note the patterned crotch area. |
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SEAN AND CHAR They kind of lucked out, because the bin with the furniture and the mover’s blankets also had dressers filled with fabrics. They instantly decide on sportswear, with Sean creating a Mover’s Blanket and Lampshade Coat, while Char goes for Mesh Bomber Jacket and skirt; their third look, ideas by Sean assisted by Char, is an evening gown with mesh strips and a lampshade bottom — I usually wear the lampshade on my head but that’s another story for another day …  Sean is worried because Char needs a lot of help, but they do seem to work very well together, and when Tim comes by he loves Sean’s coat, bit is worried about some trim details on Char’s jacket and the actual lampshade gown. Korina chimes in that Char is defensive during the critique, but, Pot-kettle-black, we’ll soon see defensive from Korina. LOOK #1 Quilted jacket, crop top, and skirt SEAN SAID She looks cool and it gives the whole collection a sporty vibe I SAID I like it, I like the design, but it still looks too much like a mover’s blanket. LOOK #2 Black dress with sheer blue top CHAR SAID She’s trying to be graceful, but it’s hard for her to walk LOOK #3 Lampshade dress with racerback SEAN SAID She cannot walk, but she looks cool. I SAID Word. WHAT THE JUDGES SAID The Adorable Zac Posen™ called it the most cohesive collection, and loved Sean’s jacket, but hated that two of the model’s had trouble walking. He also loathed Char’s look, calling it a Twerking Walk of Shame. Christian Siriano said the proportions were off; he also loved the coat, but said the idea of mesh was over and he hated the model walk, too. Heidi said the model’s should have worked the walk, and loved Sean’s coat, and loved Char’s idea of placing a blue panel on the back of the gown, but called Char’s look both hoochie and boring. Nina chimed in with more coat love, and more transparency hate, but some cohesion love, too. |
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KORINA AND EMILY Korina hates Char; she called her dead weight; she reminded us, again and again that Char has been eliminated once before; she told us that Char isn’t as good as everyone, herself included; she tells us that Char will drag Sean to the Bottom. Ruh-roh. Korina has also decided to call her team, Team Winner, or Winning Team Winner. Ruh-roh. Korina and Emily got the furniture bin, and that’s they’re starting point—using furniture as fashion, and, at times, almost too literally. Korina will do a blanket cape, a table runner skirt, and a vinyl blouse with placemat cuffs; Emily is doing seat-cushion vest, and placemats and tablecloths as, well, the rest; their third look is a knit that Korina chose form Mood because it looked like something found in a dumpster.  Ruh-roh. Tim dubs Emily’s look Sponge-Bob because of the weird shoulders, and says Korina’s look might be too much, too many, and the third look is, and here’s Tim’s high praise, “not dull.” Ruh — okay you get where I’m going. LOOK #1 Sweater with leather leggings KORINA SAID I love the sweater, I love the look. I SAID It’s kind of rocker chick in the 80s … and why a hat? LOOK #2 Structured jacked with skirt EMILY SAID I love my look, especially the vest I SAID It looked a little Bag Lady Dumpster Chic; it’s interesting, but is it fashion? LOOK #3 High-necked cape with and skirt and hat KORINA SAID I love the way the cape moves, it looks so polished I SAID Hats and capes and skirts and thigh-boots, oh my! It’s just too much. WHAT THE JUDGES SAID Nina scrunches up her face — which is never good — and says she hates the cape; she hates the hat on the girl in the cape; and she is shocked, SHOCKED, that a designer would go into Mood and by that awful knit. She said it wasn’t contemporary, except for Emily’s, and called Korina’s dated and awful. Heidi, though, did like it, and thought there was a clear concept, while The Adorable Zac Posen™ thought theirs was the most soulful collection; he also loved Emily’s cushion look, and also hated Korina’s cape disaster and the pants she made for the Mood look. Korina snapped, “At least it’s wearable.” And Sean and Char dug the knives from their chests. Christian said their collection looks like a woman staying in a ski lodge who hasn’t done anything all day, and Nina chimed in with, She hasn’t done anything in decades. Cristina also called the cape sad, and Nina again chimed in with her distaste for Korina falling back on her Southwestern aesthetic — she’s done it four times! Korina then tosses more daggers at Sean and Char, saying at least people — though she can’t name a single person — would wear her looks, because they can; even Heidi is getting annoyed with Korina and we all know it’s never a good idea to be a bitch in front of, or toward, the judges. |
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WHAT HAPPENED Kini gets another win for the Soccer Ball, and Amanda is also safe. Emily, too, gets a save, and Sean joins her, leaving Korina and Char as the Bottom Two.One will be in and one will be out, but wait! Heidi decides to throw a curveball: Korina and Char have one hour to design a look that doesn’t need to relate to this challenge, using leftover fabrics from previous challenges; plus, they can have their teammate help. Char and Sean get to work instantly coming up with a plan to use an easy fabric and make a simple, cool chic design. Korina, though, decides that rather than creating a look she likes, she'll pattern sixteen pieces into one dress and then spend the majority of her time pissing and moaning about how she shouldn’t be in the Bottom because she’s so good and Char’s so bad. She even gets her model to call Char’s new look ugly.  But Char created a sexy, form-fitting, cool blue dress with a chiffon cape that was gorgeous. Heidi loved it, saying it could be worn at any number of events. Nina called it modern, and loved the scarf — kudos to Sean for hemming the chiffon perfectly. Christian loved the lightness of the dress and called it a great fit for Sean and Char’s collection. Korina’s Redo is something she’ll just “put on the runway” because she knows that will get her the win, even though she didn’t finish it and had to pin her model into it. It’s puckered, and boring, and downright Korina. Heidi noted that Korina rolled her eyes when the model walked and Korina said she hated the look, and that her piece in the mini-collection was a better representation of her work. Ruh-roh. Then Korina said, side-eyed, to Nina, With the utmost respect about the Southwestern print comment, I’ve done it ONCE and I won that challenge. Double Ruh-roh. Don’t.Piss.Off.Nina! Heidi called the fabric choice bad, Christian hated the puckering, The Adorable Zac Posen™ called it “good” for an hour. When asked why she should win, Char said because she’s versatile; when Korina was asked why she should win, she went Kenley, and began sobbing that she wanted this. But the judges didn’t and Korina is out, but not quite down. In the waiting room, Char begins to sob, even though she won, because it was so hard. Korina silks back in and demands to know if anyone saw this coming — I raised my hand — and then begins going off on Char because she’d been eliminated once already and she’s no good and she’s she’s she’s Char. Char countered perfectly with the Yes, I got the save, but there have been five challenges since and I’m still here. Korina snapped, This isn’t about you Char. Oh, but it was Korina, it was. It was about how much better you think you are than Char; it’s about your giant ego, your bad manners, your rudeness, and, yes, some really bad designs. It’s also about you leaving and not hugging a single designer. That says volumes. |
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MY TAKE My stomach hurt listening to Korina bitch during the final twist. I kept thinking — as Emily pointed out, and props to her for that — that when you act ugly, you create ugly, and that’s what Korina did and that’s why she was sent packing. I am still tired of Amanda, and still upper” tired of her continuous use of the word “super” in describing a challenge, a fabric, her looks, or anything at all. Stop it! That phrase is as dated as your aesthetic. Sidenote: Amanda appeared as an actress on this week’s episode of Nashville, working as a stylist for the Juliette Barnes character; she wasn’t half bad. I haven’t thought much of Emily this season, and I still think her aesthetic is too old and too wacky, but her comments on Korina is a bitch, oops, I mean karma is a bitch were spot on and very welcome. Line of the night? Sean, when helping Char with the Twist: “I’m helping a competitor not get eliminated, but if I get her into the Top Five, it’s an easy sheep to the slaughter later.” I.Loved.That. Next week, Auf’d designers come back, and, quelle surprise, Korina will have to work with Char, and it won’t be good. Is that Elton in the background ♫ ♪ the bitch is back ♪ ♫ What did YOU think?  |
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I Ain't One To Gossip But ....
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Jennifer Love Hewitt is one of the most annoying people on the planet, and not just because she asks people to call her Love, though that’s a big part of it. She’s annoying because she has no discernible talent, other than having ginormous breasts as a teenager on some hit TV show. She’s annoying because she’s man-crazy, or at least she was until she got knocked up by a random dude she married. But we’ll go back to before Knocked-Up-Married, to when she was just a stalker who sent Matt Damon a bed. Yes, she did. And she tells the story like this: “I was reading an article, and he said this really sad thing about how all his dreams were coming true but he didn’t feel that he had a bed of his own, he was always traveling. I remember being really busy also and thinking, that’s so sad, to have all your dreams come true but not have a solid foundation. So for some reason, I thought an aerobed would help that for him. In my head, I thought, He can travel with it, then it’s always his safe place. I didn’t go over it with anyone, I should’ve been like, “Hey, should I send this to Matt Damon?” and they would’ve been like, “No, you’re crazy, don’t do it!” But I didn’t, so I got the information he was in Paris, filming something, so I sent it to Paris.” Cray-zay. Naturally, Matt Damon had the bed burned because god knows what filthy things Love had done in it before shipping it halfway around the world to a total stranger. Cray-zay. |
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America’s Most decorated Olympian, Michael Phelps, is now on the run to become America’s Most Arrested For DUI Olympian. Over the weekend, Phelps was arrested on suspicion of DUI in Baltimore for erratic driving and for going 84 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. The officer who stopped the Olympian said he seemed to be drunk, though, to be fair, Michael Phelps always looks drunk; but there was the stench of booze that also alerted the officer to the crime, and he failed the subsequent series — meaning more than one — of standard field sobriety tests. He was arrested and charged with DUI, excessive speed, and crossing double lane lines. He was later released and said to be back behind the wheel training for the Jack Daniels Swerve-a-lympics, but for right now he is sorry: “Earlier this morning, I was arrested and charged with DUI, excessive speeding, and crossing double lane lines. I understand the severity of my actions and take full responsibility. I know these words may not mean much right now but I am deeply sorry to everyone I have let down.” Oh yeah, this is Phelp’s second DUI so yeah, his words don’t mean much at all. |
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I admit it, I have been watching The View lately now that Grandma Barbara has been sent to a farm where she can run and play with all the other retired journalists. I watch because, most of the time, I like Whoopi Goldberg and her common sense approach to life, and because Rosie O’Donnell is back and one of the other co-hosts used to work for Rosie’s archenemy George “War For Oil” Bush. I thought that would be a catfight worth watching, but apparently Rosie and the Republican are getting along well, but it’s Rosie and Whoopi who are fighting. According to sources — and by sources I mean a studio filled with people — Rosie and Whoopi got into a shouting match during a commercial break that ended with Whoopi tossing every filthy word she could think of at O’Donnell. Rosie was discussing how she feels about spanking your children during the Hot Topics segment and as they ran out of time, the producers told Whoopi to end the discussion and go to a commercial break. Ruh-roh. Now, Rosie doesn’t wear the earpiece so she didn’t hear the producers call for the Shut Rosie Down and once they went to commercial, Rosie grabbed the mic they use for talking to the audience and started ripping into Whoopi for cutting her off and saying she “hurt her feelings”. Whoopi set down her joint — I kid, she smokes backstage y’all — and warned Rosie that this was neither the time nor the place, but Rosie continued to go full-Rosie, telling the audience: “Well I just don’t appreciate you saying that you were going to do something and not doing it. It makes me upset and I just don’t want to have to go through this.” That’s when Whoopi, who never met an F-bomb she didn’t drop, pick back up and drop again, said: “Fuck it, I told you to leave it alone and you just don’t want to listen. If you want to go there Rosie, I will dammit. I’m really sick of your shit.” Cat Fight! Except … the “sick of your shit” comment seemed to shut Rosie down — too bad Hasselbeck didn’t know that — and so The Other Rosie, AKA Rosie Perez tried to lighten the mood by saying to the audience: “Oh shit, Twitter is going to be off the hook now. They’re about to get it.“ Afterwards Barbara Walters wrote Rosie Perez a check for $5 million dollars and elevated her status to Co-Host Referee. |
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I don’t know anyone who likes going to the dentist, but Charlie Sheen must really hate it … It appears that the former 2.5 Men star, and current star of the aptly named Anger Management, went berserk on a dental technician after she placed a mask on his face for nitrous oxide. Sheen ALLEGEDLY reacted by be waving his arms and ultimately hitting her, and the dentist is now claiming that Sheen pulled out a knife and tried to attack him. How? Why? Oh, Sheen’s bodyguard made the apologies, by saying Charlie was high on rock cocaine at the time, but even after the mea culpa the Los Angeles Police Department is looking into the incident. |
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Justin Bieber who was banging Selena Gomez when he ALLEGEDLY banged Miranda Kerr — whose ex, Orlando Bloom punched The Biebs in a Spanish nightclub — is now ALLEGEDLY banging Kendall Jenner who is ALLEGEDLY banging the tiny tot so he can introduce her to Chris Brown because that’s her end game. I need an Excel spreadsheet to keep up with this pool of STDs. |
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| Small Bites … Ben Affleck’s penis makes its film debut in Gone Girl. I heard it’s a small part. |
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Sunday Funnies
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Thoughts on Life and Death and Dying
I don't think this is as maudlin as the title suggests, but give it a read and you be the judge ....
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We have had three deaths in our little circle of friends this past month, and, as happens, it’s gotten me thinking — not always a good thing, sometimes, as I tend to think too much — about death, and dying. And when you toss into the mix the fact that my mother’s birthday was September 27 and that always makes me ‘what if’ and ‘I wonder,’ and that my sister’s birthday, the first since she passed, was October 1, well, it’s been death-a-palooza up in here for me. One of my very best, very best, friends in the world, Laura, lost her husband a few weeks back. Bob had been diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2009 and struggled and fought so valiantly; he got better, he was better, and then came a setback and he was back in the hospital where he passed away, with Laura at his side, last month. I cannot imagine how it feels to lose the love of your life; I’ve lost friends and relatives, parents, a sister, but this has got to be the hardest of all. It sinks me to places I don’t want to go to, making me think about what would happen if I lost Carlos; how would I survive; would I survive. But then, scarier for me, is what might happen to Carlos if I died; I so don’t want him to be alone. But then I realized you have to take what life gives you and move on as best you can, one foot in front of the other, and hope that, while it won’t get easier, it will get better. You have to wake up; you have to get out of bed; you have to continue on because that’s what Bob would want for Laura; that’s what those who’ve gone on would want for us, those left behind. We had cocktails Bob and Laura last August when we were in California and visiting my sister, who had her own battle with cancer. And the one thing that struck me about Bob was this: he’d always been friendly to Carlos and me; nice, and friendly, and just a lovely, lovely man. But this time, as we were saying out goodbyes, he grabbed each one of us and hugged us Goodbye. It was a few weeks later we learned that he was sick again, and I thought about that hug. At first I thought maybe Bob knew that he was getting sick again, and maybe this was his own personal Goodbye to us; but then I thought that maybe, because of all he’d gone through for over five years — tests and treatments and procedures and hospitalizations — that he knew you had to cherish each and every moment because you don’t know if you’ll ever get that moment again. So he hugged you so that you knew how he felt about you in case he never got the chance again. A few days after Bob passed, our friend Cody had suffered a massive heart attack in his sleep. His partner Bruce woke up and tried to revive him, but Cody died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. They had been together 42 years; forty.two.years. And again I wondered, how do you survive after losing your love; what do you do to carry on. How do you wake up in an empty bed for the first time in four decades? You just do, I learned. We attended a memorial service for Cody, and spoke with Bruce, who, as most people who lose a loved one do, seemed more intent on easing our grief, our sense of sorrow, than allowing us to help him. And so I realized that you go on because, yes, you had your partner, spouse, husband, wife, for years and years, but you also have your family — your biological family, and the family you’ve made for yourself out of friends. You carry on because you have those other people in your life that can light the way when you feel as though you’re slipping into the darkness. Then Carlos learned that one of his former co-workers was in the hospital. His name was Carlos, too, Carlos S. He and my Carlos worked as a team for a local healthcare company a few years ago. That Carlos was a black man, and since he and his teammate shared the same first name, people at the office took to calling them Salt-and-Pepper, or Black Cloud and White Smoke. My Carlos visited that other Carlos, who was unconscious in the hospital, and he chatted with him for a while; said his piece, so to speak; and then he left. Carlos S. passed away that same afternoon, alone. He seemed to have no one; no one to claim the body; no family that Carlos could find. I was thinking about what that might be like, to die alone, no family, a handful of friends, or even less, who didn’t know that you’d gotten sick. But my Carlos wasn’t having that; he called people; he checked in with people; he did some research. He found the estranged son of Carlos S., who wanted nothing to do with his father, even after death; but then he found more friends, neighbors, former co-workers; he found that Carlos S. had been in the military and because of that he could be buried with a military funeral at Fort Jackson herein Columbia. Carlos, my Carlos, and a couple of others, made some arrangements with Fort Jackson; my Carlos wrote a beautiful eulogy for his friend that he posted to Facebook, and friends of Carlos S. found it and responded to it. This tiny group, tied together because they knew this man who died alone, attended the service even if no one else could, or would. But then people did; other co-workers, friends, and even his estranged son paid their respects; the flag that draped the coffin was folded into that ceremonial triangle and given to his survivors. Carlos S. may have died alone, with scarcely anyone knowing anything about him, but he was buried in honor, with friends, and even family, at his side. And so I realized that, while it may seem that sometimes we die alone, we don’t. There are those who remember, those who visit as you lay dying, and those who pay their final respects. And even when you think that, after death, people are forgotten, they aren’t; you remember the soup your mother made on cold winter days and you smile; you remember the trouble you got into with your sister, and you smile. You remember that last hug from a friend; that last joke; that last time you saw them, and you smile. And you go on …. |
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WTF? Tara Reid
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A few year's back, Tara Reid, who was Lohan before Lohan became Lohan, was at a premier and the spaghetti strap on her gown slipped off revealing her bare breast ... just the one. Now, Reid has ALLEGEDLY had so many boob jobs that she didn't even seem to feel, or notice, that she was flashing boob. She just kept posing. She wasn't going to let that happen again so she chose to wear a Boob Canyon top that seems to made of cardboard. At least it won't slip to one side, though it may flap down to reveal the take-out menu from the Beijing House printed on the inside. And I will not say a word about that jacked up looking face that makes her look nothing like the Original Tara Reid. or about the globbed on eye makeup and hooker heels. I won't say a word about those things, I tell ya! |
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Those Two Little Words May Be Coming To South Carolina
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There I was, at home this morning, getting a list of things that we need for our trip to Washington; money for the license, money for the judge; money; something nice to wear when I say ‘I do.’ And I started thinking, again. Is this going to change our relationship? I mean, we’ve been chugging along really nicely for almost fourteen years without putting a ring on it, and so does this matter? Two little words? They do; I do. Yes, I matter; and Carlos matters. And I want to be able to say to people “This is my husband Carlos” not “This is my partner/boyfriend/lover [ick]/domestic partner.” Husband. So it does matter, and I am getting ready and I am getting excited, and then I check this interwebz thing and I see that just this morning the United States Supreme Court began its fall session, and in one of its first decisions, have announced it will not take up any of the same-sex marriage cases from the five states it was presented; not Utah; not Oklahoma; not Virginia, Indiana, or Wisconsin. And this little announcement, this SCOTUS basically saying these cases don’t matter, and mean nothing, means that those lower court rulings will go into effect for all same-sex marriage cases, making same-sex marriage legal in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana, and Wisconsin. I was stunned, and then I saw Virginia on that list. Virginia is huge for us in South Carolina because one of those appeals was filed by the Fourth Circuit Court, and that court also hears cases in South Carolina, including our own Will of the People Fund-raising case, Bradacs v. Nikki Haley. So, it looks like same-sex marriage will become legal in eleven more states, by virtue of them being in federal circuit court regions, and one of those states is ours. South-freaking-Carolina. Let me say that again: South-freaking-Carolina! And the other states under the jurisdiction of appeals courts that struck down the bans include North Carolina, West Virginia, South Carolina, Wyoming, Kansas and Colorado, meaning the number of states where marriage equality lives will likely jump from 19 to 30! Thirty. Now, there is a caveat, as always; SCOTUS could take up a same-sex marriage case in the future if a Court of Appeals rules a state’s marriage ban is constitutional, but no appeals court has ever made that ruling to date, so it appears cautiously unlikely that it will happen. So, does this mean I’m unpacking? Am I gonna put the judges cash, and the licensing cash in the bank? No. We are still going to Washington because there is no word yet on when marriage becomes legal here, and we want to be married on what will be our fourteenth anniversary, October 17, and we want my Dad to be there, almost as much as he wants to be there himself. But, but, this means that sometime, maybe before the end of the year, we can be married in our own backyard; or , if it’s cold outside, maybe under a Christmas tree. I look fabulous wrapped in a bow! I do! |
PS Those are our wedding rings up there.
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Haley and Wilson Won't Give Up ... Even When They've Already Lost
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First, some back-story: in August 2013, Katie Bradacs and her wife, Tracie Goodwin-Bradacs, filed a lawsuit against Nikki Haley and the state demanding that South Carolina recognize their same-sex marriage — performed legally in Washington DC. Now, since there was already a case in Virginia before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, both sides in South Carolina agreed to wait and see what happened in that case before moving forward. And what happened was that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the same-sex marriage ban in Virginia was unconstitutional. And when a bunch of folks demanded that the Supreme Court hear their request to appeal that ruling, SCOTUS basically said that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was right in saying that marriage bans in Virginia, and by association, Maryland — which has already passed marriage equality, North Carolina, West Virginia and South Carolina, are unconstitutional.  So, Nikki Haley, and Attorney General Alan Wilson, stopped their fight, right? Katie and Tracie, as well as any number of same-sex couples married in other states would now see their marriages recognized in South Carolina, right? Well, not if Governor Haley and Alan Wilson have anything to say about it. See, some people need to be told more than once that the fight is over, that they’ve lost, that they need to put down their protest signs, and their rhetoric, and their out-date — and kind of untrue — arguments, call it a day and go home. And some folks, when being told that by any number of people, from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to the United States Supreme Court, still don’t get it. But both Haley and Wilson said — as soon as the announcement was made — that they would keep fighting the Bradacs lawsuit, with Alan Wilson saying: “Our case has not yet been decided. Until the courts rule on the matter, South Carolina will seek to uphold our state constitution.” For an Attorney General, he seems ignorant of the fact that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, and the Supreme Court stands by that ruling, that marriage bans against same-sex couples are unconstitutional … even the one in South Carolina. And naturally, Nikki Haley, a darling of the illiterate Teabag set, sent one of her Flying Monkeys out with a statement: “Governor Haley agrees with Attorney General Wilson – our voter-approved state law should be followed until a court rules on it directly.” Nikki Haley apparently needs to be hit over the head with the facts before she sees them, but then, as a Republican, she has little use, little need, for facts. So, for now, Haley and Wilson are digging in their heels, and sealing their fate, all because they don’t want to be seen as the ones who allowed this to happen; instead, they’ll be seen as the ones who don’t know when they’ve lost and continue to cry foul. Marriage equality is coming to South Carolina; get used to it. Wilson, for his part, does have a way out of this mess; he could say that to continue this fight would be a waste of taxpayer money and he cannot allow that. As a lawyer, you’d hope he would realize that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, and the subsequent announcement by the Supreme Court, applies to South Carolina; he knows equality is coming, yet he won’t give up. He’ll keep squawking about traditional marriage, and activist judges, and he’ll keep saying the case hasn’t been decided because it hasn’t gone to court yet. As for Nikki, and why she won’t give up when it’s quite clear she’s lost, it’s because she wants to appease her base of Teabagging loons and Rightwingnut Goosesteppers; but again, how can she say she’s a fiscal conservative, and then allow the lawsuit to continue when it’s clear to everyone with a brain that fires on more than one cylinder, that the fight is over. Of course, as with politics, it’s all about elections, and the party, and your side, and, sometimes, not at all about what’s right, and fair, and agreeing to abide by what has already been decided. Haley’s opponents in the upcoming race for governor are also weighing in on the decision, and the Democrat, a local Camden boy, and State Senator, Vincent Sheheen, seems to want to play both sides of the fence, releasing his own statement after the SCOTUS announcement: “Further litigation on this issue will be a waste of time and precious taxpayer dollars.” But then he seemed to also suggest that Haley and Wilson should continue the battle in the 4th Circuit Court. See, as a politician, and one who wants to get into the governor’s mansion — and, for the record, I’d prefer him there over Haley … go figure — I wish he’d stop speaking out of both sides of his mouth. You cannot have it both ways; you cannot say it’s a waste of time to continue to fight and then also endorse the fight. The other candidate for Governor, a Republican running as an Independent, Tom Erwin, though, has said: “The Supreme Court has made its decision and further action by the state is a poor use of resources.” Boom. Done. Simple. And it is simple, and done; let me make this part clear: the judge in the case of Bradacs v Haley, South Carolina, et al, is Michelle Childs and she is bound by Virginia’s Bostic decision and she must rule against Haley and Wilson. And when she does, Haley and Wilson will most likely take their case, all foot-stomping and head-snapping, to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has already ruled that marriage bans are unconstitutional. It’s over, and yet only Nikki Haley, Alan Wilson, and rightwingnut, Teabagging, conservatives don’t get it. It’s over. |
viaThe State
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Two Cases Of Bullying ... Two Ridiculous Outcomes
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SIDENOTE: Eric's family has started a campaign, Letters for Eric, to show him some support, and if you’d like to write to him, here’s how: Letters for Eric P.O.Box 993 Sandston, Va. 23150 |
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File Under: "Yeah, Like That's Gonna Happen!"
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In what surely must be the most delusional thing to ever come out of his mouth — including his assertion of heterosexuality, which is laughable, at best, and pathetic, at worst — this week South Carolina’s own Lindsey Graham has said he is thinking of running for president. Of the United States, y’all. Graham, who votes every chance he gets to send Americans off to war, and then also votes every chance he gets to deny them benefits when they return home, is suggesting that she, er, he just might be the one to fix all the problems in this country by taking the White House in 2016. Oh, but wait, there’s a caveat … “If I get through my general election, if nobody steps up in the presidential mix, if nobody’s out there talking — me and McCain have been talking — I may just jump in to get to make these arguments.” Yes, if he wins reelection he’ll think of running because when he loses his bid for the presidency, and make no mistake, while many of the loons in South Carolina think he’s just peachy, most of the people in America know he’s a twisted fruitcake and will never vote for him, he’ll still have his cushy job as a Senator to fall back on. But if he loses his chance at reelection, then he won’t run because, well, he’s just a loser, with John McCain—remember The Mama Grizzly Bore™--his chief supporter: “I’ve strongly encouraged him to give it a look. I think Lindsey has vast and deep experience on these issues that very few others have.” Huh! That sounds awful close to what he said about that moron he chose for his running mate back in ’08. Lindsey? Bitch, please. You haven’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected to the presidency, so take a seat, pour yourself a Cosmo and unwind with a Real Housewives marathon. And shut up. |
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American Horror Story: Freakshow
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It debuts tonight on FX, with Jessica Lange, Denis O'Hare, Sarah Paulson, Frances Conroy, Kathy Bates, Finn Wittrock, Angela Bassett, Emma Roberts, Michael Chiklis, Evan Peters and Wes Bentley. Also set to appear are Patti LaBelle and Matt My-Husband-In-My-Head Bomer. It's gonna be great. |
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Architecture Wednesday: Narigua House
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Narigua House is located in El Jonuco, a neighborhood of tall mountains and slender valleys where the inhabitants live surrounded by typical Mexican vegetation and wildlife. Oh, and they live in luxury, too. The site is densely populated by local trees that posed a serious design challenge, but the home was designed to enjoy the views while respecting the existing ecosystem. Since the growth of the cedar trees would block the views, it was decided to lift the house and make it fly above the trees and add a mildly sloping driveway to reach the ground floor. The floor plan is divided into zones that gather around a group of old cedar trees and because each level responds to different conditions, each plan, in itself simple, is different to the others. The building is also divided in three different volumes. The first contains the garage and storage spaces while the entrance hall, master bedroom and staircase to the lower level are located in the second volume; the third contains the kitchen, service and social areas. Life in the house moves outdoors along the west side with a group of terraces that overlook the focal point of the residence: two spectacular mountains that almost touch. The lower level serves as a plinth for the ground floor and contains a number of what the architect calls “recyclable” chambers: room with furniture that allows them to transform into the guest bedrooms. This floor also contains two half-buried technical rooms that free the rooftop to be enjoyed as another vista to the mountains. Contrary to its massive exterior image, inside the house the use of glass makes the exterior views part of everyday life. The material palette gives the project a rustic, timeless appearance that serves as background for antiques and contemporary furniture, paintings, masks and sculptures; these “treasures” keep the eyes inside before allowing them to escape toward to the natural beauty beyond the glass. It seems like an area that might almost be uninhabitable, but if this is an indication of how one lives in El Jonuco then sign me up!                         |
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I'm In A Marriage State Of Mind: UPDATE: West Virginia Goes Equal UPDATE: Nevada Won't Fight it
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Man oh man, do I have marriage on my mind these days, and not just my own—have I mentioned on here at all that Carlos and I are becoming Mr. and Mr. next week? I wasn’t sure …. Anyway, the way things stand in South Carolina right now is this: Governor Nikki Haley — soon to lose an election and any chance at a political future, fingers crossed — and Attorney General Alan Wilson have decided that the Supreme Court’s announcement this week to let the 4th Circuit Court’s ruling that marriage bans are unconstitutional stand doesn’t affect South Carolina — even though it does — and they have vowed to go down in history as a couple of the last hold-outs fighting against equality. That’s quite a footnote to an already not-so-illustrious career, Nikki. Just sayin’. The judge in our case — Bradacs v Haley, South Carolina — wants to hear arguments next Tuesday, and may make a ruling next week. If we win, and it’s quite likely we will because the Great and Powerful 4th Circuit Court has spoken, I imagine Nikki will dig her heels in further and try to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court who might just look at her and say, “Bitch, please! We already decided this, It’s done. Get back on your broom and get outta here.” Marriage licenses for same-sex couples were issued yesterday in both Charleston and Richland counties, but Attorney General Wilson asked that the state Supreme Court demand that the licenses be stopped; for now. Or something; but it’s more than South Carolina; it’s also Nevada and Idaho. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Nevada’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage imposes “profound legal, financial, social and psychic harms” on many of its citizens and overturned it, as happens quite often these days; the ruling also overturned Idaho’s ban as well. In Nevada, Clark County began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples yesterday, and up there in Idaho more than a dozen same-sex couples applied for marriage licenses, only to be turned away after US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy stay the 9th Court of Appeals’ ruling; he also stayed a court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in Nevada. So, it was on in Nevada and Idaho and minutes later it was off, but then, right after staying the ruling keeping the ban on marriage equality in Nevada and Idaho, Kennedy said that same-sex marriages were allowed in Nevada because his earlier order only applied to Idaho. See, it turned out that no one in Nevada asked to halt the same-sex marriages, so Kennedy had no choice but to let them continue. It was on, then it was off, then it was on, and seems to be staying on now. UPDATE I: The issuing of marriage licenses to same-sex couples is on hold due to pending motions in the courts. The 9th Circuit is currently considering whether to recall the mandate to the District Court requiring an injunction. The state had anticipated accepting marriage license applications from same-sex couples today, but now it seems to be in limbo. UPDATE II: The same-sex marriage opponents have decided not to fight; marriage is back on. Okay, so what’s next? UTAH Same-sex marriage is legal. Republican Governor Gary Herbert said the announcement "may be not satisfactory for some, but it is the law of the land." KANSAS Chief District Judge Kevin Moriarty directed the district court clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples; same-sex marriage is legal. OKLAHOMA Same-sex marriage is legal, though Governor Mary Fallin — a veritable Nikki Haley clone, though she’s a divorced Christian adulteress — said that “the will of the people has been overridden and that the rights of Oklahomans had been trampled by an arrogant, out-of-control federal government." Boo hoo, Mary. WYOMING No marriage equality; Governor Matt Mead and his attorney general will continue to defend Wyoming's constitution defining marriage between a man and a woman, with their slated for a hearing in mid-December. COLORADO Same-sex marriage is legal. VIRGINIA Same-sex marriage is legal; Governor Terry McAuliffe called it "a historic and long-overdue moment for our commonwealth and our country." NORTH CAROLINA A federal judge issued an order telling lawyers on both sides of the case challenging North Carolina's ban on same-sex marriage to submit documents supporting their arguments. Each party involved has 10 days to file. UPDATE: A Judge has lifted the stays and it appears that same-sex marriages will begin today! WEST VIRGINIA No marriage equality; a lawsuit challenging the state's ban was delayed by a federal court in the that the Supreme Court would rule on the issue which means that, for now, same-sex couples cannot apply for marriage licenses. UPDATE: West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says his office will no longer fight a court challenge to West Virginia's ban on same-sex marriages. INDIANA Same-sex marriage is legal; Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has ordered county to comply with a mandate from the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ordered that all obstacles to same-sex marriage be removed. WISCONSIN ALABAMA No marriage equality; lawsuits challenging the ban have been filed in each of the state's three federal court districts, but judges have yet to rule. ALASKA ARIZONA ARKANSAS FLORIDA No marriage equality; a federal judge declared the state's ban unconstitutional, joining state judges in four counties, but he issued a stay delaying the effect of his order. GEORGIA KENTUCKY LOUISIANA MICHIGAN MISSISSIPPI MISSOURI MONTANA NEBRASKA NORTH DAKOTA OHIO SOUTH DAKOTA TENNESSEE TEXAS And so there you have it; good news by the boatload, but still many fights to be fought, and won, before we all have the right to marry who we love, where we live. The march goes on …. |
The Advocate: Idaho
The Advocate: Nevada
ABC News
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Random Musings
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When we were at South Carolina Pride a few weeks back, Carlos found a kilt he wanted to buy. His grandfather was from England — he moved to Mexico as an adult and lived there the rest of his life — and Carlos has always been an Anglophile. Now, his kilt isn’t plaid, it’s a dark green, but it’s very cool, and once it arrived to the house, he decided he wanted to wear it to our wedding. I had other ideas — I always do — of keeping it simple, with each of us in a nice black jacket, white shirt and nice — nice — jeans. Carlos said, “Jeans?????” I said, “Kilt????” He’s wearing the kilt, and that’s fine, because it looks good on him, but I did ask that he wear a nice black jacket and white shirt. So, he showed me the white shirts he had in the closet; not one from this century, so imagine dirty dishwater white color; and there wasn’t a black jacket in sight. So, Carlos, who hates to shop, set off in search of a black jacket, a white shirt, and some black boots to wear with his kilt. When he returned home, happy as a clam to have found the items, he gave me a little preview; nice jacket; very nice crisp white, white, shirt, and some cool black boots — rough-trade boots, if you will. I sat in the chair and muttered, “Wow, you get a whole new outfit for the wedding and I’m wearing my old black jacket.” “I knew it!” He shrieked, and my ears began to bleed. “Shout it to the whole neighborhood,” I said. Carlos walked to the living room window, threw it up, and shrieked outside, “I. KNEW. IT!!!!!” Today I went and bought myself some new, nice, cool, jeans, a new crisp white shirt, and three pairs of new shoes, you know, because I will not be outdone at my own wedding!! |
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Last week the Labor Department reported that 248,000 jobs were created last month, pushing the unemployment down to a six-year low of 5.9%. Thanks Obama. See, Rightwingnuts? That's how “Thanks Obama” works. Say Thanks to the President for fixing the mess created by George W. Bush. And then sit down. |
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So, naturally, other than my own upcoming marriage, was the news out of SCOTUS this week, which paved the way for marriages in at least five — and perhaps up to eleven — new states. I got a huuuge kick out of some of the GOP wingnuts who called the Supreme Court a bunch of unelected judges — um, yeah, that’s how it works — and said they were activist judges. Funny, though, had the Supreme Court ruled the other way these asshats would have been praising these non-elected activists for doing their jobs. GOP? Take a seat; you don’t have a dog in this fight any more. |
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Speaking of GOP loons … Mike Huckabee. That’s really all that need be said, but I love this Tweet, and the response from Jesus H. Christ. Who knew Jesus was so funny?  |
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I watched a new comedy last week called A To Z; it’s one of those “relationship” comedies, but it’s just quirky enough not to be sappy, and just well-written enough to be actually funny. As in the scene where our couple is sitting in a trendy martini bar and the bartender asks the girl if she likes her “Martini Navratilova.” He then offers to make her a “Martini Luther King Jr.” Okay, it made me laugh, and I also got a little tingly with the adorkable male lead, Ben Feldman. I do so love a dork; hell, I’m marrying one! |
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American Horror Story Freak Show started last night and, naturally, Jessica Lange was brilliant, and fearless and fabulous, and a bit shocking. Plus, all kinds of oddities, some real, I think, and some not, I think. And, if you have a fear of clowns, well, yeah, you know. Next up for Ryan Murphy, creator of AHS, is American Crime Story, the first season of which will focus on the OJ Simpson trial. Having lived through it, I’d think that case would be better suited under the Freak Show umbrella. |
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Did I mention I’m getting married? I think I may have … At any rate, just yesterday a judge down in Charleston County issued a marriage license to a same-sex couple; one half of the duo was his own sister. Yup, the Honorable Irvin Condon, accepted a marriage license and fee from his cousin, Charleston County Councilwoman Colleen Condon, and her fiancée, Nichols Bleckley. After the requisite 24-hour statutory waiting period, Judge Condon says he will issue Condon and Bleckley their marriage license unless a court of competent — is that a trick question — jurisdiction orders him not too. This would make Colleen and Nichols eligible to become the first same-sex couple to be legally wed in South Carolina. And then just as that news broke, came the news that Richland County, home to the capital, Columbia, and just a hop, skip and a jump from Smallville, has also begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In freaking South Carolina! Richland County Probate Judge Amy McCulloch said she accepted applications for the first time because, “I believe it’s time for this to change. It’s a fundamental right to be with who you want to be with.” She also said she changed categories on the county’s marriage license paper application from “bride” and “groom” to “Applicant 1” and “Applicant 2.” Like Judge Condon, McCulloch is also waiting to see how the Attorney General’s office or the state Supreme Court reacts to taking marriage-license applications from same-sex couples. But it’s shocking to hear that same-sex couples are getting marriage licenses in, again, freaking South Carolina! UPDATE: Our wingnut Attorney general has asked the state courts to halt the issuance of marriage licenses; for now, because one day soon he'll look a bigger fool than he did yesterday. |
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On the flip side, asshat, wingnut, douchebag Utah Republican state representative Kraig Powell opened a bill file in the Utah legislature to revise marriage statutes, suggesting that the law be rewritten to refer to same-sex marriages as "pairages." I ask that the law be rewritten to refer to Powell as an effing moron, and I think my bill will pass first. |
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Look at that Clay Aiken, so sharp-tongued and quick-witted. Clay is running to be North Carolina second district representative, and recently had a debate with the incumbent Republican Renee Ellmers, who, like all race-0baiting goose-stepping GOPers keeps trying to tie her opponent to Barack Obama because, well, I guess they think that’s bad. And Clay ain’t playing that, and when Ellmers uttered the line, “This Obama-Aiken economy is just killing us,” Clay responded, “You might need to get a new writer because calling it the Obama-Aiken economy is just preposterous.” Still, Ellmers kept at it, this time alluding to Aiken's vocal prowess and showmanship while discussing the U.S. military: “It's almost as if as an entertainer, you believe that you can just go in with a song and dance and change the mind of the military leaders.” Aiken said, and it still makes me giggle, “The most embarrassing reality show in the country right now is Congress.” Two snaps up for Aiken! |
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I Didn't Say It ...
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Ted Olson, who, along with fellow AFER attorney David Boies, represented Timothy Bostic and Tony London in their suit against Virginia, on the SCOTUS announcement: "It does seem to suggest, if I was a federal judge, I would read today’s decision as saying that the opponents, if they still exist, on the Supreme Court of marriage equality have decided they don’t want to get into this and they sort of feel that the federal judges — one after the other, after the other, after the other — are getting it right and at this point they ought to just leave it alone. We believe, those of us who have been involved in this effort, that the Supreme Court having decided not to overturn or not to even review the decisions of these circuit courts ultimately will grant that same right and that same privilege to people all over the United States. To see the United States Supreme Court recognize in this way the love of these individuals and the happiness that they will soon be able to experience is the highlight of my life.” It started as a trickle and may end as a landslide. As it should … |
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Wade Davis Jr., former profession football player who came out as gay in 2012, on being gay, and his own journey to acceptance: "I did not want anyone to think I was gay, I started to perform more hetero norms of masculinity. I would go to strip clubs and when I did go to nightclubs, I made sure I left with a female. I was looking at my identity through the eyes of others. ... When you look at me, Jason Collins or Michael Sam, we show up with a certain type of masculinity that is typically accepted in this country. We can walk into a room and you'll think those guys are probably straight. We must make sure that any person can show up with any level of masculinity and be accepted." An effeminate man, gay or straight, is still a man; two men in a relationship are still men — I loathe when anyone asks me or Carlos who the woman is in our relationship. Gay men are men, get used to it. |
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Yvette Schneider, ex-ex-gay, meaning now she's not not gay, I guess, on the ex-gay movement and its demise: "I think the ex-gay movement will be dead within the next 10 years. As churches become more gay-affirming, parents and church leaders won’t seek parachurch ministries to 'fix' in gay Christians what isn’t broken. The fact that the ex-gay movement has been a monumental failure with no real, lasting change in those who have sought to negate same-sex attractions and become heterosexual will become more and more apparent to the average lay Christian. This is especially true in the age of social media, when information spreads like wildfire and can’t easily be suppressed. I’m sure there will be pockets of people here and there who will still try to change someone’s orientation. But the movement as a relevant entity in the push for LGBT rights will be defunct." Good. Haw damaging it is to try and force someone to suppress their true self because their family, or even they themselves, think being gay is wrong. |
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Raven-Symoné, on how it happened that she didn’t become Lohan: "What I’ve learned is it’s unnecessary to go to the most popular restaurant in the world when you have a scandal on your head and then get mad that someone’s going to take a picture of you. That’s your fault, boo boo. Stay in the house.” Word. And snap. |
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Frank Bruni, writing in the New York Times, about the glut of folks working in Catholic schools fired for getting all same-sex married: "Repeatedly over the last year and a half, I’ve written about teachers in Catholic schools and leaders in Catholic parishes who were dismissed from their posts because they were in same-sex relationships and — in many cases — had decided to marry. Every time, more than a few readers weighed in to tell me that these people had it coming. If you join a club, they argued, you play by its rules or you suffer the consequences. Oh really? The rules of this particular club prohibit divorce, yet the pews of many of the Catholic churches I’ve visited are populous with worshipers on their second and even third marriages. They walk merrily to the altar to receive communion, not a peep of protest from a soul around them. They participate fully in the rituals of the church, their membership in the club uncontested. The rules prohibit artificial birth control, and yet most of the Catholic families I know have no more than three children, which is either a miracle of naturally capped fecundity or a sign that someone’s been at the pharmacy." Once again, he cuts through the muck and madness and shows the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. |
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Would You Hit It?
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Pharrell Williams. He wants us to be Happy. Okay, I can get with that, but there's a bigger question ... Would.You.Hit.It? Yes or No. |
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PR 13 Ep 12: To The Tents!
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Can you imagine? Tim Gunn strolling into your home and waking you up with those dulcet tones? I think Tim should sell his voice for alarm clacks: Good morning designers, time to Make It Work! And for the record, if anyone comes up with this idea now, I came up with it first! But, back to the PR. Tim wakes the Final Five! Final Five! and asks them to meet him on the roof for the ceremonial Tossing Of Korina. I kid! Tim’s up top with cutie Brian Bolain, Corporate Marketing Manager for Lexus, to introduce their final task, and No, it has nothing to do with Lexus other than Lexus is one of the prizes. The challenge is to design a "street chic" look inspired by New York City — which they will find while touring the streets for about a minute in a … you guessed it … Lexus. It can be a day-wear look, but it has to be fashionable and progressive, and finished in two days for $200. Oh, and because it’s the PR, there’s a twist once the designers get started. On the second day of the challenge they come into the workroom to find five Auf’d looks from five Auf’d designers. With the Dreaded Button Bag™ Tim tells them they must take an Auf’d look and use that look to make a new look; a new look that need not be cohesive with the street chic look; they’ll have $100 and a second Mood trip. And that had me wondering, Why? What’s the point? Korina. Naturally, one of the five Auf’d looks was Korina’s and naturally Char picked it and naturally since the designtestants had so much work, they had help from the original designers of the Auf’d look which meant … you guessed it … Korina would be working with, and for, Char. Let’s save that and rip …. |
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SEAN After tooling around in the Lexus, and oohing all over it as part of the job, Sean steps out onto the streets of the Lower East Side and is instantly inspired by a man win a white caftan because it looks so clean and crisp among the grunginess of a Grande Apple street. He has this,I think because his idea is different, but then … the Twist; and, because his name is last chosen from the Dreaded Button Bag™ he gets stuck with Sandhya’s Little Doll Ship Captain In Pink look. I would have thrown in the towel, but he tries to make it work. When Tim comes by for the Critique, Sean has decided to make a white shirt with a green scrubs mesh fabric pant and Tim ain’t playing, He says it looks like a service worker uniform — and not the kind of service worker on the streets of New York but the kind of service worker who brings you Jell-O after surgery. As for the Sandhya Re-do, Sean is making a fringe jacket — because this is The Season of Fringe, remember — over a white dress. Tim hates the cheap looking white dress. Sean is screwed; he says he can ramp it up, but can he? He scrap the white dress for pink Bazooka Bubblegum Shorts and scraps the green fabric for a crisp white skirt. All seems to be going smoothly in Sean’s world until … Zoinks … the new skirt doesn’t fit the model; through a trick of pre-commercial editing, you got the feeling Sean’s skirt didn’t fit just as they were headed to the runaway but that wasn’t the case. He had plenty of time to add more fabric. WHAT HE SAID Look # 1: It looms sharp and clean and exactly what I wanted. Look #2: So fun and I nailed what I wanted to do. WHAT I SAID Look #1: It’s so clean and so crisp, and very edgy, though that back slit is dangerously pornographic. Look #2: Uh oh. This time I don’t think the fringe will save the look. WHAT THE JUDGES SAID Look #1: Heidi starts off with a “What is going on here?” And adorable Sean and I start to sweat until she adds, “It’s fan … tastic!” Huge sigh! She sys Sean’s a genius, and she’s never seen anything like it, and it’s spectacular, and the cutouts and the skirt are amazing — though, yeah, that slit in the back. It’s all love from The Kluminator. Guest judge, Pretty Little Liars star Shay Mitchell says it’s amazing and she loves the cutouts, too, and says it’s tailored to perfect. Nina Garcia says it’s the best thing she’s ever seen on the PR … EVER!! I faint; Carlos revives me and I hear The Adorable Zac Posen™ call it delicious and sublime, modern and original. Look #2: Nina says it’s out of left field, and The Adorable Zac Posen™ gives it the Flamenco Rodeo Princess title. Heidi said the look was silly before and it’s silly now; she also called it crazy and cheap. When The Adorable Zac Posen™ said Look #2 made you smile and laugh, Heidi said, “Not me! It’s awful.” It appears her fringe phase is over. |
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KINI He is all about fire escapes and stairs, and I’ll get to that in a moment. For his second look, he picks Mitchell's red carpet Emmy look; a safe bet because Kini loves gowns. For his first look he makes a waxed denim trench coat because he’s all about the denim and he won a denim challenge; but then he adds a kind of basic mall shirt under that and a denim skirt with all kinds of frill on it … ♫♪In my Eater bonnet, with all the frills upon it, I’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade♪♫ … Sorry I drifted off because that’s all I could think. At the critique, Tim adores the simplicity of Kini’s reimagining of the red gown, keeping it simple and chic, but he’s worried about the Street Chic look because it’s a lot, with the coat and the frills and the too-cute white shirt; and, he says it reads Michael Kors. Uh oh. WHAT HE SAID Look #1: She looks gorgeous … expensive … luxe. Look #2: I turned that look totally around. WHAT I SAID Look #1: Why is wearing the trench over her shoulders? Doesn’t it fit? And the skirt also doesn’t fit with the look because it’s too much and it battles the coat. I see nothing stair-inspired unless it’s a circular staircase. Look #2: Gorgeous. WHAT THE JUDGES SAID Look #1: Heidi had mixed feelings about it; she loved the trench coat but hated the skirt and blouse underneath. Shay loved the coat and the white top—though she called it mature—but said the skirt was just too much. Nina said, “Less is more.” She said the pieces were well-made but there was too much going on. The Adorable Zac Posen™ said Kini needs an edit button because not every look needs every single bell and whistle. Look #2: The Adorable Zac Posen™ loved the sleek clean lines, saying it was the exact opposite of the Street Chic look. Heidi also loved it, but she didn’t like the use of the horsehair to create the wavy hem—again, too much. Nina said it was the right color and the right fit. Shay loved the dress and loved the wavy horsehair hemline. |
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AMANDA On the street Amanda focuses on graffiti and grunge because, well, she always loves graffiti and since this is Street Chic she has this one on the bag; she’s also giddy because she caught a couple making out on the street. Dear god, stop talking! For her second look, she picks Fade’s looks from the avant-garde “Rainway” ensemble because she loves the lines of the piece. She tells Tim her Street Chic look is Matisse-Mondrian-maxi dress and I want to kick her in the teeth. Quit referencing other art pieces and tell us what you made! Tim loves it, and loves the expanse of volume in the back. As for her second look, she’s still playing with the yellow lines and has no real vision for it. WHAT SHE SAID Look #1: I feel very calm and very happy. Look #2: I should have focused on the second look. WHAT I SAID Look #1: I like the color-blocking but it’s so big and baggy it looks like an upscale burlap potato sack. Look #2: Slutty, and not Boho Chic at all. WHAT THE JUDGES SAID Look #1: Nina called it amazing, and loved the way it walked; she said it was totally Amanda, but she loathed the styling, the makeup, the hair, and the accessories. Heidi loved it, and said it perfectly suited Amanda’s Boho Chic aesthetic. The Adorable Zac Posen™ loved it, calling it sophisticated, and somber, with a splash of color; l then he said as much as he wanted to hate it he couldn’t. That’s praise? But he loved what he called the inventive smart draping. Look #2: Nina said, “Tarzan? Meet Jane.” That summed it up. Shay thought it was too bare and the yellow lines running top to bottom reminded her of Tron. Heidi called it Nightclub Hostess and said she couldn’t see Amanda in the look, either literally or figuratively. And she said the first look saved the second look. |
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CHAR I worry about Char because her inspiration was nothing but the window displays in dress shops. Your inspiration is a dress in a window? Then buy the dress, honey! But, she finds on dress that is surrounded by a hundred or so flying paper planes and that gives her an idea: get on a plane and go home. I kid. For her second look, well, we know she picked Korina’s look, but only because it had a lot of fabric. But, as we know, that means Korina must work with Char until her hissy fit, her tears, her Woe is me I’m so talented attitude gets her out of it, and then sends Tim back to The Gotham to get Alexander out of bed so he can help Char. And, with no Korina in the workroom, it all becomes fun again. For her Street Look, she’s creating petals — shades of Korina making petals a few weeks back? — on a simple pencil skirt. She’s added a pocket and Tim worries that the pocket makes it all too much, but Char ain’t listening to Tim and the pocket stays. For her second look, she takes very little of Korina’s fabric and makes an obi out of it for a basic black dress. Tim’s on the fence about it because it’s not much at all. WHAT SHE SAID Look #1: Bella looks amazing. Look #2: I can see the bunchiness in the front. WHAT I SAID Look #1: Tim was right about the pocket. :::sigh::: Look #2: She took Korina’s look because it had all that fabric and she used about a half-yard of it. Senseless. WHAT THE JUDGES SAID Look #1: Nina liked Char’s use of color, but she, like nearly everyone, hated the pocket. She said it was too much. The Adorable Zac Posen™ said it was “crotch heavy” but that Char had great ideas, though she needs to execute them better. Shay loved the color and the energy, and called it a vibrant look, while Heidi said she might benefit from more time. Look #2: Shay liked the simplicity but hated the way the hips looked heavy and wide. Heidi was not loving it or hating it, which is never a good sign, while The Adorable Zac Posen™ played with it a bit, grabbing the model, and making it look a little better. |
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EMILY She had it in her head that she wanted to make a hoodie all season and so I don’t think she was inspired by anything other than her need for hoodie. I’m sure she took pictures, but unless they were of people in hoodies, she wasn’t changing her mind. Emily got first choice of the Auf’d looks, and picked Samantha’s basic blue gown from the Jewelry Challenge. She was going to keep the top and then make a patterned skirt, turning it into a simple cocktail dress. Tim had very little to say about the Street Chic look, but he was plenty worried about the second look because he thought it was too ready-to-wear. Emily, all hoodied up, was more concerned with the first look and so the second look never changed. WHAT SHE SAID Look #1: She looks awesome, super cool! Look #2: I should have focused on the second look. WHAT I SAID Look #1: It looks like someone who wears Street Chic clothing would wear, around the house when they first get out of bed on a cold day. Look #2: Sears. WHAT THE JUDGES SAID Look #1: Heidi doesn’t “mind” it but says it isn’t a strong look for the challenge that gets you to The Tents. She says the outfit beneath the hoodie looks like pajamas, though when the hoodie is removed, she likes the pajama design. The Adorable Zac Posen™ likes it without the hoodie, too, calling the outfit cool but the hoodie kind of homeless and scary. Nina said the outfit looked a little Cirque du Soleil, while youngster Shay was the only one who liked the Hoodie, though she wished the pajamas were done in all black. Look #2: The Adorable Zac Posen™ said there wasn’t much to talk about, while Nina said the look was completely missing Emily’s POV; it’s fine, she said, but it’s not Emily. Heidi loved the skirt fabric, but hated the gifty-looking bow in the back. |
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WHAT HAPPENED After all five designtestants says why they should move on—each giving the Because it’s what I wanna do and the It’s all I live for and the I could really put on a show stock answers, the judges settle on Kini and Sean. Emily gets the Aufing and we’re left with Amanda and Char. I know, because of how they responded to the Potato Sack, that Amanda’s going — I think I knew that from Ep one — I wonder about Char. In the end I think she shouldn’t go because, while she was good at times he was never really great, but at the end, the judges pick Amanda and Char. Quelle surprise. |
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MY TAKE Enough with the unknown actresses as judges. I don’t care what they wanna wear “on the carpet” I think you need to have fashionsitas — yes, even actress fashionistas — and other designers, buyers, etc, as judges. Char shouldn’t go. Sorry, I like her, and I like that somewhere Korina is wailing, but I don’t think she’s strong enough. Amanda will show a modern day version of Gretchen’s Granny Pants Collection and everyone will ooh and ah. Kini will do too much, and he’ll probably do a collection made entirely of bells and whistles. That leaves Sean. I think he’s stepped up, and made some very cool, very new, very edgy and modern things. If he can do that again in a 12 pierce collection, he can win this one. Next week, I won't be recapping because I'm getting married, if I hadn't mentioend that yet. I'll be in Washington, the designtestants are off to Rome! Who knew? What did YOU think?  |
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