Defeat Bush in 2004 - Buy Underwear! Protest panties from Axis of Eve (*evil grin*) Support the cause and hold a PantyWare Party: "To mobilize the body politic, PantyWare Parties help women gather in intimate groups where they can peddle panties, ponder politics, and set themselves on a course of political action."
More protest clothing: The GOP 2004 Convention Jr. Hoodie of Hate (Thanks, Anne!)
Plans for the rest of the week:
Tue: work. gym. tennis. food. round of Cranium with friends.
Wed: work. gym. food. quiz night at local bar (team came in 2nd last week, must uphold honor).
Thur: work. Spiderman 2. (hooray!)
Fri: work. farewell cookout for workshop participants. TBA.
I just found out from a college friend that a guy in my graduating college class is a finalist on the new NBC reality TV series, Next Action Star. What's super interesting is that this guy aspires to be an actor, did theater in college, trained in theater elsewhere. So he wants to be an actor, and now he's on a reality TV show. One wonders what says about being an actor in the age of reality TV. Is being on a reality TV show the best way to get into the business? It's certainly proven to be a springboard to fame for some participants. And how about the nature of reality TV itself? I mean, there's always a certain veneer of fakeness ('unreality') about reality TV shows, but how many of the other participants are trained as actors? And is he acting on the show, or being himself? Or is he playing himself? Hmmm. Anyway, now you, dear reader, know a participant on a reality TV show through six degrees of separation - or, as I like to call it, six degrees of reality. :)
Bret and the infamous Jeep
Moblog test,Live from vermont
If actions speak louder than words, Bush's darling daughters seem unlikely candidates to carry on the Bush political legacy. Aside from their exploits with underage drinking*, it seems as though Jenna was recently involved in international intrigue when her bodyguards clocked a Spanish man suspected of attempting to steal a cell phone.
*I'm sure it would suck to be a teenager growing up in the shadow of the White House, always in the public spotlight, and yes, many underage youths sneak into bars to drink. But come on, kids, show a little restraint, and tell your security agents to do the same. We expect our presidents to be über-human, so I don't see why the kids get to opt out. Though the country did show startling compassion in letting an ex-drunk who liked to snort coke into our highest office. Hmm. Perhaps the twins have a shot after all.
Summer in Vermont is off with a bang. I've gone from riding underground on the subway to riding high in the Trail-Rated Jeep Liberty 4x4 Sport (tm). My buddy Bret and I are sharing the car, and he's just itching to test out its trail-ratedness by taking it offroad. Yesterday he kicked the 4x4 into gear ("engage 4x4!") and took us up a steep dirt path onto a field, scaring the shit out of me in the process. His goal by the end of the summer is to return it to the rental place covered with dirt, nursing a broken axel. My goal is to not get tossed from the vehicle when it rolls while he's offroading
(Note the difference between this post and my last post - I've gone from drinking beer in the West Village and catching live comedy with special guest Conor Oberst to driving around dirt roads in Vermont. Talk about cognitive dissonance!)
Steve and David had a very interesting day yesterday, escorting a group of diva impersonators around midtown Manhattan. Gus and I caught up with the troops at Belgian Beer Bar last night for the meeting with Dr. Chimay around 11 pm, after taking in some freakin hilarious comedy (cheap entertainment can be found in NYC!). The faux celebrity handlers were still going, though somewhat incoherent. Well done, looking forward to Part 2!
From the NY Times: Lawyers Decided Bans on Torture Didn't Bind Bush I think the title says it all. More secrecy and deceit from the Bush administration. Not only are some of our soliders guilty of torture, but Rumseld and co. apparently were prepared for legal contingencies well ahead of time, absolving themselves of responsibility and once again holding Bush - and by extension, America - outside of international law:
"The March memorandum, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Monday, is the latest internal legal study to be disclosed that shows that after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks the administration's lawyers were set to work to find legal arguments to avoid restrictions imposed by international and American law."
That's a big 'ol "fuck you" to the Geneva Conventions. It's really difficult for me to watch this sort of thing happen again and again. I'm off to contribute to John Kerry's campaign. The man speaks French after all, he should be able to read the Conventions in their original rendering!
In the grand tradition of fan fiction and parody, a comic blook artist recorded his own soundtrack to the first Harry Potter movie and is performing it live. He's calling it Wizard People, Dear Reader, and from the description sounds hilarious:
"As imagined by Mr. Neely, the three main characters are child alcoholics with a penchant for cognac, the magical ballgame Quidditch takes on homoerotic overtones, and Harry is prone to delivering hyper-dramatic monologues."
(Steve, take note of the Quidditch reference, your Harry-Draco relationship just might figure into this version! :))
Ah, good stuff. The legal implications are interesting as well, particularly considering that he's performing in front of audiences as well as distributing his alternate soundtrack online. Wait and see how Warner Bros. takes it...
This article caught my eye in the online edition of the NY Times this morning: Spreading the Pope's Message of Sexuality and a Willing Spirit As a bitter ex-Catholic, I tend to have an automatic sarcastic and dismissive reaction to church doctrine - bunch of crazy out of touch people - but as this had sex in the title, I thought I'd take a look. As it turns out, our current Pope wrote a theology of the body back in the 70's that has gained popularity and is being widely examined and taught. Sadly, though to be expected, it's not a revolutionary reworking of the rules of sex as the Church sees them. (Did you know that masturbation is outlawed by the Church? The nuns forgot to tell us something in CCD.) However, it does teach that within the parameters of the rules, it's ok to have sexual desires and fulfillment - for both parties! How modern! Perhaps the Pope would like to suggest She Comes First to the male members of his flock?
I spent the long weekend in my hometown of Worcester, MA, otherwise known as Wusta (not Wor-chester, for god's sake, people) or, to Holy Cross College students, the Wu. That last nickname threw me off when I heard it for the first time this fall, from a fellow TC student who had attended Holy Cross. Growing up, we mosty called Worcester by its name, didn't give it any nicknames - unless you count shithole as a nickname, I guess. Realizing that the city was actually viewed in different ways by different people who lived there (college students, in this case) was kind of a shock.
Speaking of colleges and Worcester, until it came down in a terrible fire a few years ago there was an ad painted on the side of the Worcester Cold Storage Company building that said Every Great City Has At Least One College. Worcester Has Ten. And then it went on to list the colleges. Worcester does indeed have many colleges - counting 4-year, 2-year, state, community, private, and other sorts of colleges - but I always remember thinking that it was a bit disingenuous of them to say that Worcester had 10. In fact, several of the colleges on the list were located in smaller towns that neighbor Worcester, although it's true that when asked, people from those towns often said they were from Worcester, which is at least slightly recognizable to New Englanders.
Some random Worcester thoughts for a Tuesday morning. More to come.
