Story of the day

Damn you, Irene Cara!

Day 3 of having this song stuck in my head.

Made my morning

Ahhhh, Liz Lemon, how I love you, m'friend.

Well, you smart me up

The first smart phone I get will look something like this:

And it will make me as sassy as this lass:



However, I am still holding out for cell phone companies to re-think pricing models.

Eat with me

I used to write about all the glorious restaurants in this town a lot more, but, like so much else in my life, I haven't taken the time to do so. I blame . . . I know, big surprise, the graveyard shift which has become even more depressing now that I am alone in a vault underground.
It makes for nice chatting with the boyfriend, but once he goes to bed, it is painfully empty down here.

Anyway, food places that I've meant to tell you about.

The Twilight Exit -- This bar is in the First Hill neighborhood at 24th and Cherry. Its a quintessential Seattle bar--attracts the tattooed, the queer, and other ne'er-do-wells. It came to my attention when I learned that they serve chicken fried bacon. For real. Phil, Bill, and I went, and it was well worth it. I don't think one person can (or should) attempt eating this appetizer by themselves. You add the country gravy and you can feel the cholesterol hardening your arteries. So . . . very . . . yummy!


Rizzo's French Dip -- Rizzo's is great. Its just a few blocks down from my place on 15th NW. They serve French Dips. That's it. Options include double meat and/or cheese. It comes with a side of macaroni salad (which has never been available when I've been there), and unlike what I would call a traditional french dip, there is no au jus in which to dip your sandwich. Instead, your entire sandwich is dipped in the gravy thick au jus. For some, this makes for too-messy fare and any sort of crunch the bread is gone by the time you get home . . . and you do have to take it home because Rizzo's doesn't have seating. So, in summary, one menu item, no seating, damn fine.

Image from MyBallard

Lunchbox Laboratory -- This place gets all kinds of press and the line out the door proves it. Unfortunately, it is overpriced and the "service" is more than lacking. LunchLab is a burger joint with some crazy ass burgers--one with goose liver, one with prime rib. All quality ingredients and so, so, so much variety. Too much variety, actually because you have to order at the counter and by the time you get to the front, you've probably missed most of the blackboards listing the different burgers. They also do a different mac'n'cheese everyday which, in my opinion, is reason enough to swing by. The first time I went to LL, I went all out--burger, mac'n'cheese, and a shake. My total was $24. So swing by to see what their daily mac'n'cheese is, otherwise, keep driving.

Image from A Hamburger Today

The Counter -- The Counter is a lot like the Lunchbox Laboratory except its a chain restaurant, someone actually takes your order, and they server liquor. The beef is of the angus, never-been-frozen, hormone-free, variety and makes a great burger. The menu lists all the different cheeses, toppings, sauces, and buns available. They boast over 300,000 combinations, but since you have time to leisurely peruse the offerings while sipping a beer, its not overwhelming. I had horseradish cheddar, red onions, roasted red peppers, jalepenos, and garlic aioli on a hamburger bun. My burger was fat. After my first bite I squeezed the bun and the burger was dripping. It was cooked perfectly.


So that's it for now.

Late than never

Monday marked the three year anniversary of the first date Phil and I had together (big ups to the Mecca!). We've lived together for almost a year, and it has been a great ride (in more ways than one!). He's met the folks. I've met his. Who knows, if Referendum-71 passes, I just might ask that guy to domestically partner me.

Oh, and because I posted this on my FB profile and only a few people caught it, I thought I'd post it again here:

Luke Harmon of Horse Meat Disco mixes and edits tracks from the Disco Discharge 4-disc

Associated

Congratulations to my super-swell boyfriend for receiving his Associates of Art degree from Seattle Central!

I owe you a dinner. We'll let the blog-world decide:
El Gaucho
Canlis
Ray's Boathouse
Anthony's Homeport
Blu Water Bistro
Crush
The Corson Building

Vote by commenting (feeling too lazy for a poll).

Lookin' Good

Need

All four will be released on Janice's birthday, but make a better gift for me, thanks.

Presents

Scott made a post about some of his favorite movie posters and I think they're all keepers. It got me to thinking about all the amazing Polish posters I would LOVE to have hanging on my walls. Specifically, these posters:












Man, there's so many other great ones, I should just stop now. Check out Polishposters to see more. So, if you ever want to get me a present, now you know some things I'd like. Thanks.

Watch me if you can

Roy Andersson, director of one of my favorite movies, has a new one. This is only his fourth feature, and it looks spectacular. His ability to exacerbate life's dreariness by drawing out the absurdity is unparalleled. I hope this movie opens somewhere near me sometime soon.



Look for a review of the musical "Catch Me If You Can" sometime next week. Sorry if posting has been slower than usual, but we're in the canicular days of August. Also, this month has brought me many visitors.

For K

I'm sure that this will make you smile, wherever you may be.

John Hughes, RIP

I remember going to see Sixteen Candles in the theater. I was half the age of the protagonist, and the upstanding Christian woman who took myself, my brother and her daughter to see the film was mortified. It was rated PG and Samantha said "fucking."
To say that John Hughes informed my youth is an understatement.
His films were some kind of wonderful and will never be recreated.

A wonderful audio tribute at Beware of the Babylon.
And another wonderful tribute I stumbled across.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Now stop being this middle-of-the-road and kickstart that whole "Change We Can Believe In" shit, ok?

And happy posthumous birthday tomorrow, John Huston.

R.I.P. Merce Cunningham

An alumnus of a Cornish College of the Arts and a Martha Graham dancer
I first became aware of Cunningham along with the work of Maya Deren. He illuminated the intersection of video and dance. He will long be remembered.

Final picture

One of the final pictures I worked on today was of Jean Marais and Jean Cocteau. The end of my day just got sunnier (but hopefully not so sunny that I am prevented from sleeping).

The Mighty Thor

Kenneth Branagh is directing Thor which is slated to come out in 2011. Natalie Portman and Jessica Biel are also involved. I think the reason I'm going to see it looks something more like this:

Holdin' back

Just because I haven't talked about music in this space lately doesn't mean I don't still, y'know, listen to it. In fact, I still purchase tracks, and I still make my crappy mixes. The two posted at the bottom of this should have been combined into one mix.
Whatever. Its free music.

The second also has a phenomenal Martin Landsky remix of the DHS classic "House of God" and quite possibly my favorite track from 2008, Rye Rye's "Shake It to the Ground" as remixed by Jokers of the Scene.


Went to see Derrick May for my birthday last Friday and was seriously let down. His mixing leaves lots to be desired. He kept trying to drop tracks in rather than mix and then he'd ride the EQ like the whole club was into it, but people were barely moving. That's ok, though, I was with some good friends and I saw some people that I haven't seen a while.

OKDJ 13
OKDJ 14

In the name of love

While many areas of the US were waving their freak flags in celebration of Pride, gay men in my home town were being arrested in a Stonewall style police raid.
It saddens me greatly to think that in 2009 police still target and arrest gay men based solely on their sexuality. The homophobes, in their police report, go on to insist that even while they were zip-tying men's hands, the men were grabbing at their groins. The same men who, moments earlier in the report, were too intoxicated to be in public.
One man has been hospitalized and is in the Intensive Care Unit.
The raid happened on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

Please take the time to read this article and the subsequent comments. I am one step closer to marching in October.

Je suis music

I started my week off listening to "Love is the Answer." Its Friday, and now, for some reason, it seems even more appropriate. Hell, we might as well crank out the Cerrone today.

Move along

Nothing to see here . . .


(be back soon, I swear!)

Audacity of my ass

I am so profoundly disappointed with Obama's Department of Justice. It is almost enough to bring tears to my eyes. Maybe that Oct. 13th march on D.C. will happen after all. I thought we finally had a fierce advocate. Apparently, all we have is Sasha Fierce.

Time to work, bitches.

Another fucking lying politician.

Yes we is

Its hump day, you know you wanna.
This is actually for Janice . . . and for all of you, but I know that this makes Janice smile.


That is Victor, by the way, with the electro (un)classic "Go On Do It". Let it serve as a lesson to you my straight male friends, women enjoy being called "heiffa" and they also enjoy being slammed in the butt--but only until they've had enough.

Update:
For a limited time you can download the above listed track here.

Cash cab

I hope I get in the Cash Cab next time I'm in NYC--mainly because I think Ben Bailey is hunky.

BtVS <3's VM 4eva

The best thing about a comic book-loving, nerd boyfriend?
He picks me up the latest Buffy and Angel comics.
How is Buffy doing?
Well, she's onto Season 2 of Veronica Mars which makes her pretty ok in my book.

Dance all summer

SYTYCD is back. Nigel Lythgoe is still a big, fat homophobe.
I'm in LOVE with Nobuya from Japan. They even subtitled him incorrectly. He said, "voguing" and "wacking" and they subtitled the latter as "locking." That's what you get for putting non-dancers in the editing booth on a dance show.


Oh, wait, even Tabatha and Napoleon called it locking. Fuggin' idiots. Don't they read my blog?
Well, maybe he said "locking" . . . I thought I heard an "r".

All in the Lea

I don't know if you caught the series premiere of Glee (the pilot is still up), but it was pretty much awesome. You know how a lot of times you watch a pilot and you think, "Well, that was kinda half-baked but there is lots of room to grow?" Well, Glee's premiere had tons of nods and winks to movies I admire (Election, Bring it On) and even though the characters are bit cardboard-y at this point, they kinda need to be to draw in the viewers.

Anyway, the show stars Lea Michele whose vocal stylings I've been aware of since Spring Awakening; yet, I was still floored by her. Apparently she got her start at the age of 8 in Les Miserables. In Glee she sings 'On My Own' from the Les Mis and nails it. I haven't heard phrasing so precise and emotive since . . . Lea Salonga.

Compare for yourself:


And, even though its not either of them, it is a wonderful performer and decent vocalist who will be joining the cast of Glee for an episode. (via Tapeworthy)

Move me

One of the condos that I love so much in Georgetown is for sale. The price is quite reasonable, but it is still, sadly, far out of reach. Its one of the wonderful projects from Pb Elemental.

Ah well, guess I'll just have to wait and buy some land so that I can erect my dream (manufactured) home.

Crazy

To the person with whom I work who uses the word in the title to this post too frequently:
Please be more creative. Please expand your vocabulary. Its absolutely crazy that crazy is the word that most frequently comes out of your mouth.

Twist!

30 Rock. Funniest show on television.

Happy Birthday

To the handsomest guy I know--a mere 28 years young today.

Festivities include: trip to a mall, dinner a food court, and a (hopefully) really bad movie.

Soon, I swear

I'm brewing up a post (and have been for a few weeks) from a meme I was tagged to do from TAPEWORTHY. Also, there's a movie review plus video clips of my favorite film from last year (and easily one of my top 3 films of all-time) in the works.

In the meantime, check out what Phil thought about my folks, and also see how our awesome new king sized bed was packaged.

See ya soon!

Baby boy

Huge congratulations to Keith and Risa on the birth of their son Saul!

Sense from the center

Big ups to the UNANIMOUS supreme court decision from Iowa.



Also, Iowa state senator Matt McCoy--kinda geek hot?
And, aside from the superficial objectification of the senator, I'm curious about his life--how and when he came out, how he feels about the Boy Scouts and why he continues his affiliation with them, even if it is merely as resume bullet.

So Iowa, Vermont, and Sweden have given me some sort of vindication or sense of relief in the wake of Prop 8.

The karmic boomerang as of late? The crappy restaurant at which I used to work just had an eviction notice posted.

New toy

I love it so much.
Sure, its not hooked up to the home network, but its freaking awesome.

Every episode of:
30 Rock, Arrested Development, Buffy, Carnivale, Seinfeld, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Twin Peaks, Mr. Show, and a couple I can't quite think of right now.

And if I want to watch a movie, I can choose from:
The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, Fargo, Wet Hot American Summer, Mulholland Drive, The Straight Story, INLAND EMPIRE, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Blade Runner, Robocop, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeousie, That Obscure Object of Desire, Viridiana, The Earrings of Madame de . . ., Yojimbo, Rashomon, Spider-man, X-Men, Iron Man, and at least a dozen others.

Next up: screwball comedies of the 30's and early 40's like The Bachelor and the Bobby-soxer.

Just $100 for the device, $100 for the 1TB external hard drive, and some quality time transferring my DVD collection to 1's and 0's.

Thanks mom

So . . . I buy my mom gift cards and jewelry and accoutrements from Chico's.
If you're not familiar, I'll wait for you to come back after you've perused the above link. Ok, now that you've poked around some there, I'd just like to point out that the target customer's age is significantly older than models on the web site. Anyway. . .
I used to get her discount. Now I get my discount . . . and a quarterly mini-catalog.
There is something humiliating about a catalog of flowing women's clothes delivered in my name.

I am emailing them today to make certain that no more flyers, catalogs, or mailings of any sort arrive in my name at this address . . . you know, for the environment.

(They are, however, welcome to contact me at my email address with any sales, discounts, or merchandise that might interest me.)

And, no, I don't my mom's name is not "Bonnie."

Go-go chick bye

Well, Mike, Janice, and I ate at Madame K's for what will most likely be the last time. It was a nice send off for a restaurant that holds many fine memories, including, but not limited to, drunkeness, wearing pink boas, and tons of birthdays.
The chicken on my final Go-Go Chick pie was dry. The gorgonzola was sparse and hardly noticable. It was nowhere near the wonderful melty goodness of its heyday,--the days when I would tip both front and back of house--but it was good enough. The amazing orgasm dessert? Just as good as the first one I ever had.
Now its onto new memories at new pizza joints.

But for now, a moment of silence for one of the first places that helped make this town feel like home for me.

(And in case you didn't check out the link above, here it is again, so you can see what fancy duds we were wearing.)

Individually raped

Phil and I went mattress shopping yesterday. Its something I've never done with the person who shares my bed, and its inherent awkwardness was compounded by our sexual orientation.
Fortunately, the sales team at the Seattle Mattress Company has found ways of easing those tensions, like the copy for one of the mattresses which reads "coils individually raped."
When the salesman came over and explained that the mattress contained individually wrapped coils, I was both relieved and disappointed. I also found it difficult to keep eye contact with him afterwards because the visions of him satisfying himself with each coil individually put me in schoolboy hysterics.

For an anonymous commenter

Thanks for introducing me to Grey Gardens.
Looks like Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore aren't screwing it up.

Any interest in that Go-go Chick pie and a couple hours of catch-up?

A long time ago, we used to be friends

There's been talk about it for quite some time, but apparently its already 70% written and all the usual suspects are on board. So, fingers crossed, and a Veronica Mars movie will be here someday soon. (all kinds of linkage: 1, 2, 3)

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

If you haven't done so already, watch the whole series--which you can do for free on Joost. (After 2 years, I think Phil's finally into it.)

Preach on, sister!

I might grow a vagina for Rachel Maddow. Maybe.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Wacking vs. Lofting

Firstoff, Circlesquare's new long-player is every bit as good as this track, so if you likey, you go buy-y.
Secondly, yes, I spend too much time watching people dance on YouTube.
However, I thought this was a good showcase for some fine dancing. Early on, you can see elements of wacking and lofting. No voguing this time, but really, I'm fine with that. Once the dancers get partners, you get some really strong modern choreography. All iterations of the partnering work is smart and efficient. So seek out some new music and more importantly, seek out some good dance--or just turn up some music really loud and dance around your living room.

Executive

You do realize that I started this, right?

Twirl it all around

February. Crap aught neener sure is flying by! We're 1/12 of the way through the year, and what do I have to show for it but date rape and AIDS jokes?

Seriously, though, besides the abysmal, ulcer-inducing economy, '09 has begun fairly well.

I've been keeping good on my New Year's resolution to lose 2 pounds a month. My New Year resolution for '08 was to go to the gym more than in '07. I accomplished that goal by mid-March and attendance subsequently dropped. Not to say that I didn't go to the gym at all for the rest of the year, but it was noticably less.

So this year the goal is more long-term and also very achievable. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

So what else with '09? Well, Tennille visited weekend before. She stayed at the adorable Hotel Max. We went to Seattle's only male strip club Centerfolds which is only two blocks from my house. It was a first for all three of us (Tennille, Phil, and myself). Completely strange experience. Tennille and I were the only ones there when the club opened at 8. Of course, Seattle is totally puritanical so there's no drinking, but we stepped out on a couple of occasions for beverages. Only one of the guys had a nice body. I bought Phil a lapdance from a guy with a ponch. It was sorta hot--but I wish I could have watched the lapdance a la Showgirls.

Saturday we checked out the Hopper exhibit at SAM. I was surprised at the size of his painting and also at his brushwork. His color palette is so soft that some of it looked like pastels. That night we checked out Gainsbourg on Greenwood. I liked the atmosphere and the small plates, plus they were projecting Mon Oncle on the wall behind us. Oh yeah, and the hallway back to the bathroom looks like the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks.

Sunday we went to trivia at Bill's Off-Broadway then followed it up with the Re-Bar. My stomach was completely a mess (probably from all the drinking) by the time we made it to the Re-Bar. The place was about half-full, nowhere near Flammable's heyday, but there were a few faces I recognized in the crowd. The place still manages to be the most un-pretentious dance/club night in town and that alone is reason to go.

So that's what I've been up to--oh and watching a shit-ton of movies.

Now that I've caught up on nearly all of the films from '08, I think I can say definitively, "Yawn." Slumdog Millionaire was nowhere near the top of my list. In fact, its creepy romanticization of the Mumbai ghetto puts it on par with Life is Beautiful for me. Add to that a lead that can't act and all you're really left with is some really nice cinematography and nice story structure. Milk was decent but not great. Some of the supporting characters, namely Emile Hirsch and Diego Luna were distracting. Add to that the melodramatic/operatic slaying at the end and one begins to feel manipulated. The Wrestler has to be one of the most boring affairs I've seen in a long time, again with just poorly cast and badly acted supporting characters in Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. I realize its adapted from a novel, but to become such a formulaic film for the last hour sucked all life out of it--kind of like the title character serving beef at the deli counter. Revolutionary Road is an example of why a great book should never be put on film--filmmakers trying to include way too much of the novel and not finding the right cinematic references to convey the tone of the piece. And although I adored David Fincher's meticulous Zodiac, I really don't even have the time for The Bi-Curious Case of Ben Jammin' Butthole. Frost/Nixon and Doubt are both examples of why plays should not be turned into movies, but (and I can't believe I'm defending him even a shred) Ron Howard was more adept at translation from stage than John Patrick Shanley.

I was happy to see both Melissa Leo and Richard Jenkins nominated. Frozen River was such a peculiar little film and Leo in particular was spellbinding, but I really would have liked to have seen her acting partner in the film, Misty Upham get some recognition, as well. Jenkins in The Visitor brought a type of believability to his role that none of the other acting nominees could muster. Sure, the film overall was a bit on the melodramatic, Oxygen network, side of immigration morality, but like Leo, Jenkins grounded the work with his performance.

So now I should rail against The Dark Knight, but Jim Emerson has done a much more thorough job. My problems with it came mostly from its hole-riddlered(!?) plot and inconsistent tones and styles. It wasn't helped any by Christian Bale nor Heath Ledger, both of whom are so much more fixated on the minutiae of creating a character than the realities of delivering lines and progressing the plot and tension.

Ok, so that's my take on the mediocrity of this year--so what were the good films this year?

Not a lot--Let the Right One In, Synecdoche, New York, Burn After Reading, and Wild Combination were my favorites. If you haven't taken the time to see them, do so now.

Class dismissed.

Remix

Has anyone read that book by Lawrence Lessig? I was supposed to read it for work. The subtitle is Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. He was on Colbert the other day and I Tivo'd it. Pretty soon I'm gonna Remix that interview and post it to my YouTube account. But something else happened--one of those synchronistic moments when the planets align and the disco lights of heaven shine down . . .
See, the other day Jimbo posted this funny jpg of Wilford Brimley with one of those motivational sayings, work poster-y borders around it with "Diabeetus" as the title and "Medicare can help" as the subtitle. Matthew and I, and I'm sure a lot of you, have chuckled multiple times at Mr. Brimley's pronunciation of the affliction.
So then, I was at home playing WoW (raiding 25-man Naxx tonight, y'all!) and watching Government Access (what? I can't enjoy a little local policy from time to time?) when lo and behold, the woman on television mispronounciated (read as: Buster Bluth) diabetes the Brimley way. Luckily, my Tivo loves me and sent the mispronunciation (read: correctly) to my computer and I quickly hacked it up and slowed it down.

Here are the results:


Be warned, there is a Wilford Brimley conspiracy.

The cats are trying to warn us.

P.S. If anyone did read that book, a report no more than 1500 words on my desk in the morning.

Moratorium '09

"It is what it is."
". . . at the end of the day."
". . . in this economy."
"Its a no-brainer."

For Phil

Please stand up

Apparently Frank Rich is just as disappointed in the Rick Warren's invovlement in Obama's innauguration as I am. [Op-ed piece]

Peeved

Chalk it up to me being me, but I really hate when people say "two thousand AND eight," instead of, "two thousand eight."
When someone says it, I want to ask them if they said "nineteen hundred AND ninety four" or "nineteen hundred ninety four?"

You're my double shadow

The long nights and cold weather has made me hunger for comfort food. First was the navy bean soup, then the Frito pie. I realize the latter may not be familiar to many of you. I have my youth in Texas to thank for acquiring that taste.

I think the psychological underpinnings of needing comfort come from learning how to share space with the guy I love. Phil moved in at the beginning of the month. Some of his stuff is still in boxes, but most of it unpacked. Half of the bedroom closet contains his clothes now. The laundry pile in the bedroom has (more than) doubled.

We need a bigger bed. Luckily (or unluckily) my graveyard schedule and his swing shift schedule means that he sleeps when I'm at work and vice versa. So its not a pressing matter . . . yet.

I need to say "our" more.

I want him to be comfortable, too.

The broader, social context of needing comfort comes from the residual Prop 8/Rick Waren madness that is nearly inescapable. In my 16 plus years of being an "out" gay man, it hasn't been until recently that I feel the societal ill-will toward my natural proclivities. The latest attack comes from the man that I helped elect to the presidency.

Last week the snow came and justified my agoraphobic tendencies. I had two extra days off work. This city does not handle snow well, which is fine because we only see it every few years.

I played lots of Warcraft. I looked outside to see if the snow was still falling (most of the time it was). We downloaded movies to Tivo. Movies we generally wouldn't watch, and definitely won't watch again.

Trivia:

What movie stars Academy Award winners Kathy Bates and Kevin Spacey, as well as Academy Award nominees Paul Giamatti and Miranda Richardson?

If you answered Fred Claus, pin a rose on your nose!

So that was one of the movies, along with the simply atrocious Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

So all this comfort has got me lazy. And all this being attacked has made me feel victimized.

Guess I'll just have to turn all this shit around in 2009. Who's up for being active and pro-active?

She wept here, she slept here

I swear I'll do a real post sometime soon. I was gonna write about the navy bean soup I made this weekend and about Thanksgiving and about Milk, but I'm not feelin' it.

So, in the meantime, young master Phil had never heard of Ann Jillian but was familiar with her turn as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland. So, for a trip down memory lane, I give you two intros 80's sitcoms that sorta kinda made me queer(er).

People always ask me

What's the difference between wacking and voguing?
Now I can direct them to this video, which is accurate for both the music and fashion chosen to represent each style.



Oh, and I don't think I mentioned waaaay back in October that the documentary about Arthur Russell played at the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. I wish I had gone to see it. It would have kept in the tradition of Godfather of Disco from the year prior. And, along with Mel Cheren, Morricone, Moroder, and others, Russell was a founder of some of the best music I've ever heard. Anyway, here's the trailer:


And as an added bonus, one of Russell's brilliant tracks.

Can't you just imagine a Mia Michaels routine to one of his songs?

It would probably look something like this:

Ding!

Ten levels in less than 7 days.
Eat that!

Add more pizazz to your face!

I realize that I have the sophistication of an eight year old, but this still cracks my shit up after multiple views.




And I don't know if you caught it, but Rodney King extinguished any doubt of the love homos have for their melanin enhanced brothers and sisters on this week's Celeb Rehab.

Fried

Yeah, posting's been a little sparse. I think the election really took a lot out of me. Of course I was excited at Obama's win, but the flipside of that was Proposition 8's passing in California. I took last Wednesday off of work and stayed up til six in the morning watching returns.

Keith Olberman just made an emotional plea regarding Prop 8. It is quite good and I recommend passing it along to anyone who maybe doesn't quite have a handle on the issue.


Obviously, I believe that if two people can enter into a civil contract called marriage, that that contract should not be predicated on the basis that the two parties are of the opposite sex.

Add to California's misstep Florida and Arizona's similar amendments. Then Arkansas' refusal to allow "unmarried cohabitating adults" to foster or adopt a child, and finally Kansas' repealing of Affirmative Action and all I see is white man's rage--oh and a lot of self-righteous Christianity.

So . . . I'm just waiting out these final days of the Bush administration.

I'm waiting for President Obama to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

I'm waiting for Supreme Court Justice Hillary Clinton to write a majority finding that states cannot write bigotry into their constitutions.


I'm waiting for . . . Wrath of the Lich King to be released on Thursday--when I'm playing my video game, I almost don't care that there is much work to be done.

You're my disco

To the guy I've been dating for the past two years (as of Sunday),

You're My Disco, baby.

One of my darkest secrets . . .

. . . is that when I come home from work, after I watch the previous evening's Daily Show and Colbert Report, I watch The View.





If you ask me about it in person, I will deny it.





But I had to say something, because today, Sherri Lewis (ok, I know that's not her real last name, but I can never remember her real last name) got into it with that dumb bitch Elisabeth Hasselhoff (ok, I also realize that is not her last name, but I like to imagine that her husband is the Hoff and not some football player).





So as I was watching them hiss and show their claws, I thought, "I would really just like to give that highstrung, uptight bitch a hit of ecstasy, hold her in my arms, stroke her hair, and extol the virtues of analingus to her."



Also, I would like to encourage the studio audience to begin booing Elisabeth.

In the year 2525

I'm too anxious about all this election crap. So in the meantime, please choose your favorite:

Visage v. Zager and Evans




See comments for my vote

No more sad times, only glad times

Well, another year of Decibel has come and gone. Saturday night was the highlight with Audion as a nice warm up to the unbelievably poundy, relentless assault of Carl Craig. He's been around for over 20 years and Saturday night, I learned why. He laid the smack down with a smattering of Detroit regulars like Derrick May and Plastikman. The crowd was attentive and, by the end of it all, moist.
The night ended with C2's killer remix of ultra-classic "Good Life" by Inner City.


I wish I could say that Sunday's show was as solid, but Supermayer, while raising the bar from ear-numbing opener Flying Lotus was only mediocre. Their set never really took off and they seemed more intent on branding a sound than on shaking the dancefloor. That's ok, though, leaving early gave me time to watch the newest episode of Mad Men when I got home. Plus, I was still recovering from the work over Carl Craig gave me.

Previously:

Decibel Festival '06
Decibel Festival '07

I need a new dance beat

This weekend is the triumphant return of Seattle's premiere dance music festival--the Decibel Festival. Last year's was a little weak, but the lineup this year pretty much blows the last couple of years out da water.

I'm only making a point of going on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday for Carl Craig and Matthew Dear as Audion and Sunday for Supermayer.

I plan on dancing--a lot.










Previously:

Superpitcher

Michael Mayer

Matthew Dear

Hope

I hope your parents' house was destroyed by Ike.
I hope you lost your new job now that investment banks are going tits up.
I hope your fat girlfriend annoys you one tenth the amount that you annoyed me.
You were never a friend, and if I had known that all it would have taken to get your fat ass to move out was throwing out your food, I would have done it sooner.
Later, dick.

The place doesn't stink as much.
The place is generally picked up.
It is significantly quieter.
Things are looking up.

Weekend viewing

Pasolini's Salo
Jim Henson's The Muppet Movie
Tarsem's The Fall
Paris Hilton's The Hottie and the Nottie

And if you have a life that doesn't revolve around chasing the dragon (of sleep) then I'd recommend going to see the director's cut Donnie Darko tonight at the Egyptian.
It features a cover of this song:

I prefer the original.

Bye bye bug

I'm slipping in my old age. I don't know how I missed it, but Donte who wrote the best music column in the Stranger is handing the baton back to Dave Segal. I never really liked Data Breaker or Dave's columns--mainly, I think, because he always had a much more elitist take on the genre. Donte, however, knew where the music should work--on the dancefloor. And the dancefloor is populist in nature.

Donte and I don't always see eye-to-eye, but we definitely have much more common ground than Dave and I do.

So farewell Donte. Best of luck in future endeavors, and I'll see you out dancing (at Carl Craig and Supermayer).

[photo from The Stranger]

Triumph thinks for me

People I work with

You're out of touch, I'm out of time

I saw The House Bunny starring Anna Farris this weekend. Phil and I had talked about going to see it. He likes Anna Farris quite a bit, and I like her well-enough especially in Gregg Araki's Smiley Face. [This scene rules.] I had other movies on my 'To See' list that ranked much higher, and probably would have opted for an Unbox rental or Netflix of The House Bunny. However, Friday morning I became the guardian of my 13 year-old niece, and since I am the reed that bends in the wind when my niece is around, we saw the movie.

Some of you know that she was in town for the week. Her 81 year-old great-grandmother lives in West Seattle, so Lauren and her aunt and uncle from Fort Worth came to spend a week with the octagenarian. I had planned to keep her occupied on Thursday.

So I picked Lauren up from the airport on Saturday. She was an unaccompanied minor. USAirways managed to keep me detained at the kiosk check-in for over an hour. I didn't have a confirmation number or pass because I was picking up a minor, so the ticket agents kepts shooing me away. My niece called me agitated--was I ever going to come to the gate? After the two ticketing agents checked in three flights, they asked me if they could help me. Yes, I informed them, my niece is waiting at the gate for me to come get her.

"Really," asked one of the ticketing agents, "Why didn't you just tell us that you were picking up an unaccompanied minor?" I muttered under my breath that I had, and that this "service" cost my brother and sister-in-law two hundred dollars.

After standing another half hour or so in security, I made my way to the gate where my niece was waiting. She was wearing the same outfit that she wore to my aunt's funeral. It was very formal and, I later learned, very uncomfortable. She had her iPod and issues of MinX, Seventeen and Cosmo Girl.

We descended to the baggage claim as the piece of luggage that read, "Final piece for USAirways" made it way onto the carousel. Of the luggage still in rotation, none belonged to my niece. This put her nearly over the edge. "It'll be fine," I told her. "It probably just got on the next flight. We'll go to Target and get you some sweats, pjs, and a toothbrush." And that's what we did. I left her with her great-grandmother, and returned home for a few days of work.
I met Lauren, her great-grandmother, her aunt, and her uncle for lunch on Wednesday everyone's favorite, Blue C Sushi.
Thursday, I came over around noon and Lauren and I bussed into the city. This was my day to show her the city. We got sandwiches at Salumi and took them to the UPS/Waterfall park. Then we went to the library, and then we made our way to the Seattle Art Museum. Her fingers were rarely away from her phone, furiously texting a battery of friends back east. I showed her her first Warhol, Rothko, Pollack, Manet, Monet, Degas and others. Between pieces, she texted.
Somehow, I doubt the texts looks like this, "omg! pollack sux da big one!!!1! lol!" or "rofl warhol wtf?" or "manet ftw!!1111!!!!"

Then it was up to Seattle Center where she had been before, so I didn't have to waste precious money on a trip to the top of the needle. For dinner, we went to one of my favorite places, 611 Supreme. Lauren only had soup. The topper for the evening was the world-premiere of Shrek: The Musical at the 5th Avenue theater. The show is Broadway bound and I was happy that my niece and I could see it together.

Needless to say, Thursday really wiped me out. Her great-grandmother had mentioned taking us to Tillicum Village on Friday, but I told Lauren to get me out of it. So when the phone started ringing on Friday morning, I ignored it, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
I could not, however, ignore the knocking at my door Friday morning.

Lauren's aunt was standing at the door with Lauren. "Guess what! You just gave birth to a 13 year-old girl," she said as she pulled Lauren's suitcase onto the porch. I was still out of it and didn't really understand what was going on. It turns out that Lauren's great-grandmother had a bout with dementia and accused all of them of stealing from her. There was name-calling, and overall it sounded like a pretty crummy time.

I removed The Big Penis Book from the coffee table and tidied up as best I could in a short amount of time. So I got to spend a couple extra days with niece. My niece who likes Guns'n'Roses and Marilyn Manson and Celine Dion and Shania Twain. We talked about video games and I let her play some of my World of Warcraft characters. She's the first member of my family to meet Phil. "Phil's really great," she told me on our car ride to the airport on Sunday.

"Yeah, he is, isn't he," I replied. So maybe this is that summer for her--you know the one like in those coming-of-age stories--the kind that change your life. Maybe its that kind of summer for me.

FarmHaus Modern

Just wanted to mention that my dear friend from college Heidi has begun blogging.
Please take the time to visit her lovely little corner of the web.

FarmHaus Modern

Wiling away the time

Go make shoes. It is highly therapeutic.

These are mine.

They are ugly and I like them.

Now you go make yours.

Be sure to post a link to them in the comments section.

Maudlin Monday

I'll be leaving town tomorrow to go to my aunt's funeral in Cleveland on Tuesday. Naturally, my thoughts have been much more nostalgic and sentimental lately. Didn't help any that my babysitter up until I was, like, 7 or so got in contact with me through Facebook.

And then I heard this story on NPR. I liked it quite a bit, but it added to that feeling.

Decibel Festival '08

I'm not buying a festival pass this year. If you'd like to, go here.

I'm only going to see Carl.

Bam! Pow!

A couple lines about this summer's comic book exstravaganza--

Iron Man -- Mostly enjoyable but no real sense of an enemy until the final third of the film--I mean, sure, we all knew the Dude was gonna be the bad guy, but he wasn't really that bad until the end. Some fun sequences and really Robert Downey Jr.'s show.

The Incredible Hulk -- Took itself a little too seriously for my tastes. One joke about purple stretch pants was about the only moment of levity. The Abomination fight at the end was pretty anti-climatic. There wasn't even the "Oh no he's really not dead" take.

Hellboy 2 - All around great time. Had some fun B-movie nods with outstanding special effects. The expository dialogue was peppered well with characterization which adds to the completeness of the film's universe. The only storyline which seemed a bit forced was the Duala/Abe love story. It existed in too few scenes or the intensity of their meeting when they pressed hands wasn't played up. A genuinely fun film.

The Dark Knight - Kind of a mess. Some glaring plot holes and poor character development all-around with the exception of maybe James Gordon. I saw it on IMAX and I couldn't tell what sequences were filmed for IMAX which was a bit disappointing. As for that character development--Rachel and Harvey never quite seemed in love, therefore Harvey's transformation seemed implausible. The implications that the Joker manifested as a result of Batman's hubris were pretty laughable because we never get anything other than an action hero.
As for those plot holes--who took care of the Joker after Batman saved Rachel?
And I'm sure it was glossed over in some dialogue from a news anchor or something--but how did those people end up on the ferry boats?

I liked them all well-enough, though, and I'm probably being a mite hard on The Dark Knight because I felt a wee bit ripped off and let down. I think if I had seen it this weekend after the first wave of mania subsided on a normal sized screen that didn't cost (Phil) $15 a ticket, I would have been a little more forgiving--or rather could have given into it a bit more.

You're a pal and a confidante

I just wanted to express my gratitude to the wonderful array of people who sent me birthday wishes. This year, I really wasn't feeling celebratory. My patient boyfriend bent over backwards (at one point literally) to ensure I tolerated my old-i-ness with a modicum of composure. But there was no beach blowout like last year or classy restaurant get-together like the year prior.
There were text messages and phone calls and facebook wall-writing and comments left on the previous post and even a rather embarrassing blog post replete with picture. So thanks for thinking of me, for making me feel valued. I swear I'll feel up to speed sometime soon, and I swear there will be a party--not a birthday party, but a gathering of those near and dear party. 'Cause lord knows I like to party.

Expires 6/30/08

If you had a coupon that said it expired on 6/30/08--would you think that you could use it on that date for the discount?
Yeah, so does everyone else--except for the asshole Papa John's on Holman Road that took the time to send out "Neighborly" coupons and then wouldn't redeem them.
Screw you. Your pizza sucks anyway.

Looking from a window above

I'm so bummed that Yazoo is touring and they're playing nowhere near here.
Maybe if I had heard about the show before today, I would have planned something for my birthday.

As it is, I'll just hum along as their songs play through my headphones on the bus ride home.
Sometimes I wish mp3s got worn out like my old TDK mix tape that got creaky and shift-pitchy from rewinding and playing Only You over and over.

The song after Only You on that mix tape was Sparks--who also had a comeback of sorts this year.

Whatever, I do what I want!

Yeah, I'll admit it--this story cracked me up.

Why can't more young people commit to something and follow through?

RIP - Cyd Charisse

I always liked her--I don't know why. Maybe its because first and foremost she was a dancer. Lord knows I like dancers.
Speaking of . . . isn't Comfort on SYTYCD, like, the greatest reality TV personality ever?

She was a classy lady (and a Party Girl before Parker, no less) who aged very gracefully. Rest in peace.

OMG shoez

Even though Booka Shade's newest album isn't everything I'd hoped it would be, its still has some lovely tracks with impeccable production.
More impressive than their latest album, however, is their pairing with K-Swiss to make limited edition sneaks.
You can add these to the list of other limited edition sneaks I want (like these and these).

A love we all came to know

Way back in October--or actually it might have been November 1st--Tennille and I saw the whiz-bang production of Xanadu on Broadway. It was recently nominated for multiple Tony awards.
I hope it wins lots of awards--its a fun, bright, silly show with a wonderful cast. But maybe its too gay . . .
(via Towleroad)

Fer serious?

The douchebags across the street are renting out their house--for $2100/mo!
Ha! That number is so completely outrageous for their tiny little houes. Its 650 sq. ft. with a 700 sq. ft. unfinished basement. The city only lists it as a one bedroom--so you can just imagine how tiny and crappy rooms 2 and 3 are.
These are the same douchebags who go out of their way to tell us that we CAN'T PARK ON THE STREET!
I hope this listing sits. And sits. And sits.
Oh, but the guy who lives there, even tho he's a total dick, has a smokin' body. Phil and I were getting the mail last week when he was cleaning out the eaves. He was shirtless and his back was to us--we both couldn't look away.

Oh, and to give you an idea about our "friendly and safe" neighborhood--we have section 8 housing next door. They nearly always have an empty grocery cart in their yard. When there was a shooting at the QFC by our house, the standoff ended at the neighbors with our neighbor's friend surrendering to the cops.
About a month ago, the cops had our block cut off to traffic and there were two police helicopters overhead.

$2100--yeah right!