Gay Zombies!!!

(Slightly non-PC). You knew it was coming. No longer alive, and yet they cannot die. Though no self-respecting gay zombie would allow his rags to become stained so.

I Say A Little Prayer

Someone asked me today: What's your favorite movie scene? Not movie, but movie scene. Voici:



It perfectly conveys the tension between Julia Roberts and the groom-to-be, the obliviousness of the bride-to-be and her family, and the friendship dyamnic between Roberts and Rupert Everett in his first major role in an American film.

The movie's largely crap and one of Roberts' weakest, IMO. But this scene is golden. It'd be awesome if there an Oscar for "Best Scene."

Thank You, Matt!

This video (the sequel to Where the Hell is Matt?) makes me smile. Sometimes, I wish the world would just get over itself and just dance. We're all God's children, and maybe one day we'll remember that. Happy Dancing!

And One More Video For Good Measure

NSFW!

Alex Misses The Mark

An interesting video from MoveOn.org. But it's flawed, in a knucklehead way. I totally understand what they were going for - trying to pull at the heartstrings of parents and ram home the human implications of pledging ourselves to decades of time spent in the Middle East.

However, we still do not have a draft, and its not like the mother will have a say over whether little Alex will sign up. The commercial would have been much more effective if the woman had introduced Alex, then said something along the lines of: "John McCain, I hear you saying that you think we should stay in Iraq, and once even said you had no problem with the troops maintaining a significant presence for 100 years. I hope that Americans will think long and hard over what you've said, because when we pledge ourselves to stay in Iraq for decades, we need to remember who we're going to be sending."

And then a close up shot of little Alex gurgling, and perhaps teething on his plastic ring.

THAT would drive the point home.

This Is Your Brain On Hope

Cool video



How sad that optimism is considered so revolutionary...so, dare I say, audacious. I truly do hope that Sen. Obama becomes the next Kennedy (inspiration, Camelot-wise, not assasination-wise).

Wow

A full 84 percent say that the country is on the wrong track. Wow - just wow. A record, to be sure. But wow. I literally gasped when I read this. It seems impossible it could ever get any lower.

Ah, To Be June, 2001 Again...

I got a letter from Presidential Classroom today, inviting me to the inaugural ball their hosting in January. Out of the blue. Presidential Classroom is this summer camp of sorts for geeky government-type high school kids. Give 'em a wad of money, and you get to spend a week in Washington with visits to the monuments and some talks with a Congressman or two. And presentations at the end regarding some salient issues. I had a fun time - would recommend it to anyone.

But how did they get my address? My student loan lender still thinks I live in Ohio. It must have been my school, unless they called my parents out the blue and weaseled it out of them.

Will I go...I've heard inaugural balls are huge and impersonal and not fun. The newly sworn-in president shows up for five minutes, and coat check is a nightmare. Eh...but it would be cool to see some of those people again, though I guess even that is too much to hope for, since the event would include people from many different sessions and years of the program.

Children Of The Midwest!

Behold Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius - my vote for Obama's running mate.
Can a Hawaiian by way of Illinois and an Ohioan by way of Kansas win the Whitehouse? I think so. Of all the potential picks Obama has for VP, I think Governor Sebelius is the best. She's a woman, she's a Democrat from a rather conservative western state, and she's won alot of praise for her governance.

There's alot of debate over her merits here and here, but I would be very pleased if Obama chose her. We'll see, I guess. But I've got my fingers crossed. Imagine if we had some Midwestern sensibility back in the Whitehouse - there hasn't been a Midwesterner in the Chief Executive seat since Ford, and he was by historical accident more than electoral mandate. Before that, it was Truman. Truman!!!

What I Did For Love

I flew home from Cincinnati to Boston yesterday, with a connection in Chicago...

Ug - it was hell. Left the hotel at 8:15 AM. The flight to Chicago was fine, though I feared I would not make my connection. But no worries, right? Because my next flight was delayed an hour...then another hour.

Then we got on the plane in the midst of a downpour. There was a serious storm over Chicago barreling eastward. Then we sat on the runway for two hours. Then we're informed that all flights heading eastward are being canceled, rerouted, etc. Because of the huge storm to the east of us, you see. When we finally do get in the air, the plane flies north to Canada, soars over frick'n Nova Scotia, and approached Boston from the ocean.

I got home at 8:05 PM. I could have flown to Paris in the amount of time it took us to get to Boston after boarding. But hey, who cares. The flight crew were great, the passengers quiet, and I made a great single-serving friend. And I got home on time to get up fresh and early the next morning (thanks to SS for ensuring my chipper-ness in the face of humidity and shoddy panhandling) for my first day at One Ashburton Place!!! They served yogurt at the welcome reception, so I love the joint already.

Mrs. A!

Blessings to my true friend LeAnne, whom I admire, respect, and hold in the most highest esteem.
I pray she and Matt find happiness together for all the rest of their days.

And the "blushing bride" drinks they served at the reception tasted like SoBe - yummy!

1998 Was A Very Good Year

I attended a baseball game yesterday with my aunt and uncle on my father's side. Their nephew (on the other side of family) was playing in his high school town championship. He ended up making a great play as a shortstop, and was awarded the league's most valuable player award afterwards. Happiness!

It was a little odd being at Ned Skeldon Stadium again. For those not in the know, Skeldon was the home of the Toledo Mud Hens until 1998 or so, when a new stadium was constructed in downtown Toledo. The new stadium was a huge success and reinvigorated the Mud Hens franchise - they've won several championships since.

So now, Skeldon Stadium is used for college games, high school championships, etc. The county owns it, and it's in pretty good condition. What was freaky was that the advertisements on the outfield walls had not been taken down since 1998. So there was a billboard for Food Town (now out of business) celebrating its 50th anniversary in 1998. And there were ads for cell phones, featuring pictures of cell phones the size of VHS tapes. And all the ads were faded so - it resembled a film set almost.

1998 was a very good year - I was a sophomore in high school. Yikes!

Equality In Our Grasp

The Supreme Court of California just ruled that their opinion last month demanding equal marriage rights for same-sex couples will be enforced until and if the decision is overturned by a constitutional amendment in the fall.
The other 48 will come around eventually. You'll see.

Yes We Can

Yes. We. Can.

Clinton was classless in her non-concession speech, which was basically a shill for money. She invited people to come to her website to give her advice on what to do next. But you can only give advice after donating. So basically like how lobbyists in Washington have access, whilst you and I get to hang with the mail-room intern.

Clinton must not get the VP slot. She has given Sen. Obama no reason to trust her. Without a concession speech, without an acknowledgement of his having attained the necessary ballots, with the solicitation of campaign donations...it's obvious who she truly cares about at this stage.

I do not believe Sen. Clinton is leveraging for a Democratic loss this fall, with hopes of running in 2012. I feel, having watched her speeches and the intense campaign coverage, that she truly believes in her heart she is the more competitive candidate for the fall, and that she will not allow the Democrats to shoot themselves in the foot, so the speak.

She knows better, apparently, that the majority of primary voters, the majority of states won, and the majority of super delegates, as well as polling data that shows him as a stronger candidate (or at least an equal candidate to her) when pitted against Sen. McCain.
She knows better. She. She. She. She. That's what her candidacy has always been about. And today, that other candidate won - that candidate who is about "we".

Eve Is Displeased...

Interesting commercial, but I really do not get it



So Eve is in the garden of Eden, naked as...well, naked as Eve. She wanders about the fields and brooks. Then Adam chances upon her. Cute - I'd get a drink with him any day. But then he acts gay, or at least stereotypically feminine.

Drumroll...then the name of an insurance company flashes across the screen. Huh? I was expecting an on-line dating site commercial, etc. What does insurance have to do with any of this? Does Eve need to get life insurance in case she commits suicide out of loneliness? I am confused. It would have been funnier if Steve showed up right after Adam sauntered in.

Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan.

August Draws Near

On Tuesday night, Obama is set to kick off the general election with a mega rally at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul Minnesota. What's special about the Xcel Energy Center? Well, it's where the Republicans are holding their convention in early September.

I’ve got to say this about our man Obama: he’s got the ability to deliver a fuck-you like it's saying 'good morning'.
Obama: “I am not afraid to go where you go. You, on the other hand, should be.”

The Academy Feels The Squeeze

And thus, it came to pass that even the college loan industry is feeling the squeeze. In a New York Times article that is troubling to me, lenders have reportedly stopped issuing loans to students with credit scores at certain levels that would not have triggered a refusal as recently as last year. More troubling is that some lenders have withdrawn the capability of students to receive loans at all to attend certain institutions (apparently all community colleges).

Michelle McClain, 40, who is studying to become a teacher, learned on Friday that she would have to find a new lender after Citibank dropped William Jessup University. The news angered her.

“The loan is between me and the lender,” Ms. McClain said. “I’m the one that’s taking out the loan, I’m the one whose credit is in jeopardy if I don’t pay it, I am the one totally responsible for the loan, and as long as I’m going to an accredited college, I don’t understand why it would make one iota of difference where I am going to college.”

These institutions apparently have high default rates among their student body.

It’s sad that yet another barrier to higher education has arisen. Its hard enough getting through college without the added burden of being denied a loan because of the reputation of your institution’s past students. I know that the lenders are not in this business for the feel-good-fuzzies, but you’d think it would be worth their while to base their credit check based on the individual, and just up the required credit score in order to obtain a loan. That way, “bad” behavior is rewarded or punished on the individual level, without the blunt harm done to Ms. McClain and entire universities fill of students.

The cynic in me says that when push comes to shove, rich institutions will protect rich institutions (banks protecting universities with actual financial and political clout). The sons of the poor being robbed of a chance to get an education and a meaningful chance at a career while the sons of the rich still get their four year birthright of frolicking and fucking amidst vine draped walls and Noam Chomsky.

It’s a crying shame that school loans are becoming harder to come by. I am thankful that I only have to request funds for one more year. Because I see this as getting worse before it gets better.

I Was Heartbroken

So I’m in Logan Int’l today, and I go to the food court to get some yummies. I stop at the “health food” restaurant. And order the bacon cheese burger. Tasted awful. The meat was dry, tasteless, and it took so long to chew, I probably burned more calories than I gained in the meal's consumption.

This miserable hovel of a food stand also sold “unfries.” I shit you not. That’s what they were called. Healthy, no doubt. “I shall have the unfries, my good man,” I said.

The miserable fast food worker rings up the sale, then waddles into the back to fetch my vittles. He returns, and without emotion says, “the unfry machine is broken.”

Drat. So no report on those, gentle reader. I know you were keen to know my rating. I am keen to guess they were like Know-Fat's fries (that place on Washington Street, just far away enough from Suffolk to stop my lazy-ass from visiting more often). Though they are the only place in all of Downtown Crossing with reasonably late hours.

I Buy My Jewels On The Tarmack!!!

Why are there stores selling clothing, shoes, and large gadgets at airports? Who in their right mind buys expensive jewelry or fringed leather pursues while they cool their heels in the terminals? I can imagine that someone might need to purchase a fresh shirt and shave after their luggage is lost. But the things you see for sale in airports (minus the overpriced food, cheapy t-shirts decorated by fill-in-the-blank local landmarks, and last week’s Economist) are always luxury items. I imagine they must turn a profit SOMEHOW, though I cannot imagine why.

Anyone here do their spring clothes shopping at Logan Int’l?

By The By...

So much to do this summer!!! A really rad internship. Brunches with Library Alyson. Parties with SS. Soccer with Tim. Food nights with Dickie. BBQ with the Danimal. Traveling with Ashley. Innumerable mornings running on the Charles. Enlightenment with Jose Harvey. I am one God Damn luck son of a bitch to have found so many friends and seized so many opportunities since I moved here two years ago.