I saw the film "Little Miss Sunshine" yesterday. My friend and I were the only two people in the theater, and it was kind of fun being able to talk like we were sitting in my at home in front of the TV while we watched the movie. Talking in movie theaters is going to be my new hobby. The movie itself, while not perfect, and a little improbable, is funny, sad, and even uplifting. It's a movie about real people, which is what makes it enjoyable.

Sonogram

Question: Is the above photo

A. a work of abstract art ?

B. a storm system moving in over Florida ?

C. an egg in an owl's nest viewed with infrared night vision goggles ?

D. my left testicle?

If you answered D, you could be a urologist! The above is a sonogram of my left testicle. I have a hydrocele on my left testicle. As far as I can tell, it is a harmless condition, but it does make a good icebreaker at parties. Talking about it I mean. I don't actually crush ice with it.

There's a restaurant here in town called "Chapitas" that has a nightly dinner special. On Mondays, it is a huge piece of meatloaf, mashed potatos, corn, chips and salsa, and a drink for about $5. The restaurant has a lot of older couples, and single middle-aged men as customers. I enjoy it there because besides the cheap, good food there are TVs mounted on the wall. Having a place to rest your gaze is important if you are eating alone.

Tredmill Dancers

A great video. The name of the band is "Ok Go" and the name of the song is "Here It Goes Again".

Barbra

I'm going to Las vegas to see Barbra Streisand! A very generous friend got me a ticket, and all I had to come up with was the airfare and the hotel. I'm not much on going to live concerts. I either like to see a band in a very intimate space like a bar, or on TV where I can actually see what is happening. However, Barbra Streisand has been my favorite since I was eight years old, and just being in the same building as her will be very exciting to me. I guess she's my only real idol. And she's such a bitch!

Cranes - Adoration

Here's another group whose sound I like. They're pretty recent.

Slowdive

slowdive - catch the breeze

Here's a group that reminds me of the music I listened to in college.

Bryanboy

The rather fantastic creature pictured above goes by the name of Bryanboy. As near as I can figure, he is a funeral director/gay Paris Hilton with unlimited funds for fashion and travel. He's also very superficial, very anorexic, and very funny. Check out his site here http://www.bryanboy.com

Cari's Wedding

A friend of mine got married this past weekend at the Mall of America. The ceremony was nice, but it was odd how little attention a bride, a groom, three bridesmaids, and three groomsmen received. Everyone at the mall was much more concerned with getting a seat in the Bubba Gump Shrimp Compay restaurant. However, the bride and groom were happy, and it was one of the few weddings I've ever attended where everyone seemed to be pleased it was taking place.

Babydaddy from the Scissorsisters!

I'll try not to get in the habit of posting entire news stories on this blog, but I think these two articles show clearly how much time, energy, and resources are wasted in service of blind prejudice.

Here's an article about a linguist who was discarged from the army despite never "telling" under "don't ask, don't tell"...

By DUNCAN MANSFIELD Associated Press WriterJOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) -- A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified.Bleu Copas, 30, told The Associated Press he is gay, but said he was "outed" by a stream of anonymous e-mails to his superiors in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C."I knew the policy going in," Copas said in an interview on the campus of East Tennessee State University, where he is pursuing a master's degree in counseling and working as a student adviser. "I knew it was going to be difficult."An eight-month Army investigation culminated in Copas' honorable discharge on Jan. 30 - less than four years after he enlisted, he said, out of a post-Sept. 11 sense of duty to his country.Copas now carries the discharge papers, which mention his awards and citations, so he can document his military service for prospective employers. But the papers also give the reason for his dismissal.He plans to appeal to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records.The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, established in 1993, prohibits the military from inquiring about the sex lives of service members, but requires discharges of those who openly acknowledge being gay.The policy is becoming "a very effective weapon of vengeance in the armed forces" said Steve Ralls, a spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington-based watchdog organization that counseled Copas and is working to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."Copas said he was never open about his sexuality in the military and suspects his accuser was someone he mistakenly befriended and apparently slighted.More than 11,000 service members have been dismissed under the policy, including 726 last year - an 11 percent jump from 2004 and the first increase since 2001.That's less than a half-percent of the more than 2 million soldiers, sailors and Marines dismissed for all reasons since 1993, according to the General Accountability Office.But the GAO also noted that nearly 800 dismissed gay or lesbian service members had critical abilities, including 300 with important language skills. Fifty-five were proficient in Arabic, including Copas, a graduate of the Defense Language Institute in California.Discharging and replacing them has cost the Pentagon nearly $369 million, according to the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara.Lt. Col. James Zellmer, Copas' commanding officer in the 313th military intelligence battalion, told the AP that "the evidence clearly indicated that Sgt. Copas had engaged in homosexual acts."While investigators were never able to determine who the accuser was, "in the end, the nature and the volume of the evidence and Sgt. Copas's own sworn statement led me to discharge him," Zellmer said.Military investigators wrote that Copas "engaged in at least three homosexual relationships, and is dealing with at least two jealous lovers, either of whom could be the anonymous source providing this information."Shortly after Copas was appointed to the 82nd Airborne's highly visible All-American Chorus last May, the first e-mail came to the chorus director."The director brought everyone into the hallway and told us about this e-mail they had just received and blatantly asked, 'Which one of you are gay?'" Copas said.Copas later complained to the director and his platoon sergeant, saying the questions violated "Don't Ask, Don't Tell.""They said they would watch it in the future," Copas said. "And they said, even specifically then, 'Well, you are not gay are you?' And I said, 'no.'"The accuser, who signed his e-mails "John Smith" or "ftbraggman," pressed Copas' superiors to take action against him or "I will inform your entire battalion of the information that I gave you."On Dec. 2, investigators formally interviewed Copas and asked if he understood the military's policy on homosexuals, if he had any close acquaintances who were gay, and if he was involved in community theater. He answered affirmatively.But Copas declined to answer when they asked, "Have you ever engaged in homosexual activity or conduct?" He refused to answer 19 of 47 questions before he asked for a lawyer and the interrogation stopped.Copas said he accepted the honorable discharge to end the ordeal, to avoid lying about his sexuality and risking a perjury charge, and to keep friends from being targeted."It is unfair. It is unjust," he said. "Even with the policy we have, it should never have happened."

Flag

This is an article from The Advocate:

News August 08, 2006 Kansas B&B owners to keep rainbow flag despite local opposition
A 12-year-old son's gift of a colorful flag he found while staying with his grandparents in California has put his parents in the middle of controversy in the small town of Meade, Kan. J.R. and Robin Knight say they knew the rainbow flag was a symbol of gay rights when they decided last month to fly it on a pole in front of their business, the Lakeway Hotel. But that isn't why they flew the banner."We just put it up. We didn't think about it," Robin says. "It has pretty colors, it's bright, it's summery." And, J.R. Knight says, it was a symbolic way to have their son nearby.The decision prompted controversy in the town of 1,600, and eventually someone cut the flag down. It's also prompted an Internet-fueled debate on gay rights in rural America, and the Knights say they have received messages of support from around the world.Now, the Knights say, they are determined to replace the flag and keep it flying. Waitress Vicky Best says such a flag has no place in Meade."It's hard enough to keep your kids on the straight and narrow without outside influences like that," she complains. "We stay in a small town to stay away from the crap like that that's happening in big cities," she says, calling homosexuality "biblically wrong."But retiree Charles Helms says he doesn't care if the Knights fly the flag. "If he wants to fly that thing, let him fly it," Helms says. "I don't have a problem at all because I know the story behind it."The Knights say they have no problems with gay people but that they have never taken a role in the gay rights movement. They moved to Meade two years ago from Southern California to pursue their dream of operating a bed-and-breakfast.The Knights say the anger displayed by some residents has strengthened their resolve to keep the rainbow flag flying. Flying the flag not only protests discrimination, they say, but they also believe that giving in to the pressure would send the wrong message to their son Anthony."It's our business. It shouldn't be dictated by other people," Robin Knight says. So when someone cut away the flag last week, leaving behind only tattered corners, the Knights quickly ordered two more and said more will be coming to replace any others that might be destroyed. (AP)

Strangers with Candy

I saw "Strangers With Candy" tonight. It was very funny, but I'm not sure I would recommend it to everyone. You really have to appreciate absurd humor. Amy Sedaris is very funny, and she is writer David Sedaris's sister, which means they must be one of the funniest families in America.

scissor sisters - take your mama

Here's a little Scissorsisters for you.

Scissor Sisters

Here's one of my favorite groups of recent years http://www.scissorsisters.com

Podcasts

I've recently been introduced to the world of podcasts. Here are two I've found to be of interest: http://orangeinapod.co.nr and http://bearpodcast.com

Prada and Lawrence

I saw "The Devil Wears Prada" tonight. It was pretty good, and I really enjoyed Meryl Streep. It was just a nice, fluffy, cotton candy comedy with a message that applies to....anyone serving as an assistant to Anna Wintour at Vogue.

Here's a poem by D.H. Lawrence, "The Last Lesson", that pretty much sums up my attitude about school right now. Not exactly "Stand and Deliver" material I'm afraid...but very real and a feeling every teacher can recognize.

When will the bell ring and end this weariness?

How long have they tugged the leash and strained apart

My pack of unruly hounds: I cannot start

Them again on a quarry of knowledge they hate to hunt,

I can haul them and urge them no more.

No more can I endure to bear the brunt

Of the books that lie out on the desks: a full three score

Of several insults of blotted pages and scrawl

Of slovenly work that they have offered me.

I am sick, and tired more than any thrall

Upon the woodstacks working weariedly.

And shall I take

The last dear fuel and heap it on my soul

Till I rouse my will like a fire to consume

Their dross of indifference, and burn the scroll

Of their insults in punishment? - I will not!

I will not waste myself to embers for them,

Not all for them shall the fires of my life be hot,

For myself a heap of ashes of weariness, till sleep

Shall have raked the embers clear: I will keep

Some of my strength for myself, for if I should sell

It all for them, I should hate them-

-I will sit and wait for the bell.

Trish Art

This is a painting by my friend, Trish Klenow. She lives and works in Houston. Check out her art here-http://trishklenow.com