The story can get a little convoluted, so I’m going to first sum-up, then unpack a bit as I also explain why I get so ticked-off about the use of the phrase “real father.”… Continue reading What do you mean, “real” father?
Yearly Archives: 2015
Runaway hits
Not that I have any strong feelings about it
Anyway, I had this post in progress, and then I took a break to skim through Tumblr where I saw a pair of short posts by Neil Gaiman that made all of the points I was making, only much more succinctly.
So I abandoned the post. But then comes news of a new Harper Lee novel-fifty-four years after the publication of her first novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird. And that made me think about the idea of a one time runaway hit in a new way… Continue reading Runaway hits
How’m I doing on those goals?
When I set my goals for the year in 2014, I also committed to doing regular updates. Just about every month I met that commitment. I also felt as if I accomplished more of my goals last year than usual, and I suspect that making the regular reports helped keep me focused on the goals, so I’m doing it again.
Last year each goal was paired with some specific tasks based on the notion of trying to replace a bad habit with a good one. This year’s goals continue that idea and include extending the success of some of last year’s.
So, how did I do…? Continue reading How’m I doing on those goals?
Superbowl superstitions
Of course, it’s not as if I have much room to make fun of anyone for their superstitions about things like football. Last year on the eve of the big game, I was posting pictures of myself in my old Seahawks sweatshirt that I have been wearing sometimes while watching games for years, and had worn for every game that season, along with pictures of me in my three newer shirts/jerseys, and asking which I should wear for the game. Several friends pointed out that if I’d been wearing “Old Faithful” all season long, that I needed to wear it to the Superbowl, or I’d jinx the team. So I wore Old Faithful, and we won.
But Old Faithful was old, and getting frayed, and was a bit stained, so this year I’ve been wearing the newer 12th Man Jersey I got last year on game days. I rotated through my other shirts (one with the shiny silver ‘Hawks logo, the NFC Championship shirt, Old Faithful, an older grey t-shirt with the older logo) on Fridays before the game, but I wore the white jersey for each regular season game.
Then my husband gave me the #24 Marshawn Lynch t-shirt for Christmas. The next Sunday, I started the game wearing the new shirt. We had one of our worst first halves of a game the whole season. I realized my mistake, and retrieve the white jersey at halftime. We kicked butt and won in the second half.
So, even though my white 12th Man Jersey has two stains that have refused all efforts to remove, today I will be wearing it while watching the game.
I don’t want to jinx us!
Weekend update
I linked to a few stories yesterday about the American Family Association and the Republican Party trying to distance themselves from only a small subset of the horrifically anti-gay, anti-jewish, anti-muslim, and misogynist things that Bryan Fischer says every week on his radio show produced and paid for by the AFA by removing him from one of his posts in the organization, specifically Official Spokesperson. But while Fox News is now disavowing Fischer, Equality Matters reminds us of all the times When Fox News Defended Bryan Fischer’s Anti-Gay Extremism.
I also mentioned yesterday several bills filed with the Oklahoma legislature to enshrine more anti-gay discrimination into law. It’s being widely reported that Sally Kern Withdraws Anti-Gay ‘License To Discriminate’ Bill. Unfortunately, she is withdrawing only one of the three anti-gay bills that she’d introduced. Plus, there are seven others from other law makers. So there’s still plenty of anti-gay bigotry on the agenda of the Oklahoma state legislature.
It’s been a while since I reported any of the demented ravings of the “Harlem Hate Pastor” James Manning (his is the church whose sign often has hateful messages) Patheos reports that: James David Manning thinks the next goal after LGBT equality is cannibalism. They include the full video from Manning’s own YouTube channel, if you can stomach listening to him. Oh, and his church is also Harlem Hate Church To Hold Manhattan March Against “Sodomite Cannibals”; that’s right, they’re going to organize a protest march against the gay cannibals!
But wait! It get’s better! This morning Manning posted a new talk on his website and Youtube channel in which he insists that pop idol Justin Bieber is a transgender man who “threw his life away and at 20 years old can’t grow his breasts back.” The rest of his new blast against transgender people is a lot of the usual crazy, so…
Finally, how about some great news? Evangelical Megachurch in Tennessee, Gracepointe, comes out in favor of Marriage Equality. They started a “listening process” with the LGBT community three years ago, and the result was a decision of love and acceptance. Hit the link to read some more and listen to the sermon the pastor gave announcing the change.
Friday Links (Live and Let Die Edition)
We’ve reached the final Friday in January. In just two days the Seattle Seahawks are going to play in the Superbowl again, and while I do not expect them to obliterate their opponents as they did last year (we didn’t just mop the floor with the Broncos, we stomped the Broncos until they were the floor, and then we mopped them), but I do believe we’re going to beat the Patriots. Go Hawks!
Anyway, here is a collection of news and other things that I ran across over the course of the week which struck me as worthy of being shared:
Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch: “I’m here preparing for a game”.
The obscenity of calling Saudi King Abdullah a “reformer”.
7 heinous lies “American Sniper” is telling America.
Simon says the Republican Party’s clown car has become a clown van..
America’s best-selling cars and trucks are built on lies: The rise of fake engine noise.
What ‘Explicit’ Gay Sex Scenes Is Billy Crystal Talking About, Exactly?
The Cop Who Choked Eric Garner to Death Won’t Have to Pay a Dime in Damages.
Oklahoma’s Refreshingly Honest Plan To Discriminate Against Gay People.
Astronomers Catch A Quasar Shutting Off.
Unseen Galaxies of the Universe Detected.
LOOK! The Asteroid That Flew Past Earth Tuesday Has Its Own Moon.
Fox News, American Sniper, Jesus, and…well…I can’t even.
Bobby Jindal’s Prayer Rally Explicitly Advocated a Christian Theocracy in America.
Bones From Era of Alexander the Great Raise More Questions Than Answers.
Mary Jane Watson was not the sort of girl you brought home to meet your mother.
Dwarf Planet Ceres Reveals Tantalizing Details in Best Photos Yet.
The Secret Douglas Adams RPG People Have Been Playing for 15 Years.
Some Thoughts on White Anti-Racists and Angry Black People.
Study: Men more open to feminism when it’s paired with a photo of Canadian actor Ryan Gosling.
More of Seahawks Tight End Cooper Helfet’s Modeling Career.
The Real Learning Channel: A Straight Spouse Of A Gay Husband Speaks Out.
OP-ED: MALE GAYS AND THE MALE GAZE.
Newfound Mormon LGBT Tolerance Is The Same Old Discrimination.
Why Apple Selling Fewer iPads Is Actually A Huge Achievement.
For Lawyers, a Rocky Walk Down the Gay Marriage Aisle.
My boyfriend in Dragon Age: Inquisition broke my heart when he told me he was gay.
TED Talk: the Myth of the Gay Agenda. “This is the gay agenda: equality. Not special rights, but the rights that were already written.”
Three policies Obama can adopt to support LGBTQ criminal justice reform.
Okay, New Starbucks Palace on Pike Street, What the Hell Are You?.
The Cops Don’t Care About Violent Online Threats. What Do We Do Now?
The AFA Cannot Wash Its Hands Of Bryan Fischer’s Bigotry That Easily.
Bryan Fischer Was Not Fired From Wingnut Central For Saying Any Of The Following.
In case you haven’t already seen it: Lars Andersen: a new level of archery:
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George Takei presents, My Husband’s Not Straight:
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You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive by Ruby Friedman Orchestra:
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The Dancing Traffic Light:
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What happens when men find out the women they’re catcalling are actually their mothers in disguise:
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2CELLOS & LANG LANG – Live And Let Die [OFFICIAL VIDEO]:
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Oh, what was it?
The other night while I was walking home from work (which takes a bit over an hour) I had this brilliant idea. For a while last year I participated in Throwback Thursday (#tbt or #Throwback) by writing a blog post inspired by one of the large collection of scans of the contents of Grandma’s old photo albums. It was fun. It was an easy way to make me write about something other than politics or the news.
But it isn’t something I really wanted to do constantly. Particularly since I was trying to avoid posting pictures of living relatives without their permission—or at least to minimize it. So that limited which pictures could be used. There’s also only so many childhood memories that I can make at least potentially interesting to other people.
So I took a break, figuring I would do it occasionally, or maybe pick a month next time, or something. Anyway, there I was, walking home in the drizzle, listening to music on my headphones, cars zooming by in the dark, and I had an idea of something else that I could do on Thursdays; make it the usual Thursday thing. It was a topic that could include Throwback Thursday. So I would have the benefits I get from having a weekly scheduled task, that could sometimes be a Throwback Thursday post, but most of the time would be something else. And that something else would, I hoped, be of slightly more interest than just another walk down memory lane with Gene.
It was brilliant! I even thought of a cute name that had the same initials as the short hashtag (tbt). I resolved to start my first post as soon as as I got home.
When I walked in the door, my glasses fogged up. I heard my husband call to me from upstairs, but I couldn’t understand what he said because I still had my headphones on. I had to turn off my headphones, take off (get myself untangled from) my backpack, peel off my wet hat and coat, hang up the coat and the hat, get out of my shoes, get the rest of my damp work clothes peeled off and tossed into the hamper, then pull them back out to check the pockets which I always forget, figure out where I set my glasses down when I came in the door, put on some sweatpants and fuzzy socks—all the while as Michale and I babble at each other about dinner and/or our days or something else that one of us thinks is important—check the mail, collect my phone and iPad and watch and headphones to put on their chargers…
And finally I sat down and woke up my laptop. I jumped to WordPress right away to start the first post in the new Thursday idea…
…and I couldn’t remember what the nifty notion was. I don’t just mean that I didn’t remember what I meant to start writing for today’s post, I mean that I couldn’t remember the umbrella topic/personal meme that was going to be my new regular Thursday thing. The thing that had the initials T B T and could include Throwback Thursdays as a subset.
I remember having the thought. I remembered the entire internal conversation about how I’d do it. But the idea itself? Gone.
And it’s still gone, days later. I haven’t got the slightest idea what it was. None.
I hate when that happens!
The serialist’s dilemma
When we experience a story we enjoy—whether it’s a novel, movie, episode in a television series, comic book, whatever—it’s natural to want to feel that enjoyment again. This need can often be satisfied by re-reading or re-watching, but sometimes that isn’t enough. Maybe there was a supporting character that we become particularly enamored with and we just wish more of the story had focused on them. Or perhaps it was a subplot that really intrigued us and we’d like to see more of that particular dynamic. Or it could be a single line of dialog that alluded to a past event that sounds very interesting and we’d like to know more about what happened. Or it could just be that we want to know what happened next. None of those desires can be satisfied merely by repeating the original story.
In any case, we wind up clamoring, “More! More! Give me more!”
When you’re the storyteller, this is a very flattering thing to hear. The audience liked your story! They love your characters! They want more…. Continue reading The serialist’s dilemma
Sometimes it’s the little things that keep us sane
The original source of the tweet (which my friend had re-tweeted) was an account named @_FloridaMan. A quick check of the account revealed it was a long string of headlines and links to text or video news stories happening in Florida. And not just any news stories, but specifically stories of men doing things such as trying to shoot an iguana and nearly hitting people in a nearby house instead, or calling the police to complain that he thinks his drug dealer is cheating him, or trying to steal ridiculous amounts of food by stuffing them down his pants and thinking no one will notice, and so forth. Most of the tales involved the police eventually.
I checked the entire Emergency Kitten feed again, and yes, it repeats itself a bit more often than I’d like, and yes many of the humorous comments are rather obvious. If it was the only thing coming into my feed, it would become annoying after a while. Of course, it wouldn’t be the only thing happening in my feed, as I follow a bunch of people, but still…
And that’s when I had the idea. I followed both @_FloridaMan and @EmergencyKittens on the same day. Both of them give me laughs, but they aren’t the some kind of humor. Both make me roll my eyes or groan. But while one often reinforces my inner cynic, the other just as often reinforces my inner optimist.
Both of them, in different ways, act as antidotes to the outrage that can so easily by instilled reading more serious news stories and otherwise paying attention to what’s happening in the world. So, having both feeds randomly put funny, silly, bewildering moments into my day go a long way toward keeping me sane.
Friday Links (NFC Champs Edition)
It’s already the fourth Friday of 2015! But it’s still January, so it’s too early for “the year’s just flying by” jokes, right? I either had a major relapse or came down with a new bug on Sunday, so I’ve been out of it a lot again, this week.
Anyway, here is a collection of news and other things that I ran across over the course of the week which struck me as worthy of being shared:
My Seahawks are going back to the Superbowl!!!
The Purple Passions of Carl Corley. I love all the old paperback cover art!
The pope stumbles over Charlie Hebdo.
Deflated footballs just latest corner Belichick’s Pats accused of cutting. (Warning: there’s an autoplaying video.)
Father rips into Steve Deace on gay rights.
Galapagos Tortoises Make a Comeback, Thanks to Rat Eradication.
The boy who didn’t come back from heaven: inside a bestseller’s ‘deception.’
What the Reaction To Billy Crystal Tells Us About Gay Tolerance.
The Real ‘Deflategate’ Scandal Is That Anyone Cares.
Shouts Of Protest At Supreme Court On ‘Citizens United’ Anniversary.
Mike Huckabee’s PAC Paid His Family Almost $400,000.
Dumb arguments against legal protections for transgender people, part 4.
This goes way beyond double-standards!
Maybe it wasn’t as funny as I thought.
Jeremy Jordan – “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” (Broadway Loves Celine Dion):
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Jessie Ware covers Labrinth’s Jealous in the Live Lounge:
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Simon Amstell Stand-Up 01/14/15 – CONAN on TBS (Not exactly safe for work, but hilarious-stand-up comedy about his regrets of not being more sexually adventurous before settling down with his boyfriend):
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Just A Gay (Blank Space MashUp) — Morgan Reynolds:
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Font Folly 