Collect Experiences. Not Things. :')

April 29, 2009

Howard Stern: We Must Make Gay Marriage Acceptable

As only Howard can say it, but definitely NSFW.

Bush More Unpopular Out of Office

Via Huffington Post
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that former President Bush's popularity has dropped since he left office.

When he left office in January, 31 percent of American's viewed him positively. That number has now dropped to 26 percent.

President Barack Obama, meanwhile, is more popular than the past two presidents at this point during their first terms.

According to the poll, 61 percent approve of Obama's job -- that's compared with George W. Bush's 56 percent and Bill Clinton's 52 percent at this same juncture in their presidencies.

Also, 64 percent view Obama favorably versus 23 percent who see him in a negative light -- once again, higher than Bush's and Clinton's scores on this question.

My feeling is that a lot of people still blame Bush's lack of oversight of the banking system for the current recession and all of Cheney's cheerleading in the MSM about how torturing is okay, as long as you're torturing the bad guy, isn't helping Bush/Cheney's administration's popularity.

April 22, 2009

"Handsome Harry"

Here is the trailer for the film I interned on Handsome Harry . It premieres at Tribeca Film Festival this Friday.

Plus a favorable review of the film by the antique MTV newsman Kurt Loder.
Here's another review from Variety, but its not as favorable.
"Handsome Harry," the second of only two features Bette Gordon directed in the 26 years since "Variety," finds the groundbreaking indie helmer recasting her feminism into an all-male study in gay denial. Scripted by '70s counterculture lenser Nicolas Proferes and thesped by a veritable who's-who of gifted character actors, the pic (like Gordon's 1998 "Luminous Motion") loosely resembles a road movie: A man, dragging along a secret, revisits co-participants in a traumatic event that transpired decades earlier. Beginning promisingly enough, "Handsome" soon turns monotonously angst-ridden, with all humor and personality falling by the wayside. Theatrical chances look iffy.
Update May 4th: I saw the film yesterday. Typically, I don't like road movies or movies that hold back information only to be revealed later. That's the way I felt about this film when I originally read script. However, after seeing the film, I have to admit the director did a great job adding plausibility to why the information was withheld and how it was revealed. Kudos to the director.

Moreover, the Variety claims "some of the stops" along the way are "stepping stones". I agree somewhat, except the acting during these "stepping stones" is excellent. Possibly, if lesser actors portrayed these characters they might have been "stepping stones", but with John Savage and Aidan Quinn as the "steps". The scene are worth watching. And okay, as per the Variety review, the ending can been seen coming a bit before actually comes, but that's okay. I really don't think it lessened the impact of the ending any. The same goes for the angst-ridden ending, it maybe a bit hard to watch, but its resonate long after leaving the theater. I would definitely recommend the film.

April 21, 2009

The Bigots’ Last Hurrah

Frank Rich NYTimes The Bigots’ Last Hurrah Great article.
As the polls attest, the majority of Americans who support civil unions for gay couples has been steadily growing. Younger voters are fine with marriage. Generational changeover will seal the deal. Crunching all the numbers, the poll maven Nate Silver sees same-sex marriage achieving majority support “at some point in the 2010s.”
It seems clear the religious right, haters and bigots have lost the cultural war on same sex marriage.

April 19, 2009

A Letter from Iowa

A letter to the editor of the Muscatine Journal:

The idea of same-sex marriage just isn’t scary anymore. Opponents will have a difficult time whipping up the usual fear-mongering on this issue.

It used to be that most Americans didn’t know any gay people (or, more accurately, they didn’t know they knew any.) It was easy to believe negative stereotypes.

But today almost everyone knows and likes a gay person — a gay friend, relative or co-worker. A waiter at my favorite restaurant is gay. He has a sparkling personality and a big smile. The Realtor who helped us buy our house is gay.

We watch Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show. We watch Jodie Foster movies. We watch Neil Patrick Harris’ CBS comedy show “How I Met Your Mother,” and watch reruns of “Frasier” with David Hyde Pierce. We watch Anderson Cooper on CNN, listen to Suze Orman’s financial advice, and enjoy Nate Berkus’ decorating tips on “Oprah.”

Gay people are everywhere today, and we like them. A lot. How can we tell people we like that we are opposed to letting them marry the person they love?

That’s cruel. There are enough marriage licenses for everyone.

John and Kaye Andremar
West Branch, Iowa

April 17, 2009

April 15, 2009

Tea Bagging Across The Country

Count The Double Entendres

April 14, 2009

Beck's Guest Passes Out From Extreme Boredom

This is hilarious. "Someone help him, please?"

April 13, 2009

Restaurant in Old School is at the Top of the Class

HARVEST MOON INN

Newark Star Ledger Restaurant Review "FOUR STARS".
Anyone interested in running a top-class restaurant can learn something from the way things are done at the Harvest Moon, located in the countryside off Route 202 in Hunterdon County.

April 10, 2009

Watch out for Identity Theft

Barack and the Bobby

How cool is that? The says a lot for the POTUS. It wasn't a photo op. And just look at the expression on the guy's face.

April 04, 2009

Michelle Obama Rocks

Great inspirational speech she gave to young girls of color and the importance of education, in her life and theirs.

4/9/09 UPDATE: A new survey by Gallup shows first lady Michelle Obama surpassing her husband in popularity, with a 72 percent favorable rating to his 69 percent. (via politico)

April 03, 2009

Honey, Who Shrunk the Queen!?

And why is Obama always so happy? Every picture he's grinning. What's up with that?

April 01, 2009

The Bane of the Middle Class...

...“a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.”

Americans like to think "we’re still big, as Norma Desmond said. It’s everything around us that’s collapsing and shrinking."

NYT Maureen Dowd

Cloris Leachman in Cabbage