Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to all who read my blog. You all have made me a better person and enriched my life more than you can realize. I look forward to continuing to read all of your blogs and comments on mine. We have a tough road ahead of us with the presidential elections, but as a progressive group we can and will make a difference. Happy New Year to all and may 2008 be a year of bliss in your life.

Movie Review- Juno

This a great movie about teen pregnancy. Ellen Page is awesome as Juno, a smart, funny, witty high school student. Micheal Cera, yes that kid from Arrested Development, is great as the baby daddy. After being disappointed with him in Superbad, this was a great role for him. The whole film is a great look at relationships varying from Page and Cera to Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman who play the couple who will adopt Page's child. In addition to Page, Cera, Garner, and Bateman, J.K Simmons and Allison Janney are great as the parents of Juno. Raine Wilson has a great little role at the beginning. So basically the entire cast is amazing. This is a hugely funny movie and one that I recommend to everyone. It kind of reminded me of a Todd Soldonz film, but not quite as messed up. It had that same honesty and reality that seems to be missing from many of the movies that are being made. Sure, Juno is really smart and witty, which may not seem like a typical 16 year old, but she could be a typical 16 year old, many are articulate and are not totally annoying. There is also a maturity that is nice to see as it seems most films treat teens as just interested in sex and drugs and alcohol.

So go see this film. No, you do not need to see it on the big screen, sure you can wait till it comes out on DVD, but if you want to get out of the house and see a good movie for a date night or a family outing, than see this film.

DISCLAIMER: This is not a typical family movie, but would work really well if your kids are older and/or mature enough to handle a movie about teen pregnancy even with the humor it is still about teen pregnancy. It also would be a great jumping off point for the discussion of teen pregnancy the different options available from abortion to adoption to keeping the baby.

Help, my pants are on fire

It seems as though the lovely BAC has tagged me, hey get your mind out of the gutter, she just wants me to pretend I am a politician or some such thing.

Well it seems I should start at the beginning then so that you can get the full picture of my life. I was born in a shtetl in Russia.

I grew up to be a milkman with a beautiful wife and five daughters.

I tried to marry off my eldest daughter after the matchmaker came and told me that the butcher wanted to marry her, but she was stubborn. No, she did not want to marry her childhood friend, so I had to create a nightmare so that my wife would allow me to call off the engagement to the butcher.

My middle daughter begins a secret relationship with a Russian soldier after she is loaned a book by him. I found about this relationship and I forbid her to ever see him again, as I cannot allow a marriage outside of the faith. They elope.

One of my other daughters falls in love with a revolutionary and they break tradition by arranging their own match. They come to me and ask not for permission, but only for my blessing, can you imagine my horror. I do some soul searching and finally relent.

And finally I am told by the town constable that I am being forced to leave my village, my home for all of my life and the lives of many of my ancestors, I will have to go to America.

So that is my story, oh yeah I guess I should tell you my name, Tevye.

So now I must tag others. I tag the Gourmet Goddess, Comrade Kevin, and Morse. I hope I have not double tagged anyone, I probably have as DCup has tagged the entire lefty blogospere, but oh well.

UPDATE: This meme is supposed to be about 7 lies about yourself. That was not clear, sorry about that. So anyone that takes this challenge, just tell 7 lies about yourself.

I am a chihuahua

Hello this is Logan, it seems that the Pussies for Peace have tagged me so I have had to dictate to my owner seven untruths about me. (Yeah he didn't know I could talk either).

1. I am actually a small, hairless chihuahua.
2. I love to play with other small dogs.
3. I voted for Bush in the last election as he is clearly the smartest man in America.
4. I never eat food off the floor.
5. My real name is Mrs. Fluffers Wigglybottom the Third.
6. I find Huckabee to be charming and a real man.
7. I never want any affection from anyone. I am content to just ignore you when you walk into my house and then crawl up in a small corner to sleep.

I am tagging all of your lovely dogs and cats out there. Hey, show the food person that you actually can talk by just randomly starting a conversation about that age old question, Ginger or Maryann. And then when you have decided on that tough choice, then move on to doing this meme.

I love my Mac

I got a copy of the new Mac operating system, Leopard, from my brother and finally got a chance to install it. I had to first make back-ups of some key information, but then I was ready to go. I found the process incredibly easy to install Leopard and really it didn't seem to take much time, maybe an hour. The new OS does not seem to be radically different than its predecessor, but it does have some nice features, such as it is easier for me to log onto my network than with Tiger, the old OS. There are some other nice features that I am sure I will like as I get used to them. I am just getting used to some of the new features and quirks, but I do like it so far. So if you have a Mac and are thinking about upgrading to Leopard, do it. And the best part is that unlike Microsoft, you do not need a product key so it is quicker and easier and I can mail the disc back to my brother who actually bought it.

Movie Review- The Kite Runner

I had read this book and was interested when they turned it into a movie. I thought it was well done. The film is well directed and acted by all. The boys who play the parts of Amir and Hassan do a good job of demonstrating the undying loyalty that Hassan has for Amir and the lack of understanding of this by Amir. I didn't think that much of the book was taken out of the film as does seem to happen many times when a film is adapted from a book, but I also have not read the book in a while and so I may be mistaken on this account.

I also recommend this film as it is well done and gives an interesting perspective into an area that I did not know a lot about, but I would recommend the book as well and possibly reading the book before watching the movie.

Movie review- Sweeny Todd

That was a large part of why I wanted to see Sweeny Todd, I have a man crush Johnny Depp and I was curious to see how he would do with this role. I also like Tim Burton and thought he could do a good job of making this into a movie. I was not disappointed. I thought Johnny Depp did a good job at the role and even was pretty good for a non-singer in a singing role. I cannot carry a tune in a bucket, so I can't criticize anyone else's singing, but I did think that Helena Bonham Carter may have had a bit of a weaker voice for the role. But overall she was good in the role, although I have read the Angela Lansbury is amazing in the film that was put out in the 1980s with her in the role of Mrs. Lovett. Sacha Baron Cohen was really good at the role of Pirelli as it seemed to fit him well, it was a bit comedic and yet also showed off his ability to really act. Overall a really good movie that I may have to buy when it comes out as I really want to see what extras they will put on the DVD.

If you have not seen it and want a bit of a no-brainer movie with some good enough singing then definitely check this movie out.

YouTube Friday

This is a great cover of this song originally done by June Carter Cash.


Lucy Kaplansky- Ring of Fire (Live)

This song is by a band where my mom knows the mother of the drummer. Apparently, they are big on the LA concert scene or at least I found a lot of stuff of them playing out there.

Monsters are Waiting- Nobody

Cookie anyone?

I thought since it has been so stressful lately, we should sit down and have some nice Schwetty Balls this Christmas. Hope you enjoy them.

You found me how?

So I was looking that words that people use to find and of course it is really interesting.

Here are some words that people have used to find me:

-DCup (Thanks DCup, apparently people find me when looking for bras)
-transgender little boys (Ok I guess I understand this)
-boys wearing dresses youube (Apparently someone can't spell YouTube)
-naked women on youtube (Why don't they just go to YouTube for this, can they not remember the site?)
-watching other men fuck my wife (Um, yeah, so how did you get here based upon this, have I talked about voyeurism?)
- why go back to your first love after she dumps you (You shouldn't, maybe I didn't make that clear enough from this story here or more accurately the comments from much wiser people than me)
- boys wearing makeup and dresses (Am I sensing a theme here?)
- christians viewpoints of gays working in the workplace? (Did you find what you are looking for here, and if so what is the answer?)
- why do boys reveal their boxers? (baggy pants)
- boys wearing dresses (another theme element?)
- classic incest films (Ok so i feel that this is somehow racist or something, just cause I live in the south does not mean that i married my sister, hell i don't even have a sister, so drop the incest and walk away from the blog, thank you)
-hot naked movies with dogs ( you are one sick fuck, ya know that, first incest and now bestiality)

So now we know how some people stumble upon this little blog, but why would you use any of those search phrases?

What if Bush was never born...

This is a great little video on how great the country would be if Bush was never born, of yeah and it is hella funny too.



h/t BAC

Is this a good idea?

I really wonder whether this is a good idea. According to this article, Nickelodeon is thinking about creating a special on teen pregnancy after the whole release of the news that Jaimie Lynn Spears is pregnant. Now I think it is possibly a good idea, but it really depends on the direction that they take it. This could be just another instance where we get the same abstinence BS and kids are not actually given any information, but maybe not. Anyway, I though this was interesting that Nickelodeon is trying to figure out what to do and not just ignoring the issue. Anyway...

YouTube Friday

Here are clips from two movies that I like. One I saw the end of last night and the other came up in conversation last night, you can guess which is which.

I love the music for this clip as well which is why I am using this particular one.


And one of my favorite books and movies with an important message that we all need to hear.

My holiday rant

I was in a bagel chain a weekend or so ago and I was sitting there people watching as I like to do when I am out in public. I noticed three young boys sitting down and their parents came over and then they started to eat their bagels. An elderly couple sat down next to them and drank their coffee. So at one point the elderly women said, "They are cute what are their names and how old are they." The mother answered and then came the part that annoyed me, the elderly women then said, "Are you excited for Christmas? What did you ask Santa for?" Now this annoys me, why should you assume that people celebrate Christmas? There enough people who do not celebrate this time of commercialism that if you do not know the people it is better to not assume anything than say something stupid. What if the mother had responded, "We don't celebrate Christmas, we are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Atheist or even as one child in my class Jehovah Witness." Now I don't really have an issue with it when you know the children, the children in my class are of course psyched about Christmas and have been talking non-stop about Santa so of course I engage them in this, but I know these children and I know their parents. I also know that I don't mention this to the child who is Jehovah Witness, but they are on a cruise this week so that is easy. I also know not to say anything to the Jewish child or the Hindu child in the other room. I also have a child who is Muslim, I think, and a child who I am not sure about, who might be Hindu, but I am not sure. Since they do not talk about it, I don't talk about it to them. As someone who is Jewish, this bothers me when people assume that you are Christian just cause you live in this country. I do celebrate Christmas as I am a halfsie, my dad is actually not Jewish, so it is not a big deal when people wish me Merry Christmas, but really don't be an ass and assume.

My other issue with asking about presents is that when I was working in the public school system, my whole class, almost, consisted of children who were from lower income families. This is the nature of most public preschools, that or they are for children with special needs independent of income. But anyway asking these children what they wanted for Christmas was totally unfair as these families were trying to pay rent, buy food and basic necessities, so Christmas presents may or may not happen for this family. There are more important things than presents, ya know.

On a separate topic, as a teacher we get gifts from students and their parents. Some of the gifts are nice like the multiple gift cards I have gotten but some are not so great or just not your taste, but deal with it. I had a teacher today whine about the fact that she got crushed up pretzels with caramel or something like that on them. She contended that this meant that the family didn't see her as a professional or that they didn't value what she did for their child. Now I understand that getting this may not be what you wanted and that you probably wanted a gift card to somewhere, but shut the fuck up already. This family got you something, they actually got you something that was homemade. This family made something and decided to share it with you. Hell it might have been the child's idea to give this to you. I tend to get random gifts of candy and such from one child, she will be at Starbucks and make her mom get chocolate for me and the other teacher. I have also gotten packages of gummy Dora snack packs and Oreos, these are all random gifts, but they are heartfelt and isn't that what matters? So when the family gives you the crushed up pretzels with caramel, throw them away if you want but first talk to the child, did they help make it, was it their idea, that kind of thing? People who whine about gifts that someone else gives them annoy me. I have no issues taking things back that family give me and even something from a child, I got a scarf this year that is nice (cashmere), but I don't really wear scarves so if I can figure out where it is from I will probably return it, but I am grateful that this family thought enough of me to get me something. And as I mentioned above, I worked for awhile with families that couldn't generally afford gifts for the teachers, so I rarely got anything, but did I see that as a sign of their opinion of me. NO, they couldn't afford to give gifts and so I didn't get them, but when if came to having food for parties we also did well as they could use food stamps for this stuff, so we always had a lot food. So gifts do not determine what others think of you, so the shitty gifts mean as much as the nice gifts, though I do like the fact that I have gotten gift cards to Barnes and Nobles on several occasions and now have $50 worth of Kohl's gift cards.

Oh and a big FUCK YOU to those who bitch about the War On Christmas.

911 for peace-Anti-flag

Hot Naked Woman

Not that kind of women but it got you to look didn't it and it will get some nice hittage from the interwebs. I was listening to this band and I remembered how really fun they are, so check out two vids by the Barenaked Ladies.


Barenaked Ladies - If I had a million dollars (Live)


Barenaked Ladies- It's all been done

I also want to say that the last video is from the Warner Bros Records Channel on YouTube. I think that is super cool that they have some of their artists videos posted and allow them to be embedded even if the sound is a little fucked up there for a bit.

Welcome to 1984- Anti-Flag

So now will be a short serious of Anti-Flag protest songs, this is just the first one of several.

Finally, something Jersey be proud of

They are the first state to abolish the death penalty. This was signed into law today by Governor Corzine. It is nice to see the Democrats actually stand up to the Republicans for a change. The article here does not note this, but I had heard on the Rachel Maddow Show that this was prompted by an investigation by NJ into the death penalty where they found they were spending more to execute people than to sentence them to life without parole and that the death penalty was not serving as a deterrent to violent crime, ya think. The US is one of only a handful of nations worldwide that still uses the death penalty and most of the other countries we would consider to be "uncivilized". But yet we have one of the most violent societies in the world as well. You would think that if the death penalty was a deterrent we would see some kind of drop off in violent crime and yet the rate of violent crime seems to be rising. So maybe if we spent more money in education and taking care of the people in need and less on trying to kill them, we would actually make some change for the better in this country.

Traitor Joe is at it again

He is endorsing McCain for president. WTF, great job of being a traitor yet again to your party and to your country, Traitor Joe. I can't actually even type much more about how much I hate Joe as he is such an asshole and portrays Jews in such a negative light and he is a traitor to his country, but check out this article here for more information.

Yay Jodie Foster

Question: What do Kirsten Vangsness, Jodie Foster, Rachel Maddow and Portia de Rossi have in common?

Answer: In addition to the fact that I find all of them to be really sexy, they are also all out of the closet Lesbians.

So why I am posting on this you may ask. Well, two reason. First I think it important that people be able to be who they are and if they are gay than so be it and I want people to be able to say that publicly. We need to find ways to de-stigmatize homosexuality.

Second, I have been trying to figure out why, recently I keep finding lesbian women really sexxy. I have had a crush on Rachel Maddow for a while now, I love Kirsten Vangsness after watching her on Criminal Minds, I have always thought Jodie Foster was really attractive and Portia de Rossi is, of course, gorgeous. That is not to say that I have not found some really attractive heterosexual women, but this post is about my love of lesbians or something like that. And now for a gratuitous shot of Kirsten because well, I can and I do truly love her best of all.

Movie Review- Superbad

I didn't actually think this was going to be a good film, but I liked 40 Year Old Virgin and they did a good job with Freaks and Geeks. I just think the Judd Apatow has gotten worse and worse. The 40 Year Old Virgin was funny, and interesting and I loved it. Knocked Up was not too great, but I could deal with it and it was not totally annoying. But Superbad was just that, it was super bad. There was no redeeming value to this film. I am not sure if they were trying to make it cheesy and just dumb like Wet Hot American Summer, which was really funny in its cheese, but they failed with Superbad. Micheal Cera who was on Arrested Development was OK in the film, but the writing was horrible and it just came out as a pathetic and annoying film. I watched the whole thing to see if it could get any worse and it never got better. So don't bother watching this film.

WTF: That Guy edition

This ad has been playing a lot lately. I keep seeing it and every time I see it I get annoyed. I don't get this ad. What is "that guy"? A guy who actually cares about his significant other and so will give here a pedicure if she asks. A guy who is not an asshole and when asked his opinion, gives it about makeup. A guy who actually spends time with his significant other. I don't get it.

What I do get is that since you are not "that guy" you need to buy diamonds. That it is Ok to be an asshole if you buy diamond. What I get is that diamonds make everything better. Well guess what, buying diamonds or any commercial good is not going to improve your relationship, it is not going to make her love you any more than she does and it is not the answer to all of life's issues. And if it does solve any of the issues or it does make her love you or it does improve your relationship, than that is a sad existence. So maybe you should spend more time with your significant other and less time shopping for that diamond.

Oh and by the way I strongly dislike diamonds and red roses. They are both so trite and cliche. I am supposed to spend two months salary on something to prove my love, yeah fuck that. Diamonds are a product that has its value artificially inflated so that people can make money. They are a clear stone, I want something with some color, with some real character, pearls, rubies, emeralds or anything that actually has some interest to it. Not to mention that diamonds are the causes of many wars in Africa which lead to much death and destruction.

So I say forget about the diamond and give your significant other a pedicure or put on her nail polish or just spend time with her and see what happens.

The Story of Stuff

This is a great website that FranIam suggests checking out. It really is worth watching the 20 minute video. So go check it out.

YouTube Friday

This is such a great version of Ring of Fire by Lucy Kaplansky. I was looking for a protest song by here and I still can't find it, but I found this song and really liked it.



I am, of course, addicted to Regina Spektor (I intend to get Soviet Kitsch this weekend) and I am now in love with this song. I think this is a great live version of this song.

Metric- Succexy

I am a liberal and so can you

I have no independent thoughts tonight, well actually I have a lot of thoughts but nothing that I can put into a coherent post so I am going to send you to other places, two other places to be exact.

First, go check out Gourmet Goddess and her post on obesity in adolescent girls. It is a great speech and post.

Second, the Cunning Runt has a great post about the label liberal and how we can reclaim that label from the other side (hence the post title).

James McMurty- We can't make it here anymore

I am not sure where I first saw this, but it is a great video and song.

Walmart sucks!!

Yeah like you didn't already know this. And most of you have already seen this at Blue Gal's place, but I had to post it here for two reasons. One, it is so disgusting and foul and wrong that everyone needs to know how horrible and disgusting Walmart is. Two, I know where the Walmart that is mentioned initially is in Cary as that is where I am now living. It is just down a few doors in the same strip mall as a really great bagel place I go to and no I have not ever and never will be in that Walmart.

Why does the patriarchy exist?

I am not asking about why it exists currently, as that is a pretty easy question, it comes from over 5000 years of cultural and social conditioning. I am also not asking as a way of trying to abolish it, although I am trying to abolish it, but that is not what this post is about. What I am asking is under what conditions and situations does the beginning of the patriarchy begin to make sense both evolutionarily and also socially? I mean at what point did pre-modern people "decide" that men should be in charge and women should be subservient. I have to include both women and men in making this decision, as initially there is no social programming that tells us that men are superior and women are inferior. It is basically people deciding that this is the natural order of things and then making it happen. It is language shaping and creating our reality. How does this begin?

In reality any one gender having superiority over the other seems to make no sense. Both genders are needed to continue the procreation of the species, men cannot do it without women and women cannot procreate without men. Hell if anything women have a slight edge as they are the carriers of the child, but they cannot create a child without the sperm of a man. So then why did pre-modern peoples decide that men are superior? Looking at nature, no other species seems to make the male gender superior, in fact it is probably the opposite. When species have bright colors or plumage, cardinals and peacocks for example, it is always the male. When you see fighting for a mate in nature it is usually the males that are fighting for the right to mate with the female. I am sure there are exceptions to this rule, that the male is the showy or aggressive one, but I cannot think of one and it seems that in general the male has to compete more for mating rights. So the patriarchy does not make sense either in terms of procreation or when compared to the rest of the animal world, so does it makes sense socially?

I am sure that some people would argue that humans are above animals, that we are not truly part of the animal kingdom either because of our ability to reason or create complex thought, I would not be one of them, but I have to address this anyway. So then, I guess the reason that the patriarchy exists is because we are able to reason and to think and to then create and force our way of thinking upon others. I look toward Beresheit (Genesis) as a way of telling how this patriarchy began, this is also why I used the thought that the social conditioning has existed for over 5000 years, I am not arguing that people have always been patriarchal, just more recently. I use over 5000 as the year according to the Jewish tradition is 5768 (yes I did have to look that up). Anyway, so if we look at the the biblical story of creation we think that God created woman from man. Woman was created from the rib of a man. This, of course, supports the idea that man is superior to women as women are created after man and they are taken from man, hence men must be superior. Well there are some interesting points from this. First, when I look at my Torah there are actually two creation stories, the first one, Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:3 and then a second one from Genesis 2:4-24. The point of bringing this up is that it is in the second one that woman and man are created separately, woman from the rib of Adam. According to Genesis 1:27, And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them (the italics are mine of course). So here in this story male and female are created at the same time as equals, there is no women is created as a helper to man as there is in the second story. I know there are those of you reading this who are saying, oh don't get into religion on this, I am honestly not. My point is that at some point it was decided by men, of course, that they would emphasize the part of the second story that subjugates the woman to a lesser role. And why are there two stories? My theory is that at some point "learned men" decided that by adding the second story, as the Bible was written by man, it would support the thoughts that man was superior by being able to say, "See god made us and he made man superior, so woman go back into the kitchen and cook." Ok so maybe not those exact words but what other reason is there than to propagate the whole patriarchy? It would also make sense to me that this type of propaganda would be helpful in conversion of native peoples and subjugation of the women. "See it says in our holy book that our god is better than your god and that men are better than women."

So this still does not answer the whole, where does the patriarchy come from. Another example of what would seem to be support for at least equality if not a more matriarchal society is that within the Jewish religion, the religion of the child is passed down on the mother's side, so a child who is born to a Jewish mother is Jewish no matter what the religion of the father (like me). This also works when trying to take over a community, I just realized, as this way the women have the child and the child then has to be Jewish. It does not matter if the women's husband is a pagan, and early on this would probably have been the case, as the child was now Jewish and so within a short period of time everyone is Jewish in an area and they can move on to conquer, quietly, another area, OK wow this was a bit off topic and may make for another post. Anyway... so then why is the Jewish society patriarchal, because it was already ingrained in these people or being ingrained by the religious leaders that man is superior.

I am not sure I have really gotten any further in figuring out why the patriarchy exists and at what point it made sense to people as it makes no sense to me. It would seem to be contrary to all "natural" evidence and is even suspiciously contrary to initial writings of the holy texts. This also would support the idea that man wrote the Torah (Bible) and that it was probably edited and changed many times before we have the version that we see now.

This post may not have flowed well and may not totally makes sense to others, but as I am struggling with this and have no answers, I needed to post this so that I can get my thoughts out and then I can continue to think about them. I thank you if you made it this far and please comment if you have the answer as to why the patriarchy made any sense initially or any other thoughts that may help me to get further in trying to figure this out.

The great leap forward- Billy Bragg

A great song by a great singer and song writer.

Blasphemy? Hellz yeah!!

Now this is a fun little video about Sodom and Gomorrah that had me laughing so hard I was crying.



h/t to Somewaterytart

The story meme virus is spreading and I am its next victim

So I was tagged for the story meme by two different people, BAC and DCup, that Splotchy created. So I borrowed from the playbook of one Mathman and I have combined them. I think it works and so I am going to take it from this combination as I really do not want to try an create two different stories, I am not that good a creative writer. I have decided to tag, Gourmet Goddess, Sir Robin, Whiskey Marie, Dr. Monkerstein, and Cap'n Dyke. I am sure most it not all of you have already been tagged for this honor of working on this story, but here is another opportunity to do it again and maybe with a whole 'nother twist. I also didn't think I could think of anyone who had not yet been tagged.


I woke up hungry. I pulled my bedroom curtain to the side and looked out on a hazy morning. I dragged myself into the kitchen, in search of something to eat. I reached for a jar of applesauce sitting next to the sink, and found it very cold to the touch. I opened the jar and realized it was frozen. (Splotchy)

"That's strange," I said out loud to no one in particular. My fingers slowly reached towards the jar again. My body experienced a wave of apprehension as weighted blanket covering me as I did so. The jar was completely frozen.

I picked it up and stared at it, my fingers stung with little knives of chill. "What the..." again I spoke aloud. Then I realized what had happened with a shock. Suddenly the jar flew from my hand. It shattered creating a collage-like mixture of frozen applesauce and glass shards on my kitchen floor, the lid lazily rolling to a stop across the room.(FranIam)

I stood for a moment considering what all this meant. Oh, I knew what it meant, I didn’t need to waste time thinking about it. He was back. And he was mad.

I ran down the hallway and flung open the door at the end. I was immediately hit with a blast of cold. I took a step back as I tried to catch my breath. I bent over, hands on my knees panting. He always had this remarkable effect on me. After so much time, it no longer scared me, but it was a shock nonetheless……

“You know,” I panted, “There’s no need to break things to get my attention.” (DCup)

I half noticed at first glimpse that there was something odd amidst the solidified apple sauce as I reached for the broom and the dust pan. As I knelt down to clean up the frozen mess, I could clearly see a tiny figure within the goopy mess. It was a human eye, with tiny arms and legs! I resisted my initial urge to pick it up with my hand, and then reached down to scoop it up with the dustpan. The eye looked up at me in horror and gave out a frightening high pitched screech as it ran for the living room.

I was dumbfounded by this turn of events. I didn't even like applesauce - And I had guests coming for dinner! It would not be proper to have a homunculus eyeball running around during the appetizer - I had to think fast. I crept into the living room so as to not startle the small creature. The eyeball was under the coffee table, peeking out from behind one of table legs. When I approached, it quickly darted under the couch!

I got on my hands and knees to look under the couch, but I could not see the eye through all of the old newspapers and dust bunnies that had accumulated under there. I had to hurry! the guests were coming at seven o'clock, and I had not even started the buffalo chicken skewers with blue cheese dipping sauce yet! Not to mention the couscous and the broccoli noodle salad. (Zaius Nation)

Then it suddenly dawned on me, "this is why I have dogs ... to protect me from unwanted creatures roaming around my house." And where were those lazy bums anyway?

Not wanting to further startle the little eye I softly called to them. "Bart, Bella ... come here, I've got something to show you!"

The clicking of their nails against the hardwood floor signaled they were on their way. They love a challenge, and particularly like it when I'm on the floor with them.

Not saying a word, I pointed under the couch and waited for their response. Bart, being ADD, spotted the eye immediately, and was sure it was one of his toys that he's so fond of playing with. He tried to scoot under the couch to retrieve it, but to no avail. He couldn't reach it with his paw since dachshunds have such sort legs. Poor little guy, two inches just wasn't enough. This was a job for Super Bella!

You see, Bella is a miniature schnauzer ... with long beautiful legs. It took only one swipe and Bella had the eye out from under the couch and rolling across the living room floor. That's all Bart needed ... he was off to the races! The eye, sensing impending doom quickly reacted. (Yikes!)

The eye took off at a full sprint across the floor of my living room, but he was no match for Bella and Bart. Bart quickly caught him and threw him up into the air like he does with all of his toys. After I allowed Bart to toss him around a bit, I knew I needed to stop him from hurting the eye too badly, as I needed to talk to it. I called Bart over and although I was still scared to touch the eye, I know that I was running out of time before the guests got there. The whole idea of making dinner had started to go out the window, but I was still hopeful that at least I would be able to get the answers I needed before the others got to my house. I needed to know what had happened to my dear, sweet Charlotte that fateful day five years ago and I knew that the eye was the key to this mystery.

The eye said that Hrothgar had her and that I would need to enter the eighth dimension if I wanted to see her. (Boxer Rebellion)

New kicks- Le Tigre

I originally saw this video over at MPS where Tengrain had posted it. It was right as I was doing this whole protest music series of posts, so of course it got added and now I have finally gotten to it.

8 things you do not already know about me

So Sir Robin tagged me and I have to come up with 8 unique things about me. I have been delaying this post as I had other things to say and thought I had plenty of time, well I have been tagged again, which I will get to hopefully tommorrow.

Here are the rules of the game:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.

2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their eight things and include these rules.

4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged and that they should read your blog.

5. Thou must post eight. Eight shall be the number of the posting and the number of the posting shall be eight. Nine shalt thou not post, neither shalt thou post seven, excepting that thou then proceedeth to eight. Five is right out. Once the number eight, being the number of the posting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Tag in the direction of thine fellow bloggers.

So here goes...
1. When I got my dog his name was Topaz, now I am not into the macho bullshit but I was also not going to have a Boxer named Topaz, sorry.
2. I named Logan after a Marvel comic book hero (a gold star to who can name that hero)
3. The only time I have ever blacked out was from drinking Jello shots with Everclear. I had an ice tray and a half of Jello shots and a glass of some kind of punch and Everclear. This was my sophomore year in college and I have not had Everclear since.
4. For six months when I first moved to NC, I slept on an air mattress on the floor of my room. I did not have a bed. Prior to that for two years, I had been sleeping on a futon that my ex girlfriend let me have that was approximately six inches off the ground, so when I finally got a bed, it was weird to be so high off the ground.
5. I love dark chocolate especially the really rich really dark chocolate that you can get at Trader Joes and that Hershey's is starting to make with the 65% and higher concentrations of cocoa.
6. I grew up with a Golden Retriever that slept under my bed from when I was just born until she got too old to climb the stairs at the age of 16.
7. When I was in middle school until my sophomore year of high school I swam competitively. I was not very good and quit cause the other swimmers on my high school team were assholes and I got tired of it.
8. Throughout college I intended to work in the diplomatic field. I even took the Foreign Service exam and was ten points off from qualifying to be able to apply for a job with the Foreign service.

I am not tagging anyone, most everyone that I would tag has already been tagged and I have bigger fish to fry such as the story meme that I got tagged by BAC to do which I will be tagging people for. So if you want to reveal eight magical things about you than consider yourself tagged.

Transgendered children?

I got this video from BAC, who is a great blogger, so if you have seen it you can skip the video and just read my reaction, unless you want to see it again.



First, I had difficulty making it all of the way through this video as the new co-host they have added, Sherri Whatever, really annoys me. This is the second time I have seen a video of her recently and both times it just shows the utter stupidity that is her. She is bigoted and homophobic and she has reproduced which scares the shit out of me. But as a teacher, I have to respect her opinion as a parent and that she has the right to raise her children in any way she sees fit as long as she is not hurting them, yes I could argue that she is hurting them psychologically, but I will not go there. So if a parent came to me with the same concern she had, their son is wearing dresses in the dramatic play center, well then I would handle it one of two ways. One, basically ignore the parent and placate them by having the child not wearing the dresses or other offensive clothing when the parent is going to be around including at the end of the day, when the parent may be coming for pick-up. Two, explain my view as an educator in this situation. This also touches upon what really annoyed me about this video, which was Barbara Walters asserting that if you see a little boy wearing a dress, you need to be concerned and talk to the parents about this. She seemed to say that this was a major issue that needed to be addressed, "not that we would label them", but still addressed. Guess what, by pointing it out as an issue to the parents you are labeling the child and possibly offending the parent.

There are several issues when we look at the issue of boys wearing dresses or other stereotypically feminine clothing. First, as I have mentioned before in this post about nature versus nurture in young children, children this young, from three to five years old is the age that seems to be discussed in this video and is what I am focusing on, are still grasping gender roles. They are still figuring out that women traditionally wear dresses and men do not. They are still figuring out what clothes are "appropriate" for each gender and so at times they wear what they want to wear. They see their mothers wearing dresses and so they put on a dress when they are at school. This is part of normal human development and most children begin to figure out ender roles later in preschool up until maybe first grade. So is this child consciously trying to cross dress, no.

Second, in my experiences in many different classrooms from being a student teacher to now two and a half years of being in my own classroom and seeing a lot of other teacher's rooms, typically all that is available are dresses or other women's clothing. In most rooms there are several dresses, a few skirts, some scarves, some dress up shoes, normally these are a combination of women's shoes, and maybe a vest or women's hat/s. There are not boys clothes for the boys to dress up in, they do not have the option of wearing what would be considered men's clothing. What are men's clothing, I am not totally sure? I have been in a classroom where several old costumes were donated, batman and spiderman. In my classroom last year, my assistant had a son so she would bring in clothes that he had outgrown, like little boys shoes, some old suits and clip on ties or other "Sunday clothes". And guess what, the boys wore the boys clothing too, they still continued to wear the dresses some times and even carry around purses and have the high heeled shoes on, but they wore the boys clothes as well. This shows me that it is not always that children are choosing to wear the dresses, they are choosing to dress up and use what dress up clothing they have available.

The availability of dress up clothes brings me to my final point, it is socially acceptable for a little girl to dress up, but not a boy. It is OK if a boy wants to wear a costume for Halloween and sometimes it is OK for a little boy to wear their costume even when it is not Halloween, but that costume is normally a superhero of some kind or an animal or other non-gendered thing. The costumes for girls are princess and cute cats and other things that force girls to be more feminine and if the girl wants to wear that everyday for a week, a month, a year, it is OK as she is just being cute and feminine. Little girls are supposed to dress up, they are supposed to want to be like mommy and wear make up and dresses. Girls are expected to want to play in the housekeeping area and wear the dress up clothes. Boys are supposed to build with blocks and draw, but don't make the drawings too "sissy", oh no, superheros are fine, but if child draws something else on a regular basis than it is cause for concern. Boys are not expected to want to dress up so why should we provide dress up clothes for little boys? (As a male teacher I get told to just bring in some of my old clothes, yeah, that doesn't work, so if you have a son who has grown out of their clothes think about donating them to the daycare that you child goes to or went to, they would probably appreciated.) So back to the topic, since boys are not expected to dress up, than there are not the clothes for them to dress up. You can walk into any store with a toy department and if you look you can find little princess costumes and other dress up clothes for girls, but none for boys.

There are dress up clothes that are made for boys, and they are doctors and firefighters and police officers. I have seen them and have even had some donated to me, they are awesome, but you know what they consist of. They are normally a hat and a jacket to signify what ever profession is supposed to be portrayed. The costumes are usually unisex and show both boys and girls on the picture of them. The children I have worked with get bored of these costumes after a while or combine them with, yes, the purses and the high heeled shoes (which can be kind of comical to be honest). Also, when a child dresses up as a police officer their friends want to dress up too, so they have to use what ever else is available, hmmm the dress or other "feminine" clothing is used. And it is socially acceptable for the girls to wear the superhero costume or the doctor or firefighter's outfit, but not for the boy to wear what other dress up clothes are available. I am not arguing that girls should not wear the "masculine" dress up clothes in fact I encourage that in my classroom, but I also encourage the boys to wear the dresses or the skirts or whatever they can find if they want to dress up. These children are expressing their own creativity and individuality and are playing.

So, to get back to my original point about my annoyance with Barbara Walters, no just because a boy is wearing a dress does not mean they are transgendered. Sure some of them may grow up to be transgendered and may even know that things just don't feel right, but I am not sure that we want to make that leap to indict every child of anything, from being transgendered to being gay to being totally comfortable in their own skin. They are children who are using the resources available to play and to learn through play. They learn about gender roles, they learn about the different roles that people play and they learn that boys and girls, men and women can be caregivers or be the family supporter and work.

YouTube Friday

Here are bunch of videos that are at least somewhat inspired by a conversation on the "Night of the Lutefiske" at the BG Salon. First are two live Beck tunes, then it goes on with songs that I ran into as I was finding the Beck tunes that I used to and still really like for whatever reason. Yeah none of them are the most inspiring of songs, but fun for a Friday.


Beck- Loser (Live BBC)



Beck-Where its at (Live) this is great with the commentary at the beginning from Beck



Soundgarden- Black Hole Sun



Radiohead- Creep



Butthole Surfers- Pepper



Bloodhound Gang- Bad touch (Ain't nothing but mammals)

Sex education and children

I was listening to some of my children talk yesterday (yes, I get a lot of posts from children) and this is a conversation two boys had.

Child 1: Look at my boobies.
Child 2: Uh huh
Child 1: Mommy has big boobies.
Child 2: That is because she is a grown person.

It was at this point that I realized that I had to step in and move the conversation in another direction. I also knew I had a post at this point. There was a hullabaloo a while back where Barak Obama came out in favor of sex education for Kindergartners and many people felt he was crazy and how dare you expose our poor, innocent children to this type of filth. He then clarified his statements and said that he was thinking along the whole good touch vs. bad touch scheme of things. What people who don't work with children all of the time don't think about is that these children are being educated sexually all the time already. They notice that "boys have a penis and girls have a vagina" to quote that great line for the very bad film Kindergarten Cop. They also notice that boys penises look different as one child told another teacher that I was around today, "My penis looks different than his." We are assuming he was talking about uncircumcised versus circumcised, but we are not totally sure. Children notice things and they are being given messages constantly. I had a child when I was at a previous school who basically molested a baby doll, after he talked to the school psychologist we figured out that no he was not being molested, but that he had cable TV in his room and was waking up at 1 and 2 AM and was seeing movies on Cinemax with explicit content that were showing sex. Now I know plenty of parents that would argue that situation occurred because that was a single, African-American, lower socioeconomic mother who had several kids before the age of 25. Although that may have been the case, there are still plenty of other children with cable in their rooms who could be seeing the same things. Oh yes but we do not allow them to see that kind of stuff and we use that whole parental blocking system to prevent them from seeing it when we are not around. That is wonderful, but if you are in a healthy, functioning, loving relationship your child is still getting sexual messages.

What the hell are you talking about Boxer? Well do you sleep in the same bed as your partner, do you kiss or show affection toward your partner, has your child ever seen you or the opposite gender parent naked intentionally or unintentionally? And as for the last one, you may not even realize that your child has seen you naked or partially naked. Children act out what they see at home, so they sometimes want to pretend to be married and kiss another child on the mouth. They know about the body parts of the opposite gender parent as was shown above. As I think I have mentioned here, one of the most awkward moments for me as a teacher was when I was sitting with two girls and one of them asked me if, "I had every seen a ladies boobies?" I had to lie in this situation and say no, as, well, they were five and this is not an appropriate topic of conversation with a five year old. When I said no, one responded, "Oh I am sorry. I wish you had." Children also pretend that they have girlfriends and boyfriends, I know several of the parents have mentioned that their child will say that so and so is their boyfriend or girlfriend. We have found children snuggling up together in what they said was a bed because that is how mommy and daddy sleep. We do not want to discourage any of that as that is part of a child's home life and if they are in a family where there are two parents whether they are two biological parents or two homes where both of the parents have remarried or one of them has remarried, these are strong, healthy relationships and good things for children to know, that adults do love each other and there are appropriate times and ways to show physical affection toward another person.

But without some kind of guidance, things can go awry as I mentioned about the boy and the doll. Another instance of this is a story that my supervisor told a group of us in a training on spotting abuse. She mentioned how at one point a teacher noticed that two girls were up in the house part of a climbing structure. They went over to see what they were doing and one girl was sitting down with her underwear around her ankles while the other one was giving her basically a full gynecological exam. Apparently the one whole was doing the examining had just been to the doctor and we are not sure why, but the doctor had basically the same thing to her. But what if it wasn't so out of the ordinary, I don't know about exams for little girls, but for little boys the doctor normally does the whole turn-your-head-and-cough thing (as most men know and hate as this does not stop as you get older). What if a little boy had just had a physical exam and did the same thing to another boy or maybe a girl while they were playing. Children act out what they see and experience.

Now as educators we do not even touch upon any of this stuff, but we do have to tell children not to kiss on the mouth as that is how we spread germs, which is true, but obviously there are larger issues. I have been in a classroom as a student teacher where they talked for a whole week about weddings as several of the kids were interested. They had the parents bring in wedding pictures and they talked about what a wedding means and what happens in a wedding. As I have mentioned some of the kids have little crushes on other children, which we just leave alone as they are harmless and a natural part of growing up.

So we do need to admit that there is the need for the acceptance that children will ask questions that we are not necessarily comfortable with them asking. We may want them to ask this of their parents, but since most children spend more time with other caregivers they may ask them first. Sure I can direct this to the parents, but it can still come up. Children will also talk among themselves and explore among themselves, which we also have to accept and find ways for children to know that when they are adults what they are doing is OK and it is OK to hug you friends and even telling your friends you love them and I will tell you what, when a little kid that you are not related to tells you they love you, it is one of the best feelings as a teacher. But we have to provide guidance for them and as a society we need to stop turning a blind eye to the fact that children are exposed to sexual messages daily. Hopefully most of those are in the context of a healthy adult relationship, but the media also puts a lot out there, which I consciously did not touch upon as I wanted to show another side of this issue. I am not advocating a full sex ed program like you get when you are entering puberty that discusses the body in depth and the changes that are happening and how to deal with new and exciting feelings. And I am not sure what form this sex ed for young children needs to take, but we need to figure out how to best aid children in their ability to grow up to have healthy and happy relationships. When the divorce rate is at 50%, that means that we have failed in a lot of thing and in my opinion one of these is giving young children the opportunity to begin to realize what a healthy relationship looks like beginning at a young age.

UPDATE: Check out these posts by Mathman and DCup to see the consequences of this when they get older.

UH-merica- Regina Spektor

So ya'll know my love of Regina Spektor, so how happy was I when I saw this song? This is the last of the songs from the mixtape, from now on I am freewheeling them as I find them, but I do have a few more before I run out.

Ask and ye shall receive

Because someone asked for this whether they knew it or not. Yet another blast from my past.

Ashes of the American Flag- Wilco

This is a bad quality video for this song, but it was all I could find.

Potent Potables for 500, Alex

94%DRUNKARD

UPDATE: I forgot to give credit where credit is due, I stole this from Brave Sir Robin

Happy Chanukah!!

To all of my Jewish friends and those who are in touch with their inner yid, Have a great Chanukah.

This post is dedicated to FranIam

Because FranIam mentioned both of these songs in her music meme and then I had to listen to them, so now I will share with the world.

Two quick things

I was going to do two posts on these things, but decided to combine it in one quick post.

1. I started to watch Tin Man on SciFi last night (well technically today on video tape, but still...) and it really is great. It is on again tonight at nine and then again tomorrow night. If you missed the first episode, than catch it at 7 today on SciFi and then you can watch the next episode right after it. Tin Man is a modern adaption of The Wizard of Oz. It reminds me slightly of Wicked with the idea of the revolution and the whole land not being one giant happy kingdom. It also kind of reminds me of the Dark Tower series, although I am not as sure why this is. Maybe just the gunslinger idea. Anyway, I strongly suggest watching this if you like Sci Fi movies.

2. Jim Neal, who is running for the Senate seat that is currently being held by Elizabeth Dole here in NC, is going to be writing an online diary at Daily Kos. If you are a member of Daily Kos go check it out. I am not a member there and will not go there, I have an aversion to the big blog thing or at least that big blog, I will not go. Neal also was on Pam's House Blend, but I missed that. I really like Neal and support him fully in his run for the Senate.

People Look Around- Catie Curtis

This is a true gem that I found on the protest mix CD that I have been using as my template for these songs so far.

I want to buy an island

I have decided that I want to buy an island. This decision came out of two main streams of thought. One, I don't like money, and am tired of it. Yet again I am having money issues, nothing too major, I just can't pay all of my bills and I am tired of feeling stressed out over something that doesn't really exist. Money is just an agreed upon method of commercialism, the idea of beads, stones or shells are just as good for currency as these pieces of paper that we sometimes have in our wallets or that imaginary money that exists in banks. So, if I had my own society I would ban money and we would work on the barter system. We would share in the tasks and responsibilities of running a community and government without the incessant commercialism and politicking that occurs in modern society. I know what you are thinking, but Boxer that is just a pipe dream that could never work. Well, for several thousands of years native populations around the world have existed without the bullshit that now infects out society. There are even societies that still exist in Africa and South American jungles among other places in which the incessant commercialism does not exist. The responsibilities, the food and the care of the society is shared among all, with fine results.

Now notice I said we, I am not intending to live on this island alone. In fact I have no interest in governing this island or becoming a hermit away from people. This is where the second thought process enters. Over the past few days, weeks and even months, I have at times marveled at the community that seems to exist in the liberal blogosphere. It amazes me when I read comments on blogs from people that I read on a regular basis and didn't know read each other. I am regularly amazed at how we all seem to know each other. There is almost a six degrees of separation thing going on, where I can probably get to any liberal blog through only six other blogs (if that makes sense). In other words, I read one blog that leads to me to another and then to another and then to another using their blogroll and I am convinced that I could probably get to any liberal blog in a short number of steps if I tried. So this island that I would live on would include any body else that wants to live there among my blogging friends. Your dogs, cats, kids and significant others would be invited. We would have a society that would work, or at least in my mind it would work. We, as a collective, have the brains, the abilities and the varied abilities to create our own society. We have cooks, whether professional or not, we have teachers, we have artists, we have technology people, there are people who know how to entertain and those who can run organizations. I truly believe we could be successful as a community.

This community post has been brewing in my mind for a few days now and is the real reason for this whole post, I added the island thing today. But truly I do marvel at how interconnected we all are. I know I am a small blog that does not have a huge readership and I am not trying to say I am overly important. I do not have connections to larger blogs, I do not attract 100 visitors a day or even maybe a week, but I am honored everyday when I look at my blog and realize that there are people who read me and comment. It is gratifying to know that I am not alone in my views and that there are others out there who have similar thoughts to me. I feel overwhelmed when I get comments from fellow bloggers who say that I have made a great point, that I am "wise beyond my years", or that I write well. I feel like I am just someone who does this in their spare time to vent a little bit of anger and spread a little bit of joy.

The scary thing is that on this site you can actually buy an island and they seem to cost basically the same as a house with the rising housing costs. If I ever win the lottery, and I would need to play the lottery to win, but if I won I figure an island is just as good as a house. The other scary thought is that if by some miracle Huckabee or Giuliani or another republican wins the presidential election in '08, this whole buying an island and moving there may actually start to look attractive in reality and not just fantasy.

The secrets of real men? What bullshit!!

I was reading Figleaf's blog, who if you are not reading you really should be reading, he does an amazing job of looking at sexuality and feminism from a male perspective. Anyway, he had this post about an article in Rebook that had made its way onto WebMD about the 11 secrets that real men have that they don't tell their wives. I got annoyed at the idea that a magazine for women and a supposed medical site would be perpetuating these stupid misogynist myths and legends. I got annoyed that supposedly men are the superior being and so they have to keep things from their wives or something, I am not sure. I was pissed so I couldn't think straight. So I decided not to look at the original article and just move on, I knew it would only piss me off. I figured Figleaf and the site he had originally seen it on, had done such a great job of dispelling these myths that I didn't need to post another with my own annoyances. Well guess what, I went to WebMD because I think I am developing a bit of a lactose intolerance and I wanted to check. So, the article was there and of course now that I could see it, I had to read it and of course I got all pissed off again and even more so after actually reading the article. I almost posted this last night as I couldn't sleep, but I decided to get some sleep and post about it this morning. So what I am proposing is that I am going to post these "secrets" according to the article and then call bullshit on every motherfucking one of them.

Secret #1: Yes, we fall in lust 10 times a day -- but it doesn't mean we want to leave you
The gist of this "secret" is that it is OK for a man to ogle another woman. Now I do like to look at other women even when I am in a relationship, but the point here is that I am able to, one control myself if I know it will bother my partner and I check out their face. The problem as I see it is that men feel that this covers just staring at a woman's ass or boobs and then saying, oh well, I was just looking. No, you were dehumanizing another person and that is not OK. Second, most women check out other men, this is not a solely male thing and by saying such we are just denying that women are sexual beings. Third, most women that I know are not worried that you will leave them when you look at another women, but are annoyed that you are being rude and an asshole when you stare at a woman's boobs or ass.

Secret #2: We actually do play golf to get away from you
And women go shopping, have girls nights out, play bridge or whatever else it is they do so that they can get away from you. Both genders, at times, want a break from the craziness that can be domestic life, so what the fuck is your point? You really think women are so stupid that they don't know that you need a break once in a while, shut the fuck up and not be such an asshat.

Secret #3: We're unnerved by the notion of commitment, even after we've made one to you
Shut the fuck up already. This is not a solely male issue, there are women who are scared of commitment as well. It can be a scary thought to think that you will have to deal with and live with the same person for the rest of your life, but get over yourself and get a fucking life, if you love her then shut the fuck up already about the whole commitment thing. And I hate the fact that it is portrayed as all men are scared of commitment and all women are ready to get married from the age of 8. Some men have no commitment issues and some women do have commitment issues. This is a matter of personality, not a matter of gender.

Secret #4: Earning money makes us feel important
Oh get over yourself. If you are that insecure that you are worried that your wife or girlfriend is going to make more money that you, than ya know what buddy, you need to get a grip on reality.

Secret #5: Though we often protest, we actually enjoy fixing things around the house
I guess that means that me and many other men are not "real men". I hate fixing things, I am not handy and so I have no interest in trying to fix everything. There are people in this world who can fix things and some that cannot, I cannot. And so do not stereotype all men in finding some secret glee in being able to fix everything. I could give a shit less about fixing shit. Hell, if you can fix it yourself please do so. I will definitely give it a try, but I am not promising any kind of results.

Secret #6: We like it when you mother us, but we're terrified that you'll become your mother
Everyone, that includes men AND women, like to be cared for at times. When I am sick, yeah it is nice when there is someone there to baby me a bit, it is nice to be cared for, but when the other person is sick, I am just as willing to take care of them. This is about caring for that special person in your life and allowing them to take care of you when you need it. In the comments for this one, there is an apology to Gloria Steinhem, WTF!!!!

Secret #7: Every year we love you more

Well yeah, shouldn't your love grow. OK so maybe I am a bit idealistic about this, but still if that is a big secret that you don't tell your wife, than you have issues like this guy. "It took at least a year before I really started to appreciate my wife for something other than just great sex; and I didn't discover her mind fully until the third year we were married," says Newton. "But the older and wiser I get, the more I love my wife." It took you three years of marriage to figure out your wife had a brain, you are a sad excuse for a human being and make me ashamed that I call myself a man.

Secret #8: We don't really understand what you're talking about
This one is, I guess, about the fact that men, supposedly, cannot understand when a women comes to him to discus their relationship. Um yeah I guess if it takes you three years to figure out your wife has a brain you may have an issue understanding "complex" relationship issues like putting the seat down after you pee or that she is stressed out cause you work a lot and she is trying to help the kids do their homework, get food on the table and have a career all while you do jackshit. Quit being an asshat (I really wanted to come up with a better/another word, but I couldn't so I am going with asshat.)

Secret #9: We are terrified when you drive
Are you fucking kidding me? What the fuck kind of bullshit is this? Sure I prefer to drive but that is because if I don't drive I will fall asleep, but if you don't care if I fall asleep that you can drive all you want. If you are really scared of your wife's driving you are a wanker.

Secret #10: We'll always wish we were 25 again
And I am sure most women wish they were younger too, how fucking egocentric can you get here?

Secret #11: Give us an inch and we'll give you a lifetime
This one goes both ways. Both genders like to have some freedom in their relationship. The guy uses the fact that his girlfriend encouraged him to go on a vacation by himself as the moment at which he decided he wanted to marry her. This goes back up to a previous "secret", did ya ever think she just wanted to get rid of you for a while? She needed a break from you and was more than glad to let you go on your little surf vacation. That is called an adult relationship, where you trust each other and do not feel that you have to spend every waking minute with each other. Chances are that she had no interest in going on a surf vacation, but knew that it would make you happy and so she wanted you to go. She also probably saw it as a chance to have some time to do what she wanted to do whether it is hang out with her girlfriends, read a book, watch a movie or just have the house to herself without your whiny, sniveling, misogynistic, wanker ass around for a while.

So what did we learn? That apparently sexism is alive and well in America and that some men are worthless pieces of shit. Yes, I am being a bit harsh on men especially considering I am one, but it is men like these who write these articles or comment in these articles that make me embarrassed to be a man and make my life that much harder as I have to fight against the fucking stereotypes just to prove that not all men have the brain the size of a walnut and only think with their dicks so yeah I get riled up when I read this shit.

Have a great day!!!!!

A musical meme- What does your soul look like, Pt. 4

So Mathman tagged me and he emailed me to tell me that he tagged me, so I knew I had to do this. This was actually one of the more fun meme's I have done. Since I had fun, I thought I would share the fun. I am curious what
The Gourmet Goddess, DCup, Comrade Kevin, Whiskey Marie, and the good Dr. Monkerstein rock out to, so I am tagging you.


The rules:

1. Put your music player on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT(this is in capital letters, so it is very serious.

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY? Pure Hell- Pumpkinhead ft. Jean Grae

2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? The Oldest Established- Sam Levene, Stubby Kaye, John Silver & Male Chorus (From Guys and Dolls Soundtrack)

3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? The Extra Mile- Soul Position

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? What about Georgia?- Miranda Lambert

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE? Bring me Down- Miranda Lambert

6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? 30 Seconds- Tracy Bonham

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Please set me at ease- Madlib

8. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS? Acid Queen- Cheryl Freeman (From Tommy Soundtrack)

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? Free- Train

10. WHAT IS 2+2? The Best- ...And you will know

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Liquid Sovereignty- Eyedea and Abilities

12. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Zodiaccupuncture- Aesop Rock

13. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Sunshowers- M.I.A./Diplo

14. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Hungry like the wolf- Duran Duran

15. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? When will you come back home- Ryan Adams & the Cardinals

16. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? Magic- Black Eyed Peas

17. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? Scapegoat- Atmosphere

18. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? Listen up-Brother Ali

19. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? Stay- Shakespeare Sister

20. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? Sex Type Thing- Stone Temple Pilots

21. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? The News- Jack Johnson

22. WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS? What does your soul look like, Pt. 4- DJ Shadow

As you may have noticed, my musical tastes are a bit eclectic. I do seem to have a lot of underground hip hop which interestingly enough I do not listen to as much as I used to, but I still do listen to it, so I guess this is still a valid measure of me.

Sinkin' Soon- Norah Jones

I love Norah Jones' voice in this song. It has that real jazz feel to it. She reminds me a bit of a Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald on this song. She may not have the range or the depth, but the style and the way she sings is amazing.

YouTube Friday

I love the movie The Matrix and so decided to have a little fun and post some stuff from it, sort of.

It's a hit- Rilo Kiley

I didn't know this singer until this song, but it is a good one.

Funny moment

I was walking out of work today and I heard a parent say, "It is Ok bubeleh just walk around the steps." I love the phrase bubeleh, it is so great, but then the icing on the cake was that as I passed her, the parent and child were both Asian. It always tickles my funny bone when I hear Yiddish phrases spoken by someone who you wouldn't expect it from.

Empire- Dar Williams

I do not know what to say about Dar Williams. I only know some of her songs and I consider myself a causal fan in that I am familiar with some songs and know the name, but wouldn't necessarily know most of her music, but this a good one.

God and comedy

I watched "Circle" the 2000 comedy DVD from Eddie Izzard. Many of his routines touch upon religion and God, but this one really felt like he talked about God a lot, so I wanted to post a few bits from it, but all I could find is this one which talks about whales and then about half way through gets into God and Jebus. It really is a great DVD and his video although it is long (over 8 minutes) is worth watching.



So this got me thinking about my thoughts on and relationship with God. There are many bloggers that I have read that are atheist, there are a few of us who are Jewish and then a few who are a variety of different denominations of Christian. I was raised Jewish and still identify Jewish culturally, which led me to the thought of how many other religions do people identify with culturally? I don't know many people who identify themselves as culturally Christian or Muslim? Anyway, I think I am sort of on the fence of theism. I would not say I am agnostic, I went through that phase when I was younger and I think I have moved on. I would say that I am a theist, but possibly not in the same way that other people identify as theist. I believe that there is a higher power and that there is a unifying force that connects all of us that is created by a higher power. I do not think that God intervenes in my life or the lives of others, I view God as more of a life force.

There is a thought within Kabbalah that says that God was expanding and contracting, because well it was God and God didn't have anything else to do, and as God expanded and contracted, God finally expanded so much that God threw off shards that are now everywhere. We are now trying to gather up these shards in order to repair that which is broken. I am not sure if this is the original thought behind the Hebrew phrase, Tikkun Olam, or Repairing the World, but it fits well in this context. We are doing social action and trying to change and repair the world. We are trying to gather all of the shards together to bring about positive change in the world. The same thought can follow through that when all of the shards have been gathered, the messianic era will be ushered in. So the messiah will not come to us, but will have to be created or brought about. This thought also does not follow that the messiah has to be or even will be a person as much as an age of peace.

That last paragraph veered off topic a bit, but it is part of where I am coming from. I also tend to adapt things from different religions such as the idea of Maya from Hinduism that says that this world is merely an illusion and that the true world requires us to become enlightened to be able to see. This makes sense to me because for a long time, since I was much younger and hadn't really gotten into my interest in religion and philosophy, I have times at which I feel like I am as Shakespeare once put it "Life is a stage. And the men and women are merely actors." I feel like I am on a stage or being watched by others, not in a paranoid way, but like watching a TV show or movie. You enjoy the show, but you are not involved in what is going on in any active manner. This feeling also at times is like this world is not real, for all I know this is heaven or hell, although I do not believe in either. Once you are dead, you do not know the difference, this could be my life, my dream, the dream of someone else or merely a TV show for the amusement of another person. Truly we do not know what reality is, we are so attached to this reality, that for all I know I can walk through a wall, but am not aware that I can and so my own attachment to this reality prevents me from doing this. Yes, I really like The Matrix and I see parallels there too, but anyway. I also have liked for awhile the Yin and Yang of Taoism. The idea that there is a dualism to the world, but this dualism is constantly moving in a circle and so is not static. Also the parts of the dualism are contained within each other, so there is light in darkness and darkness in light, there is male in female and female in male, there is some heat in cold and cold in heat. In my mind this is not a set of circumstances that are set to separate the differences as much as acknowledge the differences and the fact that everything is the same, that there can be no light without dark and no man without woman and that although there appears to be many opposites, these opposites do not exist they are merely two pieces of the same structure.

So why do I bring all or even any of this up? Well one, it is another part of me that I feel at this point I am ready to share. Two and more importantly, this is how I view my life and the world around me. I want to try and find those shards, that shred of decency and god-like life force that exists in all of us. I want to change the world for the better. I want to work with young children so that I can help to influence the next generation and hopefully bring about a better world. Yes, I am idealistic, but as John Lennon sang, "I may be a dreamer, but I am not the only one." Oh yeah I am also a cynic and sarcastic and jaded as well, so that just adds to the fun and complexity that is me.

Going to a town- Rufus Wainwright

Is there anything I really need to say about Rufus Wainwright?