Sealed In Plastic For Your Own Protection

Next time I see my niece, I would prefer that she be wrapped in plastic and sanitized for my protection. How can something so cute be wrapped in deadly toxins? There is a reason I never had children and now I remember which.

P.S. The Pinky Vodka doesn't make me feel better but I could care less.

Memorial Day Weekend

Nothing much here, kinda quiet. Seems I picked up a cold from my niece. My throat is sore and I am running as light fever. Why is it that kids are little incubators of germs? It made me go to bed around 10 PM, which is early for me.

Back From Harrisburg

Back from a piss ant place like Harrisburg working on money follow the person. Will write more tmrw. Right now, I am happy to be back in my bed with my cat and husband. That and a diet ginger ale, the new issue of EW, Vanity Fair, my iBook and a good book. It is a big bed.

P.S. Thank you Bobby Sutliff for making me happy and being an awesome guy!

P.S.S. Chris, I love ya, brother!

Get Well Senator Kennedy

Sen. Ted Kennedy has always been a voice of the people and a strong advocate for Healthcare. I wish him well.

The Truth? Could You Handle It?

First of all, please pardon me for not digging up the links for this. I am in a Hotel Room in Harrisburg with a wicked case of arthritis and I am feeling lazy after a busy day of meetings, travel and child minding. Google it.

As I was sitting on the commode, I got to read an article in Vanity Fair about Author, James Frey and his memoir, A THOUSAND LITTLE PIECES, which was the center of a controversy over truth, memiors and artistic liscense. All because her Highness Oprah had deigned the book a Hallowed Tresure to her loyal Zombie Following and made it her selection in her bookclub (which made her a tidy sum, of course) and then had egg on her face when The Smoking Gun (spawn of Matt Sludge) revealed that not everything in it was totally true. Oprah brought James on the show to chastise him for making her look like a fool. Well, you would hgave thought some President lied about Weapons of mass Destruction to start an unjust war and make the US the World villain!

Oprah, who has unleashed the likes of Dr. Phil and Rachel Ray, has cozied up to Laura Bush in a nice fluffy interview a while back. Oprah could have used her power as the Most Prominent Richest Talk Show Host Savior to interview Bush and ask him, point blank, why did he lie and cause over 4,000 people to die in a war that is, well, let's just say it: TREASON. She could have nailed him on that one. But oh, no--not Oprah. Why use your power for good when you can push Quack Doctors and crappy cooking on the world? After all, its just business.

The truth? Jack Nicholson once fumed at Tom Cruise (how appropriate!) "You can't handle the truth!"

Yup. The media can't handle it. Congress refuses to handle it. Oprah or Barbara Walter wont say boo. So, we are left sitting around pondering the White Elephant in our midst. A Really Big One! And no one can say "Republican!!"

Meanwhile, they crucify some author, a guy who fought like hell for his sobriety and sanity and beefed it up for sales purposes on the advice of others. He wrote a memoir, an idealized biography, with literary licsence such as many authors have in the past.

Truth is, life is better with your eyes closed. Or so it seems. Let Diogenes come forward! Find one honest man! Ask him for the truth! Let Congress impeach Bush, censor him and bring him to trial for treason! He deserves a life in jail for his crimes or a life in Baghdad. History will judge us all. End the death and killing!

Summer Blockbusters--Coming Soon!

• Indiana Jones and the Search For The Golden Bed Pan: Dr. Jones is in search of the mystical Golden Bedpan that manages to cover Medicare Deductables, a $1 co-pay Prescription Plan that covers Viagra and Zocor and more money for Home Health Aides to assist seniors in their own homes!
  
• Die Hard 5: Bruce Willis'John McClaine busts out of an assisted living facility and searches low cost senior housing while scheming Republicans try to take Social Security and Medicare away!
  
• Menopause And The Burbs: Can 4 aging female friends survive hot flashes, fight off osteoporosis and find happiness in a sagging real estate market?
• Rosemary's Baby 2010: Poor Rosemary's closeted gay actor husband has become freinds with Tom Cruise! It's all bad bob-cuts, couture straight from Laura Bush's wardrobe and a creepy little baby that may or may not be the spawn of L. Ron Hubbard!
• A Nightmare On Elm Street--A New Begining: Record foreclosures force Middle Class people into the streets as a monstrous Loan Bank runs amok! See the government help mortgage banks out of record stocks loss while doing nothing for harried tax payers!
  

More Stars Than There Are In Heaven

I was just reading this from Gawker about how a celebrity sighting can ruin your day. Under the tone of this article is what I feel is a truth; Hollywood Stars used to be somewhat removed, unreachable to us mere mortals. Once they existed only on the silver screen and the pages of Photoplay. Whenever we saw them, they were coifed, made-up, dressed to the nines, glamourous! Now, there is something less special about them. You see them shopping for furniture, eating at fast food restaurants, pumping gas, swearing at the paparazzi and then there is the whole Britney Spears thing. They seem less special, less glamourous and just down-right annoying.

Who would ever see Bette Davis using a gas station bathroom? William Holden shopping in a super markert? Joan Crawford dress shopping on Rodeo Drive? These stars were isolated, like Kings and Queens, removed from sight. Designers and stores brought clothes to them! People pampered them as they read scripts by the pool, simmering in baby oil. They ate a restaurants where you needed to be someone just to get in!

I once saw a few celebs in person in New York City; Dustin Hoffman sweating like a pig, jogging. Robert DeNiro eating in a Burger King! Don Johnson, inebriated in the Limelight at the urinals. Sure, the golden light has dimmed and now we see them as just people, not Gods. Isn't it sad?

Of course, the real malaise happens because you have new s programs that devote sections of their news to such things. Once, there was Entertainment News and News, now the lines blur in the propaganda machines to cast diversions in the Bread and Circuses Atmosphere of today's politics. George Bush and his ilk will get away with high treason because we want to see Brangelina's Baby Bump! Discourse has denigrated to the latest reality show star and mediocre talents. It dulls the senses and the mind.

The New Dance Single This Summer

Never Trust Anyone Under 27 Or Anyone Over 50

The Generation Slap-Down begins at Radar as The Much Maligned Generation X takes aim at the Millennials (those pesky, perky young twentysomethings) and The Boomers (those atavistic materialistic douchebags.)

"Millennials are younger. Healthier. They got to do anal in high school. They think updating a spreadsheet while posting to a Twitter account about gossip on perezhilton.com is an essential corporate skill."

And . . .

"Generation X survived AIDS, Reagan, the Cold War. But consider the stress Millennials face today: simultaneously maintaining Facebook, MySpace, and Flickr accounts."

Snap!

It seems as if the Old School has been rolling out the red carpet for the Millennials while all the Gen Xers got was "What a bunch of laconic losers!" No one held a parade for us. We were the Latch-Key Kids, left to fend for ourselves and battle Downsizing, uncertain futures and wonder what would be left for us.

ABC had focused its view on the New Kids on its newscast and what kind of world they are facing and how they view it. Gen X grew up learning to live under the threat of the bomb, the fallout of Watergate and the cancellation of The Brady Bunch. Kurt Cobain knew it was better to burn out than to have Teen Spirit become music for a commercial.


Truth is we knew that Baby Boomer ad-men were gunning for us, trying to find out what makes us tick and how to sell us new cars and shit. Instead we rode our bikes, sneered at Levi Dockers and laughed at the man. We knew Sweet Baby James had sold out, Michael Douglas was god for bringing back greed in Wall Street and that the Peace and Love Generation voted Reagan in office.

Every generation has its own disease, I suppose.

And Now This Word From Our Sponsors . . .

And Now This Commercial Message . . .

I usually don't advertise many products on my blog, but allow me to take this opportunity to plug, Pinky; The Vodka Of Drag Queens. When I am sitting around in my dressing room amidst a tangle of dresses and wigs, I love to have a Pinky Martini. I love mine served by a hot Brazilian Bar Boy with a sweaty oiled up chest, shaken with ice in a chilled designer martini glass with just a slight mist of vermouth and one delicate olive. Nothing makes the eyeliner go on smoother than a delicious libation that is punk like my favorite lipsticks. Nothing soothes frayed nerves and makes the jitters go away. Not only that, but you look chic doing your Nealy O'Hara poses after the show in the back alley screaming "I'm NEALY O'HARA!!!"

I also like the bottle. It comes in handy hitting mashers, creeps and fag bashers with after the show when you are walking home, lugging your 40 lb valise of make-up, costumes and etc, teetering in high heels. searching in vain for a cab that will pick up a 6'1" 350 lb drag queen looking like she crawled outta some wreck from the tournament of Roses Parade. You can also try to smuggle it in rehab by pretending it is a perfume, ala Jungle Gardina, $3.99 a gallon and you can smell it a mile away. Makes a grown man cry and strips paint better than ole turpentine. (Jungle Gardina, not the vodka, darling. That just kills brain and liver cells.)

Graydon Carter on the Dark Ages of American Politics.

Read it here.

Lars And The Real Girl

Very rarely do you see a little gem of a film that makes you feel warm and fuzzy in a way that is real and not in a contrived way. Last night the hubby and I saw Lars And The Real Girl and really enjoyed it more than most movies we have seen in a while. It is a story that is about mental illness, love, acceptance and community. It really struck me what a charming and gentle film it was with a sincere message about people wanting to do the right thing and trying to overcome with love and understanding. This is a message that we really need in this age of divisiveness and pessimism.

The movie is about a withdrawn and lonely young man who orders a life-like sex doll and believes that she is real. He uses the doll because he is uncomfortable around people and is still carrying arround a past trauma. The rest, you have to see for yourself.

Ryan Gosling really shines at Lars who is more than just some two-dimensional cardboard character. Gosling really makes Lars a real and vulnerable human who is trying to come to terms with loneliness and his fears. Also, Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson really stand out as well.

I don't want to give too much away but I do recommend it highly!

New Filter Album Addresses The War on Iraq

Filter's new CD is in stores 5-13-2008, titled Anthems For The Damned takes on the Iraq War and George W. Bush. The album is written from the POV of a soldier in Iraq. Member Frank Cavanagh is in Iraq as a soldier and will be reunited with the band at Operation Myspace.

Front-man, Richard Patrick, is a former member of Nine Inch Nails who went on to form his own band, Filter. His brother is Robert Patrick, famous for his role in Terminator 2 and the liquid metal terminator and the last season of X Files.

Plastic Surgery Disasters: Latoya Jackson

Altogether now, WTF?!

Happy Mother's Day

Who Are Your Gods?

Last night, I was talking to a young black woman about politics and her view that the United States has never done anything right, that Steven Liczbinski deserved what he got and that we don't know if Saddam Hussein really killed all those people in Iraq because America lies about everything. And of course, she brought up the great Icon of the Left, Che Guevara.

I sometimes wonder if people realize who they are idolizing when they pick out people like this to make an icon. History and revolution has a habit of making saints, much like the Catholic Church. These Saints are revered without people realizing or thinking what they are Idolizing. The truths about people become washed away in the myth-making process; the real person becomes lost to time and the legend begins. Blind faith and careful crafting turn the mortal into immortal and anything real is swept away. Once made into an icon, you become the brand name for whatever anyone is selling.

Truth is inconvenient and messy. It is complicated. It gets in the way of selling whatever it is the icon is being used to sell. Take for example, Che Guevera, idolized as the embodiment of revolution and liberation. But at what cost?

Sure, Che was a doctor and saw the suffering of his people and wanted to end it. Revolution became the answer. Once the smoke from the Revolution cleared, the new atrocities began. Trials in Stadiums, executions and murder in the name of the New Powers. The same Che that championed the poor and down trodden had become a monster. He steeped himself in blood stating, "Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become …" People who dissented the new Communist Regime were deemed "Counter-Revolutionary" which meant that the New Masters were above being questioned. He began the labor Prison Camps in Cuba which would become prisons for Gay People, People with AIDS, Counter-Revolutionaries. Executions and tortures were carried out. Welcome the New Boss--same as the Old Boss.

Do we make Saints of these people because things are so bad? I think it is Ironic when you have People Who Subscribe to Absolutism. America is far from perfect but it is better than some places? Could it be better? Yes. We could make it better not with bullets or bombs but with conscientious participation. Is there oppression in the world? Yes. But will more oppression make it better?

I realize young people find ideologies and grasp onto them with fervor that does not question. There are older people who do the same thing. You can find unblinking fervor on the Right and the Left. Be it Christian Evangelists or Liberationists. Someone is always hungering to throw out the Old Icons and replace them with New Icons. The real truth is between the lines narrower than the devil's teeth. Instead of sinners and saints; there are human beings, doing what humans do best--creating or destroying.

Absolutism and blind faith offer comfort for people who are done choosing for themselves. They want someone else to take responsibility, take the pains for doing something, anything. Be they acts of benefice or malice, they cling to these things because survival favors the path of least resistance. It is counter-intuitive to acknowledge that a longer and harder path must be forged to make real change. That path leads to self-sacrifice and commitment. It is easier to lay back in the Barcalounger, turn on your Hi-Def TV and wait for the smoke to clear.

Denial is survival in unsure times. People like Che Guevera, George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden and Castro offer easy fixes based on unswerving loyalty above questioning. You are either for us or against us. The polarities serve a purpose to create enemies on both sides to fuel the engines of lust and greed. Power corrupts in the end. Inquiry is the devil, dissent is heresy and punished severely in the world view of the Megalomaniac. The real solutions are vague and not so easy. They require choice, work and debate.

Suggested Reading: Should We Love Che Guevera? The Killing Machine. Autocracy.

War and Hate Generation

I saw this picture and began doing my photoshop thing with it. Three Iraqi boys play what they have learned from the war.

Did Greed Kill The Record Industry?

In 1993, I was in Washington DC for the March in Washington. I had met this guy who worked in the music industry at a dance. He worked for a major record label and was involved in the marketing aspects of the industry. It was no question this guy had money to burn and a cocaine problem as well.

"Why do you guys charge so much for a CD," I asked.

He said, "Because we have a huge overhead."

I shrugged it off. After all, I could imagine that that was true. You have the rank and file, the people who manufacture the CD's, the secretaries, etc. Then of course, you have the executives. So, I could imagine that you did have big overhead. Yet, somehow it seemed wrong to be charging nearly $18 for a CD.

The bottom of the pyramid has always been the artist. Most artists make pennies on the dollar, perhaps as much as 7 cents a CD. If that. The music industry has been filled with stories of Black Soul Artists , like Little Richard, Frankie Lymon, et al who have been ripped off from royalties, earnings and the like. There have been many stars who have told their stories to the media on how they received loans on future royalties and ended up bankrupt. Someone had been getting rich off of their work but it wasn't them.

Of course, that was 1993. What could you do? Mostly, I would buy cassette tapes then because I had a Walkman. I did buy some CD's at times from places like Sounds of Market Street downtown for about $12.99 a throw and bought used CDs. Occasionally, I would record friend's CD's onto cassette tapes, the lo-tech copyright infringement of its day.

Fast forward to today. The Record Industry was blindsided by the digital revolution in the form of the lowly MP3. The MP3 format was the third version of the MPEG format which allowed video and sound to be compressed into a smaller, more compact (say the size of a postage stamp) video format. MP3 was the third generation. On Bulletin Boards in the early 1990's, some files began showing up that were not videos but songs. I had downloaded one and listened to it. The sound wasn't great. No big whoop. I deleted it.

As MP3 sound quality improved and software like LAME allowed you to rip your CD's to files on your hard drive, the concept began taking on. Soon, people were file sharing via web sites. The web sites were scattered and you needed to know someone who knew someone who knew where to find them. Lycos built a search engine to help find them. Then a word was heard: Napster. It changed the world forever.

Napster brought a search engine that linked people's hard drives together virtually and you could find what you wanted, within seconds. Of course, if you had a crappy 56. kps modem, and had infinite patience, you could download songs. For college kids, people with DSL, Cable or the T3 link; you could get songs pretty darn quick.

This of course caught the record industry flat footed. It took awhile for the RIAA to catch on. Suddenly, the Record Industry was like a deer caught in the head lights.

Around this time, there had been a class action suit against the Recording Industry for charging $20 for CD's. The suit was settled and there were some damages paid out and the Record Industry did a Mea Culpa and for a while, CD's, when newly released, were put on sale prices. Too late.

The RIAA went after Shaun Fanning and spent much money on suing him. It was suggested that instead of suing they come to an agreement, make Napster a pay service where people downloaded the music they wanted. They had reached a settlement and by then, the genie had been loosed from the bottle. Gnutella, Lime Wire, Audio Galaxy and torrents resulted. Apple Computers being smart, took the high road and got out there iTunes store and a proprietary MP3 player called the iPod. For $.99, you could download the song you wanted and play it in your iPod.

Te future of the Record Industry is in flux. Artists like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead had released their material straight to the public via their websites for free or whatever you wanted to pay. So far, it has worked very well for both artists. of course, some people argue it is because these artists already had a following and a popularity to do something like this. Yet, it is known that the real money to be made for artists is in the stage show. Touring can be lucrative, more lucrative then making records if you have the popularity.

Meanwhile, record companies and record chain stores like Tower are closing up. The brick and mortar side of the biz in in jeopardy. Big layoffs sweep the big record companies and everything is uncertain. I wonder if it all could have been different.

Karma is a bitch, so some people say. For an industry that ripped off artists and the public, you have to wonder if this is what they get. Overcharging for CD's, big parties, drug habits, ripping off artists turning them from millionaires to paupers over night and destroying lives; you do wonder if karma is real. If it is, the record industry better strap itself in.