Archive XXIX: Summer 2007. Sirach.
Are you trying to start an argument?
Item: Its just like the Piña Coladas  song! But with a more realistic ending. From danielle, Couple Divorcing After Discovering They Had an Online Affair With Each Other.
The food snobs are huffing at this essay in the September Atlantic: Hard to Swallow: The gourmet's ongoing failure to think in moral terms, by B. R. Myers. Check it out. I picked up Annie's copy because of the cover tease, "The Case Against Foodies," hoping it would be about the difference between being a food enthusiast and being someone who eats with a moral philosophy no more sophisticated than "if it feels good, do it." The article is largely an argument with Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. The City Paper food writer, (one Tim Carman) responds to it here: It's Hard to Swallow B.R. Myers' "Hard to Swallow". As usual, it's a meat-eater characterizing a non-meat-eater as a self-righteous jerk who wants to spoil everyone's fun; god forbid anyone tries to make thoughtful choices to ease the suffering of others. Still, it's a pretty interesting rebuttal, until the inevitable carnivore *shrug*.
 After reading Myers' essay (twice) and comparing it to The Omnivore's Dilemma, I have to say that I prefer Pollan's earnest hand-wringing about meat eating over Myers' pious, self-righteous scorn. I feel like Pollan came about his views honestly and fairly. I have no idea how Myers developed his. But, then again, maybe you shouldn't trust anything I have to say on the subject, Arthur. After all, consider what the great animal rights activist Peter Singer once wrote:
"No one in the habit of eating an animal can be completely without bias in judging whether the conditions in which that animal is reared cause suffering."
I take that to mean you can't trust any meat-eater to have an unbiased position on this subject. He's probably right. Divorces in Sports Beat: Just two months after the announcement of Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt impending divorce, we learn that Tennessee men's coach Bruce Pearl is also divorcing his wife of 25 years.....Interesting. Also, Chris Evert and golfer Greg Norman are canoodling, fresh off ugly divorces in which each lost a bundle. Love!
Dirty gay stuff: R.Party: Trapped in the Closet, Daily Show , from Les.
Pretty awesome.
"Cincinnati's Chad Johnson feels the love -- such
as it is -- when he leaps into the Cleveland Browns dog pound after his
touchdown." Photo Credit: By Gregory Shamus -- Getty Images Photo.
Hail!
Review of Nellie's, the new gay sports bar on U Street, by HK Bar Review
We've stomped the grounds of the U Street corridor lo these several years, despite the drought of two staple watering holes: the gay bar, and the sports bar. Now there are the two in the one at Nellie's. Last night a mixed flock went down to watch the mighty Redskins pound the dirty Eagles on Monday Night Football.
Is it gay? It's pretty gay. Man-gay. They spent a lot of money on stained
glass windows, random sporting knickknackery, and large-biceped barmen.
The main room was packed, the bar area was crowded, and the weird, useless
room upstairs was ringed with people staring at the televisions on one
wall. A loud Philadelphia fan was neither mocked nor castrated.
There were not enough lesbians, televisions, bartenders or stools. Nellie's
is blessed with a gigantic second story deck which overlooks U Street,
but there is nothing out there. No TVs, no tables, no chairs, no nothing.
Despite these serious deficiencies, I'm sure I'll go back several hundred
times.
At the half we went one block down to Solly's, which is on the whole friendlier, cheaper, and drunker than Nellie's. If you think this review is subpar, you can check out the City Paper's: Super Bowl Is Gay.
Eyewitness News, Annie reporting
"16 and irving right now! Taxi upside down. Fenty on the scene."
TP farmers market, yesterday.
Fall
It's fall!
I've got nothing, but wanted to report that Shaquille O'Neal and Pat Summitt are both getting divorces.
This site has some nice mp3s: songs: illinois. I like Boundary County, by Ellen Jewel.
This is my mom at the Christian ladies retreat, in a rare moment when she wasn't surrounded by adoring fans. My mom was like a rock star at this thing, and we were like the rock star's daughters who don't go to the shows but do enjoy the resorts.
lingua franca
Hey language nerds, I came across this interview in Stay Free! Daily: Interview with Leslie Savan on pop language. Savan is the former Village Voice ad critic who wrote the book, Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and, Like, Whatever. "When television first came out, people feared that images would overtake language and literacy. And in many ways they have. One thing I find interesting is that pop words are as much like images as words can be. In many ways, pop language has more in common with images than words—it's the word as image." Word.
I'm sitting here with my mom who's working on a talk she's giving to 150 Christian women tomorrow, at a retreat for Christian women in Clearwater. The speech is about how to find peace and contentment. I think she's going to kill. She's also got some props and music (Christian pop, natch). I'll let you know how it goes.
Speaking of Jesus, Kathy Griffin was ruley at the Emmys. The Academy and the Catholic League can go molest themselves.
From Neil: CRACKED.com:
The 8 Funniest Webcomics. They got our Perry
Bible Fellowship, and at #1 Achewood.
They also got Dinosaur Comics. Remember
exactly a year ago when we did ours? Panel at right from Jessica's "Stephen
Baldwin's God is Exxxtreme!"
DC! Beer!
Archeologist Edward is always bringing home old, dirty boozehounds, and
sometimes old, dirty booze bottles. The latest he's found and identified
is this Christian Heurich Brewing Company bottle. According to Chosi's
Christian Heurich Beer Page, Christian Heurich brewed beer until the
age of 102. He was a German immigrant to D.C. and lived in that
big castle right on New Hampshire Ave. that you've passed by a thousand
times. Ed's is the third bottle down on Chosi's page. 
Mail time
From: Danielle
Subject: scandals
jenny,
 i emailed this link to bob, but i realized i should email it to you as well if he had not. i heard that you were looking for a correspondent solely devoted to republican sex scandals, so i felt it important to help fill that void in your website.
larry flynt's press conference
and, apparently if you are interested in seeing what david vitter saw 2-3 times a week from july to november 1999, just pick up the january issue of hustler.
danielle
AJ, Daytona Beach, pic message from Sharon, who thought it was me.
Pic Message Make Up
Mail Beg's netted a note from Debs.
From: Debs
Subject: Have you seen this?
I just thought that if you didn't already know about
it, you might
think it was neat:
Here in NYC, you know that space is an issue. Manhattan Mini Storage
is a really big self-storage company here, and for a long time they've
had really cute ads (they appear on billboards throughout the city,
on
the subway, in buses).
 Recently their ads have been getting edgier. I had seen a couple of
them, but I apparently missed the giant billboard with the picture of
a wire hanger and the words "Your closet space is shrinking faster
than her right to choose."
Today on the subway, I saw another Mini Storage ad which said there
had been complaints about the edgier ads, and it asked people to weigh
in as to whether they liked the new direction
www.manhattanministorage.com
As for me, if edgier means agreeing loudly my general political
beliefs, than I say, "WHY THE HELL NOT?"
On a side note, we rented space from Manhattan Mini Storage for four
years while we lived in Uncle Ira's apartment, and that's where most
of my uncle dirty magazines and outsider art lived during that time
period.
The Week In Pictures That Appeared On My Phone
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Julie Miller: Horseshoe, OSU kickoff. |
Coach: Capitol Cab |
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My sister's bday party. |
SallyP: Tarkitty redux |
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Bova: He and Constance |
Constance: Tommy's Pizza (Columbus) |
Chock full o' ghosts graveyard, St. Augustine, FL.
Sailing down A1A
I'm certain this is what's happening in my spam box.
We drove to a friend's house in Daytona Beach over the weekend.
Free box
- Patty Griffin: Florida
- Muddy Waters: She Moves Me from Neil
- Assorted songs about county highways and country miles:
Here is my cute sister Mandy, at The Milltop Tavern in St. Augustine.
SLyon's family drove the High Line on their way to a family reunion, and she very kindly stopped to take photos of Chester, MT, birthplace and eponym of my cat, Chester. Nice sign, huh?
Little Sister Turns Thirty
My little sister is older than most of my friends. How did this happen?
We are spinsters! Happy birthday, little Mill. I love you!
Today's songs:
Brooklyn / Tess & Fam in the San Juans / Chester, MT / Pic Txts
Time is the only magic
Were I in town, nothing could keep me from this star-studded jam.
From: Brian
Subject: MB+TT at the Black Cat this Friday
Dear assorted friends,
Meredith Bragg & The Terminals are playing this Friday at the Black
Cat. We are headlining, so please come see the show and help us not
look like amateurs who can't fill a room.
To sweeten the deal, we are playing with some of our super-awesomest
friends: Olivia Mancini and the Housemates and Donny Hue and the
Colours. These three bands share about half a dozen members in common.
Did you just hear "star-studded jam"? I think that you did.
Friday, Sept. 7
Black Cat (main stage)
Ten bucks
www.myspace.com/mbandtheterminals
www.myspace.com/donnyhueandthecolors
www.myspace.com/oliviaandthehousemates
www.thekorarecords.com
On a rooftop in Brooklyn One in the morning
Dave and I moved Annie to Bushwick over the weekend. (Annie! Come back!) We got a late start loading the U-Haul and leaving DC on Saturday, finally rolled into Brooklyn around 11, got up Sunday morning and unloaded, and then...then we laid about exhausted, mostly. On Sunday night we went to a nearby party, on Mess's friend Jerry's roof. It was another warehouse kind of deal, high and large with an amazing view and a temporary, homemade hot tub in the center of it. Do you think I should jump into this box of water, heated by a flaming steel barrel, with 17 semi- to fully naked strangers? Yes, naturally. Somewhere in there I lost my phone, which I later found in a puddle, and some ashes of my brother, which I'd brought because I hate that he never got to go to New York. The ashes were in a tiny ziplock baggie, so I assumed they'd gone up someone's nose, but Mess actually found them the next day. I told her I kind of liked them being up there on the roof, and Annie suggested she discretely slip them into the tub. But Mess had other ideas.
From: Mess
Subject: there's been a change of plans
by the time i hung up with you this morning, plans were
already in action to dismantle the hot tub. as in, there were a half
a dozen folks standing around it, hands on hips, strategizing. so no
way was i going to be able to discreetly dispose of any ashes. and when
i disclosed my plans to jerry, he exercised an executive veto. no way
were we going to let your brother get no further than a puddle of dirty
water in bushwick on his only visit to new york city.
 since
the baggie was soaking wet we double bagged it and taped it up. i put
it in my purse and left unclear as to what i was going to do with this
unplanned duty that i by chance inherited. as i biked home, an ani difranco
song was in my head. "let's go down to the east river and throw
something in, something we can't live without, and then let's start
again." it was my second epiphany of the day. [her first was
remembering where she'd lost her keys - ed.]
i went home, bathed and chilled out for a bit. jerry and i met up in
williamsburg and wandered around manhattan for a bit. we ended up at
san loco (the taco place i'm always telling you about) and had a couple
of margaritas. then we headed over to otto's shrunken head tiki bar
where jerry had a "zombie" and i had a banana daiquiri. we
brought the packet out and placed it on the bar. we were the only patrons
and got to talking with the bartender, who outfitted the ashes with
a quasi day of the dead shrine, complete with glow stick. i felt like
we were keeping with the Sean Gilbert Principles of Fun and Happiness.
we watched Viva Las Vegas and thought about where we'd like our ashes
to end up in this city (coney island came up again and again, but this
time i vetoed). jerry and i headed back to williamsburg, and went down
to the shore of the east river, sort of near the bridge. on our way,
i saw this graffito, and thought it was nice.
at the last hint of sunlight, jerry sauntered down (i chickened out
on the slippery rocks - you know that would end with him fishing me
out of the water) and emptied the bag into the river. he said the ashes
sort of jumped right out of the bag, and the cloud of white was real
pretty in the dark water. we sat on the rocks for a bit longer, and
then headed home.
i'd never be able to know what sean would have preferred, so i just
tried to do right by you.
xom
Sorry I didn't call you when I was in New York. You would only have been enlisted to move furniture. Photos tomorrow.
The proof is in the ravioli
I finally found this picture. The flower girl is me, at my Aunt Cathy's wedding, and the white-haired man on the right is Hector Boiardi, better knows as Chef Boyardee. He was the brother of the grandpa I grew up with, though not blood-related.
I did a lot of flying in my dreams last night, and it was amazing. The
tricky part, as some of my housemates know, is not getting too high. In
another dream I'd gotten mixed up with a very bad woman, who thought the
best way to keep her girlfriends on our toes was by waving a gun at us,
and occasionally shooting at a limb. She reminded me of someone. Eventually
I flew the hell out of there, soared over some skyscrapers, flew around
until I got tired. Flying, it turns out, is more physically taxing than
you'd think.
Seven Skyscrapers
9:19 AM bob: so there was a schizophrenic man in the starbucks this morning
having a supremely uncomfortable-making fit. as the starbucks guy comes
up and says 'sir, you're going to have to leave, you can't be cussin in
here, botherin the customers.' schizophrenic guy responds, without missing
a beat, 'ok. i'm sorry for bothering your nice customers. would you like
to see my seven skyscrapers?'
9:21 AM me: awesome
a rich man
9:24 AM bob: showed that $7 an hour starbucks guy. he's got SEVEN SKYSCRAPERS.
me: seven skyscrapers....it's nice to say. we have our own crazy drunk
guy just out of prison here on emerson lately. he's been by the last two
nights, saying crazy things.
last night he insisted, not once but twice, that if i gave him
a beer he would leave a 6 pack of heinken for us on Fraturday.
bob: fraturday? that's the day for beers.
2Park vs Biggie
From James:
in her first act of defiance
parker decided to rep the west coast
sigh
so it begins
Video Hits 1
Let's examine some videos with nothing in common.
Below the Fold
Jane has left us, but she left us with this. "I thought it was a great photo," Serena said on the eve of the [US Open]. "I thought it was simply divine, personally." From Fashions Conjure Thoughts Of Catwalk, Not Catgut, wapost.
Scan
made by whudat.com.
The photo's caption reads: "I'll take off my shirt in a second - locker room girls don't have much shame.
Once I was getting ready to go out and my hitting partner, who is my best friend and, like, Greek god - handsome, walked into my hotel room, it wasn't awkward for me, but he freaked out.
I told him we had to get married."
Stop the presses
Because Constance has alerted me that the apex of journalism has been summited, a flag has been planted therein, and everyone can just stop trying.*
D.C.! I am liking new D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee's style. Today's Post reveals she is "preparing plans to fire up to several hundred employees over the coming year, part of a major restructuring of the school system's central office aimed at streamlining operations." Rhee Seeks Authority to Terminate Employees. And this little anecdote from Marc Fisher's column yesterday, Three Reasons to Cheer for Rhee's Fast Start.
 Rhee told of getting an e-mail from a parent about a middle school that's shifting its ninth-graders to the local high school this year as part of the system's change to middle schools consisting of sixth- to eighth-graders. The problem was that the ninth-grade textbooks were mistakenly shipped to the middle school. The parents asked if they could box up the books, throw them into their cars and move them to the high school. Oh, no, came the reply from central HQ. Those books must be returned to the central warehouse.
Rhee was appalled: "I was like, lady, do not send those books to the warehouse. I said, 'Thank the parents, get the books in the car, and move them over.' " Whereupon the crowd roared with approval.
Vick: The only two columns you need to read about Vick are Wilbon's, A Long Way to Go, and Mike Wise's Pleading Guilty, Then Making A Plea.
Housemate Plug: Adidas, Free Stuff, You & Me.
"Friends,
I'm DJ-ing the Sleek (clothing line) launch at the Adidas store in Georgetown tomorrow.
They requested some "indie" so that is what I will be playing. There's gonna be free
champagne, food & a raffle thing. They're raffling off Adidas gear and a sweet Sony
Ericsson phone. It might be the only time you'll ever hear the Television Personalities or Maximum Joy
at an Adidas store. Hehe."
*Lottery slogan inspired by sbolen: "D.C. Powerball: The End of Trying."
253 pictures of Sean
Are here.
We're going to need a special correspondent just for Republican gay sex scandals. From Danielle: Craig Arrested, Pleads Guilty Following Incident in Airport Restroom. Bob adds, "please find a link to image of the gay bathroom senator, pictured with a constituent at the 2006 Mustache Ride, hosted in a hotel near the Boise Airport by the Boise-based club known as The Leather Plug Society."
To lunch.
Cop crash last night at 16th and U. By me.
EmHos Shot
Ranger Ted says, "I saw your dad's pic of the kids at the animal auction and his comment about how it must be sad for them to sell their animals. Here's more evidence from the Yellowstone County Fair in Billings. The girl with her turkey doesn't seem too sad, however." Sad Sale, Billings Gazette.
Anisha directed us in a house photo shoot on Saturday (Les abstaining). Motophoto returned the prints with negative scans on a CD, which I expected would be beautiful and high res, but they aren't. Here are some of them anyway.
 Slim Charles from The Wire's brother was shot and killed at 14th and Girard
last night. 'We're
Tired of Seeing the Yellow Tape' After Brother's Slaying in Northwest,
'The Wire' Actor Makes Plea Against Retaliation, Wapost.
Anwan Glover's bio on The Wire site.
A little history of where we live now: Recollections about growing up in the Columbia Heights section of Washington, D.C., 1939 - 1950
Giddy-up Helicopter! by Jesse Miller
Damn, I am feeling sorry for myself
I guess it goes without saying that this month has been the worst of my 413 months. I really hate this fucking month. On the one hand, I heard from a lot of people, my site traffic briefly blew up, and I got three whole days off of work. On the other hand, my brother died, and I'm letting a lot of things go to hell. And other things I'm personally escorting there.
Speaking of dying, this friend of Mess's has a cute post today in honor of his cat Hubcap: Takes abuse but he never seems to get sore, at Got the Jimmy Legs. The song isn't too bad, either.
Mess reads the Gothamist
 I
read the Post
Sigh.
What Freedom Means to Me
From: Annie
Subject: how to squelch an uprising
[political shit you may or may not want to post on HK!]
I have to wonder if the State Department wouldn't have whisked me away
by now. In response to students protesting for a return to democracy,
the military-backed interim government imposed a curfew, which doesn't
just mean "Be home by seven," but "Go home by seven and
stay there indefinitely." Reportedly they lifted it for three hours
on Thursday to allow people stranded at airports and whatnot to get home
and to allow those who can to buy supplies. The government also shut down
the mobile phone network country-wide (which is the main communication
network, since landlines are scarce), instructed media outlets not to
show any images of the rioting, and also interrupted internet service.
The U.S. supports this regime. As a State Department official said during
my mandatory security briefing upon arriving in Dhaka, "It's good
to be the police in a police state."
Curfew re-imposed in Bangladesh, BBC
Bangladesh Imposes Curfew to Stifle Protests, nyt
bdnews24.com
Not nice girls frown upon this curfew.
Slave Jail
Up top is the well Ed's been working on down on King Street in Old Town.
There was once a "slave jail" on the site. Here are some photos: 1,
2, 3. Here is the
company email. My favorite part is, "If you're interested in seeing the
wooden ring, Ed Johnson has re-assembled it in the warehouse."
Two weeks ago, Chris Shepherd was monitoring construction at the King
Street site in Alexandria, and found a brick well. We conducted Phase
III excavations at this property last summer and located a bored log
pipe that was draining into a barrel, but this well was in an area that
was not previously tested. An 1851 Alexandria Gazette advertisement
mentioned "a pump of fine water in the yard" and we were hoping
this was it.
 At Alexandria Archaeology's request, we excavated a portion of the well,
hoping to find intact 19th century deposits. The upper three feet was
filled with modern building materials- likely from the destruction of
the circa early 20th century house that once stood over the well. The
lowest levels contained some 19th century artifacts and we concentrated
on screening all of these soils. We are in the process of washing and
cataloguing the artifacts, but unfortunately, these fills also appear
to be mixed with 20th century artifacts. This still could mean the well
was built earlier in the 19th century, but was used and consequently not
filled until the 20th century.
The well did contain a bored log pipe/pump, very similar to the one we
found last summer on the property. We have also documented how the well
was constructed- the bricks were laid on a wooden ring platform that had
vertical plank siding, which was pretty neat. If you're interested in
seeing the wooden ring, Ed Johnson has re-assembled it in the warehouse.
The entire well was only about 7-8 feet deep.
 From: Rebongaz
Subject: Quaker parrot
We are house sitting in park slope right now. One of our duties is to take care of their parrot, who is supposed to fly around free when we are home. He likes to fly onto our heads and sort of peck at them. Apparently we are to allow this.
From: Rebongaz
Subject: Ps
so quaker is a real type of parrot, but at first i really thought that he was a member of the society of friends and would speak only when moved. He is moved frequently, as it turns out.
Marion County Fair, by James Miller
Bailey Coons
This Michael Vick stuff is weird. Don't we support massive
institutionalized, government-subsidized animal-breeding, raising and
killing every day? Oh, right, Who cares? Or, It's part of our culture. Sounds
like Vick's supporters. And you think all these suddenly righteous sports reporters would care if Vick had been killing cats? Or, uh, hitting his wife? This story is good, because animal cruelty never gets so much positive press and attention, but you gotta wonder about the hypocrisy.
Duh. Marlz just sent me this from today's Post: Animal Cruelty Isn't Judged on a Level Playing Field, Courtland Milloy. "Too bad for Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick that people like me love dogs more than cows. Or, to put it another way, I prefer the taste of Angus and Hereford to Rottweiler and pit bull. Otherwise, the federal agents who recently charged Vick with dogfighting would have to arrest nearly all of us for participating in far worse acts of animal cruelty."
A while ago RT sent me Tears
for a Chicken, and I sent it to my dad. (Caption: "Bailey Coons covers
her eyes after learning that she didn't place in the final round of junior
poultry showmanship during the 4H/FFA Showmanship and Breed Show on Thursday
afternoon at the Central Wyoming Fair. Photo by Kerry Huller, Star-Tribune.)
My dad wrote, "Funny photo. I spent four straight days at our Marion County
Fair earlier in June, and you hope for this kind of story telling picture.
Being raised in the city, I'm always fascinated with the kids and their
animal projects and the shows. Seems most love their animals, but being
farm kids, they understand that they are future foodstuffs. It seems like
it would be tough for a kid to reconcile that particular set of love-and-fact
conflict."
Coach just reads about pot all day:
- FEMILADYISM:
Are There Really No Lady Potheads? Gawker. Related: Gawker has
a Femiladyism section; The Stranger is stupid.
- "i know you're super swamped . . . but good news for certain
housemates!" Lobes
of Steel, nyt. Note: this article is mostly about how exercise boosts
neurogenesis in da brain. But, whatever gets the blood flowin...
Bob keeps sending stuff about voodoo and zombies.
Subject: more voodoo magic
While there is evidence of zombie creation [2], it is a minor phenomenon
within rural Haitian culture and not a part of the Vodou religion as such.
Such things fall under the auspices of the bokor or sorcerer rather than
the priest of the Loa.
There is a practice in Haiti of nailing crude poppets with a discarded
shoe on trees near the cemetery to act as messengers to the otherworld,
which is very different in function from how poppets are portrayed as
being used by voodoo worshippers in popular media and imagination, ie.
for purposes of sympathetic magic towards another person. Another use
of dolls in authentic Vodou practice is the incorporation of plastic doll
babies in altars and objects used to represent or honor the spirits, or
in pwen, which recalls the aforementioned use of bocio and nkisi figures
in Africa.
From Conspiracies and Myths: Voodoo.
Special Correspondent Debs
says, "Bob and I have come up with something new. I think I would like
to make it into a t-shirt. Please do not feel any pressure to post this.
It may make your mother unhappy."
Grandma wears my hat
What Did You Think About Today
My mom says, "you haven't updated hecks kitchen in a bit!" Which I take
to mean she's tired of the porn entry and would like to see a picure of
her mom up there in the masthead. So there we go. I'll get back to my
regular, scintillating content soon....like, tomorrow I think we're going
to do Veggie Burger Consumer Reports (!!oh, yes!!) Until then, just go
read some Achewood.
 Flyin Jake
the church bulletin
Here's The Con ,
from Tegan and Sara's new album, The
Con. Mmmm...hooky.
This next section is about PORN and the link provided will take you to
a GAY PORN BLOG which you should not click if you're my grandma or work at an elementary school, or work anywhere besides home or the porn shop, I guess. These
are the kinds of posts that block me from airports and libraries. But this is what my content provider sends me.
This is a guy Bob "knows"
From: PORNO PREZ
To: GUY BOB KNOWS
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:31:57 -0400
Subject: Catching up about Philly!
GUY, it was great to meet you the other day. Very much appreciated
your time and I hope we'll be working together soon. In the
meantime, I thought you might get a chuckle reading this.
More later,
PORN PREZ
From: GUY BOB KNOWS
Date: Aug 14, 2007
Subject: i'm friggin famous dammit! :)
hey ya'll...
get this. i had this interview in philly with the prez of cruisingforsex.com.
its a gay porn site and video company. they wanted me for porn. the interview
went well and the guy set me up with 3 gigs in sept and october (1 in
atlanta and 2 in nyc).
here's the funny part. he documented the whole interview in a blog and
he does it quite effectively.
here's the link:
Help Wanted: Hung Tops, Insatiable Bottoms Needed
it's kinda racey... so dont print it in the church bulletin. the guy is
so detailed he flatters the hell out of me while being honest about my
butt acne!
LOL
gross!
(i'm an i.t . worker... i sit on my ass! duh)
so read it and laugh! for turning 37, this aint too bad!
Today's Pictures of Sean are mostly black and white, with some water
and some boxing and not much really in common.
Reentry
I'm back in DC, and it's strange to be back here where Sean isn't the first thing on everyone's mind. I feel kind of detached from everything. And I'm having bad, scary dreams.
Today's Pictures of Sean come from Christmas 2005.
Hey, thanks so much to everyone who's sent flowers, donated to the Heart Gallery, called, texted, emailed, myspaced, and everything else. It really means a lot to me and my family. I don't know when I'll post much here besides pictures of Sean.
 I heard that people might
be looking for pictures of my brother, so here are the ones from the last
time I saw him, in April: Floridatimes.
And that's the pic message Jess sent of him sporting some edamame lip jewelry.
So this death business is an unbelievable racket. We couldn't even see Sean's body until today, after the lab or morgue or county or whatever the fuck finally released him, not to us, but to the funeral home. Ridiculous. And then, we don't even get his effects. And I know Sean did not go out to a party without a necklace, cuffs, lip ring, and his passport at the least. They threw away all his clothes. And when we did see him (without embalming, against their "gravest judgment," as if we're babies, or as if anything could improve his being dead), when we did finally see him we weren't allowed to touch him or see anything other than his face. I never even got to see his tattoo.
Not that anything could make it better or worse. I don't know if this is in poor taste or what to blog about, but what else am I going to do? Oh, do you know what's really in poor taste? All the shit they sell at the funeral home. Thumbies®, for example. Thumbies® are offensive because WE'RE not allowed access to his fucking thumb, but whoever happens to work at the funeral home does! Anyway, here's the news obit my mom had to write up real fast. It's got the services information, if anybody needs it.
Sean M.D. Gilbert, 18, a native
of Columbus, OH, and local resident since 1991, was carried to his eternal
home, July 30, 2007. Sean is the beloved son of Mike and Debbie Gilbert
and cherished brother of Jenny Miller of D.C., Doug Gilbert of Atl. GA,
Jesse Miller of Tampa, Mandy Gilbert Hurley and brother-in-law, A.J. of
Tampa. His presence, humor, love and attitude will be so missed by his
family and many, many friends that he loved so much. He leaves one grandmother,
Ruth Strednak of S.C., many aunts, uncles and cousins. He is preceded
in death by three grandparents, Don & Sally Gilbert and Donald Strednak.
Sean worked with his dad at the Alliance Companies and attended Grace
Family Church. Memorial Services are 2:00 pm, Fri., August 3 at Grace
Family Church, 5101 Van Dyke Rd in Lutz, FL 33558 with Pastor Mark Quattrochi
officiating. Floral arrangements can be sent directly to the church or
contributions can be made in his name to Heart Gallery Tampa Bay, 1002
E. Palm Ave., Tampa, FL 33605 and online condolences and additional details
are available at our website www.veteransfuneralcare.com. Veterans Funeral
Care – Clearwater, FL 727.467.0922.
Tubing
Before and After.
Will you move in with me?
I've given it a lot of thought. And I think it's time we took it to the next level.
Chester yesterday
Mast by Jill.
Béisbol
Since no one reads this on Fridays, I'm going to talk about baseball. Specifically, Your Washington Nationals.
The Nationals were projected by pre-season prognosticators to threaten the 40-120 1962 Mets
as The
Worst Team Ever (notice how in baseball, even the losingest team in history
still won 40 games). But ha! naysayers, the Nationals won their 43rd game the the other day, when they beat underachieving NL-East rival Philadelphia, and we still have 59 games to play. So what do we think about the Nats?
 We think
Manager Manny Acta is awesome. Hiring 37-year old first-year manager
Manny Acta has turned
out to be the best decision the front office has made. Just look at the
guy. He's a cool customer. He's from the DR, too, and I dig his accent.
We think backup catcher Jesus Flores will take Brian Schneider's job. Twenty-two year old Venezuelan Jesus was a Rule V pick up for the Nats, meaning they snagged him from the Mets' minor league system on the condition they keep him on the big league roster all year. Unfortunately, he's stuck behind Brian Schneider. I don't get what everyone loves about Brian Schneider. Yes, I understand he's a "veteran leader" and a cool guy and he handles pitchers well, but this Flores kid seems to be just as good defensively, and oh, also, he can hit! He won the game last night with an eighth-inning three-run homer. Schneider's hitting .229 with no power. Flores is hitting .387 in July with two home runs. See? Sí.
 We
are pleasantly surprised by the extensions given to 2B Ronnie Belliard
and 1B Dmitri Young. The Nats surprised everyone by taking their two
best trade bits off the market this week, signing our only All Star, deal-of-the-year
Dmitri Young ($500,000!) for 2 years, $10 million. Young and Belliard
are the only Nats hitting over .300. Dmitri has been one of those rare
sports redemption stories that isn't a bunch of bullshit. Not a single
team in baseball wanted him, so he signed a minor league deal with the
lowly Nats in spring training. In the past two years he'd been busted
on a domestic violence charge, gone to rehab for his alcoholism and drug
abuse, and ended up in intensive care for his diabetes. (You might also
remember his brother Damon's 10 minutes of infamy last year, when he flipped
his bat at an umpire.) Now he's the feel-good story of the year. His signing
clouds the future of first baseman Nick Johnson, who's missed the entire
season after breaking his femur last September. Young has helpfully offered
to move to the outfield, which is pretty funny, considering he weighs
about 300 pounds.
Belliard, another Dominican and only five years younger than the manager, is involved in an interesting extortion case.
 Austin
Kearns and Felipe López were expensive mistakes. GM Jim Bowden got
these guys from his former team, the Reds. The Reds were pissed about
this trade, since the main piece for them was Gary Majewski, who turned
out to be damaged goods when they got him. Right-fielder Kearns does not
hit for average or power. His "at bat" song is Toby Keith's "Courtesy
of the Red, White and Blue." He's the guy who ran into Nick Johnson and
broke his leg. I wish we weren't stuck with him. And López, who knows
what happened to him? He forgot how to hit. I've got no beef with a guy
who will wield a pink bat. But what he really likes to do is strike out,
a team-leading 78 times.
The relief pitching is good, but we should trade closer Chad Cordero.
With the truly amazing number of injuries the Nationals starters have
suffered, it's a testament to the relief corps that we've won any games
at all. This is a much-used bullpen. This week alone Manny Acta is sending
two starters to the mound who are making their major league debuts. Last
night the idiot plate umpire ejected twenty-two year old John Lannan
for plunking two batters in a row, even though it was plainly obvious
that they were accidents. You should have heard colorman Don Sutton blow
up. Then Manny got ejected, which has never happened before. Boo. The
point is, once again the bullpen had to come in and pitch zeroes, which
they did (including Jon
Rausch, the tallest player in major league history!). And then the
Chief almost blew it in the ninth. I like Cordero, but we should trade
him to a contender. Closers are overvalued, and Chad is shaky.
We're also not crazy about Ryan Church and Nook Logan. They can leave.
Ryan Zimmerman will be the Cal Ripken of the Nationals. Except nicer.
Before and After
Slightly High Agency
I've been having trouble sleeping lately, which is unusual. I'm reading Love in the Time of Cholera (Achewood
coincidence!), oh, and by the way, I Know This Much
is True turned out to be really annoying towards the end, just one ridiculously unlikely and sentimental bit of closure after another, and now I don't know whether or not
it's recommendable, but anyway, last night after reading I slept very little and not well. I dreamt
my sister's bathroom was haunted by a poltergeist that appeared in the
form of a giant belly button. I dreamt I bought a mountain of clothes
in a series of scenes inspired by Gene Kelly's shopping montage in Xanadu.
Then I became aware of a mosquito in my room. What is worse than a mosquito
in your bedroom at night? Wondering where it will land next. Picturing its horrible, pointy little straw piercing you and drinking you up. Have you ever been bitten on the bottom of your foot? And then it will
buzz in your ear, supposedly asking
if everyone is still angry with it, which is obviously counterproductive.
I think I know what Love in the Time of Cholera is about. It's about
how hope
is the worst thing. If it is the sort of hope that depends on a result over which you have no control; the kind of hope that is something like faith. And how hope will waste your life, especially if
you waste your life hoping the girl you love will come around to your way of thinking, as the protagonist does in Love in the Time of Cholera. Stop hoping, and then, even if you are not
happy, you will not heartbreak your life away. My mom wants to get a tattoo
on the top of her foot, of a blue butterfly, with the word "Hope"
hovering above it. That tattoo is going to hurt like hell, which makes
sense, because of hope. So that is what I think this book is about. The emptiness of hoping for something over which you have no influence.
Today I skipped out of work for a few and went down to the DMV. Got all
the way there, found a spot, paid my meter, walked through hot stinky
Georgetown, got in line, popped open my book, and realized I'd forgotten
my vehicle title. Fuck! I thought, and then a chorus of the many, many
people who are always telling me to "Calm down" played in my head, so
I did. I went and got an iced coffee and toddled over to Bennetton, to
see what summer sales might be had. I found a shirt. The guy checking
me out asked to see my tattoo. This happens often, and overwhelmingly,
it is Men of Color asking to see my tattoo.
And every one has said he really likes it, often adding that it is "unique,"
which is nice. This guy at Bennetton was sad. He said, "I wish more than
anything I could get a tattoo, but I can't." I said, Oh. He said, "It's
against my religion." I didn't know what to say. I hope you can work something
out? Sorry about your luck? "All I want is a flag," he added. Then he made
a mental leap I couldn't follow to, "I guess it's pretty expensive to
get them removed, huh?" So perhaps the scenario in his head is something like, he gets his flag tattoo, and then someone,
his wife or mom or God tells him to remove it. While we're abandoning
helpless hope let's also abandon its public manifestation, organized religion.
Then we can just appreciate what we've got, be thankful for whoever already
loves us, and get all the flag tattoos we need.
The Voice of the Atom | Union Carbide, 1955
49,000 words
Will the kitchen of the future have potable water?
I drink about a gallon and a half of this stuff a day: Study: Unsafe Toxin Level in D.C. Water, wapost. "It's time to face up to the fact that it's impossible to take the Potomac River in its current polluted state, put it through a very old, rudimentary treatment system and get water that people can safely drink," said the group's executive director, Richard Wiles.
Kitchen of the future of the past from the great Plan 59. More later.
the street exploded
Our Cheryl walked out of her office yesterday and right into this explosion.
Steam
Blast Jolts Midtown, Killing One, nytimes.
From Cheryl:
Subject: explosion
"i saw this explosion happen last night when i was leaving work.
i was walking out of my building along with probably 15 other people
at about 6pm, through the second set of glass doors that leads to the
street, when i heard the
loudest boom i've ever heard and the street opened up and steam, smoke
and mud, came shooting out, i don't know how high into the air, and a
bus (which you can see in some of the photos in the article) went flying
forward. apparently it was a steam pipe that burst, creating a gigantic
crater literally 30 feet from where i was standing." Scary! See the Times
story for photos.but in my terrified brain, there was no way that it was
not the subway being bombed. it was rush hour, what else could it have
been? all my coworkers had left the office within the last 15 minutes.
i'm the only one from my work who saw it happen. there was the loudest
rumble i have ever heard for about the next 10 minutes. we all started
screaming and running, someone said "come back in the building!" so we
all ran back in the building and directly out the back entrance, and just
kept running away from the explosion for the next 5 blocks. along the
whole way people kept asking what happened and i kept saying 'i don't
know, something exploded, the street exploded.'  "it's just the most ridiculous
thing. a STEAM PIPE exploded, terrifying thousands of people, hurting
30 people, and killing one person. totally preventable. people were pouring
through midtown, and as you got farther away, lexington avenue was filled
with people looking north, taking pictures with their cameras, and calling
people. i staggered stunned for about 15 blocks and then got in a cab.
i had been about to get on the subway to meet my friend for dinner. in
the cab i heard on the radio that it was a transformer or some kind of
electric problem. by the time i got downtown to soho, no one even knew
anything had happened. my office is between 40th and 41st on lexington
avenue, and as the map shows, the explosion happened at 41st and lexington,
right at our intersection. "anyway, i'm ok, i think i fell when i was running
away and so my knee is scraped up. glass was flying in the air, i guess
from car windows but i'm not sure, so i have a couple little cuts. nothing
major. our office and apparently the whole area around grand central is
closed today."
In HK's continuing effort to advance the cause of cuteness, I give you this picture of Lauren working
at Seven Cycles, Boston.
Boxes of people
BONGZ
|
RANGER TED |
MANDY
|
ESG | SHERMAN |
BOB |
UNDERBLOG
| JM |
MISS MESS |
BOVA |
BOLEN |
SLYON |
Little piggie goes to market
I shop like I have a family to feed. On Saturday, after printing out my Oceans Alive Pocket Seafood Selector, I went to the DC fish market (which is atmospheric, but really not the best place to buy fish) and got tilapia, catfish and mahi mahi, and on Sunday I went to the Takoma Park farmers market (which is fantastic right now) and bought onions, salad greens, hot peppers, blueberries, basil and garlic. I have a lot of eating to do. If you are hungry, let me know. I made an awesome blackened catfish sandwich the other day. I also checked out WARL, the cool no-kill shelter over on Oglethorpe NW. I didn't take any pictures of the dogs, but they were pretty cute, too. Recommended!
Also, last call for Amateur Cat Hour vids and DNA personality tests.
Benevolent Leader of Your Mom
Scroll over my personality blocks to learn more about the mysterious, reclusive me.
My very high confidence and slightly low style should explain this outfit I'm wearing. Also, I'm a man.
Thanks, DeffoTotes!
T-Man Prescience
From Boing
Boing, "1952 comic predicts Bush/Cheny Iran policy." c/o Neil.
More on Treasury Agent Trask.
Fondler Fingered
Fair and Balanced™
Do Good
From Suze.
This is an important bill in D.C. to ensure workers don’t lose
their jobs if they need to take time off from work due to illness or
to pursue remedies for domestic violence. Please look at the appeal
below and consider signing on –
Support Paid Sick Days in DC!
The D.C. Council is currently considering a bill to require employers
to provide paid sick days to all employees (10 days for employers with
more than 5 workers, 5 days for employers with 5 or fewer workers.) Employees
would be able to use the time to care for themselves or their family --
including routine or preventive medical care. The bill also covers victims
of domestic violence who need time off to seek medical care, shelter,
counseling, a court order, or other services related to the violence.
If
you work AND/OR live in DC, show your support for the bill by signing
the petition. For more info, contact Karen Minatelli at (202)
828-9675.
Peach-thieving squirrel.
Republican Sex Scandal Day!
China executes the director of its food and drug agency for taking
bribes to approve fake medicines, while here in the U.S. government officials
commit bloody murder and get off scot free.
But when the gift horse of scheudenfraude offers you a couple of hypocrites
caught with their pants down, you don't
look it in the mouth, or make $20 offers, either.
- From Danielle: "sad times for rep. bob allen ..." Brevard lawmaker asked officer for sex, police say, Orlando Sentinel. Bongz: "ahhhhhh. nothing like a republican sex scandal that involves paying to be the sucker. the closeted self-loathing that knows no bounds!"
- ...And David Vitter: Senator's Link To D.C. Madam Damages His Self-Created Image, nytimes.
By the way, here are your leading GOP presidential candidates, c/o MoveOn.org's
incessant emailing.
- Rudy Giuliani: "Giuliani
Signals Support For Second Escalation Of U.S. Forces To Iraq,"
Think Progress, June 15, 2007
- Mitt Romney: "Romney:
'We Ought To Double Guantanamo'," Think Progress, May 16, 2007
- John McCain: "Bomb bomb
bomb, bomb bomb Iran," YouTube, April 19, 2007
- Fred Thompson: "Thompson
reacts to Libby clemency," Think Progress, July 2, 2007
E-transmitted photo gallery of the past month
The first one is the real Peter
Pan and his Dorothy! at Tampa Pride, by Jesse.
"Happy Pride indeed." - Bova.
 
 
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