Arnold!!

[Here is an edited down version of Arnold Schwarzenegger's DVD commentary for Conan The Barbarian]

Hat Tip: Andrew Sullivan

BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kathy Maister's Start Cooking (startcooking.com/blog)

"50 Ways to Use Bacon"
Written by Emily Chapelle



Ahh, bacon! That crispy, chewy, salty and sinful cut of pork we all love.

Bacon has disciples far and wide, some of whom devote entire blogs to it. The Bacon Show, for example, posts a daily recipe featuring bacon; the site "101 Things Every Cook Should Cook" has an entire section devoted to bacon. Heather, of the site "Bacon Unwrapped", chronicles her adventures with bacon, and "Bacontarian" brings you bacon-y goodness from around the Internet, while "I Heart Bacon" conducts bacon reviews.

For those who’ve spent more time eating it than studying it, bacon is cut from the sides, belly, or back of a pig, near the ribs. It’s the fattiness of the meat that makes it so yummy. After the skin is cut away, the meat is cured, smoked, and sliced. It can be cooked in a pan on the stovetop, in the oven, or in the microwave, until it’s perfectly crisp.

You probably know bacon as the star of the BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, in case you didn’t know), and the bacon cheeseburger. But there are so many other ways we can incorporate it into our diets and our lives! Here are 50 ways to use bacon:

1. Make a good old BLT sandwich, of course.

2. Bacon cheeseburgers will make anyone’s mouth water. Meat topped with more meat? Perfection!

3. Bacon-wrapped tater tots would go perfectly with that bacon cheeseburger!

4. Roast a bacon-wrapped turkey for Sunday dinner.

5. Make delicious bacon pastry slices.

6. Add a punch of flavor to your creamed spinach recipe.

7. Make your own hot bacon dressing to use on lettuce, cabbage, or even potato salad!

8. Entertaining? Whet your guests’ appetites with the bacon-cheese fundido appetizer.

9. Indulge in a bar of dark chocolate infused with the flavor of applewood smoked bacon as a special treat.

10. Maple bacon cupcakes will make your mouth water.

11. And if you liked those, try a bacon chocolate chip cookie with maple cinnamon glaze.

12. It’s not real, southern cornbread unless there’s bacon grease in it.

13. Visit The Plaid Mushroom’s e-shop to smother your lips with bacon lip balm made with real bacon oil, refined from bacon. (The link is to a listing that was reserved for a certain buyer, but contact theplaidmushroom to ask for your own listing.)

14. Join the bacon of the month club to have artisan bacon delivered to your door 12 times a year.

15. The beautiful city of Charleston, South Carolina gives us bacon-flavored cotton candy.

16. Enjoy a bacon martini with any meal.

17. Use bacon to dress up your leftovers for a second visit to the dinner table.

18. Whip up a tasty bacon asparagus quiche with Swiss cheese for dinner.

19. Cook bacon into the shape of cups and fill with lettuce and tomato for a breadless BLT.

20. Stay warm by wrapping a giant fleece bacon scarf around yourself.

21. Even if you’re a vegetarian and/or keep a kosher diet, you can still enjoy the taste of bacon salt, because, as the manufacturers say: “Everything should taste like bacon.”

22. If pork-covered pork appeals to you, you may also enjoy the bacon-wrapped deep-fried hot dog.

23. Trim your holiday tree with joyful ceramic bacon ornaments.

24. Use bacon instead of ground beef in stuffed peppers.

25. Get the morning off to a good start with beer cheese muffins with bacon cream cheese frosting.

26. Impress your guests with deceptively simple bacon-wrapped “crabette” appetizers.

27. A bacon-y take on an Asian favorite: bacon and bok choy potstickers.

28. Weave and bake bacon into edible placemats.

29. Then, use the woven bacon to augment your grilled cheese experience.

30. Or, use woven bacon to cook up an eggless bacon and cheese omelet.

31. Bacon and date appetizers will be the hit of your party.

32. Bacon egg salad croissants put a new spin on an old favourite.

33. Then, have a bowl of bacon ice cream for dessert.

34. Then use an actual bacon bandage to cover your own boo-boos.

35. Or wake up to cooking bacon with the bacon alarm clock, which is appropriately shaped like a pig’s face.

36. Add it to your bathroom in the form of bacon-printed toilet tissue.

37. Then, use it to wash up afterward.

38. Bacon popcorn is a deliciously salty, crunchy snack!

39. Try your hand at making your own bacon.

40. Enjoy barbecue-baked beans with bacon alongside your BLT.

41. Cook up a bacon buffet with bacon-topped potato skins, bacon-wrapped shrimp and scallops, bacon-wrapped asparagus, and eggs cooked in bacon grease.

42. Corn and bacon chowder sounds like the perfect soup to warm you up on the last chilly evenings before summer!

43. Strawberry bacon spinach salad will make you the star of any potluck.

44. Salty bacon will complement the sweet honey dressing in this imitation crab salad.

45. Try poached pears stuffed with blue cheese and baked with bacon.

46. Or try the same combo of flavors in a pear, blue cheese, bacon pizza.

47. Take a look at this bacon-filled quiche. It’ll really make your mouth water.

48. See who comes out on top with an action-figure wrestling match between Mr. Bacon and Monsieur Tofu.

49. Smooth caramel topped with crunchy bacon: Does that sound delicious or disgusting? Try it and let us know.

50. Try many other bacon dishes suggested by foodnerd, including bacon fluffernutter sandwiches, bacon cups with macaroni and cheese, bacon-pepper-cheese scones, and more!

LINK: http://startcooking.com/blog/395/50-Ways-to-Use-Bacon

Daisey!!

The Stranger (www.thestranger.com)
February 5th, 2008

"The Empty Spaces
Or, How Theater Failed America"

Written by Mike Daisey



Seven years ago, I left Seattle for New York—I abandoned the garage theaters and local arts scene and friends and colleagues—because I was a coward. I'd already tried to sell out once, by working at a shitty Wal-Mart of a tech company, but I knew I would not survive in the theater if I stayed. I fled to New York to bite and claw a living out of the American theater as an independent artist because I was young and stupid enough to think that would actually work. Today, my wife and I are one of a handful of working companies who create original work in theaters across the country. We're a very small ensemble: I am the monologuist; she is the director. We survive because we're nimble, we break rules, and when simple dumb luck happens upon us, we're ready for it.

We return to Seattle maybe once a year. During my first week back this time, I ended up at a friend's party, long after the rest of the guests had gone, in that golden hour when the place is almost cleaned up, but the energy of the night is still hanging in the air. We settled down in the kitchen under the bright light, making 4:00 a.m. conversation and, as all theater artists do, I asked the traditional question: "What are you working on?"

My friend's face fell, for just a moment—she's a fantastic actress, one of the best in the city, with an intelligence and precision that has taken my breath away for years. She corrected a moment later, and told me carefully that she wasn't going out for anything now—that she was giving it up. She has a job-share position at her day job to let her take roles when needed, but now she is going to go permanent for the first time in her entire life. After 15 years of working in theaters all over Seattle, she'd felt the fire go out of her from the relentless grind of two full-time jobs: one during the day in a cubicle, the other at night on a stage.

She said what really finished it for her was getting cast in a big Equity show this fall and seeing how the other Equity actors lived—the man whose work had inspired her all her life, living in a dilapidated hovel he was lucky to afford; the woman who couldn't spare 10 dollars to eat lunch with colleagues without doing some quick math on a scrap of paper to check her weekly budget. These are the success stories, the very best actors in the Northwest, the ones you've seen onstage time and time again. Their reward is years of being paid as close to nothing as possible in a career with no job security whatsoever, performing for overwhelmingly wealthy audiences whose rounding errors exceed the weekly pittance that trickles down to them.

My friend looked at me imploringly—she's close to 40, at the height of her powers, but the sacrifices of this theater ask for raw youth: When she arrived in Seattle, she'd eat white rice flavored with soy sauce for lunch for a month at a time. "Maybe if I was 23 again," she said. "Maybe not even then." She looked down at the table as she said this, and I felt a kind of death in the room.

The institutions that form the backbone of Seattle theater—Seattle Rep, Intiman, ACT—are regional theaters. The movement that gave birth to them tried to establish theaters around the country to house repertory companies of artists, giving them job security, an honorable wage, and health insurance. In return, the theaters would receive the continuity of their work year after year—the building blocks of community. The regional theater movement tried to create great work and make a vibrant American theater tradition flourish.

That dream is dead. The theaters endure, but the repertory companies they stood for have been long disbanded. When regional theaters need artists today, they outsource: They ship the actors, designers, and directors in from New York and slam them together to make the show. To use a sports analogy, theaters have gone from a local league with players you knew intimately to a different lineup for every game, made of players you'll never see again, coached by a stranger, on a field you have no connection to.

Not everyone lost out with the removal of artists from the premises. Arts administrators flourished as the increasingly complex corporate infrastructure grew. Literary departments have blossomed over the last few decades, despite massive declines in the production of new work. Marketing and fundraising departments in regional theaters have grown hugely, replacing the artists who once worked there, raising millions of dollars from audiences that are growing smaller, older, and wealthier. It's not such a bad time to start a career in the theater, provided you don't want to actually make any theater.

The biggest reason the artists were removed was because it was best for the institution. I often have to remind myself that "institution" is a nice word for "nonprofit corporation," and the primary goal of any corporation is to grow. The best way to grow a nonprofit corporation is to raise money, use the money to market for more donors, and to build bigger and bigger buildings and fill them with more staff.

Using this lens, it all makes sense. The worst way to let the corporation of the theater grow is to spend too much on actors—why do that, when they're a dime a dozen? Certainly it isn't cost-effective to keep them in the community. Use them and discard them. Better to invest in another "educational" youth program, mashing up Shakespeare until it is a thin, lifeless paste that any reasonable person would reject as disgusting, but garners more grant money.

Every time a regional theater produces Nickel and Dimed, the play based on Barbara Ehrenreich's book about the working poor in America, I keep hoping the irony will reach up and bitch-slap the staff members as they put actors, the working poor they're directly responsible for creating, in an agitprop shuck-and-jive dance about that very problem. I keep hoping it will pierce their mantle of smug invulnerability and their specious whining about how television, iPods, Reagan, the NEA, short attention spans, the folly of youth, and a million other things have destroyed American theater.

The numbers are grim—the audiences are dying off all over the country. I know because every night I'm onstage, I stare out into the dark and can hear the oxygen tanks hissing. When I was 25, the Seattle Rep started offering cheap tickets to everyone under 25. When I turned 30, theaters started offering cheap tickets to everyone under 30. Now that I've turned 35, I see the same thing happening again, as theaters do the math and realize that no one under 35 is coming to their shows—it's a bright line, the terminator between day and night, advancing inexorably upward. A theater I'm working at this year is hosting a promotional event to coax "young people" to see our show. Their definition of young? Under 45.

There are clear steps theaters could take. For example, they could radically reduce ticket prices across the board. Most regional theaters make less than half of their budget from ticket sales—they have the power to make all their tickets 15 or 20 dollars if they were willing to cut staff and transition through a tight season. It would not be easy, but it is absolutely possible. Of course, that would also require making theater less of a "luxury" item—which raises secret fears that the oldest, whitest, richest donors will stop supporting the theater once the uncouth lower classes with less money and manners start coming through the door. These people might even demand different kinds of plays, which would be annoying and troublesome. The current audience, while small and shrinking, demands almost nothing—they're practically comatose, which makes them docile and easy to handle.

Better to revive another August Wilson play and claim to be speaking about race right now. Better to do whatever was off Broadway 18 months ago and pretend that it's relevant to this community at this time. Better to talk and wish for change, but when the rubber hits the road, sit on your hands and think about the security of your office, the pleasure of a small, constant paycheck, the relief of being cared for if you get sick: the things you will lose if you stop working at this corporation.

The truth is, the people in charge like things the way they are—they've made them that way, after all. Sure, they wish things could be better. Who doesn't? They're dyed-in-the-wool liberals, each and every one of them, and they'll tell you so while they mount another Bertolt Brecht play. The revolutionary fire that drew them to the theater has to fight through so much shit, day after day, that even the best of them can barely imagine a different path. They didn't enter the theater to work for a corporation, but now they do, and they more than anyone else know the dire state of things. I've gone drinking with the artistic directors of the biggest theaters in the country and listened to them explain that they know the system is broken and they feel trapped within it, beholden to board members they've made devil's deals with, shackled to the ship as it goes down. I've heard their laughter, heard them call each other dinosaurs, heard them give thanks that they'll be retired in 10 years.

Corporations make shitty theater. This is because theater, the ineffable part of the experience that comes in rare and random bursts, is not a commodity, and corporations suck at understanding the noncommodifiable. Corporations don't understand theater. Only people, real people, understand theater. Audiences, technicians, actors, playwrights, costumers, designers—all of them give their time and energy to this thing for a reason, and that dream is not quantifiable on any spreadsheet.

As I drove home from my friend's house that night, I felt myself filling up with grief. There will be some who read this who will blame her, think she should have sacrificed more, that this is a story of weakness. But I stand by her. I know in my heart she has given full weight, just as so many other artists have given over the years. Much of the best theater of my life I have seen in the garages of Seattle, unseen and forgotten by many. But I remember. Theater failed my friend, as it is failing us all, and I am heartbroken because we will never know the measure of what we've lost.

Mike Daisey is a monologuist, author, and working artist.

LINK: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=503829

Injustice!!

CNJ Online (www.cnjonline.com)
May 22nd, 2008

"Yearbook Creates Concern"
Students defend inclusion of gay couples in Clovis High annual

Written by Sharna Johnson
Photo by Liliana Castillo

Staff members of the 2008 Clovis High School yearbook say the inclusion of photos and interviews with gay couples in the annual is a reflection of the community.

A local Christian group and others strongly disagree. One detractor has threatened to stop donating to school projects while others said they plan to go in front of the school board to protest.

Staff member Jessie Hardison, left, and editor in chief Maggie Chavez said they included gay couples in Clovis High’s yearbook to illustrate the school’s diversity.


Student editor in chief Maggie Chavez and staff member Jessie Hardison said Thursday the decision to feature gay couples was a conscious one made with much consideration and discussion by the staff.

The staff wanted to be as diverse and inclusive as possible and wanted to make a product for all students to enjoy, they said. Though they themselves are not gay, the two said they felt strongly about including gays in the yearbook.

“We just wanted to show that there is a diversity, there (are) gay and lesbian couples in the school and they have a right to be in the yearbook just as much as anybody else does,” Chavez said.

Photos of two lesbian couples along with narratives describing their relationships were included in a couples feature section titled “Do you want to go out?” Also pictured on the two-page spread were nine heterosexual couples.

While school staff check for obscenity, libel and other matters of legal concern, yearbook supervisor Carol Singletary said it is a student-produced publication. The content featuring gay students was not stopped by administrators, because, “It didn’t violate privacy, it wasn’t obscene, it wasn’t libelous ... it didn’t violate any of the district policies,” Singletary said.

Former Lt. Gov. Walter Bradley, who described himself as a parent and concerned Christian member of the community, said he is upset about the photos and accompanying write-ups.

“I think it’s highly inappropriate to place that in that venue. That is no place for that type of negligent exploitation of our kids,” he said. “I do not in any way believe this reflects the attitudes and values of this community.”

Chavez and Hardison said they too hold strong Christian values but the issue is a matter of discrimination.

“I believe God’s OK with it. I don’t think he cares what you wear, what color your skin is or who you’re with. I think he loves you for who you are,” Hardison said.

“This is in the community. (Students) are going to have to deal with it in their lifetime,” Chavez said, explaining openly gay couples are a common sight at school, often seen walking hand-in-hand.

Relationship spreads have been in the yearbook for several years and have featured friends and couples, Hardison said, but never gay couples. Male gay couples invited to participate declined, she said, because they feared repercussions and possible violence.

Care was taken to ensure none of the photos depicted excessive public displays of affection, which would violate school policy, and all of those photographed gave permission and had ample opportunity to withdraw their consent prior to publication, Chavez and Hardison said.

Pointing to the yearbook, Hardison said, “I’m not a lesbian but I don’t think this should be white, black, Hispanic, males and females. It should be everybody as a whole. The yearbook is for our student body, to represent them. I’m proud of it. People shouldn’t be black, people shouldn’t be white, straight, gay. People should be people.”

Reactions have been mixed. “I’ve had couples come to me crying saying ‘thank you’,” Hardison said, and she’s also received anonymous threatening letters and been approached by students, parents and even teachers expressing anger. But she doesn’t regret the decision.

“It’s time for Clovis to come into the 21st century and be OK with people ... I love this town most of the time (but because of the reactions), it makes me feel sorry to be a human. ... Something little like this goes a long way and if we keep doing things like this, it might change things,” the 18-year-old said.

Bradley isn’t interested in seeing the kind of change Hardison is talking about in the community.

He said he serves on a strategy team for the schools and as a businessman has sponsored and endorsed school programs. But, he said, “If this is indeed the direction that this school system is going to take and continue to promote, then don’t look to me for anymore donations.”

Will Cockrell is a member of the Christian Citizenship Team, a group at Central Baptist Church that “monitors political actions and social actions that come to bear on society that are counter to Christian doctrine.”

Cockrell said Christians throughout the community are mobilizing to attend next week’s school board meeting and speak out.

“We don’t think that it reflects anywhere close to the attitudes and the morals of the community,” he said. “I don’t have a child in school but I’m appalled. If I were the parents of those kids, I’d own that school. Those are minors.”

It was intended, “not so much (to be) in your face, so much as ‘hey, this is happening, you should take notice of it,’” Chavez said.

As to whether future classes should follow suit, Hardison said each yearbook staff has a responsibility to represent the student body and will have to make their own decisions.

“If they do it, then I think it would be good. We can’t just turn our heads for the rest of our lives. It’s part of our society and it has to come out eventually,” she said.

Clovis Municipal Schools Superintendent Rhonda Seidenwurm said she has received numerous calls from community members on both sides and termed it a sensitive issue.

Essentially the matter is a three-pronged issue, Seidenwurm said, involving First Amendment rights, privacy issues and community standards, all of which are equally important and must be considered.

But the bottom line is no school policies were violated and there are no legal concerns about what was published, she said.

It is a student publication and ultimately belongs to the students, who followed the rules, she said.

“We’re trying to look at it from all sides and address the issue. What we have to do is be very careful in whatever we do not to violate any First Amendment rights and be sure all of our board policies have been followed, but we do recognize that there is a segment of our community that is upset with those two pages of our annual,” Seidenwurm said. “I have had almost as many calls encouraging us to make sure we don’t violate the rights of any children.”

Seidenwurm said the issue has not been placed on the school board’s meeting agenda.

LINK: http://www.cnjonline.com/news/staff_28187___article.html/school_gay.html

580 Mile Burger!!

Pirate Dogs & Pilgrims (piratedogspilgrims.blogspot.com)
May 25th, 2008

"Driving 580 Miles for a Burger"
Written by Bill Zarges

[Finally, Bill has posted again!! That's cause for an "Extra-Extra!!" I look at his writing, and I wonder how I subconsciously adopted his writing style. It's amazing how a father's influence can seep into one's style. Keep posting, Dad.]



All right, so even in "Nuevo Mehico" gasoline is approaching $4.00 a gallon. Who cares?? Not the 3 Pirate Dogs!!!!!!! They convinced their dad, mom, and auntie to load them into the vehicle and trek about halfway across the 5th largest state for a HAMBURGER. Not just any hamburger but a green chile cheeseburger from the Owl Cafe, home of arguably the best burgers in the WORLD!!!

We used to live about 100 miles from the Owl so a quick run up the Interstate was nothing. To taste the green chile cheese fries, enjoy a cold Bud, and eat a couple of those burgers was so satisfying. And to be able to just do it on a moment's notice was wonderful. Now we live half a state away----yesterday was a 580 mile round trip---si, a little planning is required. But it's the trip as well as the culinary orgasm.

Leave the flat plain of "West Texas" to encounter the foothills of one of the few mountain ranges that run east-west (the Capitans). Be alert and ready with the brakes. Off to the right a herd of pronghorn antelope graze. A few miles further and there are some of the largest longhorn cattle not yet in the feedlot. As the sign for the Roswell UFO Crash site (no trespassing, call some limo company) approaches, a paisano runs across the road with "is that a snake or a lizard?" in its beak. A few miles later another roadrunner crosses, this one still searching for its meal.

Cross the mountains. The pass is only 6900 feet on this route. But the land has changed. Scruffy trees, maybe oaks, shelter a few head of cattle. The highway allows a view of hawks from above as it proceeds in switchbacks up the mountain. Then there is the first sighting of the Tularosa Basin stretching for miles north-south and to the west we spy the the next mountains to cross.

The land has morphed into black lava flows as the car ascends into the Malpais. One more hill----and the high desert reveals itself--the "Jornada del Muerto." A fitting name for the land that was scarred by the Trinity blast in 1945. There's the turn for Stallion Gate.

It's been a long ride but that sign means the Rio Grande, El Camino Real, and the Owl are only about half an hour away. Another hill and the river valley, almost obscenely green against the adobe colored sand and mountains beyond, appears. Cross the Rio, muddy, fairly high (the dams upstream must be open). There's the sign with the nocturnal bird, our destination.

Of course the pirates can't go in, not a seeing eye dog among them, but there's a shady parking place. The humans gorge themselves on the wonderful fare. The pirates get a hamburger of their own for their patience. A quick turn on the leash for relief and renewal and it's time for the trek east.







LINK: http://piratedogspilgrims.blogspot.com/2008/05/driving-580-miles-for-burger.html

Nightmare Ticket!!

The Onion (www.theonion.com)
May 21st, 2008

"Obama, Clinton, McCain Join Forces To Form Nightmare Ticket"
[writer info unavailable]

Even without any opponents, the new ticket plans to triple spending on political ads.

WASHINGTON—Presidential hopefuls John McCain (R-AZ), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) announced Monday their plans to form what many Beltway observers have already dubbed the "2008 Nightmare Ticket," a calculated move that political analysts say offers voters the worst of both worlds.

After nearly a year of verbal attacks and negative campaign ads, the nominees announced that, for the good of the country, they were willing to push their differences to the forefront and grant the American people the ticket they've been dreading all along.

"No other ticket is capable of rallying this nation around a clearer, more unified message of chaos and hopelessness," the candidates said in unison from three separate podiums, each adorned with its own American flag arrangement and personal message. "Together, we will lead this nation into the future—a future where absolute deadlock over even the most minute decisions and total inefficiency on matters of the war, the economy, and the environment will launch a bold new age of confusion and social decay. For America, the only choice is [indecipherable]!"

The candidates said they had not yet decided who would fill the offices of president, vice president, and a new post the nominees are calling "the middle president." They did, however, confirm that each would choose his or her own full cabinet, would be able to veto any bills the others sign into law, and would reserve the right to cast the tie-breaking, tie-making, and tie-rebreaking votes in the Senate.

The candidates on a campaign stop in Kansas.

"This nightmare ticket presents the American people with an unprecedented lack of opportunity in 2008," Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen wrote Tuesday. "For just one vote, citizens will get four years of McCain's brilliant temper, the incredible inexperience of Barack Obama, and the powerful two-headed monster of Hillary and Bill Clinton."

"It will be very exciting to see what they're capable of destroying, " Cohen added.

According to campaign managers, the triple ticket will run on a revolutionary new platform crafted during three highly contentious weeks in April.

At the top of the platform is a military strategy calling for the phased withdrawal of .000006 brigades from Iraq and Afghanistan every seven months over the next 350 years. Universal health care would also be provided, taken away on McCain's birthday, and then provided again only to those wealthy enough to afford it. Abortions would be made available on every other even-numbered Friday from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. EST to all women who can prove residency in Alaska or Nevada. And an entirely new immigration policy will be instituted, sources said, as soon as the candidates can stand to be in the same room with one another for more than five minutes.

Aides to Sen. Clinton also confirmed that the trio plans to create two separate federal governments—one large and one small—which would be instituted within the first 100 days of the Clinton/McCain/Obama White House or, according to Obama chief strategist David Axelrod, the Obama/McCain/Clinton White House.

"Getting three political all-stars together like this is a clear lose-lose-lose situation for everyone involved," NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell said. "By themselves, none would have been capable of uniting the country. But the possibilities of what they could do together to drive it ever further apart are limitless."

A CBS News/New York Times poll taken after the announcement revealed that the nightmare ticket has invigorated almost all voters, inspiring blacks, whites, senior citizens, college graduates, liberals, conservatives, both blue-collar and white-collar workers, and military veterans alike to remain at home by the millions this November, exercising their American right not to vote.

"So now a vote for Clinton is also a vote for McCain and Obama?" 43-year-old West Virginia resident Joe Biller said. "Jesus Christ."

Added Biller. "Looks like I'll be going with Nader/LaRouche/Sharpton/Ventura/Edwards after all."

LINK: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/obama_clinton_mccain_join_forces

Week 3!!

ELJ Arts Annex (www.eljallartsannex.com)
[as seen on website May 22nd, 2008]

"Colorful World: Review"
Written by Kessa De Santis

Nosedive Productions’ latest production, COLORFUL WORLD, is playwright James Comtois’ foray into the overtly politicized, unabashedly comical superhero genre. Set in 2005, with flashbacks to 1988 and the years in between, Comtois posits a world in which the abilities of one man prevented 9/11 as we know it, in which we are no longer dependent on oil, and in which the line between superhero and supervillain is blurred by human foibles, commerce and media spin.

The discovery of a single man with unnatural abilities spawns a caped crusader craze that leads the government to act against vigiliantes of all types. As part of the bureaucracy, some are elevated to the level of crimefighter by virtue of joining the Alliance of Champions. COLORFUL WORLD tells the story of a world that has one real "superman" and many wannabes, and what happens when the "superman" that represents the hopes of millions suddenly disappears.

Meet Tom Shanley, known primarily as Overman. His existence is at the center of COLORFUL WORLD. Although the exposition surrounding his evolution from an ordinary guy impervious to pain and death to government employee and international hero is a tad lengthy, Patrick Shearer’s methodical and even mad portrayal make it all go down smoothly. In contrast, Mac Rogers, as the unassuming Guy, a hidden talent until the end, is slightly remininscent of his portrayal of the title character in Mr. Comtois’ THE ADVENTURES OF NERVOUS-BOY, but without the psychopathic tendencies. We are also treated to appearances by Abe Goldfarb as the slightly diabolical, slightly flamboyant and absolutely ambitious Ramses, Jessi Gotta as the perky token gal crimefighter and heartbreaker, Tigress, Marc Landers as The Void, Ben VandenBoom as The Peacekeeper, Christopher Yustin as the vibrantly costumed Johnny Patriot, and Zach Calhoun as John.

To compliment Pete Boisvert’s fast-paced direction, Nosedive has done well to tap the talents of Qui Ngyuen, of local theater company The Vampire Cowboys, and Alexis Black as co-fight choreographers. They appreciate both the precision required to stage effective scenes in a tight space, as well as the comedic edges that these scenes were meant to be imbued with. Meredith Magoun’s costumes and Leslie Hughes’ makeup design add just the right touches.

COLORFUL WORLD is above all else just plain entertaining. James Comtois definitely takes the opportunity of a captive audience to make political statements via his opinionated and vocal characters, as well as the choices of the television content projected on the walls, particularly during scene changes, and why not?

LINK: http://www.eljallartsannex.com/Colorful%20World.htm

-------------------



Colorful World

A new play by James Comtois

featuring
Zack Calhoon* — Abe Goldfarb* — Jessi Gotta
Marc Landers — Mac Rogers — Patrick Shearer
Ben VandenBoom — Christopher Yustin

*Denotes member of the Actors Equity Association

Directed by Pete Boisvert

The 78th Street Theatre Lab, 236 West 78th St., 2nd Floor
May 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, 29-31
Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.

Tickets are $18. Subway: 1 to 79th Street; A to 81st Street; or 1 2or 3 to 72nd Street. Tickets available at TheatreMania.

Takei!!

Towleroad (www.towleroad.com)
May 19th, 2008

"STAR TREK'S GEORGE TAKEI TO MARRY PARTNER BRAD ALTMAN"
[writer info unavailable]



In an announcement Friday on his website, actor George Takei announced that he'll be taking advantage of the new California same-sex marriage law and wedding his partner and business manager Brad Altman.

Takei and Altman have been together for over 21 years. In his message, which discusses their relationship as well as his experience as a Japanese American: Takei says:

"As a Japanese American, I am keenly mindful of the subtle and not so subtle discrimination that the law can impose. During World War II, I grew up imprisoned behind the barbed wire fences of U.S. internment camps. Pearl Harbor had been bombed and Japanese Americans were rounded up and incarcerated simply because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. Fear and war hysteria swept the nation. A Presidential Executive Order directed the internment of Japanese Americans as a matter of national security. Now, with the passage of time, we look back and see it as a shameful chapter of American history...With time, I know the opposition to same sex marriage, too, will be seen as an antique and discreditable part of our history..."

Takei is the second high-profile entertainer to make such an announcement, following Ellen Degeneres' last Friday.

***MARRIAGE ANNOUNCEMENT from GEORGE TAKEI ***

Our California dream is reality. Brad Altman and I can now marry. We are overjoyed! At long last, the barrier to full marriage rights for same-sex couples has been torn down. We are equal with all citizens of our state!

The California Supreme Court has ruled that all Californians have a fundamental right to marry the person he or she loves. Brad and I have shared our lives together for over 21 years. We've worked in partnership; he manages the business side of my career and I do the performing. We've traveled the world together from Europe to Asia to Australia. We've shared the good times as well as struggled through the bad. He helped me care for my ailing mother who lived with us for the last years of her life. He is my love and I can't imagine life without him. Now, we can have the dignity, as well as all the responsibilities, of marriage. We embrace it all heartily.

The California Supreme Court further ruled that our Constitution provides for equal protection for all and that it cannot have marriage for one group and another form - domestic partnership - for another group. No more "separate but equal." No more second-class citizenship. Brad and I are going to be married as full citizens of our state.

As a Japanese American, I am keenly mindful of the subtle and not so subtle discrimination that the law can impose. During World War II, I grew up imprisoned behind the barbed wire fences of U.S. internment camps. Pearl Harbor had been bombed and Japanese Americans were rounded up and incarcerated simply because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. Fear and war hysteria swept the nation. A Presidential Executive Order directed the internment of Japanese Americans as a matter of national security. Now, with the passage of time, we look back and see it as a shameful chapter of American history. President Gerald Ford rescinded the Executive Order that imprisoned us. President Ronald Reagan formally apologized for the unjust imprisonment. President George H.W. Bush signed the redress payment checks to the survivors. It was a tragic and dark taint on American history.

With time, I know the opposition to same sex marriage, too, will be seen as an antique and discreditable part of our history. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy remarked on same sex marriage, "Times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper, in fact, serve only to oppress."

For now, Brad and I are enjoying the delicious dilemma of deciding where, when, and how we will be married. Marriage equality took a long time, but, like fine wine, its bouquet is simply exquisite.

LINK: http://www.towleroad.com/2008/05/star-treks-geor.html

IT Awards!!

The New York Innovative Theatre Awards (www.nyitawards.com)

[The above video illustrates how the New York Innovative Theatre Awards judging and voting process works. Support the New York Arts. If you see a theatre show you've enjoyed, please take a few moments to recognize its accomplishments. How about seeing...]

Colorful World

A new play by James Comtois

featuring
Zack Calhoon* — Abe Goldfarb* — Jessi Gotta
Marc Landers — Mac Rogers — Patrick Shearer
Ben VandenBoom — Christopher Yustin

*Denotes member of the Actors Equity Association

Directed by Pete Boisvert

The 78th Street Theatre Lab, 236 West 78th St., 2nd Floor
May 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, 29-31
Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.

In 1988, the world discovered a man who was indestructible, impervious to pain, and able to destroy a tank with his mind.

In the early- to mid-nineties, a craze where vigilantes dressed up in flashy costumes and fought crime took the nation by storm.

Now it's 2005. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center are still standing. Hurricane Katrina has decimated New Orleans. The Iraq War is coming to a close. And several former costumed crimefighters realize their marks on the world are more akin to those of has-been rock stars.

This is Colorful World, Nosedive Productions' latest full-length production that takes on the superhero genre. Far from a pulpy comic book-style romp, James Comtois and Pete Boisvert (The Adventures of Nervous-Boy) envision a world radically changed by the arrival of an invincible man, and not necessarily for the better.

Colorful World will be performed at the 78th Street Theatre Lab (236 West 78th St. at Broadway) May 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, 29-31 (Thursday through Saturday). All shows are at 8 p.m. and tickets are $18. Subway: 1 to 79th Street; A to 81st Street; or 1 2or 3 to 72nd Street. Tickets available at TheatreMania.

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