It's The Little Things II

(To read It's The Little Things I, click here.)

Carlos and I have a new Saturday night tradition - dinner and a movie. (For quite awhile, we had been staying home watching movies on Saturday nights.)

The first week was Zea's and The Dark Knight at The Palace Theatre Clearview.

The second week was Country Flame and American Teen at Canal Place Theatre.

Tonight is Vaqueros and Tropic Thunder at The Prytania Theatre.

I tried looking up the restaurant to make sure it was open in our post-Katrina world, but I couldn't find it. When I called Carlos to update him, not only did he immediately figure out that I was spelling it like Brenda Vaccaro, but he knew her birthday was November 18, 1939.

Cute and knows everything about pop culture!

New Discovery: The Subways

Every week, I watch Sundance Channel's TV show "Live From Abbey Road" . This week's show featured Gnarls Barkley, Herbie Handcock, and a band that I had never heard of before - The Subways.

No. Not all together, silly!

I really like their sound. They remind me of Dash Rip Rock or Reverend Horton Heat, yet they're from England.

Here's the video for their song Oh Yeah. It was released 3 years ago in the UK. I'm still a bit slow in getting hip to new music.



If you think the singer, Billy Lunn, is cute, check out my other blog devoted to Male Stars Shirtless (or my Yahoo group of the same name).

Hallmark Corners Gay Marriage Card Market

From The Associated Press:

Not every state recognizes same-sex marriage - but Hallmark now does.

After California decided to join Massachusetts in legalizing the unions, the nation's largest greeting card company began rolling out its first same-sex wedding cards this summer to meet growing demand.

That puts them in a niche once served only by independent card companies, and one that No. 2 American Greetings Corp. has no plans to enter.

Hallmark started offering "coming out" cards last year, and the four designs of same-sex marriage cards are being gradually released this summer and will be widely available by next year. No sales figures were available yet.

The Greeting Card Association, a trade group, said it does not track how many companies provide same-sex cards but believes the number is expanding.

Three Is A Magic Number

As I do at work when I'm trying to avoid work, I was playing a round of Really Tough Music Trivia Categories via email with a friend of mine today.

The only rule is that the person who starts the category must also throw out the first example. Then the first person to miss loses. We try to make the categories as tough as possible.

My category today was "Bands that have exactly three members - and all three members are somehow related. First answer: Hanson...Go." We were able to come up with The Jonas Brothers and The Bee Gees before giving up. Can you think of any other answers?

Another Silly Quiz

My result for The Sexuality Spectrum Test...

Mostly Gay

You scored -31 (-52 being completely gay, 0 being bisexual, and 52 being completely straight)

You are mainly homosexual, but you have a few heterosexual qualities. You much prefer the same sex, but you have a mild interest in the opposite sex. While you would jump at the opportunity to screw someone of the same sex, you might be up for experimenting with members of the opposite sex if given the opportunity. If you are sexually inexperienced, you could shift on the spectrum at a later time depending on whether you have sexual encounters with the opposite sex and whether or not you like those encounters.

Take The Sexuality Spectrum Test at HelloQuizzy

The West Wing II

For those of you who would rather watch the scene instead of read the transcript, I found this:

The West Wing

Via Netflix, I have been making my way through one of my all-time favorite TV shows, The West Wing. This is one of the best scenes I’ve watched.

Season 2, Episode 3
Transcript courtesy of West Wing Transcripts

C.J.
Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen. The President of the United States.

Everyone stands and claps. The flashbulbs go off as Bartlet enters the reception.

BARTLET
Thank you. Thank you, very much. Thanks a lot. I wish I could spend more than a few minutes with you but the polls don't close in the east for another hour and there are plenty of election results left to falsify.

Everyone chuckles.

BARTLET
You know with so many people participating in the political and social debate through call in shows, it's a good idea to be reminded...

Bartlet loses his train of thought when something attracts his attention. The camera pans over to Jenna Jacobs, sitting on her chair.

BARTLET
...it's a good idea to be reminded of the awesome impact... the awesome impact...

He finally gives up and addresses her.

BARTLET
I'm sorry, um... you're Dr. Jenna Jacobs, right?

JENNA JACOBS
Yes, sir.

BARTLET
It's good to have you here.

JENNA JACOBS
Thank you.

BARTLET
The awesome impact of the airwaves and how that translates into the furthering of our national discussions but obviously also how it can... how it can...

He sighs, and addresses Jenna Jacobs again.

BARTLET
Forgive me, Dr. Jacobs. Are you an M.D.?

JENNA JACOBS
Ph.D.

BARTLET
A Ph.D.?

JENNA JACOBS
Yes, sir.

BARTLET
In Psychology?

JENNA JACOBS
No sir.

BARTLET
Theology?

JENNA JACOBS
No.

BARTLET
Social work?

JENNA JACOBS
I have a Ph.D. in English Literature.

BARTLET
I'm asking, 'cause on your show, people call in for advice and you go by the name of Dr. Jacobs on your show. And I didn't know if maybe your listeners were confused by that, and assumed you had advanced training in Psychology, Theology, or health care.

JENNA JACOBS
I don't believe they are confused, no sir.

BARTLET
Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.

JENNA JACOBS
I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.

BARTLET
Yes, it does. Leviticus.

JENNA JACOBS
18:22

BARTLET
Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7.

(small chuckles from the guests)

She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, and always clears the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath, Exodus 35:2, clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important, 'cause we've got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes us unclean, Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother, John, for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?

Jenna Jacobs fidgets uncomfortably.

BARTLET
Think about those questions, would you? One last thing, while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tightass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.

Jenna Jacobs squirms in her seat but doesn't rise. Bartlet glares meaningfully at her.

She finally rises out of her seat.

Improv Everywhere: Best Game Ever

Improv Everywhere has come out with another brilliant mission - Best Game Ever.

"What we are going to do today is that we picked a random little league game that is taking place here in Hermosa Beach, California and we are going to turn this little league game played by 10 year olds into a major league baseball game."

My favorite part is when the Goodyear blimp arrives!



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In case you missed them, here is a list of my favorite past missions by Improv Everywhere:

Frozen Grand Central - 207 Improv Everywhere Agents suddenly come to a halt in Grand Central Station for 5 minutes - and then resume as if nothing happened.

Best Buy - Almost 100 people identically dressed as Best Buy employees (royal blue shirt, khaki pants, black shoes) enter a Best Buy at the exact same time, pretending to be surprised that anyone else is dressed as they are.

Even Better Than The Real Thing - Improv Everywhere pretending to be U2 holding a free rooftop concert - as U2 did for their "Where The Streets Have No Name" video, which was an homage to the ending of The Beatles's Let It Be movie.

The Moebius - The description from the Improv Everywhere site: "Seven undercover agents meticulously repeated a five-minute slice of time for twelve consecutive repetitions. Starbucks employees and patrons were frightened, confused, and ultimately entertained as they found themselves stuck, without escape, in the middle of a time loop." The YouTube video.

Criminal (A Quick One Revisited)

Following up to my below Justin Nozuka post, here he is performing the song live. (The video to the original version of his song Criminal doesn't seem to be available on YouTube anymore.)

Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

Taking an idea from Carlos (my boyfriend), here is my summer reading list. As I read these, I'll come back here with comments.

The Film Club - David Gilmore
From the cover: "The true story of a father who let his son drop out of school - if he watched three movies a week."
I finished it last night. Decent, but not great. Easy reading though. It was almost 200 pages and I read it in two sittings.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference - Malcolm Gladwell
I borrowed this one from my dad a couple of years ago and read it then. The title phrase has worked its way into our common vernacular so I thought I'd read it again.

Pictures At A Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood - Mark Harris
From the dust jacket: "Pictures at a Revolution tracks five movies - the milestones Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, the popular hits Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night, and the big-budget disaster Doctor Dolittle - on their five-year journey to Oscar night in the spring of 1968."

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed - Jared Diamond
NPR interviewed the author a month or so ago. The book sounded interesting.

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World - A.J. Jacobs
From the dust jacket: "Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs' hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z."
I actually started my summer reading with this one, but put it down at the end of chapter D. I'll try again later this summer.

The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America - David Hajdu
I have hundreds (thousands?) of comic books, collected in my youth, gathering dust and money in my closet. I've always like the E.C. Comics from the 1950's best. The company is reissuing many of them. Damn. More ways to spend my money. ("Beans. Magic Beans." as Carlos would say.)

Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life - John Sellers

A recommendation from Vincent from a few months back.