From Entertainment Weekly's website:
Lowe's pulls ads from "All-American Muslim" after "ordinary" portrayal protested
A TLC reality show offering a positive portrayal of Muslim life has
come under protest and at least one advertiser has pulled its support.
Hardware store giant Lowe’s has yanked ads from the series after the
Florida Family Association encouraged members to email the program’s
advertisers.
“The show profiles only Muslims that appear to be ordinary folks
while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and
present danger to liberties and traditional values that the majority of
Americans cherish,” the group said
about the show, a docu-soap chronicling everyday Muslim families in
Dearborn, Michigan that debuted last month. “Clearly this program is
attempting to manipulate Americans into ignoring the threat of jihad and
to influence them to believe that being concerned about the jihad
threat would somehow victimize these nice people in this show.”
The organization posted a letter allegedly from a Lowe’s representative agreeing to pull its ads: “While
we continue to advertise on various cable networks, including TLC,
there are certain programs that do not meet Lowe’s advertising
guidelines, including the show you brought to our attention. Lowe’s will
no longer be advertising on that program.”
Lowe’s then acknowledged and defended
its decision on Twitter: “We did not pull our ads based solely on the
complaints or emails of any one group. It is never our intent to
alienate anyone. Lowe’s values diversity of thought in everyone,
including our employees and prospective customers.”
Florida Family Association also suggested Home Depot and Sweet’n Low
have been scared off, but emails posted from the companies say they only
bought one ad each in the first place. All told, the organization
claims its email campaign has convinced 65 companies to stop advertising
with the show.
Now the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has weighed in
and is calling on its membership to support the show — and to contact
Lowe’s. “Sadly corporations, such as Lowe’s, have succumbed to the
idiocracy of such garbage campaigns, which are orchestrated by groups
and organizations which lack credibility, legitimacy, and are founded on
the basic notions of bigotry and racism reminiscent of a shameful era
in this country’s history,” said the organization in a statement.
A TLC spokesperson wouldn’t discuss the protest, but told EW: “We stand behind the show All American Muslim and we’re happy the show has strong advertising support.”
-----------------------
Here's a link to the story.
Here's a story about Lowe's sort of apology.
-----------------------
From Kal Penn's Twitter feed: “Our next movie: ‘Harold & Kumar Do Not Go To @Lowes. Please take a sec to sign & support an all-American show.”
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Friday, December 02, 2011
Shuggie Otis
A few months ago, I was listening to WTUL and heard Shuggie Otis's song Strawberry Letter 23 for the first time in 30 years.
I heard the song again today and was planning on researching all the songs that sampled it.
Then I came across this video, which did all the work for me...
If you want to see for yourself, here is The Brothers Johnson cover version of the song...
Outkast's Ms. Jackson that samples the song...
And Beyonce's Be With You that samples the song and lyrics...
I heard the song again today and was planning on researching all the songs that sampled it.
Then I came across this video, which did all the work for me...
If you want to see for yourself, here is The Brothers Johnson cover version of the song...
Outkast's Ms. Jackson that samples the song...
And Beyonce's Be With You that samples the song and lyrics...
Paris Trip - The Details I
Carlos, Jason, Brandon and I spent seven days (plus a few travel days) in Paris, returning late night on Saturday, November 26.
If you want the 2:52 Short Attention Span Version of our Trip, click the video below.
If you want the details...
We left Friday morning, November 18 to catch a flight around noon. After a layover in Houston, we arrived in Paris around 8 am Saturday (November 19) morning. On the Paris flight over, I think I slept the most - and I slept only about 90 minutes.
Between finding an ATM, navigating the Metro, getting food and locating our hotel, we arrived around 11 am, tired and ready for some sleep. After checking into our hotel, we napped for about an hour and then went exploring....
Through a market a few blocks from our hotel...
Past the Bastille (now atraffic circle roundabout)...
To Notre Dame, where we spent a few hours, including eating freshly-made crepes and hanging out in the park behind Notre Dame ...
Through the outside of the Louvre and the surrounding area...
And that was Saturday (Day 2 of 9).
-----------------------------------------
Sunday (November 20) we spent at the Louvre. The last time I was in Paris, I went to the Louvre, but in the six hours I was there, I was only able to see the Denon wing. This time - in our kind-of-rushed-eight-hour journey - we made it all the way through the Denon wing, through all of the Richelieu wing (including the Medieval Louvre, which I find fascinating) and through the majority of the Sully wing. I feel there is still so much that we didn't see that I could go back again. Next time.
Here are some pictures to help convey how large the museum is...
After 9+ hours at the Louvre, we decided to tackle walking down the entire distance of the Champs-Élysées...
(stopping in shops along the way) to the Arc de Triomphe - and then walking up these steps to the top!
The view made it worth the trip (and the leg cramps)...
And that was Sunday (Day 3 of 9).
----------------------------------------------
I'll fill in more details, day by day, as I have time in the coming weeks.
Have you been to Paris? We're going back in 2013. Let me know your recommendations for places to go.
If you want the 2:52 Short Attention Span Version of our Trip, click the video below.
If you want the details...
We left Friday morning, November 18 to catch a flight around noon. After a layover in Houston, we arrived in Paris around 8 am Saturday (November 19) morning. On the Paris flight over, I think I slept the most - and I slept only about 90 minutes.
Between finding an ATM, navigating the Metro, getting food and locating our hotel, we arrived around 11 am, tired and ready for some sleep. After checking into our hotel, we napped for about an hour and then went exploring....
Through a market a few blocks from our hotel...
Past the Bastille (now a
To Notre Dame, where we spent a few hours, including eating freshly-made crepes and hanging out in the park behind Notre Dame ...
Through the outside of the Louvre and the surrounding area...
And that was Saturday (Day 2 of 9).
-----------------------------------------
Sunday (November 20) we spent at the Louvre. The last time I was in Paris, I went to the Louvre, but in the six hours I was there, I was only able to see the Denon wing. This time - in our kind-of-rushed-eight-hour journey - we made it all the way through the Denon wing, through all of the Richelieu wing (including the Medieval Louvre, which I find fascinating) and through the majority of the Sully wing. I feel there is still so much that we didn't see that I could go back again. Next time.
Here are some pictures to help convey how large the museum is...
After 9+ hours at the Louvre, we decided to tackle walking down the entire distance of the Champs-Élysées...
(stopping in shops along the way) to the Arc de Triomphe - and then walking up these steps to the top!
The view made it worth the trip (and the leg cramps)...
And that was Sunday (Day 3 of 9).
----------------------------------------------
I'll fill in more details, day by day, as I have time in the coming weeks.
Have you been to Paris? We're going back in 2013. Let me know your recommendations for places to go.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Tourist In Your Own Town - 2011
For the 5th year in a row,
Carlos and I spent a long weekend (the first weekend in October) playing
tourist in the New Orleans French Quarter.
This year's theme was Live
Music, though we ignored the theme once we arrived.
As we have the
past three years, we stayed at my parent’s bed and breakfast. I keep lobbying
for us to stay at a proper hotel as we did the first year, but Carlos likes the
family aspect.
I live
strolling through the French Market. Carlos loves taking the streetcar. We both love eating out and movies.
I am definitely not a
food writer and I have forgotten most of what
we actually ate, but I do remember my general feeling about the food and the restaurant - so here's a description of our weekend guided by our food choices.
Friday Lunch
C+
I had the
Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo to see if it was better than what I cook. It
wasn’t. We have traditionally started off our Tourist Weekend here,
but I think we’ll find a new tradition. If I can cook gumbo better than a place called The Gumbo Shop, it's time for us to move on.
Friday Dinner
B+
Better than we
thought it would be. I think we pre-judged the place because it has changed
names so many times over the years. The outside courtyard was packed, with
everyone listening to the band. We ended up inside, which was sparsely
filled. Very nice.
Saturday Breakfast
B
We arrived a
little before 9 am. By 9:15, there was a serious line out the door – and
limited seating. If you want to eat here, go early. Carlos, Jason, Brandon and I are going to Paris for a week for Thanksgiving. When I return, I'll re-judge this place against the best Patisseries in the world.
Saturday Lunch
A
Saturday Dinner
Charbroiled
Oysters: A+
Everything else
in our meal: C-
Carlos had the
Shrimp and Grits with Tasso. I had the Shuckee Duckee: "Blackened duck breast over linguini
pasta with oysters and cream sauce". We both ate about 1/4 of our main
dishes and later on tossing the To Go boxes. This is
another Tourist Weekend tradition that we’re going to change next year.
Sunday Breakfast
A
A wonderful new tradition. The rating is
for the El Gato Negro in the French Quarter, not the one on
Harrison Avenue. I have heard that location is
terrible.
--------------------------------------
Our Other
Activities
B+
Though I
thought it would be more of a comedy. Carlos’s response: “It’s
about a guy getting cancer. How funny did you think it would be?”
My thinking is a bit shallow, but I don't follow Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an actor because I don't think he's cute.
I have to respect his talent, however, because he's starred in some of my favorite movies:
Brick (still one of my all-time favorite movies - I sat Jason and Carlos through it one New Year's Eve a few years ago during our night of "Everyone bring the best movie/TV show right now you want to share".) I still agree with my decision.
Latter Days (one of the best ever gay-themed movies)
A+
A huge
selection of spices and teas.
I bought:
Black Chocolate Tea (my favorite)
Plus the sales guy was cute.
A+
This was Carlos's idea. We both museums. He saw the promotion for this exhibit during last year's trip.
Of course, we both lived through Katrina so it was very moving.We spent nearly three hours watching the videos and looking at the photos. It's definitely a must see!
A
I bought Purple, Green
and Gold ornaments for two people on my Christmas list. This business has been around since the 1980's. With such a niche marketing idea, I don't understand how, but if you're in New Orleans - no matter what season - it's definitely worth the stop.
--------------------------
We also stopped at numerous art galleries on Royal Street. I'm always looking for wall art. But none of their wares struck me. Maybe next year.
We also spent a couple of hours perusing the French Market along Decatur Street - both on Saturday afternoon, before waiting for the Riverfront Streetcar to go to Drago's and then again Sunday morning after breakfast. I bought presents for my cousin Casie - I picked her name in this year's family gift giving - and my brother-in-law Jeff. Casie lives in Austin and Jeff lives in Atlanta. I bought them gifts to remind them of New Orleans.
By the time Carlos and I left Sunday afternoon, our stomachs were full and our wallets were empty.
I feel that's a great way to give back to my city.
New Orleans. Proud To Call It Home.
Carlos wants to move our Tourist Town weekends to the spring so we're going to skip October 2012 and have Tourist In Own Town VI in March 2013.
Stay tuned.
Post Scrips II
Back in June 2011, I updated a few past posts. As I type this, it is Sunday morning and Carlos is still in bed - so I have a few minutes to update some other posts, which I have been meaning to do for awhile.
----------------------------------------
Update to Gardening: Year Two
and
Gardening: Year Two, Week Three
The Summer 2011 here in New Orleans was very dry for about two months. Then we had tons of rain for about a month. This year's crop - green bell peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, jalapenos, and snap beans - shriveled up in the heat. And then were drowned out by the rain.
NOTHING grew this year. Next year, I'll try bell peppers, cucumbers, snap beans (which seemed to do the best this year) and onions - a new choice, that Monica, a friend of mine at work, tells me grows well.
----------------------------------------
Front Wall...
-----------------------------
And an update to a very recent post...
We received a free book with our ticket. Only 250 out of 2000 were signed - randomly distributed. I got one!
Since I'm also in the Stephen King Book Club, I will also receive the book within the next month. I'll give that copy to charity.
Carlos and I ate at the newest location of New Orleans Hamburger & Seafood Company on St. Charles Avenue. New Orleans has many, many great restaurants so there is really no reason to eat at a chain. This chain is the only one I enjoy.
----------------------------------------
Update to Gardening: Year Two
and
Gardening: Year Two, Week Three
The Summer 2011 here in New Orleans was very dry for about two months. Then we had tons of rain for about a month. This year's crop - green bell peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, jalapenos, and snap beans - shriveled up in the heat. And then were drowned out by the rain.
NOTHING grew this year. Next year, I'll try bell peppers, cucumbers, snap beans (which seemed to do the best this year) and onions - a new choice, that Monica, a friend of mine at work, tells me grows well.
----------------------------------------
Update to Fun with Remodeling
At the end of the post, I wrote, "Once all this is completed, I’ll post before and after pictures". Well, I completed the office remodeling project in February 2008, but never got around to posting pictures. Thanks to a reader (Hey Iona!) for pointing that out. Here are before and after pictures of my office / guest room.
Back wall...
Front Wall...
-----------------------------
And an update to a very recent post...
Update to An Evening with Stephen King
"The doors open at 6:30 pm." My plan was to pick up Carlos at 5 pm, eat at a restaurant about a block away from the event, and get in line at 6 pm. We altered our plans a bit and ended up getting there about 5:45 pm. This is what we saw:
The entrance was on the other side of the block - meaning that the line snaked around the front of the building, down the entire left side of the block, and back to near the middle of the next side of the block - where we joined it.
By the time, everyone was let in at 6:30 pm, the line almost joined back to itself at the front of the building. In the auditorium, we were in the middle - so the seating wasn't too bad.
Since I'm also in the Stephen King Book Club, I will also receive the book within the next month. I'll give that copy to charity.
Carlos and I ate at the newest location of New Orleans Hamburger & Seafood Company on St. Charles Avenue. New Orleans has many, many great restaurants so there is really no reason to eat at a chain. This chain is the only one I enjoy.
Friday, November 11, 2011
These Go To 11
Combining three of my favorite things:
the movie Spinal Tap
great music played loud
NPR
NPR's All Songs Considered had a story this morning - because of 11/11/11 - of...
These Go To 11: Songs Best Heard Extra-Loud
There's no denying certain songs are best experienced when played as loud as possible. Since this Friday, 11/11/11, is Nigel Tufnel Day — the unofficial holiday honoring the fictional Spinal Tap guitarist, who cranked his amplifiers past 10 — this week's episode is all about the songs that instantly make you want to turn the volume up.
Click the link above or here to read the entire article - and to hear all the music.
---------------------
Here is a short, partial list of songs that I turn to 11:
Renegades of Funk - Rage Against The Machine
Oh Yeah - The Subways
Think the drummer's cute? Watch the video for him shirtless. Think the singer's cute? Go to my other blog to a post from 2008.
Sabotage - The Beastie Boys
Recently Distressed - Phantom Planet
Phantom Planet is the band that also sang California and whose original drummer was the actor Jason Schwartzman. Here's an live version of the song, before Jason Schwatzman left the band in 2004.
Think the singer is cute? He's Alex Greenwald. He did some Gap commercials...
And appeared in one of my all-time favorite movies...
Vagabond - Wolfmother
The version of the song from the excellent movie (500) Days of Summer where I discovered the song...
The whole song...
A Life of Illusion - Joe Walsh
The Bucket - Kings of Leon
Inside Out - Eve 6
Dammit - Blink 182
-----------------------
What are yours?
the movie Spinal Tap
great music played loud
NPR
NPR's All Songs Considered had a story this morning - because of 11/11/11 - of...
These Go To 11: Songs Best Heard Extra-Loud
There's no denying certain songs are best experienced when played as loud as possible. Since this Friday, 11/11/11, is Nigel Tufnel Day — the unofficial holiday honoring the fictional Spinal Tap guitarist, who cranked his amplifiers past 10 — this week's episode is all about the songs that instantly make you want to turn the volume up.
Click the link above or here to read the entire article - and to hear all the music.
---------------------
Here is a short, partial list of songs that I turn to 11:
Renegades of Funk - Rage Against The Machine
Oh Yeah - The Subways
Think the drummer's cute? Watch the video for him shirtless. Think the singer's cute? Go to my other blog to a post from 2008.
Sabotage - The Beastie Boys
Recently Distressed - Phantom Planet
Phantom Planet is the band that also sang California and whose original drummer was the actor Jason Schwartzman. Here's an live version of the song, before Jason Schwatzman left the band in 2004.
Think the singer is cute? He's Alex Greenwald. He did some Gap commercials...
And appeared in one of my all-time favorite movies...
Vagabond - Wolfmother
The version of the song from the excellent movie (500) Days of Summer where I discovered the song...
The whole song...
A Life of Illusion - Joe Walsh
The Bucket - Kings of Leon
Inside Out - Eve 6
Dammit - Blink 182
-----------------------
What are yours?
Video: "I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy"
From Jimmy Kimmel Live on November 2...
So mean. So funny!
So mean. So funny!
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
A Guide To Safe Social Media
For my friends who spent too much time updating everyone on their status. You know who you are.
Friday, October 14, 2011
O Death
My friend JoLynn's dad died this week.
Here is how she described his death to me today at the wake:
"He had a stroke a few years ago and has been bedridden since. On Tuesday, he called to Linda [his wife] that he wasn't feeling well, and asked her to sit him up. As she did, they held hands and said the Our Father. He died at 'thy kingdom come...'."
The funeral home was packed: He had seven siblings, and came from a large Italian Catholic family.
He was 68.
Funerals always get me thinking about mortality.
My dad is 77. Although he is very activefor his age, his prostate cancer has returned (though he is positive his current treatment will again cure him). I know that one day - hopefully not soon - we will lose him. As JoLynn's dad's mass was going on, my mind was wandering toward which funeral mass I would be attending next. I love my dad. I hope it is not his.
My mind was also wandering toward:
- I don't own a proper wedding/funeral suit. My current one is too small in the waist. I need to give it to Brandon - my only friend who is smaller than I am.
- Who would be the pallbearers in my funeral?
- Who would be the pallbearers in my dad's funeral?
Related Musical Interlude I ...
From (one of the best shows ever!) Supernatural episode "Two Minutes To Midnight": O Death by Jen Titus. ("Embedding Disabled by Request")
Funerals remind me of past funerals. I've been to too many. Tonight, I started to compile a list to post here, but it just felt distasteful while typing "Robert B. - 19 years old, Car Accident, returning from Biloxi while attending an Aerosmith concert, 1988".
This time, instead of posting a list, I think I'll keep these memories close.
Related Musical Interlude II ...
Here is how she described his death to me today at the wake:
"He had a stroke a few years ago and has been bedridden since. On Tuesday, he called to Linda [his wife] that he wasn't feeling well, and asked her to sit him up. As she did, they held hands and said the Our Father. He died at 'thy kingdom come...'."
The funeral home was packed: He had seven siblings, and came from a large Italian Catholic family.
He was 68.
Funerals always get me thinking about mortality.
My dad is 77. Although he is very active
My mind was also wandering toward:
- I don't own a proper wedding/funeral suit. My current one is too small in the waist. I need to give it to Brandon - my only friend who is smaller than I am.
- Who would be the pallbearers in my funeral?
- Who would be the pallbearers in my dad's funeral?
Related Musical Interlude I ...
From (one of the best shows ever!) Supernatural episode "Two Minutes To Midnight": O Death by Jen Titus. ("Embedding Disabled by Request")
Funerals remind me of past funerals. I've been to too many. Tonight, I started to compile a list to post here, but it just felt distasteful while typing "Robert B. - 19 years old, Car Accident, returning from Biloxi while attending an Aerosmith concert, 1988".
This time, instead of posting a list, I think I'll keep these memories close.
Related Musical Interlude II ...
Friday, September 30, 2011
An Evening with Stephen King
I'm very excited...
From the Octavia Books web site (Support your independent book seller!):
A total of 250 first editions of 11/22/63
will be signed by Stephen King prior to the event and will be blended
in randomly with the copies available to all ticket holders.
WHAT IF YOU COULD CHANGE IT BACK?
In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King—who has absorbed
the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more
imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer—takes readers on an
incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching GED classes. He asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, and one essay blows him away—a gruesome, harrowing story about the night more than fifty years ago when Harry Dunning's father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a sledgehammer. Reading the essay is a watershed moment for Jake, his life—like Harry's, like America's in 1963—turning on a dime. Not much later his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
So begins Jake's new life as George Amberson, in a different world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere. From the dank little city of Derry, Maine (where there's Dunning business to conduct), to the warmhearted small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love, every turn is leading eventually, of course, to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.
Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are Full Dark No Stars, Blockade Billy, Under the Dome, Just After Sunset, the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Lisey's Story and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was recently re-released in a tenth anniversary edition. King was the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2007 he was inducted as a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America. He lives in Maine with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.
----------------------------
Below is a picture of one of my book shelves...
Again, I'm very excited.
From the Octavia Books web site (Support your independent book seller!):
An Evening With Stephen King - 11/22/63: A Novel
11/12/2011 6:30 pm
Doors open at 6:30PM, program will start promptly at 7:30PM.
Please arrive early.
Please join us for an exciting evening with Stephen King presenting his new novel, 11/22/63.
We are holding the event at The Academy of the Sacred Heart's Nims Fine Arts Center, 4301 St. Charles Avenue (at Napoleon Avenue).
Tickets:
Free with pre-purchase of 11/22/63
first edition by Stephen King from Octavia Books, redeemable for a copy of the book at the event. We strongly recommend that
you pre-purchase now by coming to Octavia Books or calling us at during store
hours at 504-899-7323. Tickets may also be purchased online by clicking here. You must pay for your tickets at the time you reserve them.
ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963, THREE SHOTS RANG OUT IN DALLAS, PRESIDENT KENNEDY
DIED, AND THE WORLD CHANGED.
It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching GED classes. He asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, and one essay blows him away—a gruesome, harrowing story about the night more than fifty years ago when Harry Dunning's father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a sledgehammer. Reading the essay is a watershed moment for Jake, his life—like Harry's, like America's in 1963—turning on a dime. Not much later his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
So begins Jake's new life as George Amberson, in a different world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere. From the dank little city of Derry, Maine (where there's Dunning business to conduct), to the warmhearted small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love, every turn is leading eventually, of course, to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.
Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are Full Dark No Stars, Blockade Billy, Under the Dome, Just After Sunset, the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Lisey's Story and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was recently re-released in a tenth anniversary edition. King was the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2007 he was inducted as a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America. He lives in Maine with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.
----------------------------
Below is a picture of one of my book shelves...
Again, I'm very excited.
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