Do you get it?

And if you do, you probably think this is either obscene, or the greatest shirt ever.


I'm leaning towards the latter...

Getting my humanity back

22. That was the death toll around 12 noon yesterday morning, when a co-worker mentioned the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I, in a knee-jerk reaction, went straight to CNN.com to get the news. And how macabre it was; students, going about their Monday morning, were senselessly gunned down.

But what disgusted me more than the event itself was my immediate reaction: acknowledgment of the event, but no acknowledgment of the emotional weight.

In retrospect, I surmise that after seeing the death tolls of September 11th, reading about the ongoing carnage in Iraq; hell, watching a fictional nuclear bomb detonate near Los Angeles in "24", that the deaths of 22 people just didn't have the deep emotional impact on me.

At that point, the closest I got to "emotional impact" was when I began to think of my friend in Blacksburg, whom I knew was safe since he's a Tech alum (and thus, wouldn't have been in a classroom or dorm). However, I began to think, "what about everyone else? People are dead and I'm happy that my friend--who was never in harm's way in the first place--is ok?"

Why?

My answer (which is not an excuse, mind you, but rather is the closest I've come to an explanation) is that somewhere along the way, I became desensitized to the violence of this world.

And that's when I gave myself a long over-due, but much needed, punch in gut. I had to get my senses back, had to come down to Earth, had to realize that whether it's 33 people in Blacksburg, or three people in a Nor'easter, whether its 7 in Iraq, or ~90,000 in Hiroshima, that each and every human life lost needs to be mourned.




Somewhere along the way, I became desensitized to the violence of this world. Somewhere along the way, deaths just stop meaning as much to me; but this emotional disconnect ends now. I've gotten part of my humanity back.

Sometimes, I just don't understand J.Crew

Yes, those are "classic Polynesian boats" printed on "sturdy cotton canvas."

They are also fugly ugly.

Hey NIT, get your mind outta the gutter

What a great NIT Championship shirt!

Of course the tournament for the runner-ups would misspell "Virginia," but really now, that shirt is just all kinds of wrong. What the hell; was someone thinking about Lindsay Lohan while they were proof-reading?

You can find me in the club

I love to dance; and if you've ever seen me dance, you're unlikely to forget it. But, for those who haven't seen me dance, then let's just say that the lower half of my body moves. A lot.

And because of my love of the dance, I've been frequenting a "club" in Chapel Hill a lot lately. Well, it's actually a martini bar most days of the week, but on Sunday nights, it becomes "Stir": the closest thing to a "gay club" that Chapel Hill has to offer. So yes, on the Lord's day (or the Lord's night, I suppose) I go gallivanting to Stir, hang with my a few of my gayer friends, and have a grand ol' time.


















Now, despite Sunday being "gay night" at the Martini Bar (some call it "Gaytini"), there are relatively few gay patrons. However,when considering there are relatively few gay people in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill in the first place, Stir probably gets a representative sample of the gay-to-straight ratio in Chapel Hill.

Nevertheless, somehow every Sunday, really really straight people invade the club: we're talking thuggish hoodlums, football-playing no-necks, or some other form of guys who would not be cool with "Gaytini" night. Once this uber-straight element enters the club, any guy-on-guy dancing, flirting, or simple less-than-straight acting activity comes to a screeching halt. That is, until the unwelcomed element perceives that "Martini Bar isn't quite the same tonight," and then beats a hasty retreat.

Don't get me wrong, straight people are certainly welcomed--we don't have some moratorium on heterosexuality at "Gaytini." We just want to enjoy the night without worrying about 50 Cent over there having a less-than-civil reaction to the gay going-ons.

Now, despite what you may think, the music at Stir is not all Madonna and George Michael. You've got that "Ridin Dirty" song, that "Kick it like Tai-bo" song, and other examples of the dismal state of pop music (read: anything by Fergie). But sooner or later, the music pulls itself up from the doldrums of utter crap, and starts playing some Beyoncé, Ludacris, and etc.

But last Sunday, crouched between Ciara talking about her "1,2 Step" and Kelis being "Bossy", was probably the worst club song I've ever heard. It's not a bad song per se--it definitely gets a chuckle from me every time it's played--but it's impossible to dance to.

So, while there's no moratorium on straight people at "Gaytini" night, I decree a moratorium on "Dick in a Box."

That's right, the dj played "Dick in a Box"! Why? I have no idea, but I definitely wasn't dancing to it. But never fear, Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It" was played soon after.


So, dear readers, when will you be heading down to Chapel Hill to experience "Gaytini" for yourselves? I'll save you a barstool, I swear.

True that

Warning: if President Bush ever says he "supports you," has "full confidence in you," or that you're "doing a great job," run for your life. Or just go ahead and resign, because you'll be losing your job in a fortnight anyway.


(On a side note, I wonder just how far this scandal will go. With Congress getting itself in a subpoena-hungry tizzy because they can't come up with anything to do with Iraq, and the White House digging its heels in for a battle it could easily avoid, there's no end in sight for this melodrama.

It's pretty pathetic, but great political comedy.)

What happened to the "Straight-talk Express"?

Once upon a time, there was a maverick who shook the political world, threatened the status quo, slayed the dragon, saved damsels in distress, and overshadowed the village idiot.

It seemed that, because of this maverick, everyone was going to live happily ever after. Except that the maverick lost the election, and he spent the next 6 years quietly waiting for his time to take the throne.

Well, apparently during those 6 years, he also learned how to double-talk, pander to the right, and generally become a feckless shadow of his former self.

I present to you, dear readers, the erstwhile "maverick," John McCain:

Reporter: “Should U.S. taxpayer money go to places like Africa to fund contraception to prevent AIDS?”

Mr. McCain: “Well I think it’s a combination. The guy I really respect on this is Dr. Coburn. He believes – and I was just reading the thing he wrote– that you should do what you can to encourage abstinence where there is going to be sexual activity. Where that doesn’t succeed, than he thinks that we should employ contraceptives as well. But I agree with him that the first priority is on abstinence. I look to people like Dr. Coburn. I’m not very wise on it.”

(Mr. McCain turns to take a question on Iraq, but a moment later looks back to the reporter who asked him about AIDS.)

Mr. McCain: “I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.”

Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”

Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”

Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”

Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”

Q: “But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: ‘No, we’re not going to distribute them,’ knowing that?”

Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) “Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.”

Um, what? "I look to people like Dr. Coburn. I’m not very wise on it," "I think I support the president’s policy," "I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was."

WHAT. THE. HELL? McCain, what happen to you? You shouldn't have to find out what your position is, you should just inherently know it. Geez.

Who body-snatched John McCain, because I definitely voted for a different man back in 2000?

And so it begins...

Praise be to God.

BREAKING NEWS

The Associated Press has some of the MOST shocking news ever:

"The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the United States."

Wow, really? No one would have ever expected that!

Excuse me while I rant

If you say that you want to hang out, and I call you on the pre-arranged day, leave you a voice message, and later call you again, there's a certain next step that you must take. RETURN THE PHONE CALL! Get it? Follow-through with our plans; don't fall off the face of the Earth.

If you claim that I am one of the most important people in your life, yet you haven't responded to a voice mail or a text message in five months because your ''life is too busy'', I've gotta believe that you just don't care enough. If you can't take 10 minuets out of your oh-so-busy life of working at a freakin' Verizon store, why the hell do I still try to maintain our friendship?


People, I thought there was an unwritten rulebook of phone etiquette, but apparently not. However, what is apparent is that I am the only one left with manners in this world.

Maybe I should stop. Maybe I should no longer be the person who tries to get in contact--and stay in contact--with people when they're not pulling their own weight. Maybe, if they don't have time for me, then I won't have time for them. Maybe I should just cut them out of my life and be done with it.

But why must it come to that? All that I'm asking for is reciprocation; reciprocation of a freaking phone call!

RECIPROCATION! Is that too much to ask?


Maybe I'm just too good for this world...

How can you beat a lovely, 60 degrees, bright-blue-sky day in Feburary?

Grand Rapids, Michigan is trying hard.




Eh. Sure, it looks pretty, and it may be fun to play in, but I'm sorry, it's no contest: snow can not beat getting to drive down the highway with your arm out the window...

Getting closer to the Dream

There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.--Senator Barack Obama (D-Il)

Dear readers, let my tell you a story; a story of how far America has come in resolving the sins of the past.

Recently, I grabbed lunch off-site of my job's campus. Not an unusual occurrence, mind you, but on that day I decided to grab lunch at a place I had only been to once before. It's doubtful that many of you will be familiar with Andy's Cheesesteaks & Cheeseburgers, but trust me, it's good eating. Beyond the delicious menu options, all of Andy's locales are done in the style of a 1950's malt shop. You know, the kind of place where Joe Quarterback and Cindy Cheerleader shared a strawberry milkshake right before they headed over to the Sadie Hawkins Dance?

Well, as you may know, an actual 1950's malt shop was also the kind of place where a black man would have been refused service at the counter, the kind of place where a black man would be required to drink from a "blacks only" water fountain--that is, if a black man was even allowed in the establishment in the first place. For all the lovely nostalgia recreated by a1950's malt shop replica, it also reminds me of how unjust America once was.

And it is here, in this malt shop replica, that I realized just how far America has come from those dark, unjust days.

You see, because of the odd time at which I eat lunch, I was the lone patron in the restaurant, and was being waited on by a white girl who was nary 17. Her constant desire to call me "hun" was Southern Hospitality at its best, and I was treated with nothing but respect by her and the white cooking staff. And then I left. And that was it. Nothing else happened.

I, a black man, walked into a white-run restaurant, in North Carolina, by myself, and proceeded to order food. I, a black man, was served food and treated with respect by white employees who worked in a restaurant, similar in decor to the kinds of restaurants few black people would have considered entering 50 years ago. I, a black man, left this restaurant without incident. And I, a black man, can't help but note that the absence of anything significant happening during this event, in fact, made the event significant.

It reminded me of another "non-event" a couple of summers ago, when I went swimming at my local gym's pool. The only other people in the pool that day were an elderly white couple, but neither they, nor gym staff, felt that I should not swim at the same time as white people. Nor did anyone propose that the pool needed to scrubbed and washed clean after I defiled it with my dark skin. No one thought anything about a black person in the same pool as a white person--it was a non-issue.

In both incidences--the malt shop, and the pool--it was the lack of a negative response that confirms that, slowly but surely, racial progress has been made in America.

Now, don't get me wrong, does racism still exist in America? Yes.

But, are we making progress, generation by generation, to erase and eradicate racism from America's heart and mind? Yes.

Are we getting closer to the dream of Dr. King, where "all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands"? Yes.

Want confirmation that there as been progress? Take note that the current presidential hopefuls range from a woman, to an African-American; from a Mormon, to a man who will be 72 years old by Election Day 2008. And note that all of these candidates have a legitimate chance of being their party's nominee, if not the next President of the United States.

No doubt, America has still got work to do; but my God, we've come a long way.

Sometimes, I just don't understand Americans

Why are Americans so fascinated by the most trivial things, why are we transfixed by the inconsequential?

From people morning the death of a race horse (A HORSE!!), to Bostonians running scared from giant light brights (and Boston's subsequent legal action over the "scary" moonmen), Americans needlessly get themselves in a tizzy over nothing.

Oh, and I don't care that Anna Nicole Smith died. Sure, her death was weird and random, but Anna Nicole was weird and random. We've established that she died as she lived, can we move on?

And let's not forget Congress' outrage that Nancy Pelosi asked for an expensive military plane to provide her with non-stop, California-to-D.C., flights (despite the fact that Pelosi didn't request the plane, but rather it was requested by the House sergeant at arms). It seems that even American politicians focus on things that don't matter, even when those politicians should be governing.

I also don't understand the news media. Never mind that the U.S. Senate couldn't get its act together to debate Iraq, the Gulf Coast is still a cluster fuck, killing in Sudan continues, and Indonesia just had massive flooding. Nope, none of that beats the chance to report about the bat-shit crazy, diaper-wearing astronaut.

I love this country, but seriously, what is wrong with us?

I think I'm sick........IN THE HEAD

I realized it last night, as I watched the Carolina-Duke game.

And you see, in that simple statement, lies the symptom of my recent insanity. Did you catch it?

“Carolina”? “CAROLINA”?

Egads, I’ve actually begun to, voluntarily, willingly, and purposely refer to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as “Carolina.” As a South Carolina native, and a Gamecock fan, this is blasphemy.

Anyone know of a cure for this horrible disorder? I’ll pay any price…

For A.J.

Remember when Mr. Consonery mentioned "that tourist trap on I-95", and then I stated amusement at the statement, "You never sausage a place"?

And remember how you and Tara were confused? And remember how Nick and I tried to explain the aforementioned tourist trap to you? And remember how you probably don't care anymore, but I still wanted to show you the billboard?

Yeah, those were good times.

The Blink-off '07

Dick Cheney vs. Nancy Pelosi

Either Nancy Pelosi is actually a robot who engages in excessive blinking when she hears stuff she doesn't like, or Dick Cheney is a robot whose blinking protocols are malfunctioning. Both are possible, actually.

Did the President just kill Habeas Corpus?: an update

Remember when I told you that the Bush Administration suspended habeas corpus? Well, the Attorney General just gave the rationale for that "suspension," and according to him, the American people never really had habeas corpus to begin with.

You see, in response to questioning from Senator Arlen Specter during the recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, filled us on in on the writ of habeas corpus:

Gonzales: "There is no expressed grant of habeas in the Constitution; there’s a prohibition against taking it away..."

Specter: "Wait a minute, the Constitution says you can’t take it away except in case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn’t that mean you have the right of habeas corpus unless there’s a rebellion or invasion?

Gonzales: "The Constitution doesn’t say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn’t say that. It simply says 'the right shall not be suspended' except in cases of rebellion or invasion."

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you our top federal lawyer, a man who says that if the Constitution doesn't explicitly state that a right does exist, then that right doesn't really exist in the first place. As Consortiumnews.com notes, "applying Gonzales’s reasoning, one could argue that the First Amendment doesn’t explicitly say Americans have the right to worship as they choose, speak as they wish or assemble peacefully. The amendment simply bars the government, i.e. Congress, from passing laws that would impinge on these rights."

While no one is saying that the administration is currently planning on restricting freedom of speech, religion, peacefully assemble, etc, the suspension of habeas corpus sets a scary precedent. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly in support of protecting America from those who want to harm it, but the methods and logic used by the administration to protect us gives me pause--and a little concern for our future.

Gaia tries to get our attention

The above is an aerial shot of (as Towleroad has put it) "roads and cleared land caused by loggers and their trucks and machinery in southern Sweden. The pattern they've caused in the destruction has come to illustrate the very thing they have destroyed."

I must say, it's quite an eerie coincidence. It's almost as if the Earth itself is trying to tell us something. Hmmm.


(Plus, not only is it eerie, but it's a pretty cool coincidence as well. And, it's far more intriguing than those people who see the Virgin Mary in their applesauce.)

The Simpsons: Anime style

(click on the picture to make it larger)

I love this: the characters you know and love, all distorted and quasi-demonic.

Anime's gravity-defying hair styles have always intrigued me, thus I love that Lisa's hair looks like it could kill if you get too close. Krusty re-awakens anyone's clown paranoia. Mr. Flanders looks gayer than Smithers (which makes sense, kinda), Marge looks oddly ditsy (which makes kinda no sense at all), and Mr. Burns looks older than Methuselah (which really makes sense).

Meanwhile, Otto is a bit vampire-ish, and Sherri & Terri (the purple-haired twins) look downright creppy (kinda "The Ring" meets that stupid Sarah-Michelle Geller movie I never saw).

Big props to TVgasm for leading me to this, and much accolades to the artist for her gorgeous work. If you're interested, here's the original picture and the characters of Futurama in a similar anime style.


(why do I feel like this post is breaking some copyright law somewhere? Ha.)

Sometimes, I forget

"What the hell quarterback, what are you doing? Throw. The. Ball! Oh, now look what happened? You get sacked. Idiot!"

"Why didn't you catch that, it was right to you?"

"Hey, you're at the goal line, try running around that dog pile of 250lbs brutes instead of trying to run through the middle of them."


Indeed, I spout these and many other play calls (or some choice expletives) while watching my sport du jour--football. I'll admit it though, sometimes, I forget just what these men are doing out there on the field. But then, pictures like this remind me of their athletic prowess:
























How Auburn running back Kenny Irons manages to gallop full steam ahead, while having little more than an iota of his big toe on the ground, amazes me. That, and his body is almost a geometrical dream of the diagonal line, literally defying the law of gravity by way of Newton's First Law.

Simply spectacular.

And that look on his face? War Eagle indeed.