Cocktail of the Day

It may not technically be summer yet, but once Memorial Day weekend rolls around, it may as well be. What better way to inaugurate the season than with a nice, crisp, refreshing cocktail? Here's a simple recipe for just such a drink - a limoncello summer cocktail. Be sure to chill the limoncello first. Enjoy!

"Wild Asian Ass"

14 across, six letters. It's "onager." Why, what were you thinking?

Update: According to this site, "[t]he Asian wild ass is the most horselike of all the species of ass." Geez, poor onagers. It must suck to be the Ann Coulter of the animal kingdom. (Ka-ching!)

Update: How come no one has stated that looking up a word on the internet when trying to solve a crossword puzzle is, um, cheating?

Poem of the Day

Copyright law be damned: I love poetry and want to share some of my favorite poems on this little blog o' mine. Here, for my inaugural installment, I want to share my favorite poem by the great Polish poet, Nobel laureate, Cold Warrior (however reluctantly) and humanist - Czeslaw Milosz.

Veni Creator

Come, Holy Spirit,

bending or not bending the grasses,

appearing or not above our heads in a tongue of flame,

at hay harvest or when they plough in the orchards or when snow

covers crippled firs in the Sierra Nevada.

I am only a man; I need visible signs.

I tire easily, building the stairway of abstraction.

Many a time I asked, you know it well, that the statue in church

lift its hand, only once, just once, for me.

But I understand that signs must be human,

therefore call one man, anywhere on earth,

not me - after all I have some decency -

and allow me, when I look at him, to marvel at you.

Czeslaw Milosz, Berkeley, 1961

If This Doesn't Melt Your Heart....

A baby gets a cochlear implant and hears his mother's voice for the first time.

HT: Sullivan.

Great Moments in Douchebaggery

Watch this damn video.  Jerk. (Not you, dear reader - the guy in the video.)

Oh Dear

Photos from the Louisiana coast. Number 38 is particularly distressing.

Question: what happens if some malicious little nosepicker decides to light a match down there?

Let's Go Over This Again

On September 11, 2001, the United States was attacked by a bunch of radical, cave-dwelling knuckledraggers. The United States was not (note the emphasis, but what the hell, let's say it again - not) attacked by an entire friggin' religion. Are we clear on that?

It would seem not. A plan to build a fifteen-story mosque and Islamic community center two blocks from the World Trade Center site met with rancorous opposition before being approved by a Manhattan community board.

Kudos to the board members who resisted the bobblehead army before them.

"Led to Righteousness Through the Sleeper Hold"

Uh....

So Kids in the UK Are Now Drinking Vodka Through Their Eyeballs

WTfuckingF? How did these people manage to control my country for 800 years?

Obama Promises an "Official Response" on Sestak

Joe Sestak, the Democratic nominee for Senator in Pennsylvania, claims that he was offered a job in the administration if he would drop his primary challenge to the now-defeated incumbent, Arlen Specter. That's a serious charge. In the video below, Obama says that an "official response" will be forthcoming "shortly."

I wonder what the response will be.

DADT Repeal Voted Out of Senate Armed Services Committee

Huzzah!

And this follows House approval, too, of a similar measure:

Uganda: Why Stop with the Gays? Kill Their Straight Friends Too!

As this video from wakingupnow.com reveals, the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill doesn't just seek to impose the death penalty on those who are gay. The bill's language is so broad and vague that, under a few easily met circumstances, it authorizes the death penalty even for straight people who have never had gay sex. If the bill were to pass, straight Ugandans could be executed simply for doing any of the following more than once:

• Suggesting that a gay friend should have gay sex.
• Failing to turn in someone who has had gay sex, within 24 hours of learning about it.
• Failing to turn in someone who failed to turn in someone who has had gay sex, within 24 hours of learning about it.

Granted, the video is from January. But it's important to emphasize that, despite media reports that the bill would be amended to remove the death penalty provision, the bill has not in fact been amended. The media seems to have tired of the story, to judge from the lack of reporting, but the bill is as much an outrage, disgrace, and threat as it ever was. In the link immediately above, which leads to a BBC report from May 19, James Nsaba Buturo, the Ugandan minister for ethics and integrity (stop laughing!), says:

The impression is that we are after gays, want to kill them. That's what they've been told out there. And the truth isn't that. What we are seeking to do is to make a statement for our society: homosexuality is an abomination.

Whoa there, Nelly! Whatever else the bill does or doesn't do, it certainly makes such a statement - kinda like the Nuremberg laws "made a statement." But as for whether it is the "truth" that the Ugandan government is "after gays, want[s] to kill them," that is palpably obvious. And then some: the "truth" is that the Ugandan government is also after straights who express support for the human rights of gays or who refuse to be snitches - and wants to put them to death as well.

Another point that the video makes: for gays, the supposed "two strike" rule required for the death penalty to apply is, effectively, a "one-strike" rule. Here's why. Suppose Martin and James have sex. That's strike one for Martin (and likewise for James). Let's presume, too, that Martin doesn't turn in James within 24 hours of having sex with him - nor does James turn in Martin. That's strike two. Automatically, Martin and James are each guilty of "aggravated homosexuality," and subject to death.

Watch the video.

Stuck in My Head

I get songs stuck in my head all the friggin' time. The funny thing about it is that the songs are completely, absolutely random, and I can never figure out what prompted them to me. Earlier this week, for example, I was singing "Do They Know Its Christmas" for no earthly reason whatsoever.

To exorcise a song, I need to listen to it, once through, and then I'm good. That's where this blog comes in. Today's demon to be driven out is the following:

Yes, the above does suggest that I am gayer than tinsel. Hey, it's Tchaikovsky - that's defensible, right?

Drawing Mohammed

I'm in knots over the tetchiness of Islamic extremists regarding cartoons of Muhammad, and outraged that cartoonists in Western, secular democracies have been bullied and threatened for making such depictions. But "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" seems like the low road here. It has apparently engendered some flak.

Surely there's a way to make this unimpeachable point - that freedom of speech plainly encompasses the right to draw Muhammad - without being so needlessly insulting. Besides, it's hard to think of a single person who's mind will be changed by this; rather, positions will harden as a result of needless provocation and offense. In other words: this hurts, it doesn't help.

Strangest Ad of the Day

Ugh. Creepy. I'm agginnit.

Support the Troops - Unless They're Gay

Andrew Sullivan has reax to that Family Research Council report - you know, the one that says that gay soldiers = lots more gay rape. Note, too, that the second of those reax has video of the report's author, Peter Sprigg, saying that i) gays should be exported, and that ii) "gay behavior" should be outlawed.

Maybe we should export Sprigg to Uganda.

Ozzy Doing a Passable Impression of Ozzy

Funny (look out, office surfers, there's profanity):

Start 'Em Young

This is so wrong. Who smokes 100s anymore?

HT: The Daily Beast.

Burning Question

Is California Senate candidate Mickey Kaus an upper-class twit? Consider the evidence:

I know, I know, it's childish. But I couldn't resist.

If you don't get the reference - here you go.

Bullshit on Parade

First up: according to America's Survival, "gay" = "HIV":

Next: the Family Research Council contends that repeal of DADT will mean more gay rape.

Oh, what a cavalcade of whimsy!

By the way, in my browser, an error message appears right below the link to the FRC's report in the above story. Couldn't have said it better myself!

Update: It appears the America's Survival video has been removed from YouTube. The organization claims it was due to copyright and other complaints from liberal groups. I take this with a grain of salt, but if it is true, then it's a shame: the video was so outrageously offensive that it did more good for those who seek the repeal of DADT than it did for its own creators. Too bad.

What Is The Point of Nick Clegg?

The coalition agreement between the newly minted PM David Cameron and Deputy PM Nick Clegg does not give Clegg responsibility over particular matters (although it promises legislation on election reform, an issue near and dear to the Lib Dems). Alex Massie of The Spectator sees this as an advantage, in that it doesn't pigeonhole Clegg and, instead, makes the success of the coalition dependent on the working relationship between Cameron and Clegg.

I'm not so sanguine. If much of the policy agenda "will be agreed by the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister," as the coalition agreement puts it, it really gives Clegg little clout at all, beyond that which Cameron is willing to suffer. Frankly, I think this tends to undermine the stability of the coalition, rather than buttress it. Massie says:

Yes, he'll be like some Vice-Presidents but, since that job has grown in recent times, that's not, as the Americans say, chopped liver.

It is true that the job has grown in recent times (think Gore and Cheney). But increased vice presidential authority has always come at the pleasure of the president himself, and some presidents have preferred to keep their vice presidents on a shorter leash (think Quayle and, probably, Biden). In other words, the terms of the coalition agreement seem to give Clegg as much authority as Cameron wants him to have. Ironically, those Lib Dem members with concrete portfolios may end up with more clout than Clegg himself.

Scalia Praises Kagan's Lack of Judicial Experience

According to ABC News, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently said that he was glad that Elena Kagan, Obama's nominee to replace John Paul Stevens on the Court, has no prior experience as a judge. Money 'graph:

“When I first came to the Supreme Court, three of my colleagues had never been a federal judge,” said Scalia who joined the Court in 1986 after being nominated by President Reagan. “William Rehnquist came to the Bench from the Office of Legal Counsel. Byron White was Deputy Attorney General. And Lewis Powell who was a private lawyer in Richmond and had been president of the American Bar Association.”

“Currently, there is nobody on the Court who has not served as a judge --indeed, as a federal judge -- all nine of us,” he continued. “. . . I am happy to see that this latest nominee is not a federal judge – and not a judge at all.”

It's refreshing to see the party line scuttled in this manner. As ideologically polarized as the Court is, its members have nevertheless been able to keep such differences from interfering with a spirit of collegiality on the bench. It is well known, for example, that Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are great friends. On this score, then, our justices are miles ahead of our representatives in Congress (although the friendship of Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy was notable as well). Then again, with only nine justices at any one time, the Supreme Court more obviously requires collegiality just to function at all.

This Is Neat

Some cool photographs here.

HT: The Daily What.

The Tightening Noose

Here's a fascinating on-location documentary from Vanguard about the anti-gay witch hunt currently underway in Uganda. (Running time is about 45 minutes.) It displays, with visceral immediacy, the frightening conditions under which Ugandan gays and lesbians now live (or try to live) their lives. It emphasizes the urgency of this, the most acute human rights crisis in the world right now. And it causes the heart to sink.

The atmosphere today in this central African nation is nothing short of toxic. And I can't help thinking about the last time such an atmosphere hovered over another central African nation - Rwanda. The precedent is very dire indeed.

"Over the Top"

Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat, has hitherto been a fence-sitter on repeal of DADT - more's the pity, as he sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Fence-sitter no longer, he has now said that he will back repeal. This is a crucial 15th vote for repeal, enough to get it out of committee. Said Nelson:

I don’t believe that most Nebraskans want to continue a policy that not only encourages but requires people to be deceptive and to lie. The "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy does just that[....] It also encourages suspicion and senior officers to look the other way. In a military which values honesty and integrity, this policy encourages deceit.

Onward and upward!

How Many Jacksons Did Jackson Have?

24/7 Wall Street has an interesting article on the net worth of the presidents - all of 'em - in today's dollars. It's surprising how many of them were of rather limited means. It's also intriguing to see how the middle class president was more a phenomenon of the 19th century than the 20th.

Good for the Soul

That's what lunch with a friend is.

Proust = Poseur?

A friend of mine recently theorized that I walk around with Proust books and the like because I am really pretentious and I really just want people to ask me about me and what I'm reading. Not so! In fact, the last thing I want if I'm sitting at, say, a coffee shop or a bar is for some idiot to come up and say something dense like, "So, you're reading a book, eh?" So no, it's not that.

More likely: I want to get on a certain blog.

I Am So Gay for Proust

I have been reading Remembrance of Things Past for seven years now. I have made great progress in that time, having finished five of the seven novels comprising this 3,000-page behemoth. (The sixth novel - The Captive - I plan to take up once I finish Boccaccio's Decameron, which is itself very lengthy and may take some time.) My usual pattern has been to take up one of the novels, stick with it, and then leave my mind fallow for a short while before taking up the next one (while reading other types of books in the interim). This keeps my interest fresh from one book to the next, but it also explains why it has taken me seven years to get where I am.

Anyway, the point of this post is to give some explanation as to why I'm so damn sweet on the guy. I remember watching a movie made in 2000 and based on Alain de Botton's 1997 book, How Proust Can Change Your Life (a book I have not in fact read). The movie starred - kind of out of nowhere - Ralph Fiennes as Proust, was narrated by Felicity Kendal, and featured commentary by Botton himself. As presented in that movie, Proust's argument is basically this: people can be happy if they develop an ability to take satisfaction in the details of life that crowd around them. Proust took an inordinate interest in detail (that's how you get to 3,000 pages), and could describe at great length such apparently mundane happenings as eating a madeleine or visiting a church in Normandy.

But these disquisitions are never boring - they are, in fact, revelatory. In Proust, the most mundane happenings can prompt deep and incisive inquiry. Take, for instance, the madeleine scene, which appears at the very beginning of the book. In this scene, the narrator takes a bite of a madeleine in a spoonful of tea and is suddenly reminded by that sensation (through "involuntary memory") of an event from his childhood. Proust uses this scene to launch the notion - a theme, in fact, of the entire work - that we can find happiness and insight by connecting the experiences of our lives with the memory of other experiences.

Take another example, from Within a Budding Grove, the second novel. It deals with the awakening of the narrator's awareness of women, love, and desire. It is, perhaps, my favorite so far, and in fact it won the Prix Goncourt (France's Pulitzer) when it was first published in 1919. Toward the end of that novel, the narrator visits a church in the fictitious Norman town of Balbec, near where he had been passing the summer with his aged grandmother. He had long wanted to visit this church to see a certain statue of the Virgin Mary that stood in the church's porch. Here is how Proust - in the exquisite translation by C.K. Scott Moncrieff - describes the sensations that attended this visit:

I said to myself: "Here I am: this is the Church of Balbec. This square, which looks as though it were conscious of its glory, is the only place in the world that possesses Balbec Church. All that I have seen so far have been photographs of this church—and of these famous Apostles, this Virgin of the Porch, mere casts only. Now it is the church itself, the statue itself; these are they; they, the unique things--this is something far greater."

It was something less, perhaps, also. As a young man on the day of an examination or of a duel feels the question that he has been asked, the shot that he has fired, to be a very little thing when he thinks of the reserves of knowledge and of valour that he possesses and would like to have displayed, so my mind, which had exalted the Virgin of the Porch far above the reproductions that I had had before my eyes, inaccessible by the vicissitudes which had power to threaten them, intact although they were destroyed, ideal, endowed with universal value, was astonished to see the statue which it had carved a thousand times, reduced now to its own apparent form in stone, occupying, on the radius of my outstretched arm, a place in which it had for rivals an election placard and the point of my stick, fettered to the Square, inseparable from the head of the main street, powerless to hide from the gaze of the Café and of the omnibus office, receiving on its face half of that ray of the setting sun (half, presently, in a few hours' time, of the light of the street lamp) of which the Bank building received the other half, tainted simultaneously with that branch office of a money-lending establishment by the smells from the pastry-cook's oven, subjected to the tyranny of the Individual to such a point that, if I had chosen to scribble my name upon that stone, it was she, the illustrious Virgin whom until then I had endowed with a general existence and an intangible beauty, the Virgin of Balbec, the unique (which meant, alas, the only one) who, on her body coated with the same soot as defiled the neighbouring houses, would have displayed--powerless to rid herself of them--to all the admiring strangers come there to gaze upon her, the marks of my piece of chalk and the letters of my name; it was she, indeed, the immortal work of art, so long desired, whom I found, transformed, as was the church itself, into a little old woman in stone whose height I could measure and count her wrinkles.

Now, aside from being wonderful prose to read, this passage illustrates how Proust takes a very simple and ordinary scene - visiting a church to see a statue - and turns it into an occasion for remarkable introspection. In my case, for instance, I realized that my attitude toward a visitation was completely the opposite: that what I especially enjoyed about visiting, say, Notre Dame is that it can be seen in a different perspective from a riverboat, that cars and mopeds zoom by it, that political posters go up on walls and buildings nearby, and that it is a real and actual place in a real and actual context - not an abstraction. I suppose I had always had this view, unconsciously; the above passage, however, made me aware of it in myself for the first time. Proust's rambling discourse on visiting a statue caused me to ask myself a question to which, unbeknownst to me, I had already formed an answer.

And Proust gives us 3,000 pages of this stuff. I can't wait to dive back in.

Fun Fact!: Ralph Fiennes, who plays Proust in the movie mentioned above, lived for a short spell in Kilkenny, my home town in Ireland, and went to St. Kieran's College, the same high school as my dad. Strange but true!

Fun Clip!: And then, of course, there's always this:

Palin Knows Shit About [Blank]

I am going to add a new segment to this blog in which I highlight a new field, topic, or area of study in which Sarah Palin (pictured at right) has shown that she is absolutely fucking clueless. Today's installment: Robert Frost.

The Tipping Point Was Obama's Election

A new Gallup poll says that support for gay marriage as morally acceptable has increased from 40% in 2001 to 52% in 2010, while opposition fell from 53% to 43% over the same period. This is the first time that support for gay marriage as morally acceptable has crossed the 50% mark. Interestingly, the poll used the term "homosexual relations" rather than "gay/lesbian marriages" - and reports have suggested that the term "homosexual" prompts more opposition in polls to issues of gay rights than do the terms "gay" or "lesbian."

The tipping point came in late 2008. While there certainly was a short-lived era of good feeling right about the election, lots of Americans have since then lurched into a grotesque, reactionary posture (teabaggers, I'm looking at you). Yet the support for the morality of gay marriage has continued to grow.

Here's a thought: the two figures seem to be connected. The percentage of those who see gay marriage as morally acceptable is rising, and the percentage of those who see gay marriage as morally unacceptable is declining. These two trends would not necessarily be correlative; the percentage of people who are undecided or have no opinion is also a factor. (It was 7% in 2001, 5% in 2010.) But it seems that a rise of one percent in the "morally acceptable" camp translates directly into a decrease of one percent in the "morally unacceptable" camp.

What does this mean? Well, I think it means that Americans are actually changing their minds about gay marriage. Those who used to believe that gay marriage is morally unacceptable (or who had no opinion on the matter) are, today, more likely to hold an affirmative view that gay marriage is moral. Another reason to think this: one of the largest increases in support for gay marriage came from Catholics, who are, I think, more likely than the average population to have opposed gay marriage back in 2001. Ultimately, this paints a picture of a very definite shift in the thinking of Americans - this is not a fluid situation but a decisive, accelerated, and clear reversal of a previous trend. The people of this country are in the process of choosing to support gay marriage. They are scrapping old views and changing their minds.

While legal challenges can and should always be pursued, the growing popular support for gay marriage means that legislative solutions, at the state and federal levels, become more feasible. Legislative solutions are my preferred way of redressing the denial of marriage and other rights to gays - they are simply more democratic and they only require persuading your fellow citizens with the rightness of your case. Legal battles, however, have had a mixed rate of success, and adverse rulings could (and have) set back other legal challenges as well. Simply put, a legal battle is more of an uphill affair. And in any event, I'd like to think I live in a community that supports the rightness of that right, and I'd have a better sense of that if the right to marriage were extended by elected representatives rather than unelected judges.

Update: Meanwhile, in a poll by CNN/Opinion Research, 78% of Americans support repealing DADT. No tipping point there - that's virtually unchanged from 2007.

Bearathon, or Bearapolooza (I Really Couldn't Decide Between the Two and Then I Got Bored So I Used Them Both)

In keeping with today's arbitrary but very real fascination with bears, here from Uproxx.com are ten examples of bears being awesome.

Though I should point out that pandas are not actually bears and, in fact, are more closely related to raccoons. Also, one of these videos very clearly raises the specter of furryism, a threat I have warned against before.

Gift Ideas for the Friend You're Slightly Embarrassed to Have, Ctd.

Yet another.

Love. It.

That bear - whose name is Cloud, and who lives in a zoo in Hiroshima - is awesome and could totally kick my ass.

I'm pretty sure I could take on this kung-fu hillbilly, though:

Gasp - idea! How about a showdown match between the Kung-Fu Bear and the Kung-Fu Hillbilly? Don King, are you reading?

Update: Actually, since the bear is in Japan, perhaps he should be called Bojutsu Bear - i.e., the bear of the bo, or Japanese quarterstaff. Eh, China, Japan - "six of one," etc....

Lame-Ass Portmanteau Words

I was reading a story about how Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, was caught trying to sell access to her former husband, Prince Andrew. (That's right, I read stories about the British royalty because I am a closet monarchist and aristocrat who secretly loves the notions of nobility and completely undeserved privilege.) The first visible comment in the comments section read as follows:

Acting as the bagman for payola to the royal family?

The corruption never ends in the Unlimited Krimedom.

Yech. That got my knickers in a twist.

Portmanteau words are great, don't get me wrong. They can neatly encapsulate two concepts in one word, such as in "Reaganomics" (perhaps the most commonly used example). With words such as "Spanglish" or "Franglais," the blending of two words nicely parallels the blending of two languages.

But as soon as we veer into the political realm, it seems as though all aesthetic sense goes right out the window. Thus, we get monstrosities like "Unlimited Krimedom," "Rethuglicans," or "Dummycrats."

People who use these words think that they are being witty. Sadly, no - they are being inelegant, artless, and dumb. They should stop, and they should stop right now.

Scarface Is a Perfectly Acceptable Person for Lawyers to Emulate

=

LawCrossing.com is a website that lists legal jobs. Every now and then, I get an email from Harrison Barnes, the CEO of LawCrossing, who must know what he's talking about because he's a CEO and it sounds like he was named after a law firm. Harrison's epistles are meant to provide information on the legal job market and how to approach it, in a relaxed and casual tone.

Today's email was entitled "Scarface and the Passion of New Immigrants to the United States." Now, I had two reactions to the title alone. The first was, "immigrants rock and are so much better than the indigies!" (That's what we call the indigenous population. Okay, I'm the only one who calls them that, but it'll catch on, just you wait.) My second reaction was: "WTF?"

Harrison is clearly a fan of Scarface. He recounts a large swath of the movie in detail. (I have a vision of his college dorm room and - yes - yes, it's coming through - yes, there's a Tony Montana poster on the wall.) He then says: "The difference between us and Montana is how hungry most of us are."

Really? That's the difference? That's all that separates your average, run-of-the-mill junior associate and a murderous henchman for drug lords? Delusions of grandeur aside, I would like to think that, between me and Scarface, there is the additional barrier of the fact that I engage in an honest, legal profession....

The analogy is, I think, a bit odd.

Eating My Bakula Now

God, how I love the nutty, honeyed goodness of Scott Bakula. He should change his name to Scott Crackula.

Plus, this baklava is very tasty.

It's Haiku Time!

I love writing haikus. They give you all the satisfaction of a creative endeavor without requiring effort or talent or anything like that. In this spirit, I hereby present "Haiku Time," in which I write a few haikus about people, events, or things in the news. (I will be using the format consisting of three lines - the first and third of five syllables each, the second of seven.)

To make things marginally more interesting, I will not say who or what is being described in each haiku - that's for you to do, and that's the, er, fun of it. As this is the first installment, I'll handicap it a bit by providing, next to each haiku, a picture of the subject. Game on!

*

My change in party

Will enable me to be

reelected (cough)

**

Who cares if she is

Or if she isn't (though she

So totally is)

***

Of course she just loves

Haikus - she can fit them on

The palm of her hand

Freudian Slip of the Day

I just got back from picking up a pizza. At the register, I impulse-bought a delicious-looking piece of baklava. While bantering and joking with the cashier, I said the following: "I love me some bakula."

That's right. Apparently, I have a deep-seated psychological obsession with Scott Bakula. (Which is odd, because I was indifferent to Quantum Leap.) This will require therapy.

My List of Blog Posts Is Almost Exactly Like My Browser History

That's not good.

Mental note: Must try to do more original stuff instead of pilfering from other blogs. And, must exercise some judgment in picking things for linking.

Mental note: Must start remembering my mental notes.

Some Photos

Here are some photos I took with my iPhone last Tuesday. They depict parts of the Washington Monument, which stands in the Eakins Oval, directly in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Update: Here's another one I took last Tuesday; it was Election Day, and it was in fact the very first time I had voted in my life! I took it on the sly in my polling place, right next to the voting machines. Yes, it shows the American flag sitting on top of a Bible. Yes, in a polling place.

California: A World unto Itself

Andrew Sullivan showcases a fascinating map of California, from 1927 - the very year, I should point out, of the first talkie. It depicts places in California where a studio could shoot a film that is supposed to be taking place somewhere else.

It's particularly insightful as a window into the geographic spread of story locations in films circa 1927, inasmuch as filming locations in California can provide for it. (You may have to leave California to film a scene set on a glacier.) None of the simulated places would seem odd as a setting today - not even Sherwood Forest, apparently (which can be replicated, it seems, somewhere in the Palm Springs area). I do notice, however, that while there are two locations listed that are suitable for a film set in the Alps (one French, one Swiss), all of Africa can be simulated in San Luis Obispo!

And Now It's Time For

...hot guys reading books. The guys are only so-so; the books are all hot (with the exception of the sci-fi book, which is lame).

Also, many of them have books open but are not actually reading. It's as though they merely bring books with them everywhere they go in the hopes of someday appearing on a blog entitled "Hot Guys Reading Books."

A Push, Finally?

Pelosi states that DADT should be history by Christmas. It's about time the Dems expended some effort to end this inanity. Words may for once be followed by action, as Senate and House committees prepare to vote on repeal measures this week.

Prediction: the final vote will come before Christmas, but after the November elections. ASAP is better, but this I could deal with.

Someone's Going to Want a Divorce

Seriously, why can't this woman's husband just be into something perverted, like everyone else in Holland?

"Look at the Little Bastards Go"

Today's video clip for stoners here.

A Sense of Belonging

Here's an interesting video on a group of emo/goth kids - in no way inspired by a certain franchise of vampire-themed movies, books, flatware and God knows what else - who embrace all things werewolf. I applaud their willingness to express themselves, although I worry that this kind of thing might lead to furryism twenty years down the road.

I bet these kids are all honor students. That one-eyed kid seems to be the beneficiary of extremely good parenting. Cheers all around.

Gift Ideas

... for the friend you're slightly embarrassed to have.

Here's another.

Random Question Totally Unconnected to the Previous Three Posts

Has anything ever done more in the cause of solipsism than the invention of the blog?

Just Noticed

"Politics" is now losing to "yo-yos." It's like no one cares anymore.

Okay. I Cheated.

I labeled the previous post under "yo-yos." It does discuss yo-yos.

Well, if you're going to have so many freakin' views on running a blog, why don't you start one yourself? Sheesh!

I Label and Its Because I'm Judgmental

I love the labels function on Blogspot. Many bloggers, I find, underutilize them, thus neglecting them as a potential source of expression themselves. Bloggers should approach the labels function so as to exploit the ways in which the labels can further the goals - substantive as well as aesthetic - of the blog itself.

This blog, for example, is meant to capture the random folderol of a Philly lawyer. That is a goal of great scope (though, I regret to inform, little depth). If I meet my goal, it would mean creating a blog that covers a large number of topics. If I limited my labels to only a few topics, however, it would mean that my blog only covers a few topics, and that it was not adequately capturing the wide array of drivel sloshing around in my head. I know, therefore, that my labels list must be long - this explains, for instance, why I have a label for "yo-yos." (It's a really funny video.)

Basically, I use the length of my labels list as a barometer for how random and diverse I'm being - how well I'm meeting my goal.

I also gauge the spread of my topics by keeping an eye on the number of posts to which each label applies. If "admin" predominates, then this blog is a complete waste of time and would be burned in a pyre with witches' clothes and Beatles records if, you know, we did that sort of thing anymore. (We don't, right?) "Politics" is a good one for the lead in the count. And as for that "yo-yos" label, I really, really hope I can get that out of just one count - I find the coverage of yo-yo news by the MSM to be woefully inadequate.

Greek to Me

A Greek word on a £1.3 billion building at Cambridge University has been - brace yourselves, pedants - misspelled.

Who cares that the building cost £1.3 billion, anyway? I'm sure the rest of the building works just fine. How much did a Greek letter cost?

Cracking Down on Brown

In Arizona, when they say to stay within the lines, they're not talking about coloring books.

HT: The Daily What, a website I haven't left all day.

Of Course He Would Be an American

Of course.

Gotta stop with the posting videos. It's lazy man blogging.

Reasons to Go and Get That GED Already

Number one.

Everyone Loves Hot Thespian Action

In a series of short ads for a Canadian porn channel, the actors show their chops. Look out, Shakespeare in the Park -- they're gunnin' for you!

Her Time Has Come

...that time is now.

Great Video

... of the recent volcanic eruption in Middle Earth Iceland.

What Males Will Do for Sex

I'll never complain again!

Keystone State Showdown

With a week to go before the Democratic primary, Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) has cemented a small but resilient lead in polls over incumbent Senator Arlen Specter (D-Specter). According to Greg Sargent, the latest poll, due out tomorrow from Franklin & Marshall College, will give Sestak a lead of five points. As Sargent reports, Terry Madonna, who conducted the poll, provides a simple reason for Sestak to be sanguine about his prospects among undecided Democrats: "If they hadn't agreed to vote for Specter after 29 years, why are they going to change [now]?"

Sestak is my preferred candidate, and I will vote for him next week. I admire Specter; he has served Pennsylvania with honor and with pragmatism. But his switch last year from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party crosses the line between pragmatism and base self-interest - as pointed out to devastating effect in a recent Sestak ad. Coupled with that is the fact that he is eighty years old and has had several recent bouts with cancer. It's time to pass the torch.

Not that my support for Sestak is based only on negative reasoning about Specter. Sestak, a three-star admiral, is the highest-ranking military official ever to serve in Congress. His expertise would be invaluable in the Senate. On top of that, Sestak is a fearless advocate for ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, and would doubtless take the lead on these issues should he join the Upper House next year. One hopes that DADT, at least, will be a dead letter by then anyway, but there are plenty of other issues (such as DOMA) that are important to Pennsylvania gays and that will require strong, principled leadership in the Senate. Sestak can provide that leadership.

Update: Salon has an interesting piece on how things have started to fall apart for Specter - the quintessential establishment candidate in what is shaping up to be a deeply anti-establishment election cycle.

Update: Sestak won. I really hope you're not learning this from me.

I'm Gobsmacked

Political Wire reports that, in Alabama, belief in evolution is now a political liability.

Windy City

It's a very windy night tonight. It's been like this all day. This afternoon, from my apartment, it seemed glorious outside. The rain played itself out in the morning, leaving the whole city cleaner, fresher, and ready for an afternoon burst of sunshine. We got that burst, and it was radiant. Taking the bait, I planned to go onto my roof, sit out on a deck chair, and pretend to read while, really, I would just sit there and watch the sun go down on a pretty spring day.

But then I opened my windows to let in some post-rain air, and I saw that I had been misled. It was cold and it was windy. Not minutes after, papers were flying around my living room, and, in my bedroom, my screen window had fallen in completely. I closed the windows again.

It's no longer winter, but it's not yet even spring. (Here we are in May.) I look out my window and want it to be spring, but it isn't, and I must continue to be patient.

The Immorality of the Drug War

...made plain.

Money Well Spent

The tragicomic saga of Dr. George Rekers - the antigay crusader who co-founded the Family Research Council with James Dobson - is only just unfolding, and it makes for great reading. To bring you up to speed: Rekers recently took a ten-day European vacation and brought along a lithe young twenty-year-old he had met on the website rentboy.com. That by itself earns Rekers a place of honor alongside the inimitable Larry Craig and Ted Haggart as antigay hypocrites par excellence. Pass the popcorn, please.

Unfortunately, Rekers' sordid little comedy didn't just play out in the corner: the people of Florida had to pay for his nonsense. (Floridians, please note: I provide assorted nonsense at a much better rate. Return my calls!)

It seems that the attorney general of Florida recently paid Rekers at least $60,900 to provide expert testimony in a case challenging Florida's outrageous ban on adoption by gays. According to NBC's Miami affiliate, Rekers intended to testify that "gays make inferior and even dangerous parents and that adopted kids living in gay households, even after 10 years, would be better off removed from the home and placed with straight parents." Ech, suddenly the "comic" part of "tragicomic" doesn't seem quite so applicable. Fortunately, the judge concluded that Rekers' testimony was neither "credible nor worthy of forming the basis of public policy."

NBC story here, with some interesting quotes from Rekers.

Words I Didn't Know

On my previous blog, I would occasionally post definitions of new words (new to me, anyway). I'm going to keep that ball rolling on this blog. The first installment is (drum roll):

Pasquinade. (n.) A satire or lampoon, especially one that ridicules a specific person, traditionally written and posted in a public place. (tr. v.) To ridicule with a pasquinade; satirize or lampoon. [From the Free Dictionary.]

The word, it seems, is derived from the nickname - "Pasquino" - for a fragmentary statue in Rome. The statue, shown here, dates from the third century B.C. and was erected in a public

square in Rome in 1501. It supposedly depicts Menelaus holding Patroclus. (For those who slept through your Great Books courses, Menelaus and Patroclus were Greek heroes in the Trojan War.) Since the early sixteenth century, Romans have been in the habit of placing anonymous parodies and lampoons on the base of the statue; they can be seen in the close-up.

I came across this word while reading The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy by the nineteenth century Swiss historian Jacob Burkhardt. Burkhardt was the first eminent scholar to address culture as a proper subject of historical inquiry; thus, in this great work, he describes the intellectual and social life of Renaissance Italy, rather than the great men and great battles of that time. Burkhardt recounts the "unhappy reign" of Pope Adrian VI, who was elected in 1522 but who died within two years. Adrian was a Dutchman - in fact, he was the last non-Italian elected pope until John Paul II - and the people of Rome never forgave him for this infelicity. The poor Adrian was an early target of Pasquino's eloquence.

And Away We Go

My name is Emmett. I have created this blog because no one should have to go for too long without hearing me go on about something or other.

A little about me. I am a 31-year-old lawyer living in Philadelphia. I was born in Ireland, but moved to the United States with my family when I was eight years old. We moved to Chicago, which is where I was raised. I went to Dartmouth College for undergrad and the University of Michigan for law school. I am a litigator by training, and I have a particularly strong interest in international law.

I have a diversity of interests, some of which I could list.... But I guess if I do my job properly with this blog, they will become apparent soon enough.

Enjoy!