The sparrow flies at midnight...

Monday, May 29, 2006

In unrelated news...

Today there happened to be 3 headlines that struck me as worth posting about (sort of) and so I figured I'd group them together here:

Smoking and sex go hand-in-hand? Australian brothel owners want an exemption to anti-smoking laws for sex workers and their clients because, they say, one thing leads to another.

Paris Hilton Plans Reggae, Hip Hop Album "I have always had a voice and always known I could sing, but I was too shy to let it come out. I think that is the hardest thing you can do, to sing in front of people. When I finally let go and did it, I realized it is what I am most talented at and what I love to do the most," Hilton said.

Funny, I thought the thing she was best at was appearing on red carpets.


Breakfast Club's Paul Gleason Dies
Paul Gleason, who was in "Trading Places" and "The Breakfast Club," has died. He was 67.

Sad. Although he appeared in over 60 movies and made countless TV appearances, we'll always remember him fondly as the bitter Principal Richard Vernon.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

As Dan calls it, Straight Rights Update

I haven't had much time to read the Voice as of late, but as I am stricken with a lovely case of insomnia I decided to read it online. I always find it interesting/funny/disturbing to read "Savage Love", written by the one and only Dan Savage. Every now and again he writes a section called Straight Rights Update and here is the most recent (and scary) :

STRAIGHT RIGHTS UPDATE
Every time I write one of these I think, "This is the last one. Banning abortion, evicting unmarried straight couples and their children, moving to ban birth control- things can't get any worse, can they?"

Oh, but they can: Not satisfied with meddling in the lives of the relatively small percentage of women who are pregnant, the American Taliban is moving to regulate the lives of all American women. "New federal guidelines ask all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves —and to be treated by the health care system as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon," reports The Washington Post. "This means all women between first menstrual period and menopause should take folic acid supplements, refrain from smoking, maintain a healthy weight and keep chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes under control. . . . It's important that women follow this advice throughout their reproductive lives, because about half of pregnancies are unplanned and so much damage can be done to a fetus between conception and the time the pregnancy is confirmed."

Color me paranoid, but ordering American women to regard themselves as "pre-pregnant" opens the door to prosecuting women who harm their fetuses by failing to regard themselves as "pre-pregnant." How long until "women should" becomes "women must"? Does that sound paranoid? Well, so did a war on contraception once.

Oddly enough, Bush's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't urge straight men to regard themselves as existing in a perpetual state of "pre-fatherhood." Smoking, obesity, asthma, and diabetes could seriously hamper a man's ability to do the heavy lifting that comes with fatherhood. But Bush's CDC doesn't seem that interested in regulating the behavior of all those fat, smoking pre-fathers out there. Gee. Isn't. That. Weird.

There is a bright side in the CDC's announcement: If we're going to regard all females as pre-pregnant, then we can, as my friend Gomez points out, regard all virgins as merely pre-fucked.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Sounds like something out of "24"

F.B.I. Raid Divides G.O.P. Lawmakers and White House WASHINGTON, May 23 — After years of quietly acceding to the Bush administration's assertions of executive power, the Republican-led Congress hit a limit this weekend.

Resentment boiled among senior Republicans for a second day on Tuesday after a team of warrant-bearing agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation turned up at a closed House office building on Saturday evening, demanded entry to the office of a lawmaker and spent the night going through his files.

The episode prompted cries of constitutional foul from Republicans — even though the lawmaker in question, Representative William J. Jefferson of Louisiana, is a Democrat whose involvement in a bribery case has made him an obvious partisan political target.

Speaker J. Dennis Hastert raised the issue personally with President Bush on Tuesday. The Senate Rules Committee is examining the episode.

Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House majority leader, predicted that the separation-of-powers conflict would go to the Supreme Court. "I have to believe at the end of the day it is going to end up across the street," Mr. Boehner told reporters gathered in his conference room, which looks out on the Capitol plaza and the court building.

A court challenge would place all three branches of government in the fray over whether the obscure "speech and debate" clause of the Constitution, which offers some legal immunity for lawmakers in the conduct of their official duties, could be interpreted to prohibit a search by the executive branch on Congressional property.

Lawmakers and outside analysts said that while the execution of a warrant on a Congressional office might be surprising — this appears to be the first time it has happened — it fit the Bush administration's pattern of asserting broad executive authority, sometimes at the expense of the legislative and judicial branches (more).

Monday, May 22, 2006

Devil's Dance

Saddam Hussein novel hits stores in Japan By Takanori Isshiki

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese readers looking for a slightly different tale can now curl up with "Get Out of Here, Curse You" -- a novel by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The book, believed to have been written on the eve of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and titled "Devil's Dance" in its Japanese translation, hit stores around the nation Friday.

Jordan banned the book on the grounds it could damage ties with Iraq, but pirated copies of the tale of an Arab tribesman who defeats foreign invaders became a bestseller in Amman. (more)

Friday, May 19, 2006

Man (read:geek) of my dreams?

I am probably not what you would call a hardcore geek; I scored "geek light" on an online test. I never played D&D, though I really wanted to when I was younger. I don't dress up in costumes to attend movies, but Halloween is a different story. I'm not a programmer but I love blogging, googling and surfing the web ad-infinitum. My parents think I should've been an engineer because I've either hooked-up, fixed and/or taught them how to use all of their electronics. Why do I bring all of this up, you might ask? Well, I sign up for all sorts of email letting me know when things are going on in the city (among other nonsense to clog up my junk mail) and have received a couple of event notices that have give me ideas as to where I might just meet the man (read:geek) of my dreams. I mean, there has to be a certain degree of physical attraction but someone that can fondle my brain really melts my butter.

One such event was the Apple store opening on 5th Ave. Even though I'm more of a pc than a mac girl, might be worth a shot. We can always geek out over iPods.

Another is the Star Trek auction to be held at Christie's but I'm much more a fan of Han Solo than Captain Kirk.

If not, I can always hit the local electronics megastore, find someone who has a tiny package and have them explain how it works (teehee). Who knows, maybe we'll even consummate our relationship right then and there .

Thursday, May 18, 2006

An (Amazing!) Evening

I just found out about this truly remarkable event going on called "An Evening with Harry, Carrie and Garp". It's a reading to be held at Radio City Music Hall with the authors J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and John Irving...3 of my favorites!!! It's a benefit to be held for Doctors Without Borders and The Haven Foundation. In my opinion, tickets aren't that expensive and it sounds like an amazing night but I don't think I know of anyone who has the $(for good seats) + desire + availablity to go *sigh* Anyone care to prove me wrong???

On the plus side, I will be going to see "Macbeth" at Shakespeare in the Park in a couple of weeks and after last year's debacle trying to go see "As You Like It"(waited in the on-again/off-again rain all day for tickets to the last night of the show just to have the it cancelled after they seated the audience), I'm very excited indeed.

Technology taken too far?

I'm still working on a more well thought out post, but I saw this today and had to share. It just struck me really funny how far iPod mania has gone.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Shame on me...

I haven't posted in almost a week! I promise there's a draft in the works but until then, here's something I found a bit disturbing....Your thoughts, dear readers?

Books vs. Movies

A while back I read "Memoirs of a Geisha" and thoroughly enjoyed it. I watched the DVD this past weekend, out of curiosity, and found that my instincts were right...it was no match for the book.

When I read "The DaVinci Code", 6 months or so ago, I felt like I was one of the last people on Earth to read it. I kept waiting for it to come out in paperback and eventually bought a copy from abroad on eBay. It was good, interesting, something to pass the time on my commute. Right now, there's all of this hype about the movie. I have no desire nor intention to see it, for one basic reason...the book is almost always better. Some things seem to inevitably get lost or inexplicably changed in the book-to-movie translation, whether it's the subtler plot lines, weird casting choices or bigger issues like politics that influence the production of the film. Now, since I haven't seen it I can't speak to the first point but I never agreed with Tom Hanks playing the lead (and what's with that awful haircut?). I always pictured Harrison Ford in his Indiana Jones days or maybe a Sam Neill-type. Also, there have been rumors that some accommodations were made to appease the Church, Opus Dei and albino rights activists. However, since the book was on the NYT bestsellers list for a million weeks, has good ol' box-office-bank Tom, and Ron Howard directing I'm sure no matter what it'll all spell ka-ching!

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Sinfest

Mr. Ishida was absent for a while so some of you may have stopped reading Sinfest. I highly recommend you return to the site and read the comics from the last couple of weeks. They've been hilarious, especially like the one posted today. Go have a chuckle!

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

All good things...

First, I'd like to say that I cannot believe how many visits I've had since my Vincent D'onofrio sighting and post. I haven't had that much traffic ever and I'm just hoping at least some of you won't be one-hit wonders.

Cinco de Mayo was great. We were able to get a table outside so we could drink and smoke to our hearts content. I had my required holiday tequila shots (2) and a couple of Jack Daniels on the rocks as well. Good times.

My friends had a baby a couple of months ago and I went to go visit them this weekend. Of course, at that age, they change a little bit everyday and everything is a milestone. I'm happy to report that while I was feeding him, he managed to hold the bottle by himself for the
1st time and I had a front row seat for it. It was pretty cool since his mom had been trying to get him to do it all week.

Work seems to have finally gotten to a sort of normal pace after being really slow and then really insane.

The best is, after waking up to a crappy weather report and having bad dreams, I chose to weigh myself anyway and discovered I've lost 11 lbs. Of course, the down side is I have almost literally no clothing that fits now and may have to start just walking around naked!

Friday, May 05, 2006

Happy Cinco de Mayo!


Everybody, say it with me :

"One tequila, two tequila, three tequila,

FLOOR!!!"

Thursday, May 04, 2006

A well deserved tribute...

'Star Wars' Creator Becomes Storm Trooper LOS ANGELES (AP) - Not that long ago, in a nearby galaxy, George Lucas joined forces with the dark side. The "Star Wars" creator has become a Storm Trooper.
Hasbro, maker of "Star Wars" toys, is paying plastic tribute to Lucas, interpreting him as a limited-edition action figure in Storm Trooper attire.
The head of the toy maker's "Star Wars" division called Lucas "the greatest character in the universe."
"We took a cue from when Han Solo and Luke disguised themselves as Storm Troopers," said Derryl DePriest, marketing director and admitted lifelong "Star Wars" fan. "We placed George in his own universe that he created."

I think that's tremendous and now, of course, I want one. I still want the Mr Potato-Head Darth Tater, too. Man, I'm such a geek sometimes.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Star sighting...

Just went downstairs to have a smoke and imagine my surprise when I saw Vincent D'Onofrio , whom (who or whom?) I've loved since "Mystic Pizza". They film a lot of "Law & Order" episodes in this area so I've seen Chris Noth (aka Mr. Big) and Jesse Martin a few times, but usually surrounded by crew and such. This, however, was not that. He was sitting right in front of my office building, by himself in a black pick-up truck, chatting on his cell and chain-smoking. I could hardly control my stares or listen to my friend who was with me. The scruffy look, the salt-and-pepper hair...oh, the things I would do to that man. Of course, I was flustered and had no idea what to say, so I didn't say anything *sigh*. Guess I missed my chance.