This has been my first summer in many many years that I worked through the summer, but I have managed to fit some fun weekend trips, some concerts in and some beer.
Lots of beer.
So far it's been a great summer!
Here are my adventures so far with some recommendations and best moments. It's part 1 because I have some pretty cool adventures coming up.
Summer started for me over Memorial Day when I traveled up to Portland, Maine for my birthday weekend. Portland is a cool little New England town with an unusual amount of restaurants, coffee shops, and comic book stores considering it's only a town of 60,000 people. For me the highlights are definitely walking around Old Port and seeing all the cool little shops, the dining scene, and local breweries and beer everywhere (I know that's shocking!). It's also a very outdoorsy town and a great place to walk your dog.
My recommendations for Portland:
1. Beer- any place that's a bar will have a number of very local beers on tap. Don't waste your beer consumption on your standby domestic beer here. Try out as many of the local beers as you can in your time here.
2. Duckfat- if you know anyone who has been to Portland they will suggest Duckfat, a small (too small) restaurant that is known for their fries that are cooked in duck fat. The wait can be crazy. I was able to get in quickly because I ventured out on my own and was able to get a single open bar seat. But a table for 2 can have a two hour wait. Come at a non peak time and you will not be disappointed. I ordered everything I wanted to try and ended up bringing half of it back to the hotel. I'd suggest any of the following: the Cuban sandwich, poutine (apparently the plain fries are excellent too but that's not my thing. I need gravy and cheese curds), their famous vanilla milkshake (it's very vanilla), housemade donuts with a delicious caramel dipping sauce, and of course a fine selection of local beers.
3. Otto- Boston people can probably ignore this choice because now Boston has Otto. I think the west end Portland Otto is the best though. They sell pizza and beer essentially. You can get pizza by the slice too. They have a bacon mashed potato pizza that's amazing if not sacreligious to traditional New York style pizza.
4. Lobster- yeah, Maine is lobster land. If you like it , you can find it here for pretty cheap. But do your research. Don't get lured into touristy lobster shops.
After Portland I took a few week traveling break in which I went to two concerts.
First up was Beyonce. I acted late on this concert and got a ticket in the upper echelon of the football stadium where the Patriots play. To be honest Beyonce was so far from me, I can't say if it was actually her. It could have been drag queen Beyonce for all I know (it was not).
I have been a low key fan of Beyonce since Destiny's Child, but she never got many props from me before Lemonade. Lemonade was a game changer, and so I knew I'd regret not going to this show. It definitely was a fast moving spectacle of a show. Even though I couldn't really see her, the very unique screens were twisting and turning throughout the show so I didn't miss a whole lot.
Best parts: this was a Lemonade showcase. All of the best tracks, including Formation, Hold Up, and Daddy's Lessons were on display. Halo, the rare ballad on the set list, was a great show ender, but Freedom with its walk on water choreography was easily the best thing of the night.
Also the stadium had a lot of good beer.
Could've been better: I know Beyonce has so many hits, but another ballad or two would've been fine. Halo was basically it. Irresistible, XO, or If I were a boy would've been welcome additions.
A week after that show I went to a much more intimate Xfinity Center to see the Dixie Chicks. I've seen the Dixie Chicks before, and they are probably my favorite live band that I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of concerts. Let me just say if you like their songs and won't go because of what they said about Bush, well too bad for you. You're missing out on some amazing music. (Plus I'm guessing you've probably said much worse about President Obama)
Best parts: Taking the Long Way, a remake if Nothing Compares 2 U which was written by Prince, a cover of Beyonce's Daddy Lessons and the patriotic confetti explosion of Ready to Run. And to be honest pretty much everything was great.
Could've been better: Not much. I would have liked one of their lullabies on the set list and like everyone else I'm holding my breath we will someday get new material from them. But the chicks are amazing musicians.
A couple weeks later I was headed to Montreal with my friend. On the way we stopped at the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont. I highly recommend the quick tour, the free ice cream and a tour of the flavor graveyard (no Schweddy balls there though). On the way home we want to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, went on a train ride to the top, and stayed at a cozy B&b
So back to Montreal. Montreal is a great city! It came to my attention from one of my friends that some people don't know a lot about Montreal, and they were not aware of it as a tourist destination. I've been three times, and I always go because it's as close to a European experience as you can find in North America (except for maybe Quebec City. I haven't been there yet). There is great shopping, dining and drinking . It's also a very walkable city with lots of interesting areas. You definitely don't want to miss the old town area. We had my best AirBnb experience ever there. I was so spoiled by that experience that I can now only stay at that Air BNB when I go to Montreal.
What I recommend: experience as much of the French places as possible, walk or bike a lot, have poutine in Old Town, and walk the always exciting, pedestrian friendly,and gay Rue de St. Catherine.
Finally, the next weekend we went to Provincetown (otherwise known as PTown). It's the very tip of Cape Cod, and it used to be primarily a gay resort area, but like everything else as soon as straight people found how fun the gays made it, they wanted to come too! :)
Ptown is full of quaint B&Bs, lots of beach or forestry hiking areas, restaurants, lots of shows, and lots of bars. Do a little research on tripadvisor and find the best B&b you can find unless you know someone who has a place there. In the summer Ptown runs cooler than Boston so if it's 90 in Boston, it can often be like 75 in PTown, which is perfect!
I recommend Mews which is the only restaurant I've been to all three times I've bern to Ptown. They have an amazing Lobster Vindaloo there but everything is good. I also recommend getting a reservation. I like the bars The Monkey Bar and Harbor Lounge. I also recommend hunting down places with draught beer because there is a lot of bottled beer in Ptown. Finally, I recommend going to a drag show unless you can't be cool. Varla Jean Merman is a PTown mainstay. She is very funny, and she pulled me out if the audience and I got a wet kiss. Haha
I have a lot of traveling coming up in the next few weeks so Part 2 to this is imminent.
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Wisdom from my Uber Driver: The American Dream
Like many of you I've been disgusted lately by some of my fellow Americans. That has definitely been the case after a very trying news week. So many are fed up with division and those who create it. I've been tired of politicians who use division to make people fearful and forward their nefarious cause.
I will admit. This week I've been tired of America.
And that is why if you've also been tired or cynical or angry or afraid, I must share this story.
Last night I called an uber from the train stop I was at to get the rest of the way home since it was rainy and very dark.
Muhammad was my Uber driver last night. Usually I can gauge very quickly which uber drivers want to chat and sometimes I don't particularly feel like chatting myself. But last night I endulged in my typical polite conversation with Muhammed.
I asked how long he worked for uber and if he liked it. His enthusiasm for his tone when he told me that he loved it was surprising. He started giving tips on the best places to catch ubers and then went into how busy the night had been because it had been raining. He told me some people caught ubers just to drive them a couple blocks.
The jaded part of me who was tired of people's privilege took over and said, "isn't that annoying to pick up someone who just wants to be driven a couple blocks"
Get ready, because this is where I really started to listen.
Muhammed said, "No," without a smattering of irony, "I'm grateful for every dollar I can earn."
How humbled on my tower of fortune and privilege I felt.
I later asked him how often he drives and he told me "well, when I was in school I did it every night along with my other job"
More humility. I never had to be enrolled in any school and work two jobs at the same time.
"But when I graduated I got a job promotion so now I only drive uber on weekends"
I asked him what he did for his other job , and he is a manager of something that I didn't entirely understand.
He said, "Listen, I've only been in the USA for three years. And you won't believe this, but I started out working as a valet. Now I'm a manager at the company I was a valet for." Then he laughed, "and now I manage some of my previous managers."
I laughed also, "that's awesome!"
"But I am very respectful of those people," he told me.
Of course he was.
I thanked him for telling me that story. I told him, "That's the story of the American dream. You don't hear people telling that kind of story much anymore"
He said, "I believe that this is the land of opportunity and if you work hard you can be successful."
Do I think his glasses were a tad too rose colored? Sure. Would I have liked to give up my jaded glasses in exchange for his for awhile? You bet.
Obviously the USA has problems, but Muhammed's is the kind of story America was built on. And even hundreds of years ago it was an overly positive way to look at the darkness that has always been happening around us in this country.
But the country Muhammed was talking about is the country we should strive to be. Even if the reality is that we never can 100% quite be that country. But we can be better.
And dividing and frightening and shooing out people is not going to make us that country. If we continue on that path, we will continue to be the country that we were last week. Hopefully most people really don't want that.
I hope.
I will admit. This week I've been tired of America.
And that is why if you've also been tired or cynical or angry or afraid, I must share this story.
Last night I called an uber from the train stop I was at to get the rest of the way home since it was rainy and very dark.
Muhammad was my Uber driver last night. Usually I can gauge very quickly which uber drivers want to chat and sometimes I don't particularly feel like chatting myself. But last night I endulged in my typical polite conversation with Muhammed.
I asked how long he worked for uber and if he liked it. His enthusiasm for his tone when he told me that he loved it was surprising. He started giving tips on the best places to catch ubers and then went into how busy the night had been because it had been raining. He told me some people caught ubers just to drive them a couple blocks.
The jaded part of me who was tired of people's privilege took over and said, "isn't that annoying to pick up someone who just wants to be driven a couple blocks"
Get ready, because this is where I really started to listen.
Muhammed said, "No," without a smattering of irony, "I'm grateful for every dollar I can earn."
How humbled on my tower of fortune and privilege I felt.
I later asked him how often he drives and he told me "well, when I was in school I did it every night along with my other job"
More humility. I never had to be enrolled in any school and work two jobs at the same time.
"But when I graduated I got a job promotion so now I only drive uber on weekends"
I asked him what he did for his other job , and he is a manager of something that I didn't entirely understand.
He said, "Listen, I've only been in the USA for three years. And you won't believe this, but I started out working as a valet. Now I'm a manager at the company I was a valet for." Then he laughed, "and now I manage some of my previous managers."
I laughed also, "that's awesome!"
"But I am very respectful of those people," he told me.
Of course he was.
I thanked him for telling me that story. I told him, "That's the story of the American dream. You don't hear people telling that kind of story much anymore"
He said, "I believe that this is the land of opportunity and if you work hard you can be successful."
Do I think his glasses were a tad too rose colored? Sure. Would I have liked to give up my jaded glasses in exchange for his for awhile? You bet.
Obviously the USA has problems, but Muhammed's is the kind of story America was built on. And even hundreds of years ago it was an overly positive way to look at the darkness that has always been happening around us in this country.
But the country Muhammed was talking about is the country we should strive to be. Even if the reality is that we never can 100% quite be that country. But we can be better.
And dividing and frightening and shooing out people is not going to make us that country. If we continue on that path, we will continue to be the country that we were last week. Hopefully most people really don't want that.
I hope.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
An Open Letter to Hillary Clinton Supporters: You Must Chill!! Stop Panicking and Vote!
You must chill!
I have been thinking about writing this blog post for a long time. After all of the "the sky is falling! Bernie Sanders is going to win!" moments from Hillary supporters I endured during primary season, I had to have my eye surgically moved back to their correct location after all of my eye rolling! It didn't take much to set most Hillary supporters off into panic (except for me).
Well today is the perfect day to write this because as I write a poll has been released that shows Clinton up by 2 points over that joke of a candidate that the Republicans have chosen. I have seen this many many many times before. This will be the poll that gets a ton of media attention. Then all my Hillary Clinton supporting friends will post it on Facebook or other social media while dabbling with the idea of moving to a foreign country and/or building a bomb shelter.
Here is what I have to say! STOP PANICKING!!! We most likely got this! I am worried for your blood pressure! I am also worried that your panic will lead us to Drumpfian doom! I know panic is natural for some and a hard habit to break, so here are three options for you to focus on instead of being a Chicken Little.
1. READ- I cannot emphasize this much. Read. A lot. Read multiple sources. Read point of views that you don't like or agree with. Be educated. I have always been critical about the many conservative Republicans who only watch Fox News and listen to conservative radio that only feeds into what they already think or want to believe. Well guess what? One thing I learned from primary season is that extreme liberals are just as bad. If you are only getting all of you news from Bernie Sanders media like Huffington Post and God forbid usuncut.com, you simply aren't well informed. Your information is as one sided as Fox News. I do my best to stay away from the extreme media on both sides and even if many of my media resources lean liberal like some of my favorites writers who write for MSNBC do , I counteract that with information from more conservative points of view.
That leads me to the poll problem. The media picks and chooses which polls are going to panic people the most. Yes, a 2 point lead over the Donald is nerve wracking. Your nervousness will get you to pay attention to their site or TV station. What they don't mention is that every other poll released in the last week has had Hillary up by anywhere from 5 to 12 points. But that's boring! The media needs you to believe this is a close race even if right now it is not. A blow out isn't interesting. This is why many media sites in 2012 led people to believe that Mitt Romney might actually defeat President Obama. You see how that turned out? If you were really paying attention then you knew it wasn't going to happen.
But Clinton's lead could change for the worse. Even if it doesn't change, I have some suggested sites for you. Fivethirtyeight.com is my go to polling statistics site. Yes, most of the people on it are Democrats, BUT they use the most thorough analysis of statistics that I have ever seen in Politics. Their politics may be biased, but their math is not. You can't go wrong when people are using real math to support their findings. You still don't buy into it? In the last several elections, fivethirtyeight.com has been extremely accurate in their predictions of presidential and congressional elections. During the Primary season, they were wrong about Trump getting the nomination and Bernie Sander's winning Michigan like most media was. But unlike most media they ate their crow and admitted they were wrong and did a full scale analysis of where they went wrong.
I am also a fan of the Upshot at the New York Times site. Yes, it is also liberal biased, so I balance it out by reading articles and polling information on Realclearpolitics.com. This site averages many of the polls that come out to give an average of where the races stand. It isn't as thorough as fivethirtyeight.com, but it also has news and editorial articles written by both conservative and liberal writers. It overall leans slightly conservative though. But the more you know!
2. STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT BERNIE SANDERS DOES OR SAYS- Bernie Sanders may not be endorsing Clinton and he may not be dropping out, but he really isn't running for president. He isn't. The Democratic race is over. So stop worrying when the media gives him time to let us all know that he isn't dropping out. Even the media is finally starting to stop falling for his game and he is getting less attention.
Senator Sanders should be commended for what he was able to do during this primary season. He engaged voters who were not engaged before (even though I kind of want to say "shame on you" if you were old enough to be engaged before), but the primary season is OVER. Bernie Sanders has gone from leader of a new movement to the guest at a party who WILL. NOT. GO. HOME. Everyday he prolongs this he becomes more of a joke and so do the few squeaky wheels left who are still Bernie holdouts.
Yes, there will be some Bernie followers who will not vote for Hillary. Most likely they won't vote at all or waste their vote on a third party candidate. Guess what? This happens in every election. Bernie just has some extremely loud supporters that NEED TO BE HEARD!!! But just because they are noisy does not mean that there are actually that many of them. And if they opt to vote for the Republican candidate over Secretary of State Clinton, then my guess is that they did not really know much about Sander's actual position on political issues at all.
Stop worrying! Every month more and more voters move over from Sanders to Clinton. She may not be their first choice, but most of them are intelligent people who know that choosing the other real option will have dire consequences. The ones who won't change their mind want you to know that they won't they won't change their mind. They are the spoiled brat craving their parents' attention and there truly aren't enough of them to make a real difference.
Move on everyone! The Sanders ship has sailed. We have bigger fish ahead to fry.
3. VOTE VOTE VOTE- You may think that I am living in a blissful state of mind that believes the host of the Apprentice can't become president. You are wrong. I know he could win. I know he can.
But here is the reality. There are more liberals, Democrats, moderates and sensible independents in this country than there are crazy conservatives who wish to bring on the rapture. That is just the truth. Here is the problem. Potential Democrat candidate voters are much less inclined to actually show up to vote than their conservative counterparts. The Republicans know this. It is a big part of their strategy. They work hard to make voting difficult. They want to make sure you don't participate in Democracy.
But it isn't totally the Republicans fault. In fact, it is more our own problem. Apathy seems to win out with us. There is an attitude among too many of us that our vote won't matter. Many argue that unless their state is one of the swing states our vote doesn't matter. But the swing states change over time. Your candidate might not win every time. But doing nothing is a worse option. You should still vote. Vote every time you have the chance! . Vote for who you believe in even if they won't win. Vote in smaller elections Especially vote in smaller elections. A lot of the problems we have today is because Democrat voters didn't come out for the 2012 unsexy midterm elections. Voting is not sexy. Do it anyway. Do it every time!
I have been thinking about writing this blog post for a long time. After all of the "the sky is falling! Bernie Sanders is going to win!" moments from Hillary supporters I endured during primary season, I had to have my eye surgically moved back to their correct location after all of my eye rolling! It didn't take much to set most Hillary supporters off into panic (except for me).
Well today is the perfect day to write this because as I write a poll has been released that shows Clinton up by 2 points over that joke of a candidate that the Republicans have chosen. I have seen this many many many times before. This will be the poll that gets a ton of media attention. Then all my Hillary Clinton supporting friends will post it on Facebook or other social media while dabbling with the idea of moving to a foreign country and/or building a bomb shelter.
Here is what I have to say! STOP PANICKING!!! We most likely got this! I am worried for your blood pressure! I am also worried that your panic will lead us to Drumpfian doom! I know panic is natural for some and a hard habit to break, so here are three options for you to focus on instead of being a Chicken Little.
1. READ- I cannot emphasize this much. Read. A lot. Read multiple sources. Read point of views that you don't like or agree with. Be educated. I have always been critical about the many conservative Republicans who only watch Fox News and listen to conservative radio that only feeds into what they already think or want to believe. Well guess what? One thing I learned from primary season is that extreme liberals are just as bad. If you are only getting all of you news from Bernie Sanders media like Huffington Post and God forbid usuncut.com, you simply aren't well informed. Your information is as one sided as Fox News. I do my best to stay away from the extreme media on both sides and even if many of my media resources lean liberal like some of my favorites writers who write for MSNBC do , I counteract that with information from more conservative points of view.
That leads me to the poll problem. The media picks and chooses which polls are going to panic people the most. Yes, a 2 point lead over the Donald is nerve wracking. Your nervousness will get you to pay attention to their site or TV station. What they don't mention is that every other poll released in the last week has had Hillary up by anywhere from 5 to 12 points. But that's boring! The media needs you to believe this is a close race even if right now it is not. A blow out isn't interesting. This is why many media sites in 2012 led people to believe that Mitt Romney might actually defeat President Obama. You see how that turned out? If you were really paying attention then you knew it wasn't going to happen.
But Clinton's lead could change for the worse. Even if it doesn't change, I have some suggested sites for you. Fivethirtyeight.com is my go to polling statistics site. Yes, most of the people on it are Democrats, BUT they use the most thorough analysis of statistics that I have ever seen in Politics. Their politics may be biased, but their math is not. You can't go wrong when people are using real math to support their findings. You still don't buy into it? In the last several elections, fivethirtyeight.com has been extremely accurate in their predictions of presidential and congressional elections. During the Primary season, they were wrong about Trump getting the nomination and Bernie Sander's winning Michigan like most media was. But unlike most media they ate their crow and admitted they were wrong and did a full scale analysis of where they went wrong.
I am also a fan of the Upshot at the New York Times site. Yes, it is also liberal biased, so I balance it out by reading articles and polling information on Realclearpolitics.com. This site averages many of the polls that come out to give an average of where the races stand. It isn't as thorough as fivethirtyeight.com, but it also has news and editorial articles written by both conservative and liberal writers. It overall leans slightly conservative though. But the more you know!
2. STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT BERNIE SANDERS DOES OR SAYS- Bernie Sanders may not be endorsing Clinton and he may not be dropping out, but he really isn't running for president. He isn't. The Democratic race is over. So stop worrying when the media gives him time to let us all know that he isn't dropping out. Even the media is finally starting to stop falling for his game and he is getting less attention.
Senator Sanders should be commended for what he was able to do during this primary season. He engaged voters who were not engaged before (even though I kind of want to say "shame on you" if you were old enough to be engaged before), but the primary season is OVER. Bernie Sanders has gone from leader of a new movement to the guest at a party who WILL. NOT. GO. HOME. Everyday he prolongs this he becomes more of a joke and so do the few squeaky wheels left who are still Bernie holdouts.
Yes, there will be some Bernie followers who will not vote for Hillary. Most likely they won't vote at all or waste their vote on a third party candidate. Guess what? This happens in every election. Bernie just has some extremely loud supporters that NEED TO BE HEARD!!! But just because they are noisy does not mean that there are actually that many of them. And if they opt to vote for the Republican candidate over Secretary of State Clinton, then my guess is that they did not really know much about Sander's actual position on political issues at all.
Stop worrying! Every month more and more voters move over from Sanders to Clinton. She may not be their first choice, but most of them are intelligent people who know that choosing the other real option will have dire consequences. The ones who won't change their mind want you to know that they won't they won't change their mind. They are the spoiled brat craving their parents' attention and there truly aren't enough of them to make a real difference.
Move on everyone! The Sanders ship has sailed. We have bigger fish ahead to fry.
3. VOTE VOTE VOTE- You may think that I am living in a blissful state of mind that believes the host of the Apprentice can't become president. You are wrong. I know he could win. I know he can.
But here is the reality. There are more liberals, Democrats, moderates and sensible independents in this country than there are crazy conservatives who wish to bring on the rapture. That is just the truth. Here is the problem. Potential Democrat candidate voters are much less inclined to actually show up to vote than their conservative counterparts. The Republicans know this. It is a big part of their strategy. They work hard to make voting difficult. They want to make sure you don't participate in Democracy.
But it isn't totally the Republicans fault. In fact, it is more our own problem. Apathy seems to win out with us. There is an attitude among too many of us that our vote won't matter. Many argue that unless their state is one of the swing states our vote doesn't matter. But the swing states change over time. Your candidate might not win every time. But doing nothing is a worse option. You should still vote. Vote every time you have the chance! . Vote for who you believe in even if they won't win. Vote in smaller elections Especially vote in smaller elections. A lot of the problems we have today is because Democrat voters didn't come out for the 2012 unsexy midterm elections. Voting is not sexy. Do it anyway. Do it every time!
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Yesterday I went to a gay bar.....(one year later).
One year ago I wrote this blog post after the terrible tragedy at Pulse, a gay dance club, in Orlando. Through my fear, anger and sorrow of seeing this happen at a place that I would most definitely frequent, a fire was lit under me. I hoped that fire wouldn't go away. I hoped that I would never forget, and I hoped that I would take action.
The fire in me didn't die, but unfortunately it calmed.
Fortunately, so many of us are reflecting one year later. I hope the fire is back! Because one year later there have been some minor state victories for sensible gun control, but unfortunately at the federal level things are the same or even worse due to the nefarious nature of the current presidential administration and Republican congress.
We are experiencing a national crisis, and the gun epidemic in the USA is a notable part of that crisis. We have to stand up and continue to fight even when it doesn't feel like it is enough.
There is no choice. I cannot let the lives of my friends In Orlando who I will never know be in vain.
I have to remember what it felt like that day. One year later.
Yesterday I went to a gay bar by Dan Rosson 6/12/2016
Edited 6/12/2017
Yesterday I went to a gay bar. I don't always go to gay bars. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. I tend to go to places that I am going to feel comfortable in whether that be gay or friendly to everyone. But on the evening of June 11th I went to a gay bar. It was gay pride weekend in Boston. So being proudly out, I went to a gay bar. It was fun. I hung out with my friends. I drank a few beers. We eyed a few sad fashion errors. Kind of what I do at ANY bar. Gay. Gay friendly. Or straight.
I was not at THAT bar. THAT gay club.
It was a few hours before it happened. My fun was not ruined by automatic rifle fire. I was able to walk to a restaurant and get some pizza. I was able to make a poor choice and attempt a very bad dance on a wall while ripping my pants and risking further beer induced minor injuries. I was able to have a couple more beers. My fun was not ended by automatic rifle fire. My life was not stopped by automatic rifle fire.
But it could have been. I was lucky that night.
You see there are people who don't know me who wish I was a dead. There are those who wish to do me harm because of who I love. Because of who I am attracted to. Because I am unapologetic about being who I am.
There are those that wish harm to many of you too: Because you are black, because you are Asian, because you are a Muslim, because you don't speak much English, because you are a woman. Because you are many things you should always be very proud of. Unfortunately, you are not the things that a small handful of sick hateful people want you to be.
Fortunately, those evil people are few and far between. As Anne Frank once said, "I still believe in spite of everything that people are good at heart." I, like Anne Frank, believe most people are good at heart. Even the misguided. Unfortunately, there are a small few that just aren't good. There are a few that choose evil over good. Those few will always find a way to do evil.
But we must not make it easy for them. We don't have to.
We must not make it easy for them to get guns that will make it possible for them to kill 50 people in a couple short minutes. We do not have to.
"But the second amendment!!" you gasp.
That amendment was created when slow loading muskets and cannons were the norm over two hundred years ago. Of course, the second amendment is still relevant. But I think any amendment that continues to compromise the safety of so many people day after day needs to be seriously thought about. I'm not anti-gun, but the 2nd amendment is broken. We must fix it.
"But but!" You gasp, "that man would have found a way to kill people regardless. So there is NOTHING we can do."
That is wrong. If that man had just walked in with a regular shot gun or with a knife he would not have been able to kill 49 people! Any life lost is terrible but 49 lives did not have to be lost at Pulse. That isn't difficult to understand! Studies have shown that the places in the USA that have fewer guns have fewer gun related deaths. Massachusetts, where I live, is one of the states with the most gun regulations. It is also one of the states with the fewest gun deaths. But we have to do this as a nation and not at a state by state basis or tragedies like this will continue to happen all too frequently.
We must not continue to let people who wish to commit evil to others have easy access to automatic rifles. We must not continue to let people with violent criminal backgrounds have easy access to any
kind of gun. We must not continue to let it be easier in some states to get a gun than it is to get a driver's license. We must not let this continue!!
We cannot let my friends in Orlando deaths be in vain. We cannot let our Jewish brothers and sisters killed in Seattle in 2006 be in vain. We cannot let the death of the precious children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown CT be in vain.
We can't! We have to act
We cannot let this one be forgotten and then let this all start over again the next time it happens!
Please. Join me to find ways to end unnecessary gun violence.
Here are some groups I know that are working hard to make this happen.
The Coalition to End Gun Violence
http://csgv.org
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense
http://momsdemandaction.org
Sign this petition to Ban Assault Weapons
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/ban-assault-weapons
An Easy Guide to Contacting Your Elected representatives about Gun Control
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicole-silverberg/guide-elected-representatives-gun-control_b_8708154.html
Everytown for Gun Safety
http://everytown.org/
Gays Against Guns
http://gaysagainstguns.net
Follow Gun Control Now on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/guncontrolnow.campaign/
Know how your congressional representatives vote on gun control issues
http://occupydemocrats.com/2016/06/12/hypocrites-republicans-offering-prayers-accepting-money-nra/
Ways we can help The Orlando community
http://www.hrc.org/blog/ways-to-help-in-the-wake-of-the-orlando-nightclub-shooting
If you know others groups. If you know other ways, please comment! Please join them. Let's stop this. We can. We must.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Short Movie Reviews 4: The Not so Final Chapter
It goes like this. I give a movie a score from one to ten. The review is as many words long.
Quick and to the point.
A Bigger Splash.- 6
Ralph Fiennes is plenty naked. Eh.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2- 6
Two movies wasn't better than one
Newsies- 5
Christian Bale sings snoozy songs.
The Green Butchers- 7
Laughing loud about murderous butchers and cannibalism
Concussion- 5
Should be provocative but isn't.
Krampus-6
I guess Christmas is not scary.
Before Stonewall-7
Everyone should know more American gay history.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
A Movie that Changed my Life: Six Weeks
What movie changed my life? Yes, I know any film snob worth their salt takes making a statement about which film changed their life very very seriously. And Yes in the thousands of films I have seen, I could have given you a palatable film snob answer that would've also been mostly true, but today I have chosen chose not to do that.
Ladies and gentleman, a film that changed my life and was an essential part of making me The film lover I am today is called.......Six Weeks
What? You have never heard of Six Weeks (of if you have heard of it you are asking "What kind of delicious thing is he smokin?"). Six Weeks was released in 1982 and went on to be nominated for exactly zero Oscars and it can claim to be a Razzie (worst in movies) nominee.
It stars the late 80s romantic comedy icon Dudley Moore as a married politician who strikes up an affair with an uptight character played by Razzie Nominee and television icon Mary Tyler Moore. What? That sounds boring to you? It gets better! Mary's character has a daughter who is a really good ballet dancer and GET READY FOR THIS, she has leukemia! Her daughter has six weeks to live (get it?!) and her one dying wish is to dance in the nutcracker in NYC. It's melodrama at its...uh....finest?
So actually I can wholeheartedly admit that it isn't a very good movie, but in the summer of 1983 that movie was my jam. You see these days kids are raised by tablets. Well my generation was mostly raised by a big fat half ton console television, and around that time something called HBO reached the culturally starved town of Casoer Wyoming where I grew up.
We had a few movie theaters back then, but this was before the multiplex. We had a movie theater with TWO theaters and that was really living large! So while I saw movies before Six Weeks, obviously, HBO was great because it was a then 24 hours a day movie channel. I spent much of that summer holed up in our freezing basement watching HBO and especially the movie Six Weeks. I think I also watched Willy Wonka a lot that summer AND I cannot forget all the times I also watched Grease 2. But I must have watched Six Weeks over a dozen times in a month. One time I actually set my alarm clock to go downstairs and watch it at around 5:00 in the morning. I was a Six Weeks maniac!
It was very dramatic! And now I know too dramatic! The writing is kind of terrible there is a very dramatic speech given at the end by MTM (Spoiler Alert!!!!! THE DAUGHTER DIES!!!!) that has a line that starts out "There's a place in France" and even through my pre teenage crying eyes I could not resist responding to the screen with "where the naked ladies dance!" I was indeed a very mature 11 year old!
But why was it so important to me? Six Weeks was my film gateway drug that made me want more much more. Eventually I was on to bigger and better things (while still loving some pretty admittedly terrible movies), but Six Weeks deserves some credit for making me the film lover I am today. Even if today I won't touch the Nicholas Sparks type films that is spawned with a twenty foot pole.
Granted I am now very nostalgic about the film, and I would love to find a watchable non VHS copy of it, but have yet to find one. It doesn't matter though because in the summer of 1983 in my basement, at 5:00 in the morning, Six Weeks was everything to me!
Next in this series: a TV show that changed my life.
Ladies and gentleman, a film that changed my life and was an essential part of making me The film lover I am today is called.......Six Weeks
What? You have never heard of Six Weeks (of if you have heard of it you are asking "What kind of delicious thing is he smokin?"). Six Weeks was released in 1982 and went on to be nominated for exactly zero Oscars and it can claim to be a Razzie (worst in movies) nominee.
It stars the late 80s romantic comedy icon Dudley Moore as a married politician who strikes up an affair with an uptight character played by Razzie Nominee and television icon Mary Tyler Moore. What? That sounds boring to you? It gets better! Mary's character has a daughter who is a really good ballet dancer and GET READY FOR THIS, she has leukemia! Her daughter has six weeks to live (get it?!) and her one dying wish is to dance in the nutcracker in NYC. It's melodrama at its...uh....finest?
So actually I can wholeheartedly admit that it isn't a very good movie, but in the summer of 1983 that movie was my jam. You see these days kids are raised by tablets. Well my generation was mostly raised by a big fat half ton console television, and around that time something called HBO reached the culturally starved town of Casoer Wyoming where I grew up.
We had a few movie theaters back then, but this was before the multiplex. We had a movie theater with TWO theaters and that was really living large! So while I saw movies before Six Weeks, obviously, HBO was great because it was a then 24 hours a day movie channel. I spent much of that summer holed up in our freezing basement watching HBO and especially the movie Six Weeks. I think I also watched Willy Wonka a lot that summer AND I cannot forget all the times I also watched Grease 2. But I must have watched Six Weeks over a dozen times in a month. One time I actually set my alarm clock to go downstairs and watch it at around 5:00 in the morning. I was a Six Weeks maniac!
It was very dramatic! And now I know too dramatic! The writing is kind of terrible there is a very dramatic speech given at the end by MTM (Spoiler Alert!!!!! THE DAUGHTER DIES!!!!) that has a line that starts out "There's a place in France" and even through my pre teenage crying eyes I could not resist responding to the screen with "where the naked ladies dance!" I was indeed a very mature 11 year old!
But why was it so important to me? Six Weeks was my film gateway drug that made me want more much more. Eventually I was on to bigger and better things (while still loving some pretty admittedly terrible movies), but Six Weeks deserves some credit for making me the film lover I am today. Even if today I won't touch the Nicholas Sparks type films that is spawned with a twenty foot pole.
Granted I am now very nostalgic about the film, and I would love to find a watchable non VHS copy of it, but have yet to find one. It doesn't matter though because in the summer of 1983 in my basement, at 5:00 in the morning, Six Weeks was everything to me!
Next in this series: a TV show that changed my life.
Monday, May 23, 2016
#ignorance Part 1
A few weeks ago President Barack Obama said the following at a commencement address at Rutger's University.
"Class of 2016, let me be clear as I can be: In politics as in life, ignorance is not a virtue......facts, evidence, reason, logic, and understanding of science: these are good things. "
In my life I've been called many names. I kind of have a thick skin for that kind of thing. But for me one of the worst things you could call me is ignorant. I take great pride in exploring, researching and really thinking about my point of view. I never just took in what my parents spoon fedme, what my church told me to believe or what one media source has to tell me. Ignorant is something I work very hard not to be.
But for some, maybe many, ignorance really is bliss. Many choose not to learn outside of what they were raised to believe or really do much thinking outside of their comfort zone. For some reality is whatever they wish it to be even if it isn't the case at all.
If you are someone who does a lot of thinking and reading, you are probably not going to be too offended by what I'm about to say. For everyone else, this might sting a little.
I'm not going to start where you think I'm going to start just yet. Right wing conservatives you have a few moments to take a few yoga breaths now but believe me, you will get your turn.
Im going to start with some of my progressive friends. I'm going to start with a small unyielding group of people who identify as Bernie Bros. This does not exclude you Susan Sarandon (one of my favorite actresses but not one of my favorite outspoken liberals), for I have no gender bias.
First of all, I have nothing against anyone who voted for Bernie Sanders. I'm from the Socialist Republic of Seattle. If I had a big beef with anyone who voted for Bernie, I'd have very few Seattle friends left. I also, get ready, DO NOT THINK Bernie should drop out. I support the idea that every person in every state who wants to be part of the process should be able to vote. In 2000 I still cast my vote for Bill Bradley even though it was very clear that Al Gore was going to be the nominee. Imagine that? A democracy.
But let me clear. Senator. Bernie. Sanders. Is not winning. the nomination and no amount of reading usuncut.com or Huffington Post (which used to be a credible news source before Bernie started running for president) is going to change that.
He just isn't. Sorry to be the ruiner of unicorn and rainbow dreams, but most of the people have voted and it really hasn't been close.
So here is the thing. If you are a young new voter and voted for Bernie as your first vote, Welcome. I profoundly hope that you'll be a good sport and continue to participate in the process. Because if you don't like the process the only way to change it is by being part of it and voting. That's just the truth. Going to Nevada and acting like a petulant brat at the convention by throwing chairs isn't going to change the process. It's not revolution, Jean Valjean. It is a two year old throwing a tantrum. And no one is going to take that seriously.
If you have been of voting age for some time, but have chosen to make a statement by not voting until this year, I welcome you also. However, I will also say that your "statement" you made by not voting is perhaps not the statement you were going for. The process that was created that you do not like exists because you weren't part of it. You let it happen.
To all of you, if you want to make change you must vote. Not just once at a caucus that you were lucky enough to not be disenfranchised for and that you were able to have enough time off work to actually attend. You must continue to vote. Even when it's boring. Especially when it's boring. The boring elections are probably the most important ones, but they are the ones that get terrible turnout. It's the boring elections that gave the congress to Tea Party Right Wingers who continue to obstruct justice and not to do their job. That didn't have to happen. There are more liberal minded people in this country than Tea Party right wingers. The liberals didn't show up to vote, and the right wing conservatives did.
So again Bernie, a man who deserves respect, is not going to be the president. Stop pouting and become part of the process. Democratic change doesn't happen quickly. It's messy. It isn't perfect. It especially isn't perfect if the people don't come out for it.
Don't worry Conservatives, you aren't getting off. Your turn is coming. To be continued.
"Class of 2016, let me be clear as I can be: In politics as in life, ignorance is not a virtue......facts, evidence, reason, logic, and understanding of science: these are good things. "
In my life I've been called many names. I kind of have a thick skin for that kind of thing. But for me one of the worst things you could call me is ignorant. I take great pride in exploring, researching and really thinking about my point of view. I never just took in what my parents spoon fedme, what my church told me to believe or what one media source has to tell me. Ignorant is something I work very hard not to be.
But for some, maybe many, ignorance really is bliss. Many choose not to learn outside of what they were raised to believe or really do much thinking outside of their comfort zone. For some reality is whatever they wish it to be even if it isn't the case at all.
If you are someone who does a lot of thinking and reading, you are probably not going to be too offended by what I'm about to say. For everyone else, this might sting a little.
I'm not going to start where you think I'm going to start just yet. Right wing conservatives you have a few moments to take a few yoga breaths now but believe me, you will get your turn.
Im going to start with some of my progressive friends. I'm going to start with a small unyielding group of people who identify as Bernie Bros. This does not exclude you Susan Sarandon (one of my favorite actresses but not one of my favorite outspoken liberals), for I have no gender bias.
First of all, I have nothing against anyone who voted for Bernie Sanders. I'm from the Socialist Republic of Seattle. If I had a big beef with anyone who voted for Bernie, I'd have very few Seattle friends left. I also, get ready, DO NOT THINK Bernie should drop out. I support the idea that every person in every state who wants to be part of the process should be able to vote. In 2000 I still cast my vote for Bill Bradley even though it was very clear that Al Gore was going to be the nominee. Imagine that? A democracy.
But let me clear. Senator. Bernie. Sanders. Is not winning. the nomination and no amount of reading usuncut.com or Huffington Post (which used to be a credible news source before Bernie started running for president) is going to change that.
He just isn't. Sorry to be the ruiner of unicorn and rainbow dreams, but most of the people have voted and it really hasn't been close.
So here is the thing. If you are a young new voter and voted for Bernie as your first vote, Welcome. I profoundly hope that you'll be a good sport and continue to participate in the process. Because if you don't like the process the only way to change it is by being part of it and voting. That's just the truth. Going to Nevada and acting like a petulant brat at the convention by throwing chairs isn't going to change the process. It's not revolution, Jean Valjean. It is a two year old throwing a tantrum. And no one is going to take that seriously.
If you have been of voting age for some time, but have chosen to make a statement by not voting until this year, I welcome you also. However, I will also say that your "statement" you made by not voting is perhaps not the statement you were going for. The process that was created that you do not like exists because you weren't part of it. You let it happen.
To all of you, if you want to make change you must vote. Not just once at a caucus that you were lucky enough to not be disenfranchised for and that you were able to have enough time off work to actually attend. You must continue to vote. Even when it's boring. Especially when it's boring. The boring elections are probably the most important ones, but they are the ones that get terrible turnout. It's the boring elections that gave the congress to Tea Party Right Wingers who continue to obstruct justice and not to do their job. That didn't have to happen. There are more liberal minded people in this country than Tea Party right wingers. The liberals didn't show up to vote, and the right wing conservatives did.
So again Bernie, a man who deserves respect, is not going to be the president. Stop pouting and become part of the process. Democratic change doesn't happen quickly. It's messy. It isn't perfect. It especially isn't perfect if the people don't come out for it.
Don't worry Conservatives, you aren't getting off. Your turn is coming. To be continued.
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