My favorites in Television for the 2015-2016 TV season

I watch a lot of TV! Here are my favorites from June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016

Best Reality Television show
Making A Murderer
Project Greenlight
Rupaul's Drag Race Logo
Shark Tank
Survivor
Top Chef

Best Guest Actor in a Series
Mahershala Ali House of Cards
Richard Armitage Hannibal
Reg E. Cathey House of Cards
Jeffrey Dean Morgan The Walking Dead
Paul Sparks House of Cards
Jon Tenney Scandal



Best Guest Actress in a Series
Gillian Anderson Hannibal
Ellen  Burstyn House of Cards
Kate Burton Scandal
Molly Parker House of Cards
Cicely Tyson How to get away with murder
Mare Winningham The Affair


Best Supporting Actress Mini Series or TV Movie
Kathy Bates American Horror Story: Hotel
Regina King American Crime
Melissa Leo All the Way
Charlotte Rampling London Spy
Jean Smart Fargo
Mare Winningham American Horror Story Hotel

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Laura Carmichael Downton Abbey
Melissa Leo Wayward Pines Season 1
Maggie Smith Downton Abbey
Maura Tierney The Affair
Bellamy Young Scandal
Constance Zimmer Unreal

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Anna Chlumsky Veep
Kether Donohue You're the Worst
Jenifer Lewis blackish
Judith Light Transparent
Niecy Nash Getting On
Allison Williams Girls

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Jim Carter Downton Abbey
Joshua Jackson The Affair
Lenny James The Walking Dead
Rob James-Collier Downton Abbey
Michael Kelly House of Cards
Jussie Smollett Empire

Best supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Titus Burgess Unreakable Kimmie Schmidt
Jaime Camil Jane the Virgin
TJ Miller Silicon Valley
Timothy Simons Veep
Zach Woods Silicon Valley
Steve Zissis Togetherness

Best Supporting Actor in a TV movie or Mini Series
Connor Jessup American Crime
Ne-Yo The Wiz
Denis O'Hare American Horror Story Hotel
Jessie Plemons Fargo
Joey Pollari American Crime
Bokeem Woodbine Fargo


Best Guest Actress Comedy
Tina Fey Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt
Beth Grant Mindy Project
Linda Lavin Mom
Niecy Nash Scream Queens
Jenny Slate Girls
June Squibb Mom

Best Guest Actor Comedy
Christopher Abbott Girls
Mike Carlsen Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt
Peter Macnichol Veep
Anthony Mendez Jane the Virgin
Chris Messina Mindy Project
Corey Stoll Girls


Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson blackish
Aziz Ansari Master of None
Noah Calvin The Real O'Neals
Chris Geere You're the Worst
Jeffrey Tambor Transparent
Josh Thomas Please Like Me

Best Lead Actor in a Mini series of Tv Movie
Bryan Cranston All the Way
Idris Elba Luther
Timothy Hutton American Crime
Andy Samberg 7 Days of Hell
Ben Whishaw  London Spy
Patrick Wilson Fargo

Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Kyle Chandler Bloodline
Hugh Dancy Hannibal
Freddie Highmore Bates Motel
Mads Mikklesen Hannibal
Kevin Spacey House of Cards
Dominic West The Affair

Best Lead Actress in a Mini Series or Tv Movie
Kirsten Dunst Fargo
Felicity Huffman American Crime
Audra McDonald Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
Lili Taylor American Crime
Kerry Washington Confirmation
Shanice Williams The Wiz Live

Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series
 Shiri Appleby Unreal
Viola Davis How to Get Away with Murder
Michelle Dockery Downton Abbey
Taraji P. Henson Empire
Ruth Wilson The Affair
Robin Wright House of Cards

Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Rachel Bloom Crazy Ex girlfriend
Tracy Ellis Ross blackish
Ellie Kemper Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt
Julia Louis Dreyfus Veep
Gina Rodriguez Jane The Virgin
Constance Wu Fresh Off The Boat

Best Mini Series or Tv Movie
All The Way
American Crime
Confirmation
Fargo
Lady Day at Emerson Bar and Grill
London Spy
The Wiz Live

Best Comedy Series
blackish
Crazy Ex Girlfiend
Getting On
Jane the Virgin
Please Like Me
Transparent
Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt

Best Drama Series
The Affair
Downton Abbey
Empire
Hannibal
House of Cards
Scandal
Unreal

2016 Oscar Nominated Best Foreign Language Films: This is the best the world has to offer?

Every year usually after the Oscars are over, I do my best to watch all 5 of the film's nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. I'm announcing here that this is the last year I will do this and here is why:

I've loved watching foreign films for a very long time.  I used to go the Seattle International Film Festival year after year and see many of the best and worst that other countries on this Earth have to offer.  So those experiences  should pair well with watching the five Oscar nominated foreign films right? Wrong. Because each country is only allowed to advance one film to represent them and then a panel of seemingly pretty out of touch panel chooses the "best" 5, sometimes they get it correct as is the case of All About My Mother and A Separation.  But mostly they get it wrong.   They often exclude many critically acclaimed nominees  for questionable and uninspiring choices. 

This year's 5 films were no exception for being generally unexceptional.  

The nominees were:

Embrace of the Serpent- Colombia

This is two different parallel stories of two white men trying to find this cure all drug in the jungles of South America. Sometimes it had something interesting to say about wealthy nations exploiting tribal people for their industries,but mostly it just plodded. The film is well shot in black and white, but who's great idea was it to make the subtitles white as well.  Fortunately the plot was not so complicated for the times I couldn't read the subtitles.   Unfortunately, overall it's just mildly interesting.  6 out of 10

Mustang- France

The best and definitely only near great film of the bunch was this one about a group of teenagers growing up in a country who will not allow them be themselves due to tradition.  The film is a sad watch, but I particularly admired the realness of all the teenage characters.  While it was a fictional film, it felt like a documentary of these young women's sometimes tragic lives.  8 out of 10

Son of Saul- Hungary

This film was the eventual Oscar  winner.  It's a harrowing story about a man's experience trying to navigate his way through the Holocaust. The one thing that really works for the film is the way the camera follows the character in order to create the feeling that you are following this man's experience. Otherwise this doesn't add a lot to the many many films that the Oscars have recognized about the Holocaust.  Certainly tragedies like this should have films made to educate filmgoers, but the Holocaust is definitely the Academy's favorite tragedy of choice. 7 out of 10

Theeb- Jordan

This film about a child's experiencing dodging a war torn country was interesting and well done,but I have to admit that it's also the one I forgot first.  I had to go back and remind myself what it was about.  While the film had some powerful moments in the moment I viewed it, its  power for me was short lived. 7 out of 10

A War- Denmark

Of the five films I was most interested in this one's story.  A celebrated military officer is charged with a war crime that he probably unintentionally committed to protect his squadron.  If seeing every minute detail played out intrigues you, then you'll like this.  I was mostly bored by the lack of action in what could have been a very interesting and provocative film.  The military scenes are the best, but they only last not even the first half of the film before it turns over to the officer's somewhat tedious
home life and trial. 

6 out of 10

So I find it hard to believe that these are the best the world has to offer.  The only film that would've been even close to being in my top 10 of the year is Mustang and even it would've fallen short.  

I'm looking forward to some good films this fall.  I'm sure that there will be great ones that the Oscars will ignore. 

I know what I did this summer: My travel and concert adventures Part 1

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.