-
Directories
If it ain’t broke…
I just saw Brokeback Mountain today and WOW… it is such a sad movie. There were several points where I was holding back the sobs. The only other movie that has ever gotten me to sob is Sommersby. I really hope that people will watch this movie and come away realizing that people should just be viewed as people and not defined by their sexual preference. However another person I know who watched and said they enjoyed the movie said that they wished it had been told about a man and a woman, and that there was no need to show the guys engaged in sex. (if you haven’t seen the movie, it is NOT a graphic portrayal in any way). After I stated that sex is very often portrayed between a man and a woman, so why not a man and a man, this person responded that maybe we should also show pedophilia scenes too then. Yeah, yeah, and if we allow gay marriage, what’s next??? People marrying goats?!?!? Ahhhh!!!!!!
Oh well…
If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
In my continuing support of the "War Against Christmas"
Here are some excerpts from the Dec 7 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as posted on Media Matters for America (see the whole article here) :
O’REILLY [video clip of December 2 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor]: Predictably, the opponents of public displays of Christmas continue to put forth counter-arguments on ‘Secular Central.’ I — I mean, Comedy Central. They said this:
SAMANTHA BEE [video clip]: Christmas: It’s the only religious holiday that’s also a federal holiday. That way, Christians can go to their services and everyone else can stay home and reflect on the true meaning of separation of church and state.[laughter]
O’REILLY: And a Merry Christmas to you, Jon Stewart.
[applause]
STEWART: Well, thank you. And let me say to you, Bill O’Reilly, and the entire O’Reilly clan: “Feliz Navidad.” Although I’m sure you’re concerned that that’s getting too prevalent as well in this country.
Ends up, the segment O’Reilly was attacking was broadcasted last December (2004), not this December as O’Reilly alleges.
I really dislike this guy. My brothers listen to his radio show (I know! why? how can they?), so I’ve been stuck listening to it during my visits here and man oh man is he hypocritical. How can he have the most popular news commentary show???
I’ve lost my faith in humanity.
THE HORROR!!!
I found my first white hair today. ACK! I’m getting OLD!!! How can I have acne and a white hair. That’s just too unfair. You should only be inflicted with one or the other.
I had dinner with Samm Iverson (a friend from VCU) at Tortilla Factory tonight. Was fun. Lots of chatting and catching up. Grandpa has a cold and seems really frail today. Christian is watching some show on Animal Planet, “Into the Lion’s Den”, starring some completely psychotic guy who totally deserves to be ripped apart by lions. Okay, I’m kidding, I might temporarily think so, but really no one deserves horrible things happening to them. Although if this guy had been ripped apart, it would be his own fault cause he’s nuts.
I can’t believe Christmas is just a couple days away. It doesn’t seem like Christmas. I was actually getting into “The Price is Right” and “Wheel of Fortune” today, Sam picked me up before “Jeopardy” (which I’ve always been into so nevermind). Please, oh possibly existing spiritual being, don’t let me get into watching the judge shows my grandpa watches all day long.
Now Christian is watching “Millionaire”. I totally don’t get the draw of this show. It’s torturously slow. “Is that your final answer? Are you sure? Really? You don’t want to change? Okay, so, final answer? Really?” <<<Christina’s head implodes>>>
Ugh… men and their channel surfing… now he’s watching “Emeril”. What’s up with people cheering when he “kicks it up a notch”? YAY!!! ALCOHOL!!! WOOHOO!!!
Okay, I’m outtie. Word.
The Nip/Tuck season finale…
…was not all that. The whole carver thing was a letdown. They should have maimed Sean and Christian more. And what was with the whole stupid Matt and Cherry storyline??? How is Cherry planning to explain to a doctor that someone cut his thing off without going into who it was?
What they should have done is not unmask the Carver when they did, have him torture Sean and Christian, cutting all of Sean’s fingers on his right hand off, then doing something horrible to Christian (that can of course be reversed), they both pass out in pain, THEN, in the last minute of the show, he pulls off his mask, leaving us not knowing what will happen to the good doctors. We would be left wondering if Christian and Sean would be saved (of course they would), would they recover (of course they would), would they have figured out who the Carver is, and what will happen with the Carver next season.
Oh, and about Quentin not having a penis… they would have definitely performed some sort of reconstructive surgery to give him a flap of skin or something that would look like a penis, but would be nonfunctional.
Overlooking the truly needy
Being the holiday season here, there is talk about donating to charities all over tv. The Salvation Army announced on the news here today that they are short $200,000 from what they collected by this time last year (not sure if that is local or national) because of donations to Hurricane Katrina victims.
While I feel terribly for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, they’ve lost everything and were treated inhumanely by our administration, I submit that the worst off victim of the hurricane is still far better off than the average victim of the earthquake in Pakistan. As of today, there are 73,338 dead and 128,309 injured. As of November 7th, it was believed that 200,000 people had still not been reached by rescue teams due to inaccessible terrain. The UN is estimating that over 500,000 people will die during the harsh Pakistani winter, if more shelters are not made available. Secretary General Kofi Annan has stated that “the scale of this tragedy almost defies our darkest imagination” and a “winter without pity” is coming.
IN THE MOUNTAINS
» Watch C4 TV Report from Bedhi Valley in Kashmir
… and this is BEFORE the snows are even here!
Help now:
Kashmir International Relief Fund - “Kashmir International Relief Fund (KIRF) is the largest charity and NGO in Kashmir – the region most affected by the devastating earthquake on 8th October 2005. As a registered UK charity, KIRF has been at the forefront of providing humanitarian relief, welfare and development to the people of Kashmir since 1992.”
Pakistan Relief - “100% of your donations go directly to providing relief to the poor. All administrative expenses have been paid by founders of Pakistan Relief. “
Federal Relief Commision - “plans, coordinates, directs and monitors all relief efforts”
Blah ba-blah blah blah
My gramps has another doctor’s appointment today. He’s started losing his hair, but seems to be doing okay. He had three girlfriends over last night and they played bridge for over two hours. I was almost drawn to the table… I haven’t played bridge in years and have forgotten some of how it is played (I’m sure I’d pick it up again quickly). My friends and I used to play bridge ALL THE TIME in high school. That’s kind of weird isn’t it? Not poker - bridge. If we were more than four people we sometimes played capitalism, or it’s cousin, communism, which was a funny alternative, but wasn’t nearly as fun. Well, we were big ole nerds.
I ran into my APO lil bro Samm Iverson at Red Robin on Saturday. We’re having dinner tomorrow. He’s a cool guy, but somehow we lost touch over the years. There aren’t a lot of people I regret losing touch with, but Sam was one. Dewey’s another. I haven’t heard from her in a couple years. And I wonder whatever happen to Feather (friend of mine from Berlin). Last I heard her dad was in a bad accident. I should email her again.
I spent yesterday watching the Law and Order: SVU marathon on USA and I have only one thing to say: I love B.D. Wong!!!!
Interesting facts about Christmas that Christian fundamentalists don’t seem to be aware of
For all those people arguing that Christmas has always been celebrated in the US:
- Franklin Pierce was the first president to have a Christmas tree in the White House
- Ulysses S. Grant declared Christmas to be a federal holiday in 1870
- Because of it’s pagan origins, Puritans condemned the celebration of Christmas and the celebration of Christmas was actually a crime in Massachusetts from 1659 until 1681
“The generality of Christmas-keepers observe that festival after such a manner as is highly dishonourable to the name of Christ. How few are there comparatively that spend those holidays (as they are called) after an holy manner. But they are consumed in Compotations, in Interludes, in playing at Cards, in Revellings, in excess of Wine, in mad Mirth …”- Reverend Increase Mather, 1687
From SimpleToRemember.com’s The Real Story of Christmas (with a lot of editing by me):
When was Jesus born?
The New Testament gives no date or year for Jesus’ birth. The earliest gospel – St. Mark’s, written about 65 CE – begins with the baptism of an adult Jesus. This suggests that the earliest Christians lacked interest in or knowledge of Jesus’ birthdate. The DePascha Computus, an anonymous document believed to have been written in North Africa around 243 CE, placed Jesus birth on March 28. Clement, a bishop of Alexandria (d. ca. 215 CE), thought Jesus was born on November 18. Based on historical records, Joseph A. Fitzmyer – Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at the Catholic University of America, guesses that Jesus’s birth occurred on September 11, 3 BCE.How Did Christmas Come to Be Celebrated on December 25?
Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. The ancient Greek writer poet and historian Lucian (in his dialogue entitled Saturnalia) describes the festival’s observance in his time. In addition to human sacrifice, he mentions these customs: widespread intoxication; going from house to house while singing naked (origin of caroling); rape and other sexual license; and consuming human-shaped biscuits (gingerbread men). In the 4th century CE, Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians. As there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday.
The Reverend Increase Mather of Boston observed in 1687 that “the early
Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones.” Because of its known pagan origin, Christmas was banned by the Puritans and its observance was illegal in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681.The Origin of Christmas Trees Just as early Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, so too worshippers of the Asheira cult and
its offshoots were recruited by the Church sanctioning “Christmas Trees”. Pagans had long worshipped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the Church.
-
Subscribe to AmiExpat
creativecommons License
Blog under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License.
