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Sunday Click Around

I once watched one of those wedding ceremony programs, a few years before same sex marriages were legalized in Ontario. On this program was a segment on a same sex couple who were having a commitment ceremony. One of the men having the ceremony had a very supportive family, the other only had one cousin show up. Oh, how I cried for him. The exchange between him and his cousin was heartwrenching. Here is a set of photos of same sex marriages at San Francisco City Hall by Derek Powazek. Here is a love story by Michael and Fernando.

What is your "boiling point"?
Here is a segment from a show I've never seen. How long would you tolerate a waiter flirting with your date before you reached your boiling point?

I've always loved Diane Arbus. Her photos are haunting and voyeuristic. Here are some interviews with some of her subjects, way after the fact.

Here is Andy McKee via Mild, Mild West. He's pretty wonderful.

I've been fascinated with Inuit Throat Singing for a couple of years now. The whole idea of keeping this up until one of the singers stops makes my throat hurt. But then, after a little searching, I see that it's something that's done all over the world by indigenous peoples. Here's
Iqaluit Throat Singing, Mongolian Throat Singing, and Korean Throat Singing, and another of Iqaluit Throat Singing.

What is ghetto? All cultures have 'em. And while we're on stereotypes, how about this old Wendy's commercial?
Cynical-C forwarded the site, English Russia to me a couple of weeks ago and I love it!
Like this little compilation of Russian Big Brother. After a bottle of vodka, there's nothing like a good ass kicking. No?
North American TV needs to look to the East for reality TV...it's a lot more interesting.
Check out the Serbian version, 'Veliki Brat'. C'mon, you can't get better than that!
I've burned a lot of time watching Veliki Brat on YouTube...it's a laugh a minute.

You're FIRED! Courtesy of Kids in the Hall, and Daddy Drank.
My garbageman fantasy!

Now it's stuck in your head! Bwahahhahaha!

Keith Partridge really did have somethin' goin' on with Laurie! Gasp!

Remember the '80's? This is for you Rose!

I love Fawlty Towers. I always have, and I never get tired of the bits. For all of you who love it too...here are: Don't Mention the War!, Mrs. Richards, and The Wine List. I especially loved how the sign in the opening credits would always change...my favourite was "Flowery Twats".
While we're on British comedy, how about Elton John on Little Britain? Dawn French as Vicky Pollards mum, and while we're on Dawn French, Dawn is married to Lenny Henry, and he had his own show. Here's hilarious Mrs. Omokorede, Tanya Goes to Jamaica, and Tanya Does Her Driving Test.

That's all kids...

"My girlish days
All of my playmates is not surprised,
I had to travel 'fore I got wise
I found out better...
...And I still got my girlish ways"

~Pheobe Snow~In My Girlish Days

I don't know how long it took me to grow up, and in some ways I still don't feel grown.

Now, as I get older...sometimes I'm surprised by what I see when I look in the mirror, and other times I'm not surprised at all.

Is it really growing up?
Or is it accumulating sense?

You tell me.

Hyphy!



I read this article from The Star:

""Ghost riding the whip" is a stunt in which a driver gets out of his car and dances around and on top of the slowly moving vehicle to a thumping hip-hop beat".

I had to look it up on YouTube to see what they were on about.

Ahhh, teenagers....always thinkin' up new ways to kill themselves.

Ok.

Can we agree that Mexico isn't a safe holiday destination for Canadians?

Can we issue a travel warning, please?

Update: Ottawa's travel advisory to Canadians visiting Mexico.

Perfect!

"Kate Kretz's painting . . . gets its messages across . . . It presents Angelina Jolie as our nation's Madonna of Consumption. In a glory of siliconed breasts, collagened lips and foreign-adopted cherubs, Angelina reigns over Wal-Mart's banality -- its all-American brands, its all-American flag, its all-American obesity. The problem with the picture, art-wise, is that its messages are way TOO clear."

I'm sick to death of celebrity Madonna-ism.

I don't care what you do to try to erase your self-indulgent, low moral standardism. No amount of money changes bad moral character.
I've known many people in my life that went out of their way to help strangers, yet led lives of stingy, trifflin', back stabbin intemperance where people close to them were concerned.

It's easy to help, and love strangers.
The challenge is to do it with those that are close to you.

To do the right thing, even if it's uncomfortable or takes away from your immediate yearnings.

National De-Lurking Week.

Eva from And another thing... has alerted me to National De-Lurking week.

C'mon, would it kill you to say "hi"?

I know I've got lurkers...in Bowmanville, Croatia, Connecticut, Chile, New Jersey, Texas...and many more places...C'mon...just say:

"hi, I'm millin' and I'm willin' ".

Dear Actra,

Whose idea was it to strike?
When the film industry seems to be in a slump in this country, what with Hollywood actively working to keep filming in the states.

Weren't you paying attention when the NHL went on strike?
Did you notice that no one cared, or barely even paid attention?
Have you not noticed that we are swamped with American programming?

Way to make your situation worse than it already is.
Good going.

*Thumbs up*

Slap Happy Tigger

"An angry father claims a park employee dressed up as the Winnie the Pooh character Tigger intentionally smacked his son while they were posing for a photo".

Can you imagine what "cast members" put up with?

I'm not sayin'... I'm just sayin'

Sunday Click Around.

I've been fascinated with the British Series, Seven Up since I first heard about it (and watched a few episodes) in my early twenties. The idea of choosing a number of children in the second grade, and then following them through their lives at seven year intervals is a gigantic feat, and a captivating chronicle of human life.
These filmmakers have left an historical gift of life, and times in England for an entire generation.
The film clip I posted is of Paul... Wiki says: Paul, who was at a charity-based boarding school at 7, his parents having divorced and been left with his father. Soon after Seven Up! his father moved the family to Australia where he has remained in the Melbourne area ever since. The person whom most interested me in the series was Neil, who was homeless and clearly fighting mental health issues in the last episode I saw.
I am now dying to get my hands on 42UP and 49UP. Here's a little article from Time on the series.

While I was searching the site "Find a Death" which gives you the circumstances and details of famous peoples' deaths...don't ask...I don't know how I got there...I found Ken Atison Seiuli who is the drag queen that Eddie Murphy was giving a lift home to back in the '90's...and spawned all the "Eddie Murphy is gay" rumours. Apparently, "Shalomar" as Seiuli liked to be called fell off her apartment building to her death a couple of years after the controversy with Eddie Murphy.
Here is an article on the shady goings on surrounding the damage control Murphy's PR/Lawyers engaged in. Since then, Eddie has been rumoured to be on the "down low" with '90's crooner Johnny Gill. Johnny Gill's wife supposedly left him because of his relationship with Eddie, and Johnny moved onto Eddie's estate. Shortly after, Eddie and his wife divorced.
Just come out already.

Fans of SCTV and John Candy will remember "Magnum P.E.I". It brought back memories and a smile.

Here's a Bagel recipe from Rockin' Jellyfish...which I'll be trying for sure. I don't know when, but I will.

This Hinterland spoof video brought me back to middle school. While this is little video is a joke, The National Film Board of Canada was chock full of these back in the day, and if you search Hinterland on YouTube, they all come up. The flute music at the beginning will shoot any Canadian over 35 back to their boring grade 7 science class.

Lost in the Struggle is a Fifth Estate documentary, where filmmakers gave a couple of "thugs" from Jane and Finch, here in Toronto a camera and let them document themselves, and then interviewed them and pieced together an interesting piece on life on the streets of the Jane/Finch Corridor. While the 45 minute long documentary is interesting, I can't help but wonder how these guys aren't scared...if not for their lives from their "homies", then at least from the police who can watch the documentary and have them doing shit on film for the world to see. Either way, there's a website about the Jane/Finch community that features rap videos of residents who want to break into rap, as well as the positives that the community is doing.

Since I've been kind of down in the dumps lately, I've been searching out comedians...and I've found some pretty good ones. Here they are...click on their names for their stand up acts:
Ron Josol, Gerry Dee..who I've seen live and funnier....Bernie Mac #1 and #2 from The Kings of Comedy, Carlos Mencia, Ryan Younglao, KT Tatara, Matt Billon, Marina Franklin, the most recent bootlegged (I'm assuming) Russell Peters.

That's all for now, kids...

Buttermilk Cornbread



At Papamo

This is an amazing story.

Here is a report from MSNBC:


One thing I noticed is that Mayor Bloomberg did not return the embrace Wesley Autrey gave him. In this type of ceremony, would it not be appropriate to embrace someone who risked his life to save another?

Here is Wesley Autrey on David Letterman:

Roasted Red Peppers

and


Curry Shrimp at Papamo

Snuggles Fabric Softener

This morning while reporting on the cabinet shuffle, the radio announcer called Stephen Harper: "Brian Harper"...TWICE!!!

I found that funny, and so did he after he corrected himself.

Photo via: Charles LeBlanc Political ADHD Activist.

Don't Steal From The LCBO!



On the news tonight, I heard that they kicked the shit out of him for stealing a 26er of vodka...doesn't look like that to me.
If you're going to thieve something, isn't getting caught and all that goes with it part of the job pitfalls?

I dunno.
You have to take your lumps, no?

A Few of Things...

What?
No poor people in North America?

and...



" A two tonne bronze statue of a famed Ukrainian poet disappeared from an Oakville park sometime in late December. Investigators said the figure was cut at the feet to remove it from its stone pedestal."


I'll wait for the name of the guy who was arrested, but it has Russian job written all over it.




and...

This had better get the same media attention, and memorials as the Jane Creba murder...because this woman was at home, minding her own business when the doorbell rang...and she's not "blonde and cute", but a middle aged black woman who had lived a decent life and was somewhere that should be considered safe.

Her own home cooking, during a family gathering.
Both are holiday tragedies that merit equal attention.
Next year at this time, we should be remembering both Jane Creba and Jean Springer.

The Devil Wears Daisy Dukes, and Clear Heels.

I went on one of those obsessive searches that led me from Nat King Cole to Lady Saw.
Don't ask me how, because I can't remember the trail.
But, where I ended got me to thinking about a few things that I'd like to share with you, dear reader.

Over the past decade or so, I've been watching and listening to music lyrics decline. It's rare now to hear an actual love song. There are songs that have a good sound, and groove, and then I'll tune into the lyrics and cringe.
Sex is no longer an intimate and loving thing that is alluded to in a song, but has been downgraded to bumpin' in a dirty club bathroom behind your girlfriends back.

For example, this lovely sounding song by Timbaland & Magoo starts out nicely but inevitably ends up with: "Go slow & ill direct ur every move like a young benny boom afta beatin up your womb No need 2 put on perfume baby girl u leavin soon(kabhi mere paso jele aaja)Nobody gotta no ur thong waz maroon(teri hoo na) U no afta creepin out my room" (and apparently, there's no longer a need for correct spelling when you post the lyrics, either).

I felt the same about Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me".
Such a nice groove, with such a shitty message.
Anyhow, with all this talk about disrespecting women in rap and reggae, video after video of rappers sucking back Cristal from the bottle, with cigars hanging out of their mouthes while slapping women on the ass, rapping about bitches and 'ho's.... there are women who are also cashing in.

Lady Saw is one.

So, while I'm torn about having the right to do what you like, and being a trailblazer in areas that are generally dominated by men, I'm really not with the whole playing into the degradation of women as a whole thing.
Lady Saw, was dubbed "the first Lady of Dancehall"...however, I think "Lady" would be stretching it.

Wiki says: "Recording for the local Diamond label, she injected a heavy dose of sexually explicit lyrics, known as "slackness", into the music, but from her perspective as a female"...and "she suffered for her outspoken ways; she was banned from many events due to her lyrics. Even though male artists were performing similar lyrics and stage shows, it was Lady Saw that became a pariah for it and endured censorship and even outright banning in more than a few Jamaican parishes".

Now, for her to be banned "in more than a few Jamaican parishes", even The Mister agrees that she must be pretty "slack".

So of course, I looked her up and found her video "I've Got Your Man", and liked the tune but, again, the lyrics glorify female power, over...other women, because of a man.
Shitty message...like she's won some sort of prize instead of obtaining a cheating prick...anyway, on with the show.
How "slack" does Lady Saw get?
This...and ... this slack.

This my friends, is a sad direction for ladies to go.

That's all.

Stupid is as Stupid Does.

Ok, when I heard that the city was installing closed-circuit television cameras on Yonge Street between Queen and Gerrard Streets, I laughed a little.
Fair warning..."Ok, all you little gangbangers...you'll just have to take your retaliation shoot outs either north of Gerrard or south of Queen..."

I didn't think that someone would actually get caught on film shooting anyone, because while I'm fully convinced that the guys that do the shooting are not candidates for NASA, I didn't think they were full blown idiots either.

Apparently, they don't read the newspapers or listen to the radio because this whole camera thing has been a big debate in recent months..the whole privacy thing...which is a load of crap if you ask me.
If you're out in public, there is no such thing as privacy, the word "public" being the giveaway that you have no privacy ...so, I'm actually all for cameras on the streets, especially in this city where crime and shootings happen, and witnesses are mute.

I don't know who decides on stupid city planning ideas like Dundas Square, and then are shocked and appalled when there is increased violence.
Hmmmm, let's see...let's put an open space with benches and shit, across from the biggest downtown mall, and hangout for teens from all over the GTA...BRILLIANT!!!

Cameras in public places...bring 'em on, I say...

Oxtail Soup


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