As I did in 2007, to mark the passing of one year to another I thought would once again emulate the wonderful Mayfy Project and try to sum up the past twelve months in just 24 words. Mayfly creator Meg Pickard believes that embracing the constraint of summing up the last year in a handful of words helps to focus on what has really mattered. Here are mine:
Philip. Wedding. Jake. Love. Work. Stress. Egypt. Jordan. Lanai. True Colors. Obama. Prop 8. Absent friends. 22nd anniversary. Happiness and tears. op. No regrets.

From Cake Wrecks, my favorite baked treats this holiday season:

Please Don't Divorce Us!
A link to a very cool slide show that shows the human side of the race to nullify thousands of same sex marriages in California.

From cornpone queen Paula Deen we have a dish called "The Lady's Brunch Burger." Yeah, I don't know what lady is eating this - it's a hamburger topped with a fried egg and bacon, served on a glazed doughnut. Ingredients 1 1/2 pounds ground beef 3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves 2 tablespoons grated onion House Seasoning 2 tablespoons butter 3 eggs 6 slices bacon, cooked 3 hamburger buns 3 English muffins 6 glazed donuts Directions Mix the ground beef, chopped parsley and grated onion together in a large mixing bowl. Season liberally, with House Seasoning. Form 3 hamburger patties. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Add the burgers and cook until desired temperature, 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Fry bacon in a hot pan until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. Set aside. While burgers are cooking, heat a non-stick pan, over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter. Crack 3 eggs into the pan. Cook until the yolks are just set and still slightly runny and remove. Place burger patties on English muffins or buns, and if desired, on glazed donuts, as the buns. Top each burger with 2 pieces of bacon and a fried egg.

This is James Joseph Cialella of Philadelphia. A father and son were talking during a Christmas day screening of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Talking during a movie is extremely rude, so Mr. Cialella decided to put a stop to it. By shooting the father in the left arm with a .380-caliber handgun. He then sat back down and continued watching the movie, while everyone around him fled the theater and the police rushed to the scene. Psychopath or heroic vigilante: you be the judge. (Well, the shooter is crazy. But it IS annoying when people talk during a movie, even when they are small children, and it's Christmas. Did I tell you about the time this twenty-something gal in the row behind me put her dirty shoe next to my head during a screening of "Casino Royale?")

When I was a kid we used to run outside on Christmas morning and tell our friends what Santa had brought us. He was very nice to me this year! I got:

USB Cassette Adapter (transfers your cassette tapes to MP3s) Ultimate Ears Super.Fi Headphones "Mystery of the Abbey" Board Game "Arkham Horror" Board Game "Wii Music"

"TV Show King Party" for Wii "The Price is Right" for Wii The latest installment of "Futurama" on DVD Season 1 of "Pushing Daisies" on DVD A pair of blue jeans

Clairisonic Face Scrubbing System A wallet A neck scarf Department store gift cards and a bunch of edible goodies, including "Redneck Spices"

From the 1971 Sears Wish Book, my favorite toys of that year:

The GI Joe Action Adventurer Talking Commander and his Scout Helicopter. Wow, I loved patrolling the backyard with that big yellow copter with its clear windscreen - it was HUGE!

Melissa Etheridge writes about Rev. Rick Warren on The Huffington Post today:

"This is a message for my brothers and sisters who have fought so long and so hard for gay rights and liberty. We have spent a long time climbing up this mountain, looking at the impossible, changing a thousand year-old paradigm. We have asked for the right to love the human of our choice, and to be protected equally under the laws of this great country. The road at times has been so bloody, and so horrible, and so disheartening. From being blamed for 9/11 and Katrina, to hateful crimes committed against us, we are battle weary. We watched as our nation took a step in the right direction, against all odds and elected Barack Obama as our next leader. Then we were jerked back into the last century as we watched our rights taken away by prop 8 in California. Still sore and angry we felt another slap in the face as the man we helped get elected seemingly invited a gay-hater to address the world at his inauguration.

I hadn't heard of Pastor Rick Warren before all of this. When I heard the news, in its neat little sound bite form that we are so accustomed to, it painted the picture for me. This Pastor Rick must surely be one hate spouting, money grabbing, bad hair televangelist like all the others. He probably has his own gay little secret bathroom stall somewhere, you know. One more hater working up his congregation to hate the gays, comparing us to pedophiles and those who commit incest, blah blah blah. Same 'ole thing. Would I be boycotting the inauguration? Would we be marching again?

Well, I have to tell you my friends, the universe has a sense of humor and indeed works in mysterious ways. As I was winding down the promotion for my Christmas album I had one more stop last night. I'd agreed to play a song I'd written with my friend Salman Ahmed, a Sufi Muslim from Pakistan. The song is called "Ring The Bells," and it's a call for peace and unity in our world. We were going to perform our song for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a group of Muslim Americans that tries to raise awareness in this country, and the world, about the majority of good, loving, Muslims. I was honored, considering some in the Muslim religion consider singing to be against God, while other Muslim countries have harsh penalties, even death for homosexuals. I felt it was a very brave gesture for them to make. I received a call the day before to inform me of the keynote speaker that night... Pastor Rick Warren. I was stunned. My fight or flight instinct took over, should I cancel? Then a calm voice inside me said, "Are you really about peace or not?"

I told my manager to reach out to Pastor Warren and say "In the spirit of unity I would like to talk to him." They gave him my phone number. On the day of the conference I received a call from Pastor Rick, and before I could say anything, he told me what a fan he was. He had most of my albums from the very first one. What? This didn't sound like a gay hater, much less a preacher. He explained in very thoughtful words that as a Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone. He believed every loving relationship should have equal protection. He struggled with proposition 8 because he didn't want to see marriage redefined as anything other than between a man and a woman. He said he regretted his choice of words in his video message to his congregation about proposition 8 when he mentioned pedophiles and those who commit incest. He said that in no way, is that how he thought about gays. He invited me to his church, I invited him to my home to meet my wife and kids. He told me of his wife's struggle with breast cancer just a year before mine.

When we met later that night, he entered the room with open arms and an open heart. We agreed to build bridges to the future.

Brothers and sisters the choice is ours now. We have the world's attention. We have the capability to create change, awesome change in this world, but before we change minds we must change hearts. Sure, there are plenty of hateful people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket. But there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise that are beginning to listen. They don't hate us, they fear change. Maybe in our anger, as we consider marches and boycotts, perhaps we can consider stretching out our hands. Maybe instead of marching on his church, we can show up en mass and volunteer for one of the many organizations affiliated with his church that work for HIV/AIDS causes all around the world.

Maybe if they get to know us, they wont fear us.

I know, call me a dreamer, but I feel a new era is upon us.

I will be attending the inauguration with my family, and with hope in my heart. I know we are headed in the direction of marriage equality and equal protection for all families.

Happy Holidays my friends and a Happy New Year to you.

Peace on earth, goodwill toward all men and women... and everyone in-between."

Michael Derry at Troy Comics pretty much sums up how a lot of gay folks feel about Barack Obama's choice to have right-winger Rev. Rick Warren officiate at his inauguration.

Sponsors of the Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, are now seeking to nullify the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in the state after the Supreme Court ruled them constitutional. Wow! An early gift placed under my tree! Merry Christmas!

• Exclamations of "Awesome!"
• Children named "Caylee"
• "Mavericks"
• Pseudo-plumbers and their pseudonyms
• "You betcha!"
• Somali pirates
• Hasselbecks
• Prop 8
• Magic underpants
• Public rudeness
• Bailouts
• Michael Phelps attempting to do anything but swim
• Anything starring Matthew McConaughey, Owen Wilson or Vince Vaughn
• Dirty airplane interiors and baggage fees
• Purchasing beer at drugstores, with pennies and a baby on your arm

President Bush's official portrait was unveiled at the Smithsonian today. This is how he greeted it. Kind of sums things up, no?

Beamin' at you from 1977: "The Carpenters at Christmas" with special guests Kristy McNichol and Harvey Korman!

Just in time for Christmas, a Japanese TV program humiliates cats by placing them in cutesy outfits for your enjoyment.

Michael Jackson did some Christmas shopping in Los Angeles yesterday. Odd and frightening, yes, but the scariest of all the images? The backseat of the limo:

What's with the photo collage of babies? Chills. And not the Christmas snow kind.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist married businesswoman Carole Rome in St. Pete last night. I guess gay people CAN get married in Florida!

Nothing quite satisfies the craving for fried breaded fish, processed orange cheese, and gloppy, tangy, pickle-studded mayonnaise on a soft, squishy bun. And if there is enough tartar sauce dripped out to dunk the fries in, even better. Yea or Nay?
(When I'm sick this is one food I always get a craving for...and apparently they're a detainee favorite at Guantanamo Bay...not sure what either of those things mean.)

An ingenious use of the materials at hand yields a useful iPhone accessory for your next plane flight. Hey, it sure beats letting your arm get all tired out from holding it up trying to watch a feature length film! Source: Hodenmumps.to

Just in time for the holidays, I have a few questions surrounding the Rankin/Bass "AniMagic" specials that helped shape my childhood:

If this troubled elf's name is Hermey, why does everyone call him "Herbie?"

What exactly was the problem that made this doll a "misfit?"

And if Snow Miser and Heat Miser are both Mother Natures' sons, why does Snow Miser refer to Heat Miser as his "step-brother?" They would be half-brothers, no? And what kind of marriage / divorce sequence went on there?

Am I the only male in his mid-forties that read these weird "Partridge Family" mysteries as a kid? Weird because, really, were the Partridges normally in the habit of solving mysteries? It's like an alternate universe version of the TV show in which the comedy is replaced by ominous crime and danger. I have to say that "The Haunted Hall," "Terror by Night" and "Marked for Terror" scared the crap out of me when I was a tween. I bailed after #14, oddly entitled "Thirteen at Killer Gorge" (couldn't they have made this one #13??)

I am oddly intrigued with this show on the Planet Green channel, "supperclub with Tom Bergeron." As pretentious as the purposeful run-together lower-capitalization of the title implies, viewers are treated as silent guests at a "green" dinner party hosted by semi-annoying Tom Bergeron in an "eco-friendly" house in Venice, California. Ay yi yi! The most recent one had a panel of guests that included the faintly self-righteous founder of TreePeople and Albert Brooks' brother, Bob Einstein, who was cantankerous and annoying to everyone in attendance. Seriously, he has become more whiny than Larry David if that's even possible. The most compelling element? The "Sturgeon Confit" was prepared by Harrison Ford's unbelievably magnetic son, chef Ben Ford:

Fascinated as I am with airline travel, and especially the horrible artwork sometimes presented on the safety cards in the seatback pocket in front of you, I present:

Is that Willy Wonka running for the exit slide in illustration five? Source: i36.tinypic.com.

And can I say that after laying in bed for a week, drifting in and out of consciousness with the TV on, I come away with this one pervading thought: we must stop the overuse of the exclamation "Awesome!" in our culture immediately. I mean it. Examples that I can remember during the past week:

• Discovery Channel's "Cash Cab": "We had an awesome time!"

• Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters": Whenever there is an explosion - "Awesome!"

• Food Network: Practically every other word out of Guy Fieri's mouth is "Awesome!" The butter is "Awesome!" The broiled steak is "Awesome!"

• Bravo: "The Real Housewives of Orange County" think they invented the word.

• Travel Channel's "Walt Disney World Tips": "Awesome job!" (This was yelled at a child disembarking from the Buzz Lightyear attraction.) Moments later, mother says "Let's head to another ride" to which the response is "Awesome!" Then a minute or two later we are told that the food at the Wilderness Lodge is "awesome!" I had to turn away before my head exploded.

There are scores more examples, but they are lost to my NyQuil haze. Please people, I beseech you...when you hear this exclaimed for some rather ordinary event, politely inform the speaker that it really isn't necessary to classify EVERYTHING as AWESOME!

...like this little bit of fun, "Prop 8 - The Musical." In case you haven't already seen it, the comedic song-and-dance diatribe about the California ballot initiative against same-sex marriage was written and assembled in less than a week by "Hairspray" composer Marc Shaiman and stars a cast of dozens, including John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, Neil Patrick Harris, Margaret Cho, Maya Rudolph and Jack Black as Jesus. In just one day on the net, it became an instant sensation, receiving more than 1.2 million hits. Naturally, the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission now wants an apology from Mr. Black and the other participants...mostly because Jack Black is fat and Jesus was not - they feel obliged to mention his being "rotund" in their letter of outrage.

...and I haven't posted since the Sunday after Thanksgiving because I've been terribly sick with a viral respiratory infection. I have been unable to get out of bed all damn week! Taking massive amounts of antibiotics and fluids and am finally able to sit up and use the computer today...although I now feel like I am at the level of normal sick - just racking cough, sneezing and occasional chills. Wow, seems like I missed a lot in the world...

Purchased this year's tree at our favorite tree spot, a giant lot at the Present Perfect Nursery in Pasadena. Great selection, negotiable prices and they load it up and tie it down for you. I have to say I also love the giant, faintly evil-looking fiberglass Santa that presides over the place.

Once we got the tree home, Philip set to putting the lights on - with the caveat that he was only to put one string in each extension cord socket slot and not double or triple up with piggybacked light sets (last year he managed to MELT a couple of extension cords with the intense heat). Jeannette stopped by to return a stepladder she had borrowed, so we set her to work putting on the ornaments. By the time we finished, I started feeling achy all over and my sinuses started to collapse...

And now, direct from Rick's Cooking School we have a photo essay on Thanksgiving meal prep. First, brining the free-range turkey in buttermilk, salt and herbs:

Making fresh cranberry-orange-ginger relish:

Baking a chocolate pecan pie:

Preparing the stuffing:

Stuffed and buttered bird:

Preparing the Green Bean and Artichoke casserole:

Preparing the Corn Souffle:

Turkey after roastng:

Finished Corn Souffle:

Finished Green Bean and Artichoke Casserole:

Finished dishes:

And the end result:

WOW! I triple-love the 120-foot Sea Serpent balloon that appeared in the 1938 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Via design:related.com.

As if last night's events weren't weird enough, there was tonight:

First, we ordered pizza and made the mistake of trying to watch "Rosie Live." OMG, so, so very horrible I can't even begin to convey the epic failure: Rosie's endless off-key warbling, a singing and dancing appearance by walking corpse Liza Minelli, Alec Baldwin whispering into Rosie's cleavage, gay jokes by Clay Aiken, a striptease dance by Jane Krakowski who sang about White Castle burgers and Crest White Strips. Truly a disaster...we bailed at the 30-minute mark. I know she's one of my people and I'm supposed to support her, but damn, it was so bad. As my friend Jeannette would say, "I can't take that ride."

So then there was the fire we lit in the fireplace - first of the season, given the cold wet weather we had today. The chimney flue was open, but I guess not all the way, because after 90 minutes of crackling flame enjoyment, the house started filling with smoke. We tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher to get some relief, but the blasts of retardant just made more smoke and the log in the fireplace was still ablaze. We were about to calll the fire department when Philip hit on the idea of trying to carry the log outside. He got a bucket, I doused the flaming log with retardant, and he was able to pick it up with tongs and get it into the bucket. He ran outside with it and put it out with the garden hose. The house was filled with acrid smoke - we had to open up all the windows and doors and use box fans to help blow it outside.

Can I tell you about the bizarre and frustrating events of this evening?

I got home from work and greeted my hungry and thirsty dog. While fetching him some water at the sink, the cookbooks, mixing bowl and weight scale that I have on the top shelf of the baker's rack in my kitchen all flew off and came crashing down on me. (turns out Philip had taken away his grandmother's recipe box, which had been holding the books up, causing a chain reaction fall.) Startled, I left the tap running in the sink while I bent down to pick up the mess. That's when I noticed that there were torrents of water gusing from the undersink cabinet. The drain pipes under the kitchen sink had spontaneously seperated and I spent an hour putting them back together and tightening them up (badly bruising my hand in the process).

Then the holiday groceries that I had ordered online (to avoid the pre-Thanksgiving madness of the crowded store) arrived. After the delivery guy left, I noticed that the order was completely screwed up - many items just not there, others substituted with unacceptable replacements (requested ears of fresh corn appeared as a bag of frozen kernels, pickled spiced ginger instead of ginger root). So, I changed my wet shirt and headed to the grocery store. The parking lot was madness, I had to swerve to avoid being hit by a massive SUV. Once inside, shoppers were frantic, some spinning in full circles with their shopping carts in the aisles, some screaming and yelling. I saw a dazed-looking 80-ish year old woman get hit with a huge trolley of frozen turkeys that toppled onto her (she just walked away and I encountered her staring blankly in another aisle). Bought a baked apple pie, the missing ingredients for my Thanksgiving meal and headed home.

Unloading the groceries in my driveway, I became aware that there were scores of police cars, firetrucks and ambulances barreling through the neighborhood. Police helicopters with search lights were flying low and noisily overhead. It sounded like the neighborhood was under seige. Found out later that there was some kind of spontaneous block-long brawl on the street two blocks south, with people smacking each other around with baseball bats and chains. Nice!

Once Philip got home I recounted my evening. He took one look at the apple pie and said, "You're not going to like this." Through the window of the still-sealed box, we could see flies zipping all around insde. Clearly they were getting an early start on their Thanksgiving dessert.

I have a proposal for a new chain of hotels - "Comfort Sleep" let's call it. Because your fellow travelers are selfish pigs who don't care about the noise and filth that they generate, this concept will boast several innovative features to ensure your comfort:

• Triple insulated walls, ceilings and doors.

• Decibel meters on guest room doors - each slam over 70 dB after 8:00 pm and before 10 am will result in an automatic $25.00 charge to the offender's guest bill.

• Security cameras will cover every inch of the hallways, and any voices raised above 70dB after 8:00 pm will trigger automatic photography of the offenders. Pics will be posted on screens in the lobby and on in-room television channels, with mocking caption phrases superimposed a la "Blind Date."

• Ambient noise channels on in-room televisions will have black screens and sound selections such as "Ocean Waves," "Babbling Brook" and "White Noise."

• Parents allowing children to run amok at any time of day will be immediately arrested and charged with disturbing the peace. Additionally, parents placing a diapered baby in the swimming pool will be immediately arrested and charged with creating a public health hazard.

• In addition to regular housekeeping, rooms will be sanitized by blasts of UV light from devices embedded in walls and ceilings.

• TV remotes will be sprayed with Lysol by housekeepers after each check-out. Lysol cans will also be provided in each bathroom.

• Hallways will be monitored and patrolled to immediately remove used room service trays - no more having to look at a gnawed chicken bone and half a glass of Merlot as you head back to your room.

• Air conditioning and heating controls will be independent in each room and will be guaranteed to take the room to whatever temperature the guest desires, no matter what the weather is like outside. Want to run the a/c in winter or the heat in summer? No problem, your wish is our command!

Philip and I had a fab time at the matinee performance of "Xanadu" at the La Jolla Playhouse yesterday. The play is great, great fun - a terrific spoof of the beloved 80's film flop, filled with lotsa laughs and all of the terrific ELO / Olivia Newton John tunes that I grew up with. Elizabeth Stanley is an excellent Kira - she's got great big expressive eyes, wonderful comic timing and a perfectly horrible Aussie accent. Max von Essen is very, very funny as the dopey Sonny, even though his thighs aren't nearly as impressive as those found on Broadway's Cheyenne Jackson. Much of the parody (and its very gay sensibility) seemed to be lost on the senior citizens that comprised 80% of the audience, though - they sat stony-faced and silent through much of the 90 minutes, and especially didn't like the jokes about Andrew Lloyd Webber and Southern California. No matter. I had a huge dopey grin on my face the entire time and Philip had a blast. Can a stage version of "Can't Stop the Music" be on the horizon??

Domestic Partnership benefits? Oh yeah, they mean to take those away too.

It was only a matter of time until the backers of Florida's Amendment 2 proved exactly how dishonest they were during their lie-filled campaign against domestic partnership benefits in the state - despite saying it would have "no effect on benefits" and it was "only about one thing - marriage."

David Caton, executive director of the religulous Florida Family Association (one of the groups that backed Amendment 2), says he will push for a change to the Hillsborough County Charter in 2010 to preemptively ban same-sex domestic partnership benefits for county employees. That's right, banning all benefits. This is exactly what the gay community warned would happen and the amendment backers swore wouldn't. Wanna visit your partner in the hospital or get them on your health insurance? Fat chance if the FFA has their way.

Isn't lying a sin?

Via Pam's House Blend.

The facts are these:
I learned today that one of my favorite shows, "Pushing Daisies," was canceled - 410 days, 18 hours and 52 seconds after its premiere. And they are going to leave us with a cliffhanger on the last episode. Feh. This was just a matter of time, the writing and art direction were far too clever for middle-America. Bring on another night of "Dancing With the Stars!"

"In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS's '60 Minutes' on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a president who speaks English as if it were his first language."

Andy Borowitz via Huffington Post.

Loving this song...!

Barbara Eden's Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms
24 large mushrooms
2 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
4 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 tablespoons bread crumbs
4 ounces crabmeat, rinsed and tossed
with 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons cognac
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Remove mushroom stems. Combine 2 tablespoons of the Romano cheese with remaining ingredients in a bowl; beat with mixer for 5 minutes. Fill mushrooms with a 1/2-inch crown left on top.

Lightly butter a large baking sheet and arrange stuffed mushrooms with a space between. Bake 10 minutes. Remove mushrooms from oven; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons Romano cheese. Heat broiler.

Place mushrooms under broiler until cheese is melted and golden brown. Oh, Master!

For those hard-to-shop-for types on your holiday gift list, may I suggest:

From the Los Angeles Times:

"The California Supreme Court agreed today to review legal challenges to Prop. 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a ruling. Meeting in closed session, the state high court asked litigants on both sides for more written arguments and scheduled a hearing for next March. The court also signaled its intention to decide the fate of existing same-sex marriages, asking litigants to argue that question.

Today's decision to review the lawsuits against Proposition 8 did not reveal how the court was leaning. The court could have dismissed the suits, but both opponents and supporters of Proposition 8 sought review to settle legal questions on a matter of statewide importance. Some legal challengers also sought an order that would have permitted same-sex couples to marry until the cases were resolved, a position opposed by Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and Proposition 8 supporters. Only Justice Carlos R. Moreno voted in the private conference to grant such a stay."

So...we have to wait at least four months before we have a ruling. And should the judges rule in favor of same-sex marriage, religionists plan to target them for recall:

"...opponents of gay marriage have warned that they will work to oust any justice who votes against Proposition 8, a threat particularly palpable in a year when voters in other states have booted six state high court justices after campaigns by special interest groups."

Damn the minorities! Yay! Mob rule!

The following companies donated to YES ON 8:

AES Corp.
Affiliated Computer Services
AgReserves
American Express
Avista Corp.
American Express Company
Azul
Beneficial Financial Group
Bonneville International Corporation
Black & Decker
Brigham Young University
Cadence Design
Cornerstone Realty Income Trust Inc
Corvis
Central Pacific Bank
1-800-Contacts
Cygnus Inc.
Diebold
Dell Computer
Deseret Management Corporation
Dionex
Downey Savings and Loan
EarthShell
El Coyote Restaurant
Fisher-Price, Inc
Five Star Quality Care, Inc.
Franklin Covey
Hillenbrand Industries
Headwaters, Inc.
Heinz Asia/Pacific
Hollywood Entertainment (Hollywood Video)
Host Marriott (Marriot Hotels and Resorts)
Iomega
JetBlue
JP Realty KeyCorp
Knight Transportation
Kroger Foods (Ralphs and Albertsons)
K-Swiss Inc.
La Quinta Properties, Inc (La Quinta Hotels)
Micrel Semiconductor
Micro General
Merit Medical Systems
Monaco Coach
Microsemi Corp.
Myriad Genetics
Novell
NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
NuSkin
Oil States International
Oakley
Priceline.com Inc.
Phelps Dodge Corp.
Ryder Systems
SkyWest Airlines
Specta
Sunrider International
Swift Transportation
Tropical Sportswear
Williams Companies, Inc.
Zions Bancorp

Radio Stations:
Chicago KTMX-FM and WCLR-FM
Dallas KAAM-AM, KZPS-FM and KAFM-FM
Kansas City KMBZ-AM and KMBR-FM
Los Angeles KBIG-FM
New York WNSR-FM
Phoenix KMEO-AM/FM
Salt Lake KSL-AM
San Francisco KOIT-AM/FM
Seattle KIRO-AM and KSEA-FM

Wow, Diebold is not a shock, but Fisher-Price? Sigh. I've already shredded my AmEx cards and it looks like no more grocery shopping at Ralphs - I wonder what the Tesco position on equal rights is? I love Fresh n' Easy and will gladly shop there instead.

Wow, today's anti-Prop 8 protest in downtown Los Angeles was the tonic my disheartened soul needed. How thrilling to be in such a throng of supporters! We had rousing speeches from the mayor, city attorney and others - and were cheered on by Matt Lucas from "Little Britain," Ricki Lake and Xena herself, Lucy Lawless. Pic above featuring Barry, Dudley and Philip is from my camera. Pics below from the Associated Press (!) including one of Philip and I with the signs and "Defend Equality" t-shirts we made last night.

Apparently the telephone connections between California and Florida haven't been working since election night. That seems to be the reason why my family hasn't called to express any kind of concern about the voters taking away my civil rights a week ago. Also, they haven't heard anything about it on the news.

Keith Olbermann eloquently spoke out about Prop 8 and the meaning of marriage on tonight's "Countdown."

A bunch of Oxford researchers have compiled a list of the Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English language:
10. "It's not rocket science" 9. "24/7" 8. "Shouldn't of" 7. "It's a nightmare" 6. "Absolutely" 5. "With all due respect" 4. "At this moment in time" 3. "I personally" 2. "Fairly unique" 1. "At the end of the day"

And can I please add a few?

“Perfect storm” "Do the math” "Keep me in the loop" "Awesome!!"

"According to Government Technology, engineers at the University of Washington have developed contact lenses with integrated circuitry. Although the lenses have only been tested on animals, researchers are working on having electronic lenses overlay a display over a person's visual field without impairing sight. Researchers hope that the lenses, once completed, will allow users to zoom in on distant objects and see useful facts. Future applications might allow drivers and pilots to see their direction and speed projected across their view or to surf the Web without a monitor. The circuit components would be powered by integrated solar cells and a wireless radio-frequency receiver." via The Huffington Post

Wow-wee! The future promised in the 1970s is finally here!

Excerpt from IRS tax law:

"In general, no organization, including a church, may qualify for IRC section 501(c)(3) status if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation (commonly known as lobbying)."

Mormons, much? http://www.mormonsstoleourrights.com/

Next Saturday, November 15, in cities all over the country. 10:30 am Pacific / 1:30 pm Eastern.

Jake lounging in the backyard yesterday afternoon.

"The most revealing statistic from the Proposition 8 exit polls is not, as many have argued, that 70% of African Americans voted for it (African Americans constituted only about 6% of the electorate, so to blame Prop 8's passage on black people is to miss the statistical boat by a mile). Rather, we should be focusing on the fact that 61% of voters under 30 voted against the measure, regardless of their race. Break that statistic down further, and you'll see that opposition was strongest among voters under 24. The older the voter, the more likely he or she was to have supported the amendment.

In other words, the generation that will inherit the politisphere strongly favors equal rights for all citizens. The sun is setting on those who would bar their neighbors from participating in our institutions on the basis of race, creed, or sexual orientation.

Ironically, the election that brought us Proposition 8 also brought us the most compelling evidence that discriminatory measures like Proposition 8 have a short life expectancy. As Judith Warner noted in her eloquent editorial yesterday, the people for whom race loomed largest in this election tended to be older folks. Sure, young Americans with a sense of history (ourselves included) were deeply touched by the symbolic importance of Obama's victory. We cried a bit, sang a bit, shouted and danced around a bit. But race has just never been as big a deal for us as it was for people of our parents' generation.

So it will go with the struggle against marital discrimination. We shall overcome this, too. The last word will belong to the young people who stood up overwhelmingly against Proposition 8. That doesn't take away any of the sting for the people whose lives have been affected by this ugly turn. But perhaps the inevitability of victory will give strength to those who carry on the fight."

- Todd Palmer and Rob Pringle, via The Huffington Post

From the Los Angeles Times: Demonstrators take to the streets by the thousands Thursday at the Mormon temple in Westwood to protest against Proposition 8. Philip went to the protest last night in West Hollywood with 15 of his co-workers.
Keep hope alive.

There's a day of hope
May I live to see,
When our hearts are happy
And our souls are free.
Let the new day dawn,
Oh, Lord, I pray.
We'll never get to heaven
Till we reach that day.
Give the people
A day of peace.
A day of pride.
A day of justice
We have been denied.
Let the new day dawn,
Oh, Lord, I pray...
We'll never get to heaven
Till we reach that day.

"Til' We Reach That Day" - Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

All the presidents' heads. From PatrickMoberg.com.

Proposal One: I am all about PROTECTING MARRIAGE. All for the SAKE OF THE CHILDREN. Because children need a MOTHER AND A FATHER and a REAL FAMILY, right? Therefore, I propose a ballot initiative that would make divorce a felony. That's right, get hetero married all you want, but if you endanger the CHILDREN and the FAMILY by getting a divorce or even consider a "trial separation," you go directly to prison. Minimum five-year term. Gay Americans will be collecting signatures for our petition to get this on every state ballot at all cocktail bars, stage musicals and hair salons effective immediately.
Proposal Two: All children's' Christmas presents from their gay aunts and uncles will now be donations in their name to the equal rights organizations of our choosing. As will their birthday presents, wedding presents, graduation presents, and everything else we gay people give going forward, until parity is achieved.
Proposal Three: All gay people will make it their mission to go out and marry the oppositie sex daughters and sons of Proposition 8 supporters. Hey, loveless hetero marriage - it's legal! We will then make it our mission to ensure that their lives are horrible and disastrous for decades to come.

From the Los Angeles Times today: "Bob Knoke, of Mission Viejo, Amanda Stanfield, of Monrovia, Jim Domen, of Yorba Linda, and J.D. Gaddis, of Yorba Linda, celebrate returns for Proposition 8 at an Irvine hotel."

Why are they SO happy? Wow, depriving others of their civil rights must be quite a heady thrill. Jesus would be so proud of them and their accomplishment, no?

UNBELIEVABLY overjoyed and happy that America elected its first African-American President last night, but that exuberance has been dampened because a fear-mongering church has been able to pass a piece of legislation that writes hate and discrimination into the California Constitution. Ahhh, the old one step forward, two steps back adage, eh? Sigh.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

From the New York Times: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?"

Halloween may be over, but the thought of permanent same-sex marriage on the books is frightening some California residents. From the Orange County Register: Peggy and Terence Carey of Fullerton adjust wind-blown signs after placing 54 'Yes on 8' signs on their front lawns.

Some shots of the spooky graveyard that I created in the front yard this year. The fog machine will be on full tilt tonight, and we have some awesome candy for the roaming ghouls!

From Apple's "Hot News" page: "Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8." Makes me glad I have given them so much of my money over the years!

One of my favorite things to do in L.A. is attending Dennis Hensley's "MisMatch Game," a filthy parody of the classic '70s game show held now and again at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. This week, the cast of crazies is putting on a benefit performance for the "No on 8" campaign:

Hilarity always ensues - here's a NSFW clip from a previous show:

Humorist David Sedaris writes about undecided voters in the current issue of "The New Yorker:"

"Some insist that there’s very little difference between candidate A and candidate B. Others claim that they’re with A on defense and health care but are leaning toward B when it comes to the economy.

I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

I get this catalog in the mail every now and again from a high-end leisure clothing retailer called J.L. Powell, and it's filled with pics of this uber-masculine model. He's got a scruffy face and is pictured doing lots of manly-type things like wading in rivers and flying in cargo planes. Not sure it makes me want to buy a $200 plaid shirt or a $600 pair of waders, but it sure is fun to look at...

The new Mrs. Paul? Yes, that's right - unbelievably, David Beckham has some fish sticks to sell you. It's unclear whether or not they come with little packets of tartar sauce mix (mmm...frozen pickle relish).

A Halloween cocktail suggestion for your consideration: The Brain Hemorrhage. Looks cool, supposedly tastes like Peaches and Cream. The recipe:

Take 1/2 - 3/4 oz. Peach Schnapps Float 1-2 Tbl. of Baileys on top Drop 1 tsp of grenadine through the Baileys

Can I just say that it is incredible to me that someone would sit in a public bathroom stall and carry on a conversation on their cell phone. How exactly do you explain the flushes and other noises to the party on the other end of the conversation? And how am I supposed to relax enough to do my business when you are chatting up Grandma in the next stall? Do us all a favor, don't answer until you get off the pot, thanks.

A terrific PSA that lays it on the line about Prop 8. Hope this gets played a zillion times between now and November 4.

When I was 15 years old, the man who lived across the street asked me if I could do him a favor. I was a little dubious, because my family really didn't know him very well...but I was a trusting kid, so I said, "Sure, what do you need?" Turned out that his request was an innocent one: could I use a ladder to climb atop his roof and turn his television antenna? (Yes, these were the days before cable or satellite dishes). The task seemed simple enough, so up I went. I climbed the ladder, scrabbled onto the sloped roof, went to the antenna and turned it in the direction he specified. "Hold on," he called to me from below, "Let me check out the reception." He went inside and I waited patiently atop the hot roof in the Florida sun. "That's much better!," he called to me from below, "You can come down now." I made my way down the slope, positioned myself above the ladder and lowered my foot down. Although my foot made contact with the top of the ladder, that was the last time the ladder and I actually had any kind of cooperative working arrangement. It began to wobble and I lost my footing, toppling off the side of the roof. I fell quickly - it was all a blur - and I landed directly on top of the nice neighbor man below. I don't think he was hurt - at least I can't remember him screaming or anything. I know I was okay, since he pretty much broke my fall with his body. After laying there in stunned silence for a moment, I scrambled off of him in embarrassment. He asked if I was okay and I nodded yes, then I slunk back across the street. It was the last time he ever asked a favor of anyone in my household.

Who's more cantankerous? In Column A, there's humorless Mark Wahlberg, who got pissy over a recent "Saturday Night Live" skit in which he was portrayed talking to barnyard animals. In Column B we have Ringo Starr, who rejects any further attention from fans in an irritable video in which he repeats "Peace and Love" in an expressionless monotone. Cast your vote by dialing "Irascible Idols" and pressing 1 or 2.

Fun apocalyptic image via laist.com.

Fun apocalyptic image via Better Homes and Gardens.com.

This afternoon Philip and I attended a matinee of "9 to 5," the new Broadway-bound musical created by Dolly Parton and the film's original screenwriter, Patricia Resnick. It's a fun show and I did laugh a lot, but, as Dolly might say in her Tennessee twang, "Well, it ain't the greatest thing I've ever seen." The cast is strong, with great performances from Megan Hilty and Stephanie J. Block (doing a spot-on homage to Dolly's Doralee character), but I was initially put off by Allison Janney's inability to hold a musical note. After a while though, I gave in to her acting charms - hell, if Lauren Bacall could sing in a musical, why not Allison Janney? The sets and direction are technically gorgeous and the staging of the fantasy sequence where the gals dream of killing Mr. Hart in various ways is adapted from the film in very clever ways. Choreography is a bit clunky, though, and some of the country cornpone could be toned down a notch. Additionally, the show seems out of balance - the first act is REALLY LONG, and the second act is REALLY SHORT, so the wrap-up feels very rushed and a bit unsatisfying. With a bit of retooling, this could be a huge hit on Broadway - the masses will adore it.

The Connecticut Supreme Court gave gay and lesbian couples the right to marry today, ruling that civil unions relegate them to a "separate" and "inferior status" that falls short of full equality. Wow, only 47 more to go!

Wow wee! A map of all the disasters happening all over the world right now, in real time.

Sarah Palin sure likes to talk a lot about her constituents, Hockey Moms and Joe Sixpack. So what do these "average Americans" actually look like? Some possibilities:

via BuzzFeed.

One of our favorite places to eat, Michelangelo Ristorante in Silver Lake, just moved to a bigger location and got a great review in the LA Times. So happy for these guys - we've been customers since they opened in 1997 and know what a roller-coaster-ride it has been for them recently.

_____________________

Neighborhood Favorite Packs the House After a Big Move
By Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, September 29, 2008

SINCE opening in modest Silver Lake digs more than a decade ago, Michelangelo RistoranteMichelangelo Ristorante has been one of the neighborhood's best-kept secrets. Now that it has moved to a larger location on Rowena Avenue, the cannoli is out of the bag. It isn't uncommon to see a line out front, and prime-time weekend reservations are harder to come by.

This may not please its regulars, but it's a welcome development for the genial Italian brothers who own the place and run it with the help of several family members.

"It was very hard for us" when Michelangelo opened in 1997, says Antonio Stifano, who handles the business side of things while his brother Giuseppe cooks with the help, and recipes, of their mother, Domenica Simone. "We were just happy to have food and a job. We were dragging people in saying, 'Try our pizza.' "

The brothers were born to Italian immigrant parents in Caracas, Venezuela, where their aunt and uncle ran an Italian restaurant that employed their mother. "She was always feeding us with the dishes that people are craving now," says Antonio Stifano, who speaks Italian, Spanish and English fluently. His linguistic skills serve him well. Part of Michelangelo's allure is the brothers' penchant for chatting with the customers. "This is where we live," he says. "This dining room is where people come to visit us."

The new Michelangelo is indeed a homey destination. It occupies the spot that once housed Flor Morena, and Antonio Stifano designed and decorated it himself. An exposed concrete ceiling and pillars complement elaborate glass-crystal chandeliers; slender rectangular windows with wooden shutters look out on a bustling patio; polished nut-brown wood tables sit astride plush banquettes; and thoughtful flourishes -- a gilded mirror here, a vase of flowers there -- are everywhere.

However, the food -- traditional, made-from-scratch Italian cuisine -- is the draw. Start off your meal with the creamy homemade burrata mozzarella on toasted bread with roasted red peppers or the crisp bresaola salad made with fresh dark greens and salty, thin slices of cured beef.

Pappardelle alla Domenica, a rich mixture of Italian sausage sautéed with garlic, fresh tomato, spinach and olive oil tossed with fettuccine, is one such dish, as is the light linguini vongole, with sautéed Manila clams in a tangy garlic and white wine sauce; and the flaky filet of sole. For meat you'll find filling portions of buttery, grilled rib-eye steak, pounded veal Florentina with lemon and caper and pollo alla carciofi, which pairs chicken breast with a white wine and artichoke-heart sauce.

The brothers are already planning weekend brunch and have started serving lunch.

"Before we used to have days off," says Antonio Stifano. "Now we're going all the time, but I can't wait to do more."

from Californians Against Hate. The links in the image don't actually work - go to the website for more details on all of these scalawags.

Yay, it's back! Boo, I didn't like the first episode of this second season quite as much as I wanted to. Writing was just okay, snappy but somehow not as fun as it should be - and the mystery was pretty straightforward without any real surprises. Did not like that Olive was banished to a nunnery, no sir! Still, WAY better than most of the slop on TV these days (THREE nights of "Dancing With the Stars?" "Survivor" number 206? Really? We need that?)

Our amazingly talented wedding photographer, Caroline Tran, has posted some pics of our event on her Facebook page...so I thought I would share them as well - they are fantastic!

Wow, TV suddenly got interesting again - and all the good stuff seems to be on HBO. Yay, yay, yay - my favorite British comedy of late has premiered in an American version - but instead of recasting and retooling for the States, the original creators and performers are now on this side of the pond in "Little Britain USA." The U.S. critics are hating it - saying it is only potty humor - but the premiere was awfully funny to me. And it has to assuredly be better than the remake of "Kath & Kim." Can't wait for more!

I'm enjoying the new HBO vampire series "True Blood." Like "Six Feet Under," I wasn't thrilled with the first couple of episodes, but the characterizations are growing on me. And hoo-faa! - Whoever cast this show deserves an Emmy - all the men are off-the-charts in terms of hawtness:

Been thinking about getting an Amazon Kindle for a while - and after a woman in Hawaii let me play with hers, I had to have one. It really works well - you can store a couple hundred books, downloads of new books from Amazon are fast and cheap, and reading from the screen is easy. I know, I know, I am a technology freak. There are worse vices.

Outdoor Italian restaurant, Four Seasons Manele Bay Hotel...

Female Diner: "Can I have a copy of this wine list? I'm a meeting planner that will be hosting a gathering of our TOP PRODUCERS here in a few months. Only the TOP PRODUCERS will be in attendance, and we need the best wines."
Waiter: "You can have that copy, yes, but the wine list changes often."
Female Diner: "Will the beverage manager be available whenever I need him?"
Waiter: "I'll have him come speak to you."
Female Diner: "I mean like, I might need him at 1:00 am. This sorbet on the menu - can I have it warm?"
Waiter: "Um, by definition, sorbet is cold - it's frozen - a palate cleanser."
Female Diner: "So I can't have it warm, then?"

Read quite a book over the Hawaiian vacation: "The Resurrectionist" by Jack O'Connell. A quite unnerving suspense-noir blend that made me think simultaneously of "Twin Peaks," "Carnivale" and "Kingdom Hospital."

Philip and I have been captivated by the Hawaiian island of Lanai. With a population of 3,000 and no traffic light in sight, it has put us into a state of relaxed bliss.

The Four Seasons Manele Bay and Lodge at Koele are superlative in every way, from the outstanding service to the delicious food. We've spent days lounging on the beach, horseback riding and driving a jeep all over the island. At one point we were on an 8-mile stretch of beach...all alone.

Lots more pics on my Travels - Lanai page.

Don't know why this summary is proving difficult for me to write...I guess there was so much weight to the event in my mind that I still don't have the proper words to describe it, so these will have to do:

Black wool suits instead of tuxedos. Went early to the restaurant to check out the flowers, cake and musicians - all wonderful. Guests started arriving at 5:00 p.m. Lots of chatting and visiting on the patio until the ceremony at 6:30, with a beautiful golden sunset to light our way. Philip's brother Marc and his partner Bill from Key West surprised our guests by getting married as well - a double wedding! I got emotional as the minister spoke about the life that Philip and I have shared for 22 years, then I completely lost it when it came time to put the ring on his finger. He was trembling so much...I wasn't prepared for that and it blew me out of the water. Much rejoicing when it was all done - including unexpected bubbles provided by coworker Barbara. Dinner was fantastic, as the food at The Raymond always is. Now it's off to Hawaii for a week of fun and relaxation.

My one big thought from the evening: Even if that hateful Proposition 8 passes in November, for at least one brief shining moment I was legally married to the person I love.

No pics from the photographer yet...will update this post when I have some.

Well, the day has arrived...it's been a good one so far, featuring breakfast with my immediate family and a couple of hours at Burke Williams Spa and a sushi lunch with Philip - but the big moment we've been waiting 22 years for is still three hours away. Lots of mini-dramas have swirled into town with the arriving guests: folks getting lost on the way from LAX, screwed-up flight connections, a missing (and presumed stolen) purse, at least one case of food poisoning, a hospitalized parent of one of our invited friends, and of course the prerequisite wedding day jitters. I'm actually pretty calm and relaxed, thanks to the time at the spa. This evening should be a lot of fun.

Britney Spears' Cheetos Chicken Casserole

Ingredients: 4 to 6 chicken breasts cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 can of cream of chicken soup
4 hard boiled eggs
1 onion diced
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1/4 to 1/2 c. chopped celery
1 bag of Crushed Cheetos for topping

Directions:
1) Mix above ingredients together and put into casserole dish
2) Crush enough Cheetos to cover top
3) Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes

And this week's weight is...199.6 pounds - for a total loss of 25.4 pounds!

Wow, what a speech by Obama tonight! Compelling, inspirational, and right-on-target, it was truly an amazing thing to watch...the sense of history being made was palpable and beamed right at you from the television screen. Truly electric.

The gals at the office threw me a surprise Hawaiian-themed wedding shower today! We had a robust local boy lunch: pulled pork, white rice, potato salad and pineapple upside-down cake - those fab tropical print shirt things I'm holding were the plates. Barbara decorated the room, not only with all manner of Hawaiiana, but she also had the whole history of my relationship with Philip mapped out around the conference table, with captions and pics (swiped from my website). We had a great time - if you would have told me when I was a kid that one day my co-workers would throw a wedding shower in my honor...sigh. A close-up of my lunch:

You don't see too many hitchhikers in the United States these days, though that may soon be changing with the soaring costs of gasoline and air travel. Back in college, I was pulling a different kind of "all-nighter": driving the Florida Turnpike from Miami back to school in Gainesville. I stopped at one of the turnpike's "Service Plazas" to take a leak (really the only reason one WOULD want to stop at one of the state-sanctioned service stops, except for the cool machine that used to press molten plastic into fun Florida shapes, like an alligator). I was driving my new Pontiac Firebird (you know the one, with the glass t-top roof and a screaming bird decal on the hood) and had just scampered across the dark parking lot to lock myself safely into my new car - when there came a knock at the driver-side window.

A scruffy guy in his 40s peered at me through the tinted glass. He was mouthing something - what? I lowered the window and he asked if he could get a lift to the end of the turnpike. When I hesitated, he explained that he was a long-haul trucker and he was scheduled to meet up with his new driving partner at the final exit - Wildwood. This all sounded plausible to me, and being 21, I agreed to let him ride along with me. We exchanged a few pleasantries as I pulled back onto the highway, but the conversation soon became awkward and stilted as we realized we had nothing in common to talk about. As he grew silent (and brooding!!) my mind started to race: WHAT HAVE I DONE? AM I CRAZY? THIS GUY IS A KILLER! OH MY GOD - WHAT AN IDIOT I AM!! I stared straight ahead at the white line on the highway, fearful that the next glance at my new passenger would provoke his rage. My mind reeled. I kept this up for at least 30 minutes, cursing myself endlessly - then the guy let out a huge snore.

Yeah, he pretty much slept to Wildwood. When we reached the truck stop, I had to jostle his shoulder and shout to wake him up, in fact. He thanked me profusely, gave me a couple dollars for gas and was on his way.

Woo! The gays brought home the gold at the 2008 Olympics - six of the thirteen lesbian and bisexual women openly competing at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing ended up winning gold, silver, or bronze medals. And the sole openly gay male athlete, Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, took home the gold in the men’s 10m platform event - with his partner watching proudly in the stands. Oh, didn't see that bit, you say? That's because NBC never mentioned Matt's sexuality or his personal life (but why - network anchors breathlessly discussed the various spouses, boyfriends and girlfriends of the hetero athletes). Anyway, yay my team!

Downloaded the demo of "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" on Xbox LIVE last night. I enjoyed the "Knights of the Old Republic" video game more than any of the three recent "Star Wars" films (and it's the only game I have ever played all the way through to the end). The demo version treats you to an early level and it is AMAZING! The "force push" power offers great gameplay as you hurl objects (and people) through the air. The environments are incredibly detailed and it looks like the story will be a thrilling addition to the "Star Wars" canon. Wow, something good from George Lucas for a change!

One last wedding choice taken care of...we've hired Alyson Montez and Brittany Cotto to play a violin duet throughout the evening. Alyson is lead violinist for the Mariachi Divas,a renowned all-female mariachi band, and Brittany is currently running the String Project with the American Youth Symphony and LA's BEST.Can't wait to hear them play!

THIS is why the current crop of parody movies suck. The one-sheet for the new film "Disaster Movie" shows you that what is mostly being satirized doesn't have ANYTHING to do with disaster cinema: Batman, Juno, Indiana Jones, Hulk, Kung Fu Pandas, Iron Man, Enchanted...umm, why not just call it "Parody of Summer Movies?" Like "Epic Movie," the satire is so scattershot that it just becomes an unfunny jumbled mess.

You know you've reached the mainstream when Hallmark starts offering a card based on your "niche." Pictured above, some of the same-sex wedding cards that Hallmark has added to its collection since gay marriages became legal in Massachusetts and California.

Exceedingly disappointed with George Lucas. Apparently the new animated "Clone Wars" film features an effeminate villain named Ziro the Hut, who sounds suspiciously like Truman Capote and wears make-up, feathers and jewelry. Has Lucas lost all touch with reality? Why insult gay people with crap like this - it's 2008! What happened to the creative genius who gave us the original trilogy? Must we concede all the goodwill those first three films generated to the bad judgements that are on display in the last four?

Well dang, I only hope I look half as happy as these two on my wedding day! How could you vote yes for that hateful Prop 8 after seeing this kind of joy?

Another hilarious video from Los Angeles singer/comedienne Mandy Steckelberg: "I Hate Everyone." A sentiment I often share. Some lyrics NSFW, in case you're listening with the boss nearby. Love you, Mandy - hope you break big one of these days! (If only "The Mike Douglas Show" was still around - HE would have you on!)

Just got my copy of a new coffee table book from Harry Abrams about one of my favorite childhood memories: Wacky Packages. The book features images of all the stickers from Series 1-7 released from 1973-74, as well as interviews with creator Art Spiegelman AND, wowzers, exclusive bonus stickers:

Lost another 1.4 pounds this week - up to a total of 22 now!

My manga avatar. Create your own at FaceYourManga.com.

The long lines have finally subsided here in Pasadena, so I succumbed this week and purchased a new 3G iPhone. Love the faster network - but I don't think the black plastic case is all that great - I miss the stainless steel backside.

Prior to our fab time at the Eddie Izzard show, Philip and I ate at Geisha House, a wild Hollywood set-decorator's vision of a sushi bar with a traditional Japanese brothel feel. It's a hip scene kinda place where clubkids go to pose and be seen, but suprisingly, the food and service were great.

Philip and I went down to the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood last night to see British comedian Eddie Izzard in his new stand-up set titled "Stripped." He was brilliant. Looking dapper in a black tuxedo jacket and jeans, he started the two-hour-plus set (!) by stating that he was prepared to talk to us about "everything," and he did: Wikipedia, the beginnings of the world, iPhones, life, the universe, dinosaurs, hunters vs. gatherers, how giraffes could possibly hide in the wilds of Africa, how there were millions of ducks after the Noah’s Ark flood because they couldn’t drown, and long riffs about how there could not possibly be a God up there manipulating all of this. Very funny, very insightful and very intelligent, it was a great evening of theatre.

Awe-inspiring, magnificent, wonderful, amazing, stunning, staggering, imposing, stirring, impressive, mind-boggling, mind-blowing, jaw-droppingly excellent.

...and George Bush, seen on camera in the stands, looked bored and checked his watch.

Lost 2 more pounds this week - up to a total of 20 now! Woo!

Am I the only gay man from the South that doesn't think this is all that great - or funny? I get what it is trying to be - but it just doesn't work on so many levels. It's just a clumsily acted, long-winded cornpone satire that makes "The Beverly Hillbillies" look like Shakespeare. Loud and obnoxious, but not in the least bit "sordid."

One reason to wish you were in Beijing for the Olympics this summer: a dazzling botanical display in the Olympic Topiary Gardens, located at the Science and Technology Park near the Olympic Village.

Went with Philip and co-worker Jeannette to see the Los Angeles Dodgers take on the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium last night. Even though the Dodgers lost (which they seem to do every time I attend), we still had a great time, munching on peanuts and ginormous Dodger Dogs despite our Weight Watchers diets. Got a chance to try out my new camera and captured some nice action shots:

Lost 3 more pounds, for a total of 18 - really hasn't been that much trouble to do at all. Might keep going after reaching my goal.

A strong earthquake centered in Chino (east of Los Angeles) occurred this morning just before noon Pacific, causing only light damage despite a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale. I was in a (rather dull) interviewing skills class in a 21st floor conference room when the quake struck. Lots of bouncing, then we had to go back to the coursework. Feh. The instructor had flown in from NYC - she had just finished telling an anecdote about 9/11 (you can't make this kind of thing up) when the conference room started rockin' and rollin'. She didn't miss a beat though - we just kept plowing forward after the building safety announcement that all was well. Of course none of us in LA feel better after an earthquake until we hear from Caltech's quake expert and "lesbian-in-charge," Kate Hutton. (I don't know if Kate IS a lesbian, just saying she has that can-do, no-nonsense attitude.)

Another wedding task to check off the list: we have selected Caroline Tran as our wedding photographer. Recommended by my co-worker Linda, we love Caroline's photojournalistic style - can't wait to see what she captures at the wedding!

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, 8:30 this morning...

Woman on Cell: "I am at the rental car place. No, I haven't gotten a car yet. They wanted me to take a PT Cruiser. No way am I going to be identified as a PT Cruiser driver. No way. My only other choices are an SUV or a Pontiac. And I am NOT driving an SUV, you dig? So I guess I have to take that ugly red Pontiac."

Met with the florist this morning to make arrangements for the wedding party...Philip selected iXora Floral Studio in Pasadena - they recently did a terrific job on the decor for a co-worker's ceremony. Lisa was amazing - she knew exactly what we wanted. Getting more excited about the event now...

A Qantas jumbo jet carrying 345 passengers made an emergency landing Friday with a gaping hole in its fuselage after a mysterious "explosive decompression," officials said.

There were no injuries, but some passengers vomited after disembarking the Boeing 747-400, said Octavio Lina, Manila International Airport Authority deputy manager for operations.

Wow!

The best part? Flight attendants continued with their meal service even AFTER the oxygen masks dropped. Maybe that was the cause of the post-landing vomiting.

Woo! Our fridge has been posted on Fridgewatcher.com, a new site where people open their fridges to others via the Internets. Cause, like their slogan says, every fridge tells a story. Visit and behold the contents of my food preparation area cooling unit.

Lost 3 more pounds, for a total of 15 now...steady as she goes, despite the eating binge I went on while Philip was out of the house watching the new Batman film on Tuesday night.

OMG - Loving "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," a new three-part musical miniseries produced specifically for the Internets by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon. Neil Patrick Harris is brilliant in the part of the nerdy supervillain, and the songs are great!

Tasted wedding cake samples at Pastries by Nancy this morning. There were all tasty and great, especially the red velvet and the chocolate-vanilla marble, but we ultimately liked the lemon cake with lemon cream the best. We decided to go with a two-tier round version, similar to the one pictured above. Another choice made and one more task to check off on the "Wedding To Do List."

Philip and I both left work early this afternoon so we could go to the County Clerk's office to pick up our marriage license. We chose the East LA location since it is fairly close to where I work downtown. It was pure chaos at the facility - hundreds of people lined up to get marriage licenses, birth certificates, etc. Lots of screaming babies and Spanish being spoken. We waited in line over an hour just to get to the glass window with the little speaker hole in the center. Since we had applied online last month the process was quick - the clerk printed out our license and asked us to raise our right hands and swear that the information we provided was true. It felt so official - we were both a little emotional at the unexpectedness of it.

Lost 4 more pounds, for a total of 12 so far...another woo!

Spotted these recently:

Arizona 456 YVX - Has a plate-holder from Barber Volkswagen in Ventura, California!

California 5CJT217 - Expired in April 2008!

Our custom-printed wedding invites from Wedding Paper Divas arrived today! Super-fast turnaround - I ordered them just four days ago. Really pleased with how they came out...now I just have to sit down and address them all...

OK, I'm a huge fan of the iPhone, but seriously people, this is a little out of hand. This is the third day of tremendously long lines at all of the Apple Stores here in Los Angeles, with the wait at the Pasadena store topping out at SIX HOURS yesterday. Um, I 'm guessing Apple has reached the correct price point to capture the masses.

Lost 8 pounds after one week on Weight Watchers! Woo!

Celebrated my 45th birthday today. Co-worker Michelle blew up tons of balloons and decorated my desk in fine style!

The "Towering Inferno Cake" that co-worker Barbara made for me! Please note the presence of all of the film's stars. I almost ate Faye Dunaway by accident. There was also a replica of the scenic glass elevator. It was a fairly uneventful day at work, but on the way home things got interesting. First, my mother called to wish me Happy Birthday, but mostly to let me know that our choice of September 12 as a wedding date was inconvenient for her. Not because of prior commitments or anything, her hesitation is because Philip and I do not plan to hang around and act as tour guides for all of our various relatives who might be in town. I was in the middle of explaining that she is more than welcome to come BEFORE the wedding and hang out, but we lost our connection. Not more than 10 minutes later I got into a little fender-bender: I was driving along behind a little old lady (from Pasadena!) who decided at the last second not to proceed though a yellow light and abruptly slammed on her brakes. I did the same, but by sheer physics, the 40 feet between us was not enough to stop abruptly without hitting the rear of her car. No injuries and very minor damage (my front license plate fell off and her bumper was damaged). While I was exchanging information with her, my phone kept ringing - as I got into the car to head home, I checked the voicemail and it was our home security company, calling to tell me that our back door had been breached, and that the police were being called. I rushed home in a panic, fearful that someone had broken in and had hurt my dog Jake - but when I got there I found that it was Philip who had mistakenly entered the wrong disarm code.

Needless to say, my nerves were a complete wreck by the time Philip took me to dinner at Taylors Steak House, but they were soothed by a perfect Manhattan in a freezing cold martini glass. The steaks at Taylors, an old-time steak joint with red leather booths that has been in business since 1953, have been voted the best in LA. Despite the Weight Watchers diet I began on July 4, I indulged in Cream of Mushroom Soup, a medium-rare Filet Mignon with Baked Potato and Zucchini and a bit of Bread Pudding for dessert.

Philip gave me a new Nikon Coolpix camera for my birthday. We love our little pocket Coolpix, and this new one has a 18x zoom and can take 10 megapixel images. Can't wait to learn how to use it!

One word review: Creaky.

From GraphJam.

Oregon YGK 788 - Expired in June 2005!

New Mexico GTX 557 - Has a Pasadena, CA plateholder and lives in Altadena.

New Mexico GWW 966 - Works in Pasadena.

Oklahoma 961 XQG - Works in downtown Los Angeles.

Started a diet today in order to lose 25 pounds by our wedding date: September 12. I signed up to the Weight Watchers online site - it seems to work really well. You track your daily intake and weekly weight loss all online without having to go to an official "Fat Fighters" meeting to be humiliated by merciless Marjorie Dawes. The Fourth of July is probably not the best day to start a diet plan, huh? Wish me luck!

Jeannette, Philip and I sat in the front yard last night in an attempt to catch the annual not-quite-Fourth of July fireworks launched from the Altadena Country Club - they were only 45 minutes late and then ended abruptly with no finale. After we got in the car to take J down the street to her apartment, the finale finally commenced 20 MINUTES LATER. Nice. At least J got to see our insane next-door neighbor "Moonglow" shuffling slowly down the street in the dark - the 65-year-old mother was on a liquor store run. God Bless America!

Joe.My.God asked readers to describe their first car today. I inherited a 1969 Plymouth Fury II convertible - bright yellow with a white retractable ragtop. Naturally it was dubbed "The Big Banana" by my friends. Truly a land yacht, probably longer than today's super-huge SUVs.

The lock on the trunk was busted (you had to jimmy it open with a screwdriver) and the roof leaked - not a pleasant experience in Florida's notorious late-afternoon downpours. The leak was so bad that the floor in the backseat would fill up with water like a swimming pool - the floor eventually rusted away and a hole opened up to the roadway below. But worst of all were the brakes, which failed often...once while driving six fellow students home from high school (we stopped when we hit a small log on the side of the road), and once while traveling on the downslope of a toll bridge, sending me careening through the toll booth area at 45 mph. Sold it (!) after the fan blades came flying off under the hood. Ahh, good times.

Okay, I have been enjoying the coverage of the Olympic Qualifying Trials over the past couple of weeks, but being a non-sports person, one of the reasons I am tuning in is to see the incredible bodies of the athletes. This new "LZR Racer" swimsuit designed by Speedo is completely frustrating - what happened to little briefs?!? Not only is the suit a super-modest body cover-up, it might just be a bit of an unfair advantage: In the last 39 days, 14 world records have been set in the pool, and 13 of them have been in the newly designed swimsuit by Speedo. Proponents claim the new suits offer 5% less drag, water repellant fabric and an "internal core stabilizer" which helps the swimmer maintain form. Are there any swimming enthusiasts who know of similar periods where so many world records have been set in so short a time?

From GraphJam.

The second annual True Colors concert at the Greek Theater last night was a blast! As with last year's inaugural tour, the review-style concert was part rock festival and part public-awareness telethon for gay rights but mostly just a full-on party. Philip and I were joined by co-worker Barbara and her partner Paula, and Philip's straight high school mate Daric, who popped into town for a day to visit Philip after 20 years and found himself in the middle of thousands of gay folks.

All of the acts were great, with the exception of wanna-be-singer-but-really-a-'roided-out-aging-porn-star Colton Ford, who opened the evening with some very bad squawking to a couple of ho-hum pre-recorded tracks. Luckily we were backstage meeting Cyndi Lauper at the time, but what I could hear was not pretty. OK, so I got a blurry pic with Cyndi...

The talentless (unless you count what's going on in his pants) Mr. Ford was followed by the very charming Puppini Sisters, a trio from the UK that performs retro Andrews Sisters-style with lush costumes and an ironic wink. They were fabulous, and the crowd seemed to be very disappointed when their short set was over.

The fun Puppinis were followed by Erasure's Andy Bell, who had the brave task of singing to pre-recorded tracks while working less than a quarter stage in front of the gigantic True Colors curtain - sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. He was actually much better in last year's appearance with band mate Vince Clarke - Andy's theatricality and voice needs more than two feet of space in front of a curtain and a recorded track. Mr. Bell was joined by Cyndi Lauper for a duet of "Early Bird" (also to a pre-recorded track) which they handled nicely.

Actress/Comedienne Wanda Sykes performed a very funny set with sly observations on gay marriage and comparing the gay rights struggle to the African-American experience. Her comic timing was great, and as with The Puppini Sisters, I found myself wishing that her short set had gone on a little longer.

The B-52s were up next and their set was terrific, especially the material from the new "Funplex" album. The sound mix was a bit off, with vocals not nearly as loud as Keith Strickland's guitar, but the band still had great energy and the live performance of the new songs didn't disappoint, with the title "Funplex" track and "Juliet of the Spirits" standing out as instant B-52s classics. Kinda wish the hairdos had been up, though. And I think Fred Schnieider is becoming a cranky old queen - he had quite a few sour looks on his face while everyone else seemed to be having fun. Oh, and Keith was HOT, HOT, HOT (both performance and looks-wise)!!!

Carson Kressley from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" served as emcee for the evening and he had to vamp quite a lot during several long stage resets. He handled his hosting duties nicely, but his nervousness when he had to stretch his material made you wish a bit for the savvy comic timing of last year's host Margaret Cho.

Cyndi Lauper emerged for her set in a black-and-white-striped silk pajama-style pantsuit and black bowler hat and jumped atop a replica of the Statue of Liberty's torch while singing a rousing rendition of her classic "Change of Heart." Her high-energy set moved along at a fast pace, peppered with a lot of the dance-centric tunes from her new album. Cyndi launched herself into the audience quite a few times, and with me sitting in the second row at the foot of the stairs from the stage, she was in my face quite a bit - in fact, she laid across my lap and sang her new "Into the Nightlife." A highlight, at least for me!

Near the end of Cyndi's set, lead singer of The Cliks Lucas Silveria joined her for an electrifying rendition of "Money Changes Everything." It was fantastic!

During the encore, the entire cast emerged to launch giant balloons into the audience and sing "Everyday People" (they needed lyric sheets to accomplish this bit). Some unexplained faces appeared onstage with the performers, including actress Jane Lynch. The finale was a massive sing-a-long of the tour's signature tune, "True Colors." A great evening - looking forward to next year already! Lots more pics on my Flickr page.

OMG - loving the new Cherry Kool-Aid Singles. Rip one open, pour into a cold bottle of water and taste your childhood.

The Orange County Register, the conservative paper of record in California's most conservative county, has published an editorial in support of gay marriage:

"Our preference would be for the government not to be involved in marriage, the most fundamental of institutions in a civil society. Why two people who want to be married should be required to get a license from the state is something of a mystery. Marriage existed long before the California or U.S. governments came into being and will continue long after they have been consigned to history. Whether a marriage is valid should be up to the people involved and the churches, synagogues, mosques or other religious institutions that choose to perform them or not.

As a practical matter, however, the government has so entwined itself into our daily lives that state recognition is important. Filing taxes as a married couple or as individuals makes a difference, as does the ability to own real estate, make end-of-life decisions or adopt children. Considering all this and the importance of equality before the law, the high court's decision was justified."

------------------------------------------------------

On the newspaper's website, someone named CaliforniaYankee wrote a fantastic comment on same-sex marriage in response to some rabid hater named Bikelady:

"Bikelady, you're in serious need of a refresher course on U.S History and Civics. Firstly, our system of government is not a democracy. It is a democratic republic. The distinction is clear to any seventh grader who has been paying attention in school. This form of government was deliberatly crafted by our Founding Fathers to protect individual rights from the tyranny of majority rule. Just because an opinion is popular doesn't mean it is right. Literature is rife with examples of this principle, Steven King's "Carrie" comes to mind.

The Founding fathers intended for our elected leaders to protect the rights of every single citizen, despite majority opinion. And because of this women now have the right to vote, people of color are equal citizens and the ignorant have the right to spout their mouths off, however wrong they are. Like when they suggest that 70% of Americans oppose same sex marriage. Wrong. But irrelevant.

Secondly, marriage, from its earliest days, was not about love nor was it about reproduction. It was and largely is about property rights. Originally, marriage was the legal vehicle for a man to transfer ownership of his daughter to her husband. Along with any other rights of inheritance that might go along with her. And this transfer of property often too the form of an outright sale, with the family of the female paying the family of the male to take the burden of ownership from them.
Good thing that's no longer the case, bikelady, beause you'd have a tough time finding a buyer! "

------------------------------------------------------

The times, they are a changin'.

Joel Hodgson is back! Cinematic Titanic is a hliarious new series by Joel, creator and original host of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The project, which involves "riffing" B-movies a la MST3K, is a direct-to-video and online download release. Joining Joel are many of the original MST3K cast, as well as some cast members who joined later in the show's run, including Trace Beaulieu, J. Elvis Weinstein, Frank Conniff and Mary Jo Pehl. Watched "The Oozing Skull" last night. Was laughing so hard at one point that I couldn't breathe. Good stuff! Much funnier than Mike Nelson's (Joel's not-as-funny replacement on MST3K) RiffTrax, which also provides satirical commentary alongside contemporary films.

Philip and I went to the Jewelry District in Downtown Los Angeles this morning to shop for rings...we looked at literally hundreds over the course of two hours and settled on the brushed white gold pieces pictured above. Now that we have the rings, the marriage license application and the tuxedos, we're finally set to get hitched after 22 years!

Spotted in Pasadena today - California 4K54320, no month or year stickers!

Co-worker Barbara and I had lunch at the new branch of Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine in Downtown Los Angeles today - this was my "Local Boy Lunch" - Chinese Chicken Salad, Fire Grilled Szechuan Spiced Baby Back Pork Ribs, Hawaiian Style Misoyaki Butterfish and Spicy Tuna Topped with Hamachi. Wow, a LOT of food for lunch, all good!

A series of unattached human feet have been washing up on Canadian shores. Six have been found in the last 10 months, and police don’t seem to have any leads. A lot of them seem to be men's size 12 wearing sneakers. Where's Dexter when you need him? UPDATE: Foot number six is apparently a hoax

Working in downtown Los Angeles: Illinois D614007 - EXPIRED! Shopping in Pasadena: Pennsylvania FLE2890 - NO EXPIRATION YEAR!

History was ushered in at 5:01 pm PST yesterday as California began marrying same-sex couples, becoming the second state in the nation to do so. In San Francisco, 87-year-old Del Martin and 84-year-old Phyllis Lyon were married after being together for more than 50 years. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom officiated and delivered a heartwarming speech afterward.

Robin Tyler and Diane Olson were the first couple in Los Angeles to be married in Southern California - at the Beverly Hills courthouse just after 5 pm. I read a lot of emotional stories about individual ceremonies as well as a lot of debate for and against marriage on the LA Times website today, but the best thing I saw all day was in a comment posted by a reader named Mike: "Each side should be asking the question: 'Can the majority deny basic rights to a minority?' If we exclude a minority group from partaking on those basic rights - aren´t we opening the door, for another majority to deny ours? Each one of us, in one way or another, are members of a minority. A true Democracy PROTECTS the right of each one of us, by ensuring that the rights of EACH individual are not stepped on by the Majority. Irregardless of our 'emotions' - we SHOULD be supporting gay marriage - as one day, it might be those very same gays who will be PROTECTING our basic rights."

"It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was." -- Anne Sexton

Just when did it become mandatory to wear spandex festooned with logos in order to ride a bike? The image above is an almost daily occurrence on my street, and I know there can't possibly be that many pro biking teams in my neighborhood...

From natuba.com: "Hello, Walmart Bakery. I would like to order a cake. It should say: 'Best Wishes Suzanne.' Underneath that: 'We will miss you.'"

Sixteen states have reported salmonella poisoning as the result of raw, uncooked tomatoes. More bad 70s movie premises come back to haunt us in the 21st Century.

When I was 14, my cousin Eric lived WAY out in the country with his mom and sister in what could politely be called a ramshackle old farmhouse. Located on the edge of a dense pine forest in North Florida and literally miles from nowhere, the house was the source of endless amusement to us: there was the time that a bobcat menaced us kids home alone on a New Year's Eve, the time a menacing stranger was sitting on the front porch smoking a cigarette in the dark, and the time when I was attacked by a bedtime visitor. Eric and I were just settling into bed for the night, me in my long pajamas despite the Florida heat. It had just rained - one of those hard Florida thunderstorms that shake the windowpanes - so the humidity was high and the temperature bearable. We crawled under the covers and started making jokes, trying to crack each other up in the darkness as was our routine. Right in mid-joke I felt a multi-legged creature crawling up inside my pajama leg, sending me leaping from the bed in a wild panic dance. Now, if you have ever lived in Florida you know that the state's version of a cockroach, the "Palmetto Bug," is an insect on steroids. Bigger than your thumb, with the ability to fly extremely high and fast. One of these giant creatures came all the way up my pajama leg and up through the pullover top, emerging to say "Hello!" right at my v-neck collar. I'm pretty sure the screams are still echoing out there in the North Florida woods.

Marriage was the prevailing theme during the Los Angeles Pride Celebration yesterday. Only a few protesters showed up, a good sign...foreshadowing the November ballot amendment results perhaps??

South Florida's first enclosed mall opened in 1964, occupying a 40 acre parcel 1.5 miles west of downtown Hollywood. Known as the Hollywood Mall, it was a fixture of my childhood...we took photos with Santa there, got our school shoes at Thom McAnn, went to see 25-cent movies at the Florida Theater, and, as a special treat, ate at the lunch counter in the Walgreens drug store. It was very 60s-chic, with fabulous brown and gold river-rock panels on the walls, terrazzo floors and orb-y light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. A large Sears served as Hollywood Mall's only anchor department store, and the shopping center also included a Publix supermarket, Cheryl's Cards and Gifts, Posture Form Children's Shoes, Lani Kay ladies' apparel, Mister Donut, and the Hollywood Mall Beauty Salon - THE place in town for the latest-style Fedora hairdo. I spent countless days in the mall as a kid (often unaccompanied by an adult), and when the Sears store became notorious as the site of the 1981 kidnapping and murder of Adam Walsh, it freaked out all of us who grew up patronizing the place. "THAT could have been me!" we all thought.

Some French dudes demonstrate the scary ability of cell phones to pop popcorn kernels. You might want to rethink the practice of carrying your mobile in your pocket... UPDATE: Hoax.

Bill O’Reilly producer Porter Barry ambushes Bill Moyers from PBS (Barry was looking to get sound bytes for an attack piece against the "liberal media"). The right-winger gets totally argued down by the brilliant Bill Moyers. Watch it - it’s long, but triumphant!.

Well, the cupcake craze has been swirling all around Los Angeles for quite a while, and now the gastronomic trend has hit my neighborhood. Everyone at my job is loving Dots Cupcakes, a new bakery near Old Town Pasadena. I was treated to many of their delicious creations while recuperating from my surgery, and we have brought them in for all of our recent office birthday celebrations. Flavors include the now-obligatory-everywhere Red Velvet, Coffee Latte, Boston Cream Pie, and my favorite, Lemon Drop.

From the Los Angeles Times: The California Supreme Court today rejected a petition to delay its historic same-sex marriage decision, deciding 4-3 that gay people may marry later this month. The court's decision clears the way for same-sex couples to wed starting on June 17, the date California cities and counties will begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

My friend Jeannette spotted this LA resident with an out-of-state plate at the El Pollo Loco on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.

Barack Obama laid claim to the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday night, taking a historic step toward his once-improbable goal of becoming the nation's first black president. In separate speeches, Hillary Clinton maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on his fall ticket without conceding her own defeat. This historic milestone in American history is big news all over the globe:

And I loved it when, just before Barack gave his victory speech, Michelle gave him a fist punch - really gave you some insight on how much they love and support each other.

More fun with food, this time from EnglishRussia.com: Just separate the skittles by color, add to vodka, let the alcohol absorb the color, and drain for candy-colored vodka. Taste the rainbow!

From an article in the Los Angeles Times today: "Forget economic stimulus checks. Same-sex marriages may give California just the financial boost it needs. Wedding planners, bakers and hotels began booking more business almost immediately after the state Supreme Court's May 15 decision overturning a ban on gay marriage. Citing pent-up demand, one UCLA study projects that same-sex unions could provide a $370-million shot in the arm to the state economy over the next three years."

Been watching a lot of movies while I continue (sigh) to recover from surgery...

Capsule review: Bisexual surfer Zach pines to be an artist and has an affair with his best friend's older brother. Good actors and nice production values, but the plot has more holes than Dunkin' Donuts - why is Zach's paralyzed father never seen or dealt with, even at the "parting ways with his bitch sister" conclusion? Man, that ending makes it seem like daddy raised some self-centered kids! They both leave town to presumably let him rot. Meh. One icepack.

Capsule review: Congressman Tom Hanks talks with a heavy Texas accent, Julia Roberts is a rich lady with thick mascara, and pottymouth Philip Seymore Hoffman wears ugly sunglasses, even indoors. Clever and intelligent script about modern government subversiveness. Three icepacks.

Capsule review: Janet Leigh is attacked by a shark while washing dishes, Richard Dreyfuss lip-synchs to bad 1960s pop tunes and Merv Griffin arrives in a submarine.

OMG I'm loving the new Cyndi Lauper album "Bring Ya to the Brink"!! Like I said about the recent B-52's album, so what if she's in her 50s - she still sounds great!! Of course I disagree with the critics who have weighed in so far - the songs they say are the best, meh. The songs they hate, I love, like "Grab a Hold." Can't wait to see her and The B-52s on the True Colors tour.

One-word review: Vicodin.

Well, here I am on the other side of my "excision of groin mass" procedure, and I am recovering nicely. The Vicodin every few hours certainly makes it bearable. We're pleased to announce that the "unknown mass" was in fact sutures left over from a hernia operation I had when I was a little kid. Can I get some compensation from Memorial Hospital in Hollywood Florida for that?? I must say the staff at Providence / St. Joseph Medical Center were all terrific: friendly, helpful and they truly seemed to care, even though it was crazy busy the day I was there - they must have performed close to a hundred surgeries on Wednesday. Can I just say what an odd thing it is to be fully conscious when you are wheeled down the hall and into your surgical suite? And odder still, being asked to scooch off your rolling bed onto the cold operating table and have your arms splayed out left and right on padded boards like a crucifix. I think having your legs belted down and a mask placed over your face while a Bose Stereo System plays "cool Jazz" really completes the surreal scenario. No, wait, the simultaneous fire alarm test and announcement that mass will be celebrated in the chapel and on the hospital's in-house channel 6 - THAT completes the surreal scenario. A couple of questions: Why do 10 family members feel they must come down to the hospital and sit in the waiting room for one patient? The waiting room (where you also have to wait to be called into the surgical suite, by the way) only seats 25 or so people, so when each patient has 10 visitors waiting on them, it GETS A BIT CROWDED. Also, why shave only two-thirds of a person's groin when it is being operated on? What is the point of leaving hair on the remaining third? Seeing that post-surgery is more frightening than seeing the bloody bandages, in my opinion.

I'm off to St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank for a 9:15 surgery appointment to remove this "unknown mass" in my groin. Not looking forward to the nausea from the anesthesia or to the pain from the cutting of my flesh...sigh.

Late to the party on this one, but loving it all the same. "The Venture Bros." chronicles the adventures of two dopey teenage boys, Hank and Dean Venture; their super-scientist father, Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture; and family bodyguard/secret agent Brock Samson. It hilariously pays homage to a variety of sources, including adventure serials, pulp magazines, television shows, movies, toys, fads, and comic books...but mostly it's a supremely funny riff on "Jonny Quest." Just getting caught up with Seasons 1 and 2 in preparation for Season 3's June 1 premiere on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. Can't wait!

I don't give a crap who the 13th Cylon is.

After much shopping around for the best deal, Philip has finally traded in his old car for a new 2008 BMW 335i. Only took about five weeks to get the best price for his trade-in and on the new vehicle! The best part of the car to me is the technology - he can synch his iPhone to the car by Bluetooth as well as the iPod functions via a built-in USB interface. Everything can be controlled from his steering wheel - very nice!

A very clever SNL parody of one of my favorite game shows. Although I think they confused Paul Lynde with Charles Nelson Reilly - an outrageous error!

The conservative Alliance Defense Fund is already petitioning the California Supreme Court to delay any same-sex marriages until after November's ballot measure vote. If the court does not grant the request, gay marriages could begin in California in as little as 30 days.

From SFGate: "In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot. Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George. Outside the courthouse, gay marriage supporters cried and cheered as news spread of the decision." HOORAY, HOORAY, HOORAY!!! At last, I will get the wedding presents that I should have received 22 years ago!

Philip and I spent a long weekend in Maui - I got a great low airfare on United in February - and we had a great time at the fabulous Four Seasons in Wailea. With my upcoming surgery I didn't do anything but sit in a lounge chair with a tropical drink in one hand and my iPod in the other.

But man, oh man was I driven crazy when I spotted more nasty bulkhead foot-flyers on the plane...why is this acceptable behavior from grown adults? And don't even get me started on the mother who let her 1-year-old baby crawl on the filthy carpet in front of the airplane lavatory...

So I saw a surgeon this week, and the lump I have in my groin is not a hernia, but some "unknown mass" that is causing me intense pain when I walk, sit, wear a belt, etc. Oh yay, now I get to have surgery to remove it. That is, once the almighty insurance company deigns to provide "authorization." The surgeon was kind enough to inform me of one possible side effect: a numb crotch that could persist for months after the operation, since there is a convergence of nerves right where the mass seems to be. Feh.

Philip is looking to purchase a new car, so we are currently dwelling in the little slice of Hell known as car shopping. Truly the most painful thing you can experience short of an event that causes great bodily harm. From the bait-and-switch of the Internet Sales Team at Pacific BMW, who e-mailed us a firm quote on the car we are looking for and then didn't ACTUALLY HAVE IT ON THE LOT, to the insanely low amounts that they want to give us on the trade-in, I am on the verge of screaming at the next person who asks me what options we would like. Or maybe it's the constant pain I am in from the hernia I seem to have developed in my abdomen, can't tell.

Thank you, "father yapping loudly on a cell phone while your son travels to other tables, pouring salt and sugar on them and smearing his sausage link on the vinyl-covered benches." You certainly made it a memorable breakfast at Twoheys in Alhambra this morning. Hope your brother's business successfully gets off the ground and that you enjoy your upcoming trip to Peru. I'm thrilled to know all the details.

California Vehicle Registration evaders - Northwest Edition. Spotted on the streets of LA: Oregon 701BNU, who has skillfully covered the expiration dates with an oversized license plate holder.

236VUW from Washington State likes to shop in Old Town Pasadena...wow, that's a long way from home...

...and grungy Oregon 429BYF seems to be a permanent resident of the bohemian neighborhood of Silver Lake.

More from the icky food arena: this nasty-looking mess is the Fiesta Chili Something-or-Other sandwich now on offer at Marie Callendars restaurants here in Southern California. How about the way that cheese melting off the sides reminds of a stringy hairdo or an old-fashioned wet mop? Yum!

Do we need a dog food named after beloved family pet that gets rabies and is utimately killed by a shotgun blast from his crying boy owner? What genius over at Disney Consumer Products came up with this one? Surely other Disney dogs would have been a more appropriate branding choice for this product...Pluto? Lady & the Tramp? 101 Dalmatians?

So Barack conceded his loss in Pennsylvania in a televised speech last night, and the most compelling thing about it were the three toolish men wearing Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts who stood awkwardly and disinterestedly behind the candidate. While Keith Olbermann commented that it was probably product placement, it was more like an not-so-subtle appeal to the gay boy electorate. The funniest thing about the placement, however, was that the boys ended up distracting from Obama’s speech by answering cell phone calls, chatting amongst themselves and looking off all glassy eyed while he spoke. High-lar-i-ous.

Two more registration-evading scofflaws: a Chevy Suburban leaving my workplace garage with no plates (!) and a Ford Taurus from Ann Arbor, Michigan whose clever driver has removed the year sticker and just left the month of February on the plate, labeled 9CKN03.

Hey Rick, what is that thing wrapped in the sheet and tied ever so nicely with a bow up there in that picture above? Well, if you must know it is Martha Stewart's dog Paw Paw, which passed away last weekend. Um, I've put a beloved pet down, so I know what a tough thing it is, but wrapping it in one of your 800-thread-count sheets and tying the bundle with a matching silk ribbon? Really? And in the photo below, Martha has placed the dying dog on her marble kitchen counter. Seriously, this is a little creepy.

The Kids in the Hall was one of my favorite shows in the 90s - the sly, offbeat humor was right up my alley. Once I watched a skit (Heccubus and Evil, I believe) while recovering from a hernia operation and I nearly burst my stitches from laughing. All of the original cast members are reuniting and going out on tour this year with new material - see their tour planning efforts in the video above. Wouldn't you know it - we're going to be out of town the night they appear in Los Angeles. Dangit! Well, I've seen them live several times (and I've even eaten lunch with Scott Thompson in a Disney Studio conference room - I'm sure he remembers it) so I can't complain too much about missing them this time around. But all new material? Arrrggh! Here's a favorite skit from the old TV show:

OMG I'm loving the "Funplex" track from the new B-52s album of the same name...can't stop playing it!! So what if they're pushing 50 - they sound great!! Can't wait to see them on the True Colors tour.

In my continuing series of food postings, I present the Mash Cone from British food company Aunt Bessies. This new treat consists of sausage, mashed potatoes, gravy and peas served up in an ice cream cone. Even though there have been lots of "eeeew!" squeals on the Internets, it actually looks kinda good to me.

An article by Ryan J. Davis on The Huffington Post today says that marriage for gays and lesbians is just around the corner for us Californians: "Sources wishing to remain anonymous in the California Court System indicate that the court, which has until June 2, 2008 to issue it's marriage ruling, is considering issuing it on Friday, May 23, 2008, with the decision being written by Chief Justice Ronald George. The Court is readying itself for a backlash that may follow the rumored and bold decision. There is talk that the Court will not simply strike down Proposition 22, but will move the State of California toward full marriage, if not even granting full marriage rights for gays and lesbians outright. Obviously aware of what's coming, Gov. Schwarzenegger came out swinging against the FRC's proposed amendment, "I will always be there to fight against that," he said to huge applause this weekend at a Log Cabin Republican Convention in San Diego. He went so far as to call the initiative a "waste of time" and acknowledge that the people of California are, "much further along on that issue." The latest Field Poll shows only 51% of Californians oppose full gay marriage, an 11 point drop since 2000. There seems little doubt that California is moving toward full gay marriage equality." This state should have been the first...

Spotted on the 110 Freeway: another California-registration-evading scofflaw. Idaho 8B X9253.

Spent the afternoon reorganizing the armoire in the guest bedroom that we use to store office supplies and paper for the printer. Doesn't that look tidy? I didn't think to take a "before" shot of the chaos that preceded the reorganization.

Man, I love YouTube. I have been trying to find a copy of "The TV Wheel," and behold, there it is on the Internets! "The TV Wheel" was an experimental sketch comedy show created by Mystery Science Theater 3000's Joel Hodgson. A single stationary camera was mounted inside the center of a large rotating platform, and as the platform rotated around the camera, a scene would come into view. The wheel would stop and a sketch would play out. Interesting concept, and it could have worked well given a little more development time. HBO ordered a pilot, but ultimately passed on picking up the program as a series. The pilot aired only once on Comedy Central as a special presentation in 1995, and this is where I join the story - I saw that airing while in a New York hotel room, and I laughed so hard at the sketch with the psychotc monkey Pumpernickel that I literally fell off the bed. And now here he is, in all his glory. "He's a corker!"

Pics of spring blossoms in the front yard this afternoon.

I have been trying to avoid reality shows as much as possible, but this one may make me break my embargo: Bravo's new "Step It Up and Dance." In what looks to be a cross between "Showgirls" and "A Chorus Line," the original Nomi Malone, Elizabeth Berkley, returns to the small screen serving as co-host and judge of this reality-dance competition. Woo! I hope she gets up and shows them how to pop it. Choreaographer and co-host Jerry Mitchell says that after seeing her for the first time, it took the contestants about seven seconds to do Nomi's move of flicking her fingers in front of ther face.

OMG I'm in love with the fantastic work of photographer Brian Finke! Given my obsession with commercial avaition vis a vis disaster movies, his studies of flight attendants especially thrill me. He's also done terrific work by following football players from high schools and colleges around the country. Check out his web site, it's great. www.BrianFinke.com

I might as well dub this a weird food blog, because I cannot placate my fascination with odd distortions in the American diet. From Jelly Belly comes Bean Boozled, an edible version of Russian Roulette. The box contains 10 different colored jelly beans with 20 different flavors. The flavor could be a tasty one like buttered popcorn, plum or pear. On the other hand, the flavor could be categorized as "not so great": vomit, skunk spray, pencil shavings and baby wipes. I wonder how long it took them to get the "boogers" flavor right. Here is a chart of the decoded flavors, should you wish to play along at home:

• Black: Licorice or Skunk Spray
• Yellow with Brown Spots: Top Banana or Pencil Shavings
• White with Yellow Spots: Buttered Popcorn or Rotten Egg
• Blue: Berry Blue or Toothpaste
• White/Light Beige: Cafe Latte or Ear Wax
• Orange with Red Spots: Peach or Vomit
• Green with Green Spots: Juicy Pear and Boogers
• Light Yellow with Brown Spots: Caramel Corn or Moldy Cheese
• White: Coconut or Baby Wipes
• Blue with White Spots: Plum or Black Pepper

While I am loathe to admit that I have given money to the narrow-minded, bigoted and recently-deceased Carl Kartcher, we stopped at a Carl's Jr. after dinner last night for a dessert treat - a Cap'n Crunch milkshake. Oh sure, some may scoff that it's just a vanilla shake with a hearty helping of cereal mixed in, but if you even remotely loved the taste of Cap'n Crunch as a kid, this is a big plastic cup full of joy. Sure, it's got enough fat and calories to kill you, but aren't most fun things in life a little dangerous? I see that there has been some grousing on the Internets about it being too thick to drink, but the Shakeologist in Hastings Ranch prepared ours just right - smooth, with recognizable bits of the super-sweet cereal still crunchily intact. Must. Never. Eat. It. Again. Truly addictive.

One of my pet peeves: automobile owners who live in my town, yet drive around with out-of-state (and often expired) license plates. Nothing steams me more! We pay astronomical car registration fees in California, part of which go to maintain the vast amount of roadways in the state, many of which are badly in need of repair. According to California statute, these scofflaws are supposed to register for new license plates within two weeks of deciding to live in the state. We had one neighbor in Silver Lake who maintained a Nevada plate on his truck for over ten years - a state with unbelievably low auto registration fees. I have seen a woman park in my workplace garage every day for the past five years with expired North Carolina plates! As a public service, I hereby post noted lawbreakers on the Internets:

The old dude driving this truck has plates from Connecticut that expired three years ago.

This one from Texas has had the month and date stickers completely removed.

And this kid is driving a car registered in Guam. That's right, I said Guam!

Jay Leno interviews actor Ryan Phillippe, whose first professional role was a gay teen on the soap opera "One Life to Live:"

LENO: Can you give me like -- say that camera is your gay lover -- number two --

PHILLIPPE: Wait a second. Wait a second.

LENO: Can you give me your gayest look? Say that -- say that camera is Billy Bob -- Billy Bob has just ridden in shirtless from Wyoming. (The audience hoots at the idea of a masculine guy like Phillippe giving a "gay look.")

PHILLIPPE: Wow. That is so something I don't want to do. Are you just going to embarrass me tonight, or --

LENO: No, I got more stuff. This is the least of it.

From the New YorkTimes: "Librarians? Aren’t they supposed to be bespectacled women with a love of classic books and a perpetual annoyance with talkative patrons — the ultimate humorless shushers? Not any more. With so much of the job involving technology and with a focus now on finding and sharing information beyond just what is available in books, a new type of librarian is emerging — the kind that, according to the Web site Librarian Avengers, is “looking to put the ‘hep cat’ in cataloguing.” The best part of the article? This description of Jeff Buckley, a reference librarian at a law firm, "who had a tattoo of the logo from the Federal Depository Library Program peeking out of his black T-shirt sleeve." Wow, that's hip alright.

Mary Blair, one of Walt Disney’s favorite conceptual artists, possessed a unique style that influenced the look and feel of many Disney projects during her career span from 1942 to 1970. One her most amazing design achievements was the 1964 New York World’s Fair attraction “it’s a small world," which was later imported to Disneyland (and all of the other Magic Kingdoms around the globe) where it’s been welcoming guests for more than 40 years. The classic attraction at Disneyland is now out of commission for ten months so that the boat flumes can be replaced with a deeper trough better able to handle todays heavier park guests. Unfortunately, my former employer Walt Disney Imagineering is taking advantage of the downtime by looking for spots throughout the attraction to place a selection of "classic" Disney characters to enliven the proceedings. Now guests will be treated to a grinning "Stitch" figure in Hawaii, a statue of "Belle" in the Paris scene, and a "Peter Pan" flying over London. In the most troublesome revision, the beautiful New Guinea rainforest scene, which features some of Mary Blair’s most whimsical character creations (a crocodile with an umbrella, colorful birds hatching from eggs and drummer children with Tiki masks) will be replaced with a new "Hooray for U.S.A" sequence. Feh. This attraction was always about giving Americans a view of the world around them and recognizing the common humanity that all of the citizens of the Earth share...not a tribute to nationalism and the Disney studio's stable of animated characters. Mary's family has rightfully spoken out that the addition of Disney characters and an "Up With America" sequence is "a gross desecration of the ride's original theme." Good for them.

We spent the weekend relaxing at the Four Seasons Aviara, a lovely resort in Carlsbad, just north of San Diego. Not sure if it's the proximity to Legoland (the entrance is only a mile or two away), but there were VERY young children EVERYWHERE. Upon entrance to the reception area, children were running and screaming so loudly that I did not hear the desk clerk ask me if I was ready to check in. Screaming kids were also very prevalent at the swimming pool area - so much so that there is a restricted "16 years and older" pool and spa area for adults nearby (pictured above), but the children didn't stay out of there, either. The whirlpool spa in said "quiet zone" was overrun with 5 to 8 year olds on two different days, and I even saw a young father dipping his diapered infant into that spa! I did enjoy the drinks served poolside, though. I ordered a Capirinhia that, instead of lime and mint, contained big chunks of watermelon and tasted like soda water. At first I thought it was pretty gross, but at $7.50 a pop, I did not want to waste it, so I slowly drank it as we lounged. I guess it was worth the money, because when I finished it I could no longer feel my legs. The spa treatments we had were very nice - the peppermint scrub helped restore the feeling back to my legs, and later we went to a flower field and reveled in the glory of the blossoms. Oh yeah, the hotel had giant chocolate Easter eggs in the lobby that the screaming brats were tearing at like wild animals.

This makes me uneasy: Last October, Barack Obama refused to dump virulently anti-gay gospel singer Donnie McClurkin (not to mention all of the other homophobes) from his “gospel concert tour" in South Carolina. When the gay community asked why he would support such a hate-monger, Senator Obama issued a statement (actually, it was buried deep within his campaign Web site) that affirmed his "belief that gays and lesbians are our brothers and sisters and should be provided the respect, dignity, and rights of all other citizens" - but he refused to rebuke McClurkin. Yesterday, the senator used the exact same, ineffectual strategy in an attempt to distance himself from the inflammatory, racist, and anti-American sermons of his church pastor, "spiritual mentor" and "role model" who "helps keep his priorities straight and his moral compass calibrated": Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. Sigh. Senator Obama's dodging and weaving to please the more hateful elements of our society is disturbing to me...Feh.

To me, there was always something (homo)sexual about Big Jim, a line of hyper-macho action figures produced by Mattel from 1972 through 1986. Inspired by G.I. Joe, Jim was smaller (closer to 10 inches tall compared to Joe's 12) and each figure included a push button in his back that made the character execute a karate chop. His arms were made of a soft plastic/vinyl material and contained a mechanism that simulated a bulging biceps when the arm was bent. Jim was less military-oriented than G.I. Joe, having more of a secret agent flair, and he had a variety of outfits and situations at his disposal including sports, space exploration, martial arts, hunting, and even "unusual" choices such as fishing and photography. Don't even get me started on his pals, a virtual gay fantasy who's who: Big Jeff (the blonde surfer dude), Big Jack (the husky black buddy), and Big Josh, the burly, bearded lumberjack. You just know all sorts of shenanigans went on in the Sports Camper.

After receiving rave reviews for its successful debut in 2007, the True Colors Tour is hitting the road again this summer in support of the newly created True Colors Fund of Stonewall Community Foundation. Cyndi Lauper, The B-52s, Rosie O'Donnell and host Carson Kressley will be joined by Wanda Sykes, Tegan and Sara, Regina Spektor, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Joan Armatrading, Indigo Girls, Nona Hendryx, Deborah Cox and The Cliks. It was so damn much fun last year, I cannot wait for the LA date on June 28! Update: Now I see that Andy Bell of Erasure will be a special guest here in LA! Woo!

Whenever I get back home from traveling abroad, there's one taste that I absolutely crave: Extra Crunchy Jif. Even though it's now made by J. M. Smucker (and I swear it tastes different than it when it was made by Procter & Gamble), it's the one food I truly desire after being on a diet of unusual foreign dishes. Americans eat 170 million pounds of Jif in a year...enough to make 2 billion peanut butter sandwiches.

Well, now that I have had a few days to recover and reflect on our Middle East odyssey, here is a recap:

The trip is not easily summarized: It was fun, exhausting, irritating and interesting all at once. There were positives and negatives, but in my opinion it was definitely not the five-star experience we were expecting from tour operator Abercrombie & Kent.

It's the little details make the difference, and in our case A & K did not deliver. Some examples: after being greeted in the Cairo Airport, Philip and I were left standing in a dirt parking lot for more than 25 minutes without any explanation about what was going on; our (eventual) driver and escort to the Conrad Cairo did not say a word to us on the 40-minute ride to hotel; the A & K escort didn't give us the welcome packet and itinerary that other guests received (kind of necessary since there was an early wake-up call the next morning); our names were incorrect on the hotel check-in (he had done it for us) and we received the wrong luggage; our room was located next to the noisy service elevator for the club level lounge and when we went down to ask the escort to help us change rooms, he was nowhere to be found (their service committment is to stay at the hotel and make sure you are satisfied with your accommodations and have obtained your luggage); we were not allowed to order a cocktail at the welcome party reception for the group - beer or house white only (on a high-end expensive tour!); all of the group meals in Egypt were mediocre - tough meat, set menu with usually no choices; and many of the tour buses that we traveled on were unacceptably worn and dirty (really, it doesn't take much to wipe off windows!). Additionally, the Conrad Cairo is not in the greatest of neighborhoods - you really can't walk around much, the neighborhood was low-income and not tourist-friendly. We traveled with budget-level tour operator Globus in Europe many years ago, and the A & K service was definitely no better.

The A & K itinerary for the two-week trip was unrealistic...we were regularly asked to awake at dawn and would sightsee all day without rest (and on at least one occassion without any food), then we would be deposited at our hotel with a few minutes to wash up before dinner. Here is the breakdown of one single day: We were up at 4:00 am (with no breakfast) to head to the Cairo airport; took two seperate (very full and filthy non-chartered) flights to our destination of Abu Simbel; toured extensively, then took another (non-chartered) flight to Aswan; toured more, then were deposited at our Nile cruise boat for lunch (at 3:45 pm) - only to be told that we had 10 minutes to eat before the bus left for more touring; toured for another few hours; were deposited back at the boat at 7:00 pm; ate dinner at 7:30 pm, during which we were told that we had to be up at dawn the next morning for another bus tour. To my mind it was more like being in boot camp than on vacation.

The Sun Boat IV cruise on the Nile was lovely - only wish we could have enjoyed it more! We only had a hour or so to sit on deck before being whisked off on another tour. They offer a nice afternoon tea, but we were never on board to enjoy it. There was entertainment at night after dinner, but after a 14-hour day and with an early wake-up call, you're so exhausted you cannot stay awake to enjoy that either. Food was hit-or-miss on the boat, not consistently good.

Our Egyptologist was knowledgeable, but she spent most of her time playing "mother" to all of the complainers in the group (and I know it's hard to believe, but I never said a word), so she really did not spend as much time as she should have explaining Egypt and the incredible sites we were seeing.

Which brings me to the positive aspect of our trip: the sights were AMAZING! It was mind-blowing to climb inside the Great Pyramid, see the Temple of Karnak and ride camels through the desert! Lots of dust and heat though - even in February it was getting uncomfortably warm in the south part of Egypt.

Jordan was a bit better - Amman is a clean city, the hotel was much nicer (Four Seasons Amman) and the guide better at crowd control and information dissemination. But the bus we were on for the (4 hour each way) ride to Petra was filthy dirty - grimy seats, light fixtures with broken faceplates, dirty floors and windows. The food we were served on the group meals in Jordan was of really good quality...I loved the national dish of lamb stewed in yogurt and served over rice and chicken. Petra was incredible - a wonderous monument to a forgotten civilization carved right into the red mountains on the edge of the Jordanian desert. We saw the place where Mr. Jesus was baptized at the River Jordan and stood on the mountaintop where Mr. Moses looked out and saw the Promised Land. Supposedly. All in all, a trip that we won't soon forget!

OK, when did it become acceptable to put your feet WAY up on the bulkead WALLS of an airplane? Observed on our recent flights to and from the Middle East:

We're back, exhausted after a grueling two-week itinerary in the Middle East. The 28 hours of transit time between Amman and our front door in Los Angeles was brutal, and the fact that I have been battling an upper respiratory infection for at least five days did not help my demeanor as an airline passenger.

We had a great time on the trip, but I keep have to keep learning the lesson that group travel is not for me. Seems like so much time is wasted with the logistics of moving 23 people from Point A to Point B, and the bureaucracy of it all clouds my enjoyment of the sights and sounds of the destination. Despite being on a so-called "high-end luxury tour," many, MANY hours were spent listening to the whining of various tour members about their luggage, how they didn't like this or that food, what was going to happen next, etc. Often, the same question would be asked and answered four or five times in a row - then it would get asked yet again. Sigh. Next time, private guides and a private car, so all the dumb questions will be ours alone to ask.

Also, I blew out 2 of the 22 zippers in the ScotteVest before the first week of the trip was over. Feh.

About 250 pics posted in my "Travels" section.

Oooooh, I need this for our flights to Egypt tomorrow (from Dean Morris Cards UK):

This is just concept right now, but imagine the possibilities: an app for the iPhone that lets you place your Starbucks order ahead of time, calculates what you owe and then generates payment. Even though I am not a Starbucks devotee, the ramifications for retail may major if things like this take off.

I've decided that I'm not going to take any checked baggage on our upcoming trip to the Middle East, relying instead on whatever clothes I can fit into a 22-inch carry on. That means packing extremely light, with five shirts, five pairs of pants and five sets of underwear, all washable and quick-drying. But what to do with all that other junk I need to carry with me? I've purchased perhaps the coolest and most ingenious piece of clothing I have ever owned - a ScotteVest, which has 22 hidden pockets capable of holding all my electronics (iPhone, PSP, video camera, digital camera, an all-purpose electrical adapter and noise-cancelling headphones), as well as sunglasses, travel documents, a bottle of water, magazines and more! And the coolest part is that when you have it on, it doesn't look like you are carrying much of anything in it. Very James Bond and very, very cool.

Forbes magazine has published a list of the 10 most miserable cities in the United States, and guess who’s clocking in at number 7? The full list:

10. Providence, RI 9. Charlotte, NC 8. Modesto, CA 7. Los Angeles, CA 6. Chicago, IL 5. Philadelphia, PA 4. New York, NY 3. Flint, MI 2. Stockton, CA 1. Detroit, MI

Hmmmm...I dunno, I can think of a lot of places in the world that are much more miserable than what I see from my front door every day:

Well, the Writer's Strike is over and it didn't kill my favorite new show of the 2007 Fall Season, ABC's "Pushing Daisies." Not so thrilled that the nine episodes aired so far will count as Season 1, and that the show will not return until this fall. Feh. Well, with all that time to write and produce, I bet it will be stellar.

If you own an iPhone, you know that the built-in digital camera takes great photos, but the range is pretty limited due to its fixed lens. Now you can add a zoom lens which attaches to a protective plastic case that snaps snugly around the phone. If you don’t mind adding a little extra bulk to your iPhone, you can pick one up from DealExtreme for just under $15 (plus, it's kinda phallic).

The Britney Spears drama has managed to graze us a little as it careens wildly through the streets of Los Angeles. Brit and her pal Adnan paid a late-afternoon visit to Philip's law firm today. Judging from the footage on Celebtv.com, the paparrazi were insane, chasing her car into the parking garage then following her up the escalator and practically into the elevator. When Philip tried to leave for the day, the phalanx of photographers made it nearly impossible for him to get out of the building. No wonder she's gone nuts!

Watched a TERRIFIC Netflix rental last night, Colma: The Musical. Shot on what looks like a budget of $3, this great-spirited coming-of-age film is heartfelt, fun and refreshing. (Colma is a little town right next to San Francisco whose claim to fame is that the dead outnumber the living 1500 to 1 because of its many cemeteries.) One part Rent, one part Grease, and one part Rocky Horror Picture Show, Colma: The Musical grabs you from its first song and doesn't let go!

Blue States vs. Red States, the Democrats have a dream for 2008 and now you can too with this Heat Activated Blue States Mug from Wicked Cool Stuff. Pour hot liquid into this coffee mug and watch the nation swing to the left.

Wow, lots of love for this poster created by OBEY for the Obama campaign. The screenprint was only released in a limited edition of 350 today and immediately sold out.

Minimates, block-styled miniature action figures created by Art Asylum, are available in some great flavors. Even though I need another collection like I need a hole in the head, I may have to start one because of this.....now on sale, a Minimates set based on the 1991 Academy Award-winning Best Picture “The Silence of the Lambs!” I can imagine toddlers all over the globe re-enacting this scene:

"Do you know what you look like, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well-scrubbed, hustling rube, with a little taste. Good nutrition's given you length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you? And that accent you've tried so desperately to shed: pure West Virginia. What is your father, dear? ls he a coal miner? Does he stink of the lamp? How quickly the boys found you. All those tedious, sticky fumblings in the back seats of cars, while you could only dream of getting out, getting anywhere, getting all the way to the FBl."

More from the weird food aisle...Strawberry Frosted Cheetos. Yes, you read it correctly. Strawberry Cheetos. They're really Cheetos and they're really from Frito Lay, but they are only available in Japan. There are also Chocolate Cheetos, if you're into that. Probably the perfect snack to wash down with an ice cold Cucumber Pepsi, also available only in Japan:

The fabulous Jan Hooks as faux religious broadcaster Tammy Jean Pickett on the Bill Tush Show, which aired on Ted Turner's Superstation TBS, circa 1981. "My eyes have seen it, and it is large."

Stewardess Nancy's first day, circa 1982. My, how customer service attitudes have changed on United Airlines! On our United red-eye flight to Florida to see my folks last Thanksgiving, the flight attendants were surly and then partied in the forward galley throughout the night, turning the light out and quieting down only when we were about to land in Orlando. It was as if we passengers were in the way of their socializing...I realize that they've taken pay cuts and lost their pensions, but really, there's no excuse for treating your customers like crap.

A fire on the roof of the Monte Carlo hotel-casino forced gamblers to flee and sent flaming embers raining down on the Las Vegas Strip today - where are Paul Newman and Steve McQueen when you need them??

The Center For Public Integrity has compiled a database of lies told by the Bush White House regarding Iraq since 2001, arriving at a grand total of 935. Of course, these little fibs are no small triviality...When the Bush Administration lied, people died. Over 150,000 Iraqis and nearly 4,000 Americans, to be specific.

Shocked to hear about Heath Ledger's untimely death. I liked his work in Brokeback, the portrayal of Ennis is exactly how I imagined the character in the short story.

Got a new toy over the weekend: an Apple TV unit. I was initially uninspired by this device, a digital media receiver designed, marketed and sold by Apple designed to play digital content originating from the iTunes Store or another computer onto a high-def widescreen television. It can store content on its internal hard drive or stream it across a network from another computer. I really didn't see the need for it, but the prospect of renting movies directly through the web without having to mess with Netflix tempted me. So far we are blown away by looking at our digital photo albums in high definition. The screensaver of floating pictures of your life while your favorite tunes are playing on the home theater system is quite compelling - we watched it for hours for the past couple of nights!

LOVING the new Jennifer Saunders sitcom "The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle." Created by Saunders and Tanya Byron, "Vivienne Vyle" follows the on-screen and off-screen life of the host of a fictional TV series modeled after Dr. Phil and Jerry Springer. Thank god for YouTube - there is no reason that BBC America cannot air this in a timely manner! It's already gone out in the UK - broadcast it here in the US!

Lots of cool new web-based applications for the iPhone coming out now. Some interesting ones include the French-language Audio Guide CitySpeaker, which outfits your iPhone with audio guides of 20 destinations; vFlashlight, which lets iPhone users brighten up their surroundings when a flashlight is needed; and ZAGAT.mobi, which supplies free restaurant, nightlife and hotel information for hundreds of cities, including address, phone number, and operating hours.

Crazy-ass Tom Cruise's recently leaked in-house Scientology video. Watch it and discover that he is truly insane - what is it about super-celebritydom that makes you lose all your marbles?? Mostly posting this just so it remains propagated around the Internet. Hopefully this will stem the flow of new movies from this nutcase. A former Scientologist commenter at RADAR provides definitions of Cruise's Scientology-speak:

• KSW (short for Keeping Scientology Working): A policy written by Hubbard in the 1960's that requires all Scientologists to follow his words and his rules exactly.
• Orgs: Orgs is an abbreviation for "organizations" and describes all churches of Scientology throughout the world.
• David Miscavige: The current leader of Scientology and the equivalent of the Pope to the Catholics.
• Out-ethics: any behavior that violates any of Hubbard's rules of conduct.
• Put ethics in on someone else: make others conform to Hubbard's rules of behavior.
• Criminon: Scientology front group that tries to recruit through the prisons.
• SP: Suppressive Person. Anyone that doesn't like Scientology and/or criticizes Scientology.
• PTS/SP: another bogus Hubbard term to define behavior that goes against Scientology rules.
• LRH technology or "tech": all the Scientology policies, rules, mandates, procedures.

We watched a Netflix rental the other night - the charming Irish musical "Once." Set in Dublin, the film stars musicians Glen Hansard (of popular Irish rock band The Frames) and Markéta Irglová as fictional struggling musicians. Collaborators prior to making the film, Hansard and Irglová composed and performed most of the original songs used in the movie. I've found myself repeating the main theme "Falling Slowly" over and over in my head ever since.

I hope my brother (who works for Budweiser) does not condone this - a new product from Anheuser-Busch called Chelada is a mixture of beer and clam-flavored tomato juice. Which is worse, this foul brew or something I saw in the grocery store today: Chocolate-Ch