So I actually have a standard work week, this week. 9-6,Monday-Friday. My boss is taking his vacation, and so it makes sense for me to be in and try to control the chaos.

It's kind of weird, to be honest. A day off in the middle of the week does give you a chance to breathe, to shut away the world. And knowing my schedule won't change at a moments notice? Very strange.

There are bonuses to THIS week being my week without boss. The craziest woman in the world to hold a job and be on my team is not there. The uber-uber-boss ( I have three uber bosses. More uber=uber boss) is gone, and while I well have to drive my people insane to please uber-uber-uber boss, one less uber boss is good.

Other good things about this week, or I was reminded of during this week:

I have a good book to finish before getting back to a mediocre book.

I'm not terribly far away from hitting the G's in the Grand Tour of my CD Collection.

I hit a great birthday party today not too faraway from where my Dad grew up, here in Brooklyn. I'm told it's not someplace I want to visit now, but I love being somewhere my family has history in. At times, I felt like I was iceskating on top of America. It was my home, and I loved it, but I didn't feel connected.

Then I spent two weeks in Ireland, and while I don't plan on living there, I felt some serious connections there.

Now, having come Brooklyn, by chance living blocks away from where a grand uncle lived, I'm starting to see bits of it through my Dad's eyes, and I feel a connection to this borough through family history and building my own family here.

So, ramble done. This week will be long, tiring, challenging,but very fine.

So I saw an amazing movie last night, and a certain gal asks me if she thinks she'd be one of the female characters.

And i replied no. Another of our friends practically is that character.

And there was a mini-sigh, and we moved on.

And, as I do, pondered this at 5 gazillion miles an hour there and then, and at a slower pace at different points today.

I don't really think about the casting game, casting actors as people I know, because, well, as an actor (even though I'm really a civilian, I use my theater training on a daily basis. Guest Service is acting, baby,) I'd want to play me. Hell, I'd lose the weight, put on the bad wig, or do the whole computer assisted animation shit to play me at whatever age.

Nobody makes money off me being me but me.

But, this certain gal... I just don't see another person playing her. I don't see her in fiction.

Really, I don't. I mean, yeah, I can think of an actress or two to play some shade. I can think of some characters who could sort of represent her, in a stretch.

But really, this woman is very unique, very much her own messed up glory, that to try and invite comparison is to invite pointless effort.

Why also invite certain doom if I pick an actress/character she hates? SHE WAS A FRICKING ENGLISH MAJOR,EDITOR, AND IS MY LITERARY EQUAL IF NOT SUPERIOR.

So, no comparisons or casting.

My girl is mine, don't need to think of who else she could be but her.


Oh, and for that matter... 500 Days of Summer, while great, really needs a sequel shot from the "real life" Summer Finn's point of view. Same cast, whatever needed to make it as good but just from her persepctive.

And no, I don't think anyone in that movie would play my certain gal.

So, Dr. Laura, who to be honest, I've never consumed except in small doses, is leaving AM radio.

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b195834_dr_laura_ending_her_radio_show_regain.html?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Off course, she's claiming her First Amendment rights are being abridged.

Uhm, no.

Look all of us... yes, lefties too, confuse pressures on speech from non-governmental sources with governmental sources, and cite First Amendment issues. And we all forget,even when appropriate, that like other Constitutional rights ( Second Amendment, anyone?), as a nation of evolving laws and needs there are some restrictions on First Amendment rights.

This can get confusing. Especially with the way the FCC sometimes swings wildly from who it targets or regulates depending on the whim of the courts or the administration of the moment. But that's why free tv and radio are more regulated then pay tv and radio.

PBS stil gets away with some crazy shit because, well, who watches PBS in this country? Really.

But in this case, sorry. No 1st Amendment rights have been violated. Dr. Laura, who has always said crazy, hateful stuff over public airwaves, finally dropped the n-bob-omb right on her own position.

And as far as I can tell, the FCC isn't going after her.

Being very pro-First Amendment, I wouldn't want to see the FCC go after the crazy lady. I would honestly like to see them avoid content control ( excluding advertisers... they need a firm, guiding hand) and be more about guaranteeing access (net neutrality. duh.)

This isn't a First Amendment issue. Doc Laura, you said enough crazy stuff to get a chunk of the populace against you. And by adding element "N-What the fuck did you say?" you finally reached critical mass.

You aren't being punished by 1st Amendment issues. You are being punished by the marketplace.

Don't worry. Satellite radio or some cable channel well have a place for you broadcast wise, and the people who like your books will continue to buy them.

Yay, capitalism.

So when I was a little kid, in my folks ridiculously big library (places for bookshelves is a key part of their real estate planning), I found a book called "All In Color For A Dime." I was fascinated because it was both about comics, as you likely already guess, a favorite read of mine, and it was a look into my parents own childhood.

Which I was convinced in black and white, since all the films and photos from that time were in black and white. No, I didn't make the leap of logic that since the comics and paintings were in color, the world was in color. I was 5-6 years old and highly imaginative. Not logical.

Anyway, the book, besides being a great read about comics through the decades, also mentioned the classic comics hysteria, stoked by "Seduction of The Innocent." Written by anti-violence advocate, it claimed comic books were contributors to youth violence and there were all sorts of 'deviant' sexual lessons being communicated.

No, he didn't write the whole thing on Wonder Woman in the 40's. (dude, read up on that period. 500 words on it and it's creator. Go.)

Now, regardless of my folks regret at introducing me to comics, scifi, and role playing, video games, and peanut, I've lived through some of these pop culture hysteria as a fan.

The great D&D wank of the 80's. ALL THE video game scares- starting with anti-porn feminists freaking about porn gameson Atari 2600's. Harry Potter freak outs. Creed leading to the douchiest not crypto-enough-christian rawk evah.

And it comes back to comics.

A U. Mass researcher (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7941690/Superheroes-send-out-wrong-message-to-boys.html) claims modern superheros are awful because they only encourage boys to be douchebag, female abusive superheroes, or school hating slackers. She also reveals a nice labor bias, claiming superheros used to be working men solving social problems.

And of course, society must be programing boys to be pro-social.

Read the article, than read more before telling me how much I butchered my summary.

Here's the thing: In every era, people will find what they think is wrong about comics, and freak out about it. In every era, people will blame media for training boys to do the wrong thing. (Sorry... not enough academics quoted in newspapers seem to worry about girls reading comics. Either they secretly like them growing up and wearing Supergirl outfits with a midriff, or they don't believe girls read anything but Potter and Twilight. Sexist bastards!!!!)

In every era, people will forget that the majority of boys who read comics are already school loving slackers, and that the boys who learn anything from comic book movies are likely way more complex than the ones who hear a pop song and want to bling it up.

Trying to find a single source to explain boys behavior and gender identity/role modeling is far too simplistic, and far too narrow. Also, not being self aware enough of your own political/gender biases undermines your credibility.

Read the article, tell me what you think. I need to sleep and dream of being a pro-feminist though very standardly masculine superhero.

So I caught this bit about BestBuy asking a priest to cease and desist with a GodSquad car, inspired by their GeekSquad.

http://www.salon.com/wires/us/2010/08/15/D9HK7QP00_us_geek_squad_god_squad/index.html

I wonder if he uses Bibles System 2.5? (Christian, so 2.0. But King James? Good News? Thoughts?)

This actually reminds me of another of my regular brushes with religion in the Times Square Subway Station.

If you don't know the Jews for Jesus, they are "Messianic Jews." They believe Christ was the real Messiah. And they believe in an even bigger miracle:

That you can believe in Christ the Messiah, and still be Jewish.

I know, I know. I'm the Ex-Roman Catholic Atheist with a Jewish Heritage. Who am I to judge who a real Jew is? Well, I know I'm officially not a Jew( my Mom's the Goy, my Dad is the one who fell for the shiksa,) and that most Jews see Messianics as just another way Christians try to convert and dilute Jews from what they feel the true faith is.

And honestly, there is a reason why you don't see Jews trying to recruit outside the Tribe much. When you have been hounded and persecuted for most of recorded history, guess what? YOU DON'T THINK IT'S COOL.

And yeah, beyond selling out to people who just want Jews to cause Armageddon and bring back Jesus "El Savior" Christ, they are pretty much an evil cult.

So, anyhow, being in the subway at some point in the last century, and seeing them in their uniform shirts and glazed stares, I see something odd in the pamphlets they hand to people to throw on the subway.

Beavis and Butthead.

YES! THE FOOLS WERE USING THE BOYS! They were showing how Beavis and Butthead found God. And God was cool. God rocked. Let's pray to God and Jesus.

So I did the only thing I could do. I called Viacom. Sorry. Besides being of the Judge ( Mike, that is), Beavis and Butthead stood for the best defenses against those who would abuse faith.

"Chicks, boobies, and HEAVY METAL ROCK N'ROLL!! HEhehehe,ehehhe,ehehehe, hehhh."

*THWAP* SHUT UP, BUTT MUNCH! This is like, serious stuff."

"Ow! Assmunch!"

Anyway, I remember seeing a bit on it on the news, haven't been able to find any mention of it on the web. Viacom basically let the matter drop, or quietly sent a cease and desist. The Not Quite Ready for End Time Players continue to haunt the subways, and it's just an interesting to think about.

Borrowing from popular culture can lead to some interesting sermon's and sermonizing. I remember a sermon from my childhood. Ralph Bakshi's "The Lord of the Ring's" had come out. The priest, who clearly read the books, reflected on the hobbits, how they kept EVERYTHING, and were materialistic.

And how we shouldn't be like that.

It was kind of cool. He managed to tie Tolkien into a Catholic mass with subtlety, humor, and no Narnia references.

And what did we learn? Well, in all kinds of preaching, be it religious or secular, borrow from popculture carefully.

When done well, it can be a good way to illuminate your meaning, and connect with the audience.

When done poorly, it just opens you up to the mockery you likely deserve.

And not done carefully, you need more than a canon lawyer on the speed dial.

So did you ever have a scab you just couldn't stop playing with, and shock, find it didn't heal?

Did you ever roll over a rock and really find stuff more creepy than you could imagine?

That's been my experience with the teabag trolls.

SORRY! ONE MORE POST ON THE SUBJECT!

Thing is, I've known they are a pretty hate filled group, based on things that have been said and displayed through the media. But, having been given a window into their world, their twitter threads and website, alll because of them them poking their nose into mine.. HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

Really.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

Anti-Islamic and Catholic jokes while calling themselves Christians or American. Talk of spiritual warfare. Really vile and morbid jokes involving their political enemies. Jokes involving brutalization and perverse sexualization of people and their bodies.

(True, what some people really get into in Harry/Draco slash fic, but that's a different soapbox)

I've experienced really serious hate, not as directly as many, but enough. Personal experiences with bigotry and prejudice, either directed or misdirected towards me or my friends. (Yes, white men who don't look Jewish to the untrained eye can experience racism or sexism.)

Both sides of my family survived and lost people in ethnic cleansing... like the Famines in Ireland, or the Holocaust in Europe.

I lived in London during the tail end of the IRA terror campaigns, heard at least one diversionary bomb go off. My downtown train left the World Trade Center just as the first plane hit. So I know what happens when you spend enough time living in hate.

Not as bad as most people in human history. Hell, not as bad as most people living in Brooklyn, most likely. But I have personal and learned experience to enlighten me a bit.

And I don't think they are all going to turn into a bunch of Glen Beck quoting brownshirts. I'm paranoid, but not quite that bad.

And I'm not going to get drawn into their world of full time ideological combat. I have enough walls to bash my head on thank you.

But I'm going to be a bit more aware, I'm going to be a little more concerned, hopefully will encourage our officials to do a better job.

More, we'll see.

Oh, liberals and live journalers? Can we stop ripping each other new ones because we don't match each others ideological purity? Argue, fight, but really stop hating the other lefties,liberals,moderates,republicans and thoughtful conservatives because they aren't as pure as you.

Because the people who hate us all, even if not matching us in numbers, are concentrated and really wishing more harm on all of us then we should be wishing on each other.

Hello, ex- significant others of my significant other.

Look at your self, look at me. Look at your self, now really, really look at me.

I'm the man you could be. With the significant other you failed to hold onto or failed to treat
appropriately.

Look at yourself, look at me. Look up at me, you metaphorically tiny, tiny person.

I'm the man who laughs at your short comings while eating your ex-significant other's amazingly cooked meals.
I'm the man who strokes her hair as we walk down the tree lined boulevard of our shared lives.

I'm the man who gets to react to her day in and day out like the double rainbow wonder she is.

Look at yourself, don't look at me. It will just hurt too much.

And while you may have found a significant other of your own, and I am happy for you in a non-partonizing way that still patronizes you oh so much, you lost this one.

Just look away.

I'm at a Mac.

So this is the last day of my 4 day staycay. My only real goal was to rest up some. When you are on your feet for most of the last 6 years straight, you need to sit down some.

The highlight of last night? Stepping out to Trailer Park for some great food with my gal, strolling 23rd street during dusk, and seeing 'Inception.' I recognize why some people don't dig it. I don't realize why it confused people so much. Nolan is a fair play director. He shows you all his cards, so you can figure it out.

And yeah. Maybe he and his brother need either a great female writer or writer of women to help him flesh out some of his women characters. ( About 1 noticeable 1 per movie in each of his I've seen. I haven't seen his take on Insomnia.) In fact, this is the first movie of his I've seen with two women, both of whom were involved in the plot.

Me, I loved the movie. I loved the dream logic, and how it lingers. Is it one of the greatest films ever? No. Is it a really good

As for dances with douchebags... will it's retreated to where it should be. We're both in our respective echochambers saying bad things about each other. But here's what's interesting.

mr. gay american sent a twitter about 'liberal cowards', listing 5 or 6 people.. including me, for his friends to see.

So, not only are they trolling for fights, but they are listing twitter feeds to encourage other trolls.

Yeah, and you complain about being portrayed as thugs in the media.

Now, I've altered the names of the idiotic, in part because I don't want to give them the attention, and in part, I don't want to be like them. I'm not looking to either a) scare people off the net, or b) feed into my joy of street fighting on the internet.

The bad kind of street fighting. Not the good kind with Chun Li. Ahh... Chun Li.

Sorry, distracted,

Anyway, we'll see what else these idiots do. In the meantime, some house work so my nap in a couple of hours is well earned.

So my friends on the right tried to keep the fight up. In came a friend of theirs, a gay proud american, attacking me for attacking a good mother, who wasn't a bigot because she had gay friends.
Even though she was opposed to measures that would help and protect LGTB folk.

Like him.. a gay conservative who is also opposed to measures most people in the LGBT community seem to want.

I actually used the word oppress... not bigot. And I never implied she was a bad mother.

I explained to mr. gay proud american that his friends sought out a fight, we danced, I walked away.

Then the ladies' husband called me a coward for because I couldn't cope with someone not acting according to my preconceived notions of a homosexual.

Uhm, yeah. My only preconception was that if this kept up, the tea partiers would get nasty, which they did, and they would get blocked, which they did.

Again, I wasn't 100% respectful. Guess what? Who was?

Folks, they can think I'm a coward. They can get more friends to cuss me out. If you want to argue with me, and do so in a cool way, I will keep the argument going. But if you want to flame, and can't finish the fight, I'm cool with walking away without a victory.

Life ain't all about winning arguments with strangers on the internet.

It's about livejournaling that you had a moral victory in an argument with strangers on the internet.

So, as I'm wont to do, I repost a HuffPost repost on GOPride having Anne Coulter as their speaker. Regrettably, I failed to use a quip about that being like General Custer speaking at an AIM conference.

Look it up.

My exact quote: "Guys, your party hates you. Wake up."

Anyway, so I start getting twitters from a women from the South, asking me what have liberals done for me lately? I don't know if she meant me as a gay man( which I'm not. I'm just a fabulous man) or as an American.

Now, I've had many amazing conversations with conservatives of all stripes, which haven't ended up in agreement, but have been helpful for better understanding and bridge building. And I hope those people in those conversations say the same about me.

But this wasn't that. This was someone trolling an issue on twitter, and then launching out at people who they disagree with.

So, it went down hill. Basically, after asking if government did anything, I pointed out ways it did, and specifically ways the Obama Administration had made some progress (if nowhere near enough) on LGBT and other issues. Basically, every time I pointed out why I thought something needed to be done on an issue, she countered 'government bad.'

Then her husband, or the man I assume is her husband, joined in, following the same progression: attacking me for declaring who was an acceptable gay, then going libertarian on how government should be out of all marriage.

After explaining someone from another office hands out gay acceptability cards, and pointing out that rights need to be protected, I tried to thank them for their time, told them I'd see them at the Supreme Court.

Oh, I did tell the lady to have a nice Sunday oppressing those different from her. I wasn't 100% respectful and snark free.

Also turns out the the lady's husband(?) is an conservative internet radio figure.

Now, I've been in some amazing flame wars in the past. Like, Michael Bay levels of flame. And, when you are part Romanian, part Irish, you like to fight some. While the call to fight club sang in my heart, I just got better things to do with my time. I got more important things to stress about then what some tea party fanatic who loves Star Trek but hates socialism thinks about my arguments.

And lord knows, if I want to find a ridiculous fight, I can find one on LJ that won't be limited to 140 characters a hit.

I haven't blocked them yet... no real need to.

In the mean time, I'll see what other interesting trolls I attract, or if I find some decent conversation with alien ideologyforms.