Great Balls of Fire!

One of my favorite spots to relax surprisingly enough, is in the crowded Starbuck's cafe within my neighborhood Barnes and Nobles. I'll take the laptop and enough money for a triple venti white chocolate mocha and a double chocolate brownie (it's like tasting cocoa again for the first time it's so ridiculously decadent). I'll open my laptop and siphon off of their wi-fi since the hotspots in my neck of the woods aren't so hot.

I typically go to watch a movie. Do a little writing. Do some downloading. Listen to music in my earbuds. But I mainly go to people watch and do a little harmless flirting.

On this particular evening, I was going through a case of the blues. The know the usual suspects: nothing going right, lonely, angry, sad, blah blah blah. One setback about this otherwise lovely little cafe is that they don't allow anyone to plug in the computers. All outlets are....well, nonexistent. I, therefore, have to spend the two hours of my battery life on something worthwhile such as a movie download I can watch later or a posting that needs some work. After two hours flies by, my computer gives me the countdown and I'm I'm outta there. The nice thing is I don't live far from the cafe. Literally a stone's throw.

This particular night of the hum drums and feeling like I needed some kind of sign that someone up there was hearing me because I was truly one step away from an old Negro Spiritual in the parking lot. I walked briskly through the bookstore parking lot, crossing the street at the first break in the typically busy traffic and began walking through the main parking lot of my building. Our lot was relatively empty of cars as usual. Nothing new. But for some reason, something made me look up and directly above the horizon of the trees and the top of the building flew something that looked like a large, failed, firework, sparking uncontrollably across the sky. For a few seconds, I stood there in awe and then it was gone. Instinctively, I turned, hoping someone...anyone was there to have witnessed what couldn't have been a 'shooting star'./ Those usually happen in a flash. If you blinked, you missed it. The best place to see a shooting star is in Oklahoma, on a clear summer night of laying on your back outside staring up at the stars or in an old Steven Spielberg film.

This was something else. I wasn't conspiracy-theory enough to think UFO, but I knew it was....something and because no one was there with me and I heard no screeching of tires in the streets from drivers who witnessed this obvious anomaly, I regained my paced and walked back to my apartment. I asked for a sign. I got a sign. Didn't know what it was a sign of, but it was definitely bigger than me and left me awestruck.

Two days ago, I spoke with one of my best friends, Shelly, who keeps one foot permanently planted in the know one evening and told her what I saw. She looked at me like I was coockoo. "Honey, it was on the news." And then she remembered I'd been weaning myself off television in an effort to.......okay, I have no cable. Ginormous television. No cable. It's the ultimate fuck-over.

Tonight, I took a look for articles about that night and came up with the following from the L.A. Times that proves I wasn't having a psychotic break, but was one of very few who witnessed a most beautiful occurrence that streaked across the dark sky like a Fourth of July sparkler, then disappeared. Wasn't nearly long enough to appreciate its brilliance, but on that specific night of prayer, it was plenty.

THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN EXCERPTED FROM THE L.A. TIMES NEWSPAPER


Folks from Oklahoma City to Houston reported having seen a fireball shoot across the sky at about 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Astronomers said the fiery display was likely caused by a meteor or some other space matter hurtling through the atmosphere.Texas observers blogged about the show and described it as a blue-green object trailing sparks.In central Texas, Little River-Academy Police Chief Troy Hess said he had just pulled over a driver when he managed to capture video of the fireball from his cruiser."It kept getting bigger, and the color kept changing," he told the Austin American-Statesman.

No damage was reported from the fireball.It was not clear whether any of the remnants fell to earth. Meteor sightings are common, with most burning up in the atmosphere and leaving scant debris, according to astronomers.Anita Cochran, assistant director of the McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas, told the American-Statesman that Wednesday's fireball was most likely small space debris. "The rare case is when it is something big," she said."It looked like a sparkler, almost," Lisa Coleman, who lives outside College Station, Texas, told local TV station KBTX."There was just this huge meteor-like rock falling across the sky and I thought, 'Wow, that's really huge to be a shooting star,' but it lasted about 12 to 15 seconds and it had a sparkling, flaring tail," Coleman said.Texas A&M astronomy professor Nicholas Suntzeff told KBTX the meteor was not as huge as it appeared -- probably only about the size of a fist. He attempted to dispel some other meteor myths."If they do hit the earth, they are not hot, they are cold. ... There is the fire around them, but ... the meteor itself remains cold," Suntzeff said. "It almost never produces a fire when it hits the earth."Suntzeff said the type of meteor that residents spotted, likely a bolide meteor, is both bright and rare -- most people will probably never see one again in their lifetime."Usually it's just a fraction of a second; here it was like five seconds or so. Again, I've only seen a few of those in my life. I wish I'd seen it," he said.Another odd fact about this week's fireball: The sighting occurred on the ninth anniversary of the space shuttle Columbia falling to earth over east Texas.[For the Record, 1:05 p.m., Feb.3: An earlier version of this post -- and its headline -- referred to the meteor as a meteorite. A meteorite is a portion of a meteor that reaches the Earth intact.]

How Many Stars Does It Take To Replace Two Dim Bulbs? Just One: Janet Jackson

In the grand tradition of television one-upping its competition, Simon Cowell's 'X Factor', recently firing Paula Abdul and that Scherzinger 'singer' has rumor mill churning with gossip that Janet Jackson is being wooed to replace the two dearly departed......judges.

This would be almost identical to what 'American Idol' did with the hiring of Jennifer Lopez which didn't hurt its ratings one bit.

Here's to hoping Janet has work other than hawking NutriSystem.

2009 'Underwear Bomber' Gets Life In Prison

DETROIT, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a Nigerian man to life in prison for trying to blow up a U.S. airliner bound for Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009."This was an act of terrorism that cannot be quibbled with," said U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds, who imposed the maximum sentence allowed.A bomb hidden in the underwear of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, now 25, caused a fire but failed to explode on a Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam carrying 289 people on December 25.Abdulmutallab, who wore a white T-shirt and skull cap, sat impassively as the sentence was read out in a crowded Detroit court room.Earlier, he used a four-minute address to the court to repeat that his attack was intended to avenge "the attacks of the United States on Muslims."

"The jihadi is proud to kill in the name of God and that is exactly what God told us to do in the Koran," said Abdulmutallab, who had pleaded guilty in October.Edmunds said Abdulmutallab represented a threat to U.S. citizens and noted that he had not shown any remorse during two years in a federal prison in Milan, Michigan.Prosecutors said Abdulmutallab had intended to bring down the jet over U.S. soil and was thwarted only by luck.They showed a short video of the kind of blast that the powerful explosive known as PETN, which Abdulmutallab had hidden in his underwear, could have caused if it had detonated.Several passengers who were on the flight told the judge they were still haunted by the attempted attack.LeMare Mason, a Delta flight attendant who helped put out the fire caused by the bomb, said he was still suffering from night sweats and a dread of flying."I had a dream job of traveling the world and meeting all types of people. This man stole and robbed from me the pleasure. It's punishment going to work now. It's not a joy," he told Edwards ahead of the sentencing.

Prosecutors last week offered new details about the plot, which they said was directed by U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who had become an al Qaeda leader in Yemen.Awlaki was killed in a drone attack in Yemen last September. In court papers, the FBI identified Awlaki as "chief of external operations" for al Qaeda's Yemen branch as well as an Internet-savvy propagandist and recruiter.When the bomb caused a fire but failed to explode, Abdulmutallab was quickly subdued by passengers and crew. The incident led U.S. officials to bolster airport security, deploying full-body scanners to try to detect explosives.

Still A Sucker For A Good Catfight: Paula Patton Whoops Ass In 'Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol'

Easily, one of the best films of the Winter season was the collaboration of Tom Cruise with director Brad Bird making his much anticipateds move from animation (The Incredibles) to live action. And did he ever. Not only was the film well recieved by critics, it quickly became Cruise's biggest grossing film of his career.

Whitney Houston in 'Sparkle' Remake

Whitney Houston's final movie role was one that was close to her heart.Houston, who died Saturday, first attempted to executive produce a remake of the 1976 film "Sparkle" more than 10 years ago, but the project was put on hold in 2001 when pop singer and actress Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash. She was set to play the title character.Losing Aaliyah left the movie in limbo and eventually without a distributor. The production was dormant until TriStar Pictures offered Houston a distribution deal. Houston was ecstatic.Monica distraught over Houston's death, says husband Phoenix Suns guard Shannon BrownThe movie wrapped filming in November. Loosely based on The Supremes, "Sparkle" is set in Detroit during the Motown era and tells story of three sisters and their gritty pursuit of a career in the music business. The eldest sister (Carmen Ejogo), who is the lead singer of their group, ends up on drugs and eventually dies.Houston portrays their mother Emma and "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks plays the lead character "Sparkle," who is one of the sisters.

She Did Not Know Her Own Strength: Whitney Houston (1963 - 2012)

World Press Photo of the Year

The World Press Photo jury has selected a New York Times photo taken in Yemen last fall as the photo of the year for its encapsulation of the anguish that accompanied the Arab Spring uprisings."A thin man rests his head on the shoulder of a burqa-clad woman, the pair collapsed together against a wall," Kerri McDonald writes on the New York Times Lens blog. "The expression on her face can't be seen. But her body language--right arm wrapped tightly around his neck, left hand clinging to his arm-—conveys everything her expression cannot."

New York Times photographer Samuel Aranda took the shot--which the Times describes as having "the mood of a Renaissance painting"--at the entrance to a mosque-turned-hospital.Koyo Kouoh, one of the jurors, added: "It stands for Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, for all that happened in the Arab Spring."

The Last 15 Minutes Chase: Pitting the Virtuous Virgin Against Evil

Oh, how I miss the last 15 minutes of the classic horror films that pitted the virtues of the lone virginous female lead against the wily ways of the maniac killer.

Friday the 13th Part 2

Proposition 8: UN-FUCKING-CONSTITUTIONAL

Same-sex marriage moved one step closer to the Supreme Court on Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled California's ban unconstitutional, saying it serves no purpose other than to "lessen the status and human dignity" of gays.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave gay marriage opponents time to appeal the 2-1 decision before ordering the state to allow same-sex weddings to resume."I'm ecstatic. I recognize that we have a ways to go yet. We may have one or two more legal steps," said Jane Leyland, who was gathered with a small crowd outside the federal courthouse in downtown San Francisco, cheering as they learned of the ruling.Leyland married her longtime partner, Terry Gilb, during the five-month window when same-sex marriage was legal in California."But when we first got together, I would have never dreamed in a million years that we would be allowed to be legally married, and here we are.

"The ban known as Proposition 8 was approved by voters in 2008 with 52 percent of the vote. The court said it was unconstitutional because it singled out a minority group for disparate treatment for no compelling reason.The justices concluded that the law had no purpose other than to deny gay couples marriage, since California already grants them all the rights and benefits of marriage if they register as domestic partners."Had Marilyn Monroe's film been called `How to Register a Domestic Partnership with a Millionaire,' it would not have conveyed the same meaning as did her famous movie, even though the underlying drama for same-sex couples is no different," the court said.The lone dissenting judge insisted that the ban could help ensure that children are raised by married, opposite-sex parents.

The appeals court focused its decision exclusively on California's ban, not the bigger debate, even though the court has jurisdiction in nine Western states.Whether same-sex couples may ever be denied the right to marry "is an important and highly controversial question," the court said. "We need not and do not answer the broader question in this case."Six states allow gay couples to wed – Connecticut, New Hampshire, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont – as well as the District of Columbia. California, as the nation's most populous state and home to more than 98,000 same-sex couples, would be the gay rights movement's biggest prize of them all.The 9th Circuit concluded that a trial court judge had correctly interpreted the Constitution and Supreme Court precedents when he threw out Proposition 8.The measure "serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples," Judge Stephen Reinhardt, one of the court's most liberal judges, wrote in the 2-1 opinion.Opponents of gay marriage planned to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling, which came more than a year after the appeals court panel heard arguments in the case."We are not surprised that this Hollywood-orchestrated attack on marriage – tried in San Francisco – turned out this way. But we are confident that the expressed will of the American people in favor of marriage will be upheld at the Supreme Court," said Brian Raum, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal aid group based in Arizona that helped defend Proposition 8.

Legal analysts questioned whether the Supreme Court would agree to take the case because of the narrow scope of the ruling. California is the only state to grant gays the right to marry and rescind it.Douglas NeJaime, an associate professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said the California-specific scope of the 9th Circuit panel's decision means the Supreme Court can uphold it without ruling "on marriage for same-sex couples on a national scale.""In effect, the 9th Circuit's decision allows the Supreme Court to continue the incremental, case-by-case trajectory of marriage for same-sex couples in the United States," NeJaime said in an email.Weddings appeared unlikely to resume anytime soon. The ruling will not take effect until the deadline passes in two weeks for Proposition 8's backers to appeal to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit. Lawyers for the coalition of conservative religious groups that sponsored the measure said they have not decided if they will seek a 9th Circuit rehearing or file an appeal directly to the Supreme Court.The panel also said there was no evidence that former Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker was biased and should have disclosed that he was gay and in a long-term relationship with another man.Proposition 8 backers had asked the 9th Circuit to set aside Walker's ruling on constitutional grounds and because of the judge's personal life. It was the first instance of an American jurist's sexual orientation being cited as grounds for overturning a court decision.Walker publicly revealed he was gay after he retired. Supporters of the gay marriage ban argued that he had been obliged to previously reveal if he wanted to marry his partner. The 9th Circuit held a hearing on the conflict-of-interest question in December.In its ruling Tuesday, the panel majority said it was unreasonable to presume a judge cannot apply the law impartially just because he is a member of the minority group at issue in a case."To hold otherwise would demonstrate a lack of respect for the integrity of our federal courts," the opinion said.Reihardt, who was appointed to the appeals court by President Jimmy Carter, was joined in the majority opinion by Judge Michael Hawkins, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.Judge Randy Smith, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, dissented, saying he disagreed that Proposition 8 served no purpose other than to treat gays and lesbians as second-class citizens.Smith said Proposition 8 could serve to promote responsible child-rearing among opposite-sex couples, adding that even if those beliefs were flawed, they would be enough to make the measure constitutional.

Voters passed Proposition 8 five months after the state Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage by striking down a pair of laws that had limited marriage to a man and a woman.The ballot measure added the one man-one woman provision into the California Constitution, thereby overruling the court's decision. Its passage followed the most expensive campaign on a social issue in the nation's history.An estimated 18,000 couples tied the knot during the window before Proposition 8 took effect. The California Supreme Court upheld those marriages but ruled that voters had properly enacted the law.Gov. Jerry Brown, in his previous role as attorney general, and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to defend Proposition 8 in court and left it to the ballot measure's sponsors to appeal Walker's decision to the 9th Circuit.

Phenom? Pshhh....

Can you really be considered a 'basketball phenom' when you're 7'5? Or do you just stand at the basket with your hands up to be tossed the ball waiting to effortlessly drop it in like any smart giant would.

Phenom, my ass.

The Evolution of Cool: The Style of Rose Byrne's 'Ellen Parsons'

For four shaky seasons Glenn Close and company have been serving up some of the most cerebral television left offer with legal drama, 'Damages'.

In it, Close plays the ruthless attorney, Patty Hewes, giant slaying owner of Hewes and Associates but her associate, Ellen Parsons played by Rose Byrne who has not only become the show's scene stealer, but television's most drop dead gorgeous, icon worthy fashionista.

Her acting chops are nicely intact, but it has been the evolution of her character's personal style echoing the darkness which she's been thrust which went from tousseled and nice, to sleek and razor sharp without a hair out of place.

Her look perfectly mirrors the chaos which has been her life since Patty Hewes, the devil, entered. Chaos that reaches Shakespearean crescendos at times, 'Damages' is my guilty pleasure and so is Ellen Parsons....err.....Rose Byrne.

Water Envy

I see you splashing
On the surface at me
Flashing your silvery belly then
Diving underneath

(where maybe it is warmer)

I see you gorgeous,
Graceful even,
As you leap onto a breeze only to disappear again

It's clear you are a different sort of creature
The kind I rarely see
But I imagine lives in schools or gangs
Or clusters beneath the sea where I cannot go
And so I try

To be happy just watching you swim
And imagining what you do
Beneath the tides
When you aren't flying me

But I am only air
And dream as I might
.......................between your flights of fancy
You don't need me
To breathe

And so I,
With the lonely patience of sky,
Wait for you to surface again







by me

The 21st Century Gay Guy or Why The Blowjob Is the New Handshake

Why are the last two generations of gay men such absolute, unapologetic, ravenous whores?

I mean, these are groups of men who laugh at the notion of dating, calling it old fashioned. They've sped up the art of the 'meet andgreet' by replacing the customary handshake with a blowjob. And for some reason I wallow in the muck with these 20 and 30somethings who want nothing more than to be mercilessly fucked to within an inch of their lives.

And I'm like, "Before the appetizer?"

I have this horrible habit of falling in......fuck, I don't know.....infatuation with specific guys for reasons I create in my head. I like to think that along with the fact that they're typically beautiful guys who know how to balance just the right amount of 'bitchiness' with their gay maleness without it being ear splittingly queenie. Unfortunately, I paint unrealistic portraits of these guys. Every single time.

Willie in the early 90s. Kurt mid 90s. It's all the same. I'm beginning to think I should just hole up with this annoying Peruvian dude who won't stop calling and I balled him only twice. The upside, he speaks very poor English and is very submissive as most shallow gay men are when it comes to whatever it is that makes them tick. My ex's thing was feet. I'm turned on by intelligence. But there is no time to gauge whether he's intellignet or not when people like 'FuckLi*eMe' from one of the online fuck sites greets me with, "Fuck this ass." Every single time. Almost begging. Even as a gay man who has had his tongue in and out of some of the best looking guys in America (and some in Oklahoma), I find his approach a total dick softner. I can not and will not be rushed. What's the fucking hurry? And I'm not some egomaniac who says guys beg him for anything. Maybe to leave. Or to stop snoring, possibly.

I just can't get with this cold attitude. It makes the 'quickie' look like foreplay!

So for now, I'll endure the name calling. 'Prude'. 'Frigid'. It's typically from the gays who are so wrapped up in self confidence in knoiwing they're going to get what they want, they lash out like 16 year old ghetto girls when someone like myself says, "Nah. I'm good on that, playboy."

And then I turn and leave. I go home and resume mothballing anything that resembles a love life, then I turn on Amy because I still believe that even in death, Miss Winehouse's 'Love's a Losing Game' is like an anthem for the ages.

Super Bowl Fans Go GaGa For 'MDNA'

It's so nice to see an entrance.

Not some rehash of Diana Ross climbing out of an egg on Wolfman Jack's 'Saturday Night Special' while singing 'I'm Coming Out', but a grand spectacle the likes of Liz Taylor being pulled by a legion of minions as Madonna appeared during Super Bowl Sunday's half time show. Don't know who played and really don't give a good goddamn to be honest. The only reason I tuned in was for Madonna's performance with Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. And as usual, Madonna didn't disappoint. It was quite the show. Nothing scandalous. Just Madonna doing what she does best. With a bevy of guests including Berry Gordon, Jr. of Motown's secret sons, members of LMFAO and Cee-Lo Green .......once again........making a special appearance, Madonna looked like she was having the time of her life.

So....another Golden Globe win. A new album about to drop. The half time show success. It exhausts me just thinking about it.

I know it's a liberal sin to bad mouth Lady Gaga, but FUCK! Take five, already!

In all fairness, I will agree that she is great support for we gays.

But so is a jock strap.

"L-U-V.......MADONNA!"