There goes the neighborhood…

Cause this needs to be shared. John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, Jack Black and Neil Patrick Harris all in the same musical production? Yes please!!

more about ""Prop 8 – The Musical" starring Jack …", posted with vodpod

- suse

Stealing the Wisdom of Another…

So I didn’t write this, but I thought it was pretty great.  Wish I had found it earlier so as to post it before the election, sigh.  Its pretty long, so here we go…

CA residents, vote NO on Prop 8!!!!

So I’ve been thinking about writing a post regarding Prop 8 here in CA for awhile and after I heard an ad on the radio supporting the Prop I decided I really had to.

First, I am totally opposed to Prop 8.  This proposition would make an amendment to the CA constitution limiting ‘marriage’ to that between a man and a woman.  Now, anyone who is behind equality and good will and social justice should also be opposed to this proposition.  Essentially Prop 8 and proposed laws like it are simply another form of separate but equal.  Which, if you don’t remember, was decidedly (and rightly) shot down by the U.S. Supreme Court back in 1954 and then the decision was upheld and expanded in subsequent decisions.  I still find it ridiculous that it wasn’t until 1967 that the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision that laws against racially mixed marriages were unconstitutional.  To me the right of any two people to marry falls under this same category.  We can not claim to have a free and just society in the United States and then make laws not allowing our citizens to marry those whom they love.

Back to the ad I heard supporting Proposition 8.  The CA Supreme Court decision earlier this year stating that the state ban on same sex marriages is unconstitutional is a wonderful thing.  I completely agree with the court’s decision that sexual orientation, like race or gender, “does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.”  So the idea that there is a Proposition out there that seeks to dismantle this decision is horrible.  On top of that, the ads for Prop 8 are completely misleading.  Churches and congregations who make the decision to not perform same sex marriages will not lose their non-profit/tax-free status.  Civil institutions (i.e. city halls) would be required to perform all lawful marriages, but churches are private institutions and can make their own decisions.

In addition, I don’t think the belief that many individuals hold about God creating marriage between a man and a woman should be used in this argument.  One of the founding tenets of the United States is separation of church and state.  This being so, the religious definition of marriage should not necessarily be taken as the same thing in our civil definitions.  Not allowing a group of people the same rights as others is the absolute meaning of discrimination, and this is what Prop 8 supports.  Personally, I would have all instances of ‘marriage’ taken out of the civil code and replaced with ‘civil union’.  This keeps religious ideology out of our laws and allows churches/temples/mosques and their corresponding religions to maintain their own beliefs.

As well, as supporting ads claim, same sex marriage as a concept will not now be taught in schools.  This in itself is just an absurd idea.  Perhaps addressing same sex couples in sex ed classes and talking about all possibilities within dating and relationships in high school settings (with counselors, psychologists, administrators, etc.) will now be easier.  And when living in the real world these are things that need to be addressed if brought up because we want future generations to be able to take care of themselves, both physically and emotionally.

So basically, what I’m trying to say is PLEASE do not support this proposition.  When you go to the polls in November vote NO on Prop 8.  Because everyone deserves to be with the person they love.

- suse

Please visit noonprop8.com

And he shall be called Agador Spartacus!

Having just watched The Birdcage my love for Hank Azaria was utterly and truly reconfirmed. How can you not love a gay Guatemalan maid who wants to be the diva drag queen? I also have high respect for good actors who will prance around in a pink thong, wear fabulous jean cut-off short shorts and sing “She Works Hard For The Money” all in one movie.
I wish this clip lasted about ten seconds longer because one of Azaria’s best lines follows immediately after, “I do not wear shoes, they make me fall down.” Which leads to this…

So if you haven’t seen this movie (where have you been living?), do it. Nathan Lane is quintessentially the mothering gay man and is really fantastic. Robin Williams isn’t even bad, he actually inhabits his character better in this movie than in most others where he simply seems to be doing impersonations the whole time. And don’t miss Gene Hackman with some wonderful lines that are even funnier now that everyone knows who the Jeb Bushes are.

But back to Hank Azaria. I love him. You know you love him. Really, what would this world be like without him? No disastrously tanned and buff SCUBA instructor, no Tuesdays with Morrie (yes, I saw the tv film, yes I read the book, yes they are sappy, but it was Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria, I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist), no Bartok (both The Magnificent and the bat in Anastasia), no Apu, no Moe, no Comic Book Guy, no Lou, no Carl, no Chief Wiggum, essentially, you couldn’t have The Simpsons without Azaria. I would have given my left boob to see him in the original Broadway cast of Spamalot. He even made Helen Hunt cool.

Long live Agador Spartacus!

As the divine Lancelot in Spamalot

- suse

Curtis Holbrook is a Regular-sized Man

Holbrook: Regular-Sized

And therein lies the problem. His shorts were just not short enough. His hair lacked a certain tallness. His necklace looked, well, like a plausible necklace. He had to exert actual effort to pull Kerry Butler’s skate off. And, his stature was in line with that of the rest of the cast.

Don’t get me wrong. Curtis Holbrook was a lovely, sort of drama-school-ish version of Sonny, the male lead in Broadway smashit amazing disco roller pride 80s party Xanadu. Mr. Holbrook had really excellent comic timing, his skating in booty-shorts delighted, and he accomplished an enviable pirouette. But, his Sonny is like Charlie Brown. We’re all sympathetic to Chuck, but we wish he would just get it together and open a roller disco!.

But, Cheyenne Jackson, aka “the handsomest man on Broadway,” he plays Sonny more like the Green Lantern on speed…er, in the 80s? So, poppers? He’s several heads taller than any man, his eyes burn with warmth and judgment, and he has a male vocal range that could only be imparted through questionable means. Without Cheyenne Jackson’s comic and beautiful giantness, the play sparkled just a little less. Look at the picture above. He’s not on stilts and Holbrook isn’t in a hole. He’s simply 1.5 times the man that you are. If you don’t believe, see this Tony performance, and then you’ll know in your heart that it’s true. He’ll gnaw your arm off if you even try to touch that skate!

Cheyenne Jackson! Xanadu!

All in all, Xanadu was fantastic, funny, short and sweet. There was a Don McLean reference (and NOT to American Pie, mind you!). There were men in sparkly black leggings, a tremendously bad Australian accent, greek mythology, sendups of black culture, gay culture, musical theater. Love it. I think that I’m going to go again to see Sonny as Sonny should be, and this time get the on-stage tickets. They’re pretty reasonably priced, not student rush prices, but I’m old now, so that’s all in my past. And, they give you glow sticks.

*Ferrrosha*

An excuse to eat at McDonald’s – and not feel guilty? Sort of.

Insane fundamentalist Christians don’t understand how capitalism functions

So apparently McDonald’s sponsored last year’s SF Gay Pride parade, and the AFA is all up in arms about it and are encouraging their members to boycott all McDonald’s chains. Why they don’t understand why a giant multi-national corporation would target a huge potential market like this, I don’t know.

The comments on the articles are the best though. I guess Chik-Fil-A will be getting more business than they ever dreamed?