Hee

I'm reading the Television Without Pity recap of one of my favorite guilty pleasures, Center Stage. This made me laugh out loud:

Kathleen is dancing Juliet and Cooper is Romeo. It's the balcony scene. They dance. They're good. Cooper, in particular, is a much better dancer than he is an actor, and his junk in his tights is absolutely enormous. Look, I'm not saying it does anything for me; I'm just saying, it's...there. He obviously wants me to notice it, and now I have. He also has an ass you could crack a walnut on.

and

Thus kicks off a balletic showdown between Cooper and Charlie over who can do the bigger, showier, show-off-ier move to impress Jody, as though she has eyes for anyone but Cooper. It keeps getting bigger and bigger (and a disconcerting number of Cooper's moves end with him on his knees, slowly raising his arm as he points, which just is not cool),

This is actually pretty accurate

How to make a ceebeegee

Ingredients: 3 parts competitiveness 1 part courage 1 part empathy

Method: Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Add emotion to taste! Do not overindulge!

Username:

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

Damn right I'm competitive. And I like the salted rim. Mmm...

(no subject)

"Sorry, world, for the election results" site. (Mike, you probably don't want to click that. Just sayin'.)

It really does make me sad. I hate to think of the rest of the world turning their backs on us. I've never bought into the inferiority complex vis a vis Europe that some intellects have--having spent 9 months on a ship in Europe, I experienced my share of close-minded, knee-jerk anti-Americanism. I don't think they're any better than us. But I also don't think we need to extend the middle finger to them the way Bush has. They don't deserve our contempt. We have a lot in common with Europe--politically (another democracy), traditionally (most Americans are of European descent), in values (pro-women's rights, relatively speaking, humanistic values). We need them, as they need us. And in this case, much of their criticism seems to be warranted. I'm also embarrassed by the smackdown on gay rights--that what seems to have brought out the vote (despite many voters' reservations of the handling of the war and the economy and Bush's low approval ratings and his embarrassing performances in the debates) came down to I hate queers and wimmen who want to have abortions. The clamor from the Religious Right in the wake of the election is frightening. They are calling for Specter's head after he warned Bush not to stack the Supreme Court, and they are determined to remake the rest of the country in their image. Combined with such trends as this embarrassing, already-fought culture war about evolution--I'm asking what the hell is going on here? What's happening in this country? We seem to be turning into a culture of sullen anti-intellectuals, know-nothings, a theocracy where the Bible's exact words (as translated into English) are more important than the humanistic values embodied in the Bible--like "Love thy neighbor" and "Don't hurt each other." We're not that. We're better than that.

We are NOT that. I have to repeat it. I don't care what the Religious Right says--they do not have a monopoly on morality. It outrages me that they've co-opted that term (along with "patriotic." FUCK THAT. My democratic friends are patriotic as fuck-all. As a woman who's visited a Muslim country, I am especially appreciative of how lucky I am to live here). My Christianity allows me to accept evolution, and love my gay friends, and consider abortion if I'm pregnant, and learn from people of other faiths. And read a fucking newspaper. My morals inform my liberal politics, including my support of unions, and my distrust of big corporations. And 49% of this country did not vote for those conservative values and the Religious Right is going to have a HELL of a fight on its hands if it tries to push through its agenda. (And I don't want to hear about any smart liberals moving to Canada either. We need you here to fight the good fight.)

I've been seeing a lot of parallels to the '60s in this era--I think we're living through another great upheaval that will shake the way we think. The last time it was civil rights and the counterculture (and then the women's movement); this time it's gay rights. Last time it was Vietnam; this time it's Iraq. Last time we had Nixon; this time it's Bush. Last time they had the Cold War which led to things like McCarthyism; this time the War on Terrorism which led to a similar culture of fear. The parallel isn't perfect of course--the Civil Rights Era started long before Vietnam, which started long before Nixon was elected. And I don't see the War on Terrorism ending the same way as the Cold War. But still--the same fight, about treating people like people, about reaffirming how we're all brothers and sisters. And the Civil Rights struggle had its share of disheartening setbacks as well--the South was violently opposed to any dismantling of segregation, which they cloaked in terms like "tradition" and "our way" and which they also justified with Biblical verse. They murdered Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner in cold blood in Mississippi. And they turned firehoses and police dogs on peaceful marchers in Birmingham. We can learn so much from their example of peaceful resistance, their multi-pronged approach of boycotts, sit-ins, lawsuits and marches, always with their eyes on the prize.


We shall overcome. In my heart I do believe, we shall overcome.

(no subject)

The Peterson jury has reached a verdict--they'll announce it at 4:00 pm.

Personally, I think the guy's guilty--but I also think he'll get off. The white O.J. OTOH, the fact that they had to start deliberations again today, and they reached one so quickly gives hope--quick verdicts I believe usually indicate a guilty verdict.

Peterson is guilty

And the jury found special circumstances--he's facing the death penalty.

I was very worried, but it seems for naught. I really thought this would be another OJ, but they were all polled and all said yes, unhesitatingly.