Mad Tea Party

(Sung to the tune of "Edelweiss" from "The Sound of Music"):

Right-wing goons

Looney tunes

Every tea party you show up

Flat earth

Obama's birth

You make me want to throw up

That little ditty occured to me last week as the coverage of the Sept. 12 Tea Party march on Washington unfolded and the inflated numbers were rolled out. I got especially enraged when I saw that Fox was promoting the event as if it were the Second Coming and then had the nerve to take out a full-page ad in the Washington Post asking the rhetorical question: "How could ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC miss this story?" Forget the fact that all five of those networks coverd the event to one degree or another, what really made my blood boil was remembering when I marched on Washington--TWICE--as part of a gay rights protest and we got almost NO coverage from anyone--zip, nada, snoozeville. Our numbers were given short shrift by almost every news outlet--the ones that did cover us--and I will bet you any amount of money that if there were some objective, reliable way to count the marchers, we drew just as many people, if not more, as these loony birds. How come no one said "How could you miss that story?" And when gay people march again later this month, there will almost no coverage--AGAIN. You know why? Because we're not backed by big political interests like the Tea Pot Domers are (I just coined that one, like it?)

And now it's revealed a Fox producer was directing the crowd in one of her shots to cheer and yell. OK, maybe they would have been excited anyway, but Foxy lady, you're not supposed to manipulate the story you're covering--in any way. That's called titling the story towards the outcome you want--not being fair and balanced, you know, your network's motto.

It's late at night and I may ramble a bit here: I don't think Carter was right saying an overwhelming motive behind the anti-Obama vitriol is rooted in racism. Some of it is for sure. But a lot is based on fear that the repubs are ginning up. Fear that this big bad boogie man Obama will take away their insurance and cars and guns and country music and grits and NASCAR races and fatty foods and trips to Disneyland. They'd do that if Obama was white, but his being black adds to the fear for some people.

I heard Glenn Beck say he thought John McCaine would have been worse for the country than Obama. What? He said Mccain was a crazy progressive like Teddy Roosevelt. What a whacked out sense of history. Teddy broke the trusts and helped the average working man--the people Beck supposedly loves and wants to elevate. Now we see his real agenda--keep the proles in line, let the corporations control their lives, as long as it's not big government. Also these tea baggers may form their own third party. Oh please, oh please, do it! Do it! Split the conservatives right down the middle and give the Dems the White House and Congress for sure. This was based on an iterview with some former Rep strategist who believes this whole nutbag movement is based on frustration and dissatisifcation with government in general.

Obama explained it really well on Letterman tonight: this whole economic and health care mess is the result of too little government regulation in the first place (under repub adminsitrations) and now these dimwits think as little government as possible is the answer. Just let private enterprise and capitalism run wild and do whatever the market will bear. You know where that will lead? back to the 18th century before unions, anti-trust laws, Medicare, Social Security, etc. etc. right where Fox, Beck and O'Reilly want us.

A Peacock in Florida

Last week, we spent a three-day weekend in Winter Park, Florida which is a suburb of Orlando. Weird being in humid weather just as New York is entering the fall. We took a hour-long boat tour through the chain of lakes which is connected by a series of canal, running through the backyards of the residents. Everyone has a boat and these little boat-houses. At one point we had to back up so a resident's boat could get out of the canal. Egrets flew around. It was raining and we got a little wet, but not soaking. The guide told us a scene from the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon was shot in one of the houses on the lakes.

The peacock in the picture is from when we took a drive through a nice neighborhood in Orlando. This beautiful bird wandered out onto the road, evidently it was someone's pet. On Sunday, we drove to Smyrna Beach on the coast. A tacky little beach town with sandy little shops selling suntan lotion and shades. I got a bad burn on my shoulders, but got in the ocean water which was bath temperature but the waves were choppy. Cars were allowed to drive on the sand. After laying on the beach for a few hours, we had lunch in a diner. At the next table, some Smyrnans were talking about their taxes and who was running for city council. I would have liked to have stayed a bit longer to walk around--I love tacky little beach town where the people are relaxed and wear shorts and Tshirts all year round--but we had to get back and catch our plane. I always like to buy a postcard to every town we visit no matter how briefly, but we didn't have time. I did get a postcard for the boat ride. I would like to go back to Orlando and visit Universal and Disney again, I still haven't been to Sea World or Cypress Gardens.

We also visited a museum in Winter Park which had a lovely collection of Tiffany glass--lamps, windows, and a cathedral altar which was designed for the Chicago World's Fair. One strange thing about this town--very few bookstores, new or used. There was one used called the Bookworm which I would have liked to explore, but we didn't stop there. We didn't go to any of the theme or water parks since the weather wasn't particularly sunny.

Project Runway Episodes 4 and 5

I just realized that they will be using the models on every episode of Project Runway this season. They'll have to in order to make the Models of the Runway show make sense. So that means there won't be any challenges as in previous seasons like the one where they used each other's mothers or sisters (and Jeffrey made some mother cry) or wrestling divas or high school girls going to their prom. Well, maybe they will, but how will they make it work if they have to have this big elimination ceremony of the models every week. I don't see it happening.

Anyway last week has been so busy I didn't have a chance to critique the last episode. Not very exciting, I liked the winning dress, but preferred Louise's number, particularly the high collar. Fatma really brought it off. She is being portrayed as the bitch on the Model show, but I really don't care. She is the best walker and the best looking model. I couldn't believe this week's model show with some crying because their friend was not chosen. Who cares? And what happened to Nina Garcia and Michael Kors the last few weeks? I prefer them to that mummified corpse of a designer they had as a judge last week.

This week the contestants had to make a garment out of newspaper. Johnny utterly failed and then lied to everyone about his first attempt being ruined by a steam iron. Then he cried about how hard it is to be a recovering addict. Then an absolute first, Tim actually badmouthed a contestant after he sent him up to the workroom to clean out his space. I have never seen Tim do that before. Nicholas was a little bitchy and he didn't need to rat Johnny out on the runway, but it did make for drama. BTW, I bought the new comic book Models Inc. which included a feature with Tim Gunn putting on Iron Man's costume and defeating some bad guys who attempt to rob a fashion museum. Definitely cool having a gay icon become a superhero. The art was a lot of fun. I also bought the first two of the series of Archie comics with him marrying Veronica. I get the feeling the whole thing will be a dream, because it begins with Archie walking "up" memory lane and in the second issue Veronica announces she's pregnant. Maybe they go through their whole lives and Archie wakes up as he's about to graduate high school.

Amazing Race 15 starts a week from Sunday. I checked out the new teams on the CBS website. They don't look particularly exciting, but there is a pair of gay brothers and an interracial married couple.

Hey, Mister Wilson!!!!!

The first thing I thought of when the media uproar started over Rep. Wilson shouting "You lie" to President Obama was "These people has obviously never watched the House of Commons in session." I recall seeing the Prime Minister adressing that body and being assailed by members with cries of "No! No!" But then the PM is not technically the head of the British government and he or she traditionally appears before the House every week and answers questions. I was disappointed that Wilson's outburst is receiving more coverage than the President's speech and the subsequent catfights between the right and the left on Fox and MSNBC, on chatboards, etc., and the stupid arguments it has engendered. Right-wing people are saying "Oh, but Obama called Hillary a liar during the primary. And Democrats booed W. during his state of the union. What a double standard." Yes but I don't think one Dem ever called W. a liar during an address before Congress--and if one did, the Reps would have called for a trial from treason. Wilson has a right to call Obama a liar if that's what he believes--just as every Dem. had a right to call Bushie and his dark overlord Cheney a liar. But it's incivil and inappropriate to do so during an address to Congress. BTW, I loved Nancy Pelosi's expression at the outburst--like a strict principal with an auditorium full of unruly high-school students making her look bad in front of a distinguished visitor.

The heckling and signs and texting are indications that this is how the Reps want to conduct the business of the people now--like the ugly town halls this summer. They think it's OK to act like it's the Jerry Springer show. Scream real loud to make your point.

Also I love that Wilson's opponent Miller raised $500K in the past two days while Wilson has collected $200K. The people who have given money to Wilson probably love that he shouted at Obama. They probably think the man has no right to be President and is trying to destroy the country they are used to--a country where everyone in charge is white and thinks like they do; a country where if you can't pay your way or if you have some bad luck, you wind up in the gutter and you deserve it--until it happens to them.

I do think there is too much reaction to Wilson's brief outburst and we should concentrate on the the President's speech and how it has changed the landscape on health care reform. Through his eloquence, the President was able to change the minds of several people; another similarity between himself and Lincoln. I'm reading Gore Vidal's novel about the 16th President and there are a lot of parallels between him and the 44th. Both several briefly in Congress, are from Illinois, came into office in times of trouble and are being villified by insurrectionists who want to secede from the union.

Note: The title of the blog is a reference to Dennis the Menace who would call to his neighbor Mr. Wilson at the top of his lungs. Keith Olbermann used the same reference last night.

End of Summer

Labor Day weekend is over and the summer is wrapping up. This has been a weird season. Rainy and cool until the end of July and we only had a few days of pleasant warmth. The past two and half weeks have been spent upstate. In the last blog, I left off when we were in Plattsburgh. We stayed in the Rip Van Winkle motel and Jerry joked that the room was the size of a closet. The next morning we drove to the Ausable Chasm, a natural phenomenon like a mini Grand Canyon. It was pleasant to walk around the rim and see the rock formations. I bought a postcard, which I love collecting. Afterwards we took the ferry across Lake Champlain to Vermont. We walked around Burlington and then took a sunset cruise around the lake.

Back in Stockport, my family visited for Labor Day weekend. On Saturday, we went to Tanglewood for a concert with John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey which they taped for their Radio Deluxe series for NPR. I listen to them sometimes if I am driving somewhere upstate. That's one of the things I do when I'm upstate which I don't do when I'm downstate--listen to NPR, read the New Yorker, and drink margaritas. The concert was great. The guest vocalist was Curt Elling whom I'd never heard of before, but he sang an amazing scat version of "Polka Dots and Moonbeams." We went back to Lenox and looked around, then had dinner in Philmont at a restaurant called Local 111--because its address is 111 Main St. and they use local food. We couldn't have hard liquor because we were across the street from a church (local blue laws). I thought it weird that just a few days ago in Plattsburgh we passed the Diamond Gentlemen's club which was right across the street from a Baptist church. The food at Local 111 was delicous. My dad had a fish was was really excellent, my dish was a lamb sausage and very good, but his fish which I sampled was really outstanding. It was like being on Top Chef and judging the different dishes.

On Sunday, we fixed an elaborate Turkish dinner which took two hours to make. My mother insisted on watching Big Brother and my brother had to watch Design Star on HGTV. Neither reality show is in my repertoire, but it was interesting to see them and what appealed. Big Brother is just dumb, the remaining four people are kinda obnoxious--esp. the girl who was head of household. I don't know what my mother sees in it. Design Star is a compettion between potential hosts for a HGTV show. In this episode, the remaining three contestants were given celebrity clients to make a room for. Kathy Griffin who will use any excuse to get on TV and get a free design job was very funny. But the room was kinda cold, I thought. It was also fun to watch them on our new big-screen TV.

Monday everybody went home and I dawdled and lazed around occasionally watching Spongebob or Golden Girls. We left in the late afternoon. At home in the city, I watched Rachel Zoe and lost interest in Brad's hissy fit with putting together Anne Hathway's two Oscar outfits (She needed one for the red carpet and another to be in the "surprise" opening dance number with Hugh Jackman.) I am anxiously awaiting The Amazing Race which starts Sept. 27 so my life will have some meaning. Not everything is awful about summer ending.

Project Runway Episode 3

It's official. I don't get the taste of the judges. This week they singled out the Ra'mon-Mithcell team as having the best design, and I did like the beachwear outfit, but what is up with the avant-garde look? I found it ugly. It was shapeless and that splash of green was not flattering. I could tell that either Mitchell or the Qrystal-Epperson team would be eliminated since they had so much screen time. Now we seem to be spending more time with the losers and all the critiques from Tim Gunn are going by really fast. (You can see extended ones on the Lifetime website).


Meanwhile Fatma is emerging as the evil girl on the model show. She's the only one I can remember from week to week because she is the most beautiful and the one with any sort of personality. It seems they are manufacturing drama on that show. The big deal was a minor exchange of attitude between Fatma and Vanessa over the now-departed Mitchell. Can't really get excited about that.



I can get excited over the new season of Amazing Race which is reportedly started in a few weeks. I will have to check out the CBS website. Now I will have two reality shows with which to be obsessed. Though I have never tried to be on Project Runway I did send in an audition tape to Amazing Race. My friend Diane and I made a tape and filled out these endless forms and everything. We sent them in and of course, nothing happened. I guess our story wasn't compelling enough.

Summer Vacation with Digressions into the Disney-Marvel Deal

We've been on vacation since Aug. 20 and are now in the middle of our time off. So far we've driven to Pittsfield, Mass. to see the Barrington Stage Company to see Freud's Last Session in the studio theatre, then A Streetcar Named Desire on the main stage with Tony nominee Marin Mazzie, visited friends near Quakertown, PA, then drove to Doylestown--a cute little town with some cute little shops, went to Cooperstown and saw La Traviata at Glimmerglass. The next few days were spent hanging around the house. At one point I drove one hour to Millerton because they have a nice antiques place which sometimes has valuable Silver Age comics. I had not bought any in a while and my habit was getting to me. I needed one badly. So I bought two reprints of Avengers from the late 60s in a series called Marvel Triple Action. The art was by Don Heck whose work I have never been crazy about but the covers were great.

BTW, I heard today that Disney is buying Marvel for several million dollars. Does that mean that the Marvel superheroes will be removed from Universal Islands of Escape and transferred to Disney World and will Disney pour money into the Spider-Man musical and thereby save it? (I have not been keeping up with that situation while I've been away, so I don't know if it's on or off or what?) Jerry and I really loved Universal, but found Disney too family-and-kiddie-oriented. How will the angst-filled heroes of Marvel fit into that Mickey-Mouse framework? We'll be going to Orlando a week after we get back so I'm looking forward to it.

Today we drove up through the Adironacks and stopped in Lake Saranac, Lake Placid, and are now in Plattsburgh. Tomorrow, we'll take the ferry across to Vermont. Pretty scenery. Nice dinner at a place called Iris' Wine Bar and Restaurant.