I Saved the World Today

I've already done a Site of the Month a few weeks ago, so I can't technically (by my own laws in my won head) do a second one.

So I can't do Save the Day......technically.

Save the Day is a website that give you up to date information on voter registration by state. It also helps you register to vote.

I don't care the election - voting is important, regardless of the candidate or the issue. Since being allowed to vote, I have missed one election. One. And it was a primary...and not a presidential year either.

But Save the Day has a Josh Whedon directed video on the importance of voting. Since it's Whedon, he's assembled many of his former casts from the Avengers and Firefly...or Dr. Horrible. Or a combination of.

And then you have a few others (Julianne Moore) who - as far as I know - haven't been in a Whedon film. Maybe she was in the Age of Ultron......as I didn't see it.

Robert Downey Jr. looks ok when in motion, but the still of his face is, well, a little scary.





Nothing here is new or original. If you've seen one Rock the Vote videos, you've seen them all.

Well, that's not true. Rock the Vote was pretty much non-partisan. Save the Day is not.

I've said it before, I hate one candidate but I'm not thrilled about the other. Still, if Mark Ruffalo is going to show his peen in his next movie if Clinton wins, then well, she might just secure my vote.


P.S.   Don't go to YouTube and read the comments.



Song by: the Eurythmics

How Beautiful You Are

I guess I'm just in one of those good-guy moods today.

I know, right?  Whodathunk?

In reality, I think I'm really anxious over a few other things - holidays included. So maybe I'm looking for solace in other venues.

Or maybe, just MAYBE, deep down, I'm just a real softie.

....it could happen!

Anyways, I saw this floating around a week or so ago. A high school video project where the filmmaker approached folks she knew - and didn't - to tell them they were beautiful. And you get to see the change in their reaction.

Most of the video is positive. One is extremely awkward......and very defensive. I would say the common thread is disbelief, in that they themselves don't think they are beautiful or that someone else does. Or that someone would actually say it without an agenda.

And of course, there was an agenda: a video project; a grade. That doesn't necessarily make it less genuine.

Still it is nice. It is a good five minute distraction. And sometimes that is all you need.







Song by: the Cure

Love is a Battefield

Today is the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  Only 268 - 273 words in length (depending on which draft one actually believes was delivered - there are five known), but it stands as one of the greatest addresses ever given in American history.

Oddly, Lincoln was not even the keynote speaker that day at Gettysburg, but he followed Edward Everett's two-hour speech with his own, which lasted a little over two minutes.

While it's doubtful that many of us know the entire speech by heart, I'm guessing most of us could recite the first line - and possibly the last. It is highly improbable that anyone knows any of Everett's oration.....unless you happen to be an Everett historian. Of course, that is the crowd I'm going for in my readership, so one never knows.

Ken Burns thinks it is a great speech too and has started Learn the Address.

People are uploading their readings of the Gettysburg Address - including all five living presidents. ...and Louis C.K.

Of course, others participating are the obligatory congressmen on both sides of the aisle, but you also get Whoopi, Colbert, Nina Totenberg, and esteemed historians such as, Martha Stewart, Alyssa Milano and naturally, Vicki Lawrence.

Apparently, Sherman went down to Atlanta to turn out the lights...for one night.

All visitors are encouraged (ok, invited, maybe not encouraged) to do the address themselves. And why not? It's a good history lesson, if nothing else.

There is a line in the Address where Lincoln couldn't have been more wrong:  "the world will little note; nor long remember what we say here".  

Yeah, I took a shot at this - though I don't do well. I can do public speaking and possibly even give my own speeches, but to recite one - let alone one of the most famous ones - I don't do it justice. Even Alyssa Milano has me beat there.

That bitch!

I'd have been better off singing the title of this post.  ....but don't hold your breath on that one.

I have not decided to (or not to) submit to Ken Burns' site.






Song by: Pat Benatar

The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design

I have limited knowledge of website design. I can and have used FrontPage to design some stuff. I can moderately write HTML, so I'm not a complete moron (yeah, no one here is looking for a comment on that last statement), but I'm having a hard time with the website for Yvette's Bridal Formal url.

I think it is a hot mess. Ok, just a mess. No so hot.

I was just going to use this as a throwaway post and just put up a link to it, but I had to show it to Denton who, get this, loves it! Because of his comments, I expanded on the post more than I had planned.

Instead of thinking it is over-designed or just haphazardly put together (like I do), Denton thinks it to be brilliant (ok, that might be too strong of a word) and that the moving graphic 'makes the page'.

Really? That makes the page?

Personally, I can only imagine what their show or stock rooms look like, or how well they'd actually do their alterations (or if).

You might be able to click on something on one of there 1,721 links, but where the fuck would you start? or end?

That the store is adjacent to the DMV, probably says it all.

Sorry Yvette, you're not getting my Site of the Month. I just cannot do it.


Song by: Rodney Crowell

Comic Books

I was never a reader of comic books. I do mean ever. I'm not sure I've ever read one. I know I've never owned or bought one. I guess I'm not your normal gay boy. Or normal blogger. There seem to be a lot of guys out there in Blogland who have devoted their forum to the comic book. I'm just not one of them. I'm just not that into it.

I have seen Batman and Spidermen on the big screen, but have successfully avoided things like X-Men, the Hulk, and that thing with blind Ben Affleck. It is just not my style.

But it is early early Monday and I have to be out of the house early. The blog post I was working on is not ready. Time got away from me.

Ruckiry (not Jon's boss) Moby provided me an excellent, and fairly easy post, so I don't interrupt my 70+ days of straight (ha!) blogging. He became a superhero - and so now I am one also.

Ok, I'm a superhero, but even in my geeky way. I'm about two steps below Mild Mannered Shoe-Shine Boy. Yes, I'm the Mighty Thoughtful Philanthropist......albeit one with incredible legs, arms and torso. I thought the alter-ego was supposed to be mild-mannered, not the hero portion. Can I not get anything right?

My mighty weapon is a shopping bag - only because a briefcase was not available as a choice. It is probably just filled with stuff from Whole Foods. ....because I'm that gay!

I've seen the Incredibles enough to know that Edna Mode says a superhero should never have a cape, as it will just end badly for the protagonist, but as it goes, I couldn't help but at least attempt putting one on. It looked better than wings - which were my other choice.

The tie, well, it was an obvious choice for me. My superpower? Probably the ability to use pivot tables in a single bound.

So, feel free - make yourself a superhero. You can thank Moby later.



Song by: Debbie Harry