Daily Archives: March 18, 2011

15 posts

iOS App Looks to “Convert” Homosexuals

The latest anti-gay iOS app is receiving broad criticism for its stated purpose of providing people “freedom from homosexuality.”  The app is published by Exodus International, an organization well known for its “conversion therapy” and hate speech.

On its website Exodus International proudly states that the app received a 4+ rating so it’s not objectionable to anyone.

Exodus International has released its new smartphone application now available through iTunes!  Receiving a 4+ rating from Apple (applications in this category contain no objectionable material), this application is designed to be a useful resource for men, women, parents, students, and ministry leaders.

Are you a man, woman, parent student or ministry leader?  Have you been “impacted by homosexuality?” Then this app is clearly for you and your burning desire to rid the world of those damn gays help gay people stop being gay.

If you would like to add your voice to those opposed to this electronic hate mongering then visit change.org.

Source El Reg.

(Booze) Recipe Friday

Since the weekend is upon us it is time to start thinking about ways to waste our time before getting back to work on Monday. Hopefully, you did not have too much green beer yesterday and are ready for some weekend libation. Today I am sharing a recipe from my friend Kelly, who understands the importance of a proper drink. First, here is a recipe for a delicious Lime Ricky that she makes. This recipe originally appeared on food52.com.

A woman who appreciates a good drink.

What you need:
12 ounces frozen red raspberries
1.5 cups sugar
Zest of two limes
Juice of two limes
24 ounces Sparkling water
Thin slices of lime for garnish
What you do:
Combine raspberries, sugar and zest in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly until the berries dissolve and the sugar melts. Only let it boil for 2-3 minutes as you don’t want jam. After that time, take the syrup off the heat and let cool slightly. Strain the syrup.
Fill a tall glass by half with ice. Pour 3 to 4 tablespoons of the syrup over the ice. Squeeze the juice of half a lime into the glass. Fill the glass to the top with sparkling water and garnish with a lime slice or two. These are super tasty, and are a nice drink when you feel like something sweet.

Kelly also has a beer blog (told you she was cool), and her beer recommendation for this week is Founders Red from the Founders Brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They make really tasty beer so grab some of this if you can find it.

So what’s on you booze agenda this weekend, Crasstalkers? Share your recipes below.

25 Seasons of The Real World — That’ll Do, MTV. That’ll Do.

Well this thing has become trash. And not trash in the way The Jersey Shore is “trash.” There are no misconceptions about what The Jersey Shore is supposed to be. Social experiments aside, The Jersey Shore is about self-aware individuals who are content in their lifestyle, their partying, their day-to-day idiocy and free-for-all antics. It’s not about the meshing, diversity, or growth of the individuals involved. This is what The Real World once brought to the table.

Now the lowest common denominator of themes in reality television has taken root in this once ground-breaking show. All the things that are a quick recipe for ratings — alcohol, partying, sex, and fights, often some variation of all three done simultaneously, are depicted season after season. When we once could predict who could potentially clash due to their backgrounds, faith, sexuality, culture, diversity, values, or loyalties — now it’s just about who gets so drunk that they show themselves to be a supreme dick — or who is so emotionally damaged that it’s a crapshoot whether or not the show will be cathartic, or a trigger for some unpredictable epic meltdown. Unquestioningly, MTV seems more interested in pushing someone to the brink of insanity and less concerned about a dialogue that works to close gaps between people. It’s pretty disheartening to see such a fall of a once prolific show and dare I say the grandfather of all reality shows of its ilk.

What’s Going Wrong?

The people. Yes, it’s the people. No matter what ethnicity or background, MTV has decided that it’s less lucrative to have interesting, dynamic people on the show. Now it’s best to have similar carbon copy clones of the same person just walking around in different skin. Remember how they would spend time unveiling the layers to each person — who had a job, who was in school, what their home life was like, what their hopes, dreams, and fears were? Yes, well, now it’s one big mish-mash of “Woo-hoo! I’m going to hook up, pass out, get arrested, and then go on the Challenge series and win money!” It’s also become a game of trying to guess who the mystery madman is. Who the abuse victim is, and what two potentially damaged souls are going to hook up and have an odd, abusive, co-dependent relationship. (They’re repeating this trope with Sammi and Ron on the Jersey Shore and we’re sick of that too.)

But The Real World was supposed to be better than this. After all, this was the show that discussed issues of race, homophobia, sexuality, AIDS, and substance abuse. And it’s not as if there aren’t still thought-provoking stories to tell, and unique young people out there who are able to tell them. MTV has just gotten lazy, and has decided that the writhing horde is only satisfied with drama, abuse, and drunkenness. Let’s take a look at what we’ve got so far with the 25th season of the show.

Adam — Self-ascribed “Bad Boy.” We’ll call him poseur-douche. Yah, yah, he did time in Juvie. Which is his current claim to fame. He can’t wait to tell each cast member this little gem. MTV has identified him as the loose cannon, so we expect drunken flip-outs, fights, possibly an arrest, and basically the alienation of the entire house. But, not to be outdone, MTV has also given us someone with control issues when it comes to women. He’s stalky and manipulative. All signs point to abusive tendencies.

Nany — Lover of self-ascribed “Bad-Boys.” She enters the house with one for a boyfriend back home. She’s drawn to Adam — of course — despite her plaintive cries that she’s on The Real World for more independence, since this was something that she was not getting in her current relationship. Great. Previews show her getting into a negative cycle with Adam where she basically becomes his co-dependent apologist. Fantastic.

Dustin — Boyish frat boy. Look up all things you’ve seen ever about boyish frat boys and you’ll find Dustin. He’s had a bit of a troubled home-life, but this has become par for the course for MTV. He’s already displayed some possessive tendencies along with his easy-going charm, and his liberal use of hip-hop speak when angry is just comical. He has a secret. He’s not gay per se, but he did do a little experiment that involved a house full of attractive young men and a continuous web cam. This will probably bring up questions about his sexuality…but he’s probably not gay, just attention seeking.

Heather — Pretty, blonde, petite suburban good-girl — but also a huge party girl. She’s already piqued the interest of Dustin and lands squarely into the first fight of the season between two male cast-mates. She will most likely enter into a relationship with Dustin which may cause problems — problems which MTV loves. Prepare for grainy hookup footage of Dustin and Heather, and the potential for uncomfortable moments down the road. Cue crying in the confessional and a punch through a wall.

Michael — Small town guy with views on faith, politics, science, religion etc. He’s a Libertarian. Should be interesting, right? Well, he tries to discuss some of these things with his cast-mates and their response…”I dunno, dude. Let’s do shots!” We expect Michael, who has some demons in his past, to get frustrated quickly, and perhaps show the roommates more about himself than they anticipated.

 

Naomi — MTV lists her as a “Hispanic firecracker.” Um, okay. I assume that should say it all then?  Of course there’s more to her than that, but in the first two episodes they’ve shown very little with the exception of her saying that she didn’t understand what Michael was talking about during one of his monologues. Oh, and there may be a pregnancy scare in Naomi’s future. Not something we’ve seen on the show since Tami Trishelle in Vegas (Uno). We’re not excited.

Leroy — The ladies man who walks into the house and sizes up the bedroom choices for premiere hookup ability. Hmm, yes. He’s on the show for one reason and one reason only so it seems. We don’t think Leroy intends to grow and learn from this experience with the exception of things that have to do with a carnal nature. He’s already led the stampede to the hot tub, instigated a sticky truth or dare situation, and by episode two he’s one of the first to hookup with an outsider. Here‘s to hoping there’s more to his story for whatever that’s worth. Also, he’s the one Naomi has the pregnancy scare conversation with, so there’s that.

So many, many similarities to cast members of seasons from the last few years, right? Sure, it seems that MTV is putting their eggs into the Jersey Shore basket. But instead of trying to make The Real World either compete with that or try to outdo it, perhaps it’s just time to call it quits with this season, eh? It’s no longer fun or rewarding. Given the current dynamic MTV employs, there really isn’t any new story to tell here, and it doesn’t seem that they’re looking to add anything new to the genre. And if The Real World is supposed to be a small microcosm of what is going on in the lives of young twenty-somethings, than that world just seems like a hollow, depressing place to be, and so very narrow in its thinking.

There are a number of shows that depict young people proliferating in the superficial, sensational spectacle that is reality television, but if you’re going to offer the world Jersey Shore, which is unapologetically debased on purpose for our entertainment, shouldn’t you also offer the world a point of view that highlights the better parts of being young and twenty-two?

YA Lit: The Crossover

It’s difficult to argue that there’s a better scenario for literary agents and publishing houses than stumbling upon a true crossover novel, i.e. a novel which spans more than one audience. After all, it’s the kind of math even the dumbest of Kardashians could do–X+Y is greater than either X or Y alone. Sure, having a teen audience is great, but having a teen and adult audience is the kind of thing that practically flings books from the shelves. For whatever it may say about our country, there’s a reason Twilight was a huge hit–both kids and adults alike were somehow drawn into the story of a sparkly bloodsucker and his brittle ice princess, which means both kids and adults were buying those glossy black books.

What’s a little easier to argue about is what actually makes a book a crossover. What was it about Stephenie Meyer’s work–or even J.K. Rowling’s–that made agents and publishers think, “Hey, unlike Trix, these are not just for kids?” And honestly, I’m not sure. (I mean, give props to the people who discovered Stephenie Meyer for thinking that piece of manuscript would appeal to anybody, amirite?) But here’s what I think makes a crossover, plus some recommendations that fit the bill.

1) Universal themes. Not being able to get a prom date? Feeling bullied by the cool girls? Sure, those are the kinds of things that rear their heads in some form or another throughout life, but set in high school, they just seem so…high school. But loss, isolation, abandonment, substance abuse, sexual abuse… these are the kinds of things that stay with you a lifetime, which is precisely why just about all “Edgy YA” books are crossovers.

Recommendations: See my earlier post

2) Feature characters of a “crossover” age. Few YA books are a harder sell than ones set in college. As one agent helpfully explained to me, kids in high school want to read about kids their own age, and once they get any older, they want to read about adults. So who wants to read about 18-23-year-olds? You do, because when you do see YA books featuring kids in college, they’re probably pretty damn good to have pushed through the “Sorry, we can’t sell books set in college” barrier. Plus, college is the best of all worlds–you don’t have to watch the author struggle to deal with the adults, the way they often have to do with books set younger, but you’re still dealing with characters who generally don’t have to deal with the crazy issues of the real world just yet. Plus, they sleep around.

Recommendations: For those wondering about my absolute favorite YA books, here’s your answer.

Secret Society Girl series by Diana Peterfreund. OK, yes–secret societies may feel overdone, and as you read it, scenes from The Skulls may flash in front of your eyes over and over again, and the Yale setting is so laughably thinly disguised (as “Eli University,” no less) that it’s almost distracting how badly you want to yell “Just call it Yale already” (even though the author’s well aware she’s not fooling anybody), but none of these things matter. In this four-book series, Peterfreund has created such funny, quirky, flawed, well-fleshed-out characters that you almost wish every single one of them had his or her own spin-off series. The writing is effortlessly humorous and intelligent, and the narrator so fabulously flawed, that the plot is almost beside the point. Plus, if you don’t fall in love with the romance(s!) in this series, you pretty much have no soul. Or libido.

The Jessica Darling series. Here’s the thing about Jessica Darling–she’s probably you. Or at least, she’s what you think you were. Those times in adolescence you questioned why you were friends with the people you were friends with and pondered how you fit into your surroundings and the fact that you were obviously destined for better things… be prepared to dive right back into those moments with a vengeance. My immediate reaction when reading the first book in the series, Sloppy Firsts, was, “Oh my God, she is so me,” which was immediately followed by, “Aaaaand every other girl who’s ever thought of herself as ‘the smart one.'” Granted, we weren’t exact replicas, but there’s something about the heroine of McCafferty’s series that just drips with empathy. Well, at least for the first two books. After that, I will concede that the series goes downhill, to the point where, as someone very accurately pointed out to me once, “the fifth book is basically fanfic,” but Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings continue to stand on my shelf as two of my favorite YA novels to date. Hey, if they’re good enough to be plagiarized, they’re good enough for you.

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert. Kuehnert didn’t plan to be a YA author; that much is clear from this interview in which she effectively says that she would never have considered pitching this sex-drugs-and-rock-‘n-roll story of a girl (turned woman, as  the protagonist ages from 14 to 23 through the novel) who goes the rock-chick route in order to track down the mother who abandoned her as YA had her agent not convinced her to do so. And it worked, which is great news for anyone whose ever felt like his or her life didn’t fit into the neat high school package of after-school activities, dances, and cheerleading squads, since this gritty and emotional novel blatantly sidesteps the norm in every possible way.

3) The setting and/or narration is so rare or unusual that it transcends direct audience classifications. An odd assessment, to be sure, but you know how sometimes you read the description of a book and you think “How could I not read about that?” These are precisely the sorts of books that have that effect, whether they present a little-seen perspective, a creative choice of speaker, or an uncommon geographic locale.

Recommendations: These books vary greatly in every way, but I highly recommend them all.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This book is so much a crossover that it’s actually been marketed as both adult and YA literature, depending on the country. (In the US and Canada, they opted to market it as the latter.) In fact, I had no idea about its YA classification until long after I read it… which I only did when my mother referred it to me after having read it in her book club. This novel about the Holocaust, narrated by death, is about as heartbreaking a read as it gets (you do not want to borrow my horribly tear-stained copy) but one that is, in my opinion, not to be missed, both for its original voice and the content itself. Granted, this opinion is not universal, and of all the books I do and will recommend, it’s probably the least popular, but I stand by it. Besides, when was the last time you agreed with The New York Times?

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The name Sherman Alexie is pretty sufficient to get me to read anything these days, but none of his works have touched me the way this semi-autobiographical story of a Native American high school freshman struggling to change his life by going to school off the reservation has. It so perfectly encapsulates both what is so difficult and so special about that age and combines adolescent empathy with a setting so many of us know absolutely nothing about. It is somehow both inescapably young adult and fit for all ages, whether you love it for its teenage protagonist or Alexie’s revealing depictions of life on the reservation.

Looking for Alaska by John Green. Admittedly, this book probably falls more appropriately under the first category–particularly with its emphasis on philosophy towards the end–but with so few contemporary YA books narrated by boys nowadays, Green is becoming something of a standout simply by approaching adolescence from a male perspective. That isn’t to say that his female characters are one-dimensional; on the contrary, the title character (yes, I was kind of disappointed to learn that Alaska was a person and not the book’s setting, but she made up for it) is only one of Green’s wild, free-spirited, pensive female creations. (If you like this title, check out Paper Towns as well. I haven’t read the rest of his books yet, but rest assured, I will.) Plus, it’s on the “challenged” book list, so everyone’s a winner! Except safelibraries.org. Man, do they hate this one.

Feeling childish? How about mature? Well, now it doesn’t matter–get reading!