Another installment in our series on abandoned places in the world. Continue reading
You know when your parents start mimicking some new thing all you kids have been doing? They do it horribly and are just patently bad at looking cool or interesting while wobbling their bodies, or gyrating their hips, or making weird slack-jawed faces, yet this doesn’t stop the enthusiasm from giving them a boost of confidence that seems unquenchable? Yeah, well, this happened on The Today Show this morning in a Valentine’s Day segment that mashed all of the above. This is when you know it’s over, folks. Continue reading
Mardi Gras is a time to party and Lent is the solemn time leading up to Easter. Being a Catholic, it’s always been my practice to give up something for Lent. In my adult years it’s been buying shoes or clothes or not shopping at all, red meat or my time. The last few years I’ve said I would go to daily mass once a week and do Stations of the Cross throughout Lent.
As I have been searching for a new church to call home since I moved back to New Orleans, I think I’m going to spend some time parish-hopping during Lent and hope I find the church that’s right for me. It may not be “giving something up” per se, but I am using this time to do some reflection to figure out what parish is right for me.
What about you? What are you giving up for Lent? Continue reading
What is happening atop Mauna Kea is a tragedy and a slap in the face to the native Hawaiian people.
Mauna Kea* (or White Mountain) is of tremendous spiritual importance to the Hawaiians. It is white because of the snow that often dusts the peak. It is the home of Poli’ahu, the snow goddess. This is contrasted by Mauna Loa (or Black Mountain), home of Poli’ahu’s rival, Pele, the goddess of fire. The number of legends and heiaus (temples) on Mauna Kea speak to its importance. Continue reading
Hey Marco – Saw your State of the Union response last night, and I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re a jackass. I hope you’re not too insulted, because I find most Republicans to be utter jackasses.
For starters, I get it that it’s the holy grail of the modern day conservatism to oppose taxes and more government spending, but when you said that it’s an “old idea that has failed every time its been tried,” you really meant to have a giant fucking asterisk there, right? I missed whether you held up the asterisk card during your speech, but when you said “every time” I’m assuming you really meant “every time but all those times we did invest in the American people and holy shitballs! It worked out pretty great!” You know, like the $51 billion going to help Northeastern residents rebuild their homes and businesses, repair roads, boardwalks, storefronts, sidewalks, beaches, highways, bridges, school buildings, nursing homes, and literally put their towns back together. That’s probably not going to fail, right? Or how about oh – let’s just say for starts, the GI Bill, which has let thousands and thousands of returning veterans to obtain an education, a mortgage, and a home? We won’t even get into agricultural subsidies today, bud. Continue reading
On this day in 1668 Spain recognized Portugal as a separate nation. Continue reading
There’s a dirty little secret in the advertising business, you can use a catchy song if you change it enough. Songs are copyrighted material and the publisher needs to give permission for a song to be used in a television show or commercial. You can spot a copy when it sounds enough like the original that you recognize it but different enough that it’s clear they’ve changed it. Here is an AT&T ad called “His, Hers, Theirs” which uses a song that instantly caught my attention. Continue reading
She had a string of minor hits in the early aughts and even had a major role in a big budget motion picture but what became of the woman behind it all, Samantha Mumba?
I have a theory that she was the first iteration of Rihanna and somehow evolved into her. I’m only vaguely familiar with Pokemon but that’s what happens to them, right? They do their job well enough and get a second shot at life as something better than they once were. If that is the case, I hope that Samantha Mumba/Rihanna is having fun singing number one hits and dancing around in strips of fabric.
Do you ever sit on your sweat-soaked futon, wearing only your mustard-stained tighty whities, scratching your dandruff and wondering “Why my poor?” If you’re like most poor people, you probably have built up a long list of reasons for finding yourself now subsisting on Hardee’s and driving an uninsured 91 Chevy. Perhaps you blame your deadbeat father, or the unsupportive seventh grade teacher who saw your piss-poor math equations and promptly recommended you learn how to dig nice, straight ditches.
Well, Cletus, researchers have recently been studying the question of inter-generational economic mobility and found that the blame actually lies with your ancestors. As it turns out, if your great-great-great-great-grandfather had maybe gotten his shit together for five goddamn minutes instead of sexing sheep and drinking pig liquor all day, you might actually not have to steal your neighbor’s wi-fi in 2013. Continue reading
“Keep bearing light,” says the lipstick on the mirror, and isn’t that just the perfect meaningless bullshit for Serena ChaCha to say on her way out the door. Nobody is sad to have Ms. ChaCha gone, and Monica seems to be in better spirits now that she has come clean about her transgendered status and also proven herself to be a fierce lip syncer. The subject quickly changes to the drama between Alyssa and Coco. We find out that Coco usurped Alyssa’s place as Miss Gay America, but we still don’t know the full how or why of it. “Obligations weren’t fulfilled. . .and legally I had to do that,” Coco tells the other queens. They give us just enough to whet our appetites, but they aren’t giving us the full story yet. Click through for my full recap and updated Drag Race Index! Continue reading