A Machiavellian Black Comedy

Last night Brad and I continued our pattern of watching a movie that he had never seen before and I thought was a must a must see. The selection was "In The Company of Men."

Here is another movie that when I watched it when I was younger I liked it but I did not get the same appreciation as an adult viewer. What at a terrific movie. I highly recommend it to all. Its not something that you might want to see over and over again but it definitely should be seen at least once.

The portrayal of the American businessman machismo is alluring and repelling at the same time. The viewer is disgusted by the mind games but drawn in by some anthropologic hunger to watch more. You feel sorry for the beta male character, Howard, but at the same time loathe him for his inability to separate himself from the preprogrammed moires of american capitalist masculinity.

The movie's crowning glory is Aaron Eckhart's performance as the ruthless and vicious Chad. What an amazingly despicable character. You have to give credit to the writer for this character because everything that is disgusting about this man is in his language. His tongue is far more forked than that of Shakespeare's most evil villain, Iago.

Some of my favorite quotes from the film are:

"You know if we were in India you could burn that fiance of yours on a pyre in the middle of the village square for what she did to you."
-Chad
"I get so used to saying what people want to hear I forget sometimes they might just want the truth."
-Howard
"Women. Nice ones, the most frigid of the race, it doesn't matter in the end. Inside they're all the same meat and gristle and hatred just simmering."
-Chad

And my very favorite is when Chad is in bed with his girlfriend at the end of the movie and he is feeling so self satisfied for destroying two peoples lives. His girlfriend said she heard voices in the other room but Chad says it was him practicing a presentation for work and he says to her, "You know me, once I get going working I can sound just about like anyone." Watch the movie and you'll see why that line is so great.

Mixed Signals

There is a shirt that I wear to the gym quite often. It is an artifact from the day when I was a devout catholic boy. I used to sing in the choir, I was a lector, and I was highly involved in the youth group and the confirmation group. More than anything I was attracted by the ritual of the catholic church, but there were times where I felt as if I was being filled with the holy spirit. I see now that it was just the singing and being around all my friends that I enjoyed.

Being that I was so involved in church I received many free T-Shirts, . This is my all time favorite free T-Shirt and I got it when I was a freshman in high school. My best friend Heather, who was involved with the church then as well, can attest to the greatness of this T-Shirt as well, she wears hers to sleep and swears its the most comfortable shirt she owns. In fact even after we had left the church for other viewpoints of faith, we used to ask her mother, who worked at the church, that if there were any extra SPIRIT shirts that she should pass them on to us.

Because of its comfort and the fact that its very flattering to my features (chest, arms, shoulders), I wear it to the gym on a regular basis. Being that I am gay and that I love to look at men, especially muscled men, I think I have confused many of the gay and the straight patrons at my gym. They see a young man gawking at muscly men wearing a shirt with SPIRIT emblazened on the back of it accompanied by a cross that is emanating light. On the front left there is another SPIRIT and underneath "St. Pat's Teens." They must be utterly confused.

Setting The Example For Democracy

Buying of News By Bush Aides Is Ruled Illegal

Freedom is Slavery; War is Peace; Ignorance is Strength

No Child Left Behind; Clear Skies Initiative; Department of Homeland Security; The Patriot Act

A Boy and His Squid

This weeks story about the giant squid put a big ear to ear smile on my face. Giant squid hold a special place in my heart.

As a child growing up in NYC my mom would drag me to the Met on a pretty weekly basis. There she would educate me on the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Rome and Greece. Then we would move onto the middle ages, the renaissance (her favorite), industrialization, and the modern era. It was a history lesson told in the context of art. I was bored to tears at the time but repetition is the mother of education and now I am grateful for the lessons.

Although grateful for the experience now, at that time my mind was always somewhere else, The American Museum of Natural History. As my mom would walk me through the Met, I would walk her through the Museum of Natural History. My mom was a great sport, I think we visited Natural History museum about twice as often as the Met. As soon as we walked in it was straight to the dinosaur halls where I would spout off the names of each fossil with ease and eloquence; annotating each one as herbivore or carnivore or in some cases omnivore. We would always end our visit to the museum by strolling to the Milstein Hall of Ocean life where the 94-foot long blue whale model resides amongst numerous ocean life dioramas. Outside that hall in the corridor was my other favorite and the symbol of another satisfying visit to the museum with my mom, the life sized replica of The Giant Squid.

As an avid fan of the Disney movie 20000 Leagues Under The Sea, and being obsessed at the thought of being Captain Nemo commanding the Nautilus, I would stare at the giant squid and hoped that they had not gone extinct being that evidence of their existence was largely based on dead specimens and maritime mythology. No one had ever seen nor photographed a live giant squid at that time.

I went to visit the museum with my partner two years ago. It was special for me to show him a place that had inspired so much of my childhood. The museum had changed a lot since when I was young. It went from being a jumble of giant halls filled with fossils and dioramas to an organized chronological journey through evolution. I didn't mind until we came to the hallway outside of the Milstein. The Giant Squid was gone. When I inquired about its absence to a guard she told me they took it down and that it wasn't going back up, he had gotten too old (the replica was the museums oldest model purchased in 1895). All the other remodels in the museum didn't phase me but the news of the Squid was devastating. Therefore this week when the first image of the giant squid was posted on BBC news I was thrilled to see the formidable creature alive and well in the depths of the ocean if not in the corridor outside the Milstein.

The absence of the Squid was a cruel realization that so much time had passed and many things different. I had planned on seeing it an having it bring back memories of weekends with my mom in the city, watching 20000 Leagues about 200 times and it never getting old, and memories of my childhood; spent hovering over books and models of creatures present and past wondering how, when, and where they existed. So if you see a grown man standing outside the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life in the Museum of Natural History staring up at the ceiling with misty and nostalgic eyes, you'll know its me.

Democrats With Balls

Thank you to the 22 senators with enough balls to cast their Nay vote for John Roberts. The rest of you Pansycrats can suck a big one.

Senator Landrieu: I like how you were so outraged at the president
that you could "punch him" over his response and management with the devastation in Louisana over Katrina, yet when it comes time to vote for his nomination of a Supreme Court Justice, a person who will carry his politcal legacy on for many years, you support him. Did you suddenly get over your fury? Senator Landrieu you must tell the rest of us how to have our cake and eat it too, we're dying to know how.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Democrats
Akaka (D-HI)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)

For a list of those who who voted yay, Republicunts and Pansycrats alike, visit
www.senate.gov

Umm This Explains A Lot

Ratings for Programs on Cable Networks

By The Associated Press
September 28,2005 | -- Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Sept. 19-25. Each ratings point represents 1,102,000 households. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses.
1. NFL Football: N.Y. Giants vs. San Diego (Sunday, 8:28 p.m.), ESPN, 6.5, 7.19 million homes.
2. "Special Report: Emergency Plane Landing" (Wednesday, 8:38 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 3.5, 3.82 million homes.
3. "Nip/Tuck" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), FX, 3.4, 3.78 million homes.
4. "Hannity & Colmes" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 3.4, 3.78 million homes.
5. "Larry King Live" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), CNN, 3.4, 3.72 million homes.
6. "Fox News Live" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Fox News Channel, 3.3, 3.6 million homes.
7. Auto Racing: Nextel Cup (Sunday, 1:04 p.m.), TNT, 3.1, 3.41 million homes.
8. "Nextel Post Race Show" (Sunday, 4:58 p.m.), TNT, 3.1, 3.38 million homes.
9. "Fox & Friends Saturday" (Saturday, 8:36 a.m.), Fox News Channel, 3.0, 3.3 million homes.
10. "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Spike, 3.0, 3.25 million homes.
11. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), Spike, 2.9, 3.22 million homes.
12. "The Cost of Freedom" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Fox News Channel, 2.9, 3.21 million homes.
13. "Fox & Friends Saturday" (Saturday, 8 a.m.), Fox News Channel, 2.9, 3.14 million homes.
14. "Special Report: New Orleans News Conference" (Saturday, 8:24 a.m.), Fox News Channel, 2.8, 3.08 million homes.
15. "The O'Reilly Factor" (Friday, 8 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 2.8, 3.07 million homes

Football is fine, everyone enjoys football. Its the rest of what is being watched that is deeply disturbing.

Iron Bitch

Bethenny's team, Matchstick, had many problems this week. Martha had to explain to some of the team about how they have to survive if they are going to make it. I love this woman.


Martha: This is not the way to behave

Bethenny: Its shameful

Martha: Yes!

Bethenny: I'm so embarassed in front of you right now I wanna cry...

Martha: (cool and with a smile on her face) Cry and you're out of here; women in business don't cry my dear.