Ain't we a wonderful species

So I sign on to Earthlink a few minutes ago, and on the "Welcome" screen I'm greeted with this headline: Gray Wolves To Leave Endangered List. Score! I think. I like wolves, and I took this to mean that enough restoration of the species had been done by committed conservationists we could now all take a breath. Secure in the knowledge that there would be chances to see them for years to come.

Wrongo.

Wolves in the northern Rockies will be removed from the endangered species list within the next year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday, a move that would open the population up to trophy hunting.

Emphasis mine. Get it? The wolves are leaving the endangered list so to make it okay for Dick Cheney-types to kill them again. I had to read it three, four times to make sure I had it. And even then...well, here's another place where my liberal tendency to try to see things from another's POV gets me in trouble, and even shows up my naiveté.

See, I like wolves. But I'm not so moony about them that I can't imagine their being a threat to livestock or even, in extremly rare occasions, human life. So I wondered: Is there some surplus of wolf population, or have they become a threat to anyone's livelyhood or even life?

No, no there is not, and no they have not. This really is just about the fact that some people think it makes them more of a man to hunt animals for sport.

People like (I am not making this nickname up) Idaho Gov. C.L. ‘‘Butch’’ Otter.

["Butch"] told The Associated Press that he wants hunters to kill about 550 gray wolves. That would leave about 100 wolves, or 10 packs, according to a population estimate by state wildlife officials.

I think the nickname says it all.

Otter complained that wolves are rapidly killing elk and other animals essential to Idaho’s multimillion-dollar hunting industry.

Again, Emphasis mine.

Suzanne Stone, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife in Boise, said Otter’s proposal would return wolves to the verge of eradication.

‘‘Essentially he has confirmed our worst fears for the state of Idaho: That this would be a political rather than a biological management of the wolf population,’’ Stone said. ‘‘There’s no economic or ecological reason for maintaining such low numbers. It’s simple persecution.’’

Don't mess with my Gray Wolves, man...

A very silly joke about something that isn't very silly at all

The Iraqis hate Paul Weller. And/or the Justified Ancients Of MuMu.

$10, 000 to the first reader who can understand a word of this*

Good afternoon. A few days ago, I suggested you watch a CNN program with Christianne Amanpour investigating British Muslims both extremist and moderate. This attracted the attention of a not-at-all-cowardly mystery poster named "purpleXed" who has no blog but does have a Blogger account. Presumably for the purpose of leaving comments on blogs like this one.

Well, being a liberal, I'm hung up on fairness. I actually try to respect all points of view and be tolerant. So I was looking forward to enaging this guy/gal in a civilized debate, seeing what they had to say, then making my reply.

But I'll be damned if I can understand a ##$@&&%$#$ word of this, enough to get hold of for a reply. Excerpt:

It is the media that retains the rants on the oxygen mask of publicity when it accords them undeserved and unjustifiable attention on prime time without which the rantagogues are more weak than a fish without water.

Any suggestions for what I should say to this apparently deeply involved person on an issue so precious to them that they took time out of their busy day? Speaking out like this should be encouraged and rewarded, it shows they're paying attention.

I just wish I was.













*Payable at the exact instant I have $10, 000 to give away, of course.

Reload 2

Being the reposting of linked videos I've posted that no longer work; just 'cos I like them. This is Eurythmics - Shame: IMO, the best video the two ever made (I believe Dave was the director).

As for the song, it's a beautiful rebuke to the idea of "the glamourous life." Now, normally I get prickly about the notion that it's always multi-billionaire rock stars like Sting and John Lennon who are telling us to "live here and be happy with less" or "Imagine no possessions."

So why do Dave and Annie get away with saying

Shame

In the dancehalls and the cinema
On the TV and the media

-for promoting a lifestyle which, they say, "don't exist?" Well, maybe it's because they don't leave the bromides and bands upon which they were raised out of their finger-pointing.

Shame
And they said all need is love...
With the Beatles and the Rolling Stones

This probably explains why the job at the video store didn't work out

Your Movie Buff Quotient: 48%

You are well on your way to becoming a movie buff. You've seen many of the great films, and you have even probably developed an expertise in a few genres.

Are You a Movie Buff?

Well, that oughta do it

The things Friends will do for Friends. Via The Jennifer Aniston Center (what? I read it for the articles):

You already know that when Jennifer Aniston guests on the March 27 season finale of Courteney Cox's FX drama Dirt, she'll be playing her bosom buddy's archenemy, a rival tabloid editor. But what I've learned — muahaha, exclusively! — is that Aniston's character is a lesbian. What's more, she won't just mouth off to Cox's tightly wound counterpart, she's going to share a liplock with her.

On a semi-related, if meaningless note, it occured to me recently that it's at least mildly interesting how many of the ex-Friends cast have chosen "backstage in Hollywood" projects as their follow-ups. Cox with Dirt, Lisa Kudrow with The Comeback, Matthew Perry Studio 60. You could even count Joey.

I guess you don't spend as much time as hot as they were without forming a few opinions about the kitchen staff...

Just the news you want to get before you deliver the State of the Union

"Bush’s overall approval rating has fallen to just 28 percent, a new low, while more than twice as many (64 percent) disapprove of the way he's handling his job."

I'm going to repeat a prediction: It is by no means certain that the Bush administration will make it to 2008 intact.

A few quick words about last night's "24."

Spoilers ahoy.

Okay. I fully expect that this mystery tech wiz that the mercenary who's now driving around L.A. with Beth Huffstodt's would-be lesbian lover needs to find will turn out to be Chloe. Or, given her little "why do people I know keep dying?" whimper, Morris. That's fine.

Jack and his brother's wife having a history, still, a-okay. Jack's brother turning out to be bald-headed mystery man who was pulling all the strings last season, that's okay too.

But if that kid of his turns out to be Jack's previously unknown son...I'm throwing my TV set away.

This seems like a good place to put a terrific David Mamet comment:

"If we watch any television drama long enough... we will see the original dramatic thrust give way to domestic squabbles."

Why I am Pro-Choice

Kirsty MacColl as "Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart."

(Hat tip-or perhaps I mean a jaunty snap of the panties-to Blue Gal.)

Because being Pro-Choice leads to Communism, and Communism is sexy.

Okay, the "Grey's Anatomy fight" thing

I don't know if you guys have been following this, but a few months ago there was a big fight on the set of Grey's Anatomy when one of the cast called another, a gay man, a faggot. After the flames from this had died down, the same actor opened his big, apparently homophobic idiot mouth again at the Golden Globes and repeated the slur. Even more intelligently, he did it while denying he'd ever said that about the other actor, who replied by going on the Ellen DeGeneres show and saying yes, yes he did.

USA Today has a good article about the state of things, with quotes from a couple of other actors and musicans. Including Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip's Sarah Paulson, who is beautiful, talented, and let's face it, my current lesbian crush. Must be the Keitha in me.

Anatomy's Patrick Dempsey, who was involved in the October confrontation, presented the TV comedy award to NBC's The Office but otherwise kept a low profile, confining himself to the backstage green room. But Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip's Sarah Paulson had no problem speaking out: "If someone said that about me and outed me that way, it would be really hard. I appreciate that (Grey's co-star) Katherine Heigl stood up for T.R. because it's our job to protect each other."

Some are calling for the actor, Isaiah Washington's, dismissal. I've been of two minds about it. On the one hand, I dislike bigmouthed homophobic idiots and I like seeing them get a cold hard smack of reality right back in the face.

But on the other, I dislike the idea that a man could be fired from a job that he supposedly does well because he expressed an opinion. Albeit one with which his castmates and producers (and me) disagree. (Granted, the ability to get along with your castmates and producers might be considered just as big a part of his job as good acting.)

My problem is, if I smugly say that this is okay, what do I say if Fox decides to fire Hugh Laurie from House because he won't make a pro-Bush speech in character? Niether of those things would ever happen, I don't think, I'm just looking for an analogy.

Fortunately, I found a solution to this moral dilemma, and in the most unlikely of places. I've rarely thought I'd ever find myself agreeing with John Mayer about anything (he liked the second season of Huff, for crying out loud), but he's got a great idea:

Other celebs have been chiming in, too: Neil Patrick Harris of CBS' How I Met Your Mother told People.com, "I was just sort of stunned that anyone would want to rehash any of that again." And singer John Mayer, on his blog, says Washington's character should have to come out as gay on Grey's. "What better way for an actor to get to the roots of his discrimination than by portraying the very subject of his own ire for the remainder of his contract?"

That's brilliant.

Random Flickr-blogging 3776

What every young man hopes to find under the tree...(well, at least 90% of them)

Credit.

Here we go again.

Another year of "24," another round of Muslims upset over their portrayal as terrorists:

"The overwhelming impression you get is fear and hatred for Muslims," said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. She said Thursday she was distressed by this season's premiere. "After watching that show, I was afraid to go to the grocery store because I wasn't sure the person next to me would be able to differentiate between fiction and reality."

In a written statement issued late Wednesday night, the network said it has not singled out any ethnic or religious group for blame in creating its characters.

"24 is a heightened drama about anti-terrorism," the statement read. "After five seasons, the audience clearly understands this, and realizes that any individual, family, or group (ethnic or otherwise) that engages in violence is not meant to be typical.

They go on to list the different ethnic and/or religious groups who have been bad guys on previous seasons of "24." You know I'm not necessarily one to reflexively jump to the defense of the "24" producers, let alone the Fox network, but in this case I think they are correct. They might also have pointed out past storylines that pretty starkly implied the dangers of scapegoating and racial profiling.

Or that the new season already includes at least two positive (...thus far) Middle Eastern and/or Muslim characters. More if we're counting the currently ambiguous Assad, or Ahmed's father who we were told was innocent of his son's bad intentions.

But at the risk of sounding overly self-referential, I think I said my piece on this about as well as I'm going to on my old blog, last time it cropped up. In part:

Well, that kind of "Of course, I'm smart enough to know the difference...it's the rest of you potato eaters..." thing never flies very far with me. I don't buy it when it's about using Spongebob Squarepants to promote gay marriage, and I don't buy it about this.

ETA: CNN is airing as the debut episode of their new series "CNN: SIU" a documentary called "The War Within." Christiane Amanpour investigates Muslims in the U.K., both extremist and moderate.

It's excellent, and there's no stretch of the imagination required to see how it applies to the States. Keeping an eye out for rebroadcasts (there'll be at least one tomorrow, I imagine more) is highly recommended.

What is hip?

To recap: Last June, I posted about the upcoming movie, "Sex and Death 101," which Daniel Waters wrote and is directing.

Ah, Dan Waters. For me, one of the big question marks among writers. I mean...he wrote "Heathers," one of the more perfect movies of the past 15-20 years. He then spent the rest of the '90s writing (or at least having his name attached to) varying degrees of crap (Two words: "Hudson Hawk").

I have not seen his direct-to-video directorial debut, "Happy Campers" but perhaps I should.

Well, now I have, thanks to the Sundance Channel's frequent airings. Here's the premise: The sole adult counselor at a summer camp for boys and girls just entering puberty is struck by lightning. The college-age counselors therefore turn the camp into a pit of sexual anarchy.

Not a bad launching place, I hope you'll agree. Lot of places you could go. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

The biggest problems, it seems to me, are these:

1. The film tries too hard to be hip-as opposed to "Heathers" which was effortlessly so.
2. It's too smart to be the sex/grossout comedy it sometimes wants to be.
3. But not smart enough to be the incisive critique of young relationships it also wants to be.
4. Not enough of the jokes connect. One or two of those that do connect nicely, though.
5. After intruiging starts for all of them, the characters never really pay off.

It's not without its charms-chiefly an attractive cast that shows they deserve better movies than they usually get (we're talking about the stars of the films "New Best Friend," "The Rage: Carrie 2," "Cherry Falls" and "Crossroads" in the same movie here).

Still, though. On balance, this fucks my hopeful "Daniel Waters is still a good writer, he's just been screwed over by talentless hack directors" theory all to hell.

The stars of "Happy Campers," reading their script and wishing it were better.

(Brief aside: "Cherry Falls" is remarkably similar to "Happy Campers" in that it squanders an idea with a lot of potential for "pushing the envelope" in teen sexuality: Local teens realize a serial killer is preying on the virgins among them; they decide there's only one way to take themselves off his list. Unfortunately, they didn't make much more of it than "Happy Campers" does with its premise.)

Okay, the "Hillary Clinton is-officially-running for president" thing

I don't have too much to say about it. Fortunately, Mark has a few thoughts on the subject, and he's right. I think choosing favorites is meaningless till next year, but if you asked me right now what ticket I'd like to vote for, I'd say Edwards/Obama.

But:

...[I] don't think Obama, Biden, Kucinich and the rest of the announced or presumed contenders have that much more appeal than Ms. Clinton. The shallowness of the Talent Pool is evident when the Democrat who looks the most like presidential material is Al Gore. And some of that will just be a matter of voters wanting to turn back the clock, wipe out the previous eight years and vote for the guy they now think they really wanted in the first place. Gore was right on the Iraq War and it's now becoming near-fact (sadly) that he's right about Global Warming. In politics, if you're right about two important things, you're way ahead of the average. Like, by about two things.

And in your dreams whatever they be

Denny Doherty, of the '60s pop group the Mamas & the Papas, has died.

When I was writing this review of a Mamas & Papas collection a handful of years ago I read a few books by and about the members of the group and I came to the conclusion that Doherty was probably the best of them, as a person.

For all that I've no wish to make some plaster saint of him, he would appear to have been, at core, just a guy who liked to sing. John & Michelle Phillips come off as miserable, fickle people even in their own memoirs and Cass Elliot seems a mostly-beautiful spirit to whom fate decided to be cruel.

In that review, I said,

Boy oh boy, if ever there was a band that was a template for VH1's Behind the Music series, this is it -- and, in fact, they were the subject of a popular episode. Partner changing, unrequited love, dying young, drinking and drugs, early success followed by early burnout.

Doherty had his part in most of that. He had an affair with the wife of his groups chief songwriter (and his best friend) while the other woman in the group was in love with him. And as for drinking and drugs...it was L.A. in 1966, for god's sake.

Yet somehow: Just a guy who liked to sing. And for a few years there, he did it in as a lovely a way, in as lovely surroundings, as most anybody ever has. He'll be thought of any time anyone listens to "California Dreaming," "Monday Monday"...

PS: To my knowledge, Doherty never wrote a book, though he did contribute to an oral history of the group. Cass, of course, didn't live to write one. But Doherty did put together, perform in and write a show that gave his version of the Mamas & the Papas story. Much if not all of the text is available at his web site and is recommended for the curious.

Congrats to Sherman

...whose blog made it onto Shakespeare's Sister's Friday Blogroll today.

It would be the act of a small, petty man to point out that I myself was listed in September 2005.

Half-wishing I could "Scrub" my mind clean

I was going to say that tonight's "big musical episode" of Scrubs killed that little sub-genre of television dead. Till I remembered that if it could survive the That '70s Show unpleasantness it could survive anything.

Scrubs at least was not as bad as That '70s Show, where the mistake the writer/producers made was not checking to see whether any of their cast could sing. The Scrubs cast can sing well enough, trouble is, most of the songs they were given were crap.

I wasn't expecting brothers Gibb or Lindsey Buckingham-calliber popcraft, or even Trey Parker, but these songs would have been cut out of The Simpsons, Drew Carey, Buffy, or Xena's musical episodes.

Ladies to listen to.

Amanda and Deborah both have entries up commenting on a recent article at American Prospect. The article argued that yet another reason why setting kids on an abstinence-only sex education course doesn't work is, As Amanda writes,

...abstinence-only education is not only damaging to kids’ health and mental well-being, but it’s also not helping the problem of rape, and may be even making it worse.

...teaching that men want sex and women want love but don’t want sex means that young men figure there’s no such thing as an enthusiastic “yes” to sex. If men think all women are reluctant to have sex at all points in time, then that means that they think sex is basically always rape. If you think all sex is rape because women never reallly want sex—as this abstinence-only curricula subtly teaches—then you think that rape is socially acceptable.

Deborah expands on that point.

That’s vitally important, and it’s an essential element of date-rape and of disbelieving rape victims. “No” only means “no” if “yes” means “yes.”

Both entries have too many good paragraphs to excerpt here. Read the whole thing(s).

Oh, lord.

I can't decide if I think this is more offensive, funny, or just fucking stupid. I just got an email in my inbox promoting an all-male heavy rock quartet from Seattle, the city where I live, or at least exist.

The band's name is LESBIAN. Because it's name evokes pure, sexually-charged freedom -- and that's what rock is all about.

But of course it is.

The CD name? Power Hör (get it, get it, huh?). Including a song called "Loadbath."

I also note that they seem to have taken the webpages-

www.lesbianwitch.com & www.myspace.com/lesbianwitch

-which seems wrong, somehow.

I gave a little listen to the clip they have at their MySpace site. It sounds godawful to me. But it's so not my kind of music-I'm a Beatles fan, among other things-you might not want to go by me on that.

I may not be able to watch Bill O'Reilly on The Colbert Report tonight

I mean, I imagine a lot of bloggers are looking forward to seeing Stephen rough him up in his inimitable satirical fashion. And I was too, being as I think O'Reilly's a lying idiot who pisses me off, and it's usually fun to watch such people make asses of themselves. As he almost certainly will.

That was before I read Media Matters latest clip on him.

On the January 15 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly said of Shawn Hornbeck -- who was abducted at the age of 11, held for four years, and recently found in Missouri -- that "there was an element here that this kid liked about this circumstances" and that he "do[esn't] buy" "the Stockholm syndrome thing." O'Reilly also said: "The situation here for this kid looks to me to be a lot more fun than what he had under his old parents.

"I'm not buying this. If you're 11 years old or 12 years old, 13, and you have a strong bond with your family, OK, even if the guy threatens you, this and that, you're riding your bike around, you got friends. The kid didn't go to school. There's all kinds of stuff. If you can get away, you get away. All right? If you're 11."

Abridged version: It's the kids fault. Or, it's his parents fault. Anything but...it's the fault of the person who abducted him. I'm sorry, isn't it supposed to be we Democrats who are more concerned about the rights of the accused than the victims?

So, Bill O'Reilly just moved for me from national embarassment to actual living, active danger. There's nothing funny about thinking a pubescent boy should have been enough of a big, strong man to get away from someone who was holding him captive. And that is O'Reilly's unmistakable implication.

I don't want to laugh at someone who thinks that. I want them jailed and then I want them smacked upside the back of their head a few times.

I'm funny that way.

ETA: Shakespeare's Sister expands on the point.

When some of his viewers criticized O'Reilly for this horseshit, he then said on the following day's broadcast: "I actually hope I'm wrong about Shawn Hornbeck. I hope he did not make a conscious decision to accept his captivity because Devlin made things easy for him. No school, play all day long."

So, apparently, Bill O'Reilly hopes that Devlin terrorized a child so thoroughly that he stayed against his will. What. The. Fuck.

He then continued: "But to just chalk this up to brainwashing and walk away is turning away from the true danger of child molesters and abductors. All American children must be taught survival skills, must be prepared to face crisis situations. That is the lesson of the Shawn Hornbeck story."

The lesson of this story is that American children must be taught survival skills. Uh-huh. Because if an 11-year-old boy has "survival skills," then presumably he can escape with no problem from a 6'4", 300-pound man who's fucking with your head and your body. How fucking stupid is Bill O'Reilly? ...I guess it would be far too much for his puny little brain to engage the thought that adaptability is not only one of humankind's greatest attributes, but also one of our strongest survival strategies—and kids especially manage to adapt to all kinds of grotesquery if they can be convinced their survival depends on it.