VALENTINE'S DINNER

My wife and I went out for a Valentine's Day dinner earlier this evening. This year we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Compass, instead of going to one of the hot new restaurants we've read about, as in previous years. Every year we'd be disappointed. Last year we tried going to a place we had been to a few times over the years, Terrace in the Sky up by Columbia University. But we were still disappointed--the food was about as good as it had been on previous visits, but the service was really poor.

So this year we went back to the tried and true. We got a booth as we had requested (OK, as my wife had requested--she's the one who makes restaurant reservations usually). It makes the largish room much more intimate--especially with the one we got, that had a pillar pretty much hiding us from view on the open end.

There was a very limited prix-fixe menu available, but that wasn't a problem--actually, what was a problem was choosing between the "Heirloom Beets" (with black truffles, goat cheese and pistachios) and the risotto (with foie gras, chestnuts and butternut squash) for the appetizer. I love foie gras, so I went with the risotto. For my main course I had sirloin steak and braised oxtail, which came with fingerling potatoes and a truffle Bernaise sauce. I don't have beef very often, but I was in the mood. For dessert, chocolate-hazelnut tart. My wife had the same appetizer and dessert, but chose the pan-seared red snapper for her entrée. We decided to get the wine pairing--a 3 oz. glass specially chosen to go with each dish.

But before the appetizers came (but after a great basket of rolls and bread), a little "amuse bouche" appeared. It consisted of three tiny things each: an oyster (very appropriate for Valentine's Day) with some sort of sauce, a little piece of foie gras on some sort of cracker, and a third, I can't remember what exactly, in a tiny pie crust. And to accompany all this was a small glass of a Spanish sparkling wine, Cava. It certainly was as good as most champagnes I've had.

The risotto was next, along with its wine, the 2001 Damilano Barolo from the Piedmont region of Italy. The wine was served by the sommelier, who gave an explanation of why he thought it was right for the dish. Most of what he said went right over my head. My wine vocabulary doesn't get too far beyond white and red. There are a few types (i.e. type of grape) that I recognize, e.g. merlot or riesling, and I can sort of understand and recognize sweet vs. dry, spicy and fruity, but when you get to oak, and waxy, and such terms, I'm lost. Anyhow, his choice worked well with the risotto--which was marvelous, with a generous portion of beautifully seared foie gras in it.

Next were the entrées. I was surprised that the sirloin was sliced. The portion seamed a bit skimpy. I had to search for the oxtail. It was shredded, and was hiding under the potatoes and a layer of braised watercress. The steak was superb. I ordered it medium-rare, and it came just the way I like it--pink on the inside, but still cooked (and hot) all the way through. What really surprised me was the sauce. Usually I find Bernaise sauce to be unnecessary, even distracting, for any good steak. But this example was the best I've ever had, and added to the wonderful taste of the meat. The oxtail was quite nice, too, though I think it would not have worked too well just on its own--but accompanying the steak it was fine.

This time the sommelier brought a California cabernet sauvignon, the 2001 Valentine "Echo Valley." Yes, he had a Valentine wine for Valentine's Day. How cute. He poured me a generous amount--quite a bit more than the 3 oz. we had been promised. And regardless of the name, it was a great pairing with the steak.

Of course, it turned out that the portion was not skimpy. Perhaps I was misled by the huge plate it was served on, but the amount was fine.

The chocolate-hazelnut "tarts" came, though it was more of a multilayer sandwich than a tart to my eyes. It was very good, though not quite up to the level of the previous courses. The sommelier came again, with some sweet dessert wine, the 2000 Banyuls "Vigne d'en Traginer" from the Roussillon region in southern France.

Were we done? No. We wanted coffee, which was not on the prix-fixe menu--nor was it offered by the waiter (I suspect it was not an oversight. I think the restaurant would prefer people not lingering over coffee on a very busy evening like Valentine's Day). And then more food came, a trio of tiny after-desserts: a tiny marshmallow heart, an equally tiny strawberry shortcake, and a chocolate "lollipop," some dribbled dark chocolate stuck to the end of a six inch stick--all very nice. Oh, yes, I almost forgot--they gave us a little box of chocolates to take home (on normal nights they give little scones).

After paying the bill (don't ask--but it was just a few dollars less than the monthly rent on my first apartment in New York, back in 1973) we went out to retrieve our coats. It was an excellent meal, certainly the best Valentine's Day dinner I've ever had, and it was worth the cost. (It is nice being able to afford such things.) My only complaints were about not being offered coffee, and about the up-tempo pop music they piped in. It certainly wasn't necessary once the place started really filling up.

On the way out one of the hostesses (not the one in the great, lacy black skirt with the asymmetrical hem) handed my wife a long-stemmed red rose--a nice touch. But I noticed that they did not give a rose to the gay couple leaving right behind us. How unfair. We need same-sex marriage!
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ADDED AFTERTHOUGHT: I have realized that I may have judged Compass' actions concerning the roses too hastily. Perhaps it was just a gender thing--maybe if it were a lesbian couple both of them would have gotten roses. The more I think about it, that's probably the way it was. If a mixed group with an unequal number of men and women came in, I'm sure they would given all of the women roses.

Of course, this brings up the entirely different question of gender discrimination.

UGLY MEDALS

I didn't realize the Italians are so into bling. The medals being awarded at the Torino Olympics are the ugliest ones ever. About 4 inches across, with a big hole in the middle. They look like industrial-sized metal washers. The hole is supposed to represent the open space of an Italian piazza. I think it represents the open space between the designer's ears. Maybe it's a product placement for a donut company.

And you know what some of the medal winners, at least some of the male ones, are going to do with that hole.

OUR DANGEROUS VP

Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter
Vice President Cheney has been known to go hunting with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Hmmmm....

BIG SNOW!

We're in a major snowstorm here in NYC. I read that there was a foot of snow in Central Park by 8:00am--not that I'm going out to check the measurement. Maybe another 4 to 5 inches are on the way. This would get it close to the top ten snowfalls in the city's history.

As I said, I'm not going out in it. We got our grocery deliveries yesterday, so we're all set. I'll stay home and watch the Olympics.

Maybe it will clear up enough by tomorrow afternoon so I can make Lisa Jackson's performance. Otherwise, the only thing I need to go out for is to get some valentines for my wife.

OLYMPIC RINGERS?

I enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics last night. The part where the performers portrayed a ski-jumper was great.

But what I want to know is, did the Italians hire stand-ins for the women on their team for the athletes' entry into the stadium? They were all gorgeous.

WEB SEARCH OF THE DAY

"pictures of rasputins penis" listed my blog as fifth. Sorry, I can't help with this one.

MILLROSE GAMES

Last Friday night I made my annual in-person visit to the world of track and field: the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden.

I've been going to the Millrose Games almost every year since 1975. They've changed quite a bit since then, as has track and field in general, I'm not sure for the better. Thirty years ago there were three big track meets in Madison Square Garden every winter: The Millrose Games, the Olympic Invitational, and the National Indoor Championships, then called the AAU Indoor Championships (as it was run by the Amateur Athletic Union). Then the Olympic Invitational went across the Hudson to the Meadowlands for a year or two, and then disappeared. The AAU Championships departed for a longer track, and a bigger arena, in Atlanta if I remember correctly. (Longer tracks mean quicker times because there are fewer turns to slow the runners down.) And the AAU itself has since disappeared--the national governing body is now USA Track & Field.

But the Millrose Games stayed at the Garden. This was the 99th year, and they show no signs of departing--they announced a crowd of 14,000+. Maybe that included some no-shows, but there were plenty of people there. And they've greatly raised the ticket prices over the years, also. The best seats are now $90. (Compare this to the current price of the Indoor Championships, now in Boston. The best tickets there are $25 for each of two days. I should say that the comparison is not quite fair--I doubt the Championships have to pay any athletes appearance fees to show up, which I'm sure the Millrose Games does.)

One of the bigger changes Millrose has made in the last few years is to greatly reduce the number of college relay teams participating. There used to be dozens, divided up into many different races at the same distances. They would get colleges from all over the eastern half of the country--sometimes my Wisconsin Badgers were even represented. Now it's much more local, and there is just one race at each distance for each gender--only the top teams were invited.

They have added some other events. The women's pole vault has been contested since 1998, as it was added internationally in 1992. The men's shotput, formerly contested offsite earlier in the day, is now held in the Garden in the evening.

Other changes have been made to increase the spectator-friendliness of the event. A very upbeat announcer/interviewer is used, instead of the old monotone name and number guy. Rock and hip-hop music is played in the background. Videos are shown up on the scoreboard screens between running events--anything to keep the audience from being bored (and also to that end they have eliminated the individual races longer than a mile--there used to be one for each gender).

Last year they made another big change. Previously they would have the short sprints and hurdle races in the middle of the evening. This required them to disassemble the running track at both ends, and then reassemble it for the remaining longer events. It's a good 15 minutes for the former, and a bit longer for the latter. But last year they put the short races at the end of the night, so they never had to reassemble the track. I thought this worked pretty well, but someone thought otherwise. This year they went back to the old way.

Anyhow, I went, and I was immediately put off because I was early, but they had already started--my ticket said 6:30, but the program said things had started at 6:00. Now the events I missed certainly weren't of any great importance--first a pair of 4X400m Masters relays (masters being athletes over 40 years of age), one for each gender--then a couple of 4-lap relays for "youths" (youths being undefined in the program--apparently elementary schoolers, judging from the names of the teams entered). (Strangely, a lap this year was 145 meters, slightly shorter than the standard 160 yards.) Finally there was a "junior girls" 800m race, with contestants 11 to 14 years of age--the single 14 year-old being imported from California.

I missed all that, and I wasn't happy. I got to my seat in time for several 4X400m relays for high schoolers from differing geographical areas, plus one for Catholic high school girls. The last two were for the NYC public high schools. All of these races had several loud cheering sections, urging on their schoolmates.

I really wasn't too interested in any of these, except if a race was close. But at 7:00 they finally got to my favorite event, the pole vault. They started with the women's competition. This has been a Millrose event only since 1998, after being added internationally in 1992. Seven of the eight previous years it was won by Stacy Dragila, the American record holder both indoors and out. But this year she was absent. Present, however, was the second best American, Jenn Stuczynski. The announcer gave her a big build-up. But the event, and Stuczynski, were a big disappointment. There were six competitors, and one was eliminated at each of the first two heights (three misses in a row and you're out). Stuczynski passed at both heights, saving her energy for the higher ones. All four remaining made 4.40m (14-5¼), Stuczynski being the only one who needed two attempts. Then all four missed all three of their attempts at 4.47m (14-8¼)--12 misses in a row, which is not terribly exciting. And that was it. One vaulter became the winner because she had fewer misses. Stuczynski actually came in fourth, because of her miss at 4.40m--she only took 5 vaults altogether.

There was one nice thing about the event, though. They had a lighted sign that gave the vaulter's name and height attempted after each vault. This was very helpful, because they did not wear any numbers or names on their skimpy uniforms (think two-piece bathing suit).

Then the male pole vaulters started warming up. Meanwhile, there had been all sorts of races going on, plus the women's high jump--a track meet has been likened to a three-ring circus. Curiously, there was no men's high jump. Included was the longest individual event of the evening, at least time-wise: the men's one-mile race walk. The only ones longer were a couple of 4X800m relays.

Race-walking is this ridiculous-looking thing where the competitors are required to keep one foot on the ground at all times (there are judges stationed around the track to check on this). The result is this weird hip-swinging gait, especially at a distance of only a mile (in the Olympics the men walk 20K and 50K, 13+ miles and 30 miles). The winner took less than 6 minutes--only two minutes less than it takes athletes to run it. After a relay they held the Girls' High School Mile (with lots of screaming schoolmates in the stands). It was won by Danielle Tauro from Southern Regional (NJ) H.S.--last year's fifth place finisher.

Eventually they got to the end of the first set of races on the track, and a crew of men (I think they were all men) came out to disassemble the ends of the banked oval.
Meanwhile they got the men's pole vault going. I think it may actually have started a bit ahead of schedule, because the women's had gone so fast. Again there were six competitors. The men did attach their names to their shirts, so I could tell who they were, at least with my binoculars. As usual Toby Stephenson stood out as the only one wearing a helmet.

The men's competition was much better, with the lead changing hands several times. One competitor, Brad Walker, strategically passed his last two attempts at a height after missing. That gave him only two shots at the next one, but he made it on the second one. Then he passed the height after that entirely. Eventually it came down to him and Jeff Hartwig, a four-time winner of the event (though not since 2002). They both took three shots at 5.80m (19-0¼), but neither could make it. But Walker had passed at 5.73m (18-9½), which Hartwig made, so he won.

Meanwhile, they finished with the track, and ran the straight races down the middle of the arena. The runners actually go under the stands past the finish line, where there's a mat-covered wall to stop them. First they had the hurdles, men's and women's, college and open. 39-year old Gail Devers was making her return to competition after a year off to give birth to her first child. She finished far out, coming in fourth. The most memorable part of the hurdles was Andrea Bliss, who hit a hurdle and crashed to the floor, injuring her arm. She was down on the floor a long time, before she was ready to get up--a tween girl sitting next to me was amazed that the photographers just took her picture, rather than helping her. She's got a lot to learn about life and work. They tried to make a big deal of Terrence Trammell's attempt to be the first man to win both the hurdles and the dash at the Millrose Games, but he only placed third over the barriers.

Then they removed the hurdles for the dashes. They had the "Fastest Kid in New York City" 50m races for boys and girls 8-9 years old (they were cute, but a couple seemed really scared being out in front of thousands of people). That was followed by 60m races for high schoolers, then collegians, and finally the adult dashes. None of the names seemed terribly familiar except Trammell's, who came in third again.

When all that was done the crew returned to reassemble the track. They had a lot of trouble--by the time they were done they were half an hour behind schedule.

Meanwhile in the center of the field they set up for the men's shotput. This was a featured event--usually the throwing events, the shot put and weight throw (the indoor version of the hammer throw) are held earlier in the day in a more spacious building. But the U.S. has some very good athletes in the men's shot (some rather animated) so Millrose put them in primetime and prime place--despite the danger of having 16 lb. steel balls flying through the air. And sure enough, while they were warming up, one throw landed smack dab in the middle of the pole vault runway. Fortunately it didn't hit anyone, but it did wake some people up in that area.

As I said, some of the shot putters are animated. They are all big, strong guys, of course. But they have to be as fast as they are strong. Today practically all major shot putters use the spin technique, turning in the throwing circle much like a discus thrower, so it's not just strength and technique. One guy did a cartwheel after being introduced. Another guy has been trying to find a sponsor for a while. Last year he had "This Space For Rent" or something like that, printed on his t-shirt. This year it said "Still No Sponsor." There were four competitors here.

Somehow they chose four spectators from the stands. Each drew the name of one of the shot putters from a hat, and prizes would be awarded to the spectators depending on where "their" man finished. The first prize was a $100 gift card from the sponsor of the event, Visa.

The competition got under way. The announcer, and sometimes the competitors themselves, tried to get the crowd cheering. The T-shirt guy (I forget his name) has this routine before he throws. He stands way out in the landing area, exhorting the crowd. Then he strides to the throwing ring, pulling off his t-shirt and casting it aside. Then he gets to the ring, picks up the shot and throws it. This year his undershirt said "But My Mom Still Loves Me."

Reese Hoffa, last year's winner, did 21.00m (68-10¾) on his first throw, and he need not have thrown again--no one could equal it. Christian Cantwell came close, at 20.88m (68-6), but that was it. However, Hoffa (obviously the favorite of the tween girl sitting next to me--if she ever loses her voice she'll find it in my left ear) did not stop there. His second throw was even longer: 21.65m (71-0½). He followed that with a couple more throws over 21m. His winning throw broke his own Madison Square Garden record--it was 3 centimeters more than he did last year.

Eventually they got the running track back together, way past 10:00pm. They ran the women's mile, where Carmen Douna-Hussar won for the third year in a row. Her Canadian compatriots took the next two spots also, to the chagrin of the very vocal group urging on Ethiopian Mestawot Tadesse. It was a competitive race, but not very fast--14 seconds over the Millrose record. This was followed by the women's 800m, easily won by Jamaican Kenia Sinclair. (The Ethiopian runner came in fifth.) The men's 500m was next--nothing remarkable.

Then came the Boys' High School Mile--time for more schoolmate screaming. The announcer made a big deal of John Coghlan, all the way from Ireland. This would be his first time running on a banked track. It showed--he came in eighth. It was an exciting race, with Dan McManamon of Shenandehowa H.S. in Clifton Park, NY winning by less than a second.

The final event was the "Wanamaker Mile for the Rodman Wanamaker Trophy." It was named after the son of the founder of the Wanamaker Department stores, and it has remained the biggest event in the Millrose Games--despite the fact that there hasn't been a Wanamaker Department Store in New York City for decades. The two big names here were three-time winner Bernard Lagat, originally from Kenya but a new USA citizen, and Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele. Last year Lagat broke the 24-year old Millrose record of Eamonn Coghlan. Bekele, who holds the world records in the 5,000m and 10,000m outdoors, and the 5,000m indoors, was trying the shorter distance this year (and picking up some appearance money no doubt).

Lagat had no trouble this year, cruising in nearly 5 seconds ahead of Bekele, who needed all the speed he could muster to hang on for second--much to the relief of his loud compatriots in the stands. Lagat's 3:56.85 barely made the top 30 for the Wanamaker Mile all-time. The two took a victory lap, as most of the crowd headed for the exits.

As we were leaving they announced the Outstanding Performer of the Millrose Games. To no one's surprise it was shotputter Reese Hoffa, with his Madison Square Garden (though not Millrose Games) record.

YAWN HEADLINE OF THE DAY

Chocolate Stores See Big Business Around Valentine's Day

OLYMPICS TONIGHT!

Tonight is the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics from Turin, Italy. We'll get to see the athletes march in, probably accompanied by trivialities about the various countries from the news anchor of the network broadcasting the games. Usually it's a pretty good show, though.

Tomorrow the actual competition starts. I can't wait for the penguin wrangling and team snowball fight events. What? They're not on the schedule? I'll just have to make do with curling and, what's the new one?, snowboard cross.

Seriously, I am looking forward to watching the Olympics, even though the big events will be shown on a delayed basis in the evening. (I hate knowing the results of an event beforehand, so I have to be careful to avoid news reports during the day.) Time Warner Cable has even managed to find a way to deliver NBC's secondary Olympic high definition channel, Universal-HD, in addition to the regular broadcast (both in standard definition and high), and the USA, CNBC and MSNBC channels they use for secondary events. My DVR will probably get a good workout.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

Michaels Traded From ABC to NBC for a Cartoon Bunny

NEWS ABOUT ME

Last night I was elected Assistant Treasurer of the LeGal Foundation, the charitable wing of the LGBT Law Assn. of Greater New York. And the way these things usually work I'll probably be the treasurer in a year or two, if I want it.

It's a little more work to do. But it's good work--it's so nice to be retired, and really have the time to do these things.

MARTINA (THE FIRST) IS RETURNING TO TENNIS!

Navratilova, Turning 50, Plans Full Schedule With Slams

I wondered why she didn't play at the Australian Open. She has been my favorite player for a long, long time. It really would be interesting to see the two Martinas (Navratilova and Hingis, recently returned from her three-year injury layoff) playing doubles. They could be a formidable team.

I'd love to see her keep playing--and winning. She is only 4 behind Margaret Smith Court for the most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed combined. Many of Court's wins were at her home country Australia's championships, back when many of the top players did not make the long journey there, so I think Navratilova has already accomplished more. Besides, Court is a homophobe. She has said Navratilova is a bad role model. I'd like to see her record eclipsed (by a lesbian, no less), just for that.

HAVE THEY NO SENSE OF SHAME?

The House Republicans rewarded Tom DeLay, their former majority leader, with a powerful position on the Appropriations Committee. DeLay was forced to step down when he was indicted on money laundering and conspiracy charges.

Not only did his Republican cronies reward him with the Appropriations seat, he was put on the subcommittee that controls the money going to the Justice Department, the very body that is investigating influence-peddling involving disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. I'm sure the Justice Department will now get all the money they need to pursue the connections between Abramoff and various Republican lawbreakers, oops, lawmakers. Like I'm sure the stork brings new babies.

Oh, by the way, how did the vacancy on the Appropriations Committee come about? It was due to the resignation of Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who pleaded guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes.

JOHN BOEHNER, THE CLOCK IS TICKING

I previously noted that I was skeptical how long John Boehner, Tom DeLay's replacement as House Majority Leader, would last. Things keep popping up and popping up, tying him to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Now there's a report tying him to another lobbyist. So far they are these ties are indirect or incidental, but where there's smoke there's fire, as far as I'm concerned. He may not be quite as "dirty" as DeLay, now fighting felony charges, but all this just shows that "clean" Republicans still have an awful lot of dirt clinging to them.

THIS IS SUPPOSED TO PROMOTE TOLERANCE?

Israelis Won't Stop Dig at Muslim Cemetery

JERUSALEM (AP) - A dispute over the fate of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem threatened Wednesday to ignite tensions in Holy City as workers removed skeletons from the site despite Muslim pleas for the work to end.

Israeli developers and archaeologists are removing the tombs to make room for the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center to build a multi-million-dollar Museum of Tolerance, dedicated in part to promoting understanding among different religions. Muslims are incensed...

and most of the rest of us are just incredulous.

I'M A GUARDIAN?

I took this silly little Three Question Personality Test. It said:

Your Personality Is

Guardian (SJ) You are sensible, down to earth, and goal oriented. Bottom line, you are good at playing by the rules. You tend to be dominant - and you are a natural leader. You are interested in rules and order. Morals are important to you. A hard worker, you give your all at whatever you do. You're very serious, and people often tell you to lighten up. In love, you tend to take things carefully and slowly. At work, you are suited to almost any career - but you excel in leadership positions. With others, you tend to be polite and formal. As far as looks go, you are traditionally attractive. You take good care of yourself. On weekends, you tend to like to do organized activities. In fact, you often organize them!

Some things it got very right ("You are interested in rules and order" "With others, you tend to be polite and formal"), and some very wrong ("You tend to be dominant - and you are a natural leader" "A hard worker, you give your all at whatever you do").

I think a personality test needs at least four or five questions to peg someone.

WEIRD WEB SEARCH OF THE DAY

"film clip of gazelle running into tree" lists my blog as third.

IS THIS AS DUMB AS IT SOUNDS?

New Service Would Charge E-Mail Senders
AOL and Yahoo! are going to introduce a new service for e-mail senders that would allow the senders' e-mails to bypass their spam filters for a fee of 1/4 to 1 cent each. The idea is that legitimate senders will no longer have to worry about their stuff getting caught, but spammers will not pay for their huge mailings. The senders must pledge to send only to people who have opted to receive their messages.

My first question is, why are the spam filters so bad that they screen out legitimate e-mails? So AOL and Yahoo! can charge senders to get around them? This whole thing smells like a protection racket! If I were a legitimate sender whose messages weren't getting through I'd raise the roof.

Next question: has anyone ever heard of an e-mail recipient complaining that he or she is not receiving these e-mails? I'm sure the e-mails that are getting caught are not individualized ones. They are mass advertisements. The senders may be more legitimate than the spammers, but the e-mails are still just mailbox clutter.

The whole thing is academic to me. I wrote (and continue to write) my own spam filter, and no one can bribe me to let their spam bypass it.

Well, I suppose if someone offered me $10 each I could be bought.

YAWN OF THE DAY

Steelers Win Fifth Super Bowl Title
I'm waiting for "Browns Win First Super Bowl Title." I suspect I'll have a long wait.

VARIATIONS ON A (SPAM) THEME V

Regenerate your aliveness?
Regenerate your intimate experience?
Regenerate your intimate liveliness?
Regenerate your liveliness
Regenerate your sexual aliveness?
Rejuvenate your aliveness!
Rejuvenate your existence!
Rejuvenate your intimate life
Rejuvenate your intimate life!
Rejuvenate your intimate liveliness!
Rejuvenate your intimate living!
Rejuvenate your liveliness
Rejuvenate your living!
Rejuvenate your sexual aliveness
Rejuvenate your sexual existence
Rejuvenate your sexual experience
Rejuvenate your sexual liveliness
Rejuvenate your sexual liveliness!
Renew your intimate aliveness
Renew your intimate aliveness!
Renew your intimate existence
Renew your intimate living!
Renew your sexual aliveness
Renew your sexual aliveness?
Renew your sexual existence?
Renew your sexual liveliness!
renew your vitality
Restore your existence?
Restore your intimate aliveness?
Restore your intimate experience
Restore your intimate life?
Restore your liveliness
Restore your living!
Restore your sexual aliveness?
Restore your sexual existence
Restore your sexual life
Restore your sexual living!
Revitalise your experience
Revitalise your intimate existence
Revitalise your intimate liveliness
Revitalise your sexual aliveness?

If you like this sort of, er, inventiveness see my previous installments, starting with this one. I update them (and this one) continually, as more examples arrive.

I DO LOVE MY COMICS!

Today in The Boondocks comic strip we have Huey putting Lucy Van Pelt into his "hate book," because keeps pulling away the football, when Charlie Brown tries to kick it. Lucy and Charlie Brown are characters in a different comic strip, Peanuts, of course. What made this more amusing than it would have was that The Boondocks happened to be printed right below Peanuts in my Newsday. Too bad Charlie Brown and Lucy weren't in todays strip.

I love it when one comic strip starts referencing another, like they're in their own little world. There was a huge example of this last year, when they all celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Blondie comic strip. Characters in many other strips started talking about going to the anniversary party weeks before. Closer to the date they started appearing in each others strips, getting together for the journey, and finally on the big day they all showed up in Blondie.

I do love my comics. I switched from the New York Times to Newsday when the latter came into New York City with the slogan "Truth, Justice and the Comics." The Times has always been too stuffy to run comics--though that hasn't been a problem for the Washington Post, its closest competitor as "the newspaper of record."

Newsday has cut back on its comics over the years. It used to run three pages of them each day, and now it's only two, minus room for its "Kidsday" articles for/by children. So they've deleted a number of strips, and squished the remaining ones into a much smaller area. They have kept some of the deleted ones on their website, so I still follow one or two there, and there's a couple I find elsewhere on the internet. I sure wish the writer of Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet would return from "sabbatical," though.

WEB SEARCH OF THE DAY

little girl lesbians wearing pantyhose
You think this is what the Bush administration was looking for in their fishing expedition?

At least my blog was down at number 70 on this one. Which means this guy (I'm assuming) probably looked at a lot of sites before he got to mine. I guess there isn't much more to do in Columbus, Ohio than there is in Dubai.

LET'S SEE HOW LONG THIS ONE LASTS

Rep. Boehner Elected House Majority Leader
The Republicans have come up with a replacement for Tom DeLay, who's a little preoccupied fighting off some felony charges. This guy's supposed to be "clean." We'll see.

LISA JACKSON LIVE MONDAY!

I found out last night that Lisa Jackson + Girl Friday are playing every Monday in February at Arlene's Grocery. It's even free!

Lisa rocks! I'll be there Monday, even if I have to go in the skirt suit I'll be wearing to make a presentation to the New York County Lawyers Assn board about endorsing the Gender Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA).

WEB SEARCH OF THE DAY

Somebody in Canada was looking for info on "duties on accordian" and got my blog. They had to go all the way to page 7 to reach me.

I'M SO OUT OF IT

The dating scene, that is.

In today's Newsday their "Survival Guide" features a story on "Eye Gazing." This is a new way for singles to meet. You get a roomful together, and each person gets 3 minutes to stare into the eyes of each person of the opposite sex--no talking (and presumably no touching) allowed. (There was no mention of whether there's a same sex version.) At the end people decide who they want to meet up with, and if two people want to meet each other, contact information is given.

One phrase in the article, er, caught my eye. It contrasted eye gazing to "traditional speed dating." Traditional? I've been out of the dating scene for nearly two decades now. Has speed dating been around so long it's traditional?

NON-SURPRISE HEADLINE OF THE DAY

Bush Skips Complex Realities in Address

A NEW EYE-OPENER

In my Fresh Direct delivery last weekend I got a free sample of Tab Energy, the Coca-Cola Company's attempt to market a Red Bull-like "energy drink" to young women. Well, even though I'm not young, and only part woman, I like it.

I first saw this advertised on New Year's Eve, on the Dick Clark broadcast. Actually, it was more of a product placement. There was a big sign for it in the background, and people were drinking it at tables behind the dancers, as I remember. I wondered what it was. Tab has been around since 1963, and I've been a fan since then. Until they came up with Diet Coke with Lime, it was my favorite--I'd drink several cans a day. Now, I just drink one Tab in the morning--somehow, it's a better eye-opener than the Diet Coke.

It should be noted that about the only thing Tab Energy and Tab have in common is the name and the color of the can. Tab Energy isn't even a cola, and it's not quite calorie-free: there are 5 per can. And the can is different: it's the tall, skinny 10.5 ounce energy drink size, not the conventional 12 ounce can. But it's still pink.

And the drink is pink, too!

It's got some ginseng in it, and it's sweetened by sucralose, not the saccharin-aspartame combination of regular Tab. I like the taste.

So I'm going to order some more. I see that it's not cheap: $1.75 per can--so I think I'll limit myself to having it as my wake-up drink. I think it's got more than enough caffeine to do the job.

WHERE WERE THE FLYING DONKEYS?

Last Thursday some friends from CDI and I went to see a performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Another member in our group, Little Rita, was in it, so we were anxious to see her perform.

I had seen productions of A Midsummer's Night Dream the last two years: one at the Williamstown Theater Festival in the summer of 2004, and one done by the Vienna Marionettes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art just a few weeks ago. I wondered how this one would compare.

The publicity for the play promised "flying donkeys, bewildered lovers and warring fairies." The latter two are certainly in Shakespeare's script, but flying donkeys? All Shakespeare had was one person transformed into an ass, who remained quite firmly planted on the ground, as best as I can remember. And I'm pretty sure Shakespeare did not include an onstage oompah band either--though the audience was promised that also, plus a cast of 23. It all sounded like a whole lot of fun.

We cabbed up to the McGinn Cazale Theatre at 76th and Broadway, an ironic location for an off-off-Broadway production (do two "off"s make an "on"? Not in the theater). Off-off-Broadway shows must have fewer than 100 seats, and they don't have to follow various union rules--like the rule requiring the actors to be paid. We got there early, bought our tickets, and waited for them to allow us in to the seats. Come to think of it, we didn't get tickets, we just got programs.

After a bit a guy wearing a San Francisco Mime Troupe T-shirt opened the door and let us in, checking to make sure we all had programs. I hadn't heard anything of the San Francisco Mime Troupe since my college days. I guess they're still around.

We went in and claimed seats near the front of the stadium-seated theater. We looked at the set, with the advertised 5'X10' crash mat--a foam rubberish thing about 30" high like they use for high jumpers to land on. Up high on the right was a tiny area for the musicians, with an upright piano. I was very glad I had worn a thick sweater with an attached fuzzy scarf--the theater was very cold. It didn't warm up much as the rest of the audience arrived, maybe a couple dozen people. So the audience and the cast were about the same size.

The musicians (weirdly costumed) warmed up and tuned. Eventually the guy in the Mime Troupe t-shirt took the stage and did the cell phone announcement, and the play began. Things went from weird to weirder. They started with an extended battle with wooden weapons between Theseus and Hippolyta. Shakespeare's script was not exactly adhered to, but it was close--if anything the action was clearer.

The publicity promised a "lavender Lysander"--by which they meant lesbian. Lysander was played by a woman. I really wondered why they bothered. Outside of changing a pronoun here or there, everything was played straight--literally. It soon became clear that Lysander being a woman did not really change anything in the play.

When the fairies arrived things really got interesting. They jumped down and landed on the crash pad. One did back flips both off a wall and straight from the floor. He flew all over the place, doing a somersault in the air before bouncing off the crash pad.

There was more gender-bending when it came to the commoners who would be putting on "Pyramus and Thisby," the play-within-a-play done in honor of Theseus' and Hippolyta's wedding: four of the six were played by women--though not Flute, who would be Thisby, the female lead.

The play took its course, with one intermission. Things got very silly with the play-within-the-play. The woman playing Snout, did the part of the wall upside-down--she did a headstand, with Pyramus and Thisby conversing, etc. between her extremely long legs. And when they got to the line of Thisby's when she attempts to kiss Pyramus through the chink in the wall, and says "I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all," looking down at Snout's crotch--well, you get the picture.

The whole thing was very enjoyable. The oompah band musical accompaniment was nice, adding just the right note of weirdness to the proceedings. The performances were very good--particularly Sara Moore's clownish Bottom (she's been in San Francisco’s Pickle Family Circus). She hammed it up perfectly--and got do a very realistic sex scene with Titania up in a hammock-thing, so only their heads and maybe their feet were visible. However, the hammock sure moved, so the audience knew very well what they were doing.

But even as an ass, Bottom did not fly. She did a little somersault off the hammock on to the pad just below, but I think that was it--certainly not the flying donkeys I was expecting. Oh, well.

It was all a lot of fun. Someone remarked that Shakespeare must be rolling over in his grave. I disagreed. Shakespeare wrote a comedy, to make people laugh, and he would probably be laughing to this production right along with the rest of us.

We waited in the lobby for Rita, and then we went down with her to get something to eat. She explained that we didn't get the full musical experience, because the flute and clarinet that are usually used were stolen since the previous performance. I had thought that the instrumentation was a bit weirder than it needed to be, but they covered the missing ones on the piano, I think--it wasn't bad.

We got some dinner at Nick's, a little place across Broadway that specializes in all sorts of hamburgers. I had an ostrichburger, with sweet potato fries. Yum.

But I still wish there had been flying donkeys.

NOT THAT I'M COMPLAINING

It's 62 degrees right now. In New York City. In January.

NO FUN IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS ALLOWED

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian state plans to ban students from wearing denim because it is linked with having a good time.

"It is associated with weekend wear, with recreational time. It's just unacceptable at schools and we are trying to lift the standards," a spokesman for Western Australia state Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich said.

The ban on denim in Western Australia's secondary schools will be imposed from 2007.

VARIATIONS ON A (SPAM) THEME IV

Assured dates at the moment?
Assured dates currently!
Assured hookups nowadays?
Assured meetings at the moment?
Assured meetups nowadays
Ensured dates currently?
Ensured dates promptly
Ensured hookups promptly?
Ensured meetings nowadays!
Guaranteed dates at present
Guaranteed hookups now
Guaranteed hookups nowadays?
Guaranteed meetings promptly
Guaranteed meetings right away?
Guaranteed meetups right away
Warranted dates currently?
Warranted dates at the moment!
Warranted hookups nowadays?
Warranted hookups right away
Warranted meetings at present
Warranted meetings now

If you like this sort of, er, inventiveness see my previous installments, starting with this one. I update them (and this one) continually, as more examples arrive.

CSI: FACT OR FICTION III

In CSI: FACT OR FICTION II I posted a lnk to an AP article on how television crime shows like CSI are influencing juries. Now they have one on how the shows are educating real life murderers also.

MISCELLANY FROM LAST WEEK

Monday: Did a 1 hour interview by a Rutgers sociology grad student who is doing her thesis on "Sex Attribution"--how people determine the sex of other people. She thought it would be a good idea to start by canvassing TGs, who probably have given the subject more thought than average.

Wednesday: My friend Wendi and I went down to the LGBT Center for a reception for the newly-elected speaker of the New York City Council, Christine Quinn. She's the first openly gay person in that position--as well as the first woman, and the first Irish person also (the first Irish person?--amazing!).

There were some hors d'oeuvres (I really have to learn how to spell that--I have to look it up every time) and wine. Quinn was delayed, so there was plenty of time to mingle. I ran into Paisley Currah, the Brooklyn College political science professor who heads up CLAGS. I hadn't seen him in a while--maybe not since the Lammy Awards last summer. I got a hug from Matt Foreman, the executive director of the NGLTF. I did a very brief interview for the Center's public access cable TV show (I wonder when it's on?). I ran into a woman who had worked with me on setting up the Name Change Project of the West Village TransLegal Clinic. She mistook me for my friend Joann Prinzivalli, the head of the New York Transgender Rights Organization (NYTRO). We figured out that she didn't recognize me because I only presented as a man at those meetings.

Someone in the crowd--I'm pretty sure it was the guy who writes the Homo Dish column for HX Magazine--complimented me on my outfit, or at least its color: I was wearing my red business suit. Maybe I'll see my name in print again.

I was talking with one of the guys from the Stonewall Democrats, I think, when he spied Rosie Mendez, the new City Councilperson who took over Marguerita Lopez's seat. There was an evening last fall when she was campaigning, going from event to event--and ran into me at two different ones. Mendez remembered me from that (politicians really need the ability to remember everyone). She was saying how she was honored that Quinn had passed on her own physical seat in the Council chamber to her, as the newest lesbian on the Council--and how she was kind of overwhelmed with all the new things to learn about being on the Council. She didn't seem to have any staff person with her.

Eventually Quinn arrived, there were some introductory speeches, and she spoke a bit, after having all the other elected officials join her on the stage. Nothing remarkable in any of it, except that one of those officials was Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney--my representative. I hadn't heard of any particular connection between Maloney and the LGBT community (I don't think the Center is in her district), or with Quinn, but there she was.

Anyhow, the speeches ended, and after a bit the gathering started to break up. Maloney happened to be walking by me on her way out, so I said hello, telling her I was a constituent.

I left a short time later, to get to my other event of the evening, the annual business meeting and interim election of Crossdressers International (CDI). I had to give my treasurer's report, and I wanted to let people know what was happening with the website update project. There were elections for three positions (all but mine), because there had been resignations in all of them last year. What was really unprecedented, was that two of the elections were being contested--there had only been one contested election in the history of CDI before this.

Anyhow, S. Kristine James, the CDI founder (who calls herself the chair--though the position is not in the bylaws), brought the meeting to order--announcing it was a joint meeting of CDI and the Greater New York Gender Alliance, an umbrella organization with only one member--CDI. It really exists only on paper, but it is incorporated (unlike CDI), which makes it useful at times. We did the minutes of last year's meeting--mostly from my memory, as the secretary had resigned. I gave my reports.

Then Kristine conducted the election. There was only one candidate for president, so that went by acclamation. Then, for some unknown reason, she skipped to the office of secretary. This turned out to be practically a non-contest, as one of the candidates endorsed the other. A vote was taken, though the totals weren't announced. Kristine appointed the loser "assistant secretary"--a position as non-existent as her "chair."

Finally we got to the office of vice president, where there were three nominated candidates. It was announced one had withdrawn, but the other two were quite serious about wanting the job. Each gave a speech, and the vote was taken. One candidate was declared the winner--we were only told the vote was close. Kristine again appointed the loser the assistant.

She then turned the meeting over to the CDI president, and we got into a big discussion about money--dues, charges for the open house and for the holiday dinner, and charitable contributions. All kinds of opinions were offered. Some people wanted big incentives to become members, some wanted large charitable contributions to be made, some wanted no contributions to be made. I was not at all surprised by the lack of consensus--the only thing the CDI members have in common is an interest in crossdressing. Otherwise you have huge differences in income, education, political view, everything.

Eventually it was decided to raise the dues a little for 2007, raise the open house charges (but make it free for first timers), decrease the big discount for the holiday dinner, and leave the question of charitable contributions to the officers and an advisory committee. I was very happy when the meeting was adjourned. I was even happier when some of us went up to Dave's Tavern and I had a nice gin and tonic. And there was a huge bucket of peanuts I could munch on.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

Humuhumunukunukuapuaa Dethroned in Hawaii
It may not be much of a story, but it's a great headline.

DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL, DON'T STAFF YOUR ARMY

The army is now investigating some paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division for appearing on a gay pornography website. This would be a violation of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which deems any action by a member of the armed forces that indicates he or she is gay to be a violation of the code of military conduct, and would require them to be discharged from military service.

This policy is contributing greatly to the staffing problems the military has seen since Bush, Jr. decided to invade Iraq. Many badly needed Arabic translators have been discharged because of it. Recently a report came out that a great many doctors and other medical specialists have been lost to "don't ask, don't tell," resulting in bad shortages there. Now they are going after paratroopers, some of the best-trained, most-needed combat soldiers the army has.

The policy is illogical, idiotic, stupid, ridiculous, imbecilic and dumb--besides being discriminatory and unfair. Having gays and lesbians in the military would not be a problem if the military didn't make it one. They should have the right to serve their country in the military the same as everyone else. Moreover, they are needed in the military. When are the homophobes in the Pentagon (and their congressional backers) going to face the facts?

STUPID (alleged) CRIMINAL OF THE DAY

Alleged Crack Dealer Uses Business Cards

I GUESS NOT ALL OF THEM COME EARLY IN THE MORNING

I just got a hit on my blog from someone looking for "india uncovered ass sex." Someone in Dubai. At least I was all the way down on page 24 for this one. Which means this guy (I'm assuming) went through 100's of sites before he got to mine.

I guess there's not much to do in Dubai.

(Isn't that where Michael Jackson is living now? Hmmm.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WOLFGANG!

Today is the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth. Classical music fans around the world are celebrating the child prodigy who managed to write 626 works of music in his all-too-brief 35 years. He revolutionized opera, and I'm sure not an hour goes by when his music isn't being performed or broadcast somewhere in the world. Even Google has a nice logo modification in his honor.

I'm listening to a live broadcast from Salzburg, Austria, Mozart's birthplace. WQXR's own Jeff Spurgeon is on the broadcast team introducing the selections back to America. The Vienna Philharmonic under Ricardo Muti and several great soloists are performing. At a carefully timed intermission, all of the churchbells in the city will ring, to mark the exact moment of Mozart's birth (known because his father, Leopold, recorded it in a letter).

I can't say Mozart is my favorite composer--I prefer later works written for larger, more varied orchestras--but I still find his music wonderful. So happy birthday, Wolfgang! Thanks for all the great music. Somehow, I think they'll still be listening to it in another quarter millenium.

YET ANOTHER EARLY MORNING WEIRD WEB SEARCH

chelsea law and order run by nuns cafeteria

BLOGGING WITHDRAWAL

Blogger.com announced a 30 minute maintenance shutdown for 4:00pm PST yesterday. When I got home early this morning it was still down, just a screen announcing the 30 minute outage. Not good. I couldn't blog.

It was still that way today, and I got scared. Did something major happen? Would my blog be coming to an end? Would I have to start over? There were no direct news reports, just stuff about AdSense and a quarrel with Google (which owns Blogger). Had Google cut off Blogger? I thought not, since that certainly would have made the news.

But still I was scared. The blog itself was still working, so I backed up everything as best I could. Then everything came back a few minutes ago. Big relief.

So I now I can blog. Except I don't have any time now--I've got to got get ready to see my friend in A Midsummer Night's Dream--with flying donkeys!

CATCHING UP: NAMOLI BRENNET AND GRACE MILLO

Last Thursday I went to hear Namoli Brennet, a transgender singer-songwriter I first heard last year at a Stonewall Democrats fundraiser at Fagapalooza. I had known for a while she was coming out east from her Tucson home for a tour, but there wasn't a NYC concert on her schedule. So I was delighted when she inserted a little "house concert" in Brooklyn.

I was even more delighted to see it would be at the home of Ed Mannix, a guy I used to run into frequently at the Monster Bar, five or six years ago--but I hadn't seen him for a long time (or had I? He said he was at Fagapalooza also, but I don't remember seeing him there).

Ed has been hosting a series of musical events in his high-ceilinged living room for three years now, his website says. He calls them "A Circle of Berdaches," believing Berdache is a good name for LGBT people like him. Well, I must say I don't particularly like his appropriation of this term, and I might like it even less if I were Native-American--though they prefer being called two-spirit people, there are still some real berdaches today. Anyhow, regardless of the name, Namoli would be singing at Ed's.

Getting there was not half the fun, however. A stalled subway train converted a one-change trip to a mini-nightmare of four trains (five if you want to include the one I got off of before it moved, because they announced a change in destination) and a very aerobic climb at 4th Av-9th St. Of course, when I got there Ed informed me of a much easier alternative route. Oh, well.

Anyhooski (as Namoli wants everyone to say), I did get there, and got a big hug from Ed, who joked about the "cow" skirt I used to wear (It was pony, not cow!--faux, of course). He introduced me to his roommates, and some other people, including the opening performer, Grace Millo, and her friend, Nicole, who is a bartender at RubyFruit. I talked a bit with Nicole, about how we used to go there more when Michael, a friend of the CDI president, was the chef.

We talked for a while, drank some wine and munched on the food Ed provided--the hummus and the stuffed potatoes were great, and the pear salad was very nice also. We listened to some songs he liked, both on CDs and on the internet. He was waiting for some people who had RSVP'd--and for Namoli. Eventually she showed up. She said she had been leaving messages all day. Ed then checked his voice mail, and found hers--explaining that he had been home all day, and she must have called while he was on the phone with someone else.

After Namoli got settled a bit (and accepted Ed's offer to stay over--she hadn't even thought about where she would be sleeping!), the show began with Grace Millo. I had never heard of her, though I had heard of her sister, Aprile Millo. In fact I even had actually heard her sister, singing at the Metropolitan Opera. (However, I had neither heard, nor heard of, their brother: punk rock pioneer Rick Wilder of the Mau-Maus, and the Berlin Brats.) It was clear from the start that the family's singing talent did not skip over Grace (the parents were both opera singers also). One of the problems of many singer-songwriters is that they are much more the latter than the former (think Leonard Cohen). But Grace has no shortcomings here.

She has no shortcomings on the songwriter side either. I particularly liked "Quicksand Ground' (the title track of her latest CD), and "Get It Right."

Her 45 minutes ended too soon. It was an unexpected treat. I was happy I could buy a CD so I could hear her songs again.

Then it was Namoli's turn. It took her a few minutes to tune her guitar, so I had a chance to get some more wine (and buy Grace's CD). I even managed to eat a nice piece of roast chicken, without messing up my make-up.

Namoli sang some songs from her new CD, Chrysanthemum, including the title track. "What I Wouldn't Give" brought a smile to my face, with its tale of a grandparent wishing for half the energy of an ADHDD grandson. "Between the Furrow and the Roses" was sad--a father, near the end of his life, giving his burial instructions to his daughter. "Faceless Men with Cold Hands" was even sadder--a song of sexual abuse. Few of her songs are really happy. Her lyrics are not always easy--you really have to think sometimes. But when you do think, you feel what she means.

She sang some old songs. She took requests. She even sang the title song of her first CD, "A Boy in a Dress." She sang and sang and sang, having a great time. And I had a great time listening.

But all good things must end, the saying goes (why is it only bad things get to go on and on indefinitely?). I bought a couple more CDs, which Namoli eagerly offered to autograph. My purse was stuffed. I arranged to take the subway back to Manhattan with someone, then waited while he and Ed had a long discussion, about Outmusic, I think, or maybe that was a previous discussion. Whatever, it was mostly a monologue by Ed. He does like to talk.

Eventually we extracted ourselves, and walked the couple of blocks to the subway. A train came quickly, and we were on our way. I was really glad of the company though, because a stop or two later a somewhat bewildered homeless guy and his huge plastic bags of stuff boarded the train. He sat down and joined our conversation, while the bags contented themselves with spilling their contents on the floor. We humored him--he didn't seem dangerous. But he couldn't quite grasp what day it was.

Unfortunately, my escort's destination was a couple stops before mine, so for a couple uncomfortable minutes I was left alone with the guy (there were a few other people in the car, thank goodness). When we reached my stop I dashed past him out the door. He called after me, something about how I reminded him of Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie.

Oy.

BOY MEETS GIRL

My friend Helen Boyd has just sold her next book. Tentatively entitled Boy Meets Girl, it will be published by Seal Press. I'm so happy for her.

Seal says:

The author of MY HUSBAND BETTY writes about her husband’s crossdressing and the possibility of his undergoing a sex change, which frame her commentary on the pressures (both emotional and sexual) that traditional gender roles can bring to our relationships, marriages, and partnerships.

My only problem: it won't be out for another year.

ONE FOR THE LOCKING THE BARN DOOR DEPARTMENT

W.Va. Legislators Take Up Mine Safety Bill

SOME HAPPY NEWS

Parents of Missing Penguin Have New Egg

I'M A HAPPY BLOGGER

Yesterday broke my record for the most visitors to this blog in a single day: 56. Thank you all.

NYJFF III: CAMILLE & QUEEN ELIZABETH

My second and last session at the Lincoln Center Film Society's 15th annual New York Jewish Film Festival consisted of a pair of French films made in 1912, La Dame aux Camélias and Les Amours de la Reine Élizabeth (English titles: Camille and Queen Elizabeth). Question: What are these doing in a Jewish film festival? Answer: They starred Sarah Bernhardt. Question: How does that make them Jewish? Answer: Though she went to a convent school, and was a practicing Catholic most of her life, Bernhardt was born Jewish--at least on paper. She never made any mention of her mother ever practicing Judaism, only that her grandmother was an "Israelite," as the French called Jews back then.

I call this the "Jewish Museum Syndrome." There, even the most remote connection to Judaism is a valid reason for including something an exhibition--or even mounting an entire exhibition about it. And indeed, the Jewish Museum is currently showing Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama, and the showing of these films was connected to it.

In reality, Bernhardt's connection to Judaism was not quite as tenuous as that. Regardless of her religious practices, she endured a great deal of anti-Semitism at the hands of the popular French press. While she downplayed her Jewish ancestry most of the time, Bernhardt did use it to her advantage when it was convenient: During the Franco-Prussian War, she reminded people of her Jewish roots when she was suspected of being disloyal to France, just on the basis of her Germanic name. (Actually, she had changed it from Bernard, though it's not clear just when.) She was also a staunch defender of Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish French army officer wrongfully convicted of espionage--not that one had to be Jewish to support him.

Anyhooski (as Namoli Brennet wants everyone to say--I think it's Namoli), tenuous connection or not, Bernhardt was in the NYJFF, and I wanted to see her. Also, I wanted to hear the live piano accompaniment (by Donald Sosin) that was presented--just the way silent films were originally shown. I don't think I had ever seen one that way before. For my college film course we just sat in silence--even for the 3 hours of D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation. And I saw a couple of silents in Radio City Music Hall with a full orchestra accompaniment: Abel Gance's Napoléon, and Flesh and the Devil with Greta Garbo. But never the old-fashioned way.

The program had the co-curators from the Jewish Museum exhibition to introduce the films and take questions from the audience afterwards. Carol Ockman, Professor of Art History at Williams College, and Kenneth E. Silver, Professor of Fine Arts at NYU, explained some of the Bernhardt's history, as well as film's role as a fine art a century ago.

Sarah Bernhardt was the superstar of her time--without being the best actress or the most beautiful. She promoted herself ceaselessly, always looking for publicity--her temper tantrums were trumpeted, her private life was a public affair. She endorsed all sorts of products, and served her country in both the Franco-Prussian War and World War I, and was inducted into the French Legion of Honor in 1914. Besides acting on the stage (while producing her own plays, often in her own theaters), she was a writer and sculptor.

She was always on the forefront using the latest in technology. Born in 1844, just five years after the invention of photography, she used it to disseminate her image far from the theaters where she appeared. When Edison invented sound recordings, she was there in Menlo Park, NJ to have her voice preserved. And in 1900, she filmed the brief duel scene from Hamlet, as she was touring Europe playing the title role. It was more of an experiment than a serious effort, but she was obviously intrigued by the possibilities. Six or so years later she made a two reel Tosca, a role written for her for the stage. (A two-reeler ran roughly 25 minutes, depending on how fast the projector was cranked.) She disliked the results so much she tried to buy up all the copies to destroy them--fortunately she wasn't completely successful.

It was several more years until she was lured in front of the motion picture cameras again. $30,000 was a big enough lure. Camille, another two-reeler, was a great success, and made film into more than a cheap popular entertainment mainly for the working class. Bernhardt, as a serious stage actress, changed all that. Within a few months she followed it up with a four-reeler of Queen Elizabeth, which proved to be an even bigger success. As big as it was in Europe, it was even more important to the American film industry. Adolph Zukor brought it to the Lyceum Theater here in New York, and made a fortune on it--enough to bankroll what became Paramount Pictures.

All this is background, of course, most of which was related by the two professors doing the introduction. I think they were a tad over-enthusiastic for the films, particularly Ockman. The films may have changed the history of the medium, but that doesn't mean they were all that good, certainly not by contemporary standards. Intertitles, full screens of text, were used to explain each scene, but they rarely contained the dialogue. It was filmed pantomime, basically.

In 1912 Bernhardt was 68 years old. She had been playing the Lady of the Camelias on stage for decades--maybe 3,000 times by that point. It took a ton of make-up, and no close-ups, to make her the least bit believable as a young courtesan. Her over-acting, while not totally ridiculous, was a bit excessive, though from what I understand was the way she was on stage also. Her death scene was not overdone, and it did show her acting abilities, as Ockman had said.

Bernhardt was more believable as Queen Elizabeth. In this film I was impressed by the costumes and scenery, which were, the film noted, from Bernhardt's own company--this was what they used on the stage. Since the film was nearly twice as long as Camille, it had time to really develop the story.

The films are fairly well preserved, though there are a few parts with significant deterioration. One intertitle was visible so briefly it couldn't be read. The piano accompaniment was not nearly as important as I expected it to be. It was fine as background music, but I don't think it really added very much.

Although I think one can get an appreciation for Bernhardt's acting from the films, I don't think one gets a notion of her beauty, nor (of course) her personality. The films are certainly more important to the history of the medium than to the history of her. I do want to see the exhibition at the Jewish Museum--I think I'll learn a lot more about her there than what I learned at the film festival.

THIS IS A BLOG FOR CHOICE

Today is the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
See Bush v. Choice.

VARIATIONS ON A (SPAM) THEME III

Babes in your area
Babes in your neighbourhood!
Babes in your region
Babes inside your area?
Babes inside your district!
Babes inside your region?
Babes inside your region!
Babes within your area!
Babes within your city
Babes within your city!
Gals in your area?
Gals in your area!
Gals in your district?
Gals in your neighbourhood
Gals inside your city!
Gals within your area!
Gals within your district
Gals within your region!
Girls in your area
Girls in your area!
Girls in your district
Girls inside your area?
Girls inside your city!
Girls inside your neighbourhood!
Girls inside your region
Girls inside your region?
Girls within your district!
Girls within your neighbourhood
Ladies in your district?
Ladies within your area
Ladies within your area?
Ladies within your city
Ladies within your city!
Ladies within your region!
Women in your district!
Women inside your area!
Women inside your city?
Women inside your city!
Women inside your district
Women inside your district?
Women inside your region

If you like this sort of, er, inventiveness see my previous installments, starting with this one. I update them (and this one) continually, as more examples arrive.

A DINNER PARTY--FRENCH STYLE

I don't really remember ever being at a real dinner party, at least one in someone's home, not a restaurant. I guess last evening was a first for me. I mean, who actually has the ability and the time to cook these days?

Well, Frenchwomen do--at least the ones who are living in New York because their husbands' employers sent them here. My wife, who is always looking for an opportunity to practice her French, got to know our hostess in one of the various French clubs my wife is in--I can't keep track of them all.

So that's how I ended up at a dinner party with a half a dozen French people, all but one of whom are in New York just temporarily. I can understand French somewhat well. I can put together a phrase, sometimes even a full, grammatically correct sentence, as long as I stick to the present tense. Past and future are very iffy, and the subjunctive--not to save my life. Basically I was counting on the wine being good to get me through the evening.

Now we're not talking about your formal dinner party here--there wasn't a tie in sight, much less a tail coat, tuxedo or evening gown. No butlers, footmen or maids, no servants of any type, though the building did have a doorman, a concierge and an elevator operator. The last wasn't really necessary to operate the automatic elevator, but we did need him to point out which apartment we were going to, because there are no letters on the doors--I guess that's how it is in some fancy, "exclusive" buildings. And it's certainly in a fancy location, overlooking St. Patrick's Cathedral.

I don't ever remember being in an apartment with a polished marble floor in the living/dining room--not to mention a full wall of floor-to-ceiling windows with an excellent view of the Empire State Building. The floor was so noticeable because there wasn't a rug. In fact, the furnishings were very sparse--these are people who are here only temporarily (I noticed a whole shelf full of rolls of bubble wrap in the closet).

We started with an aperitif, as they do in France, while we waited for the remaining guests. I had a Pastis, an anise (licorice) liqueur, which is quite nice when diluted with water and chilled with ice. There were bowls of hors d'oeuvres--two kinds of olives, some delicious cherry tomatoes, cashews--and pistachios, still in the shell. We sat and talked--well, I mostly listened. The man we were talking with would switch to excellent English when he saw I didn't understand.

Eventually everyone arrived. Our hosts' son was also there--he's here in the U.S. for post-doctoral studies--though he left before dinner. Three middle-aged couples, plus a man and a woman. The man's wife, who my wife knew, was away visiting their daughter--in a warmer climate. So the hostess (I assume) found an unattached woman (perhaps she was a bit younger than the rest of us) to balance things out. I believe it's a requirement for dinner parties to have equal numbers of men and women. Well, at least for heterosexual dinner parties.

The women were casually, though nicely, dressed, two in pants, two in skirts. Both of the skirts were ankle-length, though one woman's had a slit up the side that revealed a lot of sheer black pantyhose-covered leg when she sat. All wore a little make-up, and had nicely done but not fussy hair. The men wore an assortment of sports jacket, sweaters, uncovered shirt.

The cocktail hour stretched a bit overtime. The conversations covered all kinds of things, but travel seemed to predominate. One of the men related how he periodically has to go to North Carolina to see a factory his employer owns. He was surprised by the number of churches in such a small town, and he was astonished when a company luncheon was preceded by someone saying grace. In France religion is a private thing. French people are amazed when politicians here mention God--that is never done over there.

Eventually we did sit down to eat at a narrow table tucked in the corner, after the hostess lit six little candles in glasses arrayed down the middle, three toward each end. The hostess was careful to arrange the seating so that it was man, woman, man, woman, but no one was seated next to or across from one's spouse (two more dinner party rules, I believe).

The meal started with a trio of vegetable mousses: zucchini, carrot, and beet, my favorite. They were served in little, narrow glasses, with sticks of toast for dipping. A nice red wine was poured by the host. The hostess brought out a huge platter of breads--five different kinds! I chose a roll with cranberries and nuts. The man closest to the hostess helped clear--no sexism here. The main course was a simple whitefish filet of some sort, mildly seasoned and steamed in foil. Very lightly buttered new potatoes and thin green beans with a bit of garlic were served on the side. No traditonal heavy French sauces. All very nice, though I would have preferred to add some salt. But I thought it would be impolite to ask for it.

The dinner conversation turned to movies and art exhibitions, which I mostly understood, and could add a bit here and there. Then, don't ask me how, the talk turned to malaria, dengue fever and worms! I stopped even trying to follow it at that point. I was rather glad I couldn't easily understand what was being said.

After we finished the main course (with a second platter of vegetables offered around), it was time for the quintessentially French cheese course. Four kinds, two goat, two cow, with another selection from the bread platter--I chose a plain bread this time. A second bottle of wine was opened at this point.

Dessert followed: a very nice, light strawberry purée served in martini glasses, accompanied by the best meringue concoction I've ever had--it had thin almond slices coating the inside of a meringue shell, and was filled with something soft and sweet. Somehow the meringue remained chewy, not hard. I had two of them.

In France they do not have their coffee with dessert--it's separate course (I have a friend who absolutely will not start her dessert until her coffee comes. I think she would have a big problem in France.) We adjourned back to the living room area. I was very glad to get off of the hard plastic chair--we had been sitting at the dinner table for about 2½ hours.

The coffee was French roast, of course, just a demi-tasse. That was to be expected. What I did not expect was that the coffee was instant. Individual packets of regular or decaf, which the hostess deposited in the little cups, which she then filled with hot water. It was amazingly good for instant.

The conversations went on, though I was sort of out of it. It was just too much of an effort to try to understand what was being said--the wine and food had taken their toll (not that I was over-stuffed--in France they have a way of serving a dinner that leaves one just full). I spent a good bit of time staring at the Empire State Building--when I wasn't nodding off.

Eventually it was time to go. My wife was amazed that it was after midnight. She had had a great time, and I had survived--the wine was good.

YAWN OF THE DAY

Oklahoman Crowned Miss America in Vegas

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

U.S. Navy Seizes Pirate Ship Off Somalia
Well, shiver my timbers. They should make them walk the plank!

WEB SEARCH OF THE DAY

"caprice lost 12 pounds in 5 days"
I wish.

SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM

The spammers are working overtime. Yesterday I got 66. But not one of them made it past my home-made spam filter.:D

GLOB DER LAUNE?

It is really weird seeing my blog (semi-)translated into German.

WEB SEARCH OF THE DAY (actually yesterday)

kick ass cross drawings has this blog as number one of 48,330. MSN Search really likes me. Sometimes I wish they liked me a little less.

QUICK POST: LAST NIGHT AND TODAY

Last night was the regular weekly Open House at the Crossdressers International apartment. Nothing terribly unusual transpired, but afterwards, instead of heading to Greenwich Village and the Monster Bar, six or seven of us just walked two blocks up to Dave's Tavern, a small neighborhood place.

It has a pool table in the back, and we had a lot of fun, pairing off and playing each other, plus one pair of guys already there at the bar. Playing pool after the Open House reminded me of my very first months presenting as a woman in public, at the old Androgyny Lounge--only this time the guys we were playing against weren't tranny chasers.

The people either were friendly or just ignored us (actually one kinda drunk, self-described "old gay queen" was a little too friendly), the drinks were OK, there were several TVs going so I could watch the end of a basketball game I was mildly interested in--it was a nice place. We may have found a new permanent after-Open House venue.

If so, I'll miss the Monster (I'll probably try to get down there once in a while), but then again, the Monster isn't quite what it used to be, under its new owner. A lot of things are better there actually, but some aren't. Maybe it's time to move on.

Anyhow, I have to go and get ready to go out tonight. I'm hearing Namoli Brennet at a little "house concert" at Ed Mannix's place--a guy I used to see at the Monster like five years ago. It's at 7:00 out in Brooklyn, so I have to get moving pretty soon.

WHY DO ALL THE WEIRD WEB SEARCHES COME EARLY IN THE MORNING?

Today it's "russian girls kick testicles"--and my blog has the dubious distinction of being number one of 14,031 results.

TO THOSE WHO THINK BILL SHATNER NO LONGER PRODUCES ANYTHING WORTHWHILE:

Shatner Sells Kidney Stone for Charity

CATCHING UP: NY PHILHARMONIC AND CORIGLIANO'S RED VIOLIN

Saturday evening we were back at Lincoln Center for a New York Philharmonic concert. It consisted of the New York premiere of John Corigliano's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, entitled "The Red Violin," and Richard Strauss' Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony). The concert was not on our subscription, but we traded for it because of a conflict on another night.

I was particularly interested in hearing the concerto. Corigliano won the 2000 Oscar for his film score for The Red Violin, and I liked the music in that very much. Joshua Bell played for the film, and would be the soloist with the Philharmonic.

Unfortunately, what worked well for the film fell flat as a concerto. Translating a film score into a work for the concert stage is always difficult, because the purpose of the music is so different. Background music is best when the audience doesn't really notice it. It reinforces what is on the screen without intruding upon it. Even with a film like The Red Violin, where the making of the music is actually depicted in places, the score is still just a supportive device.

But a concert work has to stand on its own, supporting nothing. Corigliano used musical themes from the film score here and there, but never really brought it all together--particularly when he gives the soloist a chance to show off his or her virtuosity. Such an opportunity is usually necessary to attract a great musician to perform a new work. Here Bell (still wearing the black pajamas he wore at Mostly Mozart last summer) got to show off his prodigious skills, but I didn't see any particular connection to the rest of the piece.

Forty-three year old Jonathan Nott, for six years the principal conductor of the Bamberger Symphoniker, made his debut with the New York Philharmonic with this series of concerts. A champion of new music, he made the most of what little the concerto had to offer. It went on for forty minutes or so, and then he, Bell and Corigliano got their ovations. All in all Corigliano's concerto was a little more enjoyable than last week's one by Walton, but I still have no desire to hear either of them again.

After intermission (they've begun to carry very good, chewy brownies at the concessions--if they'd only add walnuts they'd be close to perfect), it was back for the Strauss. His Alpine Symphony has never been one of my favorites--I sometimes call it the Alpo Symphony, because it is such a dog. It goes on and on and on, without a break, for nearly an hour. It's supposed to describe a nature lover going up and down a mountain--the program lists 20+ episodes such as "Sunrise," "On the Glacier," "Mists Rise Up," "Night." Some of them are distinguishable, but many just seem to mush into each other--it isn't worth trying to figure out where you are on the list.

Strauss used a huge orchestra for this work, even compared to his usual large forces. Besides the full string sections, there are twice the usual number of winds, including two tubas. Strauss even threw in a Heckelphone, sort of an English horn on steroids. The percussion section gets to empty several of its closets, and then go down to the basement for the thunder sheet--a couple of long pieces of sheet metal bolted together end-to-end, with a handle on the bottom. This is suspended from above, reaching nearly from the ceiling to maybe seven feet from the floor. What else? There is also a full organ. (Memo to the Philharmonic: If you ever actually do renovate/replace Avery Fisher Hall PLEASE put in a real pipe organ. That electric one SUCKS. Sorry for the language.)

But filling the stage with, I don't know, maybe a 100+ players wasn't enough for Strauss. There is an off-stage 12-piece brass band in addition. Perhaps this should be called A Musicians' Union Full Employment Symphony.

Anyhow, they played it. The off-stage brass gets its turn early on. And after playing for maybe a minute, they're done for the night. The ones that live close by were probably home before the symphony ended. The ones on-stage soldiered on. They played and played. I watched the Santa Claus-bearded Heckelphonist through my binoculars. I can't say I every actually ever heard the Heckelphone, though--the Heckelphone part is always mixed in with a lot of other instruments. At long last there was the storm episode, time for the thunder-sheet, which had been looming over the orchestra all evening like a sonic sword of Damocles. Christopher Lamb, the Principal Percussionist (and tallest of the bunch), reached up and gave it a few shakes. It wasn't even particularly loud--a big disappointment.

Actually, I didn't think the symphony was quite as bad as I did the other couple of times I've heard it. Nott led it tightly, at a very quick pace, and that helped. Maybe, though, it was the distractions around me: the pair of whispering yuppie couples behind me, with the restless guy who kept nudging my wobbly seat with his foot, and the sniffling woman who kept rummaging in her purse, and the totally bored teenager next to us who couldn't sit still, and the cougher a couple rows back, and...oh forget it.

The best part of the evening was the brownie.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

House Republicans Unveil New Ethics Plan
The House Republicans could improve the ethics of Congress much more simply by all of them just submitting their resignations.

VARIATIONS ON A (SPAM) THEME II

Add considerable flavouring to your experience!
Add considerable flavouring to your living
Add considerable spicery to your experience
Add considerable spicery to your experience!
Add considerable spiciness to your existence!
Add important flavour to your aliveness?
Add important spiciness to your experience?
Add significant flavour to your experience
Add significant spice to your experience!
Add substantial flavour to your life!
Add substantial spicery to your life?
Add up important flavour to your life
Add up significant spice to your life?
Add up significant spice to your living!
Add up significant spicery to your aliveness?
Add up substantial flavouring to your aliveness!
Add up substantial spiciness to your liveliness?
Append considerable flavouring to your liveliness
Append important flavour to your aliveness
Append important flavouring to your experience
Append important spice to your aliveness?
Append important spicery to your living?
Append significant spicery to your existence?
Append significant spicery to your life?
Append significant spiciness to your aliveness
Append substantial spice to your living?
Contribute considerable flavour to your aliveness?
Contribute considerable flavour to your existence
Contribute important flavour to your experience?
Contribute important spice to your liveliness
Contribute significant flavour to your existence?
Contribute significant spicery to your existence
Contribute substantial flavouring to your liveliness
Contribute substantial spice to your existence?
Inject considerable flavour to your life!
Inject considerable spice to your aliveness!
Inject considerable spice to your existence
Inject important flavour to your aliveness
Inject important flavouring to your life
Inject important spicery to your life?
Inject significant flavour to your existence
Inject significant flavouring to your life?
Inject significant spicery to your experience?
Inject significant spicery to your living!
Inject substantial spiciness to your life!
Supply considerable flavour to your life
Supply considerable spiciness to your existence
Supply significant spice to your experience!
Supply significant spiciness to your existence?
Supply substantial spice to your living!

There's also my prior installment, which I continuously update.

WEB SEARCH OF THE DAY (probably)

Another one of the very-early-in-the-day-but-I-think-it's-the-winner web searches: india fuck hot story to read actress xxx found this blog. Someone from Singapore.

I'm really glad I didn't come up until page 8 on this one.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

Laura Bush Backs Domestic Spying Program
I can see why she'd say something like that. With a husband like G.W. she needs a program to keep an eye on him. Who knows when he's going to fall off the wagon.

She is talking about spying in the home, isn't she? Or does she think she's the next Hillary Clinton?

NYJFF II: PORK AND MILK

Following Keep Not Silent-Orthodykes at the 15th Annual New York Jewish Film Festival Thursday was the much less successful Pork and Milk. This was the New York premiere of French film-maker Valérie Mréjen's very straight-forward 2004 documentary lets ten Israelis who had left the confines of ultra-Orthodox Judaism for the "secular" world tell their stories, just talking to the camera.

But no one ever really says what "secular" means here. The subtitles used the word, publicity for the film uses it, but I don't think what they are talking about is a totally non-religious life. Rather, I got the impression that at least to the ultra-Orthodox everyone outside of their branch of Judaism is "secular," regardless of how observant they remain. "Secular" may just be the closest translation to a Hebrew word they are using, but I really don't know.

That was just one of the problems of this film. The ten stories varied widely in length--a couple of them were very brief. The whole thing was only 52 minutes. A lot of time was spent on one man who became a chef, as he slowly struggled, sometimes silently, to relate his experiences. He had run away (to where? he never said, other than that it was still fairly close to his home) at 14½. He did explain how he supported himself, but a lot of other details were omitted. He said that later two of his sisters followed him and were living with him, but nothing else of them was mentioned.

And that was the person in the film with the most screen time. The others' stories were even sketchier. There were only two women. One spoke of joining the Israeli army, and the isolation she felt from the other soldiers, who had all kinds of misconceptions of ultra-Orthodox life. One man was shown donning his old cantor garments, and beautifully singing a prayer--but there was no explanation of why he did that. Was it just to show what he used to do, or was it something he still did? The film didn't say.

I really didn't learn a whole lot from the film. I already knew what they were running from, but found out little of what they had hoped to find. The experiences they related were mostly quite predictable--dating problems, etc.

I wouldn't waste my time on this one.

ANOTHER REPUBLICAN IN TROUBLE

So now it's Ohio congressman Bob Ney who's the lastest Republican in Washington stepping down "temporarily" from a leadership position because he's being investigated for corruption. The list keeps growing (see my article).

If the Democrats aren't totally stupid (never a good assumption, alas), they'll take back at least the House this fall.