The Most Ignorant Woman in America

Let me preface this entry by stating that I disagree with her politics but that is not why I dislike her.

Ann Coulter, right wing nutcase, is at it again. On Monday she appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews and was confronted by Presidential candidate John Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, regarding the many hateful remarks she has made against John in the past few years. Elizabeth wanted answers. There was no real reason for these hurtful remarks and Edwards wanted to know why her husband was a target. Over the past few years she has said things like “John Edwards has a bumper sticker that reads ‘ask me about my dead son”, in reference to the son Mr.& Mrs. Edwards lost and Coulter’s thought that they were exploiting his death. During Elizabeth Edwards’ comments about the hateful comments made towards her dead son all Ann could do was laugh. More recently she told Good Morning America that she wished John Edwards died in a terrorist attack. I would like to officially award her the most ignorant person in America award for her unprovoked and offensive comments. I really don’t think she realizes what comes out of her mouth. She claims its being a ‘conservative’, there is only so far that ‘conservative’ excuse can cover you. There is a point where one becomes just downright a terrible human being. Coulter has officially crossed that line.

It’s not even just Edwards. Coulter has been spewing hate and ignorance for years. She lambasted 9/11 widows by saying, “These self-obsessed women seemed genuinely unaware that 9/11 was an attack on our nation and acted as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them... I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much”. Coulter obviously does not care for America as much as she claims. I understand supporting one’s nation, but in my book, family comes first. These widows were not ‘enjoying their husband’s death’. No one enjoys the death of a loved one. I really don’t think Coulter understands how ignorant she actually is because the comments continue to pour out. She is adamantly anti-homosexual and repeatedly attacks that group of people and well as using the gay slur beginning with ‘F’ to refer to anyone and everyone that doesn’t agree with her. She has even attacked disabled Vietnam veterans by saying to one of them live on TV, “People like you caused us to lose that war”. First of all people like the Vietnam veteran should be celebrated for their service, not attacked by ignorance. People like Coulter should have been given a gun and dropped into Vietnam. I bet you she couldn’t have “won” the war for us. In reference to the Columbine shootings she said, “If those kids had been carrying guns they would have gunned down this one [child] gunman. ... Don't pray. Learn to use guns”. If every child carried a gun, America would be in a worse state than it already it. I’m not implying that praying is the answer, but it is far better than turning our children into a militia.

She and others like her have set America back with her hatred of anything unlike themselves. She is even anti-women. I truly don’t understand how a woman can be anti-woman. She was quoted in 2003 as saying, “It would be a much better country if women did not vote”. She feels that the reason Republicans lose so often is because Women tend to vote democratic. News flash Coulter - Republicans lose elections so often because they don’t know how to run a country properly, not because women can vote. She has also gone on to say that women should not be allowed in the military because “women are too vicious”. What? That doesn’t even make any sense! She has even bitten the hand that feeds her in her attacks on the media. Media is what has created her. She would not be selling half as many books if she were not a clear and present force in the media. I could go on and on about different groups Coulter has attacked but I won’t, it would take too long. I am all for free speech, free speech for those who can support what they are saying, not spew hatred without remorse. Ann Coulter is officially the most ignorant person in America.

What's in a name?

Attention New Zealand government officials: Pat and Sheena Wheaton should not be aloud to have children ever again. The reason for this is because of the current legal situation they are in. They are fighting the government of New Zealand for the right to name their newborn baby “4real”, no, I did not mistype. The couple wants to name their baby 4real Wheaton. The New Zealand government has stepped in and told them that they cannot name their baby 4real citing that numerals are not allowed in names. They are attempting to overturn this decision, but for now have registered the baby’s name as “Real”. I guess they will just add the 4 in later.

This raises a few different issues. One, why they would want to name their baby 4real in the first place? Their answer? "For most of us, when we try to figure out what our names mean, we have to look it up in a babies book and ... there's no direct link between the meaning and the name," Pat Wheaton told a local New Zealand television station on Wednesday. "With this name, everyone knows what it means." Yes, everyone does know what it means – it means you are horrible parents. If having horrible parents aren’t enough for this kid he will always have this ridiculous name.
The government of New Zealand has specific rules addressing the registration of names; their rules are designed to thwart any names that are “likely to cause offense to a reasonable person”. Officials have stated that names they have rejected have included Satan and Adolf Hitler. What person in their reasonable mind would name their child Adolf Hitler? Or Satan? I can understand the Satan one to a degree, there may have just been a typo at the registrar’s office on a baby soon to be named Stan. I just don’t get why parents feel the need to scar their children from birth by giving them a terrible name. If your last name is Simpson, don’t name your kid O.J., it’s as simple as that. Don’t try to be creative or unusual, it will backfire on you. Look at Frank Zappa. He named his daughter Moon Unit – MOON UNIT! Give you kids a normal name. Like, Steve or Rachel. Don’t name them after fruits (hear that Gwenyth Paltrow?). Apple isn’t a good name for anything – except an apple. Note to Tom Cruise be prepared to explain to your daughter Suri why she’s is getting “with a fringe on the top” jokes thrown at her the rest of her life. Don’t name your kid an occupation. I know this is hard to believe, but people do it. Actor Jason Lee named his son Pilot Inspektor. Right there you’ve disobeyed that rule twice, using pilot and inspector. I know by changing the “C” to a “K” you figured you could throw people off to this fact, but no, we’re too smart.

So Please, New Zealand continue to bar crazy names for being registered, for the sake of us all. As a matter of fact, I have a suggestion. When a parent comes in to register their child with a crazy name, those parents should have their name temporarily changed to that for a period of one month and see how they like it. That was we would have far less Moon Units and more William and Marys (not the college, the proper names).

I'm Still Here...

I fully understand that I have an old soul. I am convinced I should have been born in the 50’s. The sixties and the seventies should have been the decade I grew up in. That having been said I was born in the eighties. Everywhere I go lately has made me feel like I’m sixty. Let me explain. First, the mall. The Danbury Fair Mall is going through a massive overhaul and renovation which, when complete, is supposed to make the mall more “upscale”. I don’t disagree that the mall needs serious renovation. Its what is slowly creeping into the mall that makes me feel old. They are slowly filling the mall with “hip” stores (just using the word hip has made me old) to appeal to the younger generation of consumers. On such store is Hollister. I didn’t know what a “Hollister” was. Basically it is Abercrombie and Fitch for surfers. I walked into the store the other day with my sister so she could spend a gift certificate she had received. The first “old” moment I had was saying out loud “wow, this music is REALLY loud” referring to the grunge or punk music blasting over the loudspeaker. It was very intense. So intense that when she went to the register to purchase a shirt we could not hear the employee and she had to repeat what she said a couple of times. I understand that complaining about loud music makes me old and I’m fine with that, but when the music discourages customers from coming there ever again, I think there is a problem.

My second old person moment in Hollister occurred when we first got to the store. As we walked in there was a girl standing at the door, who I assumed worked there ( I wasn’t sure because by the way she was dressed she blended into everyone in the store) who said to me in an almost comical valley girl accent “check out our shorts, they’re great”. I’m sorry, but if I’m going into a store I do not want to be told what to look at. Please don’t have employees tell me what I should look at. I do not wear shorts ever. Never have and never will. So Hollister’s employee has just wasted her time. Is that what Hollister is paying employees for, wasted time? If so, someone needs to inform corporate.

My last old person complain about Hollister is the lighting. It is VERY dark in there. The lights are down very low which in turn caused me to bump into someone while in an aisle. I completely understand why Hollister does this. The clothes they sell are so ugly that if you saw them under the light you may not buy them. This might explain their no return policy (they actually do accept returns).

Another recent incident that has made me feel really old involves reminiscing. At rehearsal last night I was surrounded by a group of people of various ages. Most of them younger than me. I don’t remember the context, but I made a reference to the push me-pull you (a fictional animal from the Rex Harrison version of Doctor Dolittle). Not many people understood the reference, which was okay. My old moment came after I was asked what that was a reference to. I said “Doctor Dolittle” and one of the guys that was younger than me said “I don’t remember that, Eddie Murphy was hilarious though”. Right then I knew I had officially become old. He was correct in that there is no push me-pull you in the three Eddie Murphy remakes of the film. The animal appeared in the 1967 musical version starring Rex Harrison. I could not believe what I was hearing. The Eddie Murphy “Dr. Dolittle” is all he knew. I had to explain to him that those were not the first versions of Dr. Dolittle.
You begin to feel very old when you know the origins of something purely because you either grew up with it or it happened in your lifetime. Can you even imagine our grandchildren asking us about Britney Spears fifty years from now? *disclaimer*I don’t enjoy her music or her lifestyle*disclamer* She is our generation’s Ella Fitzgerald. Justin Timberlake will be remembered in the same vein as Frank Sinatra. How weird is this – if people now listen to rap music. That means that fifty years from now old people will listen to rap music. People listen to music of their generation. Remember how your grandparents listened to big band music or the rat pack because that’s what they grew up with? Fifty years from now grandparents will listen to Eminem and Fifty Cent. Looking at it that way and putting it into context of today when I’m old (since I currently listen to music from the 60’s and 70’s) my music would be like, today listening to music from the civil war era. I’m going to be the least hip grandpa ever.

Notes on a weekend...

So I don’t really have anything to rant about today so I’m just going to make some quick notes about my weekend.

Friday – My weekend started out great because I got out early from work. I got out early because I was going to my sister’s high school graduation. She was graduating from the same high school as I did. It was very surreal being at DHS in a graduation atmosphere. That hasn’t happened since 2002 when I, myself, graduated. Its was like a weird acid trip or something . I kept thinking I would see old friends from high school when, in fact, I recognized barely anyone. Even the teachers were, for the most part, different. It was also weird to see my sister’s best friend up at the podium giving the same speech I gave at my graduation ceremony. No the same as in the words were the same but in the same situation. A theater kid, chosen out of many applicants, to address the entire graduation ceremony. While the ceremony was not filled with friends from high school I did see a bunch of my classmates. It’s funny, because they were there for the same reason as I. They also had siblings graduating. Overall it was a great time. We went to the Olive garden afterwards.

Saturday – I took my dad out for lunch for Father’s day ( I do know it was Sunday but when we get there, you’ll see why I took him out today). After lunch I went to The Relay Bookhouse in Bethel to pick up a book I had ordered. I ordered a children’s book entitled Persephone: Bringer of Spring. You are probably wondering why I bought a children’s book on Greek mythology. I bought it because it was written by my great aunt. She recently passed away and she was an incredible person. In searching fro her obituary on the internet I came across the fact that she wrote a book. She never really told us about the book, she kept it to herself. In 1971 she wrote a children’s book which retold the Greek myth of Persephone. Her best friend did the illustrations and it was dedicated to their daughters. It went out of print many years ago I came to find out. I was able to track a copy down ( with the help of The Relay Bookhouse) that was sitting in a warehouse in Maryland. The copy was from a Library in Missouri. It is a very beautifully written and illustrated book and I am proud to call her my aunt. After picking the book up I went off to rehearsal for ‘Fiddler’ and then hung out with a friend after rehearsal.

Sunday- I had rehearsal the ENTIRE day. It was our tech rehearsal for ‘Fiddler’ because we are opening on Thursday night. We spent almost ten hours in rehearsal. It was worth it. The show is going to be great (most of the numbers, at least. The jury is still out about L’chaim). It was just a great day overall. As frustrated as I get some tech weekends it’s also when I realize one of the major reasons I do theater, working with friends. The fun we have at rehearsals and the time we spend together outweighs any bad that comes out of tech weekend. ‘Fiddler’ had really gained me new friends who I hope will be in my life forever. I always make friends while in a show and we always say we’ll keep in touch, but we rarely do. We all get so busy, either with shows or other distractions. There is always that one person from a show that I make a point not to lose contact with and I think I’ve found that person. Its just nice to know that there are crazy people just like you that love theater just as much as you do. That’s why I do theater.

Silly Rabbit....

I logged onto Yahoo this morning and what headline do I see but, “Cereal Makers Add Nutrition, Lose ‘Toons”. I was shocked and appalled to read the article. The article outlined Kellogg’s new agreement to raise the nutritional value of cereal and stop marketing it to children after threats of lawsuits from child advocacy groups. These advocacy groups are concerned that the Kellogg Corporation is contributing heavily to childhood obesity. I would like to point out to these adults that form the child advocacy groups that THEY are the ones contributing to childhood obesity, not cereal companies. Cereal companies are doing what they have always set out to do, make money. They don’t set out to make kids fat. The only way these children are obtaining this cereal which is supposedly making them fat is through parents. Parents are purchasing these cereal products voluntarily for there children. There are no children forcing adults to purchase cereal for them. If there are, then those parents have a whole other set of problems. Children are not choosing to buy these cereals, they are merely asking for the cereal. There is a little word they can use in order to stop the children from getting the cereal, it’s called “no”.

The agreement allows cereal companies to market to people 12 and older. As we all know once you hit 12 all your obesity problems go away. This agreement is ludicrous (the adjective, not the rapper). Michael Jacobson, director of the center for science in the public interest says of the agreement, "This commitment means that parents will find it a little easier to steer their children toward healthy food choices — especially if other food manufacturers and broadcasters follow Kellogg's lead." This agreement will make it “easier for parents to steer their children toward healthy food choices”? Who are the lazy ones? If parents have a hard time steering their children to healthy food, who’s fault is that? Certainly not the cereal company’s.

In addition to making cereal more nutritious Kellog is also forced to change its advertising campaigns. One of the most disturbing caveats to this agreement is that Kellogg must no longer use licensed characters in their advertising or on their boxes. At first I didn’t fully understand this. The way it was worded it sounded like Tony the Tiger was being fired. I soon came to learn that Tony still has his job; it is Shrek and Donald Duck who are out of luck. Kellogg is only allowed to use characters that they own. They may no longer use movie characters or anything else of that matter. They also may not uses licensed toys. Children can no longer expect a tiny Frisbee in their cereal, but can look forward to Kellogg’s frasbees. At the end of the article there is a note: “(This version corrects the spelling of Froot Loops)” Who in America doesn’t know how to spell Froot Loops?

Attention parents: you are making you children fat, stop blaming the cereal company. There is a little thing called “restraint” which you should employ when in the grocery store. Instead of buying the donuts that your child wants for breakfast, buy them fruit. Don’t blame Toucan Sam for your child’s obesity.

Tony vs. Tony

Ever since Sunday night everyone has been enthralled with Tony. For most of the world that Tony is Tony Soprano. The world is upset over the fact that their television dared them to think. How dare HBO? People like there stories all wrapped up and spoon fed to them. They want to see that Jerry and his friends went to Jail on Seinfeld or that everyone left Korea and went home on MASH. They do not want existential thought provoking entertainment. This is clearly seen by the American culture as it is today. If the public did want thought provoking and exciting entertainment then Sunday night the other Tony ( Antionette Perry) would have drawn in television viewers. So when David Chase decided to let the audience interpret the ending of ‘The Sopranos’ by cutting to black in the middle of a dinner scene, America retaliated. Some people enjoyed the fact that we would never know the fate of Tony Soprano.

Most viewers were up in arms about the ending. Some were quoted as saying that they had wasted ten years of their life. Others thought their cable went out. The finale has been psycho analyzed over and over again for possible ending and it has brought out two possibilities. One, Tony (and possibly his entire family) gets killed. This theory had been fueled by a past episode in which Tony is discussing death and mentions that when you die everything goes to black. The other theory is that Tony Continues to enjoy his dinner at the diner with his family and that nothing happens. I don’t know what happened, nor do I care. I was focused on the other Tony. The Tony in which ‘Sopranos’ viewers would never watch for fear they would have to think to hard about plot. For those ‘Sopranos’ viewers I recommend any Mamet Play to feed their appetite for cursing and the ‘Lieutenant of Inishmore’ for violence. Other than that the theater is not for them. I did not watch the Sopranos finale. I have watched the “news” though and from the amount of coverage feel that I have watched it.

I was, on the other hand, at the Tony awards Sunday night. I returned again this year as a seat filler. I was lucky and got a seat in the third row and never left the entire night. It was beyond amazing. The people I encountered and the things I saw renewed my faith in the American Theater. When Ben Vereen and Bebe Neuwirth are dancing together in the aisle about three feet away from you, you watch. I’m glad the writing on this years award show was poor because I don’t think I could have dealt with listening to Harvey Firestein’s laugh two rows behind me the entire night. It was entertaining once, that’s it. John Gallgher from the Tony winning Spring Awakening could not have been nicer, neither could Felicity Huffman. The musical numbers were amazing and the night as a whole was a dream. I really felt like it wasn’t happening that this was an elaborate dream or at some point Ashton Kutcher was going to jump out and tell me that I had just been punk’d. During commercial breaks I would stand up and just gaze out into the auditorium and the sea of legends. There’s Tommy Tune sitting near Barbara Cook who is seated close to Patti Lupone who is an aisle over from Kevin Spacey and Angela Lansbury. The crown jewels were Celeste Holm and John Kander. Holm was celebrating her 90th birthday, while Kander was being honored for his work on Curtains, minus his partner, the late Fred Ebb. The night was amazing. In this world of short attention spans, where endings like ‘The Sopranos’ anger the American public, it is still nice to see that the theater still has a place in society and a nine hour Tom Stoppard play can win best play without people complaining about how long it is.

Its the little things...

I have become abundantly more aware of how I look at people and animals the past few days. Why, you might ask? (I hope you do, otherwise this post is useless). A woman in Vermont was arrested on harassment charges for apparently making distracting and inappropriate faces at a government employee. So that doesn’t sound too absurd, right? Well that government employee that she was harassing was, in fact, a police dog. Yes, a police dog. In case you haven’t put two and two together – a woman in Vermont was arrested for making faces at a police dog. What has the world come to? That is probably the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. If making faces at animals is a crime, I know about a couple dozen third graders that need to be in prison. The policeman who was handling the dog claimed that these faces that this woman made distracted the dog to the point of not paying attention to him and his fellow officers. If distracting the dog from his work is the problem then the state of Vermont should arrest all of the cats and squirrels as well. Good news for the woman though, the case has been dropped against her. The state district attorney said of the case, “Most of the time (in harassment cases) people would come tell the court what it felt like. Dogs can't do that”. That’s disappointing. I was highly looking forward to the dog’s testimony, it may have gone something like this:

Lawyer: On the night you were harassed, how were the winds blowing?
Dog: Ruff
Lawyer: How is it working as a police dog?
Dog: Ruff
Lawyer: In what manner did she look at you?
Dog: Ruff
Lawyer: No further questions.

Of course the charges were dropped. This entire case was absurd. Then again, I’m going to more careful the next time I feel the urge to make harassing faces at an animal.

Looks Presidential?

So the 2008 race to the white house has begun. I’m not big on politics, but I do care who is ruining our country. I watch different candidates and get their views on different things. I entertain all points of view. I really feel that in order to be an informed voter you cannot only listen to one side of an argument. Actually to be informed, period, you cannot only look at one side of an issue. I find that the news media isn’t a help in this task. They feed to the general public what they want to hear *cough*foxnews*cough. One thing that has been bothering me lately as I flip through the channels and pick up newspapers is the media coverage of one of the top republican candidates. Mitt Romney, of Massachusetts has been the focus of a great deal of talk throughout the media. Is it because of his positions on the war? No. Is it because of the way he governed MA? No. Is it because of his religious beliefs? Somewhat, but that not what I’m writing about. I’m writing about what is being referred to in the media as the “presidential look”. This morning on the today show Matt Lauer referred to Romney as “looking like a president”. Other media outlets have joined this bandwagon. One said that his “presidential looks” are what is putting him ahead in the polls of the republican candidates. One outlet said that people like him because he “looks like a president”. These statements baffle me. What is the “look of a president”? There isn’t one. Our presidents could not be more different in looks. The one thing they have in common is that they are all older white men, that is it. All of them physically look different. Clinton, for example looked nothing like Lincoln and FDR looked nothing like George Washington. Presidents were tall ( Lincoln was 6’4”, which was very unusually tall for his time) and presidents were short (James Madison was 5’4”, the shortest of all presidents). Seven of our presidents were left handed, most were right handed. Five of our presidents have had beards, the rest have not. Many of our presidents wore glasses. One was in a wheelchair, unable to walk. Almost all of the first ten presidents wore wigs. The wig fad quickly faded. Presidents over the years could not have looked more different. Some had brown hair some had black hair and some had white hair. Except for the first ten presidents, that hair was real. So it bothers me when the media refers to Romney as “looking like a president”. What is the media inferring? Are they seriously trying to group the presidents as all looking the same? They were far from all looking the same. Thinking about this label, I realize that maybe the media is trying to subconsciously make us vote for Romney. The public will hear “looks presidential” and settle. Are we supposed to respond, “Well since he looks like a president, obviously he if qualified”. We are not that stupid. I don’t mean to attack Romney with this in any way. I’m sure he is a nice guy and is very qualified to be president, but to me he does not look like a president. Looking like a president would infer that he wore a wig of different colors, was both left and right handed, was both tall and short, wore glasses sometimes, had a mustache ( to appease the beard voters) and on every other Thursday rode in a wheelchair. Romney, nor any other candidate, could possibly fill all of the physical characteristics associated with the American president. There is no way anyone could “look like a president”.

Phone rings, door chimes...

Here is my first officaly post on the new blog thanks to Kelly:

This past weekend I went and saw the revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical 'Company' for the third time ( I know, I have a problem). I've come to realize that I am the central character. I am Bobby. Alright, so I'm not thirty five. I am single while every one of my friends is in a relationship, like Bobby. I date but never make any real connections, like Bobby. Everything about the character is me. He is insecure and looking for someone. The show is so reflective of my life it is scary. the dialogue is so profuound and eerily close to my own life that if the show ere not written thirty years ago i would assume Sondheim was following me around. all of the couples match perfectly to couples I know down to their words. The show is filled with so many quotes that i live my life by. One of Bobby's girlfriends says to Bobby at one point refering to central park "I'm like this park here, out of place". This is Bobby's view of himself as well as mine. Bobby doesn't really know where he is going or where he has been in regards to the relationships around him. He just knows something doesn't feel right about his relationships with other people. Bobby comes to the realization at the end of the musical that what is he looking for is someone to be there. The character of Joanne remarks to Bobby "I'll take care of you, kiddo" to which he responds "But who will I take care of?". He then sings one of the greatest songs ever written in musical theater history, "Being Alive". All Bobby wants is someone to take care of, someone who will take care of him. Someone to share his life with. As he sings, "Someone to hold me to close, someone to hurt me to deep, someone to sit in my chair and ruin my sleep...". Bobby just needs someone to be there. He needs to know he is not alone. Being alone is the worst thing that can happen in Bobby's mind. He is not a full person alone. He sings, "...alone is alone, not alive..." This post isn't some cry for help from me. It is just my observation that I am Bobby.

Another import from my old blog...

Scenes from a mall...
I'm in the mall tonight trying on shoes when I hear a man arguing with the cashier over his purchase. Arguements are nothing new to reatil, I know, I've been there. This was an odd one though. The man wanted to purchase one cowboy boot. Not one pair, just one single boot. He also wanted to pay half the price since he was buying just one. This wasn't a joke, he was serious. The cashier kindly explained to him he cannot purchase just one he must buy them both. He could not comprehend it. This brings up interesting questions. First, why did the man want just one boot? Here are two possible reasons i've come up with - either he is buying a birthday gift for a one legged cowboy or he is making a western themed centerpiece for his table. Thinking about those reasons I wonder why a one legged cowboy would even need boots. He most likely would not be riding a horse, which the boots are ideally made for, not fashion. If he does plan on riding a horse, how would he get up onto the horse with only one leg? Then there is the other reason, making a western themed center piece. Why just one boot? Couldn't he just give in and make two centerpieces? He could give one as a gift. He could kill two birds with one stone and give the one legged cowboy both a nice boot and a nice centerpiece. In the end he bought them both. I don't know what he expected. What would the store do with only one boot? Luckily we'll never know.

Getting Started

So I started a blog about a year ago and it seems blogger has changed over to a new system forcing me to change my blog so here is the first blog from my old blog:

Getting started
I've decided to jump on the blog bandwagon, or as I like to call it the blogwagon. This is my first entry in what hopefully with be an entertaining blog ( for those who read it) and a theraputic blog (for those who write in it, meaning me). As much as possible I will update it with commentary on life and its everyday frustrations as well as humorous observations. They may or may not be funny to you, but above all they'll be funny to me ( thats all thats important). If you find yourself mentioned in this blog, I apologize in advance for anything that will hurt anyones feelings. I am not setting out to do that but one can never make everyone happy. Hope you return to read the daily ( hopefully) entries. Thats all for now!