Doh! Running late again...
2009 Jul. 13th
06:00 am - Mon, Jul. 13 Electoral Vote Predictor
Sotomayor Meets Politics Today Permalink
The Senate confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor begin today. Ostensibly they are about whether she is qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. But in reality, they will have little to do with that. The hearings will be entirely about politics. In turn, each of the 17 men and two women on the Senate judiciary committee will give a speech about something dear to his or her heart and then ask Sotomayor to comment. Sotomayor will then make a vague statement that says nothing. If the senator actually asks a real question (like "Do you support Roe v. Wade) Sotomayor will decline from answering the question at all, saying that it might come before the court in the future. The senator will grunt and the process will be repeated. At the end of the week, all 12 Democrats on the committee will vote to confirm her and so will some of the seven Republicans. Then the full Senate will later vote to confirm her and each party will release a storm of press releases. Is this the best way for the Senate to fulfill its constitutional role of "advise and consent"? Probably not, but politics overrides everything. As an aside, one could certainly imagine a different system, where, for example, the leader of the President's party in the Senate "advises" the President by presenting him with a nonnegotiable list of candidates to choose from. After choosing one, confirmation hearings would begin. This would give the Senate a real role, but that's not how the game is played today.
Where does politics enter into all this? The Democrats now have 60 votes in the Senate and any Democrat who opposes his President's choice here will have hell to pay later, so Sotomayor's confirmation is assured. All that is left is political street theater. What the Democrats are hoping for, and will do their best to achieve, is for the Republicans on the committee to attack Sotomayor mercilessly. The result of such attacks will be to offend Latinos (and to a lesser extent, women) and thus make Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada (currently 19 electoral votes) Democratic for the next 10 years. The nature of the attacks doesn't matter. A large majority of Latinos consider Sotomayor qualified and will see an attack on her as an attack on Latinos in general. The Democrats will do everything they can to goad the Republicans on.
But the Republicans aren't stupid. They understand this issue full well. However, they have a different agenda. They want to energize their base by emphasizing conservative principles, in particular, the rule of law. By attacking Sotomayor on her presumed willingness to substitute her own judgment for the rule of law, they score points with conservatives everywhere, independent of their political affiliation, but most are Republicans or Republican-leaning independents, of course.
Click here for full story06:40 am - Dreamwidth has been "fixed"
I love livejournal. I joined it six and a half years ago and met all sorts of interesting people, and was inspired to write more. Even when it does something stupid, like forbidding "incest" as an interest and (more frequently) when it does something sensible and explains it stupidly, I remain loyal.
This year, enough of the people in lj whom I like joined Dreamwidth that I decided to join that, while staying in lj. (Hey, I'm poly.) I do all my posts (except for the birthday ones) in Dreamwidth first because they automatically copy to lj.
So this morning I did that and found a note at the bottom of the lj version telling people to comment on Dreamwidth via OpenID. (At least they didn't make it impossible to comment directly.) Screw that. When I post to lj, I want people to be able to comment to lj. (I deleted the offending words.)
This entry was originally posted at http://supergee.dreamwidth.org/59657.htm
ETA: They did it again. Go offer yourself carnally to Republicans, Dreamwidth. Readers, comment wherever you feel like.
Son of ETA: Fixed. Thanx ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
gannet
06:17 am
Scalzi on the shocking possibility that Dick Cheney was involved in some wrongdoing.
11:26 am - voip providers
Do you want to call cheap? You can make free calls to other computers connected to the Internet. Cheap international calls. Сatalogue of voip providers.
01:59 am - From Twitter 07-12-2009
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )
06:04 pm - The Toxic Avenger Musical: Good Green Fun
The Toxic Avenger Musical
Starring Celina Carvajal, Nick Cordero, Demond Green, Jonathan Root, and Nancy Opel
Book & Lyrics by Joe DiPietro
Music & Lyrics by David Bryan
Fight Direction by Rick Sordelet & David DeBesse
Directed by John Rondo
New World Stages
Tickets: $51.50, $71.50 (check Theatermania for discounts)
Global warming is upon us. The earth is in crisis. It is a time in need of heroes. Especially in one particular, horrible place.
Some theatergoers already familiar with the 1984 cult classic The Toxic Avenger, from low-brow, low-budget Troma Entertainment, might be understandably hesitant to check out The Toxic Avenger Musical. Whether you hated the film, loved it enough to watch all three sequels (and the animated series), or have somehow escaped its schlocky charm, most people likely will be relieved to know that this Off-Broadway rock musical is more in the spirit of Andrew Lloyd Webber than Lloyd Kaufman, rendered as a love story about a disfigured man wooing the woman of his dreams.
[But some might say the music here is better than Webber’s]
The show’s tagline is a punny “Never Let Love Go To Waste,” a story about an underdog geek with a big heart getting the girl (after having the rest of him supersized in all the ways that matter), with a timely environmental message and loads of cheap shots at New Jersey—truly a show that should appeal to a broad audience, especially one filled with New Yorkers. The shocking gore, violence, and sexuality of the films have been toned down to not-quite-family-friendly levels, but the humor is still just gross and “trashy” enough, relying more on the suggestion of naughtiness than R-rated nudity. This is a chaste if not quite tasteful take on “New Jersey’s first superhero.” Yet if you enjoyed the cheesiness of Kaufman’s brand of “special” effects, they work even better on the stage than on the screen. True fans will want to sit in the Row C “brain splatter zone,” where they may be squirted by brain juice or sprinkled by spittle throughout the show, and graced with gratuitous panty shots; just remember to keep your own crap off the stage so you don’t injure the actors, which has already happened at one performance.
This is the third musical adaptation of The Toxic Avenger, and judging by its successful run at the New World Stages in New York since April 2009, it may also be the best. It’s approved by Troma’s own Lloyd Kaufman, who was featured in commercials promoting its first run in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and it certainly has an impressive pedigree of its own. The production is directed by John Rando, who won the 2002 Tony Award for his direction of the Broadway musical about another corrupt small town, Urinetown. The book was written by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change) and the music was written by Bon Jovi keyboardist, David Bryan, who also collaborated with DiPietro on the lyrics.
The story has been somewhat simplified for the stage—not that there was much there in the first place—but the changes are actually an improvement over the contrived and meandering plot of the film; fortunately, much of the silliness remains. The setting is still Tromaville, “Exit 13B on the New Jersey Turnpike.” As we learn in the rousing opening song, “Who Will Save New Jersey?”, Tromaville is “a place between heaven and hell” where “if the pollution doesn’t get you—the aroma will!” Scenic designer Beowulf Boritt realizes Tromaville as piles and stacks of rusting drums of toxic waste scattered all over the stage, with eerie green lighting by Kenneth Posner. The band is situated high on the left, and scene changes are efficiently accomplished through the use of a rotating set of barrels at the center of the stage, which can quickly transform into any number of locations with minimal props.
Jersey’s savior is the unlikely Melvin Ferd the Third (Nick Cordero). Rather than a nerdy janitor at a health club, as in the film, here Melvin is a nerdy environmentalist intent on cleaning up the toxic waste plaguing his town. He’s in love with Sarah (Celina Carvajal, new to the show since June), a sexy, blind librarian and aspiring romance writer who likes him for his big heart but still can’t get past his external ugliness (cue the irony). Melvin discovers a plot by Mayor Babs Belgoody, played by the amazingly talented Nancy Opel (who also plays a nun and Melvin’s mother, Ma Ferd—more on this later), to use Tromaville as a dumping ground for toxic waste from The Good Earth Company (“It’s defiling the planet and the classic book!”). But when he confronts the saucy, evil mayor, she sends her goons, Sluggo and Bozo (played by Jonathan Root and Demond Green*, who also portray most of the other incidental characters), to “Get the Geek.”
This is the moment the audience is waiting for, and it doesn’t disappoint. When the toughs catch up to Melvin at the dump, one of them drops him into a smoking drum of toxic waste. Screaming, he seems to dissolve in the green goo and disappears from stage. Shortly afterward, when Sarah strolls past on her way home, the goons attempt to rape her. Thankfully this doesn’t go as far as the film version, and they’re soon interrupted by an angry roar. Fist-sized dents bulge out of the metal drum and a “hideously deformed monster of superhuman size and strength” (Cordero covered in latex and slime) climbs out. He attacks the two guys while singing about it (“Kick Your Ass”), literally tearing them limb from limb and using their own body parts to bludgeon them to death. Leaving the men scattered all over the stage, the Toxic Avenger (affectionately nicknamed “Toxie”) takes Sarah back to her place.
This big fight scene was very well done. It’s hard to rip someone’s arm off and hit them with it in a movie, but it’s harder still to sell it in front of a live audience. Fortunately the creators take the same approach as Kaufman and make no attempts at realism. Attentive people in the audience could easily see through the campy illusion, but hopefully you’re having so much fun you won’t notice or care. It’s all part of the show’s humor, which manifests in the silly lyrics, amusing dialogue, numerous sight gags, and slapstick comedy.
One of the most successful elements of the show is Carvajal’s sweet performance as the blind Sarah, who bumbles and bumps her way through her scenes with wide-eyed innocence. At one point, she actually wanders off stage-right in the middle of their duet, “Hot Toxic Love.” This kind of situational humor carries the show; for most of the story, she’s blissfully unaware that she’s dating a mutant while Toxie keeps trying to avoid too much intimacy. It’s the best of both worlds: Toxie finally has his chance to win over the woman he loves (“Thank God She’s Blind”) and sex-starved Sarah has the perfect man of her romantic fantasies (“My Big French Boyfriend”).
These are some great numbers, and in fact most of the songs are strong—in sheer energy if not in their occasionally clunky lyrics—most notably the tango between the Mayor and Professor Ken, who discovers Toxie’s only weakness (“Evil is Hot”), the folky “The Legend of the Toxic Avenger”, and Toxie’s ballad “You Tore My Heart Out.” The real showstopper, however, is “Bitch/Slut/Liar/Whore,” a duet between the Mayor and her old rival, Ma Ferd, which is complicated by the fact that Nancy Opel plays both roles. The resulting performance is frenetic, clever, and hilarious in its audacity, and Opel, Tony-nominated for her role as Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown, is truly marvelous.
The Toxic Avenger Musical has its tongue firmly in hideously-deformed-cheek, self-referential as both a musical and a follow-up to a cheesy horror movie, and straining against the boundaries of the fourth wall. This is a show that could not work without the willing participation of its audience, and it’s certainly not for everyone. If you enjoy watching SyFy Channel Originals and B-movies such as the one that inspired the musical, you will have a roaring good time. My only disappointment was the lack of Toxie’s signature tutu and mop, just about the only things I missed from the film franchise.
*In the show I attended on July 4, 2009, Demond Green was replaced by understudy Nicholas Rodriguez.
11:17 pm - Ahhhh that's better
So I've been out of town a little while (at Disneyland! It was great) and I'm back now. I've missed my instruments, particularly Kohaku. ^_^
Last week I came up with big chunks of three songs and today I started a fourth on the way back, on the airplane. This is pretty high output for me and sure all these need a lot - I mean a lot - of work before they'll see daylight but! there they are.
Does anybody know if there's reason not to post lyrics in public? And regardless, is anybody interested in that?
BTW, I have some Dreamwidth invite codes if anybody wants them.
02:07 pm - Dessert @ MOF
( our desserts )
Thanks HH for the dessert =)
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02:01 pm - Tian Wan @ SSC
I love the rice bowl, quite unique.
( Dinner @ Tian Wan )
Good food and affordable pricing,
will be going there again, soon !!!
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02:04 am - dental update.
i am sure you are all delighted to hear that number 17 is broken and i am in minor agony. i suspect that root canal 15 is nigh.
05:30 am - When Gaia Goes Wrong
One of the troubles with science is that it doesn’t offer a lot of comfort to help us get through those long winter nights when half the people you know have lost their jobs or their homes and there’s a blizzard on its way down from the Yukon. That was one of the things [...]
01:27 pm - Good and Cheap Eat
With the current economic turmoil... cheap eats are always good. For under SG$30…we had a nice steam whole fish…., vege stir fry and sambal squid…..with nice steam rice. 3 of us walked away with a very happy belly.
PERFECT!
Click here to check out more about the food and why the treat.
12:33 am - "Obama and Reid After the Nuclear Holocaust"
If Barack Obama and Harry Reid were the last two people on earth, they'd be roughly as effective at their jobs as they are right now.
11:33 pm - Mike would want you to. Really.
As it turns out, Aaron Allston has had an emergency bypass operation. Aaron's a science fiction writer, and contributed significantly to The Space Gamer and other SJG projects. Details on how to contribute money for Aaron's recovery can be found here.
So give some money. Mike would want you to.
2009 Jul. 12th
09:03 pm - A very nice weekend apart from the life-threatening medical crisis
Word count: 11182 | Since last entry: 1253
Spent the weekend in Seattle, visiting with scarlettina.
We had several very nice meals with her, including her birthday
brunch with jackwilliambell, varina8, and
others. We had tons of fun playing with
Sophie
the new kitten and Spanky the not-so-new cat -- it was like LoLCats
Live! 24/7 and my jeans are covered with little kitten-claw
snags -- and although my allergies did act up it was never a serious
problem. We attended the Clarion West party in honor of
matociquala at marykaykare's; always nice to
see Bear, however briefly, as well as many Seattleite friends (both
old and new, permanent and temporary). We went to a steampunk swap
meet where I scored a fabulous floor-length leather coat and we ran
into alicebentley, philfoglio,
kajafoglio, jerrykaufman, and Suzle WINOLJ,
followed by a fine lunch with the latter two. We had a nice walk
around Fremont and visited
Cleopenguin
in her new home. And we bopped down to Kent for an excellent Chinese
dinner and a game of Apples to Apples with akirlu and
libertango.
But the main event of the weekend, and dominant emotional note, was
markbourne's
heart valve
replacement. The plan was to hang out with e_bourne
at the hospital on Friday and then attend the Clarion West party
after Mark came out of the operating room.
It didn't work out like that.
The operation went smoothly until they went to take Mark off the
heart-lung machine and close him up, at which point his heart did
not start up as it should have. Since then Mark's situation has
been a continuous medical crisis and a hell of waiting for those
who love him. The details can be found in e_bourne and
scarlettina's LJs, but at last report his chest had
still not been closed (they don't want to do that until they are
100% sure everything is working properly in there) and he's still
in critical condition. The good news is that he's been unconscious
this whole time and when he wakes up he won't remember any of this.
The model I've been using is that one's social support system resembles the roots of a tree, with the weight traveling down the trunk and being spread out to successively smaller and more distant roots, putting less and less weight on each smaller root until it eventually vanishes into the ground. The weight of this crisis falls on Elizabeth, of course, and I think Janna's in second position (she and Mark are Evil Twins and share a birthday, which happened to be the day of the surgery); I viewed my role as supporting them (especially Janna) with my physical presence, stupid attempts at levity and light conversation, and occasional errands. It didn't feel like much but I hope it helped. I then turned around and depended on Kate and our Seattle friends, and so on. I thought I was handling it well until I showed up at the Clarion West party and EBear commented that I looked wrecked.
Anyway. Home now. Managed to write at least 500 words every day, if by "at least 500" you mean "well, anything more than 250 as long as it's a good-faith effort". Haven't yet written today but there's still an hour or two before bedtime; I expect to complete a first draft this week with a week to cut it back to 10,000 words before the next critique group deadline. All in all things are going well.
I'm still worried sick about Mark, of course, but I know that he's in good health, is in one of the best cardiac units anywhere, and has the best circle of friends one could hope for.
11:57 pm - Hammock
This might be a bit of a stupid question... but where can I buy a hammock? Is it realistic to go to a place like La Cordée, or any other outdoor sporting gear place? I want a really nice one, actually, not one just made of rope. It's for a gift. Does anyone know of specific stores that carry them? Thanks!
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