Department of Justice Partially Reverses Ban on Gay Pride Celebration

Just got this from HRC:

The Department of Justice has partially reversed the decision to ban the annual DOJ Gay Pride Celebration.  While the event will be allowed to occur this year, it will not enjoy the sponsorship of the DOJ as it has in years past, and as other events currently do. 

Go http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/doj_pride/8w87n62r783xtt to fax a letter to Ashcroft.

(They make it pretty easy.)

Have you been watching For Lover's Money? (aka "For Love or Money")

That guy. They might as well have called it "For Grope or Money."

First ep I was all over it/him, thought they finally found a bachelor worthy of my interest. (Tristan would have been close, were I a woman, or a straightguy. Ryan I would be all over, except for the third-grade poetry, the appalling effusion of naiveté that would have Candide chuckling (incredibly endearing, but equally troubling at those levels), and his apparent complete lack of romantic experience. In many ways, this was a child. A wondrous little boy in the body of a hunk of a man, which couldn't help but pull at my heart, but of course it would be pointless in practice. Maybe not for Trista, though. She needs a shallow experience and a man to push around. (I mean it, I like her, mostly, I just think she's kinda shallow and needs a man to push around. Those aren't her only qualities, just two that attracted her to Ryan.) 

Then we discovered what a needy quivering freak he was/is. I can't decide whether to like him more or less. This show is apparently the only way he'll ever find a wife, because it's apparently the only way he'll actually approach a woman. And when he does, he's like an inmate seeing fem flesh for the first time. All over those lips, breasts, buttcheeks.

And now The Smoking Gun reports on just how uncontrollable those urges are. He got kicked out of Marine JAG Corps program when he got drunk, barged into an officer's dorm and groped her breasts.

 Read the story, see the docs, and see what else he lied about here:

Oh, and of course the producers were unable to uncover such an easy item themselves. According to The Gun, producers asked him if there was anything irregular about his JAG service, and he answered, "Absolutely nothing. Nothing. Nothing."

(Did I misuse "effusion"? I need a word with the right number of beats.)

New AP poll story w/ headline:

Bush holds double-digit lead over all Democrats

(of course that's entirely subjective assessment on my part, but shitheads like Chris Matthews are paid to make those assessments. or just to shout? they drive me nuts!)

I don't know how to link to this (I get it via email), so I'll paste it in. From today's Publisher's Lunch:

We looked askance at yesterday's Page Six item trying to keep Jayson Blair's book proposal alive by way of a mysterious "tipster," but St. Martin's Press editor-in-chief George Witte had an even stronger reaction to the source's implication that his house was among those interested in the project. Witte, who "read the piece with a sense of outrage," firmly declares "St. Martin's Press has absolutely no interest in Jayson Blair's book proposal. A couple of weeks ago, when the news broke that a proposal was circulating, I told our editors that we would not consider the proposal for publication. Our publishing agreement with the New York Times--which includes crossword puzzle collections as well as books on a range of subjects, including cooking, history, sports, theatre, reference, and others--is one of great pride and mutual respect, and we would never do anything to endanger that partnership."

 

{Not Jayson Blair. I refuse to post that same freaking picture with the chillingly ingratiating smile. Isn't it burned into our retinas already? This is how I prefer to think of him.}

 

Blogger's Note: At the time I wrote this, this blog was titled "The World According to Dave (Cullen)."

I'm really not sure about this blog title. Seems a bit derivative. And yet, derivation is OK in moderation, right? That was the title that changed my life--much more than the book. Just seeing the title, I grasped a whole new understanding of what my life could be. I was 17 I think at the time, working as a bagboy outside of Chicago, at Jewel, the major grocery chain in the Midwest. It was displayed in every aisle and it just screamed out at me:

The world had never come close to suiting me; I'd always felt like some sort of extra-terrestrial. But the moment those words flashed through my head, I understood why. All that time, I had been living inside the world according to my parents, the nuns, the Catholic Archdiocese, the jocks and heathers ruling my high school, the guidance counselors arbitrating my future, the college entrance requirements committees they'd been serving … Everything I had done to that point, everything I hoped to be I modeled after them, measured against them. But they never could have forced me, I acquiesced entirely of my own volition.

And the moment I grasped my complicity, it began to disintegrate. Slowly, for awhile, with one sudden shattering of the illusion, and then a gradual dropping away. But from that very first moment, I liked myself infinitely better, understood why I didn't fit in there, and where I would innately. I started smiling almost immediately, because I knew where I belonged, though it took me a good damn while to admit to all of it.

Here I am now, in The World According to Dru (that's what I actually call it, because that's what my family mostly called me at the time). And I like it here. So that's what I want to call my blog. Even if it is kinda lame to steal your title right out of someone else's work. Don't I get around that by calling it an homage? (And look how little I'm living up to it by being such a pussy about such a trifling after all.) Ah, but titles are not triflings, so impudent little snot. Titles are everything. OK, that's why I'm conflicted.

Feel free to weigh in with your nonsense so I don't have to have the freaking conversation ENTIRELY by myself.

(Oh, about that headline. I thought maybe if I change one word up there, that would fix it. Turtle? I did have a reason for that, but it's too stupid to go into now. Suffice to say elephant, turtle, turtle, turtle, turtles all the way down.)

Here's the email I dashed off to several friends when I first saw the news:

Subject: June Carter Cash dies at 73

always loved this woman; not entirely sure why:


very thorough obit from ap. the only annoying part was the headline: "Grammy winner June Carter Cash dies at 73." Grammy winner? THAT was the most significant thing they could say about her? a freaking grammy? like those pathetic awards are the measure of june carter. she dwarfs those little trinkets. I feel like we lost a singular soul today. Just can't put my finger on why.

d

Now I have never been much of a country music fan. I dabbled occasionally, spent some wonderful hours with Willie and Waylon and Patsy and occasionally Emmylou, and I really loved Carlene Carter before she was country--before and during the marriage to Nick Lowe, when she was playing with The Rumor and Rockpile. And a few more here and there. Oh, and I guess Elvis counts (the dead one) and maybe even Buddy Holly. But none of those combined ever accounted for close to 1% of my music collection. And I've never owned a June Carter record of any kind. It wasn't just her music, it was something about her as a person.

I got the most illuminating responses:

From: Lucia (my 65-year-old mentor, one of the world's great short-story writers):

well for starters she was a terrific musician, just sang and played without ever competing with the man she loved so obviously much. she was true to him and to her work. She was pure and honest and joyous. She was tough, took no bull-shit.

I love those Southern women. She, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton. They are smart and passionate, have a sense of humor.

I'll tell you why you love June Carter -- she was true to her vows and she stuck with Johnny Cash through thick and THIN and there were some very THIN times, indeed. Her perseverance paid off. And she became an amazing musician because of it.
 
I don't think Johnny is far behind. Even in the last video (for his cover of the nine inch nails tune, if you haven't seen it, prepare to have difficulty picking your jaw back up) he looked like hell.

{The pic is with Carlene & Johnny}

More on June tomorrow. If anyone out there felt the loss like I did, please jump in with a comment. (Update: it's going to be a few days, but I'll get back to her. She's not going anywhere.)

Hmmmm. Something very odd is going on with the comments. Somewhere in the ether, float some comments posted to my blog last summer. And somehow my blog has unearthed them, and attached them to random postings here.

Hopefully you'll still be able to post your own comments, though no one ever wants to anyway.

(Hey! Are all the colors annoying already?)

Now then, a request: I'm doing a story for a local pub about local bloggers--that means in Denver, or nearby. If that fits anyone reading this--or you know anyone it fits--let me know ASAP and I can include you/them. My deadline is the end of the week.

(I can't decide whether this gig coinciding with my blog return is coincidence or catalyst. I had been trying to restart my blog for over a month, but then I hadn't succeeded, had I? Perhaps the writing about them gave me the final kick in the ass to get my own going again. Or maybe it just came up at the same time.)

jann is on my tv right now, talking to charlie rose. and i am very sad for him. i've been following his career and his magazines for years, but never caught sight of him before.

at first, he seemed like a really vital, interesting guy, and i liked him. a lot. then he started talking about music. oh my god. said the stones were better than they've ever been. and meant it, literally. then he spoke about the other great artists now and it was dylan and springsteen. dylan was doing some of his best stuff--they gave his last album 5 stars--and the rising was bruce's best album ever. wow, right on the cutting edge, this guy. no wonder his mag is so relevant. (i remember reading how his staff fought him bitterly on 5 stars for mick jagger's last solo album everyone else laughed at, but he insisted, and wrote the review himself.) charlie held up the current issue, titled "monsters of summer," and it was ozzie ozborne, metalica, marilyn manson and fred durst. jeez. at least the oral group was great once upon a time.

funny that one of the first musical references out of his mouth was actually my cultural litmus test--not for whether a person is kind of out of it, but COMPLETELY, hopelessly lost in nostalgia. the stones are SO sad to still be together. mick's voice is so embarassing. i'm reminded of quotes about Hemmingway taking a gun to his head as the only way to stop himself from destroying his reputation any further. i can understand mick and keith touring anyway, as they need something to do, but i've always been perplexed by fans lining up. i guess i can see it as a way to use them as a way to revive memories of a vital past, though for me it just ruins the memory. for a fan, that's one thing, but a cultural critic, or the man leading a band of cultural critics? bringing in a young new managing editor to rolling stone isn't going to change anything. the guy had a gift once, but central to that gift was having his finger on the pulse. sad that he has no idea how badly he lost it how many years ago and can't figure out to move on to something else. with all that money and power and networks, he has so many options for how to spend his life. i hope i figure out how to use mine, when the time comes.

Now if you're interested in the considerable upside from the earlier part of Jann's career, check out this Brilliant Careers piece in Salon.

NOTE: This is also one written last week. Though sometimes I don't see them till a day or two later anyway, thanks to the wonder that is Tivo, the greatest invention in the history of mankind.

that's the funniest line i've heard in ages. i love the daily show. jon stewart just introduced a piece by stephen colbert, "with another installment in his award-eligilbe series ..." heeheehee. bill o'reilley will be using that any day now. maybe that's what he meant when he said Inside Edition won a peabody during his tenure: he just meant it was peabody-eligible.

NOTE: A handful of these first entries are going to be dated by a few days or a week, as I've been building them up as I struggle with the system. They're no less relevant.

Sorry about the false start a month and a half ago. I thought I was back up with my blog, but it froze up ten minutes after I got started. Tech spt was most unhelpful and I finally had to uninstall/reinstall.

I've lost all the old material and links to several of you all, but hope to rebuild the latter in time.

Meanwhile, glad to be back, hope someone out there enjoys it.

If you want a bit more info on who I am, you can find it at my author website.

d