What A Day.

My Childhood died today. It's pretty surreal.



Farrah Fawcett taught me that I wanted feathered hair and sex appeal.



Michael Jackson taught me to moonwalk and be misunderstood.


RIP, Farrah and Michael. You both were such a huge influence on my young life.

Fuck Cancer

Cancer has fucked my life on several occasions and unfortunately, knowing how life and cancer work, I am sure that neither are done with me. I have watched cancer annihilate my heroes. I have watched cancer destroy and win, while I sat by, helpless. I hate cancer with every thread of my bones. I hate the sickness, the sorrow, the weakness and the helplessness.

However, such is life.

We all die, and many times the ultimate demise is totally "unplanned" and decidedly "unpleasant", leaving loved ones in a state of sorrow and confusion; looking for anything and way to get them through that ridiculously tough time.

I have a problem with people who judge others in the way they cope with the injustice that cancer brings...... In fact, I think they are very bad people, sitting on their thrones made of the emperors new clothes, casting judgment and indignation.

Sometimes the only way to deal with the sorrow of death and unfairness, is humor. Humor is the golden thread to life. Instead of thinking about how a person suffered until death, maybe it is a better use of energy and emotion to think about how the person who was taken away, laughed and coped with life? Maybe it is cathartic to take humor in the idiosyncratic "isms" and gusto that we all exude in times of crisis, rather than throw on our mourning veils and find yet another stone to throw at those whom we cast unrelenting judgment on?

Maybe.

Maybe we should stop and realize that we're just not that important to behave so smugly and self righteously?

Ah..... some people are just cunts....... And they are too stupid to realize it.

Fuck Cancer. Fuck it. It fucking sucks.......... But it happens and IT is the enemy....not the coping mechanisms one employs while dealing with that beast...


Shame on you. You know who you are.

If You Can Read This Article Without Sobbing, You Are Made Of Stone.

I have not seen Up! yet, but I have been told it is very touching. Considering that I cried during the 40 Year Old Virgin, I have a feeling that this movie might send me into a sobbing pile of emotions, and am therefore waiting for it to come out on DVD.

I read this today.

Pixar grants girl's dying wish to see 'Up'
Company sent DVD so Huntington Beach girl, 10, could watch it.
By ANNIE BURRIS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Comments 60 | Recommend 100

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Colby Curtin, a 10-year-old with a rare form of cancer, was staying alive for one thing – a movie.

From the minute Colby saw the previews to the Disney-Pixar movie Up, she was desperate to see it. Colby had been diagnosed with vascular cancer about three years ago, said her mother, Lisa Curtin, and at the beginning of this month it became apparent that she would die soon and was too ill to be moved to a theater to see the film.

After a family friend made frantic calls to Pixar to help grant Colby her dying wish, Pixar came to the rescue.

The company flew an employee with a DVD of Up, which is only in theaters, to the Curtins’ Huntington Beach home on June 10 for a private viewing of the movie.

The animated movie begins with scenes showing the evolution of a relationship between a husband and wife. After losing his wife in old age, the now grumpy man deals with his loss by attaching thousands of balloons to his house, flying into the sky, and going on an adventure with a little boy.

Colby died about seven hours after seeing the film.

With her daughter’s vigil planned for Friday, Lisa Curtin reflected about how grateful she is that Pixar – and "Up" – were a part of her only child’s last day.

“When I watched it, I had really no idea about the content of the theme of the movie,” said Curtin, 46. “I just know that word ‘Up’ and all of the balloons and I swear to you, for me it meant that (Colby) was going to go up. Up to heaven.”

Pixar officials declined to comment on the story or name the employees involved.

THE PREVIEWS

Colby was diagnosed with vascular cancer on Dec. 23, 2005 after doctors found a tumor in her liver. At the time of her death, her stomach was about 94 inches around, swollen with fluids the cancer wouldn’t let her body properly digest. The rest of her body probably weighed about 45 pounds, family friend Carole Lynch said.

Colby had gone to Newport Elementary School and was known for making others laugh, family friend Terrell Orum said. Colby loved to dance, sing, swim and seemed to have a more mature understanding of the world than other children her age, Orum said.

On April 28, Colby went to see the Dream Works 3-D movie "Monsters Vs. Aliens" but was impressed by the previews to "Up."

“It was from then on, she said, ‘I have to see that movie. It is so cool,’” Lynch said.

Colby was a movie fan, Lisa Curtin said, and she latched onto Pixar’s movies because she loved animals.

Two days later Colby’s health began to worsen. On June 4 her mother asked a hospice company to bring a wheelchair for Colby so she could visit a theater to see "Up." However, the weekend went by and the wheelchair was not delivered, Lisa Curtin said.

By June 9, Colby could no longer be transported to a theater and her family feared she would die without having seen the movie.

At that point, Orum, who desperately wanted Colby to get her last wish, began to cold-call Pixar and Disney to see if someone could help.

Pixar has an automated telephone answering system, Orum said, and unless she had a name of a specific person she wanted to speak to, she could not get through. Orum guessed a name and the computer system transferred her to someone who could help, she said.

Pixar officials listened to Colby’s story and agreed to send someone to Colby’s house the next day with a DVD of "Up," Orum recalled.

She immediately called Lisa Curtin, who told Colby.

“Do you think you can hang on?” Colby’s mother said.

“I’m ready (to die), but I’m going to wait for the movie,” the girl replied.

THE MOVIE

At about 12:30 p.m. the Pixar employee came to the Curtins’ home with the DVD.

He had a bag of stuffed animals of characters in the movie and a movie poster. He shared some quirky background details of the movie and the group settled in to watch Up.

Colby couldn't see the screen because the pain kept her eyes closed so her mother gave her a play-by-play of the film.

At the end of the film, the mother asked if her daughter enjoyed the movie and Colby nodded yes, Lisa Curtin said.

The employee left after the movie, taking the DVD with him, Lynch said.

“He couldn’t have been nicer,” said Lynch who watched the movie with the family. “His eyes were just welled up.”

After the movie, Colby’s dad, Michael Curtin, who is divorced from Lisa Curtin, came to visit.

Colby died with her mom and dad nearby at 9:20 p.m.

Among the Up memorabilia the employee gave Colby was an “adventure book” – a scrap book the main character’s wife used to chronicle her journeys.

“I’ll have to fill those adventures in for her,” Lisa Curtin said.

BTW, I am making this post from underneath my desk and I am not coming out from under here for a long, long time.

Hoooooo Boy.

A topic that I am always willing to avoid in conversation is Politics. I avoid it not only because it can be divisive, but because it is boring. There is nothing more irritating and annoying than being stuck at a dinner table with two people debating their political philosophy with only one goal in mind: Being Right. It's enough to drive a person to glass chewing, while simultaneously juggling fire and sticking rusty nails in your eyes.

Political discussions are the suck.

However, I am going to go there today. I am not a Republican. I am pretty liberal, okay, extremely liberal. If you called me a communist, I would correct you, but I wouldn't be offended. However, I have many people in my life who I love and respect, that are Republicans. I understand the importance of having diverse and differing beliefs, even if I vehemently disagree with said beliefs.

However, I am really sick of Republicans, who I know are moderate, sensible, good people, not standing up to a party that is being dominated by a bunch of racists kooks. Seriously, I have no earthly idea why anyone would associate themselves with a group like this, unless they agreed with them deep down.... and for the Republicans whom I know and love, I know better.

You may be wondering what I am yammering about, and why I am so off put with the Grand Old Party this week.....

Behold:

In response to a news story about an escaped gorilla from the Columbia South Carolina Zoo, Rusty DePass, a long-time GOP activist in South Carolina and candidate for various state/local offices throughout the years, responded with the decisively clever and appropriate, “I’m sure it’s just one of Michelle’s ancestors - probably harmless.”

Yes, he is referring to Michelle Obama, First Lady and African American. Because monkey jokes are never old and never offensive.... He's just kidding! He's a kidder.

Keeping it classy in South Carolina, a low-level functionary in the GOP made the wise choice to Tweet the following:

How cute is that?

BTW, this rocket surgeon feels he is qualified to be a future Governor of South Carolina, a state in the United States of America, where most citizens feel that racist jokes at the expense of our people and President are in bad taste. Who knew?

Traveling north (where one might think these kind of attitudes would be less visible) to Tennessee, Sherri Goforth, a legislative aid to a Tennessee senator, emailed this little gem out to people on her email list, FROM HER WORK EMAIL ACCOUNT:




In case you are having trouble seeing the picture, it is a picture of every President of the United States of America, including what dumb, inbred, racist Republicans think depicts our current President, Barack Obama. Because he is black. Because if your parents are related you cannot see anyone without pasty, anemic, doughboy skin in the dark.

After being reprimanded for being a racist, idiot, Ms. Goforth issued the following apology:
"I went on the wrong email and I inadvertently hit the wrong button. I’m very sick about it, and it’s one of those things I can’t change or take back."


What a relief. For a second we may have thought you were stupid, or something, Ms. Goforth.

Let's top this hot fudge sunday of antiquated racial stereotypes with this cherry, brought to us by the mephistophelian, King of the Dipshits: Pat Buchanan:

"Thus, Sotomayor got into Princeton, got her No. 1 ranking, was whisked into Yale Law School and made editor of the Yale Law Review — all because she was a Hispanic woman... One prefers the old bigotry. At least it was honest, and not, as Abraham Lincoln observed, adulterated “with the base alloy of hypocrisy." - Pat Buchanan, on MSNBC

Yes, you read that correctly. This rhetorical wizard is using Lincoln as his defense for being a bigot. Yes Mr. Buchanan, we prefer the bigotry of the Days of Yore..... the bigotry that conjures up Norman Rockwell-like picturesque settings depicting blue eyed children lynching, separating and oppressing minorities, all in the name of "apple pie".

All of this is just baffling to me when I think of the non-racist, passionate, intelligent people I know that are Republicans. Why? Why would you associate yourself with people like this? I know that they are not the defining word of the party, but they sure are vocal? Is it more important to keep a unified front in the party, than it is to openly SHAME your constituents who believe such actions, jokes and rhetoric are acceptable?

Because it is not acceptable.

It is time for the Republicans with a clue to stand up to the assholes in their party and CENSURE them. This behavior and other behaviors put forth by GOP constituents are not acceptable and only hurts the Grand Old Party.

I doubt anyone really reads this blog,but if there are any Republicans who do and agree, or even disagree with me, I would love to hear from you.

Self Importance..........i.e..................... Suck it, David Crosby

If I have to suffer through another "flower child's" self important diatribe one more time, I may become Amish just to avoid popular media. Seriously, there is no generation more stuck on themselves than the Baby Boomers. We get, you had sex before marriage and smoked a ton of weed, good for you, now SHUT IT.

I understand that the sixties were groundbreaking in knocking down rigid social structures, facing the evils of inequality head on, and realizing that there are choices in life. As a woman and a daughter of that generation, I DIG IT. However, in looking back at history long past and recent, there is no other generation so stuck on pontificating about their extreme awesomeness more than the children of the sixties.

God bless Tom Brokaw for taking the zeal out of their swagger and focusing for a time on our grandparents. There is a lot to be said about the children of the Great Depression and WWII. Then was a time that all the United States possessed was a dream and the follow through to obtain that dream. We were not a super power, but by inspiration, collaboration, and a common philosophy, our grandparents worked together to dig this country out of the worst rut it had ever faced. All the while still nursing those wounds, we banded together with the rest of the world to fight and defeat one of the greatest evils this world had ever seen.

Not only did they accomplish this, they steered clear of Time Life specials reminiscing about how AWESOME they were. They just wanted to dance during those informercials, and I can totally get behind that.

I do have to admit, I can kind of see where this need to express to the world how your generations part in history, was by far, the most profound time to exist. I know that I look at people who are younger than I am, and I shake my head while muttering "back in my day"while completely discounting their experiences for five minutes, until I finally get a grip back. I grew up in the eighties and the nineties, too young for Gen X, but too old for Gen Y. I remember Adam Walsh, and the hysteria that ensued from that awful tragedy.... Getting finger-printed, making an ID card in kindergarten, and working with my parents to come up with a "fool proof", safe word.

I remember when my parent's good friend died suddenly from a very severe and unmanageable pneumonia, later finding out that this was a disease that was going to and continue to kill many of the world's population. Because of AIDS, I knew what a condom was by second grade, which may or may not be appropriate. We chanted "Just Say No!" while marching behind Nancy Reagan and a stoned Drew Barrymore. We challenged authority after being inspired by Henry Rollins and "fought the power" while being directed by Chuck D .

It was a groundbreaking time, in a long line of groundbreaking times throughout human history. That's the crux of this post; humans are amazing... amazingly inventive, destructive, strong, cruel and kind... Human history is ever-changing and to single out one generation as being more important than another is purely self serving..... So, all of you people who burned out on the Haight-Ashbury, just SHUT IT.

That means you too, Peter Fonda.

For Jay

A gift in light of the fact the band is NOT getting back together.

The 1990's.

I grew up in the 90's . Yeah, I remember the 1980's, I was born in 1976. However, the 1990's were my coming of age, and I honestly thought they would never end. In fact, going into the new millennium, I never thought about what year it "was", but that 2000 was one year after 1999 and 1995 was only five years beforehand.

Needless to say the fact that 1995 was 14 years ago is not only shocking, but unsettling.

*sits down, pulls on Mr. Rogers-esque V-neck cardigan*

The 90's changed everything. It was the beginning of reality TV, blatant drug use was poeticized in pop songs, gay people were allowed to be GAY, and we were all tattooing and piercing ourselves like voodoo dolls...... So, not much has changed.

I am having a hard time getting older, because I still feel the same. Whenever I hear Tribe Called Quest or Archers of Loaf, it feels like brand new.

So to sit here and watch VH1 do a "Best of the 90's" show, I not only feel in my element, I feel incredibly out of place......

What a drag it is getting old.