A Few Words About Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

When President Clinton signed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in 1993, it was not meant to be a discriminatory law. I mean it was sort of the way-of-Bill-Clinton to just keep our personal lives on the hush-hush (wink-wink), so back in ‘93 this was just his slick way of saying, just stay quiet and we’ll leave ya alone. Oh Slick Willy, you were so charming back then - you thought you had solved this problem of gays in the military once and for all.


Nearly two decades later, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy no longer fits into the world we live in. Homosexuality is a more accepted way of life in America and many of these soldiers who serve our country have partners or spouses and families even that they have to hide from their fellow troops. Imagine having to hide a photo of you and your spouse sharing a kiss on a romantic vacation. What if you had to burn every letter your spouse sent to you in fear of being discharged from a job that you love to do. Those who are not accepting of the gay community use the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy against these people and who then are forced to be discharged because most will stand up for themselves and admit to being homosexual.

Today, a vote on a policy that would bring an end to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was filibustered by the Republican party in the U.S. Senate, effectively killing the current bill that would have brought an end to this outdated policy. It is upsetting to me that the leaders in our country would choose to ignore an important issue like this. In the end, this law will be repealed. But until then, let us ponder this question:
 

VMA Countdown: Collaboration Station

We're about 3 weeks away from the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and I have to say that this has been a really big year for great music. I also think that because the age of YouTube is rising, artists are putting more effort into their music videos and are really creating some great artistic companions to their songs. I'll be posting my vote along with the videos in each category up until the VMAs on September 13.


Best Collaboration Nominees:

- "Airplanes" - B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams 

- "Video Phone (Extended Remix)" - Beyonce featuring Lady Gaga 

- "Telephone" - Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce

- "My First Kiss" - 3OH!3 featuring Ke$ha

- "Empire State of Mind" - Jay-Z and Alicia Key

My Vote Goes To:

Jay-Z & Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind"

Empire State of Mind is like a love song to the City of New York. Alicia Keys hits it out of the park with her powerhouse voice. The video is so great because it is like looking at a scrapbook of New York. I have personally never been to NYC, but this song just emphasizes the wonderment and feeling of home that New Yorkers have for their city. Awesome song, awesome collaboration.

Everyone Loves Noodles!

So tonight I made a batch of Pancit noodles to bring along to a work potluck tomorrow. Pancit is a traditional Filipino noodle dish and is usually served at Filipino parties and celebrations. This is probably because it is fast and easy to make and can be cooked up in bulk quantities.

I've probably Americanized my versions of pancit when I make it, but it always gets eaten up bowl after delicious bowl. Tonight's batch was a strictly vegetarian dish since I'll be serving it to all my students at work and 2 of 9 are vegetarians. I hate to exclude people from the deliciousness.

Tonight's recipe included the following stir-fry of veggies:
6 cloves minced garlic
1 medium sized red onion, sliced
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1/2 red bell pepper, julienned
1/2 yellow bell pepper, julienned
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 medium zucchinis, sliced
1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced

Here they are...everyone in the pool! I know - this is way more than what is traditionally used in pancit, but hey, I'm only half so I feel entitled to change things as needed. :)

I actually didn't throw them in all at once though. I started with the garlic in a bit of cooking oil and when the aromas started coming out I threw in the carrots and onions into the mix since they take a bit longer than the rest of the vegetables. Next were the zucchini and bell peppers followed by the mushrooms. At this point I seasoned the veggies with some soy sauce and a drizzle of store-bought teriyaki sauce (though I do prefer stir-fry sauce at this point). I added the cabbage last since it takes the least amount of time to cook and I like to keep it fairly crisp. I also poured in about a 1/2 cup of hot water to get some steam action going for the cabbage.

After the veggies were to the desired doneness, I drizzled on more teriyaki sauce, gave it a toss and them transferred the vegetables into a large bowl, which I set aside. I used the same pan to pour about 4 cups of hot water with a couple of vegetable bouillons in it. I used both Pancit Bihon noodles (the thin rice sticks, which had to be soaked in hot water about 15 mins prior to cooking) and Pancit Canton noodles which are flour noodles with a nice rich flavor to them. I like mixing the two types of noodles because it gives the dish more texture.

Once the vegetable stock was boiling, all the noodles went into the pan! Here we go:

The way my mom taught me to make the pancit noodles is to always use a flavored stock and only enough to absorb into the noodles. No draining necessary if you do it this way! It's better to start with a low amount of liquid add a little bit of hot water at time, if needed, to make sure you don't end up with sticky noodle soup. Once the water is absorbed and the noodles are soft, you can throw your veggies back in for one last toss before it is ready to serve. This batch was particularly big so I ended up splitting this process into two halves.

The end result is here:

I tried a little bit of the finished product and the noodles were really tasty and the veggies were fresh and crunchy. I did miss the bites of chicken that I usually include and I think next time I'm definitely making it with chicken. The vegetarians will just have to sit that one out.

Anne Rice Ditches Christianity

I absolutely adore Anne Rice's graceful departure from Christianity.

“For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian ... It's simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

As an ex-Mormon I can vouch for this type of spiritual confession. I spent over 20 years of my life trying to believe and wanting to belong. I don't belong because I believe our creator's greatest gift to us is free will and not the rules and control mechanisms that turn the cogs of organized religion. I'm a spiritual believer and I think we all take our own path. I applaud Ms. Rice for her decision to quit the church but not give up on faith.

Farewell Forever Lost

If you have not watched the LOST series finale, then DO NOT PROCEED. I don't want you to be spoiled if you still want to watch it.



Naysayers and haters go back to your holes in the ground. The LOST finale is exactly how things should have ended. And actually I've been waiting for a show or a book or a movie to give us the sort of ending like this. It was sort of a Dark Toweresque / What Dreams May Come type of ending. What we've been calling the sideways world this whole season was not sideways at all, but a gathering place after their deaths (whenever it may have occurred) for the Losties to discover each other all once again and once that happened they were able to move on (to heaven? into the light of the island? it doesn't matter because it was beautiful and warm and wonderful!) When characters die in a story, I always wonder what happens to them after that. Do they reunite in heaven? Is heaven a real place or is it something we create for ourselves? I have an odd view of heaven that probably not many people share. I believe that the afterlife is a paradise that we create for ourselves - much like the heaven of What Dreams May Come. The "sideways" world was the place that the Losties created so that they could all find each other once again. In comparison to the ending of the Dark Tower (which please don't read on if you haven't read it or plan to read it or plan to watch the movie version when it comes out) it was like the people who had died were still living on and able to reunite in another place in the universe where they could be together.

I think that some LOST fans, especially the ones more interested in Island Mythology and the science fiction part of things, might be disappointed in the lack of answers that we got. But I think that the lack of answers is sort of what makes it all so fun to still think about. What was important was the characters - and really the characters were who I cared about the most. I've invested 6 years into getting to know Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, et al. and to see them together in the end was highly satisfying for me.

I also like how the producers gave us two endings. An ending to the "real" world and an ending in the "sideways" world. In the real world, some of the Losties make it off the island for good: Sawyer, Kate, Claire (to return to her son Aaron, finally!), Miles, Richard Alpert (who is finally aging now!) and Frank Lapidus (he is so Miami Vice! Lol). Left on the island alive and well are Rose and Bernard, Vincent, Hurley (now the island's protector) and Ben (#2 protector) and Desmond (who Ben says he can help Hurley find a way to get him home to his family). Jack finds himself mortally wounded and makes his way back to the bamboo field where he first found himself on the island. Vincent comes to keep him company and Jack sees the Ajira plane fly over, which gives him peace that his friends made it off the island. Jack's eye closes and that's the end of the real world. In sideways world, the end also comes full circle with Jack. He's the last to become "island enlightened" when he finally touches his father's coffin in the back of the church. Suddenly Christian Shepard appears alive and well and Jack realizes that all of this sideways world stuff has been purgatory all along and that the people who meant most to him in his life were gathered there to all move on together - into that light and warmth of forever.

I am satisfied with this finale - it exceeded my expectations of how it would all come to a close. There are still mysteries out there, but I think they will just serve as wonderful debate points about the series in the years to come. I'm not sure when I will watch the series all over again - it won't be soon, but I will someday. For now though, I can say goodbye and be happy with "The End".

Farewell to Lost: Jack

Oh Jack. The hero, the leader, the doc, the man of science who may just turn out to be the man of faith. Over the course of the series I have hated, loved, and rooted for him. I loved him for all the lives he's saved (and those he understood he couldn't - RIP Boone). I hated him for being too stubborn to enjoy his life or the relationships he was in. And yet I've rooted for him all the way - from his heroic day on the beach when the plane crashed to his acceptance that he may soon become the island's protector.

I can't wait until we find out how Jack's story comes full circle. Here are some videos showing just how awesome Jack has been.

Farewell to Lost: Hurley

Hurley is like the feel good character of the series. Every Hurley-centric episode was always lighthearted and fun to watch. His constant references to Star Wars and his constant use of the word "Dude" (Dude, I say dude all the time too) to his supposed bad luck because of the numbers makes Hurley just a ton of fun to watch.

I like that Hurley also served like the voice of the viewers. Questioning things that perhaps us Lost-theorizers would talk about. Like when they rediscovered "Adam and Eve" in the cave and wondered if maybe it was really him and Jack dead there because they had time traveled back to dinosaur times.

Here is one of my favorite Hurley scenes where he changes his attitude about his bad luck. Here he "makes his own luck" and casts the curse off of himself.

Book Recommendation: Under the Dome

Stephen King's most recent novel returns to some of his older styles with a massive cast of characters in this supernatural thriller.

When a mysterious dome suddenly shuts in the small town of Chester's Mill, good versus evil amongst the town people emerges quite suddenly. Tones of Salem's Lot were prevalent within this novel. It wasn't his best by far, however, King really sucks you in and makes you feel like you are under that dome and are part of the character's lives. His scenes of brutality, heartbreak and inner thoughts of the minds of the townspeople is mesmerizing, as always in his writing.

This addictive and entertaining tome is over 1000 pages, but a fun and satisfying read from start to finish.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Farewell to Lost: Desmond

Desmond is one of the great characters of LOST. While not entirely a main-main character, he is a key player in the series. From his emergence from his three year stay in the hatch to his attempted getaway on his sailboat and his mysterious survival of the blowing up of the hatch - his character was one that I both loved and was intrigued by. Desmond has only become more interesting as the series has progressed and it will be interesting to see how he ties it all up in the end. From the hatch explosion, he was able to see the future, he did some mental time traveling and now in season six he is sideways world enlightened and definitely has something up his sleeve that just may save on the Losties on the island.

Also, Desmond is a damn hot Scottie with a great accent! There is just something about him that makes him so likable. See you in another life, brotha! Compilation follows. :)

Farewell to Lost: Sawyer

With just 3 1/2 hours left of Lost, I thought I'd do some farewell tributes to my favorite characters during the next week. On the top of the list: James "Sawyer" Ford.



Besides being a hot-as-fuck book nerd, Sawyer's character is my favorite because he is so complex and interesting. His journey from troubled conman on a revenge mission to his transformation over the course of island life to a man with friends and a loving relationship (RIP Juilet *sad face*), Sawyer is a man after my own heart!

Here are some great Sawyer compilations:


The nicknames he gives everyone are riddled with pop culture and literary references. I was sort of surprised in season 6, however, when Hurley mentioned Anakin (Skywalker) and Sawyer had no idea who he was. I guess Sawyer is more of a Trekkie.




I'm kind of hoping the last words spoken in the show are of Sawyer saying, "Son of a BITCH!"

your novel

I think this is about me? :/

Ride in Style with a Couch Bike

I seriously need one of these. If I rode one of these babies around my neighborhood people would be asking for rides and wondering where they could buy their own.



I should ask my mechanical engineering students to build me one.

More couch bikes here.

Muse(ic)

Tickets.

I love tickets. Tickets to movies. Tickets to broadway shows. Tickets to concerts. (We aren't talking the traffic/parking violation type here, people! I don't get those and I don't want them!).

My latest tickets are of the musical concert type. I decided to splurge a little on myself for my birthday and I bought tickets to see Muse in concert at Arco Arena on September 28. That is so, so far away. But it does give me the opportunity to go from a casual fan of Muse to a hardcore, educated, rabid Muse fangirl by the time summer ends.

I started off by picking up a copy of Black Holes and Revelations by Muse (I really actually went to the record store hoping to pick up a copy of The Resistance, but since Dimple is mostly used CDs, there were no copies on hand). I am extemely pleased that I started with this album, however, because it's so many wonderful things that I'm going to have to blog at least another couple paragraphs to explain it all to you!

First off, I'd like to just say that I'm mindblown that Muse is such a mainstream band. The best way I could describe their music is that it mashes classical, jazz, electronica, hard-fucking rock and a whole bunch of other stuff into the composition of their album. I could hear distinct influences from Pink Floyd, Queen and Radiohead. Muse is avant-garde. And I think that is why I'm really, really getting into loving them more than just as a casual fan.

While there are some amazing hit singles on this album (Supermassive Black Hole, Starlight, Knights of Cydonia) the album is really best enjoyed as a whole. That's the thing I love about some of these modern British bands - they really put a lot of effort into making an album cohesive. The opening song "Take a Bow" offers a super electronic space-rock type feel to set the tone of the album. Later though, the quieter and more Spanish influenced Hoodoo sets the album story up for the finale song Knights in Cydonia.

I also enjoy the quirkiness of the band as they don't take themselves too seriously and yet they are genius music makers. This is clearly evidenced in the music video for Knights in Cydonia. More mashing of genres here as they set their story in the wild west and bring in unicorns and laser guns at the end. It is funny as shit, but genius all at the same time. Enjoy:

Showtune of the Week: Bring on the Men

From Jekyll and Hyde the Musical. This is Lucy singing a very entertaining song about how she handles the men in the bordello where she works. It's only audio - if I could have found video, it's really great. Lots of table dancing was involved.

Showtune of the Week: You Can't Stop the Beat

Since I love Broadway musicals, I'll be sharing a showtune each week!

This little gem is the Hairspray cast performing the finale number "You Can't Stop the Beat". I love that Matthew Morrison from Glee is in this - he's got some serious moves! Enjoy!

Meg Whitman: JUST SAY NO!

I'm feeling politically biased today (moreso than usual!) and the more I hear about Meg Whitman and her grab for the governor's seat in California, the more I feel she is just another Arnold Schwarzenegger, except with lady parts (eww).

Before I even get into her campaign talking points, I'd like to mention the fact that as the former CEO of eBAY, Whitman is a ridiculously rich woman. Sort of like former blockbuster movie star Arnold. This automatically puts her out of touch with the regular California resident and her massive spending on her campaign (last reported at $4 per second) really ought to be turning them all off. It's like a repeat of the Schwarzenegger campaign - he who has the biggest pocketbook shall win! Just because you're rich and made a lot of money for yourself does not qualify you to be a governor.

Okay now that I've gotten my personal opinion out of the way about rich, power-hungry slimebags, I can move on to the real issue at hand - analyzing Meg's platform she's using in the race.

Whitman is running on the premise of three main points: create jobs, cut spending, fix education.

That sounds all warm and fuzzy at first glance, but when you look closer into her methods, it is clear that she really has no idea what the job of the governor really is about.

Create Jobs

It is NOT the governor's job to create jobs. So why she makes this her first priority is beyond me. Anyone with any knowledge of California state government should know that the Governor's job is to approve legislation, submit and approve the annual state budget and ensure that the laws of California are being upheld. Her promise to create jobs is basically a front to pushing her own agenda of cutting corporate taxes. If you read her website you will see that the only thing she talks about in the creation of jobs is cutting business taxes. Cutting taxes for businesses does not automatically ensure that people will get jobs. For all we know, the benefit from these tax cuts may go straight to the pockets of CEOs.

Cut Spending

I don't think Meg Whitman realizes that you cannot cut government spending without ignoring California laws. State agencies and departments have been created through legislation that has been passed and included into California law. This means that state workers are carrying out the laws of California and if you cut the spending on these programs, then the laws would not and could not be upheld. Many state agencies actually collect revenue and make money for the state, so cutting their budgets doesn't really seem like an effective way to rein in spending. A more effective way to control government spending is to ensure that new legislation has funding sources. Cutting government spending would be doing a disservice to the people of California.

What Meg does not understand is that public service employees are the real people who run the state of California. These are the people who teach our children, protect our neighborhoods and environment, administer services to the disabled, unemployed and endangered people in our communities. Public service positions are jobs that help hold up the economy and our society. We pay taxes for clean water, new roads, public schools, etc. It's a worthwhile investment to invest in upholding government laws.

Whitman further wants to defend the 2/3 majority vote required to pass the annual budget and make the legislature a part-time entity filled with "citizen legislators".

Nearly all other states in the United States pass their budgets on a simple majority vote. While it is true that democrats dominate the California political landscape and may have the power to pass budgets with their own agenda's in mind - a 2/3 majority vote consistently leads to gridlock each year that makes the budget passage late. When the budget is passed late - many IOUs are issued which digs the economy into deeper holes. A majority vote for budget passage does not mean taxes could be raised without a 2/3 vote - and I think she is implying that that is what will happen. It's absolutely not true.

Also, Meg's idea about citizen legislators is completely ridiculous. It takes years to learn about the ins-and-outs of government policy and to say that regular citizens should be legislators is like saying an actor is qualified to be a governor (ha). No but really, if you have a cop serving as a legislator and he votes to up his salary and then goes back to being a cop after his term is over - isn't that a conflict of interest? Furthermore, making the legislature part-time in a state where government policy is so complex would only lead to many special sessions being called and more staffers being hired to cover for time the legislators are not in Sacramento. The California legislature used to be part-time, but they were changed to full-time for the very reasons I just listed. And that was back in the 1960s - why should we move backwards 50 years?

Fix Education

Meg doesn't say much about HOW exactly she is going to fix education other than she wants more money directed into the classrooms. I think what she fails to realize is that the decline in public education in California has been overall impacted by Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program, which penalized schools that were under performing and rewarded schools that were performing best. Federal changes need to be made before state changes can really have an effect, but one way to make California schools better is to treat teachers to better pay. It's difficult to recruit the best and brightest to teach our children when teacher pay and job security are low. Teachers in California are required to get a post-graduate certificate (almost the equivalent to a master's degree) and are paid far less than those who go into other professions. I highly doubt it's on Meg's agenda to increase teacher salary, so I'm just going to assume she's just saying she'll fix education so that people who don't read into the substance of her campaign will think she is all about the children.

To me it is pretty clear that Meg Whitman knows very little about what the Governor's role is all about. I'm sure she's a brilliant business woman, but that doesn't mean she understands what is best for the people of California as a whole. We need a leader who will protect public services and who understands that being governor is not like being a CEO - your job isn't to make a buck, it is to adminster the law.

I'm not a writer unless I WRITE!

I've been a bad, bad writer. Too much tv, too much blog reading, too much google reader...I'm a glutton here in the intellectual world. I consume and consume, but it's been far too long since I've "exercised" my writing rights. It's time to give back to the world. I'm just warming up again so excuse me if I'm a bit rusty and rambly.

Too much TV gluttony

Between the excitement of last fall's introduction of Glee to the ever increasing wonderfulness of Fringe and to the return of LOST and Big Love...I have to admit that I've been a bit TV obsessed of late.

It's probably no surprise to anyone that knows me that Glee quickly became my favorite TV show. Musicals are somewhat of an obsession to me, so put that on television covering my favorite power ballads and throw in some good looking people and I'm hooked. Sue Sylvester does not need health insurance; she cures all her illnesses with WILL POWER! (Will Schuester pun intended):

Fringe has a small cult following and for anyone not familiar with it, it's like X-files meets crime drama with an added bonus of sexy, snarky Joshua Jackson. My favorite thing about it is that it features an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. Anything that involves alt universes is awesome to me (think Donnie Darko, Stephen King's Dark Tower, the Matrix...hello!). Imagine somewhere in a dimension we can't get to - another you, another world that is almost the same but not exactly the same. Those people on the other side are trying to tamper with us and it's gonna get ugly. That's what I love so much about Fringe.

Onto LOST. I don't want to start talking about it too much because I'll end up going on and on and on forever about it. But I do want to mention they have an alt universe sort of thing going on here this season too. What the producers are touting as the "sideways" world. What if things had gone just slightly different in your lifetime? Would you still be connected to the same people and make the same choices, but just in a different context. I love that LOST is exploring that this season.

Finally, to end my rave on TV gluttony, I have to mention Big Love, for which the season ended last night. Bill has just been elected as a state senator and has outed himself and his three suburban polygamist wives. Meanwhile wife number 2 has married the fiance of ex-wife (number 4) in order to keep him in the country for a baby conceived with the ex-wife before they even got married! There was plenty of murders, arm chopping, gay sex and suicide to keep me highly entertained for the past 10 weeks. Now I just can't wait to see how the world in BIG LOVE reacts to these public polygamists next season.

Blogs and Google Reader

The great thing about Google Reader is that I can browse the internets at lightning speed and rarely ever have to deviate off the page in order to read blogs from all over. The bad thing about it is that it kills my productivity when I should be doing my own blogging and writing. So here's just a quick hit list of blogs I've been following and enjoying very much! (and is also where I find marvelous things like BACON CANDLES!)

WebUrbanist - This is by far my favorite website of late. Their tagline is "sensational, educational, inspirational art, design, photography and visual culture." Simply put, I think they just find cool stuff and put it together in a great way! Topics range from vintage advertising to scary roads around the world to staircases you can slide down!

io9 - This is like the mecca of all websites for geek culture. They run articles from sci-fi to real science to fantasy. They showcase artists, space porn, reviews on geek movies old and new. So many of the things I am interested in are featured here!

Serious Eats - I try to pretend like I'm a foodie, but really I'm just a foodie living vicariously through food porn sent to me from the far reaching corners of the internet. Serious Eats is one of my favorite food-blogs. They do recipes, cooking tips, restaurant reviews, hot dog of the week (this is a personal favorite) and just really cover a broad range of food topics. It always makes me hungry.

There are more, but we'll get to those another day. I think this was a good warm up bloggery session for me. If I get comments, I may just feel motivated to do more. :P Until then, long days and pleasant nights.