Category Archives: Uncategorized

Cher Developing Broadway Musical Based On Life and Career

This is truly scary…

Who knew Cher could write?  Period?

Still, I would be so tempted to see this….

Or run from it…

From Playbill.com:

Producers are at work developing a Broadway musical based on the life of Academy and Grammy Award-winning performer Cher, the pop star recently tweeted.

The star states that the musical will incorporate songs from her career, with three different actresses set to play her at various stages of her life. One actress will play a young Cher through her “Sonny and Cher” years, while another will play the icon through the “Believe” tour, with a third to inhabit the star at the current point in her life.

The show will incorporate a theatrical conceit that allows all three actresses to talk to one another and perform together.

Cher also revealed that she is part of the writing process on the musical, which has been in development for “quite a while.” Broadway is the goal.

via Cher Developing Broadway Musical Based On Life and Career – Playbill.com.

Of course, I always thought she had already told her story in song:

Just kidding!!!

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Happy Birthday, June Lockhart!

Lassie’s Mom is 87 today…

And still working!

You can look at her amazing list of Credits on IMBD:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001478/

And here’s a great in interview from last year:

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Chapter 64: After the Fall | My Southern Gothic Life

From my other blog….

 

I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine…

I had to…or this chapter would never been written.  And it will take the same for the the chapter to follow….

If you want to be an honest blogger- or storyteller-the hard part is telling the truth even when it hurts.  Or it requires you to remember things you would rather bury…

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized nothing trumps honesty.  Tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may…

This is one of those moments….

via Chapter 64: After the Fall | My Southern Gothic Life.

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The Wit and Wisdom of Gloria Steinem

I’m posting lightly right now- resting up for the fall political battles- and spending more time reading…

One of my discoveries is how much I admire Gloria Steinem….

I always knew she was smart, but–wow!

Here are a few quotes, from About.com/Women’s History that illustrate why I admire her so much:

 

 

•The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.

• We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons… but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.

• We can tell our values by looking at our checkbook stubs.

• Women may be the one group that grows more radical with age.

• But the problem is that when I go around and speak on campuses, I still don’t get young men standing up and saying, “How can I combine career and family?”

• A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after.

• Someone asked me why women don’t gamble as much as men do, and I gave the commonsensical reply that we don’t have as much money. That was a true and incomplete answer. In fact, women’s total instinct for gambling is satisfied by marriage.

• We know that we can do what men can do, but we still don’t know that men can do what women can do. That’s absolutely crucial. We can’t go on doing two jobs.

• Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry.

• Most women are one man away from welfare.

• [About Geraldine Ferraro’s candidacy:] What has the women’s movement learned from her candidacy for vice president? Never get married.

• If women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn’t it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long?

• Law and justice are not always the same. When they aren’t, destroying the law may be the first step toward changing it.

• Most women’s magazines simply try to mold women into bigger and better consumers.

• I have met brave women who are exploring the outer edge of human possibility, with no history to guide them, and with a courage to make themselves vulnerable that I find moving beyond words.

• If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot?

• The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.

• Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.

• A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.

via Gloria Steinem Quotes.

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For Those Still Trying to Figure out the Gay Marriage Issue…

Today, North Carolina is voting whether to approve Amendment One to the Constitution which says, as follows:

“Constitutional amendment to provide that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.”

If you live in North Carolina and have not gone out to vote against this spiteful, hateful attempt to spread hate and discrimination, please DO SO NOW!

People need to understand that “marriage” is a secular, legal contract.  Religion has nothing to do with it.  I’m fine with anyone having a religious ceremony-or not- but we should not prohibit unmarried heterosexual or Gay couples from sharing the same legal protections as married people.

I’ve been with my partner for 15 years and don’t you dare try to tell me our relationship should not have the same legal recognition as straight couples.  This is the only way to protect us in the event of sickness or, god forbid, death, so that we each can care for the other and no one can interfere with our wishes.  Or contest our estates….I hate to think how complex this is for people with children.

I am grateful to all the People of Faith who have come out against this mean-spirited, petty attempt to enshrine discrimination into the North Carolina Constitution.

However, a substantial number of Fundamentalist Christians are claiming they support this hateful amendment based on “biblical” principles….

This is for them:

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Filed under Elections, Gay, Religion, Uncategorized

The Next Time Someone Says the Internet Killed Reading Books, Show Them This

It seems more people are reading books now than ever before…

readingrates_615.jpg

This is some surprisingly good news from Alexis Madrigal in The Atlantic.  I encourage you to click the link and read the full article.

My bet is this is due to e-readers, like the Amazon Kindle.  I’ve always read a lot, but the Kindle has put me into overdrive due to the ease of carrying it around and the ability to instantly obtain new books related to one you have just finished.

My guilty pleasure is mysteries set in various time periods in England, but I also read a lot of history, biographies and popular/literary fiction.  I go right from one book to another on my Kindle.

Of course, this doesn’t mention the quality of what people are reading, only the quantity….

Remember the good old days when everyone read really good books, like, maybe in the post-war years when everyone appreciated a good use of the semi-colon? Everyone’s favorite book was by Faulkner or Woolf or Roth. We were a civilized civilization. This was before the Internet and cable television, and so people had these, like, wholly different desires and attention spans. They just craved, craved, craved the erudition and cultivation of our literary kings and queens.

Well, that time never existed. Check out these stats from Gallup surveys. In 1957, not even a quarter of Americans were reading a book or novel. By 2005, that number had shot up to 47 percent. I couldn’t find a more recent number, but I think it’s fair to say that reading probably hasn’t declined to the horrific levels of the 1950s.

All this to say: our collective memory of past is astoundingly inaccurate. Not only has the number of people reading not declined precipitously, it’s actually gone up since the perceived golden age of American letters.

via The Next Time Someone Says the Internet Killed Reading Books, Show Them This Chart – Alexis Madrigal – Technology – The Atlantic.

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The Cult of Chick-fil-A

This explains one of the reasons I will not eat at this place…

I firmly believe in the separation of Church and Chicken.

The other reason I won’t eat at this place is their nasty, greasy food….

 

Interesting article from Forbes.com:

 

“We tell applicants, ‘If you don’t intend to be here for life, you needn’t apply,'” says Cathy, who opened his first restaurant in 1946.

That’s not the only company mandate. Chick-fil-A’s corporate mission, as stated on a plaque at company headquarters (and by Cathy), is to “glorify God.” It is the only national fast-food chain that closes on Sunday so operators can go to church and spend time with their families; franchisees who don’t go along with the rule risk having their contracts terminated. Company meetings and retreats include prayers, and the company encourages franchisees to market their restaurants through church groups. Howe Rice, a franchisee in Glen Allen, Va., hosts a Bible study group in one of his two Chick-fil-A restaurants every Tuesday. He offers a free breakfast to all who attend. “You don’t have to be a Christian to work at Chick-fil-A, but we ask you to base your business on biblical principles because they work,” says Cathy.

via The Cult of Chick-fil-A – Forbes.com.

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Most and Least Religious States in America

Some interesting, but not really surprising information….

What’s surprising is how these deeply religious people in the South seem to support the heartless GOP agenda….

Is that really what Jesus would do?

From the Huffington Post…….

Religiosity varies widely across U.S. states and regions, with Mississippi in the deep South and Vermont in New England providing the most extreme example of the disparity. Fifty-nine percent of Mississippians are very religious and 11% nonreligious, while 23 percent of Vermonters are very religious and 58 percent are nonreligious. Although New Hampshire ties Vermont with 23 percent of its residents classified as very religious, slightly fewer (52 percent) residents in the Granite State are classified as nonreligious.

More generally, eight of the 10 most religious states in 2011 are in the South (Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia), with one straddling the line between the South and the Midwest (Oklahoma), and one in the West (Utah). None of the most religious states are in the Middle Atlantic, New England, or West Coast regions.

By contrast, six of the least religious states in 2011 are in New England (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) and four are in the West (Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington), with the District of Columbia and New York rounding out the list.

via Most and Least Religious States in America.

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Ex-congressman Virgil Goode Eyes Presidential Bid

Hasn’t he already embarrassed Virginia enough?

This man is seriously crazy- which is normal for Virginia Republicans…

Now it seems he is taking his crazy on the road…

Thank god, Goode finally lost his Congressional seat to the great Tom Perriello and we thought we were rid of him.  Unfortunately, Tom lost to that dim bulb Robert Hurt who currently occupies the VA 5th District seat and is, at least, a much quieter embarrassment than Goode.

Now, it seems, the national GOP just isn’t crazy enough for Virgil, so he’s going to try to make a comeback….

God, help us…

It will take at least a century for Virginia’s image to recover from this- especially if the current right-wing lunatic governor with really bad televangelist Republican hair ends up as the GOP VP nominee…

The good news, is there are a few people crazy enough to vote for Virgil Goode, at least in Southside Virginia, so he will at least pull a few dozen votes away from whoever the GOP nominates….

From The Washington Post:

Virgil H. Goode Jr. — the former Virginia congressman and state Senator who switched from Democrat to Independent to Republican during his time in office — is apparently interested in the nation’s top job. Goode filed papers with the Federal Election Commission last week to create the Virgil Goode for President Campaign Committee.

The form does not specify which party’s banner Goode will run under, but in 2010 he was named to the executive committee of the Constitution Party, and last year the party unanimously adopted a resolution calling on Goode to run for president. He said at the time he would “consider it.”

via Ex-congressman Virgil Goode eyes presidential bid – Virginia Politics – The Washington Post.

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Mitt Romney’s Dog: His Story

It seems Mitt Romney’s dog has recorded his own music video….

This story says so much about Romney’s character- or lack there of–I’m really glad it won’t go away….

I’m also glad Seamus finally gets to put forth his point of view of the infamous episode….

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