Riotpoof

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Insomnia

Why I’m I sitting up at 5am wide awake? Can I look forward to adding insomnia to the laundry list of disorders that I’ve been accumulating throughout my adult life?

Anyway, I may as well write ad nauseam on this blog since I’m feeling particularly chatty and I doubt that the husband would like it very much if I interrupted his restful slumber.

So instead of boring you with my usual political rants I thought I’d bore you with a summary of my weekend.

What I’ve done with my weekend thus far…

Friday evening I had dinner with the lovely Alina. Afterward we headed over to USF for the annual student art exhibit. Unfortunately the main exhibit in the CAM closed around 9 (even though the flyer said 8:30-11:00) so we were unable to see the bulk of the work. But since there was an “open-house” type thing going on, we were able to explore the College of Fine Arts and peak into the work spaces of many artists who were displaying some of their work. I have to say that I was quite impressed by some of the work of these students. I would never have imagined there were so many talented art students at a public university plugged dab in the middle of this culturally retarded suburban sprawl we call Tampa. Of course, some of the stuff was pretentious, unimaginative defecation; however, I eyed many pieces that I would love to own, if of course they were for sale…which they weren’t. I hope to go back soon to walk through the main exhibit.

In stark contrast to my evening of art and delicious vegetarian Vietnamese, I spent much of Saturday afternoon at a staff sporting event also hosted by USF. While there I enjoyed the camaraderie offered by my fellow staff along with free pizza and domestics. And even though these types of pedestrian/family-reunion style picnic events aren’t normally my cup of tea, I enjoyed myself well enough. I did end up with a killer headache though, no doubt brought on by the pale yellow swill I was drinking, which I later tried to nurse at a local gay bar. Turns out the headache causing power of cheap domestic beer can’t be cured with top shelf vodka, so I headed home early enough to catch the latest Saturday Night Live (is this show ever going to be funny again?). Fast forward five hours and here I am typing up this post. Luckily, I think I’ve bored myself enough that I’m starting to feel my eye lids getting heavy (listening to Damien Rice’s latest seems to be helping this along). So I’ll end this here and take a stab at a few hours of shut eye. Peace.

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 03/25 at 03:49 AM
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Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Loan from the Girl Zone

Lately I’ve engrossed myself with all things musical and feminine; mostly, my two lionesses of the stage, Tori and Ani. I purposely seek out all things Tori and Ani when I am feeling aloof and detached. It’s been a while since either has released anything new which is why I’m super excited about Tori’s new album, American Doll Posse. The flames of my faggoty excitement were flamed earlier as I read Paul Tingen’s interview with Tori, which revealed some of the impetus behind her album. Most notably, politics! But, politics, Tori style. This is very different from Ani style politics, which is generally more explicit and unequivocal. Alternatively, Tori shades her political themes in metaphors, mostly relating to feminine power. I think this is what attracts me most to her music. I know it is hard to believe but even a super butch macho guy like me can find empowerment in feminine power and imagery. I think all of us—men, women and others—can benefit from time to time from a loan from the girl zone. This is especially true at times when we are most disempowered by our government.

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 03/21 at 06:52 PM
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Sunday, March 11, 2007

Interview

Apparently I was in the dark about Ani’s pregnancy seeing how she’s been talking about it in interviews since late last year. This is a link to an interesting interview where she talks about being pregnant and feminism. Take a listen…

Ani Interview on The Progressive

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 03/11 at 03:11 PM
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FUCK

1/22/2007

ANI’S BUNDLE OF JOY ARRIVES…

We’re happy to report that Ani gave birth to a 7 pound, 8 ounce little girl, Petah Lucia, at her Buffalo home early Saturday morning, January 20. Mother and baby are both healthy and happy. Welcome to the world, Petah!

--Righteous Babe Records (http://www.righteousbabe.com/news/latebreaking.asp)

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that these women are humans and need to live their lives in whatever way is most fulfilling to them. And if that includes having children, then so be it. It’s just, their music usually suffers after they disgorge another mouth in this planet already filled to the rims. Luckily Tori has seemed to only grow from her experience as a mama (Natalie Merchant who?). Hopefully Ani will be the same.

On that note: The Track List from American Doll Posse has been confirmed. I’m SO excited about this one. I’ve only heard two songs but my instincts tell me that this album will be on par with Pele.

1. Yo, George 1:25 *
2. Big Wheel 3:18
3. Bouncing Off Clouds 4:08
4. Teenage Hustling 4:00
5. Digital Ghost 3:50
6. You Can Bring Your Dog 4:04
7. Mr. Bad Man 3:18
8. Fat Slut 0:41 *
9. Girl Disappearing 4:00
10. Secret Spell 4:04
11. Devils and Gods 0:53 *
12. Body and Soul 3:56
13. Father’s Son 3:59
14. Programmable Soda 1:25 *
15. Code Red 5:27
16. Roosterspur Bridge 3:58
17. Beauty of Speed 4:08
18. Almost Rosey 5:23
19. Velvet Revolution 1:19 *
20. Dark Side of The Sun 4:16

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 03/11 at 02:50 PM
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Sunday, March 04, 2007

Ladies and Gentlemen

As graceful as always. The lovely Ann Coulter....

“I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot’ – so… Kind of at an impasse. Can’t really talk about Edwards, so I think I’ll just conclude here and take your questions.” --Ann Coulter

I always wondered what goes on at these conservative political action conferences. I imagined that they all sat around and counted their money and edited their list of abortion doctors to bomb, but now I see that what they are really doing is putting the fine tuning to their “compassionate conservative” rhetoric. Interestingly there has not been much, if any, objection to Coulter’s comment from Republicans. In fact, Mitt Romney* commended Coulter moments before stating that it is “important to get the views of moderates.” Surely good old Mitt was joshing, cause Coulter is many things but a moderate she is not. I wonder what Mitt and other conservatives would say if Ann made the same comment about Obama but replaced the F-word with the N-word? After all, the use of that word has led a recent celebrity into rehab as well. I’m lead to believe that there would be a much more public objection from conservatives and Republicans, no doubt followed by many clandestine high fives and anonymous approval commented on freerepublic.com. But this is the effect of social proscriptions on some forms of bigotry and acceptance of others. My personal opinion is that when comments like these are allowed to go uncriticized by the political establishments (I think she has every right to say them, but that does not mean they should go unchallenged) a disservice is done to all marginalized groups, not just the “abominations” for who the comments were originally intended. Of course, this doesn’t seem to be a concern for conservatives and the Republican party (evidenced by their silent approval), as raising to much objection to remarks disparaging gay Americans may be viewed as disloyalty to the Christian Gestapo that reside in the south and center of this great nation. And besides, what is the harm in propagating a silly word like “faggot”? Who cares about the unknown number of gay adolescents who hear this word thrown at them everyday in high schools across America? Who cares that this group is nearly 5 times as likely to commit suicide compared to their heterosexual counterparts simply because they live in a society that rejects them? Obviously Ann Coulter doesn’t.

*How the hell did an asshole like Mitt Romney get elected governor of Massachusetts?

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 03/04 at 08:51 AM
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I'm Back

Not to worry loyal readers, riotpoof has been cured of it’s illness. An illness caused by the plague of SPAM. I’m not a believer in capital punishment but I would sure love to see some of those spammers get their just deserts. I actually have a post but I think it deserves it’s own thread....

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 03/04 at 08:45 AM
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Friday, February 23, 2007

Report

My thesis defense went swimmingly. Actually, it went much better than I had anticipated. I can’t believe I’m near the end! All that is left for me is to collect data (no small chore), write up the results and defend it. Then I am done! woo hoo…

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 02/23 at 03:30 PM
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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The Goddess has Returned

From looking at this picture I can only imagine the goodies that will be on Tori’s NEW ALBUM schedule to be release on May 1st. Nothing excites me more than Tori Amos and some menstrual blood dripping down the leg.

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 02/20 at 01:12 PM
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Friday, February 16, 2007

I still hate gay people, but I'm sorry that I said it out loud?

‘I hate gay people,’ former Heat star Tim Hardaway declares

Looks like another one puts his foot in his mouth and then scrambles to do some PR damage control when the public gets wind of their bigotry. I need to invest in all these “rehab” programs that these fools are going to become “unhomophobic.”

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 02/16 at 04:08 PM
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Thursday, February 15, 2007

Blinders

Right now I have my “thesis” blinders on in preparation for my proposal defense on Tuesday. At times of high stress I cannot do or think about anything that will distract me from my preparation. I am immersed in this study. I can barely even watch TV. I wake up in the morning thinking about it, rehearsing it in my head. This level of obsession is dangerous for a neurotic like me. Thank god for Xanax and thank god for medical professionals who prescribe it like it’s candy. Talk to you after Tuesday....

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 02/15 at 10:08 PM
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Sunday, February 11, 2007

Dearth of Cunnilingus in Washington

According to Wikipedia, in 2005 742 active duty soldiers where discharged under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass” (a.k.a. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell) policy; a policy costing the U.S. government nearly 200 million dollars since 1993. More recently it has been reported that this policy has significantly effected the number of trained military translators and linguists who are of key importance for the war in Iraq. For some reason it seems that closeted gays and lesbians seems to gravitate toward linguist jobs when they enlist. I guess you could say us gays are naturally “cunning linguists” (get it?...sorry, I couldn’t resist). Anyway, this past week Rep. Gary Ackerman suggested to Condi Rice during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that perhaps the United States military seems more “afraid of gay people than they are against terrorists, but they’re very brave with the terrorists…” Ackerman went on to suggest that “If the terrorists ever got a hold of this information, they’d get a platoon of lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad.” What a sight that would be! I wonder if Condi was thinking she should be the commander of this platoon?

Well, suprise, suprise. It appears that Secretary Rice doesn’t think a platoon of lesbians is a bad idea. Well, by a platoon I mean a cohort of lesbian and gay translators who were discharged from the military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell.” Apparently, the State Department doesn’t share the military’s fear of gays and lesbians and Rice has been reported to be “seriously” considering Ackerman’s suggestion to snatch up all those unemployed queer linguists and put them to work at the State Department (also suffering from a shortage of translators). The “foggy bottom” will never be the same.

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 02/11 at 09:53 AM
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Friday, February 09, 2007

Astronaut charged in bizarre love triangle

What a bizarre story! Not so much because of the whole kidnapping plan and mace in the face thing. Everyone has done something crazy for unrequited love…right? What gets me is the diapers. What is going on with the diapers? What sort of diapers were they? Were these Depends or were they some sort of astronaut diaper? Did she change herself while driving or just sit and fester in her soiled mess? Did she use it only for #1 or did she go all the way and make some chocolate diaper babies?

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 02/09 at 11:08 PM
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Thursday, February 01, 2007

I don't know what excites me more...

This…

Final Harry Potter Installment Released on July 21

or this…

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 02/01 at 10:19 AM
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Good Start to the Year

The start of 2007 has been very positive so far. I’ve been going to the gym a lot more lately and feel more active and energetic because of it. This is vastly different from the way I normally feel--sloth like and twice my age. I’ve made some progress on my thesis, scheduled the defense of my proposal, and even applied for a scholarship to cover the expenses of my research. I have even been trying to get out of the house and mingle a bit more with the gay. I’ll even be taking a vacation in early spring to attend a friend’s wedding in California where I will go to Yosemite National Park and San Francisco. And the Democrats are in power and actually trying to shake things up. This year I plan to get much more active in the fight for a single payer universal health care system. But I’ll get into that at some point later...after I defend my thesis proposal when I have time to think about things other than sexual risk-taking.

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 01/31 at 09:51 AM
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

State of Union

Last night while watching the State of the Union address I was thinking about political ideology and the determinants of that ideology for individuals. This was all playing through my head as I tried to understand why I have so much disdain for President Bush. It is not because I believe him to be an evil human being set on world destruction (although, I do believe his motivations behind many of his policies are not included in his public rhetoric). The simple fact is we see the world through different lenses. But where do these lenses come from and how do they get colored by our life experiences? And how did my lenses get inside Gloria Steinem’s Aviator Sunglasses? I’ve read through some of the academic literature on these questions with little satisfaction with the available answers. Yes, there are positive linear relationships between education and liberalism, but this only tells part of the story. The process by which political ideologies evolve within individuals is not elucidated by this observation. What is it about education that has this effect?

Personally, my political views have been to the far left since I can remember. I did have a brief stint with the Republican Party as a 4th grader when I voted for George H. Bush in a mock election staged at Airbase Elementary School. In my defense, when asked “what was the difference between a Democrat and a Republican” my teacher inanely responded with “Republicans are rich and Democrats are poor.” I, of course, already had big plans for my life at that point and being rich was a part of it, so I cast my ballot for Bush. But that would prove to be the last time I made a mistake on my party affiliation because, somehow, I became an environmentalist. But how? Perhaps it was my empathetic disposition that enabled me to grieve for the suffering of the planet and its non-human inhabitants, or maybe the countless hours I spent watching Captain Planet, Flipper or my love for Jacques Cousteau. It wasn’t long before these views about human responsibility for the earth’s ecosystems brought me to other issues like animal rights, and then later to the smorgasbord of left-leaning political beliefs I routinely disgorge on this virtual space. So I’m left wondering what factors were important elements of George Bush’s life that have molded his views so differently from my own. And for the future of this planet, how can we change him and others like him?

Posted by RiOtPoOf on 01/24 at 10:44 AM
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