Musings and random glimpses into current events and my life. What could be more interesting?

Thursday, January 26

Dude Looks Like a Bahraini Woman

Is Michael Jackson trying to make it impossible to live in every country in the world? Or has he just completely forgotten that he isn't Latoya?

According to this BBC article, Jacko decided to take a shopping trip in the traditional Bahraini women's attire.

One would think that Michael would have recognized the opportunity to not be seen as a freak in his newly embraced homeland. Before him, was the chance to live a normal life without all the baggage and bad publicity that haunts him in America. I can only believe that he truly has lost touch with reality since he has chosen, instead to exhibit more freakish behavior like using the women's room and now, shopping in women's clothing.

Maybe Michael has seen TransAmerica and the way that Felicity Huffman has been embraced for playing a transsexual. Perhaps he plans to make a triumphant return to his American kingdom with a newly established gender. We can only wait and see. With Jacko, everyday brings a new twist.


Friday, January 6

Overheard at My Desk

"analogies are good because they help stupid people understand things."

-Me


Wednesday, January 4

Advertising the Closet

Monday night, after the holiday's had officially ended, DB and I decided to take in a movie. After much decision and a game of Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo. We decided the Mo's one and struck off to see Brokeback Mountain. The buzz that this film has generated, as well as the Golden Globes nominations are well placed. We both enjoyed the movie and were moved, not only by the love story, but by the stories of the others whose lives were intertwined with the two central characters.

This post is intended not to be another wordy review of the film itself, but about the uncomfortable surprise I had during the advertisements before the film. Let me start by saying that I am opposed, completely, to commercials before a movie. My thought is that you have already paid for the movie. If we will have to sit through commercials, then the movie should be free.

But what really disturbed me was a carefully placed commercial just before the movie began. It wasn't for Coke or Reebok. No, it was for the National Guard. My first thought was, 'Do these people know who the audience for this movie is?' My second thought was one of outrage. I am having a hard time digesting the audacity of advertising a government group that refuses to allow open homosexuals to join, before a movie that is about the heartbreak caused by those who have to live their lives in the closet.

I'm not sure where the real blame lies here, but my thought is that it lies with Loew's. It's reprehensible to lure gay patrons in with a story that speaks to the troubles that many have gone through, and then ask them to go back into the closet to join the National Guard.

I am left wondering if my fellow theater-goers shared my outrage.