Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is batshit crazy anyway, is now coming out as pro-multiple sclerosis. Not pro-MS research...pro-MS. Be proud, Texas. Be proud, America.
With thanks to Boy Culture reader Dave: Check out this endorsement, proudly displayed in Havertys Furniture in Austin, Texas. They think it's cute as hell, but it doesn't take oversensitivity to realize a statement like this says (1) men should not sit too close, (2) "manly" men are not gay and (3) men who do sit too close are gay and "weird." Incredible that businesses can be so ignorant. Maybe corporations really are people...small-minded people.
I'm pointing it out to them to see if they realize it's kind of a stupid sign and decide to remove it.
If they don't, it's their right to keep it up and to broadcast any message they like to their customers. But I'm willing to bet a lot of manly gay men who are looking to furnish their homes wouldn't appreciate this dated sentiment and might look elsewhere.
UPDATED: The store says to me: "We have another sign in the works for that group." Hm. Even if the sign is pro-gay, I don't think businesses should be putting up subtly anti-gay messaging and then acting as if pro-gay messaging balances it out. That isn't how it works. A sign mocking short people isn't less offensive if it is complemented by a sign celebrating short people. But let us see if the new sign for "that group" looks good over there...or maybe over there?
Kelly Clarkson has returned to her hometown (it sounds so quaint when you refer to Dallas that way) for the first time in over a year to headline a benefit for TD Ameritrade found Joe Ricketts's Opportunity Education Foundation. The foundation focuses on helping children in Africa and Asia get an education. From a press release:
"My mother is a teacher and I come from a long line of teachers and we're all about education, so I was really, really excited to be a part of this. You know, we in America, we are the Land of Opportunity. And one of the reasons we enjoy so much opportunity is the education that is bestowed upon us and granted to us. "
I'm not sure Ron Paul would agree with any sentences that contain the words "bestowed upon" or "granted to," but the girl eventually supported Obama so we'll let that slide. Sounds like a great charity.
I spent half my day trudging around in the bitter cold running errands, including walking from 42nd/11th to Madison/56th and back to get my camera fixed—only to be handed a business card and sent away once I got there.
So tonight, almost nothing was gonna drag me away from cuddling with two exceptionally hairy Shih Tzu dogs.
Except Holland Taylor.
She was participating in an "Inside Look" event at The Greene Space, and I would have swum across the East River for that.
Ms. Taylor—with whom I've been fascinated ever since her delicious role on Bosom Buddies—has written Ann, a Broadway-bound, one-woman show about the late, great Ann Richards that opens in March. Richards, a force in Texas politics who went from being its most successful state treasurer to an incredibly popular Democratic governor after exploding onto the national stage with her 1988 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. Renowned for her zingers and her vision as a progressive, she died of esophageal cancer at 73.
Taylor took the part of "Ruth" on Bosom Buddies to raise her profile for Broadway parts
The evening was a delight. Taylor, 70, has a regal air and elocution that perfectly frames her wit, her broadly engaging sense of story-telling and her intelligence. She seems like foreign-born royalty, not a chick born in Philly. The long and short of it is: She shits fabulousness.
Actually, to hear her speak of Ann Richards's magnetic charm and personable nature, it was hard to imagine who but Taylor would have played her—but it almost didn't happen. Taylor recalled wanting to do something with the governor's life story but had to remind herself, "You know people who produce things. You know George Clooney, Tom Hanks." She said she pulled over to the side of the road while driving one day because she was so overwhelmed with a rush of ideas on how to stage Ann—though it's been through several major overhauls, the basic structure of the show was born in what sounds like a 15-minute fever dream, one during which Taylor was wide awake.
WQXR's Elliott Forrest provided the Q, Taylor the A
She's performed the show in Texas, Chicago and D.C. to enthusiastic reviews. But she made clear that the most important reviews have come from Richards's family. I asked Taylor if she'd been terrified performing Ann for the governor's family the first time, and she said she'd told the family—who had cooperated with her research—that she did not expect them to attend her show; after all, this had been their dear mother. But attend it they did, and the day after she opened, Richards's two sons wrote her a glowing note of approval. Taylor became emotional remembering this (I wasn't trying to "Barbara Walters" you, Holland!), saying it freed her to never again worry about whether she was getting the real Ann—if she couldn't rely on the assurances of the Richards offspring, on whose could she rely?
It was a great talk, one that is available in its entirety (my question toward the end) here. Taylor also remembered Bosom Buddies fondly (it's where she met the man who would go on to produce Ann!), said she has been furiously texting with Tom Hanks about their upcoming concurrent Broadway runs (Hanks will appear in The Lucky Guy with their Bosom Buddies bosom buddy Peter Scolari) and said that as a part of the cast of Two and a Half Men, she spent time worrying whether Charlie Sheen would be alive from day to day during his mental break. (She says she is very fond of him, and that everyone on the show felt for him.)
I'm actually wind-burned from today! (Or is it a tan from her star power?)
After, she was kind enough to pose for a picture with me and to sign two autographs—one for me and one for my e-friend Kevin, who sends me wonderful tips for the blog as well as bringing this event to my attention in the first place.
"I've heard of people being killed playing ping-pong—ping-pongs are more dangerous than guns. Flat-screen TVs are injuring more kids today than anything."
Really? How many people were killed playing ping-pong last year, not counting the ones who were playing it when someone covered them in a hail of bullets. And if kids are being accidentally injured by TVs (or choking on hot dogs, or being run over by their parents), does that really compare with guns, which are designed to kill?
