Welcome · to · the · ChadBrain

Well, I've pretty much abandoned my poor little blog here in favor of my new blog. So I'm psoting this to ask anyone interested in following me to the new blog to friend me there. The new blog is fictionaut12. So if you get friends requests form the blog, it's me.

I have a horrible habit of creating new weblogs every couple of years. I don't know why it is, I guess I just end up getting bored with the sameness of it all and I feel the urge to start something new.

I've done it again, created another new weblog.

So check out my NEW weblog at fictionaut12. And friend me.

I'll still be writing in this weblog, but I'll be writing there as well. And, really, I think I'll be far more fabulous and witty there.

This afternoon I decided to go to the movies. I went to Pittsford Plaza to see Helen Mirren in The Queen.

A word about Pittsford for those of you not-in-the-know: Pittsford is one of the rich-people suburbs of Rochester. It has a very pretentious town square with quirky little shops and horrid parking. Establishments must fit the color scheme of the town. There are, like, eight Starbucks. Pittsford Plaza is liek the buffer zone between Pittsford and the rest of the world. It has many, many stores (including the Barnes and Noble and Wegmecca). It stops the gawkers before they hit the quaint Village of Pittsford.

Pittsford Plaza looks like an SUV dealership. Every other car is an enormous gas-guzzling behemoth. Parking in Pittsford Plaza is always a joy. Not only do you have to search to find a place that isn't three miles from the store, you run the risk of getting blocked in on all sides by pretensford soccer moms in their monster behemoth cars.

As is always the case....the movie theater in the richest suburb has some of the cheapest prices. So I like going there and being able to afford popcorn too.

I went to the first show- which was at noon. I didn't think there would be many people there but I was WRONG! There were many, many people there. And I was younger than all of them by several decades. It isn't often I get the joy of being the youngest person in a social situation, so I played it up. I sashayed around like a teenager on crack and said things like "Yo, mamcita, nice rinse!"

Okay, I didn't do that.

Anywho, the movie. Helen Mirren was very good and understated and did a great job of looking at the camera. her presence is remarkable and her performance was realy thje only thing of interest in the movie. The movie wasn't bad, but you know how it's going to end. So everythig hinges on Helen Mirren and she does an excellent job.

Which means I liked it and would say "See it" if asked.

So tonight, for date night, Kate and I went to see Running With Scissors.

I liked it very much. It differed form the book in tone and energy- a little too serius when it was serious and succumbed to a bit of unfortuante movie-izing- but the performances were good. Some of the relationships were glossed over a bit- the relationship with Bookman was very much underplayed- but it's a two hour movie. Whattya gonna do?

Bookman's poem was sheer brillaince, tho. "Bitch! Whore of Christ!"

It's been a bit of time since I did a review of where I am in my life. So, without further ado:

Kevin has beome our third roommate. Jessica has left the building, the first of our students to not significantly improve her life by living with us, and Kevin has arrived. He and I have spent much time bonding and making personal jokes, much to poor Kate's dismay. It's almost like the Jim thing all over again.

Mo and Kate and I have become a Wednesday night Fun Unit. Before it was Project Runway oriented, now it is going to be other things. I'm almost wondering if there will now be a Wednesday Night Movie Club. Wednesday Mo, Kevin and I went to see The Prestige. I liked it. I predicted most of the twists and turns, but it was a fun little movie to watch. Kate was feeling a bit off so didn't come. Which made us all sad sad. But we had fun so it was good good!

Work continues to be a constant source of annoyance to me. The troll-like one has reverted and things are pretty much the way they were before. It may seriously be time for a change.

I've been reading a bit. I just finished a book by Bill Moyers about journalism and its decline in modern America. It was kinda folksy in places, but sitll interesting. I'm also going to attempt Faulkner again. Hopefully with more luck this time.

Have been drawing some, but not anything to post. Just more of the same, really, and I feel a need to break from that a bit. I think I'm going to start drawing on bigger paper again, loosen up my arm a touch.

My mother's birthday is tomorrow. On Monday my sister, her husband, the niece and I got family portraits taken as a surprise for me mum. She will love them. Because of this I got my hair cut. No Dr. Seuss hair for me right now. Reviews on my haircut are mixed. It is very short and almost professional looking. Scary, huh? I must remember that it was a clipper cut with a number 3. Must remember that for February- when I feel like getting ti cut again.

All in all, life is pretty okay. Kevin moving in has been wunderbar. Friends have been wunderbar. My niece is adorable. Life is pretty good.

So how are things with you?

This is quite amusing! not for Jeffrey and Michael's horrible attempts at impersonating the impeccable Tim Gunn (straight boys should not try impressions. leave it to santino, fellas) but for the very last moment. The very last moment is worth it's weight in gold. I love Tim Gunn.

Laura is my hero. She's fabulously glamorous, indeed, and a together person. And the vitriol being heaped upon her for being a "bitch" to Jeffrey annoys me. One of my co-workers came in to work on Thursday thrilled that Jeffrey won because it showed that bitch Laura. To her Laura was evil because she made Jeffrey cry.

Uh huh. Poor junkie Jeffrey. Poor Fashion Fag Daddy Jeffrey. Poor trash-talkin', feminazi bashin' Jeffrey. Poor, poor Jeffrey.

*sighs*

The Redemption of Jeffrey Sebelia is one of the least interesting things on television. Jeffrey, who has previously been cut to be the villain, is now being cut to be the hero of the people. No longer is he to be considered the Angry Little peanut. No, now he is Saint Jeffrey of the Junkie Cross, with girlfriend and child. He's Santino without the icky sexuality. He's "edgy" and "punk rock" and designs for the young.

Which, I suppose, is fashion. Fashion being, of course, transitory and fleeting. Jeffrey designs things people buy, wear once, and then send to Goodwill. He's "edgy" and "creative", which really just means he knows how to create a hot mess and send it down a catwalk on a stick insect and make people talk.

Silly as it sounds, I've been wrestling with this since Wednesday. I really hated his collection. I hated it because every good idea he had was attached to a really horrible looking piece of craziness. Take this outfit. I kinda like the jacket. it looks like candy. And the shirt is okay. But the Frankenstein pants are annoying. The little scribbly bits on them look like Jeffrey tossed pieces of luncheon meat at them and then made little scribbly bits where the meat landed. They're just ugly and tacky. You know waht they are? They're Jeffrey's version of fluerchons.

That, of course, is a matter of taste. When I dislike Jeffrey it is a matter of taste. And everything I've read about the finale of Project Runway this week has informed me that my taste is incorrect and that Jeffrey is a visionary and deserved to win because a hot mess is good for fashion. And I admit to being puzzled over this. But then I simply put it in terms of the art world. Jeffrey's basically a mdoern artist. he eschews things that have style and elegance in order to be modern. He can't paint a vase but he can throw paint at a canvas, glue six feathers on it, give it a vague title and impress the intelligentsia.

I can appreciate what Jeffrey attempted. I think you have to be a recovering junkie to get how that ties in to Japanese Dreams and Nightmares, but I get what he was going for. But, to me, it's just more jeans with "Juicy" written on the ass.

In all fairness, though, I did like one of his outfits very much. This outfit I like quite a lot. Sure, the little octopus arms look like someone threw a macrame plant holder at the model and it stuck, but I like the top and the pants very muchly.

In the end Jeffrey had to win. His story was the most compelling and, unlike Michael, he was able to regin in his ugly. Michael Kors could see how every piece of Jeffrey's collection was owned by the same woman. He could see how jeffrey designed for all aspects of her life. I hope he could aslo see her bankroll. Jeffrey charges 55 bucks for a t-shirt. There's no way anyone who didn't have, oh, say, Laura's money could afford this collection. But Jeffrey had to win. It was written in the editing.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, for your amusement, a moment of whisplash-level "Huh, what?"

What's next? Jeffrey Sebelia* pushing for "National Dress Really Pretty and Glamorous Week"?

*who sucks, by the way.

Okay, here's the deal:

Unless you've lived under a rock, you pretty much have heard of Mark Foley at this point. Florida congressman who liked to have dirty AIM messages with teenage boys. Foleygate (and, really, can't we find a way to have a political scandal that doesn't end in "gate"? Nixon was decades ago. Move on, already.) has opened a can of worms for the embattled Republican party. His scandal hit the "family values" party pretty hard and their attempts at spinning it have been, well, ludicrous.

But that's pretty much business as usual in Washington. Spin and counterspin. Scandal and couterscandal. But as a result of Foley's outing and ousting, there's beena return to a hoary old chestnut: outing closeted politicians and their closeted staffers. Mike Rogers of Blogactive has been moving forward pretty strongly, outing politicos and those who work for them.

Outing is the act of publicly annoucning someone's homosexuality, usually for political or social ends. It is a controversial practice with people both for and against it. In this case it is being aimed at Republicans only, with various stated goals.

I'm working on soemthing (listen to me get all pompous) about this. While I'm not going to give you my opinion, I will say that my feelings are mixed. What I'd like is some context on this issue. I'd like to know what you think on any aspect of this issue. Outing. Homosexuality in politics. Homosexuality in general. Politics in general. Electoral tactics. Using the Internet in this way. Anything. What I want to do is paint a little picture of the world around me, the opinions of those I consider friends and how my views fit into that picture.

I know, all serious and shit, right?

So give me your honest opinion. There is no right and wrong. I jsut want to know what you think. I will screen the comments so that no one but me will see them. Your anonymity is guarenteed and I won't hold anything you say against you. But let me know what you think. Like I said, I'm working on writing something on this. It's rare for me to feel so inspired, and I really want to include your opinions.

So let me know what you think.

The Little will be doing a Pedro Almodovar film festival from November 3-16. The first pairing is Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and All About My Mother. I may have to catch that.

Shortbus is coming (ha!) to the Little on October 27th. I definitely want to see it again.

Go Little for having some interesting stuff after a year of being all-around crappy.