Lego people go to church, too

Check out this Lego church that someone built. I was amazed. How come I never had mad Lego skillz like this?

Hail to the Cheese

I'm sitting at my desk at lunchtime browsing the online articles of the New York Times. Suddenly, while devouring the last scrumptious bite of my Jimmy John's sandwich (of course, loaded with extra cheese!), my eyes feat upon a glorious article: "Macaroni and Lots of Cheese."
The article chronicles the author's quest for the perfect Mac and Cheese recipe. Ahhh, yes. I hear the angels singing and the pearly gates swinging open. (Ok, so thats a bit extreme. But still. I REALLY love cheese.)

I've discussed the topic of cheese many a time with friends. Several of them are, like myself, cheese freaks. We are the bearers of knowledge that the new-age dieting and health zealots have long forgotten: Everything is better with cheese. When in doubt, add cheese. I've tried several times to think of a food that wouldn't go well with some type of cheese. I haven't yet found one.

Wine? Check. (Wine and CHEESE parties, hello!)

Fruit? Check. (Apples and cheese - yum. Think Fondue!)

Vegetables? Check. Nothin like sprinkling some shredded cheese on that boring helping of frozen veggie medley.)

Meat? Ahhh, yes, the more the merrier. Chicken Parmesan, yum! Meatballs smothered in a cheese sauce and accompanied with some pasta and marinara? Delicious.

Oh, the list goes on and on.

Without further ado, here's the article on Mac and Cheese.

The year of really annoying things

Its that time of year again -- the new year brings with it all of those 'Top 100' lists of all things 2005. I know I've posted several of these lately, but there's one more I need to add. Then I will be done with lists until next year. That is, unless I want to make my own list of the Top 100 'Top-100' Lists of the Year.
This list, that I found on DIGG, chronicles the most annoying things of 2005. You can read the entire list here.

Here's my favorites.

# 74 - Nick and Jessica
1,000 years from now, archaeologists will look at our news publications and figure that this celebrity duo must have been king and queen of the world. Why anyone is interested in these empty headed no-talent morons is a mystery to all mankind. I’m against The Patriot Act, but I’d be willing to sacrifice our civil liberties a bit to permit the government to put anyone who ever bought a Jessica Simpson record on a special island and do some bomb testing. Not only would you collectively increase the nation’s IQ, but you’d stick it to Wal-Mart by getting rid of 80% of their customer base.

#39 - Fox News
President Bush could drive a flaming van full of babies off a cliff and FOX would find a way to spin it as a liberal attack on family values.

#17 - Rubber Commemerative Bracelets
Whoops! The yellow dye in those LIVESTRONG bracelets causes cancer. Sorry, folks!

#12 - Harriet Miers
Just because she worked as a puppet on "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" for decades doesn’t mean she’s qualified to serve on the highest court in the land.

# 2 - Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise is completely sane, virile, exhibits self control, is a member of a totally rational non-cult religion, does not eat babies, and does not use mind control to trick Hollywood starlets into carrying the seed of space-demons.

Here's to hoping 2006 is a little less annoying.

Crazy-dancing-foil-boys video

Check out this video of Crazy boys dancing. Happy New Year!!! May all your days of 2006 be as special as the one in this video, heeheehee.

Here's to a year of learning

BBC has compiled a list of 2005's "Things We Didn't Know Last Year." Check out the list to see how much smarter a year can make you.

My favorite? Number 67. Giant squid eat each other - especially during sex. Yumm. Eat up!

A close second? Number 73. One in six children think that broccoli is a baby tree. Hmmm. I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.

See all 100 here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4566526.stm

Brokeback Mountain

I finally saw Brokeback Mountain tonight. I've been eagar to see this movie for more than a year. As the abundance of nominations and healthy reviews show, the film is simply brilliant. Amazing scripting, directing, and acting. The story, of the triumphs and tradegy of a homosexual romance in a heterosexual world, has been long overdue in the format of a respected film that appeals to the mainstream movie-goer.

However, one critique not as often discussed in reviews is that of the narrow-focused press surrounding this film. This recent commentary, critical of the kudos given to Ledger and Gyllenhaal for playing gay characters, appeared in The Advocate.
Alan Ball's statement (as quoted in the below article) really sums it all up:
“I'm not a big subscriber to the idea that for a straight actor to play gay now is a huge act of bravery, but I do believe that for a straight actor to not want to play a character because he’s gay is a huge act of cowardice.”

Another good quote:

"And to all you straight actors who want pats on the back for playing gay: Until you’ve lived gay, until you’ve been denied a job because of it, or had to hide in a Hollywood closet; until you’ve had your jaw smashed or watched a generation of your friends die of a disease while government did nothing (like in the Reagan era), don’t speak to me of courage. "
It takes courage to be gay and out, not to play it."

Brokeback Mountain is a movie that has been a long time coming. It's about time a movie about a same-sex relationship got such respect and success in the eyes of the american public.

We've still got a long way to go.

******************************************************
Read the entire article at:
http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail.asp?id=23334

In Memoriam

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

In memory of the creative and peaceful contributions of John Lennon, and of those who lost thier lives in the attack of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th, 1941. (I'm a day late, sorry!)

Joy to the world, A.F.A. style

Mr. and Mrs. AFA, who live in a small town, plan to do most of this year's christmas shopping at the closest store to town - the local Target. Of course, as secluded and cut off from the rest of the world that Mr. and Mrs. AFA are, naturally it takes them 3 hours to get to the closest shopping mall. They cant drive the 3 hours to get to the mall because its suddenly a sin to drive a Ford.
One night, as Mr. and Mrs. AFA are getting ready to go bed (in separate beds, of course!). All of the sudden God appears to Mr. and Mrs. AFA and officially notifies them that they can no longer shop at Target because the store does not wave hideously large and annoying Merry Christmas signs in every customer's face. So, Mr. and Mrs. AFA are in quite the tizzy. Santa's not coming to their house this year because Santa will go straight to hell if he gets his toys at Target. So now what are Mr. and Mrs. AFA supposed to do? How ever are they going to tell their little clan of Little AFA's (and what a large clan they have) that Santa isn't coming because God wont let him get presents for all the little children?

Hmmm. Predicament.

Big Money vs. fundamentalist righwing family groups

Several stories have come to the forefront in the past week regarding rightwing conservative groups such as Focus on the Family and the American Family Association and their battle with large corporations over gay rights issues.
Last week Focus on the Family announced that it withdrew its fund's from Wells Fargo because of it's donation matching to GLAAD, a GLBT-rights organization. Focus claims the move was to protest the bank's "ongoing efforts to advance the radical homosexual agenda." (what BUNK that is!)

Moreover, reports claim that Ford Motor Co. pulled ads from homosexual-targeted publications at the urging of the American Family Association. The AFA launched a boycott of Ford products in May due to it's supposed marketing towards homosexual consumers. Another scary victory for the AFA.

In my opinion, these right wing fundamentalist groups (who represent a very small percentage of the population) are gaining all too much momentum. They are starting to gather an unsettling amount of control over these corporations and are even using the media to promote thier agenda. Kudos to Wells Fargo, however, for matching funds to GLAAD. I can only hope that Wells Fargo maintains it's support of GLBT organizations in the face of Focus's threats. Ford has also been known (at least up until now...???) for it's emphasis on equal treatment and benefits for it's GLBT employees.

While I'd hope that our society would make progress with human rights as we've entered the new century, it seems we are backtracking. For every AMA and Focus on the Family-type organization, we need 10 of the PFLAG, GLAAD, and HRC's to continue to stand up and fight against the rights-restricting agendas of these so called "family-focused" organizations.

How exactly are these organizations supporting families if they are directly fighting against the stability of almost 600,000 families in America?

Picasa is sweet

I thought this pic was pretty neat. Its a collage of a few pics I took in DC with a bit of editing in Picasa. 

Pics from DC

Here's some pics from my recent washington DC trip.

Greenpeace's Kleercut Campaign

I recently went to Washinton D.C. to visit my cousin who is working with Greenpeace's Kleercut Campaign. The campaign promotes awareness and action against Kimberly Clark (KLEENEX brand) and its use of wood from ancient trees and forests in it's paper products. Here's a few pics of my cousin doing her thing. She's on the Greenpeace website. For more info on the Kleercut campaign, go to http://kleercut.net.

For a list of forest-friendly home paper products (tissues, paper towels, and toilet paper) go to http://kleercut.net/en/forestfriendly.