Category Archives: Celebrities

Celebrities, Daughter, Streisand

RIP Elizabeth Taylor

I think it made an unintentionally strong impression on my daughter when she was a little girl when I had long-argued with other people that Barbra Streisand was the most talented woman in the world, and Elizabeth Taylor was the most beautiful.  Of course it was not intended to take away from my obvious bias that my daughter is the most beautiful creature on the planet, but it probably hurt her feelings.  I found out through the grapevine that my daughter hated Liz for what I said, which reminded me of a scene between the father and daughter from What Dreams May Come.

My admiration for these two women for various reasons made the reposting of this article at this sad time apropos:

Streisand Remembers Her Friend Taylor

By Advocate.com Editors, Posted on Advocate.com March 23, 2011

Barbra Streisand calls the passing of her longtime friend Elizabeth Taylor “the end of an era.”

The two celebrated entertainers and outspoken activists were close friends for several decades and nearly costarred on Streisand’s 1996 film The Mirror Has Two Faces.

Streisand’s full statement: “It’s the end of an era. It wasn’t just her beauty or her stardom. It was her humanitarianism. She put a face on HIV/AIDS. She was funny. She was generous. She made her life count.”

Art, Bears, Celebrities, Family, Food, Languages, Pets

Ramblings

My Yorkie Monte got a stimulating two mile round trip walk to BART station this morning, that lucky dog.  Bobby joined me and made the walk much more interesting.  We’re thinking about dressing the dog  up as an ewok for a dog costume contest in Alameda if not too rainy on Halloween.

I wish I was with my friend Rick at Sanity rally in DC; I had my moment on Colbert once, though.  See the link on the contents here.

I’m excited about the permaculture yield from backyard that Bobby already orchestrated.  We worked pretty hard on it (more him than me).

I gave mom a lesson in the content management system called WordPress, and she seems to have it down.  She is going to help me with the Trupa.com genealogy site.

Spoke t my old high school friend  Jan today.  She married my other high school friend Mike and they live in Colorado.  Bobby and I are going to visit there for the holidays, so I will see them in Fort Collins, north of Denver.  She told me to be prepared for some really cold weather, but probably not as cold as New York.

I’m very surprised Christina Aguilera is already divorcing, and more surprised that I care. Love her pipes.  Supposedly she was going out with the lesbian DJ that Lindsay Lohan was seeing before rehab (again).

Auguri to Celine Dion on her twin boys. My favorites divas never have girls!  Very cool gesture that Celine named one of her sons after Nelson Mandela, who she met.

Had a great polyglot dinner and art discussion at Tropisueno with friends on Yerba Buena Lane last night before we went to the Badass Bear-aoke at Deco Lounge.

Oprah touring Yosemite is inspiring me to make concrete plans. We’re seeing Grand Canyon in 7 days!

Celebrities, Photos, Technology, Television

Bye-bye Cable Television

Most of what I watch is Hulu, CNN Video, NYTimes video, ComedyCentral.com, LogoOnline and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show.  So, inspired by a friend who has Netflix (like I used to ) and Hulu “premium” (I only use Hulu for many fewer dollars per month than what Comcast and other cable companies charge for television, I discontinued my cable tv service and I’m saving $100/month. I literally watch all of my shows on one pc or another (usually a laptop I bring around the house with me, even when I’m cooking and doing other chores).  I watch everything online anyway and now I have a spare monitor my daughter can use on her laptop to use as an extra television, although she’s a little upset that we no longer have television in the living room.  I’ve found playing dvd’s on laptops is far more reliable than the cheap dvd players I’ve bought in stores anyway, so there was no point in letting my flat screen TV languish.  Therefore, it is main PC monitor now!  As per this picture, it dominates my desk.  I don’t have it all worked out yet, as I still need to fix the resolution with drivers.  However, the manufacture web site “Element Electronics” doesn’t seem to have Windows 7 drivers for their television, probably because they didn’t expect a geek like me to use it as a main monitor on a daily basis.

Celebrities

Mel Gibson’s slow train wreck

So after sitting down to tell his strictly-raised Catholic kids about how he was dumping their mother for a younger woman who was pregnant with his baby, 57yo now-single bigot Mel Gibson is an embarrassment AGAIN.  Hi religious zealotry didn’t prevent him from throwing babymama#1 away and now he’s said to have knocked teeth out of #2 while she’s holding their infant!?!  The audio tape of his rant about “niggers” raping her because of how she dresses only adds to his all-around bigotry with regard to Jews, which he tried to excuse because of his “lifelong” challenges with alcohol.  Rehab apparently didn’t work.

Celebrities, New York, Photos, Travel

201005 New York Scenes including visit to Highline Park

I had three celebrity sightings when I was there this time.  Anderson Cooper was eating at Chat & Chew near Union Square, one of my old hangouts.  He was with the Parisian guy who is reputed to be his boyfriend (I later saw a link and verified his identity).  I also saw Kristin Wiig at the former Dugout/Rock Bar, making out with a woman.  She was already my favorite SNL cast member at the moment.  Now she really is!  Lastly I saw Michael Musto at the Urban Bear Weekend fair.  He’s a Village Voice columnist who I used to see around town all the time.

It was so great to see many old friends, but I did neglect to photograph a few special people, including Laura Yellon, Chris Cintron, Ted Habza and David A. Garcia, who I made sure to spend time with as they went out of their way to make sure they saw me.  Here are pictures of the various events and people I saw, including my first look from the High Line Park, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Celebrities, Memoriam, Music

RIP Lena Horne

I was on one of her email fan lists for years and I remember what an impression she made on me when she appeared on the Cosby Show.  I wasn’t fully familiar with her accomplishments at the time, but talk about a class act and a decent, long life.  I’ve thought about her often in recent years and knew that she was no young whippersnapper.  I listen to her regularly on my Ipod, and I know what an inspiration she was to many.  What a gorgeous, amazing, talented lady.

Celebrities, Film

Weekend was mostly Moving and Movies

My family helped me tremendously with a lot of moving and I got to watch a bunch of movies when I collapsed, especially on Saturday night.  These included:

1.  Oscar Nominated Coraline with Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher and Saunders and French.

2. The 2001 version of Planet of the Apes with hottie Mark Wahlberg, who I can’t explain why he turns me on so much, except for that (probably roid-enhanced) rocking body.

3. Evolution, a kind of silly sci-fi comedy, with David Duchovny (typecast), Julianne Moore (always stunning), Orland Jones (annoying) and very sexy Seann William Scott, whose comedy timing wasn’t exactly on in this movie, but he’s still very easy on the eyes.

4. Hackers with a young Angeline Jolie.  It reminded me of War Games mixed with Tron and was embarrassingly outdated, speaking of their speedy 28.8 baud modems.

Celebrities, Film, Technology

Fan pages for people on Facebook who have no particular following

My favorite “Mommie Dearest” quote is “Because I am not one of your FAAAAAAAAAAANNNS”  There are some excellent remixes of it on Youtube.

I have lots of friends on Facebook (almost the maximum, even though I’ve had to rebuild the profile several times) and other venues, but those numbers pale in comparison to the number of people I actually have in my computer’s personal address book.  I pretty much have kept track of everyone I have worked with, done business with, went to school with or socialized with at least my second year of law school (1996).  I’ve used the same basic electronic tool to do it, too (Microsoft Outlook), which I’ve customized the hell out of.  I should have database expertise on that alone.

However, I still can’t fathom having a fan page for myself just for the sake of having one.  If I reach the maximum number of friends on FB, then I will weed out the ones who have been evasive or who have incomplete profiles.  A fan page to me, would require that I have some special title or elected position that warrants admiration from complete strangers.  Perhaps some day I’ll be a well-published author with books on various subjects and will have actual “fans” but for now I’d really rather just have friends.

Those who have invited me to their fan pages, whether or not I’ve met them in person or not, should not be offended if I don’t join.  If I really like someone’s art work, I’ll join their fan page, but media whore that I am with all of the times I’ve been on TV and in print and with all of the columns I’ve written and articles I’ve self-published or formally published, I still can’t imagine myself crossing into the line of self-proclaimed celebrity without a body of work that stands on its own.