He Knew All The Words

I’ve never seen it, but I know my parents are fans of the TV show Mad Men, so I used the new Mad-Men-Yourself tool to make Mad Men versions of my folks. How’d I do? (Dad, I gave you thin lips).

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“I’ve been as clear as I can be; under the reform I’ve proposed, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor,” Mr. Obama said. “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. These folks need to stop scaring everybody.”

Good. He needs to more aggressively shoot down the lies. “These folks need to stop scaring everybody” should be repeated by every Democrat who can get in front of a TV camera for the next six weeks.

After living with one of their default layouts, I finally got around to customizing my Twitter page background. If you tweet, follow me here.

Obama just did.

I love Diane Vicarel.

Okay, so the internet is basically exploding with reactions to what’s going on in the Senate, specifically Max Baucus’ Finance Committee. (Take a look for more information in the comments of my previous post). [note: Due to my own ineptitude, all comments for a bunch of posts around time were accidentally deleted. So ignore that previous sentence.]

Nate Silver over at fivethirtyeight.com has a terrific post getting into some of the details of what I’m going to start calling “The Baucus Debacle” (good one, right?): This is required reading to know what’s going on, but please take your blood pressure medication before reading it. I almost burst a vessel.

Here’s a bit of clarity on what’s going on with health care. In an interview with MSNBC House Rep (and reliable progressive) Maxine Waters basically spells out the varying positions of the House Progressive Caucus, the Blue Dogs, the Senate and the White House. She explains why President Obama’s chief of staff is being less than convincing, and she makes it all plain and easy to understand.

And then even more importantly, the folks over at FireDogLake condense this basic info into an endgame of how we’re going to win or lose on the Public Option.

Take a look at at it all here.

Another enormous blow to the dance world today, as Merce Cunningham has died at the age of 90.

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Cunningham’s contribution to contemporary dance cannot be overstated. Nor can his genius. In my 17 years in New York, I’ve seen may 15 or 20 performances by Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and a few performances of his choreography at City Ballet. Rigorous but never dry, his dances are challenging, funny, athletic, intelligent, and seem to exist in a world of their own.

Cunningham had a long career and leaves behind a huge body of work. The obituary in the Times is quite informative and filled with appropriate praise. I’m not usually moved to send donations upon the deaths of people I do not know, but I am making a contribution to Cunningham’s legacy fund, the creation of which was only just announced last month. I’m glad there was some thorough estate planning, because I hope to enjoy the company’s performances long into the future.

Keep an eye out for MCDC’s upcoming performance schedule. You’ll want to see some of these dances while those who worked with Cunningham are still dancing in the company.

I’ll leave you with a video from the company’s YouTube page:

[mobile]Merce Cunningham- Channels/Inserts on YouTube[/mobile]

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Please go jump in a lake. If you fall ill over the Senate’s August recess, you are covered. What about those Americans who aren’t?

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What a jerk. They should be keeping the Senate in session until this thing is finished. Enough dicking around — just get the job done. Do any of you out there get all of August off? And still get paid? I sure as heck don’t. But as a small-business owner I just keep paying outrageous insurance premiums every single month so my staff can stay healthy. And this bozo wants to give more time to the Republicans? More time to the Senate Finance Committee? They’ve had enough time — for crying out loud it’s only been since forever that we’ve been trying to do this. Stop stalling, stop failing, and starting doing the people’s business. What’s so freakin’ hard about that?!

WE NEED A NEW SENATE MAJORITY LEADER NOW!

UPDATED AT 10PM TO ADD:
In the video below the President mocks those who say this is happening too soon. “How can it be too soon? We’ve been talking about health care reform since the days of Harry Truman!” (Granted, he gives Reid a pass on the missed deadline. I wish he’d call Reid out, but I know that’ll never happen…).

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Well, I just watched Obama’s press conference on health care. I think he did a good job generally, although I’d like to see a little more fire when it comes to making demands of Congress. I would have LOVED to hear him say “I will veto any bill that does not include a public option that is designed to compete with the insurance industry and keep them honest.” But who am I kidding? He’d never do that, let alone say it. One of the questions touched on banking industry regulation, and I found myself yelling at the screen, which is something I haven’t done since –ahem– the previous administration. I mean, where is this regulation we’ve been promised? I want to see some headlines about the financial sector complaining. Because if they’re not complaining, then the regulation isn’t strict enough. Instead, all we’re seeing are more headlines about big bank profits. Pardon my French, but fuck that. And finally, I’d like to be clear that my enthusiastic support for Obama’s efforts in health care do not negate my fierce objection to his total abandonment of LGBT issues. He’s the one who keeps saying they can walk and chew gum at the same time. He’s the one who says they can handle many things at once. So that means the delays we’re seeing in the repeal of DADT and DOMA are pure cynical politics. Sorry, dude, that’s not the change I worked my ass off for last fall. I understand that NYC City Council Speaker (and lesbian) Christine Quinn met with Obama recently and complained about the pace of things. He told her that by the end of his first term she’d be happy. Her response: “Well, it’s not actually about being happy. And I’m not going to wait till the end of anything.” Good for you, sister! I’m not waiting either. It’s time to hold this president’s feet to the fire.

Speaking of fire, it’s hot here for the first time this summer. We had a nasty heat wave in April and then pleasant temps and lots of rain since. It’s really summery now. And I haven’t been to the beach. I need to get my beached-white-whale fat ass into some sand soon or before I know it it’ll be autumn. Of course, it’s hard to reverse the fat ass trend when my love for ice cream is so great. Summer, of course, is a great time for music. Something about the warmth of the sun allows for a certain warmth of music to soak into your soul. My big summer listens right now are The Dirty Projectors and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The Pains self-titled debut album makes me feel like an angsty 16-year-old lookin’ to rebel against anything and everything. It’s awesome. (I know, I know, I’m 40, not 16. But can’t we just ignore that? 40 is off to a soporific start.) The Dirty Projectors album, Bitte Orca, is a high-minded tour through a genius’s garden of soul music. It’s weird, arty, and brilliant. But nothing touches the musical soul like Soul Power, a new documentary about a music festival in Zaire in 1974. Featuring James Brown, Miriam Makeba, Celia Cruz, BB King, Bill Withers, The Spinners, and Sister Sledge, among a bunch of others, this movie is simply amazing. Here’s a link to the Soul Power preview, but embedded below is the performance that knocked my socks of in the theater: Celia Cruz tearing it up with the Fania All-Stars. This is some amazing music-making. Recent videos for Dirty Projectors and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart follow…

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[mobile]Celia Cruz in Zaire[/mobile]
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[mobile]The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Young Adult Friction[/mobile]

If you don’t follow me on Twitter but are curious as to what I tweet about, well, here’s a word cloud to show you.

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The wonderful world of Twitter has provided me with a new friend, some insights into some of my favorite politicians, and now, finally, wonderfully, the ultimate ice cream sandwich. Someone tweeted something about a so-called “Big Gay Ice Cream Truck” and well, what more did I need to hear? I started following the tweets of this man who drives a Mr. Softee truck but covers up it’s signage with his own BIG GAY signs, and who indulges his patrons’ desires for ever-more exotic, fun, and over-the-top toppings for their ice cream.

The first thing I read about was a contest to see who could name his new bacon-chocolate ice cream sandwich. I’m sorry, did you say BACON ICE CREAM SANDWICH?! Yes. Yes I did. This man — this genius — carmelizes bacon and then sticks it into ice cream sandwiches, like a BLT with a chipwich replacing the LT! I had to try it.

So one afternoon, Michelle and I had to go shoot some photos for a project we’re doing at work, and I suggested that on the way back we take a detour to Union Square where the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck was parked that day (You see, he updates Twitter every day with his location so his regulars can track him down wherever he may be in the city. Like I said, the guy’s a freaking genius).

Before I tell you about it, perhaps you should have a look:

So the night before he goes out, this guy camelizes bacon in brown sugar and maple syrup. Then when he makes your cartwheel he takes a thin chocolate wafer, layers it with the bacon, covers it with chocolate soft-serve, then tops it with a second wafer. Holy shit. It’s so sinful and so amazing. It’s got that salt-sweet thing that chocolate covered pretzels have. But with the smoked flavor of bacon! This ice cream sandwich makes me love life. (The best part? The bacon is only for those in the know — he leaves it off the menu so he doesn’t run out before his regulars have a chance to order it. You have to know to ask for it.) Michelle had a different, also delicious concoction: vanilla ice cream dipped in dulce de leche and then covered with crumbled Nilla wafers. It was freakin’ awesome.

Oh, so back to the bacon-ice-cream-sandwich-naming contest: I didn’t win. I suggested BLC, as a take-off on BLT, but standing for Bacon Loves Cream. Didn’t fly. I saw someone suggested “Kosher Killer” which I thought was a riot, but probably not the best for marketing in NYC. Someone suggested “Pig Cream” but I think that’s just gross. A couple days ago, a winner was announced. It’s now called The Choinkwich. To be honest, I don’t love the name, but hell, they could call it Arthur and I wouldn’t care!

Anyway, at $4 a pop, that was the best $8 I’ve spent in a long long long long time. Thank you, Big Gay Ice Cream Man!!

Aside to Adrienne Colla: “New York misses you, Girl.”

Jonathan David, by Belle & Sebastian:

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