Thanks Again, Republican Scum

Their stalling and infighting resulted in this message, emailed to me at work:

“On December 23, 2011, President Obama signed legislation extending the payroll tax cut until February 29, 2012. This means the employee Social Security Tax will remain at 4.2 percent until February 29, 2012. Future legislation is also expected to extend this tax cut to December 31, 2012.

"Due to the late passage of this legislation, employee Social Security taxes will be deducted at 6.2 percent until the new rate can be implemented into the Commonwealth payroll system. Once the reduced rate is implemented employees will be credited for any overpaid Social Security tax.”

Seriously, you may not like the Democrats, and they often give you valid reasons not to like them. But if you vote Republican and you're not wealthy, you are a stone-cold moron.

A Thought On Adam Lambert

So by now you heard about Adam Lambert and his boyfriend being briefly arrested in Finland after a drunken brawl in a gay bar last week. While I am a fan of Lambert's music, and I liked how he handled the coming-out issue during and just after his "American Idol" days, and I was on his side when people (and TV networks) flipped out after his American Music Awards performance a couple of years ago, I find that I like him as a person less and less.

He seems to be rather arrogant, which isn't a big deal in itself. But when you're a celebrity, and you date another celebrity, and he happens to be a TV "reality" show star (in this case, the Finnish version of "Big Brother"), and you get drunk and get into a big fight, you can't complain about the media being interested in you, and you really shouldn't say that the media exaggerates...

...especially when at least one person has said she was accidentally punched while trying to break up the fight. After I read the tweet shown above I stopped following Adam Lambert on Twitter. Like I said, I'm still a fan of his music, and I'm looking forward to his second album. But his huge ego, combined with his whining about the media, is more than I can handle.

Mural-ity In North Philly

I've written about the Mural Arts Program and the various murals on walls around the city before. In the area near where I work, I was happy to find some more...

This one is on Broad Street, between Indiana and Glenwood Avenues. Amtrak and SEPTA trains run on the tracks above. There's a station nearby.

This is just east of Broad and Glenwood -- the outside of a fire station.

And further south, as you near Broad and Lehigh, is a mural of the legendary Jackie Robinson. At 21st and Lehigh, about 7 blocks to the west, is where Connie Mack Stadium once stood. Robinson, of course, played in Connie Mack Stadium when the Dodgers came to town.

Weird Christmas

I was watching the NFL Red Zone channel, the one that switches between every game going on, and it dawned on me: it's Saturday. And it's Christmas Eve. And I'm watching NFL games. There's a bit of a surreal feeling to the day (although this has happened before, of course). And for me, the holiday season itself has been unusual.

Normally I'd be trying to get through my stash of Christmas movies or TV shows (as listed here). This year, I haven't watched even one. The only Christmas shows I've watched were new holiday episodes of "Glee" and "Community." The "Community" episode was excellent, as it basically attacked "Glee" all night. I have listened to every bit of Christmas music in my iTunes, but that was in part because for the last week or so I've been taking my iPod to work and listening to music during the day. Having a job and a commute that's over an hour each way has really cut into my time. Besides the holiday TV problem, and the difficulty I've had in finding time to go to movies, I only added 12 new posts to the blog last month and just nine so far this month -- and a number of those are quick "post a picture and add a brief comment" posts. It's really frustrating.

I think I'd have an easier time if I had bought an iPad or other tablet PC, and gotten a 4G data plan to go with it, instead of the laptop I bought in September. That way my time on the bus and El (at least before it goes underground) could be more easily spent surfing the web, reading Twitter, etc., and that would allow me more time at night to blog and such. The more I think about it, the more I want to buy a tablet, but now I have this perfectly good laptop.

But I digress.

More Gay Media Fail, More Flyers Annoyance

Okay, I don't want to keep picking on writers for gay media outlets when they delve into the world of sports. (Of course, I'm talking about the mainstream outlets and not sites like Outsports or Wide Rights.) Whether it's just that this particular writer isn't that familiar with sports, or is trying to dumb down the article to try and appeal to an audience that isn't sports-friendly or sports-knowledgable, I don't know. But this article from the Philadelphia Gay News about Flyers' scout Patrick Burke, brother of Brendan Burke, regarding Patrick's advocacy on behalf of LGBT issues, has a flaw. The beginning of the article refers to Patrick Burke as "a recruiter for the Philadelphia Flyers," as does the headline. Ummmm, no. He's a scout, not a recruiter. Colleges recruit athletes. Professional teams don't.

(Well, I suppose the process of signing high-priced free agents is a form of recruitment, but that is handled by front-office personnel much higher up the food chain.)

Meanwhile, the article mentions the Wayne Simmonds incident...

Flyers player Wayne Simmonds was criticized for allegedly using a slur during a game that was caught on camera, although, because there was no sound on the video, he did not face a fine or other repercussions, as some other professional sports players have.

Burke noted that he has never spoken with Simmonds — or most other Flyers players, as he is based in Boston and his role as a scout keeps him on the road most of the season.

He said he could not comment on the specific incident because of legalities but did say that the NHL’s follow-up is an important, yet often overlooked, addition to the story.

“The NHL released a statement in the aftermath where they announced that going forward the league would treat gay slurs in the same way they do racist comments. They took a firm stance that gay slurs are not acceptable,” Burke said. “That got lost in everything else that was going on, but I think it was a very important statement and one that other leagues are now starting to follow up with. But I think the NHL is well ahead of some other leagues in encouraging diversity and a safe atmosphere for gay athletes.”

I don't think the league's follow-up has been overlooked. I think the entire story has been overlooked.

Jerk

Why am I wearing this? You tell me. Seriously, take a guess.

What Does This Mean? (Plus An Update)

First, the update:

As you can see, this box that I wrote about finally has its door, or lid, or whatever, back in place. I'm not sure exactly when it was done. I noticed it on Thursday. Not sure who did it, but there it is, with some sort of band holding the cover in place. I think that's because it got dented while it was lying on the ground, most likely from being stepped on a time or twelve.

Now then, here's a photo I took last week. This has been on the wall at the 15th Street station on the El for as long as I can remember. Someone wrote a message on it, and for the life of me I have no idea what it means. It's not just regular graffiti. There seems to be a message, but I can't figure it out...

Click on the photo for the large version and tell me what you think the writer is trying to say. The only part I really understand it that it was someone's mother's 116th birthday. Is it possibly some form of street art?

Too Long For Twitter: Stand Back, Philadelphia...

...because you oughta know whatcha gonna get in me: just a little touch of star quality!

Yep, the Evita song "Buenos Aires" is stuck in my head this morning. (The classic Patti LuPone Broadway original, that is, not the Madonna movie version or that "Glee" thing the other night.) And this, on a little more than 3 hours' sleep after having a rather tough week. This could be an interesting day.

Speaking of star quality, my friend Kurt was fantastic last night in his featured role in the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus holiday concert, "Nutcracker: A Tale of Sugar Plum Fairies." There are two more shows, this afternoon and tonight. Go see it.

I hope to see a movie today, and if so, tell you about it more promptly than I did with the ones I saw recently.

For now, I leave you with this: Justin Timberlake's musical comeback hit has already been written for him...

The Mysterious Box On The Pole

So this...

...has been like this for about two weeks or so, completely exposed to the air, the rain, etc. It's at the bus stop near my house. It seems important, seeing as it seems to be electronic or communications equipment. So a couple of days after I first noticed it, I tweeted it to the city's 311 Twitter feed...

...and got no reply.

I took a couple more pictures last week. They aren't as large when viewed at full size than I thought. I need to re-check the camera settings on my phone. This is another view of it:

The black box (more clearly seen in the top photo) says "XM" on it, which leads me to think it possibly is related to satellite radio. I know that Sirius/XM uses repeaters in and around cities for its signal. I also thought perhaps it has something to do with police radio communications.

The silver box hanging outside the big container, with what appears to be a phone cord attached, says, from what I can tell from the ground, "Electroline Transponder." And there's some sort of bar code.

This is the door of the big box, sitting on the ground.

It seems to have nothing to do with the traffic lights at the corner (the pole itself is slightly away from the intersection) as they've been working just fine.

The Philadelphia Daily News is interested in this. Can anyone shed some light on what this is?

Quick Reviews: J. Edgar, Muppets, Puss in Boots

Blogging for me is in fits and spurts right now. Either I have to be really inspired or it has to be something quick (such as those featuring a photo or two), and my lack of time (due to work and other issues) makes it worse. As far as these movie posts are concerned, I finally decided that I'm just not going to get to separate posts for these right now. So...

J. Edgar: The story (more like a psychological profile) of infamous FBI director J. Edgar Hoover is well-acted but the jumping back and forth in time made it much too disjointed. I read lots of comment about Leonardo DiCaprio's makeup for Hoover's latter days but to be honest I thought the makeup job done on Armie Hammer was worse. My grade: B-minus.

The Muppets: I loved the old Muppet Show and enjoyed this movie, but it was a bit too much of an exercise in nostalgia to be truly spectacular. I appreciate Jason Segel's efforts in getting the Muppets back on the big screen, but somehow I felt this didn't quite fully win my heart. The best celebrity cameo (and one that got quite a reaction from the audience) was by Jim Parsons as...well, I won't spoil it. My grade: B-plus.

Puss in Boots: It took weeks but I finally got to see this yesterday. Spinning Puss (voice of Antonio Banderas) off from the Shrek films wasn't a surprise, but stripping the film of the "Shrek" barrage of pop-culture references was. It was a wise decision. But why didn't anyone tell me they used a Lady Gaga song in the film? I might have seen it sooner. My grade: B-plus.

Glee: Closed-Captioning FAIL

This is from Tuesday night's episode of "Glee." You should easily be able to figure out what's wrong here:

Try and ignore my crappy non-HDTV and the reflection of the lamp on Santana's face.

The First Christmas Song Of 2011

Congratulations(?) to the first Christmas song of 2011!...that was played on my Xmas playlist in iTunes when I set it to shuffle mode...



"The Davey Dinkle Song," by the cast of Urinetown, from "Broadway's Greatest Gifts: Carols For The Cure 2001."