Oscars

Last night we attended an Oscar party at our friends Paul & Steve's. There were 12 of us. We had food and drinks, watched parts of Barbara Walters' interviews with Anne Hathaway, Mickey Rourke, and Hugh Jackman, and speculated on who/what will win. We had a great time.

Although 3 1/2 hours long, I thought the Oscar show kept a pretty good pace. The delicious Hugh Jackman had a great energy level that kept the show from feeling heavy.

I really liked the way they presented the 'best actor' and 'best actress' awards, having 5 past winners enter the stage simultaneously, then describe and announce the current nominees. It really gave the award presentation some extra impact.

One thing I will never understand is why most winners feel the need to ramble off 20-30 peoples' names they need to thank in their acceptance speech. WE DON'T KNOW THESE PEOPLE, so to us it basically sounds like the teacher from the Peanuts cartoon talking. Blah blah blah blah blah. Why not just offer one big 'thank you' to the academy and to everyone who assisted in the production? This would significantly shorten the program, and leave more time for the more enjoyable parts, like performances of the nominated songs.

But there were 2 acceptance speeches I felt bear repeating.

The 1st was from Dustin Lance Black who won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for 'Milk'. His heartfelt and emotional speech was inspiring, not only to me as an out gay man, but undoubtedly to all the young gays and lesbians watching last night, as he assured everyone that equal rights on a Federal level would soon be a reality. Click on his name to watch it.

The 2nd was from Sean Penn who won the Oscar for Best Actor. He took the opportunity to shame those who voted yes on Prop 8, and then stated his belief that all Americans, including GLBT folks, deserve equal rights. Click on his name to watch it.

This was probably the most enjoyable awards show for me in a long time. What did you think?

Crush du Jour: Alban Wurm

Tuesday tidbits

Yesterday I had my weekly weigh-in. As expected, this week's results were not nearly as dramatic as last week's 9 lb loss. In fact, I was a little surprised that I only lost 2 lbs this past week.
For being week 2, I expected more like 4 or 5 lbs. Oh well. I can't let myself get discouraged. However, this week is probably not going to be a great one for weight loss either. Yesterday Spouse & I had lunch out and I ate french fries. Plus tonight we're going to a potluck where I will want to taste everything. I guess that is the key: taste. I don't need to eat an entire helping of everything as long as I just have a taste. I am determined to continue loosing weight for a few more weeks!!!

Yesterday we had intermittent snow throughout the day. Oddly though the temperature seemed to fluctuate, causing the snow to stick on the ground for awhile, then melt, then stick again, then melt again. It was really just enough to cover most of the grass and street and make the trees look pretty. Although enough snow to sled ride and close schools is fun, I prefer this type of snow where you get the beauty of it without the shoveling and treacherous traffic conditions.

This evening we're going to an Inauguration potluck at our friends' Paul & Steve's. They are liberal Democrats like us, and last year during the presidential campaign they promised to have an Inauguration party if a Democratic president were elected. To add to our already happy spirits over Obama's election, Paul & Steve suggested that we give our potluck dishes political names. Steve is making hot 'left' wings. I'm bringing pork 'barrel' barbecue. Get it??? Obama's swearing in happens at noon ET, but I'm quite sure there will still be Inauguration coverage on TV this evening while we eat and talk. I think Inauguration day should be a national holiday so that all Americans can attend in person or watch it on TV.

A friend sent me this video which made me smile. What the duck???

While poking around on other people's blogs I came across this great idea. I'm not sure I have the balls to do it, but I think it could be a useful way of helping those who've never experienced non-recognition of their relationship to feel what GLBT people experience everyday. Please let me know if any of you are doing/have done this!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr day, and happy Inauguration day!

Crush du Jour: Victor Banda

Apple Scrapple

Apparently Father Fall won the fight against Mother Nature who seemed intent on keeping us spoiled by warm temperatures. The weather actually matches the calendar page now so there's no more denying the arrival of fall.

We didn't go for our regular Fri night dinner at the Miltonian. Rick & Nick were out of town, and Stephan & Wayne had invited us to their house for a happy hour. Wayne had made a bunch of holiday wreaths and floral centerpieces and had them out for folks to see and purchase if they felt so inclined. We enjoyed a drink and a nibble to eat, but only stayed for about an hour. We came home, ate pizza and Spouse flipped around between various crappy TV programs while I watched a Netflix DVD called 'Crutch', which I enjoyed.

Spouse made breakfast for us on Sat morning and then we putzed around the house until almost noon. Stephan & Wayne met us here at 12:30 and we headed to Bridgeville for the 14th annual Apple Scrapple Festival. It was wonderfully sunny, cool, and a little breezy; perfect festival weather. On our way to Bridgeville we stopped at a gas station where I accidentally backed into the gas pump, breaking the nozzle off the handle, and breaking the tail light on Spouse's CRV. How embarrassing. The owner of the station was not present but I talked to him on the phone. He called me back today to thank me for being honest about having broken the nozzle. Since the station was not open, I could very easily have gotten back in the car and driven away. The off-duty mechanic working on his own vehicle inside the garage did not see what happened. I had to interrupt his work to inquire about who to speak to about the pump. The owner said the nozzle will cost about $180. to replace. I told him to have it done and mail me the invoice, and I'd pay for it. He again expressed his gratitude for my honesty.

The Apple Scrapple Festival was a much bigger deal that we'd thought. Bridgeville is a very small town so we assumed the festival would be small and easily completed within an hour. Au contraire! Nearly the entire town was roped off for the festival, which consisted of live entertainment on a stage, lots of food vendors (including scrapple, of course), arts and crafts booths, products and services booths, booths selling apples, canned veggies and fruit, pickles, relish, and a rather impressive selection of classic and antique cars to peruse. We were shocked at home many people the festival attracted. Afterward we had an early dinner at Jimmy's Grill, where we ate quite possibly the best fried chicken in DE, if not the entire country.

We barely had time to feed and walk Jordan once we got home before we had to hop back in the car and go to Paul & Steve's for Movie Night. Paul & Steve converted their dining room (which they never used) into a full-fledged movie theatre, complete with a projection system, huge wall-sized screen, velvet drapes, authentic movie theatre candy counter and popcorn maker! These guys took the theme and really went with it, so watching movies with them is even better than going to the actual cinema. We watched "Victim", a 1960 British film about the blackmailing of gay men when simply being homosexual was against the law, based on a true story. It was really good.

Sun morning we slept in until 9:30, then watched "The Barefoot Contessa" and "Nigella Express" as we ate our sesame bagels and drank our blueberry flavored coffee. Unable to postpone it any longer, we started doing our 'serious' housecleaning. Spouse had suggested early in the week that we do a 'serious' housecleaning that coming weekend, and by Sun at noon we knew we'd have to get started. Surprisingly it didn't take as long as we thought, and Spouse abbreviated his portion a bit, deciding to mop the kitchen floor "another day".

Again it was bright and sunny, cool, and slightly breezy so we agreed to meet Rick & Nick at the beach at 2:30. We brought sweatshirts since its often cooler on the beach than at home, but the warmth of the sun kept us from needing to put them on. There was hardly anyone there, and the water was quite calm. Rick & Nick brought their new Sheltie puppy Zack with them. He really enjoyed the beach. We really enjoyed being able to just sit and talk with our friends on the beach for 2 hours, knowing there will very few if any more days like this until spring.

When we got home I showered and then made dinner. We had tacos and Mexican rice. Spouse watched '60 Minutes' and I watched a Netflix DVD called "Unconditional Love". Despite the star-studded cast which included Kathy Bates, the uber-yummy Rupert Everett, Vanessa Redgrave, Dan Akroyd, and Johnathan Pryce, the film was rather disappointing. The 1st half was good and engaging. I really felt for the lead character played by Kathy Bates, whose husband leaves her and whose favorite pop star dies. But the 2nd half just seemed to turn silly and insipid, falling short of even being campy. I really wanted to like this film but it just wasn't worth liking.

We both went to bed at 10:30, but were awakened several times throughout the night and early morning by our darling dog Jordan. We think she has allergies because there are times like last night where she will 'cough' for 15-20 seconds, loud enough to wake us up. Sometimes she does it during waking hours, which is far less irritating than last night when she woke us up no less than 6 times. Spouse took her into a guest bedroom and closed the door, but sometime later she began to whimper and scratch on the door, so he let her out of the guest room and back into our room. This happened 3 times. I don't fault Jordan for keeping us up all night, I fault Spouse. He should have made her stay in the guest bedroom after she'd woken us up twice. This morning when the alarm went off I felt as if I'd just taken a series of 15 minute cat naps.

Pet concern update: Pouncer and Jordan are both eating and pooping normally again. Just thought you'd want to know.

Now, I'm off to my work out.

Drag Queen name of the day: Lily Pewshun