Waitin' for the Weekend

A gay twist on the country song:

To Boo or Not to Boo

I always loved Casper, bought all the comic books - but the syndicated show wasn't aired by any of the three stations we could get, so I couldn't watch the cartoons, which was a great disappointment.

Once in a great while, I suppose when the atmosphere was just right, we could get them in a very snowy picture from a station in another city a hundred miles away - but that was rare. It goes without saying that all the cartoons on television were in black and white - you had to go to the movies to see a color cartoon.

Young'uns today have no concept of a TV show they just can't see by any means, I guess. But y'all can see this one right here and now - in color, even! Enjoy.

What's My Line, 8/3/52

Featuring Francis the Talking Mule as the Mystery Guest:

Marriage News Watch, 10/27/14

Matt Baume, in a shirt he just picked up off the laundry room floor, reports:

Sunday Drive: You Raise Me Up

With special good wishes of love and joy for my truckbuddy Frank and his husband Leon, who married yesterday at their home in Connecticut after 26 years together - check out the wedding pics on Frank's blog here.

Obama Speaks on Ebola

With all the hysteria going on, your Head Trucker is like - wait, didn't we just go through all this with the AIDS thing? The fears, the rumors, the blazing headlines, the hazmat suits and rubber gloves. Then I remember that was 30 years ago, and people forget - or just don't learn. In today's weekly address, the President gives some clear facts and guidance on handling the new plague:




Detailed info on how you can catch ebola - and how you can't at the link.

Waitin' for the Weekend

Strange and Amazing

Not to mention the ridiculous and absurd:

The History of Breakfast

The late, delightful Clarissa Dickson Wright elucidates the history of the meal your grandmother told you was the most important one of the day, in part 1 of this 2012 BBC documentary:

Attack on Canadian Parliament

Map of Ottawa shootings from the Globe and Mail.

Shortly before 10 a.m. Eastern time this morning in Ottawa, a gunman with a rifle shot a soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial, then raced the short distance to the Center Block of the Canadian Parliament, where he gained entry and a gun battle ensued within the halls of Parliament, as seen in the video above. Security forces from the police and RCMP are blocking streets and responding to various points in the vicinity.

Reports are that more than one shooter is active, and government offices as well as downtown Ottawa buildings are on lockdown. Prime Minister Stephen Harper as well as opposition leaders are reported to be safe and out of danger. Police are also investigating reported shootings at the Rideau Centre shopping mall near Parliament Hill.

On Monday, a radicalized Canadian convert to Islam ran down two Canadian soldiers in St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu, 30 miles southeast of Montreal, killing one of them.

The CBC has live coverage of events on Parliament Hill here.

The Globe and Mail has ongoing coverage here.

CTV also has live coverage here.


Update, 4:20 p.m.: Canadian news organizations are now reporting that the soldier killed in this morning's cowardly attack at the War Memorial was 24-year-old Cpl. Nathan Cirillo from Hamilton, Ontario, who when off duty worked with an animal rescue outfit.

R. I. P.

British Insults

What, don't know any?  Thick as two planks, you are.  Don't be a mardy tosser, get up to speed with Siobhan Thompson here:

Marriage News Watch, 10/20/14

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:

Sunday Drive: Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major

Performed by the Munich Bach Orchestra:

Thirty-two!

Latest marriage map from Freedom to Marry - click to enlarge.

A flurry of legal developments happened yesterday, so now there are 32 states where people like us can marry: hit the links to read up on the mind-boggling good news.

Alaska

Arizona

Wyoming

Federal government


And although this is not my idea at all of a proper do, I still had to get my hanky out - Kevin Patterson and David Larance have the first gay wedding in Arizona:




And here's a great piece on Karen and Nelda, the lesbian couple you see in the video above, who have been waiting since the freakin' Eisenhower Administration for the right to marry!




Finally, a sweet pic from Idaho taken earlier this week:

Waitin' for the Weekend

Ryan Burke

Asinine Art

The serene neoclassical facades of the Place Vendome in Paris are now surrounding a giant inflatable sculpture, which American artist Paul McCarthy has entitled Tree.



More on the story here.

Inferior Decorator

Some duck fits from 1948 to liven up your Thursday:

Say No to Gay Divorce

A public service message from Jimmy Kimmel:

Candid Camera: The Unanswerable Phone Call

The original Candid Camera with Allen Funt and Durwood Kirby was always hilarious. Here's a clip, undated, that is sure to make you smile. My sides hurt now.

Marriage News Watch, 10/13/14

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:




And we can add Alaska to the list - as one headline put it, now Putin can see gay marriages from his house!

Yesterday afternoon, U. S. District Judge Timothy Burgess (appointed by Bush in 2005) struck down Alaska's marriage ban as being an unconstitutional deprivation of due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment - as most other courts have done.  Full text of the ruling here.  Governor Sean Parnell vowed to appeal the decision, but since Alaska is covered by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which last week gave marriage equality to Idaho and Nevada - the governor is just talking out his ass.

Alaska is thus the 30th state where gays can marry. Hoo-wee, boys, now we're getting somewhere! Photos of the celebration at Mad Mindy's bar in Anchorage last night here.

Reports are that Vital Statistics offices will be issuing licenses from 8 a.m. today; however, Alaska has a three-day waiting period, so the first weddings won't likely happen until Thursday.

No word yet on how this is affecting Sarah Palin's heterosexual marriage.


Also, if you're up for it - yesterday, Prop 8 attorney Ted Olson and professional bigot Tony Perkins debated the issue on Fox News Sunday - as if there's anything left to debate. Olson made some brilliant points, while Perkins had only the same tired old crap and lies to sputter.




And an article I missed last Monday - which seems such a long time ago now; ELEVEN states have gained marriage equality since then - on the cool, cagey way the Supreme Court may have granted marriage equality to the whole country without having to make a dramatic ruling. Read Amy Davidson's take in the New Yorker.

Sunday Drive: In an English Country Garden

Your Head Trucker learned to play this pretty piece during my juvenile piano lessons, but strangely enough I have never heard the lyrics until now.




Some more pictures of the lovely gardens of England, if you're in the mood for that this morning:

The Boys of Summer

Contributed by my truckbuddy Tim from England, now resident in Spain:

Tim’s Take on Spain – The Boys Of Summer

One of summer’s simple joys for Partner and me is pizza on the beach of a Sunday evening, washed down with a glass or two of chilled wine, naturally! We’ll watch the sunset and the people, and we’ll chat with the boys who own and run the place – our ‘boys’ of summer. Which is a good excuse to play our first musical piece.

This version of the old Don Henley classic is by German DJ Ole Van Dansk and was filmed in Lagos, Portugal, so it has a suitable Euro-Iberian feel to it. It is in the ‘House Trance’ style apparently . . . no, I don’t know either, but it does grow on you!



Whilst many other blogs have already marked the official end of summer, the tourist ‘summer’ season here on the Costa del Sol actually runs on into late October. So this ‘Tim’s Take’ is my own ‘seasonally adjusted’ contribution to mark the event! But first, dear reader, some introductions. This is Sergio . . .

. . . and this is his elder brother, Carlos.

Together they run one of our favourite chiringuitos – Royal Beach.

The upstairs restaurant has a ‘Pirate’ theme; hence Carlos’s get-up. When Partner and I visited the west-coast of America a couple of years back, Carlos and Sergio asked if we could bring back some ‘Pirate’ paraphernalia for the restaurant. Monterey and San Diego provided plenty of fine samples. I can only imagine the customs officers faces when they found the ‘booty’ buried in our suitcases – a cutlass, a flintlock pistol, even a hook for a missing hand, plus pieces of eight and an eye patch! All plastic, I hasten to add, and today they join a lot of other piratical bric-a-brac decorating the walls and ceiling. Not to my taste perhaps, but the kids love it! And happy kids = happy customers = more doubloons!

Besides pizzas, it also serves the most wonderfully fresh seafood. Both brothers are keen fishermen, and Sergio is always keen to display the latest catch! Here he is with a couple of magnificent candy-striped urtas, red-banded sea bass. They have soft, white flesh, with a subtle, delicate flavour, and are one of the restaurant’s specialities. They might be called Red Snappers where you live.

‘The Royal’ as we call it, is just a short ten minute drive down the hill from our home, and has become a favourite destination for Partner, Lulu and me on a summer’s Sunday evening. We have known Carlos and Sergio since we moved here nine years ago. Carlos can appear quite stern, but underneath he has a wickedly dry sense of humour. He is the business man of the two and takes his responsibilities very seriously. And he still ‘looks out’ for his younger brother, even though they are now both in their thirties. Sergio is always happy, a natural joker and an excellent chef. A perfect foil to Carlos.

Over the years we have watched them take over the reins of the little family business from their late father, and grow it into one of the most popular chiringuitos in the area. We have shared many happy times with Carlos and Sergio, and some sad ones too. We are very fond of them both, although saying hello can sometimes be a painful business. Both brothers are quite strong and when your arm has been punched, or your shoulder squeezed in friendly greeting, you know it! But the pleasure is worth the pain! I think this studly gentleman might give as good as he got though! Probably one of their ‘martial arts’ friends (see later).

-- Continued after the jump --

Marriage Tsunami Rolls On

In the last two days, the rolling tide of marriage equality has washed over four more states: Nevada, West Virginia, Idaho, and North Carolina. Just amazing. Here's a sweet clip of the first two men married late yesterday in Raleigh, North Carolina, both of them sheriff's deputies:



Oh my. I have lived to see this day. Your Head Trucker remembers a time when the officers of the law, instead of kissing your sweet lips, would have been kicking your gay ass all over town.

At the moment there are 29 states plus DC with marriage equality - and counting  That covers about three-fifths of the U. S. population.  Here is another ugly but up-to-date map, this time from Freedom to Marry:

Click to enlarge.

Waitin' for the Weekend

Justice Joslin

Carved with Love: The Extraordinary Thomas Chippendale

A fascinating and highly informative BBC documentary, part of a series on British woodwork, first aired last year.

Blue Peter and Other Delights

What do the Brits watch on the telly when they aren't lapping up American re-runs?  Siobhan Thompson gives us a rundown on the ten most popular - and rather curious - British shows:

Marriage News Watch, 10/6/14

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:




Freedom to Marry has a live blog on today's momentous Supreme Court action here.  Couples are marrying in Colorado, Indiana, Virginia, Utah, and even Oklafreakinhoma as I type, it seems.  I'll update this post when I can find some good video coverage.


Update, 10/7, 8 a.m.:  Here's Gwen Ifill of PBS NewsHour summarizing yesterday's court action:



And Ifill leads further discussion of the issue with guests from about 7:40 to 20:00 in the full edition of NewsHour:




Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog provides an understandable analysis of the Court's doings in the article "First Monday surprise on same-sex marriage: In Plain English."

Wikipedia has numerous articles on same-sex marriage in the United States, which may or may not be reliable and up to date. Instead of posting the ugly, confusing Wikipedia map, here's one published by the Wall Street Journal, which is more helpful:

Click to enlarge

Update, 3 p.m.: Add Colorado to the list. Video here.


Update, 5:30 p.m.: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down marriage bans in Idaho and Nevada as violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Text of the ruling here. A delicious quote from page 21:

[Idaho Governor Butch Otter, one of the defendants] also states, in conclusory fashion, that allowing same-sex marriage will lead opposite-sex couples to abuse alcohol and drugs, engage in extramarital affairs, take on demanding work schedules, and participate in time-consuming hobbies. We seriously doubt that allowing committed same-sex couples to settle down in legally recognized marriages will drive opposite-sex couples to sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll.

Worth reading is David Cole's NYRB essay on the Supreme Court's "prudent statesmanship" in declining all the marriage cases.

Sunday Drive: Mozart, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 4th Movement

One of your Head Trucker's favorites:

The Cheerios Effect

From General Mills Canada, a sweet ad that airs next week up in the True North:



And en français:

Waitin' for the Weekend

You Bet Your LIfe, 5/12/55

Skip to the 16:00 mark for the hilarious segment with a rather peculiar gentleman from Kansas - talk about Crazy Eyes!  Even Groucho seems creeped out.