From Friday’s LA Times:

“Park Can’t Ban Pedophile’s Clown Performance”

“NEW YORK – The only government-owned amusement park in the United States cannot bar a convicted child molester from performing a clown act and soliciting money in all public areas, according to a judge’s ruling made public on Thursday.”

The park is called Playland Park, and is located in Westchester County, 20 miles north of New York City.

Yeah, I’ve been slacking off on the blog, but mainly that’s because everyone seems to be away and not checking the site anyway. You’ll have plenty to read when you get back. Let’s touch on a coupla things, anyway, both personal and political…
[Continue reading Yeah, I’ve been slacking off...]

I want to say this about Christmas. When I was a kid, in 1970s Ireland, we had white Christmases. We were proud of them. And if California had followed our lead back then, we wouldn’t have had all these problems either!

Gotta milk the joke while it lasts.

So how did LYT spend Xmas? (I call it that because honestly, it really has very little to do with Christ. Other than getting presents from wise men when he was born, I don’t think there’s any reference to Jesus celebrating his own birthday, in any text)
[Continue reading California Dreamin’ of a Lite Xmas...]

I just found out there’s a country named Djibouti. Yeah, I’m a typical American who doesn’t know about other countries. But if it’s pronounced the way I think it is, consider the joke opportunities:

Get Djibouti on the dance floor

Shake Djibouti

Djibouti-call

(all possible Pentagon ops names if we ever go to war with ‘em. You’re welcome, guys).

God, I’m stupid today. Blame the cold medication.

It had to happen. I’ve had a sore throat for at least two weeks now, and while it was kind enough to wait until my end-of-year deadline, it’s now kicking in as something more. Nothing too dreadful — just sore throat, blocked nose and constant feeling of exhaustion. I still have a little work to do, but it’s really more of a side project.

Read in the LA Times yesterday that the U.S, is more religious than any other “developed” first-world nations. About 52% of the population considers religion very important. Interesting stat, and I wonder why it is.
[Continue reading Heal the sick...]

Note to the ladies: Pose nude on the cover of Rolling Stone, and you get my attention. But that’s not what I’m gonna write about here. I just happened to see “Xtina”’s new video — I think it’s called “Beautiful” — while channel-surfing.

First thought — Weird, she looks kinda like Tori Amos in the closeups.

Second thought — This is a video full of weird people and outcasts, like goth punks, guys explicitly making out with each other, midgets, and flat-chested girls. She’s singing about how everyone’s beautiful inside. A little bit easy to say, lady, don’cha think, for you? Lemme ask you, Xtina, if you were an obese midget, would you be singing the same thing and posing nude? Better question: would you have a music career at all? I’m guessing maybe Linda Perry wrote this one, as she is kinda strange looking (remember 4 Non Blondes’ one-and-only video?). I can tolerate this kind of sentiment when it comes through Pink (for whom Linda also writes): Pink is often hot, but she’s also blatantly strange and definitely not conventional. Christina seems to think piercings and black extensions on her blonde hair make her weird. Ahhhh, nope.

Maybe I should just be judging the music. Anyone have the new CD and know if it’s any good? I liked “Genie in a Bottle,” but everything else I’ve ever heard her do has that annoying diva-histrionic thing that Mariah Carey does on every song. I don’t want to listen to songs that break glass, however ostensibly “talented” that ability makes the singer.

On the other hand, I just saw Justin Timberlake’s new video and I’m ashamed to say I kinda like the song — it has a real 80s vibe to it.
[Continue reading Xtina Aguil-whore-a, part II...]

Irony, Alanis-style: on the rainiest day of the year so far, a transfomer across the street from me explodes and sets a building on fire. No power all night, even though houses across the street have it. I’ve never experienced a power outage quite like that. My smoke alarm felt the need to make very strange “low power” noises all night in response. Thankfully, my phone still worked, and my usually unavailable friend vivaknievel was home, so we spoke a long while with no distractions. Then I had to wash the peroxide off my hair.

The Truly Terrible reviews page is now up. Inspired by Louis C.K., these things amuse the hell out of me, but then they would, wouldn’t they.

One more thing to notice about the porn star toys. Read my 1999 article, “Toys R Rated,” in the rants and reviews section. Turns out I predicted there’d be porn star figures eventually.

I didn’t think there’d be sadomasochistic ones first, though. Score one for Clive Barker.

Kicking in the Gore

Seems Al Gore has announced he won’t run for president again. Or maybe the DLC told him that after endorsing single-payer health care and condemning Bush’s Iraq plans, there’s no way in hell they’ll back him.

The bad news is that this means Lieberman WILL run.

I get wet

Not having a car makes me remember the reasons behind some of my irrational hatreds. Take my dislike of screenings on the Sony studio lot. They always have great screening rooms, so why did I always feel this aversion to them? Aha! It’s because there’s no easy bus route back from there — you gotta wait at least half an hour on some dark street in the middle of nowheresville (true, country folks, this means something a little different in the city, but the effect is the same).

My dislike of rain is directly related to the above dislike. See if you can figure out exactly how.

On the plus side, my Dad agreed to foot the bill for those porn star toys I’ve been begging for, which I found for a bargain price at an unlikely location — the usually scalper-happy Golden Apple. Sorry, guys, I got the last set.

And for those in LA, the LYTrules launch party will be this Friday at Wolfgang Pucks, 8000 Sunset Blvd. Though you can park there for two hours with validation, I recommend street parking a coupla blocks away — residential neighborhoods off of Fairfax just north of Sunset. Then you can party all night and not have to worry about only having two drinks.

If you can’t make it, tune in to “Standing Room Only” on killradio.org and hear my little rant. Haven’t recorded it yet, but I’m sure it’ll rock your hiz-ouse.

Well, shortly after I posted yesterday’s entry about Bush and Lott, Bush apparently issued a strong condemnation of Lott’s remarks. Also, as Tom Tomorrow has pointed out, Lott is on record as having made similar comments regarding Thurmond’s run for president on at least two other occasions.

It’s lucky Friday the 13th today. Maybe I’ll get laid.

I know this has been done to death a bit on these shores, but for the benfit of international readers, thought I’d weigh in on the whole Trent Lott thing. Lott, if you don’t know, is a conservative Republican, and as of January will be Senate Majority leader. At retired Senator Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party, he said the following:

“I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.”
[Continue reading Whole Lott o’ hate...]