mysid

While my family is at church, I'm at home "surfin' the internet" and discovering "must watch videos" like this one from The Thinking Atheist. (Fair warning: It's quite snarky in it's anti-religion commentary, but the evolution vs. creationism points are well presented.)

(And no, I don't spend the time my family is at church actively searching for atheist-themed videos; it's just coincidence--but a good one!)

I was so nervous last night watching the election results that I actually threw up. No lie. Thank goodness they declared President Obama the winner before I went to bed last night, or I wouldn't have slept a wink. I wanted to do a Snoopy-esque happy dance, but my husband and I have a tacit agreement not to exult too openly when the other's candidate loses.

But I did feel like dancing in the streets, waving a rainbow flag, when I heard that not only did President Obama beat Mittens, but four states, FOUR, either voted in favor of marriage equality or voted against an amendment banning it.*

To quote Debbie in Queer as Folk: “A word of advice, my sweet Emmett - mourn the losses because they are many. But celebrate the victories because they are few.”

For a complete roundup of significant votes, see this entry by gehayi.

*Minnesota voters defeated a ballot measure that would have made marriage discrimination part of their state constitution, and voters in Maine, Maryland, and Washington voted to legalize marriage equality.

My teenage daughter went to a costume party tonight. (It was supposed to be last Sunday, but got postponed by the hurricane.) One of the girls went as "God's Gift to Men". She wore a large bow and a gift tag that said, "To: Men, From: God".

The eye of hurricane is getting pretty close now, and trees are begining to fall. A large one just came down at my husband's office, as did one across the street from it. (We were told by a tenant in the apartment above the office.)

Our town is officially postponing Trick or Treating until Friday.

My brother, a staunch Republican, knowing that I'm just as staunchly Democrat, said to my twelve year old son, "Try to convince your mom to vote for Romney, would you?"

My son, "I wouldn't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I like Big Bird."

I saw this on eqfe's LJ, but I'm not posting it for the same reason he did. I know there are many on my friends' list who agree with this boy (and his grumpy face):

So...I've got this Chick-fil-A gift card. (A student gave it to me as an "end of the school year" gift.) I have no temptation to redeem it, because (A) my family and I have never really liked the food, and (B) I don't want to patronize any business that financially supports anti-gay causes. (And no, those aren't listed in order of importance.)

However, if I leave it unredeemed, Chick-fil-A gets to keep the money that my student's mom spent on it, so I kind of want to redeem every penny of it. But as much as I want to do that, I can't even stomach the thought of setting foot in the place.

I thought about mailing it to my sister-in-law as I know she'll have no qualms about eating there, but encouraging her to go seems wrong. I don't go into Philly on a regualar basis, but when I do, I always see panhandlers at certain intersections. Maybe I'll give it to one of them the next time I go. I know it'll get spent, and he/she will get a hot meal.

If you've ever told Swiper, "Swiper, no swiping!" you MUST watch this "movie trailer" for an action-packed, live-action, Dora the Explorer movie:

It cracked me up, big time.

With all the talk in the media lately about a certain actor who shall remain nameless [*cough-TomCruise-cough*], his controlling behavior toward his soon-to-be-ex-beard-wife, and his whack-job religious beliefs, I reflected on the fact that I've had zero interest in watching any of his movies in a very long time. (I would however, probably watch Risky Business if I should happen across it on cable TV.)

I started to wonder, how much is my disinterest in watching anything recent with that person or several others (John Travolta, Mel Gibson, Jon Voight, Kirk Cameron, etc.) created by my dislike of their beliefs and actions due to those beliefs?

So let me ask you, if you were to learn that an actor had said or done something you considered racist, homophobic, or bigoted in any way, or if you were to learn that he/she belonged to a religion that you have serious issues with because of it's actions, or perhaps he/she was throwing his/her support behind a politician who you felt was serious trouble, to what extent would that effect your desire to watch that actor?

Would you still enjoy watching him/her as an actor, or would you be unable to separate your dislike of the actor from the character he/she plays?

Would you decide whether to go see his/her latest movie based solely on whether it looks like a film you'd enjoy, or would you be reluctant to to go see his/her new movies because you don't want to contribute to box office totals and thus indirectly fund actions that you find bigoted, hateful, or harmful?

Would you be willing to watch old reruns of his/her movies or tv shows, but be unwilling to go see his/her new movies for the reason above?

Presumably, it might all depend upon how severe the harmful/hurtful things he/she has done are. So how bad would he/she have to be before it effects how you regard him/her?