First: Leslie Hall was featured on NPR Music recently. Thankfully, they have the episode online: Taking Over the World One Sweater at a Time.

The episode reinforces why Leslie is so dear to me and all her fans. The 5′ 10″, 200-pound, size-16 beauty says of her size, “I like to eat cookies. Peanut butter cookies. And I don’t like to exercise that much, so this is what I got.” Fantastic. I love cookies, too. :-)

She’s much more comfortable with her body than I’ll ever be with mine, but she’s inspiring nonetheless. During her concert in the episode, she says, “I’d like to sing a song, now, about my butt cheeks — so round, so ripe…” referring to her song “Blame the Booty”.

Second: While reading a recent NYTimes article, “India Nurtures Business of Surrogate Motherhood“, I was inappropriately disturbed to find out that one of the clients of the surrogacy business in India works for Greenpeace. Of course, as a human, he’s free to be as silly as he wants, although it’s still sad to me. It would be unrealistic to think that all Greenpeace employees don’t have or want children, but using a poor woman as your baby carrier is beyond that.

I suppose it’s because I tend to think of activists associated with such remarkable organizations, that want to change the world and make a difference, as people who really TRY. They really want to eliminate oppression, obtain justice, save a tree! My experience (with myself as well as others) tells me no one is perfect and we all could do more. But somehow, flying to India, ejaculating into a cup and sitting back while a stranger makes a baby for you to enjoy while millions of children in your own country and in the birthplace of your offspring wait around in orphanages doesn’t seem like a “Greenpeace-y” thing to do.

Maybe that’s just me, being an arrogant, childfree, cookie-loving, condescending idiot. (Just to save you the trouble of commenting. ;-))

[Edit: Some follow-up: I’m not the only one to have pointed this out. A commenter on Salon.com also noticed that this doesn’t look good for Greenpeace to be associated with this guy.

IHT.com has the article with photos and voiceovers from the client.]

Dave’s recent “Adams was the shit” comment reminded me to share these great animations. They’re hilarious for history lovers (or haters) and regular people, since they have curse words and funny imagery. They’re a tad childish, but so am I.

The one that started it all: A musical tribute to George Washington. “He’ll save children, but not the British children.”

The follow-up: History Lesson #1. JFK: “Fake man. Great stats. Never sat to empty out all his crap.”

Finally: Bible History #1. “Genesis 19: Total insanity.”

I think the upcoming miniseries on HBO about the life of John Adams will be great. It’s so nerdy that I found out about it at the local post office, where they had a large ad in their window. Is it weird to see a movie poster at the post office and think “I need to see that”?

The USPS, in promoting the miniseries, is celebrating “The Power of the Letter” and letter writing, which is neat.

They have some good links and info there, like the Massachusetts Historical Society’s John Adams minisite which has images of letters sent between Adams and his wife. You can catch a lot of neat, strange English with lovely phonetic spelling, interesting capitalization and the penmanship, oh the penmanship! There are also some sweet sentiments, like:

“There are perticuliar times when I feel such an uneasiness, such a restlessness, as neither company, Books, family Cares or any other thing will remove, my Pen is my only pleasure, and writing to you the composure of my mind.”

- Abigail Adams, September 23, 1776

Aww. :-) Also:

I feel that agitation this Evening, a degree of Melancholy has seazd my mind…

Darn English spelling reform. Seazd is much better than seized, come on…

The date: Friday, February 15th. The place: A horrible bar in Philadelphia where I probably got the flu.

LESLIE HALL. The Diva, the Myth, the Legend.

I finally had the honor of witnessing Leslie and the Lys. Since being visited by Mother Gem in a dream long ago I have been a fan of hers. She lived up to every expectation. She kicked, flipped, be-dazzled and christened a few sweaters. She educated us about zombie outbreaks. In summary, she dropped a giant gem on Philadelphia.

She’s actually a great singer and a wonderful performer. She’s just lovely. If she comes to your town (or if you’re going to ROFL CON) PLEASE see her and imbibe her Wisdom.

Corn-fed, unwed, drop-dead gorgeous.

More at my Flickr album!

I just got over a terrible flu. That sucked.

I’ve been medicating myself with Rufus Wainwright, Web Drifter, Tekzilla, various other Revision3 podcasts and Super Deluxe madness.

Who needs drugs?

I love Martin Sargent and Patrick Norton. And Tim and Eric, too.

Oh, dear… Rufus is an angel. He was perfect. Charming, funny, amazing. Stunning.

I almost cried during “Sanssouci” (why?) … I probably should have let myself, but I didn’t want to miss a note of his beautiful voice.

Ahh…

I saw this over at Shakesville and felt it necessary to repost. The message is clear and simple.

The poster is part of a campaign by Stonewall in the UK designed to help stop homophobic bullying in schools. A Scottish actor supporting the organization (who I don’t know because I barely watch TV) added: “Be bold. Be brave. Be a buddy not a bully.” That short, sweet message applies to everything.

I’m going to be a buddy to Rufus Wainwright tomorrow night in NYC.