Bend Over Rodney

Okay, I had the weirdest dream last night. Went to see this show at some sort of place. The front seemed pretty rustic, and the seating was on the floor? John Barrowman was in it, and he came out, and drug me off. Turns out it's an audience participation thing. So I'm in this room, and another person is added-apparently it's a two person thing. Some guy comes in, and tells us the lines of the song-can't remember much of it-and expects us to remember them! lol We talked it over, and I kept trying to repeat them, but couldn't remember the last line, or something. Then it turns out the other person is Miriel (no clue why, sorry Miriel lol). And we talk, and change the words some, and work it out. And I'm still repeating them to myself. People are running around and through, doing their own thing. Finally, we are ready, and are under the stage ?? and then it's kind of a blur. We're talking about how it went, and we still didn't get the words right-Miriel sang the original ones, I think. But it didn't matter because explosions or something went off. WTF, really? lol
I think there were some other famous people, but only in the 'yah, there were famous people there way.' Maybe it's because I was listening to ALW's 60 CD yesterday.

When you see this, post in your own journal with your favorite quote from The Princess Bride. Preferably not "As you wish" or the Inigo Montoya speech.

"There's a shortage of perfect breasts in the world, it would be a shame to ruin yours."

So, is there anything else you would recommend I do with Nutella besides just eating it straight from the jar?

After I put Hunny down on Wednesday, it hit me about Thursday night that I haven't been without a pet since I was about 6 years old.  I have to have something furry demanding I share my sleeping space, apparently.  And so on Friday I went to the Animal Shelter (I prefer to rescue rather than just 'adopt') and filled out the paper work on two brother kittens - about 2 months old.  They were in foster care and so I trudged up to an area of the city I do NOT know (oh face it, I don't know any of this city, who am I kidding?) and met the kids.  Everyone thought that this was going to be a good idea, so by the end of Friday night, I again became a mom.  I feel much better, because once Hunny was gone I was actually *lonely* for the first time in my life.  I'm a person who *must* have at least one pet in the house.

And so, I give you....The Jersey Boys (so named because all they do is eat, drink and fight).  Ace & Gooch.

You can find them here:  www.flickr.com/photos/claforce1/sets/72157607940601847/

Gooch is the bigger one with the white all the way around his nose & mouth and the full tail.  Ace is all black in the face except for a little patch on his mouth, and the manx tail.

Today's cat skillz learned...running sideways at an opponent, the leap of death from mom's shoulder to brother's head, and hiding in a bag.  It's been a full day - they're both napping.  Which means, of course, they're gonna be up allllllllllllllll night long.  Again.  *laughs*  What have  I done to myself?

Now we’ve watched A Knight’s Tale. God I love that movie so much. I used to watch it daily for a while but hadn’t seen it for a while now but I remembered instantly why I love this movie so much.

History is fucked up in it but I don’t care because it’s nice to pretend for a while.

Also Heath is gorgeous, and the guy who plays the Black Prince of Wales is so hot! (I um… Might have written a thing for my history class about him because I loved him in this movie. Maybe not the most rational reason for doing something for school but what the hell at least I got the true story about him out of it).

And I need to talk about Paul Bettany. I love the man. I seriously love the man.
I’m not loving him in the “I’m so attracted by his looks it’s crazy!” – way but more in a… I have no idea. I just love the guy okay? I also happen to have a thing for voices and while his isn’t that special once he get going and you get sort of mesmerized by the rhythm of it and… I can’t describe my love for this guy. It’s impossible! I mostly made strange sounds and exclaimed “I love him!” during the movie.

I love the whole thing actually. All of the characters are acting like five year olds but that’s part of the charm. And I love it. I do not need to explain myself. I just want to tell the world about my love for the movie.

On a side note, when I was a kid I wanted to become a knight (Or a cowboy. Heath managed to play both). What? I loved horses, I wanted to be a vet but I sucked at math so I knew I would never have the chance to become one. And besides I don’t really want to operate on animals.

And now I’m supposed to find something to write on that has a plot. Ell is very demanding. I’m not seeing her write anything! (Though she is going to have a werewolf in her NaNo. I love her a little for that. There should be more werewolves).

I'm not sure what I am thinking right now. I just watched the newest episode of Bones, The He in the She and I really liked it. Normally I dislike shows that parade the idea of a transgender character as a novelty, oddity. This episode didn't do that, at least to my way of thinking. Warning: the following paragraphs will discuss the plot of this episode in depth, as well as the ideas of redemption, transformation, and change. Please do not read if you haven't seen the episode, for there will be spoilers.

The first time I saw a transgender character on TV, I was watching CSI. It was all the way back in the first season of the original show; I was young (still in high school), watching in my parents bedroom. The character I am referring to, of course, is Paul Milander (sp?), the villain that Grissom spent many episodes chasing in that first season. The big reveal of Paul Milander' "TRUE" sex was in the last episode of the 1st season, and it was hinted (rather, mostly explicitly stated) that this was the source of the killer's insanity. This episode turned my stomach and I stopped watching CSI. (Sidenote: the fanfiction story Nicky got me slightly interested in CSI again, but I couldn't watch the show, so I submerged myself in the fan fiction for at least a week).

At this time I'd never been exposed to the idea of transgenderism, transexuality, or the more colloquial terms hermaphedites/transvestites. My first impression of people transitioning was the idea that people who transition are mental patients, which I know today is wrong.

I'm not going to bore you with a rendition of all the different episodes throughout television history where gender and sexuality are used as "surprise" endings, as "twists" to various criminal shows. It happens often enough for it not to be noteworthy. Instead, I'm going to jump straight to the episode that I just watched. (Another sidenote: if you are interested in this history, you can check out After Ellen for a fairly good history of television's portrayal of GLBT topic matters).

This episode of Bones centered around half of a body that was found in the ocean. Bones initially identifies the body as female because of the breast implants and facial structure of the victim. Throughout the episode it becomes clear that the victim, Patricia, used to be Patrick.

This is important because the episode continues to portray Patricia with all the respect she was due. When Booth expresses confusion over what to call her, he eventually requests that everyone call her "she" because she was due that respect. When her family is questioned, Patricia's ex-wife is disgusted, but the staff at the Jeffersonian stand up for Patricia.

Her son is actually happy that it happened, that his father was given the opportunity to change and earn redemption.

Patricia was portrayed as a paster of a church called Inclusion Church, where everyone was welcome. I can't believe FOX allowed that to go on the air.

The episode ended with a) Patricia's death having NOTHING to do with her transition, but rather a jealous wife killing her because she though her husband was cheating on her with Patricia and b) with a sermon on how everybody is the same inside, no matter what they are like on the outside.

Okay, so the ending was a little cheesy. Still, this was by far one of the best displays of transgender issues on television that I've seen in a long time.

Next time? Hopefully the transgender character doesn't get killed off.

~~

in other news? Numb3rs this week had a female being kidnapped and the FBI questioned her partner, didn't get her name. Very small section of inclusion, but it wasn't sensationalized, it was treated as normal (which, btw, it IS). These two shows together made me happy.