Night Owl / Early Morning Odds & Ends

I'm back from flu land. My temperature is gone and I was finally able to do something outside the house besides rehearsal. I hung with my new friend Quinto, after my dinner at the IU-staple Mother Bears, and we watched the first three episodes of Rupal's new Logo Series Drag Race. It's a drag version of America's Next Top Model, that I sorta loved. It wouldn't work without Ru Paul, but with her it really works.

Rehearsal went great tonight, we're finally getting the chance to polish some of the dances. Today we worked on D-Gates, a song where Muffin (yes, Muffin) and Mike meet and fall for each other outside an airport. In this photo, Eric Anderson Jr. is at the piano, Aly Bloom is in front, and the two-Ms are Jen Saltiel and Justin Klein.

Vote in Bloomington tickets went on sale yesterday and we perform the weekend of March 6th-8th.

The News:

-- The NY Times has a major feature on the RENT California drama. Mr. Martin, the school's amazing drama instructor, describes in some detail his initial conversation with the bigot principal.

He said his principal, Fal Asrani, had objected to the show because of its treatment of “prostitution and homosexuality.” “When I heard that, I stopped her and looked her in the eye and said, ‘First, there is no prostitution in ‘Rent,’ and second, homosexuality is not wrong,’ ” Mr. Martin said. “She made no comment. It was the most demoralizing, disappointing moment in my career as a teacher.”

-- Kathleen Sebelius will make a great HHS Secretary. But, what is Howard Dean gonna do?

-- Obama has a 67% approval rating in the latest AP Poll. The Republicans in Congress are at 33%.

-- I agree with Andrew Sullivan, Obama should give Arnold a job when he leaves office. Arnold should become Obama's top Republican ally.

-- Republican Chairmen Michael Steele is out of his mind.

Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele plans an “off the hook” public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party’s principles to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”

The RNC’s first black chairman will “surprise everyone” when updating the party’s image using the Internet and advertisements on radio, on television and in print, he told The Washington Times.

-- Al Franken will soon finally be a Senator. 59 Democrats. Obama will just need a single GOP vote to pass legislation.

Odds & Ends

Last night was my first out on the town of Bloomington and I had a really good time. After we staged eight pages (two songs!) from Vote! in just over three hours, I went to a 21st birthday party and then hit a few frat bars with some new friends. We paid a late night visit to Uncle Elizabeth's, the town gay bar, which was totally empty except for a few scary guys with goatees playing pool.

The picture to the right is me drinking a $2 Peach Long Island Ice Tea. It's rather large and very tasty.

-- Entertainment Tonight ran a preview of Quentin Tarantino's new film Inglorious Bastards and it looks fantastic. The Dirty Dozen meets Kill Bill. See the video here. I can't wait.

-- A new Gallup poll shows that Iranians and Alabamians have the same level of religiosity. Frightening. Vermont, my second home, is the least religious state in America. No doubt I'm retiring to Burlington.

-- One of the craziest things that I've read in a while - "Anthony R. Stancl, is charged with setting up fake profiles on Facebook, the popular social networking site, to dupe 31 male classmates, some as young as 15, into sending him nude photographs of themselves over the last several months." Even MORE: "But, the authorities said, Mr. Stancl did not stop there. In addition, they said, he threatened to release the photos to the victims’ friends or even all of Eisenhower’s 850 students if the youths who had sent them to him did not agree to perform sexual acts he demanded. The tactic was successful, officials said. Mr. Stancl is accused of using it to sexually assault seven boys." How much longer before Facebook requires proof of indentity to sign up? I wouldn't be against it, as it would eliminate some of the weird spam request I receive.

-- We've got a stimulus package and it's got technology's fingerprints all over it.

-- Asshole-loser Norm Coleman has found himself seven new votes. When is this loser going away?

Odds & Ends

This morning was my first in Bloomington, sadly the local coffee shop doesn't have Wi-Fi, so I'm late blogging. Rehearsals start tonight for Vote! and I'm excited to finally meet finally meet the cast. Last night Eric Anderson, the producer, took me out to Mother Bear's Pizza near IU, it was fantastic and is ranked fourth in the nation by whoever ranks pizza places.

-- Norm Coleman is such an asshole. Not only is he trying to force a revote by continuing to legally challenge the election results, he lost to Comedian Al Franken, and running negative ads like there is still a campaign - now he's saying Jesus is on his side. On Friday, he gave an interview to conservative radio host Mike Gallager - Coleman said he starts every day with a prayer and that he knows “God wants me to serve.” God hates Al Franken.

-- John Glover, who comes from my hometown of Salisbury, MD, is joining the cast of Waiting for Godot on Broadway. Glover is replacing David Strathairn and joins the star-studded cast featuring Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin, and John Goodman.

-- Atheists in London have bought ads on buses proclaiming, "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." This has upset Christians so much, that they are buying their own ads that say, "Psalm 53: "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." The Christian group is apparently spending over $50,000 on the ads. I bet Jesus would rather see that 50k go to the poor instead of boosting the ego of David Larlham, the assistant general secretary of London's Trinitarian Bible Society, who payed for the ads. But, that 50k bought him a few quotes a paper, so finally his life may have some value.

-- The almost bankrupt New York Times published an article on how hard it is to live in NYC for less than $500,000 a year. Fuck you.