A sad, constant bid for attention

[J. Fred Muggs]

Cracker Case

THE Rev. Al Sharpton has a new cause. His camp plans to fund a lawsuit on behalf of comic Chris Rock's mother, Rose Rock, against the Southern food chain Cracker Barrel. Mama Rock claims she and her daughter were denied service at the country-style eatery near Myrtle Beach, S.C. Though a spokesperson for Cracker Barrel tells us, "We do not tolerate any form of discrimination," maybe they should have responded to Sharpton sooner. The suit will be announced today during a demonstration outside the eatery.

I can just hear Chris Rock in my head saying "What does she expect when she goes to a restaurant called Cracker Barrel?"

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by pony_trekker
No, I think he's a great guy. And he's definitely straight. And he's tough, he showed that Roger Clemens, that brute and a real team leader.

Happy to see my point missed you entirely. I guess Queer Eye For The Straight Guy didn't have the overwhelming cultural impact that the mainstream media outlets have led us to believe.

In other news - AIDS Walk. Thanks to all my internet friends who helped me raise dough! This was my second AIDS Walk ever; my first being about a decade ago. It is interesting how the groups affected by the disease have shifted during that time period. When I did the one in the 90's, it was clearly spearheaded and most participation was from the gay community. This year, the group holding the event (AIDS Project LA) still had predominently homosexual leadership, but the focus of much more of the walkers was on how it is affecting the African and African American communities. I'm not sure that any funds raised in the LA walk (over $3.5 million, by the way) will make its way to Africa, which is really where the most money is needed. It was in a way heartening to see how much less desperate the US situation is 10 years later, now that the treatment drugs are approved and readily available (albeit very expensive), but at the same time it was sad to think of how different the course of hte disease is in poorer parts of the world and how much need there is out there that is going unaddressed.

Final tally - 30,000 walkers (seemed like more than that to me); thousands of event volunteers; 5 ignorant boobs protesting that all the walkers are sinners, etc.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive

Final tally - 30,000 walkers (seemed like more than that to me); thousands of event volunteers; 5 ignorant boobs protesting that all the walkers are sinners, etc.

Protestors? At an AIDS walk? Dear god.

Interesting tidbit told to me by a friend who is currently suffering from West Nile Virus and has had cause to talk to the CDC quite a bit in the last few weeks. (According to them, the fateful mosquito bit her on September 23.) Up until very, very recently, no one bothered to check the blood supply for West Nile Virus. When the CDC went back and checked, 800,000 units were tainted.

[Spanky]

Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick
My kitty-cat had to have his tail amputated last night. He is adorably cute but now he just looks absolutely ridiculous. Like a bunny rabbit crossed with munchkin cat.

That sucks. What the hell happened?

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Protestors? At an AIDS walk? Dear god.

Interesting tidbit told to me by a friend who is currently suffering from West Nile Virus and has had cause to talk to the CDC quite a bit in the last few weeks. (According to them, the fateful mosquito bit her on September 23.) Up until very, very recently, no one bothered to check the blood supply for West Nile Virus. When the CDC went back and checked, 800,000 units were tainted.

Why don't mosquitos travel east of the Nile?

TM

[str8outavannuys]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
can you define A-list, B-list C-list etc. First it will help Spank confirm his story was accurate, and will also help me understand how mt ex-aunt isn't even C-list. was she when her last major motion picture had just come out- I mean just for that week even?

I didn't respond right away because I think this is an interesting problem (as Stephen Carter liked to say about 10x per hour).

Thanks to Kathy Griffin, there are at least four generally accepted categories of level of celebrity, from A-list to D-list. Definitely there are gradations within that, but I'd say there's four categories. It's usually easier to define by example, but I don't want to be lazy.

A-list celebrities are film actors who always get above-the-title credit on screen and in advertising. A picture of them doing something mundane winds up in In Touch. They get audio mentions in tv ads. Very few directors (Spielberg, maybe Tarantino) are A-list celebrities. I don't think any producers are. Even though Jerry Bruckheimer is a big honkin deal, he's not
an A-list celebrity. Some musicians are definitely A-list celebrities, but not many. Paul McCartney is an A-list celebrity. So is Bono. Michael Jackson. Prince. Mick. Madonn. Springsteen. Maybe Gwen, maybe Justin Timberlake. MAYBE Eminem, but it's close. You have to sell out arenas at $200 per ticket (for the best seats). I would submit that nobody who has a regular TV series is an A-list celeb, except Oprah, and MAYBE Keifer Sutherland.

Suggestion for a borderline A-list celebrity (at the bottom end): Lindsay Lohan, Keifer, Heath Ledger.

B-list celebrities are lesser film actors, and just about everyone who has a recurring role on a primetime TV show. Ellen Pompeo is not an A-list celebrity -- she's solid B. Same for Adam Brody. Most members of popular bands are in this category, as are hip hop and pop stars. Billie Joe Armstrong and Lars Ulrich are B-list celebrities. Sascha Baron Cohen may be approaching A, but I think he's still B. His girlfriend, Isla Fisher, is very much B, maybe low B. A few more directors are in here: Richard Donner maybe, Martin Scorsese. And then, the mass of the tabloid fodder. Nick Lachey. Paris and Nicky Hilton. I think the Olsen twins, once firmly A-list, are now Bs. Dane fucking Cook.

Borderline B-list at the high end approaching A: Usher, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Borderline B-list at the low end approaching C: That guy who plays Mr. Eko on "Lost."

C-list celebrities are TV and film actors who you think you've seen before, but don't remember where. "That guy." Reality stars who've made a bit of a breakthrough into the mass culture. Also, the stars of Daytime TV. And musicians who used to be someone, but haven't done anything in a good long time.

Borderline C-list at the high end approaching B: LC, Huey Lewis
Borderline C-list at the low end: Anyone on "Guiding Light"

D-list celebrities are reality TV stars, internet phenoms, real has-beens. The "Numa Numa" guy comes to mind. Or his lookalike, Jared from Subway. Gallagher II.

Borderline D-list at the high end: Richard Hatch
Borderline D-list at the low end: Shape Shifter

[str8outavannuys]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
I'm not sure, although, outside my neighborhood tackle football game in junior high,* I doubt it. Don't you think you would have seen this about 1,000 times if it were actually a rule?

TM

*And only used when a player was wrapped up by 6 guys, 3 of whom wanted to bend his body one way and 3 of whom wanted to bend his body the other way.

Ok, here's my new suggestion. Add to the rules (if it's not already there) that you can drop-kick anywhere, not just behind the line of scrimmage. Let's say a team is behind by 1, four seconds left on the clock, ball at midfield. This would give a team a whole lot more options than the boring Hail Mary. Think how awesome Flutie's PAT drop-kick was last year. Now imagine a play where you throw a 30 yard pass to the open man, who then gets some blockers to give him time and space to try to drop-kick it on the run for three points . . . best ending ever.

[str8outavannuys]

Originally posted by pony_trekker
Back when I used to get free Yankee tickets, some lady chastised my son for screaming during a game "Can you please quiet down?"

I was on the receiving end of this at SkyDome all the time. Most of the people (especially in the Club section where my Dad had his tickets) thought they were watching opera.

[pony_trekker]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
Happy to see my point missed you entirely. I guess Queer Eye For The Straight Guy didn't have the overwhelming cultural impact that the mainstream media outlets have led us to believe.

I wouldn't know, I don't have Gayh-B-O.

Seriously, the terms "Fag, homo, queer", have always hd a different connotation in the lower middle neighborhoods such as the one that I grew up in. The term historically and completely inaccurately means, coward, chickenshit, less-of-a-man etc rather than "you are inferior because you sleep with people of your own sex." Yes the term was perverted through ignorance, and but this is where the term comes from in my history.

However, I was using the term both ways. Piazza is a chickenshit coward who sucks dick.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by str8outavannuys
I didn't respond right away because I think this is an interesting problem (as Stephen Carter liked to say about 10x per hour).

Thanks to Kathy Griffin, there are at least four generally accepted categories of level of celebrity, from A-list to D-list. Definitely there are gradations within that, but I'd say there's four categories. It's usually easier to define by example, but I don't want to be lazy.

A-list celebrities are film actors who always get above-the-title credit on screen and in advertising. A picture of them doing something mundane winds up in In Touch. They get audio mentions in tv ads. Very few directors (Spielberg, maybe Tarantino) are A-list celebrities. I don't think any producers are. Even though Jerry Bruckheimer is a big honkin deal, he's not
an A-list celebrity. Some musicians are definitely A-list celebrities, but not many. Paul McCartney is an A-list celebrity. So is Bono. Michael Jackson. Prince. Mick. Madonn. Springsteen. Maybe Gwen, maybe Justin Timberlake. MAYBE Eminem, but it's close. You have to sell out arenas at $200 per ticket (for the best seats). I would submit that nobody who has a regular TV series is an A-list celeb, except Oprah, and MAYBE Keifer Sutherland.

Suggestion for a borderline A-list celebrity (at the bottom end): Lindsay Lohan, Keifer, Heath Ledger.

B-list celebrities are lesser film actors, and just about everyone who has a recurring role on a primetime TV show. Ellen Pompeo is not an A-list celebrity -- she's solid B. Same for Adam Brody. Most members of popular bands are in this category, as are hip hop and pop stars. Billie Joe Armstrong and Lars Ulrich are B-list celebrities. Sascha Baron Cohen may be approaching A, but I think he's still B. His girlfriend, Isla Fisher, is very much B, maybe low B. A few more directors are in here: Richard Donner maybe, Martin Scorsese. And then, the mass of the tabloid fodder. Nick Lachey. Paris and Nicky Hilton. I think the Olsen twins, once firmly A-list, are now Bs. Dane fucking Cook.

Borderline B-list at the high end approaching A: Usher, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Borderline B-list at the low end approaching C: That guy who plays Mr. Eko on "Lost."

C-list celebrities are TV and film actors who you think you've seen before, but don't remember where. "That guy." Reality stars who've made a bit of a breakthrough into the mass culture. Also, the stars of Daytime TV. And musicians who used to be someone, but haven't done anything in a good long time.

Borderline C-list at the high end approaching B: LC, Huey Lewis
Borderline C-list at the low end: Anyone on "Guiding Light"

D-list celebrities are reality TV stars, internet phenoms, real has-beens. The "Numa Numa" guy comes to mind. Or his lookalike, Jared from Subway. Gallagher II.

Borderline D-list at the high end: Richard Hatch
Borderline D-list at the low end: Shape Shifter

Dalai Lama? Thomas Pynchon? David Foster Wallace? Hillary Clinton? Uma Thurman? Olympia Dukakis?

I'm looking for my celebs on the list and not finding them.


(ed to fix sp)

[pony_trekker]

Originally posted by str8outavannuys
I was on the receiving end of this at SkyDome all the time. Most of the people (especially in the Club section where my Dad had his tickets) thought they were watching opera.

What the fuck do they do at Leafs games?

[str8outavannuys]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Dalai Lama? Thomas Pynchon? David Foster Wallace? Hilary Clinton? Uma Thurman? Olympia Dukakis?

I'm looking for my celebs on the list and not finding them.

Dalai Lama: Was a solid A back when Adam Yauch and Richard Gere were doing their thing. Now, I'm not so sure.

Thomas Pynchon: Not even D

David Foster Wallace: C-list by reputation, zero in person.

Hilary Clinton: Probably A list.

Uma: Towards the back of the A-list.

Olympia Dukakis: Classic C.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by str8outavannuys
Rankings

How would you rank ppnyc on a scale of 1 to 10?

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by pony_trekker
I wouldn't know, I don't have Gayh-B-O.

Seriously, the terms "Fag, homo, queer", have always hd a different connotation in the lower middle neighborhoods such as the one that I grew up in. The term historically and completely inaccurately means, coward, chickenshit, less-of-a-man etc rather than "you are inferior because you sleep with people of your own sex." Yes the term was perverted through ignorance, and but this is where the term comes from in my history.

However, I was using the term both ways. Piazza is a chickenshit coward who sucks dick.

Ah. I see. It is an important part of your heritage. That makes it different. How proud you must have been the first time Little Pony called someone from the opposing team a homo. Brings a tear to my eye just envisioning the scene. Norman Rockwellesque.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally posted by str8outavannuys
Dalai Lama: Was a solid A back when Adam Yauch and Richard Gere were doing their thing. Now, I'm not so sure.

Thomas Pynchon: Not even D

David Foster Wallace: C-list by reputation, zero in person.

Hilary Clinton: Probably A list.

Uma: Towards the back of the A-list.

Olympia Dukakis: Classic C.

Shape Shifter gets the edge on Thomas Pynchon?

I guess that makes sense.