Rant

1. Gwyneth Paltrow. Dime a dozen white girl with zero personality and limited acting ability. 2. Neil Gaiman. Just another imaginative writer lacking in fundamental skills. Much ado about nothing. 3. Beyoncé. Destiny's Child had one good song - Independent Women - before she went solo, and her own album is a testament to the power of good production over talent. Did Jay-Z threaten everyone in the media? 4. Jay Leno. He's as hit or miss as the wannabes on Last Comic Standing and yet dominates late night. 5. Men. Specifically the ones who believe whistling/catcalling/leering at a woman from…

1. What the hell is going on? Multiple hurricanes and random tornadoes, an earthquake in California and now the threat of Mt. St. Helens erupting again? Plus, there's the whole mega-tidal wave in the works, just waiting for another volcano to go off in Africa! If I were a Republican, the obvious explanation would be that God doesn't want John Kerry to be President. 2. To be honest, I think it would be kind of cool to see this election overshadowed by massive global disasters. The God of the Bible certainly has that kind of sense of humor. 3. I'm…

1. An innocent compliment gone awry, or people with too much time on their hands? Depends, I guess. Poyer was simply my shorthand for poet-lawyer, aka the multi-talented hyphenate Nina Parrilla. It was spurred partly by her recent post on realizing how much her lawyer-side "has become a huge part of [her] identity." I appreciate poets (or any creative types) that acknowledge being multi-dimensional, particularly those like Nina who pursue their other facets with equal vigor and success. 2. There's a ton of "poets" out there, including some of my favorites, who have no other significant identity to claim. If…

1. Multiple entries starting @ 4:20pm; alcohol-fueled, heavily edited for typos. 2. F**k a stereotype! It's Sunday. Football's on. Wife and kids are out of the house. Fridge is full of cheap, leftover beer. The Jets just won an exciting season opener. All four of my fantasy teams are in the mix so far. I'm cheering the Eagles on against the Giants, mainly because I have several of them on one of my main fantasy teams. I'm successfully maintaining a nice buzz that shouldn't follow me into tomorrow. It may not be the American Dream but it's certainly a welcome…

1. The good thing about a five-day weekend is it gives you a chance to slow things down a little bit and get a better sense of where you are. The bad thing about it is it might confirm your discontent with where you are. 2. My volunteer stint at the UnConvention was a pleasant experience as I ended up doing the box office for two shifts and got a newfound appreciation for what a little bit louder was able to accomplish over its five year run. Theater's a tough business, political theater even more so, and the gutcheck it…

1) Did Outkast officially step beyond the constraints of hip-hop and establish themselves as pure musical artists able to weave sonic magic from thin air? 2) Did Usher finally break through the inexplicable logjam of cookie cutter whiteboys and their stolen dance moves with his two awards last night? 3) Has a celebrity ever seemed more conspicuously absent than Britney Spears did last night? 4) Did Christina Aguilera deliver the final "enough is enough" nail to the "there is no comparison between Britney Spears and I" coffin with gusto, or what? 5) Was there anything sweeter than the love the…