Sunday, September 30, 2007
dirty chauncey treat
here's a sludgey, dirty, leather wearing, whip wielding kind of track that i just discovered a couple weeks ago. it's just a mess...in a good way of course...going from one set of beats to another to just create a grimy soundscape of my favourite kind hehe
(hope the track lives up to my kooky description eheh)
mr. oizo - transexual (lorn remix)
Friday, September 28, 2007
chauncey diet treat
like i've said before..i usually post dance floor rompers and dirty beat porn soundtrack songs but here's an absolutely beautiful track i discovered through my friend madlover from the madonnanation forum i visit frequently...i definitely want to hear more from kish mauve very soon!
just because it's diet doesn't mean it's not sweet!
kish mauve - come on
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
volcano bush erupts again
Hillary Clinton will win nomination, lose election, says Bush
BY BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, September 24th 2007, 4:00 AM
Taking a stab at political prognostication, President Bush says in a new book that Sen. Hillary Clinton will score her party's nomination but won't win the White House.
In "The Evangelical President," due to be released tomorrow, Bush says the former First Lady's name recognition and fund-raising skills are a formidable combo for upstart Sen. Barack Obama to overcome.
"She's got a national presence, and this is becoming a national primary," Bush tells conservative author Bill Sammon.
"And therefore the person with the national presence, who has got the ability to raise enough money to sustain an effort in a multiplicity of sites, has got a good chance to be nominated."
But the President said he is convinced he'll be turning over the reins of the White House to the Republican nominee.
"I think our candidate can beat her, but it's going to be a tough race," Bush told Sammon, a columnist for the Washington Examiner.
He said he plans to campaign vigorously for the Republican nominee.
"I truly think the Republicans will hold the White House," he said.
White House officials could not immediately confirm the quotes attributed to the President by Sammon, who has written three other favorable books on Bush and one titled "At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election."
Bush's previous election predictions haven't always come to pass.
Last year, he chided the Democrats for prematurely "measuring the drapes" for their Capitol Hill offices, forecasting a "good day" for Republicans at the polls.
But the election couldn't have been worse for the GOP, as the party lost the majority of seats in the House of Representatives and Senate.
definitely not good news
such sad news...hopefully the funding for and faith in science has not been completely dismayed.
experimental AIDS vaccine fails - volunteers infected
Los Angeles, CA - An experimental AIDS vaccine research trial has been terminated after recent findings that the drug has failed to prevent HIV infection in test subjects. According to a press release from the vaccine’s developer, Merck & Co., the vaccine was being tested in uninfected volunteers at high risk for acquiring HIV. Not only did the drug not prevent infection, but more inoculated volunteers contracted the virus than volunteers who were not inoculated.
Merck & Co. was co-sponsoring the trial with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), which is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). After an interim analysis of the research study, study investigators have been instructed to discontinue vaccinating volunteers.
STEP, the name of the trial, enrolled 3,000 HIV-negative volunteers from diverse backgrounds between 18 and 45 years of age at high risk of HIV infection. Research on the vaccine included multiple clinical trial sites in North and South America, the Caribbean and Australia. The first volunteer enrolled in the study in December 2004, and enrollment was completed in March 2007. A second Phase II trial of the vaccine, the Phambili trial, was begun in 2007 in South Africa. According to a report by the Associated Press, enrollment and vaccination in that trial and two other Phase I trials have been discontinued.
Many of the participants in the trial were gay men or female sex workers. According to the Bay Area Reporter Online, 137 gay and bisexual men from the city were enrolled in the Phase II trial. The San Francisco Health Department’s HIV research section began contacting the volunteers on Friday to inform them of the halting of the research trial.
"I was surprised. No one anticipated this response. This vaccine had shown a good immune response in prior trials," Gavin Morrow-Hall, a community educator with the research section who helped recruit participants for the trial, told the Bay Area Reporter. "The vaccinations will not continue, but we still hope to see our study participants because there is still a lot of information we can learn about the vaccine."
The vaccine was composed of a weakened version of a common cold virus, which delivered three synthetically produced genes from the AIDS virus. The theory behind the vaccine was that the synthetic genes would stimulate T-cells in the body to provide a higher immune protection against the HIV virus. Those infected with HIV who have strong T-cell response tend to do better than those who do not.
The study aimed to test whether the vaccine prevented HIV infection in participants and whether the vaccine reduced the amount of the virus in those who did develop an infection. Out of 741 volunteers who received the vaccine, 24 of them became infected with the HIV virus. In the 762 volunteers who received a placebo, 21 cases of HIV infection were reported. For those who received the vaccine after being infected with HIV, the drug did not reduce the amount of virus in the bloodstream of the volunteers. According to Merck, volunteers were provided with counseling on reducing their risk of HIV infection during the trial.
"We share in the disappointment of the research and HIV communities today. Sadly, developing an effective AIDS vaccine remains one of the most challenging tasks facing modern medicine," said Peter S. Kim, Ph.D., president, Merck Research Laboratories. "Merck's 20-year HIV research program has led to improved scientific understanding of HIV and to true breakthrough medicines. We are committed to studying the data closely and sharing it with the scientific community to inform the on-going search for an effective HIV vaccine."
"Today's announcement about the STEP Study is a deep disappointment and a scientific setback for the AIDS vaccine field,” the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) said in a release. “However, it must be seen for what it is: the failure of a product to show efficacy in a specific trial. Clinical testing of AIDS vaccines is a scientific process and, while this is a disappointment, it is in no way the end of the search for an AIDS vaccine.
Volunteers in the study were followed for approximately 13 months and additional analyses will be conducted on the participants in the study.
Monday, September 24, 2007
into the groovecopter
here's a mashup of "helicopter" by bloc party and "into the groove" by madonna by dj schmolli. it's interesting for sure and shines new light on the song...i can possibly imagine madonna doing a rocked out version of the song someday on a tour. it's kinda weird how the chords kinda match in the two songs and it's even crazier hearing madonna's already minnie mouseish vocals sped up even more!!
dj schmolli - groovecopter
dj regis and ripa ciccone
take a look at this clip of the "relly awards" with regis and kelly ripa... kelly does her best madonna impersonation...it's nice to see someone other than a drag queen impersonate her hehe...kelly looks hot and dances hot too!
click here for the video...i would usually embed it but it has been disabled on youtube for some reason for this clip
Saturday, September 22, 2007
good luck dan rather
Rather: I was forced to step down
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather says the $70 million lawsuit he filed Wednesday against his former employer is an effort to strike a blow against political and corporate influence that he believes threatens the independence of American journalism.
Dan Rather, here in July 2006, said that corporate and political influence may cause a chilling effect on journalism.
"This is the right stand, at the right time, about the right issue," Rather told CNN's Larry King Thursday night, in his first TV interview since filing the suit. "We have to, somehow, get back to integrity in the news and somehow at least alleviate, if not eliminate, these big corporate and big government pressures."
"You can't have freedom of the press if you're going to have large, big corporations and big government intruding and intimidating in newsrooms. The chilling effect on investigative reporting is going to be something we don't want to see," he said.
Rather's breach of contract suit charges that CBS made him the scapegoat when the network came under intense criticism over a September 2004 "60 Minutes II" story challenging President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.
Don't Miss
* Dan Rather sues CBS for $70 million
Immediately after the story aired, critics began questioning the authenticity of documents used to buttress allegations that Bush did not fulfill his military commitments. Rather, who narrated the disputed piece, became the target of fierce criticism from conservative partisans who believed the story was an attempt to influence the 2004 presidential race.
Six months later, he stepped down from the anchor chair he had occupied for nearly a quarter century -- a departure he says was not voluntary.
In his interview with King, Rather again defended the accuracy of the story and said "I think there's a lot more in the president's military record that we don't know about."
"Nobody to this day has proved these documents were fraudulent," Rather said. "The story was true."
He also said an independent investigative panel commissioned by CBS, which issued a report highly critical of the story, was a "fraud."
"It was a set-up," Rather said of the investigation, headed by former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and former Associated Press chief Louis Boccardi, which led to the firing of a producer and the resignations of three executives. "It was designed to achieve a certain result so that the corporation would be exonerated."
Rather's suit alleges that management at CBS and its then parent company, Viacom, shifted blame to him to pacify the White House and that on the day after Bush was re-elected, he was informed he would be removed as anchor of the CBS Evening News.
The suit maintains that inaccuracies in the National Guard report have "never been established," but, even if there were errors, he was not responsible for them because he "played largely a supervisory role" in the production of the broadcast and was assured by others that the documents had been authenticated.
After initially defending the piece, CBS later retracted it, and Rather later made an on-air statement admitting the network couldn't vouch for the authenticity of the documents and calling the decision to air the story a "mistake in judgment."
However, Rather now charges in his lawsuit that he was "coerced" by CBS management "into publicly apologizing and taking blame for alleged journalistic errors in the broadcast."
Rather told King that he agreed to read the on-air apology -- largely written by other people -- to "play team" and help the organization where he had worked for more than 40 years.
"I didn't want to apologize. I didn't think we should apologize," he said.
He also said he didn't realize at the time that the apology was part of an effort by management to "make sure that they shifted whatever blame there was going to be ... away from themselves and put it on me and some other good people in the news division."
Rather said that in the weeks leading up to broadcast, he was not deeply involved in National Guard story because he was extremely busy covering a number of other major news stories, including a hurricane and the Republican National Convention.
He also said he was not invited to the final screening of the piece before it aired, which was attended by two corporate attorneys and a host of CBS executives, including Andrew Heyward, then president of the news division.
"I depended on a team of people to vet it," he said. "Didn't happen."
Rather said he is not interested in gaining financially from the suit and will donate a "substantial part" of any damages he collects to journalism organizations who work to keep "hard-nosed investigative reporting alive."
Rather's suit names as defendants CBS and its CEO, Leslie Moonves; Heyward; and Viacom and its CEO, Sumner Redstone.
Reacting to the suit, CBS issued a statement saying "these complaints are old news, and this lawsuit is without merit." Contacted for their reaction, Moonves and Heyward referred CNN to the CBS statement; Viacom and Redstone refused comment.
marcia marcia marcia was finger licking good!
who the hell woulda thunk it?
09/21/07
'Brady Bunch' Star Reveals All About Lesbian Fling With TV Sister?
Wholesome former The Brady Bunch star Maureen McCormick is set to reveal the beloved 70s TV series' most shocking secret in a new book - she and her on-screen sister had a lesbian fling.
McCormick's tell-all, "Here's The Story," won't hit bookstores until 2008, but publishers are already buzzing about the big reveal.
As well as talking candidly about her well-documented eating disorder and drug problems in the book, TV's Marcia Brady will come clean about a romance she had with co-star Eve Plumb, who played her sister Jan on the hit show.
A source tells the National Enquirer, "The most explosive comments will be how the then-blonde, blue-eyed cutie developed a crush on Eve Plumb, which led to some sexual play. This book will certainly come as a shocker. While Maureen is not a lesbian, she reveals there were some sexual hijinks going on behind the scenes. It's bizarre because she played such a virginal character on the show."
who writes his speeches?
dailymail.co.uk
The day George Bush killed off Nelson Mandela
By DAVID GARDNER
Last updated at 01:30am on 22nd September 2007
Nelson Mandela yesterday assured the world that, contrary to the impression given by the President of the United States, reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated.
Even for a statesman as blunder-prone as George Bush, it was a gaffe of toe-curling proportions.
The president's latest faux pas came as he tried to draw a tortuous link between the revered former South African leader and the sectarian violence in Iraq.
Defending his stand on the war, Mr Bush said Saddam Hussein's brutality had made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and halt the civil warfare that has torn Iraq apart.
"I heard somebody say, 'Where's Mandela?'" said Mr Bush.
"Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas," he added, to the general bemusement of the White House press corps.
The South African authorities were besieged with calls after Mr Bush's speech, which was carried live by TV news networks.
Many viewers feared the country's first black president and Nobel Peace Prize winner had died.
Jailed for 27 years by the former apartheid government in South Africa, Mr Mandela remained a constant thorn in the side of the white minority government.
Yesterday, his office put out an assurance that, at 89, he was very much alive.
Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said: "It's out there.
"All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive."
The president's allusion was all the more strained because Nelson Mandela was a strong opponent of the war in Iraq.
Before the 2003 invasion, he condemned Mr Bush as "a president who can't think properly and wants to plunge the world into a holocaust".
It is not the first time Mr Mandela's demise has been announced prematurely.
In 2003, CNN accidentally ran his obituary on its website and earlier this year a fringe Rightwing-group claimed he had died. He was on holiday in Mozambique at the time.
He retired from public life three years ago after beating prostate cancer in 2001.
President Bush is known for making gaffes.
He mixed up Austria with Australia in a speech in Sydney earlier this month.
Then there was his unstatesmanlike "Yo, Blair" greeting to Tony Blair at the G8 summit in St Petersburg last year.
His sometimes muddled syntax and mispronounciation of words such as nuclear, or as the president calls it "nukular", have long made him the butt of jokes.
Supporters, however, say his folksy style has helped build his popularity with Middle America.
take a look at this...another scoop of dirt on his political and mental grave
savage ray of light
here's two videos featuring an interview and acoustic performances by former savage garden frontman, darren hayes! he talks about the time madonna came to see one of his shows after getting a phone call from tommy mottolla. take a listen to this fantastic cover of madonna's "ray of light" he kills each and every note with amazing precision and even sings the guitar part instrumental himself...so great...then after listen to him cheekily describe how he would plan his funeral hehe
Friday, September 21, 2007
hillary solo vs. the republican empire
HILLARY: CHENEY IS WHITE HOUSE'S DARTH VADER
Post Staff Report
September 20, 2007 -- Hillary Clinton pulled out her light saber last night at a fundraiser in New York as she called Vice President Dick Cheney "Darth Vader."
"Vice President [Dick] Cheney came up to see the Republicans yesterday. You can always tell when the Republicans are getting restless, because the Vice President’s motorcade pulls into the Capitol, and Darth Vader emerges," Clinton said in Manhattan's Town Hall near Times Square.
Clinton, in a conversation with Tom Vilsack and Wesley Clark, said, when it comes to strategy for the war in Iraq, "I'm not invited to their meetings and I don't know what he says or does.
"But all the brave talk about bringing our troops home, and setting deadlines, and getting out by a certain date just dissipated," the presidential candidate said.
She then took a jab at President Bush's global warming policy:
"It will be refreshing, I think, to have a president who will actually utter the words 'global warming.'"
Vilsack, a top advisor to Clinton, also raised the stakes for GOP rival Rudy Giuliani, saying his stormy personal life will be fair game should he win the Republican nomination for president.
"There's a lot that the rest of the country is going to get to know about Mayor Giuliani that the folks in New York City know," Vilsack said.
"I can't even get into the number of marriages and the fact that his children - the relationship he has with his children - and what kind of circumstances New York was in before Sept. 11," Vilsack said during an interview on NY1 last night.
"There are lot of issues involving Mayor Giuliani . . . He's got a very interesting past."
The Clinton campaign's mudslinging against Giuliani's personal life is surprising, given the New York senator's struggles with her own marriage to philandering former President Bill Clinton, and other White House scandals.
The Giuliani campaign declined comment.
Culture of Corruption Continues!
"The Conservative Media" website treats us to a list of the Republican's Scandals for 2007 (sans Bush & Cheney's continued war crimes & treason). We've included a sampling of the Republican's Culture of Corruption here, but it's definitely worth checking out the full article. You may want to sit down though... this is gonna take a while!
The Republican hits just keep on coming in 2007
"One of the main reason Republicans were turned out of power in 2006 and lost control of both the U.S. House and Senate was because of their culture of corruption. Republicans vowed that would end after the scandal-filled 2006 that saw scandals like Mark Foley, Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney and Jack Abramoff just to name a few. That has not happened, and even though 2007 is not even over yet, we have seen plenty of GOP scandals in 2007. Here is the list so far:
January 23, 2007: Republican radio personality Scott Eller Cortelyou of Denver arrested on suspicion of using the Internet to lure a child into a sexual relationship.
February 14, 2007: Major Republican fundraiser Brent Wilkes and former CIA executive director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo are indicted by a grand jury for corrupting CIA contracts.
March 5, 2007: Ethics complaint filed against Republican Senator Pete Domenici for his role in the Attorney Purge scandal.
March 6, 2007: I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury.
March 8, 2007: Republican former U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich admits to extramarital affairs.
March 23, 2007: Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, an oil and gas lobbyist who became an architect of George W. Bush's energy policies, pleads guilty to obstructing justice by lying to a Senate committee.
March 28, 2007: Robert Vellanoweth, a Republican activist and appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, after a crash that killed three adults and one child.
March 29, 2007: Rep. John Garfield, R- Rochester Hills, was arrested in the East Lansing area by Michigan State University campus police on suspicion of drunk driving. Despite registering a .14 – almost twice the legal limit of blood-alcohol limit – the charges were later dismissed because the police improperly pulled him over, and he avoided his second drunk driving conviction.
April 18, 2007: The FBI raids the home of Republican Congressman John Doolittle, investigating his ties to Jack Abramoff.
April 23, 2007: The FBI questions Republican Congressman Tom Feeney about his dealings with Jack Abramoff.
April 23, 2007: Federal auditors find repeat violations of federal election law from the 2004 Senate campaign of Republican Senator Mel Martinez.
May 4, 2007: Bruce Weyhrauch and Pete Kott, former Alaska state Republican legislators, were arrested and accused of soliciting and accepting bribes from the corrupt VECO Corporation.
May 11, 2007: A field coordinator for Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry is indicted for voter fraud in North Carolina.
May 12, 2007: NBC News breaks the story that the FBI is investigating Republican Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons for suspicion of accepting bribes in exchange for securing government contracts.
May 15, 2007: Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy is arrested for drunk driving (he pled no contest on June 1, but didn't publicly disclose the event until June 11).
May 18, 2007: Republican former South Dakota State Representative Ted Klaudt is charged with eight counts of second-degree rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of sexual contact with a child younger than 16, two counts of witness tampering and one count of stalking against two foster children in his care.
May 21, 2007: Republican state Senate candidate Mark Tate is indicted on nine counts of perjury and two counts of election fraud by a grand jury.
June 11, 2007: Republican Senator Larry Craig is arrested for lewd conduct in the men's bathroom of an airport.
June 19, 2007: South Carolina Republican state Treasurer and South Carolina Chairman of Giuliani for President Thomas Ravenel is indicted by a grand jury on cocaine distribution charges.
July 2, 2007: President George W. Bush commutes the sentence of former Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby following Libby's conviction on obstruction of justice and perjury.
July 3, 2007: A grand jury report declares that the sale of public land to Republican Congressman Ken Calvert and his business partners violated the law.
July 11, 2007: Republican state Representative and Florida co-Chairman of McCain for President Bob Allen is arrested for soliciting a male undercover police officer, offering to pay $20 to perform oral sex.
July 16, 2007: Republican Senator David Vitter holds press conference acknowledging being on the D.C. Madam's list and past involvement with prostitutes.
July 16, 2007: Story breaks that Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski was involved in a sweetheart real estate deal.
July 19: Republican former state legislator Coy Privette is charged with six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution
July 24, 2007: Michael Flory, a 32, the former head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans pled guilty in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Ohio that he sexually abused a colleague during Young Republicans convention in the summer of 2006.
July 29, 2007: Glenn Murphy Jr., recently-elected Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, is accused of sexually assaulting a sleeping man.
July 30, 2007: The FBI and IRS raid the home of Republican Senator Ted Stevens following investigations into Stevens' dealings with the corrupt VECO Corporation.
August 2, 2007: Bush administration senior adviser Karl Rove disregards a Congressional subpoena and refuses to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
August 6, 2007: Investigation called for after House Republican Leader John Boehner leaked classified information regarding a secret court ruling over warrantless wiretapping.
August 9, 2007: Major Republican donor Alan Fabian is charged with 23 counts of bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and perjury.
August 22, 2007: Republican political consultant Roger Stone resigns his role with the New York state Senate Republicans after reports surfaced that he made a "threatening, obscenity-laced" phone call to the 83-year-old father of Governor Eliot Spitzer.
August 27, 2007: Story breaks that Republican Senator Larry Craig was arrested and pled guilty - he had not publicly disclosed the events to that point.
The Republican hits just keep on coming in 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
dj chauncey d : definite eleven
i've been pretty bad at keeping up with a top eleven like i used to do in the past...but here's a new one...the songs that are underlined you can download by clicking on them!! so many chauncey treats for you!!
dj chauncey d's definite eleven
september 2007
1. billie ray martin - undisco me (acid jacks remix)
2. mark knight - party animal (any mix)
3. kleerup f. robyn - with every heartbeat (any mix)
4. van she - sex city (nightmoves remix)
5. mark ronson - stop me (dirty south remix)
6. she wants revenge - out of control
7. mark knight - the reason (rene amesz mix)
8. empulse - american idle (quentin harris remix)*
9. dave spoon - time machine (tom neville remix)
10. lcd soundsystem - someone great
11. andrea doria - bucci bag 2007 (dino lenny remix)
* for more remixes of empulse's "american idle" please go to www.beatport.com and purchase them all (they are my friends!)
susan sarandon is my hero!!
Colbert: Is the answer to the trauma of returning vets not to bring them home?
Susan Sarandon appeared on Tuesday's Colbert Report to discuss her new film, In the Valley of Elah, which concerns a military cover-up of the murder of an Iraq War veteran
"I think it might start a dialogue about the fact that, actually, war changes you," said Sarandon. "There's a big disconnect between the politicized war and the actual war. ... All the guys who got us into this war never went to a war. They avoided a war, so they don't really have any idea what war means.
"They didn't avoid this war," objected Colbert. "They actively went after this war,"
"That's so true," agreed Sarandon.
"You're saying there's some trauma these people experience and they have to deal with that when they come home?" asked Colbert. "Isn't the answer, maybe, to not bring them home? I mean, the president has done his part in that regard."
click HERE
for the video
no vacancy
U.S. military cemetery running out of space
Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:57am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2039677420070920?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (Reuters) - A Kansas military cemetery has run out of space after the burial of another casualty of the Iraq war, officials said on Thursday.
"We are full," said Alison Kohler, spokeswoman for the Fort Riley U.S. Army post, home of the 1st Infantry Division.
U.S. Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, both Kansas Republicans, on Thursday sent a letter to William Tuerk, the under secretary for memorial affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, urging for full funding for a new cemetery for Fort Riley.
"While a new cemetery would not be completed in time to alleviate this situation immediately, it is vitally important," Roberts and Brownback, a Republican presidential candidate, said in their letter.
"We truly owe our military members a debt of gratitude and the least we can do is provide them with an honorable burial ground," the senators wrote.
Since the 2003 beginning of the war in Iraq, Fort Riley has lost 133 soldiers and airmen, though not all are buried in the Fort Riley cemetery. Sgt Joel Murray, who died September 4 in Iraq, took the last available plot, said Kohler.
Fort Riley can bury bodies on top of other bodies if family members want to share a plot, said Kohler.
And this is one of the recent videos that pissed off our "profound" commander in chief
special thanks to myspace friend denise who literally posts important bulletins at least once every ten minutes...yes..there's that much nonsense and disgusting facts to discover daily
Sunday, September 16, 2007
dinner with madonna
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Dinner with Madonna
When Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Kevin Flower, began gesticulating wildly at me from across the dinner table, pointing at his chest and mouthing some word I mistook for an obscenity, I thought maybe he was trying to tell me the bill was here and I owed him a LOT of money.
It took me a while to realize that he was actually pointing at a petite blonde sitting at the table behind him instantly recognizable as the one and only Madonna.
Suddenly, the place was buzzing. Waiters dropped their dishes. Diners stopped chewing and turned around to stare. The more quick-witted ones whipped out their mobile phones and snapped grainy pictures.
But while the rest of the place craned their necks to get a better look, I was shrinking into my seat hoping to disappear from view.
You see, I did a story recently on Madonna, Kabbalah and her visit to Israel for the Jewish holidays. Suddenly, face to face with the subject of my work, I was terrified.
I had a vision of her marching over and slapping me with her dinner napkin, deeply offended at my pathetic attempt to report on her celebrity supremacy as husband Guy Ritchie glowered at me from a distance.
So, I took decisive action. I decided to ignore her. I turned to a fellow journalist beside me for support.
"What about these rumors of the Egyptian President’s failing health? What does it all mean?" I asked in a desperate attempt to look serious and sound earnest, pretending to be utterly unconcerned with the superstar in our midst.
But it was unavoidable. All around me people wanted to talk Madonna. What kind of shoes is she wearing? What is she eating? Is it kosher? What size do you think she wears? She’s so tiny! Why does her hair look so great? Atika, why does her hair look so perfect? You have the best view!
That was the worst part. I had a clear shot to the Material Girl herself and I was too embarrassed to even glance in her direction.
My friend Katherine, a professional photographer who is much braver than me, suddenly announced, "I want to take her picture but I don’t have a camera."
Guiltily, sheepishly, I slid my CNN-paid-for videophone across the table to her, an enabler to paparazzi.
You know, as a journalist, I’ve walked into the aftermath of a tsunami, stared down the barrel of a kalashnikov, and run headfirst into a riot. I’ve interviewed presidents and prime ministers, even a convicted cannibal.
But I couldn’t even gather enough guts to press a button and take a photo of Madonna.
We struggled for at least 30 minutes like this. Giddily taking photos of each other. Surreptitiously zooming in on the real target behind us.
It was a mess.
The closest we got was a very unflattering picture of Bureau Chief Kevin Flower and Madonna’s two bodyguards blocking the view behind him.
So, at the restaurants urging, we finally paid the bill and walked out, utterly defeated.
Of course, I’m sure Madonna had no idea what was going on. She probably didn’t even watch CNN and had never even seen my piece on air and didn’t give a hoot except to think: What a bunch of losers these people at the next table are.
Outside, the paparazzi pounced on us as we exited, flashing and snapping their cameras then groaning when they realized their mistake.
What was I doing? I should have elbowed her bodyguards aside, brazenly snapped a photo and demanded an interview with Madonna mid-bite. That's what a real journalist would do.
So, Madonna, I apologize for not doing my job and interrupting your dinner and bombarding you with questions until I was forcibly removed from the building.
I admit it: When it comes to celebrities, I am a bad journalist.
-- From CNN International Correspondent Atika Shubert in Jerusalem.
www.cnn.com
Saturday, September 15, 2007
pink is the new red white and blue
‘I’ve stood around too long’
Central Kings students wear pink to send bullies a message
By IAN FAIRCLOUGH Valley Bureau | 6:06 PM
Central Kings Rural High School students David Shepherd and Travis Price bought 75 pink tank tops and other pink items for students to wear after a new student at the school was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. (IAN FAIRCLOUGH / Valley Bureau)
CAMBRIDGE — Two students at Central Kings Rural High School fought back against bullying recently, unleashing a sea of pink after a new student was harassed and threatened when he showed up wearing a pink shirt.
The Grade 9 student arrived for the first day of school last Wednesday and was set upon by a group of six to 10 older students who mocked him, called him a homosexual for wearing pink and threatened to beat him up.
The next day, Grade 12 students David Shepherd and Travis Price decided something had to be done about bullying.
"It’s my last year. I’ve stood around too long and I wanted to do something," said David.
They used the Internet to encourage people to wear pink and bought 75 pink tank tops for male students to wear. They handed out the shirts in the lobby before class last Friday — even the bullied student had one.
"I made sure there was a shirt for him," David said.
They also brought a pink basketball to school as well as pink material for headbands and arm bands. David and Travis figure about half the school’s 830 students wore pink.
It was hard to miss the mass of students in pink milling about in the lobby, especially for the group that had harassed the new Grade 9 student.
"The bullies got angry," said Travis. "One guy was throwing chairs (in the cafeteria). We’re glad we got the response we wanted."
David said one of the bullies angrily asked him whether he knew pink on a male was a symbol of homosexuality.
He told the bully that didn’t matter to him and shouldn’t to anyone.
"Something like the colour of your shirt or pants, that’s ridiculous," he said.
"Our intention was to stand up for this kid so he doesn’t get picked on."
Travis said the bullies "keep giving us dirty looks, but we know we have the support of the whole student body.
"Kids don’t need this in their lives, worrying about what to wear to school. That should be the last thing on their minds."
When the bullied student put on his pink shirt Friday and saw all the other pink in the lobby, "he was all smiles. It was like a big weight had been lifted off is shoulder," David said. No one at the school would reveal the student’s name.
Travis said that growing up, he was often picked on for wearing store-brand clothes instead of designer duds.
The two friends said they didn’t take the action looking for publicity, but rather to show leadership in combating what they say is frequent bullying in schools.
(ifairclough@herald.ca)
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
angela channing r.i.p.
'Johnny Belinda' Actress Jane Wyman Dies
Sept. 10, 2007, 11:29 AM EST
The Associated Press
Jane Wyman, an Academy Award winner for her performance as the deaf rape victim in "Johnny Belinda," star of the long-running TV series "Falcon Crest" and Ronald Reagan's first wife, died Monday morning at 93.
Wyman died at her Palm Springs home, said Richard Adney of Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary in Cathedral City. No other details were immediately available.
Wyman's film career spanned from the 1930s, including "Gold Diggers of 1937," to 1969's "How to Commit Marriage," co-starring Bob Hope and Jackie Gleason. From 1981 to 1990 she played Angela Channing, a Napa Valley winery owner who maintained her power with a steely will on "Falcon Crest."
Her marriage in 1940 to fellow Warner Bros. contract player Reagan was celebrated in the fan magazines as one of Hollywood's ideal unions. While he was in uniform during World War II, her career ascended, signaled by her 1946 Oscar nomination for "The Yearling."
The couple divorced in 1948, the year she won the Oscar for "Johnny Belinda." Reagan reportedly cracked to a friend: "Maybe I should name Johnny Belinda as co-respondent."
After Reagan became governor of California and then president of the United States, Wyman kept a decorous silence about her ex-husband, who had married actress Nancy Davis.
A few days after Reagan died on June 5, 2004, Wyman broke her silence, saying: "America has lost a great president and a great, kind and gentle man."
my sugar is raw?
ok...i'm pretty drunk and pretty honest right now..
i think i'm finally fully disappointed in madonna's new direction. "selling out...is not my thing". which character was she portraying in that song? because it certainly wasn't who she was playing when she made this last song with mister pharrell williams. there are a few good hot and nasty things about this track but there are far too many things wrong with it that i really don't think i will ever fully like it and that really bothers the shit outta me.
there has been so much negativity in the madonna forums online that i visit and i don't think it has anything to do with anyone wanting "confessions on a dancefloor" part 2. they just expect quality music from madonna. not a song that you end up liking because you feel you have to because it is a madonna track. i uploaded the soundtrack for "the next best thing" on the itunes at my job and "time stood still" is a ridiculous track! the lyrics are awful...the percussion is novice...and the music is tawdry. i also listened to the "bedtime stories" album and realize that her lyrics are only deep when someone else writes them. it's kinda sad to me that someone who is so savvy and intelligent does not have the ability to write an interesting piece of poetry...nevermind more than two verses. the past ten years of her songs have been verse/chorus/verse/chorus/some funky techno bleep or orchestration/first verse again/chorus to fade.
i will always love her for some strange reason but she needs to work a lot harder if she's planning on ever getting considered an artist in my eyes ever again. there were some amazing lyrics on every single one of her albums but they are diamonds in the rough and not every single piece. maybe she needs a break to refresh...maybe she needs some time off...maybe she needs to go on vacation a little more often....maybe she needs to quit while she's almost ahead...
with that i leave you...(rehashed drum roll please)
madonna - candy shop (demo)
Monday, September 10, 2007
i really wanna be with you
Saturday, September 8, 2007
the eagle was chaunceyfied last night!
the return of g.r.u.f.f. was an incredible success tonight at the eagle! there were more porn stars present than i could wrap my dirty mind around. my dear friend max scott, who promotes the party pulled together quite a selection of sexy studs to reignite the fire of the monthly residency.
shortly after the witching hour, none other than former porn star and now rising pop star,
colton ford, performed his new single and the title track from his forthcoming album called "tug of war". he is quite the massively handsome man i must say and so professional and sweet he seemed like someone you've known for a long time. he's also great friends with one of my future husbands from myspace (who i hope to meet and lick from head to toe),
dj pimpadelic!
(ain't he just dreamy?)
other deliciously endowed deviants included oh so handsome and so genuine trey casteel, vin nolan, the gifted rafael alancar, joe strong, victor steele, cj knight, go go god and friend torez and the riduculously and perfectly hot francois sagat
i djed tonight and if i do say so myself (and to a decent amount of other people who came up to me and said it) i fucking rocked the house! i guess the god of djs (yes i do believe there could be one eheh) was smiling upon me because the system that the eagle has is far from cutting edge. you actually can't hear both songs that you're playing in your headphones at the same time. Trying to beatmatch (which i am one of the few newer djs in nyc that still knows how to do that) without that luxury is not the easiest thing to do. i guess it all depends on the first systems that you work on when you start out as a dj. i taught myself everything i know mixing wise and i learned it all at "the urge" and surprisingly enough, their system was far more advanced than most of the equipment i've worked on in a lot of bars and clubs in the city. i must admit i stayed up until about 5:30 am friday morning scouring the internet and begging limewire to be swift with requests so that i made sure i had the dirtiest and most disgusting house and electro tracks i could find to fuck everyone up in the head and that came to the bar and continue to make my mark as a dj who refuses to buy into the mainstream pop bullshit and introduce people to songs and artists they are pleasantly startled to find out exist. yes i am quite intoxicated so my verbal babbling is certainly at its most vivacious but what the hell....it's my blog...i'll type what i want to. but seriously, my concoction of deep, dark electro, thunderous tribal, hellish house and brimstone beats...combined with my somehow savvy technical wizardry created a soundscape that enticed, eroticized and perfectly poisoned the night. in short....i fucking delivered.
i really wish i could have recorded a portion of my set...it was definitely worth revisiting. unfortunately, the last place i was able to record my sets was a long time ago at "the urge" when the damn cd recorder underneath the dj booth worked properly. that's why the live set i uploaded and made available today (look below) is from a couple years ago. like i said in the previous post...it is definitely my most consistent and cohesive body of work i think i have ever produced. ok i'll shut up now...until i am pressed to blog about something again...hope you enjoyed the fresh photos from tonight i shared with you above....there were some hot motherfuckers up in that place tonight. unfortunately i was stuck in the booth and only got to deliriously french kiss one sexy beast who happened to be named matthew. i don't think he ever did get rid of his hiccups...
Friday, September 7, 2007
G.R.U.F.F.
The Return of G.R.U.F.F.
@ The Eagle!
Friday September 7th
10pm
W 28th Street between 10th and 11th
$10 cover or $5 on guestlist
dirty go go gods
drink specials
xxx giveaways and an evil, sexy soundscape of rock infused house and filthy electro
Special guests include the hot porn star turned pop star colton ford, rafael alancar and the sexy as hell trey casteel!
a big thank you to all those who went to the eagle tonight for "the return of g.r.u.f.f."
here's a live mix of mine in two parts as a thank you...it's an older set but definitely timeless and probably my most consistent work that was ever recorded.
enjoy
dj chauncey d - relationshipwreck part 1
dj chauncey d - relationshipwreck part 2
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
original poetry
enjoy
"like everybody else"
have you run out of blank pages?
are you scribbling over and over again
on a bunch of phone numbers never dialed?
are you trying to get through
an adult world
with the diary entries of a lonely child?
have you run out of magic spells?
are you conjuring up and calling to arms
an army of excuses why you procrastinate?
are you trying to get across the finish line
just to find
a reason to take a break and celebrate?
your intuition used to make you a magician
always knowing which box held the shiny treasure
your intelligence used to be your best defense
now your dumb delays your pleasure
and you've become like everybody else
and that was always your biggest fear
you're numb like everybody else
would it really matter if you would disappear?
dirty chauncey treats
here's a filthy peak hour electrohouse orgasmic demon of a track by mark knight called "party animal". he's done some amazing remixes recently...one that certainly comes to mind is holmes ives' "eight letters" that ravaged dance floors and most of my sets recently. i'm listening to this over and over again to find out the dirty nonsense that the girl who does the vocals is saying...it's certainly filthy and works as a fine younger but trampier sister to jose nunez' "bilingual". i'll have to investigate who the 'workidz' are for sure after hearing this. i promise this will turn up later in my set friday night at the eagle
listen with caution...
mark knight - party animal (workidz remix)
also as an extra treat...here's another type of track that makes you want to take a shower after you listen to it...i just recently discovered it but i think it comes off of alexkid's 2006 album caracol...alexkid is responsible for such brilliant tracks like "come with me" featuring the same girl who's singing on this one plus "pick it up" featuring hanifah walidah...once again...listen with caution
alexkid featuring lissette allea - nightshade
Monday, September 3, 2007
chauncey treat
the chemical brothers have created a new dance craze called "the salmon dance" (not exactly sure i'll be seeing it on dance floors anywhere soon though ehhe).
here's a great remix by the glimmers that tastily concludes the summer with a funky beat and fat bass line reminiscent of dare i say "on broadway" (they say the neon lights are bright...)
i hope you all enjoyed your summer! i have to say i did...a lot of working for a great cause...a lot of incredible nights djing all over the city and a lot of crazy, fun nights with friends and ugly hangovers the next day!
this is the kind of wacky track i throw into my sets especially at nowhere bar to spice up the crazy night....enjoy!
the chemical brothers - the salmon dance (the glimmers heavily smoked mix)
never too late i guess!
At 88, Laguna Woods woman comes out
After spending 44 years with her life partner, a Laguna Woods woman finds the courage to go public with their relationship.
LAGUNA WOODS - Loraine Barr placed the typed, four-page essay in an envelope, sealed it, and then, for three days, wondered if she had the nerve to send it.
"Am I really ready for this?" she thought.
For years, Barr had enjoyed the "My Turn" reader essays in Newsweek magazine.
Now, she figured, was her turn.
Still, she wondered: What if they publish it?
Barr's essay was about a 44-year love affair she had kept from her parents, her relatives – even her dearest, closest friends.
"For heaven's sake," Barr said, recounting that day in May when she finally decided to mail off her essay. "I'm 88 years old. What difference does it make to anybody? It doesn't make a difference to anybody now."
Barr's essay appears in the current (Sept. 3) edition of Newsweek.
All week, the calls have been coming in – several dozen messages of overwhelming support from friends, relatives and strangers who looked up Barr's listed telephone number.
"I loved your essay," one man said in a recorded message. He said he was 81 and from Salt Lake City.
"It brought tears to my eyes, and I congratulate you," he said.
The man started crying – the sobs of a stranger, reaching out to another stranger whose story moved him, for a reason he chose to keep private.
Barr is amazed at the reaction.
After all, she didn't write the essay for her friends or relatives.
She didn't write it for strangers.
She didn't even write it for her lifelong partner, who died nine years ago.
She wrote it for herself.
FORBIDDEN LOVE
To the outside world, they were roommates – keeping separate bedrooms for appearances.
To each other, Barr and Mary Frances Piercey were the loves of each other's lives.
They felt incredibly grateful to have found each other, and incredibly lucky to have spent more than four decades together.
Barr and Piercey also felt that theirs was "the love that dare not speak its name."
Both grew up at a time when people didn't talk openly about their sexual orientation. "Coming out" as a lesbian just didn't happen back then, Barr said.
So she and Piercey never talked about their relationship – and no one asked.
"It was not an issue," Barr said. "It wasan issue, but it was buried deeply."
Some people knew the nature of their relationship – but nothing ever was verbally acknowledged.
Everything was subtext.
Barr's father, a salesman, once asked a cousin, a doctor, if his daughter might be a lesbian. The cousin said he didn't know, and that was the end of that.
In the 1940s, a man on leave from the war got serious about Barr. One night they danced at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
"Can you imagine?" he told Barr that night. "I wanted to see you more than I wanted to see my mother!"
Although he knew Barr cared about him, he got frustrated. He asked Barr to see a psychiatrist – "to see if anything was wrong with me," Barr recalled with a smile.
The psychiatrist told Barr, "As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with you."
There would be other men.
"I dated men a lot; I wanted to be popular," Barr said. "But it was never fun."
Barr's mother hoped she would marry and have children.
Sometimes, she would show friends a picture of Loraine holding a male doll and say, "That's my grandson."
HIDDEN LIFE
Barr, born in Chicago, spent most of her life in Southern California.
"There's a wonderful line in (the movie) 'Victor Victoria,' where Julie Andrews said to Robert Preston, 'How long have you been a homosexual?' And he says, 'How long have you been a soprano?'
"I always was the way I am – as a child even."
Barr was 28 and a student at UCLA when she fell in love, for the first time, with another woman – a teacher who was married.
They kept their relationship hidden. Barr also was dating the woman's brother, and the four would sometimes go dancing.
That relationship ended after a few years, when the woman's husband intervened.
About a decade later, Barr met Piercey, who had a 6-year-old son from a brief marriage.
Both women were working at the L.A. County Probation Department – both as probation officers (Barr also has been a teacher and employee counselor).
"And so it grew," Barr said of their relationship.
She and Piercey mostly spent time with heterosexual couples, but they had a few lesbian friends.
One time, around 1975, Barr and Piercey came close to coming out, when they were having dinner with a straight couple.
Just as Barr started to tell them, the couple changed the subject.
HAPPIEST MOMENT
Piercey died in 1998 of liver cancer at age 79. Barr organized a memorial service for her.
At the service, the minister eulogized Piercey as a quiet, bright listener who gave off a "warm and gentle glow."
He told of her love of art and calligraphy and sculpture, and gardening and shuffleboard.
As she said her final goodbyes to Piercey, Barr did not tell anyone about their relationship.
But, she figured, a lot of people knew.
After her Newsweek essay was published, her assumptions were confirmed. Several friends and relatives said, "We knew all along."
On her deathbed, Barr's mother, Ethel, acknowledged what had remained unspoken between her and her daughter for years.
"I never understood your way of life before," Ethel Barr, 70, told her daughter, "but I do now."
Barr calls that the happiest moment in her life.
"She (was saying), 'It's OK. It's OK to be who you are.'"
FEELING OF GRATITUDE
Basking in the positive response to her coming-out essay, Barr feels energized.
She hasn't heard much from the community at large at Laguna Woods Village, where she has lived for 19 years.
She's not sure she will. The senior community of about 18,000 has an active gay and lesbian organization, the Rainbow Club. Barr is not a member.
"Only the people who know me have responded so far," said Barr, who has two cousins who live in Laguna Woods Village.
Barr's house is filled with pictures of her and Piercey.
They traveled a lot – to Israel, Ireland and to Scotland. To Italy, Alaska and Spain. To Mexico, France and England.
Barr pointed out a favorite shot of the normally reserved Piercey.
In the photo, Piercey is sprawled out on a sofa with their black-and-white cat, Genny, looking silly and happy.
Barr is not in a romantic relationship now, nor does she expect to be. Her heart, she said, always will belong to Mary Frances Piercey.
She thinks about her every day.
"You know," Barr said, "it doesn't get any easier. Somehow, it's harder now than it ever was.
"But I don't think of her with sadness. I think of her with gratitude, and about how lucky I was – how lucky we were."