The Gay Marriage Thing

I don’t get it. What is it about male/female marriage that needs defending? What is it that makes the institution so fragile that it can’t be expanded to include male/male or female/female marriage?

Nizzibet and I are married. Been that way for the last nine years. “Officially” we got married in 2001 and thereby ended the one major argument we’d been having since we got together. We weren’t arguing about whether or not to get married, just about what sort of ceremony we were going to have. We finally compromised and had two. One here in the Northwest of the quiet and sacred variety and another down in California of the sunny, loud and crowded type.

Neither of those ceremonies is our marriage. Our marriage is what we do every day. It’s not something that will be threatened when someone else gets married. The stresses come from wobbly finances, differences in temperment, balancing our time for chores/intimacy/creativity and (at the moment) taking care of a dotty Aged Mother. Whether or not LuvSet and BlueMonkey or LH and CK or MD and T tie the knot brings no threat to our union. (Except we’d have to figure out how we could stretch our budget to attend the ceremonies if they were held in California.)

I’ve yet to read an argument against gay marriage that makes logical sense. And the argument should make logical sense. Anyone using the Bible as justification for their argument is just being silly. And stupid. That book can be used to argue against anything. Spare me the Divine Word of God hooey. Me and God, we had a talk once (limited to one sentence and He was doing the talking) and I’ll take His Word over yours.

So, no logical argument against gay marriage. None. Barry over at his journal on Amptoons has had quite few posts on the subject. If you’re interested start here and then look around. He’s far better than I at constructing a reasoned argument (and then presenting it without foaming at the mouth).

What prompted this post?

This letter from American Family Association –

Dear David,

Participation in America’s Poll on Homosexual Marriage at www.marriagepoll.com continues at a steady pace. As of noon Saturday, December 28, the results were as follows:

– I oppose legalization of homosexual marriage and “civil unions” total votes: 201913

– I favor legalization of homosexual marriage total votes: 378689

– I favor a “civil union” with the full benefits of marriage except

for the name: 52238

If you have not already voted, go to www.marriagepoll.com to do so.

Be sure to forward the poll on to your family and friends.

Only votes that have a valid email address associated with them will

be counted. We will be purging those with invalid email addresses,

which may cause poll results to change somewhat.

Sincerely,

Don

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman

American Family Association

P.S. Please forward this email to at least one friend.

So consider this a forward. Go say hi to Don and vote in his little poll.

In Which Our Narrator Expresses Opinions (and Opinions of His Opinions) Regarding Various Works Of Fictive Entertainment

C.S. Lewis once wrote a long and rather smart essay on entertainment preferences. Along with discussing individual tastes in one’s amusement he also admonished those who didn’t like a particular type of story to refrain from writing reviews of that story as their reviews could only be negative. With that thought in mind, here are some thoughts about the entertainment I’m consuming.

Opus

I’m the wrong audience for Berke Breathed’s new strip. It’s amusing. But… I remember finding Bloom County amusing. I found Outland amusing. But amusing doesn’t necessarily lead to long term appreciation. For me, Opus the penguin was entertaining as part of the Bloom County ensemble. The whole cartoon animal interacting with (cartoon) human beings had an intrisic humor to it. Opus by himself doesn’t interest me much. Breathed’s art doesn’t tickle my aesthetic sensibilities.

Still, I congratulate him on getting the dedicated half page. I hope the strip succeeds. Because then maybe someone will come up with a comic strip I am interested in.

The Chosen

Nizzibet loves the Chaim Potok novel. So Christmas Eve we watched the 1981 film adaptation that starred Robby Benson and Rod Stieger.

Seemed like a well done film. I can’t really say more. I’m not the audience for it. I’d likely have never seen the film without Nizzibet’s company. I might read the novel enventually but I’m a compulsive reader. I’m far more willing to give my attention to a book about subjects outside my automatic interests than a film about the same.

Billy Bathgate

Much more to my taste. A young man from the Bronx works his way into becoming an assistant to Dutch Schultz and survives his employment through a combination of smarts and luck. Dustin Hoffman does a good job at pretending to be Dutch Schultz. I enjoyed myself enough to suspend my disbelief when Schultz beats to death a man twice his size. Hoffman does evil well but he doesn’t have the physical presence to make me believe that he’d be much of a threat mano a mano.

Ultimate Spider-Man

I borrowed the current run of this title (in trade paperback) from the library. I found myself wondering what someone who hadn’t read the regular Spider-Man series would think of this “re-imagining” of Peter Parker’s story. I find it entertaining the way someone who knows the King Arthur myth enjoys a retelling of the story. They look for what’s familiar, they look for what’s been changed and they judge and evaluate what they are reading based on what they expect is coming.

Thing is, Peter Parker’s story wasn’t written with the future in mind. Stan Lee didn’t expect Spider-Man to still be around in 40 years. He and his artistic collaborators made it up as they went along. So predictably, that story is a big ol’ mess that has gone on way too long.

Ultimate Spider-Man starts at the beginning with the idea “What is Peter Parker gained spider powers in today’s world?” and then goes from there. I enjoy the greater depth of character given to the supporting cast – Mary Jane is adorable, Gwen Stacy is an attractive mess, Aunt May never seems on the verge of a heart attack and we’ve given quite a bit of Uncle Ben before he is murdered. The no-superhero stuff works well.

It’s the Spider-Man side of the story, the villains and their dastardly machinations that don’t have as much spark for me. The Kingpin is a big fat guy who rules all the crime in New York in the original continuity and that’s what he is here. Electro is just there – some guy who tosses around electric bolts. Now he’s the result of genetic experimentation rather than a freak accident. Eh. Kraven the TV star is funny and not really so different from the original. None of those guys were that interesting to begin with that I’d mind any real changes to them.

It’s the revisions of the Green Goblin and Doc Ock that don’t work so well for me.

I much prefer the old school Goblin in a costume with the bat glider and pumpkin bombs to the mutating freak with plasma blasts. The old version has a goofy style. You never knew if Norman Osborn was just his usual ruthless businessman self or if the Goblin was awake and pulling the strings. The new version is just so ordinary. Osborn here was a vicious asshole before he became the Goblin and he becomes the Goblin intentionally in order to become a superpowered asshole. The scaly ugliness is an unintentional side effect. He and the Goblin are the same personality.

Doc Ock is just crazy and murderous in his first adventure. There’s none of the criminal mastermind and his ingenious plots. He’s bent on getting revenge on the man he blames for making him a freak. Revenge is so one note.

Ultimately though, this series works more on nostalgia value for me than anything else. The Marvel Universe would be fun to play with if it were in public domain but I’m no longer a fan of it. I don’t have the time to keep up.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Extended Edition

This movie rocks. End of story.

Firefly

We’re about three quarters of the way through the DVD collection. It’s a fine series and demonstrates once again that television executives are stupid and insane. Why else would someone commission a science fiction series from the creator of Buffy and Angel and then actively work to ensure that it failed? Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to commission a half hour sitcom?

Someday I hope that network television becomes just step in the life of a series. That a series will get its start there and then move on to original DVD productions once an audience has found it. Although for that to work you’d need to have movie executives with a few more IQ points than TV executives.

That’s my rant for today. Cheers y’all.

Morning. Been up for a couple of hours now, surfing the internet and tending to Aged Mother. My plan to kill her is going smoothly. She eats four eggs a day. That’s twenty-eight eggs a week. With butter. “With butter” describes most of her meals. All vegetables go with butter. Sometimes butter and yogurt. All fruit goes with yogurt, occasionally with soy milk as well. She’d probably eat the fruit with butter as well if I only suggested it. I probably won’t need to. She’s asked for butter on every thing else without my prompting. One of these mornings I just know she’s going to ask for butter to go with her pears. And then she’s doomed.

(Cue manical laughter.)

Not A Creature Was Stirring

Christmas Day. No body is up yet but me and the cat. Possibly Skook is still awake but with the sun coming up somewhere behind those dark clouds I rather doubt it. I’m not feeling like dragging on my shoes to lurch out to the garage to see. Christmas is a human holiday. Heck, holidays are a human thing. Sasquatch have the occasional gatherings but those are apparently more political than celebrational. I couldn’t get a lot of details on them.

We’re celebrating Christmas by eating chinese food and watching movies. We watched The Chosen and Billy Bathgate last night. The fridge is too full to try squeezing anything else in so the chinese food is sitting outside in the car. It’s been almost as cold as the inside of a refrigerator at night the last month. Hopefully Skook didn’t decide to check out the car on his way home. If so then I guess we’re eating tuna casserole while we watch The Two Towers and Firefly today.

Merry merry Y’all!

Counting Blessings – Friends and Family

There’s no order to this. No ranking. No details. I wrote down names as they came to me and added in new names as I typed. Went away, remembered someone, came back and dropped their name in the middle of things. No doubt I’ve spelled some names wrong (or you’ve changed them and I didn’t know/have forgotten). Y’all here have been bright spots in my life – some for brief moments, others for decades. Cheers! And thank you.

Sarah Byam

Staci Shirley

Ninnah Curtis

Helen Ingersoll

Glenn Ingersoll

Kent Mannis

CreativeTechs (Craig, Melody, Eric and Kyle)

Cindy Parker

Cindy Pyborn

Andree Kessel

John Kessel

Rae Dinsmore

Karyn O’Hearn

Dan Chappell

Yvonne (of that Voice)

Memi Robles

Patrick O’Hearn

John Gerboth

John Pagel

Lora Ray

Cabernet Lazarus

Amy Swallow

Jonathan Grossman

Cherie Miller-Hanni

Rob Hanni

Eric Hanni

Yvonne Johnson

Lora Bertaina

Leann Hayes

Don Sisler

Maria Bavuso

Ellen (formerly) Kucera

Scott Tolson

Jan Ingersoll

Bernice Ingersoll

Dion and Rachel Batres

Tony Batres

Robert Ingersoll

Dad (Bruce Ingersoll Sr.)

Jake and Jenn Oxrieder

Joe Oxrieder

Bruce Ingersoll Jr.

Jason Oxrieder

Mary Jo Oxrieder

Emily Manning

Marnie Manning

Ruth Cohen

Lou Jansen

Conrad and Laura Denke

Jedd Parker

Maya Dunstan and Terra

Frank

Randy

Jason Grant

Phil Taggart

Heather Deviveiros

Maria Grau and Fritz

Chris Callahan

Kris Syversen

Andy Syversen

Crissy Smith

Schuyler and David Waynforth

Jane Hamilton

Marcus Chappell

Pam Chappell

Sevilla and Sam Travis

Alaine Nijenhuis

Jackie McClure

Heidi Langeberg

Gregg Victor

Sarajenny Chiro

Jeremy Sharp

Cordell and Ann Stillman

Charles Baumgardner

Deborah Clubb

Louise Bailey

Cynthia Mellin

Kat Glennie

Edd Vick

Amy Thompson

Elder Tune

Elder Smith

Elder Boone

Shep Hendrix and Gayle

Pia Guerra

Roberta Gregory

Donna Barr

Kip Manley

Jenn Manley Lee

The Black Seal Gang (David, Davide, Nick, Adam, JT, Phil, Giles (at least))

Jeff and Teresa Swenson

Venke Syveren

Mark Syversen

Amy Gibson

Gregg Victor

Deneen Cunningham

Matt Sanders

Kathy Spillane

Ryan Kursh

Peter Worley

Nic Rademacher

Glenn Simpson

Tim Leavitt

Nicki Horton

Ivan Chait

Hawk Chait

Bernice Jinkerson

Rose Curtis

Sierra Perkins

Anne and Jack Grant

Christopher Scavetto

Ed Sprancis

Ashok

Marty

Brigitta Hunter

Lisa Furton

Christina Rodriguez

Beth Hanni

Knute Calendar

Lisa Temple

Ethan Temple

Rodney Aho

Kuleen McGrath

Derek Fetters

Emily Ross

Tim Lowery

Stephanie Costa

Yogi and Joy Beatty

Jennifer Hallam

Alan Berendson

Dirk Voss

Justin Norman

Jordan and Louisa Bojar

Dave Campbell

Jessica DeWolf

Geoff Skinner

Jeff Schaeffer

Erika Faxon

Doug Faxon

Chris and Karen Carpenter

Dylan Bennett

Marcus Bennett

John and Deanna Johns

Tom and Barbara Mannell

Jessica Grady

Sandy Redlich

Jeannine Garczynski

Jeannine Kouns

Daniel Rivers

Vicki Gotcher

Aurora Valentine

Phil Taggart

Lara Bertaina

Beth and Bill Cary

Tony Burger

Mary Carrigan

Rau Carriker

Jo Ann Crank

Chris at Perelandra

Lee and Jean Avera

Deborah Corrington

Shelly Lazark

Lena Boa

Lori Schilling

Jeff Simpson

Gweneth Shears

Bronwyn Shears

Melinda Cole

Jonathan Williams

Lori Alexander

Michael and Heather O’Connell

Brian O’Connell

Ted Naifeh

Tasha Amme

George Herring

Matt Skoog

Christine Masaoka, John Ross

Hope Levy

Joel Goldes

Morton Bergue

Daphne Nachtigall

Steve and Diann Streng

Tony Vigil

Serra Pagel

Leif Jones

Yvette Berthaud

Arby Bernt

Marge Everidge

Debra Burson

Shawn Broderick

Karen Schultz

Sheila Hart

Jackie Spaulding

Autumn Summers

Kevin Kennedy

Karen Washington

James O’Donnell

If your name isn’t here (and I’m sure a few of you aren’t) it’s more likely because my memory has holes in it this (and every other) morning than because I lack affection for you. My apologies.

Merry merry!

Christmas in Three Days

Shopping is as done as it’s going to be. I still need to wrap Aged Mother’s presents but that will be fairly easy. We’re way behind in writing in (much less addressing and mailing) our cards. It’s still been one of the better holiday seasons.

Nizzibet and I plan to spend Christmas day laying around, eating take out food from Tan Duc and watching action movies. And opening prezzies of course.

Huge Comic Book Collection! Rare Number Ones! Worth Thousands!

I’ve been looking through ebay’s listings for “comic collections”. I’ve got a huge one of my own that, barring a miracle, I’ll need to sell. As far as I can tell, there are currently no comparable collections available. Sure, there are a number of large collections being shilled but they aren’t as big or as broad as mine. That’s not bragging. It’s not a matter of pride. It’s a matter of numbers. I spent more on comics than I ever did on any my other vices. Certainly more than I ever spent on drugs and alcohol.

With Aged Mother here and us needing to empty out the house in California I need to find homes for my stuff. Some of it, my books and photographs, Lovesettlement should be able to send up here fairly easily. My artwork will be more problematic. Some of it I want. Some of it I have no use for. Mostly I wouldn’t know one way or another without seeing it first. There’s toys and tchotckies and junk that I guess I could lay claim to that I’m fine if I never see it again. My glow in the dark Creature from the Black Lagoon and Godzilla would be nice to see again but, really, I don’t have a place for them. That stuff can go into a dumpster with A.M.’s beat up furniture and triplepatched clothes.

So the biggest chunk of Stuff is the comics. Thousands of them.

What are they worth?

Please. Not a damn thing. Or thousands of dollars. It’s all a matter of who is looking at them. To me, they’re priceless. To many of my friends they might be sort of neat but not really worth the time it takes to move them. That’s something that a lot of Collectors don’t get. Just because some book says that your Badly Drawn Musclefreak #0 is worth $350 doesn’t mean that anyone will pay half that much for it.

I’ve made an all-or-nothing offer of them to one of my friends who was heavily into comics back in the day. I suspect that he’ll pass on them. He wants to look at them first. That’s cool. It just doesn’t work for him to take what he wants and leave us still having thousands of comics to move.

I doubt that I’ll have a chance to look through the collection again myself before it goes. If I could afford to go to California to do that I could afford to get it back here.

So, it goes.

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“Is your Dad still alive?”

“He died three years ago Mom.”

“Oh.” She thinks about that. “I didn’t think he was still alive. But I didn’t think it was three years.”

After reading the Kipster’s latest post and the attendant link to Modern Drunkard Magazine I think I’ll amend Item #1250 to staying drunk all week. Staying drunk all day lacks ambition. Anyone can be drunk all day. To stay drunk all week requires stamina and forethought.