Random Musings

So George Zimmerman was arrested. AGAIN.

He ALLEGEDLY pointed a shotgun at his girlfriend, and has been charged with one count of felony aggravated assault, and two misdemeanors including domestic violence battery and criminal mischief for the ALLEGED domestic dispute.

Here’s my take:

1. George Zimmerman thinks he has a right to use his guns to solve any issue that displeases him, whether it’s a girlfriend pissing him off or a young boy walking though his neighborhood.
2. George Zimmerman is the poster child for why we need stricter gun laws in this country.
3. George Zimmerman, like OJ Simpson, who also got away with murder, will one day find himself behind bars for another crime, just like OJ. It’s the universe righting itself.

Until then, let’s just hope he doesn’t murder anyone else.

Ted Cruz; “Senator” and comedian, er, liar.

At The Atlantic's Washington Ideas Forum recently, Fox News host Chris Wallace pointed out to Cruz that many of his colleagues thought he’d hurt the party by forcing the government shutdown instead of letting Obamacare fail on its own, and Cruz responded like this:

"That ignores who I think was responsible for the shutdown. I didn't want a shutdown. Throughout the whole thing, I said we shouldn't have a shutdown."

The audience howled, knowing a liar and charlatan when they see one.

And the Tea Party thinks he’s their newest darling? I cannot wait for him to run for President because that would really be funny.

Carlos and I went to see 12 Years a Slave over the weekend and I must say I loved it. Of course, I am a huge fan of Chiwetel Ejiofor, who played the slave Platte, AKA Solomon Northrup. It was hard to watch at times; cringe-worthy and WTF-inducing, but it’s the kind of story that needs to be told and remembered so it cannot happen again.

Based on a true story, Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, a free man living in upstate New York, who was kidnapped in Washington, DC and sold into slavery, and forcibly taken to Louisiana, where he worked for assorted slave masters played by Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender and Bryan Batt. The cruelest of all was Fassbender’s character who was insane and brutal and vicious, to say the least.

Other actors in the film, include Lupita Nyong’o as Patsey, in a heartbreaking performance, along with Alfre Woodard, a slave turned slave-owner, and Sarah Paulsen as Fassbender’s sadistic wife.

But it’s all Chiwetel Ejiofor and, these aren’t spoilers, in two scenes he proves whey I think he should win the Oscar. 

One, at the funeral of a fellow slave who died in the field, the camera pulls in close on Solomon as the other slaves sing a Negro spiritual; with just his house and very subtle facial expressions, you see him go through all kinds of emotions about his situation, the plight of the slave, and his final realization that he may never get home.

Two, in one of the last scenes all he has to say is “I apologize for my appearance’ and the tears flowed.

It’s a great film, subtle and yet in your face; all of the performances are just spot on. It’s not the kind of film that you can see again and again, but it’s the kind of film that stays with you for a very long time afterwards.

Orlando Cruz, the openly gay Puerto Rican boxer married his boyfriend José Manuel Colón in New York's Central Park over the weekend.

New York City Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito, who is among the frontrunners to succeed Christine Quinn as New York City Council Speaker officiated the ceremony, and Orlando noted the ceremony on his Facebook page:

“Giving thanks to my heavenly father for one more day of life and with [my] husband José Manuel in it.”

Congratulations to the happy couple.

The Oxford English Dictionaries announced that ‘selfie’ is their international Word of the Year 2013.

selfie noun, informal (also selfy; plural selfies)

a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website

Oxford Dictionaries editors reveals that the frequency of the word selfie in the English language has increased by 17,000% since this time last year, though the word can actually be traced back to 2002 when it was used in an Australian online forum.  

Other words on the short list included bedroom tax, binge-watch, bitcoin, olinguito, schmeat, showrooming, and twerk.

Yikes. I have taken but one ‘selfie’ in my life and it was a few years back when I had the shingles because my father wanted to see it. That picture was taken and sent and then deleted.

Pity poor Nom [National organization for Marriage].

After the Human Rights Campaign [HRC] filed a complaint with the IRS to compel NOM to publicly release its financial documents related to its political advocacy spending in 2012 comes the news that the hate group is some $2.7 million in debt.

NOM's sole 2012 ballot victory occurred in May, when North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Ouch. I’m guessing Bryan Brown is really crying now.

This is a football game? Men in Speedos?

Perhaps I should have attended more game when I lived in Miami, those these two brutes in teeny bikinis were told to put their clothes back on by stadium security.

Damn them!

People magazine has named Adam Levine The Sexiest Man ALIVE!!

Hardly. Cute, sure; sexy, no. I could list hundreds more qualified for the title … 
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tom Hiddleston, Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes’ Morris Chestnut, Chris Pine,  Henry Cavill, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tyson Beckford, Chris Hemsworth, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Diego Klattenhorf, Billy Brown, Sean Maguire, Zachary Quinto, Jake Gyllenhaal, Blair Underwood, Hugh Dancy, Jon Hamm, Jonathan Bailey, Idris Elba, Kellan Lutz, Channing Tatum, Kevin Ryan, Daniel Craig, Michael Fassbender, Daniel Day-Lewis, Matt Damon, Denzel Washington, Ryan Gosling, Anderson Cooper, Damian Lewis, Matt Bomer, Charlie Carrick, Oscar Isaac, Omar Borkan Al Gala, Baz Luhrman, Bradley Cooper, Jason Sudeikis, Tom Bateman, Blake Ritson, Francois Arnaud, Hill Harper, Sam Palladio, Mike Colter, Jonny Lee Miller, Hugh Jackman, David Giuntoli, Max and Charles Carver …

Okay, I’ll stop.