Friday, July 18, 2025

I Didn't Say It ...

Rosie O'Donnell, firing back at The Felon who tried to deflect from the Epstein mess—PS he’s on the list—by saying he would revoke Rosie’s citizenship:

“hey donald – you’re rattled again? 18 years later and I still live rent-free in that collapsing brain of yours. you call me a threat to humanity –but I’m everything you fear: a loud woman a queer woman a mother who tells the truth an american who got out of the country b4 u set it ablaze you build walls –I build a life for my autistic kid in a country where decency still exists you crave loyalty –I teach my children to question power you sell fear on golf courses – I make art about surviving trauma you lie, you steal, you degrade – I nurture, I create, I persist you are everything that is wrong with america –and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it you want to revoke my citizenship? go ahead and try, king joffrey with a tangerine spray tan i’m not yours to silence i never was”

Spot on takedown of a bigoted criminal narcissist BUT … and it’s a Felon-sized butt:

F**k you Rosie. F**k you for running away and leaving the rest of us to fight for America and clean up this mess because we don’t have the money to up and move when it gets tough. We speak out about our neighbors being rounded up and taken away by ICE; about our trans brothers and sisters being erased; about erasing the history of Black Americans as if they don't matter; about stripping away healthcare for Americans, food for children, and the rights of women to make choices about their own bodies.

This whole thing smacks of protests against the Vietnam war in the 1960s and how protesters were told to love America or leave it. Their protests were love and leaving solves nothing; nothing changes.

You have the money, the influence, the social media presence, the voice to do good for America, but you ran. The rest of us stayed; we fight, we march, we speak up, we resist, while you live a cozy life in decent Ireland and "hope" America gets better. So, save your moral high ground and maybe teach your kids not to run from a fight, but to stay and help and work together and fix it.

Oh, and I see Ellen DeGeneres has come out and says she has your back; tell her to F**k Off, too.

photo

Cheyenne Jackson, out actor, turns 50 and reflects on his life:

“Today I’m 50. I’ve been waiting a long time to do the Molly Shannon ‘I’m 50!’-high kick, and now I can for real. 50. A number that once felt impossibly far away… now feels somehow right on time. This past year has been a reckoning. My dog died. My best friend [Broadway performer Gavin Creel]died.
Hollywood halted. Los Angeles burned. Grief has been my steady companion. ‘Hey girl, I see you’re back,’ I say to her. She lingers for a while, we dance a bit … it’s slow and flirty at first, then it morphs quickly into a WWF match. I finally push her off, then she floats along like a burnt-sugar-scented cloud. What once was sweet is now scorched. My beloved children are almost nine … How? They are growing into their own bold, beautiful selves, and they remind me every day that joy is loud, messy, and everywhere … if I stay present enough to notice. This year I stepped fully into my writing, not as a side passion,
but as another extension of my art. My tough new lit agent was worried I would suck. Turns out I don’t. He was surprised. I wasn’t—but pretended to be. It’s a little thing I like to do. Pretending, you see … it’s been a theme in my life. The fear of not being good enough always nearby, waiting in the woods like a wet creature ready to pounce and flog me before I can do it all by myself. I ache to connect. I’m working on it. My friends push through my isolation. I refocused on my sobriety. I took it for granted. Treated it like gravity. So constant, you forget it’s holding you up. Trying to let myself feel more, hide less. And yes, like so many immediate families, due to this impossible political hellscape, we’ve navigated differences. Tensions. Unsaid things. But beneath it all, I’m still holding on to hope. For healing. Or maybe some ‘Love Can Build a Bridge’-style-JUDDS sh*t to happen and make it all better. And yet, through every tear, every missed soccer goal, every broken toe (mine), every broken foot (Willow’s), is [my husband] Jason. My love. My north star. He sees me clearly, loves me ANYWAY, and reminds me (daily) that I’m not alone in any of this. So here’s to 50. Not a finish line. Not a starting line. Not a reinvention. Less performing. More being. And definitely more high kicks.”

What a great post to celebrate a milestone, with honesty, joy, and family and love and insight into where you were, where you are, and where you’re going.

Happy Birthday, sir.

photo

John Barrowman, out actor, on the scandal that derailed his career four years ago:

“May 3, 2021, my world shattered and everything changed for me. It makes me sad because a lot of people who have attacked me are the people that I fought for to allow them to have a voice. [People had been out to get me but] could not get me any other way but, ‘Oh, let’s get him because we’ve heard stories that he flashed and did certain stupid things on set. Now, the thing that upsets me the most is they tried to make it out that I was a sexual predator. I contemplated taking my own life a couple of times. I didn’t see a way out from it. Everything that I loved had been stripped away from me. I was badly advised in the very beginning. I should have fought. But I was told to not say anything because it was [during] the whole #MeToo thing. I’m most disappointed in the way my colleagues in the industry didn’t speak up, did not step forward and say ‘This is ridiculous. This is stupid.’ Listen, I’d never do it again. Ever. We learned from what’s happened. I was the beefcake for Dr. Who. I was not asked about doing nude scenes or taking my clothes off in original contracts. It was written. So, therefore, if you want to talk about a power dynamic, I thought if I didn’t do the stuff, I would lose my job. If you don’t do what’s written in the script. And, as an actor, that’s what I do. However I made myself feel comfortable, however wrong you think it was, at that time I was making myself feel comfortable in the situations that I was standing naked or doing whatever. It’s hard to talk about because it upsets me and I get upset and still a little bit depressed when I sit and think about and hear about all the stuff people say about certain things in our community and I’m like, ‘I could help, I could do stuff!’ But nobody wants to touch me. I’m not asking for sympathy from anybody. I don’t want anyone’s sympathy. I’m just telling you my side.”

Barrowman says he was banned from the entertainment industry in 2021 and his career is only just now coming back. Shortly after the accusations were made, Barrowman released a statement calling his past actions “high-spirited behavior” and “tomfoolery,” but insisting he never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable but his remarks did little to quell the criticism. Almost overnight, his character Captain Jack Harkness was scrubbed from the Doctor Who and Torchwood cinematic universe and he could not get work.

Barrowman says the whole thing practically destroyed him.

photo

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Bobservations

Last Friday Carlos had to be up in Lancaster for a translation and it took the better part of the day. As we were getting closer to home at about 4PM, I told Carlos I had  no idea what to cook for dinner so maybe we could eat at Salud. He agreed and off we went for a nice dinner and some great Coyotes Margaritas.

Cut to Tuesday and Carlos had an appointment in Camden and so off we went to that; but it was quick and we were back home by 11:30AM at which time Carlos said he had no idea what to cook for dinner and maybe we should go out. I said, with incredulity:

You have six-and-a-half hours to come up with dinner—”

“We went out last week when you said you had no idea what to cook.”

“That was after 4PM. You have lots of time to think of something.”

Cut to dinner … mashed potatoes, sliced avocado and some ground turkey sauteed up and served over the spuds. Abd because over-dramatic is my middle name, I said, with incredulity:

“All this needs is a plastic compartmentalized tray and it’d be what I got served for lunch … IN THE FIFTH GRADE!!!!”

Later on Carlos tried to atone for his sins of culinary slop by suggesting he would make a peach cobbler … for me. I reminded him, with incredulity, that I don’t much care for sweets—though his cobbler is dee-lish—and that he was making the cobbler for himself and he just smiled.

This Tuxedo Says is from January 2021 … Seriously, even a cat knows the difference between a riot and a terror attack. I think he needs to give a TED talk to the GOP.

On July 8, 2025, former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya posted a photo of a note she says she received  from a very kind flight attendant with the comment:

“Thank you to the flight attendant who handed this to me in flight.”

Trouble is Tafoya posted the exact same photo with the note over two years ago.

This is some damned strong thirst for attention.

Apparently you can get anything in the subway, even a nice set of beefy beefcakes.

I invented a new golf ball that will automatically go into the hole if it gets within four inches but … note to self: do not carry them in your back pocket.

They said the Epstein files were on Pamela Jo Bondi’s desk.

Then they said the Epstein files do not exist.

Then they said the Epstein files were written by Obama and Hillary when Epstein died in 2019 while The Felon was president.

And the guy who has sued people for telling “lies” about him over 4,000 times hasn’t filed one lawsuit against those who say …

He’s in the files.

The Felon was accused of hijacking English soccer club Chelsea’s lifting of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup trophy following its 3–0 victory over France’s Paris Saint-Germain at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium this past weekend. After presenting the trophy, The Felon stood among the players even after he was asked to step aside.

On Monday, Chelsea marked the win with a celebratory team photo shared to social media  but they chose an image when The Felon wasn’t front and center.

It was like Where’s Waldo but more Where’s That Gelatinous Tub of Flesh Who Can’t Climb Stairs But Stands Among Athletes Like He Is One.

In today's episode of "English is Hard", I ponder how it's possible that "Fat Chance" & "Slim Chance" mean roughly the same thing?

Alvise Rigo is a thirty-year-old  actor and side of beef from Venice, Veneto, Italy though all that matters not: Would You Hit It?

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Architecture Wednesday: Briar Hill Road MidCentury

This secluded bluff property, located near St. Louis, is the signature project of notable architect, Charles E. King and is recognized as one of the outstanding examples of Mid-century Modern residential design in the Midwest.

With spectacular views of the St. Louis skyline, the property attracted the attention of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright who designed and originally began construction before the project was finished by King to use as his primary residence. There are some elements of FLW design, but King changed up the plan to include very large bedrooms and two separate living areas.

Floor-to-ceiling windows and multiple outdoor spaces—including a sunken patio off the dining room, a floating gazebo and bluff side pool with unmatched sunset views—define the home. There are four bedrooms—including a mid-century modern take on a bunk room—each with ensuite bathrooms, and a unique open floor plan with multiple levels and a floating living room that make up the 7000+ square foot luxury compound.

A pole barn and 55 acres with a mix of pasture and woods give opportunity for those wanting space for additional buildings, horses, hunting, or private development. 

As always, click to emBIGGERate …