Sean says...
The Boston Red Sox won the American League East over the @#$# Yankees! WOO HOO!!! Thanks Orioles! First time since 1995!!! Go Sox!!
Sean says...
Ugly Betty has become a major favorite in the McFreed household! Yes yes yes, we bought the Season 1 dvd (surprised not! I am sure you are all saying). Being the sassmaster that I am, I love the bitchiness and quotability of the show... and America Ferrara's natural and lovable acting quality. Stefan, to speak for him, loves the way the show presents how being good isn't always a sappy mess... and secretly he loves the sass! (smirk)
Instead of talking about the show I thought in honor of the Season 2 premier tonight we would follow Entertainment Weekly's lead and list 15 quotes we love! Here we go in no particular order! Some of the quotes will seem out of context since the scenes set up the quote of course but we couldn't pass this up!
1. ''Did you just gesture at me when you said Kwanzaa?" Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams)
2. ''Okay, girls. Tuck 'em back in. You're both big.'' Wilhelmina Slater breaking up an argument between Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius) and his transexual back-from-the-dead brother now sister Alexis (Alex) Meade (Rebecca Romijn)
3. ''Stop fondling my limes and do something!'' Wilhelmina Slater to her assistant Marc [Weiner] St James (Michael Urie) after he spends an inordinate amount of time fixing her a daytime cocktail instead of helping her plot and scheme.
4. "Are you the before?" Receptionist Amanda Tanen (Becki Newton) to Betty Suarez (America Ferrera) when she enters the office on her first day at Mode Magazine.
5. "I want a career I can be proud of, and a door I can close when I wanna take a nap!" Amanda to Marc commenting about wanting to replace Alexis' new male assistant Nick Pepper (Max Greenfield).
6. Fabia: "You must come to the ceremony. I won't be able to get married without my something old." Wilhelmina: "Oh, with the veins in your legs, you already have your something blue." An exchange between arch-rivals Fabia (Gina Gerhson) and Wilhelmina as they conduct Wedding Summit 2007 to decide who gets St. Patrick's Cathedral.
7. "I'm a few years away from having a duck quack off on my face." Wilhelmina to Fabia after Fabia recommends a Chinatown doctor who injects duck semen into your face to smooth out crow's feet.
8. Wilhelmina: "Kiss your loved ones goodbye and expect to come home to dead pets!"
Marc: "Schmoopy?!" Scene were Wilhelmina announces that people will be staying late to work on the Xmas spread rewrite because it was stolen...followed by Marc's private reaction.
9. "I'll say 'boobs' again!" Betty threatening her boss Daniel impishly during a long friendly evening of avoiding the paparazzi, eating pizza, and singing karaoke after he asked her never to say that word to him.
10. "That's it! Who put the bunny in the toilet? This is not funny! Who thinks this is funny? (people raise their hands) Oh, really? Well whoever is doing this, if you think you can break me that easily, you're wrong! You can take my bunny, but you can't take my spirit!" Betty sticks up for herself after a pink bunny with a college graduation theme is kidnapped and tortured throughout the show via polaroids to her. The true moment where Betty really made me route for her the rest of the season.
11. “Oh it’s about to get nerd nasty!” Amanda commenting on Henry Grubstick (Christopher Gorham) and Nick Pepper fighting at the medieval restaurant after Nick threw something that hit Betty and knocked her off a mechanical bull.
12. Amanda: “And now my special place is ruined!” Christina: “Oh please! Your special place was ruined years ago.” Exchange after Mode seamstress Christina McKinney (Ashley Jensen) catches Amanda sneaking out of Faye's (former and dead editor of Mode Magazine) secret dungeon. Marc and Amanda had found it and were hoping to keep it to themselves.
13. "You will be at my side at all times. You will be my seeing-eye gay." Wilhelmina to Marc when she tells him she needs him to lead her around fashion show after her eyes becomes swollen from cosmetic surgery.
14. "Dork-es Interruptus!" Amanda after finding Betty and Henry almost kissing in the copy room at Mode.
15. "Were you saying something? Your mouth was moving and you were looking at me, but all I heard was 'blah blah blah." Amanda to Betty... a quote we all want to say too someone I bet!
Honorable Mentions:
1. "Hit me like a man you pansy!" Wilhelmina to Marc as she plots to have Marc bruise her up to convince Bradford Meade that his wife Claire Meade (Judith Light) had a hit put out on her from prison. Objective: to have Bradford divorce Claire. Result: Wilhelmina gets accidently pushed down the stairs and bruised badly... but Bradford agrees to divorce Claire as a result.
2. "Kids under 12 eat free on Sundays." Amanda in her television commercial as the main wench for the medieval themed restaraunt. Delivered in a deadpanned American accent after beginning the commercial with a British one.
UPDATE SEASON 2!!!
Wilhelmina: ''N! I don't have the energy to say 'no' anymore!'' I see this starting a trend!
Sean says...
Well last night was the men's turn on Dancing With The Stars and it was a little less intense only because Stefan and I were calmouring to see Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan and pro Mark Ballas dance again. The men were ok in my eyes. The two stand out couples were 2-time Indy 500 Winner Helio Castroneves and partner Jullianne Hough (last season's winner with Apolo Anton Ohno) and Abercrombie & Fitch model Albert Reed and his partner Anna Trebunskaya (who's husband is Marie Osmond's partner, Jonathan Roberts).
I would give the edge to Castroneves who had a great dance partner (she's only 20!) in Julianne (her brother Derek Hough is the partner for Jennie Garth and former professional dance partner is Mark Ballas) and really was elegant and dashing last night. Let's see if Julianne can do what she excelled at with Apolo! Reed has the hip movements and enthusiasm though that could make him a fan favorite... and well he isn't afraid to take his shirt off for the ladies. In fact guest co-host and former Season 2 winner Drew Lachey said that it took him 6 episodes to wear an outfit like Reed wore last night.
Reed shrugged it off and said that if he made it through a few more rounds he would do it without a shirt! Well! Lachey smirked and said "Well I think you won a lot of female votes and maybe even some male votes with that comment!" Basically with A&F catalogs under his * um * belt, Reed I don't think has a problem showing off his body at all. <face of shock>
Unfortunately we couldn't find any video of the men. When we find some we will post Castroneves' and Reed's first take at ballroom. In the meantime try and find the various "easter eggs" of past dance performances by some of the pros!
In the middle of the pack are billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and partner Kym Johnson and All My Children soap actor Cameron Mathison and partner Edyta Sliwinska. What is weird here is that both Cuban and Mathison both suffer from hip problems. Cuban just have hip replacement surgery two
months ago! Mathison was diagnosed at age 4 with Legg-Calvé-Perthes syndrome, a condition that involves the degeneration of the hip joint (which is interesting since his official website talks about how he is a big celebirty basketball players as well). The both did well although they were stiff in some places - probably because of their hip issues - and Cuban kept sticking out his tongue throughout the dance. I guess with these two you say "break a hip" before they go on huh?
The bottom performers last night were WBC Super Welterweight Boxing Champion Floyd Mayweather with partner Karina Smirnoff and Mr. Las Vegas (and Branson, MO) himself Wayne Newton and dance pro and Season 2 and 3 winner Cheryl Burke. Mayweather ended the night with the lowest judges score but he wasn't that bad. Granted the introduction film of his workouts with Karina were testy and he threatened to quit we are told, but he actually was enthusiastic and tried. Newton on the other hand was I think given a pass simply on his personality. He was basically told a lot of good things to his face and then handed a low score. He was truly awful and acted like he really didn't try. The man has done a lot of work for our troops through the USO but this was just sad. I will say though that Cheryl and Karina were amazingly professional and kept to a standard they always show. What's sad is that the lack of commitment perhaps by their partners - or is it inhibitedness? - will sideline them perhaps early to just Result Show exhibitions.
On a special note about the show last night, I have a huge bone to pick with the director and I think Stefan would agree with me here. Everytime the hosts mentioned that one of the celebs would be going home soon they always cut to a picture of Josie Maran! Now the woman did WAY better than Newton and Mayweather and even Mathison even, but she is getting such the raw deal. She was told to her face the night she danced that she was awful and now the director has the cameras cut to her when "going home" is mentioned. Is it just sexism or is it they just don't like her? I mean the same criticisms leveled at her really should have gone Newton's, Mayweather's, or Mathison's way in the harsh tone they gave her. If she goes home tonight in round 1, it was death by show and not her own doing.
My peace is said! I am sure Stefan will ring in his thoughts shortly!
Sean says...
Yes yes yes, Stefan and I have been overtaken by a show that is basically cheesy and silly reality television, Dancing with the Stars (with Stars said in breathy dramatic fashion). But the show reminds me at least about the variety shows of the 60s and 70s where dance and music were celebrated. Granted some of the dance and music is crappy and the celebs not that notable, but it certainly brings a smile to our faces. The judges, especially Bruno (watch the clip for an example) can be a little weird.
Here is an incredibly unexpected performance by Sabrina Bryan of Disney Channel's Cheetah Girl movies and her dance professional partner Mark Ballas that turned out incredible! It is so great to see people having fun and being good at what they can do! Hopefully she can keep up the dance throughout the season... and yes I just wrote that. EEK! Sadly you will probably hear about more of this show as the Fall progresses... Enjoy the clip!
Stefan says...
At this point in the proceedings, here is how I ranked last night's contestants:
#6: Josie Maran (dancing obviously does not come easily to her, but I give her full credit for putting herself out there)
#5: Marie Osmond (a little disapointing; her natural charm and show biz training carried her thru her stiffness)
#4: Jennie Garth (she is paired with the cutest prof. dancer, Derek; I predict he will be able to mentor her over the next few weeks, and she may be the dark horse)
#3: Jane Seymour (she has natural grace and class, without being pretentious; I would love to see her - a woman in her late 50s, and in fact, the oldest competitor they have ever had on the show - win)
#2: Melanie B. (a real surprise - she kicked some major butt last night; she is definitely one for whom to watch out)
and #1...
SABRINA BRYAN!!! (head-and-shoulders above all of the other competitors; amazing to watch! In fact, Sean and I rewound it and watched it four times, and never tired of seeing her in action. She truly appears to be enjoying every second of her performance...and she is adorable. I will be very surprised if she doesn't wind up in the top two at the end of the competition.
But, it is very, very early in the competition, so it is truly anyone's game!
Stefan says...
When my birthday rolled around last July, my beloved Sean surprised me with a wonderful gift: my very first ipod! Yeah, I know I'm about five years behind the rest of the world! I didn't have the opportunity to really use it before our trip to Vegas; now I'm hooked...loving this device!
For those of you who share my enthusiasm for music (and for my penchant for being a fan of many musical genres), what is on your ipod right now? What are the top ten songs you have found yourself replaying over and over again during the past week/month? Let's compare notes!
For me, I recently created a playlist of songs that are sampled from other songs, including the original, or remixes. Here is what is on that playlist:
-"Genius of Love" (Tom Tom Club) & "Fantasy" (Mariah Carey)
-"Jamie's Crying" (Van Halen) & "Wild Thing" (Tone Loc)
-"Hanky Panky" (Tommy James & the Shondells) & "Hanky Panky" (Joan Jett)
-"Best of My Love" (The Emotions) & "Emotions" (Mariah Carey)
-"Highway to Hell" (AC/DC) & "Highway to Hell" (a funkified remix by Sepalot & Amos)
-"Disco Inferno" (The Trammps) & "Disco Inferno" (Tina Turner)
-"Do It Again" (Steely Dan) & "Mentirosa" (Mellow Man Ace)
-"Firecracker" (Mass Production) & "Me So Horny" (2 Live Crew)
-"Forget Me Nots" (Patrice Rushen) & "Men in Black" (Will Smith)
-"The Glamorous Life" (Sheila E.) & "Don'tcha Wish Your Girlfriend was Hot Like Me" (Pussycat Dolls)
-"Riders on the Storm" (The Doors) & "Rapture Riders" (a mashup with "Rapture" by Blondie)
-"Rock You Like a Hurricane" (The Scorpions) & "Rock You Like a Hurricane" (Scorpions w/ the Berlin Philharmonic)
-"Money-That's What I Want" (The Beatles) & "Money-That's What I Want" (Barrett Strong)
-"Smokin' in the Boys Room" (Brownsville Station) & "Smokin' in the Boys Room" (Motley Crue)
-"Stone Cold Crazy" (a remixed version with Queen and Nine Inch Nails)
-"Stuck in the Middle With You" (Steely Dan) & "All I Wanna Do" (Sheryl Crow)
-"Train Kept a Rollin'" (Aerosmith) & "Train Kept a Rollin'" (Goss, Eugene, & Rich)
-"Youngblood" (Bad Company) & "Youngblood" (The Other Side)
Sean says...
Last night Stefan and I hung out with our friend Joe and Matt in a spontaneously arranged camp classic movie night! On our list were the modern horror Showgirls... think of it as the raunchy A Star Is Born without Norman Main... and Valley of The Dolls. Stefan had never seen Showgirls and Matt had only seen portions of Valley. I of course argued that if I were in the gay version of Valley, I would be the Barbara Parkins character of corrupted innocence... that woman has such a great voice!
Stefan says...
So, my question is, if Sean would be the Barbara Parkins character (or, more accurately, views himself as that character, which is debatable...but I digress...), what character would that make me? Would I be Sharon Tate (which wouldn't be bad)? With my luck, it would probably be either Lee Grant or Susan Hayward, both of whom sported awful wigs (you have my persmission to insert a joke here re: my receding hairline). :-)
Sean says...
Showgirls is just bad film making all around. What makes it delicious is the cat fight quality between Gina Gershon (who steals the movie) and Elizabeth Berkley (who is so dull she couldn't excite a frat boy at spring break). Gershon is the only one who came out of the movie with devoted fans. She alone makes the film watchable and quotable, darlin'. Berkley just faded into nothing and no one remembers the men in it. But what makes this movie shine is that it was done with such vigor and a huge budget that it instantly turns into camp 13 years later we all enjoy... well those who can get passed all the attempts at nudity and soft-core sex that is truly dull. An example of the bad dialog.. the BEST quote is inappropriate since our Moms and my Dad read this blog:
Nomi Malone: Don't they have brown rice and vegetables?
Cristal Connors: Do you like brown rice and vegetables?
Nomi Malone: Yeah.
Cristal Connors: You do?
Nomi Malone: Sort of.
Cristal Connors: Really?
Nomi Malone: It's worse than dog food.
[Cristal laughs]
Nomi Malone: It is!
Cristal Connors: I've had dog food.
Nomi Malone: You have?
Cristal Connors: Mmm-hmmm. Long time ago. Doggy Chow. I used to love Doggy Chow.
Nomi Malone: I used to love Doggy Chow, too!
[Cristal and Nomi touch their chips together]
The trailer is the only thing that really can be shown on a family blog like this, but not for children's eyes really.
Stefan says...
In my opinion, Elizabeth Berkley does the best she can with a lousy script and poor direction. Overall, I believe she is better than the material (not unlike Lindsay Wagner in the original "Bionic Woman" series).
Sean says...
Valley of The Dolls has to be the pent-ultimate in camp though. A women's picture with great cat fights and quotable dialog done with all seriousness but camp in execution. Patty Duke's career took a huge dive after the film. Sharon ("You know how bitchy fags can be!") Tate is only remembered in this film because of her grisly death a couple years later. And Barbara Parkins sadly walked off into the woods like her character only to be seen as the devoted champion of this film in later revivals. Check out the commentary she does on the dvd set, it is very enjoyable!
Here is some priceless dialog:
Neely O'Hara: Who are ya hiding from, Helen? The notices couldn't have been that bad.
Helen Lawson: The show just needs a little fine tuning.
Neely O'Hara: Don't worry, sweetheart. If the show folds I can always get a part as understudy for my grandmother.
Helen Lawson: Thanks. I already turned down the part you're playing.
Neely O'Hara: Bull! Merrick isn't that crazy.
Helen Lawson: You oughta know, honey, you just came out of the nuthouse.
Neely O'Hara: It was not a nuthouse!
Helen Lawson: Look. They drummed you right outta Hollywood! So ya come crawlin' back to Broadway. Well, Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope. Now you get outta my way, I got a guy waitin' for me.
Neely O'Hara: That's a switch from the fags you're usually stuck with!
Helen Lawson: At least I never had to MARRY one!
Neely O'Hara: YOU TAKE THAT BACK...
[pulls off Helen's wig while scuffling]
Neely O'Hara: ... oh my God, it's a wig! HER HAIR'S AS PHONY AS SHE IS!
The great trailer is below... Sean took the blue pills by the way... benedryl :
Below is an interview of Patty ("I'm Neely! Neely O'Hara!") Duke, Barbara ("Because I loved you!") Parkins, and Lee ("I'm going to heat up the lasagna!") Grant on The View in 2000 with Star Jones and Joy Behar. The interview was part of promotion for a revival showing of the film at a theatre in New York City. This interview is significant because after the revival Patty Duke has refused to do any other promotion of the film, including on the incredible dvd release in 2006.
We had a great time! There was an aborted attempt to watch The Apple but Matt and Stefan violently protested that it was unwatchable! The Apple has to be the WORST musical I have ever seen... and I haven't seen much of it! Joe and I will have to watch it together sometime and cackle... Joe has to be my best cackle friend I think. LOL!
What a great night of campy fun, friendship, Chinese food, and red wine! Stefan even fixed a light fixture for Joe and Matt!
Stefan says...
Plus, Charlie the cat, became my BFF (and I'm not even a cat person)! We (the four humans) even fit in a great game of Scrabble before hitting the road. Thanks, Joe & Matt, for a great night at your casa!
Sean and Stefan say...
This video of San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders (a Republican) found on Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish shows how personal contact really has an impact on how people view gays and lesbians in our community.
On Tuesday Sept 19, 2007, he agreed to sign a resolution passed by the San Diego City Council that directed the City Attorney's Office to file a brief in support of gay marriage. The council voted 5-3 to send the brief to the California State Supreme Court backing an end to the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Similar briefs have been sent by other cities, which like San Diego, are not directly involved in the case.
We saw this and thought this was a great example of a father's love (the mayor's daughter is a lesbian) taking precedence over politics. If only Vice President Dick Cheney expressed his this way.
Sean and Stefan say...
It has only been three weeks and we, your McFreeds, have been on another exciting journey! I know you all are just excited to hear about our travels as we are to expound upon them!
Stefan's summer destinations always includes Ocean City (being a good Maryland boy as he is). Sean had been but never truly basked in the O.C. (not the O.C. some of you might be thinking of) beach's sizzle. So your McFreeds, being the celebrity couple you expect us to be, took the beach town by storm... but of course just out of season so we could get the lower rates! Here are a few glimpses at our 6 day visit...and be glad we caught these pictures, because Sean almost left his camera behind at Layton's on 92nd!
The Place
We stayed at The Pyramid, a condominium on 96th Street. At $500 for the full stay it was a nice bargain. More like a 3 star hotel than anything else, the place had a great view of the beach and pool. The balcony was very deep and could accomodate a few nice dinners outside in the nice ocean breeze. Strangely we felt though that we were in Conquest of The Planet of The Apes based on the architecture style!
The People
The first nutcase... I mean person of interest we met was Poolside Sybil. Sybil was met at the pool one afternoon and was never seen ever again. She was a woman of about 60 who had a liking for religious literature (which is fine if not accompanied by an odd chanting ritual) for her poolside reading. Sean knew to keep those iPod headphones on the moment he saw her smiling at him and sitting nearby. She had that crazy look in her eye like she would talk to you forever...yes Sean does from time to time not like to talk. Shocking I know! Anyways... once Stefan came down he was quickly warned by Sean to just keep the phones on and smile like you can't hear anything. Lets say we were the lucky ones at the pool... we only witnessed the low chanting, impish smiles, and unappealing vision that Poolside Sybil was. The young woman next to us was not so lucky... we prayed for her soul later...seriously.
The McFreeds also encountered Tania, the Russian Check Out Clerk. She was an odd duck all dressed up to go out in her lace top and silver jewelry. A build like the female wrestler Chyna and a nasty demeanor, we shared a complaint about her to some other customers as we exited the Super Fresh and they immediately said "She was our check out clerk last night and she was terrible then too!" We all four laughed and laughed... then your celebrity couple pushed our grocery cart through the dark parking lot and across the busy street to the condo.
The Boardwalk
Of course any decent power couple takes a stroll on the boardwalk when in Ocean City. Sean bought a kite at The Kite Loft - the largest kite store in
the world they claim! He never flew it but it is really nice! Look for pictures of its first flight later in the Fall! Here are some nice shots of the boardwalk as we strolled!
We also played silly boardwalk games like Skeeball, pinball, shooting gallery, and old video games at a place called Fun City. You collect tickets as you play and get fabulously cheap gifts!
The weather was phenomenal during our trip to the boardwalk. It was warm yet breezy, romantic enough for a stoll and a quick duck into a photo booth! Here are some other sites and sounds of the Boardwalk!
Being the big goofs that we are, we had to take in the mini-golf! We played at Lost Treasure Golf and the Old Pro Golf location on 68th Street (Prehistoric Dinosaurs and the indoor Undersea Adventure).
We played one round at Lost Treasure and 3 rounds at Old Pro Golf. Sean won all the rounds... although it was all for fun of course! To win a bonus game you had the choice of hitting into a clam's or sabre tooth tiger's mouth at Old Pro Golf. Sadly, we already had a pass that gave us unlimited games... and yes we tried but didn't get the ball in the right place for the bonus anyway.
Here are some fun photos when we played the links!
The Police
The final day we were in Ocean City we were relaxing in our condo when all of a sudden there was a knock at the door around 9pm. The person said that he was security but seemed rather suspicious. He told Stefan that his car alarm was going off. Well for those of you who know Stef's 1994 Mazda Protege, it doesn't have a car alarm. So we thought nothing of it. At 1am we had just finished the Rock Hudson/Doris Day classic Pillow Talk when another knock came at the door. This time the guy was wearing a football jersey and was claiming the same thing the previous unseen guy had said. He wouldn't stand so we could see through the peephole and he took off his jersey while we were talking to him. Did we mention the out door light was going on and off during this? We called 911 and the police came letting us know that it was indeed security that was contacting us. We felt like we had egg on our face but the police assured us that with the way security approached us and the fact that we were tourists it was a good thing to call. Whew!
The Final Day
Your McFreeds left Sunday, Sept 16th after a breakfast at The Bayside Skillet of omelettes and crepes and some putt putt we talked about above. We are already planning for next year and hope some of you can join us!
Sean says...
The Maryland Supreme Court announced their decision Tuesday, Sept 18, 2007 on a long ruminated about case concerning same-sex marriage. Unfortunately, the ruling was a 4 - 3 vote against the plaintiffs. Here is a link to the ruling in PDF form for Conaway vs. Deane.
The Baltimore Sun reports (provided in truncated form) the following on their page:
Maryland's highest court rejected same-sex marriage yesterday and upheld the state's 34-year-old statute defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman...
The court's majority opinion rejected the plaintiffs' claim that the 1973 statute discriminates on the basis of gender. In addition, the court concluded that while marriage is a fundamental right, it is not a right extended to gays and lesbians under current state law...
The bitterly divided court was passionate in its opinions, with four judges supporting the majority, two penning dissents and one concurring in part and dissenting in part.
In the majority opinion, Judge Glenn T. Harrell Jr. wrote that the state has a legitimate interest in promoting opposite-sex marriage. But he also reminded lawmakers that they have the right to consider a law permitting same-sex marriages.
"In declaring that the State's legitimate interests in fostering procreation and encouraging the traditional family structure ... our opinion should by no means be read to imply that the General Assembly may not grant and recognize for homosexual persons civil unions or the right to marry a person of the same sex," he said.
Harrell was joined by judges Dale R. Cathell, Clayton Greene Jr. and Alan M. Wilner. Judge Irma S. Raker concurred in part and dissented in part. Chief Judge Robert M. Bell and Lynne A. Battaglia wrote dissenting opinions.
The majority opinion rejected the plaintiffs' claim that denying gay marriages is a form of sex discrimination. In fact, sex discrimination does not apply to individuals, only to groups, the court stated.
While the court recognized that gays and lesbians face discrimination, it also notes that as a group they are not "politically powerless," and therefore not entitled to protections.
"It is clear that homosexual persons, at least in terms of contemporary history, have been a disfavored group in both public and private spheres of our society," the decision reads. "This court nevertheless finds that a history of unequal treatment does not require that we deem suspect a classification based on sexual orientation."