The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
I’m back. I know I haven’t posted much this entire year. I was writing a lot for work, and frankly there hasn’t been much of interest going on in my life. I admit a lot of the aspects of life I’m not happy with are under my control, and I plan to work to make some changes this year.
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Sunday afternoon we attended the annual holiday concert for Una Voce The Florida Men’s Chorale. This was their 10th annual holiday concert, and Lay and me have been to each of them. This might have been the best concert yet, and I had a great time. The theater was very near, if not, sold out, and I believe straight couples might have outweighed gay couples.
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I went to get a haircut Wednesday morning at the Gandy Barbershop. It’s owned by Steve, but Tony, a British guy, is the barber I use. When I was paying and getting ready to leave he showed me a framed article by a local Tampa Tribune columnist, Steve Otto, which talked about Tony and the barbershop. I got me thinking about my earliest memories of going to the barbershop. Of course I know I went before we moved to Kings Mountain, but the first memory I have of going was to Central Barbershop right downtown on Mountain Street, beside Griffin’s Drug Store.
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Not toolong ago the Teabagger crazy in the Tennessee Legislature decided it would be a good idea to roll back restrictions on where a person shouldn’t carry guns. So Rep. Curry Todd decided it would be a good idea to introduce a law allowing handgun carry permit holders to bring guns into bars. Because, you know, guns and drunks are always a successful combination…if you desire is to clean up the gene pool. Unfortunately, Rep. Todd forgot about another law in Tennessee making it illegal to be in possession of a fireman when intoxicated.
Read moreThe Senate today held hearings on the Defense of Marriage Act. There were a lot of poignant moments, but Senator Al Franken may have pulled off one of the best exchanges of the day. Franken is a smart guy, and these idiots from the hate organizations need to not sell him short. They may get away with making shit up with other Senators, but not much gets by Sen. Franken.
Read moreYou gotta hand it to Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY). He’s got a very creative way of pointing out the hypocrisy and lack of concern for the “lesser of these” of the Republicans in Congress. Go Joe! is all I can say. I can’t think of a better way to tell them.
Read moreDirector Spike Jonze has posted an amazing video of Los Angeles street dancer Lil Buck (Damian Woetzel) doing a collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma. This is an inspiring and beautiful blend of both old and new. It combines amazing modern dance techniques by Mr. Woetzel with the usual beautiful accompaniment by Yo-Yo Ma of “The Dying Swan” from Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals. This will ease you into a nice mood for the weekend. Enjoy.
Read moreSounds a little different on a pipe organ, but this is an incredibly cool way to render a song, and this one in particular. I wish I had the kind of time it would take to set this up. This is about three minutes and is definitely worth your time. I especially like how they did a couple of the tremolo phrases.
Read moreI had occasion to hear the Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus several times when I lived in Dayton. In fact, it seemed their Christmas Concert and that of the Cincinnati Gay Men’s Chorus were often the same weekend, so I’d do Cincinnati Saturday evening, and then go to Columbus for their Sunday afternoon concert. Both were excellent choruses, and they both had very different styles, so it was a great fun. Here the Columbus Chorus provides a youtube for the “It Gets Better Project” with the Columbus Youth Choir. I’ll just let the music speak for itself.
Read morePlanned Parenthood has long been banned from using federal monies for abortions. But they would have received $330 million through the end of September for preventative-health services, including federal funding for contraception and cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood clinics across the country. But in a vote of 240-185 (with 10 Democrats presumably burnishing their “conservative credentails”) the Congress took aways that funding. But, oh that’s right, we’re a Christian nation, so we can’t provide preventative health services and cancer screenings for the poor and struggling women of this country.
Read moreHere’s a little something/s to blow your mind. From the “how’d they do that” category comes a compilation of optical illusions. If you’re interested, a little research, and you can find how to replicate most of these either on Youtube or with our usual friend Google.
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