The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
Two teenaged children conceived by artificial insemination get the notion to seek out their birth father and introduce him into the family life that their two mothers have built for them. Once the donor is found, the household will never be the same, as family ties are defined, re-defined, and then re-re-defined. This was an excellent movie which I highly recommend with some caveats.
Read moreJust incredible is about all I can say. Gainesville’s Dove World Church, made famous last year for its “No Homo Mayor” campaign, is planning to burn Korans on September 11th. According to this “Christian Pastor,” it’s OK to burn a Koran because it’s not the Christian holy book, but can you imagine the tantrum and outrage that would follow if a Muslim group planned the same thing for the Bible.
Read moreOkay, maybe it’s a little sappy, but it was a great book, and I teared up at a few parts when I read it all these years ago, but it is uplifting music. This is the song from when Johnathon finally figures out the trick for flying as he wants. Who wouldn’t want to soar with him.
Read moreI was messing around on YouTube the other day. Don’t ask why, but I happened to think about Johnathan Livingston Seagull. As you might imagine, the music all on YouTube. I haven’t thought about this for so many years, and can’t imagine what brought it to my mind, but I do still enjoy it. So over the next few weeks, I’ll post one every once in a while.
Read moreJonah Hex is a scarred drifter and bounty hunter of last resort, a tough and stoic gunslinger who can track down anyone… and anything. Having survived death, Jonah’s violent history is steeped in myth and legend, and has left him with one foot in the natural world and one on the “other side.” His only human connection is with Lila, whose life in a brothel has left her with scars of her own. Jonah’s past is about to catch up with him when the U.S. military makes him an offer he can’t refuse: in exchange for his freedom from the warrants on his head, he must track down and stop the dangerous terrorist Quentin Turnbull. But Turnbull, who is gathering an army and preparing to unleash Hell, is also Jonah’s oldest enemy and will stop at nothing until Jonah is dead.
Read moreI had to follow with the question mark. I love this country and principles on which it was founded, but we’ve moved so far from that. People wrap themselves in the flag and take up the name Christian, and then go out to preach hate. We no longer care for on another with commentators thinking its funny to tell hungry children to go look in dumpsters for food. American Ministers go to Africa to encourage African governments to adopt bills that invoke the death penalty for homosexuality. We fouled our air and soiled our beaches…maybe destroyed an entire ocean.
Read moreVisitors to the Reading Terminal Market Italian Festival got an authentic Italian treat back in April. Over 30 members of the cast of the Philadelphia Opera’s production of La Traviata slipped into the market in street clothes. They swung into action when the music for the famous “Brindisi” started playing through the markets public address system. Hundreds of shoppers got a wonderful surprise performance of one of the rousing pieces from Verdi to along with their Italian Market shopping.
Read moreVisitors to the Reading Terminal Market Italian Festival got an authentic Italian treat back in April. Over 30 members of the cast of the Philadelphia Opera’s production of La Traviata slipped into the market in street clothes. They swung into action when the music for the famous “Brindisi” started playing through the markets public address system. Hundreds of shoppers got a wonderful surprise performance of one of the rousing pieces from Verdi to along with their Italian Market shopping.
Read moreYes, that’s right folks. I knew it would be just a matter of time, but the tea bagger crazies are now claiming the oil spill in the Gulf was caused by God. So why would you say God would blow up an oil drilling platform off the Louisiana coast? Well, Katrina was because of those devil worshiping, gays down in New Orleans, so you might think this was because the people down there keep electing prostitution supporter, diaper wearing David Vitter, but you would be wrong. Turns out, it’s all Obama’s fault.
Read moreLast Fall, during the unfortunately successful campaign to repeal Marriage Equality in Maine, 86 year old WWII Veteran Phillip Spooner stood before a packed hall and delivered a stirring call for equality to a Senate Committee. When asked by a woman at his polling place if he supported equal rights for gay and lesbian people. He tells how surprised he was to even be asked, and said his response was, “What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?” His statement was subsequently set to music by Melissa Dunphy, and was selected as the winning work for the 2010 Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Composition Competition.
Read moreD. C. Douglas lost his gig as the voice-over announcer for Geico commercials after leaving a rather nasty message on the voice mail for the Teabagger group known as FreedomWorks. This is a hilarious satirical video about their reaction to his message, and calls out the Teabagger for what it actually is…an astro-turf, Koch Industry’s funded front group which has managed to get people to vote against their own best interests in support of big corporations.
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