Joe and I had the morning free so we headed to the Miami Metro Zoo…Pretty nice, but the animals look sad and lonely…

I have a favorite place.  It’s a bar.  It’s dark. It’s below the street line of Manhattan. There’s hardly any seating. When the doors open you hear the sound of a lone piano.  You sometimes hear 10 people singing and sometimes you hear 100 people singing…Not pop. Not rock. Not classic. They are singing the greatest songs in all the world…SHOWTUNES!

Marie’s Crisis is my favorite place.  I’ve been going there since I started to go to NYC as an adult.  I think I found it in my first ever Damron Guide (travel book for ‘Mo’s).  What a great find for a 21 y/o boy from the sticks who loves the musical theater! Almost every time we go, we go there.  How can you not?  It’s the greatest place on Earth!

You never know who you are going to bump into.  It’s a place where the boys and girls of the chorus, folks from Iowa, you and me, celebs, Broadway stars, fashion designers and icons bump into each other…saddle up to the piano and sing Ring Them Bells…Once, Joe and I were there with our dear friends Don and Brenda and as we walk in, we stumble over a very tan Michael Kors…I actually had to explain to him how his ready-to-wear mens line shrunk when laundered…He took it in stride.  You just never know who you are going to bump into at Marie’s!

You should definitely check it out next time you are in Manhattan…Triple thumbs up.

The NY Times just did a video feature on the waitress/owner who you will undoubtedly see if you go, and well — she’ll be telling you were to stand or sit and to sing out!

http://nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html?ref=nyregion#/maggie_wirth

I’ve been super busy with Darwin Days! I’m even beginning to look like Charlie! Check out our fan page on Facebook, or our website: ithacadarwindays.org!

photo posted from my iPhone

Seriously, go and see this movie. It’s some of the finest acting I’ve ever seen.  If you are in a relationship that’s kind of shakey — like you had kids to save your marriage — I would advise against watching this movie.  It’s a real power house of emotion — love, hate, you name it!

The only thing that’s unfortunate is that Leonardo DiCaprio and Sam Mendes were overlooked for an Academy Award nomination…

This movie was fantastic!

Today, Hillary Clinton’s appointment as Secretary of State to the United States was made official by the United States Senate!  Yeah!!!!

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I’ve been filled with mixed emotions this week.  I’m excited that there is someone closer to my age then my parents age in the executive office, I just wish it was someone who didn’t think I was a sinner.  I just wish it wasn’t someone who asked me and others like me to support him because he supported me when he didn’t.

This election was the first time in my life that I ever really felt that my personal rights were traded away…The democrats always supported my cause and today I don’t think that’s the case.  I’ve been asked, like you all, to give back.  To look past race and creed and to unite as one.  Except if your gay. The executive office has already pushed us out.  When they needed votes, when they wanted to get votes away from Hill, they came to us.  They spoke of promises for a better tomorrow.  Promises of inclusion, and fairness.

What did we get?  An offer to have the one man in “organized” religion, who tempers many of his sermons with lessons of the evil gay empire and who spreads hate (I would like to point out Rev. Warren that no minister would ever go to jail for refusing to perform a same-sex marriage – but you knew that, you just chose to confuse your flock to perpetuate hate), to give the invocation at the inauguration.  We had the Obama “team” tell HBO to cut Bishop Robinson’s invocation from the Concert on the Mall from the telecast, and then to have the audicaity to say that it was an oversight…Was it an oversight when the sound system was not working either?

There are a lot of things on the agenda of the executive office, and I never imagined that my needs would be part of that list.  Is my right to marry a greater cause than the environment, or the economy, or the wars in the Middle East?  I know it’s not, but to be ignored and to stepped over and be sent to the back of the bus does not make one fell warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Some men give great speeches, and some men do…Let’s hope that President Obama can do both.

If you agree that basic civil rights are important, that I shouldn’t be locked out of my home if my partner dies, that I shouldn’t have to stay in the waiting room while my partner is in the hospital, that I should have the same rights that my friends and family have — please send a post card to President Obama and remind him of his promise to repeal DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) and his promise to repeal DADT (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell).

President B. H. Obama

Office of the President

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC

or via the web:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

What a night…

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is watching Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.  It’s really genius!  Of all the holiday shows it’s one of my favorites.  I love watching it.  They just don’t make shows like this anymore.  I’m often surprised that with all the advances in animation and movie making that they can’t come up with anything as good!  I hope this makes you smile as much as it makes me smile!

Happy Holidays to one and all!  Enjoy…

Growing up I loved Saturday morning cartoons!  My favorite was the Smurfs…What not to love?  I triple loved Poppa Smurf…I still remember the Christmas I got my stuffed Poppa Smurf.  I loved it.  As we get closer to Santa’s big arrival I thought I would share a clip from the Smurf’s Christmas Special.  Goodness really does make the badness go away!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

One of my favortie shows from growing up was Emmit the Otter’s Jug Band Christmas.  I think it was on HBO.  I used to love it.  His mom sold her wedding ring or something to get him the banjo/guitar with Mother of Pearl inlay.  I absolutely loved this show.  Anyway, here’s a clip to bring you some holiday cheer.  I think this was Jim Henson show!

Ithaca is being hit pretty hard by a snow storm so I’m just getting ready to head out the door to the safety of my own home!  This clip brings me back to Christmas’ long ago, when I would lay on the little couch watching this on hbo!

Happy Holiday’s Everybody!

I love the holidays!  I just don’t really like the buying the presents, the wrapping, etc.  One of the things I love most are the Holiday commercials.  Every time I see them it takes me back to a different time!

Enjoy!