David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall (Audiobook)

Sedaris has written what seems to be an impossible amount of memoirs. But they are undeniably hilarious, and no other form beats hearing the author speak the words himself.

From The Closet To The Courtroom by Carlos Ball

Probably what makes it interesting to me is the logical process which has been used to win cases for the cause. Five cases and rationales are highlighted, discussing the plaintiffs, the defendants, lawyers, and judges of each case.

It was surprising to me how recent the cases with positive outcomes for the LGBT community have been. Not long before them were the nearly apocalyptic ones, especially: Hardwick where the Supreme Court seemed to codify discrimination.

The book seems especially timely given the on-going case going through the courts challenging California's Prop 8.

The Young Victoria (2009)

I found out that I have no idea of British history. At least there's a good Albert in this story. (But come to think of it, there aren't many Albert villians in stories/movies.) He doesn't become king though, he's just a prince and queen's consort.

The weird thing I found out after some Wikipedia research is that much of British royalty is actually German. Sort of weird that later the countries fought two world wars against each other. Of course, the British monarchy already didn't have much power by the time of Victoria, and the German monarch abdicated in 1918.

The old King William before he dies has a bunch of hilarious moments in the film.

Outrage (2009)

Most people know about Larry Craig from his infamous airport bathroom foot dance. I had heard about Charlie Crist and his apparent beard from gay blogs. But even I had no idea about Ed Koch (former NYC major) or David Dreier (CA-Congress) or Shepard Smith who isn't a political figure, but is a visible public face for the anti-gay Fox News. The film highlights the hypocrisy of these closeted gay politicians who vote against gay interests and community and a couple prominent public persons who advance the cause against gays, such as Shepard Smith and Mary Cheney. Mary Cheney is a Republican puppet and essentially a non-benefit, a non-actor to the cause, a free-loader on liberal efforts. Except for the fact that at least she is out, Cheney has mostly been in fact a detriment, providing cover and is mainly a token to Republicans who essentially have no open gays in their ranks.

The additional materials are also interesting. In a Q&A, someone asks why they highlight McCarthy associate Roy Cohn as a big hypocrite, but not Joe McCarthy himself. The director seems to have found some risk in making that assertion and decided to remove McCarthy's "outing" in the movie. From the web: `Greenspun wrote that: "It is common talk among homosexuals in Milwaukee who rendezvous in the White Horse Inn that Senator Joe McCarthy has often engaged in homosexual activities." McCarthy considered a libel suit against Greenspun but decided against it when he was told by his lawyers that if the case went ahead he would have to take the witness stand and answer questions about his sexuality. In an attempt to stop the rumours circulating, McCarthy married his secretary, Jeannie Kerr. Later the couple adopted a five-week old girl from the New York Foundling Home.' and from Joseph McCarthy: reexamining the life and legacy of America's most hated senator By Arthur Herman: 'Two years later the [Las Vegas] Sun ran an article... insinuating that McCarthy was leading the fight against homosexuals in government in order to divert suspicion from himself. It mentioned that he had been seen kissing a Wisconsin Young Republican full on the mouth, had hired "tall, handsome, dreamy-eyed" David Schine, and had sent Jean Kerr off on an extended vacation to Hawaii in order to spend time alone with his homosexual lovers.' I guess I'm gullible that way, but I think McCarthy is so far perhaps the biggest hypocrite of all.

The movie was made after Mark Foley and before Roy Ashburn. In this context, the hypocrisy seems to be an on-going sad phenomenon. But f**k the public servants who hide behind the talk that it's none of anyone's business. May the Outing and Outrage continue until there are no more closeted gays in public office.

Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath

Didn't take the assessment since the code from the book was already used (from that perspective not a very environmentally friendly print book -- the print version cannot be fully used by more than one person), but I was able to somewhat guess what strengths I thought fit me. I guess it's useful in framing/categorizing what your strengths are in a more formal way and separating out similar, but actually disparate strengths. All this in a spirit of know thyself/to thyself be true.

I was at first surprised at the existence of strength categories like: context, input or significance. But these are actually: always seeing things in context, thirst for input (or curiosity), and wanting to be of significance. (My guess was none of these areas are my strengths.)

One insight perhaps of the book is that: people tend to focus on their weaknesses to improve, but then it goes on: why not improve on a strength, build on something you're already good at or have a talent for. (Somehow role playing game specialization and character points jumps to mind.) Being well rounded might just be overrated. Instead team up with someone else with similar or different strengths.

Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)

Liked the unusually drawn characters.