Reno: 911!: Miami: C (update)

Although I've never seen a full Police Academy movie or like a lot of comedy movies, I had to see Reno: 911!: Miami (IMDB.com). I've been a big fan of the Comedy Central TV show. So, my sister and I dragged Scott and ma to this movie today.

Like the TV show, some of the comedy works and some falls flat. It played more like a long episode of the series. Overall, I liked the movie, but it would have been better as a long episode.

02/27/2007 UPDATE: Here are some clips from Current TV in which the cast is in character. Some people, like me, find this funny, while others don't see it as being very humerous. Either way, it seems obvious that it would be difficult to expand this humor into a movie.:

third '06 conservative gay sex scandal mystery solved

Ever have one of those trivial questions that float around the back of your head? In December, I blogged about a Fresh Air interview in which Terry Gross had mentioned that "three evangelical leaders had to step down from their positions because of gay relationships that they had . . " in 2006. I knew she was referencing the Colorado reverends Ted Haggard and Paul Barnes, but I didn't know what the third scandal was. I even Googled gay sex scandals, but only Haggard and Barnes came up. Eventually, I just let it go as one of those little, unimportant mysteries that would solve itself or I would forget about.

Well, today I think the mystery is solved. There was a development today in a forgotten (to me at least) conservative gay sex scandal that occurred at the beginning of 2006. Anti-gay activist, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee Member, and Tulsa church pastor, Lonnie W. Latham was arrested in Oklahoma City in January, 2006, for asking an undercover male cop to come up to his hotel for oral sex. Ironically, Latham's lawyer today used the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas US Supreme Court decision to argue that he has a constitutional right to have gay sex. The constitutionality of Latham's "lewdness" arrest is questionable since no money was offered. Even the ACLU is challenging his arrest. How does someone legally distinguish between "lewdness" and making an awkward pass?

While the hypocritical gay sex scandal is old news, it's nice that one those lingering questions in my mind is finally solved.

beautiful spring-like weather (updated)

The weather yesterday was beautiful! At the ungodly hour of 7:00 AM, Scott and I decided to drive some place high enough look over the heavy morning fog. We chose OHSU's Marquam Hill campus at the new (and notorious over-budget, $55M not $15.5M, because it has to look pretty) aerial tram. It was amazing to watch the fog flow down the Willamette valley. Even a OHSU worker who had finished his overnight shift said he had to come out and see the fog.

Here are some of our photos (mostly Scott's photos):

Mt. Hood

Downtown towers poke through fog. Mt. St. Helens in the background.

Later, Sheena joined us and we had our first bike ride of the year on the Springwater Corridor and tried out the new (and long-anticipated) bridges.

02/20/2007 UPDATE: Added some of my camera phone photos of Scott and Sheena. I also revised and added text.

NBA and others advertising on anti-gay website???

Just a week after the NBA's David Stern and several pro athletes, coaches, and owners expressed support of John Amaechi's coming out, I was surprised to see an NBA web ad running next to an anti-gay web ad for "It's Not Gay". I refreshed my browser and saw several mainstream companies advertising on the anti-gay American Family Association's "news" website OneNewsNow.com. Honestly, I have no idea how web ads are chosen to run and I suppose there could be cookies on OneNewsNow that customize web ads for my computer. Even so, it's a little disturbing to think some companies are diving into social, religion, political issues by supporting a website that regularly features anti-gay "news", commentary, and products.

I hope and assume that these companies' use an ad buyer that didn't realize the that OnesNewsNow is part of AFA. Here are some screenshots took:

What's really interesting are some of the other ads running such as for It's Not Gay and Islam Rising.

TDS solves the Haggard instant gay cure mystery

Ted (Former-Colorado-mega-church-pastor-and-anti-gay-activist-who-confessed-to-hiring-a-gay-prostitute-and-buying-drugs) Haggard's recent claim of instantly going from gay to "complete heterosexual" in three weeks has been just as unbelievable as his claim that he never had sex with the male prostitute he hired or used the illegal drugs he bought. Well, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart has finally solved how Haggard was cured.

(Comedy Central video expires 03/06/2007.)

Jon Stewart: A lot of people would say, 'Well, how did they do it? How did they turn this clearly gay man into a heterosexual?' Well it's really very simple. You know when you were a kid and your father caught you smoking?

[audience laughter]

And then he decided to make you smoke a carton?

[audience laughter]

Uh, Ted's been a busy boy. Mmmmm. . . . And he kept saying, 'Just one more.'

(Hat Tip: I heard The Daily Show excerpt on NPR's Weekend America which was referenced by Ex-gay Watch.)

(02/12/2007 PM: minor editing/revision.)

One Punk Under God: Ep 1-4

I watched the first four episodes of the six episode documentary One Punk Under God on iTunes last night. The show follows Jay Bakker, the "prodigal" son of the infamous Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. He started an alternative church, Revolution, that meets in a bar.

So far Jay has re-visited Heritage USA, the site of his childhood and his parents' demise; his mother, who is in the last stages of cancer; and his father, who has started a new TV show and family in Branson. He also visited a gay church and boldly proclaimed his support of gay rights which has cost his church to lose its financial backing.

I first became interested in Jay Bakker after seeing The Eyes of Tammy Faye (IMDB.com), which was produced by the same producers of One Punk, World of Wonder. Jay impressed me in 2005 when he was disinvited to speak at an Exodus conference after stating his he disagreed with anti-gay theology.

I look forward to watching the two remaining episodes I downloaded.

Japanese Garden

Scott's roommates gave him a membership to the Japanese Garden last Christmas, which we finally used on Sunday. I had never been to the garden before -- other than hiking around the garden's entrance and fence -- so it was really interesting to finally go behind the gates.

I thought the garden was surprisingly busy for a dreary winter day. Nothing was blooming and the flower beds were mostly barren, but it was interesting to see intricate trails and steps. The sand and rock garden was also amazing.

Scott took some great pictures with his new camera:

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Matt Lauer: a jerk

This morning, I happened to catch Matt Lauer's interview with Miss America Tara Conner. Apparently, the interview was her big return to the spotlight after some type of rehab. However, for some reason, Matt Lauer thought this was a hard-hitting news interview and decided to force Conner to confess details about her own abuse on the morning "news" program:

. . .

Matt Lauer: I guess, though, that my job is to try and get you to be honest. And has there been abuse of some kind in your background?

Tara Conner: I will not deny that I've, you know, witnessed some abuse, but out of the respect of my family, I have not discussed it with them yet.

You know, this is something that I need to take one day at a time. It's too early in my recovery for me to give it. ...

Lauer: But physical abuse? Sexual abuse? Or, can you clarify that?

Conner: I, I, again, it's something I would like to speak with my family about first, and I would, you know, I would like the respect of privacy, because I'm giving all that I can right now.

Later on, maybe I will feel more comfortable speaking on these topics, but right now, not so much.

Lauer: Can you tell me if it's recent, or is this something from earlier in childhood?

Conner: Um, we'll just say it was early on.

Lauer: Have you had a chance to confront the people responsible?

Conner: Yes.

Suddenly, Lauer is not convinced that she is being truthful, so he accuses her of falsifying her non-specific the abuse claim that she clearly didn't want to discuss:

Lauer: And you've kind of put me in a strange position here, because you've just said to me a few minutes ago you're a very manipulative person, and so I guess I need to ask you, if you're alluding to something here, is this part of the manipulation?

Conner: What?

Lauer: If you say that there's maybe abuse, some people would say, "Wait a second, she's manipulating Matt now."

Conner: In no way am I manipulating you at all. The great thing about my recovery right now is, this is the most honest I have ever been in my entire life, because before, I didn't have the capacity to be an honest person. So I'm giving as much as I can right now.

. . .

I really don't care about pageants or celibrity interviews, but Lauer's attack this morning has been bothering me all day.

BTW, at the end of the interview, Lauer reminds viewers that the Miss America Pageant (Conner's employer?) is a joint venture with NBC Universal, so Conner probably had no choice but to appear with him.

(Interview transcript available at Kentucky.com.)
(Interview clip at MSN.com.)