The Airing of Grievances

Festivus is here which means it's time for my favorite holiday tradition: bitching about stuff! I got a lot of problems with you people and you need to be called out. Let's get right to it (in no particular order)

California - You voted to take away the rights of gays to marry, buying into the fear and lies of the Religious Right. Then many (not all) of the marriage equality activists turned their anger on black folks (regardless of how they voted or their orientation) when the ban would've still passed if blacks voted at the same rate as whites. Not cool.

Family Guy - Went from consistently funny to spotty quality with some real stinkers in the last year. And rape is not funny.

Nintendo - Talk about a piss poor holiday lineup. The two most prominent games on the DS are nearly 15 year old rereleases and the major Wii title is a tired fishing/gardening simulator.

George W. Bush - Thanks for throwing the country into the shitter. And these last minute acts of deregulation you're pushing through are beyond the pale ridiculous.

My brother - Sorry it's not 'just a phase'. I look forward to you saying the same thing 10 years from now.

Writers of Desperate Housewives - Get to the point already with Dave. And extending an already-formulaic show two years basically guarantees that it'll need to be put out of its misery by the end.

Sarah Palin - How the hell are you going ask "Who is Barack Obama?" when no one heard of your ass before August? Try figuring out what the VP does, then get back to us. At least you got us more screen time with the lovely and hilarious Tina Fey.

Conservatives - Nothing to say to y'all actually. Just want to laugh in your stupid faces.

Bad Drivers - The left lane is for passing, not going 10 mph under the speed limit. Also, pulling out in front of car going 55 is a great way to take a trip through the front windshield. I hear that a good time to turn on headlights is when it's raining at night. Just a thought.

Hideo Kojima - I love the Metal Gear Solid series, but look into hiring a writer and an editor. Seriously.

Square Enix - I'd like to see a Final Fantasy without androgynous male and scantily-clad female lead characters. And see the editor/writer thing mentioned above.

NPR - You cancelled my favorite show, News & Notes. The podcast was a must for my morning drive to work.

Well I know I'm missing something, but that's all I got for now. Happy Festivus!

Party Foul

It seems like there's some kind of controversy every few days with Obama's upcoming presidential term. People obssess over the diversity of his cabinet. The press gobbles up whatever tidbit they find. They bother him about his (weak) links to Rod Blagojevich.

Now his inauguration is under fire. Pastor Rick Warren will be giving the invocation at the ceremony, prompting outrage from LGBT groups across the nation. Oddly enough, little has been said about his stance on reproductive rights. Still many are (rightfully) annoyed that someone who worked so strongly to pass Proposition 8 will be front and center on such a joyous and historic day.

I get the idea behind Obama's goal to bring people together. The country is seriously divided. Half the nation thinks the other half is out of its mind, evil, or just plain stupid. Building a consensus will move us forward rather than drawing us into the bickering of the past.

But Rick Warren is not progress. He's moved a few inches away from "rabidly anti-gay" to "calmly anti-gay". The guy's one good point is that he (finally) reminded Christian conservatives that they are called to help out the poor and has raised awareness of the AIDS epidemic. I like the idea of an "inclusive" inauguration, I just wish someone so blatantly non-inclusive wasn't involved.

When you get in front of a crowd and equate homosexuality with incest and pedophilia, that's not inclusive. That encourages the brutal beatings and murders of people like Lawrence King, Jose Sucuzhanay, and Ali Forney. That contributes to closeted men who marry and are unfaithful to their wives, gay teenage suicide, and unsafe sex practices. It's an outright lie, based on fear and false perceptions.

This guy doesn't belong at the table of inclusion, he belongs on a street corner yelling at whoever will listen to him. Unfortunately he has considerable influence and while he won't be making policy decisions for Obama, he can sway the opinions of millions who listen to him. Having him on his side will likely help the president-elect.

I long for the day when this is no longer true.

Poor Little Rich People

This whole economic crisis has been hard as hell on some people. Home foreclosures, cutbacks on groceries, putting off doctor's appointments... it's not easy. However there's one group whose suffering has gone largely unnoticed: The Filthy Stinking Rich

Multimillionaire Michael Hirtenstein used to flaunt his acquisitions of opulent real estate. "I collect homes because I enjoy it," he once told DansHamptons.com about his eight properties—which included a $27 million apartment on the 76th floor of Manhattan's Time Warner Center. In August 2007, the 45-year-old Hirtenstein, who made his fortune in telecommunications, regaled the New York Post with his plans for a $35 million, glass-enclosed duplex in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood, replete with suede-covered walls, three living rooms and a heated pool with built-in underwater video screen. Alas, the economy ground to a halt, and so did Hirtenstein's conspicuous consumption of real estate. He quietly reneged on the Tribeca duplex, forfeiting a hefty deposit.

Oh noes! How will poor Mr. Hirtenstein get by without his fix of aquatic-CSI episodes? Who will sound the alarm for this aching soul, ditching limousines for (*gasp*) town cars and ordering top-shelf liquor in chain restaurants?Lord

Hirtenstein's "frugal" living is the result of witnessing his friends' finances dwindle. My guess is they were all engaged in a gigantic pissing contest to outdo each other's absurd, extravagant lifestyle and now that the game is over, Hirtenstein would rather not rub it in their faces. I mean the guy had the good decency to forgo buying a Ferrari (which he considers a "toy"). He knows how to scrimp.

Perhaps I'm being too hard on him, but I was raised not to place too much value on material things. The phrase "bling bling" (besides sounding really, really stupid) irked me for this very reason and its widespread usage (even in the linked Newsweek article) baffles me. So when I read about spendthrifts like Hirtenstein and their almost cartoonish indulgences I can't help but be disgusted.

Not that they're the only ones doing wasteful spending. And at least they didn't trample anyone to buy their luxury apartments and clothing. Seriously what is wrong with people? Busting down Wal-Mart doors to get at a plasma TV and some cheap DVD players? Are we going to have to declare martial law next Black Friday?

Granted I'm not innocent here either. I spent $70 at Amazon to score some cheap Wii games and picked up a 500 GB hard drive yesterday. And earlier this year I dropped some serious cash to score a PS3 and a new TV of my own. (UPDATE: And now Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is seriously tempting me) But I like to think my spending is a little more controlled. And the picture on the screen is soooo sweet.