[ TV I'm Watching Right Now ]

...or why I might possibly, slightly be looking forward to the end of summer.

American Dad
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Kings
Lost
Parks and Recreation
Reno 911
Saturday Night Live
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show
The Office
Weeds

To download all of these TV shows, I direct you to the feed I created via ShowRSS. For a complete guide on the illegal downloading of these items, see their FAQ's. Added bonus: No Commercials!

Also, if you haven't already, twitter me.

[ Portland Tutoring Collective Goes Live ]

I wanted to tell you about a new tutoring company I started. It's called the Portland Tutoring Collective and it's a co-op of professionally-trained tutors looking to offer a local alternative to the big box companies that are out there. It's not that Kaplan or the Princeton Review are so bad, it's just they pay their tutors obscenely low wages and make them sign restrictive "Non-compete Agreements", designed to keep them from negotiating higher rates or moving onto other opportunities. So... okay, they are that bad.

Basically, we were tired of it, and so my friends and I created an alternative.

In order for our scrappy start-up to have any chance competing against the Kaplans and the Princeton Reviews of the world, we need your help and your voice. Please show your support of me and this new project by helping spread the word. Here are just a few simple ways to root for the little guy and help make sure PTC will be a success:

- Visit our website at PortlandTutoringCollective.com to read all about us.
- Forward this to your friends and family, especially anyone who lives in the Portland area.
- Become fans of ours on Facebook.
- Follow us on Twitter.
- If you have a blog or website, please link to our site. It will give the google bots something to feast on!

Viva la resistance! And long-live Portland!

Cheers!

[ Passive Aggressive Notes ]

...are cracking me up. Check it out.

[ The Velvet Revolution & the Iranian One ]

"Walking around [Prague during the Velvet Revolution] the morning we arrived we were approached by three Czech students. After determining that we were not secret police—jeans, leather jackets, and American accents made us likelier to be secret police—they gave us some fliers. They implored us to carry the fliers out of the country with us when we left. They made sure we understood that we would have smuggle the fliers out. We would have to hide them from border guards. We would need to conceal them in our luggage, or rolled up and stuck in our toothpaste tubes, or in our underwear."

Dan Savage, sex columnist extraordinaire has an amazing story of his time in Prague during the Velvet Revolution. It's a must-read and also links to the words of Vaclev Havel on the whole Iranian matter.

[ Guess Who Fucking Said This? ]

"If [a State] were to permit homosexuals to marry, these marital benefits would... presumably have to be made available to homosexual couples and surviving spouses of homosexual marriages on the same terms as they are now available to opposite-sex married couples and spouses. To deny federal recognition to same-sex marriages will thus preserve scarce government resources, surely a legitimate government purpose."

So who do you think? George Bush? Darth Cheney? Rush, right? Wrong. The answer is good ol' Barack Obama. Yeah. I can't fucking believe it either.

[ Quotable ]

My mother said to me, "If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope." Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso. -Pablo Picasso

[ You Have Already Seen This ]

But it is hilarious.

[ Comic of the Day: Starbucks ]

(click the image for a bigger view)

[ California Supreme Court Upholds Citizen's Rights to Discriminate ]

You probably already heard that Prop 8 was upheld in California. Here's what my good ol' friends are saying on the book of faces:

1. embarrassed, disappointed and ashamed to be a California citizen today.
2. California Supreme Court : cowards.
3. 's love for California is once again shaken by the arrogance of a few. Prop 8 is upheld...just to rub it in our face some more.
4. NOOOO! At least the 18,000 marriages are still valid... but this is a crappy crappy day. #rejectprop8
5. RT @almightygod Looks like a certain state is getting more wildfires and earthquakes in the near future. #rejectprop8
6. will be protesting the continuing ban on gay marriage at 5:30 today in response to the California Supreme Court's decision to uphold Prop 8. Information at dayofdecision.org
7. thinks we need to get our shit together, Cali.
8. When the highest court in California upholds the blatantly discriminatory Prop 8, who can we turn to for equal protection under the law? We have to rise up and put an end to the legal discrimination and bigotry against gays and lesbians in California. We have to rise up!
9. brain damage. (quite honestly, this one may not have anything to do with it).

[ I Have A Dream. Gay Rights in America ]

I never watched American Idol, so I didn't realize the two finalists were a Christian Conservative versus a potentially gay man. The NYT thinks the fact that the Christian won means nothing as it pertains to the gay civil rights movement in America. There are theories, however, as to why Obama has stalled out on all his campaign promises on the issue:

The most common rationale for his current passivity is that his plate is too full. But the president has so far shown an impressive inclination both to multitask and to argue passionately for bedrock American principles when he wants to.

Personally, I think he knows he's going to take a hit in his nomination of the Supreme Court Justice (whomever it is), so he's going to take his time on the gay rights issue. What's interesting, though, is how the media keeps putting it back on the table. John Stewart. Rachel Maddow. Everyone's talking about it.