Beaverhausen Blog

4 Minutes

2008-04-17T06:04:00.001+00:00

A sexually provocative, lyrically shallow, cultural plagiarist - these terms describe a naysayer's view of Madonna Louise Ciccone Penn Ritchie's career. However, it can be argued that Mrs. Richie's most recently released single, 4 Minutes (to Save the World), is a thoughtful work that makes a strong case in support of international adoption.

Mrs. Ritchie last year adopted a child from the African nation of Malawi. After visiting the country and making an appearance at an orphanage, she chose a boy by the name of David and quickly left for England with him, assuming than an expedited process for the legal adoption would be undertaken. Madonna, having given birth to two children, Rocco and Lourdes, was ready to add a third child to her brood. When Madonna sings the line, "Come on boy I've been waiting for somebody to pick up my stroll" and Justin Timberlake responds, "Well don't waste time, give me a sign, tell me how you wanna roll" it is emblematic of the conversations that Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie must have had about the potential of adopting, with Mrs. Ritchie's mention of "stroll" clearly referring to a child's stroller, and Mr. Ritchie's request asking for direction of "how you wanna roll" meaning precisely what sort of perambulator she desires. In the subsequent line, Madonna mentions her desire for "somebody to speed it up for me then take it down slow," which clearly refers to her desire for the legal process of adoption to be accelerated while not wanting her newly adopted son to grow up too quickly.

The chorus of the song indicates that "if you want it/Ya already got it" which is to say that those debating whether to adopt a child should recognize that there are millions of children in countries across the world who are in need of loving parents and a stable home. The love that an adoptive parent feels for their child is palpable, and as with almost all new parents, there is a strong desire to satisfy the child's every need, desire, and want ("If you feel it/It must be real just/Say the word and/I'ma give you what you want "). Madonna is advocating for people to not delay (because they've "only got" the metaphorical "four minutes") to follow through on their desire to adopt a child ("grab a boy/grab a girl") from an international location (the "world" reference in the hook "save the world").

While some interpret a later line in the song as reading "Don't be a pri(hey)ma donna," I would argue that the line could more accurately be interpreted as "Don't be a pre- (hey) Madonna." In other words, Justin is noting that before Madonna achieved fame, before becoming a mother, and before discovering the ancient mystical teaching of the Kaballah, she was not as spiritually enlightened or effective an advocate for an important sociopolitical topic such as international adoption. Today, having demonstrated her credentials as an author, spiritual guru, and environmentalist, she is well-positioned to serve as an advocate for rescuing children from the poverty conditions of the third world. Furthermore, if one interprets the "U" in the line line of "Sometimes I think what I need is a you (U) intervention" as referring to the United Nations, it is clear that Madonna is speaking on behalf of the poor orphans of the world.

With a toe-tapping beat, a visually engrossing video, and unforgetable falsetto notes hit by her background vocalist - and most importantly, through her lyrics, Madonna ensures that the plight of young victims of poverty from across the globe is highlighted. She furthermore makes an effective case pleading with policymakers to affect a simplified and less arduous process for international adoption to benefit these children and the families that welcome them.

John: Exit Stage Left

2006-05-31T18:59:00.000+00:00

Taking a cue from our inspiration, this Beaverhausen has decided to retire from the blogging game. I've been giving the whole project a lot of thought lately, and it seems to me that four years and upteen thousands of posts is a pretty good run. Lord knows, the blogosphere has grown from our early days among to the innovators to the point now where it's getting harder and harder to contribute anything different from a thousand other voices. At the same time, as Ben has noted, newer forms of online intercourse have proliferated.

I'm not ruling out a return to the web in some form in the future. (In truth, I'll likely never leave, as I continue to utilize tools like Flickr and the various social nets.) I feel pretty good about what was achieved here. Our site tracker counts around 4,500 uniquie visitors a month. So it feels good to just go ahead and end my pseudocareer as a blogger on a relatively high note.

One thing I am going to miss is the honor of being among the bloggerati. Sure, the blogging network was demented and sad, but it was social. I was always surprised by strangers who would randomly approach me to say "Oh, you're Beaverhausen." "Well, half of it, I'd always say."

And that brings me to the saddest part of shutting down my beautiful blog machine: B'haus has been a big part of a very cool daily relationship with my best friend and confidante, who just happens to live 3,000 miles away. Authoring, editing and running a website with someone so close to me has been frustrating at times, but mostly it's been a fascinating and fun way to interact and get to know, even better, what makes each of us tick. So Ben, to you I say thank you so much for sharing this special endeavor with me. Don't be too sad that this chapter is closing. It only brings us that much closer to figuring out what that next big thing is, and when we find it, I trust we'll still be encouraging, baiting, and engaging each other just as much as we ever did here at Beaverhausen.

WeWho?

2006-05-28T14:43:00.000+00:00

The LATimes ponders a straight future for West Hollywood. Unthinkable, I know, but hey, it happened to Dupont.

Big Love

2006-05-26T15:13:00.000+00:00

A divided Utah Supreme Court has upheld a bigamy conviction of a fundamentalist Mormon, rejecting the defendant's claims that the 2003 case of Lawrence v. Texas, which abolished sodomy laws, protected his right to multiple wives. The Chief Justice dissented, writing that under Lawrence, the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment provides protection to private relationships between consensual adults, whether bigamous or not. Read the opinions here.

(Wonder where that leaves Don Wildmon's latest wigout: polyamory in the gay community?)

Ba-Baaah and the Windigo

2006-05-22T19:20:00.000+00:00

Bonus points to anyone who could have guessed what the characters shown at right had to do with the founding of America.

Answer: They're part of a children's show telling the story of Jamestown from the perspective of a young Indian girl (apparently a relative of Shrek the Ogre) and indigenous animals. It's all just part of the pageantry of "America's 400th Anniversary," a Virginia tourist promotion that kicked off near Colonial Williamsburg yesterday.

Fun for the whole family!

Blogging conference draws 400 in D.C.

2006-05-19T22:13:00.000+00:00

Damn, we missed it. Was Sully there?

Marriage on Both Sides of the Potomac

2006-05-18T19:45:00.000+00:00

Gentlemen, start your pandering. GOP leaders in the Senate are cozying up to the bigot brigade again by promising a vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment in the first week of June. This led to some of the more exciting political news of last week, when Russ Feingold stomped out of Arlen Spector's Judiciary Committee meeting where the FMA was reported to the floor. Despite the theatrics, the brigadeers are not particularly happy. The WashTimes quoted one rightwing ~~nutcase~~ source who criticized the President's engagement on the issue:

It's not that we are demanding this, but when the First Lady is disparaging the issue, and when the Vice President lets stand unrebutted Mary Cheney's claims, we think some demonstration of presidential leadership is warranted -- and overdue.

The latter comment alludes, of course, to the Veep's long "missing" lesbian daughter, who made the rounds a week ago shilling for her new book, which has her agreeing with Al Gore on the FMA. Former HRC head Elizabeth Birch crowed, but most handicappers don't give the federal legislation much of a shot anyway. Boy, that's sure to piss off Donald Wildmon and his million mothers more than a big opening weekend for the Da Vinci Code.

Meanwhile, back in Virginy, legions gird for battle over this Fall's referendum on a state constitutional amendment. Despite heartwarming profiles of local homos in the regional press, observers in the Old Dominion think the powerfully worded SuperDOMA will pass by a large margin. I'm not counting on any intervention by activist judges, as happened last week in another "New South" state, either. In any event, the forecast for November calls for plenty of fear and loathing.

Goodbye, Anastasia

2006-05-18T19:41:00.000+00:00

Will & Grace ends its eight-year run tonight, so it's time to bid farewell to Anastasia Beaverhausen. But will she and Jack, that lawyer and the decorator really be missed all that much? Critics disagree about the impact, whether the show leaves a big mark and changed attitudes because of its depiction of gays, or that it will be a quickly-forgotten relic of dated pop-culture jokes that won't hold up.

The disagreements seem to be a referendum on whether it is more important for a sitcom to be funny or to be a form of media where sensitive topics can be addressed and made fun of:

"We're proud of what's transpired" in terms of presenting gay characters as real people, Kohan says. "But if our goal here had been to put out ideas or role models, the show would have failed. All you really care about is: Do you like these characters? Do you care about their relationships? Do they make you laugh?"

And as with most sitcoms, the way to make you laugh is to play up the cliches and the catchphrases and same tired storylines. You end up with characters who are "so selfish and hateful to one another, you could never understand why they were friends to begin with. No amount of back story or riffs on low self-esteem could explain that."

The roles of Will Truman and Grace Adler became derivative characatures of other successful sitcoms, taking on some of the selfish tendencies of the Seinfeld quartet and the neuroses and compulsions of the Friends. And that's why I agree with the assessment that "it's hard to sustain characters over the long haul when nothing's at stake, and in its later years the show has bounced between silly and tiresome."

That's why I have to take exception with the arguments that the show was "a pioneer for using humor to address one of America's most incendiary issues...mainstream[ing] a way to laugh about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and straight sexual politics from a place of pure affection, not fear and hatred." I don't think the show hurt the case for gay rights, but I'm also not sure that it created "pure affection" for the gay rights or made a case for gay marriage. Backing me up is Beaverhausen fave Hank Steuver who writes:

The gayest among us now profess to have shirked duty and stopped watching a couple of seasons ago.

...For years, some viewers held on to the idea that the show was an example of pure progress in the way American culture views homosexuals. This turned out to be "Will & Grace's" burden to bear, and it discarded it happily.

...Watching the show...shoulder-to-shoulder with young men who had Ricky Martin haircuts and wore Abercrombie T-shirts, it was possible to make the mistake of reading "Will & Grace" as a solid triumph.

I would say that time would have to pass in order to tell if Will & Grace affects future generations in a way to I Love Lucy or All in the Family did. But I think that with constant reruns on Lifetime, we're likely to be able to tell far, far sooner whether Will & Grace can match the impact of that other long-running NBC sitcom about four individuals with a not-so-stealthy gay sensibility.

Pet Peeve

2006-05-12T17:22:00.000+00:00

Is it just me, or is anyone else annoyed by the new Friday Fresh Air episodes that take a timely subject and cobble together old interviews on the topic, as introduced by Not Terry Gross? Today's show feature ancient interviews with cast members of The West Wing introduced by David Bianculli made me long for a fresh Fresh Air.

In More Positive Lacrosse News . . .

2006-05-08T16:13:00.000+00:00

The NCAA men's lacrosse championship bracket has been set, as the popular sport continues to look beyond the Duke scandal. One fun programming note: my Tigers stand an excellent chance of taking on no. 2-seeded Maryland in the second round at Towson University on Sunday, May 21st. (Local favs Virginia, Georgetown and Navy will also be vying to reach the other half of that day's quarterfinal doubleheader.) I realize it's not the Herndon Climb, but maybe I can get some D.C. folks interested in a roadtrip to see these games.

Flickr is the new Blogging

2006-05-04T20:43:00.001+00:00

Conservative activist are up in arms over a proposal to prevent bias against homosexuality in California school curricula.

MyDeathSpace - A Trend That Died Too Young?

2006-04-27T13:37:00.000+00:00

The gray lady must've heard the criticisms... I've never seen the NYTimes document a trend as quickly as this article on the use of social-networking profiles in mourning the death of young people. Why, it was only a month or so ago that Chris first showed me MyDeathSpace and now the Times is already reporting how communities of "personal Web pages have suddenly changed from lighthearted daily dairies about bands or last night's parties into online shrines where grief is shared in real time." And now that the Times knows, we must regrettably conclude that this young trend has jumped the shark.

For the moment, though, it's still a common occurrence to read news of an untimely death and immediately learn more about the deceased online than any traditional obituary every would say. (At least the scrapbook photos tend to portray them far better than the typical DMV file-photo used in newspaper reports.)

What I find sad about the whole phenomenon is how needless most of the deaths reported on MDS are: reckless immaturity or involvment with crime and other stupidity is behind so many of the fatalities. The one-off stories in the press don't convey that message nearly as powerfully as a website that collects hundreds of unfortunate demises in one place. The Internet has been credited with changing the way people think about a lot of social issues -- can it be that young people's perspectives on death and dying will be next?

Yahoo vs. TiVo

2006-04-26T22:11:00.000+00:00

How can I choose when two of my favorite geek gadgets go head-to-head? Of course, Yahoo's entry into the home media market has been expected, but I still hope they can be partners not competitors with TiVo.

Never Forget, Eh?

2006-04-25T13:46:00.000+00:00

The Post profiles the "one member of Congress" who has blocked an appropriation for the Park Service to buy 1200 acres of land for a Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, PA. Besides being an opponent to government land ownership in general, Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC) notes that private donations have fallen far short of their $30 million commitment, so the government could be left holding the bag for an elaborate site. Taylor has suggested a scholarship fund instead.

The Renegades have been doing their part by traveling to Pennsylvania to tend the grounds of the flight's temporary memorial. Now maybe Universal Pictures can help. Ten percent of the opening weekend's gross from United 93 (premiering tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival) will be donated to the memorial foundation. In the end, the Post thinks congressional leaders won't want to look like cheapskates when it comes to honoring the flight that fought back -- and probably saved the Capitol building -- so I expect Taylor's intrasigence to be only a temporary obstacle.

Here We Go Again

2006-04-24T14:31:00.000+00:00

The bigot brigade are gearing up, hoping to market the anti-gay marriage vote to Republicans for the 2006 mid-term elections. My old Princeton politics professor Robbie George is once again playing a prominent role, helping put together a slew of Catholic bishops to sign an ecumenical letter from clergy. There's also a companion postcard campaign in support of the Federal Marriage Amendment. In the silver lining department, the NYTimes optimistically suggests that this issue isn't the hot button it used to be -- if for no other reason than because key swing states have already passed various superDOMA amendments and laws.

Journal of B.S.

2006-04-23T21:06:00.000+00:00

The intellectually-inclined are horrified to learn that crusading anti-gay "researcher" Paul Cameron has finally weaseled his way into a peer-reviewed scientific journal, in this case, Cambridge's Journal of Biosocial Research. His crap article, "Children of Homosexuals and Transexuals More Apt to Be Homosexual," was based on his typical shoddy, "sophomoric" work. According to one professional listserv, the extent of his pseudo-scientific studies involved developing a bibliography of topical books from Amazon.com, buying and reading three of them, and tallying up the sexual orientation of the adult offspring described in the texts (discarding half whose sexual orientation was not characterized). The result: "homosexuality is contagious." What else do you expect from a guy who produced "statistics" of gay longevity based on AIDS obituaries? At least the NARTH-types who actually believe this bullshit are more and more the minority these days (except, I guess, at the White House).

Warning: Explicit Lyrics

2006-04-20T21:36:00.000+00:00

Taking a page from Indonesian jihadists, our esteemed attorney-general is on the warpath against smut. First he wants to require ISPs to keep tracking data on their customers, and now Gonzales intends to jail web site operators who do not submit to mandatory labeling of sexual content.

Commercial sites would have to slap an FTC-approved notice on each page containing anything sexually explicit, including not just sexual intercourse but even "close-ups of fully clothed genital regions." (Sports Illustrated better watch out!) Adding to the technical complications of compliance, the law would criminalize posting explicit material on any home page if it can be seen "absent any further actions by the viewer."

(Hmm, just what is the "home page" of a blog? And how does this work with user-supplied content generally? I'm familiar with some Flickr groups that would surely be covered, but management doesn't review what's posted there.)

Forget about that clearinghouse of filth BentBlog, sounds like Chrisafer may need to add warning labels to some of his poetry! What confuses me is what does this anti-pR0n crusade have to do with missing children?

Not Judge Wapner's Courtroom

2006-04-20T18:57:00.000+00:00

The gay lushes and the black biblethumpers face off in DC's gentrifying Shaw neighborhood. (Round one went to the 'mos, but Reverend Long promises to be back at next month's rematch.)

Legislative Alert

2006-04-18T14:05:00.000+00:00

After bouncing around the states for months, the effort to ban Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps' anti-gay demonstrations at military funerals has reached the federal level. Despite questions about First Amendment rights, the NYTimes cites con law experts who think there may be a precedent for upholding such statutes.

And in other bigot brigade news, the right-wing Alliance for Marriage is gearing up for a possible June vote in the Senate on the Federal Marriage Amendment by courting black and Hispanic pastors in several key states, the WashTimes reports. While gay-baiting on the spurious DOMA issue saved Dubya's butt in the 2004 elections, one wonders if the GOP's current troubles can really be fixed by wedge politics this year.

It's Time to Move On

2006-04-14T17:56:00.000+00:00

As has been noted previously on Beaverhausen, by the time the NYTimes notices a trend, it is pretty much over. So does that mean you can stick a fork in Washington's hip U Street corridor? Upshur Street, here we come.

TiVo Wins

2006-04-14T13:22:00.000+00:00

It looks like DirecTV was reading the tea leaves correctly, as TiVo scores a major patent law victory over the makers of the DishTV DVR. If upheld on appeal, the WSJ writes, the case could have "profound implications," as the damage award "bolsters TiVo's financial footing" and puts it "in a better position to negotiate business deals with cable companies and equipment suppliers that make competing DVRs."

Flight 93 Transcript Released

2006-04-13T11:52:00.000+00:00

The judge in the Moussaoui trial declined to release the audio tape of the Flight 93's cockpit recorder, opting instead to provide news sources with the transcript, now available on TSG. (Also introduced into evidence was a gigantic photomontage of nearly every victim of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Click the image at left to see a scaled-down version.)

The Universal Pictures feature film recounting the dramatic passenger revolt opens in two weeks. Some are questioning whether America is ready for a 9/11 movie. Perhaps to ease those concerns, the studio is donating 10% of the opening weekend gross to the flight's memorial fund. While I think we can handle it, I expect United 93 to be an emotional experience, no less so for arriving about the same time as the expected death sentence for Zacharias Moussaoui. Add one more "martyr" to Al Qaeda's honor rolls.

Reprieve

2006-04-12T20:56:00.000+00:00

Belying the conventional wisdom that it would break off the relationship to pursue its own DVR technology, DirecTV today announced a three-year extension of the frequently-stressed alliance with TiVo. Interestingly, the companies agreed not to assert patent rights against the other. TiVo is currently suing DishTV for infringment, so I'm thinking Murdoch's minions were more motivated by fear than friendship. Unfortunately for us DirecTiVo users, the agreement seems to freeze the status quo, and so is unlikely to extend "modern" TiVo services like music- and photo-sharing to our boxes. Boo!

Hinckley, Clinton, Hilton

2006-04-12T17:59:00.000+00:00

Last night, Jamie and I went to hear William Jefferson give a keynote at a dinner gala as guests of a major appliance manufacturer. Held at the Hinckley Hilton, the evening honored the work of a local black think-tank called the Joint Center. Man, that ex-President can talk! We will never hear a retired Dubya expound for thirty minutes on the social origins of childhood obesity.

Researching my evening's logistics led me to discover a cool new website: Virtual Globetrotting. A community-driven geocoding cite, VG "shows and categorizes cool locations around the world with satellite pictures from Google Maps and Windows Live Local" plus street-level views from contributors. Look up your home or workplace today!

The Jocks Win

2006-04-11T03:51:00.000+00:00

In inimitable style, Hank Stuever bids adieu to the O Street gay clubs.

(Obviously, I've been a bit tardy in highlighting this piece. 34+ bloggers have weighed in, including Drew.)

P.S. Straight strip clubs are being forced out by the baseball stadium too.

Photo by WaPo's Marvin Joseph.