@RyanNewYork

Really enjoyed this Navy Seals of Comedy sketch dramatically...

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:49:00 -0500

Really enjoyed this Navy Seals of Comedy sketch dramatically reenacting a tween Facebook conversation. It’s a clever idea, that they promise to explore further.

Probably my favorite social media comedy since Aziz Ansari’s Harris bit.

Such a cute picture of a gay couple at a Barack Obama rally in...

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:23:12 -0500

Such a cute picture of a gay couple at a Barack Obama rally in 2008.

Join them at Obama Pride.

foreverliberal: micahpk: President Obama presents Maya Angelou...

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:30:00 -0500

foreverliberal:

micahpk:

President Obama presents Maya Angelou with the highest civilian honor.

Incredible moment — Maya Angelou is absolutely amazing.

Beautiful. Can’t imagine what that moment felt like for both of them. So much going on.

Been nice if the Catholic Church had fought as hard to stop the Iraq War as it did to stop women...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:36:20 -0500

Been nice if the Catholic Church had fought as hard to stop the Iraq War as it did to stop women from receiving birth control.

"A conservative, a moderate, and a liberal walk into a bar. And the bartender goes, “Hey,..."

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:19:30 -0500

“A conservative, a moderate, and a liberal walk into a bar. And the bartender goes, “Hey, it’s Mitt Romney!””

- Rick Santorum Super PAC funder Foster Friess

A new store has opened up in Bushwick, Brooklyn that focuses...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:13:00 -0500

A new store has opened up in Bushwick, Brooklyn that focuses exclusively on Pope John Paul II swag. I’m getting my mom a gift certificate.

Five years ago today, Barack Obama announced his candidacy for...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:23:00 -0500

Five years ago today, Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President in Springfield, Illinois.

Watch the speech.

Listen to the below stream (or download here) to David Foster...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:23:59 -0500

Listen to the below stream (or download here) to David Foster Wallace’s This is Water, which was recorded during a commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005. Wallace took his own life in 2008.

I try to listen to this every few months, because it’s full of powerful lessons, that are easy to forget or lose sight of. I’ve quoted some of my favorite bits below, but you can read the entire piece here.

Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.

Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they’re evil or sinful, it’s that they’re unconscious. They are default settings.

They’re the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that’s what you’re doing.

And the so-called real world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving…. The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.

Last weekend I attended Deconstuctive Theatre...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:24:00 -0500

Last weekend I attended Deconstuctive Theatre Project’s The Orpheus Variations presentation at IRT. It’s a very cool project, combining live film and theatre with the Orpheus myth. Look forward to watching this develop.

For more information on DTP, visit their website.

Full disclosure: I’m on DTP’s Board of Directors.

Photos by Mitch Dean & Adam J. Thompson

"Rick Santorum decisively swept all three primary contests last night, shattering the myth of..."

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:36:40 -0500

“Rick Santorum decisively swept all three primary contests last night, shattering the myth of inevitability that presumed front-runner Mitt Romney…”

- The Incredible Shrinking Mitt

Too funny. Update: Zack Ford tells me this is photoshopped....

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:18:00 -0500

Too funny.

Update: Zack Ford tells me this is photoshopped. It’s still really funny.

Today’s terrific ruling on gay marriage reminds me of my...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:52:02 -0500

Today’s terrific ruling on gay marriage reminds me of my favorite video ever from my friends the VGL Gay Boys - Jeffery Self & Cole Escola. It’s a smart, funny take on what the legalization of gay marriage means for a lot of us.

Blows my mind that this video was first posted in May of 2008, when things looked to be going really well for marriage equality in California. All that changed when Proposition 8 passed in November. Great we’re finally seeing the light.

I’m super excited to be moderating a panel for Blue State...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:09:20 -0500

I’m super excited to be moderating a panel for Blue State Digital with Clay Shirky and Adam Conner as part of DC’s Social Media Week. Details in the image and RSVP here.

I took these pictures yesterday at a meeting. I’d have a...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:02:43 -0500

I took these pictures yesterday at a meeting. I’d have a hard time concentrating if this was my office window.

This is Sparta!

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:48:32 -0500

This is Sparta!

Hands down the best part of this is “G+ - I’m a...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:05:19 -0500

Hands down the best part of this is “G+ - I’m a Google employee who eats donuts.”

Took some of these pictures strolling around Bushwick this week....

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:38:00 -0500

Took some of these pictures strolling around Bushwick this week.

My favorite is the new mural (at the top) that’s near the Morgan stop. The bike with The Sound of Music mysteriously propped up next to it is a close second. Love my hood.

Update: More on the mural here.

Some live theater posters from the Paris metro. I wish I could...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:51:05 -0500

Some live theater posters from the Paris metro. I wish I could have seen A Bronx Tale in French.

Obama = Job Growth

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:02:53 -0500

March 19th marks the sixth year that I’ve directed and...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:31:05 -0500

March 19th marks the sixth year that I’ve directed and produced The Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant, an event that raises money for New York’s Ali Forney Center to support homeless LGBT youth.

It’s always a terrifically fun event and you can buy tickets for just $40 until February 14th. Get your tickets today and please reblog to support our efforts.