www.larrybliss.com

Goodbye Readers...

2009-04-05T20:16:00.002-04:00

I think the time has come...

With the advancement of all the social media sites available on the net today, I have decided to stop posting blogs at larrybliss.com.

Find me on Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks!

I have been touched....

2009-02-28T20:12:00.002-05:00

Obsession.

Fascination.

Passion.

I have been touched by the Tony Award Winning Musical, Spring Awakening. It is not too often that I let my emotions run free, but this musical can sure bring it out!

I saw it for the first time on Wednesday night at the Wharton Center in East lansing. And again today for the Saturday midday showing.

I can not get enough of it! For those who have not seen it yet, please do!

From Wikipedia:

Spring Awakening is a Tony Award-winning rock musical with music by Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater. The musical is based on the controversial 1891 German play of the same title by Frank Wedekind. Set in late-nineteenth century Germany, it concerns teenagers who are discovering the inner and outer tumult of sexuality. The original play was banned in Germany due to its portrayal of masturbation, abortion, rape and suicide. In the musical, alt-rock is employed as part of the folk-infused rock score. During the musical, characters sometimes break the fourth wall to express their motivations and desires directly to the audience.

After a number of workshops, concerts and rewrites over a seven-year period, Spring Awakening premiered Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company on May 19, 2006 and ran through August 17, 2006. The show then opened on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on December 10, 2006 and received favorable reviews. Spring Awakening received eleven 2007 Tony Award nominations, winning eight, including Tonys for best musical, direction, book, score and featured actor. The show also won four Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical. The production is directed by Michael Mayer and choreographed by Bill T. Jones.

Decca Broadway released the original cast recording on December 12, 2006, which won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album in 2008. The guitar Sheik used to compose songs for Spring Awakening is on display at the New York Library For The Performing Arts.[3]

Spring Awakening closed on Broadway on January 18, 2009, after 888 performances (859 on Broadway, 29 previews).

It truly is a coming of age story that is timeless and includes some very important issues like - Teen Suicide. Teen Pregnancy. Abortion. Love. Homosexuality. Abuse.

I just can't get enough...

Happy New Year

2009-01-10T18:36:00.003-05:00

So...all eight of my larrybliss.com readers have probably noticed that I stopped posting on my website. I must blame facebook for this, as I really have been spending much more time on it.

I have been posting picture updates on larryandryan.com recently, so if you have not checked it out recently, please do!

I turned 32 last week, so I am pretty excited about that. We actually spent my birthday at my Aunt and Uncles house celebrating Christmas with the Van Dorn clan.

This is my last semester at Saginaw Valley State University, as I only have two more classes to complete my MBA. I am so freakin excited! It only took me 5 years to get it done (it is a two year program...somewhere along the road i forgot that!)

2009 will prove to be a very exciting year for me. As most of you already know, May 2nd Ryan and I will be getting MARRIED! We have been attending our pre-marriage meetings with our minister, Rev. Cyndi! It has been a very exciting time.

I promise to write more on this website, but if you are not already my friend on facebook, make sure to find me! Have a great 2009!

6 White Tail Deer

2008-11-21T16:33:00.003-05:00

I watched all the birds quickly fly away from my bird feeder and took a look to see why...Clearly the deer were hungry! I made some noise to scare them away (as feeding-baiting is illegal in Michigan) and watched the six of them all prance off.

GM Facts and Fiction.com

2008-11-18T08:47:00.002-05:00

So, being a child of a GM retiree, I am hoping for the best with GM's future. I am not sure if a bailout is necessarily good for the country, but I sure know a bailout will be good for the Metro Detroit Area.

I will say that GM's PR department is working overtime this past few weeks trying to get out the word on how important the auto industry is to our country. Check out www.gmfactsandfiction.com for more info.

What do you think? Should we bail out companies who have made poor business decisions that have lead to their failure??? I just don't know!

Protect Marriage!!! Prohibit Divorce!

2008-11-13T00:11:00.000-05:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Clinton County Democrats!!!

2008-11-05T08:46:00.002-05:00

We live in Clinton County, Michigan. Clinton County is a mostly rural farming community that in years past have gone 100% to the republicans.

I am so excited to see that BARACK OBAMA won Clinton County!!!

Pretty much everything else in the County went Republican (including our County Commissioner who lost reelection.)

In our township races, I woke up a happy boy! The Democrats won Township Supervisor, Township Treasurer, and three out of the four trustee slots! (Actually the fourth trustee was a tie between our friend Leon Puttler and a republican incumbent. Demand a RECOUNT Leon!!!)

Happy Time are ahead!

2008-11-04T23:25:00.001-05:00

Our own CNN here in the Bath-house

2008-11-04T23:22:00.001-05:00

18 of our closest friends are here to watch McCain LOSE...Congrats Mr. President Obama!

Indy

2008-11-01T14:50:00.000-04:00

We are in Indianapolis...

Reno's

2008-10-30T20:13:00.000-04:00

Renos with friends

Mom's Birthday

2008-10-26T17:15:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we celebrated my mom's 40th birthday. (Okay...not her actual age)

Welcome Sonic to Michigan

2008-10-16T14:08:00.000-04:00

Sonic has opened up in mid michigan and the line up has already started! Welcome Sonic to Michigan!

2008-10-04T21:12:00.001-04:00

2008-10-04T20:55:00.001-04:00

Haviong fun at lansing oldtown Oktoberfest

Who is Tyler Whitney and Why I am obsessed!

2008-10-01T21:02:00.003-04:00

I am obsessed...

His name is Tyler Whitney.

Tyler Whitney is a 20 year old from Bath who is running for one of the four open seats in the upcoming election for the Bath Township Board of Trustees.

Here is some basic info according to the Gannett 2008 Voters Guide:

Marital Status: Single

City/Town: Bath, MI

Education/Degrees: Graduate of East Lansing High School

Occupation: Political Consultant and Public Relations Specialist

Experience: I have worked in the Michigan legislature where I assisted constituents with issues involving taxes, labor relations and health care. I have also worked for countless conservative causes including the free market organization Americans for Prosperity which advocates for lower taxes and limited government.

Community Involvement: Riverview Community Church, Hawk Hollow Neighborhood Association

Endorsements: Republican Liberty Caucus

I am very excited to see young people getting involved in politics, especially at the local level. And I give Tyler kuddos for even getting involved.

When I say that I am getting obsessed with Tyler, it is not because I want him to win...on the contrary...I despise him and hope the four Democrats running in Bath township beat him!

I will follow up with a few more posts regarding Tyler. I know my few readers out there to larrybliss.com do not live in Bath Township, so I understand if you could care less about this topic. I just have to vent, and my blog is one way for me to accomplish that! So if you are not interested, just skip over all posts from today. My goal in these posts is to show that Tyler Whitney is an ultra-right conservative who I do not representing me in my township!

If by some chance Tyler comes across this site, I would love to talk to you about your views and how you can make Bath Township a better place to live. In the next couple of blog posts about you, I will ask some questions...feel free to answer them! My partner and I would love to have you over for dinner sometime to discuss your views!

Tyler Whitney and "Go Back in the Closet"

2008-10-01T20:59:00.000-04:00

Tyler and his weird relationship with GLBT rights.

In Nov, 2006, Tyler attended a protest in downtown Lansing organized by the MSU YAF chapter protesting the Lansing Human Rights Ordnance. This bill eventually passed giving all Lansing residents equality regardless of their sexual orientation.

The ordinance, is the first comprehensive human rights ordinance on Lansing books since 1996, when a similar law was repealed by voters. It covers discrimination in housing and employment for a variety of categories, including sexual orientation and gender identity.

Tyler was photographed holding a sign reading, “Go Back in the Closet” at the protest. Others in his group held signs stating, “End Faggotry” (clever…) and “Straight Power.”

During his freshman year, Whitney was handpicked to run a YAF chapter at Western Michigan University by the leader of the MSU chapter, Kyle Bristow. We all remember, Bristow, who has championed "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day" and appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, has said that “homosexuality kills people almost to a degree worse than cigarettes… these [pro-gay rights groups] are complicit with murder.”

Whitneys friend, Bristow, calls gays "deviants" and says he's "against the notion that deviants deserve extra rights." According to Between the Lines, "Bristow has opined that if he had a gay son he would kill him, and that homosexuals should be in prison."

Yes...I know Bristow and Whitney are not the same person...and just because they are in the same organization does not mean they share all the same idoligies. But still...these are not my type of people!!!

Whitney and Bristow met Tom Tancredo when he came to campus to speak at a YAF-co-sponsored event and soon thereafter Whitney went to work for the Tom Tancredo for President campaign. Tyler worked for the anti-gay Tancredo as his webmaster. And you can see how far Tancredo got in the Republican Primary...

I have more to share on Tyler's relationship with GLBT issues...but for now that is it!

Tyler Whitney and THE OUTING

2008-10-01T20:00:00.000-04:00

I can't even begin to write this information as well as others, so I am linking to them below...

From THE GIST, a blog by The Michelangelo Signorile Show from Sirius Radio

Tyler Whitney, the webmaster for the right-wing antigay Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo's presidential campaign, has been outed by the Michigan gay paper Between the Lines. I had reporter Todd Heywood on the show today. Bay Buchanan, Team Tancredo Senior Advisor and sister of the fire-breathing Pat Buchanan, is defending Whitney, saying, "A person's sexual preference is a personal matter and has nothing to do with the campaign."

In other words, if he wants to work against his own kind -- for a man who's railed against gay rights and has a zero rating from the Human Rights Campaign -- we're happy to have him!

Whitney, an 18-year-old who is a rising star in right-wing Republican circles (perhaps until now), who also works at the far-right Leadership Institute in Arlington, VA, was involved with the Young Americans for Freedom chapter at Michigan State University (in East Lansing) that is now listed as a hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center. It is the first university-affiliated group to be put on SPLC's hate list, and according to SPLC's Heidi Beirich the reason it was put on the list is because of its use of slurs, a proposal to have the governance of MSU be white supremacist and "its constant immigrant bashing."

Last November, Whitney -- whose father was a speech writer for former conservative Michigan Gov. John Engler, who was no friend to gays -- went to a a YAF-sponsored protest against a pro-gay, pro-trans human rights ordinance and held a sign that said, "Go back in the closet!" Other signs at the protest included "Straight Power" and "Faggotry."

From Dan Savage

Tyler Whitney is a young conservative activist—he’s serving as webmaster for the GOP’s most rabidly anti-gay presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, leads an anti-gay group on his college campus, carried a “Go Back in the Closet!” sign at anti-gay protest. On his MySpace page, Whitney says he’s interested in meeting, “any conservative college student in the DC area that is interested in fighting the left.”

And Tyler Whitney is gay, and he’s just been outed.

Well, not so much outed. Whitney had begun quietly coming out to friends—presumably his more tolerant “fight the left” buddies—and Between the Lines, a gay paper in Michigan where Whitney goes to college and works with that rabidly anti-gay student group, got wind of it and decided to hurry Whitney’s coming out process along.

Bay Buchanan, Senior Advisor to Tancredo, says Whitney’s “sexual preference is a personal matter,” and that it should have “nothing to do with the campaign.”

Sorry, Bay, but gay-bashing conservative thugs—people like you, your horrible brother, your vile candidate—can’t have it both ways on the gay issue. If Whitney’s sexual preference is a personal matter, if Whitney’s sexual preference shouldn’t have anything to do with the campaign, then neither should mine—or the sexual preferences of any other Americans. Until your candidate lays off the gay bashing, until the GOP stops attacking the rights and humanity of gay and lesbian Americans, then Tyler Whitney’s sexual orientation—it’s not a preference, Bay, and you know it—is fit for public debate.

Or is sexual orientation only a private matter when a Republican is being sodomized?

Responding to Bay Buchanan, Michelangelo Signorile says…

In other words, if he wants to work against his own kind—for a man who’s railed against gay rights and has a zero rating from the Human Rights Campaign—we’re happy to have him!

Some folks will question the ethics of outing a messed up 18 year-old. Like lots of young ‘mos from conservative backgrounds, Whitney seems to have compensated for his sexuality by going off the anti-gay deep end. What better way to cover up for your homosexuality than working against the rights of gay people?

But by eighteen you’re old enough to know better—if you’re 18 and gay in America, you’re old enough to know that you don’t have to live a lie. If you’re 18 and gay and not ready or willing to come out, you’re old enough to know that keeping your closeted mouth shut about gay issues is the option that doesn’t make you a flaming hypocrite.

And if you’re 18 and closeted and gay and politically active, as Whitney was, you’re old enough and savvy enough to know that aligning yourself with anti-gay politicians, marching with assholes that carry “Straight Power!” signs at anti-gay rallies, and being best buds with a guy that thinks gays should be imprisoned is as good as painting a bulls eye on your back. You not only risk being outed, you invite it.

Hell, you’ve earned it.

And I say this as someone who… how can I put this? I say this as someone that recently talked someone else out of outing someone in the public eye. A “Savage Love” reader was contemplating outing an innocuous celeb back in April. I advised him against it because, as I wrote to him privately, outing is brutal and it should be reserved for brutes.

Tyler Whitney qualifies.

I don't even know what to say...Here he is...an anti-gay homophobe...who turns out to be GAY!

Detroit Tigers Game

2008-09-24T20:03:00.001-04:00

We are in Detroit with ryans parents celebrating ryans 28th birthday!

Some Random Sites to check out...

2008-09-20T11:52:00.004-04:00

So...to many of you, these sites will be meaningless...but to my dorko friends, you might like them...

The first site is from Dr. Suresh, a PhD from India. He has been instrumental in new theories of evolution. He asserts that the human evolution is happening at alarming speeds and leading to strange anomalies among the population. Check out his site at activatingevolution.org/

The following site is from the Yamagato Fellowship, out of Japan. This site acts as an online repository to commemorate heroes of legend, myth, and history with the hope of inspiring the heroes of future generations. It also has a short documentary on Takezo Kensei, one of my favorite Swordsman of all time!

larryandryan.com updates

2008-09-18T08:41:00.002-04:00

So I have been really behind in posting pictures to www.larryandryan.com!

Below is a picture from Molly and Teri's Going away party that Brandon held for them. They have moved to Colorado and we miss them dearly!

Our great friends, Julie and Jeff recently got married in Port Huron. The ceremony and reception was great and it was awesome to see Adam and Melissa, and Ryan's parents.

As always, we took our annual family vacation to Chaplaeu, Ontario. And as always, we took a lot of pictures!

Lastly, Ryan's cousin, Amber recently got married to Brett. Click below to see more pictures!

Daft Punk

2008-09-14T21:51:00.001-04:00

Mt Baldhead 5K

2008-09-14T15:22:00.003-04:00

We were in Saugatuck on Saturday with Adam, Melissa (and baby Jacob), and Sarah D for the Mt Baldhead Challenge. Ryan, Sarah, and Adam ran the 15 K which included over 250 steps up a very large sand dune. Melissa and I ran the 5K, which was through the streets of Saugatuck and Douglas. It has been pouring rain for the past three days, and we were SOAKED.

This was my first race and all I will say is that I did not finish last!!! As many of you already know, I started a summer training program with Sparrow Hospital in St. Johns to learn how to run. We ran as a group every monday for 13 weeks and on our own during the rest of the week. I did miss a few weeks here and there, and honestly have not done much training since the beginning of August.

My goal was to finish the 3.1 miles without stopping. I did end up walking for a couple of minutes (about 2), but I ran (actually...I jogged) the rest of the way. Melissa came in at 102nd and I came in a five minutes later at 119. (There were only 131 people in the race...)

I finished! That is what counts!

2008-09-05T17:46:00.001-04:00

It is Deer season in Bath!

Sarah Palin....omg

2008-09-04T10:13:00.000-04:00

Why do we want a "Hockey Mom" to be 2nd in command of our country? I want a proven leader with fiscal, foreign, and domestic expierence!

She is a social wack job that we need to be worried about!