Is that Skeletor? Mumm-Ra? Palpitane?

Wow. This would be hot, but for the creepy pervert on the throne:

I'm reminded of a comment from Andrew Sullivan. After quoting an article in the Catholic magazine Homiletic & Pastoral Review, in which the author asks, "Does the seminary deal with a seminarian that sways when he walks, who has limp wrists, who acts like a drama queen or who lisps? It must," Sullivan said:

Er, has anyone seen the Pope lately? I mean, if you can find him behind his jewels, outfits, personally manufactured hats, Prada slippers, gorgeous personal assistant and incense?

I dunno about you, but Father Georg Ganswein certainly pulls my bellrope. I can see why he pulls Benedict's silken one as well.

A quick braindump...

A free story from Jay Lake: Elf Shit. Pure Jay. Inhale deeply.

Finite State Machines in Erlang

Finite State Machines in Javascript

David Brooks meets the Jews. You know, Brooks is supposed to be a Jew. But he seems surprised by the effectiveness of what is the fairly standard community building and training techniques of schul.

Wait, what? Apparently, the Council of Conservative Citizens is very upset that Marvel has cast a black guy in the role of Heimdall, Guardian of the Bifrost Bridge. (Guiding principle #2 of the CofCC reads, "We believe the United States is a European country and that Americans are part of the European people.")

Controversial question time!

Question: how is it consistent to support Marvel Studios in their decision to cast a black actor in the role of Heimdall, Guardian of the Bifrost Bridge for the movie Thor, while castigating M. Night Shyalaman for casting non-Asians in various roles for his movie The Last Airbender?

It's a Christmas Miracle: The Seattle Men's Choir 2010

After a dance rehearsal and a lovely dinner at home, Omaha, Kouryou-chan, Stormy and I all raced down to the light rail station to head into town to attend the 2010 Seattle Men's Choir Christmas show. One of the nicest things about the light rail is that it runs right under the largest concert hall in the city, so we were able to transition from the train to the event without having to experience the wet chill outdoors.

We got there with just a few minutes to spare, only to find our seats taken! It was then that I noticed our tickets had the wrong date-- and the date on them was impossible. We had a conflicting event. I pointed this out to Omaha, and we stormed down to the front desk.

There had been a lot of problems with TicketMaster, and this was apparently one of them: consistently hearing wrong dates and schedules for over-the-phone orders.

The usher and house manager, bless their souls, found us four seats in an otherwise sold-out theater, and down in the front! We liked our traditional box seats, but these were so close we could see everything.

The show itself was wonderful. We were treated to six crossdressed showgirls with falsies and fabulous leotarded legs while treated to a "Vegas-Style" "Winter Wonderland," then a Hanukkah song, and then the amazing "12 Days of Christmas" mashup which features twelves singers doing a round, that then becomes confused and comedic and wondeful. At one point, there was an amazing full-chorus Christmas filk of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." The guitarist in the tiny orchestra must have waited his whole life just to play that one riff.

Several medieval carols, one modern carol, and then an incredibly silly "Toy Shop" singing skit.

The sing-along was fun, the gospel "competition" amazing. They performed "Silent Night," which always ends with a silent, sign-language always pass through the lyrics. The audience started clapping when the chorus went silent, and I said to Omaha, "Hasn't anyone ever seen this before?"

There was a modern, almost evangelical "Joy to the World," followed finally by a filk-y "Bad Romance" mashup about gay marriage and Christmas and goddess knows what else. It was a strong, final political statement, the same one the choir did last year.

The train-ride home was late, and we were tired. But the show was wonderful for all that.

I was disappointed by the injection of GLEE into this year's theme. Yes, I know, it's probably one of the best things that's happened to gays and lesbians in recent years, and it fits with the Seattle Men's Chorus vision of themselves, but it felt like it served a corporate master's needs more than it did the gay community's. It felt like pandering.

But the chorus looked like they were having a good time. Benaroya Hall found Omaha and I a Christmas miracle, and I'm glad we had a chance to see it.