Pleasant 'Dreams'

Michael and I saw "Dreamgirls" on my day off. I should start by risking my gay card admitting that even though I'm the exact right age to have been a gay boy obsessed with the Broadway soundtrack (I was 14 when the show came out, after all), I'd actually never seen or heard much about it. Being a huge Supremes fan, however, I was aware that the play was loosely based on their story.

Judging the film adaptation on its own merits, I would say "Dreamgirls" is an enjoyable trip to the movies -- neither a nightmare nor a dream come true. The cast looks fantastic (those costumes -- those wigs!) and the "why is she getting all the attention" storyline is juicy and compelling -- and plays very well as a film. But it did strike me as a tad bit ironic that the weakest part of the movie was actually the music. Each time the stars would launch into a song (this is a musical, sort of, after all), the entire pace and flow of the film came to a screeching halt. And while it could be argued that this is just the way musicals work, the even more surprising thing was that there wasn't a single song by "girl group" The Dreams that sounded anything like a real 1960s Motown hit. Shouldn't we be in love with this fabled girl group and all of their pop confections? Tom Hanks was able to write hire someone to write the wonderfully Beatles-y "That Thing You Do" for his movie band The Wonders -- and even Julie Brown came up with a handful of perfect songs for her Madonna parody "Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful" ("Party in My Pants" not only conjures up early Madonna, it's kind of better!) -- so I just felt like I would have been more in love with the film if I was more in love with the music.

Bottom line: The story and the girls are fun -- and if you can handle two hours of Jamie Foxx's capped buck teeth, then you'll be just fine.

Sniffing Around Lukas Podolski

Because it's in German, I have no idea (wink) what this advertisement featuring Polish German soccer stud Lukas Podolski is all about. I'm hoping that if I watch it another dozen times I will eventually figure it all out ...

Previously: Sporting Goods: Lukas Posolski

Off the Rack

Another hot HX cover ...

Those naughty "Dieux du Stade" boys ... and my latest obsession, below.

Here are a few things that caught my eye in magazines yesterday ... even when I'm "not blogging" I can't help but want to post things. Enjoy -- and I hope you have a great weekend ...

Day Off

Sorry for the lack of postings today. I'm feeling lazy and decided to follow this guy's example and just take it easy today ...

More pictures after the jump. --->

(Via Instinct)

Sporting Goods: Lukas Podolski

Polish-born German football soccer stud Lukas Podolski heats up the January issue of GQ/Germany. Two more photos after the jump. --->

Page 1 Consider (12/27)

He Raped Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss): I wasn't surprised that an AP story with the headline "Rapist Who Preys on Men Sparks Fear" would have some problems handling this delicate subject properly, but I still wasn't expecting to read in the article that five men have been raped at gun or knifepoint, but: "So far, no one has been seriously hurt." Huh? (AP)

Uncivilized: A new poll shows that more New Hampshire residents are in favor of civil unions for gays than equal marriage rights, but neither position receives the support of a majority. In the poll, conducted by Research 2000 on behalf of the Concord Monitor newspaper, 35 percent of respondents were in favor of same-sex marriage, while 44 percent were in favor of civil unions, The Associated Press reports. The state legislature will take up two proposals on civil unions for gays beginning next week, when Democrats will be in power for the first time in 130 years. (I'm confused. Is New Hampshire in the U.S.?) (AP)

RIP: Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr., 93, who became the 38th president of the United States as a result of some of the most extraordinary events in U.S. history and sought to restore the nation's confidence in the basic institutions of government, has died. His wife, Betty, reported the death in a statement. (WP)

The Great Dane

When my friend Leah at GQ alerted me that Eric Dane was going to be in the new issue, I got excited. Then when she said, "but he's got his clothes on," my interest waned. What was I thinking?

More of the Great Dane all suited up after the jump. --->

'Be My Baby' (No Pants Required)

In 1989, Levi's had one of the sexiest commercials ever made.

Photo Flashback: 1971

My mom holds me, with my older brothers Terence, left, and Billy, right, at Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Ernie's house after the Christmas Parade in Silver Spring, Md., circa 1971.

WISHING YOU AND YOURS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS !

Beats Pulling a Sleigh

Hope you're having a great Christmas Eve. Some of us have to work today, but so do Santa and his helpers, so who am I to complain? :-)

(Learn about these two little cuties here.)

Naughty or Nice?

Santa is almost here ...

(via WorkoutInspiration)

Best-Looking Athletes of 2006

A.J. Feeley

Jose Theodore

David Carr

Kelly Slater

Further blurring the lines between professional sports and gay porn and Hollywood, Sports Illustrated has just released its Top 20 Best-Looking Athletes list for 2006. Most of the usual suspects are there -- your Beckhams, Blooms, Bradys and Ljungbergs -- but guys I'd never heard of like A.J. Feeley and hockey stud Jose Theodore have fueled a whole new year of Sporting Goods postings ...

See more of the list's highlights after the jump. --->

One-Night Santa

So many hot Santas, so little time. Which one of these guys would you most like to have slide down your chimney this year?

A few more nominees, including some additional Santa Gyllenhaals, after the jump. --->

Page 1 Consider (12/22)

Commack v. Combover: As predicted, the Rosie O'Donnell-Donald Trump Battle of the Bigmouths has shot straight out of the stratosphere. I find it particularly amusing that Trump thinks that being "unattractive" is what makes a woman a "loser" given how many "winners" have married him ... but Rosie hardly needs me to defend herself. Go, Rosie! (AH)

What About the '3 Sliced Things' Diet Plate? In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, Beijing is making an effort to improve English spelling and standardize signs and menus. Sadly, pee soup is already off the menu as China makes its English more savory, and I'd order quickly if you're looking for any "complicated cake," "five sliced things," "dumpling stuffed with the ovary and digestive glands of a crab" or "crap in the grass." (Independent)

The Odds Are Good: Miss Nevada USA once posed for topless photos? STOP!!!! (AP)

Queens Without a Title: New Jersey's governor signed legislation Thursday giving gay couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage allowed under state law -- but not the title. When the law goes into effect Feb. 19, New Jersey will become the third state offering civil unions to gay couples and the fifth allowing gay couples some version of marriage. Connecticut and Vermont also offer civil unions for gay couples, while Massachusetts allows gay couples to marry, and California has domestic partnerships that bring full marriage rights under state law. Hawaii and Maine also offer some form of legal recognition to gay couples. ''We must recognize that many gay and lesbian couples in New Jersey are in committed relationships and deserve the same benefits and rights as every other family in this state,'' said Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who opposed the use of the word "marriage" for gay people. Neither the recently divorced governor (whose ex-wife's quote "He let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too" was the centerpiece of his gubernatorial opponent Doug Forrester's ad campaign) nor his nagging-him-to-marry twice-divorced gal pal, had any comment about recognizing that there are many straight couples in New Jersey are in uncommitted relationships. (AP)

Here's What He Said: My blogger buddy Beantown Cuban (aka Boston Globe reporter Johnny Diaz) wrote a nice profile on Reichen Lemkuhl, who discusses his struggle with coming to terms with being gay in the military, his shame about growing up in a trailer park, and what he'd like to be best known for now that his reality television days are behind him. (His answer might surprise you.) (BeantownCuban)

Not-So-Good Lord: How shameless are right-wing Christians? You might even be surprised. (SFGate)

Lezzie Silver Lining: A lesbian teacher in Ohio fired over a class presentation on the National Day of Silence settled a lawsuit against her former school district after it agreed to make its policies more gay friendly. Jimmie K. Beall of Galloway and the London City School District, west of Columbus, settled their federal lawsuit days before the December 11 trial was to begin. Under the settlement, "sexual orientation" was added to the school system's equal employment policy and the ones for any other "program and activity for which the board is responsible." (GPC)

What on God's Green Earth! Now Catholic leaders are attacking straight people who supporting gay rights? (Advocate)

Calendar Guy: Andy Roddick

I sure hope someone thought to get me one of these for Christmas ... (shouldn't there be more photo previews, though?)

The Roger Feder-Bear is kinda cute, too.

Rising Star: Taylor Kitsch

Former model and current Men's Health cover man Taylor Kitsch is one busy actor these days. In addition to being the breakout star of NBC's brilliant high school football drama "Friday Night Lights," Taylor had parts in the three films this year, "Snakes on a Plane," "John Tucker Must Die" and "The Covenant."

More photos of the British Columbian hunk after the jump. --->

Previously: Morning Glory: Taylor Kitsch

TGI Friday Night Lights

Friday Night (High)Lights: Scott Porter, Zach Gifford and Taylor Kitsch

Page 1 Consider (12/21)

Ro v. Trump: Fellow big mouth Donald Trump is threatening to sue Rosie O'Donnell for saying the same thing the whole country has been about his exploiting that Miss USA chick for publicity -- for himself. "She says things that come to her mouth, she's not smart, she's crude, she's ignorant and to be honest I look forward to suing Rosie," Trump said. "I'm gonna sue her and I look forward to it." Ooh ... this is gonna get good. Somehow I doubt Rosie -- who is anything but ignorant -- is very afraid of The Big Red Combover. Furthermore, if he's going to sue O'Donnell for having a big mouth, wouldn't that need to be a class action suit? (AH)

Go West! The California Supreme Court unanimously agreed Wednesday in San Francisco to decide whether the state's ban on same-sex marriage violates a constitutional ban on discrimination, though an outcome is not likely until late next year. The justices are reviewing an October decision by the 1st District Court of Appeal, which ruled that California marriage laws do not discriminate because gay and lesbian couples can get most rights the state confers to married couples. A just outcome in this could be huge -- and would sure help me feel better about the state of (gay) affairs in this country. (LAT)

Man of the Year: I gotta agree with The Advocate on this one: despite CNN's best efforts to censor him, Bill Maher really is a gay's best friend. (Advocate)

All Grown Up: Monica Lewinsky just got her Master's degree from the London School of Economics -- in (huh-huh) social psychology. I hear she really excelled at the oral reports (thank you, I'm here all week!) (Reuters)

No-She-Didn't: Wait a minute: Is there any question that Ugly Betty's nephew is gay? (Advocate)

Skin Deep: Ever wonder what the Top 9 plastic surgery fixes for men were? (Forbes)

Crazy Talk: Anyone else think it's really scary that the huge pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly's No. 1-selling drug is for the treatment of schizophrenia? (NYT)

'Not a Stage She's Going Through -- It's a Stage She's Living On': A 20-year-old transgender woman has won a settlement in a discrimination lawsuit that claimed she was denied hormonal drugs while living at a New York juvenile facility. Alyssa Rodriguez alleged she was deprived of her prescriptive hormone medication and punished for her feminine hairstyle and other ways of expressing her gender, according to the gay advocacy group Lambda Legal. (Advocate)

Note to Pentagon: A recent poll from Zogby International and the Michael D Palm Center shows that U.S. military personnel are increasingly at ease serving with openly gay colleagues. The poll reveals that 73 percent of military members aren't bothered by lesbians and gays. Nearly one in four (23 percent) service members report knowing for sure that someone in their unit is lesbian or gay, including 21 percent of those in combat units. Very encouraging news. (Gay.com)

Judy's Turn to Cry: A girl I know used to work for Judith Regan and the stories that are surfacing about her behavior pale in comparison to some of the ones I've heard. (NYT)

Running With Lawyers

I finally got around to reading writer Buzz Bissinger's self-proclaimed "scandal" piece about Augusten Burroughs, and how the family he wrote about in his best-selling memoir, "Running With Scissors," is now suing him for defamation. I don't know if it's because I'm in the midst of having some personal essays of my own published, or if it's my background in journalism and communications law, but I cannot even begin to tell you how disgusted I am by this whole sour-grapes/money-grubbing case. (I'm going to try to keep this as brief as possible, but you can read the VF piece here and what I'm about to say will make a lot more sense.)

I think Vanity Fair's pull-quote ironically -- and most unintentionally -- sums up the whole dispute:

Burroughs "missed the best part of living with us, which was that we were family."

Yet reading the book vs. what other family members say, the discrepancies sound exactly like the kind of arguments you would hear at a family reunion -- "That's not how that happened!" "We moved there long before Grandma died!" "Let me tell the story, you don't know what you're talking about!" -- and only bolster Burroughs' contention that he wrote the story exactly how he remembered it.

For starters, Burroughs began his book with the following disclaimer: "The names and other identifying characteristics of the persons included in this memoir have been changed." Despite the fact that by reading the book you would have no idea who this family was (it takes place in the 1970s and early '80s) and that they didn't even know about the book until well after it was a huge success, they're now claiming emotional distress and defamation of character. But you have to ask yourself exactly who is defaming who. Burroughs never names anyone in the Turcotte family (that's their real name), yet they're the ones now running around telling everyone "We're the Finches! We're the Finches!" If the book had brought them so much unwanted attention and humiliation among their peers (a pivotal claim in libel), why hadn't they even heard about it? (Another reason it would be difficult to trace the book back to them is because Augusten Burroughs isn't the author's real name either.) The book came out several years ago -- so why did they suddenly decide to file suit when a major motion picture was being made about the book? On the other hand, by running around telling the world that Burroughs fabricated the book, he is being immeasurably defamed in front of his peers and the world (I wouldn't have read the article if I hadn't figured where there's smoke there must be fire). Even if these claims are never proven, the lingering effects of James Frey Syndrome will likely persist.


If you take the time to read the Vanity Fair article, you will quickly see that this is really about a group of women whose feelings have been hurt. However strange they may or may not have been, they were there for him when he was a boy and sometimes it smarts to hear another person remember things differently than you did. But as you go through this unnecessarily long piece, it becomes readily apparent that everything they take exception to did in fact happen (and the family doesn't even deny it!). Their dad was a notorious eccentric who did allow patients to live with the family. Augusten's own brother witnessed the turd analysis sessions, and Dr. "Finch" did have his license revoked. The statutory rape incident did happen and there was a mysterious "sunlight" in the kitchen (the Turcottes disagree with Burroughs on how it got there, but again, is this the making of a serial fabulist?). Several of the women are offended by descriptions of themselves as children as unkempt or chubby -- but is this grounds for a lawsuit?

Everyone -- including Augusten Burroughs -- has a right to tell their story as they remember it. Theresa, the youngest and Burroughs' closest friend in the family, comes across as a woman who misses her old buddy -- and is willing to say or do just about anything to join in for her 15 minutes of "fame." If she weren't suing for millions of dollars, it would be almost comical how she can't stop bragging about how she was the one who said the phrase "running with scissors" to Augusten, on the phone one night -- and was most likely his inspiration. ("I made up the book title! I made up the book title!") And for people who wish to god this horrible thing would go away they sure didn't shy away from a big photo shoot in Vanity Fair ... and to have explicit details of their current lives made public (where they live, their occupations, etc.).

I could go on and on, but what really makes me sad and angry is that ultimately this lawsuit will succeed to some degree -- and it's our country that has condoned this form of legalized extortion. Burroughs could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending himself in court -- knowing full well that he did nothing wrong. Or he could "settle" for a considerably smaller amount to make this all go away. As the Turcottes are learning, these days it pays to be running with lawyers.

Heavy Handed?

I was browsing this week's Chelsea Now newspaper and was taken aback by some of the information included in the obit for the controversial NYC quality of life advocate Marcia Lemmon. Do you think they could have done without this "fun" anecdote? 

Lemmon had ballooned all the way to 600 pounds, Elsa Rensaa said. One time, Rensaa recalled, firefighters came to get Lemmon out of her apartment and used a hoist, then put her in the elevator and had to walk down the stairs because there was no room in the elevator. "We tried to get Richard Simmons to do something," Rensaa said. But he "wasn’t interested in doing it anymore." 

 Ouch. Is this somebody's way of taking one last jab at a woman who stood up for what she believed in?

  Read: Marcia Lemmon, C.B. 3 member, scourge of bar owners (Chelsea Now)

Smoke Break on 18th Street

Spent the day running Christmas errands. Had no problem resisting a photo op when I became best friends with Joyce DeWitt in line at the Old Chelsea Post Office, and when I was shopping with Kiefer Sutherland at Banana Republic on Fifth Avenue. But when I saw Santa Claus taking a smoke break on West 18th Street, well ...

Morning Wood: Will Chalker

That's one lucky cat ...

More pictures of British model and amateur boxer Will Chalker after the jump. --->

Previously: Hey, Young London!

Page 1 Consider (12/20)

Good Stuff: Leave it to the best interviewer alive, Howard Stern, to bring out the fun side of the usually stiff but always gay fabulous Martha Stewart. During a recent interview on Stern's Sirius Satellite Radio show, Stewart denied ever having lesbian sex in prison, but admitted she saw many beautiful women there -- and that she'd witnessed several female inmates involved in sexual relations. Well, sort of. "So you never saw two girls getting it on in front of you?" asked Stern. "Oh yes," replied Stewart. "Not naked girls, but I saw them in the dark. They had trysts behind the buildings and the doorways." According to Martha, the butch women liked her the most. "Some girls that looked like boys were actually the ones who would come on to me," Stewart said. "If they asked me for lunch and they were interesting, I would have lunch with them. There were girls with mustaches, and there were girls with beards. And they shaved ... I would be walking down the little road outside the prison [and I'd ask myself] 'How'd that boy get in here?' when it was actually a girl." (PlanetOut)

Fat Chance of Parenthood: In a move that can only described as hilarious shocking, China is tightening rules on foreign adoptions, barring parents who are unmarried, over 50 or obese. The move comes amid a surge in foreign applications to adopt Chinese children. The United States is the No. 1 destination for children adopted abroad, but the number going to Europe and elsewhere is rising. It's a good thing Ann Wilson of Heart got those kids when she did. (NYT)

Someone Better Call Andra: Is something fruity in the water over there in Colorado? New Life Church -- still reeling from the fall of its charismatic founder Ted Haggard -- was "stunned" when a second church pastor left due to sexual impropriety. The delightfully named Christopher Beard, 35, who led the young-adult leadership program twentyfourseven, resigned after telling New Life’s Board of Overseers about a one-time sexual encounter he had several years ago, before he was married. (Yeah, right!) In a statement released Monday evening, New Life said Beard had "displayed poor judgment in several decisions throughout his tenure. This poor judgment included one instance of consensual sexual contact with another unmarried adult several years ago." Wasn't this dude the star of the low-budget reality show "Boy Meets Boy"? (Gazette)

Steak and Ail: Police in Scottsdale, Ariz., are investigating an alleged hate crime reported by a gay couple who said they were jumped by as many as seven men outside a Scottsdale restaurant near McDowell and Scottsdale roads. As they held hands and began to leave Frasher's Steakhouse late Sunday, May-December lovers Jean Rolland and Andrew Frost said they were humiliated and beaten in the restaurant's entryway. Frost, 19, was taken to Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn, where he was treated and released. Frost received several staples to treat a wound on his scalp, and several stitches to seal other wounds to his face. Rolland, 28, suffered minor injuries. The men, who had been dating for a couple of weeks, are seeking to press charges against their attackers -- none of whom have been arrested as of Monday afternoon, according to Scottsdale police. It's awful to hear about something like this happening in your own hometown, but what on earth were two gay boys doing in South Scottsdale in the first place? (Advocate)

Pot, Kettle; Kettle, Pot: Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said Monday he opposes discrimination against gays and lesbians despite his ongoing efforts to outlaw same-sex marriage in the state. Romney, who is preparing for a possible run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, defended a letter he wrote during his unsuccessful 1994 Senate run in which he promised a gay Republican group that he would be a stronger advocate for gays than Sen. Edward Kennedy. Romney, who apparently has his head stuck up his ass, said there was nothing inconsistent between his position then and his vigorous opposition to same-sex marriage in Massachusetts now. "I'm not in favor of discrimination of any kind, including people who have a different sexual preference than myself," he said. "At the same time I'm very committed to traditional marriage between one man and one woman and believe that marriage should be preserved in that way." All right then. So I'm guessing Mitt thinks it's OK for blacks to ride on public buses, as long as they ride in the back. Oh, and thanks for reminding us that you love the heterosexual intercourse. Got it. (AP)

FU, EU: According to a Eurobarometer poll, published Tuesday, the majority of the European Union population is against homosexual marriages. A poll taken of 12,500 people, conducted between November 30 and December 15 by the European Commission, shows that only 44 percent of Europeans approve of homosexual marriages. Homosexual marriages are highly approved in the Netherlands, where about 88 percent of the country supports homosexual marriages. This ratio is 15% in Greece and 14 percent in South Cyprus. That's funny because 100 percent of the gay guys I know wish all Europeans would wear deodorant and seek dental care, so I guess we can agree to disagree. (Sabah)

Run to Wipe Out Lymphoma

I wanted to give a shout-out to my dear friend Kelly this morning. I'm so impressed with her ... while I've been stuffing my face with Christmas cookies all month, she's been busy training for the 2007 Walt Disney World Marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training.

The cause is close to my girl's heart as she lost a childhood friend five years ago to non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma when her pal was only 24.

I think it's so cool that Kelly is doing something so big to honor her friend's memory (running 26 miles! is she crazy?). So if you're looking for an end-of -the-year tax-deductible charitable contribution, look no further. Kelly's a doll and tells me she's just $370 short of her $3,500 goal.

Make your donation online here.

Good luck, Kel!

Christmas Is Almost Here

Christmas at Neverland Ranch

Via Pretty On the Outside

Sporting Goods: Robby Ginepri

Wallpaper by Greg Jelinek.

Page 1 Consider (12/19)

Who's Sari Now? When I first heard the headline -- Female Athlete Fails Gender Test, Must Give Back Olympic Medal -- I thought, "Holy Renee Richards! Way to go, Tranny, for pulling it off this far!" But now that I saw the details -- that this poor Indian woman, Santhi Soundarajan, 25, was not only born a female, but may actually have failed the chromosome test because of her impoverished upbringing -- now that's just sorry. To the Olympic Committee I say -- Give this woman a break -- and let her keep the medal she earned. (CBS)

'Chosen' Idiots: Only a complete dumbass like Mel Gibson would describe his anti-Semitic tirade as a "gift." Perhaps Shoshanna's Matches would like to fix him up with disgraceful book publisher Judith Regan -- they sound like they deserve each other. (Scoop)

Assault on America: It just never ends. Did you hear about Sen. Sam Brownback, of Kansas, blocking the Senate confirmation of a woman to the federal bench because she attended a same-sex commitment ceremony for the daughter of her longtime neighbors? Then he said he would allow a vote if Judge Janet Neff, of Michigan, agreed to recuse herself from all cases involving same-sex unions. Who does that jackass think he is? Legal scholars are warning that this threat raises constitutional questions of separation of powers for a senator to demand that a judge commit to behavior on the bench in exchange for a vote. Why is it that supposedly rational people think they can make outrageous demands of people when it comes to gay and lesbian issues? What if Neff had had a really bad experience selling her house. Would Brownback try to blackmail her into agreeing to never hearing cases that involve real estate transactions? This dick needs to be removed from office. Who is ready to join me? (NYT)

Tumor Removal: It's being reported that the first lady of vehicular manslaughter, Laura Bush, had a skin cancer tumor removed from her right shin in early November. Now if she could only get that 200-pound tumor she's been lugging around for 30 years. (AP)

RIP: The talented Joseph Barbera, an innovator of animation who teamed with William Hanna to give generations of young television viewers a pantheon of beloved characters, including Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and the Flintstones, died Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 95. Thanks for all the laughs. (NYT)

Death on the Mount: As much as I deplore the round-the-clock "news" coverage channels like CNN have been giving to this story about the missing hikers in Oregon, I was sad to hear that they had found the body of one of them. Amazingly, despite all the media attention I had no idea that one of the missing climbers was a transsexual. (NYP)

Bush Me to the Edge: Big surprise -- the joint chiefs of staff disagree with the White House on adding troops in Iraq. How much (more) taxpayer money was wasted on that Iraq Study Group report? I give up -- I'll marry a woman, bomb an abortion clinic, and have gay sex with an evangelical preacher. Are you happy now, Mr. President???? (WP)

Workplace Discrimination: A suit was filed in a federal court in Texas after a new hire at a medical imaging company saw her employment offer withdrawn because she did not tell the company she was transgender. Izza Lopez, 26, of Houston, will be represented by Lambda Legal in a trial against River Oaks Imaging and Diagnostic. According to the statement, Lopez said she applied for the position as a scheduler with the company. After applying, going through the screening process, and being interviewed, she was asked to start as soon as possible in October 2005. Days after she was hired, however, she received a call from River Oaks' human resources director and employment recruiter, telling her the company was not going to employ her because she misrepresented herself as a woman. I understand the screening process was handled by a woman who had filed suit against River Oaks Imaging and Diagnostic who was represented by the American Council for the Blind. (Advocate)

Violent Femmes: A new FBI report says that violent crime is up 4 percent for the first half of 2006. Truthfully, I'm not surprised. I know I'm ready to kill someone. (WP)

Bloody Santa: A bizarre stabbing briefly interrupted holiday shopping Sunday evening at Sherwood Mall in Stockton, Calif., but it was back to business as usual less than an hour later. According to police, an altercation between two men at the Whimsy Family Entertainment arcade led to a vicious knife attack. The victim suffered both lacerations and stab wounds but is expected to recover, police said. After the stabbing, several eyewitnesses said, rather than escape, the attacker wandered around the mall, dripping blood and trailing a cleaver-style knife over to Sunglass Hut, where he smashed open the glass counter and grabbed a pair of sunglasses before heading for Best Buy. When they didn't have the Xbox he was looking for he left and was eventually being tackled to the ground. What are "the holidays" coming to? I thought stuff like this only happened when there were $30 DVD players to be had. (RecordNet)