Friday, May 16, 2008

Page 1 Consider (05/16)

  • Dusty Would Be Proud: The other day I blogged about discovering the U.K. soul revivalist Duffy. Today I got her debut album, "Rockferry," and there's not a weak song on it. The singles "Mercy" and "Warwick Avenue" sound like they've been radio favorites forever, and "Delayed Devotion," "Syrup & Honey" and "I'm Scared" all sound like they could have hit the charts too. (And the anthemic ending song, "Distant Dreamer," blew me away. A real treat from an exciting new artist. Wouldn't you know it that she played here in NYC on Monday -- just long enough ago for a Johnny-come-lately like me to miss her. (NYT)/(Newsweek)

  • Holy Ryan White! An HIV-positive man convicted of spitting into the eye and mouth of a Dallas police officer has been sentenced to 35 years in prison. (Are we living in the mid-'80s?) Because the jury decided Willie Campbell had used his spit as a "deadly weapon," the 42-year-old will have to serve half of his sentence before he's even eligible for parole. Now I don't condone spitting at a police officer -- or pretty much anyone besides VH1 "star" New York -- but this is truly outrageous and discriminatory. HIV transmission by way of saliva is unheard of -- which means the entire rationale for the trial is flawed. And even if there is concern, why not test the officer and go from there instead of assuming criminal intent that was clearly did not exist. Surely this must be overturned. (AP)

  • Super Man: Glenn Conrad Cashin models some classic looks for the new season, like red undies. (FantasticsMag)

  • Coffee, Tea, Jihadi? Oh, great. Instead of terrorists trying to start fires on planes now the flight attendants are doing it for them. (AP)

  • What the Dick-ens? Well, have I got an art museum for all of you lovers of penis: the Icelandic Phallological Museum. The founder's collection, which began in 1974 with a single bull's penis that looked something like a riding crop, now boasts 261 preserved members from 90 species. (Human donations wanted.) (Reuters)

  • Blame Game: A Missouri woman was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in perpetrating a hoax on the online social network MySpace against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide. I can see why the prosecutors feel compelled to do this, but what are we going to do next, indict the little girl's parents for not supervising their daughter's computer use or the mother for admittedly being angry with her daughter when she cried out for help about this situation? (AP)

  • Hooker On Board: Apparently "Pretty Woman" didn't tell the whole story. Eliot Spitzer's infamous hooker, Ashley Alexandra Dupre -- aka Kristen -- made her first public appearance since the scandal rocked the statehouse, but despite the flashy clothing and accessories, she arrived from her parents' house in New Jersey on a bus at the Port Authority. (So "Desperately Seeking Susan"!) And Ashley, honey: Even a $15 Hunt's Point hooker knows she shouldn't chew gum when she's being followed by the paparazzi. (NYP)

  • Transgender Ruling: A family court does not have the authority to compel New York City's Administration for Children's Services to pay for a foster child's sex-change operation, an appellate court has ruled. Manhattan Family Court Judge Sheldon Rand had ordered the city to arrange and pay for an operation for Brian L. to become Mariah L. Mariah's motion was backed up by four doctors who said the surgery was needed. In a ruling this week, the Appellate Division judges acknowledged such surgeries could be medically necessary, but found ACS had a rational basis for denying the procedure in this case -- a determination she wasn't yet ready for the operation. (NY Law Journal)

  • No Belly Aching: I knew my twin sister was somewhere! (AP)

  • Frequent Four-Legged Flier: For all of you who can't bear to travel without Fido, Passport magazine has a look at the top pet-friendly accommodations (Passport)

  • Cruising for a Cause: More than 1,800 women boarded Olivia’s first-ever “Cruise for Our Cause” recently and raised $100,000 for the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and its groundbreaking research to end breast cancer in this lifetime. (SLRF)

  • Not Just a Stage: Tickets are on sale for this summer's gay-friendly True Colors Tour. This year's lineup includes Cyndi Lauper and the B-52's, as well as many others. (Ticket Info)

  • 4 comments:

    Joey said...

    I'm not sure if I agree or disagree with you on the Texas HIV case. But I don't know the details. If I was a member of the jury, I'm assuming my two main questions would be: Was there blood in the saliva (as can happen during certain violent confrontations)? And was it the intention of the defendent to transmit HIV to the cop or was it just to spit at him?

    Anonymous said...

    Ummm ... your comments were pretty un-insightful regarding the MySpace case. This woman (an adult) made up a profile and proceeded to electronically harass and attack a child to the point the girl killed herself. She ought to hang. And shame on you for likening her crime to the dead girl's parents not monitoring her online activities well enough.

    Kenneth M. Walsh said...

    I completely disagree. If the parents were on top of the situation -- which they completely admit they were not and obviously feel great remorse -- they would have stopped the harassment right at the beginning.

    My bigger point is the minute you start equating what someone else did with CAUSING someone else's actions, you're opening a LEGAL CAN OF WORMS. If you hit my car and (fender benderish) then I wound up being an hour late for work, which then caused me to stay an hour late that night and the building got bombed during that hour when I normally wouldn't have been there and I died, would the fender-bender-er be responsible for me death? See what I'm saying?

    LynnLearnsFrench said...

    Sad to say there's only so much to do in Reykjavik, so I've totally been to the penis museum.

    Before you get too excited, bear in mind that it's almost 90% whale scrotums.

    Did I mention there wasn't much going on in Reykjavik? :^)