BSA, Peace Corps, Gratuity and Other Nonsense

It Should Be Illegal to Be this Beautiful

That PYT on your left is the "Gratuity" portion of tonight's (OK - this morning's) post. Seriously, no one I know or have ever known in real life is quite that gorgeous. The body; killer smile; the bright blue eyes and the "I'm naughty" scruff all add up to a very attractive package, but I hope the two of you have something to talk about after. Pretty is all well and good. I have nothing against pretty in the correct context. But if all he wants to talk about is how many hours a week he works out; Crest White Strips and Spongebob Squarepants, it's probably better to cut your losses and move on. Not that I am saying such is the case with this anonymous beauty; he may well be a Rhodes Scholar for all I know. Of course, as much as I may admire a fine piece of Lalique glass, I don't want to have cold, unresponsive sex with it.

Wow. That escalated quickly. Still, if you know this young man's name, please pass it on so that I may give him proper credit for his luck in the genetics crap shoot.

Moving on.

This week, the Peace Corps, founded in the early 60's by beloved Democrat JFK, announced that they will now allow same-sex couples to serve together starting this June (via). "Service in the Peace Corps is a life-defining leadership experience for Americans who want to make a difference around the world," said Peace Corps Deputy Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet. "I am proud that the agency is taking this important step forward to allow same-sex domestic partners to serve overseas together." I can only imagine that Mr. Kennedy would very much approve.

Conversely, the BSA has come forward to announce that while they will lift the ban on openly gay Scouts, they will continue to ban openly gay Scout Leaders (also via), denying LGBT parents the right to participate in their own children's scouting experience and denying openly gay Scouts the right to become Scout Leaders after the age of 18. This is a sad and myopic solution to the objections raised by the LGBT community and its supporters. When the current BSA Board of Directors are long forgotten, a future Board will look back and ask "What the heck was wrong with those idiots?" Shame on you, current BSA Board. Don't even try to tell me you don't have a gay family member of friend, because you do. And I hope they hate you now. 

In other news, it has been reported that 67-year-old genre icon Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show; Legend; It; Clue; Spamalot) suffered a stroke, but is reportedly doing well and expected to make a full recovery. In fact, it is now being reported that Tim's stroke occurred last July. I have no idea what Mr. Curry's sexuality may be. I only know that he helped a much younger version of Uncle P to let his own freak flag fly and I will always love him for it. Continue to get well, Tim! You mean so much to so many folks, for so many reasons!

So come up to the lab. And see what's on the slab! 

More, anon.
Prospero

Science Fiction Double Feature

Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter

Since tomorrow is the start of Shocktober here at the Revenge and I already made a joke about it in last night's post, what better movie to talk about tonight than the undisputed King of Cult Movies, The Rocky Horror Picture Show?

I was introduced to the movie in the summer of 1977, when it was first taking off as a midnight phenomenon (it had proven a box-office disaster when initially released two years earlier). It was the summer between my sophomore and junior years in high school and I had scored my first paid acting job at a dinner theatre owned by the father of a man who would much later become one of my dearest friends. The show was truly dreadful... some nonsense about a foreign exchange student (yours truly) being kidnapped and replaced with a professional football player. If an ASCAP rep had visited, we'd all have gone to jail - the show's writer/director (my friend's father) had simply written new lyrics to classic standards, making them fit the show's ridiculous premise. 

None of that really mattered. I was getting paid ($500.00 for the run - an enormous sum for 15 year old in 1977) and was introduced by my fellow cast members to Rocky Horror. The first night I went, they told me nothing - only that I had to see it for myself. We crossed the river into New Jersey and got in line at the long-gone Quaker Bridge Mall Cinema, where bewildered folks leaving the 10:00 shows of whatever first runs were playing, were shocked as people in line for the midnight show yelled "Lips!" and "Asshole!" and "Viesssss!" I was equally puzzled, but intrigued and excited. We finally took our seats and I was stunned as the opening number played and nearly every person in the theater sang along...

Not only did I now know what "Lips!" meant, I understood every Sci-Fi/Horror movie referenced in the lyrics. I immediately knew I was going to love this movie.

Of course, when people started yelling at the screen, throwing rice and dancing in aisles, I was beyond love. Then... oh, then... Tim Curry made his entrance (and what an entrance) and I knew I had found the only movie that actually understood me:

Transvestites? Gay sex? A hot muscle blond in a teeny bikini? And all of it a parody of classic Horror/Sci-Fi movies? They had me at "Let's Do the Time Warp Again." Here was a movie that celebrated the freak in all of us and I suddenly felt much less like a freak and much more like a special person. I finally belonged to crowd who shunned the mainstream and embraced the bizarre, even if it was only on Friday and Saturday nights at midnight.

I have no idea how many times I saw RHPS in the late 70's and early 80's. Enough to see it evolve with new shout-outs and live performances in front of the screen. I was actually interviewed by The Trenton Times while in line one night with several friends. By the time I paid nearly $100 for a VHS copy sometime in the 90's, the allure had worn off. I remember having a party the weekend I got it where one attendee yelled "Show us the midget!" every ten minutes (really?) and realizing the world had moved on. And so had I. 

But there was that brief moment of enlightenment, when I realized I wasn't alone in the world and that there were plenty of others who understood the world in the same context as I did, and I felt as though I had finally found my place in that world. And for that, I will always be grateful. Of course, insanity like this is always fun:

And let's not forget that star Tim Curry went on to play two more iconic Fantasy/Horror roles, while Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick have both had very respectable careers in film and television. Everyone has to start some where. And what a start for those three!

I hope each of you have had a youthful experience that let you realize it was more than okay to "Let Your Freak Flag Fly." I hold those times as among the best of my youth. And while it would be another 20 years or so before I finally let my Rainbow Flag fly for all the world to see, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was instrumental in my personal journey. Of course, the less said about its dreadful 1981 sequel, Shock Treatment, the better.

By the way - did you notice Barry "Dame Edna" Humphries among the cast? Take another look, if you didn't. Talk about rising above...

Tomorrow is the start of Shocktober here on the Revenge, and I have loads of creepy movies to talk about all month! I can't wait!

More, anon.
Prospero

Cooking with Alcohol

Drunken Desserts

So regular readers know that Uncle P gets together with a group of dear friends from college every couple of months for a themed dinner party. We've had ethnic nights (our very first such dinner was 'Homemade Chinese,' if I remember correctly); chocolate and vanilla; all soups; vegetarian; 'Everything Garlic' and 'Cinqo de Mayo,' to name just a very few. Not all of them have been successful though lately, we've been batting 1000. The list of what we've done in past 25 years or so, is starting to outnumber the things left on the list to try. I know we still have 'Man Food' and 'Carnival Treats' (among several others) left to try.

Tonight's theme was 'Cooking with Alcohol.' We started with appetizers: Beer Bread with Guinness & cheese dip and Drunken Wienies in Rum Sauce. Delicious and decadent. Soup was a shrimp bisque (my least favorite part of the meal - I'm not big on seafood dishes, especially soups) followed by the main course: Coq au vin, meatballs in a red wine marinara, beer-battered asparagus with horseradish remoulade and spinach sauteed with bacon, onions and white wine (the veggies were my contribution). All of it delicious and filling, though we were hardly done.

The drunkest part of our drunken dinner was dessert. While the alcohol had basically been cooked out of most of the food we'd eaten so far, dessert proved to be a whole other beast. There was a Walnut Caramel Pie with Port-infused Cherries; Rum-soaked Fruit Salad; 'Shots O' Cupcakes' and Pecan Bourbon Balls (both of the latter pictured above). The pie was yummy and the cupcakes divine (they had Bailey's and Jameson in the icing) but the Bourbon Balls were both delicious and powerful. The first bite was good, but the second hit you like a double shot and warmed the esophagus all the way down. More than one of those bad boys and I don't think I'd have been able to drive home.

Of course, the food is secondary. The point is an evening spent with people I have known and loved for a very long time. Those evenings are always too few and too far between, making them all the more precious when we do get to have them.

I came home and logged onto Facebook, where my buddy Pax Romano had posted about his meatloaf dinner, which made me sort of sad that our dinner parties are never quite like this:

Oh, who am I kidding? They're all just like that!

More, anon.
Prospero