Whine & Cheese

Prop 8: The Musical

This video is making the rounds, but still thought it was funny (actually Funny or Die) to share... Prop 8: The Musical conceived and written by Hairspray's Marc Shaiman. It is pretty hilarious... particularly for those of us who make up that fairly large overlapping part of the gay/musical theater lover Venn diagram.

As the video screen above notes, the cast is really quite star-studded.

California Gays and The People That Love Them: Jordan Ballard, Margaret Cho, Barrett Foa, J.B. Ghuman, John Hill, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Rashad Naylor, Nicole Parker

Proposition 8'ers and The People That Follow Them: John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, Kathy Najimy, Jenifer Lewis, Craig Robinson, Rashida Jones, Lake Bell, Sarah Chalke, Katharine "Kooks" Leonard, Seth Morris, Denise "Esi!" Piane, Lucian Piane, Richard Read, Seth Redford, Quinton Strack, Tate Taylor

Also... Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris and, as the Piano Player, Marc "Marc" Shaiman

Isn't It Ironic...

Don't you think?

I know I vowed to try to get away from the political stuff, but I couldn't just pass this one by. 

Last week, I was just geeking out and seeing how "red" and "blue" different states were ... and have determined that places where lots of people tend to live together are blue... and by a total accident, I hovered over and stumbled upon Maverick County in Texas.  And what Mavericks they were!  Voting overwhelmingly against the team of Mavericks ... but I guess no surprise, since they are basically in Mexico!

And while I planned to cool it on the gay marriage stuff here (for my own mental well-being), I could not not post this You Tube that is pretty much on every gay-oriented blog this morning... Keith Olbermann's passionate response to the passage of California's Prop 8.

As with civil rights issues of the past, I do not believe gay community we can not make progress without voices other than our own... and while a host on a liberally biased news network may be as effective as the Hollywood crowd, it is this very kind argument from our straight allies that might start chipping away and allowing that wall to crumble.

I just finished a book where the character was told of the Chinese proverb/philosophy of "learning to see the good in the bad and the bad in the good" and while it is certainly no comfort to our California friends, perhaps this setback will lead to the greater good.  If Prop 8 was defeated, it might have just been shrugged off as typical/wacky California and the steamroller would have just marched on to more easy targets like Arizona, Florida, and Arkansas. 

One Day More

I stumbled onto this You Tube video back in September, but I thought it was worth re-sharing since it is now alas "One Day More" until the election... and it seems silly to try to blog about anything else other than politics and the election for the next few days...  so I share, once again, Les Misbarack!

And since you know how much I love throwing my hat into the prediction ring... and while I am a tad more confident about my Dancing With The Stars finalists picks... here is my guess at the final electoral college map.

I'll admit to pretty much trusting the polls (and a lot of electoral college history) and really just taking my own stab at the toss-up states... and I like to think I am being a tad conservative (about a liberal, ha!) as I think there might/hopefully be a bit more blue on the map. 

If you are as equally nerdy inclined, I welcome your final EC tally predictions in the comments!

I went to this RealClearPolitics map and just did some clickin' and flippin' to get my numbers.

Les Misbarack

Even if you don't watch Saturday Night Live (and for the most part I typically find 92% of the show to be unwatchable), I'm sure you've seen the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler Palin/Clinton kick-off to the new season by now.  But just in case, here's a link to it.

But over the weekend, there was apparently another YouTube vid craze.  I have seen this on too many websites to give the hat tip to only one... but I finally got around to watching it this morning... and it is quite delightful.   

It is November 3, 2008 and at Obama Headquarters the opening notes of Act 1 closer, "One Day More" from Les Miserables, begin to twinkle (which always gives me goose-bumps) and this fictional Obama staff sing (ok, lip synch) the song of hope and love and promise of a brighter tomorrow... even McCain/Palin look-alikes make an appearance as the evil Thenadiers to attempt to comically squash the fun.

Pretty much political and gay marriage made in heaven... plus the Marius guy is pretty darn adorable ala Jim Halpert/John Krasinki.

BB10 Renny & Jerry MegaMix

Have to share this Big Brother 10 You Tube video with you... I originally saw it on reality blurred, but forget to watch it until it showed up on Towleroad today...

And let me say it gave me such giggle fits to the point I was in tears by the time it was over (and yes, I think I even snorted)!  I am not sure the last time that has happened when I have been absolutely all by myself...

For those of you are not watching BB this season, Renny and Jerry are the "elder" woman and man in this year's house.  Renny is from New Orleans and very much a character... and Jerry is just a cranky old guy. 

Just to set the scene, in most parts of the video Renny is in a food competition where she has to try and match a sock with a person on another side of the wall based only on describing the sock... and Jerry is hosting a competition that was sorta kinda of car-related...

I am not sure if this will be funny to anyone not watching BB, but give it a shot and let me know...

Man/Lion Reunion

Apparently this is the latest You Tube video, but had not seen it until this morning when they showed it on 'The View' (hey, hey ... no snickering!)... and wanted to share it here... call me a big 'ole sap, but this got my quite teary-eyed.... twice! (ok, three times and not watching it again)  Of course, I'll be ticked when it's all uncovered as a hoax... but for now, enjoy and keep a tissue handy!

UPDATE:  Haha, JD... yes, I thought setting it to Whitney was pretty cheese-tastic, but have to give 'em props for timing it so well for the big crescendo.  I had also seen a version using Aeromsmith's "Don't Want To Miss A Thing".

DWTS: My All Time Top 10 Dances

Tonight DWTS will celebrate its 100th episode and, ahead of the results show, they are doing a special All-Time Top 10 Dances clip show... so I couldn't stop myself from coming up with my own list.

In coming up with this list, I got some very nice help from the Wikipedia U.S. DWTS page, but the scary part is that I did remember something (i.e. the dance, song, or outfit) about each of these dances.  Sometimes I wish my brain would leave enough room for me to recall where I put my car keys rather than retaining the fact that Joey Fatone did a tango to the Star Wars theme (btw, that dance is not in my top ten).

Now I could have easily filled my Top 10 with all Mario Lopez and of late many dances with pro Mark Ballas, but I spread the wealth across the pros and seasons.  Season 1 doesn't make an appearance.  Back then, the show was considered pretty much a joke... but now "stars" are begging to get on and arguably it keeps getting better and better quality-wise.

Some of my favorite couples don't even make an appearance here.  It could be my faulty memory (likely!), so honorable mentions to:  Joey Fatone & Kym Johnson and Helio Castroneves & Julianne Hough.

To not totally clog this post up with YouTubes, I will put embedded videos of my Top 5 favorites "after the jump"... and, first up, YouTube links to dances 6 thru 10 "in no particular order" -- well ok, they are ordered by season, but I just wanted to play Samantha Harris and say that!

Season 2: Stacey Keibler & Tony Dovolani - Samba - "Bootylicious" (YouTube link)
Season 3: Drew Lachey & Cheryl Burke - Paso Doble - "Thriller" (YouTube link)
Season 4: Laila Ali & Maksim Chmerkovskiy - Mambo (YouTube link)
Season 4: Mario Lopez & Karina Smirnoff - Freestyle - "It Takes Two" (YouTube link - thanks Linda!)
Season 5: Melanie Brown & Maksim Chmerkovskiy - Paso Doble - "Free Your Mind" (YouTube link)

Top 5 Faves
(YouTube embedded vids "after the jump" - apologies, in advance, if they "are no longer available")

Season 6: Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas - Mambo - "Hey Baby"
Season 5: Sabrina Bryan & Mark Ballas - Cha Cha - "Don't Cha"
Season 4: Apolo Anto Ohno & Julianne Hough - Cha Cha - "Push It"
Season 3: Mario Lopez & Karina Smirnoff - Mambo
Season 2: Drew Lachey & Cheryl Burke - Freestyle - "Save a Horse, Ride A Cowboy"

Let It Be

While I thought Brooke White did a great job on "Let It Be" last night on Idol, it reminded me how much I am in love with another (and quite different!) version of the song from the movie Across The Universe.

I haven't seen the movie (though I'm guessing I would like), but saw this version of the song performed on the Grammys last month... and I immediately got it over on iTunes.

While some will think it's a bit bombastic, this gospel-infused take never fails to give me goose-bumps or even a lump in the throat.  I am sharing two videos here...

The first one (I take it) is straight from the movie and thus a spoiler warning... but it certainly makes it even more emotional.

The second is merely movie poster and the recorded version.

Can I Have The Language of Origin?

Despite earning my increased ire for bagging Josh Duhamel, as recently mentioned I am starting to warm up to Fergie... and this video makes me like her even a bit more... the spelling bee parody (ala 25th Annual Putnam County) has the Dutchess poking a bit of fun at herself and her favorite suffix... give it a whirl, I found it quite h-u-m-o-r-o-u-s?

Cyber-Stumping For Hillary

I know things have been very (and unusually) political here on W&C this week... but just bear with me, perhaps once we get through Super Duper Tuesday things will revert back to the normal fluff and fold.

That said, I will direct you over to Scott-O-Rama which is turning into a bit of a Hillary Clinton cyber-rally in the past day and thru the biggest voting primary day this country has seen  Scott asked some of us HRC supporters to do a little cyber-stumping for her.... here's a link to my contribution...  warning, in the spirit of being "green," some of the content of that post has been recycled from stuff you may have read right here at W&C.

I guess you can just say ... I've Got A Crush On Hillary!!  (note: video below for you feed readers)