S: Is for Un-Serious

I have been so serious lately I decided the column needed a break so here are some things that were sent to me to amuse you. Before I start I want to thank Captan who so generously lent me his monthly bus pass when mine expired and I didn't have time to re-fill. What makes this so unique is he is the man who gets me my ice coffee every day from the deli next door. There are people who step outside of themselves to help others strictly because they are kind.

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www.michaelmoore.com Last Night Michael Moore was on Keith Obermann's show. If you lg onto Michael's website it will show it to you.

"And this madam says that Vitter was not only having sex with the prostitutes -- this is unbelievable -- he would also pay them to dress him up in a diaper. See, that's what you call a pampered politician. And she also said today in an interview that he sometimes paid $300 an hour just to have the hookers talk to him because his wife didn't listen to him. Well, I bet she's all ears now." --Jay Leno

SF Gate columnist Mark Morford reports that President Bush has pardoned the entire GOP, officially excusing all Republicans in his administration from any and all crimes they have committed, are in the process of committing, or are planning to commit.

"Scooter Libby was found guilty of perjury, obstruction, and making false statements -- or as the White House calls it, a press conference." --Bill Maher

"I say if Bush doesn't pardon him, at least he should give him a new nickname, because if you have Scooter on the back of your prison jump suit, you are just asking for it." --Bill Maher

Dumb Quotes from the Presidential Candidates: "We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." --Sen. Hillary Clinton

The world we live in is scary enough. We need to be able to laugh and then make changes and that is a F.A.C.T.

T: Is for things to pass on

This column has always been dedicated to things I hate or love, sometimes they are the same thing. I was introduced by Caroline who sent me a link to Keith Olbermann show Countdown, specifically: Bush, Cheney should resign. The gist of it goes: “I didn’t vote for him,” an American once said (John Wayne about JFK), “But he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job. That—on this eve of the 4th of July—is the essence of this democracy, in 17 words. And that is what President Bush threw away yesterday in commuting the sentence of Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Olbermann's overt and scathing criticism of prominent Republicans and Democrats, especially the George W. Bush Administration is articulate and well thought out. Bush's commutation of Lewis "Scooter Libby's prison sentence is a last straw and he made a statement calling for the resignation of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Olbermann stated:“ We enveloped our President in 2001. And those who did not believe he should have been elected — indeed, those who did not believe he had been elected — willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship, and George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and shaped it to a razor-sharp point and stabbed this nation in the back with it. I for one am glad Obermann is alive and on the boob tube, knocking some sense into our dense and sometimes rock hard heads. Here is a man who is not afraid to speak out and he makes me proud to be an American.

on a lighter note my friend Mia sent me this and I pass it on to you: "Like a lot of folks in this state I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test, with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sitting on their ass. Could you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?

May this column encourage you to speak out against the things you don't like and to research the F.A.C.T.S.

C: Is for the fear of Cinema

Addictions come in numerous varieties: drugs, alcohol, food, sex. How about fear? We seem almost addicted to the feeling of being afraid, whether it's the apocalypse or the common cold. We see evidence in the way the news media serve up horror to us, their customers. Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking recently warned, “Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.” Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world". The most famous of all quotes about fear "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"....Franklin D. Roosevelt. I bring all this up because I saw the film 1408 based on the terrifying short story by Stephen King. This story is about a man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences. He gets a postcard and adds up the number 1408 which adds to 13 and decides he will go check into the fabled room at the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror. Truly a place where guests don't check out by noon, or at all for that matter! The tag line plays on the idea of the viewer being told to look away as the truth is too horrible to contemplate, which of course is designed to have the reverse effect. Here is the tag line: The Dolphin Hotel invites you to stay in any of its stunning rooms. Except one! No one lasts more than an hour! Enjoy your stay. Don't stay in 1408. The only demons in room 1408 are those within you. It is the things we don't face that scare us and this movie scared me. I recommend it, as it is like a roller coaster of emotional rummaging. If you are like my friend David who I went to see the movie with, I expect a long discussion afterwards. Fear is engulfing all of us and most have lost their way or worse their hope so I leave you with some inspirational verses:
We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes. -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

If we could raise one generation with unconditional love, there would be no Hitlers…Mankind's greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear. --Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face…You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

I wish you all hope and that is a F.A.C.T.

A: Is for discovering new artists

I was at a lost as to what to write about today as Tuesdays are always for artists. I am in the process of writing two screenplays so needless to say gallery hoping has not been high on my list of priorities. As if by magic a angel appeared in the name of Bill Fleischer who when he heard my plight introduced me to his wifes website. Not since "The Arcturians" have I been so moved, so visually stimulated and so thrilled to be able to share my discovery. Grimanesa Amoros is prolific in sculpture, video, oil painting, lighting and sound so it is hard to know where to begin. Her paintings are primal depictions of earths beginnings and human souls trapped in a Dante's Inferno. She tears at our struggle and illuminates our identity. In the installation "You can Feel it...I wish you could" she expresses our struggle at pregnancy from both points of view by depicting men as the bearers of humanity. In "Reflexion Obscura" our aspirations have limitless potential to accomplish great things. Yet often suppressed or repressed they stay furled around us becoming more like fears. She invites participants to express their dreams by inflating balloons and writing their dream directly on them. Oddly enough or fittingly the video that bears the same name confronts child abuse in a dream like visual nightmare. Amoros "Rootless Algas" utilizes our background and tugs at our consciousness to become involved and participate in our own lives. To see and learn more of this fascinating artist on the rise log onto www.grimanesaamoros.com. Maybe I have becomed blessed, maybe I have been all along but my life is better discovering others who are making a difference and that is a F.A.C.T.

F: is for food not so glorious and dessert that is

Geisha, located at 33 East 61st Street is owned by the managers of the Serafinas and they are one of the best reasons to go here as I will explain later. The restaurant is beautifully planned - the bar is chic, relaxed, a little sexy yet fun, the sushi room in the back has anime projections on the wall and the sushi is prepared there. Going up to the second floor for dinner, you step on flower inlaid wooden steps, kimono wrapped walls decorated with delicate origami birds. There are a multitude of servers so you would think the service should be impeccable. It was not. Our waiter forgot the glass of Saki my friend ordered and we had to get the manager. We actually got the appetizer 1st, which was a duck salad that we shared. I went there as the guest of my friends, David and Now. There are 3 things I love to order at restaurants Steak (black and blue), Rack of Lamb and Duck. David and I both ordered the duck because we were dieting and today was a duck day. Nau had actually ordered the salad and she shared. The duck was moist, succulent and the micro greens were done in the most delicate dressing that had all of us sighing in anticipation of our main courses. Nau had order Japaneses noodles in a sauce that was delectable and she again shared. David's and my plates came with puree of cauliflower that if that had been the entire meal I would of been satisfied. Instead it was a table spoon full with about the same of micro greens. Again delicious but the duck was chewy, tough, and uneatable. I kept waiting for the waiter to get there and ask how it was. As I ordered it med-rare more on the rare side and it was med-well. Yuck! However I was a guest and I didn't want to be a bad one so I just swallowed until David started spitting his on the plate. Thank-god as I was getting quite a lump. We asked for our waiter, he never came. So I asked for a manager and he disappeared. In the meantime the waiter came back to argue, which of course didn't win points as there were three of us who all had the same experience and besides he forgot the Saki. He told us the manager went to get us dessert but remember David and I were on a diet. We asked again 20 min later for the manager and got another one, who was delightful. Now our night turned around. For dessert, a trio of chocolate - we also quite enjoyed the coconut tapioca concoction that was light and exquisite and a buttermilk panna cotta with a zap of passion fruit. Geisha’s deserts are slyly insinuating, especially pot de crème with a dark chocolate you can’t quite overeat. Nau, had a jasmine tea which was a flower bud. Everything was presented perfectly. The owner only charged us for the duck salad, and the noodles which has me saying. I will recommend Geshia for it's "Harry Met Sally" deserts and that is always a orgasmic F.A.C.T.