This is the whole fight, but no replays of the KO.The British commentators were way more entertaining than the HBO crew.

“Oh…that might end it! Massive left hand lays Hatton out! Do they need a count here? I think this is the end of it. It is over! Ricky Hatton’s dream has died! Manny Pacquiao has taken him out in two rounds! He is still the pound-for-pound king. And it’s a nightmare experience in Las Vegas for poor Ricky Hatton…”

my new favorite Youtube video:

So-called Christian Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church are at it again…

From The Huffington Post.

Phelps and his ilk have a history of outrageousness, including their “God Hates Fags” campaign, and more recently sought publicity by protesting the funerals of U.S. soldiers because they died protecting a country that accepts homosexuality.

There’s been a rash of tornadoes in the last few weeks. If one hits Topeka, KS, home of Phelps and Westboro Baptist, then we’ll really know that God really hates Fred Phelps.

(But seriously, we don’t need a tornado in Topeka to know how God really feels about Fred Phelps)

Two months ago, Saturday Night Live was credited with helping resurrect Hillary Clinton’s struggling Presidential campaign. Now, they close the book.

Seen at a Toys ‘R’ Us in Sacramento, CA, but I bet these things are everywhere.
From cockeyed.com

Send your daughter on the road to clear heels, stripper poles and “Girls Gone Wild” videos by picking up some of these on your way out of the store.

I think the best part is that these fake tattoos are being sold sandwiched between some Disney and Hannah Montana stickers. Mickey and Miley….way to keep corrupting America’s youth!

From El Mundo in Spain. Si Se Puede!

I was wondering if something like this would ever happen…

People of Lesbos take gay group to court over term “Lesbian” (via SFGate.com)

Quote of the article:

“My sister can’t say she is a Lesbian,” said Dimitris Lambrou. “Our geographical designation has been usurped by certain ladies who have no connection whatsoever with Lesbos.”

The Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, the defendants in the suit, were unavailable for comment.

THIS IS LESBOS!

Filipinos around the world are up in arms over this line of dialog in last Sunday’s season premiere of Desperate Housewives, which spurred an online petition and eventually an apology from ABC.

During a regular check up, Susan, played by Teri Hatcher, is told by the doctor that she is exhibiting symptoms of menopause.

Doctor: Listen, Susan, I know for a lot of women the word “menopause” has negative connotations. You hear “aging,” “brittle bones,” “loss of sexual desire.”

Susan: OK, before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren’t, like, from some med school in the Philippines?

Now anyone who knows anything knows that Filipino-trained doctors and nurses are among the finest around and there’s a reason you’ll find us in hospitals around the world. I know a lot of my brothers and sisters are pissed off because it looks like ABC and Desperate Housewives allowed a racial insult against Filipinos into the show, but I think this I anger is misguided.

The character of Susan Meyer isn’t the brightest tool in the shed. Aside from extremely ditzy, she’s also extremely insecure, vain, and self-centered, and cultural enlightentment is not something I expect on Wisteria Lane. It should seem only natural for her to say something this dumb.

Let’s break this down:

• Susan implies that the education of Filipino doctors isn’t as good as Americans.
• This statement is just not true, and there is plenty of evidence to back this up.
• This makes Susan ignorant and stupid, which is basically true to her character.

If you look at the dialog in its proper context, there is not one iota of racism in it. There’s the ignorance of a character on the show, and that’s it.

The online petition started by Kevin Nadal (Filipino Performance Artist/ Activist) compares this incident to recent derogatory remarks made by other celebrities:

Given the recent amounts of media attention that has been given to Michael Richards (against African Americans), Isaiah Washington (against gays), and Rosie O’Donnell (against Asian/ Chinese Americans), it is ridiculous that this type of hateful speech made it through various screenwriters, the show’s producers, the show’s actors, and ABC itself.

(emphasis added)

Is this dialog really hateful? Really? I found it innocuous at best, especially considering the rest of the things that make it on Desperate Housewives without protest. (You could argue that Desperate Housewives is an extremely poor portrayal of women in general, but that’s a much deeper issue than this one.)

To quote my wife:

While I took umbrage at all three aforementioned incidents (Richards, Washington, O’Donnell), I see this case as different. No slurs were directed at a race or marginalized group of people. While I don’t condone deprecating an entire country’s medical schooling system, it’s not the same thing as calling someone an ethnic slur.

The anger that’s been generated over the last few days is completely overblown, and there are bigger issues in our community and the world than this throwaway line. A couple seasons ago, there was a season-long storyline that featured an illegal immigrant Chinese surrogate mother that was carrying Carlos and Gabrielle’s child, and eventually slept with Carlos. That storyline was infinitely more “problematic” and lasted for a entire season. Did Chinese Americans or the Chinese government or anyone else for that matter protest, even when Gabrielle exploited the surrogate and made some pretty harsh anti-illegal immigrant comments? (Oh, the irony of a well-to-do Latino making these remarks to an illegal Chinese person)

The petition did illicit an apology from ABC, but aren’t they apologizing for something (a racist comment) that really wasn’t racist?

The Real Problem
Filipinos are an underrepresented minority in American media. We don’t speak up enough about things that affect our community. The real problem with this dialog is that the rest of America might believe Susan’s misconception and think all Filipino doctors and nurses in America are inferior. The real reason Filipinos are pissed off is because, well, we think that the general public is basically ignorant about us and believes everything they see on TV.

The other problem is the lack of awareness exhibited by ABC and the producers and writers of Desperate Housewives. While not racist, that piece of dialog was written, shot, edited and approved all the way up the chain of command at ABC without even considering that a large percentage of the nursing and medical community would be offended by it. This ignorance is frustrating, but I still don’t consider it racist.

I guess if this mobilizes Filipinos to become more involved in speaking out on issues that affect the community, then that’s great, but let’s be careful about what we call racist or in the future it might look like we’re crying wolf.

Actor Bruno Kirby, who delivered some of the funniest lines in one of my favorite movies, When Harry Met Sally, died yesterday of leukemia. He was 57.

The movie starred Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, but it was Kirby’s role as Harry’s best friend Jess, along with Carrie Fisher as Sally’s best friend Marie, that gave us some of the movie’s best moments. Here’s some of my favorites…

(Harry and Jess are at a batting cage. Harry is trying to explain his relationship with Sally to Jess while hitting baseballs.)

Jess: You tell her about other women?
Harry: Yeah. Like the other night. I made love to this woman, and it was so incredible, I took her to a place that wasn’t human, she actually meowed.
Jess: You made a woman meow?
Harry: Yah. That’s the point, I can say these things to her. And the great thing is, I don’t have to lie because I’m not always thinking about how to get her into bed. I can just be myself.
Jess: You made a woman meow?

(A bunch of couples are playing Win, Lose or Draw)

Jess: Uh, it’s a monkey. It’s a monkey, monkey see monkey do! It’s… an ape, going ape!
Woman: It’s a baby!
(Sally points to her.)
Jess: Planet of the apes!
Harry: Planet of the apes? She just said it’s a baby. How about planet of the dopes?
Jess: It doesn’t look like a baby.
Harry: Hmm a big mouth… Mick Jagger is a baby!
Jess: Baby ape, baby ape!
Harry: Stop with the apes would you please?
Woman: Uh… baby’s breath!
Harry: Rosemary’s Baby’s mouth! Won’t you come home Bill baby!
Woman: Babababy…kiss the baby!
Harry: Melancholy baby’s mouth!
Jess: Baba…baby fish mouth, baby fish mouth!
(Out of shot: fifteen seconds.)
Woman: Baby boom!
Jess: Draw something resembling anything!
Woman: Crying baby, kiss the baby.
Harry: Uh…Baby spitting up, exorcist baby!
Woman: Yes sir that’s my baby!
Harry: No sir don’t mean may be.
(Out of shot: That’s it times up.)
Sally: (exasperated) Baby talk!
Jess: Baby talk? What’s that? That’s not a saying.
Harry: Oh but baby fish mouth is sweeping the nation. I hear them talking.

I know Bruno had other classic roles throughout his career (The Godfather II, City Slickers, and The Freshman), but I will always remember him as Jess. Thanks for the laughs, Bruno, and rest in peace…