November 29, 2011

Archie Comics' Big Gay Wedding...

I've posted before about Archie Comics' exciting gay character, Kevin Kellar, who was even spun off into his own comic miniseries which apparently sold out, as I sure could not find a copy to buy. Such a cool step forward in the geeky world of comics!

Well now the January 2012 Life With Archie envisions possible futures for Archie characters... and features the gay interracial wedding of soldier Kevin Keller and his intended... on the cover.... of an Archie comic!

Where the hell exactly is Riverdale? Cuz I want to go there.

All you folks who have been waiting for the future to happen? It starts now. Bring on the robot chefs and intergalactic transporters!

November 26, 2011

Best Marriage Equality Ad Ever...



Despite their wildly homophobic Prime Minister, the movement for marriage equality in Australia is growing. This is the best marriage equality commercial I have seen, period. Okay, granted, not that I have seen so many of them, however I do love this one.

I have seen this in a couple of places this weekend, so hopefully will be reposted and replayed all over the place...

November 24, 2011

New Fave App: Dog Art...

I love my iPhone. Luuuuuuv it. And not just as a phone --- especially for all the apps and toys and gizmos. And yes I love my iPad too. And my iPod... wait, am I sensing a theme here?

My fave new app is called "My Sketch" and it takes pics on your iPhone and lets you 'artify' them. And you can guess what pics I have on my phone. So here are "sketches" of Alfie... and my stepdog Quinn and my best friend's dog Harry...

Alfie looking pensive. This one is my new twitter profile pic...
Action shot... beware the Flying Havanese!

Adding in some colour....
Harry Potter, the sleeping beagle...
Alfie and Quinn in the car...


Quinn wondering when dinner time is....
The little furball posing...
And yes we also play Scrabble on the iPad a whole lot... what's your favourite app?

November 21, 2011

Stupid Signs, Horny Priests, Sherri Shepherd...


It's always interesting in my "real life" when people mention alfred lives here, as this blog often feels like a whole different life. And in this case, "interesting" means both flattering and sometimes unsettling.

Also interesting is how people find the blog online. While I blog about Alfie, books and tv, media and pop culture, and gay life, how people come to this blog can be a million different ways. And some of those ways can be on the weird side. Here are the top keywords which bring people to this blog when they search online:

1- signs of stupidity

2- horny priests

3- sherri shepherd stupid

4- is drew barrymore gay

5- pringles holder

6- drew barrymore gay (yep, appears 2x)

7- glamourize

8- barbie houses from the 90s

9- dave barry dogs

10- angie harmon homophobic


So, clearly this is not a science.

Did I write about these things? Sure, most of them, from Drew Barrymore campaigning for gay rights (doesn't mean she's gay, people) to the cupholder in my car being a better Pringles holder than a cupholder to how funny I think Dave Barry is.

I do love finding ridiculous signs and posting them. I mentioned Angie Harmon in passing as a talk show guest. And yes I think The View's Sherri Shepherd is a homophobic moron.

So the big mystery is... where the hell are the searches for "cutest dog in the world"? I googled cutest dog in the world, and it did not lead me back to Alfred. So clearly that damn Google is broken...

November 17, 2011

Unhate... New Benetton Controversy


Is it just me, or does retailer Benetton seem to have vanished from the pop culture zeitgeist since about 1991?

Well they are still out there somewhere, presumably still selling neon green t-shirt's and pink tube socks.

In the 80s Benetton had really cool multi-cultural ads, and then a "Jesus with AIDS" ad I remember. Their ads have always been controversial and gotten people talking, which I guess makes them work.

Now they are stirring it up again, using Photoshop to put world leaders who don't get along kissing. I love them. The one featuring the Pope has already been pulled as the usually fun-loving Vatican objected.

So... too far? Bold artistic statement? Or heartless capitalist attention-grab?

November 14, 2011

The world's cutest patient recovers...


Thanks to everyone for their kind words about the little furball's recent surgery... as you can see here, the little dude is happy and healthy, the hated cone is off, his eye looks like it should, and he is eating regular food again. And I no longer have to drug muffins to get the medicine in him. Special thanks to Alfie's grandparents Jack and Vickie for the daycare...

... and isn't Alfie's new striped sweater soooo cute? Perfect for our first snow day today!

November 10, 2011

It's about damn time...


Little Alfie is four, and each year since getting him I have looked for a Havanese wall calendar. With the exception of a charity one made by a rescue society one year, no damn luck...

Oh sure, calendar makers, there are 378 different calendars for Chihuahuas and Terriers and Boxers and Malti-Poo's, but none for Havanese, until I found this one last week. Awesome!

The dogs are cute. Alfie is cuter. Still looooove my new calendar!

November 8, 2011

Rob Lowe, Stephanie Plum, Starbucks... what'cha reading?

As the weather gets cooler (we have frost overnight here already), it's a great time to curl up with a good book... then again, when isn't?

Here's a look at what I've been reading; some of them are worth your time and effort. I am always looking for new and great reading ideas... please give me suggestions in the comments area...

This one is more interesting than I thought it would be. Actor and 80s scandal king Rob Lowe comes across as smarter and more politically aware than I had expected, has a fascinating career of ups and downs, and has worked with just about everyone over the last 30 years. Although Lowe plays it too safe and too nice (where's the Hollywood dirt, dude?), this is a fun and fast read.

Suspense king Dean Koontz does it again; it's not rocket science, and it comes together a little too neatly at the end, but until that point it is an uber-fast weekend read. In Your Heart Belongs To Me, a wealthy computer titan who needs a heart transplant goes outside the usual system in order to get his new heart fast, and then all hell breaks loose. Mr Paranoid may not be crazy when he fears someone wants the illegally-gotten heart back...

In 2008, Starbuck's founder Schultz fired his successor and -- feeling his brand was at risk--returned to the CEO post. In this personal, suspenseful, and open account, Schultz traces his own journey to help Starbucks reclaim its original customer-centric values and mission while aggressively innovating. From the famous leaked memo that exposed his criticisms of Starbucks to new product strategies and rollouts, both successful and not, Schultz writes honestly about the painful steps he had to take to turn the company around. This is a great read for anyone interested in leadership, management, or the quest to connect a brand with the consumer. Schultz has a multitude of fascinating stories to share, and also sets out key transferable business principles. My favourite business book in ages.

A successful writer takes on a part-time retail job and lives to whine about it. I get the sense that the author, however well traveled, educated, and successful she had been as a journalist, had never imagined that this side of life actually exists, and was put back on her heels when she saw what most people in the world already know is out there. She just ends up coming across as whiny, pompous, and insecure. Sure, schlepping stock from a back room must be a real low point for someone so prestigious, who frequently reminds us that she interviewed the Queen of England, but to refer to shoppers as "wealthy and spoiled", and to say "you can feel your brain atrophy after a few years in low level retail", is snobby and insulting to people who really do this for a living. It's too bad that this book was more about her self absorbed entitlement, and less about the countless thousands who feel proud to call retail a vocation, challenges and all, including me.

I adore this series, which I discovered through a comment on this blog. In this fourth outing, Stephanie Plum, the trash-talking New Jersey bail bondswoman, is tracking Maxine Nowicki, who's wanted for skipping out on a car-theft charge lodged by her ex-boyfriend. Now what the ex-boyfriend is looking for is the secret on which Evanovich hangs her screwball cast of colorful minor characters, including Sally Sweet, a cross-dressing drag queen; Lula, the 250-pound ex-hooker who partners with Stephanie; Grandma Mazur, who packs a Glock and is always looking for a little action; and Joyce, a wannabe bounty hunter who's been cramping Steph's style since she banged Steph's ex-husband. Even better than the mystery are the snappy patter and sexy shenanigans that hold it all together.

So... what have you been reading?

November 5, 2011

Conehead Furball...



Thanks to everyone for the good wishes zooming towards Alfie about his surgery this week.

The little dude came through strong and is recovering. I am guessing the drugs helped. I should have had some.

Alfie had seven teeth removed, and corrective eye surgery for a displaced eyelid. I only got the cut-by-cut surgical details afterwards, which was good, as I was tearful and super stressed already, and would have gone batshit crazy all day waiting for him if I knew exactly what was happening.

The first night he was drugged to the point of being like a rag doll in my arms. Now he is more Alfie-like every day, though still on three types of drugs -- oral hygiene spray (sprayed into his mouth as I feed him a muffin), an oral spray painkiller (ditto muffin application), and a 3x a day eye cream which is no fun for either of us when it has to be applied. And the food is moistened to mush. And ah that cone... I take it off to apply drugs and give him a bit of a break, and yes he goes straight for the itchy eye. So that doesn't last long.

The upside? Alfie will be his full healthy self again, the bad teeth are gone as is that red thing on his eye. His grandparents are babysitting weekdays and spoiling him. And both dogs have been sleeping on the bed, as the cone is too tight a squeeze with his kennel. Yes, Mr Cuteness will come through this ok....

November 1, 2011

Little doggie under the knife...

I am preoccupied and worried. Alfred seems clingier and needier than usual, which is certainly saying something. Sure, he is being his usual cute self, attention seeking, climbing on top of us as we watch TV, licking our heads, humping his step-brother, belching. The little Ewok is showing his love even more than usual, or maybe it just seems that way.

Tomorrow my canine baby goes under the knife. It will be his first surgery, well his second if you count that time when he was six months old and they knocked him out and cut off his balls. I am hoping he doesn't remember that one.

Alfred will be having two surgeries tomorrow, both pretty routine from what they tell me: a recessed tooth will be removed, and a dropped eyelid will be corrected. Yes, the little guy is getting an eye job before I am... what is up with that?

As any parent would, I have been tossing and turning over this one, even though I know he will be knocked out and will not feel anything, and when I pick him up tomorrow evening all will be fine. What about when I drop him off and leave him there? What about when he wakes up alone in at the vet's?

In the back recesses of my mind, I know that Alfie is not my child. Well, sort of. As I don't have kids, or a fully developed parental instinct, he is it for me, and yes I love him madly. My husband refers to Alfred as the love of my life, in a non-gross kind of way... is that so wrong?

And don't tell Alfie he is not my kid, with his bright shining eyes beaming up at me. I haven't even had the courage to tell him he's adopted.

I'm worried about Alfie's minor surgery. I'm worried about Kim Kardashian's marital disaster. I'm worried about the now-unemployed cast of Charlie's Angels. Okay, screw those bitches. I am really only worried about Alfie, who will be absolutely spectacularly fine. I am the stressed one here...