Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries from May 9th, 2007

Music: Amnesty International’s Instant Karma — The Campaign to Save Darfur

May 9th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Activism, Culture, Human Rights, iTunes, Music, New Wave, News

Green Day’s cover version of “Working Class Hero” by John Lennon was released May 1 as the third single from Instant Karma: the Campaign to Save Darfur, Amnesty International’s album of Lennon covers by various artists to raise awareness about the human rights catastrophe in the Sudan. All proceeds from the album will go to […]

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In His House at R’lyeh the Ronald Waits Dreaming

May 8th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, History, LGBT, Lit, News, Politics, Theater

Apparently the Republican candidates spent their recent debate going on and on about how great Ronald Reagan was and blah blah “Morning in America” blah blah Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn! blah. Oh, Republican candidates. You silly creatures. You really should know better than that. Because now I’m going to have to open a […]

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In Chicago: Alt Q, Diane di Prima at the Poetry Center, and Fruity Neo-Futurist Fun

May 8th, 2007 · Comments Off on In Chicago: Alt Q, Diane di Prima at the Poetry Center, and Fruity Neo-Futurist Fun · Chicago, Culture, Fringe, LGBT, Lit, Music, Neo-Futurists, News, Performance, Poetry, Theater

It’s springtime, so naturally Chicago’s fancy is turning toward divorce and debauchery. Oops, I meant to say, fabulous fringe performance, music, and poetry readings! This week the Poetry Center of Chicago is presenting a reading by legendary beat poet Diane di Prima, author of 35 books of poetry and prose, including Pieces of a Song, […]

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EuroTrib on the Sarkozy Victory in France

May 7th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Blogs, Culture, Media, News, Politics

I was looking for some progressive European perspective on the victory of right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy in France’s presidential election yesterday, so I went over to the European Tribune (that’s the European sibling blog of The Booman Tribune, for those not familiar with it). Jerome a Paris, whom I know mainly from his excellent environmental diaries […]

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Music: Tim Finn and His Imaginary Kingdom

May 7th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Music, New Wave, News, Video

I posted a little over a week ago about the forthcoming Crowded House album, Time on Earth, from Neil Finn and his bandmates. But there’s even more Finn news: Last week also saw the U.S. release of a new solo album from the other Finn brother, Tim Finn — the founder of Split Enz and […]

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The Actor’s Side of the Gay Heroes Controversy

May 7th, 2007 · Comments Off on The Actor’s Side of the Gay Heroes Controversy · Culture, Heroes, LGBT, Politics, Science Fiction, TV

Still catching up on stuff I meant to post last week. As a follow-up to my previous post about the gay-character-on-Heroes controversy, Thomas Dekker, the actor who played Zach, has now told his side of the story in a posting to his MySpace site (warning: incoherent, monitor-shredding layout. In other words, it’s a MySpace page.) […]

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Roundup: Sunday Potluck Edition

May 6th, 2007 · 9 Comments · Activism, Blogs, Comics, Culture, Education, Film, Foreign Policy, Hate Crimes, Health, LGBT, Lit, Music, News, Peace, Pet Food, Pets, Poetry, Politics, Tea

Sunday was always potluck day where I grew up, so I hereby present to you this glorious covered casserole of links I didn’t get around to posting this week. With a few fresh ones stirred in, just to keep you guessing. Retired general compares Bush to a deserter: “By vetoing this bill and failing to […]

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“Very Bad HIV Legislation in Illinois”

May 6th, 2007 · Comments Off on “Very Bad HIV Legislation in Illinois” · Activism, Chicago, Health, HIV/AIDS, LGBT, Music, Politics

I got an email this week from my friend Justin Hayford, who works at the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago when he’s not moonlighting as a cabaret crooner. Justin had a lot to say about a couple of pending bills in the Illinois House of Representatives. I could spend a bunch of time trying to […]

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TV: A Trashy Little Space Opera Called Quark

May 4th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Comedy, Culture, Journal, Science Fiction, TV, Video

Yeah, I’m still getting caught up with everything I put on the back burner in the lead-up to this week’s Partly Dave Show. So instead of our usual high-minded Ocelopotamus programming, here’s something fun for a Friday that I’ve been saving up for a while. For literally decades now, I’ve been dying for the chance […]

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A Brief Pause …

May 3rd, 2007 · 2 Comments · Chicago, Culture, Fringe, Journal, Meta, Performance, The Partly Dave Show, Theater

I’m still recovering from last night’s Partly Dave Show, which was a blast, and catching up on various things today. I hope to be back up and blogging by sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who came to the show and/or helped promote and support it.

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Partly Dave Show Tonight!

May 2nd, 2007 · 7 Comments · Chicago, Comedy, Culture, Fringe, Journal, LGBT, Music, Neo-Futurists, News, Performance, The Partly Dave Show, Theater

This is it — tonight’s the night The Partly Dave Show makes its long-prophesied return, at 7:30pm at The Neo-Futurarium. I’ll dish out one more exciting little fact about tonight’s show: Even in Blackouts will be unveiling* the brand-new Partly Dave Show theme song, hot out of the oven** and never before heard by human […]

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In Chicago: Homolatte, Another Lousy Day, The Joans and More!

May 1st, 2007 · 1 Comment · Chicago, Comedy, Culture, Fringe, LGBT, News, Performance, The Partly Dave Show, Theater

First up, don’t forget that the Party Mix Edition of The Partly Dave Show is less than 48 hours away! Wednesday night, May 2nd, at The Neo-Futurarium. All the details are here. Tonight, Tuesday May 1st, Scott Free’s fantabulous Homolatte Cabaret presents Samuel Park and Aaron Mayer Frankel, at 7:30pm at Tweet (next door to […]

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Indiana Teacher Punished for Teaching Tolerance

May 1st, 2007 · 5 Comments · Culture, Education, Journalism, LGBT, Media, News, Politics

Andy Towle is right. This is absolutely sickening. The short version of the story: An Indiana journalism teacher is being punished for allowing a high school sophomore to publish an essay in the school paper that essentially said gay people deserve to be treated like human beings. Here’s a quote from the student’s essay: “I […]

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