Not to get a big debate going, but it's strange to now live somewhere that puts up a display like this protesting this week's 35th anniversary of Roe v Wade. Not pictured: matching the sentiment, faux-blood-drenched billboards on the highway referring to the slaughter of innocents.
Of course, this kind of display is not limited to the Bible Belt (or near-Bible Belt, as some readers would put Baton Rouge), fiance and I were the only ones not applauding after a 20-minute pro-life speech at a Christening in Jersey last year and felt the subsequent staredown from the pulpit. (In addition to my ongoing internal staredown from the pulpit on high--thanks, Catholic school!) Yet another reason to not go to church. But obviously we didnt' see a whole lot of this back in liberal-land NYC...
Gotta love it when radical groups try to speak for God: 
I haven't hung out enough with God enough that I can claim to speak for him, but I wonder how cool He'd be with phrases beginning, "God hates..." when they're being used to justify the speaker's own hatred. Like those goons who announced plans to protest Heath Ledger's funeral. (I don't even want to link to them and give them more attention, but basically they're saying Heath got what he deserved for promoting homosexuality in Brokeback Mountain.) Speaking of, it's Friday, but at the request of reader Jordaan, let's bring back Saying Something Nice About Celebrities Wednesdays: Heath Ledger edish.
I was surprised at how sad I was to hear Heath Ledger died. I'd never even seen any of his movies. But I was fond of Heath & Michelle, because they used to be my famous Brooklyn neighbors. Here's a blog post (with crappy cell phone photo!) I wrote after spying them through my apartment window last summer. And despite what that jackass on Fox news said about Heath, from afar he seemed quite normal to me. He and the little lady even used the subway; I have non-famous New York friends who don't use the subway.
On Monday night, I'd read that story in some British tabloid about Amy Winehouse in one evening snorting extacy, then snorting super-concentrated coke, then smoking crack, then announcing she'd had 6 Valiums, then saying she couldn't party too hard that night because she had to get up early for court the next day. So on Tuesday, I was half expecting to hear that she had died. And everyone's pretty much on Britney death watch since apparently no one has the sense or power to institutionalize her. And even noted junkie Pete Dougherty shambles on like a mini Keith Richards, only looking more befuddled at the news of the death of someone we thought was doing fine. And why did I watch that video anyway? I hate TMZ. I wanted to try to make some sense out of news no one was expecting, as if that wreck would offer any answers. Who knows--Maybe we'll still have Britney trainwrecking around at age 67 with ever-sadder bids for attention. Maybe Amy Wino will grow to have a gray beehive, and support herself selling her own line of ballet flats once she permanently blows her voice out smoking the rock. No one ever said things would make sense.
Speaking of celeb insanity, here are two others I think are quite literally out of their minds, after seeing separate recent interviews of them: Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise. If you haven't seen the video of Tom Cruise talkin' 'bout Scientology yet, it is absolute proof.
And this video is absolute proof of why I still love Jerry O' Connell:
On another note, hungry? Maybe you will be now.
I LOL'd when I saw this sign for chicken fried chicken, not believing in the existence of such a dish, but I've looked it up and somewhat cleared up the meatstery. Oh, the South.
Chicken fried steak/chicken is just one of the awesomely tasty and completely healthy dishes you are missing out on down here.
But I'm glad to hear you're giving fish a shot. Next up is crawfish. And then one day, boom, meat. You WILL join us...
Posted by: Joshua | January 25, 2008 at 10:49 AM
As a vegetarian who heartily enjoyed meat when omnivorous, I have to say that I wish I had tried Chicken Fried ______ at least once. But now, meat just kind of grosses me out. Chicken Fried Fake-_______, however, I can probably get behind.
I was also really suprised at how sad I was to hear the Heath Ledger had died, as I wasn't a major fan (Brokeback was awesome, however). I'm totally grossed out by the protesters - but how are they going to get all the way to Perth?
Posted by: Emily | January 25, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Great post. I'm with you on the Heath issue. How some celebs survive after abusing themselves so much is beyond me, yet poor Heath checks out on sleeping pills (as far as we know). It's a sin.
Posted by: JDizzle | January 25, 2008 at 11:26 AM
the bf & i posed this question to several people recently, after realizing it is one of our favorite dishes (he doesn't have the healthiest diet since he's so picky but i like to indulge in something fried sooometimes): what makes chicken fried chicken chicken fried chicken? consensus was because it's cooked like chicken fried steak? but i work at the video store right where you saw that sign & happened to see it that day & CRAAAAAAAVE IT!
& i believe that first picture with the 1 million tiny crosses is at the catholic life center. makes sense now, doesn't it? ick.
ps. good luck with upcoming fish meals! i've been burying myself in some new cookbooks on the weekends, fiending for fish because i've been finding so many good recipes! i can't wait to start making them... as soon as the bf stops buying frozen fish sticks... i can never win.
Posted by: jade b | January 25, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Thank you thank you for that Jerry O'Connell video. I laughed like a Tom Cruise.
Posted by: Beth | January 25, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Great post! You're right, no one ever said things would make sense but this is just too much. I loved Heath Ledger and am still mourning...
As for those whacko christian fanatics, they throw thier insecurities around like they're feeding bread crumbs to the pigeons. So let's not pay attention, right?
Chickn fried chicken...yikes!
Posted by: Sri | January 25, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Dude, where did you live? Heath and Michelle lived in my 'hood - I was just a hop skip jump away from their house on Hoyt and Dean (I was on Butler b/w Smith and Hoyt). Heath used to go to that coffee shop on Hoyt and State (Zoila?) on Saturday mornings with the little munchkin in tow - good daddy behavior.
I have to say that I get really annoyed by all the media coverage of celebrities' addictions/deaths because there are thousands upon thousands of other people who have problems with addiction and die on a daily basis but no one really cares about them. Especially when they're young black men, like in Baltimore. 60,000 heroin addicts and 300 homicides in a year in a city of 575,000 is horrible, but the media isn't jumping all over it as they should be. Ok, I'm gonna get off my soapbox now.
Posted by: roopa | January 25, 2008 at 12:45 PM
I used to work at Cracker Barrel where Chicken Fried Chicken served daily. I never ate the food myself, so I have no idea what the hell it is.
Total bummer about Heath! I really like him. I have to say that 10 Things I Hate About You (ok, not his best film) is awesome!
The thing that creeped me out in the converting to Catholicism thing was the pro-life stuff. Even having grown up in a conservative religion, I just never heard anything like that at church before! It's not their business-but I guess they make sure it is.
Posted by: meanieT | January 25, 2008 at 01:08 PM
i'm calling shenanigans on this one. get your own material colleen!!!
Posted by: the cajun boy | January 25, 2008 at 01:13 PM
Joshua, no nnnooooooo....!
Em, make some chicken-fried tofu, it's in the Southern Cooking Vegetarian Style cookbook! Dee-lish.
JDiz, thanks
jade, that Wikipedia doesn't clear up the chicken-fried business very well but I'm sure someone reading will know and hopefully chime in. or we could just look at recipes online.
beth, "laugh like a tom cruise" made me laugh like one, or abbreviated: LLATC.
sri, thanks & :(
roopa, i was a few blocks in the other direction! hoyt & schermerhorn. that cafe was the victory, but i had a longstanding boycott going so i never saw them in there. those are absolutely shocking statistics. i had no idea it was so bad.
meanieT, yeah they really do make it their business.
& No way Cajun! (For everyone else reading, Cajun posted a very similar blog to this one, but posted it yesterday. I didn't see it until after I posted mine today.) No shenanigans were pulled in the writing of this blog.
Posted by: cokane | January 25, 2008 at 01:39 PM
The other day (they've fixed it) if you went on Babelfish and translated "Heath Ledger is dead" from English to Spanish, it would end up saying "Tom Cruise is dead" in Spanish...
I never got the Christians who run around preaching hate for various people. It seems kinda... um, what am I looking for... Not quite what Jesus would do? But then again, you know, Jesus -did- only hang out with those good ol' Christian boys.
Posted by: Kettle | January 25, 2008 at 02:54 PM
Where can I get some of that super-concentrated coke? Is it like Diet Pepsi Max?
Posted by: jeff | January 26, 2008 at 07:34 AM
if you enjoy a good teen movie, try renting 10 Things I Hate About You...a teen version of Taming of The Shrew. I loved Heath in that. He was dreamy and moody and 17.
God LOVES teen movies.
Posted by: Kitty | January 26, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Sad to hear about Heath. I first saw him in Roar, which was a knock-off of the Xena/Hercules show on fox. A sister of a friend of a friend was in that short lived show, so that's why I watched it. Aside from the random rat trails growing out of his head for that role, I thought he was a cutie and excited to see that he managed to have such a sucessful career after that.
Posted by: Kartek | January 26, 2008 at 12:29 PM
I actually made chicken fried steak for my husband after watching a recipe on the Food Network for it. He loved it but it was just so greasy and fattening and GROSS that I wouldn't make it again for him.
I had no idea people were saying Heath Ledger got what he deserved because of the role he placed in BB Mtn. That is SO disgusting to me. I love how the self righteous are so evil yet have no idea of it.
Posted by: Jules | January 27, 2008 at 04:13 PM
Yeah, here in Aus, the mourning for Heath is ubiquitous. People keep exclaiming their shock and horror at me (because I'm American and those wackos are too) about the god hates heath ledger freaks. I keep reassuring them though, those people don't have enough money to travel to Australia, and if they do, they'll have a hard time not getting their fucking asses kicked if they try to do anything at his funeral.
Posted by: ecs | January 28, 2008 at 04:39 PM
In a way, I hoped the Anti-Homo lunatics would get the funding to go to Aus and misbehave at Heath Ledger's funeral. I'm so sure the locals would hand their asses to them on a plate. As well they should. Protesting at a funeral is as disrespectful a thing I can imagine.
Posted by: Dingosmom | January 29, 2008 at 12:48 PM
gawd- i love this post. A friend of mine got 2 abortions in Baton Rouge, and I was shocked when she told me how they actually throw "king cake babies" at you when you pass by and scream "baby killer". Now for any non- lousiana peeps, a King Cake Baby is a little plastic doll that is at the bottom of the traditional Mardi Gras Cake , it's about 1/3 the size of your pinky. Imagine handfulls of these tossed at your head. Respectively, here in Asheville NC there are also protesters, who will dress up like the GRIM REEPER no less.
I really doubt anyone's sentiments, that begin with "god hates you" too. I like to go on male written pro life blogs and talk about abortion & pregnancy :)
Posted by: Leslie @ the oko box | June 02, 2008 at 05:25 PM