"I sometimes have a lot to say about the goings-on around me. Some may find them useful while others, offensive.
In any event, it will be the state of my mind when I write it. So some vision and hearing protection may be necessary."
—Jimmy Madden

March 21, 2011

Apologies to Don Ho

Filed under: Uncategorized — jimmy @ 11:11 pm
At the precise moment that Spring 2011 arrived Richie and I were 4 hours and 21 minutes into a champagne extravaganza our friend and host called, “Spring Bubbles.” Invitees, about 15 of us, were encouraged to bring at least one bottle per person of moderately priced champagne or methode champenoise. We chose Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut and Nicolas Feuillatte Brut. We like the Bruts over the Extra Dry because they are less sweet and taste like, well, grapes.
That being said, I found my palate for determining the subtle differences from bottle to bottle to be, at best, severely lacking. While I have a very heightened sense of smell – I can tell if the dryer is running or if the oven is on and I can not only tell that the neighbors are grilling 75 to 100 yards away, but what they are cooking – my ability to taste subtleties in flavors is positively pedestrian.
The party was an overwhelming success and our host promised to make it an annual event. We knew all but one person that attended so it was very comfortable and you could tell just by the volume of the laughter how long we had been at it. There was no music to talk over just each other’s story telling and joking. It was very organic and natural. Don’t let anyone tell you there is not magic in a bottle – or several – of champagne.
I like tasting things and I don’t like everything. There are some foods I just don’t want in my mouth. Like, why do I enjoy salmon in sushi or smoked with creamed cheese but baked or poached salmon makes my skin crawl? I have tried over the years to like caviar. I could never get over that fishy flavor and just enjoy the fresh briny taste and the creamy texture. Yesterday that changed. I ate some caviar on canapés and liked it. Ate more on tiny potatoes and liked it even more. A moment of personal growth. Richie ate some and liked it too. We decided to drink more champagne to celebrate our mutual milestone. [the faint fanfare of tiny horns]
But still, I could not make any determining remarks on the champagne beyond whether I liked one more than another. In the end, I wound up ranking Veuve Clicquot the best and not just because it was what we brought. It has a complexity that develops while it sits on your tongue. The bubbles are plentiful and small. I found myself going back to that more often than any of the others. That’s the best I can come up with.
I’m still not going to be trying the baked salmon anytime soon but I have made a firm commitment to grilling some with an herb rub that might bring me around. But what of the cut? Steaks or fillets? I have more research to do.

March 15, 2011

A Moment of Clarity?

Filed under: Uncategorized — jimmy @ 11:12 pm
Since the beginnings of civilization there have been gay people. And since that time people in power ‘chose’ to proffer that homosexuality is outside the ‘norm,’ simply because only a select few practice it. I won’t comment on whether the bible holds homosexuality in contempt or not. The Brother’s Grimm chose not to comment on it either so we will just leave scripture in its just classification of contrived fiction.
But what threat have gays ever posed to the world?
Because historically, since we’ve been sidelined and therefore unable to fully participate in the direction of our societies and so called, ‘civilizations,’ we aren’t responsible for the hateful ways neighbors, communities, towns, cities, states, countries, and nations treat even the people they consider EQUAL.
So I fail to see what threat gays, and our fight for equal rights, really pose to society as the haters would like us to believe. We haven’t been part and parcel to the religious bigotry towards other beliefs that have contributed to just about every mass genocide or any other cide throughout history. By proportion, we are still relegated to the role of Stepin Fetchit in the machines that administer our daily lives. Yes, we are increasingly holding a great many elected offices. But how many openly gay CEO’s are there in companies that they didn’t create? If we do run for office, our primary identity is that we are gay. Nevermind our ideas for communal betterment. Nobody runs for office for fear they will have to defend that they are heterosexual or worse; married.
When you think about it, our struggle is more of a comparison to that of women’s rights. We are capable of decisive action and working toward the common good without worrying about our decisions affecting our hold on power. Our insight as that of outsiders renders a thoughtfulness while making progressive plans for governing that take into account how those plans will affect those who may not be fully represented.
The argument that gay marriage will bring about the downfall of traditional marriage or society in general is a fallacy. Non-gays have been in control from the beginning and from all accounts, our past and our future are pretty much fucked. Gays are the salvation not the problem.
Maybe, just maybe, if the world could embrace the concept that gays are just another facet in life overall, our opinions, our gentility, our creative processes, and our love could very well be the answer to what ails what is so casually called, ‘humanity.’
The entire species is in a battle to survive from war for its primitive, and primarily sectarian, reasons, the greed that drives the few that possess it to never relinquish it and its power, that greed and how it has threatened the environment which miraculously manages to sustain us in spite of it, and the pain and separatism inflicted in the name of heterosexual dominance.
Yes, those of us who are gay are not in the sexual majority but if you consider the amount of time out of our daily lives that sex really occupies, we should be more fearful of people who sleep less than others. Who knows what they are doing while we sleep? Are they plotting against us? Are they going to steal our livestock? Are they going to kill me in my sleep? Are they going to destroy the idea that I deserve my dominant position of sleeping 8 hours a night?
So who is the real enemy here? Not gays. Gay people are identified because of who we love. What’s wrong with love? Non-sleepers are not normal. To not want to sleep is evil and you know how you get when you don’t get enough sleep.

March 9, 2011

The Dryer Vortex

Filed under: Uncategorized — jimmy @ 11:12 pm

Ever wonder why socks disappear in the laundry? How do zombies enter our brains? You know in your heart there is something “out there.” Look no further than your clothes dryer.

That’s right. The workhorse of the average household is the portal to another world of secrets of which we have all witnessed the results.

Think about it: it has a door you can’t get through with an inner passage just out of our reach of reasoning. The lint disappears and so do your socks, albeit one at a time. And what of the dryer softener sheets we add? I use two most of the time, yet more often than not, only one is left to be tossed at the end of a cycle.

I don’t profess to have any answers but if you’re being attacked by zombies and all your windows and doors are locked, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

© Jimmy Madden