1. "The Guys We Would Fuck": Paddy Johnson interviews Nayland Blake at Art Fag City.

["Nobody can accuse artist Nayland Blake of poor titling. The Guys We Would Fuck, the attention grabbing headline of his current curatorial efforts at Monya Rowe not only caught my eye, but does exactly what it claims; ask participants to chose the men they'd fuck. Constructed by way of a meme, the exhibition will continue to grow throughout the duration of the show as those initially chosen by Blake invite others to participate. Tall, bearish and adorned with tattoos, Nayland Blake is a well known and active figure within both the kink and fine art community. He also has a reputation for blurring such distinctions; over the past twenty years the artist has drawn from his experiences as a gay mixed African American as a means of investigating that complex identity. I sat down with the artist recently to discuss his latest show, S&M and other related themes in his work, and his opinions on gay marriage."]

["Critics are often blinded by so-called cultural advancements, hence the unanimous A rating by the local Film Ratings Board. Urduja is technically apt, well voice-acted, and sometimes interesting. However, beyond it being the first (or second, or third, if you count the two tepid movies by Garcia) full length Filipino animated film, it is really nothing more than an example as to the direction Philippine commercial animation is going. As it turns out, despite Urduja being locally financed and produced, it still partakes of a way of thinking and doing business (although less pronounced) that I have detested ever since the animators at the Mickey Mouse studio had turned Kimba the White Lion (Eiichi Yamamoto, 1965-1967) into The Lion King, without crediting the former. As such, Urduja is a mishmash of many unsavory things: borrowed aesthetics, misplaced adaptations, and misaligned virtues. Thus, I'm still waiting for that true first Filipino full-length animated film since this one is as Filipino as Disney's Mulan (Tony Bancroft & Barry Cook, 1998) is Chinese."]

["Carlin was always meticulous with the words he chose, and in turn had no use for people who used words improperly. He hated unnecessary language—referring to a news report that said "police have responded to an emergency situation," he sneered, "We know it's a situation. Everything is a situation!"—and despised euphemism even more. He would want any reports of his death to be exactly that: "George Carlin died." Not "George Carlin passed away," not "George Carlin slipped this mortal coil," nor any other linguistic misdirection designed to take the sting out of this sad, unexpected news."]

["It all began when Sidney Poitier flew to Atlanta, Georgia, in late December 2005 for the birth of his first great-granddaughter. "When I arrived at the hospital, I saw my great-granddaughter in her mother's arms," he recalled. "Directly behind her was my daughter, the baby's grandmother. Next to her was my former wife, who was the baby's great-grandmother. "I saw that I was in a room of four generations. I would soon be 80, and Ayele was one day old. I realized that the time between us would be short. I decided I would write a book in the form of letters so I could cover everything that I've felt and learned, and talk to her about things that I don't understand." The result is "Life Beyond Measure, Letters to My Great-Granddaughter." It follows his 1980 autobiography, "This Life," but is much more personal, with little reference to his movie career. The chapter titles tell of his concerns. Among them: "Me and God," "Battling the Demons," "People of Courage," "The World I Leave You.""]

["Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday they disagree with the Supreme Court's decision to outlaw the executions of people who rape children. McCain called the ruling an "assault" on legal system. Obama said it is wrong to flatly prohibit the death penalty in such cases if states want to apply it. The court's 5-4 decision struck down a Louisiana law that allows capital punishment for people convicted of raping children under 12, saying it violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment."]

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"Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged. Suggestions for links are also welcome. Please send to keithuhlich@gmail.com.