proBRUCEr

"Scratch my name in your arm with a fountain pen (this means you really love me)."

[probrucer]

As I often do, I found myself at Unique thrift shop the other day, and while aimlessly browsing the aisles (cruising, one might say), I spied a guy I thought was kind of cute.

Fortunately, he had a name tag, so I was able to hastily look him up online on my phone. Not only did I find some background info: I liked what I saw so much that I decided right then and there that I was going to take him home with me!

His name is King Ludwig II of Bavaria.

He was a strikingly handsome but intensely shy fellow who never took a wife (*wink wink* he was engaged to a royal cousin, but he postponed the wedding over and over before ultimately breaking it off), and who didn't much enjoy the duties of the crown, preferring to expend his energies--and all of his personal wealth--on lavish projects of art and architecture.

His patronage allowed Wagner to stage many of his greatest operas, and the stunning structures he built throughout his domain (including the one which inspired Disney's Cinderella castle) are still some of the region's biggest tourist attractions.

Sadly, nefarious pretenders to the throne had him declared insane, so after a brief insurrection, he was taken captive and then died under mysterious circumstances within days. His reign began when he was just eighteen, and he was killed at just forty.

What a beautiful, tragic, sad, lonely, romantic figure! It took several lifetimes, but I'm thrilled that he finally found a man to love him. Does this earn me the honorific Prince Bruce I of Bavaria?

[probrucer]

Heart Donor's Family Meets Vietnam-Vet Donee

This is awesome and touching, and reminds me of two things about organ donation that REALLY piss me off:

1. When I hear someone saying they won't sign up to be a donor for "religious" reasons (especially when I hear mind-numbing statements like, "I might need my _____ in heaven!"), and

2. That clean-blooded boykissers like me are not allowed to pass my hardy, healthy organs along to people who might need them. Yup, even if someone who will die without a kidney, heart, lung, skin, or liver transplant (well, that last one might not be so great) decides that they'll take the "risk" of having a gay person's organ, it is completely disallowed in our archaic U.S. health system. When I get hit by a bus or stabbed in a bar fight, all of my useful organs have to go directly into the furnace with the rest of my mortal coil. How messed up is that?!?! I'd much rather get recycled and give another chapter to someone viable. Join me in my outrage--on both counts! And if you haven't already made it clear that you would allow your bits to be reused, please please please put it on the record. It's not immortality, but it's the closest thing that modern science has to offer.

[probrucer]

Ten years since SURS debuted! Here, in descending order, the most played tracks from my tenure (first ~350 shows).

[probrucer]

To celebrate ten years since the show premiered, I'm giving away five posters and five ladies' tank tops from my "Steven's Untitled Rock Show" days. Enter via last.fm and/or Twitter, details here: http://www.last.fm/group/proBRUCEr+and+friends/forum/136194/_/2238435

[probrucer]

Unequal by law: being gay in Michigan (an update)

"I am, therefore, asking the Congress to enact legislation giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public -- hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments. This seems to me to be an elementary right. Its denial is an arbitrary indignity that no American in 1963 should have to endure, but many do." - John F. Kennedy

[probrucer]

I hope you'll take a moment to sign a few important petitions regarding Chevron's Amazon pollution in Ecuador (and the State Department's attempts to honor them despite their legacy of environmental destruction), protecting baby tigers and lions from inhumane display in South Carolina, preventing further destruction of Arctic Ocean habitats by big oil, and banning a dangerous drug used on pig farms by the country's largest pork producer. It only takes a few minutes to help change the world!

[sagexhaley]

Visit Original Link

[probrucer]

A little chuckle for my FRIENDS.

[probrucer]

Mind blowing video about our spot in the universe. From now on, when someone asks where you're from, say "Laniakea."

[probrucer]

My Netflix 5-star ratings (or 150-ish things you should watch)

I've been a Netflix member just over four years now, and today I reached my 1000th rating. To mark the occasion (since I'm a nerd for stats and lists), I wanted to share the 151 titles that earned a full-on five-star review so far. Maybe you'll even want to add a few titles to your own queue!

In alphabetical order, my five-star viewing picks:

(500) Days of Summer (2009)

12 Monkeys (1995)

28 Days Later (2002)

30 Rock (2006)

50/50 (2011)

Almost Famous (2000)

Amadeus (1984)

American Beauty (1999)

American History X (1998)

American Horror Story (2011)

Arrested Development (2003)

Atlantic Records: The House Ahmet Built (2007)

The Avengers (2012)

The Beales of Grey Gardens (2006)

Beautiful Thing (1996)

Beetlejuice (1988)

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Best in Show (2000)

The Big C (2010)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Billy Elliot (2000)

The Black Donnellys (2007)

Blackfish (2013)

Blue Vinyl (2002)

Boogie Nights (1997)

The Boondocks (2005)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Bruce Almighty (2003)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

The Catherine Tate Show (2004)

Children of Men (2006)

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)

Crash (2005)

Cry Freedom (1987)

Dead Like Me (2003)

Dead Poets Society (1989)

District 9 (2009)

Doctor Who (2005)

Doctor Who: The End of Time (2009)

Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars (2009)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Doubt (2008)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill (1999)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Fight Club (1999)

Frasier (1993)

Freaks and Geeks (1999)

Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (1992)

Friends (1994)

The Golden Girls (1985)

Grey Gardens (1975)

Grey Gardens (2009)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

History of the World: Part 1 (1981)

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

House of Cards (2013) 

I Know I'm Not Alone (2005)

Idiocracy (2006)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Into the Woods (1990)

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010)

John Adams (2008)

The Johnny Cash TV Show: 1969-1971 (1969)

The Kids in the Hall (1989)

Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978)

L.I.E. (2001)

The Last Waltz (1978)

Little Britain (2003)

Longtime Companion (1989)

Looper (2012)

Lost (2004)

Lost in La Mancha (2002)

Magnolia (1999)

Man on the Moon (1999)

The Matrix (1999)

Maude: Season 1 (1972)

Milk (2008)

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)

More Tales of the City (1998)

Mysterious Skin (2004)

Network (1976)

New York Doll (2005)

The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me (2000)

Nowhere Boy (2009)

On Golden Pond (1981)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

The Opposite of Sex (1998)

Ordinary People (1980)

Orlando (1992)

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011)

Passing Strange (2009)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

The Princess Bride (1987)

Rebel Without a Cause: Special Edition (1955)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

The Right Stuff (1983)

The Robbie Williams Show (2002)

Robbie Williams: Royal Albert Hall (2001)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Say Anything... (1989)

Scrooged (1988)

Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

Seven (1995)

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Sing Your Song (2011)

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Soldier's Girl (2003)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999)

Spaced: The Complete Series (1999)

Stand by Me (1986)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)

Steel Magnolias (1989)

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

Sybil (1976)

Tales of the City (1993)

Team America: World Police (2004)

Ted (2012)

Teddy Roosevelt: An American Lion (2003)

This American Life (2007)

This Is the End (2013)

The Tillman Story (2010)

House of Cards (2012)

Transamerica (2005)

True Detective (2014)

True Romance (1993)

The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)

Underworld (2003)

Up (2009)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

The Venture Bros.

The Walking Dead (2010)

West of Memphis (2012)

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

What's Love Got to Do with It (1993)

The X-Files (1993)

X-Men: First Class (2011)

The Young Victoria (2009)

Zombieland (2009)

[probrucer]

Eight years ago today: backstage at the sweaty Agora Ballroom with Ben Weinman of Dillinger Escape Plan and Davey Havok of AFI, mooning over the poster for their show at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland. #tbt

[probrucer]

Rad new "Forged Rubber" sneakers from Chrome Industries

I've known and loved the Chrome Industries seatbelt-buckling messenger bags, but I had no idea they were in the footwear business until I heard about an awesome new line of shoes: Forged Rubber, hand-pressed in 70 year old machines salvaged from Slovakia!

I was stoked to score an invite to the Chrome store in New York City when they came through on the Forged Rubber Tour, setting up one of these old machines and showing us the process of hot sealing the rubber directly onto the shoe. Very cool!

As part of the tour, the store had a little beer and wine reception, where we were shown the assorted models and invited to pick a complimentary pair for our very own. Did I already say very cool?!

Well, having an Imelda Marcos-like affection for a cute pair of kicks (to be clear, it's an affection, not fetish--I like to wear them, not get kinky with them!), I had to try on a few different varieties and do a lot of deliberating.

First I thought I was going to get these hot little numbers...

Then I thought maybe I'd get these handsome fellows...

But my mind kept circling around the model that was being made in front of the store, and even though it's probably the fifth pair of red and black sneaks on my shoe rack, I had to go for it.

I love the canvas, I love the stitched griffin, I love the reflective Chrome logo on the Achilles tendon, and I love the fit.

I even got a compliment on them from the president of my alma mater when I broke them out of the box for a reception at my college reunion last weekend!

If there's a Chrome store near you, I highly recommend heading there to check out the excellentness that is this Forged Rubber line (as well as their famous bags). If you're not fortunate enough to live near one of their brick-and-mortar operations, you can also score your own pair at their webstore.

I'll definitely be stopping by to buy myself another pair in the coming weeks!

[probrucer]

Prepping JoJo on the studio floor during the shoot for Fuse's "Absolute Pop" last weekend. Pop fans check it out all day today (3/28), then starting again at 8:00 p.m. tonight. The ten episodes answer the question "What is Pop?" by covering these topics: Entertainers, Game Changers, Triple Threats, Steamy, Controversy, Groups, Eye-Popping, Collaborations, Gen Next, and Icons.

[grungebook]

Former child actress and diplomat Shirley Temple Black has died at the age of 85. Here she is pictured with her daughter Lori Black, meeting the Beatles. Our sympathies go out to Lori and her family. Lori was a bassist for the Melvins and dated frontman Buzz Osborne, who recounts his interactions with Shirley in my book Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge: BUZZ OSBORNE (Melvins singer/guitarist) When I went to San Francisco, I moved directly into Lori’s house. Now, bear in mind, I started going out with her long before I ever knew who her mom was. Months and months later, she said, “My mom is somebody famous.” I was like, “What are you fucking talking about?” It was crazy. I couldn’t believe that her mom was Shirley Temple. Lori’s dad was Charles Black, who came from oil money, I think. And Shirley is a self-made woman. Shirley’s parents squandered every dime she ever made as a child before she had a chance to spend any of it. She got nothing. Zero. So she’s a pretty tough broad, you know? She’ll rip your head off and eat you for breakfast. She was the ambassador to Czechoslovakia at that point, after being the ambassador to Ghana. Their house was unbelievable. Lots of stuff from the Hearst collection. Amazing shit—they had really great taste. And there was an Oscar sitting there. Shirley talked about her acting a lot. At one point they had her playing drums, and she had a recording of her playing drums when she was a kid, and she sounded like fucking Buddy Rich. And then she showed us how tap dancing is really just drumming. She tap-danced for us, and she was fucking amazing. DALE CROVER (Melvins drummer) Shirley was like, “Yeah, my mom made me give away my drum set because it wasn’t ladylike to play drums.” I was like, “Oh, you couldn’t spread your legs with a dress to play drums. I get it.” She was sad about it. The family was kind of weird and straight and conservative. Proper. I remember we’d line up outside the dining room and all kind of walk in together for some reason. I didn’t really understand it. But they were nice to me. BUZZ OSBORNE They probably thought that I was some leeching weirdo and that their daughter went out with me just to screw with them. Her dad was never nice to me. Shirley was nice to me to some degree, but they’re very guarded people. I’m sure they thought I was going to write some book or something. And believe me, without going into any graphic details, there are massive skeletons in that closet. One thing that Shirley said to me was, “Working in the government, you can always get somebody audited.” I took that to heart. They never did anything to me personally, or even threatened me, but they didn’t need to. You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. They were über-right-wing. Now, I’m not talking about Rush Limbaugh; I’m talking about the people who make life-and-death decisions. And it’s not necessarily evil; it’s more realistic. Charles was ex-CIA. It’s weirder than you can possibly imagine. I certainly never got the truth. Since then, everything that’s happened—from Nirvana going crazy and on and on and on—none of that holds a candle to how weird that situation was. That’s David Lynch weird.

[probrucer]

Uuuuummmm, how did I never know that Shirley Temple's daughter was in The Melvins?! Crazy!

[probrucer]

Got no Valentine to canoodle with today? Spend two hours making out with my "Allergic to Love" playlist on Spotify!

[metalalbumswithgooglyeyes]

Judas Priest

[probrucer]

I wish I'd thought of doing this to album covers.

[probrucer]

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - "Stranger To My Happiness"

Cancer treatments are done, and new album is out today. And bravo to her for eschewing a wig while waiting for her hair to grow back! Why this woman doesn't outsell Kanye is beyond me.

[probrucer]

I watched this last night--great stuff (including a lot I didn't know about Chris Bell, on whose birthday I unwittingly watched it). It's available for streaming, but if you have a DVD membership, there are also some cool extras on the disc. Check it out!