Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in DorianDavis' LiveJournal:

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Thursday, November 4th, 2004
1:04 pm	The Age of Bush For every win Someone must fail But there comes a point When we exhale.... As Dickens said, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" when many of us woke up on Tuesday in America, and prepared to go out and vote. It was a world of opposites: Bush, a conservative. Kerry, a liberal. One man said the economy was booming. The other, said it was collapsing. One man justified the invasion of Iraq. The other, said it was a grand diversion. One man had offensive plans for fighting terrorism. The other, had defensive. For months, we had been teetering back and forth between two magnets at opposite poles, each of us thinking our candidate would barely pull out a victory. When exit polls started showing up on the Drudge Report by early afternoon, though, with Senator Kerry ahead in every state, a lot of Republicans probably resigned ourselves to the somber notion Bush would join Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher: great pillars of strength, who won wars and saved worlds, but faced defeat at a ballot box. After all, we are creatures of habit. We want normalcy. And, as Peggy Noonan pointed out, these past few years have been abnormal in human history. I had the television on the night before the election and rocker Eddie Vedder probably put it best in laymen's terms: "I just don't want to be in a country that's at war anymore." For me, the Kerry electorate has always been reluctant to admit we are at war, and that we didn't start it. In peacetime, the alternative to war would be peace, and we would all want peace. But in wartime, "peace" is not one of the options. They are "victory" or "surrender." Reagan famously said we could have peace immediately if we would surrender, but we would never be safe again if we did. My biggest worry of the election would be that we put our government back in the hands of the people who failed us in the 1990s. Under Bill Clinton, three kidnapping and assassination attempts on Osama bin Laden were nixed at the last minute because of various international pressures. Amazingly, the Kerry administration was set to obtain a lot of the same geniuses who ran counter-terrorism and international relations in the 1990s, the period in which the 9/11 Commission determined that the most irreparable damage had been done to the security of America. In the end, Kerry lost because of 6 poorly recieved rhetorical phrases, 4 of his own and 2 of his wife, Teresa's: 1) "global test" 2) "Mary Cheney" 3) "grand diversion" 4) "just a nuisance" 5) "shove it" and 6) "real job." Ironically, probably the most damning to undecided voters Kerry was appealing toward in the final days of the campaign was Teresa's mistaken assumption that Laura Bush, a former teacher and librarian, had not had a "real job." Doubts were already looming about Kerry's ability to handle a national security crisis. On top of it, Teresa presented herself as Marie Antoinette, the Ketchup heiress who had no job herself, except for philanthropy, but belittled the work of housewives, librarians and teachers. In the end, the electorate could not relate to John and Teresa Heinze Kerry. This election was an epic showdown between liberalism and conservatism, secularism and faith, but mostly it was a stand between freedom and fear. Like Spain, we had a referendum on terrorism: Will we hunker down and spend more on protecting ports, or go after them abroad before they hit us at home? We will go after them abroad. Most importantly, the election sends a signal to the Iraqis: We are with you, Iyad Allowi. Freedom for the Iraqi people is not a "mistake." It is not a "grand diversion." Freedom in Iraq will re-shape the Middle East. We will stay the course. We will stand with you. There is a lot of good news today. The Prime Minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair, has risked defeat in his own country to stand with Bush in the fight against terrorism. He is happy today. He said so. The President of Russia, Vlad Putin, has opposed Bush at every impass on the Iraq War, but congradulated him on victory in the election. Putin said to that failing to re-elect George Bush would be a surrender to terrorism. The Prime Ministers of Italy and Poland were overjoyed their old ally, George Bush, is back. This election means the center of gravity in Europe will shift to Poland, Italy, Great Britian and Russia. Decidedly away from France. The election of 1800, between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, has been called Jefferson's "Second Revolution," because it solidified forever the principle of states' rights within the framework of centalized government, and probably prevented America from backsliding into a monarchy. In the same way, the election of 2004, between George Bush and John Kerry, will reverberate through history. It is a defining moment. For now, the United States has lumbered away from European socialism and subservience to the United Nations. We have repelled from world government. But most importantly, like historian Paul Johnson said, the election has redefined "how far the world can rely on [us] to protect our civilization." Dictators around the world have been put on notice: We are ready. It is a revolution. Bush won more popular votes than any candidate in U.S. history. In fact, the man who wandered into infamy by losing the popular vote in 2000 has become the first candidate to win more than 50 percent of the popular vote since 1988. He was the first candidate since Franklin Roosevelt to win re-election, and expand a hold in the House of Representatives and the Senate. My friends, it is the end of the world as we know it. I feel fine. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 11th, 2004
11:36 am	Who is Winning? Liberal: The Washington Post: Bush up by 5. Newsweek Magazine: Kerry up by 2. The New York Times: Kerry and Bush tied. Moderate: Pew Poll: Bush up by 5. Gallup Poll: Kerry and Bush tied. Conservative: The Zogby Poll: Kerry up by 3. Wall Street Journal: Bush up by 5. WHO IS WINNING? (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 8th, 2004
6:12 pm	Fair and Balanced? Jobs added in September: 96,000 Jobs added in the past year: 2 million Unemployment rate (current): 5.4 Unemployment rate (in the 90s): 5.8 Headline of the New York Times: "Ahead of Debate, Jobs Report Casts Doubt on Economic Gains." I have kind of marvelled in the past 4 years how the NYTimes is the only paper that can make good news sound bad. (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 21st, 2004
7:18 pm	Jayson Blair I spent about 25 minutes on my way home today writing a song, before I realized it was already the theme song to Ally McBeal. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 24th, 2004
5:16 am	My Show Dorian Davis Celebrates Gay Pride at Trousdale! Dorian Davis emcees the Adam Barta and Brett Michael show at Trousdale Nightclub. Come out and see him wrapped in the American flag, and celebrating gay pride. Also, if you ever dated him, he will be doing a song about you. TROUSDALE - Nightclub 226 West 50th Street (212) 262-4070 Saturday, June 26th 2004 Get there around 9:30pm-10pm Dorian will be appearing around 10pm-10:30pm *There is no cover charge and no age limit! (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 16th, 2004
6:29 pm	Blog. Ladies and Gentlemen: I have decided to go to a blog. I'm still gonna post here, but I'm just gonna post show announcements, and stuff like that. If you want any of my commentary or whatnot, go here: http://doriandavis.blogspot.com/ (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, May 14th, 2004
2:50 pm	Made. I DON'T UNDERSTAND by Alex Wolf Tonight I watched a new installment of the MTV show, Made, which I have seen only a couple times in the past. As per usual, I was peeved and yet infinitely amused by it. These types of series contribute to a terrible phenomenon that will sweep a generation. That is, that everyone deserves to be famous and the work to achieve this success will be done for you. To sum it up, this white girl wanted to be on an effectively black hip-hop dance troupe for no particular reason other than to break out of a self-imposed shell. It was ridiculous. Most of these people have psychological problems, it seems, that they try to mask by going on these shows. Something is wrong with you, if you need an MTV series to muster up the courage to do something you supposedly want so badly. This leads people to understand and accept their own inadequacy. Why do something yourself when you can call MTV and they can do the work for you, to get the ball rolling! At the same time, these people who accept their inadequacy will still likely feel they deserve to be or get whatever it is they want. As well, as per usual, the person trying to be magically Made was fat and, of course, wanted to do something skinny people are better suited for. This seems to be a trend whenever I watch the show, which admittedly has only been about four episodes. What is MTV trying to say by this? The show was amusing for many other reasons. For one thing, the girl was about as 'street' as I am - which sho ain't much. As I look at her, I would think she would be better suited for hip hoppin' over to the Dairy Queen to fix Blizzards. She didn't know a damn thing about hip-hop and everyone could see that. Much like the tired cliche, she was instructed to sassily snap her fingers and dramatically kick her leg back before she turned around to leave the room, in the name of demonstrating 'hip-hop diva attitude'. Not surprisingly, she wore an inappropriate get-up to the dance troupe teams' audition. At least we, viewers, were spared and she didn't come out looking like Lil Kim. Instead, her look was sort of Avril-meets-Pink. The duds came from Hot Topic, which explains everything. (Hot Topic is a mall chain for faux-goths) Although I like some reality shows (Amazing Race esp.), the way in which they are making everyone believe that they have the stuff to become famous is a bit sickening. Some people shouldn't be Made. No one is ever going to be satisfied with being a nobody! What is a viewer supposed to get out of watching Made? I don't understand. Am I supposed to feel inadequate in some field I do not belong to as well? I can't close this entry without stating the obvious: What MTV needs to be Made into is a cable network that actually plays *music videos*. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 29th, 2004
8:10 pm	A Raisin in the Sun "RAISIN" AND FALLING by Peggy Noonan Every now and then you witness a small moment that is actually a big moment. Maybe it alerts you to something surprising that's going on, or maybe it illustrates what you already know but in a new way, one that can't be dodged or avoided. It happened to me the other day at a play, a press preview of the Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansbury's Raisin in the Sun. I love this play. I've seen it several times, but I hadn't seen it in years when I settled into my seat. It has gotten more attention than most shows, mostly because it features the Broadway debut of rap mogul P. Diddy, the former Puff Daddy, who apparently has decided to go by his birth name, Sean Combs. That's how he's listed in the playbill. I hadn't realized when I first saw it, decades ago, and saw the movie, also decades ago, that Raisin was a landmark play. But it is. It captures with wit and heart a great moment in time. It tells of a black family living on the cusp of cultural liberation in 1950s America. We see them face questions of daily life--what is it to be a man, what is familial loyalty?--as they wrestle with great cultural questions. Shall we, as black Americans, assimilate and become like white Americans? Can we turn back to our African roots to find the truth of our people? Does the older generation have a clue what kind of changes are sweeping the young, or are they too busy surviving to feel the winds of change? Are they in the habit of second-class citizenship? The family whose story is told is an intact nuclear family. It is clear they are not special because they are intact and functioning--they're average, like everyone else. Everyone works hard--cleaning woman, chauffer--and everyone has dreams. Phylicia Rashad as the mother is transcendent. She is going to make you cry. She's a great actress, and I didn't know it. I thought she was just a persona with a particular kind of dignity, but she is an artist. Audra McDonald as a young woman married to a ne'er-do-well son is equally brilliant. Sean Combs on the other hand is not a person of artistic talent. The problem is not that he acts like a high school sophomore, though he does--he registers surprise by bulging his eyes and making an O with his mouth. It's that the thing for which he has become famous--strutting and rapping with a jaded slack-jawed look--is not a facet of his talent but the whole of it. When he sings a snatch of song you realize, Oh my God, he can't even sing. I thought rappers could sing but choose not to. Who knew? But here's a funny thing: there's something moving in it when you realize that he made it as a star in America through sheer will, through a bulldozer's determination. That also is something you get from God, and he got a lot. It took guts for him to do Broadway and bring new people into the theater for the first time, so I suspect he'll get a pass from the critics. This play is going to be a hit because he's in it. But I must tell you of the small moment that was actually a big moment. (There's a possible spoiler coming up, so if you don't know the story and mean to see the play, stop here.) An important moment in the plot is when a character announces she is pregnant, and considering having an abortion. In fact, she tells her mother-in-law, she's already put $5 down with the local abortionist. It is a dramatic moment. And you know as you watch it that when this play came out in 1960 it was received by the audience as a painful moment--a cry of pain from a woman who's tired of hoping that life will turn out well. But this is the thing: Our audience didn't know that. They didn't understand it was tragic. They heard the young woman say she was about to end the life of her child, and they applauded. Some of them cheered. It was stunning. The reaction seemed to startle the actors on stage, and shake their concentration. I was startled. I turned to my friend. "We have just witnessed a terrible cultural moment," I said. "Don't I know it," he responded. And I can't tell you how much that moment hurt. To know that the members of our audience didn't know that the taking of a baby's life is tragic--that the taking of your own baby's life is beyond tragic, is almost operatic in its wailing woe. But our audience didn't know. They reacted as if abortion were a political question. They thought that the fact that the young woman was considering abortion was a sign of liberation. They thought this cry of pain was in fact a moment of self-actualizing growth. Lorraine Hansbury died in the mid-1960s when she was only 35 years old. She would be surprised perhaps by how some of the dramatic themes she introduced played out. The whole play is about moral choices--taking chances to make things better. She had a moral mind. She thought the great question of her time was whether the different races in America could learn to treat each other with justice and grace. I can't imagine she'd guess that members of an eager audience in the year 2004 would have become such moral dullards that we wouldn't understand something as basic as an abortion, and what it is. If she were alive now I wonder if she would be surprised, or shocked, that that moment no longer worked as a dramatic plot point because the audience had changed so much in its understanding of the basics. So much progress followed the 1960s, in so many ways, but applauding abortion isn't progress. It's ugly. And I'm writing this with an odd little hope. That you might go see this great play, and when the moment comes that the young woman announces she might end the life of the child she is carrying, that you would sit quietly and think about what that moment means. And if anyone cheers or hoots or hollers, give them a look. Let them see your silence. Lead with it. Help the people around you realize: Something big is being spoken of here. And we know what it is. And it is nothing good. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, April 9th, 2004
10:05 pm	My Show. MTV's Dorian Davis and Pop Singer Adam Barta: Live at Last! Sunday, April 25th @ 9pm The Duplex Cabaret Theatre 61 Christopher Street @ 7th Avenue $5. Reservations: (212) 255-5438 (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, March 19th, 2004
10:50 am	The Price of Freedom in Iraq BY DONALD RUMSFELD This week, as we mark the one-year anniversary of the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, it is useful to recount why we have fought. Not long ago I visited South Korea, just as the Korean government was debating whether to send troops to Iraq. In Seoul, I was interviewed by a Korean journalist who was almost certainly too young to have firsthand recollection of the Korean War. She asked me, "Why should Koreans send their young people halfway around the globe to be killed or wounded in Iraq?" As it happened, I had that day visited a Korean War memorial, which bears the names of every American soldier killed in the war. On it was the name of a close friend of mine from high school, a wrestling teammate, who was killed on the last day of the war. I said to the reporter: "It's a fair question. And it would have been fair for an American to ask, 50 years ago, `Why should young Americans go halfway around the world to be killed or wounded in Korea?' " We were speaking on an upper floor of a large hotel in Seoul. I asked the woman to look out the window — at the lights, the cars, the energy of the vibrant economy of South Korea. I told her about a satellite photo of the Korean peninsula, taken at night, that I keep on a table in my Pentagon office. North of the demilitarized zone there is nothing but darkness — except a pinprick of light around Pyongyang — while the entire country of South Korea is ablaze in light, the light of freedom. Korean freedom was won at a terrible cost — tens of thousands of lives, including more than 33,000 Americans killed in action. Was it worth it? You bet. Just as it was worth it in Germany and France and Italy and in the Pacific in World War II. And just as it is worth it in Afghanistan and Iraq today. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 11th, 2004
2:17 am	You Can't Have It All YOU CANT HAVE IT ALL BY BARBARA RAS But you can have...the touch of a single 11-year-old finger on your cheek, waking you at 1 a.m. to say the hamster is back. You can have the purr of the cat and the soulful look of the black dog. You can have love. You can speak a foreign language, sometimes, and it can mean something. You can visit the marker on the grave where your father wept openly. You can't bring back the dead, but you can have the words forgive and forget hold hands as if they meant to spend a lifetime together. And you can be grateful for makeup, the way it kisses your face, grateful for Mozart, his many notes racing one another towards joy, for towels sucking up the drops on your clean skin, and for deeper thirsts, for passion fruit, for saliva. You can have your grandfather, sitting on the side of your bed, at least for a while. You can't count on grace to pick you out of a crowd, but here is your friend to tell you how to high-jump how to throw yourself over the bar, backwards, until you learn about love, about sweet surrender. And when adulthood fails you, you can still summon the memory of the black swan on the pond of your childhood, the rye bread with peanut bitter and bananas your grandmother gave you while the rest of the family slept. There is the voice you can still summon at will, like your mother's. it will always whisper, you can't have it all, but there is this. ___________________________________________ GOD IN HAWAII BY BARBARA RAS And God was there in the dark when I woke sleepless... I saw God in the hot lava at dusk, unzipping the mountain, God above in the pink sky, and in the air between the color of sweet potato. I saw God in the 82 year old woman who sold us leis at the airport and flexed her bicepts to prove to us she bowls every Tuesday. I saw God in the breath parting my daughter's lips before she woke, and I saw God in each and every Hawaiian vowel and in the feeling I got from touching Alfred's arm, as if little God's were racing up and down, lighting torches all over the property. I kept on seeing God everywhere, dancing in a grass skirt, strumming a ukulele, why not in me? __________________________________________ THE SADNESS OF CHANGE BY BARBARA RAS Now there's another child in the kitchen chair, tilting it back on two legs, and it's you pleading, Please don't dip your head closer to the floor that way, tempting gravity, that old bring-down that'll get you in the end. Or else there you are on the edge of a pasture, your chin resting on a wooden fence that comes right up to cradle it. Beyond in the low range of hills, cows are quietly getting smaller, none of them coming home. (Comment on this)
Monday, March 1st, 2004
3:08 pm	9-1-1 This is a 911 call: Caller: Hey, somebody's trying to break into a house out here and they got stuck in a window. Dispatcher: Okay, what's the address? Caller: I don't know what the address is. Dispatcher: You don't know what the address is? Caller: I'm the one stuck in the window. Dispatcher: Oh you're the one stuck in the window. Caller: Yeah. Dispatcher: You're breaking into yout own house? Caller: No, I'm breaking into someone elses'. Dispatcher: Oh. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 19th, 2004
4:03 pm	Love Pro(FUSE)-sion There's a Paul McCartney song--that came back in Moulin Rouge--that goes, "You'd think the people would have had enough of silly love songs" but I look around and see it isn't so, cause William Hung of American Idol--known for a bad version of "She Bangs"--got a record deal, and a video on FUSE. Now I said for months that a person with no talent could be fun, and nobody listened to me, and now William Hung's done "Rocket Man" on Ellen, cause what's good about him is that anybody can do what he does, and that's why it's fun. I was gonna do a stunt on TRL one day where I sang "I'm a Slave 4 You" in the shower and they taped it, and the guy who was producing it came up to me and told me that I didn't know the words and he'd have to find somebody else. . .and I thought it was sad cause I had a lot of the moves worked out and I thought it would be funny. And sure enough, when they saw the people in the shower everybody voted for the guy who was funny, and nobody for the good ones. So I'm not shocked by the Will Hung thing, and--if he moves anything like he did on Idol, then I can't wait for the video, and in the meantime: williamhung.net (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 4th, 2004
7:16 pm	Get Real I was on a show a few months ago, The Real World Theatre--and I'd never seen an episode of The Real World--and the point of the show was that me and a few of my friends would sit around and watch Battle of the Sexes and kinda make comments about it while it played. They didn't show us a tape of the show; We had to pretend it was there. I saw a clip of it--it's the cast of a couple of shows, The Real World and Road Rules, paired up by sexes and doing some kind of stunts and voting eachother off. It's kinda like Survivor. But it's silly too--and it got cancelled--so I kinda just forgot about it. Then one day a few months later I saw a special called The Real World Unmasked, where Danny from New Orleans came out with his boyfriend, Paul, who was in the military and had his face blurred out for the original run of the show. Now to be honest, I thought it was silly cause I wasn't sitting here for the past 3 years wondering what Paul looked like, and I still don't care. But I got all these emails--after I said that on the show one day--from people who wanted me to know what a big thing it was that Danny had brought up the issue of gays in the military. I got a lot of stuff about Pedro Zamora too--he was on the early 90s, and kinda put a face on AIDS. I had never thought about that, but behind that show was a message that was getting out to people that related to these guys. Now I don't think Danny's a "hero," but Pedro was, and both of them were a part of it. And, you know, behind every good man is a good woman--it's so true--and this time it was Mary-Ellis Bunim, the creator of the show. She died this week, and I thought it would be good to say bye to Mary-Ellis by letting her know that she changed a lot of people in good--and unintended--ways. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004
3:14 pm	Boobs in the News "Janet Jackson said she decided to add 'the reveal' following the final rehearsal, which I found pretty shocking. Not the reveal -- the fact that the number in question was actually rehearsed." (Comment on this)
Monday, February 2nd, 2004
6:27 pm	Oh, Stop. I walk onset: "Oh my God! It's you! I watch you all the time!" --Travis Wester of Eurotrip So now I go see Eurotrip. (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 1st, 2004
1:35 pm	You Can't Do That On TV You know, when Meryl Streep stopped the show at the Golden Globes to talk about what's going on in the world, I couldn't help but think, "Why?" Her heart's in the right place, but let's say EVERYBODY took a minute out of the show to talk about who they're gonna vote for? We'd be there all night, and--not only that--it's distracting from the whole reason for the night, which is acting. Speak up. But do it in the right place.
Tuesday, January 27th, 2004
9:32 pm	The Year of Living Dangerously One thing you notice about the Oscars--or any awards show--are all the people that have been together, and aren't now. That was apparent at the Golden Globes: Nicole was there without Tom Cruise; Tom was there without her. Dianne Keaton was there, but without Al Pacino (she dated him in the 70s), and Al was there without her. Brittany Murphy was there; Ashton Kutcher was too, but not with her. It's like an episode of Dawson's Creek: They're all friends. It's bound to happen when you're locked in a room with somebody doing a scene for two days, and it happens to a lot of people in one way or another. But it also explains how somebody gets an Oscar and we sit at home--kinda unimpressed with the talent--and say, "What the hell?" The best example of that was the Julia Roberts win for Erin Brockovitch. It's a great movie, and Julia--in fairness--took a risk. But it wasn't a real risk. It was more like. . .a movie that wasn't a romantic comedy. I thought she was great, but Ellen Burstyn was up for Requiem for a Dream, and when you put a woman getting shock therapy up against a woman saying, "They're called boobs, Ed" it makes for a simple choice. So I don't think anybody cast a ballot to say that Julia was actually better than Ellen Burstyn. . .I think they might have thought, "Ellen already has one (for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore), and Julia's been around for a while and she's sweet, so. . .ok, here ya go." And it's fine. It happened to Russell Crowe when he got it for Gladiator (and not The Insider or A Beautiful Mind), and the most famous ever was Marissa Tomei, who got it for My Cousin Vinny. I think about Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously (she played an Asian man in a movie about a reporter on that side of the world), and I didn't even know she was a white girl until the end of the movie. And now I watch the Oscars and think about her, and then look up and see Marissa get it for My Cousin Vinny and think, "What the hell have they come to?" When I was in high school, we had an awards show in the drama club and we--pretty much--gave it all to our friends. And, with that, we're back to the show this year: The winners are probably gonna be all friends, like the Penn/Robbins/Sarandon/Baldwin/Harrelson/Garofalo/Sheen/Streisand/Brolin ratpack, and that's okay--it's how it is--so here's who I think has it: BEST ACTOR Sean Penn--Mystic River BEST ACTRESS Charlize Theron--Monster BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Tim Robbins--Mystic River BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Renee Zellweger--Cold Mountain BEST PICTURE Lord of the Rings And here's who should have it: BEST ACTOR: Bill Murray--Lost in Translation BEST ACTRESS: Charlize Theron--Monster BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Djimon Hounsou--In America BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Renee Zellweger--Cold Mountain BEST PICTURE: Mystic River But. . .I wouldn't put money on should. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 25th, 2004
1:11 am	Black or White My two-year-old niece, on Michael Jackson: "I don't like that girl." (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, January 24th, 2004
5:55 pm	Real Bad. The hot dog place won't deliver to me now cause last time I called I said, "I want a hot dog real bad" and they thought it was a prank. (3 Comments |Comment on this)