Empowerment beats Guilt! Five Steps From You to War is a Finalist in the YouTube Come Clean 4 Congo contest!

Awesome! My video Five Steps from You to War is one of three finalists in the YouTube Come Clean 4 Congo contest. The prize is a trip to L.A. for a red carpet event featuring the videos during the Hollywood Film Festival. Go to this link (http://www.youtube.com/user/ENOUGHproject) click VOTE and give my video (the black & white one) a thumbs up. For extra credit, give the other two finalists a thumbs-down!



Obviously, I'm excited about playing a part in bringing awareness to this issue. Regular readers of this blog (I love all three of you!) will note that this subject is very similar to the plot of my novel, Where Did This Come From? http://tinyurl.com/wdtcf

On top of the importance of the issue, I'm also juiced about potential networking opportunities making the finals (and a victory!) may provide for my writing.

The three judges are Hollywood people not to be sneezed at: Ryan Gosling (Nominated for Academy Award for Half Nelson and also co-starred with Anthony Hopkins aka Hannibal Lecter in Fracture.) Then there is Sonya Walger (Penny Widmore from Lost, yo!) and Wim Wenders, who I am not too familiar with but he's directed at least a bazillion movies. Those three liked my video, and I'm honored just from that, but I'd like to tell them in person. That's where you come in.

So please go to the YouTube contest page (here's the link again: http://www.youtube.com/user/ENOUGHproject) click the VOTE button and give my video a green thumbs-up. Learn a bit about your cell phone's history and do me a favor I'll forever owe you one for! Please tell your friends. And tell your friends' friends. Tell your enemies, family and complete strangers! Mobilize your social networks! Thank you for your help. P.S. You are awesome!

Here's my director's statement about the video:

1. I wanted something using modern cell phone communication methods (text message shorthand and icons.)

2. I wanted something that showed five easy steps, so you can see the close connection between you and the war.

3. I wanted to stick with five so you can memorize them just by counting the fingers on your hand, which also conveniently holds your phone.

4. I was pleased that the explanation of the problem is described three times in three different ways in under 60 seconds.

5. The call to action: It's of utmost importance when advocating any kind of consumer activism to not simply end with guilt. In the industrialized world, we are all consumers and have no choice about it. You should first bring attention to the problem, that will activate people's concern, and then say, if you're angry about this, here's what you can do. Empowerment is more effective than guilt.

Come Clean 4 Congo! Text "congopledge" to ACTION (228466) to find out more.



Thanks for your support. I'll give your regards to Hollywood!

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Larry Nocella is the author of the novel Where Did This Come From? The world's first CarbonFree(R) novel according to Carbonfund.org. The book is available on Amazon.com as a paperback and Kindle eBook. It is also available for other eBook readers. For more info, visit LarryNocella.com.

Bruno ist maschterpeizen du satiren! (Translated from German: Bruno is a masterpiece of satire!)

Saw Bruno this weekend. Loved it for many reasons. Primarily because it was outrageous. I also like the blend of scripted scenes and absurd interviews. You can never quite tell what's real and what's staged. Like Fox News.

I recently went on a liberal-leaning website (The Huffington Post) and found myself laughing at all the comments complaining about how they feel Bruno reinforces gay stereotypes. They were in fact, reinforcing the stereotype that liberals are a bunch of humorless analysts who can't cease promoting their agenda for even one second, even to laugh at an obvious over-the-top parody from someone clearly on their side.

The fact is that Bruno is a masterpiece of satire. All topics are fair game, but more than homophobia, the movie hits the phenomenon of celebrity: its insincerity, the self-destructive (and destructive to others) lust for it, its obliviousness to hypocrisy.

Cohen's satire smokes The Onion's groin-kick obviousness or The Simpson's spoon-feeding subversion. Why? Because Bruno shows by example. Witness Paula Abdul live as she talks about human dignity while sitting on the back of a Mexican. Note the consultants advising Bruno on the hottest charity to get into so as to become famous-er. Feel your jaw drop as you watch show-biz parents willing to pimp their children out at any cost.

This behind-the-scenes look at the Fame Industry is eye-opening enough to be almost documentary-worthy.

With every work of satire comes complaints that boiled to their essence are concerns that people are going to take the work seriously and incorporate it into their world-view. The role of knee-jerk is currently being played by GLAAD, who despite their admirable agenda, are pushing the complaint that Bruno reinforces gay stereotypes.

So surely GLAAD must be violently opposed to the Bravo network, where every other show features gay people as fashion-designers, interior-designers or hair-designers. No such luck. A quick (and admittedly lazy) search on their site finds an essay titled Where We Are on TV: 2007 - 2008 that calls Bravo "The gold standard of LGBT representation on reality shows." (Link.)

But I'm not here to pick an internet brawl with an organization I mostly admire. I'm here to say that Bruno is a great film, funny and clever and ridiculous all at once. It even takes a few shots at homophobia, as Bruno visits gay-converters, taunts the cruel "God Hates Fags" people, and pulls the ultimate prank on a proudly straight crowd expecting a cage fight.

The real target of Bruno was fame and those who reach for it.

Now for some humility. The Huffington Post's Guide to Blogging instructs bloggers to "write on top of the news." That is, in order to get more site hits, you should hitch your blog to a rising news story, which I just did. So, despite my critiques, I suppose I'm not immune from fame-lust either. Bruno was right!

Ach mein suchen butockenkopf! (Translated from the German: I'm such a butt head!)

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Larry Nocella is the author of the novel Where Did This Come From? The world's first CarbonFree(R) novel according to Carbonfund.org. The book is available on Amazon.com as a paperback and Kindle eBook. It is also available for other eBook readers. For more info, visit LarryNocella.com.

How many times do you have to have gay sex before you're officially gay? (or, Change isn't always good, but that's no reason to be a judgmental jerk)

There are just way too many clichés designed to discourage experimentation with your life, your identity and your habits.

When you're young, whatever you feel like doing is not really what you feel like doing. It's described by others as just a phase. When you're older, anytime you try something new, it's a trend. Then you're going through teenage rebellion. Then you're finding yourself. When you're older still, you're not trying to enjoy life's infinite variety, you're going through a mid-life crisis.

Can't someone just do something new because they feel like it and not have it categorized like a mental illness? Isn't it okay if something is a passing phase, why are the above clichés packed with such scornful judgment?

I mean really, can't a dude wear a dress once in a while just to try it? Does that make him a transvestite? Surely there must be a limit on how many times you can have gay sex and still not be officially gay. Please say it's more than ten times so I don't have to change my Facebook profile… to Republican.

Where is the line between a passing phase and your identity? Isn't any experimentation a part of your identity anyway?

I've never understood the mocking of our past selves for harmless preferences or even noble goals. How many times have you experienced some variant of this conversation: Oh my gosh, did we really used to X? (Where X equals any previous activity now discarded: wear legwarmers, listen to [a band fallen from fame], use gallons of hairspray, aspire to be vegan, try to live off the land, etc.)

Why is a phase sometimes viewed with such reverent awe (see Piccasso's Blue Period) and other times viewed with such mocking disdain (see glam metal)?

One of the rare clichés I know of that supports change is the dogmatic, and therefore wrong statement, "All change is good." That one is best debunked visually, as seen below.

[Cartoon first published in QECE #3 page 3.]

This rant got started because I wanted to kick off my new website logo and blog name with an explanation, but there's not much to say except that I want to have more fun. I didn't like the old stuffy design, and I wanted a more snazzy title. I wanted the posts to be shorter and to gravitate away from gravitas and drift toward more fun.

Then I ditched the idea of posting about the rebranding (as it's called in the dot biz) because the last thing the world needs is a blog entry talking about the blog itself. Whoops.

So, is calling my blog The Semi-True Adventures of Lar just a passing phase? Almost certainly. Is it part of who I am? Almost definitely.

Clichés usually annoy me, because they're levers pulled by the reflexive and lazy mind, but there are some I can live with, like this: Variety is the spice of life, suckas.

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Larry Nocella is the author of the novel Where Did This Come From? The world's first CarbonFree(R) novel according to Carbonfund.org. The book is available on Amazon.com as a paperback and Kindle eBook. It is also available for other eBook readers. For more info, visit LarryNocella.com.

Rare Find! A Funny Michael Jackson joke!

I don't like to make jokes when people die, I mean, death is serious and sad. Frankly, it sucks. Except maybe when it comes to Hitler. Anyway, I couldn't help but trying to come up with a joke about MJ's passing.

Imagine my surprise when, upon sharing this joke with friends, a joke I wrote, the response was not the usual why-am-I-your-friend-again? look, they actually laughed! You like me! You really like me! Or at least tolerate me!

In fact, most friends were so impressed they insisted that I put this joke on my blog as a way of stamping my authorship on it, so when you hear it on Bill Maher, The Daily Show, or Late Nite with Comedian X, you'll know I'm not lying when I say I wrote it. I'm copyrightin' this bad-boy, gonna be rich soon.

Okay. Okay. So you made up a funny joke. Shut up and tell it.

Sorry, voice in my head. Here goes. Enjoy.


Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett both arrived at the pearly gates at the same time.

St. Peter said to Farrah: "So what did you do in your time on earth?"

Farrah said, "On TV, I played an angel."

St. Peter said, "You may enter. We always welcome those who portray the kingdom of heaven."

St. Peter turned to Michael Jackson and said, "So what did you do in your time on earth?"

Michael Jackson said, "Well, I slept with a lot of children."

St. Peter said, "You may enter. We always welcome Catholic priests."

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Larry Nocella writes The Semi-True Adventures of Lar blog at LarryNocella.com. He's the author of the novel Where Did This Come From? The world's first CarbonFree(R) novel according to Carbonfund.org. The book is available on Amazon.com as a paperback and Kindle eBook. It is also available for other eBook readers.