Douglas Berger's Open Salon Blog

Dusting Off The Cobwebs Of My Corrs Page

Wed, 23 May 2012 04:05:46 -0400

The Corrs

Before I started using WordPress and having a blog, I use to hand code static HTML web pages for my web site. The other day I decided to go through the tribute pages I did for some of the music and film people I like. The first refreshed tribute page is for one of my favorite bands – The Corrs.

When I converted over to a blog the tribute pages were the only ones I didn’t bring over and they have been online so long I really didn’t want to mess around with redirects to move them into the blog. So I am taking each page and rebuilding them from scratch with fresh links, images, and some of the new CSS tricks I’ve learned while building themes for this blog.

Check it out:

You can find links to the other tribute pages in the Other Links box at the bottom of the page. Just remember they won’t all be refreshed yet.

In a Corrs mood

Tags: fan page, HTML, refresh, rehab, The Corrs, tribute

New And Fresh: Famous Findlayians Page

Sat, 19 May 2012 01:05:11 -0400

I wanted to do something to celebrate the bicentennial of my hometown Findlay, Ohio. I decided to totally redo my Famous Findlayian web page. I gutted it and rebuilt it with fresh css, a splash of color, replacing some images with better ones, a new masthead image, and a couple of new additions to the list. Check it out.

Here is an example of a new person added to my cyber hall-of-fame:

Peggy Kirk Bell (b. 1921: Professional golfer & instructor) an early member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and renowned golf instructor. Won winning three Ohio Amateurs and the 1949 Titleholders Championship and North and South Women’s Amateur. She was also a member of the 1950 U.S. Curtis Cup team before turning professional. Born in Findlay.

Check it out:
Famous Findlayians and others from Hancock County Ohio

Tags: celebrities, famous people, Findlay Ohio Bicentennial, Hancock county Ohio, History, Ohio, people of interest, Sports

Girls Guide To Depravity? Not So Much…

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:05:11 -0400

Sally Golan & Rebecca Blumhagen – stars of The Girl’s Guide to Depravity

The other day I watched a few episodes of the Cinemax After Dark series ‘The Girl’s Guide to Depravity’, based on a Internet blog. While the premise was interesting and the two leads are attractive, the show was a turn off for me. Believe it or not, the main thing against the show are the sex scenes. They aren’t needed and take away from the plot of the show.

When I was a kid one of the things we use to do was try to watch Cinemax Friday After Dark because that’s when they showed the soft core porn. It was all simulated sex (no penetration) but we didn’t care because it was more than we had experienced or known about at the time. The other thing about the Friday After Dark shows, many were also explicit sex comedies. I don’t hate sex comedies in general – check out the classic “Porky’s” – but soft core porn comedies are usually very bad.

‘The Girl’s Guide to Depravity’ has better production values than the usual Cinemax porn but for some reason the worst part of the show are the sex scenes. Those scenes didn’t really add anything to the plot.

The leads are decent actors. Rebecca Blumhagen who played Samantha and Sally Golan who played Lizzie do a good job with the rest of the non-sex parts of the plot. Both are attractive and natural looking which is better than 90% of the Cinemax porn I’ve seen before.

However, the main characters are hard to sympathize with because Samantha makes many bad choices and Lizzie gives terrible advice. Ironically, Lizzie doesn’t have much better relationship success than Samantha. It’s like the blind leading the blind.

One good part in the sex scenes is when the guys are shown putting on condoms.

If you have Cinemax and have nothing else to do, check out the show. I would use a DVR and fast forward through the sex scenes.

‘The Girl’s Guide to Depravity’ Clip

No related posts.

Tags: cable television, Cinemax After Dark, Rebecca Blumhagen, Sally Golan, sex comedy, The Girl's Guide to Depravity

Day Of Prayer Proclamations Unconstitutional In Colorado

Sat, 12 May 2012 23:05:50 -0400

A three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled unanimously, on May 10th, that Day of Prayer proclamations by the Governor are unconstitutional. The court didn’t address the National Day of Prayer but the reasoning can be applied to that law: “A reasonable observer would conclude that these proclamations send the message that those who pray are favored members of Colorado’s political community, and that those who do not pray do not enjoy that favored status.”

The case was brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation in 2008:

Judge Steve Bernard, with concurrences by Judges Alan Loeb and Nancy Lichtenstein, overturned a lower court decision, ruling in favor of FFRF’s challenge of Colorado Day of Prayer proclamations: “A reasonable observer would conclude that these proclamations send the message that those who pray are favored members of Colorado’s political community, and that those who do not pray do not enjoy that favored status.”

Bernard wrote that “the six Colorado Day of Prayer proclamations [2004-09] at issue here are governmental conduct that violate the Preference Clause [of the Religious Freedom section of Colorado’s Constitution].” The content is “predominantly religious; they lack a secular context; and their effect is government endorsement of religion as preferred over nonreligion.”

The proclamations “have the primary or principal effect of endorsing religious beliefs because they convey or attempt to convey a message that religion or a particular religious belief is favored or preferred.” The 74-page decision noted that the “inclusion of biblical verses and religious themes,” statements urging “that individuals will unite in prayer” and the governor’s signature, imprimatur and seal make “no doubt here that the religious message is attributed to the Governor.”

Gubernatorial Colorado Day of Prayer proclamations unconstitutional

The lower court ruling that was overturned in this decision said that people wouldn’t think the Governor supported the ideas in proclamations he issued. Of course that reasoning is wrong.

A few years ago my local Humanist group asked the Columbus mayor to issue a proclamation honoring Charles Darwin Day. Why? So we could say the Mayor and the city supported Evolution.

Anyone who says they ask for the proclamation for no real reason are lying. The Colorado Court of Appeals agreed.

Tags: Colorado, Day of Prayer, Freedom from Religion Foundation, Governor, National Day of Prayer, proclamations

Even A Celebrity Tabloid Show Can Be A Prude: Show Censors Time Cover

Sat, 12 May 2012 14:05:43 -0400

This week Time magazine created a storm by having a nursing mother on its cover to highlight a story about attachment parenting. Some people lost their minds over the picture that was not obscene unless you think a mother nursing their child is obscene. A celebrity tabloid TV show, not known for general decorum in their stories seemed to find something it wouldn’t hype. The show censored the Time cover, pixelizating the point where the child is suckling. What drama over a natural human behavior.

The celebrity TV show “The Insider” had a couple of stories on the Time cover and the “debate” about it. However, every time the image of the cover was shown – even on video from other TV shows, the cover was censored. It was pixelizated at the point the child was suckling.

Screencap of censored cover:

Here is a larger version of the uncensored cover (click on the image to view the full sized cover):

I understand that some people don’t agree with breastfeeding a child who is three years old or more but to censor a photo that wasn’t obscene is ridiculous. There was no nudity shown.

Women’s breasts aren’t automatically obscene so adding the pixelization actually is being judgmental by saying that “yes, this is not appropriate” without allowing for the viewer or reader to decide.

My guess is that people who get the vapors over public breastfeeding are the same ones who are upset by gay people. They have some hidden kink about breastfeeding and seeing images or seeing it in public tends to crank them up.

Breastfeeding is a natural behavior and should be celebrated and encouraged – not hidden by censorship.

Tags: attachment parenting, boobs, breastfeeding, celebrity-industrial complex, censorship, children, controversy, natural human behavior, raising children, tabloid television, The Insider, Time magazine