Isis loves the feel of crossed words.

Fosco and Oz have a cat named Isis. She's very odd.

Isis sez: "Three letter word for dinner is 'nom.'"

Boyfriend Oz's New Obsession

Fosco's boyfriend Oz has a new hobby: toys! And by toys, Fosco means adult toys. No, not that kind of adult toys. Rather, a kind of adult toy known as Mighty Muggs by Hasbro (they also make kids toys). Mighty Muggs (as you can see to the right) are chubby plastic things (made from 100% recycled awesome, and they come in both Star Wars and Marvel varieties (as well as Indiana Jones, but I mean really... who cares!).

Oz started collecting the Star Wars Muggs (admittedly, at Fosco's suggestion) and has now moved on to the Marvel characters. He now has 12 or so. So far, our rule is to only purchase the Muggs at retail establishments (like Target and Toys Russe) and not on Ebay (at collectable-prices). But at some point, Fosco may have to shell out some big bucks on the internet to get Oz's beloved Darth Vader.

Here's a pic of Oz trying to look tough alongside two of his recent acquisitions, Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress:


Now if Fosco could get Oz to actually take them out of their boxes...

Fosco Left his Heart in Iceland

Fosco has been to Iceland twice and he loves it. They have super moody music, gorgeous landscape (no trees!), and a surprisingly vibrant national literature.

And how can you not love a country that has 100% literacy? That organizes its phone book by first name? That ferments sharks underground and then eats them?

Iceland rawks.

Sadly, though, Iceland has had a wee bit of trouble recently. Thanks to the world-wide crisis in weird financial derivatives, Iceland's banking system has collapsed. As the NYTimes reports, almost two weeks ago,

the government took over the last of three major banks and shut down the stock exchange.

Trading in the Icelandic krona ceased, with foreign banks no longer willing to take the currency — even at what seemed like bargain rates.

This is bad stuff (and not just for Iceland).

Can you imagine what would happen in the US if our banking system collapsed? How would you and your neighbors react? (Here's Fosco's guess.) However, the Icelandic people are responding in ways that only make Fosco love them more.

The BBC has it covered. It turns out that Icelanders are handling it all with the poise and equanimity of a Barack Obama:

A few passers-by [in Iceland] commented that, actually, things were perhaps not that bad. They didn't have any money anyway, so they had nothing to lose.

And how about the angry rioting mobs? Well, not quite:

By midday a crowd of Icelanders had gathered in the square in front of parliament to show unity, they said - stressing that this was certainly not a protest.

And to some degree that was what it felt like - people coming together for moral support.

As Icelandic rock star Bubbi Morthens notes:

"They feel that this gathering, and friends and family and love, are important. This is not a time for anger."

Can you see now why Fosco finds Icelanders to be so refreshing? So, take a moment today to send some money to the Iceland rescue!

Mormon Education Is A FRAUD.

That's right, Fosco used the F-word. And he's going to use it again:

FRAUD.

As in, "Mormon Education is a FRAUD."

Oh, and by "Mormon Education," he means Mormo State University (aka, BYU).

You may remember the nifty little calendar called "Mormons Exposed," featuring some shirtless Mormon missionary beefcake. The calendar really wasn't to Fosco's taste, but as Fosco had a college roommate with a raging hard-on for Mormons, Fosco was pleased that such a calendar exists. Not so the Mormon Church, who promptly excommunicated the calendar maker, Chad Hardy.

But now (and here's where we get to the FRAUD part), it turns out that BYU has revoked Hardy's academic degree. According to the report,

A Sept. 30 letter from Norman B. Finlinson, the school's executive director of student academic and advisement services, said a nonacademic hold was placed on Hardy's record after the church-owned university learned of the excommunication.

"If in the future you are reinstated as a member of the church in good standing, you are invited to contact my office regarding your possible eligibility for the awarding of a degree," Finlinson wrote.

Now I recognize that this kind of thing probably happens all the time at places like Bob Jones University (aka, BJU... teehee! I think I've seen that movie) or Bethel College. But at a (supposedly) national-caliber research university that is only too pleased to brag about the religious diversity of its student body? Ridiculous! I'm not sure we should be calling BYU a university anymore. So, from now on, Fosco promises to refer to that place only as BY"U" (and yes, when he does so in conversation, he will use air quotes).

Why do Mormons want to ruin everything?

HSM Week: VanHudge Lives Better than You Do

Now that you've seen too much of High School Musical 3 star Vanessa Hudgens, you can imagine that semi-nude teen puttering around her very own house (recession be damned!).

It's in LA, it cost almost three million, and it sounds pretty shmoove:

There are six bedrooms and 6 1/2 bathrooms in 5,200 square feet. The property has a Pebble Tec pool and spa, waterfalls, cabana and a barbecue island. The kitchen has Thermador appliances and copper sinks. There is a wine cellar with glass doors and Mexican wrought iron.

Six bedrooms. Just think about how many scented candles and Christmas lights she'll use to decorate!

Isis tries to mail herself

Fosco and Oz have a cat named Isis. She's not quite right.


Isis sez: "Please send me to Pope, please. He like kitties."

HSM Week: VanHudge Revealed!

In honor of HSM Week here at Fosco Lives!, Fosco is pleased to remind you what High School Musical 3 star Vanessa Hudgens looks like with most of her clothes off.


And yes, it's real.

BTW, I think Clarence Thomas would really like her.

There are really only two ways to drink Coke...

You have to admire the rhetorical skills of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Clemons Thomas. After all, this is the man who asked that timeless question: "Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?" Truly, that was a question that defined a generation. (N.B.: the answer is her).

Now Justice Thomas has offered new guidance for our troubled times in a lecture helpfully entitled "How to Read the Constitution" (hint: it starts with "We"). You can find Justice Thomas's speech here (if you don't mind the Wall Street Journal cooties on your browser).

For me, the highlight of Justice Thomas's lecture is this remarkable sentence:

Let me put it this way; there are really only two ways to interpret the Constitution -- try to discern as best we can what the framers intended or make it up.

You may not have noticed, but this sentence is an amazing rhetorical construction.

To demonstrate the sleight-of-hand here and its power, allow me remove the specific content of the final two clauses (everything after the "--") and replace that content with general descriptions of each clause:

Let me put it this way; there are really only two ways to interpret the Constitution-- [my way] or [everything else].

Doesn't the choice become painfully clear? And note that this construction becomes even more coercive when [everything else] becomes equated with something as irresponsible-sounding as "make it up." Wow. We are clearly dealing with high-level legal reasoning here.

And it's fun! Behold the magic:

Let me put it this way; there are really only two ways to swim--backstroke or flail your arms and legs (rhythmically or not).

Let me put it this way; there are really only two sexual orientations--heterosexuality or fuck anything. (Wait, this one sounds familiar...)

Let me put it this way; there are really only two choices for dinner--lasagna or some combination of some subset of the rest of the matter in the universe.

But you get the idea... Kids--try your own at home!

Best Week Ever!

This week is gonna rawk!

That's because on Friday, ONLY IN THEATERS, it's time for High School Musical 3: Senior Year (caution: link involves spirited drumming).

Because Fosco is (not-so) secretly a tween girl, he is tingly with excitement over this film (all the way to the tips of his budding breasties!). In fact, as Fosco writes this post, he is listening to a (apparently pirated) copy of the HSM3 soundtrack. And like any tween girl, Fosco is listening to the ballads and singing the VanHudge parts to his boyfriend Oz (who, sulkily, refuses to sing the ZacFron parts).

I suppose by now, the eagle-eyed reader has noticed that the pic above is not actually the cast members of HSM, but strange, racially-matched lookalikes. Yep, apparently some theater troupe in Georgia did their own production. Half of Fosco wants to laugh; the other half wants to audition for Ryan.

Of course, the big question on Fosco's mind is this: what will senior year hold for Disney's modern Mouseketeers? Judging from the trailer, we can expect some surprising developments:

• Gabrielle and Troy can stop time like that chubby Japanese guy on "Heroes."
  
• Troy and his b-ball buddies appear to don Klan hoods.
  
• there seem to be visual references to Grease, Footloose, and maybe even L'Année dernière à Marienbad.
  
• it appears that Usher is not the DJ at their prom.

In honor of this film, Fosco has made this week HSM week here at Fosco Lives!. Stay tuned for more fun!