For the last few years I've been keeping my ears open for news about Peter Lefcourt's book The Dreyfus Affair being made into a movie. I'd be so happy if it happened. It's just one of those novels that begs to be a movie. (If you don't know the book, you can read my review of it here.)

Anyway, the rumors about a movie have been circulating for years, ever since The Dreyfus Affair was published in the early 90s. They pick up for awhile and then die off. Seems that nobody wants to bet on a movie about gay major league baseball players.

Back in 1999 there were rumors about John Cusack playing Randy, and Wesley Snipes playing D.J. In the end, nothing seemed to come of that. The latest I've seen is a couple of tidbits from Anderson Jones's column on E! Online from earlier this year:

January 5, 2001
An Affair to Forget: Betty Thomas says The Dreyfus Affair -- a film she has been developing for the past year with Ben Affleck, based on Peter Lefcourt's novel about a pro second baseman who falls in love with his shortstop -- is in trouble. "No one will do that movie, dude," she tells me at the Miss Congeniality premiere. "They won't put money into it because it's baseball and gay." Even with Ben attached? I ask, dumbfounded. "They don't care," she says.

March 9, 2001
Batter Up: Ben Affleck wants to play ball with The Dreyfus Affair, an adaptation of Peter Lefcourt's pro baseball novel about a second baseman who falls hard for his shortstop. "I still want to do it," he says. "That movie will get made." Director Betty Thomas has expressed interest in helming but told me a while back that the subject matter makes it's tough to find financing. The writers strike could also affect the project. But Affleck is optimistic: "When summer comes, it'll be a good time to look it over again. I just don't want to do a movie that's fake or cheap or not true to the book, which balances the line between being funny and making fun." Affleck adds that he hopes Thomas will still be interested when Affair is finally a go.

Don't know how I feel about Affleck as Randy, but I sure would love to see this movie happen. I hate to get my hopes up and be disappointed again, though.

The craziest thing is, I really think this movie could be a hit with a wide audience. It's a better story than In and Out, and the book is about baseball as much as it is about romance. In fact, back in 1998, Peter Lefcourt did an interview with The Advocate where he talked about it, saying "I always thought of The Dreyfus Affair as a comedy about public relations and baseball."

The Advocate returned to the topic in January of this year in an article about longtime gay and lesbian projects that are still unproduced:

The Dreyfus Affair: Peter Lefcourt's 1992 novel about the love affair between two major league baseball players would make a killer romantic comedy.
Status: Director Betty Thomas (Doctor Dolittle) remains "obsessed" with the project. It was almost a go at New Line when Ben Affleck expressed interest, but he subsequently moved on to greener fields.
Prognosis: With Thomas's clout and track record, it could get made -- but only if a major star commits.

With the recent revelation that the editor of Out magazine is dating a major league baseball player, I'm hoping that interest in the project will pick up again. I would love to see this movie happen, under the right circumstances. The book is hilarious, and the story would play great on the screen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Marty and I are headed to the wilds of Pennsylvania for Memorial Day weekend. Yuengling Lager, here we come!

No, seriously, we're going for one last weekend of fun and frolic with Katynka before she moves to Oh*o next month. (What's round on the edges and high in the middle?)

To get you through, here's a link: Mighty Big TV - Television Without Pity. This site is so awesome for anyone who likes TV. I love how the X-Files recapper is convinced that Dogget and Skinner have something going on, and the way they talk about Alex. I like all the stupid nicknames they have for Glory from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And I especially love reliving my favorite old shows by reading the recaps. My So-Called Life, anyone?

Have a great weekend.

Tonight is the season finale of Buffy, and the last time Buffy will be shown on the WB network. I am nervous for how it's all going to turn out. But looking forward to the episode, too.

I'd bet my 401K that it'll be better than the X-Files season finale was. Now that was some stinky television!

Journal is updated. What, you thought I'd forgotten?

Is it true? I hear McDonald's has Hello Kitty happy meals again. Whoo-hoo!

Jude Law as Alexander the Great? Can you even think of anything more delicious?

swoon...

Oh dear god... the things we do for Nick.

Today was a lazy day. I had nightmares last night so the morning wasn't good for much of anything but lying around and reading. I finished re-reading James Kirkwood's P.S. Your Cat is Dead and discovered that Steve Guttenberg has made/is making a movie of it! I'm just wondering what lucky actor will get to play half the movie tied up and bare-assed. What a great book that is. A must for any Alex Krycek fan.

This afternoon I buckled down to a grueling schedule of, er, laundry. Not really all that grueling, now that I think about it.

I also spent some time programming my little tiny Rio 500 MP3 player, which was my anniversary gift from Marty. I have it all loaded up with songs to take to the gym tomorrow. It's so cool! It's smaller than a deck of cards.

The sun is shining today and the sky is heartbreakingly blue. The lilacs are finally blooming. Ah, spring.

It was a beautiful Saturday in New England today. Marty and I drove up to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It was not very crowded there today, and we had a great time looking around the museum and Rockwell's studio.

I am embarrassed to admit it, but Norman Rockwell pictures always leave me with a big lump in my throat. I don't know whether it's the romance of bygone days, the sentimentality of the subjects, or what, but I can barely look at them without getting all choked up. It's embarrassing.

At the Rockwell Museum right now they also have a great display of art that was created for postage stamps. I love stamps, although I would honestly never think of collecting them. I saw the originals of many of my favorite stamps today, including some Love stamps, the Lou Gehrig stamp, the Patsy Cline stamp, one of the "Children's Literature" stamps (Little House on the Prairie), and the Oklahoma musical comedy stamp. Oh, and all the Elvis stamps. (remember when we voted on them in 1993?) The original art is not large; probably the biggest piece I saw was about 12 inches on its longest side. But it's amazingly detailed and colorful.

Today is my wedding anniversary. Marty and I got married 8 years ago today in State College, Pennsylvania. It was a beautiful day, sunny and unseasonably hot for early May in Central Pennsylvania. We had the tiniest wedding imaginable; it was just about perfect.

After our small ceremony performed by the justice of the peace, we went out to dinner with the whole party (7 people besides us!) at the Victorian Manor in Lemont. My grandmother was there and it's one of my last memories of her.

We are headed out for dinner tonight to celebrate at Consiglio's.

Considering Feng Shui? Before you rearrange your home according to the principles of this (ancient) Chinese art, check out this review, from Flak Magazine. I particularly liked the part about the toilet:

Question: How badly does the toilet hurt my health luck?

Feng Shui: Very badly indeed if it is located in a sector of the home which affects your health. According to the trigram arrangements method this is identified as the east sector. If you use a toilet in this part of the home it will have a negative effect on your health. To overcome this, hang a windchime inside the toilet.

Dr. Dobrovski: I don't even know how to begin with that. Where would the chime go? Wouldn't it get in the way all the time? I know my sons would not respect the chime, no matter how much I tried to tell them about good or bad Feng Shui. I have to say I don't think that this is a good idea.

Read the whole review.

Big Yellow Bob Update

Those pictures I posted last week were taken last October, when Bob first came to stay. But he's still around. I took this one in the kitchen yesterday morning:



Believe me, I'd much rather come downstairs and find Ziggy fondling Bob than what happened this morning. Today he wolfed down a bunch of cat chow and then yakked it right back up on the carpet. (Have I mentioned I hate having carpet in the kitchen? I thought so...)

It's always an adventure at Ziggy's house.

Isn't this pretty?

I read this really interesting article on the Reuters Health site today:

E-mail style depends upon gender of recipient
By Anne Harding

NEW YORK, May 04 (Reuters Health) - Our communication style has more to do with who we are talking to than who we are, New Zealand researchers suggest.

Language experts say women and men have their own gender-specific communication styles. Past studies have found that women tend to speak in a more "female" way when they talk with other women, and men speak in a more "male" way when they are hanging out with the guys.

But when men and women converse, these language differences are less pronounced, as each person in the conversation adapts to the others' styles.

To see whether such language patterns extend to e-mail conversations, Rob Thomson and colleagues from the University of Otago in Dunedin recruited 22 psychology students and had them correspond by e-mail with a "net pal" over a 2-week period. Each participant had two pals, one female and one male. Both pals were actually one of the researchers, who communicated in a gender-specific way.

Past research has suggested that when writing e-mails, women tend to use intensive adverbs like "very" and "really," hedges such as "sort of" or "somewhat," and modals such as "would" and "could," according to co-author Tamar Murachver.

Studies also show that women typically refer to emotion, use personal information, apologize and make self-derogatory comments more frequently than men do. Men do all of these things less frequently, and are also more likely to express opinions and use insults, according to Murachver.

But in this study, the research team found that, regardless of their own sex, the students used "male" language when communicating with their male pal, and "female" language with their female pal.

"The most remarkable aspect of this study is that the participants' gender had very little to do with gendered speech," the authors write in a recent issue of Psychological Science.

In another experiment, Thomson and colleagues developed four different "net pal" personalities. One had a female name and e-mailed in a female style, one had a male name and used a male style, and two more e-mailed in a gender style different from their name.

Again, the students accommodated their style to that of their correspondents, but this accommodation was weaker when they corresponded with a person who used a gender style that did not match his or her name.

"Our take on it is that people were less sure how to behave towards someone showing an inconsistency between gender label and gendered language style," Murachver told Reuters Health.

The authors conclude that "it is erroneous to assume that the language a person uses in same-sex conversation is the 'natural' style for that person. Each person is capable of using a range of styles, depending on whom he or she is talking to...The study serves as a reminder that although biological sex might be stable, socially constructed categories, such as gender, are less so."

SOURCE: Psychological Science 2001;12:171-175.

This morning the squirrels have been cavorting up and down the side of the house and climbing on the roof. I took some pictures out the study window, where you can see the lower level of the roof. Unfortunately the flash and the window panes created some very strange reflective problems, but this picture probably turned out the best.

I have tried to take pictures of these little tiny birds that come and sit on my clothesline just below the window, but they are just too fast and too small for me to get a good one. I will have to keep trying, because they are adorable, with their little black crew cuts. They don't like the squirrels much, though. There were two squirrels on the roof and the little birds kept flying at them and harrassing them.

Elsewhere in the yard, the lilacs are almost ready to bloom. Maybe they'll pop this weekend.

I am stuffed with Mexican food (in honor of Quatro de Mayo) and lazing around on a Friday night. I just read this choice item in the latest Rolling Stone:

With a little co-writing help from Matthew Sweet on the track "Underneath," Hanson have begun sessions for their third album at their home studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Could anything be more perfect than that? I don't think so.

Hi, I'm Big Yellow Bob. I'm a Dress-n-Drag Dog. As you can see, I wear a skirt. (Please don't confuse me with Big Gay Al from South Park. I hate when that happens.)



Last fall I came to live with this family in Connecticut. And wouldn't you know it, they had a cat. He took a shine to me right away.



Can you blame him? One thing I forgot to mention: I'm filled with catnip. Very high quality catnip. The good shit.



It's not so bad though. Here you can see me peeking out from under this cat. I'm still smilin'!



The only bad thing is, he keeps taking my skirt off. So half the time these days I'm hanging around in my underwear. But hey, life could be worse! I could have been one of those fruity cat dancers. At least I'm a catnip dog. And my name is Big Yellow Bob.

It's hot as BLAZES here tonight! Ack!

I hear this "heatwave" is supposed to break in another day or so, and temperatures will go back down to the 70s where they belong in early May in Connecticut...

Tonight at the gym I was listening to Ricky Martin's Sound Loaded on my discman (again) and thinking (again) about how funny it is that when I listen to some of those songs I can see him so clearly in my mind's eye singing them. I guess I've watched him singing "She Bangs" and "Loaded" so many times on the TV that I can picture every move he makes ("huh huh") and every stitch of his tight pants. (Perhaps this could be the inspiration for a remake of "Every Breath You Take." I hear Sting's wife Trudi really loves Ricky.)

I'm not complaining though, if Ricky wants to occupy my mind as I do my time on the treadmill. I've always been happy to have a good imagination...

It's Thursday... a week ago today I was having a falafel lunch with Maria in Detroit and the sun was shining. How often do I wish Connecticut and Michigan were closer together? Only about 500 times a week. But there's the little matter of those buffer states. (I originally wrote bugger states, which almost seems more appropriate.)

The sun is shining today, too. Spring came really quick once it decided to come. The cherry blossoms are open and dogwoods are starting to bloom. The tulips are in full swing. Just about all the trees have leaves now. It is really beautiful, as it always is here in the spring. But we have been having strange weather. Yesterday and today the high has been in the high 80s. It really does feel like mid-summer. Almost too hot to go outside.

So I had a baked potato for lunch, followed by a scoop of Baskin Robbins rocky road ice cream. (And yes, in case you were wondering I am still going to the gym at least three days a week. But no, I'm not exactly dieting.)