With the Christmas and New Year Specials giving David Tennant’s 10th Doctor a proper send-off and effectively ending the Russell T Davies’ era of Doctor Who, this trailer helps whet our appetites for the coming season with Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor and Steven Moffat, who wrote some brilliant episodes in the past such as “The Girl in the Fireplace” and “Blink” among others, taking the helm as executive producer. The trailer above, recently posted to BBC America‘s Doctor Who site, definitely promises the season to be a good one. The previous trailer gives more of a dramatic sense with actual scenes, whereas this one simply sells it. Best Doctor Who teaser since Christopher Eccleston’s offer of a “trip of a lifetime.”

The New York Times declares after New York Fashion week that “The Big New Idea Is Modesty” – so we’ll finally get a break from all those breastesses? The Bush era, strangely with its de-emphasis on sex and heightened paranoia, was all about conspicuous consumption, marked by dresses that left more than a peek-a-boo in the cleavage department. Perhaps there is something to that idea that skirt lengths hang lower in harder economic times.

Speaking of fashion and politics, Tina Fey talks to Vogue about herself through the lens of her fashion choices. The actor/comedienne/writer, who did a dead-on impersonation of 2008 vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, rocks a pair of Mickey Mouse ears.

Now on to another topic. In this recession, one would think there’d be a huge backlash against all things money  and wealth-related. Apparently not, as the Prosperity Gospel is alive, well, and ravenously hungry with enough people desperate enough to go for the shiny bait. In this month’s Harper’s, Benjamin Anastas writes about the megachurches who preach this gospel* with parishioners trying to give to get, exhausting their bank accounts, credit limits, and much more with the hopes that their devotion will gain them their gigantic cash advance against their heavenly fortune. Then I discovered this post on a dead blog, referencing a Nigerian/European preacher who views poverty as an infectious disease. How come the Center for Disease Control doesn’t know this?

Hanna Rosin asks in the Dec 2009 issue of Atlantic Monthly if the Prosperity Gospel cause the Recession.

In these hard times, the insurance companies gouge their existing customers and try to make it law so that all of us become captive customers. Here’s what I must say to the insurance companies:

It’s not about the healthy opting out. The reason you have no customers is a) people simply CANNOT AFFORD to have a health plan, b) when times were good, you guys practically rejected potentially paying customers because you could, c) you have decided to play by marketplace conditions when it was in YOUR favor.

If you want to play by the marketplace, you should be prepared to die by the marketplace. That goes for any corporation or major business that pushes for laissez-faire, deregulation, favorable regulations, or laws that force the public to buy your services.

Our Great State of California wants to tax Amazon.Com and other online companies sales tax for transactions with California residents. They really should have thought of this before, when it would have been in their best interest to do so. Amazon.Com has been around since the late 1990′s. Naive me always assumed that I was paying tax on top of my orders with Amazon.Com. I really need to look at my order history to see what’s going on. Also, I never knew I was supposed to put a check in an envelope and send it to the State Controller.

To end this post on a book note, Virginia Woolf rocks! The woman was “green” before her time! Her  wit and wisdom when it comes to making books was to make them accessible and degradable at the same time. Do we really need to kill a bunch of trees for all those bad novels that belong in the bin? Instead of making them bin waste, they can decompose.Woolf is timeless!

*The article in Harper’s is subscriber-locked, but is in print this March.

As usual, Mr. Deity smiles and laughs through a blunder he incompetently executed, this one being the venture of Jonah. Proof that prophets need hazard pay.

After getting lots of backrubs and happy endings from Mike Jones, Haggard still insists he’s straight. Apparently, he found a counselor who’d tell him what he desperately wanted to hear. At least he’s honest about it being complex, but how can someone be a “heterosexual man with homosexual attachments?” Also, how many men who are really heterosexual have a history of constant “homosexual temptation?” Girl, please!

Beyond seeing a masseur, Ted Haggard’s “homosexual attachments”extended to pursuing a sexual relationship with a young male member of the New Life Church.

Oprah asks him, “What are you sorry for? Being a hypocrite?” Haggard should be sorry about this now, especially with the continued denials. As for Gayle Haggard, does she deserve an Oscar, some pills, or both?

Mike Jones recently speaks out why he wrote I Had To Say Something and some of the lies that has been said about him, especially by New Life Church.

Hat tip to Gary for the link in Huffingoton Post.

Yes, President-Elect Obama gave us the ultimate Rickroll at the end of 2008 with his choice of Rick Warren to do the Inaugural Opening Invocation. While I’m among the people not thrilled with this choice, I’m going to laugh at it and make the statement in a humorous way. Some people have already beaten me to the punch, especially the person who put together this video pastiche. Gays and lesbians can’t get married, but president-elects and evangelical ministers in ugly Hawaiian shirts can carry on with their bromances.

Definitely on my playlist for you, Mr. President-Elect, this Inauguration Day.