Thursday, June 27, 2002

Yes, Chris, I enjoyed today's interview with Sir Ian McKellen too, although I did find this quote quite disheartening: Fancying a movie star is all in the mind; having sex with a pop idol is fantasy. You're never going to meet them, never mind get into bed with them, so what does it matter who they happen to be sleeping with? Does this mean I have absolutely no hope with Jason Scott Lee?

Vouchers are UNCONSTITUTIONAL and WRONG WRONG WRONG. I don't care what the insipid right-wing ideological Republican Bush-loving biased electoral-usurping Supremelystupid Court says.
Civil liberties activists, public school advocates and progressive religious leaders will not take this misguided decision lying down.
Whenever we remove a brick from the wall that was designed to separate religion and government, we increase the risk of religious strife and weaken the foundation of our democracy.

Tales of Gay supermarkets: It is extremely popular because the food is displayed with spotlights and presentation and flair -- that's how I want to see my food. Gay people want our food as pretty as it is tasty. I want to see tomatoes that are in a chorus line. Ok, this guy's insane. That said, he's hilarious!

gawddammmittt! NO no NO NO no. Wrong! Ugh, this is just terrible.

Wednesday, June 26, 2002

Ohhmyygaawwd, all hell is breaking loose tahday. But the reality is, the court made the RIGHT decision.

Jessie/Victor/others, are you sure you even want to get into this crazy business? Additionally, while I was away Chris was kind enough to post an article that I so wanted to do myself last week. So I'm gonna do it now, again, anyway. This Filipino-American director wants to work on projects that involve his life and community and he's writing a "...screenplay, which features a mixed cast that includes Filipino American characters, is being considered by Hollywood studios -- some of which have told Pulido they want to change the ethnicity of those characters. Others -- impressed by Pulido's writing and "The Flip Side" -- have asked him to work on commercial projects that they've already OKd. Pulido has turned down the offers. "I won't lie -- it is tempting," Pulido says. "But the projects they offer me are so ridiculous, I would feel so dirty if I did that. This one person wanted me to write something called 'Booty Dance.' They said, 'C'mon. Throw some kids grinding their bodies together in a club, and it writes itself.'"

That said, David will absolutely love this article.

A very interesting article on where Abner Louima is today.

Tuesday, June 25, 2002

Again, I'm sorry for not posting much lately. I've been very busy and traveling. I just got back from a joint San Diego/Los Angeles trip and now I'm headed off to Sacramento for the day. Hopefully things will be back in order by tomorrow.
Here, I'll give you a topic: cartoon penises.
Discuss.

Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Sorry for the lack of posts but it's been quite hectic at work this week. I am trying to get out of town. I'm going down to San Diego tomorrow and then Los Angeles from Friday night through Monday. It's a work trip, but the weekend between is mine, all mine, and I understand that it's Pride weekend in LA this weekend. That should be fun. And I'll be taking the muscle shirts with me. ;-)

Monday, June 17, 2002

How random is this? A short biography of the "Dogs Playing Poker" painter. Chalk this up to: Things you never knew you were interested in knowing.

Funny how the Bush Administration hates the Muslim world and yet works closely with them in blocking gay and women's rights in the United Nations. Funny that.

Everyone from the Florida Recount is running for election. Don't be surprised if the Republicans end up on top in that, since the districts are heavily skewed to their end.

So many rights are slowly being taken away....

Sunday, June 16, 2002

What a gorgeous weekend in San Francisco!

Plus with a new haircut, new ear piercing, new muscle shirts (you heard me. and i looked good in them too thankyavrymuch), and new smile on my face, it was a whirlwind!

Friday, June 14, 2002

A well-done article on hate mail.
I think I've walled up over the years against hate mail. Having worked at two wonderful organizations which are despised by some, and by being Gay and despised by many, it gets to where you know hate's there, you see it, and you move on. You don't let it sink in anymore. Been there, done that.
But that must not be the end of the story-- because hate mail, phone calls, etc. tear at the core of our humanity. And, they really are inappropriate and uncivilized, so I say we sick Miss Manners after them.

Well, all you photographers in the blogging community just got another one to add to your group. My blogger friend Don has just put up a photo page with lots and lots of great photos. And there's even some from my neighborhood in San Francisco during a recent visit to the City; how sad that we didn't connect while he was here because he was obviously just around the corner ("Pine and Jones" is my neighborhood, Don.) Hopefully we'll meet up while I'm in L.A. next weekend.

Thursday, June 13, 2002

Where are all of the good movies in the world? They're certainly not at your major movie complex. They're being smuggled out of China and only play once in a little festival in a little theater. Ok, well, make that a big festival in a big theater, but still. The point is that everyday Hollywood movies suck. And the real movies that know how to move you and tell a intricate story that feels realistic are little independent movies that were made of love and sweat and tears.

Randomly, I ended up in a seat next to Nathan (thank you Nathan!) at the Castro Theatre for the opening night program of this year's Queer Film Fest and got to see the most wonderful movie. Lovers find each other; lovers love; lovers break each other's hearts; lovers get back together; lovers die. Such is life and such is the story of an amazingly shot and framed movie. I'm so glad I saw it and so glad I was there. Thanks again Nathan, especially for reminding me that Hollywood crapfests are just full of crap and that really good, non-crap movies do still exist.

Where, oh where, is the Constitution? THE BUSH administration's decision to hold American citizen Jose Padilla without constitutional protections shows profound disrespect for the Constitution and American courts....The government here is being prosecutor, judge and jury -- a frightening amalgamation of power associated with repressive dictatorships.

I regularly read Capitol Hill's internal newspaper and it's really pretty dry most of the time. You have to be into the whole world of it to get into the paper. However, in this week's issue, one of the regular columnists takes on Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys and the issues of celebrity vs. political knowledge. Funny write-up.

Wednesday, June 12, 2002

The success stories are walking among us. An interview, profile of Electroboy.

Radio stations change all the time, but it always seem so weird to me. I remember in the early 90's when the main Pop station in Kansas City, Q104, the station I had grown up with and which had been on every teenager's dial throughout the 1980's and high school and beyond, changed from Pop to Country all of the sudden one weekend. No warning at all. Just poof, Country. I just couldn't get over it. It was not only my favorite station at the time, but it was also just such a part of my life that I wasn't sure what to do. Also, Country?! How completely devastating! It was one reason I swore I would leave the Midwest; I could just feel the Country and Western crap all around me. And now, my big outlet to another plane was gone. Everytime I return home I check and see if Q104 is still Country, and it always is. I never did and never will understand.

I hate working within large, monolithic, uncaring beauracracies. Here's the latest of many unreasonable situations:

I'm going to Los Angeles and San Diego for work next week. To save money for work I am flying in and out of Los Angeles and renting a car and returning that car all within LAX so there's not any one-way fees and so forth. I have a meeting in San Diego on Friday. I have a meeting in L.A. on Monday. I asked for a rental car to be available at LAX on Thursday night upon my arrival so I could drive down to San Diego that night, stay over, have my meeting, and then drive back to L.A. I would then return the car to LAX after my Monday meeting is over and before my flight out that night.

That should make sense and be reasonable. But not within a stupid "rules are rules" beauracracy. The rule is that one cannot have a rental car over a weekend, as such it might lend to personal use. Well, duh. What do they want me to do over the weekend anyway? I'm not even staying in a hotel; I'm staying with my family and saving them money. But whatever. So the "rules" would dictate that I must return the car on Friday before the weekend and then rent a new car (at added cost to work) Monday morning for the Monday needs. How stupid is that? Ugh, I'm so frustrated.

Somehow, and I'm not completely sure how, over the last 3 months I've lost 10 pounds. Wow.

Que surprise. Republicans are right-wing extremists and hate Gay people-- let's just state that outright. But to say that there just isn't time for Gay rights legislation because they are working on the "war on terrorism" is simply pathetic. These are the same people who are working throughout this "war" on repealing the estate tax and other taxes that help the wealthy few, finding ways to help polluters pollute more throughout the country, and worrying about putting up Ten Commandments plaques in government buildings. No time? Yeah, right.

It may be a coincidence that the sudden revelation of a month-old arrest helps the administration neutralize congressional criticism of its past intelligence failures and new military strategies. But count us among the skeptics.

Tuesday, June 11, 2002

The timing couldn't be more obvious. As Capitol Hill launched a high- profile inquiry into intelligence agency failings, out pops the White House security package.

Sadly, one of my favorite political sites, Orvetti.com, shut down today since I guess he's going into some professional political writing or something now. I'll miss it though.

Fast facts on Fast food.

This issue has been on my mind for quite a while and I'm glad it's beginning to get some media attention. Prison Rape is NOT a joke.

That is indefensible.

At the heart of Green politics is a novel -- and ruthless -- ethic: The means justify the end.

Monday, June 10, 2002

I haven't bitten my nails for a week now. It's incredibly weird. It's not so much a need to bite right now, but a feeling of awkwardness that I actually have nails. Most won't understand, but I've never really had nails and so I'm finding them rather strange to deal with. They're hard and long. They scratch, I mean really scratch. For the first time in my life I know what scratching is supposed to feel like, and it hurts. I just kinda- sorta- not- really- decided- but- by- happenstance- decided to see what it would be like not to bite last Monday and then every day passed and it didn't seem right to start back up and then the next day the same thing and now here we are. I'm not sure how much longer this will go on. I may bite them again soon. Or I may actually do something I have never, ever done: use clippers.

The San Francisco Chronicle did a great service this weekend by providing a detailed account of how the FBI abused its powers in the 60's in California all to promote those who agreed with their philosophy and to destroy those who didn't. The history comes alive in these pages.

Sunday, June 09, 2002

The first and most important key to power lies in who holds the information. They're attempting to avoid the usual oversight by Congress, the media and the larger scientific community. There's an attitude of 'we know best, don't bother us.'

Saturday, June 08, 2002

I hate it when the San Francisco Chronicle reports on a great exhibit that has no plans to come to San Francisco. Do they wish for me to get on a plane and fly to see it? Ugh. Case in point: I would love to see this exhibit called "Games We Played" about boardgames from the last 19th century. They run the gamut of issues, thoughts, and perspectives of the day, including some rather racist ones (e.g. like a game called "...Jim Crow Ten Pins, from about 1900, in which players knock down smiling minstrel figures, and The Game of Watermelon Patch (1896), featuring stereotypes of blacks stealing and eating melons." Can you believe that?! Wow, how terrible.) The exhibit looks fascinating and I am very jealous of Sparky and other New Yorkers who can go to it right now.

Spent the morning watching India Waves on television. Indian music and video are so hypnotizing to me. I first found them on local television when I lived in New Jersey since it was one of the few channels that seemed to come into my dorm room. I used to sit up late at night, eating crackers, and watching Indian videos for hours. I still have no idea what's going on in them, but they're hypnotic. The interesting thing was that there seems to be some kind of heartthrob festival going on at the oakland coliseum tonight showcasing India's hottest stars; now that could be fun.

Friday, June 07, 2002

Susan Sarandon vs. Jessie's View.

Thursday, June 06, 2002

"Adapt to the inevitable changes" is the new Bush Administration policy on global warming. They apparently see global warming as a reality, but consider that there is simply nothing that can be done about it, so let's all just adapt to the heat. We're all gonna die anyway is the new mantra of the government. What happened to the "Let's roll" mentality of 9/11; I guess when it comes to fighting polluters and oil barons that changes to "Let's roll over." So unbelievable.

The marketing of children: Multiple births should not be confused with entertainment, nor should they be an opportunity to sell products.

Hilarious and deeply-imagined article on the new world of online dating. Here's a excerpt showing some funny reasoning in favor:

Imagine if you had to go to crowded parties and other tedious functions and search the crowd for someone with an old Cuisinart at home that they might be willing to sell you.
Furthermore, imagine if it were considered rude to bring up the Cuisinart straight off the bat -- instead, you were expected to ask people about themselves, maybe buy them a drink, and feign interest in their rambling, self-involved banter, until finally, at the end of the night, loosened up by a few drinks, you could say what had been on your mind for hours: "Um. I hope this doesn't sound too forward, but do you . . . process food?"
And despite all that effort, imagine that the person's face drops, and he or she replies politely, but in a clipped, uncomfortable tone, "No, I'm not really into that kind of thing," and then exits the party without even asking for your number in case he or she ever does get the urge to process.

Wednesday, June 05, 2002

To come back. Does coming back after a break necessitate having some sort of insight into the human condition? Or can one simply come back and be? Can one come back and simply blog? Or must one have something important to say?
How 'bout no major insights, thoughts, considerations, and we simply resume? There may still be some trepidation on both our parts, but we can make it. I'll let Lita speak for me:

I went to a party last Saturday night
I didn't get laid, I got in a fight,
Uh, huh
It ain't no big thing
But I know what I like
I know I like dancin' with you
And I know what you like
I know you like dancin' with me


And so we go on....