Brand New Day

A BRAND NEW DAY
Lyrics and music by Luther Vandross

The Wiz soundtrack

Everybody look around
'Cause there's a reason to rejoice you see
Everybody come out
And let's commence to singing joyfully
Everybody look up
And feel the hope that we've been waiting for

Everybody's glad
Because our silent fear and dread is gone
Freedom, you see, has got our hearts singing so joyfully
Just look about
You owe it to yourself to check it out
Can't you feel a brand new day?
Can't you feel a brand new day?
Can't you feel a brand new day?
Can't you feel a brand new day?

Everybody be glad
Because the sun is shining just for us
Everybody wake up
Into the morning into happiness

Hello world
It's like a different way of living now
And thank you world
We always knew that we'd be free somehow
In harmony
And show the world that we've got liberty

It's such a change
For us to live so independently
Freedom, you see, has got our hearts singing so joyfully
Just look about
You owe it to yourself to check it out
Can't you feel a brand new day?
Can't you feel a brand new day?

Everybody be glad
Because the sun is shining just for us
Everybody wake up
Into the morning into happiness
Hello world
It's like a different way of living now
And thank you world
We always knew that we'd be free somehow
In harmony
And show the world that we've got liberty

It's such a change
For us to live so independently
Freedom, you see, has got our hearts singing so joyfully
Just look about
You owe it to yourself to check it out
Can't you feel a brand new day?
Can't you feel a brand new day?
Can't you feel a brand new day?
Can't you feel a brand new day?

Tomorrow Belongs To Me

I was in Hampton Roads over the Columbus Day Weekend, and all the local channels showed the McCain/Palin rally on TV.  I was very scared.  Totally reminded me of this, from Cabaret:

Very scary stuff, indeed. I wonder if they have any idea how Nationalist they sound? Well, I think McCain might, but I don't think Palin has a clue.

Well, it's been a week, so I think I can finally talk about my trip to Dublin for the Bingham Cup. In a nutshell, trip from hell. I don't know if it was the Friday the 13th, or just bad karma, but it seemed like everything that could go wrong, did.

Let's see, how was my trip?

• My flight to Dublin on Tuesday night was delayed, and then finally cancelled at 1:30 in the morning. Due to storms and then mechanical problems. I finally got back home at 3am.
  
• I was able to reschedule a flight on Wednesday, via Air Canada, through Toronto.
• My flight arrived on time in Dublin on Thursday morning, but we were unable to deplane because the ground crew could figure out how to get the staircase up to the door of the plane.
  
• When I got to baggage claim, I discovered that they had lost my luggage.
  
• We were all staying in dorms, and of course I didn't know that address, so I had no idea where to tell the airline to deliver my luggage when it did arrive.
  
• Also in baggage claim were other Renegades, including one who was there on Thursday morning because he, too, had his Tuesday night flight cancelled.
  
• It was at this time that I found out that 23 Renegades on another flight had their flight cancelled and had no idea when they'd be able to make it to Dublin. The tournament started on Friday.
  
• Taxis to the dorm cost about 15 Euro for a cab-full. We managed to pay 85 Euros for a van holding 7 people.
  
• When we got to the university, my room was fine, but the lobby of the dorms was filled with people trying to check in but unable to because they had no idea what rooms were available.
  
• We had a practice on Thursday afternoon with the few players we had. I lost my backback there.
  
• I eventually found it, but spent the entire dinner hour looking for it.
  
• So I went to the opening night party with nothing in my stomach.
  
• And our team guide had the wrong time listed for the opening night party.
  
• Bob and I fought after the opening night party about how much time we were going to spend in Dublin.
  
• The rest of the team finally showed up at 5am on Friday morning. The first matches were at 10am.
  
• Our star winger had insomnia/jet lag, and decided the best way to remedy this was by running all night on the streets of Dublin in his cleats.

More to come.

Video from the closing night ceremony at the Bingham Cup in Dublin.

Wonderful event, but honestly, trip from hell.




I get a bit of face time at the 3:05 mark.

Ha...this is hysterical.

Leaving for Dublin in a few hours.

Been a crazy week.

This week's words of advice is to let things go.

If you disagree with something that you can't change, just let it go. Don't expend inordinate amounts of time and energy complaining when you can just accept it and rise to the challenge. Certainly don't bring lawsuit after lawsuit in the hopes you can get the result you want. Let God and let go.

If you get an email that you consider spam (even though its information you asked for or at least within your field), delete it or unsubscribe. You don't have to spend the time and energy sending a nasty note with thinly veiled threats. Life is to short for that. Now, if they continue to send you stuff after you've been asked to be removed, now, well, that's different.

Breathe, enjoy.

Have a good week. I may blog from Dublin, but we'll see. I'll have access to a laptop and internet access in my suite, but no guarantees.

A few months ago, DurbanBud had a great open thread about what people listen to while having sex with their loved one (or trick, depending).

Most of the responses were very classy, such as smooth jazz, Enya, Enigma, Nina Simone, classical, and the like.

I can tell you what is NOT a good thing to listen to while attempting to have sex with your partner.

Kathy Griffin's I Am A Strong Black Woman special on Bravo. Especially the part about her vagina sagging.

I'm just sayin'.

So have you heard about this story that evil blogger Michelle Malkin is making a big fuss over the fact that Rachel Ray is wearing a scarf in her new Dunkin' Donuts ad? Apparently Malkin thinks that Ray is supporting Palestinian terrorism because the scarf looks like something a Middle Eastern muslim would wear.

And now Dunkin' Donuts is caving and pulling the ads! Unbelievable. Talk about cowing to pressure. Dunkin' Donuts should have just called Malkin an idiot and stated that her claims were completely non-sensical.

Anyway, here's the best comment that I've seen on the entire brouhaha:

When first they came for the crullers, the apple fritters said nothing. When they came for the fritters, the double-glazed said nothing. When they came for the double-glazed, it was too late to speak up.

I'm beginning to develop a real aversion to holidays. I don't know what it is, but I just have not been able to enjoy any holidays lately. I mean, I wish I was the person who had the fabulous Memorial Day Weekend beach plans or that we were the couple who were invited to three different barbeques to celebrate the long weekend. But I'm not. Those invites are not forthcoming. And I had a horrible weekend sitting at home alone. I'm not saying it's anyone else's fault. I'm saying I wish I was living my life differently.

And this is a pattern for me. Christmas last year? (and most every year?) Totally horrible. Thanksgiving was okay. We did something (visited friends in Tidewater) but I still didn't enjoy myself. New Years? 4th of July? Labor Day? More of the same. Wishing that we were doing something. Wishing we were the people that everyone wants to invite to their party. Wishing we HAD friends who were having the party. Wishing we had any plans at all.

Sigh. Another holiday gone by. Another holiday where I wished I had done something differently.

Been a busy week at work. Lots of stuff going on in preparation for a conference we're holding in the end of June.

More rugby this past weekend. Everything is going well. Team is a good bunch of guys, playing well, good morale, good skills. And for some reason, after 8 years, Bob is into rugby now, so he is coming to all the matches and practices instead of doing other stuff. One more match at the end of May at Quantico, and then off to Dublin for the 2008 Bingham Cup. (Can I say that? There are issues with the trademark going on right now. That's a long story. )

So in advance of going to Ireland, we've been watching a lot of Irish travel shows and a somewhat famous Irish film, Man of Aran. Man of Aran was interesting, but certainly not a documentary. Most of the stuff in the film would have been about right about 50 years earlier, but in 1934, the country was not quite so primitive. I asked one of the Irish guys on our team about it, and he had never heard of it.

Didn't watch American Idol, didn't watch Dancing with the Stars. Just don't much care anymore about these show, although I never really did.

I have been enjoying the documentary on VH1 called Sex: The Revolution. Most of the stuff I knew about: Kinsey, Masters and Johnson, Roe v. Wade, Stonewall, women's lib, AIDS, etc.

But there were two things I had never heard of before: Eselen, which was basically the beginning of encounter groups, combined with sexual expression. In Big Sur in the 60's, so kinda hippie, kinda fruits and nuts, kinda free love. The other was Sandstone Retreat, which was basically a big straight nudist retreat in Santa Monica/Malibu. I guess like Eselen, but without the encounter group element. More about the sex, nudity and community and less about personal growth and overcoming hangups. The one interesting thing to come out of Sandstone was that it was the inspiration for The Joy of Sex, which apparently at one point was the most common book in American households behind the Bible. I don't know if we had The Joy of Sex, but I do remember that there was a Joy of Gay Sex in the bookstore in my local college town and I used to sneak in there to read it when my mom was shopping at Penney's, Murphy's or McCrory's.

New poll on the left. Here's the shirt in question.

Britches. Seriously.

Yay! So the California Supreme Court has overturned the gay marriage ban.

Yay!

I don't know...somehow I'm underwhelmed. I know I should be happier, but to me, all I can think of is all the conservatives rallying to get out and vote this November.

And yes, I've been called a pessimist before.

Rainy weekend

So it's been raining pretty much non-stop since last Thursday. Perfect weekend for staying in and watching a lot of movies.

Caught Beautiful Thing on Saturday afternoon. Such a great movie. One of the best films about gay youth, I think, which says as much about the movie as it does the genre of gay youth films. And I finally put it on closed-caption, so I could understand all the dialogue for the first time. Made me go and dig out the soundtrack so I could put lots of Mamas and the Papas onto my iPod.

Then yesterday afternoon was my favorite Woody Allen movie: Love and Death. This movie has some of the best lines ever, I think. I definitely think it's funnier than Annie Hall.

Some of the best ones, courtesy of IMDB:

Sonja: Judgment of any system, or a priori relationship or phenomenon exists in an irrational, or metaphysical, or at least epistemological contradiction to an abstract empirical concept such as being, or to be, or to occur in the thing itself, or of the thing itself.
Boris: Yes, I've said that many times.

Boris: Sonja, are you scared of dying?
Sonja: Scared is the wrong word. I'm frightened of it.
Boris: That's an interesting distinction.

Mother: He'll go and he'll fight, and I hope they will put him in the front lines.
Boris: Thanks a lot, Mom. My mother, folks.

Boris: I have no fear of the gallows.
Father: No?
Boris: No. Why should I? They're going to shoot me.

Boris: I was walking through the woods, thinking about Christ. If He was a carpenter, I wondered what He charged for bookshelves.

Boris: If it turns out that there IS a God, I don't think that he's evil. I think that the worst you can say about him is that basically he's an underachiever.

Napoleon: I heard you speaking to someone.
Sonja: Oh, I was praying.
Napoleon: But I heard TWO voices.
Sonja: Well, I do both parts.

Well, you get the point.

And then last night I watched An Unmarried Woman, which I had never seen before. I loved it, but I'm a sucker for 70s period pieces showing a gritty New York. Women sitting around seriously talking about feminism, swinging, analysis. Just love it. I'm guess it's a lot more interesting now that it would have been to live through it. I liked The Ice Storm for the same reason. To me, its exotic and exciting, because I wasn't there. It's funny that they lament the lack of strong women like Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn in the movie, but one could probably also look back and look to the 70s as a better time for strong women actresses as well, including Marsha Mason, Shirley MacLaine and Julie Christie.

Earlier in the day, we watched The Blue Lagoon. Oh my god, I loved that movie when it came out. I had such a crush on Christopher Atkins. I was 12. All I wanted to do was see the scene where he's swimming nude and you could totally see his cock flopping around. I could care less about Brooke Shields, I wanted to see crotch.

And speaking of crotch, Atkins did a movie a few years later called A Night in Heaven where he played a male stripper working his way through college. That has to be one of the hottest movies ever. They need to do a special director's cut DVD of that movie. I totally had to go see that by myself, because I didn't want any of my friends to know I was going to see a movie about a male stripper. If I wasn't gay by then, I certainly was after I saw this movie. To this day, Bryan Adams has a special place in my heart.

And I said, Ha!

Ha - my favorite comment I read about the upcoming Speed Racer movie:

Yeah, it's not Chekhov. But what's the fucking point of making it Chernobyl?

I have no desire to go see this, whatsoever. Emile Hirschi still annoys me from his last movie. I still want to slap him around for being such an annoying fucktard.

I was out yesterday with jury duty.

I don't know if any other city is like this, but it's a well-known fact in DC that you get called for jury duty, like clockwork, once every two years. I know people in the suburbs who have never been called in their life, and yet I've been called 5 times in 14 years here in DC.

As I was telling a co-worker today, who just moved here after college. basically, the ratio of those in the prison/probation system and those not in the system is about 1:1 here in DC, thus mandating the frequent service. Add to the fact that in DC, you need about 100 people in a pool to get 12 jurors. Partially because of the amount of lawyers (not that it excludes you, but there's a pretty good chance you won't get picked if you're a lawyer, work for a law firm), law enforcement (something like 22 different agencies in DC) and honestly, the high crime rate means that chances are someone, somewhere, was either a victim of a violent crime, or is related to someone who was (or in certain neighborhoods, was perpetrator of said crime.)

Anway, so yesterday was my fifth time called for jury duty.

First time, I got picked and served on a murder trial (some dudes killed a crack ho.)

Second time, I got picked and served on a medical malpractice jury where the plaintiff was Mrs. Lawrence Small (disgraced former head of the Smithsonian).

Third time, I didn't get picked, for whatever reason.

Fourth time, I actually forgot, and never had any repurcussions. Keep that in mind if you don't answer your jury summons.

Yesterday, the 5th time, I told them I was leaving soon for an international rugby tournament in Dublin, Ireland and wouldn't be available for the length of the (murder) trial. They kinda laughed and said, Well, that's a new one on us.

I'm sure they get a lot of people trying to get out of jury duty by saying they either didn't trust the police or they didn't trust the criminals or whatever. I'm sure they've heard it all. I actually had one person in front of me who said that she couldn't be on a jury because of the Sean Bell verdict in Queens last week. I was like, honey, that wasn't a jury trial. That was a judge decision. Either way, it worked, because she was dismissed...as was I.

I actually don't mind jury duty. I definitely think of it as a civic duty, like voting. And I figure, if smart, sensible people like me are not on juries - who does that leave as people who ARE on juries. The people too dumb to come up with a reason to get out of it?

For the record, it was a murder trial with three young defendants who allegedly killed some guy in the 1400 block of Montello Street, NE back in 2004. Amazing that it takes that long to get to trial.

I'm back

Okay, so it's been almost three months since a post.

Thankfully, DurbanBud shamed me into posting again, which I really needed to do anyway.

Well, to catch up quickly, I turned 40, had a great trip, but cancelled my trip to Costa Rica and went to Italy instead. Florence was wonderful, and Rome was nice, but the best part of the trip was the 4 days we had in the city of Perugia. Just a great small medieval, walled city that is home to a thriving university population. Great energy, great good, great art, great coffee. You know those little blue candies you see at airport duty-free shops everywhere? Perugina? Made in Perugia. They even have a little shop there, basically the factory shop. We bought fabulous leather jackets in Florence. Saw Michelangelo's David. It's huge! Went to Ostia Antica outside of Rome. It's ancient! Went to a gay bar in Rome. It's scary!

What else?

Rugby is going well. The husband, after 8 years, is finally taking an interest in rugby (now that I've retired) so we're going to every practice and every game. He wants me to play in Dublin for Bingham Cup 2008, but I've already registered as a non-player. He complained that he had never seen me play. I'm like, don't even start with me on that. That was his decision to never watch me play. Lots of new cute guys on the team. Guys who aren't even close to being my type. And we've reach the point where the gay/straight mix is very comfortable. A few years ago, we seemed to sacrifice the gay element to be kinda sexuality-neutral. Now we're very comfortable as a mostly gay team with a bunch of cool straight guys who don't care if you're gay or not. I think it's a generational thing. For most of them, it doesn't really matter, as long as you're a good guy.

Work is going okay. Cute straight boy got fired and I was sad. He was a good guy and had a huge package, and was very friendly to me. I enjoyed his company.

We haven't gone out that much at all. Haven't been to Town yet and haven't been to the Eagle in probably a year. Haven't even been going to Woof at Cobalt much at all, either. Seen a few movies, been to a few new restaurants, but mostly it's been work, home, sleep.

Thanks, DB, for shaking me out of my slumber and I promise to not let three months go by again.

Sorry about the long delay in posts. There’s been a big shakeup at the office and I’m not able to access my blog at work, and when I get home at night, I just haven’t had the energy to write or post things.

But things are quieting down now, and I’m going to try to write when I have breathers at work and then post things when I get home at night.

So work has been a bit touchy lately. New boss, with a lot of enthusiasm, but also lots of change. He fired one of my co-workers, affectionately known among my friends as CSG, aka Cute Straight Guy. He wasn’t pulling his weight, to be sure, but everyone was surprised that he was fired with apparently no probation, reprimands, written warnings, etc. And then another co-worker was put on 90-day notice, again for not producing. But the scariest thing is that the morning that all this happened, he contacted our IT person asking him how he could monitor our Internet usage. Now, I don’t have a problem with that, but in my heart I think that the professional way would be to announce, “Starting this point forward, we’ll be monitoring it, so don’t go any place you wouldn’t want to get caught going.” That’s fine. That earns my respect, even though, yes, I realize that a place a business certainly has every right to monitor their employees’ internet usage during work hours. Things have calmed down a bit, and I seem to be doing okay. The new boss says he loves my work, but when you fire someone and put someone else on notice, everyone tends to get a bit skittish. Needless to say that it’s not a happy work environment. Firing CSG may have served the purpose of sending notice, but it’s also creating a workplace where people are unhappy and searching for other jobs.

Let’s see, what else has happened?


Superbowl, Grammy’s, Golden Globe, blah blah blah.

Hillary, Obama, McCain, Huckabee, blah blah blah

Oh…went to a bear party on Saturday night. Very nice people. Very friendly, very generous in their offers of food. But my god, when did the term bear move from “chubby and hairy” to “morbidly obese”? I mean, I am not kidding when I say that literally 95% of the people there were a good 50 pounds overweight. Many 100-150 pounds overweight. I mean, I could stand to lose a few, but Bob and I were by far the thinnest people there. It was great for our self-esteem, that’s for sure, but kind of disturbing. Nobody says you have go be a size 0 (or 29 for men), but that doesn’t mean that it’s okay to become a size 54 waist.

Watched the re-broadcast of The Mormons on PBS last night. Wow. I had no idea that religion was so fucked up. And I thought much of Christianity was made up. Mormonism is 100% made up. According to the show, the Mormons believed that Jesus rose from the dead in Independence, Missouri. Seriously. And much of the founder’s decisions were based on divination from a pebble. Seriously. Poor Mittens, he didn’t have a chance in the general election.

Had dinner and cocktails with a straight couple down the hall on the other day. Well, we have our suspicions about him. Hell, SHE has her suspicions about him. He’s very cute and very nice. Reminds me of Dan from the Real World Miami. But how many straight men you know have the Bette Midler Xmas album AND the Ultimate Dance Mix 4 AND Chaka Khan Essentials on their iPod? They met at a gay birthday party that ended up at Secrets for heaven’s sake. He is either very gay-friendly or deep in the closet. Sometimes straight guys have gay friends so that they can say, “If was gay, I would be gay.” And sometimes they use it as an excuse to not address their own attractions. His girlfriend is Asian, too. And they don’t live together. After 4 years. Does that make a difference? I don’t know, but a few items on the checklist is evolved. 10 items on the checklist is highly suspect. So far, the only thing pointing in the straight direction (besides actually having the girlfriend) is his alleged attraction to Jessica Alba. And Angelina Jolie, although all four of us, gay and straight, male and female, said we’d do her.

Quote of the Day

from one of the Internet discussion boards that I read:

"Self-scan checkouts eliminate jobs for people. I refuse to use them."

So do automated elevators & ATMs. Unless you've harbored Harrison Ford in your barn & inadvertently shown him your tits, you have no problem making sure some people lost their jobs.

Enigma

Since I added the poll, "What is the Gayest Song on My iPod? yesterday, I realized that I forgot this song, Amanda Lear's "Enigma". Such a good song, actually, and a pretty cheesy video. Still love it though. Definitely before my time, but learning to love some of these old obscure disco classics as I get older.

Mee-ow

So the big news in my small hometown paper, The Dunkirk Evening Observer - not so affectionately called the Evening Disturber, is the operation of a swingers club in the town next to mine. A town so small they don't have their own schools. A town so small they literally don't have a single stoplight: The have a flashing yellow light in the middle of the main drag.

Who know that swingers clubs even existed anymore? Who would go to these? Especially in a town of about 500 people. Well, apparently the neighbors found out and the authorities are cracking down.

But I still can't get over the fact that people are trying to run a swingers club in Sheridan, New York. And it used to be a bowling alley that I used to bowl at! And it's called the Badd Kitty Club!
I would love to get a hand on their membership list and see if there's anyone I know on it. My biggest high school crush still lives in the area. He was totally hot, with a huge cock and was always a bit curious. Never did anything though.

Temptress made me cry

So checking in a bit. Speed round:

• Watched a bit of American Idol last night. Not as good as in past years, but never been a huge fan. It all just seems so mean now. And in the past I used to think the judges were the mean ones. But last night I decided that it's the producers who are the mean ones. They're the ones sending these clearly no-talent kids into the big stage and onto television. I think the judges don't even want to be involved with that any more. But Temptress made me cry. She seems like such a wonderful kid. Hope she does okay in life, because she clearly has many obstacles in front of her.
• Also been getting into The Biggest Loser this season for the first time ever. It actually makes me want to eat better. It's very difficult to stuff your face with ice cream and cookies while watching that show. And black team has potential to be hot.
  
• Went to the Bear Happy Hour at Cobalt on Friday and had a great time again. What bear schism? Seems to me that all the people I know are going to Cobalt.
  
• After BHH, we attempted to go to YaZuZu, a great Lebanese restaurant in Adams Morgan that we've been visiting for about six months. Sadly, it had closed. Not surprising, since there was never anyone else in there, but the food was delicious, was were the owners. Very nice people.
  
• Went to the new chocolate place on 14th Street on Saturday. Amazing. It's apparently a combo of Artfully Chocolate and Kingbury Confections. All I know is that it was packed and I had the best hot cocoa in my life. Definitely a change of pace from the glut of coffee shops around. They also have chocolates, artwork, orchids and spa gifts. Pretty eclectic, but it works for me. And tre gay. All the cocoa drinks are named Judy, Liza, Audrey, Barbara, etc. They've only been open five weeks, so I think they're doing well.
  
• We ended up at ACKC because we had been at Candida's World of Books buying travel books since we are going to Costa Rica for my 40th birthday in March. Should be fun, but still nervous about travelling in Central America. The store was crowded, too, which is a nice change of pace because it's been open a few years now and for a while there, it was really struggling.
  
• Watched a lot of football the rest of the weekend. Glad that New England and Green Bay won, glad that Dallas lost because I hate them, and glad that the Colts lost since I hate their bible-thumping anti-gay Coach Tony Dungy.
  
• MAL is coming up this weekend, and with the outbreak of MRSA in Boston and SF, I'm a bit worried about conditions there being a petri dish for sending the MRSA infections across the country, but we'll have to see.
  

Guess that's about it....

This happened a month ago, but I keep forgetting to write about it.

My 14 year old nephew to me, at my brother's military promotion party:

Him: Have you ever heard of MySpace?

Me: Of course I have. How old do you think I am????

Him: Do you have a MySpace page?

Me: Of course I don't. How old do you think I am????

Kinda sad, but not really

Washington Post writer Hank Stuever has a wonderful piece in the paper today about the closing of the last small multiplex in central DC - the Dupont Circle 5. It was a love/hate relationship. It was convenient, and it showed movies not seen elsewhere, but by the end, it was just so hot, smelly and cramped that I dreaded going there. And with the art house multiplexes opening on E Street and in downtown Bethesda, there was no movie that was seen there and not elsewhere. It's really a brilliant piece. He captures everything that was right and wrong about the theater.

The article was also a nice trip down movie memory lane: Over a decade ago, there were about a dozen small theaters in the downtown area - now, a few multiplexes, but nothing small. I remember the Biograph and the Key theaters in Georgetown, both art houses. The Outer Circle on Wisconsin Avenue and the Inner Circle at 23rd and M. And the West End (I think) at 23rd and L. And the Janus, which was a hellhole, replete with obstructed views. Plus the Embassy which turned into Visions...both of which never really found a market. I saw to say there was another small theater right in the Dupont area, but I can't remember what it was.

That being said, I actually much prefer the comfort, size and screens of the new theaters, still mostly showing art house films, that have popped up to replace them. Once you go stadium seating, you never go back.

My favorite memory of the Dupont Circle 5? I saw Torch Song Trilogy there over President's Day weekend in 1989, on my way home from dropping out of the College of William and Mary in my junior year, three months before I had to go to Army ROTC advance camp (that was soooo not gonna happen.) I partied with friends one last time before I headed home with my tail between my legs, admitting defeat to Uncle Sam. It was a great weekend, went to Tracks, Mark Lee's first party at the Dakota and hanging out at Lambda Rising....all things new and fresh to a 20 year old gay boy who never visited the big city, and who was heading back home to Mom and Dad and the farm and an uncertain future.

Thanks, Hank, for a wonderful story, and a trip down memory lane.

For some reason (okay, I was killing time reading a site about forgotten movies of the 70s), I remembered the movie Escape to Witch Mountain, a Disney movie from 1975 about two twins with superpowers trying to get back to their home planet. I loved that movie, and it's sequel, Return to Witch Mountain. Return to Witch Mountain (1978) was so fabulous because it starred Bette Davis. Who knew that age 10 that I was already a Bette Davis fan? Not so much a fan of the other sequels and remakes after that, although I never even knew about the 1995 version.

And now I see that they are remaking it again, starring The Rock, to be released next year.

I think the scariest part of it all is that there is actually a National Society of Fans of Witch Mountain. But for only $2, how can you go wrong? It's tempting, but I think I'd like to have my memories of Witch Mountain remain as those I had as a child. Seeing the movie now would probably just ruin it, ie, what was I thinking?

Does anyone else remember these movies?

Apparently Stephen Baldwin (the Threesome one, and Celebrity Apprentice one) is a big supporter of Mike Huckabee. He called into the Howard Stern show saying that he's against gay marriage because the Bible says it's wrong.

Honestly, I think if he said that he was against homosexuality because one passage in the Bible says that it's sinful, I might at least respect him, even if I disagree. But the Bible says nothing about "gay marriage." That's a modern concept and nowhere is it mentioned in the Bible. So he's just a tool.

Mike Huckabee is really scary. He comes across as so genial and nice, but he truly has some out there beliefs. And people are writing him off as an Evangelical candidate. Hello? People? He can win the South and the Midwest. That's pretty much enough to win enough electoral votes. The Northeast continues to lose electoral votes, so just because a liberal can sweep New England doesn't mean that Dem can win nationwide. I'm much more worried about this national election in November that most people I think. I'm a staunch Democrat, but I always say that the Dems will find a way somehow to fuck it all up.

So ashamed

So I'm walking down the street on the way to work this morning, having just gotten off the bus. I'm listening to my iPod. A song comes on that I don't remember. I am usually very particular about the songs...if I don't recognize it, I skip it and then remove it later. So, for once, I let it play, hoping that I start to recognize the song. It's a remix, so it takes awhile to get to anything. After about two minutes, I'm still not recognizing the song, so finally I give up. I take the iPod out of my pocket and force myself to look at the artist and song.

I'm so embarrassed. And shamed. And very, very, very gay. It was a dance re-mix of Nia Peeple's Trouble.

And I have only myself to blame for loading the song on my player! I remember it being so much better, but maybe that was just the Party Machine talking.

Time-Waster

Okay, so not much to say. Well, actually, lots to say, but not much energy to actually write it all down and put it here, much less write it and then EDIT it so that it makes sense to anyone else but myself. Anyway, saw this on Seth's live journal page and thought it was an interesting thing. Certainly better than any of those, What Kind of Superhero/Animal/Sit-Com Character/Mixed Drink/Peanuts Character quizzes that people seem to like.

Here you go - feel free to crib. I have no idea what it's supposed to show or prove. (Update: apparently the original title of the list is "What Privileges Do You Have?"- to wit: This meme is from "What Privileges Do You Have?", based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.

Father went to college.
Father finished college.
Mother went to college.
Mother finished college.
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor. Mostly farmers, does that make me underprivileged?
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers. I assume this means like middle class.
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
Were read children's books by a parent.
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18. (See below)
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18. Clarinet, swimming, gymnastics, piano
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively. Not sure what this mean – white people? Or gay people? Yea to the first, nay to the second.
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18. Not till college.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs. Ha! Try Uncle Sam.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs. Double Ha!
Went to a private high school.
Went to summer camp.
Had a private tutor before you turned 18. Was a private tutor, though.
Family vacations involved staying at hotels. Do motels count?
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18. Youngest of six boys: lots of handmedowns and Salvation Army thrift shop cloths.
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.
There was original art in your house when you were a child. Lots of art from inter-library loan, plus ancestral portraits.
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18.
You and your family lived in a single family house.
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left. Old farmhouse in family since the 1870s.
You had your own room as a child. By about age 10.
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course. Unheard of in rural upstate NY in the 80s.
Had your own TV in your room in High School.
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16. Disney world, I think.
Went on a cruise with your family.
Went on more than one cruise with your family.
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up. Regular at Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo.
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family. Um, yeah, still unaware.

Whoops

Okay, am I the only one who forgot (or didn't even know) that a single daily copy of the Washington Post has gone up to 50 cents? I remember hearing about it last month, but it didn't register.

Today, after buying my fourth paper of the week from my neighborhood homeless guy for 35 cents, I finally notice that it's now 50 cents. I guess I'll have to go back and give him a dollar or something.

I can't be the only one who has been basically stealing papers this week, can I?

Hi, have we met?

So I get the following message on MH today. I've never seen the guy online, much less talked to or express any interest whatsoever. I can only assume that he has send this message to everyone in the DC metro area. I mean, who gives out this information to wantonly. So, I'm posting it to the Internet. I have deleted his email though...that's just not nice.

The details of my trip to DC have been finalized. I will be arriving on
Wednesday January 9 and leaving on the 11th, staying at Embassy Suites at
the Chevy Chase Pavilion on Military Road NW (4300). I should be available
for some fun Wed late afternoon, all night and all night on Thursday -
cocksucking bttm into your pleasure. The hotel number is 202 362 9300 my
full name is Joe Downey (they may ask for it when you call) - I will have
internet access - let's make plans to hook up - you won't be disappointed.
Let
me know if there is anything else you may need.

http://www.dudesnude.com/members/125475/


Joe

Kind of an up and down holiday season this year. Had a great time at the Mulholland Xmas party on Saturday night, and then a wonderful time at Rob and Pat's Christmas Eve orphan party up in Baltimore, where I saw lots of old friends and made some new ones. Christmas Day was a bit rough, as we decided to scale back our Christmas this year, and that was a horrible decision (even if it was mostly mine.) I just wanted a Christmas without a lot of fighting and stress and drama, and well, I didn't get THAT wish.

But anyway, after feeling sorry for myself, I somehow ran across this, and it reminded me that my life is good. I have someone who loves me, a roof over my head, a steady paycheck, and lots of good friends.

My So-Called Life - the Christmas episode. The one where Ricky gets beat up and thrown out, and Juliana Hatfield guests as a homeless girl. Truly the best holiday tv episode ever.



And, here's the entire recap from TWOP. Such a good show, such a shame that it got cancelled.

In honor of the season: Pee Wee's Christmas Special!

From 1986 I think. I remember this and it's even gayer than I remember.

And Grace Jones, too!

I think my parents have it on VHS somewhere. My gay brother insisted we tape it.

But no, he wasn't out. Not at all.

Coach McDreamy

Oh, so there's a nice long interview with Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Early Edition, Homefront) in the Advocate. He's not gay, but his interview makes me fall in love him even more than ever. If you're not watching Friday Night Lights, you should be. Best show on television.

Here's the Advocate article.

So I have this really interesting mix of 80's songs and samples from some DJ named Frankie Pigeon. It's mostly British stuff, with movie quotes, songs, snippets from ts shows, etc. At the very end, there's a kind of folky song that sounded familiar, but I wasn't sure. I googled the lyrics, and it was The Littlest Hobo! I totally loved that show, since I was like 10 when it came on. It was about a cute German Shepherd how wondered about the countryside helping people out, etc. Kind of a cross between Lassie and Highway to Heaven. It got me to thinking, I wonder why people never talk about that show? According to IMDB, it was on for six years. (apparently there was another one in the 50s and 60s, but I don't remember that one.) Then I noticed, it was on Canadian television. No wonder no one has ever heard of it.

I grew up on the Canadian border, so we got a lot of Canadian television, including Tiny Talent Time, Party Game, The Beachcombers, You Can't Do That on Television (which gave Alanis Morrisette her start) The Red Green Show, the original DeGrassi Junior High, and Wayne & Shuster.

The Littlest Hobo wasn't that great, but who doesn't love a show about dogs?

Oh, and the other interesting sample from the DJ Frankie Pigeon is a snippet from Belle and Sebastien, the cartoon, not the band. And I remember a song from 1991 or so that either sampled the cartoon, or was about the cartoon. Maybe it was Charly, by the Prodigy? Was that the sample in that? Or was it another sample?

Thanks to Queerty for this lovely video. A collage of scenes from Brideshead Revisited, to the soundtrack of a beautiful ABC song, All of My Heart. That is totally a gay wedding song.

Brideshead Revisited was just a little bit before my time, although I think it was more that it was on TV when I had to do homework. I was gay 7th grader, but not THAT gay! Apparently there's a movie coming out next year, which I look forward to seeing. I know the miniseries has a huge following, and this is just a beautiful video.

Here's a good quote from a Michael Wilbon column discussing the Michael Vick sentencing. And don't get me wrong, I think what Michael Vick did was horrific, and that he deserved what he got. But for me, the point is the context:

"Mike Tyson was convicted of rape, yet he and his crime didn't generate anything close to the outrage of the Vick case. I have no tolerance for what Vick did, from financing the enterprise to actually killing dogs. Jail is where he deserves to be. But have we really come to the point, agitated by the frighteningly influential animal rights lobbyists, where an animal's well-being is more important than a woman's? It's sad if our priorities are that twisted. The reaction to Vick's crime reached a feeding frenzy that seems to ignore all context."

There's another bit in the column that notes that "St. Louis Rams' Leonard Little got only 90 days in the city workhouse and four years probation for killing a motorist when driving while drunk, which turned into an involuntary manslaughter plea."

And before people start getting on my case, my point is not that Vick should have gotten less, but that Little should have gotten more. And don't get me started on PacMan Jones or Rae Carruth or even Jason Williams.

Wow, this is pretty amazing. A Sea Scout (an affiliate of the Boy Scouts) leader from Berkeley is now being with all sorts of perv charges with little boys.

And this is the same guy who filed a lawsuit 10 years ago against the City of Berkely for kicking the Sea Scouts out of their marina for being homophobic.

Karma's a bitch, man. Hope you have fun in prison.

Make sure to add the movie Short Eyes to your Netflix queue before you go in. I'm just sayin'.

eek!

Wow...this is amazing and pretty hard to watch.

Footage of the DC Metrobus driver running over the two woman last January - and not even stopping! Guy just got sentenced the other day to a year in prison. Didn't think too much about it at the time, but after watching the video, I think he got off too easy. Somehow I had envisioned it much differently, much more accidental.


http://www.wmata.us/metrokills.html

Warning: not for the queasy. May take a sec to load, and you have to click play.

Had a great time down at my brother's down at Belvoir for his promotion party. He has hot friends. Damn.

Stayed and watched the Bills/Redskins game on Sunday. Being from Buffalo, I was obviously rooting for the Bills, but I felt a bit guilty about it, what with the murder of Sean Taylor. But by the end of the game, I didn't feel so guilty because basically the Redskins were celebrating and preening after every play. I'm like, dude, you're running around boasting because you made a tackle? That's your fucking job!! So, no, no qualms about the Bills winning and Joe Gibbs making a stupid call to lose the game.

Oh, can I just say? I am so fucking tired of Sean Taylor. As Bob said, they've given his death more coverage that Gerald Ford! I'm not overly sentimental, and that includes death, and I'm wondering how Sean Taylor all of a sudden turned into a saint when we all know he was a thug gangster for most of his life. Big deal, for 18 months he tried to clean it up a bit. Whatever.

Saw Beowulf on Friday night. It was better than I was expecting, although that may have been the 3-D talking. Although, Beowulf fighing Grendel in the nude was just bizarre. I don't remember that from my high school lit class.

Saw a sneak preview of Charlie Wilson's War on Monday. Great movie. One of the best I've seen all year, although it hasn't been a great year for movies. It's not on the level or Schindler's List or anything, but I thought it was a great political movie, and there have been a lot of misses in that category this year. Tom Hanks was pretty good...kept on thinking on who I would cast instead (maybe Kevin Spacey, but Charlie Wilson was a womanizer, so that would have just been laughable), but I couldn't think of anyone. Possible Oscar nominaton for him. Julia Roberts was Julia Roberts. She should stick to romantic comedies. Notting Hill 2 or something. But Philip Seymour Hoffman was brilliant! Definite Oscar nomination for supporting actor for him. It was a great, funny, educational, accurate political film - which is very hard to do.

Been watching some fucked up films from Netflix lately. Clearly, I have lost control of my queue, as I don't recognize any of the films toward the top. I'm like, where's my Season 1 Maude disc? Where's Harold and Kumar? Such is the peril of sharing your queue.

Anyway, we watched The Damned on Monday night. Think The Godfather crossed with Schindler's List crossed with Starship Troopers. Crazy shit. I guess the point was power corrupts, absolutely, but still, it was a bit over the top. We had seen another of the director's films, The Leopard at the AFI Silver a few years ago, but this was just way out there. An Italian film in English with German actors set in 1933 Germany on the eve of the Third Reich. Yikes.

And then on Wednesday, we saw Jules and Jim. A classic in cinema, to be sure, but I don't know how groundbreaking it is today. Two guys and a girl. Big woo. Some great cinematography though. I don't know if it's famous for it's plot, theme or cinematography, but it wasn't as good as I was expecting. I will say that I'm sure many films pay homage to it, but when you see all the other films first, the subject of the homage isn't as cutting-edge.

Been listening to a Trocadero set that I found from Jockohomo a lot this week, and fell in love with this one song. Had no idea what it was, tried to Google the lyrics to no avail. Finally found the track listing, and it's Midnight Message by Ann Marget. Ann Freak' Margret. It's so awesome. It's kinda like Olivia Newton John's Magic, but more disco-y. Enjoy.

Also, saw some clip of Ease on Down the Road from The Wiz (thanks to Queerty) and it reminded me of my favorite scene from that soundtrack, Don't Bring No Bad News, by Mabel King. Yes, Raj's mom from What's Happening. Classic. Email me if you want it.
Amazingly, the clip isn't available on You Tube. Someone needs to post that.

Busy weekend planned. BBQ at my brother's house out an army base south of town on Saturday, and then the rugby team annual general meeting. Some shit going on there, but I'm mostly just too tired to protest it all.