Thursday, May 31, 2012
WASHOUT
Today's gay film, which I picked out of a heap of "possibles" was so bad I don't even want to write about it.
See how long you can stand it.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
OUR BEST
When we get depressed about the state of affairs in our country, it is useful to apply an antidote.
Watch this wonderful expression of our gratitude for those who have enriched out lives over many many years.
Labels: United Sates of America
SHORTER
I went to get a haircut today.
You may know that this is never easy for me.
I do not have a clue about why.
My hair history is not traumatic.
When I was a kid, I went to Mr. Kitzig out on the main road in Mountainhome Pa. Kitzig was a no nonsense kind of guy. What I liked is that he had copies of the Policeman's Gazette which was not for kids but he didn't care if I read them. He was not a babysitter.
But somehow, it didn't work out in the long run. Maybe my mother found out I had access to the Gazette. It was pretty tame stuff. Girls. She didn't know that even then I was not interested in that. I think, actually, it was the driving me there and the waiting or not. Mostly not.
I needed a barber who would be within walking distance. That would be Edgar Treintasseau (?), a Belgian immigré who still had a photo of King Leopold over the mirror.
Edgar was a drinker and possibly a closet case. He would go out back where they lived and take a snort during the haircut. The Ms. was back there and listened to the banter if any, in the shop. She would sometimes interject from the back.
I remember that Edgar would not give me a crewcut after I had lobbied long and hard with my parents to get one. Everyone else was getting one.
I had him call her to insure that she wouldn't bust his balls after he had done the deed.
After that I think that I just had a buzz cut wherever I went until the 70s when I grew my hair long. Then I had to find a place that would do hippies and I don't remember much about the hunt at all.
I do remember the first time I went to a "stylist". A one man shop. On Dartmouth Street. Norman. An overwrought queen who, if you were in his presence, had the knack of drawing you into his drama.
I don't remember a lot of it but it became too much, we had a fight (everyone did eventually) and I began my slow crawl from one place to another.
I don't know when I started cutting my own hair. I went back to the buzz anyway. Maybe I had it done. Utilitarian.
I had to have a look for my work leading managers in training experiences and nothing too radical was going to work well. There was a period when my work was to be somewhat out there but that changed and so did I. My hair followed the money.
And on and on.
A while ago, I started wearing my hair long again. The old back and forth. A friend is the perennial best in Palm Springs shop and he had offered to do my hair and so why not.
It is OK but I still do not like the fuss.
What is good about this is that it is his shop and it is well designed to provide some privacy and no contact with other clients or hair cutters.
I get a cut (ha ha) rate. But it is still a bit of a pain as I have to go out to get the cut, sit for a half hour and admire myself and his work and be fussed over. I am still not comfortable with it.
It is no drama. Nice and quiet. Probably the best that it can be under the circumstances.
No complaints. Just grumbling.
I know. It is being held hostage. No control. That's it.
Wow. I got it. Thanks for listening.
Oh. I still don't know whether I want the back tapered or blocked.
Labels: hair
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
FLUFF BUT GAY FLUFF
Today's gay film was
This is not a very good movie but the guys in it are great to look at and the story is not only tolerable but it has a certain message intensity which I think is good.
HIV awareness, monogamy versus not, coming out, religion and sexuality are all treated in a kind of educational way. Believe it or not there are a lot of young gay men, more each year as little queers grow up, who need to at least think about some of the basics.
This is rather nice way to get the message.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix 5 mostly for its mission accomplished.
Monday, May 28, 2012
MEMORIAL
When I was a kid, Memorial Day was meant to acknowledge and honor the war dead of our country.
It was not about live veterans. That is another day.
It was the actual dead.
We marched to the graveyards on Memorial Day and usually honored a recently dead soldier or sailor.
As I recall, there was at least one in each of four or five cemeteries in our area. Of course, there were many old dead. The Civil War in many cases being the oldest, through the Spanish American, World War I and, of course, the WWII guys who were getting the honors.
It wasn't about cookouts or auto races or any of that. It was a time of quiet and remembrance.
And it wasn't about peace either. Or politics. Or even about the right and wrong of it.
These were people, mostly men, who died in the virtually perpetual state of war that we have had here since the beginning. Loss. Suffering. Sacrifice.
At every ceremony, each year, a kid would recite Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. One year, my sixth grade year, I think, I was that kid.
I can still remember most of it. Don't test me though.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
When thinking about what they died for, I also like to think of the MLKing line about the arc of history pointing toward justice.
War is a squalid, mean exercise but if it means anything at all, we hope for justice. I am less interested in "freedom" now because that word has been co-opted for the cause de jour.
Justice and more of it.
Memorial Day was also a day to go and clean up and decorate the family graves.
We would go and get rid of the dead flowers, mow or sickle the grass, sit and think about who is in the soil and so on.
The local VFW or American Legion would have put a little flag on the grave of each veteran. Nothing wrong with that.
I remember that you had to go and get buckets of water and carry the dead grasses and plants to the junk pile.
It was a serious deal.
I am proud to say that my kids still go and visit the family graves. A few of the go together. Make it a trip. An occasion.
This is more than I ever did in my adult years. They have taken a beloved tradition and made it real again. They have to travel to do this. Cross three states to do so.
By now they have a lot of visiting to do. Some of the graves go back beyond grand and great grand parents. Or great great, if you can find them still.
Memorial Day.
Labels: nostalgia, patriotism, war and peace
STILL LOVELY
Today's 50 Favorite Gay Film was the reliable
Les Chansons d’Amour / Love Songs (2007)
I have seen and written about this film many times.
In his Times review, A.O. Scott says
“Love Songs” is a worthy and intriguing experiment, the latest sortie in an international rescue operation aimed at saving musical cinema from extinction or self-parody. Like other movies that have been involved in this undertaking — “Once,” say, or “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” — Mr. Honoré’s film is likely to inspire ardent love among its admirers. The rest of us may envy their passion.
I am one of those ardent admirers of this film.
It is a 5 out of Netflix5.
It is one of the formal listing of Favorites. Number 32.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
SCHOOL DAYS
Today's gay film was Alan Bennett's
An opened up and abridged version of the prizewinning play. And since we can't see that, we will see the movie which is quite good and deeply involving.
On the face of it, one wonders how this is a gay movie.
Since it takes place in the 80s the answer to this conundrum is that everything gay was under the surface but just so.
The fat was in the fire so everyone had it on their minds. It doesn't take long for "it" to arise.
I have seen this before and gave it a 5 and will do so again.
There are a lot of universal truths that are prismed out of the byplay between teachers and boys who are in a summer prep class for applications to Oxford and Cambridge.
Funny, exciting, sad. Like life.
Still a Netflix5 out of 5.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
CAPTIVE STATE
I haven't had a good Facebook rant for awhile.
Here is a good starter.
I was not surprised to see recently that Mark Zuckerberg has retained control of FB as many others invested in his enterprise.
No board can overrule him, no stockholders have any say in his decisions unless he chooses to allow it.
It is, in short, an authoritarian state.
This is no surprise of course. FB has always been the Zuck's fifedom and will continue to be so even if on a huge scale.
Why is this wrong?
Well, lots of reasons enumerated more capably in this article. But for one thing that I know personally, it is most blameworthy.
Some of my friends, real ones, not the FB kind, don't look for conspiracy and con jobs in American commerce. At least not this kind. Somehow the wonders of the internet miracle seem to transcend people's skepticism and ability to think.
There is no doubt that many people, my friends included, find affiliation, revived relationships and many other fun and serious things from FB. They do not see the cost to their privacy or their innocence.
FB is notoriously hard to leave. John did it but got emails and shit for a long while about it. Fortunately he didn't have a lot of friended people. He went on for a crass commercial reason himself and wasn't interested in the social aspect. But it was hell to get off.
They have people by the psychological and sociological nuts. And so on.
But at the base, I have never liked the Zucker and I never trusted him in the beginning. Not only does he have "shifty" eyes and a con man's shit eating grin, I have a predisposition to be wary of anything like this.
This is where being a near pathological introvert is a big help.
I cannot imagine digging up the past or friending people I hardly know or putting my personal life out there.
For those who have drunk the Kool-Aid, good luck with that. Keep your eyes on the shit eating grin.
Labels: evil bastards, internet
COLD SNAP
It is in the 70s today. High 50s last night. The next week slowly moving up into the 90s.
This is not unprecedented. It is only May.
But still, it feels unusual.
We had the house open all last night and no air conditioning for two days already.
There was a very strong jet stream push from the north and it is still in effect.
It is very enjoyable. Booker and I can take a decent walk after dinner. The sleeping is great. I took 90 minutes for my hour's nap this morning. It just happened. Boom. Real air is not like conditioned air. Ever. So refreshing.
Labels: weather
BARN BURNER
Today's gay film was the last of four Don Strachey detective stories.
On the Other Hand, Death (2008)
Which was as good as the others. Or better. The characters have grown particularly Strachey and his partner Tim.
Each film has also gotten a bit more rich looking and complex. The same people are connected with the project which was originally shown on the here Channel, a mostly gay cable station.
We have come a long way. We have our own teevee channel and I think that there are some others.
What is good about this series though is that it is not about gay so much as it is about gay people leading "normal" lives which, of course is not true as teevee characters are never normal. So say it is about regular teevee characters who happen to be gay. People who cheat and steal and others who chase after them.
It has been really nice to watch these. I hope there is another one coming along.
There is always a guest star and, in this one, it is Margo Kidder. So good. So changed from her early days as Superman's girlfriend. She has led a colorful life and is still a political activist demonstrating over the Keystone pipeline. Read her profile.
A word about the director Ron Oliver who has done all four. He is gay. He has a huge resumé, all kinds of films. Each film has had a "making of" piece in the features and they have been very good and particularly about him and Chad Allen. I can't get enough of Chad and Ron Oliver is a genius. A lot of fun and all business at the same time. The actors all go on and on about the set and how supportive it and he is.
I don't usually look at these behind the scenes pieces but I made the exception on the first film and haven't missed one yet.
Friday, May 25, 2012
YESTERDAY TODAY
Well almost.
25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert.
Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer - Madison Square Garden, NYC - 2009/10/29&30
Labels: fun. music, nostalgia
THRILLER
Today's gay film was the Donald Strachey mystery
This one is about an illegal legal firm, child pornography and some other stuff.
There is more chasing and some more action.
This time, Don's husband Tim is in the action a lot more and, consequently, there is a lot more of the couple to watch. Very nice.
In all of these, the story gets a little twisted. It is always the same for me with mysteries. I enjoy them but by the time we get to the end and have it "solved", I am mostly not too interested. The important part is the process of getting there.
This is fine television which is what they were made for. Prime time features.
Very enjoyable and Chad Allen.
What more could we ask?
A 4 out of Netflix5.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
STRACHEY
Today's gay film was the second Don Strachey detective movie.
If anything, a more exciting and clever story than the first episode.
Chad Allen inhabits this character so well. It is great to watch him work.
Again, we have a who-done-it. The style is film noir. The subject is gay reparative therapy. And the fraudulent business and goings on.
Another 4 out of Netflix5.
CLOSE CALL
Johny, the guy at the gym, asked if I had a new id number because it showed me "inactive" this morning.
Look, given my new accelerated bike program (full half hour at the machine's max effort) I am anything but inactive. So I freaked when I realized that I had not paid up on the 7th of May due date.
Why is this important?
Because when John and I moved to Palm Springs, the Golds, then a franchise, was in trouble. They had overbuilt the facility and there was a bad economy again. We look back to bad economies in the way that people look back at a city they are leaving. There are so many that looking into the future is just a mote in the sun.
Anyway, we went to a movie and there was an ad for Golds, we had been going someplace else. They were offering a lifetime membership for 99 dollars a year. All you had to do was buy two years NOW.
I had been going to Golds for quite a while before we moved here. All the way back to the old location out in the desert. In a Mall.
So we went and joined up.
Today the annual membership costs about 450 dollars. Bang!
So I went out today in person to re-up and hope I wouldn't have lost my privileged fee.
As it turns out I have thirty days after the expire date.
Then the high fee kicks in. Over the years it involves a lot of money.
My surprise was over the fact that I missed the date.
Because of the money advantage and the belief on the part of the dwindling number of people who have the 99 deal and the paranoia we have about the gym being out to take it away from us on a technicality, I have worried my way along with it.
Always on my calendar. Why not this time?
Shit. Maybe it is because I am feebing out. But then, the woman who took me in told me she was shocked to see my birth date, I look so good.
Ahhhhh.
HITS THE SPOT
Booker has a hot spot again.
Every summer.
They start with an insect bite or something else that causes an itch. Usually in the high hair areas. The Airedale beard is great for it although this time it is on his cheek.
His looks like this one.
The bite itches, he scratches it, the moisture in the hair at skin level is a perfect medium for the bacteria to grow.
Voila! Hot spot.
We caught this one because we could see it but, still, in one day he had doubled its size.
He is on antibiotics which are easy to give. Just throw them in his kibble. Nothing stops him there.
He has a neat skin spray which he just hates to have applied. One of us sprays, the other one throws his entire weight against Booker's ass as he backs up from the dread spray. The sprayer is occupied with the bottle and shielding his eyes from the spray.
He also gets some benadryl to ease any itching.
Last and worst, he has the cone again. Because he will not leave the spot alone.
So, we take the cone off when he walks or is otherwise occupied. Scratching is a reflex and perhaps not even related to the spot. But the cheek is always included. Especially if it has just been sprayed by the neat and dreaded skin spray.
Based on past experience this will take about a week. We will do fine. And so will Booker.
HE IS LIKE ME
I love this.
When a Boy Found a Familiar Feel in a Pat of the Head of State
Labels: Barack Obama
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
GAY NOIR
Today's gay film was made for teevee. There are three others with the same private eye character.
Chad Allen plays Don Strachey (based on a series of books) a gay private eye in Albany NY.
He is married to his man Timmy and they lead a great life together.
This film is noir. It is, to some extent based on the Thin Man series. There is even a little white dog.
In this one everyone is gay. The private eye and the villains and the in betweens.
It is a film dedicated to the proposition that gays are pretty much like everyone else except for a few extraneous details. It is a thriller and a who dunnit and it is very good at that level.
It has a lot of humor. It is slick. There are a lot of in-jokes.
And it is even a little scary.
I will be watching the other ones next, if the mail delivers on time.
Chad Allen is a great actor and he has a full cast to do good ensemble with here.
It is a 4 out of Netflix5.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
WHAT IT WAS LIKE
Today's gay film was a new documentary
This is about the early days of HIV and AIDS.
As an older gay man, little is new in this well done talking heads and photos doc.
Having been around at the time in Boston there is not a lot of new information here but there is an emphasis on how the gay community became a community and helped itself before anyone else including the government were doing it.
It is not easy to watch.
In a way, it is a ghoulish enterprise as many long lost faces are shown at the worst of their suffering. An invasion somehow.
A sea of faces from a newspaper. Mostly personal memories.
A nurse from the first AIDS unit at SF General. A counsellor from the Shanti Project. A gay politico. The mate of two men who died and he survived. And the flower man at the corner of Castro and 17th. He is the best of the lot.
I am glad I saw it but the impact was diluted by the lack of a new direction. But it is a time, now, when my time, the 70s and 80s are fading into history and need some well done documentation.
I guess this is the first wave.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Monday, May 21, 2012
HOT INSIDE TOO
Right before bed last night, the AC went out.
We are still waiting for a service man at 3PM this afternoon. Called this morning.
Monday is not a good day to get a repair.
But we are on a contract and they say we get same day. Just a bit late today.
We are on the fans spotted around. It isn't that bad if we lie low and in the airflow. Last time I looked, it was 87.
Great!
Unless it is the compressor.
It is not the compressor.
It is the control module on the variable fan drive.
Two hours.
He hopes.
Now he is gone getting the part which they do have.
He will be in his truck with the AC on for all that time.
Fucker.
While we sweat.
This guy has been here a few times. He looks like Don Rickles and the personality is about the same. Very funny.
Last year we had a surge in the power which overheated the compressor and he stood there for an hour hosing it down until it got within the go-temp. He took a flier on it and he was right.
Labels: condo
DIRTY COPPERS
Today's gay film was
Interesting film that precedes the golden era of gay film production which began in the aughts and continues today. This would be the precursor of the four film noir Lytton Strachey detective films I will be seeing.
The idea of having some serious drama and even detective stories that simply involve gay characters in the most "usual" way is something that has evolved. There are still the silly camp films and the coming out stories.
Gay men are never, ever over telling their coming out stories to each other. It is the critical ingredient of every first date. And we love to hear others'. Anytime.
Oh, the film/
Well, a closeted gay cop, deep closet, encounters a hustler for whom he actually has some feelings. As he is working undercover detecting drug dealers in a hustler bar, he is conflicted when he "saves" the young man from suspicion for another unrelated crime.
Well, it is related but we don't know that at the time.
It is a little low budget and a bit awkward at times but quite enjoyable.
A 3 out of Netflix5. And everyone but the bad guys are pretty good looking.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
SUNDOWN
We just got back from walking through the thirty minute peak of the solar eclipse.
It started to get that brownish tinge about 615 and then darker, darker until the peak at 638.
No total dark.
We watch the shadows. They take the shape of the crescent. Quite spectacular.
Our shadows show like we have fringe on the bottom of the image.
We haven't seen anything like this since maybe 20 years ago in Boston.
No. We didn't know about it soon enough to get glasses for it.
Maybe next time. I will be 96.
Booker didn't get it. "What the shit Dads? Why all the excitement. My shadow has a furry look to it all the time".
SLOW ROLL OUT
Today's gay film was
Another coming out story although this one is quite different than most.
Dorian is a different kind of guy. He has a younger brother Nick who is like a guardian angel to him. The Mom and Pop are out of it. This is ca. Nixon time. So it is a long runway to get out of the closet.
But he doesn't do it glumly. He is funny, flip and so is the film.
I liked it. There are a lot of great one liners.
There is a serious ending.
There is a lot of good brother stuff in here. Love. And there is a terrible Dad.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. I liked him better than the film but I would be happy to see it again anytime.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
OUT IN THE FAMILY
Today's gay film was
Starring Benjamin Bratt and directed by his brother Peter, this film focuses on the father of a gay son. A Latino father of a gay son. A Latino father of a gay son who live in the latin ghetto of The Mission in San Francisco.
For once, the focus here is on the family of a gay man who outs himself, sort of. Pictures are found of the son and his lover together.
The gay men are portrayed beautifully as, for that matter, is the father. A lady neighbor is a love interest for the Dad who helps him come to terms with his feelings about the son.
It is all very contemporary and feels so real that one is just hugged into the whole swirling situation.
Dad throws son out, son goes to Uncle and Aunt. Then is taken in by the parents of his lover.
There is a side story of violence which spins back and knocks the Dad off his hard positions.
There is not much in this that is conventional and yet it is every coming out story only from the parent's perspective.
Great music. If you watch with titles (suggested) the lyrics will be shown. A unique and delightful treat. Often they are dumped. Too hard to translate poetry?
Bratt has always been intense. Square that here.
Did I say that the gay men, young and horny, are as real as they can be and they are in love, a mature love that transcends the relationship with the Dad. Not much inner conflict with the kid who goes for his own needs.
This is a 4 out of Netflix5,
Thursday, May 17, 2012
ROVING
Today's reaction to that snake Karl Rove. Actually, he is probably a weasel. A snaky weasel.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama, Romney
COVERING ALL THE BASES
Today's gay film was
Two things. This film shows what a bland, watered down, unimaginative business movies have become.
It will rock your sox.
Inventive, transgressive, awesome.
Man, Fellini took risks.
And it is probably not really a gay film per se as it is a comprehensive look at so many variations on sexual preference that you cannot keep count. It has to be see to be believed.
Why did I see it? Because you can always see Fellini and profit. But also, the two young men who are featured throughout are in a relationship with each other and that frames their experiences together and apart for the entire film.
It is a buddy movie and a road movie.
Cornucopia.
Visual feast.
I had forgotten the inventiveness of the Fellini scenery and characters.
Great.
Granted there are a few places where it wanders and I actually nodded off a bit but then that would quickly be interrupted with some really grotesquely funny change or, I would just look around and see the rich and abundant variety going on in any scene.
It is a 5 out of Netflix5 for sure.
FOX SAYS SO
I am not doing polls really but this is worth mentioning.
A new Fox News poll shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney at the national level, 46% to 39%. Obama reportedly benefited in the poll from growing support among independents.Fox.
It is the biggest spread that I have seen so far.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
FIGHTING TO GET TO THE DANCE FLOOR
Today's gay movie was
Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story
I suppose we should be used to films about getting gay boys and girls to a prom with a date of their choice. But it is still remarkable that this shit is so important to the moral guardians.
So here we are in Canada where this case actually set precedent in the matter of a conflict between Catholic teaching (it is a parochial school) and human rights law.
Marc Hall wants to take his boyfriend and sticks with it with the support of his family and friends and the law.
What is really nice about this is the way the film is constructed. A mockumentary sort of. Funny and touching at the same time.
Very good.
There is a special feature with the actual Marc Hall, his boyfriend and his parents as well as other principals to this story.
I liked it a lot and got teary. Just what we want for a hot afternoon.
Interestingly the story does not involve sex or the sexual aspect. It is about blatant discrimination against gays in the matter of dancing in public in an unofficial school activity.
Familiar subject in a creative setting.
Scroll down at the link and see Marc Hall make a visit to the web site.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
DESIRABLE
Today's gay film was Pedro Almodovar's
La Ley Del Deseo / The Law of Desire (1987)
Lots of gay. Perhaps the gayest feature film ever made. Maybe.
Almodovar was not well known when this film was made and Antonio Banderas was only 19 playing an obsessed fan of a film director who can't let go.
The director is a roue himself with a half boyfriend so things get intense in the jealousy department.
The thing about Almodovar is that he is serious and insane at the same time. Very funny and also worrisome. He is great at the soap opera over the top film and this is an early example of his temperament.
Carmen Maura is the director's transexual sister.One forgets that s/he also packs the punch of an adult man.
There is suspense, lots of sex, sentiment and a whole array of roller coaster feelings.
I have seen this at least twice and am sure to see it again.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
CHANGING SIDES
Today's gay film was
This time travel/dreamscape film has a middle aged gay man, who wants to be normal, go back to where he came from and, after an auto accident, find that everything has flipped. The kids that were straight are now gay and..............
it has some fine moments and a good ending.
One thing that is very impressive is the makeup that has all characters in his present life young again. Same actors.
This is one of those films that never made it. Straight, so to speak, to DVD. The actors, save one, never did anything else.
But this little gem remains for us to see. I enjoyed it. Not a great film but enjoyable nonetheless.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Friday, May 11, 2012
DEAR MEupdated
Dear Me.
I know it is hard for you to see what is going on there. Here. Every male friend is scary to you. Particularly your Dad.
You have a secret and you think that if they find out you will be in big trouble.
Wait for college.
You may not believe this but when you get there you will meet someone who is almost exactly like you. He will even have the same last name. You will sit next to each other in your classes. He will become a special friend. You will fool around. I will let you find out what I mean by that. A surprise!
You will finally begin to feel comfortable being as close as you want to be with another boy/man.
There will be others. When you look back at this time you will eventually realize that almost every single person who became close to you in college was gay. Or a wannabe.
Wait a minute. You don't even know what I mean by the word "gay". Another thing you will have to wait for.
You will be in the middle of a gay network. Men like yourself. The same special feelings. Some special guys will come and then go.
And you will still feel alone.
Later, when you get out in the world, the fears will come back and, for awhile, you will do what your parents want you to do and get married. You will be very lucky. You will find a woman who understands. You won't be able to be honest with her for awhile, but she knows about you anyway and doesn't seem to care.
You will have kids. They will be great. You will have a wonderful time as a father. And a grandad!
And a time will come when it will be your turn to be your gay self again. It will be undeniable. A force so strong that you cannot resist it. And by this time the world will have changed too.
You will find support again with other gay men and women. You will be able to use your political talent for politics in the gay movement.
Yes. There will be one. Imagine!
You will be able to march in the street and say that you are proud to be who you are. You will be scared and you will keep marching.
You will get the support of your wife and children and move off to find a new life. That will be very hard but like most things, the difficulty will result in good things if you persist and insist on loving other people.
When you least expect it, you will meet a wonderful man. Just when you expect to be on your own and running around. You will be stopped in your tracks by him. You will love this man and he will love you and no matter how you struggle not to commit to him, you will come back to him and enfolded in his arms.
At last, you will surrender to the life together with this man and it will last wonderfully long for many, many years.
He will become like a dad to your kids and they will accept him as their special friend.
Together the two of you will live a life second to none.
I can guarantee this.
What a gift. You will have a great time once you relax and learn the ropes. You will have many many friends who accept you just the way you are and when someone does not, you will have the courage and resources to tell them to go fuck themselves and get out of your way. And you will win.
Something else will happen that is very very important. You will become friends with your Dad. He will tell you that he is glad you are happy. When it is time for him to go, you will hold him and tell him it is OK. And thank him. And tell him that you love him.
Can you skip ahead and miss all the stops along the way? No. You will get to live them out and each step will help you become a man that you are proud of. And very very happy.
FAMILY VALUES
Today's gay film was the hilarious.
Four boys and a girl. In their thirties. And Dad just died so it should be OK for Bobby to come out to his brothers. Right?
Wrong.
Even with a lover and a gay life Bobby is in.
This is a situation comedy to the max. Lots of jokes and they are funny in that straight Irish brother kind of way. One of them is even a priest.
This film plays it straight because most of the people are.
What is Bobby afraid of?
With his sister, who knows, egging him on and the best lesbian friend who has been his beard beginning to want out of the deception, the lover walks. Bobby has to decide.
And he does and it is pretty nice the way it all happens.
The acting in this is very good. The production values high. And there is not one gay film cliché.
I really enjoyed it. I am not likely to see it again as it has pretty much lost its fun when you know the "secrets" that lie around the place other than Bobby's.
Still, a four out of Netflix5. I wouldn't refuse another look if the opportunity came by.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
SLOW BURN
Today's gay film was the documentary
Drag balls in NYC, all gay men, not the drag you think it is.
These balls are not the ones I heard about and never, ever even thought of attending in "those" days. They have many categories including "straight" (all these men are black gay men), sports, military, business. The point is to look just like the real thing. You know. Just like all of us. Dress for success.
Only here they really do not look like the "real thing". They look like queens who are acting out their idea of reality in a melodramatic way.
Here is where "vogueing" comes in. Strutting your stuff.
Some of this is intentionally ironic or camp. Other parts are not.
The documentary is pretty good. In the tradition of don't tell, show, and let the viewer draw their own conclusions, it is very well made.
And by now, 20 years later (can that be?) it is a historic document and all the more valuable for it.
Always interesting, sometimes upsetting, we here the spokespeople who tell us what is going on. They are the burners themselves.
I did not want to see this when it came out because I was so homophobic about drag then.
But then I watched it when the DVD came out, quite late actually. I enjoyed it and gave it a 3 out of Netflix 5. This time, I would give it a 4. It's climbing in the charts.
For more about all this see Ball Culture on Wikipedia. Very good rundown.
BULL SHIT
This is new but not surprising.
Still is, I imagine.
I have a lefty friend in the gym who, somehow, likes to think that Romney is really a nice guy. How this can be reconciled with his harsh record, I don't know.
Gene is a kind man but badly disillusioned, I think.
My own conception is that Romney is a prick.
Have you ever seen him go after a person who asked him the "wrong" question in one of those town meeting things. Brutal.
Same with reporters or other dimwits who do not agree with him.
He has that "nice" overlay which, as I have experienced all Mormons do, which prevents one from hating their guts as they rip yours out.
He has doubled down on gay marriage, his opposition. Usually he hides his motives which are of the old homophobic variety. And so on.
Labels: homophobia, Romney
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
HUGE
But I am not surprised.
Obama Says Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Legal
I am grateful. Things have turned rapidly. Polls now show that a plurality supports gay marriage. It is time.
Still it has had incredible speed. Accelerating.
I was there working it when everyone thought it would be impossible. We spent money and did the hard political work, even so.
I won't try to pick apart the politics on this because I think that, at its heart, this is an emotional issue for most people including "the boss".
Look, Obama is black and most blacks are conservative on gay issues. He is at least spiritual and the guidance of his church is conservative. He is a constitutional lawyer and most of them think that it is a matter of state's perogative.
But recent events show that the state by state approach will not work for human rights.
The right to marriage is a human right. No matter what a bunch of North Carolina bigots may think.
There is no end to the political discussion but, at heart, it is either yes or no.
As a politician Obama has been right, I think, to skirt this issue. But it has been brought to him.
Will it cause damage?
Look, right now, his approval ratings are even up and some of the negatives are from gays and militant liberals who are very unhappy with his lack of commitment on this issue. He will lose some support, maybe. But most people know that he was up to the edge on this anyway and the same people are likely to not vote for him because of his leftism. The independents who have hung back are going to show up for this. It is a divider. It has been a hot live issue in every election for the last ten years. It may be the defining issue of our time.
He was always on the correct side of it. Just not all out.
Now, he is finishing the loop.
Romney said he had flipped flopped. God what an ass.
You know, at one time, Romney supported gays. Now he lacks the moral courage to defend someone in his own campaign that was hounded out of his position by the right. A coward too.
Labels: gay marriage, Re-election of Barack Obama, Romney
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
DID YOU NOTICE?
I didn't blog for a few days.
For one thing I am watching two seasons of Noah's Arc, a great film about four black gay friends and their trials and tribulations.
We saw the film that was made at the end of the series where Noah gets married. The film was made two years after the end of the second season which was a cliffhanger. The series was cancelled. The movie Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom picks up where the series left off.
Anyway we saw the movie, a gay favorite, and then wanted to see the series. The first season was not available new so I bought a used set (unopened) for a lot of money. The second season, not quite as good, is still in stock.
It takes a long time to watch an entire series. And I didn't feel like reporting on it every day.
The other thing is that the season sets are loaded with features, interviews, cut scenes and other bells and whistles. I had to see it all.
Other than that I have had a quiet life. And I just felt like taking a break.
I did think a bit about the blog and whether I want to continue writing it.
I have the feeling that not many people read it any more. It also seems more like a chore some days.
But I have had these periods before.
It was originally meant as a way to "talk" with friends and family. An alternative to emails and phone calls. News and more in a box for everyone who wants to pay a visit.
I think that it is still that somewhat and, since I don't want to be writing to a bunch more people than I do, I guess I will keep it up.
What do you think?
BIZZY
I had to do all the laundry and get the dishwasher in order because, as I type, John is in the air and due into LAX in two hours. He has one more flight to catch to PS and the plan is to pick him up at 9PM or so.
I saved up the laundry so that when he gets home there will be empty hampers. Room for his shit that he took with him.
The deal with the dishwasher is that when John is gone I work out of it. A short cycle between using a dish, putting it in the drainer, then washing and taking out again the next day. The same dishes and silver over and over.
That is not his method.
Tonight I will unload the d/w and just put in what I made today and that will be that.
It is a little hard to understand but it is simple for me.
I told you that I made the bed every day this week because people might come into the house. Visitors that need to use the bathroom.
I skipped the weekly house cleaning last Friday. You can't tell.
Well, except for the rugs which do have an excess of dried leaves on them. John thought I would want to vacuum while he was gone because it would be too difficult to see messy rugs.
He was wrong. I don't mind at all.
Saturday, May 05, 2012
FORWARD
I watched the first campaign rally today at Columbus OH.
It was a killer rally and it was Michelle who had the most surprising impact on me.
He was great but he is still honing "the speech". There were some bumps.
But the crowd loved it, ate it up. Cheered him on.
The main thrust was on recruitment. Getting everyone on board to volunteer, vote, of course, and get others on board.
"Fired up and ready to go".
I got teary.
He put it right in their lap. As he hones it he will be even more direct, I am sure.
As I type, I bet they are going over the applause lines.
He looks great. Some wrinkles and the little wisps of grey. They look good on him.
I am psyched.
He pretty much used the "Forward" slogan as a template. It works pretty well when balanced with the "backward" of the GOP, returning to the old policies that have failed us before.
Nice work.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama
Friday, May 04, 2012
MOONY
The Chinese blind guy situation keeps changing. I must admit that, unlike the NYTimes, I do not consider this much of an issue. The Chinese are fucking their people over wholesale. They don't get to get out. Why this guy? Sorry. I don't get it.
But Romney is all hot about it and quick to capitalize on something that he doesn't know shit about.
Lack of restraint.
From the Maddow Blog:
Mitt Romney seems eager to condemn U.S. efforts in this case, a move even Bill Kristol found foolish. "To inject yourself into the middle of this way with a fast moving target I think is foolish," Kristol told Fox News, adding, "There is no need to butt into a fast moving story when the secretary of state is in Beijing with delicate negotiations."
The other thing is that Romney is invested in China. Remember? RED China. The police state.
Mitt Romney makes a personal profit based on purchases made by the Chinese government to monitor the lives of its citizens, according to a New York Times report today.
The Times explains that Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney used to run, has investments in Uniview Technologies, who produces video systems the communist Chinese government uses to monitor university campuses, hospitals, mosques and movie theaters.
Human rights advocates say the system Romney profits from is used to squelch dissent, by monitoring groups at odds with that country’s government.
VIA New York Times
Labels: republican whack jobs, Romney
NOT A THREAT TO EARTH
We are about to have a supermoon. The closest the moon will be to the earth this year.
Come on.
We had a super super moon a few years ago when the moon was closer. Bigger. Fucking huge!
Supermoon Coming Saturday—Not a Threat to Earth
You know, it is a slow news day/week. All the little stuff is flooding the internet.
Some guy also claims that Obama is launching his campaign tomorrow on Karl Marx Birthday!
QED!
A good lefty blogger listed the other things that happened on May 5.
* 1847: American Medical Association organized (first step towards ObamaCare).
* 1862: Cinco de Mayo (discussed above; socialist revolution aimed at destroying America through illegal immigration).
* 1865: First U.S. Train Robbery (Looters! Looters!).
* 1886: Bay View Massacre in Milwaukee; National Guardsmen kill seven people participating in protest demanding eight-hour work day (Union Bosses incite violence, promote unconstitutional legislation).
* 1893: NY Stock Exchange crashes (Marxist sabotage!).
* 1920: Woodrow Wilson bans Communist Labor Party (diversionary tactics by father of Progressivism).
* 1921: 1st ranger for Cleveland Metroparks hired (environmental terrorists thwart economic growth).
* 1942: US begins rationing sugar during World War II (socialist New Deal administration destroys free market to aid Soviet ally).
* 1949: KGO TV channel 7 in San Francisco, CA (ABC) begins broadcasting (liberal broadcast media launched)
* 1957: Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Peach Blossom Golf Open (Feminazis invade clubhouses!)
* 1959: KNME TV channel 5 in Albuquerque, NM (PBS) begins broadcasting (Self-explanatory).
* 1969: Pulitzer Prize awarded to Normal Mailer for Armies of the Night (could have been Stalin Prize).
* 1971: Race riot in Brownsville section of Brookyln (where was Sharpton?)
* 1978: Cincinnati Red Pete Rose becomes 14th player to get 3,000 hits (Reds! Reds!)
* 1987: Congress begins Iran-Contra hearings (and persecution of Oliver North)
* 1997: “Married With Children” final episode on Fox TV (and the Homosexual Agenda advances).
......Political Animal
HOME ALONE
John is still in Italy.
He is doing a town a day. Sometimes two.
Arrezza, Assissi Perugia, Todi, Montefalco, Gubbio tomorrow.
Me? I am making plans for Saturday Night.
Tom Waits has some ideas for me.
1975, He was a good looking bastard.
Booker and I are actually have a good time. The biggest problem is the morning walks. No matter what, I am not the morning walker and I will not ever be.
I forget the stuff that has to be done when he is not here. Not just the walks but the wash. Then little things. I have made the bed every day! This is mostly because I have had company every day and they might come into the house to pee or something. I can't keep everyone out in the courtyard and I don't want to shut the bedroom door.
Labels: fun. music, life, travel
Thursday, May 03, 2012
TOUGH LOVE
Today's gay film is the British
I suppose that any film named "Shank" is going to have some violence in it. This film has FF violence. The kind one does not want to watch as long as it is shown.
That said, the love relationship shown is great and redeems the tough path the young couple involved have to follow to get there.
This is another fag basher who is gay falling in love with the victim. Usually there is an unbelievability about this kind of thing but they bring it off here. The tough boy gets the gang to relent on bashing the sissy boy who turns out to be a serious power bottom when the two get together. He helps the thug rethink his life and more importantly realize his sexual orientation and accept it.
The gang is relentless in their revenge for this betrayal. I thought it quite believable. Sociopaths all. And as it turns out our hero is not the only closet case in the gang who exacts his own revenge in a very graphic scene of rape and pillage.
But all ends well. And believably. There is a third party to all this who is a kind of guardian angel. We find out why in the end as the boys go off on life's journey.
The gay love scenes are great. They show it all. A good reparation for the ugliness of the gang stuff.
I did FF around the violence. So it would be a 2 for that but I will upgrade it for the great love scenes and the relationship that follows.
Maybe a 4.
Look, this is "just" an expertly made gay interest film but it will mean a lot to someone if they can get an audience in this country for the film.
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
I LOVE SHEP SMITH
And he is on Fox News which is also weird and creepy with Shep as an exception.
Labels: republican whack jobs
IDENTITY
Today's gay film was
Filmed in Palm Springs and near abouts. You can't tell. The desert is the desert.
This is a pretty good film with a complicated plot.
A marine between basic and combat training takes time off and meets a guy who is like a goth type although I don't think that there are any of those anymore.
Both are seriously conflicted about their lives and where they are going.
This chance meeting gives both of them a shot at reconsideration of motive and action.
The scenes between the two men are riveting. The others, girl and boyfriends, parents and the like, not so much.
I wanted to FF a couple of times but did not.
The leads are good with each other and there are some different takes on situational homosexuality which we never see anywhere. It exists and it is not a bad thing either. It is in alignment with the old idea of going to bed with a straight man to get his PC thing in line. I hear that Marines are up for it more than the average. Nate is a marine here at 29 Palms. He is up for it.
Be straight but be cool and thanks for the memory.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
ALONE TOGETHER
Booker and I have been alone together for almost five days now.
He has adapted quite well to the routine but there is something missing. It shows up on the morning walk. We are not going the paths that he travels with John.
Booker pretty much picks the route. Today he picked a cross desert walk that we have not used in a very long time. He has not gone to any of the places that he and John frequent.
He gets a case of the slows towards the end. Not the same. A bit depressing. Today was better. More lively right up to the very last block. Then, the "dogging it".
Me? I am doing fine. As well as can be expected. :>).
I am always pretty busy and have an iron clad routine but the gym is out because of the dog walking and I didn't have to go to the store today so there was extra time. I don't cook, more extra time.
I fill it in with some unusual entertaining shit that just comes to my mind. It is like a vacation.
The other day Booker and I took a ride in the afternoon. Ages since we have done that.
I have been watching some short films on YouTube as there are always a screen load of suggestions that come up when I use trailers for the films that I have seen.
John called today since he moved from Orvieto to Arezza.
He will call again Thursday half way through his stay in Arezza, the hub for a bunch of day trips including Assissi, Montefalco, Todi and Urbino.
Here is a shot of Arezza.
REDOING THE PAST
Today's gay film was
This is a fringe film. Made on the fringe on a low budget.
A movie maker who has failed to "make it" gets invited to a festival for young film makers as a judge.
He reluctantly decides to attend and, as a result, meets himself as he was when he was a student.
OOOoooommmmmaaa music.
Through living out some critical past with the younger himself he manages to change the outcome of his career. Or doesn't.
This is a nifty little film which I enjoyed very much. There are rough spots, the second bananas emote too much, but the stars do a great and convincing job with some material which makes suspending disbelief critical. It worked. I had a few tears. I cared.
The people are good looking. And the production values are very good too.
A side note is that one of the stars is Sean Paul Lockhart who used to be the porn star Brent Corrigan. He is very good. I didn't get it. Who he was but he looked familiar. And what sex there is to see in the film does not involve him. More a boy next door, lover who has always been at your side without consummation. Until later.
He is very, very cute and has a stunning story. See at the link.
