I Heart Brady

Ok, he's not shirtless in this one but here's a shot of Brady Quinn from yesterday's media day at Sun Devil Stadium. To his left is Bob Golic, who you might remember from Saved By The Bell: The College Years. Bob is an ugly mutt, but he played for ND back in the late 70s and I'm sure he would be able to get you some good dirt on Saved By The Bell's Screech.

A little over 24 hours before I head out to LA... I'm not really sure how I'm going to make it through these next few days, especially dancing all night on Sunday after DJing tonight. I'm getting a twinge of tendonitis in my left Achilles, so I'm going to have to be very careful.

I can't finish without a gratuitous manshot. Since I brought up Saved By The Bell, I have to say that Mark Paul-Gosselaar has grown up into a pretty damn attractive adult. I don't watch NYPD Blue (is that still on?) but apparently he's a decent actor to boot. Who would guessed that our boy would graduate from Bayside High and reach such heights? It does make me a tad bit teary-eyed. How quickly they grow up!

Arang

Things have been relatively slow this week, which has been quite nice. I actually took a half-day at work on Monday and managed to go out to lunch with Adam, who was gracious enough to pull himself away from his new almost-boyfriend. (Heh!) Anyway, the original plan was to head over to this Vietnamese place in Scottsdale that ended up being closed. So, as an alternate plan, we drove down into Tempe and went to this relatively new Korean place, Arang, that opened near my house.

While the place does have lunch specials on weekdays, we ended up ordering regular entrees... OMG, we had SO much food. In any event, the food there is excellent and the company was pretty good too! ;) It was a great way to start off the week.

Of course, now I'm girding myself for a VERY long weekend -- Spinning Friday & Sat nights as usual, flying to LA on Sunday for a New Years Day party that evening, returning Monday morning for the Fiesta Bowl. Thankfully, I'm taking Tuesday for a recovery day. Hopefully I'll plenty of dirt to talk about when I get back...

Brady!

After my trip to LA for New Year's Day, I'm rushing home Monday morning to catch Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. Now, I'd be going to the game regardless, but one of the highlights of ND's team is the amazing and talented hotness that is Brady Quinn. I've had an entry featuring Brady shirtless at the beginning of the season. Well, O-Zone took pictures of ND's first practice and we've got a nifty shot of Brady stretching. Yes, he's got a bit of an odd expression, but hey, he's in the middle of a stretch. Regardless, the man is HOT. Sure, he's much too young for me, of course (and presumably straight) but he's another great reason to cheer for the Irish.

GO IRISH! CRUSH THOSE NUTS!

Update: Brady has announced that he will return for his senior season. Not earth-shattering, but good news nonetheless.

Traffic

I think I'm like most bloggers - whatever traffic my blog is getting is never enough. Thankfully, Scott at Scott-O-Rama just alerted me to a new service that's opening up, similar to BlogExplosion, called BlogMad. It hasn't opened yet, but they're taking referrals. Looks like its worth checking out...

Marc's Year-End Midweek Beef Haiku

New Year's Day - L.A.
Circuit Beef - A Dying Breed?
Put the bumper down.

(New Years in LA, here I come!)

Nun Bun on the Run!

Maybe the whole right-wing hysteria about Christmas being under attack is true... or perhaps there's something greater at work here. The BBC is reporting that a cinnamon bun bearing the likeness of the late Mother Theresa was stolen from a Tennessee coffeehouse on Christmas Day. Apparently, the Bongo Java coffee shop had been selling lots of merchandise bearing the likeness of the Mother Theresa pastry since it was discovered in 1996, until Mother Theresa, prior to her death, herself asked them to stop.

So, while Fundamentalists may describe this as another attack on Christianity, personally, I think there are two more likely explanations:

1) Hey, it was Jesus's supposed birthday, not Mother Theresa's. Too much attention on a cinnamon bun instead of the baby Jesus. The madness needed to stop.

2) Mother Theresa reached out from beyond the grave to halt the crass commercialism. She was all about the bread and wine that are the Body and Blood of Christ, not a cinnamon bun and a latte.

Monkey Business

I was on MSNBC this morning catching up on today's news when I caught their article on the Top 10 Films of 2005. I was quite pleased that Brokeback Mountain made the list - I went to see it last Tuesday night. The theatre was pretty full, which surprised me - it was a Tuesday night at 7:45pm. Anyway, the movie was beautiful, though heartbreaking.

Thursday night Adam and I went to see King Kong, which also made MSNBC's Top-10. After Lord of the Rings, I was convinced of Peter Jackson's brilliance, so I had high hopes for the Kong. I should have heeded Ethan's advice, however. While Kong wasn't bad, I have to admit that I was disappointed. I expected a lot more out of Jackson... I think that maybe he needed some time off.

There were a few things that really jumped out at me during this movie -- first, it seemed like this film was a composite of several films I had seen before: it was an amalgamation of Titanic, Moulin Rouge, Temple of Doom, Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, and Beauty and the Beast. For example, the scenes with the tribe on Skull Island were very evocative of Temple of Doom. Certainly, any scene involving humans and dinosaurs will remind you Jurassic Park and every time I saw Naomi Watts (who I loved in I Heart Huckabees) I thought, "What, you couldn't get Nicole Kidman?" When Kong picks up Ann Darrow, I could hear in my head, "Little Orcs, boom-a-room!" At the end, I was waiting for Kong to magically transform into Adrien Brody so the Beauty and the Beast love story would be complete. The whole movie is filled with these moments, like a badly sewn quilt with pieces that just don't fit together.

After Lord of the Rings I also expected the effects to be top notch and seamless. Once again, I was quite disappointed. You knew Kong was a big budget film, but over and over again it seemed like they stopped short on the effects - many scenes felt unfinished. The CGI wasn't bad, but it was very obvious. The beauty of Lord of the Rings was that the whole world felt real, like someone found this magical place and brought a camera to capture it. In sharp contrast, Kong came off feeling like none of it was real. Quite disappointing.

As Ethan mentioned, the movie is over 3 hours long, which is a problem. Honestly, Jackson could have cut an hour and you wouldn't have noticed. At the same time, Jackson left some plot lines undeveloped -- the whole Watts-Brody love angle needed a lot of work -- while starting other plot lines -- the whole Jimmy story comes to mind -- and then just dropping them. That's just bad directing and Jackson should know better.

Anyway, its not a bad movie, but disappointing overall, given what we know Jackson can do. If I had it to do over again, I'd wait to see this on DVD. Better yet, check out Monkey vs. Robot...

Zubbles!

Its the day after Christmas, I'm sitting at work (a VERY slow day) and I'm wondering what to blog about -- I thought about talking about something political (I'm still quite concerned over the whole NSA wiretapping issue) but I want to keep things kind of light and fun, as I'm trying to keep that whole Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice spirit going. Then I remembered a story on NPR I heard a few days ago - A company has just come out with the world's first colored bubbles!

They had Tim Kehoe, the inventor, on the program and he explained the difficult road he had in coming up with colored bubbles. Apparently, the dyes you'd normally use to color things don't really work well with the soap that forms the bubble, so for a long time it was thought that you can't color bubbles. Once that hurdle was overcome, then came the challenge of colored bubbles that don't stain.

Despite the challenges, colored bubbles, now known as Zubbles, are here. While its taken about 10 years to solve all the problems, Zubbles will hit the shelves in early 2006. There's been plenty of good and bad news when its come to technology lately, but this is definitely one of the coolest things I've heard in a while.

Dear Santa...

Dear Hunky Santa,

I've been nice ALL YEAR. I know you've been busy with Christmas, too. Once you're done delivering all the presents, swing by my place and we can both relax and be naughty. I ain't no Ho! Ho! Ho! but I know you've been wanting a hell of a lot more than some milk and cookies, and I'm the man to give it to you. So, stop on by when you're done and let's make our Yuletide gay.

Merry Christmas!

Love, Marc

Happy Solstice!

Today is the Winter Solstice, marking the shortest day of the year. There's been a lot of beefing lately by a lot of religious conservatives (and Donnie) about the use of "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," as Christmas is the whole reason we're celebrating, right? Not true. There are a variety of Winter Solstice-based holidays from a wide range of cultures. In fact, the tradition of Christ's birth being on December 25th was not established until 354 A.D. In fact, the date of December 25th also coincides with the birth of the god, Mithra, who was worshiped by many of the Roman soldiers of the day. From what we have been able to gather, Mithra was said to have many parallels to Christ, including having a virgin birth (on December 25th), 12 followers, was killed and resurrected, was reputed as a savior of humanity and known as "the Light of the World." Of course, there are many elements of both stories that are common to other mythologies of the time.

Personally, I don't care if people wish me a Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy Hannukah or Happy Holidays. The point is to remember the spirit we're celebrating and not the label we're using. So, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, whatever you call it.

Marc's Pre-Christmas Midweek Beef Haiku

Holiday Viewing:
Brokeback Mountain made me sad.
That Jake is red hot!

Gay Kissing is Terrorism?

In case you hadn't been keeping up on things, NBC has recently reported that the Defense Department has been keeping tabs on various anti-war and counter-military groups. Now the Servicemember's Legal Defense Network (SDLN) has revealed that a gay kiss-in at UC Santa Cruz represents a "credible threat" of terrorism. Add that on top of the news that the NSA has been wiretapping citizens without warrants and its clear that things are getting downright scary out there. Welcome to the police state.

Update: Here is a link to the pics from the "terrorist" kiss-in.

A subtle change...

Sunday night was the employee Christmas Party for Amsterdam. I had thought about skipping it, as I was really tired from spinning the night before. My social life, however, has been definitely getting short shrift lately and I decided that I needed to make an effort. Things started off kind of slowly, as the few people I usually talk with at the bar weren't going and I tend to be a little more reserved in the beginning. We headed out on the party bus to FEZ. The cocktails started flowing and I was sitting by people I didn't really know. Thanks to the magic of alcohol, the conversation loosened up. As chance would have it, I was sitting across from a guy I hadn't really gotten a chance to talk with before. He ended up being intelligent and seemingly down to earth in addition to being attractive. While I'm not saying there was a love connection, it was nice to meet someone and enjoy getting to know them a little bit, regardless of the outcome. That's been twice in the past month. I've really been trying to be more open to people and have fewer expectations. While I think I still have my ups and downs, things feel a little different, if only in subtle ways. Its been a good change, one that I hope to continue.

To continue the party update, dinner at FEZ was excellent. I'll have to eat there again soon. We then headed to Hamburger Mary's for a cocktail, then to E-Lounge and Apollo's. By the end of the evening, I had a hot guy feel me up in the bathroom at Apollo's, gave a couple of bucks to some hot strippers there, and was throwing up drunk. A cab-ride home completed the evening, before I passed out and woke up the next day for work, only slightly hung over.

For a party I was going to skip, I'm glad I went.

Congrats, Ethan!

I wanted to take a moment to recognize Ethan over at Brat Boy School. While he came up a little short in his quest for the title of 2005 Best LGBT Weblog Award, he still ran a great race in what, at times, was a rather nasty little popularity contest.
Unfortunately, he's taken a good bit of flack for that at times as there's a segment of his readers who want him to just shut up and be pretty and not express any kind of opinion that might be different from theirs... and that's on top of receiving his usual anti-gay nasty-grams. How very sad.

I may not agree with his political opinions, but I've always respected his willingness to speak his mind and talk about issues that are important to him. He's always been willing to discuss things even when dealing with a viewpoint that is very different from his own. Strange, while the Award may have gone to someone else, he sounds like a winner to me.

Addictive!

I was surfing around a couple of news sites and ended up coming across an article entitled "'Quit" Gay Sex' Campaign," written by Cliff Kincade, an editor for the right-wing media watchdog Accuracy In Media. The crux of his article is the argument that because media organizations have started anti-smoking campaigns after the death of Peter Jennings, they should likewise start a campaign against "the dangerous and addictive homosexual lifestyle." His rationale is basically that STDs are all gay men's fault and that it presents a public health risk, similar to smoking.Just imagine - that uber-hot straight guy you've always lusted after... he can be turned, if only you can get him to taste that forbidden fruit -- just one bite and he's hooked 'cause we're irresistable!

Of course, Kincade and many of the conservatives try to reduce being gay to just sex. I suppose maybe that's true for some people. For me, at least, I knew I was gay many years before I ever had sex. And at the same time, let's look at "the addictive homosexual lifestyle." What exactly does that mean? For me, being gay has come to mean that instead of trying to jump through hoops and satisfy the expectations that society places on me I'm actively trying to trust myself, make my own decisions and be myself, relying on the truth that both I and the world are better off when I'm following my heart instead of trying to fit myself into some premade mold. It really isn't about sex, per se... So, when I look at it that way, yes, the "gay lifestyle" really is alluring. Its dangerous too, at least to those who would try to tell others how to run their lives. The last thing they want is for people to actually think for themselves and make their own decisions. Regardless of who they're sleeping with, the world needs more people who are willing to think for themselves.

New And Improved!

I've wanted to do something to help bring things at echeblog to a new level... As this thing is an extension of me, despite all my beefing about being a substance over style kind of person, we're pretty much stuck with the existing content -- that being whatever comes through the crazy filter that is my head. So, that leaves style. Fortunately, Keith at K Who is Design has come up with the FAB new design that I just love. Hopefully you guys will love it too! Hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far. Cheers!

Work It Out!

Apparently, I'm not the only one who can gain weight in the winter if I'm not careful... Zoo keepers in northern Japan have been concerned that their penguins have been gaining weight in the winter. Much like me during the college football season, penguins have a habit of standing very still in the winter, which results in penguin love handles. Zoo keepers have put the penguins on a new exercise plan during the winter, where they have 500-yard walks, twice a day. No word on whether a Penguin Atkins diet is being considered.

Midweek Beef Haiku Reprise

How I dream of beef
Herds of hot, sweaty man-flesh
Steer them to my bed

Tru Calling

I just got the 2nd season of Tru Calling a couple of days ago. For those of you who didn't catch it while it was on Fox (and apparently there were plenty of you who missed it--), it stars Eliza Dushku ("Faith" from Buffy) who plays Tru, a young woman who works in a morgue that has time replay a day for her when a corpse asks for her help -- essentially, its her job to do whatever she can to help them and prevent their deaths. Late in the first season, the show added Jason Priestly, whom I know you all remember from 90210. He plays Jack, who we find out at the end of the season has an opposite role from Tru - his job is to foil Tru and make sure those that die stay dead. Needless to say, there's a fair amount of friction between the two, especially since Jack ends up killing Tru's boyfriend at the end of season 1.

Anyway, I loved this show and was looking forward to the second season and didn't hear anything more about it for a while, only to learn that it had been canceled. So, I ordered the 2nd Season DVD to find out what happened -- after all, the first season ended with us finding out that Jack had been in league with Tru's father. Drama, drama, drama. The second season was great, if short - only 6 episodes. It was a shame that it got cancelled.

On Jason Priestly - its quite a shift to see him a) as an adult (it suits him well!) and b) playing a role that is essentially the villain. After playing the goodie goodie for all those years, I have to admit that he filled the role well. Jack ends up being a character with some flair and depth. A shame we don't get to see more. Anyway, if you're looking for something to add to your Netflix queue, you should check this out.

Porn Tax

Leave it to the Italians... Reuters is reporting that Italy is turning to the porn industry to solve its budget crisis by imposing a 25% tax on all income from porn. Government officials expect the new tax to bring in an additional $350 million next year.

Of course, talk about a porn tax makes me chuckle because I just imagine all of the tax cut rhetoric this Administration has used in the context of the porn tax... American families need porn tax relief! Higher taxes will stifle the porn industry! Let's cut porn taxes and encourage job (and other kinds of) growth... Heh! Now THAT'S a tax cut I would support!

Yarrrrrrrr!

Pirates are hot!

Crazy

The American Psychiatric Association is debating whether to add extreme forms of bias and prejudice as a diagnostic category to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is used by psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health professionals to diagnose clients. While everyone has various levels of bias, the argument goes, some people have a bias that is so overwhelming that it prevents them from functioning -- for example, someone who is so biased against a group, say "mimes," that they won't leave the house for fear that they will run into a mime.

Personally, since my stint in the Masters of Counseling program at ASU, I've come to believe that the psychological community has a tendency to over-pathologize - like the old saying that when you're a hammer everything looks like a nail. Psychologists have historically been used as instruments of social control - pathologizing those whom the state or society disagrees with. While I'm hardly a big fan of racism or homophobia or other types of bias, I fear the mindset that we should pathologize and medicate those we don't agree with. I'm sure there are people out there who truly have a pathological level of bias - at the same time, this just strikes me as a path that we ought not take.

Jailhouse Rock

Good news! The Dallas Voice is reporting that Gay-For-Pay Porn Star Mark Dalton has been granted parole by the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole. Dalton was serving a 5-year sentence for possession of GHB, which occurred while he was already on probation.

Looking at this mugshot, its hard to believe that Dalton is only 25... Given the celebrity status porn stars receive in the gay community, its easy to forget that they're all people and can be as messed up as the rest of us... if not MORE messed up. That's true of all fame and celebrity, though, not just porn...

On a lighter note, it makes me wonder if Dalton will come out with some new prison-themed videos based on his real-life experiences...

Piece of Paper

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I have no particular love for the Bush Administration. At the same time, however, I have little faith in the Democrats, either. Very little surprises me about the crap that goes on in politics...

Of course, there are exceptions. Friday, Capital Hill Blue reported that during a meeting with Republican Congressional leaders regarding renewal of the Patriot Act, President Bush screamed, "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face. It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!" when told that it was arguable that provisions of the Act undermine the Constitution. Bush reportedly told them, "I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."

Now, honestly, I find this so incredibly offensive that I'd like to believe that it wasn't true, despite my dislike for Bush... I'd like to believe that anyone we elect President would have a deep respect for the Constitution. Of course, when I look at the way the Administration has functioned, I realize that it just isn't true... and that is incredibly disturbing.

Warrior Princess

Will the real Warrior Princess please stand up? I was going through MSNBC and I found the headline: '"Warrior Princess" answers back." I'm thinking to myself, hey cool, they're giving some publicity to Lucy Lawless, even though Xena's been out of production for a while. I love me some Xena... I've written about her before, but I used to watch Xena back when I was an undergrad at Notre Dame and I loved the campy humor that spoke to my repressed gayness even back then.

I open up the article and the find that it isn't about Lucy Lawless at all, but instead, is a reference to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, who was nicknamed "Warrior Princess" by someone somewhere along the line. Color me disappointed. I have to say that the prospect of seeing Condoleeza Rice in a leather bustier and skirt shrieking a war cry is the stuff of nightmares. Strangely enough, I also encountered Rice for the first time back at Notre Dame, as she was our Graduation speaker. I would never have imagined that 10 years later she would have turned into... (struggling to be diplomatic...) whatever she is today... I wonder where she'll be in another 10 years? (Cut to image of a hunched figure in a dark cave cradling a picture of George W. Bush, howling "my precious is lost..." )

Friday Beef

Holy freakin' beef! I've never thought much about rugby (well, there WAS this one hot guy in college that I knew played rugby) but the guys over at RugbyGuys have definitely gotten my attention. Following the lead of the French Dieux du Stade, someone has put together a group of American and Canadian gay rugby players. Sale of the calendars goes to support gay amateur athletes. Sounds like a good cause to me!

While I was looking at the RugbyGuys site, I followed things to GorillaBeach, the firm that put together the calendar. They've got several models on their site, one of which is the hairy, uber-sexy beef to my right. Oh my! Those eyes, that chest, the shoulders... Oh so nice!

The Sound of San Francisco

I love San Francisco. I went to law school at Stanford and would head up the peninsula to The City whenever I could. Certainly, San Francisco is a gay wonderland. At the same time, apparently it breeds morons.

This summer, the San Francisco 49ers created a media storm after an offensive video created by a public relations employee was leaked to the media. The video, ostensibly created as a training video contains racial slurs directed toward the Chinese community as well as a mock topless lesbian wedding filmed at a strip club. Of course, the public relations employee was promptly fired and the team went into damage control. At the time, I remember thinking that if you're going to do something THAT stupid, you've really gotta want to get yourself fired. Of course, I thought, it'll be a while before someone is that stupid again.

Apparently, a "while" means exactly 6 months... and in the same city, no less. Hey, at least its not the 49ers this time. Members of the San Francisco Police Department created a video for an office Christmas party that includes such gems as a white police officer in a patrol car running over a black homeless woman. One of the officers had posted the video to his web site, sparking an internal affairs investigation, resulting in the suspension of an officer and a whole lot of gnashing of teeth by the Mayor and Police Chief.

The suspended officer defended the video by saying that it was fun and because it had been made just for internal use, its ok, right? Hrm, seems remarkably similar to what that 49ers PR guy said. Apparently he didn't pay any attention to the news this past summer.

I think there are a few morals to this story - First, there are some monumentally stupid people out there. Second, if you're going to make racist, sexist, homophobic videos, DON'T BRING THEM TO WORK, even if they're really funny. Third, racism, sexism and homophobia are still issues, even if we're not talking about them much.

Some Days, You Can't Lose...

Only a couple more days before Brokeback Mountain is finally released, although supposedly its only opening on 5 screens this weekend... Lord knows when it will finally make it out to Phoenix. I'm definitely a sucker for a good love story and good gay love stories are pretty rare... (Latter Days is one of my all time favorite movies)

What I find rather fascinating is the silence coming from the Christian-right. Apparently, several groups have considered sort of boycott or protest campaign and have finally wised up: "We would almost be doing them a favor if we were to mount a big campaign -- we'd be making a martyr out of the movie, so to speak. I don't think we want to fall into that."

Oddly enough, they're right. On one hand, these groups can create all sorts of noise which just ends up creating more publicity, which is just what they don't want. On the other hand, they can glower disapprovingly and stand back while people watch the movies they choose and live their lives the best way they see fit, which is exactly what I want (I don't want to speak for anyone else...). Its the ol' "heads I win, tails you lose" sort of thing. Some days, you just can't lose... and I must say that I really like that feeling.

Still Doesn't Get It

I don't know if you've been following the story of the so-called "Gay Chat" Mayor, but here's a quick recap. Closeted Spokane Mayor James West apparently had been using his office computer to cruise for guys on Gay.com and had offered city jobs to guys if they would go out on dates with him. This information came out in a series of newspaper articles. West, of course, initially denied the charges and has complained bitterly about being outed. An investigation, however, supported the charges against him. Despite calls to resign, West refused. Not surprisingly, the people of Spokane were not amused. A recall drive resulted in yesterday's recall election, which West lost by a 30% margin.

Now there are many interesting aspects to this story - West's opposition to gay rights, HIV education, and support of the Defense of Marriage Act... at the same time, the man was a deeply closeted Republican, so this isn't exactly earth shattering. (Note: For the record, I acknowledge the existance of gay Republicans who can work for equality while pursuing otherwise conservative goals.)

What I really found fascinating was that with a week to go before the election, he pleaded for a second chance with the electorate, stating that he acknowledged making mistakes in his personal life but that he deserves a second chance because he no longer visits chat rooms or engages gay sex. I don't know how you can feel anything but pity for this man because he still doesn't get it -- I doubt people would have cared too much if the story was simply that he was gay. Sure, that would make him a hypocrite, but he's a politician, so he has plenty of company there. The big mistake was that he abused his office - you don't use the computer at work to cruise for sex and you don't offer city jobs for dates and sex. Its a very simple principle that would result in the same outcome if he had been propositioning busty young co-eds. You've got to have a seriously messed up mindset not to be able to see that... and that's just sad.

Hobson's Choice

After my last entry regarding the Weblog Awards, I noticed myself getting sucked into the whole left/right, Democrat/Republican mindset I've worked hard to escape. While I'm particularly hostile to the current Administration as well as the Republicans in Congress and see the disgusting amount of greed and corruption there, I remember that it was not always the case. Not too long ago, however, the Democrats were the party of greed and corruption. I could argue that the GOP has raised corruption to an art form, but honestly, its just a matter of whoever is in power gets to abuse that power. And so, its a Hobson's Choice - it looks like a choice, but really, there isn't one. The whole system is messed up and unless and until there's some sort of pressure to reform the system as a whole, it'll just be more of the same.

Vote For Pedro!

Ok, I'm not sure how the nominate these folks, but our good buddy Ethan at Brat Boy School was nominated for Best LGBT Blogs for the 2005 Weblog Awards. Now there are some blogs that were nominated that I dig - Towleroad, BlogActive, along with Brat Boy School. Now, I went ahead and took a gander at each of these blogs and discovered that 7 of the 15 nominees are politically based conservative blogs, not including Ethan. (Ethan's not openly partisan, but clearly voices his conservative bent... which would make it 8 out of 15). Of the remaining 7, only one (BlogActive) is overtly political with a clear leftward view. I didn't see anything from my quick survey that would suggest the other 6 were have any kind of major political message. (I do read Towleroad regularly and I feel comfortable making that statement about his blog) To be honest, this seems like they've stacked the deck to make sure a gay conservative blog wins. That's lame.

I did vote for Ethan - he's a good guy and I enjoy the work he's put into things... at the same time, where's Pedro when you need him?

Blame It On Rio

This weekend was a little different for me. We had a guest DJ come in and play for part of the night on Saturday. Basically, he used to live here and then moved back to Rio, where he's become a well known and well traveled DJ. I was acquainted with him when he lived here... anyway, he was in town for the weekend and wanted a chance to play for his adopted hometown crowd. As much as I enjoyed the prospect of a night off (well, half a night, at least), I have to confess that I was feeling a little territorial when I was asked if I would mind. Nonetheless, it was the right thing to do and I didn't hesitate when I was asked -- the right thing to do rarely is easy or fun.

Anyway, I vacated the booth at midnight, just when the crowd really starting to get into it. Again, not really happy about it, but a deal is a deal. I headed down to the dance floor and realized that I really didn't know what to do with myself -- so I took several laps around the bar and tried to be social -- its not one of my strengths, to be honest. If I like the music, I prefer to find a spot on the dance floor and keep to myself. In this case, the music wasn't really a style I cared for, which meant I needed to find a way to occupy myself, as the manager wanted me to hang around in case he decided to have me play for afterhours.

I've never been good at small talk - I tend to lose interest very quickly and move on, which makes for short conversations. Nonetheless, I made several laps to say hello to friends I don't get much chance to socialize with. It was strange being able to stay and chat rather than having to constantly run back up to the DJ booth.

And then a funny thing happened -- I met a friend of a lesbian friend of mine. She's straight, in grad school working on her Ph.D. and considering law school. To boot, her boyfriend is a DJ in LA. The connection was immediate and we just had a lot to talk about -- so much so that my friend complained that I was monopolizing her. Heh. So, I ended up giving her my phone number and e-mail address in hope that we could get a chance to talk later. Yes, the phenomenon of me giving my phone number to a woman is something from an alternate reality. Of course, for the record, this isn't a romantic thing by any means. Just someone I really connected and enjoyed talking with, maybe someone I need to get to know.

The strangeness of the evening didn't stop there. I ended up talking with a guy who had briefly worked for the bar, but that I hadn't seen in a few weeks. He was definitely someone I thought was quite attractive, but didn't give much thought to. This time around we actually got a chance to talk and he was intelligent and interesting. What's more, we ended up talking for a decent bit before he went to go locate his friends. I don't know if he's gay, I don't know if he's interested in the least. For once, though, I don't really care. Its nice to be able to enjoy getting to someone, even if its just a little bit, without any other motive... Will there be more to come? I don't know and even though I'd dig it if there is, the great part is being ok with things either way.

You know, doing the right thing can bring its rewards too, and that's a real comfort after this past week.

Bye, Tyra!

I'm not really into the whole fashion/modeling world, but this news caught my eye -- Tyra Banks, who recently underwent a sonogram to prove that her breasts are real, has just retired from modeling at age 32. Man, to have the luxury to retire from something at the age of 32... I'm 32, I want to retire too!

Anyway, Tyra will keep busy with America's Next Top Model and her own talk show. Most likely, I will never watch either. Still, I want to take a moment to remember my favorite Tyra Banks moment. Without question, it has to be Tyra's appearances with Lil Penny in the 90s Nike commercials. Yes, she looks fabulous in her outfit from her final runway appearance at the Victoria's Secret show, but that's nothing when compared to being the love interest of foot tall, basketball-playing puppet.

Good luck Tyra! We'll miss you on the runway (well I won't really notice, but someone will!). Of course, now this means that there's room for my gurl Paulie to be America's Next Top Model!

Friday Funnies

Here's a laugh for the end of the week. Reports are coming out of Iraq that the U.S. Military has been paying Iraqi newspapers to run favorable articles about the war and rebuilding efforts. Now this is hardly a new tactic for the Bush Administration, which made headlines early this year for paying commentator Armstrong Williams to promote government policies, as well as produced numerous public-relations releases masquerading as news. So, where's the punchline?

What's funny is the White House's reaction -- White House spokesman Scott McClelland stated that the Administration is "very concerned." Yeah, they're concerned that they've been caught yet again. Yes, we're witnessing the rebirth of the Iraqi Information Minister, except that he's on our payroll now. Now I call THAT a big joke.

Easy

Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the lack of sex or the copious amounts of bright yellow mucus I've been expelling from my nose over the last week, not to mention the sinus-induced headaches and toothaches. Perhaps it was just a troublesome spoke in my gay menstrual cycle or a strange lunar phase.

It would be easy to write off my recent bout of bitter nihilism as just a transient bad mood and nothing more. Take come Nyquil and get some sleep and you'll feel better in the morning.

Of course, this isn't the first time I've had me a nasty mood that's hit on some of the issues that made me boil over this time. So, like this cold that won't go away, I've got to pay some attention to the areas where I haven't been satisfied, otherwise, these things will just keep cropping up. That and a good round of antibiotics should get me back on track.