Sunday, September 30, 2007

PERSONAL: Hairspray


OMG! I totally just saw this movie yesterday with my parents.
I am going to say that it is probably, now, one of my favorite movies of all time. No kidding... everyone was raving about it who saw it, and I, of course, thought it was going to be decent but passable (like CHICAGO), but this was GOOD. I couldn't stop smiling the entire time... not to mention dancing and singing along!
WOW!!!!
The cast was excellent (though Michelle Pfeiffer should NOT be singing... and John Travolta should not be singing as a woman), and it was truly an amazing movie experience.
And have I mentioned that Zac Effron, James Marsden, and Elijah Kelley are HOT! Truly and completely hot, not to mention excellent in their roles. Zac finally proves himself after that awful movie HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL; it appears Marsden can do a lot more than just be an X-man; and where the hell did they get Elijah ... he STOLE THE SHOW!!!!
I have the music to the stage version, and love it, so when I saw the 1988 John Waters version I was actually really disappointed, mainly because there was no singing (and Rikki Lake playing Tracy was really strange). But this made the world better :-).
It's a pity is has only made $117m. It came out at a bad weekend, near the Bourne Ultimatum and Transformers. But, still. Rush Hour 3 even made $136m.
I question taste sometimes. :-)

PERSONAL: Creditors?

Why do they call every hour?

CINCY GAY SCENE: OXFORD

Oxford was AMAZING on Friday.

For those who don't know, we've been hosting charity drag shows at my alma mater, Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio for almost 5 years now... this is the beginning of our fifth season. We raised the SECOND LARGEST amount of money of any of our shows (this time, for the YWCA Breast Cancer Fund)... $2400!!!!! WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!!

If you're reading this and were there, THANK YOU!

If you're reading this and weren't there, you should... December 1st, Balcony, 11pm. We'll be there... will you???
Kristy Kay Karolina (Show Hostess)


Succio Sanchez (Co-Host/F*ckHer)


Muscle Underwear Boy

(because they are our favorite people)

:-)

Saturday, September 22, 2007

GAY STUFF: "Decided to Lead with My Heart"

This is a wonderful, amazing clip from the mayor of San Diego about his decision to support gay marriage. His own tears and clear difficulty in changing his opinion and being open about it... well, it was hard for me to watch and not tear up too.

Thank you Mayor Sanders... who, btw, is a Republican.

"In the end, I couldn't look them in the face and tell them that their relationship was any less meaningful..."

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x30vw9_pressconfsm_politics

(I haven't quite figured out how to embed vids yet, sorry)

GAY STUFF: Gay Moms

I posted this on my Myspace a long time ago, so here is my original post, including my addenda. I'm reposting because now it's ended up in one of the two local gay rags... apparently they have nothing else to publish (sorry, DM, I know you may be reading, but we've talked about this! I still love your column! :-))

(addendum #1: this was sent to me from a friend with no date attached -- the paper is real and can be found at http://www.vnews.com/ -- but it's a small paper out of Vermont so it's a paper-by-paper search -- if ANYONE has evidence of the date of this publication, that would be fantastic... thanks!)

(addendum #2: CONFIRMED! I just called the Valley News in Vermont ... the editor in charge of the oped/editorial page has just confirmed that the following letter (which also appears on my blog) was put in the Valley News more than 5 years ago when Vermont was going through the civil unions debate (remember, when Howard Dean was governor). The author is a lady by the name of Sharon Underwood. He says that every couple of months it pops up somewhere, and he gets a lot of phone calls from different areas of the country asking to confirm its existence... and it does! Go Sharon Underwood, whomever you are!)

"Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I've taken enough from you good people. I'm tired of your foolish rhetoric about the "homosexual agenda" and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.

My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral littlethugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay.

He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called "fag" incessantly, starting when he was 6.

In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn't bear to continue living any longer, that he didn't want to be gay and that he couldn't face a life without dignity.

You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don't know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn't put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it's about time you started doing that.

At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won't get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don't know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.

If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I'm puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that's not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?

A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I'll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for "true Vermonters."

You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn't give their lives so that the "homosexual agenda" could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.

He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn't the measure of the man.

You religious folk just can't bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance.

How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage. You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin.

The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about "those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing" asks: "What ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?"

Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?

I just think it is so well written and so precisely on to be beautiful... Well done, random lady. Well done.

LAW: How to Sue God

I always wondered if this would happen...

Nebraska legislator Sues God

What I think is funny is that he got a "response." Now, clearly, it came from this Corpus Christi (if anyone ever wondered what exactly that means, it literally translates to... "the body of Christ") legal group, who is not answering questions. I can't seem to find the actual legal paperwork, but I will try my damnedest.

Sen. Ernie Chambers is my new hero.

America is basically a hypocritical society and recognizes that hypocrisy is found throughout. The public doesn’t look for politicians to tell the truth or to deliver on their promises... Politicians know this. Even when the public seems to be upset, the politicians know if they can put on a brave face and ride it out, they generally will. (this quote by Sen Chambers comes from the ultimate in "truth" in this world, Wikipedia, so who knows if it's real)

HIV/AIDS: A disappointment...

Looks like the newest round of AIDS vaccines has failed. Sigh. This was one of the ones that we were really counting on as it held so much promise, but 24/741 of those receiving the vaccine became infected (3.2% -- please note, they don't become infected by the vaccine, they are not asked to change their lifestyle while on the vaccine) versus 21/762 (2.75%). Statistically insignificant difference.

Ironically, though, I wonder if the slight uptick in percentage has anything to do with people thinking they are safer after having taken it, but I'm not sure if, with such a small sample size, it really matters at all.

There was hope, btw, that even if it did not actually block HIV, that it would slow down the process of infection, making it easier for the body to fight off before seroconversion. This using.. get this... the common cold as the delivery agent???

From the article in the LATimes:

Michael Zwick, an HIV researcher at Scripps Research Institute, said the vaccine's failure was unfortunate. But he said it was too soon to know whether other vaccines using the same strategy would also fail.

"It's par for the course in the HIV field," he said of the Merck result.

The volunteers in the experiment were all free of HIV at the start. But they were at high risk for getting the virus: Most were homosexual men or female sex workers. They were all repeatedly counseled about how to reduce their risk of HIV infections, according to Merck.

In a statement, the NIH said a data safety monitoring board, reviewing interim results, found the vaccine did not prevent HIV infection. Nor did it limit the severity of the disease "in those who become infected with HIV as a result of their own behaviors that exposed them to the virus" -- another goal of the study.

Also, here's the article from 365gay.com (which clued me in this morning).

I think it's sad that this is considered "par for the course" in this line of work. It's almost... well, disappointing.

Friday, September 14, 2007

ENVIRONMENT: Oil reserves and the Northwest Passage



A) The map speaks for itself.

B) Funny thing, this is one of the only maps like this (altered size based on some trait.. population, land use, etc) where the US is not one of the big players. Why does that strike me as funny?

C) Apparently this does not account for some forms of oil -- "tar sands" "oil sands" arctic reserves, etc. That would be why Russia, Venezuela, and Canada are not big... this is just currently known, self-reported (by the companies, apparently, and it is in their best interest to tell truthful statements about their total amount), pump and clean oil.
D) Looks like a map the neocons might like to have on hand.

Thought y'all might enjoy.


Oh and this:


The green in sea ice, the dark grey is water, the light grey is land.

That's right folks, thanks to global warming, there are now TWO northwest passages... and to think, we just needed to tell the European explorers from three hundred years ago to wait a little while (Artice ice levels are down 1 million square kilometers from their minima in 2006).

All thanks to the Sietch blog.

Monday, September 10, 2007

CINCY GAY SCENE: Two quick things:

One:

It seems so simple... this is a flash game, btw... there are balloons, just pop them. I'm stuck on level like 47 of the player pack. Any clues? (Oh and watch out for the other games, they are also addictive.)

BLOONS

Two:

Check out this year's Cincy Pride video -- I gave some of the pictures for it!!!

I think that's all for the night.. have a great day tomrow!

POP CULTURE: Britney Spears

It appears it has been removed off YouTube -NOT SURPRISED!

But please watch any news channel re Ms. Spears' latest VMA production.

Some of my favorite reviews:

-"R.I.P.: Britney's Career, 1998-2007" -- TMZ.com

-"Your performance was beyond pathetic. The old Britney Spears, who was at one point (a long time ago) truly great, would be embarrassed by your lack of professionalism and utterly shiteous appearance at the VMAs." -- Perez Hilton

Oh goodness, ladies. Stick a fork in her.

(For my part, btw, I did not think she was fat for a woman with two children.. 99% of the country would DIE for that body.)

PERSONAL: Time to restart...

Aight kids, I'm tired of feeling like this (I think I have alcohol poisoning).

So I'm stepping things up and trying to remake my life... I'm giving myself one year.

On my October 14th (2 days after my 25th birthday), everything changes.

EVERYTHING.

Will post plan as we go along.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

PERSONAL: Body Image and Engendered Bodies

So there are two of me... there is me and "Mama Kristy."

Last night, I spent the evening at, essentially, a college party in Oxford and, drunkenly, discovered that what Kristy says is unacceptable by me. From Mama Kristy, it's fabulous and fun... from me, it's creepy and lecherous. I swear that is not hte intent.

Interestingly enough, it creates an interesting sort of dichotomy of gender stereotypes within the gay community. AS a full figured and fabulous woman, it is acceptable for me to be a little gross and flirtatious and make boys play games... it is desexualized. However, when people acknowledge that I am a male and have to see me as male, it becomes sexualized and it becomes less fun and more ... well, the word used last night was "creepy."

The interesting jusxtaposition of situations is that I am a 210lbs (that 25lbs lost in 6 months baby!), hairy, "cub" (mini-bear). I've accepted that as the image people have of me... more importantly, I apparently seem older than I am. At 24, people guess me to be somewhere in the range of 32-37. So, on top of being that atypical body type, I now come off as an old, fat, hairy, lecherous man.

I wonder, on the flip side, how much of this would appear creepy were I 50lbs lighter, less hairy, and looked a little more my age.

I have a theory, based on all my evidence, that the only people who are creepy are those that we don't want to be sexualized... old people, ugly people, etc. The young and the beautiful cannot be creepy or lecherous; they are "free."

My prime example: a dear friend of mine has interest in being in porn. People laugh when I suggest that I want to be in porn -- "of course you do;" on the flip side, when he suggests it, people say that he is "open" and "inspiring because he just loves his body and loves sex and accepts it."

Uhhuh.

Change yourself or change the world, I suppose.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

GENERAL STUFF: Star Trek Voyager

I'm becoming addicted to this show, and I found a fascinating breakdown of how they got home here.


Including this neat (if oversimplied) map of the Milky Way galaxy in Star Trek (everyone does know that, even though they traveled 75,000 light years away, they are still in Milky Way, which I think is fascinating.



A couple of interesting things:

1) I don't remember ANYTHING called "Breen," and it appears to take up a large portion of the Alpha quadrant.

2) I'm a little shocked that they use both the alpha and beta quadrant in all the other Star Trek shows, especially since I assumed the set up would be geo-centric with the Federation in the dead middle of the alpha quadrant.

3) So, basically the Borg control the majority of the Delta Quadrant?

Anyways, that was my nerd thing for the day.

GAY STUFF: Hanky Code

So, once upon there was something called "hanky code" amongst game men which indicated that A) you were interested in sex and b) what kind of sex you were interested in.

There's a really good list here of what they could mean.

The reason I bring it up is because last night I brought it up to this cute guy at the Comet who had a black with white hanky in his right back pocket. I told him I was pretty sure it meant he was the "top" in some situation... poor guy. Really, it appears, it means he's looking for a black top.

Which, I'm sure someone could provide him.

But he laughed and thought it was "cool." I think looking for black tops is cool to.

Here are some highlights from hanky codes:

1) Worn on the right, it always means you are "looking for" "receiving" or "bottom" in any circumstance.

2) Worn on the left, it always means you are "giving" "willing to offer" or "top" in any circumstance.

So, for example:

LAVENDER: (on right) looking for drag queens, (on left) is a drag queen

MUSTARD: (on right) looking for 8"+, (on left) has 8"+

RUST: (on right) horse, (on left) cowboy

MOSQUITO NETTING: (on right) outdoor sex bottom, (on left) outdoor sex top

UNION JACK: (on right) skinhead bottom, (on left) skinhead top

RED: (on right) fistee, (on left) fister

Isn't this fun? No, not really. :-) But fun to start freaking people out with.

GENERAL STUFF: Advice

Found this on (of all places) Craigslist out of SF. Thought people may enjoy it; I thought it was pretty intelligent

------------------------------

Advice to Young Men from an Old Man

------------------------------

1. Don’t pick on the weak. It’s immoral. Don’t antagonize the strong without cause, its stupid.

2. Don’t hate women. It’s a waste of time

3. Invest in yourself. Material things come to those that have self actualized.

4. Get in a fistfight, even if you are going to lose.

5. As a former Marine, take it from me. Don’t join the military, unless you want to risk getting your balls blown off to secure other people’s economic or political interests.

6. If something has a direct benefit to an individual or a class of people, and a theoretical, abstract, or amorphous benefit to everybody else, realize that the proponent’s intentions are to benefit the former, not the latter, no matter what bullshit they try to feed you.

7. Don’t be a Republican. They are self-dealing crooks with no sense of honor or patriotism to their fellow citizens. If you must be a Republican, don’t be a “conservative.” They are whining, bitching, complaining, simple-minded self-righteous idiots who think they’re perpetual victims. Listen to talk radio for a while, you’ll see what I mean.

8. Don’t take proffered advice without a critical analysis. 90% of all advice is intended to benefit the proponent, not the recipient. Actually, the number is probably closer to 97%, but I don’t want to come off as cynical.

9. You’ll spend your entire life listening to people tell you how much you owe them. You don’t owe the vast majority of people shit.

10. Don’t undermine your fellow young men. Mentor the young men that come after you. Society recognizes that you have the potential to be the most power force in society. It scares them. Society does not find young men sympathetic. They are afraid of you, both individually and collectively. Law enforcement’s primary purpose is to suppress you.

11. As a young man, you’re on your own. Society divides and conquers. Unlike women who have advocates looking out for them (NOW, Women’s Study Departments, government, non-profit organizations, political advocacy groups) almost no one is looking out for you.

12. Young men provide the genius and muscle by which our society thrives. Look at the Silicone Valley. By in large, it was not old men or women that created the revolution we live. Realize that society steals your contributions, secures it with our intellectual property laws, and then takes credit and the rewards where none is due.

13. Know that few people have your best interests at heart. Your mother does. Your father probably does (if he stuck around). Your siblings are on your side. Everybody else worries about themselves.

14. Don’t be afraid to tell people to “Fuck off” when need be. It is an important skill to acquire. As they say, speak your piece, even if your voice shakes.

15. Acquire empathy, good interpersonal skills, and confidence. Learn to read body language and non-verbal communication. Don’t just concentrate on your vocational or technical skills, or you’ll find your wife fucking somebody else.

16. Keep fit.

17. Don’t speak ill of your wife/girlfriend. Back her up against the world, even if she’s wrong. She should know that you have her back. When she needs your help, give it. She should know that you’ll take her part.

18. Don’t cheat on your wife/girlfriend. If you must cheat, don’t humiliate her. Don’t risk having your transgressions come back to her or her friends. Don’t do it where you live. Don’t do it with people in your social circle. Don’t shit in your own back yard.

19. If your girlfriend doesn’t make you feel good about yourself and bring joy to your life, fire her. That’s what girlfriends are for.

20. Don’t bother with “emotional affairs.” They are just a vehicle for women to flirt and have someone make them feel good about themselves. That’s the part of a relationship they want. For you it is a lot of work and investment in time. If they are having an emotional affair with you, they’re probably fucking someone else.

21. Becoming a woman’s friend and confidant is not going to get you into an intimate relationship. If you haven’t gotten the girl within a reasonably short period of time, chances are you won’t ever get her. She’ll end up confiding to you about the sexual adventures she’s having with someone else.

22. Have and nurture friendships with women.

23. Realize that love is a numbers game. Guys fall in love easily. You’re going to see some girl and feel like you’ll die if you don’t get her. If she rejects you, move on to the next one. It’s her loss.

24. Don’t be an internet troll. Got out and live life. There is not a cadre of beautiful women advertising on Craigslist to have NSA sex with you. Beautiful women don’t need to advertise. The websites that advertise with attractive women’s photos and claims of loneliness are baloney. All they want is your money and your personal information so that they can market to you. The posts on Craigslist by young “women” seeking NSA sex, and asking for a picture are just a bunch of gay troll pic collectors. This is especially true if the post uses common gay lexicon like “hole” as in “fuck my hole” or seeks “masculine” men, or uses the word cock (except in the context of “Don’t send a cock shot.”) There are women on Craigslist. They are easily recognizable by their 2-5 paragraph postings. Most are in their 30's or older.

25. When you become a man in full, know that people will get in your way. People who are attracted to you will somehow manage to step in your path. Gay guys will give you “the look.” Old people will somehow stumble in front of you at the worst time. Don’t get frustrated. Just step aside and go about your business. Know that these are passive aggressive methods to get you to acknowledge their existence.

26. Don’t gay bash. Don’t mentally or physically abuse people because of who they are, or how they present themselves. It’s none of your business to try to intimidate people into conformity.

27. If your gay, admit it to yourself, your parents, your friends and society at large. Be prepared to get harassed. See rule 14. If someone threatens you or assaults you, call the cops. Have them arrested. You have no obligation to self sacrifice because of who you are. As a gay person, you’ll have more social freedom than straight men. Use it to protect yourself. Be prepared to get out of Dodge if your orientation makes your life unbearable. Move to San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, or New Orleans. You’ll find a welcoming community there.

28. Don’t be a poser. Avoid being one of those dudes who puts a surfboard on top of their car, but never surfs, or a dude with a powder coated fixed gear bike and a messenger bag, but was never a messenger. Live the life. Earn your bona fides.

29. Don’t believe the crap about the patriarchy. More women are accepted and attend college. More degrees are awarded to women than men. Women outlive men. More men commit suicide. Men are twice as likely to be victims of violence, including murder. If you consider sexual assaults in prisons, twice as many men are raped as women (society thinks prison rape is funny). The streets are littered with homeless men, sprinkled with a few homeless women. Statically, women are happier than men. The myth that girls are being cheated by are educational system is belied by the fact that schools are bastions of femininity, mostly run by and taught by women. Girls outperform boys in school. It is the boys in school getting fucked over, and prescribed ritalin for being boys. Real wages for men are falling, while real wages for women are rising. Just because someone says something enough times, doesn’t make it true. You have nothing to feel guilty about.

30. Remember, 97% of all advice is worthless. Take what you can use, and trash the rest.