September 2008 Archives
Seriously, my generation really needs to be credited as we are due (pun intended). We witnessed the amazing birth of the Internets, the biggest acts of terrorism in the U.S., and we are now experiencing the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Plus, we seem to be tasked with cleaning up the mess after every Baby Boomer fuckup. We are the "Janitorial Generation."
Dear Gen-X, -Y, and Millennials:Oh hi! We're 'The Greatest Generation,' and we really enjoy our lifestyle, so if you don't mind footing the bill for the next couple of decades or so, we'd appreciate it. We thought you did a great job getting out of Reagan's debt, so we're putting you to the task again. Get to work and you certainly can't leave work before 6pm.
Thanks! B'bye!
I did my part to help thwart economic collapse this weekend by going shopping! Our economy is probably hanging by a tendon simply because of me, cuz gurl, that debit (not credit) card was SMOKIN'! Plus I needed new tightie-whities and underwear.
Look closely at the photo to the right. It's a new pair of sandals that I bought. Do you see the brand name on the tag? CROCS! Yes, I bought a pair of CROCS! Of course I would never buy those holey foot condoms, but this pair was just the right color and the bumps on the soles make my feet feel good.
Did you know that Washington Mutual collapsed because of gay marriage? The whole economic meltdown is the fault of The Gay as well. Basically whenever there's a disaster the religious fundamentals point the finger at The Gay, including 9/11.
Last week I checked out the new Washington Sports Clubs in Columbia Heights. I really liked it, and you can't beat the view. But it was VERY heterosexual (not that there's anything wrong with that). On no less than three occasions I actually smelled Old Spice coming off of a guy. No queer would wear Old Spice. Is Old Spice a new thing with the breeders these days?
We got very muddy on Saturday, but it was worth the wins. While my ball handling (or simply ball-getting) skills needed help in the slippery mess, I had a few good ruck clearings as flanker. Apparently this match was integral in getting us into the playoffs for the first time, which is a milestone that happens on our team's 10th anniversary season. Woot!
After hand rinsing and double-washing my game clothes, I spruced up to go and catch some Olivia Newton-John at Omega. There I learned that O.N-J's career was strong long before Grease, which I'm somewhat ashamed to admit I was ignorant of. She was part of a duo with Pat Carroll, who eventually married John Farrar, who wrote songs for both Grease and Xanadu. I was schooled and humbled big time by VJ Tre's masterful video archivism.
Here is a very young and furry-chested Cliff Richard, a longtime collaborator with O.N-J, singing "If I Could Talk to the Animals," circa 1968:
After watching the O.N-J video extravaganza, I went to a housewarming party attended by a few friends of mine who have been on a very successful track with Weight Watchers. But one of them fell off the wagon and went berserk after getting some cake frosting on his face. I think the sudden intake of carbs and points through his skin was too intoxicating to handle all at once, and he began to spread the frosting all over his face, moaning in exstacy. I decided that was a good moment to leave.
DIrty Jobs hunk Mike Rowe has been voted number one gay fantasy by Gay.com readers. This time he accepts the distinction with grace.
I really liked Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn starring Emile Hirsch, and am looking forward to seeing both of them in the biopic Milk. It's directed by Gus Van Sant and comes out in theatres on November 26, and also stars Josh Brolin and James Franco. It's bound to be good. You can view the trailer here, and even download it to your iPhone! Feel free to talk about your experience with the trailer on your iPhone in the comments section, on your own blog, or on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.
An early nor'easter has been coming through the area bringing cold, grey rain. On days like these I like to listen to How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore, It Won't Rain All the Time, and Love's Recovery. I sound bummed out, but at least the ground will be moist and softer for Saturday's match. That's a good thing. If we're lucky there'll be fetid standing water to splash around in too.
OMG you are sooo scene: buncha bears, buncha twinks, Sunburn Spice and Shaw Spice.
I love Gage (totally not safe for work!). You must be a Flickr member to see more of him...
From Michelle: Gamers make good citizens. (duh.)
I think I need to take a break for obsessive politics news hounding. I'm sure it's getting me riled up and not good for my blood pressure. But I think we are witnessing the most sleazy, cynical and manipulative presidential campaign ever - it even tops W's sleaze in its sleaziness. Can it get any worse? I'm afraid that it will. I honestly didn't think anything could get worse than the Bush/Rove campaign tricks, but McCain's shit takes the cake.
I also think I need to reiterate that I don't give a fuck about your goddamn iPhone. I don't care if it's broken, new, malfunctioning, working well, or taking good pictures. I don't fucking care. I don't care about your iPhone. So stop blogging/texting/posting about it. It's retarded. It's like the topic of real estate at a gay cocktail party - I've heard enough about it. Thanks.
Hope your week is going well! Such happy news every morning these days. I wrote about this financial crisis in May 2007. So if some blogging retard with HTML skills and a biology degree could see this coming, how come our great leaders and financial pros in Wall Street couldn't? I'm guessing there just wasn't the will to try until they stopped benefitting from it. Now of course it's a huge problem.
Jimbo3DC: I should just run for president like my shrink told me to do. She just threw her hands up and decided not to deal with my megalomania, and suggested that I should just work with it.DarthJersey: lol
Jimbo3DC: Being supreme ruler of the universe generally keeps us megalomaniacs from complaining.
DarthJersey: Cool, well once you achieve that if you need me to administer a small corner of said universe I'd be happy to - for a small fee of course and a percentage of revenues from the small corner.
Jimbo3DC: Right. I know you're good at whatever it is you do. Delegation is not a megalomaniac's strong point, but I'll try.
DarthJersey: excellent
DarthJersey: otherwise you'd have a Sith-led rebellion in that corner
Jimbo3DC: I'm the fucking Emperor, bitch. Don't you forget that or I'll zap you with evil purple lightning bolts so you'll end up with a saggy old man face like McCain's.
DarthJersey: And the Emperor got thrown into the core by whom?
Jimbo3DC: Some whiney punk.
If you haven't been reading Andrew Sullivan lately, you should be. He's been on a roll the past couple weeks.
Friday, September 26 is World Rabies Day. Wish your co-workers a happy Rabies Day tomorrow!
I love the latest Emerald Nuts commercial where the guy saves his buddy from being turned into one of the Addicted to Love girls:
Photography exhibit of hypermasculine gay men by Blake Little: The Company of Men.
"I...wanted to show a particular type of masculine gay male that I appreciated and related to but that I did not see photographed anywhere else; an alternative to stereotypes or what is usually seen as the physical ideal of a man in the mainstream."Sometimes I wonder if the gays don't typically shoot for extremes after coming out and experiencing a bit gay life: extreme flamey, extreme butch, extreme muscles, extreme fashion, and so on. Perhaps this is a way to flag each other for the purposes of recognition in a predominantly mainstream heterosexual society.
Study suggests our political views may be based on physical responses to external stimuli:
The research, published in the journal Science, indicates that people who are sensitive to fear or threat are likely to support a right wing agenda. Those who perceived less danger in a series of images and sounds were more inclined to support liberal policies.In other words, shocking imagery and fear tactics help guide the vote of a particular group of voters, a campaign tactic that continues to succeed.
Woofsters Seann Scott and Paul Rudd are co-starring in a new film. I'll probably go see it even though I can't think of a good Seann Scott movie, I always pay money to see them. I guess I'm succeptible to external stimulus and hypermasculine appeal in cinema marketing.
This weekend I played in a fun match in which I got to play a new position called hooker. The hooker is nestled deep within a scrum and is in charge of helping to guide the ball out the back end of a scrum to the scrumhalf. It's technically difficult and often painful, as you're in the front of the scrum that butts up against the opposing scrum, which contains the weight of 8 big guys up against you. Today my shoulders ache. It was kind of fun, and there's room for improvement in the position.
All for $15 and the opportunity to beat a homo to death...this was one of the victims assaulted on Sept. 7 on the 9th Street corridor in an apparent hate crime and robbery.
...but this time I think I'll pass on the Manhunt subscription renewal. Sure, the website company denounced their Republican founder (then the McCain campaign snubbed said founder's donation), but I'll just let my subscription run out. I'll consider my cancellation back pay for the months I wasn't aware of who created the site. Besides, my monthly grocery bill increased to just about equal to a month's membership fee, and a girl's gotta eat (food, before cock).
Plus I don't think I could handle reading another profile that says a guy is "normal," "sane," or "non-scene." I'm like so "scene" there's a website for it. And please, are you ever really sure a guy you hook up with the help of a website is truly sane just because he says he is? And I don't consider myself "normal" either - please buff and heal my 7th level tiefling warlock on the new Facebook Dungeons and Dragons Tiny Adventures application, thanks.
That Mariah Carey song has been in my head all week. You know, the one where she says "I will hunt you down." It was funny on Monday, but now it won't purge out of my head. I went to rugby practice last night with the hopes I'd get knocked unconscious and lose all memory of "Touch My Body," but the only thing that happened was more people touched my body, threw me on the floor, wrestled me around, then played with me some more. So that didn't help. Heavy Metal Josh says the new Metallica album rocks. Maybe that will help get her out of my head.
Popular Republican DC council member Carol Schwartz announced her plans this week to run as a write-in candidate for the at-large spot in the general election. She was defeated last week by a well-financed campaign by ginger Patrick Mara, who holds a degree in environmental science. ginger photo link courtesy of Joe Tresh's Washington Photo Journal.
U.S. Geological Survey report on the Sedimentation History of Halfway Creek Marsh, Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, Wisconsin, 1846–2006. Geo-porn from my hometown, hot off the press.
From Chris, the perils of reporting live from Lehman Brothers. Despite the financial tragedy, some still find the time for macking out. Wait for the female reporter's final comment on the piece: "...two guys obviously trying to make light of a bad situation pretending to console each other out there."
Congrats to George Takei of Star Trek and Heroes fame for his marriage to longtime partner Brad Altman at the Japanese American National Museum.
My bitter divorce battle with Brett is finalized this week. But like many gays in DC, I'm a serial monogamist and can't stay single for longer than a week. So I am already engaged to Geoff Jenkins of the Milwaukee Brewers:
See a resemblance to my ex? Eventually, everyone in Wisconsin starts to look like Brett Favre. Photo courtesy of Wisconsin sports fan Nicole at the Cutesports blog.
I found an interesting article this morning about campaigns spreading misinformation, and how people receive this misinformation. One study came up with some interesting results:
"Thirty-four percent of conservatives told only about the Bush administration's claims thought Iraq had hidden or destroyed its weapons before the U.S. invasion, but 64 percent of conservatives who heard both claim and refutation thought that Iraq really did have the weapons. The refutation, in other words, made the misinformation worse."
"Upon hearing a refutation, conservatives might "argue back" against the refutation in their minds, thereby strengthening their belief in the misinformation. Nyhan and Reifler did not see the same "backfire effect" when liberals were given misinformation and a refutation about the Bush administration's stance on stem cell research."
This study helps us understand why people are eating up the McCain/Palin campaign lies, and gives some insight into the thought process of gay Republicans. See also: cognitive dissonance.
Listen, people: when I text the words "Touch my body," you respond with the phrase "put me on the floor," then I text "wrestle me around." Then you text back, saying "play with me some more."
And I best not catch this flick on YouTube or I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!
Now that's out of the way, I must report a relaxing weekend. Despite the unfounded rumours of Levi jeans being at the new Columbia Heights Target, I found nothing but screaming children and shelves depleted as if a plague of locusts flew in and headed out again.
Then over a fine cobb salad at Nellie's, I bitterly watched my ex-boyfriend Brett lead the Jets. I am so over him. He can't decide what the hell he wants to do. First he's in, then he's out, as if Heidi Klum were directing his thoughts. So over that.
I have a strange request. Would any of you out there in the blogosphere happen to have, or know someone who might have a pair of logger boots that are 8" high at the ankle, Vibram-soled, steel-toed and are water- and heat-resistant that I could borrow? Something like this. I have to get a pair for work-related training in the field shadowing a firefighting crew. OMG boots.
I could buy a pair but they're quite expensive, and I'll probably only be using them for a week. I figured somebody might know a boot fetishist who would get off on a pair of boots that have been put to use in a real firefighting situation. I'm size 9 1/2 wide, or 10 will do. I promise I won't let my basement mold eat them or spiders get into them.
In other footwear news, I just got a new pair of running shoes (these shoes rule) at Fleet Feet that were the same price as the same brand over a year ago. Despite the outrageous rise in prices for food, shoes remain the same. OMG shoes.
More articles in the local gay press like this have me worried. While I've lived in DC for over ten years, assaults, muggings and beatings seem to have been happening more frequenly in the past two years, particularly on the 9th Street corridor, Columbia Heights and near the U Street/Cardozo MetroRail station. I personally know five people who have been beaten and/or robbed by gangs of youth, three of them requiring hospital stays and/or advanced treatment, all within the past two years.
While gays or those percieved to be gay seem to be targets, everyone needs to stay aware when walking around at night. Taking a cab home from the bar or a party is a lot cheaper than brain damage or getting your jaw reconstructed. Text messaging while walking through a 'hood is not immunity to assault, keep your eyes up and be alert. Run and shout if you're being pursued. If you're taking MetroRail late at night, take the car closest to the train operator, and keep your eye on the door and alert button in the car. And don't walk home, I don't care if you have to work off your booze carbs or stop at the 7-Eleven to satisfy a late night donut fix, just take a cab and eat a goddamn bowl of cereal when you get home.
An interesting view of American culture from across the pond. Git 'er done. Goddamn. 'merca.
Self awareness alert: you know you're a washed up ex-wife of a dead rockstar when you send a friend request to me on MySpace and I deny you. Courtney, stay off the pills and collagen, please.
Thanks to boobob for this hilarious short for all you font and publication freaks out there:
"You have two minutes. For every minute after that, Courier and Curlz MT will lose one of their serifs!"
Tropical storm Hanna came and went in a day. When I woke up Saturday morning to get ready for the rugby match that I was sure was going to be cancelled, I looked out the window and said, "Ain't gonna happen." But it did and we had a good time. Nice and muddy, it rained the whole time we were playing, and I have really clear skin now due to the mud exfoliation treatment. And we won, which was cool. I played well and was high as a kite on testo the rest of the day. Today I am sore and tired, however.
Last week I made a little wish in someone else's blog comment area, and The Booze Fairy paid me a visit! The Booze Fairy drops off various alcohol products on your doorstep when you're not home if you are a good citizen. If you wish very hard, The Booze Fairy may visit your doorstep too!
The U.S. is picking fights with Russia in a desperate attempt to maintain the GOP presidency another term, and to secure oil export from Texas and Alaska - think of the two states as separate countries with their own political affairs. It is no coincidence that the Republican party wants an Alaska governor for President (Palin is a feeble heartbeat away from the position if they get elected). There are still a lot of old people who vote who still buy into, or want to continue to believe that the Cold War continues - Russia is a convenient and readily accessible boogeyman to scare voters. Since we still can't find bin Laden, and they're losing the culture wars here over gays, Republicans need a new boogeyman to scare us with. I assure you we'll hear about the horrible Russians again as the spin continues. And as good sci-fi writers know, there's nothing better than the return of an old villain in a storyline to spice up the show.
Oh no they di'nt - here's a quote from John McCain's campaign web site:
"It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others."
Response from Wizards of the Coast website here. Apparently the McCain staff isn't aware that Dungeons and Dragons is a very popular pass time for GIs in the field. Hasbro even sent me a free D&D handbook and dice when I asked for one to use in teaching English skills when I was in Kazakstan for Peace Corps. Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast are good people who provide distraction for a lot of people in Iraq and Afghanistan. D&D players both overseas and domestic don't deserve that kind of comment.
The Republicans are serious about alienating anyone who isn't a white religious Evangelical maniac, I guess.
Time for me to pull out my +3 vorpal sword, take names and kick ass.
While I'm at it, how sad is it when I look at a party or even a candidate and think "I could do a better job than that." They're no longer recognizeable as Republicans as we formerly understood them. Now they're just a bunch of righteous, overspending, government-growing douche bags. I don't understand how people can vote that way when it's not in the best interests of 95% of the populace. Good persuasion and rhetoric goes a long way I guess.
Part of my new job has me serving in an emergency support function in times of national disaster and crisis. This past weekend I was sort of on call and narrowly ducked out of going to Louisiana or Texas - normally I'd jump at the chance to travel but I was on vacation at that time. It was also fortunate that Gustav didn't turn out to be that bad. However, more hurricanes are sure to come so who knows where I may end up. I wish I could have just stayed in South Carolina to wait for Hanna's arrival.
Anyway, I was watching CNN and The Weather Channel a lot to see how Hurricane Gustavo played out. While I was watching, I got fed up with the crappy CNN reporters, all of whom seemed to be desperately searching for tragedy and disaster when most of the time there was none. I can tell you that FEMA and many cooperating government agencies were planning and preparing for Gustavo's arrival at least a week in advance, and no one really wanted to repeat a Katrina. I think the level of preparedness is one reason Gustavo wasn't so bad. But you wouldn't know that from watching television as their breaking coverage of trees quaking and water flowing were bloated with hype and sensationalism - all but guaranteeing that we are all going to die in the most horrific ways imaginable in just a few minutes.
CNN could have shown coverage of pet rescue and care shelters set up in advance of the hurricane, people evacuating in a calm manner, or smooth mass transit evacuations for those who didn't have their own means of transportation - but good news doesn't sell ad space I guess. CNN gets a C- on fair, balanced and rational coverage of Hurricane Gustavo. Y'all suck. View non-hysterical hurricane development here.
Besides, snakeheads are still coming for you and they will undoubtedly kill you faster than a hurricane ever could.
And then there's this media feeding frenzy over Sarah Palin. Granted, she's got a sketchy past and it looks like she has more than enough shark food in her unofficial CV to feed Dr. Evil's pets. The media has a right to dig for that shit, despite the protests of the RNC, who played that game successfully with Rove as the pitcher for 8 years. It's good to see the tables turn on the Republicans, now on the defense for the first time in over a decade. I like how Andrew Sullivan put it:
"In Minneapolis, in some kind of freak political weather system, all the centrifugal forces that have been tearing at the GOP for two decades now have merged. The veneer of a serious governing party is colliding with the reality of a theocratic, fanatic base. The pull of foreign policy realism is busting up against an unrepentant neoconservatism made even more extreme by the McCain candidacy. The whole collision makes one want to look away."Oh, but I can't look away. The trainwreck that is the GOP is too delicious to watch. The hyenas are salivating and moving in for the kill and it's far too delicious to look away.
I'd rather vote for the Tigh/Roslin ticket instead of McCain/Palin, even though they look awfully similar. Here is a photo of Sarah Palin with a hot Alaska state trooper.
This Saturday, Sept. 6, my rugby team hosts Quantico (A-side) and American University (B-side) in our fall season opener. A-side kickoff is at 1 p.m at Colmar Manor Park. B-side match immediately follows after the 80-minute A-side match is done. I'll most likely be playing with the B-side.
I had a lovely time in South Carolina, and stocked up on peaches on the way back home today. There was an alligator just outside our condo:
I didn't spot any new bird species, but got to see more Louisiana herons and plenty of wood storks:
Giant golden orb spiders had meter-wide webs spread across every stretch of tree.
I narrowly avoided getting deployed to Louisiana to support recovery efforts due to Hurricane Gustav. More hurricanes are on their way, so more travel may be in my future.
