Nocturnal Pleasures

I don't know who David Altamirano is but lordy does he have the kind of build I like in a younger 20-something. Here he is flexing... and there I go, off to... prepare something frothy... but not Santorum.

Baby Kitten Falling Asleep

I'm not one into mushy videos but this one has to be seen to be believed. A cute kitten apparently goes kerplunk! right out of nowhere, and doesn't wake up. It's the same feeling I get when I'm having really boring, perfunctory sex and the guy is such a bad lay I just close my eyes, 'pass out', eyeballs up, and hope he's gone by the time I've decided it's okay to wake up. And hope that there isn't a big brown platano floatin' in mah terlet. Because frankly, that would be so uncouth. Some men are so un-romantic. Wait, what was I talking about?

Pride 2011 - Heritage of Pride

Pride 2011 - Dykes on Bikes and a Man in Gold

The Three Faces of New York Newspapers

Now I know which paper reflects and stands by LGBT New Yorkers. The Post just lost a reader. Then again, earlier in the month there was an editorial where the writer stated that same-sex marriage would fail and was only between a man and a woman. That they chose to focus on a news item that is technically a minor event and barely leave the bottom of the page for a title - Senate passes gay marriage bill - leaves a lot to be desired. Shame on them.

This Was Mark Grisanti's Statement on Marriage Equality

Brilliant. Courageous. Deep, powerful words that made a gigantic difference.

Ready for my Wedding: Thank You, New York!

I'm proud to call myself a New Yorker. The State finally did the right thing. Now I need to find me a stud... and that Vera Wang dress. I'll make an adorable bridezilla and I'll make sure everyone shakes in terror as I prepare to say my vows. I'll have that luxurious wedding at Saint Pat's, the reception at any grandiose place of my choice that is comfortably nestled in Manhattan, preferably on the High-Line, and I'll finally be able to scream stylized bon mots at my husband during those nights locked inside our Manhattan hi-rise, preferably with a Central Park view, that will make George and Martha shake their head in shame and long for Albee to raise their verbal violence just inches short of gunfire and manslaughter. Oh, the expensive dinnerware and cutlery and Japanese vases we'll fling at each other full force, the nights filled with stares of sheer anger and nary a word uttered as the tension rises and Juanita the maid wonders if this will be the night she'll become mincemeat, and then, the operatic moments of fabulous man-sex that will cement that we, in short, are a Couple. Thank you, New York!

On Marriage Equality

Just a quick reminder what marriage is all about.  But what would Greg Ball know. He's hiding behind "religion."

And the story continues....

New York State Senate: OFFLINE

Just pass the bill on marriage equality, already. I have my future husband to meet and a white dress to buy.

No Balls: Greg Ball's Official Statement on Marriage Equality

Beauty is treacherous. So is Greg Ball.

It's official: NYS Senator Greg Ball has issued his statement on his stance on marriage equality:

“Knowing that marriage equality was likely to pass, I thought it important to force the issue of religious protections. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the distinct opportunity of listening to literally thousands of residents, on both sides of this issue, by holding an undecided stance. I thought it was important to listen to all of my constituents and hold an undecided position until the actual bill language was written and everyone’s voice had been heard. Now that the final text is public, I am proud that I have secured some strong protections for religious institutions and basic protections for religious organizations. The bill still lacks many of the basic religious protections I thought were vital, and for this reason, and as I did in the Assembly, I will be voting ‘no.’”

Let me translate this for you:

"Knowing that marriage equality was likely to pass I thought it was important to throw in a monkey-wrench and secure its failure. You see, as a quasi-politcian who is actively seeking as much attention and controversy for the sake of controversy as I can - after all, I do have a 'handsome-guy-all-American image' to maintain, heh-heh - I made it my mission to ingratiate myself in this issue and make it look like I was the good guy trying to help a community that has long since been deemed as almost - but not quite - human and thusly deserving of its very human rights. Even though I don't believe a single word I'm typing, I'm going to hang on to them for dear life and say that I thought it was (tee-hee) important that to pretend to listen to all of my constituents and hold an undecided position while looking exceedingly handsome - a perfect mask of deception - until the actual bill language was written and everyone’s voice had been heard (not that I could care, I'm Greg fucking Ball for Christ's sake). Now that the final text is public, I am proud that I have become an obstacle and thusly secured some poor excuse called 'strong protections for religious institutions' and all that bla-de-bla I don't even believe in. Because after all, I'm going to argue that this 'bill' still lacks many of the basic religious protections I thought were vital, and for this reason, and the fact that marriage equality is just two words that sound like hogwash to me, as I did in the Assembly, I will be voting ‘no.’ Don't I look good, though? But of course I do. That's all that matters. I'm a coward."

Obama: "Gay Couples Deserve Same Legal Rights"

During a marriage equality rally in Albany, N.Y., on Tuesday.

From NY1:

Speaking at a Midtown LGBT leadership gala for his re-election campaign, President Barack Obama said he believes gay couples "deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country," and that New York State is undergoing the proper democratic procedure for considering same-sex marriage.

Before a very receptive crowd of about 600 at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender leadership gala at the Sheraton, hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris, Obama said that the topic of gay marriage should be decided by individual states.

You may read the rest of the article and watch the video here.

Mink Stole

Not Mink Stole

Mink Stole

A Minnesota woman pleaded guilty for having stolen a mink coat and - get this - hidden it underneath her panties for 3 days. Pee, you. I'm not sure where to begin with this one, other than at the time of her arrest she must have tried to ward off cops by telling them that she was just very hairy, or that her pussy (cat) had decided to take residence in her crotch, and while I'm at it - what kind of panties can support that much stretch? Anyway, I doubt the store she stole it from would want that dead animal act back. Unless it wasn't mink and all this time it was a collection of skunks, which would make the joke be on her snatch instead.

When the Internet Happens to Bad People

 

Lately there seems to be a rather disturbing outbreak of people saying some of the most vicious things to other individuals who happen to be close to or in mourning. There's the woman in Detroit, Jennifer Pitkov, a nobodywho has a Facebook page devoted to taunting the family who has had members die of Huntington's disease and is apparently, quite proud of her accomplishment. And now you've got Roger Ebert, a definite somebody, who it seems has gotten into some heat from the mourners of the Jackass actor Ryan Dunn who got killed in a car accident over the weekend.  His tweet:

Friends don't let jackasses drive drunk

certainly isn't gaining him points on sensitivity whether Dunn was drunk-driving or not. Inappropriate is just that. Which can be neatly summed up in one sentence: If you don't have anything important, relevant, and insightful to say, just shut up already.

You go, girl. You continue submitting bon mots to The New Yorker for ego-affirmation and tweeting comments of support like you were Mother Theresa out to save the world. America just loves guys with the title "ME" tattooed on their ass-ymetrical face. What a hero.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Richard and John: Hoping to Marry

Richard Dorr and John Mace have been together for 61 years, live in NYC, and would like NYC to grant them the reason to formalize their union. On those who say it will destroy the concept of traditional marriage Dorr states - "The only sanctifying element in a marriage is what the two people bring to it. It's not by someone saying words." I hope they can marry. I really do.

Visual Commentary on Religion vs. Marriage Equality

We're not going to stop squirming or thrashing or punching or kicking back until we can be equal citizens under one sky. It's that simple as that.

Marriage Is...

Gay Marriage is Marriage - Period

Speaks for itself.

Friday Morning Testosterone

Katy Perry: Last Friday Night (TGIF)

When I bought Katy Perry's Teenage Dream I didn't think her current single Last Friday Night (TGIF), one of my personal favorites from the entire album, would be considered to be released and would just become another B-side, or at least an album cut. It's a little different from the electro-pop she's become known for, and even the way she sings it, sort of lazy, close to rapping, doesn't quite ring "hit!" However, it's seemed to grow on people and the video is a total killer. Contrary to the convoluted, overreaching mess that is Lady Gaga's video for Judas, the mini-movie for TGIF is as retro as retro goes - a balls-out parody of 80s teen movies much like the kind Corey Feldman (License to Drive) used to star in. Kudos to bringing him in to play her dad and some stalwarts from that era (Debbie Gibson as her mom, Kenny G as her saxo-playing uncle!), a killer 80s outfit Perry gets to wear later in the video along with the giant hair and you have a winner. This "totally rules", man!

Blue Portrait of The Writer as a Meditative Man

Strong... calm... tenacious... still... yet internally vibrant. Awake.  And open. 
Nothing disturbs me, yet I observe, and focus... focus... focus... into the future only, using the past as a fulcrum.

Recently I had a moment where I thought I would give in to anger. It's one of those collision courses that pop out of nowhere, and thus you have a situation, on the cusp.You see, someone had thrown upon me some pretty harsh, hateful words - so hateful in fact I could almost feel the spittle flying from his mouth. The details, much like the man in question, are not important. However, when this happens the natural reaction is to hit back, and harder. That was what my Dad told me when I was little and being taunted by the boys at school: "Ivan, hit 'em harder. Don't let them take advantage of you. Make 'em respect you."

I probably got involved in one or two fights in my earlier years. I wasn't one to want to fight, and am not one to do so, even now. However, when you move among opposing forces and people who do not see or value the You that you are, conflicts are as inevitable as the passage of time. It's as if we were ingrained to resolve a nasty, ugly situation with lashing out and back, harder, to obtain assertion. The classic scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey shows the Stargazer asserting himself over the rest of the ape-men by bashing a bone into another ape-man from a rival tribe. The most basest of natures, under the cruel Sun, and then he throws the bone into the sky and it transmogrifies itself into a spaceship that floats in the endless void.

You would think that much would have transpired and mankind would have learned, but it hasn't. Look at how we treat each other. Look at how we're ingrained to do or die. It's everywhere: in the books we read, in the music we listen, in the movies that replay the same assertion with a bloody resolution. You see a conflict, and the only way it can be resolved is through the impending act of violence, oral, mental, emotional, and physical, from the offended to the offender. From the hero to the villain. Once the bad guy is vanquished all is well, and then come the credits. We can feel good about ourselves, because order was restored.

In transcendental meditation and creative visualization I'm learning about how not to react to the mudslinging. After all, it's only mud and where there is mud there is water and exotic soaps to wash it off and redress oneself in comfortable fabric. Blue and purple are one of my favorite hues because both represent the inner strength we all have, that spirituality we are trying to establish as the world moves into the new age and we as a whole transition from a Me world into a We world. I was reminded, suddenly, of a brilliant movie I have not seen in ages, but that left me with a sense of victory at leaving a bad situation or a bad life as it is and just moving into the next phase of one's life.

The Color Purple.

It's been twenty-six years since I saw that movie in the theatres. I remember how Celie suffered at the hands of Mr. How I wanted her to achieve some form of happiness and closure with her own life and be reunited with her sister Nettie. How the anger at being denied such a state slowly accrued itself within her, dust on unclean wood shelves, year after year. I knew something would have to give. I'd read enough stories, seen enough films, to have that notion in my mind that one day she would strike back, bitterly, to the end.

Steven Spielberg directed this masterful, climactic scene that occurs towards the end of the movie, at a dinner table, as the family are all gathered around throwing their dysfunctions at one another. All the repression slowly bubbles towards the surface at the announcement that Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) will leave Mr. It's a scene fraught with unbearable tension, enhanced by the surfacing of Sophia's (Oprah Winfrey) inner fire, older, cracked, but wiser.

I never knew the power of Celie's haunting words: "Everything you done to me's already done to you." It is the equivalent of carving the mark of Cain on someone's face, and the day I got mudslinged over - a moment where I glimpsed the power of ugliness and decomposition inside this man's soul - I knew exactly what these words meant. I knew I didn't have to strike back even though it was there, in the back of my mind, semi-sentient, a ghost image trying to make its way to my conscious self. Waxing and waning. Demanding, but too weak to assert itself.

And anyway, there was always water.

So I picked myself up, smiled, and turned to the future. It didn't matter what happened next - I think I went out for some coffee with a pal - but what mattered was, I didn't give in. I was at peace. I felt loved, blessed, and happy. Because I also had a deep knowledge of the real me. And he, too, was happy and glowing in the day.

It's a great feeling, to know yourself and be true. Do you know who you are?

Chapter Two

Well, there it is. The Gorgon's face has been faced, and while at times the sound of laughter might not be as loud, one has to pick oneself from the place of the dead and carry on. Because that is what life is about. She's gone, three weeks now, soon it will be a month, a year, five, ten. And then I'll be gone.

And what will I leave behind?

Well, the intention is a small body of work and a lot of smiles. I don't have much in the way of lofty aspirations inasmuch as tenacity and sheer drive. Focus. What is garbage is garbage and shall remain in a small, unopened box that now floats away from me in the muddy waters of Lethe. I couldn't be bothered with the petty. Anyone who is that willing to be idle should turn their Medusa face elsewhere because no one is home. If I didn't respond then, I sure won't now.

Because life's too short to be half-lived, or lived vicariously through a filter. One has to make the most of it even when all you have are bare hands and the power of will. I can see how people deviate from their plan in life--they allow themselves to get caught in the mess of things, really of their own makings, and stay there, slowly marinating until it's too late, old age has settled in, and nothing really has been gained.

That won't be my case. I already live a fulfilled life so giving into baser passions is not an option for me. Doors that were shut shall remain shut. Connections that have been strengthened through this tragedy or the passage of time will continue to flourish. Plans that were momentarily stalled will forge at their own speed, and life will continue to renew itself.

Her legacy remains alive as much as her spirit.

Now, on to Chapter Two.