Forever Walking

That is all.

First, there was bird flu.

Then everything but the kitchen sink got contaminated with salmonella.

And now we have the swine flu.

I swear to god I don't know what's worse: the fact that the media is blowing this latest outbreak of some virus/bacteria WAY out of proportion (seriously, you'd think the world were ending if yoiu listened to the way the media's describing the thing - outbreak, pandemic, catastrophe ); or that I'm seriously going to be walking around for the next few weeks afraid of anyone who so much as scratches their nose due to the media scaring the bajesus out of me.

Mommy Dearest -- gotta love this critically-panned camp classic:

Here it is:

Now, as much as I obviously don't agree with what she believes (and am embarrassed that she represents my home state, once again displaying how simultaneously progressive and ass-backwards Cali can be), I also have to defend her right to say what she believes. It took a lot of guts to be that honest and give an answer that's so politically incorrect. I personally hope she wasn't denied the crown purely because of her answer to the gay marriage question. In my opinion, there were plenty of other things to go by in that pig trough of an answer ("opposite marriage" really? I think she should be clearer on what heterosexual marriage is before she disses gay marriage.)

No, she shouldn't have been penalized for her answer (if she was).

But I also understand that, for a lot of gays upset by this chick, therein lies the problem.

This event, and the resulting debate it has caused, has been like a slap in the face of the gay community in this country and, honestly, our faces are a still a little bruised from Proposition 8 passing in tandem with the election of one of our country's most liberal presidents. It serves as a reminder of how much further we have to go, and while its so easy to sit back in our little bubbles and believe that in 2009 gays are near-universally accepted (unless you're in the South), we have to stay vigilant because there still is a very real threat to our civil liberties.

So many of us gays (and allies) got so comfortable in our educated, liberal worlds that we began to believe that things like this couldn't happen anymore. That, in this new age, the only public opposition of gay rights would be from the mouths of hypocritical politicians and religious leaders. Because we've demonized corrupt politicians and religious leaders, and relegated them to symbols of a steadily passing and archaic world, we're prepared for bigotry when it comes from them. We're not totally prepared when it comes from beauty queens.

Damnit, we thought we had beauty queens in the bag!

So I can see why so many of us gays (and our supporters) are so enraged by this chick. She reminded us of how fragile what we have is, and how much more work we have to do to strengthen it.

Seriously, lets say for a second that Miss California were secretly racist. No -- let's say that she's not racist. She doesn't have a problem with black people per se...she just believes that everyone should stick to their own kind, and thus doesn't believe in interracial marriage. Now, in this day in age, does anyone honestly think that if she were asked about interracial marriage by a judge that she would have "listened to [her] faith" and given an honest answer? Hell no. She would have lied through her teeth and said something along the lines of "I think interracial marriage is a legitimate, beautiful thing and I wholeheartedly support it."

And why? Because in this day and age, interracial marriage is such an accepted facet of our society, and nonacceptance of it such a widely deplorable thing that even people that personally don't accept it wouldn't dare be so public about it (unless they were in the KKK or something like that, of course). If Miss California had said she were against interracial marriage not only would she have been denied the crown for that very reason, but she most likely would have been disqualified from the pageant. And there wouldn't be such wide debate about her right to be honest. She'd be near-universally panned.

For some of us gays, it's still a bit upsetting that when someone comes out so publicly against us and our right to live our lives openly and equally, it is still considered an openly debatable subject.

So, in place of a complete and angsty entry, I think I'm going to fill this post with a ton of little things that have been on my mind. Marvel at my ability to be compact!

What can I say? I can't help it. But I think I might keep this one for a while. Sure, I liked the templates with the pretty pictures and the professional layouts, but I think this simple-but-loud design captures the very essense of me.


This comes from Sassy Britches over at Well okay, Sassy Britches (love that title!). I'm extremely honored that someone's taken a liking to me and these words I water my potted plant with. I guess I'm likable; Sassy definitely is. :)



But I'm not sure I can accept this. :( I'm still pretty new to this official "blogging" thing, and don't know 15 blogs period, much less 15 newly-discovered blogs. I'll list the blogs I know. It's ok if I'm disqualified...I'll just hide the tears.

Wow...just two...I need to get out more...:( Well, I guess Sassy could make three, but I'm not sure I can nominate the person who nominated me...

Oh well, these two bloggers are very deserving. Katie's blog is so lovely (and she's so lovable), that I'm sure she's been nominated for this award multiple times. And Michael leaves me really nice comments (complete with hilariously accurate analogies). His blog goes over my head sports-wise but I still read it, which in itself is an accomplishment. He seems like one of those straight guy friends I just learned how to have.



Well, there you go. I watched Grey Gardens last night, and it made me cry. Hardcore. Then I watched it with my roommate Erin again this afternoon, and I cried again. That's just sad.

I don't usually like things that are engineered to make you cry. This is usually why I can't strand Extreme Home Makeover and avoid it like the plague. But when cheap emotional ploys are covered up with expert storytelling and superb acting performances, you can forgive it.

This is the case with Grey Gardens. I'm not about to summarize this film (Just hit up Wikipedia if you don't know the story of these two women and their once fabulous lives and East Hampton home), but to say it touched me is an understatement. Sure, the movie isn't perfect, and some would say there are a few holes in the plot (I would disagree), but the writing is top-notch, and the performances are even better. Drew Barrymore is especially amazing in this film. I mean, geez, I've always loved Drew; but this "serious" role is so unlike anything she's ever done that the fact that she's so amazingly convincing as Little Edie is just all the more spectacular. In Grey Gardens, Drew steps out of the romantic-comedy starlet label and proves herself as an actress to be reckoned with. Jessica Lange gives a great performance as well as Big Edie, but make no mistake: this movie belongs to Drew.

And there's just something so tragically inspiring about Little Edie. Little Edie may have been just a tiny bit nuts, and sure it was her own fear and sense of duty to her mother that kept her in that house and away from pursuing her dreams. Some would even say that Little Edie really wasn't all that talented (and they'd be right). But she had this dream, this sense of worth in herself. She had this thing to hold on to even as her own fear kept her sequestered, and even as her once fabulous life literally fell apart around her. When she gets her moment in the end, her tiny moment...and she seizes it and embraces it and wallows in its warmth, Drew Barrymore captures this moment so completely that you just can't help getting emotional and, at least in my case, bawling your eyes out.


Warning: this might not be safe for work:



(Wow, that wasn't very compact, was it?)

It's about time I give one of these writing prompts from Twenty Something Writers (awesome site) a try. Actually, correction:

It's about time I give one of these writing prompts a try and actually post the entry.

Truthfully, I did the last prompt they put up -- something along the lines of "if you could go back in time and change something, when would you go and what would you change?" And what was originally meant to be a two paragraph response became this emotional drivel spanning several pages about a childhood friend of mine. I'll post that eventually, but in its current state it's a stylistic monstrosity, and I want to edit it because I think it could be one of those good things that I write in my life.

Anyway, to this latest prompt, which actually made me a bit giddy:

Who was your favorite cartoon charachter as a child? No holding back, admit it! Did you have a lot of collector’s items (stuffed animals, bed sheets, figurines, etc) of them? Are they worth any money currently?

 Ok, here we go, I'll be honest. It's not like anyone will be all that surprised anyway:

Shocking right? I know...

I was so in total, complete love with Sailor Moon as a kid. It was also a love my mother encouraged, because it was the only thing that would wake me up in the mornings for school (you see, SM only came on early mornings during the weekdays. I would actually wake up earlier than my mother to catch it). It took everything I loved about Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers -- the whole "group of innocent youths suddenly given the power and responsibility to protect the world" thing -- and took it to the next level: making it a cartoon series centered around angsty teenage girls, glitter and cute costumes! Everything the burgeoning gay boy in me needed!

(Not to mention, Dorian is THE sexiest cartoon hunk. Ever. Period. End. Of. Discussion.)

But more than that, it was the greatest escape. Just like Power Rangers, Sailor Moon was a show that catered to the kids that just wanted to feel powerful and important in a word that made the decisions for them. These five girls weren't super heroes in the traditional sense. They weren't born with their super powers. They didn't get their powers in a freak accident and thus were forever marked by them. They were normal kids with normal problems, and normal hobbies, and normal crushes. But, when the world was in trouble, they could transform into something great, something that the world needed.

As a kid, it was the greatest thing to escape into that.

(oh, and I was also Sailor Jupiter) 

(She was the tallest girl in her class, loved to cook, and was the least afraid of getting in some bad dude's face. Fuck yes)

And if I could meet them...I'd steal Sailor Moon's transformation pen. Instead of the pain of getting dressed and keeping a wardrobe every day, I'd love to be able to just call out what I wanted to look like that day (sexy news reporter!), twirl around gracefully amongst a spray of stars and glitter, and voila!