For Phil

Please stand up

Apparently Frank Rich is just as disappointed in the Rick Warren's invovlement in Obama's innauguration as I am. [Op-ed piece]

Peeved

Chalk it up to me being me, but I really hate when people say "two thousand AND eight," instead of, "two thousand eight."
When someone says it, I want to ask them if they said "nineteen hundred AND ninety four" or "nineteen hundred ninety four?"

You're my double shadow

The long nights and cold weather has made me hunger for comfort food. First was the navy bean soup, then the Frito pie. I realize the latter may not be familiar to many of you. I have my youth in Texas to thank for acquiring that taste.

I think the psychological underpinnings of needing comfort come from learning how to share space with the guy I love. Phil moved in at the beginning of the month. Some of his stuff is still in boxes, but most of it unpacked. Half of the bedroom closet contains his clothes now. The laundry pile in the bedroom has (more than) doubled.

We need a bigger bed. Luckily (or unluckily) my graveyard schedule and his swing shift schedule means that he sleeps when I'm at work and vice versa. So its not a pressing matter . . . yet.

I need to say "our" more.

I want him to be comfortable, too.

The broader, social context of needing comfort comes from the residual Prop 8/Rick Waren madness that is nearly inescapable. In my 16 plus years of being an "out" gay man, it hasn't been until recently that I feel the societal ill-will toward my natural proclivities. The latest attack comes from the man that I helped elect to the presidency.

Last week the snow came and justified my agoraphobic tendencies. I had two extra days off work. This city does not handle snow well, which is fine because we only see it every few years.

I played lots of Warcraft. I looked outside to see if the snow was still falling (most of the time it was). We downloaded movies to Tivo. Movies we generally wouldn't watch, and definitely won't watch again.

Trivia:

What movie stars Academy Award winners Kathy Bates and Kevin Spacey, as well as Academy Award nominees Paul Giamatti and Miranda Richardson?

If you answered Fred Claus, pin a rose on your nose!

So that was one of the movies, along with the simply atrocious Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

So all this comfort has got me lazy. And all this being attacked has made me feel victimized.

Guess I'll just have to turn all this shit around in 2009. Who's up for being active and pro-active?

She wept here, she slept here

I swear I'll do a real post sometime soon. I was gonna write about the navy bean soup I made this weekend and about Thanksgiving and about Milk, but I'm not feelin' it.

So, in the meantime, young master Phil had never heard of Ann Jillian but was familiar with her turn as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland. So, for a trip down memory lane, I give you two intros 80's sitcoms that sorta kinda made me queer(er).

People always ask me

What's the difference between wacking and voguing?
Now I can direct them to this video, which is accurate for both the music and fashion chosen to represent each style.



Oh, and I don't think I mentioned waaaay back in October that the documentary about Arthur Russell played at the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. I wish I had gone to see it. It would have kept in the tradition of Godfather of Disco from the year prior. And, along with Mel Cheren, Morricone, Moroder, and others, Russell was a founder of some of the best music I've ever heard. Anyway, here's the trailer:


And as an added bonus, one of Russell's brilliant tracks.

Can't you just imagine a Mia Michaels routine to one of his songs?

It would probably look something like this:

Ding!

Ten levels in less than 7 days.
Eat that!

Add more pizazz to your face!

I realize that I have the sophistication of an eight year old, but this still cracks my shit up after multiple views.




And I don't know if you caught it, but Rodney King extinguished any doubt of the love homos have for their melanin enhanced brothers and sisters on this week's Celeb Rehab.

Fried

Yeah, posting's been a little sparse. I think the election really took a lot out of me. Of course I was excited at Obama's win, but the flipside of that was Proposition 8's passing in California. I took last Wednesday off of work and stayed up til six in the morning watching returns.

Keith Olberman just made an emotional plea regarding Prop 8. It is quite good and I recommend passing it along to anyone who maybe doesn't quite have a handle on the issue.


Obviously, I believe that if two people can enter into a civil contract called marriage, that that contract should not be predicated on the basis that the two parties are of the opposite sex.

Add to California's misstep Florida and Arizona's similar amendments. Then Arkansas' refusal to allow "unmarried cohabitating adults" to foster or adopt a child, and finally Kansas' repealing of Affirmative Action and all I see is white man's rage--oh and a lot of self-righteous Christianity.

So . . . I'm just waiting out these final days of the Bush administration.

I'm waiting for President Obama to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

I'm waiting for Supreme Court Justice Hillary Clinton to write a majority finding that states cannot write bigotry into their constitutions.


I'm waiting for . . . Wrath of the Lich King to be released on Thursday--when I'm playing my video game, I almost don't care that there is much work to be done.

You're my disco

To the guy I've been dating for the past two years (as of Sunday),

You're My Disco, baby.

One of my darkest secrets . . .

. . . is that when I come home from work, after I watch the previous evening's Daily Show and Colbert Report, I watch The View.





If you ask me about it in person, I will deny it.





But I had to say something, because today, Sherri Lewis (ok, I know that's not her real last name, but I can never remember her real last name) got into it with that dumb bitch Elisabeth Hasselhoff (ok, I also realize that is not her last name, but I like to imagine that her husband is the Hoff and not some football player).





So as I was watching them hiss and show their claws, I thought, "I would really just like to give that highstrung, uptight bitch a hit of ecstasy, hold her in my arms, stroke her hair, and extol the virtues of analingus to her."



Also, I would like to encourage the studio audience to begin booing Elisabeth.

In the year 2525

I'm too anxious about all this election crap. So in the meantime, please choose your favorite:

Visage v. Zager and Evans




See comments for my vote

No more sad times, only glad times

Well, another year of Decibel has come and gone. Saturday night was the highlight with Audion as a nice warm up to the unbelievably poundy, relentless assault of Carl Craig. He's been around for over 20 years and Saturday night, I learned why. He laid the smack down with a smattering of Detroit regulars like Derrick May and Plastikman. The crowd was attentive and, by the end of it all, moist.
The night ended with C2's killer remix of ultra-classic "Good Life" by Inner City.


I wish I could say that Sunday's show was as solid, but Supermayer, while raising the bar from ear-numbing opener Flying Lotus was only mediocre. Their set never really took off and they seemed more intent on branding a sound than on shaking the dancefloor. That's ok, though, leaving early gave me time to watch the newest episode of Mad Men when I got home. Plus, I was still recovering from the work over Carl Craig gave me.

Previously:

Decibel Festival '06
Decibel Festival '07

I need a new dance beat

This weekend is the triumphant return of Seattle's premiere dance music festival--the Decibel Festival. Last year's was a little weak, but the lineup this year pretty much blows the last couple of years out da water.

I'm only making a point of going on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday for Carl Craig and Matthew Dear as Audion and Sunday for Supermayer.

I plan on dancing--a lot.










Previously:

Superpitcher

Michael Mayer

Matthew Dear

Hope

I hope your parents' house was destroyed by Ike.
I hope you lost your new job now that investment banks are going tits up.
I hope your fat girlfriend annoys you one tenth the amount that you annoyed me.
You were never a friend, and if I had known that all it would have taken to get your fat ass to move out was throwing out your food, I would have done it sooner.
Later, dick.

The place doesn't stink as much.
The place is generally picked up.
It is significantly quieter.
Things are looking up.

Weekend viewing

Pasolini's Salo
Jim Henson's The Muppet Movie
Tarsem's The Fall
Paris Hilton's The Hottie and the Nottie

And if you have a life that doesn't revolve around chasing the dragon (of sleep) then I'd recommend going to see the director's cut Donnie Darko tonight at the Egyptian.
It features a cover of this song:

I prefer the original.

Bye bye bug

I'm slipping in my old age. I don't know how I missed it, but Donte who wrote the best music column in the Stranger is handing the baton back to Dave Segal. I never really liked Data Breaker or Dave's columns--mainly, I think, because he always had a much more elitist take on the genre. Donte, however, knew where the music should work--on the dancefloor. And the dancefloor is populist in nature.

Donte and I don't always see eye-to-eye, but we definitely have much more common ground than Dave and I do.

So farewell Donte. Best of luck in future endeavors, and I'll see you out dancing (at Carl Craig and Supermayer).

[photo from The Stranger]

Triumph thinks for me

People I work with

You're out of touch, I'm out of time

I saw The House Bunny starring Anna Farris this weekend. Phil and I had talked about going to see it. He likes Anna Farris quite a bit, and I like her well-enough especially in Gregg Araki's Smiley Face. [This scene rules.] I had other movies on my 'To See' list that ranked much higher, and probably would have opted for an Unbox rental or Netflix of The House Bunny. However, Friday morning I became the guardian of my 13 year-old niece, and since I am the reed that bends in the wind when my niece is around, we saw the movie.

Some of you know that she was in town for the week. Her 81 year-old great-grandmother lives in West Seattle, so Lauren and her aunt and uncle from Fort Worth came to spend a week with the octagenarian. I had planned to keep her occupied on Thursday.

So I picked Lauren up from the airport on Saturday. She was an unaccompanied minor. USAirways managed to keep me detained at the kiosk check-in for over an hour. I didn't have a confirmation number or pass because I was picking up a minor, so the ticket agents kepts shooing me away. My niece called me agitated--was I ever going to come to the gate? After the two ticketing agents checked in three flights, they asked me if they could help me. Yes, I informed them, my niece is waiting at the gate for me to come get her.

"Really," asked one of the ticketing agents, "Why didn't you just tell us that you were picking up an unaccompanied minor?" I muttered under my breath that I had, and that this "service" cost my brother and sister-in-law two hundred dollars.

After standing another half hour or so in security, I made my way to the gate where my niece was waiting. She was wearing the same outfit that she wore to my aunt's funeral. It was very formal and, I later learned, very uncomfortable. She had her iPod and issues of MinX, Seventeen and Cosmo Girl.

We descended to the baggage claim as the piece of luggage that read, "Final piece for USAirways" made it way onto the carousel. Of the luggage still in rotation, none belonged to my niece. This put her nearly over the edge. "It'll be fine," I told her. "It probably just got on the next flight. We'll go to Target and get you some sweats, pjs, and a toothbrush." And that's what we did. I left her with her great-grandmother, and returned home for a few days of work.
I met Lauren, her great-grandmother, her aunt, and her uncle for lunch on Wednesday everyone's favorite, Blue C Sushi.
Thursday, I came over around noon and Lauren and I bussed into the city. This was my day to show her the city. We got sandwiches at Salumi and took them to the UPS/Waterfall park. Then we went to the library, and then we made our way to the Seattle Art Museum. Her fingers were rarely away from her phone, furiously texting a battery of friends back east. I showed her her first Warhol, Rothko, Pollack, Manet, Monet, Degas and others. Between pieces, she texted.
Somehow, I doubt the texts looks like this, "omg! pollack sux da big one!!!1! lol!" or "rofl warhol wtf?" or "manet ftw!!1111!!!!"

Then it was up to Seattle Center where she had been before, so I didn't have to waste precious money on a trip to the top of the needle. For dinner, we went to one of my favorite places, 611 Supreme. Lauren only had soup. The topper for the evening was the world-premiere of Shrek: The Musical at the 5th Avenue theater. The show is Broadway bound and I was happy that my niece and I could see it together.

Needless to say, Thursday really wiped me out. Her great-grandmother had mentioned taking us to Tillicum Village on Friday, but I told Lauren to get me out of it. So when the phone started ringing on Friday morning, I ignored it, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
I could not, however, ignore the knocking at my door Friday morning.

Lauren's aunt was standing at the door with Lauren. "Guess what! You just gave birth to a 13 year-old girl," she said as she pulled Lauren's suitcase onto the porch. I was still out of it and didn't really understand what was going on. It turns out that Lauren's great-grandmother had a bout with dementia and accused all of them of stealing from her. There was name-calling, and overall it sounded like a pretty crummy time.

I removed The Big Penis Book from the coffee table and tidied up as best I could in a short amount of time. So I got to spend a couple extra days with niece. My niece who likes Guns'n'Roses and Marilyn Manson and Celine Dion and Shania Twain. We talked about video games and I let her play some of my World of Warcraft characters. She's the first member of my family to meet Phil. "Phil's really great," she told me on our car ride to the airport on Sunday.

"Yeah, he is, isn't he," I replied. So maybe this is that summer for her--you know the one like in those coming-of-age stories--the kind that change your life. Maybe its that kind of summer for me.

FarmHaus Modern

Just wanted to mention that my dear friend from college Heidi has begun blogging.
Please take the time to visit her lovely little corner of the web.

FarmHaus Modern

Wiling away the time

Go make shoes. It is highly therapeutic.

These are mine.

They are ugly and I like them.

Now you go make yours.

Be sure to post a link to them in the comments section.

Maudlin Monday

I'll be leaving town tomorrow to go to my aunt's funeral in Cleveland on Tuesday. Naturally, my thoughts have been much more nostalgic and sentimental lately. Didn't help any that my babysitter up until I was, like, 7 or so got in contact with me through Facebook.

And then I heard this story on NPR. I liked it quite a bit, but it added to that feeling.

Decibel Festival '08

I'm not buying a festival pass this year. If you'd like to, go here.

I'm only going to see Carl.

Bam! Pow!

A couple lines about this summer's comic book exstravaganza--

Iron Man -- Mostly enjoyable but no real sense of an enemy until the final third of the film--I mean, sure, we all knew the Dude was gonna be the bad guy, but he wasn't really that bad until the end. Some fun sequences and really Robert Downey Jr.'s show.

The Incredible Hulk -- Took itself a little too seriously for my tastes. One joke about purple stretch pants was about the only moment of levity. The Abomination fight at the end was pretty anti-climatic. There wasn't even the "Oh no he's really not dead" take.

Hellboy 2 - All around great time. Had some fun B-movie nods with outstanding special effects. The expository dialogue was peppered well with characterization which adds to the completeness of the film's universe. The only storyline which seemed a bit forced was the Duala/Abe love story. It existed in too few scenes or the intensity of their meeting when they pressed hands wasn't played up. A genuinely fun film.

The Dark Knight - Kind of a mess. Some glaring plot holes and poor character development all-around with the exception of maybe James Gordon. I saw it on IMAX and I couldn't tell what sequences were filmed for IMAX which was a bit disappointing. As for that character development--Rachel and Harvey never quite seemed in love, therefore Harvey's transformation seemed implausible. The implications that the Joker manifested as a result of Batman's hubris were pretty laughable because we never get anything other than an action hero.
As for those plot holes--who took care of the Joker after Batman saved Rachel?
And I'm sure it was glossed over in some dialogue from a news anchor or something--but how did those people end up on the ferry boats?

I liked them all well-enough, though, and I'm probably being a mite hard on The Dark Knight because I felt a wee bit ripped off and let down. I think if I had seen it this weekend after the first wave of mania subsided on a normal sized screen that didn't cost (Phil) $15 a ticket, I would have been a little more forgiving--or rather could have given into it a bit more.

You're a pal and a confidante

I just wanted to express my gratitude to the wonderful array of people who sent me birthday wishes. This year, I really wasn't feeling celebratory. My patient boyfriend bent over backwards (at one point literally) to ensure I tolerated my old-i-ness with a modicum of composure. But there was no beach blowout like last year or classy restaurant get-together like the year prior.
There were text messages and phone calls and facebook wall-writing and comments left on the previous post and even a rather embarrassing blog post replete with picture. So thanks for thinking of me, for making me feel valued. I swear I'll feel up to speed sometime soon, and I swear there will be a party--not a birthday party, but a gathering of those near and dear party. 'Cause lord knows I like to party.

Expires 6/30/08

If you had a coupon that said it expired on 6/30/08--would you think that you could use it on that date for the discount?
Yeah, so does everyone else--except for the asshole Papa John's on Holman Road that took the time to send out "Neighborly" coupons and then wouldn't redeem them.
Screw you. Your pizza sucks anyway.

Looking from a window above

I'm so bummed that Yazoo is touring and they're playing nowhere near here.
Maybe if I had heard about the show before today, I would have planned something for my birthday.

As it is, I'll just hum along as their songs play through my headphones on the bus ride home.
Sometimes I wish mp3s got worn out like my old TDK mix tape that got creaky and shift-pitchy from rewinding and playing Only You over and over.

The song after Only You on that mix tape was Sparks--who also had a comeback of sorts this year.

Whatever, I do what I want!

Yeah, I'll admit it--this story cracked me up.

Why can't more young people commit to something and follow through?

RIP - Cyd Charisse

I always liked her--I don't know why. Maybe its because first and foremost she was a dancer. Lord knows I like dancers.
Speaking of . . . isn't Comfort on SYTYCD, like, the greatest reality TV personality ever?

She was a classy lady (and a Party Girl before Parker, no less) who aged very gracefully. Rest in peace.

OMG shoez

Even though Booka Shade's newest album isn't everything I'd hoped it would be, its still has some lovely tracks with impeccable production.
More impressive than their latest album, however, is their pairing with K-Swiss to make limited edition sneaks.
You can add these to the list of other limited edition sneaks I want (like these and these).

A love we all came to know

Way back in October--or actually it might have been November 1st--Tennille and I saw the whiz-bang production of Xanadu on Broadway. It was recently nominated for multiple Tony awards.
I hope it wins lots of awards--its a fun, bright, silly show with a wonderful cast. But maybe its too gay . . .
(via Towleroad)

Fer serious?

The douchebags across the street are renting out their house--for $2100/mo!
Ha! That number is so completely outrageous for their tiny little houes. Its 650 sq. ft. with a 700 sq. ft. unfinished basement. The city only lists it as a one bedroom--so you can just imagine how tiny and crappy rooms 2 and 3 are.
These are the same douchebags who go out of their way to tell us that we CAN'T PARK ON THE STREET!
I hope this listing sits. And sits. And sits.
Oh, but the guy who lives there, even tho he's a total dick, has a smokin' body. Phil and I were getting the mail last week when he was cleaning out the eaves. He was shirtless and his back was to us--we both couldn't look away.

Oh, and to give you an idea about our "friendly and safe" neighborhood--we have section 8 housing next door. They nearly always have an empty grocery cart in their yard. When there was a shooting at the QFC by our house, the standoff ended at the neighbors with our neighbor's friend surrendering to the cops.
About a month ago, the cops had our block cut off to traffic and there were two police helicopters overhead.

$2100--yeah right!

Round on the sides

When I learned my aunt had pancreatic cancer, I resolved to go and visit her. To pay my respects. My aunt named me. If my mother had her way, I would be Curtis Carver. If my father had his way, I would be Travis Austin. I had to, at the very least, tell her thank you for sparing me either of those atrocities. (Can you imagine how horrible my young Texan life would have been if I had been named Travis Austin?)

So I packed my bag, bought the issue of the New Yorker with the David Sedaris article on quitting smoking, and left for Cleveland.

My mom had flown in the day prior, and she and my aunt picked me up at the airport. If I didn't know differently, I wouldn't have thought that my aunt was wearing a wig. If I didn't know differently, I wouldn't have thought that she just finished her 6th round of chemo the previous week. She looked good.

I had considered writing her a letter and leaving it for her to find after I left, but instead, I played it by ear, hoping I would be able to find the courage to verbalize my thanks to her. The first day my mom, she, and I played Blokus and Skip-Bo. We laughed. We reminisced. My aunt asked me about Phil.
What's he like?
What's he studying?
Where does he work?
How long have you been dating?
My mom, I think, didn't want to seem out of touch with me, so she acted like she knew things about Phil--about his work and school schedule, about how much time we get to see each other. Maybe its my fault, I thought, Maybe my mother is truly curious about my life and not ashamed of it. But there has already been so much damage to our relationship. I destroyed any trust and hope my mother had in me. She destroyed the safety and security I felt in my family. So my aunt, who has never been encumbered by the dynamics of my relationship with my mother, was able to sidestep those land mines and just show genuine interest in my life.

The next day my father and uncle arrived. My uncle works out of town and comes home on the weekends. My father came to see me. We made small talk. My uncle told me the "What's better than roses on your piano?" joke. When a commercial for National Treasure 2 came on, my dad told me he had seen it with the grandkids. He liked it--"You'd like it, too," he said. Then, realizing who he was talking to, he added, "I think."
I found it interesting that the men seemed the least well-equipped to handle the situation. They go stir-crazy quickly and look for any excuse to leave the house. I went with them once on an outing to get snacks before dinner. We didn't go to the grocery store around the corner. We took a twenty minute drive to a mom and pop place that sold "trail bologna." I would have rather spent the time sitting in the same room with the person I came to see, even if she were sleeping.

Every night I rubbed my mom and my aunt's feet. Both appreciated it, but my aunt, who uses crutches because the cancer is now in her legs and the chemo causes numbness in her legs, would close her eyes, lay her head back, and sigh. Those sighs, to me, held the secret of how much pain she was actually in. In fact, by the time I left, I got the impression that most of her behavior was just show--she was in a great deal of pain.

Sunday was the Kentucky Derby. We all picked a horse. I picked the longshot. My mom picked the surefire thing. My dad and uncle went for ones that had decent odds, but weren't supposed to win, place, or show. My aunt picked the only filly.
When the race was over, the filly was in second. As she crossed the finish line, two of her ankles shattered and she had to be euthanized.
It was moments like that acted as the counterpoint to any normalcy we felt. The spectre of death that was biting into my aunt's femur shattered the ankles of that horse--he wasn't going to let us forget that he was there.

Sunday night brought the shows they all watch--"Desperate Housewives" and "Brothers and Sisters." I watch both shows at work. "Brothers and Sisters" was the episode where the gay guys get engaged. It was torturous--sitting in the same room with my mother and father watching two men kiss on TV. And not just kiss, but full-on, spit-swappin' kiss. Everyone was silent.
"Chuck and Donna, friends of ours, have two sons--both are gay, and they introduce their partners as 'husbands'," my aunt said, "Do you think that's strange? I mean, I always hear 'partner' but 'husband' sounds like a man and a woman to me."
"Well, most of the people I know," I answered, "Use the term partner."
My father almost doesn't squirm at talk like this any more. Recently he told me that he really liked Ellen DeGeneres. Some progress is better than none (and dude is 71).


Monday morning everyone left--mom and dad for Texas, my uncle for work. My flight wasn't until the next day. I had an entire day with my aunt, and I knew what I wanted to say. I didn't know if I'd find the right time to say it.
So she and I played Skip Bo. We sat on the porch as yet another rain storm came through. She told me how angry she was. How she's played over and over in her mind things that she might have done differently to avoid this impending painful death. I told her that my mom had always wanted to grow old with her--even moreso than my dad. She said that more than anything she wanted to see her grandchildren grow up and get married. I told her that she would, but she wouldn't be in pain.
And I don't remember exactly how it came up, but the moment presented itself.
"Out of all the members of my family--your daughters included--you are the only person who never made me feel less than or different because of my sexuality. You always welcomed me and had a place for me at your beautiful Thanksgiving table. And I just wanted to say thank you for that."
Maybe it wasn't exactly as eloquent as that, but I told her most of what I wanted to tell her.

Conversations at 8508

"She has a messed up face. It's like . . . "

"Shannen Doherty."

"No."

"Melissa Joan Hart."
"No, but both of them are messed up like her . . . I was thinking of . . . 'I can be sexy, too, Dawson.'"

"Katie Holmes."
"Yes."

(I'm brewing up a family post--not to make Tennille's sister cry--but just cuz I know so many people wonder how things went. Came back from "vacation" to crazy work stuff. But it'll be up soon. In the meantime, enjoy the witty repartee from 8508.)

Anniversary

Still in lovely Ohio, but just a quick note--

I've been cigarette free for one year.

Go me!

Light flow days

Off to Ohio for a bit.
Yeah!
Watch out Cleve, here I come!

Might have time to post. Might not.

Jesus Christ

I'm awesome!

You know the Bible 88%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Rock down to electric avenue

Yikes!
Its been a while.
Sorry for that.

Keepin' this one pretty short and sweet. Heading out of town in a week. I'll try to post a few more before, but I've been so focused on saving gold for my epic flying mount . . . and on getting 75 badges (yeah, I nerded all over the place).

So a couple interested readers have been curious about what music I've been listening to lately.

Well, thanks to Thomas over at AM 180, I dicovered Wye Oak. I really like their sound. Good for a rainy day, and lord knows we get enough of those around here.

I also recently picked up Fabriclive 36 mixed by James Murphy and Pat Mahoney. Its a great mix with some choice old skool cuts as well as some nice contemporary tracks with a nostalgic feel. If you need disco, but like your music a bit more quantized and poundy, then you really can't go wrong with this mix.

Booka Shade has a new mix out on Studio K7!'s long-running DJ Kicks series. Now we're nowhere near the series' heyday of Kid Loco, Kruder & Dorfmeister, and Theivery Corporation, but that's not a bad thing. Booka brings their sound and are pushing their label's newer tracks, like Lopazz's "2 Fast 4 U" and they are able to find a nice balance between what Get Physical produces and what K7 brands.

The mix I just can't get enough of these days is Body Language vol. 5 by Chateau Flight. It culls electro basslines and transmutes them into noiz pop and nurave and back again, but the scorcher that puts the whole disc in place is Ceramic Hello's "Sampling the Blast Furnace." If you don't get splinters from tearing up the dancefloor after that track, then you're not listening to it loud enough.

The most disappointing mixes I've listened to lately are M.A.N.D.Y.'s Fabric 38 and Junior Boys' Body Language vol. 6. Both mixes have some killer tracks, but really what sinks them are the tracks the just don't fit. The Junior Boys disc is also marred with some crummy mixing (I do better with my crap program). M.A.N.D.Y.'s mix tries really hard to include so many sounds that it becomes mind-numbing around track ten and flatout aggrevating by track 15.
The Junior Boys fare a tad better mainly because their track selection until the last five tracks are phenomenal.
If you want a good M.A.N.D.Y. mix, grab their At the Controls album (which admittedly is more track than mix oriented, but still a better disc).
And the JB's, as much as I love them, should stick to producing their own brand of crooner meets synth-pop.

Review: Skull & Bones, (finally)

Remember when queer films were small and angry and weird--films like Pink Flamingos and Sins of the Fleshapoids? Yeah, well, I don't exactly remember that time, either, but I do know that somewhere along the way, queer ingenuity gave way to gay mediocrity.

I was pretty stoked when I heard about Hellbent. Then I saw it and was pretty let down with its cookie cutter plot, stereotypical characters, and plodding editing. There were no ideas in that film. Only a meth-head go-go boy could match its vapidity.

Then, last October I was tipped off by now-defunct QTA to the premiere of Skull & Bones which was timed just perfectly with my visit to Tennille and NYC. I went expecting a film on par with Hellbent, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a film with a guerrilla attitude and queer sensibilities. Sure, the production values were far below Hellbent, but the budget was significantly less. And, yes, some of the scenes could have been tightened by a better editor for maximum comedic payoff. But some great ideas and social commentary carry this film--as well as some sick jokes that, if you're like me, will have you in stitches. And one joke in particular that made me a little uneasy--and it takes a lot to make me even slightly uneasy.

The story is pretty simple--two gay dudes who are fed up with being cast aside by the Ivy League upper crust and who are obsessed with serial killers, decide to balance the scales by offing a few of the douchetards in Yale's Skull & Bones society. Its pretty simple for them to infiltrate the ranks--it only takes some liquor and blow before the secret society members are licking and blowing members. The killers fuck, castrate, murder, and zombify the hapless Ivy leaguers and end up with the docile, cock-hungry shell of a Skull & Bones member. As the film ends, their killing spree is still underway.

Skull & Bones is the type of independent film that there needs to be more of today--silly, energetic, gross, and most importantly addressing ideas at which the mainstream is not willing to look. Support truly independent film by dropping 20 bones on a copy for yourself--I did!

Oh shit!

Review of Skull & Bones later today or early tomorrow, I SWEAR!
In the meantime, watch this as many times as possible:

It's for you, it's for me, it's nose tea!

I love my neti pot. I recommend, if like me, you have sinus problems, allergy problems, or just breathing through the nose problems to invest a small amount of money in a neti pot. I do it at night when I get up and in the morning when I go to bed.

Better be good for frak's sake

I'm sure all the queer geek blogs 'round the 'sphere are buzzing about how excited they are for the new season of BSG.
There was a time when I would have been equally as ecstatic, but as they slowly sucked the life out of the show last season and flattened metaphors with their ham-fisted storytelling, my interest waned.
Actually, it more than waned. I lamented the fact that I had told so many people that it was a good show because all of that goodness was thrown out the air lock as the show turned to flashback episodes, inconsequential stories about peripheral characters, inconsequential stories about characters that only got one episode, and the biggest let down of all? The two-hour long TRIAL as season finale. It was snooze city and how the writers abandoned character! Both Katee Sackhoff and Jamie Bamber's limited acting chops were laid bare for all the world to see.

So, yeah, I'll tune in tonight. The season opener can't be nearly as good as last season's (the only really good thing about last season), but the first two years were so good and so nuanced and so prescient that I'll forgive the 3rd season, but they better make it good!

In other news, I will officially be back on Tuesday with the LONG OVERDUE review of Skull & Bones. And I'm going to try to do one feature per week for the rest of the year, normally out on Tuesdays with smaller updates when I have the chance/impetus.

Have a happy tomorrow forever

Just wanted to send a quick shoutout (isn't that what the kids say?) to Andrew!
Hope you have a painless move and a fruitful and fruity life in San Francisco!



Thanks to Bill and Derek for the pics!
(Why is my mouth always open in pictures? Oh yeah, for penises to go in!)

Tonight, tonight

Just a quick reminder that Scott Heim will be reading from his new novel We Disappear tonight at the Elliot Bay Book Company at 7:30pm.

Keith, maybe Risa, and I will be there. Would love to see you there. We'll be having cocktails and burgers beforehand at McCormick and Schmicks on First Avenue.

Hiatus

Today sucks.

Monday is Tennille's birthday. Be sure to drink green beer in her honor.

I'm taking some downtime. A week. Maybe two.

Review of Skull and Bones (finally) coming upon my return.

Pics from Scott's book tour, I'm sure.

In the meantime, download OKDJ12a

I call it 12a because I just beat matched. I was going to mix some, but it ended up on my device for listening purposes. Then the lazies got a hold of me.

Its a great workout mix. Really banging. Got a breather toward the end before the final stretch.

Um, can't remember all the tracks off the top of my head, but I know the following are on it, maybe in this order, but probably not:

Robin - Be Mine (Dusty Kid mix)

Circulate - Rex the Dog

Chicken Lips

Some amazingly sick Drama Society remix of a Tiefschwarz track

Alex Under

The Black Dog

Metro Area feat. Erland Oye

Armand van Helden - I Want Your Soul (TV Rock remix)

Francois K - The Road of Life

Obviously, there's some more, but I don't have the track list in front of me. I think I've been needing the big room sound to compensate for my lack of leaving the house. Fortunately, some of those urges will be quelled in late April and early May.

See you guys when I get back.

No one ever says, "I want to be a robot when I grow up"

Well, maybe some people do

Quick Politics

Hey, look! Its a regular old person who's had thoughts so very similar to mine.
[Article]

Dear Rental Market,

I've followed you around enough to know that this year and well into the next, you can expect your vacancies to grow and your prices to drop.

Our sluggish economy is partly to thank. So is all that new construction. I'm also guessing that a lot of those people who signed on for a condo in a recently converted apartment building are getting mad that all the other condos are vacant and for rent.

So its a renter's market. Please, don't tell me differently, I read Craigslist everyday.

So since things are in my favor and a certain guy and myself will most likely be looking for a place in the not-too-distant future, let's lay some ground rules.

First of all, anything north of 100th cannot be more than $1/sqft.

I'm talking to you, Galleria near North Seattle Community College. I don't care what your amenities are--no amount of amenities is going to justify living that close to Aurora, Northgate, and I-5. Sure, you're just $100 bucks above my standard, but that's $1200/year, and you clearly are not worth it.

Any sort of home that has been converted into a du/tri/quadplex--your rent should be 33% lower than your competition. The home is obviously old. The other tenants, no matter how congenial, will invariably be loud--whether they are clomping above you, getting it on next to you, or showering beneath you.

This place has been listed for well over two months and the price keeps dropping. Based on its location and the fact that its a quadplex, I expect to see its price drop to around $925/mo before it gets some renters, but they could even hold out til $875 or so. The original asking price for it? $1125--haha!!!

Anything in West Seattle, unless on Alki beach, should be roughly $200 cheaper than its city counterpart. Crossing that bridge sucks, and every West Seattle resident knows it.

Lake City is not hip. If someone has to live in Lake City, they should be paying next to nothing, and getting a ton--exercise room, pool, additional storage, free internet, and incentives to move in.

Westlake is not better than Eastlake, so reign in those prices. Places like the Neptune think that just because they are new and offer a rooftop garden, cardio center and media room, they can charge top dollar. Compare those prices with a place like Illumina which is just a stone's throw across the water--and closer to Whole Foods I might add. Which prices look good to you?

So, all that being said, most of all, I want a place that I can call home for a few years--until Phil finishes school and gets a job he enjoys and we can afford to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a mortgage.

So if for some reason you see a place, preferably in the Crown Hill, Whittier Heights, Ballard, Phinney Ridge, Fremont, Wallingford, Greenlake, Greenwood area, that's around say $975 let me know, m'kay?

And it might be nice if that place allows dogs.

I love you more each day,

Tim Gunn! (And you, too, baby!)

But HOLY FREAKING CRAP! I've always been enamoured of Mr. Gunn, but this video clip has to be like the cutest thing I've seen in a while!

I love at the end when Heidi is relentlessly tickling Tim and he's giggling like a school girl!!!!!

(And the walk off is good, too.)

Stuff and other stuff

Ok, its time for one of those catchall posts--

First off, if you didn't notice, the countdown timer on the right sidebar now says, "In Stores Now" for Scott Heim's trippy, dark family affair We Disappear.
I got my copy just over a week ago. I've been reading it on the bus on the way to work. If you know me, you know that it takes just the right author or just the right mood to compel me to pick up a book. I enjoyed the opening of the book, but now I'm in the meat of it--just started chapter 5--and I find myself putting it down occasionally and just processing.
The basic story is a guy goes home to visit his mother with cancer. She has a preoccupation/obsession with missing children, and he has a meth addiction.
What the story is about for me, so far, is how we can hold up pictures of ourselves as children and try to write the story of how we have become who we have become. And the part of that that is hard is that the child has disappeared and the people who remember the child remember him differently or want to keep him as their own. The whole time these ideas are being addressed, they're couched in sort of paranoid meth addicts' fever dream, and also in the dementia brought on by treatment for cancer.
As dark as I'm making it seem, though, it is not without humility and humor. For example, one passage has the narrator describing vapor trails across the Kansas sky and how they change from white to pink to red with the setting sun. The description becomes more and more lavish until the trails are the claw marks of an angel trying to escape heaven. Then, a couple paragraphs later, he makes fun of his outlandish descriptors for a tomato--and inevitably comes back to just referring to it as a tomato.
So, I'm not done with the book yet, but I wanted to remind you to go out and get your copy today. Scott will be reading at the Elliot Bay Book Company on March 20th.

He just started his tour--check to see if he'll be reading near you!
He has also graciously agreed to answer a couple questions from me for this ol' site! Yippie!

Also, I wanted to point you to a new weekly at Havana. TJ Gorton aka American Athlete has a new weekly there. It should be tons of fun. Its disco based and the name of it is "Studio".
Click the picture for more info.

Last night was the innaugural night and I would have let you know about it sooner, but I've been slacking in my blog duties.
If you're not familiar with Havana--its up on the hill. Kiki has a Thursday night there that is quite a bit of fun. The place can be too self-conscious and the layout isn't that great, but a good time can be had.


Speaking of music-y stuff, local act The Fascination Movement, half of whom I read regularly at Red Room NW, recently signed to Aube records and put out their first release which features vocals from one of my all time favorites, Marc Almond. The release actually came out a while ago, but like I said, I've been slacking in my blog reading lately. Anyway, great track. Dig the Peter Hook-y bassline and, of course, those vocals.

Oh, and Matt bought me a ticket to Sasha and Digweed! (Thanks, Matt!) April 22nd at the Showbox SoDo (aka best soundsystem in town)

And I'm caving and buying a ticket for Ellen Allien and Sascha Funke. May 1st @ Chop Suey for Broken Disco

Super

More reasons why Obama scares me:

Hagle.

NAFTA.

Race baiting the superdelegates.

Farrakhan.

Oh, and his poor judgement and his inability/unwillingness to use his positions of power to affect change.

Don't get me wrong, Hillary scares me, too. But I don't see her straddling the center trying to make everyone happy--and in doing so, using racism, homophobia and anti-semitism in her campaign.

Decisions

I'm torn.
Do I go with the bracers that have +7 Mp5 and a socket or the bracers with Spell Crit and more stamina?
Either way, I'm still the baddest ass paladin in the guild.

Past time

When I heard about the death of Lawrence King, I thought that everybody had heard about it; yet, when I spoke to someone about a shooting at a school, they immediately thought I was talking about NIU.
In case you weren't aware of this tragedy, he's a six minute piece from the first mainstream source to really address what happened.

Hits keep on comin'

Preach on sister

And seriously, don't you want four years of Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton as opposed to four years of Fred Armisen as Barack Obama?

However, I do like how prObamans are railing against Armisen and calling his impersonation unfunny, etc. He had the facial tics down and his continual looking down on Hillary was spot-on. Who cares if when he opens his mouth he blows the impersonation? (Slow down more, wait for applause more.) The words he was given to speak were actually pretty funny--and if I find a clip of that, I'll put it up, too.

Stop by on your way home

Thank gawd for blawgs.



Jason alerted me to the Great Performances showing of my second favorite musical, "Company."



I've posted about the show and this production in particular.

Apparently the show aired tonight and I totally missed it.



That's ok, though, because its coming back on Friday at 2 in the morning.



Guess what you get to watch this weekend, honey?

Biscuits, gravy, and cruising

The newest cruisey spot in my neighborhood on Saturday afternoons is clearly the Original Pancake House.

Go for the carbs, stay for the eye candy.

Seriously, I thought I was the requisite homo up on Crown Hill. Earl and Bucko get Ballard, I'm just north of 85th, so I'm Crown Hill. Turns out there's lots of 'mos amblin' around Crown Hill. At least six, not including servers, were making eyes at Phil, Matt, Bird, and myself on their way to the bathroom. Matt and Bird were straight-ly oblivious, but I had to put arm around my man's shoulder to mark my territory.

So back to politics because that stuff is always on my mind.

My mother, who would have voted for John Edwards for President, is backing John McCain--but only if Barack Obama runs. If the vote comes to Clinton and McCain, my mother will skip her first election in a very long time.

My mother is one of those women who holds Hillary up and pastes stories onto her as she sees fit or as suit her political needs. She is worried, she says, about just who Hillary has for advisors and who she would choose to fill her cabinet.

Then I asked my mom the tough questions--can you name the positions in the presidents' cabinet and who currently fills them?

Silence.

Well, she has faith in her president, and that is what really matters.



My mother and faith. If wonder if she recognizes how restricted and small her life has become because of her faith.

Faith in the president.

Faith in the south beach diet.

Faith in Jesus.

Now, back to my complete disillusionment with the DNC. Change is just sloganeering and Clinton is just beaten down.

Sara Whitman over at the Huffington Post puts it best.

The message of hate is getting through to our kids, loud and clear. It's okay to
kill someone who freaks you out because they don't fit a gender role to your
liking.
That is, if they haven't killed themselves.
Ten years old and
full of so much shame he hung himself. Is anyone listening?
In my LGBT
community, we argue about who is more pro LGBT rights, Obama or Clinton.
It's been days since Lawrence King was shot dead. Neither candidate has
issued a statement or said a word. The national media has done a complete pass
on the story.
Both candidates make me sick. Don't worry. I get the message,
loud and clear.
Just one more dead faggot.

American politics while I am alive will always be about straight men.

Actionable

So I was lambasted by some people I know and love for my views regarding a certain junior senator and his actoins. They called my words a character attack (just for saying that he hates the environment). Which is fine, really. My views are mine and just because I don't buy into the audacity of hope, I am pariah among my contemporaries. And if sloganeering and posturing gets people who would otherwise never be involved in politics to show up to a caucus, then truly we are witnessing a great rebirth of democracy.

Now, back to that guy. The one who shakes your hand and takes your money, but won't be seen in a picture with you. The one who defines marriage as between a man and a woman. The one who hires anti-gay bigots to rile the religious south, but takes huge payouts from gay constituents. Yeah, back to him.

How's his voting record?

Thanks, Adam.

By the by, just finished an amazing one-two punch at social conservatives:

American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America

and

Conservatives Without Conscience

Both are highly recommended.

My (non-pornographic) dvd collection, not including televsion shows

91 titles

From All that Heaven Allows to A Zed and Two Naughts
Keep the River on Your Right, Last House on the Left
Blue Sunshine, Sunshine
Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, INLAND EMPIRE
Videodrome, Eastern Promises
The Royal Tennenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
CQ, Lost in Translation
Disco Godfather, Disco - Spinning the Story
Dottie Gets Spanked, Velvet Goldmine

Most Pretentious:
tie - The Collected Short Films of Maya Deren, The Collected Short Films of Jan Svankmejer

Least Pretentious:
Dragon Wars

Commentary:
There are many holes in my dvd collection, including many of my favorite films. I own a lot of movies I have only seen once. I have purchased many mediocre movies but find myself purchasing less now that I can send movies to my Tivo from Amazon.

We Disappear On Tour

Scott Heim will be touring for his newest novel We Disappear.
He'll be reading at the Elliot Bay Book Store on Thursday, March 20th at 7:30PM.

Here's a list of tour dates on his Facebook page.

And here's a little promotional video that his publishers helped him make.

Take your feel-goodery and shove it

So, I don't know if I've made it clear on here, but I don't like Barack Obama.

I don't like how he continually distances himself from the gay community, then tries to make it up by mentioning us on MLK Jr. Day. Plus, one of his spokesman is an anti-gay bigot. Way to pick 'em Barack!

I don't like that he is socially conservative.

His dust-up with my future ex-husband Gavin Newsom shows me exactly the type of politics he's playing--the kind that says, "I'll take your money, I just don't respect you."

And he's taking a lot of the gays' money.

Then, he hates the environment. I know, what you're thinking, he got a 97% positive review from some environmental agency that I can't source right now. Big whoop! His dedication to liquified coal is diametrically opposed to his energy plan. (But secretly what its really about is big business and if you didn't know it, Obama loves getting in on that noiz.)

And speaking of his energy plan. What a joke! Does he even have people who look at budgets construct his plans? There is no way Mr. Obama plans on balancing the budget. Four more years! (Of fiscal irresponsibility.)

So now we get to the real-deal, deal-breakers for me.

His health care plan is the sux. National Health Insurance Exchange? That idea is so awesome! It works so well in Massachusetts. That's why babies don't die in Boston, because everyone is insured. And I'd just like to bring up budget again--where the crap is he getting all this money? If Barack is actually able to accomplish what he says he can, we are looking at a future falling deeper and deeper into debt.

Now, let's talk war. Bring the troops home immediately, one or two brigades at a time. Super. Force a new constitution. Fine. Words, words. If he is as persuasive as he was with his arguments against the war, then Iraq will never have a new constitution. Hey, at least our troops will be home.

Now, seriously, go to the two sites.

Read what each has to say.

Tell me which one just sounds like pipe dreams and wishful thinking and which one sounds like they actually have a tangible plan.

Bonaroo '08

Reasons to go . . .
Uh . . .
Nope,
Huh-uh,
No,
Gross,
As-if,

Ok, maybe Brian Posehn.

Conversations at 8508

"What number Rambo is this?"
"Four."
"Wasn't the first one called 'First Blood'?"
"Yes."
"When did they just start calling them Rambo?"
"Technically the third installment, which was Rambo 3."
"What was number 2 called?"
"Rambo: First Blood Part 2."
"Wouldn't that make it 'Second Blood'? So shouldn't this one be 'Fourth Blood'?"
"..."

Pool party

Just a quick note -

If you're not doing anything this weekend, please stop by Temple Billiards in Pioneer Square tomorrow for a billiards tournament. The proceeds raised will go to help Risa's step-brother pay for his leukemia treatment.
This, I believe, is Patrick's second time dealing with the disease. The medical bills are surely outrageously expensive. Every bit donated will help lessen his burden.
So come out for a good time!!!
In case the image below isn't loading, Temple Billiards is located at 126 S. Jackson

Hope to see you there!