Tuesday Night Beau

Via M84BATE

Feist: The Bad in Each Other

So far, this is probably my favorite song on the new album, which really isn't saying much since my old harddrive that contained my iTunes died and is at a techie friend's house being (hopefully) resuscitated.

Thank you, AfterElton for pointing the new vid out to me. :)

It Lives: Hammer Films

I'm very excited about this Friday's "The Woman in Black," though as with most movies I tend to have to wait til their DVD release. But I'm especially excited that this is finally Hammer Films' (cross your fingers) successful rebirth. (And doesn't Daniel Radcliffe look so sexy in his Edwardian fit?)

Image and quote from NYT

The director John Carpenter has said that seeing “The Curse of Frankenstein,” the first gothic hit by Hammer Film Productions, as a kid transformed him. Another esteemed veteran of the genre, Joe Dante, said the same movie lived up to its tag line promise to “haunt you forever.” And Martin Scorsese has described an obscure sequel, “Frankenstein Created Woman,” as “close to something sublime.”

What makes the enduring reputation of Hammer, the tiny British fantasy factory, even more impressive is that the company all but disappeared right as the horror genre boomed. Hammer struggled financially through much of the 1970s, ceasing production by the end of the decade. What’s more surprising perhaps is that since then reviving Hammer, built on sequels and remakes, has proven far more difficult than reanimating Frankenstein’s monster.

Damn, O'Brien!

Good on you, hiding all your junk!

Via AfterElton

And isn't Thomas just so cute...when he's not being evil!

I Can't Help Myself

Via AfterElton - click over to see the lovely birthday boy, Wilmer Valderrama.

Also I'm about to speak blasphemy: if you click over and scroll down, I think Chris Colfer is way cuter in this set of pictures than Darren Criss. Darren's much too pale...though I blame the photograph more than Criss.

Tuesday Beau

Via LifeLube

Lord, he's perfect...and which feet (someone else's, not his) up around his ears. Yum.

A Little Late Night Beau

Or as Sozo says: Available: Apply Within

Miss Piggy: Yeah Yeah

If they take what I say seriously, they have a real big problem!

Good Read: The Tripod Trilogy

Over the course of the past month I've been reading John Christopher's Tripod Trilogy. Well, now, improperly named Tripod Trilogy because in the 80s, he produced a prequel, When the Tripods Came, which I'm about 2/3 through.

I remember reading The White Mountains (book 1) as a kid, though I don't remember if I'd ever actually read the whole thing: I do recall some of The City of Gold and Lead (book 2) but that may be from the snatches of the BBC miniseries that somehow would occasionally appear on PBS.

As with most things of my youth, I prefer the original covers. Both the The City of Gold and Lead and The Pool of Fire I had to read 35th anniversary editions and they just didn't have the same feel as their original late 60s "Fantastic Planet"-esque covers.

Thankfully we still had a copy of the original White Mountains.

Will lives in the small village of Wherton in England. Though Wikipedia says life is very much like the Middle Ages, I never really get that feeling. It seems much more like some sort of country manor life - possibly a la Jane Austen. The most technologically advanced piece of machinery owned in the village is a watch, owned by Will's father.

Will is 13, and his "Capping Day" is looming on the horizon. On "Capping Day" a Tripod will come to the village and all the 13 year olds will be taken up into the belly of this strange machine, later to be returned, their heads shaved and a metal cap interwoven into the flesh of the skull. Sometimes these caps cause their humans to go crazy, and these men and women (more often men because this is a very male-centered story) are called Vagrants.

Soon, after a "Capping Day" in which Will sees his best friend and cousin Jack taken up and returned capped (think Stepford Wives), a vagrant calling himself Ozymandias comes into Wherton and he and Will begin to get to know each other. Soon it becomes clear that Ozy is not a Vagrant, but a free man who travels the country looking for young men who are questioning the purpose of the capping.

Thus, begins Will's and Henry's (another cousin) journey to the White Mountains where free men live and work to overthrow the Tripods. They leave England and make it to France where they meet Beanpole (Jean-Paul), travel through an obliterated Paris, live for a time in a castle and eventually make it (with some very harrowing escapes) to the safety of the mountains.

The City of Gold and Lead focuses on the attempt of the free men of the White Mountains to infiltrate one of the cities of the Tripods. To this end, the young men train for an Olympics given in Germany. The winners of said games will be taken to a nearby city of the Tripods as their award. On this journey Henry is left behind, and Will, Beanpole and Fritz make it to the Olympics. Beanpole loses, while both Will and Fritz make it.

Soon after they and other winners are taken up into Tripods and taken to the City of Gold and Lead, a domed city of pyramids and poisonous air. The human inhabitants - all teenage boys - wear basically a loincloth and a protective helmet so that they can breath. Also the gravity inside the city is many times stronger than outside, for the Masters - huge, gross aliens who've been in control of the Earth for many hundreds of years - come from a planet with greater center of gravity. Many of the humans crumple to floor when they first get there. The human boys are then divied out to Their Masters.

Will is lucky in that his Master is kinder than most - eventually the Master will consider Will to be a pet, a faithful friend, his dog. However, Fritz's Master beats him on a whim.

(Can this get any gayer?)

Eventually Will and Fritz pass information back and forth, information which Will writes down in the margins of a book his Master allows him to take into his quarters. Also the Master in what appears to be a guilty mood talks to Will, his "friend" about the upcoming plans for the planet and for mankind. It seems that within 4 years, another ship of Masters will arrive, carrying a generator that will pump the atmosphere full of the Masters' air, killing all living things.

This, too, Will records in his book. But one night when the Master sends Will on an errand - in an attempt to go into Will's quarters and lavish him with a surprise - the Master finds this book and confronts Will about it on his return. In the rush of the moment, Will strikes his Master in a soft spot between mouth and nose, killing it.

It is now up to Will with Fritz's help, to escape the city.

The Pool of Fire picks up where we left off. At the end of The City of Gold and Lead, Will makes it out through the river that runs through the City and he is found by Beanpole who had been staking out the joint for quite a while. Will and Beanpole stay for a bit longer, hoping that Fritz will show. When he does not, they head back for The White Mountains, to find that their comrades have moved on to another hideout. Guards however find the two boys and take them to their new sanctuary.

Will recounts what he learned and over the Masters' plans. The free men are now sent into overdrive. Some, including Will, are sent out to recruit those who do not wish to be capped. While, others including Beanpole are sent to a secret military and scientific lab in an effort to capture a Tripod and a Master.

Will they succeed? Can they stop the destruction of all life on Earth except for the vile Masters?

Got a couple of days...yeah, go check out the books and find out!

So, Saturday Night there was a Stripper

I went Saturday night to Crossings with a friend. It was a fundraiser to send a Mr. Sam Clemons to IML, so I hope he made enough. There were scary drag queens and one stripper. I'd seen him before and fell totally in love/lust/whatever the first time. So it was nice to see him again.



What struck me even more (after slipping him a fiver in the back of his jockstrap and kissing his cheek) was how nice he was. I complimented him. Told him he had the body I'd always dreamed of having. And I told him I wanted to feature him on my blog. He told me his name - though it was extremely loud in the bar - and told me he was on Facebook though I've yet to find him.



But here are two of the pictures I took of him, and I was happy that though blurry, they turned out better than I thought they would.



This picture is from Crossings Facebook page and is from last September. Jeffrey (name?) is the guy on the right in the yellow High Tech jock.

Monday Beau

Via Sozo's Blog

Weekend Beau

Via StudFarm

I Love This!

Via Back2Stonewall:

Madison, Wisconsin’s Colton Boettcher has directed, produced, and editied one of the best “It Get’s Better” videos to come down the pipe in a long

With the help of his friends at Bondeul High School, Colton has turned Lady Gaga’s song “Hair” into an amazing and inspirational video to LGBT youth, from LGBT and LGBT/Straight supportive youth.

Beau: Grant Gustin

OK, so, yeessss, during my five-hour GLEE marathon, I almost hyperventilated when my friend said that Blaine cheated on Kurt with Sebastian, AND I almost beat said friend into a bloody pulp when I found out he lied. Mr. Lying-Liar-McLiarson!

But to some degree, I like Sebastian. Mostly because of the scene in which Kurt confronts Sebastian (You smell like Craigslist! Damn you FOX! I can't find the video!)

Or possibly, I kinda wish I could be Sebastian - handsome, sexy, cocky, confidant...and I love the Warbler's suits...or maybe I just wanna fuck Blaine.

But, I digress. Grant is a hottie.

Hell hath no fury like a fanbase scorned.

Hey Girl.

Via Hey Girl, It's Rachel Maddow
LOL

Now, I wanna find the Ryan Gosling one too. :)

Eat Your Vegetables!

Queer Field Remastered Edition from Honza Hilfed on Vimeo.

Via Kenneth in the (212)

Tweet of the Day

So true.

Via AfterElton where you can also see Kylie's new video and Stephen Colbert's interview with Maurice Sendak.

And for good measure, here is AfterElton's post on the upcoming Michael Jackson GLEE episode.

This Is SICK

However, Brown was immediately ejected for trash-talking. LOL

But the Cowboys win anyway.

Friday Beau

Via M84BATE

LOL: Oh, Fidel!

Via Bill in Exile:

"The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been seen."

Cuban President Fidel Castro on the goat rodeo that is the group of GOP candidates running for the U.S. presidency.

Please, OH, Please...

...can we clone Matthew Mitcham? WITH the accent, thank you!

Mitcham tweeted a pic of him and his new puppy Louis, who according to AfterElton likes to sleep in the shower.

I wanna sleep in Mitcham's shower...grumble grumble

Crazy But True, Genealogy Edition

John Tyler was the 10th President of the United States (and the first Vice President to be elevated to POTUS). He was born in 1790 and has 2 living grandchildren.

At the age of 63, Tyler's second wife gave birth to their son Lyon Gardiner Tyler. (The second Mrs. Tyler would give birth to two more children afterwards.)

Lyon Gardiner Tyler would have sons at the age of 71 and 75, respectively Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., born 1924, and Harrison Ruffin Tyler, born 1928.

And I thought it was hard enough to find someone living whose grandfather served in the Civil War.

Dustin Lance Black

My heart and mind go out to Dustin Lance Black who lost his brother, his protector, Marcus to cancer this weekend. Don't read unless you want to be weepy. :(

Via AfterElton

Thursday Beau

Via Baxter's Briefs

For Your Late Night Viewing...

(Dis?)Pleasure...James Franco's The Feast of Stephen

Happy Hump Day + Pug

Via Daventry Blue

Drunk Grindr

These guys are so fucking cute!

Via WickedGayBlog

Late Night Remonstrance

Via narcissing: porn & fashion

All Bow Before the Power of St. Etienne!

I said...NOW!

Via OMGblog

Exciting news from the world of pop music: British group Saint Etienne announced today that they are preparing to release their first album of new material in seven years. Its lead single, "Tonight," is out March 5 and is a classic dance-pop number produced by Kylie/Pet Shop Boys collaborator Tim Powell...

I'll drink to that. Listen to "Tonight" below and download it free via the band's website (email sign-up required).

UPDATE: I'm about to begin my third listen of Tonight...J'adore!

Nikky Finney: Heart, Truth and Justice

“Yes, I wanted to write about beautiful things, but I also wanted to hand something over to the reader that was more than beautiful words, something that might have the power and presence to make them stronger, better and wiser. I did not want to be the writer who was simply waiting for applause.”

Image and quote from Lambda Literary

Click over and read the interview with my teacher and my hero.

Thanks, Tim.

Repost: Christianity vs. Islam, in a nutshell

Via Dangerous Minds

Tuesday Beau

Via Super Underwear Perverts

The Cure for Homophobia

Via Back2Stonewall

Monday Night Beau

Via Boys Are Us 2

This picture made me ache.

I recently met someone who happened to be biracial - at first I thought he might be Latino or possibly Middle Eastern, but I learned that his father was African American and his mother was white.

We hit it off very well: we both loved singing, playing piano, karaoke, and we could talk and talk and talk, but it became clear that certain things would not work out between us: I'm trying to quit drinking while he likes to drink nightly.

But still...this picture made me ache.

Bless Her Heart

While I agree with quite a bit of Unicorn Booty's commentary, I disagree that - in its context - Kylie's entire body of work before 2000 is awful.

However, it does seem like a good timeline and gauge of the pop music that was being created during that period. For example, when I saw the video for 1995's "Where Is the Feeling?" my first thought was "When did Madonna's Erotica come out?"

(Thankfully starting with 1990, I wanted to stab my eyes out much less. I'm suprised I like Kylie at all after having "Locomotion" thrust upon me all my childhood.)

But "Where Is the Feeling?" was immediately followed by the Nick Cave and the Bad Seed's "Where the Wild Roses Grow" featuring Kylie which is an amazing song, though I didn't know she was in it. This was an album that my Alabama boyfriend introduced me to on a mix tape.

I think there was definite improvement from the 80s to the 90s and definitely starting with Nick Cave even more improvement.

But I agree, it's amazing that the woman who brought us "Locomotion" and 1992 "Celebration" also brought us "Can't Get You Out of My Head," "Get Outta My Way" and "I Believe in One."

One last thing...this might be totally wrong, but I feel like with the album "Where the Wild Roses Grow," there is an assuredness that is missing in most of her earlier videos.

Wait a minute...I just got to the videos for X...maybe not.

Teamwork Beau

Via Hot As Fuck Blog

I'm Not Quite Sure How I Feel About This

I have admired Cynthia Nixon ever since she came out, and partly I get her point (i.e. not letting bigots define the terms of the debate) but I also understand why many people are upset by this...

Via World of Wonder

“I gave a speech recently, an empowerment speech to a gay audience, and it included the line ‘I’ve been straight and I’ve been gay, and gay is better.’ And they tried to get me to change it, because they said it implies that homosexuality can be a choice. And for me, it is a choice. I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me. A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it’s a choice, then we could opt out. I say it doesn’t matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not. As you can tell, I am very annoyed about this issue. Why can’t it be a choice? Why is that any less legitimate? It seems we’re just ceding this point to bigots who are demanding it, and I don’t think that they should define the terms of the debate. I also feel like people think I was walking around in a cloud and didn’t realize I was gay, which I find really offensive. I find it offensive to me, but I also find it offensive to all the men I’ve been out with.”

I also know that with my understanding of both gender studies and feminism that to some degree we should be able to choose whom we love. I imagine that there is a particular percentage of the population that being gay could be a choice - and I'm not simple meaning people who consider themselves bisexual or possibly Sophie B. Hawkins.

But still...

I still admire Ms. Nixon, but I think her comments given the current state of politics, the current state of gay people in the world, and the current state of gay teens in the US, I think her comments are ill-timed and quite thoughtless.

Something to Remember...

...on our way to Marriage Equality: Loving vs. Virginia.

Classical Music as a Roller Coaster

ZKO Rollercoaster // GREAT EMOTIONS from virtual republic on Vimeo.

Via BoingBoing

This great short film by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra illustrates the intensity behind a lot of classical pieces by turning the first violin part on the fourth movement of Ferdinand Ries’ second symphony into a looping, whirling roller coaster ride.

RIP Etta

Etta James Dies at 73

Repost: Nevermore?

Via NPR's news blog the two-way:

For decades, until 2010, someone appeared at Edgar Allan Poe's grave site in Baltimore before dawn on Jan. 19 — his birthday.

The mysterious visitor, who was never identified, would leave behind three roses and a half-filled bottle of cognac as a tribute to the man who wrote The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher and other classic poems and tales.

Last night, there was no visit.

So, as the Baltimore Sun tells us, early today:

"A tired Jeff Jerome, curator of the city's Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, 'officially' pronounced the Poe-toasting tradition over. Having spent the night inside Westminster Hall [on the burial grounds], awaiting the toaster's arrival, Jerome declared that the furtive stranger's poignant tribute would be left nevermore."

What happened to the toaster? Who was it? That all sounds like a good mystery to explore.

Beau: Michael Fassbinder

Image via NPR

Though I'm hot for Arpad, THIS is probably the prettiest pic I've seen online so far today - well, that didn't involve a naked, hard blonde twink.

I wonder: since he plays a sex addict does he have sex with anyone/everyone? Is there any man-on-man in the movie?

Beau: Arpad Will You Marry Me

Via Kenneth in the 212

Images of fucking gorgeously beautiful daddy (MY DADDY) Arpad Miklos are all over the net this morning from his starring role in the new Perfume Genius video "Hood."

Lawd, I need to go masturbate NOW.

Also, if you click over Kenneth says that Arpad is also a "hooker." Yup, I'm gonna start saving.

AAAAGGGGHHHH FASTER PUSSYCAT KILL! KILL!

Via Dangerous Minds

Watch it in its glorious entirety!

It's Nice to See People Are Paying Attention

Via Daily Kos

A new CBS/NYTimes poll shows that 60% of people think that President Obama IS trying to work with Republicans in Congress while 67% think that the Republicans aren't returning the favor.

Fuck you, Mitch!

That's the First Smart Thing You've Done

Molly Ivins would be proud of you, Rick Good Hair Perry. You're about to do something actually good, something smart...

Your dropping out of the race and planning to make the announcement tonight before the South Carolina debate.

Woot!

Via OMGblog

It Ain't Over

Via BoingBoing:

House Judiciary Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) has vowed to resume his markup hearings in February.

GOP Bullshit, or...

...how very liberal Kentucky Democrat Kathy Stein will lose her Kentucky senate seat because the GOP is full of douches.

Via Kentucky.com:

A Democrat from far Western Kentucky will soon represent downtown Lexington in the state Senate under a redistricting plan approved by the Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday.

Under the plan, which is expected to become law within a few days, Democratic Sen. Kathy Stein of Lexington will be out of office at year's end. Statewide, 10 senators will be placed in districts with other incumbent lawmakers.

The Senate's passage of House Bill 1 on a 22-14 vote moves Stein's Senate district to northeastern Kentucky. Stein, whose four-year term ends this year, would have to move to the new district in order to seek re-election in 2012...

She called the Senate's actions "petty" and said she is considering legal action to stop the proposed plan.

"You just have to laugh sometimes to keep from crying," Stein said Wednesday during debate on the Senate floor.

Stein, a lawyer who was first elected to the House in 1997 and later the Senate in 2009, has been an outspoken critic of the Republican Senate majority and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville.

Stein said she did not learn of the move until 1:30 p.m. Thursday while watching the Senate State and Local Government Committee meeting on TV in her legislative office.

Stein had filed about two weeks ago to seek re-election in the 13th, but that is not possible under the new Senate map...

Senate State and Local Government Chairman Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said moving Stein out of Fayette County was not political retaliation. The move was necessary to redraw Senate district lines to reflect the state's shifting population, he said.

His committee approved the plan a few hours before the full Senate took it up.

Thayer did not answer a reporter when asked if Williams had ordered that Stein's district be moved because of a vendetta. Stein said she was glad that Thayer at least did not lie. Williams later said he did not direct Thayer to move Stein's district.

Several Democrats blasted the Senate GOP redistricting plan during debate.

I call bullshit on the whole thing. I would say that both Thayer and (especially) Williams should be ashamed but after living in Kentucky I know that neither Senator have ANY shame.

Love this

Via AfterElton

I admit...I'm not a big Neil Patrick Harris fan. I avoided Doogie Houser like the plague as a child. But he IS growing on me.

Or possibly it's that lovely husband of his...yum...

Thursday Beau

Via Dexx

End Piracy, Not Liberty

Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.

Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!

Please don't take away my porn!

Happy Hump Day

Via My focal vocabulary

Last Night I BECAME...

...a true Gleek.

Before I'd been a hypothetical I love Kurt I love Blaine kinda Gleek. But yesterday I watched 5 hours of Glee, and though I will never actually be able to watch it LIVE - so to speak - I have now fully been assimilated.

Click here for the fabulous Rumour Has It - Someone Like You Mash Up!

Let's Try Defying Gravity

Via AfterElton

I'm Sorry

Hello, my friends. After talking some with quite a few folks, I decided to not delete the blog...because honestly, I need you guys now more than ever.

So bear with me, and we'll eventually get hopping.

(And if you also follow the blog Exploding Doughnuts you might drop in on him too.

Though I'm terrified that I'm making a mistake (well several...boy has 2012 been the year/month/couple of weeks for mistakes), I've decided that Dean and I should simply be friends, and we are both hurting.

Take care.

Got My Hair-Did

I haven't had the opportunity to update the blog lately. And because of the weather on Monday I wasn't able to plan out some posts for the week. But here I am with a new hairdo. I gotta let the top grow out some and the chops, and hopefully I'll be back up and a little more consistent next week.