History repeating itself?

Three years ago this week that bitch Katrina flooded New Orleans and demonstrated how weak our current administration really is in disaster preparedness. Now, here comes Gustav. If he continues his lumber northwest, he show what we have, or have not learned in the past three years. Are we ready? That remains to be seen.

I have not been to New Orleans in 20 years. But a recently my job includes duties in the state of Louisiana, so the impacts of the 'canes are even more relevant to me now. As a native Californian and a resident of the Bay Area, I am not accustomed to dealing with routine, but intense, weather patterns. Sure I have lived through my share of earthquakes and a few rainstorms, but have never experienced the immense energy of a hurricane. The only weather I have had to endure in the last 6 months has been this annoying fog. So I have no expertise on the subject - I am just a spectator watching it unfold on CNN and the Weather Channel. I have no idea what evacuating is like. I wish everyone well.

Good luck to New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast. There are those who are there for Southern Decadence. Finish the hurricane and get the hell out before the real one hits.

Californication indeed

The hottest guy in sci-fi, David Duchovny, is in rehab for sex addiction. Damn.

Agent Mulder of the X-Files checked himself in to a some sort of facility which offers treatment for sex addiction. Not to diminish the critical nature of addiction nor to make light of it, but I find it somewhat stimulating that such a hot man as Duchovny find himself in treatment for too much penis play. With irony only Hollywood can provide, David's character on Showtime's Californiacation is a sex starved struggling writer. Even so, maybe he is just hard wired like so many men to be uber-friendly (i.e. slutty). It's not to take away from the love of a partner, but the "cruise" (as we 'mos like to call it) provides a hormone rush. But clearly there needs to be a balance and obviously it became an obstacle in his life warranting treatment. I wish him the best of luck.

Interesting quote from his ex-wife actress Tea Leoni: "Men are like bulls," she continued. "They gotta get the new cow. Maybe you've got to get the bull after he's had a lot of cows, so you might just be the last new one."

Rocky Mountain High

Did you watch it?

Barack Obama gave quite possibly one of the finest speeches in contemporary political history at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. His words were stirring and more pro-American than any of the bullshit we have been fed ovder the past 8 years from the current White House factory. I am glad he was blunt against his opponent without being nasty, which at one point, praised his military service. In spite of such, if this country really wants to look forward, Barack is the man. Get out and vote.

Clusterfuck

Here is a pic of air traffic movements from today. Mindboggling how many planes are in the sky at one time. The system is also quite fragile, as today an electronic communication failure prompted delays across the nation.

Yay!!

Today Sam and I have been together for 7 fantastical months!! Hooray for us!

Down with Tuesdays

What is it about Tuesdays? I hate them. My least favorite day of the week, even more despised than Mondays. They are that part of the work week hill that is the steepest I reckon. Ugh. Here we go.

Insomniac

Today is Monday, August 25, 2008 and I woke up at 3:30AM. Not that groggy, ugh it's Monday type of wake-up; rather that I'm on zulu time zone and eyes-open, hyper-alert type of wake-up.

Ugh.

I hate not getting my required 8-hours of sleep, especially on a so-called school night. I don't think I'm preoccupied or stressed although I am juggling some personal projects which have been consuming lately. Even so, I've never not slept because of internalized chaos. The boy sleeping beside me didn't keep me up either, in spite of his occasional snoring.

So here I am now, at a few minutes before 5:00AM. I would normally have another hour of sleep left but instead I am on my second cup of coffee even more alert than before.

It's going to be a long day.

What happened to VH!?

This morning while making love to my coffee, I flipped on VH1. There on the screen was I Love Money where people named "Toastee", "Real", "Bootz" and "White Boy" screamed and flexed for some purpose that still eludes me. The obvious would be for money (hence the name of the show), but there wasn't any mention of it in the vapid dialogue I watched. Up next? The Cho Show. Now I won't be critical as I love Margaret. Her show is a riot but unfortunately she is plopped in the middle of VH1's campy line up.

After our favorite Korean is New York Goes To Hollywood (actual quote: "What do you know about Japanese Culture?" New York: "Well, I love Thai food.") followed by Glam God with Vivica A. Fox, then Brooke Knows Best. Essentially, one tragic woman making a fool of herself after another for our amusement and like a bloody train wreck, I am hooked.

Does anybody remember when VH1 played music? Now we can say the same of the other music channel, but once upon a time, VH1 showed the vids for those who outgrew the poppy shit on MTV. Seemingly overnight VH1 switched to reality camp. Did I sleep through that memo?

MTV's first video played was the Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star. Time to remake this song?

Outside Lands is out...

It sounded so promising. Radiohead. Beck. Jack Johnson. Primus. Wilco. Cake. Rock and roll meets eco-festival in Golden Gate Park. Sam and I looked forward to this for months.

It was a bust.

Outside Lands, SF's first crack at a music festival in Golden Gate Park failed on so many levels. Sam and I went tonight and got there early to size up the grounds and make our way to one of the stages to see Beck. What happened was that Beck's stage was on a downhill slope so nobody could see him perform. The masses started to moan and as we made our way toward the main polo field, the crowd of thousands who were trying to move from the Beck stage through a narrow path started to push down fences and scattered to get away. It was a bitchfest and clusterfuck.

Things looked up when we positioned ourselves for Radiohead on the main stage. They started promptly on-time but periodically the sound would simply go out. After this happened a few times, we decided to call it a night. We weren't the only ones - there was a steady stream of disgruntled fans all agreeing with us that the festival wasn't really planned out all that well.

It's too bad too. I scored on parking - two blocks from the park. We won't be returning for the rest of the weekend.

Ever have one of those days?

I hope everyone has a great Friday! Yay!

Sign O The Times

Hallmark announced today that they are adding Gay Marriage cards to their selection. The message will tend to be more neutral to cater not only to marriage but commitment ceremonies as well. Let the next phase in the wicked gay agenda commence.

I am pleasantly surprised and pleased that Hallmark is taking these steps. I have always viewed Hallmark as a conservative business with banal greeting cards. The most taboo punch lines usually revolve around being prehistorically old or farting. Granted I don't expect them to develop messages such as "Two hands, two cocks" or "Poppers - The new marriage accessory", but they are making a positive step forward. Naturally they are taking the stance that they are "responding to market conditions" instead of bowing to political pressure. Hallmark's competitor American Greetings, on the other hand, announced they had no plans to roll out the same.

I am sure the Jesus Crew might get their granny panties in a bunch over this and I sure hope they do. I love watching feisty Christians make even bigger fools of themselves. Have any of their boycotts ever been successful? Disney, Ford and Donna Summer all seem to be doing fine.

Alas, we have corrupted another American institution. What's next? Hee hee hee....

Oh hell yeah...

Yes please.

Fay Pride

Hurricane Fay just won't leave Florida alone. She's here, not-so-queer, and apparently not going anywhere. And gave this dude one hell of a blow-job (check out the rump on the dude in the grey striped board shorts):


You all know my opinion on naming storms after people. When I become Supreme Ruler (I'm a commander already - see below - so I am almost there) I will keep human names to the humans and leave storms and wildlife with their proper names, such as lion, tiger and hurricane. Until then, I guess I'll call the big windbags their market given names.

Here's another shot of Fay as she staggers off to sea resembling a Trannyshack wig. She might boomerang back and hit Northeastern Florida.




Too all the folks in her path, I wish you luck.

I'm the commander

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

HBDS - The Commander

Humanity, Background, Detail, and Shape

You perceive the world with particular attention to humanity. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that is affected by the details of life. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on humanity, you tend to seek out other people and get energized by being around others. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are highly focused on specific goals or tasks and find meaning in life by pursuing those goals. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.

The Perception Personality Types:

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

Gold medalist

Forget Michael Phelps. This dude does it for me.


Meet Andrea Minguzzi, a policeman from Italy. He is the gold medal winner in the 84kg divison. If you recall, when he was awarded his medal, the sore loser Ara Abrahamian from Sweden who came in with the bronze put his medal on the ground and stormed off.

Something about a cop in lycra wrestling other sweaty dudes. Now generally I prefer my guys thicker and hairier, but sometimes rules are made to be broken, yeah?

Should I stay or should I go?

I currently live in Pacifica which is about 12 miles south of San Francisco along the coast. It's a cozy little stoner-blue collar-surf town. I own a small rancher house in the Linda Mar area, 1/2 mile from the beach, with a little slice of land. I love my house; gayed it up real nice with hardwood floors, a new kitchen and lots of mid-century furniture and tchockies. I live on a great street with cool neighbors and when the sky is clear, I can see stars forever in the dark of night. Once in awhile wild deer wander down my street. During the spring frogs sing their horny croaks. I'm 10 minutes from a nude beach, 15 minutes to SFO Airport, 20 minutes to downtown San Francisco. It's green here and a great place to live.

So why the hell am I thinking about moving?

The flip side to the idyllic description above is the fact that Pacifica is devoid of any shopping or culture (not counting Starbucks, Safeway and Taco Bell on-the-beach), poor public transportation, and shrouded by miserable fog. As much as I love my house, it was built in the 1950's and things require frequent fixning. I don't have a green thumb and have yet to develop my backyard. Since I work from home, I have no commute to a sunnier locale so when we have weeks upon weeks of grey, chilly fog, I find myself moody and down. I don't surf - the water is way too cold and am convinced in a wetsuit I'll closely resemble a slow-moving elephant seal to a lazy Great White. I almost think I have too much space here. And last, friends who reside in the City are less likely to come visit as it requires a car.

So recently I have been thinking about selling and moving to San Francisco - possibly loft-living. Less space, new everything, within walking of commerce and possibly public transportation. Things with Sam are quite serious - he rocks my boat in every direction - and the possibility is there to be cohabitants in sin. So public transportation is essential. I have started to look for places to compare, but am torn as to what to do. Stay in this place, or sell and move to a more urban life.

What do you think?

Bigfoot my big ass

Two good ol' boys from the heady state of Georgia claim to have seen bigfoot. Moreover they say have a pic of bigfoot in the wild, gathered a corpse of bigfoot (above) in a freezer, and saw three more of bigfoot's kin while they dragged the costume, I mean body, of bigfoot presumably into their Ford truck.

So I ask, is this real?

What do you think? I am skeptical. Not that I don't think bigfoot could exist but like my viewpoint on God, I suppose I am an agnostic on the bigfoot concept. But this all seems too contrived and too secretive. Even so, the Georgians (not to be confused with the "other" Georgia dodging Russian bullets) held a press conference in Palo Alto and are keeping the body in an "undisclosed location" until "scientists" examine it. It all sounds too weird. If it is legit, why not turn it over to authorities or academia at one of Georgia's universities. Surely this could constitute as one of the greatest scientific discoveries of 2008.

Or better yet, turn it over to Jamie and Adam from Mythbusters. They are what you call experts at busting myths. In fact, I think I'll slip on a bigfoot costume myself and let them examine and uh, bust, me.

I guess I am a cool boyfriend

As much as I tried to be secretive about a trip to London for Sam's birthday, I inadvertently admitted that the big surprise part of the trip is tickets to see Madonna at Wembly Stadium. The concert is Sept. 11, 2008. And this is a good day to mention this as she turns 50 today.

I am a big fan of Madonna and this will be my 4th time seeing her in concert, 6th time seeing her live. The very first time I saw her was on an airplane when "Holiday" first came out. She autographed a barf bag for me. Do I still have that barf bag? Lost it. I then saw her first perform on the "Whos' That Girl" tour at Anaheim Stadium; second time was "Blonde Ambition" at the Los Angeles Forum; the thrid, "Confessions" tour in San Jose; and then once at a cool club in L.A. called Club Louie during her Sandra Bernhard phase. Now I'll add Wembly Stadium to the list.

I am looking forward to the trip. It's mostly going to be free as I am using frequent flyer miles and hotel points. I love London (have been many times) and know we will have a blast. How jealous are you all?

Wresters in heat

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Church of Crazy

Isaac Hayes died this past weekend. My he rest in peace. But as a devoted Scientologist, he will do anything but rest in peace. According to an article in Slate, the Shaft singer's afterlife will require a trip to Venus for reprogramming. You see, we are't really people - we are thetans inhabiting a meat body which we shed upon death. Some individuals who strive for a higher achievement within the church belong to an order known as Sea Org, which requires a one billion year contract of service to be carried our through subsequent lives.

And you though Noah's Ark was a tall tale.

Want to learn more? Go to What is Scientology and see what it's all about.

What's even more crazy is that as I typed this on my Livejournal page, this banner ad appeared. Maybe L. Ron is trying to tell me something.

Please go extinct

Popular culture needs to select the caveman Geico advertising campaign for extinction. Talk about running a joke into the ground, then spitting into the dirt and attempting to build it back up from the mucusy mud. At first I found the ads somewhat stupid but now they are approaching insulting - not that I have caveman tendencies (although some of might argue that point)- but insulting in the "Do they actually think we are responding to this ad anymore?" kind of way.

But then the joke's probably on me. I am venting about it in my blog so I guess I am still spreading the Geico caveman message. Damn.

Thou shalt not...

Oh good God.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati ruled that priests are no longer allowed to "kiss, wrestle and tickle" children, but can still shake their hands and pat them on the back. They can also high five the little rascals - perhaps after they share their post coital cigarette.

Also prohibited are bear hugs, lap sitting and piggy back rides. It's says nothing about watersports, but I guess that is implied. Clearly the good Catholics of Cincinnati can breathe a sign of relief that their childrens will be bear hug free from Father Touchy.

I poke (heh, poke) fun at this announcement not to diminish the importance of the rampant pedophilia within the ranks of the Catholic Church, but rather to point out that the archdiocese needed to make such a statement in the first place. Here we have one of the most powerful mafias in the world charging their soldiers with such unnatural policies as abstinence. Nature gave us genitals and hard coded them to our brains for a purpose - to be used. If the intent was not to use them for pleasure (and I suppose reproduction), then evolution would have cut off the adrenaline pathway between a hard-on and the need to poke a few thousand years ago. Evolution is swift when it comes to homo sapiens.

So charging priests with abstinence, in my opinion, is forcing them to suppress a natural, dare I say God granted, act. Thus when things are shoved into a box (?!?) then it's just a matter of time before it creeps out and often times, when it's not supposed to.

Let the priests marry and fuck, for Christ sake. Kids have enough pressure these days then to have to worry about if the beast within their priests decides to emerge during choir practice.

Let's get invisible

Crazy science news: scientists reported they are closer to developing cloaking technology that can render three dimensional objects invisible.

Researchers have demonstrated that by using artificial particles called metamaterials, they are able to bend light around an object which will in effect, make it invisible.

Klingons and voyeurs rejoice!

Campaign 2008

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Another funny man

Continuing our comedy streak, last night Sam and I saw Patton Oswalt at Cobb's Comedy Club in North Beach.  Patton had me laughing so hard I was squeaking.  His brand of humor, unlike Bill Maher and Kathy Griffin, is more self-depreciating - and he sings the song of the fat and miserable of America.  One of his more famous bits, about the KFC Famous bowls, is hysterical.  

North Beach was jumping.  I haven't been there in awhile and it was packed, mostly with tourists from faraway lands speaking French, German, Russian and Elven.  I can see what is keeping the lights on in San Francisco at night - the strength of the Euro against the anemic dollar is bringing throngs of Europeans here to buy Gucci bags, iPods, sourdough bread loafs, and clearly, tickets to comedy shows.  

Once we got past the lesbians slopping kissing each other and the "McCain 2008" car filled white old people, we piled into the Camry and headed to the Lone Star and ran into Aaron, James and Adrian.

Love him

Last night Sam and I saw Bill Maher at the Davies Symphony Hall. He was a riot, but not in that yuk-yuk kind of way. If you are unfamiliar with Bill's sense of humor, he is wicked smart with a commentary on politics and religion that makes us laugh at how fucked-up we are, and by we I mean us as an American culutre, not Sam and I. We're perfect.

Nothing sacred was out of bounds- from the current administration (what's not to laugh at?) to the pharmaceuticals to all the affairs politicians have (in and out of the men's rooms) to religion, which seems to be his biggest button and America's biggest fantasy.

Bill is one of the more outspoken pundits/comics today and thank God*.  If you recall, immediately after 09/11 Bill lost his job at ABC on his show Politically Incorrect for making the statement that the terrorists who crashed the airplanes were not cowards.  An accurate point, but the Mighty Mouse (owners of ABC) buckled under pressure and fired Bill.  They say getting fired is sometimes the best thing for your career.  Now Bill is on HBO hosting Real Time WIth Bill Maher, uncensored, and his popularity is probably higher than ever.

Love him, hate him, he's funny and makes you think.

*God= no offense to Allah, Yahweh, Odin, Oprah or Optimus Prime.  I have no idea if you are there. Its just an expression. Save your lightening bolts for Fred Phelps.

Paris says something worthwhile

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

As she responds to Abe Simpson's (AKA John McCain) jab at her in his ad, Paris gives a wink and a nod to her own candidacy. Oddly, her energy policy makes sense and is far better than the old coot's.

Enjoy!

So you think we can dance?

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

X marks the spot

San Francisco is getting a new group of residents - the X-Men.  According to Marvel Comics, the mutant group of superheroes are moving from their pad in Westchester County, NY for San Francisco.  Specifically, they will be dwelling in a series of concrete bunkers in the Marin Headlands, provided of course they can qualify for the super-loan and can keep it out of foreclosure.

I am a fan of the X-Men and think this it is awesome they are heading west.  All the cool superheroes live back east - even the fictitious cities of Gotham and Metropolis are New York-ish in style and mood - leaving us left coasters defenseless.  Who protects us against the baddies in bulging tights and Pantone colors?  Cirque du Soleil?  LAPD?  They can only baton beat so many people at any given time.   Hancock doesn't count because that's really Will Smith reprising his role as Will Smith.  So coming to San Francisco give us our own group of badass heroes and just reinforces our position as a sanctuary city and as a place where the oddball can find home.  Hooray for us.

Now in order to get into the spirit of San Francisco living, I fully expect to see Wolverine in assless chaps and a jock at the next Folsom Street Fair.  Who's with me on that one?

Big bird

Some people geek out over video games.  Others over comic books.  I geek out over big things that fly painted in pretty colors.  More to the point - airliners.

Today  Emirates brought the biggest bird in passenger aviation ever built - the Airbus A380 - to SFO as part of a cross country demonstration of how badass they are. And I, being an obedient geek, went down and snapped some pics of this incredible machine taxi away from gate A9 and take-off for a 'round-the-Bay observation flight.  

The picture above doesn't do it justice - this is one big ass plane.  Emirates has outfitted theirs to hold 489 passengers but it can carry much more.  First class even has showers.  Emirates has a slew of these on order as they continue their Borg-like domination of global travel.  Based in Dubai, that United Arab Emirate which is on the fast track to out-Las Vegas Las Vegas, Emirates is expanding aggressively connecting dots all around the world with their unimatrix zero at Dubai International Airport.  Emirates launches non-stops from Dubai to SFO  - a 16 hour flight - this autumn with a much smaller 777 and next year will be bringing the A380 to the route.  

It was an awesome sight today.  I was giddy.

To see more pics, click here.

A brush with celebrity

At Lazy Bear, Sam and I met Guillermo Diaz, Latin hottie and star of Showtime's Weeds. He was mingling with the bears, boys and beyonds at Sunday, Furry Sunday one of the big parties of the weekend.  He was super friendly and chatted with us a bit.  I personally loved him in Party Girl which he agreed was his favorite too.  He then gave me a smooch and with an apparent loss for something clever to say,  I simply uttered "grrr..." to him. He "grr'd" back.  Could I have been any more unoriginal? 

Being lazy

This past weekend was the annual pilgrimage to the Russian River of gay men of all shapes, sizes and degree of hairiness known as Lazy Bear.  Initially established as the anti-pretty boy gay event for those of us who aren't gym toned with a 28" waist, waxed and perfect, it has evolved to include both the former group and the latter group.  This was my second year and I had an absolute blast.  In spite of the name, I wasn't very lazy.

Sam and I ventured north Wednesday night and settled into a small rented house in an adjacent township to Gurneville (Lazy Bear ground zero) known as Monte Rio.  It's a David Lynch-esque type of town where the movie theater is in a temporary corrugated metal shelter and the local artisans specialize in homemade soap and crystal meth.  The house was cute and we rented it with another couple, Dan and Bill, from Phoenix.  Aside from sleeping and eating Lucky Charms, we were mostly in the Lazy Bear mix back in Guerneville.

I won't recount every detail, but suffice to say we never slowed down except to sleep.  I am surprised to see how many people I knew up there - so many friends both old and new initially met from on-line mingling but most from Sam. I don't think I have ever kissed so many bearded faces in my life.  The weekend was festive, sunny, and an excuse to be as half dressed as much as possible.  And because the weekend celebrates the "bear", those gay dudes who don't give a fuck about waxing and carbs, Sam and I ate and ate and laughed and mingled and danced a little in our underwear (what can I say? When in Rome...).  Sam and I have a lot of fun together.  God, I love that man.

I did approach the weekend with a certain expectation of being lazy. I even brought a book picturing poolside quiet time.  What was I thinking?  As Sam always says: Gays can't do anything without a 4-4 [disco] beat.  Not so quiet.  Oh well. The weekend was a recipe of permeating disco, laughing dudes of all sizes, bulging speedos,  hot tattoos, the requisite gay summer camoflauge cargo short,  and the smell of coconut tanning oil and hamburgers grilling.  I've never had so much fun by just being lazy.

For more Lazy Bear pics, click here.