Sunday, September 9, 2012

Touch Me


(via J.M.G.)

I cannot remember this song being as good in 1986 when Samantha Fox first did it (to be quite honest I cannot remember Samantha Fox more than as a name), but my memory about somethings has always been erratic.

I  rather like Naked Highways version though, but perhaps we can blame that on the cute men and the pillow fighting.

GIFT 2012

My friend Garth Raleigh, who kindly keeps me informed with all that is happening on the Gay Archipelago sims, sent me this invitation a while back, but I didn't pick it up until I re-immersed myself into SecondLife very early this morning.

Please keep sending me the information, Garth! (I promise to publish sooner next time)


"The Gay Archipelago proudly announces the Grid-wide Opening of the 'GA International FineArts Tour (GIFT), 2012' as of Saturday, September 1st.
  
The largest multi-sim Arts event currently in Second Life, GIFT encompasses 19 GA Estates and features the works of 47 talented artists.  Each GA Estate is outfitted with a TelePort board, allowing the visitor to choose destinations throughout the exhibition.

We invite you to begin your GIFT Tour at the official  "Start Point (SLurl)"  on the GA Estate of Gay Island Resort – the rest of the direction your tour takes is up to you!

Take your time and return often to see each and every installation as these artists are exhibiting all unique, original works in a variety of media.  Feel free to explore each Host Estate to take in the sights as well.  GIFT will be open to the entire Second Life population through September 22, 2012."
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This should be fun and interesting, I am most definitely going to check it out!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

I Love Our Straight Allies

Chris Kluwe


Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo (see video) has spoken out in favor of a Maryland ballot initiative that would legalize gay marriage. Yahoo has published a letter that Maryland state delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. wrote last week to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, urging him to "inhibit such expressions from your employee." This is Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe's response to Burns.

"Dear Emmett C. Burns Jr.,

I find it inconceivable that you are an elected official of Maryland's state government. Your vitriolic hatred and bigotry make me ashamed and disgusted to think that you are in any way responsible for shaping policy at any level. The views you espouse neglect to consider several fundamental key points, which I will outline in great detail (you may want to hire an intern to help you with the longer words):

1. As I suspect you have not read the Constitution, I would like to remind you that the very first, the VERY FIRST Amendment in this founding document deals with the freedom of speech, particularly the abridgment of said freedom. By using your position as an elected official (when referring to your constituents so as to implicitly threaten the Ravens organization) to state that the Ravens should "inhibit such expressions from your employees," more specifically Brendon Ayanbadejo, not only are you clearly violating the First Amendment, you also come across as a narcissistic fromunda stain. What on earth would possess you to be so mind-boggingly stupid? It baffles me that a man such as yourself, a man who relies on that same First Amendment to pursue your own religious studies without fear of persecution from the state, could somehow justify stifling another person's right to speech. To call that hypocritical would be to do a disservice to the word. Mindfucking obscenely hypocritical starts to approach it a little bit.

2. "Many of your fans are opposed to such a view and feel it has no place in a sport that is strictly for pride, entertainment, and excitement." Holy fucking shitballs. Did you seriously just say that, as someone who's "deeply involved in government task forces on the legacy of slavery in Maryland"? Have you not heard of Kenny Washington? Jackie Robinson? As recently as 1962 the NFL still had segregation, which was only done away with by brave athletes and coaches daring to speak their mind and do the right thing, and you're going to say that political views have "no place in a sport"? I can't even begin to fathom the cognitive dissonance that must be coursing through your rapidly addled mind right now; the mental gymnastics your brain has to tortuously contort itself through to make such a preposterous statement are surely worthy of an Olympic gold medal (the Russian judge gives you a 10 for "beautiful oppressionism").

3. This is more a personal quibble of mine, but why do you hate freedom? Why do you hate the fact that other people want a chance to live their lives and be happy, even though they may believe in something different than you, or act different than you? How does gay marriage, in any way shape or form, affect your life? If gay marriage becomes legal, are you worried that all of a sudden you'll start thinking about penis? "Oh shit. Gay marriage just passed. Gotta get me some of that hot dong action!" Will all of your friends suddenly turn gay and refuse to come to your Sunday Ticket grill-outs? (Unlikely, since gay people enjoy watching football too.)

I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won't come into your house and steal your children. They won't magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster. They won't even overthrow the government in an orgy of hedonistic debauchery because all of a sudden they have the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population—rights like Social Security benefits, child care tax credits, Family and Medical Leave to take care of loved ones, and COBRA healthcare for spouses and children. You know what having these rights will make gays? Full-fledged American citizens just like everyone else, with the freedom to pursue happiness and all that entails. Do the civil-rights struggles of the past 200 years mean absolutely nothing to you?

In closing, I would like to say that I hope this letter, in some small way, causes you to reflect upon the magnitude of the colossal foot in mouth clusterfuck you so brazenly unleashed on a man whose only crime was speaking out for something he believed in. Best of luck in the next election; I'm fairly certain you might need it.

Sincerely,

Chris Kluwe

P.S. I've also been vocal as hell about the issue of gay marriage so you can take your "I know of no other NFL player who has done what Mr. Ayanbadejo is doing" and shove it in your close-minded, totally lacking in empathy piehole and choke on it. Asshole."


Chris Kluwe is a punter for the Vikings. Follow him on Twitter, @ChrisWarcraft.
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Quoted from Deadspin.

I think I am in love with Chris Kluwe or Brendon Ayanbadejo or both... I love our straight allies!

I Am a Believer

I am a firm believer in the political process. This was one of the few battling grounds between me and my Ars over the years that we were together.

Ars was totally and utterly disillusioned with politics and outright refused to vote in any election. He never really explained why to my satisfaction, but told me that politics in the U.S. is only about who has the most money and that politics is just a game for corrupt power-mongers. His defeatist attitude towards politics really surprised me, because in every other way Ars was always a fighter for what he believed in.

To me it is a moral obligation for those of us who are lucky enough to live in democracies to vote. We can vote for or against something but to abstain from voting or voting for "Donald Duck" or some similar silliness is unthinkable.

If there is no option you  feel you can support fully, find the one you agree with most - or disagree with least. Hell, you can even get together with other with similar opinions and form your own alternative. Start with the  issues that are most fundamental to you and your values then move ahead from there.

If we choose not to avail ourselves of our democratic right to vote to try to affect the development of the societies we live in in the direction we wish to see them move, we - in my mind - also forfeit our right to complain or criticize what happens.

Change happens gradually and over time, except when there is a revolution and that is not always the best ways to provide the desired changes.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Pro-cras-ti-na-tion

I don´t understand whats going on with me at the moment. Although I long to immerse myself in SecondLife and get back in touch with my friends and family there and with my home things seem to come up to stop me all the time.

Today I had planned to log in. I had taken half the day of from work for a with my dental hygienist and my doctor and a few other essential errands and once they were done I was going to log back in and check the tings I know are waiting in my mailbox and see how the sim was doing and get back in touch with you all.

This time I was "only" going to take a short nap before getting in, the nap lasted six hours and I just woke up and am still tired- Other days, I feel like I have had an "overdose of people" and just cannot handle more social contact but just want to be alone, which is rather strange for me because usually I cannot get enough of friends or family.

Otherwise my first life is running smoothly. I have just signed up a team of cleaners that will drop by for three hours every third week, My parents are doing very well and are in love again - at 81 and 82 and after 62 years together - believe it or not. Is it strange that I am a creature of habit and long lasting relationships with such an inheritance?

Well, all I can say now is that I am now p-l-a-n-n-i-n-g to reenter SecondLife tomorrow Friday. Hopefully noting will interfere this time.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Thank You, Torro!

I read a book recommendation on my mate Torro Spyker´s blog The Bullring a few weeks ago. It was for the novel The Song of Achilles by the young American author Madeline Miller.

After reading Torro´s praise I immediately went to Amazon´s website and ordered the book. I got it a week ago but didn't start reading it until on Monday. And once I started I was captured by the wonderful story.

It is a rare experience for me these days to come across a novel that draws me in to the story in the way that this novel does. It is especially rare when I already know the basic story, in this case Homer´s renowned Iliad.

However, Madeline Miller succeeds in very convincingly recreating the ancient times when the Greek gods and demigods and the centaurs, amazons and sea-nymphs still walked on earth and interacted with humans. The novel depicts the lifelong love story of the hero of the Trojan wars Achilles and his lover Patroclus, from the time when they first meet as youths until their deaths and - believe it or not - even a bit after that.

Please don´t pay any attention to the publishers trying to stress how "sexy" it is - sex sells they say - but in this case it is a gross exaggeration. The sex in the novel is negligible and not at all as embarrassing as it sometime can be in bestsellers.

I thought the best way I could thank Torro for sharing this novel with me was to "pay it forward" and tell you all to read it.

Sunday, September 2, 2012