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Friday, March 29, 2002
While we're on interesting things I read in the paper... Kudos to HSBC who evicted the Boy Scouts based on their stance on gay leaders in the organization. I've never been more proud to have my accounts at HSBC! :-) Read the article here.. And screw Cayuga County who withdrew their money from HSBC because of it. How lame. I called the Branch Manager at the Auburn HSBC this morning to tell him I was super happy with his decision. He was glad to hear from me, saying that he hasn't gotten many "supportive calls." Rest assured people who disagree with you will make their opinions known, but people who agree with you are less vocal. | private feedback | (0) public comments I read something in the paper yesterday that got me thinking. And then did a little research online. This is one of the articles I found on yahoo.com, Slavery suits may spread beyond Aetna, Fleet. Basically, lawyers have brought suit against companies that made profit based on the use of slave labor a hundred years ago. The money (if they won their case) would be distributed among descendants of slaves living in the US today. My first thought was "WHAT THE F*CK!?" Even if we can get past punishing a company today for something that happened a hundred years ago... we'd be punishing a company that was only doing what was socially accepted at the time. We're applying today's moral and societal standards to times when slavery was common. Of course slavery was a terrible part of American history and we should do all we can to eradicate the institutional and blatant racism that still exists, but I think it's irresponsible to attack present-day companies with a monetary figure as "reparations" for wrongs from that long ago. A lawsuit like this seems to be counterproductive to any healing that needs to occur, and takes focus off the actual issues that need to be addressed. I hope this lawsuit gets thrown out for having no legal merit. My two cents. | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, March 26, 2002 On a lighter note, I saw my first daffodil in bloom today... outside the Women's Community Building.... it put a huge smile on my face. I'm beginning to savor every sign of Spring. | private feedback | (0) public comments One of the worst experiences in the world must be riding a crowded bus when it's pouring outside. The bus is jammed to the seams with sopping wet people who would normally walk. The seats are all wet, and you're sitting there with your damp or wet clothes clinging to you. Everytime the bus makes a stop you get whapped in the face with a wet bag... and what do you do with your dripping umbrella..? Set it on your lap? I wish this silly weather would stop already and the sun would come out for good. *sigh* | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, March 25, 2002 Well... I suck at picking oscar winners. Although more and more I'm learning that it's less about the actual roles that an actor played in that year, than if they're more "deserving" than the other nominees. Meaning if someone is overlooked for years they are more likely to get the award than someone who has a few under their belt (how else would one explain the Monster's Inc. song winning out over the song from Lord of The Rings AND Pearl Harbour?). I think pretty much what they say is true... it's an honor to be nominated and then to win an award means you've won the respect of the academy and that as a group they think its time you were recognized. So, I think my days of trying to logically pick oscars based on actual merit are over. ;-) I was completely bummed that Amelie didn't win a single award even though it was nominated for quite a few. It was the best movie I have seen in a long time. Other than that, my weekend was great. Like every weekend, it went by extremely fast. Stayed in Friday night and played Super Nintendo... I'm kicking butt in Donkey Kong Country now. Saturday I had a great time hanging with friends in Syracuse. Went to Rain, out to dinner at Daniel Jack's and then back out at Charades for the beginning of the Drag Wars. We left before they announced the winner... so I'd be curious to know who won if anyone knows. ;-) Sunday I had dinner with friends and then watched the Academy Awards with Josh and his friend Nicole. So all in all it was a pretty great weekend. This morning started out great... and then the minute I got to work all kinds of drama broke loose. I'm finally just getting out of here at 6:00 and I'm probably going to collapse when I get home... | private feedback | (0) public comments Friday, March 22, 2002 Happy Oscar's Weekend... *smile* Since I probably won't post anything else before Sunday, I thought I'd put up my picks for the awards ceremony. You know... 'cause I'm sure you all care what I think... :-) BEST PICTURE I’d like to see Moulin Rouge or In The Bedroom take this one, though I have a feeling A Beautiful Mind or The Lord of the Rings will come through the winner. ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Any doubt about Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind? ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE I didn’t see Lord of the Rings, but from what I hear, Ian McKellen should take this one. ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Sissy Spacek In The Bedroom 'cause she's fierce. But Nicole Kidman Moulin Rouge sang! I'm torn. ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Marisa Tomei In The Bedroom. If she doesn’t win this, she was robbed! ANIMATED FEATURE FILM Hmmmm, this is going to be close. Shrek will edge out Monsters, Inc. I haven't seen either of them. CINEMATOGRAPHY I don’t even know what Cinematography is *grin*... but I bet Moulin Rouge takes this one. It was so beautifully filmed. DIRECTING Ron Howard A Beautiful Mind DOCUMENTARY FEATURE What?! I don't care who wins this one, Trembling Before G_D didn’t even get a nomination? I'm pretty sure it falls in this category. FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM I didn’t see any other movies nominated, but Amélie was so good! How could anyone not vote for this movie? WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY) A Beautiful Mind WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY) Memento!!! | private feedback | (0) public comments Thursday, March 21, 2002 MICHAEL MOORE IS COMING TO CORNELL!!! April 3rd, 7:30 PM | private feedback | (0) public comments My friend Lori gave me a Super Nintendo Saturday afternoon because she was so addicted to it she needed it removed from her house. In fact, before she gave it to me, her girlfriend had to hide the control paddles. Heh. So now I have it... and I'm getting drawn in... The first (and only) game I've played so far is "Super Mario World"... which takes me back to my childhood when I used to spend hours on end in my room with the original 8-bit Nintendo and "Super Mario Brothers." The last few days I've played in between television shows... in the morning when I get up... after Brett and Jamie go to bed... essentially any spare minute I have (including commercial breaks, hehe). Last night Brett said I "have quite a potty mouth" when I play video games. It's true. You'd think I had Tourette syndrome. After wasting 12 Mario lives on the 5th level Castle, I have some choice words for anyone who will listen. There goes my New Year's Resolution to stop swearing. *grin* | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, March 20, 2002 The Tompkins County Democratic Committee officially endorsed H. Carl McCall, candidate for Governor of New York. | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, March 19, 2002 I just made it a little easier to get in touch with me. :-) Check out my Feedback Form. :-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, March 18, 2002 I had a super weekend! Thanks to everyone that helped make it fab... (Mike, Rodney, Mom, Josh's peeps, and especially Josh.) :-) My weekends seem to go by sooo fast. I think that's a testament to how good they are. Friday night I went out in Rochester to check out the drag show at Muther's and then the "new" club Tilt. You can tell they put a lot of money into Tilt, (at least the decor) but there weren't many folks out. I had been warned Friday night would be dead, we should have listened. Saturday night I spent with Josh... went out to dinner, went to his play at CCC and hung out with him and a bunch of his friends at Denny's afterwards. The play was great! Wasn't sure what to expect being shakespeare and all... but it was really well done. Slept most of Sunday away, had dinner with Brett and Jamie, and then watched "Six Feet Under" and "Queer As Folk". Been a busy day today...so I gotta get back to work! | private feedback | (0) public comments Stupid White Men... And Other Sorry Excuses For The State Of The Nation by Michael Moore is one of the best books I've read in a long time! I couldn't put it down. (I even read a chapter during the intermission at a play Saturday night.) EVERYONE should at least read the first chapter (you can preview half of it at Amazon.com) about the stolen 2000 election. And apparently people agree with me, it's the #1 book on about ten bestseller lists including the New York Times. Of course some of the most interesting stories are about the publisher's attempt to NOT publish this book or even have Michael Moore rewrite parts of it after 9/11 when some of the language inside seemed a little harsh. (Thankfully he didn't.) You can read the background story at his Web site www.michaelmoore.com. | private feedback | (0) public comments Friday, March 15, 2002 Kudos to Rosie for her interview last night on Primetime with Diane Sawyer. It wasn't so much that she came out (who didn't know already?) but her advocacy for the gay parents of Florida. I was in tears for the first half hour of the special when they reviewed the case of these five hiv-positive children who noone would take except this gay couple... and now that one of them is healthy the state of Florida wants to take him away and put him in a "real" family. It's disturbing to say the least. Check out this really great site dedicated to the Lofton-Croteau family, the family behind the court case which is challenging the Florida ban on gay adoptions. | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, March 13, 2002 Last night I saw "Italian For Beginners" at Cinemapolis. I was a little disappointed, it wasn't as good as some other movies I've seen recently like "Amelie." I think that there were just too many characters to really develop any sort of connection to any of them... I'm sure I missed some nuances of their performances since the movie was in Danish. "Amelie" was in French but I still got to see enough of the main character that I started to become invested in her happiness. Definitely see "Amelie," and don't bother with "Italian for Beginners." I'm really excited about "Monsoon Wedding" coming to Ithaca though. It arrives this week or next. | private feedback | (0) public comments Last night my ex called... my ex from over 3 years ago who hasn't called me in like 2 years. (I wouldn't post this up here for fear he'd read it but he says he doesn't have a computer or go online so I doubt he'll come across this. And if he lied to me, then he deserves to read it. *grin*) He asked if I wanted to do anything this weekend. Of course I was a little suspicious that he asked me to get together after all this time... so I was like "What about your boyfriend?" "Oh, well... we broke up." I'm SO surprised, right? So out of curiosity I say, "Recently?" He hems and haws, "Well... Yes. Sort of... Last Saturday." 4 days ago is "sort of recently"? He sure doesn't waste any time. LOL So that was pretty much the gyst of the conversation. I told him I'd call him if I was free. I'm still reeling from it. Not because of him, but because (if you've read my posts you'll know this) over the last week or so I've run into a bunch of people from my past that I never thought I'd talk to again. What else can this mean... and now this phone call? That I'm standing on the edge of a weird time warp? That one misstep will take me back to 1998? I sure hope not. I'm happy where I'm at now. Job's going well... I have a great apartment... and I met a super cute guy this weekend... In other news... I've found this great European HiNRG radio station that I can stream over the internet on iTunes. So I'll be jammin' all day at work. :-) If anyone else out there has iTunes, you'll find it under "Electronica" and then "DI EuroDance." | private feedback | (0) public comments One of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. Watch this video and try to figure out The Mystery of Britney Spears' Breasts. Heh. | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, March 12, 2002 I finished Endangered Species by Louis Bayard last night. I stayed up late so that I could finish it before bed... In general, I hate finishing books that I really like... a little separation anxiety. (And of course the more you like a book and the more you identify with characters the worse the disappointment of its ending is.) For those of you who don't know (though I've probably told everyone by now) this book is about a single gay man who wants to father a child within a year because he fears his breeder siblings aren't up for the task. It's a light- and fast-read... you could easily finish it in a few days. Its written in a very stream-of-consciousness sort of way. This was the first Bayard novel I've read and it was super cute. I think I'll check out his other ones. | private feedback | (0) public comments When I wasn't looking my site crossed the 10,000 hits threshhold. As of today, the cumulative number of hits stands at... 10,310. WOOHOO! | private feedback | (0) public comments Happy Independence Day all! Well, I guess it's really only a holiday for me. Exactly nine months ago --My birthday, June 12th-- when my last ex and I broke up, I decreed the 12th of the month "Independence Day." A celebration of single life that would last as long as... well... as long as I was single. Heh. :-) My way of turning something potentially depressing into something positive. | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, March 11, 2002 Hey bois and girls. :-) LONG and great weekend. Went by WAY too fast. Started out Friday night goin' to see a play at Lansing Central School.. "Damn Yankees." Very interesting, I didn't know quite what to expect. But definitely worth the time to see it. It went later than I expected, so I missed seeing my friends' band (Blue Water Day) perform at Coyote Loco, and I was exhausted anyway... Saturday I spent some time on the Commons reading. I'm about halfway through a book called "Endangered Species" by Louis Bayard. Its a very light read, something that you can enjoy in your spare time, about a gay guy who is attempting to have a child before the year is out because his breeder siblings seem unwilling to do so. Met Alex for lunch and a movie, but the projector was broke at Cinemapolis so we had a take a rain check (hopefully Tuesday evening). Got home in time to clean a little before Mom came. She spent Saturday night at my place... brought me the little kitchen table I had picked out when I was home for Christmas. It looks great in my apartment. :-) THANKS MOM! A bunch of friends and I took her out for dinner at Bistro Q and then went up to Common Ground to play darts and hang for a bit. It was underwear night, so I was a little anxious about taking Mom there... but luckily it was early enough that people were still clothed. Heh. We left by 10:30. :-) Got up early Sunday and had brunch with Mom at Cafe Dewitt, if you've never had brunch there you need to! The food is a little pricey, but worth it. Then I napped the afternoon away... Mom called when she got home to say "I made it home OK. And I just wanted to tell you, you have the nicest friends!" Put a huge smile on my face that mom likes my friends as much as I do. And then I met Josh (a sweetheart for putting up with my rambling) at State Street Diner. I was in bed shortly after watching Queer as Folk. This morning for some reason I was up early... got to work a half hour before normal. Among other things, I came across a few messages on the machine from clients and vendors that didn't put me in the right place to start my Monday. Seems that people like making things more difficult than they should be. And even when they realize they are making things more difficult they don't want to take steps to fix it. But things are turning around, and I think once I've had a chance to clear my head over lunch, I'll be alright. | private feedback | (0) public comments Thursday, March 07, 2002 What I learned on the Web today... March 7th is artist Piet Mondrian's birthday. See his work here. (Piet Mondriaan 1872-1944) In the early 1900s many artists tried various abstract ways of representing reality. Mondrian went beyond them. In his final compositions he avoided any suggestion of reproducing the material world. Instead using horizontal and vertical black lines that outline blocks of pure white, red, blue or yellow, he expressed his conception of ultimate harmony and equilibrium. His style, and its underlying artistic principles, he called neoplasticism. The later paintings, which date from 1920 until his death, have simple titles, such as ‘Composition in Red, Yellow and Blue’ painted in 1926, and ‘Composition in White, Black and Red’ (1936). Mondrian lived in Paris from 1919 to 1938. He moved to London in 1938 and left there for New York in 1940. His works were admired by other artists, but did not sell. His final painting, called ‘Victory Boogie Woogie’, was still unfinished when he died in New York City on February 1, 1944. | private feedback | (0) public comments Wednesday, March 06, 2002 CHECK THIS OUT!!! CaptionMachine.com | private feedback | (0) public comments Check out this hilarious picture my friend sent me. :-) | private feedback | (0) public comments Blasts from the past all day today... like three people that IM'd me that I haven't talked to in ages, ran into two guys that I haven't seen for months on the commons today... I'm half expecting to see a parade of my exes down Buffalo Street on my way home from work. In other news... BEWARE OF SCISSORS! I almost cut a huge chunk of my thumb off trying to open a package an hour ago. I had to rig a bandaid in a hurry, I was bleeding something fierce. :-( | private feedback | (0) public comments Wanna see a cute movie? Last night I saw Amelie. French with english subtitles, the movie is about a woman who finds a box full of trinkets hidden in her apartment in the 50's and sets out to find the box's owner. Seeing the results of her good deed, the fire of inspiration fills her soul and she decides to go about setting schemes in motion that will make the people around her (and eventually herself) happy. You'll leave the theater with a smile on your face. | private feedback | (0) public comments Tuesday, March 05, 2002 It's the small things that really make your day sometimes... I took a walk in Fall Creek on lunch cause it was a nice afternoon. I came across some crocuses in full bloom (is that the plural of crocus? hehe). They were so beautiful. This must mean spring is on it's way right? Spring flowers, especially tulips, are my favorite. Takin' it easy at work today, the boss is out until Thursday... deadlines are over... everything was delivered on time... just doing some organization of the office today. No plans this evening, though I'd like to see a movie later... either "Amelie" or "Italian for Beginners," both playing at Cinemapolis... | private feedback | (0) public comments Monday, March 04, 2002 Well today just sucks. I've spent all morning trying to figure out how to FTP a file to a printer, and had all sorts of drama with a password protected Web site to track the progress of an advertising campaign. The ATM was down at the bank, and to top it all off i typed out this really long story about my mother... to post here... and it vanished when I resized my browser window. Rotten Netscape... or blogger, not sure which. Short version of the story... my mom is taking a class at Nazareth and has to write a book report for an english class. After i said I wouldn't do it for her she offered me money... I still said no... so she bought a paper at some internet site. LOL. My mother is a big cheater. I was so proud of her for going back to school... but this is a slight disappointment. I may hold off on making my "My mother goes to Nazareth College" t-shirt until after I find out if she got caught. ;-) I don't know where she gets this from, must be my brother. Other than that, everything is going well. Brett and Jamie are getting settled in. My laundry got done yesterday along with a bunch of little piddly chores like re-hanging a closet door. Brett re-organized the kitchen, and Jamie and I wired the apartment so they can have Roadrunner in their small room... Would type more, but I gotta deal with this little FTP crisis... more later! | private feedback | (0) public comments |
Hey! I'm Shane... a proud gay progressive Democrat who has recently relocated to New York City from Ithaca, NY. As I am no longer in Ithaca, I haven't quite decided the fate of this blog. Drop me a line!
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