Random Musings

I was at my dentist’s office this morning and while getting a cleaning, I lay back in the chair and they have covered their overhead lights with pictures.

Waterfalls and forests to make me forget that this girl I have never met is millimeters from my face with her hands in my mouth.

Peaceful, eh?

Last weekend we saw ‘Pride,’ a British film based on a true story about how LGBT advocates in England worked to help out miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.

It was a good film, but what I loved was a simple message early on about how, when you are a group of people being discriminated against, then it is your duty to help any other group suffering discrimination because if it isn’t ‘us’ feeling the pain, it’s someone else, and if it’s someone else, then you can guarantee that one day it’ll be ‘us’.

And it didn’t hurt that the film starred one Andrew Scott, left, and Ben Schnetzer, right.

Eye candy.

So, remember when the FBI was gonna sue Apple to unlock the terrorist’s phone, and Apple said they didn’t know how and I called BS?

Well, it might still be BS, but the FBI found a way to unlock the phone and now Apple says they want that technology.

I still call BS.

While we were watching the Bigots Of North Carolina, AKA the GOP, roll back anti-LGBT discrimination ordinances because, well, how dare anyone say The Gays and our Trans Brothers and Sisters need protection from discrimination, this happened in Delaware:

The state has quietly become the 15th in the nation to prohibit insurance companies from limiting health care coverage for transgender individuals; as a result, private insurers will no longer be allowed to deny, cancel, terminate or refuse to issue healthcare plans based on a person’s gender identity.

In addition, insurance companies will not be allowed to impose different premiums or rates based on a person’s identity and the policy in-hand applies to any person, even one undergoing gender reassignment surgery.

Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart issued a bulletin stating that a denial or cancellation will now be considered a violation under Delaware’s Unfair Trade Practices Act.

So, just a little reminder that not every state is North Carolina.

The march goes on …

The people that brought you Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder have unleashed a new slick sexy private eye caper to your TV sets, and it’s called The Catch.

I’d like to “catch” Alimi Ballard, top, Jacky Ido, bottom left, and Jay Hayden, bottom right, if you know what I mean.

Sam Nunberg was an aide to Donald [t]Rump and his campaign but he was fired for referring to Al Sharpton’s daughter using the N-word and referring to Obama as a “Kenyan Muslim” and “Socialist Marxist Islamo Fascist Nazi Appeaser.”

Nunberg has resurfaced to endorse Texas Senator Ted Cruz because, he now says, [t]Rump refused to distance himself from racists. So, um, Sam, why the endorsement?

“The last straws were the KKK Tapper interview.”

That was the CNN interview in which Trump did not disavow the support of former KKK leader David Duke but, seriously, someone like Sam Nunberg, who blatantly spews racist remarks expects anyone to believe he left [t]Rump for Cruz because of racism?

Bitch.Please.

From our Get The &%$@ Off Social Media comes the story of Brit Ben Innes pausing to take a selfie with suspected terrorist-hijacker-jilted-ex-husband, Seif Eldin Mustafa.

Yes, he did. He stood right beside Mustafa, who hijacked an EgyptAir plane, while Mustafa was wearing what, at the time, was believed to be a suicide belt.

Seriously? Reminds me of the time I stopped by Sharon Tate’s house and asked the Manson Family to take a snapshot with me while they were in the middle of murdering a group of people.

Seriously. It’s enough you Social media whores.

Great news in the area of trans visibility … Ben Melzer, second from right, has become the first trans person to ever cover a men’s fitness magazine by appearing on the cover of the April issue of Men’s Health Europe.

Bravo, sir, bravo!

Meanwhile, on the Hate Side of trans, “Stand with McCrory” — as in North Carolina Bigot Governor Pat McCrory — a new disgusting fundraising site paid for by the North Carolina Republican Senatorial Committee, features an image of the Bigot Governor and a man—one of those nonexistent trans predators they’re trying to scare everyone about—entering a women’s bathroom.

Fear.Mongers. The site then says:

“Stand with Gov. McCrory and PROTECT OUR CHILDREN: The ACLU and other radical, left-wing special-interest groups are suing North Carolina to create an extreme national mandate forcing women and young girls to share locker rooms and bathrooms with grown men. Thank NC Governor Pat McCrory and Legislative Leaders for fighting to keep our children safe and passing a common-sense law to stop grown men from sharing locker rooms and bathrooms with young girls.”

I think McCrory needs to sit down, and hopefully, come November, the good people of North Carolina will send him packing and put a Democrat in his place.

The Reading List Is Eliminated Because, Well, Lesbians

Earlier this week, I gleefully posted that homophobic Tennessee legislator, Stacey Campfield, best-known for his Don’t Say Gay bill, lots his primary bid at reelection. Now, though, there’s another threat of the same kinds, only it’s up there round Delaware way, and it’s more of a Don’t Read Gay thing.

The Cape Henlopen School Board in Delaware has eliminated a summer reading list for the incoming class of high school freshman over a challenge to the list’s inclusion of The Miseducation of Cameron Post, a book whose main character is gay.

The board initially voted to remove the novel — by emily m. danforth … she uses all lower case letters to identify herself — after several complaints from parents earlier this summer. At first, the board said it was removing the book because of the author’s use of profanity, but some parents, and emily danforth, think the decision was based solely on the book’s gay theme; the coming-of-age tale of a young girl discovering she is a lesbian.

Andy Lewis, board president, claims the book was removed from the list because there was no process to evaluate it after someone complained. Now, does that sound a bit fishy to anyone else? No process to evaluate the book? Howsabout, oh, I dunno, getting a copy of the book, sitting in a comfy chair, and, maybe, reading it?

Of course, it has been revealed that other books on the reading list were laden with profanity too, but only one … any guesses … featured a gay character. And after that revelation, rather than put the book on the list for students, the entire program, the entire reading list, was eliminated.

Don’t Read Gay, y’all.

The funniest thing of all is that the students themselves would probably have no problem reading The Miseducation of Cameron Post, but it’s their parents with the issues. Parents who don’t realize that gay folks, gay teenagers, exist, in real life and on the pages of a book.

via LGBTQ Nation

Architecture Wednesday: 308 Mulberry

This is an old, now new house located in Lewes, Delaware. Lewes, the site of the earliest European settlement in Delaware, sits on the eastern side of Sussex County and faces northeast into the mouth of the Delaware Bay. It is popularly known as an eighteenth-century coastal town and is composed primarily of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century building stock, the dominant building type being timber, and the prevalent construction type is balloon framing.

That's what the small house at 308 Mulberry Street, in the heart of the historical district, was like until the current owner purchased the property.

The house was in poor condition, so the owners decided to renovate the original house, turning it into the main entry hall and four bedrooms, and then adding a rather sizable extension and swimming pool to the back. 

In the redesign, the exterior of the original structure was meticulously restored, while a shed-roofed screened porch, storage room, and poorly proportioned living space that had been added to the back of the house in the early twentieth-century were removed.

The new design more than doubled the square footage of the old home, but the strategy of the renovation was to allow the historical, two-story house to remain prominent on the street facade, while four additional structures would be added in a minimally invasive fashion. These additions were conceived as one-story pavilions organized around a new swimming pool and large Deodor Cedar tree, located at the rear of the property.

While the exterior of the original house is restored with historically correct detailing, the new pavilions are crisply detailed. Cedar shingled walls and roofs match the historical house but without overhangs and trim. Large expanses of glass set in black steel frames punctuate the cedar walls. Tall red brick chimneys and landscape walls add vertical and horizontal elements, completing the composition.

The interiors of the old part of the home are decidedly modern with white walls void of trim, casings, moldings and baseboard that engage white ash flooring. An open, floating staircase, glass walls, aluminum and stainless steel contribute to the modern palette. 

In juxtaposition to the primarily white interiors of the original house, the interior of the new living pavilion is rich with mahogany walls and ceilings, basalt flooring, white marble counters and fireplace surround, and stainless steel cabinetry. 

Walls of glass and a long skylight at the ridge allow light to flood the pavilion while additional pavilions contain a bathroom, an exercise room and a screened porch, with Douglas-Fir walls and ceilings, just off the swimming pool; a fireplace allows the space to be used late into the fall.

I love these restorations, where the old house, at least on the outside, is preserved, but the interiors, and new spaces, have been fully updated and modernized. It's the best of both worlds, really.

source

Random Musings .... Delayed from Yesterday

First off, it might seem gauche to some, but my sister would love that I used a logo from The Big C for this post.

Secondly, but more importantly, thanks for all the good wishes, thoughts and positive energy regarding my sister's cancer diagnosis.

She is in a much better place in her head today. She works at the hospital where she's being treated so she knows her doctor--and loves her doctor, and knows the team of nurses as well. All this helps keep a positive attitude.

Today she is having a biopsy to determine more about the mass. Through tears and sobs yesterday, I thought she said the cancer was in her leg, but it appears it's in her lymph nodes.

Later today we'll know more, but I just wanted to say thanks for the positive energy.

Thanks Delaware.

I admit I am a Cher queen, but even I was leery of the Lifetime Special, Dear Mom, Love Cher, because I thought it would be a cheesy televised Mother’s Day card to Georgia Holt, Cher’s 86-year-old, and still gorgeous mother.

Turns out I was wrong.

Georgia was, is, one of those people who’ve lead an amazing life; done all sorts of things, been married six times and yet her most successful relationship has been with a man she chose not to wed.

All kinds of great stories in the show, but my favorite was when Georgia Holt’s agent sent her on an audition for a film and told her that she needed to pad her bra because the producers were looking for a little va-va-voom.

So, she padded, and off she went. The audition went well, and she got the part. But a week went by and she hadn’t heard from the production, so she called her agent and asked why.

‘They went with another girl.’

‘But you said I got the part.’

‘Well, they liked this other girl better. Do you know her? Marilyn Monroe?’

It was an audition for The Asphalt Jungle, Marilyn’s first big role.

But, you gotta wonder what it might have done for Georgia Holt. Would we know her today as Cher’s mom, or would we know Cher as Georgia’s daughter?

I also get a giggle from the One Million Moms [OMM] mainly because, according to their Facebook page, their numbers are closer to 50,000. But I mostly giggle because they boycott everything, and everyone. For a while it was JC Penneys and Ellen DeGeneres, and now it Norelco and ‘manscaping’:

The new Norelco commercial goes beyond a close facial shave to body grooming well below the chest and back. This commercial went WAY TOO FAR! During the commercial, it shows a man trimming hair in different areas of his body. Toward the end, it shows him standing with his boxer shorts down with hair falling to the floor as he uses the hair trimmer. It is implied that he is shaving in his private area. The dialogue in the ad is equally offensive. "I'd wink at me; I'd hug me," he says. Then he looks in the mirror, admires himself, and says, "I'd F*** me." The F-word is bleeped out. But then they display their website, www.IdFAQme.com. This is clearly a play on the F-word. The excuse Philips Norelco gave by phone was equally dismissive, saying, "We are trying to reach a certain audience and would pass along these concerns." Their response isn't good enough. The ad shouldn't run at any time. It is not only inappropriate for children; it is offensive to adults also. The company's response to people's concerns is in poor taste.

The OMM really needs to get a sense of humor. And, well, about 950,000 more Moms.

So, the jury in Arizona found Jody Arias guilty of First Degree murder for killing her boyfriend by shooting him in the head and the stabbing him so many times she nearly cut off his head.

Good. Bye.

But, in the instant after the verdict was read, Jody Arias gave an interview to Fox News and said she hopes she gets the death penalty because death would be like freedom.

Now, as I posted HERE, I am staunchly anti-death penalty and she’s the perfect example. She gets what she calls her ‘freedom’ because she’ll be dead, so wouldn’t the greatest punishment of all be to send her away for life, without hope of parole EVER, and let her stew in a cell all day every day because she murdered someone?

I hope the jury gives her life, and I hope she has a long one, filled with regrets.

Out there in Minnesota the legislature appears poised to legalize same-sex marriage. The Democratic Speaker of the House said that a marriage equality bill, endorsed by the governor and likely to pass in the state Senate also now has enough backing in his chamber.

The House will vote on the measure today, and if it passes, the Democratic-led Senate could vote on it as soon as Saturday. The Senate’s 73-member Democratic majority will produce at least the 68 votes needed to pass the bill.

C’mon Minnesota, be # 12!

UPDATE: It passed! On to the Senate and then the Governor's desk!

The New Yorker salutes 'Mothers' Day' on its upcoming cover with cover art by illustrator Chris Ware, who says:

Now that the numbers are in on same-sex marriage, many Republicans are falling like dominos all over themselves to express their support for something that only a few months ago they steadfastly claimed to stand against. They’ll probably soon claim that this is how they felt all along, and they were simply too hamstrung by politics to be able to say what they really meant.

Well, okay. In the spirit of openheartedness and what life is really all about, I’ll go so far as to say that the fear of others may mask some deep-seated desire to understand, and maybe even to love. Because really, what is there to be afraid of?

Few people today don’t know—or have in their families—at least one loving couple who are raising children, same-sex or not. And it’s really just the loving part that matters. That same-sex marriage could go from its preliminary draft of “diagnosable” to the final edit of “so what?” must indicate some positive evolution on the part of the larger human consciousness.

My wife, being a biology teacher, puts it even more succinctly: “Why are all these people so worried about who everybody else is sleeping with, anyway?” (Score two for Moms.)

Happy Mother’s Day to all Moms, the two Mom families, the one Mom families, and the Mons in the Mom and Dad families.

Zachary Quinto at the Met Ball this week.

I have had a crush on him before I knew he was gay, though I do have a question, Zachary.

Does the carpet match the drapes?

I saw this on Joe.My.God. and he saw it on Boy Culture:

Manhunt reports that "Hey Guys" is the most popular profile header in all but one state. That one exception is Connecticut, where "Looking For A Top" is most frequently used.

Apparently all the bottoms live in Connecticut.

So, three cheers for the Cleveland hero, Charles Ramsey.

You know, the guy that helped rescue the three girls who’d been kidnapped and held in a house for the last ten years.

I love a good story.

What I don’t love, though, is how, now, the media is searching for every detail of Charles Ramsey’s life, especially the dirt, and are gleefully reporting it.

Isn’t it enough that he helped those girls escape? Why do we build someone up as a hero and then instantly begin to tear him down.

I, myself, am avoiding the negative press and focusing on the positive.

Thanks Mister Ramsey. You are a hero because you’re just a regular guy that did an exceptional thing.

Oh GOP voters in South Carolina.

Look what you’ve done to the rest of the country because you’re too locked in to voting Republican. Seriously, I don’t wanna hear one complaint from you when he screws up again and again and again and again and ….

Carolyn Moos, you know, the woman who was engaged to formerly closeted Jason Collins? The woman who then took her story to the media and talked about how she didn’t know and never suspected and maybe he lied to her and blahblahblah?

That girl?

Now she plans on writing a book about her relationship with Collins and is soliciting questions from the public so she can answer them in print and make a nice tidy profit off her ALLEGED embarrassment.

I have a question, Carolyn: why don’t you shut up? Why don’t you take the high road and not try to score a payday off your personal life?

Coming out is a struggle that all gay folks face, and some of us do it early on, and some of try and try and try to fit into what society tells us we should.

That’s what Jason did; he struggled. In fact, he says, of your relationship: “When I was younger I dated women. I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue.”

And you want to profit off of it.

Seriously, shut up.

Lots of Gays have had a crush on Zac Efron for years.

Not me.

I thought he looked a little too pretty [read: girly] when he was younger and then he went through a face where he looked a little steroid-y.

Then I saw that picture.

Um, I’m on board now.

I will now admit that I have been watching American Idol this season, mostly because of wack-a-doodle Nicki Minaj and all her craziness that I love. I still giggle at the time that she and Mariah were having a slight disagreement and Nicki said, to Mariah, “Simmer down, sir.”

But, more than Nicki, I watch because of Candice Glover, and not just because she’s from South Carolina. It’s because she’s a beautiful woman with an incredible voice and last night, her rendition of ‘Somewhere’ brought tears to my eyes.

If she doesn’t win this thing, well, then I might go Nicki on yo asses.

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