World Cup Finals (Sigh)

Ok guys, I put a picture of a hot guy on here in an effort to trick you into reading another post about soccer. So, for those of you paying attention, France defeated Portugal 1-0 today, advancing them to the championship game of the World Cup which will be played this Sunday against Italy.

Now, no team that I particularly care about made it, so I have little to say about the finals (other than I already miss David Beckham). But I was humored today as I was driving in my car and was listening to a political radio talk host (who I listen to simply for his absurdity, as the guy is pretty much nuts and should be locked away). He obviously knew nothing about soccer and was probably just reading from the AP wires.

But he got all worked up about France playing Italy, and he said that Americans should unquestionably be cheering for Italy over France (apparently being the great soccer fan he is, he forgot that Italy was one of the teams that contributed to eliminating the US from the tournament).

Amazingly, though, the radio guy said that Americans should be cheering against France because he doesn't like France's politics. What sort of insane troll logic is that? To choose sides in a sporting event based on which team aligns itself better with your political views? I'm sorry, I just don't see the connection. Well, there's no accounting for some people's thinking, particularly since it is clear that the true reason we should cheer for Italy is because their players are way hotter than France's team (Some of Italy's players even participated in a fundraiser for cancer research by posing shirtless for a hot calendar this year....mmmm!).

Random Blog Theft #1

I am going to begin occasionally posting items that I find while reading other blogs, blatantly stealing them and posting them on my own. However, I will always say really nice things about the people that I steal them from and include lots of links to their blog, so I'm hoping they won't view it as theft so much as free advertising. Also, I will make a rule for myself that I won't allow this to be a substitute for my own creativity, so I will only do this if I have posted something original in the previous 24 hours.

For my first Random Blog Theft, I saw this picture on the Beautiful blog, and I thought it was hilarious. It's an advertisement for Nobby's Nuts, which apparently is a very popular brand of nuts in Australia (one of their old advertising slogans read, "Nibble Nobby's Nuts Before Nobby Nibbles Yours"). Anyway, I thought the ads and their placement were perfect.

If you want to check out a blog that truly lives up to its name, take a look at Beautiful sometime!

Countdown to Gay Games 2006 in Chicago: 10.....

Christmas Music Season Begins!

No, this post is not anachronistic. Today, some choose to celebrate the day America declared its independence from England. However, I additionally celebrate something else of great import today, the beginning of Christmas music season. When my iPod alarm clock went off to wake me today, it was to the sound of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

You see, I love Christmas music. I think that Christmas music surpasses many other common genres of music both in quality and enjoyment. But, because Hallmark tells us we can't start playing Christmas music until the Thanksgiving greeting cards have had their run, this wonderful trove of music is enjoyed only for about 5 weeks a year. Can you imagine if someone suggested that we listen to Madonna and Cher, say, only from May to mid-June each year? The world would unravel at its core! Yet, the suppression and discrimination against Christmas music continues year after year without so much as a single march of protest on the Capitol.

So, in 1993 as a freshman in college, I decided that I would not take it anymore. I would change the world. And from July 4, 1993, to today, I have declared Christmas music season to begin on July 4. Yes, I am a compromiser not to insist upon the music being listened to year-round, but there is a small part of me that recognizes there is a "specialness" that adheres to our Christmas favorites partially because of the fact that we don't get to listen to them all year. So, I figured a 50-50 compromise would be adequate. And I still get that "special" feeling from the music. I am perhaps the only person in the world who spends the entire month of June eagerly anticipating listening to Christmas music and struggling to be disciplined to wait until the 4th of July (I was successful, too! Listened to my first Christmas song of the year this morning at 1:00 a.m.!).

So, Happy Holidays! Of course, I do not listen to Christmas music exclusively during the latter half of the calendar year, but I do consistently mix it in with my musical rotations. Therefore, if you happen to be in my car and hear Mannheim Steamroller's "Angels We Have Heard on High" in the middle of August, don't give me a strange look. I will devastate you with my defense of Christmas music's true, authentic, and complete season.

Happy Fourth of July!

I would like to wish my American readers a Happy Independence Day tomorrow, and to all you non-American readers, we apologize for our president.

The above photo is dedicated to my friends who still think I am a closeted Republican. The flag-burning amendment is, frankly, silly, and I think that many Republicans in Congress are pushing for it not out of principle but as an easy way to drum up votes from the red-staters.

While I am grateful for the opportunities given to me living where I do, it seems to me that those who would ban flag-burning are fighting against the very freedom of expression that the flag supposedly symbolizes. If they were to win and the US Constitution be amended, they would essentially have gutted the symbol of its meaning and caused far more damage to the flag than anyone who burns it.

So, while I may not go out and burn a flag myself, I would fight adamantly for the right of my friend to do so. And, I will enjoy the hot guy on the flag blanket without the slightest twinge of conscience.

*Note - This is my first blatantly political post ever, so be gentle! (Just kidding...fire away, I 'm a big boy).

The Pink Letter

According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (referenced at thefreedictionary.com),

• A reclaimed word is a word that was formerly used solely as a slur but that has been semantically overturned by members of the maligned group, who use it as a term of defiant pride. Queer is an example of a word undergoing this process. For decades queer was used solely as a derogatory adjective for gays and lesbians, but in the 1980s the term began to be used by gay and lesbian activists as a term of self-identification. Eventually, it came to be used as an umbrella term that included gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people. Nevertheless, a sizable percentage of people to whom this term might apply still hold queer to be a hateful insult, and its use by heterosexuals is often considered offensive. Similarly, other reclaimed words are usually offensive to the in-group when used by outsiders, so extreme caution must be taken concerning their use when one is not a member of the group.

So, hear that all you straight-ies? You better show some respect to us fags! If you're not part of our club, you had better tread carefully (that's Mister Bottom to you!). Actually, if my penetrating wit is not making it obvious, I'm not particularly uptight about people referencing my sexual orientation in whatever way they happen to express themselves. When that hot homophobic straight guy saw me kiss my date a couple years ago and said under his breath (but loud enough to make sure he was heard) "f***ing faggot," I just smiled and said, "No, that comes after dinner." (Note that, in addition to being hot, he was also pretty short, so I figured I could out-run him if necessary.)

Today, as I read that paragraph from the dictionary, I thought about the fact that the term queer has really gone through an evolution much more active than most words. Today it is becoming more and more a positive, pro-gay "political" label after years of being a term of malignment. However, any sexual connotation good or bad is only applicable during the fairly recent life of the word. Before that it had the meaning simply of being "odd." I love running across queer and gay in classic literature, because, in light of modern usage, it makes me giggle, and I can enjoy being shallow and erudite simultaneously (think "Beavis and Butthead do Shakespeare").

Some examples:

"The man made a queer noise in his throat." (Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter)

• Jimmy Bean! What are you sucking on?
  

"For, as night came on, a queer, empty feeling at the pit of his stomach reminded the Marionette that he had eaten nothing as yet." (The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi)

• Do you know why Jiminy Cricket got kicked out of Geppetto's workshop? Because he kept sitting on Pinocchio's nose and yelling "Lie to me!"
  

"You can't conceive how queer it all seems to a country person like me, as queer as that gentleman's nails I saw at your place." (Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy)

• All romantics resemble one another, each disturbing fetish is disturbing in its own way.
  

"It is a queer man-pride that leads one to drink with men in order to show as strong a head as they." (John Barleycorn by Jack London)

• ...taken from the Sidetrack mission statement, I assume
  

"Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in." (Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain)

• Don't try and fool me no more, Tom; I know what it means! Huck Finn. Huck Nasty! You didn't go up there to fish!
  

"Since she had been living in other people's houses and had had no Ayah, she had begun to feel lonely and to think queer thoughts which were new to her." (The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett)

• No wonder Mary was always staring dreamily at the bushes....
  

"This is a queer country, and we may as well take people as we find them." (The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum)

• I was ready to take the Tin Woodsman when I found him. Got him all oiled up, but then I realized a heart was not the only thing he was missing.
  

"Very well; now steer toward the wharf where the big ship with the queer flag is." (Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott)

• First-ever documented gay cruise advertisement.
  

"I doubt if I looked as queer as you." (Turn of the Screw by Henry James)

• C'mon...Turn of the Screw? That's way too easy!
  

"Now, the people of the Pequod had been baling some time in this way; several tubs had been filled with the fragrant sperm; when all at once a queer accident happened." (Moby Dick by Herman Mellville)

• Aw Moby! You got it on my pillow! You and your damn dick!
  

"I knew he wanted to make his queer noises for me--to bark like a dog or whinny like a horse--but he did not dare in the presence of his elders." (My Antonia by Willa Cather)

• And on that note, have a fabulous day!