Sad Day

The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8. Inequality and bigotry is still alive and well in 21st century America.


©2009 New York Times



This is a sad day indeed. A sad day for California. A sad day for the fair-minded people of the United States. But we will keep on fighting for equal rights for everyone in this country. Change for the better will come. Eventually.



Taken from www.towleroad.com


For now though, we feel just sad.


That is all we have to say today.

The Creative Evolution of Stupiditism

We haven’t been keeping up with Bill Maher’s show on HBO lately and had to record the last few episodes. Even though we’re not quite up-to–date, here are some great lines from May 1st broadcast:

“There’s nothing wrong with putting Jesus on the Florida license plate. He’s a 2,000-year-old Jew. Where else would he live? But, would it kill you to show him with a little tan?! Is he waiting to be resurrected or defrosted?”






“Since viruses, like swine flu, get to be potentially deadly because they “evolved,” if you don’t believe in evolution and you get it, you have to pray it away.

You can’t crap all over Darwin and stem cell research and global warming and then come crawling back to science when you want Tamiflu. That’s for us sinners.”





“Now, last week I spoke about Governor Rick Perry of Texas, who mentioned secession as an option for dealing with Obama’s big government. But, now with swine flu from Mexico coming at him, suddenly the idea of being all alone on the border isn’t quite so romantic, is it?


Yes, Governor Perry hates two things: government and science. He appointed a creationist to head the Texas Board of Education. Which is shocking. Texas has a board of education?! And now he wants 37,000 courses of antiviral flu medicine. Sorry, Rick, we’re all out. But, we do have 37,000 tea bags. Will that help?”


= = = = =


“Folks, there is a lot that isn’t known yet about this swine flu, but there is one thing that we do know: the process that brought us the new flu is called evolution. It’s not rocket science, but it is science. A virus is Darwinian behavior we can see in real time. We can see that it jumps on a host, procreates until the host is exhausted and then jumps on something new. Like Mel Gibson.


Or think of it this way: viruses are like the free market. You adapt to survive or you die. I mean, except for Citibank and AIG and Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, General Motors, Bear Stearns... Okay, bad example. They’re nothing like the free market.


And, by the way, intelligence-challenged members of the mainstream media, creationism and Darwinism are not “opposing but equally legitimate theories” to be treated as such. This flu virus didn’t make the leap from pigs to humans because God felt like fucking with Mexicans. It happened because, like I said, viruses adapt to survive. Just like all other organisms on Planet Earth. With the possible exception of the Republican National Committee.”


You can read more about this particular episode by clicking here.


= = = = =



And since this entry deals with evolution versus creationism, religion and other superstitious fairy-tales, I thought I’d share this cartoon which I’ve found this morning:






So, is everybody happy now? That should settle this whole creative evolutionism controversy.


Wait...or was it the darwinistic creativinicity of theorizing evolutionists?


Oh, you know what I mean...the Federation of Planet’s Prime Directive.


Whatever...shut up!

Man spricht (noch) Deutsch

Nun sollte ich aber einmal wirklich wieder etwas auf Deutsch schreiben. Es ist bereits eine Ewigkeit her wann ich das zuletzt gemacht habe. Was soll ich da noch dazu sagen? Wenn man seit über 17 Jahren in einem anderen Land lebt, dann verlernt man langsam die eigene Sprache oder die Lebensweise mit der man aufgewachsen ist. Man spricht, denkt und lebt mehr und mehr wie in meinem Fall, ein Amerikaner. Selbst Träume sind in Englisch. Man sieht alles wie in einem Film. Ein Hollywoodspektakel in hochauflösender Breitbildqualität und digitalen Surroundsound.







Es ist jetzt nicht so das ich in der Zwischenzeit die deutsche Sprache total vergessen habe. Aber ich merke schon das ich manchmal über einige Wörter nachgrübeln muß. Selbst der vorhergehende Satz klingt plötzlich falsch. Wahrscheinlich ist es auch. Na, ist ja toll. Bin ich etwa schon von der “American Paranoia” befallen worden?



Who knows?



Ich war ziemlich gut im Deutschunterricht, als ich noch auf die St.-Anna-Volksschule in München ging. Wenn ich nun meine Familie oder Freunde in Deutschland anrufe, müssen selbst sie mir helfen ein paar englische Wörter zu übersetzen, da mir in dem Moment beim besten Willen die deutschen einfach nicht einfallen wollen.



Ich denke das geht jedem Einwanderer so. Einer meiner deutschen Cousins, der geraume Zeit in London lebte, hörte sich letztendlich wie ein deutschsprechender Engländer an. Er hatte sich tatsächlich einen Akzent zugelegt. Auch ihm fiel es schwer auf deutsch zu reden oder sogar zu denken. Dabei ist er eigentlich sowas wie ein Ur-bayer.



Vieles ist in der englischen Sprache einfacher zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Es gibt natürlich auch hier Ausnahmen. Aber im großen und ganzen ist es besser. Und es klingt auch besser. Es hat nicht diesen fast brutal klingenden, messerscharfen Befehlston, den die deutsche Sprache manchmal vermittelt. Obwohl man es natürlich nicht so meint. Es hat auch etwas mit der deutschen Lebensweise zu tun. Man ist viel direkter und sagt eben was man zu sagen hat oder denkt, ohne ein großes emotionales Drama zu machen.



Für die englischsprechende Masse klingt Deutsch eher hart und unmelodisch. Nach über 17 Jahren klingt es selbst für mich sehr krass. Für Amerikaner insbesonders. Zum Beispiel ist hier nur ein simples “Guten Morgen” einfach nicht nachvollziehen. Dafür sind sie zu “bubbly”, ein weiteres typisch englisches Wort, daß die Amerikaner ziemlich gut beschreibt, man aber in Deutsch verzweifelt suchen wird. Ein großer Teil der Amerikaner singen fast diese morgendliche Begrüßung mit einem herzlichen Lächeln, gefolgt von einem “Wie geht es denn heute? Ist es nicht ein wunderschöner Tag”? Viele Deutsche sind davon eher genervt und sehen diese Verhaltensweise eher als zu oberflächlich an. Was in den meisten Fällen nicht ist. So sind sie eben, die Amerikaner. Es ist einfach Teil ihrer Psyche.



Das bedeutet jetzt nicht das die Amerikaner nicht auch ihre Macken haben. Ganz gewiß nicht. Sie sind wirklich etwas naiv und nicht besonders weltgewandt, was wiederum auf andere Gründe beruht. Und spätestens seit dieser Wirtschaftskrise wissen wir alle das in Amerika nicht alles Gold ist was glänzt. Vieles wurde während des George W. Bush “Regime” kaputt gemacht. Und es ist schon lange nicht mehr das beste Land der Welt, daß es einmal war. Aber welches Land ist schon perfekt? Das ist allerdings eine völlig andere Geschichte. Es könnte vielleicht ein interesantes Thema für einen kommenden Blogeintrag werden?



Wie dem auch sei, ich wollte bloß ein paar Zeilen auf Deutsch loswerden. Auch um zu sehen wie es mittlerweile um meine Deutschkenntnisse steht. Ich mache das ja auch nicht mehr jeden Tag. Aber ich denke das ich es noch ziemlich gut drauf habe. Bestimmt sind hier und da einige grammatische Fehler zu entdecken, aber was will man erwarten wenn man über 17 Jahre lang von den hiesigen Sprachgewohnheiten berieselt worden ist.



Es ist ja nicht so als ob Deutsche nicht selbst ihren eigenen Slang zur Gesellschaft beitragen. All die verschiedenen Dialekte und andere saloppe Umgangssprachen können selbst die Einheimischen auf die Palme treiben.

Drilling and Trekking

George and I enjoyed a nice weekend. In-between watching the new “Star Trek” movie, seeing a decent interpretation of the musical “The Music Man” live on stage, celebrating Mother’s Day with George’s mom and him meeting up with his study buddies, we were able to squeeze in some down time to just relax and enjoy the moment.



Good thing too because I needed strong nerves and save up all of my energy and strength for another visit to the dentist’s office yesterday. What a way to start a week.



Without getting into too much detail, but my two upper incisors needed to be come out and be prepped for a bridge. Yesterday was the first stage. I had a root canal done years ago but in the meantime the area decayed to a point where the teeth couldn’t be saved anymore.



My two options were either implants or a bridge. I opted for the latter since I’m not a millionaire, not a big fan of oral or any kind of surgery and wanted to get this ordeal done and over with as quickly as possible.




Even though I decided to go with a bridge, getting it over with quickly was easier said than done. Whatever was left from the previous root canal treatment had to be removed first. And that proofed to be quiet the unexpected challenge for my dentist. Let’s just say that I spent half of Monday in that dentist’s chair while my dentist was desperately trying to drill and yank out whatever it was that needed to come out. She got quite the workout and I have a slight idea what torture must feel like.




I was numbed enough to not feeling a thing but it’s still the whole notion of knowing that a person is messing around inside my mouth. I always wondered what makes someone decide to become a dentist in the first place? What is the appeal? They must see something fascinating in looking at other people’s rotting teeth, dealing with drooling saliva and bad breath.




Um...can you say “Ewww?”




But somebody has got to do it. And I’m glad there are some brave souls out there willing to deal with that.




After nearly four hours of first making imprints of my existing teeth, poking lots of localized anesthesia injections into my gums and the roof of my mouth and then trying to rip out pieces of my skull, I finally got my temporary teeth in place. It feels weird. I’m not allowed to eat solid foods and bite into anything obvious like an apple or corn-on-the-cob. Not even a cheeseburger. For the next two weeks.




Oh joy!




Well, I wanted to loose some weight anyway. I guess that’s one way to do it. Get some teeth work done. And I’ll be back to see the dentist on June 1st for more biting fun.






I’m not a Trekkie, Trekker or whatever those trekksters call themselves nowadays, but I do like “Star Trek.” And after watching the newest incarnation of the franchise last Friday evening I love “Star Trek.” What a ride. To be honest, I didn’t think they could pull it off. I seriously thought I’d be disappointed, especially after all the hype.




But this “Star Trek” is amazing. Giving the likable characters and familiar settings a whole new look and twist without loosing much of the original idea behind the whole Star Trek saga was quite an achievement. The filmmakers managed to literally introduce the beginnings of Star Trek to a whole new generation of movie goers without offending true die-hard fans. My only gripe though was the soundtrack. I didn’t care much for the score. I missed the more empathetic music by Jerry Goldsmith or even Alexander Courage. Even though Courage’s iconic theme from the original 1960’s TV series was partly used during the roll of the end credits, it felt forced and cheesy.




I’m glad that this new “Star Trek” movie is successful and gives the seemingly tired franchise a much needed jolt. And it sounds like there will be more Trek movies on the horizon too. I can’t wait.





Speaking of tired franchise. Am I the only one who liked the last movie, “Star Trek: Nemesis” with the Next Generation crew? I like to say that it was even one of the best of all the Trek movies. I watched it again not too long ago and I still loved it. Maybe it wasn’t popular because it was a very dark Trek. Too many hidden political agendas and messages of the time (2002) in the plot?




My favorite Star Trek movies are “The Wrath of Khan,” “The Voyage Home,” “First Contact,” “Nemesis” and now this new “Star Trek.” Which ones do you like?




Wow! This makes it my first blog poll. I wonder if anyone out there in the space-time continuum will actually participate to solve these terrestrial mysteries?

Zoinks! Bam! Clunk! Thud!

Not that I consider myself a journalist, mind you. But apparently I'm a sound effect!







“POOF!”


Yeah, that's what I sound like.

Show Your Pride

George and I went to see the Gay Pride parade last Friday evening in downtown Las Vegas. After enjoying a delicious Mexican dinner at one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants we had some extra time to kill before the parade started around eight o’clock. We just wandered around somewhat aimlessly, taking in the “old” Vegas and taking some pictures along the way.

It was a nice parade and there was a very large crowd. Where are all these thousands of gay people during the rest of the year? I was also surprised by the large number of very young gay and lesbians kids. Or maybe I am just getting really old.

Hmmm?!

Anyway, while the parade was nice and featured some creative and diverse entries, the pace seemed slow and at times was just dragging unnecessarily. It didn’t helped matters that there were wide gaps between many participating marchers and floats. That was due to the live television broadcast of the parade at the beginning of the route, where a small stage was built for the commenting television hosts. They made the parade either slow down or come to a complete halt to interview some people or for commercial breaks.

It was also a bit strange that they would set up the cameras away from where most of the people were lined up to see the parade. When we were watching the parade again on television the next day, it looked as if there were hardly any spectators at all. Even though there was a huge and lively crowd just a few blocks north which would have definitely provided a much more exciting background.

All in all, it was a peaceful and fun event without any major incidence. There was however an ugly scene afterwards between some religious people, whom were holding up signs with anti-gay slogans, and many gay spectators. I won’t go into details as most of it was truly nasty and involved the usual yelling and insults. In the end it was basically a shouting competition between the two opposing groups.

The parade ended at Fremont Street Experience where thousands of partying gays and lesbians started to disperse and mingle with rather perplexed tourists, whom weren’t quiet sure what to make of all the commotion. On top of that, there was the hourly presentation of the light show under the huge video canopy and a post-parade outdoor party with live bands and lots of alcohol. We’ve never seen Fremont Street, or downtown in general, that busy.

Below are some of the photos I took, along with a few that were published in the Las Vegas Sun the next day. To read the short Las Vegas Sun article and see more of their photos, please click here. Additional photos can also be seen on QVegas, the monthly local LGBT magazine and one of the sponsors of Gay Pride. Click here and here.

©2009 Las Vegas Sun


The oldest, still operating hotel & casino in Las Vegas, the “Golden Gate”

Thousands of light bulbs, another sign of “old” Vegas, lights up the side walk along the “Plaza” on Main Street

Where old Vegas meets new Vegas.

Every American city seems to have at least one of these typical 1970s highrise buildings

Here is the 2009 Las Vegas Gay Pride Parade!

©2009 Las Vegas Sun

©2009 Las Vegas Sun

©2009 Las Vegas Sun

The Freemont Street Experience

Gay Pride

This week is Gay Pride Week in Las Vegas.



Our Pride Parade starts tonight at 8:00 p.m. in downtown Las Vegas. It will even be broadcast live on one of the local cable channels. If you want to watch it live online, go to http://www.cox96.net/. It will be repeated throughout the month of May.



From what I understand, this parade is one of only a handful of Gay Pride parades in the world which is held at night. That makes it special I suppose. It doesn’t change the fact that the gay community in Las Vegas is rather invisible for the rest of the year. They mostly come together whenever there’s a party involved. Like a parade or a beer bust.



I don’t blame the people though. It’s this town. Las Vegas is too transient. Too many people come and go. And the majority of people whom actually decide to stay and trying to make a living here have impossible working hours. That, among other things, makes it hard to get to know people and form friendships. Which in turn also makes it extremely difficult to growing roots, helping to form a lasting foundation for creating a sense of community.



In any case, this is Pride Week. But what are we LGBT people proud of? I’m not particular proud to be gay, nor am I ashamed of it. I don’t advertise it but I don’t hide it either. How could I? You also won’t find me walking around and asking heterosexual people if they are straight. What difference does it make anyway? It’s what I am. I can’t change it. Sorry, but despite what all fanatic religious Republican nutcases claim, there is no switch or a button to turn my homosexuality on or off. If it is that easy, then why don’t heterosexuals try to be homosexuals for a minute or an hour? You know, just for the heck of it. To see what it feels like. Why don’t black people flick the switch to become Asian people?



Ooohh...ooohhh...wait! I really wanna be a Vulcan. That’s it! Where is that damn switch?



When I look at a beautiful woman I can admire her looks and appreciate her wits, but nothing else happens down there in the plumbing department. No switch there to “turn me on.” While all the straight guys may go all gaga over her boobs, I’d probably ask what her take on global warming may be.



On the other hand, if you’d put a man like Jason Statham or a younger Sam Elliott (hell, I take the older one too) in front of me, than it’s me who hears all the bells ringing. Hallejuja! Fireworks galore, if you know what I mean. Are my jeans getting tighter? Hot Dang!



But back to the whole Gay Pride thing. If people would actually believe in equality, the whole “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” thing and the United States Constitution, and be more understanding and tolerant, as Christianity is supposedly teaching us to be, then there would not be the need for a Gay Pride celebration. Or the need for a Black History Month. Or a Hispanic Heritage Week. We all would be equal. The same as everyone else. It wouldn’t matter if a man or a woman is straight, gay, black, jewish, disabled, of royal descent or a farm worker. We would all have the same rights.



No, let me rephrase that. We DO have the same rights. Yet, we are still fighting for these rights. And why the hell is this even disputed in this so-called “land of the free?”



Besides, why the fuck (excuse my fleeting expletives, FCC) would I voluntarily want to be a gay person, when a lot of people call me offensive names for this very fact. Or spit in my face. Or beat me to a pulp. Or basically crucify me to a fence and leave me to die. And no, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, Mathew Shepard’s death and the way he was killed was not a hoax!



Tell me, please. Why would I want all the hatred, abuse and threats to George’s and my life if all I would have to do is turn “it” off.



Because I can’t. It’s not possible.



I am gay!



Nothing to be done about it or proud or ashamed of.



But I am who I am. I like who I am. I like to laugh. I get hungry. I have dreams. I feel pain. I have a job. I pay taxes. I have the most loving and amazing man whom I share a wonderful life and a beautiful home with. And I love him with all my heart until the day I die.



And for that...I’m very proud indeed.



Happy Pride!

Blogger, Booger...

...what’s the difference really?!