Wednesday, May 30, 2007

For the second time this month, Tinky Winky breathes a sigh of relief


According to Pink News, Ewa Sowinska is dropping her investigation of whether Teletubbies turns kiddies teh ghey. If you recall, the Polish ombudsman for children's affairs was concerned about--yawn--the fact that the male character Tinky Winky carries a purse. When I read the article in a rather cursory fashion, I realized they aren't likely to say a television program with a big ol' fuh-laming queen might just be innocuous, or even beneficial, to early childhood development. That's fine, I'm just as happy with them admitting that television (and this show in particular) is fantasy, and that it shouldn't all be taken so damn seriously.

Then I looked at the article again, and this quote from Sowinska's spokeswoman caught my eye:

"They are fictional characters, they have nothing to do with reality, and the bag and scissors and other props the fictional characters use are there to create a fictional world that speaks to children," Ms Lipinska said.

My second thought was "Obviously, these folks aren't so hostile to The Homosexual Agenda™ after all." My first thought, of course, was "They spelled her name wrong."

Monday, May 28, 2007

Jordin Sparks weighs in on the burning issue of the day

That whole MeMe Roth thing got me so furious I decided not to blog about it. As belledame222 pointed out in her comment about my Ann Coulter post, the real question is why the hell these hateful individuals keep getting air time, and on so-called news programs, yet. If for some reason you have not already seen the video, go to Feministe and check it out.

So why do I bring it up now? Because the AP put out a story about Jordin Sparks and the runner up dude, which contained the following grafs:

How will she stay grounded, resisting entertainment industry pressures that can include an extreme emphasis on weight?

"Oh, that super-thin stuff — Hollywood needs to get over it," she said lightly.

Well, that seems pretty level-headed, doesn't it? I hope she manages to keep that attitude in her further adventures in the entertainment industry.

Speaking of American Idol, I keep seeing the runner-up referred to as a "beatboxer." I haven't seen any of his performances, but I'm guessing they also include him putting down a piece of corrugated cardboard and spinning on his head. You know, they've just come out with Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean 3--I wonder if Ice-T is available to be in Breakin' 3? And what the heck would the subtitle be? However could you top Electric Boogaloo?

I don't know how to tell you this, but Charles Nelson Reilly is (blank)


The Boy put it well: "...and the world is that much less flamboyant."

Sunday, May 27, 2007

An afternoon of escapism

I've been spending a lot of time lately reading blogs. The blogs I like tend to deal with racism, sexism, homophobia, issues of class, and the always lovely intersection of those in various combinations. And you know what? Sometimes this stuff upsets me. Gives me a headache, even.

So, today, I gave myself a little break, and watched some old TV. To be perfectly honest, most of the television I watch is old TV. But today, I watched with an agenda. My plan was to put politics, race hatred, misogyny and the like out of my mind, and what better way to do so than with The Jeffersons, ST:TOS and the Sunday afternoon block of "family" programs on MeTV?

As it turns out, this was not only a diverting but an educational afternoon. First off, I learned a lot about how things are for biracial Americans by watching an episode of The Jeffersons that featured Jenny and Allan, the children of Tom and Helen Willis. According to Allan, the "white" child--yes, I've seen the character referred to in this way in several places--all black folk wonder what it would be like to be white, or at least what it would be like to enjoy white skin privilege. Okay, I'll admit that it has occurred to me to wonder what it's like to not be viewed as other by the majority of folks the minute one walks into, well, just about anywhere. Apparently, though, when a darker-skinned sibling has a lighter skinned one, it's also natural for that person to think "Why me? Why am I not the one who's perceived as white?" Imagine, all these years being an American of mixed race (and one who had a sister who was fairer complected, and often assumed to be Caucasian by strangers), and I never realized that's what I was supposed to think. Of course, Allan Willis' answer to all the stress of Americans' need to put everyone they meet in a racial box was to leave the country and pass for white, and that's completely understandable, or so the folks on The Jeffersons seemed to think. The most important lesson I learned from this show is one I wish I'd know years ago, because it sure would have come in handy on many occasions--if you encounter folks who think you're not authentically black enough, as George Jefferson thought of Allan, you can always win them over by demonstrating your proficiency in playing the dozens. Now they tell me! It'll even win over any darker-skinned (and naturally, jealous of you) sibling you may have hanging around. That's right--Jenny sighed, awestruck, "I didn't know he could do that!"

And to further help me with my deepening understanding of racial issues, there was the very heavy Facts of Life episode called "Who am I?" in which Tootie discovers that she is--gasp--a Negro. This fact is revealed to her by her new friend, the black and very race-conscious Fred. Her association with this young man leads her to question the fact that she's in a small minority at her fancy-pants boarding school. She seeks out the camaraderie of her African-American sisters in the student body and--guess what?--she turns out to have just about nothing in common with any of the girls! Then Tootie decides that new pal Fred would be a more appropriate partner for the annual dance contest than Carl, the white kid with whom she won last year. She changes her mind, however, when she realizes that she has a better chance of winning with Carl. Luckily, she reassures Fred (and all of us in the audience) that although she'll be dancing with Carl, she'll be celebrating with him. Whew, that's a relief! I was afraid Eastland Academy was offering a degree in miscegenation.

You may have noticed I didn't say anything about the Star Trek episode I saw today. It was "Patterns of Force". What the heck can one say about that ep?

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Fred Phelps--irrefragably evil

I've figured it out: Fred Phelps has a bet on with someone that he can use the word "irrefragable" in a speech every single day.

To hear what the hateful old bastard has to say about the new grandchild of another hateful old bastard, proceed to Pam's House Blend. You can even see his comments. I've transcribed them and put them in comments over there.

Honest to God, I'd like to go one fucking day without having to read about something like this. Just one. Is that too much to ask? I guess I could not read any blogs (or newspapers, or magazines), or turn on the TV, and live under a damn rock. Sometimes that rock seems pretty inviting.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Oh, that this were true!

I spent the day on the net yesterday reading stuff that infuriated and upset me. I wanted to talk about some of it, but I simply couldn't deal with it. Thank goodness I found this to distract me.

I must admit that I am not a fan of AI--I have only seen the preliminary weeks, and I didn't see it at all this year--but even I know who Sanjaya Malakar is. Wouldn't it be cool if "Sanjaya" were just an artistic construct?



Wednesday, May 23, 2007

All Falwell, all the time

Several posts ago, I said I wouldn't blog any more about Falwell's death. Then the Westboro Baptist Church wingnuts got involved. "Okay, one more post," I thought, "then I'm finished." Then Ann Coulter put her oar in. After that, I thought, okay, this story has gotten as interesting (or bizarre) as it's going to, so there's no need to give it a lick of attention. Right?

Well, it seems that was just wishful thinking on my part. Now it seems a student at Liberty University decided that the best way to discourage WBC protests of Falwell's would be to set off a bomb or two. Here's the story on CNN.

I won't say I won't ever mention Falwell here again--who knows what further wackiness will ensue.

On an odd but positive note, people have been finding me because The Bisexualist is the #1 Google hit for "cause of Falwell's death."

Friday, May 18, 2007

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Yo, Orlando--represent!

Remember when people made fun of Jimmy Carter for quoting Dylan? Not nearly as funny as a Republican congressman quoting LL Cool J. Go to Think Progress to see Representative Ric Keller, uh, represent. It could be worse--at least he didn't quote the part about pulling out his jammy and making it go "blaw."

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Cause of Falwell's death revealed

I speculated in a previous post that a recent visit from the Equality bus may have caused Jerry Falwell to kick the bucket. Apparently, I was wrong. Bilerico has the press release from the Lesbian Death Avengers, a group of lesbian witches who hexed the ol' boy into the grave. Well, he certainly asked for it.

Speaking of "weenie groups like Soulforce," here's what Soulforce founder, Rev Dr. Mel White had to say: "It breaks my heart to think that Jerry died without ever discovering the truth about God's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children. I sincerely hope that one day his school and his church will have a change of heart." (from the article from Ekklesia, "a think-tank that promotes transformative theological ideas in public life." Just what I needed, another interesting news website.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Are we in bizarro world?

The Westboro Baptist Church--you know, Fred Phelps and friends--are going to "preach" at Jerry Falwell's funeral. Why? Among other things, it seems they didn't like Rev. Falwell's "God loves everyone" doctrine.
I get it--they're talking about the other Jerry Falwell, the nice one, not the one who said feminists, pagans and homosexuals are the reason the WTC isn't there anymore. Besides, he was apparently an Arminian*, and you know how they are.

Pam's House Blend has an image of the press release. Go there if you must read this sort of bullshit for yourself. Go ahead, you know you want to, and this way you don't actually have to go to the WBC site.

*No, he didn't change his name from Falwellian. Seriously, I have read this Arminian/Calvinist thing before, as well as other seeming minor doctrinal differences between various schools of thought and frankly, I have never figured out what the heck the big deal is. That's what happens when you don't have a good grounding in Christian theology. That's just one more thing that makes me a prime example of the type of person Rev. Falwell (the nice one) said makes this country great.

Falwell is dead

For years, Jerry Falwell has been there, in the media, spewing hate left and right. He's become such a part of the political landscape, it's hard to believe he won't be around anymore. Unfortunately,with all the other hatemongers around, and new ones popping up daily, there will be someone along momentarily to pick up the mantle.

I understand the impulse to say bad things about the man. Hell, I did so when he was alive, and I've never been one to believe that death automatically transforms an unlovable person into some kind of unassailable saint. Falwell's kicking the bucket doesn't change the fact that he spent his whole life using his considerable influence for evil. That said, the so-called "antimemorial" that's being planned in San Francisco is reprehensible. And let's face it, when it comes to pithy slogans aimed at the recently dead, you can't beat the Phelps clan at its own vitriolic game.

Falwell said so many disgusting, venomous, and just plain batshit crazy things over the course of his career, it was easy to lose track of them. The Carpetbagger has quite a list of his, ahem, accomplishments. I also found a list of some of Falwell's more memorable quotes at Pam's House Blend, with links to Media Matters articles, some with video.

As an antidote to all the anti-gay crap from Falwell, check out Soulforce, an organization founded by Mel White (yes, that Mel White) and his partner. Soulforce seeks to combat anti-GLBT hatred in Christian churches and other institutions. One of the actions Soulforce sponsors is the Equality Ride, modeled on the freedom rides. Every year, a busload of young activists tours Christian colleges and universities, seeking to raise awareness of their discriminatory policies. The Equality Ride bus was just at Liberty University a few weeks ago. Say, I wonder if that's what brought about the demise of its founder.

Fun fact: Mel White (before he came out) was the ghost writer of Jerry Falwell's autobiography.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Holy discontent, Batman!

For some reason, I didn't see this PSA when it was originally on TV, but luckily Feministing and Bitch, Ph.D. brought it to my attention. Enjoy.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Bisexual Judge In Sex Case Asked To Step Down

I saw this headline pop up on my site today, and of course I looked the story up. There's no further reference to the judge's sexual orientation, either as a source of the alleged bias or otherwise. I searched a bit on the judges name and "bias," and found no other accounts of this story. So, what the heck does this have to do with bisexuality? Anyone?

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Klein Sexual Orientation Grid

Holy cow, I'm bisexual! Go figure.

I scored an average of 3.14




01 2 3 4 5
6


HeterosexualBisexualHomosexual

Meaning

This result can also be related to the Kinsey Scale:


0 = exclusively heterosexual
1 = predominantly heterosexual, incidentally homosexual
2 = predominantly heterosexual, but more
than incidentally homosexual
3 = equally heterosexual and homosexual
4 = predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally
heterosexual
5 = predominantly homosexual, incidentally heterosexual
6 = exclusively homosexual

Summary


The idea of this exercise is to understand exactly how dynamic a person's sexual orientation can be, as well as how fluid it can be over a person's lifespan. While a person's number of actual homo/heterosexual encounters may be easy to categorize, their actual orientation may be completely different. Simple labels like "homosexual", "heterosexual", and "bisexual" need not be the only three options available to us.

Take the quiz

Friday, May 4, 2007

Roommates
















It's so nice to see these pictures from the good old days when two young, handsome bachelors could innocently share a home. They couldn't do it nowadays without some dirty-minded pervert trying to make a wholesome, manly friendship into something sexual.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Is kissing a girl "unusual behavior?"

Gig Harbor High School in Washington has changed the way in which it uses security cameras, and now says it will only use them for things like, you know, security. It caused quite a flap when someone from the school sent a video that showed two female students kissing to the parents of one of the girls because they had asked to be informed if their daughter engaged in any "unusual behavior." She was transferred to another school outside the district as a result, and the other girl says her privacy was invaded.
Not to get all legalistic, but these days, there's no way a reasonable person can have an expectation of privacy in the hallway of a high school. That being said, what the hell were the people in this school thinking when they sent to video off school premises to that kid's parents? And does anyone really believe they'd have done the same thing if the incident had involved a boy and a girl?
The story from the AP, here. The local TV news story (with audio of the transferred student's father, complete with the word "abomination") here.

First post

I'm making a first post because that's what you you when you blog, right? I'm not sure what this little blog will end up being. I'll be posting stuff that I find interesting, amusing, thought-provoking--and if my friends (or, dare I say it, people who don't know me) find it worth reading, I will be thrilled.

I haven't made any firm decisions on whether to moderate comments, or how often to post here, or even on the look of the thing, so don't be surprised if things change a great deal as I figure out exactly what I'm doing.

Well, as they say in Italian, in bocca al lupo--I'll just jump into the first real post, shall I?