Jeez Jon

Go Back To The Tundra Already

Sarah Palin resigning as governor of Alaska.  The sooner she just goes away, the better.  Wow, the GOP is really imploding right in front of our eyes, isn't it?

Ominous Statement Of The Day

This morning I parked in the 90 minute free parking lot by my gym.  With my workout bag over my shoulder, I locked my car and walked to the staircase.  Behind me, I heard someone say a bright "Good morning!" I turned around and saw a thin man in his mid-70's, wearing a white button-down shirt, tie and a black vest, locking his Toyota Corolla as his wife was gathering her belongings.

Me: "Good morning!"

Elderly Gentleman: "How are you today?"

Me [still walking to the staircase]:  "I'm fine, sir.  How are you?"

Elderly Gentleman [with a dark smile]: "Oh, your turn will come soon enough."

Me: "..."

By this time, I had reached the staircase and promptly stopped.  What the hell did that mean, exactly?  While I was seriously considering walking back up the stairs to ask him that, the reason portion of my brain kicked in:  "The parking is only free for 90 minutes and today is 'Weights'. So, get a move on." So, I walked down the staircase with this man's odd statement bouncing around my brain.  So very weird...

Where The Sidewalk Ended

Stunned.  Very, very stunned. RIP, Michael. 

Breaking Down The Hustler Douche

The show I just finished working on, MTV's Is She Really Going Out With Him, starting airing this week.  The show is a very snarky take on relationships where hot girls date total douchebags.  My first episode, chronicling the type of 'bag known as the Hustler Douche, aired today.  Here are some clips below (with an ad before each clip, fyi).  As the story producer, I shaped the story for the episode, was responsible for writing the voice-over (with a huge assist from my editor) and coming up with a lot of jokes.  Here's our hustler douche Adam talking about the most gangsta of accessories, the flat-iron:

MTV Shows

Oh yeah.  Later on, Adam takes his girlfriend Allie out to dinner, and displays some impeccable manners... or not:

Is She Really Going Out With Him? - MTV Shows

The final clip I'll show is you how Adam gets ready for a party. Why tan outside when you can use a can?

Is She Really Going Out With Him? - MTV Shows

See? This is how much fun I've been having on this show.  Rarely in reality TV do you get to actually show how ridiculous the participants are, and I ran with this opportunity.  My other two episodes air in 3 weeks, and the show is hilarious.  Check it out, when you have the chance.

A Small Step Is Better Than No Step

A few minutes ago, President Obama signed a memorandum instructing the Executive Branch of the government extend certain benefits to LGBT members of the government and their families.  Here's the video:

[Hat tip: Towleroad]

In addition to this memorandum, Obama acknowledged that this, indeed, is only a small step.  He also mentioned that the federal government cannot extend full insurance rights to its same-sex employees due to the odorous Defense of Marriage Act, and he reiterated his campaign pledge to repeal DOMA. He also mentioned about the Lieberman-Collins Benefits and Obligations Act, which would explicitly give LBGT goverment employees parity to their hetero counterparts (And yes, the one of the big co-sponsors of the bill is Sen. Joseph Lieberman).  

Now, a lot of hay has been made as to why Obama is doing something about this today.  The Department of Justice last week defended DOMA in a legal brief, even citing cases of incest to defend the exisiting legislation.  Because of this, lots of bigwigs in the LGBT community are now backing out of a huge upcoming DNC fundraiser, featuring Vice-President Biden.  Many feel that this memoranda today is throwing the gay community a bone to help quelch any potential PR problems the DNC and the administration might have with a very vocal portion of its base. 

This is, indeed, a very small step, and I'm glad that the President did acknowledge that.  This is also the first time the President has spoken about LGBT rights extensively since he took office (and I use the term "extensively" rather loosely).  I voted for Obama over Hillary in the primary because of LGBT issues, so like a lot of people, I've been rather impatient with his lack of movement on the core political issue in my life.  But also, I do think we need to cut the President a wee bit of slack.

Obama is the first President in office who at least has even courted the LGBT community since Clinton.  And in the 6 years that the Republicans controlled all three branches of government (from Jan. 20, 2001 to Jan. 20, 2007), not one piece of legislation has ever been passed helping the gay community.  Obama's been in office for roughly 5 months, and let's face it, he has a lot on his plate right now.  While doing this memo is throwing us gays a bone (and it is), he is at least responding to the pressure we were giving, unlike our last President.  So, let's keep up the pressure and make sure Obama delivers on his campaign promises, while at the same take realizing that all this is going to take a while.

Where I've Been This Weekend

The in-laws are visting, staying at a timeshare in Palm Springs, one of my favorite cities.  We've been bouncing back and forth from the desert to L.A. and back, making a busy (but wonderful) weekend.  I'm at work right now (...really, boss, blogging helps me focus) and tomorrow we're off to Disneyland, and then I'm back at work for the rest of the week as Tom entertains them.  If you have never been to Palm Springs, I highly recommend it.  It has a great, relaxed vibe to it, great shopping and restaurants, it's exceedingly gay-friendly, and it's so damn comfortable.  If you want to go someplace to not really do much of anything, Palm Springs is your city.  I'd love to get the cash together to get a second home there.  Can't wait to go back...

PS: A very belated (but heartfelt) birthday shout-out to Jen.  You are a wonderful, sharp person, Jen, and I am so very glad that we've been friends for so long.

That Angel Guy Just Felt Me Up

From the makers of a-ha's Pipe Wrench Fight comes "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

So. Damn. Funny. [H/T: OMG Blog]

Recession Help: Tuesday Night Movie Club

This started months ago, I believe in October. Tom and the cadre of neighbors we hang with were bandying around some ideas of how to entertain ourselves during these tight economic times.  They struck on the idea of watching our DVD of Clash of the Titans one Tuesday night.  We all gathered at Sue's, did a potluck dinner and watched 80's camp fantasy unfold in front of our eyes.  We'd all seen it before, of course, but it was great watching it again, especially in a group setting.  So, the idea came to make it a weekly ritual.  We'd get together on Tuesday nights, and watch an 80's fantasy (then Sci-Fi) film with a potluck dinner and lots of company.  The film had to be rather campy.  So, we ruled all ruled out The Dark Crystal, deeming it too good.  After Titans, we watched Legend.  And The Beastmaster. Then Excalibur. Then The Last Starfighter. And Flash Gordon. Etc.

The bulk of the films come from our individual libraries, so it's not like we're spending oodles of cash every week.  We also try to theme the food we're eating to the film we're watching.  For Flash Gordon, we did a Mongolian-style stir fry.  Since the setting of The Last Starfighter is a trailer park, we did a lot of trailer trash cuisine (which meant a lot of mac-'n-cheese  w/franks).  Frequently, we'll make too much food for the group (which ranges in size each week from 5 to 9, depending on who's available), so we'll have plenty of leftovers to eat throughout the week. 

We exhausted the 80's sci-fi with the one-two punch of the seriously obnoxious, smug, boy-it-doesn't-hold-up-well Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. We all universally hated it.  I didn't remember digging it too well when I saw it on cable way back in '85, but yeesh, it's awful.  The following week, we sat through Heavy Metal, the boobtastic "adult" animated fantasy film.  It's not a good movie, and it did not go over well at all.  Frustrated by all the boob and no peen action, our neighbor Mitch said she'd take care of the film for the following week... which was the excellent Forgetting Sarah Marshall. So now, we are each taking turns surprising each other with our movie selection.  Last week, Shawn brought us Slither, which was pretty awesome.  The week before, Sue put on The Wizard of Oz... but set to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. The best section is when Dorothy lands in Oz and arrives in Munchintown, and... well, just watch.

Pretty amazing, no? 

The whole point of this is that you can entertain yourselves cheaply and thoroughly by just going through your own movie libraries, venturing into your kitchen, and calling some friends.  Pretty easy... and tons of fun.

Being Part Of A Club I Didn't Want To Join

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court ruled on the validity of Prop 8, and saying it is a mixed decision is a huge understatement.  They ruled that Prop 8 is valid, eliminating the rights of the millions of gay & lesbians residents in the Golden State from receiving marriage licenses.  But, they also agreed that the 18,000-some same-sex couples that did get married in the few months when it was legal will also be recognized.  So, to boil it down for you, my marriage to my husband is legal in a state where it's not legal.  Confused?  I'm not.  I'm angry.

The reasoning why some people are applauding the court upholding Prop 8 was because it was voted on by the people and it passed with a (slim) majority.  So, my rights are now able to be voted on by the majority, and that's a good thing?  People taking away the rights of their citizens is a plus? Rights are called rights for a reason; they are the fundamental blocks of democracy that cannot be taken away for any reason.  But now, the rights of lots of my fellow Californians have been taken away and ruled on by our highest court.  What's next?  Will we vote on whether Latinos have the right to assemble?  Or that Buddhists are subject to improper search and seizure?  Or that that handicapped don't have the right to bare arms?  I flat out reject the argument of Prop 8 even being an issue to be voted on.  My rights aren't the majority's to dictate, and vice versa.  I'm not a huge fan of sharing the state with TBN, but I do, and they are completely within their rights to say what they want to say and broadcast their treacly, self-serving rhetoric. 

Some people via Facebook have told me their condolences and also said that hey, at least my marriage is still intact. I'm now in a rather exclusive club that includes George Takei, Ellen Degeneres and Portia DiRossi: gay marrieds who are still gay married.  We have the rights of marriage in our state and have it recognized in a few other states, but now we're in a weird legal limbo.  Say Tom and I get into a car accident and I die.  Tom cannot remarry in California.  In any legal proceedings that we may get involved with, we will have to show that our marriage license was indeed validated in the few months in 2008 to prove that yes, we are married. So, really, we're married... with an asterisk.  I don't want to be married with a fucking asterisk; I just want to be married.  Also, the fact that I'm married doesn't help the friends of mine who are single right now who want to be married in the future, who long for growing old with their spouse and sharing a life together.  Instead, they'll get the "domestic partnership" instead.  Separate is not equal, and my special status of being Gay Married * is not equal, either.  It's neither fish nor fowl, up or down.  It's just odd place to be, and that's not where I want my (or anyone else's) marriage to fall.

I know that the gay marriage ban will be back on the ballot very quickly, possibly even next year.  In the meantime, I'm hoping the people who were organizing the anti-Prop 8 movement will learn the lessons from the previous battle, and focus on education and outreach.  I'm hoping that it'll get turned around by then.  But in the meantime, we need to be focused and on top of this issue.  We need to keep talking about this, and I'll do my best to show everyone that a gay married couple is equally as boring and dull as any hetero married couple.  Seriously, people, we work, we go home, we have dinner together, we hang out with friends, and that's about it.  We do everything that any other straight married couple do; we just do it with an unwated asterisk attached. And that simply will not do.

My Head Sounds Like This: Can't Get You Out Of My Head

As the (incredibly long and rather difficult) work week is coming rapidly to a close, I felt it was fitting to go out with a fun ditty. Now, this admission will probably cost me a bunch of Cool Points, but I am a fan of both Coldplay and Kylie Minogue.  And I'm a big fan of covers. So, imagine how giddy I was when I discovered this fun cover Coldplay did of my favorite Kylie tune, 'Can't Get You Out of My Head":

What really sells this for me is not only Chris Martin's playful banter at the beginning (and for also rocking the facial stubble), but it's his sheer pleasure he has to rocking out to this dance anthem. He's having a blast and because of that, I am too. 

And yes, you won't be able to get it out of your head.