May 14, 2006

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone calls Mom today, or sends a picture like these two young men. And don't hog your Raisin Bran either.

OMG last night Blowoff was a hoot! I saw a million people I haven't seen in a while and met a million more, and danced until 3am. I had to start charging for people to feel my butt - clearly the haircut is still working. I met local artists Scott Brooks (woofy, fyi) and Pat (Linas Garsys) and their respective parners. Todd and Doug were there representin' The MW...I hope to see a goofy photo of me with TJ and/or Chrisafer in the Scene section next week. At one point in the evening Chrisafer and I were watching TJ's sexy moves, giving each other a mutual nod of approval - not high in the technical category but smooth like a jungle cat on a hunt. The DC Bloggeratti were out and shirtless, including Dumbek, CynOp & 'Boo, Carl, and Sean Show & Co. Bob and Rich were in full effect, doing their duty as part of the creative class who improve city living and the economy.

There is a disturbance in the Blogosphere, not from the resultant gossip from last night's event, but from the discovery of yet another fake blog, this time of one written by several personalities of the same author. Back inna day before the diversification of blogs into news, punditry, porn, hate, music, gossip, birdwatching and other evolutions, most of the blogs were written either by tech geeks experimenting with a new medium or writers wanting a forum for their work. Then the crazies came out. Since then several false blogs have been discovered, or worse, those who completely plagarize or outright copy the work of existing blogs. At least a made-up blog is creative. In this particular case the content was well-written and sometimes interesting, but always a bit too incredible to believe. Then the problem I had was that the author was claiming to be an HIV professional, dispensing medical advice on his blog, using only himself as a cited source. That's dangerous waters when a reader's health is at stake from non-academic opinion. I feel like a fool for giving props to this blog in the past, but now the link is removed and a lesson learned. Not everything on the Internets is real or to be believed. Plus, bloggers who share their lives and real stories on the 'net get really pissed off by the misrepresentin' wierdos out there. Nobody likes getting taken for a fool.

The real Collective here is that of bloggers who share stories, compare facts, and have concern for others who may be hurt by such deception. It never ceases to amaze me that some people still believe the Internet is a wholly anonymous place - a vast impersonal sea where you can hide in unknown ports, trafficking your cargo of deception. The reality is that the Internet is in fact like a vast ocean, albeit littered with buoys, markers and sonar that works perfectly well in detecting and locating bullshit. An Internet Hanseatic League of sorts now exists, trading only in fact and truth. Anything else is just Bent.

FYI: 95% of the content of this blog is real. The fun part is for you to figure out what 5% is made up. The rest is genuine coffee-fueled rants and lustful conjecturing.

Posted by jimbo at 01:27 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

May 12, 2006

grizzly/polar bear hybrids & alterna-bears

Sho 'nuff tha shizzle fo tha 'pizzly' - strange polar bear / grizzly hybrid shot in Canada.

Many such strange and furry creatures will be at this weekend's Blowoff:

I have had it with contact lenses and glasses. I want LASIK NOW!!! Please drop me a line if you have any referrals or recommendations. MetroRail accessible and reasonably affordable are my priorities.

Posted by jimbo at 06:33 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

for all you Howard Dean worshippers out there....

Governor Howard Dean is a low-down, spineless, two-timin', devil-tounged, misrepresentin' snake-in-the-grass; talkin' to the 700 Club out of one side of his mouth, then to The Gay over at Halo a few months back out of the other side. All you Dean-worshipping gays take a second look and reconsider your support for both Dean and the Democratic party.

Yeah, this gives total credence to the gay Republican's "Democrats are no better" excuse, as double-talkin' is only slightly less reprehensible in my eyes than outright aggression towards The Gay. At least you know where the Republicans stand, but you never really know with the Democrats, if they are standing for anything at all.

But if you're still a gay Republican this platform around (Now With New Anti-Gay Adoption Additives!) you're still pretty retarded. The fact is that Lincolnian Republicanism is long-dead, the party no longer recognizable as it once was - taken over by cultists and less-obvious industrialists. Yes, they don't care about black people, nor anyone else who is non-male, Christian, white, straight and rich. If you are not all of the above, forget it. Fiscal conservatism and staying out of your bidness is no longer part of their platform. They hate you and view you as a lower life form. Get over it and start being someone else's bitch/drone. Or is it the humiliation that you crave? Or is it a suit fetish? (My apologies to the Liberal suit fetishists out there).

But that still leaves us with the problem of which party to choose from. A nice solution would be to have more parties to choose from, but the Greens don't have it together yet and of course that one crazy-ass glamour candidate who runs for office all the time would be impotent in actual office.

Both the Log Cabin Republicans and the Human Rights Campaign both have one thing in common - they are both trying to work for progress within a system that they are not yet a part of nor are a functional component within. Both the LCR and HRC are premature organizations. Any statements that you are affecting the organization you seek membership from is pure fantasy.

We aren't even past the awareness stage of activism with many people in this country. They don't understand The Gay and people can still lie about us and it will be believed. Both the Democrats and the Republicans use us as a tool, and piss on us whenever possible. Time for more awareness-building, knowledge-sharing, face-to-face interaction, openness, and generally getting out of the gay ghetto and out there on foot to tell your story.

Posted by jimbo at 01:16 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

May 11, 2006

I'm very approachable lately

I got my haircut yesterday afternoon, and right after that I went to the gym. Two muscular guys stop to talk to me for 20 minutes. Then on the way home three different people ask me for directions. The new 'do makes me either totally hot or totally approachable. I can share the name of the person who does my hair.

I often wonder if I've been genetically engineered to always work for visitor services due to this inherent approachability. Maybe it's the whole young Kris Kringle look I'm workin' at the moment - everyone wants to sit on my lap and ask me questions or tell me things.

Crazy people also find me approachable. Luckily I have a good time talking with schitzophrenics and with their friends inside their head. This morning on the shuttle ride to work the woman next to me began doing coreographed hand and shoulder motions, interspersed with broken phrases. I'm not sure whether it was Tourette's or crack. It could have been both. By the end of my ride she had taken out her hand mirror and was showing it to me, or was showing my reflection to me. I smiled and got off at my stop.

The Unclean are at ease around me too. There is a person on my floor at work with whom I am synchronized with. We are always in the restroom at the same time. Sadly, he does not always follow good potty etiquette (Thanks to Dale from DC Gays of Our Lives). He washes his feet in the sink and blows his snot in the sink too - not always in that order. I suppose he feels comfortable doing that around me since I'm so approachable. I want to design a porcelain foot doucher just for him some day.

Posted by jimbo at 04:43 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

May 10, 2006

it's a gas, man

For a warm-up on today's rant, read I'm Doing my Inconsequential Part for the Environment from The Onion.

Together, we can make an unbelievably negligible difference.

When I got rid of my car two and a half years ago the gas prices were just starting to rise. While I miss my Big Girl I do not regret the decision...by now the gas prices would have killed me. But there is a pro in all of this in that environmental thinking, or at least energy conservation efforts, will rise again - at least until the gas prices drop again. Having gone through the environmental 'movement' in the 90s with an undergrad degree in environmental education and having studied the rhetoric of the environmental movement of the 70s, I feel qualified to offer some suggestions to organizations, politicians and activists for this go-around:

The Sky is Not Falling - or it is, but slowly at least. Avoid doomspeak. Not only do those statements engender a sense of futility within your audience, but these days even more than ever before, sensationalism is overused in rhetoric and the media, and has less of an effect than it used to. I recall reading a quote from an environmentalist from the 70's who said something like, "We have 7 months to go before the Earth is overburdened...tops..." Sure, doomspeak is easy to wield as a rhetorical tool and gets an initial rise out of people, but the reality is that with a degrading environment the quality of life on this planet will decrease for us and other species, but we are not doomed a la Day Ater Tomorrow. With a bad environment, life will suck a little or a lot more, but we are not irrevocably doomed.

Focus on the Back Yard - I'm sure the purchase of toothpicks that originate from the forests of Borneo will destroy the rare ring-tailed tillirat, but most people can only see what is happening in their own back yard. Focus on rhetoric that people can directly relate to, how it affects them, and what they can do locally to solve the problem...which leads me to:

Keep it Simple, Stupid: I recall a long laundry list of all the things we were told to do to save the planet in the 90's. Most people can't even figure out how to integrate a simple fitness workout into their lives, and you're asking them to separate their trash into color-coded transparent bags by plastic recycling code, switch their entire diet to organic, start biking to work, cut out meat entirely, etc. Instead, suggest that they do their best to change their lives in one achievable way, rather than a complete overhaul. Habits and culture are hard things to change. I knew of only a crunchy few who could do everything they were told to do. The rest threw up their hands in exasperation at the requirements for global salvation, or eventually gave up trying. With every environmental organization telling you to do several different things, the list quickly became too exhausting and confusing.

I guess all of the above suggestions essentially have to do with lowering your expectations of the public at large. This may have something to do with an overeducated bourgeois perspective of environmental knowledge that ignores the fact that not everyone can make the leaps of logic and connections that you have. I'm sure a small group of you are doing the right thing and you understand why, but not everyone even has the time to give it any consideration at all. They are busy working 80 hours a week at Wal-Mart and working hard at home simply feeding their kids. Don't overwhelm them or ask too much of them.

My suggestions appeal to a common denominator, but if a 'movement' is restricted and achieveable only to a select and elite group of educated folks, what's the point?

I have spoken, but I'll betcha no one listens to Jimbo this time around. We are doomed.

In other news, Gurl has pointed out that I sound a little burnt out, and I think I am. I haven't even been feeling horny lately, and have a very neutral/blah attitude towards men and dating. And I don't give a shit about rugby after last weekend. It has been a great spring with vacations, visits and accomplishments, but it all kinda happened at once with no breaks. I will make a focused effort to have little focus or responsibility this weekend and the next. I need to chill out and catch up with myself.

Posted by jimbo at 10:25 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

May 09, 2006

thou shalt not wear jeanshorts

Battlestar Galactica characters as seen by a Matt Groening knockoff artist.

MetroWeekly has kindly provided a pictoral directory of who not to date in DC.

I suppose here in DC we have the swarms of gay Republicans to avoid and be annoyed by...but I pity those of you in NYC who must certainly be irritated by having to pass by any random David Blaine "stunt". They're both quite similar really - pointless, far too exposed, and a bit wrinkly.

And from the DC Urban Family Blog: the Dupont Cirlce 10 Commandments.

Posted by jimbo at 09:41 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)