Ummmmmmm... Questions

the internet will make more people gay

By every freakin' god there is and half a dozen I plan on making up tomorrow... I need a drink.

Seriously.

Anyway... the question (such as it is).

Ummmmmmm... no. It is not possible for the Internet to make more people Gay. Can't happen.


Is Owen Pallett gay?

Am I still sober? Damn. I did mention I need a drink, right? Yeah... I did. Well, I do.

Anyway, there was a question.

Ummmmmmm... yes. What the fuck does a boy have to do... shout it from the rooftops? Get it tattooed across their forehead? Say so in pretty much every interview ever given? OK... that was hyperbole. I haven't read pretty much every interview Mr. Pallett has ever given; he's just been damn up-front in every one that I've read. The guy is no Mika.

Oops. Did I just type that? Whatever. Mr. Pallet is not coy.

Pallett believes that, like it or not, he is defined by his sexuality. The Final Fantasy sound, which is his appeal, has everything to do with being gay.

"I do have a theory," he says. "I think that the gayness of the artist is reflected in the art, whether or not it's political or sexy or has anything to do with gay sex. There will always be that whiff of anti-traditionalism."

Still, as many have said, being gay is not enough. But virtuostic ability plus the creativity of an untraditional life — is the key to Pallett's music.

Or there's always Wikipedia.

He believes his work is implicitly influenced by his sexuality, saying, "As far as whether the music I make is gay or queer, yeah, it comes from the fact that I'm gay, but that doesn't mean I'm making music about the sexuality specifically".

Yeah. Whatever. I'm right fond of Mr. Pallett. I own three of his albums. That means I paid money for them... all three. It's good stuff and it was worth paying for. Naturally, I think it would be better stuff with a right nasty tribal remix but then I say that about just everything.

Dear Democrats

Mmm... Yeah. That's a big "fuck you" in case you're video-impaired.

Now... should that not be clear (I've been told it just isn't clear), I'll try throwing more words at it:

No volunteering. No money. No votes.

Not even for dogcatcher.

Got that?

Good.

About that "Stuff"

It was hard for me to pinpoint the moment it happened... not so hard for the smart folks. Seems it was Guy Number 3.

And then... silly me... I hadn't even thought of Milgram. Others did.

This reminds me of the classic Milgram study on social conformity. (No, I'm not talking about that Milgram experiment.) In this study, Milgram had "confederates" stop on a busy city street and look upwards at the sky. He demonstrated that when one person was looking up, 40 percent of passerby also looked up, just in case something interesting was happening. (There was nothing to look at, just sky and buildings.) When two people were looking up, 60 of passerby looked up. When there were three people, the percentage jumped to 65 percent, and when there were four people nearly 80 of strangers stopped and stared upwards.

A question for Pride Season

What are the largest pride parades in North America?

Hmm... yes... size does occasionally matter (no matter what anyone might say to the contrary).

The largest would be the one in Mexico City. It's honkin' huge. Of course, so is Mexico City. Some people say it's attended by "millions."

After Mexico City comes Toronto and San Francisco. They tend to be about tied in size -- the 1.2 million range. The Pride Parade in New York City has been topping a million lately as well.

The parades in Vancouver and San Diego engage the attention of about half a million people each, as does the quaintly-named parade in Montreal. Chicago's parade is not far behind at 450,000. I'd expect the parade at Los Angeles to be around 400,000.

So far as I know, those are the largest Pride Parades in North America.

So... sure... if you're a size queen about parades, book a trip to one of these. They really are quite something. I should warn you that in doing so you will be diminishing (ever so slightly) your local Pride event. From time to time... sure... go for the extravaganza. Who doesn't like an extravaganza from time to time? Gay Pride isn't really about the extravaganza, though. It's not. It's about you and where you are. You should attend your local Pride event, not the one that strikes you as "biggest."

Pride Season will be blossoming here at the Tree House in a couple weeks and I just wouldn't miss it. There won't be millions in attendance, or tens of thousands, but it will be in the thousands because some three to five thousand individual people are of the same view: it's our Pride event and we just wouldn't miss it.

Oh.

Just "oh."

And here I thought Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo was a bit (just a bit) much.

Huh

Who knew?

Mental illness less likely for lesbians' kids

Children with lesbian mothers have a lower risk of developing psychological illnesses than children growing up with a father and a mother, a recent University of Copenhagen study finds. The study is the first of its kind in Denmark.

The study found that while five percent of children from traditional families developed conditions such as depression or anorexia between 1992 and 2008, the number was two percent among the 387 children of lesbian parents participating in the study.

Would it be mean of me to rephrase that as "Having straight parents makes you more than twice as likely to develop a condition such as depression or anorexia than having Lesbian parents?

Yeah... probably.

But... 5%... that's like one in twenty.

Queeries

Counseling for parents of gay young adults

I'm often accused of thinking everyone needs counseling. "Feral... you think everyone needs counseling." That's what folks say. However... it's my interlocutor who is seeking counseling. It's not me recommending it.

If your son or daughter has recently come out and you think you need counseling, here's what I think you should do: go to PFLAG.

Lots of people like to say "OH... I know what you're going through."

Yeah. Sure.

In this case, it's pretty likely that the folks at PFLAG really do have a good idea what you're going through.

The first thing you should do for yourself and your loved one is to talk to someone who has been through this process. Whether it is by e-mail, phone or in-person at a PFLAG meeting listening to and talking to those who have experienced the feelings you are encountering can be both cathartic and comforting. PFLAG has more than 500 chapters and representatives across the country ready and willing to work with families and friends both in meeting and in a one on one basis.

They're right, too. That's the first thing you should do. It may be the only thing you need to do. Now... if you still think you need counseling after that, there's a most excellent chance that your local PFLAG chapter can point you to a useful counselor in your area.

Questions and Stuff

Questions

What is a gay republican?

The question comes from Sweden. Fair enough. In normal usage, a "gay republican" is a member of the US Republican Party who happens to be a homosexual.

Wow. I did that without using a single slur or casting a single aspersion. Huh.


Is "The Chocolate War" gay?

No.

No... more than "no." It's more of a "the question is weird" kind of thing.

Let's just leave it at "no."

Fine book though... for young people. Some folks like to imagine it's not appropriate for thirteen to fourteen-year-olds. Yeah. Some people have never met a thirteen-year-old. Seriously... there is nothing in this book that would shock a well-adjusted teenager. Them teenagers... they see all that shit that grown-ups like to ignore. Really. I know... I've asked them. Whatever.

Upon reflection... if you're homeschooling a teenager... "The Chocolate War" might be a good idea. It will let the sheltered little thing know (kind-of) what his peers can be like.

Stuff

Watch closely. Something happens. It's hard to pin-point at what moment it happens, but something happens. Just watch.

Had To

It made me laugh out loud.

Well... not really

It was more of a chortle... and a feeble one, at that. Still... it was out loud and I didn't think that was possible today (long story... whatever).

Around about here is where I go into some outrageously long and rambling diatribe about this song, or this video, or about various covers of this song, or various combinations thereof (or all of them... I'm like that).

I'm not going to.

Suffer or don't.

I can't resist a bit of nit-picking though (because I'm like that, too).

"The gayest man on Earth would call this over the top." (It's at 4:12 or so.)

*Ahem*

No... he would not.

There is such a thing as "over the top." Sure there is. This, however is plain old ordinary "too 80s."

"Too 80s" is more akin to "just plain bad" than it is to "over the top." I remember the 80s quite well. Trust me on this one. If you're feeling especially charitable (why the hell not?) you can swap "just plain bad" for "really very ill-conceived."

You know... like mullets, or those rat-tail things that all the coolest kids had.

Ill-conceived, just plain bad... but not even close to over the top.

Anyway..."over the top" looks somewhat different than the scene in question and I'm really sure that the gayest man on Earth knows it.

Seriously.

Fun video, though. It made me chortle. This version would make for just lovely karaoke.