OCT 30 :: [california dreaming] Eddie Izzard was great. Missed the high heel drag race *pout*. Heard from M2 that the La Plata trailer park association (??) was howlingly funny (like a tornado). Mahathir steps down tomorrow. I'm flying to SF tomorrow for Halloween in the Castro. I'm meeting Chris there and looooordy, if SF wasn't on fire before, it will be now! We're staying at the Palace, of course, as befitting our "royal" status. Woo!
OCT 28 :: [a willful ignorance] I love Paul Krugman. I thought "Too Low a Bar" was great but this is even better.
"...Surely it's important to understand how others see us, but a new, post 9/11 version of political correctness has made it difficult even to discuss their points of view. Any American who tries to go beyond "America good, terrorists evil," who tries to understand - not condone - the growing world backlash against the United States, faces furious attacks delivered in a tone of high moral indignation. The attackers claim to be standing up for moral clarity, and some of them may even believe it. But they are really being used in a domestic political struggle."
"...Moderate Muslims would have more faith in America's good intentions if there were at least the appearance of a distinction between the U.S. and the Sharon government - but the administration seeks votes from those who think that supporting Israel means supporting whatever Mr. Sharon does..."
"Muslims are completely wrong to think that the U.S. is engaged in a war against Islam. But that misperception flourishes in part because the domestic political strategy of the Bush administration - no longer able to claim the Iraq war was a triumph, and with little but red ink to show for its economic plans - looks more and more like a crusade. "Election Boils Down to a Culture War" was the title of Mr. [Howard] Fineman's column. But the analysis was all about abortion and euthanasia, and now we hear that opposition to gay marriage will be a major campaign theme. This isn't a culture war - it's a religious war."
"...we'll lose the fight against terror if we don't make an effort to understand how others think. Yet because of a domestic political struggle that seems ever more centered on religion, such attempts at understanding are shouted down."
OCT 27 :: [yea, baby] It's the first Monday morning after daylight saving ended. It's cold, rainy, damp and the traffic is gonna really suck tonight coz nobody knows how to drive in the dark. DST needs to be scrapped!
My weekend was crazy. Tony and I went to the Reel Affirmations film festival on Fri and Sat nights. The Fri film (9 dead gay guys) was crazy, wild and hillarious. We saw Mango Souffle (so-so) and Latter Days on Saturday. The latter won the festival hands down. It was an amazing film. The director and the (drop-dead gorgeous) lead actor were in attendance and they hung out at the after-party in the Absolut tent. I was drooling. EIGHT cape cods later, we went to Ski's Halloween party and Naomi and Steve came dressed as Foxy Cleopatra and Austin Powers! Shagadelic baby! Ski looked booty-licious in his gladiator outfit. It was awesome. We were there till 3am and then Rob/Mikko invited us over to their place and we sat and drank and talked till 5:30am!! (well, 4:30 if you factor in the whole fall back thing) And that is the latest I've stayed up since I left college. I was in a coma all day Sunday. Yea, baby!
I really wanted to go to the DNC fundraiser featuring Bill Clinton tonight at Dream but seeing that I have two events tomorrow and a weekend in SF ahead of me, I'm just gonna sit around and mope. Sorry, Nic. I know you wanted me to wear my favorite blue Gap dress to the event *grin*. Anyway, I am way psyched about getting tickets at the last minute to Eddie Izzard's Sexie show tomorrow night! It's gonna be phenomenal, I can feel it. But first, Rob/Mikko's pre-high-heel-drag-race cocktail party (woo! that was a mouthful)...
OCT 24 :: [soulmates] So I'm pondering love today. I won't name names but recently, one of my friends broke up with his boyfriend of 7 years. It broke my heart coz I am a firm believer that love conquers all and after 7 years, what was so serious that it couldn't be fixed by love? Nicole (work hag) says that some people just don't believe in soulmates and love is just not eternal. People change and people fall out of love. She had an awful first marriage but that experience led her to her wonderful husband and beautiful almost-3yo Kamil and soon-to-be baby Logan (love you but I still am ambivalent about that name). I asked her if she could erase that part of her past, would she? No, because it made her what she is today. So I guess people make mistakes and experience is what you get when you make a mistake and don't get what you want. But deep down inside, I still believe in everlasting love and maybe even soulmates. Is that not something we all strive for anymore?
OCT 23 :: [one big party] That pretty much describes my life right now. My life is just one big blur of parties one after the other. Allen and I had dinner at Firefly on Tues night. Chris came over later and we had Cosmos on the deck. It was trés fabu. Chris, Andy and I pigged out at Penang on M ST the next day followed by drinks at Omega. And I just got home from a fantabulous dinner at Mike/Gary's (Gary, the scallops/caramelized onions combo was to die for and the strawberry sorbet was a pièce de résistance) followed by JR's where we met up with Allen. Parties galore. FYI: You've got to read Gary's Op-Ed on USA Today. November is a blur of travel activity - SF, LA and then Tony's parents come visit for Thanksgiving. December, as we all know, is gonna be one big Christmas party. And January, we take our two-week trip to Thailand/Cambodia. Woo!
Due to popular request, here's a quick snapshot of the HRC party on Oct 11th.
And one more thing, I am so sick of daylight-saving time. Why do we have to fall back on Sunday and lose an hour of light at sunset? I wish we could stay at GMT-4 all year round. I guess if you're a morning person, you'd want the extra hour of light at sunrise. *sigh* Why can't we all just get along.
OCT 21 :: [uproar and uproarious] Five days ago, Malaysia's beloved PM delivered a speech at the 10th session of the Islamic Summit Conference in Putrajaya. That speech has created an uproar and fanned the fires of controversy that has circled the globe many times over. Please read "Anti-Semitism or Political Correctness?" for an analysis from both sides of the aisle.
Three days ago, my peeps and I attended the Sweet 16th edition of Miss Adams Morgan at the Hilton. It was uproarious! The costumes were fab, the drinks never stopped flowing and the drag performances were Tony-winning, if not Oscar-worthy. I think my whole life is just one big drag performance - we both love attention, it's all about us and everything revolves around us. The after-party at Cobalt was just as crazy. All in all, a fantastic prelude to Halloween!
OCT 17 :: [fab or drag] This week has been a crazy party week! Good Lord, where do I begin. It all started Tues night... actually, back up - it all started Sunday brunch when Tony, Chris, M2 and I had a pitcher of Tequila Gold margaritas at Lauriol's rooftop. Then Tues night, Arul, a friend from London, dropped by and we had drinks till 2am! We haven't seen each other since the summer of 2000 in N'awlins so it was really fun to catch up. Wed night we had Allen over for dinner. Last night was the Reel Affirmations Film Festival opening night and party. Absolut Vodka is the main sponsor, of course, coz you know how we boys like our Absolut. It was Absolut-ly fabulous. The opening film, Die Mommie Die was campy and hilarious. Hopefully tonight will be tame but tomorrow night is Miss Adams Morgan. The dress code is fab or drag. I wonder which one I'll be in :)
OCT 13 :: [celebrate good times] Come on! The HRC national dinner was a complete blast. First, the HRC building dedication on Sat morning was truly well done. The countdown was followed by the raising of the Equality Flag, a cannon blasting off blue and yellow confetti and huge blue and yellow banners that covered the multi-storey building were dropped. It was grand. Oleta Adams and Sister Sledge performed at the HRC dinner that night. "This is my country" moved me to tears. Allison Janney, John Spencer and 3 of the Fab Five (Kyan, Carson and Thom) were present as well. Allison looked drop dead gorgeous and genuinely touched by our rousing reception of her presence. Tipper Gore's speech was a tear-jerker (celebrating 8 years of Elizabeth Birch's leadership at HRC as she leaves) and when she introduced Al and Al walked in looking more presidential than I can remember, they brought the house down.
I think the evening's strongest applause was when Elizabeth made an impassionate request for all of us to fight for civil marriage. Michael Cunningham said "You are all heroes, but you look fabulous too!". Love it. And the new DC Convention Center? Truly amazing. You have to check it out. The reception area outside the ballroom on the highest floor had a sweeping view of Washington, DC. And it was connected to an enormous pillar-less ballroom (that easily accommodated all 3,000 of us and then some) by suspended walkways that looked onto the Convention lobby below. I was completely floored by the spectacle of it all.
And if I may say so myself, my Kenneth Cole tux with a black French-cuffed shirt underneath (complete with Yin and Yang cufflinks), purple Zegna tie and Gucci shoes looked fabulous. Grin. And to cap that evening off, we danced in our tuxes at Cobalt till 3am! All in all, a truly memorable weekend.
I'm in a good mood so I don't even want to go into this but please read Bob Herbert's column in the New York Times today about the NRA. (You can also read it here) Have a good week, y'all!
OCT 10 :: [speed] If you're trying to e-mail me, keep trying. Last night, Tony had the brilliant idea of upgrading our DSL line to 1.5/768. New IP addresses were forced upon us so DNS chaos ensued. Oh and I just found out that the T610 comes with a mirror next to the camera lens where you can look at yourself and snap self-portraits. Ohmigawd, a phone that's almost as vain as I am! Giggle. Anywho, I am quite excited about the HRC National Dinner tomorrow. I can't wait to see the new Washington Convention Center for the first time! Sushi Taro tonight with the CTG gang and tomorrow, I have to rush to Potomac Mills (ugh) to pick up my tux. This is gonna be a crazy, hectic weekend!
OCT 8 :: [total recall] So, Governor Schwarzenegger, huh? Ah-nuld is pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-environment, pro-stem cell research and pro-gun control. How fun is that. I love it when they're pro-everything. Even a Republican in California is more liberal than most Democrats. Giggle.
OCT 7 :: [finally] As you can tell from my recent posts, I have been getting a little bit more upset everyday with the lies and the deceit that the Bush Administration has forced upon the nation and the world. So I have FINALLY taken action. Today, I made my first ever political contribution and I gave $100 to Dean for America. I don't agree with everything "the doctor" stands for but I agree with him the most. And I want - no - NEED to do something and right this wrong in my own little way.
I can't legally vote so this is my way of saying "No" to four more years of a president who lies to murder innocent civilians. This president is a menace to peace, and a slave to war and violence. And those are the facts and I have $1900 more to let those facts be known. And shame on the Washington Post Editorial for not having the decency to admit they were wrong when they were advocating violence over peace. I am boycotting your section from now on regardless of whether you are right or not. Shame on you.
OCT 6 :: [same old] same old... Weekend was filled with drinking and partying. Fri night - Apex, Sun night - JR's. Chris and I theorized that we always have more fun at JR's on a Sunday night because drinking the night before a workday is like tasting the forbidden fruit. It's the little rebel in us that makes it that much more exciting. I bought a new tux!! Kenneth Cole and a HUGE discount at Nordstrom Rack. I can't wait to wear it for this Saturday's big party. Andrew leaves tomorrow *sob*. And back-tracking a little, wasn't Will & Grace the funniest episode ever? Kabobs, Kaginas and Katits. Yaa-hoooooo-ooooh! M2 and I tore up JR's with our antics last night. M2 is crazy! And what is wrong with this weather? It's colder than a witch's tit out there. I can't wait for 70s on Wed. OK, enough whining and back to work... work sucks. Same old, same old.
OCT 2 :: [t610!] Ohmigawd, I just got T-Mobile to ship me a brand new SonyEricsson T610 for $169.99 and a 12-mth contract!!! I was so excited I almost came all over this lady on the phone. I already have T-Mobile service and I was seriously contemplating switching to AT&T on Nov 24 to get a T610 for (almost) free and port my number over. This whole number portability thing is way fucking cool, pardon my French. La ti da!
OCT 2 :: [crabs and crabby] Yesterday was fabulous! Chris, Andrew and I took the top off the convertible (it was freezing) and cruised down to Annapolis for a crab feast! Andrew was too squeamish (being from England and all) to have any but Chris and I went to town on those Maryland Blue Crabs. Heavenly. And what was up with yesterday's West Wing? The build-up was amazing and the conclusion fell flat. They need to start focusing on issues and less on whiney personal issues coz I'm kinda getting sick of the whole melodrama bullcrap.
Why am I crabby? Since when did killing somebody because we think he/she might harm us in the future become acceptable? If not, why is it OK to murder thousands of innocent civilians because we think their leader (not them) might harm us with WMDs some time in the future? And what now that we have found no WM Ds whatsoever? The justification for murder (and there never is any) was unacceptable then but now? It makes me sick just to think about it. What now that we have murdered all those innocent people for a cause that was, is and will always be a blatant lie? Why aren't the ones who made those unforgivable errors held accountable now? Why do they still govern this country?
30 :: california dreaming
28 :: a willful ignorance
27 :: yea, baby
24 :: soulmates
23 :: one big party
21 :: uproar and uproarious
17 :: fab or drag
13 :: celebrate good times
10 :: speed
08 :: total recall
07 :: finally
06 :: same old
02 :: t610!
02 :: crabs and crabby