Giggle Headline of the Weekend: McCain to Palin "Pffffbt!"

via CNN.com

Mormon the Musical?

Oh those South Park guys are such cards, aren't they?

It looks like Mormons may soon turn their attention from banning gay marriage to shutting down Broadway.

Surely, that'll be their next goal after they see Mormon Musical, a Broadway show from the wonderfully twisted minds of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Robert Lopez, who co-wrote Avenue Q.

According to the New York Post's Pop Wrap column, Mormon Musical focuses on the lives and loves of Mormons and will star openly gay actor Cheyenne Jackson, fresh off a run in Xanadu where he was nicely packed into a pair of jean shorts. Unfortunately, his wardrobe in Mormon Musical, which casts him as a Mormon missionary, will likely be less revealing. Then again, maybe it won't. This is from the South Park guys, after all.

As for the Mormon Musical script, which is currently being workshopped, "It's hilarious, very acerbic and biting," Cheyenne tells the newspaper. "It offends everybody but does what South Park does best, which is by the end it comes around and has something great to say."

This will be great for a laugh but I wish the play had a higher aim than just Broadway. Playing this on Broadway to a bunch of New Yorkers or theater enthusiasts is like preaching to the choir. We know transparency of religion and religious thinking but then again I don't think the goal is anything more than just a comedy. It would be great though to have this show right smack in the middle of a public square in Salt Lake City or even Better Provo, Utah.

Killer Weekend

Stocks down, Brains up!

If you felt like things were a little dead this weekend you might be on to something.

This past Saturday marked the 4th annual NYC ZombieCon weekend where residents are encouraged to get in touch with their inner dead and don their best funeral suits and bashed-in heads. Those dressed up slug their way through the streets stopping in bars, high-end clothing stores and engage those of the living in spooky street theatrics.

I spotted this group of the undead in Astor Place. I was looking for coffee. They were looking for braaaaaaaains!

This Song is Dedicated to Dick Cheney/ Wednesday Mid-Day Wake Up Call:

Cheney's abnormal heart rhythm returns while Hilary Duff asks you to dance!

Oh have a fucking sense of humor!

WWRJD?

And other INCREDIBLE T-Shirts at Strk3.com

Olympic Opening in One Minute

I love this:


Oh and um, regarding the Save the Roxy meeting: It was delayed, again. Will follow through when I have more information.

Happy Friday: Do Drugs!

After all this time of living in America I can finally say I've contributed to something!

Turns out America leads the way in tobacco, pot and cocaine consumption! Americans even have a higher usage rate than people who live in countries where pot and other drugs are legal! Who would have thunk it?! Chant with me! "Number 1! Number 1!"

Please, by all means, celebrate your patriotism this weekend by pulling that glass bong out of your closet and take a big ol' rip for Uncle Sam and the good old Red, White and Blue!

According to a new study released June 30 by the World Health Organization, the U.S. leads the world and -- just in time for the Olympics -- takes the gold for the use of tobacco, pot, and cocaine, far outpacing other countries, even the Netherlands, where drug laws are far less draconian. In the U.S., more than 42% in the study admit having used marijuana, and 16% admit having used cocaine -- a cocaine-use rate four times that of New Zealand, which ranked No. 2 out of 17 countries surveyed.

For this first cross-national drug-use study, WHO researchers surveyed more than 54,000 people in the Americas (the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia), Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Ukraine), the Middle East and Africa (Israel, Lebanon, Nigeria, and South Africa), Asia (Japan and China), and Oceania (New Zealand), using a standardized methodology. While WHO researchers determined that drug use is more prevalent in wealthier countries, researchers determined that income does not have a "static" effect on drug use. Overall, researchers found the greatest involvement with all drugs by younger people and "remarkable similarity" across the countries surveyed in the "age of onset" of use. Typically, alcohol and tobacco use begins earliest (between 16 and 19 years of age), followed by pot use (around 18), and coke (typically between 21 and 24).

While income and age may be factors determining drug use, it appears that a country's drug policies have little impact on use. "Globally, drug use is not distributed evenly and is not simply related to drug policy, since countries with stringent user-level illegal drug policies did not have lower levels of use than countries with liberal ones." Indeed. The U.S., with its harsh user penalties, outpaced all other countries on use of pot and coke -- way beyond even the Netherlands, where legal action is not taken for pot possession for personal use. There, just 19.8% of the population has even tried marijuana, and just 1.9% of the population has tried cocaine. Only New Zealand comes close to the U.S. in the number of folks who have ever tried pot, with just under 42%. The U.S. far outpaced other countries in coke use too, with 16.2% of respondents having tried the drug; New Zealand posted a 4.3% lifetime coke-use rate. Colombia, the only coke-producing nation on the list, came in fourth (tied with Mexico) with a 4% lifetime use rate. Only in alcohol use was the U.S. tossed out of the top spot: We took sixth place, while Ukraine took gold with 97% alcohol use. Germany garnered the silver, with 95.3%, while New Zealand, otherwise -- apparently, our drug-use sister country, imagine the cultural exchange possibilities! -- took the bronze, with 94.8%.

Leven for President?

You better believe your sweet ass: Eric Leven for President!

News3Online is reporting about my campaign.



My first order of business is to make a law that nobody goes to work on Fridays and there are mandatory afternoon dance parties every Friday during the summer months!

Leven '08

Gotta Love that Photoshop

courtesy of TheOtherFamily.com

Jason Saft Comedy

Jason Saft is just one of those people you simply cannot resist. He's snarky, clever, neurotic and it's all wrapped up in an adorable little furry Jew ball. He's the kind of cute that's "kitten cute." You know, like so cute you just want to pick him up and eat his head. Bones, flesh and all...

He's a man of many hats- avid Dodgeballer, bike rider, yogi, chef and his latest fedora is stand up Comedy. Comix (14th st. between 8th/9th) hosts The Back Room in The Ochi Lounge- a night for gay stand up, every Thursday at 9PM.

Jason asked that I tape his performance - enjoy
oh and by the way- everything you hear is absolutely true.

Quote of the Weekend

DJ Corey Craig
Vlada, Saturday night. Midnight.
Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Heart" is playing-

DJ Corey Craig on the mic:
"Leona Lewis is a cutter."

Plain. Simple. Hysterical.

Otter Fashion

Oh yeah- It's a movement

Just when you thought you had all the names and subcultures of the bear community down pat some dude in LA comes up with a fashion line and we have to tag one more to the list.

Actually Otter has been around for awhile and I've heard it thrown around a bunch. I suppose Otter and Cubs are brother terms for each other. A cub is usually a young or younger bear while an Otter is a skinny, yet hairy, young bear. I suppose that means cubs are more bear-like and Otters are just skinny bears or friend's of bear that happen to be skinny(ier?) But, then somebody told me that Otters are actually age-less, they're just skinny bears. So, therefore, the sentence would go: All Otters can be bears, but not all bears can be Otters. Right? Oh boy.

According to UrbanDictionary.com an Otter is:
"A gay man who is very hairy all over his body, but is smaller in frame and weighs considerably less than a bear."
"Larry is an otter, and he likes to date bears or other otters."
-or-
"A skiny, hairy gay man."
"Because I am a skinny, hairy gay man, I refer to myself as an otter."

I have always preferred Cub over Otter although I've been called both. In fact one day somebody told me I was actually neither, yet, I am a "Furry Ambassador" since I tend to float between gay tribes while retaining "furry pride" and making "bear" more accessible for all other communities. Riiiiight.

Annnnnywho, without further ado, may I present to you Otter Fashion. The fashion line for otters and their otter friends. Go ahead and check out the site at Otterfashion.com and build a habitat around all their cute clothing and catchy styles.












Otters in media and history:
Jesus Christ- Total Otter
Dominic Monaghan- Charlie from ABC's "Lost"- Punky Otter
Shaggy from Skooby Doo- animated Otter

Presidential Condoms

Yeah, for reals.











AM New York is reporting:

A young New York City entrepreneur has decided to "have fun" with the campaign by marketing condoms featuring images of Barack Obama and John McCain.

Benjamin Sherman, who created the company Practice Safe Policy, says the Obama condom carries the slogan "Use With Good Judgment." The McCain version says "OLD BUT Not Expired."

According to the Web site, McCain condoms "are battle tested, strong and durable, for those occasions when you just need to switch your position!"

While the company can't guarantee the condoms are 100 percent effective, it says it's certain "that without wearing one, there's likely to be an Obama-Mama in your future."

I'm totally getting some and then hopefully "getting some," if you know what I mean...(elbow nudge, elbow nudge)

Go to ObamaCondoms.com and McCainCondoms.com to pick some up. The sites are pretty funny- probably funnier than the idea that 72 year old John McCain is still having sex.
Ugh. He's so Del Ray Beach men's locker room. You know the type- they're in their 70's and walk around the locker room naked like they own the place and their balls are all dangly and hang to the side...(shudders)

Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable

...is the title of Sasha Baron Cohen's new film and he's fucking with Ben Affleck.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s alter ego Bruno has recently been causing trouble in Kansas, shooting the follow-up to Borat, titled Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt (now try to say that five times fast). FilmDrunk reported earlier this week that security was put on red alert when “a German film crew member” started “stripping down to tight shorts and dancing in the lobby of Wichita Airport” (see video of this at the bottom of the post). A church in Kansas also reported that a strange European camera crew showed up to their Easter play with the on air personality in chains.

Mike Walker of the National Enquirer reported the following on the Howard Stern Show on Thursday: Ben Affleck called comedian friend Sarah Silverman after completing a sit-down interview with a person he was told was a “very famous openly gay fashion journalist”. Ben called the interview “the weirdest sit-down he has ever had with a reporter” explaining that the interviewer’s (wholm he refered to as an “idiot”) first question was “How Do You Like Niggers?” After a stunned silence, Silverman asked Affleck “Was this guy’s name Bruno?” Then and only then did Affleck actually realize that the whole thing was a gag. There is no doubt that this interview will be featured in the final cut, which is currently scheduled to hit theaters in October 2008.

Your Friends Need to Get Laid When....

They send pictures like this to your email address:Thanks Jason.

Oh and By the Way....

I'm a 3. Eric, The Roommate complained he was 7ish lately. And you?

NYC Freeze

The wonderful group that is Improv Everywhere executes another sociopathic prank in New York by freezing within the rush-rush crowd of Grand Central Station. Participants were to freeze for 5 minutes at the exact same time. Fantastic!

The Texting Epidemic

...and getting worse!

There seems to have been a shift in the last two years in the way people use text messaging. I remember text messaging to be a source of easy information, point to point contact and confirmation of plans. Then suddenly people began having full-on text conversations when they just as easily could have called that person at that time. Back and forth, back and forth, T9 and emoticons. Ugh! I fear this created a whole new source of passivity amongst person to person communication.

Texting used to be: "In Midtown will see you in 15min."
Now it's: "Hey man, what's going on? Long time no see. Just touching base to see what's happening with you. What are you doing this weekend? Let's get together if you don't have plans! OMG, btw..I have to tell you the funniest thing!"

Texting has become a source of great confusion, miscommunication and misunderstanding and a goddamn headache to boot. I can't tell you how many plans bunked out or how many times I've been in a situation where things changed and the excuse was, "well I sent you a text!" Or, "I texted you last week and you didn't respond! What gives?" Well, what gives is that your text left no impression on me because it was a flaky little note to begin with!

A recent situation happened to me and an ex-boyfriend of mine from LA who I'm still madly outrageously kind of in love with and who I would have definitely slept with seen on an upcoming vacation I'm taking. Unfortunately Mr. X originally had plans that same weekend but found he was able to get out of them. Apparently several weeks ago I supposedly got a text that said, "hey are you definitely coming because I think I can break my plans." Well, I don't know what happened..? 1) I don't remember getting the text. 2) If I got the text and was busy at the moment I probably shut my phone and intended to answer later but forgot because a text isn't as memorable as voice or voice-mail is. 3) I got the text and answered but never got a response. Now we're both shit out of luck. If he CALLED, like the way people are supposed to communicate with one another this would have never happened. But noooo everyone has to be so fucking skittish and passive these days that texts are now excused as true communication. IT ISN'T THE SAME THING! Here's the deal Mr. X, and any of you wanting to get together with someone whether it be a friend, lover or potential friend or lover. CALL people. TALK to people. COMMUNICATE with people. This texting nonsense is getting out of hand!

Sure it's ok to text a friend if he/she isn't at a place when they said they would be, or if it's really loud, or if you're meeting someone and going to be late and, yes, the occasional inside joke and pic message is totally appreciated but leave it at that. The minute you start texting a conversation is the minute you already decided the conversation isn't really worth having, for if it were, you would be CALLING them! Text INFORMATION not CONVERSATION!

And for T9's sake, don't ever ask someone out by texting them! Do you really want to try and start off a relationship or a getting-to-know someone by proving how passive and meek you are about talking with them? Are you kidding?! That's no way to show an interest in somone! Grab your balls, jump back a decade and do it the way were meant to, from one voice to one ear!

WTF?!

How Could You not Love Him?

Sure he's stupid but at least he doesn't bow down to the authority of a nit-wit journalist!

Furry Face

19 year old Raver beard
Abandoned warehouse-Tucson, AZ (2000)
Yes, that's a pacifier

I've had a beard since I was 18 and a freshman in college. At least a year or two before I started to identify as a bear or cub and several months before I even came out. I was a hippie kid. I wore patchwork pants, berkenstocks (when I wore shoes) and went to one Phish concert after the other. That's just what you do. Because of this, my shaving became lazy and I let myself grow into a beard. Since then I've only brought a razor to my face three times. I last shaved, not buzzed, but shaved my face in 2004 when living in LA and immediately grew it back. Having a beard has become a part of who I am. As superficial or lame as it sounds I feel as though it's part of my identity and not because of the whole bear thing, although that does account for a lot of it, but because this is the only adult face of mine I know!! Plus, yes, ok...It does help me cruise and be cruised by men who most strongly peak my interest.

Sometimes I'll look in the mirror and in that bizarre mushroom-trip thought process I'll try to conceptualize that I have hair..growing...on my...face?! So weird sometimes! My really good friend, the Norelco 9-setter Beard Trimmer, has allowed me to shape and mold my face into some really interesting directions. This past November I tried to get all Daddy and keep my cheeks trim and my goatee thick and bushy. I looked more "homeless" than "Daddy" but it was worth a shot. I also let my moustache grow out a little in an attempt to be "Tom Selleck-y" but it began to grow over my lip and I didn't know what to about it and food kept getting caught in it so I took it down a bit. Now I'm at my usual look which is either a 4 or a 5 out of the 9 whole settings on my trimmer.

In any case, a friend of mine just pointed me to beards.org. The website that's "all about beards." There you can find tips for growing a beard, grooming advice, galleries, blogs and yes, even success stories. Check it out. The site is both funny/informative and also kind of really hot. Totally safe for work (SFW.)