Like a Junior High Dancefloor...

An interesting map from National Geographic's February 2007 Issue:

S&M/LeatherFest Makes the News

AM New York Newspaper was on the spot yesterday and published an article this morning of the West Village's Leather Festival. The crowd was fairly mild with most people inside drinking and enjoying themselves. Shirtlessness and leather attire was definitely prevalent (thank god!) Apparently, some West Village residents were upset over the scene visible to any pedestrian or child. To that I say, "get over it and keep walking." Uh, hey, New Yorkers when did it suddenly become a surprise that festivals like this happen here, and yeah, in the West Village?

Blog Shout Out

Josh Sparber, DJ and general mover and shaker around the East Village, spins his party Good Times every Wednesday night at Eastern Bloc. Usually the crowd is a mixture of East Village regulars, hipsters, NYU Super-gays, fashionistas, dirty boys, and the occasional punky chick and drag queen. At every party Josh slips out from the DJ booth and takes candid photos of the party's debauchery which he then uploads to his blog adding both hilarious and obnoxious comments to each. It's something I look forward to reading and laughing at every Friday. Check it out. I sometimes get the opportunity to snag the camera myself and take a few shots. If you're around on Wednesday nights be sure to check out Good Times at Eastern Bloc 10-4AM.

iPod Nano: Hot!

..So hot in fact it may start a fire! According to an Altanta, Georgia Newsource one man reports his ipod Nano got so hot it burst into flames while inside his pocket. Turns out iPods use the same lithium ion battery that were once under recall for setting laptops on fire.

Is Mr. Black Back?

My best friend, Eric the Roommate, mentioned he had seen a nightclub listing for Mr. Black in the latest edition of L Magazine. I was under the impression that Mr. Black has closed for good. Is this a print mistake on behalf of L Magazine or has Mr. Black come back to our dance deprived city? Anybody got the skinny on this?

Some Bears Say More than Woof

Meet Kendall, a Buffalo NY based Singer/Songwriter, performer, comedian, spoken-wordsmith, bear-hunkosauras activist of sorts.

I first came across (get your minds out of the gutter) Kendall when I was surfing through video footage on the A Bear's Life Magazine video gallery. I saw this video here (which I can't post nor find on youtube but strongly suggest you take a look at) and instantly became a fan. Kendall is currently touring with a group called Bears On the Run, a collection of Bear singer/songwriters and performers possibly coming to a city near you soon. If you're a heavy youtuber you may remember Kendall for his hit comedic song "Hip Hop Dykes." Click here for Kendall's Youtube Page where you can view all his skits, songs, and performances. Who doesn't love this?

I'm including Kendall's latest video Bears below but I highly recommend checking the video on Bear's Life Mag that I mentioned above in addition to viewing this one.

When Good Dog Owners Go Bad

Ok there are two types of Dog Owners. The good and the bad. The good dog owners treat their dog like a pet. They have a tremendous love and relationship with their dog, they buy it toys, food, take it for walks and generally keep it as a secondary aspect of their lives. Then, there are the bad dog owners. These are the types of people who take their dog everywhere and treat their dog as if it's a child of their own flesh and blood. I have a growing disdain for these type of dog owners.
This all started a few years ago when I went to go visit my friend in upstate, NY. Based on his complaining that he's always coming down to see me and his other friends but nobody ever making the trip up to visit him, I felt him worthy enough to prove my respect and make the two hour trip upstate. He greeted me at the door with a warm hug and proceeded to give me a tour of his house. Everything was nice and going smoothly until he took me out back to meet what I quickly realized was the epicenter of his life. His two fucking dogs. He made me hug them in that, "Say hi Eric, shake their hand, hug them" type way (insert eye roll, eye roll, eye roll, sigh and they have bad breath.) Yeah, I get it dude, they're dogs. I've seen them before. No, that wasn't enough. I then had to watch them do all their tricks (pretending to be impressed) and afterward, personally feed them treats from my hand. I felt strange being asked to do all this ecspecially while my friend smiled in glee with a crazed look of satisfaction in his eye. Clearly these dogs were more than just pets. We went inside and I asked my friend what he had in store for us during the weekend. Kid you not, the whole weekend revolved around his dogs. "Well, I was thinking we could go to the downtown area and bring the dogs for a walk and then maybe hit this nice park where we can throw a frisbee around. You should see them catch a frisbee." I would have loved if he were being slightly sarcastic. But he wasn't. He was completely serious. And these dogs weren't puppies. They were full grown dogs and they certainly did not need the constant attention. However, I figured it is my friend's weekend I'll let him have his way. By Saturday evening, after spending Friday and all day Saturday with the dogs I decided to pipe up and say casually, "you know, friend, I came up here to hang with you, not your dogs." He looked at me with a stare that both displayed "how dare you say that to me" and "whhhaaaat?" As if he was either deeply offended or completely ignorant to the fact that his dogs had commanded the center of attention for the weekend. With that said Sunday was pretty much dog free with the exception of a 45minute walk with them around the neighborhood but regardless I was already too resentful to enjoy myself. By Sunday late afternoon it was time to head back home. As I pulled out of the driveway my friend waved goodbye and stepped inside his house. The dogs remained outside in their pen and just before I made my exit out of upstate, NY I made sure to give both pups a good hard dirty look and a nice long extended middle finger.
So listen up dog owners. Your dog is a pet. Love it all you want but realize that it is not a child. Don't bring it inside someone's apartment, or party, or the office, or a cafe (unless it's a specifically dog-centric loving cafe or friend) and assume everyone is interested in meeting this pride and joy of your sad, self important, narcissistic life. And if I hear that you're going to be late or can't make a plan or can't meet up on certain night because you have to "go home to feed your dog" then you can kiss my fat cat loving ass and forget we ever had plans to begin with! Hummph!

Bears: The Documentary

Grab your popcorn, take your seats, sit back, relax and enjoy the...fur? That's right! Bears, a documentary film focusing on The Mr. International Bear Pageant, is making its way through the film festival circuit and should be coming to a fest near you soon. Check their official Myspace website for more information, schedules, reviews, and yes- the official trailer. So, what's the proper ediquette now? When the film finishes do we say, "woof" opposed to "Bravo!"?

Leather Weekend Makes the Post

I was reading the NY Post on the downtown A train and smiled upon seeing the mention of NYC Leather Weekend, thrown by organizer and familiar bear-in-the-crowd buddy, Robert Valin. Holla! See ya there.

Here's the NY Post blurb:

S&M Fair to 'Hit' Village
By Christina R. Fagen (ha! "fag"en!)
"October 1, 2007 -- A public flogging will bring some to their knees on the West Side next week - and they'd better love it. The city's first-ever, kinky-sex street fair will feature open-air flogging, hard-core leather-whip types and punishment fans in cowboy chaps."It's a celebration of leather and fetish," said New York Leather Invasion group leader Robert Valin, one of the organizers of the Oct. 7 event on Weehawken Street near the West Side Highway."

Parade Without a Permit Rally

With a huge turnout of people, wonderful signs, loud drummers, banners, fliers and information about the action the Parade Without A Permit Rally was a tremendous success (and a helluva lot of fun!) People gathered at the fountain in the center of Washington Square Park, amidst a growing police presence, and began handing out stickers and fliers to everyone. The drummers took their stance behind the banners at the front of the mass and began walking out of Washington Square, through the West Village and up to Chelsea in boisterous chants and drum beats. The crowd, well over 200 people caused a stir in the West Village causing people to come out of their apartments or current restaurants and watch the parade. The spectators were immediately given a flier and quickly brought up to date on the issue. The police were tremendously cooperative. They kindly listened to the organizers about what route the parade was headed next and they would run up ahead and stop on-coming traffic for us to continue rallying safely. Thank you.

Rainbow Over A City

Photo taken in Tribeca, NYC Friday 6:30 PM.

Happy Friday!

Ahh, yes, it's here again! Happy Friday!

Here's is what's going down this weekend: Despite the possibility of some showers this evening the rest of the weekend should be clear and bright with temperatures in the 70's.

Friday: Rich King and Gustavo's always fun, friendly, foxxxy, furry SNAXX Party in the basement of the West Side Tavern. (23rd between 8th/9th.)Saturday: check out:
The last party of RainDanceNYC a DJ dance party hosted down at the South Street Sea Port right under the Brooklyn Bridge. Check out the website for details and DJ line up.

Also on Saturday, journey over to Washington Square Park at 7PM for the Parade Without A Permit Rally, a protest organized to fight the city's latest crackdown on civil liberties by demanding cop-approved permits for any general assembly of over 50 people in NYC.


Sunday:
Head over to Brooklyn for the 33rd annual Atlantic Antic festival which features 10 blocks of food, festivities, through the heart of Brownstone Brooklyn. 10Am-6PM.

If you haven't had enough beer at Atlantic Antic (and you're pissed you didn't make it to Folsom St. Fair this year) head over to The Eagle for their Sunday weekly beer blast for cheap drinks and even cheaper men. (I tried really hard to not make this sound like a Next Magazine ad, yipes!)

Trembling Before G-D

The producer's of Trembling Before G-D, a documentary which explores gay and lesbian people within Judaism, is touring the film festival circuit with their new film Jihad for Love:

"A Jihad for Love is the first-ever feature-length documentary to explore the complex global intersections of Islam and homosexuality. With unprecedented access and depth, the film brings to light the hidden lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Muslims and goes where the silence has been loudest, to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh, as well as to Turkey, France, India, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom."

Also, with Yom Kippur just around last week's corner, take a look at this video below, which is featured on the Trembling Before G-D website. NYC based Openly Gay Rabbi Steve Greenberg gives a heartfelt personal account of how he's managed to overcome certain texts of the Torah and offer new perspective.

Old Work!

...During the days when I was fresh out of college and thinking I could make money by making only activist media I helped Associate Produce a hereTV! documentary on the history and meaning of Gay Pride events. I was able to locate the intro of the doc. If you watch closely you might even notice yours truly speaking a few quotes! Click here to watch

A Tear to My Eye

My wonderfully creative and talented friend David Daigle was hired to create the intro for the 15th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Even though this was two years ago and some of the media dated, it still remains, after viewing it hundreds of times, one of the most important pieces celebrating gay representation in media I've seen and continually brings a tear to my eye. Click here to watch it and be sure to click on GLAAD.

Didn't Take Long Before this Became a Game

Newgrounds.com presents: Don't Taze Me, Bro- The Game
click the link to play.

Quaterback Blitz!

Finally we now have someone who actually deserves to get tasered. Suspended Falcon's Quarterback Michael Vick has been charged on two accounts of 1) torturing and killing dogs and 2) promoting dogfights. Now he'll learn the real meaning of a dog fight after he gets dropped in his prison cell. Have fun!

Earth Germs Become Space Germs!

Here's an interesting article on how Earth-born germs mutate upon being in orbit. A recent space crew brought the germ Salmonella ("ella- ella- a-a") with them into space and found that mice who were given the "space germ" were three times more likely to develop illness and die. Scientists aren't completely sure why this happens but remain optimistic that this might lead to new techniques and discoveries in fighting infectious diseases.

Kramer Speaks: "Why so Passive?"

Watch this three minute video of Larry Kramer speaking at the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association convention in San Diego on Sept. 1, 2007. He touches on points of community passivity, our ass-kissing approach to presidential candidates, the black-hole of Gay representation in modern education, and finally the similarities between Jewish and Gay oppression. This is dedicated to all my friends who roll their eyes at me and tell me I'm beating a dead horse.

Barry Bonds with the Crowd

A crowd-based response to Barry Bond's alleged steroid use: