It's already September and that only means one thing: This year's installment of the annual Clubhouse Jamboree is just around the corner. Sunday, September 13th, 2009, from noon to 6pm, at Brooklyn's Prostpect Park, to be more exact.
I rarely promote events on this blog but always make an exception for the Jamboree because it's always such an amazing outdoor party. It also remains a bit of an undiscovered gem, even on this, it's 16th incarnation.
This year's guests include a couple of folk who have performed at past Jamboree events.
There's Spinna, for one, spinning Li'l Louis & The World's "Club Lonely" (feat. Joi Cardwell) above, at the 13th Jamboree. He'll be back this year.
There's Karizma, spinning an unreleased mash-up of Frankie Knuckles/Satoshii Tomiie classic "Tears" with the vocal from Jazmina's "Rain". He'll be back this year.
The vibe? The sound might not be pretty, but catch a wiff above as Brian Coxx from Soulgasm spins a remix of Jill Scott's "Hate on Me" (unfortunately, Brian will not make an appearance this year).
Lastly, the event is free and put together by the great Li'l Ray who, year after year, pulls this thing together with the help of dozens of househeads and volunteers. Last year I lost my cell phone at the event and the man drove all the way to Manhattan to return it to me when someone found it and left it with him. Amazing, no? So, if you are up for it in a couple of weeks, please try to make it. I promise it will be unforgettable.
Here is the thing: I have no doubt Gay.com truly, sincerely and authentically wants to get to know me a little bit better. Heck! I'm sure they are patting themselves in the back for showing some inclusivity. But why am I still laughing about their recent attempt at knowing LGBT Latinos?
On Wednesday, the web portal posted a column on their site (as well as on PlanetOut) asking Latinos to tell them "What’s Your Gay Latino/Hispanic Life Like?" Never mind that while I might identify as a Latino man, I'm not sure that my "gay life" is too Latino or Hispanic. I mean, should I tell them I dance salsa every morning and eat nacho chips with guacamole every night?
Digging deeper, let's take a look at how they frame Latino/Hispanic gay life:
Judging by their questions they seem to think that gay Latinos are in the closet ("As a Latino/Hispanic, do you have a 'coming out' story specific to your culture? Or do you have any stories describing why you feel you cannot 'come out' as an LGBT Latino?"), prone to being victims of homophobic attacks ("Could you provide an experience where you were a victim of gay bashing/abuse from fellow Latinos vs. non-Hispanic people, whether you were 'out' or not?"), have no access to books, television, films or computers ("How did you learn about sex and sexual orientation? Was it from family, friends, religion, etc?" or "How did you learn about STDs and safe sex? Was it culturally specific through organizations or just through personal experiences?"), and might not get what 'gayness' entails ("What are your perceptions of what makes a gay man - top/bottom or other roles? - and a lesbian in Latino/Hispanic culture?").
That's not necessarily wanting to know more about LGBT Latinos. It's requesting that LGBT Latinos respond according to a number of stereotypical assumptions about being Latino and LGBT (you know, that there are few if any out LGBT Latinos, that Latinos are more homophobic, and that we might define sexuality by the sexual positions we assume when having sex).
Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but here is the kicker: What was the impetus behind Gay.com's new-found interest on finding out more about LGBT Latinos? Why none other that Mexican-American singer Linda Ronstadt!
In an interview that also was posted on Gay.com on Wednesday, Ms. Ronstadt, who to her credit has always been a strong ally to LGBT Latinos, speaks about lesbian ranchera singer Lucha Reyes, the passage of Prop. 8 in California last year, homophobia in the Latino community, and her role coordinating the upcoming San Jose Mariachi Festival (Ms. Rondstadt, once known more for her pop hits, has embraced Mex-Tex and Mariachi big band culture and enjoyed great acclaim and success in this stage of her prolific career).
"Ronstadt's involvement" Gay.comwrites, "made us want to know more about the cultural experiences of being LGBT in the Latino/Hispanic community."
Anyway, who knows? Perhaps Gay.com will get some good feedback and profile a number of groovy gay Latinos. But, just as Gay.com tells Ms. Ronstadt that "something needs to be done to bridge the gay gap in the Hispanic community", perhaps Gay.com also needs to do something about the fact that, in this day and age, they seem to have no clue about LGBT Latinos nor seem to know any out LGBT Latinos they could have interviewed on these topics.
Heart be still! GusGus has a new album coming out ("24/7") and a brand new spanking video for a new sparking single "Add This Song" (above).
I dare say that they are one of my favorite bands ever, even if their last albums have been a bit disappointing. But going by this new single, I have a feeling they are back to perfection.
Part of the inconsistency in their output is that they have always been an ever-changing artistic collaborative with members stepping in and out of the actual band. The current incarnation includes Stephan Stephensen (a.k.a. President Bongo), Birgir Thórarinsson (a.k.a. Biggi Veira), and Daniel Ágúst Haraldsson.
Throughout their incarnations, though, there has always been a gay sensitivity to their high-jinx and the new video is no different. You might think it's heading in a certain direction when you take a first look and then you are thrown into a loop (see screen capture below). So give it a chance and watch the whole thing. And, if you are lucky enough to catch GusGus live, please do! One of the best live bands around.
When asked about the low number, César Cigliutti, President of the largest LGBT rights organization in the country - the Comunidad Homosexual Argentina (CHA) - said that many same-sex couples had never taken the time to make sure that they had proof of their partnership.
"These are incredible cases," Cigliutti said, "We get involved with gay adults, with very difficult experiences, tremendous histories of discrimination; We are talking about an era in which the word 'gay' didn't even exist."
Cigliutti said that most gay couples never thought they would see the day in which they could access the government's pension plan as couples and that there was still a learning curve in having people prepare for filing a case (to access pension benefits under the plan, a couple must have filed an affidavit and presented proof that they have lived together for at least five years). He said that the CHA had received more than 80 inquiries about the process and that he personal knowledge of several pension claims making their way through the system.
In September 23rd of 2008, 81 year old Alfredo Pasquale (above) became the first person to be covered by the policy after his partner of 59 years, José Miguel Castro, passed away. At the time, he had been fighting for more than 11 years to l
YES, my mum was here already yesterday. She told me, when she just reached at the main gate, she saw my sons running out and greet her with a loud "happy birthday" song!!! LOL! She brought over my favourite and the food i missed - "kompia" and also some local mangoes which is so so sweet and smell good!! ( i didn't know sarawak got "local mangoes"?)
Yesterday was my mum chinese birthday and also it's the chinese "valentine day". I brought her to have a simple dinner nearby our house, Delicious @ Bangsar Village II, because just before we want to go for dinner, it rain cats and dogs and it is so so heavy and with loud thunder too!!! I know the traffic will be very bad if we go to downtown or PJ area, that's why we just choose a nearer place to have dinner.
First i pick up the cupcakes from Bisou, i order some cupcakes for my mum from Bisou. Hmmmm...i'm a bit disappointed with the cupcakes outcome, this is not what i expected, although this is the idea i give to the lady, tell her what i want, i thought she will make it "more beautiful" or "more attractive" a little bit? If this is the outcome, i shall just pick up the ready cupcakes at the counter instead of 'customize" my own one? I told the lady i don't want my cupcakes so sweet make it less sweeter, but it's still a bit too sweet for my liking. :(
cupcakes for my mum....
Anyway, back to our dinner, when we reached at Delicious, it's so packed, it's time for "buka puasa"!!! Lucky we still manage to get a table. This is the food that we order....
my duck conflict spaghetti...yummy!!
hub's curry noodles
mushroom soup, share with my mum
mum's spaghetti cabonara..
fried calamari
My boys had their dinner at home, so while we having our dinner, two of them are busy with their DS, and i feed them some spaghetti too.
After dinner, we went back home and had the "birthday cupcakes" cutting session. Light up the candles, and i got two singers can sing real loud "Happy Birthday" song, we got two version, one english and one chinese version birthday song! hahahahha
my two boys with their "poh poh"
happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to poh poh, happy birthday to you!
blow blow blow.......
yummy yummy......
me and my mum.....(i look so fat!!!)
poh poh, me , Fearles and Cruz
slowly licking the sweet frosting.....
This is a simple birthday celebration for my mum. :)
I might be wrong here, but Mexico City seems to have become the first municipality in Latin America to adopt a hate crimes measure that specifically includes crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The measure, which was approved on Thursday by an unanimous vote of 39-0 in the Federal District Legislative Assembly, adds a section to Article 138 of the city's Penal Code which establishes that homicides and lesions will be considered as "hate crimes" when they are committed due to hate, and when "the agent commits it based on social or economic status: By association, affiliation or relationship with a defined social group."
A hate crime, the measure says, can be motivated by "ethnic or social origin, nationality or place of origin, color or any other genetic characteristic, sex, language, gender, religion, age, opinions, disability, health status, physical appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, occupation or activity of the victim."
Milenio, which reported on passage of the measure on it's August 20th edition, says that LGBT advocates have already claimed that homophobia might be at play in the murders of six gay men during the last year, even if authorities have said otherwise. The latest, they say, occurred on August 15th, when 24 year old Victor Galán, who had moved to live in Mexico City a month earlier, was stabbed 12 times and found dead in his apartment. Advocates say that robbery was not a motive in the crime and that they suspect he was killed based on the fact that he was gay. Authorities, on the other hand, say that they have not ruled out a "crime of passion."
After the Assembly vote, Assemblymember Ricardo García Hernández applauded the measure and said that such crimes are often left unresolved. “In the majority of the cases, the investigation and the persecution of these crimes do not advance since authorities tend to classify them as 'crimes of passion,'" he said.
"Hate" will now be considered as an aggravating circumstance when it comes to determining punishment although the Milenio article does not specify the extent of any additional punitive measures when an attack is determined to be a hate crime.
According to WikiPedia, the only other country in Latin America with a hate crimes law is Brazil, but it does not specifically include sexual orientation or gender identity under the protected status.
It's been two weeks didn't prepare any bento lunch for my boys over the weekend. :P I still prepare lunch for them, but with no "deco", mummy getting lazy.
Last weekend i prepare something simple for them .
Rice with some luncheon meat and pork chop, anchovies and papaya.
Reggaeton-Cumbiamberos-Bachata-Electro-Pop-Rockeros Calle 13 recently began to Twitter at Calle13Oficial. Currently they are touring Spain and lead singer El Residente was generous enough to stop for a moment last night and post this hotel room pic.
Aw!
They are one of my favorite bands out there, even if they might be a bit unpolitically correct, and have always had a social conscience behind their lyrics, which makes them sound didactic and boring but...
When members of the Colombian lesbian organization Toque Lésbico found out that the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer would take place this past Sunday through the streets of Bogotá, they realized that it would be a great opportunity to participate as an organization and highlight the high incidence of breast cancer in the lesbian community.
Using drums to create music at public events as a way to raise the visibility of the lesbian community, the organization reached out to the organizers of the march to make sure that they could participate and bring their instruments. According to a member of Toque Lésbico, the woman who answered their calls first said that "they did not get involved with issues related to diversity" but that she would check with Avon as to whether the organization could march. She called them back and reiterated that they "did absolutely get involved with issues related to diversity and that if they wanted to participate they could show up with their drums but without anything that alluded to sexual diversity."
The march representative also told the women that they would not be allowed to carry any signs, banners, or shirts that made any reference to the name of the organization.
Marcela Sanchez, Director of the larges LGBT rights organization in Colombia, Colombia Diversa, and a Toque Lésbico member, said that the objective of the civil protest was more than met.
I think we met the Toque Lésbico objective, which is lesbian visibility. To set our stand before the discrimination to which we were subjected, because the directives from Avons said that we could not participate in the march if we brought lesbian symbols, or titles of 'lesbians', or anything that alluded to the theme of diversity. I believe that people were able to see our message, it could have been entertaining [to them], they understood that we could also protest with music and drums.
During the protest, the women raised a banner that read: "Breast cancer does not discriminate against lesbians, and you? ... AND AVON?"
Reaction from march participants and the public seemed to be overwhelmingly positive and supportive of Toque Lésbico.
The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Colombia is one of many similar events championed worldwide by the Avon Foundation for Women as a way to raise awareness and funds towards defeating the illness, with upcoming marches in Los Angeles, New York and Boston, among other US cities.
But, in the United States, there seems to be no Avon qualms about 'sexual diversity' or lesbian issues. This year, as in past years, the foundation awarded grants to the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington. DC, specifically earmarked for the care of lesbian and transgender women.
Today, 24th August, is my mum's birthday and also my sons turn 51 months old!
My mum suppose to come over here last week Monday, and help me to look after my sons during this school holidays, but her pressure "shot up" on the day before, that's why she cancel the trip, if no today i will celebrate her birthday. Glad is, my mum re-book her flight on this coming wed, so she will be here this wed, and it so happen it's her chinese birthday on that day, maybe we will go out for dinner and have a simple celebration for her.
Today, also school holidays start, i told my boys over the weekend, i will be going to work, they got no school and will stay at home with "kakak". Over the weekend, Cruz had some cough, and getting better on Sunday, while Fearles caught some cough bug on sunday and with lots of phelgm. I got a bit worried, feed them cough medicine and told maid to monitor them and instruct the maid what time to feed them cough medicine again. Last night Fearles didn't sleep well, tossing and woke up every few hours, want to drink water, which is good.
This morning, while i prepare myself to go to work, Fearles woke up, i fixed milk for him and on the tv for him, Cruz still in his lala-land. When i changed, i was in the walk in wardrobe, i heard Cruz woke up and ask Fearles " kor kor, where mummy? where mummy??" I open the door and walk out from the wardrobe, i can see Cruz worried face then i give him a hug tell him i'm going to work, and will be back in the evening, then i will play with them. He knotted his head and said "ok", but with a sad face. I fixed him milk and i bid bye bye to them and remind the maid again on what food to give, when to feed medicine and give them water, bla bla bla then i off to work. When i just walk down the stairs, Cruz run out and told me " mummy, kor kor crying!" I walked back to my room and i saw Fearles cried badly and Cruz is wipping his tears, adoi!! I tell you ar, they are like mummy don't come back home anymore. I re-assure them, i will be home in the evening and play with them. I left for work with a heavy heart. :(
Reach office, receive sms from my good cum close friend, telling me, her mum passed away this morning. :( She found out her mum got cancer few months ago, and i msn her last week and asked how is her mum condition, she told me her mum is too weak to go for chemo and cannot take any anti-biotic too, doc said her mum max got 6 months life, or could be earlier, and today i got the sad news. My deepest condelence to her and her family.
It's hard to believe that it has been a year already, but on Sept 5th of 2008 Yvonne Cavanagh and I opened the doors to Surface Gallery. In that year we have had 6 successful exhibit openings, workshops, private parties, and first Friday events. It has been quite an amazing ride and I look forward to the upcoming year. To celebrate the one year anniversary of the gallery, the four artist that opened the gallery (Yvonne, Brent, Liz, and myself) will be exhibiting new works interpreting the word "one." I am back in the studio working away nightly and trying to get everything ready by show time. I have been working on a few larger paintings which have been challenging because I haven't worked this large since college. Although it has allowed me to loosen up in the my painting style, I think I prefer my little 10x10 paintings. I will post the new works after the Sept 4th opening. Until then, I will be frantically painting in the studio, but loving every minute of it. The one year anniversary exhibit entitled "ONE, " will open Sept. 4th at 5 pm.
I've been thinking a lot about the changes that have happened now that I have an agent. Here are some good (and not so good) things I've noticed.
(DISCLAIMER: None of the not-so-good things have to do with my agent. They are all about me. My agent ROCKS.)
GOOD: For the first time in a long time, I feel validated as a writer. I can't tell you how many years I've watched friends/family/complete strangers I've stopped on the street let their eyes glaze over as I talk about my writing.
NOT SO GOOD: Since when did I ever become so needy? My agent sends me a note that says, for example, "I liked this," and I want to email him back and beg him to tell me every minuscule reason why I am the greatest writer in the world, and to lie about it if I'm not. That can't be normal.
GOOD: I don't feel as guilty about doing writing-related things such as attending my writers group or writing conferences, or telling my husband we need to spend money on my writing business for a change.
NOT SO GOOD: My house is messier than ever. Sorry, hubby dear.
GOOD: I actually have a writing business now.
NOT SO GOOD: So far, my business has not been very profitable.
GOOD: I really enjoy the collaboration process. That surprises me. I've tried collaborating before and it always felt like a lot of work to mesh two people's thoughts and ideas together. Not this time.
NOT SO GOOD: I feel a little guilty calling it "my book" when someone else has made some mighty fine suggestions to make it better. I feel like his/her name should go on the title, too. (Though this has always been a problem for me. Now it's just been magnified a hundred-fold.)
GOOD: There are real superstar editors out there, reading MY manuscript! Awesome!
NOT SO GOOD: There are real superstar editors out there, reading MY manuscript?! Are they nuts?!
(Oh, UPDATE: agent man is sending my manuscript today [hopefully] to some editors. He liked the revisions I sent him a few days ago. Whew and YIPPEE!)
But in all honesty, this has been the most exciting/frightening/nerve-wracking/validating process. I'm really enjoying it, nerves and all. Though it will be nice when things settle down a bit, so I can stop tossing and turning all night long (I don't sleep well when I'm excited).
So much for Republicans presenting US-based Puerto Rican Evangelical preacher - and right-wing religious darling - Samuel Rodriguez as a "centrist" (from a homily taped in November of 2006):
We have radical Muslims, radical homosexuals, radical abortionists, we need radical born-again spirit-filled Christians to arise. Do you follow me? We don't need anymore sissy Christians, Oprah Winfrey Christians. we need prophetic, devil-stomping, demon-reputing, blood washed Bible-believing, free-from-sin Christians, are you here in this place right now! Are you here in this place right now! We need Christians that don't know how to whine and complain, but have the anointy to bind and release in the NAAAAAAAYME of JEEESAHSSSSSSS
Sammy Rodriguez is a point man working to formulate and advance what seems to be a two-pronged strategy: 1) colonize and ideologically infiltrate the left, alienate its activist base, and tie the Democratic Party in knots, 2) work to reshape and rebrand the right and the GOP, as an ethnically inclusive, pseudo-progressive "Rainbow" movement. The latter strategy was field tested in the pro-Proposition 8 push last year, in California.
Reminds me of that other right-wing 'centrist' darling, Reverend Miguel Rivera, as captured on tape by myself back in May as he riled against NYS Governor David Paterson:
came few days later after my previous maid left. This current new maid is not my "personal maid", last time i get myself a maid, because my boys are still young, i need someone to help me to look after them while i'm at work. Now, my sons is older, no more a "baby" so is a bit easy to look after and i decide don't want anymore maid for myself. The new maid is the "house maid" means will be doing everyone's job and doing housework. I just need her to help me for the afternoon session after my sons back from school.
During the maid-less few days, the vietnam maid (also another house maid) is helping me with the boys, but i tell you....tsk tsk tsk, because the vietnam maid is too soft, and my sons are having a great time at home, skip their afternoon nap, play to the max, climbing up and down, turn my room into the war zone. First day when i came back from work, i nearly faint looking at my room, pillows, bolsters everywhere, chocolate drop on the floor, Astro Card also slot in the other way round. MIL complain to me, saying my sons very hard to control, not listento my mil and also the maid. :( Lucky on that week, their class teacher is away so no homework, what a relief, if no......
After seeing my after-war-bedroom, i cannot stand, i clean my bedroom immediately, mop, vacuum, hub think i was mad, after work, still got so much energy to do the cleaning, but i am a clean freak, i cannot see my room so messy and dirty.
First two days a bit "havoc", morning i woke up a bit early, do my sons's laundry, put it into the washing machine and ask the maid to help me hang the clothes out later. Then i prepare their morning "snack bento" to bring to school, shower, then time to wake my boys up and fix them milk while i do my make up. Then rush them to have their shower, lucky the maid is helping me and i also have to show her how to shower them. Tell her what time to fix milk for my sons in the afternoon, get them to drink water...bla bla bla.....
Night time, have to prepare the school bag for the next day, get the clothes ready for the maid for the next day, just in case she don't know what clothes to take, put sons's clothes back to their closet after fold by the maid, refill milk powder into milk container, soak son's laundry, wash their milk bottles and etc. Then time for me to have shower while i let the boys sleep themselve.
On the day when hub go and pick up the new maid, my sons was so happy and excited, knowing there is "new kakak" coming. I didn't follow hub to go and pick up the maid, my boys can't wait to see thier new kakak, walk in and out and see whether their daddy come back already or not. While i'm taking some rest in the room watching tv, my boys heard their daddy's car come back, immediately they said "new kakak come already, mummy, come go down and see new kakak, come, mummy come." I told them "you go down and see new kakak, mummy tired" They went down and come up again, and said "come, mummy, come see new kakak!!" I went down and "greet" the new maid.
New maid is another Cambodia maid, but this one look more pleasant and got smiley face, fairer than my previous maid. New maid had been with us about two weeks now, since she is the "house maid" no more my sons personal "butler", so most of the things i still do it myself, i didn't ask the maid to help. So far, we are happy with her, she is very observant and take initiative to do work, no more "one kick, one move", i know it's too early to judge, but this new maid got "common sense" at least won't so "vomit blood". Every night and morning i still do the work myself, but she observe what i'm doing, and without me ask for help, the next few days she is helping me with the work, at l east ease some my "burden" :P
One thing is she is a bit soft and cannot speak much, so my sons like to "bully" new kakak! Not listen to her, get them to nap in the afternoon, non of the day is successful, unless they are too worn out then they will sleep on the sofa. :( Get them shower is a fun acitivities, because this new kakak don't know how to scold them and control them, i tell you, they are having a fun time playing water in the shower room (report from my mil). If i'm at home then that is another story, because the fierce mama at home, they will behave! *headache*
This new maid, she worked in Thailand for 4 years, she got experience in taking care kids and doing housework, and day time the vietnam maid is guiding her on how to do the housework and do some cooking and cleaning, don't ask me how they communicate. One speak limited mandarin and the other one speak limited English. hahahahahahhahahhahah
Hopefully this one will be a good one, don't give much headache and problem. Although, now i'm a bit tired, but i'm happy and less stress and i don't need to do any "follow up" on the work or spot check on the work, because most, i still do it myself!
Today I finished the revision my agent requested. I thought that was pretty fast work considering I overhauled one character 100%. Seriously. The only thing that stayed the same was his name and occupation.
Funny thing: my agent didn't ask me to overhaul the character. But the character wasn't working the way he was, so I knew he had to go. At first I was worried, because he provided a lot of tension in the book, but I think (hope) the new character still provides the tension I needed, but in a different way.
I sent it off to my agent to see what he thinks. *fingers crossed*
I'm hoping he gives the green light so we can start subbing it. But I'm also ready to go back and do a little more tweaking. I'd rather revise than write a first draft. I hate first drafts.
Wish me luck, everyone!
“a book is a cubic piece of burning, smoking conscience—and nothing else” --Boris Pasternak
1. I finally got my ms. back from my agent. He's recommended one small revision (which I am so glad he did because it was a part of the book that I knew needed work and wanted to fix anyway) in addition to the line edits. Yesterday I revised the first two chapters. Seven more chapters to go! Then we'll be sending that baby off into the sub world.
2. I recently moved back to my home state, and my writers group has welcomed me back with open arms. We meet next week! Woohoo! I love these people. I am so excited about seeing them all again! And while I've been away they've added some new members, so I am excited to meet new writing friends, too.
3. Yesterday my husband and I took the 5 kiddos shopping for new shoes. Have you ever tried to help 5 little kids pick out shoes, all at the same time, in a crowded mall shoe store? I don't recommend it. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off as one yelled, "Mom, I can't get these on!" while another danced down the aisle in new shoes while the third said, "Get back here, Mom! Don't leave me!" (and the littlest one was pulling all the shiny ones out of the boxes and the oldest was pouting since they didn't have the shoes he wanted in his size). And once we got to the register, the lady behind us kept throwing daggers at us with her eyes since she had one pair of shoes and we had 10, and she was forced to wait while we were helped. And each child wanted to pack their own shoes out of the store so the poor lady at the register had to bag our items in five different bags. It's always an adventure when we take our kids anywhere.
4. I really don't like the cliched phrases, "running around like a chicken with my head cut off" or "throwing daggers at us with her eyes," but I'm too lazy right now to think of something original and fresh.
5. I meet with my web designer next week to go over ideas and decide on a plan of action for my website. We're going to try to have it up and running by September, though I think it may take a bit longer than that. I'm hoping it will be a rockin' website!
6. Sweet Pea, my littlest one (she's 18 months old), has just crawled up on my lap for a little snuggle time. And now she's singing to me. It's complete gibberish but so cute. Aw. I love little kids, especially mine.
I am currently attending the 2009 Netroots Nation conference and the highlight might have happened tonight, on opening night, at the opening day plenary. The key note speaker was former US President Bill Clinton who I had never personally seen speaking publicly and gave an impassioned speech about politics,the Obama administration, the health care debate and the opportunity for bloggers and online activists to create a progressive future that may well last for the next forty years, should Obama win the health care debate. U-Stream has the whole speech online here (it begins at the 1:37:46 mark).
Skip forward to the 1:59:00 mark, though, and you will hear what happened when DC-based gay blogger Lane Hudson stood up and interrupted the President's speech. Here is my transcript of the question he posed and the President's answer, to the best of my listening skills, at this late hour. I've based it on the U-Stream video feed as well as a video captured at the same event by Jeremy Hooper and posted on his blog tonight at his blog, Good as You.
Lane Hudson: Mr. President, will you call for a repeal of DOMA and “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” right now? Please...
President Clinton: Hey, you know, you ought to go to one of those congressional health care meetings. You did really well there. I’ll be glad to talk about that. If you will… If you will sit down and let me talk, I’ll be glad to discuss it. But if you stand up and scream I won’t be able to talk. But the other guys would love to have ya. I wanna talk a little about that too.
But anyway, so, here we are in a different world. Now, it’s not like the 1990’s. You wanna talk about ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’, I’ll tell you exactly what happened. You couldn’t deliver me any support in the Congress and they voted by a veto-proof majority in both houses against my attempt to let gays serve in the military and the media supported them. They raised all kinds of devilment. And all most of you did was to attack me instead of getting some support in the congress. Now, that’s the truth.
Secondly – it’s true! – You know, you may have noticed that presidents aren’t dictators. They voted - they were about to vote for the old policy – by margins exceeding 80% in the House and exceeding 70% in the Senate. The gave test votes out there to send me a message that they were going to reverse any attempt I made by executive order to force them to accept gays into the military. And let me remind you that the public opinion is now more strongly in our favor than it was sixteen years ago and I have continued supporting it. That John Shalikashvili, who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under me, was against “Don’t A..” – was against letting gays serve – is now in favor of it. This is a different world. That’s the point I’m trying to make.
Let me also say something that never got sufficient publicity at the time. When General Colin Powell came up with this ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ it was defined while he was Chairman much differently than it was implemented. He said that, if you will accept this, here is what we’ll do. We will not pursue anyone, any military members out of uniform will be free to march in gay rights parades, go to gay bars, go to political meetings, whatever mailings they get, whatever they do in their private lives, none of this will be a basis for dismissal. It all turned out to be a fraud because of the enormous reaction against it among the middle level officers and down after it was promulgated and Colin was gone. So nobody regrets how this was implemented even more… anymore than I do. But the congress also put that into law by a veto-proof majority and many of your friends voted for that, believing the explanation about how it would be eliminated. So, I hated what happened. I regret it. But I didn’t have, I didn’t think at the time, any choice if I wanted any progress to be made at all. Look, I think it’s ridiculous. Can you believe they spent – what did they spend? - 150,000 dollars to get rid of a valuable Arabic speaker recently?
And, you know, the thing that changed me forever on ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ was when I learned that 130 gay service people were allowed to serve and risk their lives in the 1st Gulf War and all their commanders knew they were gay, they let them go and risk their lives ‘cause they needed them, and then as soon as the 1st Gulf War was over, they kicked them out. That’s all I needed to know, that’s all anybody needs to know, to know that this policy should be changed.
Now, while we’re at it, let me say one thing about DOMA, since you… The reason I signed DOMA was, and I said when I signed it, that I thought the question of whether gays should marry should be left out to states and the religious organizations, and if any church or other religious body wanted to recognize gay marriage they ought to. We were attempting at the time, in a very reactionary congress, to head off an attempt to send a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to the states. And if you look at the eleven referendum much later in 2004, in the election, which the Republicans put on the ballot, to try to get the base vote for President Bush up, I think it’s obvious that something had to be done to try to keep the Republican congress presenting that. The President doesn’t even get to veto that. It’s the Congress can refer constitutional amendments to the states. I didn’t like signing DOMA, and I certainly didn’t like the constraints it would put on benefits, and I’ve done everything I’ve could, and I am proud to say that the State Department was the first federal department to restore benefits to gay partners in the Obama administration, and I think we are going forward in the right direction now for federal employees, and I don’t like that eith… I don’t like the DOMA.
But actually all these things illustrate the point I was trying to make. America has rapidly moved to a different place to a lot of these issues and so what we have to decide is what we are going to do about it.
It is interesting how the subject of grief of losing a loved one is explored in recent local cinema. Since Mark Meily's Crying Ladies (2003), grief has been tackled with much humor (there is Gil Portes' Mourning Girls (2006) and Soxie Topacio's Ded na si Lolo (Grandpa is Dead, 2009)), primarily concentrating on the absurdity of the customs and procedures related to grieving, with the ridiculousness of the ceremonies overtaking the subject of grief itself. More maverick filmmakers would tackle grief, concentrating on its paralytic effects on the person suffering. There is Lav Diaz who, in Melancholia (2008), explores the extent a wife would undergo (transforming into a prostitute in a faraway resort town) to cure herself of the consuming melancholy of losing her husband, not knowing whether he is dead or alive. And I Love You So director Laurenti Dyogi, and his team of writers and producers, would not go as far as Diaz’s outrageous proposal. First of all, Melancholia primarily uses grief to humanize its loftier ambitions, from the political, to the moral, to the philosophical. And I Love You So, the attempt of Star Cinema, one of the Philippines' few active mainstream film studios, to tackle grief or its audience-friendly fantastical impression of it, takes such anguish as a mere conflict in its overly familiar plot to challenge two would-be lovers from realizing a romance already predestined by formula.
And I Love You So centers on Lara (Bea Alonzo), a pre-school teacher whose perfect husband Oliver (Derek Ramsey) dies after only a few months of marital bliss. Dyogi, schmaltz-conjurer par excellence, accompanies Oliver's tragic death (which conveniently happens on Lara's birthday, while the two are dancing under a perfectly starry night sky and in a beach that is ornamented by a birthday cake made out of sand and candles) with swelling dramatic music and frenetic cuts to slow-motioned footage of Oliver falling on his sand castle and Lara crying and screaming on the top of her lungs for help. Thereafter, Lara spends her days and nights in concealed misery, that is until she meets Chris (Sam Milby), a club DJ who also has his own marital problems but nevertheless, falls in love with Lara. Problems arise: a new relationship, after only a few months since Oliver's death, for Lara seems inappropriate; Chris, on the other hand, is sick and tired of falling for women who can't entirely fall in love with him (after having a wife who cheated on him with her ex-boyfriend), and it is quite obvious that Lara is still deeply in love with her dead husband, enough to conjure him from thin air for advices and comfort.
Of course, the inevitable fate of Chris and Lara is to be together in perpetual bliss that we can assuredly conjure after their long-awaited kiss gives way to the film's end credits. Knowing that, the middle part, which consists mostly of the two lovebirds flirting with, and fawning for, and later on, fighting with each other, is negligible, just a tool to enunciate the fantasy that Star Cinema has been perpetuating with their non-stop onslaught of hugely commercial romances: that love trumps everything, whether it be class difference (Cathy Garcia-Molina's A Very Special Love (2008) and You Changed My Life (2009)), environmental advocacy (Jose Javier Reyes' When Love Begins (2008)), the American Dream (Garcia-Molina's You Are the One (2006)), a highly careless and promiscuous past (Joyce Bernal's For the First Time (2008)), obesity (Jade Castro's My Big Love (2008)), racial stereotyping (Reyes' Can This Be Love (2005)), familial meddling (Lino Cayetano's I've Fallen For You (2007)), and with And I Love You So, devastating grief.
The previous litany of conflicts and the corresponding Star Cinema movie that makes use of the conflict does not only expose the studio's lack of ingenuity in determining titles for its romantic films (most of which adopt song titles or famous verses from famous songs as their title), but also the creative void, the inability to take risks, and the unforgivable laziness that undoubtedly infest the studio's filmmaking process. The retort is predictable: filmmaking is a business and the movie going public pays to be elated and entertained, not to feel more depressed or reminded of the problems that hound their lives outside the theater. I agree to a certain degree. If anything, the fact that the films that these mainstream film studios produce earn profits, despite the fact that reliance to formula has overtaken any form of creative freedom from any of the artists involved in the production and has turned these movies into mere clones, is telling of the moribund state of this contemporary culture, where what is popular is entertainment that draws its audience farthest from reality.
It is therefore not surprising that the greatest accolade a Filipino artist would ever dream of is now being bestowed upon Carlo J. Caparas, a hack who made himself filthy rich from peddling the misfortunes of others in the most sensationalist yet artistically inept way possible. During the time when Caparas' movies were drawing people to the theaters, Filipinos were clamoring for movies that depict misfortune worse than theirs (not even the poorest living Filipino would want to trade places with the numerous massacre victims that also became victims of Caparas' talentless movie-making). That is exactly my problem with Caparas' reasoning that his ability to communicate with the masses makes him a worthy National Artist. While his films may have communicated very well with most Filipinos, it only does so because it speaks to their misfortune of being too poor to be authentically happy of their lot. Caparas' films, like the formulaic films that Star Cinema has been producing for the sake of profit, exploit the country's malaise, and it behooves me why anyone would even consider Caparas, or any maker of movies who thrive with such parasitic mentality whether consciously or not, an artist.
Forgive my digression. Now, let me give this review of And I Love You So its proper conclusion.The film's cinematography, musical score, editing, acting, scripting, and direction are all wondrously orchestrated to momentarily transport you to an fantasy universe where good husbands die young, divorces are easy, renting out your condo can land you a platonic relationship, lack of parking skills can turn that platonic relationship into a romantic one, and running around Cubao barefooted will win you a second chance at a happily ever after, without even the threat of having your feet covered with soot. For that and the plenty of times Star Cinema has made us forget our problems for the price of a movie ticket, let's give the studio its National Artist Award. Oh wait, studios, being juridical persons, are not eligible to be awarded. What the heck, I'm sure President Arroyo can do something about that too.
I always mention, Cruz is a chatty box and very cheeky, always full of "ideas" and very good in social too! Here i want to jot down some funny conversation and incident.
There is one night while daddy bring the car for car wash, the car wash is those "Wash n Go" type, but is by man-hand-wash not electric type of auto wash. We are all sit in the car, waiting for the car washed and wiped dry . After done, daddy roll down the window and want to paid to the guy, my social bee said :-
After my previous maid left, and i got maid-less for few days and while waiting for the new helper (another Cambo maid) to come, temporary i stop my activities like going to gym or meeting up with friends, pedicure and etc. I go back home straight after work. One of the evening after dinner i was outside the house while my sons was standing at the gate and talking to our indian neighbour. I was curious what they talk, so i stand near the door and look at them. I heard Cruz said
Cruz: Hello uncle, my name is Cruz Lee. What are you doing?
Uncle: Hello boy, how are you? What is your name? (obviosly uncle didnt hear what Cruz said)
Cruz: Cruz Lee! Uncle, why you stand outside? Why you holding the thing (wire cable) later it fall down ar!
Uncle : Oh...ok ok...uncle no hold it ok...
And the uncle's wife come...
Aunty: Hello boy, where is your mother? (she must be thinking i'm the maid) hahahahhaha
Cruz: (no answer, he don't know what is mother? he only know mummy, self reminder, must tell Fearles and Cruz, mother and mummy is the same meaning)
Aunty: What is your mother's name and She go to work ar?
Cruz: (still no answer from him and i stand at the door there and laugh)
I walk over to them and tell my boys to go back to the house, don't disturb uncle and aunty. Before we walk off, i ask them to said "bye" to the uncle and aunty, out of sudden, Cruz come out with this question........
Cruz: uncle, why your head (point at the forehead) got red colour??
mummy: *oooppppsss*..Cruz...let's go...
Cruz: uncle uncle, why your head there got red colour?? *with giggling*
mummy: Cruz, no manners ar, to ask uncle this.
uncle: oh, boy, this is uncle praying one, then put a dot on the forehead.
mummy faster rush the boys to the house to avoid anymore embarrassment!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One evening while i'm having dinner in the dining room and i overheard Cruz talking to the new maid.
Cruz: kakak, Sponge-Bob
Kakak: sponge.........
Cruz: bob, again, said again.....Sponge-Bob
kakak: *cannot pronounce*
Cruz: Spi-der-man
Kakak: Spi-der-man
Cruz: again, Spi-der-man
Kakak: *pronounce wrongly*
Cruz: no no, kakak wrong, not ......, it's spi-der-man!!
I was wondering what are they taking about, i had a peep outside the living room, kakak was folding their underwear and got the spiderman and spongebob cartoon character print on the underwear, so Cruz is teaching the new kakak ENGLISH!!!!! I laugh so so loud!! Lucky that day don't have ultraman, mickey, winnie pooh underwear if no that will never end.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last Sunday, after clean up my room, vacumn and mop and do the laundry and everything, i so tired and sit in the room watch tv and enjoy the air-cond, it is so so hot over the weekend. Then i told my sons get ready to go shower then later we go "kai-kai". I saw hub was glue his bum on the chair play his mafia game in FB, i told my boys, go and ask daddy to give you shower. After 1 min, daddy still not moving his butt, Cruz said
Cruz: daddy, faster shower me, i am so smelly!!!!!
I had a good laugh!! This boy ar, always so funny and cheeky!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This morning while i put on my make up and my boys are having their morning milk on bed and watching their morning "cartoon". Again, Cruz ask me this......
Cruz: mummy, why (we) got two beds??
We got two beds in our room, one king bed and one single bed adjoin together. Single bed suppose for the boys, but they want to sleep with me, so three of us (me and two boys) are occupied the king size bed and daddy is sleeping on their single bed.
mummy: we got two beds, because one is you and Fearles one, then mummy and daddy is the big one.
Cruz: NO NO NO!!...this is Cruz and mummy's bed (point at the king size bed) that is daddy's bed, i don't want sleep there!! (single bed)
mummy: 0..0
Now he is into those"why why why" stage, every day i got tons of questions from him. Sometime i got headache, i don't know how to answer him back. :(
Yesterday evening I participated in my first Twitter chat (#kidlitchat) and had a great time learning all sorts of great things (once I wrapped my brain around it all--it was like sitting in the middle of a room and trying to listen to thirteen conversations going on at once).
But one thing I heard/read from Elizabeth Law (a publisher with Egmont USA) that I thought was interesting was this:
"A thing I learned from Alice Pope: you have to be participating in social networking and can't leap in just to promote your book."
It made me wonder about this whole blogging experience. I resisted getting a blog at first, but only because I knew that once I started I'd love it so much I'd never be able to give it up. (And as usual, I was right.) But are there people out there who jump on the blog bandwagon just for the sake of promoting themselves?
Well, obviously there are. I've even known some. And I think they have missed the point.
Blogging, for me at least, is a way to share a bit of myself with anyone who will listen. I'm silly some days (just read those recent pity party posts if you don't believe me), other days I'm really excited about what's going on in my life, and there are other days when I just need to vent about my frustrations or tell someone about how nervous I am. And sometimes I do want to teach someone something I've learned and want to pass on. I don't mind promotion on a blog, but it should be a natural extension of you sharing what you love (and of course we writers love what we've written).
So this is my shout out to all those who love blogging as much as I do, and who do it for the right reasons, not just the promotional reasons. Blog on, Bloggers!
Perú's tabloid newspaper Trome is reporting that 25 people were treated for trauma and asphyxia on early Saturday morning after two live tear-gas canisters were thrown inside a gay bar in Iquitos and the more than 250 clients inside the building rushed for the doors. An excerpt from the article:
The incident happened at 2:40 yesterday morning, when two men with military garb threw a suspicious black bag inside the dance room, taking advantage of the confusion, since 250 were dancing, drinking and having fun, while they waited for the "Miss Mistika 2009" beauty pageant to begin.
"Madame Francesca", one of those present, saw the strange bag package and opened it, finding two live tear-gas bombs that had yet to detonate. But immediately she began to scream "A bomb! A bomb!", and that was enough to start a stampede of gays, lesbians and 'trans'.
Miss "Mistika" called the incident as an affront to the gay community in Loreto. "Why do they want to kill us? We are human, we don't bother anyone. A disgrace almost happened, many of the girls are hurt and scared, respect us, please!" she said.
This is the only report I have been able to find online about the incident. It doesn't say if anyone sustained any serious injuries but it certainly seems that the outcome might have been much worse. It's also unclear, from the article, whether the canisters actually went off or whether those with symptoms of asphyxia suffered them as a result of being crushed during the rush to get out of the bar.
over the weekend. We had this two lovely mummies over at my place last weekend, we planned this "small makan" session/gathering few weeks back, before my maid left. See the picture below, do you recognize them?? No no, these two not mummies, i mean do you recognize who is their mummy?
Amber & Ashley!!
Yes, the two mummies are Barb and Elaine and with their pretty girls. They reach at my place around 9.45am, because we want to bake/grill some chicken wing, but i don't know how, i must ask the "sifu" to teach me. I marinate the chicken wing night before using this mummy's recipe, but i opt out HP BBQ sauce and Tabasco Red Pepper Sauce, but taste still good. :P
Let's see what we had on the menu, we got bake chicken wings, homemade yam cake from Elaine and Barb bought some fresh and soft yummy butter and chocolate cake, not forget we still got mash potatoes and coleslaw too as side dishes!
When they reached at my place i just wake up not long ago so i have not prepare anything yet. hahahhahaha. Three of us after settle the kids, on the TV let them watch and Elaine's bring her maid and let the maid watch over them and we three and my house new maid stay in the kitchen do the preparation. The new cambo maid help me to peel the carrot and potatoes and cut the vege and do some cleaning while we three enjoy a cuppa of nescafe (not having any breakfast yet, save the tummy for the lunch).
We start baking the wings, sifu Elaine help me for that, then i also prepare some simple noodles bentos for the kids. On off, kids are crying, fighting outside, we went in and out. Barb is resting outside at the living room, if u read Barb's blog know she is a bit weak lately, so we don't want her too tired.
chicken wing before go into the "oven"
mid baking.........
"turning" the wings, both side must balance ma....Barb and Elaine in action me taking picture.
After two hours, food is ready, bento is ready, there go our lunch! Of course at first we need to settle the kids's lunch first then only we adults can enjoy the food! We eat and yak and drink till about 4pm!! LOL! Kids are happy, mummies are full with the food! That is my fruitful Saturday!!
Bake chicken wings!!
Bento's for the kids, two ultraman quails egg are for the two girls and my boys don't have ultraman in their bentos. hahahhahah, they are complain, because mummy's was too hot in the kitchen and cannot stand anymore, want a "quick fix" :)
Kids's bento - noodles, mash potatoes, quail egg, meat balls, mini octopus sausage and dragon fruits and straberries.
Picture didn't turn out good, while i'm taking the pictures, kids are fighting on who is taking which bento boxes!!! I want this, i want that, this is mine, this is yours! Havoc havoc. hahahahhaa
Elaine and Amber
Barb and Ashley
Cruz
Fearles
want to take a kids's group photo, you know how hard to put this four to sit
together and take picture??
Ashley and Cruz
we had a hard time to get them all sit still for us to snap the picture
the only way to get them sit still and look at camera is "Better sit properly
and take picture, mummy is sending this picture to ULTRAMAN!!!!!"
hahahhahaha, this trick WORK!! LOL! That's how all of them are with ultraman
