Okay, I am closing shop for the rest of the day. I need to work on a few last-minute tech issues before our World Premiere on Monday. We've been in Beta mode for the past few weeks, but we are going to be good to go on Monday, November 3, 2008!
But before you go and have a drunken, costumed, dirty weekend be sure to check out a naked Brent Corrigan over in The Media Bar. (Yeah, it's NSFW, but it's the weekend right?) And you gotta listen to my girlfriend Rachel Maddow's ENTIRE show in Audio Espresso. And today's posts cover how we're gay in "Gay Sex DOES Make Babies" to some more nekkid boys in "A Good Stiff One" so make sure you scroll down a bit and see what's going on.
So come back in three short days to be at the official launch of AKAWilliam.com! All kinds of gay? Yup. Because it takes all kinds.
Happy Halloween!
The Economist has an article with a new twist on efforts to understand the evolutionary implications of homosexuality. (I'm sure y'all don't need me to tell you that gay sex is not all that successful on the reproductive front.) A few years ago, there were some studies that demonstrated a link between male homosexuality and female fecundity. There was also a study that found that the more older brothers a man has, the more likely he is to be gay. As well as left-handedness being more likely among gay people. But this new study is saying this:
[Brendan Zietsch of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, Australia, and his colleagues] think that genes which cause men to be more feminine in appearance, outlook and behaviour and those that make women more masculine in those attributes, confer reproductive advantages as long as they do not push the individual possessing them all the way to homosexuality.If a woman prefers a long-term relationship with a slightly feminized man and slightly masculinized women have more sex partners then what I am inferring from this little bit of information is that female mate choice is driving the existence of homosexuality. Wait, does that mean that our moms DID make us gay?!
There are also data which suggest that having a more feminine personality might indeed give a heterosexual male an advantage. Though women prefer traditionally macho men at the time in their menstrual cycles when they are most fertile, at other times they are more attracted to those with feminine traits such as tenderness, considerateness and kindness, as well as those with feminised faces.
. . . When the relationships between twins were included in the statistical analysis (all genes in common for identical twins; a 50%overlap for the non-identical) the team was able to show that both atypical gender identity and its influence on the number of people of the opposite sex an individual claimed to have seduced were under a significant amount of genetic control. More directly, the study showed that heterosexuals with a homosexual twin tend to have more sexual partners than heterosexuals with a heterosexual twin.
Time magazine has an article called "The Gay Mafia That's Redefining Liberal Politics."
Among gay activists, the Cabinet [a loosely-connected group of politically active like-minded rich gay people] is revered as a kind of secret gay Super Friends, a homosexual justice league that can quietly swoop in wherever anti-gay candidates are threatening and finance victories for the good guys.What at first sounds like a tongue-in-cheek view of the changes in the gay political landscape begins an attempt to hint at something not-quite-sinister, although the article's author, John Cloud, the most ridiculed reporter in the blogosphere, says, "There's nothing illegal about the Cabinet's coordination of its members' giving, according to Lawrence Noble, campaign-finance expert with the Washington-based firm Skadden, Arps."
Rather than focus on the undertones of the article, I think the article can be used to draw a little bit of attention to how the fight for gay civil rights is changing. We need to know where we're headed as much as where we've been. And we also need to know how the opposition is framing the fight against us. Cloud, despite his creepiness (well-suited to Halloween, and Halloween only) and out-of-touchness (he reads rather quaintly), does manage to ask a few questions that gay people ought to also ask themselves (just to take one's temperature).
And yet the Cabinet is noteworthy not only because its treasure begets political influence but also because its very existence shows how dramatically the culture wars — and liberal politics as a whole — have changed in the past decade . . . the street movement is basically defunct. And increasingly, the center of gay power is moving out from Washington toward the interior — toward powerful foundations like those run by Stryker in Kalamazoo and Gill in Denver.The rest of the article? Probably worth checking out, but only because it's appearing in Time Magazine and lots of people (both for and against civil rights) will come across it. And I think it's really great to know that there is a concerted effort among wealthy gays to fight the good fight. But the article does leave a bad taste in the mouth.
That raises questions: What does a civil rights movement look like in an era of massive wealth? Can you still inspire a grass-roots movement when all the street troops know that the billionaires can just write bigger checks? And is it possible that the left has become a movement as coldly obsessed with money as it always assumed the right was?
Via Charmants: "Southern Boys Telling Men's Stories." I love stories.
I'm still playing around with the sexy boy title. First it was "Sidewalk Sale." Then yesterday it was "Happy Hour." Today it's "A Good Stiff One." That was Pork's idea. I think I might stick with it for a while.
Click the thumbnails to enlarge. And then, after the jump, you can check out some NSFW booty.
Last night, Rachel Maddow, my girlfriend, interviewed Barack Obama. Yes, Rachel, who just a few short months ago was an Air America radio show host that no one really listened to. Now, she is interviewing presidential candidates. And when that interview is over, she cuts to Dan Rather to hear his analysis of her interview of the presidential candidate! I'm thinking Rachel Maddow's ascendant career was cemented by last night's smart interview. Something in Obama's demeanor was appreciative of Maddow. That kind of respect was nice to see.
What was also fantastic to see was Chris Matthews, who is forever consigned to the "B Team" of political commentary, being forced to promote Maddow's interview during his own show! Rachel leap-frogged over his sexist back and landed herself smack in the middle of the "A Team." (I pity the fool Matthews!) Matthews actually said, through clenched teeth, "That's a real get for Rachel. Getting Obama. A real get. That's what we call it in this business, when you get a real scoop. Yeah, a real get." It was the best thing on TV yesterday -- too bad I can't find a clip . . . I'll keep looking.
Those MSNBC players really slow down this site, so I put it after the jump to see if that helps. Definitely check it out. Oh, and can someone please tell me if Obama really does call Rachel "Abbey" by mistake? In response to a question about Afghanistan, I am almost certain he says, "Look, Abbey . . . ."
Watch the second half over at MSNBC.
Wake Up With These:
NPR
Fresh Air
Stories: 1) Cynthia Gorney: Parsing The Politics Of Abortion 2) Mystery Novels, With A Southwestern Flair 3) 'Tell-Tale Signs' Exposes Bob Dylan Bootlegs
Tell Me More
Stories: 1) As Election Day Nears, Poll Data Questioned 2) In Somalia And Congo: Ceasefire, Public Execution 3) Zimbabweans 'Tired' Of Political Bigotry 4) 'AIDS Sutra' Challenges Widespread Denial In India
The New York Times:
NYT The Ethicist 10/31
NYT The Front Page 10/31
The Rachel Maddow Show:
Rachel interviews Barack Obama
Audio player after the jump. Or click here to launch the player in a new window so you can browse while you listen. Or, head over to The Media Bar and listen there.
Click below to jump to the full size players or click here to launch them in a new window. Or just pull hang out and watch them in The Media Bar next door.
Daily Song:
Danny Tenaglia
"The Space Dance"
This week's #1 Billboard Dance Song
Television:
The Blood Work Vlog says: "Tacky gay vampires, dirty cemetery sex, ice cream sundaes and more . . . check it all out . . . " Plus, the tell you where to download "True Blood" pumpkin-carving templates.
Movies:
DoorQ, the gay horror website, brings you the scary short "In the Closet," starring Brent Corrigan and JT Tepnapa. Yes. That Brent Corrigan. Featured in Rated-R full frontal NSFW-ness: "You see, sometimes, in order for someone to come out, someone else might have to go back in -- whether they want to or not.
Politics:
"Don't Speak for Me, Sarah Palin" performed to the music of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina!" It's not Halloween scary, but it is very gay.
Music Video:
Smashing Pumpkins
"The End Is The Beginning Is The End"
More Halloween creepiness
Click below to jump to the full size players or click here to launch them in a new window. Or just pull hang out and watch them in The Media Bar next door.
Daily Song:
Danny Tenaglia "The Space Dance"
Television:
The Blood Work Vlog says: "Tacky gay vampires, dirty cemetery sex, ice cream sundaes and more . . . check it all out . . . " Also check out where to download "True Blood" pumpkin-carving templates.
Movies:
DoorQ, the gay horror website, brings you the scary short "In the Closet," starring Brent Corrigan and JT Tepnapa. Yes. That Brent Corrigan. Featured in Rated-R full frontal NSFW-ness: "You see, sometimes, in order for someone to come out, someone else might have to go back in -- whether they want to or not."
Politics:
"Don't Speak for Me, Sarah Palin" performed to the music of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina!"
Music Video:
Smashing Pumpkins
"The End Is The Beginning Is The End"
More Halloween creepiness