Nuke York City

Homeland Security is going to post "nuke detectors" in a ring around New York City and in key city center locations, hoping to detect dirty radiation bombs before they can be detonated. Still, it seems that just about anybody with a dirty bomb and access to a small boat could set something off within a hundred feet of the world's financial center downtown, effectively destroying a large part of the global economy. I suppose the detectors are "good news", as at the Xmas tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center, mobile nuke sensors even picked up on folks who'd had radiation treatment that day. But I don't feel very good knowing about them. Damn.
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Weekend Links

Father Tony tussles with a Whole Foods patron. - Perge Modo

Gay penguins in love at the SF zoo. - B.A.R.

A letter from the AIDS Quilt. - JMG

More Bear411 drama. - Sluggobear & Aaron.

Giuliani moves abortion stance rightward. - NY Times

New Erasure Album + Super Gay Tour

Well, now I know why I ran into Erasure's Andy Bell way up in Portland, Maine back in October, as today Billboard is reporting that's where Erasure recorded their new album, Light At The End Of The World, due in May. We'll get to see the new material performed in this summer's Pride season True Colors Tour, which will comprise Erasure, Debbie Harry, Cyndi Lauper, Margaret Cho, and others. Proceeds from the tour will benefit the Human Rights Campaign and PFLAG. Some appearing acts will differ by location, but this sounds like the gayest tour ever.
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Davies Article & MTV News

An article about the Donnie Davies phenomenon in today's Window Media publications (Washington Blade, NY Blade, Southern Voice, etc) features an interview with me. In case you don't get enough of me here.

And here's an MTV News story featuring a hot tub interview with Joey Oglesby and the folks behind the Donnie Davies campaign. There are two screenshots of JMG in the story, but no verbal mention.

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A Dark And Stormy Night '06

Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean.
- Jim Giugli, Grand Prize winner in the 2006 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.

Other favorites:

A single sparkling tear fell from Little Mary's cheek onto the sidewalk, then slid into the storm drain, there to join in its course the mighty waters of the Los Angeles River and, eventually, Long Beach Harbor, with its state-of-the-art container-freight processing facilities.
- Bill Mac Iver

It was a day, like any other day, in that Linus got up, faced the sunrise, used his inhaler, applied that special cream between his toes, wrote a quick note and put it in a bottle, and wished he'd been stranded on the island with something other than 40 cases each of inhalers, decorative bottles, and special toe cream.
- Chris Harget

Her angry accusations burned Clyde like that first bite of a double cheese pizza, when the toppings slide off and sear that small elevation of the oral mucosa, just behind the front teeth, known as the incisive papilla, which is linked to the discriminatory function of the taste buds except, where Clyde was concerned, when it came to women.
- Pamela Patchet Hamilton

I missed seeing the 2006 winners announced, but today Daily Kos made a reference to them.

Trivia: The guy who invented the pet rock won this contest recently.
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New Wainwright Album Drops In May

Gay heartthrob Rufus Wainwright's new self-produced album, Release The Stars, (executive producer Neil Tennant) will be released in May, following his April appearance at Coachella. The album was mixed by Marius De Vries (Madonna, Melanie C, Kylie Minogue). With De Vries' client history and with Neil Tennant as exec producer, I'm very curious how Wainwright's sound might change on Release The Stars. Check out the track listing here. Who's going to Coachella this year?
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Muskrat Love

According to the Journal of Neuroscience, there is finally direct evidence that humans secrete a scent that changes the chemistry of the opposite sex. At the study conducted at UC Berkeley, women who smelled a jar containing a chemical found in men's sweat experienced higher sexual arousal, increased heart rate, and elevated mood. The women were smelling androstadienone, a "musky" male hormone found in sweat, saliva and semen. A parallel study on the hormone's effect on gay men was abruptly suspended when the subjects decided to head over to Steamworks and "talk".
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A Response From The AIDS Quilt Director

Last weekend, my houseguest was my former boss, Jerry Suarez, his visit coincidentally beginning just a couple of days after I'd blogged about him in my post regarding the New York Times article about the AIDS Quilt. Jerry has been associated with the Quilt for almost 20 years now, starting in Miami as a panel maker for his father and brother, then as head of the Florida chapter of the NAMES Project.

Today Jerry lives in Los Angeles and is on the national board of directors for the AIDS Quilt. Before Jerry's suitcase had even hit my living room floor, he had Julie Rhoad, the executive director of the NAMES Project on the phone with me. Julie and I has a nice chat about the Times article, some misperceptions that she felt it may have caused, and the current successes and challenges for the Quilt and its dedicated workers. Below is her passionate letter to the readers of this blog. Please read it. And please consider making your own donation to the AIDS Quilt.

Dear Joe.My.God readers:

I want to thank you all who have responded to Joe's blog regarding The AIDS Memorial Quilt. Your passion is evident in your responses, and the amount of interest the topic generated serves to discount the assertion that The Quilt may have "lost its punch."

And Joe, to your point, ­ I understand that you relayed an interpretation of the Times article in which Jesse McKinley did speculate that perhaps The Quilt is less effective than it once was. The reality is that the suggestion that The Quilt has been either languishing or rotting on the shelves in Atlanta couldn't be further from the truth. If you measure the success of the organization by our display activity then here are some facts:

-In the years since our move, display activity across the country has increased by more than 80%.

-In each of the last three years, more than half of the nearly 6,000 12 x 12 foot sections of the Quilt have been on display in venues throughout the United States, including notable venues like the United Nations, the Library of Congress and hundreds of equally important venues:­ high schools, middle schools, faith institutions, corporations, government centers and more.

-The tremendous growth in our display activity has increased our ability to provide high schools, middle schools and faith-based institutions with the Quilt for little or no charge,­ as a result, display activities in those areas have increased by more than 300% since the move.

In reading the string of responses, I heard a couple of concerns and opinions about conservation, archiving, digitizing, and using The Quilt to educate and inform audiences today as well as future generations. The work we have put into securing The Quilt and its Archive directly serves our mission and will help us expand our efforts to obtain the kind of support we will need to make digitization plans a reality.

This is a massive undertaking and it will take years to accomplish, ­however, the first crucial step has been taken, we secured the designation as an American Treasure - a nationally significant, cultural, folk-art collection that is an important component of our culture and heritage that helps to explain America's past to future generations.

So why have we been silent, or rather quiet about our accomplishments? In part, because we were silenced by the lawsuit filed against the agency, and in part because this administration inherited a significant amount of debt in 2001 (that had been pushed forward for years), along with a crumbling infrastructure to try and restore. Our efforts were first and foremost dedicated to rebuilding our core program activities: ­ displaying the Quilt, caring for the Quilt and the archive, caring for panel makers new and old, and in general, rebuilding the agency.

We have succeeded in many areas. We have chipped away, but not retired the debt. (It probably goes without saying that it's very difficult to fundraise when you have debt and when you are being sued.) The records demonstrate that we have revitalized the display program, and according to Gert McMullin (our production manager and conservator), the Quilt itself is in the best physical shape it has been in since the early years.

As you consider the state of The Quilt and your perceptions of its value in today's society, I ask you to recognize that with the founding of The Quilt, The NAMES Project fostered the creation of visual testimony ­evidence ­that offered solace to the grieving and helped give voice to AIDS activism. By caring for and organizing thousands of displays, The NAMES Project and its volunteers and partners have transformed the narratives of remembrance into a provocative cultural record that is one of the most potent HIV prevention and educational teaching tools in existence.

Today the Quilt is viewed as the social intersection of understanding - the fabric of the panels reflects more than the individual stories of the men, women, and children lost. When presented and analyzed as a collection, the panels truly serve as a mirror reflecting our society's struggles, responses, and attitudes toward the most complex human disease epidemic of modern history.

In closing, I would like to reiterate my sincere appreciation for the passion you have expressed for The Quilt. ­ I share your concerns and am more than willing to talk about The NAMES Project and The Quilt whenever invited to do so. I encourage you to visit us, host a display, make a panel or help someone who is struggling with their grief. And of course I encourage you to donate to The NAMES Project. We are rich in many ways, but sadly, we lack adequate funding.

Julie Rhoad
Executive Director
The NAMES Project/AIDS Memorial Quilt

JMG: My heartful thanks go out to Julie Rhoad, Jerry Suarez, and all of the dedicated employees and volunteers of the NAMES Project/AIDS Memorial Quilt.
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Anna Nicole Smith Dead

Here's the AP wire story. Unbelievable.

ObamaNation.com

Christian rightwingers have set up ObamaNation.com to attack Sen. Barack Obama's views on gay rights and abortion. The director of the group, Pastor Clenard H. Childress, Jr, says, "60 percent of all new AIDS cases in America will be the result of the violation of Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1:27 (men having sex with men). If he were to become President of the United States Sen. Obama's support of homosexual unions would pose a real health threat to African Americans." Because married people fuck so much more than singles.
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WYSIWGY Almost Sold Out

Next week's WYSIWYG show is almost sold out, so if you're planning on going, get your ticket today. There's a feature story on the show in today's New York Post, for which I gave the reporter hilarious pull-quotes. But you'll have to come to the show to hear them because they got cut from the story.

Men In Black

Last night I attended a Mediabistro publishing industry mixer hosted at the Google headquarters in Chelsea. I usually don't enjoy those sorts of things too much, there are always clumps of adverstising hotshots in severe black outfits and tiny cruel angular glasses who are compulsively checking their Blackberrys while shaking your hand. But last night's event was actually pretty decent, with great food and giant screens showing various Google Earth zoom-ins on NYC locations.

The event was held just off of Google's employee cafeteria, where their employees famously eat free. I couldn't help wandering around in there, amused by the over-the-top California-ness of the offerings: a raw foods bar, an allergen-free bar, organic foods, etc. But it was the view from the huge terrace off the party room that kept drawing people outside into the 10 degree air. From their employee cafeteria, the Google employees enjoy an unbelievable river-to-river view of midtown, the Empire State Building, the whole schmear.

I didn't win the door prize iPod (always, always, these things give away iPods now), but I had a nice time chatting with a few homos that found each other in a corner of the room. And then on the phone on the way home in the cab, I talked to a guy in Philly named Sal, which I promised him I'd mention here.
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Open Thread Thursday

What are you driving?
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Can You Hear Me Now? (Thud)

New York City fired first in the latest round of the nanny-state oneupsmanship wars, banning trans-fats in its restaurants. California responded with the proposed calories-on-the-menu rule, seen a couple of posts below this one. Not to be upstaged, NYC is now pitching a "No iPods or cellphones in the intersection" rule, citing a spate of pedestrians mowed down because they couldn't hear traffic or shouted warnings. Thank Jeebus our cops have solved those pesky rape and murder issues and have plenty of time to write earphone tickets. Soon to be outlawed: bad posture. Slouching kills, people!
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Animal Farm

I don't belong to the website Bear411 but many of my friends do. The site bills itself as the "top bear website" and boasts over 100,000 members. Over the years, I've heard from a few of my friends that they have had difficulty getting a membership to the site, presumably because they don't meet the bear "standard", namely that they are not large or furry or large AND furry.

Is this a plain and simple discretionary policy from an afficianado site that wants to stay focused on a certain physical ideal? Or is it discrimination? How about if you heard that Asian guys are apparently routinely denied membership? Read Jeffrey's LiveJournal entry, "My Bear411 Discrimination Story." And read Little.Yellow.Different uberblogger Ernie Hsiung's experience with the site, "Running With The Bears." An anti-Bear411 site called Bear411 Sucks presents a list of grievances.

So what do you think, bears and non-bears? Does a social networking / hook-up site have the right to exclude members that don't meet a self-imposed physical ideal? Is such a thing even possible when it comes to an identity as nebulous as "bear"?
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Californanny State

State Senator Carole Migden (D-SF), a potential San Francisco mayoral candidate, has proposed a bill which will require all chain restaurants, even those with only one California location, to post the caloric count for their food items in "plain view" on menus or menu boards. I've seen these sort of posters in McDonald's and Burger King, usually hidden behind a tall plant, but it seems a bit much to require them on menus. It certainly will suck a little fun out of eating out. Not to mention all that extra eye-rolling from your server while you debate the fat content of the entrees with your dining partners. (Begin looking down your noses at chain restaurants in 3...2...1....)
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Man Candy

-Via Daily Kos.

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Haggard "Completely" Heterosexual

Ted Haggard is completely heterosexual. And in other news, I love pussy. "Completely."
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Mr. Deity

This weekend I was hipped to the latest YouTube phenom, Mr.Deity, a series of hilarious film shorts that skewer Christian dogma, starring a nelly, distracted Mr.Deity as director of the universe and his Smithers-ish assistant, Larry. And check out the super-hot faux-hawked Jesus that appears in Episode 2.
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Map Obsessed

I live to the right of the #1. But the real reason for this post is that some dude has created a downloadable NYC subway map for your iPod. Get it here.
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The Name Is Familiar, But....

Back in the '80s, I used to call my roommate "the keeper of my tricks", because I seemed to have a hard time remembering the guys I was meeting. I'd point out some hot guy to my roommate and he'd say, "Oh, him. You already did him. He's from Boston. Nice guy. Has a convertible." Oops.

Those days are long over. The numbers are down and my memory is up, apparently. But if things were still like they were, I'd be tempted to blame "prosopagnosia", this "facial-blindness" condition that I've been seeing lots of news stories about recently. Facial-blindness is a brain dysfunction that prevents people from remembering the faces of people they've seen before. I wonder if it strikes gay men more than others, or if a lot of us are just faking it.
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Giuliani Tosses His Asbestos-Laden Hat

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Osama bin Ladin, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani has officially become a 2008 presidential candidate. Giuliani, one of the most reviled public servants in New York City history (no mean feat), became an almost mythic national figure in the aftermath of 9/11 as he skillfully posed on steel rubble and mastered the art of the doleful, woeful press conference.

As the world gazed misty-eyed at the newly-minted "America's Mayor", forgotten were the Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo police brutality scandals. Forgotten were the sweet insider deals granted large corporations at the expense of city public spaces. Forgotten was Giuliani's censorship of the arts and his crackdown on NYC nightlife. And most outrageously, forgotten is Giuliani's unforgivably stupid pre-9/11 mistake of relocating the city's Office Of Emergency Management to the World Trade Center, which had already suffered a terrorist attack. Idiocy! He's the perfect Republican candidate.

UPDATE: Watch the Freepers salivate and wet themselves in delight as they live-blog Giuiliani's appearance on Hannity & Cole. They like him, they really like him.
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HomoQuotable - Ted Haggard

"Jesus is starting to put me back together. I have spent so much time in repentance, brokenness, hurt and sorrow for the things I've done and the negative impact my actions have had on others." - Ted Haggard, in an email accidentally sent to a Colorado radio station, in which he announces that he and his wife have decided to leave Colorado Springs and pursue online degrees in...wait for it...psychology. (via Newspeak.)
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"I Will Fucking Destroy You"

I had a rather strange encounter at the Eagle last night. I was wearing the Piggly Wiggly t-shirt that my buddy Little Tom bought me when he visited San Francisco for Mac World last month. Tom and I were leaning on the pool table under the big screen playing the Super Bowl when a guy a pointed at me and made a strange face. Tom said, "Who's that?" I was about to say "No idea" when the guy marched over and demanded, "What's up with that shirt, dude?" I said, "It's a grocery store chain in the south." He said, "I know THAT. My name is John and I'm from New York City and I will fucking DESTROY you!" Tom backed away nervously. I said, "Um, OK. My name is Joe." The guy grabbed my hand and gave me one of those macho shithead bone-crushing handshakes. "Your name is Joe? That's all you GOT?" And then he went back to his friends. Strange, strange, strange. But now we have a new catchphrase.
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Black Party 2007 Trailer

The Saint At Large has YouTube'd a bit of the movie starring transexual porn star Buck Angel (NSFW), filmed for last year's Schwartzwald-themed Black Party, which I fake live-blogged afterwards. The music is Brainbug's ominous trance classic, Nightmare. This year's Black Party is March 24th. Tickets go on sale February 16th.

Minus 10 Mittens

The temp is 8 degrees with a wind chill of -10, and I am telling you I'm not going back to gloves now that I've realized how much better mittens are. And could I look more like a chubby fireplug? Sigh.

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Super Bowl Coke Ad

The best commercial during the Super Bowl came from Coca-Cola. The crowd I was watching with roared when an apparently gay guy (wearing a pink shirt with a sweater knotted around his neck) was pulled from his red convertible so that the main character could give him a Coke. I thought it was cute. The "gay kiss" Snickers ad didn't go over so well with some folks, but I liked it.
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Morning View - Fake Break

A fake living room set up to promote Bravo's Top Design attracted a couple of transit workers to take a break on the platform of the S train, underneath 42nd Street.

No Kiddies = No Marriage For You!

The Washington State Supreme Court recently ruled that the state could prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying because the state has a legitimate interest in preserving marriage for procreation.

In a clever response, gay marriage activists have filed a state initiative that will allow only couples capable of having kids to marry, and require that they file "proof of procreation" within three years of the marriage. If not, the marriage would be annulled. It will also require that couples married in other states provide proof of procreation and will make it a crime to get marriage benefits without meeting the procreation requirement.

The Washington Secretary of State has accepted the initiative as a potential ballot measure. Activists need to get 224,800 signatures to get it on the November ballot.
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