Pete1111

I fired Wells Fargo about 10 years ago. IMO they were a bunch of rude f*ck ups that didn't care. Not long after that came all of their customer rip off scandals. That made me smile, to see their dirty laundry aired. I do not miss Wells Fargo and will never return.

Thank you for sharing your blog. That is a lot to chew on. I'll always remember reading about the last two gay dudes that were hung by the neck until dead in England for the crime of buggery, after which the death penalty for the "crime" was abandoned for some reason. What I remember about these two fellows is that they accepted their fate, and that they were sick with grief over their sins, and how their destiny was likely hell. At the end, they wrote letters to their loved ones pleading forgiveness. One of them had a wife and family. Isn't that the ultimate in internalized homophobia, accepting you are so bad that you deserve such an awful fate? English common law and the practice of killing gays spread all over their empire to such places as India which only recently has begun to lighten up on LGBTQ people. Sadly in much of the world, gay people are still demonized and suffer death at the hands of the State or their own families. Homophobia is still a big problem in the United States today. Religious and political leaders use it as an emotional hot button to fill the collection plate and to prompt campaign donations. In light of that, the idea of gay pride continues to make a lot of sense to me. Many still need to remind themselves that they are worthy, that queer, gay, etc. is not bad. Queer and questioning is good, yes! I especially realize now how all those straight guys in college that flirted with me and made comments about my body were part of a bigger population not as queer as me, yet needing to question themselves and be OK with the answers. Just because all the answers don't fit me, or don't fit them, is not reason enough to ignore the need to have pride in ourselves, including our sexuality.

Trump University Those ties. The steak I didn't finish at Trump National Golf Club. Made America Great Again

Renault and her partner had a circle of gay friends in Cape Town. She was an old school Brit that lived a very spartan life early on. I can understand how someone like her would shy away from being outspoken. She didn't have a taste for politics and movements. Times change. I recall 30+ years ago some older gays would poo-poo the idea of gay marriage. For them, that was going overboard! That Renault wrote about love between two men or two women back then was enough for me to hold her in high regard. Getting some of the material published during those times was a worthy fight that she thankfully pursued.

Is he one more example of the long line of talentless, shallow hacks that talk themselves into joining Republican politics? I will always remember his argument that you can't call gay marriage "marriage", because that would be like saying a paper towel and a napkin are the same thing, when you can clearly see they are not. Republican whizdumb.

Here I go again responding to an old post. Sorry But it's Mary Renault! My first sample of Renault's writing was The Last of the Wine, which a friend gave to me to read, about ancient Athens, and the love between Lysis and Alexias, champion athletes, who served in the cavalry and were friends and students of Socrates. Publishers in the 1950s were not easily persuaded to included sex scenes between men. However IMO there are places in the book where she gives symbolic clues it is happening, for anyone willing to admit it. Some readers will not. Some tidbits about her. She left England behind as many gays and lesbians that could afford to did back then, and settled with her partner in Cape Town. In college J.R.R. Tolkien was her professor. I wonder if that had any influence on the direction her writing went, especially The King Must Die. It is a remarkable and to some a shocking book, what goes on in this story, back in times of antiquity where the matriarchy still held power. I loved this book. Lastly, Mary Renault was JFK's favorite author.

A while back I saw on television a Chinese woman doing ear cleaning in a shop in LA Chinatown. Looked interesting. Something I might want to try. Today I noticed a similar shop on a travel Vlog, linked below. This shop is near Chinatown in Bangkok, according to the Vlogger. He seemed to enjoy undergoing the procedure!

Liza (with a Z ) is played by Krysta Rodriguez. I saw her in Deaf West Theater Spring Awakening, a remarkable show IMO. Loved it, 4 times. I also love Ewen McGregor, now more than ever. Photo, PATRICK MCMULLAN/NETFLIX

Way too many daytime talk shows with audiences full of nitwits. I am not too concerned about her situation and I won't miss her show.

The blackmail claim does seem contrived. If the sauna photo exists, one would expect it will eventually get posted in the cloud or perhaps sold to the highest bidder.

Well yes, I'm resurrecting an old thread. So sue me, everyone! I'm a big fan of Maurice, the movie, and I have a copy of the book. The 30th anniversary bluRay is a worthy spend. But apparently I'm not as big a fan as I thought. Today I learned that the character Scudder loved both men and women. I'm just now wrapping my head around E.M. Forster choosing to create a bisexual character. Perhaps one shouldn't be surprised at all. I ought to read the book again. Been years. I might watch the movie tonight!

There were members that refused to watch Brokeback Mountain. In recent times the members seem much more flexible on diversity. The year that the wrong winner was announced (Moonlight won) was very telling, that those running the show may have lost focus on the little details that are so important.

The Academy is putting on a brave face right now and did the best they could. I agree, shortening the program would help. Some of the acceptance speeches were pretty bad, but that is difficult to control.

Ah, OK, I viewed the YouTube video in the original post. I might have done that from the start! Now I'm on board. Interesting topic. It does seem like a very much needed product marketing.

Chloe Zhou's acceptance for Best Director was so moving. It was the highlight for me. There were some awful acceptance speeches too. Considering what the pandemic has wrought, the show did OK. I liked their use of Union Station as the venue. I was excited to hear about the new Academy Museum opening this year.

Interesting to hear him talk about man visiting Mars in 20 years.

Interesting to know. I never thought about what happens with the monthly cycle as the transition goes forward.

That reminds me, the PS gathering relied on that Website. I wonder what the future will bring for that annual event.

The trailer looks great! Is the movie as good? I'll give it a watch. Thanks TotallyOz.

Half a banana and a few walnut pieces.

Yes, QAF Showtime was a phenomenon back then how there'd been nothing like it on US television. What interests me is having Russell Davies involved. Would be cool if the reboot included Russell Tovey. He's worked on other Davies projects.

From memory, I recall the LGBTQ community claimed the Milwaukee police were not diligent enough concerning J. Dahmer because the warnings were from gay men, mostly asian and black. Vanity Fair published a Peter Lance article on Doris Duke, why she escaped punishment, in the July/August 2020 issue. Interesting read.

My gay friends meet me on Zoom. I miss joining with them for social events, coffee, dinner, etc. So much time gone by. Gay life in LA is like everything else. One relies on streaming events. I follow an improv group and a comedy troupe that have produced some nice shows on line. When I think about the time lost, I grieve a little. Everyone looks forward to opening back up.

Not sure what counts as "1st gay experience" I was 19 or 20. Thought I was in love with my friend. When you're young one really doesn't know what love is. But when I think about him now I remember how it was. Was before internet porn. I knew very little about sex. I was certainly drawn to him and wished I could hold him all night long. We lived on the same floor in our college dorm. Back then there were few guys that made my heart go pitter-pat. John did. I was in lust with him for sure and was very sweet on him. Back then guys wore short gym shorts. His were tomato soup red and made his ass look so pretty, not that I knew what to do about it. I became aware that guys penetrated each other, yes, but I had little awareness of it, that it would feel good. I was very closeted and afraid of being gay, so in my mind I wasn't mindful of being sexual. In a sense I was in denial, yet my eyes knew what I liked, what filled my heart with lust. One night we were sitting on the couch in his room, watching TV. He reclined to snooze, his head pointed away from me. We might have smoked some weed. I drew John's feet across my lap. I wanted John to stretch his legs out across me. I began stroking his calves and then his thighs. John didn't react. My desire overcame fear. I slid my hand higher, inside his gym shorts, feeling his butt. Was so exciting. Eventually I reached around and brushed my hand against his jock. In the dark I saw his head turn and look at me. I stopped. Shortly after that I went back to my room. I was not good at processing so many cues from John. College boys dish out so much teasing and BS. But now I see how much John really wanted to be sexual with me and that he was sweet on me too. In retrospect, he must have had experience, probably with the same neighbor boy that visited campus once to drive John home. He wanted to try with me. We ended up in similar situations two more times. But by the time I was coming out to myself, he had moved on to getting with girls. He still thinks about me. I got an email from him not long ago. I'll always remember my John.