LOLSAM

So, over the weekend will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas confronted blogger Perez Hilton at a party for writing disparaging comments about the former’s band on his website. In retaliation, the blogger called will.i.am a horribly offensive gay slur. A gay slur! From an alleged gay activist! Hilton justified using the hateful words by saying he wanted to call will.i.am “the worst possible thing that thug would ever want to hear.” Cute. Then will.i.am had his bodyguard beat the shit out of Perez Hilton, so, basically good decisions were being made by all. Gawker has a better recap of what happened, but those are essentially the Cliffs Notes.

It absolutely appalls me that Perez Hilton would use such hateful words when he knows first-hand how hateful they are – and he was using them in a very hateful way. Plus, he’s tried to become the face of the gay rights movement, and here he is spewing hate speech against his own people? I mean, what kind of moron does that? And I don’t want to say he got what he deserved because I don’t think violence is ever an appropriate response to anything, but when you use violent words, it is sometimes fitting that you get a violent response. I’m not sure I’m making my point as clearly as I want to, but I don’t have time for nuance right now.

GLAAD seems to agree with me because they’ve demanded an apology from Hilton. Below is the press release via Gawker.

First he betrayed Dustin Lance Black with those X-rated pictures, and now this? I don’t know what’s next from this clown. It’s really amazing when gay people contribute to homophobia. It really advances the cause.

Update: I just watched this video of the actual altercation, and Perez Hilton actually said worse things than he claimed to have said in the vlog on his website. I feel such anger toward him right now. I’ve never really felt he was a good person to have as a visible “gay activist,” but this is just beyond ridiculous. He needs to be forcibly removed from the public eye.

LGBT fights, perez hilton, will.i.am

Yes, dumbasses, using “gay” as a synonym for “lame” or “uncool” is incredibly offensive. And just because “everyone in Jersey says it” as a “figure of speech” doesn’t make it okay. And I don’t think Danielle was just trying to stir up drama, at least not in this situation. I think she was really trying to stick up for gay people. This is the kind of thing that makes me angry. Just because you don’t get along with the only person to call you on your bullshit doesn’t mean that your husband isn’t a dimwitted contribution to the larger problem of homophobia in this country, Teresa.

Can’t wait for Season 2.

Entertainment, LGBT Gay, the real housewives of new jersey

Gay pride parades always catch a lot of flack from, well, everyone. Gay people included. The principal gripe is that a showy display of muscled men in speedos and glitter is not conducive to progress. In past years I probably would have agreed. I have actually never been to a pride parade, despite this being the fifth year since I came out, but maybe it will also be the first year I go.

True, “when life gives you lemons you can’t just throw a bunch of sequins at them and call them fabulous,” but what exactly are we supposed to do with those lemons? Pride parades really are harmless, despite what money-hungry firefighters might claim. Plus, who wants to go to a parade of old gay couples in sweater vests ambling down Fifth Avenue? I’m not sure what kind of message that sends other than “we are old and gay and wearing sweaters in June.” It is certainly not a celebratory tone, like the flashy, derided parades we have all come to know and love. And, if you don’t want to be “subjected” to this “lifestyle,” then you can stay away from Fifth Avenue for a few hours on the one day of the year you have to. Gay people have to do a lot more just to stay alive.

So, maybe this year I’ll go to the parade. I won’t be getting naked and dancing because, well, I’ll leave it to the professionals, but I might wear sequins. And maybe a little bit of glitter.

LGBT gay pride, parade

My friend Cooper just told me about one of the projects he is working on this summer. It’s called the Prince’s Rainforests Project, and basically it’s an initiative started by the Prince of Wales (yes, Charles) and his sons (yes, William and Harry) to save the rainforests. Or, at least to raise awareness about the danger the rainforests are in. On the website there’s this nifty little video mashup tool where you can make a vlog and insert a croaking frog into it. They have some celebrity examples. I’m debating whether my favorite is the one with Princes William and Harry, or the one where Robin Williams acts as a frog translator. They’re all quite amusing. You guys should check it out. And do your part to help save the rainforest!

Entertainment prince's rainforests project, rainforest SOS

I know how mad you guys get when all I do for a month is post music videos, so I had to come up with plan B. That plan is called Diet LOLSAM, my new tumblelog! Yes, I got a tumblr. Do I need another internet addiction? Luvina says yes. I agree. Especially now that school is done for a few months. From now on when I come across an amazing music video or picture or quotation or link or… something else, I’m going to post it on Diet LOLSAM because it has the same great taste of the original, but now with fewer calories. (I’m allowing myself to get really carried away with this diet soda motif.) I’ll obviously continue to post here, but I’ll be able to spare you more hardcore readers the trivial stuff and just give you the hard-hitting editorial pieces. Oh, and the art stuff, which I promise is coming soon.

So, I encourage you to check out the new tumblr. Soon I’ll end up adding a link to it in the side bar.

Life of LOLSAM diet lolsam, tumblr

When Proposition 8 was passed in California last November effectively banning same-sex marriage and leaving the existing 18,000 same-sex marriages in limbo, I was predictably outraged. Like most liberals, I was shocked that it could actually pass, and in a state as seemingly progressive as California, to boot. As disappointed as I was, though, I quickly came to see it as a blessing in disguise. The amount of outrage and disbelief felt across the nation catalyzed an enormous activist response unlike anything I had witnessed before. I came to view Proposition 8 as something that reminded LGBT activists not to be complacent in their work because there are always unforseen obstacles to overcome. I also expected the proposition to ultimately be overturned by the California Supreme Court because, after all, that’s what all the LGBT bloggers told me would happen.

Fast forward to March when reading Michael Warner’s The Trouble With Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life completely changes my view on same-sex marriage. Read the link and the ensuing discussion in the comment thread, but to sum up: I no longer support the fight for legalization of same-sex marriages because I view the institution of marriage as a flawed system that actively discriminates against more people than it helps, and instead of relegitimizing it by adding same-sex couples to the roster of privileged people who can benefit from it, I think we ought to be reforming the institution of marriage as it stands today. With that shift in opinion, my outrage over Proposition 8, which was mostly pushed to the back of my head by that time, was largely mitigated. Instead of viewing the debacle in November as a setback for gay rights, I saw it as an overwhelming message that living in my New York City bubble I do not get to see a lot of the discrimination and prejudice that is still rampant in most other parts of the country. Instead of pushing for marriage, I figured we ought to be focusing on more important and more pressing issues such as passing an Employment Non-Discrimination Act which includes protection not only for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, but also for transgendered people.

Today we got the news that the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8. This means that new same-sex marriages will no longer be recognized in California, but that the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed before the November 4 vote will stand as recognizable. Now, just because I do not support the push for the legalization of same-sex marriage does not mean I am rejoicing today. Rather, I am disappointed. Despite my personal opinion, I think this is a setback for the LGBT community. However, I also think it will only enlarge the blinders on the community, which seems to be under the impression that marriage equality is the most important (and only important, to some) thing to fight for right now. So once again, I am ambivalent.

It’s hard to explain to people that you are pro-queer, but anti-gay marriage – a phrase coined by my professor Frank Roberts last semester. Being gay, I bet most people assume that I ought to be crying my eyes out today, but instead I’m just confused. I want the community to head in a different direction, but at the same time I don’t want to leave this issue alone, if only to show the opposition that we do not take this all sitting down. Because, in all honesty, the majority of people who voted to pass Proposition 8 did not do so because they held a pro-queer, anti-gay marriage stance like mine, it is because they are anti-queer, anti-gay marriage. I think those people need to be put in their place. Tolerance is no longer tolerable. Acceptance is what we need.

LGBT california, proposition 8, same-sex marriage

In addition to seeing The Girlfriend Experience, this weekend also took me to the Met for the first time in, well, in too long. Let’s just say that the last time I was there the steps were still under construction, but walking up to the massive façade without any construction fencing interrupting its splendor, I was reminded why this is without a shadow of a doubt my favorite place in the city. My favorite artists are better represented in the Museum of Modern Art down on 53rd Street, but The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a mecca of wonder I want to get lost in like the kids in From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Does that sound overly poetic? Well, that’s because I really, really love it there.

At my mother’s suggestion I am going to start writing about art more on this blog. Art is, after all, my biggest passion. I’m not trying to be the next Roberta Smith, or even be a professional critic, but I have this outlet for my thoughts, and I think about art quite often. I don’t know why I write about it so seldom. Probably because of people like Roberta Smith, actually. Because I’m not trying to be a critic, I often worry that my criticism is too amateur or untrained, but I never worry about that when reviewing Beyoncé, so I guess from now on Botero will get the same treatment. I’m not going to be overly grandiloquent (starting and ending with the use of that word), but I am going to write about it in a relatively informed manner using what I already know, and without doing a terrible amount of research. I work in a gallery, and although I won’t be writing about the art we have there, I do go to other galleries and museums quite often, and when I see something noteworthy I’m going to write about it here and either recommend it… or not recommend it. Stay tuned for more.

Image via MetEveryday

Art the met, the metropolitan museum of art

This weekend I watched The Girlfriend Experience, the new movie from Steven Soderbergh starring adult film actress Sasha Grey as a high-class New York City-based escort. I don’t think I’ve written about it on LOLSAM before, but I am completely fascinated with sex workers, so when I saw the trailer for this movie on Apple Trailers a few weeks ago I started salivating at the notion that something would be produced about escorts of better quality than Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not a patron of escorts, (not that there is anything shameful about doing so), I’m just really fascinated with the psychology of having sex in exchange for money and the level of emotional connect or disconnect that occurs in such exchanges. Maybe my interest comes from my own emotional attachment and detachment issues, I don’t know, but there it is.

I was most impressed with Sasha Grey’s performance. I’ve never seen any of her previous work because, well, she’s a straight porn actress, which is not my cup of tea. That said, I was blown away that this was her first dramatic acting role, and she knocked it out of the park. She played Christine/Chelsea with a consistently flat affect that I found to be perfectly apt for the role. I guess some people will claim that her flat affect is a result of her acting novice, but even if that’s the case, it was appropriate for this role, and that’s all that matters, really. She was never cold, but never histrionic. I often find people acting in dramatic roles have difficulty playing anything in the middle. I don’t necessarily expect to see her in a romantic comedy this fall opposite Matthew McConaughey, but I will be keeping my eye on her future mainstream acting career.

I haven’t read any other reviews of the movie, but I really liked it. It is a different kind of movie. The plot is very loose, if existant at all, but it mostly revolves around an escort who, during the weeks leading up to the 2008 presidential election, and the height of the panic about the economic downturn, decides it is time to up the ante on her business. The movie makes subtle commentary on common issues such as aging, the struggle between personal and professional life, and competition that I think most people will be able to relate to, if they can get past the initial resistance to watching a movie about the life of a prostitute. The film is in theaters in New York and Los Angeles now, and it is available for immediate viewing on Amazon. Or, if you’re crafty, you can find it online for free. However you do it, I recommend you see it. There isn’t even gratuitous nudity. Really, what’s stopping you?

Entertainment movie, sasha grey, steven soderbergh, the girlfriend experience

I hesitate to write another post saying “I’m busy” because I think I’ve written, like, four of those since April. But it’s true. While everyone else’s semester ended by May 12, mine continued on. I had/have an enormous paper that was due after the end of the semester, and now I’m taking a two week intensive course that meets for almost five hours a day every day. Then when I’m done with that I’m going to be working. That’s right, my internship turned into a legitimate job (squee!). The upside to all this is that come June 1 I will be working a real job for real money (though I’ll still get my stipini (panini as stipend = stipini)), and I’ll finally be caught up with NYU and on track to graduate on time. Finally! It’s a really good feeling to be so close to full recovery after such a hard fall two years ago, and here we are.

One thing I continue to struggle with is how this blog fits into my life. I don’t know exactly what I’m doing with it. I’m not aspiring to be a writer of any kind, so, unlike many of my friends, I am not using this as self-advertising. I also don’t particularly want to work in social media and the internet. I know what I want to do, and I feel like I’m in a good position right now to continue working toward that place, but this blog does not fit into that at all. I guess I use this as a place to write down my thoughts and get feedback. The problem lately is that I’ve started writing drafts of posts, and I’ll either decide what I’m writing is stupid, or I’ll get sidetracked by work and never finish writing it. I’m going to try to finish some of those drafts and post them, but that may not be very soon.

This is all to say that LOLSAM isn’t dead, it’s just been dormant for a little while. Soon enough it’ll go all Mt. St. Helens again, though. Just wait for it.

Life of LOLSAM blogs, college, jobs, nyu

I know, I know. Lay off the music video overload and give me something of substance! I hear you. Until then, though, you absolutely must watch La Roux’s new music video for “Bulletproof.” Even (especially) those of you who never watch the videos I post. You know who you are.

Entertainment bulletproof, la roux, music, video