Originally published at duanemoody.com. Please leave any comments there.

Check out this latest act of stupidity drowned in hate, from the Catholic Church: (h/t to my friend W. Scott for letting me know about this)

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn’t change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

Fearful that they could be forced, among other things, to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples, church officials said they would have no choice but to abandon their contracts with the city.

“If the city requires this, we can’t do it,” Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Wednesday. “The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that’s really a problem.”

They might as well have released a statement that said specifically, “We, the Catholic Church, hate the idea of gay people getting married so much, that we will turn our backs on the charity we provide to people that desperately need it. If you, the state that gives us some of the money that allows us to do that charity force us to follow your rules, we won’t provide those services anymore. Our hatred is so strong, that we are willing to publicly paint ourselves as haters just to prove how much we feel and want to perpetuate that hate. Hate, hate, hate; that is what we are all about. Erm, I don’t know how to end… I guess, Love, the Catholic Church.”

Now, the Catholic Church has a strong track record of doling out their own specifically interesting breed of hatred, so this isn’t really a surprise to me. However, it is highlighting the fact that if you didn’t think they could go lower, oh boy, you were wrong; there is no telling how low the Catholic Church will go in the name of hatred over what they decide is wrong. I am sure that Jesus would love the idea of turning your back on the needy just to prove a point, Catholic Church. Y’all truly are a “city on a hill”.

Finally, I do have to say, directly to the Catholic Church in DC; if you are so upset with being told to treat people equally, why not give up your tax exempt status, and stop receiving city funds? Additionally, the statement released accused this measure of ignoring religious freedom, which it doesn’t do; what it does, is it highlights the importance of following the covenant laid forth in the constitution, that there be a separation of church and state, and as such, one can practice which ever religion they want. If you don’t want the government making decisions, and “controlling” your religion, then stop accepting money from them and expecting differential treatment; you can’t have it both ways.

On Saturday the 14th at 4AM UTC/GMT we will be upgrading the operating system of our network load balancers to a newer version, one that will allow us to use both CPUs! Nifty, because multiprocessing is nice.

Since we have 2 load balancers, the plan is to upgrade 1 at a time, and there really should be very little impact to our website. Hopefully you won't notice a thing and I'll get to go back to the hotel and watch some wonderful late night infomercials.

We've got a lot of exciting projects coming up for 2010 and we're hoping that we'll be able to deliver them all to you, that you will find it useful/cool/lovely and then you will use the site even more. Behind-the-scenes work like this will give us the capacity to handle the anticipated traffic, so expect a few more maintenance windows especially in the beginning of next year as we've got some neat ideas to improve performance around here! We had the recent 30-45 minute outage yesterday due to one of our logging databases filling up disk space -- not so great design coupled with my human error in handling the initial problem -- and it looks like we're going to finally have some resources to eliminate stuff like that. I can't wait!

As usual, I will be updating status.livejournal.org before and after, just in case you are not able to reach our main website during the work.

Large Hadron Collider: Damaged by a Time-Traveling Bird?: In a series of audacious papers, Nielsen and Ninomiya have suggested that setbacks to the LHC occur because of "reverse chronological causation," which is to say, sabotage from the future. The papers suggest that the Higgs boson may be "abhorrent to nature" and the LHC's creation of the Higgs sometime in the future sends ripples backward through time to scupper its own creation.

Thank you, veterans, and thank you HGC, and SK, W, MH, D, Cross, and those who want peace but are called to fight.


poppies, by the way, were noted in flanders originally because the artillery shells exposed dormant seeds and the flowers blossomed forth unexpectedly amid the battlefields.

recommended reading-- The Bowmen, by Arthur Machen (which effectually created a huge belief in the "Angel of Mons" myth)
http://www.aftermathww1.com/bowmen.asp

reading or movie: johnny got his gun by Dalton Trumbo
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/General/JohnnyGotHisGun.html
traumatizing.

Les Croix des Boix
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0CE1D7163EE633A25750C0A9629C946394D6CF
absolutely one of the most harrowing, stark, and beautiful war movies ever made. this version stars a cast of veterans, including Antonin Artaud, and much of the shocking artillery and battle footage was used for years after by American moviemakers. Reminds me of the Seventh Seal in its stunning cinematography.


it is unbelievable it is almost 100 years since the "war to end all wars" commenced. and yet we still are fighting in foreign fields of poppies.

Yesterday my beloved daughter Niko (aka Nico, aka Niko La Biotch) passed from this life to her next radiant journey.
Many of you have already read <lj user="viannin">'s tweets or <lj user="slumberjack">'s beautiful entry:
http://slumberjack.livejournal.com/579824.html?style=mine

On Hallowe'en, we were burglarized-- car, cameras, computers stolen, which took a lot of memories, but one day I will put together what images I have left and make a flickr for her. That invasion, on top of the mr. being away during our anniversary, and then the sudden illness and transformation of Niko from living to light-form all within a week basically has left me in a strange state (and terribly broke :/). also my favourite ringneck dove, Ume, disappeared sometime after the robbery, which is heartbreaking for me as well. He was the bird of peace who LOVED to watch old war specials on the history channel. he hugged and kissed and knew some commands, but moreover, he had the most sweet and spectacular personality.

I got Niko the week I left my parent's house to live in an old horseshoe apartment high on a hill in Rome with Parks. Niko has been a constant in my life, and literally, the most beloved creature in my existence. I have never known a more beautiful or beneficient or bitchy being. 

This whole thing was particularly emotional because I have been preparing to find her curled asleep forever in her 15.5 years, but she became severely ill last week, stumbling, refusing to eat or drink. she insisted on coming up on the bed and sleeping with me. On Friday it was a beautiful bright day and she spent all day outside next to the buddha, hidden amongst the leaves. The next day, upon my bed, she could barely move and I sat with her, meditating from the Tibetan Book of the Dead and had set up a shrine with Kannon and roses. Niko smiled at the roses and stared at Kannon, but then kept her pale eyes focused on the gorgeous autumn skies and sunlight. I knew I had to take her to the vet. 

At the vet initially I could tell the doctor was devastated and was prepared for the worst,  but then the vet found she had +4 glucose and thought she had treatable diabetes, and a couple days on IVs was all she needed to be back to normal. The updates on Sunday confirmed the same. However on Monday, I was asked to come see the doctor in person. 

 Alas, it wasn't diabetes, and all her fluid tests and reflex tests were normal, but her mind was clearly no longer focused on this plane.

But she has always been a sort of boddhisatva, our starbeest.  Since I am still too raw to properly eulogize her, I want to share the email I sent to my husband (it was hard to talk as he was onstage in Amsterdamn and today is enroute to somewhere else in Europe). this is quite raw, but honest, so i want to share it with the few of you who may still read me here, and keep it here as a remembrance:

<lj-cut text="luceat eis">

When I came to the vet Monday morning, she was in her cage and completely asleep, so asleep, i could tell the vet thought she had already passed. but she revived and slowly dragged herself toward me. but her pretty pale cerulean eyes could not focus, and she seemed extremely out of it. even though she was on an iv, it seemed she was more dehydrated than before and completely listless. she stayed by me but seemed cold. eventually the vet brought her towel and niko pushed it into a doughnut and curled inside of it. 
 
I then began conversing with the vet and she basically said the xrays showed no obvious tumors or cancer, the bloodwork and other tests showed everything normal, her reflexes were normal but still she could not walk. the vet was in tears at this point and kept saying "she is an enigma: there is something in her mind that isn't working with her body anymore". 
 

(Mr) you know i would do anything and everything to keep that bright spark in our lives but when she curled up away i knew she was done with this passage. i asked the vet: is it in her mind, like a stroke or aneurism and she nodded and said it had to be a tumor or cancer or stroke because her body was there but her will was not. basically she would be kept alive artificially until her mind completely went or she would starve herself. i told the vet i was ready to make that decision but asked to make some phone calls when is when i tried to call you, then <lj user="pneumacia">,parks, my friend T at work, <lj user="viannin">, and my mom.
 

 
the vet let me take niko into a room and i turned out the light. she was swaddled in a white and pale nikonose pink towel and that cat just sprawled in my arms. a few times she lifted her head to watch shadows or make herself more flat against my body (i was slunk ridiculously low in the chair), and she completely cuddled [the way my himalayan Jupiter aka Big Sexy would] against me, which is really unlike her. i had been reading my Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and it was very important for us to have a quiet, happy, relaxing time for her. I told her how much you loved her and how much I loved her and we talked about all the places she had lived and the sunshine and all her favorite things. i sang her the "niko puff" song you left for me on my answering machine back in...2002? she curled her paws happily beneath her head and smiled, opening her pale blue eyes now and then for me, and then she started purring. her body became so warm. i told her thank you over and over again and told her she was a greater beauty than we could comprehend and how she would go on to bring love and light and beauty to so many more people. there was much silence and staring and then she closed her eyes and dug in closer and wrapped her tail around my arm, then she took her arm and stretched it over my arm and literally pressed in, hugging me. i knew it was time.
 
the first shot went in and she kept purring, holding tight, then when the second shot went in she relaxed her body almost instantaneously, and i could feel her purr slow. i was praying sutras and then took a sharp inhale and instantaneously Niko gave a small exhale, the sound of a flower expanding, or the moonlight beaming.
 
 
 
 the doctor was surprised as it literally took less than 5s for her to be still when normally it is several minutes, and the doctor even said she didn't think it was the shot, but Niko willing it to be so.
 
the doctor cried quite a bit but i had explained previously as a Buddhist the transformation to death must be very still and calm and even joyous so she kept saying how Niko was about to begin another journey, a longer one, to make even more people happy and full of love with her beauty and light. then she left after confirming Niko had gone.
 
I held our baby for what seemed like too short a time but was close to an hour and a half, and in a most miraculous way, her fur seemed to be whiter than before, and she literally radiated heat whereas her body had been cold and frail for days. she had the most beauteous smile on her face. as i petted her and kissed her and thanked her, [the nerves made it so] her eyes opened and the pupil slid towards me then she winked then her eyes--such long, white pure lashes-- shut. i held her and stroked her and kissed her, touched her warm paws, giving her goodbyes, arigatou, love, from everyone.
 
finally i felt i needed to leave her alone so she could fully transform into her next being, and requested the vet leave her be for at least 12 hours which they said they would do. she passed from this world curled up in peaceful sleep, and when I laid her back on the table on her blanket, she kept the same position, which was naturally the sleeping lion position on the right side, just like the buddha died.
 
i asked for her to be cremated as you and i have discussed this and i know it is what she would prefer. her remains will be ready on monday or tuesday. a hurricane is headed here and i could not bear the idea of her being in cold mud. i know she is a pure sunfire starfire being and this way the remnants of her body can go immediately to heaven. 
 
when i came home all the animals gathered round me. i put on the white kimono i bought last year in mourning and sat for tea and jupiter came to me and literally sat in my arms the same exact way niko did before she died. he has been very comforting and loving and lapsang is very concerned and esma is clingy. harry [the canarry] has been singing super soft, sad songs all night long.

 
she had spent her last truly active day next to the buddha statue outside, so I plan to plant a white peony there for her and make it a shrine. at home i lit candles in front of paarshiva and kuan yin, and had the roses Niko smiled at before we took her to the doctor. her picture is there as well as her last bowl of food, water, and catmilk. we burned incense and i laid out the white scarf i was wearing which she pressed against as she passed. liz and i drank dragon pearl tea then Z got wendys (which was not just lazy, but also, appropriate, as niko adored junior bacon cheezeburgers sans tomato from her earliest kittenhood!!). 
 
 
Paul I have not loved anyone as much as Niko and her death was one extremely full of grace, kindness, and compassion. I will never forget her little hug as that is one of the most compassionate gestures she has ever exhibited. She was ready to go on to her next mission as a bringer of light, purity, love, and sweetness to the next world that needed her.
It should be everyone's hope they could die the same way, assuring their loved ones this is what they wanted and that they were grateful for the loving life they shared.
 
I love you so much and miss you terribly. I am so sorry this has happened while you are gone. but please know Niko is with us with the sunlight, the snow, the moonlight, the stars, and you only need to touch your heart to know she is there. for all i know she decided to go ghost so she could escape this barrier and fly through the ether to be closer to you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The final vet bills (not including cremation) have come to over $1500. If you have anything to spare (seriously, $5 is most appreciated), I will be most grateful as the burglary and this expense have truly caught me off guard.
I know Karma is strong and all of your prayers, love, and generosity (monetary or thought-wise or action-wise) shall be repaid immensely. Hug and kiss your fur-loves as much as possible, and be kind to each other.

if you can assist, i am most humbly grateful and i can accept paypal at : maldorora (at) gmail (dot) com

thank you, and,
remember:
Amor Vincit Omnia

Originally published at duanemoody.com. Please leave any comments there.

This morning, I read this interview with Tom Ford, and I really liked some of the things he had to say; especially what he said about the gay marriage issue in this country. Tom Ford is my number one celebrity crush, so of course, any time I have a sliver of a good reason to do a post about him, I will. In fact, thinking about that, I don’t post about him nearly enough!

In the article, when he was asked if he would marry his partner of over 20 years, after being together for so long, Ford responded with:

Yes, when it becomes a federal law. Right now it doesn’t do any good in the states. A few weeks ago Richard had to go into the hospital for something, and I had to carry around all these legal documents saying I could make medical decisions for him. It was insane. The fact that we are not married in the federal sense means that if I were to die, he’d have to pay all these taxes on my estate and receive but a fraction of it and he’d have to alter his life —whereas if we were married, he wouldn’t have to face that burden. That’s disgusting. It’s wrong. But that said, I think I am in favor of terming what I’m talking about as a civil partnership. We all get so caught up with this word marriage. For me, the word marriage is something that a religion should decide. Just give me all the same rights. A civil partnership is what I’d like for everyone—heterosexual as well as homosexual. Call it what you like—it’s the rights that are important. Getting hung up with the semantics derails the cause we’re all fighting for.

It really resonated with me, because that is exactly the way that people should view it. If the word marriage makes it such a sticky and religious issue, take “marriage” out of it. Give us the rights, you can keep the religious mumbo jumbo; we don’t want that part of it anyway. Additionally, the government shouldn’t back religious practices anyway, so if this will get us equal rights, I am all for it.

I for one, am sick and tired of someone holding up a book and determining what rights I get to have because of what that book may or may not have told them to believe as the truth; the same book that also told them to love thy neighbor, and not pass judgment. Wrapping civil rights up in religious institutions is not only wrong, it is unconstitutional. When will our government take a stand, and stand up for us?

It's starting to sink in, now: domesticity, in pie form. We've got citrus trees out front, so the first were key lime. Faux key lime, really, made w/ Meyer lemons, which are so fucking good.

Rhubarb followed, because I missed it, bought some once and let it rot.

Thirdly, Dutch apple. I admit to being pleased w/ myself:

A few superficial flaws, but nonetheless delicious. I think my mother would be proud.



Halloween came and went, as well as pleasantly spent ATV adventures w/ local dreamy musclebear Steve (albeit, regrettably, w/o his Alex in tow).

Other than that, just been hanging out w/ my new bff Mason, and dancing the African mixed bear blues.




Also, we have a greenhouse, now. There's Craig!

I promise I'm less fat than I look in that picture, because we're back to going to the gym multiple times a week. I could still stand to work a little harder, I guess.

Possible union strike to free up my hours, finally a journey home after two and a half years, lots of cuddling and beers, repeated viewing of Follow That Bird, better job...all things the future seems to hold.

We'll see. Kiss kiss, everybody. Thanks for reading, while I've been lurking y'all, lately.

The End

Originally published at duanemoody.com. Please leave any comments there.

Making a triumphant return to its regularly scheduled day, the 5 Song Friday is back with some great new music for you this week. Let’s just dive right in, shall we?

Chase & Status – End Credits

Holy mother of drum & bass, Batman!! Seriously, if you are a fan of drum & bass, this may be your new anthem. The track is immensely beautiful in its execution. I haven’t followed drum & bass since I was in high school, so I was quite surprised when I heard a drum & bass song on the radio; although it was BBC Radio 1, which kind of makes sense (they play a lot of stuff that “mainstream radio” wouldn’t touch). Since hearing it, I have been clamoring to get this track so I could feature it on a 5SF; this song is HUGE. I especially love the elegant melody, beautiful vocal, sharp snare, and full bass; you really need to do yourself a favor and listen to it with a really good set of speakers, because the bass really commands the true grandness of this song. I had personally never heard of Chase & Status before hearing this, but I am all ears now; especially if they keep making music this brilliant.

The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

I heard some buzz about these guys, and after noticing they were fellow beard enthusiasts, I looked (and listened) a little more at what they had to offer. After hearing this track, I have to say that I am glad that I gave their music a listen. This song is an excellent example of how simplicity and beauty in the arrangement, coupled with strong imagery and beautiful vocals can make for truly amazing music. I especially love the sincerity of the line that is the namesake of the song, Three words that became hard to say/I and love and you, and the way in which the singer delivers it. If for no other reason than that line, I LOVE this song; sometimes, an attention to detail is all it takes for me to fall head over heels with something, and that has certainly happened in this case.

Matt Alber – Walk With Me

What can I say; I’m a sucker for a beautiful man with a beautiful voice. I have posted a few songs from Matt Alber’s debut, Monarch, in the past, and just this week, I stumbled back onto his album, and I couldn’t resist posting about him again. The tonal quality of his voice literally makes me weak in the knees, and the delicate way in which he weaves in and out of those harmonies is magical. I have my hopes that there will be a new album from Matt very soon. As I said in the past, his debut was kind of a conflict for me, because there are some AMAZING songs on it, but there are more than a couple filler tracks that really drug it down. That being said, when you go back and listen to the stand out numbers, those tracks show a level of talent and an beacon of extremely great promise from this out gay artist. When he nails it, he does so beautifully and effortlessly; and boy does he nail it with this song.

Melee – Can’t Hold On

Here’s another blast from the not-so-distant past; Melee’s amazing debut album, Devils and Angels made my top ten of 2007, coming in firmly at number 7. I recently stumbled back onto this great track from their debut while my ipod was on shuffle, which got me wondering what these guys are up to these days. A little searching on the internets, and I was able to track down their twitter; which seems to be about the only place they are currently active on the net (at least they are still doing stuff, and haven’t unceremoniously broken up/moved on!!). This song still maintains the freshness it did the first time I heard it, and it was nice to pay some attention to these fellas again; it has been too long, and I need some more Melee in my life. Here’s hoping a new album comes our way in the not-so-distant future. In the meantime, soak up the amazingness of this gem.

The Refreshments – Banditos

This is the song that almost got away. You may recall, that quite some time ago, I had a revival of 90’s songs that I loved back in the day, and I never managed to rediscover all of them due to how much time had passed, and the fading of distant memories. I remember loving this song imensely when I was in high school, and I could vaguely remember that there was a pin up girl on the cover, but I could never remember the name or any of the words of the song. That drove me crazy. I had all but given up finding this elusive track, when this past week, James and I were out to dinner, and it started playing in the restaurant. I couldn’t believe it! Suddenly, it all came rushing back, and I downloaded this great song as soon as I got home. I couldn’t resist posting this today, because re-finding this song was just too perfect not to share. I just love how random life can be sometimes!

What did you think of the Friday five this week? Anything you want to see featured here that you are listening to, but I seem to keep missing? Please, let me know! Have a great weekend, and keep the music playing!!

Bad Lieutenant
L'Olympia, Paris, 4th November 2009
Opening act for Bat For Lashes
France Inter radio broadcast
Download (53 MB, seamless)

1. Ceremony (Joy Division)
2. Sink Or Swim
3. Shine Like The Sun
4. Poisonous Intent
5. Crystal (New Order)
6. Twist Of Fate
7. Tighten Up (Electronic)
8. Out Of Control (Chemical Brothers)
9. Temptation (New Order)

Bernard Sumner, Phil Cunningham, Jake Evans, Thom Chapman, and Stephen Morris.

Some radio announcers (en Français) and a few glitches throughout. The Bad Lieutenant songs sound better live than their recorded versions. Crystal has a new intro, and Tighten Up is fast - almost punk. Out Of Control segues seamlessly into Temptation and the transition is fantastic.

I really wish I could catch one of the NYC or Chicago shows later this month, but they're doing a US tour next Spring. I'm hoping for Coachella.

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
( Read more... )

If I ever want to buy a mobile home, I will go to this guy.

Did anyone else find it funny that the "V" alien invasion returned on the same night as "Tabatha's Salon Takeover" ??

Who looks more like an alien: Diana (from the original "V" series), Tabatha, or Anna (from the new "V" on ABC) ??

Originally published at duanemoody.com. Please leave any comments there.

Yesterday, Maine’s vote sent a(nother) clear message to me: gay people do not matter to the majority of Americans. I am sure that many will argue that this is not the position of most Americans, but the message is too clear to ignore. Our civil rights are constantly up for debate, and constantly, we have them taken away. I cannot interpret that as anything other than a message that we do not matter; this society does not see fit to grant us the same rights and liberties as the rest of Americans.

It’s interesting, because this same society gladly takes our tax money, our contributions to society, and expects us to serve our country, but people continue to pass laws that reflect whether or not they feel “comfortable” with the “idea” of us getting married? Um, how does that work? That’s not just “unfair”, it’s un-American.

Isn’t the constitution supposed to grant freedom; not take it away? Additionally, isn’t the constitution supposed to protect us from the government making decisions about whether or not to strip us of our civil rights? Where are the values and principles that represent the underlying foundation of this nation? They are glaringly absent when you look at any vote for or against anyone’s civil rights. This bears repeating: voting for or against anyone’s rights goes against the very foundation of this country. We are all supposed to be free and equal. By putting this up for a vote, more than half of the people in Maine have gone against the foundation of our nation, and have made it clear that they feel as if it is okay to make the decision against gay people being equal.

Again, how does this make sense?

Every time we vote for or against the civil rights of any group of people in this country, especially minorities, we are sending a clear message that their rights do not matter. No one should ever have to campaign to have the popular vote determine whether or not they can have the same rights as everyone else. It’s just plain wrong.

Shame on 53% of Maine voters for believing that their opinion matters more than the rights of gays and lesbians living in Maine. Since this isn’t the first, and it will not be the last time that our rights are in the hands of those that wish to discriminate, I also say shame on any American who thinks that their opinion matters more than someone’s civil rights.

One final thing. In looking for the results of the vote this morning, I came across this article, and I have to comment on the quote from Jeff Flint:

Voters have a pretty good grasp about what they think marriage should be. It’s not that they’re discriminatory or bigoted. They just draw the line at what they think marriage should be.

Um, what? I’m sorry, but I will never allow anyone who says bullshit like this to have a free pass. If you are against gay marriage, you are against it because of discrimination; that is what you voted on. You voted specifically in order to discriminate against gay people. Jeff, just because you are able to some how twist your illogical thoughts into what you consider rational doesn’t not get you off the hook. You represent a discriminatory body of Americans that have “values” and beliefs that are most certainly based on bigotry. You can’t take away someone’s rights and say that you did it for “personal reasons” or “personal beliefs”, and then in the same breath say, “but I have nothing against them”. Perhaps he should actually look up the word discrimination, because I don’t think he understands the concept.

Perhaps he, and others like him, should keep their opinions to themselves, and stop using them to determine whether or not someone else should or should not have equal rights. Feel free to define marriage however you want; just don’t decide how I, or anyone else, has access to my civil rights.

Originally published at duanemoody.com. Please leave any comments there.

Well, this is a definitely a few weeks overdue, but I have had good excuses: I have definitely been busy. But enough about that; let’s get to my Mat Kearney concert experience.

Overall, the concert was great. Mat sounds amazing live, and totally delivers in concert. He probably played all of his songs from his first album, as well as his new album (which is amazing, btw). I couldn’t have wished for a better performance.

I got a lot of great pictures of Mat, and even a few good ones of his crazy hot guitar player that was to the left of him; in fact, all of the backing band members were cute and bearded (which was definitely an added bonus). You can check out the whole set on flickr.

One cool thing that happened during his set, was when he was singing a song, and started to get down off of the stage to lean over and touch people’s hands: surprisingly, instead of just shaking hands and what not, he jumped off the stage into the crowd and ran right past us!! You could tell that no one was expecting it, because instead of rushing up to him, people just ran away from him. It was kind of funny, actually, because you would have expected the opposite. I managed to get a very paparazzi shot of the moment he was closest to me. Neat stuff indeed. I think it added to the whole concert, because he was clearly having fun because of the crowd. I did think that he was a bit cocky with expecting everyone to know the words to all of his songs, because near the end of the show, he pretty much just held up the microphone to the crowd for like 15 minutes. While that was a little annoying, it didn’t distract from how good the rest of the show was.

Since it was at a standing room only venue (Center Stage), I just knew that I would encounter some of those “we are entitled to walk to the front and stand in front of you because we are better people just because we are” people, and low and behold, about an hour into the show, they tried to push their way up in front of us. The best, though, was that they ended up in front of the people in front of me, and they were very vocal about their disapproval; they left after like 2 songs. I just don’t understand why people have that sense of entitlement. If you want to stand in the front, do like we did; get there early, and wait it out. If not, don’t complain when someone doesn’t want you to come up in front of them and stand there; we put in the time, so we deserve to be up front… you don’t. /rant

Once again, I take better photos of dogs and inanimate objects than I do of people.
With special appearance by the Slutty Monk costume that I did NOT wear for Halloween.

Originally published at duanemoody.com. Please leave any comments there.

So here’s the deal: I was extremely busy all week trying to get my school work finished so I could enjoy this weekend without worrying about how to fit all of that work in with my Pride/Halloween plans. I managed to finish everything yesterday, but the 5SF got cut because of it. However, there are NO rules against doing it a day late! So here’s the first, and hopefully last 5SS; 5SF’s will go back to their regularly scheduled day after this week! Now, let’s get to the music!

The Saturdays – Here Standing

I know that I was gushing about how Lose Control was the best song on the new album by the Saturdays, and while it is AMAZING, I think I might have been wrong. THIS is the best song their new album. It is amazing. It evokes the same feeling of another amazing track, No Air, and has me breathless after each listen. I still cannot get over how amazing their sophomore album is; it is even better that their debut (which was stellar, btw). The Saturdays have made some brilliant pop, and this is sitting pretty atop the rest right now; this song is epic, and totally beautiful. I am PRAYING that they release this as a single, because there is no way that it wouldn’t be number one. Seriously, this song is EPIC. BRILLIANT. AMAZING. LOTS OF WORDS IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. This record is amazing, and I can’t seem to say it enough.

Kaci Battaglia – Crazy Possessive

WARNING: This song says fuck in it like 65 times; you have been warned. I opted not to go for the radio-friendly version, because I love the tenacity with which she screams fuck in each threatening line of the chorus. This song is a total guilty pleasure, one that uses an arrangement that borrows heavily from Soft Cell’s Tainted Love; but it is almost as if she borrowed the arrangement from Rihanna’s SOS, which borrowed its arrangement from Soft Cell. Interesting. The result is a great back beat with a fierce song about fucking up a bitch who comes after your man. Don’t fuck with Kaci; she’ll cut a bitch!

Ke$ha – TiK ToK

GUILTY PLEASURE ALERT: I resisted the shit out of this song. No way was I going to concede and like someone who thought it was cute to spell her name with a dollar sign in it. However, far too many of you suggested this song to me to ignore it any longer; and what better time to post it during Pride weekend. This song is a true banger, and I am sure that it will be loved by gay boys all over; including this one. Yes ladies and gents, I give in. I love this ghetto fabulous track by Miss Kesha… I’m sorry, I mean Ke$ha. Ugh, I still don’t like that, though. Also, what the hell is up with the line, Now, the dudes are lining up cause they hear we got swagger/But we kick em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger? Someone needs to let this little cutie know that she can do better than guys that look like tired old Mick. I’m just saying; Ke$ha, don’t sell yourself short, doll.

Cascada – Evacuate the Dancefloor

LOOK! IT’S THE GAYEST VERSION OF JUST DANCE SINCE JUST DANCE! Seriously, I tried really hard not to like this complete rip on Lady GaGa’s amazing first single, Just Dance, but I just couldn’t resist. Cascada has danced her way into my heart again, and I just can’t resist any longer. Yes, this song is pretty much a spot on remake of Just Dance; it follows the exact same formula that Lady GaGa perfected with Just Dance. However, isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery? If that’s the case, Cascada LOVES her some Lady GaGa, and she made this little homage so we could all get out on the floor and keep the dance party going. I have been playing this one for a few months now, probably way more often than I should, and I thought it was perfect for a Pride 5SF, so here it is. You win again, Cascada! Gays rejoice! Dance music for the masses!!

Lisa Scott-Lee – Electric

Oh how much I love Lisa Scott-Lee; let me count the ways… a song consisting of nothing but hyper sexual double entendres, the fact that she was in the amazing pop super group Steps, and THIS… oh Lisa. This song should have been a massive hit when it was released back in 2005, but probably due to the stink that was still left on everyone’s mind about the break up of Steps, it tanked. She probably shouldn’t have promised to quit the music business if it failed, but she did, and well, it did. Regardless of the stink that surrounded this song, I have always loved it, and wanted to feature it this week; especially since I have been paying more deserved attention since reviving it during the British pop explosion I did a few weeks back. I have say, I do think it’s interesting (as D’Luv pointed out last year) that this song got cloned and turned out to be a moderate hit for Ms. Jackson, which I guess speaks to cyclical nature of the music biz. I hope the Lisa Scott-Lee reemerges someday and gives another brilliant pop gem like this one. I know of at least a couple other gay boys that would be rejoicing right along with me.

Well, I want to apologize for getting this to you a day late, but it’s better late than never. I couldn’t go another week without giving you something to listen to. I hope that everyone has a happy Halloween, and a very happy Pride weekend if you are in Atlanta. Let me know what you thought of this week’s selections, and as always, tell me what you are listening to as well! Take care!

EDIT: If you're reading this, our maintenance is OVER! The problem was not found on our equipment, which means we'll have to work with our ISP to fix this small problem -- which also means another maintenance window in the future -- but at least we have eliminated our side.

Thank you everyone, and a special shout out to rekoil for giving me a great suggestion AND also the opportunity to feel like I've just called in to a local radio station.

Have a great day, night or afternoon wherever you may be.

---

Hi everyone, sorry for the late notice but I'm going to have to do some testing on 1 of our 4 internet circuits TONIGHT; Friday night or Saturday morning depending on which time zone you're in.

Most of us shouldn't notice any impact, though there may be some slowness or lag when I switch traffic on to our other ISP circuits and then another hit when I stop the tests. If a page won't load or times out, try hitting refresh 1 or 2 times and it should load then. If it doesn't work at all... trust me, I'll be typing really really really fast to try to undo whatever I just did. Hopefully you'll have some Halloween candy (if you're in the USA and celebrate that kind of thing) nearby to take away the bitterness of a small site outage. :(

Here's the handy-dandy Website That I Always Use to get a feel for when the maintenance will start in your area. Our site traffic historically dips on Friday afternoons until Saturday morning which is why we tend to pick this time for maintenance work.

( tech details )

status.livejournal.org will, of course be updated before and after the maintenance window. Or else marta will get mad at me. :D

bt

Parks and I are dj'ing WE Design's Halloween Costume Ball saturday night, Oct 31, 2009 10pm-3am at 1200 Foster Road Atlanta, GA. This is directly behing Junction (Commune)/FIGO and all that on Howell Mill Road. Murray Mill is the location found at 1200 Foster Rd. It is a super spooky vacant mill.

Dress- costume or formal wear according to the flier. Ladies please wear flats or shoes you can walk in in the dark. When I say vacant I mean it. Its dark! Think any abandoned factory place in West End basically.

There is a small $5 donation that supports WE Designs (Art and Music) but we think it's worth it.

Schedule:
Parks and I are spinning 10-11
Bands play 11-12:30am
Parks and I will conclude the night 12:30-3am.


Directions: From 14th Street Atlanta (west of midtown, west of I-75)
Turn RIGHT onto HOWELL MILL RD NW.
Turn LEFT onto HUFF RD NW.
Turn LEFT onto FOSTER ST NW.
1200 FOSTER ST NW is on the RIGHT
Last drive way on the right. Park and walk left and wind under the arches and wander towards building labelled B3.

I will update this as I know more information. Here is the flier.

I like this one....

It's time to move past the hurt of painful memories so you can be more available to experience the joyful possibilities of today. But this doesn't mean forgetting about what previously happened; rather, it's about stepping outside your personal history so you can see your life from a more cosmic perspective. Avoiding your emotions isn't a viable strategy because you'll end up feeling irritable without knowing why. However, letting go of old attachments allows you to live more fully in the present.