Right now I am a little low on inspiration. Or motivation. Or liquor. Whatever. So, while I ponder something more substantial to write for a new entry, I will give you some things that I have learned this week:I might remember a presentation that I gave a year ago as being great. When I reopen the file, though, that memory might not be fully validated.
My current office’s new magnetic-swipe-key policy is probably just a panopticon illusion. They only want us to think that they are tracking when we sign in or out of the building as a means to keep us motivated and productive (and showing up). In reality, any data that is actually collected from the cards is probably fed to a computer that spends most of its day running World of Warcraft.
I have spent too much time wondering why they would attempt such a strategy on academics knowing that we can (and do) work from many different locations beyond our office.
I get an eery sense of satisfaction from vacuuming.
A surprising number of adults watch Kim Possible.
A surprising number of adults don’t watch Kim Possible.
A very minor injury of my leg is all the excuse that I need to sit out of going to the gym for over a week.
Given that I don't own any gaming system of any type, it might be odd that I still watch X-Play.
While my apartment is currently without most types of solid food, I will make a special trip to the store to obtain coffee filters.
I am still surprised that I actually like the new Wonder Woman comic. We are already at issue 6 and I haven't had to deploy my full gravitas (though there are some things that I would change -- and some of it has been, um, confusing). My new favorite panel involves Diana Prince shopping for toys and learning what it means to be the action figure who ends up in the bargain bin:
The hours can really slip past you when you start watching a Workout marathon (I had never before watched this program before this week).
Those hours can go even more quickly when you fix yourself a cocktail during the middle of that marathon.
No matter how hard that I try, I will never have abs as developed as Jackie Warner.
Jackie needs a better therapist.
Watching Workout does nothing to motivate me to go to the gym despite feeling guilty over the lame leg-injury excuse.
Jaclyn Smith is hosting a new Bravo series.
Jaclyn Smith needs a better agent.
In truth, though, a former-Angel hosting is enough to get me to at least give the show a watch.
Bravo is becoming a bit formulaic in their reality shows. Take a traditionally queer environment (fashion studio; gourmet kitchen; gym; hairstyling salon) and add in an assortment of "urban personalities” (mix the queer kids with the hetero folk plus one or two African Americans), add competition, and let the drama happen. I am expecting Bravo to launch a new series on tanning salons and bathhouses any day now.
Okay, so the majority of what I am reporting to have learned this week really just involved several hours of television on Tuesday night. Any suggestions of things that you would like GayProf to write about?
write about your undergraduate years and how you came to get graduate degrees. i want to hear all about the decision making processes, the various universities you got them from (unless you got them all in one place - though i've heard that's not a good thing). i'd also like to see a few photographs of that era as well (cuz i just know you had big hair)
ReplyDeleteSo you're the one who likes the Jodi Picoulet written Wonder Woman. I'll freely concede that it's not as bad as most have made it out to be, but the one issue I've read of it so far was pretty dire.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I am sooooo with you on the vacuuming!
ReplyDeleteAs to what you should write about, well, does it matter? You'd probably make a grocery list interesting...
In one of my classes, we were talking about the card swipe at the office. The payroll girl blurted out, "nobody even checks that" much to the surprise of the other employees in the room. lol. Also, I have no idea who Kim Possible is. And we just got that permanent filter (for only $6!) so now I don't have to resort to running out for coffee filters.
ReplyDeleteMy feelings about electronic swipy cards and email monitoring are that they will only dig through the files if they a) want to fire you or b) are trying to protect themselves in a lawsuit.
ReplyDeleteAs for GayProf topics, hm ... I would like the Beam of Gravitas to focus sometime on:
1. Cute Actors from the 1950s
2. Sex Workers
3. Cheese-making
or, alternatively, Why VUBOQ is so Gosh-Darn Fantastic.
I'm completely with you on the minor leg injury/gym avoidance problem. I even stopped going for a week before my recent vacation, lest I get another minor injury that might slightly immobilize me for walking the streets of London and Amsterdam.
ReplyDeleteAs for subjects to write about? Muse on these:
Why gay men don't/won't date?
The war on drugs.
Why doesn't GP have any food in the house?
I don't know, but I was watching Law & Order last night and LYNDA CARTER WAS ON!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see follow-up comments:
ReplyDeletePBS to Add Latino Voices to WWII Series
Obviously they never should have screwed up this badly in the first place, but is this a good compromise?
I do like the "Just give me one reason to strangle you with your own spine" expression that Diana is giving the clerk in that one panel.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, have you read Matt Wagner's "Trinity"? It had my own favorite interpretation of Wonder Woman: someone who is very compassionate, even toward criminals, yet is also more pro-active than most superheroes, having come from a warrior society.
Maybe some would dispute me, but I would like to hear more about your perspective on American history, since I really don't get to hear that much from people who specialize in history of sexuality. If you don't want to alienate the non-history buffs out there, then I'd settle for hearing about your own grad school days.
In spite of not having a game system either, I also will watch X-Play if it's on. It's weird.
ReplyDeleteDykewife: I was known to use the mousse product in my earlier years. This might have given my hair a certain volume... I'll see what I can come up with in terms of photographic evidence.
ReplyDeleteDorian: Yeah, I don't think the Picoulet has been horrible. Do I think it is the best comic book ever, ever? Well, no. Keep in mind, however, I had really low expectations.
Maybe I am still just happy they are exploring the Diana Prince angle again. I also like that they make sure to note that Diana Prince is the "masked" identity and Wonder Woman is closer to her real self.
The issue on the women's shelters was abysmal. I would also say that the last issue of the Heinberg run was very sloppy. It was a lot of exposition without much pay off. I am also unconvinced by Picoult's feminist credentials.
Given my gravitas, though, I am okay with the comic so far. What didn't you like?
Arthur: I need some ideas, man. Otherwise I just might resort to my grocery list.
Torn: But one has to clean the permanent filter... Yeah, I am not a very good friend to the environment. **blush**I do buy the brown filters, though. But I tend to buy anything brown over anything white.
VUBOQ: Well, my current office can't actually fire me as I am on-loan to them. Also, I am not sure who would sue me/them.
A post on why VUBOQ is so gosh-darn fantastic could take a life time. I don't have that amount of time!
Marlan: A dating post had occurred to me...
Vacations are actually one of the few things that will motivate me to keep going to the gym. I am under the delusion that the week before leaving will finally convert all that fat to muscle.
ROG: Yep, she was on a special two-part cross over episode of L&O and L&O:SVU. She still wore the fun Diana-Prince pony-tail, too.
Jaclyn: Thanks for the little linky. Only from you and VUBOQ did I learn of the PBS decision.
It's an okayish compromise. It is also much better than their first efforts. They started with offering nothing. Next they suggested the would create special programming for heavily Latino areas (which would not have been shown in the rest of the country).
I will need to learn more about the segments. Interviews from Burns and PBS, though, suggest they didn't entirely understand the critique. At the least, though, they are acknowledging that there was a great deal of anger.
Chad: I did like Wonder Woman in the first half of Trinity. Her character kinda went wrong in the second part, as I remember.
An entry on grad school seems to be winning so far...
Bill S.: The show is entertaining. Morgan and Adam are underrated.
Thought you might like to see that Ken Burns is re-doing some of his WW series to include more Latino voices....http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/lifestyle/bal-to.burns12apr12,0,406167.story?coll=bal-artslife-today
ReplyDeletewell, I liked the panels, and I haven't read the series but I assumed her male friend there is gay ("But I thought you were an only child?") - and she does have that no nonesense lesbian look down ("So saving the world isn't cool?") - as her friend is petting his wonder woman action figure - made me crack up.
ReplyDeleteand in an unrelated aspect, I think this is the most lesbian blog you posted (visually) because though I don't have a TV, a woman who looks like that (Jackie?) taping up her own hands is hot, or is making me hot - whatever.
I was wondering what, if anything, your reaction to this week's Roseanne brouhaha was, since you're a gay activist who's interested in many other activism areas as well.
ReplyDeleteFuture columns:
ReplyDeleteVisit Lawrence, Mass. and write a column about it. (if you live)
"My secret life as a sex worker," (Walter Mitty version if not true.)
"The Bionic Woman" ...do you like her too, or are you strictly devoted to W W?
(By the way, I once saw Lynda Carter in person, back when I worked at a law firm, and her husband was a client. It not everyday you hear "Oh my God, Wonder Woman is in the reception area!")
How about the blog itself? When did you start? Why did you start? Who read it at first?
ReplyDeleteOr, your first kiss. I never get tired of hearing other's stories.
Now, Rebekah wants to hear about your first kiss, while want to hear about your first...
ReplyDeleteNever mind. You tend to keep the details of your sex life out of the blog. I'll be taking my dirty mind elsewhere...
K: Thanks for the link. It's interesting to me that people consider Burns an "artist." Most historians are not free from critique through such a claim.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth: Clearly you are not getting your lesbian newsletter. Did you recently move?
From what I understand, the woman pictured (Jackie Warner) was elected Queen of the Lesbians. Granted, it's more of an honorific title, but I think it does involve you worshiping her at some point.
Frank: I am not sure I actually have much new to say about Rosanne. Her comments seemed like she was just talking about an idea when she hadn't really thought through it. Maybe, though, I will think about it some more.
Mike: I am stunned to find out that there are other cities in MA besides Boston. As for the Bionic Woman, I am intrigued by her bionic bed that she keeps pushing on late-night television.
Rebekah: My first kiss was with a girl in high school. Being gay (though not at all out (even to myself)), it wasn't really a passionate or particularly interesting story (at least on my side). It was nice and not at all unpleasant. Still, it was more about experimenting than really being moved by emotion. Likewise, my first kiss with another man was in some gay club with some nameless guy (I actually had to really, really think about it to remember).
Circumstances around starting the blog, on the other hand, do have more interesting bits to them. Maybe I will write about that at some point...
Huntington: It's true that I don't (and probably won't) write about my sex life here. As for other first times, they were more memorable than the first kiss(es). For starters, I discovered that my skin is very sensitive to low-grade lube. I am not sayin', I am just sayin'.
I'd like you to write about New Mexico .. it's beauty, history ... and your sense of place there.
ReplyDeleteImus! Imus! Nappy-headed hos!
ReplyDeleteOr organic food. Pointless?
As a hardcore gamer, I never found X-Play entertaining. Part of that is because everything they say on the show I've read on the Internet with the ability see more footage and read more in-depth coverage. I find their attempts at humor weak.
ReplyDeleteI found their attempts at humor pretty weak as well. Most gaming nerds nut themselves over how hot Morgan Webb, but for some reason she doesn't do anything for me[/ sarcasm].
Worcester, Springfield, Cambridge, Lowell, New Bedford, Fall River, Lawrence, Haverhill, Gloucester, Lynn, Somerville, Brookline, Newton, Quincy, Brockton, Attleboro, Fitchburg, Leominster, Pittsfield, Northampton, Greenfield, North Adams, Gardner, Newburyport, Peabody, Salem, Medford, Melrose, Malden, Marlborough and Methuen are all cities. There are others. About three or four of them are well worth visiting.
ReplyDeleteWhy does the comic store clerk have piercings? Are all comic collectors "on the edge" or otherwise rebellious?
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a reality show about bathhouses. I'd even audition for it.
How about ... why are so many iconic superheroes white people with blue highlights in their black hair?
ReplyDeleteI never got that ...