holiday grace

for that which i am about to receive, amen.

happy holidays, everyone — see you in 2004!

new year's resolution

i know this is early, but, as i told my friend kenny earlier today, my only new year's resolution thus far is to watch every episode of the new season of sex and the city starting in january.  it's not much, but at least it's one i'll be able to keep!  (thank god for video on-demand!)

2003 PA state thespian conference

this past weekend, joe and i went down to bucks county, pennsylvania for the 2003 pennsylvania state thespian conference, held at pennsbury high school.  we arrived to enjoy two and a half days of a wide range of high school theater, some of the best in the state. 

one of the highlights of my weekend was seeing pennsbury's own production of stephen sondheim's merrily we roll along, a show that's near and dear to my heart primarily because lashonhara productions directed our own version back in 1996, my senior year in college.  i have to say, their production was, in some ways, better than ours — though, to put it in perspective, pennsbury's director is a fifty-year old who teaches theater full-time while we were twenty-year old students who directed the show in our spare time.  still, i grew a little nostalgic for the chance to do it all over again...

the other highlight of my weekend was sitting in on joe's workshop sessions, both friday and saturday.  joe's workshop was called "theater as a social voice."  the pictures above are of him being all teacher-like.  sexy!

the best part of the weekend was that the pennsylvania student thespians raised $1700 for broadway cares/equity fights aids.  whoo hoo!

the hot one

r.w. apple, jr. says, in today's new york times:

Slight and compact, with close-cropped hair, almost never without a tie (although he often takes off his coat and rolls up his sleeves), Dr. Dean looks every bit the son of privilege, educated at elite primary and secondary schools and at Yale, that he is. When he uses words like "amalgam" and "contretemps," the contrast with the president, another Yale man, is inescapable.

smart and sexy!  he's got my vote!

democratic debate

i was watching c-span earlier tonight, curious enough to watch the debates after al gore gave his endorsement to howard dean (who, i think, is a total babe).

you're probably wondering about the pictures above.  yes, that's joe lieberman in the center of the top one, but my reason for capturing that picture is that my good pal didi is the woman in the lower right-hand corner holding up a video camera.  yay!

she's also in the lower right-hand corner of the second picture.  that's her massaging her eye, hee hee...

don't try this at home

as someone who picked up his current boyfriend on the Q train, i present the following as an example of what NOT to do.

inside a mostly empty car on the uptown A train, pulling into 42nd street, i sit admiring an outdoorsy, athletic guy sporting incredibly dorky, maroon plastic-framed glasses (very hot).  he carries with him a large backpack, the kind used for camping trips, and holds a smaller camouflage knapsack in his lap.  his outfit is made up of leisurely l.l. bean-esque hiking apparel.

i bear witness to the following conversation.  (some liberties taken).

HHJ:  excuse me. 

EVP:  (looking up from reading)  hm?

HHJ:  (points to magazine cover)  that's the new battlestar galactica, right?

EVP:  oh!  yeah.  right.

HHJ:  they're showing it this week?

EVP:  uh huh.  tonight, actually.

HHJ:  aw, man!  i'm going out of town for a week and i'm gonna miss it.

EVP:  well, it's the sci-fi channel, so i'm sure they'll play it again.  they'll probably release it on dvd, eventually.

HHJ:  you think so?

EVP:  oh, sure.

at this point, EVP takes off his ski cap to reveal close-cropped hair dyed neon-orange, prompting me to think, "oh my god, he is SO gay!"

EVP:  were you a fan of the original series?

HHJ:  um, no, not really.  it was before my time, i think.

EVP:  really?  how old are you?

HHJ:  twenty-six.

EVP:  oh. ...well, i'm a good ten years older than you.

HHJ:  you were a big fan?

EVP:  yeah, huge.  i had the action-figures, the lunchbox, everything.

HHJ:  do you think this one will be any good?

EVP:  it looks great from what i've seen.  the die-hard fans don't like it because they just want it to be exactly the way it was.

HHJ:  so the new one is, like, totally different?

EVP:  well, they kept some of the elements from the original show.  glen larson, the guy who created the whole thing, is also involved in this one.

HHJ:  like, hands-on...?

EVP:  well...he's working with the producers or something.

this would be a good place for EVP to let HHJ go on his merry way.  alternatively, the appropriately forward move would be to inquire whether or not HHJ has anyone to tape the show for him and, if not, to offer to do so.  however...

EVP:  so, you said you were on your way to canada?

HHJ:  uh...no.

eek.

HHJ:  western europe.  for seven days.

EVP:  oh.  business or pleasure?

HHJ:  uh...both, i guess.  (pause)  not marine corps related.

HHJ smiles awkwardly.  EVP stares blankly, not getting it.  HHJ then raises the camouflage backpack from his lap.

EVP:  oh.  ...well, i could tape it for you, if you want, and give it to you when you get back.  do you want my number?

HHJ:  no, that's okay.

d'oh!

EVP:  i mean, since you're going out of the country and everything.

HHJ:  i'll just catch it some other time.  thanks, though.

again, another good point at which EVP could have said, "all right, well, have fun in europe!" or something and bowed out gracefully.  instead...

EVP:  well, you definitely don't want to miss it.  the cylons in this one are...

a high-pitched screech from the wheels of the train drowns out all other sound as we make our final turn into columbus circle station, my stop.  as i exit, i turn once more to admire HHJ and see that EVP has moved across the aisle and planted himself right next to his new friend.  i tune in to hear...

EVP:  ...hope you don't mind, i didn't think you could hear me over the noise.

i take my leave before the inevitable carnage and heartbreak.

moral of the story:  don't fool yourself when a handsome stranger chats you up in a public place about battlestar galactica.  a hot geek is still a geek, and, chances are, he's really interested in the show, not you.

iLove my iPod!

from rob walker's article in the new york times:

...I made a jokey observation that before long somebody would probably start making white headphones so that people carrying knockoffs and tape players could fool the world into thinking they had trendy iPods.

Jobs shook his head.  ''But then you meet the girl, and she says, 'Let me see what's on your iPod.'  You pull out a tape player, and she walks away.''  This was an unanticipated, and surprisingly persuasive, response.  That's thinking long-term, I said.  ''No,'' said Steve Jobs.  ''That's being an optimist.''

dell can try to fool you into thinking you're getting a bargain with dj, but don't waste your money.  ipod rocks!

music these days...

"Alright!" she shouted, "It's Chingy's 'Right Thurr.'" "Right where?" I asked. "Right Thurr," she responded. "You mean 'Right There?" I asked again, seeking clarification. "Right Thurr," she wrote on my notepad, ever the stickler for grammar.

As an Original Gangster, I'm used to salty rap lyrics--but then, I'm not an 11-year-old girl. So it was a little disconcerting to hear my niece, who doesn't swear, who goes to church, and who hasn't yet had a serious boyfriend, blissfully singing, Gimmie what you got for a pork chop / She threw it at me like I was a shortstop / Twerkin' in a phatty girl halter top / Then she backed it up on me, and let it drop.

"You listen to this?" I asked, astonished. "Everybody does," she responded. It's a lot more wholesome, she assured me, than the song she heard her elite private school girlfriends singing earlier in the day: "Slob On My Knob."

from a hilarious article at the weekly standard, written by a former american idol fan.

angels in america

partly in conjunction with world aids day, but also as a promotion for the premiere and a benefit for broadway cares/equity fights aids, hbo screened angels in america at an uptown movie theater last night, and i was fortunate enough to attend.

everyone should see this movie; the play, the script, the book, whatever you want to call it, is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful and important works of the 20th century.  if you don't have hbo, find someone who does and barge into their living room this sunday.  or, at the very least, get them to record angels in america for you.

part one premieres sunday, december 7th at 8:00 pm.  part two premieres sunday, december 14th at 8:00 pm.

watch it!

world aids day 2003

today is world aids day.  according to the joint united nations programme on hiv/aids, over forty million people are living with the virus, five million of them having been infected in the last year alone.  three million others have died from aids-related complications in 2003, and the number continues to grow.

before this year, i had only met two or three people who were hiv-positive, and now i know twice as many — not through new infections, but simply through meeting friends of friends.  for these people, dealing with hiv on a daily basis is a reality. 

as a sexually active gay man, i live with the risk of sero-converting.  knowing that nothing short of abstinence is 100% safe, it's a risk i live with.  i don't relish the thought of getting infected, nor do i enjoy the prospect of a completely celibate life. 

what to do?   to quote from the gmhc website, "each time you [get into an automobile], you have a small but real risk of being killed in an accident.  most adults know this and still continue to drive."  in other words, proceed with caution.  be smart, play safe, know the risks.  may not be the best solution, but it's what i got.

peace and love to everybody!