Sunday, July 31, 2005

I'm Easy Like Sunday Morning...

Sunday is the day of rest as they say, so today I've just been relaxing at home. I had all sorts of grandiose plans involving sunday brunch in Gaytown, getting up and kicking ass... but after I got home last night/morning, I slept until 1pm. Oh well.
This is going to be an intersting week for me, wish me luck. And you actually CAN wish me luck (for shits & giggles) at this site. It's a virtual candle-lighting, like the ones you see in churches and temples. Light one for me...

Trend Graveyard

And while I'm on the topic of rituals, it's time to hold a farewell ceremony (we hope) for yet another overkilled trend from 2004 that somehow survived into 2005...
Behold, the Livestrong Bracelets (and their miriad copycats):


Ugh! I can say I don't have any friends who wear these stupid fucking plastic bracelets. I used to have a few, but let's say it's now one of my red-flag criteria for instant dismissal. These stupid bracelets say "I follow whatever stupid fucking trend comes...AND I'm helping a charitable cause."
FUCK YOU! If you wear these, I hope you get 2nd-hand cancer from all the cigaretts I'm smoking. I'm going to make my own Livestrong bracelet. It will be black leather from an endangered species and all proceeds will go to developing a virus that will wipe out all stupid people. And it will be manufactured by Phillip Morris.

Ah what a pleasant sunday morning... birds are chirping....
Grin smile grin grin
Which Annoying B-list Celebrity Are You?
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A repressed gay blockbuster star. Don't get many of those these days, do we, Tom?
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Thursday, July 28, 2005

Another Day in the Blogosphere

Updates:

I forgot to include in my last post the crowing glory of last Sautrday night: when Ken tossed Bob into Dupont Circle fountain!

Sadly I was too inebriated to have taken a picture. And thus far, Bob has not developed any strange rashes from the fountain water.

Taking back SOhO:

Some good news for those of you who frequent a certain cafe on P & 22nd St, Monday's so-called "Comedy Night" is coming to a close!!!! Next Monday will ofiicially be the end of un-comedy night. I think I speak for all the cafe regulars when I say good riddance! Apparently all the comics are bitter because no one laughs at them... sure... it's OUR fault that you guys fucking suck.
And this is my blog so I can say what I want, this isn't slander it's my opinions but Paul Schorsch is the most unfunny man ever born. He's the Anti-Comedy. He can suck the funny out of a room. He apparently hosts sometimes at the DC Improv. Maybe he's funny when alcohol's involved. Ladies and gentlemen, don't laugh at this man.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Wedding & a Birthday

Well, it's been an eventful weekend. First, Friday was Raven and Kevin's wedding! Raven looked absoultely beautiful and I wish them the best. I don't have any pictures from the ceremony now, but I will post when I do.
Satruday was Ken's birthday (well, techincally it's today, Monday) so we (Bob and myself) celebreated by first going for lunch at drinks in Adams Morgan, and then paddleboating on the Tidal Basin by the Jefferson Memorial because that's something Ken's always wanted to do since moving to DC.
Then we met Margo and Fred at Lauriol Plaza on 18th for dinner and more drinks. It was a fun dinner for sure... (see photos)




After that we went on to the gay strip club, Wet where I had the fun of running into a guy I knew...working as a dancer. LOL, I was sure to give him a tip, the look on his face when he recognized me was worth the price of admission alone...
Ken got bored with the cock pretty quickly so we headed next door for a complete change of pace at the industrial club, Chiaroscuro. I got drunk as hell, really drunk. I'm sure I made a royal fool of myself... pictures NOT forthcoming.
And the rest, as they say, is history...

Thursday, July 21, 2005

The Scandalous Fruit

Since the culinary arts are of my my little hobbies, I deicided to include this interesting article I came across today concerning the history of tomatoes. Yes, tomatoes, it's far more interesting than you might think.
Find out why Renaissance Europe referred to them as "love apples" by reading this.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

What's In a Name?

My ultra swedish is Joakim Björkman.
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Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.


My very British name is Damian Pelham.
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My japanese name is 山田 Yamada (mountain field) 大輝 Taiki (large radiance).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
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My Russian name is Vladislav Dmitriev.
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*Actually, when I was studying Russian, my teahcer dubbed me "Alyosha" which is diminutive of Alexei.

My yuppie parents say that my name is Graham Sebastian.
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Thursday, July 14, 2005

Recipe of the Month

Calamares Españoles del Escándalo de Adán
or, Adam's Scandalous Spanish Calamari



A wonderful tapas dish from Spain, with my own adjustments that make it uniquely my own, uniquely scandalous! ...
Ingredients (feeds 4-ish)

*1 1/4 lb small squid, cleaned.
*6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
*1 fresh red chili, or dried chili flakes
*1 tsp regular paprika
*1 tsp Hungarian or Spanish smoked paprika (hot varieties...if you like heat you can use 2 tsp Hungarian paprika instead of mixing with the generic type paprika)
*1-2 cups all purpose flour
*3 garlic cloves (crushed or minced)
*1 tbsp Spanish sherry vinegar (or subst. with red wine vinegar)
*1 lemon (1 tsp grated lemon rind from this lemon as well as it's juice)
*2-3 tsp finely chopped, washed, fresh parsley
*kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

-Clean the squid if not already done. Keep the tentacles (be sure to exclude the beak) and cut the body portion into small rings (discard everything else).
Place squid in bowl and pour over 2 tsp of olive oil, the chili, the crushed/minced garlic, the paprika, salt, and pepper. Cover in bowl and let marinate in refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
-Toss the squid in the flour and bread lightly. Heat vegetable or olive oil in a wok or deep frying panover high heat until very hot. Slowly add small batches of squid (be VERY careful- squid like to pop and splatter!!!). Fry each batch for 30 second-1 minute. Don't overcook!
-After frying add the still-warm calamari into a large bowl. Toss in the sherry vinegar (add more or less to taste), the lemon rind, the lemon's juice, additional paprika if desired, and the parsley.
-Toss evenly and serve with extra lemon wedges and parsley.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Discussions

Word to live by (or rather, words I OUGHT to live by) :

Know the true value of time;
snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it.
No idleness; no laziness; no procrastination;
never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

-Lord Chesterfield

Updates on my life

Well, it's been a long ass time since I've updated my blog. Oh so many things have happened since my last post. Didn't end up going to Rehoboth Beach like I had planned, instead I spent the 4th of July on the balcony of Ken's new fabulous 13th floor apartment with him, Margo, Fred, Raven, Kevin, and myself. We had a great dinner party: Ken made manicotti and a great homemade dipping oil, and I made Spanish calamari (recipe forthcoming, I promise). All of the food turned out delicious, and we watched the DC fireworks from the comfort of his balcony, above and away from all the crowds.
Other stuff has happened too, but too much to review here. It's hard to believe summer is almost over!

Now, since someone was wondering what was going on with my blog, I have decided to finally shift my blog in a new direction. Starting today, I am going to have a little potpouri of everything, food, politics, life, thoughts, and reader comments encouraged.

Politics

For example, one reader's blog has been discussing the gay rights issues. In response to one of his essays, here are some of my thoughts on some aspects of gay life. To paraphrase him, he was discussing the recent gay pride parade in DC, and how the men dancing in thongs, etc., was not doing anything positive for the gay community. I beg to differ.. see below

I'll also leave my 1 1/2 cents about the topic above. While I agree with a lot of your argument, I feel I have to disagree when you say,
"it sends the wrong message to our hetero counterparts that we’re sex crazed, promiscuous perverts who’ll do anything for a cheap thrill."
My point of view is, so what? I think that is exactly where the gay movement has gone wrong, trying to curry favor with heteros by portraying ourselves as neat clean-cut upstanding citizens.
Why are we to be held to some lofty standard, when straight people are free to indulge in the same behaviors without their whole community being judged? A large portion of Middle America is never going to accept us (as the last elections show). Fuck 'em, I say. If they don't like us doing drugs or having lots of sex, fuck 'em. They aren't going to help us out either way. We don't owe Middle America anything at all, and since our rights don't seem to matter to them, their opinions of my leisure time don't matter to me.
There is a larger issue here, and it goes above even GLBT rights... the broader issue of freedom for everyone.
I think, rather than trying to imitate the Ozzy and Harriet lifestyle of suburban heteros, we need to take a different approach to gain straight allies.
When we approach this is a freedom issue (the freedom to do what you want with other consenting adults, regardless of gender) I think we will catch the attention of more heterosexuals. Because, we must remind them, if they take away our rights, you'll be next!

-So there...what do YOU think?

Books

Next to politics, my other passion. Thanks to Jonathan and his closeout from his offce at the now defunct (?) Lambda Literary Foundation (one the only gay literature organizations in the country) I have a ton of free books by gay authors. Right now I am reading "So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy."
It is an anthology of writers, some gay, some straight, from Africa, the Carribean, India, and Native Americans. Fascinating works that definately deserve the attention of anyone interested in speculative fiction. Highly reccomended!
As a result of reading it, I was to explore the works of writer Vandana Singh more.
More book reviews as my summer reading continues!