Code En Mah Node

I've felt a whopper of a cold coming on this week, and yeeeowwch.  I am down for the count, feeling like crud.  And not that you asked, but I am a big 'ol baby when I get sick.   When I have a cold, I am always convinced no one else on earth has suffered to the extent I'm suffering, and even though I know intellectually that isn't the case....damnit it sure FEELs that way!

So enjoy your health...I'm gonna go watch some crap tv and feel sorry for my snotty self.   

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Time Travel Thursday

A gentle touch..... a warm look... a gentle embrace and a time gone by.

Oh yeah and a sun bonnet.

  Were these gentlemen just goofing around? Having a lark, posing for a fun photo to take home? Maybe.  Perhaps there was much more to the story. It's kind of sad we'll never know, but what a remembrence of two people...what a treasure to see their photograph today and just imagine what might have been between them.

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Thoughts

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Hope

I vividly remember waking up that morning in November of 2007.  President Obama had been elected and we had gone to bed happy, confident that Prop 8 wouldn't pass.   After all, how could it?   Gay Californians weren't asking for money or power...just the simple right to marry the person they chose.  It wasn't like they were asking for the moon, but they might as well have been....and still the hateful legislation passed.

I woke up, read the news and felt like I had been assaulted when I saw this very picture.   It was the prop 8 side cheering victory...a rampaging victory of hate.   I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.  

But we didn't stop. 

Protestors protested.  Marchers marched.  Activists sued...and eventually we made headway ..step by step.   We found allies we didn't expect, and some were a huge surprise.  The fight for equality became a series of steps up the Capitol.... through court case after court case....and here we are now....waiting.   
The memory of the fight and failure are still with us.  We're left with the bitter, bitter memory of the passage of Prop 8.....and until the Court of Appeals posts their decision, we have to hold onto something else....hope.
Harvey Milk said it best, "And after all, that's what this is all about. It's not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power —  You gotta give them hope."

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OUR Artist of the Week: Mark Beard

It's often said that an Artist wears many hats, and that couldn't be more true than in the case of Mark Beard.  He's a stage designer, and he works in paint, prints and sculpture.  Mr Beard is an American Artist, born in 1956 in Salt Lake City Utah.  

He is a unique artist with a distinct point of view when it comes to artist growing and maturing through styles and periods versus turning one's art into a brand.    To counteract the latter he  "--developed a number of distinct artist personalities, each with a detailed biography and portrait photograph, to enable himself to work in a variety of styles and mediums."

*His different artist personalities include:

• Bruce Sargeant (1898–1938), (a spoof on John Singer Sargent) who died in a tragic wrestling accident;
• Hippolyte-Alexandre Michallon (1849–1930), French beaux-art painter who was the teacher of Bruce Sargeant;
• Edith Thayer Cromwell (1893–1962), an English friend and colleague of Michallon;
• Brechtholdt Streeruwitz (1890–1973), rival of Cromwell from Vienna; and
• Peter Coulter (b. 1948), New York-based artist who was influenced by Cromwell and Streeruwitz's work.

If his work looks familiar to you, it's because you've likely seen it before inside Abercrombie & Fitch.  The company even commissioned him to paint an eleven story mural for the A&F Tokyo store. 

Mark Beard and his partner, James Manfredi reside in an incredible Manhattan Apartment.

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Will They Do The Right Thing?

The big news today isn't about Madonna, M.I.A., or Mitt Romney...but that the California 9th Circuit Court is announcing it's verdict about Prop 8 tomorrow (tuesday!) around 10am.   This is big...huge...beyond huge.   The world is going to be watching California tomorrow and that's no exaggeration. 

Judge Walker's decision has been lauded as a brilliant piece of work, and now we're going to find out if it will stand, as it was written...on the merits of justice and equality.   It's downright frightening when religious bigotry can trump what's right because common sense plays no part in the equation.  

So?  What's it gonna be?  Let's hope they get it right.

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When You Think....

When you feel like you're being taken for granted
You probably are
When you feel there is distance,
There probably is
When you feel alone
You probably are
When you feel something's wrong
Pay attention

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Dying Regrets

Death is a part of life, and we all have to face it and deal with it sooner or later.   All of us have lost someone, and it's never easy, often messy and always abrupt. 

One of my favorite blogs, Towleroad, posted a link to the UKs The Guardian refrencing the top five regrets of a dying person.  While the article is a little misleading in that it's really a rant against homeopathy...I'm still mesmerized by the actual list itself.   

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Of course everyone has their own list, but I really like the ones that made the cut.  

As someone whose mother doesn't have much time left, I hear her regrets, fears and laments every single day and I'll tell ya.....they're right in line with the above.   The main thing she repeats over and over is how fast it all went (IE Life).   My mom was married twice, had five children, several businesses, two very interesting careers and she often says it just went by so quickly.  "Where did the time go Geoff?"

I think this list is truly important.  Each one of those regrets has a ring of truth to it...and serves as a warning, or perhaps some gentle advice from a person who is on the precipice of taking that ultimate journey you and I will one day face.  

That list has a lot of wisdom....I hope I can heed their advice.

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The Eameses & A Homosexual Act Of Vandalism

Charles and Ray Eames were a fascinating, dynamic couple whose partnership and marriage thrived on a creative, kinetic energy of art, design and craftsmanship. The Eames’ didn’t just design a couple of famous pieces. They looked at things and life, in an extraordinary way….and together created an entire design aesthetic which not only survives today in it’s present form, but has influenced countless other designers.

I pay homage to them now….but back in 2003 some would gasp in horror at the sacrilege I committed to their chief icon, but more about that later.

Have you heard the joke about the gay couple who were divorcing after spending decades together? Everything was going smoothly as they divided all the assets they had accumulated over the years ….until it came down to who got the Eames Chair, and then things got ugly.

“Wha..?” you ask. “Who…?”

The Eames chair silly. It’s a celebrity all it’s own, an icon of style displayed proudly in the homes of erudite homos all across the country. A symbol of good taste. It even had a prominent place on the sitcom Frasier every week.

 This Chair:

            
See? NOW you know what I’m writing about! “The Eames Chair”. 　

It’s a chair…a design that we all recognize but probably know very little about.

Charles Eames was born in 1907, and developed an interest in engineering and architecture. Ray Kaiser Eames (his second wife), was born in California in the mid 1920s. She studied painting in New York before moving on to Cranbrook Academy where she met and assisted Charles in preparing designs for the Museum of Modern Art's "Organic Furniture Competition." Their designs, created by molding plywood into complex curves, won them the two first prizes. Their work is still evident in products you and I use every day…that’s how powerful it is.

Now to the horror.

In 2003, I was throwing a huge club party and we needed furniture for the VIP room. I wanted something glam…and on my way into town I happened to glance into a side alley and saw…."The Chair". I didn’t know anything about Eames furniture other than I loved the chair…and there it was, literally outside someone’s garage by the trash cans. I did a quick U-turn and knocked on the front door of the house. An old woman answered the door and told me I could have it for free. So I loaded it in my SUV and headed home. It was in almost perfect condition, and you know what I did to that beautiful chair...that style icon? I reupholstered it in white pleather…spray painted the wood silver, coated it with GLUE and dumped glitter on it.

It was a homosexual act of vandalism. But the chair was a hit in the VIP room with everyone taking a turn in it.
Today…I cringe when I think of what I did to that chair….but now I know….and now YOU know a little more about the history of Eames.



Watch the full documentary (for free), Charles & Ray Eames: The Architect and the Painter

http://video.pbs.org/video/2178281391/

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is showing an exhibit titled “Lounging With The Eameses” and have a fascinating page with photos and videos at:
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/californiadesign

Today's Daily Aural:

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Time Travel Thursday

There's not much sexier than a man in uniform, unless it's TWO men in uniform cheek to cheek!   This is one of my all time favorite photos...god these two guys were hot!  We're incredibly lucky we have seen history change and now with the fall of Don't Ask Don't Tell, two U.S. Servicemen can actually fall in love and build a life together if they choose.   That definitely wasn't the case back when this photo was snapped, though I'm not sure what would have been more shocking...two men cuddling or the fact they were Army and Airforce!



Today's Daily Aural: The Mills Brothers singing Paper Doll

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Think Before You Speak

If you're watching the Super Bowl...or only pretending to so you can see Madonna's half time show, keep your eyes open. GLSEN's "Think B4 You Speak" campaign is airing a commercial during the testosterone celebration....uh, I mean Super Bowl! The "Think Before You Speak" campaign is the one featuring Hilary Duff, Wanda Sykes and the NBA’s Grant Hill, and has already reached millions of Americans across the country. These spots are spreading the message about the negative impact of anti gay slurs to a whole new audience.


Today's Daily Aural is Madonna: Celebration

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