Lucky

Edmund White's latest novel is Jack Holmes and His Friend, a story about two men, one gay, one straight. Obviously the gay guy longs for the straight guy over a number of years. The NY Times Book Review quotes this passage on how gay men and straight men differ when dealing with an ex-love. The gay men keep them as friends, the straights don't- or at least that is the case here. What do you think? Jack says to Will, “Straight people, as soon as they’ve broken up, it’s off with their heads.” “And gays?” “We stay friends. Why invest so much energy and time in another person and then just cut him out of your life forever? That’s the nasty, brutish way straights behave.” “But it doesn’t mean anything to you gay guys — it’s all just a joke for you.” “Not a joke,” Jack insists. “We’ve invested so much — ” “Invested! But you’re defending your investments like a dry goods merchant.” “And why do you straights gladly throw over everything you’ve achieved?” “Love . . . isn’t an achievement. It’s like a sonata. Once you’ve finished playing it, nothing remains. Not even sounds in the air.” “There are marks on the page someone else can follow,” Jack says. The Review

I saw her on the Daily Show. She is pretty bright and I, too, hope that she wins.

Lucky and EXPAT are not in competition. I have no desire to attempt to overcome his wide lead, and gladly concede the contest for most posts to him. If I win anything, it will be in the drawing with many other posters included. But, thanks for the toast, and even more for the photos of Brad and Chris.

Reading the ebook was easy enough to adjust to, but what kept screwing me up was touching the darned Ipad in places that caused the pages to turn when I didn't want them turning. Or grabbing the Ipad and accidentally turning it off. You don't have to worry about that with paper books! But I liked knowing how many pages were left in the chapter, or the book, and having the Ipad start me back at the page I had stopped reading. As for the book, What It Was, well, it's an interesting look back at a certain time in Washington D.C.'s black neighborhoods, with a white police detective trying to adjust to a community that was now 80% African-American. Author George Pelecanos peppered the story with references to songs of that time and displayed a love affair with the old fifties vehicles.

Well, okay, the photos are from 1959, but that doesn't mean that they don't have some interest today! Historical perspective and all. Take a look at 11 photos of guys who once thought they were pretty tough: 50's in Brooklyn's Gangs A preview:

Aptly named or not, the Christ Is Love rehab center in Lima Peru represented a last hope for many drug addicts who wanted to turn their lives around Then a fire swept through the premises, killing 27 residents. The unlicensed and overcrowded center kept its residents in like "prisoners," Peru's Health minister said. Many did not have a chance once the fire took hold. Supposedly using biblical teachings to combat addiction, the center appears to have been nothing but a cruel twist in the lives of those struggling to overcome addiction. No word on who actually ran the rehab center, or how the fire started. Story on Fire

groenthusiast, welcome to the forums. Perhaps we will soon hear from pete 097, currently reading the same forum!

My niece also loved the show, taking her friends to see it a second time. At least they didn't come to the Gaiety!

Naked Boys Singing, for 13 years a staple of sorts in the New York theater scene, is closing. Some 291,000 people have seen 71 different performers take it all off to sing for their supper. The show raised $256,963 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Having seen it, it was just a mildly entertaining show, although the number "beat your meat' does tend to stick in the mind. Now, without looking, who can name the two porn stars who were in the cast? Read more, including the stats on this popular show: Packing Up The Jock Straps

Then I will not explain. But just when I was thinking that no one read my posts, Simon, Lookin, and MsGuy, FourAces and hitoallusa ran to the rescue! Now I am motivated to type out a few more and can the crypticism! The "new" Lucky photo:

Even though I had been screened in Bangkok and twice in Japan, after I left customs at LAX I had to reenter a different terminal at United. They had no signs directing me, nor did they have an attendant to help the international passengers find their gate. So, I went to screening again, except that the lines were outrageously long. No United personnel were on hand to assist. A TSA agent had stopped the line at the escalator, so I explained that I would never make my connection if I had to wait in line. She could not have cared less. Finally, the guy at the front of that line offered to let me cut in, which I did. I ran to my gate, which was back at the terminal I had come in on. They were boarding the flight as I arrived. 4 other connecting passengers on that flight did not make it. United didn't care one wit, and in fact left 4 minutes early.

The mug shot:

Knock on wood. As soon as you bragged on how good the weather had been, I started worrying for you that a deluge might be coming! I would have paragraphed at about the "we kissed hello" sentence just to put some white space in there. Don't get me wrong, i cans ee how when you are in the midst of telling a hot story, white spacingit doesn't come to mind. Yet. I will keep working on it. just out of curiosity, what do you type your reports on? A cell phone? An Ipad, a laptop? Further, and this is my mommy side, take care not to run yourself ragged. We want you healthy in March!

gcursor, I would be pleased to read your book.

You are commending Simon for taking a cannon shot at me? Gee, thanks. But, I think this is more along the lines of what he had in mind:

Yes, I had planned to be a diehard, sticking to the hard copy of a book until they didn't make them anymore. Then Oz showed me his Ipad2, with the Google translate app, and it seemed just right for my trips to foreign countries. I do like it, a lot. So I saw that the new George Pelecanos novel (What It Was) is being offered as an ebook for just 99 cents! My library doesn't have it just yet, and I like Pelecanos a lot, so I took the leap and bet 99 cents that I would enjoy reading an ebook. It's going to be a bit weird for me though. So, I am using the Ibooks app on the Ipad. This leads to my question for Oz- why do you have the Kindle App on your Ipad if they have ebooks available on Ibooks?

I prefer to see myself as the blond kid in the third row, but yes, I understand that I have to step up and claim the title role, so to speak. As for the feet, we are all in a state of constant decay, even if we are respected leaders with a cult following. (My following is much smaller. I used that technique they use in movies to bulk up the crowd scenes...hehe) So maybe that's what the photo represents. Our political leaders too are human- they decay. But we still love and need them, don't we? Just like ya'all love and need me...Simon excepted. (see why a sense of humor is needed?) I guess I liked that the guy is not perfect, yet still admired.

Ask Siri why your usage has slowed. I'd be interested in her answer.

Well, the guy here is lookin at a body. Lookin hard, if you ask me. Is the guy dead? Can lookin bring hiim back? I like, too, that everyone is lookin at the guy doing the lookin. As for the umbrellas and gray clouds, well, ominous, huh? You've been pretty quiet here lately, so we don't know what's up with you. Same with the pic. Who knows what you will post next? Will the sun come out? All kinds of possibilities exist in this picture, and I like that.

Mitch Daniels, the Calvin Coolidge look-alike who gave the response from the Republicans to the State of the Union address told the nation: “One in five men of prime working age and nearly half of all persons under 30 did not go to work today.” - GOP response to the State of the Union address, Jan. 24, 2012 But, it isn't true! Read why: My link Mitch and Calvin:

"To make your wish her command, Siri floods your cell network with a stream of data; her responses require a similarly large flow in return. A study published this month by Arieso, an Atlanta firm that specializes in mobile networks, found that the Siri-equipped iPhone 4S uses twice as much data as does the plain old iPhone 4 and nearly three times as much as does the iPhone 3G. The new phone requires far more data than most other advanced smartphones, which are pretty data-intensive themselves, The Post has reported." Read the whole story: Sad saga of Siri Sucking data

Last year I wrote about the police raid on the gay Sunnee plaza bars. Yesterday I saw a report at gaythailand.com that the police raided again this year, right after I left. No violations were found, but rumor is that the bars were forewarned by the locals who get the bribes. The underworld there must be fascinating. Sunnee Plaza has a large Arab influence now, which may make for interesting times as they work to eliminate gays from the neighborhood...if they do, of course. Russians are also big in Pattaya, and I fell in love a couple of times with Russian guys I saw. They do not age well, however, as not a single older Russian man I saw was attractive, not a one.

I don't get why it is a hair video. EXPAT?

"Lucky must believe that he is the Christ and the salvation of MER, which all others must follow only to be a part of because of his blessing of presence." "Lucky believes he is here for because of his obvious belief in his own personal greatness and importance." So, in the first quote, you are unsure. You say I "must" believe this. But, in the second quote all doubt escapes you and I do "believe" that is the reason that I am here. But it could turn out that neither is true. I am not even religious, so the Christ stuff doesn't work. And well, yes, it is clear that I have MER in the palm of my hand and everyone following my every wish. When I want more posting, I click my fingers, and voila, you come along. Now how did I go wrong there? Well, you thought crystal was your salvation but it wasn't. So you know that mistakes are made by all. When you are ready to accept responsibility for your own mistakes and not blame the dealer, you will be able to move on with your life. Until then, you remain an angry and bitter person. Angry and bitter persons lack humor, and you need humor to understand why I posted the pix that I did. Now I must move on to my next project:

Yes, we wouldn't want to mince words here. But I have to say that I can't disagree.