Lucky

Articles from today’s Sunday New York Times that have some particular interest for the gay reader, and not in order of importance! In Weddings, we see the cutest story of the day: Alexander Mackay-Smith Kempson and Zachary Clayton Altman, both baritones, were married Saturday evening at the Tribeca Rooftop, an event space in New York. Dona D. Vaughn, a Universal Life minister who taught them in the opera program at the Manhattan School of Music, officiated. The couple met in 2007 at the music school, from which Mr. Altman graduated and from which both received master’s degrees in voice. (Among the biographical details, we learn that Mr. Kempson’s father is a senior tax counsel for General Electric. He must be pretty good. Wasn’t GE noted recently for paying zero taxes?) Our story ends with this: The couple began dating in 2008, a year after they met. The next year they appeared in a Manhattan School of Music production of “Die Fledermaus,” directed by Ms. Vaughn. Mr. Altman sang the part of Dr. Falke and Mr. Kempson Gabriel von Eisenstein (normally a tenor part). Both characters were vying for the affection of Rosalinde. In real life, Mr. Altman recalled, “we were pretty entrenched in our relationship at that point.” He said that Ms. Vaughn lightheartedly reminded them, “You need to make gaga eyes at Rosalinde, and not each other.” (The other gay couple who received a Times announcement today was also married by a friend who had become a Universal Life minister for the occasion.) Cute Wedded Baritones THE SUNDAY Review includes an article by a woman who stayed married to her husband for nine years after he announced that he was gay. They thought they were doing it for the children, but, as she notes: “We thought they didn’t notice any change, and we were mistaken. Secrets have a way of seeping into the atmosphere. Kids are natural observers. They watch parents like hawks, and they know when something is wrong, even if they don’t know what. I desperately wanted the charade to work at home — we were doing this for the children.” The sad conclusion of the article is: “When they finally learned the truth, our sons were more disturbed by our deception than by the facts. Our reasons didn’t seem to matter anymore. Truth trumps lies every time.” Article on Parents' Secret Another piece in the Sunday Review begins: “JUST before Christmas in 1952, J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the F.B.I., let President Dwight D. Eisenhower know that the man Eisenhower had appointed as secretary to the president, his friend and chief of staff, my godfather, Arthur H. Vandenberg Jr., was a homosexual.” Whereupon Mr. Vandeberg’s gay godson writes of the damage the possibly closeted Hoover did to the closeted godfather (and no doubt, countless other gay men and their families.). It’s worth reading in whole: Hoover's Gay Damages It’s not a column on a gay subject, but The Haggler, a columnist who purports to solve problems for individual consumers, takes up the subject of a site that posts reviews of consumer opinions on car transportation companies. The site receives all of its revenue from those very companies, so its fairness is called into question. Other review sites have been criticized for removing bad reviews when the offended company bought advertising on the site. Good thing this doesn’t happen with escort review sites! The Arts & Leisure section headlines with “Switched at Rebirth,” a story of the new version of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, opening soon on Broadway with Harry Connick, Jr. The gist is that the new show switches the character Daisy with one named Davie. It didn’t interest me either. You Can See Gay Forever If you are a fan of cute Irish actor Cillian Murphy, you may be happy to learn that you can see him up lose and personal in his new one-man show Misterman, opening Wednesday for a three week engagement at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. Article on Murphy Show Did you see something of interest in your Sunday paper? Post it right here,if you choose. After all, this is NOT the Lucky Reader!

I hope that you visited the Liberace home in Palm Springs. It can be noted by the lamp chandeliers at the entrance.

Karzai must have had a fit over the Pakistani raid. He has said in a war between Pakistan and the US he would support Pakistan. It's that kind of gratitude that prevails in Afghanistan and makes me think we should never have entered the area.

Did the hotel price go down from your previous stay at the Crowne Plaza? Thanks for the report, I enjoyed it.

:...(It's acutally funny but very violent and cynical.I In that novel he just happened to mention at times the various economic problems befalling London." Geez, I need a proofreader. It's "actually" and the problems were befalling "Ireland" not London, although there are certain similarities. And I totally missed Lookin's comment that it was his gayness that he loathed, not himself, although it seems to me that they are rather intertwined. If people wore the pictured clothing to a salon in Palm Springs I think it would be a rather short meeting!

Do they own any strip bars on St. Catherine Street?

I actually liked Green Lantern. Well, I liked Ryan.

Lookin, I had just finished a novel by the Irish writer Ken Bruen called Headstone. (It's acutally funny but very violent and cynical.I In that novel he just happened to mention at times the various economic problems befalling London. I recommend the novel to anyone who likes dry wit and can handle some big-time violence! It also helps to be a cynic. Anyway, the writing is just vicious. So, after that, I wanted to know more about this Irish Economy, so I went to Google and found this interview. And that's how it happened! Maybe should have saved it for the Lucky Reader.

British film director Terence Davies has this to say in today's Irish Times: “Being gay has ruined my life!” he nearly shouts. “I hate it. I’ll go to my grave hating it. Which is why I have been celibate. One-night stands are not for me. I was not good looking. I did not have a good body. Nobody was interested when I was young. Now I am old. I am still not good looking. I know what I am. I will always loathe it. It has killed part of my soul.” Reading the interview with him, he does seem to be an unpleasant sort, but interesting: Interview with self-loathing director

Signing up just today is AdorkableJ. I know nothing about him, except that it is an interesting name. Is he adorable? Is he an adorable dork? Both? I hope he tells us!

So those greeters at WalMart have been cast, not hired? Surely then they are cast for their white hair, just as the A&F boys are cast for their white pecs. SAG cards anyone?

It took a lot of googling, but I finally found an Asian greeter at A&E: Does he meet the right image?

A Google on the topic resulted in multiple instances of lawsuits being filed against this company for racism. "In a 2004 lawsuit González v. Abercrombie & Fitch, the company was accused of discriminating against African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and women by preferentially offering floor sales positions (called Brand Representatives or Models) and store management positions to whites and men.[65] The company agreed to a settlement of the class-action suit, which required the company to (1) pay $4 million to African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and women who applied and were not hired or worked in certain store positions, (2) revise its hiring, performance measurement, and promotion policies, (3) revise its internal complaint procedures, (4) appoint a Vice President of Diversity, (5) hire 25 recruiters to seek out minority applicants, (6) discontinue the practice of recruiting employees at primarily white fraternities and sororities, (7) include more minorities in marketing materials, (8) report to a neutral court-appointed monitor twice per year regarding its progress in those areas, and (9) report to the court once per year.[16][18] Now, of course if FourAces is right, they wouldn't have agreed to diddlysquat (sp?) But, even after the agreement above, their face is almost entirely white. Lots of good those 25 recruiters did! Here's a lighter look at A&E: Nude Clothes

I first saw these pics at towleroad.com, a gay blog. There, some commenters note the lack of color, but others ask why A&F should add any color. The latter seem unaware of laws prohibiting discrimination in hiring. How would you like to be a young man who shops at A&F, say, a young Asian man? You've got their products, but they show an ad with the Abercrombie boys and there is not an Asian face in the crowd. Hopefully, the young Asian man will quit shopping there. But no doubt A&F is telling him that he is NOT an Abercrombie boy. In our designer driven society, that is quite the putdown, at least for a young man.

Sure looks like it is going to be a White Christmas!

"no new taxes to pay for it," Staying on topic as far as the no new taxes thing, I got a flyer in the mail from some dipshit state representative. Oh, he's my state rep! He's complaining that the courts have ordered the state prisons to release prisoners due to overcrowding. He wants that stopped. But these same people don't want to pay for more prisons, or for better care, better training for better corrections officers and better parole officers, why even more of them too. Judges salaries are smaller than most experienced lawyers make. There is a whole campaign to reduce pension and health benefits for government employees. Yet when the consequence of that hits home, they just yell and scream. No practical ideas for how to solve the problem of prison overcrowding. No asking themselves why they were so gung ho to put more people in prisons. So,okay then, keep those prisons stuffed to the gills, with bad food, bad conditions, bad healthcare, lazy and corrupt guards (no, not all of them), and gangs that unite in the prison yard and carry out their membership on the streets when they get out. There are no free lunches.

Just take a look at the profile for zipperzone. There we see that zipperzone, who also has my good wishes, last signed on on November 8th. That's two weeks ago. I don't know where the zipper is in his recovery, but he may not be ready to be a daily visitor here. So, zipperzone, if you are lurking, let hitoallusa know that you are okay..if you are, that is. (One scary thought is that after not being here for so long, he may have decided that he can live without us! Horrors!)

Is this the right movie combo for you? Watch the trailer:

Thanks for the education, guys. I have learned enough right here, so I won't need to step inside!

Thanks, guys. You know how discomforting it is to have to give up a trip long-planned. In order to avoid charges for using my credit card in a foreign country, I had the bf take up the offer for a Chase Sapphire card. Their first offer was 35,000 miles to sign up. A week later they offered 50,000 miles. (That's what each Rio ticket cost!)And no foreign currency fees! We were worried that the card wouldn't arrive in time, but it came today, bittersweet it's arrival.

The bf and I spent the weekend trying to fight off a cold, but boy, did we lose the battle. We both woke up this a.m. with a horrible cold. Went to the doc, he says sinusitis and bronchitis too. So, our plans to fly to Rio this week went by the wayside. I hope those saunas stay open!

OZ, you didn't say anything about the posting contest and the trip to New York for theater that the top 3 would get. You must still be working out the details..

Of course I would choose to be gay. I have had a fascinating life and wouldn't trade it for any straight existence. I've met the most interesting people, and have had the opportunity to go to interesting places, where I met more interesting people. My siblings have the wife and kids, and I am sure they like their lives, but I think they might be secretly jealous of the fun I have when they are at home with the kids. Not only that, but I like men, and it helps to be gay when that is the case!

I'm awaiting and awaiting to respond. Soon now, okay...

See Lurkin, you are a powerful guy now that you stopped lurkin! (hint to other lurkers!!!!) BTW, Lookin, where did you get the painting of Daddy? Looks like him!