james nunn | blog

Tonight at 2AM, daylight savings time goes back one hour (so miraculously we have a repeat of a whole hour. Lifehacker has some tips to share about how you can use this reminder to do some things around the house.

On the topic of DST reversion, I remember when I used to work in the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, the clocks would stop at 1AM and just stay still for a whole hour, until 2AM came around, then they would start again. This apparently was easier than having to forward the clocks 11 hours (these were centrally controlled clocks).

The other thing that always fascinated me (in working in a hospital) was what happened if someone died during that hour. Did they all die at 1AM? If they didn’t, and someone died at 1:53AM, and then the clocks reverted, could you have someone die after another person, but technically die before them?

Important questions, which I never discovered the answer to.

Courtesy of towleroad, this blog entry over at the Republic of T.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged on what others are blogging about, and what is in the news (that interests me). So I’d thought I’d waste a few moments of Labor Day labouring away at the keyboard regurgitating what others have written.

First. Steve Irwin, the Australian Crocodile Hunter is dead. Irwin died while filming a segment in the Great Barrier Reef, and was attacked by a Bull Ray (otherwise a Smooth Ray) – one of the largest rays in that part of the world. It seems that the ray reacted and drove his poisonous barbed tail into Erwin’s chest, piercing his heart. Read Animal Planet’s tribute to Irwin here.

Tom Cruise apologized to Brooke Shields. This is news, how?!?!

Saturday night, we went to see Another Gay Movie. It was freakin’ funny as hell. If there was a boundary to be crossed, it was crossed! It was fun to see references to other teen movies that have been done over the years, with a very gay twist. The boys in the movie are worth watching (especially the very cute Jonathan Chase, pictured), and there are plenty of cameos by people that we would recognize from various TV shows and specialized films. The parts with Graham Norton are enough to make you go “ewww” and laugh at the same time. A definite must see, and DVD acquisition.

Andrew Sullivan reports that conservative Judaism will soon end its ban on gay ordination and same-sex marriage.

In the September 11, 2006 edition of Newsweek, three scholars argue that atheism is smarter. The article features commentary from Sam Harris, Daniel C. Dennett, and Richard Dawkins. A good read for the current thinking on atheism, and the role of God in America.

Well I thought I might do a weekend recap.

Friday night I did the usual coffee gathering with Frisco Pride members, and was suprised to see six new members in attendance (the largest we’ve had in a long time). Later we did a salad at Cotton Patch Cafe and then headed home to watch Boys Briefs 2, which was hosted by Danny Roberts. It was really enjoyable. Sometimes with these short films, you can get some depressing movies that overwhelm you. This series of shorts, didn’t have any of those.

Saturday, as I was loading the dishwasher, I pulled a muscle in my back. Talk about a great way to mess up weekend plans. I tried to recover, but it gradually got worse, so I ended up laying down and napping. The worst part of this was the reality that I was not going to be able to head to a Frisco Pride cocktail event that evening. I’d been looking forward to it for a while, and here I was moving about like an 110-year old. I did manage to cook some pretty tasty fried rice for dinner, and then proceeded to watch the two remaining films I had from NetFlix: The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and FAQS.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye was really good, and actually quite educational. I was suprised to learn some of the history of evangelical television, and the fact that Jim and Tammy Baker were responsible for starting “The 700 Club”, “Trinity Broadcasting Network” and “PTL.” I was also suprised at the involvement of Jerry Falwell into the destruction of both Jim and Tammy’s lives, not to mention the apparent deceit that he manipulated to push Jim and Tammy out of PTL.

FAQS was less educational, however provided a great deal of eye candy … if you are into that kind of thing. Adam Larson (from MTV’s Road Rules) appears as a gay basher, who discovers his sexuality. The lead character, Joe Lia (India) is a little unbelievable, but has some cute naked scenes which make up for the mediocre acting. The ultra-hottie of the show is Spencer (played by Lance Lee Davis) … talk about a nice chest

Most of Sunday, I watched mind-numbing television while trying to “click” my back into place. Sunday evening we had Bobby, Ian and Kean over for dinner, and enjoyed cooking some kebabs on the new grill (the old one needed a part replaced that didn’t seem to be availble *sigh*). Chris was very happy with the new acquisition.

We finished our weekend by watching Comedy Central’s roast of William Shatner. It was okay.

Well, summer is here, and I’m not enjoying it. During a conversation with Brian tonight over sushi, I verbalized how I’ve been liking summer less and less over the last few years. I enjoy the mid-80′s days, but when it gets into the 90′s and above, it just becomes something I dislike. I am not really sure how to change my feeling on this, and to be honest, I’m not sure I really want to.

Today, I decided to play catch up with movies. We’ve had three movies from Netflix for over a month, and I decided that I need to watch at least a couple of them. I’ve already blogged about the first one I saw, The God Who Wasn’t There. The other two movies were The Fluffer and Ben and Arthur.

Of the two movies, I watched The Fluffer all the way through. This is not to say that it was a good film, but it was bearable. I guess I lived in hope of seeing some porn, but it didn’t happen. There is a good scene where Ron Jeremy and Chi Chi La Rue are making cameo performances. It really isn’t anything more than just a party in the middle of the movie. It was probably the most interesting part.

I didn’t make it through Ben and Arthur. When the film stars the writer, producer and director (all the same person), you can kind of see that it’s going to be low budget. The number of times that you could see the actors actually “start” acting was kind of funny (you know when the director says “action” and they start). What is really interesting is looking at the movies that many of the actors have appeared in. Many of the same names keep on appearing. One thing that is consistent is the ranking these movies get – nothing more than two stars (I exaggerate … barely)

There is a silver lining – I have three new movies on the way

Online Social Networking Under Attack:  A bill introduced into the US House of Reps that will make life intolerable for younger folks looking for a place to call “my space” is in the process (currently in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce).  House Resolution 5319 is the bill that has been introduced by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, PA.

AIDS Awareness, French Style: Thanks to Beautiful, I found these two advertising campaigns (2005, 2006) relating to AIDS Awareness. 

World AIDS Day 2006: Speaking of AIDS, I’ve joined the planning group for the AIDS Services of North Texas World AIDS Day 2006 event.  For those of you that don’t know, this year marks the 25th Anniversary of AIDS. The theme for this event will be the “Voices of AIDS” and I’ll be hunting out people who might want to get involved in this year’s program (so start monitoring your caller ID now).  I’m particularly interested in finding a talented musician who might be willing to write a piece of music for this event (and performed on December 1).  Email/IM/Call me if you want to assist, or know of this talented musician(s).

Webby Awards:  The Webby Awards for 2006 have been announced. It was great to see that Remembering Segregation won their category (Best Home/Welcome Page), definately worth a visit.

Kismet is another word for fate.

I do. Not in the sense that my life is mapped out to take a certain pathway or destiny (although I don’t know if that is not the case), but more like the “things happen for a reason”, or “being in the right spot at the right time” kind of fate.

Why fate? Why now?  Well over the last few weeks a number of things have happened in my life that lead me to believe that I should make a particular decision.  At first, all of these seem to be unrelated, but then Saturday (as I was cleaning my office) I had an epiphany.

This realization came to me as I was pondering my future, having just received a scholarship that requires me to continue my education through spring 2007. It has always been my intention (well my recent “always”) to continue directly onto a graduate program after I complete my BA later this year, but lately with the tuition rates going up, and not having direct access to scholarships to help out, I was starting to think that maybe I could take some time off to work, and then return to school. Of course, this would delay my goal of completing a masters before I turned forty, but I was giving it some serious thought.  That is, until Saturday.

Now it is all perfectly clear.  To me at least.

I have often been troubled by the natural progression that a community organization has to “eat its own” (to put it crudely).  (This may be related to the ongoing issues that have been surrounding CCGLA, the Foundation and myself.)  A community organization often forms as a result of a need being identified by a person, or group of people.  The initial phase is one of excitement and a great deal of activity.  We keep busy doing things to make the organization a reality, and we work with each other often blissfully unaware that under different circumstances “this group” may never have evolved with its composition.  At this stage, the group evolves into either a system of multiple personalities each trying to get what they can from the organization, or the organization starts to feed on other organizations – to bring them under the umbrella.  Of course, this is primarily my observations within GLBT community organizations, though from discussions I’ve had with other involved volunteers, it does not appear to be that different.

The question that is fascinating to me is “why?”  Why is it necessary for a community to splinter itself, rather than bond itself together?  Why does one organization feel the need to destroy another organization when both organizations have similar missions or goals?  And the most important question, and the political one, is why do community organizations fail to get their acts together when it comes to political involvement?

These thoughts were floating around in my head, and it was this point (the epiphany) that I realized that my graduate thesis should revolve around these questions, and determine if there is a reality to my thinking that GLBT community organzations work against more than they work with each other. 

Isn’t it interesting how it all comes together?