BuggBlog

Re-Kindled

With a few weeks of experience under my belt, I can say I'm now an official e-book convert. I'm not giving up my addiction to print, but I'm scaling it back a bit. I made my first bookstore run in weeks last night, and while I picked up a couple things -- notably Natsuo Kirino's Real World -- mostly I looked at books and thought, "I wonder if I can get that on my Kindle?"

About the only motto I have in life is, "Always bring a book," so the ability to take a small library with me wherever I go has been wonderful, even better than I expected from my first days of experience with the Kindle. But where it's come in surprisingly handy is the gym.

You see, while I may have been easily seduced by the lure of electronic books, I have never enjoyed audiobooks. Hate them, in fact. I just find them so passive and unengaging, like listening to badly written radio plays -- it's a shoehorning of one artform into another format in the name of convenience, and it just doesn't work for me.

So listening to audiobooks at the gym (or anywhere) has been a nonstarter for me. But reading my Kindle while on the elliptical trainer works perfectly -- no fumbling with turning pages, no awkward attempts to keep pages from turning themselves, the ability to switch instantly to another book if the current selection isn't doing it for me.

Yeah, I'm the kind of person who's reading four or five books at a time -- I almost always have something that suits my mood at the moment. It's probably a bit of a bad habit, but at this age I'm not inclined to do anything about it.

So the Kindle is my new gym buddy, way more entertaining and useful than watching tv shows on my iPhone. Now if Amazon could just do something about the fugly nature of the thing....

One more thing on McCain and adoption

Whenever I'm around a large group of my in-laws, I'm inevitably asked if Cavin and I are going to adopt a child. While they're all accepting of me and Cavin, I don't consider my in-laws to be a big bastion of liberalism. I saw plenty of reelection signs for Bush during the last election cycle, during which I also remember listening to a heated conversation in Vietnamese where the only two words I caught were "Kerry" and "communist."

But like most Americans, on the day-to-day aspects of life and family they're open and supportive. So it makes you wonder what the hell is up with John McCain.

The more I consider McCain's attempt to walk back from his anti-gay-adoption stance without actually walking back from it, the more perturbed I get. Basically, he's pushing the idea that gay parents are inferior, unwelcome, and to be discouraged but okay as a case of last resort. In other words, we're there to take care of the kids the straight don't or won't take care of.

I can't find my copy of the book at the moment for an exact quote, but Dan Savage touched on an aspect of this issue in the story of his adoption, The Kid -- basically that he realized he didn't want to be the noble gay man taking on the damaged and discarded children of the world. He wanted a family, the same as heterosexual couples hope and wish for healthy, "normal" children -- and there's nothing wrong or selfish about that.

I should be really clear here that people who take in those children who face terrible odds, for whatever the cause, are people who should be admired and honored because, while it obviously has its rewards, it also has challenges that I think most people couldn't handle. But those people are both straight and gay; their commitment comes from their humanity, not their sexuality.

But the whole issue is pretty much McCain in a nutshell. The more attention you pay to the man and his policies, the ickier he gets.

McCain on gay adoption: It's better than shooting orphans in the head

Andrew Sullivan posts a "clarification" from the John McCain campaign on his NYT interview where he voiced his opposition to adoption of children by the homosexuals.

"However, as an adoptive father himself, McCain believes children deserve loving and caring home environments, and he recognizes that there are many abandoned children who have yet to find homes.  McCain believes that in those situations that caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative."

So, an adopted child with stable, employed and loving gay parents is better off than he would be in the gutter, but not as well off as he would be living in a trailer park with unemployed, unstable and disinterested heterosexual parents.

Just, you know, for the sake of comparison.

Send in the clowns

I'm in the midst of a huge office organization project, rebuilding my systems from the ground up in an attempt to beat back that chaos and create a zone in which I can achieve my numerous and time-intensive goals. As is the case with any organizational plan, I'm at the point where my obsessive-compulsive streak has danced right up to the line where getting organized becomes more important than actually getting any work done.

In other words, I am labeling the fuck out anything and everything in my house.

With a deep breath, I've decided to put off cleaning out my home office closet until the weekend, because the sheer number of personal photos, yearbooks and other sentimental items are guaranteed to distract me for hours on end. But before I called a halt to the process last night, I found a card that Granny Bugg sent me a couple years back that is simply one of the most terrifying cards I've ever received:

It's like Granny picked up a few mementos at the local John Wayne Gacy gift shop. Now I'm going to have nightmares.

Author's note: Just to be clear, Granny's message on the inside was sweet as can be, and I'm sure she didn't mean to cause me any psychic harm. At least, I think she didn't.

Indulging my yen for bad personal photography

A while before Apple decided to temporarily brick my iPhone, when I was spending a lot of time in a hospital in Lancaster, Penn., I snapped a few images just to pass some of the time. Despite the iPhone-y resolution, I rather like this one:

But I'm kind of a sucker for 2.33:1 ratio widescreen movies, so that probably explains it.

On the way to the cafeteria during the afternoon, Cavin and I ran into an anthropomorphized insect, the mood-enhancing talents of which is pretty much dependent on the fact that it hadn't popped out of your colon. It's a hospital, you know, anything can happen.

From the blurry feet, you'd think it was auditioning for Riverdance.

The cure for the common Apple fanboy

Sitting and waiting for more than an hour as your first generation iPod iPhone sits there with all the telephony capabilities of a cinderblock as iTunes fruitlessly attempts to access the iTunes store. Because Apple's servers are down. Because Apple apparently didn't consider that after months of marketing and hype every iPhone owner in the world would attempt to update their phone the moment the 2.o software became available and that the company might want to make sure they had the capacity up and ready to go.

I swear to God they can be so unbelievably stupid about such simple things.

I love my Apple from my iPhone to iPod to my iMac. But can we stop these manufactured marketing crisis created to get coverage from the Washington Post, et al?

UPDATE: About two hours now without a working iPhone. While those of us who actually use our iPhones for work are screwed -- I have no other phone in my home office, and it's the number I use for all my business calls in and out -- Apple's web site is taking a blissful "Problem? What problem?" approach. No mention of any problem, anywhere, even their support section.

I'm not finding those Mac v. PC ads nearly as mildly amusing as usual today.

"We levied taxes on our businesses and abused our eminent domain powers, and this is how you thank us?"

Why is it again that city governments shouldn't be in the business of building athletic stadiums for privately owned sports franchises?

Oh, yeah, that's it.

There's truly a gem buried in every story about the D.C. baseball stadium, such as this one:

The Nationals owners have already been through a round of arbitration over ballpark costs, including over a demand that the city pay for the team's uniforms. The arbitrator ruled in the city's favor, but since then some city officials have privately expressed increasing frustration over the family's stands.

And to think, this is only the beginning. It's all downhill from here!

The latest in the annals of incredibly pointless wastes of gay time

Man sues Bible publishers for infliction of emotional distress and violation of his constitutional rights. Unsurprisingly, he's representing himself.

If guys like this didn't exist, Fox News would have to create them.

Simple truths

I was walking out of the funeral home lounge last Wednesday when I ran into my cousin-in-law's preteen daughter, who was walking in with another girl from another branch of the very large family.

"Hi, Uncle Sean," she said. I nodded and said hi back, while the girl she was with (whom I hadn't met) gave me a confused look.

"He's your uncle?" the second girl asked. A reasonable question, given that I'm one of two white guys married into the Vietnamese family, and in a non-traditional relationship to boot.

"Oh, he's my uncle who lives with my other uncle."

I can live with that.

My apologies for the lack of posting the past couple of weeks. I've been spending some time shuttling back and forth between Falls Church and Pennsylvania for family reasons that have pretty much precluded any desire to post. It's been a rough time, way more for Cavin than for me -- losing a close family member is always traumatic, perhaps even more so when unexpected.

So I've been relatively unplugged from the information stream for almost two weeks, which I would have thought would have left me feeling unconnected and adrift in a world full of big, bold political happenings. In truth, I feel more clear-headed and grounded than I have in months. If I were attempting to learn lessons, I suppose I would learn that living life, even the bad parts, is generally more enlightening and fulfilling than reading about everyone else's.

Of course, I rarely learn my lesson, so I expect to be back in the swing of things soon.

Karl Rove unsurprisingly detests people with style and wit

From Talking Points Memo, a note on Karl Rove's "uppity" take on Obama:

Karl Rove's latest to Republicans about how to message on Obama ...

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."

Matthew Yglesias notes the class issues so inartfully wedged into Rove's description:

How many Americans have had the experience of being at a country club and watching some dude with a beautiful date hold a martini and smoke a cigarette? Certainly I haven't. Rove assumes that "you know this guy" but unless "you" are a wealthy person from the past, you probably don't know a guy like that.

Well, I don't know "a guy like that," though I imagine he's a Republican if he's hanging around a country club waiting for his tee time. But if you change a couple things around:

Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He's the guy at the GAY BAR with the TWINKY BOYFRIEND, holding a COSMO and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.

That guy, I know.

Just Say No to Nunn

For what it's worth, there's a petition from the folks at Having Nunn of It asking the Obama campaign to please please, please not put arch-homophobe and back-stabbing former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn on the ticket as the vice presidential candidate. They list three key reasons:

1. "Sam Nunn is a homophobe."
2. "Sam Nunn is a bad Democrat."
3. "Sam Nunn represents the past."

I've already stated that my heated opposition to Nunn is all about #1. I could give a flying fuck about #2 -- I don't consider myself a Democrat, so adherence to some nebulous ideology doesn't concern me. As to #3, the Democrats could run Grandpa Simpson and I'd likely vote for him just because I'm so flabbergasted and angry over what the Republican hordes have done to the Constitution and country for the past seven-plus years.

One reason is plenty, though. Go sign up!

Maybe he meant a Google car

So John McCain wants to offer a government prize of $300 million to the inventor of an effective electric car battery. Where does he make the announcement of this proposed government windfall? Standing in front of the world's first production electric-powered sports car, the Tesla. See about :25 seconds in on the tape:

Really, does John McCain understand any technologies that emerged after the compact disc? Does McCain really believe that having government play Monty Hall is an example of non-pork-barrel, responsible government spending?

It is going to be a loooooooong summer.

Pro tennis + nudity = my dreams come true

When I was a teenage tennis player back in the days before the web, these sorts of things only existed in my overactive imagination:

That's Fernando Verdasco, one of my favorite Spaniards (among many), appearing in Europe's Cosmopolitan for a men's cancer charity. Even though he generally hovers around the low 2os in his ranking, he's on my favorites list not just for the looks -- he has a great game when he's on. He just doesn't seem quite able to believe he's as good as he is when it really matters.

The ATP site also had this interview with Verdasco to, um, flesh the story out a bit.

We've come a long way, baby

I honestly had no idea until just now that I could order gay porn via pay-per-view on my Verizon Fios.

I think that's progress. Of a sort. Right?

Honestly, I was just checking to see if I could get Alien v. Predator 2 in high-def.

Depressing news of the day

Wednesday it was aborting gay babies. Today it's Democrats giving Bush spiffy surveillance powers and telecom immunity.

The fact that Obama is signing on for this is way more distressing to me than his pragmatic parsing of marriage definitions.

My new Kindle, or, the evolution of my to-be-read pile

I've spent nearly a month now with my new Kindle, and while it hasn't totally revolutionized the way in which I read -- you can can't undo 36 years of paper-bound reading habits in three weeks -- it has made me far more excited and amenable to such a revolution in the near future.

I wrote up some quick review thoughts for this week's Domestic Partner section in Metro Weekly, encompassing some of my basic impressions, which basically come down to: good idea, decent implementation, plenty of room for growth.

The most basic question is how it reads -- does it function as seamlessly as a book? Does the interface "disappear" in the same way a bound book of paper does? It does neither of those things, but that's less the fault of the Kindle and more the advantage books. We've been reading books for centuries, making them such everyday objects that we no longer even recognize them as technological devices, which they really are. But the Kindle effectively mimics the basic metaphor of the book, page turning, as opposed to the the basic computer screen metaphor, scrolling.

It also allows you to neener around the house pretending you're reading on a Star Trek PADD.

Given that I still maintain a strong desire to own physical, paper-bound copies of books that are of importance to me -- mainly novels by my favorite writers, etc. -- I'm mostly interested in my Kindle as a way to delve more into nonfiction works, as well as the cheap paperback novels I tend to buy on horrible impulse. The first thing I bought was Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World, which I likely would have bought in hardback and then not gotten around to reading until it was re-released in paperback. With the Kindle, I found it in the Kindle store, bought it, and had it downloaded completely in less than 30 seconds. And $9.99, as opposed the the $20+ I would have paid at Barnes & Noble (and no gas burned to get to the bookstore, to boot).

By the way, I highly recommend you check out Zakaria's book. Very good stuff.

Back to the Kindle: I think it'll also be good for reading books that are mammoth in physical presence (600 to 700 page behemoths, basically), especially if you're a reader like me. I take books everywhere, read in bed and myriad other physical positions. Compressing huge amounts of content into a small physical space that's easy to shove into a briefcase or satchel is simply a great thing. I don't know if I'd want to read War and Peace on it, but I wish I'd had it before I bought the hardcover version of Nixonland (also highly recommended, in case you're interested).

I do wish that Amazon had brought a stronger focus of purpose to the project, a la Apple, and I'm not thinking just the design -- even though you can tell the Kindle could use a little Cupertino design magic when you look at it next to two items that comprise the bulk of my information lifestyle:

For some reason, Amazon decided that a device meant for reading must also play music, do e-mail and display family pictures. Unlike the product trajectory of the iPod -- it started very focused on music and audiobooks, grew to add photos, then blossomed into the iPhone -- the Kindle tries to kludge a bunch of unnecessary features into the package. But really, if you're the type of person who can plunk down $350 for an e-book, you're probably the kind of person who already has an iPod and feature-laden phone to handle all those other functions. Amazon should focus on perfecting the Kindle's core function and worry about all the bonus features later. Because they are, right now, totally useless.

That said, I really kind of love the thing. I've been downloading all sorts of sample chapters of different books -- it's the best replacement for real-world bookstore browsing I've ever found -- and I'm favoring the Kindle right now over the stacks and stacks and stacks of books I've bought during my many compulsive shopping trips at B&N. And that's where the Kindle is likely to have the biggest impact on my life -- the sheer amount of space I'll save by digitizing a big portion of my future library. It took me years to gain comfort ditching CDs for digital storage. I suspect it won't take nearly as long for books, even if I never fully switch over. There are still some pleasures the Kindle can't duplicate, chief among them the feeling of drifting off to sleep with a massive novel splayed open across your chest.

Enjoy your homosexuality while you can

Here are three frightening paragraphs to start your morning, courtesy of William Saletan as he delves into the implications of the latest research into the possible causes of homosexuality:

But the march of science into the gay brain hasn't stopped. It has continued, seeking to understand not just what doesn't cause homosexuality—playing with dolls, growing up with a strong mother, watching Will and Grace—but what does. And the more we understand these biological factors, the closer we get to being able to change them.

...

If the idea of chemically suppressing homosexuality in the womb horrifies you, I have bad news: You won't be in the room when it happens. Parents control medical decisions, and surveys indicate that the vast majority of them would be upset to learn that their child was gay. Already, millions are screening embryos and fetuses to eliminate those of the "wrong" sex. Do you think they won't screen for the "wrong" sexual orientation, too?

Liberals are slow to see what's coming. They're still fighting the culture war. The Toronto Star, like other papers, finds a neuroscientist who thinks the new study "should erode the moral judgments often made against homosexual preferences and rebut any argument that it is a mere a lifestyle choice." Well, yes. But then what? The reduction of homosexuality to neurobiology doesn't mean your sexual orientation can't be controlled. It just means the person controlling it won't be you.

I don't think liberals or gay activists have been "slow to see what's coming" -- it's been a subtext to discussions about genetic and biological causes of homosexuality for a long time, and even spawned the ever-more-prescient The Twilight of the Golds -- but I do think they have been slow to accept the inevitability because of what it implies politically. Even if hormonal "treatment" for potentially gay fetuses is ineffective or deterred by unwanted side effects, there's always the abortion option. And it's not just parents who think homosexuality is an undesirable outcome like Down's Syndrome who will use it -- the educated and liberal Baby Einstein crowd who pipe Mozart into pregnant bellies and who are loathe to start their babies off with any perceived disadvantage would quietly, but certainly, abort a lot of "disadvantaged" fetuses.

Science moves ever faster, and it looks ever more likely that it will expose ethical and political fault lines within the gay and lesbian community -- do we try to limit, discourage or even ban selective abortion? Or does that remain anathema to gay politics? It's becoming clear that at some point, we're going to have to make that choice.

Not necessarily my favorite Deadly Sin, but it'll do

I approach every Pride season with more than a little weariness and trepidation. That's not because I have any particular issues with Pride but because as someone who runs a gay publication, Pride really means one thing: work. I'm not whining too much, since the people who put on Capital Pride put in a lot more hours over the course of the weekend than I do. But I'm happy to whine nonetheless!

This year, though, I had even less to whine about because I had the great fortune and honor to be chosen as one of the Capital Pride Heroes. I've been around the D.C. GLBT and HIV/AIDS activist scene for a long time now, and I'm really flattered to be included not only among this year's honorees, but all those who came before. Looking at the list of all the honorees past is humbling for me, and that list doesn't even begin to capture the full range of people who worked in ways large and small to make our lives a little bit better.

But, from the more important navel-gazing perspective, this was also my first year being in the Pride parade. Really, in all my 19 years in D.C. I'd never walked or ridden the parade from start to finish, so getting to ride in a car right at the start of the procession was a pretty cool experience. Frightening, as well. When you're facing that many people crowded together along city streets, you have a sneaky suspicion that they're either going to rip you apart a la 28 Days Later or elect you to public office. Both horrifying prospects.

Also, being a natural introvert makes the whole elbow-elbow-wrist-wrist-wrist waving thing a challenge for me. Things weren't improved by the fact that the ZipCar-provided convertible Mini Coopers the Heroes rode in for the parade weren't actually labeled with anything to let people know why jokers like me were riding at the front of the parade. For example, when you see a bunch of lesbians on loud motorcycles you instantly think, "Dykes on Bikes!" When you see me riding down the street with a sheepish smile and wave, you don't really think "Hero!"

What people thought -- and cheered -- was, "Woooo! Zip Car! We love Zip Car!" It was amusing during the first third of the parade route. It was a little annoying during the middle third. And for the final third, when a drunk guy ran out to my car and gushed about the joys of Zip Car -- "Ohmygod I looooove Zip Car! I drive Zip Car everywhere, even when I'm not drunk!" -- it kind of bordered into the soul crushing. And then Wendy Rieger totally dissed me from the review stand by skipping my bio. Thanks Wendy! I really look forward to picking which picture of you runs when we catch you at the Reel Affirmations reception this fall. I totally promise you won't have your eyes closed or be making an unfortunately funny face!

But it was a great, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Thanks to everyone at Capital Pride for making me a part of it.

As for the rest of Pride, well, even though it's a huge amount of work to get ready for, it's always worth it in the end. It's one of the few times during the year that all of us at the magazine can get out and talk to people, and the number of positive comments we get always make it easier to get back to work on Monday. Well, Tuesday. It's never easy to get work on the Monday after Pride. Thank you to everyone who stopped by. As always, it makes my job worthwhile.

Nunn of the above

Jonathan Capehart's piece in today's Washington Post is a pretty strong case for why former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn would be a disastrous choice for Barack Obama's running mate in the eyes of the gay and lesbian community. Nunn was one of the principles behind the effort to keep gays out of the military, rebuffing the newly elected President Bill Clinton on one of his big campaign promises, effectively skewering the administration (perhaps in part over pique at being passed over for Secretary of Defense).

But Michael Crowley over at The New Republic's Stump thinks that gays are overreacting to Nunn's past anti-gay activity, and should chill at the thought of putting the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Georgian on the Dem ticket:

For starters, the gays in the military fight happened fifteen years ago. Social attitudes, including within the military itself, were pretty different. ... From what I can tell Nunn seemed less personally offended by the idea than duty-bound as chairman of the Armed Services Committee to represent the strong feelings of the military brass.

I clearly remember those interminable and unfair hearings that Nunn held on gays in the military, with sordid speculation on showers running rampant. I remember front page newspaper stories on Nunn bringing fellow senators and congressman on tours of submarines to inspect the close proximity of the sailors bunks. These were not the actions of the a man who was "less personally offended by the idea" -- they were the actions of a man determined to slander gay servicemembers as sexual predators who could not be trusted to serve their country honorably. Add in the fact that Nunn had previously fired his own staff members because they were gay and it's pretty clear what his opinions of homosexuality were.

Oh, and if things are so different from 15 years ago, why is the policy still in place even as a majority of Americans support its repeal and Democrats control both houses of Congress? No one's even offered up a bill for Bush to veto. Blithely dismissing this issue as a problem of the past ignores the long-lasting damage Nunn inflicted on both gay and lesbian servicemembers and the military itself (how about those gay Arabic linguists?).

Personally, I don't think Nunn has a chance of ending up in the veep slot, his weak protestations that he may -- may -- be reconsidering DADT notwithstanding. But if he does, I will be just as furious as most other gay people will be, and rightfully so. Nunn bears primary responsibility for creating a federally legislated policy that declares us second-class citizens. That Crowley would dismiss that as an "overblown concern" means that some people still haven't learned the lesson.

Postscript: Crowley seems to be basing his case on Nunn's work on nuclear terrorism and anti-proliferation. Fine, he's done some good work there. But he's not alone in that. There are plenty better options available.

The tragedy of the middle-class early adopter

The only way I can justify replacing my first generation iPhone with the newer, shinier and more functional second generation iPhone is to have Cavin take over my old phone so I can buy the new one next month.

He's not going for it. Husbands -- they're so picky.