I admit that the trend toward Lady Gaga/Beyonce YouTube homages is getting a little stale (okay, a lot stale), but c’mon: JUSTICE GAGA? *swoons*

Easily, one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen, in spite of the absence of a script, or more likely, because of it.

[h/t Phil]

Someone’s wonked Google Earth to place a blob the size and shape of the BP oil spill over any portion of Planet Earth. Here’s how it compares to the New Orleans metro area:

Try it yourself. It’s a great sobering way to start the work week.

[via Towleroad]

[via Jonno]

1. Sparky (née Ultrasparky) has launched a website for his beautiful objet/magazine, Pink Mince. Issue #4 is titled “Your Dad Was Hot!”, and for a mere £4, it’s all yours, baby. Buy in bulk.

2. My pal and erstwhile theatre buddy, James “Jim” Meredith (not that James Meredith, obvs), has written a book in-between flights. He’s a steward for JetBlue, or in their kooky, gender-neutral lingo, an Inflight Crewmember. Anyway, the book is called Will Wadsworth’s Train to Nowhere, and it’s due out this month. I haven’t read any of it, but I’m sure it’s about 3,047% better than the self-help-o-rama being “penned” by Nomi Malone. Lots more info chez Bigezbear.

3. I have a new post up on Lurid Digs, which is ENTIRELY NSFW. In it, I debate the existence of god, twins, and ex-gays, but mostly Lava Lamp nightstands.

4. I’ve asked you before if you’re following Tamishir on Flickr, haven’t I? I’m pretty sure I have. Did you listen? Because he’s still motherhumpin’ brilliant:

I’ve mentioned before that I contribute to the Human Rights Campaign. I know a lot of people have issues with the HRC, and in fairness, the org isn’t as edgy as it used to be — though also in fairness, “aggro” has never really been the HRC’s style. Some of my friends rag on me for giving to an advocacy group that seems to move slowly and to be slightly out of touch with the desires of many LGBT Americans. “Foot-dragging A-listers”, they call them.

But I’ve always found the Dr. King approach more politically expeditious than that of Mr. X. And given my limited experience with lobbying and backdoor politics (watch it), I’m pretty comfortable with the HRC’s tactics. In fact, I’m pleasantly surprised by their accomplishments.

Even more importantly, to my friends who sneer at me for giving a few bucks a month to the largest LGBT advocacy org in America, I ask: what the fuck are you doing for us? Are you staging advocacy days at the capitol? Attending sit-ins? Giving your hard-earned dough to another LGBT group? Hell, are you people even writing your legislators?

That said, I do have some concerns with HRC, and I’m considering scaling back my contribution. Not because of the way they’ve responded to DADT or this veterans thing, but because of the HRC’s reliance on terrible stock photography:

Look at that. Are they LGBT lobbyists or dental hygienists? I really can’t tell.

HRC, can we please get a little gay design pride up in this bitch?

Being cuckolded was bad enough, but seeing that the bastard was one of Jacqueline’s 11 brothers made Jean-Paul lose his appetite for the vomit already welling up inside his stomach.

Advertising Agency: Prolam Y&R, Santiago, Chile
Executive Creative Director: Tony Sarroca
Creative Director: Alvaro Becker
Art Directors: Andres Echeverria, Cristian Costa
Copywriter: Tomas Cisternas
Photographer: Patricio Pescetto
Illustrator: Ricardo Salamanca
Account manager: Pancho Cardemil

Are you going to be in San Francisco tonight? Then get the hell out of the house/hotel/Happy Ending Spa and roll over to Cafe du Nord (2170 Market Street). Dear closepersonalfriends the Ex-Boyfriends are having a record release party for their new album, Line In/Line Out, which they’re dropping digitally (duh, they’re in SF) and also on old-skool vinyl (duh, they’re in SF), but not on CD, because, um, eww.

But wait, there’s more: not only do the Ex-Bfs put on a great show, but there’ll also be three other bands rocking the stage: The Bruises, The Shondes, and Excuses for Skipping — none of whom I know personally, but any friend of the Ex-Boyfriends is a friend of mine. (That’s something I’ve said in my everyday life, too: I don’t believe in cutting off ties to anyone who’s has his/her tongue on my genitals, even if they do leave the cap off the toothpaste.)

But enough about my nads. Doors open at 8pm, and the show starts at 9pm. There’s a $10 cover, which is possibly the best deal in town for seeing four rockin’ bands on one stage, so what more do you want, cheapskate? For you need-to-know types, there’s way more info at the Ex-BF website.

On Monday, as I walked my dogs through our neighborhood in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, an enormous flock of seagulls accompanied us in the sky, swooping down to the streets, scavenging for food along the gutters, and screeching to each other with alarm. It isn’t unusual to see gulls around town, but this was an unusually large number, and I imagined they had been chased inland by the growing Gulf oil spill, the same way they get chased in by hurricanes or other enormous storms.

We are used to displacement here. We still measure things as before or after Katrina, as if there is somehow a possibility of moving back in time and slipping into the still familiar order of life before the storm. Perhaps that is why I regarded the misplaced gulls as simply a fact rather than a tragedy. Or more likely I was distracted by the fact that for one of the gaggle of dogs at the end of the leash, this would be a final walk before going to the vet to be put down.

Continue reading Ken Foster’s “New Orleans’ Life as a Dog” at Salon.com

P.S. If you’re so inclined, you can also learn more about Ken’s Sula Foundation for pit bull rescue, care, and advocacy at SulaFoundation.org, where there happens to be a video clip documenting Jacques‘ very first encounter with his best friend/adopted big sister, Tania.

If you guessed “tanning salon”, I suppose you’re correct, since this is technically a print ad for Turkey’s Bronzi Solarium. But just between you and me, I would’ve leaned toward something else.

Advertising Agency : TBWAIstanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Executive Creative Director: Ilkay Gürpinar
Creative Director: Emre Kaplan
Art Director: Caglar Biyikoglu
Copywriter: Emre Kaplan
Account Supervisor: Ece Ozyurt
Published: April 2010