Darkside Rainbow

Hey, guys. This is just a quick post to let you know I won’t be updating with any serious discussion today; I’m rather busy, working a lot on my other two jobs, and just a bit burned out on writing. I keep trying to start a post on a number of topics and then drawing a blank. Writer’s block is apparently kicking me in the teeth today. (No, NaNo’s not contributing to that at all, why ever would you ask?) I suppose sometimes you just get a little bogged down in your subject matter, and it’s hard to write about the same topic every day - as much as I enjoy this, enjoy the debates it can spark, and the conflicting opinions people post to offer differing perspectives. I just need a day off.

I may do a weekend edition post tomorrow (or even much later tonight) to make up for it so I won’t feel like I’m slacking on the job since I hate missing daily updates - but if I don’t, just look for me again on Monday with a new No Style comic.

As an aside, it is damned creepy to be recognized in your local grocery store by someone who occasionally reads the comic. Seriously.

Quick update on the 1,000 Comments Contest before I go:

…just to give this post something of substance, after all.

We’re currently at 922 comments - just 78 more to go, down to the double digits. That’s the home stretch, kids. I definitely think we can make 1,000 by the end of the month (especially with all the weird link farming sites giving me pingbacks; what the heck is up with that?). Remember, the prize is a Kingston 1GB USB Flash drive and a cameo spot as a character in No Style. If you can think of another prize you’d rather have, let me know and I’ll see if it’s within my means.

I’m gone for now; have to get back to work. Have a good weekend.

~Adri

We are taking a swerve away from the GBLTQ spectrum today; if you’re here for your daily dose of GBLTQ news and rantage, go spend some time with Lyndsey or have a gander at a few of the latest headlines - or come back tomorrow, when things are back on topic. I’d like to take a moment to discuss something that I believe deserves a few moments of my attention - and yours. Its potential effect is primarily on US college students and future students, but even those who don’t reside on American soil or aren’t currently entrenched in our education system may want to be aware of this turn of events and the sickening precedent that it could set.

Apparently the MPAA now thinks it can push legislation that will affect whether or not a school will receive federal funding for financial aid, based on whether or not said school complies with the MPAA’s demands regarding technology aimed at preventing P2P filesharing on campus networks.

The worst part?

The Democratic majority are all for it.

Democrats: Colleges must police copyright, or else - CNet News

The U.S. House of Representatives bill (PDF), which was introduced late Friday by top Democratic politicians, could give the movie and music industries a new revenue stream by pressuring schools into signing up for monthly subscription services such as Ruckus and Napster. Ruckus is advertising-supported, and Napster charges a monthly fee per student.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) applauded the proposal, which is embedded in a 747-page spending and financial aid bill. “We very much support the language in the bill, which requires universities to provide evidence that they have a plan for implementing a technology to address illegal file sharing,” said Angela Martinez, a spokeswoman for the MPAA.

According to the bill, if universities did not agree to test “technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity,” all of their students–even ones who don’t own a computer–would lose federal financial aid.

Yes, you read that correctly. We’re dealing with a multibillion-dollar war that is failing ever more spectacularly with each day; we can’t even get our legislature for GBLTQ rights straight; our government is suggesting that we voluntarily forfeit our right to privacy…and the House is wasting 747 pages and valuable time on harmful legislature that no one will actually read, and will probably sign without realizing what it entails because it’s part of a bill with a pretty name like “College Opportunity and Affordability Act”, which has to be good, right? Hell, that’s halfway how the Patriot Act got through. 300+ pages of tl;dr and a spiffy title that can easily be turned against any politician who protests it by saying “So you’re against patriotism?”

I’m against this damned legislation. This will cripple the American education system - and it’s already limping and floundering - over an issue that shouldn’t even be related to student financial aid. Government bodies should not damned well be answering to the MPAA or the RIAA! Students too poor to even own a computer, let alone afford to attend university without financial aid, could find themselves out on the street because the entertainment industry is overstepping its bounds and taking deliberate malicious action involving punishment far above and beyond any committed “crimes”. Media piracy and copyright infringement are not worth sweeping pulls of financial aid.

I don’t really advocate media piracy. I’m a fence-straddler; I use low-cost subscription services like Vongo to watch legally downloaded movies, and if Vongo doesn’t have what I want to watch on demand then I’ll go buy the DVD later when it’s no longer $20 a pop. I cringe at spending $10 to see a movie on the big screen, but will do it if my friends drag me. I don’t buy overpriced CDs, but I don’t like my music DRM-laden (I don’t even like having DRM-enabling technology on my machine, such as Windows Media Player 11) …so I’ll spend 99 cents per song at Buy.com or some other music sale service that doesn’t require monthly subscriptions or annoying software, download the DRM-burdened version of a track just to say I paid for my music, and then turn around and download a non-DRM version off Shareaza so I don’t have to go through a load of BS to copy it between my computers, cellphone, and my various portable media devices.

Basically, I’ve found an economical way to avoid piracy without paying what I feel are wholly unreasonable prices for media. I think that the entertainment industry has grown far too bloated and greedy, and current tactics of “pay for our overpriced drivel or else” border on extortion. I don’t think that downloading and sharing music for free constitutes harmful theft as they’d have us believe, but I also don’t think it’s the answer to getting around the problem that they present. What it most certainly is not, however, is a crime worthy of the exorbitant RIAA shakedowns that take place on a regular basis - and it’s definitely not a crime worthy of nearly shutting down entire schools for lack of federal funding because one student’s decision to download a movie from The Pirate Bay could potentially affect the entire campus.

It’s a situation where two wrongs don’t make a right, but in this case the entertainment industry is climbing up a vast, towering pillar of wrongness that far eclipses anything a filesharer might have done. It’s no secret that politicians wallow in the pockets of various industries, whether it’s big oil or the entertainment industry. Puppets on strings - but the MPAA isn’t even trying to hide that they’re pulling the strings anymore. It’s exorbitant, it’s disgusting, it’s blatant extortion, and I hope the bill dies amidst derision on the House floor.

Thank you, Democrats, for reminding me of why I refuse to align with any particular party - and for reminding me that no matter the label, a politician is still a politician and can be bought by just about anyone. Maybe if I had more money than the MPAA I could divert your attention from this and get you to spend a bit more time focusing on gay marriage and GBLTQ rights, hm?

The MPAA and their supporters in the House of Representatives are threatening current and future generations of students, all so they can line their pockets and feed a few more gasping breaths into a dying business model that isn’t equipped to handle current information sharing technology. They should be adapting to current technology, not trying to force the technology, under pain of torture, to suit the old business model. It’s a case of the punishment not fitting the crime, and of treating your own customers like criminals. The consumer is the enemy, and must be subjugated under corporate rule.

We have veered horribly off the path and forgotten not the letter, but the spirit of the law and its processes, and this fiasco is only one small symptom of the many horrible abuses of the legislative process that take place every day.

I feel like I’m watching Pirates of the Caribbean. “Take what ye can; give nothing back.”

Only it’s not the so-called “media pirates” following that guideline.

media piracy, copyright law, copyright violation, mpaa, riaa, copyright infringement, p2p networks, file sharing

Guys? I…feel approximately like a few pounds of roasted, fine-ground and filtered arse right now, and will be crawling my exhausted bum back into bed in very short order. I’ll post a real update later today, most likely around midafternoon CST. Sorry for the delay.

I only have a few seconds to dash by right now, so consider this your post-it to the forehead: I won’t be posting a real update until much later today because my computer flipped completely ‘tard last night and I had to reformat and reinstall, and I’m still getting this tarty little monster back up to speed. I’ll be back some time this afternoon, hopefully, ranting as usual.

…and getting caught up on the comments to the Delurk post since I was last online. Holy monkeys, you guys really came out of the woodwork, didn’t you? Um…hi.

Also, I am deeply embarrassed because I’m just now noticing that No Style breaks the 451 Press layout template in IE. You know why I’m just noticing that? Because I never use IE and absolutely loathe it, and on FireFox the images automatically resize to fit the template. I’m stuck on IE right now as I haven’t quite gotten to FireFox on my list of installs. I…er…better go fix that. Looks like my computer isn’t the only thing that’s brain dead around here. First rule of web design: always crosscheck your layouts in different browsers. Idiot, Adri.

…or hey, if you’re feeling charitable: today’s my mother’s birthday. I confess I don’t remember how old she is today; 60…something. 61, I think? Anyway…my mother and I don’t always get along (translate: we’re often at each others’ throats) and she rarely reads this column, but be nice and wish her a happy birthday anyway.

agh!, FUBAR

I stole this from Allison over at Reality on Bravo; it’s The Great MoFo Delurk of 2007! (Okay, so it’s a day late. Hush. Man, why did they have to put dates on the buttons?)

What does that mean? That means that all you lurkers out there - and I know there’s a bunch of you; this site gets a couple hundred visits a day, and a decent percentage of you are repeats - need to stop being so quiet and speak up! Even if only for this one post, click that little comment link down there and leave a note. Introduce yourself! What’s your name, what’s your sign, how’s it hang, where are you from, why do you keep creeping on by here to watch me make an arse out of myself on a regular basis?

Hell, I’ll even start, even though this is all old news. I’m Adri, 27, an Aries who completely ignores astrology unless he needs a good laugh, and I am spectacularly gay and just about as pretty as I can be without being too flaming. …I’m also quite full of it on that last part, but allow me my moments of vanity followed by the usual self-deprecation. I’m from the New Orleans area, I currently live in Houston, and with any luck by next year I’ll have fled to Chicago and found a publisher for my first novel. I have a silly little smart aleck of a boyfriend named Takeshii, but still daydream about running away to Acapulco with a moderately articulate version of Vin Diesel - and if you think I’m an arse, you ought to meet my cat. Why am I here?

…well…’cause it’s my job. That, and I enjoy the feedback and opposing viewpoints people offer when I get up on my pulpit about current issues in the gay world. So why so silent lately, kids? I’ve made an idiot out of myself introducing myself on my own blog, so…even if I already know you, now it’s your turn; do it so the other visitors can get to know you, too.

Ready…set…delurk!

…I think I made the coffee a little too strong this morning. When I sound perky, it’s time for a bloody tranquilizer. Anyway…if you want to participate in The Great MoFo Delurk on your own blog, just click that little icon up there and get your own code.

See you tomorrow with something a little less…fluffy. In fact, while we’re introducing ourselves, let me introduce you to someone, if you haven’t already met him. (I’d be surprised if you hadn’t, but just in case this hot mess missed some obscure corner of the internet, here I am to spread the…um…love.) His name is Chris Crocker, and he’s an embarrassment to gay boys everywhere.

…you may want to turn your volume down before watching that.

If that doesn’t get your trainwreck syndrome going, I don’t know what will.

the great mofo delurk, chris crocker, youtube, britney spears, omfgwhat?

Welcome to a train-wreck of foreign relations.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad Denies Gay Existence - GenerationQ

Columbia University, New York, NY (USA) Today [9/24], President of Iran, Ahmadinejad spoke to faculty, staff, and students at Columbia University in New York, NY . Amid quite a bit of protest, this controversial speaker not only questioned the legitimacy of Jerusalem , argued for the proliferation of nuclear armaments and even denied that gay men and lesbians exist in an Arabic state. During the speech, a questioner asked him why does his country deny women and homosexual’s rights. His answer was not only startling in this day and age, but it was disgusting:

QUESTION: Mr. President, the question isn’t about criminal and drug smugglers. The question was about sexual preference and women.

(APPLAUSE)

AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals, like in your country.

(LAUGHTER)

We don’t have that in our country.

(AUDIENCE BOOING)

AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have it.

Since the year 1979, over 4000 gay men and lesbians have been put to death in Iran.

No one will deny that the culture of a foreign country will be markedly different from that of your homeland. You’ll find everything from different religions to different clothing - traits as superficial as different spices in the food, or as telling as an entirely different set of physical characteristics.

What you will not find, though, is a deviation from the basic tenets of human existence. Bipedal, four fingers and an opposable thumb, one head, two eyes, two genders…and diverse sexuality among those two genders.

So for the president of Iran to boldly state that Iran has no homosexuals would be like President Bush standing in front of the population of a nation and declaring proudly, “We have no idiots in America.”

Where there are humans, there will be idiots. (Some days I’m one of ‘em.) And where there are humans…you will find homosexuality. Let’s face it, homosexuality occurs in nature; it’s been documented in countless species of animals and even finds its place in the social hierarchy of the pack/herd/flock/etc.

We are animals. Evidence grows almost daily to support a biological trigger for homosexuality, whether it’s wired in genetically from the start or some chemical released by the brain. It happens in every country; to claim that it doesn’t happen in Iran is like saying that Iranians are somehow more human than human (hello, White Zombie) and evolved beyond natural occurrences of homosexuality. Of course there are homosexuals in Iran; I can’t believe I even have to state this as an obvious fact. In fact, if you do a Google search right now, you’ll find recent documented evidence of gay Iranians in many venues. You can’t just say that they don’t exist.

Unless you intend on proving that true by executing them all. 4,000 dead gays and lesbians…

So are we vermin now, to be exterminated?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran, Columbia University, Homophobia, Anti-gay sentiment