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Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Dance for me
This was a busy weekend for me, filled with movies (X-men III(1) ), picnics, family gatherings, shopping, and strip clubs.
It's that last happening that I want to talk about today. You see, Sunday was Jason's birthday, and as a celebration we went to Club Gold Coast, the Motor City's preeminent gay strip club (2 & 3) . Our expectations were a little high: Neither of us have ever been to Gold Coast before. The few times that we have paid money to watch men take their clothing off, we have done it in Ontario. And, unlike in puritanical Michigan, the laws in Canada allow the dancers to get completely naked. So going to clubs in Michigan always seems like something of a waste--why not just cross the border and get more for your money? In any case, it turns out that the essence of a strip tease can be as effectively conveyed while wearing a thong as it can while wearing nothing at all. Who knew? While watching the dancers I made an important observation: The quality of the dancing really does matter. Some of the most appealing dancers were also some of the least attractive (and be aware that the term "least attractive," when applied to strippers, still means that they were very, very pretty). Additionally, some of the costumes were more appealing than others. For example, the hottest number of the night was the scrawny little man who, when he was finished, was wearing nothing but low-cut briefs and a over-sized Crucifix. And so, while watching the dancers, I began to wonder if there is a need for a strip-tease consultant. After all, better dancers make more money, and obviously some of the guys didn't know what constitutes appealing dancing. So, perhaps for a small fee, a dancer could receive input and suggestions on his routine. What do you think? -- 1) The movie was good, mostly because visual effects were cool. However, one can't help but wonder why a movie with Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and Kelsey Grammer has to rely on special effects to be entertaining. Perhaps Hollywood should start paying people as much to write scripts as they pay to make things blow up. 2) I'm aware that "Motor City's Best Gay Strip Club" is a distinction akin to "Least Nauseating Smell." 3) If my writing about watching exotic dancers offends you, I suggest you not read it. Yes, I'm a therapist. However, I'm also a gay man. If you don't like your mental health professionals to be real people, there are many therapists out there who think that they are more Superman than Man; go and see one of them.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Friday culture and a hottie [+/-] Culture is under the cut...Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci lived from 1452 to 1519. He certainly was not a member of a secret order charged with protecting the Holy Grail. He was, however, a brilliant architect, anatomist, sculptor, engineer, inventor, musician, and painter. Da Vinci is considered the perfect "Renaissance Man"--someone who excels at everything he touches. Besides his scientific endeavors, da Vinci also enjoyed sex with younger men and boys. He was once arrested for sodomy, and after being acquitted of the charges (due to a lack of witnesses), he was placed under watch by The Officers of the Night, an Italian group charged with making sure the good citizens of Florence were engaging in state-sanctioned sex. Oh, and for the record, that figure next to Jesus in The Last Supper isn't Mary Magdalene; it's the Apostle John, who was younger than all the other Apostles, and often painted as more feminine in order to depict his youth. Personally, I think that John looks a whole lot like the boy that Leonardo was having sex with at the time. Here is The Last Supper, and Here is the boy's picture--judge for yourself. Also by Leonardo: The Vitruvian Man John the Baptist Today's hottie is Jesse Bradford.   
Monday, May 22, 2006
Old Wife's Tale
So I broke down and saw The Da Vinci Code over the weekend. Mostly I was curious, but I have to admit that part of me wanted to see the movie because it pissed off all the right people.
I was expecting a full-frontal assault of the Christian faith and on the Catholic Church in particular. I had hoped for evil Priests, scheming Bishops, and depictions of a power-hungry Vatican rotting from within. I mean, what less can be expected from a movie that is expected to incur the full wrath of God? Instead, I got a movie about a secret organization unknown to the Catholic Church, whose members are generally portrayed as lunatics, who want to destroy Christianity. In the end, the Church and the Faith are rescued, and all is well with the world. I wasn't struck by lightning, nor was I handed a tract on the way into the theatre. For me, the entire experience was as anti-climatic as the film itself. And of course, the "scholarship" of the movie is dubious at best--but what does one expect from a work of fiction? (Interestingly, certain Christians appear concerned with scholarly accuracy only in so far as it serves their interests. The rest of the time, they're quite happy to accept ridiculous fiction as truth.) And I can't help but wonder why this movie (and the book before it, for that matter) is generating so much attention and interest. It's a formulaic story told without any care. I wonder if there's a collective wish to see Christians, who have become so influential as of late, on the defensive. Or, perhaps people around the world are craving something of the Divine Feminine, which has been notably absent from Judeo-Christian traditions for about 4,000 years. 
Friday, May 19, 2006
Friday culture and a hot guy [+/-] Culture is under the cut...44 years ago, at John F. Kennedy's birthday celebration, Marilyn Monroe made history by singing a sultry "Happy Birthday to You." Monroe's performance was an defining moment in pop culture, and it has often been reproduced and satirized. Not many people know that she also sang a special verse of "Thanks for the Memories" as well. Go watch the performance here. "Happy Birthday to You" is the most popular song in the English language, and was written by American school teachers and sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893. A little known fact is that the copyright to "Happy Birthday to You" doesn't expire until 2030--all public performances of the song are illegal unless royalties are paid. I just thought you should know. I don't really know who Song Seung Hun is, or what he's been in, but I think he's pretty.   
Thursday, May 18, 2006
The Blogger's Prayer
Dear Goddess,
Let my blog be visited by many, but not my psycho-ex-boyfriend stalkers. Let the multitudes come to laugh at my jokes--and not my double chins. I pray that my relationship with other bloggers stays golden, lest I find myself publicly humiliated by better bloggers than myself. I ask that you keep me humble, and that I not become so full of myself that I start to sell my old clothing on E-Bay, or post pictures of myself cooking naked. As for commenters, Goddess, I pray that no one correct my grammar or spelling in the comments. Also, I humbly ask that you deliver me from commenters who refer to themselves in the third person. So be it, and thank you.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
You're not going to eat that, are you?
I have an obsession with weird food. When I go out to eat with my friends, they can be assured that I'm going to order something
I'm just very curious about new, strange foods. I always wonder how I will know that I won't love something unless I try it--and trust me, if you're this fat, there isn't a whole lot you won't like. For example, I recently brought home a jar of pickled watermelon rind, just because that sounds fascinating.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Friday culture and a hot guy [+/-] Culture is under the cut...Today is the 70th birthday of American artist Frank Stella. Stella is a major figure in minimilism, a movement in which a work is stripped down to its fundamental forms. It's easier to show than to describe; here are three of Stella's works.  Hyena Stomp  Estoril Five I  The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II Today's hottie is Jason Stratham.   
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Stuff to see and do.
I haven't done a links post in a while, so here you go.
Art-O-Matic: Art from a vending machine. I think that this is the coolest thing ever. The History of Dance in 6 minutes. The Hammer Dance is the best, IMO. Read this story: A Vatican astronomer described creationism as a kind of paganism because it harked back to the days of nature gods who were responsible for natural events. Funny, but most of the pagans I know believe in evolution. Now this is cool--a laser virtual keyboard. Click the link to see for yourself.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
I'm back...
Did you miss me?
I went to Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri for a few days, out into the woods, to get my head together(1). Oh, and I had a birthday while I was gone--it was the first birthday I've ever spent almost completely alone. But it just seemed right to tick off another year while surrounded by trees and hills. Man, that sounds like a downer, what I just wrote. But I had a good time. I enjoyed some beautiful scenery, spent some time hiking, remembered why I don't live in the Ozarks, and reconnected with my love of indoor plumbing. -- 1) One might say that "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived."
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Metapost
Regular readers of my blog (poor, long-suffering people) will probably have noticed that I have not been posting as regularly as I once did. And, you may have further noticed that the quality of those posts has also decreased, in so much as that was even possible considering how low I had set the bar previously.
There is an excellent reason for this. I have become increasingly busy in my non-internet-based life, and therefore I had to make a choice as to how I was going to handle the blog. I'm still enough of a narcissist to believe that my semi-comprehensible ramblings are of interest to the world, and I'd like to cling to that delusion for as long as possible, so I will continue to produce posts. I know that my readers visit this site for a variety of reasons. There are those who need something to do when on hold; there are those who are compelled by court-ordered protective services agreements; there are those former and future clients; there are my friends and relations who know I will ask them incessantly "Did you read my blog?" For all of you, I feel I owe you this fair warning: In the future, Tales of a Shrink will likely suck even more than previously. You can expect very short, pointless posts like this one: I hate it when people use the word "me" when the mean to use the word "my." I think people believe that it's sexy or tough. Similarly, I hate it when gay men describe themselves as "skinheads" because they think it's hot. Yeah, because my sexual fantasy includes having a heroin-addict-scrawny, 1980-something British guy with bad teeth and no hair yelling "Oi!" at me, his breath stinking of crappy English piss-beer. Oh yeah, sign me up for two of those. You see what I'm talking about? You've been warned. (Oh, and no fear... I will keep the hot guys coming, as well as the culture that no one ever reads. Well, except for this Friday, when I will be out of town.) |
