There are some weeks that seem to burn both fast and slow simultaneously--and leave you winded regardless. These are weeks when you find yourself clocking five, maybe six hours sleep a night and you end up snapping at hapless landlords and brokers while looking for your ideal new apartment because they want you to pay too much for a place with a bathroom that doesn't even have a sink. And then you're all like, "Dude. I want a place where my mother can come and visit me," and then he's like, "But all the other apartments in this area are like this," and you tell yourself, "I bet Geri Halliwell doesn't have to deal with problems like this!" Which, then, is the best way to segue into the week's just-add-water buffet of banality...
• It's a dark day when MTV is applauded for its portrayal of gay and lesbian characters on television. [Mercury News]• TOUGH QUESTIONS Which one is Adam Lambert and which one is the cross-dresser in this photograph? [Queerty]
• Also, Queerty: No one will be made more aware of discrimination by going to see Lady Gaga warble, "PA-PA-PA-PA-KUH-FEIS," while wearing odd-looking shoes. An attempt to drive her away from Arizona as part of a larger plan to cut off money to the state until they overturn their prejudicial laws by contrast? Uh, misguided...but more logical than the idea that "Poker Face" could overhaul hateful politics. [Queerty]
• The most surprising about the 20 gayest cities in America? That some place in Oregon is gayer than New York, apparently. [The Daily Beast]
• Here is a review of that new Kylie Minogue record--which, btdubs, plummets 70 places on the Billboard chart in its second week--that kind of embodies most everything that is wrong with music criticism these days. [WaPo]
• And here is some Canadian gay zombie porn that has been banned in Australia. [EW]
• Recently, a whale headbutted an unwitting couple's yacht. [CBS]
• ...but not to be outdone, this cute, unidentified octopus was also found hangin' out off the coast of Newfoundland. [Vancouver Sun]
• Supermarket giant Kroger's latest stab at synergistic marketing involves putting disposable shot glasses next to Jello packets. [Consumerist]
• SCHOOLED The Mississippi school that went to great lengths as to create a decoy prom to prevent a young girl from taking her girlfriend to the actual student prom has to fork over $35,000 in damages. [CNN]
• "Staten Island Gurls / We're recognizable / Orange skin with black hair on top / Never leave the house without our bronzer / Ah oh ah oh!" [YouTube]
• Come on down to Bushwick this weekend for a rad literary festival that features none other than Birds of Lace publisher/San Franciscan Gina Abelkop. [Popsickle]
• Amanda Palmer managed to sell $15,000 worth of merchandise in three minutes online...which is allowing her to let you buy her new EP of Radiohead covers for less than $1. [Amanda Palmer]
• #NEAT Think of this video as a mood ring for the world. It's a visualization of emotions over a 24-hour period, as determined by tweets culled together over three years. Detroit, in this clip, never once approaches happiness. [YouTube]
Mister Rohin Guha has written for Gawker, Blackbook, Paper, New York, and in many other locales. Once a week he'll be checking in on civilization and giving us a progress report.
