this is fyf

Please note:  The dates for your 2012 Folsom Street Fair have changed.

Here is your European vacation planner.

Via

Are you hip to...Hipmunk?

With search results sortable by "Agony" (in addition to the more common "Price", "Duration", etc.), this is truly a site for these (holiday air travel) times.

Though my instinct - more often than not - is to burst people's bubbles, this French Hotel wants you to get comfortable in theirs...

I've been known to grouse that many people in this country are living in a bubble, but in France, the city of Roubaix is showing us how it's done - literally - having launched a hotel of inflated bubbles in a local park this summer.

Unlike the symbolic ones I accuse political and philosophical imbeciles of inhabiting here, these bubbles actually allow their inhabitants a better view of their surroundings (as compared to a hotel building, at any rate).  Per usual for the French, getting "close" to nature never looked so chic (and non-"roughing it"?)?

FYF After Dark: In-flight services

So.

I'm headed home to New York again tomorrow.

I've never joined the mile-high club and seriously doubt that I'll ever have that opportunity, or the compulsion necessary to gain membership, but it's - apparently - a fairly common thought among passengers at the very least.

Others take it a step further...

In the picture above, a young man who had exposed himself to a female seated next to him on a Southwest Airlines flight to St. Louis is subdued and arrested after having become so agitated by her scream in response to him showing her his dick he'd punched her and then stripped completely naked, necessitating the flight's return to Oakland International Airport where he was removed from the flight.

Had he (or someone with similar impulses) been seated next to others of us - who would have opened our mouths, but not to scream - the whole scene might have turned out far differently. Especially if his dick looked anything like this (So NSFW)??

Cute ad will have you giving up your apartment.

This ad for a new room-renting service really has nothing to do with the service that allows you to find a room or apartment when you are traveling as opposed to some creepy hotel. Still, as it's the beginning of summer their timing is perfect. And while I wish the first guy wasn't sucking it in so much (as he is clearly my favorite), the surprise ending definitely got me interested in checking out the site (and posting my apartment as available for a week in July), so well done!

The Advocate should issue a retraction: Minneapolis is not our gayest city.

Mister Mike Albo has made a huge mistake.  In his recent article for The Advocate, he has named Minneapolis "Gayest City in America".  Most read that and think, "Oh, funny Mike Albo is dissing San Francisco and New York."  Even The Daily Show found it to be  worthy of ridicule.  Maybe it's time to issue a retraction.

Having been to Minneapolis just once, I'm no authority.  It was snowing in May during that visit (on a job interview to work for Target just out of college).  There was the Mary Tyler Moore statue and the cool downtown where every building was connected so that one did not have to go outside in he brutal weather.  They tried to sell us on the lakes and the great (if brief) summer weather.  They presented Prince's nightclub as evidence of the town's hipness.  Still though the impression was made, and this closeted college senior didn't get that (then scary) gay vibe.

Let's take a look at the equation they used to justify their choice of Minneapolis (at left):

• From the start, the number of gay.com profiles is a huge red flag.  Do you remember gay.com?  Me either!  As a replacement, perhaps a Grindr/Scruff density test would be the preferred measure.  You could see how many were using the apps within a mile of downtown.
• As for "listed officiants for gay weddings", it's not really clear to me what that even means, so it's being skipped. 
• "Elected openly gay officials" is good so we'll keep that. 
• Tegan and Sara are more an indication of Canadianness, and I liked them better when they were t.a.T.u. 
• Lesbian bars is a good measure (and something that New York seems to need more of).
• Religious congregations just make the baby Jesus cry. 
• Nobody but your mom uses YellowPages.com.
• And finally population, which is the best of the measures used.

And, breathe.

Here's the bigger news:  Minnesota's Senate is voting, probably today to make an amendment to their state constitution to ban marriage equality.  (And yes, that is an Advocate link, just for irony.)

Now San Franciscans are in a tizzy about being ranked eleventh (and about organic tea and just about anything as they have too much time on their hands there).  New Yorkers don't really care as we're too self-assured to worry about some list.  But still, should we really give the crown to a city in a state that is going to amend its state constitution to keep gays second-class citizens?  No, that crown should be snatched off, and the Advocate should issue a retraction!

Fire in London brings mix of descriptive terms.

"We were dressing very quickly, with the smoke already entering the dressing area. Many had to dress outside and a few did not manage to find their clothes in time. It was bright daylight outside by then. "Everyone outside saw a quite tall column of smoke for quite some time so I imagine a great portion of the facilities has been destroyed."

 - A gay sex club* in London caught fire over the weekend, leaving naked patrons out in the street.  The Advocate says the club "burned down" while others cite the damage as serious, but not complete.  Others also say "sauna", but let's call ducks ducks, okay?

Cruise ships, explained.

A friend recently embarked on one of the "Gay Cruise Ship" voyages.  To me it's a way of travelling in an insular bubble to foreign lands where you learn nothing of the people or region to which you are travelling.  It's the traveller as gawker, pointing out from a safe distance, "oo, pretty".  Me?  I'd rather cruise the Seine at 4 in the morning, or have coffee with a stranger in Giza, or talk about the economics of being a drug dealer in Mexico City.  It's about the adventure, not just the relaxation.

Then this news came out, and I was, like, oh, I guess that could make it okay.  

("Noah's Gay Wedding Cruise" by Paul Richmond)

I'm stuck down here in Alabama (where we DO have computers, RT, but also family members with whom interacting - surprisingly?! - burns quite a lot of time, despite how slow things are supposed to be here? ...Or maybe because they're slow? Unclear.) until the latest snow fiasco blows itself out up there, wondering if the attention is worth getting glasses tattooed (poorly!) on his face for this guy and - having caught up with my blood kin - catching up on episodes of Kitchen Impossible and trying to remember the tea on the show's host, Marc Bartolomeo. I seem to remember seeing him around when I first moved to New York...?

More pics of the above tattoo situation as well as reminders of Mr. Bartolomeo's comeliness (NSFW) -- after the jump...

Ah-ah-AH! Not so fast Verizon iPhone!

I imagine this goes without saying, but...before you jump on that Verizon iPhone bandwagon (Oop! Too late?) know what you're getting into, hear?

As Tai Chi (my sister-in-crime) pointed out, Verizon's iPhones won't be usable in Europe, currently. For the rest, Lifehacker gives you the whole rundown of what you are and aren't getting with Verizon here.

Me? I think I'll wait until next year (so long as my aged 3G holds out!) for the iPhone 5 with its CDMA/GSM/UTMS chipset (I'm spouting words whose meanings I can only guess at! Thanks, NYT & ReadWriteWeb!) and - likely - the lower cost/wider options available data plans resulting from the fallout of the Verizon/AT&T competition between now and then (Right? RIGHT!? That is how this'll all play out - in favor of us consumers, I mean - isn't it??)

All the Queens leave after rockets are shot.

The cruise ship Queens Victoria, Mary 2 and Elizabeth depart in unison today from New York Harbor where - at approximately 6:30 - they'll be sent on their way by a fireworks show.

Dispatches from a blizzard (Pt. 2)

New Yorker Jason Cochran - Travel editor and roving reporter for AOL and Walletpop.com - spent 32 hours at JFK trying to fly to London after his Virgin Airways flight was delayed during the blizzard on the 26th. He tweeted his experience and shot some video of unforeseen (though easily predicted?) situations that arose (McDonald's out of food?! Nu-UH!!) during the course of his stay at Terminal 4 and - not surprisingly - his story was picked up by many major news outlets. Read his account here on his personal site and read coverage of the blizzard (and corporate stupidity?) enduced travel horrors, including Jason's, here on AOL.

"Touch-a Touch Me, TSA Security", Kinsey Sicks, 2010

The Kinsey Sicks take on the touchy subject of TSA security via Rocky Horror. I'm with them; as long as the TSA agent is hot, I'm down with whatever. (My actual opinion is similar to that of Duane (who sorta looks like a TSA agent). Flying isn't a right; it's a privilege. If you're going to board a multi-ton, easily-weaponized transport contraption, you can expect some safety rules to be implemented.)

Newsflash: Everyone's going apeshit over the TSA's new scan/pat-down policies...

(Sir? Can we see you go through the scanner?)

But that's the least of our problems.

In a New York Mag article on the subject, author John Heilemann makes a good point:

"But if we’re lucky—and it’s a very big if, I’ll grant you—the entire episode may serve an even greater purpose: to start an adult conversation about the policies we adopt to reduce the risk of terrorist incidents in this country, and the foolishness of believing that any of them will lead to perfect safety."

Most of our countrymen (and probably many of us) continue to live operating under the false assumption that things haven't changed...that we can go on living as we did when we were kids and the threat of terrorism was distant, at worst.

The world has changed and we will never have that assurance of security again (arguably, we didn't even then...but that's neither here nor there at this point.) so it's best we accept that and stop allowing our civil liberties to be trodden upon (and I'm thinking wire taps, being held without just cause, etc. when I say that, as opposed to this body scan/pat-down situation, particularly.) under the guise of increasing security. We've also got to stop being seduced by wannabe leaders who fill our ears with false promises and hopes of security they can't possibly guarantee - even if their methods didn't compromise our freedoms and liberties we - as a nation - have fought so hard to preserve and uphold.

Either you get that standing up for your values inheres sacrifice at times (even death...hopefully in the extreme.) or you don't, and - if you don't - you shouldn't have any problem bending over backward to get scanned or patted down to help bolster your false sense of security.

For the record, I really have no problem with the scans/pat-downs. If they ARE increasing security - even the slightest bit! - I approve wholeheartedly. That said, I have no particular issues either with being exposed via a body scan or being felt up (I'm a gay man, after all?), so my perspective is one of "no harm, no foul" whereas someone else may have a much more adverse reaction to the prospect of either. Also, I am highly doubtful that these procedures are truly increasing our security to any great extent, so...there's that as well.

This is a picture of Amanda Lepore on a plane.

Via World of Wonder, via Planet Tampon

Madonna - "When God decided where the beautiful men were going to live in the world, he did not choose Chicago."

Above, a letter from Madonna to Steven Meisel, circa 1991 when she was preparing to shoot A League of Their Own (which was actually shot in my hometown of Evansville, Indiana).  Via, via.

Cutting the cost of air travel sounds like a good thing...

...but "standing room only" cabins?? I am EXTREMELY dubious.  Yes, the airplane is essentially the bus of the skies and the bumps and shudders of a plane can't be that significantly different from the jolts, shakes and unexpected jerks (I'm talking physics here, people, not an individual) of the subway/bus commute we endure daily...unless the plane is GOING DOWN IN FLAMES!?

New "saddle seats"(?) get a "packed in like sardines" reaction but could perhaps be seen positively as a seat on a roller coaster without rails?

Regardless, I'm FOR cheaper/more cost-effective air travel (within reason) 'cuz I got places to go and don't want to be a slave to the money-making machine to do so!

All via which is via

Civilization Progress Report: "And this is why India can't have nice things."

Picture via Random Specific

After I got home from work last night, my mom called me and we got to discussing the Commonwealth Games, which, according to Wikipedia, is just like the Olympics, only America's not invited to the party. Which makes sense, I suppose, as America doesn't make a past-time out of activities like rugby and netball. Late 2009, the Indian capital of New Delhi embarked on a bold urban renewal project in order to prepare for its turn at hosting the games this year. But since no one could really get their act together in the nearly eight months that ensued, preparations for the games crumbled into an incomplete mess of half-finished venues and swarms of mosquitoes carrying dengue fever. This is giving officials from other countries cold feet about moving forward. But as someone who's fallen in love with a country whose labor force is always striking for one reason or another, I merely remarked to my mom, "And this is why India can't have nice things,"¹ and we defected to more relevant topics like calorie-counting. Which is essentially to say, dear readers, that this week we learned well why no particular slice of the world--except for Lucy Lawless' native New Zealand--deserves nice things at all.

• So, yes, more details re: how slow-to-stalled Commonwealth Games-related construction is accelerating the spread of dengue fever throughout Delhi. [WSJ]

• FASTER THAN A FACEBOOK STATUS Not-at-all flailing auto manufacturer GM encourages all drivers to simultaneously update their Facebook statuses while gunning the gas pedal. [Consumerist]

Civilization Progress Report: Your kids are husky enough already.

This week we learned that primates are more compassionate than mankind -- perhaps a foregone conclusion when the latter is quick to disown one of their kind on the basis of skin color, while the former is documented as exhibiting grief when one of theirs is lost. In light of this human depravity, I think it's high time I conducted a little Civilization Progress Report (see what I did there?) on the withered world around us.

(Get CPR after the jump...)