Have you guys seen this movie Up? I just saw it last night, and did you all know this movie is a total tearjerker? Because I had no idea. The trailer below just makes it seem like a kooky comedy where a crotchety old man and a young, awkward fat boy go on zany adventures.

(Sorry, I have to use the lame CelebTV trailer which is tacky because of the promotional bug, but for some reason the official trailer prohibits embedding)

This may be one of the most misleading pieces of marketing I have seen… ever? Let me give you the scoop on the actual movie. It is not just zany adventures and animated physical comedy. A quick taste is below, don’t worry no real spoilers.

So the real plot actually involve an old man’s quest to redeem what he feels is a wasted life. The entire thing opens with a short scene in which he meets the woman who will become the love of their life through their mutual love of adventure and both idolize a cinema adventure hero who captures exotic creatures. They fantasize about a location in South America in the jungle mentioned in a documentary featuring said hero called Paradise Falls and vow to one day move their house on top of the waterfall. The opening montage shows how life gets in the way of such dreams, as the two kids grow up, romance each other, get married, and grow old, all while holding onto the dream of one day moving to paradise falls. The old man’s wife dies before they can accomplish the dream, and this is where the actual story begins. I was already bawling at this point and was only about 5 minutes into the piece.

Basically the real meat of the plot is about the old man’s quest to accomplish his dream on behalf of his deceased wife Ellie. He has to move his house (which he refers to as Ellie throughout the movie and serves as an obvious metaphor for the baggage he carries with him due to the loss of his soul mate) with the help of an awkward and lonely chubby boyscout from a divorced family. Even the characters that would normally cheapen the plot, like an awkward colorful bird that has all sorts of slapstick body movements and a cute, loyal, but dumb golden retriever, are used in intentional and well crafted ways that never spoil the more intimate moments in the film (my main complaint with Wall-E). The entire adventure is really just a MacGuffin to explore themes of loss, aging, hope, and redemption.

Basically I was crying about every 10 minutes, tears screaming out from under my 3D glasses (which is kind of embarrassing?).

Will kids understand this? I still remember how sad I was when Bambi’s mother died. Is this movie like Bambi for a new generation? Probably not, but it was incredibly refreshing to see a cross generational children’s movie that relies on solid storytelling instead of the piece of shit Shrek model which resorts to fart jokes and pop culture references.

It’s leather pride weekend, guys. Get into it. Let your fetish flag fly!

I decided this year, I might need my own flag. Bears have their flag. Leather and S and M enthusiasts have theirs. We all have the generic rainbow flag we share. So we’re my flag? I need something about how I am proud to be a somewhat cubby looking 20 something that wears brightly colored cotton clothes and has a huge crush on the fetish community. And listens to hipster-ish dance music and thinks shutter shades are Hil-LAR-ious.

Well this is what I came up with. I feel like it really represents “who I really am.” It makes me feel free to be me.

Anyone know if any countries have upgraded to having animated GIFs as flags?

See you all at Folsom East this weekend! Be proud and loud, ya’ll!

Look, I’m not a really good thinker when it comes to ACTUAL politics. I have extremely strong opinions about what qualifies justice, freedom, equality and the like, but these all come from my background in the liberal arts and queer theory. When it comes to true politics, like the kind that our president is a part of, I really am a clueless buffoon. So when I heard that president Obama was allowing his administration to defend DOMA, I really want to believe the best. I wanted to believe that this was about taking it slow, remaining neutral on the federal level regarding gay marriage, and a whole slew of excuses to give Obama the benefit of the doubt. And now? I just don’t know how angry I am supposed to be.

Our blog friend Ben over at Pinko Mag has already covered this, and pretty much expresses my opinion on the matter (especially those opinions I dare not speak regarding 16 year olds and Robert Patinson). So I’m not going to go on a rant reblogging basically the same sources he covers. But for those interested who haven’t seen the reporting happening this week, this editorial from the New York Times lays out the situation nicely.  HRC’s ever eloquent president Joe Solmonese wrote letter yesterday condemning Obama’s defense of DOMA, which has since become a voice representing an almost unilateral response from the homosexual community in opposition to Obama. Now if only HRC was as useful as Solmonese’s words are sweet — we might actually be accomplishing something!

My dilemma here is this: I drank the Obama Kool-aid. I want to believe this is all just some huge misunderstanding. I applauded all of the coverage of Obama’s fresh approach to diplomacy in the middle east. I think he’s doing great things for this country, and will continue to do more. I want to believe this is a little SNAFU and we can get through it and still come out stronger.

But really, how can I justify my support of Obama when he’s allowing a defense of DOMA that compares gay relationships and marriages with those between an uncle and a niece, two first cousings, and 16 year olds? Since when is my sex life and my adult relationships comparable the stuff that inspires certain particularly terrifying episodes of The X-Files? Not to shit on the practices of poor isolated communities in Appalachia, but I’m fairly confident to make the call that an adult gay relationship cannot reasonabley be compared to those that are questionabley statutory or incestuous. (Now if we were talking about two male 1st cousins or a 16 year old girl and a 32 year old leather mama getting married, maybe these comparisons make sense… but we’re not so those relationships are a moot point.)

What is Obama’s plan for gay rights after all the fancy talk we got back during the election? Just check out Obama’s Plan For Gay Rights.com.

My feelings are really complex here, so I’m just going to let Rihanna say it for me. The video I found has karaoke style lyrics so you can sing along, because that’s totally something you should do if you are reading this while sitting at work.

Oh, Obama… I hate that I love you so…

A couple of wrestlers, Paul Donahoe and Kenny Jordan, recently got in trouble at the University of Nebraska for posing on Fratmen.tv , a web site targeted at (gasp) gay men. Now they’ve been kicked off the team and are in some sort of crazy legal battle with the school over their actions.

One of my favorite parts of this “scandal” is how the assumed straightness of these athletes and the fact that the web site’s audience is primarily gay somehow adds to the moral outrage. If it was a porn site for women (they exist, right?), would the corn-fed Nebraskans be as outraged?

Whatever, the porn that they did seems pretty vanilla. I want to see a video of the whole team playing  gookie cookie together. Make it happen Fratmen.tv!

Free Paul Donahoe! He was just proud of body and wanted to show it off!

So Neil Patrick Harris appeared on The Early Show, and the interview was kind of an embarrassing train wreck for everyone BUT him.

[via Videogum. PS Linday is recently becoming my favorite blogger for her pro-feminism commentary delivered without snark]

I might just be being REALLY self righteous and touch here, but I’m pretty offended.  The entire tokenizing in a weird unspoken way. Like, they never say he’s gay but so much of their banter is predicated on certain gay stereotypes? For example, the way she starts telling him to rock his flamboyant Cabaret outfit for the Tony’s and in public? What? The subext: “OMG, NPH, it would be a great idea for you to be as flamboyant as possible in the way you represent yourself outside of a role because YOU ARE GAY and we want you to be our funny gay friend!!!”

Also, If he was straight no one would ever put a girl’s hairdo on him and assume he’ll identify Kate from John and Kate Plus 8 (a show I have never watched) as some sort of camp icon.They might have well said “Hey girlfriend, you wanna do Queen Helene Mint Julep Masks later and talk about men? I need tips about how I can have more comfortable anal sex? How do you guys do it!!!???!! Then we can get some Hagen Daaz and watch Extreme Home Makeover.”

The good thing to come out of this? NPH was totally articulate and attractive through the whole thing. I have a renewed crush on him for being such an elegant, non-hater.

(Full disclosure: I actually think mud masks, anal sex conversations and bad TV sounds like an awesome night and fun activity.)