Para espanol, press 1

If this glorious Web 2.0 has taught us anything, it's that life is not static. It changes. It evolves. And it's full of surprises. I submit for your consideration the two following examples.

1. My article about the dire condition of PlanetOut has been translated into Spanish. The translation posted at SerGay.com (caution: some adult content) amusingly changes my name to Josue Lynsen, but the article is most definitely that which appeared last week in the Washington Blade.

2. An article I wrote last year about bisexuality has been cited in a term paper. The paper, titled "Biphobia and Bisexual Erasure," repeatedly cites my article, "Coming Out Bi is Unique Challenge." I've only skimmed the paper as yet, but found it a thoughtful and telling piece. It explores many of the issues I raised in my article, and I highly recommend it.

I must say that it's simultaneously odd and fascinating to see my work used in this way. I'm accustomed to seeing people reprint, discuss or critique my work online. In our widely webbed world, that's par for the course.

But for two people to find my work important enough to translate into another language or cite in a term paper? That's just neat.

Articles de Joshua

Mass. judge validates marriages of 170 N.Y. couples
Ruling overturns ban imposed by Romney

Md. poised to grant DP benefits to state workers
Union proposal expected to win O’Malley’s support

Clinton, Edwards, Obama outline gay stances
Documents show broad support, some reservations

Worst...feature film...idea...ever

GAHHHH!

Worst...video game...idea...ever

AIEEEE!

A long time ago...

For those who've lost track of time, you might be interested to know it was 30 years ago today that George Lucas unleashed "Star Wars" on the world.

As many of my friends and family know, I loved the original trilogy as a child. I watched the 1977 film plus "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" repeatedly and often growing up. I had the toys, I knew the scipt, and I loved the soundtrack. I was a dedicated fan.

Things changed as I grew older. Many of my "Star Wars" toys were sold at garage sales. The brain cells I used to commit the script to memory were overwritten with slightly more important information. And the soundtrack, I found, wasn't quite as thrilling on the 342nd playthrough.

But despite my shaking of these fanboy coils, I remain a fan today. I still enjoy watching the movies. Maybe not as much as when I was 6 years old, mind you, but I still enjoy them.

So for what it's worth, Geroge Lucas, I say thank you. That fine adventure you gave us a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away is worth remembering and celebrating 30 years later. Here's to 30 more years of fun!

Josh's awesome articles from last week

'Face of homophobia' is dead
Falwell mobilized Christian voters, often by demonizing gays

Activists celebrate legislative wins across country
Majority of U.S. now covered by non-discrimination laws: report

And one that went up early this week...
PlanetOut faces deepening financial crisis
Experts say gay company has just months to turn business around

And people wonder why I'm a feminist

I'm not usually one to blog in the morning, or to blog about unpleasantries, but this really got to me.

Short summary: Joss Whedon, creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," wrote a blog post about the videotaped "honor killing" of a young woman in Iraq last month that was shown on CNN.

Our immediate response to this tragedy is often to shake our heads and wonder about what "backward" culture would do such a thing. The answer is "all cultures," in their own way, do this to women. You don't have to look far to find women tortured, abused, raped, or destroyed, just because of the fact that they were born women. Just because it isn't videotaped and shown on CNN doesn't mean it isn't happening. Violence against women is everywhere.

But our response of shaking our heads, maybe even increasing our awareness of the issue by poking around online, is not enough, as Joss notes. We have much, much more to do if anything is going to change.

"[I]t's no longer enough to be a decent person," he says. "It's no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself."

Read the story. Then go learn more about what you can do.

Michael Bay still hates me, my memories

As we truck closer to the July 4 release of Michael Bay's questionable rendition of "Transformers," I'm preparing myself for the worst.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm really concerned about where this movie is headed. Bay's taken a perfectly good toy line -- one that existed in many different but successful incarnations -- and transformed it into something that's darn near unrecognizable.

My previous rant, back in August, noted the unforgivable revamp given to series villain Megatron. But since then, things have only gotten worse. In a series of sacrilegious moves, the heroic Optimus Prime (original) has gotten his face plate removed (movie, fourth photo down); human liaison Bumblebee (original) communicates only via songs played on his car radio (movie); and the unstable antagonist Frenzy (original) looks like some kind of metallic Kate Moss (movie).

I still plan to see the movie, but only to support Peter Cullen, who so graciously extended birthday greetings to me. I hope that his performance will lessen the pain that Michael Bay insists on giving me... But I doubt it.

Sigh.

Not so Fantastic - UPDATED

Among my birthday gifts this year was a DVD-ROM that I had long desired: "44 Years of Fantastic Four." The disc contains more than 550 issues of my favorite comic book, all readable or printable via computer.

Following my busy weekend and work deadline, I finally had a chance Wednesday to take the disc for a test drive. Unfortunately, my experience was less than fantastic.

Despite our computer exceeding the system requirements, the disc is unusable. For some reason, our computer refuses to recognize the disc, giving the same error no matter how we try to resolve the problem.

Thinking the problem was with the disc, I contacted Amazon for a replacement, which arrived today. Sadly, the same problems are occurring with the new disc, leaving me quite confounded and very much unable to read those 550 issues.

I've e-mailed GitCorp, the company that produced the disc, and requested help. (I've received no response as yet.) I'll keep you posted.

-- UPDATE --

As it turns out, the DVD-ROM on our computer is tempermental. Although it reads some DVD-ROM discs that we own, it will not read "44 Years." We tried the disc in another computer and found that it worked fine.

So the short-term solution is that I read the disc via Annie's laptop. The long-term solution? Either we buy a new DVD-ROM drive or a new computer. Ouch.

Wii will... Wii will... rock you

I still don't own a Nintendo Wii. And I don't expect I will any time soon. Why? Because in addition to my previously expressed reservations, nobody has one to sell me. The systems continue to fly off store shelves.

Take a gander at these Wii sales figures, compliments of market research firm NPD Group...

>> Nov 06: 476,000 systems sold, Dec 06: 604,200 systems sold, Jan 07: 436,000 systems sold, Feb 07: 335,000 systems sold, Mar 07: 259,000 systems sold, Apr 07: 360,000 systems sold <<

Add it all up and you see Nintendo has sold 2.47 million Wii systems in the U.S. since the machine's November 2006 debut. Compare this to the Sony PlayStation 3, which debuted the same month...

>> Nov 06: 197,000 systems sold, Dec 06: 490,700 systems sold, Jan 07: 244,000 systems sold, Feb 07: 127,000 systems sold, Mar 07: 130,000 systems sold, Apr 07: 82,000 systems sold <<

The cumulative total -- 1.27 million units -- is about half of the Wii sales total. It's no wonder I see PS3 systems lingering on store shelves. Nobody wants them.

I likely will eventually purchase a Wii. As the library expands to include more games that interest me, it's inevitable that I'll reach a point where I simply must own one.

I just hope that whenever that time comes, I'll be able to find a store with some in stock.

Alas, poor trans fats, we hardly knew ye...

Montgomery County, Md. (i.e. where we live) has just become the first county in the nation to ban trans fats, following in the examples set by New York and Philadelphia. And apparently this ban is really going to suck for churches who do annual suppers.

The county's new health regulation will take effect in January for restaurants and other establishments serving food and in January 2009 for establishments offering baked goods, other than packaged goods made outside the county.

Sara Lee cakes, for example, will be exempt. Dunkin' Donuts, which bakes doughnuts in its stores daily, will have to comply. The annual church supper, which fits the county's definition of a food service establishment, would have to stop using trans fatty oils unless organizers get a waiver from the county health department. Foods with 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving are allowed.

Josh's newest articles

Plan to unite bi-national couples hits Congress
UAFA would enable gays to sponsor a foreign-born 'permanent partner'

Gay Republicans Look Ahead to '08

And once again, there's another story he wrote but hasn't been published online. Hopefully that issue will be resolved soon.

Birthday surprises galore!

To say that I had a happy birthday this weekend would be an understatement. I had an amazing birthday!

The fun and surprises began late Thursday afternoon when I met Annie for dinner at one of our favorite gathering spots, Capital City Brewing Co. As we walked into the eatery, she informed me that a couple of people had tagged along for dinner. I thought she meant some of her coworkers were joining us, but as we approached the booth, I found she'd meant something else entirely.

For my birthday, Annie had helped fly to D.C. two of our dearest friends from Rochester. I was stunned and speechless when two people sitting in the booth with menus before their faces were revealed to be Mark and Susan Lundberg. I was thrilled as Annie explained they'd be spending the weekend with us, giving us a chance to hang out and have fun, just like we used to in Minnesota. It was a one of the most thoughtful and touching gifts I'd ever received.

I'd previously arranged, upon Annie's request, to have Friday off work, so the four of us spent all day Friday and Saturday together catching up and exploring D.C. I enjoyed showing them around town, and they really enjoyed seeing the sights. Spending so much time together with Mark and Susan was fun, relaxing, and, dare I say it, just like old times.

Amazingly, though, Annie's gifts to me just kept coming. On the morning of my birthday, she handed me a present that must be seen to be believed. Check it out in all its gradeur at the provided link. And later that day, she took me to a party at Dave & Busters with many of our local friends. It was the first time we've had such a massive gathering since we moved here, and the night was full of fun and laughter. Thanks to all who attended and wished me well for my 30th trip around the sun!

Sunday, thankfully, was a slower day where the four of us mostly relaxed, watched movies and played games. It was a great day together in advance of Mark and Susan's departure at noon today.

I'm still reeling from such an eventuful and enjoyable weekend, but one thing's for sure. This birthday -- with all its surprises, gatherings and joys -- is one I'll never forget.

Making a pass

My family reacted quite strongly -- and proudly -- to the press accredidation I obtained last week. Here's a sampling of the comments I received...

From my mom:
"That seems to have happened amazingly quickly, don’t you think? That’s astounding!!"

From my uncle Roger:
"Impressive! Now...if he could just expose some of those liars and cheats..."

From my aunt Norma:
"WOW!!! Awsome !!! (Maybe he can straighten things out while he's over there too.)"

From my uncle Gordon:
"Wow...That's really impressive!"

From my aunt Monica:
"This is great! Now he will definitely be in the know."

From my aunt Florence:
"Congratulations to him. Soon he will be the president's press secretary."

The best things in life are free

There's no challenging the old adage. Truly, the best things in life are free. I submit as Exhibit A an event that occured today: Free Comic Book Day.

This annual day in which comic book shops across the country make available to customers free editions of certain mainstream and niche books is wonderful. Among the free books being handed out this year is an introductory issue of the Justice League of America, a standalone issue of Spider-Man, and even a special issue of Archie.

You can see all of the available books and learn more about the day at the Free Comic Book Day website.

Genius in its simplicity, Free Comic Book Day fosters a unique sense of community in stores across the country. It also entices people who have not yet discovered comics -- or who have long since left the comic scene -- to journey inside their local shop. It's the one day of the year when comic shops are bustling, if not bursting at the seams. Our local shop, Alliance Comics, was so crowded that navigating its two floors was somewhat challenging.

But, oh, the haul that Annie and I have to show for our trip is a glorious one! In addition to several Free Comic Book Day issues, I also grabbed a fistfull of free G.I. Joe and Transformers comics while she scooped up some Witchblade issues and several packs of free stationary. We're both looking forward now to kicking back, relaxing and enjoying a good read.

Free is good, my friends. Oh yes. Free is good.

A challenge for you, our readers!

...all 3 of you. ;-)

Josh is turning 30 next week, and we bought one of those "create your own banner" things. But we're at a loss for what to say with it. We've tried simply "Happy 30th Josh" and "Josh is 30," but the problem is that almost all those letters are blue and the banner looks blah. We want to say something more original, anyway.

So it's up to you, our mighty readership, to help us come up with a slogan. Here are the number of each letter we have to work with. Note that the letter "O" doubles as the number "0."

4 each - A, E, F, I
3 each - C, D, G, H, L, N, O, R, S, T
2 each - B, J, K, M, P, U, V, W, Y, Z
1 each - Q, X, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Get creative and post your suggestions in the comments! We'll let you know what we decide on.

New articles by Josh

Gill finds niche in results-oriented activism
Political group wins bipartisan praise for gay rights work

Activists preparing for Md. marriage ruling
Court likely to follow one of three paths

Gay issues back in focus after N.H., Iowa victories
’08 candidates forced to answer questions in key primary states

And they never posted the 2nd story from last week. Sorry, folks.

Amazing Art

Thanks to Smithsonian Magazine, I've recently discovered a couple of new artists to enjoy:

Robert Creamer does amazing nature photography with a flatbed scanner instead of a camera - check out a video of how he does it. I got to go see his photographs at the Museum of Natural History today, and it was amazing.

William Eggleston has been around awhile - in fact, he did the first major exhibition of color photography and literally legitimized it as an art form. The photo in this article is breathtaking.