The trailer for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series is pretty:
Texas Governor Abbott is cruel. (And thankfully his anti-trans policy has been, at least temporarily, halted) Chuck Tingle, famed writer, is a hero, who just so happened to purchase GovernorAbbott.com
Alright, catching up on a bit of a backlog in addition to some current items, but let’s see what we have today. First up, a favorite web comic/series, Surviving the World is returning with classic reposts! Here’s where he ended it. Class Dismissed.
Science news you can use: don’t drink your whiskey ‘neat’:
The United Methodist Church is splitting over gay issues. As someone who has come out of that on the other side, hey welcome, it’s a bumpy ride. Sorry you have to do this, it’s painful.
This fight (is still going on all across the country) happened in September in Arizona. Their GOP governor said they don’t need to extend non-discrimination protections to gay people, and their supreme court said businesses can deny service to gay people. The fight continues, and is seemingly never ending.
I wrote earlier about my displeasure at Marvel (and Star Wars) for LGBT erasure. The upcoming film, The Eternals, will, for the first time, feature a gay superhero (and kiss). Yes, it’s progress. Should it have taken 11 years? No.
In other movie news, the trailer for the new Wes Anderson film looks amazing:
The Catholic bishops in Texas have blasted their governor (who is Catholic)over his rule to not accept refugees. I’m highly, highly critical of the Catholic Church, so I have to give them points when it’s appropriate. Good for them.
Disney is announcing more details of their immersive Star Wars hotel for their resorts, and it looks amazing and I can’t wait to go!
Google pretty much hit it out of the park with their Superbowl ad:
I guess kind of a good story: a bigoted wedding venue changed their mind about barring a marriage when they couldn’t actually find proof in the bible that interracial marriage was a sin. They still block gay weddings, but hey, it’s nice to hear that they took the time to read and come to the right conclusion.
I could probably talk about this over at the King of Spades, but as it turns out, schools with anti-homophobia policies are safer…for all their students. Amazing.
But then again, according to Justice Scalia, we’re an “invented” minority, and thus don’t deserve equal rights.. I wonder when I first came into being?
And here’s the three articles that make me furious. An Iraq vet was booed at a city council meeting…because he’s gay.
A church in Tennessee kicks out a family…for supporting their daughter, who just happens to be a lesbian.
And lastly, an interracial couple gets assaulted, and has homophobic slurs thrown at them (they had been out with a gay friend), in New York City, which has this rash of homophobic attacks lately.
Well, this has been a depressing post. In happier news, I’m heading to a reading of “The Birdcage” tomorrow as a fundraiser for the Zoo (the flamingo enclosure, specifically), and this Saturday is the City of Play Festival. Come downtown to play some new games and run around downtown, it will be fun! And if the games aren’t fun, we’ll make it fun!
Alright, let’s see what I have going on today. First up, before the Windsor and Perry rulings by SCOTUS, the Voting Rights Act was gutted. Justice Ginsberg summed it up well:
Also in the news, was Wendy Davis, who, with the help of other Democrats and the citizens of Texas, filibustered an anti-choice bill in Texas. And while I think that so many of the “three strikes” used to stop her filibuster were Republicans stretching the rules, they still (generally) played by the rules, except for not voting on the third and then trying to change the congressional record to show they voted before midnight. But my favorite moment of the night was the fifteen minutes of the citizens screaming nonstop to stop the bill. Check out Slog’s coverage here.
A great ad via Norway (it’s okay if you only speak English):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBiW5WGtcTI
The ad campaign from Italy for their alzheimer’s foundation, brilliant and moving.
And what is being called the best coupon in history. If I wasn’t lactose-intolerant, I would agree.
A few more follow-ups from the DOMA and Prop 8 cases. YouTube put together their #ProudToLove campaign:
Dan Savage hits it out of the park with a few articles. First up, “I Can Die Now,” which gets to the heart of why the Windsor case was so important, and what people take for granted.
And while they didn’t lose a single thing, we can celebrate what we’ve won, including a man, thirty minutes after the rulings came out that was saved from being deported:
At 10:30 a.m. EDT this morning in a New York Immigration Court, attorneys from our law firm (Masliah Soloway) requested and were granted a continuance in removal (deportation) proceedings for a Colombian gay man married to an American citizen for whom we had filed a marriage-based green card petition last year. A copy of the 77-page Supreme Court decision in United States v. Windsor was delivered to the court by our summer intern, Gabe, who ran five blocks and made it in time for the decision to be submitted to the Immigration Judge and to serve a copy on the Immigration & Customs Enforcement Assistant Chief Counsel. DOMA is DEAD and it had its first impact on a binational couple within 30 minutes of the Supreme Court ruling.
And of course, if you haven’t heard yet, Brian Sims, who was trying to speak on the Pa. House floor about the rulings, was silenced by the representative from Cranberry. He’s garnered national attention for “speaking against God’s will” as the bigot from Cranberry said. He keeps pushing for a non-discrimination ordinance and marriage equality, we’ll see how far he can get.
Garfunkle and Oates are back with “The Loophole.” Sadly, this is a real thing, and they are of course, pointing out the absurdity of it. Not at all safe for work, or for easily offended eyes. But wroth it if you get to the end to see the list of other rules they ignore:
That’s it for today, but I’ll be back soon with more. Have a great one!
Alright, let’s see what we have today. First up, an awesome parody of the Cheerio’s ad:
If you didn’t see the news from E3, here is the trailer for the next Smash Bros game, which will include Mega Man!
So, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who helped to write the immigration reform currently working its way through Congress, will vote against it if it includes protections for the LGBT community. And in case that didn’t convince you he’s a total asshat, he also thinks people should be able to be fired based on their sexual orientation.
And Texas Governor Rick Perry thinks that we should be able to discriminate against non-Christians. Because Christians are a harassed minority, or something like that. Read Goldy’s piece, it’s well written.
I’ll have a longer post up soon, but Pittsburgh Pride was this weekend. This is not from Pittsburgh, but a great sign nonetheless. And it is great because the only way to respond to hatred sometimes is with childish humor:
Alright, let’s see what we have today. First up, for those enjoying the fourth season of Arrested Development, or in case you want to get caught up, there are two great summaries of the ongoing jokes here and here, and a good article at Nerve about what you learn about love from AD.
This is very scary, ice tsunami:
Wil Wheaton explains why it’s awesome to be a nerd. Check it out here.
I will never ride this (also because it’s in Texas):
I’m not a huge fan of the Pope, or the Catholic Church, but this new pope has made some good in-grounds. Including his comments here. Fun fact though: a crazy bigoted former coworker who is on his way to seminary, is freaking out because in his own mind, you can only go to heaven via the Catholic Church. You know, ignore the pope, his boss, because he doesn’t hate the same people he does. Sigh.
In case you’ve forgotten that public transportation is important, to everyone on the round, check this out.
Google Glass from the perspective of a two year old:
And in sad equality news, a baker has denied a cake to a lesbian couple for their wedding. For those curious, just substitute, say, “African American” before couple and see if it’s still bigoted, and illegal. Hint: it is.
This has been floating around, and it’s awesome. Sad that it needs to be posted, but awesome:
First up, the music video made from all stock footage:
If you haven’t seen it yet, the saddest map in America: by state, how most people post in Craiglist’s missed connections.
I’ve mentioned it before, but just a reminder, the Republicans are only okay with the Violence Against Women Act if it specifically doesn’t protect the LGBT community.
I talked about it before, but the AP has finally come to its senses and is using the accurate terms ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ for all married couples.
And the human jukeboxes:
Rob lays it out. Remember, if you exercise free speech for your faith (and the haters agree with you), it’s okay. But use that same free speech to disagree, and you’re satanic.