As the media froths up the public in another frenzy over the H1N1 shots what ends up playing out across the nation is a naked view of the power of wealth and privilege. Why is it surprising that individuals who are not in high risk categories are able to access a limited supply of flu shots? Capitalism places value on the ability to access such stocks in a time of high demand and low supply. At the same time the media presents an unbalanced view of the need for these shots in order to fill their unending need to fill airtime. Those with access to power and wealth are not the only ones to blame, those lining up for the shots are often well outside of the categories who are eligible for the shots. But when the media fosters an environment of fear everyone puts their own needs first. Mixed together we end up with a culture of self-obsessed individuals behaving badly, like those at airports, pushing themselves forward in the name of egoism and greed.
This weekend were finally able to make it to Lowes to pick up a simple, colonial-inspired medallion for the kitchen ceiling. Over the past couple of weeks I had scoured every home store in Toronto looking for a really nice simple medallion and all I ever found were over-embellished, garish styles that would be too strong a statement in the kitchen. In the end Lowes was the only place that had the medallion we liked and we spent Sunday morning putting it and our new chandelier up and it turned out lovely. The chandelier is light and airy and is such an improvement over the old set of 80s track lighting.
From Fleggard in Denmark (found on Fleshbot Gay) a really sexy commercial. Lucky Danes, why can't we have more commercials like this?
And from the Wooly Pocket Garden Company, plant containers made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. A great way to recycle and at the same time provide a place for plants to grow.
I have accomplished little over the past couple of days. Sometimes everything works out and a whole host of projects can be completed, allowing me to bask in the glow of accomplishment and other times nothing works, leaving me feeling dejected and lost. I tried using some of the european-styled hinges we salvaged from the upstair closets to afix the found mirror to the basement bathroom, but it just didn't look like I hoped. I still need to find something to close off the space as the air from the unconditioned crawl space is really cold and not pretty to look at.
On the reading front my 1st New York Review of Books arrived. After years of purchasing it at local bookstores I decided to order it and have it delivered. It means a small financial saving and it is a luxury discovering it in my mailbox. I have also been reading Russell Shorto'sDescartes Bones: A Skeletal History of the conflict between faith and reason(New York: Doubleday, 2008). Shorto using the journey of Descartes bones across Europe as a starting point for discussing larger issues about the Enlightenment and the birth of modernism. He is able to weave together an intoxicating narrative that is enjoyable and informative. He writes in a similar manner to Christopher Benfey, Michael Pollan and Tim Falconer, using one subject to launch into a much broader cultural history. His writing and style is welcome breath of fresh air after some of the plodding books I have been reading due to a lack of good reading material.
The past couple of days I have been puttering around the house trying to get a host of projects completed (at the same time savouring the new DIY network and all its handy hints for completing projects). Every time I get close to finishing a project I run into a roadblock, either unexpected costs or a car to retrieve items unavailable at local hardware stores. Because we are in downtown Toronto there are few options beyond a Home Depot on the streetcar line at Gerard Square. All the other big box home stores are located in areas readily accessible only for those with cars. Although I do have access to Zipcars in a pinch, $ 12.00 for an hour to pick up some moulding often seems a little ridiculous.
In the basement I used up some of the mould and mildew paint left by the previous owner to apply a nice clean coat of white to the walls and the ceiling. We don't have an exhaust fan in the basement bathroom (something that will need to be added in the future) and the paint will help deter any humidity problems. On the weekend we found a wonderful old hinged bathroom mirror that will serve as the perfect cover for the entrance to the crawlspace. It has been sanded down and only needs some rusted hinges to come off before it can be measured for installation. At the same time I have been thinking about how to address the tiles in the bathroom. The subway tiles were installed on their end (probably to increase the perceived height of the room) but standing on their ends they don't have a finished edge. I had been thinking about buying a porcelain chair rail but the cost and the installation issues have held me back. However, today it occurred to me to use a pre-built beadboard chair-rail instead. It would finish the tiles, it would be cheaper and easier to install than a porcelain chair rail and would look really nice. At the same time I have been thinking about adding bead board wainscoting to the laundry room. Again the walls have always looked a little worn and tired and a little bit of bead board with some nice baseboards and a chair rail could go a long way to make the space appear more finished than it actually is.
Once that is done, all that needs to be addressed is replacing the rather dated lighting. Our vanity light is one of those 80s Hollywood type bubble strips and in the shower area there is some 80s track lighting. Both need to be replaced and I have been hunting for fixtures that would be inexpensive and also attractive for the space. Searching for lighting is always difficult. It is wonderful to be able to see everything displayed in the big box stores but the scale of the stores and the fact that so many are displayed together makes it hard to imagine what it will look like in a more confined and less well lit space. In the end there is always that leap of faith that something will look good. To achieve the best result possible I spend a lot of time looking and checking until I cannot see the space without that particular object, and then I know I have found the right fixture for the space.
Chrome and Glass Opal Fixture (Love the porcelain look for the light over the vanity)
Good Earth from Glencoe Lighting at Lowes (I like the nautical look of this fixture for the shower area)
The New York Post on page 6 continues gossip about Anderson Cooper's sexuality. Like many who have come before he never speaks publicaly about his sexuality yet lives in an open manner. Lets face it, he's far too sexy to be straight, and the son of Gloria Vanderbilt, please! The folks over at Gawker are calling for him to come out, but who is he harming. Outing is one of those sensitive issues that should be raised when a public figure by his actions brings harm to the gay and lesbian community. Otherwise let them be. Calls to out everyone in the public eye irregardless of who they are and what they do smacks to much of holier than thou evangelical egoism. Let the guy be and we might get some sexy photos of him and Benji knoodling on the beach and then figure out what position he plays?
"Anderson Cooper has been consoling himself over falling ratings by living it up in Jaipur, India, at one of the world's most opulent hotels. The CNN star was spotted Tuesday with his muscular friend, Benjamin Maisani, an owner of East Village bar Eastern Bloc, at the Rambagh Palace, named the best hotel in the world by Conde Nast Traveler. Cooper's $3,200-a-night room features a four-poster mahogany bed and views of the gardens of the former Maharaja palace. Our source said, "Anderson's room has a large round bathtub. On the first night it was filled with bubbles and sprinkled with red rose petals." CNN declined to comment."
On a whole other gay front I picked up the only biography of Paul Lynde that I could find at my public library Center Square: The Paul Lynde Story (San Francisco: Advocate, 2005). Written by Joe Florenski and Steve Wilson the book is one of those quick, slapdash efforts pushed out by presses to capitalize on the popularity of a celebrity. Although poorly written and thrown together by pasting selections from biographies of others the subject is too entertaining. After discovering the Paul Lynde Halloween Special last week I remembered how much I adored him as a child. Growing up in a small town anyone in the media spotlight who was campy, or over the top always caught my attention and like many a gay child I was enthralled with his antics on Bewitched and anticipated any of his guest appearances on any other shows. Although caustic and bitchy his sense of humour came from a place I understood. Reading the biography it is not surprising to discover he enjoyed the booze and that the humour that gave him celebrity proved a double edged blade that could skewer anyone at anytime. While Florenski is certainly a fan of his subject it would be nice to a biography that situated Lynde's particular form of humour and his popularity with a generation of gays and lesbians in a larger cultural context (something similar to Irene Gammel'sBaroness Elsa would be so exciting).
On Sunday T and I decided to tackle another room in our quest to paint the whole house. We decided on the middle bedroom (the office) as the room has little in it and the walls didn't need much preparation. The most amazing thing about painting is how quickly a drab and dull ceiling is transformed by a little paint. It makes the room look quickly look better and brighter. As the back and front bedrooms will eventually both be washed in light blues we opted for a light beige, named Moroccan Sand from Pittsburgh Paints. When looking at paint chips it is always hard to decide on which colour to choose and I usually cut out a group of chips and tape them to the wall to get an idea about which one I like the best. It takes time to decide, looking at the colour in various kinds of light and the Moroccan Sand was the one colour that seemed the best to brighten the room while not being to light. We spent the better part of the day prepping and painting (2 coats on the ceiling and the walls) but still have to finish the primed trim that came with our new floors.
To escape the smell of the paint we went for a walk through Chinatown on the search for a planter for T's money tree. His room will be painted a beautiful soft blue and we found a lovely blue-white patterned Chinese porcelain planter that will look lovely in his room. While wandering through Chinatown we found a Chinese restaurant that served Northeastern inspired Chinese food (something I have been missing) and decided to try it out. The food was less than inspired and not at all what I expected. One of my favourite dishes from my time in Beijing was Kung Pao (shrimp) and I was hoping to find something reminiscent. But alas the dish didn't bring back any the warm memories leaving us disappointed but sure we would not be returning to that particular restaurant. The quest continues for Beijing-styled food in the downtown area.
For Halloween T and stayed home until 8ish to hand out candies to all the little ghouls and goblins and then walked over to Church Street to check out the costumes. As has been usual for the past couple of years there were more looky-loos and gawkers than those in costume but it is always the best place to catch a glimpse of anything cutting edge and creative. Almost everyone on the street seemed to have a camera, snapping away like a group of Asian tourists at everyone in costume. I love seeing costumes that are creative and innovative, especially when they are not store bought and show some real thought. The first to catch my eye was someone carrying a clear bubble umbrella dressed up to look like a jellyfish. Really fun and a great use of materials and a wonderful idea. Would have been nice paired with some of the characters from Finding Nemo, but fun none the less. Most straight people never seem to get how to dress appropriately, either depending on a store bought mask or opting for something strange and odd that is difficult to identify. After all costuming is about the art of illusion. One should be able on first glance to get what the costumer is trying to convey. If it takes too much thought or head scratching the costume has failed. A number of costumes left me confused about what the person was supposed to be. Often it was because the costume had been cobbled together too quickly, or often with little thought about what it was they were supposed to be. I have never been a big fan of zombies and they seem to be the costume of choice these days as they are easy to throw together.
However, one of the most entertaining, although most certainly store fabricated was a giant clear bubble that was labeled the H1N1 virus (there were a couple of swine flu costumes). But in this one, someone was walking inside a giant bubble virus making the street part as he rolled along inside his giant sized microbe. It was really creative and fun, but would make it difficult to go anywhere but Church Street (or the toilet?). We hung out for about an hour, but the cold was getting to me and my tooth began to hurt so we began our trek home, spotting on the way an entertaining Queen Elizabeth and a palace guard. Hopefully more photos show up in the blogsphere over the next couple of days as everyone rushes home with their cameras. A great way to pass the magic night of Halloween.
Not quite sure how to define myself. Its easier to leave that to others. I have always been driven by desire. In relation to love, lust and life. In fact I can’t remember a time when desire, sexuality and eroticism didn’t define who I was and what I wanted to be. I have spent my life searching out experiences, no matter where, when and how. I’m the guy who wanders into dark alleys seeking out what is hidden away from the light of day.
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As the media froths up the public in another frenzy over the H1N1 shots what ends up playing out across the nation is a naked view of the power of wealth and privilege. Why is it surprising that individuals who are not in high risk categories are able to access a limited supply of flu shots? Capitalism places value on the ability to access such stocks in a time of high demand and low supply. At the same time the media presents an unbalanced view of the need for these shots in order to fill their unending need to fill airtime. Those with access to power and wealth are not the only ones to blame, those lining up for the shots are often well outside of the categories who are eligible for the shots. But when the media fosters an environment of fear everyone puts their own needs first. Mixed together we end up with a culture of self-obsessed individuals behaving badly, like those at airports, pushing themselves forward in the name of egoism and greed.
