October 28, 2011

It must BEE Halloween....

Each year for Halloween I "treat" the little furball to a new costume. I buy it, he wears it, I feed him treats and take pictures, and presto we are done for the year. My husband hates this idea.

In past years, Alfie has been Superdog, a pumpkin, and a cowboy. This year I initially bought a football player outfit, and then returned it because it was too small, and found something even better.

Here's a picture of my little bumble bee...



Unfortunately things did not start out so well; Alfie was initially not enamored of the bee costume, and apparently in no mood to pose for a cute picture in the black and yellow get-up.


And the hood with the ears was down almost immediately; how does he do that without hands?


As the little guy was not enjoying our game of dress-up, and I was not getting a good pic, Alfie showed me how to get him onside...

Staring off into the sun... or staring at the treat jar...



Quinn gets in on the treat action...


Now there's a happier looking dog!

October 26, 2011

Rick Mercer's Rant On Bullying...

Rick Mercer is a really big name here in Canada, as a comic/commentator and TV personality; he has a show called The Rick Mercer Report, where he is pretty much our version of Jon Stewart, though with slightly less politics and slightly more hang gliding with Jann Arden.

Mercer is known for his rants, and here is the latest one... a tough and touching piece on bullying and teen suicide, and a call out to gay leaders and politicians to step up and step out...



I can think of a couple of conservative MPs who allegedly should take this advice and come out...

October 25, 2011

Give A Shirt For Climate Change...

You gotta love when celebs, even the D-list ones you've never heard of, get eco-friendly... even when they get fake eco-friendly in a promo for their show. Kudos to this marketing department.

Here is a clever promo for the CW network (which I don't watch) and the new series Hart of Dixie (which I don't watch). Not that I am one to judge, but I am guessing Emmy is not going to be an issue here.... at least they have a sense of humour. Maybe Al Gore needs to work out more?

October 23, 2011

Brokeback Alfred & Howl-Oween...

Yes, I am one of those people... those people who dress up their pets. I do it on Halloween only, and my reasoning (rationalization) is that it is once a year, it is totally fun, and Alfie is so darn cute, who can resist?

Alfie is four now, and I will post pics for Halloween 2011 soon; in the meantime, here is a look back to the first three years....

Year One, Superdog... Alfie was six months old, and all of six pounds (he is just over 16 pounds all grown up)... the Lycra costume was so small it looked like it would squeeze a hamster. And yes the lesson even then was if he is looking at treats he will play along, otherwise no dice...


Year Two, Alfie as a pumpkin (the orange sweater has a Jack-O-Lantern face on the back)... it was easy as was a sweater, and I had him playing in the off-leash park to take the pics. And yes treats were involved...


Last year, Cowboy Alfred who was soon dubbed Village People Alfred, and ultimately titled Brokeback Alfred. He didn't mind the bandana, the hat was not such a hit. Until I started feeding him cheddar cheese, then he was a happy little furball and the hat was not an issue at all...

Do you dress up your pets for Halloween? Buy them birthday and Hannukah/Christmas presents? Treat them like kids? It can't be just me....


October 20, 2011

My horoscope is weird and creepy...

As a black-and-white sometimes overly pragmatic guy, I am not a big believer in things like fortune telling and horoscopes, though I added a daily horoscope to my twitter account out of curiosity and for entertainment value.

That being said, I am a Gemini, and I do tend to have two opinions on everything, which coworkers tend to call me on, especially when they are looking for one firm plan. Hey, I like to have options.

The other day this is what was tweeted out to me by the elves at tarot.com as my horoscope (okay the 'tarot' should have been a red flag)

It's difficult for you to slow down enough to sink into your emotions, especially if you're afraid of what you might discover. Once you let the distractions fade away, you could be pulled into the dark recesses of your imagination where a clever turn of phrase isn't sufficient to bring you back into the light. If, however, you have the courage to be patient, negativity will dissipate and you will return with treasures from your journey within.

Okay, now maybe I have been watching too many Criminal Minds serial killer marathons, but isn't this weird and creepy and disturbing? What the hell happened to horoscopes that talked about Oreos and bunnies and rainbows?

The dark recesses of my imagination? Afraid of what I might discover? Holy crap, what the hell is going to happen? Uh, oh yeah, I don't believe this stuff...

And the worst part of it: "...a clever turn of phrase isn't sufficient to bring you back into the light"... some days I get through life based on a big smile and a clever turn of phrase, what the hell am I gonna do now?

October 16, 2011

Star Trek actor Zachary Quinto comes out...

Huge congrats to actor Zachary Quinto, best knows for the TV show Heroes and especially as Mr. Spock in the Star Trek reboot, who just came out publicly as a gay man.

Quinto is producer and star of the upcoming film Margin Call, and reveals that he is gay in a new profile in New York Magazine. The star, 34, credits his role in the Broadway play Angels In America, in which he plays a gay man who leaves his AIDS-afflicted boyfriend, for helping to put him further in touch with the hopes felt and struggles faced by both gay and straight Americans, and discusses his political outlook for the rights movement.

Posting on his website today (www.zacharyquinto.com), Quinto writes:
when i found out that jamey rodemeyer killed himself - i felt deeply troubled. ... but in light of jamey's death - it became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it - is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality. our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay lesbian bisexual and transgendered citizen of this country. gay kids need to stop killing themselves because they are made to feel worthless by cruel and relentless bullying. parents need to teach their children principles of respect and acceptance. we are witnessing an enormous shift of collective consciousness throughout the world. we are at the precipice of great transformation within our culture and government...

So well said.. what more can I add?

On a non-Quinto note, if you haven't seen Angels in America, rent or buy the HBO production on DVD, it is one of the best things I have seen, period.

And to Mr Quinto, congrats on your bravery and honesty. This is a bold and inspiring move... and uh, we kind of knew it back when you played Tori Spelling's flamboyant best friend on the underrated series so noTORIous; not because you played gay, but because you were best friends with Tori Spelling....

October 11, 2011

Losing My Yoga Virginity....


"Melt into the floor.... relax..."

After talking about it for ages, K and I have jumped on the yoga bandwagon. We took our first yoga class this week; 12 people in the community centre at 7 on a weeknight, ages ranging from 30s to 70s, and yes we were the only dudes in the room.

Why? We want to exercise more, and if we take to this it gives us an activity to do together. Plus I'm all for a new experience, especially one that requires a preliminary shopping excursion at lululemon. Even it was for plastic mats that smell like tires.

The woman beside me warned I was going to make "old person" sounds. Ha! I thought, not me. Then there was assorted creaking and cracking during the 90-minute class. What the hell are those sounds? Oh. Me. Oops.

There were lots of beginners in the class, so the leader Brenda took it easy on us. She talked us though every step, and yes it was essentially stretching, with some twisty moves, and hidden in there some sort of lunges and squats disguised as harmless yoga poses. We did stuff on chairs and with blocks, and by midway through the 90-minute class it felt like a workout.

As unbendy and uncoordinated as I am, I followed the instructor pretty well, though I kept looking over to see how she was doing it; now I understand why real yoga studios have mirrors everywhere including the ceiling.

The class was a bunch of different poses with exotic names, the only one I remember is The Mountain. Brenda did come over and shift my body once, when we were supposed to be doing a relaxing move and I was apparently trying to do something cardio-ish.

The 90 minutes passed quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to cool down. I was surprised there was stuff on chairs, during which my only thought was please gawd don't fall off. Or at least don't fall off first. Yes, that was my ongoing worry. Besides the urge to fart. Is that normal for yoga?

Aside from the falling and farting worries, it was a good first round. I left the class pretty invigorated, and slept well. We will be back for more...

October 6, 2011

RIP Steve Jobs...


RIP Steve Jobs, a visionary without whom I wouldn't have my iPod, iPhone, iPad, a mouse attached to this computer, or those amazing Pixar movies....

At a Macworld Conference and Expo in 2007, Jobs used a hockey analogy to explain how he kept Apple’s products ahead of the curve. “There’s an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love: I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very, very beginning,” he said.

“Steve Jobs was the greatest inventor since Thomas Edison.
He put the world at our fingertips.”
- Steven Spielberg

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
– Steve Jobs

October 4, 2011

Sex Poncho: Packaging Gone Bad...

Sometimes product packaging is good, and sometimes it blows. Big deal. The fun stuff is when boring mundane packaging gets way more interesting by someone not paying attention to what stickers they are sticking where... sex poncho, anyone?







(pictures from happyplace.com)

October 2, 2011

Homophobic Transphobic Canadian Freaks...


I am fortunate as a gay man to live in Canada -- we have all kinds of anti-discrimination laws, I can can get married (did it!), I can serve in the army (uh, pass...), I can run for public office, I can blog about my gay life, I can make fun of Fox News...

And then sometimes you get a reminder from a hateful politician or small town redneck or big town newspaper that all is not so warm and fuzzy and friendly and safe.

This week The National Post, the more right wing of our two national newspapers (founded by felon Conrad Black), ran this offensive ad. It is from some group calling themselves The Institute for Canadian Values -- and it is about protecting our children from people who are different. This crap is just bigotry and ignorance. Would they print this if it was about Jews or Arabs? The uproar would be huge. This ad is just hateful, and yet there has been little uproar here, and I haven't seen any comeback from the paper.

The ad calls on the leaders of the three political parties to “stop teachers from confusing” children on issues of gender identity and expression. It revives a “StopCorruptingChildren.com” campaign that launched last year to protest proposed revisions to the physical and health education curriculum that would include more sex education for younger children, reports Xtra!, Canada’s LGBT newspaper. The ad quotes from a Toronto School Board curriculum document called “Challenging Homophobia and Heterosexism,” and implies that the optional lessons are mandatory. It is factually incorrect, and totally offensive. The National Post should be embarrassed, and apologize. I haven't seen either yet.

Fortunately, the website Kennethinthe212 found this clever response:



Oct 2 update: While The Toronto Sun has since reprinted this ad, The National Post has issued an apology: "The fact that we will not be publishing this ad again represents a recognition on our part that publishing it in the first place was a mistake. The National Post would like to apologize unreservedly to anyone who was offended by it. We will be taking steps to ensure that in future our procedures for vetting the content of advertising will be strictly adhered to."