Good Morning: Everything But The Girl, "Missing"

Actually, I Don't Find This To Be "Phat" In Any Way

Some people dig a phat ride! Some people dig a phat crib! But everybody digs a Phatsac!

Um, actually not. I don't know what's more revolting: the horrible techno music blaring on the website, the nasty name of the product, or the ugliness of the Phatsac itself. You may thank (or blame) Google Ads for bringing this to my attention, though I'm not sure what e-mail I was reading that triggered a Phatsac ad. NOTE: Skank not included.

Estelle Getty Dies at 84

Farewell, Sophia. We'll miss you terribly.

Philly.com Hates Homeless People

The Philly.com homepage is devoted to a non-story right now: homeless people.

Anyone who has lived here for at least a year knows that a) Philly has lots of homeless people, and b) there always seem to be more in the summertime, because the warm weather draws the homeless out of shelters and into the streets. This is nothing new, and I don't blame them for wanting to be outside, enjoying the warm months of the year like everyone else. But the great minds of our city's two major dailies, lacking anything more important to report, have apparently decided to try on a posture of cityphobic outrage this morning, with two stories, a poll, and a photo gallery (see the homeless in their native habitat!) devoted to understanding Our City's Homeless Scourge.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not exactly the world's most compassionate person when it comes to encountering homeless people - and no one should be doing it in Rittenhouse Square, homeless or not - but homeless people don't deserve the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom treatment they're getting on Philly.com right now.

UPDATE: Perhaps I'm wrong here. Even Rittenhouse Square itself seems to hate homeless people. (hat tip to Philebrity)

Good Morning: Madeline Kahn on "Sesame Street"

Ok. So I know I've posted a bunch of videos like this recently, but this one is too adorable not to post.

White, Powerlifting Offensive Linemen Weighing 311 or 313 Need Not Apply

Talk about a narrow fetish:

Scale will be provided. You must weigh exactly 312 lbs. SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY.

Your Vote Reflects Your Polling Place

Via Andrew Sullivan comes this interesting tidbit about the effect polling places have on voter behavior:

Jonah Berger, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of Business, conducted a terrific study where he demonstrates that where people vote affects how they vote. Essentially, people whose voting booth is located in a church are more likely to put more weight into social issues, people voting in fire houses care more about safety, and people voting in a school tend to put more weight on things like education.

Which makes me wonder: what does it mean if my polling place is a wallpaper store? Am I more likely to choose candidates who are aesthetically pleasing? Or whose names look nice printed on the ballot?

Good Morning: Liz Phair, "Stratford-on-Guy"

On Gay Bars: A Response to Eric Leven

Below is a comment I posted at Eric Leven's excellent blog KnuckleCrack.

I agree with pretty much everything that's been said here. The problem is, as Anonymous hints in the comments, we're now nearly 40 years past Stonewall, and queers don't have the same fight in us that we used to - because we've made an awful lot of progress during that time. Progress means being able to be out without fear, which means not all gays need spaces like bars and bathhouses to feel accepted and linked into a community.

There are other, non-queer-specific factors as well. U.S. cities, including New York and San Francisco, have experienced an incredible resurgence in the last 20 years or so. This drives up real estate prices, which has the effect of scattering gay communities, since higher expenses drive out those who can't afford them. We used to have downtown areas to ourselves because no one else would go near them. Now they're the hottest real estate there is. There's also the Internet, of course. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate on the effects of the Internet on gay culture to this crowd.

And frankly, there's the AIDS crisis. A bartender here in Philly told me a while back that two things were responsible for the demise of the most vibrant and crazy spots in town: the Internet and AIDS. AIDS killed off a huge number of our people - specifically, it killed the ones who remembered Stonewall, who remembered having to fight hard just to be out. They're also the ones who defined the scene during the 1970s and 1980s. When they died, the demographics and attitudes of gay people shifted dramatically.

There's also the effect of gay marriage, both as a concept and as a right. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Boston in the comments. Boston is a prime example of the death of gay culture. There are more gay bars in Providence, Rhode Island - a city 1/4 the size - than there are in Boston. Why? Gay marriage and the cost of living. Boston is super expensive to live in, and it happens to be in a state where gay marriage has been legal for years now. Gay culture has nearly died there because not enough people there need gay-specific spaces - at least not enough to pay Boston prices to live near them. Queers there are settling down, many in the suburbs, even if they're not getting married. The gay ghetto is nearly obsolete in Boston.

So on a certain level, we actually don't need gay bars – at least, not like we used to. And this is not something anyone else did to us, either. Things just changed, mostly for the better. If we need anything in terms of shared spaces, it's not more gay bars. It's better gay bars. Our current nightlife seems to me to be stuck in the past. Most gay bars – and there are exceptions, so don't get twisted here – are kind of all the same. But the ones that aren't the same are so refreshing that you wonder why you've put up with the places you've been going to. We need gay bars that reflect who and where we are now, not who and where we used to be.

Unfortunately, I'm going back to school in the fall, so one of you is gonna have to open one up.

Things I Like: July 18, 2008

Only having two weeks left at my job.

The debut of the fifth season of Project Runway!

Keith from the fifth season of Project Runway:


Hot damn. On a related note, guys who look like Bluto.

Apparently, I really like videos of Sesame Street or Muppets characters.

My coffee grinder, because it looks like R2D2:


Now that we seem to have entered the so-called dog days, gin and tonic.

Those insanely catchy Dunkin' Donuts jingles by They Might Be Giants.

And finally, the Pansy Division-Sex Dwarf two-for-one party at the Trocadero tonight.

This has been another installment of Things I Like. Bon appetit!

screengrab of Project Runway from the fabulously glamorous Project Rungay