Filed by Bil at 4:58 pm under Fightin' Words, Stuff to Read
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I’ve been thinking about poetry lately. It’s true it sounds differently when you speak it aloud than when read inside your mind. It also sounds differently when you whisper it to yourself than when you shout it to a crowd.

I discovered the magic of whispering poetry quietly out loud for one’s own self this afternoon. I’m in the laundromat, and I whispered some poetry to myself between two noisy washing machines because I didn’t want anybody else to hear me. That would have been, you know, weird and embarrassing.

What I heard was mine and mine alone, and somehow it felt like now it existed in reality instead of just on a page. Funny, too, how it feels like if I knew anybody else had heard it, that would have depreciated the solidity of the words in the universe, as though if other people heard it, too, then it would have been just some collective dream instead of my own tangible experience. Funny, I say, because that’s pretty much the definition of crazy. But I know how I feel, and I won’t back down.

Also, I’ve discovered Darwin Deez. The weirdness and the beauty just keep coming.

Filed by Trevor at 11:52 pm under Fightin' Words, Gay Agenda, Gender Identity, Homophobia, Love
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“You’re such a sissy! What are you so afraid of? Then love the front of me, honey!” — Hedwig

I’m a total hypocrite. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I can say whatever comes to mind and you will know that we both have permission to take me with a grain of salt.

I dislike being gay. I realize that if I were a celebrity and had said this on national television, GLAAD would denounce me and Exodus International would use this as apparent proof of the feelings of self-loathing inherent in my deviant lifestyle, but as it usually is, the truth is much more complicated. I am not ashamed of the fact that I am romantically and sexually attracted to men, and I am not ashamed to be truthful about this. So I amend my statement: I dislike that being gay prevents me from having close, non-romantic, totally platonic friendships with straight men without the lingering suspicion that I am harboring much deeper feelings. I would even go so far as to say I hate this fact. In short: I want to be just one of the guys.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 3:49 pm under Fightin' Words, Politics, Social Issues
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I swear we’re not seeking out educational links, so this is the last one for now.

Pretty much the best news I’ve heard in a long time:

Obama Wants ‘No Child Left Behind’ Law Overhauled

That’s right. The No Child Left Behind law is being expelled.

Filed by Bil at 2:59 pm under Fightin' Words, Love, Politics, Shameless Plugs, The Arts
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It appears that Lance was blogging about education at the same time I was last night, only his was finished a little while before mine, so if anyone was too distracted by Pink Floyd, please take a moment and also read up on what Lance has to say.

Now that you’ve read that post and have returned here, I wanted to give a quick shout-out to Elephant & Worm, an educational theatre company that “brings kids together with professional actors, artists, and writers to take original stories written by children and turn them into plays, movies, and songs!” Fellow Dream Theatre Company member Judith Lesser is heavily involved in this company, and you know if someone from Dream Theatre is involved, it must be great!

Kudos to all involved in education at all ages, because education should never stop. Never ever.

Filed by Bil at 12:21 am under Fightin' Words, Politics, Shameless Plugs, The Arts, The Media
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Education reform has been a very popular notion for a very long time.

Jeff Jarvis, author of one of my favorite blogs, BuzzMachine, recently posted an article titled TEDxNYed: This is bullshit – it is a rant about, among other things, the state of our educational system, and it’s a fairly brilliant comparison to the state of journalism. In one sweeping, somewhat angry blog post, he wrote three of the most fabulous things I’ve read in a blog all year:

1) Just as journalists must become more curator than creator, so must educators.
2) I’ll give the same advice to the academy that I give to news media: Do what you do best and link to the rest.
3) We must stop looking at education as a product – in which we turn out every student giving the same answer – to a process, in which every student looks for new answers. Life is a beta.

He starts the post out by acknowledging the irony of him up on a virtual soapbox, dictating that we ought not be dictated to, so I’m going to take him up on what I perceive to be an invitation to respectfully disagree (even if just to a small degree).
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Lance at 2:36 pm under Fightin' Words, General, Hatemail, Shameless Plugs, The Arts
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Tip Your Waiter is hosting a recording session for our ongoing, collaborative project called Hatemail on the last Sunday of every month, and here’s what happening this time around:
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Trevor at 2:05 pm under Fightin' Words, Politics
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This is an impulse post if there ever was one, and if you haven’t watched the video on Bil’s earlier one, do so now.

I spend a fair bit of time worrying about the state of things, especially as world leaders gather more and more power into their claws with the deft use of fear and intimidation. Thus, the video below gives me hope — a sign that there are some politicians yet that still have the grapes to stand up for themselves and the sovereignty of their nation. Plus it’s kind of funny.

Some background info first, though, as best as I understand things. Herman van Rompuy recently was unilaterally appointed “President of Europe”, an office I found to be little disturbing, but the appointment fitting enough as Belgium was one of the founding members of the EU. And now, what someone who knows far more than I has to say on the subject:

Filed by Bil at 8:08 pm under Fightin' Words, Shameless Plugs, The Media
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First things first:

Click to help bring an independent film to theatres!

I want to say right now that I don’t know any of these people. I have only a vague idea of what the movie is about, and I have absolutely no idea at all if the film is any good. However, this is just such an ingenious marketing idea that I want to see it succeed. If nothing else, it’s an interesting experiment in the usefulness of social media and internet marketing.

Building off of that, I want to turn your attention now to an earlier blog post from this same blog:

Must Filmmakers be Businessmen?
One of the ideas that drives me to marry entrepreneurism with my creative interests is the observation that studios are becoming so risk adverse, that the rewards of producing original content will soon be exclusively in the hands of individuals with the vision and the cajones to take the risk on themselves.
According to this article in the Hollywood Reporter, the same is becoming true in the distribution market - even for wide releases!
This process will only continue, as shareholders drive the studios into more and more conservative investments and social media changes the marketing landscape. What we’re seeing now is only the beginning.

(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 10:20 pm under Fightin' Words, Homophobia, Politics, The Media
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Well this is just incredible:

For 5 days, 5 Journalists will only source news from Twitter and Facebook to test quality of news.

This is bound to be a fascinating little experiment, and I am eager to read the results.

>> Update: you can follow the journalists here.

Speaking of breaking news via Twitter, I’ve been sitting at my computer for like half an hour now just watching the real-time tweet feed come in on the Prop 8 trial in California. For all of you on Twitter, just search #prop8 (or click this link) and sit still for ten seconds. You’ll see. They won’t stop coming.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 8:56 pm under Fightin' Words, Love
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This music video doesn’t really have anything to do with anything, I just find it enormously entertaining.
(Keep reading…)