Zombie

It was a throwaway line referencing typical endgame exchanges I’ve seen Social media - it’s commonly used in, er, social media…

Smokers Not in the “developed” world, but this is negated by the reverse lottery mentality “it won’t happen to me” (kinda like STDs + HIV?) plus the desire to do what your mum + dad don’t - and they probably don’t smoke ‘cos their mum’s + dads did . Which leaves everywhere else, the “developing” world, for Big Tobacco nicotine-addiction-pushing Big Profits because healthcare education / awareness is so lacking. Obese people SM + MSM is awash with “big celebrities” promoting their body image as “successful role models” + trashing criticism (however measured + rational) as “Fat Shaming”, and who (together with their followers) reject any suggestion of personal choices + responsibility being causal (and heaven forbid any personal “blame”…) I don’t buy it’s “instinctual” I think it’s conditioning. We are all conditioned in our beliefs + attitudes by the environment in which we grow up. And in your case that probably included experiencing constant disapproval /condemnation /mocking by family+friends of anyone “gay” in any way, maybe also reinforced in your country by fear if gay sex was a criminal offence and reading / hearing about people being prosecuted and jailed?

surely BAU for US MSM companies where it’s just another product line produced by a production line? don’t think I’ll be watching

creatures with beaks can’t mutter …but they can give a nasty peck

there’s a lot of nefarious purloining goes on in a particular thread on this site

If I don’t fess up in this particular thread I never will. I used to be a prolific reader here (+other sites) and would give regular feedback. But, as has been noted, feedback is pretty much relentlessly enthusiastic (or at least it was in the stories I was reading) and this seemed to be expected. I’m not a demonstrative person anyway, so relentless enthusiasm would give me cognitive dissonance Even with excellent, highly engaging stories there would be elements that disappoint (writing, plot, characters etc) - but these writers were giving me their work free, gratis and for nothing so wouldn’t it be churlish to be negative? The few times I steeled myself to venture “constructive feedback” in comments or PM the response (or lack of) was thanks, but no thanks. So at some point I stopped giving feedback. Then I felt bad about not giving feedback. Then I just stopped reading here. I know this wasn’t the only reason I stopped (other factors were in play), but it was contributory. I still love the GA site and happily post “community” stuff, but this is a story website and I can fully understand if some would see me as a parasite. Anyway, like I said, I felt I should make this confession.

drunkards think no one notices

actually Shakespeare was a very popular entertainer, earning good income from “ticket sales” to ordinary folk (but also a good businessman, exploiting his talent through theatre ownership and property investment - “managing your business” is definitely a key factor for successful authors) And if writers are popular on GA that’s a definite positive if the creator is looking to move into “ticket sales”

Cory Henry’s version of “Stayin’ Alive”, written 47 years ago for the movie “Saturday Night Fever” by the Bee Gees Factoid - Stayin’ Alive was used in training for healthcare workers to give the correct number of chest compressions per minute while performing CPR

“governing MPs… ‘culture wars’” No, this is not the govt’s ‘culture war’, this is a societal division which the govt has noted. And it should also be noted that the govt invoking the Scotland Act 1998 in order to block the Scotland Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) bill was a constitutional necessity because the Scottish govt was acting ultra vires (later upheld by the Supreme Court) and in the Commons vote all the opposition Labour MPs abstained - except for 11 Labour MPs who voted to support the govt (which indicates that societal division is reflected in Parliament). ”the loopholes in their ban” I haven’t seen the amended draft bill but my understanding is you were correct in your OP about there being one significant “loophole” regarding the freedom for adults to choose if they want to undergo sexuality “conversion therapy”. However, my view is that adults should generally have the right to choose how to live their lives. Also the law is in a mess: the landmark 1993 decision against individuals’ rights to submit to physical pain and minor injury in BDSM sex was only a 3 to 2 majority and has been widely criticised ever since (and conflicts with a later decision upholding this right in ‘heteronormative’ sex); consented cosmetic surgery can be both unnecessary and cause significant physical harm yet remains legal; circumcision for non-medical reasons permanently mutilates male genitals of infants/children who cannot give consent; and so on. You could make similar arguments with personal choice about drinking or against gambling - we know these cause significant harm (drinking alcohol ruins more lives than illegal drugs) and yet the Labour govt in the 2000s actually deregulated gambling prohibition laws knowing full well the extensive financial and mental harm this would cause to thousands of individuals and society - which it has done. ”Evangelical Christian lobby” I haven’t seen voting details on religious lines for the House of Lords (which contains representatives from all major UK religions) or individual Commons MPs with strong religious convictions. The Prime Minister is, of course, a practising Hindu, so it would be interesting to see how he and other religious leaders/MPs in govt + opposition parties vote on religious matters.

good thing @Slytherin doesn’t read these threads

I suspect most MPs accept homosexual attraction is innate, whereas gender is a human construct, which is likely why the govt’s proposed legislation to ban “gay conversion therapy” only deals with sexuality

A.D. Alain Delon - allegedly Surely the prettiest actor in cinema history? He starred as Tom Ripley in Plein Soleil (Purple Noon), René Clément’s 1960 version (many would say the best version - apart from the ending) of Patricia Highsmith’s novel. Rumours of a gay relationship when be was young are consistent with the Greif timescale - plus, being declared “as beautiful as Brigitte Bardot” he’s just gotta be gay hasn’t he?!? Now 87 he apparently has one more project in mind https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/queer-now-1960/

but we’re not predators we’re exterminators

…you can use these

in his defence, the butler posits…

Is Ivor Novello listed for 15 January (born 1893)?

some birds (that can fly) have lurid plumage to attract attention while others (that can’t) attract attention in other ways

Shame companies no longer have stationery cupboards which were like a sweet shop with all those brightly coloured highlighter pens just asking to be peculated…

some people we want to be soporific - like anaesthetists

Some “educated guesses” S. D. Salvador Dali L. B. Leonard Bernstein V. H. Vladimir Horowitz R. McD. Roddy McDowell

..and also to frighten small children

Ah, so it wasn’t Cary Grant? In which case I’m stumped Thornton Wilder’s sister (who sounds like a nice piece of work) might have engaged a whole pack of legal Rottweilers but I don’t think there’s anything they could have done about Greif “naming” TW after his death because it’s a common law rule that dead people can’t sue (their estate can in some cases, but only if the coffin customer had already initiated legal action before making their one-way trip to the Pearly Gates). Reading the Wiki page, it says that 6 years after TW’s death (which would be 1981-2) the writer/tattoo artist/pornographer Samuel Steward (wow, he led an interesting life! ) wrote in his autobiography that he had sex with TW so it seems there was more than just nods+winks (see Personal Life section), and this gay website describes him as a “discreet homosexual, his sexual proclivities were kept far out of the limelight”: http://www.glbtqarchive.com/literature/wilder_t_L.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Wilder#Personal_life Also worth reading the Samuel Steward page - ‘Life and career’ section https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Steward#Bibliography Cleveland law firm webpage: https://www.minclaw.com/legal-resource-center/what-is-defamation/can-dead-people-defamed/#:~:text=Likewise%2C the estate of a,been defamed by the statements.

Well, the dead can’t sue so I’m guessing these were all still alive when this book was written (in the 80s?) and I recently watched a doc on Cary Grant and his “best friend” and he died 1986… Interestingly, Amazon’s listing includes this statement from Greif’s nephew: I am the nephew of writer MARTIN GREIF. My uncle, who had a wonderful career and an exciting life, died of Aids near his home in Ireland in November 1996. The book many people will remember Martin for is Gay Book of Days, a personal favorite of his. Often asked to write an updated version, it was something he was giving considerable thought to during the 90s, but unfortunately he never got beyond the planning stages of an assualt on further research. Though a private person who never let on to even his closest family that he had the disease, it has been reasoned that, in death, others could benefit from knowledge of what took him from us...for indeed it has taken many of the people written about in Gay Book of Days. By the way: Gay Book of Days is a hilarious, irreverant and highly entertaining read for anyone.....Cheers, ERIC GREIF