Former Member

Sequel? ;–)

[The Reader View in Firefox fixes the varying font size problem, but something in the way your programs interact with the GA software prevents Safari from recognizing the text properly so Reader View isn’t available.] Erik got the very best birthday gift from Toby ever! I think Toby would sound kind of flat, the way most hearing impaired people do when they speak because they don’t know how to vary their voice to get the expressiveness that hearing people use automatically. It’s comparable to the flatness of written text. Sarcasm* that’s apparent when you hear someone speak is difficult to convey in text, for example. * Naturally I use sarcasm as my example since I’m such a sarcastic person. ;–)

The annual film festival runs from June 20-30 this year. A few days ago, thirteen programs were announced, the Opening and Closing Night Programs, four Centerpiece Programs, and seven featured Programs. Opening Night: Vita & Virginia Closing Night: Gay Chorus Deep South Centerpiece Documentary: Sid & Judy Centerpiece World Cinema: Temblores (Tremors) Centerpiece US Feature: Before You Know It Centerpiece Episodic: A Luv Tale: The Series Showcase: Bit Showcase: End of the Century (Fin de siglo) Special Presentation: Kinky Boots: The Musical World Cinema: Kattumaram (Catamaran) Documentary: Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts [This image was proactively omitted due to Google’s restrictions on pictures of scantily clothed people even though no genitalia was visible.] Documentary: You Don’t Nomi Youth Shorts Program: Coming Up Queer – Shorts Program This is just a sampling of the highlights of the hundreds of movies, documentaries, and shorts that will be screened in five theaters in three cities in two counties over the eleven days. The programmers of the festival go to great lengths to depict as many different variations of the various aspects of the LGBTQ+ community as possible. Every year I see movies that surprise and enlighten me about a part of the community I either have never heard of or no little about. I usually get to see documentaries or historical narratives that teach me about our often hidden or lost history. For me, it’s a week-and-a-half immersion into all things LGBTQ+! More details and my thoughts on the movies I see will be posted in The Pit (due to the political content of some programs). I will post a link after I create the Topic. The Pit is a closed club, but I believe you can request to join. If you will be attending Frameline43 and want to meet someone else from GA, PM me! ;–)

Thank you for fixing the title!

I’m glad Your Imperial Highness approves. ;–)

Much of what we inherited from England is seen as normal and average. California is at the crossroads between Asia/Pacific, Latin/Hispanic influences and European and African influences. English things (other than your royalty and your weird foods like jellied eels, haggis, fish fingers in custard, etc) are not seen as particularly exotic. ;–)

We have those too. I’m not an expert on the terminology, but I think we usually call those breakfast sausages. And my impression is that bratwurst is usually grilled whole on a barbecue grill. Linguisa needs to be cooked too. We probably have a droughtquake-doesn’t-eat-those-very-often-so-he-doesn’t-pay-much-attention-to-them problem! ;–)

In this area, we have all sorts of sausages. The Bay Area and Hawaii had immigrants from Portugal, mostly fisherman, who brought some of their cuisine with them Lots of Hawaiians (Native and otherwise) have settled in the Bay Area. Safeway (which has stores in both regions) sells Hawaiian Portuguese Sausage (aka Linguisa). We also have the usual deli sausages (salami, pepperoni, mortadella, etc). I’m sure there are high-end sausage-makers in the Bay Area, but as I said before, I avoid the category (and cannot afford most high-end items). The Portuguese also inspired King’s Hawaiian Sweet Bread, a variation of Portuguese Sweet Bread. This was bread the fisherman took with them because it remained edible longer than regular breads. I believe the Hawaiian version is fluffier than the original.

Sausages, including hot dogs, include all sorts of things I wouldn’t choose to eat. Even Hebrew National (‘We answer to a higher authority’ – owned by ConAgra Foods and not considered Kosher by all) includes ingredients I question. So I generally avoid sausages as a category. (And yet I eat plenty of other things with unsavory ingredients!) ;–)

Why do women need men nowadays? Certainly not to prove strength, determination and independence anymore. Men are needed only for love affairs and for physical relaxation. —Donatello Versace

RIP Peter Mayhew (1944-2019) Yum, Peter Davison!

Okay, this is a whole 90 minute show, not a song, but I just finished watching the Gloria & Emilio Estefan Library of Congress special on PBS (probably only accessible within the US and is only available until the end of May 2019). There were some fun things like Cyndi Lauper & Patti LaBelle singing a duet of a Gloria Estefan song, Rita Moreno singing a Spanish translation of Somewhere, and a Brazilian version of Conga. While trying to find individual songs from the special, I found out that longtime LGBTQ allies Gloria & Emilio’s daughter has a girlfriend! ;–)

But some of the ingredients have suspiciously undecipherable names that hide their actual content. MSG isn’t listed in the ingredients of a McNugget, but it’s there hiding inside a different item. In the US, fast food restaurants have to have the ingredients and nutritional values available. They now have to list calorie contents on the menu too. I don’t really want to know, but I try to avoid the worst menu items and don’t eat fast food very often. ;–)

I followed the format even if it didn’t make a lot of sense.

A small study in the US found that chicken nuggets were around 40-50% chicken meat with some unsavory parts of a chicken, including fat and bone, also present. Some of what you think is chicken is actually a processed form of yeast. It is not as healthy as they’d like you to think it is.

It is very easy for me to let my world shrink down to just a few places I visit on a regular basis since I don’t have a car. I realized that when I had a car, I didn't feel like I had ‘permission’ to drive around just exploring. I don’t know who or what I would have needed to ask either. When I was in my twenties, I did drive around a lot just because I could and never asked anyone for permission. I don’t know what changed. ;–) I do get around to a larger range of places than Eric, though. Every year, I attend Frameline LGBTQ film festival in San Francisco, 90-150 minutes away by transit (probably half that time by car!). I also take the train to visit relatives for the two big holidays at the end of the year (3-4 hours by transit or about 90 minutes by car). But unlike Eric, no matter how old I get, I’ll still have to pay to ride the bus! ;–)

You have to really get into REric’s brain to get most of those mistakes, but there were one or two that defied my best efforts. I’m not sure what the early edits were about because he didn’t make any corrections after I PM’d him my suggestions. ;–)

Are you sure they’re not congregating to memorialize the dead? They might be having a snail grok ceremony. They might be Martians… ;–)

I adapted the song lyrics into bad haiku (5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables). It was faster than trying to work up something using Az and Jazz… ;–)

We raise the finger to the French since they are the ones who inflicted snails on North America due to their love of escargot!

Your editing isn’t even haiku!

I didn’t realize food insecurity was still so severe in Europe! I thought that was only a problem in Third World Countries and the US! I guess I can put a care package together so you don’t have to pick up pastries off the road! ;–)

Why are Danish snails reporting on the weather in Spain? I could understand why Dutch snails might find a historical reason for the Spanish weather reports. But Danish snails should have absolutely no reason to concern themselves with Spain at all! Besides, a Danish Snail on the road just means someone dropped their pastry! ;–)

Poetry doesn’t have to rhyme. Oh, the rain in Spain It falls mainly on the plains (Terrible haiku) It doesn’t have to make sense either… ;–)