Former Member

You prefer that we refer to ourselves as fans instead? Devotees? Læserne? ;–)

Oh boy! Trouble in paradise! Whoever decided to allow Diego to be sent on all those missions set off a chain of events that keep getting bigger. ;–) I remember someone once suggesting that The Big Guy™ might have created The Big Bang™ (and maybe a few more things) – and then wandered away to do godstuff somewhere else! ;–)

The wrath of your readers never stopped you before @Timothy M.! ;–)

I’m sure that’s his goal! ;–)

Richie is alienating everyone who is on his side (except Andrew) and anyone who might potentially be on his side. The sperm donor is a huge jerk, but taking it out on everyone else only makes everybody miserable. Richie’s understandable anger and frustration are leading him to make terrible decisions. Gabe is right Richie does need to talk to somebody, but Richie isn’t ready to talk or to change anytime soon.

And if they don’t come up with a deal quick, some of those foreign investors are really going to be foreign! ;–)

As well as North American, recognize is the way any student at Oxford would learn to spell it. (the correct way, hehe)

What I don’t understand is how the once proud British auto industry was sold off to foreign investors, not just the ones that had long had US ownership (Ford and Vauxhall/Bedford), but also the remains of what was once British Leyland (once owned by BMW and/or Ford), Rolls-Royce/Bentley, and Lotus (once owned by GM). Pretty much everything other than Aston Martin (which was once owned by Ford along with Jaguar, Land Rover/Range Rover, and Volvo) is now owned by foreigners. Rootes Group (Hillman) was owned by Chrysler which sold it to PSA (Peugeot Citroën) who basically allowed it to wither away as Talbot. Jaguar Land Rover is owned by Tata (India), MG Rover was sold to SAIC (China), Rolls Royce and Mini are owned by BMW (Germany), Bentley is owned by Volkswagen (Germany). Lotus is owned by Geely (China) which also owns Volvo. Vauxhall was sold by GM (US) to PSA (France). Of course in the US, Chrysler is owned by Fiat (Italy). Ford’s heavy truck division was sold to Freightliner (owned by Daimler of Germany) and rebranded Sterling and when the models were phased out, so was the brand. It’s worse in Sweden where Volvo and Saab-Scania were both split auto and truck with the car half sold to Americans. Volvo (cars) to Ford and Saab (cars) to GM. Volvo was sold on to Geely (China) and GM killed Saab. Scania is now owned by Volkswagen. Volvo Trucks remains Swedish and now owns what used to be GM’s heavy truck division as well as Renault Trucks, Mack Trucks, and UD Trucks (formerly UD Nissan Diesel of Japan). It’s kind of ironic that in Germany, only Ford (US) and Opel (formerly GM and now owned by PSA) are foreign owned. In Japan, Ford (Mazda) and GM (Subaru, Suzuki, and Isuzu) have sold off their investments, but Nissan and Mitsubishi (once tied to Chrysler and Daimler-Benz) are part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (Renault is French).

I remember hearing that visitors from the US were never impressed by the taste of a Wimpy Burger, but that was all that was available in the ‘70s before McDonald’s began its massive expansion overseas. Back then, most major US chains were restricted to the US, just like Macy’s was restricted to just a couple regions of the country. These days it’s becoming more difficult to differentiate one place from another because all the same international brands are located next to each other seemingly in every major city around the world. ;–)

In addition to being an interesting story, it’s also a reminder of what it was like even as recently as the late Sixties in the UK (and similarly in the US and Australia). Those of us grew up in later decades don’t always think about our LGBTQ elders and the struggles they faced before our rights were explicitly enshrined into law. We stand on the shoulders of many others who fought to get us where we are today. Unlike most other minority groups, very few of us know LGBTQ elders who can teach us our LGBTQ history as we grow up. Few of us have the benefit of someone older and wiser to advise us and reassure us as we come to terms with our sexuality and orientation. Few of us have an LGBTQ elder to ask questions of as teenagers – or even as we pass through other stages of our lives. Unlike most other minorities, we have to do the work ourselves of researching and discovering our own LGBTQ history. There are only a few jurisdictions in the world that mandate the teaching of LGBTQ history in public schools like California does. Only a few TV networks, like PBS (in the US) and BBC (in the UK) regularly present LGBTQ documentaries and historical dramas. Very few mainstream movies and TV show present us as more than just stereotypes, sidekicks, and novelties. We owe it to ourselves and our LGBTQ elders to seek out, learn about, record, and preserve our own LGBTQ history because no one else is going to do it for us. Sorry (not sorry) about the tangental rant! ;–)

I think those two words should be permanently conjoined. Better somnolent than fury-inducing fire-and-brimstone old testament angry, vengeful god bigotry that contradicts their new testament god of love.

I’m ancient – I remember it being headline news! It was used to denigrate a fine President and an amazing man.

I remember a ‘killer’ rabbit trying to get into Jimmy Carter’s boat in the ‘70s… ;–)

And no one ever posts fantasies here on GA? ;–) All those non-fiction accounts of 1%ers, the all-Gay high schools, and the nature documentaries about ‘shifters’ and were-animals… ;–)

I’m waiting for you to write a story about the tall, slender, clean-shaven, bisexual, Erik the Red-type Viking hero with a nice tight body (something for me, something for you) who gets hit on by everybody (because they all think they have a chance), but he’s bored by the hordes throwing themselves at him. He’s ‘comfortable,’ but not incredibly wealthy. Everyone is shocked when he falls for the slightly out of shape, older computer nerd on Disability he meets online… ;–)

I’ve never seen it. I used to watch a whole lot more BritComs and other British TV shows. I started watching Eastenders back in the ‘80s, but lost track of it in the ‘90s. For some reason, I did figure out that the silent guy (the one who ended up becoming a European Parliament Member in real life) who showed up at the pub one evening was Gay long before they revealed the fact on the show. I saw AIDS-phobic story arc. I started watching the show because ‘Miss Brahms’ was Pauline Fowler. ;–) I watched shows like The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Good Neighbors (aka The Good Life), one about a retirement community with an incompetent manager and eccentric residents, Don’t Wait Up (with Nigel Havers who I think is sexy even though he’s not a blond or redhead), Butterflies, and others. I watched All Creature Great and Small and Tristan led me to watching Doctor Who (naturally, the Fifth Doctor was my favorite classic Doctor). But I didn’t like The Young Ones. ;–)

Give me a break (I think I did pretty good)! Because of the BBC/PBS connection and a greater number of LGBTQ movies from the UK, I know more about the UK than I know about my neighbor Canada! I saw a bunch of movies/documentaries at Frameline that the BBC produced for the 50th anniversary of that legalization (including Man in an Orange Shirt). And then there are all those BritComs like Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, As Time Goes By, Red Dwarf, and Monty Python (I can even remember Agony Aunt with a pre-Star Wars Jeremy Bullock and To the Manor Born). Plus Doctor Who and Torchwood. If someone gave me an all-inclusive trip to a single city in the world, London and Sydney would probably be the finalists. Not coincidentally, the UK and Australia provide a significant percentage of foreign films at Frameline. Also not coincidentally, I have an e-friend from both of those places that I’ve actually met in person. ;–)

Wow, there were a lot of confusing British terms, especially the clothes. ;–) Dave seems to have used Keith as a convenient friend with benefits. I realize that being Gay was only legalized a little over 50 years ago in the UK and that society still wasn’t ready to deal with same-sex coupling yet. There was still a lot of pressure to get married and have kids. Plus the Sixties was when the UK finally ended rationing, right? ;–)

Wade is trouble. And since he’s living in a foster home, Richie won’t be able to stay with him. The only good thing I can see about him is that Richard doesn’t know him either. It figures that the crooked cop can get his buddies to search for Richie even though they’d refuse to look if it were someone else’s kid in exactly the same situation.

Let’s see. What does Idaho have a lot of, other than potatoes? Mormons and survivalists* – add in Mafia and that sounds like a tasty combination! A bunch of insular people, some of whom have replaced reality with their wild-eyed fantasies. * Full disclosure: I once worked with a guy who was just a few degrees short of full survivalist, mostly lacking a bunker out in the wilderness. I’ve known lots of Mormons throughout my life – some still practicing, others trying to get away. I’m not aware of ever knowing anyone who is or was Mafia. I also knew a family of Bosnian refugees who moved from the SF Bay Area to Idaho – their mother took four teenaged boys there, but before they moved they were teasing each other (‘I da hoe, no, you da hoe!’). Four very white boys who sounded very ‘urban’ who were moving to a very rural state where the McDonald’s coffee was unlikely to be just two blocks away! Idaho is likely to be more similar to Bosnia geographically, but the younger three boys had been here long enough not to speak with an accent. The Idaho culture shock probably made their education even rougher. One of the kids was definitely not a Kinsey zero and my neighbors and I worried about how he’d survive in such a place.

I’m just like you, but I decided that I needed to make an announcement every week to try to recruit new volunteers and to keep the organization’s mission on everybody’s mind. This was back in 1990 and I kept my commitment for that year, but it was too much of a burden to continue the following year. It also had the effect of making me known to all the guys who attended the Monday Night Men’s Groups – people got me confused with the Facilitators who ran the ‘rap’ groups though (the center had its roots in the early ‘70s). I only keep in contact with a few of the people I met through that experience, most of them are people I only see at Frameline film festival every year. ;–)

I hate speaking in to crowds, but I used to put on my Volunteer Mask when I’d make an announcement at the local Gay community center about the AIDS organization I volunteered for. ;–)

Plus he hasn’t met anyone eligible and likely yet. ;–)

The problem is that Alex hasn’t admitted he needs help. Until he does, he’s going to continue on his self-destructive path. Possibly, if they took Luke away to be fostered by someone else and separated from Alex, Alex might see the need for change. Maybe…

Such a promising first line from Jazz! ;–) …And then you had to ruin it by revealing that Rob wasn’t even there yet! ;–)