Tag: wtf?!

Atlanta gay bar, The Eagle raided

UPDATE on the Eagle raid: I no longer THINK this was discriminatory, I know it was. This comment literally send shivers down my spine:

Du-Wayne Ray, store manager of Rawhide Leather, which operates below the Eagle, said that he and one of his employees heard one white uniformed officer say to another, “This is a lot more fun than raiding n***ers with crack.”

Ray said he was handcuffed for an hour-and-a-half to two hours on the back deck of The Eagle, and said, “A lot of anti-gay comments were made.”

This is an outrage. Atlanta police should be extremely forthcoming with formal apologies to anyone and everyone involved; additionally, a formal apology to the gay community should be submitted. This level of discrimination is shocking and unbelievable; especially when it comes from the very people that are supposed to keep us safe. Bigotry in any form cannot be tolerated, and this again, is just shocking to know that it came from Atlanta police officers.

I honestly can’t believe that this happened, here in Atlanta, last night. I thought we were living in a more progressive city, but it just goes to show, you aren’t safe from discrimination anywhere.

Yelp: a(nother) soapbox for bigots?

Imagine my surprise when someone requested to be friends with me on Yelp today, and I find out that he is writing extremely hurtful and bigoted remarks about me in one of his “reviews”. Not only did he post the review, but after it was taken down, he was allowed to remain member of Yelp, AND, re-posted a similar version of the review just a few minutes later.

Here’s what he said (the first time around), in “response” to my review of my experience at Green’s Liquor store:

After reading Duane M. review of Green’s Beverage Store, I had to fire back. I visit Green’s Beverage store once or twice a month. Everyone there has always been very nice and helpful.
However, I have never carried a purse and I don’t understand why a man would. You said you are not a woman, but after reading all your reviews you sure do act and bitch like a woman. Come on, we all know that someone that wants to homosexualize America likes to pretend that he is a woman. Perhaps Duane should take the dildo out of his ass!! Fucking pussys like you make me sick. When you choose to suck another man’s dick or take some guys cock up your ass, you become a 2nd class citizen. You have no right to ever bitch. Please keep your mouth shut and get back into the closet.
hmmmm, and you wonder why most of America hates gays.

So eloquent. Let’s look at the face of a true bigot, and oh so clearly one of the highest forms of complete and total asshole, Jake P. of Dacula, GA, shall we:


Just take it in… all that asshole-ishness is almost too much to contain. By the way, nice lip gloss, Jake.

Now, the review was flagged, and eventually taken down, and I didn’t even know about it until I randomly read this thread. However, Yelp allowed him to post another review, very similarly filled hate speech as the first one:

After reading Duane M. review that he likes to dress up like a woman and wants to homesexualize American, I had to do something. I go into Green’s a few times a month and everyone is very nice and helpful.
But, Duane with his fag bag is acting like a little bitchy woman.
Perhaps if Duane got his dildo out of his ass, all of America would be a better place to live in. Duane what you wrote about Green’s was pure hateful, you being a little light in the loafers should understand what is it to be hated.
You are not a woman, your worse. Your a 2nd class citizen, start acting like one.

That second review was even better, Jake flexes his superior knowledge of all things grammar (um, it’s you’re, sweetness, not your).

While this will probably be taken down as well (I’m fairly certain it has of this posting), I can’t help but question why Yelp would allow someone like this to remain a member of their site? As a member of Yelp for YEARS, I was honestly considering deleting everyone of my reviews and publicly declaring myself against their organization; especially because they did not initially seem to have much concern for their members (if only because this guy was allowed to go on posting hate speech, even after he was “punished” for doing it the first time). Not only am I extremely offended by the bigot that was allowed to spread his hate about me without any repercussion (on a public website that I am willingly a part of), but I am even more upset that they there was very slow response to one member of their site clearly gay bashing another (my point being that he was allowed to continue using the site with no restriction).

Well, I sent this post to the Atlanta Ambassador for Yelp, and I got an answer and a clear and expected response, and they are taking care of it. That is a major plus in the Yelp column. As I mentioned above, I considered severing ties with Yelp, because I have had enough people call me a faggot to my face during my lifetime, to continue supporting a web service that just gives someone the platform to do it to me on the internet. However, because of Yelp’s positive and proactive actions, I will not go that far. HOWEVER, and that is a BIG however, I still think that people like this should be banned from the site after a post as bad as his was; 3 strikes is clearly 2 too many with things like this. A first offense of this nature should not be tolerated. If you are clearly bashing another member of the site, do you really deserve a chance to keep contributing? It honestly destroys my hope for humanity when people like this rear their ugly heads, and spread their hatred for all to see.

UPDATE: BANNED. Yelp wins. AWESOME. Thank you YELP!!! I really makes me happy that Yelp takes things like this seriously.

Yeah, you’re right… being gay isn’t all that bad anymore. Being second class isn’t that big of a deal. Things are just swell for us, and we should stop complaining. RIIIIGHT.

um, thanks… FOR NOTHING

It seems that my outrage yesterday was a little less than it should have been. Turns out, the gesture Obama tried to placate us with, was worth nothing:

The memorandum Obama signed Wednesday is not expected to grant health and retirement benefits to same-sex partners, as that is prohibited under the Defense of Marriage Act.

(source)

That’s right, fellow gays and lesbians, say it with me; we are STILL:
SECOND.
CLASS.
CITIZENS.

…and it doesn’t look like that is going to change any time soon.

This is not just disappointing, it is outrageous. This is a major slap in the face, Mr. President, and it will not be ignored. What was initially seen as a cop out, is now an empty promise worth practically nothing. Sure, I know you are limited by DOMA, but this empty gesture is not good enough, and frankly it is insulting that you would think that it is worth anything at all.

Perhaps I am being too harsh though… as you do care, right? Allow me the chance to give you the benefit of the doubt; you did say,

“I believe it’s discriminatory. I think it interferes with state’s rights, and we will work with Congress to overturn it.”

(source)

So when can we expect this to happen? If you really want to do something for gays and lesbians, DO SOMETHING. Instead of handing us empty promises, why not take actions that would actually matter? If striking down DOMA is what it will take, why didn’t you propose legislation to do just that; instead of handing us this bullshit?! Saying that you are against something while doing absolutely nothing to stop it, implicates you as a willing accomplice. Mr. President, you are guilty of standing by while we are again, discriminated against, publicly, by our government. It is going to take more than a strongly emphatic “opposition” (with a current obvious lack of any sign that you will actually do more than “be against it”) to make a difference, and I for one am waiting to see if you will actually do anything you continue to promise. The problem is, I am losing my patience.

Again, Mr. President, I am outraged at the sheer lack of support for the community that supported you so ferociously during your rise to power; only to be ushered to the back of the bus once you took the podium. For shame, Mr. President, for shame. I only hope that you will bring the change that you promised, and stop trying to sell us snake oil instead. This is one member of the gay community that is rapidly losing support for the great man that I thought you were.

wtf!?!

First of all, at lunch, I was reaching in my pocket to grab my wallet, and a goddamned business card turned into a rogue ninja and sliced the fuck out of my finger; under the fingernail. Seriously, it still stings. How does shit like this always happen to me? UPDATE: Literally, two seconds ago, I did it again; on the same finger (except this time, it wasn’t the business card, I was attempting to pick up a stack of papers on my desk). Leave me alone paper!!!!

Second of all, if you want to call “bullshit” on injustice, I can think of MANY ways to do that without sawing my mother fucking head off with an electric chainsaw. Oh my freaking GOD. This reminds me of those queers that lived in midtown ATL, and tried to commit suicide a few years back by sawing each others limbs off. Freaky shit! What brings you to the point where you seriously consider using an electric device to hack some of your own body off? I feel bad for the guy’s family, and anyone who walked in on that crime scene. Stuff like that really freaks me out.

That’s all I got.

WTF Out magazine? Katy Perry as musician of the year? Are you JOKING?

Well, Out, you’ve gone and pulled another “WTF” moment on us with your recent choice of Katy “UR So Gay” Perry as MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR!!!!?!?!?!??! Regular readers know that I was been pissed at them before for outing celebrities (one of which has come out on her own since), so I guess that I should just expect stupid shit from one of the only gay magazines that we have in wide circulation. Seriously Out, what is going on with your writers and staff that has them so in the dark? Do you not realize that Katy Perry is perpetuating (without apology!!!) a negative gay stereotype; one that I am sure many of you had to overcome and deal with as kids in school? I just don’t get blatant stupidity like this. I have made my opinion about Perry known before on this blog, and it is still getting attention (thanks to links on wikipedia… wtf!?). I can only wonder where things will go now that I am calling spades again on Ms. Perry?!

After seeing the cover and reading the awesome post over at Dorothy Surrenders, I had to go and see what saving grace Out was sure to have in it’s interview with Perry; surely, they would confront her, right? Well, they didn’t (figures), but out of everything I read in the interview with Perry, and this was a gem for me:

Some of the opinions are just from people who are unhappy in their lives, or critics that wanted to be musicians but never fucking made it. We all know that. Unless there’s an amazing, legitimate journalist I respect, I don’t really take any of that shit to heart.

REALLY Katy? So you know what it is like to be a gay youth who gets called “gay” and “faggot” every day at school, and how that fucking hate and verbal abuse leads many gay youth to commit suicide? You know all about that, and we are all just bitter bitches, right Katy? Fuck you. FUCK YOU and your self righteous “I’m an artist so I don’t have to be socially responsible, and I don’t have to apologize for what I say” bullshit. You don’t deserve your 15 minutes more than anyone else, and I for one will be glad when the light dims over your pathetic career.

Shame on you, Katy, and shame on Out magazine for picking some dumb bitch like you as their freaking musician of the year (because clearly, there are NO LGBT artists out there worthy, right?). This is just one more reason that I will NEVER have a subscription to that piece of fluff “all about the abs, and all for show” Out Magazine. Clearly, they have their heads so far up their own asses that they are willing to just hop in bed with the same fuckers that picked on them on the playgrounds; all while laughing off the harassment that was slung at them.

I just want to say that I personally feel sorry for anyone that has to endure the bullshit that people throw at them in the form of verbal abuse; especially when it uses a word that describes them as a synonym for bad. I went through HELL in school, and I wouldn’t wish that one anyone, not even Katy Perry. Katy Perry perpetuates that very same hateful mentality in her song UR So Gay (I even gave her a lenient benefit of the doubt for I Kissed A Girl), and after hearing that she doesn’t give a fuck about what she is saying, I want that bitch to know that people like me aren’t just unhappy with our lives, or just “didn’t make it” like “she did”; we went through a fucking LOT to get where we are, and we don’t need more bullies out there being told that it’s okay to make fun of the gay kid, because hey, it’s funny anyway, right? Fuck you Katy Perry, and fuck you Out Magazine. It’s more than annoying when our own community turns a blind eye to those that will make fun of us to our faces, and then say it’s no big deal when confronted with the accusation; especially in a time that we are fighting for our rights. Way to accept second class citizenship guys… seriously. Ugh.

embedding disabled by request

As I was thinking up the list of songs that I will be featuring on tomorrow’s 5SF, I pondered the potential of at least one of said songs having a video on youtube, as I always do. One song in particular (which I will not name, because I have to have some secrecy to bring you kids back, don’t I?) has a fantastical video that I would love to post, but due to the nature that it is by a major artist, I am sure that the video will be either yanked off of youtube soon, or it will have the lovely “embedding disabled by request” where the code to embed said video on my blog should be.

Now, I have to say, that I really do not understand this move by record companies at all (this assuming that they are the reason, since I can think of no reason an artist would want to restrict the viewing of their video to youtube). Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t a video practically a commercial for a song; it represents the artist, and provides more incentive to listen to the song, and more likely than not, increases interest in buying the artist’s CD when it hits stores? So, when you put the video on youtube (especially since the “usual” way to see videos has drastically changed since MTV doesn’t play many these days), aren’t you attempting to put this piece of work out there for all to see? By the same logic, one would also think that by allowing that video to be reposted (through embedding youtube links, of course), that you would be increasing exposure to the video and the song, and there by, allowing FREE publicity for your artist. But no. For whatever reason, many major labels insist on keeping the content “safe”, and will not allow you to embed any of their videos. Again, this makes no sense.

If I posted a commercial, or an advertisement on my website for free, and received no income from having the banner on my site, I would be providing FREE PR for whatever the advertisement was for. I would think, again by that same logic, that the company that sold that product would be more than happy to have me do such a thing, since again, I am publicizing it for free.

I guess my rant is just a venting of the frustration that continually comes from dealing with the recording industry (DRM, lack of embedding, piracy issues, etc). They try so hard to lock down everything, that many artists have a hard time releasing their music, and even the ones that manage to get it out there have a choke hold placed on their material; which is interesting, because without them, the record industry would be nothing. I say, that if you are going to even post a video on youtube in the first place, that allowing people to embed it on their websites is just a common courtesy to your artists, and at a minimum, a free advert for your product; after all, it is again, FREE PR!!! I mean, it’s not like youtube is so secure that I can’t use a software to gank the video, and post it from my own server; which is actually “stealing”, and what I am assuming you are trying to avoid, right? Because that is easier than actually changing the code to make the video fit into my page parameters, just so you know.

Ridiculous much? Methinks so. /rant

how much further to rock bottom?

Gas is pretty much coming up short here in ATL; it is getting hard to find gas at most of the gas pumps that I have seen around town. It just makes me wonder, just how prepared are we for disaster? I mean, this shortage is because of two hurricanes in the gulf coast… that happened over a week ago. We aren’t talking months, just a handful of days, and we are already out of gas. That is just scary, isn’t it?

Also, our seriously fledgling economy took a MAJOR hit last week, and in a half-assed effort that one can only see as a move to save his rich friends from being held responsible, our own president is trying to shove the tab on the back of already struggling Americans. Nice. I thought that people that said they were Republican but not conservative said so because of “fiscal responsibility” and “less governmental control”? What is going on then? This plan, being put forth BY Republicans is going to cause even further fiscal irresponsibility (which these companies started in the first place) and more governmental control over our money (by making us pick up the tab)? Do you think that saving companies that prey on the American public makes any fucking sense at all? I don’t… and I’m a Democrat. The government never should have been involved in making corporations something that are an entities that exist outside of the rules and regulations of basic business; if a small business makes mistakes, it has to pay for them. However, if you are a corporation, apparently, you can just be excused of that debt, and have the government take it for you (and then quickly put it on the backs of their citizens, or you, me, and every other tax paying American). Why don’t we get a say so in this decision? Isn’t our government supposed to represent us? What do we get to do when it clearly goes against our best interests? The more I read the news, the less I feel like I live in a democratic society; the government makes decisions, and we follow along without any of our needs even being heard. It sounds more like a dictatorship to me, which again, is supposed to be the opposite of the fundamental Republican, or even the financially concerned Libertarian beliefs, right? I may be wrong, but giving 700 billion dollars to these companies to save them just seems like robbing the poor to feed the rich to me. I can bet money that the money will be used to save executive jobs, while the working class will get shit on again. Fuck yeah… I’m proud to be a (probably soon to be starving) American. We get fucked, and the rich get richer… that seems to be the new Republican way.

Sorry for the ranting, I just feel so powerless; I invest money and try to save as much as I can, and things like this come along, where the government allow these companies to take it away, even though they are the ones that made the mistakes! I don’t understand why they have more rights than I do. I don’t think it’s fair, and in fact, I don’t think it should be legal. The only hope that I am clinging to at this point, is that Obama gets elected, and can do something better. Things are only getting worse, and worse, which really does make you wonder where the bottom line actually is. How bad is it going to get?

but they tied

Last night, I was watching some great women’s gymnastics when something happened that really kind of bothered me. I am all about sportsmanship and fairness when it comes to this thing, because it really is the only thing that the world can come together on and participate in and not fight over (and if they do, they usually just get pissy, and that’s about it). Well, the girls were doing the uneven bars, and the two top girls, one from China, and one from the USA, both had the same start difficulty value, AND they both scored exactly the same on their routines. Well, one would think that since they were both the top scorers, then they would both share a gold medal. However, that is not what happened. They pulled some bullshit “tie breaking” procedural crap, and gave the gold to the Chinese girl, and the American girl got the silver; even though they both scored the same! It was bullshit. I felt bad for the American girl, because she clearly deserved the gold as well. It was just fucked up, really, because of all the “rules” they have in place to make it “fair”, and all it does is make it fair for one, but completely UNFAIR for the other. I just felt like it puts a damper on the spirit of the games when it isn’t based on your performance, or your ability, and instead comes down to algorithms and shit like that. I just don’t see how you can score the same, and one of you is still made to be second. Oh well.

the wrong way to act take two: bitchy old queen of a bartender edition

What happened last night can only be described as surreal. Trying to order a drink at a bar got me yelled at, to which I walked away from, and then the bartender came after me for more, which led to my ultimately leaving the bar. I think that what I wrote for my yelp review is pretty expressive of the experience, so I felt that I should let that tell the story (with minor edits):

To the bitchy, old, full of herself queen that works the bar:

Just because you are bitter that you have to work Saturday nights, instead of getting your party on, doesn’t make it okay to take it out on the patrons of this clearly “second tier” establishment. You clearly have some anger issues that need professional attention, and I suggest that if you are going to continue to be a bartender, that being a complete and utter ASSHOLE should be something that you should work on, stat.

Basically, here’s the story. I have been to Oscars several times, but never have I thought anything other than, “oh, we have to go there… ugh”. Mostly, because the bar is a bit tragic, and as far as gay bars go in ATL, it was always very close to the bottom of my list of choices. Well, after last night, it is now the last place I would EVER step foot into again.

A good friend of mine was celebrating his birthday, and we decided to go to Burkharts, which is right across the parking lot from Oscars. After becoming annoyed with the ever growing crowd at Burkharts, it was decided that we should move on to Oscars, because, as expected, it wouldn’t be as crowded (it never really is… which is probably reflective of why I will never set foot in there again). After paying tabs and making our way over, we settled on the patio outside, which was empty except for our group.

I went back inside to get a drink, and found an empty place at the bar to lean in and ask for a drink. There were two bartenders standing directly in front of me, one mixing a drink, and the other just standing there. They both made continual eye contact with me, and taking that as a cue, I simply leaned in and said, “can I have a miller lite?”, assuming that their eye contact meant that they were curious as to how they could help me. What I wasn’t expecting was the aforementioned old bitchy asshole’s response. He was the one making the drink. His response literally took me by surprise, because he said in a very derogatory way, “well, I will, if you can WAIT YOUR TURN“, literally yelling the last part at me. Being the person that I am, who doesn’t really put up with bullshit, especially in situations where I am paying for a service, I put my money back in my pocket, said “fine then”, and walked back outside to my friends. I was a bit taken aback that he would be so rude, but just decided that this place wouldn’t be getting any of my money, and tried to move on.

Then, about 5 minutes later, the other bartender came outside to “cool me off” I guess, and stated that the asshole bartender was “just like that”, to which I told him that it was really rude, and that I wasn’t going to be going back in there to deal with it. He asked me if I wanted anything, and I told him that I didn’t appreciate the attitude, and that I was fine, for him to leave me alone. The whole conversation was civil, but still awkward, as the asshole had sent someone else out to feign a half-hearted attempt at an apology.

What I thought was over, can only be followed by a situation that ranks near the top of the most ridiculous, immature, and completely unacceptable experiences I have had in my life. The asshole that had been rude to be decided that he was going to come out and “straighten me out”. He came out on to the patio, and loudly declared that he was “looking for the idiot that couldn’t take a fucking joke”. I thought I could avoid the situation by remaining silent, but after continual demanding shouts of the same demeaning request, my blood was boiling, and so I told him that I was not an idiot because I didn’t want to put up with his attitude.

This quickly escalated into an all out shouting match between the asshole and myself; with every attempt I made to get him to leave me alone was met with him insulting me over and over again at the top of his lungs. It was clear that this asshole was 100% asshole, and there was no way that he was going to back down. I kept asking him to just shut up, and leave me alone, and he would not back down. I kept saying that I couldn’t believe that I was having such a ridiculous conversation with such an immature individual, to which he kept saying that he couldn’t believe how he was talking to such an idiot. I told him that he must be talking to himself, because I am not an idiot for decidedly not putting up with some asshole’s rude behavior. Finally, I told him that what he was expecting was for me to just put up with him being and asshole, and if that is what he wanted, that he could fuck off, and at that, he demanded that I leave the bar.

I told the people I was with that if they had rode with me, that I was clearly leaving, and the asshole even continued shouting at me as I tried to get out of the bar as fast as I could. He just wouldn’t stop. Needless to say, I left, and will NEVER return to Oscars again.

What really bothers me looking back on the situation, is how it escalated to a point where I was standing in a group of my friends trying to get this old fucker to leave me alone, and NO ONE spoke up, or defended me. Even after I left the bar, only one of my friends came outside to see how I was, and out of a group of almost 10 of my friends, not a single person inquired as to how I was after the obviously ridiculous and intense moment. I can say that without a shadow of a doubt, that if the same thing had happened to one of them, I would have spoken up, or at least seen how they were after the situation, but none of the same was afforded to me. That really bugs me, but there is nothing I can do about it, I can’t dictate the actions of others, which is clear when I couldn’t diffuse the bitchy asshole’s misplaced rant on me for not putting up with his bullshit.

I honestly wish I had never set foot in that bar last night, but I can’t take it back; just know that asking me to go back there is completely out of the question. And a final message for the bartender who acted like a complete asshole/child: grow up and learn how to deal with your anger, I am sure that it has ruined many relationships in your life, and you probably spend a lot of your time wondering what happened… well, I think I have an idea of where things might go wrong; stop being a douche to people that don’t deserve it, and perhaps people will be affording of your feelings in return. Just a thought.

there’s similar, and then there’s the SAME!

Okay, just last week, I was sort of ranting about the similarity between two songs, and low and behold it has happened again. However, this time, there is one key exception: I have heard two songs that not only sound similar, but I swear, they are the same damn song!!!

I was riding with James the other night, and when we ride in his car, we are almost always listening to the radio (which I don’t usually do), and they announced that the number one song of the day was coming up. Well, it was a song by Chris Brown, which I had never heard, but when they started playing it, I thought to myself, “hey, self, I HAVE heard this before… when it was called Irreplaceable!”. Now, while I like Irreplaceable by Beyonce, I think that it is a total crock of shit that you can take a song and completely re-release it, with different lyrics a year later, and STILL TOP THE CHARTS!!!

WTF people? Seriously. This is one of the problems with music today: People are just eat whatever they are fed. In this case, two practically identical songs have been fed to the masses, and what have you done? You have eaten it up, and propelled both songs to the top of the charts! I just don’t get it. There is so much amazing music out there, that it is practically inexcusable to have two practically identical songs make it so high on the charts; especially when so little time has past since Beyonce’s version hit!

But don’t take my word for it: listen to each one yourself, so you can really see how similar they are: (on the left, you have Irreplaceable by Beyonce and on the right you have With You by Chris Brown… neither of which is the real video because of how stupid music companies are with you tube stuff, however, the Beyonce video is quite hilarious to me)

After doing a little investigation myself, I see that it is indeed the same producer for each track; which really begs me to question if one (or both) of these stars didn’t get ripped off. I mean, they are paying for production, and the producer just shills out the same damn song for both of them. I would be infuriated!! Well, I am a little irate, but that is because of what this does to music in my opinion. It just solidifies the fact that people are not open to innovation, and true talent. Bands and artists with enormous amounts of talent will continue to be “one hit wonders”, and will always be overlooked because of cookie-cutter shit like this, and it pisses me off, because I tend to prefer the former.

What is even more ridiculous to me, is that if you take an amazing band, one that may not be as popular as Beyonce (but is popular in their own realm of the music world), and listen to their take on Irreplaceable, that it becomes a totally different song; even though it isn’t! Chris Brown’s “different song” is more like Irreplaceable than Sugarland covering Irreplaceable. Freaky stuff man. It’s just frustrating when you constantly see that this music industry is full of such crazy, crazy shit. I just wish that the talented and overlooked people could get half of what those Chris Brown’s out there get; both in fame, and in fortune. Hearing the same old songs and making them both best sellers just isn’t right.

Sigh. Now I will go back to my music that isn’t so radio-friendly… but at least it is genuine, and dare I say it, different.