Queer Oakland

Geoff Kors of EQCA recently had an op-ed in the Bay Area Reporter announcing EQCA’s new student internship program. It’s worth a read:

Originally appeared in the Bay Area Reporter

Jim Nickoff, my best friend of more than 20 years, came out at age 15 in 1978, a time when very few teenagers came out and even fewer services were available for LGBT youth. The pain he suffered after being rejected by his family, his faith, and community was overwhelming. Jim was determined to heal the wounds, but they never healed no matter how hard he worked at it. The realization that the pain would not end became unbearable. On December 16, 2007, he committed suicide at the age of 44.

Jim not only worked hard to overcome the harm he suffered as a youth, but he also worked hard to prevent other youth from going through what he did. He devoted his life to the fight for equality and created opportunities for LGBT youth through his work at Equality California and many other LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations.

Read more…

This article over on the New York Times makes me chuckle.

Point of amusement #1: The Headline. “Media Outlets Prepare to Charge for Content Online”. No offense NYT, but media outlets have been talking about charging for content for years now. The problem: charging for information on the internet is like trying sell oxygen to a greenhouse. Anything media outlets could charge for today was probably available yesterday for free. Yet as much as they try to crack down on that sorta thing with DRM and DMCA takedown notices and over the top lawsuits it never seems to actually cut down on “piracy”.

Point of amusement #2: This quote at the end.

“One of the problems is newspapers fired so many journalists and turned them loose to start so many blogs,” Mr. Mutter said. “They should have executed them. They wouldn’t have had competition. But they foolishly let them out alive.”

I’m not trying to be the Grinch that stole anything, but this is worth taking a look at:

What’s there to be said about a movie in which a ripped guy mutilates dozens of people because they killed his girlfriend? That’s pretty much what Ninja Assassin boils down to: Quentin Tarentino-esque gore without the quintessential Tarentino plot twists and cinematography. So really just a lot of blood and body parts everywhere without much else going on.

Granted said ripped guy is hot and shirtless for good chunks of the movie, so that’s a plus. And the flashback scenes do give you a sense that this movie did actually have a plot at some point but somehow lost it in between the inexplicably American Naomie Harris as EuroPol agent Mika and a cameo role by the that one guy from The Matrix with all the keys.

All in all it’s a entertaining ride, and I must admit watching a Japanese hilltop monastery get decimated by European military was kind of fun, but don’t expect more than what’s advertised.

The US Olympic Committee has a pretty cool ad campaign warning high school athletes about steroid use.  I saw this over the weekend and thought I’d repost it…

www.DontBeAnAsterisk.com

To Whom It May Concern:

I am currently looking for parents of LGBT individuals who are willing to complete an anonymous research, located online at: http://www.genderstudy.info (instead of .com or .org).

I hope that this study will contribute to further understanding of the understudied and underserved population. I also believe the knowledge gained from this study will help therapists in addressing issues related to sexual and gender orientation.

The research study has been developed in consultation with my dissertation committee, LGBT individuals, and was approved by the institutional review board (IRB) at Alliant International University.

I would appreciate if you could help circulate the information about my study. For your convenience I have also attached a flier.

Thank you,

Jennifer Mato, M.A.
Marital and Family Therapy Doctoral Candidate
Alliant International University (San Diego)
jmato@alliant.edu

Dissertation chair: Narumi Taniguchi, Ph.D

It was a Sunday night and for some reason that meant we had a hankering for seafood. As it turned out absolutely nowhere in downtown Oakland is open on a Sunday night so we headed over to Jack London Square and tried out Scott’s Seafood Restaurant.

Unfortunately the food was as uninspired as the name of the place. Whenever I go somewhere new I try to have their sampler to get an idea of what the place serves. Unfortunately here that sampler meant I got a few potatoes, a small fillet of salmon and tuna plus two whole shrimp. All that on top of what I can only describe as a spinach and zucchini mush. The tuna and salmon were only palatable after I doused them in lemon juice, the shrimp were alright but again there were only two of them and the potatoes were unseasoned and I’m pretty sure they were on the plate just so you could say you actually ate -something-.

If the prices were reasonable I wouldn’t have much to complain about but for over $20 a plate I was appalled.

Now the decor is nice and upscale, the piano music in the background was pleasant and the view of the waterfront was good. Also: sourdough bread for days! While they did seem to skimp on the meal itself, the never ending supply of bread was fantastic. Unfortunately none of those things made up for the downsides.

They did give us a $10 courtesy coupon as we left though. So I think I’ll head back there just to get some clam chowder, which is the only reasonably prices item on the menu, enjoy the view and then just leave the coupon on the table as I leave.