Archive for July 2010
>more self-promotion: i should be getting paid for this edition
>Bruce LaBruce twittered about something i wrote and then i promptly vomited i am so lame
>smartest (wo)man in the world
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Apparently this is old news but I guess I hadn’t been paying attention. Everyone knows that Stephen Hawking has been considered the smartest man in the world, but apparently the torch is passing. Daniel Tammet self-identifies as a prodigious savant, and it is, by his description, often as much a disability as it is a superability. Daniel has serious social issues, he says. He had epilepsy as a child and he thinks it might be that the seizures he had as a child that triggered a malformation of the brain. It’s interesting because he pathologizes his intelligence – it’s just a genetic fact, doesn’t make him better than anyone else, just born in a particular way that can be quite a challenge. He has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome as well and he has real problems socializing. Daniel partly sees himself as an activist for savants and Asperger-prone people. Daniel is also a homosexual, and lives with his boyfriend in France. Daniel made this movie, which discusses the synesthesia that Daniel has, which allows him to see colors in place of numbers and compute incredible sums.
>Class Picture
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(From Left to Right: Matthew Schnipper, Alex Frank, Chioma Nnadi, Mobolaji Dawodu, Sam Hockley-Smith)
>THIS IS DEDICATED TO YOU JOHN WATERS I HEART YOU MORE EVERYDAY, xxALEX
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“One of the reasons to keep making new young friends is so that there’ll be enough people at your funeral, that it will be full.” – John Waters
>Agave Suave
>I went to Phipps’ Conservatory in Pittsburgh to see the Agave Plant in bloom, a plant that flowers only once in it’s entire lifetime. The plant itself is about 50 years old and will typically live to be about 100, but this is as beautiful as it will ever be.
I also went into the Orchid Room. They are definitely the gayest plant, if you ask me. Look at how bitchy some of them look! Sass factories!
>cowgirls and indians
>I never thought in my life I would shoot a gun, but when my friend Dave offered to take me shooting 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh I couldn’t say no. It was seriously fucked up though and I don’t think I’ll do it again. We bought the ammo at a Wal-Mart and ear plugs at a gun shoppe. I still kind of feel fucked that this even happened.
>Meet Cookie
>I met Cookie in the cemetary near my family’s house in Pittsburgh when I was going for a walk. I struck up a conversation with her because she had a big plastic bag full of artificial flowers and I love fake flowers. She told me she had them because she came to Homewood Cemetary once a month to tend to the graves of her family and friends. She called herself The Grave Cleaner. “I replace the plastic flowers and clean up all the garbage,” she said. I asked if I could take her picture and she was more than happy to let me. There was a really old woman in the passenger seat of Cookie’s car whom she did not introduce me to and who never said a word. I wish I had gotten more and better photos but at some point, I felt like I was intruding on something really weird and private. I guess I’m not a real photographer.
>Highlights From A Teen Vogue Article About The Gay Best Friend "GBF"
>“The must-have items for her included a Proenza Schouler tie-dyed top, neon-bright chunky bracelets, and a gay best friend.”
“Popular girls used to walk hand in hand with a jock, now they have a Mulberry bag on one arm and a Johnny Weir look-alike on the other.”
“Friendships between girls are often fraught with competition, whether it’s over looks, weight, boyfriends, or clothes,” she explains. But there is little underlying competition between young women and gay guys, which can often make for a stronger, more trusting relationship.”
“In her case, that includes dispensing both fashion guidance (like telling her that she doesn’t actually look cute in that orange Marc by Marc Jacobs poncho) and serious life advice (he was the only one who had the courage to tell her she looked too thin a year ago).”
“It’s a little ridiculous how in demand a gay best friend has become in the past year.”
“No one deserves to be a a passing fad or arm candy. If you’re lucky to have a GBF in your life, remember to fight for his equal rights.”
helloweimarrepublic 