blah blah blah

March

I saw the trailer a while ago, but now that it seems to be in theaters, I decided that it was time for a post.

Trailer
Salon.com review
June 24, 2005 | Luc Jacquet's luminous, moving documentary "March of the Penguins" is enough to make you hope there's no such thing as reincarnation: Human beings have it hard enough, but the life of the emperor penguin, one of strife, deprivation and against-all-odds adaptability in one of the most unforgiving corners of the earth, is far rougher.

I gotta say the trailer looks amazing. Normally I don't do nature documentaries, but this looks like a keeper folks. I spent about 1 hour today trying to find a place that was showing it, but no luck. I guess there are way too many high budget films that are demanding screens in order to be shown. How this reflects on us as a society that we would rather watch an over hyped 'mega-hit' or an arthouse type film speaks volumes. From the looks of things I might need to wait until I go back to bosto in order to see a screening of it :-( oh well goot things come to those who wait.

its Hot

ok syracuse is definitely nice during the summer now that all the idiots have left, however the one drawback is the fact that its fucking hot and humid. At this point I wish I could justify the purchase of an A/C but unfortunately I can’t…I’m only going to be here for three more weeks so I guess I will just have to tough it out perhaps with a new fan or two from wal-mart….

Update: the tray thing with two fans in it is working wonders. The laptop is now cool to the touch so long as I don’t crank the processor power all the way up. Its going everywhere with me…and by everywhere I mean to the air-conditioned goodness of (a) Sci-tech (b) link (c) starbucks and (d) the porch.

Ran into some friends when I went out Thursday night. T’was nice….ran into the same people when I went out Saturday night :-) We’ll be getting together on Wednesday for a small party then again during the upcoming weekend for some drinking type activities :-)

Recently

I recieved a 15in powerbook inthe mail the other day curtosy of the Apple Developer Connection and its hefty discount (even better than the educational discount). The downside to getting it...the weather in syracuse is too freaking hot to use the darn thing. I can use it at a desk with the back raised, otherwise the thing feels like a toaster. :-(

Tomorrow I think I will be going to BestBuy and purchasing a tray with two fans in it that is powered off of one of the USB ports. A friend recomended it to me cause he has the same problem and found a tray thingie solved it.

Roadtrip

Paris Receives Best Review of Bidding Cities for Olympics
Front-Runner for 2012 Games Is Followed by London, New York
By STEPHEN WILSON, AP Sports

LONDON (June 6) - Exactly a month before the vote, front-runner Paris received the best overall review Monday in an IOC evaluation of the five cities bidding for the 2012 Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee issued a 123-page report evaluating the bids of Paris, London, New York, Madrid and Moscow - the most competitive and glamorous field in Olympic bid history.

London, Madrid and New York also got positive ratings while long-shot Moscow came in for criticism.

The report did not rank the cities, but offered an insight into the strength and weaknesses of each bid. It focused on technical issues such as venues, financing, transportation, accommodations, security and public and government support.

Yet another reason for me to consider going to europe for an extended vacation.

Talk about random

I was talking with a friend from seattle who graduated a year ago and now works at boeing. Shes in the process of purchasing a 30(?)ft sailboat. Wow, just a little unexpected.

newsflash its looking more and more likly that I will be going to seattle at some point later in the summer, think late july early august.

Today: 5mi bike, 12mi bike, light lifting.

notes

so I decided to be anal retentive for the one course I am taking at the moment. It generates about 8 pages of notebook paper a class x two days a week. So rather than trying to figure out what my notes mean two weeks after I have taken them, that evening after each class is over I am copying them down into a large sketchpad/notebook. This allows me to actually read what I had written previously. Plus different things are in different colors (i.e. In class examples are done in red, new topics are headlined in green, algorithms are done in blue, everything else is done in black.)

My wrists hurt after copying the stuff over, but man do my notes look fucking excellent J I could probably sell them to other members of the class…gotta love capitalism at work.

Today: 3mi bike, 5km run, back and abs (Yes I am getting up at 615am for this)

Where is the top?

Top: Jess L., Matt T.
Mid: Charlie, Tim G., Evan B.
Bottom: Me (Henry), Jess R., Nicole P., Oscar P.

Reading

When I have the time, I try to plow through usually two to three newspapers a day, NYTimes, WallStreet Journal and either The LondonTimes or The Boston Globe depending on my mood.

I know that the following story is a little cheesy, but its well written and does have an interesting point. HERE

Today: 10mi bike, 4km run, upper arms.

Modern Love
A Prince Charming for the Prom (Not Ever After, Though)

By FRANK PAIVA
Published: May 29, 2005

LATELY I've become wary of the question "Frank, what are you doing next Saturday night?" In the month of May it can only mean one thing: I'm going to yet another prom. And no, I'm not doing a favor for a cousin. Cousins are out. I'm this century's new answer to the last-minute prom date: the gay best friend.
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David Chelsea

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By the end of June I'll have worn the tuxedo I swiped from the school drama department three or four times. While most 18-year-old guys are preparing for their one big night, I'm whipping up more magical evenings than Lance Burton or David Copperfield.

I am also swimming in corsages. I went to the florist today for the second time this week, and she gave me a suspicious look. Does she know what I'm up to? After all, I can't be the only one who understands that gay is the new cousin.

Until recently this wasn't really possible, because most gay men postponed coming out until college or later, if they came out at all. But now more and more young men are coming out in high school. I knew I was gay in sixth grade and came out in eighth. Originally I didn't plan to tell anyone until ninth grade, when I would enroll in a new school, but I decided I needed to let people know who I really was.

My decision had a traumatic aftermath. How is a school supposed to handle the coming out of an eighth grader? My middle school also contained an elementary school, and alarmed parents feared for their little children, worried, I suppose, that I might convert them or something.

I endured a set of excruciating meetings with school administrators during which parameters for my behavior were discussed. That and the cruelty of my classmates left me feeling isolated and scared, and I found myself turning mostly to girls for support and friendship.

Although things improved in high school, I still found myself relying primarily on friendships with girls, some of whom I met at summer drama camps and who attended different schools.

As I see it, these girls saved me, and now it's my turn to save them. Dancing a few steps in a beautified gymnasium is the least I could do to thank the girls who helped me become who I am.

I don't even have to go broke doing this. Any girl who's progressive enough to go to her prom with a gay guy understands that it's no longer the 1950's and that I shouldn't have to pay for everything. They also understand I won't turn into a drunken, groping creep in the middle of the evening, so I figure it's an even trade.

And unlike the goofy cousin who might arrive in a ruffled, powder-blue tux and tell embarrassing stories about computer camp, I'm a safe, chic choice. Neither of us will blush with sexual tension when it comes time to attach corsage to bosom. I won't make a fool of my date or myself with awkward straight-boy dancing. And I'll help her figure out the details of her dress and hairstyle. After all, we wouldn't want anyone committing social suicide on the biggest night of our tender young lives.

As the gay date, I also make one of the evening's most unpleasant moments a breeze. I have no problem meeting the girl's parents, a typical sticking point for most guys, because I know that wise and open-minded parents are smart enough to realize that a gay guy is their daughter's best and safest prom bet.

If I were a worried mother of a dateless daughter, I would scour the hip coffee shops of my town waving a rainbow flag in search of recruits. It might cause my daughter to die of embarrassment, but at least she would have a fabulous night out and wouldn't make me a grandmother anytime soon.

At the proms themselves, though, I'm supposed to be straight, so I do my best. Am I ever worried about being found out? Not really. My friend Katie goes to a Catholic high school, and at her prom I even passed rigid nun interrogation.

On our way through the lineup of nun inspectors, they shook my hand and eyed me up and down before pronouncing me a fit suitor. So what do I have to worry about? Then again, maybe nuns aren't known for their finely tuned gay-dar.

One thing I've discovered in my brief barrage of proms is that they're all pretty much the same. There's that sense of finality, of going out with a bang.

GAY or not, there's still that stomach-churning feeling of anticipation as you and your date see each other in your formal dress for the first time. There's the poor couple wearing the absolute wrong ensemble. There's that burned-out feeling in the early morning from so much fun packed into so little time. Rest assured that the onset of horror from wondering what the pictures will look like decades from now is there every time as well.

But sometimes our expectations get the better of us, and the prom's real purpose is lost. It's one of the last times to be together and have fun as a class before everyone scatters and comes back to the reunion 10 years later balding, divorced, wildly successful or exactly, pathetically the same.

Whether you loved your own prom, hated it, missed it, only made it to the parking lot or were too drunk to remember, there's no denying it's a milestone that happens only once. Or, in my case, several times.

The one thing I can't understand is why many of my female friends, who are charming, attractive and fun to be with, don't have straight male suitors to accompany them. Surely the school halls aren't filled with date-snatching floozies offering the one thing no teenage guy, except the gay best friend, can say no to. So I've got to believe I see things in these girls that straight guys can't because with me the element of sexual attraction was never there to begin with.

Many young gay men make friends with the cool girls who fly under the radar because they don't possess conventional good looks and they don't put out. We get to know these girls for the things about them that matter.

Sometimes I want to hold up a sign that says: "Here! Date this girl, you idiot!" Of course if they aren't smart enough to figure out a girl is worth dating, they probably aren't worthy of the girl in the first place.

Perhaps this is why certain girls and certain gay guys become such good friends in high school. They're waiting for an environment that isn't based on popularity or games, an atmosphere where they can thrive. While I've had an excellent time in high school these past four years, I have to believe there is something better out there for me in years to come. I know many of my friends feel the same way.

We've all heard famous women talk about how they were ostracized in high school or unpopular with the boys, only later to become gorgeous and desired. Even though they ended up successful, they never had that high school experience of the prom, that one magical time that can never be taken away. I'm here to provide this to many future famous women, even if I don't get it for myself.

As much as I'd like to, I will not be attending my own school's prom with a guy. My florist must know this because each time I walk in, she always flips past the boutonniere section of her prom accessories book.

I wish this weren't the case. I wish I could take someone with me, because I've got prom dreams of my own.

They involve buying expensive ingredients at the gourmet food store and spending the entire day making dinner with my date. We would enjoy the food even more knowing we put all the effort into making it ourselves.

When we walked into the dance, the two of us would initially stun people, not because we were two guys but just because we looked great. I wouldn't care if I had to learn to make clothes myself if it meant avoiding that awkward "I rented this, and it doesn't quite fit" look. I would be able to hold his hand all night without feeling weird or attracting attention. By the time it was over, we would be so tired we wouldn't even care.

RIGHT now, however, my prom dream is just that. My school is a great place, but out of about 500 students, there are only a few other openly gay kids. (There are also a handful of openly bisexual girls, but that's considered trendy, so they don't count.)

I'm pretty brave, but sorry, I just don't feel ready to take a boy to prom. I once tried to take a boy to a school dance, and it was just too weird. It felt like every eye was focused on us for all the wrong reasons.

Maybe things will be better for younger guys. I hope so.

At my school, attending the prom in groups of friends is normal and acceptable, so that's what I'm doing. Time to drag out that tuxedo again. But I'm looking forward to it. I will thank my friends for the great times and try not to focus on the thing I cannot yet have. I'll walk in feeling sad and knowing that, for better or worse, I'll be leaving these people in the fall. We'll all go off to our own lives. Who knows what'll happen in mine?

All proms have their cheesy themes, and ours is no exception. "Let the Dreams Begin!" cries out from invitations and prom updates throughout our school.

My dream began a long time ago. I'm just waiting for it to come true.

Frank Paiva graduates next month from the Lakeside School in Seattle. He will attend New York University in the fall.