Pink Saturday, part deux

Do you like movies about gladiators?


I know these guys were handing out something, but can't for the life of me remember what it was...



Largest mirror ball I've ever seen, and I've seen my share. I've also whacked my head on my share, but that wasn't going to happen with this 10' diameter, crane suspended behemoth.



Some twink climbed up on the street light. Cool image for gay pride in the Castro. I played with the image a bit in Photogene.



People who live on Castro Street often hang out their windows, offering to toss plastic party beads in exchange for a "show" from the passers-by. I used to live in the building just past the neon sign on the left; I wasn't in a Castro-facing unit, so I would just go up on the roof for parties like this.




Some of the entertainment. I love how enthralled the audience is.




Every year a group of volunteers goes up on Twin Peaks and builds a huge, illuminated pink triangle above the city. This year there were some fireworks launched around midnight.

(For readers who don't know where the pink triangle comes from, it was used by Nazis to identify gays, much as the yellow star was used to identify Jews. We've embraced the symbol and in the embracing of it, have robbed it of it's former negative power.)

The Pink Party this year was very fun. As a community and personally we've been through a lot since the last pride. We saw our first, state-sanctioned same-sex marriages (including my own), and then we saw the state vote with a slim margin to classify me and my people as second-class citizens -- a vote that was upheld by the California Supreme Court. The "fierce advocate" for the GLBT community who occupies the White House has yet to act on his promises to end the worse than useless "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the hateful "Defense of Marriage Act." He's done damage to us, too...

Despite these setbacks (and probably in no small part because of them), the community has come together in a celebration filled with joy and love.

I'm a little embarrassed to say that I'm reminded of that old Chumbawumba song, with a minor alteration:

We get knocked down, but we get up again. No, you're never going to keep us down.

Happy pride!

-- Post From My iPhone and all photos twere aken with it, and edited using the iPhone App, Photogene.

Pink Saturday

The yearly celebration of pride, San Francisco style! The lovely lady
in the window gave her blessing to the love and joy on the street below.

More pics if I get any that are worthy of posting....

Movie of Painting

Recently I posted a painting I did in Brushes!, the iPhone app that I really love for allowing me to paint anywhere, any time....

I've posted a movie of the painting being painted on my main page. Check it out. Let me know what you think.

www.dexfx.com

More Brushes!

You may recall that I've posted stuff I painted on my iPhone using the
app "Brushes!" before. Brushes! Certainly seems to be catching on. A
cover of the New Yorker magazine was painted with it. A well known
artist included images he painted on the iPhone in a museum show.. A
British newspaper recently published a spread of works by various
artists using Brushes.

All of this inspired me to play some more. This is what I put
together a little last night and a little on the train to work this
morning.

Hope you like it.

I'll come back into this post later and update it with links when I'm
at a computer. (I'm posting this directly from the phone.)

Well, I'm Glad They Explained That!

I'm waiting at SFO for a quick flight to Orange County (after a
disasterous morning on BART, but don't even get me started on THAT).

Isn't it great how in this age of information, the airline spares no
expense to make sure we know exactly why there's a delay?

Once More Into the Breach

I'm assembling my field video kit to tape presentation of the Supreme
Court's opinion on Prop 8 -- whether I am still married, whether a
simple majority can vote away the rights of a minority.

As I clamp the camera body to the tripod, I steady myself. The
nutjobs were assembling when I arrived this morning at 7:30, carrying
signs proclaiming their self-righteous, self-defined superiority
because they happen to be straight.

As I test the camera settings, I ready myself as best I can for what
I'm about to see.

Will I be fighting back tears of joy, or tears of despair? I'll know
in an hour and ten minutes.

Heading Home!

Whew! The weekend trip is over. By any measure, the premiere was a smashing success. The second night also sold out, which surprised me. Both nights' audiences were very enthusiastic and excited. It seems to be a big deal to have the world premiere of a movie in Cleveland.



The crowd excitedly awaited curtain. (Chris was afraid nobody in San Francisco would believe that there were crowds. I offer the above photo as proof!) On the second night we recognized a couple who had come the first night. They had no connection to Eggshellsnd (the place or the movie), they just liked the movie so much that they came back for seconds. And the second night they brought their daughter along. She seemed to enjoy the movie, too.



I had some time to see the sights of Cleveland on Saturday with my in-laws who drove over from Pittsburgh for the day. I know I'm tall, but I never realized just how freakishly tall I am. You know, other than when I'm trying to stuff myself into a coach-class seat on a five-hour flight....

So, now I'm on my way home. Tired. Glad I went. But glad to be out of that hotel. Oh, right. The hotel. It was, er, a hotel. Mostly....


-- Post From My iPhone