The kids celebrate Christmas

Pittsburgh style.

Long Exposure Christmas

I'm at the in-laws house in Pennsylvavia. Nothing like 2,000 mini-lights on a 7 foot tree and a slow shutter speed to bring the holiday spirit.

Here's one more:






-- Post From My iPhone

New painting App

So, I still love Brushes, the natural media emulator for my iPhone,
but it has a few limitations. Foremost among them is the tiny size of
the images I can create with it. They look great on the phone itself,
and even in a small window on a computer, but they're way too small to
be printed.

So, I downloaded another painting app. It's called "Colors!" and it's
been around for the Nintendo DS for a few years, I believe. They
ported it to the iPhone and made some enhancements to it. It's not
quite as much a "natural media simulator" as Brushes, but it has one
advantage in that it can output a much larger, print-worthy file.

Now if only I could get good enough with Colors! To make a print-
worthy image! The image above was my first attempt.

Give me time; I'll get better...

A Band of Rowdy Santas Terrorized Local Bar

I'm told this happens every year in San Francisco, but it's the first time I've seen this many in the Castro.

My favorite which I (thankfully) didn't catch a photo of was the Santa wearing nothing save a furry hat and a lot of red body paint.

I love San Francisco!

-- Post From My iPhone

World AIDS Day

Today, December First, is World AIDS Day. Begun 20 years ago, World AIDS Day is about raising awareness (and money, too), and fighting prejudice.

If you can, do something supportive for the community. You can read about it any number of places. Go to Google and they have a link on their front page. Go to www.sfaf.org for more info. Get educated. Educate others.

Remember that AIDS has not gone away.


-- Post From My iPhone

Extra-Solar Planets

A couple weeks ago astronomers announced that they had, for the first time in human history, directly observed planets outside our little corner of the Universe, the Solar System. This announcement inspired me to smear some iPhone pixels around and create this image.

All previously known extra-solar planets have been deduced by gravitational fluctuations or by minute diminituions of the parent star, but "Fomalhaut B" was spotted in images taken by our old friend, Hubble. It's somewhere between half and twice the size of Jupiter, and orbits nearly three times farther from Fomalhaut than Neptune orbits Sol. Photographing it was like photographing a single grain of sand on Baker Beach in San Francisco while standing on the moon.

We live science fiction every day.



-- Message posted from my iPhone








-- Post From My iPhone

Come Together

There was a nation-wide protest against Prop 8 Saturday It impressed me that people came together in cities all across America to protest the initiative that takes away the right of same-sex couples to marry. I went to San Francisco's rally.



Signs were waved, speeches were spoken, chants were chanted and an unauthorized march wound it's way throughout the city. I didn't participate in the march, having gotten the spontaneous marching thing last week, but I wish I had. The march last week was from City Hall to the Castro - friendly territory:



The march Saturday hit the less gay areas of the City. Reports from folks who did go marching say it went along Market toward the Castro, but was unexplainedly turned around before getting there. A smaller group had left the rally earlier, and it seems that the SFPD tried to marshal the two groups into one. I'm told the two groups wound up coming together in Union Square, from which they marched through Chinatown, to Fisherman's Wharf (those tourists will have some awesome San Francisco photo-memories!), along the piers, to the Embarcadero, and back along Market. Everyone I've talked to left the march then, around 7 hours after the rally began, but I've read reports saying it went on for quite a while longer.

Aside from one accidental honking on the head of a bystander with a sign, I've heard of no scuffles or issues related to the march. It was a peaceful expression of solidarity and outrage, and definitely shows that this fight is far from over.

A last image from the rally that really made me happy:





-- Post From My iPhone

Early Morning, November 5

I did this iPhone painting today while footage was digitizing. It's
not an actual self portrait, but it captures how I felty at about 4:30
this morning when the Prop 8 numbers just weren't changing.

Ah, the therapeutic nature of art. To focus on creating an image helps
me calm myself....

Let's Talk About Education

So, this map shows the counties in California that went "no" on 8 in robin's-egg blue, and "yes" on 8 in baby-diarrhea brown. (No editorial comment intended by the selection of color, let me assure you.)



The biggest surprise here for me was that LA fell for the hate-filled lies of the yes on 8 campaign. It was close in LA, like most counties that went "yes." Well, most counties except Riverside, San Bernardino, and Kern. They're the "Inland Empire" counties west and north of LA, and they account for more than the 400,000 votes that make up the difference between "no" and "yes."

Let's overlay a filter on the map:



This filter darkens any county whose population has less than 15% with Bachelor's Degrees. The darkened counties above are 85% or greater non-college educated. If we only counted the votes of the counties with 15% or more College Graduates, Prop 8 would have burned. By a significant margin.

Now, as Humboldt, Mendocino, and Monterey prove, a less than 15% college degree rate does not mean you have to be a right-wing, homophobe-filled region, much as San Diego, Orange, and Sacto prove that education does not necessarily lead to an idyllic paradise of loving diversity.

What these data do suggest to me is that education leads to open minds. I think that's really what education is supposed to be about. So, if we want to help bring the world forward to a more accepting, embracing place, we should support higher education.

The data represented here came from the Los Angeles Times and the US Census Bureau.

Ever upward.

-- Post From My iPhone

Lunchtime Politics

They've done a great job with the Visinility Events in San Francisco.




Pretty much any street corner has a similar scene. Gives me hope.

-- Post From My iPhone

Pic says it all

Did you?

-- Post From My iPhone

Voting!

I've voted before work on election day in most of the elections that have occurred in San Francisco since I moved here in 2001. This is the first time there's been a line of more than three people when I arrived at the polling place, 10 minutes before they open.



And this is less than half of the people in line. The queue goes up Castro Street and is starting to turn the corner onto State Street.

Yay for civic responsibility!

-- Post From My iPhone

Please Vote No on Prop 8

Hi, everyone --

One final posting before Election Day. This video is one of the last ads produced by the No on Prop 8 committee, and it does a great job of explaining why it's so important to defeat this proposition.

I spent many hours this weekend (some during torrential downpours) handing out information, answering questions and waving signs to help get the message out, along with dozens of other volunteers at my location, plus who knows how many other volunteers throughout the state. But it's not enough if we don't actually get out and vote.

On the off chance that you haven't heard, Proposition 8 seeks to eliminate rights that currently exist in California. It is written such that if it passes, discrimination will be enshrined in the most significant governing document in California. If it passes, I'm not sure what will become of my marriage; the State Attorney General has issued an opinion that he thinks marriages performed will still be valid, but until the inevitable lawsuits wend their way through the courts, nobody will know for sure.

I know that many of you don't live in California, and you can't vote here. But if you know anyone who does live here, please remind them to vote tomorrow, and to vote "No" on Proposition 8.

For those of you who do live in California, if you value equality for everyone, if you don't want to see discrimination become law of the land, please vote "NO" on Proposition 8.

Thanks, and good luck to us all.

Dex

A Saner Shade of Crazy

You may remember that Halloween in the Castro had become too crazy to be fun, and in fact had become dangerous, what with that shooting and subsequent stampede two years ago. So, last year, city officials, lead by our district's Supervisor, Bevan Dufty, shut the Castro down for Halloween. It was a controversial approach, to be sure, but tonight has shown that it was a wise approach.



It was hard to get good photos since I'd only brought my iPhone, and it doesn't have a flash. I hope these pictures give a sense of the evening.

Yes, the Castro was crowded, but not nearly so crowded as it has been in years past. In fact, there were baricades in the hood, but they were set up to keep people on the sidewalk, not to keep traffic off the streets. While there were places of pedestrian congestion, it wasn't bad. Most interesting to me is the fact that people who were milling around really seemed to be there to have a good time. So, even though there was some crowding, particularly in front of bars, people maintained a good attitude.



Costumes were clever, and there were a number of Sarah Palins, as one might expect at a celebration of all things horrifying. There was a group of Mormon Missionaries, who were favorite picture subjects of many of the revelers. I was asked by a number of people to pose with the missionaries, no doubt because I was dressed as what could probably best be described as Satan's pimp.



Politically-themed costumes were de rigeur, with the afire mentioned Palinplex, marriage sets and this elaborate vehicular "tribute" to Senator McCain and his Kibrickian sensibilities:



And, of course, what would a street party in the Castro be without some man-flesh?



The guy on the right's t-shirt says it all.

Even though I'm a nervous wreck about whether Prop 8 will pass or fail, my town has brought back something I fell in love with when I first moved here. Let's hope it can stay small, local, and fun for years to come.

-- Post From My iPhone

Challenge Grant for No on 8

https://secure.ga4.org/01/3million?source=connexion



That's the URL to hit to take advantage of a $100,000 challenge grant made by Tim Gill, founder of GLBT social networking site Connexion, to donate to the campaign against Proposition 8. Mr. Gill will match contributions up to $100,000 made before midnight tonight.



It's urgent that we raise as much money as possible in these last few hours of Friday so we can counter the other side's extremely well-funded (primarily from out of state) last minute advertising blitz designed to take my right to be married to the person I love away from me, as well as the same right of all my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.



Please help if you can!

-- Post From My iPhone

Another test post

Giving this another shot. Sorry RSS readers, for the empty, meaningless posts! Hopefully this solution will work.

Here's the requisite photo:



That's it!

-- Post From My iPhone

Test post

Sorry readers, I'm testing a blog software app for my phone and it requires that I make a post or two to see what's going on. So, here's a picture:





That should be a BSOD from yesterday's Teleprompter fiasco in the studio.

K. That's all for now.

-- Post From My iPhone

Sorry for the blank post.

Here's what was supposed to be in the last posting:

In the spirit of the Halloween and Election Season, Applesauce had the
following message:

Lighthouse

While watching an old episode of Murder She Wrote, I played with
Brushes some more.

It really does please me just how much like wet acrylics this
application feels. I know that I'm just rubbing my finger on the glass
surface of the phone, but I can almost feel the liquid smear on the
illustration board.

Brushes or ArtRage (which I talked about in a post about a year ago)
or any of the "natural media" simulation programs can really help
someone cultivate their artistic skillset. If you've never painted,
picking one of these up (ArtRage starter edition is free for both mac
and PC at http:\\www.ambientdesign.com, and brushes for the iPhone is
on sale at the app store for a while for 99 cents I think) would be a
great way to try it out without having to invest in paint, canvas,
cleaners, etc. Plus, there's no mess to clean up, and no brightly
colored flecks on your fingers that no matter how hard you scrub just
won't go away!

Give it a try. And if you do, let me know! I'd love to see what you do.

Commuter Humor

I had to go downtown on Saturday and forgot that this weekend had the
Love Fest going on in the Civic Center.

Looks like it was fun.

iPhone Space Art Collage

I had really forgotten how fun it can be to just quickly throw
together some quick illustrations.

I made these all on my phone using the apps "Sketches" and "Brushes."
Each took about 15 or 20 minutes, and it took about 5 to put them
together using the "Collage" app. I did the text using "Photogene."

Talk About Accurate!

I'm in a court building in San Jose awaiting the arrival of a judge
for an interview. Out of curiosity, I fired up the GPS...

More iPhone Art

I had a little more time to kill today while monitoring something that took only a tiny portion of my brain, so I was able to pull a complete paint set, canvas and easel out of my pants. Really, that's what it feels like. Except no mess or turpentine. And a really small canvas, but sometimes painting small can be fun.

This one was almost entirely done with Brushes (http://brushesapp.com).

Entirely on the iPhone!

I thought I'd see if I could go back to my space-art roots on the
little computer in my pocket, and do a quick Star Trek inspired
painting with the tools on my phone. Many years ago, during what my
dad called my "bohemian phase," I made my living doing acrylic and
airbrush paintings of similar Sci-Fi and fantasy images. It was a fun
time in my life, and painting this took me back -- if only for the 25
minutes it took to create.

For the iPhone/iPod touch-enabled out there, here's what I used:

Brushes (http://brushesapp.com/)
I painted the explosion, phaser, and starship freehand in this
excellent hand-held natural media emulator.

Sketches (http://www.sketchesapp.com/)
The starfield had to be a little more crisp than I could achieve in
Brushes, so I saved the painting to the phone's photo library and
opened it in Sketches to add the various stars.

I saved that to the photo app and opened it in Brushes again, because
I wanted to add some nebulosity to the image. If I'd thought of it, I
could have done this during the first generation in Brushes, and saved
some quality. Ah, well, I know better for next time...

Comic Touch (http://plasq.com/comictouch)
Saved that output and opened it in Comic Touch (still one of my
favorite apps on the phone) to add the caption and word balloon.

Photogene (http://web.me.com/omer.shoor/photogene/main.html)
Finally, after saving the output from Comic Touch, I took the file
into Photogene, a very useful app that handles a number of things
(including word balloons, though I like the font and look of the
balloons from Comic Touch more). Using Photogene, I cropped the image
and added the frame.

Literally, this all took me 25 minutes, about as long as it took to
tap out this blog post on the phone. (All of this was done while
babysitting a print-to-tape operation at work.)

Pretty amazing for a phone!

Er...

New Favorite iPhone App

So, this was made with "Flipbook," an app I picked up on the iTunes App store a week or so ago. While this is a really simple animation, the program shows a lot of creative potential. There's been some great stuff put up on the flipbook site, (www.flipbook.tv). Of course, there's also an enormous amount of drivel up there, but there are some gems.

With this program (or the other two that are similar), the various painting and photo manipulation programs, plus music production apps (I have a couple of those, but haven't really dug into them), I'm sure it's only a matter of time until someone produces an entire movie on an iPhone.

(Flipbook has now replaced Comic Touch as my Favorite way to kill time, though I still do play with Comic Touch a lot. Give me a while and I'll combine the two into something fun....)

Yes, He's Famous!

I hope these aren't getting old...

But, really. I have these stuffed animals with fully developed
personalities in my life, a cameraphone that's with me all the time,
AND a comic-creation application for my phone.

Do the math!

Uh...

Little Hippo Visits the Studio

Another cartoon

There will likely be more of these. As I mentioned in my post on
iPhone software, this "Comic Touch" app is my favorite way to kill time!

Just be glad I'm not posting every single one of the cartoons that I
create. Many of them are just a little odd...

A cartoon

ZOMG!! It's REAL!

A very quick trip to City Hall at lunch netted me this. It's the
certified copy of vital records, proving that Paul and I are married!
For REAL!

Now, if the Constitution means anything these days (and with the Bush
administration still in power, I'm not sure it does, but I digress),
this record SHOULD be recognized and accepted by all states in the
Union. See, there's that "full faith and credit" clause on the
Constitution, which states:

"Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public
Acts, Records, and Judicial Proceedings of every other State."

Right there in the US Constitution. And right here in my hand is a
public record of a public act.

Only an idiot would try to wrangle out of requiring this public record
to be recognized by every State.

But, then, there are a lot of idiots out there.

Nonetheless, it's amazing to me how happy getting this piece of paper
has made me!

Those of you reading in California, don't forget to vote in November
to take down Prop 8 that would, if passed, rescind the legal right of
two individuals to marry, if they happen to be of the same gender. It
must fail!

And those of you reading in other states, if you are facing a similar
proposition or amendment, vote against it. They all must fail!

Even if you don't vote typically, register and vote. It's important.

iPhone Software Review

So, the Apple Application Store has been out for a week and a half,
and while I certainly haven't tried everything that's out there, I
thought I'd take a minute or two to tap a review out on some of my
favorites.

(This is being written ON an iPhone, by the way, and I'll do my best
to catch any "corrections" that may creep in, but some may slip
through.)

Anyway, as my husband will confirm, I've kind of become addicted to
checking the App store daily for new fun bits. (Bad Apple for posting
nothing new last night!). I've picked up a bunch of the free apps
(cheap bastard that I am), and a few paid ones, and have had some time
to form opinions about most of them. Here are some of those opinions,
in no particular order:

BEST APP TO MAKE MY GEEKY COWORKERS WANT TO SWITCH TO IPHONE: iSaber.
This app puts a tiny light saber on your screen, which is cool enough,
but what makes it worthy of jealousy is the fact that it makes the
light saber sounds when you swing the phone around. Perfect for
dorky, imaginary duels around the house or office.

BEST APP TO KILL A FEW MINUTES WITH: CubeRunner.
A sweet flying or driving Game that uses the accelerometer to steer.
You tip the phone left and right to steer, and it feels right. The
graphics are super simple, but they work. Not something I'll spend
hours playing, but a fun little diversion.

BEST APP TO KILL A LOT OF TIME: tie between Super Monkey Ball and
Comic Touch.
Super Monkey Ball. You control a little monkey in a hampster ball,
rolling around on platforms that most certainly don't meet office
safety standards. Awesome graphics, cool music, slightly frustrating
controls (same as the Wii version), and a crazy concept. How can you
go wrong?
Comic Touch. I have way too much fun with this app. It's from the
same folks who make Comic Life (www.plasq.com), and is a near-perfect
down-scale of the desktop version. Start with a photo, add word
balloons, captions, etc, and do some simple effects, too. It's made
me look at my photo library with new eyes, thinking about what I can
do with the pictures. I'll work on a single panel comic for a long
time, having a creative ball all the while.

MOST USEFUL APP FOR AFTER-HOURS WHILE ON THE ROAD FOR WORK: Urban Spoon.
Give the phone a shake and it randomly selects, rates, and maps a
restaurant nearby. How cool is that?!?

There are lots more, but for now, I'll stop. Look for more reviews --
and some goofy comics -- coming soon.

MARRIED!

So, I keep learning that there are people who do read this blog. What
does that have to do with getting married? Well, as it turns out, my
now LEGALLY RECOGNIZED brother-in-law was concerned because neither
Paul nor I had posted at our blogs recently. And that was because we
were busy getting married.

Yes, it became legal for us to get married in mid-June. We went to
city hall to get the license on June 26, thinking that we would get
married sometime within 90 days.

Next thing you know, we're in tuxes, getting married at the little
chapel that opened in the Castro shortly before the ruling went into
effect. They did a fabulous job at the chapel.

Now that the deed is done, I'll be posting more often. I'll also post
some more pictures when I get the chance.

Meanwhile, this is a pic from the wedding that I've comicified using
the new iPhone application, Comic Touch. Same old iPhone, but with
the new software, it feels like a brand new device.

Enjoy! More to come!

And so it ends

The Pride festival was this weekend in San Francisco. No numbers have
surfaced as to how many out-of-staters got same-sex hitched while
visiting for Pride, but speculation places the number pretty high. I
overheard conversations about a few non-California couples tying the
knot.

This photo is all that's left of a once proud feather boa. It was
pathetically blowing across the stone sidewalk of the Civic center as
I made my way to work today.

World Peace Through Dancing

It's rare that I post a link to a video, but this just made me feel wonderful, and I wanted to share it with anyone I could.

No matter what you think of his dancing, or of the dancing of anyone else in this video, you can't help but feel good. And isn't that what dancing is all about?


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

The screams of joy and laughter of the people joining this guy remind me just how much we all are the same. I wish I'd been in Alamo Square when he was here in San Francisco.

And, yes, this was a corporate-sponsored project. Kudos to the company that sponsored it. (You'll have to watch the video all the way to the end to find out who it is.

Peace. Love. Dance. Live.

No Stay!

From the Public Information Officer of the California Supreme Court:

California Supreme Court Denies Rehearing and Stay in Marriage Cases.

Decision to become final on June 16 at 5:00 p.m.

San Francisco—The California Supreme Court today filed an order in the Marriage Cases (S147999; decision filed May 15, 2008), denying requests to stay its decision until after the November 2008 election and denying petitions for rehearing.

The rehearing petitions were denied by a 4-3 vote. Chief Justice Ronald George, and Justices Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Werdegar, and Carlos Moreno voted to deny rehearing. Justices Marvin Baxter, Ming Chin, and Carol Corrigan would have granted rehearing.

The order further specified that the decision of the court filed on May 15, 2008, will become final on June 16, 2008, at 5 p.m.

The full text of the order is online at: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/presscenter/newsreleases/NR31-08.PDF

There are going to be lots of people married before the initiative goes before the voters in November.

And so it begins

It's June, which is the month the gay community celebrates Pride.
Since I moved here in 2001, I've always been impressed by how much the
entire City goes out for Pride. Statistics indicate that as many as
35% of San Francisco identifies as gay, lesbian, bi, or trans, so it's
not a huge surprise, I suppose.

Here is the small breeze that announces the approach of the oncoming
storm. Advertisements for the celebration have gone up in MUNI
stations throughout the City. Soon Market street will be festooned
with rainbow flags from the bay to the Castro and queer tourists will
crowd trains, busses, bars and the sidewalks in this yearly festival
of diversity and solidarity.

With the recent California Supreme court decision making the way for
same-sex marriage starting June 17, this year we all have much of
which to be proud. I expect many tourists to come here this year.
Many more than usual. And they should! Couples should come to get
married. Even if it's not recognized in their home states, it has so
much meaning. (If it didn't have meaning, the closed-minded wouldn't
be fighting so hard to deny people they think of as "lesser" that
right. But I digress.)

So, this is a month in which we all should celebrate.

Celebrate our victories.

Celebrate our love.

Celebrate who we are.

"Older Americans" Month

Not Seniors, or Elders, but "Older Americans."

Two things come to mind, here. One: it's language like this that leads
to outed right-wing politicians to declare themselves "gay Americans;"
and two: that every American in the country except for the very last
one born in May is an American who is older than at least one other
American, so it must be everyone's month.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their special month! Whether you knew it
was your special month or not.

O'Keeffe in the Morning

One of the things I love about our apartment in San Francisco is all
the beatuiful plant-life. Some of it is just lovely, like this
picture, and some of it is agressive, like the tendrils that try to
strangle the unsuspecting visitor to our front door. Those frighten me.

But enjoy the picture.

(And sorry about the double-posting; I'd typed this on my phone and missed that I'd spelled Georgia's name wrong....)

One more

The party went on for hours. I think that everyone was smiling.
Everyone.

This day just got better and better.

Tired now.

Tired, but happy.

Did I mention dancing in the street?

A little later.

I told you we know how to have a spontaneous party!

Dancing in the Street

Spontaneous street party getting underway in the Castro. This is
"spontaneous" here: a big-ass DJ stage and speakers. As I was walking
to meet friends for drinks, I passed the usual retinue of drag queens,
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, shirtless studs, hot dykes, and
people in full costume. What was unusual was the phalanx of TV crews.
I passed at least seven, as well as any number of indie documentary
crews.

The revolution is being televised!

Some more photos from this morning

I just struck some stills from the video I took this morning and thought I'd post a few.

This is the first person to receive the ruling at 10:00 AM. He's also the first person to squeal with delight when reading the decision. I got his name on tape, but don't have it available right now. If I can retreive the name I'll edit this post.

Here he is squealing. To be fair, there were probably 25 people squealing at this moment.

I wasn't squealing, but I really was getting some tears in my eyes, which made it hard to focus the camera.

Here are two parties involved in the case hugging after everyone realized that it was real.













Some folks unfurled the rainbow flag in the anteroom of the Clerk's office after the announcement.