ROSE WATCH:
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a picture of Rose but the fab Beryl turned up this photo from last weeks paper, come back Rose all is forgiven!!.
PROP-8
Some parameters, as preface. This isn’t about yelling, and this isn’t about politics, and this isn’t really just about Prop-8. And I don’t have a personal investment in this: I’m not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives.
And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn’t about yelling, and this isn’t about politics.
This is about the… human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.
If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not… understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don’t want to deny you yours. They don’t want to take anything away from you. They want what you want — a chance to be a little less alone in the world.
Only now you are saying to them — no. You can’t have it on these terms. Maybe something similar. If they behave. If they don’t cause too much trouble. You’ll even give them all the same legal rights — even as you’re taking away the legal right, which they already had. A world around them, still anchored in love and marriage, and you are saying, no, you can’t marry. What if somebody passed a law that said you couldn’t marry?
I keep hearing this term “re-defining” marriage.
If this country hadn’t re-defined marriage, black people still couldn’t marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal… in 1967. 1967.
The parents of the President-Elect of the United States couldn’t have married in nearly one third of the states of the country their son grew up to lead. But it’s worse than that. If this country had not “re-defined” marriage, some black people still couldn’t marry…black people. It is one of the most overlooked and cruelest parts of our sad story of slavery. Marriages were not legally recognized, if the people were slaves. Since slaves were property, they could not legally be husband and wife, or mother and child. Their marriage vows were different: not “Until Death, Do You Part,” but “Until Death or Distance, Do You Part.” Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized.
You know, just like marriages today in California are not legally recognized, if the people are… gay.
And uncountable in our history are the number of men and women, forced by society into marrying the opposite sex, in sham marriages, or marriages of convenience, or just marriages of not knowing — centuries of men and women who have lived their lives in shame and unhappiness, and who have, through a lie to themselves or others, broken countless other lives, of spouses and children… All because we said a man couldn’t marry another man, or a woman couldn’t marry another woman. The sanctity of marriage. How many marriages like that have there been and how on earth do they increase the “sanctity” of marriage rather than render the term, meaningless?
What is this, to you? Nobody is asking you to embrace their expression of love. But don’t you, as human beings, have to embrace… that love? The world is barren enough.
It is stacked against love, and against hope, and against those very few and precious emotions that enable us to go forward. Your marriage only stands a 50-50 chance of lasting, no matter how much you feel and how hard you work.
And here are people overjoyed at the prospect of just that chance, and that work, just for the hope of having that feeling. With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against people for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do?
With your knowledge that life, with endless vigor, seems to tilt the playing field on which we all live, in favor of unhappiness and hate… this is what your heart tells you to do? You want to sanctify marriage? You want to honor your God and the universal love you believe he represents? Then Spread happiness — this tiny, symbolic, semantical grain of happiness — share it with all those who seek it. Quote me anything from your religious leader or book of choice telling you to stand against this. And then tell me how you can believe both that statement and another statement, another one which reads only “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
—
You are asked now, by your country, and perhaps by your creator, to stand on one side or another. You are asked now to stand, not on a question of politics, not on a question of religion, not on a question of gay or straight. You are asked now to stand, on a question of…love. All you need do is stand, and let the tiny ember of love meet its own fate. You don’t have to help it, you don’t have it applaud it, you don’t have to fight for it. Just don’t put it out. Just don’t extinguish it. Because while it may at first look like that love is between two people you don’t know and you don’t understand and maybe you don’t even want to know…It is, in fact, the ember of your love, for your fellow **person…
Just because this is the only world we have. And the other guy counts, too.
CHOC TOP:
ABOVE PIC: Courtesy of Tyson who’s credibility has gone off the scale after landing me this real ad for the Coogee bay hotel caught up in the ‘shit scandle’, just read the wording of the ad!, it’s almost as if this was printed as a joke after the ‘Skat incident’ .. ‘Free ice cream, decorate with a selection of toppings’ indeed.
Coogee Bay Hotel pays Whyte family $50,000 after faeces-in-gelato fiasco
By Nick Leys
The Sunday Telegraph
November 09, 2008 12:50am
The Coogee Bay Hotel may have paid up to $200,000 to a family whose gelato was contaminated with faecal matter. 11/ 2008 Sky News
Poo payout Settled … the Coogee Bay Hotel will pay $50,000 to a family allegedly served gelato contiminated with faeces.
THE Coogee Bay Hotel will pay $50,000 in settlement to the family at the centre of the ice cream scandal to avoid further legal action.
It follows a 12-hour mediation session on Friday between hotel management and Steve and Jessica Whyte.
It is understood the $50,000 was agreed upon, plus a full apology from the hotel and a retraction of any suggestion the Whytes staged the whole affair to extort money.
The only questions remaining are: who put the poo in the gelato and why?
A police investigation is still underway.
While a substantial amount of money, it will have to cover hefty legal fees the Whytes have incurred after a two-week fight with the Coogee Bay Hotel.
The money also does not take into account losses to the family business as the Whytes have fought for an apology from the hotel.
The settlement also gags all parties from discussing its details with the media.
Related Coverage
• ‘Poo hotel’ destined to be the butt of jokesNEWS.com.au, 31 Oct 2008
• Family get $50k after poo-in-pudding scandalNEWS.com.au, 8 Nov 2008
• Ice cream ‘poo’ tests inconclusiveNEWS.com.au, 6 Nov 2008
• Pub pooh-poohing complaint, couple sayNEWS.com.au, 27 Oct 2008
• Coogee Bay footage ‘shows nothing’NEWS.com.au, 2 Nov 2008
LOVE THE ABOVE HEADLINES:
Steve and Jessica Whyte refused to answer questions yesterday, as did their solicitor Steven Lewis, of Slater and Gordon.
Prior to Friday’s mediation, The Sunday Telegraph was told the Whytes would file a legal action in court on Monday morning if an agreement was not reached.
It is understood that action would have been followed by a claim of defamation against the hotel over the imputation that the Whytes were attempting to extort money from the hotel.
Originally the hotel offered the Whytes $5000 without accepting liability. It now appears the Whytes, who rejected that amount, will walk away with not much more.
All along the couple have reiterated their position that they have only wanted an apology and for the hotel to admit liability.
Friday’s 12-hour mediation session was without breaks for lunch or dinner and concluded about 10pm. The mediation was between the Whytes and the hotel and did not involve other members of staff as previously requested.
The hotel has employed three well-respected former NSW detectives in a bid to get to the bottom of the scandal as quickly as possible and find out who was responsible.
They are Ken Bowditch, who headed investigations into the Bulldogs alleged sexual assault scandal; Steve Mathews, an ex-detective of the armed hold-up squad, and Brian Haddin, who was involved in maintaining Olympics security.
The scandal arose after the Whyte family was served a bowl of ice cream containing foul-smelling brown matter at an NRL grand final lunch at the hotel’s brasserie last month.
Laboratory reports confirmed it was faecal waste.
Hugh Macken, president of the NSW Law Society, said a civil case against the hotel by the Whytes would have been unlikely to succeed.
“Clearly, if there was any prospect of recovering damages from an act of negligence against a hotel, they have reduced their cost very significantly by resolving it before the litigation starts,” he said.
But defamation cases regularly award plaintiffs payouts of more than $100,000.
“A defamation act would have been far more likely to succeed,” he said, unless the hotel could prove the extortion allegations were true.
Legal experts estimated the Whytes’ legal bill to date would range from between $10,000 to $30,000.
….
So basically for eating a nob of shit you can pick up fifty grand, that sort of money will get you a lot of mouthwash and maybe a bit of tooth whitening. Greg is trying to train his thoughts away from what he’s thinking and planning, basically it involves the North Indian diner and the possible deposit for a house hmmmmmmmmmm.
‘LONELINESS’ BY YOKO ONO:
There’re many things in life i can endure,
One such thing is poverty.
But loneliness, loneliness,
Is one thing i can’t endure.
There’re many things in the world i can endure,
One such thing is humility.
But loneliness, (loneliness) loneliness, (loneliness)
Is something i can’t endure.
How could i stand loneliness, loneliness?
How are you suppose to cope with loneliness, loneliness?
How would one live with loneliness, loneliness, lo-oh-loneliness?
(oh, loneliness)
There are many things in time and space i can endure,
In fact, i can endure most anything.
But loneliness, (loneliness) loneliness, (loneliness)
Is something i can’t endure.
How could i stand loneliness, loneliness?
How are you suppose to cope with loneliness, loneliness?
How would one live with loneliness, loneliness, lo-oh-loneliness?
Lo-oh-loneliness.
(loneliness, so lonely)
(loneliness, so lonely)
(loneliness, so lonely)
(loneliness, so lonely)
(loneliness, so lonely)
Say what you will about Yoko Ono but without question some of
lyrics and songs are truely amazing and carry an undeniable weight.
I wish i could figure how to get sound clips up on this blog, this
song really should be heard.
FRED BEARS BREAKFAST A GO GO:
I cant believe i found this on the net, i think i’m the only person i know who remembers ‘Fred Bear’ from Aussie tv in the early 1970’s, and to see there was an actual album released as well? .. oh no, more hours for me waste trawling my arse through ebay looking for this.
For years friends have been trying to get me to check out Pam Ann, an Aussie comedienne who seems to have a large following in the gay community. Finally the other day i got hold of the DVD, and i have to say it was the most unfunny thing I’ve ever tried to sit through.
I tried to get into it, but it was just so astoundingly unfunny. I think during the half hour i managed to sit through, i may have at some stage had an involuntary lip movement that could have been mistaken for a smile, but no nothing more than that. I pride myself on being at the the leading edge of appreciating humour and comedy, the more offensive and intelligent the better, but let me tell you people, Pam Ann is a one joke wonder.
JUST CHANGE THE CHANNEL:
This is enought to drag me all the way to Gracelands, i never knew they had a tv on display that Elvis actually shot.
CABBAGE TREE:
Old postcard from where my sister works, boy if these rooms could talk, i had my fortieth birthday here and it was the perfect setting.
THE SLAYNEL:
Ahhhh, my old car before Christine, the ‘Slaynel’, i’m posting this pic as for years i was always picked on for driving too slow, but here is proof positive that i have been naughty in my time, i was so excited when i found out you could buy photo’s from the speed camera that captured your moment of public nuisance.
COLGATE SMILE:
Continuing my magazine trawl i found this old ad for railways of Australia, i thought the ad was camp and retro enough, but when i squinted closer and zoomed in on the waiters teeth i gasped in horror as i caught a glimpse of his mangled and rotting fangs, who can spell the word ‘Caps’.
THE OTHER BERYL:
Dear me, this goes a way back .. i think this must have been one of Bangin’s birthdays in Erskinville, i think the last time i bleached my hair was ten years ago, i see Beryl is manhandling one of her ‘Jaxie Sticks’, i’m loving this dig through my piles of old pics and clippings.
BERYL:
ABOVE PHOTO:
A perfect example of Beryl’s home sewn creations, this has it all, layers and Beryl’s patented bat wings.
Here we see the welcome return of Mrs Beryl Palmer from ‘Sons and daughters’ perhaps this should have been filed under the ‘I should have known i was gay when .. ‘ heading, but Beryl deserves her own space. I was fascinated by the constant stream of fashion tragedy’s Beryl foisted upon us on this show, I’d like to think Beryl who was always sewing her own outfits on the show was a fashion terrorist and knew the depths of her depraved subversiveness as she whipped up outfit after outfit on her Phaff, it was a constant parade of bat wing halterneck tops and scalloped collars for as far as the eye could see. No one else but Beryl could pull off white stockings with open toe ‘Mrs Emery’ Homey peds.
PETE:
A stunning photo of Pete Burns looking the picture of health.
NEW HERO MRS EMERY:
ABOVE PIC: Possibley my greatest screen capture ever.
MR TIM:
I’m so disappointed that i never got to see Tiny Tim live during his many visits to Aussie, it’s only now that i recognise the true genius of the man, it was Mr Tim who introduced me to the complete lyrics of my favorite song ‘As time goes by’ most people dont know there was a rarely used first verse, it was considered too ‘out there’ but you can hear it on the version sung by Rudee Valee, i think this first verse is amazing and totally stands up today and has never been more relevant ..
This day and age we’re living in
Gives cause for apprehension
With speed and new invention
And things like fourth dimension.
Yet we get a trifle weary
With Mr. Einstein’s theory.
So we must get down to earth at times
Relax relieve the tension
And no matter what the progress
Or what may yet be proved
The simple facts of life are such
They cannot be removed.
You must remember this,
A kiss is just a kiss ..
TRAWL:
Continuing my trawl through my ever bulging photo archives i’m finding all sorts of stuff, the camp value of this photo is off the scale, and there is a word i’ll be trying my hardest to bring back into fashion, ‘Camp’ .. also another word i want to re-embrace is ‘Sissy’ isnt that a great word?.
ARNOLD FEATHER:
Arnold Feather’s Tv wedding warrented a ‘Super color special’ edition of Tv Week?, i know it was only last week i threw out all my old Tv Week magazines but this ebay find is begging me to make a bid, just imagine the photo’s inside!.
My first crush.
OUT WITH THE OLD:
So lately I’ve been like ‘You know what? i don’t need all this shit around me, the cream of the shit yes (and at this moment i’d like to take the chance to say hi to all my friends at Coogee bay hotel) but a lot of the other stuff no, so where as before i would keep whole magazines now I’m just tearing out the photo or the page i want, sorry Kylie all those Tv Weeks? cast to the winds, old music magazines? now being recycled into shit paper, i just don’t need all these encumberments, but the fun part and the best it is i have found all these articles i have been saving, so be prepared to be bombarded with crap like the photo’s above, i have a real thing for wonky celebrities, i don’t mean try hard wonky like Paris Hilton, the only think wonky about her is her right eye, but true wonk like the photo above of Kathleen Turners feet, i mean I’ve heard of gnarled .. but these are just off the scale, what do you think Beryl? could this foot shot ever be topped?
During the big clean out of 2008 I found this photo in an old issue of TV Week magazine of Eric Oldfield, an Aussie actor, who appeared most memorably in ‘The Young Doctors’. My lust for Eric Oldfield goes back much, much further than that. In about 1973 Eric was the centerfold in Cleo magazine, not full frontal, but you saw enough. I remember seeing this, and I really think from that moment on the deal was sealed. I was fascinated by these photo’s, I was drawn to them like a sociopath to a McDonalds drive thru speaker. To this day I can see the pictures so clearly in my minds eye, obviously I didn’t know what it was back then when I was eight years old. It’s so funny, a friend just the other night saw this magazine photo I had laying around my house, he’s about the same age as me, and he gasped when he saw it. He went on to tell me how he had seen the Cleo centrefold and had been drawn to it as well. I mentioned this to my friend Matt in Melbourne, he too fessed up that Eric Oldfield in Cleo had had the same effect on him, and that he too could recall each detail of the photo’s. Anyone that can find me a copy of that issue of Cleo will be rewarded handsomely, I’d LOVE to scan it up and post it here.
SLEAZE 2008:
These are the photo’s i can show, i’ve now learnt that sometimes it’s not so good to have camera’s readily accesible on your mobile.
Thanks to Kev for the photo of us above, i could never look so good in blue eye shadow.
GAYEST HOUSE EVER:
Recently while driving near Enmore i caught a glimpse of this house out of the corner of my eye, i was drawn to it like a bee to a honey pot, i slammed Christine into a full handbrake stop, spinning her on only her back tyres and sliding her into a tight parking space, we jumped out and held an impromptu photo session out the front of this most wondrous pink palace, i sure hope no one strait lives in this place, because if they do they need urgent psychological attention.
KRANSKY:
Recently my school friend Vin (Viv) and i went to see the Kransky sister’s at the Opera house, it was a fantastic night and for me was topped off by running into and getting to speak with Liz Kirby (Lucy Sutcliff in Number 96) in the foyer after the show, i had to work on the photo of Viv and i as the lady who took the pic was off her nut on cheap wine and almost took the photo sideways.
RANCHO MOTION:
Beryl recently had her house warming party, the poor harlot thought we were all there because we love her, when in reality we were there for the free food and to steal things from her house .. i walked out with what i assumed was a perforated water bed bladder from Beryl’s bedroom, it’s either that or it’s a gravity fed enema. Irony has a new definition, Beryl’s new house is right next door to the federal police headquarters!.
POLLY’S:
Beryl, Barb’s, Lynne and myself at Pollys in August, i just love going to the Polly’s dances in Sydney, they are beyond fun and daggy, usually a posse of us make our way there and i think this night was the first time Barb’s had ever been to a Polly’s. It’s the sort of place that if the crowd seems to like a song, like Dianna Ross’s ‘Chain reaction’ for example, the DJ will just play the song again!, also the drag shows are on the Dapto side of feral, where else can you see morbidly obese drag queens do a show to ‘Dancing queen’ under the banner of ‘FLABBA’.
SOMEONES KNOCKING AT MY DOOR:
One of my mates at work recently made me this really cool sign for my unit’s front door, it makes it so much easier to give the pizza guy directions now.
THEY SAY IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY:
My nephew Michael recently turned 30th, besides having a great party where he had a slurpee machine rigged with alcoholic knee bending squishee’s he had the most amazing birthday cake i have EVER seen, it was totally outrageous and my teeth are aching just thinking about it, it was a chocolate and icing reproduction of a block of Cadbury’s dairy milk chocolate .. pure tooth numbing indulgence.
MAN ABOUT TOWN:
Over the past few months Phillip has been spending a bit of time in Sydney for work, it’s always great to catch up, and it’s even better to check out all the funky and posh hotels he gets to stay in, i always like to pretend i’m staying at the place when i visit, and while taking the lift up to his room i always manage a dismissive sniff at the other guests who get off at lower floors to the one i’m going to, i’ve never professed to be anything less than a sad, pathetic and desperate wannabe.
ABOOT TIME:
ABOVE PIC: The photo above proves that (gulp) i am human, for the first time in living memory i have graced a photo with my shadow!, i cant believe that i done something so ‘human’ i’ve always prided myself on my photo’s and lack of severed heads, shadows etc but there you go, a rare moment of humanness from Tammy Tingles.
My friends and i have been spoilt this year to get two visits from our friend Marc who now lives in Canada, Marc has this fantastic way of talking to you and things fall into perspective, he is also a much needed ‘Miss Fashion’ for me, sort of like my own personal Carson Kressley (without the botox .. i think, and ET belly, and insatiable desire to slap) one sideways glance from him will have you scampering back to your wardrobe vowing and promising to burn every pair of denim 3/4 pants you own, i wept tears of joy a couple of weeks ago when Marc saw my self stylised and personalised white Chuck Taylors with red tartan laces and said ‘They’re hot Greg’, it’s the small things really.
