Talk

Hmm, I'm not sure I'm wild about the new design of this website.

Today's song is "Talk." Because it seems a theme over this entry is conversation. Specifically, a somewhat slow conversation, a great natural conversation . . . and an upcoming uncomfortable conversation.

Today I met up with Jake for the first time since our first meeting. We saw "Cabin in the Woods" which is a crazy movie. I'm a big Joss Whedon fan and he helped write it, plus I'm a big Chris Hemsworth fan too (and he was HOT in this movie). Afterward we chatted a bit about our exploits in the online dating world. I told him about my interesting situation dating both Aaron and his ex-boyfriend, he got a kick out of that. It's strange though . . . now that I'm far removed from the emotional highs of our initial correspondence I realize that Jake and I really don't have super great chemistry. Too many awkward lapses in the conversation, and I felt like I was doing most of the work of keeping it going. I still like him as a friend though, and definitely plan to hang out with him again sometime.

It's different with Ben. I left him a message today and he called back after the movie. We talked on the phone for 40 minutes. Talking to him is very natural. I think I'll go up to LA again next weekend, I definitely want to hang out with him again. He even offered to come down to my area to hang out again, which I thought was really nice of him. After talking on the phone with him today, the glimmer of hope that we could start dating again at some point down the road was strengthened a bit. And even if that didn't happen, I can see us becoming really good friends.

Meanwhile I'm hiking with Aaron tomorrow. I know I probably shouldn't put too much weight in what his ex-boyfriend said about him (clingy, needy), but admittedly it does make me kind of cautious about going any further with him. It sucks . . . I like him just fine. He's a nice guy, and kind of cute. But I'm not really getting relationship-level attraction vibes from him (especially not while my mind is on Ben, haha). So I guess I'll need to have the "friend talk" tomorrow, which I've never given to anyone before. I hope he takes it alright. Then there's the question of whether and how I should remain friends with both him and his ex-bf! Neither knows that I've dated the other one. What kind of crazy reality show did I wind up in?

To boldly go

I've never been much of a Star Trek fan (I was more into Star Wars . . . at least until those horrible prequels), but strangely enough two Star Trek related items are on my mind today.

First of all, as many of you probably already know, Zachary Quinto came out recently. He's most known for two roles: the villainous Sylar on Heroes and Spock in the Star Trek reboot. I actually first saw him on 24, where he played a CTU programmer (I think his name was Adam). His latest roles are in the movie Margin Call and the TV show American Horror Story, neither of which I have seen yet. I'm glad that he's decided to live openly. I know the decision to do so can have big career repercussions for actors. I guess it was the news of another gay kid committing suicide that convinced him it was the right thing to do.

The other thing is a fan-made Star Trek production called "Blood and Fire." It apparently is a continuation of the original series with new actors cast as Kirk, Spock, etc. Featured is Captain Kirk's nephew, Peter Kirk, who is gay and in a relationship with another member of the Enterprise crew. The only scene I've seen involves the two of them. It is a fairly long scene of the two of them in Peter's quarters, getting rather intimate (with most of their clothes on, though Peter manages to lose his shirt). I was reading a discussion board about the episode on the website of the creators, it was pretty interesting. There was a lot of Star Trek fans who were upset by that scene. Some just because of it's length and the effect on the pacing of the episode, but quite a few because of its very presence. Some complained that it represented catering to the "gay agenda" (oh how I despise that term). A couple of people complained about not being able to let their kids watch the episode (granted, apparently there's also some rather scary, violent scenes later on, but they were at least partially talking about the gay love scene). This of course began to degenerate into a discussion about the morality of homosexuality in general, which caused one of the creators to start threatening to ban people.

The internet is a breeding ground for such heated arguing and hateful rhetoric. I seem to have a compulsion to read the comments section on articles about controversial topics, especially gay rights. I almost always end up angry/sad at some of the ignorant, hateful things that some people say. Of course, there are usually more logical, compassionate people chiming in as well. However, even some usually logical people can have some pretty ridiculous beliefs and misunderstandings about homosexuality.

Case in point: I was talking to one of my best friends the other day, and the subject of gay rights came up when we were talking about the Republican candidates. He expressed his opinion that gay people shouldn't be able to get married, because gay people raising children would propagate homosexuality. I tried to explain to him that studies suggest that children of gay parents are no more likely than children of straight parents to be gay, but he was skeptical. Bah. Of course, I do realize that not everyone has put as much deep thinking into the subject as I have (for obvious reasons). Still, there's still so much misinformation out there that people are clinging to! If gay parents turn their kids gay, how come not all children of straight parents are straight?

I drink your milkshake

I saw "There Will Be Blood" the other day. Wow, that is one weird movie. Weird score, weird characters, weird ending. I recommend it though. Definitely memorable, and Daniel Day Lewis is quite amazing. Of course the whole movie I was waiting for the famous "milkshake" line.

I love movies. I actually saw more Best Picture nominees this year then ever before. "No Country for Old Men" was really good, and happened to be filmed in the same location as "Blood" was. "Juno" was hilarious, and I'm glad Diablo Cody won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Not that I only watch Oscar movies. I saw "Vantage Point", "Jumper" and "Cloverfield" so far this year. "Cloverfield" is amazing . . . if you don't get motion sick I highly recommend it. The other two are alright, the critics hated them but I thought they were okay.

I read a story on the internet the other day about a husband and wife who decided to stay together even though the husband came out of the closet. Rather interesting. I am too tired to try to find it right now, but apparently they are happy with where there marriage is and don't feel the need to split up. More power to them I guess. My fear about getting involved with a girl is the risk of breaking her heart later on if I come to that realization about myself. On the other hand, how can I know whether I'm capable of loving a woman if I limit myself for that reason? Ugh.