Super Ga[y]me

You may have heard this story about CBS not showing a particular ad during the Super Bowl:



I am not a fan of the headache this ad is causing or going to cause.


This is one of those situations where no matter what side of the issue you stand, there are no winners. Gay rights advocates are crying about discrimination, which is fair if the politics behind such an ad are a factor in their decision to reject the ad. But let's flip this around: if CBS decided to run the ad what would gay rights advocates say?

I find the ad to be stupid, unrealistic and borderline offensive. Stupid because gay porn has more subtext than what is going on in this ad. Unrealistic because those two guys would never hook up in real life. Borderline offensive because of the reaction of the third person who I read as being the liaison for the audience. And that's not even including the issue of how gay people are often portrayed in the media as oversexed hedonists. Frankly, I'm glad that this ad will not be entering my headspace on Sunday.

But this is going to be politicized, like it or not. If eHarmony gets to advertise on national broadcast television, ManCrunch should be allowed to as well. But I don't think gimmicky kerfuffles are the way to go about achieving equality.

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TRF 67%

It wasn't my intention to ignore this blog, I've just been busy. Oh my GOD how I've been busy. Today marks the end of Week 4 of the six week Boot Camp process here in TRF land. Luckily, what I've been up to since my last post can be presented in visual form.

For starters, here is my first film project for my production class:



It won't be screening at Cannes next year but I've learned quite a bit within the process of producing the movie.

Here are some more items that have kept me busy...









Plus Andy Griffith, The Beverly Hillbillies and Gomer Pyle USMC.

I've also been working endlessly on a documentary about the producer of The Smashing Machine. He's a student in the program and we're going bowling in a few minutes. Oh yeah, I was also the subject of a documentary for another group about my 299 game.

For the rest of the semester (as in the next two weeks) I'll be studying TV history from 1959-1990 and will be part of the production of a movie written by someone in class. I was hoping my script would get picked up but so far no one has expressed interest, but who knows. There are a number of really good projects to choose from so I won't be too disappointed if mine is passed over.

This weekend: Finish editing the documentary and, if I can accomplish that tomorrow, I get to relax for two whole days.

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This week in TRF

One of the great things about my program (and there are many) is that there is a lot of visual stuff going on both in and out of class. We've already been given our first assignment where we have to make a 60 second film on the theme of "Life Imitates Art" or vice versa. The video has already been shot and tomorrow I learn how to edit and such. If all goes well I should be able to at least post a silent cut by the end of the week.

But there are plenty of videos already on YouTube that we've been watching in class. Such as this gem:



And here are some more......




On this next one, listen to the lyrics. Even Lil Kim would blush.



The next ad is for a fridge that can open by tapping it with your elbow. Supposedly.



Finally, the reason why live advertisements weren't used much after the early 50's.

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Anti

For the most part, I'm ambivalent about the gay marriage issue. Some might consider this surprising since I am part of the dudes-kissing-dudes coalition, but I think there are more important issues that the gay rights movement needs to address. Such as being able to walk down the street without fear of getting jumped or preventing discrimination in housing and employment. To me, fighting for gay marriage is like trying to put the roof on the house before building the walls.

Then today in my Google Reader I get this tidbit from the folks over at AdFreak:



Let's parse, shall we?

"There's a storm gathering, the clouds are dark and the winds are strong, and I am afraid."

I sincerely appreciate the honesty in this statement. The motivation, as this ad presents it, is fear. Is it fear of change? Fear of others? Fear of accepting differences? I do find "I am afraid" to be a more convincing argument that "um...because" or "Leviticus says so".

"Some who advocate for same-sex marriage have taken the issue far beyond same-sex couples. They want to bring the issue into my life. My freedom will be taken away."

This is where things get murky. I'm not entirely sure what they are referring to here.

"I'm a California doctor who must choose between my faith and my job."

I'm not sure what sort of medical decisions would be affected by gay marriage. Usually when I hear about conflicts of faith and medicine they involve either abortion, fertility, or right-to-die situations. I don't have any hard statistics, but I think it is safe to say that the abortion rates for same-sex couples is incredibly low. What about fertility doctors? I question where the a doctor in this situation has drawn the line between acceptable and unacceptable in determining who should benefit from in vitro. I suppose the difference lies in whether the egg and sperm donors are from the same parental couple, but then all of the heterosexual women who want to be single moms who are using sperm donations would also fall into this category. The only plausible possibility I can think of would be medical decisions. If a doctor believes that medical decisions can only be made by a heterosexual life partner, then next-of-kin and legal guardianships could not be used as a means of making those decisions. If there is some area of medicine that I am missing here, please let me know because I fail to see the problem here.

"I'm part of a New Jersey church group punished by the government because we can't support same-sex marriage."

I had to look this up and was pleased with what I found. This group is being "punished" because this particular church owns a property that a lesbian couple wanted to rent to host their civil union and the church's refusal violated New Jersey's public accommodation laws. The Church (as in, the Methodist faith) is not being punished, just this individual church that didn't want to play by the rules. Of course, it is difficult to hear the distinction between church (little 'c') and Church (big 'C').

"I am a Massachusetts parent helplessly watching public schools teach my son that gay marriage is okay."

You can check out the Massachusetts public school curriculum. I recommend the History and Social Science listing, particularly if you are a History/Government dork like me. From what I could tell, the state is not requiring a close reading of Goodrich v. Department of Public Health. Perhaps instead of being helpless, why don't you talk to the teacher, principal, or school board if you feel like the class is getting too far off-track from the curriculum?

"But some who advocate for same-sex marriage have not been content with same-sex couples living as they wish. Those advocates want to change the way I live. I will have no choice. The storm...is coming."

What? I don't see how Bert and Ernie living together with a contract indicating their promise to each other till death do they part really has any affect on my or your day-to-day life. The same goes for Bob and Carol getting hitched or Ted and Alice getting all official.

"But we have hope. A rainbow coalition of people of every creed and color who are coming together in love to protect marriage."

I'm so glad the national game of Smear the Queer does not discriminate on who gets to play. Seriously?

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