2009-05-29

Gay Commercial: Budweiser

This is so cute that even if it doesn't end how I would like, it's nevertheless a nice commercial. And then I like that both men have no problem to show their romantic side... only to end with a beer in hand!

A man is on his knees to make a marriage proposal. The camera cuts to the person he is proposing to, revealing that he is in fact proposing to a shaggy looking man sitting on a couch. He says to the man on the couch, "I love you."

In a monotone voice, the other man asks, "What do you love about me?"

"Your eyes, your soul..." "That's it?" "I just want to marry you."

The man who is proposing pulls out the ring box. The other man takes the ring box in his hand while holding a bottle of Budweiser in the other, examines the ring and gives it back. He smiles, nods his approval and says, "Yup, you're good."

The man on his knees thanks his friend and gets up to leave, at which the camera pans out to reveal a group of men sitting on another couch. He leaves the room while all of his friends on both couches wish him good luck on his mission to propose to his girlfriend.

The tagline is, "Budweiser, TRUE".

Commercial Closet Association

Company: Anheuser-Busch Cos.
Brand: Budweiser
Ad Title: Proposal
Business Category: Alcoholic Beverages
Media Outlets: Television (unaired)
Country: United States
Region: North America
Agency: unknown
Year: unknown
Target: Mainstream

Gay Commercial: Budweiser

2008 Lambda Literary Awards

BISEXUAL
Winner: Open, Jenny Block, Seal Press

Finalists:
Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love & Desire,
Lisa M. Diamond, Harvard University Press
The Bishop's Daughter, Honor Moore, W.W. Norton
Kinsey Zero Through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey, Ron Jackson Suresha, Taylor & Francis Journals
Rimbaud, Edmund White, Atlas & Company

TRANSGENDER
Winner: Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), Thea Hillman, Manic D Press

Finalists:
10,000 Dresses, Marcus Ewert & Rex Ray, Seven Stories Press
Two Truths and a Lie, Scott Schofield, Homofactus Press
Boy with Flowers, Ely Shipley, Barrow Street Press
Transgender History, Susan Stryker, Seal Press

LGBT ANTHOLOGIES
Winner: Our Caribbean, edited by Thomas Glave, Duke University Press

Finalists:
A Casulty of War: Gay Short Fiction, Peter Burton, Arcadia Books
Live Through This, edited by Sabrina Chapadjiev, Seven Stories Press
Love, West Hollywood, edited by Chris Freeman and James J. Berg, Alyson
Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing, edited by Raphael Kadushin, University of Wisconsin Press

LGBT CHILDRENS/YOUNG ADULT
Winner: Out of the Pocket, Bill Konigsberg, Dutton

Finalists:
Hit the Road, Manny: A Manny Files Novel, Christian Burch, Simon and Schuster
How They Met & Other Stories, David Levithan, Knopf Children's Books
Mousetraps, Pat Schmatz, Carolrhoda Books
What They Always Tell Us, Martin Wilson, Random House Children's Books
Love & Lies: Marisol's Story, Ellen Wittlinger, Simon and Schuster

LGBT DRAMA
Winner: The Second Coming of Joan of Arc, Carolyn Gage, Outskirts Press

Finalists:
Phi Alpha Gamma, Dan Bernitt, Sawyer House
Radical Acts: Collected Political Plays, Martin Duberman, The New Press
Two Truths and a Lie, Scott Schofield, Homofactus Press
Vile Affections, Vanda, Original Works Publishing

LGBT NONFICTION
Winner: Loving The Difficult, Jane Rule, Hedgerow Press

Finalists:
Me as Her Again, Nancy Agabian, Aunt Lute Books
If I Could Write This in Fire, Michelle Cliff, Univ of Minnesota Press
Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America 1861-2003, William N. Eskridge Jr, Penguin Group
Beyond (Straight & Gay) Marriage, Nancy Polikoff, Beacon Press
Drifting Toward Love, Kai Wright, Beacon Press

LGBT SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR
Winner: Turnskin, Nicole Kimberling, Blind Eye Books

Finalists:
The Archer's Heart, Astrid Amara, Blind Eye Books
The Magician and the Fool, Barth Anderson, Bantam Del Rey
Wilde Stories 2008, Steve Berman, Lethe Press
Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories, Craig Gidney, Lethe Press

LGBT STUDIES
Winner: Criminal Intimacy: Prison and the Uneven History of Modern American Sexuality, Regina Kunzel, The University of Chicago Press

Finalists:
Tomboys: A Literary & Cultural History, Michelle Ann Abate, Temple University Press
The Dividends of Dissent: How Conflict and Culture Work in Lesbian and Gay Marches on Washington, Amin Ghaziani, The University of Chicago Press
Political Manhood: Red Bloods, Mollycoddles, & & the Politics of Progressive Reform, Kevin P. Murphy, Columbia University Press
Screening Sex, Linda Williams, Duke University Press

LESBIAN DEBUT FICTION
Winner: The Bruise, Magdalena Zurawski, Fiction Collective Two/University of Alabama Press

Finalists:
Red Audrey & the Roping, Jill Malone, Bywater Books
Passing for Black, Linda Villarosa, Kensington
Closer to Fine, Meri Weiss, Kensington
Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind, Chavisa Woods, Fly by Night Press

LESBIAN EROTICA
Winner: In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip, Radclyffe and Karin Kallmaker, Bold Strokes Books

Finalists:
Lipstick on Her Collar, Sacchi Green and Rakelle Valencia, Pretty Things Press
Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, Lynne Jamneck, Lethe Press

LESBIAN FICTION
Winner (tie):
The Sealed Letter, Emma Donoghue, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
All the Pretty Girls, Chandra Mayor, Conundrum Press

Finalists:
The Slow Fix, Ivan E. Coyole, Arsenal Pulp Press
Map of Ireland, Stephanie Grant, Scribner
Breaking Spirit Bridge, Ruth Perkinson, Spinsters Ink

LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
Winner: Sex Talks to Girls: A Memoir, Maureen Seaton, University of Wisconsin Press

Finalists:
Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy, Susan Griffin, Shambhala Publications
Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), Thea Hillman, Manic D Press
Sex Variant Woman, Joanne Passet, Da Capo
Case of a Lifetime, Abbe Smith, Palgrave Macmillan

LESBIAN MYSTERY
Winner: Whacked, Josie Gordon, Bella Books

Finalists:
Blind Faith, Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshall, Bold Strokes Books
Sweet Poison, Ellen Hart, St. Martin's Press
Losers Weepers, Jessica Thomas, Bella Books
Calling the Dead, Ali Vali, Bold Strokes Books

LESBIAN POETRY
Winner: love belongs to those who do the feeling, Judy Grahn, Red Hen Press

Finalists:
Interpretive Work, Elizabeth Bradfield, Arktoi / Red Hen Press
Kissing Dead Girls, Daphne Gottlieb, Soft Skull Press
Same Life, Maureen N. McLane, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Two Minutes of Light, Nancy K. Pearson, Perugia Press

LESBIAN ROMANCE
Winner: The Kiss That Counted, Karin Kallmaker, Bella Books

Finalists:
Finding Home, Georgia Beers, Bold Strokes Books
A Pirate's Heart, Catherine Friend, Bold Strokes Books
Hotel Liaison, JLee Meyer, Bold Strokes Books
The Lonely Hearts Club, Radclyffe, Bold Strokes Books

GAY DEBUT FICTION
Winner: Finlater, Shawn Ruff, Quote Editions

Finalists:
Shuck, Daniel Allen Cox, Arsenal Pulp Press
Light Fell, Evan Fallenberg, Soho Press
The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie The Second, Drew Ferguson, Kensington
The Steve Machine, Mike Hoolboom, Coach House Books

GAY EROTICA
Winner: Best Gay Erotica 2009, Richard Labonte & James Lear, Cleis Press

Finalists:
The Secret Tunnel, James Lear, Cleis Press
Hard Working Men, William Maltese, Victor J. Banis, Jardonn Smith, & J.P. Bowie, MLR Press

GAY FICTION
Winner: We Disappear, Scott Heim, HarperCollins

Finalists:
Stray Dog Winter, David Francis, Macadam/Cage Publishing
The Torturer's Wife, Thomas Glave, City Light Publishers
The Conversion, Joseph Olshan, St. Martin’s Press
The Boomerang Kid, Jay Quinn, Alyson

GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
Winner: Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love, Sheila Rowbotham, Verso Books

Finalists:
Bringing Him Home, Aaron Cooper, Late August Press
Swish, Joel Derfner, Broadway Books
Assisted Loving, Bob Morris, HarperCollins
King of Shadows, Aaron Shurin, City Lights Publishers

GAY MYSTERY
Winner: First You Fall, Scott Sherman, Alyson Books

Finalists:
The Fisher Boy, Stephen Anable, Poisoned Pen Press
Sundowner Ubuntu, Anthony Bidulka, Insomniac Press
Mahu Fire, Neil Plakcy, Alyson Books
Spider Season, John Morgan Wilson, St. Martin's Press

GAY POETRY
Winner (tie):
Fire to Fire, Mark Doty, HarperCollins
Now You're the Enemy, James Allen Hall, Univ. of Arkansas Press

Finalists:
Want, Rick Barot, Sarabande Press
Please, Jericho Brown, New Issues
My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer, Jack Spicer, edited by Peter Gizzi & Kevin Killian, Wesleyan University Press

GAY ROMANCE
Winner: Got 'til it's Gone, Larry Duplechan, Arsenal Pulp Press

Finalists:
Mexican Heat, Laura Baumbach & Josh Lanyon, MLR Press
The Protector, N.L. Gassert, Seventh Window Publications

2008 Lambda Literary Awards

You Can Leave Your Hat On by Lena Matthews

You Can Leave Your Hat On is what the title promised, a naughty little novella on a stripper and his lover. The starting point of the story is one I already see in the past, a young and handsome College TA, Harlan, who has the hots for his even more handsome, a slightly older, College professor, Sawyer. The book respects the rules of a May / December romance plus the College setting with an Office Affairs theme... the shorten the thing, this is the classical romance by the rule, with the twist of being a gay romance. So I would say that it can appeal both to the old fan of the gay romance than to a newbie who wants to try her hand on the genre.

Being Sawyer older and also Harlan's superior, he has all the trouble of the case: he can't take advantage of his position, he doesn't want to be involved with a younger man who can have everyone he wants, and plus there is also a little problem of appropriateness... Harlan to make the ends meet has a side job as a stripper in the local gay club, and Sawyer saw him at his workplace. So the point if Sawyer is gay is no more a question, but now there is the biggest problem that, even if Sawyer manages to move on the fact to have a relationship with a student, the fact that said student is a stripper is a big NO for the career of a college professor.

And so Sawyer didn't make a move on Harlan, stopped to go to that club, and forced himself to have a strictly professional relationship with the boy. Only that Harlan is not of the same idea, and as soon as he reaches his graduation day, he is also ready, willing and naked for the professor to take. Harlan has all the cockiness of his young age, he is really convinced that Sawyer is avoiding him only since they have a professional relationship to preserve, and he thinks that, as soon as that problem is over, Sawyer will be all his to take. In a way I like how daring and careless Harlan is, but this only proves that he is really young.

Being Harlan one of his students, it's not the only problem for Sawyer; there is also the question of his side job, as a stripper, that is not exactly a good visiting card to prove his willingness to commit and being exclusive; and then even if Harlan wants a real relationship, it's not said that Sawyer wants the same thing: he is arrived at an age where or you start to think seriously to commit, or you run at the minimum hint that there is a chance to be shackled... There is quite a controversy inside Sawyer, he is jealous of Harlan, mainly due to his job, but he is also skittish when it's time to commit and give something real to Harlan. Where Harlan is open and maybe careless, at least he has his mind clear and he knows what he wants... for all the years Sawyer has more than Harlan, he has not yet reached that level of maturity.

Anyway this is a novella, mostly and erotic novella, with a lot of sex scenes, hot and nice, and all in all it spans only two days in the life of our characters, so there is not enough time to develop a lot, but I have the idea that the author has something more in mind, since she introduced some supporting characters (Harlan's brother, Rhys, and Sawyer's friend, Macon) that have too much deepness to be only a passing spectator

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/you-can-leave-your-hat-on

Amazon Kindle: You Can Leave Your Hat On

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

You Can Leave Your Hat On by Lena Matthews

Amanzon tagged the word "gay" inappropriate

I read this interesting post on Rick R. Reed's blog, but what happened to Rick seems a common event to different authors who are gay or write gay novels:

"I woke up this morning to an e-mail from Amazon announcing their new "author profiles." If you have a book on Amazon, you're eligible. I went in to do mine and was stopped short when I tried to post it because I got an error message saying that a term in my bio was "potentially inappropriate" and needed to be addressed before I could proceed. That word? GAY...of course. I removed the word because I could not post until I did, but found this to be extremely disturbing, especially in light of the recent fiasco at Amazon with sales rankings."

read the full post here: http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/2009/05/amazon-calls-gay-inappropriate.html

Since I'm not an author, I can't verify, but if it's true, it's quite an homophobic thing. If I'm gay and a writer, I have to hide in the closet if I want an Amazon profile?

ETA: to be precise, the problem is only on the new feature of Amazon for authors, the Amazon Author Profile, not the normal Amazon Profile everyone can sign in (like mine). And someone tried with different word, like lesbian and queer, and the problem was not arised, but the ban of the word "gay" is still active.

ETA: the problem seems now resolved, authors can post the word "gay" in their profiles and save it. The change apparently happened in the last few hours, since till this morning it was not possible.

Amanzon tagged the word "gay" inappropriate

Sorry to be so bothering tonight...

... but Amazon is making me mad! I posted two days ago the same review for Dumb Jock I posted on my LJ. It didn't appear online. I waited the 48 hours they required to make an inquiry, and then asked why my review was not online. This was Amazon's reply:

I read your recent review of "Dumb Jock" and found it violated our guidelines. We don't allow profanity in Customer Reviews.

I edited your review, and changes are marked with brackets. If you'd prefer to remove your review, you can do so online. Please take a look at our Review Guidelines for information about acceptable review content:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=14279631

OMG what I wrote that was defined profanity? Usually I avoid all "bad" words, and I'm not the type to deepen in erotic details...

Here is the part of my review that was condemned as profanity (in bold):

It's not a "behind closed door" type of sex, we are there in the room with the characters, but we have to cover with our imagination where the author doesn't describe something. For example there are blow-jobs, and even an anal sex scene, but actually I believe to have never found the word penis or some equivalent word. I have a clear physical impression of Jeff, small and lithe, a bit on the skinny side, and Brett, tall and muscular, and how Jeff feels protected when he is in Brett's arms, but actually that physical impression never deepens to intimate details (no description under the belt).

And here is Amazon's edited version:

It's not a "behind closed door" type of sex, we are there in the room with the characters, but we have to cover with our imagination where the author doesn't describe something. [...] I have a clear physical impression of Jeff, small and lithe, a bit on the skinny side, and Brett, tall and muscular, and how Jeff feels protected when he is in Brett's arms, but actually that physical impression never deepens to intimate details (no description under the belt).

OMG again!!! I used the word "penis", not c*ck, or s*aft or some other "dirty" word... I used PENIS! Penis is profanity?

On second thought, probably it was the blow-job or the anal sex that created trouble, but still I don't believe they are profanities, questionable maybe, but profanity?

And BTW, have you ever wonder why books like Smart Ass (MLR Press) or Times Queer (Synergy Press) have few reviews on Amazon? When I posted my reviews of them, I used the title of the book, and the reviews were blocked. I sent an inquiry to Amazon saying, what guilt I have if the "bad" word is in the title? And they uploaded the review without modifying it. But how many people send the inquiry to Amazon? How many reviews on books with "banned" titles were lost on the net of Amazon's censorship?