OK Go!

1 State, 2 State, Red State, Blue State...

red vs blue, 1860 style:

As divisive elections go, you have to admit that 1860 kind of leaves 2004 in the dust... : - )

Interesting trivia: John Adams ran for President 4 times and lost 3 times, twice to George Washington (I bet you thought he ran unopposed!) and once to Thomas Jefferson. In several early elections, all 3 or 4 candidates were from the same party, and the House of Representatives decided more based on personality than platform..

Such as 1824, when the candidates were John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Crawford and Henry Clay. Jackson led Adams 43%-30% in the popular vote and 99-84 in the electoral, but back then, the constitution said that if nobody had more than 50% of the electoral votes, the House of Representatives voted among the top three candidates. That's how John Quincy Adams got in - he lost, four years later, to Andrew Jackson. Henry Clay, considered among America's 5 greatest Senators, is remembered for saying "I'd rather be right than President."

Fascinating historical electoral maps and background are to be found at this site.

Fields In Glass For Everyone...

Well, by now, most of you have my post-election Chillout CD and own the lovely piece of sweet psychedelia referred to in the title. If you don't, e-mail me and I'll send it to you.

It's Friday. Tomorrow night I leave on a 10-day business trip to Brazil and Argentina. I will continue to post to this blog almost every day while I'm away. Next week in Brazil, I'll be taking a group of US investors to meet a series of Brazilian companies as investment opportunities. This will take me to Rio, Sao Paulo, and to the retro-futuristic vision that is Brasilia, the nation's capital. Then, next Friday night, I travel a few hours' south for a weekend of downtime in Buenos Aires, where I lived in 1988-89, and to spend some time with my first boyfriend, Andres, who I'm very close to. On Monday night, after a day of meetings in Argentina, homeward ho!

French Fri Day later today / Vendredi Français ça viendra l'apres-midi

Good article on my favorite gay pop group, Scissor Sisters, in Amplifier magazine.

Cartoons du Jour:

Do As I Say, Not....

Feels Like I'm Staring At The Sun

Smile Smile Vote Smile

Gee, our old LaSalle ran great....

Squid Pro Quo

So lazy this weekend. It's sunny out, 71F and feels like summer. short-sleeve weather. thursday night at work cleaning crew almost incinerated my light jacket - mistook it for trash. mounted a full search, in spanish, with a crew of 4 hapless night cleaners, and found it just in time. brushed it off, and wore it home. another close one. More later, including my encounter with 2,000 would-be corrections officers on the streets of Chelsea...



more later I promise - must go learn FrontPage software as the webmaster-to-be of my gay outdoors group. later dudes


An unusual sight as I sipped latte in the grey Chelsea dawn yesterday: hundreds of burly, tough men and women of color standing on line, stone-faced. Halloween party? Rumble? Tryouts for a XX video? Not at all! It was the annual Corrections Officer placement exam, administered at our local high school on 18th street.. Go figure.

Weekend Halloween is Maximum Halloween. This gives everyone plenty of time for costumes and trick-or-treating. Days like these you realize just how many families with young children Manhattan does have...

French Post-Fridays / Surlendemains-de-Vendredi Français

Enfin, la fin des elections, on saura d'ici peu. La marge ne pourrait pas être plus etroite - c'est presque empaté - Bush a une toute petite avantage pour le vote populaire, tandis que Kerry pourrait bien s'emporter le vote electoral, et donc la presidence. Mais ce que les sondages ne peut pas prevoir, c'est le niveau de participation pour chaque parti et pour chaque état. On dit que ça va battre tous les records - deux armées de volontaires se déploient un peu partout dans le Midwest et en Floride. Y compris Erik a Missouri, Kelly et Carolyn en Pennsylvanie, et peut-etre Robert dans l'Ohio. Croisons les doigts, les orteils, et tout ce qu'on peut croiser, et touchons du bois.

Les elections m'ont inspire a préparer un mix-cd tres spéciale - mon idée originelle c'etait un cd pour 'fêter' ou pour 'consoler' selon le resultat. Mais je me suis rendu compte que, dans les deux cas, on aura egalment besoin de quelquechose pour détendre et soulager. Donc, la musique melodique, un peu moins rock que d'habitude, enregistré et envoyé avant mardi.

Spanish Sunday / Domingo en Castellano

¡Qué semana tan intensa! Muchísimo trabajo, es cuando las empresas anuncian sus resultados trimestrales y tengo que preparar numeros e informes. Y el ruido al fondo es el de la campaña electoral, la lucha por la presidencia norteamericano y para nuestro futuro inmediato como país. Es un país muy, muy dividido, casi 50/50, una brecha cultural enorme entre el oscurantismo religioso, la histeria, y el aislamiento por un lado y el progreso, la secularizacion, y el internacionalismo por el otro. Martes vamos a saber lo que pasa, si damos un paso para adelante con Kerry, o si seguimos en los mismos errores con Bush, quien es incapaz de reconocer sus errores y aprender de ellos.

Hoy fue Halloween en Chelsea. Es muy lindo cuando cae en un fin de semana, mucho más tiempo para fiestas, y para que los niños vayan en busca de caramelos, galletas, y otros manjares. Todo el mundo en disfraz, salvo yo, sin fiesta y, este año, sin mucha inspiración. No puedo creer que la última vez que estuve de disfraz fue hace 16 años, en vísperas de mi primer viaje a la Argentina, el que me iba a transformar la vida....