Odds and Ends

Here’s some photos that were too racy, or weird, or extraneous to make it into the entries they were intended for.  Plus, here’s a conversation I had yesterday about our fair Lady Gaga.

What?

The post is called Odds and Ends.  Get off my back.

I’m kidding. Stay there.

Him:  Typical you.

Me:  What?

Him:  You cozied up to that man at the bank.

(short pause)

Me:  I sure did, didn’t I?  I didn’t even need to.  I was just showing off.

Him:  Why did you do that?

Me:  Practice?

Him:  That sounds about right.

(Pause.  We look at each other.  He looks the same as ever.  He’s different though.)

Him:  What else is new?

Me:  I have a house guest.  I have an amazing house guest.

Him:  Oh yeah?

Me:  That’s right. A very talented young man.  His boyfriend, as it turns out, is very unkind, and likes to act abusive.

Him:  Oh!  So you’ve taken on a ward.

Me:  Sarcasm will get you everywhere.  No, it’s not a ward.  He’s just sad and sweet…  he needed to stay with me for a few weeks.  He’s young.

Him:  Of course he is.

Me:  Stop.  He plays Gaga a lot.  Around the house.

Him:  Does he?

Me:  Don’t say it in that tone of voice.  I mean.  Okay…  Say it in that tone of voice.   But I’ve been thinking about her, lately.

Him:  I don’t believe that at all.

Me:  I have.  Listen – I don’t consume her product, but I kind of like her message, or her politics or whatever…

Him:  Well we all consume her product.  It’s pop culture, and she’s at the top of pop culture right now.

Me:  Fair enough.  But I wouldn’t seek her out if i wasn’t inundated with her right now.  Not as an artist.  But as a person – maybe I would.

Him:  I’m not sure I can forgive her for…  that… travesty. 

Me: Born This Way?

Him:  Yes.  I’m not sure I can forgive… that.

Me: Oh stop it.  Ultimately that song is good for the world.

Him: Disagree.

Me:  Stop.

Him:  Disagree!  I think the message of that song….  UGH!!!  That song!  They hyped that song.   That song could have been so good. 

Me: It’s a good song!  I mean.  It’s not.  But it’s good!  It serves a good purpose.

Him:  The message is thin.  It could have been so intelligently done.

Me:  No.  It couldn’t have.

Him:  What do you mean?

Me:  That song’s not for you.  It’s not for intelligent Brooklyn ultra-liberals who’ve already come to terms with their gayness and learned to love themselves.  It’s not going to reference the counter culture or some esoteric intellectual mode of thought.  It’s for a gay boy in Columbus, OH who just got kicked out of his Mom’s house for being Gay and now works at a thrift store.  That’s who the song is for.  So he doesn’t kill himself.  You’re welcome.

Him:  I’m welcome?

Me:  Yes.  You’re welcome.  She kept a kid from killing himself.  Or she tried to, and she showed other people it might be a good idea to try to stop gay kids from killing themselves.  So, you’re welcome.  I think she’s doing good for the world.

Him: It’s just that song.

Me:  You’re right. It’s not great. But it is ‘GREAT.’

Him:  Disagree.

Me:  Ugh.  What about the speech she gave at the March on Washington?  What about how every time she goes on late night television she mentions Marriage Equality?

Him:  It’s the song.  I like her, but that song.

(long pause)

Me:  It’s woefully bad.   But I love her.  She’s good.

(long pause)

Jerk.