2006 November | BlackGayBlogger.com

Asides #31

Posted on 11/26/06 @ 11:02 pm

You know, it's been over a year now since the Brand Atlanta campaign released their universally panned "every day is an opening day" motto with their equally unimpressive logo…and we still don't know what Atlanta is supposed to be. I hear people down here say all the time "Well I wish ________ was like New York." And true, Atlanta ain't New York. But then again, Atlanta ain't Atlanta (at least not to all its residents). The residents divide this city more than any government or civic agency can, and I really think because of that, the city will never have a real tangible "something" that makes people say "Hey, this is Atlanta." There's Black Atlanta, White Atlanta, North Atlanta, South Atlanta, ITP, OTP, gay Atlanta, straight Atlanta (if that exists), and different levels of the city that are experienced according to your annual income. Aside from incredible traffic, Coca-Cola and citizens that hate their mass transit authority, what in the hell is Atlanta?

QueerClick's Gay Bloggies…oh please. J. touched on this about a week or so ago…and I'm really trying to find the grapes to say something decent about this cum stain of an awards event. Oh crap, there goes that. On the one hand, I know firsthand how hard inclusion is when you take into account an awards event. This year's Black Weblog Awards? For all the leaps and bounds me and the staff made to accomodate people, it ultimately came back to bite us in the ass because were obviously talking to an uneducated mass of voters. No, I'm not saying they're stupid, but I had e-mails asking "what's a podcast?" and things like that for categories of blogs they didn't even know existed outside of the myopic gossip blog worlds of Concrete Loop, Crunk & disorderly and the like. I can tell you now that I am still debating whether or not I should do the awards for 2007. Anyway, back to the point. The Gay Bloggies are really just further dividing the gay blogging community with their lack of multicultural categories (or nominees). And no, including one Asian or one Black doesn't make it multicultural. It just makes you aware. Big difference, sweetcheeks. In any regard, couple these awards with Cybersocket's Web Awards and you'd think us Black gay folks weren't on the Web at all. Well, except in interracial porn.

Atlantans deal with their bad traffic. Furthermore, instead of using their mass transit to help alleviate the problem, they just sit in their cars on the freeway and bitch about the traffic. So what's the solution? Build more toll lanes and tunnels!

The BET Hip-Hop Awards…man, I was so glad I was not in town when it was here. Not that it had much of an impact on anyone outside of Midtown and Buchead though. Shirley Franklin was quoted as saying that she didn't approve that the Awards come here but "wishes" she did. Well of course! Anything that has a positive economic impact on the city which isn't deemed a "huge mess" and inconveniences too many people is always a plus for the city. I mean, why do you think the VIBE MusicFest isn't in Atlanta anymore? That event was doomed from the start. It may also speak some to why MegaFest will not be in Atlanta next year also. Well, that and Jakes 'n'em still owe money to the Dome.

Charlie Rangel wants to reinstate the draft. Does anyone still take this 2nd-rate Al Sharpton seriously? Sure, he's trying to prove a point to politicians, but c'mon. Aside from taking years to implement, current military standards have been lowered to allow a number of illegal, educational and physical loopholes. Geez…just have a glass of warm milk and a cookie and fall asleep in the back of the House, would ya?

Wayne Brady gets around these days huh? First he's on Everybody Hates Chris and now he's going to be on How I Met Your Mother (which is a great show if you haven't checked it out).

I just got word of this today from — of all places — Download Squad: A free conference on social media in Atlanta on February 10, 2007. That's a Saturday. It is way out in far-ass Kennesaw though, so if any ATL folks want to go, let me know and I'll chip in for gas. This is also on the Atlanta Media Bloggers site. [link]

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Something Old, Nothing New

Posted on 11/25/06 @ 8:43 pm

Fresh off of Brooding Velma's incompetent managerial jackassery, she requested that I be moved to another team of designers. The way things are set up now, there are 30 designers split into teams of three. Brooding Velma is one of the team managers, Fat Bastard is the other manager, and the third one is Grown Not Sexy.

Grown Not Sexy is…well…self-explanatory. Perhaps about ten or fifteen years ago, she would've been a contender. But now she's one of these chicks wedged into the drones of middle-management who still has a faint inkling of her past sexiness and thinks she can resurrect it by wearing 4″ stillettos and talking in slang.

Memo: It ain't workin', boo. And now, I'm on her team.

I mentioned before that we have some new designers here. One of them is Mexican Cher, who a lot of the ladies there at work are gaga over. Tall, light-skinned, good hair…I can see why the chickenheads at work would flock to that cock. But he also has an attitude. Primarily with me, since I did kinda evict him from where he was working. He didn't move far though; his cube is right across from mine. We sit with our backs towards each other, so it's not like we ever have to talk to one another, which is probably a good thing since I can see him in my monitor rearview mirror cutting his eyes at me with disdain.

He's also on my team.

What I've noticed though is that the managers and other designers have been very patient in making sure he had the tools he needed to do his job. Maybe it's because they realize that as the department reaches critical mass while opening into new markets, its crucial to keep retention high and turnover low, especially going into the new year. Or perhaps he really won them over in the interview with his personality (which in every job I've been in obviously counts more than discernible talent or skill). But the real reason is because while the other designers still don't like me, they now also think I'm a bully for forcing Mexican Cher from my/his cube. Check this out. (more…)

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This Shit Is For The Birds

Posted on 11/25/06 @ 11:59 am

There's nothing better than coming back to work after being gone for three days to see four new hires in your department. Suddenly you realize that you're no longer the "n00b" and can hopefully strike up some kind of conversation or workplace camaraderie since they're new and you're…well…a pariah. And pariah's usually have to round up converts wherever they can.

Then again, there's nothing worse when you realize one of them is in what used to be your cube.

I flew back into town on Wednesday the 15th. In order to give myself a little bit more rest, I didn't roll into work at my usual crack-of-dawn time and opted to come in like the rest of the designers at 10:00am. I called my manager Brooding Velma and left her a voicemail to let her know I'd be in later. I come in, and there's this tall, lanky dude with hair down to the middle of his back in my cube. My nameplate? Gone. The few accoutrements in my cube? Gone. So I walk over to my manager's cube, and she looks up at me like she's seen a ghost.

"Oh…umm…what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for work…and there's someone else sitting in my cube."

"Oh yeah, that's Mexican Cher. We didn't think you were coming back, so we cleaned out your cube."

"You didn't think I was coming back? You mean…like permanently?"

Her head jittered around her neck like a bobblehead.

"I put in my time off and it was approved…how could you think I left the job? Didn't you get my voicemail message?"

"I don't check voicemail, sweetie."

Sweetie? Oh, this bitch is askin' for it.

(more…)

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Asides #30

Posted on 11/24/06 @ 8:28 pm

I finally got a Wii and it'll be coming by the end of next week! If you're still looking for one, try Techbargains' Wii Finder page or Nintendo Wii Finder.

For those who have been checking me out over at Vox, I predict I will be blogging at more and more these days now that I got…my new phone!

Yeah, I kinda lost my old phone and bought this one using the insurance. I love it though. What's messed up though is that my new phone was found and is on its way back to me. Oh well…out with the old, in with the Nokia E62!

The police here in Atlanta have really lost their damn minds. Just recently, there's the tragedy of the 92-year-old woman getting shot down in her home and before that, there's the DeKalb county police with their use of excessive force/shoot to kill actions. So far, there have been eleven fatal shootings in the county…so believe me I'm looking twice if I need to go to Decatur or something. What in the hell is really going on in Atlanta? Hell, I've had my run-ins with the cops here in Atlanta and the last thing I want my smart-mouthed ass to be is a chalk outline on Peachtree.

Michael Richards: Talk about the Seinfeld curse. Your career is over, dude. Over. But what's worse is that these sorts of incidents seem to be bubble up to the surface of the media's attention, there's a little static about it, and then it fades into the background. $5 says that while this incident should end Richards' career, chances are he'll end up on some low-rate comedy on Fox or CBS that'll get cancelled in two episodes or less. In other words, folks will think this kind of racist, idiotic behavior is OK because someone in Hollywood does it, goes on a talk show and gives a half-assed mea culpa and we're all going to roll over and accept it.

What's the cut off age for having a crush? I'm curious…seeing as I have two now, both of whom live in the same state, and at this rate, are completely unrequited (since one of them is partnered). Damn!

The forums for SXSWi 2007 are up…and…yeah, I'm a little underwhelmed. The Content forums are nearly all about video (not that there's anything wrong with that). There's no "Blogging While Black" forum, something which I am sure the numerous naysayers of earlier this year are happy about. I think the forum for us to check out though are going to be The Digital Ethnorati and Bridging the Online Cultural Divide. I bet these are Liza Sabater's brainchildren, and if they are, they will be highlights of the conference. Who knows? I may even show my face in the place at next year's conference.

Rather than make this a hugely long Asides, I'll cut it off here and continue what I wanted to say in Asides #31. The BET Hip-Hop Awards, the Gay Bloggies, Black Atlanta and White Atlanta, Rangel wanting to reinstate the draft…trust me, I gots plenty to jawbone about.

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Gone Since November

Posted on 11/24/06 @ 6:29 pm

Damn, this is probably the longest non-intended hiatus I've taken in the history of this blog. Then again, when you've been doing this for damn near eight years (BGB for three and a half, specifically), what's a few weeks?

In all honesty, I planned to post something while I was New York, but that didn't really work out with my intermittent Ineternet access and all. Then I planned to post something as soon as I came back to Atlanta, but it was raining like hell the day I came back and my power was up and down. Then I planned to post after that, but…well, you see where this is going. Life just kinda got in the way. Now here, after Thanksgiving and just getting off of work (yes, I had to work the day after Thanksgiving…what kind of jack shit is that?), I feel like I should go ahead and post something.

I wouldn't want y'all to think I'm giving this up or something. Hell no!

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