See Ya!

While I tend to love me some Year End Review posts, I'm not the biggest fan of the arbitrary Top 10 lists, or whatever Top # they decide to use. So, here I'm going to highlight some of my favorite posts from this past year for your (re) enjoyment. I've had a lot of fun starting this blog and working to get it off the ground, and I hope you've had just as much fun as I have reading and participating! So, without further ado, here's my faves of 2008:

CA Supreme Court Legalizes Marriage - This was my first post here, and the day I started my blog, California made a huge jump forward in basic human rights.

Damaged - It's not just Danity Kane who's damaged these days. Apparently, us Queens are too.

Letter To Crazy Christians - In which I let the ass-crazy, evangelical, "can't-think-for-myself" Christian crowd know how I feel about their "lifestyle choice."

PDA Is So Gay - My take on the first episode of one of my favorite Video Blogs, Mores For Gays.

Gay Chicken - Not so much like how older gay men refer to younger gay boys (well... maybe a little of that), but more so about straight guys that make out with each other as a game... yeah, I know, way hot!

Tug-Of-War - Wherein I postulate about feeling like a rag doll in the '08 Political races.

n00bs!!!1! - Another recap and postulation on Mores For Gays. My thoughts on dating the dangerous newly out boys.

Scarlet Letters Are So Last Season - When the Church of England "jokes" about branding LGBT people with health warnings akin to cigarette packs... yeah, I still don't see the humor there...

Adopting in Arkansas - Or not. Since the ban passed. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Just Call It Marriage - I still don't know why we insist on calling it "gay" marriage if we're demanding equality...

Pledge To Not Hate - A teacher asks her class to not discriminate and is quickly attacked for it by both sides...

Macho=Gay - It just does

Connecticut Marriage Equality - Things were looking on the up and up as the second state legalized marriage this year.

Yeah Barack, Boo Voters - But then we said Blacks are cool, but Gays are still undeserving, second-class citizens.

Fire - And then I waxed angrily about it

Momma's Rock - And then my Mother waxed angrily about it

Laughter As Medicine - And then we waxed laughingly about it

Over It - And then we stopped waxing, because chest hair is in again and... oh, wrong topic. Yeah, I got tired of hearing the "it'll happen eventually" line.

Protests - I talked about my heart-warming, cathartic, world-changing march and protest during the November 15 Join The Impact Nationwide Rallies.

Hate Hurts... Alot - We've long known that discrimination negatively affects those discriminated against psychologically, but to hear these stories of young people that feel abandoned by society do to Prop 8 and it's cousins is heart-wrenching.

Day WITH A Gay - My plea to rework that whole Day Without A Gay thing that didn't go so well...

Jealousy and Silliness - Yeah, I'm jealous of this guys success, but I think he's Youthiness (coined it!) might have stepped up to haunt him just a little.

You Hurt Us, And I'm Not Sure You Can Make It Up To Us - Obama selected Rick Warren to bless his Presidency. Warren selected Gays as his go-to target to build his career as a professional hater. I'm not happy about it. Nobody, it seems, it happy about it.

So there it is, my list of favorite posts this year. Feel free to dig through the archives and find your favorite posts and sound off in the comments.

Also, have a great New Year and be safe tonight! I know I'll be enjoying myself!

Only The Newbies Can Top

Call me jaded, call me bitter, call me the sexiest man you've ever encountered… or something close to that. But I've recently taken to getting annoyed with these end of year lists, in particular when it comes to music. I'm a music snob. I have a tendency to like what I like and that's about that. But it's become evident to me that I don't see eye to eye with many editors and reviewers.

Take for example Amazon's Editor's Picks for Top 100 Albums of 2008. The one, and probably only, thing I like about these lists is that I get reminded of a few artists that I still need to check out, but more often I'm reminded that the music industry is overly obsessed with Youth. Gay culture is keen on Youth. The music industry drinks Youth's blood in hopes of staying alive one more day. And I don't mean that they are only targeting young people, I mean that they really only value new artists. Looking at the Top 100, there are only about 20-ish bands/artists that have released more than one album on a major label and/or on a major scale. Out of all of the artists in the world that released new records this year, you mean to tell me that only 20 of the best ones came from veterans? Yeah, I highly doubt that.

New musicians bring new sounds to the market. Sometimes. Most times, it's a variation on a tried and true sound, perfected by an elder artist. Many of the Top 20 on Amazon's list are rehashes of another act, adding just a splash more synth or boring and over-rated Falsetto. A few are ones that I need to check out, like Santagold and Kings of Leon before I can really say much else (truth be told, they sounded decent from the clips, but the others in the top just didn't impress me). I also think labels find it easier to promote a new band, and sales numbers traditionally suggest that an artists first major outing will be their most well-received on the sales floor, but whether that's due to laziness on the label's marketing efforts or actual decline in artistic content is up for debate (ok, who am I kidding, it's usually the damned label's fault).

It just saddens me when really good music goes unnoticed, in particular if goes unnoticed because it's the band third or fourth record. Bands like Unwritten Law and Alanis Morissette released new albums this year, and both were great, but nowhere near the Top 100 according to Amazon. Hell, Ray LaMontagne released his third outing and Brett Dennen his second (still my Album Of The Week… after several weeks…), both amazing efforts, and crap like Duffy hopped onto Amazon's list. It's nice to see a group like Gnarls Barkley get recognition (even if it's at 76), but that's lessened when MGMT grabs a top 10 spot for using an already tired Shoe Gaze sound.

So here's what I say. Grab Alanis' album. Check out Ray LaMontagne. Give Scott Weiland's new solo album a whirl. Hell, give Buckcherry a third chance. But don't just drop these artists by the way side because they're "old news." Their albums have done more to advance music this year than most (not all) of these newbies on Amazon's Top 100, and they've shown that they have some staying power in this apparently Youth-centric industry. New isn't always bad, but honoring new simply because it's new doesn't make much sense if they "old guard" is still putting out better products.