How ‘BoJack Horseman’ Season 5 Finds Comedy in the Face of Tragedy
In “Free Churro,” from the fifth season of BoJack Horseman, the titular Hollywood horse actor (voiced by Will Arnett) delivers a eulogy at his mother’s funeral. It’s a tour-de-force performance—essentially the only one we see in the entire episode. But more than that, the 25-minute monologue encapsulates what makes Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s animated Netflix series one of the best shows on television. It soars because of its eloquence, the way it articulates just how sad life can be while also displaying a masterful devotion to the art of comedy. Read more…
‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ Was, and Still Is, Everything
Back at Poughkeepsie Middle School, in September of my eighth grade year, the administration was trying something new. They would play music during our lunch period, and we, the students, often got to pick what we listened to. Needless to say, it was a short-lived experiment once the faculty realized our love for profanity-laden rap. But before they pulled the cord, our woodshop teacher, Mr. Baxter—the whitest man I’d ever seen—brought in The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and played it in the cafeteria. I think he even made a small speech about how important he thought this album was or something, but as soon as the opening bars of “Lost Ones” hit, we all went crazy. Read more…
Striking a 'Pose': A Brief History of Ball Culture, RollingStone.com
For decades, ballroom, ball or house culture has been a way for queer blacks and Latinos to live their best lives – that is, to figure out how to respond to a society that devalued their lives and attempted to erase their presence. Through elaborate performances incorporating and commenting on race, class and gender, the ball community has historically reflected the American Dream and one's exclusion from it. Read more…
CrossFit is the new contender for gayest sport on the planet, Quartz
“It’s totally a cult. Full stop.”
That’s Jason Cobb, a 43-year-old lawyer from Denver, Colorado on the particular virtues of CrossFit. Cobb is part of a growing community of avid CrossFitters—a sports-like work-out regime that’s increasingly appealing to gay men. Or at least, a certain type of gay man, from Manhattan to the Middle East. Read more…
Why Black Pride Matters, The Advocate
The concepts of Black Pride and Gay Pride developed almost concurrently in the United States. In 1968, James Brown released “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud,” the same year Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in defiance on the medal podium at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City. In 1969, young street kids, many of them black and Latino, fought to be seen, heard, and respected at New York’s Stonewall Inn. Read more…
Why I’ve Given Up on Hooking Up, HuffPost
Sex has never been a particularly pleasant experience for me. It’s a fundamental part of being a gay man, of being a human being, but the “fun” part has always eluded me. Don’t get me wrong, I always enjoyed the bumping of proverbial uglies (I am a romantic at heart, after all) but the lead-up before and the fallout thereafter eclipsed that enjoyment. The hunt is exhausting. The encounter is fleeting. The loneliness seeps in. And then it begins anew. The cycle continues. Like all addictions, there’s a cycle. Read more….