Whitman

"I'm sorry, Mr. Spacey, but your application to join the gay community at this time has been denied." — Dan Savage

"Men who improperly harass or assault do not do so because they are gay or straight — that is a deflection." — George Takei

"I am sorry that Kevin only saw fit to acknowledge his truth when he thought it would serve him -- just as his denial served him for so many years." -- Zachary Quinto

Nothing I have written this morning about Kevin Spacey comes close to making him look as bad as he has made himself look.

Amen to that! Seriously!!?? What a lot to expect of Anthony Rapp. And why? To "protect" Spacey from something he has no reason to want to protect him from? And at what risk? Perhaps to expose himself to the suggestion that he wanted to blackmail Spacey? Good to hear, because you've sure given that impression.

There's an article in the October 27 edition of The New Yorker that focuses on speaking out, years later, against sexual misconduct/assault. It's specifically about Weinstein, but more broadly insightful for understanding why victims may be reluctant to come forward. Here's a link to it: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/weighing-the-costs-of-speaking-out-about-harvey-weinstein

And you, krkwood, don't be so dismissive ... Again: no denial from Spacey ... instead, the age-old excuse: "inappropriate drunken behavior." Is it all hysteria? Or just this particular accusation?

Are you suggesting that there should be a statute of limitations on speech? Or that we should disregard the many accusations against Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein that happened beyond the scope of any legal statute of limitations? Did you hear Spacey suggest that he had been libeled or slandered? Or even deny the accusation?

Yep. And how unfortunate that they -- and the rest of us -- didn't get the official word from Spacey under different circumstances. Because if he was going to come out from under his own rock, it would have been so much better to have the headline be about a two-time Oscar winner proudly sharing the fact that he is also a gay man. But instead ... Spacey makes a statement that plays right into the thinking of homophobes and to their long history of raising the specters of pedophilia or predation whenever gay men get a little too "tolerated" for their comfort. So, this morning, some idiot who thinks less of you or me because we're gay, can turn to some other idiot and say, "You see, our kids aren't safe around them."

http://78.media.tumblr.com/2168e3a0490f4519ec32d703af43c97f/tumblr_ngp28yzm5T1rlpicfo1_500.jpg

From The San Francisco Examiner, within the hour ... A swarm of wildfires ripped through the North Bay on Monday, killing one resident, injuring scores of others, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses, and forcing tens of thousands to flee. The blazes turned wide swaths of the Wine Country into wastelands of twisted metal and ash as firefighters sought to contain flames super-charged by powerful winds. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Napa and Sonoma as well as fire-struck Yuba County, seeking to streamline aid for firefighting and recovery. He said the blazes, which blanketed much of the Bay Area in smoke, were “really serious,” but added, “We are on it.” Chief Ken Pimlott of Cal Fire said at least 1,500 homes and commercial facilities had been destroyed in 14 fires now burning in eight Northern California counties. He said firefighters had “limited or no containment” on the fires, and that many communities “were just overrun.” More than 100 people were treated for injuries, including burns and smoke inhalation, at hospitals in Napa and Sonoma counties. Two patients with severe burns were in critical condition at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, officials said.

Here's some good news for you, you ... youngster ... Sometime after you have passed those intimidating milestones, 4o will seem so young. And then, before you know it, 50 will. And then, when you're still feeling just fine, you may want to revise your current exit plan.

The plastic slipcovers are the reason the cherry on top was allowed.

I swear, in my recent travels through New Mexico, I never set foot in a single room with a buffalo carcass ... or even a buffalo skin. However, I did come across this picture of Georgia O'Keeffe's house in Abiquiu and I suppose what's on the floor there may once have been on a buffalo ... http://media.guestofaguest.com/t_article_content/gofg-media/2017/03/1/48576/g_korab__45cn1a_s1.jpg But here's the same room without it. So, just a matter of how you want to decorate inside. http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/d0/2f/11/d02f1156aa770a0bb84e332490565987.jpg Meanwhile, there's a lot of natural beauty outside -- high desert, big sky, mountains, gorges.

Hmmm ... this will require some investigation.

Years ago, I left northern California to return to my East Coast roots, but with a promise to myself that I would eventually return. I've visited a lot, but living there again seems less likely now. The only thing I know for sure at this point is that I need to be someplace where there is less winter (not necessarily no winter, just less of it). A recent trip to Santa Fe and Taos has moved those two towns into consideration.

... contrary to that bit of Hollywood folklore about Astaire that the report on a screen test for RKO read as follows: "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little." The test has been lost, but it definitely didn't go well. David Selznick (who signed Astaire to RKO) wrote, "I am uncertain about the man, but I feel, in spite of his enormous ears and bad chin line, that his charm is so tremendous that it comes through even on this wretched test." (Astaire later claimed that the report actually read: "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances.")

Not trying to lay undue responsibility on you, @TruHart1, but I have read the Forum long enough to know that you are a guy who walks on the sunny side of the street, looking for the best in the men we meet. So when you express this sort of ... uh ... is disgust too strong? ... it stands out. I don't know Beau, but back on the first page of this thread, soon after "DCMonument" (a DC monument only in his own estimation, perhaps?) revived this lapsed thread, I posted just to note the ... strangeness ... of suggesting that an escort has an active sex life and could be more susceptible than others to STIs. (I believe the appropriate expression for this is: NO DUH!) To me, it sounded like an attempt to scare people off of Beau with nothing more than innuendo. Mighty contemptible behavior, in my book. And my reaction was just what your expressed in your most recent post to this thread:

When one has fallen into disfavor with Mister Congeniality of the Realm, perhaps it's time to consider what other realms might be conquered after a retirement from this one. Just a thought...

He is clearly a man on a mission, in each case reviving old threads to launch his attacks. I can think of at least one other recent attack on another DC escort by a "newbie" poster, and I think there may have been others. Reader beware.

What!? He has an active sex life!? Now who'd have expected that. The mind reels...

Ditto. Mmhmm. I've had the pleasure of never meeting him.

Agreed. If it weren't for its four stars, would this trifle of a show have made it to a third season? (Or, conversely, if it had been cast with lesser known actors, would they have made something more of it than a look-at-me, I'm-still-working showcase?) And yet ... I'll keep watching. He needs to go back to being Jed Bartlett. And take over running the country. (When I have needed some political alt-reality lately, I have re-watched episodes of The West Wing. Now there was a president!) I have never thought all that much of her acting -- probably due to the memory of seeing her (with John Travolta as her love interest) in Moment by Moment, one of the certifiably worst movies ever made -- but she's an engaging personality and almost always fun to watch, and especially so in this show because she's inhabiting a real character and the other actors are not much more than cardboard cutouts.

Whenever I revisit this thread, I remind myself of a key detail that Reluctant Daddy shared in his original post ... that he married his husband after the sexual part of their long relationship had ended ... I'm inclined to assume that the counselor who told RD that he and his husband... ... made that suggestion on the basis of The Big Picture that RD presented to her.