Gay actors and coming out

Preface
This was first written as a reply to a witty post on IMDb about a possibly gay actor (no, not the usual suspects), whom I have decided not to name here.

First it came to be almost about justifying his coming out — if he is gay — and if he does that, then about the harshness of the film and tv industry towards gays. Then the post's idea moved to be about why some people choose to be closeted and that on one hand it's okay to rather concentrate on out gay actors, while bemusing the chances of coming out making a chage for the better in the future.

So I ended up making a long one instead: herein follows the post about the actor, without naming him (oh yes, names of out actors are featured).

The Post

If he is gay and chooses to come out to the world, then we would be very proud of him, and young gay people would have a great role model. There aren't many young gay actors right now ('cept for Zachary Quinto) who've hit it this big, and who play or have played not just the gays, but other interesting characters. This is what we have a deficiency of on screen: men and women who are not just gays, but who portray hereoes and role models of all good kinds.

The industry should change its tune for the better on gays, so LGBT people could play their roles as out actors, with pride and confidence. But alas, there are still lots of homophobic bigwigs calling the shots :/

I remember reading how Rupert Everett's career took a nosedive after he came out and he advised against actors coming out still in 2009. So, many entertainers and television personalities have come out when they've hit it big, and there are many who have come out very late in their careers (or life).

But otherwise, if he is gay and if he is not coming out, then it's his personal choice (disambiguation: Sexuality is not a choice, but coming out is). — There will be other great gay actors who will be out before he will, and there are many who aready have. We the gays just have to wait a little. I do admit the wait is sometimes difficult :\

On another note, there are many gay people who beyound industry fear may have personal reasons not to come out. If that's the case, then it's just as understandable. So, most gays clamoring for their favourite actor to come out might not realize that many closeted actors very possibly have personal (=family) reasons not to come out yet.

Nevertheless, young talented gay guys and gals aspiring to be actors should never be discouraged from pursuing their dream. The "It Gets Better" project and coming out are important, because then many gay youths who feel alone and desperate would see that there is reason for them to live. Oh, and yes, we just can't force anyone to come out against their will, unless they are flaming hypocrites.

My personal opinion is that Zachary Quinto's coming out has taken the heat off other actors who are suspected of being gay. The activism of Dan Choi, "It Gets Better", the coming out of many others (Jake Shears is out from the outset, for example) also means that there are many kids who because of these guys' courage have decided to spare their own life.

Eesti, eestlaste, ja eestimaalaste rahvaarv. Lihtne aritmeetika. Eee...

Seesinane on siis viitega kõikidele vingatsitele, kes kogu aeg haiget moodi jahuvad teemal, et rahvast on [justkui] vähem ja vähem jne. Kasvõi "Postimehe" selle artikli kommentaarides (mille lahendus on nii totakas, et NoScripti kasutades ja vajalikke arvu servereid lubades ei ole võimalik valida "lemmikpilti". Pohlad. Panin oma kommentaari siia ja see juba kolme kuu pärast ei aegu.).

Niisiis...

Vaadakem ka asja helgemale küljele: viimatise rahvaloenduse esialgne tulemus^* 1 294 236 + Soomes olevad 50 000 eestlast = 1 344 236 — millest saab järeldada, et Eesti ja Soome peale kokku pole tegelikult eestimaalaste ja eestlaste rahvaarv eriti vähenenud... Võiks tõdeda, et rahvaarv pole tegelikult eriti isegi kahanenud.

Aga kui lisada juurde kõik teistesse riikidesse läinud "kodueestlased",^** või kui pigem kasutada registripõhist rahvaarvu u. 1 340 000 ja lisada sellele juurde 50 000 inimest, siis saab tulemuseks 1 390 000, ning kui võrrelda 2000. aasta rahvaloenduse tulemusega 1 370 052,^* siis võib täiesti väita juba, et iive on meil ikka täitsa positiivne :-)

^* Statistikaameti andmed
^** "Kodueestlaste" all pean silmas neid, kes Eestis sündinud ja üles kasvanud, nii enam-vähem.

Revolution OS

Film review

Ahh, the good times :-)

This film was made during the dot-com boom, and, per release information on IMDb, first screened at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2001.

Only in its end titles does the film show the first casualties of the dot.com crash (a second release of the film was in 2002), so this documentary really well reflects the spirit of the times, just as the original series of "Star Trek" was the best science fiction in 1960's.

Despite its shortcomings of appearing propaganda-like (see some of the more balanced IMDb reviews) and not the most stellar music editing, I still kinda like the documentary, as it was filmed during a time when life seemed really nice: The dot com crash had yet to happen, and 9/11 hadn't happened yet... And so the times were quite a bit more hopeful than in the years that followed.

Alas, many of the companies mentioned aren't there anymore: VA Linux, Cygnus, Netscape, and many-many others. Not long after, Corel stopped making Linux. Sun Microsystems was purchased by Oracle. Red Hat is still here, but it's not exactly in the desktop business. Netscape itself was purchased by AOL, and subsumed into it, and then not much is left of it. Netscape's move to open-source its Communicator suite (which included the Navigator browser) was indeed pivotal, as it laid the ground for Mozilla and eventually Firefox.

Nobody at the time saw the emergence of Google. Or that the principles of this freedom would lead to Lawrence Lessing to found the Creative Commons movement, which gave additional impetus to found Wikipedia. Incredible.

I somehow failed to notice at the time how even the modern men's haircuts and hair styles were different back then, short of being less astute. I guess since these styles were ubiquitous, then nobody really noticed S:)

When Angela Merkel is Fabulous

Because photos are not my own, I'm not going to show them here, but instead link to them and their articles.

Yes, this is a photo from 03.04.2009., but still holds relevance, as Mrs. Merkel is usually all business. So, sometimes it's good to highlight the lighter side of politicians who have to save the (financial) world. (Greece was then only a worry.)

• Jezebel: German President Angela Merkel Demonstrates Her Signature Dance Moves
• More image in story:
  xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/news-michelleandcarla/10/
• Biggest possible image that I could find within a few minutes

And E24.ee features a very nice image of Mrs. Merkel's slight change in style, where the top piece is much taller than usual. Maybe even puritanical, but in a good way, reinforcing her image as "The Iron Frau", and given how the 4th most powerful woman in the world must politick Europe out of its financial woes.

So, using all black is not new for her. (In the two photos, Mrs. Merkel gives a speech to the German Parliament.)

Sõpruse pst. Hüperrimi

Tallinna Sõpruse pst. Hüperrimis pole võrreldes "Prisma" keti poodidega (võrdluseks toodud Mustika "Prisma") järgmisi asju:
* Nööppatareisid;
* Magusaid kõrsikuid (neid häid Eesti omi);
* Lagritsakomme (vähegi mõistlikus valikus).

Rimi pole küll kohustatud kõike seda müüma, sest neil on müügis asju, mida ainult sealt saab. Headest omadustest välja tuues peatub näiteks ühistransport (vähemalt ühel suunal) ka peaaegu et ukse ees. Kui 20.02.2012 poes käisin, oli "Kirde" saia kampaaniahind ainult 32 senti :-).

Pläkk
Peale selle ei olnud juur- ja puuviljade ning kaalukommide juures näha kaalusid. Ainuke töösolev kaal oli kaalupähklite ja kuivatatud puuviljade juures. Nende ning juur- ja puuviljade ning kaalukommide vahel oli mitukümmend meetrit kõndimist. Kui ma sooviks mingi kindla kaaluga kaalukaupa, siis ei ole võimalik kuidagi kontrollida :/

Hinnakontrolli terminali polnud ka märgata.

Kuigi Mustika "Prismas" on müügil nööppatareid, siis neid, mida soovisin, pole (eks mõnes teises poes ikka on), aga muidu on sealne valik täitsa hea.

Kuna ma käin Sõprust pst. Rimis väga harva, siis on tõenäoline, et selleks ajaks kui sinna uuesti lähen, on võib-olla läbi viidud mõned kasulikud muudatused.

The Way We Were

In reply to a post on an unrelated movie on IMDb.

I guess your parents were hoping that you'd understand the point of "The Way We Were", because in some way, it probably related to them, but weren't able to convey it in any other means than having you watch it. The film is actually more difficult and relates to themes that a ten-year-old might find hard to grasp.

Long story short for "The Way We Were":

If memory of the synopsis of "The Way We Were" (which I haven't seen) read from Wikipedia serves me right, then the point of it was that two people deeply in love with one another had to give up a lot to be together in tenuous times, but eventually split for greener pastures to have a life — or what they thought life meant for them at the time — lest they be forced to be much worse off by events and powers beyound their control.

Time moved on and they met again, being in an age past their prime youth. Reminiscing, they realized that they were actually at their best when staying together when young, yet far too many events had gone past, and they had grown too much apart of one another throughout all that time to be like the way they were.

In my view, the movie probably warns people not to break precious relationships too easily, advising them to ponder the merits of a loving relationship further than just face value. The film also suggests that young people (perhaps by their nature) possess lesser amounts of detachment to recognize the gift of love in their midst.

Tuvix

This was essentially an IMDb forum post reply, but I decided to put that up here first, becuse I thought my ideas are just so compelling :gt; to let them go away, as forum posts sometimes do on IMDb...

Janeway had to choose between not keeping Tuvix alive and not having Tuvok and Neelix around. Essentially her obligation was to her crewmembers Tuvok and Neelix, who she felt she had to save. — Especially Tuvok, who was the only one who Janeway could talk to, because no-one else would listen unless absolutely necessary :>

Chances are that if the writers and producers were willing to have Tuvix alongside Tuvok and Neelix, then it would have been quite a bit more intersting a tv show than what dreck Voyager ended up being. I am not sure how it would have fared budget-wise, but perhaps Tuvix could have been made a regular...

My mind went into overdrive around here:

Neelix would be completely sidelined in his cooking duties much to his chagrin (loss of any culinary status and interaction with crew in the kitchen), and then to add insult to injury, Tuvix could have knocked up Kes in very quick order :9 (I wouldn't have minded that after "Warlord", which was Jennifer Lien's best episode). All that would have given Neelix two very good reasons to be extremely jealous, jealous, jealous!!1 :>

But if Tuvix were kept, then I would have done away with Harry Kim (I'd say he should have been assimilated into Species 8472) and Chakotay (assimilated by the Borg). In the process, "Voyager" could have for some time been a battlefield, and its crew desperately caught between Borg and Species 8472 fighting one another, with the poor ship disparately flying to and fro Borg space and occasionally the Fluidic space.

There should have been some reason for Voyager to be the bone of contention between the two big powers. Maybe the super-important Omega molecule (or even a collection of them) freeflying 'round the ship of its (their) own volition, with neither power being able to get it, because of its rather elusive nature...

For all that time, that would have been very taxing to Janeway, who'd end up having PTSD, making multiple mistakes and judgements of error after Chakotay's assimilation — cuz she was secretly pining for him... And the Borg Queen terrorizing Janeway by privately showing the capt'n not just the first time the Borg actually reproduce themselves (by then, Chakotay would be the sperm donor 1+n times). Because of all that, Janeway would probably end up a poor crazy woman by the end of the show. (Kate Mulgrew's chance at Emmys.)

In the end, Tuvok would have become Commander and Tuvix would have gotten some or all of Tuvok's duties (suppose Tuvok was out of commission for a short while, so Tuvix would have gotten valuable battlefield experience). Once the doctor decided Janeway was no good anymore, Tuvok would be acting captain or something. Torres would be second-in-command, Seven of Nine would do engineering.

Chances are also, that Tuvok's impending mental disease issue would have withered away, given that Tuvix was half-Vulcan and 'family' enough to help with the healing. I wonder how that would have looked like... Anyways, if that wouldn't help right away (since Tuvix is only half-Vulcan and might genetically harbour the same disease, which would perhaps emerge much later than in Tuvok), Torres would get command and Tuvok would give her progressively insane advice (which against all odds ends up working).

Tom Paris would still be the flyboy, maybe even literally after accidentally getting into a transporter accident with some flying bug. (Emmys for makeup or even sfx!)

And attrition would have allowed for some new faces (and perhaps also better actors) to emerge to the fore on the ship to replace lost senior crew. Romulans, anyone?