LoveNDino

I think I just lived, died and rose again from the dead...

Becky Albertalli on the LGBTQ-Themed YA Books to Read Now By Becky Albertalli This year, YA author Becky Albertalli’s 2016 book st[p]cjfe4x6fq00a8lfyeriekh01isoPvP2[z]m[d]D[r]nymag.com&tag=thestrategistsite-20']Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda was adapted into the feature film Love, Simon, and the film’s success got us thinking about the many LGBTQ-themed YA books that deserve a wider readership. We asked Albertalli to recommend her favorite LGBTQ-themed YA books at the moment — if you enjoyed Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (or Love, Simon), it’s a good place to start. Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert Stonewall Book Award winner Little & Lion follows a black, Jewish, bisexual girl named Suzette, who’s back from boarding school and finding her way back into the life she left behind. As a Jewish reader from a blended family, I can’t explain how much it meant to me to see a beautiful, complex, nontraditional family portrayed with so much care and depth. Suzette’s prospective romantic relationships and friendships are treated with the same kind of tenderness and honesty. Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley Highly Illogical Behavior follows a white, gay, agoraphobic boy named Solomon, a wannabe psychologist named Lisa, and Lisa’s utter cinnamon roll of a boyfriend, Clark. Whaley manages to strike that perfect balance between hilarious and gut-wrenching, with characters so messy and distinct, they feel like real people. This book is such a gem. How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by J.C. Lillis HTRAMH is hilariously narrated from the perspective of Brandon, a gay, white, Catholic teen who co-runs a popular fandom vlog for a show called Castaway Planet. This book is so geeky, funny, romantic, and charming, and should immediately be followed up with its st[p]cjfe4x6fq00a8lfyeriekh01i3FHLZj[z]m[d]D[r]nymag.com&tag=thestrategistsite-20']companion book, A&B. Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard This Lambda Literary Award winner and Morris Award finalist follows Pen, a Portuguese-American lesbian gamer who wears her brother’s clothes. Pen grapples with cultural expectations around gender expression, masculinity, and femininity in a way that’s so quietly groundbreaking. Girard leans into the complexity of Pen’s family relationships and friendships — and the sweetness of Pen’s developing romance with her girlfriend. George by Alex Gino This Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Award winner is the only middle-grade book on my list, but it’s a must-read for any age. George follows a white trans girl in elementary school named Melissa who desperately wants to play Charlotte in her class’s production of st[p]cjfe4x6fq00a8lfyeriekh01i6vHVy0[z]m[d]D[r]nymag.com&tag=thestrategistsite-20']Charlotte’s Web — but her teacher sees her as a boy. I loved this charming, heartfelt story and its beautifully hopeful resolution. History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera Like most of Silvera’s work, this one’s a heartbreaker. We meet Griffin — a white boy with OCD — on the day of his ex-boyfriend Theo’s funeral. The narrative alternates between two time periods — before and after Theo’s death — and it’s such a breathtakingly honest portrait of first love, messy grief, and hard-earned hope. We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson A speculative-fiction masterpiece: Henry is a white gay boy who gets abducted by aliens fairly regularly. He’s given the option of pressing a button to save the world from ending — but he’s not sure the world is worth saving. This book is unflinchingly, gut-wrenchingly honest, and it asks big questions in a way that cuts deep. When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore A National Book Award long-list title and a Stonewall Honor Book, McLemore’s sophomore book is an evocative, exquisitely lyrical work of magical realism. It alternates between the perspectives of Miel, a Latina girl who grows roses from her wrists, and Sam, a Pakistani trans boy who hangs moons all over their town. Their love story took my breath away. Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig Last Seen Leaving follows Flynn, whose girlfriend has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared — and he’s left looking for answers. I was totally riveted by this perfectly executed mystery — lots of twists and surprises made this unputdownable. Equally compelling: Flynn’s beautifully realized journey toward accepting that he’s gay, and an achingly sweet love story to go with it. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee Monty — white, bi, wealthy, and roguish — is the ridiculously charming narrator for this historical romp. He’s sent on a Grand Tour of Europe with his sister Felicity and best friend Percy, and their voices are so compellingly real that it’s hard to believe they’re fictional. This book is so funny, sad, romantic, and heartfelt — no wonder it won a Stonewall Honor. These books have not yet come out (some are publishing in the next few days, while others will be forthcoming later this year), but I’ve read and enjoyed them all — and they’re all available for preorder. The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding I loved living in the head of Abby, a fat, white, pink-haired lesbian who dreams of working in the fashion industry. This book is funny, empowering, and romantic, without downplaying the role of platonic friendships. And to the fat girls who are sidelined in almost every romantic comedy? It’s a love letter. Out April 3, 2018. Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert Danny is a Chinese-American artist who attends a prestigious Bay Area high school, in a friend group still reeling from a tragedy one year earlier. Danny’s family has some explosive secrets, and Danny has an extra secret of his own — he’s in love with his best friend Harry. Danny’s pining for Harry is palpable, and it’s as heartfelt and tender as Gilbert’s gorgeous storytelling. Out April 10, 2018. Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake This book follows Mara, a white bi girl who has always been close with her twin brother, Owen — but Mara’s whole world is rocked when Owen is accused of sexually assaulting his girlfriend. This story couldn’t be more timely, and Blake tells it with so much wisdom and heart. It’s a stunningly good, important book. Out May 15, 2018. Running With Lions by Julian Winters I couldn’t get enough of Winters’s funny, charming debut about a soccer team at summer training camp. The team is tight-knit and diverse, with a coach who makes a point of creating an affirming space for LGBTQIAP+ athletes. The romance between goalie Sebastian and his teammate and childhood friend Emir gave me butterflies. Out June 7, 2018. Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram Darius is a geeky, clinically depressed, white-Persian biracial, and a hard-core tea drinker — and he’s one of the most irresistible narrators I’ve ever met. Family circumstances prompt Darius’s first trip to Iran, where a new friendship with a boy named Sohrab brings some unexpected feelings to the surface. Khorram’s unbelievably big-hearted debut left me sobbing. I loved it. Out August 28, 2018.

Plus, I find Alonso Duralde very sexy...

Liza Minnelli Will Auction Off A Massive Amount of Belongings, Including Personal Effects of Judy Garland By Jordan Crucchiola Liza with a Z is doing a “purge with a capital P” of her belongings, The New York Times reports. Star of stage and screen Liza Minnelli will be selling more than 1,900 items ranging from iconic wardrobe items to engraved baby cups to personal effects that belonged to her mother, Judy Garland, and her father, the director Vincente Minnelli. The sale will run through Profiles in History, a Southern California auction house that recently handled the estate of one of Hollywood’s most prolific memorabilia collectors, the icon Debbie Reynolds. “I woke up one day and thought, ‘Honey, you ain’t gonna wait till you’ve bought the farm and leave your life on someone else’s doorstep,’” Minnelli told The New York Times through an associate. “My life is a gift of flowing friendships and relationships, all collected in these objects. It’s with many emotions that I share them.” Auction participants will be able to bid on clothes by Bob Mackie, Gianni Versace, Gucci, Isaac Mizrahi, Donna Karan, and elaborate pieces by Halston. Her mother’s belongings in the lot will include a paycheck Garland received from MGM Studios when she was just 13, scrapbooks, and 35-millimeter screening copies of her films. Other famous items will be put on display at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills before they go up for sale. The “Love, Liza” exhibition (open now) will contain her one-of-a-kind Halston flapper dresses, Sally’s famous bowler hat from Cabaret along with an annotated shooting script from that movie, several large-format portraits taken by Annie Liebovitz, and even a $20,000 check made out to and endorsed by Andy Warhol. So, not quite things you could just find at the local vintage store.

Please read this...

Looks interesting...

Happy 40th in a few days to @Eric Hassan ....

I can't wait...

A pairing I didn't know I wanted nor needed... ...and directed by Eli Roth. I'm sure it would be bonkers in the best way possible!

Only on Good Fridays (today!) because I am a good (if lapsed) Catholic...

My soon-to-be-college, Australian niece works part-time at a burger joint in a suburb of Melbourne, and she gets $AU 17, I believe.

This one is an interesting read...

But I always knew @TruHart1! They didn't have to say anything.

I need to watch this...STAT! I am not Lassie!

Ha!

So @SuperJunior, this is why you’re going over to INNdulge? To represent them in this wrestling match? I should have known!

A birth control pill for men includes a side effect that has frustrated women for decades By Elizabeth Kiefer March 23 at 7:00 AM Since then, more options have emerged, from IUDs to the Depo-Provera shot, the sponge, the ring, the patch and beyond. Birth control today is still far from perfect, but many rightly contend that access to the pill was the match that lit the fire of women’s liberation that is still burning today. This week marks a new addition to the annals of contraceptive history: dimethandrolone undecanoate, a potential new birth control pill for men, is being touted as the “best hope” for a non-permanent male contraceptive option yet. Developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health by a team at the University of Washington, the formula is a tweaked version of previous failed attempts. While it comes with some caveats — the pill must be taken with food in order to be effective, tests showed that usage had slight negative impact on cholesterol levels and over time might raise the risk of heart disease — right now the drug has shown itself to be safe for short-term use. (The next step? A trial that will show whether or not the pill actually decreases sperm production, followed by another that will test its efficacy in control groups of married and long-term partnered men.) But dimethandrolone undecanoate also comes with a side effect that has been frustrating women for decades. It caused men to gain weight — a fact that couldn’t help but make this woman wonder if that will be the latest reason that the responsibility for preventing pregnancy will continue to rest largely on the shoulders of women. The truth is, while the advent and evolution of birth control has fundamentally reshaped women’s place and participation in culture, for that to happen, women had to be willing to take on a certain level of risk and potential downsides. Enovid, the first brand of birth control, which contained more hormones than necessary to prevent pregnancy, was linked to an increased (though rare) likelihood of heart attack and stroke. It took a decade for scientists to recognize those risks and reformulate a pill with less hormones that was just as effective. In the interim, for some women the costs—weight gain, water retention, nausea, dizziness, breast tenderness, headaches, vomiting—outweighed the benefits. For others, at a time when an abortion was either illegal or difficult to obtain, the downsides were worth it, if it meant not getting pregnant. It took Congressional hearings, in 1970, to compel the FDA to include a package insert detailing the potential side effects in each pack of pills—a practice the American Medical Association initially opposed. (The AMA contended that an insert would undermine a doctor’s authority with “his” patients. At the time, female physicians made up less than 10 percent of the field, which might in part be an explanation for why it took so long for women’s complaints to be taken seriously.) Years later, the Dalkon Shield IUD would become another example of a birth control product ultimately deemed to pose too high a risk to women’s health, after hundreds of thousands of women sued the makers for knowingly marketing a product that increased the potential of life-threatening pelvic infections. It took decades for IUDs to recover as a preferred option for American women, and today women still have reason to be concerned that they don’t have all the health facts. Then there’s the stress that women have endured, largely on their own, linked to not just the risk factors, but also because of the burden of responsibility to prevent pregnancy itself. This is unlikely to ever appear on a package insert, but taking a pill every day, or getting a shot every month, or changing an IUD every few years takes planning, access to medical care and financial resources. At a time when women’s reproductive rights are under under siege and public health resources like Planned Parenthood are fighting to keep funding, many women are finding their options strained. It’s mentally draining, all this flux that could leave women in the lurch, which is another weight on our shoulders that often goes unacknowledged. Add standards of beauty and the pressure to maintain a certain size and shape to the mix, and it’s not particularly surprising that women are twice as likely to have an anxiety disorder as men. Will dimethandrolone undecanoate make it to market and help rebalance the scale a bit? I, for one, am hopeful. I like the idea of giving women — and their partners — more choices for family planning. I like the the idea that men would have more power, and more accountability, when it comes to the prevention or the pursuit of pregnancy. I like the idea of a culture in which men can’t allege that a woman “trapped” them into fatherhood because they, too, had the ability to make an autonomous birth control choice beyond a condom. Where men also have to weigh out whether or not their choice of birth control is worth the impact it could have on their physique, and whether or not that potential downside might make them a less desirable sexual partner. I would never wish a birth control product on men that was anything less than optimal. I am grateful that men will benefit from the medical advancements and knowledge gained since the first oral contraceptives were brought to market, 58 years ago. But I also wonder if the tip of the scale, both literal and otherwise, might be a good reminder for men who have had the luxury of a particular kind of privilege, and freedom: that women have been pulling this extra weight all along.

Matt Bomer Buys Out Hometown Showing of Love, Simon By Anne Victoria Clark Photo: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images Matt Bomer, the Magic Mike and American Horror Story star, wants to make sure everyone in his hometown has the chance to see the film Love, Simon. Now, he’s not in the movie or anything, he actually just loves it that much. Not a surprise considering the film has been praised by critics as “a modern classic for today’s generation”. Bomer and his husband Simon Halls bought out the AMC in Spring, TX on March 25th, and invited anyone who wished to attend via an Instagram post. Previously, Bomer has talked about growing up closeted in a very religious family. He also took to Instagram right after the film’s premiere to praise it for its representation, writing “I’m so happy that a generation of young people will have this to watch and realize that #loveisloveisloveislove” No, I’m not crying, it’s allergies.

With all due respect to Constance Wu, Henry Golding is YUM

First look... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxHTEJJPoVo

Well, have you heard of the magnitude of @Tarte Gogo's hobby?

Breathtaking....also on the 1st episode on Netflix's The World's Most Extraordinary Homes. @azdr0710, you might like this.