Design from 1945 to the Present at MIA

 

I would give my left testicle for this couch, but for now I will hold on to my testicles and head to The Minneapolis Institute of The Arts (MIA) and check out this amazing collection of furniture from 1945 and on. Mike Enders

The Minneapolis Institute of The Arts (MIA) is showing an exhibit on modern design through September 11, featuring design and designers from the post-World War II era to the present. From the museum: (via www.curatedmag.com)

American and European designers over the last six decades have explored abstraction of form, new technologies, new materials, and adventurous colors in items for household use. This exhibition focuses on these developments through over thirty examples of furniture, industrial design, jewelry, and other consumer objects, including notable recent acquisitions. Works by Americans Charles and Ray Eames, Harry Bertoia, Frank Gehry, and Michael Graves, as well as Europeans Eero Aarnio, Piero Fornasetti, and Jens Quistgaard, are among the designers included.

Minneapolis Institute of the Arts
2400 3rd Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55404-3506

 

News: Trevor Project Honored, Gadhafi had Gay Porn, Gay Men in the Military, Video of Bachman’s Glitter Baptism

Update Video Flashmob Converts “Marcus Bachmann” in Glitter Baptism at Clinic

New Jersey School Bans Book With Lesbian, Gay Scenes

Turns out high school students in one New Jersey district won’t be reading Norwegian Wood this fall. Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s celebrated novel about Tokyo college life in the 1960s was banned by the Monroe Township Schools in Williamstown after a public outcry over its supposed inappropriateness. “Some of the language is inappropriate,” said Chuck Earling, superintendent of Monroe Township Schools. “We were not trying to create controversy. We were just trying to get students to read.”

Trevor Project Honored at White House

The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention program aimed at LGBT young people, was honoredtoday at the White House as part of the Obama administration’s Champions of Change initiative. David McFarland, the Trevor Project’s interim executive director and CEO, accepted the honor and met with administration officials to discuss priorities in suicide prevention prior to National Suicide Prevention Week, which begins September 4.

Gay Porn Found During Raid on Gadhafi Home

A gay porn DVD titled Boyz Tracks was discovered among the possessions of Libyan leader Mu’ammar Gadhafi’s son Al-Saadi when looters raided his home, reports Associated Press. Libyan rebels took control of Tripoli over the weekend and looters immediately raided the Gadhafi family’s luxurious compound of mansions, removing expensive cars, clothing, and bottles of alcohol. One rebel interviewed by AP says they “are not condoning looting of private property, and only allow the wrecking of symbols of the Gadhafi family’s abuse of power.”

An Intimate History of Gay Men in the Military

As “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” comes to an end, we sent Chris Heath to interview dozens of gay servicemen from the past and present to find out what life was really like as America’s military struggled with its last great identity crisis. On a day to come very soon—September 20, 2011—a serviceman’s sexuality will no longer be grounds for dismissal from the U.S. Armed forces. These are the voices explaining what it has been like to be a gay man¹ in the American military over the previous seventy or so years, from World War II veterans in their late eighties to young servicemen on active duty.

 Dallas Voice makes fun of fictional characters with questionable sexual orientations:

Her Hitler! The bizarre plot by British spies: Plan to Change Adolf Hitler’s Sex

This is an interesting read but I am going to put the ‘plan to changes Adolf Hitler’s sex’ in the same category as the Sasquatch and the possibility that Elvis is still among the living. Mike Enders

As wartime plots go, it stood as much chance of success as Captain Blackadder’s attempt to avoid battle by sticking two pencils up his nose, putting underpants on his head and claiming to be from the planet Wibble. With no end to the Second World War in sight, British spies came up with a plan to lace Adolf Hitler’s food with female sex hormones to curb his aggressive impulses. Agents planned to smuggle doses of oestrogen into his food to make him less aggressive and more like his docile younger sister Paula, who worked as a secretary. 

Pink Triangle Organizers Seek Volunteers; SF CA

It’s Pride Month and that means Patrick Carney and others at Friends of the Pink Triangle are looking for volunteers to help with this year’s installation.

This year marks the 16th installation of the pink triangle on Twin Peaks. The triangle is intended to help educate the public to what can happen when hatred and bigotry become law; the symbol was used by the Nazis to identify gay prisoners during World War II.

Circumcision Battle Takes Odd Turn When you Add a Anti-Semitic Novel

via Advocate.com Editors

An effort to ban circumcision for anyone under the age of 18 is now complicated by a graphic novel that many are calling anti-Semitic.

San Francisco is set to vote on the ban in November, and an effort is under way to ban the practice in Santa Monica, Calif., just west of Los Angeles. The debate has been pitched already, but the discovery of a comic book that depicts Jews as knife-wielding, bloodthirsty villains is sparking an outcry. The San Francisco Chronicle  discovered the Foreskin Man comic book, which was written and created by Matthew Hess, the president of MGM (male genital mutilation) Bill, an anticircumcision group based in San Diego. Hess told the Chronicle he doesn’t see his comic book as anti-Semitic, but Jewish leaders say it reeks of European hate imagery that sprang up around World War II.

READ MORE 

Related articles

• Anti-circumcision cartoon called anti-Semitic (jta.org)
• Circumcision Debate Comes to a Head (mediabistro.com)

Pic of Day with a Message

Loose Lips Sink Ships

This illustration by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander McClelland Barclay was part of the Navy’s “Loose Lips Sink Ships” World War II campaign, designed to remind shipyard workers and others with jobs supporting the war effort not to discuss their work.
– The New York Times

[American propaganda during World War II | Wikipedia]