Another Queer Jewish Buddhist

What's your type?

There was more than a flurry of activity today in the worldwide Yahoo group devoted to typewriter collecting. A story on BBC News about current sales of typewriters led with a visual of words on a page between a ribbon and the platen: To be continued...

The debate was simple — the words didn't look like they were typewritten at all. They had the smooth look of laser printing. Someone suggested it had been typed and then photo shopped to look this way.

Regardless, this typewriter collector was thrilled to hear there is still a factor in India somewhere turning them out. And that thousands still buy new typewriters in Japan, where the challenges of two syllabalaries and thousands of ideograms makes a traditional western typewriter useless. And just how does one spell syllabalary?

Rachael Ray's "Fringed Scarf:" The Truth Revealed.

The NY Times ad column described Ms. Ray's attire as "a black-and-white fringed scarf." Michelle Malkin claims it's a keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian revolt. Clearly Ms. Malkin doesn't know that Ms. Ray has converted and is a Reconstructionist Jew — the cloth around her neck is a tallis.

Uncontacted Amazon Tribes Meet Advertising

National Geographic News today posted a story, along with this dramatic photo, of a previously unknown and unseen Amazon tribe. These native peoples are in danger due to the worldwide rush for resources, in this case, oil. I have to admit, there is a part of me which wonders if this is a hoax planned by conservationists despite the fact that I am in complete agreement with their aims. Still, as a storyteller, I am thrilled at the possibility of a whole new world of stories that might unfold from an unknown tribe. Or for that matter, a whole new trove of native remedies and herbal lore that will lead to new medicines that these people may have held for generations.

Like Japanese soldiers who lived on in the jungle for decades after WWII ended, unseen tribes have captured the popular imagination. And what better reflects the popular imagination than advertising? So it is no surprise that just as the photo of this hidden tribe has appeared, a new ad from Land Rover has also appeared, suggesting that there really are no tribes untouched by civilization, because someone with a Land Rover has been there first.

Which leads me to share a memory of my first trip to Bali: I had these romantic Margaret Mead notions of what it would be like. Of course, staying in Kuta completely disabused me of this illusion. Still, I rented a Land Rover (yes) to drive up into the mountains to find less "corrupted" communities. I found myself at the edge of a vast lake one day, and I saw women walking into the lake, carrying a yoke on their shoulders, with pails on each end, that they then used to water their small subsistence farms at the edge of the late. When I drove up into the center of this small village, a group of children ran out from their huts. All of them were wearing Rolling Stones t-shirts.

There is no escape.

Quentin Crisp meets public service advertising: The First Gay

A new ad campaign directed at gay men is a playfully narcissistic look at the history of queer sex. After all, it’s a cliché to say that every generation believes they invented sex. Well, clearly this old gent believes he invented homosexuality — and safe sex. And we have fun with the whole concept. What I love about this campaign is that both TV spots and a blog show an older gay man enjoying life, and sex, well beyond daddyhunt to granddaddy hunt. And he is clearly happy. This in itself is a departure from the stereotype of the bitter, lonely, jaded old queen. And what a pleasure to see that old saw retired. Now if only I could afford to be retired too — and enjoying life as well as The First Gay. Thanks to TBWA Belgium for this sweet and sly campaign. The slogan for the campaign, Love Life, is a terrific twist, not merely sex positive, but life positive. And that makes it a winner. If not at Cannes, at least with this queer Jewish Buddhist advertising copywriter. Check out the first spot via the link above. And this priceless piece below that gives a whole new meaning to Gay Sauna — they should show the whole campaign at NewFest in NYC next month.

Sunday Morning Cartoon: Vick Vancouver

This is the first episode in a lovely little animated series that chronicles the adventures of a young gay man — this is already a genre of its own and amazingly enough post Stonewall the stories seem to have an archetypal feel that remains the same across generations. It may well be the Jungian archetype of the Puer, but it has heart and humor and sweetness along with a sharp eye for the world we live in.

An interesting note is how this is different from everything that has come before in that it appears on the web in weekly installments, not merely on youtube, but on its own website, vickvancouver.com — which is connected to queer community in this city on the edge of the future. (Yes this New Yorker has Vancouver envy.) The creators of this cartoon connect live events, web presence (not only their own site, but youtube and facebook groups) and community outreach. And commercialism feels relaxingly absent. What a pleasure.