Gwenn’s New Fashion Blog
August 30, 2010
In the cyberworld as in life, it can’t always be about AIDS. That’s why I want to let you know that Gwenn is contributing to a brand new fashion blog, Bon Marche by Jacyln Day. I’m proud of Gwenn, she went through an audition phase to be one a part of the Bon Marche team.
I just assisted her in being a photographer for her first review of products. Hope you will check it out!
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Website: ShawnandGwenn.com Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
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T & Avatar: Piranha 3D A Bloody Good Time
August 23, 2010
It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a movie with my movie-reviewing partner, Steve Schalchlin, or, as we are collectively known, the Hemo2Homo Connection. Right now, Steve (whose partner, Jim Brochu, is starring in the hilarious play, Zero Hour) is in the process of moving from Los Angeles to New York City, so I decided not to harass him into going to see Piranha 3D. Instead, I dedicate this review to my good friend as I wish him a happy relocation to the east coast.
by Shawn Decker
For the thinblooded community, I cannot recommend this movie enough. It’s got so much blood in it you may want to sneak some extra clotting factor along with that bag of smuggled candy. If you’re a clotter who isn’t scared of the sight of human plasma, then you too should crack open this pearl.
Before I begin, I must say that the previews for this movie really turned me off. Why pay extra for a 3D SyFy network-caliber movie? It wasn’t until I read a string of great reviews on Facebook that I opened my heart to the concept. The phrase “cleverly gory” pretty much sealed the deal the same way “starring Dolph Lundgren” had gotten me to The Expendables the weekend before. Also, the last 3D movie I saw on the big screen may have been Jaws in 3D, so I figured I was long overdue to dip my toes into these trippy waters and I was curious to see how far 3D technology has advanced in the last two decades.
And after seeing Piranha, I’m glad I didn’t ruin the effect by seeing Avatar… which I doubt had an extended underwater scene of two naked women swimming together… in 3D! (For my gay brothers, don’t worry, there’s more than enough beefcake in this movie to leave your sweet tooth for eye candy satisfied as well.) Outside of the neato visuals and bloodshed, the movie maintains a fun feel throughout- charmingly goofy, not too concerned with overplotting and supported by a great cast of familiar faces peppered by capable newcomers. Sure, the ticket price is upped a few more bucks for 3D, but in this case I didn’t leave the theater feeling cheated.
If you’re looking for a fun summer movie and have a soft spot in your heart for bloodthirsty monsters and scantily clad victims, then run- nay, swim- as fast as you can to the nearest theater.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com
Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
Like what you’ve read? Then buy me an iced mocha or check out my new CD: Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, which is now on iTunes!
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Friday the 13th and Bad Blood
August 13, 2010
I grew up as a huge fan of horror movies, and the series of Friday the 13th movies were among my favorite. Jason Voorhees and his machete justice inspired me and my friends to purchase a plastic hockey mask and play out the movies every time the calendar reached that sacred date.
The first movie is about his mother, avenging her son’s supposed death at the hands of “distracted” (sex-obsessed) teenagers who were supposed to be watching the young Jason at Camp Crystal Lake. But Jason was really alive, surviving in the woods, likely watching his mother butcher those poor campers. Not sure if he was waiting for his roll of toilet paper to run out or for the calendar to reach April 1st before he jumped out to show his mommy was safe, but either way he waited too long- thus witnessing the last camper and the decapitation of his mother.
That, of course, set off a series of sequels in which young Jason grows up and continues the Voorhees family tradition of avenging a loved one’s death.
So how does Jason’s story relate to AIDS? Was he part of a top secret Reagan Era abstinence-enforcing unit? That sure would explain his penchant for cutting romantic encounters short. And, in writing the above, is there something in the origin of Jason’s story that tells the saga of the hemophilia community’s bloody crossroads with the AIDS epidemic? Parents of the children who were infected with HIV through blood product treatments banded together with the rage of Jason’s mother, learned the wrong-doings and failings of the institutions sworn to protect them and then sought justice and answers.
Perhaps I’m overthinking it?
Either way, there’s a new documentary out on the hemophilia community’s history with HIV and other blood-borne illnesses. It’s called Bad Blood, and it will be available on DVD on World AIDS Day, December 1st. I’ll be posting a reminder as that date nears… in the meantime, if you’re out camping and you hear something rustling around in the woods… well, my best advice is to use a condom, and hope that you are able to finish up before any uninvited guests join the party.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com
Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
Like what you’ve read? Then buy me an iced mocha or check out my new CD:
Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, which is now on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
Tag Team of the Century: Hot Beef Injection
August 5, 2010
One of the best things about Legends of Wrestlemania is that you can create tag teams and then name them. And the name comes up on the screen in the same font that was used on the television shows when I was a kid.
If I’d been booking wrestling matches and calling the shots back in the day the way I’m doing it on this game, then the “Hot Rod” Rowdy Roddy Piper and Brutus Beefcake would have been a tag team. And, stealing a line from John Bender from The Breakfast Club movie, I would have named them none other than the “Hot Beef Injection”.
It’s the simple joys in life, right?
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
Like what you’ve read? Then buy me an iced mocha or check out my new CD: Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, which is now on iTunes!
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Kilt the Sick Days Counter
August 4, 2010
I had a little tally of “sick days” for this year going on the blog in super small font- so small it seems to have disappeared on me. Oh well, if I knowingly off’d it, then all the better, especially since this year has- thankfully- been good to me healthwise.
Last week I had a few downer days, a sore throat likely caused by the extreme summer heat combined with the extreme summer air conditioning. The timing of those blah days was made especially annoying because it prevented me from getting to Stephen’s 10-year memorial service. Poz posted pictures on their Facebook page. If anyone would understand my absence, it would have been Stephen (or all the familiar faces that were there). I felt better the day after the gathering, and have felt great ever since.
I don’t want to ever dwell on the sick days, or even be reminded of them with a number/tally. When they arrive as they have every so often for the last two decades, I usually just chill out… like last week, when I put in a lot of miles on my new xBox, a birthday gift from my friend Andy, the friend who posted that playfully “nasty” rumor about me not having AIDS. (Thanks Andy, for the laugh and the sweet new gaming system!) Instead of focusing on my sore throat, I just focused on my new game, The Legends of Wrestlemania, where “Rowdy” Roddy Piper has enjoyed the extended World Title reign he never got to have back in the day.
I think one of my best qualities, and one that is directly related to my longevity, is that I rest easy and I’m an easy sickboy. And really, I don’t think I could have tallied last week’s blah days as sick days even if the counter were still anchoring this blog, because I was well enough to leave the house at least once a day for an iced mocha. Which is really the mark of whether or not I’m feeling bad bad, or just blah bad.
Bad bad is not feeling up for an iced mocha.
And it’s not a skirt, it’s a quilt kilt. That one is for all you fellow 1980′s wrestling fans.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
PS… in my original post I mistakenly wrote the word “quilt” where “kilt” should have been. It was late, I know the difference, really… though for many years I always wondered why the AIDS Quilt wasn’t plaid. ;O)
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:YouTube, Facebook and Twitter Website: ShawnandGwenn.com
Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
Like what you’ve read? Then buy me an iced mocha or check out my new CD:
Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, which is now on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
Mad Men Hilarity
July 30, 2010
Thanks for all the messages on Facebook, email, twitter, cyberverse regarding yesterday’s blog post. I’ve been feeling much better the last couple of weeks and am glad I posted about what’s been going on.
Since I’m writing about all things personal, I felt compelled to share a site that has brought Gwenn and I much joy over the last week. Banana Republic is working with the hit TV show Mad Men (hilariously spoofed here by Ben Hoffman of my favorite TV show, Infomania), who is putting on a contest inviting people to dress up in the style of the television show for a chance to have a walk on role.
Pretty simple, right?
Well, check out the entries. People submit- or friends submit their friends unknowingly- with the most random photos. Some are senior portraits, others are actor’s headshots, a lot are just dudes holding martini glasses and wearing a modern (meaning mid 1990′s) suit. The loudest laughs I’ve had recently have been scrolling through this site… and so far, this guy is my favorite. His name is Charlie, and I’m endorsing him to be on the show that I don’t watch, but Gwenn does.
To vote for Charlie, just click on his picture below.
And a big thanks to Bob G. for the pick-me-up iced mocha. Maybe I should submit this picture to the contest? Nothing says early 1960′s businessman like a safer sex shirt and an iced espresso drink.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter Website: ShawnandGwenn.com
Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
Like what you’ve read? Then buy me an iced mocha or check out my new CD:
Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, which is now on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
Back to the Future Day?
July 5, 2010
I hope everyone had a great day celebrating the 4th of July. I won’t lie, I had some beers and a veggie dog (Gwenn and a majority of my friends are vegetarians) and a real dog (I’m still 15% meateater) and then started a week on HIV meds before going to bed.
Why HIV meds? Because I’m HIV positive. :O)
Over the weekend Marshall and I played a Synthetic Division show, which was pretty cool. It was a small venue called Zakk’s Coffeehouse in Murfreesboro, NC, and it was cool because it was the first time Marshall and I had played together since last October, when we performed at the Campaign to End AIDS rally in DC. Marshall has been a touring machine since then, playing bass for Bella Morte and going on at least three tours since last fall…
I’m not sure how the negatoid does it. After two weeks on the road in May my battery was drained.
Lately my energy has been better, despite a couple of annoying injuries I’ve been trying to play tennis at least once a week and I haven’t felt as wiped out as I was when I wrote my blog entry about fatigue. Another heat wave is hitting today, and will linger, so that combined with being back on meds may have an effect on my lazy bones. We shall see, I’ll nap when I need to and try to work off that hot dog if the opportunity presents itself.
Hey, we all knew yesterday was the fourth… but do you know what today is? Well, there seems to be confusion about whether or not July 5, 2010 is the date that Doc Brown from Back to the Future wants to travel to before being attacked by the Libyans at the mall. My net research on this was admittedly limited, but I’m glad I looked it up before posting the misinformation, choosing to side with the movie buffs who are irritated with Twitter posts claiming it’s the date… I don’t know, I’m staying out of it.
What I do know is that we shouldn’t let any of that squabbling kill our July 5, 2010 future buzz. Twenty five years ago when Back to the Future was released, it was scary times for people with HIV. The antibody test had just been discovered, but nobody really knew if there was any chance for a future for those already infected. We’ve come a long way- but still need to fight to get treatment to those who need it, to rally against the creation of more ADAP Waiting Lists for people who are too poor to afford health care or HIV meds.
This future, for all of its faults, is indeed a reason to celebrate. Even if some of us are a little hungover from the recent past: yesterdays Fourth of July festivities.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
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Website: ShawnandGwenn.com Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
Like what you’ve read? Then buy me an iced mocha or check out my new CD: Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, which is now on iTunes!
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Sack-Tapping Futbol Fun
July 1, 2010
Gonna keep this entry light and nimble on the type front. I know “athlete” doesn’t come to mind when you think of me, so I won’t bore you with the details of my awesome farm league baseball career or my recent tennis injury (okay, I will, it’s a slightly sprained wrist that should be fine in a week or so, depending how committed I am to wearing my CVS wrist guard that cost $30 friggin’ dollars, though Gwenn opened up all the boxes and I tried on the cheaper options- like the stylish black one- but they didn’t feel as comfortable or protective… was bummed that the decent one only came in a flesh-tone that will surely invite the “Oh no, what happened?” reaction upon sight…).
However, I will bore you with soccer stuff!
Or football. Or futbol.
I’m not following the World Cup during this session, but I did follow it in 1994 (Sega had a killer FIFA game for the Genenis) and 1998 (I had a Brazilian girlfriend). The one thing that caught my attention this go around was a great video montage on the Craig Ferguson Late Late Show. Check it out.
In relation to that incredible video, I saw a news item on the recent teen phenomenon of “sack tapping”. Basically, it’s teenage boys punching or heavily slapping one another in the nuts. It’s not overtly/consciously sexual; it’s kind of like the new Kick Me sign, only in the form of a sudden frontal assault, and one that is aimed at a friend instead of an enemy. Of course, the news story I saw made you believe that syphilis and AIDS were merely warning signs, a gnat terd prelude to a Rodan case of the squirts in comparison to the rampant sack tapping that would eventually lead to the end of the human species due to the male sex’s inability to reproduce.
Which is why reading this article on Discovery News about sack tapping earned a Retweet from me on Twitter. (thanks to @ansinanser for posting it)
Okay, so much for a short blog. Better protect my wrist, which I’m hoping feels better in the morning… of course, it’s hard to complain about this problem when we live in a world where friends are going all Joe Frazier on our floppy treasure.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com Also check out
the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
Like what you’ve read? Then buy me an iced mocha or check out my new CD:
Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, which is now
on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
(b)Lab Results and Killer Books
November 20, 2009
A couple of weeks ago I went in for my every-four month labs to see what’s cookin’ with my pet virus. Good news: my t-cells are 511 (28%) and the viral load was less than 48 copies, which is near nothing. That’s pretty much the same as they were in June, and have been in the ballpark for the last couple of years.
As has been chronicled, I do a week on HIV meds, followed by a week off. These labs were taken after 6 days off meds. With the success I’ve had keeping my numbers stable, I broached the topic of trying one week on, two weeks off meds.. but Dr. Greg wasn’t too keen on it, thinking that two weeks would be too much time for the virus to cause trouble. He said he wasn’t too worried about the short-term effects, but was thinking that down the line it could present other problems in my body.
I relented quickly, because I respect my doctor for going along with the plan that has worked like a charm. And he’s the one who reads every boring article that comes out about the intricacies of this virus.
My reason for wanting a longer break has been absent-mindedness and lethargy. Recent articles on how HIV can affect the brain and memory haven’t set me at ease, either. I don’t write much about my worries about living with HIV, but I can say that losing my wits is right up there at the top. And it’s especially frustrating on the days when things just aren’t clicking in the old nugget; like when I wake up feeling exhausted instead of rested or, in the middle of a shower, I wonder if I’ve already washed my hair or not.
This tends to happen after a couple of days on meds. But I do wonder whether I pin everything on the medications, because laying blame on the virus is too damn scary a thought.
If I haven’t been blogging much, it’s because because my terd brain is liking the Twitter format: in and out, done in less than 140 characters. I’ve been working on my second book. Printing it out and realizing it wasn’t quite up to par has made me doubt myself and my ability to focus and tell a story that’s 70,000 words as well, another reason why the two weeks off fantasy materialized. Also, 70,000 words is a substantial amount of characters… way more than Twitter allows. If I don’t get the book where I want it, maybe I’ll just release the damn thing for free on Twitter as a 500-part series?
The inner battle to continue my writing career has been fueled by the literary (sales) success of Carrie Prejean and Sarah Palin, both of whom outsold my cult classic memoir, My Pet Virus, in a matter of minutes. Palin’s book even offed Rachel Maddow, one of my favorite TV politicos.
See, I plan to outsell both Prejean and Palin together, but it’s going to take a lot of books to do it… and that’s why I’m sticking with one week on, one week off meds schedule that has worked for me. Writing isn’t fruitful at the moment, so I’m setting the book aside until the new year. There’s World AIDS Day/Week to focus on, which is taking me and Gwenn to five different states in five days. And then there’s the holidays soon after.. but when the dust settles, I will write again.
In the meantime, I will sleep with one eye open, looking out for that damn Going Rogue book of Palin’s. If you want to live to see 2010, I’d suggest that you do the same.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
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Veteran’s Day: The Truth About Gays in the Military?
November 11, 2009
The Onion has done it again. They’ve peeled back the rhetoric to examine- in a comedic manner- why there is a ban on gays in the military. Perhaps it’s love for, and not fear of, gays that is the culprit?
Allow the fake general to explain.
Happy Veteran’s Day. Here’s to a future veteran’s day that honors all who serve our country proudly, regardless of sexual orientation. Let everyone fight for me, because thinbloods will be the last ones allowed out on the combat fields… I ain’t complainin’, I’m more cut out for Mortal Kombat than actual combat.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Shawn on:
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