They already know where you eat, what you watch and your brand of underoos. Are you ready for Facebook to let you know who to date? That, and more!
Mystery Date
FB head honcho Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new dating service at F8, the platform’s annual developer conference — cleverly called “dating.” The new service will allow users to create profiles from their main accounts on the site to pursue “romantic” connections. Neither of the two profiles will be publicly linked, meaning Facebook friends won’t be informed of your preferences, kinks or estimated measurements.
Not unexpectedly, apps like Tinder, Grindr and Adam4Adam are taking notice, while others — Scruff, for example — are slightly less vulnerable in that they have attempted over the years to engender a sense of community among its members.
In keep your online Id separate from your Superego, dating profiles will only use first names, and exclude your list of Facebook friends as potential matches. The system will also have its own dedicated inbox that will prohibit users from sending pics or links — unlike Messenger.
If it all works out correctly, FB will employ a unique algorithm to match you with the person of your dreams, based on ( in their words) “dating preferences, things in common, and mutual friends.”
No Mystery Here
Last week, we reported that neither Adam Rippon nor Gus Kenworthy intended to be a part of the USA Olympic Team visit to the White House. (Kenworthy did take the opportunity back in 2014 as part of the Sochi team and did meet then-President Barack Obama and the first lady.)
This week on ABC’s Nightline, both Rippon and Kenworthy compare notes on exactly why they decided to boycott the visit. While their reasoning is well known within the LGBTQ community, what’s important to mention here is that the heteronormative world at large may not have heard the Olympians speak their truth to power. So this is their best podium yet to raise their voices for inclusion and to rail against the anti-gay agenda of the current administration.
Here’s a bit of what they had to say:
Stonewalled
Where’s the last place you’d expect to encounter discrimination? How about the Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement?
The venerated venue had plenty to answer for this past weekend, when a bouncer refused to admit a tourist who had a perfectly valid ID. Not only that, according to Mikko Blaze Bordeaux, who shared the altercation live on Facebook, “My friend had a valid government issued ID and was denied entry. We were both misgendered, pushed and laughed at when we asked him to stop calling us ma’am. I’m so beyond sad that trans people, one of color, was treated this way at the historic Stonewall Inn.”
See for yourself:
Ultimately, Stonewall fired the bouncer and issued the following apology to Bordeaux:
Back to Blacker
We’ve long sung the virtues of singer/songwriter Chris Blacker — long one of the more popular players at such piano bars as The Monster Bar and Uncle Charlie’s. Now Blacker is stepping out on his own with a moody and melodic video of a new single called “From Thread to Thread” from his album, The Endless Chase.
New converts will find a wealth of inspiration and a finely honed pop sensibility in Blacker’s music, as he incorporated the intimacy of cabaret with the theatrics of Broadway and the pop instincts of inspirations like Rufus Wainwright and Tori Amos.
The song and the video bring together different facets of Blacker’s multidimensional approach. “The title,” he says, “is a metaphor for how I lived my first few years in New York City; always feeling like I was on the verge of running out of money, running out of inspiration, or not having a place to live — and then finding that new lifelines would emerge at the last minute. I thought that swinging from thread to thread was a striking metaphor for that experience. I chose the song to make a video for because I thought its Adagio tempo would lend itself well to modern dance, which is what I wanted to from the outset.”
Blacker’s collaborator, dancer Brandon Collwes, developed the choreography during a residency at the “Dance at Socrates” series presented by Norte Maar. Once complete, Collwes’ piece was performed in an August showing at the Socrates Sculpture park — with Blacker playing the song live.
The single, “From Thread to Thread,” is the third relase from Blacker’s album, The Endless Chase (available on most streaming platforms, including iTunes). The video features Blacker on piano, dancers Claire Westby and Brandon Collwes, and was shot and edited by Ciro and Romie Faienza.
Last modified: June 14, 2018
