To me, it feels like the last real weekend of summer.

The upcoming weeks and weekends will be like a final tease, a few last breaths of summer weather to tide us over until fall comes. This morning was the first time I wore a sweater to go outside in months. It was a small thing to do, but as soon as my arms went through the sleeves, I remembered what was coming. Cool nights. Leaves changing colour.

It's been an amazing summer here in Halifax. We celebrated 25 years of Pride, had theatre festivals and had beautiful beachy weekends. We mourned and remembered and praised. 

There is more to come this fall. Film festivals. Art festivals. Events. You'll find it here. I look forward to telling you about it.

A song to take you away for the long weekend.

A recent story popularized by Gawker tells the story of a German father who was spotted wearing a skirt.

This doesn't sound all that interesting, until you learn that the aforementioned father was wearing a skirt so that his son, who likes to wear dresses, can feel good about his wardrobe choices.

Via Gawker: "I didn't want to talk my son into not wearing dresses and skirts," Pickert tells the German feminist magazine EMMA. "He didn't make friends in doing that in Berlin already and after a lot of contemplation I had only one option left: To broaden my shoulders for my little buddy and dress in a skirt myself. Now[...]he's simply smiling, when other boys ( and it's nearly always boys) want to make fun of him and says: "You only don't dare to wear skirts and dresses because your dads don't dare to either." That's how broad his own shoulders have become by now. And all thanks to daddy in a skirt."

This reminds me of something I saw recently. I was at my niece's fourth birthday party. There were five kids there, all girls, save for one boy. The boy was about three and was having fun playing with the toys, having cake and ice cream. He also liked to push my niece's toy vacuum cleaner around the house. When it was time for presents, my niece received a gift of a collection of "princess" dresses. She tore open the box, begging to be allowed to put on the dresses "right now!"

My sister acquiesced, but only on the condition that she let the other girls at the party wear the dresses, too. Well, the little boy felt a little left out of the festivities and asked to put on a dress, too. Without skipping a beat, the boy's father helped the boy put on the princess gown. He put on the accompanying tiara, smiled, picked up the vacuum and posed for a picture with the rest of the princesses.

I sent my sister a message to relay to the boy's parents.

There are great parents out there. And they should be praised.

We connect. It's what we do.

Whether it's in "real" life or "online" life, we, as a species, like to connect. Sometimes those connections are fleeting, nothing more than a casual flirtation or perhaps a small conversation.  But we connect with one another, in more ways than we ever did before.

For more and more of us in the western world, we establish those connections through online means. Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Grindr, blogs, etc. We allow people access to parts of our lives which were previously kept hidden or quiet, or at the very least, known only to close friends. But today, we share. We share a lot. So what happens when you share how and who you fall in love with?

So allow me to introduce you to Tanner, a recent college grad  and Matthew, a gogo dancer and club promoter.  

They're two people who recently met and with the help of filmmaker Cory Krueckeber, are looking to document their romance, in whatever fashion it may come in a film called The Go Doc Project.

Krueckeber is looking to raise funds for his projects through Kickstarter, a crowdsourcing website that allows web denizens to donate money on projects to help them come to fruition. In the case of this project: For three weeks in September and October, we'll follow the guys all over New York City with a camera - into cafes & bars, onto rooftops & dance floors & ultimately into their living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms & bedrooms. The excitement of not knowing exactly what we'll end up with is what it's all about. Following that, we'll shoot a series of interviews with them as well as with NYC nightlife luminaries.

You can find out more about this project at The Go Doc Project's Kickstarter page.

You can find almost anything on Craigslist: antiques, furniture, apartments, sex.

But what about art?

Some (so far) unknown artist has put up a website entitled Craigslist Project.  In it, he posts images of individuals he claims to be real Craigslist posters in the casual encounters section.  

The ease which the online world helps people gain access to one another - and their wants and desires - is a subject that very few artists have dealt with in a refreshing, let alone interesting way. This series of portraits range from the ho-hum ("Snugglemonster wants to ParTY") to the intense ("Uncle Seeking Nephew").

"Unhappy Married Man ISO Unhappy Married Man"

Check out the rest of the very NSFW images at CraigslistProject.com

A bunch of Halifax musicians have decided to come together and help out Pussy Riot.

With the recent news of the trio being found guilty of hooliganism, Ashley Moran from Michael's Bar & Grill wanted to do something. She was quoted in The Coast as saying:

"I've been watching the situation since March and have felt connected to the girls—I work with musicians daily, and freedom of expression and art are important to me," says Moran. "I have never been the 'protest' type, but the heavy handedness of the sentences was shocking. The benefit was formed out of a knee-jerk reaction—not really something that involved a lot of thought at the time, but something that had to happen around the world—including Halifax.”

That benefit soon grew from a one-night to a two-night affair, with performances by Catholic Gaydar, Tara Thorne and Jack E Blue. 

Down East spoke with Matt Packman from Catholic Gaydar about the event:

"Catholic Gaydar plays unassuming indie-pop tunes, so musically we don’t have a lot in common with Pussy Riot. However, their whole aesthetic is just so visceral and striking – we love their colourful outfits and the balaclavas used to hide their faces. Their music videos are full of kinetic energy and the actual music is straight-up catchy and contagious. This has definitely helped Pussy Riot’s protest message to resonate so fast and far, as well as their ability to connect with people in the digital world.

We all feel outraged about how sad it is for some punk rockers to go to jail for a little church concert, but it’s also important to realize the Pussy Riot spectacle is part of a larger movement of people that demand political freedom. In addition to raising funds for Pussy Riot, we’d love for local musicians to raise more awareness of the repression in Russia – it’s important to see the bigger picture."

A little bit of Catholic Gaydar to get you in the mood:

The lineup for the weekend is as follows:

FRIDAY

Host: Candy Palmater from tv's The Candy Show, thecandyshow.com

Jack E Blue (Cursed Arrows, yo!), cursedarrows.com

Geordi Vision

Milk Mustache, milkmoustache.bandcamp.com

Tara Thorne (Dance Movie)

Brian MacQuarrie (Comedian, Picnicface!!), picnicface.com

Michael Bastarache, facebook.com/michaelbastarachemusic

Food Fight

_______________________________________________

SATURDAY

Host: Floyd from Live105

Catholic Gaydar, myspace.com/catholicgaydar

The Press Conference, thepressconference.ca

Like a Motorcycle, likeamotorcycle.bandcamp.com

Kings Eden, music.kingseden.com/track/wasted-time

Tom Rich, youtube.com/watch?v=b4x-sbRkql4&feature=g-upl

___________________________________________

The Atlantic Film Festival announced its lineup on Tuesday, Aug 21, and it contains quite a few queer films this year. I thought I would share some of the films I'd like to catch.

First up is Jobriath AD, a documentary about the fabled gay glam god who was supposed to be the queerer version of Bowie.

And of course, another documentary, this one entitled The Secret Disco Revolution, featuring interviews with Mr Studio 54 and The Gallery himself, Nicky Siano.

The Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project announced its list of community heroes this afternoon. 

First up is Karen Finnigan, who received the Reverend Darlene Young Community Hero Award. Finnigan is a social worker for the Cape Breton District Health Authority who has worked to create safer spaces for LGBTQ Cape Bretoners.

The second is Jesiah MacDonald, who received the Raymond Taavel Media Award. MacDonald became an accidental spokesperson for transgender rights when it was reported that he was being charged by MSI for a medically necessary hysterectomy, claiming that it was part of his transition process. MacDonald was quoted as saying, "Someone's got to talk about it because if I don't stand up and say this is what happened to me and this is why it was wrong, then what if it happens to somebody else?"

And last, but certainly not least, is prideHealth, the recipient of this year's Corporate Stewardship Award. A collaboration between Capital Health and the IWK, prideHealth has been doing a lot of work over the past year, from creating an It Gets Better video, to hosting discussions and forums and more. 

Kudos and congrats to all the winners!

Let me preface this by stating that I really don't dig amateur singing competitions. All those Idol-esque shows are just primetime karaoke, and I've listened to enough bad and mediocre karaoke to last a lifetime. I can't even stand "good" karaoke. But I do have a soft spot for The X-Factor. There is something delightfully kitschy in it all, no matter what country it is. I mean, it has everything from Filipino drag queens to marms flirting with Simon Cowell. Sure, it's edited within an inch of its saccharine-laden life, but then again, what isn't these days.

So with that caveat, let me introduce you to Curtis. Curtis is a bit socially awkward, a self-proclaimed "geek," and ultimately charming. Christ, he made me enjoy listening to a cover version of Christina Aguilera's "Candyman." 

The riot was shushed, but not silenced, today in a Russian court.

Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, also known as the members of Pussy Riot, were found guilty of "hooliganism" by a Russian court today. The judge in the case stated that their actions -- performing a punk prayer in a cathedral -- was essentially a plot "to undermine civil order, motivated by religious hatred. [...] In other words, a grave violation of public order."

The three women exchanged smiles while the judge read the verdict. 

Tolokonnikova spoke through her lawyer via Twitter, stating, "Politically, I am furious. Our imprisonment serves as a clear and unambiguous sign that freedom is being taken away from the entire country."

The three of them await sentencing.

While the world waits to find out what's going to happen to Pussy Riot -- the Russian musicians who pulled an anti-Putin punk prank and are on trial for it -- more and more people are speaking out against it. Musicians such as Björk and Madonna have spoken about it during their performances, and the mayor of Reykjavik, Jón Gnarr, wore a dress and a Pussy Riot-inspired outfit during the city's Pride parade. It had been reported last week that Peaches was creating a video called "Free Pusy Riot," which has now been launched, along with a link to a petition to free Pussy Riot. The video features cameos by such artists as Lyyke Li, Peter Bjorn & John, Margaret Cho, Le Tigre/MEN's JD Samson, the MC5's Wayne Kramer, the Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears and many more.

Free Pussy Riot! #freepussyriot from Peaches on Vimeo.