The Trevor Project

Good morning, gentle readers.

Sorry for going MIA last week, but things were a little nuts here at Casa de George.  Basically, I'm having work done on the place, and it's reached the stage where the workmen are banging the hell out of things, making it difficult to think, let alone write.

As I sprawl on the floor here, laptop resting on my upraised legs, a pair of beefy guys are tearing the hell out of my master bathroom.  Downstairs, I've got other guys working on my kitchen and a painter eying the ceiling and trying to decide where to start today.

So, as you can probably imagine, this is not the most conducive environment for writing. Or blogging. Which I'm starting to think are two very different things.

But I'll go into that later.

Today, I'm not going to talk about writing. Today, I'm going to use this space to promote a worthy cause.

Some of you may be familiar with YouTube sensation, Tyler Oakley.  Others among you may have heard of the Trevor Project, a 1-800 line for LGBTQ youth providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services.

It's a worthy cause and for the last few weeks Tyler Oakley has been using his celebrity status - He has millions of followers on YouTube and Twitter - to fund raise for the Trevor Project.  As of this morning, Oakley and his followers have raised almost $250,000 for the charity.  Most of the money has been acquired through microdonations of $10 with a few people donating more.

Numerous studies have shown that lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth have a higher rate of suicide attempts than do heterosexual youth. The Suicide Prevention Resource Center estimated that between 30 and 40% of LGBT youth, depending on age and sex groups, have attempted suicide.  A U.S. government study, titled Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide, published in 1989, found that LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than other young people.

A $10 donation may not sound like much, but it could help save someones life. 

If you'd like to learn more about The Trevor Project and donate to them, you can check out their website at www.thetrevorproject.org.

You can also donate through Prizeo, and win a chance to hang out in Los Angeles with Tyler Oakley himself, via http://www.prizeo.com/prizes/tyler-oakley/an-LA-date?utm_content=tyler&utm_campaign=tyler .

Hate

I hate February.
Most of the reasons are personal and I won’t go into them on a public forum, but suffice to say that I’ll be glad when March arrives.
I suppose that It’s odd to say that you hate an entire month. But is it any stranger than hating, say, broccoli sprouts or flying in an airplane?  If you think about it, we hate a lot of things.
Hate is not an emotion that people talk a lot about these days.  It’s a word that has, well, lost its punch for most of us.  People use it so casually.
“I hate my job.”
“I hate my body.”
“I hate my school.”
But hate should not be taken so casually. So cavalierly.  It is a powerful emotion, one that can motivate and/or destroy us.
Hate is like a hammer. It can be put to constructive use or it can be used to smash the fuck out of things.  It’s all up to you.
And me.
I always thought that, over time, my antipathy toward this month would soften and fade.  That hasn’t happened.  It’s become something akin to a pearl; black moments, encased and protected by layers of milky time.
For a while, I tried to actively resist the negative feelings that February engenders in me.  The result was a manic version of myself that left me feeling emotionally exhausted and physically ill.
Now I just accept my feelings and get on with my life as best I can.
But I still hate this time of year.

SciFan

Hello, gentle readers! Last night, while the bulk of Americans were watching the Super Bowl and being extremely disappointed, I was sitting at home, coming up with a fake cable television channel:
SciFan.  SciFan would be an alternative to the Scyfy Channel, showcasing horror, fantasy and science fiction programs.  So grab a bag of chips, ladies and gentlemen, settle back in your recliners and see what's on offer.

Mondays:


The work week starts off with Arkham. Inspired by the works of American Horror writer, H. P. Lovecraft, this hour long drama is set in the mysterious city of Arkham, Massachusetts.  Here, things that mankind was never meant to know are starting to come to light, and inhuman forces stir in the shadows, preparing for the night when the stars align and the Old Ones return!

 After the horrors of Arkham, cleanse your psychic pallet with the steampunk adventure series, The Wild, Wild West! Follow the journeys of Jennifer West, as she searches for her lost brother in a landscape plagued by mad scientists, monsters and worse!

Finally, end your evening with a trip to a futuristic Seattle where magic has returned with a vengeance and cyborg and fantasy creatures coexist!
Based on the hit tabletop RPG of the same name, Shadowrun details the lives and exploits of a group of shadowrunners, freelance intelligence operatives, who work for whoever has the cash to pay them.




Tuesdays:

Tuesday night's programming beings with the SciFan version of Sliders.  When college student Quin Mallory discovers a way to travel to an alternate world, where history took a different path, he's thrilled, anticipating fame and fortune. What he didn't expect was that the trip would be one way! Now trapped in an alternate reality, Quinn and his friends have to blend into this new world until they can find a way back home.

From an alternate reality to our nearest celestial neighbor, the adventure continues with Moonbase: Alpha.  The first extraplanetary colony may be man's last hope of survival after a rogue asteroid smashes into the Earth.  Cut off from Earth, on their own with limited resources, the fate of humanity will be decided by the men and women of Moonbase: Alpha!

Finally, we end the night with Nosferatu, a gothic horror series inspired by the classic movie of the same name.  Meet the sinister vampire, Orlok, as he insinuates himself into the lives of the Hutter family, the better to slake his bloodlust!





Wednesdays:

Wednesday's starts off with Just Roll With It, a half-hour comedy about the trials and tribulations of a group of tabletop gamers.

The laughs continue with This Ain't Kansas, a comedy series shot entirely in black and white and set in a post-apocalyptic world.

At 9:00, the laughs give way to the hour-long drama series, The Martians.  Set on Mars, the series deals with the lives of the first generation of humans born and raised on the Red Planet and their growing antipathy toward an increasingly tyranical Earth.

Finally, the evenings winds up with In Search Of..., a show that investigates mysterious phenomena around the world.  Hosted by veteran news personality, Geraldo Rivera, ISO will explore everything from the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle to the possible existence of the Loch Ness Monster.





Thursdays:

SciFan's Thursday night programming starts off with a revamp (Revamp! Get it?) of the teen horror/comedy movie, The Lost Boys.
Michael and Sam have just moved to Santa Carla, California with their mom, Lucy.  They soon discover Santa Carla isn't like other towns and not just because it's the mass murder capital of America. The town is infested with vampires! Vampires who have set their sites on Michael and Sam! Will the brothers survive or will they become just two more lost boys, haunting the night forever?

College student Eric Chord didn't believe in werewolves until the night he was bitten by one.  Cursed, Eric must hide his new nature from friends and family, even as he hunts for a cure to his condition.  His situation is complicated by the arrival of Janos Skorzeny, an older werewolf who wants to recruit Eric into his pack. Will Eric succumb to his animal nature or will he find a way to break his curse?






Finally, we leave the world of supernatural horror for a more realistic scenario.  Pandemic is an hour long drama set in a world where a global plague is decimating humanity.  Focusing on a group of scientists and medical personnel combatting the plague, Pandemic reveals what happens when society starts to collapse.






Fridays:

Friday marks the beginning of weekend programming for SciFan with Friday Night at the Frights. Hosted by monster hostess, Frankie, FNF will showcase horror movies from the golden age to today! So tune in, turn down the lights and get that pillow ready to hide behind!





Saturdays:

Our light weekend programming continues Saturday with Drive-In Theater, hosted by Roger Corman.
Join us for the best of B-movies, selected and introduced by Mister Corman himself and make sure to watch through the end for a chance to win the Drive-In Prize!





Sundays:

We wrap up the weekend and the week with our comic-inspired Sunday programming.
Up first is The Umbrella Academy, an action drama based on the comic books created by Gerard Way. A disbanded group of superheroes, the Umbrella Academy reunites after the death of their adoptive father, to save the world from a mysterious threat.

Finishing up the week is the fantasy series, Sandman, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and inspired by the Vertigo Comic series written by Neil Gaiman. 
In the first season, Dream (The Sandman) must reclaim his power after being imprisoned for decades by human sorcerors. Along the way he'll encounter a dream-addict, the legions of hell and an all-powerful madman!

And there you have it, gentle readers.  My version of a genre-focused cable channel. 
And still a better use of time than watching that attrociously bad football game.