For me, November seemed to fly by. It was a whirlwind of creative challenges and solutions. And lots of new Substack subscribers and virtual friends…welcome!
I can hardly believe it’s already December on the other side of the world. As the rest of us slowly catch up and flip the calendar, I’m pausing to reflect on the month gone by—and invite you to explore a few people and things I think are worth celebrating and/or remembering today.
From for-your-consideration videos to on-this-day birthdays to what’s new here on Substack and over on YouTube, there’s plenty to discover. Plus, I’ve got some deals and sales to keep the good vibes going as we slide into the season of giving.
Whatever day and time it is in your part of the world, let’s make it a great day and a December to remember.
Thanks for reading!
Clint
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Asking Hot Ginger Guys Increasingly Difficult Questions While They Eat Hot Sauce (Gay Star News + Recommended By Doug) 📺
Tears For Fears - Dancing To Their Own Trauma (Trash Theory) 📺
This Mistake Made Phil Collins A Genius (Dimitri Fantini) 📺
ON THIS DAY = NOVEMBER 30
BIRTHDAYS
1599 = Andrea Sacchi = Italian painter
1642 = Andrea Pozzo = Jesuit Brother, architect and painter
1667 = Jonathan Swift = Irish satirist and essayist
1835 = Mark Twain = American novelist, humorist, and critic
1874 = Winston Churchill = English colonel, journalist, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Nobel Prize laureate
1904 = Clyfford Still = American painter and educator
1912 = Gordon Parks = American photographer and director
1918 = Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. = American actor
1924 = Elliott Blackstone = American police officer and activist (d. 2006)
1924 = Shirley Chisholm = American activist, educator and politician
1925 = William H. Gates, Sr. = American lawyer and philanthropist
1926 = Richard Crenna = American actor, director, and producer
1929 = Dick Clark = American tv host and producer
1929 = Joan Ganz Cooney = American writer and Sesame Street co-creator
1933 = Sam Gilliam = American painter and educator
1935 = Woody Allen = American filmmaker
1937 = Jimmy Bowen = American record producer, songwriter, and pop singer
1937 = Ridley Scott = English filmmaker
1943 = Terrence Malick = American filmmaker
1951 = Daniel Petrie, Jr. = American filmmaker
1952 = Mandy Patinkin = American actor and singer
1955 = Kevin Conroy = American actor
1955 = Billy Idol = English singer-songwriter
1958 = Stacey Q = American singer-songwriter, dancer and actor
1965 = Ben Stiller = American actor and filmmaker
1968 = Des'ree = English singer-songwriter
1969 = Chris Weitz = American actor and fillmmaker
1975 = Mindy McCready = American singer-songwriter
1978 = Clay Aiken = American singer, tv personality, actor and activist 🌈
1978 = Gael García Bernal = Mexican actor
1985 = Chrissy Teigen = American model and media personality
1985 = Kaley Cuoco = American actor
1990 = Magnus Carlsen = Norwegian chess player
CELEBRATIONS
EVENTS
1624 = In the Virginia Colony, Richard Cornish is hanged for allegedly making advances on a ship’s steward. His conviction and execution, angrily contested by his brother and others, is the first to be recorded in the American colonies.
1876 = Heinrich Schliemann discovers the gold Mask of Agamemnon in Greece. It’s considered the "Mona Lisa of prehistory."
1936 – In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire.
1977 = Playwright Sir Terence Rattigan dies in Bermuda at the age of 66.
1979 = Pink Floyd's album The Wall is released.
1989 = The city of Columbus, Ohio, adopts a hate crimes bill which includes sexual orientation.
1990 = Misery is released in theaters.
2010 = The law mandating—apropos huh?— “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is signed and the policy takes effect on February 28, 1994.
1995 = The first US. government-sponsored advertising targeting gay men debuts on the eve of World AIDS Day when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention releases a public service television announcement cautioning men to have “smart sex.”
2004 = In the case of Fourie v. Minister of Home Affairs, the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa rules that the common law definition of marriage must be extended to include same-sex couples. Same-sex marriages would not become immediately possible because of limitations in the Marriage Act; in any event, the government took the decision on appeal to the Constitutional Court.
2010 = The Joint Chiefs of Staff releases a report on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that finds repealing the policy would pose little risk to military effectiveness and outlines a path to its repeal.
PHOTO + QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.”
Mark Twain
Happy St. Andrews Day!