It’s a busy day here in Boystown.

Last night, we all went to the Chicago Takes Off benefit for TPAN, The Test Positive Awareness Network, an organization that raises awareness of the risks of HIV/AIDS and helps those living with the virus cope and fight their battles as best they can.  It’s a very worthy cause we want to become more involved in going forward. One of our good friends in Philadelphia is Positive, and we’ve been volunteering the last year or so doing whatever we can to help people with HIV we know on a personal level.  But, we want to do more, so expect to hear more about TPAN and other charities here in Chicago in the future.  We knew several of the dancers who donated their time and talent to dance in Chicago Takes Off last night, which was themed “TV Outside the Box”.

Here are some photos via ChicagoPride.

We’re working on a full recap of the night, for those of you who’ve never been to a big, high-production quality, extravaganza of a fundraiser in the LGBTQ community…let alone a burlesque show like Broadway Bares or Chicago Takes Off.  Since we know many of the people who staged, coreographed, managed, and danced in the event, we hope it will be a fun tale for you to read…as soon as we can get together, sit down, and write up our notes from last night.

Which is hard today because it’s Oscar Night, which is another of the High Gay Holidays here in Boystown.  We’re going to an Oscar-themed costume party, where no doubt absolutely no one will get what we’re dressed as, which is always the case.  Everyone will, of course, adore what Panda is wearing and will “get” his costume immediately, no matter how obscure it ends up being.  ”Oooooh, I get it, you are Key Grip #2 from the set of “The Hurt Locker”.  Verrrrrrrry clever, Mr. Panda!”.  That sort of praise, and instant applause, for holding a key in his hand (gripping it, really), with a Band-Aid on his finger, carrying a little combination lock.

We’re exaggerating slightly, and have no idea what Panda’s going to wear tonight, but it really is amazing how well he can pull off just about any outfit and totally sell it to a crowd.  You should have seen him as Mr. Belvedere last night at Chicago Takes Off.  But, more on that later.

As for the Oscars, we’re rooting for Sandra Bullock for Best Actress, Monique for Best Supporting Actress, and we hope Avatar doesn’t win Best Picture.  We’re wondering what the crowd’s response will be to Michael Jackson when clips of him are aired during the “Dead Celebrities” montage, which will be the last of the “Michael Jackson Tributes” we’ll see for a while.  Will the audience go nuts and cheer, or will it be as muted as the rest of the applause for those who passed since the last Academy Awards?  Panda’s still wearing his black arm band in memory of “MJ”, but some of us think he’s just hiding a wart or something on that elbow.  It wouldn’t be the first time.

We really don’t care about the Best Actor awards, and dread the political speeches many of the winners will no doubt make…but wonder just how political anyone will get seeing everyone in attendance, for the most part, at the Kodak Theater voted for Dr. Utopia and should be thrilled with the Golden Age of Hope and Change in which we are living.  If they aren’t, then we doubt they will say anything about it on TV, the way they used their once-in-a-lifetime chance to speak directly to billions to criticize President Bush repeatedly through eight years.

If we had a chance to speak to that large of an audience for 45 seconds, there’s no way we’d say anything bad about anyone, no matter how terrible they are.  We wouldn’t read a list of names on the air either.  Instead, we’d ask all the people watching what they do after they leave a movie theater in which they sat quietly with strangers for two hours in the dark.  Do you ever try to meet any of those people you shared that experience with?  Do you go out into the world and interact with those around you and try to be as excellent to one another as you can?  Do you find the things you share in common and embrace them, instead of focusing on the things that divide you, or the minor disagreements on certain issues the MSM exploits to keep us forever engaged in culture wars, never accomplishing anything because we’re so divided all the time.

Movies are great.  Sometimes.  Getting involved in your community, meeting your neighbors, organizing like-minded people to stand up to government encroachment in our lives and the radical Leftist takeover of the country is more important.  Always.

We try to communicate this here on our little site every day.  If we had 45 seconds to talk directly to the world, we guarantee we wouldn’t squander that chance to pump people up as much as we could to hit the ground running the next day to do some good.  Volunteer with the USO.  Start helping TPAN or another charity you like in your home town.  Knock on the neighbors’ doors and meet them and see if they need any help with anything.  DO SOMETHING.  It’s fun to sit in the dark and watch movies once in a while.  Movies are part of the pop culture that unites us, as they’re things all of us will typically see no matter who we are, or what we think about other things.

Just imagine if we could somehow use a love of watching movies to form a bridge to discover what else we all have in common, instead of falling into the MSM trap of focusing on what sets us apart.

What would you say if you had the chance to speak at something as huge as the Academy Awards, with 45 seconds of live speech before billions?

What would you want to communicate, how would you put it, and how would you best use your time?