ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

The Tearoom: the gay cruising 

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The TearoomThe game is a foot, but that is probably in some peoples dream.  The Tearoom being referred to here is that of the men’s toilet, where before the law was changed, and indeed even afterwards, men who wanted ‘gay sex’ use to frequent and attempt to have sex or do a pick up without the police catching them.
Often the police use to have sting operations using ‘molly boys’ or ‘honey traps’ where they used young men (sometimes underage or new policemen) to frequent these areas, lead the man on, and then arrest him.
This practice is still being used today by ISIS, as can be seen the article ‘Islamic State’s secret flirting squads expose gay men for trial and execution’ published by the Daily Star Sunday, In may 2015
To add to this, Sean McGouran brought to my attention that there was a ballet / dance about such things Joseph Mercier’s Cruising, Clubbing Fucking: An Elegy – he mentioned that he had performed in Belfast a number of times (at the OutBurst festival).
He and dancer Sebastian Langueneur ended up in their birthday suits…
 

TRAILER Cruising, Clubbing, Fucking: an elegy from PanicLab on Vimeo.
Further reading:

 
Robert Yang has created a ‘dick pic simulator’ and a game about consent and BDSM. Now he’s tackling the risks surrounding gay sex in the 60s
Source: The Tearoom: the gay cruising game challenging industry norms | Technology | The Guardian

Course 2 – Day Eight: Edge – Straighten Your Image

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I am back again, finally I have been able to find time to continue on with my challenges.  This challenge is to use an editing tool to check the alignment and adjust the image so that your edge is perfectly.

What is meant by this; well how often have you taken a photgraph and then when you checked it found it to be slanted to one side or the other?  Steve Patterson has given a very interesting article on using Photoshop to achieve this perfection, but the problem is that Photoshop is not the most inexpensive software on the market.  However the article and what he talks about is worth reading:

Adobe Photoshop photo editing and photo retouching tutorial image

Adobe Photoshop photo editing and photo retouching tutorial image

 

An alternative in Windows 10 has been written about by Ashley Blood, How to Straighten Photos in Windows 10.  There are plenty of other articles, these are just two after my first search.  Now to my problem,  I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Bolshoi showing of their national costumes when it visited Belfast.  The exhibition was held in the old Crumlin Road jail (gaol), using the old cells and the connecting corridor for display purposes.  Lighting was difficult, as was trying to get the images.  I have put together a slide show of the images, but there was one image of a tutu which clearly not straight, and by using the tactics in Windows 10 Photos, I have made some adjsutments.

 

 

Now to my problem:

Edge - Straighten your image

 

And after adjustment, it doesn’t look like much was done, but even subtle changes can make a big effect.

Edge- Straighten Your Image

The exhibition was a show stopper – if it hadn’t been for the fact that it was already in jail, I think my aunt who had accompanied me to the show (and is a devotee of ballet) would have tried to “borrow” one of the costumes!

 

Russian State Ballet Company of Siberia – The Nutcracker

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I love music in just about any form – jazz, classical, pop, big band, opera, ballet – they all have their place on my music shelf.
I also love the theatre, and the nuances that you pick up from a live performance, and of course opera which combines music and live acting performances.
But until last month, whilst I loved ballet music, and have watched numerous performances on television, I had not been grabbed by ballet.  But this changed.  Last month I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the Russian State Ballet of Siberia’s performance of ‘The Nurcracker’ in the Belfast Opera House.  This is a young but not inexperienced ballet company, who are presently touring the UK with four ballets; The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, La Fille mal gardee, Coppelia.
As I have said, I was lucky enough to see The Nutcracker on Friday night [23 January 2015].  The theatre was packed, indeed I saw one baby their with its parents – and it didn’t cry once.
The sets and costumes by Christina Fyodorova, are bright and well suited to each of the performers and different points of the story.  And Anatoliy Chepurnoy’s conducting of both the orchestra and his interaction with the audience was wonderful.
 

The accompanying booklet is lavish, beautifully produced and covers all four ballets, and is well worth the purchase price.
I am now a convert to live ballet, particularly if it keeps with the very high standard that this ballet company has produced.  I for one will be looking forward to their return – the sooner the better.