(This is why I don’t EVER want to go to Singapore.)

AP — A Singapore television station has been fined for airing a show that depicted a gay couple and their baby in a way that “promotes a gay lifestyle,” the city-state’s media regulator said Thursday.

The Media Development Authority fined MediaCorp TV Channel 5 some 15,000 Singapore dollars (US$11,000), it said in a statement on its Web site.

The station aired an episode of a home and decor series called “Find and Design” that featured a gay couple wanting to transform their game room into a new nursery for their adopted baby.

The authority said the episode contained scenes of the gay couple with their baby and the presenter’s congratulations and acknowledgment of them as a family unit “in a way which normalizes their gay lifestyle and unconventional family setup.”
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Remember that whole hoopla that followed when Buffy did it with fellow slayer Satsu? Well, the assertion of some people that it was just a marketing gimmick made me extra curious about the comics’ sales, especially the effect of Issue #12. The Diamond Comic Distibutors Top #300 list for March 2008 has just come out, and they are the biggest in North America. In the absence of more complete data, I used this as a benchmark for my graphs. OK, here I go on geek mode.

Each month here corresponds to the release of an issue, and the monthly data you see here are for that issue only (not cumulative sales). Now, still remember the story arcs?

• #1 - #4 : The Long Road Home (Mar-Jun 2007)
• #5 : The Chain (July 2007)
• #6 - #9 : No Future for You (Sep-Dec 2007)
• #10 : Anywhere But Here (Jan 2008)
• #11 : A Beautiful Sunset (Feb 2008)
• #12 - #15 : Wolves at the Gate (Mar-Jun 2008)

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“Open an oyster, and it’s like a secret world in there.” - Tipping the Velvet

Read enough books and you’re sure to find some things oddly interesting. I’ve always been fascinated about nature, and how a close examination of it reminds us that not everything is as rigid as black and white, or male and female. Here’s an excerpt from “The Book of Lists 2″ by Irving Wallace, et al:

This tender bivalve enjoys the best of both sexual worlds. It alternates sex roles, functioning first as a male, then as a female. It can do this because it has both male and female organs, and the process is known as rhythmical consecutive hermaphroditism. In waters around Great Britain, its sex roles change in alternate years, but in warmer Mediterranean waters, it can perform both roles within one season. As an example of hard-shelled romanticism, the European oyster is hard to beat. For reasons that have more to do with spring tides rather than with spring fever, it mates only after a full or new moon.

I wonder what would happen if we humans followed the same biological pattern during our lifetimes. It should make for a lot of funny stories. Plus, that should end gender inequality once and for all, with rules being impartial to both sexes (the males would be afraid of being the underdog once they turn female, and vice versa). The only parts I don’t like is waking up one day and finding myself having a weaner down there, and too much body hair… OK, I can’t even paint my face now.

But here’s the first things I’ll do if I suddenly become a man:

1. Marry my girlfriend (assuming it could all be legal).
2. Go on adventures to remote places I’d otherwise think twice of going to if I were a woman (no more fears of getting raped, the worst that could happen is getting beat up or robbed, which isn’t as bad in my view).
3. Sasabit sa jeep [translation: hang on for dear life to the outside railings of a public vehicle popularly known here in the Philippines as the jeepney, an activity that has always been considered taboo for women).

How about you? If you could change sex every year, would you? What’s the first thing you’d do as a man/woman?

For those of you who don’t already know, Dani Campbell already did a soft launch of her Futch clothing line during the 2008 Dinah Shore Weekend. Below is a screencap of Dani looking dashing as always, in an interview at the event by The Smoking Cocktail. It’s cool to see them sporting the same shirt. They actually look like handsome twins.

As of now, only T-shirts have been made available, but I’m sure that more stuff will come out if this initial launch is successful. So go out and support Dani!

You can buy Futch Apparel goods at its website and at its dedicated MySpace account.

Kimmi from Norway offers closet lesbians a few motivations to come out - from sex to make-up, and everything in between.

Think you can come up with your own list?