Merry Christmas from The Future Forward 2010

A Future Gay Soap Opera?

This is something that has been in my head for a very long time.

Two days ago, I watched a full one hour episode of The Young and the Restless. I wanted to watch this phenomenon that most women, lesbians, and gay men are into. In the beginning, I really wasn't a fan of soap operas. I began asking people "How can you keep up with over a thousand episodes?"

Soap operas are daily shows. It's not like waiting next week to watch the new episode of Law and Order. If you want to watch a new episode, wake up the next day and it's on. I remember running into a woman who is a fan of this show. This woman knew what happened in episode seven thousand to the present episode. I'm sure it will reach episode ten thousand before the next decade.

After watching this show, I immediately became addicted to it. I just became part of that group of gay men who love soap operas. This show will give me an excuse to wake up every day at 9:00 AM. It's suspenseful, romantic, comedic, the perfect ingredients for a good show. I might add another soap opera to my list, but I just want to get used to this show first.

While watching this show, I began to think about our community back on television. Right now, the only couple I see on a soap opera is Luke and Noah from As The World Turns.

Their stories are amazing, but it's time to branch out. It's been more than a year now with these two, and As The World Turns is about to be canceled in just a few months. After watching these soap operas along with characters like them, it got me thinking. There should be a future soap opera just surrounding gay characters.

Out of all the shows people are dieing to watch, the gay community contains a large percentage of it. Whenever I walk past a group of people who just watched an old episode of Noah's Arc, Queer As Folk, and The L Word, they continue to talk about it, and even express their own ideas for new episodes. It's like a clock froze in their head and they can never forget. That's how much of a fan they are.

Which is why I suggest they should create a gay soap opera on television or online. We'll need to call Dwight Allen O' Neal (Christopher's Street), Maurice Jamal (The Ski Trip), Patrick Ian Polk (Noah's Arc), Ron Cowen (Queer As Folk), Ilene Chaiken (The L Word), or some newcomer and make this happen. We have to show a body of work that Showtime, Logo, SoapNet, NBC, and many more to make this happen.

All these ideas just gets me thinking.

Should there be a gay soap opera?

Zolra's Corner: Me and Black Cats

Everyone who knows me knows that I absolutely hate black cats. I'm sorry for all the black cat lovers, but I do. I am a 100% believer of the superstition. So I do believe in the one surrounding black cats. They say that if you let a black cat walk pasts you, it equals bad luck. Once I heard that, I have never let a black cat walk pasts me. Not only that, but a black cat bit me once. Ever since a couple of bad luck incidents when I was kid, I have never played with the superstition since.

I have a done alot of things that leads to bad luck. All of them have been accidents. I accidentally broken a mirror. I accidentally dropped salt. I walked under a few ladders. Childhood was not only the decade of depression. It was also the decade of accidents.

But it looks like life has ways to play with my head. Whenever I'm walking to wherever I gotta go, I always walk through this neighborhood full of amazing people. I have never people so nice than in that neighborhood. My mentor even lives around there. It feels great. However, a few blocks away is a location that I like to call "The Cat Corner." It's a corner where mostly black cats are living in. Because of that, you never know where the cats in the neighborhood. They don't just lay in that corner all day and night. They walk around the neighborhood while trying to avoid humans.

Every time I walk around there, I see a black cat underneath a car or running up ahead of me. However, they have never walked past me. I make sure of that. I don't know what to do. No matter where I go now, I always see a black cat. Looks like I have two choices.
1. Start walking in a different neighborhood so that there will be a less amount of black cats around there.
2. Blow up that corner and the black cats with it.

Lol. It's so hard to decide.

Zolra 

Zolra's Corner: The Dog That Loves Water

On my way to the center for another day of volunteering, I saw one of the craziest things I have ever seen involving a dog. A block before the center is this park that most people go to hang out and let their dogs play around. It looks like a feel good park. My dog cannot walk past one without barking at them two seconds later. At this park, dogs are having so much fun with each other, even though they are possibly total strangers. When I'm walking past the park, I see a few familiar faces. My guess is some of them live in the neighborhood around that park.

On this particular day, I saw one of the dog owners ready to bathe his dog. Two seconds after seeing the hose, the dog sat down and rolled over on it's back. The owner then turned the hose on and the dog was having a good time in the water. It moved around on it's back with it's tongue pointing out. When the water was aimed at it's mouth, it was chopping on it like steak. It was looking at the perfect bath for dogs.

The whole time I was looking at it, I was so shocked. When it comes to water, aren't dogs usually like this?

My dog doesn't react like, but you know what I'm talking about. He's usually calm around water when it's time to take a bath. However, when it's time to get out, he is out like Sonic the Hedgehog. I guess there are some who are addicted to water unlike the some who are absolutely petrified of water. For me, I just want all dogs to be like this one. This one doesn't let water scare him. He is loving life.

Zolra's Corner: How Do You Handle Being A Public Person?

Ever since I decided to make my life an open book, I began to think about public relationships. When it comes to a couple being very public about their lives, it's very hard to find. Nowadays, couples are so private, it sometimes feel like you have to glue yourself to the wall, and still hear nothing. But for some couples that are not afraid to talk about their lives to others, I wonder if they can handle it.

Kendra and Hank Baskett are a good example. Now that the second season of Kendra has finally aired, I am happily enjoying this couple that are not afraid to be public with their life. I can't wait to see how Kendra handles motherhood. In the beginning, I knew that Kendra could handle the cameras since she did The Girls Next Door. But I just wondered how Hank dealt with it. I haven't seen a lot of athletes do reality shows before.

Hank is handling the camera like a true person. I applaud him for that. Having cameras in your face everyday is not easy at all if you think it is. I think Hank handles it very well.

This couple is good example of a public couple. Their in the spotlight everyday and their not letting people get in their ear. But I wonder how a single person handles it. A person who is not afraid of being a open book. A person who talks about 90% of his/her life. I guess it's all about how to balance. However, you can't let anyone get in your ear if you decide to a public figure professionally and personally.

Zolra's Corner: Sarah Palin's Been Rogued Again

I have never laughed this much since watching constant episodes of The Golden Girls. I started watching the show two weeks ago for the first time in my life. Yes, I have never watched the The Golden Girls until the age of eighteen. If you don't like it, sue me!!!

Sarah Palin has been in the news more than most politicians. Except for Barack Obama, she is the one person that appears on CNN every time I flip to the channel.

First of all, I'm not going to make any judgment towards this woman. I think she is great at what she does. I have watched from once she first started working for John McCain to when she appeared on Oprah.

However, I will say I am not going to comment on her actions like most people in the world. Judgment and comment are two different things. Just because someone makes some mistakes doesn't mean we shouldn't guess what their lifestyle is like. That is never a good thing. Because of that, I love Sarah Palin at what she does, but that doesn't mean I'm going to comment on her current actions.

There has been so many things going on with Sarah Palin in the past two years since the election she was involved in. In the middle of the election, the most funniest incident that has ever happened related to her was Tina Fey's Emmy Award winning portrayal of her on Saturday Night Live again. I am a huge fan of Tina Fey and she did an amazing performance.


First, she turned as governor of Alaska. Her daughter Bristol Palin gotten pregnant at age sixteen. Levi Johnston, the baby daddy, posed for Playgirl, which is now an online magazine. Then she released her book Going Rogue. The revealing book became a #1 New York Times bestseller, and it showed us a side of Ms. Palin that we have never seen before. People are still wondering what is truth and fiction in this book, but once again, no judgment.

Then she accepted the offer of becoming a commentator of the most critical show I have ever watched and will never watch for the rest of my life. She joined Fox News. In the beginning, I wondered how was this offer put on her table. But then again, I remembered the position: commentator. Then upon reflection, I thought to myself "She always comments on something every time I see her. So this should be a good position."

If it was me, I would take that offer. If I got offered to be paid for my comments on the news, I would be sleeping in the studio the day before my first day on the job. Then again, I hate the show. So if I got the job, I will deliver my point of view, and my limo will be outside of the studio quickly because I would rather not get critical behind the scenes. You never know what happens when the camera turn off.

But just when you think there isn't anything else to humiliate this woman with, I was a club when I saw this video. Once I saw this thing, I was literally on the floor laughing. Other men was looking at me like I was psychotic, but the video was hilarious.

Dorothy Bishop (Sarah) and Gregory Uliasz (Levi) Vogue parody
Directed by Francis Legge
Parody lyrics by James Jorden and Dorothy Bishop