Results tagged “aids”

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There is a debate on the best way to combat HIV/AIDS. Researchers are developing new treatments and possibly an HIV vaccine. What about those of us who gave up on our chemistry doctorate degrees after eleventh grade? Should we focus our efforts on better awareness campaigns? More accessible testing? Stronger policies? Why not fight HIV with a fork? You read right.

For those of you who missed it, Monday was National Women's and Girls' HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Don't worry, it isn't too late to celebrate. Rather than baking the traditional red ribbon sugar cookies you make every year, here are some new ideas:

Did you know that in 2005, women represented 26 percent of new AIDS diagnoses, compared to only 11 percent of new AIDS cases reported in 1990? Or that most women are infected with HIV through heterosexual contact and injection drug use? And did you know that women of color are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, or that AIDS is now the leading cause of death for black women ages 25 to 34?

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend.

Remember when Tom Hanks won Best Actor for his performance in a film named for our humble home town? In honor of Sunday's awards show, we thought a look back might be appropriate.

HIV and AIDS aren't in the news so much these days. With the creation of "the cocktail," it sometimes seems as if the media has downgraded the gravity of these diseases to something akin to Hepatitis: take care of yourself, take your pills, and use condoms – and you, too, can live a healthy life. We don't really hear about it anymore. For those whose lives haven't been touched by HIV or the AIDS virus, it's not at the forefront of our sexual consciousness anymore.

Phillyist has been known to run with an older crowd, maybe because inexplicably we were/are the youngest by at least 10 years at most of our places of employ. A fun game to play if you have a good decade to work with is “what was different?” This sometimes devolves into discussions of Slinky (yes, we are old enough to remember when they were exclusively made of metal). When working with a more serious bunch, though (sexual health clinics can be trying), we realized that, perhaps more than anything else, the fact that we do not remember a world before AIDS informs our perspective and marks us as belonging to a particular generation, one that doesn’t really remember a world without crack, either. Growing up in the thick of the early days of the epidemic, back when most people were still worried about sharing a water fountain with a positive person, made us appreciate the enormity of the crisis. It did not, however, have the same devastating impact upon us that it had on many people who had to watch as staggering numbers of friends and colleagues succumbed to the mysterious syndrome. Harvey Fierstein commented once that AIDS nearly killed Broadway—and he wasn’t kidding.

Doesn't really matter where the quote this week comes from (we're going to go ahead and call it Freddie Mercury, because now the song's stuck in our heads). It was chosen purely because nothing is opening this week in Philly theatre. But that doesn't mean you can't check out some of the great shows happening anyway! Now, on with the listings!

Having grown up Catholic, this Phillyist's early experience with bingo (besides the dog song, of course) consisted of the school gym being converted every other Wednesday afternoon into a downmarket The Price Is Right (if The Price Is Right had legions of older folk sitting at long folding tables littered with markers, enough bingo cards to paper said tables, and ashtrays. And if Bob Barker was a priest). It was not really appealing so much as darkly fascinating, but still none of us sat around dreaming of the day when we'd have markers of our own.

This week’s title is paraphrased from a quote by Dame Judy Dench, who said: “The control you have in a theatre is very attractive to me.” Now, on with the listings!

...Flattery: Editor Jim mentioned Jean Claude Van Damme's new movie yesterday in Whiz. But linking to this story legitimizes our posting the video at the right. (Via I Watch Stuff!)

: No future screenings scheduled

Films: Hula Girls, The Guardian’s Son, Life Support

Nothing about talking about AIDS is pleasant. It's a disease that still has an enormous stigma attached to it, based largely on decades-old misunderstandings of what it is and who gets it. To me, it always seemed like an abstract concept well beyond my level of comprehension, like quantum physics. I knew it was out there, and I knew it was important, but I didn't feel qualified to weigh in on those rare occasions during which it came up.

, only with more sexy, shirtless, dancing gays (okay, and a few straights too—maybe).

PhillyGayCalendar and TLBTB present Gay Prom 2007 this Saturday. The theme this year is "Under The Sea," and it will take place at PURE nightclub. They're promising a great time; the description says, "Think your high school prom...only bigger, sexier, and this time, you don't have to sneak the booze in!" Pink drinks are $2, as are the Coors Lights, and there are $1 shots from 9-11 pm. Cheap booze is totally the way to get people to show up on time for an event. However, it also means that this is a 21+ evening.

Breaking
the law, breaking the law. We -ist folks love us some crime, and no
misdemeanor is too petty for a post on any of our sites. This week,
join us for a rogues' gallery of miscreants major, minor, and alleged.

Gothamist gets us started with
"Law
& Order", muppet style. Oh, you know what isn't a crime? Taking
pictures on the MTA. So, why
are cops stopping photographers? In other Gotham crime, a group
of Asian men was attacked
by a group of white guys in Queens. Finally, Boy
George reports for his court mandated community service. Sweet.

Londonist brings us the tale
of poor Bob Hoskins, shaken
at his near-miss with terrorists. Meanwhile, Interpol
sweeps in to reclaim a lost Peruvian artifact. Then, there's the
slasher
who claims he got his weapon from President Bush. Ouch!

Phillyist's bus system, SEPTA,
is fighting
crime in a whole new way, and it would be a crime in and of itself
for you not
to read this story about Oreo the cat. Oh, and can
we agree that requesting "Piano Man" at a piano bar should be
illegal?

Torontoist's thorough
coverage
of the XVI
International AIDS Conference, doesn't fit into the "crime" theme,
but it's too great to pass up. But we're back on track with their href="http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2006/08/toronto_bike_po.php">post
on bike rack vulnerability and an
interview with a controversial crime fighter.

DCist brings us a murder
that gets more mysterious by the day, and we're considering a life
of crime ourselves, if it'll allow us to dine
out like DCist. And if it's not illegal to sell
soiled mattresses, it should be.

SFist muses on the negligent behavior of a public transit employee, covered the
questionable confession of a man arrested for the murder of
JonBenet Ramsey, and delineated the highway robbery that is the Bay Area real estate market.



Shanghaiist brings us this
video of "one
of the worst cover bands we have seen in China", which isn't
illegal, but should be. We're unclear on the legal status of an "invisible
monster cock", and we'd prefer to stay that way. Price
gouging on drinks is a criminal act, in our opinion.

Chicagoist gets thrown in the
hoosgow by readers
who hate the Annual Air & Water Show. Should bottle service be illegal? Chicagoist's commenters debate that,
too. And the criminally overdiscussed (and we say this even as we
trotted this out as a theme last week) gets the Chicagoist
commenter treatment, as well.

LAist exposes the questionable ethics of 's marketing, tells us how to make the
criminally tasty Moscow
mule, and creates
a criminal amount of garbage.

Houstonist blows us away with
the announcement that they
wear pantyhose. Someone call the fashion police! Houston's city
council takes a bite
out of shoddy newspaper rack crime. The only real criminals in
Houston seem to be flying
roaches. (No, not those kind.)

Those miscreants at Bostonist
take their shot at our
newest public enemy number one, Mel Gibson. Public enemy number
two? Gold
bricking spammers. Number three? Bad
mergers.

Seattlest gets a
photo of missing person Bettie Page, breaks some laws of their own
by getting "drunk
on clandestine vodka, and yell(ing) at passing cars." When is
domestic violence kinda understandable? Now.

Austinist's lovable rogues
tell us about issues in their
state's gubernatorial race, eagerly anticipate the arrival of the
criminally hilarious Onion, and bemoan
the firing of a teacher who committed the crime of (gasp!) partial
nudity.

Phillyist will be attending ChefAid 2006, now in its 13th year, this Sunday at the Ritz Carlton.The annual black-tie event features the talents of more then 15 generous local Chefs from regional restaurants who donate their time and effort for the cocktail hour and five course meal to benefit MANNAParticipating Chefs and restaurants this year include Kiong Banhm, Twenty Manning; Thien Ngo, Fork; Jim Coleman, Coleman Restaurant; Joseph Poon; and Justin Rambo-Garwood from Philadelphia Fish & Company. Moore Brothers Wine Company and Southern Wine and Spirits of Pennsylvania are among the many beverage sponsors. Founded in 1990, MANNA provides hot, home delivered meals and nutritional counseling throughout the tri-state area to men women and children living with HIV/AIDS.

This Thursday, restaurants all over the city will take part in Dining Out for Life, an annual fundraiser for local services for those living with HIV and AIDS. Participating restaurants will contribute 33% of their sales from the day.

To Whom it May Concern: We’d like to tell you a little about our friend and fellow contributor, “Phillial” columnist Jessica Haralson. As we’ve mentioned before, Jessica co-edits a little publication called Quake. Although Quake isn’t the first magazine of its kind, it is the first literary erotica magazine at Penn. Jessica got some great press last month from Philadelphia Weekly, and two weeks ago, the magazine’s first print issue arrived. Of course – and...

Fernando Meirelles' new film, The Constant Gardener, is about watching and being watched. The previews may fool you into thinking it's a movie about scandals involving the pharmaceutical industry in Kenya, or about a multinational murder mystery, or a love affair starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, or the exploitation of African poverty by a collusion of powerful government and corporate forces. And Meirelles, working from a screenplay by Jeffrey Caine, adapted from a John le Carré novel, turns his attention to each of these plot threads. But in the end, Gardener remains always a study on who gets to watch, whom is watched, and what happens when someone tries to escape, or even reverse, the terms of their surveillance. It is always about watching.

Hello, Philadelphia! Did you enjoy your Live 8? (I didn’t – but I’m a wimp when it comes to a 1 million + mob. See the Phillyist Live 8 questionnaire about that.) Did you enjoy your fuzzy moppet Bruce Vilanch, Wayne Brady, Patti La Belle, Rufus Wainwright’s lisp, and 20 minutes of “Rocket Man” from Elton for the 4th of July Sunoco Philadelphia Freedom Concert? (I did. Particularly when Patti dressed down the amateur dancer for not “treating her like a woman”.) Did you enjoy being referred to as a collective city by umpteen celebrities? (I didn’t. But then again, I doubt Will Smith could have belted out, “Hello, Jessica Haralson!” without arousing suspicion from a certain Mrs. Pinkett on the sidelines.) Did you learn anything new about AIDS? No? You didn’t?