Fin Fang Foom Makes An Observation About the Rentboy Float

[Guest Fin Fang Foom]

Is it just me, or did the whores on the Rentboy float (in today's Gay Pride Parade) almost all look like they should have that float driven straight to a methadone clinic?

 

I have never seen a sorrier group of guys in my life. I wouldn't go anywhere near any of them without wearing a hazmat suit.

 

Did anyone else notice this?

 

Proudly yours,

 

FFF

[Guest Fin Fang Foom]

One other thing.............maybe it was just the way he was sitting, but Mark "I'm With A Queer Right Now" Dalton looked a little chunky on the HX float.

 

Curiously yours,

 

FFF

[Donnie]

>I have never seen a sorrier group of guys in my life. I

>wouldn't go anywhere near any of them without wearing a

>hazmat suit.

 

I'm sure the feeling is mutual. What float were you on? The Finicky Fags?

[+ deej]

Those of us outside NYC didn't get a chance to SEE the rentboy float, of course.

 

I'm curious ... is Altoids still doing the same float in many different cities? Last year, they had the same float in NYC, LA, SF, Chicago, and Toronto.

 

It's basically a flatbed truck with hunky guys in speedos flinging mints to the crowd. They actually have local contests to get ON that float. If you don't have 15" arms and a 42" chest (or better), no need to apply.

 

Inquisitively yours.

[CT Dick]

Altoids wins!

 

I agree with FFF. The Rentboy float looked pretty skanky. There was one familiar looking guy posing on the front but the rest were not great PR for that website.

 

But, Deej, the Altoid float was just as you described and it would have gotten my vote as the hottest thing at Pride (except the cutie standing next to me. }> )

 

Dick

[Guest Sports]

Yes I noticed that too. I think its a combination of the sunlight and the fresh air. I saw them on Christopher Street and by that time, they had been on parade for an hour and a half. The Rentboy float looked sad and poor Mark Dalton did not look good in the light of day. Otherwise the parade was QUITE FESTIVE....Sorry, just an observation. This is just my opinion and in no way should it reflect the opinions of others.

[+ deej]

RE: Altoids wins!

 

Chicago version of the Altoids float:

 

http://members.telocity.com/deejer/MVC-387S.JPG

 

And a few other new boyfriends (I wish!):

 

http://members.telocity.com/deejer/MVC-361S.JPG

 

http://members.telocity.com/deejer/Mvc-376s.jpg

 

Just wish fat ladies would stop getting in the way of the guy with the camera. They don't move fast enough when you elbow them!

[Traveller]

In between Victor Calderone and the Pier Dance it sounds like I didn't miss anything.

 

Later.

[guyinsf]

RE: Altoids/SF Parade

 

The San Francisco parade had its version of the Altoids float. It had, by far, the hottest men in the parade. I generally dislike floats that are purely commercial in nature (the SF parade lasts several hours, and it would help if we didn't have to see advertisements for booze, Showtime, etc), but when they have guys this hot they can advertise almost anything and I won't mind.

 

Most pathetic part of SF parade this year: The parade was halted for over 30 minutes because of a safety monitor's observation that the Esta Noche's float was allowing people to get on and off their float, which apparently violates a parade safety rule. After sitting at an intersection for nearly 30 minutes, several parade safety monitors made a human chain to try to force the float off of the parade route? I was expecting to find Joan Collins and Linda Evans in a mud wrestling match on the float. When the crowd started screaming "Let them go," the parade finally resumed, including Esta Noche's float. Couldn't the parade employees stop to think about the 500,000 people lining the street waiting for the parade to resume? I wonder if it occurred to those involved to just admonish the Esta Noche group and punish them by not allowing them to be in the following year's parade?

[+ deej]

RE: Altoids/SF Parade

 

The Chicago parade halted for about 30 minutes as well, but I never heard why. It happens every year.

 

One of the truly notable things about this year: I noticed that ALL of the local TV stations had floats. Last year, exactly one of them did. I actually made note of it last year. NBC has been involved for 7 years, but nobody else was. Suddenly this year, there was CBS, ABC, and WGN one after another.

 

I don't mind the commercialism so much, as long as they at least try to inject a little fun. The beer trucks get a little tiresome, except the ones giving away free samples. ;-) I could do without the steady stream of political candidates, though.

[CT Dick]

RE: Altoids wins!

 

Yup, same costumes. I decided I liked lime the best.

 

Dick

[+ honcho]

RE: Altoids/SF Parade

 

>Most pathetic part of SF parade this year: The parade was halted

>for over 30 minutes because of a safety monitor's observation that

>the Esta Noche's float was allowing people to get on and off

>their float, which apparently violates a parade safety rule

> ... several parade safety monitors made a human chain to try to

>force the float off of the parade route ...

 

In the safety monitor training sessions, they told the story of how some time ago, a person on a float who had been partying too hard was getting off a float just as the float was pulling foward and fell in such a way that the float ran over the guys head, crushed his skull and killed him. That wasn't the only casualty -- the driver of the float was the dead man's best friend. The driver became so depressed that he wasn't able to work, function or almost even take care of himself. On his deathbed (in an aids hospice a few years later), the driver made the safety team member who visited him promise that they would NEVER NEVER EVER LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN.

 

The safety organizers claim that is why that they are so insistent on having 1 monitor on eash side and an arms length away from each axle, and why they forbid folks getting on and off floats during the parade.

 

Although I don't remember the exact wording, it was my impression that the safety team told drivers and monitors in advance that on first violations they would get a warning, but on the second infraction they would be pulled off the route. So, it is my guess that the Este Noche people had ignored more than one warning. I wasn't there; I was being a contigent monitor for the gay marching band.

 

I didn't get to see our Altoids float, even in the warm up area, but they guys on the Bare Chest Calendar Float (er... leather pride float), would prove pretty popular with some of the users of this message center if they ever decided to accept bribes ...

[Guest Fin Fang Foom]

RE: Altoids/SF Parade

 

>they told the story

>of how some time ago, a person on a float who had been

>partying too hard

 

Are you referring to drugs?

 

Inquisitively yours,

 

FFF

[Traveller]

RE: Altoids/SF Parade

 

>Are you referring to drugs?

>

>Inquisitively yours,

>

>FFF

 

Drugs are always the excuse. My understanding is that it was simply a matter of co-ordination.

 

Assisted livingly yours.

 

Later.

[+ honcho]

RE: Altoids/SF Parade

 

FFF asked, in reference to the phrase "partying too hard", whether the safety people were referring to drugs,

 

And Honcho responds:

 

That was the exact phrase they used in the contigent monitor training; they didn't make it clear and it doesn't matter whether it was drugs or alcohol - the victims coordination was impaired, and even for somebody who was well rested and living unassistedly there would have been some risk. They don't want any more deaths or serious injuries to folks in our community, and had the Este noche people ignored warnings, the action of removing them from the parade would have been warranted in my opinion.