Rainbow roundabout

Yesterday I watched the movie Giant Little Ones. Franky and Ballas are best friends and on the school swim team. Franky’s 17th birthday party has quite a bit of underage drinking. Why Franky’s mom chooses to not be home that evening is a puzzle. Franky is drunk enough that he doesn’t end up in bed with his girlfriend as intended, but instead with Ballas. The next morning Ballas wants nothing to do with Franky. Part of the reason is homophobia. Was this a sign of sexual orientation or just some teenage experimentation? Another part of the story is Franky’s father, who, after several years of marriage and two kids, fell in love with a man, came out as gay, and left the marriage. Yeah, there’s some friction there. As the parents are trying to get the boys to renew their friendship it is only the gay man who wants to talk about the reasons behind the estrangement. But the other parents don’t want to complicate the discussion. During the opening credits there were the list of funding sources, which included this arts agency in Canada and that film agency in Ontario. During one of the scenes in a classroom I saw two maps on the wall, one of Canada, one that included southwest Ontario (the part across the Detroit River). I wondered where it was filmed. At one point Franky visit’s his father’s apartment and we get a view out the window of bridges crossing a sizable river. That view wasn’t held very long. However, it was enough for me to conclude we were in either Sault Ste. Marie or Sarnia. The closing credits said filmed in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. Spoiler alert: The movie does not end with Franky and Ballas busting out of the closet and into each other’s arms. Several characters have already shown that whether Franky or Ballas are gay is not a big deal – though there is still homophobia in the school. The message is more sometimes it takes a while to figure out one’s orientation. One of Franky’s friends is a transgender boy. He is wearing a strap-on manhood and wants Franky to help him figure out if he’s got a good product, and part of doing that is seeing what Franky has. It is good the movie explores the issue. On Sunday while going out to pick up my lunch I’ve been listening to the NPR show Freakenomics. The show yesterday was all about the advantages of traffic roundabouts over signaled intersections. I’ll let you find the episode and listen (or read the transcript). During the program they spoke to the president of the Roundabout Appreciation Society of the UK. He said the center of the roundabout can contain anything people want to put there. His group gives out awards for best roundabouts and features a calendar of them. One of the international awards went to the Braddon roundabout in Canberra, Australia. The prominent feature is the circle has been painted with rainbow colors. In the center is a flagpole with a rainbow flag. It was done to celebrate Canberra citizens approving marriage equality. More photos here. The ship stuck in the Suez Canal is free! Though this ship appears to be moving slowly through the canal other ships – a full parade of them – are now making their way through the canal. It could be a week or more to get through the backlog. The website vesselfinder will show you where this ship – and all the others – are.