So I registered the domain for my name a while back, when the internet still had a bit of that new web smell. I’d been doing work more and more in the digital space for a few years then and I would end up having to pay off a cybersquatter for the BlueBlood.com domain, so it seemed sensible to register everything near and dear to me. Then nine more years went by. Some of my favorite sites have grown out of Forrest Black registering domains while drinking beer and then me feeling that, once it was registered, the domain had to have a site on it. For a long time, I just had a link to a hosted journal on AmeliaG.com, but now seemed like the time to actually put a proper site on there. Today it officially goes live.

The site has the Amelia G bio with just the broad strokes. There is a more detailed sidebar with just 2009 news about press appearances and where my writing and photography has appeared this year. I considered including a page with a gigantic lists of places I’ve been published, but, after doing thousands of pages of editorial, not to mention radio and television stuff, it just seemed like it would be a bit of a laundry list. Plus, oddly enough, when I was doing research for the site, I discovered that some of my work had been reprinted without me even knowing it. I’ve moved less as an adult than I did as a kid, but sometimes it is still possible to lose track of compatriots with moves and all on everyone’s part.

I hope people enjoy the Photography Portfolio section of Forrest Black’s and my work. People always ask to see my online portfolio and I always was reluctant to put one together before. When I say “reluctant”, I mean that the notion of editing together only forty of my favorite images, out of everything we’ve ever shot, made me effing hyperventilate. I forced my brain through its discomfort and editing a selection of images from over such a long time period turned out to be really fun, once I got into kind of the right headspace, because I got to look at all sorts of contact sheets with positive associations and beautiful unseen images. Because of the ephemeral nature of human life, there is always something intrinsically bittersweet about any good photograph, I think, but it still felt mostly good to go through everything.

Given the fiscal realities of shooting on film, there are all sorts of awesome images Forrest Black and I shot which nobody has ever seen because it cost so much to make prints, so we tended to just print whatever a magazine wanted to publish for a lot of shoots. So the photo portfolio I edited together on AmeliaG.com has quite a few exclusive images the world has never seen, along with some favorites you will probably recognize.

It was also really fun putting together the section with the Amelia G Personal Pics because I got to dig through hard drives of tons of random uncategorized galleries of digital nightlife snapshots and recall all sorts of enjoyable adventures. My mom looked at the pics and said it looked like I must go out every night. Really I’m a workaholic, so I just like to only venture out for really cool stuff and I try to make a night out count. I hope you all also enjoy my goofy snapshots of going to parties, conventions, and gallery shows, clubbing, travel, and just hanging out with pals.

The background photo is a promo shot Forrest Black was kind enough to do for me last week. I really like how it turned out. If you are interested in hairstyle matters, my haircut is by Thierry, blowout is by Youne Lee, and color is old skool punk rock style where my bathroom is purple now too.

Putting the Amelia G site together made me nervous as anything, but I’m really happy it is complete and I think it turned out good. I hope you all like it too.

So apparently the great state of Kentucky wants to get into the gambling biz. Times are tough all over and I totally understand being open to new opportunities in these difficult economic times. Adult trade journal XBiz reported yesteray that Kentucky “Gov. Beshear was elected on a platform that included bringing gambling to the state.” Okay, so far, no problem, right.

Well, Kentucky filed suit to seize 141 gambling domains, including, according to The Washington Post, some very active huge money-making concerns such as UltimateBet.com and FullTiltPoker.com. Kentucky Judge Thomas Wingate is presiding over this legal fiasco. Registrars eNom and GoDaddy have apparently complied with Kentucky’s request and handed over those gambling casino domains registered with them. Most other US-based registrars are bizarrely expected to follow, although, as a domain-consumer, I’m certainly noting which registrars roll over first and easiest on this.

Now I understand that some people feel gambling is immoral and they believe in legislating morality. If Kentucky totally outlawed gambling and had technology initiatives to block gambling sites from being viewed in Kentucky, I would think that was their right. I would also think it was the right of their residents to pick up and move to some place more pleasant like California. It is, however, legal for residents of Kentucky to gamble online with real money. In fact, although U.S. banks have been legally barred from processing online gambling payments for a couple years now, Washington state is the only one which made it illegal for residents to place online bets for actual cash money. Basically, the law would be akin to making it 100% legal to buy drugs and 100% illegal to sell them. The results, naturally, are that a lot of American gamblers will renege on their online gambling debts because online casinos have no legal recourse. The results are also that many overseas banks benefited from this law when they got all the U.S. gambling business. But I guess banks in the United States are doing fine and certainly don’t need any more major customers with phat accounts. Those super rich online casinos can just take their money out of the U.S. economy because we sure don’t need any of it circulating on our shores.

The really sleazy thing about this whole circus is that Kentucky does not outlaw gambling. Kentucky just wants to get into the gambling business at home, without having to worry about competition from established gambling concerns such as online casinos. I’m appalled that they were able to find a judge who thought it was reasonable for a new business to randomly seize the assets of multiple existing ones.

When I was in high school and my mother was stationed in Israel, I dated a guy from Kentucky. Before his stepdad was transferred to the Holy Land, he had thought Jews had horns. Not in a bigoted way, he just literally believed that, having grown up in Kentucky. So, if Kentucky wants to legislate to its own special beliefs, they can just keep those laws within their own borders and we are all good. But they really need to not overstep. The reason we have individual states is partly to allow those with differing views to live the way they wish, while being part of the greater United States of America.

At this point, I vote that we make Puerto Rico a state and kick Kentucky the heck out. This way we won’t have to change the flag.