Looking Back + Looking Forward

Cheers To All My Nears + Dears + Queers = You Are Loved

Confession: I’m so glad 2024 is finally—almost—behind us! It’s been a crazy year, full of ups, downs, and all-arounds. For me, it was a make-it-or-break-it year.

Despite a few forced “breaks,” I made it through.
No thanks to YouTube's bots, bullies, and bureaucrats.
All thanks to my crew of amazing fans, patrons, and subscribers.

With all the continued love and support as a strong foundation, I’m feeling more calm, cool, collected, and creative than I have in years.

Who knows what the future holds in 2025? It could get “interesting.” But for now, on New Year’s Eve for me, I’m choosing to focus on love, light, and Leslie Jordan.

Two years after his passing, I still miss Leslie Jordan’s wonderfully silly self.

While I only had the chance to meet him a handful of times—as a fan—Leslie Jordan was the real deal: equal parts sugar AND spice… and oh so very nice.

Wishing you and yours much health, happiness, and hope in the year ahead.

Thank you for being part of this adventure. All y’all make it worth it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Clint

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RELATED POSTS

• End-Of-The-Year Recap = 2024 = A Tale Of Two Platforms

• Top Substack Video = Don't Be Shy #1 (NSFW)

• Top YouTube Video = Love For Them All

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FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

• The Creator Year (Evan Shapiro)

• Americans' Trust in Media Remains at Trend Low (Gallup News)

• The Year in Ratings: How the Major News Outlets Performed in 2024 (Adweek)

• “Browse A Cleaner Web!” = 12ft.io (Removes Most Ads + Pop-Ups)

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ON THIS DAY = DECEMBER 31

BIRTHDAYS

• 1869 = Henri Matisse = French painter and sculptor

• 1878 = Elizabeth Arden = Canadian businesswoman

• 1881 = Max Pechstein = German painter and academic

• 1897 = Orry-Kelly = Australian costume designer 🌈

• 1924 = Taylor Mead = American actor and poet 🌈

• 1930 = Odetta = American singer-songwriter

• 1937 = Anthony Hopkins = Welsh actor

• 1938 = Rosalind Cash = American singer and actor

• 1943 = John Denver = American singer-songwriter

• 1944 = Taylor Hackford = American filmmaker

• 1948 = Donna Summer = American singer-songwriter

• 1959 = Val Kilmer = American actor

• 1962 = Jennifer Higdon = American composer 🌈

• 1964 = Michael McDonald = American comedian, actor, and director

• 1972 = Joey McIntyre = American singer-songwriter and actor

• 1975 = Diana Sacayán = Argentinian activist 🌈

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• First Night

• New Year's Eve

EVENTS

• 1759 = Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.

• 1790 = Efimeris, the oldest Greek newspaper of which issues have survived till today, is published for the first time.

• 1853 = A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London, England.

• 1878 = Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine. He was granted the patent in 1879.

• 1879 = Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

• 1907 = The first-ever ball drop in Times Square.^[17]

• 1909 = The Manhattan Bridge, connecting Lower Manhattan to Downtown Brooklyn and considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges, opens to traffic.

• 1955 = General Motors becomes the first US corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.

• 1957 = Divorce Court premieres on KTTV in Los Angeles.

• 1983 = The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the US government.

• 2019 = The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan. This later turned out to be COVID-19.

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PHOTO + QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”
Henri Matisse