UK Eurovision Selection Preliminary Notes

This years Eurovision selection show "Eurovision: Your Decision" is a little different and urge you to read their info page to see the massive changes that are being implemented.

So tonight we have...



Michelle Gayle

Singing Woo (U Make Me). The 30 second sample I've heard probably doesn't give the song the justice it deserves so I will reserve my judgement until tonight.



Rob McVeigh

Singing Owe It All To You. I'm not a big fan of ballads but this is actually quiet refreshing. Rob will be our first, and certainly not our last, reality tv refugee on the night.



Simona Armstrong

Singing Changes, pretty good. From Romania so not exactly a patriotic entry but certainly would help to infuse our entry with the spirit of Eurovision.



Loveshy

Singing Mr Gorgeous. Very Girls Aloud sounding. Not bad but a little cheesy. We did cheesy last year and we saw how that turned out (even if I do stand by my love for Scooch!). Our second reality tv dropouts of the night here, coming in from Pop Stars: The Rivals (where... Girls Aloud were formed!!)



Andy Abraham

Singing Even If. This is not a bad song, I'm just not a fan of Andy's style (nothing against the man himself). Andy hails from X-Factor 2005.



The Revelations

Singing It's You. The BBC says their song is "soulful, classic pop". I say this is a rip off of Abba. Not in a bad way but I can almost hear the strands of Waterloo in the background.

AH! Jemini just got shown on telly... *sob*. Do you think we could have all videos destroyed of that mess of a Eurovision entry?

Last year I got the feeling that Making Your Mind Up was really just a place for a bunch of has beens to try to reclaim their glory. This year is refreshing in that the only real "has been" is Michelle Gayle. It'll be interesting to see who wins.

Eurovision Update

For all the fans here in the UK remember that this Saturday is the UK selection show "Eurovision: Your Decision". As you can see it's changed it's name again!!

Michelle Gayle is in it! That brings back some nineties memories!!

Be sure to catch it and vote.

Work is a bit poxy at the moment, which means I've not been in a blogging mood. Never fear I shall update the Eurovision page this weekend with all the latest videos and some extra bits.

10 Years Ago

10 Years, and 5 minutes, ago I first encountered "The Sixth Former", the singularly most beautiful man I feel I have ever had the fortune to lay eyes upon (up to and not including Jim).

Somewhere out there is a man wandering around unaware of the major part he played in my life. Even though I send him my thanks. Cheers for just looking so darn lovely with your long black hair and piecing brown eyes.

Ben Affleck Is Fucking Matt Damon

Fun but still not as good as Sarah Silverman's song "I'm Fucking Matt Damon". I mean... Ben Affleck is lovely but Matt Damon is just... RAR!

Now what I'm hoping for is a new song... Ben Affleck Is Fucking Matt Damon. That would be sweet! My dreams in music... ;)



Over halfway through The God Delusion at the moment (yeah I'm a little behind the times). It's not only interesting to read but brought back high school memories when it mentions the Ontological Argument for the existence of God. Oh how useless that argument is.

Tomorrow marks ten years since I came out to myself (and denounced Christianity after spending the evening reading the Old Testament and deciding it was a little crazy). Happy Birthday Gay Jae!

Home Sweet Home

Jim and I headed down to Lympne yesterday, picking up Nan on the way. We had a nice relaxing weekend, the cats were soppy, Noodles the dog was crazy and everything was nice.

Nan was very excited to report that Snodland scandal has hit the national newspapers. To think, that vicar oversaw my Grandads funeral. Shocking! ;)

Sadly she did not report the big cat sighting from this week.

I can't believe it's work again tomorrow already. :(

I Love The BBC iPlayer

Yoinked from Sexy Muscle Dudes

Blessed are the Brits for we have the BBC who bring us such wonderful things as the BBC iPlayer. Isn't wonderful to know you don't need to do anything to still be able to watch a show after it's been shown. No need to record, no need to add a series link to your digibox, no need to download. Simply click and watch ala youtube. Simply amazing. Almost as good as David Attenborough... and even he is a BBC man.

Went down the pub last night and had a nice meal, chatted with the barman and saw the depths to which Jim has gone in his stalking quest. It's so silly, you wouldn't find me doing that...

This weekend is the tenth anniversary of my discovery of my sexuality. Yes. TEN YEARS! Jesus, time flies when you're having fun. I'll be sure to drink one for The Sixth Former when I get some money.

It's my brother and sisters twelve birthday today. Jim and I will be heading down to see them tomorrow. I remember the day they were born in Maidstone Hospital like it was yesterday. Now they are as old as I was when they were born!! That's it... no more milestones please... it's making me feel old.

Did The Earth Move For You?

Religious people say the craziest things. Yes that's right... God caused the earthquakes and he did it because of the gay people living freely in Israel.

In my book, people who say things like that in public are in need of serious medical assistance. But because they are "religious" they are allowed to continue to deal with children, operate heavy machine and run for high office.

Insanity.

The Hidden Tentacles Of Cults

Here's something interesting: a few weeks ago I was standing on an underground platform, listening to my iPod when I saw a post advertising "Philosophy" course. It was only £70 odd pound a week and I thought it might be interesting but after a quick look on the net I lost interest in the idea... too much effort. Well I'm glad I did now!

The courses are run by the "School of Economic Science" who, according to some, have very cult like tendencies.

It's amazing what you can learn on t'internet.

In sad, and somewhat related news, Shawn Lonsdale has been found dead. Mr Lonsdale is a well known critic of Scientology and I first saw him during the Panorama documentary "Scientology and Me" where he was attacked by Anne Archers son Tommy Davis because of his sexuality and related sexual offenses (soliciting sex with adult men... hey that used to be a hobby of mine!) in order to make him out to be an unreliable source for the documentary. Of course he is better known in the anti-Scientology community for his Cult Watch videos and for the physical attack he experienced at the hands of a Scientologist.

May he rest in peace.

OK... honestly... I'll get bored of the whole Scientology thing once I've finished the book I'm reading (Jon Atack's A Piece of Blue Sky). It's absorbing reading, but I can never last on just the one obsession for very long and I'm sure by the end of the month I'll be on to my next fad.

Operation Reconnect

Welcome Kosovo!

Well today, after years of uncertainty, Kosovo has declared independence of Serbia. I just hope the Albanian majority don't restart their own attempts at ethnic cleansing and learn to live peacefully with the Kosovan Serbs.

Sometimes I read this page and cry tears of laughter. Fundamentalists can be awesomely, hilariously stupid sometimes.

My Legs Hurt, And Now My Arms Do Too...

So... after a nice relaxing morning I headed up to London town via Charing Cross. I waited around for a little while before meeting Vy and JP on Regent Street outside the Apple store.

We headed to Le Pain, a nice cafe where we had carrot cake (ok... that was just me) and delicious coffee. We caught up, we commiserated over work and I explained my current obsession with Scientology.

After this we went for a walk... a very, very long walk... up through the back streets to Camden Lock where JP was mistaken for that bloke off The Real Hustle, then we wandered along the canal, past Regents Park, the zoo (where we saw plenty of wild life in the Aviary) and through dark tunnels reminiscent of the canal from IT.

We finally reached Little Venice and then headed to JPs flat in Bayswater for a tea. And it was there that I finally came face to face with JPs infamous cat. She is one bossy cat!!

I headed home via a rather extended tube journey thanks to engineering works on the DLR. Grr...

I arrived home and sat in the living room for about 20 minutes. Jim then informed me that I was a right bloke and didn't pay much attention to things around me. I checked him over for a new haircut or new clothes. Nope, same Jim as when I left. I looked around the room. Nothing out of the ordinary. I begged him to tell me what was different... and that's when he pointed at the blue slot of light down the side of the telly... a Wii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY! Love to the Jim!

So even though my legs ached I played some tennis, bowling and boxing before I collapsed here to write my post. Sheesh.. what a busy day.

Youtube Rocks...

Yoinked from Ex-Gay Watch

Speaking of which... they have a really disturbing article on sexual abuse within the Ex-Gay therapy community. Hopefully a warning to any questioning teens to avoid Ex-Gay "therapists" and work their sexuality out for themselves.

Europe

I received an email from the Lib Dems today about the debate in the Commons over the possibility of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The Lib Dems position is that as it is just an amending treaty of the EU, just like many other such treaties, there is no reason for a referendum on it. Instead Nick Clegg is calling for some honesty from the two larger parties and asking for a referendum on Britains continuing relationship with the EU.

It is true that the Tories and Labour have not only torn themselves into shreds over their positions on our continued membership, they have also poisoned the publics attitude and played party politics with an important constitutional issue. I agree with Mr Clegg that it is time for us to make a choice... either we are in it or out of it... then everybody can just shut up about it.

In saying that I'm a pro-European. I believe in a reformed European Union based on democratically elected institutions and a constitution limiting Governmental power and stating clearly where powers lie. And a referendum would almost certainly mean that we would have to secede from the EU, which I would be fairly unhappy about. But if that's the price of democracy and of allowing this country to move forward from two decades of Eurosceptic moaning then it's a price that might need to be paid.

See the Lib Dems website and sign the petition.

Just Keep Swimming

I love Jensen Ackles.

Best question from a customer today (to one of my colleagues):

"What is the difference between a magnetic and a non-magnetic drywipe board?"

Worst customer:

One guy/girl (I couldn't make a firm decision on their sex) spent the entire call interspersing their query with the campest "OH MY GOD" I've ever heard. They did this at the end of pretty much every sentence. Annoying doesn't begin to describe it.

Best Google search to my blog of the week:

"hot gay teenage boys only having sex in back of the ambulance"

Only having sex in the back of an ambulance? That's a bit precise!

Some Blog Posts Of Note

Here's a really good post on the protests yesterday in Hollywood against Scientology.

Ex-Gay Watch has a good post on a new book from fundamentalist (calling them evangelical is a bit iffy if we are going to hardcore Muslims "fundamentalist") Anglicans. These are the people who want Archbishop Williams sacked. They mustn't succeed.

Oranges And A Sour Apple

I hate to say this. It makes me feel very arrogant, and I don't like arrogance. But I often experience feelings of superiority here at work. I don't like these feelings, but the customers and a lot of the staff here seem determined to make me feel arrogantly intelligent. "What is Windows Vista?" was a question I was asked 2 times today by colleagues. Today I sent out 6 (different!) meeting requests through Outlook with the date clearly marked and obviously a note saved in the recipients calendar. 4 recipients asked me what date and time their meeting was for. 3 of those recepients are people who I regard as intelligent, sensible beings. Why on Earth would you ask this question when the answer is readily available without needing to bother another? It does not make sense.

I am starting to slowly be driven mad by the illogical questions I am asked. "What toner fits this machine?" is my current favourite... why would you bother someone else to ask this when you have the internet in front of you? And these aren't customers asking this question... I give them the benefit of the doubt. These are people in the same room as me. I know I never asked these kind of questions even when I first started here (and I got no training unlike these mummy coodled types!!!)... I found the answers out myself. I just can't understand people who don't do that themselves. :( I don't consider myself amazingly intelligent, I'm a university drop out for Christs sake. But just like at TVW I feel like a frigging genius when I'm at work.

In other news... Thursday evening Jim and I embarked upon a dietary experiment. We were to live on nothing but oranges for as long as we could as part of an "orange detox". Now I'd say we failed at this experiment, having given it up yesterday evening. But that is still three full days of just eating oranges. Which is actually quite impressive in my opinion. Trust me yesterday was the best day of the year when finally we began our cave in and ordered pizza. I almost kissed the pizza delivery guy but he was wearing a motorbike helmet.

However we have promised to be good from now on... just eating a range of foods rather than just one particular kind *shudder*. I don't think I will be able to eat another orange for quite some time.

And finally... I love this article. I think it might be a real fun experiment if I were to live my life for a week making all my decisions based on equations. What do you think?

Roy Scheider Dies At 75

I was very sad to hear that Roy Scheider has died. Jaws and Jaws 2 are in my top twenty favourite movies of all time, with Jaws somewhere in the ever changing top three. Roy Scheider MADE those movies. Without him they would have been soulless pap.

Not only that but he also starred in one of my favourite series back when I was small... Seaquest DSV.



He shall be missed!

AC/DC Who Made Who (Maximum Overdrive Version)

I love the song, and I love that movie.

Heart-Shaped Box

After a week of reading three pages of Heart-Shaped Box and then not being able to go on out of fear, I took the plunge this morning and read the thing all the way through.

I'm glad I did. It's Joe Hill's first novel and he certainly seems to have picked up some of his fathers (Stephen King, you know, that guy I think is one of the greatest writers alive) genius.

The story is quite well paced, terrifying and moving. And the ending is my kind of ending!! Highly recommended.

Religion: You Couldn't Make It Up

Should the Archbishop of Canterbury resign? No. The people calling for his resignation seek only to replace him with someone less tolerant and more fundamentalist than he is. That can only be a bad thing. Until the Anglican Church is disestablished we all have a reason to ensure we have the most liberal Archbishop of Canterbury possible.

He has the right to speak freely, even if his opinions are silly.

Tomorrow there will be protests around the world outside of Scientologist establishments. I'll be watching these with interest to see how they turn out. Whilst I sympathise with critics of Scientology, I can't help thinking they are missing the bigger picture. Believing in Thetans, Xenu and hating psychiatrists is not much ich are and will continue to be abused to further goals set outside of the normal Govdifferent to believing in a soul, Satan and hating homosexuals (etc., etc). Everyone has a right to these beliefs, no matter how weird some find them and I hope the protesters remember that it's the Church of Scientology that needs destroying and not the Scientologists themselves.



CCTV cameras, phone tapping, bugging of elected representatives etc. are not signs that Britain is on it's way to being a police state. They are the foundation stones of future problems laid down in good faith (if idiotically) by the current Government whernmental processes (such as by individual police officers). One day this will come back to bite us all in the arse when they are used for even more nefarious purposes.

It's Still One Law For All!!!

As readers may know, I dislike the concept of a two tier law system. I'm also not the worlds biggest fan of the religious interfering in our legal institutions.

So I find the Archbishops of Canterburys suggestion of Islamic law being allowed as an alternative to English and Welsh civil law (and I'm assuming also Scottish and Northern Irish civil law, why stop in one legal system!) to be quite offensive.

Dr Rowan Williams said the UK had to "face up to the fact" some citizens do not relate to the British legal system.

Then they should elect some representatives to Parliament to make laws they can relate to.

He said adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law could help social cohesion.

For example, Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court.

Well what if only one party wanted that and the other was "forced" by their family to go that route against their wishes? No... better we have one legal system for everyone (except special institutions such as the armed forces for obvious reasons) rather than a "choice" which might allow some to use their preferred legal system to their advantage over vulnerable counter claimants.

One law for all, no matter their religion, race or creed. If Sharia law gets it's own system then why on Earth shouldn't homosexuals be able to have their own system? Where would it end??

The Shell Game - Steve Alten

The Shell Game is a new book by Steve Alten, author of one of my favourite novels; Meg, He seems to be having a hard time of it of late... I'll leave it to him to explain:

Over the last 30 days I have been threatened. My name and address have been put on bloggs. Photos of my home, my private phone numbers, even personal e-mails have been made public! Phone calls at 4 AM! All because a faction of very nasty people fear what could happen if The SHELL GAME succeeds.

THE SHELL GAME is the most important book I will ever write. It gave me trepidation and nightmares over two and a half years of writing and research. It accelerated my Parkinsons. To get it published, I had to abandon the big publishing houses, and, in doing so, have risked my career. The novel deals with the next 9/11 a false flag event designed to create another rush to war - this time in Iran. Should the book be a big best seller, it will scare quite a few people in Washington. It should scare YOU! At the same time, everyone needs to read it.

So I'm more than happy to offer him a little support here on my humble piece of the net.

P.S. I apologise for the auto play video. I promise it'll be just this one time, these things annoy me just as much as they do you.

Jim Says...

Go to Google. Type in "Find Chuck Norris". Click "I'm Feeling Lucky". Laugh.



If that guy doesn't just scream sex at you then you are a better person than I am.

Come On Hillary!

Why write a blog post when I could just link to an already written one! Much easier.

Hillary also has set out her LGBT politics. Not perfect but with Kucinich out of the race what can you do?

Phags For Phelps

I was listening to a very interesting Feast of Fools episode the other day all about the Westboro Baptist Church, the group behind God Hates Fags. Basically the reason for the show was the website created by Josh Kilmer-Purcell entitled Phags For Phelps.

He has formed a pen pal relationship with Shirley Phelps-Roper (default spokesperson for the church now that her father is so aged), who appeared on the show with him. She came across as a very intelligent, rather witty individual and she offered a very interesting perspective on how the church began it's picketing activities.

Josh set up his site after writing an article, in which he called for a group to support the Phelps campaign on the bizarre, but fairly spot on, assertion that they are helping gay rights by exposing both the craziness of their own position and the hypocrisy of other homophobes who give lip service to separate but equal laws.

I also appreciated Phelps-Roper's attitude towards public prayer (I have always wondered if I had read the scriptures wrongly, but no... I was right in remembering public prayer was very much frowned upon) and her attitude towards the hypocrites that seem to find a home in Christianity.

All this is very good but I cannot agree with his idea of offering tongue in cheek "support" for these crazy peoples beliefs. I believe in religious freedom. If you want to believe in the story of Xenu, the concept of the Garden of Eden being in Jackson County, Missouri or homosexuality as one of the greatest evils known to man, I'm not going to care.

However if you cause harm to others by following through on these beliefs than I believe you have crossed a very fine line into the territory of totalitarianism. It is quite clear that the Westboro Baptist Church have crossed that line. It's not the fact that they protest at funerals that is wrong, I believe in the right to protest, it is the fact that laws had to be passed in various states just to keep them at a reasonable distance from bereaved people, something any decent person would have done without the need of any legislation. It is almost inhuman for them to think they have the right to involve themselves in the personal lives of others in such a private place as a church or cemetery. It is an act of violence against those peaceable people paying respect to their lost loved ones. It is unacceptable and I find any hint of support for them to be disgusting.

It's made worse by making this support more tongue in cheek than actual, just for the laughs as it were, and in so doing they are almost trying to make light of a worrying cult whose activities are disturbing, disgusting and unacceptable in a civilised society.

By all means have a dialogue with them, learn about them, but don't treat them like loveable crazy people. That demeans them and their victims. They should be opposed with reasoned debate and peaceful action in order to ensure their group is never any more than an oddity.

Check out Louis Theroux's (I LOVE LOUIS!) documentary on what he calls America's Most Hated Family for a very intimate, and disturbing, look at this church and it's activities.

Separate But Equal

I sometimes wonder to myself how it came to be that the gays and lesbians of this country could so easily be mollified by Government offers of "marriage-lite". I can't really blame them... the situation was becoming desperate with people losing their homes after their partner died, and facing the awful experience of being denied access to their loved one in hospital. The Government used this desperation to be treated with dignity to push through a compromise that allowed Christian bigots to save face whilst denying gay people full rights.

I pay the same taxes as a straight person so I expect the same fucking rights. Jim wants to get married and I keep having to tell him I would feel like a hypocrite to "marry" him currently. This isn't some feeble excuse... I truly love Jim and nothing would give me greater happiness than to declare my love loud and clear. But I'm not prepared to subjugate my rights to equality just to fulfill my own selfish wants. He also would not want to marry in a foreign country (there go my dreams of a polar bear themed wedding in Canada!).

The media continue to acquiesce in this injustice erroneously referring to Civil Partnerships as "gay weddings" and "gay marriage". Just see this latest article in the Observer.

This is not gay marriage in anyway shape or form. Until homosexual partnerships are recognised under the same law as heterosexual civil marriages then we are but second class citizens in this great country. I believe this to be a lost cause... no one seems to mind it other than me. I have not met a single person who cares. But I shall not allow that to stop me opposing it. However I already feel the force of familial wants and my need to formalise my relationship to Jim for the sake of our future security, one day soon I may find myself without a choice but to take a Civil Partnership.

I pray that somehow the Government will see the error in it's way and bring in gay marriage. If South Africa can bring it in then I think we can too!!

Eurovision 2008 - Belgrade

**This post is a work in progress**



The Official Site: Eurovision
Eurovision News: Esctoday, Oikotimes
Eurovision Blogs:
The Wiki Page: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Less than 9 years ago the RAF, and our NATO allies, were bombing the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade relentlessly in order to "free" the Albanian people of Kosovo. Now the capital of Serbia is to hold a Eurovision Song Contest for the first time (Zagreb held the Yugoslav contest in 1990). It's amazing how quickly things can change...

Format

This year the voting has been changed dramatically to try to avoid too much "tribal" voting in the semi final stages... See the Wikipedia article here which explains the voting.

Presenters



Jovana Janković



Željko Joksimović

Jae's Favourite Entires

Hottest Totty



Dima Bilan - Russia

Complete Songs and Contestants

Albania "Zemrën lamë peng" - Olta Boka
Andorra "Casanova" - Gisela
Armenia "Qele Qele" - Sirusho
Azerbaijan "Day After Day" - Elnur Hüseynov & Samir Javadzadeh
Belarus "Hasta La Vista" - Ruslan Alekhno
Belgium "O Julissi Na Jalini" - Ishtar
Bosnia and Herzegovina "Pokušaj" - Elvir Laković Laka
Bulgaria "DJ, Take Me Away" - Deep Zone and Balthazar
Croatia "Romanca" - Kraljevi Ulice and 75 cents
Cyprus "Femme Fatale" - Evdokia Kadi
Czech Republic "Have Some Fun" - Tereza Kerndlová
Denmark "All Night Long" - Simon Mathew
Estonia "Leto svet" - Kreisiraadio
Finland "Missä miehet ratsastaa" - Teräsbetoni
France "Divine" - Sébastien Tellier
FYR Macedonia "Vo Ime Na Ljubovta" - Tamara, Vrčak and Adrian Gaxha
Georgia "Peace Will Come" - Diana Gurtskaya
Germany "Disappear" - No Angels
Greece "Secret Combination" - Kalomoira
Hungary "Szívverés" - Csézy
Iceland "This Is My Life" - Eurobandið
Ireland "Irelande Douze Pointe" - Dustin The Turkey
Israel "Ke'ilo kan" - Bo'az Ma'uda
Latvia "Wolves of the Sea" - Pirates of the Sea
Lithuania "Nomads In The Night" - Jeronimas Milius
Malta "Vodka" - Morena
Moldova "A Century of Love" - Geta Burlacu
Montenegro "Zauvijek volim te" - Stefan Filipović
The Netherlands "Your Heart Belongs To Me" - Hind
Norway "Hold On Be Strong" - Maria Haukaas Storeng
Poland "For Life" - Isis Gee
Portugal "Senhora do Mar" - Vânia Fernandes
Romania "Pe-o margine de lume" - Nico & Vlad Miriţă
Russia "Believe" - Dima Bilan
San Marino "Complice" - Miodio
Serbia "Oro" - Jelena Tomašević and Bora Dugić
Slovenia "Vrag naj vzame" - Rebeka Dremelj
Spain "Baila el Chiki-chiki" - Rodolfo Chikilicuatre
Switzerland "Era stupendo" - Paolo Meneguzzi
Sweden "Hero" - Charlotte Perrelli
Turkey "Deli" - Mor ve Ötesi
Ukraine "Shady Lady" - Ani Lorak
United Kingdom "Even If" - Andy Abraham

She's Living A Dream...

Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd was such a disappointment. I saw it last night and was left feeling pretty pissed off after watching the thing. It's just a whole lot of nothing!! I love musicals... but really the songs were pretty shite, and were sung with little joy by the actors. The gorgeous Johnny Depp seemed to be acting by numbers. The gore wasn't gory enough, and the horror was... well not horrific at all. This film had no soul... no comedy, no fear, no real pace.

I finished watching the movie feeling robbed... I'd sat through it thinking the thing would somehow start to get going... but it never did.

What a waste. The set design was at least amazing. I'll give it that.

Now for a song that's been stuck in my head all day...



The Pretender - Foo Fighters. Awesome.

Just A Quickie

Later I'll be giving my review on Sweeney Todd and tomorrow I'll be doing my first in depth post on the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest... but for now I must relate a story that one of the girls at work, Olivia, has just told me...

A friend of her old flatmates was babysitting a dog whilst it's owners were on holiday. Sadly, and quite embarrassingly, the dog died. Thinking, for some bizarre reason, she'd need to take it to the vets she put the dog in a suitcase for transportation. Bizarre but hey... it takes allsorts!

So she lugged this heavy suitcase on to the Tube and just to make her load even worse she had to change trains and carry the suitcase between them. On the way a kind gentlemen offered to help her and casually asked what was in the suitcase. Obviously she wasn't going to admit it's real contents so just said a vague "Oh some books, my laptop etc".

The kindly gentlemen was ahead of her on the escalators and when they reached the top he made a run for it... with her suitcase. She never saw it again...

I have never laughed so hard... firstly that poor girl had to explain to the owners that their dog had not only passed away but that there was no body to show for it... then secondly there's the look on that thiefs face when he opened the suitcase and found the body... he he... too good to keep to one's self.

A Very Civilised Evening

Last night I left work a whole glorious hour early and made my way to the Thomas Moore pub near St Katherine's Dock. I settled in with a pint of beer, reading the Guardian and awaited the arrival of Jim, Mark and Jo. They arrived shortly afterwards and we had a couple of drinks and spoke about DIY problems in the house.

That conversation was brought on by an incident the other day when Jim accidentally left the kitchen taps on whilst answering a phone call and came back to the kitchen to discover a mini flood... which sadly went through some crack into the neighbours flat below. Poor Jim was so upset.

Anyway after that we meandered down to our favourite restaurant, Il Bordello. As usual the service was faultless, the food divine and the cost moderate. Feeling rather full after a Bruscetta and a Spaghetti Carbonara (on my part at least!) we headed down to the Captain Kidd pub in Wapping for the usual Sam Smith fare (Alpine Lager is about the only thing in there I like).

The taxi home was quick and surprisingly inexpensive, surprising because the only times I normally get a taxi home are in the early hours whilst very drunk.

It was such a lovely night out... I really do love that place, especially as it was the restaurant Jim and I had our first real date in.

Today is pay day... it's been six long weeks since I was last paid. Today has been good for me. So far... there's still an hour and a half until the phones get turned off... then the day will be perfect...

Jeremy Beadle Passes Away

I'll tell you about the lovely evening I've just had tomorrow. Tonight Jeremy Beadle has passed away. For me, a child of the eighties, that's probably the saddest news I could hear beyond a personal bereavement.

My thoughts are with his family and friends. Thanks for all the laughter Jeremy, may you rest in peace.

2 Brothers Lip Sync
Uploaded by doyler01

Tick Tock

What? Did you think I'd stopped dreaming about an evening, or five, along with the magnificent Charles Dera? Think again!

Three more days until I'm paid!!!

Surreal moment of the day: laughing with a Mormon at how stupid Scientology is. What strange bedfellows one can find in shared amusement at a weird cult.

Back From The Wonderful Land of Kent

Well it's been a busy weekend down with my family. I've been to Wickes and B+Q. I fell in love with a computer. I saw my Auntie Martine, Rhys and Fran. I have grown increasingly tired. It's good to be home.

In Eurovision news... lots of countries have selected their entries already! So I'll start compiling a list for you all... see the Czech Republics entry below to keep you going!

The End Of January Is A Shite Time Of The Year

Pay is now less than a week away. Thank the Lord!

This morning we headed up to London City Airport to collect some Thai Baht. This lead to many odd looks from the Travelex staff. In hindsight it's probably not the most usual currency for them to deal with. After much double checking we got our hands on the money, had a spot of breakfast and wandering around Canary Wharf via Waitrose before heading home.

I'm off down to Folkestone today to see my family... wish me luck!

Hodge Podge.

Shamelessly yoinked from Gay Boy Thailand. Andre Nilsen combines the best of East and West.

Since last we spoke the internet is even more a buzz with talk of Scientology. An battle has been declared it would seem...



Will this "war" fizzle out quickly or will it develop into an all out fight? Only time will tell, but it'll be interesting to watch.

Heath Ledger has passed away... what a waste. 28 years old is far too young.

The ever lovely Zoe becomes the first person to donate to the Thames Reach fund. Thank you!!

The resignation of Peter Hain seems to put another nail in the coffin of the Brown Government. Now usually when such scandals are uncovered and people lose their jobs I cheer but the prospect of the Brown Government falling to a Cameron Government fills me with despair. Not only are the Tories proven to be terrible at Government but Cameron has been very much on the wrong side of every issue of note for a long time (in my humble opinion anyway!).

Scientology: Isn't It Fascinating?

Scientology has been all over the news of late thanks to a leak of a Tom Cruise awards acceptance speech.



I've been fascinated with this organisation for a while. Now when I tell people I'm fascinated by Scientology they often start to back away whilst stringing out the word "Rrrrrright" in order to escape through the nearest door. I'm not fascinated by it in that way! I'm fascinated with it on a "Wow... are they really just trying to make money or, worse, do they really believe this stuff??" kind of way.

Digg has a link to Scientology's Orientation video. Jesus did that add some fuel to my internal debate over them... basically it's got 20 minutes of infomercials ("if you buy all these books we'll throw in this book free of charge!" Yes... that is a real paraphrase of part of the video), 2 minutes of disturbing anti-psychology ranting and 8 minutes of pure weirdness in which the presenter informs the viewer that to leave the screening room and walk away is their right but it'd be damn stupid as they will live the next trillion years (yes... trillion) in despair and confusion (P.S. Don't forget to buy L. Ron Hubbarbs extremely popular books before they all sell out again because, did we mention, they are extremely popular books).

Honestly it was pretty crap. If I had to sit through that for 30 minutes I'd probably not hang around afterwards unless there was some sort of free cake offer going along with it.

Much better is The Bridge, which is a very interesting movie plus of course the two Panorama documentaries of which I think the 1980s one is far superior (Scientlogy And Me was a bit too... populist pulp).

For some extremely harsh, but maybe well deserved, criticism of the church why not check out Operation Clambake. Not KSW! Probably run by SPs no doubt. ;) Yeah when I study something... I really study it.

An Interesting Lunch

The company I work for is in a building directly opposite a homelessness shelter, ThamesReach Bondway (where a mate from the local, Mark, works). For years people have been complaining about the homeless who frequent the street between our buildings and blaming the shelter.

Well today half of the company (and a few volunteers such as myself) wandered across to their building for lunch and a presentation which consisted of a video of a documentary that was shot there in 2004 and a question and answer session with some of the managers of the centre.

It was very informative and quite interesting, especially listening to some of my colleagues questions which seriously made me think... "Who are these people I thought I knew??" Some of the questions were either worringly ill informed or just bigoted.

So... having since the good work these people do at helping people move from a life of horror on the streets to a more secure and hopeful future I thought maybe it was time I lent a hand... so in that vein I begin by begging... you know guys, thanks to the money my Mum got to me before Christmas no one bought me a Christmas present from my wishlist!! So instead... I plead with you to donate some money to the Thames Reach organisation via this page, if you donate some money I will be eternally grateful!

Oh The Horror!

I finally watched this movie all the way through and my initial reaction of "Yuck it sucks" has been replaced with "Hmm... it's pretty much a nothingness". It's good in parts but nothing really holds your attention. It feels quite pointless. Which is bad as to me Predator, Alien and Aliens are three of the best movies I've ever seen. To have this as their legacy is quite disgusting. Alien3, Resurrection and Predator 2 might have been a mixed bag and AvP may have been less than perfect but at least I felt they tried!

AvP:R is a disappointment on a grand scale... Personally I think they should scrap the AvP franchise, put the Predator on hiatus and focus on restoring the Alien franchise back to some pre Alien3 glory.



And again... I'd waited forever for this movie and then never got round to watching it until today. It was good. Very good in places. What I loved was how faithful to Stephen King's original story it was. However the ending, and for once I won't give it away, is extremely bleak and quite unlike the novellas ambiguous ending. It did let me down a little.

The movie managed to get across one of Stephen Kings reoccuring themes very well: monsters might be scary but people are truly terrifying. Marcia Gay Harden's Mrs Carmody sent shivers down my spine as she called out for blood.

One More Year

Oh yes folks. Throughout the life of this blog the President of the United States has been George W. Bush. And now, thankfully, there is just one year left of his Presidency.

So the thoughts of the world outside of the US turn to who next they will pick to lead them (and thus our weak spineless leaders) for the next four years.

Firstly we have the GOP candidates. Now obviously I'd rather see Dubya in charge rather than Mike "But you know, if anybody wants to believe they’re the descendants of a primate, they’re welcome to do it." Huckabee. Say what you like about us homos... but if you believe in the Bible's version of Intelligent Design I'm probably not going to get on with you. (And why do people think that evolution couldn't be the creation of an intelligent being... it's quite efficient!). Then there's Romney... shudder. He sure can flip flop... Senator McCain is my, reluctant, choice if we had to put up with a Republican in the White House, he has honour and dignity. Obviously I'd hope none of them win.... Republicans today are an insult to the memory of the party of Abraham Lincoln.

Then we have the Democratic candidates. A Gravel/Kuncinich ticket is obviously my dream... but as that is as likely to happen as the Lib Dems winning a landslide election then I'll have to lower my sights a little. I feel sorry for Edwards. He has some good policies. However his statement: "Do I believe they should have the right to marry? I'm just not there yet..." makes me think... No. Obama... I think his policies seem alright but I just can't seem to like him. I think a lot of that is my hatred of "fads". He's the in thing and in things tend not to be my style. And then you've got Hillary Clinton.

You know... firstly she's become a bit of the underdog. And being British I love an underdog. Secondly, she's the wife of a man who I greatly admire. If he likes her, she can't be all that bad! Then her policies. Not so great in a lot of instances but not so bad as to be awful. After all us liberals and social libertarians can't have it all our own way! So this blog, for what it's worth being a British blog, hopes for a Clinton victory.

Mapilicious

Jim has introduced me to another great site: Wikimapia. It's brilliant for finding out about an area (like my local area). I agree with Jim in that it's probably not going to be great for long... the more edits the longer it'll take to load.

I've also discovered NATO Books. It's a free service allowing you to receive NATO books and publications free of charge! Well it's our tax money at work so I'm planning on get some freebies!

I'm so glad it's the weekend. It means I have time to waste on Betfair and looking at notpron (relax, it's a game!)

It's a Tiger Not A Liger!

I've been following the death of one human and one tiger at San Francisco zoo with through the news and Cryptomundo.

Cryptomundo reported the possible sightings of the boys taunting animals around the zoo and now it is beginning to be backed up by more evidence. I cannot believe people could be so callous as to taunt or upset an animal held in enclosure especially one as beautiful and majestic as a tiger. It just goes to show that sometimes karma can come right back round and kick you in the butt. Sure no one deserves to die but it goes to prove the lesson that wild animals deserve respect... even if you think you are safe from them. As Ian Malcolm says...

"If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, expands to new territory, and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously."

TFIFT

I've found a wonderful new site to add to the 500 million sites I'm already signed up to; Spock.

Here's an interesting BBC article, although I take the therapy culture stuff with a little pinch of salt, the consumer stuff is spot on.

And then we have the plane crash at Heathrow. Nothing like a bit of bad news to allow a local MP to push his cause a little further.

John McDonnell MP, whose Hayes and Harlington constituency includes Heathrow, said the incident underlined concerns about extending the airport.

"This is a near miracle that neither passengers or anyone on the ground has been seriously injured," Mr McDonnell said.

Underlined? I thought the major problems with the proposed extension were environmental and quality of life issues? Planes crashing is a bit of a silly thing to worry about when it happens fairly rarely and can't really be avoided. But hey why not take advantage of other peoples misery (they might have survived relatively unscathed but I doubt any of them will be sleeping too well tonight) and push your agenda.

And in the Antarctic... the two guys taken hostage on the Yshing Maru 2 have been released. To keep up to date with the ongoing saga involving the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Greenpeace and Japanese Whalers keep an eye on the Sea Shepherd site.

There is no reason to be killing whales in this day and age. Their meat might be dangerous, and I've heard the Japanese appetite for the meat is beginning to fade. It's time to leave these giants alone... we do want at least a few examples of megafauna to pass to the next generation after all!

Talking of megafauna... it's been over a day since I last mentioned ligers...

It All Starts Here...

Yes! It's that time of year again... Eurovision launched their 2008 contest's website. It looks very snazzy and obviously you'll be hearing a lot more about it as we get closer to May. That, Thailand and the London elections all in one month... it's too exciting for words!!

I had a love evening out last night with Jim, Paul and Jane at our favourite haunts; the Thomas More, Il Bordello and Captain Kidd (where I made friends with a gorgeous dog!) in Wapping.

If I hear another bloody thing about Princess Diana I may just scream...

The second series of Torchwood starts in half an hour...

And did anyone catch the first episode of season 2 of Primeval? I thought it was pretty much the same as the last series... brilliant moments but it still doesn't feel right...

Elections

Today Brian Paddick launched his campaign to be Mayor of London. Good luck to him, I think that after two terms of Ken it's time for a change (he's done a lot of good but he's too wild) and we don't need Boris in charge (wild x infinity)!

I remembered yesterday I'll probably leave for Thailand two days before the election so I registered myself for a postal vote so I don't miss out on my chance to vote. Remember to register to vote people (unless you're voting BNP in which case feel free to forget if you can)!



(Sorry I've forgotten where I yoinked that from!)

I love Ligers.

This Country Is Going To The (English/Scottish/Welsh) Dogs

I'm watching the Politics Show and find it utterly depressing that the presenters on there seem to be treating Scotland as if it is a foreign country (even using the term country to describe it and England... they are nations not countries!) and act as if English and Scottish people are simply unable to get along. If you look at just the last months worth of news stories on Google News you'll find most journalists have proclaimed the end is nigh.

I just want to leave this country. It's not the country I was brought up to live in. There is no pride here, just nationalist jingoism. There is no unity, just squabbling over the dying Union.

What with Belgium suffering a similar malaise over it's union, it can't be long before even the mighty Germany might start to find it's regions pulling apart. Then we can all get back to never ending wars again like the good old days of the last millennium. Joy! Now I wonder what the immigration requirements are for Thailand...

The Weekend - Thank God!

I hate the barbers! I've said it before and I will say it again!

I am not at all shocked by the sleazy stories coming out about Labours deputy leadership election. I am, however, shocked by the kind of sums of money being bandied about. Was John Prescott's old job really that powerful a position as to warrant hundreds of thousands of pounds of money going to possibly unsuccessful bids for it??

The politics of Britain today are starting to rival the 18th and 19th Century's for sleaziness and scandal. And that is bloody saying something!

I long for a politician who is at once a great thinker and a great speaker who might once again raise this country back to hope... rather than these seedy back room dealers who act more like dodgy street sellers than leaders of this great country.

It feels like it really is time for a change... the Tories fell to scandal and now Labour is doing the same. We are in the middle of a turbulent decade and we need a real leader rather than these wannabe CEOs to help guide us through these cynical times.

Back To Bangkok?

It looks quite like Jim and I will be returning to Bangkok in May 2 years after our last visit. Jim is currently fretting over which airline to fly there with...

This doesn't mean we don't want to travel somewhere close by as well this year but we have been talking about going back to Bangkok since the day we arrived back in the UK from our last visit.

Thanks for some of your suggestions guys on European destinations... keep them coming if you get anymore ideas... now I need to go download Ugly Betty and see what all the fuss is about!

No Power!

There was a power cut in Vauxhall today meaning I got off work early. May I just say, Lord, this more than makes up for the lack of snow earlier this month...

It's been seven days into the new year and there has not been one half naked man. This will not stand!



I keep catching parts of Ugly Betty during lunch at work and I think I really must watch that show properly as it seems bloody good. Any opinions, ever so helpful Dear Constant Reader?

Panorama: One Click From Danger

Jesus... how can parents be so naive???

I was fairly shocked recently when I went down to my family and found my 11 year old sister now had internet access in her room. However I know my step father and I know he'll ensure she can only use it for seconds a day and will keep a close eye on her (prior experience as a teenage web surfer in that house!). By the time we left, Jim had installed some cyber nanny that stopped her even viewing youtube (much to her disgust). So even if I am slightly jealous of her given the best I got was the dining room, I know she will be watched like a hawk.

So how can these parents on this Panorama show still not even know what a/s/l (age/sex/location) means??? It's 2008 people!! I was still chatting up girls online when I learnt what that meant (ok, they were chatting me up in AOL Chat and I was desperately thinking "Why did I ever come into this UK Science Fiction room??)!! Now that's a long time age!

It's truly scary how some people haven't learnt basic internet stuff... how to use Google, what lol means, how to bloody look after your children and not let them get accosted. If parents don't understand these things how can they even begin to protect their children?? My Mums got Facebook so I'm confident she's not a dullard.

At work I'm consistently amazed at how many people can't work the internet... of all ages. They think a Google Ad is actually a search result, they don't understand that if they type a word into Google and click the first link it might not actually be what they are looking for or the most dumb... they try one combination of words then give up when a moments thought will not only find what they are looking for but maybe something better!

It's high time people started attending internet basics classes. I've spoken to 90 year old women who are all over "cookies" and social networking... so younger folk have no excuse for their "I'm too old" type responses. Yawn... you are never too old!

If you are a parent with a kid on the net and you haven't even basic internet knowledge then you are just asking for trouble.

Where Next?

Jim and I have been wondering where to take our holiday this year and I was wondering if you, Dear Constant Reader, had any ideas?

We don't want to go too far afield and our current ideas include Iceland, Germany and Greece... anyone got any input on those destinations?

And on a related matter I've created a map of everywhere I can remember having been! Wooooo...

• View my profile


• Visit TripAdvisor.com

Getting To Know All About You

We've been together for quite a while now Dear Constant Reader. This year will be our 7th anniversary which means I've been writing here for more than 25% of my life! Shocking.

Since I've been writing here George W Bush has gone from monkey impersonator, to American hero, back to monkey impersonator and through to todays comedic turn as "a monkey impersonating Mussolini" for which he is so reknowned.



Whole new countries have appeared! Hi Montenegro and Timor-Leste!





Homosexual marriage has begun it's spread around the world (The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Spain and Massachusetts) destroying heterosexual marriages left right and centre and ushering in the beginning of the end of human civilisation...



There's been 4 leaders of the Tory party including my very own former constituency MP Michael Howard, showing their continued active support for diversity in the work place...



Peace and happiness has spread around the world...



The United Kingdom came close to winning Eurovision on several occasions...





Suggestions on a postcard for other "important" events since 2001...

Blogs of Note

As I haven't got much of interest to say today I thought I'd just give you a few links to some blogs that have piqued my interest of late.

Gay Boy Thailand - a mixture of witty posts about life in Thailand and picture posts of cute Asians. Mmm...

The Greenwich Phantom - a well known local blog around Greenwich with great reviews, some gossip, idle speculation and wonderful little insights into the borough I live in.

Proceed at your own risk - pictures of cute random guys, naked yoga and some really interesting political/religious/news related posts.

Cryptomundo - Up to the minute cryptozoology (and normal zoology!) news.

Now obviously these are my current faves, but they'll never replace my regulars!

Thank God for Google Reader; it's made me a better blog reader. I used to be terrible... but trust me I read you all now every post.

Complaint To God

Dear God,

I'm most upset. Most upset indeed. You allow all these people up north to have loads of snow but you don't give me one drop?

This is terrible service and I will be writing to your predecessor (oh might Zeus) to make a complaint about the riff raff he's left in charge of our weather system.

Yours Grumpily

Jason

The Blame Game

Homosexuals what are we good for? Absolutely everything if you're trying to pass the blame on just about any subject under the Sun.

Hitler and the German Nazi Regime (and by extension the Holocaust) were OF COURSE a homosexual conspiracy. Well that's all according to the Pink Swastika (See also here). Of course we had to kill a few thousand other homosexuals, and imprison 50,000 more (not counting the castrated and abused) to meet our objectives. Or not. All kinds of flippant disregard for the Nazi abuse of homosexuals (and the fact that this abuse was NOT acknowledged after the war unlike most other affected groups) is common with people sneering at "the small numbers killed" or suggesting Hitler himself was gay.

Imagine saying the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust, or that the Nazi party was run by Jews. You'd rightly be condemned but suggest it was homosexuals and you're fine.

It is amazing that even here in the 21st Century, homosexuals are still very much second class citizens of our various nations. To suggest that homosexuals are some kind of "conspiring" group set on ruining the lives of the "innocent" heterosexuals through means such as taking over Germany and turning it into a fascist state are not just crazy... they are deeply insulting.

Of course it's mainly the misguided Christians (i.e. those who skimmed over the Gospels and only read the bloody bits of the Bible) who promote this hate. How very Christian of them. Maybe they could take a leaf out of a real Christians book like Maximilian Kolbe

If you want to find out what actually happened to homosexual men (although I'd say the whole GLBT community was pretty much affected!) I suggest you start with the sources on Wikipedias page

The Second Post - An Apology

I made a resolution last year. That resolution was inspired by the failure to meet my 2006 resolutions. Again I failed to meet that single resolution. D'oh! So firstly please, Dear Constant Reader, accept my sincere apologies!

This year I have "plans". I've seen a 1 year course at Birkbeck, University of London for a Social Policy Certificate of Higher Education. I plan to apply for it and then if I am successful and I find it enjoyable (after all we don't want to run before we can walk) I can use it as credit towards a B.Sc., i.e. an actual university degree. Birkbeck is famous for being an evening university so it shouldn't interfere with my work. And I should be able to afford the course even without assistance from my Mum plus I can see there's a few Government grants I might be able to make use of... I need to get my taxes back somehow!

I will try not to hate my job so much in the meantime.

I will try to lose some weight but I make no promises. :( It's hard... chocolate is so yummy, alcohol so tempting and takeaways so easy.

I need to keep to the budget I set out in November... fingers crossed!

And this blog. 2007 was a crap year in terms of quality on this blog. I am so sorry! I will try to rectify that and get back on track!

2008... here we come!

The First Post

Happy New Year! 2008 already... who would have thought it. We only have 4 more years to live!!

Last night, after work, Jim and I headed out to the local with our neighbours and their friends for a new years knees up. We stayed until 4 a.m. but despite my drinking constantly I still was unable to move beyond slightly merry. Not a bad thing I suppose as when I woke up this morning I was minus a hangover. Bonus!

The pub was fun and there was singing, Anna Lee told me about her time in the Luftwaffe in '43/'44. Bloody interesting that. My neighbour Rod and his mate Chris got depressed as they are soon to turn 40... midlife crisis ahead!

I trust you, Dear Constant Reader, had a good one!!