I am soon off to Europe again, but this time it's not a holiday. I have been invited by Deutsche Welle TV to attend the "Asia-Pacific and Europe Media Dialogue", organised by the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development next month in Bonn.
So not much bloggage expected for the next two weeks but I'll try to keep things up to speed, and hope to report from the Cologne, where I'll meet up with Charles to explore the local fleshpots and bear pits.
August 28, 2007
August 27, 2007
Search the internets
It's that time of the month again where we cast a wonky eye over the search terms you have been using and have landed via them on this very blog:
- The ever-popular cocksucking contest has tempted now 10 of you in the last month. I think we may have a new Olympic sport in the making here, or at least at the Gay Games. I see there are videos with that specialty (NSFW), but I trust it's the mutual variety of the sport you are after.
- Two popular boys, and I can't fault your taste in men, Jacob Slader and Jesse Metcalfe. If I was a shit hot porn producer I'd put them together for some sparkles and sizzles. And I don't mind who tops or who bottoms.
- Macau Russian-emigre artist Konstantin Bessmertny: very worth checking out his hilarious artwork if you're ever in Macau and want to get away from the rain and gambling
- Activeduty.com (NSFW): if you're ever contemplating buying me a porn site gift voucher for access all areas, I would request the Active Duty site. Not only is it true to what it markets (guys in the armed forces getting it off for you), the website owner continuously delivers the goods despite major harassment.
- The ever-popular cocksucking contest has tempted now 10 of you in the last month. I think we may have a new Olympic sport in the making here, or at least at the Gay Games. I see there are videos with that specialty (NSFW), but I trust it's the mutual variety of the sport you are after.
- Two popular boys, and I can't fault your taste in men, Jacob Slader and Jesse Metcalfe. If I was a shit hot porn producer I'd put them together for some sparkles and sizzles. And I don't mind who tops or who bottoms.
- Macau Russian-emigre artist Konstantin Bessmertny: very worth checking out his hilarious artwork if you're ever in Macau and want to get away from the rain and gambling
- Activeduty.com (NSFW): if you're ever contemplating buying me a porn site gift voucher for access all areas, I would request the Active Duty site. Not only is it true to what it markets (guys in the armed forces getting it off for you), the website owner continuously delivers the goods despite major harassment.
August 23, 2007
Public transport wonking
Maxx has a public forum where one can rant and rave about the diabolical public transport system in Auckland. Here are my recent contributions:
- on the free City Circuit bus: When looking at the huge crowds waiting every morning for the free City Circuit bus that takes them to their places of learning, it struck me that many of the students would benefit health-wise by trekking up the hills to University or AUT by actually walking instead of taking the free bus. I mean, they sit in lectures all day long and the exercise would do wonders to fight their obesity risk.
Then we could use the annual subsidy now spent on it to lower fares across Auckland.
- On integrated ticketing: When integrated ticketing comes in, it must ensure that fares are linked to distance traveled, regardless of transport mode. I.e. taking the bus or train from Britomart to Manukau should attract the same fare. The same should be the case for taking a bus to Howick and the ferry to Waiheke, since it's the same distance traveled. This is the case in Germany.
- On Pacific Blue $39 fares to fly to Auckland to Wellington: I have long suspected that flying to Wellington from Auckland will soon be cheaper than going to Waiheke by ferry. And although I'm cheerful that this is happening faster than I expected, it doesn't bode well for the future tourism prospects for the island. It just shows how a bit of free market competition benefits customers, while monopolies gouge us to the max.
- on the free City Circuit bus: When looking at the huge crowds waiting every morning for the free City Circuit bus that takes them to their places of learning, it struck me that many of the students would benefit health-wise by trekking up the hills to University or AUT by actually walking instead of taking the free bus. I mean, they sit in lectures all day long and the exercise would do wonders to fight their obesity risk.
Then we could use the annual subsidy now spent on it to lower fares across Auckland.
- On integrated ticketing: When integrated ticketing comes in, it must ensure that fares are linked to distance traveled, regardless of transport mode. I.e. taking the bus or train from Britomart to Manukau should attract the same fare. The same should be the case for taking a bus to Howick and the ferry to Waiheke, since it's the same distance traveled. This is the case in Germany.
- On Pacific Blue $39 fares to fly to Auckland to Wellington: I have long suspected that flying to Wellington from Auckland will soon be cheaper than going to Waiheke by ferry. And although I'm cheerful that this is happening faster than I expected, it doesn't bode well for the future tourism prospects for the island. It just shows how a bit of free market competition benefits customers, while monopolies gouge us to the max.
The MPs and strip clubs
Men going to strip clubs. Now what is so controversial about that age-old tradition? Apparently when family values men do it. The "outrage" really leaves me stone-cold because I couldn't care less what they do in their spare time, even if it is on a Government-sponsored trip. You only get paid for a 40-hour work week and the rest of the time should be your own to do as you please.
The Herald newspaper asked New Zealand politicians whether they have ever visited a strip club. And unsurprisingly a lot of them have - even female MPs.
So instead of going all holier-than-thou in what amounts to harmless entertainment, the Australian voters should be pleased with that more rounded picture of their possible future Prime Minister and celebrate his heterosexuality.
I, of course, make it my business to visit as many houses of debauchery as possible when I travel (and even at home). Not many strip clubs as such, but I remember living in the East End of London in the late 1980s where it was tradition for many working men to go to the pub at Friday lunchtime when the management kindly put on a female stripper. For all us gay boys there used to be and still is the White Swan pub in Limehouse where, on Wednesday nights, an assortment of East End urchins of all ages and sizes competed in the amateur stripper night with a prize of £50 for the winnner (at the time a week's rent bill, I see the prize money has doubled over 20 years).
It was always a raucous night with noisy guffaws when for the the umpteenth time the same fat old git strode on stage, tediously proceeding to reveal is stumpy todger and who perennially lost to any local barrow lad worth his spunk in gold wrist jewelry.
If it's good enough for us, it should be good enough for politicians too.
And there is a fun take on culture in Australia and New Zealand here. Apparently it's not only found in yoghurt pots.
The Herald newspaper asked New Zealand politicians whether they have ever visited a strip club. And unsurprisingly a lot of them have - even female MPs.
So instead of going all holier-than-thou in what amounts to harmless entertainment, the Australian voters should be pleased with that more rounded picture of their possible future Prime Minister and celebrate his heterosexuality.
I, of course, make it my business to visit as many houses of debauchery as possible when I travel (and even at home). Not many strip clubs as such, but I remember living in the East End of London in the late 1980s where it was tradition for many working men to go to the pub at Friday lunchtime when the management kindly put on a female stripper. For all us gay boys there used to be and still is the White Swan pub in Limehouse where, on Wednesday nights, an assortment of East End urchins of all ages and sizes competed in the amateur stripper night with a prize of £50 for the winnner (at the time a week's rent bill, I see the prize money has doubled over 20 years).
It was always a raucous night with noisy guffaws when for the the umpteenth time the same fat old git strode on stage, tediously proceeding to reveal is stumpy todger and who perennially lost to any local barrow lad worth his spunk in gold wrist jewelry.
If it's good enough for us, it should be good enough for politicians too.
And there is a fun take on culture in Australia and New Zealand here. Apparently it's not only found in yoghurt pots.
August 21, 2007
Go Dean!
Hurricane (James) Dean was busy bashing Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, I can't help but think it's some sort of divine retribution (Greek furies-style rather than Judaeo-Christian-Islamic) for those batty boy beaters on Jamaica and the homophobic Cayman Islanders. I'll be cheering Zeus on to send a few more lightning strikes down.
August 15, 2007
What does nice middle class moral panic look like these days?
Every generation of nice middle class people needs to find something to be scared of when the next generation is growing up, and in the last 50 years deviant teenage culture has fit the bill perfectly. From rockabilly Teds to Mods, skinheads, punks, ravers and goths. You can name them, you can remember them, maybe you still are one of them - hell, I even owe my sociology degree to them. Nowadays it's hip hop and rap with the added frisson of race thrown into the mix.
It's a very easy target for a City Journal columnist called Myron Magnet (I presumed a Christian white woman but with a name like a 1980s new wave artiste - apparently not, see update below) who, in a lengthy article, amply lets rip that he is scared of black cocks, resents them impregnating 'bitches' without getting hitched, and that there are too many black youths in jail not because the cops do racial profiling but because of the homeys' rap-induced badness. In his moral world no drugs or guns are causes (or even symptoms) of social deprivation or ghetto violence, moral turpitude in hip hop is.
He refuses to quote or link to a David Banner rap called "Play", so I looked up the lyrics myself. It doesn't sound "beyond pornography" to me: it's just about a sad guy who can't bring his girl to orgasm unless she does it herself. Hardly civilization-undermining stuff, but par for the sexual course instead.
UPDATE: Peter alerted me to the correct gender classification of Myron Magnet, who is a Manhattan Institute scholar and editor, but still sounds like a Mysteron to me. And he writes like a girl.
There is a local angle to this issue. Dick Quax, a Councillor and Mayoral candidate in Manukau City, which is a "new town" with a sprawling ethnic population - South Auckland has a connotation and likes itself to be known as Auckland's answer to South Central LA - has called for a ban on the performance of rap star Ice Cube:
It's a very easy target for a City Journal columnist called Myron Magnet (I presumed a Christian white woman but with a name like a 1980s new wave artiste - apparently not, see update below) who, in a lengthy article, amply lets rip that he is scared of black cocks, resents them impregnating 'bitches' without getting hitched, and that there are too many black youths in jail not because the cops do racial profiling but because of the homeys' rap-induced badness. In his moral world no drugs or guns are causes (or even symptoms) of social deprivation or ghetto violence, moral turpitude in hip hop is.
He refuses to quote or link to a David Banner rap called "Play", so I looked up the lyrics myself. It doesn't sound "beyond pornography" to me: it's just about a sad guy who can't bring his girl to orgasm unless she does it herself. Hardly civilization-undermining stuff, but par for the sexual course instead.
UPDATE: Peter alerted me to the correct gender classification of Myron Magnet, who is a Manhattan Institute scholar and editor, but still sounds like a Mysteron to me. And he writes like a girl.
There is a local angle to this issue. Dick Quax, a Councillor and Mayoral candidate in Manukau City, which is a "new town" with a sprawling ethnic population - South Auckland has a connotation and likes itself to be known as Auckland's answer to South Central LA - has called for a ban on the performance of rap star Ice Cube:
He says gangsta rappers are idols to Manukau youth but promote violence, an attitude to women as sexual objects, crime and are 'not what I'd like to see at the centre'.If it looks like a Dick, talks like a Dick and Quax like a Dick...
Newmarket demands a subsidy from Waiheke
The Broadway Newmarket shopping area is a dreary open air mall, a bit like Kowloon's Nathan Road without the underground railway but with the exhaust fumes (a motorway and thoroughfare both run through it), and it prides itself on being the nation's premier shopping destination. Not that I would ever take any overseas visitors there.
Of course, the area has its own spinmeister in the form of Cameron Brewer, ceaselessly marketing his strip mall to the city and the country. He has been talking to his counterparts in Takapuna, and the North Shore Times reported he said:
So it surprised me that champions of the free market like Mr Brewer would exhort his fellow merchants to bray for council subsidies and "blame" the practice on an island that actually provides the dosh instead of creaming the system. That's a doubly perverted use of language and a slur on his supporters and customers. I think I will be shopping on the island instead and help subsidize his lifestyle. He should be more grateful to the hand that feeds him.
Of course, the area has its own spinmeister in the form of Cameron Brewer, ceaselessly marketing his strip mall to the city and the country. He has been talking to his counterparts in Takapuna, and the North Shore Times reported he said:
"Broadway is about to be upgraded and this was achieved because we adopted the Waiheke Principle - that is if you make enough noise you're more likely to get what you want."I had never heard of this "Waiheke Principle" or it being defined as behaving like undeserving upstarts. I would have associated it with being laid-back and generous to your fellow citizens in other parts of the city, what with Waiheke subsidizing their lifestyles as the Council pulls off much more in rates cash than it spends on the island.
So it surprised me that champions of the free market like Mr Brewer would exhort his fellow merchants to bray for council subsidies and "blame" the practice on an island that actually provides the dosh instead of creaming the system. That's a doubly perverted use of language and a slur on his supporters and customers. I think I will be shopping on the island instead and help subsidize his lifestyle. He should be more grateful to the hand that feeds him.
August 14, 2007
August 09, 2007
Sex in the news
From the NZ Herald: "Sydney police are investigating an allegation of sexual misconduct against New Zealand Warrior Michael Crockett. Crockett had denied the allegation.It seems that groupies want to have it both ways: you bag yourself a piece of alpha male meat in the prime of his sexual (and sports) career, in the middle of an exciting competition, when the testosterone drips off the walls. And if the sex is bad you can always have him charged with assault. Especially when you lured him away from his teammates. Not that I condone, or even suggest any beastly sexual behaviour by Mr Crockett, but if you're going to throw yourself as a sports groupie into that sort of sexual arena, you better be prepared for some bruising encounters.
It is understood the player allegedly met the woman while out with teammates.
The pair were believed to have left the group some time before the woman went to the station to complain that she had been sexually assaulted."
UPDATE: Mr Crockett has been charged with sexual assault, which he denies.
In an unrelated rugby league news issue, this time for on the field behaviour: "The Canterbury Bulldogs forward Brad Morrin has been banned for eight games after biting the Parramatta centre Timana Tahu on the arm in last Friday night's NRL match in Sydney.Jarrod McCracken is another piece of prime meat that graced those sporno calendars in the early 1990s. I would have done more than bite him back!
Morrin pleaded guilty, admitting it was stupid act, but he argued that his "brain-snap" was an instinctive reaction to a spear tackle by Tahu and Nathan Hindmarsh.
His biting suspension, which he thinks is a bit harsh, matches the punishment handed down to Kiwi Jarrod McCracken in 1991 for a similar offence."
August 08, 2007
August 07, 2007
Birthdays
August is a fertile month with various people of my acquaintance having their birthdays close together. So on the weekend it made sense to celebrate them all together and after a yum char breakfast it was on to dinner at Gina's Italian Restaurant, an institution in the city which guarantees great food and great time. And indeed it was. When the tiramisu desserts came out to the table all the waiters and kitchen staff (all imported from Italy) started singing and banging pots and cutlery on all stainless steel surfaces, creating a huge ruckus and embarrassing the hell out of the birthday boys and girl.It helped that the waiters are huge eye-candy and we would have gladly wrapped up a few of them to take away for after dinner mint sucking. They are so popular they will be launching another of their calendars (the shooting of which is on their website, and pictured here too). Deliciously recommended.
August 03, 2007
The ABs to defend New Zealand
A very cleverly take on the national anthem, worth belting out when our boys beat pasty Pommie arse.
August 02, 2007
Chick TV
Staying with the television theme - what else is there to do on a stormy winter's night? - Sky Television has announced a new channel to its pay TV bouquet:
Sky Television confirmed today the launch of a new 24 hour entertainment channel, VIBE, starting Monday 1 October, 2007. VIBE is a pure entertainment offering skewed predominantly to female subscribers. The new channel will be packed with popular prime time series, many of them airing on Sky for the first time. VIBE is exclusive to New Zealand and will be available to all Sky Digital subscribers as part of Sky Television’s Start Up package on Digital Channel Number 7.Oh FFS, *another* chick channel. At least it's in the start up package but really they should charge properly for this garbage. Why is it that all the chick channels are free(-ish) while the blokes have pay through the nose to get their TV fare like the Rugby Channel or the porn channels?
“Sky has a varied and balanced bouquet of digital channels and VIBE is the perfect compliment to these”, said Sky Television’s Director of Entertainment Programming, Travis Dunbar. “We definitely see the new channel as an entertaining and compelling addition to the service.”
The launch schedule will include a selection of hit drama and comedy series, plus compelling one-hour documentaries and high-concept reality shows. International hits such as the UK’s leading supernatural investigation series, Most Haunted, will flesh out the schedule, along with exclusive NZ premieres like Make Me A Supermodel with Rachel Hunter and Tori Spelling’s Tori & Dean: Inn Love.
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