FINA to ban hi tech swimsuits

The wardrobe malfunction by Ricky Berens is not the reason why the International Swimming Federation is banning the hi-tech swimsuits.
But he proved that swimming bare-cracked wins championships.

So the FINA should order all swimmers to go bare-assed. It would work wonders for viewing figures too.

A win-win-win situation for all!

Channeling Marky Mark

Via Naked Male News: NYC go go boy and his crew rap and strip. Who says men can't multitask?
Video and lyrics NSFW!

Gay portrait icons

The National Portrait Gallery in London asked random 10 gay celebrities to come up with 6 suggestions of people who are / were an inspiration to them for a portrait exhibition. And the result is, at least to Johann Hari, a disaster because it would have been a much better exhibition if it had been properly curated.

Now, who would I nominate as my 6 gay icons? Here they are: two film makers, two actors and two authors.


1. Kenneth Anger: granddaddy of the underground (gay) cinema. His films (especially the psychedelic stuff) are hard going for 21st century eyes, but the gay imagery is still totemic.


2. Derek Jarman: Renaissance man for our dark ages. Painter, film maker, writer, gardener. Both Mr Jarman and Mr Anger were fantastic to have tea with and had me gushing as a fan!


3. David Bowie (as Ziggy Stardust): glam rock rarely looked so gorgeous in the 1970s and never since. But he still looks gorgeous today aged 62.


4. Ewan MacGregor: nominated for the ease he has in portraying and handling his own sexuality on screen, never bashful to get his kit off, and completely unselfconscious about his heterosexuality. I wish all gay men were like him!


5. Le Marquis de Sade: for his magnum opus The 120 Days of Sodom, still an essential read if you want to understand human sexuality.


6. Boyd McDonald: author and editor of Straight To Hell: The Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts magazine, Cruising the Movies and a raft of "chap books" with true homosexual reportage. Saint Boyd was able to make you laugh out loud with a roaring hardon. Not many authors are capable of that.

Which superhero am I?

You are Spider-Man
You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Spider-Man		65%
Superman		60%
Robin		60%
The Flash		50%
Green Lantern		45%
Catwoman		45%
Supergirl		40%
Hulk		40%
Batman		35%
Iron Man		35%
Wonder Woman		25%

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

I always liked Adam West as Batman, but that just shows my age.
I definitely predicted I was not going to be Wonder Woman due to the lack of pointy bra wearing experience.

Hats off (and more) to strangers

Here is something our civilisation could learn from: when you go visiting, you take your kit off so your hosts can see you come in peace with nothing hidden.
Or as the Tribe show has it on the BBC:



When you come to Waiheke you have about 35 minutes on tne boat to get your gear off. Time enough to prepare to meet the locals. You can then proceed to our clothes-free beach. And a great time will be had by all.

Sex in the news

From the BBC:

An investigation is under way in Australia over claims that navy sailors competed with each other to bed their female colleagues for cash prizes.
According to Channel Seven news, sailors on board HMAS Success put a cash value on each woman's head.
Sleeping with a female officer or a lesbian, or having sex in a strange place, won more money, the report said.
The Defence Department confirmed that a number of individuals had been sent back to Australia for interviews.
HMAS Success, which has a crew of 220, is currently on exercises in South East Asia.
According to the Channel Seven report, the contest came to light in May, when the vessel was in Singapore.
It said that the sailors recorded their efforts in a book called The Ledger, challenging each other to sleep with as many female colleagues as possible.
Sex on a pool table or with a lesbian reportedly scored higher points.
The Defence Department did not confirm how many sailors were involved.
But, in a statement to Seven Network, it said that a number of concerns raised by female crew members were "now subject to formal inquiry".
The "veracity of any allegations" had yet to be confirmed, it said.

Several points in this story urge caution:
- Who actually pays the cash prizes?
- How are the scores verified (and the lesbians tagged)? Competitors (or contest adjudicators) must obviously be present to merit the extra points for pool table sex, and the women confirm a sailor's claim of conquest.
- No indication of any offences being committed here, apart from sex on the job - but I presume the contest took place outside working hours and on shore leave.
- That sleeping with your bunk mate doesn't merit any points indicate to me that it's too common an occurrence to be subject to a competition.
- And you would think that the navy brass would encourage its personnel to get all the exercise it can to fight the obesity epidemic in the Australian armed forces.

The NZ Herald editorial thundered on Saturday:

Nobody dares to moralise any more. The cause and consequence of that reluctance is that we are not sure we agree on what is wrong. Are the Australian sailors under naval investigation for their attitude to women and sex or for writing it down? And if it is merely the latter, was their offence against the privacy and reputations of the women concerned, and does it matter if the women were equally enthusiastic participants?

Who knows the women sailors were running a ledger book too with commentary on length, width, girth, stamina and technique the boys displayed (or pulled up short on). It would certainly make good reading too, a good consumer guide for on-board fun and it would put the rating back into rating.

Pina Bausch (1940-2009)

Pina Bausch, dancer and choreographer at the Wuppertal Dance Theatre, died yesterday.
She was one of the most original choreographers, fusing humour, surrealism and physical theatre into her art.
Please, forget about moon-walking, Pina Bausch was the real thing.