New Profile Pic

To get ready for a new year of blogging I've updated my profile picture... taken 3 weeks ago at a friend's place.

Holiday wishes from Spain!

A very merry Christmas to all of you from sunny Spain. I'm staying at my parents in Spain, enjoying some well-deserved rest. I'm happy about every single day I don't have to spend at my callcenter job. I hope your Christmas is as good as mine:

Vote 4 Brat Boy School!

My postings on this blog are (and will be) reduced to a minumum untill the end of the year due to other pressing issues... but I am doing this quick post to ask all of you to vote for sweet cutie Ethan (see picture below) and his Brat Boy School at the Weblog Awards! The poll closes on December 15th, 11:59 PM (EST)... he's at second place right now. He's hot and sweet and... did I mention he's hot? He will be featured on Instinct Magazine's next cover.

SO... CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

If you're still not convinced: he has promised a strip show on his site if he wins the award! Now, go and vote and check back here in a week or two!

Sub-zero runs

Okay, I've never been a real sports type of guy. I started working out at the age of 21 because I thought I was too skinny and wanted more muscles... It really was (is) working out for results in stead of just for the fun of it. But last spring/summer, after quitting smoking, I finally found something I really like: running. The only problem is, I hate cold weather. This morning I've ran at -1ºC (30ºF); there was a thin layer of ice on all the ponds in the park. And although it was a sunny morning... I really HATE running at a temperature below 5ºC (41ºF). Maybe I should start to run on the tredmill at the gym... but that's no fun either! Sigh... life's hard. ;-)

Autumn

I'm no fan of rainy weather, but I do love autumn if the weather is like this:

This was Groningen at 5 PM somewhere during this past week. The fresh and chilly air made my nose run... I got home and I fired up the heating, lit some candles and curled up on the couch with a friend. This is how autumn is supposed to be.

Hilarious cats

Thank you Hot Lunch for bringing the site My Cat Hates You dot com to my attention. I've laughed my ass off while browsing through the cat-pics and the captions below the photos; some are hilarious! Check it out!

(Click photo to enlarge.)

On a more cheeful note

It seems my intestines are calming down a bit... I haven't been to the toilet in more than an hour! I've just eaten my first solid food of the day. ;) And I'm going to bore you with a second post to compensate for my absence these past weeks.

All this while listening to Madonna's new album for the 7th time today. MY GOD, it is fantastic! Of course it's an illegally downloaded copy, but hey... a fan can't resist the temptation to hear it several days before it hits the stores of course. (And I'll still buy my CD the very first minute I can.)

And on a more ambiguous note: our climate really seems to be changing... Normally we have depressing cold and rainy weather from late September onwards. Not this year though. The temperature still is close to 20ºC (68ºF), the sun shines very often and while normally all trees should have lost their leaves, most trees are still totally green mid-November! The rose at my patio is blossoming again (picture taken last Sunday) and butterflies and ladybugs can be seen flying around... Although the gradual change of climate is no good news, the warm weather is good for my mood. This morning I heard on the radio they expect us to have Southern France's climate in the Netherlands in about 50 to 100 years...

Sorting things out

My life is too hectic. (Hence the lack op posts.) I've got to start getting my priorities sorted out. My job takes a considerable amount of time and because I hate the job, it consumes even more energy. Then there's my voluntary work consuming about ten to twelve hours a week... all while I should be studying the bigger part of my time. (And I'm not. I manage to spend about 20 hours on my study if I have a good week.)

This realization is finally setting in while I'm sitting at home, being sick. Studying is not really an option today because my intestinal cramps, my constant runs for the toilet and an annoying headache. I'm not doing anything today so I've finally had time to think about the way things are going.

I really need to start saying 'no' to people more often. No more extra tasks. No more sleepovers at my place. No help painting your new home. No extra hours at work. I'm finally realizing I'm really too tired and too stressed out! I'm always there to help out others, but I need to start to think more about my own life, health and career. I need to sleep more, work out more and study more. All other things are of less importance until I've got my PharmD degree. Unfortunately I have to keep working to be able to eat, but I should keep an eye out for a better job. I've got a MSc in Pharmacy for heaven's sake! There should be some better part-time job out there.

Still shocked by The question: Are you gay?

You might have heard read it before and I'll probably say it again many times in the future: I have a very crappy job as a call center agent ("warm outbound" for those who know what that means). But my working hours are very flexible and it pays my bills so it matches my needs right now.

While working yesterday evening, a customer suddenly asked me if I was gay or straight after being on the phone for about one minute. I was flabbergasted! I didn't know how to respond; the first thing that popped into my mind was saying I thought that was a very personal question, so that's what I said. The customer told me he was curious if his suspicions were right, so I told him he was right: I am gay. He was content he was right. After my confession I asked him if he was gay; he wasn't.

The incident left me wondering about two things. First of all: is it that obvious I'm gay just by hearing my voice? Maybe... but most of my colleagues are still totally in the dark about the fact that I like men, even after working with me 16 hours a week for more than two months. The second thing that's bothering me is: why didn't I just respond by saying that I indeed am gay? Why was I flabbergasted and why did I consider refusing to tell the customer my sexual preference? If he had asked for my age or hair color I'd immediately answer him. I thought I was past the point that I made a point about telling anyone I'm gay. If someone asks me face-to-face, I've always told them I'm gay, even if it might have been wise not to. I'm confused... maybe it's because I was at "a non-sexual environment" like my job. (Ehrm... well, non-sexual... that's not entirely true. There are several very, very hot guys at work so I tend to think about sex regularly at work). Maybe it's because it was none of the customer's business. But still... The incident will probably haunt me for several more days.

PS. The customer did buy what I wanted to sell to him, even though initially he had doubts about buying it. He had no problems with the fact that I'm gay.

Webdesign escapades

I've finally (almost) finished the first version of my friend's website. She's a poet and I agreed on taking her photo's and making her a website. It has taken me a considerable amount of time due to other pressing issues, but it's finally getting close to completion. Lots of extra content will be added in the next few weeks, but her bio and first poem are finally online (in Dutch).

As a result I'm happy... a mood amplified because I'm listening to Hung Up on repeat for the 30th time today... and I'm still lovin' it! (Thank you Hot Lunch for posting it!)

Ouch, that hurts!

Ouch, my legs hurt! Hurt really bad! I tried running my usual round this morning, but my joints and tendons started to become really painful after running just for 5 minutes. It was a very beautiful morning, so I had to try to go running. About 20ºC (68ºF) and sunny weather in mid-October is incredible weather for Dutch understandings. Here's this morning's photo from my phone/mp3-player/camera:

The cause of my sore joints and tendons is the run I did last Sunday: I participated in the annual '4 Mile of Groningen'. Just 6 months ago I wasn't even able to run for 2 minutes; after quitting smoking I took up running and the result was running the 4 mile in 36 minutes and 54 seconds. I am becoming a running addict... who would have guessed that last spring. Next year I want to go for the 30 minute mark... :)

Loves it!

Posted on madonna.com is a singalong version of the upcoming single Hung Up. It sounds totally different from other "leaked" previews... the ABBA sample (Gimme, Gimme, Gimme) is very obvious... I love it!! I know now on what music I'll be dancing on in the local gay club in Groningen until (at least) Christmas. :)

Summer Storm (or Sommer Sturm)

Great movie I saw last Saturday: Sommer Sturm (that's the original German title, in English it's 'Summer Storm'). Yes, it's another coming of age movie, but this one was sooo incredibly recognisable for me. I watched it with a strange feeling in my stomach; it felt like a movie about my life about ten years ago. I think the film will be in theaters in the US in 2006. Here's a link to an English synopsis and a trailer (in German with French subtitles).

First birthday

Today it's one year ago I opened this blog and did my first post about the Madonna Re-Invention concert I had seen two weeks ealier. Ah, a year flies by too fast! Never thought I would actually manage to keep writing, usually I'm not that persistent in the spending of my time. ;)

Sucker for ceremony

I'll confess: I'm a sucker for ceremony. Yesterday was "Prinsjesdag" in The Netherlands. On this day (every third Tuesday of September) the Queen tells us what the state of the nation is and announces the direction of next years' government policies. She rides in her gold carriage from her palace to the "Ridderzaal" (Hall of the Knights) where she sits on her throne and gives her speech.

Ah, this is so much better than having a president. Too bad the color of this year's dress was awful; I hate teal!

Just four more weeks

Just 28 days to go until the release of Hung Up. Until then, Madonna cleverly releases bits and pieces of information on the single and upcoming album in a slow and steady stream. Just enough to keep people talking and causing a stir: a 14 second preview clip of the single, the album's cover artwork... what will be next?

And I have to say I absolutely LOVE the new cover artwork. The screaming bright orange and pink... fabulous! :)

Britney brings forth Sean Preston

Britney Spears Federline Spears (23) gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Sean Preston. Let's hope the boy got his looks from his mother... Al the best to the new parents though. Let's hope the boy will grow up to be a sparkling star like his mommy.

Blogging about blogging

I almost started to believe it myself: the lack of new posts had to be due to inspiration issues. The truth is far less "glamorous" though. We finally got the warm weather we should have had in July and August in the past weeks. And I'm very busy at my job four nights a week, busy studying during daytime and busy with voluntary work in the remainder of time. Combine the busy schedule with the long anticipated warm weather and it becomes clear why I kept postponing writing here: I was spending every scarce free minute outdoors.

But, now the good news for all of you: The weather has turned ugly, probably for the rest of the autumn and winter. So I'll be blogging again. To kick off the new blogging season I've updated my profile picture: me in front of the freshly painted, virgin white wall.

Crap!

My Nedstat Basic counter has a new owner and name (Webstats4U) and now they suddenly start to display popup ads! As of today, the counter is reset to zero as I switched to a new counter. :-/

Madonna - 46 days to go...

The frontpage of Madonna's site is updated with a big announcement of her upcoming album, Confessions On A Dancefloor.

The 12 songs on the all-dance album are described as "a stunning blend of musical styles with one foot in the roots of early disco (a la Girogio Moroder/Abba on ecstacy) and the other foot gloriously ensconced in the future of music". I can't wait; I'm counting the days! The first single (Hung Up) will be released 46 days from now, on October 17th.

Painting my patio

At last! We have a few dry and sunny days, so I'm going to paint my patio this week. The walls are were white, but the previous owner used paint unsuitable for exteriors, so it's slowly turning in to white powder and being flushed down by rain:

Planned fot today: remove excess old paint and apply special coating for powdering latex layers to make sure the new paint will stick to the wall.

Winter depression

The weather has been so awful this month, it's causing a winter depression over here. It's August for heaven's sake! Of course there is another factor at play here: I didn’t manage to graduate this month. It means I’ll have to pay tuition fee to graduate next academic year... hence my new job and hence my grumpiness.

I’ll try to post here more often again… I promise! After next Tuesday my life will be more or less back to normal; no more graduating friends (...), birthday parties, theater festivals and overdue papers, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

For now, here are two pictures of the beautiful carousel at the Noorderzon Festival I wrote about before (here). I do love my new camera phone. :)

Drop those pants

There's such a lovely and very obvious sexual tension in the new Gsus Original Denim ads that are hanging all around town in Groningen. Suddenly seeing two men with their pants down when driving through the city is not an everyday sight:

This Gsus Drop-your-pants campaign could last for a long time if I were to decide. :)

Parties, a new job and a festival

This is a short, quick post for now; it's been a hectic (and fun) week. A dinner party, a new job (hired on Tuesday, started training on Wednesday), a friend's birthday party and the start of Noorderzon Theater & Crossover Festival yesterday at walking distance from home:

Gotta get to bed now. Have to work tomorrow morning at 10 AM for the first time at the new job. Training has ended, now it's for real...

Preparations for a great time

The annual Noorderzon Theater & Crossover Festival will start on Thursday in the park very close to my home here in Groningen. They're busy building all the tents, pavilions and bars at the moment. I'm really looking forward to this every year. Ten days of music, theater, modern dance, lots of booze and great times with good friends... all set in a park that looks like an enchanted fairytale forest due to the beautiful illumination, strange pavillions and many art objects. Just look at the beautiful Merry-Go-Round in the second picture... a lizard, an old blind mole, a flying horse, an ostrich... And best of all: it's just a two minute walk from home. (Click pictures to enlarge.)

As promised...

As promised, two photo's I took of my friend Froukje for her website I'm working on (a link will follow when it's finished). Both pictures are taken in Amsterdam.

Good news!

Good news (for me): I've got a new phone! Today I got my 4th (Sony) Ericsson phone in a row: T66, T610, K700i and now a K750i.

And since my new K750i has a pretty good 2 megapixel autofocus camera built in, I can post lots of decent pics on my blog from now on! So it's good news for you too!! I got my new phone because I changed from my previous crappy operator (T-Mobile) to a decent one (KPN Mobile). My old phone (the K700i) was still good enough, but I got the chance to get a new one for free, so...

I've thought about the comparable but even newer (and more expensive) SonyEricsson W800 Walkman phone (attractive due to an extra 512 Mb Memory Stick) but I've decided it's too ugly and far too tacky orange/white to consider:

and to finish things off... here's the first picture by my new phone. I took it at the exit of my nearby supermarket today.

Weekend report

I’ve recovered; and it was a great weekend. (And the weather wasn't as bad as I expected!)

I had a lot of fun; I had dinner (Ostrich Steak) at the Getto with some friends on Friday from 8:00 PM until 11:30 PM, after which we celebrated the start of our Gay Pride weekend at the nearby street party in the Warmoesstraat. We had a lot of fun judging outfits of men entering The Eagle.

On Saturday I went to work with the friend I was staying with. And I shouldn’t have done that. She works in the 'P.C. Hooftstraat', the most expensive and excusive shopping street in the country. It was sale and most shops offered a 70% discount on their spring/summer collection... I couldn't resist to pull out my creditcard at the Armani, Boss and Ralph Lauren stores. The result:

• 1 pair of Emporio Armani swimming trunks
• 1 Hugo Boss (Orange Label) belt
• 2 Ralph Lauren shirts

All together it has cost me less than one Ralph Lauren shirt at the regular price. I'm especially happy about my new belt (note: my belly is not as white as it looks in this picture):

After my financial irresponsibility I went to the annual Canal Parade, where I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in three years. The parade was a bit more tame compared to previous editions, but it was fun. Here's a link to a selection of pictures on my Flickr site to get an impression.

In the evening I went out for dinner and drinks with some friends; we danced at the streetparties in the Reguliersdwarsstraat and on the Amstel.

On Sunday I took a series of pictures of the friend I was staying with. She´s a poet and needed some publicity pictures for interviews and for the website I'm developing for her. I´ll post some of those pics tomorrow.

Off to Amsterdam

This blogger is leaving for Amsterdam right now to celebrate Amsterdam Pride. The weather will be really shitty all weekend (16ºC / 61ºF and rainy) but I won't let it spoil my fun.

I'll try to post an update during this weekend if I have time.

Creepy coincidence

I just saw War of the Worlds. When we walked out of the cinema, all street lights in the entire city turned off. Everything was dark while cycling home, except for some shop windows and houses. Some sort of malfunction probably, but a very freaky coincidence after seeing War of the Worlds...

And talking about coincidence: Last Saturday I wanted to write a bad review about the movie Sugar on my blog. I did some "Googling" while writing and found out the leading actor (Andre Noble) had died at the age of 25... exactly one year earlier on July 30th, 2004. After I discovered this, I just couldn’t write a bad review anymore. I know, I’m weird, I just deleted the blog entry.

Although there will be no review, I still want to say: please give Brendan Fehr (the other lead-character) some media training... his interview on the DVD's extras section is sooo painfully awkward with him talking about homosexuality like that.

Happy Tree Friends & Queer Duck

Except for running in the rain for 50 minutes, I hadn't done anything useful whatsoever until 3 PM on this terrible cold and rainy Sunday. I was bored and didn't feel like doing anything.

So I didn't. I've been watching tons of online cartoon episodes since 3 PM: Happy Tree Friends (so hilariously gruesome) and snappy Queer Duck. I hate rainy Sundays, but they can be great fun...

I hate mosquitos!

Argh! I haven't slept more than 3 hours last night. Yesterday was an unpleasantly warm and humid day: cloudy skies, the air so humid the wet streets didn't dry all day and 27ºC (81ºF). Because of the dense clouds it didn't cool down at night; I have been staring at the ceiling for two hours last night until I finally fell asleep in a very warm bedroom. Woke up bathing in sweat at 4 AM, after that some mosquitos kept me awake until 7:30. I've been bitten 17 times.

I have no idea how I'm going to get through this day.

Stressed. (And why Groningen?)

You might have guessed it by the lack of new posts in the past days: I'm very busy. I'm trying to graduate in August and that means a lot of work in very little time. As a result I’m pretty stressed out. At the moment I’m reading boring scientific papers all day, so my mind tends to be a bit soggy in the evening... until the end of this week I won’t have lot of inspiration for writing here I think.

In my lunch break today, I stumbled upon the new MSN Virtual Earth. Looking at the map of Europe, something caught my eye: The choice of cities displayed on the low-resolution map of Europe is somewhat strange. London doesn't exist and Amsterdam is not denoted either... but my home town Groningen (with 180,000 inhabitants the 7th city of the Netherlands) is:

Makes me wonder: What did our city council and mayor do to put Groningen on the map (literally)? It turns out this isn't the only oddity in Virtual Earth. Apparently they're having fun at Microsoft recreating the planet as they'd like it to be: Apple's corporate headquarters in Cupertino, CA has been wiped off the map and satellite photos. ;)

Lesbians, astrology, neighbors and a hangover

Phew... it has taken me some time to recover from last weekend, but I’m back. I had a fun barbecue party with a bunch of lesbians on Saturday. It was a great evening; hadn't laughed that much in a long time and I very wisely did not drink too much like I tend to do on Saturdays. And I had my horoscope drawn; after 29 years I finally know my ascendant is Virgo. But... can anybody tell me why so many lesbians are into astrology?

On Sunday, I overcompensated for not drinking that much on Saturday. I walked out my door to rent a DVD at 5 PM and I found my two fabulously bouncy neighbors sitting on the bench in front of one of their homes, drinking rosé wine and giggling. They’re two divorced thirty-something women and they are really great fun. When it comes to men and sex, I suddenly feel like a saint hearing their stories. They invited me over to join them; we didn’t stop drinking, chatting and laughing until we ran out of wine at about 12 AM. To finish off the evening we went to a local gay bar for an hour or so, where I think I gave my phone number to a Russian boy, but I’m not sure...

I really had a terrible hangover on Monday, like I haven’t had in a very long time. I wasn’t able to perform even the simplest tasks and I’ve sworn never to drink again...

I've got Harry

I decided not to stand in the long line in front of 'Scholtens Wristers' - something like the Barnes & Noble of Groningen - after all. Instead I checked my local book store, and it had a sign on the door saying "open at 1:10 AM, Harry Potter for just € 15.99"!! I went home and got back to the store at 1:15, bought the book without waiting and cycled to the 'Scholtens Wristers'. What I saw there:

People were still standing in line and it turned out they had to pay €18.95 for the same book. Boy, am I in a good mood right now... :)

In line for Harry

People are actually standing in line in the middle of the night (right now, at this very moment, 12 AM, July 16th) to obtain the sixth Harry Potter. Sales start at 1 AM local time (so that's in an hour).

I'm a big fan, but I had planned to buy the book tomorrow. But... maybe I'll join them. The line of people actually looked like a lot of fun when I cycled by ten minutes ago on my way home. Hmm, I have to confess I'm very curious. Yeah, I'll go and join the freaks fans!

South Africa may legalize gay marriage (& more)

I just typed a post about the good news: South Africa may be the 5th country to give marriage rights to same-sex couples. And then Firefox hanged and everything was gone. (#@&%!) I'm not re-typing everything, I have to go to the gym. Just want to share this happy news... the summer of 2005 might prove to be a very good one for gay rights!

Gotta run now... I just found out new episodes of The O.C. are starting this evening on Dutch TV. :) (Or shouldn't I make public that I'm a big fan...? It's rather uncool and might be considered 'non-appropriate TV' for a highly educated 29-year-old... Ah fuck it, I don't care.)

My cheesy-music-fetish

I’m so thrilled about the music I’ve discovered yesterday, it’s almost orgasmic. I have this strange thing with some sorts of very cheesy music... I totally love it. I came across some strange version of Barbie Girl on the very entertaining blog “Bryanboy: Le Superstar Fabuleux” yesterday. Some searching led me to the “La Musique de Paris Dernière” compilations. I started downloading and… wow… the most fabulous cover collection ever!

All the songs are cool; some are musical masterpieces, some are VERY cheesy and I absolutely love them all. They are so cool I wanna buy all four CD’s. I’m going to check if they’re available in stores in the Netherlands immediately. Here are some preview clips from the French Amazon site (RealAudio): The links to individual songs below don't work anymore at the moment; referrals to music streams from this blog's address have been blocked by Amazon. However, you can still copy the link and paste it in a new, blank browser window to listen. Or use these working links to the entire CD's Amazon.fr, so you can easily click there and listen to all songs: CD1 CD2 CD3 CD4.

• Barbie Girl - Axel Boys Quartet
• I’m Not in Love - Fun Lovin’ Criminals
• Happy Together - Leningrad Cowboys & Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble
• Sex Bomb - Das Palast Orchester mit seinen Max Raabe
• Like a Virgin - Big Daddy
• Proud Mary - Prozak for Lovers
• Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You - Muse
• Baby One More Time - Ahmet & Dweezil Zappa
• Survivor - Tim Keegan
• Can’t Get You Out Of My Head - Helena
• Staying Alive - Eldissa

PS. Indeed dear Kylie fans, there's another cover of Can't Get You Out Of My Head! Look here for previously featured versions by Coldplay and Tori Amos)

Go Londoners

The Londoners I've just seen on the news are just fabulous. They go on with their daily lives as if nothing has changed. And in fact, nothing has changed; lightning never strikes twice at the same place. I think it's the only right way to deal with terrible acts like yesterday's bombings in London. It has happened, but life goes on. If life would stop, the bombers would have reached their goal. Go Londoners! Keep going, my thoughts are with you.

Grossed out

I ran into this picture on QueerClick. It's brilliant, but sooo disturbing. I’m so gay, this grosses me out completely and takes away my sex drive for at least a week. I hope it doesn’t do the same for you. (Picture not suitable for work!)

Batman Begins

I went to see Batman Begins last night. And I actually liked it... a lot! This is by far the best Batman movie ever. Christian Bale is great as Batman (and visually pleasing). They manage to make the strange story of someone starting dressing up in a bat outfit credible; Batman's character has depth... I'm pleasantly surprised!

I even didn't dislike slant-mouthed-Katie in this film. Her voice is not as annoyingly high pitched anymore like in Dawson’s days. It has lowered considerably; maybe to make Tom feel more at ease or maybe she’s taken up the habit of drinking whiskey. Anyhow, if she continues developing like this I might start liking her.

Smoothies

I ran across this article on the 'new breed' of men in the US: smoothies. They're not gay, they're no metrosexuals, they often live in the more conservative parts of the States... and they pay a lot of attention to their bodies. They're buffed and waxed totally smooth, including a Brazilian wax of sack and crack.

I'd like to express my gratitude towards Abercrombie & Fitch. I think they are (at least in part) responsible for creating this trend. They've been depicting the smoothie in their ads and catalogues for years now. I’m not necessarily a fan of total absence of pubic hair, but there have been worse trends. Now let's hope the average European man too will start paying more attention to their bodies and grooming.

Why didn't I know...

Why didn't I know it was 'Day of Architecture' in the Netherlands yesterday? I keep missing out on things like this. I wanted to take a look inside John Hejduk's Wallhouse in Groningen for years... next time it's open to the public I won't live in Groningen anymore I think. Grrr.

Working out @ weekends

Damn, I missed my workout again today! Went to a party yesterday, had some too many beers, got to bed late and now I've missed opening hours at the gym! Again! My gym is conveniently located at just a 2 minute walk from my home. This really works for me; I’m working out more often than I used to do at my previous gym. The new gym has one disadvantage though: on weekends it closes at 2 PM! I'm working out at this gym since early May and haven't managed to go there on weekends yet.

I simply can't train within two hours after waking up. It leads to accidents, like me being launched off the treadmill or getting crushed under the barbell while attempting to bench press. My strength and stamina simply aren't there yet the first two hours after waking up. I really don't understand how people can workout at 7 AM before going to work.

I woke up this morning at 11:15... too late for a full workout (90 - 100 minutes including cadio). I'm going to another party tonight... I shouldn't drink and go home early not too late so I can work out tomorrow... And I’ll go running in the park now instead of today's workout...

A laugh-your-ass-off reading tip

I'm still wiping my tears away after reading this very funny blog entry about KY Warming Liquid on "Meredith's Everyday Angst". Absolutely brilliant writing!

Gay TV

Yesterday Logo kicked off; the first all gay TV station for the US. At first I thought gay TV was something ridiculous. An occasional gay themed program on regular TV is enough for me and is far more useful for acceptation; straight people might come across it and learn something.

But now, looking at the Logo site, I have to confess I’d probably want a subscription if I lived in the US. The programming sounds great! They broadcast many movies I liked and movies I want to see but can’t find at my DVD rental store. They even broadcast "Antonia’s Line" (Original title: "Antonia"), an Academy Award winning Dutch film... I’m shocked! I think that’s a high quality, for American understanding somewhat strange art house film.

I’m curious what the impact of the channel will be and if they’ll be available nationwide in the US anytime soon. And I’m curious if they’ll produce quality original programming that will be broadcasted on Dutch TV. That would be nice...

Kylie covered

At a concert in Australia Tori Amos played "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" to pay tribute to Kylie. Or, as Tori put it, "I think it is important to do this song tonight for a lot of reasons, and do it in the right spirit for another sistah". You can download the beautiful piano-and-vocal ballad performance of Kylie's song at Hereinmyhead.com, a Tori Amos fansite.

Last weekend Coldplay paid tribute to Kylie as well by playing the same megahit on the Glastonbury festival. Kylie was scheduled to perform as one of the main acts on the festival as well, but had to cancel after being diagnosed with breast cancer. You can listen to Coldplay’s version of Kylie's song here (RealAudio stream). The founder of the Glastonbury festival has invited Kylie to perform at the event's next edition in 2007.

Piotr Adamski update

On Proceed at Your Own Risk I found this shirtless picture of Piotr and a link to his model agency. Of course I had to share this with you.

Meanwhile, this Polish Plumber has arrived in Paris in the flesh to tempt even more French to come to Poland (via OhLaLaParis).

The Polish plumber

The Polish plumber is the mythical figure who became a central actor in the debate in France over the European constitution, which was rejected by French voters last month. Portrayed as a predator who would move to France and steal jobs by working for less pay, this "plumber" has come to personify French fears about the future.

Now the Polish Tourism Bureau has launched a brilliant ad campaign, using the character to try to allay French fears and attract visitors at the same time. The poster says "I stay in Poland" and "Lots of you should come".

The "plumber" is Piotr Adamski, a 21-year-old Polish model who has become an overnight sensation in his home country. Yummy, if he'd been a real plumber I'd hire him immediately to do some thorough plumbing...

Yes! The final step!

Yesterday the Dutch parliament has approved a change of law, allowing gay couples to adopt children from abroad. This is the final step in full equal rights for gay and lesbian couples.

Adopting Dutch children was allowed under old law, but adoption from abroad was not possible in order to avoid diplomatic conflicts with homophobic countries. The parliament felt this discriminatory and has forced the Secretary of Justice to change this law, in spite of possible problems resulting from new policy. I love this fearless attitude; it was about time I think. :)

Meanwhile, just one day earlier there was a setback for gay rights in Belgium and Spain. The Belgian parliament didn’t approve adoption by gays and the Spanish parliament didn’t approve marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. :(

Summer Music

Since we have a heat wave in the Netherlands already for a week now, I couldn’t resist getting two new summer CD’s. I think they’re both so great; I have to share it with you.

First one is This Very Moment by Hacienda. It’s filled with groovy, loungy, danceable music, complete with pleasant female vocals. I found it in the discount section (the CD was released in 2003) but it would be worth the full price. This is great daytime music for hot days.

The second one is mainly for lazy hot summer nights. It’s Celso Fonseca’s second album: Rive Gauche Rio (released in 2005). This Brazilian singer recorded a mix of lazy, relaxed bossa nova and loungy samba. The music is full, warm, elegant and sensual; a perfect match for enjoying a glass of cold rosé wine and tapas at sunset with some good friends or your lover.

Both albums are also available in the iTunes Music Store (at least in Europe).

Confession

I actually like Mariah Scary's newest single "We Belong Together". And apparently I'm not the only one! I'm so confused right now...

...it even makes me wanna dust of the old Music Box CD.

Beautiful building

Last Saturday I had a tour through one of the most remarkable buildings of Groningen, the Gasunie headquarters. ("Gasunion" is the government owned company that exploits the big natural gas fields under The Netherlands.) Wow, what a building! I've been looking at the beautiful outside for almost ten years now, but never had the chance to take a look inside.

It’s an organic building, meaning there are no straight (90º) corners in the building. There's a complete jungle inside the 87 meter high building and it's filled with beautiful art. It’s amazing how pleasant the building feels, if I’d work in a building like this I think I’d love to go to work every day. And apparently I’m not the only one; Gasunie has a record low rate of sick-leave amongst their employees.

It's a shame places like this are not publicly accessible. :(

S stands for Shitty food

Thanks to Anonyboy I discovered a shortcut system in Firefox today. Type "w" in the address bar of Firefox and you'll be redirected to the official White House site (yikes!). Type "j" and you'll end up at J Lo's site (yikes again!). The "s" leads me to McDonalds (s stands for shitty food I presume?).

Luckily there are a few nice shortcuts. The "g" leads me to my Gmail and "p" to PFLAG. Firefox should get an award for most gay-friendly browser for this I think. ;)

Back from a short vacation

After a several days without internet I’m back again! A few friends and I started our annual sailing trip to the Oerol Festival on the isle of Terschelling last Friday. We had fabulous weather for sailing, sailing over the Wadden Sea at 12 to 14 knots. Although the weather wasn’t always great during the past days on the isle, we had a great time at the festival.

Sigh, hard life starts again today.

Glad to be a man

British scientists think genes play a rol in the ability to get an orgasm in women. For a study 683 monozygotic and 714 dizygotic pairs of female twins aged between 19 and 83 filled in an anonymous questionnaire. The influence of genetic factors on the ability to reach an orgasm is 34% (intercourse) to 45% (masturbation).

Furthermore, one in three women (32%) reported never or infrequently achieving orgasm during intercourse, with a corresponding figure of 21% during masturbation. In comparison, only 2% of men can't reach an orgasm. Moreover, when masturbating men need on average only 2.5 minutes to reach an orgasm, women need 12 minutes...

My god, 12 minutes. That would mean no more quickies! Glad to be a man.