Wednesday, June 29, 2005

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).

Sunday, June 26, 2005

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...

Saturday, June 25, 2005

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. :(

Friday, June 24, 2005

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).

Thursday, June 23, 2005

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.

Monday, June 20, 2005

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. :(

Thursday, June 16, 2005

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. ;)

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

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.

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

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.

Friday, June 03, 2005

Insecure boys

I ran into this British news item recently. One in four British teenage boys think they may need cosmetic surgery... eight out of ten boys (average age 15) are unhappy with their appearance. I can apply for a shortened curriculum Medicine after obtaining my degree in Pharmacy. Maybe I should; looking at this there will be more than enough jobs in the cosmetic surgery field of work. ;) Incredible. Via Brat Boy Bulletin.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

European Constitution

I just got back from casting my vote. We have a referendum in The Netherlands today on the European Constitution. I've voted in favor of the constitution, but it looks like the general vote will reject it... with even higher percentages compared to France last Sunday.

Many 'no' voters don't have clear objections against the constitution; they don't fully understand the complex matter. What they do know however is they’re angry with the unpopular government and they’re angry about the rise in prices (especially in bars and restaurants) when the Guilder was replaced by the Euro a few years ago. They fear Turkey might join the European Union, but don’t understand this constitution has nothing to do with the admittance of Turkey.

This is the first nation-wide referendum in The Netherlands. In my opinion it is a big mistake to ask the population their opinion on a complex subject like this. Most voters do not understand the consequences of a vote in favor or a vote against the constitution and just take this opportunity to show their discontent with government policy.