John McCain recently appeared on Ellen's show where they discussed gay marriage in California. Ellen gives a perfectly reasoned, impassioned speech on her support of gay marriage and McCain can do nothing but say, "Well, I guess we have a respectful disagreement." He offers no debate or any kind of counter-argument at all. What a Douche!
Posted by Bluj Tuesday, May 28, 2008 1:15pm
Rock 'N' Roller Derby
This past weekend, I went to check out some rough and tumble Roller Derby action. It was the season opener for the Toronto Roller Derby League as the Smoke City Betties took on, last year's champs, the Gore-Gore Rollergirls.
Roller Derby is huge, and Toronto is home to the largest all-female flat-track roller derby league in North America. The sport is as brutal and violent as it is cheeky and sexy. Which would explain its diverse fan base. The crowd had equal number punks and bikers as it did moms and daughters.
The league's next bout is June 7th with Death Track Dolls Vs. Bay Street Bruisers. You can visit torontorollerderby.com for more information. Fun for the whole family!
Posted by Chris Monday, May 26, 2008 2:25pm
Gay Marriage in California!
I suppose the news has a little bit of a ho-hum, "been-there-done-that" kind of feel for us in Canada, but it's definitely nice to see. I saw a rather amusing little debate here featuring Dan Savage, everyone's favourite gay sex columnist, and Tony Perkins, President of the "Family Research Council." Oh, how I love when the word "family" is used in the states to denegrate others. The "Family Research Council" has some wonderfully quaint, homespun views such as: linking pedophilia with homosexuality, trying to overturn all legislative, executive or judicial action designed to protect the status of gays, and campaigning for tighter regulation of pornography which apparently leads to "tragic sex crimes" with women and children. This includes trying to ban pornography in hotel rooms... what they hell else do they expect us to watch in there? Reruns of Family Ties and Full House?
Charmingly, Tony Perkins himself has longstanding ties with various racist organizations, including the Ku Klux Klan. In 1996, he allegedly paid Grand Wizard David Duke $82,000 for his mailing list. Nothing says "Family Values" like a good Sunday lynching. But I don't want to discredit this simple family man too much before you watch the video. His winning, plastered-on smile should be enough to win you back.
Posted by Bluj Tuesday, May 20, 2008 1:46pm
It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year…if You’re an Exhibitionist
With the warm weather comes many seasonal rituals: planning idyllic cottage trips, collecting allergy medication, eating on patios, and... sex outdoors! I know that summer has arrived when the high school kids in my ‘hood start cluttering up the dog park with their make-out sessions, and when blankets of randy couples cover the beach at the cottage...you can see their eyes twinkling with naughtiness (despite the cliché of it all) as they talk about the skinny-dip they plan to take later. Summertime really is the most wonderful time of the year if you have a bit (or a lot) of exhibitionist in you…or voyeurism for that matter. If you are feeling inclined to honour the warm weather with the nudie frolicking that comes with it, check out these out: Time Out New York’s “Come Outside & Lay” and blogTO’s guide to “Public Sex in the City”.
Posted by shasha Friday, May 16, 2008 12:35pm
"BETTER THAN MANGO, EVEN"
So says 9-year-old Bethany Robinson as she fondly recalls her days of being breastfed (til age 7). For more great quotes check out this clip from the documentary "Extraordinary Breastfeeding".
From dem a par inna chi chi man car
Blaze di fire make we bun dem
From dem a drink inna chi chi man bar
Blaze di fire make we done dem
The translation of this catchy and popular dancehall tune “Chi Chi Man” by T.O.K. is essentially: those who drive around in a chi chi (gay) man’s car, we’ll burn them and those who are hanging in a gay man’s bar, we’ll blaze the fire upon them and kill them. When I first realized the meaning of the words of a song I really liked I thought, “That’s freaking crazy!” For those who haven’t heard it - the lyrics are sung to the happy tune of the Christmas carol “Little drummer Boy” and sounds like a super joyful and celebratory anthem.
I had grown to love a lot of dancehall reggae (still do) and it was news to me that several other songs I liked preached the same hateful message towards gays and, less commonly, lesbians. My Guyanese and Trinidadian roommates then inundated me with countless other examples. Of course not all reggae music or Jamaicans are homophobic, but it still made me wonder what it would be like to be gay and Jamaican if violent, gay-bashing lyrics made up a sizeable chunk of the music you grew up on. So, during my second year in Journalism, I decided to produce a short radio doc on the subject. I set out with one of my roommates to attend a gay, reggae night at a club, but there was a huge blizzard and we couldn’t find it and somehow ended up at Woody’s. There I met a guy in his late twenties, Boris, who was both gay and Jamaican. After telling me his dad thought all homosexuals should be stoned to death, he related the moment when he realized how divided his two identities were. It had happened several years before at Caribana in Toronto. He was jamming with his Jamaican friends when the DJ dropped one of the biggest tracks of that year, “Boom bye bye” by Buju Banton (which advocates shooting “batty boys” in the head), and the crowd went nuts. He said, “I can just remember thinking, here I am, a proud Jamaican, dancing and celebrating my culture, to a song that’s preaching my death.” Check out this link for the lyrics.
Check out this recent article in Xtra, which highlights the debate over somewhat successful efforts of gay rights groups to boycott Jamaican reggae artists from performing internationally, even if they agree not to perform certain homophobic songs. I definitely think that the artists are wrong in sending out these hateful messages. At the same time, it’s hard to say if boycotting the artists will have the desired effect, or whether it will just fan the flames of a fire only education and understanding can put out. What do you think?
Posted by Layal Wednesday, May 14, 2008 11:51am
Scamming the scammer
I recently became obsessed with scambaiting. First, you have to get a scam letter, like those Nigerian frauds where you are promised millions if you send an advance fee of, say, $10,000 and then, of course, you never get the millions. And then you contact the scammer back as if you are interested in sending them money, but are really just interested in wasting their time or, at worst, humiliating them. The ethics of scambaiting are dubious at best. You are essentially scamming the scammer, but not for profit - for fun and hilarious entertainment!
There are a number of scambaiting communities online such as 419 Eater (http://www.419eater.com) and The Scam Baiter. One of the most entertaining scams I ever read was a kind of reversal on the Romance Scam, where scammers try to get more money out of their victims by pretending to fall in love with them. It's called The Great Penis Caper. After posing as a woman and developing an internet relationship with the scammer, the scambaiter convinces the scammer that the only way she could send him the advance fee is for them to get married first. But since her church requires proof that the men are circumcised, the scammer has to send pictures of his penis in various states of arousal to her church reverend (who was, of course, the scambaiter using another fake identity).
Scam baits are usually incredibly long and complex. The scambaiter usually creates multiple identities and fake companies in order to fool the scammer and humiliate him in various ways. Sending naked pictures is just the tip of the iceberg! As I said, the ethics of this activity are very suspect. You can read about the ethics of this activity here or just skip ahead to some of the letters here.
Posted by Bluj Tuesday, May 13, 2008 12:12pm
Happy Mother's Day!
She's pregnant again. That's right - Michelle Duggar, of the infamous Duggar Family is pregnant with her 18th child. (Seems like the month of March is a busy time for Michelle and Jim Bob - all of their kids have been born in December or January…) I know I've posted on their family before, but such large families never cease to fascinate me (my roommate and I can't stop watching TLC's Jon and Kate Plus Eight. Today, however, I'm thinking about how all these kids are going to be able to keep track of their entire extended family later on in life. My parents each have 7 sibs, and as a result, I have over 40 cousins - many of whom I've never met and I certainly couldn't name all of them for you. It's like that old nursery rhyme:
"As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives,
Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits: kits, cats, sacks and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?"
I've never really had the patience to sit down and figure this one out. (Although, the answer is debatable here). Anyway, Jezebel has a great clip of the Duggars' pregnancy announcement from the Today show. Take a look, as there are just no words to really truly describe these people. (Though 'fecund' and 'OW' certainly come to mind).
Posted by Emily Monday, May 12, 2008 4:08pm
No Sex in Saskatchewan
Contrary to popular belief, sex does not sell. Last week, Saskatchewan cable provider SaskTel Max was forced to pull the plug on a free preview of digital channels because a small number of parents (possibly as low as one) didn't like the fact that SexTV was among the channels being offered. The parent worried for the eyes and minds of her young children. It's clear that she hadn't spent much time, if any, actually watching SexTV. Because, if she had, she'd realize that we're not peddlers of smut. Our channel is dedicated to promoting mature and intelligent discourse surrounding the various facets of culture and politics as they relate to sex and sexuality. Mature and intelligent discourse is something that all parents should foster, especially when it comes to tackling issues of sexuality with their children. If more parents were open to discussing these (yes, sometimes uncomfortable) things with their kids, they could better police their children's viewing habbits, rather than resorting to policing the viewing habits of every man, woman and child within their province.
Another Saskatchewanian (?) posted this youtube video in response to the whole ordeal. I can't disagree with his larger points, (IE. if you don't like it, change the channel AND welcome to the age of tv parental-controls). But, with comments like "I don't watch SexTV because PORN BORES THE HELL OUT OF ME," it was interesting to know that even those defending us hadn't apparently spent any real time watching the channel.
