The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

The documentary " The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" has been on my Netflix queue for a few months after I missed it's limited engagement here in Honolulu. After waiting and waiting, the I received the film in the mail today and loaded with anticipation, I watched it tonight.

It sucked. It was too long (they could have condensed the entire film into a half an hour mini-documentary) and it needed some massive editing. I guess you could say they're the same thing?

The movie wasn't as much about the parrots, but rather about the weird single man who watches them. It was about his life and his relationships with the bird.

The two things about this movie that absolutely irritated me, were the constant use of recorded bird calls throughout the movie and the bird watcher's constant use of anthropomorphism towards the birds.

In any event, I gave " The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" a 1 out of 5.

Modern Day Slavery

From today's LA Times

Hundreds of young North Korean women are working in garment and leather factories like this one, easing a labor shortage in small Czech towns. Their presence in this recent member of the European Union is something of a throwback to before the Velvet Revolution of 1989, when Prague, like Pyongyang, was a partner in the Communist bloc. The North Korean government keeps most of the earnings, apparently one of the few legal sources of hard currency for an isolated and impoverished government believed to be living off counterfeiting, drug trafficking and weapons sales. Experts estimate that there are 10,000 to 15,000 North Koreans working abroad in behalf of their government in jobs ranging from nursing to construction work. In addition to the Czech Republic, North Korea has sent workers to Russia, Libya, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia and Angola, defectors say. Almost the entire monthly salary of each of the women here, about $260, the Czech minimum wage, is deposited directly into an account controlled by the North Korean government, which gives the workers only a fraction of the money. To the extent that they are allowed outside, they go only in groups. Often they are accompanied by a guard from the North Korean Embassy who is referred to as their "interpreter." They live under strict surveillance in dormitories with photographs of North Korea's late founder Kim Il Sung and current leader Kim Jong Il gracing the walls. Their only entertainment is propaganda films and newspapers sent from North Korea, and occasional exercise in the yard outside. "This is 21st century slave labor," said Kim Tae San, a former official of the North Korean Embassy in Prague. He helped set up the factories in 1998 and served as president of one of the shoe factories until he defected to South Korea in 2002.

The news of this is horrible on so many levels. On one hand, this is what happens when the EU zealously expands and includes countries that aren't on the same socio-political level as France, German, the UK, etc. Like NAFTA, CAFTA and other forms of free trade, this leaves a vaccuum behind when skilled workers leave to find higher paid wages in more developed economies.

Secondly, I find it completely eerie how far our country has swung to the right and how this administration's power can go unchecked. It's like Nixon on Steroids. (Okay, I know this wasn't a blog post based on Bush, but I couldn't help myself.)

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas.

I love homemade eggnog, pigging out, drinking on a Monday afternoon, spiced rum and substance abuse. Nothing says Tis The Season like being bombed on day three of a three day weekend. God Bless Christmas and Christ Almighty!

Dim Sum

I love Dim Sum. I really do.

I just stuffed myself silly at lunch and now I'm back at work and desperately trying to get work done, but I am so full that I can't even move.

Man, what a fat ass I've become!

Weird Science

Tis the season!

As Americans flock to their local Wal-Marts and gobble up Chinese-made plastic Sponge Bob toys and Cuddly Elmo dolls, the proponents behind teaching Intelligent Design, or the theory that a divine power created the universe, are busy licking their wounds. A Pennsylvania judge ruled recently that Intelligent Design can't be taught in high school biology classes, but only after the Board of Education and community was made into a national laughing stock.

I'm not saying that God doesn't exist or that we were't created by some power, for each of us is allowed to believe whatever we want to believe in. That's the beauty of this contry.

It means that in science, we can't turn to the supernatural to explain things when natural processes don't answer all of the questions.

Religion and Intelligent Design do not belong in the classrooms. Amen.

Grape Tomatoes

I am in love with grape tomatoes from Costco. These little delicious red gems of goodness are sweet and firm and about the size of .. well, grapes! I recommend you trying them out sometime. They go great in salads or for a light, yet healthy, snack. Vitamin C, Licopene and other goodies are loaded into these zingers!

Happy Holidays

I don't know if you've heard the news or not, but there is a War going on against Christmas right now. I kid you not, a mutha fucking War against the holiest of all American Holidays. Yes ladies and gentlemen, it's an all out attack on our core and spirit. These crazy liberals out there, want to take away your right to worship as you please. They want to strip you of your Constiutional Right like in a Seuse-esque way so they can subject you to their twisted and perverse ways. Each time they replace "Merry Christmas" with their anti-Christian slogan of "Happy Holidays", these liberals take an attack on Jesus Christ, himself.

Crazies out there.

Man, I'm so good, I could work cleaning the filter at a right wing think tank!

Sydney Mardi Gras 2005

So Gav and I went to the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras this past year, and Girl, let me tell you! For us American's, it's all about the Southern Hemisphere mystique. Different accents, opposite seasons and a culture that is both quirky and familiar all at the same time. Boys and Girls, this is Australia.

Picture it ... 20,000 hot shirtless gay boys all dancing together on a warm Sydney Fall night. It is truly a sight to see and an experience to yearn for. I often say that gay men get to live in the fantasy world that the child in the candy store could never even conceptualize.

It was pretty fabulous from the get-go. A short 10 hour flight on Qantas from Honolulu to Sydney. If the Business Class Lounge champagne didn't get me in the mood, the wonderful (yet New World) Aussie wine they were serving on our flight sure did! Our cute and oh-so-convienent boutique hotel Mark suggested was perfect! Location Location Location, people! The Medusa really took care of every need a gay couple at their first Mardi Gras could use. I would recommend this place to anyone going to Sydney, and I'm talking everyone. I would send my gay brother, my best gay friend, my parents or even grandparents there if I had the opportunity. This place is so glam that Kylie Minogue stayed in one of the suites. How fab is that?

I often think that I am the envy of many gay men out there because of my strategic location to Australia and the Pacific. In the past two years, I've gone to Australia twice, Fiji and New Zealand. I would love to visit French Polynesia, The Cook Islands, Asia and so much more.

Gavin and I are making plans for the 2006 Mardi Gras and I invite anyone who is curious to come along and experience the fun. Words cannot begin to describe how amazing it is.

I'm such a lazy ass

I really need to start blogging on a regular basis. If I ever hope to have readers, I need to have daily content.

I never knew that leaving myspace would be so hard!

Does you get email access in heaven?

Communicating with the deceased has been something that humans have tried to accomplish for over thousands of year. Since the dawn of time, we have lost those who are most precious to us, often times not getting the opportunity to have that last conversation with them. We often have 20/20 vision in hindsight and often deliver a very emotional soliloquy after everything is said and done. What if we had a way to communicate with the dead. What if heaven had email and internet access.

Of course, the majority of this question stands on the basis on whether or not there actually is life after death. But for the sake of argument, why don't we just say that you die and go to heaven. No hell or anything nasty like that, (I think the concept of hell was created as a form of control by the church.) just heaven. Plain and simple ole heaven.


When an old person dies, you are left with memories, but when a young person dies, you are often left with questions.

If you had email access in heaven, there wouldn't be so many questions.

But are those questions meant to be answered?