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Home alone - last day

OS will be discharged from hospital tomorrow so my 9 days of being home alone are ending. In the car on the way to hospital tonight I was thinking that I have spend a substantial part of my life living alone: from my 18th (when I left my parents' house to go to University in another city) until my 34th I was the only one living in my various houses, with only a few short intermissions of (boy)friends moving in. I am seldom bored: give me a newspaper, a book, a TV, some music, a telephone and a computer with Internet access, and I am happy. If I feel that I need human contact I can always go out and meet a friend, or pick up the phone and call someone. So I was quite happy this last week being home alone, and will have to get used to someone in the house again!

Is this true for men, too?

Wealthy men give women more orgasms.
Scientists have found that the pleasure women get from making love is directly linked to the size of their partner’s bank balance. They found that the wealthier a man is, the more frequently his partner has orgasms. “Women’s orgasm frequency increases with the income of their partner,” said Dr Thomas Pollet, the Newcastle University psychologist behind the research. He believes the phenomenon is an “evolutionary adaptation” that is hard-wired into women, driving them to select men on the basis of their perceived quality. The study is certain to prove controversial, suggesting that women are inherently programmed to be gold-diggers. However, it fits into a wider body of research known as evolutionary psychology which suggests that both men and women are genetically predisposed to ruthlessly exploit each other to achieve the best chances of survival for their genes.
The female orgasm is the focus of much research because it appears to have no reproductive purpose. Women can become pregnant whatever their pleasure levels.
Hey guys, is this true for men, too? I have seldom had sex with wealthy men so I can't answer this question.....

Freedom of expression - I love it!

A new art installation going on display at the European Council building in Brussels has angered EU members with its lampoons of national stereotypes. Entropa portrays Bulgaria as a toilet, Romania as a Dracula theme-park and France as a country on strike. The Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, thought it had commissioned work from 27 European artists. But it turned out to have been entirely completed by Czech artist David Cerny and two associates.
The eight-tonne mosaic is held together by snap-out plastic parts similar to those used in modelling kits. The Netherlands is shown as series of minarets submerged by a flood - a possible reference to the nation's simmering religious tensions. Germany is shown as a network of motorways vaguely resembling a swastika, while the UK - criticised by some for being one of EU's most eurosceptic members - is absent from Europe altogether.
The 16-square-metre (172-square-foot) work was installed at the weekend to mark the start of the six-month Czech presidency of the EU. There has already been an angry reaction to the piece from Bulgaria, which has summoned the Czech ambassador to Sofia to explain. The three artists responsible for Entropa were led by David Cerny who is the enfant terrible of the Czech art world. When his government commissioned him to create the installation, several eyebrows were raised, and they were not raised in vain. Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra said he was only informed on Monday that the installation was not the work of 27 European artists, but David Cerny and two colleagues. Mr Vondra condemned Mr Cerny and said the Czech EU presidency was considering what steps to take before Thursday's official launch.
"An agreement of the office of the government with the artist clearly stated that this will be a common work of artists from 27 EU states," he said. "The full responsibility for violating this assignment and this promise lies with David Cerny."
Mr Cerny, who presented Entropa to his government with a brochure describing each of the artwork's 27 supposed contributors from each member state, has apologised for misleading ministers, but not for the installation itself. "We knew the truth would come out," said Mr Cerny. "But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself." He added that Entropa "lampoons the socially activist art that balances on the verge between would-be controversial attacks on national character and undisturbing decoration of an official space". Mr Cerny first created a splash in the early 1990s when he painted a Soviet tank, a Second World War memorial in a Prague square, bright pink.

Update

I have been lazy blogging (didn't really feel like it) so here is a short update:
1) OS is in hospital again he had an infection in his mouth, they had to extract a tooth to reach it and because it is in an area which had radio therapy last year they have to be extremely careful. Seven to ten days in hospital. Well, compared to last year's operations this one is fortunately relatively minor;
2) the gay movie last week was Beautiful boxer which for some reason I had missed when it first came out. For those that don't know, it is the movie about the Thai transsexual who became a Thai boxing champion. A good movie;
3) also watched two other movies: Untraceable and Rendition both worth seeing;
4) had a great party at JO's and GO's with many beautiful and fun people and the worst alcoholic concoction I have ever had;
5) the sweetest man had his birthday on Monday. May you have a wonderful year!

For sgboy

GZ posted this song on Facebook. Listening to it I had to think of sgboy. This one is for you!

There is hope....

There is still hope if we managed to brainwash the new muslim mayor of Rotterdam to say "Building trust means a hefty debate about the fundamentals of constitutional democracy: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal rights for men and women, homosexual and heterosexual, and fighting discrimination".
Seriously, I hope we can leave the useless debate about "us" and "them" behind us and accept that everybody who respects the law is equal. Mr. Aboutaleb's new job is a good development.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I watched this latest Woody Allen film today and it did not disappoint. The story is about two young American women (played by Rebecca Hall (Vicky) and Scarlett Johansson (Cristina)) who are spending the summer in Barcelona. They meet Spanish painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) who invites them to Oviedo to see a sculpture "that inspires him" and both women fall in love with the guy. After their return to Barcelona, Cristina moves in with Juan Antonio while Vicky's fiancé flies to Spain to be with his wife-to-be. All seems fine until Juan Antonio's ex-wife Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz) (who we know tried to kill the painter) appears and messes up everybody's life.
A fine movie with quite a few funny moments. The characters are a bit stereotypical (all Americans are materialistic and unsophisticated while the Europeans are romantic, full of life and drama, and artistic) but that's something we expect from Woody Allen. I think the lesson we should learn from this movie is that both extremes (a decent life with wife/husband and a good job, and the artistic way of free love and go-as-you-please) aren't a sure way to make one happy. Most likely, as so often, something in between is your best bet for happiness......
This movie really convinced me to go to Spain a few times this year!

A good party

We had a fabulous party at the Angel Cruise on New Year's Eve. WI came up with the idea and he got tickets for 6: WI, GO, HE, XX, OS and myself. When they heard about our plans, more friends wanted to join, but all tickets had already been sold. Pre-party, WI cooked us a wonderful dinner and we were all in a party mood when we walked to the Supperclub boat around 10:30pm. The crowd was nice and mixed: drag queens, leather men, lesbians, with most people in their 30's and 40's. The deck upstairs had a drag queen show and mellow music, while downstairs they played hard-core party music. We found ourselves downstairs most of the time with the occasional visit upstairs or on the outside deck to look at the fireworks and have a puff. Fortunately, it was not very cold on new year's eve so we ushered in the new year with champagne and a smoke while looking at the fireworks (great views from the water) from the open deck. I don't remember much of what happened next, but suddenly it was 5am, the boat docked and it was the end of the party. The Central Station taxi mafia wanted €60 for the ride home so we told them to go f*** themselves and waited for the night bus, which was free tonight. A great ushering in of the new year. Happy New Year to all readers of this blog!