A quiet and decent weekend

Sunday 10pm, I just got back from a family day to celebrate my mom's 77th birthday. Everyone was present (well, except my 20 year old nephew who has other priorities in life than visiting his grandma) to wish her a happy birthday and many happy returns. We had a long walk on the Terhorsterzand where we stumbled upon 3 large snakes that were basking in the Spring sunshine. Who says there is no wildlife in the Netherlands? We had a great Scandinavian buffet dinner in De Warrel. (picture) I am usually not a big fan of buffet dinners, but they did a great job. I especially liked the Swedish bean and carrot salad in mustard sauce and the Norwegian beetroot salad. Yummie.

Most of yesterday was spent shopping for gifts. My uncle and aunt from Canada sent me a letter by snail mail asking me to get them several items that can not be bought in Canada. Such as a Dutch book first published in 1935 and a certain French soap whose name returned zero results on google....... So you can imagine it took me many hours of shopping in obscure little bookshops and soapshops (I never knew that Amsterdam has so many soapshops) to find the gifts. And I found the book! For the soap, however, I am afraid I need to go to Paris soon.....

Poor Italy, so close to the Vatican

A church (this time the Catholic one) showed its ugly face again, this time in Italy. The Italian government had promised to introduce a form of registered partnership for gay couples, but under the influence of the Vatican and other conservative forces there is a substantial chance that the bill will be shot down in parliament. Yesterday, a large group of people led by Italian gay-rights group Arcigay held a demonstration against the interference of the Vatican in Italian politics.

They are all hypocrites, these Catholic priests. As if we don't know that most of them are gay themselves. "There is no worse enemy of gays than closeted gays."

Spring is in the air

This is something that people from tropical climates don't know. Every year, come March/April, the Northern hemisphere wakes up from the dark, misty, depressing, gloomy winter time. I felt it last night when I was cycling home around 2am: Spring is in the air. The air so crisp, so full of oxygen.

Was out to have ONE beer with MA, HE, SA and EL. I really did not want to go out but they convinced me to join them. Anyway, I managed to stop in time - just.

In memoriam: John Inman

English actor John Inman died this morning. Now I must admit that his name didn't ring a bell immediately when I heard the news. Mr Inman was much better known as Mr Humphries, the queeny Head of Men's Wear in "Are you being served?", the excellent British TV comedy show from the 1970's and early 1980's. His catchphrase "I am free" was one of the many highlights of the show.


'I'm free!,' shrieks Mr Humphries from menswear as, tape measure in trembling hand, he makes a beeline across the shop floor towards an unsuspecting male inside leg; meanwhile Mrs Slocombe, sporting an outrageously dyed bouffant, wonders aloud whether anyone has seen her pussy (she was, of course, referring to her cat) - and the British nation knew what it was in for: half an hour of sub-Carry On innuendo, sauntering alongside rather than attached to the accompanying plot. Broad, rude, crude and offensive were just a few of the criticisms levelled at this scatological sitcom, but the show had the perfect response to such highbrow jibes: ratings. It was loved by the public and they watched it in huge numbers, culminating in over 22 million viewers for a 1979 episode. To date, it remains phenomenally popular in re-runs.

I am a great fan of English humour in general, and English comedy shows in particular. They are so much funnier than their American counterparts. I have watched so many episodes of Are you being served?, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Dad's Army, Blackadder, Yes Minister, Absolutely Fabulous, Little Britain, 'Allo 'Allo, Mr Bean, Keeping Up Appearances, Man About the House, George and Mildred, and I am sure I forget a few.

Mr Inman was gay, but unfortunately never came out during his lifetime. Mr Inman's partner of more than 30 years is said to be devastated at his death. May Mr Inman rest in peace.

Grand Ecole

Every first Wednesday of the month, one of the largest cinemas in Amsterdam will show a gay-themed movie. To make the evening different, they will give everyone a glass of champagne before the film, and they have teamed up with nearby bar April to have a happy hour (2 drinks for the price of one) after the movie.

Yesterday's movie was Grand Ecole, a 2004 French film directed by Robert Salis. It was nice for about an hour with lots of cute bodies to be seen (the waterpolo team!), but I got irritated by the endless discussions and philosophying, which would never happen between real people. Sometimes these European directors, aiming to make a "different", "sophisticated" movie just lose touch with reality. So I focused on the handsome men who were shown in full nudity throughout the film, especially Jocelyn Quivrin as Louis-Arnault and Salim Kechiouche as Mecir.
The gang who were on holiday in SE Asia for 4 weeks were back in town, so the beer flowed freely in April and it was good to hear all of their stories.

Eat chocolate? Go to prison

I guess we have our fair share of lunatics with good intentions in this country:

A Dutch journalist asked an Amsterdam court on Friday to convict him for eating chocolate, saying by doing so he was benefiting from child slavery on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast.

Teun van de Keuken, 35, is seeking a jail sentence to raise consumer awareness and force the cocoa and chocolate industry to take tougher measures to stamp out child labour.

"If I am found guilty of this crime, any chocolate consumer can be prosecuted after that. I hope that people would stop buying chocolate and thus hurt the sales of big corporations and make them do something about the problem," Van de Keuken said.

Ivory Coast, the world's No. 1 cocoa producer, has been racked by instability since a brief 2002 civil war. International rights groups contend that children are working as slaves on its cocoa plantations.

Van de Keuken launched his attempt to be charged for eating chocolate two years ago when the Dutch public prosecutor ruled that it was not a case for the courts and that the journalist was not directly involved with the cocoa business.

On Friday, he appealed against the prosecutor's decision before a court which is expected to rule in April.

Next week on Dutch TV: the MASTURBATE-A-THON

A British documentary about the Masturbate-a-thon will be shown on Dutch TV next week.

WHAT IS A MASTURBATE-A-THON?

For the very first time the Masturbate-a-thon is coming to the UK. After six successful years in San Francisco the event has finally arrived in Europe, and will this year take place in London, on Saturday 5th August 2006.

This is a charity event, intended to encourage people to explore safer sex, talk about masturbation and lift the taboos that still surround the subject, by coming to a public place and coming in a public place!

All money raised supports charities in the campaign for greater public understanding of and better services in HIV and sexual health.
Participants ask friends, colleagues and loved ones to sponsor them. The amount you raise will be determined by how many minutes you masturbate and/or how many orgasms you achieve. You can even ask sponsors to support you by making a single payment just for having the courage to come along on the day and take part.