left brain

Capoeira

ManChic once again suggests something very fabulously fierce.  Check out: Love Capoeira.  (Capoeira btw is a 400 year-old Afro-Brazilian martial art, developed as a method of expression and self -defense by the African slaves in Brazil.  Today, Capoeira is Brazil's second largest sport after soccer, and is fast becoming a global recognized art form and sport. Its distinctive blend of martial arts, dance and ritual  music attracts people of all types.) 

What do you think of this bathing suit?  I am thinking it would look nice on me by the pool next month?  Since clearly my board shorts are too conservative for South America.  haha.  though, I am going to Argentina.  oh well, it is a start.

Bush was voted Time Magazine's Man of the Year.  I know someone else who also was in 1938. 

and to finish...
Charlotte:  I wish there were no men.
Samantha:  OH GOD.  Call someone.  She has gone insane!

Hectic yet Bored

I will resume full raging posting tomorrow.  Shopping or my hemorrhaging of money for Christmas presents combined with work has basically left me exhausted.  I have come home the last few nights and have done nothing but sit infront of the TV.  Well that isn't true, I guess.  I have gone to a birthday dinner and I have beaten Halo2 with a new boy.  Happy Birthday Tom!  (the ex)   Woo, to Halo!  It was fabulous.  And.. oh god, its winter.  Yep, looking outside confirms that.  There is snow on the ground and it has been below zero the last 2 days in Boston. 

Oh, and thank god for Jet Blue and the cheap flights to Long Beach!  Buy One Get One.
Donna and I are headed off ... just not as planned.

And, am I supposed to be excited about heading home for Christmas?  I am looking forward to seeing my parents but I am totally not into Christmas this year.  And I don't understand the people who say they don't give a shit about it and that it means nothing yet make the BIGGEST deal possible over it.  Like seriously.  It's a holiday, the birth of Christ, the saviour for the commercial world for the year, and not much else kids.  So, lets just move on.  Cherish your family and your life everyday not just one.

Barbarian Invasions

There is nothing like waking up on a Saturday morning with nothing to do but slowly watch a movie.  I however wasn't planning for a tear jerker of a movie.  I have shed tears in movies before but Barbarian Invasions left me sobbing for the last 15minutes of the movie.  It was extremely powerful and won many awards, including Best Foreign Picture in the Academy Awards, recently.  Yet, I was a little surprised to see the plane flying into the World Trade Center in some footage I have never seen before.   by theI talk about many movies that I love ( and rarely about the shit that I also see, like National Treasure) and this is certainly one of them. 

Writer and director Denys Arcand would agree with Anne Bedford Ulanov who has written: "Meaning does not come to us in finished form, ready-made; it must be found, created, received, and constructed. We grow our way toward it." The Barbarian Invasions works well in its depiction of a father-son reunion that opens up these men and softens their hearts in the face of death. In the end, Remy rejoices in his life of wine, women, books, friends, and music, and is able to add to these blessings the gift of a son who truly nurtures him in the last stage of his journey.

Plume Noir says: 
From the start of the film, the dialogue is awash with light-hearted, yet emotional expressions. When the protagonists aren't spouting knowledgeable theories backed up with quotes and literary or historical references (in no particular order, Dante, Montaigne, Cioran, Primo Lévi, Soljenitsyne, etc.), they are uttering abundant and direct proverbs that have the audience in stitches. The audience feels they have been accepted into a circle of happy epicureans. Just one of many witticisms is this maxim about their trip to the United States: "Christmas having a scan, Easter in the cemetery."  Simple and effective.

Through discussions and debates, the characters provoke the audience to think about the relationship between contemporary events and past facts and ideologies. During a conversation with a nurse, Rémy compares the number of victims that fell under American and conquistador fire in the 16th century to those wounded in the 20th century. One has to admire the effectiveness of modern means of destruction "200 million deaths. All these deaths without even using bombs!" However, the director does not only target the rulers of the world. In a scene where the extras draw up a list of all the movements ending in "ism" through which they have all lived (structuralism, nihilism, Marxism, etc.), cretinism included, they have a dig at the Berlusconi government.

Moment of Zen

Two years ago I went to Puerto Rico.  It turns out that they have a small rainforest with a cloud forest, which is where these pics were taken from before we were enveloped in a cloud.  It was stunningly beautiful to see and one of my most favorite memories of the trip.  I am bringing this up now because I just rediscovered the pictures I took while looking for all of my old pictures.  More to come, I think.

l'ultimo bacio

The fabulous Italian movie that I have now watched twice is called The Last Kiss (l'ultimo bacio) and it is hysterically appalling.  I have asked of many of my film fantatic friends the names of Italian directors that are hot in Italy now and not one of them can come up with anyone that really strikes them.  Ugh.  It turns out that this movie is by director Gabriele Muccino and he seems to have a pretty good rep.  I am in desperate need to see more of his movies.  Until then, add this to netflix and enjoy.

It is one of the best films ever to deal with twenty-something males who haven't really grown up and accepted the responsibility of an adult life, and also about the women who have to deal with them. Most of the men in this film have commitment-phobia. Babies are being had, weddings are taking place, apartments are being purchased, but all these men can think about is escape. They are planning on buying a beat up old van and traveling the world in search of an adventure. Anything will do, as long as it doesn't involve growing up, becoming an adult and assuming responsibility for the direction of their lives and relationships.  But the movie is so effortless, lighthearted, energetic and funny that time seems to fly by. It is one of the most entertaining films of the year. It's no wonder that 'The Last Kiss' won so many Audience Awards at film festivals in 2002, including at Sundance. The film also became one of the biggest box office successes in European cinema history.

I love foreign film, more so than Hollywood, because every other country in the world (even down to South Korea as I recently learned) is so much more willing to open up and talk about emotions and love and passion and life while American movies can't seem to get anywhere near the topic.  (Or if they do, the movie doesn't actually pull a response from the viewer).  I know I am making big broad accusations and generalizations but whatever, its me.  And some more generalizations, haha:

Spain and Spanish film is about passion/sex.
France is about love and trying to find and deal with it.
South Korea is entirely lost in the world.  I have no idea what their thoughts are.
Japan and China are into their own magical emotional history.
Italy is all about trying to figure out LIFE and its meaning and how it relates to you.
America is all about blowing shit up and the never ending car chase.

Dear Santa, I Want . . . Oh, Never Mind. I'll Buy It Myself.

This NYTimes article is totally me.

Dear Santa, I Want . . . Oh, Never Mind. I'll Buy It Myself.

December 14, 2004
By GUY TREBAY

The holidays, it is generally accepted, are a time of
giving, of sharing, a period when a spirit of generosity
sweeps the land. Behind the snow-globe fantasy, however,
lies another, slightly skewed portrait of the seasonal
altruism. For a lot of consumers the line appears to be
blurring between giving and receiving. And the person one
seems likeliest to shop for come December is, increasingly,
oneself.

The evidence is strictly anecdotal, according to those on
the front lines of retail sales. There is scant hard
information on a phenomenon for which the reliable survey
has yet to be devised.

For more, go to the Times.

Christmas Trees Point To Heaven

I know I am a gay boy and I am supposed to be into Britney Spears, Madonna, and Lindsay Lohan but I find it hard to get into it lately.  I want to see talent.  I am only bitching because I just witnessed Lohan's music video on TRL before I unfortunately had to run head first to the toilet.  She should just act, not sing.  One is enough, especially if you are barely talented in one of the areas.  Don't you think?  The song is horrendous and her dancing to some overly choreographed routine just makes her look like the red head Barbi doll no one wanted.  It's gross!  She looks like a plastic doll!  Eck.  I love Gwen but what is her issues/obsession with Japanese girls?  And who is this Jesse McCartney other than a kid I probably would end up going to jail for?   He looks like Nick or Aaron Carters younger brother. Ha, if that is even possible.

Moving on...  I have split my website so people who actually want to know what I have to say can without me feeling the need to be G-rated.  I refuse to now control myself.  So, yes.. I masturbated for my entire Saturday afternoon.  Whether or not you have to run around my work and say so is your own issue.  Not mine.  I happily will say so.  ;)   If you can't deal, then just look at my art or put up some blinders or something.  Just because I feel the need to continue my blog looking like a porn site, check out Bruno Season, a hot as hell model from Brazil.  What it is with me and Brazil lately, I have no idea, but whatever.. I am less than a month away from going to South America and I can't wait.  I honestly might not return.  Why, cause it is 24 degrees which feels like 14 degrees with a wind chill.  But, bring it on!  In Buones Aires, it's 89 degrees. 

I have just finished watching another episode of QAFolk (dealing with Ted and his drug use).  I am off to watch an Italian movie that won some award at Cannes that boasts: "Sex and the City with Men!"  Sounds fabulous, right?  I am hoping so.

In between the television festival, I ended up meeting up with my friend Greg at a Christmas Tree outpost in the South End where we picked a "fat girl" tree.  We carried it through the South End and Back Bay to his house where we decorated it.  It was my first time decorating a real Christmas tree in many years and it definitely brought a tear to my eye, especially with Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra belting out the tunes.  It looked beautiful sitting in the bay window with lights and glittery balls. (photo's to come!)  I also learned, supposedly, that Christmas Tree's are symbolic because they point to Heaven.  Is this true?  And as T said, my dick points to heaven, does that make me a religious symbol?  So at the end of the night, I feel alone and wishing I was able to drink cocoa with a boy by our tree that we decorated together.  Damnit!  But, in the end, I did decorate it with someone important and that means enough.

Debauchery, the rest of it

I attended a holiday "work" party with a few of my friends on Friday.  (pictures are here)  Greg invited us to this shin dig which actually turned out to be amusing.  Thanks Danielle for being a bitchy cunt with me!   :)  Sorry Mike that you couldn't be my sidekick bitchy friend.  Anyways, the food was good but the straight people dancing was the icing on the cake. 

My Saturday was spent masturbating.  No joke.  Almost an entire bottle of lube.  Then I went to Rhode Island to go dancing with Matt and Greg which turned into a small amount of drama.  No need to get into it, mostly.  But overall it wasn't worth it.  More attitude 19yo's pushing to get off of the dance floor, a mirror hanging off a car upon return to it, a ridiculous parking ticket, and well, the lack of sleep.  But, amusing nonetheless. 

Sunday I got up at 2:15pm.   Haha!  I then went grocery shopping and ended up doing absolutely nothing (which was fabulous) before doing more of absolutely nothing at night.  Well, I guess Sex and the City counts.

To bitch:  WHO THE FUCK STILL CARES ABOUT the apprentice?  Come on people, move on!  The loser from last year is not running that company unattended.  And this year's isn't going to do anything that exciting either.  So, why waste your life on watching them?

I need to make a plug though.  I highly recommend the store called Lush.  They make lotions and potions basically but they are handmade!  Their soaps are amazing but their face wash is NEEDED.  It's called Coal Face and it has actually made my face clearer and less likely to break out.  There is a store 2 blocks down from where I work in Boston and I quite literally go every week.  (Mostly forced by Donna but its cool, I go). 

I also need to rave about France again.  Look at this shit!  Its the tallest bridge in the world or so they claim.    And also look at this tennis player who stripped when he won.   How fierce! (thanks Marcus and the FrenchBoys)

Debauchery

It all begins with champagne, three Screwdrivers and well, thats about it because I was already drunk and the god awful week (again) was slowly evaporating away.  Though it could be said so were my braincells.  Oh well.   So, after enough drinking to make me not need another drink for the rest of the night, the boys (Matt, Mike, Greg) and I all packed into Greg's little red sportscar to zip over to Cambridge (don't forget stealing flowers to place into parking spot since it is now winter in Boston and people kill for the spaces) for a nightclub that now makes us all feel old (disgustingly) and that overall hasn't been exciting as it was when I went when I was 19.

Strip off jacket in 30 degree weather.  Run to the line.  Hand over license.  All sounds normal, right?  Well, it does until the bouncer proceeded to interrogate me because he "smelled" alcohol on my breath.  And I mean he wasn't going to let me into the fucking 19yo club.  Like, who does that?  Usually they check for drugs or if you aren't 21 but stopping me because I had a "drink" just seems ridiculous.  To top it all off, I was even more offended when he asked what I was drinking and then proceeded to answer for me by saying, "Whiskey!?"  I was like.  Hells no, I don't drink whisky.  Vodka, and all of my friends behind me have beeen too and I am not anywhere near drunk nor are they.  (If I was to fall, so shall the rest).  Haha.   Eventually I was let in.  I performed my usual monkey trick hanging from the ledge on the way to the bathroom.  We danced and hung around.  Nothing really that exciting until Mike and I noticed a huge wad of bills on the dance floor and being the good little angels that we are, we thought we should pick it up and bring it to the front desk.  (Which means split it evenly and put it into your wallet).  Well, it  turns out that as Mike is bending down to pick up the cash, trying not to grab attention as we ARE in the middle of the dance floor, some fat little black girl comes over, grabs us both with her she-male arms and proceeds to claw her Lee Press On Nails into our necks as she flips out about how someone "stole the cash" from her and how we got another thing coming if we think we are taking it.  As I am like, calm down which later turned into calm down you bitch, she turns into some raging fucking ghetto-ass girl as Mike and I are horrified and now screaming at her, calm down and leave us alone.  Take "your" money and "your fucking nails out of our neck!" 

Overall I left the night with a boys phone number (23yo from Brazil, lick) and stories.  So maybe, my miserably down week which I have categorized as a TOTAL LOSS,  could possibly pay off.  Oh shit... my horoscope said I would find love on Thursday!   OMG !

 

I Heart France

Please read about France and how spectacular they are unlike this red neck country.  ;)

France Punishes Homophobia!