IDAHO Day 2013 (Updated)

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia (url).

In almost 80 countries around the world, loving someone of the same sex is still considered illegal, at times involving lifetime imprisonment and, in nine countries, it is even punishable by death!

And in many more countries still, citizens are denied their right to live according to their preferred gender identity.

As well as legal discrimination's  social homophobia and transphobia serve to daily deny millions of people across the world their basic human dignity.

The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) was created in 2004 to draw the attention of policymakers, opinion leaders, social movements, the public and the media to this issue.

It is not one centralized campaign; rather it is a moment that everyone can take advantage of to take action.

The date of May 17th was specifically chosen to commemorate the World Health Organization’s decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.

Today is the day to take action in your local area, talk about it or simply mention it, just spread the word!

Update 1
The European Union´s Agency for Fundamental Rights today presented a report of a survey among 93 000 gay inhabitants in the EU and Croatia (read the summary here)

The lowest rate of discrimination occurs in the Netherlands followed by Denmark and Luxembourg, while the highest rate of discrimination occurs is in Lithuania followed by Croatia and Poland.

Update 2
Read my friend Garth Raleigh's suggestion in the comments below about how to take part in the manifestation in SecondLife today!

Happy National Day, Norway!

I posted this last May 17, it will work fine today also!

May 17 is the National Day of Norway.

Norway and Norwegians are undoubtedly the country and people Swedes love most in the world, feel closest to - and love to joke with and about the most also.

As has become my tradition on this blog I give you the most loving joke with Norway and Norwegians ever produced with this classic clip from Swedish television in the early 1960s, "The Helmer Bryds Eminent Five Quartet" with their protest song "Norway".

The Norwegians don´t appreciate us Swedes as much we do them, but then love isn't always mutual, is it?

Happy birthday Norway!

"Norway" - the protest song 

(translated from Swedish by Bock McMillan)

It is said that one should not gene-ra-li-ze,
and say for example that "Germany is not good"
One really shouldn't generally do that, I don´t think, but this doesn´t apply
to the country where Norwegians live.

Norway, Norway,it is a rotten country.
Norwegians, Norwegians, a fucking band of robbers.
Norwegians, Norwegians, they fish bad cod.
So if you see a slob, and he stinks like rotten fish
He is undoubtedly Norwegian.

Yes, the Norwegians they are terrible,
so ugly and so small.
With ties that are disgusting with Norwegian flowers on.
They fool around and fuss, and yodel and go on.
One wonders when one see´s them, how stupid can you be?

Norway, Norway, it never rises "frem".
Norway, Norway, with the thousand "hjem".
Norway, Norway, you stain on our earth.
We can feel the stench all the way down to the Dogger Bank
from your Norwegian smorgasbord.

We should give a real blow to Norway as a nation,
because they have so ugly mountains and have bad pensions too.
They don´t make cars and the bikes they make are lousy
and their only great poet, he is named Peter Dass. (Note: Dass is slang for toilet in Swedish)

Norway, Norway, is the world's worst country.
Norwegians, Norwegians, they should be taken care of.
Norwegians, Norwegians, the people that the Lord gave
a hopeless mind and a forehead that is so low
so that the hat keeps falling off"

Kedvesem with ByeAlex

Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it is true! The results of the second semifinals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 were just presented and my favorite, Hungary's "Kedvesem" with ByeAlex is going to the final on Saturday! That usually never happens...

OK, yes! He is terribly cute and "my scruffy type" (if I have one), but that isn't at all the reason this song is my favorite. Well, not the only reason...!

ByeAlex is his stage name, his real name is Alex Márta and he was born in 1984 on "Kiss-A-Swede-Day" (June 6). Hmm is 14 years too big an age difference? Stop it, Bock, the poor guy you are lusting for is most likely straight... or taken...or both...

(P.S. I am sorry that the video shows too much of the darn ballerina and too little of Alex.)

David Beckham Retires

David "Hot Legs" Beckham, 38, of Paris Saint-Germain FC (PSG) today announced that he is retiring from professional football (the sport which to North American's is better known as "soccer").

It is indeed sad news, even for those of us who have never given a damn about Mr. Beckham's football career, but have always enjoyed his great looking legs. Hopefully Mr. Beckham will continue his career as a model for men's underwear and swimwear a couple of years more.

European Song Contest 2013

The finals of the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is taking place this week, on May 14, 16 and 18, 2013, in Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden. This is after the song "Euphoria", performed by Loreen, won last year's contest. 

A total of 39 countries are competing. Six countries are already qualified for the final on Saturday May 18, these are the so called "Big Five" (France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Spain) and the host country (Sweden). The remaining 33 countries compete for a place in the final in two semifinals held on Tuesday May 14 and Thursday May 16. 

The ten countries that receive the highest scores in each semifinal then take part in the final on Saturday May 18, together with the six countries that are already qualified.

The town of Malmö, where I work, has during the past week been flooded with European artists and  musicians with their large entourages and many thousands of fans. In a rather small town like Malmö their presence is highly noticeable.

Although the ESC has been quite popular in Sweden the last years (especially among the gays), the event doesn't attract the same huge attention in many of the other competing countries, with the possible exception of the gay communities there.

Even if I am not a huge fan of the event I will at least have to try watch the final on Saturday to understand what everyone will be talking about next week.

Another Wonderful Brad

I know I have seem Brad Rowe in a couple of movies earlier, but I didn't really see him until I watched a movie with him on YouTube this past weekend. Brad is totally hot with a beautiful face,  the sexiest legs you can imagine and he is a great actor too!

The movie I saw was "Shelter", directed and written by Jonah Markowitz. I saw the version with Vietnamese subtitles as the original version had been blocked for copyright reasons. In spite of that, I was soon so moved and caught up by the beautiful story that I forgot my irritation with the subtitles.

In the film Brad Rowe plays the older brother of the best friend to Zach, the younger man who is the main character. Zach (played by Trevor Wright) finds comfort in surfing with Shaun (played by Brad Rowe) when his college dreams are sidelined by family obligations. The two men's friendship soon grows into love and we follow how Zach struggles  to accept that he is gay and the love they have for each other.

Its a wonderful movie with all it's Hollywood sleekness and glossiness.

What amazed me the most was that I had never heard of the film before, which perhaps is a sign of how out of touch I have been during the last few years. I urge you to see it if you can if you haven't done so already! And if you should have seen, why not watch it again?

Brad Rowe

Brad Rowe is straight and married and has a son. (Why are all the good men always either straight or taken or both, huh?).

Brad is however an outspoken straight ally. Well, he would be of course otherwise he would never had accepted the role in Shelter.

Now I am going to have to buy the DVD, because I will want to watch this movie over and over again.

Far Out!

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has been on the International Space Station since December 2012 and in command of the vessel since March. While in space he has, with the help of his sons Kyle and Evan,  built up a fan base back on Earth thanks to his Twitter feed of comments, photos and videos showing what life is like in space.

Here commander Hadfield takes farewell of the I.S.S. before heading back home to planet Earth yesterday after five months in space, by singing David Bowie´s "Space Oddity".

(via J.M.G. and others)

David Bowie's team seems happy about it too, as they should be.

CHRIS HADFIELD SINGS SPACE ODDITY IN SPACE!“Hallo Spaceboy...”Commander Chris Hadfield, currently on... fb.me/24sZNW5ly
— David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) 12 maj 2013