In that conversation, Jesse Jackson made a couple of inappropriate comments regarding Barack Obama.

      It seems that Jesse Jackson takes issue with the way that Sen. Obama speaks to the African American population.  He said it made him want to rip off his n--s.  Then later, it was also revealed that he allegedly, also used the other "N"- word. 

       On the view, Elisabeth Hasselback made a comments saying, that she felt it was inappropriate to use that word in private or in public.  Wow, did the other "ladies" of the view take issue with her.

        The focus of tension towards Elisabeth was nothing less than hostile.  Sherri Shephard said, "don't you dare tell me, not to use that word".  She also said to Barbara Walters, "I don't want to hear that word comming out of your mouth".  Sherri said that to her, after Barbara phrased a question to her; about, whether it made a difference whether a white person said the "N"-word or whether another African American said it.  That was harsh Sherri...definately.  Doesn't that feel like a bit of reverse racism; OR IS THAT THE WHOLE POINT?

          When Elisabeth was overcome with emotion, Barbara Walters told her to take a breath and let someone else talk.  It was rude of Barbara and dismissive of the depth of Elisabeth's convictions on the subject.   The balance of conservative/liberal general opinions is off on that show. Topics often feel one sided as opposed to a real collection of multiple views.

          Yes, Elisabeth does talk too much on subjects that she feels strongly about.  Part of that I am sure, is because she is the only "voice" of conservative republicans on the show.  However, I can honestly say, there are days when some of the other co-hosts are guilty of the same thing...dominating the conversations.  Most of the time, I can do without watching The View...it often turns into a circus of people talking over the top of each other.  There seems to be less respect given to each other as time goes on.

       Whoopi started out being calm in my opinion; but, when the others jumped all over Elizabeth like a trampoline...Whoopi got worked up and became short with Elisabeth as she tried to clarify her statements.  She said that Elisabeth, had to understand that black people were hurt by that word because of the history of it...and so, black people now "own" the word and have given the word new meaning.  Many people feel that it is ok...as long as African Americans use the word towards one another...but, no white people have the "right" to use it at all. 

       Basically, the show came across with the impression that the other co-hosts felt that Elizabeth, nor any white people, have a right to be offended by the use of the "N"-word in their presence. 

         In my opinion, it feels like verbal abuse to hear that word; used towards another human being.  I think that is what Elizabeth was trying to convey, that it is almost like visiting a friend who's spouse is verbally abusing them.  By keeping quiet, you feel as if you are condoning such behavior.  By speaking out against people using that word towards another person...Elizabeth stepped on to a racial landmine, that she had no idea existed between her, and her co-hosts.

         Sherri Shephard also said that in her family, the "N"-word was used as a "term of endearment".  Elisabeth's point was, that she had a difficult time understanding why using a word that had such a negative history, as a term of endearment, was a good thing.  I think Elisabeth was getting flustered because of the intensity of the hostility directed at her comments, by her co-hosts.  She wasn't making herself clearly understood.  But, truly, why would someone want to be called a word that, for many people, was connected to a demeaning, violent, hurtful and dismissive way of life in our country's past; and, often present society ?

       I think using words like that, only serves to inflame resentment and violence.  Getting touchy about who uses the word seems ignorant to me.  Why would anyone who respected themselves, want to use the "N"- word as a way of greeting, a term of endearment, or as a way of connecting to another person.  Just knowing that some people use the term as a weapon should inspire African Americans to demand that NO ONE CALL THEM SUCH A NAME...out of a matter of respect. 

        I fail to see how redefining the word gives the word new power.  It is still an ugly word, just because of it's connection to it's former usage.  If someone used that term to refer to anyone in my family then, i would feel that they were demeaning them and attempting to de-value who they are as a person.  

           This conversation on The View, was the equivilent of taking the temperature of our country's race relations...unless we find better ways of communicating what we think and feel...the future is going to be no further along, in healing the hurts in anyone's hearts or minds.  No matter what tone of voice is used with that word...it "feels" like an insult...not a term of endearment! 

Dear Reader,

The other night, one of the TV stations showed a Jamie Oliver special in which he had that plastination freak dissect the corpse of a twentyfive stone (that's about one eighty kilos) dead dude, to show how futzed up you get when you're two or three times heavier than you were designed to be.

It was stimulating television.

They peeled the guy's front away and picked about amongst his inner organs. They left his outer organ as it was.

His organs were all mooshed about, pushed this way and that by the fat, and where they weren't mooshed about, they were slowly turning into fat, as the fat intruded into their fibres.

Yummy.

Then they eviscerated the guy and plopped his internal suite of bits onto a table where the plastination freak continued to poke at bits of fat and generally indicate that you shouldn't be, as i noted above, two or three times the weight that your body was designed for.

Well, duh.

Far more interesting was the dissection of a giant squid at Melbourne's Museum Victoria Circus.

Giant Squid

It's not really a circus, the Museum, but it's run like one.

The freak attraction this month was this Giant Squid. Just like in the good old days when rich British folk would purchase an Egyptian Mummy and invite friends around for an unwrapping party, the Museum decided to dissect the squid for theatrical purposes, as well as for more scientific purposes like finding out what they eat.

We're not sure, but we think they eat ocean-dwelling leprechauns. Only one way to find out.

Unlike the dead fat guy, a great deal of care and planning went into dissecting the squid. This was so that they could stitch it back together again afterwards, plop it into a big transparent coffin full of ethanol, and charge ppl to come and look at it.

Cos that's what Museum Circuses do.

They had hundreds of ppl turn up for the dissection, according to radio reports.

I, sadly, had to be at work. Which is a pity, cos i like Fairy Floss, and i'm pretty good at shooting galleries.

Side Show

In case you also missed the dissection too, you can view the excellent photos that Flickr subscriber eyeofbast took, and i can share with you, dear Reader, the three things i know about Giant Squid that make them such a cost-effective side show attraction.

1. They have three hearts

Doctor Who and Klingons only have two hearts, but Giant Squid have three. They are more closely related to snails than any other creature, and the wonders of evolution saw fit to just keep popping hearts into the architecture at appropriate moments in the Giant Squid's journey from Overly Large Squid, through Quite Big Squid, to Giant Squid.

Of course, the Quite Big Squids that didn't get that third heart were Naturally Selected for extinction, amen. Poor suckers.

2. They have blue blood

Mister Spock had (will have?) green blood because Vulcans are a copper-based lifeform, rather than a carbon-based one like us. The Giant Squid, apparently, is a Curaçao-based lifeform.

That's all i've got.

3. It has a doughnut-shaped brain

Which means, i suppose, that it often finds its thoughts going around in circles.

Best of all, the brain has developed around the aesophagus, so it has to be careful of what it swallows, in case it accidentally destroys its brain by swallowing something too large or pointy.

Maybe if the twentyfive stone dead dude had had a brain like that, he wouldn't have ended up getting sliced up by the plastination freak.

Chuck Out Our Website

Apparently the Museum Circus streamed the video of the dissection, and there's a rumour that you can watch said video on their site. I think it'll be near the photo gallery of the bearded woman, the two-headed calf, the racehorse with the draughthorse's heart, and the interactive multimedia exhibit on the history of school lunches.

Yours,
Gullybogan

At that young age, I learned how to appropriate where my money goes, which was mostly spent on breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, I also had my set of indulgences: a pint of ice cream on a weekend (which I would finish in just one sitting), books, and music records.Among these three, the most influental was music.

Anyway, to give you a backgrounder, my musical tastes between the ages 2 to 12 evolved from Batibot's "Alin Ang Naiba", to Manilyn Reynes' and Sheryl Cruz's repertoire (remember Mr. Disco and Mr. Dreamboy?), to the kundimans, broadway musicals, and classical music (thanks to my piano and voice teachers).

Then, one uneventful morning at school, my classmate, Charmaine, came up to me and told me about this song she heard called "Ligaya". She was raving about it. Kanami daw. Naturally, I got curious, so, that weekend, I bought my first ever pinoy band album.

That album was called "ultraelectromagneticpop" by a then 'emerging-into-the-mainstream' band named the Eraserheads. During that time, I think I bought it (cassette) for 150 pesos (or was it 100?). It quickly became my favorite. Playing it over and over in my dormitory room until I had memorized each song.

The following year, I got CiRcuS (my fave). Then, Cutterpillow in 1995. This was the last Eraserheads album I bought during my teen years. (Ten years later, I bought the "ultraelectromagneticjam" album, which was some kind of an early tribute. It wasn't the same.)

This unassuming band rocked my world when I was 13 and I remained a fan years after. Their songs gave me one of the best memories of my life.This is the reason why I still have "Ligaya" in my current playlist.

=============

Years after disbanding, the Eraserheads will hold a "one night only" reunion concert on August 30, 2008. I wanted to go but I can't. Aaah! I want to cry!

I don't often do the proud Mum thing but I will today. Take a look at this video of Eve my daughter dancing and doing cartwheels on stilts.

Regular readers will know that my daughter works in circus. This was filmed during a practice session of their next show and she spliced it together with a sound track.

The second is Eve being Tinkerbell and part of a show that a friend caught on film.

Leave a comment as I will pass them on to Eve she seemed to think that my "internet ladies" would not be interested

Enjoy! I did!

Behind the Circus, far away in the distance, on the horizon, the war is raging, the sky is on flame.

But the Circus is quiet.

No one is in sight. The man shows the child around. He shows the net and the bucket, and the moon inside the bucket.

Then he shows the magic mirror. You walk behind the magic mirror from one side, and you never reappear on the other side. The man shows the child how the magic mirror works, and disappears. The child is alone. As soon as he starts to cry, the bearded woman appears and starts to cuddle him. Then the Director shows up and asks the child what he can do to be allowed to stay in the Circus. He asks the child what his skills are. But the child has no skills. The child can do nothing.

You'll learn, says the Director.

And so the child stayed with the Circus.

Let's move forward three years.

In three years from now, the child will have killed the Director in his sleep, and become the new Director.

The bearded woman will be madly, hopelessly in love with him. She will go around, crying, telling everybody that the child she is expecting is the new Director's.

But of course this is not true.

The real father is the midget.

I felt like a young foal or a small child might today: The joy of being able to walk around unaided! I was learning to balance and perambulate on stilts. It was SO FUN! At first I had forgotten from last week how to move (knees up and keep moving!) but then I could again, and soon I could without holding anyone or anything! I had arrived at class a bit rattled from a few things that happened today (I will spare you the minutae of that) but by the end of class I was stilt walking with head held high. I guess I was so young when I learned to walk that I don't consciously remember that joy, so it was kind of nice to experience that excitement as an adult.

Encouragingly, after a week of over-indulgence in chocolate, someone healthy said to me "...there's no such thing as too much chocolate" which lessened my guilt a bit! My re-vamped plan is to eat healthily and balanced and include good quality chocolate (dark). I am starting to suspect that the guilt/self-beration weighs heavier and does more damage than chocky.

Last night we had a trial run of the projector-generator-trike set-up for the Moving Image walks in SALA. It looks like it's all going to work very well.

Take care of you. Fly your freak flag.
Meg

kk, starting off is Jaurim's 'Carnival Amour'

I'm extremely impressed how she can sing the voice at 1.52 with such a straight face. XD If I sang that I'd be laughing all over the floor XD

Next up, 'SG wannabe - La La La'! [Ok, so I'm kind of obsessed with them lately]

I really like the new singer and the style of the song is really cool. Btw, there's two MVs for this song and I chose this one 'cause it's really cute and happy and it shows the singers while the other one is like a creepy horror movie XD

Next~ 8:45 Heaven by Drunken Tiger!

This is a particularily awesome video because it's probably one of the cheapest MVs ever made. All Drunken Tiger did was rent out a studio and a video camera and recorded himself playing air instruments in the dark. Apparently someone was there smoking which is what gave the smokey effect. It's written for his grandma who died at 8:45 and it's pretty emotional.

Next: Uhm Jung Hwa's D.I.S.C.O. ft our beloved TOP XD

Why? Isn't it obvious =) It's just about the shiniest most colorful music video and it has TOP in it. What more could you ask for? =3

Kk, finishing music video of the day~ Epik High - Breakdown

Uhh, it's pretty heavy so don't watch if you don't wanna see Mithra Jin, Tablo or Tukutz (is that his name?) hurt. ^^ I love the ending though, it's really cool. [Wow, I didn't know he was rapping in English until I read the subs XD]

kk, wait, one more music video ^^ 'Circus' by MC Mong

I love the part in the dance where they make a shape of a gun and it goes BOOM XD well synchronised =3 *nod*

At the extreme ends of the height chart are golden invitations to join the circus or wrestling.

Just ask giants and midgets.

note: I guess everyone else is just a "gidget".

double note: I would have used "little people" but then I couldn't have added the above note.

triple note: planetross' Plan B: run  away and join the ...        just run away!

http://humor-blogs.com/

In brief, the things I did not like about the circus were:

           * The way the animals were treated (this almost goes without saying, but man the animals seemed so sickly and depressed)

          * Skanky circus performers who performed like cheap strippers.  I could not believe a circus aimed at children would have a woman performing a seductive chair routine only to be lifted up by a giant ring where she preceded to 'make love' to the ring.  GAH

         * The smell of shit

         * The overpriced merchandise they were throwing at children and parents.  

Anyways enough said.  As I came home and announced to my family that I hated the circus, my mom told me I hated it when I was 4 and asked her to never-ever take me there again.  I wish she would have reminded me of this before I went.

On a better note I got a surprise phone call today from a dear friend whom I have not seen in a year.  Although I couldn't chat because I was at work, it made my day to hear her voice.

I hadn't visited Yak and Yeti for a while, but when I did I found a lot of newness, including this bollywood set and the bangles. It is all FREE in their store - clothes, jewels, and also some other pretty things like cushions with animations, and a cute paper lantern in several colours.

I finished up by going home and staring out into the hot summer night ...

Hot Summer Night skirt: LVS &Co, Cassiopeia Isle (189, 28, 22)
“kiku-ume” top: bought at SLITEM.JP, Meguro (40, 248, 22)
Bollywood ruby and silver necklace and earrings, and Red Wax and Mirror bangles: Yak & Yeti, Hillies Dreamland (42, 57, 21)
Willow sandals in purple: Shiny Things, Shiny Falls (195, 133, 37)
“Sherry” hair in Atlantic: DH Diversity Hair, Addictive (96, 170, 22)

Not by choice, but rather will of the universe...I am a clown. The first show went exceptionally well & I'm already eager to hop back on stage & make a fool of myself again.

Josh & I wrapped up our late night by synching up The Cramps with Something Weird Video. For those unfamiliar with SWV, it is a collection of vintage burlesque footage, work safety films, drive-in commercials & B-movie trailers from the 1940s-1970s. You can watch SWV through Comcast On Demand or by checking out their You Tube site. Highly recomended for the die hard fans of John Waters.

We decided to call our act Beasts of The Yellow Night as adopted from the title of this trailer we watched.

Dressing up for the Occasion

Since it is a circus themed party, why not have everyone invited to dress up as different characters that one can find in a circus? Have everyone invited to dress up for the party and have your child dressed up as the ring master (since he/she is the birthday child)! This will definitely add to the atmosphere of the party. To make it fun, it would be nice to have free gifts of clown nose to all who arrives. This can double up as a doo gift too.

Decorations

For decorations, thinking along the line of circuses, it would be really cool if you have enough space to create a circus tent like tentage. It may not be exactly circus tent, but it could be something along the lines of round seating, or partial round seating with a center stage. Put in colourful balloons, pseudo-real posters of performers (make up some funny ones with your birthday kid’s photo, or even your own photos) all around the tentage for a real circus, carnival-like atmosphere!

Party Bags

For a circus themed party, consider having party bags with face painting kits, or small finger animal puppets. Hats that are juggler or clown-like are also hot favorites! Also, consider putting some light sticks in the bag for the kids to have some fun with some glow-in-the dark action at night too.

Games and Entertainment

For games, there could be a face painting competition (or you could have a real face painter at the party) and best dressed competition. You can have an Animal’s Charade (charade but only with animals you find in circuses), Monkey Hear Monkey Do (actually a tweaked version of Simon Says) and even the traditional Pin the Donkey’s Tail. You could rent a candy floss machine too for the day, and that would really add to the atmosphere. As for entertainment, you can always look for jugglers, clowns or even contortionists! However, do note that while clowns are a standard at circuses, some young kids are in fact, scared of clowns, so jugglers who can do magic (actually, just like yours truly :P) would be a great option.

Whatever it is, just remember, the birthday party is a great way for the kid to have fun (and for you too) so the best thing is to enjoy the whole process and have fun planning the party!

There's so much blind items buzzing around cyberspace about the so-called "Conspiracy Reunion Theory", now it's been confirmed THE ERASERHEADS WILL BE REUNITING FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY. So, the people ( or person?) who has been commenting on my blogpost is saying the truth. Read the article of Ricky Lo in Philippine Star. This will be at the CCP Grounds and it will be on August 30, 2008 ( VIIIXXXMMVIII) , as what 'anonymous' have been saying in my previous blogpost. I will definitely be there whatever happens. Circus, the official Eraserheads mailing list is active again, woohoo! This is not a speculation anymore, it's has been confirmed. Now the only thing I need to know now is to where and how to get those tickets. :) wahhhh!

La canción de hoy, que debió ser del día de ayer, fue escogida por la influencia de Dr. House. Una vez House le dice a su jefa, Cuddy, que uno no siempre obtiene lo que quiere citando al famoso filósofo Mick Jagger a lo que Cuddy queda atónita. Es por esto que escogí está gran canción de los Rolling Stones, You can't always get what you want.

El vídeo que elegí es el de la presentación que hicieron en su programa Circus, no es la mejor pero es la más emblematica.

No me había dado cuenta pero se aplica muy bien a la situación de que no consegí un iPhone. =(

As you know, Modern Mix Vancouver recently posted a link to discounted tickets for Cirque Du Soleil Corteo.  Here is a review of the show by a reader who purchased through the MMV link.

By guest-writer Kyle Lee

As a Cirque du Soleil virgin I personally thought it was well worth the money!  Tickets were purchased as my treat to my sister as a farewell-to-college present and I got a sweet 30% discount to the 4pm matinee showing, much thanks to Modern Mix Vancouver. But, of course, the sister-brother bonding time is priceless! (all together now -- awwwww).

But enough about that. We got to the blue and yellow striped tents near GM Place 5 minutes before showing and were ushered to our seats, which were dead centre first row of our section and might I add, AMAZING? To be honest the tent isn't too big and you don't need to be in the first row to enjoy the show. Think movie theatre -- first row involves major straining of the neck.

We asked an usher what the plot of the story was, and he admitted there wasn't really exactly a plot line per say, but the general idea is that a clown is imagining his own funeral. The atmosphere was very grand and charming, with a lot of juxtaposition in its theme -- tragedy, yet amusing; small and big; drama and whimsical. The costumes were all very intricately well-made and beautiful. Surprisingly, the show had an interactive aspect to it and near the start of the show there was a clown walking along the aisle wearing a hat spraying water out, a couple others teasing audience members.

The soundtrack was amazing as well, there was a range of music that definitely added to the intensity of the acrobat riding a unicycle on a wire, or the playfulness of the kids jumping on their beds, or the grace of the acrobat couple flinging themselves from bar to bar and shoulder to shoulder. Speaking of which, the acrobatics left me speechless a lot of the time, or to moments of "Oh god... oh god...don't you dare do that..." and "You come back down from there, young lady!!" To summarize -- beautiful jaw-dropping acrobatics, beautiful stage showing and production, and great value.

Well done, Corteo!

[dailymotion id=x4ndlb]

Video Clip : Rock And Roll Is Dead

Singer : Lenny Kravitz

The Aarushi Talwar murder case, no less, has been the spur. If ever trial by media and an inefficient, bungling police force has ruined a man's reputation and life, Rajesh Talwar, father of the 13-year-old who was found murdered in her room in Noida, would know.

Crucified, before evidence could be provided, not only by the ever deficient Noida police (remember the Nithari serial murder case?) but also by breathless anchors on 24-hour news channels, the dentist who had lost his daughter in the most gruesome manner was shackled and bundled into prison even before he could say "Not guilty."

Yesterday, after days of incarceration, the CBI said Rajesh Talwar was innocent and therefore, was wrongfully held. Now, did they have solid evidence (murder weapon, confession?) to nail or even release the man, only weeks after they opposed his bail application? No. Just evidence that came from a lie-detector test that Rajkumar and his two buddies were the murderers.

Now, I happen to know a thing or two about lie detector tests, having seen one myself some years ago. The idea behind the lie detector or truth serum test is to take you to a different level of consciouness or sub consciousness so that the accused, reveals bits of information that may be useful to an investigation that he will not do when fully conscious.

Once they inject the sodium pentathol, the person slowly slips into a kind of half wakefulness. Then there are investigating officers who ask leading questions of him/her. For instance, in this case, Rajkumar might have been asked "Did you weild the weapon that slit Aarushi's throat?" (just a sample). Now, sunk in a slumber-like state, Rajkumar may not respond. Some one will hit him sharply (sometimes in the face) and he will jerk into partial wakefulness with a grunt. That grunt will be taken to be the affirmative - the answer to the question.

Thankfully, a lie detector test isn't enough to hang anyone. But then in India, the TV channels will, anyway, eh? Now they are getting breathless again about the innocent of Rajesh Talwar and guilt of Rajkumar and go. Can they not breathe deep and hard and wait for the case to be over. After all, we are guaranteed by law that we are innocent until proven guilty. By the courts, not kangaroo television studios.

DER Spielplatz für Erwachsene. Club, Bar, Restaurant, Chillounge, Kino, Sauna ... was braucht man mehr? Das Restaurant wird in diesem Sommer nicht das erste Mal von uns besucht, weshalb ich nun endlich etwas über diese erlebnisreiche Lokalität berichten möchte. Direkt am Ufer hinter hohen Mauern und Holztoren direkt neben dem White Trash Strandmarkt (Nr. 24) liegt die Bar 25. Zunächst wird man durch 2 nette Türsteher begrüßt. Nach kurzem Hinweis, dass man im Restaurant reserviert hat (was ich immer empfehlen würde, da es sonst wirklich Schwierigkeiten geben könnte), darf man den 'Circus', wie er bezeichnet wird, auch schon betreten. Durch die Bar hindurch geht es in das Restaurant. Eine Seite ist komplett offen und man kann auch direkt am Wasser sitzen. Im ersten Eindruck würde man wahrscheinlich nicht vermuten, dass die Küche hier durchaus Hochleistung vollbringt... Berlin eben. Die offene Küche lädt aber dazu ein, sich selbst davon zu überzeugen. Und schon kommt die Bedienung, die allein ein Highlight sein kann. Lasst euch überraschen ;-)

Und schon gehts los: Erbssuppe mit Limetten-Quark Nokerln und rotem Minzpesto ... für mich ohne Worte! Fantastisch, lecker, toll! So geht es auch weiter. Sehr innovative, frische, jungen Küche, deren Gerichte selbstverständlich ständig wechseln. Die Bilder sprechen für sich.

Apropos Bilder, auf dem Gelände steht einer dieser schwarz/weiß Fotoautomaten, die dazu einladen Grimassenfotos zu machen. Wem diese selbstdarstellende Ader fehlt, der kann sich eben auf die RIESENSCHAUKEL setzen und sich in die Nacht schwingen.

Zum Abschluss bekommt man noch eben einen Drink spendiert und geht freudig, leicht schunkelnd wieder in die große, dunkle Nacht hinaus. Ein sehr gelungener Abend.

Andere über die Bar25:

http://pithos2k.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/bar-25/

Synopsis from Ellora's Cave.
A hard-bitten mercenary who's had a gutful of mud and blood and death, Fortitude McLaren joins the Ten Nations Fair as a roustabout. Tough, cold and competent, he's shocked and angered by his hunger for Griff, a circus acrobat. Brought up in the bigoted society of the Straight Church, Fort regards manlove with casual contempt. Not for him. Never for him.

Athletic, cocky and single-minded about what he wants, Griff sets about getting it. Fort fights with everything in him, but Griff affects him like no one else. It's not just his strong, supple body. Fort is irresistibly drawn by the friendship the other man offers so freely.

Fort may have found a friend, but the cruel memories of his childhood are the greatest enemy of all. When a job for Jan the Aetherii puts Griff in danger, Fort discovers what's really at risk — everything he is and everything he's ever believed in. To save Griff's life and preserve his own sanity, Fort must not only fight the battle in his soul, he must win it.

Griff has been omnivorous, shall we say, when it comes to sex. When he sees Fort watching him and the others practicing their routines under the big top he is intrigued. Not a day goes by without another rumour about the large, silent man. Griff has a motto for every occasion, and in this case it's ... If you don't reach, you don't get... and as his interest is aroused, he decides what he wants is Fort.

Fortitude, or Fort, is a mercenary and has spent many long years fighting. It is not initially clear why he has left soldiering but he is tired and also seems very alone. He has a commanding presence and leadership seems to come to him naturally. Even though he has just recently become a part of the Ten Nations Fair, the other men trust him implicitly. He has had a strictly religious and unpleasant upbringing where homosexuality is not tolerated. Indeed it is punishable by death. Despite this Fort is unprejudiced with others, and has a live and let live code. For himself though, his attraction to another man, a much younger man, causes him huge internal conflict. As a character I fell for him rather heavily. He is just so incredibly self-contained, I wanted to muss him up a little.

Griff is a smart ass, cocky and quick witted. He approaches Fort initially but is rebuffed and this is like a red rag to a bull. I loved the way he just put himself in front of Fort at every opportunity. He knows Fort wants him, if the size of his hardon was anything to go by! And even though it is taunting, teasing and perhaps a little unkind, it is just sex on a stick. You just feel Griff's dogged determination to get what he wants just might mean his own ultimate surrender. Ummmm surrender... 
While Fort spends all his time pushing Griff away he still looks out for the younger man and protects him, while seemingly unaware of his own actions. Griff is quite capable of sticking up for himself and somehow this makes it all the sweeter.

The sex is hot, toe curlingly good. The first time is such a surrender for Fort, it is almost as though he cannot help but touch Griff. Freaking hawt smexin goodness. I liked the feeling of strength and size about Fort. While Griff is tall and muscular there is a definite contrast in size and I enjoyed this much. Oh, and wrestling and getting tied up?? Tasty! Merow.

The world building in this futuristic fantasy was tight and not bogged down in lengthy description. Because this is my 1st book in the series there might have been more set up stuff in other novels. It is very natural, without being obvious, and also well executed. Sometimes I feel authors think you don't have your big girl pants on and that they're obliged to explain everything to death. Not the case in this. I never found myself getting bored, lost or having a WTF moment and this is always a bonus! The only thing I could have wished for... sunscreen. snort.

I have my fingers, toes and eyes crossed that Denise writes more m/m books because this one rocked my socks. This might be my new measure of a good book, sock rockingly good! I might even go and read her 2nd book in the series, here, which is a menage, with a girl in it!! Eeep! 
You can get the goodness here.
AND if you join her yahoo group you get an epilogue! Check it all out at her blog here.

With Brigitte's new handgrenade, Rori got served his lunch by BB. Mmmm...delicious steamed vegetables with rice and pine nuts. It'll be hilarious if Cherry wins FNL again cause as the Head of House, he can't help Travis again and it'll be more Travis cooking. BB warned the housemates many times that they're not allowed to assist Travis in anyway but they just can't help themselves I guess. Terri helped cook the rack of lamb and Cherry was cooking the steaks ...bad move guys.

As a result, BB confiscates the food so the housemates tried to take a bite before they had to take it to the diary room but BB is like "Any housemates who partook in the food are to spit it out." Travis is of course taking a posimistic attitude saying that at least he'll get to learn to cook really well this week. How typical, BUT Travis got a bit out of character, he got annoyed at nanna Terri (though he didn't admit it) cause she was criticizing his efforts to cook and wasn't giving him the support he needs.

BB gave Ben and Travis a task as the younger housemates, to help the oldest housemate fit in by giving Terri a makeover!!! They had to make her walk, talk and look like an EMO. HAHA, her expression was priceless. When they finished the makeover, Terri did a little show outside the cloud door in the backyard. She was like, "My mum hates me, my dad hates me and I got kicked out of my house." She even gave the housemates the finger when Alice booed her and Terri called her a blonde bitch. ROFL. Emo Terri. Then to the diary room where BB asked how she felt and she said, pretty crap. Then she recited a poem:

My time in the house has been nothing but sad,
And all ever I wanted was to be really really bad.
Yesterday was Day 73,
And BB will never understand me.

Bravo Terri, you guys passed the task.

It's circus night *cue circus music*
Tonight is a free-for-all with a point system in the games and the winner gets a 42 inch plasma TV. :o
The housemates are dressed up as clowns and, of course, have massive shoes.

The first game was Pie Face. Each housemate had to carry to cream pies through an obstacle course. They had to step through two hoops, go through a small door, over and under some bars, through another hoop and dive through the final hoop, ending with the slamming of the cream pies into two cardboard clowns. Sadly no stacks despite the massive shoes but Terri was struggling so badly. She could hardly get her legs over the hoops cause she's so short. HAHAHA. Rori ended up being the fastest in 17 seconds and got 5 points and Terri was slowest so she got 0 points. Awww.

Second round - Kissing Booth. RARARA.
They did this game before on FNL. I remember it.
So one housemate is blindfolded and the rest of the housemates choose one of themselves to go and kiss the blindfolded housemate anywhere on the face except for the blindfold.
Alice is first. Housemates picked Terri. A light peck on the cheek and Alice could tell it was a female so obviously, it was Terri. Ben next. Cherry was the kisser. Another kiss on the cheek. But Ben actually recognised Cherry's aftershave and guessed him from that?!?! Is Cherry one of those guys that uses aftershave in massive amounts? Cherry's up and Ben volunteers to return the favour. *Moi*. A kiss on the cheek but alas, he guessed Alice. I wonder if Alice is has, like, a stubbly chin? Hmmm....
Rori now and again Ben volunteers. Is it just me or is a trend popping up? Rori had his mouth open...HAHA...tempting to go for a full mouth pash but still cheek. He guessed Travis. Nanna's time to get kissed. It's Rori and to be honest, I was actually hoping that he would be brave enough for some tongue action but a kiss close to the lips let Terri guess it was Rori. Travis was last and Cherry was gonna deliver the final kiss but ended up giving him a lick on the cheek. Travis gagged a little (Try a breathmint Cherry) then licked Travis' nose. HAHA...Travis guessed right. Correct guesses were worth 5 points.

Third Game - Musical Chairs
Similar to the previous games like on Heavy metal? night with the microphone + stands but this time, they actually played musical chairs with chairs. And i hope everyone knows what musical chairs is...
Anyways, first round and Terri is already out. I don't think she even tried cause she was barely in the circle by the time everyone was already sitting down. Second round got a bit violent between Travis and I think it was Alice? He tried to get Alice off but couldn't =( Next round said bye to Alice while Cherry just grabbed a chair and ran away with it before he sat down....very good strategy. Down to the three boys and then it got interesting. Cherry did his strategy again but Ben and Rori were fighting over the other chair. Rori was about to sit on it but Ben grabbed it so they started wrestling for the chair. Rori had Ben in the doggy position ....too much CLOWNING around I think....but again...anyone seeing a pattern emerging with Ben? Well, final round saw Ben slip a little, giving Cherry a slight lead, allowing him to get the 5 points.

Game Four - The Great Escape.
The housemates have straightjackets on (not really, more like white lifevests) and have one minute to escape from them. They have eight keys in their hand and two locks on the vest which are opened by two different keys. If they didn't escape in the minute, they get slimed. Once they do escape, they run to the table in front of them and grab a disc with points on it and yell something like "I am the greatest Houdini." Surprisingly, Terri's slow and steady allowed her to get free first by quite a margin. I think Alice was the only other person to escape but they all ran away when BB said time's up and Rori was the only one who actually stayed seated and got slimed. LOOOL.

So the point tally is: Alice - 13 Ben - 12 Cherry - 9 Rori - 8 Terri - 10 Travis - 7
Last chance recovery for the three lowest-scorers as they eat for the final spot. Mmmmm...custard pie. Rori was eating it pretty slowly. Probably savouring the taste cause it's the best meal he's gonna get for a long time. Travis and Cherry were ravaging through their custard pies and it was a really tight finished but the winner was TRAVIS!!!! What an upset. Guess Cherry will help with the cooking this week.

Round Five - Clown Head
They competed in pairs in two separate rounds. Ben vs. Alice and Terri vs. Travis.
The housemates had a funnel around their necks and had to collect balls that fell from these tubes that came out of the clown heads. Kinda like the game where you put balls in the clown's mouth but in reverse. There were four tubes and Alice had to get blue balls while Ben got the red balls. There was no penalty for getting the other colour and sometimes, water ballons came down. To be honest, it was a pretty boring game. Not much excitement...Ben won with 13 balls, Alice had 11. I hope that 13 jinxes him in the finals. I wanna see Travis win.
Second round of this game. Travis vs. Terri.
I'll be honest again, this seemed pretty rigged cause Travis took the two tubes on the left, Terri the two on the right. Although the housemates don't have to stay stationary so I guess it's not really rigged...but Travis' side had so many more balls. In the end, Terri had 7 blue balls while Travis had a whopping 23 red balls.

Final Round - Circus Putt Putt
It's just as it sounds. Ben and Travis had to putt a golf ball through the obstacle course and get it into the hole at the end. They could have as many putts as they wanted but they weren't allowed to push the ball, hockey-style. Ben got ahead at the beginning which meant he unintentionally blocked Travis a bit so he struggled a little while Ben raced through the rest of the course and won FNL + the plasma.
OMG....the trophy is so creepy looking. It has these three jester type dolls with bobbly heads...that is just so creepy to me...especially at night. Clowns are scary. >_<

LOL Ben might be Head of House but he still has to stay outside the house. But BB isn't fully slack. Tonight he can use the showers to clean up for Pamela Anderson. BB is so crushin on her.

I leave you now with a quote from Cherry.
Dating is like feeding rabbits. You gotta give them(girls) a little bit at a time.