Saturday, October 21, 2006

Sexy Education at University of Toronto

An undergraduate program at Canada's University of Toronto offers discussions on flogging, restraint and role-play. But teachers and students insist it's a serious academic program that isn't simply about sex. The Sexual Diversity Studies program, one of the largest of its kind in North America.

The program promises an academic approach to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual issues -- from history and law to the performance of sadomasochism. There are plans for Canada's first undergraduate major in sexual diversity studies, and for master's and doctorate programs from 2008.

The program includes a drama course called "Sexual Performance: Case Studies in S/M (sadomasochism)" and the arts and literature course "Queerly Canadian," for which one student wrote an in-depth review of a male strip show.

But it also focuses on traditional academic discussion -- from Plato to same-sex marriage, with courses like "Theories of Sexuality" and "Sexual Diversity Politics." Canadian provinces were the first jurisdictions in North America to legalise gay marriage -- and Toronto, with one of the largest gay and lesbian communities in the world, is a perfect backdrop for such a program, the university commented.

Very open-minded society indeed!!!

Tags: Sexy, Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, Sexual Diversity Studies, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Heterosexual, Sexual Performance, Sadomasochism

The Ant Bully - movie review

Yeah, The Ant Bully, it'an animated cartoon but it's fun to have a change at times. Notwithstanding, the amount of free time I have now. Office is officially closed for 1 week due to the muslim Eid celebration (after a month of Ramadan where all muslims fast from dawn to dusk) which should fall on 23 Oct, Monday. But I'm stucked in Khartoum with 2 other colleagues with nowhere to go. So a cartoon film is just nice.

The Ant Bully - voices of Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep & Paul Giamatti (a strong cast of famous actors/actresses here). A story of a 10 year old boy named Lucas. Just moved to a new neighbourhood and was often bullied by the young locals. Lucas tend to take out his frustration on the ants living in his lawn. One night, an ant wizard managed to pour a magic potion into Lucas' ear and he became the size of an ant. With that size, the army ants brought him before the Ant Council to be tried and the queen ant sentenced him to become an ant and a female ant took up the responsibility to teach Lucas. Until Lucas becomes an ant, he can't get the potion to make him human again.

So, he has to earn his stripes. One day, a pest controller came to wipe out pests in Lucas' lawn. A joint-operation of a few species of insects combined to defeat the pest controller. The ants went airborne to strike him. The scene looked like those war films attacking its land based enemies. Something different for a cartoon. Lucas led the field to victory and was given the potion.
Tags: Movie, Cinema, Review, Ant Bully, Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep

Austrian removes 'sexist' urinals

An Austrian businessman in Vienna said that he would get rid of urinals shaped like a woman's mouth from a public toilet near Vienna's national opera, after facing pressure from politicians who demanded their removal especially from the Vienna Department of Women's Affairs & Green Party's women's affairs. (source: FoxNews)

Maybe they can re-renovate the toilet as per earlier blog here.

Friday, October 20, 2006

River Nile Cruise

On Wednesday evening, my Khartoum office organised a dinner (breaking fast for the muslims & known as iftar in arabic) in view of the Ramadan month. Invited quite a number of guests. The dinner was to be held on a boat that will cruise the Nile river.
Managed to capture the sunlight beaming through the cloud. This is the boat that we are supposed to board. 2 boats were tied together to create more space. Initially, the 2 boats didn't move in tandem while leaving the so-called jetty. The river we are on is the Blue Nile river. It will join up with the White Nile further downstream that will flow all the through Egypt up in the north into the Mediterranean Sea.
Supposedly to be blue but it's like Brown Nile to me.
I'm the one in black t-shirt on the left. We were there earlier so we took our place under the open spaced section of the boat. For better ventilation purpose.
Not that we are restricting people on our part of the boat. Somehow, the locals do gather amongst themselves first. This picture was taken before the full attendance. And I mean really full.
One of the local delicacy is "foul" pronounced more as fool. No!, you won't become a fool after gulping it down your throat. Not much of taste but the locals do like it. Only took a tiny weeny portion of it.
A local group of singers was employed to render out arabic songs. They were seated together with my colleagues but we didn't know the were the singers until they stood up there. Communication breakdown ...... you see, we no speaking arabic.
A picture taken at night, on up & coming high class hotel. A hotel reputedly to be owned by the Libya's President's son. Still under construction.
Tags: Journal, Life, Diary, Khartoum, Nile River, Cruise, Dinner, Blue Nile, White Nile

Fashion House Mobile Phones

Mobile manufacturers and couture houses have muscled itself into the fashion turf with a line of phones. Samsung has gone fishing further upmarket lately.
It recently announced its AX Armani Exchange Ultra Edition 6.9 for the Singapore market (only 1,000 units available). The company has not announced plans to release this limited-edition mobile in other countries. It will retail for US$342.28 (US$145.06 with contract).

Samsung announced that the Limited Edition cK Calvin Klein Ultra Edition 12.9 handset, will be sold exclusively through mobile operator M1 in Singapore. Those planning to get their hands on this limited Samsung slider should know that there will be only 1,000 units available on offer on Singapore's shores. This edition of the Samsung handset will retail for US$469.53 (US$297.75 with contract). The Korean phone maker currently has no plans to release this phone anywhere else in the world.

Of course, Motorola's been there, done that with its RAZR V3i D&G Special Edition Gold and, ever the style leader, has moved on to a more indelible fashion statement--tattoing the RAZR (linked to the Miami Ink TV series).
Tags: Samsung, Armani Exchange, Calvin Klein, CK, Motorola, RAZR, Dolce & Gabbana, Fashion, Couture House, Mobile Manufacturer, Singapore

Baby Blues Cartoon

U got the meaning?

Something To Smile About

Sometimes a classified ad is just not the right way to go!
These four classified ads appeared in a Kuwaiti newspaper on four consecutive days. The last three hopelessly trying to correct the first day's mistake.

MONDAY:
For Sale
SK Shah has a sewing machine for sale.
Phone 2555-0707 after 7PM and ask for Mrs Mani who lives with him cheap.

TUESDAY:
Notice:
We regret having erred in SK Shah's ad yesterday.
It should have read, "One sewing machine for sale cheap. Phone 2555-0707 and ask for Mrs
Mani, who lives with him after 7PM."

WEDNESDAY:
Notice:
SK Shah has informed us that he has received several annoying telephone calls because of the error we made in the classified ad yesterday.
The ad stands correct as follows:
"For sale - SK Shah has a sewing machine for sale. Cheap. Phone 2555-0707 after 7PM and
ask for Mrs Mani who loves with him."

THURSDAY:
Notice:
I, SK Shah, have no sewing machine for sale. I smashed it.
Don't call 2555-0707 as I have had the phone disconnected.
I have not been carrying on with Mrs Mani.
Until yesterday, she was my housekeeper but she quit.
Tags: Jokes, Funny, Humor, Classified Ad, Sewing Machine, For Sale

Pattaya International Fireworks Festival

Pattaya is definitely firing up its presence internationally. Covid19 has hit many nations really hard and Pattaya wasn't exempted from ...