Whale Pirates

Woohoo! I just love this. The Australian Labour Party has plans to intercept Japanese whaling ships. But as this action will be taking place in international waters, some have labelled it an 'act of piracy'. Yeah, I can just see Kevin Rudd (Labour leader) with some dreddies and eyeliner leading his party of politician pirates to intercept the harpoons and save the whales.

I admire the sentiment but I have some concerns that this will come to fruition. Is it just me or do politicians tend to not tell the truth? [insert rolling eyes emoticon here] All jesting aside, something more drastic has to be done about Japanese whaling in international waters. I guarantee the average Japanese person wouldn't even realise if whale meat stopped being available in Japan. From my experience, it's a rare person nowadays in Japan that eats whale meat and it takes some looking to even find it in the odd supermarket.

Story here: Rudd defends plan to intercept Japanese whalers

Alcoholism and homosexuality

Ahh, that title gotcha huh?!

This train of thought was spurred from watching Oprah yesterday (i'm on a sabbatical, leave me alone). Oprah was interviewing the author Terry McMillan (How Stella Got Her Groove Back) about her ex-husband who told her after 6 years of marriage that he was gay (interview and pics). Terry was very hurt and angry over the incident and kept repeating, 'how could he not know he was gay, that's like saying you're an alcoholic without ever having a drink'.

Huh? Say what? Is it just me, or does that not fit?

Alcoholism or any addictive behaviour requires one to first do that behaviour, to then become addicted to it. While our sexuality is an ingrained part of us. Without getting into the nature/nuture debate, I think it is a fairly well accepted fact that one does not choose to be gay or lesbian or heterosexual or other. Hell who'd want to choose a life with so much bigotry aimed at you and your loved ones?

So now, I think I have explained how her above example does not make sense. But as to her actual meaning in that message- 'how could he not know?'. He claimed that he grew up in a conservative country (Jamaica) and that homosexuality was not talked about, was not understood and that he didn't even think about the possibility that he was gay (when he was younger). Well, Opera and his ex-wife ripped into this guy for that confession. Opera started spouting things like, 'I know soooo many gay people and they all say they knew they were gay at 7, or they knew since they were born'. So? Good for those people. Wonderful that a child was so in touch with their sexuality at such a young age. Great that they were given the freedom of thought to be about to entertain all these different thought processes.

But come on, give this guy a break. I think it is totally plausible that he might not have realised he was gay until later in life. He married when he was 21 for goodness sake. I've been 21 and I know how much turmoil can go on in the mind at that time. And just to highlight that I don't consider this guy to be completely off the hook cause he did cheat on his wife and I don't give the time of day to cheaters. Anyone who ever cheats on me better hold on to their privates.

I wish I knew a gay person well enough to discuss this with them and get their point of view. Anyone out there have more to add on this? Gay or not, all are welcome here, including alcoholics....damn, think that's me....

Reality shows- Big Brother

I've been a bit of a fan of reality TV shows for a few years now. Before I left Australia to venture overseas, I watched Australia's first series of 'Big Brother'. I find reality shows and true stories in general more engaging than fiction. Anywho, being in Japan and away from reality shows (while they seemed to be at their peak of popularity in Australia) for a few years meant my appetite for reality shows was far from quenched. So here I am, back home and eager to get back into watching some reality shows again.

Pretty much the only reality TV show that has been on here the past few months has been 'The Biggest Loser'. I actually really enjoyed it and was surprised how emotionally attached I became to a few of the contestants. I even managed to get hubby interested in watching each week.

Then guess what starts up again only last week? Australia's sixth (!!) season of 'Big Brother', which effectively is only my second season. Now I don't know how the other four seasons went or what 'formula' worked for ratings for this show but I am seriously disappointed this season!

You want to know why? There are 14 people in the house and they all are PRETTY MUCH THE SAME. How utterly boring. They have chosen young, straight laced, thin, pretty, blond, white girls and young, straight laced, good looking, buff, white men. There are a couple of exceptions (a brunette girl who is still young thin and pretty though, a couple of guys from non-caucasian backgrounds and a less buff but amusing geek). Have a look Big Brother 07 Housemates.

Heellllloooo producers of 'Big Brother'. Variety is the spice of life. We want to see a mix of people in the house, not watch 'Barbie and Ken' plastic cut outs. And you know what really pissed me off? In the media lead up to this season of 'Big Brother' starting they had ads on TV saying, 'We promise this year's Big Brother will have people from all walks of life'. Yeah right, bull-shit!

From memory the first season of 'Big Brother' in Australia had a gay guy, a couple of larger women, a woman with dark skin, a dominatrix with an accent, a guy with a mohawk and generally a whole bunch of different looking, sounding and feeling people. And it was INTERESTING.

There is going to be an extra housemate come into the house sometime this week I think. They will have won a promotional competition and won't have been chosen by the producers, so let's keep everything crossed that it will be someone just a little....different.

'Big Brother', you better start pulling something better out to keep me interested this season.