Merry Christmas!

Discussing with a wall

These last few days I've spent quite a lot of time discussing on NRK's discussion forum. (NRK is the main Norwegian broadcaster.) The background was this: NRK was having a poll on who was the most important Norwegian for the last hundred years. After much voting, the ten "finalists" were ready, and one of them was the Norwegian gay rights hero Karen-Christine Friele ("Kim" Friele). Not surprisingly, this led to reactions from the anti-gay mob, and particularly in this discussion forums.



(Kim Friele was the first Norwegian lesbian to argue in public for gay rights - at a time when gay sex was still forbidden (for men). She has been unafraid for her whole life, and has played an important part in making young gays and lesbians' life today so much better than it could have been...)

The "highlight" so far was when the guy calling himself "TrondPettersen" (which probably means his real name is not Trond Pettersen) wrote: "You are so typical gay, Bjørn. I bet you wear a dress and a top hat as well!" ("Du er så typisk homofil, Bjørn. Jeg vedder på at du bruker damekjole og flosshatt også!") Not only is this childish, but it also shows an amazing lack of knowledge even of the usual stereotypes concerning gays... (Whoever wears a dress and a top hat?)

Another "highlight" is that the same guy argues against gay marriage because a man and a dog are not allowed to marry, so why should a man and another man be allowed to marry? Marriage is only for a man and a woman. I told my colleagues at work about this today, and several of them suddenly were convinced that gay marriage was wrong. They were just joking, though.

Another interesting aspect of this discussion is the claim that the whole "gay rights" thing is only supported by a small, militant group of gays. To me that is a bit surprising, as most of the straights I know also support gay rights. Moreover, polls show that a majority of the population supports them, too.

Kim Friele did not get the honour of being the greatest Norwegian of the last hundred years, by the way. That went instead (unsurprisingly) to the uncontroversial late King Olav, who was respected by all Norwegians. Kim Friele should perhaps feel proud that she seems to be the greatest Norwegian alive, as she was the only one of the 10 final candidates still alive...

Beautiful Guys

Jason
Originally uploaded by Beautiful Boy.

flickr is not great only for keeping your own photos, but also for surfing among other people's photos. I like this one, for instance...

Sunset

danskebåt
Originally uploaded by BjørnS.

In my series of postings on some of my Flickr photos, I've come to this picture taken on a short holiday some years ago. The whole family went to Copenhagen for a weekend, which was great fun. I remember particularly the heavy rain one night, which led all of us to seek refuge in a bar (we were aged 6-70).

This photo is of the sunset as seen from the boat.

Get Di Canio out of there

Di Canio repeated his fascist greeting after the match against Juventus - the same greeting that he used in last week's match against Livorno. There are discussions on whether this means that Di Canio has played his last soccer match.

My comment is simple: get him out of there. Fascism has no place on the soccer field. Players should have a certain freedom of speech, but not necessarily on the field. Ban rasicm and fascism, ban Di Canio.

My links

On the right-hand side of this blog, there are a few links. They stay there quietly while I'm ranting here about lots of things. So I thought I should do them justice and give some of them a sentence or two each...

gaysir is the Norwegian gay community's main website - for flirting, discussing, quarreling...

tottyland is a blog with lots and lots of links - mostly to pictures of great-looking guys. I don't know where he finds everything... Just now (at the time of writing), for instance, there is a link to this picture of speed skater Dennis Kalker naked.



gay empire is a nice little blog that I must admit that I haven't read in a while...

queerfilter gives a list of gay blogs postings recently. Quite nice to find new blogs to read.

my homepage is, obviously, my homepage. No surprises here.

kjetass is the blog of a friend of mine, who unfortunately seldom updates his blog...

best gay blogs is a blog focusing on telling us which are the best gay blogs. Not bad... And today, somewhere in this world gets his attention - that's actually an amusing blog by a guy in Tokyo (who even takes the time to comment on some of my blogs - not too many do that...

made in Brazil is a blog about gay life in Brazil, currently with technical problems...

naked city boys is apparently the blog of a porn star in New York. I haven't read him much lately, I'm afraid...

casual in Istanbul is much like many other gay blogs, about cute guys and about gay life. The twist is that it all happens in Istanbul, a city most of us would like to know better. Great blog.

oscillate wildly is "a male appreciation and humor blog" according to itself. I would be lying just a little too much if I said I didn't go there for the pictures...



whateva sista! is the blog of a guy who has apparently just got a life. At least, there are far fewer postings than it used to. But when he post, he is worth reading...

ohlala paris has still more pictures of men... As is beautiful, actually...



Okay, that's all... There are some I didn't mention, as this exercise turned out to be a bit less varied than I thought... Maybe I should look around for some other blogs to include?

Xbox 360 destroys games

Some time ago, as I was reading about the upcoming "war" between Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, I reflected on what chance one of them would have of setting out a rumour about one of the other consoles, to dent the sales. Now it is already obvious that such rumours are not needed: Xbox 360 actually destroys the games in the machine, if you happen to move the console while playing! (According to Dagbladet.) This is even mentioned in the user manual (but, for some strange reason, not written in big, red letters on the outside of the box)...

Therefore the question parents around the world is facing is the following: will you buy your children a toy that will break if they move it?

I think I would prefer to wait for a console that actually works for its given purpose in its natural surroundings - even if that means waiting for Playstation 3...

More sports

Alexander Dale Oen set a new Norwegian record on 100 metres breaststrokes in Trieste: 58.99.





The soccer world cup groups are decided:

Group A
Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador

This should be simple for Germany. I'll root for Costa Rica, I guess.

Costa Rica's Rándall Brenes

Group B
England
Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden

England and Sweden will be favorites in this group, I guess. The match between them will be interesting. And England's coach is Swedish...


Sweden's Fredrik Ljungberg


England's David Beckham

Group C
Argentina
Ivory Coast
Serbia & Montenegro
Netherlands

The match between Argentina and The Netherlands will be one to watch here!

Group D
Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal

Portugal and Mexico will be clear favorites. And Portugal often plays fun soccer.


Portugal's Christiano Ronaldo

Group E
Italy
Ghana
United States
Czech Republic

The United States will have a fight on their hands if they are to take a place away from Italy and Czech Republic.


Italy's Fabio Cannivaro

Group F
Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan

And Brazil is perhaps still the overall favorite of the World Cup. Who will follow them to the next round?


Brazil's Kaka

Group G
France
Switzerland
South Korea
Togo

France is expected to go far...

Group H
Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia

Ukraine is an interesting newcomer, but Spain will manage...


Spain's Fernando Torres

Porn laws relaxed

Aftenposten writes about a Supreme Court ruling this week:

"Norway's Supreme Court cleared editor Stein-Erik Mattsson on pornography charges, ending Mattson's three-year long battle to modernize Norway's censorship practices. Importers are now gearing up to flood Norway with porn, but authorities may still keep it out."

This case has gotten a lot of attention this week. I can't really understand why. I agree that it is silly to have black bars covering depictions of normal, everyday sex, but after all, anyone can get all the porn they need just by googling a little. What use is there for magazines at the supermarkets or movies in porn shops?

And the KrF (the Christian fundamentalist party in Norway) is terrified that Norway will be flooded with porn. They have quite an interesting view of their fellow human beings if they believe that being able to see sex in print (instead of on the computer screen) will suddenly make everyone spend all their money on porn instead of on more important stuff... It's almost as if someone is using this case of minor importance to divert attention from The Salvation Army's blatant discrimination against gays - a policy of far worse consequence for the Norwegian society...

Naked footballers say ‘balls to the embargo’

More soccer news: Cyprus News writes that
"TWELVE naked Turkish Cypriot footballers launched a media campaign yesterday protesting against their 50-year exclusion from international football, and to highlight the general hardship experienced by Turkish Cypriots as a result of decades of political and economic isolation.

The campaign centres on a poster featuring 12 naked football players with their modesty covered only by a banner reading “Balls to Embargoes!”

Leading the campaign is renown UK fashion designer Huseyin Caglayan, who told the Cyprus Mail he had decided it was now time for him “to give something back” to the country where he was partly raised."

It's hard to see how this campaign will be able to change the minds of the guys at FIFA, but I wish all naked footballers good luck...

Bulgarian Soccer Players Expelled for Gay Sex

outsports.com gives a dose of Bulgarian soccer news:

"The Sofia (Bulgaria) News Agency and 7 Dni Sport are reporting that four soccer players have been expelled from their club in Varna, Bulgaria, for having sex in the team locker room.

Officials with the MAX club discovered the four having sex with one another in the locker room. Coach Georgi Dimov has confirmed the expulsion with 7 Dni Sport, saying that the homosexual players were kicked out for damaging the club's reputation. According to SNA, MAX is presently trying to woo sponsors and enter professional soccer."

While I do not condone sex in the workplace, it seems strange to say that someone is "damaging the club's reputation" as long as they are only seen by co-workers. Instead, expelling them seems like an overreaction (maybe due to homophobia) which may in itself damage the club's reputation. Which means that the coach will be the next to be expelled... Where will this end?

Steve Sandvoss

I came across a webpage (Most Beautiful Man) claiming that Steve Sandvoss (from "Latter Days") was a rising star. I tend to agree...