Movie: Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys

I find this movie thought-provoking. That is a good thing. It is also provoking, as well as a bit amateurish.

It deals with the organization NAMBLA, the group wants "to end the oppression of men and boys who have mutually consensual relationships", according to their home page. I am a firm believer in "age of consent" laws. Not because it is unimaginable that a boy of 15, say, could fall in love with someone else, but because it is equally likely that a boy of 15 would be manipulated into something only the older person really wanted. This movie does not treat this problem at all, and therefore it feels like NAMBLA propaganda.

What made me think, however, was the scene where a teacher was under fire for supporting NAMBLA views. Quite understandably, parents were worried about this, but it is still an interesting question whether a teacher should lose his job over his personal views, as long as his teaching is beyond reproach. Some school kids are interviewed saying that they would like to keep their teacher - he never did anything wrong at school.

But in all, it is an interesting movie with a clear, and problematic, bias.

Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys (1994)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)

Funny Quotes of the Week 65

"Death doesn't really worry me that much, I'm not frightened about it... I just don't want to be there when it happens." (Woody Allen)

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." (Douglas Adams)

"It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art." (Oscar Wilde)

Weir Speaks Out Against 'Offensive' Comments

A good press conference from Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir.

Movie: A Bigger Splash

David Hockney is an interesting artist. I like some of his artwork and I've read his book on the "Secret Knowledge". I would not mind seeing a movie portraying his life. But for some reason, this movie (from 1974) failed miserably at telling me anything interesting about Hockney. Or about anyone else, for that sake. Through interviews with Hockney and his friends we learn - well, not a lot, actually.

Maybe I should have known a lot more about Hockney before seeing this movie.

At least the movie shows that I don't automatically like movies with naked guys in swimming pools.



A Bigger Splash (1974)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)

Olympians to watch

Who's your favorite olympian this year? Any of these, or someone else completely?

LIB ACHI Ghassan
AUS ALMOUKOV Alexei
GER BECKER Robert
NOR BØKKO Håvard
RUS BORODULIN Artem
CAN BOYD-CLOWES Mackenzie
CZE BREZINA Michal
USA CELSKI J.r.
KOR CHOI Yong-Jik
ITA COLA Mattia
SWE ERIKSSON Oskar
NOR HAVIKHAGEN Joachim
FRA MACE Benjamin
NOR OLIMB Mathis
CAN READ Stefan
NZL SKJELLERUP Blake
NOR ULSRUD Thomas
SUI WICK Roman
LAT ZVEJNIEKS Kristaps

Jon Stewart on "don't ask, don't tell that you're old"

A great proposal from Jon Stewart's show: ban old people in the US Senate...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
A Few Gay Men & Women
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Movie: The Holiday

The good thing about predictable movies is that you can decide within a few minutes if you really want to see the movie or not - as you pretty much know what you'll get. On the other hand, you always hope it's not as predictable as you fear...

This movie is okay. The actors are good, and there is nothing upsetting about the story. It's just rather boring. There are some quite funny scenes in the beginning of the movie, but after that, they're far between.

Therefore: if you want a simple romantic comedy, you might want to see this or one of the hundreds of similar movies...

The Holiday (2006)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)

Funny Quotes of the Week 64

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." (Woody Allen)

"You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way." (Will Rogers)

"It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating." (Oscar Wilde)

Swedish Olympic winner naked

Swedish biathlon champion Björn Ferry posed nude some years ago, according to TV2 (see also Aftonbladet).

Personally, I'm hoping for a Norwegian win today. And maybe Björn Ferry could pursue a modelling career...

(Photo removed on request.)

Movie: Hitch

Will Smith is actually (and surprisingly) quite funny in this hetero comedy about relationship consultant "Hitch". He is a master at getting seemingly hopeless men in touch with seemingly unobtainable women - but turns out not to be a master in getting himself in the same position with his dream girl.

In fact, the movie is sweet in the way it insists that the reason why so many great men go single is that women never notice them, and that had they only seen them, they would have seen how great they are.

The movie is well worth a look...

Hitch (2005)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)

Worldwide Mr. Gay

This weekend, the beauty contest "Worldwide Mr. Gay" was held in Oslo. The winner was South Africa's Charl Van Den Berg.



(As is the tradition in such cases, the people hosting the competition claims that it is not a "beauty contest". Yeah, right.

See VG.

Norwegian biathlon stars

I'm watching the biathlon events of the Olympics with interest. Here's a few of the Norwegian favorites:


Ole-Einar Bjørndalen


Emil Hegle Svendsen

(Dagbladet and Suusk.)

Funny Quotes of the Week 63

"Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying." (Fran Lebowitz)

"It is always a silly thing to give advice, but to give good advice is fatal." (Oscar Wilde)

"Actions lie louder than words." (Carolyn Wells)

Movie: Avatar

It's hard not to compare this movie to Titanic, the previous massive James Cameron-movie. Like Titanic, this movie could also have been better if it was cut by about an hour. Like Titanic, this movie doesn't really have a human in the main role - in Titanic, the ship had the lead role, here, nature has it. But unlike Titanic, we luckily does not know the exact ending in advance.

The story is quite simple, the characters are partly one-dimensional and there are lots of other things one could complain about. The reason I still quite like it is that it takes me to a whole new world, and it's fascinating to see the animals, the birds and so on. I love how technology has made possible the realistic portrayal of whole new species.

The Vatican has made fool of themselves (again) for complaining that Avatar promotes pantheism. Of course, any movie receiving bad press in the Vatican must be interesting in some way...

Avatar (2009)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)







By the way - have you seen how the Avatar plot was written?

(from Filmdrunk)

The Museum of Communism

The Museum of Communism gives a clear impression of being created to be a tourist trap. It’s located right in the centre of Prague, in between McDonald’s and Starbucks and so on, and it’s tickets are very expensive compared to older museums. Their range of postcards, t-shirts and buttons also suggest it is more a commercial enterprise than anything else.

However, as soon as you get inside, you see that you will actually learn a bit about everyday life during communism in this museum. This is not a museum for one-of-a-kind items – mostly it consists of everyday items that ordinary human beings saw and used during communism.

You may ask, of course, what is to be learned from such a museum visit that could not be learned by doing an internet search from the comfort of your own home. Well, particularly moving were the images from the 1989 demonstrations in Prague, including the events in the square near the museum. Seeing these videos and trying to imagine what it would be like, and then stepping out into the streets and seeing how things have changed, was thought-provoking.

So all in all, I would say that the museum of communism is a welcome retreat from all the shops and restaurants in the centre of Prague.

Funny Quotes of the Week 62

"I am desperately trying to figure out why Kamikaze pilots wore helmets." (Dave Edison)

"I am not a vegetarian because I love animals. I am a vegetarian because I hate plants." (A. Whitney Brown)

"What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? Or what's worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?" (Woody Allen)

Movie: Meet The Fockers

This movie was nowhere near as bad as I had expected. It is a story of two families who will try to get along as the son of one is marrying the daughter of the other - just like about five thousand other comedies. What saves the movie from being just like all the others is the cast: Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro in particular. I wonder why they took on these roles, but it worked out fine.

The movie remains unimportant, but at least it's quite funny.

Meet the Fockers (2004)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)

Movie: Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs

Moderately funny and moderately charming. Never really boring, but as usual, I wish they could stay to the main story without the endless inserts with Scratch the squirrel.

Of course, the animation is still amazing, getting better all the time. There are spectacular scenes and there are funny spoofs of other movies, such as Godzilla. And it may still be a thrill for kids. For me, however, the ice age is getting to an end...

Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (2009)

(See a register of all movies I've seen at Collectorz.com.)