Pseudo-Feminist Nonsense

Many women have the wrong idea about feminism. Feminism in its conceptually pure form is about equality with men in every respect. Most women want this when it suits them but chose to ignore it when it doesn't.

For example, I know of women who expect men to hold open doors for them but when I suggested that they should do the same for men, they looked at me as if I was insane and uttering blasphemous words in a church.

What's so insane about reciprocal courtesy? Simple - female hypocrisy - it's the same reason why women drivers expect male drivers to give way to them as if it were ex debito iustitiae. And this sort of thinking is unfortunately quite widespread. Needless to say, I've stopped holding doors open for women. We are, after all, living in the 21st century and this sort of behaviour is manifestly outdated. Such women should be ashamed of themselves - their suffragette sisters obviously burnt their bras in vain. As a gay boy, I can objectively see how this is a waste of a perfectly good support garment without the sexual imagery of bra-less females clouding my judgment.

You might be wondering what prompted this rant. It's something which I've been stewing about for a long time now and there are women where I work who behave in this sort of hypocritical fashion and now that I'm going, I'm more free to say what's on my mind as I don't have to be concerned about offending anyone who might have previously been able to determine my future career.

All this came to something of a boil today when I saw an Dove advertisement for its Self-Esteem Fund in conjunction with its Campaign For Real Beauty.

I have no objection to Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty and I fully support most of it. As part of the Campaign, Dove tested some beauty cream on real women, not supermodels and got the real women to be part of the ad campaign instead of the supermodels. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's the way it should be.

However, the whole concept of the Self-Esteem Fund is at best misconceived and at worst, an overt expression of the pseudo-feminist hypocrisy which I so detest. This Fund appears to have been set up to help girls with self-esteem issues.

The premise for such a fund seems very dubious and downright idiotic - as I can't believe that girls have more serious self-esteem issues than boys. In the Dove ad for the Self-Esteem Fund, it shows pictures of girls who are unhappy with their curly hair, girls who are plain-looking compared to their friends and girls who are not overweight but think they are fat.

It comes down to this - these girls are simply unhappy with what's looking back at them in the mirror and some genius at Dove decided that if we throw some money at these girls, they will feel happier about themselves.

Absolutely pathetic.

Males have self-esteem issues as well but do we set up a fund for that? Is it really necessary?

As far as Dove's Self-Esteem Fund goes, it seems to me that it's nothing short of pandering to female vanity. Yes, I know all about vanity - I'm gay remember? That doesn't mean that I let it bother me to the extent that I need someone to give me money to make me feel better about myself.

There is of course a distinction between simply being unhappy about one's appearance for which a self-esteem fund is superfluous (and morally offensive to me) and having a genuine psychiatric condition for which such a fund would be very helpful to those suffering from such medical conditions.

The issue determining where that distinction lies and that can generally be left to the medical profession for the most part although in some instances, the medical profession has been slow in recognising some conditions as requiring medical intervention.

Many years ago, I sought medical assistance for what I thought was clinical depression. I was facing some difficult changes in my life which led to behavioural problems (which in some quarters was simply seen as adolescent "acting-up"). Fortunately my problem wasn't serious and it soon was resolved by a change in circumstances.

My problem was and is, to some extent my difficulty in coping with changing environments. In youth, I moved around a lot as my father's work required him to move to different places every five years or so and while it seem logical that I'd eventually become blase about each move after having moved so often, the reality of the matter was that every move took quite some adjusting and I find that even now when I move to different places, especially to a place which I've not regularly travelled to in the past, it'll take me about a year to get properly settled in and during that year, I'm not my usual self and I don't function at my best, either at school/work or outside of it.

As I make the move to Shell, I'm apprehensive about what lies in store for me there in terms of having to deal with new people, rather than the work although that doesn't trouble me as much. In fact, neither trouble me enough to keep me awake at night or to bring about the recurrence of those behavioural problems from my past (to which I am very grateful to my legal education for helping me to stay "anchored" something amidst the rough seas of change) but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bothered.

The reason why having to deal with new people bothers me is nothing to do with the fact that I have difficulty dealing with people in a social context. I used to be quite shy when meeting new people but in the course of work, I've learnt to take the initiative to speak to complete strangers and not feel too self-conscious about it. A lot of it has to do with self-confidence and I didn't acquire that by having some Self-Esteem Fund give me money.

What bothers me about having to deal with new people in a new working environment is learning about the different personalities. On my part, I'd characterise myself as a fairly transparent person in terms of my personality. However, in my present job, I've learnt that this isn't the case with a lot of other people, especially women and in particular, middle-aged spinster women. That's one of the more important life-lessons which I learnt - beware the middle-aged spinster woman! They should be listed in the IMDG Code and should come with handling instructions.

Another Boy For J

Here's another one for J. I can't remember where I found him but I hope he likes it.

A Drunken Post

You may be wondering why I'm intoxicated at 11am in the morning on a Thursday.

Why isn't he hard at work, you might be wondering? It's true, I'm not at work but whether I'm hard, that's up to your imagination.

The reason why I'm off work today is because it's a bank holiday (Vesak Day) - a buddhist religious day of some sort. I'm neither pro nor anti-buddhism - just glad for a mid-week holiday.

I went to do my weekly shop at the supermarket this morning and when I came back, I decided to blend some wines. Obviously, it's not possible to blend without drinking and that's why I'm not my usual sober self this morning.

The wines in question were a 1999 Pierro Pinot Noir from Margaret River, Western Australia and a 2000 Monastrell from Bodegas Castano in Murcia, Spain.

This is what they look like:

I was getting concerned that the Pierro was ageing too quickly so I decided to do a bit of blending. I can already hear the disapproval from wine enthusiats but they can all go to hell. It's my wine and I'm drinking it so you can all fuck off.

The end result was actually quite pleasant-drinking - a well balanced mix of tannins, residual sugars (not much), acidity and cherry/summer berry flavours - all very suitable to drink on a hot day like today. . The Monstrell Dulce was a present (I've got another bottle) and other than as a dessert wine, is too sweet to drink on its own so I decided to blend it with one of the reds in my collection. I was trying to decide between a Gralyn (Freudian slip, initially typed "Gayln") Cabernet Sauvigon or a Cape Mentelle "Trinders Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvigon Merlot but decided on the Pierro instead.

What Exactly Is The Target Demographic?

I had lunch yesterday with a friend of mine who's a claims director at The Standard P&I and after lunch, she got out her Paul Smith wallet/purse and it reminded me about this Paul Smith ad which I saw some time ago and it made me wonder whether it was just me or whether the models were all getting younger.

These two boys look as if they're still in school and it make me wonder which consumer groups Paul Smith is targetting. The ad appeared in Attitude or DNA (I can't remember which) so, it's obviously intended to target the gay male readership but given the youth of the models, it's somewhat worrying as to which segment of the gay male readership which is the target of the ad especially when you have two twink models (sorry, I mean that in a positive sense - don't forget, we were all twinks once) advertising for a brand which is mostly out of the youth segment's price-range.

Perhaps the ad, should have like some toys, carry the caveat "Boys Not Included".

I Learnt A New Word

"Bromance"

A portmanteau word and an ambiguous one at that. Urban Dictionary has several definitions:

1. The complicated love and affection shared by two straight males.

2. An emotional attraction between two males often the attraction is expressed physically through wrestling, nuggies, and head locks. In the more advanced stages hugging, snuggling, spooning, and even kissing may be included.

3. A non-sexual relationship between two men that are unusually close.

4. The first step on the path to realizing you and your friend are actually raging homosexuals.

5. The loving bond between 2 or more homosexuals.

6. A genre of cinema in which a romance is developed between two male characters.

The diversity of definitions seems to suggest that the precise nature of the relationship between men, their sexuality notwithstanding is becoming increasingly blurred. Bromancing is no doubt not a new phenomenon but perhaps with more men breaking away from traditional male stereotypes, it is a phenomenon which seems to be increasingly common in modern society.

Something Quintessentially Swiss v Minarets

I saw a news feature on BBC World this evening about how some Swiss politicians are seeking to ban minarets in Switzerland as a way of making a stand against the perceived increased influence of (militant) Islam globally.

I did a quick Google search using the words "Switzerland", "minaret" and "ban" and numerous news articles were found, including this one from Al Jazeera.

So, will it be

OR ?

That's something the Swiss will have to decide for themselves.

Almost Perfect

I don't believe that anything in this temporal world which we live in is perfect but this specimen of manhood is as close to perfection as anyone can get.

Please don't be mistaken, he is by no means the standard by which I measure myself or my potential partners. Far be it. He is at best, a 2-dimensional representation of a multi-dimensional human being and while he certainly looks good in 2-dimensions (and most likely in 3-D), the rest of him as a human being is a big unknown.

While he has many of the physical attributes which I find attractive in a man, each of these on their own by no means makes him attractive per se.

Non-physical attributes are just as important to me , if not more important as these tend to have a more permanent quality than physical attributes which will deteriorate with age more quickly than the non-physical attributes even though the latter sometimes also deteriorates with age or other circumstances.

I'm still no closer to answering the question which I posed in an earlier post as to what it is exactly I find attractive in a man.

Actually, this is more of a secondary question. The primary question should be what it is that makes men more attractive to me than women.

I think there are persuasive arguments on both sides in the nature v nurture debate and like most things, the truth, such as it is, is usually somewhere in between.

For the cynics amongst my readers, you might well be thinking that all this introspection is merely an excuse to post a picture of a naked man with an erection.

Seeing as this is my blog and I can post whatever I like (within the limits set by Blogger), I can gratuitously post pictures of cute, naked men, erect or otherwise without any of this self-indulgent navel-gazing drivel. If it's just the pictures you're after, feel free to skip the drivel. I won't be offended in the least.

Could I Do It?

I saw an ad for this in the newspaper a few days ago and it got me thinking.

I have to admit that the thing which got me interested was the picture of the cute guy in the speedos. Up until a few months ago, I'd not have been in any fit state to do a triathlon.

I still aren't. However, there is a mini-triathlon which involves a 200m swim, followed by a 10km bicycle ride and then a 2km run. That, I think I can do without killing myself.

I'll give it a try this weekend and see what sort of time I clock. I'll start in the gym on the exercise bike, followed by a run on the treadmill and then out to the pool for the swim. If I can do that in a vaguely respectable time, I might think about doing the mini-triathlon for real next year. I don't want to turn up and humiliate myself without first giving it a try. I'm not going to be ready for the full triathlon any time soon. It'll take me a couple of years to work up to that level of fitness, at least, if not longer.

Will post the result of my attempt after this weekend.

What's With This?

I don't really understand this picture. Perhaps there really isn't much to understand, other than it's a picture of a cute (mostly) naked man with a sexy treasure trail, perhaps that's all there is to it.

Then again, I suspect it's intended to appeal to foot and possibly sock fetishists seeing as his foot seems to be the focus of the picture and he's wearing a sock over his cock (hey, it rhymes!).

I'll admit that I don't understand foot or sock fetishes as such as I have a more general, man fetish and if you want to be more specific, a male genital fetish and a gay kiss fetish but I suspect that most other gay men like looking at cocks and pictures of men kissing each other too so my interests perhaps aren't so niche as to deserve being characterised as fetishes.

For me, it seems a shame to put a sock over a cock. Any sock and foot fetishists out there, I'd love to hear from you. I'm very curious to know what it is about socks and feet that make you horny enough to want to cum. Sock fetishes, I think I understand - try wearing a sock over your erect cock and then wanking yourself and it becomes easier to understand - but foot fetishes elude me conceptually.

Good Thing I'm Not A Betting Man

Well, it looks like I was wrong on two counts this week:

1. Liverpool lost their Champions League final match against AC Milan; and

2. Jordin Sparks became the new American Idol.

Fortunately for me, I didn't put any money down on the result of either one. It just goes to show that thinking with your cock isn't a very good idea, at least for me it isn't.

F1 Boys

This will be the first in a series of pictorial features of the the hottest (to me, anyway) boys in Formula 1. To start, here's my first "love" - he who got me interested in F1 - Kimi Raikkonen.

Here's some biographical information:
Full name: Kimi Matias Raikkonen
Date of birth: 17th October 1979
Place of birth: Espoo, Finland
Nationality: Finnish

Racing Career:
Up to 2000 - Competitive karting
2001 - Sauber
2002 to 2006 - McLaren
2007 - Ferrari

Grand Prix entered: 109
Highest race finish: 1 (x10)
Highest grid position 1 (x12)
Podiums: 39

First, some introductory pictures. Here's Kimi in his Sauber kit, McLaren kit and most recently, his Ferrari kit. I think he looks best in silver but that's just me.

Next, here's Kimi just being his charming self. What's not to like about this cute boy?

I have a theory that sucking cock comes naturally to all men, straight or gay. Whether you're good at it, depends on how much you practice. Here, Kimi demonstrates that when it comes to sucking on phallic objects, straight boys seem to know instinctively what to do......

Here's Kimi looking all hot and bothered - all very porn-staresque and even more so if he were to have been shirtless but alas, only in my imagination!

Speaking of Kimi being shirtless, these are the closest I've been able to find of any pictures where Kimi is shirtless.

Finally, and leaving the best for last, Kimi gets blown.

Next to be featured in this series will be Christian Klien.

Another Irrational Decision

Here's who I think will win, based on the contestant who gives me an erection:

My first pick to win it would, of course, have been Chris Richardson but Blake is cute too. The only thing I didn't like about him tonight was his choice of an argyll jumper for performing his second song and a glittery(!) argyll sleeveless vest when performing his third and final song. This is not the first time he's worn argyll on the show. For some reason, he seems to like it. I wonder whether he wears argyll socks as well?

Despite what my libido is telling me, my brain (the confused brain that it is - see the post just before this one) is telling me that Jordin will win, if the competition is based purely on singing ability. However, we all know that it isn't all about singing ability or else Melinda Doolittle would be in the final with Jordin.

What will American decide - cute boy or diva girl?

We'll find out tomorrow.

Don't Know What To Make Of It

I saw a news item on the BBC website today about how brain function is expressed in terms of comparative finger length - see the full article here.

According to the study, foetuses which have more exposure to testosterone while in the womb tend to develop "male" brains and as a result, their ring finger will be longer than their index finger. On the other hand, foetuses which have less exposure to testoerone in the womb will tend to develop "female" brains and as a result, their ring finger will be shorter than their index finger.

I measured my fingers today and the results are as follows:

Left ring finger - 8.0cm
Left index finger - 7.5cm
Right ring finger - 7.9cm
Right ring finger - 7.9cm

I'm not sure how the result of the study applies to me. According to my left hand, I have a "male" brain which supposedly makes me good at maths and science but according to my right hand, I have a "female" brain which supposedly makes me better at verbal skills.

It all so confusing. Perhaps I should contact the researchers who did the study to find out more about what sort of brain I'm supposed to have and I'll see if they get their hypothesis is correct. Once I find out, the result will be posted in this blog.

Champions League 2007

Liverpool are playing some Italian (or is it Spanish) side whose team name I don't remember in Athens tomorrow for some European silverware. The football cognoscenti amongst my readers would be very upset with me about not knowing who Liverpool are playing. However, all that matters to me is that this is the result again in 2007:

As usual, this is me thinking with my cock (not literally, of course), rather than which side is the better team. In any case, may the team with the cutest players win!

Object Of Desire

This little beauty otherwise known as the Calibre 360 was distracting me today. My pulse started to race as soon as I saw it.

It's a Tag Heuer concept chronograph watch which made its first appearance in Baselworld 2005. It can parse time to 1/100ths of a second using a solely mechanical movement.

Unfortunately this picture doesn't do it justice. More information about this watch can be found here and there is a video showing it up close as well.

I called a watch dealer today to see if I could lay my hands on one of these. Apparently LVMH doesn't carry it here as it's still a concept watch but Tag Heuer will make it to order. I was told that the watch will cost something in the region of about $20,000.

Presumably if I wanted one, I'd need to put in a downpayment and once the watch is delivered, will have to pay the balance of the price.

That made me think. I've got the cash to put down for it, in fact, I have the cash to pay for the watch up front and I'd be one of the very few people in the world to have it as it was only launched at Baselworld 2005 and it may never see mainstream production as it was rumoured that it was to be a limited edition of 12 watches only.

I don't think I've reached the stage in life where I would not think twice about paying $20,000 for a watch. Ask me again in 10 years, perhaps I might by then. In any case, I think I'd want to get myself a tourbillon watch first but that's probably even more self-indulgent than having this blog.

I Wonder - Does It Hurt?

This picture was taken some time ago after the match between Israel and England in Tel Aviv. I think it ended in a draw which is why Frank and Steve are both looking glum.

I've never paid much attention to Mr Testicles until he moved to Chelsea but my ex swore blind (and he being Irish, swore very colourfully) that he'd seen pictures of Frank with a full chest of hair in the past but now he's as smooth as a baby's bottom and it's not just his chest, if this picture is anything to go by.

Seeing as how low on his hips his shorts are in this picture, I suspect that he gets a full Brazilian, in addition to his chest. I don't know this for sure but if any one out there who knows someone who knows someone who knows a first team Chelsea player (who will undountedly have seen Frank naked in the showers), please get in touch with me. I'm dying of curiosity.

Any other (credible) information about the respective endowments of other Chelsea players such as Joe Cole, John Terry, Wayne Bridge and Sam Hutchinson will also be very much appreciated.

I can understand what motivates gay boys to wax themselves silly but straight boys? I'm sure it's not that Frank is in the closet but there must be something which motivated him to get so thoroughly waxed. Perhaps the mother of his children (I refer to her as such because I don't know whether they're now married or whether she still only his fiancee) doesn't like hairy men and won't put out unless he's smooth all over. That, I can understand to be a sufficient motivation for a straight boy to get himself waxed.

A bit of interesting trivia, seeing I posted an entry about Jodie Marsh very recently. Apparently Frank and Jodie were at Brentwood together and were in the same year. While Britney Spears was only pretending to be the slutty schoolgirl in one of her music videos (I don't remember which - possibly "Hit Me Baby One More Time" - yes, go on, say it, I don't care - I'll even admit to it - I'm a disgrace to gay boys everywhere - I'm not a fan of Britney, not then and certainly not now), it's not hard to imagine Jodie as the actual slutty schoolgirl - the stuff of many a breeder boy's fantasies, no doubt.

This Is No Joke

I couldn't help but wonder if the marketing team at Credo had completely lost it. Nob Hill? Someone ought to have realised that phallic significance of the name, surely?

Apparently not. Given the current rising residential property prices, this development is deadly serious.

Introducing.....Dylan Kuo

This post of specially for J. I don't know whether Dylan (Guo Pinchao) is entirely his type and I'm taking a gamble.

Dylan is apparently a reasonably well-known all-round Taiwanese entertainer, according to DramaWiki, who also seems to be popular in Hong Kong (and possibly mainland China).

I'm not much into the Chinese pop - I believe J knows the scene better than I do - except for a few Jacky Cheung and Harlem Yu albums - yes and a Sally Yeh album as well. That's about it.

I don't mind admitting to have those albums but would be embarrassed to admit to having a Lolly album - yes, she of "Viva La Radio" fame. Singable as it was all those years ago, I'd be embarrased to admit owning it. Fortunately, I've nothing to be embarrased about as I don't - honest!

A General Apology

I've been meaning to do this for a while but always forget.

My blog entries are usually typed out quite quickly and in the course of doing so, I may sometimes make unintentional errors and if something in any of the entries doesn't read correctly, please don't hesitate let me know.

I've edit published entries whenever I notice anything amiss but I may have still overlooked something in the already published entries or may overlook something in future entries to be published.

Either way, do let me know if anything needs correcting and I will make the necessary amendments.

TVM!

Normal Services Resume

Compared to the pictures of Jodie Marsh, this is most definitely an erection-inducing picture for me. My cock was nestling quietly between my legs while I was typing the Jodie Foster entry but immediately sprang to life when I saw this picture. So much for the speculation about me being a closet straight boy!

Actually, back the point of this post. The Jodie Foster post was aberration and I promise that as far as possible, I will try not to post any more pictures of unclothed female bosoms on my blog. Apart from getting things back on track for my blog with this cute boy in all his masculine glory, I was wanting to use it as the starting point for something which happened to me at work today.

There was a fire drill this afternoon and I decided to skip out on it. I told the fire warden that I had a "meeting" which was true - it was a meeting with a cup of iced-chocolate at the nearest Starbucks. It was pointless for me to go to the fire drill as the likelihood of there being a fire where I work is very remote and given that there are only a few weeks left between now and when I leave for Shell, the chances of a fire happening here are even more remote.

On my way to Starbucks, I happened to notice a cute guy and his friend (not so cute) walking in the same direction. The object of my lust was probably in his late 30s or early 40s, had a swarthy appearance - could have been of Mediterranean or Russian extraction but was solidly built. I was so distracted while cruising him that I missed the exit to the Starbucks and only realised that some 10 minutes later.

Part of the reason for my distraction was because apart from mentally undressing the object of my lust, I was also thinking about the irrationality as to why I found the male form (clothed or naked) more lust-inducing than the naked female form. My thoughts were rudely interrupted by the realisation that I'd been walking in the wrong direction.

I didn't get to continue pondering my seemingly irrational preference at Starbucks because I met an old school friend whom I'd not seen in years who, was co-incidentally having a tête-à-tête with the cousin of another old school friend but who didn't know about the connection. So there might be some truth to the assertion about there only being 6 degrees of separation between any two people. It so happens that they had also skipped out on the fire drill as they work in the same building as I do. I've never seen them around as the building in which I work has 50 floors and is served by three different lift lobbies and the chances of running into someone by coincidence who doesn't use the same lift are quite remote.

"Tit"illation

Just as I couldn't resist the "Free Willy" pun in a previous post, entitling this post "Titllation" was too good to miss, in the context of Jodie Fosters' mammaries.

Her large mammaries are no doubt likely to get the breeder boys' pulses racing and their cocks a'throbbing but they do nothing for me whatsoever. That said, I'm curious as to what they feel like. Being a gay boy, I've never touched a woman's tits before (whereas I've touched more cocks than you can shake a stick at) and I'm curious. They're obviously plastic but I'm curious anyway. My curiosity doesn't stem from a prurient interest in breasts as such. I hear you think, "He doth protest too much!". Is he a closet breeder boy? Let's just say that I'm not completely out of the gay closet and it's simply conceptually inconsistent to be in the straight closet at the same time. Either that or I'm schizophrenic.

It seems pointless having a wedding dress like that. I seem to recall reading somewhere about a horny Roman empress (it might have been Anthony Burgess' "Kingdom of the Wicked" or it could have been Robert Graves' "I, Claudius", I don't remember which) who "married" her lover in some Bacchanalian wedding ritual after which all the guests joined in the celebratory orgy.

MTV is doing a reality TV programme in which the winner gets to marry Jodie Foster and I can easily imagine the wedding as a throwback to some Roman Bacchanalian, orgiastic romp.

I wonder whether any civil partnership ceremonies were concluded with an orgy? I can imagine the plot of a new porn film - boy meets boy but the road to love is rocky. Along the way, each of them has sex with a number of boys but each separately realises that the man he truly loves is the other and they get together eventually and marry. As a consummation of the wedding celebration, the newlyweds and their guests have an orgy. I don't think that's a film which has been made before but if it has, let me know as I'd like to buy the DVD.

Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered

Perhaps not "bewildered" but judging from the way these boys are looking at each other, certainly "bewitched" and quite possibly "bothered" by the hardons in their trousers.

It reminds me of the song "Uptown Girl" but in this case, it would an uptown boy and his bit of rough. I like a bit of rough myself, from time to time and my bricklayer (soon to be nurse) friend from Oz falls into that category. Not that he's your stereotypical wife-beater wearing sort of boy but it's nice to be with a man who works with his hands. It gives him a certain raw, masculine sex appeal, not that men who don't work with their hands don't have a masculine sex appeal, just a different (but equally appealing) sort.

I couldn't resist posting this picture. It's the sort of picture that gets me more hot and bothered than hardcore porn. Not that I don't like hardcore porn but this has so much more possibilities. Imagining what comes next is the best part.

Pointless Protest

This is outright stupidity.

PETA was staging a protest outside Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at Claridges. What were they upset about?

It turns out that Mr Ramsay was planning to serve barbecued horse meat.

Is that really worth protesting? For goodness sake, in parts of Japan, horse-meat is eaten sashimi and has been for years. I don't see PETA protesting there.

Sometimes I have very little patience for these animal rights activists. What's the difference between eating horse meat and chicken? Neither are endangered.

I can understand if PETA were to protest against eating panda meat, for example. I would gladly turn up to support that protest and would even wear the panda suit but this is just stupid. No wonder PETA sometimes isn't taken seriously.

The reason for the protest is based on an assumption that the horse was inhumanely killed for its flesh. PETA doesn't know this for sure. There are probably many instances where horses are put down (other than by lethal injection) and it would be a shame to let all that meat go to waste. It could turned into pet food, or perhaps in this case, people food.

I say this partly because I've never had a horse as a pet and perhaps don't feel emotionally attached to it and therefore have no qualms about eating it. I feel the same way about eating other sorts of meat such as (but not limited to) chicken, beef, lamb and fish.

As for meat which might have formerly been a pet, I'd need to consider that very carefully. At the end of the day, I'd probably have no issues eating it, provided that a vet was prepared to certify that it was fit for human consumption. There's nothing you can do to bring a dead pet to life and all that's left is an empty shell and happy memories. In which case, there's no rational reason not to eat it as the meat would simply decompose (or be incinerated, as the case may be) if not eaten.

Taking this reasoning to its logical extreme, there is no reason why humans shouldn't eat dead humans (provided death occurred through natural courses). Again, provided that a doctor is prepared to certify the meat as fit for human consumption, apart from the innate squamishness of some humans about eating members of their own species, it's a morally neutral thing. Of course, the main consideration is whether the meat will taste good. If it's going to be tough as leather, it's pointless to even consider eating it, even if we can overcome our reluctance to eat members of our own species.

All this, of course, is easier said than done. That said, I'm as likely to eat human meat as I am to eat worms and grubs. I don't think I can get over the "yuck" factor.

P.S. The other reason why I was quite outraged about the protest was because I've been to Mr Ramsay's restaurant at Claridges on several occasions and I like the food there. PETA's protest is depriving me of my legal right to eat at the restaurant of my choice and that greatly annoys me as there is no logical reason why PETA doesn't also (apart from there being limited members who will be willing to carry out these protests) protest against the various other types of meat being served at all the restaurants in London. I have a suspicion that the protest is not so much directed against the eating of horsemeat but perhaps this particular PETA member has an axe to grind with Mr Ramsay. Alternatively, perhaps this particular PETA member is a horse-lover and has issues with people eating his favourite animal but himself has no issues with eating meat in general - the HYPOCRITE.

Does This Job Come With Life Insurance?

He's probably fervently praying that the soldier at the other end isn't what's known in local military parlance as a "bobo" shooter - someone who can't hit the target to save his life. Looks like this was photographed in China. I suppose with a population of billions, they could afford to use a human being to prop up a target.

This reminds me of the "Little List" song in "The Mikado", which lists groups of people who would not be missed by society as a whole. Very funny in that context but perhaps not so funny in this.

Free Willy

Sorry, I couldn't resist the "free willy" joke.

I've seen my share of cocks but I've never seen one so big and it's not even hard yet! Getting fucked with something that big will hurt. Unless you're a whale, of course.

I wonder whether it's in the keeper's job description to wank the whale. How often do they do it? Can you imagine the amount of cum? In this case, the phrase "cumming in buckets" will have a very literally meaning.

Autofellator?

How much do you want to bet that this boy can suck his own cock?

Gutted

No, this not a picture of David Beckham. Look more closely.

This handsome devil is in fact Neil Cole and he's not generally known to be a David Beckham impersonator. He's many things - see his official website.

He's best known to me as the presenter of AXN's WRC Shakedown television programme which is currently not being shown but will no doubt return to AXN before too long.

I was exploring Neil's website today and found that he was married! Needless to say, I was gutted. I assume that he's married to a woman although same-sex marriages are allowed in British Columbia, even for non-Canadian residents so it is possible that Neil and his boyfriend (if they play for our team) could have been lawfully married in British Columbia.

I don't think Neil plays for out team, though. I've seen him look at the girls on Shakedown and he's almost certainly a straight boy. It's such a shame. All the cute boys are straight. It's ironic that, since it seems like a common perception among straight girls that all the cute boys are gay.

Does this mean that straight girls find gay boys more attractive than straight boys and gay boys find straight boys more attractive than other gay boys? That's just f!@#$d up - to borrow a phrase from the vernacular. In this instance, I'll conceded to a lack of vocabulary, having used the "F" word but the thought of girls prefering gay boys and gay boys preferring straight boys left me quite gobsmacked.

Fortunately there are still enough straight girls out there who like straight boys or else homo sapiens as a species will soon become extinct.

Decision Day

I've decided.

Today was the last round of talks with my boss. It all ended very amicably.

I'm going to Shell with his blessing.

I resigned with immediate effect but have a 3-month notice period. Unfortunately, I won't be asked to go on gardening leave. I wish I was. I could do with a 3-month paid holiday.

There are a few more administrative details to clear with Shell but these shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I told some of my colleagues today but my boss won't make an official announcement to my division until Friday but I've already told my assistant. She deserves to know in advance of the official announcement. My going won't put her job at risk so I don't feel bad about going.

Judging by the reaction of those who'd been told today, it will come as something of a surprise once word gets around completely.

I was planning to relocate to London in September but now that will have to be put on hold. I don't know how long for. A big part of my life is still in London and it's still very much the a home away from home, in addition to Sydney. This also means that I'll also need to "unwind" a lot of the plans which I was making in connection with the relocation, including flight bookings. Friends have been expecting me back will also have to be told, ideally before my next trip to London in July.

I was speaking to a friend who works in Bangkok after I officially resigned today and told her that I'd mixed feelings about it. I wasn't sad to leave but was rather apprehensive about the new job. I don't really know what I'm in for. I've been told in general terms that I'll be looking after the trading and chartering business which I can do but I don't know how much support, in terms of resources, I'll have to do the job.

As far as I can tell, Shell employs a team of 650 in-house lawyers in 65 countries worldwide, of which I am 1 out of 11 in Singapore. In terms of global legal expertise, that makes Shell as big, if not bigger than many of the global private legal practices. What that translates into when I start working for Shell remains to be seen.

Awww, How Sweet!

Fatherhood seems to suit John Terry. It's a side of him the football supporters don't often see. We all know John Terry as the Chelsea and England captain but John Terry, in his role as doting daddy is a side of whom we don't often see enough of and that, to me, makes him very sexy.

My "Looking Glass" Experience

I had a strange dream on Saturday evening. It's nothing like the dreams I've had about my teeth falling out and turning up for my 'A' level maths exam completely unprepared. Those count as nightmares and I have those more than any other bad dream.

This latest one was different. I dreamt I was back at boarding school. It wasn't the one I went to. It was rather mediocre and run-down. I was meant to be sharing a room with another boy but to my horror, it was a triple-share and a make-shift one at that. I had a single bed on one side of the room and the other two boys had to share a double-decker bed. They obviously didn't like it and kept giving me muderous looks all evening prior to bedtime.

The strange about this dream was that in it, I wasn't my younger self in the dream but myself, at my current age, qualified lawyer and all.

What made this dream strange was its premise - why didn't I object to being at the boarding school in my dream? It's no secret that when I was in boarding school, it wasn't a particularly happy time of my life (at least initially but that's true of any new environment) and I resented my parents for sending me to it.

In my dream, we'd gone to bed for the evening (this was the night before the start of term) when it started to rain very heavily and as a result, the ceiling started to leak. I was woken up by the dampness and was infuriated.

Having a leaking ceiling in my room was the final straw. I must have resented being at the boarding school in the first place and I certainly resented having to share a room (I never share rooms whenever I travel on business) and I was going to have none of it. By this time the red mist had descended and I stomped out of the room to find the Housemaster, swearing loudly enough to wake the other residents and teachers. When I got to his room, I shulder-charged the door and dragged the Housemaster from his bed. He was obviously not best pleased about being so rudely awoken in the middle of the night by a demanding student (who also happened to be a qualified lawyer) and not being shown any respect whatsoever - remember I took an oath to uphold the law without fear or favour and sometimes take that oath a bit too seriously. I roundly berated the Housemaster for the leak in the ceiling and demanded that something be done about it immediately, even if it meant the Housemaster vacating his room for me to occupy until the leaking ceiling had been repaired.

Needless to say, the Housemaster utterly galled that a student should make such an outrageous demand and eventually, the Headmistress turned up. Needless to say, she got no respect from me either. She was dressed in a pink flannel dressing gown and her greying hair was all done up in bun. She was likewise shouted at without any mercy and although I had lost my temper, I nevertheless had enough self-control not to use any obscenities on either of them. Perhaps even in my dream, I still believed that having to resort to obscenities when losing one's temper shows are sad lack of vocabulary.

I wasn't going to give either of them an opportunity to make excuses and gave them an ultimatum to fix the ceiling within 24 hours or the Housemaster would have to spend the rest of the academic year living in my shared room. At that point, I forcefully shoved both Housemaster and Headmistress out of the room and locked the door behind them.

Strangely enough, I wasn't in the least afraid of being expelled. At that point in time, I was already going through the options in my head and was thinking about what pre-emptive legal proceedings I could take. I had already decided that I would consult my solicitors the next morning (I would never do my own legal work having been taught that a lawyer who acts for himself has a fool for a client) should the school decide to take legal action against me for battering the Housemaster.

There the dream ended. I don't know how things were eventually resolved but it was rather cathartic.

It was a glimpse into my (not so) subconscious mind. I don't know what to make of it myself and I don't think there is any standard explanation for the imagery in my dream seeing as it was quite complex and wide-ranging.

As a student, I would never have done anything like this although if it happened to me now, were I to be staying in a hotel where something similar happened, I would not hesitate to make my views known to the duty manager and noisily demand to be moved to another (better) room. That said, it's never happened to me and I don't think I would ever be provoked in to losing my temper like that.

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

This post has nothing to do with Mazda (remeber the "zoom, zoom, zoom" ad not so long ago?) unless Mazda are planning to field an F1 team for the 2008 season.

It was announced in the local press last weekend that a Singapore-led consortium reached an agreement with Bernie Ecclestone to host one leg of the F1 Grand Prix for 5 years starting from 2008.

This was not some low-key announcement, as you might imagine. Bernie himself did not appear but it made headlines in all the local newspapers.

What will this mean for Singapore? Obviously, the entire F1 circus will descend on Singapore for at least one weekend for the next 5 years. As you can see from the picture above, the race will be held on a street circuit, like in Monaco, rather than on a purpose-built track. For a better view, see the 3-D layout of street circuit in the picture below.

I've got rather mixed feelings about this. On the one had, I would love nothing better than to see all my favourite F1 boys in person but having been to enough live sporting events, I know that it will be better to watch it on television. I might go to the inaugural race or perhaps the 2009 one and then watch the rest on television.

F1 is not exactly the most interesting of spectator sports. Car whizz around a circuit for several laps and apart from the overtaking action, it's not really that exciting to watch and more often than not, the overtaking rarely happens in front of the spectator stands.

So what's the attraction of F1? Is it the fast cars? Maybe.

Or perhaps the grid-girls in their all too small outfits waving off the drivers? No, I don't think so. Not for me anyway.

As I alluded to earlier, the boys of F1 look incredibly sexy in their racing suits and arguably, a lot more sexy out of them. I'll post some choice pictures of my favourite F1 drivers soon and it should be apparent where (or more specifically, in whom) my F1 interests lie.

A4, S60 or IS250?

If these alphabets and numbers mean nothing to you, perhaps the pictures below will help.

The Audi A4:

The Volvo S60:

And finally, the Lexus IS250:

If you've not already guessed, I've been car-shopping this afternoon. Yes, car dealerships open on Sunday here - it's a very heathen country. Saturdays and Sundays are usually the busiest days for all car dealerships.

I've narrowed it down to these three. I've also seen the BMW 320i and the Volkwagen Passat but I think it's down to one of these three.

There is, however, an outsider which might could itself onto my current 3-car shortlist. It's an SUV - the Nisaan Murano:

It's got the largest engine of all three cars and it's the cheapest. It's the only Japanese-made car which I'm considering but don't knock it, it got very good reviews on Top Gear. Granted that it was reviewed by James May but as I recall, Clarkson didn't rubbish it either.

Price, is of course, important but it's not going to be the sole determining factor as to which one I finally. Features are quite important as well and the IS250 isn't looking too good from that perspective - all the little features which I now have and I think I can't live without (such as rain sensors and reverse proximity sensors) are not standard on this variant of the IS250 whereas the Murano has a reverse sensor as well as a rear camera. Unfortunately it's not got a rain sensor.

A quiet engine is also something which is quite important to me and in that respect, the IS250 wins hands down (as it does for the highest resale value). The car with the most grunt (engine noise, not power output - it could well be the most under-powered, depending on which variant of the A4 it is - only 90kW+ at max revs) would probably be the Audi A4 but among the current three on the shortlist it is the cheapest but not as cheap as the Murano. The problem with the IS 250 is that it is the smallest in the Lexus family and coupled with the fact that it is a rear-wheel drive car, there is a big hump in the rear which makes the rear passenger seats even more cramped than they already are.

As for the S60, while it is quite good on the extras, I think the pricing strategy needs a re-think as it's priced the same as the C30. Apparently the engine mountings also don't last very long because Swedish environmental laws require quick biodegradable non-metallic parts to be used wherever possible but because the car will operate in the tropics, the lifespan of these materials will be considerably shortened because of the heat and humidity.

I will talk to my colleagues who have Audis and Volvos tomorrow and see what they have to say. I don't think any of them have a Lexus or a Murano.