Perspective.

FHM Says Horribly Ignorant Things About Andrej Pejic- I Am Disgusted. UPDATE

Barnes & Noble and Borders stores south of the border are censoring the latest cover of Dossier Journal featuring androgynous male model Andrej Pejic. 

This is a screenshot because someone at FHM clued in to how offensive this was/is and removed the original post.

"'Thing’ is quite accurate.” 
"Pass the sick bucket.” 
"More troubling..."
"One trend we won't be following."

THIS IS IN PRINT?

Besides this just being downright juvenile, it’s incredibly inaccurate to compare the male-identified Pejic with the female-identified Lea T. While he plays around with androgyny, Pejic has never expressed any desire to actually become a woman, whereas Lea T felt she was born the wrong sex and took steps to remedy the situation. I’d say this is pure homophobia and transphobia, but Pejic has not publicly identified himself as either gay nor transgender. From what I can gather, they simply can’t handle the fact that he’s different and does not appear to be that which "they" believe a MAN should represent (cue football throwing, beer guzzling and steroid use.) A sadly familiar scenario that triggers many a schoolyard bully to ruin some poor kid’s life and now children are dying because of it.

Shouldn’t we know better than to propagate this shit?

I am just going to sit here and stare unbelievably at this for a moment.

UPDATE:

I received an email from Newsy who supplied me with a great video that also illustrates how others are reacting to this. So far, I have not seen any articles interviewing Andrej himself.

"I read your post “FHM Says Horribly Ignorant Things About Andrej Pejic – I Am Disgusted” where you provide your reaction to the slanderous comments made on FHM’s website.  You summed it up perfectly when you said that they simply can’t handle the fact that Andrej is different.  I appreciate that you compared these comments to schoolyard bullying, because that is essentially what they are.  Recently Newsy.com produced a video about the FHM’s comments and Andrej’s Dossier cover:

http://www.newsy.com/videos/australian-supermodel-with-a-twist/

It provides a lot of contextual information about Andrej and the controversy surrounding him and his androgynous style. I think the video compliments your post well, and I hope you will consider embedding it into your 'In the War Between' blog post.  Traditional news outlets often overlook LGBTQ issues.  It is important to present these stories to the public and shed light on ignorance.  Blogs like yours do an excellent job providing the public with the news they need."

pp

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

In Response to Jackie's Hockey Post...

(Since I can not comment on your blog personally, for obvious reasons, I chose this method because I believe that your blog post is an important topic and deserves to be discussed.)

JACKIE BLOG POST EXCERPT:

"I really don’t get this whole “is Vancouver Canada’s team?” debate. I’m quite sure that this has nothing to do with hockey, whatsoever. People have pointed out that it is a result of envy of our city and the ongoing debate of whose city is the best to live in. Who gives a shit? This kind of crap does nothing to promote the sport within our own country and dare I say it, this behaviour is very un-Canadian. Canada only has 6 teams, with a possible 7th with the return of the Jets. I would think that from year to year, the odds of a Canadian team making it to the Stanley Cup finals is pretty low, so if people want the cup back in Canada, they had better get the hell on board, because who knows when it will happen again. This past season looked like this for Canadian teams:

Eastern Division:
6th – Montreal
10th – Toronto
13th – Ottawa
Western Division:
1st - Vancouver
10th – Calgary
15th – Edmonton

The way I see it, if Montreal can avoid the plague of injuries they suffered in this last season and acquire some more firepower for their forward line, they have a good chance of doing very well next year. The remaining teams, especially Edmonton, will likely be going into a season or two of re-building, unless a miracle happens. Edmonton has had “lunch-bucket” teams come out of nowhere, in the past, but the conditions must be perfect. If Vancouver can keep their roster intact after this season…there will no-doubt be some salary negotiating going on regardless of the outcome of the final…they may just ride this wave into next season, but things aren’t the way they used to be. It now seems to be a rarity for teams to repeat greatness in consecutive seasons. So, Canucks fans soak it up and enjoy it, because it may be another 17 years before this happens again. And, the rest of Canada, I’ve travelled all across this amazing county of ours and I can honestly say that, yes, Vancouver is the most beautiful city in Canada, which is why everyone on this planet seems to be immigrating here. But we do LOVE hockey and we do LOVE Canada, so hop aboard or shut up about it. You’re embarrassing yourselves ;-)"

MY RESPONSE:

The roster shows 22 Canadian players on the Bruins, compared to only 16 for the Canucks, is that correct? Last I heard, Edmonton Oilers actually had the most Canadian players of any team in the NHL, so should we not be cheering for them if the motivation is to "keep it Canadian"? I don't even know if keeping the cup in Canada would equate to keeping it Canadian at this point, but I have heard this argument often.

As for hopping aboard, would Sharks fans root for the Kings to keep it in California? Would a Jets fan start rooting for the Giants if their team was eliminated? Would Manchester United fans suddenly start rooting for Manchester City? Would the Raider fan abandon ship and become a Charger fan when their team started failing?
It would strike me as extremely band wagon-y to start rooting for a team you have riled against all season out of a desperation to keep another team from winning.
I just can't bring myself to root for the Canucks, and I'm from BC. I grew up sitting on the laps of the great Oilers (Gretzky included) and so they will always (even as they slowly draft-pick themselves into embarrassment) have a place in my heart. That said, I have grown an appreciation for Boston since Greg is such a fan and it is sweet that they have made it so far. Otherwise, I must say, I wouldn't be nearly as invested in the finals this year.

All of that aside, rivalry makes sports entertaining, but sometimes I feel people take the rivalry to the point of actual hatred and aggression, and that is disappointing. When the game is over, drop your swords... there are much better ways* to spend this glorious summer.

Hockey is Canada's sport. It would do us a huge disservice to have the Run for the Cup tear us apart.
xo Sheen

*Beer

UPDATED FACEBOOK THREAD:

Janice Dickinson is Naked Again. Also, OHGODMYEYES.

Bananashark.

I Am Now the Girl Who is Dating That Guy With the Epic Mustache.

 

Damn it.

Saturday in the City...

After waking at 6am for no reason at all, I wrote a to-do list for the day and smiled:

-> Have Amber pick you up

-> Get coffees

-> Old Strathcona Farmer's Market

-> 104th Street Farmer's Market

-> Get Fat Frank's

-> Meet Leslie for coffee

-> Wish you had a nap before the stagette tonight

A new pub on Whyte Ave. Jesus Christ, Guys.

Our friends Feast of Famine busking their last market show before the tour.

Food in the City: Launch of Edmonton's Food and Agriculture Policy Project

This dog was badass.  Wore those sunglasses and hat like a boss...

... and stood up to be worshiped. The feather says it all.

"Buy some bread and 100 Mile House's new album..." Awesome.

Sexy Sax Man Careless Whisper Prank feat. Sergio Flores.

Top Comment: "This kept me from killing myself."

Thanks, LePage. 

Your Joke of the Day.

Guy walks into a bar, says to the bartender "Give me a beer!" 

He then proceeds to drink himself to death because he is a lonely alcoholic.

@https://twitter.com/#!/clarkekant

Gil Scott-Heron Dies at Age 62.

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED.

Scott-Heron was HIV positive and battled drug addiction through most of his career. He spent a year and a half in prison for possession. In a 2009 interview he said that his jail term had forced him to confront the reality of his situation.

"When you wake up every day and you're in the joint, not only do you have a problem but you have a problem with admitting you have a problem."

Yet in spite of some "unhappy moments" in the past few years he still felt the need to challenge rights abuses and "the things that you pay for with your taxes".



"If the right of free speech is truly what it's supposed to be, then anything you say is all right."

Amnesty International's 50 year history.

2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of Amnesty International, which began with one person and an idea -- to protect the basic dignity and human rights of those imprisoned for their beliefs.

Become SELF CONFIDENT and ACCEPT YOURSELF.

"One of my Christian friends said to me that she was sad to the fact that there was a stigma put on Christians, that as soon as you tell someone you are christian they put you into a tiny box.

I told her I understood. That as a Gay man I received the same treatment.

She said she hadn't thought about it that way.

This is a video that I have wanted to do for a while now but have not been able to put it down into words until today.

We as humans are looking for acceptance in all aspects of our lives.

It's human nature. We want to become part of the tribe.

Unfortunately because of our differences we are shunned by other members of the human race.

Things as simple as the country we were born in can define who we socialize with.

The size of our bodies can cause us to feel like we are not worthy of someone else's respect.

Our sexuality can make us scared to go into a social setting that may cause us danger.

Our Gender Identity can attract violence from strangers

and our spiritual beliefs can falsely identify us as biggots or enemies of another who we may otherwise form a strong friendship with.

We are all guilty of this.

Social conditioning has made me expect that a certain race of human to be rude and unfriendly.

I am nervous around people of a different sexuality of mine, just because I don't know them well enough to trust them.

I have denied myself proper nutrition in order to push myself to slim down to the point where it is not healthy

I avoid clothes that might be feminine because I don't want to be approached on the street and harassed.

I rarely disclose that I am Pagan for fear of being identified as stupid or flakey and ignorant.

And I judge those people who embody my own weaknesses the harshest.

From this point on I resolve to stop this ridiculous cycle.

From now on I resolve to accept my differences.

The differences I hate about myself and the differences I love I will accept as part of me.

With Honesty I will overcome my personal prejudices and accept myself for who I am because then I won't feel the need to say "But they are worse than me as a Gay Male because"

I will be able to accept them as different to me.

Because only by accepting our differences, tolerance can become irrelevant.

And this is because I want to be accepted and not tolerated."

Jason Rouse: Random Act of Violence World Tour 2011.

Remember when I told you a few years ago to watch for Jason Rouse and then he disappeared off the grid?  Well, he is back with a tour, soon-to-be comedy special, and people are about to be offended.  Again.

The 9th episode of Salad Fingers and the first in 3 years.

Salad Fingers is BACK!

"I Just Want to be a Sheep..."

A fantastic lesson for children.



And the "green dragon" bonus video.

Heroin VS the Hot Dog.

X-Ray Video Of A Dog Drinking.

Two really smart people at Harvard have discovered that dogs and cats use the same techniques to drink water. 
It's all very complicated but the folks over at Discover explain it so even a layman like me can understand. ;)

People of Walmart: The Video.

EMBED-People Of Walmart Song - Watch more free videos

Well, it is about TIME, I say.

Rick Santorum disowns campaign slogan when told a gay liberal poet came up with it.

Because he is not a very good politician, Rick Santorum was tripped up when a student asked him if he knew that the choice of his campaign slogan, "Fighting to make America America again," was borrowed from the "pro-union poem by the black gay poet Langston Hughes":



Said Santorum: "No I had nothing to do with that. I didn't know that. And the folks who worked on that slogan for me didn't inform me that it came from that, if it in fact came from that."
When asked a short time later what the campaign slogan meant to him, Santorum said, "well, I'm not too sure that's my campaign slogan, I think it's on a web site."

Santorum hasn't selected a new slogan yet but I vote for "Rick Santorum: Never mind."

Representative Tony Cornish’s Email To Gay Rights Supporters.

This is fucked up.
Representative Tony Cornish has been responding to people from Minnesota with this message. The Minnesota Post’s Tumblr is saying there are multiple reports of this happening.

Puppy To Adult In 40 Seconds.

From a 15-year-old Dave Grohl to the band Aerobic Death.

Once Upon a Time... (for Dudes)

http://changarrodechunches.tumblr.com/post/5617633523/once-upon-a-time-a-prince-asked-a-beautiful-princess

White Whine.

http://whitewhine.com/

http://whitewhine.com/

(Yes, there will be pictures of the pirate party and the week of bee birthday times in general, but our house has been untouched for a week and is in dire need of tidying. I'm 34 years old now, y'know... PRIORITIES.)

Slave Lake Fires Destroy 50% of Town. City in State of Emergency. UPDATES

“Ten minutes in the town and it was black," said volunteer firefighter Wayne Bacon. "You couldn’t see. People were going out of town like crazy. All four highways were closed. Finally they let us all get out."

"The town is gone," one woman sobbed. "There's nothing left. There's places where there should have been houses, and they're gone. We lost everything."

If anyone is able to help, here are some ways to do so:

TWITTER: Check the hashtags "#slavelakefires", "#slavelakefire", "#slavelake" and "#Wildfire". People are checking in to ask for assistance and offer help every minute.  Many have already found places to stay, families willing to allow their yards to be camping areas, and many many mothers parting with children's items for the misplaced families. And don't forget the Edmonton hashtag "#yeg".
FACEBOOK: Slave Lake and Community Message Board is connecting people through Facebook.  People are suggesting items the residents may need, offering places to stay, and alerting people as to what items they are willing to donate (baby clothes, food, blankets, etc.)
ALBERTA WILDFIRES LIVE is a live blog that is updating the situation in real time.
RED CROSS ALBERTA is taking donations via Twitter as well as their website for Slave Lake disaster relief. Their phone number is 1-800-418-1111.
FOR INFORMATION ON LOVED ONES call 1-800-565-4483.
WILDFIRE ROAD CLOSURE HOTLINE: 780-644-5653.
EDMONTON EMERGENCY RELIEF accepting slavelake donations starting at 10AM at 10255 104 Street. Unopened toiletries, clean bedding/towels.

If you have friends or family in Slave Lake who were medical patients - Call Alberta Health Service at 1-866-301-2668 to locate them.



http://watch.ctv.ca/clip467801#clip467801

Thanks for reading.

UPDATES:

- Athabasca shelter full.  All asked to head to Edmonton.
- town office, provincial building, Sawridge Mall, RMS School, Catholic church, Radio 97, Scope Newspaper, possibly SL Ford... ALL GONE.  12:06pm
- Mayor confirms hospital and school still standing, though damaged
- CTV Reporter Sean Amato also believes that the Sawridge Hotel and the college are also untouched
- Wildfire information officer also says they are expecting additional wildfires to be ignited due to lightning
- Stretches of following hwys closed: 2 east and west of slavelake, 88 north of slave, 750 from hwy 679-hwy 88
- AB Sustainable Resource and Development says 39 of the 116 wildfires currently burning in AB are burning out of control
- SOUTH OF THE HIGHWAY IS UNTOUCHED.
- All are being asked to go to the EXPO CENTRE in Edmonton.  There is food, water, cots, and counseling.  12:35pm
- If you need to direct someone to important numbers for Slave Lake, the site is: http://proudtobealberta.ca/2011/05/slave-lake-fire/
- Aerial view of Slave Lake:

http://twitpic.com/4yjozw/full

 

- Edmonton Humane Society is setting up emergency animal housing this afternoon @ edmonton expo centre thanks to northlands.
- FACEBOOK PAGE UPDATED WITH THE MOST URGENTLY NEEDED ITEMS: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115084005244550
 - Video of Slave Lake:



- Friend just tweeted "About 28 kms from #SlaveLake and just spotting the first plumes of smoke.."
- A Provincial emergency hotline has been set up: call 780-310-4455
- Water bombers and helicopters fly over #slavelake - smoke still billowing from almost every angle...
- Stelmach to arrive in Slave Lake within the hour
- Downtown core still appears to be intact near college at #slavelake
- Stelmach arrives in Slave Lake 1:41pm:

- Mayor of Slave Lake: http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/video/index.html?releasePID=CVfZceIQ9vnfjkILlRLzgBIQaHMHyywK
- 9 Street and 7 Avenue in #SlaveLake - Not much left of this neighbourhood:

- Apparently, the legion hall in Westlock is FULL and not taking any more donations at this time.

- AHS has issued an air quality advisory for Northern Alberta due to numerous wildfires
- Website created to help those misplaced by the terrible fires: http://www.rebuildslavelake.com/
- All banks safe. Rumour that Bank of Nova Scotia burned down unfounded. No banks lost.
- Now they are saying only 30% of town destroyed; better than the 50% they had estimated earlier.
- Slave Lake is low on gas and parts have been without power.
- There are now unconfirmed reports of looting in the area.
- Around 70 firefighters from the Edmonton area as well as 200 from B.C. and Ontario are expected to help fight the wind-whipped wildfires over the next few days.
- MAP OF ALBERTA WILDFIRES:
http://www.globaltvcalgary.com/story.html?id=4792284
- Slave Lake Fire and Aftermath, pictures from a Facebook page dedicated to cause:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150599730975527.674018.539910526

Pickled Watermelon Recipe via QuiltingMuriel.

As I replied to Muriel, I know I can do the 'go to the movies' part, but the rest is a gamble.
Screw it- I'm giving it a shot.

Besides, even failure means I got to devour watermelon.

Your Ari of the Day: the Poet.

Good to know in the four months I was off Facebook nothing changed.
Jesus.

Blogger Went Down.

I lost some comments and information from posts when Blogger went down yesterday.

I just want to let you know that if you do not see your comments posted, it was Blogger being a bitch- not me.

Twitter Went Down.

LePage came in to save me from myself...

Pageant Mom Gives Botox to 8-Year-Old Daughter.

Jesus Christ. This interview is heartbreaking.

What happens when you don't go on Facebook for a week.

Crazy Racist Naked Bastard on New York Subway Loses His Shit.

Olive Garden Cooking College a Scam, Hearts Break Worldwide.

I don’t want to shock anyone, but we may have been mislead. I think I saw the Olive Garden commercial touting their cooking school about 15 times before the message internalized and I realized that Olive Garden was talking about a cooking school to which they send their chefs and managers. I don’t know if any of you have been to an Olive Garden lately, but I think they need to take a look at the curriculum. Turns out the school is more of a vacation, then educational facility.

I was a manager at Olive Garden and was sent to their culinary institute in Tuscany back in 2007. It was more like a hotel, during the off-season, with restaurant on site. They would let the Olive Garden come and stay in all the rooms and they would use the restaurant as a classroom for maybe an hour here or there and talk about spices or fresh produce for a minute before going site seeing all day. The only time we saw the “chef” was when she made a bolognese sauce while taking pictures with each of us to send to our local newspapers. Basically, yes, they send people to Italy every year. As a manager I still got paid my salary and didn’t have to use vacation time, it counted as “work”. They paid for everything from meals, sightseeing, flight, everything except souvenirs. But in return, they sent pre-written articles to out local newspaper with fake quotes from me and a group photo. Also every year when they would run the promotion, I was supposed to wear a special “chef” coat and make conversation with guests who ordered the promotional meals.

QuiltingMuriel Made My Day.

 

Fuck celebrity. These are the people on Twitter that really make you glad you signed up.

Thanks, Muriel.