X-Box Ruins Lives

CNN just reported on the release of the new X-Box 360 video game console, which, as has been the case since the original, gold Legend of Zelda* game for Nintendo was released more than a decade ago, was accompanied by the usual shortage of supplies for gamers seeking the latest and greatest of new releases.

One interesting (and very symptomatic of US society/priorities) moment:

A man (obviously not of patrician origin) complaining to the CNN reporter that he'd called in sick for work and been docked a day's pay and now he's out of a day's pay and still doesn't have a new X-Box 360.

Yes -- if missing ONE DAY of pay has economic consequences for you, do we think it's the most intelligent (let alone ethical) thing for you to do to call in sick and LOSE that pay so that you can spend $400 on a video game system?

God help us.

VC

*I actually remember my occasional trips with Wong to Thrifty's drug store to buy Nintendo games, and every week I'd see the gold Zelda game staring at me through the class display case, but for weeks I avoided it (forcing myself to get other games), because I could always sense that there was this expectation that I would want the GOLD game because, as a child, I was expected to be attracted to whatever was flashy and cool. I was SO aware of the saleswoman anticipating that choice, and was myself so averse to buying into those things I knew were being played upon by colouring the game gold, that I forced myself to not get it. I still remember when I finally broke-down and got it (not wanting to get ANOTHER game that didn't interest me just to resist the golden choice), the sales woman immediately so delightedly confirming my choice: "The GOLD one?" Yes. The gold one. You got me -- you knew all along EXACTLY what I'd choose. It ended up being an awesome game that (as gamers know) moved to different systems and I even played (in later incarnations) during the summer in college one year. It's odd, though, that a seven year old can have that perception of what was going on, and that I could also remember to this day my desire to avoid the humiliation of all the complex aspects of that choice (not wanting to be predictable, not wanting to endorse the marketing practices that MADE us predictable, and not, at the same time, wanting to force myself to NOT do what I wanted out of skepticism about what my wanting it or my asking for it would mean).

Graham Redeems "Him"self

Well it was barely more than a week ago (11 November, to be exact) when Senator Graham again had me blog-bashing him and, as I often do (see 22 August for photos), doubting his chromosomal pairing. He has redeemed himself slightly with the work he's done on the torture provisions discussed in this NYTimes article. I'd call your attention, though, to the weird discussion of how these three "maverick" senators are all linked through McCain (sounds like a menage a trois to me), and I find the discussion of Graham's involvement in McCain's presidential runs to hint at his unrequited love for the chalky-faced ex-POW.

In any case, I think it is typical of the Bush administration that THREE leading Republicans on the Armed Services Committee (in other words: not liberals sitting on the board of PeTA) can univocally support a clarification of US policy on interrogation techniques, and Cheyney can try to strong-arm them into backing down.

I still think Graham is a woman (at the very least he is XXY), but I'll let the Egyptian journalist discussed in my post, below, be the judge of whether or not Graham is indeed "male."

VC

Gay Wedding in Cairo

Check out this blog, which describes the (probably false-) reporting on a gay wedding that supposedly occurred at one of the Hilton hotels in Cairo in August (incidentally: kind of a hole).

Then check out THIS article by an Egyptian journalist about the wedding. Seeing the way this article is written is much, much more important than discovering whether or not two Kuwaiti men got married in Cairo (I suspect they did not).*

It's past 6AM and I need to finally go to sleep, but I feel like this article brilliantly (I should say more accurately: "effectively") demonstrates a lot of the things that make it extremely difficult to live here, and I'm not talking just about homophobia. Look for the immensely problematic language -- the insistence, for example, upon putting "males" in quotes (the obvious implication being that gay men who have sex with men are not sex male), the need to call emphatically upon imagery of the "eternal" Nile, "simple" Egyptian "workers," and Cairo's Islamic character (it's walls INDEED vibrating with the call to prayer)...you don't need me to walk you through it -- the article is an obvious mess. The thing is: I can handle offensive beliefs, but what I cannot handle is erroneous logic...there is no platform for discussion, here, because this most fundamental tool for discussion (logical reasoning) is so severely lacking (note that I'm not trying to make some statement about the "oriental mind" or something, but rather point out the ways in which people allow themselves to so lazily employ terms and arguments that wouldn’t stand up to even the most simple logical interrogation).

*In addition to the ridiculous implications related to Cairo, Islam, homosexuality, and women, you should also note the distinctly anti-Gulfi tone of the article. I think this was just a chance to slam two of the favourite punching-bags of the Middle East: gays and the decadence of the Gulfis (both concepts being often inter-linked, and both, of course, very much related to piety).

VC

Emergency Anti-Plug

I am watching CNN's *only* decent show, Diplomatic Liscence, and this total ass (perhaps to be paired with frigid bitch from blog post, below?) named David Bossie, President of a conservative group that I won't link to called Citizens United, is on the show to discuss his new film, "Broken Promises," which appears to be nothing but simplistic conservative propaganda that misunderstands the UN as a malfunctioning corporation, rather than as an organization crippled by the politics of powerful member states like the US. David Shorr, from the Stanley Foundation (maybe the best thing in Iowa?), was on to speak against him, and TOTALLY creamed him. Bossie was cornered on his relentless search during the Clinton admin. to find Clinton's skeletons, and was further confronted on the limited validity of a film that purports to discuss the UN discussions on Rwanda but does not even mention Albright's blocking of military action (Bossie actually said that "Kofi Annan is clearly responsible for Rwanda"). It was almost unbearable.

VC

Doha Debates and Nawaf Obaid

Just a quick heads up that you should be checking out BBC's Doha Debates. They are really fascinating -- Middle East(ern) experts debating things from human rights, to oil, to Iraq. Not brilliantly-argued, but WAY beyond what we get on US television.

On a related note, I think that Nawaf Obaid is an idiot. He is this young (VERY young) Saudi Harvard grad (who I have googled and am shocked to see is apparenly not a prince -- meaning: how the heck did he get to where he's at without the House of Saud?) who is a consultant to the Saudi government. I have seen him on Hard Talk (another BBC program), the Doha Debates, and he's a common face who is apparently thought to be (by KSA, at least) the wilely young intellectual capable of fierce debate in favour of Saudi policy.

I have to say that every time I have seen him, he comes off as a smug idiot who SOUNDS like a good debater ("my esteemed colleague raises an excellent point...") but who doesn't rise much past the level of high school debate, and when it comes to making a persuasive, articulate, well-delivered argument, totally fails. I was just HORRIFIED to see all the fellowships he's had -- how CSIS could make him a chaired fellow is totally beyond me (and check out the part where his bio is like: "One-year meaningless MA program at Harvard that everyone does, then SOME doctoral classes, but I dropped out because the King offered me 1000 barrels a day), especially since he's not a prince -- and I am again totally disenchanted by what "whasta" ("connections," as Egyptians say) gets you in this world. I'm trying to think back to when I've ever needed or used (or had, lol) connections, and beyond my stepdad getting me a summer job at the country club, I really can't think of any.

I'm tempted to contact the Saudi government and say: "Listen, pay me HALF what you pay him and I will tear it up in the Doha Debates," but I'm not sure the Joe Lieberman and his Republican friends would consider that very patriotic, and lord knows I don't want to end up in a human pyramid in some secret detention center outside New York customs, or called a coward by a frigid bitch on the House floor (I wonder if Jean Schmidt could sell her trademark bows on e-bay and thereby help pay for defrigidity pills that she can't afford since Bush is against allowing affordable prescription drugs to come from Canada?).

VC

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Gosh, wherever did the new Iraqi government get the idea that it was ok to torture people in secret prisons? I wonder...

VC

Shameless Cronyism

Well I know it's nearly two weeks since Halloween, but I decided to dress-up like a Republican, today, and engage in shameless cronyism and plugging of some favourite friends & family.*

I have long been meaning to link to Kim Gibson's design website: Misguided Designs. She and her husband are both good friends of my mother, and will probably visit her in her retirement home a lot more frequently than I will, so I definitely owe her a blog shout-out.

I want to make a quick (and non-Kim-approved) note about the website and Kim's work. I originally saw Kim's artistic ability demonstrated when my mother showed me a photo of a "Christmas Tree" designed by Kim (and her husband) related to the war in Iraq. Now, it might sound odd, but it was one of the best pieces of modern art that I remember seeing. I mean -- it was superb. Unfortunately, when you open up a home business and a lot of the people commissioning your art are soccer moms who don't want political Christmas Trees but want nice Martha Stewart-esque little thingies, then you might alter your market/production to meet that. That said, I think Kim can do anything, and really is a fantastic painter.

I've linked, above, directly to the boxes portion of her website, because one of the most interesting things that she does (in my opinion) is makes personalized wooden boxes that can go in any artistic direction you could want. You can see on the right-hand side of that page the pyramid box she did for my mother (which my mother LOVES -- also shown, here), and I really think that for those of you (even though I only have a readership of like 5) who want to give personalized, artistic, high-quality, and innovative gifts (for any purpose whatsoever), Kim is a good person to go to.

Just to rant for one more second about the Christmas Tree: it was so good that if she were a more well-known artist, she could have totally done one of those crazy public installation art projects, where she's given like a slope in Central Park to make a "forest" of Christmas Trees, and it would be one of the most popular public exhibitions in the world. THAT is how good her ideas are (so don't feel limited to feel-good winter scenes if you are considering ordering a piece).

VC

*Even Ann Coulter, on her blog that I won't link to, agrees with the cronyism critique of the Bush admin (you should also check out her scathing critiques of the Harriet Miers nomination, which were some of the best on the internet). To make one serious-ish comment about cronyism, the no-bid system that Republicans seem to favour really calls into question their devotion to free-market capitalism (which is what keeps so many "fiscal conservatives" on their side). From Iraq to New Orleans, it's all about who you know. I'm surprised that this NYTimes article doesn't mention the fact that part of the reconstruction funds were to be taken from Alaskan pork built-into the recent transportation bill -- Alaskan politicians were furious (John Stewart had a hilarious clip of one of the congressmen throwing a tantrum on the floor), but it looks like they worked out SOMETHING.

The Graham Amendment: Why I Hate Joe Lieberman

I have always thought that he was a conservative Republican, a disgusting choice for Vice-President, and a perpetual disaster for liberal American politics. His support of the Graham Amendment is the straw that broke this Chunk's back. The Opinio Juris blog (thanks Desi) has debate on both sides (needless to say I think that Klu's tentative non-analysis is totally off the mark and would encourage you to scroll down to Bobby Chesney's comments), and it's a fantastic blog in general.

I just want to point out that *again* Specter proved himself to be a thoughtful and balanced man (one of the few Republicans I can stand, in other words), and Lieberman again proved himself to be a "war on terror" junkie, living and legislating for his next hit -- I bet if you told him that he had to do a backflip because it would help with the war on terror (at least the Bush admin's conception of it) he'd whip out the acrobatic move unhesitatingly and unthinkingly. Continuing with my speculation back on August 22 (see: "Iraq's Constitution and Androgynous US Senators") I think that Lieberman might actually be in love with Graham, thinking, as I often do, that Ms. Lindsey Graham is in fact a woman.

While I'm engaging in half-hearted analysis of the US legislature, let's applaud McCain for refusing to compromise with the White House on his torture bill (Cheney et al. want the CIA exempted from prosecution). I find McCain extremely affable, even if I disagree with almost everything he has ever said about religion/family values/fetuses (and wonder why is skin is always so chalky looking), and I think that this bill, as well as the work he's done in the past on campaign finance, indicate a critical thinker who is not evil just because he is Republican (BUT MOST ARE!...j/k...kind of).

VC

PS: I know I joke about being extremely liberal and hating Republicans, but I guess it's worth noting that two of my closest friends come from that dastardly bunch, and I like having them (and their voodoo dolls) around. If it makes conservative readers feel better, I detest the unthinking political moves of a lot of Democrat's almost as much; it's just that I think idiot Democrats do a lot less harm to the world (both because they have a lot less power and because of their general worldview) than do unthinking Republicans. In any case, when I finally expatriate to the Netherlands, I promise to ONLY blog about hot boxers and never dabble in politiek (Dutch for "politics").

Sports Unveiled: Snatch-Jerky, Concussions, and Buff Asians

Sadly, I am a chunk with a cold. I am also a chunk who is trapped in front of the tv all night watching the women's tennis year-end championships broadcast live on Eurosport (an excellent event -- just the top 8 women, and EVERY match is good), which means I have been watching a LOT of tv.

A few quick observations before I get back to it.

Weightlifting: Snatch-Jerky & Blankets

I think that the dominance of the sport of weightlifting, particularly in the lighter weight classes, by Asian lifters (China, Taipei -- I still don't understand why they don't call it Taiwan...any help?, and Thailand) is evidence that Asians are often genetically pre-disposed to building lean muscle mass. In much the same way we can see how a lot of black athletes are just built differently to suit different sports, you see this with Asians in weight-lifting. Take my word for it (since I don't feel like pulling up stats). It's also a sport dominated by rising young stars, as today, for instance, I watched a Chinese woman and a Thai woman (I should call them "girls" since they are officially juniors) battle for the senior title and challenge world records. These girls were a shade under 53 kilos (almost 20 pounds LESS than I am...I think) and were lifting unbelievable amounts of weight (like more than twice their body weight). We're talking 3-4 times what I can lift (and they are SO much smaller). It's interesting, and I was thinking about blogging about this in the shower the other day at the gym, because you really see that a 100% increase in muscle strength is accompanied by only about a 20% increase in muscle size. My arms are a LITTLE bigger, now, than they were a month ago, but they are a LOT stronger. I like actually seeing the ability of a muscle to do work increase. Pretty cool.

About snatch...well...I really think the Eurosport commentators can get out of hand. First of all, the weightlifting commentators are hopeless idiots. The weightlifting competition has two phases: snatch (where they just kind of squat and snatch the bar up above their heads and stand immediately up), and clean-and-jerk (where they squat, swing the bar up to their necks so it's resting by their windpipe, rotate their grip, and then lunge, thrusting it above their heads, and recovering to stand straight up -- check out the official website for stick figures of ambiguous sex demonstrating the two...they have the woman doing snatch and the man doing the clean-and-jerk...no comment). Medals are awarded for both phases and the overall total. The commentators have had IMMENSE problems, the past two days, with the SIMPLE (A+B) math involved in ranking the competitors, and have been repeatedly baffled by the extremely difficult mental math required in adding two two-digit numbers together, particularly when you introduce breaking ties between lifters by body weight (ordinal numbers were also difficult for the commentators). Despite their pathetic math skills, they did manage to make me laugh with them and not at them, when one of them made a joke about the other one's sex-life (presumably) saying: "If I recall, you've always preferred snatch to clean-and-jerk" hahahaha. Kind of gratuitous, but not as bad as some of the tennis commentators I heard over the summer (Brits contracted for Indian tv) who made EXPLICIT gay jokes about each other (even about traveling together from tournament to tournament). Hilarious.

One character of note is Tunisia's Soumaya Fatnassi (VC *definitely* feels her pain as far as the family name goes). She it the SPITTING image of Punkie Brewster (I kid you not). I really have tried to find a photo, but I can't. A side-by-side would be striking...she even had a pony-tail on the side of her head. I felt really bad for her, though, because she ended up posting no results in the snatch portion of the event when her coaches totally screwed up the clock and didn't send her to the floor in time to lift (how much does that suck?). It was weird because she's sitting there wrapped in her blanket (see comment, below) and they're shoving all these sniffy things up her nose to make her peppy, and then suddenly she is like sprinting out of the locker room and up the stairs to the stage, throws herself into a squat, and tries to stand up, falls on her Fatnassi, and I'm sitting here wondering what the heck was in her sniffer, but then the luminescent commentators explain that she only had like 2 seconds to get to the stage and complete her lift because her coaches messed up the timing and the clock was about to run out on her turn. Poor Punkie.

The only other thing to take away from the weightlifting that I've watched is that I think it's a good sport for me for two reasons: 1. They all have big thighs, and so do I; 2. After you finish a lift, you run back to your chair and they cover you with blankets! Can you imagine some hulky lifter screaming: "I need my bankie!"? It's to keep their muscles warm between lifts (duh) but I think it's really tender and cute -- and I'm TOTALLY going to start bringing a blankie to the gym!

Boxing

No comments, here, except that I watched a TOTAL hottie named Omar Sheika (pictured, here) get destroyed by a German guy named Markus Beyer on Beyer's home turf. It was funny because Sheika competes for the US (out of Padderson, NJ or some place that sounds like that) and when he'd go to his corner all the coaches were trying to talk him up: "You f*cking b*tch! Hit him! F*cking hit him! You p*ssy! You are a f*cking p*ssy!" Meanwhile there is blood STREAMNING down his gorgeous face. Then Eurosport cuts to the German corner where the coach is like calmly smearing the guy's face with vaseline (which is like La Mer for boxers -- same petrolatum base...thanks Max Huber...work it NASA!) and saying in a conversational tone: "And so you should stick to his left and watch your breathing..." lol. Americans.

*SCORE!* I just killed the mosquito that has been secretly eating my foot while I sit on the couch. I was smart because I saw it near my computer and I fearlessly baited it with my forearm and then smashed it with a quickness that would make Muhammad Ali proud (see story about him calling Bush crazy at Medal of Congress ceremony to thunderous applause)

Shooto

For the last two hours I've been eating chocolate and admiring the tenacity and low BMI of Shooto fighters. Brazil's Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro has TOTALLY stolen my heart (even more than Omar Sheika). Shooto is a sport under the MMA ("mixed martial arts") umbrella, and I find it incredibly fascinating and brutal but technical in a way I really appreciate (VERY technical). It is also...what's the word...TOTALLY HOT, lol. If you can get past the "concussive" blows to the head (this is the commentator's description of the types of punches Shooto fighters throw), and the shin-kicking (ouch!), as well as some of the more disturbing mounts (pictured below), then you can focus on a really technical and artful sport, in which every athlete happens to have what VC considers to be the ideal male form (or at least what HE would want to look like). Check out this website for a bit of an explanation of some of the fighting -- it also gives a flavour for the internal debate amongst MMA sports as to which is the most hardcore (if we are using that as a pun then I *definitely* vote for Shooto). Speaking of, does ANYONE but me think it's noteworthy that Mr. Shaolin authored this article about how he likes to go for the "rear mount" because it's a "great position" in order to make the other guy (in this case, Todd) "submit"!?!? *VC fans himself* No comment necessary.

Enjoy! (especially you, mom lol)*















VC

*I would like to remind my mother that in reality she should not enjoy these fight photos TOO much, lest I reminder her what happened the last time she got overly-absorbed by the art of combat: after watching Kill Bill on DVD, she, at midnight (and 57 years of age) decided that she should go into the hall and start doing some of the martial arts moves, and proceeded to crash her elbow into the wall and injure herself. Careful, mommy!

Instablog: Kofi Annan Speaks at AUC

I've just rushed back from the inappropriately-named "Oriental Hall" on our palace campus (an old palace that is now home to the American University) where Kofi Annan was the speaker at the first annual Nadia Younes memorial lecture. Nadia Younes was one of the 22 UN employees (along with a dear friend of Pookie) killed in the 19 August 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Iraq, and her family (of obvious influence) endowed this lecture and an annual prize in humanitarian service to commemorate her.

I only have a few minutes before dashing off to class, but a few thoughts.

Let knowledge grow from more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell.

Ok that's not a thought, and it's not even sensically-constructed, but it is the quote (in tacky block wood letters stylized to resemble Arabic Kufic script) that adorns the arch of the lecture hall. I feel like it nicely embodies AUC.

Back to Kofi...

Shorter than I expected, gorgeous suit as usual, and really warm with the AUC Model UN girl who introduced him (who gave an introduction that, if a bit sycophantic about the UN, was stunning in its articulation and delivery...probably the most impressed I've been with anything anyone has said since I moved to Egypt -- not bad for an AUC undergrad...maybe being the grand-daughter of a king helps with the upbringing?).

Anyway, onto substance: well, there wasn't much, because it was a simple memorial lecture, but some interesting implications.

• Odd reference to Nadia Younes as the "prototype of the modern Egyptian woman," who he defined as balancing multiple global identities with no sense of conflict. --> don't we think that there should always be conflict to the identities that we balance? Isn't that part of a healthy interrogation of our values? Ok I'll lay off...
• Strange pan-arabist references -- to the classic "arab intellectual" or arab sense of humour. I think that when he said it was appropriate to also commemorate the Egyptian ambassador to Iraq who was killed, as well as two Algerian diplomats, it was calling upon Cairo as the center of the Arab world in an interesting way (esp. with the Algerian reference).
• Made clear declaration related to humanitarian law about the targeting of civilians: "the deliberate targeting of people who cannot be identified with occupying military forces" he said was "not resistance, but murder, and terrorism" which he called "senseless criminal violence."
• Slam on Bush (in my opinion, although Shakira, who is a Bush-loving neo-con...excuse me while I swallow the little bit of vomit that just came up...disagreed) when he talked about the tendency of people to produce exclusionary and divisive categories that make you a "traitor" if you don't go with the cause -- the explicit reference being to Arabs who feel pressured to support the insurgency in order to be good Arabs/maintain solidarity with the broad Arab cause, but the implicit reference (made more explicit when he said that this tendency is not just in this part of the world, but it witnessed across the globe) to Bush's for us or against us/patriotism means hawkish messages. He said that we cannot reply to extremism with extremism, to violence with violence, and I have to think that part of that is directed at the US as much as it is at Iraqi insurgency (after all -- which group was sitting in the auditorium?).
• Expectedly spoke out in support of a "viable, contiguous Palestinian state" and referenced the "many UN resolutions" in support of that aim.
• Spoke out against collective punishment, religious persecution ("the problem is not the faith but the faithful"), destruction of the environment, proliferation, and in favour of international human rights law.
• Made interesting (and quite correct) argument that there is no such thing as national v. global interest in a globalized and integrated world, and that the collective interest of all humanity is in the national interest of individual states. There is no longer any such thing as a zero sum game, according to Kofi, as far as global politics are concerned.
• Final interesting thought: "There can be no development without security, and no security without development, and there cannot be either without respect for human rights."

Loved it that students were not allowed in the main auditorium, but had to sit upstairs and watch from below, were made to wait OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSITY on the street in a mob to get it, and, when the President of the university did his "distinguished guests" thankyou in his intro, did not even mention the fact that there were STUDENTS in attendance.

Gotta run!

VC

VC Mixed-Tape Humpy Preview

I have been promising for a while, now, to deliver a post discussing pressing issues of the day, or at the very least, my favourite songs and videos on the air right now.*

It's nearly 4AM and I'm not going to do that, now, but I do want to give my readers a preview of one of the songs to make the list: "My Humps," by the Black-Eyed Peas. Now, I have a lot to say about this group (read: I have some things to say about the singer-chick's rockin' bod), but I'll save it. For now, enjoy these HILARIOUS lyrics. To avoid certain readers' inevitable (and highly inappropriate!) questions, NO I do not identify with this song (so he says ;p).

What you gon’ do with all that junk?
All that junk inside your trunk?
I’ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump,
My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps. (Check it out)

I drive these brothers crazy,
I do it on the daily,
They treat me really nicely,
They buy me all these ice-ys.
Dolce & Gabbana,Fendi and then Donna
Karan, they be sharin’
All their money got me wearin’
Fly gearrr but I ain’t askin,
They say they love my ass ‘n,
Seven Jeans, True Religion's,
I say no, but they keep givin’
So I keep on takin’
And no I ain’t taken
We can keep on datin’
I keep on demonstrating.

What you gon’ do with all that junk?
All that junk inside that trunk?
I’ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my hump.
What u gon’ do with all that ass?
All that ass inside them jeans?
I’m a make, make, make, make you scream
Make u scream, make you scream.
Cos of my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump.

They say I’m really sexy,
The boys they wanna sex me.
They always standing next to me,
Always dancing next to me,
Tryin’ a feel my hump, hump.
Lookin’ at my lump, lump.
U can look but you can’t touch it,
If u touch it I’ma start some drama,
You don’t want no drama,
No, no drama, no, no, no, no drama
So don’t pull on my hand boy,
You ain’t my man, boy,
I’m just tryn’a dance boy,
And move my hump.

VC

*By "on the air" I mean the four channels on the Hotbird satellite that I turn to for music video entertainment: VIVA Polska (a Polish music video channel that's pretty good, since Polish rap is SO gangsta'), 102.5 RTL (Italian, very good), 123LiveSat/6 (this has the best videos, but plays them on rote repeat and has no live programming...which means that when they misalign the video and sound, as they often do, you have to wait for it to cycle around again [a couple hours] for the people's lips and lyrics to match!...it's an Arab station that also has at-times distracting ads for phone sex hotlines blocking the screen, but I guess it's the soft-porn quality of the station that makes it so good, because it has videos for dance/techno songs that are really creative and racey and not shown on other channels), and Gay TV (which is NOT a porn channel, but an Italian-run station that basically just plays music videos, has a few amusing talk shows, and once a week has a gay-themed but not-pornographic film).

SSL Update: From Guantanamo to One First Street

Devoted readers might remember brighter days, when the Chunk would faithfully and thoughtfully blog on a near-daily basis, and when he, on 1 August, devloped his theory of "Super Special Law" (SSL) as part of a discussion of the Roberts nomination and Guantanamo Bay.

Well I am happy to update that the issue has again come to the fore, and will be heading to the Supreme Court. Check out this NYTimes article (and refer back to my 1 August post!), form an opinion, and get back to me :)

VC

SECURITY BREACH!

Pookie is NOW READING THIS BLOG.

I repeat: the NYC super-hottie and adorable cuddle puppy commonly referred to on this blog as "Pookie" is now a VC reader.

Lots more blogging to do, but had to get out this early warning that some serious censorship (namley of my unabashed gushing when I thought he wasn't reading it) will be implemented ASAP.

VC

PS: It's totally wrong for me to hint at things I want him to send me in Cairo, now that I know he's reading, right? That's so not my style ;)