The Diary Of John
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy? - Gandhi
Saturday, November 20, 2004

Kinky..

"Alexander" under fire for bisexual king

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oliver Stone's new film about Alexander the Great depicts the king as bisexual, fuelling outrage from Greeks and prompting Hollywood to ask if a world conqueror with dyed blond hair and waxed legs will be able to attract box office hordes.

One newspaper calls it a case of "Queer Eye for the Macedonian Guy." Others have speculated that Stone, always a controversial filmmaker, is taking a big risk with a $160 million (86 million pound) epic by including scenes of passionate embrace between Alexander and his best friend, Hephaestion.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) says the film breaks new ground for a big-budget epic because it shows Hephaestion "as the true love of Alexander's life".

A line from the film says: "Alexander was defeated only once -- by Hephaestion's thighs."

Last summer's blockbuster film "Troy", which could have portrayed Achilles and Patroclus as lovers, brushed aside any homoerotic elements to concentrate on Achilles' desire for a Trojan princess.

Everyone associated with "Alexander," from Stone to star Colin Farrell, insist the film, which opens on Wednesday, is historically accurate and reflects the pagan mores of around 330 BC, when the Macedonian king captured the world's mightiest empire, Persia, and pressed on to the ends of the Earth.

Farrell, in a recent interview with Reuters, said he had no problem with the role because "Oliver made the film as historically accurate as possible, and ambivalent sexuality was something of the times and part of the character."

Stone said he kept the movie accurate and had an historian on the set. He added there was no question that Alexander had "a polymorphous sensuality and was an explorer in the deepest sense of the world."

British scholar Robin Lane Fox, author of a biography of Alexander and historical advisor to the film, said homosexuality and bisexuality were not "issues in ancient times" and that Alexander had extensive relations with women.

But a group of angry Greek lawyers say Stone and the film's distributor Warner Bros. should be sued for twisting history. The lawyers said they have asked Stone and Warner Bros. to include a reference in the title credits saying the film is fictional. Spokesmen for Warner Bros. and Stone did not have any immediate comment.

"We are not saying that we are against gays, but we are saying that the production company should make it clear to the audience that this film is pure fiction and not a true depiction of the life of Alexander," Yannis Varnakos, who is spearheading the legal campaign, told Reuters in Athens.

Two years ago, hundreds of Greeks from Alexander's home turf Macedonia, stormed an archaeological symposium after one speaker presented a paper on the homosexuality of Alexander.

Stone's film, which he had been trying to get on the screen for 15 years, was filmed mainly in Morocco and Thailand. The Athens News Agency said no scenes were shot in Greece because of government opposition to Stone's portrayal of the Greek hero.

Asked if he toned down scenes, Stone maintained he shot the film the way he wanted. The only overtly sexual scene in the movie is a wedding night love scene between Alexander and his wife Roxanne that starts with her putting a knife to his throat after she catches him accepting a ring from Hephaestion, who is played by Jared Leto wearing eyeliner.

posted at 10:13 AM by john |  

Justice..

Handcuff stunt father bailed

A disgruntled father who handcuffed himself to a government minister in a bid to draw attention to a campaign for divorced fathers' rights has been released on bail, police say.

Campaigner Jolly Stanesby pounced on Minister for Children Margaret Hodge at a conference in Manchester on Friday and snapped on a set of metal cuffs. Police freed the trapped minister with bolt cutters after half an hour.

Fathers 4 Justice, which has staged a series of similar high profile stunts this year, claimed responsibility.

The group is campaigning against what it says is a court bias towards mothers in determining how much access divorcing parents should have to their children.

In May, they breached security at the House of Commons and pelted Prime Minister Tony Blair with flour-filled condoms.

In September a member of the group dressed as Batman climbed a ledge on the Queen's Buckingham Palace residence and unfurled a campaign banner.

Last month, campaigners dressed as Batman and The Hulk scaled a rollercoaster in the seaside resort of Blackpool.



posted at 10:08 AM by john |  

Bored!!!!!!!

we are having a cultural type event here, man its so boring as none of my students wanted to take part and now i have to suffer for another 5hrs until it finishes. you cant imagine how boring this is as its mostly stuff i have no interest in. I could have stayed home preparing stuff for my groups to do if i had been told what was happening. I guess they knew i wouldnt come so thats why they didnt call me but not to worry i have a long memory so next time they want me for something i know what my answer is going to be lol.

My brother sent me some new photos from the Uk yesterday but they must have had some problems as they are very dark so i will get him to post some of them again. Got a nice one though of the lights in the living room. You can see it below..



My family love to decorate the house at Xmas time. Here i might just put up a tree as i dont really spend alot of time in my house as i am either working or at Robertas. I'll see how much time i have for decorating at the end of the semester and then get something. Just some mistletoe for the bedroom maybe ;-)

I found some nice texts that my MEC students can read in Goias. They will only use the lit book next semester and i want them just to read some short stories just for fun and to give me their opinion about it in a small composition. the text is by Arthur C Clark, I think my students will enjoy the story alotas they are very smart and quick to grasp the ideas behind things straight away. Later I'll put a copy of the file here in case any of you wanna read it or you can take a copy from the British Council website. Sometimes their site is a little show though so you'll have to be patient okay? I'm going to do some Short stories with my other MEC1 group if i can find some free time. I think they will enjoy reading the stories and figuring out the hidden meanings in all of them. I found alot of them online so I'll print them out and mount them on cards to make a sort of choose and read type game. Maybe i can mix in them telling me some Brasilian stories or folk tales too. I think that'd be alot of fun. I'll work on this a little more.

Okay, I have to get out of here and get something to eat, they have some stuff here at the event but i wanna eat some real food at the restaurant around the corner and not something that was rammed in a fridge in someones house for two or three days hahaha..
posted at 8:54 AM by john |  

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Video..

I'm trying to find some free video-editing software online. It doesnt really need to be all that advanced, just to make some segments and stuff but i didnt find anything that looks interesting yet. Also i wanna add some subtitling software too but i have had alot of problems installing stuff on this pc. I guess they have crippled it in the admin mode, maybe its soon going to be time for me to download one of those programs from the internet so i can give myself some access here to install software. What use is a pc where we cant install any software to use? Plus again they have deleted all of the files from my documents again, christ they are going to have to sort out a pc for the teachers real soon. Anyway back to the video, I wanna make some cdroms with video segments to use with my MEC and advanced classes, i know they use them alot in ESL (so i read online) and i would like to experiment with this with my students too. Unfortunately though it wont be easy if i canna install any software. I know one of the teachers has installed alot of software on his pc and also he has a writer so maybe we can make something using his computer. I'll have to ask him and see what he thinks about the idea. Plus the other schools i teach at all have writers for the teachers to use as well as access to good computers to install stuff with. Hmmm I'll work on this and see what i can come up with.

but now its time togo give class, again..

posted at 1:31 PM by john |  

Library..

Visit the site of the Clinton Presidental Library by clicking HERE

posted at 1:21 PM by john |  

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Pervert..

Just reading here that Roman Polanski who ran off from the USA after admiting to having sex with a 13yr old girl so he couldnt be sentenced now wants to give video evidence over the internet in a libel trial so he cant be arrested and extradited to the USA by the UK. So he wants to be able to use the justice system for his own needs but then wants to avoid it where his abusing a little girl is concerned. Hopefully he wont be allowed to do this, right now he is appealing after he was turned down previously. What a sick pervert this guy must be, wanting justice for himself but denying it to a 13yr old girl who deserves peace of mind knowing that her abuser is locked away in a prison. Lets hope and pray that he gets turned down yet again. If you wanna read the story click HERE

posted at 4:56 PM by john |  

Ellen..

I just stumbled onto a site by an airline attendant called Ellen Simonetti who was apparently fired by her bosses for having some photos of herself on her weblog in her companies uniform. Personally i liked the photos, she has cute legs :-) To be fired though just for this seems ridiculous, even though she doesnt even say the name of the company anywhere on her blog or in her pics. sounds like someone just wanted to prove something or wanted to fire someone just to get ahead in their career and poor ellen was the one they chose. I hope that she gets another job soon, if you wanna check out her site you can click HERE and have a look around.

After one can of Cola and chocolate cookies and i feeling stuffed, a little queezy too but it'll go off before i have to give class later. Then i have to go to 2 more schools before i can finally get a sit down and relax. still the classes that i have to teach are easy ones so the day should go pretty smoothly. All MEC classes now until 9.30pm, i must remember to pick up a dvd to watch later on. Mind you i have some stuff i wanna prepare for my Classes next week so i guess i could make a start on that. I think they will like messins with this activity

I found out too that one of my students wont be with me now for the rest of the semester as he has to do some training course for his job and wont have time for any classes until the news year. Shame as that leaves just three guys now until the end of the semester but there are only eight more classes to go now before the final exams and stuff.

I had better go and get some photocopies done here. I have prepared some stuff for my students here to read as they wont be using the literature book until the next semester and i want them to try to get some practice reading. I Chose Arthur C Clark as there were some reallt short shories online by him and the guys will be able to read it easilt and make some sort of composition about it. I'll be curious to see if they can find out who the poet is in the story and which British city the story is talking about too. (Sorry guys, I'm not going to put the answers here as i know you all read my weblog hehehe!!).

Okay here I go..

posted at 10:24 AM by john |  

Assholes..

It amazes me every time i read about foxhunting in the news that people in the Uk dont want it anymore, in the other parts of the Uk like scotland its already banned and yet despite the will of government and people these assholes that peform this barbaric sport now say they will carry on despite whatever the law says. Great, lets just punish them in the same way they punish foxes when they break the law: we can get a pack of dobermans or rottweillers and get them to chase a few fox hunters and then slowly chew and rip them apart and even have it live on the TV so we can all watch as nature is revenged. I think it would really be popular, especially amongst animal lovers in the UK. We could have bets on how long it would take for the dogs to rip the guy or woman apart and then cover ourselves in blood just like at the hunts :-) Man, that really would be something wouldnt it? Prime time TV, it could replace Big Brother as that program is becoming stale and boring. How can we preach values to everyone else when we still allow the senseless slaughter of animals like this? We dont even eat foxes so theirs no way people can say its presonal freedom or liberties. Maybe i should get a shotgun and take my personal freedom and liberties treacking down and hunting a few pro-fox hunt people, i think they might get a nice perspective of how it feels to be shot then wounded and then killed slowly just for someone elses pleasure. Let the good times roll!!

I think its going to piss it down here, the sky is really dark and full of thick black clouds. I hope that it hold off until i am on the bus going to the other school. Than i dont care what the weather does as the bus drops me off just a few yards from my house. If it rains it'll save me having to wash the dust from the floor on my veranda, to tell the truth though i only wash it down once a month as its always dusty again within a few days. Once the wet weather gets here the dust will be gone. I never understood why people here wash their drives and paths outside their houses every day, after all once the sun dries out the ground within a few minutes its just going to get dusty again. Still they have to pay for the water they use so i guess if they are donkey enough its their problem, right? I'd like to have a covered walkway all around the house for when it rains so i could walk into the school from my house without getting wet hahaha! Still i can go to the veranda without getting too wet so i guess thats okay.

I'm starving here, im going to the bakers to get something to eat..


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