pantyless politics

Talk about reality television. In Serbia, the prime minister showed up for a television interview. As the session progressed, the host uncrossed her legs, revealing she weren't wearin' nothin' at all down there.

Needless to say, the honorable prime minister snuck a peek at her kitty and couldn't help but smile. It turned out the incident was a prank for a popular television show called Nemoguca Misija, which translates as Mission Impossible. You can see the PM's reaction in the short excerpt below.

Sharon Stone could not be reached for comment.

Hey, it's Half Nekkid' Thursday Goes to Serbia!

first sex experience insight

The Atlantic has up a short piece about how a recent study found that first-time sexual encounters shape sexual experiences for some time to come. That seems to be a logical outcome. I know what my first experience certainly did.

What's flawed about the piece itself, however, is not the study but how it's packaged. The headline reads "how we lose our virginity shapes our entire sexual life." Yet the study in question surveyed only people in their late teens or early twenties within seven years of losing their virginity. That's hardly can provide a picture of an "entire sexual life."

I would think The Atlantic would be above using titillating titles simply to drive eyeballs to their site. But it's not the first time they've done that. I guess in this competitive media marketplace even The Atlantic has to whore it up now.

oceanic orgasm

Check out the short videos below. They're shots from a few days ago of the ten-foot-deep foam tsunami inundating parts of Queensland, which is the state to the north of us herein Sydney. A tropical cyclone whips the ocean into an extreme foam and then the results wash up on the beach like the world's biggest wash machine malfunction.

overkill

I'm curious about the thinking behind the decision to go ahead with this. She spent hundreds of dollars and endured considerable pain to get something she can't see except in a mirror. It's more like a sidewalk chalk drawing than a tattoo the way it covers all the skin.

Who's going to see this? Her significant other while he does her doggy style?

I don't know whether it's the picture or the artwork itself that's giving her a slightly humpback appearance. It might be the curvy 3-D perspective of the art. Either way, I don't think it flatters her figure.

I think if you offered me $1 million in exchange for getting this on my back, I'd probably turn you down. You might seriously tempt me with $10 million.

too much happiness

I don't think I've ever been as happy in my life as I am now. I have love, a wonderful husband, a beautiful new baby, a great house that costs us nothing, beautiful weather, great friends, financial stability -- life is close to perfect for us.

I can't help wondering -- not really worrying -- that this cannot last. One person cannot achieve happiness and expect it to last for a lengthy period of time. I ponder if something terrible will happen to my husband or my son. Or perhaps to me.

Do other happy people experience this? Or do I think I'm undeserving of such happiness?

My husband says he's supremely happy but he doesn't worry about if it will all end tomorrow. "Don't be a fatalist, kitten," he says with a kiss and a smile.

atypical sexual prudishness

Like many new parents do, our child sleeps in his crib in our bedroom. When he's a little older, he'll be moved into his own room.

My husband finds it amusing that I won't have sex in our bedroom now when the baby's sleeping. I'm perfectly fine having sex in the living room or another room while Joey sleeps in our room. Then, if he starts fussing, I can go check on him. (To date, he has not interrupted us.)

But I just cannot feel sexy when I know there's a baby sleeping five feet away. It just feels too weird to me. I can't be enjoying myself while I'm worrying if I'll wake him up.

I guess there's also a part of me that wonders if this would have some lingering Freudian effect on him to have been in such close proximity to Mommy and Daddy making the beast with two backs. I know in generations past, an entire family would sleep in one room and the children might witness a new baby sister or brother being made. But none of that for me, thank you.

all things shining

If you're a fan of Stanley Kubrick's great film The Shining, then you'll love this website called The Overlook Hotel where you'll find all sorts of visuals and trivia about the movie. One recent addition, for example, included pages from a scene Kubrick deleted at the end of the film, so late in the process that prints had to be removed from theaters.

I was very fortunate to stay one winter weekend at the Ahwahnee Hotel in California, which was Kubrick's inspiration for the resort featured so prominently in the movie. Fortunately, during my stay, no one hacked open doors with an ax, no blood poured from the elevators when they opened, and no twins were seen wandering the halls.

porn priests

If you saw this in a novel or movie, would you say it was believable?

A prominent and popular priest, beloved by his parishioners after serving them for many years, is discovered to be a cross dresser. Church officials then learn that, late at night, the father invites men to the rectory for sex. Church staff find the priest's sex toys on church property. Father often disappears unaccountably for long periods of time.

The priest ultimately steps down. And then he opens a nearby shop selling sex toys and porn DVDs. That's raided by police and federal authorities when they charge the priest with using the shop as a front for selling large quantities of meth imported from across the country. He's also accused of being a meth addict himself.

It turns out this is not a plot from some hack novel churned out by a wannabe novelist. It's a true story and the priest -- dubbed Monsignor Meth by the media -- was recently arrested in Connecticut.

Perhaps he could be counseled by the priest in Illinois who recently called 911 and reported that he needed help after gagging and handcuffing himself. And he could be assisted by the priest in Ireland who accidently showed his porn stash to school parents during a PowerPoint presentation.

I read about stuff like this and I wonder, if the Vatican dumped priest celebacy, whether these problems wouldn't happen. When you prevent men from having sex, all kinds of strange things start to happen.

persistence

I was hunting for quotes today to post on my Tumblr page and was struck by this one from Thomas Edison: "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."

I remember reading a similar Joe Lewis quote a while ago that has stuck in my mind which goes something like: "Success is getting up one time more than the number of times you were knocked down."

I've met a few very successful people in my life who always said something similar. As well, Thomas Edison and Joe Lewis both knew something about success and frustration.

I'm printing out the Edison quote and posting it on my bulletin board. It's definitely a keeper and will come in handy in the future. Thank you Tom.

lazarus dog

I've written before about the elderly dog we care for. It's not actually ours, but her owner is in a aged care home for good, and so we permanently housesit and dogsit for her in lieu of rent.

The dog is incredibly sweet and quite old. Her exact age is not known, but her owner found her twelve years ago, and she was three or four years old at the time, according to the vet. She's had various surgeries in the last few years but always recovers to her old self.

Sometimes she seems like she's nearing the end of her days. She turns very lethargic, picky about eating, and generally has little enthusiasm. That might last for a week or two. She's on thyroid medication but her levels are now moderated so that's not the reason.

And then suddenly she starts to age backwards again, perking up, eating like a pig, wanting to go on walks several times a day, and generally all around alert.

Right before the baby was born, she entered the longest period of malaise we've seen so far. She became incredibly picky about eating and more lethargic than her previous periods. She didn't seem at all jealous of the baby but more or less indifferent and she certainly wasn't pestering for attention.

I was sure the end was nearing. And then once again she went backwards in time, once more eating like a pig, wanting to go on walks, back to her perky old self.

Now I'm starting to wonder if the dog is bipolar. But she's a sweetheart and we love her all the same.

two months old

Baby Joey is two months old today, January 20. (I'll actually be posting this for tomorrow's installment, the day after his two-month birthday.)

His second month seemed to move more slowly for me than the first month, and that made me very happy. I guess the first month was consumed with trying to make sure I did everything right that time just flew by. Now motherhood is more on autopilot and I am enjoying every second with him.

Developmentally, he's already hit his important two-month markers -- he's holding up his head, lifting his chest, smiling, laughing, reaching to touch toys, and grasping them for a few seconds. He starts to make a crawl-like motion when on his tummy and pushing up his head and shoulders, but he hasn't mastered what to do next, so he just sort of pushes himself, drops his shoulders, and then laughs as he goes back down.

I have often wondered, if reincarnation really exists, whether a young baby still has memories of his last life. If so, then the adult trapped inside him is trying to teach him to crawl. But soon he'll learn on his own, and the past-life adult will slip forever into his subconscious. Or perhaps that's just all Jungian gibberish.

wrong-way drivers

I found this photo on the Internet -- where else? -- which preserves an interesting historical moment. On September 3, 1967, the entire nation of Sweden switched from left-side driving to right-side driving.

While pandamonium resulted in certain places, as seen below, the overall number of traffic accidents on that day was lower than usual. Overall, the accident rate remained lower for two years after the switch.

While it's sometimes the model of inaccuracy, Wikipedia has an interesting article on the event.

FWIW, I didn't find the change from right- to left-side driving was difficult when I moved to Australia, but of course the whole country did not switch at once. If anything, I think I drove more carefully for a long time because I had to be more conscious of how traffic was a mirror image of what I once knew.

silver linings playbook

My movie writer friend sent me some of his award screener DVDs and included Silver Linings Playbook. I don't believe it's opened yet here in Australia, so it was nice to be "in the know" about a movie before anyone else.

As the daughter of two shrinks, I was expecting not to like this, anticipating that the filmmakers would candy-coat mental illness.

I was delightfully surprised and thought the movie's portrayal of mental illness was accurate without being overwhelming. It is an honest and moving story with some very funny moments. I had always thought Bradley Cooper was something of a pretty boy lightweight, but my mind is certainly changed now. He was phenomenal as was the always incredible Jennifer Lawrence.

Don't wait to see this one. It's a winner.

the dead girlfriend hoax

I've been reading about the unfolding Manti Te'o scandal. If you're not familiar with the story, you can find a good recap here.

The story is complex but it boils down to one of two things: one, he was in on the hoax or, two, he was duped. Yes, he said some things that were inconsistent, but he could've been duped while also embroidering the story, like claiming he met the woman when he really didn't -- that would be simple testosterone-feuled bragging. Assuming he's either guilty or innocent, you can't entirely explain what happened.

If he's innocent, he could've been conned by an elaborate hoax, but one has to wonder why several people would be in on it (this would be entirely understandable if it was one person). If he's not innocent, he must've realized the whole hoax eventually would've been exposed, considering how much he's in the media eye, and that would tarnish his future professional career. Some are saying he was part of the hoax to improve his Heisman Trophy chances.

There could also be a third angle that I haven't seen explored in the media -- that he was innocently duped by someone trying to game the Heisman selection. Maybe I've watched and read too many thrillers but that, to me, is the most intriguing of possible explanations.

Hopefully the complete truth will come out because this certainly is a fascinating incident.

moonrise abdication

The husband and I watched Moonrise Kingdom on DVD last night. Given the near universal critical praise and the scores of awards nominations, we were looking forward to seeing it.

In short, we were not blown away. We didn't hate it, but we didn't love it, either. We were just left feeling sort of "meh."

It's very nice to look at. I wouldn't quite call it stunning, but it is striking visually. Both of us thought, however, that the acting was really mannered and, at times, over the top. We thought that really distanced us from them and kept us from being drawn into their story because they just weren't believable. They didn't seem like real people.

We obviously are in a minority, based on the comments I read at sites like Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, and IMDb. Many people just raved about the film.

After watching movies like this, where I'm left feeling indifferent, I can't help singing that old standard "Is That All There Is?" (although I actually know very few of the words).

humans of new york

If you don't already know about the great photo blog Humans of New York (aka HUNY), you definitely need to check it out. It's one of the most followed sites on the Interwebs. It at least one photo doesn't make you tear up, your heart is made of granite.

If you love living in or visiting New York City, you'll totally get it. If you've never been to New York and want to understand the city, HUNY is a great place to start. New York is all about the people; they make the city. And HUNY captures that in a way rarely seen elsewhere.

It just makes me want to go back, to take my husband and my son when he's old enough, to really experience New York and how it expands your soul. It's the Grand Tetons of the mind.

I plucked two recent subway-related photos to show you people in the New York subway, the arterial undercurrent of the city. One is a sane-looking woman wearing her panties while waiting for the train. Yes, WTF, but it's New York, and the only people who would gawk would be out-of-towners. The other two are some happening dudes who are doing their thing with some boxes. And, again, the only people who would gawk would be out-of-towners.

You have to really work to faze New Yorkers, and panties or box heads in the subway just wouldn't cut it. You got a problem with that?

lance armstrong's truth impairment

Later this week Oprah will air her interview with Lance Armstrong where he'll reportedly admit to what he's been denying for ten years.

He hasn't been mumble-then-look-away denying it or let's-change-the-subject denying it, he has been denying it loudly, angrily, vociferously, insert your foot-stomping adverb-of-choice here. I believe he also actually sued some of the people who said he was doping.

Is his big confession supposed to make people respect him more now? "Yes, I've been lying like a rug for a decade but now I'm coming clean so love me, love me, love me!

IMHO, the only way he could truly redeem himself would be to devote a significant period of time in the next decade to doing something entirely altruistic and out of the media spotlight. Because otherwise, promoting yourself in the media as a repentent apologist just seems to me like an evolved form of narcissism.

He can no longer seek the spotlight as an athlete so now he seeks the spotlight as a reformed liar. But can liars ever really reform?

comic book tits

I showed this picture to The Husband, and he said she looks like a comic book. I was thinking artwork for a forthcoming movie ad campaign.

I am mystified as to why a pretty young woman would want to do this to herself. Do some men actually find this more alluring or attractive than just plain skin? Maybe if he's inked up like a newspaper, too.

In some places, there are waiting limits before you may buy a gun. If a similar law were imposed about tattoos, how many people would still go through with something like this after having a week or two to reconsider?

All of the above aside, the artistry here is exceptional. It's just too bad it'll be forever.

abandoning my child

The other night, The Husband and I watched an Irish movie from about ten years ago called Evelyn, which stars Pierce Brosnan, Julianna Margulies, and Aidan Quinn. It's a very watchable drama and I recommend it.

There's a scene at the very beginning which has been on my mind ever since we saw the movie. I'm not giving away the plot by telling you, as it's discussed on the DVD cover. In a nutshell, a married woman with three adorable children just takes off one day with her male lover, leaving husband and the brood behind. It's the scene that kicks off the story.

I guess it's a sign that my maternal instinct has fully kicked in now, because I cannot imagine what kind of woman would abandon her children for such a selfish reason. Even if your lover is giving you the fuck of a lifetime, how could you value that over your own flesh and blood?

Before I became pregnant, I imagine the idea of a mother leaving her children wouldn't register with me. Well, some women just aren't cut out to be mothers and that sort of thing. But now it seems so utterly alien to me. Parenthood is a contract and responsibility for your child above all else.

drunks and deranged people

This is seriously entertaining in a scary way. Someone compiled video footage with bizarre bits of daily life in Russia. Generally the participants are falling-down drunk in public or they're doing the most insanely risky things.

I once had a Russian boyfriend who later stalked me. I've written about him before. Seeing this video makes me understand him in a new way.

haboob

These are some pretty incredible photos of a major dust storm -- called a haboob -- that struck Western Australia earlier this week. They look like a beach-front version of Arizona. The video below gives you a panorama of the approaching assault.

Pictures like these are both terrifying and fascinating to me. They're like car wrecks along the side of the road -- I can't help but look.

We had a serious dust storm here in Eastern Australia three years ago. We never saw the cloud arrive because that was very early in the morning. We witnessed the orange soup aftermath, so we missed this sort of spectacular display.

out of the blue

I've written here before about the glacial wall between me and most of my family, with the exception of my brother. I send them occasional email updates, just so not all contact is lost, but usually it's dead silence on the other end.

So I was more than a little dumbfounded when one of my sisters -- the one who always seemed to despise me more than the other -- wrote a very chatty email yesterday as if we were the best of friends in constant contact. How wonderful it was about the baby, loved hearing how my life was in Australia, yada yada yada.

I immediately emailed my brother and asked what was up with her. She suddenly found religion? She's dying of cancer? She went over the deep end?

It was a total mystery to him. He doesn't hear from her all that much himself so he had no idea why she suddenly seemed to find a personality.

I wrote a nice note back to my sister with much the same convivial tone she had used, updating her on a few things and never mentioning she typically ignore me like I was a brick wall. So far I've heard nothing back but it will be interesting to see if she replies.

I can't help feeling something is up. I have an idea what this may all be about. I'll have to see if I'm right.

ye olde dirty book

Now is your chance to buy a 200-year-old sex manual with the dubious title of Aristotle’s Complete Master-Piece, which has utterly nothing to do with the famous ancient Greek. It will be sold by a Scottish auction house later this week and is expected to reach at least $650 US.

The book first appeared in the 17th century and, a hundred years later, was banned for nearly two centuries, until 1961. It was a huge bestseller before it was outlawed, even though it's both harmless and ludicrously inaccurate by modern standards. You can read a nineteenth century repring here.

The 18th century was such a curious era. People were rather rampantly libidinous, particularly the aristocracy. Yet they bent over backwards to adhere to an absurdly rigid sexual code, including banning anything ever so slightly explicit, no matter that the book in question was widely available for nearly a century before it was banned.

driverless cars?

Both Audi and Toyota announced earlier this week they are developing self-driving cars, joining Google who has already been working on them for some time.

Someone thinks the company that developed the bug-invested Google Maps is ready to turn over the road to driverless cars? I don't think so.

While in theory a road full of driverless cars could keep from crashing into each other, I worry about the inherent danger when they're sharing the road with human drivers. If you've ever driven in a place like Los Angeles or New York or Sydney (I have in all three), you know that humans can concurrently make split second changes in direction.

While an automated car could compensate for this, it arguably might overreact and jam on its brakes to err on the side of caution. Then, slammo, it's rear-ended, which often can cause a chain reaction in heavy traffic.

The road is already filled with maniacs. I don't think adding robots into that mix will improve things.

creepy

If I saw this tattoo when I was like eight years old, I would've had nightmares for a month. When I saw some imagery with weird eyes, it used to just set me off.

I remember seeing an old horror movie on TV when I was in elementary school with a semi-mad scientist who injects some concoction into his shoulder and eventually grows and eye and then a whole head. That kept me freaked out for weeks. I saw it again when I was an adult and it just made me laugh.

This appears to be a woman who owns this tattoo. I can't understand why she wanted to do this to herself. Fortunately, if she lives to regret it, she can always wear her hair long. Thankfully she decided not to put this in the middle of her forehead. Or maybe she has one there, too.

All that aside, it's very well done.

baby is much better

Today, Joey seems 99 percent back to normal. The fever is gone entirely and almost no congestion remains. The Husband has been a dream and very understanding of my anxiousness.

The me of five years ago would be totally laughing her ass off at the me of today: "you, unable to sleep because you have a baby -- you have a baby (snort) -- and you discovered you've got some kind of maternal instinct? Please, girl, you expect me to believe that?"

And I've decided to stop beating myself up about not noticing any symptoms the day before he had a fever. Something like this can come on very quickly. I'm a mother, not a psychic.

sick baby

A crying Joey woke us early yesterday, before the sun was even up. That, in itself, was a warning as he's usually so mellow. I saw immediately he was flushed and running a fever.

I didn't panic but silently freaked. This is the first time he's been sick. We took him first thing to the doctor, and fortunately his temperature had already dropped back down to near normal by the time we arrived. He's a little congested today but otherwise okay and back to his placid self.

I imagine I'm experiencing what fifty billion new mothers have experienced over the past countless millennia when their child gets sick for the first time. To think inside me somewhere there was this whole maternal instinct/worry thingee just waiting to be activated.

To keep myself calm and focused, I read aloud to him from a novel I happen to be reading. The sound of my voice seems to keep him contented. It's an urban murder thriller so possibly the most inappropriate baby bedtime book ever, but thankfully he has no idea what "I'm gonna cut you crackho bitch" actually means.

boobs & skycam

This is a seriously scary video, but the cleavage adds a nice comic touch. She obviously has a camera on her head. I can not watch this for more than a few seconds at a time.

bed of moss

These are fantastic photos by photographer Matthias Haker. If you right-click them, you'll see in a larger size.

I love dystopian images like this. They're what earth would come if humankind became extinct or declined in massive numbers. Nature would carry on as if not even noticing we were gone.

I suspect the photographer arranged the moss on the bed because it would need more light to grow. Or perhaps not, if a wall behind the photographer was missing entirely.

The rest of the room looks like it was found as-is somewhere -- maybe it is real or just very cleverly staged. Haker specializes in photographing abandoned buildings in a state of advanced decay.

You could almost imagine an erotic story of some kind set in this room, occupied by ghosts of lovers past. And the room might have a spirit of its own, pining for the lost lovers who will visit no more.

blurry porn

This photo set caught my eye because the one girl is getting creative with her porn. What also struck me, once I looked at the full-size images, is how some are slightly out of focus. (You can see the two below in their original size by right-clicking on them.)

This is certainly not the first time that I've noticed porn with out-of-focus shots and mismatched skintones in photo sets. It seems to be more the rule rather than the exception.

I guess better photographers are not working in porn. And I imagine the people running these photos on their site don't care, because porn is a quantity, not a quality business.

the most accurate 2013 prediction

In the past few days, you've probably seen "2013 predictions" pieces in various media outlets. They're all over the place.

Here's my 2013 prediction, which undoubtedly will turn out to be the most accurate. Drumroll please.

Many 2013 predictions will be spectacularly wrong.

There you have it. Come back this time next year and see how right I was.

New year predictions are a sort of lazy journalism. There's really no way to check them when they appear, and later when they've been proven wrong, no one is paying much attention any longer.