FOTOS: Beauty Is Afoot In The Land

Whether the sun eking through clouds


or setting Heaven aflame,


whether the elusive swallow constructing his clever nest


or the humble sparrow whose flight is now with the angels,

beauty is afoot in the land.

It may not always be your kind of beauty


but it's always beautiful to someone.


The garden awakes each morning to trumpets


that startle wraiths out of their hiding


fairies pick themselves fresh party hats and dance


for the Queen of June.


Whether trembled by the wind


or fulfilling our deepest urges


when we dance in our garden with fairies


we earn our angel's wings;


when we learn to live together


in the places Nature provides


life seduces us...
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Paris Is Not Appealing

The decision to return her to jail, that is. Additionally, she will now be serving the entire 45 days of her original sentence, since her 'time off for good behaviour' became 'let's have a kegger'.

Yes, the brilliant Ms. Hilton reportedly wanted to throw a party on her first night of house arrest, and somehow a thing like that got leaked to the media. I wonder how that happened?

Add a charge of Felonious Stupidity to this chick's rap sheet.
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Cole Porter's House Now A Museum

Should you ever find yourself with a spare afternoon in the vicinity of Peru, Indiana, here's a great travel tip: visit the Cole Porter Museum.

His birthplace welcomed its nascent composer and bon-vivant in 1891 and hosted him for a decade after that. Recently, the house was rescued by the Ole Oleson Theatre Group after it had fallen into disrepair. It had even been used as a meth lab when the city stepped up and ushered the project through.

Better a tribute to a well-known closet case than a tina-bumpery any day, I guess.

All flippancy aside, it's quite an honour when the town where you grew up decides to turn the house where you grew up into a museum. I shudder to think what Kelowna would do to that left-half of a duplex in which I spent my formative years; I can practically see the dioramas now, fairly redolent with the charm of growing up poor in the Seventies. [shudder]

[S O U R C E]
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Now Showing: Starveillance

If you're like me, you've never wondered about what was behind that famous Paris/Nicole feud. Now, though, thanks to Starveillance we don't have to not wonder anymore.

(C'mon, it was either this or you get to look at James Holsinger for another 12 hours. Apology accepted.)
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IS DUBYA ON CRACK?

This is his nominee for Surgeon-General? This guy?

This man is not fit to hold public office, on so many levels, in so many ways. Oh cripes and criminy on a cracker, no n-no no no.

On the other hand...

Letting the Republicans publicly fret about how distressing gay male sex is - even though they already know all about sucking it dry and fucking it up from governing - might be good for them. It's time there was a Great Butt-Sex Debate. It'll likely teach them finesse, for one thing, and maybe somewhere along the way they'll finally get the message that, when we do it, at least it's CONSENSUAL.

Oh well, all this dirty talk does makes the newscast a little brighter, doesn't it?. War War War... Anilingus.

Anilingus? Hello!
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Now Showing: Stephen Fry on "Shrink Rap"

More Stephen Fry, this time the first of five parts from a show called Shrink Rap hosted by Dr. Pamela Connolly.

Some of you may remember Dr. Pam as Billy Connolly's wife, although I remember her first from the 1980-1 series of Saturday Night Live, when she was Pamela Stephenson.

Yes, I am that old, but not as old as people who first remember her from Not The Nine O'Clock News. They're really old.
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From The Big House To The Spacious Apartment

Princess, er, Paris Hilton is in jail, but she's not in jail.

That is to say, she's not in jail, but she's still in custody.

What it comes down to is the little bitch went into a two-day snit and didn't eat and 'almost had a nervous breakdown' and so she's been transferred to 'house arrest' for the remainder of her sentence.

Ask me how I'd feel if someone told me I couldn't leave my apartment for three weeks... I'd love it. When I was a little kid and used to get sent to my room, that was heaven.

I guess Zsa Zsa and Martha Stewart are made of sterner stuff.
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HEAT WAVE!!!

WHOA! Joey Lawrence, formerly of Blossom, has certainly blossomed himself.

I mean, he was hot then, but this is like a supernova. Plus, it's a wet heat...
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Bush, Putin Meet To Improve Ties

...then braid each other's hair, tell ghost stories, and finally...

PILLOW FIGHT!
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In Search Of... Long-Lost Friends

I seem to gather long-lost friends at a rate slightly faster than I make new friends, to which end, it seems like I have fewer and fewer friends each year. The friends I have remaining are at least technologically adept, which makes staying in touch easier, and therefore the chance of any of them becoming lost - let alone long-lost - is slight.

Nonetheless, the trend bodes ill.

I have friends like Jennifer Heppner, whom I could contact (and who could contact me) if I (or she) were in the mood to do it, but I don't (and she doesn't) for no more sinister reason than neither I (nor she) has. (Or have.) Okay, I'll stop that now.

It's a similar case with Jay Demetrick. Although our friendship ended on somewhat shaky ground, I saw him at Pride Day last year, he seemed glad to see me, and he even let me take a picture of him. He and Jenn, then, are not so much long-lost friends as set-aside friends. Among these I count Peter Ryall, Vince McNeil, and Jesse Walters.

The real hard cases are the friends whose brilliance seemed to ensure them future fame who've simply vanished, not even to be found on the Internet. I'm talking mainly about Matthew Bankert and Mo Hanna, but there are others.

The last I heard of Matthew, he was living in Dublin, and somewhere around here I have his mother's phone number, so I could probably find him that way if I wanted. Mo, on the other hand, is simply gone. No profile on Facebook or MySpace, her relatively common name the ultimate Google nightmare: a blind alley. All I have are my memories and a portrait of her on my wall which fairly radiates with her insouciant vulnerability.

It's always a wonderful thing to find a long-lost friend in fantasy; alas, reality has its own set of criteria. I ran into James Gill, an old friend of mine from the very early 90s, last year. We went for coffee last September, and despite being in my best humour, I think I pissed him off. He's never called again. As soon as I can think of how to contact him again without seeming confrontational, I will.

Colin Palmer I just lost touch with, in the same way I've lost touch with Paul Akehurst. I call and leave voicemails, or I send emails that go unanswered, and I'll assume they're mad at me (always my first assumption, no matter what the situation) and so I stop. Then, out of the blue, a contact, indicating that all is well and always was.

Colin Palmer found me on Facebook yeaterday, so I sent him a reply. So did Steve Laporte, who found my blog, and perused it, and had some nice things to say about it. Steve wasn't so much long-lost as misplaced, but still... Two in one day.

My only hope is that some day Matthew and/or Mo will google themselves, see this story floating in cyberspace like a message in a bottle, and find their way back to me.
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Brand-New Brand Branded A Failure

Alright, who broke the logo? Was it one of you? I know it was one of you, so you might as well confess.

I'm waiting...

(I shudder to think what the mascots are going to look like; maybe a rat with a meth problem or giant syringe. After all, it's gotta be all street and hip and appeal to the kids.)
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Vancouver: City of Parks - Ravine Park

The history of discovery is littered with accidents. Searching for a faster route to Asia, for instance, Columbus accidentally found the Americas instead; the quest for the elusive Northwest Passage opened European eyes to many marvels - none of them what they were looking for, but oh well...

It was the same for me. Last Sunday I set off to discover a viable walking route to my friend Buffy's new place; along the way I encountered many wonders, including palatial homes on gracious avenues of mature trees and, my most favourite thing of all, a park.

See that tiny sliver of green there on the map? As its name would indicate, nestled into a ravine among the many folds of the Arbutus Ridge, is a tiny oasis of tranquility set amongst some pretty tranquil streets. Originally a streambed, water now rushes through the area in a culvert beneath the pathway.


Entering from the north along W. 33rd (between Arbutus and Yew) the park is almost invisible from the street. For one thing, the entrance is set quite far back, and for the other thing the frontage is narrow. All of this promised that my passage through the park would likely be undisturbed by other people.


The immediate sensation upon entering the park is that, despite the fact that it is hemmed in by some fairly busy streets, within itself all is quiet. There weren't even any birds. The trees touch overhead - far overhead, as these trees are fully grown - and wind shushes through the uppermost branches.

It's clear Ravine Park - like most of the parks in Vancouver - had sustained some damage in the storms of past December. At least one large tree had been felled where it broke, and was left to serve as a nurse log. None of them seems to have hit any houses, most of which are only occasionally visible on the upper slopes.


Despite the damage, the overhead canopy was unaffected, and remains unbroken. The uphill walk was never steep along the main path. Although there was a steeper auxiliary path, it didn't look official; more like the sort of thing roughed out by bored rich kids in search of... Who knows? I've never been one, so I have no idea what they're looking for. Judging by what they'd left behind, I can only guess: a place to litter, smoke, and commit grafitti. None of these, however, was overwhelming.


I'll definitely be going back to Ravine Park; the next time I go to visit Buffy I'd like to take some video of the route. I was walking slowly and taking pictures, and still I managed to get through it in under five minutes.


I couldn't have said it better myself.

Truly worthy of being called an oasis, Ravine Park is also a reminder. Not a hundred years ago, the entire west side was carpeted in mature hemlock forest such as this.

The city considers this an undeveloped park, even though there are cherry trees planted along both ridgelines, within the mini-forest itself things are pretty much as you might find them in the wild, right down to the profusion of bracken ground cover, mosses, and lichens.
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Worth Going To Alberta For

As The Princess Royal made a typically low-key public visit to Saskatchewan this past weekend, rumours that her nephew Prince Harry might be in training at CFB Suffield in Alberta have sent shockwaves through, well, mostly just me. But the rumours have set tongues wagging. They've even caused some people to start gossiping.

The world's royallest redhead is rumoured to be playing rugby with the Medicine Hat Ogres - likely one of the worst named sports franchises ever. I ask you, does this look the face of an Ogre?

Ginger-spotters are likely to be out in force, so if you're a guy, have the right colouring, and can do a passable British accent, I suggest you find your way to Calgary; you are sure to find yourself up to your ears in social-climbing poontang.
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Guess Who's Going To Jail?

Paris checked into the Crowbar Hilton at 11:38 PM (PDT) on Sunday. Under the terms of her sentencing, she had until June 5th to surrender herself to the authorities. Her family was with her at the time.

She will remain incarcerated for 23 days; although she was sentenced to 45 days on a charge of reckless driving, but the judge reduced her sentence almost immediately, citing "good behaviour".

Despite this, only days after her conviction she was photographed driving.

She is quoted as saying: "This is an important point in my life and I need to take responsibility for my actions. In the future, I plan on taking more of an active role in the decisions I make... Although I am scared, I am ready to begin my jail sentence."

About bloody time.

[S O U R C E]
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TED Talks: Sir Ken Robinson on creativity

I laughed. I cried. It became a part of me.
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Dead Poets Society Admits New Member

Everyone,

I know that email is a poor way of doing this but it seems the fastest way to inform you of the bad news about T-Paul.

He passed away in his home in his home in the last 24 hrs. His good friend Ru found him this morning in his house on his couch. It looked like another aneurism or possibly a stroke. Not much is known at this time.

Arrangements are being made and you will all be informed about any services or gatherings held on his behalf.

It is a loss to the community and to all the people who knew him.

Please spread the word to anyone not on this list. I know you will all do so. He knew so many people that it would be impossible for any one individual to contact all of them. Thank you. Bill Mc.

[Behind The Photo: An interview of T Paul Ste. Marie
by Bonnie Nish, of Pandora's Collective.]
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Reality Vs. Pop Culture: Edward and Mrs. Simpson

Gorgeous, star-crossed lovers whose affair threatens to topple an Empire...



...or a mannish maneater who sinks her fangs into a flighty upper-class twit.

Make your selection in the comments section.
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Now Showing: "Bully Boys" by The Tiger Lillies

Because I thought your Saturday could stand to be a bit more surreal, here are England's Tiger Lillies.
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Vancouver: City of Parks

In 1890, following the bequest of 1000 acres of forest to the City of Vancouver that later became Stanley Park, the Vancouver Park Board became the first (and still only) body of its kind in Canada elected at-large like City Council.



Over the next hundred years, parks and recreation flourished in Vancouver which, after all, was designed as a garden city. 14 new parks have been added to the city in the last decade, with more to come as a consequence of development.

There are currently more than 200 green spaces in Vancouver, from the aforementioned Stanley Park and the lush Queen Elizabeth Park to some tiny spaces tucked away and unknown even to most Vancouverites.

I doubt I'll get to them all this summer - more than 200! - but I will be using my weekends to visit some of my favourites, as well as looking for a few new favourites.

In the meantime, why not visit the Vancouver Park Board. The site's navigability leaves a little to be desired, but it is thorough.
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Another California First

Gay and lesbian prisoners in the state of California are believed to be the first in the U.S. to be allowed same-sex conjugal visits.

Must... Not... Be... Snarky...
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