Pink Sauce

If you want to know what I got up to last night, go to the other side . If you do, please do push the curiosity to read the comments too; there are a few important bits of information added by myself there.

It is almost one in the morning and I can’t sleep; I am still high on the energy built up tonight (and perhaps the alcohol too). It all started quite normally with my having dinner at home and getting ready to join someone for the Chorus , SH, who had organised a night out to see the stage version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch . On my way to Too2much , the ill-named venue (formerly the infamous Raymond Revue ), where the show was to take place, and although I had decided on a different route to try and avoid them, my bus was slowed down by the non-demonstrating cyclists taking part in Critical Mass . I knew Slightly would be one of them and rang him to give him a piece of my mind. I made it to the cabaret in time however. There were 6 of us in all, 5 of which are Chorus members. We spotted another member in the audience. I had been to Too2much once, and have to say I had not been particularly impressed. The place is expensive and pretencious while at the same time a bit shabby. This ti...

Yesterday, I received a lettre from Amnesty International , asking me to join. A friend of mine recently go involved and I quite approve of their actions (they actually fight against all discriminations and have had a positive action for LGBT people for a long time) so I decided to support them. I might come in handy soon too, now that I have friends who plan on getting themselves arrested ... It is easy to join (and only a couple of quid a month); just click here .

Oh dear ! Tags: gay , blog , diary , relationships , friendship , LGBT , GLBT .

I have just posted a longish comment in response to this post over at Slightly Lost in the World . I thought I would share it with you: Having now read Tatchell's article, I can say that I find it like you quite irrelevant to the situation and possibly symptomatic of Tatchell outdated view on this. I think we have (thankfully) moved on from the time when we needed to justify ourselves. Tatchell writing this article seems to me only proof that he has not evolved on his view of the issue as fast as the issue itself. A positive point which needs to be noted about the Clapham Murder case is that it has, I think, got more coverage than I can remember previous similar cases having. And for once the media were not shy to characterise the case as a homophobic attack which is a point of "detail" which usually gets swept under the carpet. While there might have been examples of bad or hasty coverage, I thing a shift in the positive direction has happened in journalistic minds. Thi...

Another step (however small) was made last night towards following Socrates' ambitious exhortation: Γνώθι Σεαυτόν ; for me, an enduring struggle which has been ongoing for almost two decades now and will probably keep me busy for a while, still. Slightly had alluded at a possible meeting between the two of us but what he calls his parental obligations , which sound oddly like cruising to me, made him forget about it. So, after an unexpectedly busy and rather enjoyable week-end made up of rehearsals, baroque music concerts and meetings with new friends (not to forget the Weekly Cultural Outing to Tesco), yet again I found myself in a sauna, which prompted further Sunday mullings on the reasons for my persistent attendance to these places. There are of course superficial reasons. The facilities first; depending on which venue I go there is a pool to enjoy. All saunas, by definition, offer steam rooms and saunas. I also generally like people watching and these are of course great pl...

I have just received this email from my mother: Salut. Te souviens-tu de R. P., la soeur de ton parrain ? A 83 ans, elle s'est suicidée en se jetant dans la Saône. Bisous. Translation: "Hi. Do you remember R.P., your godfather's sister [My godfather is the husband of one of my aunts]? At 83, she committed suicide by throwing herself in the Saône . Kisses." I didn't know the woman; I have only met her a couple of times. I don't know why she did it (apparently she was depressed and had made several attempts already) but I find this act very courageous, especially at an age when one is so used to living and being alive, it must be like a bad habit. Courageous is probably the wrong word anyway. I would imagine that when someone kill themselves, courage does not really come into the equation, although drowning doesn't seem to be the "nicest" way of doing this. In anycase, I hope she has found the peace she wanted so much.

I have had in mind for some time to create some sort of page to reference all my posts on Christian Voice. Well I have just done much better (I think, I hope) but creating Listening to the Voices . Slightly Lost is also involved in the project and we aim at building an online resource to monitor what Christian Voice get up to. There are already quite a few link there, sorted thematically but there is still quite a bit a research to be done and links will be added as time goes... I hope people will find this helpful. Tags: Christian Voice , religion , christianity , Stephen Green , BBC , campaigning , homophobia , human rights , gay , LGBT , GLBT , politics , tv , television , radio .

I have blogged before about Christian Voice and how uneasy I feel about them getting so much coverage on national media. It looks like I am not the only one who is not happy about this. Recently after another inept performance from their leader Stephen Green on the Moral Maze on Radio4, I decided to write and complain to the BBC. Stephen Green, leader of Christian Voice. Here is what I sent them: I am very concerned that the BBC (both television and radio (radio4)) regularly invite Mr Stephen Green (leader of Christian Voice) to express his extremist views on air. While his movement has no apparent legitimacy (They refuse to divulge the number of their supporters, see your own reports on the Today Programme), he has managed to gain unprecedented and unjustified access to your programmes which enables him to air his extreme ideas. I am aware that the BBC has a duty of presenting a balanced view of all arguments but it seems to me that repeatedly inviting Mr Green has more to do wi...

For several weeks now, there has been reports that the Catholic Church was going to ban gay men from seminars. This is due to happen in US seminars only it seems and for the avowed purpose of dealing with the pedophilia scandals which have been plaguing the US branch of the Church in recent years. This obviously shows a blatant misunderstanding of the whole question if not an outright lack of care for the victims and potential victims. While some pedophiles might be gay, likening all gay people to pedophiles is not a credible standpoint , and while the Church deflects the media's attention with those phony measures, the real molesters go undisturbed and unchallenged if not simply protected by the Vatican. Now we learn that the ban will only apply to non-celibate priests . I have seen a few mentions of this on some of the blogs I read regularly with very little comment on the news, and as far as I can remember the news was on the whole welcomed as a positive step. I am afraid I can...

Things have been looking up slightly in past few days on the social side despite Slightly , my only real social interaction, being rather elusive for the past couple of weeks. I have joined a couple of new (to me anyway) gay personals websites. One of them is probably the best I have seen so far (and I have seen a few!). People are really quite friendly and actually contact each other. I have met a couple of interesting people whom I hope will become friends in time. My slight worry being that there might be a misunderstanding in that respect. Some weeks ago, I was contacted by someone who I did not fancy but we got chatting anyway. Some tenuous bond started to develop and soon we transfered to MSN messenger for more convenience. About a week ago, things all came to a head. I was in a miserable mood as happens quite often these days and I reacted strongly to a comment this guy made (probably as a joke), telling him that I did not fancy him. He seemed surprised at that and said he had ...

Creep - Radiohead When you were here before, couldn't look you in the eye You're just like an angel, your skin makes me cry You float like a feather In a beautiful world I wish I was special You're so fuckin' special But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here I don't care if it hurts, I wanna have control I want a perfect body, I want a perfect soul I want you to notice, when I'm not around You're so fuckin' special I wish I was special But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doin here? I don't belong here, ohhhh, ohhhh She's running out again... She's running out, she runs, runs, runs, runs... runs... Whatever makes you happy Whatever you want You're so fuckin' special I wish I was special But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here I don't belong here Tags: lyrics , radiohead , me , diary , blog .

It is a sad comment on myself that at 31 I should still be grappling with how to relate to people. I will blame it on my childhood and teenage years and yes probably on my parents too. When I started learning to read (I was actually taught how to read and write by my mother because for some reason which escapes me, I had been refused attendance at the village school, together with a couple of other children), my parents devised this neat trick to incite me to read. After the evening meal, we would sit the three of us together at kitchen table and read in turn from a book from the Bibliothèque Rose , usually it would be the Famous Five ( Le Club des Cinqs in French) later moving on to the Bibliothèque Verte . The trick worked only too well. Soon I was reading the books by myself in advance of our evening readings, so eager was I to know what came next. That was it: I had been given the book bug and like Sartre in his autobiographical novel, Les Mots ( Words ), I can say that I will ...

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt Tags: book , books , reading .

Although the sky was overcast, the “stars” were out en force tonight to illuminate my solitary path with their radiance. In addition to seeing Bremner, Bird and Fortune live (Rori Bremner (who is, by the way, rather camp for a straight man!) was the only interesting one of the three. The other two did not bother to interact with the audience and just walked on and off the set as required), I saw one of the Westlife people ( Nicky Byrne , I think it was) chatting with some of his entourage outside the Hammersmith Apollo on my way to the recording. On my way home, I saw the car of a Royal. I am not sure which but it must have been a very Royal Royal (so to speak) as their car was followed by one security people carrier and possibly two (that wasn't clear). My guess, only supported by a glimpse of a tuxedo sleeve, is that it was Prince Charles whom I had already seen with Camilla Parker Bowles not a long time ago on Cranbourn Street, WC2 . I am pretty sure I also saw Michael Win...

A couple of weeks ago, I received one of those emails I get from time to time offering free tickets for recordings of TV shows. I have been to several recordings already and it is usually good fun. And anyway it is a free night out. This time, the offer was for a Channel 4 satirical show; the excellent and well informed Bremner, Bird and Fortune . Knowing that he would probably be interested too, I had invited Slightly Lost and had requested two tickets. The big day was yesterday. Earlier I had sent an email to Slightly to decide on the contingencies of our meeting. He replied by telling me he had received an email from IP, the guy he currently sort of goes out with , saying he had had a bad news at work, was feeling sad and wanted to see him. Slightly said he did not like that sort of situation, that he did not know what to do but that whatever he did it would be wrong. I helpfully replied that indeed it probably would be. I followed this by a jocular email entitled: “this might hel...