The Sojourner

MILK, the Movie

If you have never seen MILK, you should do it now.

No---not because Sean Penn won the Oscar's for his convincing portrayal of the real life of Harvey Milk (God Bless his soul!), who was America's first openly-gay politician.

When I saw the first 15 minutes of the film, I made my conclusion no doubt that the Oscar statute goes to Sean Penn. Oh boy, he's awesome and stunningly gay!

See it because it's a rare movie that brings you back to the early days of struggles of the LGBT community in America----and mine, too---and across the world. This is NOT a gay movie as a gay friend of mine insisted. He was blinded by the suave James Franco in the movie. This is a movie that mirrors the society as a whole which a lot of the problems in the past are still continuously existing until present. In fairness, some problems have been addressed and it's would be hypocrisy of me if I won't admit that because of Harvey Milk, the LGBT community found its way to the halls and walls of the White House and echoes to the different corners of the world.

I'd say, that my community is much better than it was before. There are still issues that need to be attended and only time will tell when these issues be resolved. The most important thing is, no one stops fighting and no one stops showing love what this community can offer.

Hide no more. Fear not. Come out. And be proud!


When Sean received the award, he said:

"You commie homo-loving sons of guns. I did not expect this, and I wanted to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me often. But I am touched by the appreciation...........

For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support. We've got to have equal rights for everyone."  (Click for the video)


Another win for the MILK movie is from Dustin Lance Black, who won original screenplay for "Milk."

"When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas to California and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life, it gave me the hope to one day live my life openly as who I am and that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married."

"I think [Milk] would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight ... that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours."

Dustin Lance Black, accepting an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay

I literally cried when I watched his acceptance speech. I choked up when he paused in the middle of his speech. I felt the heaviness of his words but also hope that someday, I could fly without the preying eyes of moral terrorists who eyes are blinfolded and hearts are chained to old-age tradition of questionable veracity and-----hypocrisy!

As Dustin put it backstage in an interview after his acceptance speech, he felt that this appearance on the Oscar stage was an opportunity to "pay it forward" to millions of people -- especially teenagers living in fear of what might happen if they come out:

"For me, the whole thing was always to... pay it forward. You know, Harvey gave me his story... Oh, I'm going to cry [pauses to compose himself]... Harvey gave me his story and it saved my life. And I just thought it's time to pass it on... The only thing I really knew I wanted to say was to tell those kids out there that they're going to be alright."

Yeah, it's going to be alright.

And now, I'm passing this on-------by blogging.

Purple Dragon's 2008 Photo Contest Winners

I've been meaning to blog about this.

Purple Dragon, a gay travel and tour company, sponsored a photo contest last October 2008 but results were announced last month.

And guess what, two of my photos won major prizes. Out of 11.

Second Prize Winner (three were chosen for this prize)

Cambodia: "Kids Jumping into a Muddy River"

Prize Sponsor:
Club One Seven Bed and Breakfast
Phuket, Thailand

The Prize:
Two night stay in a deluxe room for one or two guests at Club One Seven subject to availability through November 2009

Value: 5,600 Baht (about US$200)

 

Finalist (one of the 6 finalists)

Best Beach Photo
Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand


Prize Sponsor:
Club One Seven Bed and Breakfast
Phuket, Thailand

The Prize:
Two night stay in a deluxe room for one or two guests at Club One Seven subject to availability through November 2009

Value: 5,600 Baht (about US$200)

This is the photo that I had to jump 9 times so I could be in synch with the camera's self-timer. People were staring at me what the hell I was doing. Instead of enjoying the sunset, they looked at me as if I was insane. But, I was desperate to perfectly capture my jump with the sunset as the background.

It was tiring but it was worth it, too!

And the prizes? I just transferred it to someone. ;)

Don't ask.

Alain needs to...

Ok, this is funny. I bagged up when I did it..

I bumped into this through a facebook slash couchsurfing friend and tried it right away to see what's in store for me.

Do this to yourself and be amazed at how your name is being used in a sentence in many different ways by different people from all walks of life.

And mind you, some of these quotes are true.

The rule is:

a. Go to Google

b. Type your name and the words "needs to" all in quotation marks. (e.g. "Alainneeds to")

c. Report back on the first 15 things (only ten actually----or the ones that you like or which you think is true or funny to you) that come up for your name.

Here are mine:
(The colored words are mine, not google's!)

1.) Alain needs to add some contacts and favorites first.
I think it means "contacts." Whatevs...

2.) Alain needs to sell himself more to ...
Oh my gosh, should I? Damn it, age has shown its worst in me now... :(
Am I not sellable anymore?

3.) Alain needs to know about other teams.
I have no idea what teams.... I don't even play sports. Nah, this is sooo not me. 

4.) Alain needs to prepare new data at the last minute....
Yeah, I could be this kinda guy.

5.) Alain needs to remember that there is still a human element. ...
Huh, very preachy! But, I'm touched for these words. They're beautiful.

6.) Alain needs to know who your opponent was.
...because he's my opponent, too. I'll curse him to death and use voodoo to sweep him out from the face of this planet.

7.) Alain needs to know the amount of people coming. ...
Hehehehe... for orgy?

8.) Alain needs to get back to top form to ...
Shut up, bitch! Yeah, I know, I'm fatttt! You don't need to say it for the world to know.!!!

9.) Alain needs to foster a healthy fighting spirit, pick himself up, and go! ...
Strange but so true.

10.) Alain's needs to communicate with Christian B. to include the code into TRIDENT. ...
Christian Bale is that chu? He's also known as The Batman.
Click his name and listen to his rants to a Director of Photography during a shooting of his Terminator Movie. And also listen to the remix of his fuckin' rants. It's fuckin' funny. :)

11.) Alain needs to look around before he starts climbing. ...
You mean, sucking? Hahahahaha!!!

12.) Alain needs to work on shots on goal ... even garbage goals ...
Garbage goals? Hmmnnn..... I've got mountains of them.

13.) Alain needs to tell the canucks to refrain from any lip to lip contact with any Hawks. ...
Canucks, yeah, don't! Only with me. :))

14.) Alain needs to know why... her issues with her brethren are hers to keep...
Her? But, yeah, I have issues. So many....

15.) Alain needs to see whats up in this madafacka.
Love this quote!

Snow in Beijing

Just when every Beijinger thought Winter is so over, the snow poured down without any warning. It started on the 18th with a sprinkle leaving the city a bit scattered white but was not enough to thrill my senses. Then, the next day, when I woke up, I still have no idea of the snow downpour for the whole night so when I went out to work, I was awed by the immaculate white around my apartment and I was like, "wow", "fantastic", "terrific", "fabulous", "wonderful", etc.......

A camwhore that I am, I took fotos of everthing that caught my fancy but had to do it rushly since I have to catch up my 7:10 bus to the subway. I didn't even have a pic of my own because no stranger passed by who I could sweetly command to take a foto of me.

That was the first snow this year and might be the last.

"If Winter comes, shall Spring be far behind?"

Around 5:00 pm, I went to the park nearby hoping to see the last remains of snow before global warming could melt them. I was a bit dissapointed because the immaculateness was not there anymore but still, I was trying to salvage / document whatever was left on that day. And this time, I managed to camwhore. Whoever invented timers in cameras, I owe you a blow job. ;)

   

 

 

 

 

 

This is beautiful.....

How can you break something that is BEAUTIFUL?

You can't. You just can't. And you should not!

If you would, you're the loser at the end of the day.

The music (almost) makes me cry.

Fidelity.

Ah, Fidelity!

That's not something I can give now.

Not just now. :))

**********************************************************************

Ken Starr, who led the campaign to impeach President Bill Clinton, filed a legal brief last month -- on behalf of the "Yes on 8" campaign -- that would forcibly divorce 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year before the passage of Prop 8.

Watch "Fidelity" and sign our letter to the state Supreme Court before they hear oral arguments in the case on March 5. Tell the Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8, reject Ken Starr's case, and let loving, committed couples marry. DEADLINE EXTENDED: March 2.

303,893 people have signed this letter (as of Wednesday, February 18). Our new Courage Campaign community goal is 350,000 signers. Will you add your name now by clicking on the following link?:

couragecampaign.org/Divorce

With over 900,000 total views currently on Vimeo and YouTube, we're also shooting for 1 million views combined. To help this video reach 1 million people, please tell your friends to watch "Fidelity" and tell their friends!

"Fidelity" used with permission from Regina Spektor and EMI Records.

The Valentine's Day that was...

This is too late.

Don't bitch.

I was busy whoring around and well, carnal cravings have to be attended first. You know me, I grab every opportunity every time a phallic object pops up. Blame it to Sigmund Freud. Or maybe, just to my tireless libido. 

Ok, so what have I done this year's Heart's Day?

 Let's skip the day time. It was boring. I went to work and nothing any quickies of sort happened. But, as soon I finished work, I went home and had a real quick shower (which means, 20 minutes).

When I was about to get in the taxi, I told the driver to wait for a minute because I forgot something. Guess, what? Yeah. You're right!

Condom.

I went to a posh hotel in Wangfujing to meet this guy I met online. I'm not gonna be graphic as to what we did but just try to figure out. I know you are a little gifted, dear readers, so masturbate your mind. Imagine. Explore. And. Discover. :))

After the warm-up activity, we finished off with a bottle of red French wine. I was tipsy. I easily get tipsy, if not drunk. At 7:15 pm, I said adios to my acquaintance (who told me to bring a bottle of wine--which I said, yes, of course!) and hurriedly went off to Dongzhimen where friends waited for Her Majesty---that would be ME! :)) 

When I arrived at Jeff, Betti and Ate Danica's place, they were already eating the Spanish omelette and pizza while sipping wine. I was hungry so I devoured the food right away in front of me while I was talking nonsense (whatever they were) to the eager ears. Huh, the wine got me talking.

 

I don't exactly remember what we were talking for the next hours but I do remember that I was dragging Ate Danica to get up because he was such a drama queen that night--tired and a bit tipsy, too. But I know where to tickle him---feet soles---guaranteed to keep him awake. After too much abuse from me, he finally got up and dressed up to kill.

We started the fun at The Boat Bar to pre-energize our night. We danced, talked, laughed---and all kinds of debauchery until we tired ourselves and decided to head on to the next destination: White Rabbit, Beijing's mecca of electronic music fans. 

It was supposed to be ONLY 40 rmb before 2:00 a.m. but the door price tag written was RMB80 to the surprise of everyone standing by the door. Good thing was, Carissa was at the door and saved our ass.

The dance was already almost packed when we arrived and everybody was already hella crazy doing their stuff to the rythmn of the music.

 

By 2:00 am, the party was at full swing and crowd got more excited to the beat when Bloody Mary played her kinda thing. I should say that she was damn good and may her music lives forever and ever. I can still hear it now.

Most of the time, I was resting at the corner. The red wines and 3 glasses of cosmopolitan got me wasted that I kept stepping on other people's shoes. So, before someone would punch me black and blue, I decided to take it easy. I ordered a cola. Lame. 

In one of the respite from the dance floor, I sat in a sofa. There's this guy beside me......... After 10 minutes, we kissed. And then I ran off. His hands were so fast and I don't wanna create a scandal. I know you're raising your eyebrows but yeah, when I'm drunk, I'm a bit conservative. Boooo..... 

 I was introduced to some people that night but I couldn't really remember their names now. They were mostly Spanish-speaking people, courtesy of Ate Danica, who got to talk to a lot of these people while queuing up at the bathroom door. Yeah, the cramped bathroom was the place to catch up the world. 

We went home at 6:10 a.m., Sunday, in the Year of Hedonism, 2009. 

As soon as I saw my bed, I was dog tired and dead to the world. It was a loooong night and the day was still young.

 

 

Pre-Valentine Mushiness

Someone sent this message to me the other day and I'm touched. He may mean it or not, I don't care. It's enough that he thought of me when he wrote this. For sure, he wrote this either for fun or to just plainly tease me---which he always does and so good at it! :))

Most of my friends here in Beijing KNOW who he is. It's not that hard to figure out, really.

I decided to write it in one of my photos so to make it look like a Hallmark card. ;)

Click the picture to enlarge and read the message.

The Burning of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Beijing

For full story, click HERE.

Lantern Festival

Today is Lantern Festival in China. My students said that it's the Chinese version of Valentine's Day in the West. If you read the history of the festival, there's no mention about the "love" part of the celebration. Blame it to translation.

It also marks the end of the Spring Festival a.k.a. Chinese New Year celebration. No wonder, there are so many fabulous fireworks that pop out in the sky.

Firecrackers, too, are so annoying and noisy that I shouted a neighbor who set off one near my window. But my bitchiness had no effect to them since Judas' belt is sooo annoyingly louder than my damn mellifluous voice. 

 

On the 15th lunar day of the year, some Chinese families worship the Heaven Officer of Taoism and pray for luck at home or temple during the daytime. Traditionally, Chinese should decorate the light lanterns around the house and children carry the candle paper lantern on the street at night. It might the safety concern, not too many follow this custom today. In stead, many people will attend different activities of the Lantern Festival.

Bob Marley SWEAT Debauchery

I was introduced to Bob Marley by a rastafarian cum student of mine. He literally stopped me when we were discussing very briefly about John Lennon's song, IMAGINE, in my literature class one summer night. He said that I should listen to Bob Marley because his songs are "much, much, much better than John Lennon." And I asked him who the hell was Bob Marley---to his surprise.

The next day, he brought his first Bob Marley CD, "Bob Marley and the Wailers", to the classroom and let me listen to on his walkman during breaks. I was on my feet when One Love when I heared it for the very first time. And I argued with him when "No Woman, No Cry" was played. I don't like the song, which I thought (and still think) was / is so macho.

At the end of the class, I ended up borrowing his CD and that was how I fell in love with anything that is reggae.

And the most memorable Bob Marley night was when this same guy fetched me after my class at 9 pm, hopped in his car and went off somewhere that looked like a suburb but with a rice field in front of us. We sat on on the car's trunk while he played the CD on his car stereo. Bob Marley's voice reverberated into the deepest darkness of the night while we were watching the stars that seemed to be flickering in tuned with song's rhyhtmn. 

Then, he became my...... after that...

So, everytime I hear a party to honor Bob Marley, I'm always there. Not only because of the music but also the memories that come with it.

Last night, at Yugong Yishan, together with my couchsurfer-friends, we reggaed our way through the night like true-blooded rastafarians. I met my two long-lost dance partners and we sweated out to our hearts' content and desire.

 

We showed Bob Marley how his songs should be danced / interpreted in modern times---in times of worldwide economic recession. :))