Couldn't help it on this one
Mood:  not sure

Travel expert Robert Young Pelton recommends
"..chocolates or boxed candies for women"

by way of introducing ones self when abroad.

Really though. Doesn't he worry about getting any funny looks from people knowing he is a stranger?
Guess celebritydom has benefits.

Thats so American of him, isn't it? I would like
to hear how many times he has ingratiated his self on
strangers using exactly this type of method.

Using the same advice he passes onto others.

But please, don't ever try this at homes folks.


- - --

http://thecelebritycafe.com/guide/1274.html

Mood:  special
Topic: Crime and Punishment
Gary Glitter on trial in Vietnam.

Heres an on-line petition to BAN his music
from being played at any pro sports event hands-down.

http://www.petitiononline.com/nmgg2006/petition.html

And as far as Westerners traveling to SEA and getting into trouble and clogging the courts, he is not necessarily an anamoly.

As this story shows called

No Justive for Victims of Sex Tourism

"Judge Pinto is a short, brisk, 60-year-old woman with a roaring laugh and sharp eyes. She has been trying cases in Manila for 10 years ? rape, murder, paedophilia and child trafficking.

This shabby Angeles city, sandwiched between an old American airbase and the menacing silhouette of the Mt Pinatubo volcano, seems to be a magnet for trouble.

Things are getting off to a slow start on Saturday morning. The lawyers are late, as usual, and the prosecutor rang in on Friday night to say he was taking a day off."




Guess what else is news?

The United States has previously been responsible for trying to destabilize Western leaning governments and movements by introducing banned illegal substances like cocaine for instance.

So whats news to them?

Drugs like cocaine are not a part of traditional western native culture. Thats what.

No shortage of designs
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Entertainment



How did an abandoned paint factory become the center for the greatest single internationally funded film project in recent cinematic history and attract the worlds best filmmakers?



How come cities like Sydney, Brussels and Dublin and Vancouver
are fast becoming creative-class centers to rival Boston, Seattle, and Austin?

Why is most of Northern Europe, especially Ireland, becoming increasingly more creatively competitive at a faster rate than the United States?

A good analyisis as to not why neither the Dems or the Repubs get the picture as to the suffering of their countries 'creative economy'...

From the January/February 2004 Washington Monthly...has anything changed for
the better in two years?

Mood:  down
Topic: Entertainment

So I was tired of thinking about corruption...

- - - -- - - -

just a joke. But seriously, I had my head tuned
into the telly today, eager to find something, actually anything different
away from my standard fare and don't ask what that is norm.

But ahhh..the TV grid
had answered my prayers I reasoned...lo and behold-Ebert and Roeper!

I had gone to see the film '8 Below'
( a re-telling of one Koreyoshi Kuraharas 1983 film classic "Nankyoku monogatari" i.e. 'Antartica') starring good lookin
car racer California tanned surfer boy Paul Walker
in his dog team leader role over the weekend.


Also starring Canadian de lovely Wendy Crewson although I dont think she gets devoted a lot of screen time.



As well as this girl, starring in her first feature film role.

-- -

As it was filmed about a 6 hour drive from here, in a small town called Smithers, which is even closer than Hollywood North, the early evening show I planned to attend was SOLD OUT, so I opted for the later show.

Anyway, if you ever find your soul hankering for that good old fashioned Disney-sque sappy syrupy good stuff..
'8 Below' really delivers.

But whereas Roger Ebert recommended the film, his counterpart begged to differ, sorely giving it a thumbs down.

Its not just that these two film reviewers often disagree. I can appreciate that.

But heres a fellow here who also took the time to render his complaint online about Roepers pickiness with films made for children. Maybe he takes his job too seriously and lets the critic in himself speak to
his performance duties and he forgets to let his self get carried and swept away in that wonderful
world of imagination kids need and crave.

His tone in criticism of '8 Below' was to the tune that he did not like the makers painting character attributes on the dogs in the film which I found just amazing considering what a film would look like with just dumb old boring dogs yapping and yelping.
Being themselves-lol.





But more seriously, I think to love the film you have to first love dogs otherwise its a non-starter. And to love dogs, you have to understand them like, say, the way someone like Stanley Cohen does.

I was one of the last to leave the theatre, sometimes I enjoy watching the credits roll, sometimes to just imagine the effort , toil and manpower it took to make it, to check for locations the film was shot, to see who sang what song, or just to enjoy the parting soundtrack...

when '8 Below' ends, the makers choose to leave the viewer with the feeling that rather than just a
crumpled up ticket in your pocket, they are glad to be able to give you something else to take home. Even if "just a feeling." They give you the feeling that this is more than just a film...they give you a
gentle reminder that this is a story inspired by actual events. Maybe thats something Roeper forgot to consider. Perhaps, and I know my IDLE speculation runs too far wide and yonder, Roeper is still looking for his missing childhood his self.

I'll leave you with that with plenty of room to wonder.

'8 Below' IMHO is film with rich character development and I don't mean the one dimensional humans portrayed ..although they do give it a try with a script
that suffers from real depth(have to remember who your real audience is)...theres not much room for them to run with it...the sheer wonder of the intelligence of mans best friend is the real reason to see this film and is worth the price of admission many times over.

Treat your self. Take your kids. But don't wait for DVD. See it now.




More good reasons to see it located here.

And Disney donated the kennels used in the film to these guys.Good show.

post-script: Someone has suggested here that a dog used in the film was shot and killed. Hard to believe if true.



- - -

Learning English. What does "corruption" mean?
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Crime and Punishment
"Who is to blame in one country
Never can get to the one" - Electric Avenue, Eddy Grant

Can nations who eliminate corruption be forgiven debt? Sounds like a good plan if it could only work.

Hvae you heard the news that nearly half the worlds governments participate in "dishonest or illegal behaviour"?

According to "The List", over half of these in the Top 12 are from Africa. It has been said that the monetary wholesale cost to the continent as a whole runs to the tune of 25 percent of its collective national income: about 148 billion dollars.

This according to Olesegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria, who in 1979 was the first military leader in Africa to hand power over to civilian rule.

Perhaps in time for the release of next years list,
Kenya might be placed near the top (or shall we say: near the bottom?) as this news breaks. i.e. 1 billion stolen as 3 government ministers resign

The news comes about in the same week that Britain announced its ready to freeze and return all illicit and stolen wealth currently stashed in the United Kingdom (UK) by public office holders and their agents to Nigeria, following the UK's ratification of the United Nations (UN) Convention on Corruption February 9.

According to a speech delivered by the Rt. Hon Jack Straw, MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Africa is now the leading source of new asylum seekers in (the) UK, saying:
"We have seen of late a significant rise in the number of Nigerians applying for asylum in the UK: bizarre, given that this is not a country where people are persecuted..."

Maybe he means people like this fellow.

In any case, all of this brings us to bear in mind that even with the UN calling for more participation in anti-corruption measures, it itself is not without some deserved criticism, under the microscope with a macroscopic lens this time
by two American Congressman who are stirring the pot quite nicely which you can read about here.

If instablity in Nigeria can contribute to oil shocks on the world market, and henceforth translate into higher prices for gas at the pump and increased home heating costs, if an international Arms Trade Treaty to ensure no country supplies weapons that serves to stoke internal conflict, external aggression or regional instability comes into effect and puts even a dent in such civil unrest then I join in Africa in its feeling of optimism for itself.

Even as Africa is the continent still becoming impoverished day by day aprt from other developing parts of the world, even as I write this, she remains most optimistic of all.

Yet, as regards the UN and its efforts to curb corruption from even a decade ago reports that

"...nearly $497,000 earmarked for a two-week conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States in Barbados last year included $15,000 to fly in representatives of a "national liberation movement" recognized by the Organization of African Unity. In fact, the movement was Polisario from Western Sahara, a desert region conspicuously short of small islands"

Source http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-253.html

...corruption itself must be more fully defined.

US likely to reject future UN climate change proposal


--- - -- - -- - -- - -

Here in Canada, whether corruption is openly paying for advertising or covering up actions by lying and
selling pamphlets to German businesman I guess is still a question.

While the West has its own role to play in facilitating corruption all along...

Foreign aid fuels corruption


..at least all can agree, something needs to be done.

White collar crime on upswing in Canada

- -

Saw a tongue-in-cheeky item on the news recently about live mannequins modeling what else?....lingerie. Where else? Turin.

With so much media buzz concentrated recently over Valentines Day and the Olympics I bet you would have never heard of anti-capitalism protests the day before opening ceremonies in Turin, blocking off streets and causing mild disruption.

Or with no reason other than to not imagine pristine villages gracing snow capped mountain tops, did you think athletes would be calling the Oly's this
year: "dirty"? Really seriously though did you? And were still not even talking corruption this time. LOL

But with millions of Euros spent for a formidable police presence from all quarters of the security establishment to lap up the lax...including policemen telemarking near ski events (how cool is that?), much is being done to make participants and spectators feel safe.

But, is it, this article blithely seeming to ask, at the cost of a festive atmosphere?

- - - --

See also

http://www.gadgetopia.com/post/4463

And http://www.magor.it just to totally waste time.

Barrel chested
Mood:  silly
Topic: Crime and Punishment
So I recently learned that a number of years ago a certain woman took two hankerchiefs, tied them togther with ribbons, sold them as clothing items..and in this typical Mother of necessity type need way:....lingerie was born! The rest as they say, is fashion history.

So out went the corset and in came the bra. Another development later in time would find men designing bra's pointed style. I mean us men folk we should know how we want you to look right?, eye-pleasing and all, forget about your own feelings about what enclosures are used to "cover your mammaries."

Alas, my source (go there) speculates that this is in actuality what began the bra burning revolution of the 1950's.

Anyway, I know this is tepid stuff. But all of this
I discovered as a result of coming across an item in the news that in the State of North Carolina, much of a hulaboo has erupted over a womans right to breastfeed in public.

I have since learned there may be at least 15 States with no protection for women to feed their young in public unmolested by the law.

A few years ago in Florida a columnist was harrased (arrested?) for feeding baby in public.

This time in N.C., a woman shopping at a Victorias Secret outlet in a mall was told she could not feed her baby via her mammary glands in the VS dressing change room. It was reported that she was told she would have to go to a restroom at restaurant nearby.

For their part, it has also been reported that VS
felt a misunderstanding had occured, and that it
was their suggestion that she might feel more comfortable feeding her child at aforementioned location.

Anyway, none of this type of trivial tripe over
who said what seems to be bothering legislators.

They would now like to enact a law to protect a
womans right to feed her child, joining the rest of the majority of States, in allowing her to feed her
young in public where ever and whenever she likes unmolested by the law.

You can read the full story here. Complete with remarks about references to Republican lawmakers and fascism.

In any case, it made me think about and value the laws we live under in Canada. Seems like in comparison to Europe and Canada, the US lags behind in this department.

Interesting links

Why do female curlers have to strip to get attention on the sports pages?

VS>

007 Female Intelligence Agency

---

Also found a story about a widowed Sri Lankan who breastfed the kids.

- -- - - -

It is. It's a great sounding name.
The name for the province of Saskatchewan comes from the Cree, who called the Saskatchewan River "Kisiskatchewani Sipi," meaning: 'swiftly flowing river'.

----

Hisssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Kissssss-issss-skatchy wanny sippy

Hisssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now if I could only get that Stompin' Tom Connors tune out of my head everytime I hear someone say how great it is I'd feel fine.

Cree language lessons on-line

Because.
Mood:  bright
Topic: Crime and Punishment
Matthew McConaughey is with trailer park trash.



Dont take my word it for it. Grab that latest
issue of Details Magazine
and read it for your self. Look what he said:

"What I really love about her is that she sees everything for the first time, every time. And shes one of the best listeners I've ever met. She's not a right or wronger." - Matthew MacConaughey on Penelope Cruz, Details Magazine, March 2006 Issue

Now what kind of image is that to project for a guy who calls his part-time home a trailer park?

- - - - -

This page shows what Details magazine suffered heat for on needlessly.

I wont stuff a canary into Details editors mouths over this as its not worth it, and they are a great magazine, but its easy to
see why a largesse of population would feel offended and feel disenchanted etc etc etc.

Because I will read Details from time to time doesnt mean I support all their opinions and views and articles or "support" all their advertisers

I seriously thought it stunk and reeked. And if
they ever did it again I would consider them
lower echeleon trailer trash. And pass them
right by in the super-market aisle.

- - - - - - - -

Russias organized crime bid for the NHL...

never trust the blogs words to unexplored links from people you dont know..see for your self

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hockey/details

Interesting stuff.

What the hey, it's still Saturday night..a very early Saturday night.

As you might notice Machs Cafe is free from references to 'that site that shall not be named'
...we will in the future further distance our selves
from National Enquirer type tripe.

- - - - - -

To Tuesday already
Mood:  crushed out
In continued commemoration of Black History Month, Machs Cafe is pleased to be able to aid in helping to promote the following artist...

I s a b e l l e D e b r o s s e






You can visit her site here