I Lost 10 Pounds

It's been about three months since I quietly started semi-doing the G.I. Diet.

It's all about the Glycemic Index and getting rid of those refined sugars from your diet. Basically, in a nutshell, it's all about healthy eating. What a concept!!

I haven't even been exercising and I managed to reach my goal weight! Now that I've reached it, I feel like maybe I want to drop another 5 pounds. Hopefully if I incorporate exercise into my routine now, I can do just that! It'd be nice to tone up as well because I still feel flabby.

Anyhow, it totally works and it wasn't hard to do. I mean, I wasn't even that strict on it. If you've read my recent entries, you know I've been drinking most of my summer away, and alcohol is a complete no no on this diet! Anyway, it's not really a diet, just a better way of eating, and I didn't feel deprived one bit.

Perhaps after Pride, I will cut out the booze and try and shed some more weight. But if you're looking for something that works, that is more a lifestyle change than it is a crash diet, then try out the G.I.!!

It's Pride Week!!

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. I've been busy with life, I suppose!

Momma arrives tomorrow, so I get to hang out with him ALL MONTH long!!! Can't wait!!

And it's also Pride Week, so let the festivities begin!!!



Tomorrow, Tyra Sanchez, aka THE OTHER TYRA, from Rupaul's Drag Race, Season 2, will be in town performing at Celebrities!



I'll be sure to check out The Other Tyra, right after going to Night # 3 of the Fireworks!



Tonight is our last cooking class, and I believe we're going to be making fish! i'm excited about that because I do want to learn how to cook fish properly.

So I don't know what Pride parties I'll be attending or not attending, but until I figure it out, here's something to get you into a gay ol' mood. It's a video by the group GRUM. Think Miami Vice meets Queer as Folk. Enjoy!!

Get Outta Her Way!!!

Here's Kylie singing the next single off Aphrodite on the Australian TV show, Hey Hey It's Saturday! This is also possibly the best song on the album! Total summer song!! Get Outta My Way!!!



"This is what'll happen if you ain't giving your girl what she needs...
leave you, move on, to a perfect stranger!"

Inception

Yes, Inception is a mindfuck of the highest order.



But with a cast that boasts Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Marion Cottilard, Michael Caine, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, how can you not want to see this? To say it's "like the Matrix" is underselling it. Yes it's got the whole reality vs non-reality thing going, but it's far less confusing than The Matrix ever was.

That said however, you NEED TO PAY ATTENTION when you're watching this, or there is a slight chance you might get lost along the way. The movie centers around stealing people's thoughts by entering their dreams.

Fascinating, smart, engaging, thrilling, and most importantly for the summer, entertaining. And if you want to compare it to Salt, this is light years better than Salt, even though I liked that movie too. This one is just more complex and deep and the acting is better. It's a super movie!

SEE IT!!!

Salt

Went to watch Salt last night.

Jill wasn't big on it, but I thought it was an action packed summertime fun fest! I mean, Angelina Jolie is perfect as a fabulous no-nonsense spy!

Filled with action sequences that kept me riveted to the edge of my seat, I had a grand ol' time with this! It's like the female version of The Bourne Identity.

See It

Tuesday Night Cooking Class

So the past few weeks, I've been attending a cooking class with Jill. I'm only going because she asked me to, though we did both discuss doing something like this a while back. Anyhow, it's been okay. It's not what I imagined it to be. It's held in a high school and is basically like a Home Ec class.

So far we've made things like macaroni and cheese, chili, muffins, stew, soup, and apple crisp. I was hoping to learn things like, how to cook a steak or how to cook fish, etc. Something that is basic and that I can take with me and apply to daily life.

I'm not sure when I'll be baking muffins again, but I guess it's okay to accumulate some good recipes and add to my recipe book. I have been doing more cooking this year than any other, having taken private lessons from my mother and from my ex. This cooking class makes me just want to do more of that, but not have to go out and pay to do it!

Your Friends and Neighbours

THANK YOU Aaron Eckhart for rescuing me from my bad movie doldrums on a bored Saturday afternoon by being in yet another movie that explores the darker side of humanity!!

THANK YOU Catherine Keener for bringing on the lesbianism and butching it up for the big screen like only you can!!

THANK YOU to Ben Stiller for participating in a film like this, making us remember that you started out as an actor who did actual movies like this one and Reality Bites, and you're not just all about Night At The Museum Part 8.

THANK YOU MOST OF ALL to Jason Patric for being an asshole, and wearing nothing but a towel in that steamroom scene where you talk about raping a boy when you were a teenager in high school and calling it your "best fuck ever"!!!

LOVED this. Been wanting to see this movie since I heard about it, and was not able to find it until recently! Sure, it dates back to 1998, but it seemed almost timeless with its issues of infidelity, sexual dysfunction, and the exposing of a dark underbelly that probably lies in most suburban neighbourhoods.

RENT IT!

Small Town Saturday Night

I spent the ENTIRE day Saturday INDOORS. Why would I do this when it was sunshiney hot outside? So, to make myself feel like less of a loser, I watched a movie about other losers and how they spent their Saturday night.



Okay, the real reason I watched this movie was for Chris Pine. This was basically a made for tv type movie, centering around the interconnected lives of the inhabitants of Smalltown, USA. Nothing revolutionary, nor all that entertaining.

Honestly, I have no idea why this film was even made.

Skip It

Mr Right

Yes, I'm on a gay movie bender as of late, if only to get me in the mood for upcoming Pride festivities.

Sadly, this movie turned out to be one of those guys you see on CraigsList, only to show up at their place to find out they have a limp dick.

I turned this off 20 minutes after starting it.

Mr Right = Mr Lame!!!

SKIP IT!

An Englishman In New York

The entire time I watched this movie, I thought the lead character was being played by Ian McKellen. Now I find out it was John Hurt? WTF! Anyway, this is a biopic of the gay activist/socialite Quentin Crisp, whom I know nothing about other than his name. It was a good "beginner's guide to Quentin Crisp" but I'm sure that his life had much more depth and complexities than this little film had time to delve into.

That said, it's not as engaging or informative as Milk may have been to the life of Harvey Milk, but like I said, it's a good starter.

Otherwise,
SKIP IT

Movies: Prom Night in Mississippi

This is a documentary about a town called Charleston, where they have a white prom and a black prom for their white and black high school graduating students. Actor Morgan Freeman offers the town a proposition. He will pay for the school prom - provided it is integrated, not segregated. It's crazy to think that until this happened in 2008, the town had never had an integrated prom before. Of course there are those who oppose it. But to witness these kids' lives, what they go through, where they live, it's eye opening, sad, and inspiring at the same time.

Rent It

Movies: Mary and Max

This is a stop motion animation movie about two pen pals - one young little girl in Australia, and one old Jewish man in New York City - who form a friendship over distance and time. It's entertaining, dark, and ultimately heartbreaking. If you like animation, then this is a good watch.

Rent It

Movies: The Killers

No.


SKIP IT

Kylie Always

Last night I went to Kylie Night at the new club 560 and it was AWESOME!!!

Alexis and I pretty much had the dancefloor to ourselves for the beginning of the night and we flailed around like maniacs to Slow, In My Arms, Get Outta My Way, and more Kylie!! They also played some Gaga, Katy Perry's California Girls, and Ke$ha which also brought us amazing joy!

The countless rum and cokes we'd had all night helped as well, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, across the oceans, at a gay nightclub in London, they too had a Kylie night. But the difference was: KYLIE WAS THERE.

So much joy.

Invasion of the Torontonians!

So I mentioned that my friend Joe from Toronto was visiting. I insisted on picking him up from the airport in between a wedding ceremony and a wedding reception. After he realized that his luggage would not be showing up, we complained to WestJet, then went and had some sushi.

I took him on a tour of some public art that has made Vancouver home for the past two years as part of the Vancouver Biennale. The first piece we saw were the laughing monks, located on the corner of Davie and Denman right by the beach.

We also saw the two large engagement rings by English Bay, which light up in the evening.

We walked along the seawall...

...saw this replica of these old sheds that used to dot the waterline of Vancouver back in the day...

...and visited with the Digital Whale, a creation of Vancouver artist/writer/designer extraordinaire, Douglas Coupland.

This one was taken on a separate day, but it was still part of the Biennale, and is located over by the Westin Bayshore hotel in Coal Harbour.

The Biennale is definitely something fun that one can do if you're visiting Vancouver, and have an appreciation of art. It was fun for me to look at these sculptures with Joe because he has more of an art sensibility than I do and it was interesting to hear him wax poetic on each of the pieces. Later that week, his friends Yanick and Keiichi would join the Vancouver party and we'd look at some of the public art again, especially since Yanick is an artist himself, and had his own opinions and theories on the pieces.

Tobias Wong's Mysterious Death

There was a lengthy article in the New York Times about the death of Tobias Wong and the mystery surrounding it. You can read about it here, if you are interested. It talks more about his sleeping disorder and debates if his "suicide" was on purpose or by accident.



I recently found his Sun Jar for sale at a store here in Vancouver. If you're interested in getting one, it's available at Front on Main Street.

I've Been Busy

Clearly. As you can see, I've been away from the blog for the past week or so. My back is feeling a lot better but I'm sure it might have healed quicker had I stayed home and gotten some rest rather than filling up my social calendar every day of the week. But, I'm not complaining. So, let's start with last weekend, where I found myself on Saturday attending my friend Yvonne's wedding. She was the first person I ever came out to, so it was nice to see how far along we've both come.

Mid-day, I had to dash to the airport to pick up my friend Joe from Toronto. Then I headed off to the wedding reception in the evening, which was a fancy to-do and a lovely night.

But it didn't end there. Just when the beats of YMCA were pumping up the dancefloor for all the wedding guests, my friend Alexis and I made our way down the street over to my friend Jill's birthday bash!!

You see, by the time we arrived at Jill's, we really didn't need to start doing this:

Which quickly and quite suddenly evolved into this:

And quite furiously became this:

And the night would not have been complete if I didn't at least ATTEMPT doing the Worm. Sadly though, Lauren and I failed miserably at it because 1) we were both too wasted to move and 2) my back was still not quite right - so why would I suggest doing THE WORM!?!?!

Mandatory tie on head.

And that was only Saturday!