TotallyOz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDfd3QnQKPQ

She needs a rest and a break. She has been working 24/5/365 days per year and you can see the toll it has taken on her. She needs to rest and relax and enjoy life for 2 years. AND, then get in the race and kick ass! Most say they are not interested in the job this far out but she is and she will run and she will win. I am already predicting it will be a landslide. LOL Front page of NYT: Clinton Wins by Landslide 2 months later: Bill Clinton Appointed to Supreme Court 3 months later: Chelsea Clinton Appointed UN Ambassador. 4 years later: Clinton elected for 2nd Term

Great idea FH! http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/8243-things-to-do-in-chiang-mai-thailand-gay-activities-and-non-gay-activities/

Yes but the Baan Souy is not in the gay area. If you want to walk to the gay bars, that hotel is not a choice. I will agree that it is beautiful and seems great but I think for a first time visitor, the other two hotels are better choices for easy access to everything. Personally, I think having a pool in Pattaya is important and neither of those hotels have pools but for someone that does not care there are better options. I love the Marriott and they often offer rates around 3500 baht per night which I think is very reasonable. I was looking at the Hilton recently for a friend and they were over 250 USD. Insane IMHO

I am truly embarrassed to say how many times I have seen this. I will say I saw Rent and Les Mis and Miss Saigon more times than this but when I lived in NYC, every time a friend or family member came to NYC, the one thing they asked for was Phantom. Everyone loved it. If I am in Thailand when this production is here, I'll be taking the boys to see it. Side note: I saw RENT over 50 times. I was in law school in NYC when it first started and I saw it the first time about one week after it opened. They had these 20 dollar seats that you would get if you stood in line to be the first 17 to get them. As I was a poor student and could not afford to see this often, we sat out in front for 24 hours to get seats weekend after weekend and slept in sleeping bags on 41st street and studied for school. It was a time when the area was still very seedy but we were all there having a blast and it was some of the most memorable times I remember.

I agree with FH. Chiang Mai is something you will never see anywhere on earth. While Phuket is beautiful it is a beach city and thus you can find places like it all over the globe. If you choose Chiang Mai, there is a nice gay run hotel called PJ's Place that I love. It is very inexpensive and the owners will help you have a fantastic trip. Should you choose Phuket, be sure to take a boat ride to Phi Phi and the surrounding islands.

I think most prefer a readable post to one that is not readable no matter how much someone talks about it. The point of these sites, IMHO, is to give good reliable information. You do that often but at times even I can't read your posts. It makes it very difficult for those that don't know you to believe what you write as they can't decipher it.

This is a great collection of photos. Be warned, some of them are very graphic in nature and not easy to view. http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/most-powerful-images-of-2012

She is a joke. She only says things to get PR. She does not believe what she says. It works for her as many listen to her and write about her and buy her shitty books. IMHO, she needs a fuck more than just about any woman I have seen in the USA. You know what they say, "once you have been fucked in the ass, you never look at the world in quite the same way." (Oz)

That is like telling me to wash my own clothes. I can do it but it is NEVER the same as when a pro does it. My blue socks and pink shirts (neither started that way) can attest to this. I think some things are best left to the pros and for me it is laundry. I suck at it. Luckily, I have a great group of window washer in Thailand so I get that done 2 times per week with my cleaning service.

From LA Times: The day after a federal judge cast doubt on a new state law banning sexual-orientation therapy for minors, a second judge issued a ruling upholding it. According to Lynda Gledhill, a spokeswoman for the California attorney general, the ban on sexual-orientation therapy will take effect Jan. 1 as scheduled for everyone except two therapists and an aspiring therapist who sued to keep the ban from taking effect. On Monday, U.S. District Judge William Shubb ruled that the law may inhibit the 1st Amendment rights of therapists who oppose homosexuality. He issued a temporary restraining order preventing the state from enforcing the ban, the first of its kind in the nation, against the three plaintiffs pending a broader ruling on its merits. "The reality is those three individuals are not subject to the law, so [the initial ruling] is very narrow," Gledhill said. In Tuesday’s ruling, in a case brought by opponents asserting that the law violates free-speech, religious and parental rights, U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller said the Legislature and governor had enough grounds to enact such a law, given that multiple mental health groups, including the American Psychological Assn., have discredited the therapy. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/12/conversion-therapy-rulings.html

SAN FRANCISCO — For the second time in two days, a federal judge in California has issued a decision on the state’s first-of-its-kind law prohibiting licensed psychotherapists from trying to change the sexual orientations of gay minors. U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller issued a ruling Tuesday that will allow the ban on “conversion” therapy to take effect on Jan. 1. Her ruling came in a lawsuit filed by four counsellors, two families, a professional organization for practitioners and a Christian therapists group seeking to overturn the law. On Monday night, Mueller’s colleague, U.S. District Judge William Shubb, handed down a somewhat competing ruling. Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/health/Judge+upholds+California+conversion+takes+effect/7650531/story.html#ixzz2EAGob1dV

Bob, no you silly boy!

Wynn: no need to worry. No one will try to sell you when you are in Thailand. It is a wonderful place and very safe. If you drink so much you stumble out into the streets at night, it is possible that someone will relieve you of your wallet but in no way will they then try to sell you. Bob: you are too funny but you seem to use the American Standard Dictionary in your interpretation. I'll try to use the Pattaya Farang International King James Version. He said: After chatting to many pattaya Bars tonight, all will be closed 5th December, only Moron selling drunks as above as I stated ? That means: After I strolled around the many bars in Pattaya tonight, I wanted to help the fine readers of Gay Thailand so I asked the owners if they were going to be open or closed on December 5th, 2012. To my astonishment, they all stated that they would be closed. Now, mind you that I only spoke to a few of them but the consensus is they will not open. As I stated above in my post, the only place that one is able to buy drinks will be at the Mor Lam concert. Come one and come all to the greatest show on earth!

From Wiki: Mor lam is a traditional Lao form of song in Laos and Isan. Mor lam means expert song, or expert singer, referring to the music or artist respectively. Other romanisations used include mo lam, maw lam, maw lum, moh lam and mhor lum. In Laos, the music is known simply as lam (ລຳ); mor lam (ໝໍລຳ) refers to the singer. The characteristic feature of lam singing is the use of a flexible melody which is tailored to the tones of the words in the text. Traditionally, the tune was developed by the singer as an interpretation of glawn poems and accompanied primarily by the khene, a free reed mouth organ, but the modern form is most often composed and uses electrified instruments. Contemporary forms of the music are also characterised by quick tempi and rapid delivery, while tempi tend to be slower in traditional forms and in some Lao genres. Some consistent characteristics include strong rhythmic accompaniment, vocal leaps, and a conversational style of singing that can be compared to American rap. Typically featuring a theme of unrequited love, mor lam also reflects the difficulties of life in rural Isan and Laos, leavened with wry humour. In its heartland, performances are an essential part of festivals and ceremonies, while the music has gained a profile outside its native regions thanks to the spread of migrant workers, for whom it remains an important cultural link with home. Morlam had its birth in the Lao heartlands of Laos and Isan, where it remains a popular art form. Although its precursors probably lie in the musical traditions of the historical Tai tribes that migrated south from China and northern Vietnam, much cross-pollination with indigenous music of the region as well as importation of Chinese, Mon-Khmer, Indian and Malay influences has also had a pronounced affect on the dances, instrumentation and melodies of morlam. In his Traditional Music of the Lao, Terry Miller identifies five factors which helped to produce the various genres of lam in Isan: animism, Buddhism, story telling, ritual courtship and male-female competitive folksongs; these are exemplified by lam phi fa, an nangsue, lam phuen and lam gon (for the last two factors) respectively. Of these, lam phi fa and lam phuen are probably the oldest, while it was mor lam gon which was the main ancestor of the commercial mor lam performed today.

Barney Frank is retiring from office this year. I first became aware of him when the scandal broke out with the prostitute he was assisting. I didn't think he would survive that but he did. Thank goodness he did. He has been active on many issues that I believe in and he has been a true champion of gay rights. I saw his interview with Bill Maher a few weeks back and loved it. Frank was so engaging and funny in every interview I saw him give. I really enjoyed him a great deal. Great piece in the Washington Post today about him and the impact he made on other openly gay lawmakers! http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/barney-frank-charted-path-for-other-openly-gay-lawmakers/2012/12/03/eb812af6-3d69-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html?hpid=z3

I think he is adorable and sexy and I'd love to cover him in a thousand sweet kisses. But, today Telly Leung released his new album and it is great. His voice is fabulous and I love his rendition of I'll Cover You from RENT. Telly is going places and I am thrilled for him. I also wish him great luck. I hope you all go to ITunes and buy his new album. I love it and love his voice!

I love it when pimps and madams step up and take more of a spotlight. Recently in Nevada, the owner of a big brothel was elected to public office. Now, in Greece, a madam has become the primary sponsor of a local soccer team. I find the entire controversy fascinating. Take a look at this NYT article: LARISSA, Greece — Her soccer club looked ragged. Strikers jumped up for headers only to miss the ball entirely. Players tumbled over one another, shouting out accusations that they had been fouled. But in the bleachers, Soula Alevridou, or “Madam Soula,” as she is known in these parts, watched intently, a petite woman in a man’s tie smoking ultra thin cigarettes. “Keep in mind that the home team is very good,” she said, explaining the difficulties that her team, Voukefalas, was having. Madam Soula, a former prostitute and now, at the age of 67, the owner of two luxury brothels here in Larissa, stepped in this fall to sponsor Voukefalas, a small amateur soccer team that like many others in Greece was having trouble coming up with the cash for uniforms, equipment and playing field fees. She considers her support a natural thing to do, maybe even a patriotic gesture, because her debt-mired country is in so much trouble that many of life’s extras, like amateur sports, are becoming out of reach. Read the full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/world/europe/greek-brothel-owner-rescues-larissa-soccer-club.html?ref=world

Thailand’s competitive edge, currently ranked 11th worldwide, will drop to 15th place in the next five years and be overtaken by Vietnam, according to a industrial specialist. Nuanjai Kittisriboonkul, manufacturing industry leader of Deloitte Southeast Asia, said Vietnam-- which now ranks 18th-- will jump to 10th place in five years. Growth prospects for the Southeast Asian region are positive, with China commanding the first place among Asia economies, followed by India, she said, indicating that the phenomenon will compel the United States, Germany and Japan to seriously review their strategies. Countries in Southeast Asia including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam will surge up in unison to occupy the top 20 ranks worldwide, she said. Ms Nuanjai added that Indonesia, currently ranking 17th, will move to 11th place in the next five years. China will retain its No. 1 rank in the next five years whereas India which now ranks fourth will become No. 2, she said. For the entire story: http://www.mcot.net/site/content?id=50bd783e150ba062530002d3#.UL2LxYV8VD0

My dear, if you are destined to have the next Honey Boo Boo, we simply must get together! I too love dressing them up and I know that we would have a beauty queen superstar!

I am not sure why Americans don't take more notice of this. When I first saw the reports on NYT and other papers, I thought, Ahh Ha, things will really heat up now in America. Nope. It didn't happen. Why not? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_L4jkHzWJE&list=UL

LOL Well, sometimes I feel like I have 2 but they are in their late 20's. Last night, they tackled me, held me down and tickled me for 5 minutes so I would let them watch soccer as opposed to the latest Revenge episode.

And, one more that I think is perfect for the holiday season! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPr7933-0YE