Update on The Gaily News

I received an email today from Matthew Hodson, Head of Programmes at GMFA in response to a post I entered into this blog back in August (Click here to read the original blog entry.)

Here's what I had said....

"UK:Devonshire: A single complaint from a visitor to a Devonshire library has caused one of the UK’s most successful HIV awareness campaigns to be banned. An advert showing a couple holding a sign saying “We’d rather fuck than watch T.V.” It puts an upcoming campaign in jeopardy as this talks about oral sex, blow jobs and fucking. The GMFA are wondering how they are meant to promote safe sex without using these words. Matthew Hodson, from GMFA said he was “shocked at the ruling.” He added “I’d say we’re buggered – but I’m not sure I’m allowed to.”
Source: pinkpaper.com

My take: At least GMFA have a sense of humour about this. I think the person who made the complaint needs to think long and hard about what they have done. Deaths are on your hands because of your prudishness whoever you are!!"

Here is what Matthew said:

"Hi there,

You blogged about us earlier in the year so I thought you might be interested to know that our appeal was successful and that the ASA Council eventually decided not to uphold the complaint against our advertising.

Needless to say, I’m thrilled.

All best wishes,

Matthew Hodson"

I was surprised to receive an email in response (I'm always surprised when someone takes the time to read the blog), and was pleased by the outcome. This is fantastic news and it comes, at least to me, on the eve of World AIDS Day. How fitting.
Please, if you are able to, support an AIDS charity near you on this day at least, as, one day, you or a loveds one may need their help or benefit from the work that they do. You could get about 3 red ribbons just by foregoing 1 pint of beer! Cheers!

Bad news from work

During my last set of shifts at work, my team were told that we were expecting big news about some changes for the team. We were told that we would be informed what this was some time this week. We all got excited, thinking that we could be taken in-house (meaning health benefits, higher pay and better prospects),
But, I have just heard from a colleague of mine, Bob who is also off work today, that they are disbanding the team!

Apparently, they are taking 4 (out of 12) to work closer with the managers, doing the job we were all doing, but in more depth. Now the way things have been going recently it is pretty obvious who 3 of those 4 will be, (the 2 guys who applied for the deputy manager's job and the guy that the bosses WANTED to apply for it!). Which means it will be 8 of us fighting for 1 position. This is so NOT the news that I wanted to hear, as I have been feeling really happy at work lately, which is really unusual for me. I am so fed-up now, at the beginning of 2 weeks off, not a good start.
My team has been in place for 2 years (come Jan 1st) and I have been a part of it since its inception. I have attended all the training that has been done and I fel I have worked hard, and shown a great interest in the work we do: even being selected for some special project work, but I have never excelled and never had any special praise, and I don't feel 100% comfortable working with most of the managers that the team will probably be working with (most I don't really know, but some of those I do, I don't trust).
I guess all I can do is, wait and see, and try my best to promote myself, but it is difficult when you know how the office politics work.

My day had started off so well too. On my way home from night shift I had found a pound coin (always good luck when you find money), and I had a cheque for £89.70 nin the post this morning too, AND its a comic day (which is always good).

Thinking about the changes, I know of 2 people in the current team who will not want to apply for the new positions, so that makes it better; 1 is working days only, so he will have ruled himself out; And 2 others haven't been in the team as long as the rest of us; 1 member I can't see being given the position either, so it is probably between me and 2 others (one of whom I am good mates with). Hopefully I am wrong about the guys I think are guaranteed the job, but Bob agrees with me on who we think will definitely get the job.

Rugger birthday

Today is the 30th birthday of Wasps and England rugby star Josh Lewsey. Josh is one of the few really recognisable faces in rugby at the moment and one of the few, I feel is deserving of his place on the England squad (but I'm not an authority on rugby, so maybe I shouldn't comment!). But he is sexy too.

Happy Birthday Josh, wish I could help you celebrate.

My 500th posting

I wasn't sure how to celebrate my 500th posting, but then I read one of my comments and found a site that you may also like to check out:

Les bogosses du blog de JANUS

He looks like a sexy man and has pictures of lots of sexy guys too. Have a looksee.

Just Because

Another Wrestling Birthday

OK, so today is the birthday of another American wrestler, who also happens to be a bit of a hunk f**k!

Rob Conway is 35 today and looks fantastic. Have a great day Rob.

Today's Birthday Hunk

Today is the 33rd birthday of the American professional wrestler Evan Karagias, a gorgeous Greek-American who is also a model and an actor. He has had some dodgy haircuts, but is a very attractive guy. So Happy Birthday to Evan.

Free Hug

I saw this video on Aussielicious and, once it got started I really got into the spirit of it. It tells a story and really made me tingly all over. The music is pretty good too. Check it out.

What has he done to his hair?

I was tipped off by a mate in the pub watching the Newcastle - Portsmouth match that goalkeeper hunk David James has changed his haircut yet again, and this time it looks awful. So I thought I'd check it out.


















My mate, Bob, was right. It looks horrible! He's had it relaxed or something and now it looks like Hitler's Hairpiece!!! Change it back David and be quick about it! Any of the former style would be better. Please! Just change it. If you are not careful I'll stop fancying you! And you wouldn't want that now, would you?.

Naked footballers (thought that would get your attention!)

I've just been watching the Championship, a program on ITV and it was talking about a footballer from Oldham Athletic, Chris Hall, who is currently starring in the musical "The Full Monty" on stage. He can sing (not brilliantly, but better than I can) and he can dance, and best of all he ahs quite a good body with nice abs. Might be worth checking it out if you are in the area. It is playing at the Forum Theatre in Romiley.

Animated Iron Man

I just came across a trailer on Marvel.Com for the new animated Invincible Iron Man DVD which, apparently, is out in January. The artwork is fantastic so I just may HAVE to buy it. I've not been that impressed with animated comics over the last few years, and Iron Man isn't my fave character, but it just looks so stunning I can't resist! Check it out.

I am also loving what is going on in the Marvel Civil War at the moment. Spider-Man is rebelling and got the better of Iron Man, though I would have loved it if he managed to hurt him badly! I love the obscure characters that keep popping up like Thunderclap, (how many people remember his first appearance? Especially outside of the UK!) and others like Cybermancer and Digitek. I love Heroes For Hire (even Humbug), and cannot wait to see what is going to be happening with the splitting of the Avengers. Oh and Tigra, if you're listening, please do not betray Cap and the others, please. And Annihilation is great too, all my favourite cosmic characters in one place, if only the Imperial Guard were there too my life would be complete (well, not quite, but you get my drift!). Comics are fantastic at the moment, it is about time there was some sort of television magazine program devoted to the world of comics (anyone in tv production take note, do a survey and get one commissioned!!).

Today is a bit of a weird one, everything is a bit chaotic. We have a supervisor who doesn't always work in this building and is hungover and been sleeping most of the day; we have lots of contractors all over the place and I'm having to run around the building locking and unlocking doors (which isn't my job, but we're short staffed); the guards we do have are either lazy, inexperienced or just moany old bastards; and I'm working with someone who just plain annoys me with his LOUD voice and conversations about horse racing, fishing and cricket (none of which I am interested in AT ALL!!). So these pics are just to make me smile!!!

Mark Ramprakash

This season of Strictly Come Dancing (or as Paul O'Grady calls it "Strictly Come Ballroom") has been quite good, I was never really interested in it before, but it is quite entertaining, there are some interesting celebrities, and there is nothing else on that I want to watch at the time. One of the best dancers is Mark Ramprakash, who most people have said looks like he has been dancing for years. A couple of weeks back I was watching and his partner, Karen Hardy, a professional dancer, seemed to make a few mistakes and he looked more like the pro!
I'd never noticed him much before, as I hate cricket, but he is a very sexy guy and wears some lovelly chest-revealling outfits. I have been searching the internet for a while for decent pictures of him in his outfits and until today I couldn't find any. But, thanks to BBC News website I now have some.

Tired. But for a different reason.

Yes. I'm tired again, but this time it is because I decided to go out last night for a few drinks. I only intended to have two drinks, but ended up having 5 pints. I went to Barcode first and then to Rupert Street, where I chatted to a professional rugby player, who I won't name. Apparently he IS out, but it's not my place to name him here, at least until I know him more (I wish). He was one of about 6 guys that I saw last night who were REALLY good looking, one of whom was this guys mate (probably the reason I stayed out longer than I intended). And this rugby guy had a tight fitting top on which showed off his fantastic chest very nicely. I hope I get to chat to him again.
The main thing is though that I really had a good time!

Tired

My sleep pattern has been really messed up this week. I finished night shifts on Monday morning and since then I have not been able to sleep during the night for longer than an hour at a time. I forced myself to get up this morning, and will try my best not to have a siesta this afternoon as I am back to work tomorrow on day shifts. Fingers crossed that I won't be too shattered tomorrow.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Today marks Transgender Day of Remembrance which was established in 1999 as a memorial for Rita Hester who had been murdered the year before. This day is set aside to memorialise those who have been killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice (transphobia). Since it was first observed the event has grown to encompass hundreds of cities around the world.

Rita Hester

I have only just been made aware of this memorial day, thanks to Wikipedia. I was horrified when I checked out the official website for this event and discovered approximately 30 known anti-transgender murder victims SINCE NOVEMBER 2004!!!! That's just the KNOWN ones.

Please can we all make an effort to make this kind of prejudice a thing of the past. Lets aim to make this something just for the history book by the time The Decade comes around.

Here in London there will be an event at 15:00 in the chapel of Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, which is just a 5-minute walk from Bethnal Green tube station. The chapel is on the third floor and the building has disabled access. There will be music and readings and time for quiet reflection.

The Female Form

This picture, which is the cover of Heroes For Hire #4 (out this week) is my current choice as my wallpaper on my pc at work. This has unfortunately confused some of my less intelligent colleagues who didn't think that, as a gay man, I could appreciate the female form. The artwork here is fantastic and I an enjoying this comic and its interaction with the Civil War at the moment too. Marvel is outdoing itself with its stories at the moment and I can't wait each week to see what else they have in store for my favourite characters. With all the deaths recently, no one seems safe from possible death, and, as I've said before, it always seems to be my favourite characters which get killed. I still think that either the Shroud or Stingray will be bumped off next. Though I would much prefer it to be Rogue or Bishop, as the X-Men books are not as good as they have been, although I still enjoy any story with the Imperial Guard.

Another Birthday Hunk

Trent Barrett is also celebrating his 29th birthday. Trent is an Australian rugby league player, currently playing for Wigan Warriors I believe. And he is a great example of why I like rugby (and rugby players). Take a look for yourself.... just don't touch!! He's mine!

Birthday Blogging

Today is the 29th birthday of the sexy South African swimmer / model Ryk Neethling, who won a gold medal in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics in the 4 x 100m freestyle. Just check him out in the pics I've included and even more on his own website.