Happy V.D.!

I am so happy to be single! All the Valentine's chocolate goes on sale to-morrow and it's all for me, me, meeee!

x

Anna Nicole Smith is Dead

She had a good run. She went from being a topless dancer to an international celebrity. She made the most of what she had and took advantage of a culture that loves excess.

RIP

x

A Certain Je Ne Sais Gay

Refugee claimant 'not gay enough'

08 February 2007 04.30am

Nicholas Keung IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER

The city's gay community and the Toronto Youth Cabinet are rising to the defence of a gay runaway from Nicaragua who faces deportation next Tuesday after losing his asylum claim because "he did not have any same-sex relationships."

Alvaro Antonio Orozco based his refugee claim on fears of homophobia and domestic abuse. He said he left Managua in 1998 at age 12 because he was regularly beaten with sticks and whips by an alcoholic father who threatened to "kill any child of his that was homosexual."

After a year hitchhiking through Central America, living off the kindness of strangers, Orozco, now 21, arrived in Texas. He was detained in a group home but left it for Toronto in January 2005, after learning Canada respects gay rights.

Adjudicator Deborah Lamont, who conducted the 06 October 2005, hearing from Calgary via videoconference, took issue with his lack of same-sex relationships during his six years in the U.S.

"I determined on a balance of probabilities the claimant did not pursue same-sex relationships in whatever capacity ... because he is not a homosexual," she wrote in her decision.

Lawyer El-Farouk Khaki said his client had to hide his orientation from the conservative church people who helped him.

"Did (Lamont) expect all gay teens to be sexually active at 14, 15, 16 years old? That's horrid," said Khaki, who will file a motion in federal court to-morrow to stay the removal. "In my view, the refugee board has failed to recognise that my client is a victim of violence, a victim of abuse. He's simply vulnerable, whether he's gay or straight."

Suhail Abualsameed of Supporting Our Youth, a gay-immigrant support group, said the case highlights the shortcomings of videoconferencing.

"That someone's gay or not is not going to come across through a TV screen, unless he's visibly queer. But, it's the refugee adjudicator's conviction and belief that Alvaro is not gay enough," said Abualsameed.

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

Good Grief. So, a heterosexual judge from CALGARY, ALBERTA has decided that someone isn't 'gay enough'.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

God'll get you for that, Walter.

Hurrah!

iPOD Currency Evaluator

Australian bank develops iPod Index to measure currency values
By Meriah Foley
22 January 2007

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - An Australian investment bank has developed a new indicator for tracking international currency values using the cost of an Apple iPod as a benchmark.

The theory goes like this: If the price in U.S. dollar terms of an iPod Nano is more expensive in Australia than it is in the United States, then the Australian currency may be overvalued.

The concept behind the iPod Index is based on The Economist magazine's Big Mac Index, which uses the cost of a McDonald's hamburger to compare currency values.

"A key difference between the iPod and Big Mac approaches is that Big Macs are made in a host of countries across the globe whereas iPods are predominantly made in China," said CommSec's chief economist Craig James.

As such, exclusive of duties or taxes, the tiny music player should cost nearly the same everywhere.

"If there were substantial price differences customers would switch their purchases to other countries, especially given the power of the Internet," he said.

But a comparison of 26 counties shows significant variation.

In the United States, an iPod Nano retails for US$149.00. But in Brazil, which topped the index, a 2-gigabyte Nano costs the equivalent of US$327.71.

Canada is the cheapest place to pick up an iPod at US$144.20.

In Australia, an iPod is valued at US$172.36, which has led the bank to suggest that the currency is overvalued.
"The index suggests the U.S. dollar has potential to appreciate against a range of major currencies, with the Aussie dollar about 15 per cent overvalued against the greenback," James said.

Death of a VJ

John Majhor played an integral part of my early adolescence. He hosted a Toronto video programme (before MUCHMUSIC) called "Toronto Rocks". This was THE show to watch if you were 11-18 years old in the mid 80s. There wasn't the Internet, there wasn't (as said above) MuchMusic - nothing. This was it. You had to wait for your favourite video to be played. Or, call in and request a video. Sigh ... RIP Mr Majhor. My youth goes with you. :o(



John Majhor, 53: Voice of CHUM

Former CHUM disc jockey John Majhor, pictured in 1991.
Commanding personality made shift easily from radio jock to video host
24 January 2007 Tamara CherryStaff reporter

To a generation of Torontonians that came of age before MuchMusic, John Majhor was the iconic voice – and also face – of rock and roll.

Majhor was the rare charismatic radio personality who was able to make the transition easily to television. Quick on his bare feet – he disdained wearing shoes, finding "they bug me for some reason" – and sporting a silver hoop earring in his left lobe, his shining brown hair and flirtatious smile made him a commanding television presence.
He died yesterday morning, surrounded by family in his suburban Minnesota home following a five-month battle with cancer. He was 53.

During the '80s, he was CHUM's prime rock interviewer, rubbing shoulders with Elton John, Meat Loaf and George Harrison, to name a few. But to his family, he was all that and then some.

"I think that what you hear on air from him was him – just a very straightforward guy, always a sense of humour, but also a very caring person," said Samantha Majhor, niece of the former 1050 CHUM disc jockey and host of Citytv's Toronto Rocks.

Bolly, bolly, bolly! Get your bolly here ...

Bollywood world premiere wows Toronto fans
JOHN MCKAY
Canadian Press
TORONTO — Forget Brangelina. Or TomKat.
When it comes to Bollywood cinema, no screen couple is hotter than Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. And Toronto's South Asian community was out in force Thursday evening for the world premiere of Guru, the pair's latest film.

The only thing that's depressing about this is that a Bollywood film gets more attention than a home-grown Canadian film. Oh, Canada ... sigh.

The Facts of Bong

LOL! Funny. Bong! Bong! Bong!

Paris sizzles, Tara burns ...

Tara Reid: D-Listed. Personally I would be humilitated. Bitch, leave and maintain some dignity. To be denied access by some front-door fruitfly who thinks he's the shit. That's Hollywood for you, eh? You're only as good as your last porn video: "Sure Ms Hilton, step on through". (Paris and Tara used to be best friends.)

http://us.video.aol.com/video.index.adp?mode=1&pmmsid=1701532

The thing is, it only takes a video like this to get to Hollywood executives and your career is o-vah.