An observational short story which features a gay couple has won the 2008 Katherine Mansfield Premier Award.Written by Melbourne-based writer Julian Novitz, Three Couples looks at three relationships, which are between people interconnected through family or work. Set in Wellington, the story is dripping with hilariously dark humour and irony, with characters who are entirely original, while also surprisingly real. It begins its look at a gay couple with “Peni is thirty-two, Chris is twenty-three. They have been a couple for seven months, though Chris still sleeps with other people.” Novitz then writes that Peni, a lawyer, wants Chris to move in with him, but ...

Hallo meine lieben Leserinnen und Nichtleserinnen, inzwischen bin ich wieder zurück vom Allgäu und dem Ludwig seim Schloss und den Japanern und den saftigen grünen Wiesen... Aber: jetzt schon wieder überarbeitet und urlaubsreif. What a drag... Hier schicke ich Euch jedenfalls mal eine kleine Impression von unserem queeren Feriendomizil: ein lesbisches Huhn, ganz eindeutig! Und überhaupt, wer mal... ...

Today British sculptor Marc Quinn revealed the largest gold statue produced since ancient Egyptian times. Who is the muse for this €1.9million (almost $2.7million) sculpture??? None other than the UK’s most famous model, Kate Moss! Check it out…doesn’t it look as if she’s got very long fingers! I wonder if this is to scale?? Marc Quinn [...] ...

It's good to know where some people really stand when it comes to lesbians and gay men. Even though some leaders of the Proposition 8 movement claim that the movement "isn't a referendum on gay people" and that Proposition 8 supporters do not hate gay people, we all know that those claims whitewash reality.Some advocates of Prop 8 really are just mean-spirited out of dislike, or hatred, of gay people.Writing for rightwing news source Townhall.com, for instance, the writer who calls himself "Playful Walrus" wrote an article updating his readers on "The California Prop 8 Marriage Neutering Update."Wait, ...

People seemed to be more relaxed in Paris. For instance, at lunchtimes it was quite common to see business men etc lounging on the chairs by the ponds sleeping in the sun.After all the walking we had done, we decided to follow suit:What we didn't realise was that this left us rather vulnerable to the street salesmen and dodgy foreign guys asking if we required a companion (as if).We also discovered a place called Les Jardins de Palais Royal where many locals relaxed in the sun, doing Tai Chi, smoking and feeding the birds...Where we came out ...

When I was a kid I wanted to be a ballerina. Why? Because I thought they were beautiful. Not because I wanted to dance.Later when I was told what the "standard" jobs to aspire to where (doctor or lawyer) - I immediately rejected those and decided to be a teacher because I was in love with my teacher (I realize now that I had a crush on her -- not so much back then).One particularly crappy day in elementary school -- I was teased a lot for that scar on my neck -- I remember sitting there watching the ...

For some cool videos of trikes in action (aka weight shift aircraft, powered hanglider, microlight, ultralight), go to this page. The most informative one is titled AirBorne XT912 and features a couple who do tours and instruction in Hawaii. ...

Melissa Etheridge plans to bundle girlfriend Tammy Lynn Micaels down the aisle before California’s vote on Proposition 8 next month, the result of which could reverse the ruling which gives same-sex couples the right to marry in the State. Etheridge, speaking about plans to marry in an interview on “Extra”, said: ” Yes, we have four [...] ...

i am having clothes issues.  at the weekend, because i’d not done a load of laundry for a few days, i opened up my wardrobe to find that everything in there was entirely unsuitable. some of it was just not my idea of weekend clothing - while my friend Blondie is more than happy to while away hours of housework in a party frock, i am not. the rest was just, well horrible. everything i put on made me feel just bleurgh.  i ended up deciding on clean pyjamas and gave up on the clothes. I’m taking it as a sign that i ...

(Lovely rhyming headline there…) I asked for your tips recommending financial blogs and a gracious reader has let me know that Eddie has a blog. From time to time nuggets appear on a whole host of subjects related to personal finance and other issues. His post on the issue de jour is from William Shakespeare’s King Richard II, (Act III, scene ii no less! Google ably assists me here.) For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings: How some have been deposed, some slain in war; Some haunted by the ghosts they have ...

Introducing Pixel, who perhaps cannot walk through walls, but certainly has demonstrated the ability to walk through hearts. ...

Just spent a few hours watching the debate on the Credit Institutions Bill 2008 which I still don’t fully understand or like the sound of. Labour were the only party opposing the bill in the end. It has passed all stages with 124 in favour and 18 against. I did twitter the other day about the paucity of financial/economics bloggers in Ireland - if you are blogging about the bailout guarantees/recession/banks - please leave a comment with a link and I’ll link to you! Back to the goings on in the house - 142 TD’s were present plus John O’Donoghue who ...

No matter how you might slice it, your unique perspective is what makes you YOU. Many women spend their whole lives trying to diminish its light, cram it to “fit” into someone else’s opinion of who they “should” be, or simply spend so much time tending to others that they lose sight of their own special lens. Personally I spent many years discounting my talents, perspectives, and what I had to offer. I felt not good enough and afraid to accept the vulnerability that comes with putting oneself “out there” by expressing myself fully and honoring that. One powerful experience I ...

This post was sent in by guest writer Anna Pulley. ——————————————– Lesbians are good at many things - drinking light beer, threading pipe, accidentally hitting on hipsters with mullets - but let’s be honest, making films is something we’ve yet to really nail. The terrible embarrassment of lesbian films can be traced back to the 1890s, before women could vote or read about Lindsay Lohan every waking moment and hence participated in a lot of drum circles and talked about how great it would be to film themselves talking and hitting drums. Thus, Men in Black was born. Actually, I ...

Until last week I hadn't had my hair cut in thirteen months. Its length had become heavy and dead, hanging in tendrils down past my collar bone. In a way my hair came to represent the deep financial stress of the last year, the austerity, and the withdrawal.But with the move last month there was an obvious shift towards a new chapter and with that shift my hair felt increasingly claustrophobic. So I made an appointment at a Park Slope salon where my hairdresser relieved me of layers and inches and burdens. As the hair fell around my chair, something ...

This was in my in box just now:How cute is that? Some people are so creative. Can you believe it's almost Halloween already? ...

Ya es oficial. He vuelto a guardar mi chorbo-agenda para otra época de crisis. La tonta que se resistía al mercado de la carne, ha encontrado a un pobre chico con buena alma para atormentarle con sus: “¿Vamos al cineee?”, “Espera que estoy leyendo feeds” o el ya mítico “Tengo más música que tu en iTunes, aunque sin portada”. ¿Y quién es él? Se llama Jose, y aunque él lo pronuncie como Hoze (porque es del sur) normalmente habla mejor que yo. Yo me invento Ginapalabras. No come verdura, solo carne, lo que le va a provocar gota o algo ...

Sarah Palin’s (then Heath) talent bit of her beauty pageant. It’s more backing track that lead instrumentalist - says it all really! Her favourite artist seemingly was James Galway. ...