Spotless Wallet

Last night, a very strange thing happened. I was watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for the second time (so so good) in the Rainbow Theatres on King with Shannon and a friend of hers from work. The Rainbow is a chain that shows current movies at cut-prices at the cost of the movieplex big chairs/big screen/flashing lights. Anyways, as the movie is ending, Shannon's friend starts searching around the floor. She had put her handbag on the chair beside her (not very crowded theatre) and it had appeared to disappear. So the lights come on and I notice that she's not the only person searching from stuff, but another half a dozen groups or so seem to be looking as well. We all sort of look at each other and realize that something extremely weird is going on. In the small theatre with about 30 people watching a movie, two handbags, a purse, and two wallets had disappeared. There was obviously some unbelievably talented thief who had calmly wandered through the entire movie theatre, collected valuables, and left without anybody noticing anything. For a moment, I thought the scene was going to become one of those English murder mysteries where the detective locks the doors and declares, "one of you is the MURDERER." But instead the theatre staff just took names and numbers and promised to call if the wallets, etc. showed up.

On another note, MSN thinks of this site as the number 4 best hit for "artichoke hearts" leading to a disturbing number of people coming to look for pictures of the vegetable. To understand why google is so much better, it is enough to point out that this site is not in the top 100 returns for the same search.

Free for all

Yay! mp3's for all Canadians! Someone should set up a kazaa like service for Canada-might even be an opportunity to get some revenue for artists. I wonder too if musicians have a case for suing CIRA for lost revenue for not negotiating with Kazaa when they were offering a revenue sharing plan a couple of years ago. Combining the legality of internet sharing with that report that showed no loss in revenue from downloading, the loss of any money that would have flowed from a revenue sharing arrangement seems like a quantifiable and recoverable amount.

In other internet news, I'm enjoying the daily Andrew blogging--have fun in D.C.! And don't go too bonkers in the Smithsonian! I'm also taking the opportunity to tell Lindsay that she needs to update her journal...how am I going to live vicariously in New Zealand without it? And Matt--that Loch Lomond adventure and the story of the Hudson's Bay executive should tell you something: Scotland's out to get you and you need to return to Canada. Well, maybe not, but is it entirely coincidence? I guess the lure of cash, women, and rock and roll is, like, a "draw" or something. ;) Sounds pretty good, I'd have to admit.

Oral fixation

So I was reading the Star a few days ago, and was promoted to write a letter to the editor. Which issue so drove me that I was prompted to put fingers to keyboards? Issues of terrorism, nationally important policies? Nay. Oral sex.


In the March 30 article entitled “Oral sex is as risky and intimate as any other,” Vanessa Chris appears to suggest that intercourse is a preferable alternative to oral sex. Intercourse, according to the article “can still be fun with someone you don't know” while claiming that it is “tough to really enjoy oral sex and not feel insecure with a stranger.” In contrast to the “awkwardness” of the oral variety, sex is described as “easier” and takes “less effort or embarrassment.” Most curiously, Chris states, “What I am saying is that there is something wrong with thinking casual oral sex is somehow safer...than intercourse.”


Clearly, engaging in oral sex is associated with transmission of some STDs. But it is also clear that unprotected oral sex is substantially safer than protected or unprotected intercourse. Transmission of STDs through oral sex is a fraction of the problem of sexually transmitted diseases. Exaggerating the dangers of oral sex may have a negative effect on sexual health messages by de-emphasizing the more serious problems, particularly use of condoms during intercourse. Suggesting that oral sex should be avoided in favour of intercouse flies in the face of logic.


The reason Chris doesn’t suggest dental dams for other sexual activities like kissing (which carries risks of hepatitis B and C, meningitis, herpes, SARS, etc.), I suspect, has more to do with her (and society’s) perception of sex than the magnitude of the risks involved. The message here is that oral sex is an “icky” activity that should be feared and avoided. Chris is letting the language of “risk” stand in for the old discourses about morality and chastity for young women. Is it just by accident that the two of the three articles on STDs focus on the “deviant” sexual behaviour of heterosexual young women and almost completely ignores males and the homosexual community?


The series of articles on STDs does bring up some important and vital information, but I hope next time it can be done without the exploitive and sensationalistic presentation.