Black Beauty

Saw this the same day as the Wharram. I'm fascinated by this little ship--so well looked after. I believe she's in the charter trade here in the BVI.

Wharram catamaran at the Bight

I saw this little beauty flitting around the Bight amongst the mega super duper yachts. Sweet!

the caribbean in 1961

I found this collection of pics on the Traveltalkonline BVI forum. They are snapshots taken from a charter in the USVI and BVI in 1961. Very cool.

VI & DOWN ISLAND CHARTER SPRING 1961

I was having breakfast this morning when I heard, out on the water by Baugher's Bay, what sounded like a, well something like, well a bloody horse, if you must know. So I popped my head out the hatch and there it was, or they were, a few horses being swum by their trainers (racehorses?) in the harbor as the ferries dodged past. Their laboured breathing was the giveaway.

I've been listening to

the fine New Zealand radio station Tahu FM which can be heard HERE which during the daylight hours plays mostly contemporary Maori language music--reggae/soul/Polynesian choral--and in the late hours moves to a hiphop whatnot. Time there is UTC +12 (winter) or +13 (summer)(Sept-April)

The local ladies

in Hawke's Bay are often very talented basket makers and weavers. In an area which looks pretty rundown and forlorn, wrecked cars in the yard, that sort of thing......here were artworks of a very high order created as part of the daily routine. Now, the women who make these baskets and other items seem very well aware that they are making beautiful and culturally significant items, and charge accordingly.

so where was I?

Months have gone by since my last post....I have been incredibly busy sailing around the azure-turquoise hellhole that is Lotarot. Forced to swim, sail and dive on a daily basis....and then eat scrumptuous food. But then this life isn't for everyone. I did take a trip to New Zealand in September where I saw this amazing sculpture on a beach house (bach) in Hawke's Bay.

A gorgeous sailing vessel, right in front of us.....

....but we didn't get our cameras out. In Gorda Sound we were anchored right next to this beauty. Here's the web site of her maker. Once you see her, you'll want her too.

Off go Reid Stowe and sailor Soanya

I first wrote about Reid Stowe here and I must confess that my tone has been bugging me. Deep down I greatly admire Reid and his vision while at the same time being equally skeptical.
Good luck to them both.....I somehow suspect that the schooner Anne will return from her voyage with only one crew member...which one will it be?
Follow the journey at Reid's blog

LATER:
PLEASE PUT THIS GUY OUT OF HIS MISERY (AND SAVE POOR SOANYA)
First, he blundered into a US navy live-fire exercise, then he ripped his main while reefing, now he's smacked a freighter in the middle of the night and tore off his bowsprit and screwed up his jib and staysail stays. Only 985 days to go! see for yourself.
These are not equipment failures but rather lapses in seamanship. As I mentioned in earlier posts, the dude's a menace on a boat.

Sir Mixalot does Lotarot via Camelot

bad day on the high sea

Meet Brandon Bird

armies have their uses...

..for example, the French army recently installed 600 one meter square reflective panels in the shape of Roman numerals on the sands of Mont Saint-Michel, a small rocky island off the coast of Normandy. The island’s 150-foot abbey spire cast a shadow three quarters of a mile long that swept across the numerals, making the timekeeper the largest sundial ever constructed, beating out Jaipur, India’s Samrat Yantra.
see the video
(Thanks to the Kircher Society)

I know he and the way he talk

The phone rang for Cameron, who wasn't there: "Tell he to call he wife." she said.

Edwin said on another occasion: "I know she. I fix she car for she."

I gave Veselka a ride to work. She yawned, I yawned, and we joked about taking the day off and napping. "Yes, you could be sleeping under a tree like you got no owner," she said.

fat feet

Yesterday was a big, busy day in the boatyard. Yachts coming and going and folks being very demanding. Somehow my feet felt very painful at the end of the day. The tops of my toes were tingling, as if tiny ants were nibbling on my nerve endings. Somehow the thought crossed my mind, and kept returning, that I would be well served if I could only immerse my feet in a vat of boiling oil. It seemed a soothing prospect! The mind is a wonderful organ.

A day on Sage Mountain

Sage Mountain is part of the National Park System and is located at the highest point on Lotarot, effectively draping across the barrier of the high (2000') peaks. On the north side it is lush, dripping damp rain-foresty--on the south side it's dry and scrubby and totally different. The difference is covered in about 20 feet of walking distance. Quite amazing.
The pics below show the beeves cutting grass high above Cane Garden Bay; The view west to Smuggler's Cove and St Thomas; the view north to Sandy Cay and Jost Van Dyke; view south including the compass (notice the different types of foliage.

CSI BVI

"Well Inspector, how do you account for the multiple murders and missing millions."
"Sir, it is plain to see Sir. It is the will of God."
"Excellent work Inspector. Case closed. Let us pray."

Aliens deposit Haitians on small island

Norman Island is a small piece of land, the model for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Situated at the south-eastern end of the Territory of Lotarot, closer to the Down-Island chain of the Caribbean, it is a natural stopping point for the north-bound traveler. Such a traveler, indeed many such, were recently discovered there by Lotarot authorities:
***************

Illegal immigrants apprehended

49 illegal immigrants have been repatriated to their countries of origin after they were recently apprehended on Norman Island.

The Acting Chief Immigration Officer said 39 illegal immigrants were apprehended on Friday, February 16 during a joint operation by officers from the Immigration Department, Royal Lotarot Police Force and Her Majesty’s Customs.

The joint operation, he said, followed a report that illegal immigrants were spotted on the outer island.

An additional nine illegal immigrants were apprehended on Saturday on Norman Island while one was apprehended on Monday.

It is not known how the illegal immigrants were transported to Norman Island but the Acting Chief Immigration Officer said based on the department’s intelligence information, the immigrants were traveling from Dominica with the US Virgin Islands as their intended final destination.
**********

So some unscrupulous smugglers dropped about 40 desperate illegals on an island, claiming no doubt that they were in the US Virgin Islands (the jackpot). Consider the logistics--how could you transport so many people? It would take a reasonably large vessel. You can be sure that the inquiry will proceed no further--the illegals somehow magically appeared on the island but they are now apprehended. Ask no questions (you'll be told no lies.)

anonymity in action

His name is Craig Ferguson and he doesn't have a drinking problem (though he could get one pretty quickly.)

Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell is distinguished for very many things. He remarked in his autobiography that his keenest interests were in sex, religion and mathematics, and that only the wish to know more mathematics kept him from suicide. He was perhaps a humourist, too. His closest contemporary equivalent might be Richard Dawkins. Russell was involved in many projects, not least being The Good Citizen's Alphabet. Follow the slideshow.

Hey Hey Rachel Ray

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A great piece of power pop from The Santukos.
First heard it on Bill Kelly's indispensable Teenage Wasteland show on WFMU, Jersey City's cultural dynamo.

hawai'i in the Caribbean

here's a guy surfing off the Bomba Shack on a longboard, using a paddle to get around + steer. Had to grab it on the fly from the car, so it's a little herky jerky.

party like it's 1777

If it weren't for the dinghy trailing behind (and for the fact that there is a digital camera involved), this scene could have taken place back in the #@^%* day, mate!
This was taken off Dead Chest in the Francis Drake Channel, BVI, after a very nice dive at Coral Gardens. It looked like he was single-handing, too--though it wouldn't be easy!

New Year's at North Sound

This was the scene at Virgin Gorda's North Sound on New Year's Eve, when hundreds of cruising boats, megayachts, gigayachts and fabulous folks gathered to wring out the Old Year and ring in the New. Fantastic fun, though I wish the guy selling conch shells had skipped the anchorage where we were (Vixen Point). The honking of the conch is a bit much at 2AM.
Michael Douglas was spotted there, driving his boat's tender into the dock at high speed and sending his son flying through the air to crash onto the dock(or so I was told by a reliable source).

mystery train of events

A few years ago, when I lived in New York's Upper West Side, I became friends with a guy who lived a few blocks away in a beautiful brownstone apartment. We had met by way of a girlfriend of mine who worked at Penguin Books. She had gone to college with Carl and had introduced us because we were both mad fans of noir/pulp crime fiction. Carl was a writer of extraordinary poetry and I dabbled in fiction and screen plays but really we just hung out on the Upper West Side (at a time and in a zeitgeist immortalised in Seinfeld
re-runs. Seinfeld is, to me, a documentary series.)
We hung out, went to the odd shows together and then finally, after the big breakup with Janet and various levels of crisis, we drifted apart. The last time I spoke to him back then he was contemplating quitting the city and pursuing an old passion--driving diesel locomotives for the railroad--a choice which was so totally true to the personality I knew and also so anachronistic and challenging that it had to be right.
Over the years I heard vague whispers that he had done so and was now running big trains for the various US railroad companies. Hauling coal across the prairies, that kind of thing.
Recently, through the kind offices of Google, we met up again. He's now working as an instructor/evaluator for the railroads--conducting workshops for aspiring locomotive engineers in out-of-the-way rural areas and run-down industrial towns and cities. I was filled with envy and admiration when I heard that information--how cool to drive around the beautiful U S and A, the byways and blue highways, and pull into a town and run a locomotive clinic. I can hear Johnny Cash clearing his throat as I type.

Anyway, he has a blog, of course, (from which I stole the lovely photo above). Meet the man.

are we there yet?

Well merde happens, but this is definitely at the extreme end of things. Three-man crew from South Africa not to be found, the catamaran up on the sand on the Oregon coast. Coasties say they found an Epirb locked in a closet that, had it been able to float free, might have brought aid and succour to these poor mariners.
LATER:
A Voyage 440 enroute from Cape Town to Seattle capsized off the Oregon coast in the storm we received here in the past 48 hrs. So far the delivery crew is missing. Does anyone know who the delivery crew was? The boat's name was Cat Shot..
Washed ashore, dismasted and the cabin gone. From the TV picture's last night night it appeared that a halyard was wrapped around the starboard sail drive.
Winds were over 100 Knots and 40' seas in the area off shore from where she washed ashore (Lincoln City, Oregon). From the Voyage Owners' Assoc.

Then again there's the (some say) Hylas someone dragged across the reef at Cane Garden Bay and which has become a prime snorkelling venue for the venturesome tourist. Some say it was being helmed by the owner who saw the lights of CGB and blasted on in. Others that it was a charter boat with a paid captain (I hesitate to use the word "professional"). All agree it's about 60 feet (so really 45-50?), some say named Sea Wolf. The paid captain version I heard involved a delivery and the suggestion that the captain took off and hasn't been seen since.
In any case it seems he steamed right over the reef at CGB, tore off the keel and set her down in 20 feet or so of good water. I'll go take a picture later.
I hear that the locals removed a good portion of salvageable materials.

If it was a Hylas, the new models are 46, 49 and 54 feet with a 66 foot pilot house model soon to come. The 54 (Cruising World boat of the year) sells for about $700,000 fully spec'd.
LATER: Turns out it was a delivery crew taking a boat (under cloudy circumstances) to Antigua. Lost instruments, went in to CGB and made an error. Captain took off in the dinghy, leaving crew stranded on boat. Keel fell off, crew took to liferaft and made it ashore only to get rounded up by local police for illegal entry. They're still in the caboose, the captain's sipping rum at CGB. Boat seems to have been towed away.
All this a result of several conversations, so let's call it informed rumour.
It's amazing the crazy stuff that happens here in Lotarot.

when quitting's not an option

....think on this. Keep the holidays merry, don't let 'em get scary.
More here.

every day I'm hustlin'

When the cruise ships pull in to the pier and the fat wobbling passengers waddle off to their destinies in the perfume shops, a donkey stands by ready for photographic duty.

row v wade

Spotted in Charlotte Amalie. (click to view)

we don't need no........

well, it's a wall.

world's greatest diving instructor

Jenny Paton is her name and she's totally amazing.
(I found this photo in my camera--I think Lisa snapped it).
Why is she so amazing?--well, she's incredibly patient, amused and amusing, clear and concise in her instructions, loves her work and has a remarkable sense of humour. All the girls have girl-crushes on her, and the guys, well....if only she were better looking she'd be more popular.

jah jah

For a long time Rasta dress and demeanour were looked on unfavourably in Lotarot. Rastas from other islands were turned away at the ports of entry. Lately, though, it has become more acceptable, as it's moved into the mainstream as a belief system encouraging vegetarianism, abstinence (from alcohol, anyway) and cleanliness in thought and action. The indication of its reduction to a fashion statement is shown here--reduced to a stick-on decal on an SUV.

flashback

Driving around Lotarot you can suddenly be presented with a view right out of the 18th century. These beautiful ships are functionally as modern as an Airbus but in form as ancient as the Black Pearl.

zen what happens?

Wavy Gravy once asked a Zen Roshi, "What happens after death?"

The Roshi replied, "I don't know."

Wavy protested, "But you're a Zen Master!"

"Yes," the Roshi admitted, "but I'm not a dead Zen Master."

so who is Raymond Hung, Beef Island's mystery millionaire?

In 1993 (U.S. President) Clinton named (Vice-President) Gore to head U.S. export policy for encryption technology in a TOP SECRET order written by National Security advisor Anthony Lake. A 1996 secret memo on a secret meeting of DCIA Deutch, FBI Director Freeh and Attorney General Janet Reno states: "The Vice President chairs the senior group that set the Administration's encryption policy; since February 1994 it has been supported by a working group co-chaired by NSC, and OMB, composed of NSA, CIA, FBI, State, Commerce (BXA, NIST), and Justice."

In 1995 Sanford Robertson also had a big financial interest in the U.S. computer security industry. Robertson's investment firm had hundreds of millions of dollars tied up in a Massachusetts based computer company named Security Dynamics Inc. (SDI). Thus, in 1995 Gore had direct control of policy that also affected Robertson financially.

Security Dynamics was able to import computer security hardware manufactured in China. SDI secured Hong Kong electronics maker RJP Industries to produce electronic computer security cards for sale in America. The Chinese manufactured cards are sold to major defense contractors, medical institutions and the U.S. government.

Hong Kong millionaire Raymond Hung also owns RJP. Hung manufactured the security cards in two factories leased directly from the China National Electronics Import/Export Company (CNEIEC), a business owned by the People's Liberation Army. Thus, the computer security cards imported and sold here in the U.S. were built on a Chinese Army assembly line.

Hung also owned a U.S. based company called Quorum International that went bankrupt in 1996. The company left millions in bad debt in Arizona and California. Yet, Hung was able to donate over a million dollars to the Special Olympics, donate a temple to communist China, and have his photo taken with Arnold Schwarzenegger all only days before declaring bankruptcy.

Hung is also reported to have set up dozens of shell "front companies" offshore. These companies allegedly sell cheap Chinese products imported by Hung who declares bankruptcy, citing Chinese taxes on the imports. Hung, of course, splits the "taxes" with the Chinese government, and returns to America to purchase hard assets such as real estate. Despite all this Hung remains un-investigated by the Clinton administration.

Hung's close working relationship with China and the Clinton administration raises another question: Could there be a "secret" back door embedded in imported hardware or software, waiting like a TROJAN HORSE, brought safely inside the secure walls by a paying customer? Could a hidden SNIFFER be hunting down passwords, code keys and sensitive data?
From WorldNetDaily

Dude! My Hero!

I first met Reid Stowe a few years ago in New York. I had been invited to sail with him on the schooner Anne which he was preparing to take around the world on an epic non-stop 1,000 day voyage which would not entail stopping at any harbour, anchorage, or making any landfall whatsoever. "Dude! My hero!"

On that first sail in New York's Hudson River we were barely off the dock when the engine alarms rang and the engine was shut down. Reid had forgotten to open the seacock that controlled the flow of seawater to the engine for cooling purposes. Bummer.
Subsequent exposure to Reid Stowe did nothing to dispel that first impression--he was the type of mariner who was forever getting into minor but quite nerve-wracking situations, a type known in the trade as "Captain Crunch"--usually on account of their abrupt docking maneuvres, but in a larger sense because they are hard on the equipment.

Every time I saw or heard more of him, though, he seemed to be doing things right. Dressed in a suit at the National Arts Club showing his artwork---abstract swirls painted on vast acres of old sails---he made his pitch for substantial donations. His companion, later his wife, Laurence, was a total hottie and gave him extra coolness points that he subsequently had to cash in when she left him after their honeymoon (90 days at sea tracing the shape of a sea turtle in the Southern Atlantic.) You can listen to various radio interviews here. For a while he was the darling of New York magazine, the striver's handbook.

So now he's again ready for the big one. He's been positioning it as a worthwhile preview of the trials and tribulations that a group of humans might go through should they be stuck together on, say, a manned trip to Mars. If only he could dial up 3 years' worth of weightlessness, he might have a point. He wanted a million dollars from NASA to help fund his expedition--this would help him provide live internet hookups from the boat to schoolrooms around the world plus keep him and the party in food and pencil erasers for that time (almost 3 years). Those poor schoolkids could watch him and the party slowly go mad and devour each other. They would be found, like Nathaniel Philbrick's poor sailors, nibbling on fingerbones and jabbering.

Originally he wanted a group of people to come with him, but now it's down to him and his new First Mate.
Bon Voyage, Captain.

Oh, in all that time he's barely got the schooner Anne off the damned dock......though in fairness, he did build the ship himself and sail her to the Antarctic where he wintered over one season. So his early years were good, just like Paul McCartney.

doubts about global warming?

Ask your insurers what they think.

prime beef

One of the most controversial aspects of life in Lotarot is the projected development of Beef Island by Hong Kong investor Raymond Hung. The project calls for a hotel and convention centre along with an 18-hole golf course and a marina with 200 slips including docking facilities for super yachts. All of this development is to take place in a fragile ecosystem and in areas already designated as fragile and protected--saltwater ponds and the like. Some folks say that the mangroves here are the finest kayaking in the BVI. To many this projected development is seen as an unmitigated disaster about to unfold in an extraordinarily lovely environment. To others it is a time for a turn at the trough. "Who benefits?" is a good question.
Recently the Hong Kong Stock Exchange released a press statement by Hung and his partners regarding
"the agreement entered into by and among Quorum, InterIsle, Applied Enterprises and Applied
Toys on 11 August 2006 in relation to the joint venture arrangement to develop the property in Beef Island, the British Virgin Islands. The Directors announce that the parties have mutually agreed to postpone
the Closing Date from 30 November 2006 to the expected date of which is no later than 31 January 2007."
The reason for the delay is that:
"Since more time is required by the banks to conduct due diligence on the Project, a formal agreement has not yet been reached between the parties in respect of the Initial Loan."

The full text is here.

LATER:
A town-hall style meeting was held recently on the very subject of the Beef Island Development. "I'm prepared to join any group at anytime to prevent this development from happening," said Keith Flax, a former Legislative Council speaker, as the audience applauded. "I'm one that will stand on the front line."

See report here.

And here

MUCH LATER:
$80 million resort project on Beef Island approved
By ANGELA BURNS-PIPER
Tuesday, February 13th 2007


TORTOLA - Hong Kong investor Raymond Hung has received the government's approval to construct an $80 million golf and country club on Beef Island.

The approval process and negotiations were tough and lengthy, Chief Minister Orlando Smith said during a Monday press briefing at his office. The government was not prepared to simply rush ahead and make mistakes it would later regret, he said.

Smith said his government's development policies are based on two critical principles: that new projects are critical to the long-term strength of the BVI and that projects be conducted according to the strictest standards for environmental protection, community contribution and corporate responsibility.

Hung plans to build a five-star luxury resort hotel and spa; an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus signature golf course; residential marina with megayacht basin; marina village; low-density residential lots and villas; and a commercial center in Trellis Bay.

His proposal had been opposed by many residents, who voiced their objections during public hearings and in the media.

Smith said the comments received from hundreds of residents were central to the development of his government's position on the project.

"It has taken a long time to get to this day, and an enormous amount of hard work has been done by many people both on the government side and on the developer's side, but both sides were committed to one shared goal: to come up with a development plan that would allow this vital project to go forward, and to do so in a way that keeps the interests of the people of the BVI first," he said.

Residents expressed that environmental protection was paramount, the Smith said. He said that as a result, strong environmental protections are now in place that require the developer to take steps to make sure that an absolute minimal amount of damage is done in the construction and maintenance of the development.

"The people also told us that they did not want this project to be too big. Rather, the people wanted it to be in keeping with the traditions of the BVI of smaller hotels," Smith said. "And so as part of the final agreement, we had the developer slash the number of planned units by more than 10 percent, from 663 to 600, and in terms of the marina, there was in the development plan two marinas proposed - one inner and one outer - and the outer marina has been dropped."

He said that as part of the final agreement, the developer has made a commitment to giving first preference for all major contracts to local companies and to employing local people at all levels of the company.

"And perhaps most significantly, the developer has made a commitment to make an annual contribution of $75,000 to the community college to sponsor training programs for our young people," Smith said.

In his overview of the project at a meeting last year at the East End/Long Look community center, architect Timothy Peck said 55 percent of the Beef Island property will remain green space. Other planned environmental considerations include enhancement of the Hans Creek ecosystem through the retention of the red mangroves; a 190-acre nature preserve on Mount Alma; and a protected marine habitat.

virgin on the ridiculous

Well the neighbourhood is pretty nice but the folks over the way keep on throwing parties and whatnot. Sometimes they attract the attention of the local press.
Oi! Keep it down over there.

podophilia has a down side

You know how some people can't resist buying stupid cutesy things for their cat or dog? Well today I bought a smart little cover for my iPod! It's rubber and has knobs sticking out all over--very Marcel Duchamp-ish. Anyway I got home to introduce my pod to its new garment + I CAN'T FIND MY iPOD! Where is it? Did you put it somewhere? Did it go in the laundry?
Hey, that's it, life's over (as we know it.)
See you in hell. Yeah you.

(later)

BUT NOOOOO! I found it. It was in my laptop bag. Oh happy day Calloo Callay. But then I googled "I lost my iPod" and came up with this: I am not alone.

See you at Radio Shack (it's all we have).

an embarrassment of riches

Somebody came up with a copy of Vanity Fair magazine the other day. This is not a thing that we often see here in Lotarot...the prevailing atmosphere, while decidedly money-ish, is not opulent, refined or sophisticated. Rather, there is the ever present turmoil of chickens scratching the dirt, stumpy-legged dogs churning the trash, horses leaning out into the roadway forcing one to screech to a halt, pigs lying in the middle of the road, cows lying in the middle of the road, goats running in a herd from one crop of weeds to the next--in short, agricultural. The cars are generally quite new and of the Range Rover ilk. Roads are too steep and subject to mud slides and worse for there to be too many Lamborghinis or Countachs, but there are a few Hummers.
So into this lush, mosquito infested, tree frog orchestrated isle came a copy of Vanity Fair with all its glossy, decadent, rich, burnished beauties and dandies. How foreign it seems, how rich and unattainable and, in fact, undesirable. Like the richest of chocolate desserts when one has become used to boiled eggs and dry toast.
But the shock of all those beauties heaped one upon the other, exhorting one to buy to spend, splurge and suffocate in the sheer too-muchiness of it all has sent me into a spiral of self-questioning panic.
Suddenly one feels more like an Old Order Amish than a New Order nostalgic. The poor cousin, the cheapside suitor, the snot-dripping snivelling perv, Aqualung in wonderland.
Wish you were here.

disco christo

boys + their toys

Here's a dude sailing an aptly named Wally. Hey Christmas is comin': do the potlatch.
Picture came from this guy.

friday on my mind

Perhaps the greatest summer rock song ever -- up there with Summer in the City. I can still recall the first time I heard it, blasting out of my cousin's car stereo (Holden panel van, natch). Here are the Easybeats, Australia's hottest band (once upon a time). Guitarist George Young was the older brother of Angus and Malcolm who were encouraged to form their own band (AC/DC) by his success. Australia produced some amazing music but none so incredibly buoyant and melodic as this. Crank it up and dance!

Oh hell! While we're at it, here's the song that started it all: She's So Fine

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this fish lost its bicycle

A Fathead (genus Psychrolutes) trawled at a depth between 1013 m and 1340 m, on the Norfolk Ridge, north-west of New Zealand, June 2003.
Thanks to the Australian Museum
and to beloved BoingBoing

gender blender

It's interesting to read in today's NY Times the following two stories. In the first, from which I've extracted a paragraph, Gina Bellafante rather grudgingly describes Madonna's current body shape—and kicks in a little bitchery as well. Madonna is described as being a “denier”, her sculptured body the product of a “number of hours...each day” in hard and demanding physical exercise.

(H)er perfect musculature produces a kind of dissonance. Madonna doesn’t have an altruist’s body, she has a denier’s. What you’re tallying in your head when you watch her dance with the strength and agility of a 19-year old, are the number of hours she is spending each day practicing ashtanga, running hills, bench-pressing the weight of a Regency table. You are counting all the calories Madonna is not eating.
read Gina Bellafante's story here

Mick Jagger, in Guy Trebay's telling, is as “lithe as a boy”, a “gorgeous superannuated Pan.” No hard work for the Mickster, no hours spent huffing and puffing (at 63?). Hmm—not even a hint of the scalpel making him look so boyish. You can bet there's been more fat vacuumed off his ass than off Anna Nicole Smith's. Madonna's too.

As lithe as a boy, Mr. Jagger seems to defy age. At least he does below the waist. Grooved and sunken, his weather-beaten face betrays every second of his 63 years and this makes it all the more startling when he prances and postures like some curious and gorgeous superannuated Pan.
Guy Trebay's story here


I don't have much sympathy for either of them (though Exile on Main Street still rocks my player).....but it is curious that Jagger is seen as just a naturally lithe, miraculously youthful old codger, while there seems to be something desperate imputed to Madonna's equally unlikely hand-crafted body.

Now, the two stories had different themes and weren't connected in terms of editorial placement, but the fact remains that they represent two very different views of essentially the same subject. I guess we're talking gender politics here, though the stereotypical views of men/women and their bodies are turned on their heads. It used to be that women were granted the benefit of the charitable doubt and were described as "eternally youthful" and so forth, and men derided for their desperate attempts to chase their youthful selves and remain attractive for the dewy-eyed innocents on whom they preyed.

You do want to stay here?

When I was first thinking of moving to the tiny kingdom of Lotarot I had heard several stories concerning the volatile relations between "Belongers" and "Non-Belongers". I had heard, for instance, that a certain female lawyer, English in origin, had thrown a tantrum at her (Belonger) secretary, accusing her of laziness and incompetence. The secretary had made a phone call to somebody unnamed in the Labour Department (or was it Immigration?) and the very next day (a couple of days later?) the lawyer was marched out to a plane and sent on her way back to England.
While I accepted the story at face value, I was sure that upon investigation there would be much more to the tale, that surely justice was not so arbitrary.
Later, as I got to know more people, I experienced such unsettling episodes as this: I was interviewing a very successful and respected artist, recipient of several international awards, secure in his profession and an honorary Belonger, though born in a South American country. We were discussing some possible real estate developments and their potential for causing environmental disaster and the seeming lack of national will to avoid this disaster. Our conversation turned to politics and the scandal of the recent firing of a minister in the government over a controversial film made under his auspices. We were in a public place, a restaurant, when he became agitated and began glancing around. "We'd better be careful," he said. "People might be listening." I laughed at this preposterous joke, but the look on his face convinced me he was serious. "You do want to stay here?" he asked. "Better be careful."

ain't life grand

An elephant foetus at age 12 months (half its gestation time). Photographed in the womb by very clever people.

Why I'm loving Kurt Andersen

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Betta be reddy

I asked him, "what day is that?"
He said "You know what day. You know! You betta be reddy!"

Nature's Off-roader

Here in the sunny paradise of Lotarot, nature's original off-roader still has a place in the hierarchy. A low and unenviable place to be sure, but plodding makes progress.

Is your god an awesome god?

What's the nature of belief? Is Atheism a religion? Would you fall sobbing to your knees, hand on the television set, clutching for your checkbook and a pen over a big, fat nothing? Sure, religion ("spirituality" for the squeamish) is sexier than atheism-- but, like sex, it's awfully messy.
The New Atheists are working on that.

all you need to know

Disney does Dialectic:

inna peace, innit?

I'm living in Paradise but I'm pissed off. (Or maybe it isn't Paradise?)

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So I was at a loose end when I was offered a quick delivery from Marigot Bay in St Lucia to the British Virgin Islands. Righty-Ho says I........here's the reading from a story I wrote in the BVI Yacht Guide.

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Download MP3: here Right click/Save as