Losing the respect that once was

The latest thing that I read was that he is now having his own magazine. "Jamie Magazine".

Jamie Oliver has had quite the influence on me. I applied to - and got accepted at - Copenhagen Catering College after seeing him being so enthusiastic about food on "The Naked Chef". I was enchanted when he started Fifteen and thrilled when he came through on the school dinners. And I don't know what took him so long before doing something like "Jamie's Italian Escape", doing something for himself.

But somehow it just seems to go too far in the non-sexual exhibitionistic direction. It's all out there on the telly - also involving Jools (Jamie's missus) breaking down in tears by the mention of (false) rumours of Jamie cheating on her and the birth of one of their two first daughters (I can't remember which for the life of me).

And now a magazine.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he's genuine and wants to do good with it, just as he says. And having a magazine has been a dream of his. And he can channel a lot of experience from himself and a lot of other people in that magazine. But "Jamie Magazine"?!

*sigh*

I know that Jamie knows his shit. But although I first saw him as a pompous arse, and in spite of doing reality TV ("Hell's Kitchen") and having several restaurants and michelin stars around the world, I still have more respect for Gordon Ramsay and find him much less overexposed.

I never imagined the day that I god sick of Jamie Oliver. But now I do.

Ideas for new blogs #2

Again, I've been on LJ.

"Whether you call it Black Friday or Buy Nothing Day, today is going to be a long day for those who work in retail. The customer might always be right in the store, but here on LJ let's hear some stories about times when the customer was wrongedy wrong wrong."

"Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S., one of the few American holidays where the only things you're expected to buy are groceries. Some cooks like to go all out (see: turducken), others prefer to just go out. What kind of cook are you?"

"Thanksgiving is almost here in the U.S., heralding the start of the holiday season and the first of many meals where you might be confronted with a traditional dish that you happen to find disgusting. What holiday food do you hate to see on the table?"

"Beer and cigarettes once went together like bread and butter, but now smoking in bars is banned in many cities. When you see smokers standing outside bars in the cold and rain, what is your first reaction? Walk on by, join them, or scorn them?"

"Goooooooooaaaaaaaaalllllll! Today marks the anniversary of football (soccer) star Pele's 1000th goal. Why has professional footie never caught on in the United States?"

"Hospital dramas are a time-honored staple of television, from General Hospital to County General to Seattle Grace. Which TV hospital would you most want to check in to? And who would be your doctor?"

Boyzone: "Better" video

This is the most beautiful music video I have ever seen.



What ruins it for me afterwards is the supposed "controversy" about Stephen Gately having a male partner in the video - the rest of the guys having female partners. WTF is the problem?! That's the most beautiful part of the video! The rest of the couples are more or less ruined for me after seeing Stephen with partner! As I think I've stated before (or almost, anyway) it's a question of focus - which is why I used the headline I used - so although they did made a point of having a male actor as Stephen's partner for the sake of honesty, Stephen being who he is, I don't think that is the point of the video. That isn't the actual focus. The love between two individuals is.

*sigh*

Enjoy the video, nonetheless.

Living as a Mormon, part 2

Another thing I need to update this blog with is how I'm doing with the Word of Wisdom.

As for now, I'm too dizzy from not sleeping to do something good, but I can do a list of what will be in it at the very least. Then we're prepared.

So, here goes:

• How am I doing?
• Where do/did I fail?
• Pork?!
• Focus
• Quote: Chocolat
• Anden: "Tal for dig selv"
• Conclusion
• Christmas?!

*sigh* Yah. Let's wait and see.

Ideas for new blogs

I got the idea of writing them down as they come - for example: I just ran into LJ's front page, where they have a bubble, suggesting ideas for people with a writer's block. the most recent was:

"Today is the anniversary of Tricky Dick Nixon's famous "I am not a crook" statement. Let's take a moment to ponder the many politicians caught being naughty. What's your favorite political scandal?"

Although - I'll have to wait to answer that, since I'm in the middle of something else right now.

//EDIT// They keep on coming as I flip through their ideas!
"A lot of characters in kids' books have it pretty good, from calling the start of the wild rumpus to ordering room service from their hotel suite. If you could be any character from children's literature, who would you be?"

"Field mice always sleep facing northwest. Kangaroos can't walk backwards. Female hyenas have penises. Let's face it, nature is weird. What's the strangest thing you know about the animal kingdom?"

"Some people spend their whole lives preparing the answer to this question: What albums are on your personal all-time Top 10 list?" -- I have always dreamt of doing like the characters Rob, Barry, and Dick in the movie "High Fidelity"; doing top 5s.

Speaking of "High Fidelity", I came up with a new one: Naming the Danish actors/actresses you might know through Hollywood (in this case: Iben Hjejle, who portrays Laura), naming movie, actor/actress, and character.

"Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, and Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula, have the same birthday. Coincidence?"

"It's the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, marking the Marxist overthrow of the Russian government. Karl Marx once wrote that "religion is the opium of the people." What is the new opium of the people?" (Oooh, this is a good one!)

"One of the highlights of going to a literary festival is hearing authors read from their own works. What author, living or dead, would you most like to hear read?"

"Now that the election is over, we can get to the important stuff. Why is there a light in the refrigerator but not in the freezer?"

"As the Northern hemisphere spins toward the shortest day of the year, it's getting dark earlier and earlier. What comforts do you fall back on when the days are short and the nights are long?"

"NaNoWriMo starts today. Give us a one-sentence description of the novel you plan to write."

Anyway. Not supposed to be doing this right now. See ya!

Living as a Mormon

"I'm not sure... what the theme of my homily of today ought to be. Do I want to speak of the miracle of our Lord's divine transformation? Not really, no. I don't want to talk about His divinity. I'd rather talk of His humanity. I mean, you know, how He lived His life here on Earth. His kindness, His tolerance. Listen, here's what I think: We can't go around measuring our goodness on what we don't do. On what we deny ourselves, what we resist and who we exclude. I think we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include."
- Pere Henri (played by Hugh O'Conor), "Chocolat" (2000).

For a month or two, I've had meetings and conversations with a group of Mormons about Mormonism. I met two American missionaries - sister Burton and sister Stevens - on my way home to my mom's and stepdad's place; they asked for a little help with an announcement in the train, and shortly after we met at the station after getting off of the train. They offered me a copy of Book of Mormon - and being the old softie for religion and free books that I am, I accepted.

Now, the plan hasn't really been to convert to the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints, but to hear what they have to tell me about their religion. I mean, why judge a religion before knowing what it contains?

One of the things this one contains is Word of Wisdom, which is basically diet guidelines, really. I was a bit in schock when I first realized every single thing it contained (which was when I found out about tea and coffee!!), but have had a few things cleared up since then. Through the Word of Wisdom, God asks (as revealed partially to the first Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, partially to later prophets) to avoid:

• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• Coffee and tea
• Illegal drugs
• Other harmful or addictive substances.

The Word of Wisdom also teaches that we should eat meat sparingly and eat grains, fruits and veggies.

To start with, I had no idea, thus having the nerve to ask the missionaries if they had ever had glögg (which is made from red wine, so it's alcoholic!). Singing in a church that forbids alcohol on church grounds - not in one's private life! - due to their work with people with alcohol problems, I could understand avoiding alcohol and tobacco due to their harmful and somewhat addictive nature. Illegal and harmful drugs I can understand, too, since they're - well, they're illegal and harmful! But then I stumbled upon a problem; tea and coffee - which, I did realize at that point, clashes with "other addictive substances": caffeine.

I was pondering the tea for the longest time. Because I had had no specific explanation for that from the missionaries. I knew that not all teas contain caffeine, and not all teas are harmful - on the contrary! Green tea and herbal tea have actually been proven to be good for the body. Later one of the missionaries explained to me that it was only tea from the tea plant they can't drink, i.e. green tea, black tea, and fermented tea (e.g. Oolong).
Another thing I thought of was the caffeine. Because the number one reason why I'm addicted to caffeine today is cola (the soda - Coca Cola and the likes - personally I'm on the Coke side of life and the war between Coke and Pepsi, but that's another blog entry). It was explained to me last night: Because soda is not included in the original Word of Wisdom, it's up to the individual to include or exclude it from one's diet - but cola containing caffeine was the reason why the family of one of the missionaries don't drink it.

Looking at my own diet, I can tell that my intake of alcohol and tobacco is ridiculously little. I drink coffee slightly more often, although it's not a daily must for me - but tea and cola have been a must among the things I have daily access to for the longest time. And the teas in my kitchen are dominantly black teas.

This is the reason why I've had such a hard time digesting the avoidance of tea and addictive substances (a.k.a. caffeine). What will I be drinking when I meet a friend in a café or coffee shop? How will I wake up on those mornings where I really need that cup of coffee or that morning break in school where that cola was my "savior" on Earth? Which way is the quickest to get into the Christmas spirit if i can't drink the Christmas teas of Perch's and Fredsted (which are both based on black teas)? What will I do without my best warm and/or caffeinated "friends"?

I have no idea!!!

But when I met with the girls missionaries last night, sister Burton asked me if I could live after the Word of Wisdom. I don't know - but I ended up promising to try. Again, not necessarily because I'm converting, but a few other things:

• Oprah/Dr. Oz In an Oprah-show with Dr. Oz, the viewers were challenged to stop drinking soft drinks for two weeks. I'd like to do that to see how it works for me.
• Health It's been proven that alcohol, tobacco, and various drugs and substances are harmful to the body. Plus, I've heard it's also proven that vegan products are healthier than animal products. And having to dump cola, coffee, and most teas might just mean that I'll actually drink water on a daily basis.
• The challenge There is always something about having to restrain yourself, right? ;D
• Friends as an example I remember sending a Muslim schoolmate a message to show support during the Ramadan, telling him how I admire his self control. And something he wrote back to me made an impression on me:

  It is our duty as human beings to strive for the Merciful and seek His forgiveness for out mistakes... our Creator is incredibly caring and He loves His creatures in a way that is unknown to us...

  My schoolmate has made such an impression on me, being the believer he is, always having reasons and things like that to tell me when I asked him. I've never had that kind of self control that he has had (except for sexual relations), so I think it's time for me to try.
• Try before condemning This is also one of the reasons why I wanted to hear about Mormonism - I didn't want to wipe it off without knowing anything about it. Same principle here; not saying no until I tried it.
  I drink so little alcohol and smoke so little (only the occasional shisha) as it is, and fact is that I haven't smoked and only had alcohol once while I've known the missionaries. So I might as well wipe it completely.

So this weekend I've been drinking the last cans of cola in the fridge, and while I was at it, drank som black tea (the only non-teaplant tea I had on the shelf was camomile/lavender tea, and let's face it, that's just boring). And for the next couple of weeks, I'll be trying to live as close to the Word of Wisdom as I possibly can, seeing what it's like. This means:

• Water, juice, and soft drinks instead of alcohol
• Other soft drinks instead of cola
• Herbal tea, rooibus, and EterniTea Classic instead of teaplant-based teas
• If I'm going that far, contacting Perch's to ask for a Christmas blend based on Rooibus Vanilla instead of Keemun.

Now, the reason why I started this entry with the quote from Chocolat is that I see the items in the Word of Wisdom as such small things when looking at my life. I don't drink that much alcohol, and I don't really smoke that much, either - so that doesn't really disturb my life as much as someone who drinks or smokes regularly. I often prefer something non-alcoholic, clean air and the ability to sing at the top of my lungs instead. I don't do drugs. Caffeine disturbs me so little (all it does is keeping me awake when I need it - I have no trouble sleeping when I go to bed). I don't eat a lot of meat. But I do spend my time working with charity and the likes and trying in several ways to make the world (around me and as far abroad as I can reach) a positive place to be. So I don't think it's important what I don't eat, drink, or do - but the opposite. So who knows how far I'll go with this!

Now, I have to stop before I start quoting the entire start of Anden's "Tal for dig selv".

I have spoken.

Welcome!

So... Yeah.

A new blog. Again.

This is more like a general thing. To keep it all together, I suppose. I mean, I already have http://unnasblog.blogspot.com/, but that was from when I thought I'd keep shooting through everything - which has become an odd idea, really, seeing as I haven't had the money to develope the pictures for a couple of years by now.

Anyway. As i said: to keep it all together. Blogger.com isn't the only place I have blogs, so I thought it would be nice to have them all collected at one place. So take a look at the sidebar!

As per usual with snatching stuffs from my blogs, it also counts here:
1. Ask first - snatch later.
2. Give credit where credit's due.
3. Tell me where it's located.
And I will love you for it.

Okay, so, I'm off to find all of my blogs! Later - kisses all around!