Spam!

This blog got totally spammed yesterday. Eight or nine comments, almost all of which were obviously submitted by spambots--there were a couple that looked like they might actually be real, but didn't end up holding up to actual scrutiny. Apologies if I guessed wrong, but my guess was eight or nine spams, zero legitimate comments. So I deleted them all.

If it happens again, I'll have to enable that annoying verification thingee where they show you a pic of some funny distorted letters, and you have to type them in, in order for your comment to be accepted. I don't want to do that, though, because it's a pain in the ass.

Bug?

Argh!

Blogger can be frustrating at times. I noticed today that, on older, archived posts, some of the changes I've made in the righthand sidebar had not showed up. For instance, the "Interesting and Related Links" section is totally missing on this post.

Supposedly, all I have to do to correct this problem is to republish the entire blog. I've tried this twice, but it does not help.

Damnit.

On the other hand, if I just click on the month-by-month links on the side, the sidebar changes show up all the way back to the beginning. Weird.

Naked Petition!

Verification of the right to engage in naked outdoor activities

Sign it! Note a couple of particular details of the petition: 1) Although the petitioner lives in Europe and is primarily thinking in terms of naked recreation in Europe, the petition is worded to apply anywhere. And, quite frankly, I think this petition is even more needed here in the United States, where many places actually do have laws prohibiting nudity. 2) The petition specifically excludes population centers, so, in other words, this is not a petition in favor of allowing people to run around naked in cities or towns. I don't entirely agree with that, but I imagine it makes the petition more palateable to some.

[edit] Okay, here's one that applies to the United States. Not as well thought out as the last one, unfortunatley. Make Nakedness Legal

World Naked Gardening Day

I just happened across the following nifty little item:

Get ready for the inaugural World Naked Gardening Day (WNGD)! People across the globe are encouraged, on September 10, 2005, to tend their portion of the world's garden clothed as nature intended.

Gardening has a timeless quality, and anyone can do it: young and old, singles or groups, the fit and infirm, urban and rural. An elderly lady in a Manhattan apartment can plant new annuals in her window box. Families can rake leaves in their back yard. Freehikers can pull invasive weeds along their favorite stretch of trail. More daring groups can make rapid clothes-free sorties into public parks to do community-friendly stealth cleanups.

Why garden naked? First of all, it's fun! Second only to swimming, gardening is at the top of the list of family-friendly activities people are most ready to consider doing nude. Moreover, our culture needs to move toward a healthy sense of both body acceptance and our relation to the natural environment. Gardening naked is not only a simple joy, it reminds us--even if only for those few sunkissed minutes--that we can be honest with who we are as humans and as part of this planet.

All that's involved is getting naked and making the world's gardens--whatever their size, public or private--healthier and more attractive. WNGD has no political agenda, nor is it owned or organized by any one particular group. Naked individuals and groups are encouraged to adopt the day for themselves. [more...]

Found, of course, on the World Naked Gardening Day website.

Too bad I don't have a garden. I have a nice big plant on my balcony, but given the close proximity of this balcony to a very prudish building manager, plus the fact that it's clearly visible to the street, in a city where nudity is sadly illegal, means I will probably not be able to participate. But maybe I'll go hiking in the nude that day. Hee! :-)

More???

Then there's this little tidbit:

Sarah Michelle Gellar Eager to act Naked

“Buffy” wants to strip off for her appearance on the big screen.

The 28-year-old sexy “Vampire Slayer” is rumored to be desperate to bare all on the big screen before she hits 30 so her fans can see her in her prime.

Sarah Michelle Gellar has expressed her intention to appear naked on the big screen, as she wants to get ridd of her teen star image.

"I am approaching 30 and I need a change. The sort of roles I would like are not being offered, so this way might just shock people into choosing me”, said “Buffy”.

Gellar, who is set to play the main part in “Alice”, a movie based on “McGee’s Alice” video game, is rumored to have been preparing for a role in the new movie 'Southland Tales'.

The “Scooy Doo” star may portray an X-rated actress who is trying to quit porn to develop her own reality TV show.

Well, I hate to say this, but it's probably not going to work. There are several problems Gellar is facing, and among them are Hollywood's hypocritical attitude towards actresses who do nude scenes (which merely echos the American cultural attitude towards sexually provocative women), and the fact that there are more women wanting to be in movies than there are movies to cast them in. I don't envy her situation, although I do wish her greater success in her career.

Bestill my heart:

JOHANSSON SHOCKS BAY WITH NAKED REQUEST

Director MICHAEL BAY was horrified when actress SCARLETT JOHANSSON insisted on going topless for a love scene in new movie THE ISLAND - because the romance is a PG-13.

The 20-year-old beauty called Bay to her trailer and angrily refused to wear an unflattering black bra for her love scene with co-star EWAN McGREGOR.

But Bay had difficulty persuading Johansson not to do the scene naked.

He tells movie magazine Empire, "You know the situation - the famous director gets called to the actor's trailer before she does the love scene. I'm like, here we go.

"I'm ready to do Ewan and Scarlett's love scene. I'm like, 'Oh my God, she's not going to come out.

"She says, 'I'm not fucking wearing this cheap-ass black bra, okay? I'm going naked.'

"I'm like, 'Scarlett, you can't go naked. It's a PG-13.' Classic story, She's feisty, I must say."

[note: I uncensored the word "fucking" in the article--just for the sake of realism.]

I saw this movie. In fact, I am embarrassed to admit that I saw it twice (the 2nd time was a very, very hot afternoon, and I happened to arrive at the nice, air-conditioned movie theater at an inopportune time, when The Island was the only movie showing for the next hour and a half or so). And I don't particularly recall any nudity, although I certainly don't recall a black bra either. My guess is that the love scene was as lame as the rest of the movie and I mostly just tuned it out.

It's interesting the way this is being spun. Bay is obviously a dipwad with no integrity whatsoever. I mean, I assume he realizes that people do actually fuck in the nude, right? But, on the other hand, in The Island, the two people are not only virgins, but people who have never really even heard of sex before, so the whole scene is basically bullshit anyway. I mean, how in the world would they have any idea what to do? Did Jordan Two Delta happen to innocently browse through Mr. Lincoln's collection of porn videos while the boys were out? Who knows--this is yet another gaping hole in the movie.

But I am still getting sidetracked here--what I had wanted to say was that this has "cheap publicity ploy" written all over it, except that it doesn't seem to be working. The only reason I came across this story in the first place was because I typed the word "naked" into Google News, because I was looking for info on another story I came across a few days ago in Yahoo Pictures but didn't have the time to look at. Google news only showed two matches for this.

In any case, my hope is that if Scarlett Johansson ever does do any type of nudity in a movie, that it will not be in a piece of schlock like this.