Hip Hop Monks In Japan

Woah.. never heard a chant in rap style. And also I thought alcoholism was prohibited. Monks don't drink!

Source: CNN

Chinese police cancel Mr. Gay China pageant

Beijing police cancel China's first gay pageant from Janek Zdzarski on Vimeo.

The Mr. Gay China pageant has been canceled by police in Beijing, thus scuttling China's chances at winning the presumably prestigious Mr. Gay Worldwide title in Norway. Given China's state sponsorship of other competitive events like the Olympics, you would think they'd give the fellas a little support?

Why did The Man come down on, er, The Men? "It's sensitive" - a catchall phrase that describes everything in China from Taiwan and Tibet to heroin addiction and AIDS.

Anyways, kudos to the participants for speaking frankly about their disappointment, but what the hell is up with the dude wearing a leather thong swimsuit five sizes too small for him? Does he turn into the Hulk onstage or something to fill it out? I'll never get these things.

UPDATE!

Newsy.com provides some social context (thanks to Rosa Sow):

South Koreans named world texting champs

Source: Yahoo!

Two South Korean teenagers have been crowned fastest texters in the world.

The team of 17-year-old Bae Yeong Ho and 18-year-old Ha Mok Min went thumb-to-thumb against competitors from a dozen countries to win the title in a competition Thursday in New York City.

The LG Mobile World Cup challenged nimble-fingered youths on both speed and accuracy. The winning team took home a $100,000 prize.

Second place and $20,000 went to the U.S. contestants — 16-year-old Kate Moore of Des Moines, Iowa, who is the 2009 U.S. National Texting Champion, and 14-year-old Morgan Dynda of Pooler, Georgia, the 2009 runner-up. An Argentinian team came in third and the Brazilians took fourth.

With many languages at play, English was the texting language of the U.S. competitors and those from Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Other nations represented were Indonesia, Portugal, Russia, Mexico and Spain. Interpreters were hired for non-texting communication.

So why don't Koreans just use text to ask each other out! I think that would be work!

Avatar fans suicidal because planet Pandora is not real

Source: Telegraph

Fans of Avatar have been left feeling blue by the realisation that the utopian planet Pandora is not real, with some saying they are plagued by suicidal thoughts.

The futuristic blockbuster from director James Cameron tells the story of a corporation trying to mine for a rare mineral on the planet Pandora after Earth's resources have been depleted.

The humans clash with the natives – a peaceful race of blue-skinned creatures called the Na'vi who live in harmony with nature.

Fans of the film have flooded the internet to express their distress at realising they will never be able to visit the utopian planet.

On one website, Avatar Forums, the topic "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible" has more than 1,000 posts.

Ivar Hill, a 17-year-old fan from Sweden, wrote on a similar site: “When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed grey. It was like my whole life, everything I’ve done and worked for, lost its meaning … It just seems so meaningless. I still don’t really see any reason to keep doing things at all. I live in a dying world.”

On another website, a user known as Mike was even more acutely affected. He wrote: "Ever since I went to see Avatar I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na’vi made me want to be one of them.

"I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it. I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in Avatar.”

Stacy Kaiser, a psychotherapist, said obsession with the film was masking more serious problems in the fans' lives. "They’re seeing Avatar, they're lonely people, a lot of them don’t have a lot going on in their lives right now," she said. "The movie opened up a portal for them to express their depression.”

Don't really have much to say. I know people get really caught up with stories and movies. Just looks a Star Wars freaks!

Suicide is a bit extreme though!

Oooooooh matchmaking!

Source: Reuters

The health ministry plans a matchmaking program where it will bring single public servants together for social gatherings and community service work in the hopes of fostering love among available bureaucrats looking to wed.

The ministry has been doing its homework on the unmarried.

"We found that single people fall into certain categories, much like the unemployed," said Choi Jin-sun of the ministry's human resources development division.

It will split the unmarried between those that way by choice and those by circumstance, and has devised plans to help any segment of the unwed population find a partner and settle down.

The government in late 2009 unveiled a plan to boost South Korea's birthrate, the lowest in the developed world.

The country is graying quickly and needs to boost the population to expand the economy and provide payments to government coffers for the increased welfare spending that comes with an aging society.

"We're not talking about a one-time mass meeting among singles, but regular, constant opportunities where singles can meet and mingle naturally," said Choi.

These people work together, why don't they just ask each other out for lunch or something. South Korean men need a government program and tax dollars to get laid?

That's pretty sad.

On second thought, after watching those unbearable shitty Korean soaps, this does not surprise me.

Watch where you put that chopstick!

Li Jingchao learned the hard way -- be careful what you stick up your nose.

The 14-month-old little boy was playing with chopsticks, when his doctor says he fell, with one of the sticks piercing his nose.

"It touched upon the deep area of his brain, four centimeters of the chopstick was inside his skull" Doctor Sun Wei told CNN.

Jingchao's mother, Zhao Guilu didn't see what happened -- she was in another room at the time, but came running when she heard her son crying.

"I was washing dishes... I rushed in and saw him lying on the ground. He couldn't stop crying and I noticed a chopstick stuck in his nose."

She went to a local clinic, but doctors there warned her it was too dangerous to try and remove the chopstick because it may cause massive bleeding. Zhao was frantic and called her husband. A relative offered to drive them from their small village, hundreds of miles to a hospital in Beijing.

That mom is smart. I probably would have just yanked the chopstick out of his nose instead of going to the doctor.

I'm not fit to be a mom huhuhuhuhuhu.