Uugh! Pestilence and one awesome Canadian documentary.

Alright, so I am officially having the worst cold ever! Not only am I like the Darth Vader of snot (yeah, I have no idea what that means either, but that is not important now. What's said is said, and I will not take it back.) and also, walking up stairs is like, exhausting, so clearly, having a cold = Not great.

Fortunately the fine people of Japan have the solution to all of my problems:

It also comes in a belt version, if you've been .. oh fuck, man, I almost made a Mexican food joke, but clearly, I was able to stop in time. Phew! That would have been terrible!

In other news, Ahmadinejad let the world know once and for all that there are no homosexuals in Iran. Conveniently, it just doesn't exist!

"And if I find a gay person," he cheerfully added, "with my bare hands will I tear off his head, and with my bare ass will I shit down his throat. The Quran says 'ZING!' to that!"

Come to think of it, I do not know a single non-gay male at Columbia, so I'm sure his gayness comment was warmly received. In fact, if you google image-search for "Iran" and "Gay", which I did just now, you definitely get a lot of pictures that are not fit for print, even in this least serious of news sources.

You also get this piece, though, a fantastic story from the CBC in Canada, about the secret gay community in Iran, "Out In Iran - Inside Iran's Secret Gay World".

Surely the people in this clip are dead now (actually they're not, they just had to flee the country, thus making Ahmadinejad's comments at Columbia true in its own funny way), and it's kind of explicit, but still, it is a very compelling clip about what must be the most dangerous job in the world: Gay rights activists in Iran. Seriously. You need to watch this documentary - sadly, this is not just an Iranian thing, it's a common thing in many corners of the world, but this is a particularly brave display of personal freedom in a very, very repressive and pathetic society.

Anywho, enough of this gayness, and back to my story about the Iranian President: My neighborhood was kind of crazy today, lots of police and snipers on roofs and the whole CU campus was locked down most of the day, so yeah. Also, the street in front of my office was completely shut down today, so that various politicians and other fat cats could freely drive back and forth to the UN building. Good times! Lots of cops, if you're into that sort of thing.

In other news, I spent this fine evening in solitude, nursing my infinite flow of flu-like symptoms of pestilence, but it wasn't so bad after all, because Family Guy Season 6 is finally out!! Holy fuck yes! Not that I would endorse illegal downloading of anything, but there are sites - APPARENTLY - on the "world-wide web" where such things MIGHT be watched, again, if you're into that sort of thing. OR SO I HEAR.

Alright, I'm going back to drinking vitamin water, reading The Economist and feeling sorry for myself.