January 28, 2011
January 21, 2011
January 15, 2011
January 14, 2011
January 10, 2011
Unhappy Meal
Since this doesn't seem to have made much news outside New Zealand yet, and since my flight is delayed two hours...
From 3newz.co.nz: McDonald's defends gay filters on Wi-Fi
Basically, McDonalds started offering free Wifi here last month, which is great, except people have started to notice that, ha-ha-ha, in addition to banning porn, gambling and dating websites, McDonalds is also blocking gay news and lifestyle ones.
But I'm sure they have a great reason for doing so that doesn't sound at all terrible as an out-of-context soundbite.
Some news outlets here have pointed out that the ban is kind of hypocritical, considering
Incidentally, though it's great that the media is challenging McDonalds on this, the news coverage here has been at least a little bit disconcertingly homophobic itself. Like this line:
Okay, off my soapbox now, onto flight (hopefully). I'll leave it to Dan Savage to pick up where I left off.
From 3newz.co.nz: McDonald's defends gay filters on Wi-Fi
Basically, McDonalds started offering free Wifi here last month, which is great, except people have started to notice that, ha-ha-ha, in addition to banning porn, gambling and dating websites, McDonalds is also blocking gay news and lifestyle ones.
But I'm sure they have a great reason for doing so that doesn't sound at all terrible as an out-of-context soundbite.
“We do have a responsibility to make sure any information available on our system is child friendly and we will go a long way to protect that,” says managing director Mark Hawthorn.D'oh! So gays ≠ child friendly, according to McDonalds (religious fundamentalists, people from the 80s, Pat Robertson, etc., etc.).
Some news outlets here have pointed out that the ban is kind of hypocritical, considering
last year McDonald’s used a gay-themed ad in France.Plus, hello? Have you taken a look at Ronald fucking McDonald lately? When that guy says "Big Mac" all I can picture is a 45-year-old bear in a leather harness.
Incidentally, though it's great that the media is challenging McDonalds on this, the news coverage here has been at least a little bit disconcertingly homophobic itself. Like this line:
Similar sites with gay themes, however, were still accessible such as gay dating site broonline.com, news website aaronandandy.com and Big Gay Out festival sponsors getiton.co.nz.Ouch. So AIDS = gay, according to 3newz.co.nz (religious fundamentalists, people from the 80s, Pat Robertson, etc.).
The New Zealand Aids Foundation website was also still accessible.
Okay, off my soapbox now, onto flight (hopefully). I'll leave it to Dan Savage to pick up where I left off.
January 07, 2011
January 06, 2011
NZ, Day Three
It's fucking creepy how much like Scotland this place is. The landscape, the place names, the architecture... They even drink Irn Bru!
Oh, and then there's this in THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER:
Oh, and then there's this in THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER:
January 04, 2011
NZ, Day Two
Deepest Lord of the Rings country. Though for some reason the song that got stuck in my head was from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
January 03, 2011
NZ, Day One
Queenstown airport. It's in between two mountains this size, so as you can imagine the approach is pretty terrifying.
(NB. I'm going to try and spend more time actually *being* in New Zealand than blogging about it, but I figured a picture every day or so couldn't hurt.)
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