About Ramblings of a Hopeless Khowaga
Welcome to my Web site. My name is Chris, and I’ll be your host. I live in Austin, Texas, with my partner, Ray, and our child dog, Mocha. You can read more about me, learn 100 random things about me, and if you’re wondering what the heck a khowaga is, click here. Feel free to browse, read, and leave comments!
I heard a piece on NPR about the recall of the EZ Bake Oven on the way home. This has happened before, and I recall being concerned for the little boys in Future Homosexuals of America and how they would deal with the crisis.
Fortunately, at the same time, Shindo was posting about a new toy that should make a lovely substitution for the FHA boys: an anatomically abdominally correct King Leonidas doll action figure from the movie 300.
I may have to go pick up one myself 
Dark clouds are hovering about outside. We’re not quite done with the rain yet, it seems. It’s a bit of a cruel joke: the floodwaters have gone down and most of the people who had to evacuate have been allowed to go survey the damage to the property … and here comes some more rain!
The US military attaché to the embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus, was found dead yesterday. I’m trying to remember if he was someone I met when I was there in 2004 – the name sounds familiar, but I have such an awful memory for names. I look at the face in the news article, and … I just can’t remember. I’ve met so many people in official positions in my wanderings here and there, and I feel bad that I can’t remember if I met this guy and now he’s dead.
It’s a bit weird – I’ve been dreaming about being back on Cyprus quiet a bit lately. I think maybe it’s partly due to reading Will’s blog — the entire nation seems to live with the sort of post-traumatic stress disorder complex that would come a generation after the sort of stuff he’s seeing in the West Bank. We’ll pretend that’s it, anyway, because I don’t really have any other ideas. The really weird thing is that the old woman I met in the Nicosia market has popped up in my dreams a couple of times, walking through the background.
I need a good dream interpreter to tell me what all this means.
Anyway. On to more mundane things.
I tagged along with Ray and a couple of his work friends to see the Transformers movie last night. I will avoid casting any spoilers out there into internet-land, and simply offer the following caveat to anyone who’s planning to see it: all three guys I was with knew the cartoons really well from their childhood and thought the movie was great. I don’t know the cartoons really well, and, well … I just didn’t think it was a very good movie … 
I thought I knew what the [finger quotes] plot [/finger quotes] was, but it turned out I didn’t … or rather, the action didn’t follow what I thought was any sort of logical direction given the set-up, and there are holes in the story big enough to drive most of the characters through. I’m kind of on board with what the New York Times says in its review.
I am waiting for the Iranians to start protesting the movie because at one point, Jon Voight, who plays the Secretary of Defense, refers to the Persian Gulf as “the Arabian Gulf.” Given how riled up they got over 300, I can only imagine how that will go down in Tehran. 
The most crucial bit of information for those on the fence: at no point does Josh Duhamel remove his shirt. On the other hand, neither does Shia LeBeouf.
At any rate. I probably ought to start doing some of that work they pay me for now. Have a happy 3rd!
It seems that the film version of Frank Miller’s 300 has gone over with a resounding thud in Tehran, where the film’s depiction of the Battle of Thermopylae (Spartans vs. Persians) is being construed as the latest salvo in the war of words between Iran and the US. Everything from the film’s timing (on the eve of NoRuz, Persian New Year) to the clothing worn by the ancient Persians (rags) is being examined for a deeper meaning. While I certainly don’t recall that the Achemenid Persians had orcs in their army, it does make one wonder whether the superior physiques of the well-oiled, waxed men playing the Spartans versus the androgyny of Rodrigo Santorio’s Emperor Xerxes (and the ick-factor of his orc army) might have something to do with it as well. After all, Hollywood is the one place where there actually is an equal-hunkiness clause, and the Persians lost out big time on that one. I’d be pissed, too.
It seems that the film version of Frank Miller’s 300 has gone over with a resounding thud in Tehran, where the film’s depiction of the Battle of Thermopylae (Spartans vs. Persians) is being construed as the latest salvo in the war of words between Iran and the US. Everything from the film’s timing (on the eve of NoRuz, Persian New Year) to the clothing worn by the ancient Persians (rags) is being examined for a deeper meaning. While I certainly don’t recall that the Achemenid Persians had orcs in their army, it does make one wonder whether the superior physiques of the well-oiled, waxed men playing the Spartans versus the androgyny of Rodrigo Santorio’s Emperor Xerxes (and the ick-factor of his orc army) might have something to do with it as well. After all, Hollywood is the one place where there actually is an equal-hunkiness clause, and the Persians lost out big time on that one. I’d be pissed, too.
