Punk Smurf pens a bilingual blog

Currently listening to Fleetwood Mac (album: Greatest Hits)

Apparently, I’m not entirely fashion impaired: Canadians are warming up to Electra Bikes. Hee! Mine’s not an Electra (a Schwinn, maybe?) but resembles the Punk model from the Cruiser collection. Check out the site.

You’ve probably read about it or seen it on the news: hurricane Bill is set to lash Nova Scotia in about 12 hours. The Armdale Yacht Club, home of Foxglove, made today’s newspaper. Read the article here.

The Canadian Press: Beach goers flock in the thick fog to watch the approaching waves on Lawrencetown Beach, N.S.

Further south Florida Governor Charlie Crist half-joked to a group of real estate agents that the state’s lack of hurricane activity is because God is listening to him. Uh yea, mr. Crist, can you spell idiot?

Another thing that possibly hasn’t escaped your attention is the controversy surrounding 18-year-old Caster Semenya. Breaking records and winning gold, she’s not to enjoy her 15 seconds of fame.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) subjected Semenya to a gender verification process both in her native South Africa, and since her arrival in Berlin. The official investigation could take weeks to draw conclusions with an endocrinologist, a gynaecologist and a psychologist all involved.
What baffles me is the following statement by someone of the IAAF: “It’s a medical issue. It’s not an issue of cheating. We’re more concerned for the person not to make this something which is humiliating for her and something which is going to affect her in a negative way. This is why you will appreciate we have to be discreet. She is a human being who was born as a woman and who has grown up all her life as a woman but who is now in a position where this is being questioned.”
WTF?! Pardon my language, but the medical issue actually trumps cheating?
Even though I’ve read about Semenya being used to this ridicule (apparently, she once asked a police officer who stopped her outside the ladies room if she needed to drop her pants to prove she’s a woman) I can’t help but feel sorry for her; she should be celebrating her gold medal - like fellow sprinter Bolt - but instead she’s being scrutinized, and disrespected by some of her peers. Anyhow, this inspired me to write a new column on gender for EurOut.

In the meantime writer this article is a shining example of how some people need more than just a sensitivity training (how rude is that?!), while in Australia two trans men have won a court appeal allowing them to be legally recognized as men without having to have their female reproductive organs removed. And star of the Rocky Horror Show, Richard O’Brien, has suggested that society should allow people to grow up and not feel like they have to conform to a certain gender. Read that article here.

I also read about a gay and trans recruitment day by Scottish police. Although I am all for equal opportunity, I also wonder why they have to have a seperate recruitment day. The people coming in that day could be the proverbial sitting ducks: ignorant homophobes and religious hate mongers know where to go to for a bit of fun…

In response to the report from Human Rights Watch that came out earlier this week, CNN talks to gay Iraqis about the atrocities being committed by militias in that country, and the hundreds of executions that have happened since 2004. Watch a clip here.

CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, friends with co-founders Missy and Sean Suicide, called on the Suicide Girls to do a photoshoot for the release of his new cross-platform Digi-Novel, Level 26: Dark Origins. Read more on it here.

About a week and a half ago I came across a lesbionic-ish video on 8Asians.com that was banned from YouTube. Read the post and watch the video, but be warned it may be NSFW! It certainly is an attention grabber, eh? Hopefully, the upcoming feature film The People I’ve Slept With is just as interesting.

Finally, I go back to Nova Scotia to end this post on a happy/positive note. It’s good to know there are still plenty of decent people out there who pass it on to their children. The article of a bunch of kids rescuing a stranded dolphin is heartwarming, eh?

Lauren Lee Smith’s Riley Adams won’t return for the tenth season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. But Sara Sidle (played by Jorja Fox) is.

Smith joined CSI in the ninth season taking Warrick Brown’s place (played by Gary Dourdan), who was killed in the season nine premiere. Less than a season after her addition to the series, Smith is saying goodbye.

“It was an issue of how we were feeling the ensemble was working,” Shankar told TV Guide. “When we brought in the character of Riley, it got lost in the shuffle a little bit because we had lost Warrick, we had lost Sara, and then in the middle of last season Grissom finally left. I think, as a result, the character never quite found its footing in terms of the rest of the gang.”

Riley’s departure will allow for Sara to come back to the crime lab. “She shows up because the team is understaffed,” he explained. “The undersheriff reaches out for a recommendation and Sara says, ‘I think that person might be me.’”

Fox will appear in at least five episodes during season ten.

“I got the call about CSI—it was completely out of the blue!” The actress explained. “I never thought I’d be going back to work with people that I knew, I thought I’d be starting new things. That was a surprise, so I’m going back to work and it’s with the same people who I’ve worked with for eight years in the past. [Laughs] I was thrilled! For me it was a huge compliment!”

The actress has already started filming for season ten, and she said she is enjoying the experience. “It has just been a ball and a half,” Fox shared. “I think CSI’s premiere episode is one of the best that I’ve ever read. It’s a pleasant surprise. You think, ‘They’re starting Season 10—how is it going to be as good as it was last year or four years ago?’ And they blew me away.”

Fox was tight-lipped about her return. “I think all I can really say is [pause] the team has had a rough year—there has been a lot going on—and so Sara comes back mostly just to see if she can help for a while, because she loves those guys and she misses them,” the actress said. She had even less to say about Gil Grissom, who reunited with Sara in the jungle at the end of his final episode in season nine. “They’ve prevented me from discussing Grissom at all,” she said, adding that Grissom’s whereabouts will be revealed in the season premiere. “We hope we’ve picked the right stuff to be a surprise.”

“Sara comes in and brings everyone together,” executive producer Carol Mendelsohn added. “And she helps Catherine understand that as the leader, she needs to make the team cohesive and really fire on all cylinders again.” Mendelsohn would not reveal when or if the old team leader is scheduled to return. “You never know when Grissom will show up on CSI,” she teased. “The theme of [season 10] is family. And he certainly is a big part of the family - a big part of the family.

The preview for tonight’s episode (”The descent of man”) features Erin Daniels as well as fellow episode guest stars Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) and Greg Germann (Fish on Ally McBeal). It also features dead skydivers, love triangles, heart attacks and crazy monks.

As CSI Files previously reported, Charisma Carpenter’s character is a “fun and memorable” skydiver. “I play a slinky little character named Mink,” the actress told TV Guide. She added that Mink “is a suspect in the murder of her boyfriend because there was a love triangle between her and another sexy little thing played by The L Word’s Erin Daniels.”

Mink claims that she was dating the victim, and the other woman also claims that he was her boyfriend. “Well, he was both of ours,” Carpenter clarified. “So there was tension, because we were both vying for his affections and such. You know how competitive that can be. I mean, the three of them were even sharing a trailer!”

Carpenter enjoyed the name her character was given. “Isn’t Mink the best name in prime time?! I thought [Veronica Mars'] Kendall Casablancas was good, but Mink… wow,” the actress said. She also shared information about a scene from “Descent of Man” in which her character is involved in a “panty party”. Carpenter explained, “It involves dancing around half-dressed in our little Winnebago.”

The final episode for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’s Gil Grissom (William Petersen) as a regular character airs January 15, and Michael Ausiello warned fans not to miss the end of “One to Go”. “You do not want to miss the final scene,” the columnist said on the Ausiello Files. “Trust me.” He also revealed that Entertainment Weekly will have a cover story about CSI for the issue going on sale Friday, January 9.

In other CSI news, E! Online reported that the newest addition to the cast, Laurence Fishburne (Dr Raymond Langston), might be planning a trip to Florida. CSI: Miami’s David Caruso (Horatio Caine) said he’d spoken to Fishburne, and the actor was open to doing a crossover. “I’ve been on all three CSIs, and I take that as a badge of honor,” Caruso told Watch With Kristin. “The [crossovers] really work, so I hope we get to do one.”

According to Ausiello, Miami is casting someone to play a new lab tech. The addition, Dave Benton, may become a recurring character on the show. Ausiello described Benton as “a twentysomething who’s like a cross between Dave Navarro and Mr. Wizard” and said he will help Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo) crack a case.

For the third member of the franchise, CSI: New York’s coroner-turned-CSI Dr Sheldon Hawkes (Hill Harper) has a personal storyline coming up in the first episode back from the winter hiatus, “Help”. The rape and murder of a young musician hits close to home for Hawkes. “The evidence [points to] the same person who raped my ex-girlfriend. That incident is what caused our breakup” Harper told TV Guide. “He was a surgeon then and felt helpless. He could stitch someone up, but he couldn’t fix her internal pain.”

The case brings back all of those old feelings, and the episode provided Harper with a chance to do a “powerful” scene with Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor). “It’s rare that two male characters on a procedural have a conversation about something that is going on in their own hearts or personal lives,” Harper shared. And the actor said he would like his character to have a romantic interest, whether it is the ex-girlfriend from this episode, played by Nichole Galicia, or someone else. “I definitely want Hawkes to have a girlfriend,” he revealed. “There’s a measure of closure by the end of the episode that gives Hawkes the opportunity to move on and have a healthy relationship.”

Also in New York news, Julia Ormond is set to return for two more episodes in February as Mac’s new boss, Deputy Inspector Gillian Whitmore. The actress told TV Guide she signed on to do the three episode arc after the producers included a storyline that is close to her heart. Ormond founded the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking (ASSET), and one of her upcoming episodes deals with human trafficking. “It’s fabulous how they wove it in,” Ormond explained. “A Russian girl is brought into the forced sex trade… This has a poignant resonance to Gillian.”

Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera) shared her top five “Melina moments” from the five seasons of CSI: New York. For the first season, she recalled filming for the pilot episode, “Blink”. Her character was down in a basement with Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and a female victim who could not move. “It was creepy and awful, and I got spoofed by the crew and Gary,” Kanakaredes explained. “They told me there was a rat in the corner, and I jumped about a mile off the ground and hit my head on a very low ceiling. Fabulous moment. Not so fabulous for me.”

The “Melina moment” for season two involved a very clear problem. “I’m known to many of my friends as the only girl who’s been on Broadway as a dancer and still is the clumsiest person they know,” Kanakaredes said. The new sets for the show came with glass doors. “They were super-clean one day,” the actress admitted with a chuckle, “because I didn’t see it and smashed right into the door.”

While filming in Manhattan during season three, Kanakaredes saw a white van that she assumed was one of the show’s transport vehicles. “I got into it, and it wasn’t our van. There was laundry in it, and it was a delivery service,” she said. “I felt like a complete idiot.”

For season four, Kanakaredes explained a game she created where she would sing part of a song and Sinise would have to guess which musical theater production it was from. At that point, she explained, Sinise would laugh “because he doesn’t know any songs, so I reverse it.” Sinise would sing the song and Kanakaredes would guess which show it was from. “It’s a fun game because I always win,” the actress said.

The fifth season’s “Melina moment” occurred during the filming of the season premiere, “Veritas”. Doing a stunt that required the actress to hang from a seven-story building was Kanakaredes’ favorite “Stella moment” for the season, and the “Melina moment” happened after they successfully filmed her dangling over the side of the building. She then had to run up the fire escape ladder with a gun as she chased the bank robber. “At which point I tripped, fell into the rung, and I still have the scar to prove it,” the actress said. “So that was a ‘Stella moment’ turned ‘Melina moment’.”

The original video is available from the CBS channel on YouTube.

Lawless, best known as Xena, will play a “madame”. Watch an interview with the actress *here*