Happy Independence Day!

God bless Greece as it celebrates today its Independence Day. On 25 March 1821, the Greeks heroically overthrew the evil Ottoman Empire and expelled the Turks from their fair land. May they continue to repel all evil forces. 

It's confirmed - I'm a rotten actor

I'm on holiday now but I do read my emails and post my blog and so on. I won't put much thought into these things but I still do them because I'm usually in the hotel most nights. I'm not the partying or carousing sort of person and that's not because I'm the religious sort or a morally self-righteous person who frowns on others having a good time but because I genuinely don't enjoy these things.

I mentioned in this blog that I was recently filmed in a naturist documentary but I had to do some acting. Anyway, the first cut of the film is out and a copy was sent to me last night for my approval. I had told the producers that I was prepared to go nude in the film for free provided I am satisfied that the film is favourable towards naturism and so they sent me a copy of the film as we have agreed. I must say the producers did a very good job of it. I am not at liberty to show the film to others because they can't do that until it's been sent to film festivals and that sort of thing. But what I can do is to show a screen capture of some of my facial expressions and you can immediately tell what an untalented unnatural  actor I really am. I actually blushed when I first saw my horrible acting.\

Here is an example of how impossible it is for me to look serious. I look murderous and angry here when all I was supposed to do was to look serious.

But I have been more than open with the film producers. I told them from the start that I was not an actor. I made it very clear that I couldn't act at all. The filming consisted of two parts. The main part was a voice interview in which I was asked a lot of questions and my answers were recorded. They tried to get me to repeat some of my own words with the camera rolling and I just couldn't do it. It's amazing but it's true. These are my own words spoken by me impromptu during the interview and yet when I had to repeat the exact words in front of the camera, I just couldn't do it naturally. I can only sound natural when I'm asked questions without any preparation and I answer the questions in my own words. Anything more and I'm sure to fumble.

So what they did in the first cut of the film is to show me moving about and with my voice from the interview in the background. That is very clever of them. This way, my impromptu natural answers are used in the film rather than my bungling attempt to repeat fixed lines even if the lines were originally what I said myself.

I will post a link to the film only if the producers give me the go-ahead. I'm the only naturist in the film although they managed to get a actress to strip naked but her face is concealed throughout. The fact that they couldn't get another naturist to act in the film shows what a rare breed naturists are in my country.

My intention in getting involved in this filming is purely to promote naturism. I don't care if my lack of talent in acting is broadcast to all who see the film. That does not bother me in the least. All I want is for the story of naturism to be told, particularly to people in my society. I must say that the producers give a very positive light to naturism. I absolutely approve of the film and I have told them so.

The film producers will be getting audience ratting from the Board of Film Censors in my country. I hope they can get an open rating that will allow anyone to see it without restrictions although that is unlikely because my genitals can be seen in the film. Let's see how it goes.

Friends have warned me that the publicity may not be good for me. My country is extremely small and conservative. Something like this is sure to be blown up out of proportion. But what I am grateful for is my country is not a Muslim country. It's a secular state and being filmed nude in a documentary is not an offence. The only possible repercussion is how the society will react. But I really don't care about that. Everyone who knows me already knows that I'm a naturist and a rather active one.

Let's see how it goes.

The octopus and its tentacles.

Haha, for lunch, I decided to eat what Fry and Laurie had when they went to a Greek restaurant - stuffed vine leaves and grilled octopus. But the restaurant didn't serve the vine leaves today and so I settled for only a grilled octopus. 

Naturism is for every human being.

One of the irritating things I hear all the time from my friends is the dumb suggestion that naturism is not a part of the Asian culture. What utter garbage! Naturism is for all humans with human skin.

Confucius was of the opinion that everyone should be dressed according to his profession or station in life. That's elitism. That was meant to divide people according to their birth and social class. Surely that should be discouraged in today's society which rightly embraces egalitarianism? Clothes were meant to divide society into those who were wealthy and learned from those who were impoverished and did not have the opportunity of receiving a good education. So, when Confucius wrote about the importance of being clothed, he had in mind the segregation of people into their respective classes which was the norm in his time but is certainly anathema today. 

We who oppose any oppression of the poor should go against the teachings of Confucius on this matter. Here is where naturism comes in. You can't tell the rich from the poor when you're naked.

One more thing is naturism is perfectly suited to those who live in the tropics. I just took a photo of the famous beach that appears in all the guide books on Hydra Island. But there was not a soul in sight. It's too cold now. You can't even take off your jacket. If I were back home, I wouldn't be all wrapped up like this. Naturism is a most natural  part of Asian culture, particularly in the tropical region where I now live. Even the climate encourages it.

100% Ελληνικo γάλα

My posts have so far shown me not just clothed but in thick clothing too. It's even colder this morning.
Since this is my naturist blog, here's a pic of me posing with 100% Ελληνικo γάλα. Oh, in case that's Greek to you, it means 100% Greek milk. Just pretend I'm standing under the arched entrance of one of the very pretty Greek churches. It's Sunday today anyway. Cheers!

Too cold to go naked but I'm still a selfie addict.

Many of you have asked me why I haven't gone naked. It's too cold. The sun shines brightly every day but the temperature is just too low for even a comfy walk without a jacket.

The catamaran on the far left of this photo is the one that brought me to this island. I was fascinated by Hydra Island because it's the name of the many-headed monster that Hercules killed.

The food is good. The owner of this restaurant says his calamari which he caught this morning is the best in the whole world and I was amused at first because it didn't look very appetising  but when I sank my teeth into it, I had to admit he was right.

I realise I have a taste for the pork version of halal food. I love Greek food because of the Turkish influence but unlike Turkish food which has no pork, the Greeks have heaps of pork. There was so much pork on this plate that I wondered how many pigs were sacrificed for just this meal.

Finally, I had to have this coffee which is drunk everywhere. It's called Freddo cappuccino and it's not even remotely Italian.

All Greek to me

Eating a lovely pork souvlaki for lunch at a sidewalk restaurant in Athens. The beer was great but it was too strong for me. And of course the Greek alphabet needs some getting used to if you're on your own.

Naturism and the tropical sun

I had an argument with a friend just the other day. He insisted that there was no place in the tropics for nudity. The sun, he said, was too strong and our skin can't take too much of it. But that's rubbish. I would rather have a strong sun that a cold winter if I'm to go nude.

This afternoon, the sun was indeed very strong when I went out to feed my fish. So I wore my farmer's hat to protect myself from the sun. Nudity is perfectly suitable for the tropics.

Homophobia should have been long gone along with racism but...

It's the 21st century and homophobes should have long been extinct along with racists and slave traders. But alas, that is not the state of affairs in our world today.

In my country, there's an old section in the Penal Code which makes gay sex even in your own home an offence that is punishable with long-term imprisonment. Although the government has said that they will not invoke this section, there were people who were charged and prosecuted a few years ago under this section. 

Last night I met a friend for a drink. He was a teacher in my son's class at school many years ago. I don't normally meet the teachers of my kids but some years ago, my son came home to tell me that one of his teachers had admitted to the press in an interview that he was gay and was living with a partner. This made big news and soon parents were up in arms against the teacher. The boys at school insisted that he could not have been gay because he was nice! 

I immediately informed him that I was entirely on his side and I did all I could to tell off parents who tried to get me to protest against allowing gay teachers to teach in a boys' school. I told them that if gay teachers were not allowed to teach in a boys' school, neither should female teachers. What I said proved prophetic when a couple of years after that, a female teacher was caught having sex with one of the boys. But of course nobody blamed the incident on heterosexuality or the heterosexual agenda.

Anyway, he resigned from the school and is now teaching in Bangkok. When I told him I was in Bangkok, he suggested meeting in a gay bar in Silom. Since I had not been to a gay bar before, I thought that was a great opportunity for me. For those who have not been to a gay bar, it's no big deal. I wouldn't have known it was a gay bar if I had not been told of it.

This is a street lined on both sides with gay bars.

I had to get myself in the photo, of course.

Beer Chang of Thailand

Cheers!

I'm not much of a drinker. It's time for a Coke.

Cheers!!!

What to do in Bangkok

This is how I spend my day in Bangkok. I went for the hotel breakfast and I ate too much. I was hoping to go out for food but I can't now. I will skip the hotel buffet tomorrow so I can go out and eat delicious Thai food. For most people in the West, it may seem silly of me to spend my time doing what I'm doing in the pic below. Reading and watching BBC on the telly. Why not go on the boat down the river, go for the snake show, etc? But I've done all that. This is Thailand, a two-hour flight from my country. I must have been to this country at least hundreds of times. I was 4 years old when I first came to Bangkok. A two-hour flight is something like a Brit going to Munich. You don't want to go to Mariaplatz, etc if you are in Munich because you must have done that a dozen times. It's the same for me in Bangkok. But tonight, I'm meeting someone for a drink and I have a long story to tell. Until tonight, cheers!

One Night in Bangkok

That's the title of a song many years ago. I'll actually be here for a week. When you feel the need for lovely Thai food, this is the right place to be. No city in the world can churn out such a wide array of food and every morsel is delicious.

More on photography!!! How to look natural.

I'm pleased to say that I now have an adviser on photography. Since I lack artistry and my powers of observation are (if my wife is to be believed) non-existent, it will be very useful to have an adviser who can see more and can advise on photography, lighting and how to pose.

Anyway, my adviser suggests that I should post this pic because it's natural and I look serious (for a change).

I suppose in photography, it's much better when it's less posed. When I turn to face the camera and smile broadly and worse, when I raise my hand in greeting, you can't get more posed than that. Here, I was walking with a purpose, my mind was on something other than photography and so it's probably one of my most 'natural' photos so far.

My photography secret

I read once that we humans usually don't accept our shortcomings but I'm not like that at all. I know what my failings are and photography is one of them. Much as I love to take photos and selfies, I'm just the stereotypical Asian who takes thousands of lacklustre photos every day. 

My photos lack artistry and I don't know how to pose for a pic. Last year, someone online who has been following my blogs wrote to me with suggestions on how I could pose for artistic nude pics. I did some of his suggestions and they look pretty good but I was told the pose was a little artistic-erotic even though I can't see the 'erotic' part at all. But I won't post them because one of the main purposes of my blog is to promote naturism and I don't post anything that even has a hint of eroticism and even if I can't see it.

But there is one trick that I have used which seems to work a little. Knowing how bad I am at posing for a pic and how impossible it is for me to frame a photo artistically, I simply place my camera on a tripod and set it to take a pic every few seconds. One of them is sure to be presentable. It's the presentable ones that I post in my blog.

Here is one example. 

My wife always complains that I am blind to a lot of things. Whenever I take a photo with her and post it on social media, she never fails to be upset with the photo. But I can't see any difference between the photo that she disapproves of and the photo that has her blessing for posting online. What I do nowadays is when I take a photo with her, she will look at it. She will then say it's ok to post it or it's not ok. But her decision doesn't seem logical. Some photos that she rejects seem really good to me and some that she approves for posting appear nondescript. 

I decided to put my mind to it and I do the same for my photos, or at least I try to. For example the first photo in these two pics shows a rather plastic smile. It's not so natural. The second pic shows me with a more natural smile. I should delete the first and post the second?

I can only tell when I compare two photos. But my wife is different. She just looks at one photo and she either dismisses it forthwith or she tells me to post it. I don't know why she's so particular about what photo to post. To be honest, I don't care if either photo is posted or if both photos are posted. Both photos are photos of me doing the same activity. Unless a squirrel appears on one of the trees behind me in one photo and not in the rest, I really can't see the need to choose one and reject the other. 

What I normally do is to simply pick one pic to post in my blog. I won't bother to differentiate between them because I really don't see much of a difference. All this about unnatural smile, a smile that looks more like a grimace, etc mean nothing to me.

So, what's the secret of my photographs? Take a ton of them and at least one should be presentable. 

A man's home is his castle? Not if he's naked.

Two days ago, I stood  near the porch of my house applying BTI pellets in my drain. This part of my house is the least private part because when someone stands outside the gate, he can peep through the space close to the side of the gate and he will be able to see me. As I was busy working, I heard a car pull up just in front of my gate. I moved behind a bush and hid myself.

Is a man's home his castle? Not according to the law of the land. If someone from outside your property is able to see you naked in your house, you have committed an offence. Years ago, a couple from Hong Kong were charged under our obscenity law for walking naked from their kitchen  into their bathroom at about 5 in the morning and a nosey neighbour who saw them from a distance called the police.

I was a lot more fortunate. It turned out that the car had gone up the road to my house by mistake. I could hear the driver reversing the car and seconds later, the car was gone.

My security camera took a series of pics that captured the entire episode (see below). I love the fact that these are candid shots and there was no posing at all.

So, how much is a man's home his castle when he can't even walk in his front lawn in his own skin without watching for possible visitors looking in from outside his gate?

Oh, this is my photo diary and so here are the pics from my security camera:

Minding my own business and applying BTI pellets in the drain of my own front lawn:

Squatting down to conceal myself:

Walking away but looking out for more possible unexpected visitors:

Hair and the law

I just had my haircut yesterday. I have been asked why I keep my hair so short. There is something about my country that very few people in the West can even imagine. There was a time when the government had strict laws to discourage men from growing their hair long. Pop groups were not allowed into my country if the singers had long hair. Any man with long hair would be sent to the back of the queue in government offices.

I am glad this is no longer the law in my country. But it's still very common to see men with very short hair. There is compulsory conscription for all men and that means a crew cut for everyone enlisted. It's still a strict rule in schools that schoolboys must have short hair.

Am I a conformist in my country for keeping my hair short? The answer is an emphatic NO! Nobody in my country will believe I am a conformist. Everyone thinks of me as a rebel and I quite like that reputation. I keep my hair short because I generally don't feel comfortable with long hair anywhere on my body. It's the same reason why I don't keep a beard or a moustache. I am not conforming to social norms in my country by keeping my hair short. I just happen to feel more comfortable with short hair in this infernally hot and humid country.

Apart from showing my new haircut, this photo is also of significance because one of my fish actually made eye contact with me just as my camera snapped a pic. I set my camera to take a pic every second as I fed my fish and this is the only photo worth keeping.