Best Gay Blogs

The staff of BGB are now in the deep freeze. No - we haven't gone to Antarctica or anything. As you know we have been working very hard to get you a new BGB website. We are in the final phase of that project and are moving all the live data into the system. This will possibly take a few days and so we ask for your understanding and patience while we do the big move. Please feel free to look around and catch up on some of your favorite stories and reviews of past.

If you are visiting BGB for the first time, feel free to add your blog to our blogroll and we will gladly move it over to the new system once it goes live. For those who have recently added the blog to our blogroll, please give us about one week to catch up with the move and then we will convert all the outstanding blogroll entries to the new system.

Thanks.

Nick and Chad

From shy boy to hi boys: 20 years of being out gay and proud (1987-2007)

How could I possibly have let the twentieth anniversary of my coming out as gay go by without so much as an acknowledgement of it on my blog? Yet I did. It was actually a few days before my 20th birthday back in 1987 that I came out to someone for the very first time. I’m two months late. Perhaps, given the nature of the anniversary, I should say fashionably late, sweetie…

I came out to my ex-girlfriend before anyone else. She has since turned out to be a raging lesbian (she was always, I must say, a bit on the butch side) who called me up after not having been in touch for over a decade, a few years back, to ask me for my sperm. I declined to provide her with my reproductive fluids but was secretly pleased and complimented she thought of me as tadpole provider after all those years. She obviously considered me good stock. That, or she just wanted her kid to grow up to be six foot two with an aptitude for language skills…

Exploration Challenge

But anyway…

So much has happened in the past twenty years. Some of it fantastic, some of it… less so. I’ve fought major battles and lost as many, no doubt, as I won. I’ve seen ex-boyfriends rack up like stamps on a score card, breaking my heart only to be forgotten within years if not months or even weeks. I’ve had two long-term relationships, well, by today’s standards—certainly by gay standards of the past—one of them being five years long and that was four years too many, the other coming up to nine years of damn fine milky bar goodness. I met SunnyD in the eleventh year of my regeneration as an out gay man. He’s been good to me and for me.

I think I was being told by unseen forces to remember this spectacular life event today when I started listening to Barry Manilow’s I Write the Songs and I Made It Through the Rain–especially the last one, wow, that song is pertinent to the lives of most every gay man I have ever known—followed by Scissor Sisters’ Take Your Mama Out and Erasure’s live rendition of Oh L’Amour blended with their cover of Baccara’s Yes Sir I Can Boogie.

Not Sure What These Are...

I’m gobsmacked that I let this anniversary go by without a murmur until now. I intend to rectify the situation with a party, and soon. I must ask forgiveness from the gods of queerness—a libation of Bolinger, no doubt, poured over a copy of Vogue. Or perhaps I will buy that statuette of Madonna.

I’m so gay. Not all the time, only when I want to be. That’s freedom, choice, electing to be whole and true. And I love it. No offence intended to my straight friends, but I would hate to be straight because, well, because I’m not. It isn’t about the bedroom, what you do in it. It’s about so much more than that.

Talking of virgins—okay, Madonna, like a virgin touched for the very first time, tenuous I know, bear with me—I lost mine, virginity that is, after I came out. Not long after, mind, but it was definitely not before I’d accepted the idea and voiced it as personal truth. The kitchen table of an Anglican chaplaincy in Bangor may not sound very romantic—and it wasn’t—but it was certainly an eye-opener that proved to me everything I ever felt and knew was natural, and right. I was, for the first time in my life, complete as a person. I was finally able to ditch years of self-loathing and bullying by others, to build a confidence I had never known or thought I could achieve before.

Virgin

I went from shy boy to “hi boys!” in a matter of weeks. This being 1987 it wasn’t long before I was parading around central London in BOY cycle shorts, baseball cap and heaps of attitude that said, what are YOU looking at? I would never allow myself to be boxed in, made to lie, ever again. I threw the expectations of others out the window.

I Am What I Am.

I never looked back. Je ne regrette rien. Piaf. Now there was a torch singer, a true diva. Don’t get me wrong, I wish the terrible things that happened to me along the way of my life journey had never been. For the most part, though, I didn’t choose them. I didn’t make mistakes, other than to walk down this dark alley on the way home, or make friends with people who weren’t trustworthy or honourable.

The bad things in my life chose me. A man across the dancefloor taking a shine. Someone seeing ‘mug’ written on my forehead and going for gold…. The test of a life, though, isn’t in how often you’ve been a victim or victor. The truth is, it’s how you respond to everything life throws at you that makes you who you are. If you’re alive today, if you’re breathing air, you’re a winner.

I would not change anything I did, or anything that was done to me. If I did, if I were able to go back in time, I would risk unravelling who I am today, losing the friends I have, the lover I hold so dear. I could lose everything by wiping out one abusive event, one past relationship. No way.

Why?

Because I am happy with who I am. It is good to be me. I am not only a survivor, I am the champion of my own destiny. I make mistakes but so does everyone. Here’s to me, in a sentence that may be construed as egotistical but hopefully not inexcusably so. Here’s to gayness, and my contribution, small as it may be, to the overall shape and colour of it around the world today.

GAYrillas

Now, where’s my glass? Make sure it’s got a straw in it and a cherry on a stick.

Now, don’t all you self-righteous types get all ruffled about the title of this. It’s part of the culture, and from an objective stand one of the best blogs on the web. And with this interview you actually get two for one. The author, Rob, blogs at both Confessions of a Male Whore and Ziggy's Lounge.

While both are clearly of adult nature, it’s interesting to see that the former is geared more toward words and stories than the latter. But both are interesting and well executed; you’ll see from this interview Rob has taken his blogs to a professional level.

How did you get into this?

This is actually my second blog. I have another blog known well to Best Gay Blog readers as Ziggy's Lounge. This was a site that became very adult in nature and I wanted to have an outlet where I could be a bit less risqué and that was relatively work-safe. Originally, I got into blogging to make friends and build relationships with other bloggers.

Why did you get into this?

Again, this was mostly to make friends, to build relationships with fellow bloggers and to have a place where I could really let it all hang out and just be me.

Could you define the title of the blog in your own words?

My blog title, "My Life on the "G" List" came to me after thinking of one of my favorite comedians, Kathy Griffin. Those who know Kathy know about her show called "My Life on the "D" List" in which she talks candidly about NOT being on Hollywood's "A" list. I used her as my inspiration, and came up with "My Life on the "G" List" with the "G" of course representing GAY. I try to keep things very light-hearted on my blog, and often times candid.

Was starting this blog difficult, from a technical POV?

Not really. Having already done a blog on Blogger, using Wordpress has been pretty simple. Once you learn all the tricks and get the bugs out, you're good to go. The second time around, things were not too hard, um...I mean difficult. LOL

What personal satisfaction do you get out of it?

The personal satisfaction I get is mostly the satisfaction that others get from reading my blog. The comments I receive from friends and readers bring me a lot of personal pride. Knowing that others out there care about me and my life and what I write is why I do this...not to mention that I will often blog about things that affect us all in the gay community.

Is the photo on the profile page really you?

Yes...that's really me...in all of my glory...well, not ALL of it. I have to leave a bit to the imagination! Hehe

How much is taken from real experience?

What I have learned from the experience of blogging is that if you can't be real and be yourself all the time, you probably shouldn't be doing it. Life is reality. There are good times and bad times...there is joy and there is sorrow...and you have to be willing to lay it all out there. People can see right through you if you're fake, and most people I know, including my readers and fellow bloggers would not read my blog if I weren't authentic and honest with them. Did I answer the question? LOL All of it is taken from real experience.

Is there a difference between a male whore and a male slut?

I think there is definitely a difference. When I think of the word "whore," I think of someone who is paid for sex. I think of someone who makes a living by using his or her body and looks to make money and earn a living that way. When I think of someone who is a slut, like myself (did I just say that out loud?? hahaha), I think of someone who enjoys having sex a lot with many partners. I have spent many years casually visiting bookstores and baths and bars having a good time with a lot of guys...and I have never been paid for it. I do it because I enjoy it and because I enjoy being the promiscuous gay man I am...no promises, no regrets. I consider myself a male slut...definitely not a male whore.

Is it expensive to write a blog like this?

I use a free service, so no, it is not expensive. If you mean from a time perspective, I guess it all depends on how much and how often you write. But I don't consider it an expense to write and give my time to my readers...it's a privilege.

What are your goals here?

My goals are to enrich, enlighten and educate my readers. If what I write does one or more of those things for my readers, I feel that what I do is meaningful. I also enjoy meeting new people and making new friends, and my blog helps me in that process.

Where do you see the blog going in the future?

I am hopeful that my blog will continue to thrive and that I will attract more readers by word of mouth and by links from other blogs. I am likewise hopeful that it will continue to grow and further educate and entertain the people who stop by to read it. I find that writing a blog can be very therapeutic and I am anxious to see how much I continue to grow and learn from others.

Have you made any contacts of interest with the blog?

I have made several contacts of interest with this blog, yes. And I anticipate I will make many more. There are some amazing, wonderful people out there that without blogging I would never have had the chance to meet and call a friend. I am hopeful that someday I will get to meet some of these friends in person. Several of them have really changed my life for the better, and I hope someday to give them a real-life hug and let them know just how much they have impacted my life.

There’s a blogger over at Breakfast In Bed who manages to keep it simple, professional and very diverse. His name is Lawrence Schimel, and his bio page is impressive to say the least: “Ex-pat writer (sounds like such a cliché!) living in Madrid for the past eight plus years. I write for a living, all sorts of things: mostly fiction, lately a lot of children's books--writing in both Spanish and English--but in my checkered literary past there are all sorts of oddities, like a cookbook, 15 astrology titles, a biography of tennis players Venus & Serena Williams, etc. I also translate some, mostly from Spanish into English: children's books, film scripts, the promotional magazine for a Spanish bodega, a series of pamphlets to accompany 70 model trains to be sold in weekly installments via kiosks in the UK...

Before leaving NYC I was the co-chair of the Publishing Triangle for two years. For five years, I was the Spain Regional Advisor for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.”

He’s also a lambda award winner with PoMoSEXUALS and has been a finalist eleven times. He recently created and edited a collection of short stories for Alyson Books titled, BEST DATE EVER, which was just released this month.

What prompted you to begin blogging?

Many years ago I had been active on bulletin boards, particularly GEnie (which had a strong writing community) and then in college on bitnet and to a much lesser degree on AOL. So blogging was actually a return to that sort of communal online activity, although in a much more open and public way (since it isn't limited only to people who belong to that particular service).

How long ago did you begin?

I started my current blog on December 2, 2003.

Why livejournal, and was it difficult to initiate?

I first got hooked on LJ because of the Science Fiction/Fantasy community. I was at the World Fantasy Convention, and a number of writers I know--many of whom I also knew from the days of GEnie--were talking about their LiveJournals. Back then, you needed an invite to start one, and someone gave me one so I could read her blog. But I found it to be quite simple, and much more intuitive than many other blogging software I've explored since. And I find that a lot of other communities I'm interested in--queer, kidzbook, Jewish, etc.--also have large LJ presences.

How would you describe the theme of your blog?

My blog goes in phases, I guess, and it is about as eclectic as my life. I post a lot about my writing and editing projects, which include everything from children's books written in Spanish to poetry to gay erotica written in English, but I also post about travel and sometimes odd bits or links that I think readers of my blog (at least those who comment often so I have more of a feel for what they like) will find of interest.

I tend to post a lot about what I'm reading, too; living in Spain, I don't have that much community here of people reading the same sorts of things I do, in many cases because they're often not yet translated. (Although, my boyfriend is a translator from English, so for the past 9 months I have had more of that at home, as it were.) But I've built up a community of other readers whose tastes I trust, and whose LiveJournals I read in part to see what they're enjoying lately (since I might also like those books).

When I was single, I used to post a lot more about my dating adventures.

And then, when I wound up in my current relationship, oddly enough I didn't blog about it in my own blog because a startup website was paying me to be their dating columnist, and so most of those stories got written up there for the few months that the site lasted, and I'd simply post a link to the site for those who were interested in following my dating adventures. Now that the site is down, I write more about us, but I guess the relationship is still so new that I am, in many ways, still sort of "hoarding" the boyfriend as it were as part of my private as opposed to public life.

As an editor and writer in "traditional" publishing, do you set certain standards for your blog...are there different rules?

I probably should be more careful with some of my blog posts, but at the same time, it is more like emails... one tries to make sure they're well-punctuated and everything, but often, especially in haste, one does make typos and so on. I am not the kind of blogger who composes mini-essays offline and then uploads them. (I am also not the best of typists, in part because I think much faster than I can type so my fingers get all tangled sometimes!)

Do you have limits...lines you won't cross (nudity, erotica, whatever)...as far as content goes?

I think I label any time I post anything with erotic content and hide it behind a cut so people have to click on the link to see it within the post, in case people don't want to read that.

It is a courtesy, I think, especially since many people follow my blog for my kidzbooks or other non-erotic writings, and I can respect that, just as I ask that they respect that these are subjects I blog about on occasion.

My feeling--about life, writing, etc.--has always been that sex is a natural part of life and should also be a natural part of our literature. That's why I don't have any problems publishing books of erotica, whether my own stories (like my recent collection TWO BOYS IN LOVE from Seventh Window, which blend romance and erotica) or anthologies (like THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF NEW GAY EROTICA which will be published in May).

Is your blog more on the personal side, or the professional....political?

It's a mix of personal and professional (book-related) stuff.

I am never sure if the readers of my blog like the one side more than the other.

I usually try and keep a mix, of not going too many of one type of entry without posting something from the other, although a lot of that depends on what's going on in my life, I guess.

I don't blog in order to get comments, obviously, but it does sometimes surprise me as to what entries seem to get the strongest responses. Just when I think it's the personal stuff, a personal entry will go unremarked upon and the next professional one will get a ton of replies.... So basically I just blog what I think is relevant from what's going on in my life, personal and professional.

Has an interested reader ever tried to ask you out?

Not necessarily asked me out, although I have had times when guys I'd met at bars or on gay sites like gayromeo.com made reference to things I posted in my blog when I didn't know they had tracked it/me down... Not quite google-stalking, since it is a public forum (and I, of course, myself google any man I am thinking about dating), but I did have one of those "Oh!" surprise moments (especially since they just casually dropped the info that I knew we hadn't discussed into conversation, without saying "Hey, I found your blog!")

How does your comment thread work (do you screen; is it open?), and have you encountered any blog trolls on the thread?

I find that mostly my comment thread is used by fellow LiveJournalers, although for now I do keep it open to allow anonymous posting (i.e. people without an LJ account). I do prefer that non-LJ users identify themselves and list their non-LJ blog (if they have one). One thing about having an LJ account, even if you don't blog with it but just use it for posting, is that it allows you to hear if there are any responses to your comment, since LJ will send you an email notifying you of such (if you have it turned on). So non-LJ-users won't necessarily be as easily aware of the continuation of dialogue in response to their comment, by me or someone else.

I've found that the majority of non-LJ readers of my blog tend to email me, though, in response to blog entries, rather than posting anonymously.

I do get some spam as a result of keeping the comment thread open, but I do love hearing from people who've read my work (my books or other published writings).

Has blogging helped you with your work as a writer and editor?

I'd say definitely.

As a writer, who is interacting with both a community of fellow writers in different genres, seeing what they're doing, getting inspired (or jealous!) or otherwise having an idea sparked by some of the things they're talking about... And also from readers, who comment on things (questions on projects I am working on that I post about) and might make me think about something in a different way.

Plus the whole networking thing--to other writers, to readers, to editors, etc.

And in terms of editing anthologies, there are people I've worked with after getting to know them through their blogs. And in my latest project, the anthology FIRST PERSON QUEER that I am co-editing with Richard Labonté for publication by Arsenal Pulp Press in November 2007, we specifically contacted a handful of queer bloggers when we sent out our call for submissions. (It's an anthology of short first-person essays from the broad cross-spectrum of contemporary queer experience, so in some ways it's like a collection of long blog essays.)

A lot of bloggers claim the process is cathartic. Is this so for you, too?

Definitely. Although I perhaps am a little too addicted to my blog and keeping up with the blogs I read regularly (and the ones I read irregularly).

As addicted as I am to checking my email, perhaps...

Which is sometimes too much, according to the beau (not that I disagree!). :-)

What are some of the blogs you read and have any of them inspired you at all?

One can see the LJ blogs I read by checking my "friends" list, which is essentially my default LJ blog reading list. (Some of them are, in fact friends, but others are just blogs I follow.)

I actually have friends whose blogs I don't read regularly because they do too many memes or they write too often about subject that don't interest me enough (TV shows or anime or something).

I am used to the LJ F-list way of reading, so I tend to read blogs that are not at least syndicated to LJ much more sporadically.

And I'm glad that some of my reference blogs, like www.queerwriters.com, which I'd recommend for anyone interested in markets for queer writing, are not syndicated on LJ so I can read them as part of my F-list.

Where do you see your blog going in the future...or blogging in general?

I guess that all depends on what my own future holds in store, no?

It's a weird balancing act, I guess. On the one hand, one hopes that what one blogs about is of interest to others.

On the other, I don't think I'd be happy just blogging about the thing I thought my readers wanted to read about. I'm happy to write to request if someone's paying me, but in many ways, people read my blog to get a feel of me/my life and what I'm thinking about, so...

Blogging in general is, I think, becoming an ever-more-important and vital way of communicating.

It's still developing, and people are still learning the etiquette of it, but I'm glad it's out there and to be a part of this ever-expanding online community.

From Daily Blog Tips:

The load time of websites is one of the most important factors affecting its usability; most Internet users will just skip a site altogether if it fails to load within a couple of seconds. Below you will find the summary of the “Speed Up Your Site” series. Those are simple yet effective ways to make sure that your website is running fast. You can click on each point to read the article with comments from the readers.

1. Optimize Images: always use the “Save for the web” feature included on image editing software. Images represent the heavier load on virtually any website so make sure you are optimizing them. Alternatively you can also turn to an online image optimizer.

2. Image Formats: apart from optimizing images it is important that you choose the right format. JPEG format is suitable for photographs or true-color images. The GIF format should be used with flat-color images like logos or buttons. PNG works very similar to GIF but it supports more colors.

3. Optmize Your CSS: most websites are designed with CSS nowadays. Make sure to aggregate and clean your CSS. CleanCSS is an online tool that will merge similar selectors, remove useless properties and remove the whitespace from your code.

4. Use a Slash on Your Links: when a user opens a link on the form “http://www.domain.com/about” the server will need to figure what kind of file or page is contained on that address. If you include a slash (/) at the end of the link the server will already know that this is a directory page, reducing the load time of the site.

5. Use the Height and Width Tags: many people forget to add the Height and Width tags on image codes. Those tags will make sure that the browser knows the size of the image before loading it. The result is that it will reserve a spot for the images while loading the rest of the page, speeding up the whole process.

6. Reduce the HTTP Requests: when opening a web page every object (images, scripts and the line) will require a round trip to the server. This latency can add several seconds to the load time of your site. Make sure to reduce the number of objects and to combine CSS files and scripts together.

How do you get your readers to not attack one another?

From Duane:

Let’s play nice, alright?

It has come to my attention that there are people that read my blog, comment on my blog, and want to comment on my blog that feel a certain and specific sense of unnecessary negative attack from those that defend their points so vigorously, that they feel the need to personally attack people, and make others seem like idiots in order to “prove their point”. I wish I didn’t need to say anything, because I honestly believe that when people argue in that style, that it makes them seem like the juvenile ones, or the idiots themselves (since this is the only way they feel they can emerge victorious from debate), but since it has been addressed to me personally by someone who reads my blog, I feel the need to say this:

Don’t attack the people that read or comment my blog personally because they don’t agree with your opinions. Stick to the point, and actually argue your position; by sticking to the subject, and refraining from calling people terrorists because they don’t agree with you, or continually saying “LIBERAL” at the top of your lungs to future hammer home how crazy they are, instead of coming across as a narrow minded asshole, you will actually come across as educated and able to offer a different opinion. This type of debate and dialogue is much more productive in trying to get each side to see the potential for truth in a differing of opinion, and is much more fruitful. Let’s face it, if you say, “I’m right, and you’re wrong because you are a terrorist sympathizing idiotic asshole”, I don’t care if you are pointing out that the sky is blue, you have instantly turned me off to your opinion because you are trying to belittle me into believing it. That doesn’t work, and takes away any ability for you to seem credible and actually argue an opinion that may have factual points. Again, taking a stance with dialogue that does NOT resort to a personal attack on people that may share the same views as I do is essential to future commenting here on this blog; because you don’t have to do that to prove a point… people are more likely to believe you if you stick to the facts and stay away from attacking their intelligence.

So here’s what I want to see in the future: Argue all you want, feel free to say what you want, but please refrain from going for the throat and personally attacking people that don’t agree with you. It makes them want to ignore you, and honestly, it makes you seem like a bully, and in fact, provides us with evidence that a bully is probably what you actually are. I know that you probably don’t want that, and I know that I would rather see a productive dialogue, rather than see a finger pointing shout fest. I personally hope that everyone can hold a certain code of conduct with regards to arguing their opinion, and refrain from personally attacking other people in the future; all under the guise of “well, I’m right and they aren’t”; because it is clear to me, that it is turning people OFF. What we want, instead, is a dialogue, okay?

The best way to get someone to ignore what you are saying is to continually insult them or their intelligence when you argue your points; that is something that needs to be realized and accommodated for in future debates, okay? I hope that this post will foster more productive, and less personally attacking debates; I want everyone to be heard without fear of personal derogatory attacks for no reason other than disagreement. The most important point of this post, is that those personal attacks are not only unnecessary, they are just bullying tactics that people use to defend themselves when they realize they may be wrong, or don’t want to see that someone else could be right. I know that certainly, no one wants that to be the way they come across, now, right?

So, for the future, let’s play nice, kids! Everyone deserves the respect that you are given, so think about that when you argue!

For our beloved Cool Hunting readers they have one more giveaway this week. From the stack of CD's on Ami's desk, they have chosen 8 new albums that have been on rotation at the office lately. Six of the following are available for the giveaway but two of them won't be out until this Summer. Follow the contact link at the bottom of the page linked here, select "Music Giveaway" from the pull-down menu and send them a message before this Tuesday, 17 April 2007, 11:59pm EST. They will chose a winner at random from the submissions.

Fabriclive.33 by Spank Rock is another great mash up, mix down, remix album of some party favorites you know and some you don't (above left).

Miguel Migs successfully blends electronic music with live instrumentation in Those Things. Horns and hand drums are sprinkled throughout, texturizing repetitive synthy electronic beats (above center).

Precise beats complemented by celestial backgrounds ground Nymph's digitized voice in Geek Pop Star (above right).
OurTheory.jpg TheSecretHandshake.jpg LCDSoundsystem.jpg

Fluttery trumpets and saxophones mix with trip-hop and electronic samples to form a cohesive blend of diverse musical disciplines in Our Theory by Nublu quintet, Ersahin Truffaz Madsen Rueckert Penman (above left).

The Secret Handshake is an electronic indie blend of pop music that is sure to climb the charts. Our favorite track is the Spank Rock remix on the title track Summer of 98 (above center).

My favorite from this group is the new LCD soundsystem, Sound of Silver. Driving beats coupled with witty lyrics and surprisingly good vocals come together in his best record to date. Stay tuned for a Cool Hunting video on LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, currently in the works (above right).
DjJazzyJeff.jpg

DJ Jazzy Jeff's, The Return Of The Magnificent, features guests like CL Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, Method Man and J Live among others. Jeff, the first hip-hop producer to win a grammy, calls this latest effort his best ever. Not out until late May 2007 (left).
HotChipDJkicks.jpg

Due out in the Summer 2007, Dj Kicks brings together Etta James and Ray Charles along side Positive K, New Order and others in Hot Chip, an eclectic but great album.

brought to us by Daily Blog Tips

In the early days of the Internet when a domain name expired it was already available for other people to register it. Nowadays the process is more complex; the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) created what is called “Grace Period” to protect the registrants.

The Daily Domainer blog has an interesting article titled “Expired – But Not Gone” describing the process in detail. Basically once a domain expires it enters into the “Auto Renew Grace Period”. This period usually lasts 30 days and the owner of the domain is able to renew anytime during that time frame. Should the owner fail to renew the domain it will enter into the Redemption period.

The registrar becomes the owner of the domain on this period, and it will try to sell the domain through auctions or retain it in the case it generates PPC revenues. Finally if the domain is not sold through an auction and if it is also not generating revenues the registrar will release it.

Congrats Tony!

From Tony:

Today marks one year of posts on the LARGETONY Blog. If I posted every day, that is. The blog has actually been in publication for two years and seven months (as of yesterday), but it took this long to come up with 365 posts. So, maybe it’s better to say that today marks one year’s worth of posts.

Tucked in the archives is a year of random rants, sex, stories of Granny, humor, memories of my mama, hump day hunks, memes, Jake, and of course football (only four and a half months until the new season!).

In a way it’s kind of fitting that it took me more than two and a half years to come up with a year of posts. It mirrors the timing of football games. A game can take three or more hours even though it’s only one hour of actual playing time. (Just be glad I’m not as slow as baseball.)

I know of several blogs going about as long as I have that surpassed me long ago in posting. I’m often awed at their ability to go full steam like that and still haven’t shot their wads. It’s not that I have a hair trigger, I just prefer to mix it up a bit. Go a little slow for a while, pick up the pace enough to take you to another level, then bring it down again to where you think it just might be over, then hit you with it deep and powerful. Add a few twists and angles, maybe something you never experienced before, and hold off as long as I can. (Cigarette, anyone? :-) )

I’ve also seen blogs start later, post like crazy, then fizzle out. Maybe there is something to that story of the tortoise and the hare. Hopefully this tortoise will make it to the end. Like all blogs, this one will end one day. Actually, I already know when that day is. It’s still a ways off, but you all know how I am about order, so you shouldn’t be surprised I have set the date.

But, until that time I’ll continue to discuss the attorney, keep you abreast of Granny, try to ease off on football and Jake (I said try), and maybe do a meme or two.

In honor of post #365, I thought I’d pull out a few of my particular favorites (in no particular order) from the first #364. I’d be curious to know what your favorites (if you have one) have been.

15,768,000 Minutes

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As you know, BGB is getting ready to launch it's new website very soon (our coders are converting all the existing data over as we speak). As part of this effort we are looking for volunteer staff writers to act as regular contributors (one piece every week or two depending on your availability).

What do you get from the deal?

-Lots of love and attention from Nick and Chad
-Surprise gifts at unexpected times
-Love and hate from your fellow gay bloggers
-In our new design we will be revealing the by lines of the pieces for writers who want the individual credit
-An opportunity to have some fun with a great group of guys and a couple of gals

If you are interested in these perks and want to become a staff writer for BGB, please send a writing sample and bio to staff@bestgayblogs.com. Selections will be made between now and the launch of the new BGB site. As part of this, we will provide training to all our writers on how to use the back-end of the new system to enter your writing pieces, make edits, and take ownership of your personal publications.

On Top Down Under is a nice place to visit if you’re from “down under”, but it’s also an interesting place if you’re not. We contacted this blogger early this week for an in depth interview and he was more than happy to accommodate us. The interview not only explains the blog from his point of view, but also explains a few things most readers might take for granted…like the title, of course.

How long have you been blogging?

Ive been blogging a year now, in fact my anniversary is coming up on the 20th of April. I cant believe how fast that's gone by....

What sparked your interest in blogging?

I honestly don't know. I didn't really even read blogs before I started my own. I remember surfing the net one day and stumbling upon a couple of gay blogs and being so caught up in them that I decided I would have to replicate them. So I did. But in a very Kiwi way.

Is the photo on the profile page actually you?

I wish!! The guy is hot, and if he’s out there he needs to come find me. I found that pic on the net somewhere and just fell in love with it so I used it as my first banner and themed my blog around it. Since then I have changed background colours and banners a few times but always stayed with the same profile pic because I just can’t let him go.

Could you please, in as much detail as possible, define the wonderful title of this blog?

The title.... I'm totally proud of the title of my blog, it has a few connotations.
I originally stole it from an underwater amusement park place in New Zealand called Kelly Tarltons, it’s their slogan. Me and a friend used to say it randomly in the middle of lectures at Uni, I still have no idea why, though there is guaranteed to be a personal joke behind it somewhere.

But of course it works well for me being a kiwi as we are definitely downunder. I guess I still feel like New Zealand is not that recognised in the world because of our distance and size. We hear horror stories about people asking if we are joined to Australia by a harbour bridge. So it signifies to people where I am.

And then of course there are always the sexual connotations behind it that just seemed too perfect to me. It’s like my critique on the gay world I guess..... Depending on which way you look at it, it encompasses both sexual positions or perhaps just that of a top from downunder, or a bottom who is 'on top'. I haven't honestly given it that much though, except to say I like the play on words it offers.

I’d actually like to see what other people interpret it as....

Ahem, well, what are some of the blogs that inspired you?

Inspired me... I guess the ones that inspired me are the ones that I read daily. The ones that even if I only have 5 minutes spare I always visit. They are:

The Underground notes
How was your day, Dan
Debriefing the boys
Completely Naked
Electricblue 04

I think each of these guys is a just a great story teller. They each have a unique writing style, yet people can totally relate to them, and it’s reflected in the fact that they are popular blogs.

Are there limits you've set with this blog when it comes to content?

Content wise I try and keep it pretty clean. I don't think there is much about my blog that is not safe for work. I decided really early on that I wouldn't include naked pictures and that it would be a pretty much porn free place to be. Other then that I will approach pretty much any subject, though I tend to stick to the lighter side of life. I’ll only get political if I really feel opinionated about something.

How much time do you spend working on the blog?

I'm going to break the mould and say very very little time. I don't tend to think about what I am going to post, which may or may not be reflected in the quality of my writing. I just sit down and then type whatever I'm thinking at the time. So I would say about 20 minutes a day if I'm lucky. If I decide to do one of my revamps and make new banners and change colours I can easily kill a few hours playing round but I think I'm a pretty lazy blogger.

Was it difficult to get started?

Yeah it was. I think the very beginning was interesting; I really didn't have a direction. I was torn between making it a blog about gay issues, or a blog with few words and lots of naked pics. Then I decided that I would just make it a blog about me, I know what a boring topic. But I guess it was just a case of realising that being a lazy blogger I would never spend enough time tracking down worthwhile pics or sourcing interesting gay content, so I needed to talk about a topic that I already knew lots about... and I was only really left with one topic.
Since then though its been all good, I just write what I'm thinking or feeling, sometimes its random, sometimes funny, never profound.

Are there "places" you simply won't go while blogging?

Yeah, so far I have avoided pretty much all mention of my sex life. I just don't feel I need to share every part of my life. Plus all my friends read my blog and I still want to be able to look them in the eye. So I talk about the guys I think are hot but never what I do with guys, that's for me to know.

What are your future goals as a blogger?

I honestly don't know. Just keep doing what I'm doing, I have a small reader base, and that's kinda the way I like it. I'm certainly not out to win fans or have a big following, I just like to blog and will see where it leads me.

How is your comment thread set up, and, have you encountered any "troll" comments lately?

Comments.... well its kind of open season. Anyone can come and comment, I like to know people are there. Troll comments... no I haven't actually (touch wood), though it may be kinda fun every one in a while, spice things up a little bit.

shindotv http://shindotv.blogspot.com
35 year old writer and teacher shares some great photos and stories...
Design: 3 Writing Style: 4 Content: 3 Personal: 3 Unique: 3 Updated: 3 Informative: 3

Sheldon's Personal Journal http://corkum22.livejournal.com
California singer pictured above with some good blog content...
Design: 3 Writing Style: 3 Content: 4 Personal: 3 Unique: 4 Updated: 3 Informative: 3

PlanoG http://www.planog.com
We had someone translate the Portuguese on the about page only to learn it was Wordpress filler...
Design: 4 Writing Style: 3 Content: 3 Personal: 2 Unique: 3 Updated: 4 Informative: 3

HomerSexual's ExPatter http://homersexual.wordpress.com
Bryan is a native United States citizen currently living and working in Prague...
Design: 3 (banner?) Writing Style: 4 Content: 3 Personal: 4 Unique: 3 Updated: 3 Informative: 3

Gayazine http://gayazine.blogspot.com/
18 Year old from Madison blogs about his life and interests
Design: 3 Writing Style: 3 Content: 3 Personal: 3 Unique: 3 Updated: 3 Informative: 3

Freelance Cynic http://www.freelanceCynic.com
The Freelance Cynic aims to bring a ray of darkness to an otherwise dreary light...
Design: 3 Writing Style: 3 Content: 3 Personal: 3 Unique: 4 Updated: 3 Informative: 2

DesignerBlog http://www.designerblog.blogspot.com
Extremely active, middle-aged gay man, theatrical designer, teacher and arts administrator working and teaching at MIT
Design: 2 Writing Style: 4 Content: 3 Personal: 4 Unique: 3 Updated: 3 Informative: 4

Brett http://www.spruiked.com
The ramblings of a kiwi lad banished to Jakarta for (as yet) undisclosed crimes...
Design: 4 Writing Style: 4 Content: 3 Personal: 3 Unique: 3 Updated: 3 Informative: 3

Press Play http://gayspressplay.blogspot.com
24yo Hispanic just keeping it real with some adult content
Design: 2 Writing Style: 3 Content: 3 Personal: 3 Unique: 3 Updated: 4 Informative: 2

Scale: 5-The Best, 4-One of the best, 3-Average, 2-Less than average, 1-Just crap

Of course we love our favorite bloggers, like Dan Renzi, and like to go back every now and then to write an updated review of their blogs. And this one is still going as strong as ever, and Dan is just as adorable as ever, too. This is one of those blogs where you will read about life experience combined with a pop culture slant (politics mixed in every now and then; a bit of American Idol here and there) that, unlike so many other sections of mainstream/gay publishing who like to mimic, is completely original. In other words, there is no hidden “Sex in the City” agenda here and you really can’t compare this blog to anything else. Oh yes, we’ve all seen those blurbs about this one or that one, where the lives of single gay men are compared to the girls on the HBO series, but most of us usually wonder what’s the point. Because gay men aren’t anything like single women; and most don’t want to be either. This is nothing more than the mainstream press (and publishers) reaching for ways to sell material; just ploys to try and explain what they don’t understand, which leave the rest of us nodding our heads in confusion (could this be one of the reasons books aren’t selling these days?).

So. It’s with great praise and respect that we turn our attention over to a young gay man who writes an original blog, lives and authentic life and apologizes to no one. His blog is praised on his own comment page, and we receive quite a bit of e-mail at BGB from readers and fans who almost beg us to write about him more often. Here’s a recent post about crying that portrays Dan in a more sensitive light:

“Can you cry?

Now I can't cry at all. I wish I could. I have a headache from everything being bottled up. And rather than sitting here staring out a window, I want to just get over it. And I'd be able to, if I could get it out of my head. It would feel so good, just to be able to relax.

Well, if you take a look at the comment thread (please do, just to see more of what this blog is about) it’s filled with advice and commentary about crying; some can identify; others offer suggestions. But in the end it’s all about one thing: Dan knows what he’s doing, and he’s doing it very well, indeed.

BGB is proud to present "Virtual Date". Here's how this will work:

If you or a gay blogger you know would like to be virtually matched up with another gay blogger please send an email to staff@bestgayblogs.com.

BGB will review the two gay blogs and profiles, conduct an interview with both bloggers and creatively deliver a virtual date experience as interpreted by BGB with the input of a qualified therapist to help describe what we envision would be the result of such a matching up.

The only rule: both bloggers must agree to participate and any actual interactions between the bloggers may or may not be the responsibility of BGB, LLC.

Just think of it - you want to be matched up with someone half the world away...now is your chance.

OK - got the concept? Now send us your creative ideas...

What Imus said is deplorable. But have we gone a bit to far here? This is a show in which its success is based on "shock" humor. As a Catholic should I not be offended every week when they have a disgraceful impression of Cardinal Egan who sounds like a drunk Irish priest? As a conservative should I not be offended when he portrays Rush Limbaugh as a racist drug addict? As a Republican should I not be offended when he calls President Bush the worst disaster in American history?

In a New York minute, he says a terrible thing about the Rutgers team and Imus finally feels the heat. But from the things I described above, isn't this all just part of the act of Imus?

Should we judge him on the same sense of humor that has made his show a hit over the past twenty years? One of the most listened to morning shows across the nation, syndicated as well on cable. This is a man who raises millions of dollars every to fly sick children with cancer out to his ranch to give them a new lease on life. He is impartial as to the race or creed of the children that are flown to his ranch.

He has also raised millions of dollars to help fight Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Should he not be given a pass this once because of all of his good deeds?

When will this media driven political world move beyond the drive by attacks on personalities based on the maligned intent of what a person said.

Last year before the general election, Senator John Kerry referred to our military personal as being "stupid". What he said though was taken out of context. He was not actually implying that only stupid people are in our armed forces. I believe the Senator admires our armed forces. Heck, he served once himself.

A few years ago Rush Limbaugh was called a racist for claiming that Donovan McNabb was overrated because he was black. Yet, Limbaugh was only making the point that McNabb was over-hyped by the media because of his race. It was a critique of the media, not the race of McNabb.

Stones are being thrown in a fast and furious manner towards Imus. I think its time that the mainstream media take a step back, and nutheads like the Reverend Al Sharpton should let sleeping dogs lie. I mean what good has he done for the people in Harlem? He uses their misery to make a profit for himself. He fought every step of the way against welfare reform in the 1990's. The very welfare reform that has helped millions of African American get off of government dependency, and find themselves in free market sector as viable workers.

Maybe Sharpton should apologize to the people he claims to represent before he continues his castration of Imus by stone.

GetThemLaid is a new site where you can post a description and pictures of your friends who really need to, well, have some real world social interaction. Anyone have a friend that could use a helping hand?

Is that just wrong?

Tell us a bit about yourself…

Age:
I’m truly shocked…what an indiscreet question. But ok, if you insist, both Yann and I are 37, and I would appreciate it if you could post this in smaller type – ha ha ha – but then again, we look so much younger…really… specially in the summer when we spend some quality time on the beaches of Ibiza. And Egon, what can I say, the guy is ageless….

Relationship status:
Yann and I we are a couple since, well, forever… No seriously, what happened to us is something we wish would happen to everyone. We found each other and were able to sustain a 500km long distance relationship for several years before we moved in with each other here in Paris. This year we have our 10th anniversary and yes, we still keep it spicy… Egon is a very good friend, and our secret weapon. Meaning if there is a writers blog or a creative black hole, Egon is our shining knight on a white horse.

Career/Industry:
Speaking for the three of us I can say graphic design, travel and entertainment business journalism. All three of us have full full full time jobs. On top of that we also run a small gay bed & breakfast, and boy, that takes time…but it is fun to do.

Hobbies:
Besides the standard things as reading, music, film, etc… Egon is a very skilled photographer, Yann likes pretty much everything that has to do with outdoors, and Rob is sucker for house decoration, meaning the heavy stuff like painting and working on furniture. That of course is a bit of a problem sometimes. I mean really, there is only so much you can do in a house within a given time.

Special Skills:
Well, let me think…first I’m a natural blond. Does that count as a skill? Ok what else, Yann is French and always horny, I’m Dutch and sing shameless in the shower (and on the toilet if I’m sure that there is no one home) and Egon is Austrian and has the cutest dog, a collection of baseball caps and leather jock straps. We all speak English together, eventhough we all live in Paris and could manage a decent French conversation. I guess my lack of French knowledge is to blame for that, but that is hardly a skill. We all try to take life not too serious. We laugh a lot and have fun.

Your “type”:
Anything goes, as long as he has a good appetite… uh, does that sound cheap?

Anything interesting about you:
Besides our skills? You’ve got to be kidding me…
Well, let’s go back to the bed & breakfast. We live in the center of Paris and operate this gay b&b at home – http://bnbparis.free.fr. It takes a lot of organization skills (hey..skills), but it is really fun to do. We meet so many interesting people from all over the world, and we like to take good care of them. Really, you should come and try it for a weekend or so. I’m sure we can work out a nice discount for your readers and sex is not obliged – ha ha ha… (sorry for this shameless self-promotion).

Tell us about your blog:
We started the blog in order to create more exposure for our gay bed & breakfast, but as it turned out, that wasn’t really necessary. I guess that fact that we always run through the house half naked is all the publicity we need to keep the house filled with guests - lol. So we got the idea that it would be nice to create exposure and publicity for people who mean or could mean something in the gay surroundings. There are so many talented and sexy gay men out there who deserve some attention, and we like to bring them closer to their potential audience. It seems to be a quite appreciated concept considering the positive responses and requests we get from both sides. Of course the fact that we scatter some nudity over our site might have something to do with that as well.

Birth of blog:
BEAUTIFUL shyly saw it’s first light in August 2005, but we really brought it to life in September, so that makes Beautiful about 8 months old now.

Intended Audience:
Everybody is welcome, but BEAUTIFUL is definitely focused on international gay men. Eventhough we don’t show hard core porn, we do like to present our men naked every now and then, in several stages of excitement, so a legal age is required.

Number of daily visitors:
It varies between 6,500 and 7,500 and is still growing, depending on what is ‘growing’ on Beautiful that day.

If you could sum up your blog in one sentence, what would it be?
A would like to say a gay web magazine, but maybe you think that is a bit to ambitious, so why don’t you go and look for yourself and let us know what you think.

If you had unlimited time, budget and staff, how would you change your blog?
We are pretty happy with the way it looks, but a ‘real’ site with endless possibilities instead of a blog with it’s architectonic limitations would be cool. We would continue doing items like Beautiful Thursday, but with no budget constrains we would definitely investigate the possibilities to shoot the guys ourselves (wink). We already started doing this every now and then. We never intended to live from the blog, but because of provider and bandwith costs we are soon forced to start making a little bit of money with it. However, the intention has always been to do this on a voluntary base. I guess if there would be a bigger budget, the money and attention would rather go to research foundations. I’m sure we all lost someone dear around us and if there is something we can do to put a stop to that, we won’t hesitate.

How much time a week do you spend on your blog?
Well let’s be honest. As everybody who his doing his own blog knows, it takes time…a lot of time…If I say a couple of hours by day I guess it gives a good indication. This includes reading, writing and editing. We do our graphics and interviews ourselves and that is also quite time consuming. But we love doing it.

How many blogs do you read weekly? What are your top 5 favorite?
That is probably the toughest question. To be honest, we do not read that many blogs ourselves, although we do visit all our blog mates regularly. We do surf the net of course, but go to so many other sites. We also work in close cooperation with magazines like PREF and BabyBoy, so we find our sources through different media.
Still, here 5 blogs that we visit a lot, in random order, and we apologize up front for those we do not mention:
Gay Skin Index: http://gay.skinindex.com/
Da F Zone: http://www.faraji.blogs.friendster.com/
2BeExposed: http://www.2bexposed.com/
Tom@Paris: http://tominparis.blogspot.com/
Rod 2.0 Beta: http://rodonline.typepad.com/
Besides that there are of course the usual suspects ☺.

Tell us about the future:

Give us some coming attractions on your blog:
This week we start publishing the double portrait we did on Joseph Sayers and Joe Oppedisano, two great guys that we are happy and proud to work with. We keep working on our Beautiful Thursday editions and also Beautiful Beur will make its return. Then we were thinking about doing nude portraits of ourselves, just to pump up the visitors count… what do you think?

What do you see different in your life 2 years from now?
Not that much I hope. Our life is pretty good the way it is. A little bit more time maybe, but that pretty much sums it up.

How many of you are now focused on becoming 2007 beach studs? If so, any new tricks you plan on trying?

There’s a well written blog on the web titled, It's Raining Men, where you can read a multitude of things about gay lifestyles and attitudes. While the posts can range from politics to pop culture, it’s one of those blogs that will keep you well informed, in-touch and clearly entertained. Rather than focus on the entire blog in this review, there was a recent post that could be of interest to most gay people these days when it comes to public figures and their sexual preferences. A month or so ago Rosanne Barr and Jay Leno discussed, playfully, whether or not Ryan Seacrest was gay (all harmless, you know, at the expense of gay people all over the world, with funny ha-ha jokes that no one ever seems to be offended by), and Rosanne replied with something to the effect of this: Why would he hide the fact that’s he’s gay? There wouldn’t be any reason. This is not a direct quote, but it’s close enough and maybe it means we (society in general) may have reached the point in time where no one really does care whether or not Mr. Seacrest is gay. If he is fine; if he’s not that’s fine, too; and if he is and he’s just hiding it he’s nothing more than a schmuck.

So. We’ll assume that while Ryan Seacrest is not gay (because he says so: “I do women”, and that IS a direct quote), there are others out there who have admitted this openly, but don’t feel the need to discuss it…at all. This recent post on It’s Raining Men begins with the topic of “The Glass Closet”: “The Glass Closet refers to prominent gays who live their lives openly, without actually confirming publicy that they're gay. They have this to say about Jodie Foster: ‘By all reports, Jodie lives an out life—within