boy culture

Exactly

From here.

Bloggers The Next To Be Hunted By 'Copter?

When a blogger reported information that Todd Palin once pulled a gun on Levi Johnston and that the Palins might be on the verge of a divorce, Sarah Palin did what anyone would—she issued a high-profile denial (in spite of the fact that the story had previously been confined to an Alaskan blog) that they "remain married" (sounds hot!) and had her lawyer issue a threat to serve the blogger with a lawsuit at "the kindergarten class where you assist." Classy!

The blogger's response? Bring it, bitch.

The Death Of "Perez Hilton"

I hope Mario will read this all the way through without overreacting to the title; I know he reads my stuff and I've sent him words of encouragement from time to time, so I trust he will. And in truth this is less about Perez Hilton than it is about what he has come to represent, in both meanings of the phrase.

Problem with the evil tongue? It's also realllly cool.

Long before my recent seeming defense of Perez Hilton on several issues (here, here and here), I wrote a lot about the culture of negativity in celebrity journalism and the at times hatred the public feels  toward its anointed stars, specifically throwing my hands up at the popularity of his site, which was built up as quickly as it could tear others down. I did not always "get" Perez; I still am not so much a fan as I am an admirer, and there is a difference. I used to resent his power (he steals ideas and images, he can't spell), but now I think I understand what fuels it and I do see his work as a whole, with its plusses (stars should not go unchallenged, he's funny, he's pro-gay) and minuses (that use of faggot was pretty stupid, who is he to act like the death photo of Jacko was beyond the pale compared to what he's done?). I can sometimes be a black-and-white, love-or-hate person, but I am nothing if not against irrational, unparsed stances.

Actually, the negativity of which I speak struck me before I'd ever heard of Perez, but I found it in the same place I found Perez—on the Internet. Make no mistake—I am a viper. I have joked about death, about maiming, about others' misfortunes. I have done it both out of a lack of sympathy depending on the subject, out of political competitiveness and for less dishonorable reasons, such as a desire to break the tension, gallows humor. I am capable of saying almost anything and thinking even worse. But even I was shocked at the things I saw on the Internet when it came into being because people—anonymously—began to make public forever the kinds of heinous comments that previously had rarely if ever been unleashed except in private. They were called trolls, but to me they were worse because trolls are imaginary.

The bile was aimed not only at celebrities, but the worst of it seemed to plague the famous, who if they were considered beautiful would be savagely criticized for every minor flaw, if they were considered elegant would be dragged through the mud. Even deaths were mocked before bodies were cold.

This should not have surprised me. Throughout entertainment history, there has been a cutthroat media thriving on negativity as well as positivity. The negativity didn't come out of nowhere; it was actually conjured up by the celebrities themselves, though without their knowledge.

In order to capitalize on a star in the biggest possible way—a necessity since stardom is based on commerce—all of their positive attributes had to be blown out of proportion by their promoters. This was resolved via a new invention: publicity. Which can mean spreading the beneficial truth (she donates to charity!) but more often has meant spreading bald-faced lies. Tell the people what they want to hear—he's not gay, she's not promiscuous, they're not divorcing, he never did drugs, there was nothing suspicious about her last husband's death—and they will love you for it.

And they do.

Until they hate you.

Laughter Is The Best Medicine, Unless You Are Actually Sick

From Sticky, I found Married To The Sea, and these repurposed vintage comics made me laugh out loud:

More after the jump...

Animal Repulsion

Most. Hilarious. Gif. Ever.

Via Sticky, OMG Blog and Four Four comes a link to Heavy Petting, devoted to showing (in their somewhat SFW near-glory) amateur porn shots and video in which pets make awkward, unwelcome, mood-killing appearances:

"I Think It's Okay For Men To Be With Men As Well!"

For those of you who think Perez Hilton is an idiot, I would argue that he acquitted himself admirably on Larry King last night. His smooth-talking adversary's entire argument that men and women are "profoundly different," whereas Perez (God, I hate when people mispronounce his name as sounding similar to "Paris") is arguing that any differences should not lead to the denial of rights.

Best line was the closer.

Perez is a character; this was Mario. Credit should be given where credit is due. Now can someone please draw jizz trickling from Prager's mouth already?

I'm From Flushing, MI

Nathan Manske has launched an ambitious and ingenious new site called I'm From Driftwood, whose stated purpose is to gather the stories of gay people from every corner of the world. The inspiration was Harvey Milk's iconic "I'm from Woodside, N.Y." sign of yesteryear.

To gay kids, Nathan writes:

"To the gay teens struggling to come out and deal with their sexuality, who to this day still attempt suicide 4 times more than straight kids, it says 'you are not alone.' Other people have dealt with similar situations, families, communities and churches, and have overcome and are now living happy lives. It can happen for you, too. It gets sooo much better, I promise. Hang in there, kiddo."

Check it out. Pun intended. And send him your stories.

An Obsession Is Born

A rare Madonna trade ad from 1983 in the style of a magazine cover.

If it's true that dogs pick up on your moods, I feel bad for my normally spunky little Shih Tzu; they must be moping and confused because I'm in one of my manic-depressions (I'm rarely manic or depressive, I'm both at once) that could be S.A.D. but are more likely the result of O.C.D. My whole life has been one compulsion after another.

As a kid, I collected buttons, Boys Life Magazines, baseball cards, Farrah Fawcett pinups, Charlie's Angels cards and stickers and MAD Magazines. The I graduated to 45 singles (in particular Billboard's Top 40) and, after flirtations with artists such as The Go-Go's, Eurythmics and Cyndi Lauper, Madonna EVERYTHING.

I turned into a dirty old man around age 30 and began hoarding beefcake imagery (original photographs as well as tear sheets from magazines) and have been known to avail myself of the Web's free porn (isn't watching 75 10-second snippets better than sitting through a 60-minute opus directed by a queen who thinks he's the next Scorsese anyway?). When I "grew up," I started collecting photography and paintings. 

Prop color proof used in the making of The Making Of A Male Model.

These categories sort of simultaneously leave out and encompass things like books. Abercrombie & Fitch catalogues, CDs, Jon-Erik Hexum memorabilia and, well, some other stuff, like iPhone photos.

And let's not forget the ultimate compulsion: FOOOOOD.

You were asking why I never started drinking or smoking?

When I start looking for something, I keep going until I find it. I have saved everything I've ever seen that I liked in any way, including every picture from every magazine that's ever crossed my path; on top of that, I'm not passive, I seek out all these stimuli in order to have more choices. Then I keep my picks forever and ever. That makes me sort of like a packrat who reads Soldier Of Fortune.

See following image for description.

He Said/She Said

GenderAnalyzer is a site that allows you to plug in any URL and get an informed, nearly instant, opinion as to whether that site is probably written mostly by a man or mostly by a woman.

Fun, yes! Accurate, no!

A few I tried:

Dlisted is the rabid-pet project of Michael K, but GenderAnalyzer claims:

"We have strong indicators that http://www.dlisted.blogspot.com is written by a woman (99%)."

KennethInThe212 is the personal site of Kenneth Walsh, so manly he has facial hair. Though:

"We think http://www.kennethinthe212.com is written by a woman (78%)."

Pam's House Blend is the well known site of Pam Spaulding, or is it ghost-written by Michael Ayers:

"We think http://www.pamshouseblend.com/ is written by a man (71%)."

Just Jared is written by Mr. Jared Eng, yet:

"We think http://justjared.buzznet.com/ is written by a woman (63%)."

Joe.My.God. is done by he-man Joe Jervis mostly in first-person, but the site can only muster a shot in the dark:

"We guess http://www.joemygod.blogspot.com is written by a man (54%), however it's quite gender neutral."

Hilariously, Perez Hilton can't even be guessed at thanks to his poor grammar and typos:

"Sorry, we can only classify web pages written in English."

Most insanely, my own site must have a huge set of hairy balls, go-figuratively speaking:

"We have strong indicators that http://www.boyculture.typepad.com is written by a man (95%)."

Interesting tidbits: People and Us were both pegged as written by dudes, with an identical 61% chance; CNN was pegged as very womanly at 89% while Fox News butched it up and was called 73% male. DailyKos (founded by a man, written by both genders) was a very masc 84%, but HuffingtonPost, founded by a woman, written by both genders out-testosteroned it at 95%.

Sites it got more right? Towleroad (66%), AndrewSullivan (76%) and DrudgeReport (85%).  

I Can Haz Team Spirt?

You can nominate all your fave LGBT blogs right...here! I would have a tough time narrowing it down, but Towleroad, KennethInThe212 and Joe.My.God. are all blogs I visit daily, not to mention the list at right.