Flip-Flops = Gay?

In Gregg Araki's latest film, Kaboom, the bisexual main character Smith (played by Thomas Dekker) finds himself lusting over his surfer jock roommate Thor (Chris Zylka). In one scene Smith is talking to his gal pal about Thor, wondering if he's gay. Despite the fact that Thor acts like a typical straight jock, Smith lists down a few examples that lead him to suspect Thor is secretly gay, like the fact that he exfoliates frequently or is always staring at his body in the mirror. However, the smoking gun in Smith's theory that Thor is gay is the fact that he wears nothing but flip-flops. This is complete with a scene that shows Thor opening his closet and looking admiringly at his multiple, multi-brand and colored collection of flips-flops. I laughed really hard at this scene, as I can relate. I have a growing collection of shoes, however, in the last few years, i've found myself with a growing collection of flip-flops as well. Now I don't think the fact that i'm gay and wear flip-flops automatically means that the 2 go hand in hand (or is it foot and foot?), but the fact that my collection is multi-colored to match whatever i'm wearing is the gay part about it, or at least others seem to think so. All my friends tease me about color coordinating my shoes with whatever i'm wearing as being my one gay trait, which is something that i've always been aware of, but it wasn't until one guy pointed out that he loved how my flip-flops always matched whatever else I was wearing that I realized how much I really do it. It makes me wonder if guys who own multiple pairs of flip-flops are more prone to being gay than straight. I know that wearing flip-flops doesn't automatically mean a guy is gay and that a large amount of straight guys wear them all the time, but if they have several pairs, especially in multiple colors, sometimes I wonder. The same guy who pointed out my flip-flops matching whatever i'm wearing seems to think that if a guy wears any colors that aren't black or brown then they're most likely gay. I'm not sure I agree with that, however, I can't see too many straight guys with orange, yellow or light blue flip-flops. Why I have so many pairs I don't really know. I blame stores like Old Navy and Marshall's which sells them for low prices. However, i've bought pricier ones like my pair of Vans or Polo's, so I guess the low price theory doesn't hold water. Ultimately I guess it's my gayness that makes me own multiple pairs. It wasn't until I gathered them all for a photo that I realized I had 21 pairs in all, wow! At least now I will always have something to wear this spring and summer, no matter what color I choose.

 

Doctor, Doctor, Can't You See I'm Burning, Burning...

So this week has found me plagued with an annoying fever that doesn't want to leave. It started on Sunday when I woke up feeling a bit hot. At this point it was only at about 101.7 F but I thought to rest since it might be the beginning of a flu. I had plans that day and that evening, but as the day went on I wasn't feeling much better so I cancelled them. The next day it continued going up and down, and got as high as 103. I called my medical plan and spoke to the advice nurse. She seemed perplexed as the fever (and occassional chills) were the only symptoms I was exhibiting. She told me to keep taking Tylenol to keep it down, that my body was probably fighting some type of virus or something. Well it continued the next morning so I made an appointment to see my doctor at Kaiser. He couldn't figure out what it could be but he ordered some bloodwork to be done, testing me for various things. He called me today with the results: all negative and normal. Sigh. He says that either one of two things will happen this weekend: other symptoms will pop up or it might just go away, having been a bug that's run it's course. I'm hoping it's the latter, because this crap is beginning to annoy me. So far today i've been feeling ok. My temperature has stayed between 98 - 99, though I still feel hot here and there and feel more comfortable wearing as little as possible. I'm just annoyed and frustrated that this crap has gone on for 5 days and they can't seem to figure out what's wrong with me or even give me an idea as to what it might be. People always say that men are stubborn and are afraid to go to the doctor. It's not that we're afraid, it's that we want solid answers and we want them immediately, none of this sitting around and waiting bullshit! I'm most likely going to cancel my plans for this weekend and just stay home and rest. If this shit persists i'm going back and not leaving until they fix me, goddamnit! Or I might just become the next victim of human spontaneous combustion and then my problem will be solved. Ugh!

 

New Ultraman Toy

My toy fever comes in sporadic waves. Sometimes i'll go months without buying anything, then I might buy a few at a time. It's been months since i'd purchased anything so I decided to head out to my local collectibles stores just to have a look.

 

 

The store, Time Tunnel Collectibles, is a pretty cool shop. It has all sorts of nostalgic goodies from way back. If you're into collecting vintage toys and collectibles chances are you'll find something to your liking here. They tend to carry Godzilla and Ultraman stuff, so that's my main reason for going there. Sometimes they don't have much, but I was in luck because they had these new Ultra Act series Bandai Ultraman figures. They're highly poseable, bending at every joint, and have interchangeable parts too. I picked up Ultraseven, who's always been one of my favorite Ultramen.

 

 

With the interchangeable parts it allows you to not only pose him, but show off his powers. One arm comes with the traditional spacium beam that all Ultramen posses. Here he is blasting the monster Velokron (yes, I can identify practically all the Ultraman monsters, told you I was a geek).

 

 

You can put on a hand that is throwing his eye slugger, probably his most powerful weapon. That spike that goes down the back of his head can be taken off and he shoots it at enemy monsters, slicing and dicing them to pieces. He's decapitated and dismembered quite a few monsters with this one.

 

 

Another cool weapon of his is called the Emerium Beam. He puts his fingers together over the green light on his forehead and it shoots out a green beam. I have his arms a bit too low in this pic but you get the idea.

 

 

I'm pretty happy with this dude. The inter-poseable feature is quite cool, and the fact that this was manufactured by Bandai is even cooler. They make a lot of Godzilla and Ultraman toys and have been since the early 80's. However, their standard Ultraman figures usually tend to be standing stiffly, only allowing you to move the arms. With these new Ultra-Act series figures you can even move the ends of the toes up and down. Now that's what I call articulation! Such highly detailed figures usually don't do much for me, but these ones really get it right. I can even have him ride Godzilla (no pun intended, haha!)

 

 

So yes i'm an Ultraman fan and have been since I first watched Ultraman episodes on tv in syndication in the early 80's. I even got him tattooed on my chest!

 

 

I'm hoping they release more Ultra figures in this series. I'd love to get my hands on an Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Leo and Ultraman Max. Ok, that's enough geekiness for now.  ;-)

An Observation On Sex And Friendship

A few weeks ago a Facebook friend updated his status, asking his friends to discuss sexual objectification in the gay community. It got me to thinking about how this has affected my life as a gay man. I don't have a lot of gay male friends, and the reason for this seems to be due to sex. It seems that if a guy is trying to get to know me then 9 times out of 10 it's only because he wants to sleep with me. And then, if a guy isn't interested in sleeping with me then he won't bother getting to know me. It's as though many times gay men only see each other as potential sex partners or boyfriends. Now I realize that men tend to be more sexual and i'm definitely not a prude when it comes to sex, but it would be nice to be able to have a friend whose penis hasn't been inside one of my orifices at one point in our friendship. Or to just be able to hang out with a dude knowing that he has no desire to get into my undies or for his main objective in going out with me one night isn't to end the night in my bed, naked and sweaty on top of me. Am I wrong for wanting to be seen as a cool, fun guy instead of just a vessel for you to stick your penis into? And I know that i'm a cool, fun guy because I have plenty of female and straight guy friends who seem to enjoy my company without us ever having gotten sexual. Why is it that most gay men have such a hard time with platonic friendships?

 

I admit that i've been guilty of it myself. But I think in my case i've adopted a "if you can't beat 'em, join em" mentality. I've gotten together with guys who I knew only wanted to sleep with me, figuring that I might as well get something out of it. Though it would be nice if guys could be more direct about it. If you want to sleep with me just say so. Don't give me this crap about wanting to go have a few drinks or "let's watch some dvd's at my place" when you really just want to get me out of my clothes and plow me. I've had guys who were upfront about wanting to have sex with me, and due to their honesty most of those guys got what they wanted. Told you I wasn't a prude! But I digress.....

 

Maybe I need to just change my way of thinking and accept that a sexual connection is still a valid connection. But there's still a small part of me that feels that perhaps we're missing out on opportunities to really get to know someone by choosing to think with our little heads instead of our big heads. I think about the platonic friendships I have and how rewarding and fullfilling they've been, and how they've lasted for years and many will probably last until the day I die. Then I think about the guys i've slept with and how most of those connections never really lasted or progressed any further than meeting up every so often for a mutual blowjob. Friendship and sex have never seemed to go hand in hand for me, so perhaps I need to accept that and keep them seperate. A friend is a friend, a trick is a trick, and like oil and water they shouldn't mix. So with that said, I have plans this upcoming weekend to do fun stuff with friends. Platonic friends. So with my friendship calendar full, who wants a no strings attached blowjob? Hahaha!

Sometimes your friends truly rock!

Sometimes you're reminded of why your friends are cool. I was supposed to go to a live show tonight to see Cut Copy, however, my body had different plans as I woke up with fever and chills, the result of some damn flu bug I must've caught. I tried to medicate myself but as the day progressed I wasn't feeling any better, so I chose not to go. The good thing is that they had changed the time of the show a few days ago so therefore, giving us the option of getting a refund, so I chose to do that. Also, I saw them back in 2009 at the Fillmore SF and they were amazing, one of the most energetic shows i've ever experienced. So I wasn't feeling too deprived, but still...

 

So then I was browsing on Facebook and noticed that one of my friends was at the show. I texted him and told him about my crappy luck. He ended up texting me several photos and video from the show. How cool is that?

Godzilla sightings in films

There's nothing that gives me more pleasure than unexpectedly spotting Godzilla or his friends in a movie that isn't about him. Here is a list of flicks where i've spotted Godzilla figures, models, posters, etc.

Serial Mom - Beverly's horror movie buff son Chip had a Godzilla model in his room on a shelf. You can spot it behind Kathleen Turner's head when she asks to watch the tongue mutilation scene in Blood Feast.

All Over The Guy - Gay romantic comedy. One of the guys is into collecting Planet of the Apes figures, and at one point they go to a comic shop where there's a shelf in the background with a few Godzilla figures. I instantly spotted Bandai's Godzilla 2001 with the glow fins.

Creepshow - The intro at the beginning where the kid gets scolded for reading "trash", aka horror comic books. He has a Mattell Rodan hanging from his ceiling.

Mars Attacks - There's a brief clip of Godzilla smashing through a building (I think it's from Godzilla vs. Biollante) while the aliens are flipping through television channels.

The Deadly Spawn - Awesome 80's horror flick about alien creatures hiding out in a family's basement, there's a kid in it who is into monsters and has a Mattell Godzilla in his room.

Friday the 13th Part 3 - After the male half of token sex couple gets hacked in two, his girlfriend is laying on a hammock reading Fangoria magazine. She flips to a page that has an article on the 25th anniversary of Godzilla. One page has a reproduction of the American poster for Godzilla vs. Megalon. Blood drips on the magazine and she looks up in time to see her dead boyfriend before Jason slams a knife through her chest.

Pee Wee's Big Adventure - During the bike chase scene at the end, Pee Wee goes through several movie studio lots, one of them happens to be during the filming of a Godzilla film, with an actor dressed in a rubber Godzilla suit fighting a dangling paper maché King Ghidorah.

Antibodies - German thriller about a small town cop who interrogates a serial killer to get answers regarding an unsolved murder. There's a scene during a kid's party when the camera sweeps across a table, where an Imperial Godzilla figure is sitting on. That was the big highlight moment of the film for me, as the ending to an otherwise decent story was a big letdown.

O Fantasma - Foreign flick about a young trash collector named Sergio who seems to live in his own fantasy world. While on his trash collecting route he runs into a handsome young man and quickly becomes fixated on him. He eventually breaks into the guy's house and, while spying through his bedroom in the dark with the light from his lighter, you can see a Godzilla figure on the table next to a computer. Then in the next scene he pees all over the guys bed while holding the Godzilla figure in his hand.

On Getting Older

With each year that I get older I find myself reminded more often that I am, indeed, getting older. It's a reality that we all face and we're all aware of it, even in our youth. But not until you begin to experience things does it really hit you.

 

A few days ago I went to a concert to see one of my favorite artists, PJ Harvey. It was in the middle of the week, and I normally no longer see live shows in the middle of the week as I don't have the energy to make it through the next work day. But since she is a favorite I made an exception. And I paid for it! The next day I down energy drinks and caffeine in an attempt to kick start my sagging energy but my body was not having it. Both my mind and body were deliriously laughing at me, and my co-worker noticed immediately that I was not myself. As soon as the work day was over I went home, got into bed and pretty much passed out. My friend who went with me to the show also had to work the next day, and after discussing our self-induced agony, we decided to cancel plans to go out drinking the next night so we could give our bodies and minds a day to heal. Plus I have plans later today to go up to a festival and then another live show after that. I don't work tomorrow so i'll have the luxury of sleeping in. So things like going out drinking or staying out late on a work night are no longer things that I can get away with or will rarely make exceptions for.

 

About the only thing i'll make exceptions for nowadays is sex. What can I say? I'm a guy. A late night play session during the week is still something i'm game for. Not that I don't pay for it, because several times I have. Getting cramps in the middle of switching positions. Developing aches and pains as a result of being in one position for too long. However, these type of things I find humourous. One time I found myself developing sore, stiff muscles in my waist/pelvic area and to the left of my shoulder and neck. Then I remembered that just a few days before I had been with a friend and his buddy. I was topping his buddy from behind while my friend was standing to the left of me, having me blow him. So that explained why I was feeling the pain I was feeling. But when I recalled the good time I had the pain seemed worth it. Nothing that a few Tylenol can't fix, right?

 

Tattoos and Reading

When I was a teenager I used to read a lot. I remember walking to the library and picking out books excitedly on a weekly or semi-weekly basis. My first reading love was horror: Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Saul, etc. From there I started reading the cheesy stuff of Sidney Sheldon and Lawrence Sanders. It was also in that public library that I got my first real dose of gayness. No, I did not blow anyone in the bathroom! I discovered some gay novels and magazines, which at that young age was like an exciting taboo. I remember reading John Fox's novel The Boys On The Rocks and completely relating to the title character, a teenage boy who begins exploring his sexuality. I also remember reading John Rechy's Numbers, which chronicled one young man's sex odyssey as he goes around having sex with random strangers. At the time I thought it was bizarre and didn't quite understand someone randomly having casual sex with strangers, boy how young and naive was I. At 39 I now look back and understand what he was writing about.

But sometime in my mid-twenties I kind of lost touch with reading. I would attempt to pick up a book here and there but would find that I wouldn't have the concentration or focus to really finnish it, even though I may have found it interesting. Now that I think of it it's probably because I set about actually living and experiencing things instead of reading about them. As a kid you read and hear about things and as an adult you do them I suppose. Still, the desire to go back to the world of reading remained with me, if vaguely buried deep in my subconscious.

Then not too long ago I was in a bookstore with a gal pal and she showed me a book she read about a girl who becomes a vampire. She said it was funny and sarcastic. I picked up a few other books by this same author and found one that had an interesting premise: a guy in San Francisco is appointed the role of Death. The novel is A Dirty Job and the author is Christopher Moore. I bought it and started reading pages here and there, finding it interesting. Then for a few weeks I stopped reading it. Which brings me to now.

Just a few days ago I had an appointment to get a tattoo. Stay with me, this is related to reading.... So I thought about what to do while I get my tattoo, since none of my friends were going with me like they had during past tattoos. Talk to the tattoo artist, look at the decor of the tattoo shop, check my e-mails from my phone, read a magazine.... then I thought, why not bring my book and read while i'm getting inked? So I brought it along and while I lay there, shirtless on the table while the artist sliced some ink into my chest I found myself picking up where I left off and enjoying myself. Midway through a customer came in and started talking to my tattoo artist. She must have been a regular because he told her he needed to show her a piece he was working on for her. While he took a break from my tat the woman noticed the book I was reading and enthusiastically said how much she loved it. We chatted for a while about it, and it was nice to bond with a complete stranger while laying on a table shirtless with ink being sliced into my body, haha! She even talked about how she was inspired to get a tattoo based on the cover art of the book. So all in all I found it pretty amusing how getting a tattoo has indirectly jump-started my enjoyment of reading again. Don't know how long it will last but for now i'm going with it. Hell, if i'm going to consider myself a geek bear then reading would fit in well with that category, no?

A bit about me.

So I decided to take a shot at blog writing. I used to write blogs when I had myspace before, but that was several years ago. So for this first blog i'll tell you a little something about myself. I like japanese monster flicks, collect japanese toys, I listen to music a lot (everything ranging from Madonna to A Place To Bury Strangers, Fujiya & Miyagi to ABBA, etc, etc.), I enjoy a nice margarita, horror movies, good food (I am a bear of course!), I own way too many pairs of shoes and have a ridiculous need to match my shoes with whatever i'm wearing, I worry about everything and nothing, as far as guys I like all sorts of guys, from bears to twinks to daddy's to jocks to tattooed punks and pretty boys... well, not so much pretty boys. I prefer my men on the more scruffy/rugged side. If you dress casually in a t-shirt or hoodie, jeans or cargo shorts and tennis shoes or flip flops chances are I will think you're hot. And speaking of flips flops, I got a thing for guy's feet as well. And I do love facial hair. Other things I enjoy doing are going to concerts/live shows, shopping at record stores, japanese stores, shoe stores, collectibles stores, and just generally having fun with my friends. Sometimes i'm funny, sometimes i'm quiet, sometimes i'm sarcastic, sometimes i'm stubborn, sometimes i'm direct, and sometimes i'm just a geek. Well that's enough for now.