Happy New Year!

As this year comes to a close I find myself not saying that i'm glad this year is over, as many others that I know have been saying. I feel lucky because 2011 was a good year for me. I had a lot of good times and memories and really got to enjoy life. As I say goodbye to this year I can only hope that 2012 will be as equally awesome. I keep my fingers crossed that no bad luck will come my way. And if it does i'll bitch slap it until it scurries away crying. I have no New Year's Resolutions, other than to continue being happy, continue learning, continuing being open to new experiences, and continue enjoying the good moments and be thankful for what I have. The end of the year also has me saying goodbye to the 30's. I still find it hard to believe that i'm going to be 40 years old. The 30's were for the most part a good decade for me. I learned a lot but most importantly I learned how to be happy person and enjoy what life has to offer. However much longer I have on this planet I plan on making the best of it.

 

May 2012 be filled with more fun, more joy, more tattoos, and more hot men.

Cute Toys

I recently picked up some cute toys at my local Japanese store Kinokuniya. One was a little green Android figure. Since I got me an Android phone I figured this toy would be a good addition to my collection. It's basically a cute little green robot.

The others are Tokidoki Unicorns. They come in unmarked boxes so you never know which one you'll get. There were 2 in particular that I wanted, a black one with red eyes named Fumo and a light blue one with a mowhawk named Pogo. I ended up with Pogo but haven't gotten Fumo yet. I also got some other ones that are way cute. Their names are:

Top from left to right: Stellina and Bellina. Bottom row from left to right: Dolce, Pogo, Ritmo and Mooka. Tokidoki makes cute toys and figures, as well as clothes and make-up. The little skull & crossbones heart design on Pogo's butt is the same design I have tattooed on my right arm.

My favorite films of 2011

Now keep in mind that I didn't watch every film released in 2011, and there's some that I want to watch but haven't gotten around to watching yet (the remake of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo for instance). These are just my favorites of the ones that I did see.

 

Kaboom! = Greg Araki's latest film is a return to the earlier outrageousness of his past work such as Doom Generation and Nowhere. A bisexual college student stumbles upon a possible conspiracy when hes' not having random sex with cute strangers or fantasizing about his cute but dumb jock "straight" roommate. It features a great soundtrack, an attractive cast and funny shenanigans. A really fun movie.

 

Biutiful = Spanish film starring Javier Bardem about a father who's trying to get his affairs in order before he dies of terminal illness. This film is simply beautiful, emotional and stunning. Javier Bardem is an amazing actor and knocks this one out of the park.

 

Midnight In Paris = I'm really pleased with Woody Allen's last few films. This was a delighful, quirky story about a guy in Paris who finds himself time traveled back to the past at the stroke of midnight, where he gets to hang out with legendary literary figures and artists such as Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and the Fitzgeralds. I normally don't care for Owen Wilson, but I found his performance in this not as irritating.

 

Beginners = A very sweet film about a man (yummy Ewan McGreggor) whose still mourning the death of his father, who came out of the closet a few years back after the death of their mother and lived a very happy, fabulous gay lifestyle. He meets a cute French girl at a party and begins to fall hard for her. This is a nice tale about love and loss.

 

Cowboys & Aliens = I was surprised how much I enjoyed this sci-fi/western hybrid. Daniel Craig is oh so yummy, and seeing him swagger in cowboy gear was worth the price of admission alone. The story was clichéd at times, but it's a big budget Hollywood flick and it managed to entertain, so I didn't mind. The aliens turned out to be really dorky looking, with these DUH expressions on their face. This was a lot of fun.

 

The Thing = This film was not loved by critics, didn't do well at the Box Office, and yet I found myself surprised at how much I enjoyed it, especially considering I hate remakes/reimaginings of horror films. It's basically a prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter film, that tells the story of what happened at the Norwegian camp prior to Carpenter's film. I was surprised by the gory monster attacks and giddily smiled like a kid as each attack was more brutal and over-the-top graphic. The CGI heavy climax was a bit much, but all in all not a bad film. I enjoyed it a lot.

 

The Skin I Live In = Pedro Almadóvar's latest film is brilliant, a Cronenbergian story about a scientist that's working on a new tough skin and the guinea pig he's using. This is one of those films that you can't really go into detail without revealing more, but it's well worth the payoff. Almadóvar also draws inspiration from one of his favorite films, Hitchcock's Vertigo, a masterpiece about obsession and identity, whose themes are just as strongly presented here. This is by far one of the best films of this year!

 

Weekend = A smart, insightful film about 2 guys who meet at a bar and spend the weekend together, getting to know each other and slowly unpeeling layers of themselves. Both actors were handsome bearded hotties and gave great performances. This film really makes you recall past encounters with handsome strangers that have stayed with you even if things never worked out. A very good gay film.

 

Vanishing On 7th Street = This movie was really creepy, about a group of survivors who band together and try to trust each other after most of the population has been "taken" by these dark, whispering shadows. While the bickering and mistrust between the characters becomes slightly irritating, it's also an accurate depiction of how people would react if such an event took place. Those whispering shadows really creeped me out in some scenes. The ending was rather weak, but otherwise a strong horror film.

 

Melancholia = Lars von Trier's new film that deals with depression and the end of the world. Kirsten Dunst is Justine, a young woman on her wedding day, trudging along through the event with a sincere effort to pretend that she's enjoying it, while her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) struggles to keep the chaos to a minimum. As the film progresses Justine loses her ability to fake her happiness and Claire's anxiety begins to rise as a planet known as Melancholia comes closer in orbit to Earth. She's terrified that it will crash into Earth, despite her husband's attempt to reassure her that it will only pass close by the Earth's atmosphere but not cause any harm. Director von Trier has openly spoken about his struggles with depression and anxiety, and in this film he evokes both emotions with realistic candor.

 

Longhorns = This movie is really cute. It takes place in Texas in 1982. Frat boy Kevin thinks that his phase of jerking off his buddies and going down on them is just a phase that all boys go through until he meets openly gay Cesar and begins falling for him. There's lots of naked men, a cool retro soundtrack, and a very sweet story about a guy realizing that he's falling in love with another guy.

Samuel Adams Variety Pack Review

I recently picked up a Samuel Adams variety pack case of their beers, featuring 6 different types of beers. Here's my verdict....

Boston Lager - This beer is tasty and has a nice, smooth aftertaste. Very good. It's a great beer to drink ice cold on a hot summer day.

Winter Lager - Another tasty beer. This one supposedly has cinnamon, orange zest and ginger, but I don't really taste them. Still, the flavor is smooth and not bitter. Yummy!

Chocolate Bock - I was pleasantly surprised by this beer. I was thinking that chocolate flavor added to beer would be nasty, but it's actually not bad at all. This brew is aged on a bed of cocoa so you get a subtle cocoa flavor.

Old Fezziwig Ale - Meh... this one is not too great. It has a semi bitter aftertaste. This one was named after a character in Dicken's A Christmas Carol, a story which I always hated, about a holiday that I hate, but that has nothing to do with the fact that I don't care for it. Tasting this on a hot summer day would make me turn to water instead.

Holiday Porter - Ewww! Bitter and nasty is the only way I can describe this beer. With each sip the flavor got worse and after a few sips I found myself pouring the rest of it down the sink. Nasty!

Black & Brew - This is a coffee stout, and like their Chocolate Bock the flavor was surprisingly not bad at all. You do get a nice espresso flavor that goes down relatively smoothly.

Getting to the bottom of things!

As far as sax goes, bottoming can be a tough job.I'm not referring to the pain of taking a big penis. I'm talking about all the prep work one has to do before the act. Yes, i'm talking about douching. It irks me when guys who want to hook up with you don't give you advanced notice and want you to be ready to go in like 10 minutes. Sorry buddy, but unless you want a mess on your sheets, tool and/or torso, you need to give me advanced notice.

Yes, cleaning oneself can sometimes be a chore. I prefer having as much advanced notice as possible, so I can be fully ready and as clean as possible. If I know a day ahead of time i'll watch what I eat or even try not eating much, if anything at all. And for all those sex advice blogs that think it's no big deal and that cleaning the mess is part of the fun, try telling that to a guy who's wearing the remains of your last meal all over his penis. So yes, being a bottom can be a pain in the ass at times (no pun intended, haha), so for all you eager tops, give a guy a break and practice some patience. Give us bottoms time to do our thing so that you can do your thing mess-free. ;-)

My favorite albums of 2011 so far....

Crystal Castles - crystal castles = More crazy noise from this duo. I saw them earlier this year and their show was a loud assault of insanity on your senses. Fun fun! Baptism, Year Of Silence and Celestica are 3 of my favorite songs of 2011.

 

Ladytron - gravity the seducer = I heart this band and this new album was a departure from their beat heavy past releases, but it soon infected me like their other music. I got to see them live this year as well, great show! At any given time a song from this album will creep into my head.

 

Holy Ghost - holy ghost = I got into this band because they were opening for Cut Copy and I was supposed to go to the show, but a damn flu bug ruined that so I didn't get to see them live. Still, their synthesizer, 80's retro style music is great!

 

Freezepop - imaginary friends = This is a fun synthpop band and their new release, along with 2 new band members, gave them a nice boost. I saw them live in.... shit, I don't remember if it was earlier this year or last year! Forgive me, i'm almost 40. Anyways, love this band and this album was really good!

 

Junior Boys - it's all true = I heart the Junior Boys, and this album became the soundtrack to my summer, especially my trip to NYC in July.

 

Fujiya & Miyagi - ventriloquizzing = This album instantly hooked me, with it's lazy, mellow delivery and funny lyrics that have become their staple. Sixteen Shades Of Black And Blue is probably my favorite song this year.

 

PJ Harvey - let england shake = I worship the ground this woman walks on, and this new political album where she reflects on her homeland of England is as strong and intense as anything she's ever released. I saw her perform this year and she was amazing.

 

Babasonicos - a proposito = The new release from these Argentinos is really good. I love this band and got to see them live a few years back. I hope their tour promoting this album comes to the US because i'd love to see them again!

 

De/Vision - popgefahr the remix = Ok this is cheating, as the original songs on this album were released the year before, but this remix album was released this year so i'm counting it. I love this band, I love the lead singer (DROOL), and this remix album is a double album, so you get 2 different remixes of the same song. Awesomeness!

 

Death Cab For Cutie - codes and keys = I saw this album at the store but waited a few weeks to purchase it as it was around the time of the Junior Boys release, and I was eager to get that one first. This turned out to be a very solid album from the Death Cab dudes. I've loved their past releases and this is another good one.

 

Men - talk about body = JD Samson of Le Tigre formed this band and the songs on it were catchy, fun dance ditties. I had a chance to see them live with another great band, CSS, but it was in the middle of the work week and my lazy bear butt never got around to asking for the next day off so I didn't go. Still, a good release from JD!

 

Cut Copy - zonoscope = I eagerly awaited this release as I loved Cut Copy's last release, one of the best albums ever. This one is not as good as it's predecessor, but it's still a solid release that demands a few listens before you finally enjoy it. I'm still pissed that I missed seeing this band's show this year. I saw them in 2009 and it was one of the most amazing shows i'd ever been to, a high energy, positive vibe experience that felt like being on ecstacy at a rave. Oh well, there will be other times hopefully.

 

I may have forgotten some or have some that I didn't realize were released in 2011. I bought the new Tori Amos album but I haven't really listened to it as I was in the middle of really getting into the new Ladytron, Junior Boys and Babasonicos releases when I bought it. Plus, Tori's last few efforts haven't been all that. I'm sure next year i'll discover an artist that I like that released an album this year, just like this year I discovered some cool artists that released work in 2010, such as The Pinker Tones from Spain.

More Bear Paw Ink

So i've been pondering getting another bear paw tattoo for a while now. I had decided that the most likely placement would be above my ass cheek. Well today I decided to get it done.

I wanted to try out this shop in San Francisco that a few people had recommended and i'd been curious about. I walked in and there were no other customers there. The artist was a cool, nice dude named Michael. After talking to him about the tattoo idea I had, he went over some sketches with me and he came up with a simple one I liked, light blue, outlined in black. So I decided to go for it and get it done. After he finnished it, he asked if I wanted to try some shading around the pawprint, to give it some more character. I had originally mentioned the color orange and he showed me a sketch idea of it with orange shading around. I liked it so I told him yeah and he added a nice orange shade around it. So no, this is not an excuse to show my ass, but just to show my new ink, number 8.