Planet Homo

How Are We Feeling?

It's hard to explain, so let me have the creators explain it:

We Feel Fine is an exploration of human emotion on a global scale.

Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling". When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the "feeling" expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.). Because blogs are structured in largely standard ways, the age, gender, and geographical location of the author can often be extracted and saved along with the sentence, as can the local weather conditions at the time the sentence was written. All of this information is saved.

The result is a database of several million human feelings, increasing by 15,000 - 20,000 new feelings per day. Using a series of playful interfaces, the feelings can be searched and sorted across a number of demographic slices, offering responses to specific questions like: do Europeans feel sad more often than Americans? Do women feel fat more often than men? Does rainy weather affect how we feel? What are the most representative feelings of female New Yorkers in their 20s? What do people feel right now in Baghdad? What were people feeling on Valentine's Day? Which are the happiest cities in the world? The saddest? And so on.

The interface to this data is a self-organizing particle system, where each particle represents a single feeling posted by a single individual. The particles' properties – color, size, shape, opacity – indicate the nature of the feeling inside, and any particle can be clicked to reveal the full sentence or photograph it contains. The particles careen wildly around the screen until asked to self-organize along any number of axes, expressing various pictures of human emotion. We Feel Fine paints these pictures in six formal movements titled: Madness, Murmurs, Montage, Mobs, Metrics, and Mounds.

At its core, We Feel Fine is an artwork authored by everyone. It will grow and change as we grow and change, reflecting what's on our blogs, what's in our hearts, what's in our minds. We hope it makes the world seem a little smaller, and we hope it helps people see beauty in the everyday ups and downs of life.

A special thanks to Richard Velasco for discovering this magnificent site. Please visit and see how we're all feeling.

Watersports: Watermarking

The Internet has made thieves of us all. Without hesitation we grab images and in the case of Maureen Dowd, we borrow words. Copy and paste has made plagiarism all to easy. And when it comes to images, lookout, we have no morals or ethnics, it's open game. The problem is many of us like to watermark our images. A watermark is a  logo, often transparent, embedded in an image to remind the viewer of the website they are visiting. We first noticed this when the French boys at ohlalamag began adding their logo to every image, whether it was theirs or not. It was quelle surprise, annoying. It's like thieves adding a logo to eveything they steal. What gets lost is the fact that someone did create the picture. In the picture above, another blogger had their logo beautifully displayed until, via the magic of photoshop, we took it off. Grabbing a spread from W magazine doesn't make you the owner. Unless you commissioned, art directed or designed, you really have little reason to add your signature to other people's work.

The Advocate: This is news?

The Advocate is a self proclaimed news magazine and their website is "The Award-Winning LGBT News Site" so it’s a little strange when you see on their pages yesterday this "news" story about the former lover of  Portland mayor, Sam Adams accepting to pose, naked of course for, you guessed it, Unzipped magazine. Cross pollination is nothing new, but rarely this shameless.

The Academy Award of Tricks

It was bound to happen: we live in a digital era, where dating is nothing less than getting online and demanding your particular pleasure and expecting it. It's a nasty playground to be sure. People lie. Many people are bored and assuming a personality and image has never been easier. The "trick" is to never never follow through. If you do, you might find yourself on rateurtrick.com. Started in November 2008, RYT currently has 12,000 members. Started for noble reasons as creator Robert Hallman revealed in a recent interview:  I was living in Seattle in 2000 and a friend of mine and I knew someone named JonPaul who was constantly going off on this guy and that guy and after a while, just listening to him gave me the idea of doing the site. My friend John, however, decided it was a bad idea because of the potential of slander, etc.—but then we hadn’t done our research and we knew nothing about the CDA Act of 1996, so it never happened. I finally made the decision to do it when two things occurred: a friend of mine—who used drugs—was hung and overdosed by some guy while he was in their playroom, while his boyfriend was in the office area in the same house. All my friend remembers is the guy his lover was playing with walk by with this five-year-old laptop and leave the house and then he heard kicking sounds coming from the playroom and found his lover hanging by a noose, frothing at the mouth."
While most encounters are less dramatic, the sheer drama of finding out about next week's trick can be titillating. There will always be the potential for revenge—less than happy tricksters for a litany of reasons, discarding the truth for sexual fictions or other innuendo. ("Tweaker Tweaker Sunny Day, OMG it Sun, girl STAY AWAY....what a mess!") Or in an era of shameless self-promotion, you can always write yourself up in glowing terms. ("Hook up with this guy if you can") . The current listings are surprisingly kind: most men tell it like it is. People may lie about their age a few years, or a few inches, but it seems like most people are out there, having a lot of sex, and enjoying it. Check it out.

The Blogger's Oath

Happy Valentine's

Yes it is.

http://www.obviousmag.com/

Are you a B Boy?

The Ex Files

"When God wants to take His message of deliverance across the globe, there is NO stopping Him."  That is for sure. It is nearly unbelievable that T shirts like this exist but they do. The real problem is going to be that witty homos will be buying them putting money into the evil hands of these so-called "ministries". They are available here. "We pray that you will join us in breaking the silence on an issue that has stayed silent for too long. Be the first to boldly rock your Ex-Masturbator shirt and let's change the world baby!" Oh yeah! Yes, the heartbreak of masturbation. Oh my God!

How the Economy Works

 

Hello Bello

Those boys are always busy. The Oh La La Boys, who have created an online magazine called Bello mag, not be confused with the Latin Bello Magazine. Clearly taking a cue from fantasticsmag.com, ex-French patriots, Alex and Steph have decided that it wasn't enough to feature hot boys, they wanted to photograph them too.

One thing is certain about their websites: they know how to brand. They love to put their name on everything. We can't imagine that they don't own custom underwear with their logo splattered on it. Oh la la! It's ubiquitous and frankly slighlty annoying when it appears on pictures of lawn chairs that have little cultural or blog-worthy value. But they love their trademark, and they are French. Now back to Bello: Lifestyle Alphabet for Modern Man. No one is certain what the "lifestyle alphabet for modern man" is, it may be code for younger men? What Bello does prove is what I wrote about recently here, and that is, it is easy to photograph hot men, and Bello is hello with hotties. And the photography is actually pretty good. We are in a period of photography where looking amateurish is the idea. It is clearly the influence of the Internet, the digital photography and the fact that everyone thinks they're a model (we all post pictures). So the often soft focus, out-of-focus images in Bello seems somehow like...fashion. Fashion, next to the origins of the universe is one of the great mysteries of life, and how "fashion" photography sells a product (we are more interested in the model than the bathing suit) especially in the gay market is even more bewildering. But it must work, and Bello has its fair share of boys lounging in underwear and swimsuits on rooftops, pool decks, against sunsets, etc. What must be noted though, is that unlike Fantasticsmag.com, the graphics are horrendous. They have chosen one ugly font and used it badly, repeatedly. (I would remind them, I teach typography). Mr. Nixon of fantasticsmag.com is a graphic artist, he understands typograpy, and fashion, and he juggles the two disciplines with complete control and expertise. Not so here. But, it may be something that the public doesn'e even notice. We will likely be looking at the models, as usual.

a brief visit to our friends at fantasticsmag.com reveals yet more great photography, styling and ah, the models. Photographed by Lindsay Lozon, styled by Reid & Nixon, and grooming by Jodi Thibodeau, the story, "Active Culture" displays some hot underwear and some amazing styling choices, as in the picture above, which features baseball pants. Baseball should look this good. Visit them!

Porn on the Internet: The Facts

Meet the Fantastics

One of the more interesting websites to be found is Fantasticsmag.com.
Visually transcendent, FMC is the work of Cameron B., and James Nixon.
What makes FMC different is that it pushes the notion of what a blog, or a glog (part glossy magazine, but updated with blog regularity) can do. And this is undoubtedly a matter of size: FMC is big. The images are large, editorial and blessed with a design sense that would make any art director blush, which all makes sense given that James Nixon is an art director and graphic designer. FMC is the logical evolution of a print magazine, Day Job. And while most magazines struggle with the delicate of equation of how much to give away on the web and still have a print circulation, FMC simply gives it all away. A labor of love, Nixon was kind enough to answer some questions regarding the history, conception and execution of a website way ahead of the curve.

The magazine was first and fantasticmag grew out of it?
Day Job is my sporadically published style/face/fashion magazine. I just got tired of waiting for a good gig so I started my own. Every issue starts with a theme and I redesign it totally from top to bottom. As it has grown from 32 pages to over 120 this has become sort of an unwieldy project. I pretty much distribute it through the site and by word of mouth. It has won a few awards here and there (SPD, etc) which was pretty awesome for a little indie piece. It gave me a lot of room to play with design and concepts and editing.
The original idea was 50/50 girl guy focus. Fantasticsmag was built on that model as well but the reaction from the guys has been awesome. The models/subject range from models to people I find walking down the street, friends, you name it.
It was a small run and though pricey, it was cheaper than one may think. I did so much myself that costs were low. But a LOT of time was going into that. No ads. At times people approached me with ideas to turn it into a commercial vehicle but I could already see the market flooding with big glossy pretty people magazines. Most with little context and it began to bore me to look at them. God knows who backs these. And I never wanted to be a publisher. I only did it to explore my interests not to make dough. I had jobs for that. Besides, the idea of an ever changing magazine was unfeasible from a scheduling point of view (i.e., ad sales). I just kept it clean. Sometimes people have inferred I made a mistake that I didn't take it to "the next level"...whatever that means. Turning it into a way to make cash I suppose. Nutty as it may sound..I just did it for the fun and challenge of it.

Who is the mysterious editor-at-large, Cameron B?
Cameron is my bud. He is currently in NYC working on a master's in design or something. When we met I think I scared the hell out of him but we have developed a pretty fine working relationship over the past few years. The first day I met him I threw a magazine at him and said..wanna work on this?
He did.

Any differences in the creation of blogs and magazines?
I was late to the blogs. I think that it so far has been the coolest
community I have been involved in. I really had NO support from the zine community that I dabbled in in the 90's. And really very little from the print design community alas. Blogs are so much work and there are SO many really great ones. It amazes me daily. I have to say my interest in print has really waned. I never would have said that  2 years ago. I SO loved the printed page. I try and use the visuals of the fashion spreads to ponder what's on my mind. Hence the Death of Print spread shot by Steve Carty. It's meant to be tongue in cheek by the way. This was something I found from Day Job. People took alot of the irreverent things we were messing with too seriously.

Who writes the editorial for FMC?
I have contributing writers and sometimes write pieces. I tend to be a shy writer though so I mostly put my current state of mind into the art direction of the shoots and the design of the spreads. I really enjoy
interviewing people as I talk to much and always asked too many questions. The interview pieces (Conversation section) are my fave to put together. I edit and design and round up the talent. Sometimes if a model is laying around I shoot them. I am NO photographer but I like taking snapshots The Apartment spread). Cameron runs all the tech stuff and writes and shoots here and there. He contributes as much as his busy schedule allows.

What is the future of blogs?
Where will it go? Dunno but I'm pretty sure we are in a phase similar to that of TV in the forties or film in the '60's. To me it's a rock and roll phase where no one knows which way the chips will fall. Which is why it's so much fun.

Sledd Revisited

Since the last time we checked in William Sledd, a lot has happened. "Ask a Gay Man: Fashion Edition" was recently nominated for best series in the first YouTube awards. It lost to the comedy series "Ask a Ninja," but before the results were in Sledd made a video critiquing his fellow nominees' style.
His series is is the fourth most subscribed to on YouTube, and he has recently signed a deal with NBC.

Nipple Listener

From the peculiar side of life, a website called scaryideas.com, displays what they deem scary. Fact is, so many of their scary ideas are sexual that we assumed the owners were Amish.

The Gayest Blog of All

While all the unsponsored gay blogs debate amongst themselves which is the best, tmz.com, that bastion of gossip, news and frivolity is truly the gayest, and also the funniest. Here is a current post in its entirety:
The taffeta and tulle-wrapped flashy boy doll is not yet in stores -- and we're not actually sure that it ever will be -- but with this Trendy, it's safe to say that anything's possible. A vampy revamped Bratz doll poses as the mock-up of the wannabe Bobby doll, and is featured on Trendy's MySpace page. Probably not anatomically correct (the doll).

The garish designer's page says that he's 18 years old and that he's 6'3". This is the type of fantasy play that's just right for dollies! Ummm, 18 years old--er than who? Elton John? And 6'3"? Only in those two-foot platforms, gurl!

SOR losers

Hopefully the video about joining your church will follow soon.

Here's Malcontention

As you may have heard Planet Homo lost its momentary bid for fame. Hunk du Jour apparently won by a large margin. But as with all things voting, there is scandal. I received many emails from people who said they were unable to vote. Likely, this wouldn't haven't mattered. Hunk du Jour won for its obvious literary merits: "I saw this picture while thumbing through April's Out Magazine.  Wow!" 

But we couldn't but notice this little retort from our friends at the malcontent regarding the confusion and inability of certain people to vote:

"it’s possible your friends might be using Safari, which has never been good to my blog.  Tell them to try Firefox.

As for you last comment, it is exactly like Florida, in that the candidates who were supposed to win have indeed won. Now if it were like, say, Chicago in 1960, I would have ensured that a few outcomes would have been different. The results are clean."

Last time we checked, The United States Supreme Court handed George Bush the election in 2000. "Clean?"

This is in essence, saying, change your browser (Safari is not some obscure browser, but as we all know, Mac people are usually democrats) or else. I would also mention that the websites poll was literally shut down for an entire day during the process (likely to prevent people from being able to vote repeatedly for themselves in some glitch in the system, which of course we did). And while our mentioning "Florida" was not meant as a political statement (it simply means confusing), it has sadly become so. In 2007, to cheer the election of George Bush, seems, well, insane. Even Tony Blankley seems to have woken up to the fact that this country is in trouble. Only in the blog world could conjuring of such odd metaphors dance: a complicated, bizarre little popularity poll reveals a wider world of difference, especially between gay men.

Genre Man of the Year Election Fraud

As you may know, Genre magazine has been attempting to find their "Man of the Year" via an online poll at their website. Apparently, some people out there, REALLY want to be The Man Of the Year. Bad. So Bad, they are willing to find ways to get votes for themselves, en masse. From the website:

Dear Gays and Str8s recruited to help your favorite gay,

We have recently discovered that several illegal programs were being used to alter the GENREMAN voting system. We are disappointed that a select few would go to such extreme and (sadly) desperate measures to win. We have made the decision to begin GENREMAN again with a blank slate and hope that this competition will recommence with a higher level of integrity and respect.

To review:
A.) You may vote for all the GENREMAN nominees once a day from any individual IP address. Voting for the same person more than once from a single computer in one day will not register.

B.) Voting ends on March 1st.

C.) We have recoded our system so illegal programs such as the ones used will no longer be effective. If we find a competitor, or a friend on their behalf, has attempted to do so again they will be disqualified.

D.) I know we all love figure skating, but knock off the Tonya Harding impression and play fair!

 

Gaydar founder dead.

Update: it is being reported that Mr. Frisch either fell or jumped from his 38th floor balcony.

Gary Frisch, Gaydar co-founder and Chairman of QSoft Consulting, 38, has died from unknown causes and was discovered at his London home on Saturday.

Although no foul play is suspected, suicide has not been ruled out as a possibuility.

QSoft Consulting, owners of Gaydar Radio, released the following statement about Frisch’s unexpected death.

“It is with great regret that we make this announcement.”

"Gary was a highly regarded leader and colleague who cared first and foremost about the gay and lesbian community that we serve."

“He was an accomplished entrepreneur and a very generous man who also cared deeply about the people who worked for and with him.”

“Gary’s legacy as a co-founder of the Gaydar phenomenon is immense and it is one that we shall both celebrate and continue into the future."

“Gary will never be forgotten and is deeply missed by us all.”

In 2006, the Independent on Sunday named Gaydar co-founders Gary Frisch and Henry Badenhorst among the Pink List, 101 out movers and shakers in British Society, calling the pair an “extraordinary cultural force.”

Details of Gary Frisch’s funeral and a memorial service will be announced presently.

Mix Brasil

While there is no shortage of homo erotic imagery on the net, mixbrasil.uol.com, compiles a vast array of photographs, illustrations and writings appealing to gay men. Created in 1993, Mix Brasil is written in Portuquese and requires translation tools to be read in English (Google's language translation tool, for instance). Translations are always suspect and often endearing as in this passage: "Mix Brazil is an organization created in 1993 with the objective to establish one fórum of quarrels for a group of people who we call (gays, lesbians and sympathetical)."

What will require no translation is the bounty of images both past and present.

So This is What Time Magazine meant...

Pod People

Look. Create. Connect. That is how the new online video service poddater.com describes the process of pod dating. By browsing and creating videos through a series of tags such athletic, tall, hot, one can apparently find the man of their pod dreams anywhere, anytime. Still in its infancy, there is not much to look at yet, but as the ease in which videos are downloaded becomes simpler, the popularity of this dating tool is sure to grow.

Hysterdirectory

As many fellow bloggers know, there are directories where you sign in and hopefully gather a few more readers. One of those is blogexplosion.com. You join, sign in and submit your blog under the appropriate category, in this case the GLTB (Gay, Lesbian, Trans-Gendered and Bisexual) section. They have the right to approve or disapprove your submission. A day later, you get this email from them: "Sorry your blog has been denied at BlogExplosion as we have deemed the content on your blog as content that is not appropriate for other members."  Now, they have in this category 87 blogs mentioned, which seems, well, relatively small considering the just released report that gay men and women apparently do a lot of blogging and the reading of blogs. But then you begin to wonder, what is the content that is so inappropriate? Hmmm...so you look at some of the 87 sites that must be appropriate, because, well, they got in. Among the 87, which included many with nudity, there was  "White Drugs and Gay Butt Sex" written by "Sketchy Mess Jeoffory" who describes himself as " a stupid gay faggot tweeker and this is my blog about meth, drugs, life, sex, humor, junkies, and stupidity." His New Years blog entry was: "Happy new year tweakers, crack heads, and junkies!  Make sure you check out the Drug Skins section on the sidebar... It will change the page background from the default beautiful shards of crystal into your choice of tasty tablets of ecstasy, heavenly hunks of cocaine, magnificent mounds of heroin, or sharp and shiny syringes. I will be adding more choices in the future such as marijuana buds, LSD blotters, and even cocktails from the bar for all you drunks. If you would like to see something else give me a shout and I will consider it." Then you look around to see if this has happened to others, and indeed, it has. Blogexplosion does not send a 2nd email, or further explanation of what is "appropriate for their members." I guess it speaks for itself.

We Can Spend Hours Here

It should come as no surprise that gay men and women spend alot of time on the Internet. Exactly how much was released in a report today by Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications. That report found that gay men and women spend more time than their heterosexual counterparts online. For example, the survey found that 27 percent of the gay population regularly visits YouTube, compared to 22 percent by heterosexuals. Craigslist.com is visited by 20 percent gay, bisexuals and lesbians compared to 13 percent of heterosexuals who frequent the site for an hour or less. They did not specify but one can only imagine most of that time was spent reading the notorious M4M postings and trying to figure out how to upload an image. Some other findings seem dubious: we spend more time on "sports blogs" than heterosexuals? The report also found that in general, gay men, bisexuals and lesbians spend more time on social network sites such as Friendster and MySpace. To see the full report visit: clickz.com.

IChat Naked and So do you