Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

Today is Friday the 13th.

I am not a superstitious person but I've a few who are.  For instance, my childhood best friend was born on Friday the 13th and one of his aunts refused to be in the same room with him because she feared something terrible would happen to her!  At the other end of the spectrum I have no problem walking underneath ladders or having a black cat cross my path.

It should come as no surprise from many of the gorgeous men I've featured on my blog that I find hairy men to be attractive and sexy.  If you'd like a refresher, click on the 'sexy' label on this post.  So it absolutely delighted me to come across an image of this button on facebook! 

Now I just need to find out where to buy these buttons.

Apparently there is a music group I've never heard of called The Aikiu whose music video incorporates a clever use of vintage gay porn.  Its only slightly NSFW.  Check it out here.  The music's not bad either.

Friends

Spouse is an 'old school' internet user. He doesn't read blogs, have a MySpace or Facebook page, or belong to any listservs. He occasionally likes to chat (platonically) with gay bodybuilders in AOL chat rooms.

Yes, I wrote 'AOL chat rooms'. I told you he's old school.

I'm pretty much the opposite. I read lots of blogs, have a MySpace page, and get hundreds of email updates, jokes and stories a week from friends and family. (I only forward the ones I've never seen before.)

When we see each using the computer, we occasionally like to tease each other by saying with a straight face "I'm starting to get concerned about your addiction to online porn" when we see the other using the computer. Its not an accusation at all, its just a little joke we like to say, which usually results in a chuckle or two.

The other day he saw me in front of the computer reading David Dust's blog, which always has photos of lots of hot guys, in addition to David's hilarious reality show recaps. Spouse saw David's selection of hotties and said "I'm starting to get concerned about your addiction to online porn".

I replied "Its not porn, its David's blog." Spouse & I met David in NYC last Oct, so he knows David. "Oh, is that what you kids are calling it these days? David's blog?" he joked further, and I got a little chuckle out of it.

A few minutes later he walked by and saw me reading another blog. His curiosity piqued, he asked "Who's blog is that?" I told him it was cb's blog, and then excitedly added that cb had just gotten a new cat!

Trying a variation on our 'addiction to online porn' joke, Spouse declared "I'm starting to get concerned about your growing list of cyber pals". I replied "These people are NOT cyber pals, they're my friends. And while it may be true that I've never met most of them, I probably know more about their lives, and they about ours, than most of our real-life friends."

Spouse didn't say anything back, and just left me to my blog reading. As soon as I said those words, I wondered if they were really true. Do I know more intimate details of my blogger friends' lives than I do my real-life friends' lives? If so, is that a bad thing?

Everyone would surely agree that bloggers are more apt to share personal and intimate details on their blogs because most of their readers have never met them, and likely never will. Its easier to be honest and candid when typing to strangers than when speaking face-to-face with friends. This makes sense.

But I began to wonder why most of our real-life relationships weren't deep enough for us to feel comfortable sharing personal or intimate details with them. Are we 'shallow' because we don't discuss intimate things with our real-life friends? Do we not try hard enough to have intimate real-life friendships? Do people actually want to share that much with their friends, face-to-face?

Now I believe I have figured out a key to this. We do have some real-life friends with whom we share personal details about our life, but they are people we spend a lot of time with. We spend time with them 2-3 times a week, or 3-4 days in a row. Now it makes more sense to me. We're not shallow because we don't have intimate friendships with all our friends. We simply don't spend enough time with most of them for that kind of comfort level to develop. And there's nothing wrong with having 'close' friends and 'casual' friends.

So, to all of you blogger friends out there, I ask that you keep on sharing! And I will, too.

Crush du Jour: Jason Powell

Government bail out

Okay, I think this government bail out trend is getting kind of ridiculous.

First it was the banks, then the big 3 American auto makers, etc. Towns, cities, and even entire states appear to be on the verge of bankruptcy and are asking for help from the federal government. But have you heard the latest industry to request a bail out from the government?

The PORN industry!!!
Yes, its true! According to this CNN article, the porn industry is requesting a $5 billion bail out. Picture me rolling my eyes and shaking my head.

Now, I like porn as much as the next 'mo, but this request is just taking advantage, and is clearly just for publicity. According to the article, "Flynt and Francis concede the industry itself is in no financial danger — DVD sales have slipped over the past year, but Web traffic has continued to grow."

In other words, they're just greedy and feel like grabbing some while the pocket book is open.

The article continues "People are too depressed to be sexually active," Flynt said in the statement. "This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex. With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind. It's time for congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America. The only way they can do this is by supporting the adult industry and doing it quickly."

Oh really? Americans can do without cars, but they cannot do without sex?

That's just assinine. While it may be fun to 'ride' your partner all night long, that kind of 'ride' ain't gonna get you to work or the grocery store!

I am truly sympathetic to the bailouts for the banking and American automakers. If these 2 integral industries were allowed to implode right now America would quickly sink into a horrible depression that might take decades from which to recover. But government bailouts need to go to truly needy industries (NOT the porn industry), and need to come with strings attached so the funds will keep workers employed.

Crush du Jour: Bruno Moreas