Hey! Look! Justin Chin has another book out of his poetry out on Manic D Press. I’d give him a hard time, but he’d just tell me to shut up and then I’d laugh and I’d eat way too much sushi or something. I haven’t seen him in a couple of years, but he did give me a COLOR ME ARNOLD: The Unofficial Arnold Schwarzenegger Coloring and Activity Book when I moved to California.

He’s the only poet that I know, so please support him. His new book, Gutted (ISBN 1-933149-07-8), talks about his life and that unfortunate world that surrounds us all in that wry way he delights in describing it. Besides all that good perspective, he’s got to keep himself in fancy tattoos and food. I’m sure his work is just as good as his last two books. I got an idea, buy them all! He’ll thank you buy doing more books in the future.

Also, if you don’t know already, STICKY (ISBN 3861879719) is now a hardcover collected book. It’s that slice-of-life, gay erotic comics written by, Dale Lazarov, and drawn by Steve MacIsaac. The book is published by Bruno Gmunder Verlag and distributed by all major book distributors.

For your enjoyment, check out this interview with Steve and Dale.

I finally got to see this movie. There’s been a lot of controversy around the content of the movie. That being there is penetrative sex shown between the actors, but to just cast it off as porn would be doing it a great disservice and you’d look foolish to others as somebody who misses the point quite easily.

The opening of Shortbus sets the viewer up immediately with a shot of a cock and several sexual acts and two cum shots, as if to say “Here it is, get used to it, so let’s get it out of the way” and breaks effortlessly into the story it has to tell.

Overall, it’s a story of a couples and sex therapist who has never met the “big O” herself, the journey she embarks upon to get it, the people she meets along the way and inadvertently helps as they are all seeking the same thing, revolving around a sex club for those who need a little extra help. The story flows fluidly with an upbeat and unashamed message that is completely sex positive – one that I adhere to myself so it struck a cord.

Instead of something gritty or dirty, you leave the movie with a tender feeling of genuine sweetness that I don’t think I’ve ever felt from a movie before.

Go see it.

I’m excited to be going out to vote for the midterm elections. Two years ago, I got the best blow job in a Catholic school right after I voted and I’d love to have that chance coincidence happen again, but I know that’s pushing it. It looks like the tide is turning against the G.O.P (The G stands for Greed) and the smile I get from it is almost as wide as the one I had on my face that evening.

The House is looking more and more like it may leave ReThuglican hands and some think even the Senate. Oh boy, do I hope for that. I still remember the night I got blitzed out on Guinness and wept when the country re-elected The Idiot King.

And I want revenge.

If the Senate and the House go back into the Democrats hands, not only will the President be a lame duck, his goose will be cooked as well.

I’ve steered clear of a lot of my political vitriol that became a staple of my blog before the redesign because I felt that many people out there were turned off by it, because I know when I bite down on something I just can’t let go. I like to leave a mark.

I lost friends and refused to talk to people because of the way they voted in these Dark Times of Bush. And some of you said, “Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?” and I snarled as if I had salt rubbed deep into an open wound. It’s not so much that I’ve gone silent for any reason other than I’ve been sharpening my thoughts, points of view and opinions so they have devastating clarity and maximum impact.

I hurts to be so right on these things. It pains me because I feel like so many people behave like bad dogs and I sound like a person who enjoys rubbing people’s noses in it, but I think some of you deserve it.

The latest on the long list that just puts it over the top is the signing of the bill by George W. Bush that allows him to put somebody in custody, forever, without a trial, treated how he wants, tortured if it suits his royal majesty, and can decide if the Geneva Conventions matter, if that person is simply suspected of a terrorist act and will then be placed in one of those dark dungeons in other countries to never be heard from again. In certain south American countries, they call those people “the disappeared”. It’s called the Military Commissions Act or by people who think like me it’s called “Ain’t It Great To Be King” Act. This is un-American, unacceptable and unconstitutional.

Here’s where you come in. Even if you don’t know diddly about politics, even if you hold a position that your vote doesn’t count (thoughts of Ohio and Florida, should anyone forget), even if you have important plans on Election Day, you must go out and vote for anyone but a Republican for any office that is up for election on November 7th. With all that Bush and his cronies have done to inflict damage on the environment and air quality, dismantled our civil rights, changed attitudes toward immigrants in a country built by immigrants, turned back the clock on education and science, the class warfare waged on the middle class and the poor while his rich friends get richer, our men and women in the armed forces who die every day in a war that doesn’t make sense, the ineffectual plan of action in the Gulf Coast who were affected by Hurricane Katrina and are still without homes, friends and family without a living wage… much less a job worth having, the outsourcing of American jobs overseas, and the extensive politics of fear since 9/11 – it’s your duty to set things right.

This outrageous behavior, gross abuse of power, and long list of injustices have got to stop. You constantly hear people talk lovingly about the “American Dream”, but don’t you think it’s about time America woke up?

Get out there and vote.

I admit it. I love Project Runway and have since I caught the first episode. It’s got that whole art school feel while being a contest to see which of your favorites can bust out the results on challenges, mixing just enough of what I can only imagine the idiot producers call “TV gold” or some inane bull to describe the motley crew assembled to compete.

In Season 3, my favorite was Michael, but he bit it in the final show, with Laura and Uli jumping immediately to the forefront of who I expected to win, given their strong and gorgeous showings. But it wasn’t to be… instead the producers (in my humble opinion) intervened to give the bad boy the prize they’d had a hard-on for since Santino showed his face in hoping to create the magic of Season 1 with the back story by handing it to Jeffrey Sabilius. No dice, I think. It’s the curse of Jay McCarrol. Nobody can hope to live up to him.

I’m not trying to say Jeffrey is a no talent hack. He’s not Santino after all. I so wanted to like him upon seeing him, but like so many guys I find initially interesting (shame on me for perking up at the first sign of eye-candy!) my fancy deflates like an untied party balloon. He’s abrasive, snipes at people who don’t deserve it, and made it hard to get past to his creations. *shrug* I don’t know, congrats to him. Success even. Just stop making people’s moms cry who don’t understand creative processes.

I leave you with this last thought. Not my joke, by my ex-roommate’s from Kansas City. Who knew a Cardasian would win Season 3?

Sorry I was so grouchy yesterday. Annoying people get to me when I can’t punch them in the teeth. I get shit like that off my chest and move on. I did. I also went to bed after that.

Just to make up for it, I want to list a bunch of things that really make me happy:

Blueberry pie – home made and fresh picked blueberries, crust made from scratch. This is a sure way to win my heart.

The new issue of Dwell Magazine. It’s all about pre-fabs (I ♥ Pre-Fabs!) and the photos are nothing short of porn.

Sims 2: Open For Business. It’s now available for the Mac.

A friend of mine is in town and we are going to go see Short Bus. Be sure to check out the uncensored trailer!

Sketching hot, dirty commissions for dirty pigs always puts a smile on my face and a tent in my jock.

Sketching cheeky scooter patches for SQREAM.

Barack Obama. And then there is the growing consensus that the Republicans are going to lose a lot of seats in government in the mid-term elections and people finally coming around to where I was when I initially voted against the Shrub. This makes me positively giddy!

Fall comes in with a nip in the air and in fair parts of the country, the leaves burst into a riot of color. It’s a sure sign to start wearing layers again and curling up with a warm cup of tea. It’s a melancholy time for many, myself included.

I find that in moments, left to my own devices, my mind wanders. I close my eyes and I imagine people who I feel very close to. It’s a sort of longing I’m not familiar with – at least I don’t think so and not to my recollection. The last time I felt anything close to this, I was kissed for the first time in high school by a girl named Laura. She was sassy and blonde and much more experienced than I was. It was my first tongue kiss and I was the shy student of 15. I remember being so flushed and light-headed I stood for as long as I could and when she had gone, I sat down immediately so I could catch my breath. Somehow this is all new to me.

I feel as silly and tormented as those days go by, hanging up the phone, with a great feeling of hope and tears running down my face and unable to place what I’m feeling all into one nice neat box to rationalize it. As a grown man of 33, I choke back words that would show my hand too early. What a fool I become sparked from something as simple as a “hello”!

Unexpected things like this, wind their way into my psyche, like a fever blossoming into a malady that I don’t want to get well from. I plunge headlong into this sickness, gladly. It makes it easier to shed the past and make a break for it. I ache for it all, loving it like a child loves fiddling with that loose tooth on a strand. The beautiful and perverse pleasure I take wiggling on and on like this knowing I’m a sick, little fuck.

According to Geoffrey Chaucer, courtly love was something that made a knight better. It was seen as a chivalric quest for a beloved. That one’s own pining for another makes things, like love, all the more sweet. Thanks, Geoff and go fuck yourself, I seek solace in someone who makes my chest pound, my eyes fog over, and hump my pillow.

Yes, masturbation is fun again. Elbow grease, a tighter cockring, and a stiff snort of poppers and I’m hammering out spunk all over my belly as my thoughts spin in my head of his face. Especially that look on his face looking deep into mine. Fuck. I most certainly have got it bad.

I lick the jizz from my fist slowly letting the tang of it roll over my taste buds. The chill autumn wind has come to San Diego reminding me that other places get much colder, making layers of blankets and sweaty groping a reason to heat up the night. And when all is said and done in the dark of some small room on a distant coast I whisper the words, “I love you.”

And the best part is he says them right back and I start crying.

It. That covers so many things. So many things on my plate and I’m thinking about putting more on it? Yeah, I know. It keeps me out of trouble if I’m busy doing stuff. Here’s a run-down on what I’m currently working on or thinking about:

I’m heading up to my buddy Thorn’s birthday bash/house warming on Friday. He’s the editor of Instigator Magazine. So what exactly do you give a pig who has everything?

The Kinsey Institute is now accepting art for a juried art show. The call has been out now for a couple of weeks and the deadline is February 5, 2007. It’s in the imagination/re-call stage so I’m coming up with something that fits. If accepted, it’s another wonderful excuse to be in New York City.

The Seattle Erotic Art Festival has a call out again for next year’s show! It seems that ConWorks has closed and shown it’s last show and SEAF will be shown at a new place called Fenix. Sounds cool to me! I’ve participated the last 3 years, so why break with tradition right?

There’s a rumor that I may be sharing a table with some very good pals I made in New York at Mid-Atlantic Leather. Details are slim, but I could very well show up there! I never really thought I’d ever go to an event like this as I feel kind of outside of all of that looking in, but several influential people have made mention that I should give it a try. We will see. At the very least, I’m hoping to hear back soon if I can put some cards in the NYC Leatherman.

I’m putting the finishing touches on my 8 pages of filth for the guys who do Hard To Swallow Comics #3. I’m really happy with the story – it’s twisted, it’s funny, it’s dirty. Well, it’s me in a nutshell.

I’m working on some cool sketches for some SQREAM scooter patches and t-shirt designs. I just finished the sketch for the girls and it’s wicked cute and now I’ll start on the other two. I also noticed they have a San Diego chapter… huh? When did that happen? Wicked!

I wanted to take the time to focus some attention on an artist I love and appreciate. Palanca.

Two years ago, I commissioned and purchased this piece of art from him. It hangs in my bedroom and I can pour over it’s humpy, horny beauty any time I want. Every now and then, I write him to see how he’s doing. Not only is it something I get to own, but I’m supporting a real live artist who is as passionate about erotic art as I am.

Of course, his art concentrates on my hugest kink, feet, so it’s only fitting I had him do something just for me flavored with everything I appreciate in men.

Go over and check this guy’s website out and if you are so inclined, purchase a piece or commission something from him and tell him I sent you!