As I never forget to remind everybody who knows me every single day of the week, I am a gay virgin who can't drive. (Bonus points for those who can catch the movie reference in that!) There isn't really anything wrong with that -- I think I lead a very good life even without a little man on man action on the side.

And I certainly don't think the people who do engage in the buttsex should stop doing it just because I'm not partaking in any of it. Have all the buttsex that you want, I heartily approve of it. If all of this happens within the context of a loving, monogamous relationship, then definitely all the best to you.

I just find it frustrating that in light of recent douchey events, combined with the fact that every "straight tripper" and "bisexual" within 10 feet of me is engaging in the nasty, that there isn't much of a ruckus about the recent Comelec ruling. If you're enjoying some gay loving, I think it's only fair that you be expected to take part in some fighting for that gay loving you're enjoying.

Maybe I should have expected it -- they can't even call themselves gay when they are so obviously enjoying some hot and nasty gay sex. I just thought that there would be at least some faux!outrage online, and not from the usual outlets. This should mean something to you, no matter how you label yourself. What is happening here is your fellow HUMAN BEINGS are being deprived rights that everyone else now enjoys. If it can be done to them, if YOU let it be done to them, who's to stop them from doing the same to you? Even if you're totally "not gay" at all. As in not even one tiny bit.

Comelec rejects Ang Ladlad party list on grounds of immorality. This happened days ago, but I don't think there's a statute of limitations as to how long a blogger can heap abuse on a bunch of blowhards.

Because really, Comelec. REALLY.

"Older practicing homosexuals are a threat to the youth."

This is what we've come to now? Dredging up the gay = pedophile argument? Have you commissioners not been watching the tabloid news that you all seem to love to death? Most of the child molesters are straight male relatives. Fuck that, our favorite child-raping congressman is a flaming heterosexual. It is absolutely stupid to scream "pedophilia" when gays are involved and not do the same for the straights.

Goddamit, I'm too sleepy to discuss this more eloquently. Fuck you very much, Comelec.

I don't get to talk to a lot of foreigners with regards to the state of the LGBT community here in the Philippines, but from the few I've managed to discuss it with, it would seem that our country is quite the gay-friendly haven.

Looking at today's TV environment, it would really seem so. In fact, the primetime shows on the country's two biggest networks prominently feature transgenders in their cast, and nobody seems to be batting their eyelashes at any of the proceedings.

One could say that transgender have always figured prominently in the Philippine entertainment industry anyway -- Lino Brocka's "Ang Tatay kong Nanay" (My Father is my Mother) being one such example -- but for the most part they have played the parts of comedic relief, often the object of verbal and physical punchlines.

( It doesn't seem to be the case now )

I swear, I'm not making blogging into just a monthly thing. It's just that real life has just been kicking my butt lately. composing my thoughts to make a coherent blog post just seems too much effort to expend after a really long and tiring day. Which is why I just spaz out on Twitter.

But here I am, back again. Hopefully the schedule clears up and I get to blog on a much more regular basis. But for now, I only have a few links for you.

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He also has 120,000 Twitter followers, is the CEO of his own company, TeensInTech.com, and is an adviser to two companies. He also goes to high school. You can all cry into your resumes now.

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And as anyone who knows me knows, I am always a sucker for a boy with tattoos. This photo is part of About Face, a coffee table book featuring face shots of normal people and celebrities using 55 Polaroid film and with natural light.

Ryan Kwanten and Ian Somerhalder are also featured in the book.

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Finally, the half-naked Australian is under the cut. His name is Paul Coaster. His hair is...different.

( Insert witty line here )

Yes, I've been gone for almost a whole month now, and even then I won't be bringing much to the table in terms of this post. Just wanted to remind everyone who isn't following me on Twitter that yes, I am still alive and well.

Aside from work, I've had time to do a little reading as well. I finished reading Let The Right One In, although I haven't gotten around to writing about it yet partly because I don't have the time and mostly because I am lazy.

I also meandered around with the girls following around Sam Bradley, which was a lot of fun, if I say so myself. I even got myself a hug!

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Dublin says good-bye to Boyzone star Stephen Gately.

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James Franco owns a mask of his prosthetic penis. Which no one in the Philippines got to see because they cut up that scene in Milk.

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The Marge Simpson spread in Playboy.

When I first saw the cover, I thought I would be ok with it, but now that I've seen the pictures...it kinda feels weird to me.

When we featured Danton Remoto in 60 Minutes, he talked about how there is no coming out process for the gay man here in the Philippines. Everything is always implied, and it is up to everybody else to read what's between the lines.

That has also been my experience. While there has never been a formal coming out process with my own parents, I have never hidden the fact that I openly appreciate cute guys being shown on TV. I tell them point blank that I am going to a gay bar or am walking with the Pride Parade. And while my parents have never been uncool about it, they've never talked about it with me either.

Which is why what happened yesterday really took me by surprise.

As most of the Filipinos on my flist already know, the latest season of Pinoy Big Brother begins today, and I have an unhealthy obsession with it. I commented that they should really include a gay housemate, and from out of the blue my mother hits me with this stunner: "Why don't you join?"

I guess I should have expected it, in a way, going on and on about cute guys and gay rights the way that I do. But the straightforwardness of it all still caught me by surprise. I think that may have been the first time my mother has out loud acknowledged me being gay

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However, the awkwardness of that particular situation can't be compared to what these guys must go through. I can quite honestly say that I would have no idea what it would feel like to come out to my parents at 12 years old. I don't think I would have the courage to do so.

But it does make sense that they're doing so at an earlier age. And I also understand why the first reaction of the parents is to ask "Are you sure?" I definitely knew I liked boys when I was 10, but I really only came to terms with it when I was in college. In between that I had this belief that i was really bisexual and bound to find the right girl any moment soon. That didn't exactly turn out the way I thought it would.

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This entertained me more than it really should have.

I haven't been doing a lot for the victims of Ondoy, I'm afraid. For the most part I have just been re-Tweeting information about the affected areas and hoping that someone in authority or better yet, someone with the resources to provide assistance, finds out about it and does something. I can't wait for the weekend to arrive so I can finally head off to whichever volunteer organization needs hands and at least try to do something more concrete than just clicking on computer keys. Anybody want to come with?

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Did you guys know that Mariah Carey, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, and Britney Spears are all releasing albums and/or singles today? As the post author quips: "Today is a day that will live in ginfamy. (That is gay infamy.)"

Considering how everyone else is suffering right now, what me and my family went through the past two nights was nothing. The worst we had to endure was a lack of electricity and a few babies that had to be evacuated to the nearby hospital. Throughout Ondoy we were dry, while some of my friends, colleagues, and co-workers were either stranded in buses or had their homes flooded in.

Walking to work yesterday, however, was quite a trip. I felt like I was in a Mad Max movie: people were walking down the streets dazed at the extent of the damage. The Quiapo underpass was completely underwater, and children and adults were using it as an impromptu Olympic-size diving pool.

Where I live now is looking much better. The sounds of traffic is now lording it over everything, which is something one wants to hear when all you could hear last Saturday was the dreary monotone of Ondoy's downpour.

Everyone else, though, needs help. This is a consolidated list of all the numbers and sites for those who want to help out the typhoon victims: http://ow.ly/rfjT.

I also took some pictures of the flooding Tropical Storm Ondoy caused in some areas of Manila, which you can view here: http://bit.ly/Fwip5

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Here's something that will hopefully bring a little smile to your faces.

From the same woman who brought us Enchong Dee is a gay comes a delightful assessment of John Lloyd Cruz' character in the newest Star Cinema offering "In My Life", which is incidentally the "big gay movie" around these parts right now.

I quote (paraphrase is more like it, since I don't have a copy of the tabloid with me right now):

"Nagulat ako nung sinampal ni John Lloyd si Vilma. Pero bakla nga pala 'yung character niya, so hindi siya gentleman." (I was surprised when John Lloyd slapped Vilma. But then he plays a gay character, so he's not a gentleman.)

Yes. Really. Those words were indeed printed. On actual paper. For everyone to read. Im'ma take off my weave and cut this bitch.

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Now, that James Franco? He seems like a guy who knows how to deal with the gays. He was in Milk, after all. And he's taking up Queer Cinema at NYU.

How queer is Queer Cinema? Here's a sampling of the syllabus:

Week 1: “You Don’t Know Dick: The Courageous Hearts of Transsexual Men” (1997 documentary)

Week 2: “Mom’s Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mothers’ Custody Movement” (2006 documentary)

Week 3: “Loads” (12 minute film from 1971)

Week 7: “Bottom Values: Anal Economics in History of Black Neighborhoods” and “When are Dirty Details and Scenes Compelling? Tucked in the Cuts of Interracial Anal Rape,” both readings pulled from Kathryn Stockton’s book, “Beautiful Bottoms, Beautiful Shame.

I am especially interested as to how Anal Economics and Interracial Anal Rape is going to work out.

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A radical discovery from the Values Voters Summit in Washington DC: All pornography is homosexual pornography.

To quote one of the Gawker commenters: "My 12-year-old self wishes that were true."

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Read the agenda, virgin!

A 56-year-old declares to everyone that she is still a virgin, as part of testimony for a hearing about sex education. Unfortunately, the hearing was held the day before.

I am loathe to admit it, but I feel like I am looking at what I will be like when I am 56.

I think anyone with half a mind is well aware that the local entertainment industry owes so much to the local gay community. People in showbiz are not only dependent on the gays when it comes to their styling needs, they depend on gay men to even make it in the business in the first place. Just try to imagine how many of today's matinee idols started out by catching the eye of some gay talent manager.

While not all of them are well made, I would like to think that the plethora of gay "indie" movies are providing more than enough help to our ailing film industry. Much of them may not add anything to our cultural heritage, but the sheer number of gay men who consistently patronize these films must stand for something. Otherwise they would have stopped making them a long time ago.

With showbusiness needing gay men in and out of the industry for it to survive, you would think that gay men would be treated a lot better, but then you'd be wrong.

( Rant under the cut )

So I was in line last night for the new Dan Brown book. Not by choice, mind you. I don't dislike the books, but a Dan Brown novel isn't exactly the kind of novel I would line up for in the middle of the night just to get a copy. I was there because I had to review the book and I honestly do not trust the people handling the marketing to give me a copy on time.

Over the past week I had a sort of crash course on Brown, reading the past two Langdon adventures. He writes at a fast pace which is a big plus, but he does tend to have a penchant for the melodramatic that just makes me smirk a little. Haven't started on "The Lost Symbol" yet, but let's see if the pattern still works for a third time.

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Snake with clawed foot and leg found in China. Interesting. To say the least.

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As most of my RL friends -- and even online friends -- know, I am all for equal opportunity. So if the straight guys had a clock counting down the days to Hayden Panettiere's 18th birthday, I certainly see no trouble with girls and gays counting down to Taylor Lautner's 18th.

The Manila International Book Fair is happening this week, and once again I have to crawl out of my hole, stare awkwardly at the sun, and hoard the books that I can so that I have enough supplies during the long hibernation I engage in while waiting for the next book fair to arrive.

I don't have a wish list of books this year -- I can quite honestly say that I am not experiencing a shortage of books at the moment -- but I will still be on the lookout for little treasures to be found in the Anvil Bargain Bin and the other assorted stalls that will no doubt deprive me of all my hard-earned money once again.

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I can not.

I spent the whole night trying to make a Facebook Fan Page for the section I write for, and what should have been a simple process ended up taking hours because I am an idiot who knows nothing about clicking simple buttons. I swear I am never doing that again.

Which probably means this will happen again next week.

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A couple of weeks ago a big fuss was being raised over track and field athlete Caster Semanya and the fact that she looks like a man and participates in the women's division.

Like most people, I was all "Just because she looks like a man doesn't mean she is, HDU!" But then tests come out saying that Caster Semanya is, well, something in between.

Now I don't know what to think.

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The British government officially apologized to gay mathematician Alan Turing. I don't think it really changes anything or how horrible he was treated, but I guess no one can deny that it is a classy gesture.

I just got back from the Bachelor Bash, and I have to say that if you're not a new gay or a teener, it's hard to find it as exciting as before. Now it just seems to fly by so fast and you just get a dissatisfied smirk on your face.

I do have to say that working in media certainly detracts a lot from enjoying the experience. The fact that I've already met most of the centerfolds this year -- and seen them shirtless at closer quarters -- just makes watching them from afar deeply unsatisfying.

The audience, however, is always fun. One thing that will stick to my mind from this year's Bachelor Bash is how the new gays around me scrambled and literally fell on top of each other to catch a wayward piece of underwear that one of the models threw into the crowd.

I have been remiss about a lot of things lately -- Project Runway Philippines recaps, the general Twitter and Plurk craziness -- and I hope to remedy that starting today. Although I can't promise anything, because even as I type this I have to rush off to work and do a million other things.

For the moment, have a shirtless Rafa Nadal being kissed by a male fan.

The designers wake up to the twin feelings of fear and foreboding, airing their grievances unto the steadily rising sun.

Santi, he of the Sarimanok faux!hawk, has been dealt an ego-crushin blow by his team's performance during the last challenge.

The Fisherwoman a.k.a. Jas has finally experienced -- perhaps for the first time in her life -- what it feels like to have people expect something good to come from you, and feels the pressure to live up to that expectation.

Ugly Tracy nee Betty feels the way she has always felt in the presence of the cool kids: unwanted and unloved. She knows that it was her ass that was supposed to be sent home last week.

The rest meander aimlessly around the Amorsolo Mansions like so many reanimated corpses, their undead hunger to be sated only by sucking out any smidgen of creativity or innovation from their surroundings.

Once they're ready -- pancake make-up plastered on, formaldehyde injected once again into their veins -- the designers are shepherded into their holding pens at the School of Fashion and the Arts, where they immediately notice the Aranaz bags on the accessory wall. This is of course the producers' completely subtle way of hinting that this week's challenge is going to be bridal wear.

( Tacky. Tragic. Tracy. )

I think the first time I ever heard of the name Tyler Shields was when the video of Matt Dallas (Kyle XY) dripping wet, muddy, and moody came out. It was a short clip, and basically just had Matt Dallas wet, shirtless, and staring intensely at the camera.

I didn't give him any further thought until the "Zachary Quinto being showered by faux!cum" video came out. It was Tyler Shields behind it again, with the same short clip of an attractive man staring intensely at the camera. Shields once again vanished from pop culture consciousness after that.

And now the video above comes out, and I am now genuinely curious as to who he is. How does he get these stars to participate in what he does? It would seem like he is a pretty familiar photographer among the Hollywood crowd, as his videos on Youtube include names like Summer Glau, Brittany Snow, and Gary Busey.

I visited his blog to try to learn more about him, but I was put off by his complete inability to bend the English language to his will. Perhaps it isn't his first language? If anybody else musters the energy or inclination to find out who this guys is, send me the appropriate links or something.

Under the cut, the Zacahary Quinto and Matt Dallas video portraits.

( I guess the theme is ~men who are wet~ )

I know I whine and whine constantly about my perpetual singleness, but there are lots of times where I thank all my lucky starts that I thank all my lucky stars that I am not in the sort of relationship some of my housemates are in.

Pardon the sexism and stereotyping about to follow, but when you're a straight man and you're moodier than a woman with a heavy flow and a wide-set vagina, I think there is something that you need to fix in your relationship. You're bringing everybody's buzz down.