The Blogosphere’s Next Hot Bloggers

At some point over the past several days, I awoke from a series of disturbing dreams as per usual of late, promptly acquired coffee and nicotine, and sat down to my laptop to find that I had been nominated in The Hot Blogger Calendar Contest. To term my reaction one of “surprise” would be a gross understatement; I am never even nominated for these types of fame contests on the Internet, much less actually stand any chance of winning them.

The brainchild of Jane Porricelli of MomGenerations.com, The Hot Blogger Calendar Contest was born out of an equal opportunity response in Porricelli’s personal blog to Playboy’s recent online feature, “Who’s The Web’s Hottest Blogger?” The response piece was eventually picked up by Gawker, and the rest, as they usually say once that happens, is history, but a history that has already been remarkably well-documented by AV Flox in her article “The Hot Blogger Calendar Contest.”

Intrigued by the concept, the contest, and the story behind it, I then began to worry that I would be forced to once more upload my artful and tasteful but still rather nude ass photographs to prove to everyone that I was, indeed, a “Hot Blogger” worthy of the month of July 2009. Fortunately for me and for my readers who’ve no desire to become quite so intimate with me and my, um, person, the contest organizers’ idea of “Hot Blogger” aligns with my own, i.e., from The Contest FAQ Page: “We’re hoping that people are going to be thinking beyond skin deep here and looking at other qualities that make someone ‘hot’…like a person’s wit, intelligence, writing, etc. In other words, the reason you go back to their blog to keep reading.”

And I thought, “All right. I’m down with that.”

The voting polls are open until midnight on Sunday, 31 August, and I would love it if my readers would consider voting for me should you happen to enjoy what you find here when you visit (and, should you require skin deep evidence of hotness in addition to the cynical and sarcastic intellectual hotness you find here on a daily basis, you may feel free to check out my “Self-Portraiture” category). At this point I do not even really care about winning (all right that is a blatant lie; I may not be a balls-out fameball — and thank you, Gawker, for that handy glossary of terms! — but I would, actually, like to win one of those twelve spaces), but I do care about people knowing about and getting involved in Porricelli’s and co-organizer Sarah Morgan’s project, because I think it is a fantastic example of Web 2.0 Social Media in action.

And besides, how way wicked awesome would it be to spend my first days back home in New York at the Hot Blogger Calendar photo shoot? So vote for me here. And don’t forget the ladies, as well!

Filed under: Blogging, Media, Net Culture, New York, Photography , a-list, alucina, linkage, pimpage, self-portraiture

Retour de Bartelby

Oh, um, hello.

Yes, I am still here. No, I did not drown in the waters off of the Ihilani Resort, nor did I fall to my death while ziplining Haleakala Crater on Maui, nor did I slit my wrists in a bathtub in the Pagoda Hotel. (Although, actually, each of those things could have occurred, as I was in all of those places over the last three weeks, just not in those dire circumstances.) Yes, I am still here, attempting to organize a transpacific / transcontinental move, job hunt while thousands of miles away, and (once again) jump-start my inspiration and writing. I started with the easiest one: jump-starting my inspiration and writing.

Often I find that the best way for me to do that is to take a stab at writing material that is out of the ordinary for me. So when a contributor to Retour LA, an adult blog about which I had already read, since Twitter is all agog with news of it, asked me to contribute a piece, I thought, “Huh. Well, hardcore gay pornography is definitely not your usual material. Let’s do it.” My first contribution, “Ananke“, went up last evening. It’s the first in a series of ten pieces, entitled, appropriately, “Curious Affairs“. I have not written porn in a long time, so I would be interested to read any critique anyone has to send my way (assuming anyone is brave enough to read it). I believe mine is the first gay male “voice” to appear over there, so I have my smutty literary fingers crossed for at least a mildly positive reception.

This is not a “Remainders” entry per se, but I did want to record three amazing projects I have seen over the last few days that definitely deserve attention.

I read about the David Byrne and Brian Eno project “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today” awhile ago, and was so excited to read yesterday that the deluxe edition CD (designed by Stefan Sagmeister) will also include a Hillman Curtis film regarding the project. Watch the film promo here. Buy the entire package here. It sounds awesome. [Via SwissMiss.]

Anyone who knows me well knows that Shepard Fairey resides in my Graphic Design Pantheon. So I was astounded when I found a link that took me to NOTCOT.com’s photographic tour of the interior of Fairey’s design studio. I always love seeing the working spaces of designers I admire, and this was certainly no exception, as the space (and the photographs) were abundant with detail and inspiration. [Via Brand Flakes For Breakfast.]

Finally, the latest addition to my arsenal of “Things To Listen To / Watch To Make Me Feel Happy” weaponry, the University LipDub project. Originally conceived by six students at the Faculty of Digital Media at the Hochschule Furtwangen University in Germany, more than sixty people spent an entire semester conceptualizing, planning, and producing this five-minute lipdub. Oh, and did I mention? It is a single shot. You can check it out above, and see more about the project on the project page of their website. Truly awesome project. [Via UnBeige.]

And that is pretty much it, for now. I hope that I can maintain a more regular blogging schedule beginning with this post. But with all of the things I have to worry about over the coming five weeks? My next blog may just be from Central Park. Heh.

Filed under: Art, Design, Film, Music, New York, Travel, Writing , dick lit, erotica, honolulu, humor, interior design, linkage, oahu, painter, pimpage, remainders, sports, video