Gorillas in the Leaves

What is it about piles of leaves and primates?

More Gay Superheroes

...this time, Wolverine and Hercules in an alternate universe!

Gay Kiss of the Day

After thinking about the Catholic debacle, I am moved to post yet another gay kiss of the day. Enjoy!

Hypocrite Priests

The Pope Emeritus with his "secretary"

Andrew Sullivan reviews yet another hypocrisy emanating from the Roman church, this time regarding its treatment of gay people while hiding gays within its ranks. The Vatican is currently engaged in selecting a new pope, and the ranks of its electors include Mahony who stands accused (on good grounds) of hiding and enabling pedophile priests. How many, among the Cardinals, are gay themselves while the church persecutes and demeans gay people? One, the Scottish Cardinal O'Brien, credibly accused of the sexual harassment of men under his authority, a man who cannot go to the conclave. As  Sully points out, closeted gays often are the most virulent in their persecution of open gays. Under Pope Ratzinger, this has been taken to unprecedented heights when he called gay people "'objectively disordered,' human beings who were somehow born naturally inclined to 'intrinsic evil.'" Well, from my viewpoint, it's the Church and its hierarchy which exhibits those qualities! (In fact, the history Christendom reveals those qualities in spades.) To hell with them!

Quote of the Day - Ingrid Berman

"Happiness  is good health and a bad memory."

Daily Cat - Calvin & Hobbes

I love Calvin & Hobbes, and still mourn that the strip no longer graces the comic pages. Here are a few renderings, Watterston's orginal and a couple of re-imaginings, anime style:

Gay Kiss of the Day

After creating the Idiotocrates award, I feel the need to post an especially hot "gay kiss":

Idiotcocrates of the Day

The Urban Dictionary defines douchebag as "Someone who has surpassed the levels of jerk and asshole, however not yet reached fucker or motherfucker." I hereby launch a new featured on this blog: the Idiotocrates of the Day. Things being what they are, I could probably create an Idiotocrates of the minute feature, but I will be satisfied with noting the occasional, exceptionally egregious examples for the honor. Starting off, the Indiana teacher responsible for stating this:
"We don't agree with it (homosexuality), and it's offensive to us. Homosexual students come to me with their problems, and I don't agree with them, but I care about them. It's the same thing with my special needs kids. I think God puts everyone in our lives for a reason...I honestly don't [think gays have a purpose]. Sorry, but I don't. I don't understand it. A gay person isn't going to come up and make some change unless it's to realize that it was a choice and they're choosing God."

I think it is safe to say that this person should not be teaching youngsters, and has no purpose in life that I can discern. In addition, comparing her to a "special needs" student would be redundant.
Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/#ixzz2LYtDIZm6

Hot Bara Bear of the Day

Magical Things

And this is the reason for continuing the quest for awakening: magical things. The more I "sharpen my wits", the more I learn and challenge myself and explore, the more magical like becomes. I like Russell's formulation, that there are magical things just waiting for us, and will reveal themselves the deeper we go.

Gluten

My enemy, gluten: almost impossible to avoid!

Pink Martini

Since this blog is about my world, I can't neglect music. Here's a great piece from one of my favorite bands to brighten your day. Enjoy!

Bara Furries of the Day - Grisser

I particularly like this pair:

The Right vs. Reality

The political right wing here in America can always be counted on to take the stupidest, most extremely partisan tack on anything that comes down the road. The above cartoon, being a cartoon, certainly exaggerates things, but not by much - witness the teabagger/reactionary votes against aid for hurricane Sandy aid and reconstruction. Fools.

Bara Bear of the Day

Sun on the Pacific

Sun on the Pacific, ISS 007 Crew, July 21, 2003, 2012.

Click to embiggen and get more.

Eclipse of the sun

Eclipse of the Sun by the Earth, Solar Dynamics Observatory, April 2, 2011, 2012.

Gay Home Decor Shorts: John Saint-Denis

From the home decor company John Saint-Denis, super romantic stuff...

Daily Cat - Simon's Cat

I love Simon's Cat!

Gay Kiss of the Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Simpsons Oscar Nominee

Oscar nominee, Best Animated Short. Cool!

Daily Cat

Mini-me

Hot Man of the Day

Gay Kiss of the Day

Setting Boundaries

The Storm

Yesterday, a massive storm, known as a nor'easter, swept into the already battered northeast states. As related on Slate,

By now everyone in the affected area will have heard about this massive nor’easter. These are created when a low-pressure system forms in the south, usually in the Gulf of Mexico, bringing warm moist air north. If a cold front drops down from the north, the two can meet and cause rapidly forming nasty weather. In this case, the front stretches for thousands of kilometers, and practically the entire east coast will be affected one way or another.

The image above was taken at 09:01 Eastern time Friday morning (Feb. 8, 2013) by theNASA/NOAA GOES 13 weather satellite. At that time, the eastward-moving cold front from the northwest was just about to meet and merge with the counter-clockwise spinning warm low pressure system from the south, forming a proper nor'easter. The detail in the high-res versionis stunning, and as always I have to marvel at how incredibly beautiful dangerous weather can look from space.

Hot Bodybuilder of the Day

Love the tat.

Bara Bear of the Day

Nighttime Earth

Some awesome views of nightside Earth. Enjoy!

The western hemisphere: note the storm off the east coast of the U.S.

Gay Kiss of the Day

Yaoi Couple of the Day

I find this drawing to be hot and beautiful. Too bad about the pixilation...

Galaxy Being Eaten by Black Hole

I find galaxies to be fabulously amazing: so massive, so far away, so beautiful, so many of them! Here's a great shoot of M106, a nearby spiral galaxy with a massive black hole at its center. Phil Plaitt:

You can see the yellowish glow of older stars in the center of the galaxy, making up its central bulge, or “hub”. Cascading out are two lovely spiral arms, glowing blue due to the fierce combined light of millions upon millions of hot, young, massive stars. Festooned across the arms are long strings of opaque dust clouds, blocking the blue light and appearing dark. So far, though spectacular, this is pretty mainstream spiral galaxy stuff.

Then you see those red frills, streamers of gas at odd angles to the rest of the galaxy, one each on opposite sides of the galaxy’s core. These are called its anomalous arms, because they don’t line up well at all with M106’s more obvious spiral arms. The red color is a giveaway that we’re seeing gas being warmed by an outside source; hydrogen glows at that color when excited. So what’s the engine behind that?

It turns out, that gas is being zapped by twin blasts of energy coming from material being voraciously consumed by the galaxy’s supermassive central black hole.

Click here to embiggen.

Daily Cat

We haven't had a cat on here for a while, so here's one playing with James Dean:

"Gay" Art?

Is there such a thing as "gay" art? Does it imply that the artist is gay, and thus it has a certain sensibility? If so, then the work of, Michelangelo and DaVinci qualifies. Certainly, there is something to this. But I think that's too facile for the complexities of their work. Or, is it the subject matter? Thus, the work of Steve Walker seen on this blog elsewhere qualifies (ie, explicit or implied homoerotic content). The subject matter can range from the beauty of the male form (a topic alive since the ancient Greeks) to explicit homoerotic sexuality, to hidden viewpoints. Maybe it's counterproductive to define art as "gay" (or heterosexual, for that matter). Instead, there's just art with different, changing, subject matter and points-of-view. As a human being, I love art of all types; as a gay man, I have a special affinity for art which portrays and deepens my understanding of my personal experience. Here's a few of the many examples I've collected:

Bara Bear Daddy