Wow! Tell me something I don't know

Readers,

Yes, Ricky Martin came out yesterday. Read all about it. Ricky Martin gay. Yes, crazy, I know.

I want to share with you Straight Guy's e-mail to me about the news.

Is it bad that I take some joy in the despair of female fans who have their hearts broken by news like this? I posted on the blog about a woman who had to stay home from work due to the shame she felt about Clay Aiken coming out. With all those posters on her wall, how could she face her co-workers now! I know there's a Ricky Martin fan out there who probably called in sick today. How she could have missed it, I don't know. When the hetero sexcapade video for 'She Bangs' has zero chemistry, the jig is up.

Readers: Any of you stunned by Ricky's news?

--Gay Guy

Gay/Straight Viral Video: Second City PSA from the Future

Gay Guy and I went to a midnight Second City show at their home base in Chicago a few years back. That was fun. Look for more from them here soon.

--Straight Guy

Gay Guy Take on Dop Kit Essentials

Straight Guy,

Here's my response to your Dop 5 post of last week.

Here's my nine travel essentials. I travel with twice as much stuff as you do and just clear the 10 or under threshold. I really should have included moisturizer with SPF in it, so I'll admit to a 10. Looks like my face is more delicate than yours'; I still need shaving cream.

Agreed that I could leave the shampoo at home.

Packing light on the accessories front doesn't make me feel like a manly man, just like a good planner. It all fits easily into a plastic bag. TSA appreciates it, and it makes me feel efficient.

I put effort into packing light. Mostly, it's a game for me. When I get home and unpack, I like to see what things I wore and what I didn't. Unless it was extra underwear, I like to break even.

The last time I went on a long trip --to London-- I packed super light. I checked with my bed and breakfast in advance and confirmed that there was a laundromat within walking distance. I've done that in Paris, too. Your load is lighter and you meet some interesting people.

--Gay Guy

Gay Guy Feeling Shy(er) About His Basketball Dreams

Straight Guy,

I'm going to get this confession up and posted fast. It's embarrassing.

Watched the Duke-Baylor game from the treadmill at the gym. I am thrilled that Duke is going to the NCAA men's basketball Final Four.

I don't really care one way or the other about Duke, I'm just looking forward to seeing of their point guard Jon Scheyer. SO nice looking and graceful on the court. Just happy to see more . . . I'd give my income tax return to see lots more.

Okay, that's it. I'll just pull my head under the covers now.

--Gay Guy

The Dop 5 Countdown

Gay Guy,

Let me know if this is surprising in any way, but the limited data from the recent poll (see 3/20 post) confirms a few stereotypes.

Straight guys travel lightest in terms of toiletries, the majority of them needing 5 items or less when they hit the road. Gay guys take an average of 6-10 products. And women (gay or straight) carry the most of all. If the folks at Johnson and Johnson didn't already know this, I'd be shocked.

You can see the contents of my current road kit above. These are the essentials: Toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, and deodorant. Wildcard item: I wear glasses, and in case they get lost or broken, I try to have a set of contacts, just in case. Other than that, I can make do with whatever my hotel or hosts can provide. To stay at 5 items, you simply can't afford to care about brands of soap, shampoo, or anything else. No combs, brushes, or hairdryers either. Just do your best with a towel and your hands.

And, no, there's no shaving cream, either. Modern multi-blade razors are so effective that soap will work just fine once in a while. Honestly, I have no idea what the "Art of Shaving" stores are all about. Shaving has never been better. I suspect that the largest portion of their profit margin is in sales to women desperate to find a classy yet intimate gift for their boyfriend's or husband's birthday. Don't fall for it.

Back on topic... So, I'm not sure how to travel any lighter than that. I'll also fess up that I have no shame about taking hotel toiletries when I check out, so my average spikes on return flights. Stayed someplace really nice last week where they set out a ton of stuff (jackpot!), including a shoehorn(!?!), and no, I didn't take it.

So, Readers, what am I missing? What essentials are on your list? Are you willing to cope with the lame soap/shampoo combo gels if needed? Anyone in the market for a disposable showercap? Or a few? They're starting to pile up.

--Straight Guy

Awww . . . . You Belong With Me

Straight Guy,

Thanks for sending along this clip. Sorry that it took me a while to open it because I really enjoyed watching it.

Readers, if you haven't already seen this clip bouncing around YouTube, watch it. The University of Rochester YellowJackets, a men's a capella singing group, retooled Taylor Swift's pop wonder "You Belong with Me" from a same-sex love perspective.

Watch the remake.

Watch the original.

See the video live at the YellowJacket concert (most fun of all).

I love both versions of the video. A true crush knows no boundaries. Not sure how the Incredible Adventures of Two Boys in Love would have gone down at prom night at my high school, but I'm a hopeless romantic.

--Gay Guy

Straight Guy Gift Guide: Remote Control + Bottle Opener

It had to happen eventually. Get one here.

Just another entry into my list of mundane items (ho-hum) that will open a bottled beer (hoo-ray!). Check out earlier posts on neckties, and flip-flops.

--Straight Guy

Gay/Straight Survey: Model Kit?

Gay Guy, Readers,

This time of year, I spend a bit of time on the road for work. I travel pretty light. At least I think I do.

Last week, I was passing through airport security and put my plastic bag of toiletries in the bin for scanning, per Homeland Security instructions. I don't know the exact limitations for size or weight, but I've never had a problem. There was a gentleman in front of me, however, who was forced to trash bottles of stuff. He got to keep quite a bit, but still trashed more than I brought. It got me to thinking...

So help me, readers. Even if airport security wasn't an issue, how much stuff do you need in your Dop Kit? Take a look, and be honest (it's anonymous). Count everything except prescription meds.

Fun fact: DOP is not an acronym for anything. Someone named Doppelt crafted a small leather case for this purpose in the early 1900s. The name really caught on in World War II. "Dopp" is (or was) trademarked, but you can find many bags named "Dop," "Dob," or even "Dobb."

--Straight Guy

Are Feathers and Fur Not Family Friendly?

The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and other news sources have reporting that the Stars on Ice figure skating tour has decided not to sign skater Johnny Weir because, well . . . you figure it out. Read the Washington Post. Read the Huffington Post.

The tour issued a statement that it's not about "gender identity or sexual orientation." They just don't have room for everyone. No room at the rink, eh? Like the show can't get trimmed some place?

Weir says that the tour didn't include him because he's "not family friendly." What's not family friendly about sequins, feather, faux fur and a crown of roses? Evan Lysacek made the cut. Are his sequins just straighter?

Weir hasn't come out as gay, so we're all presuming here. Which makes this even harder to swallow.

The irony is that, if you go with the assumption, men's figure skating, in the Olympics or Holidays on Ice, has depended on gays. Is Weir just too over the top?

--Gay Guy

Gay Guy Loves a Good Bea Sting

Straight Guy,

This fun Website popped up on our radar screen today. That's What Bea Said is collection of one-liners delivered by the late Bea Arthur in her Golden Girls persona of Dorothy Zbornak. If you are in the mood to remember those withering barbs, hurry over. Dorothy's housemates Rose and Blanche bear the brunt.

My favorite acid-tongued piece of Dorothy so far: "If that doesn't fill the void, nothing will."

Bea Arthur died almost a year ago. I don't know that I'd go so far as to say that Bea Arthur was a gay icon, but you know how my people love a tough broad who tells it like it his. And that was Bea Arthur in every role she played.

--Gay Guy

Thanks, GG. Not sure what it's all about (or where the creative energy comes from), but I feel compelled to add a link to Bea Arthur Mountains Pizza which is the "definitive collection of pictures featuring Bea Arthur, mountains and pizza." -- SG

"Big Love" from Shirt Woot

Shirt.Woot! sells a new and exclusive t-shirt design every day. Sometimes funny, sometimes political, sometimes absurd. Today they hit the trifecta.

Comments range from "disturbing and disgusting" to raves from those seeing a metaphor for sexual tolerance. Oh, and the nerds are most upset that Godzilla's tongue isn't forked.

--Straight Guy

Gay/Straight Viral Video: Handsome Men's Club

Has the Kimmel-Affleck faux romance finally run it's course?

Waterslides + Zombies + Underwater Lanterns = Sexytime?

Readers, if the embedded video won't play for you, here's a link to a similar, but longer, promo for the British version.

Gay Guy,

Ummmm. Two things.

First, copywriting kudos to the phraseologist who came up with "the miracle of engineering tucked away in his pants" and "the mysterious world beyond his boxer shorts."

Second, I think it's best to leave a few things shrouded in mystery. I don't know if I'll ever purge my mind of the image of millions of euro-hipsters dressed in white and their epic, graphic, tragic demise in the cold, lonely mountains at the hands of the masked, dark zombies. Whose idea was it to turn this whole thing into a cut rate Lord of the Rings knockoff, anyway?

How am I supposed to get my mojo workin' after that?

Anyone remember Tony Randall and Burt Reynolds in the countdown skit from Woody Allen's "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)"?

--Straight Guy

Straight Guy Hall of Shame: Risk vs. Reward

Gay Guy,

New research shows that the mere presence of attractive women can drive straight guys to aggressive and dangerous extremes.

They show that just looking at an attractive woman makes them more likely to indulge in "physical risk-taking" which ends in embarrassing failure or even injury.

The change in behaviour is triggered by a surge in the male hormone testosterone which makes men "throw caution to the wind", according to psychologists at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

In cave-man times, these displays would have been a crucial component of "competitive mating strategy" but in the modern world...

Instances of physical risk-taking that contribute to men's early mortality, such as dangerous driving and physical aggression, might also be influenced by increases in testosterone brought about by the presence of attractive women.

So, hot women are literally killing us. What? You thought our indefensible behavior was OUR fault? Hah!

I learned this stuff in Playground 101, but if you want the latest research: LINK

--Straight Guy

Gay Guy's Sequined Sunday

Straight Guy,

Gay Guy had quite the sequined Sunday. There's a place in my neighborhood that's well known for its Sunday Drag Brunch. I've never been, but people line up for it well over an hour before the doors open. A friend couldn't believe I'd never been and got us organized.

The restaurant is a large second floor dining room. There isn't a stage; instead, the performers move around the room, dancing, singing, interacting, and working it hard for singles. The performances are very immediate and in your face, for better or worse. The brunch's drag hostess emceed for a while, which was pretty much taking a scorched earth policy to everyone in the room. Blessedly, we were spared her attention.

There were lots of birthdays and bachelorettes, a few cute guys, but I absolutely fell in love with a family sitting a few tables away. As far as I could tell they were a traditional family--mom and dad, and two girls, whose age I would put at 2 or 3 and 4 or 5. They were just the best. I think the girls were a little overwhelmed for a bit, but they quickly got into it. Laughing, chair dancing, singing. Mom and Dad keep feeding them singles, and before long they were flagging down drag queens with elan. The older girl developed a technique of holding the dollar bills in her fingertips and holding her arm aloft at angle and with a sense of purpose usually reserved for hailing a taxi at rush hour.

The dad was great. He didn't play "I'm a hostage" routine. He got into it, sang along, and encouraged the kids to have a good time.

I noticed the girls had brought Barbie dolls with them. I suspect they thought the drag queens were Barbies come to life.

Note to guy at the end of the bar: You know all the words to the gay anthems "How Will I Know If He Really Loves Me" (Whitney Houston) and "I Will Survive" (Gloria Gaynor). Come out to the woman you were with or I will do it for you.

--Gay Guy

Gay/Straight Update: 4th Down and No. 5 To Go

What happens to the poor dude (gay or straight) that shows up to the local pick-up game with a Chanel football? link

--Straight Guy

Big Gay Day in the Nation's Capital

Straight Guy,

Today was an important day for gays in Washington, D.C. The capital, which in most ways functions like a state -- with some crazy, hard to explain, federal oversight, is allowing gay marriages. This morning, couples lined up at the city courthouse to apply for marriage licenses. Read an article and watch a video from the Washington Post.

It takes three full business days for D.C. to process a marriage license, so marriages won't begin to take place until next week, but I am encouraged, excited, humbled and share in the joy of the people captured in the video and more.

Seems like it all went smoothly, with just a few "Mourn for Your Sins" protesters, but that's to be expected.

I'm also encouraged that Chief Justice John Roberts refused to block the marriage applications. Opponents of the same-sex marriage law had asked the Supreme Court to put the law on hold. Roberts declined on behalf of the Court. Read the Post article.

I love the list of practical tips from the city's chief justice about keeping applying for a license smooth, which D.C.'s gay news site, DC Agenda, published. Read from DC Agenda.

The list includes: Be patient, be prepared (bring a completed application, bring your ID), and bring your money -- cash or money order, please. I love the mix of the mundane and the marvelous.

--Gay Guy

Gay/Straight Ad Watch: Truly, Madly, Deeply, Belatedly

Gay Guy,

If you or our readers missed this, here's a late Valentine's Day gift for you.

Yes. You heard right. Hooligans from a Tottenham pub turning Savage Garden into a stadium anthem, and a heartfelt valentine.

Nothing subtle about it. But it gets you, right there. Right?

--Straight Guy