Monday, April 10, 2017

Helpful new data reveals the most opportune time to cruise hookup apps

From: Queerty
Do you cruise hookup apps at work? You’re certainly not the only one. 

New data released by Wandera, a mobile security and data management firm, reveals that a lot of people cruise for sex during office hours.

The company looked at employees’ work-issued mobile devices to figure out not only what hookup apps they were using, but what times of day logged onto them, and how long they stayed per visit.

Here’s what they observed:

The average person logs onto hook apps between five to six times per work day, spending a total of seven minutes and 51 seconds online over an eight hour period, or 47 minutes per week.

That’s really not so bad, if you ask us.

Researchers also noted that the most common time for cruising at work is usually between a person’s mid-morning coffee break and their lunch break, at 11:23 a.m.

When not at work, the most common times of the day for cruising are scattered. Grindr usage, for instance, peaks at 11:55 p.m., while Tinder peaks at 7:01 p.m., and Match peaks at 5:20 p.m.

The most popular hookup apps people keep on their work-issued phones are Bumble, followed by Tinder, then Grindr, Plenty of Fish, Inner City, OKCupid, and Match.

However, only a small percentage (1.8%) of the phones analyzed actually had one of these apps installed. Probably because most people are smart enough to know not to sext and/or take naughty photos on a work-issued device.

So what’s the takeaway from all this?

Mainly, if you’re cruising for guys during that never-ending weekly conference call with the East Coast sales team, you’re not the only one.

Also, if you’re looking for love on Grindr, you’ll have your best luck shortly before midnight.

Drawn That Way: A Review Of The Film TOM OF FINLAND

From: Boy Culture
An example of Tom of Finland's early work
(Image via Physique Pictorial)
 I'm a fan of the art of Touko Laaksonen, so the new film Tom of Finland — his professional name as an erotic-art illustrator — was so far up my alley it was practically parked in my garage.


 Laaksonen was born in Finland and served in WWII, going on to become a successful ad man thanks to his skill with the pencil. Inspired by mental images of laborers and even by the tight uniforms of the Nazis (with whom he did not sympathize politically), he drew unflinching scenes of muscular macho men engaged in sexual abandon, or merely showing off their assets, dripping with libidinous tension.

He kept his drawings under wraps, learning the hard way (having them stolen, being arrested, facing condemnation) that what he saw as natural was a cause for great alarm in his neck of the woods, and, in fact, most everywhere.

In this new biopic— which has been called Finland's first on gay male love — the story of Touko (played with superb empathy by Pekka Strang) is fleshed out in a compelling, visually stylish and achingly emotional way by acclaimed director Dome Karukoski.


Touko & Nipa — a love story
(This and all other images via Protagonist Pictures, unless noted)
 Tom of Finland beautifully illustrates Touko's gay awakening, captures the excitement and danger of his sexual trysts and flawlessly conveys the non-monogamous love he finds with a stunning young partner, Nipa (Lauri Tilkanen, who looks like the Garrett Clayton of Finland). Finagling a romance with Nipa aka Veli, also the object of Tom's spinster sister's (Jessica Grabowsky) affection, is portrayed adroitly.


Everyone's a critic






 In the '50s, inspired by a mentor's tragic arrest and defeat (he has decided to allow an even more archaic form of conversion therapy), Tom sends his drawings to Physique Pictorial in L.A., the first U.S. gay magazine. At this point, the film switches to more of a docudrama about Tom's career — how his images inspired gay sexual tropes worldwide, the vagaries of dealing with printing and publishing work considered to be porn and, eventually, how he addressed the AIDS crisis at a time when some felt work like his had encouraged the sex practices that allowed the virus to spread.

The scenes in California are wildly different from those taking place in Finland, as one of Tom's biggest fans, Doug (Seumas F. Sargent, apparently standing in for Touko's real-life business partner Durk Dehner) and his lover, Jack (Jakob Oftebro), persuade Touko to come to the West Coast of the U.S. in the swingin' '70s, where he discovers his erotic pantheon has gained him legions of fans — and where he will eventually learn that what elevates his work to art from mere porn is that it has given people the courage to be and to love themselves.

The film's handling of the transformative power of art, even “dick drawings,” as Touko's sister calls the work that is so repugnant to her, is its greatest gift to the viewer, and the point is hammered home by a flesh-and-blood haunting by Tom of Finland's most famous creation, his leather daddy Kake (Niklas Hogner), who appears in key moments just when Touko needs him the most.


Are you a Kake hound?
Who knew you could cry at a scene taking place on the stage at International Mr. Leather? But leather isn't just leather, sex is more than sex, and a drawing can make manifest a thousand dreams.

Tom of Finland is playing at the TriBeCa Film Festival:

Sunday, April 23, 8:45 p.m.

Monday, April 24, 10:45 p.m.

Wednesday, April 26, 10:15 p.m.

Saturday, April 29, 9:00 p.m.

Chechnya opens world's first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler's in the 1930s where campaigners say gay men are being tortured with electric shocks and beaten to death

  • Chechyna has opened the first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler
  • Prisoners reportedly tortured with electric shocks and some beaten to death 
  • One of those who fled said prisoners were beaten to force them to reveal other members of the gay community 
  • Comes after 100 gay men were detained and three killed in Chechyna last week 
From; Daily Mail
President Razman Kadyrov (right), who is a key ally of Vladimir Putin ,
 allegedly ordered the clampdown 
 Chechyna has opened the first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler, where campaigners say gay men are being tortured with electric shocks and beaten to death.  

It comes after it was claimed 100 gay men had been detained and three killed in Chechnya last week.

A report by Novoya Gazeta said authorities had set up several camps where homosexuals are killed or forced to promise to leave the republic

One of the camps is reportedly at the former military headquarters in the town of Argun. 

Svetlana Zakharova, from the Russian LGBT Network, told MailOnline: 'Gay people have been detained and rounded up and we are working to evacuate people from the camps and some have now left the region. 

'Those who have escaped said they are detained in the same room and people are kept altogether, around 30 or 40. They are tortured with electric currents and heavily beaten, sometimes to death.

One of those who escaped told Novoya Gazeta that prisoners were beaten to force them to reveal other members of the gay community.

Another prisoner who fled said that before being incarcerated in one of the camps, he had been forced to pay bribes to Chechen police of thousands of rubles every month in order to survive. 

Now the regime had taken another step against gays by creating these camps, the survivor said.  

Alexander Artemyev, from Amnesty International in Russia, told MailOnline: 'We can only call on the Russian authorities to investigate the allegations. Homosexuals in Chechyna are treated very harshly and prosecuted daily and they are afraid to talk about it. 

'They either have to hide or leave the republic. We are keeping in touch with the LGBT network that helps people in Russia to find shelter. The problem is people there cannot talk about it as it puts their lives and those they speak to, in danger. This is the main issue we are facing in Russia and the main challenge.' 

Ekaterina Sokirianskaia, Russia project director for the International Crisis Group, told MailOnline: 'The story is very much developing...victims are escaping.' 

 Last week Chechen police are believed to have rounded up more than 100 men
(file photo) 
 Tanya Lokshina, from Human Rights Watch in Moscow, said: 'For several weeks now, a brutal campaign against LGBT people has been sweeping through Chechnya.

'These days, very few people in Chechnya dare speak to human rights monitors or journalists even anonymously because the climate of fear is overwhelming and people have been largely intimidated into silence. 

'Filing an official complaint against local security officials is extremely dangerous, as retaliation by local authorities is practically inevitable.

'It is difficult to overstate just how vulnerable LGBT people are in Chechnya, where homophobia is intense and rampant. LGBT people are in danger not only of persecution by the authorities but also of falling victim to "honor killings" by their own relatives for tarnishing family honor.'

Last week Novoya Gazeta said Chechen police had rounded up more than 100 men suspected of being gay and killed three. 

It claimed that among those detained were well-known local television personalities and religious figures. 

President Razman Kadyrov, who is a key ally of Vladimir Putin, allegedly ordered the clampdown, although officially his regime denied the arrests claiming 'it is impossible to persecute those who are not in the republic'. 

 Kadyrov, pictured, has been accused of earlier human rights violations 
Kadyrov, who introduced Islamic rule in the Muslim-majority region, has been accused of earlier human rights violations.

He described the allegations as 'absolute lies and disinformation'.   

Kadyrov's spokesman Alvi Karimov told the Interfax News Agency: 'You cannot arrest or repress people who just don't exist in the republic. 

'If such people existed in Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them, as their own relatives would have sent them to where they could never return.' 

Kadyrov is a strong supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin,
pictured in St Petersburg
Chechen society is strictly conservative, meaning that unlike other cases where relatives or rights activists may put pressure on authorities when a homosexual relative disappears, those suspected are likely to be disowned by their own families.  

According to the New York Times, gay men on the region have been deleting their social media profiles after it was reported authorities tried to lure gay men into dates and arrested them. 

The reports from Russia claim those arrested range from just 15 to 50.  

Caitlyn Jenner Reportedly Reveals She Had Sex Reassignment Surgery In January

From: Boy Culture
In her forthcoming memoir The Secrets of My Life (out April 25), controversial Republican trans woman Caitlyn Jenner has revealed she had her “final surgery” in January — and it went well.

Via Radar:

The surgery was a success, and I feel not only wonderful but liberated,” she writes in the new memoir, out April 25.
The 67-year-old former Olympic gold medalist claims she came clean so fans will stop asking about her nether regions.
“I am telling you because I believe in candor,” she explains. “So all of you can stop staring. You want to know, so now you know. Which is why this is the first time, and the last time, I will ever speak of it.”
Earlier in the book, Jenner calls the surgery a “complex decision,” due in large part to the health risks associated with the operation.

I actually really like how she said that, and how she explained her decision to address the topic; far more articulate than Radar, which went with, “Bye, bye penis!”

Say what you will about Caitlyn — and you will — but her transgender journey was not for attention. She is a woman now, albeit one whose political views make me sick.

Anti-Gay Alabama Governor Faces Impeachment Hearings After Affair With Top Aide

Impeachment proceedings against Governor Robert Bentley began today.
From: NewNowNext
 The Alabama Supreme Court has given lawmakers the go-ahead to begin impeachment proceedings against Republican Governor Robert Bentley, who has been accused of having an affair with a female aide.

First elected in 2011, Bentley has been a staunch opponent of LGBT rights, calling same-sex marriage “a social experiment.”


 “I have always believed in the Biblical definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman,” he said in a statement shortly after the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges. That definition has been deeply rooted in our society for thousands of years… The people of Alabama also voted to define marriage as between a man and woman. I always respect the people’s vote, and I am disappointed that the Supreme Court has disregarded the choice made by the people of Alabama in its decision today.”

In 2016, texts and audio recordings surfaced of Bentley making suggestive remarks to Rebekah Caldwell Mason, a senior aide in his office. Bentley and Dianne, his wife of 50 years, divorced later that year.

The governor, a former Baptist deacon, has ignored calls for resignation, apologizing for “making mistakes” without specifying any wrongdoing.

“I do not plan to resign. I have done nothing illegal. If the people want to know if I misused state resources, the answer is simply no. I have not,” he said from the steps of the state capital.


Last week, the Alabama Ethics Commission found probable cause that he had broken ethics and campaign laws, and there are allegations Bentley used state troopers to cover up the affair.

“Nobody’s love life is a political matter—unless you, as a politician, make your love life and your personal life a political matter,” Rachel Maddow said in 2016 about Bentley’s predicament. “He has been a crusading family values politician who has campaigned on the superior morality of his own marriage, his own family and his own family values, and how he’s going to save Alabama from other people’s terrible, immoral family choices because his values and his family are superior.”

The Yellowhammer State has a shameful history of homophobia under Bentley’s stewardship: A month after Obergefell v. Hodges, more than a dozen counties in Alabama still refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. (Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was actually suspended for telling state judges to continue upholding the state’s ban.)

And in March, the Alabama House advanced a bill that would allow faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies to turn away same-sex couples.

History's 125 Hottest Gay-Porn Stars:

From:  Boy Culture
 Bill me, please
98 
Bill Harrison 
aka 
Ken Harrison 
aka 
Big Bill 
aka 
Ronnie Shark 
(William Kennedy Harrison) 
1947—1991
AIDS









 In possession of one of the biggest manhoods of all time, regular (but hot) guy Harrison got his start in early '70's loops, was the straight construction dude who finds his way into a magical sex den in Wakefield Poole's hypnotic Bijou (1972) and later directed for Tyger/Fox Studios. His penis certainly livened up the shower scene from Too Big for His Britches (1988), though it could be argued the title should've been the other way around when it came to Harrison.


Cosmo Centrefolds 2011

From: Cosmo UK
SALOMON KALOU
Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou discusses his pre-game rituals with Cosmo: "I'm a good boy - no sex before the day of a match. If I had to choose which was better - football or sex - I'd say football. It's 90 minutes of pure pleasure." We'll take your word for it, Salomon!

Salomon Armand Magloire Kalou (born 5 August 1985) is an Ivorian footballer who plays as a striker and winger for Hertha BSC in the Bundesliga and the Ivory Coast.

He previously played for Feyenoord from 2003 to 2006 and Chelsea from 2006 to 2012. While at Chelsea he won numerous honours, including the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League, four FA Cups and the League Cup. He moved to Lille on a free transfer in July 2012 upon the expiry of his contract at Chelsea, where he spent two seasons before moving to Hertha for an undisclosed fee.

A full international for the Ivory Coast from 2007 to 2017, Kalou amassed 83 international caps and represented his country at three FIFA World Cups, six Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and the 2008 Olympics.

Cosmo Centrefolds 2010

From: Cosmo UK
 ADAM GARCIA
The Got To Dance judge and tap dancing supremo showed us what we were missing in LA

Adam Gabriel Garcia (born 1 June 1973) is an Australian actor, singer, and dancer.

13 LGBT Superheroes To Watch Out For

From: NewNowNext
 2
Iceman

At the moment, Marvel has two Icemen: the adult Bobby Drake and his teenage self, who time-traveled from the past. At the end of 2015, BOTH Icemen came out as gay. More recently, the younger mutant hero has been exploring his sexuality—even visiting a gay bar.


But this year, the more mature Iceman is getting own series—the first ongoing comic for a gay male character in the company’s history. His adventures will be told by a largely queer team, too, with writer Sina Grace (Self-Obsessed), cover artist Kevin Wada (She-Hulk) and artist Alessandro Vitti (Secret Warriors).

36 Fetishes Every Gay Man Should Know

From: The Advocate
 23
Piercings

Many guys have fetishes for piercings - also called piquerism - and as a result may also enjoy the body-mod kink of piercing the skin, which some take to extremes. I have a fetish for Prince Alberts - circular piercings that go through of the penis - but I do not personally have one, which means I enjoy this fetish but do not practice the kink of piercing myself or someone else for pleasure. (This will change the minute I get my long-awaited PA.)

19 Inspiring Trans People-Currently In Sports-You Should Know About

From: OutSports


Gabrielle Ludwig played basketball for Mission College,
where she now coaches.
The standout center for the Mission College women’s basketball team in California has been the team’s assistant coach for several years.

Cosmo Centrefold Hall of Fame

From: Cosmo UK
 Lookalikes
Sam Brown as Brad Pitt, Andy Harner as David Beckham and Shad Ellis as Will Smith


365 Groovy Books Worth Reading

From: Deep Dish
30
Auntie Mame  
by 
Patrick Dennis
1955

This best-selling novel was inspired by Dennis' real life eccentric aunt, and it was adapted into a stage play (1956) and a movie (1958) - both starring Rosalind Russell - as well as a stage musical (1966) with Angela Lansbury and a movie musical (1974) with Lucille Ball.

40 Musical Reasons Why Dolly Parton Is A Groundbreaking Genius, In Chronological Order

From: OMG
39
Blue Smoke 
2014

It may seem hokey, but who doesn’t love a train song?