Monday, September 26

THE MANHUNT MACHINE


THE MANHUNT MACHINE
By BoYnBrIeFsOrLeSs

The Manhunt Machine,
O The Manhunt Machine,
The most sexed up contraption that's ever been seen.
Just put in yer stats
and pay the fee,
Click the search button
and hot boys you'll see.
You can search 4 hot boys who are nice n not dumb,
But by adding this in,
they'll only be
as hung as yer thumb.
My thumb? That's dumb, Though it's not perfect -
On second thought, I'll just jack myself numb.

Sunday, September 25

DIFFERENT STROKES 4 DIFFERENT FOLKS

When Kris Weston first gave me a peek at Chris Wide’s photos from Muscle Up, I knew he had to go on the cover of MEN magazine. We’d spent months re-working every page of the magazine (hey, after 20 years, it needed it), and Chris was everything we’d been after in a cover-man: a big, sexy man, who hadn’t plucked, tweezed or shaved every inch of his body. But (as always), there were a few complications:

First off, Chris lives in Germany, and doesn’t speak much English. I lucked out, in that Chris was in San Francisco around the time we went into production on the issue, and Manfred Speer (a former COLT Man himself) offered to translate. I wrote a first draft of the interview, and my managing editor, L.A. Wexton, and I spent several hours trying to present the text in a manner that would make for easy translating (i.e. getting rid of colloquialisms, checking sentence structure and whatnot).

The other problem was that the editor of Unzipped Magazine had already ‘claimed’ him as a cover-model. I’d clashed with this guy—over cover models, content and just about everything else—in the past, and had managed to hold my ground a number of times. My boss told me he’d handle it, and to his credit, he did. (I think we ran the cover a month too soon—a sentiment the publisher agreed with—but I was happy to have my cover guy without any of the drama, so I kept my trap shut.)

Now, the Unzipped dude was pissed, and I mean PISSED. (Not that this was anything new.) The office was often a buzz over his daily, high-decibel, expletive-filled tantrum, so I guess I didn’t catch the fit he had over this change in covers. Allegedly, or from what I can gather, he, “went outside, swung a dead cat,” and found a last-minute replacement that was, “even hotter.” Both covers hit around the same time, and (this I got from the horse’s mouth) his, “hot guy standing by the pool in a Speedo,” was hotter than mine. Even his own art director agreed (well out of earshot), that there was no comparison: Chris was, and still is the hotter of the two.

To my surprise and satisfaction, Chris turned out to be a GREAT interview—smart, sexy and funny: When asked if he was approached by other porn companies, in his native Germany, he said yes. When asked why he picked COLT, he said it was because of the prestige and history surrounding COLT. In his own words: “Why settle for a Volkswagen when you could have a Mercedes?”

The issue was rounded out with an incredible layout/interview with Falcon exclusive Dean Monroe, new models from Body Image and Satori Studios, as well as a hot, semi-nude shot of ‘Amazing Race” winner, Reichen (I’ll post THAT story some other time) and closed with an amazing personal essay by Falcon exclusive Josh Weston. Looking back, I’d have to say that was the hottest issue of MEN I put together during my time as editor. I’m very proud of it.

COLT Man Exclusive Chris Wide’s new movie, Wide Strokes is available from the COLT web site.

For a couple of bonus pictures of Chris (semi-safe for work), click here.

Wednesday, September 7

THIS CONCLUDES THE COUNTDOWN

OK, so today marks the end of my little experiment
with the counter (and other stats). I'm surprised at the amount of traffic (more than I though, given the lack of comments), but then, a little sad that I don't have MORE traffic.

There's just no pleasing some people, huh?

Tuesday, September 6

GIVE YOU SOME OF THIS ON A BUN…

Music plays a significant role in my day-to-day life—from the song playing while I’m in the shower, to the one blasting from my car stereo as I make that last turn on to the street where I live—it’s almost as if my life has a soundtrack. If I were to compile the Official Soundtrack for the month of August, 2005, it would include the following:

Bad, Bad Man - John Cena feat Bumby Knuckles

Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day

Flashdance Against the Music
[White Label] Deep Dish vs Britney Spears feat Madonna

I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today
- Mama Cass Elliott

Love On My Mind
[Main Club Mix] The Freemasons

Oh
[Bimbo Jones Vocal Club Mix] Ciara feat Ludacris

One Eye Shut
[Robbie Rivera Vocal Club Mix] 68 Beats

One Night In Bangkok
[Extended Version] from ‘Chess’

Panic
- The Smiths

Saint of Me
[Deep Dish White Label Mix] The Rolling Stones

Since U Been Gone
[Jason Nevins Reprise] Kelly Clarkson

Somebody Told Me
[Album Version / Josh Harris Mix] The Killers

Touch Me
- The Doors

Turn The Party Out
- Biz Markie

Sunday, September 4

THAT'S ONE... ONE PHOTO!

OK, so... just for fun, over the past three weeks, I put a one of those little counter-things on my sorry little blog. And I was kind of surprised to see the number approaching 300.

Surprised because if 100 people or so read this thing every week, why isn't ANYONE leaving comments? Oh, sure... I've had a couple of them, here and there. And there was that ONE evil comment. (And YES, I know who you are. I'm gonna be the grown-up here, and leave you alone. This time.)

Most of the feedback I get is sent, by friends, to my personal email. Kris said it was, "very funny stuff." Corey called me 'creative' and linked me on his site. (Links for Kris and Corey are located just below my profile.) And of course, there's my favorite comment, from my older sister: "It has a lot of words."
So stay a while--read an older post from the archives, link to me, post a comment, or just send me an email with dirty jokes or pictures.

JUST DON'T BE A STRANGER ANY MORE.

FAINT, FOND AND FUNNY ECHOES

A writer I used to work with (for both MEN and FRESHMEN) sent this to me recently, and I thought I’d share it. On the back page of FRESHMEN, is a monthly list – kind of like Letterman’s list, but dirtier and much gayer. OK, just dirtier.
It was a pain in the butt, coming up with the list each month, but this writer often had the last-minute ideas that saved the day, and inspired the art guys to come up with a great, final page.
I guess this would be my last, last page…

The Top Ten Wishes of Every Gay Man
10 Liza wouldn’ lisp!
9 Matthew Rush isn't bloated.
8 That aging, white sugar daddy you've got in Miami is really a hot, gorgeous Latin Papi out in West Hollywood.
7 After a more careful examination of your birth certificate, you discover you're actually as young as you’ve been telling people you are.
6 Every guy you meet on Manhunt actually looks like his photos, and really IS packing all eight inches advertised in his profile.
5 You've discovered—and exclusively own—the gene to endlessly, madlessly clone TV reality hottie Reichen!
4 You are employed full-time as Jude law's live-in, round-the-clock Nanny, mkaaay?
3 The Indian in the Village People looks just as hot as he did in 1979, not as he really looks in 2005...
2 The last two Presidential elections were just really, really bad dreams. (Or really great jokes.)
1 Juan Garcia was still editor of MEN and FRESHMEN magazines.