INLA and Frontiers Merge and Print One Publication

'IN LA Magazine' and 'Frontiers Magazine', two of the largest publications in Los Angeles are merging. The new publication, to be called, "Frontiers In Los Angeles" premieres February 25, 2009.
Well, that's kinda tricky because they already merged as companies, but published two publications. Now they are merging into one large print publication.
Watch for it...
http://www.queerty.com/las-gay-rags-to-merge-20090205/
http://wehonews.com/z/wehonews/archive/page.php?articleID=3127

"Caution! Zombies Ahead!" Hackers Change Highway Sign

I've always wanted to do something like this, but it's so dangerous.
I would say something like "Have More Sex!" or "RentBoy's Rule!"
I'd like to put "Park Here to PartyWithBrandon" but I would not like to incriminate myself. YIKE!

Rusty was telling me about a news story he heard on the radio where hackers changed the traffic signs to say something about Zombie's. I laughed out loud (LOL) today in the car and had to share the story with you too now that I found it online.

http://www.ktbs.com/news/Hackers-create-Zombies-Ahead-highway-signs-24665/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j9My5xHRJ2oGTzKO2rT19qZ9-gTQD964VI401
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/02/street_signs_ha.html

What's really bad is that I see in the first news story that the fine is $500.00. If it didn't go on my record, I would totally consider PAYING that much to do it. I mean that's way less than an advertising billboard would cost. *takes off thinking cap*

Hipster RentBoy's

CLICK HERE for the "Hipster RentBoy's" in the news. ...as in the New York Observer news, that's hot!

NEWS: Professional soccer’s got a new rent boy – Outsports

It's not THAT out of the ordinary for a professional sports player or celebrity to hire a rentboy.
Professional soccer’s got a new rent boy – Outsports

Snow in Louisiana

My mom called me and left me voice mail about how excited she was to see snow in Louisiana. She said with the warmest fervor I have heard her have in a long time, "It's beauuuuutiful." (...that made me happy, no matter what was covering the ground to hear her excited.)

Now I can't figure out what the fuck they are all excited about.
a) It's snow. We grew up with that.
b) It's freakin' COLD!
c) Lisa and I just left that in Michigan. H-E-L-L-O!
d) It's a sign of the apocalypse. It should not be snowing in New Orleans. As far as I know from living there, the last time it snowed in New Orleans was 2004.

I found this photo to the left that is just as beautiful as my mom made it sound.
The photo to the right is of my dad's car at his work with snow on it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081211/ap_on_re_us/south_winter_weather
http://www.wdsu.com/news/18252159/detail.html#-

NEWS: AVN :: Gay Prostitution Arrests Lead to Outrage in NYC

AVN :: Gay Prostitution Arrests Lead to Outrage in NYC:

This part is just odd:

"Gay City News also pointed out that although it is possible an alarming rate of prostitution occurs in and around gay adult stores, it's statistically unlikely the men who were arrested are prostitutes. Most of them were between the ages of 42 and 54, and several were from out of state. How likely is it that Californians, Virginians and Europeans would travel all the way to New York to sell themselves when they could do so more conveniently and profitably at home?"

NEWS: Boy George Admits to Handcuffing Escort

No Gays for a Day

I don't know how I feel about this, I understand the purpose, but I am still undecided about this. Nonetheless, I want to share this as news and something that pertains to my life, my industry and that of the people around me.

From the Los Angeles Times

Opinion

No Gays for a Day day

Forget the marches against Prop. 8's passage. This will hit people where it hurts.

Joel Stein
November 14, 2008

You wouldn't think gay people would need tips on staging a splashy event from Mexican immigrants. Yet since they lost the right to marry in California, gays appear to have no game plan, marching around West Hollywood and Silver Lake with their old "No on 8" signs, which makes about as much sense as holding a John McCain rally next month at John McCain's house.

That's why I'm declaring Dec. 5 No Gays for a Day day. Patterned after the 2006 Great American Boycott organized by Latino immigrants, on that Friday, gays should stay home from work, school and do no shopping, to prove how crucial they are to American society. No Gays for a Day will demonstrate what it would be like if -- as so much of the non-coastal U.S. seems to desire -- gays just disappeared. You may not even know who all your daily gays are, so there's no predicting the impact. It probably won't shut down the restaurant industry like the immigrants did, but know this for certain: Dec. 5 will be a day that fashion does not move forward.

To gauge this strategy's effectiveness, I called Sonja Eddings Brown, the spokesperson for the Protect Marriage coalition that put Proposition 8 -- which defined marriage as exclusively heterosexual -- on the ballot. Brown, to my surprise, sounded defeated. I reminded her that Proposition 8 passed, so maybe she should pep up a bit. "Did we win?" she asked. "It doesn't feel like it." When I ran No Gays for a Day by her, Brown said, "I have so many dear friends who are such invaluable parts of this city and California who are gay." It was the boldest use of "some of my best friends are ... " I had ever heard.

My main concern about enacting my plan is that I'm not gay. And my previous attempt as an outsider to rally folks to a cause was a miserable failure: Right before I applied to college, I suggested Asian students protest being stereotyped as overachievers by skipping the SAT.

Also, I'm really lazy. So I called Amy Balliett for help. Balliett is a lesbian in Seattle who, just last Friday, created JoinTheImpact.com, which has organized an expected 250,000 people nationwide to march Saturday in protest of Proposition 8. Balliett immediately embraced No Gays for a Day as JoinTheImpact's second event. We worked out some kinks, like "pretending you are sick" for people who aren't out of the closet at work. For economic impact, we picked a Friday -- one of the big shopping days before Christmas and the day People, Us Weekly and Star usually sell out at newsstands. We also decided that because this is a general strike, not a directed boycott, even gay-owned, gay-patronized businesses should shut down. "I hate to say this, but we should even say, 'Don't even go out to the bars,' " she said. "I just don't know if the community can stick to that."

To get media attention, Balliett -- a search-engine marketer -- is going to use the social networking sites she used for Saturday's march. Although that sounded promising, I decided to hunt for a No Gays for a Day celebrity spokesperson. I chose Kathy Griffin because she's so well connected to the gay community and because it's hard to get Ellen DeGeneres on the phone at 10 p.m. when you're drinking and coming up with ideas like No Gays for a Day.

Griffin -- who is a spokesperson for the Foundation for AIDS Research, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Aid for AIDS and, I'm guessing, AIDS, AIDS, AIDS -- was thrilled to get the official celebrity spokesperson job. And she thought our impact would be significant. "Forget Pinkberry. It's over for them. They could go under in one day," she said. "If you do two days without gays, Bravo would go under too." People, we figure, will have no assistance at libraries or gym class and will madly butcher their hair. Subaru dealerships shouldn't bother opening. Entertainment journalism will take such a hit, TMZ will have to report hockey scores.

Griffin was getting more excited about our plan until I mentioned this might slow up the remodel of her house. "My remodel? What about the audience for my shows? The only reason I'm doing this is on Dec. 5, I don't have a show. I'd never do this if I had a show that day in Palm Desert," she said. Then -- and you'll have to trust me that this actually happened -- Griffin got quiet for a few seconds. "If my assistants don't go to work," she said, "who's going to go to the bathroom for me? I'm screwed on a day without gays. I've made a huge error in judgment. Me, Cher and Bette Midler are going to be the three most screwed Americans. We all might actually die that day. And what if Ryan Seacrest doesn't go to work? The state will collapse. This will wake up California."

But Griffin decided No Gays for a Day is a cause worthy of her suffering. Now the rest of the world will find out what Griffin has known all along: We need our gays. If it turns out I'm wrong, and we don't miss them, then as a married man, I can tell you this: The best way to keep them at home is to let them get married.

jstein@latimescolumnists.com

John Wayne Bobbitt

Remember John Wayne Bobbitt? He's the guy that his wife cut of his penis and threw it on the side of the road.
Now you can get his porn vids on www.HotMovies.com. Yea!
...and if you have any of the GayHotMovies free viewing cards I travel with usually, you can use those to check it out. HOT!
Check out the news story on XBiz at http://www.xbiz.com/news/all/101690.

I remember when THIS photo was originally in Esquire Magazine and I cut it out, 'cause I thought he was kind hot.

NEWS: 50-Plus Years for Gay Man Who Shot AA Sponsor

Oh shit, that's not good.
...just being anything is dangerous in this world.
Yike.

Unemplyment and Job Hunting

I know quite a few people who are looking for jobs and I am trying to understand not being able to find one.

I came across this news story just today.

ABC News: Unemployed Nation: America's Shrinking Payroll

I hate holding someone responsible for something I am doing myself, but I have a job, and am working at my own job so I can keep it.

I know it's not always one's own fault when jobs get cut. Downsizing, mergers, etc. - are not because someone was lazy.

In my own career line of hotels, I use sites like www.hcareers.com, www.hoteljobs.com, and www.hospitalitycareernetwork.com to name a few to find hotel careers. (I define a career as a long term position. A "job" is a short term fix for me.)
I have active resumes with most of them and regularly check in on those sites and apply to help keep my finger on the hiring pulse.

If hotels are not your thing, there are countless other websites that apply to any job or carrier field such as CraigsList and many more general job search websites. I find that one very helpful and know many employers that use that as a cost effective way to post very good openings.
On www.monster.com you can set up "Job Detectives" that find postings that match pre-set search criteria you set up and get positions e-mailed right to you. (I love reading my e-mail to see interesting jobs come to me. Could they make it any easier for me, please?)
I receive daily emails to an email that I set up just for that purpose and keep a current resume with the Monster. (I like to see what's going on.)

Locally I would suggest CraigsList, www.jobing.com and the local newspaper classified section.

I am little off on a tangent, but I see that unemployment is at a record level so I want to help address that in my own backyard and for any readers wherever they might be.

I want to be sympathetic and I am understanding it's not easy and there are record levels of jobs that don't exist, however, if I stick with the job "hunting" idea, it's time to get out the big guns.

ABC News: Miami Vice: Inside 'John Stings' and Escort Stings

Here is one more very interesting article about "Stings" and escorts.

ABC News: Miami Vice: Inside 'John Stings' and Escort Stings

What's interesting to me?

• "They also look at our teeth, and if we have most of them, they know that we're cops anyway," another decoy officer explained. "So we try to distract them with other things."
• After a john pulls over and names an act and a price, the decoy signals the teams of cops who then arrest the johns.
• The FBI and Miami vice asked us not to report on all of the sting procedures to preserve the confidentiality of the operation.
• Soon after, a second woman arrived. She was 23, and after entering the room she seemed to survey it, even going into the bathroom. "They are looking for obvious signs of police presence," Sullivan said. "Their main concern is getting arrested. They will look for monitoring equipment, anything that says police."
• After she agreed to the act and accepted money, she was taken out of the room by police wearing just underwear. The undercover officers searched her clothing, as procedure, for contraband, or weapons.

NEWS: Selling Gay Porn

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.php?IDNEWS=0000007495

NEWS: David Forest Returns

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Michael Brandon

http://www.sfweekly.com/content/printVersion/1182168

AIG Bailout

I received this from a few people and think it's amazing.

The figures are outrageous, I don't know the actual figures and I am not going to lie, I barely know about the bailout and why the government has to be the ones to do deal with this now.
I do find it utterly outlandish that because of a companies mismanagement, the federal government has to come to the rescue.
In general, I am against this type of behavior regardless of who it's what their initials are. It stands for recklessness.

However, take this copied and pasted email with a grain of salt.

Good afternoon my fellow Americans,

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..
So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion th at equals $425,000.00.
My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.
Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college - it'll be there
Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car - create jobs
Invest in the market - capital drives growth
Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.
Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work."
But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?
I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion

And remember, This plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Kindest personal regards,
A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic

PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it's either good for a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

Porn Set Busted

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Big Bang?

A friend in New Orleans sent these to his email list this morning.
I consider myself religious.

Toy Yoda

I can see where it gets confusing.

CNN Reports Bigfoot Found?

What the fuck?
www.CNN.com is carrying this news story that the maybe not so mythological "Bigfoot" creature has been found.
CLICK HERE to read more and decide for yourself.
CNN?