The ones that got away

12 08 2017

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Even with a relatively long vacation, I couldn’t see and do everything I wanted. Bangkok is not a beast that can be easily tamed. Here are some of the ones that got away:

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Most crushing disappointment was a near miss with the Mustang Nero, an instragram extravaganza of an airbnb with rooms named after individual animals (The Flamingo, The Wolf, The Octopus’s Garden) and fitted out with outrageous taxidermy ( a full sized giraffe, the interlocked skeletons of two deer fighting) and luxuriant tropical foliage. My boyfriend, who was staying an extra night, managed to secure the last available booking while I missed out, so I only have other peoples’ pictures to post… Also:

WAON Piano & Scotch: an “acoustic karaoke” bar on a Sukhumvit side street where an elderly Japanese gentleman plays requests on the piano while you sing along.

Chooseless: An artfully mixed-up bi-level multi-brand boutique/cafe in Ekkamai.

12 x 12: For African music (see above)

A new “underwear only” gay gym where hunky Caucasian intructors teach you how to “wrestle” (which I declined for obvious reasons).

The newly opened-to-the-public Bang Khun Phrom palace

A ‘secret” dive bar serving brewksies inside the city’s US intelligence headquarters (!)

And finally the interesting architecture of the 1971 Thailand Islamic Center, which has been on my hit-list for ages. I’ll make it one day :

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#BKKY

5 08 2017

Bangkok youth talks about love, sex and identity in new documentary #BKKY.





Day 2 Sala Daeng skytrain station 8pm

24 07 2017

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Jojolion

24 07 2017

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While shopping in the vast new “Animate” manga superstore in the MBK mall I came across the Thai editions of this hitherto unknown series – Jojolion, about the pyschedelic adventures of a waifish boy in a tight sailorsuit. Apparently it was Japan’s third-best selling manga series in 2011, and also popular in Thailand . You learn something new every day.

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What’s cooking?

18 07 2017

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Philippines TV celebrity chef JP Anglo.

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Face off

18 07 2017

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Photo shoot from Kaltblut magazine.

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Fashion monster

15 07 2017

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The one and only Francois Sagat ❤️

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15 07 2017

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Gay sound

2 07 2017

It’s going to be a fun, sweaty Summer.





Gachimuchi

2 07 2017

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Images by Inu Yoshi (犬義).

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The Art of Xiyadie

25 06 2017

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The gay-themed paper-cut work of a rural Chinese artist known as “the Siberian butterfly”, or Xiyadie, which is part of an exhibition titled “Spectrosynthesis – Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now” at Taipei’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

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Oz: fresh fashion faces from downunder

21 06 2017

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Above, pink-haired Louis Vuitton “it girl” Fernanda Ly, and below, fellow Sydney University student – and instagram-famous photographer, stylist and now fashion world  heavy-hitter – Margaret Zhang.

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Photography straight from the Aussie ‘burbs by Elvis di Fazio, Frank Ocean’s visual collaborator:

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And below, another Elvis di Fazio collaborator, former Sydney club dancer and now top New York model, Daniel Garofali.

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Have Fun Tonight

21 06 2017





The art of Gengoroh Tagame

18 06 2017

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Above, new Tagame-inspired swimwear from hipster manga company Massive and below, the infamous bath at Ueno’s 24 Kaikan.
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Mexican men

10 06 2017

A short film omnibus by Julian Hernandez and Roberto Fiesco.





All aboard

31 05 2017

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Sexual Freedom

31 05 2017

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Over the weekend I caught up with the new TV adaption of one of my favourite recently-read books, The Handmaid’s Tale. It is a dystopian and brilliantly realised series about a woman who finds herself in a new world where women have been stripped of their rights and placed in a rigid, ritualistic hierarchy of oppression: from well-coiffed but powerless society wives to domestic drudges known as “Marthas” and then “handmaidens,” the women whose sole purpose in society is to bear children. The book was originally written as a chilling thought experiment, and the TV series is just as compelling.

It made me wonder afterwards – what is the connection between sexual and political freedom? Can sexually repressed countries ever be politically free? To what extent has the oppression of women thoughout history been driven by the wish to control their sexuality? Or is it the other way around, is that just a “symptom” of a powerlessness that is primarily economic?





Taiwan: love wins

25 05 2017

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Taiwan becomes the first Asian country to legalise gay marriage.





Trough London

25 05 2017

London continues to get down, err, under with the second installment of Australian-originated gay party Trough hitting soon. According to their website:

TROUGH, named after a vessel pigs drink out of, was founded 10 years ago in Melbourne Australia. Over the years TROUGH has amalgamated jocks, bears, hunks, beards, queers, twinks and in-betweeners into one pretty mess on the dancefloor inside Australia’s biggest and boldest mens cruise venue, CLUB80. As broad as the crowd is, so is the music with DJs slamming Berlin-esque (m)anthems, deep house, sexy beats and throbbing baselines to a dark room of a sweaty pit. After 10 years TROUGH is now ready to sow its seeds in international soil to give the rest of the world a good dose of the T_OUGH love. TROUGH is also internationally renowned for its visionary photographic imagery and video art promos, all produced and art directed by TROUGH founder Nik Dimopoulos. Each campaign explores different sexual practises and fetishes as themes, combining both the sexual and the sometimes absurdist nature of fetishised ideas and attractions using everyday found objects and DIY crafting. It is fused together with the ‘hot talent’ sourced from the events themselves. Combined with mantastic multimedia / performance / installation / laser and projection spectacular, TROUGH firmly puts the ART back into dance pARTy!

The – needless to say – very NSFW promotional video is below:

https://vimeo.com/218623259

And meanwhile, back in Oz:

https://vimeo.com/217361746





Don’t Cry for Me Indonesia

17 05 2017

Today, on the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, two Sumatran men were sentenced to public whipping with a cane. Their crime? Consensual gay sex in private. The victims had been apprehended by a gang of vigilantes who broke into their private room to catch them “in the act”. Its a chilling development in an alarming trend: Indonesia’s slide into the ranks of countries ruled by religious extremism.

The judgement follows on from the appalling, racist and transparently political incarceration of Jakarta’s governor ( a double minority, being Christian and Chinese) for “blasphemy”) an offense that a) it is clear he did not commit and b) should not be illegal anyway in any modern country. The courts have sent a clear message – they will side with the loud voices of religious conservatives.

The same law has been used to persecute the Gafatar minority, whose unorthodox and syncretic blend of Islam – arguably much more representative of Indonesia’s own culture – was deemed to be sacriligious for, among other things, allowing Muslims the choice to pray rather than labelling it as compulsory.

It is a scary time. Despite Jakarta’s new modern art museum and Hooter’s outlet (!) there can be no doubt that one of Asia’s most famously tolerant societies is slipping into a religious dark age. Wake up Indonesia, before its too late!





Day glo trippin’ : When K-Pop takes drugs

10 05 2017