Tip of the Hat Award Winner: Guttersnipe Das

06 Friday May 2011

Posted by Bangkokbois in Blogs, Blogs & Message Boards

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guttersnipe: 1. a street urchin, a person of low breeding. 2. a gatherer of refuse from street gutters.
das: (Sanskrit)1. servant, slave, devotee .

Yup, time again for a post under Criticism, Critiques, and Claps. You’ll undoubtedly be disappointed to know this time around I have positive comments, and a Tip of The Hat Award to bestow on a blogger. Actually I’m running one to one on blogger posts, but the power of the snark knight got all the press. Go figure.

I’m not sure how I ran across Guttersnipe Das’ blog, but I’m enthralled with his writing. Awed, jealous, envious, humbled, and greatly appreciative that I get to read his posts. For free. A blog that uses the tag line ‘Hymns and Homosex. Fantasies and Fabriculae. Stories, Essays, Prose Poems and Assorted Devotions,’ has got to be interesting, and Guttersnipe delivers on that promise with musings and stories from around the eastern hemisphere.

He’s got a great eye and ear for the locales he visits, and the talent to communicate with descriptive copy that expertly paints a vivid picture of the setting and the people he introduces you to. Some posts are lengthy, others an exercise in brevity. I am amazed at how he can write a short paragraph that tells a long tale, taking you on an unexpected emotional journey. Naturally. Guttersnipe never hits a false note; he writes with a degree of honesty seldom seen in internet blogging.

Currently he’s blogging about Tibet, but has covered Thailand in the past and his posts regarding the Land of Smiles are a joy to read. This link will take you to one of them, Visitors to Soi Twilight:

http://guttersnipedas.blogspot.com/2008/03/three-coin-prose_26.html

If I have it right, his Thailand journeys are mostly covered under the category Three-Coin Prose, posted during 2008 and 2009. But Bangkok crops up in other places, too. It’s worth the hunt for those posts, the entries you’ll find along the way will amuse and entertain you.

You may not be interested in everything he posts, he frequently reviews books that help personalize his life’s journey. You may only be interested in his Thai-centric musings. If so, you’ll be doing yourself a disservice by passing up on some of his little gems of insight into the human condition like:

Why is it so seldom acknowledged that one is disliked more for one’s good fortune than one’s bad behavior?

My first draft of this post offered several cut and paste examples from Guttersnipe’s blog. The problem with that approach is that I kept remembering more and more beautifully written entries; soon my post started being a copy of his blog. But I hate when someone tells you about how great a site is or how interesting an article is and then just posts a link. I’m lazy. I don’t want to have to click. I’d prefer you just post the entire article and save me that effort.

But a well written blog is like a journey, a fantastic trip, a holiday in a foreign land. Half the fun is finding your own way, stumbling upon the unexpected, the enjoyment of a new discovery without previously knowing it was waiting for you to find. So as tempting as it is to provide you with a few more examples of why I’m so enamored with this guy’s blog, I’ll let you take your own journey of discovery. And hope yours is as fulfilling as mine has been.

Tip of the Hat Award Winner: Guttersnipe Das

The Stickman

25 Friday Feb 2011

Posted by Bangkokbois in Blogs, Blogs & Message Boards

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Gay GoGo Bars, Tip of the Hat Awards

Soi Cowboy Farang

Last time I did the nasty on a blogger who shouldn’t be, so I’ll be nice this time around and switch back to handing out some kudos. Not that being nice is my normal inclination or the purpose of this category, but I can’t resist with this one. Here’s a blog that was blogging before the blogosphere existed, so it’s actually a website, and a straight one at that:

http://www.stickmanweekly.com/index.html

Stick has been covering the straight gogo bar scene in Thailand for decades. His writing style is enjoyable and his photographs . . . I’m envious! Stick has mastered the night time/neon lit genre and his pix of the Soi Nana and Soi Cowboy scene are incredible. Every damn one of those photos pull you in, telling you a story. He should assemble the best and publish them in a book. Seriously.

He publishes a weekly column that goes on-line every Sunday night covering a specific topic (his Red Shirt coverage last spring was unbiased and timely), an update on what is happening at the bars and entertainment complexes in Bangkok and Pattaya, a section highlighting news stories about Thailand from around the globe that you probably missed, and a Q & A column from a Thai legal firm.

Reading what’s up in the world of girl bars in Bangkok may not be of immediate interest to gay guys, but what’s good for the goose . . . what he reports on the industry holds true for the gay bars, too. And he also covers everyday life in the Kingdom for expats and touri alike. So you will be able to relate. For the disgruntled among us, his and his readers ‘walking ATM’ stories will elicit a knowing grunt. And after reading a few weeks worth of entries, you’ll be damn glad you can’t yet marry your Thai boyfriend.

When I first started visiting Thailand, it always pissed me off that the girl bars charged so much less for a drink, and the expected tip for a night’s companionship was a joke compared to the boy bars. Things have changed. Buy a girl a drink in the bars nowadays and you can be paying up to 800 baht! And the muscle studs at Tawan have got to be envious at the amount that their female counterparts are demanding these days. Amazing what you can learn when you step outside your box. And it certainly puts gay bar costs into perspective.

Come to think about it, maybe Stick should clue his readers into how much cheaper offing a guy is . . . maybe some of the skinflint straight expats in Pattaya might decide it’s better to go gay!

Stick is dropping hints that he might end his stay in Thailand, and his weekly column, at the end of this year. I sure hope not. In any case, I really need to get off my ass and finally drop him a thank you email for the entertainment his site has brought me over the years.

Take a big breath, click on the link, and give his site a try. You will enjoy it!

(Oh, and the photo on this post is one of my favorite of his, to give credit where credit is do. And for you bloggers that insist on picture-altering watermarks to claim credit for your crappy shots, notice the way Stick does it. . . and take a hint!)

Tip of the Hat Award Winner: Stickman's Weekly

Cruising For Sex

23 Wednesday Feb 2011

Posted by Bangkokbois in Blogs & Message Boards, Gay Thailand Message Boards

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Gay Thailand, Gay Thailand Forums, Tip of the Hat Awards

Cruising for Sex in Thailand?

Eh, I know. Second entry in this category and again I’m gonna pass out kudos rather than bitch slap some blogger. I promise this trend will not continue!

Today I’d like to give a shout out to Cruising For Sex (Thailand), not one of the more active boards around but it’s been up and running forever and generally stays true to purpose. I don’t click over to this site often. Suck cinemas, restrooms for scoring, and other public places for quick anonymous sex just aren’t that big of a draw for me. But the bar reports are pretty good. And occasionally some other topic comes up that is of interest.

But my tip of the hat stems from a very specific time: last year when the Red Shirts turned downtown Bangkok into a war zone. CNN’s coverage sucked; frequent reports but only about 30% accurate and generally in line with whichever side offered up the easiest sound bite of the day. Looking for something a bit more accurate and timely I turned to the internet and started perusing blogs and forums several times a day.

Far too many of the blog posts were political rants with way too many immediately falling into the ‘poor rural Thais just trying to bring democracy to their country’ crap. And when the government would make a time specific proclamation and then let the deadline pass without action, the bloggers’ response just showed how little they understood about how Thai’s operate. Besides, I wasn’t looking for faulty opinions, but rather accurate on-site reportage of what was happening and where.

Poster after poster on the forums offered opinions instead of facts, and even the few who were posting from Bangkok couldn’t resist picking a side and then sharing their thoughts rather than their observations. And then came Cruising For Sex. The least likely place to get news.

A poster who uses the handle of Sextile provided daily commentary, observations from his frequent walks through the areas under siege. Yes, this guy’s over use of colored fonts is annoying as is his need to abbreviate as many words as possible – with the abbreviations sometimes ending up being longer than the word he decided to abbreviate. But the combination of the two makes his posts easy to pick out, and in this case each was well worth reading.

CNN would have done better by canning their on-site personnel and just reporting off of what sextile posted. No other blog, news source, or forum came close to providing accurate and timely info of what was going on as Cruising For Sex managed to do.

Sure, now they are back to discussing the best public restroom to score a quicky in, but they really soared there for a bit and I’ll be clicking over again when the next round of civil unrest breaks out in Thailand.

http://www.cruisingforsex.com/bb/thailand

Tip of the Hat Award Winner: Cruising for Sex - Thailand

Shamelessmack In Thailand

23 Wednesday Feb 2011

Posted by Bangkokbois in Blogs, Blogs & Message Boards

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Blogs, Gay Thailand, Tip of the Hat Awards

[UPDATE: Sorry. If you were looking for a new link to Shamlessmac’s blog, it’s not here either. His blog went silent sometime ago and while pundits offer reasons why, no one (but Mac) really knows. I’m leaving this post up, in honor of what was, but the link below will not whisk you into his world any longer.]

As much as I am itching to rip into several especially galling blogs out there (not to mention pretty much every Thailand forum) I thought I’d start out being nice. Or at least as nice as I’ll probably every be in this category. And so I present to you: Shamlessmack In Thailand.

http://shamlessmack.wordpress.com

I don’t do the gay massage parlor thing in Thailand. Just not my scene. But I know lots of guys who love these places. Well, Mack is one of them and he blogs a lot about the massage places both in Thailand and the Philippines. He also covers gogo bars (more my taste) and has recently begun posting about non-sex tourist spots, too.

I like his style of reporting. He’s very detailed and if you are using his site to pick out a massage place you’ll probably not be disappointed. At least you won’t be surprised.

And I’ve enjoyed his recent move to covering tourist attractions. There’s a sense of humor lurking in his posts so they are enjoyable beside providing info on whichever place he is covering.

I guess from someone calling himself shamlessmack you shouldn’t expect many punches being pulled. And that’s refreshing. He is unapologetic about his subject matter and straightforward in his coverage. Not given to blow by blow descriptions of the happy endings he’s experienced mind you, but he never glosses over the fact that his visits are for more than just a massage.

I especially appreciate that when he describes the guys available he is detailed about it. To often you’ll read about how some bar has the hottest guys in Thailand working there, but when you visit it turns out “hottest’ meant scrawny little street orphans. Yes, taste is subjective. My only criticism of his blog is the schedule he has developed for describing these guys. Detailed yes, but having to try and remember what a S1 / W2 ends up looking like is a bit much. But since I don’t have a suggestion on how to do it better, good job! In any case, he’ll usually use more understandable descriptions (i.e., beefy, but not muscular) when he’s describing the stable as a whole.

So thanks Mack for bringing an enjoyable gay Thailand blog into my world!