Ca y est, j’ai trouvé le nom et la décoration de mon bar dans le Marais que j’aurai à moi un jour.

Minute changes to the stylesheets — most importantly, links are now in black. Maybe that’s the way it should be everywhere. Or maybe not at all.

I’m boycotting Batim’s blog because he spoiled the ending entire plot of some lame movie I wasn’t intending to ever see, I’m boycotting Embruns because he spoiled the end of the latest Harry Potter even though I never read one and didn’t enjoy the movies much… just in case next time their target happens to be something I like. I just have trouble comprehending how people can be so self-centered as to take it upon themselves to decide what others should be wanting to enjoy and discover untainted. But they’re in good numerous company: I also had to stay away from TV newsgroups since Lost started in France.

Ask me again why I don’t like people.

It’s summer holiday, they say. I don’t know personally, because holidays don’t mean much to me, but I hear about it, and I figure, hey, why not try it out, for once? (Well, honestly, I doubt I’ll like it, because it’s all tied to the ‘work’ concept, and… you know.)

So, if everything works out as planned (like that could happen), I’ll spend most of August in Bordeaux. Since I don’t know yet on what day I’m leaving, it’s too early to set up a date with a pretty reader in the train’s restroom, but I’m definitely waiting to receive illustrated proposals from cute, young, bordelais men.

But there’s something much more important than finding people to have sex (I’ll look for that on the spot) or a drink (I’ll loo… uh, no, I guess I won’t, I’m not the social kind) with: television. I may not be writing detailed reviews of all the TV shows I watch, but I still spend my time watching them — and posting verb-less one-liners in my minilog (without even specifying episode references, so it’s pretty useless if you’re not following French broadcasting schedules).

The thing is, I’m not going to carry my satellite dish all the way to Bordeaux, so I desperately need help from my readers — and I’m quite aware that I should never rely on them, but one can always dream. I can definitely miss the rest of the dull adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, and I could be content with reading Queer as Folk episode summaries just to stay aware of what happens, but I really would mind missing The L Word, the one and only show currently on air that I find clever and well-written enough.

As for the rest, I should have broadband (with additional ifs), so I’ll be able to remind you every once in a while that I’m still alive (at least enough to tell you the time I woke up each day in the minilog, hopefully followed with a series of diamonds quote marks), but I sure hope not to spend my whole days online — wouldn’t be much of a vacation if I did. And I’m only taking McGill with me (oh how I’ll miss my iMac…), so I won’t be posting pictures from Bordeaux for lack of Photoshop, and I’ll only be able to take pictures and bring them back from there if I buy a USB hard drive and it works (so many ifs… no wonder I’m stressed out), because the internal drive has no room for storing them (I had thought of uploading them to Flickr, but not of storing them on the garoo.net server — thanks to Michael for the suggestion).

And that’s all for today. We’ll now be taking questions from the gentlemen of the press.

Shit, have you seen how long this post was? Oh wait, you probably didn’t read it anyway.

Too short.

If over six months (or something — not good with dates, as I’ve said time and again) my hair has only gained a couple of inches, do you think that means I should give up on the idea of letting them grow? The way it’s going, I don’t think it’ll ever look good… even when they get longer, they stay flat and thin^*, and you can still see my skin through the hair (no, I’m not particularly losing hair; it’s just very, very thin).

Do I cut it tomorrow, and search the web for rasta — but grey — caps? (That’d look good on me: my face needs something going up, but not on the sides. I always thought those foam top-hats they sell for Bastille Day and soccer championships would be great, but you can’t quite wear them every day.)

^* : Oh, and I also spend my time tearing strands off, every time I wash or do my hair.

Boredom, clickdom [via]. The link is anything but new (although I think the site has improved since I last tried it, but then I switched to the Mac in the meantime and everything always works so much better here than on PC), but I’m showing off my new picture from last week. Well, I’m not-showing it, actually.

I like the baby version. Maybe I should use it in gay chatrooms.

Inspiré de cette recette, mais en beaucoup plus simple, parce que j’aime bien me simplifier la vie, par principe : faire tremper 200g de figues sèches coupées en petits dés dans du rhum brun pendant vingt-quatre heures, mélanger dans de la pâte “moelleux au chocolat” Herta, mettre au four. Enfin, dans un moule.

Pas de photo, parce qu’un gâteau au chocolat ce n’est pas tellement photogénique (et vous savez bien à quoi ça ressemble, un gâteau au chocolat). Et à manger froid, parce que tant que c’est tiède le goût du rhum domine tout le reste. D’ailleurs, même froid ça sent un poil trop le rhum — plutôt que de laisser les figues mariner dans le rhum, essayez peut-être juste de les arroser un peu.

Two new little galleries, not really a must-see, but I have to keep myself a little busy. (No, I don’t intend to announce here every single update to the galleries, but it has been updated to little lately that you probably haven’t gotten used to checking out the rightmost column — unless, of course, you have subscribed to the blog’s feed, in which case you couldn’t have missed it. Heh.)

It’s really weird going from the iMac’s luxurious, contrasty LCD screen to the old CRTs (yes, plural) on my PC in order to edit the photographs (because the PC unfortunately remains my main workstation, due to the serial-port Wacom tablet, and the various software packages). As I reviewed the pictures, I found them all ugly; I edited them as much as I could, but still found them mediocre; it’s only after I uploaded them on the site and viewed them on the Mac as I updated the galleries that I realized they weren’t particularly worse than usual. But I’ve gotten so used to looking at pictures and graphics on the Mac that I find everything ugly and dull on the PC.

I’m not sure whether I ought to throw the PC out the window or, on the contrary, turn this into an advantage, getting the most out of myself by editing my pictures in the least favorable conditions. On the one hand, it gives me an opportunity to do my best, not being able to cut corners; on the other, it’s a bit discouraging when you review an afternoon’s worth of pictures and have the impression nothing good can come of it. And I’m so easily discouraged already.

Oops, it’s July 13th? I was thinking of going to Rennes late in the day, but now I have a good reason to stay home.

Posting some news on gayattitude I realize I really have to refresh the layout of my blog’s admin pages — it’s more important than one thinks.

No visual changes this time, but a structural one: as I was reading a French decoration magazine the other day, I realized it’d be quite convenient scanning images I like and keeping them somewhere, in a big folder holding inspiration for design, decoration, graphics and stuff.

That’s the kind of thing you’d do on Flickr, because it’s damn well designed for this, but you know me, I need to do things by myself — and, actually, I don’t really feel like having my forthcoming collection be kept hostage by faraway servers I have never met.

So I programmed my own thing, a scraplog with images and the usual tag system (available in an RSS feed that isn’t included yet in the general feed, and might or not be later — you’ll notice if it happens). So far there’s only the old snaplog’s contents, as it’s not useless now, but you’ll soon find TV captures, magazine scans and stuff. Basically, you know, images.

Comments aren’t available yet, but they’ll get there (you’ll see when it happens, too, so I won’t announce it again, not that you care anyway). And I still have to import the snaplog’s other contents into the general blog, for all the things that didn’t fit into the scraplog. Plus, I’m warning you now so you’re not surprised when you see things moving around in your aggregator, I have to fix the gallery feeds so there’s one entry per gallery, rather than per image. There it is, everything can now be commented (unless there are bugs around) and if you have subscribed to my feeds you must have seen lots of movement; that was expected, and everything should be stable enough now.

Oh, and while I’m at it: if the site disappears in the night, don’t worry, it should be back tomorrow.

Under construction, wear your hard hat at all times.

Il y a quelques mois, mes parents ont acheté deux lots de poêles Téfal à manche amovible.

D’abord, ce n’est pas très pratique, parce qu’il n’y a que deux poignées pour huit poêles, alors que les poignées sont la partie la plus salissante, pour cause de gros rabat en acier pas anti-adhérent du tout qu’il faut donc laver énergiquement après chaque utilisation.

Ensuite, et surtout, c’est le moment de dire quelque chose que j’ai sur le coeur depuis longtemps, quelque chose d’énorme que je n’osais pas révéler publiquement, mais il faut bien, j’ai des responsabilités plus importantes que ma sécurité personnelle (et si même les journalistes américaines pro-guerre en Irak ont le courage de protéger leurs sources, j’ai le devoir moral de m’exprimer, moi aussi) : je soupçonne fortement Téfal de faire exprès de vendre des poêles anti-adhérentes qui adhèrent quand même, pour que les clients soient obligés de renouveler leur matériel régulièrement. Je n’ai jamais pu garder une poêle Téfal en état de marche plus de six mois (alors que j’en prenais soin — il fallait voir l’état de celles de mes parents après seulement un ou deux mois), alors que mes poêles Monoprix sont impeccables après deux ou trois ans d’utilisation intensive (voire plus… je ne suis pas doué avec les dates), plus lisses et glissantes qu’elles n’ont jamais été.

Donc, achetez plutôt des poêles Monoprix. Evitez juste de les ranger à deux mètres du sol, parce que tout ce qui peut tomber tombera, et je n’ai plus aucune poêle ou casserole qui soit encore tout à fait ronde.

Oh, que vois-je ? Serait-ce de la pub, là, à droite ?

Je sais que vous n’aimez pas sponsoriser les blogs que vous lisez, parce que ça serait trop facile quand même, mais avec 15% de réduction sur les prix publics à tous les lecteurs de ce blog on pourrait penser qu’il y a une vague possibilité que ça soit intéressant pour vous aussi. Et c’est bien ce qui compte, non ? Enfin, de votre point de vue, parce que du mien il va sans dire que je m’en tape, de vos économies, tant qu’elles n’arrivent pas dans ma poche.

Donc, Infodéclic, boutique en ligne d’informatique et connectique (chut, ne dites à personne que je fais ça pour booster le P4geR4nk parce que j’ai un intéressement sur les ventes) propose 15% de réduction si vous tapez le code partenaire “garoo” et, même si ça ne vous intéresse pas, vous pouvez toujours aller voir le dernier design by garoo à la mode — ouais, c’est très simple, et c’est pas toujours très fini dans les détails parce que j’ai eu la flemme, mais si vous aviez vu ce qu’il y avait en ligne avant vous ne critiqueriez pas comme ça.

Because I know all you want is sex talk. Questionnaire via Batims. How it works: yes, no, I wish, no way.

I have had sex while wearing a blindfold.
I have blindfolded someone else during sex.
I have had sex while watching porn.
I sleep better after sex. (Who doesn’t?)
There are some nights I cannot sleep without sex or masturbating.
I masturbate more than once per day.
The bed is not my most favorite place to have sex.
I am turned on knowing someone is watching me masturbate.
I enjoy watching others having sex or being watched during sex.
I will have sex with someone I just met if they turn me on.
I have had sex with two different individuals (at seperate times) during the course of one day.
I have been tied up during sex.
I have had sex with someone who was tied up.
I have dripped wax onto a lover’s body.
I have had a lover drop wax on my body.
I have a foot/sock/shoe fetish.
I have a leather fetish.
I have a tickle fetish.
Watching someone urinate (or being watched while urinating) is a turn-on.
I have had sex in a vehicle.
I have had sex while driving a vehicle.
I have been to a sex club or bathhouse.
I like being choked during sex.
My lovers would describe me as kinky.
I shave (or trim) the hair on or around my genitals.
The smell of my lover’s sweat turns me on.
I have erotic art on display somewhere in my residence.
Dirty talk during sex turns me on.
I enjoy pornographic magazines.
I have a collection of porno movies. (But I prefer pics.)
Erotic toys are a regular part of my budget.
I have clicked on porn links in my email.
I regularly look at porn sites on the internet.
Much of what I know about sex comes from porn. (Not sure about that one.)
Interracial sex turns me on. (Neither on nor off.)
I would participate in sex research if given the opportunity.
My current lover does not sufficiently meet my sexual needs.
I have had sex at my place of employment.
I am often disappointed in my sexual relationships.
Some people might describe me as a nymphomaniac.
I am difficult to live with if I’m not having sex on a regular basis.
I sleep better with someone snuggled up next to me.
I have had sex under water.
I have had sex outdoors.
I have had sex in a public place or where I might have been discovered.
I have had sex in a bathroom stall.
I have had sex in the snow.
I am or have been in a polyamorous relationship.
I have participated in three-ways or orgies.
I have to have music playing during sex.
I have flashed strangers.
I have given sex as a gift.
I have set up a three-way for my lover.
I stopped during this list to have sex.
All day I dream about sex.

Hey, it’s about time questionnaires become fashionable again. We’re old bloggers now, we’ve got nothing to say anymore (well, especially those of us who don’t live anymore because they moved to the country), we need people to give us ideas.

Je viens de passer une demi-heure à écrire un post, et j’ai tout perdu parce que j’ai appuyé sur cmd-W au lieu de cmw-X justement quand j’allais coller le contenu dans un fichier texte pour le sauvegarder (et, oui, ça aurait pu tout aussi bien m’arriver sous Windows — d’ailleurs, ça m’est déjà arrivé — parce que les raccourcis clavier sont les mêmes). Mais je n’ai pas crié, non non, parce qu’au final ce n’est pas plus mal. La nouvelle version de ce post sera plus courte, et surtout beaucoup plus calme.

Je vais donc calmement faire remarquer à Illico qu’ils pourraient s’abstenir d’écrire ce genre de connerie (que je n’avais pas remarquée la première fois que j’avais vu cet article, et je l’avais bien vu puisqu’il me cite dans les notes de bas de page, en bordel — le paragraphe a été rajouté après coup, ou quoi ?) :

Blog-n-co, la toute nouvelle plate-forme que lance "Illico", est la première en France à offrir aux homosexuels la possibilité de créer leur propre blog…

Parce que ça fait juste trois ans que gayattitude permet aux gays français (qui n’ont pas non plus attendu notre autorisation pour commencer à ouvrir des blogs — non seulement les faits sont faux, mais en plus la formulation est idiote) de tenir un blog.

Et qu’accessoirement gayattitude est gratuit, contrairement à Blog-n-co (dont la tarification est tellement mesquine qu’on se croirait chez Gayvox, sans compter que les tarifs à proprement parler sont introuvables). Et moins pourri, aussi. Un Blog-n-co ressemble à ça (et uniquement à ça, les possibilités de personnalisation sont minimes) ; un journal gayattitude peut ressembler à ça, ça, ça ou ça. Et ce n’est que la partie émergée de l’iceberg, il faut voir la gueule de l’interface de Blog-n-co.

Bref, je pourrais détailler toutes les différences (alors, ouais, gayattitude ne gère pas les catégories, mais c’est quelque chose dont les utilisateurs se passent très bien — et pour moi c’est un outil de power users, le genre qui ne va pas bloguer sur gayattitude, et encore moins sur Blog-n-co à coup de points, et pourquoi pas des colliers de coquillages tant qu’on y est) mais je vais résumer : le truc, c’est que ça me ferait très très chier qu’un système pourri, qui arrive avec trois ans de retard, devienne populaire juste parce qu’il est poussé par un gratuit gay. Et pourtant, c’est ce qui va arriver. Regardez Skyblog (ou MSN Spaces).

P.S. Ils ont corrigé “l’erreur” (et apparemment je n’avais pas rêvé, le paragraphe a bien dû être ajouté après coup, pour le lancement le premier juillet de la plate-forme). Ca me donnerait presque envie d’être gentil et de supprimer ou modifier cet article, mais… non. (Et puis j’aimerais bien savoir quelle formulation apparaît dans la version imprimée.)

Au passage, et même quand on n’est pas capable de faire de vrais liens cliquables dans la version en ligne de ses articles, on n’écrit pas « un blog a attiré notre attention sur cette erreur ». Même quand on n’a pas envie de faire de la pub à ce blog, parce qu’il dit du mal de Blog-n-co.

Ah, ça fait plaisir de voir une plate-forme de blogs lancée par des gens qui maîtrisent leur sujet.