How Could This Happen?

I keep saying to myself, "But, Vera, you hate tattoos. You hate tattoos." So why do I love Ash Stymest?

Muse, Part 2

Greg Gorman isn't the only one who calls Alex Pettyfer a muse. April Bostic is a writer of paranormal romance whose book A Rose To The Fallen is available at Amazon and other book selling outlets. She wrote to tell me about a fan fiction she has written based on Alex. It is called The Howling Heart and it is available to read for free at her website. This is not fan fiction in the My Date With Alex Pettyfer vein, nor is it a slash fiction (Alex Pettyfer's Date With Rupert Grint, which I wouldn't mind reading) but an original story with the character of Riley based on Alex. Be warned, there is hot, graphic heterosex involved, so if you find that kind of thing disturbing it may not be for you.

Here's what April wants you to know about The Howling Heart before you read it:

Author: April Bostic
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating: MA 18+Status: Complete, 17 chapters
Warnings: Violence, blood, gore, explicit language and graphic sexual content
Summary: Paige Donovan was just given the promotion of a lifetime at a high-profile fashion magazine in New York City. Her bright future comes to an unexpected halt after the news of her father's untimely death. She inherits her family's old cabin in Colorado, and just when she thinks her luck couldn't get any worse, she has a serious car accident in the mountains. She awakens in a remote community where the locals keep a dark secret and are not what they seem. Paige is desperate to return home, but a handsome young man named Riley offers her an alternate future... and his heart.
Disclaimer: This is an Alex Pettyfer fanfiction/original fiction. The story and characters are owned by the author. The character Riley is based on Alex Pettyfer's physical description and the author's perception of his personality.

It seems that April is also a photoshop whiz. She tells me that she likes Alex better in color and made the colorized versions of the Ram Shergill, Greg Gorman, and Kai Z. Feng portraits you see above. Thanks April!

And If That Wasn't Enough...

From V Man Magazine via OHLALA Mag: This one looks very recent- he has his Beastly haircut.

Alex Pettyfer, Muse

For those of you who are convinced that no one else in the world is quite as nuts about Alex Pettyfer as I, here is hard proof that Alex mania is sweeping the globe.

Greg Gorman is a top celebrity portraitist and fine arts photographer. You may not know his name, but you've seen his work- some of his photographs are iconic. His recently published book, In Their Youth, is described by the publisher as comprising "over 200 of the California-based photographer's previously unpublished portraits from the last three decades, featuring famous actors shot when they were still unknown young men, from teen years into their early twenties." In truth, the book features a mixture of the very famous and the not quite famous, has-beens and never-weres, big stars and complete unknowns. It is a beautiful book, a true object of art, and I promise you that it would look good on any coffee table.

With the exception of three people, there are one or two photos of each subject. In the middle of the book Jared Leto gets three photos. The book opens with seven photos of Leonardo Di Caprio taken between 1993 and 1997. The book closes with these seven photographs of Alex Pettyfer.

In an introductory interview Gorman says, "More recently, I've been photographing a young actor named Alex Pettyfer. We have a photographic relationship that's spontaneous and connected, in which we provoke, push and disturb each other into creating strong images. We play off each other in a symbiotic relationship that allows great work to develop. And that's why I call Alex a muse of mine, and why I wanted to close the book on those pictures, which showcase some of my most recent work."

I believe that these photos capture the essence of Alex better than any I've seen since his first session with Kai Z. Feng in 2007. What do you think?

Suited Up

As much as I enjoy looking at hot guys in practically nothing, there's something to be said for hot guys dressed to the nines and stepping out, looking like a million bucks. Just imagine the tantalizing fun of helping them out of all those clothes.

The Twins Effect

I have seen the twin faces of pure evil and they belong to two baby faced blond-quiffed 17-year-old boys from Dublin, Ireland. According to the British "newspapers", if they are not stopped in their nefarious quest they will bring down the British empire, forever ruin all music for everyone everywhere, and cause Simon Cowell to pout for six months. (Well, two out of three ain't bad.) Yes, it's all about The X Factor and if haven't heard before now, John and Edward Grimes, collectively JEDWARD, are the focal point of the biggest UK reality TV sideshow since Susan Boyle dreamed a dream in days gone by.

Make no mistake, these boys are not good singers, and their dancing is a bit suspect, too, but it is my fondest wish that they win The X Factor.

Have you ever seen The X Factor? If you live in the UK the answer is probably yes, but if you live in the rest of the world you have to rely on the internet to get your fix. Take it from me, The X Factor is addictive. It is the epitome of can't-miss train-wreck TV. It is so self-important, so grandiose, so pompous, so transparent in its manipulations, and all in service of so much tepid mediocrity that, try as one might, it is almost impossible to tear one's eyes away. The weekly opening sequence, which features the four judges entering to the dulcet tones of O! Fortuna, is perhaps the kitschiest thing that has ever happened on TV- the pure spectacle of this attempt to make high drama out of absolutely nothing! It makes me laugh every time.

If you read the British "newspapers" you might get the idea that finding the right X Factor winner is akin to curing cancer or alleviating world hunger. There is a feeling that the winner is guaranteed the Christmas #1 single (which is apparently a special achievement of some kind, although nobody has ever been able to explain to me why) and will then go on to worldwide success and a lifetime of artistic achievement. They will point with pride to The X Factor's most successful winner, one-hit-wonder Leona Lewis, as if she were proof of their ability to launch world-wide superstars. The truth is that there is not one act in this year's version of X Factor that has the remotest chance of world-wide success. Even the best of them are forgettable to the extreme. Last week I watched a performance by (we are told) a "likable" girl who sang Keane's Somewhere Only We Know which was so bad it could have been included on one of those American Idol gag reels they love to show us. On X Factor it was praised.

Which brings us back to the Grimes twins, most hated boys in the European Union if you believe the papers. Everybody has a opinion about them, mostly negative, from the show's dreadful, over-plucked choreographer Brian Friedman to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The twins have been blamed for ruining the chances of contestants who are more deserving than them, for spreading head lice in the X Factor house (even though, apparently, they don't have lice themselves), for disturbing the sleep of the Chinese Ambassador (actually, it's teen fans in general who do that, but you wouldn't know it from the headline, Twinmania: Now it has upset China), for causing general unrest among the other contestants, even though ex-contestants have stated that they are perfectly lovely. Simon Cowell reminds us weekly that not only are they talentless nits, but vile twits who "would spit on their mother." This kind of carefree character assassination is not based on their lack of musical talent (and strangely, nobody is denying their entertainment value) but because they are "annoying" and they are annoying because they are "cocky".

As I said earlier, they are not good singers, but since when is pop stardom really about singing? How good is Britney Spears at singing? How about Madonna? How about that girl I mentioned earlier who sang the Keane song off-key and with no breath support? We aren't supposed to hate John and Edward because they can't sing, we are supposed to hate them because they are confident. They have never begged for forgiveness and they have never cried. In the UK, self-worth is the greatest sin imaginable and they have been judged guilty of it. Cue the villagers with pitchforks.

Oh yeah. It turns out that they received the highest public vote the week before last. Take that Mr. Cowell. By this time tomorrow they may be off the show. I wouldn't bet on it though.

Couple of the Day

Luke may be engaged to Kelly, but isn't it obvious that it's Cole who holds the key to his heart?

An Open Letter To Target

This is not the kind of thing I usually put on the Big Gay Blog, but I was so incensed by my trip to Le Target last night that I sent the following email and I'm still so angry that I had to vent.

"I don't know why I am even bothering with this except it makes me so mad I could spit. I am well aware that nobody there at corporate gives a flying fig about customers and I will be lucky to receive so much as a vaguely worded form letter but, again, really angry, have to get this off my chest.

This evening I stopped in my local Target store ( a store, incidentally, at which I spend about a quarter of my disposable income) to buy a few things. The main thing I needed was a rake. It is November. The leaves all fell off the trees in my yard over the weekend and I need to rake them up. I looked around your store and failed to find anything resembling a rake, although I did find aisle upon aisle of Christmas merchandise. So I asked one of your fine, poorly paid employees. A rake? "Oh, no, not anymore." His companion thought that maybe there was one "in clearance." Nope.

Here are three questions I'd like to ask the brain trust up there in Minneapolis: 1) When do you suppose is the time of year that people would want to buy a yard rake? Perhaps in the autumn when they need to rake leaves? 2) How many people are really concerned with buying cheap-ass Christmas ornaments three weeks before Thanksgiving? 3) Could it possibly be the case that the reason retail sales are down is because the people who make the buying decisions are frickin' idiots? Because I just gotta say, you are forcing me to spend my money, the money I wanted to spend at Target, at Wal-Mart. Happy?"

The Model With The Coolest Name Ever

Wenceslas van Criekinge, age 18, from Belgium. Of course, it wouldn't matter how cool his name was if he didn't look so good in underwear.

Laziest Blogger in the World

There's so much I want to talk about these days, Adam Lambert's "shocking" and "controversial" album cover, self-loathing homophobic queens and how much I hate them, John and Edward Grimes of X Factor infamy, the hotness on the new season of So You Think You Can Dance, so many other things. But you know, I'm just so tired that I'll do what I always do and post some random photos of pretty boys. Sue me.

I Love This!

Guilty Pleasures, Wuxia Edition

I don't know if I've ever mentioned how much I love old-school Kung Fu movies? Just seeing the words ShawScope on my screen fills my heart with glee! What could be better than watching handsome, athletic, often scantily clad men fighting to the death for love, honor and brotherhood? Lately I have crossed the line from fascination to obsession, trolling the internet for never-released in the USA region 3 DVDs of Chang Cheh classics, or pre-stardom Jackie Chan flicks, internally debating the merits of The Iron Triangle vs. The Venoms or Shaw Brothers vs. Golden Harvest (no contest, by the way). Just the other day I was watching a relatively minor "historical" epic called The Pirate, no relation to the Judy Garland/Gene Kelly musical of the same name, and it occured to me that if there was a handsomer man in the world in 1973 than Ti Lung, I'd like to see him. Doesn't he look especially fetching in high '70s mode?

Halt! It's Hoult!

This month's Out Magazine coverboy is one of the big gay blog's very favorites, giant Nicholas Hoult, who is photographed by fashion superstar Tom Ford. Ford also directed the film A Single Man, in which Nick plays a student who is obsessed with his older, male teacher (Colin Firth). The film wowed 'em at the Toronto Film Festival, and advanced word has it that Oscar may come a-calling.

Random Shirtless Guy

Courtesy of Loco Luke.

Mr. Brazil

A few more pics of the Brazil's prettiest export.

Here's Why I Haven't Been Blogging Much Lately

That which does not kill us makes us... bitter.

When Tom Felton Met Ram Shergill...

... this is what happened.

Matt Trethe Returns

For those of you who liked the pictures of Matt Trethe I posted a week or so ago, here are a few more I just came across. Those lips! Those eyes!

I Looked Like This When I Was 17 Too

Or, maybe not.

Pornstar!

I don't pay as much attention to the subject of gay porn as I used to, but I know what I like when I see it. Ralph Woods (not, I'm sure, his real name) is from Quebec and got his first big break when he made a video for the Bel Ami company. After that he took charge of his own destiny and began exploiting himself instead of letting others do it. He pushes a lot of my buttons, cute, almost goofy looking, skinny, great smile, and he has an enormous... personality.

Let's leave it with this: I'm not a size queen, but I can be impressed.