LJ Interests Meme

[profundis]

Pick up to 5 interests off my interests list that you'd like to know more about (or that you would like know more about *my* interest in), then post this meme on your own LJ.

I will answer your questions here - then I'll ask you about your interests on your own journal!

Comments

Re: Do tell.

[bigreddee.livejournal.com]

Deal! Done!

Cigars: I love certain cigars, not only the sweet and smoky taste they leave on my fingers and beard, but also they're a bit of a phallic symbol (and I am, after all, the gay, so there's a double interest there). I don't know if it's a distinctively masculine object, because I know women that smoke them as well. But I'm an infrequent cigar smoker as well: there are a lot of terrible smelling cigars out there. I've yet to find a huge (as in thick) stogie I've really enjoyed even smelling, let alone smoking. I like to save stogies for special occasions, like a poker night, or sitting on a porch swing under the stars, no place special to be. I enjoy them, and I enjoy the aesthetic of a man smoking one. But at the same time, I can just as easily have an aversion to all of the nasty smelling ones, no matter how hot the guy smoking it. Sometimes, they're great...in the distance.

Comics: I taught myself how to read at age 3 on the Sunday morning comics page (my mom will vouch for this). I didn't want to wait for her to read them to me, so I did it on my own. I grew up on comics, preferring The Flash to football, and I did a lot of reading. As I got into junior high, a friend lent me Uncanny X-Men #207, where I got my first peek at Wolverine and Rachel Summers (in dominatrix garb). I was hooked. I took a break for about 8 years (the college/growing up years), and got hooked again a few years ago. I'm mostly a Marvel man (I buy about 2-6 comics a week), but I also dig the Love and Rockets series and think the graphic novel is sorely underrated as a form (check out Craig Thompson's "Blankets" for some recent fantastic storytelling sans superheroes).

Deep Dish is a duo of Iranian house music DJs from Washington, DC named Sharam and Dubfire. I've been a follower of their work since 1996, when they released their first LP of mixes, Penetrate Deeper (with collaborations with Brian Transeau/BT among others). I saw them spin at an underground in San Diego in '96, tag-teaming each others records (dub would play 3, Sharam 3, back and forth for 6 hours) and giving me one of my best nights out at a club. They signed my disc (I still covet it) and have gone on over the years to remix everyone from Madonna to the Rolling Stones to Everything But The Girl. Their sound is dark and heavy, and they're not afraid to use guitars to push their sound. They put the rock in house, and needless to say, I'm a huge fan. Their new LP, George Is On is quite good.

Plumbers: Well, Fred (my partner) is a plumber, and I've gotten a lot of perspective watching him work. Obviously, plumbers can be pretty hot aesthetically speaking (blue-collar workers are often fetishized by white-collar types), but my true interest in plumbers comes mostly from the one I get to sleep with every night.

Tapas: My trip to Barcelona and Sitges in April 2004 with whereispaco was my introduction to tapas, and Paco and I ate in restaurants several times during our trip. But my Spanish friend gorkabear really showed me the true way to eat tapas though, at a bar, standing up, counting the toothpicks on our plates as we ate. It's a really unique way to eat out with friends, standing up, and is conducive to conversation and tasting things you might not normally try. I go to tapas restaurants here in the City, and while the food is still good, the experience of a true tapas establishment is unmatched by what I experienced in Spain.