Back in the winter of '05, as I was walking barefoot through five miles of snow on my way to school, my friend Huck turned to me and said, "Dick, have you read my blog?" What the F is a blog, I asked though my ice-encrusted mustache. So he told me. I was a bit confused. So you post your inner most thoughts and details of the mundane makings of your incredibly dull day and hundreds of strangers rush to read it? I hate America, I thought. First George W. Bush and now blogs? Yuck. Dumb ass country.

That night, as winter's worst raged outside the tiny window of my unheated garret, my one politically incorrect sperm whale candle flickering tentatively, I booted up my computer and explored Huck's blog. Huck is a ginger so I should have known better. Ginger's look perky but they are dull as Bush spawn. They have more freckles than brains. Within a few minutes, I realized that blogs were the non-pharmaceutical solution to insomnia. I passed out on the timber floor.

The following morning Huck and I were back on the blizzardy path to education. I made an ice ball and bashed him on the head; the blood blended well with his ginger hair and rusty freckles. "What was that for?" Huck whined. "For making me read your blog, you dimwitted idiot. What crap. Call me an elitist, but who the hell cares about your untrained Boston Terrier pup eating an old Superman comic book? Anyhow, thanks for a good night's sleep."

I could see the pain in Huck's eyes. He loved that comic. "You bitch (Huck's a fag), you think your life is more interesting than mine? " "Honey," I shot back, "the crap I took this morning is having a more interesting life than yours." So Huck challenged me. "Prove it! See how long it takes you to beat my tens of devoted readers!"

Well it took me three days. Huck's daily average hovered around 200, and by the end of the week Proceed At Your Own Risk was pushing 500. Within two months, PAYOR was averaging about 5,000 site visits per day.

Two years later, I abandoned PAYOR for AOL and QueerSighted, seduced into corporate servitude by the perky, effervescent and sexy as Hell Kenny Hill. On Monday, October 22, my birthday, I've decided to relaunch PAYOR--but be warned. PAYOR has never been and will never be SAFE FOR WORK, PAYOR will not be kind to gay bashers and comments left by homophobes, even polite ones will be rewarded with official acts of new a**hole ripping. Oh, and none of the annoying **** on PAYOR. PAYOR has always been and will be again be a place for real people in all of their glorious queerness. So please travel with me back to the risky land of PAYOR, that special part of New York City where the girls are tough and the boys are pretty.

I will rage on for as long my arthritis allows! By the way, feel free to email me with your thoughts and comments. All feedback on PAYOR 2.0 would be much appreciated!

When Rolling Stone published an in-depth, lurid story about the gruesome murder of gay porn mogul Bryan Kocis in its September 20, 2007, issue (which is not available online), I just had to do more research because I couldn't believe a mainstream national magazine was devoting that much ink to gay porn. I suppose the whole horrific slaying angle was the main draw, but, still, the article was perhaps the most informative text I had ever read about the gay porn business. The story, "Death of a Porn King," also delves into the personalities of porn stars Brent Corrigan (who worked for Kocis at one point) and Harlow Cuadra (one of the murder suspects, who vehemently denies the charges).

But this post is not really about Rolling Stone or the murder or Corrigan and Cuadra. This post is about gay porn star blogs. You see, in my search for more information about the events and details in the article, I stumbled upon the personal blogs of Corrigan and Cuadra, which led me to an entire subculture of blogs written by gay porn stars. And these blogs weren't merely forums for them to post pictures of their penises--they actually had things to write about. Some of these guys write even more than I do--and long posts at that.

So I thought it would be fun to check in with some of these gay porn stars and see what they're writing about. (Typos included.) I'm not providing any direct links to their blogs because I know better than link to anything porn-related on this AOL site and because our dear managing editor, Kenneth, has already busted me for indecency and I've only been around for about two weeks. So, if you're interested, you'll have to Google these blogs all by yourself.

I understand that our own Queersighted blogger and octogenarian, Richard Rothstein, will be performing at La Mama soon. Like many of you, I read his post on Stage Fright and I felt a deep and sincere obligation to help him get over his fears. You see, I was a stand-up comedian for many, many, many, many years. I still do stand-up occasionally, when I'm not blogging or "wrestling the menopause".

We all know that Richard is a very funny writer. He wrote this line for example ... "As for Susan, she may remember some of these classics, but at the moment she's busy wrestling the menopause to the ground." See, that is hilarious.

But there is a big difference between funny on paper and funny on stage. I am a perfect example of this. For year and years and years and years, I basked in the white hot light of success as a stand-up, and yet, I have received somewhat, well ... luke-warm reviews from readers here at Queersighted. This one for example ... "while i don't support miss tequila, i think you're an annoying, pretentious, bitter c**t".

Sure, that hurt a little, but when your audience gives you lemons, try to make lemon-aid. That reader didn't really "get" my post on bisexual dating shows, but doggonnit, at least I can feel good about the fact that she "got" me. Richard often helps me with my blogs. He's the one who insisted I do the Bisexual Dating Show post.

That's why I want to return the favor and help him with some performance advice. The first and best bit of advice I can give you is to warm the audience up with what's known in the business as an "icebreaker". You're performing for a room full of drag queens and trannies. so you might want to start with, "Hey there, where ya from?" or "Say you're a good looking crowd!" or "So, how old's your vagina?" Better yet, here's some comedy advice from a seasoned comedy professional who is really good with first timers. Pay attention Richard. I want you to do well at La MaMa.

Having lived my entire adult life in big cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles and pretty much only traveling to New York City and back, I tend to be a bit naive when it comes to all the states nestled in between this country's two coasts. Accuse me of geographical prejudice, but, when I think of states like, say, Utah, I usually think they're places with homophobia oozing out of every single crack on every single sidewalk. While these states surely aren't as liberal as their blue counterparts, I am reminded time and again that it's not nearly as grim as I paint it out to be in my paranoid mind.

My friend Scott Heim, who is the author of Mysterious Skin (which was later adapted into a film by Gregg Araki and previously adapted for the stage by yours truly), just pointed out on his blog that a Salt Lake City library seems to be okay with gay.

Last night, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert turned to expert-gay Dan Savage to unravel the complexities of the hate crimes bill, Larry Craig, tea room sex, mujaha-queens and more. Brilliant.

George Takei, the actor who played Sulu on the original 'Star Trek' series and now appears on 'Heroes', learned this week that an asteroid has been named after him.

'7307 Takei' isn't the result of a vanity naming thing that anyone can just buy on the internet. The honor was bestowed by the International Astronomical Union, an elite body of scientists who apparently are able to name things like stars and asteroids. What that means is that astronomers and other smart people will now refer to this particular piece of flying rock only as '7307 Takei.'

Takei was nominated by Tom Burbine, a Mount Holyoke College astronomy professor who, according to the AP, wanted to pay tribute to the actor "in part out of appreciation for his work with the Japanese-American Citizens League and with leading gay rights group Human Rights Campaign." Takei is an official spokesman for the Coming Out Project at HRC.

As news of this is bopped around among some of the gay bloggers today, a couple of other interesting things entered into the conversation. First, while everyone is happy for our fella George Takei who is universally loved in the gay community it seems, the gays aren't satisfied with only one asteroid with a gay namesake -- and rightly so. I will tell you why.

Dear Queersighted readers,

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit long in the tooth. The only reason I can imagine that I was asked to write for Queersighted, is that they desperately needed someone who could bridge the yawning age chasm between Richard Rothstein and all the other bloggers. Yes, It's true ... you always hurt the one you love. (BTW Richard, I've never snatched any Cootchie; it has always offered itself to me freely).

I've had a few weeks now to research what younger lesbians are interested in, and notwithstanding a tourette-like affinity for the words "hot", "hottie", "chicks", "super", "boobs", "frickin" and "awesome", or combinations thereof, it appears to an aging, wildly un-hip, newcomer like me, that girl bands are a popular topic.

So, in the spirit of unity and ingratiation, here is my first and last blog about a "super hot, awesome, hottie girl band, full of hot chicks with boobs" which gays, young and old, can frickin dig. I will do my best not to age myself in the course of my review. I dedicate this inaugural blog to the incredibly insightful, wonderfully witty, and older than me, Richard Rothstein.

Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopaters - Say, here's a nifty band of musical molls for all you gay guys and gals in Queersville. I'm not sayin' I'm superficial, but check out the chassis on these red-hot tomatoes! Yowzer! There's not a bug-eyed-Betty in the bunch. These dolls hit on all sixes!

You Ethel's out there, listen up. Daphne and Josephine are Hotsy-Totsy and how! These dissimulated dames slay me, so if you're a Daddy-O who prefers Sheiks to Shebas, these babes-with-a-beat, might be right up your alley.

Lead singer Sugar Kane has the gams and the pipes, but she's a bit of a Dumb Dora if you catch my drift. Sure, she's the Real McCoy, but I like my Janes saucy and well seasoned.

For me, Sweet Sue, founder of this sue-per synched, bevy of bearcats, is the choicest bit of calico. She's a tall drink of water, and man-oh-man, am I ever dying of thirst!

Sweet Sue and The Society Syncopaters started it all, kids. So, whether you're gay, straight, young, old, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, you've got to agree that this almost all-girl band has something for everyone. They're Frickin Awesome! Now how often can you say that and really mean it?

I hope you will all look for my next entry, entitled: World's Worst Gay Professions, where I will be discussing my brief career as a comedy writer for the Radical Lesbian Separatist movement.

Until next time, this is the other Sweet Sue, signing off, and reminding all you Daddies and Dad-ettes out there that every girl in my band is a virtuoso, and I intend to make sure it stays that way.

Today I'm happy to introduce you to two new writers joining the ranks of the QueerSighted team: Susan Norfleet and Prince Gomolvilas.

Susan Norfleet is an actress, writer and stand-up comedian. I'm sure QueerSighted readers will get chills knowing Susan has appeared on 'Designing Women,' 'Ellen' and 'The Golden Girls' (!) and those are just three tidbits from a long list of creative arts credits in her bio.

Susan popped up on our radar by leaving thoughtful, clever and often side-splitting comments here. Our own Richard Rothstein followed the comment trail to find Susan writing on her own blog known as 'Musings and Ruminations from the Fairy Lady.' An online meeting of the queer minds began between the two and, well, the rest is history.

I asked her why "fairy lady"? and this is what she told me:

"After combing the globe for catchy synonyms for the word lesbian, I settled on 'Fairy Lady.' Why? Because it sounds so ... ladylike, whereas the word 'lesbian' just sounds German.

Sure, I could have chosen 'Sister' or 'Toots" or Margie', but I didn't. After all, who doesn't like fairies? We may not be able to change minds, but we can certainly change perceptions!"

Prince Gomolvilas and I met only recently, in a rather unusual way. It's a long story but it has to do with an accidental Internet encounter involving him, me, and hitting the wrong button on MySpace. Suffice to say that Zac Efron was very involved in my finding a Prince. It was all so Disney!

Our serendipitous meeting led to me inviting Prince to write a guest blog post here to identify any possible gayness about 'High School Musical.' Boy, did he deliver. His now famous 'High School Musical: Chock Full of Gay' article holds the honor of garnering the most comments ever on QueerSighted (1800+) and was featured widely around the Net including USA Today and Fark, on random forums like Divorce Busters.com and even a radio show in L.A. Now Prince is part of the family.

Prince's day job finds him working as a playwright and performer. He wrote the stage adaptation of one of my favorite books, 'Mysterious Skin' by Scott Heim (it's a great movie, too). He also teaches writing for the stage, and has a blog and podcast called Bamboo Nation. He's won scads of awards, a partial listing of which you can read about on his bio.

Prince's biting humor will endear him to you. Consider that in his official debut QueerSighted post he admits to fantasizing about writing first on the subject of either "The Little Mermaid Was a Big Lesbian" or "Donald Duck Bottoms for Dollars." He chose neither, but you can see what we're all in for.

I hope you'll welcome both Susan Norfleet and Prince Gomolvilas and follow all their QueerSighted exploits to come.

After Elton has a great find: A new horribly offensive advertising and viral video campaign from American Eagle clothing that features a pathetic desperate lisping swishing gay stereotype who on top of everything else fawns and drools over an obviously straight boy. The post has opened up a lively debate: is the gay stereotype laughing at us or with us?

Either way, considering American Eagle's demographic (12-25 year olds), this pathetic gay caricature feeds just about prejudice harbored by straight teen boys. But that's not the worst of it. The worst of it is that it's our fault. We have given America our enthusiastic permission to portray us as jokes. And the second largest and most influential clothing brand (after Old Navy) reaching teen boys is happy to do so, delivering every straight teen boy's worst nightmare of "soooooooooo gay."

GLAAD endorses Chuck & Larry which is a veritable cornucopia of offensive gay stereotypes. We've allowed the world to think that an avalanche of gay stereotype TV programming represents "progress" so rather than gay detectives, physicians and super heroes, America sees fashion designers, interior decorators, hair dressers and skin care experts. And we applaud. We're the flamers who make things pretty--not leaders, not thinkers, not serious players; rather we're superficial caricatures of real men. Our community--with our wholehearted support--is represented by the likes of Carson Kressley, William Sledd and Perez Hilton. Amongst ourselves, these guys are funny and fun, but as our face to the mainstream, it's self-destructive and fuel for the fires of homophobia.

In the name of some misguided sense of diversity, we''ve embraced our own stereotypes. And then we're outraged when the straight world joins in?

We've given companies like American Eagle permission to make fun of us. We don't even get angry; at best we shoot off some polite letter. Big-nosed bankers and nappy haired mammies have been sent to the rubbish heap of history, but the gay version of the coon character remains a staple of American entertainment and advertising.

The discussion over at After Elton misses the point by a mile. This is not about what's wrong with American Eagle, this is about what's wrong with us. Stereotypes are destructive, demeaning and dangerous. Every minority in American history has recognized this, done battle with it and mostly triumphed. Native Americans are no longer scalping savages, African Americans are no longer shiftless cotton pickers, Jews are no longer money grubbing usurers and women are no longer barefoot and pregnant so why are we still the "girls" who make things pretty? We have no right to be angry over American Eagle's stereotype rather we should be disgusted with the way we celebrate and nourish our own homophobia.

Oops! She did it again, made out with a friend, only this time was a chick, oh baby, baby...

Is Britney Spears a bisexual? Am I the only one who saw this coming from a mile away? Clearly, Britney "I just put my tongue down your throat" Spears has been on the sexual warpath since she broke up K-Fed. She's been spotted making out with guys all over Los Angeles, and now she's being linked "romantically" with her former assistant. I'm pretty sure I saw her canoodling with an Orangatan at the LA Zoo, but don't tell the media, or else it'll make her look like a bad parent.

OK! Magazine claims to have some hot press on their hands. According to an article set for publication in OK! Britney's had "bisexual romps" with her 21-year-old ex-assistant, Shannon Funk. Spears fired Funk after a short 3-week employment. During those three weeks, though, those girls were like two peas in a pod. Funk had even been seen holding Spears' children when her own arms were just too damn tired to hold them herself.

No one questions the need for or value of magazines or websites catering to straight men and women, but gay websites are often deemed pornographic or "adult content" simply because they have a gay perspective--sometimes on something as "adult" as gardening or literature or computer games-- and now they're even being targeted by homophobic hackers.

Gaygamer.net was gay bashed after weeks of hate language and Internet abuse--just the way it happens in real life. First they tease you, then they insult you and then they show up late at night and crack open your skull with a baseball bat. In the virtual world they crash your site

For those of you--like me--who don't give a damn about computer games, you might not know that gaygamer is a very popular and successful news site for gamers with a gay perspective--and that has outraged one or more straight (or closeted) gamers.

Joystiq reports: "After a series of hate speech incidents and forum postings to gaygamer.net, the site was taken offline by a set of denial of service attacks. Flynn DeMarco, the site's owner, said things started going wrong toward the end of last week until the site's host, GoDaddy.com, finally took the site offline until the attacks could be stopped."

As of now, the site is back up and the hackers have been blocked.