Tom Hardy + Dog =

WOOF.

This dog is giving us all the raspberry.

Gay or Not Gay? What say you, Tom?

Loving this article on Tom Hardy.

Thank you Rocky for sharing this with me!

Tom Hardy, you ass!

Yep.  Boys will be boys, indeed.

Gotta love when they look geeky cute

Tom, why do you do this to me?  Sighs.  Good thing my partner doesn't mind if we tag-team you someday.

Even Celebrities have Camwhoring Moments!

Thank you Tom, for having them.

Gotta love a good-looking hard(y) man

Woof.

Oh Tom.... Tom... Tom...

I Hardy knew you.

Still from The Warrior.

The Bane of my Existence...

Tom Hardy works it as Bane in the upcoming Batman movie.
Woof!  Love the hint of armpit hair still there.  I hate it when men shave their armpits.
Just plain weird to see it smooth.

Is Tom Strong Strong Enough?

Read this earlier tonight and found myself amusedly thinking about the geekwood entry I posted on Tom Strong. DC Comics has been making interesting moves as of the late (with one of the biggest ones I question being the removal of certain popular Vertigo characters from the Vertigo universe due to legalese I rather ignore.)  With DC comic's cancellation of the Wildstorm line, Tom Strong sadly was to be one of its casualties.

Ooops, wrong Tom.  Then again  I guess you don't mind either.

In some ways, this did make me think about change in general.  About how things may become familiar to us that sometimes, while change may be good, the idea of letting go of something familiar can be a horrific idea.  Life has its moments where change can be good or bad.  Whether it be the small things such as changing the brand of soap you buy, or bigger things like choosing to move to another city, change will always have repercussions one way or another.

But what we forget is, while change may seemingly be inevitable, it does not mean it cannot be productive.

Ang matakot, talo.

Most of the time, the resistance to change is the fear of something new.  Familiarity is always a powerful comfort zone, even if what is familiar may be unhealthy or unwise.   Finding the courage to take a step towards something new can be difficult, but if one learns to focus on the facts, one can see the wealth of opportunity waiting ahead of them.  I recently learned to cook and for a long time, I refused to step outside the omelets and fried food I was making.  My partner insisted I try doing other things and eventually even got us an oven toaster to help me take a brave step away from the frying pan and into the baking oven.     Now, thanks to his support and faith in me, I have made a few new baked dishes, learned to even take a stab at doing more interesting salads (you should try my Cilantro-Eggplant salad one time!) and have dreams of actually moving towards baking my own bread and cooking steaks!

I love this book.
Someone should make a movie out of it.

Many also forget that change will always need time.  If you've made a habit of using Internet Explorer for years, the thought of switching to Chrome or Rockmelt might sound like too much effort.  Or might even be seen as *hard* since it will mean having to learn how to do things a bit differently.   I recall how I used to hate  the new World of Darkness system, with its strange similar-yet-different feel to the old Storyteller system that I loved.  I used to despise how it felt more like it had influences from d20 and tried to make things seem so basic.  But now, I find it hard to jump back to the old version of the rules.  After some time of getting used to the new system, I have realized what the creators knew and wanted me to learn; the new system is so streamlined you can not only easily mix their products into the game but was simple enough new players can grasp the idea with a single session!   If you take into account the fact that time will be needed to start to actually feel how the change is a good thing, you will at least be making a far better judgement call in the end.

Admit it!  You also at first thought Robot Unicorn Attack was stupid,
until you played it and ended up LOVING it!

And lastly, one must always remember that change will only truly reflect what it offers if you give it an honest chance.    Diets tend to suffer from this the most.  When a change is experienced, many far too quickly declare it a failure because they never really gave it an proper chance.  Once I told myself I would never get into driving.  While young, I actually already learned to drive my mother's car.  But far too quickly, I dismissed the freedom driving brought because I knew once I could drive I would eternally be the person my parents order around to buy stuff.  So I ditched the skill and proclaimed, "I don't like driving.  I prefer the freedom of walking around."  While it was partly true, the joys of walking and commuting were not joys that I would deny myself once I started driving.  They were just joys I used as an excuse to stop.   I, too quickly, shot down the chance for driving to be a true experience.  But now, with a few more years of being behind the wheel under my belt, I am extremely grateful a good friend of mine helped me find the courage to get back behind the wheel.  

So why is this a blame it on the rain,bro article?  As I was thinking of what to blog about today, I found myself thinking about a number of things.  Among them was how a friend of mine who seemed to believe she was unlucky in love.  All the guys she had met were sweet and sincere, but after some weeks of sex and dating, would drop her to find the next warm body.  I suggested to her that maybe what she needed to do was to simply spend the nights out enjoying time with her friends rather than hunting down a boyfriend.   "Try to find time to just enjoy being you.  Stop trying to always be the person the other one wants.  And stop thinking you can't be happy as yourself."  She never tried.  She thought the idea was too weird.  She felt the idea meant she was "giving up" (although what she was giving up I never understood) and as far as I know, she is still diving into clubs hoping to find her Mr. Right in the very place where Mr. OneNightStand simply hangs out.     There is also the other friend who used to think the bar I love was a dump.  The friend was a regular of this bigger bar; a place that equated expensive entrance fees and even more expensive drinks as a symbol of class.  While the bar I loved was a single-storey venue with a cozy floor area and affordable prices, his was a veritable palace of a dance club with numerous floors, peek-a-boo friendly restrooms and enough disco-lights to blind a star.   A few years back, I invited the said friend to a birthday party to check out the place, enjoy the company and have some drinks.   Nowadays, I find myself bumping into him on some nights, there with a host of his friends, enjoying the place.  I wonder sometimes if I should ask.  But then again, doing that might just raise his defenses about it.

Yeah... don't expect love in a place where sex is the main point.

But yes, change can be good.

My coming out was a huge change.  I had a host of things to be afraid of, and frankly even until now there are some things related to my coming out that make me worry.  But overall, the change has been for the best:  I don't have to lie to my parents anymore.  I don't have to pretend my partner is just my friend.  I don't have to act like gay bashing is something I am okay with when family members might happen to do it.  I don't have to make excuses on why I'd spend "certain" days or nights with my partner anymore.  They know I am with the guy I love and they know that on some days of the month, he becomes my priority over everyone else.    And even better, I know now that I can honestly share with them why he makes me happy.  And how I make him happy too.    Our relationship, save for the fact it is homosexual rather than heterosexual, is pretty much seen the same way as any other:  our business.  They are HUGE changes.  Especially for someone who spent the better part of his life making excuses whenever his bisexual heart fell for a person who had a cock.

Me and my partner.
No, we aren't just "best friends."

Change can be very good.  And while it will always be scary, change should always be given some level of consideration before being thrown out of the options immediately.

So I guess, I guess I just need to remind myself of that and do what I can to bring it to a more positive direction.  Tom Strong, here's hoping to see you in print again someday soon.  Wildstorm or not, I believe you will find more readers willing to shell out money to support you.

Let us meditate on the immortal words of Charlie Chaplin:

"Nothing is permanent in this wicked world - not even our troubles."

(although admittedly, I have no idea when he said this.  Doesn't he usually perform absolutely silent?)

Celebrity Appearances while Roleplaying with my Partner

Role playing games has been a major hobby of mine ever since I first had my chance encounter on a school bus that ended in a fiery end.  Mind you, I am not referring to those atrocities they call MMORPGs which while I do accept are Massively Multiplayer Online gamers, they are not actual role playing games.  Role playing games are about crafting stories interactively with a set of players that shape the ongoing story and move the plot further.  MMORPGs are all about repeatable grinding instances where your "quests" don't really change the game world at all, since later on they can be repeated either with a different group, or done again by another group in their own way.  Yes I know I'm being geek elitist again (sort of like how I refuse to see those existing Toycons, Otakons, et al as real conventions since they are actually just over-glorified tiangges made to look fandom-related thanks to the overwhelming presence of cosplayers) but considering how much I love and respect my hobbies, I have to hold them up well with higher standards.

As I mentioned in my other blog, gaming has thankfully been rich and present in my life.  My partner has broken his gaming geek hymen and enjoys the hobby a lot!  In return, I have been doing my best to keep the game much more entertaining for him and one of the ways I do so is by making sure he has a hot supporting character present for him to interact with.  This has of course amused him (and at some times gotten him "pikon") at the fact that I make sure these characters one way or another try to flirt with him.  I'm sure that many of you would agree that if you were given a chance to interact with these characters' you would relish the chance to do "anything you want" with them.

The first game my partner ever got to play in was a Vampire: the Requiem game which had elements of Hunter: the Vigil as part of its narrative.  Being Rocky's first game, I sort of thought he'd be able to connect with the game more by playing a character closer to his personality.  Playing a gay comic store owner in the game allowed him the familiar comfort of being surrounded by geeky surroundings.

In this game, I had an unexpected character show up, supposedly in a desperate bid to catch up on the latest comics he had long missed, but later on attempt to seduce him.  It was revealed later in the game that some demon had possessed his body to use it as a tool to win Rocky's character over to his side and win the war against Heaven.    The character was:

If this man walked up to you, and asked you to do whatever you want with him
in exchange for your soul, what would you say?

The second time I gave Rocky a celebrity npc was when we were playing Changeling: The Lost.  In this game, I had his character have an ex-boyfriend who was still deeply enamored by him.


Unfortunately, Rocky's character had long moved on and the poor guy pined over a long ended passionate affair.  If you were in his shoes, would you have turned this guy down?

And yes, there WAS a scene just like this.

The third time a celebrity npc appeared was when we were playing AEON Trinity, a science fiction game where Rocky was playing a hacker who happened upon a government secret Acceptable Intelligence program.  The program was hungry for information and sought to understand human nature.  At one point, the program assumed a 3d solid light projection and asked Rocky to help him understand the biological impulses of sexual arousal.  Rocky opted to delay the session for another time (well, the world was on the verge of an alien invasion, so I guess he had a good reason to).  I wonder though how many of you out there would have done the same to him:

"Can you teach me what it means to get 'off?' "

Currently, we are playing Weapon of the Gods.  This game is pretty much like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero having a baby with Final Fantasy 7.  Gravity defying action, epic romances and incredible feats of martial arts dot the game.  Rocky plays the Dragon Minister who has fallen from the Emperor's good grace and in his travels to redeem himself, he has gained a young man seeking to prove himself.  I decided to give a certain celebrity another chance and be part of the game.  This time, his presentation was filled with double meaning statements ("How swift thy sword sifu.  Perhaps you can one day let me hold it and teach me to use it to your satisfaction?")   So far, the unspoken bromance hasn't gone overboard, but the players are all loving the subtle flirtation going on.

See, he CAN defy gravity.

Finally, we are going through a dark gem of a game called the Giovanni Chronicles, which is part of the Dark Ages Vampire line.  Here Rocky's character was among a group of people who were invited to a banquet by some nobleman, only later to learn that they have been drawn into a conspiracy of monsters and death.  I have yet to include a celebrity npc in this game, since the game does need a heavy dose of drama and emotional impact.  Such an npc might make the game feel less serious.  However, if I do ever add such a personality, I already have a short list of actors to choose from.  I wonder which one though would you guys think would be best:

Wearing ONLY this.

At least he'd have a bigger role than he did in Riverworld.

Guiltily, he ALREADY has appeared in another game.
But that was for another player.

Hmmm but he's already dressed for the second book of the game!

Ah so many choices.... who to pick I wonder.

P.S.
To those who thought this was about a different kind of roleplaying... my apologies.
Whether or not that happens between me and my partner is between us alone to know.  At least for now.