BED Manila: a Work in Progress

Hmmm... what do we have here? A teaser video from Bed saying that they will be open soon? Interesting...

I wonder if they will open in time for Halloween? (And they have a Twitter account. Follow them. Now na.)

Intermission: Tristan Jaxx and Tory Mason

I hope everyone is safe in the wake of Typhoon Juan. In the meantime, here’s something hot to sizzle up your cold rainy day: a sexy and nicely edited video of Tristan Jaxx and Tory Mason French kissing. Tristan is the stocky dark-haired guy while Tory is the lean blonde. Enjoy!

I just love watching guys kiss passionately, especially if they're quite manly. Hehehe.

The Playroom: a new blue bar/bathhouse

Last October 1, The Playroom had its soft opening. This is a new blue bar/bathhouse PLU establishment and is located at #35 West Avenue in Quezon City.

If you’ve been to the July or September parties thrown by the Fabcasters, then you’ve already been to the place since it is co-owned by one of the six Fabcasters. And if you’ve seen the movie Heavenly Touch, then you’ve also seen the place as well. The fictitious Heavenly Touch Spa in the movie is actually the Spartacus Spa in real life. Two-thirds of the building in which Spartacus is located was given up and now we have The Playroom.

If I’m not mistaken, The Playroom’s concept of a hybrid blue bar and bathhouse is the first of its kind. (Then again, both Epitome and Fahrenheit do have a bar area separate from the bathhouse proper, but unless there are events, these areas are almost always devoid of people which doesn’t make them blue bars.) Like a blue bar, The Playroom’s main feature is a bar where members can mingle and socialize and like other blue bars, there is a “backroom” area where guests can be more intimate with each other. In The Playroom’s case, the backroom is on the second floor and is effectively a bathhouse, where members are given towels and there are rooms and shower areas.

This post is just a preliminary peek but my first big beef about the establishment is that the layout is all wrong. For those who have availed of lockers instead of rooms, the bar area separates the lockers from the second floor, which may mean that patrons cross the bar area in their towels. Not good.

On the other hand, one thing I really love about the place is its location. The building that houses Spartacus and The Playroom is located in an inner driveway/courtyard away from the street. Since the address is at West Avenue, the vicinity is not seedy at all, but because the place is tucked inside, it’s quite discreet. I guess the only problem is that the masseurs (I think) of Spartacus often hang out at the driveway’s entrance which may unnerve some people.

The TLF Share report on the Queeriosity raid

As I mentioned before, a representative from TLF Share and Akbayan was at the police precinct helping to secure the release of the PLU clients of Queeriosity Palace who were detained when the establishment was raided by the unscrupulous Pasay City Police last September 24. (The rep was also live-tweeting the incident.) Earlier tonight, he has posted to the TLF Share’s Facebook page his official report on the raid.

Here are some excerpts from the report:

The policemen in the precinct were cooperative initially and allowed the community representative who arrived in the precinct to talk to the manager. However, when asked about the details of the raid and the charges that would be filed against the arrested individuals, they became hostile. They asked for the representative's ID and discovered that he is a congressional staffer of Akbayan. One of the policemen derisively said, 'O, taga-Akbayan ka pala. Binoto ko pa naman kayo. Alam ko ang pinaglalaban ng Akbayan, pero bakit kayo pumapasok sa kalaswaan?'. ("So you're from Akbayan. I voted for you. I know what Akbayan stands for, but why are you into promiscuity?") They ignored the questions asked by the representative, refusing even to give their names. They all went to a room, apparently to confer among themselves.

[...]

The community representative negotiated with the police and urged them to release the detained patrons and clients, explaining that condoms cannot be used as evidence for prostitution. He also informed Rep. Kaka Bag-ao of Akbayan, who at around 4 AM contacted Pasay City Rep. Emy Calixto-Rubiano, whose brother is the incumbent Mayor of Pasay City.

At around 5 AM, one policeman, who introduced himself as Officer Bimbo, said that 'marami na ang tumatawag dito', admitting that "may mga nakikialam na". (We are already getting a lot of calls, some officials are already intervening).

[...]

The head of the unit, who introduced himself ay Officer Raymund Montante (it was learned later that Montante is not his real surname), approached the representative and said that 'payag na kami pakawalan sila, arbor na lang' (The clients will now be released with no charges as a favor) and that their release was just being processed. The staff members of the establishment, however, will be charged because one of them reportedly admitted that prostitution is indeed taking place in the bath house. The community representative clarified to the police that the clients should not be asked to pay anything for their release, and 'Officer Montante' assured him that no 'processing fee' would be asked.

[...]

At around 6 AM, the police started releasing the clients. Those who got out told the community representative that they were actually asked to pay, from P100 to P2,000, or depending on the amount of money that the police would find in their pockets or wallets. They would take the cellphone, too, if the cash was deemed insufficient.

(Also, in case you missed it, here’s the initial statement of the owner of QP.)

If I’m not mistaken, this report will be part of the documentation that will be used in order to push for changes such that these raids will never happen again. While I think that the Queeriosity raid is a far cry from the Stonewall riots, I fervently hope that something positive will come out of this sorry incident.

Glee hunk: Cheyenne Jackson

If we’re going to go by stereotypes, I’m guessing that most PLUs are Gleeks, that is, fans of the award-winning musical comedy Glee, which is about an underdog glee club named New Directions at McKinley High School in Ohio. It’s campy, theatrical, and ostentatious, all of which are right up the alley of gays everywhere. However, I’m also guessing that only a minority of these PLU Gleeks realize that the actor that plays the new coach of the glee club’s main rival, Vocal Adrenaline, is a beefcake. Guys, meet the hunkalicious Cheyenne Jackson! And... he’s out and gay!

35-year-old Cheyenne plays Vocal Adrenaline coach Dustin Goolsby, which the show’s creators have described as a complete villain. So far he has only been seen in a single scene in the premiere episode of the second season, pirating Charice Pempengco’s character, Sunshine Corazon, from McKinley High. But despite the short screen time, he had a commanding presence, don’t you think? There is actually a couple of trivia about Cheyenne Jackson and Glee. One is that he was originally one of the actors considered for the role of Will Schuester, New Directions’ coach, which ultimately went to Matthew Morrison (who I think is better suited for it). Another is that he was supposed to appear back in season 1 as Dakota Stanley, the crazy choreographer of Vocal Adrenaline. He fell ill when he was about to shoot his scenes and so the show rewrote the Dakota character to be a puffed-up, condescending, and short gay guy. I guess the show really wanted Cheyenne and now has a recurring role in the second season.

Just like a lot of the regular and guest actors in Glee, namely Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester), Lea Michele (Rachel Berry), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang), Kristin Chenoweth (April Rhodes), Idina Menzel (Shelby Corcoran), and Jonathan Groff (Jesse St. James), Cheyenne Jackson also has a theatrical background, having performed in Broadway and off-Broadway productions like Xanadu, All Shook Up, Damn Yankees and Altar Boyz. And just like Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel), Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester) and Jesse St. James, Cheyenne is out and gay. And really hot to boot!

If my ultimate crush in season 1 is hunk Mark Salling, who plays bad boy Noah “Puck” Puckerman, I think Cheyenne will take the crown in season 2. And if you’re curious, no, he’s not single: he’s in a long-term relationship with a physicist (whoa!).

More pictures of this hunk here and there. There’s also an After Elton article/gallery for his 35th birthday.

Featured blog: Shamelessmack

I recently came across the blog of Shamelessmack, a gay man who goes all over Southeast Asia seemingly for business but actively checks out the local gay scene on his trips. Most of his travels are concentrated in Thailand, but he also goes to Kuala Lumpur and Manila. He specializes in reviewing and sharing his experiences in various gay establishments with an eye for providing users with a helpful guide. The type of establishments he’s most interested in are gay massage parlors and gay (macho dancing) bars, but he also sometimes checks out the dance clubs and bathhouses. In Metro Manila, he has mostly stuck to the massage parlors and the occasional macho dancing bar.

What I really like about Shamelessmacks’s blog is how extremely helpful and informative his articles are. Some people have praised my eye for detail when writing about bathhouses, but this guy is on a totally different level! As an example, check out this paragraph where he describes the state of the toilet in one seedy massage parlor along Kamias Road:

The toilet was a disaster. First of all, the door wouldn’t close properly. The tiles were chipped, stained of course, and the walls/ceiling had not been repainted since 1949. Cold water was stored in a plastic drum with a dirty scoop floating in it. There was no need to look for a shower set or water heater. You knew they hadn’t been invented yet as far as this place was concerned. The toilet bowl had no pan (naturally), but hey, the flush worked. Amazing.

Shamelessmack writes his entries with an entertaining flair but still manages to inform. I am personally not the kind of guy who would go for M2M massages, but after reading a few of his entries, I am almost reconsidering my stance. He’s that good! He also makes maps locating various gay establishments such as this map of Kamias Road, as well as floor plans like the one on his article on Equanimity Spa. He’s probably a guy I could really get along with. Hehehe.

Moreover, he has a nice glossary of PLU terms related to the Southeast Asian gay scene, and an interesting set of codes to quickly describe the body shape and body hair type of any guy, complete with well-drawn illustrations! For example, if I’m interpreting his body shape codes correctly, Piolo Pascual might be a W3M and Enchong Dee is maybe a Q2. I wonder if we should all adopt his codes? It certainly beats trying to decipher what somebody means when he says “stocky” or “lean,” right?

If ever I find myself going to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur, then Shamelessmack’s blog is definitely on my reading list. It’s just too bad that he has almost no entry on Singapore which I’d really love to visit.