Thursday 15 August 2013

Thursday Tuneage: 'Spring Break Anthem' by the Lonely Island


This song has been stuck in my head a lot recently. I got to say, that the really simple juxtaposition of college kids at spring break and committing yourself to the love of your life (albeit of the same sex) makes a great case for marriage equality.



Who knew it could be this simple. Stop all the hate guys, love is love and gay marriage is happening slowly but surely.

Love it boys.

GBM

Thursday 8 August 2013

She's getting Married in the Morning


My sister is getting married this weekend! I could not be happier or prouder. I cannot wait to see my family and everything. Due to a slight mess up on my part with flights I have not been home to Ireland for over 8 months. Missed you all and my shire. So basically you probably won't hear from me for a while, but then I guess you are used to that.

Another smaller milestone also reached with this Blog post, this happens to be my 200th Blog post. Well now fancy that, who'd a thunk I'd get this far.

Catch up with you all soon and now why don't you join me in wishing my Sis and her future hubby a big congratulations.

Woop woop

GBM

Monday 5 August 2013

Life behind a Lens


One thing keeping me busy during my blogging hiatus was playing around with my new DSLR camera. I am by no means an expert yet and would still like to take some more classes but I am slowly beginning to understand what's needed to make a good shot. I thought I would share some of my favourites with you all. Be honest and let me know what you think, I would love some constructive criticism, anything to help me improve.

Ahhh the locals!
Leia vaporised Luke!
Play that Alpine Horn
Random flower lady in Munich
Pictures of people taking pictures
Eh, not sure what this was


Pictures of people taken pictures: Woman amazed by Stroopwaffle


So yeah, photos and ting. Noice

GBM

Thursday 1 August 2013

Hot Ginger of the Week: Josh Homme


This week's Hot Ginger has a difficult appeal to explain. For some Josh is not really that attractive, in fairness I will admit he is a little rough around the edges but Josh's voice and songs ooze sex appeal. Listening to some Queen's of the Stone Age songs such as "Make it with Chu" or "If I had a Tail" and you get it.


This is not a classic good looks recommendation, this is about owning sexiness despite looking like an ex-con. I get something similar when I listen to Mark Lanagan, it's all about that voice and those sex infused lyrics. When you listen you understand he knows exactly what to do to you in the bedroom.


The bad-boy Hot Ginger.

GBM

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Ginger Telly Man: Orange is the New Black


A new original show from Netflix, all 13 episodes dropped on July 11th for this female prison set comedy drama. Firstly I would just like to say I really love what Netflix is doing at the moment, I recently bulk-watched all the new episodes of Arrested Development when they became available on Netflix and I think this concept is changing the way we consume television.

Orange is the New Black is based on the true life memoir of Piper Kerman's (Piper Chapman in the show) year in prison, here played stunningly by Taylor Schilling. She is sent to prison for a 10 year old crime of smuggling drug money for her international drug smuggling lesbian lover Alex (played by "That 70's Show" Laura Prepon). Piper now a straight, engaged to married,  successful business woman must learn how to navigate and accept her new life behind bars for the next 15 months.


There is a lot to like about this show, firstly the cast is top notch and it is very refreshing to see such a primarily female cast portray such well written characters. The show packs an emotional punch and some episodes will have you reaching for those tissues however on the filp-side it is one of the funniest shows in years. This dual emotional roller-coaster is why I keep coming back for more (I am currently only 8 episodes in), one minute I am welling up and the next l am laughing so much I almost pee a little. One of the funniest moments for me is when two of the black inmates begin impersonating rich white women in the run up to an inmates union election, their impression is so spot-on and hilarious I was almost crying with laughter. Another great aspect is how LGBT characters are portrayed in this show, for once we are not the sidekicks, trotted out occasionally to provide comic relief, no in fact LGBT characters make up almost 50% of the cast in this show and make for well written and complex characters. In particular the portrayal of the post-op transgendered Sophia by Laverne Cox is one of the best examples I have ever seen of a portrayal of this type of storyline in television or film and ultimately one of the most heartbreaking.



I could go on, but I wouldn't want to spoil it for you all so maybe I'll do a followup post when the second series is about to drop but I will say this, find this show and watch it.

You can thank me afterwards.

GBM

Monday 29 July 2013

Hello, is anybody out there? Have I been gone too long?


I disappeared. It was a gradual thing, one not planned or expected but something out of my control. This journey I had been on over the last year had all lead to this, the Blog, Social Media immersion, writing for other websites, all so I could shift my career in a different trajectory and it payed off. I got the job I wanted, the dream job, my Social Media job.

Initially I had great intentions, initially I thought I would be able to do it all, work in this online world day-to-day and continue my Blog but slowly the words began to dry up. You've all maybe experienced something similar, a general fatigue, a drought of inspiration but ultimately for me having to work in this online world for a living drained all desire to hang around here in my free time.

Don't get me wrong, I truly did love what I was doing for a living but it's like that scene from Friends, where Rachel is flirting with Carol's OBGYN and he explains why he does not want to have kids. It was exactly like that, I would get home and if I had to see one more Blog post or write one more Facebook post, well I could not bring myself to.

Now a change, I shift again career wise. I move into an area less online focused and I also have one month off with pay. It's is not a half-bad deal and so I come crawling back to this wee Blog of mine. I'm not going to bullshit you, make claims that I am back for good because I really won't know until I start my new job and see if I can strike the correct balance this time around. For now I seem to have found my voice again, found my words and it's a truly wonderful feeling. I think I have a good deal to say and I want to catch up with all my dear Blog friends again. I do apologise for my desertion but it was something that had to be done.

As for GBM I am still unsure what direction to take, to evolve, to stay the same, to delete and start a new, only time will tell but what I do know is right now I am not quite ready yet to say goodbye to this little Blog of mine.

Hello again Blogosphere.

I have missed you.

GBM

Tuesday 30 April 2013

How I Actually Use Facebook

It has become apparent to me that I don’t actually use Facebook the way other people do, the way it was originally intended to be used.  When my friends discuss how it has taken over their lives and discuss the traps and pratfalls that they succumb to on the platform, I usually just stare at them blankly. In my head I’m thinking “that’s not how you are supposed to use Facebook” only to bite my tongue knowing that actually this is how majority of the public use it. Let me explain...

Facebook as an RSS Feed:

I’m not sure when it began to happen, it was definitely a gradual thing, time based, but my Facebook newsfeed is now more where I go to find out what is going on in the world rather than what’s happening in my friends lives. My number of Likes (700 or so) have well surpassed the number of friends I have (almost a respectable 400). I tried actual RSSing before but I found it information heavy and usually just didn’t read them all in the end, I like how the FB posts know not to be too spammy. So my newsfeed is where I go to find out whats going on in the news, when my favourite bands are touring, spoilers for my beloved television shows and which celebrity currently owns the Internet (I think it currently still belongs to Jennifer Lawrence but there was that one day it belonged to Jon Hamm’s penis, the Internet was probably bored that day). Then secondary occasional status updates from my friends are like a nice personal touch to my news digest but (sorry guys) not my ultimate focus. 
My Facebook Feed (friend light)

Facebook as a place to put all my things:

Anyone who is my Facebook friend must think I am pretty active on the platform, always sharing articles I like with them, posting music videos for everyone to see and funny pictures etc. etc. add nausea. Well, while it might appear to the untrained eye, that I am sharing all these things for likes, comments etc. in reality my Facebook wall is just where I put things I see on the Internet so that I remember where they are and can find them again quickly. They are not for you they are for me. See a 'Top 15 Cat gifs' post on Buzzfeed, post it to my wall to laugh at it again later. Someone shows me a awesome new band and I post their video to my wall to remind myself to download their album when I get home. I have a process to the whole thing and everything. If my wall is getting too full I occasionally put things on Husband’s wall because lets face it, he barely uses it. One time I posted a video of this band I was really getting into as a reminder and this friend of mine trolled me and started ranting about how shit the song was etc. Irrationally I began to respond with something like. “Hey bitchface, you have the face of a bitch, who asked you? I didn’t post this on my wall for you, I posted it for me. Keep your opinions to yourself!”, only to stop myself before hitting the post button and realise that I will come off as the mad one in this instance. That is how most people use Facebook GBM. They don’t think of it in the way you do. Again I also tried social bookmarking, Pinterest etc. but Facebook is what I know, so…


Facebook has photos of other people now?

Well there is no way what I am about to write is not going to come off as self-centred or narcissistic, but I figure whatever, full disclosure.  A lot of my friends (mainly women) go on about how they get stuck on this Book of Face for hours staring at pictures of the friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends, basically stalking strangers. I always get asked the question does this not happen to you? Well honestly no, it doesn’t. I mean why would I want to look at photos where I know I am not in them? There I said it. I’m sorry that’s just how my brain works. Egocentric yes and I am cringing now at my forthrightness but it’s just who I am. So yeah if you happen to post a group of photos from your recent night out, holiday, insert-event-here that I haven’t been apart of, know that I probably haven’t looked at them unless they were incredibly unusual or contained partial nudity or something. Sorry, please don’t be offended but conversely know that I couldn’t careless if you don’t look at my photos either. Again remember this forum is just where I keep all my things.

There, now you all know my secrets. I still love all my friends to bits and everything, Facebookwise they are just my second priority.

:-P 

GBM 

Sunday 28 April 2013

I Review Music Gigs Now


Woop I review gigs for Ron Orp too now.

Check out my first here

Poliça Review

Cheers Guys

GBM

Hot Ginger of the Week: Macklemore



Well this is one for the books, a hot ginger rapper? Can’t say I saw this one coming. We be representing. 

I have been listening to a lot of Macklemore lately and I got to say I really dig him. His lyrics and rhymes buck convention and really hold a mirror up and question what we should find acceptable in modern hip-hop. Conventions of excess and ego are turned on their heads examined. I particularly like his honesty and self-deprecation in “The Penis Song”, I think it takes balls, in the ego driven world of hip hop to admit your penis is only slightly above average. Being Irish and incredibly self-deprecating by nature, I find this is incredibly refreshing. I mean I firmly believe in mans god given right to take the piss out of himself. It’s got me to where I am today. 

Take his biggest hit so far ‘Thrift Store’ (see below), I love the concept of a rapper going into his local Goodwill store, rummaging through shitloads of second hand fare to find the most fly attire. Most rappers today talk of the excess of being dressed head to toe in Gucci and popping Crystalle. Don’t get me wrong I do love the Kanyes’ and Jayzs’ of this music world but as I said it’s just refreshing to see raps excess being examined. 



And lastly, as a gay man I can’t help but choke up a bit every time I  hear ‘Same Love’. I guess I have never been that active in terms of getting involved with gay rights movement. I’ve only been out for 5 years so my time was spent getting used to this new world I now lived in. Lately though I have been feeling pretty strongly about marriage equality, a referendum is coming in Ireland (currently we only had Civil Partnerships and that was a very recent thing) and I’ll be sure to make the necessary steps to make my vote count even though I am way over here in Switzerland. 

Anyway I appear to be getting off the point a bit. Macklemore, hot and ginger, nuff said.



GBM

Wednesday 27 March 2013

Go Home Weather, you're Drunk

Spring has unsprung! That's the second time I've been lulled into a false sense of security. Fool me once Switzerland, shame on you. Fool me twice and I get frostbite.

It would seem that this seems to be happening all over Europe at the moment so not so bad. Though I'm kinda done with winter. I long for swimming in the rivers and lake again. Oh well, all good things eh....

GBM

Friday 22 March 2013

Voila la Spring

Spring seems to have arrived in Zurich. Take a look for yourself (though I have been duped before this month). I think this calls for me to get out today and enjoy this beautiful day.

After five more minutes of Internet....


GBM

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Hot Ginger of the Week: Jane Levy


This is another Hot Ginger I worried might be a little to young, I mean she does play a 16 year old on TV. Yet in true Hollywood style, the internet returns our darling redhead's actual age of 23. Yup she's a lot older than you thought, eh?

Best known for playing lead character Tessa Altman in the hilarious Suburgatory, Jane is the epitome of cuteness.

Not for long tho as she's about to crop up this year on the silver screen playing Mia in the remake of Evil Dead. Early screenings point to a terrifying movie indeed and fans of the original will know what I mean when I say it's Jane's character who is taken advantage of by a usually inanimate piece of nature. Ew.

Till the movie is released we can enjoy her in her weekly and more adorable role on TV.


GBM

Friday 15 March 2013

Question of the Day

Guys I got a new job! In Social Media of all things. I think I have fallen in love tbh. So I want to ask you all this question. What is your favourite thing about Social Media? And sure while we are at it why not throw in your least favourite thing too?

New posts soon :-)

GBM

Thursday 7 March 2013

I'm Moving Fashion Forward

Hey guys, so recently I moved to a new job and new company. I'm now working in the thrilling world of fashion retail and as such I've decided to start dressing the part. No more sweats and hoodies for me, now baby needs to look fabulous. So for my third day on the job I decided to break out an outfit that I thought showcased my ability to color-block (yes, GBM is down with the lingo). I decided to finish it all off with these beautiful black Clark brogues which I laced up with some turquoise laces, this seasons must have fashion trend for men, don't ya know (or at least that's what Husband tells me). 


Thing is though, while my brogues are over two years old, because of laziness and maybe due my prior mindset of avoiding fashion if it makes me uncomfortable, I never actually managed to break them in. So when the day ended my poor little ankles look like this (Warning: If you don't like feet or loose skin avert your eyes!).


No one told me that being fabulous would hurt so much :-(

GBM

Saturday 2 March 2013

Lazy Day...

Having one of those days where my laptop has fused to my belly and I cannot seem to get my shit together.

Fear not blogfriends as I have a good new post in me about a recent gig and a new Hot Ginger of the Week.

Soon soon

GBM



Wednesday 27 February 2013

Real Irish Butter

Why thank you sis! Tastes like past Christmases, summers off school and family holidays.

Om Nom Nom Nom.

GBM

Monday 25 February 2013

The Sister Visits

My sister came to visit at the weekend. Yes GBS III and her fiancé finally came to see us in our new life in Zurich. I believe a good time was had by all, even if GBS III's future hubby did not get into the ice skating. Anywho, due to the extreme cold, the sister started rocking a pretty awesome new look, see below.


Practical and warmaning (whatever spellcheck)!

GBM

Thursday 21 February 2013

Hot Ginger of the Week: Rupert Grint


Hot Ginger of the Week is back and I'm back with good intentions of more regular blogging. I've been off dipping my toes in other creative outlets but I soon plan to show you all what I've been up to.

I'd been holding back this Hot Ginger for fear of coming off a bit creepy, I mean it's ickle RonRon from Harry Potter. Then I realised he's actually twenty four, that's right twenty four. Sure I am only 3 years older, don't feel so bad then. So yeah you've all seen Rupert grow up (and into himself I must say) over the course of eight Harry Potter movies. Sad it's all over to be honest but fingers crossed we will see more of this little cutie.

He's been off carving a bit of an indie career for himself also with great turns in the sexy 'Cherrybomb' and also alongside Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt in the spy caper 'Wild Target'. Next up we shall be seeing him in the WWII movie 'Into the White'.

Looking forward to it.

Expelliamus!


GBM

Monday 4 February 2013

I Star Ron Orp



Guys, guys - excellent news, there has been a reason I've been all quiet on the blogging front of late, I've been expanding my writing portfolio into new online horizons.

You are now looking at the new 'Cityscribe' for Ron Orp Zurich. Got my own section and everything; 'Gingers Gutschein Guide' where I review restuarants using some vouchers.

But I'll not rattle on about it. Check it out for yourselves below. Hope you like it.

http://www.ronorp.net/zurich_en/ron-orps-mail/eating-drinking.239/ginger-s-gutschein-guide-zurich_en.866/ginger-s-gutschein-guide-wagamama.317061

GBM

Monday 14 January 2013

Grrr Argh!

So weirdly I was staring at the back of my chair on the train this morning and it was flipping me the bird.
Is it weirdly irrational and stupid that I got angry at it?
I mean how very dare it!

GBM

Sunday 13 January 2013

Check this Out: Natures Healthbox



Ahhh the day is finally here. I've been building up to this for an age, the Natures HealthBox website has finally gone live y'all!

Natures Healthbox is a family run online business, specialising in the sale of natural, organic and eco-friendly products. It's the brainchild of three very passionate young entrepreneurs Jon, Keeley and Kerri. There are many reasons I am excited by this new development, it's not just that they kindly sent me some products to review, or that they are starting a really great niche and needed, online retail space at a time when others wouldn't dare, or that their available product list is making my credit card provider start to look nervous (Buy all the things!). I'm also excited because Kerri and Keeley are two personal friends of mine and I could not be prouder of my girlies at this time. You fucking go sisters!

Hmmm, I do wonder how much detail I can go into about my ladies without ruining thier newfound businesswomen chic. We happened upon each other on the tropical Island of Kao Tao in Thialiand and bounded over our lack of interest in diving and a whiskey bucket. Without saying too much more, our time together had many a laugh, at least one full moon party, some drunken tattoos and the girls kindly trying to help me locate my missing pants on a beach in Kao Phangnan.

That was then and this is now. We were young and now today we are business women, well they are, I'm still a big goofball.


So more than a month ago I was pleasantly surprised by large package arriving on my doorstep (don't you just love it when that happens). The guys from NH had kindly sent me some of the Bulldog Natural Skincare products for men, to review for them. Skincare products! Ladies (and you too Jon) how did you know? I am an easy sell for facial scrubs and moisturisers with being a gay and all but knowing my straight friends as I do, a proper daily skincare regime can be a harder sell to some men due to their fear of coming off a bit nelly. Cleverly averted by this product range with their very macho name-tag used to describe products containing effeminate ingredients such as green tea, algae, pumice and coconut shell, a sort of subscription to the 'Pepsi Max' school of advertising for men. Bravo Bulldog, Bravo. In fact the name makes me want  stick out my chest, like I am well 'ard and continue the rest of my review in a cockney accent but I'll spare you all my embarrasment of trying.

So I was kindly given three products to review, the Original Face Scrub, the Original Shave Gel and the Sensitive Moisturiser (how did you know again?). What can I say about these products? Well let's start with the scrub anyways because funnily enough Husband and I were actually in the market for a new one (our current one had us feeling a bit meh). Whoosh! What a refreshing way to snap the sleep out of you in the morning.  This beats our current scrub hands down and has had my skin looking all kind of fabulous. BG and NH you have converted me on this one and I just had a price check on your site there and whoa, what value for money. Yesum!

I improvised!
Shave gel, hmmm, eh a harder sell for us Homos who subscribe to the ideals of bearded is best and don't actually clean shave. Still I managed to improvise a use for this one. Also a massive thumbs up here, clean shave with zero break outs. Sure to smoothly aid in the shave of many a face, chest or ballsack. Yesum also!


So lastly onto the sensitive moisturiser, I've decided to be completely honest about this one because by letting you dear readers know that these guys are friends of mine, you might suspect some bias on my part when it comes to reviewing these products. Basically on a whole this moisturiser meets most of my needs, leaves my skin feeling great, gives me a refreshing jolt in the morning, tackles the patch dry skin I get around my nose, apart from one thing. A need that is satisfied by my current moisturiser, that as a forgetful and pasty Irish pale skinned ginger is kinda important to me. This moisturiser does not contain SPF. Probably because it is not a natural ingredient so makes sense, but on this basis I probably won't switch to Bulldog on this front. Sorry guys, you know what Meat Loaf says!

Now's your chance to sample some of the Natures Healthbox products for yourselves, as the guys over there have kindly offered a 10% discount voucher code for you dear readers. Isn't that lovely!

The code is BLOGTASTIC2013 and will be valid until midnight on the last day of January. It will be valid on all products available on the site and is in addition to the January offers on: 

25% off Salcura (amazing treatments for eczema, psoriasis, dry and irritable skin)15% off A.Vogel (a vast range of remedies and tinctures extracted from plants)20% off Amy's Kitchen (Seriously delicious soups with no nasties)


So you guys could receive up to 35% off of the selected lines!


Did someone just say bargain?


Any who you can check the guys web address below and don't forget to like them on Facebook and follow on Twitter to keep up on their latest offers.


Website: www.natureshealthbox.co.uk


Facebook: www.facebook.com/natureshealthbox


Twitter: @NaturesHBox


Enjoy my babies!


GBM


PS. NH guys if you are reading this thanks again for everything including my bar of Dairy Free Chocolate, it was Nom.


Friday 11 January 2013

Oh Joyous Love of Joy


What was I thinking with my previous post? Why sure as long as I love things with absolute boyish wonderment then there will always be a place for GBM in my life and my writing. Thanks to all my Blog friends for the lovely comments and help whilst I had my mid-blog-life breakdown, especially my Fairy Blog Mother, Mynx for her truly inspiring email. Much appreciated.

GBM will be going through a redesign and I plan to come back stronger than ever and even resurrect my Hot Ginger of the Week section and maybe throw in a few new ones.

So I found this song on the net and that's what made me realise that I don't need to walk away from GBM even if I was feeling I wanted to write about different things. I love this song, love love love it. I love the video, it's fantastic, shot in Iceland, oh my god wow. The styling is amazing, some kind of hipster meets pikey fashion statement, oh feels so right to me. An that up skirt shot just as a plane flys overhead, Wowsers!

A fantastic video and song from an emerging new talent. Here's hoping she will follow through with a great album. I am counting down the days.


GBM

Friday 4 January 2013

Where to go from Here?


I'm at a loss for words, a loss for words to fill this wee Blog of mine with. I honestly don't know what to do or how to proceed with this, with Ginger Blog Man any more.

My Blog was a place for me to come to be happy-go-lucky, to be silly and write funny stories about my integration to Swiss society. Yet now that I'm here, now integrated, I feel that continuing this tone is not an accurate representation of who I am any more. Life has really and truly has caught back up to me after my sabbatical in all its wondrous and difficult glory. My time is limited and I want to utilise it to the best of my ability. I know I want to continue to write because that is what I love but I am beginning to wonder if this Blog in it's current form is the right fit for me now.

Born from a desire to change my career direction and gain some hands on experience of this social online world, I created GBM almost 9 months ago and the decisions made about how I promoted it and who I allowed access just don't seem to fit anymore. I crave anonymity, crave the shadows so I can write my truth, the happy, the sad, the fears, the love, the anxiety. With great pain comes great creativity and my creative juices have been flowing lately.

Trouble is I am not sure what I want, if I am looking for a forum to write about any anxiety I am feeling, does it make more sense to keep a diary rather than air it publicly for all to read? This then brings me back to the issue of time again, I have less free time than I use to and time is so precious to me at the moment (though you wouldn't know that from seeing me laze about the house during the Christmas holiday period). With time being so precious I've been truly internalising what exactly I love to write about and when I genuinely walk away from a post feeling quite proud. Music is always what comes out on top, I really feel like I have something to say, something eloquent when I touch on this beloved subject matter. Do I focus on this then?

Then there's the problem of letting go, I am really proud of this Blog and I don't just want it to disappear either. If anything it is a collection of my memories, my accomplishments and the space I met so many great and wonderful people. My fellow Bloggers, my Blog friends, coming into this world I really and truly did not expect to be so pleasantly surprised by this thing called the Blogosphere. When deciding to be quite open about my sexuality when writing online, I initially began to wonder if I would experience any form of hate because of my openness. Truth is, in my 9 months I never experienced one negative comment but what surprised me and what I did not expect was how much love and encouragement there was out here in this little online world. All of you guys have truly made this experience for me and I just wanted to thank you all, for sharing your worlds with me and for joining me, on my ride.

So I guess, I am still undecided at the moment. A lot to give up, if I do leave this world or start from scratch. Blog friends, Becca, Mynx, Pikelope, J. Day, Hey There Monkey Butt and all the rest of you guys, if you have any advise or thoughts I would really appreciate it at the moment. If any of you have been through something similar please, send me an email. I think it would really help me figure out where exactly I should go from here.

Thanks a mill guys.

GBM