Discreet Manila

Next Fall: well worth seeing

2012-01-29T02:43:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Migs’ blog post, I learned that Repertory Philippines is staging an interesting play named Next Fall at OnStage in Greenbelt 1. The play, which runs until February 5, is about these two gay men living in New York City who are in a 5-year relationship. What’s interesting about the plot is that the two men have differing opinions on religion: Luke is a young devout Christian who prays

The phone-in-between trick

2012-01-24T00:31:00.000+08:00

I’ve already shared two discreet (but maybe inconvenient) ways of exchanging phone numbers with another guy. One is leaving a card or a piece of paper in sight of the other guy, and the other is doing hand signals. I’ll share another way and that is what I call the phone-in-between trick. Basically, you sit beside each other and one of you will place his phone between the two of you while both

Vangie: The Pinoy Virtual Assistant (that outs you)

2012-01-09T02:20:00.000+08:00

I guess most of you have already seen the hilarious Vangie video on YouTube which spoofs the Siri software found currently in the iPhone 4S. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out below. My most favorite scene of the video is the following dialogue: Guy: Vangie, call my girlfriend. Vangie: Girlfriend? Weh?! Guy: Yes. Vangie: YES?! YES KA DYAN! HELLO?! BOOM, PAK, CONFIRMED! KASAMA MO

On family reunions

2012-01-06T00:01:00.002+08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! How were your holidays? Did you have a jolly good time? For many of us, we had a nice Christmas break: a much deserved time away from school or work. This was a time for attending to religious duties, meeting old friends, opening presents, having dinner outs, and partying the night away. The holidays are also a time to head to our provinces to attend family reunions.

Not yet, but hopefully in the future...

2011-12-10T13:25:00.001+08:00

Here is a beautifully awesome hoped-to-be TV commercial in Australia to brighten up your day. Thanks to Mugen for sharing this one.

2011: A milestone

2011-12-01T23:50:00.000+08:00

2011 is a personally significant year for me: it is the year that people I have personally known have died of AIDS. In previous years, HIV/AIDS was a seemingly distant, though important, issue. Yes, I’ve been following several local blogs written by PLHIV or people living with HIV. Yes, I’ve been blogging about HIV/AIDS for quite sometime now. (In fact, this blog’s very first article had AIDS

What’s your number?

2011-11-18T02:52:00.001+08:00

Have you watched What’s Your Number?, a romantic comedy film starring Anna Faris and Chris Evans (who was as hot as ever in the movie)? The movie is about this girl named Ally (Faris) who read a magazine article that women have an average of 10 sexual partners, and that those who have had 20 or more were unlikely to get married. Ally then panicked when she realized that she has already had 19

Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa

2011-11-02T01:46:00.000+08:00

I think it was Tony who said that there’s something mesmerizing about watching two men dance together and that you’d forget the background dialogue. Well, watching Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa this past long weekend, I knew exactly what he meant. Paulo Avelino is cute and Rocco Nacino is handsome, and seeing them dance the tango set to beautiful background music was definitely a sight to

Shokot House, sighted!

2011-10-28T01:00:00.002+08:00

Charoterang sprikitik, umappear ka, vakler! Magpa-feel, magpa-sense, ditey sa baler! It seems the we haven’t had enough of the Zombadings yet! Located in City Walk 2 in Eastwood City is the Zombadings Shokot House. Eastwood City’s annual horror house attraction for Halloween dons the Zombadings theme this year and the baler opens its doors to the public at night from October 21 to 31. And how

On Zachary Quinto and gay bullying

2011-10-18T23:48:00.003+08:00

So the big LGBT news this week is that actor Zachary Quinto (aka Sylar of Heroes and Spock in the Star Trek remake) nonchalantly came out as a gay man during an interview with New York magazine. I once blogged about his on-screen make-out session over two years ago, and who would’ve thought that Zach would admit to actually being gay? Zach being one of us seems pretty funny in the light of the

The Tug Toner

2011-10-15T02:18:00.000+08:00

Remember the tons of outrageous exercise machines that promise to give you a ripped body or washboard abs in just 7 minutes a day? Well, from the crazy minds over at the Jimmy Kimmel Live show come the Tug Toner. A guaranteed riot! I love how they made this “exercise machine” unabashedly sexually suggestive. And yes, the ripped guys that appear on the “infomercial” are definitely the icing on

An interview with Zombadings director Jade Castro

2011-09-20T07:35:00.001+08:00

Have you seen Zombadings 1: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington yet? If not, why not? It’s like one of the funniest local films this year and quality films like these need our support. Anyway, I managed to have an interview with the movie’s director Jade Castro, who also helped create the script for the movie. Read on below for the interview. Vince: First of all, I would like to congratulate you

Don’t post direct links to your Facebook photos

2011-09-16T00:45:00.000+08:00

Here’s a tip: don’t post direct links to your Facebook photos, that is if you don’t want others to discover your Facebook profile. I’ve been checking out the local IRC channels and I see people posting links to their Facebook photos. These people think that by posting the direct URL (web address) to their photos, they prevent people from finding out their Facebook profile. Well, it turns out

Rest in peace, AJ

2011-09-09T01:26:00.000+08:00

AJ, wherever you are now, I hope you are now at peace and free from all the pain. You had fought a good fight. While you can no longer roam this Earth with your travel buddy, Ernie, I know that you have just embarked on an journey of a lifetime. You will be missed. How do you measure a year in the life?How about love?

Two hot gay-themed music videos

2011-09-04T23:36:00.001+08:00

It’s the start of another work week (at least for most of us) so I’d like to share a couple of gay-themed videos to help you get through the week. Enjoy! The first video is for the song “Can’t Sleep” by Adrian Lux. The first two-thirds of the video is pensive (and probably boring), but wait on to the latter part and be rewarded with one of the most passionate gay kisses ever to be committed

Sojourn to a gay bar

2011-08-30T04:10:00.004+08:00

My previous post about the blog Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila reminded me of the first, and only, time that I went to a gay bar. This happened several years ago and I would have to say that the experience basically satisfied my curiosity. And my curiosity was very much satisfied since I never went back to another gay bar. I guess these types of venues are really not for me. The gay bar trip

Featured blog: Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila

2011-08-23T00:38:00.003+08:00

There are 4 major types of establishment that primarily cater to the gay segment of society. And these are: Gay bathhouses aka gay saunas (such as Club Bath and Queeriosity Palace) Gay massage parlors (such as Hilom and Spartacus) Gay bars (such as Adonis and Planet Xanadu) Gay clubs (such as BED and O-Bar) If you’ve been reading Discreet Manila for a long time, you would recognize

“Seriously?! It’s like you’re Photoshopped!”

2011-08-19T02:06:00.004+08:00

I just watched Crazy, Stupid, Love, starring Steve Carell and Julianne Moore, last night and it was one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. I highly encourage you to go and see it. It’s a surprisingly intelligent movie for a romantic comedy and the story, acting, and dialogues were a notch over its peers. But since this is a gay blog, there’s one icing to this cake of a movie: Ryan Gosling

The Love Yourself Project

2011-07-15T00:35:00.001+08:00

There’s a certain kind of contradiction the local MSM community faces when when dealing with HIV/AIDS. On one hand, we have seen the dramatic rise in the number of detected HIV infections over the last few years and how the MSM segment forms the bulk of the recent statistics. This trend is quite alarming and points to the need to shake the community from its complacency. HIV is real and we are

GAY = SIN

2011-07-06T01:37:00.003+08:00

What do you get when you combine peaceful music, beautiful countryside imagery, and anti-gay speech? Well, you get a deeply moving piece where homophobia is reduced into the background, where it should be. Video by Matthew Brown. Some clips from scenicboys. Music by Sigur Rós.

A week’s worth of text promos

2011-07-03T03:53:00.001+08:00

I often receive text ads from a few gay establishments announcing various promos they have for the upcoming night(s). To give you an idea of the type of messages that I receive, shown below is one week’s worth of text messages from BED, Queeriosity Palace, Fahrenheit, and Playroom. As expected, I have never received such messages from Club Bath and I think I received a couple or so from Epitome

Pino PLU Signal: Shirtless Facebook Pics

2011-07-01T01:07:00.001+08:00

Is it just me or are gay men more likely than straight guys to post shirtless profile photos on Facebook and other social networking sites? And these photos are those that aim to show a nice body (like in the gym) and are not just basic beach shots. I have no data to back this up, but I think that 90% of guys that do this are either gay or are models. The rest are just vain straight men. Hehe.

New York passes same-sex marriage bill!

2011-06-26T12:42:00.007+08:00

While I already blogged about the landmark UN resolution a few days ago, I couldn’t resist blogging about another really good news (thanks to an anonymous comment), this time coming from the United States. Last Friday night in New York (Saturday morning in the Philippines), with a vote of 33-29, the state of New York has passed the Marriage Equality Act, recognizing marriages between people of

The landmark UN resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity

2011-06-22T00:37:00.008+08:00

In a historic vote of 23 for to 19 against, with 3 abstentions, the United Nations Human Rights Council has passed a landmark resolution (A/HRC/17/L.9/Rev.1) “expressing grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.” The resolution, passed just 4 days ago on June 17, seeks

Action Sauna (Causeway Bay, Hong Kong)

2011-06-20T02:20:00.010+08:00

I went to Hong Kong early this year for vacation. It was my first time to visit the former British colony and I must say that the city’s skyline is quite breathtaking! I wish I could have stayed for more than the few days I spent there, but I couldn’t stay away from work too long and the budget wasn’t enough. I will definitely go back there one day. Anyway, I’ve read that the gay scene in HK