So, since my sisters have been brave enough to venture into the world of blogging, and I was reminded today of this video, I thought I’d encourage my sisters (and other friends) to sign up for twitter if you haven’t already. You can follow me at twitter.com/jerekeys. So, if you need an explanation, this is Twitter “In Plain English.”

p.s. You can also use apps to link your twitter updates to facebook status updates, myspace updates and more.

I also see (from checking my stats) that my sisters are logging on to my website in the old, slow way of checking blogs. Luckily, Common Craft also has an instructional video on using RSS Readers “In Plain English.” I also use Google Reader and think it’s excellent (if you’re looking to “friend me” in gmail or google chat - tyreseus at gmail dot com)

Finally (for now), photo sharing. I use flickr (flickr.com/photos/tyreseus) and I’ve gone ahead and upgraded to the paid account. Trust me, it’s worth it, as this Common Craft “In Plain English” video explains…

Similar to Twitter, but a bit more integrated if Friendfeed, where you’ll find me at friendfeed.com/jerekeys. Sadly, there’s no Common Craft “In Plain English” video about Friendfeed yet, but it allows you the same microblogging function as Twitter, but you can also link to your google reader shared items, twitter tweets, flickr flicks, netflix picks, YouTube faves and more. I like this enough that I’ve scrapped the Flickr badge, google reader widget,

Posted: May 30th, 2008 under blogging meta.
Comments: 2

Today is this blog’s 4th birthday! I have no idea whose baby that is in the picture, but isn’t it cute?

Actually, I started blogging a little sooner than May 23, 2004, but I ended up dumping that site and moving to LiveJournal after just a few weeks and any record of that time on the internet is lost to the aether now. It’s been about 8 months since I made the move from LJ to my own little domain.

Wow, four years of pouring my heart out. I’m not sure if I’ve said or shared anything especially worthy of reading in all that time, but I’m glad that I have a personal record, if nothing else. I was never very good at keeping a journal, but the interactive nature of blogging (especially in LJ) kept me going.

I’ll say this, though, the quality of my content has generally improved from those first few months. I’m almost embarrassed looking back on them now.

Since starting Blind Prophecy, I’ve seen a heavy metal record company start up (and the rumor is they’re going bankrupt) using the name “Blind Prophecy Records” (I might have a legal claim if I ever want to force the issue), I have posted over 1350 times (over 1500 if you include the posts I deleted for various reasons), and have never once typed the word “rutabaga” until now.

To the 40-50ish people who regularly read my personal stories, political ranting, distracted pop culture references, and pointless bandwidth fillers - Thank You!

Posted: May 23rd, 2008 under blogging meta, personal.
Comments: 1

So in addition to Bitstrips, another site Toonlet has trucked on out of the internet tubes. Both sites promise an easy way to make and share your very own webcomic with minimal artistic skill of your own.

As you can see above, they have very different “feels” or styles to them, and I can’t decide which I prefer.

Bitstrips is easier to manipulate moods, body positions, backgrounds, and allows color variations of your characters. You can also add multiple props, characters and items to each panel and control the size and shapes of your panels. On the other hand, options are limited (especially around clothing) and facial expressions.

Toonlet gives you more fine control over things like moods, arm movements, and detail work. It also offers a vastly superior catalog of choices for hair, face, body, clothing, expressions, props and “zazz” effects. The drawbacks, though, involve every panel having to use (essentially) a single character in the upper torso and head placement. Also, you get no control over colors for anything except the background. Also, building moods requires a much greater investment of time up front and if you’re mixing and matching elements from different artist packs, it can get hard to keep track of where you saw things.

In awkwardly, sorta-related news, tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day, and I’ve made plans to spend the day with Jennifer and Jacob browsing multiple comic book stores throughout the city. We’re going to end the day with Iron Man. Of course, this means I have to get my LSAT class homework done tonight.

Posted: May 2nd, 2008 under blogging meta, webcomic.
Comments: 2

I’m a little behind in doing my monthly recap on the search phrases that brought people to Blind Prophecy. March was something of an unusual month. I saw a huge spike in my Flickr stats as well as these blog stats. Check out the size of this jump on my Flickr photos:

Both the spike on my website and the flickr stream can be attributed to the same source: offended Catholics. Hooray, my photos of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s Hunky Jesus contest were used to whip up a frenzy of angry, offended bloggers!

Anyway, aside from the variations on “hunky jesus” (my favorite was “jesus’s competitor” not much rhyme or reason to the various search terms bring folks this way. In past months, I’ve had a lot of questions, but there’s not even a lot of that this time. So, here are some of the more interesting search terms driving traffic my way, categorized as best I can…

gay teenage boys tied bdsm pics

ruthie henshall pictures naked

gavin newsom shirtless

men with big balls

eliot spitzer shirtless

jonathan groff shirtless

jonathan groff - jock strap

jamie campbell bower shirtless

armistead maupin hung

photo old wrinkley balls

emma frost porn

kip purdue and penis

john cho shirtless pics

jasmin staar hagen sex

shirtless tucker carlson

steve sandvoss nude pics gay

dillon freasier shirtless

gay friend birthday present blow job

why are lesbians angry

think mercedes lackey will vote for clinton?

what does simon think of constantine?

disponzio

mikosdpuszta

queer gnostic texas

i don't believe in human goodness

fuck you lds

people get crushed like biscuit crumbs and lay down in the bed you made

i think like my tire

you ruined christmas

i think i support the president's policy idiot

jasmin rape hotel asleep concert -barber -williams -dion -asia -tupac

stores for shitty neighbors

held at onion lake 2004 - march 2008

for you olympos trans party

gender stereotypes musical comedy

slashes cuz nathan parsley

Some leftovers I want to comment on:

ginger gay boys - not sure I’ve ever mentioned this, but my first sexual experience was with a ginger gay boy. Not many of them in my life since then (aside from ultra-cutie Joel in Salt Lake).

sasha scarlett embezzlement - okay, I get between 2-15 hits a month related to this topic. The story is here. I have nothing more to add publicly, but if you have questions, drop me a note.

Posted: April 6th, 2008 under blogging meta.
Comments: none

I bought a new watch today. It’s the first time I’ve bought a watch since I lived in Vegas. In this age of cell phones, who uses them anymore?

However, I justified the purchase as something I needed for the LSAT. I need to get better about budgeting my time on the test, and I don’t know if they’ll allow my cell phone (slash-web-browser slash-camera slash-mini-computer) to sit on my desk during the exam.

I picked out a model with a large, easy-to-read digital display, no leather or animal products (I try to avoid it when I can), and a sturdy wristband that isn’t likely to break easily.

It was sorta fun shopping in the Union Square area when it isn’t Giftmas time. And since I finally have a positive cash flow again, I had to restrain myself from shopping for suits or shoes (both of which I kinda, sorta need but not really).

Had dinner with Jennifer and Jacob at Frjtz. Always a good time.

On an administrative note: I’ve dumped the sidebar login widget that was causing everyone drama. If you’re inclined to leave comments, it should be working now (at jerekeys.com- please remember, LJ friends, that I don’t always see the comments left on the syndicated feed showing up on your flist). You should be able to log in with the less fancy method (read: Wordpress standard issue) now in place. I’ve tested this method in several different browsers and on both Mac and PC, so I feel pretty good about it.

Posted: March 18th, 2008 under blogging meta, shopping.
Comments: none

Once again, we begin a new month by looking back at the search phrases that brought you, dear reader, to Blind Prophecy. As always, the list includes a number of questions people have that need answering. Typically, I have no idea, but I’ll do my best to answer those questions anyway.

how do I make strawberry art like on across the universe?
You need long straight T pins, a large blank canvas, and juicy ripe strawberries. Place the strawberries on pins in evenly spaced rows and columns on the canvas. Realize that strawberry juice doesn’t look like red paint that bleeds out of the strawberry. Add red paint and/or blood. Sing a Beetles song. Throw things.

how do i identify my asshole?
Read more »

Posted: March 1st, 2008 under blogging meta.
Comments: none

Well, a new month has begun, which means it’s time to look back at January 2008 and answer those search string questions that brought you to my blog. I feel like I get a lot of questions in my list of search phrases that point people here, and sometimes I’m awfully disturbed at the things that somehow bring my blog up in a search engine. Nevertheless, we must try and help those who seek…

“Scientifically, is love blind?”

Yes. Also, deaf and mildly retarded.

“What laws marriage for underage homeless youth in oregon?”

My, what a specific question. First a disclaimer, while I am planning to someday be a licensed attorney, I am not one now. Furthermore, I do not intend to create an attorney-client relationship with any reader. Any advice I offer here should not be substituted for seeking one-on-one advice from an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction. In answer to your question, go talk to an attorney. I don’t believe Oregon allows anyone under the age of 17 to get married under any circumstances. At 18, you don’t need parental permission, either. That’s like 12 months where you’re in limbo and questions of emancipation might come in to play. No one should be in such a rush to get married at 17 that they can’t wait a year. If you are, go to another state.

“What is the legal babysitting age in Utah?”

See above disclaimer. Considering that Utah leads the nation in depression and sexual crimes against women and children, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that the age of a babysitter is not the most important thing to worry about. Raising children in Utah is a bad idea. Get out.

“Who has pictures of Robert Gant penis?”

Wow, if you find out, let me know! Robert, if you want to send me some, I’ll happily be the internet guardian of those pictures. Better yet, I’ve got a digital camera. (Pictured at left, Robert and I at Sundance ‘05)

“What do gays do for excitement?”

Our hair, silly. Oh, and destroy marriage.

More after the jump Read more »

Posted: February 3rd, 2008 under blogging meta.
Comments: none

I’ve been told by a number of people that they had a hard time figuring out how to make comments. I’ve added a new sidebar widget to the blog (upper right) where it should be easy to register and login. Wordpress (and my spam filters) do require you to create an account for this site, but I’m not asking for your social security number or anything. I hope it all works now and the comments start rolling in. If, however, anyone is still having problems, email me at jere (at) jerekeys (dot) com and let me know.

Posted: January 20th, 2008 under blogging meta.
Comments: none

Well, I seem to have survived into another new year. 2008 here I come.

Jennifer, Jacob, Eric and I went to the Sandra Bernhard show at Castro Theater for the holiday. It might have been a better show if we’d had better tickets. As it was, we were in the balcony where the sound was shitty and some asshole light designer who would have flunked the Intro to Light Design class I took in 1997 thought it would be a good idea to point a blindingly bright white light directly at the balcony for the second half of the show. Good times!

Sandra was funny and I can’t fault her. She ripped into Ellen, blogging, and the way New York has changed. She gave an excellent performance which would have worked better in a smaller cabaret setting, but what can you do?

Today, Shelley and Renee hosted a new year’s get-together at their beautiful new place on Bernal Hill. We had fondue, a campfire (on the deck in one of those iron firepit thingies) and Guitar Hero.

Back to work tomorrow. Boo. Hiss.

It’s time to run the blog meta for the month of December. Rather than listing the top ten search terms that brought people here, I thought it would be more fun to make up bullshit answers to some of the more disturbing questions/terms that brought people here…

“What song is Peter playing in Spiderman 3?”
No bullshit answer for this one, he’s playing “Fever” - an excellent metaphor for his condition as well as an awesome jazz song.

“resume de something queer haunted school”
Yeah, um, no idea what the hell you’re looking for. Or why there were 7 of you looking for it.

“james marsden kissing a guy”
Yes, it is a thing of beauty. Look for it at the 3:00 mark.

“What kills giant squid”

Only three things… nuclear weapons, poisoned mushrooms, and anything sung by Ashlee Simpson.

“legal babysitting age siblings utah”
14. But you can marry your sister at 12. Unless you’re lesbians.

“is juliette lewis gay”
No. But I’m gay for Juliette Lewis.

“dirty truth or dare questions”
I dare you to put your ____ in my ____. Fill in your own blanks.

Posted: January 1st, 2008 under blogging meta.
Comments: none

I know that my loyal reader (note the lack of the plural) expects a certain professional impartiality from me when reporting on matters of true importance. I take that trust very seriously. Therefore, it is only with extreme caution, deliberation and consideration that I will allow myself to endorse an individual candidate at this critical voting season.

Yet, I feel that having weighed the various positions, conducted my own independent analysis of the relevant factors, and held my tongue until closer to the endgame, I feel it is now time to come out in favor of one of the top three frontrunners.

Therefore, we (note the plural form indicating a royal “we”) do endorse and support Puntabulous as your choice for the 2007 Gay Bloggies champion. Although Frank at OMG Blog and Fausto from Feast of Fools are admirable contenders, it is our considered opinion that they offer the same gay bitchiness and/or celebrity gossip already overly glamorized by our queer media. Only Craig at Puntabulous represents the invisible side of the gay community: the true geek. Oh, sure, those glossy fashion magazine will provide token geek images from time to time… they might reference Buffy or show some underwear model in glasses (gasp!), but this is the true story of a pasty young nerd who spends a lot of time playing with his lightsaber in his room. This gay geek understands the swell of hope and crash of dissappointment at Marvel’s comic book film adaptations, this gay geek has drawers full of argyle sweaters, this gay geek lives with his parents, this gay geek has unplucked eyebrows! Which is why we love him. So, go, vote thumbs up for Puntabulous and thumbs down for the other guys.

If you’re still not convinced, just ask yourself this… of the three candidates, which one do you think wants and needs free gay porn (the prize for the winner) the most?

Vote thumbs up for Craig here
Vote thumbs down for Faustus here
Vote thumbs down for Frank here

Then check back for the final round!

Posted: December 13th, 2007 under blogging meta, links.
Comments: 1