Finally, the time has come for you all to cast your votes in the “Favourite Place” photography challenge. Initially when I set the challenge, the idea was to submit a photo of your favourite place within your home city. Clearly I’ve relaxed those rules because so many people sent in photos from National Parks, camping grounds etc, but I’m happy with that.

All the entries can be seen over at the new Aussielicious Challenge site. There are 43 entries over 5 pages there so take your time and make sure you’ve seen them all and judged them on their own merits. I will ask you to keep in mind the spirit of the challenge. The winner of this challenge receives a gift of Curtis’ self portrait that won the Self Portrait Challenge. A print of the winning entry from THIS challenge will be the gift to the winner of the next challenge so when you are looking at all the entries, keep in mind that it should fill the criteria of being suitable to print and frame on a wall in someone’s home.

Thank you to everyone who has entered this challenge. It’s been fantastic to see all the beautiful photos landing in my inbox and to see some of the places in the world that you are lucky enough to call home. The photo at the top of this post is one of my favourite spots in the world and in my home city. It’s a photo taken on Sydney Harbour of our iconic Sydney Opera House.

Go voting!

There’s no denying that Oxford Street’s hey day has been and gone, but there are a lot of dedicated members of the gay community here who want to keep it a safe and entertaining place to go for a night out with friends, without worrying about being harassed or hurt.

The Oxford Street Safety Project (OSSSP) is a collaboration between ACON’s Anti-Violence Project and Will Field, a 22 year old gay man who initiated the very successful, first Drag Tag event in Oxford St in April 2011. The even has been renamed Drag Jam and Will says “Drag has been the front face of our community for many years. You could say
that drag queens and kings are the mascots of our community. So what happens when you get 100 of these mascots and put them in one street? The potential is huge”

Drag Jam itself is a celebration of diverse sexuality and gender, which moves from venue to venue on Oxford Street, working with and supporting venues, police and community groups in promoting safety. Importantly it is an event which helps address prejudice, homophobia and transphobia, promote anti-violence messages and generate community commitment to street safety.

Will Field recognises drag as having an iconic influence for GLBT communities in Sydney and calls for as many people to come dressed in “their interpretation of drag” as possible. The 2011 event attracted nearly 100 kings and queens as well as many supporters. The event kicks off at 9pm at the Oxford Hotel and the launch is set to be bigger and bolder than last year’s event.

For more about the event go to the facebook page and for more about street safety click here.

After the sellout crowds at Burning Man 2011: Rites of Passage, the organisers have held a ticket lottery system. I didn’t look into it because I couldn’t afford to go this year anyway. Friends in the U.S. have been posting on facebook all day that they have missed out using the lottery and I’ve also heard stories of long-time large camps where lots of members have missed out this year as well. Could this spell disaster for Burning Man?

I know a lot of people will be very pissed off at the organisers. Some people are mentioning a boycott. I don’t know what the answer is when you have a demand that so greatly outstrips supply, but I would have thought the regular first-in first-served selling style would be more fair? If you really want to go, get organised.

It makes me wonder if Burning Man has become too big in it’s current state and this could fracture it into smaller groups that perhaps go back to a more original style of Burning Man? I’m far from an expert and I don’t know the reasons behind the lottery system or decisions being made, but I imagine it’s very hard to sustain something the size of Burning Man without it becoming commercial, like some of the music festivals like Coachella or Glastonbury. It would be very sad to see Burning Man fall apart or leave a bad taste in people’s mouths when for so long it’s been such a wonderful experience. One that I will definitely do my best to get back to.

When I did my usual browsing through a list of blogs this morning I stumbled across this wonder of nature called Justin Zabinski at Ohlala and immediately set about google image searching him. Justin is only 22 but sets off a lot of my sexy appealing triggers.

I think a lot of it comes from that hair. I’m a firm believer that a there are very few men that can carry off long hair, but Justin does. Firstly it takes me back to my youth and seeing surfers down at the beach. Their tanned lean torsos glistening in the sunshine. Yes I was deeply closeted but I think somewhere inside I knew and I knew for a lot of the years I was seeing those surfers. The hair is also very reminiscent of Brad Pitt in Interview With The Vampire. Yes he was fully clothed in all of the movie but it was some of his sexiest work.

Justin also has the long lithe body of someone that does a lot of sport, let’s hope surfing and swimming, and not just lifting weights in the gym. It’s a body sculpted by use. A quick look at his Modelmayhem profile tells me he’s done lots of runway work and works all over the place but is based in Florida.

Mark sent this beautiful golden sunlight shot of Jersey. Now to me, if that’s the real Jersey Shore then the tv show should have been much more attractive.

The final entry for the competition has come from Scott with a great photo of Mt Ranier in Washington. What a beautiful spot. I know it’s a favourite of the Scenic Boys.

Get in quick for Valentine’s Day to buy your special man something red and lovey-dovey or sexy (or both) from aussieBum. They are having a 72 hour sale for Valentine’s Day. Don’t forget all standard shipping is free!

Now that I’ve started back at the new term of aerial silks classes as of last night, it’s time to start (finally) putting my new routine together. It’s been a long time in the planning this routine. The very talented Dan Murphy put together a custom mash-up for me to do the routine to. In the past I’ve noticed I perform better when I have a stronger costume and character to hide behind than if it’s essentially just me up there. It also helps to rehearse a bit.

So to go with the mashup of Freeek by George Michael and Erotica by Madonna, I’m putting together a bit of a fetish costume. Now I’m not usually into rubber, leather or “gear” fetish stuff, but through Sue over at Fairview I came across Slick It Up. So far I’ve got myself the Tactical Guard top which instantly does make you feel sexy. To go with it I think I’ll be getting myself some of the Sports Tights complete with the mesh arse in them.

Francois Sagat has used custom designed Slick It Up gear in his new porn directorial debut “Incubus” and it looks hot. The guy that runs Slick It Up is also uber hot and models some of the gear himself on their site. If you are into rubber/leather/mesh gear, go and have a look.

Esteban has sent in this beautiful image of a place called Medellin in Colombia. Imagine having that view when you wake up every morning! What a beautiful place. For those of you still wanting to submit photos for this Favourite Place challenge, you have less than 24 hours, it’s your last day! Email them to me at brenton.parry@gmail.com