LA Times Reviews Delhi Safari

Review: ‘Delhi Safari’ means well but lacks zest

‘Delhi Safari,’ an Indian animated comedy with English-language voicing by Vanessa Williams, Brad Garrett and more, is eco-friendly and mildly fun.

By Gary Goldstein

The Indian-made “Delhi Safari,” being shown stateside in an English-language version, proves a painless, if only mildly inventive, animated comedy.

While it’s passable, eco-friendly entertainment for young children, even they will likely spot the low-budget film’s creative limitations. It may also be tough for even the most global-minded viewers to square the clearly non-Bollywood voices employed here amid “Delhi’s” many localized names, references and visuals.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/06/entertainment/la-et-mn-delhi-safari-capsule-20121207

“Delhi safari” premieres in LA – CNC report from Los Angeles

3D animation “Delhi Safari” premiered Monday in Los Angeles.

The film is an effort to show children the importance of protecting animals and taking care of the planet.

The film is endorsed by several environmental advocating companies including PETA, The Humane Society, Go Green Foundation, Last Chance For Animals, Dove Foundation and other charity organizations.

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) FRED DE WYSOCKI, Executive Producer
“It’s a great message that they have about saving the animals, saving the forest, and there’s a lot of other messages in other countries we can use the same method to kind bring awareness to a younger demographic to a broader global audiences.”

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) ROXANE BARBAT, Voiceover Director
“It was just an amazing process, it’s a really wonderful film with a great message: sharing the world basically.”

Actors who provided their voice for the film include Jane Lynch, Cary Elwes, Jason Alexander, Brad Garrett and Christopher Lloyd. The film tells a story of a journey undertaken by a leopard cub named Yuvi.

Yuvi’s mother Begam, a monkey Bajrangi, lovable bear Bagga and a parrot named Alex used to live in a forest. But the forest was torn down by humans. The five animals decide to find those who tore down their home and make them understand the dangerous outcome of destroying the forest and everything in it. To fulfill their mission, the have to overcome a lot of difficulties, but they also make a lot of new friends.

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) TOM KENNY, Voice Actor
“My character, Alex the parrot is kind of of a wise parrot, he is actually a domesticated parrot that really hasn’t ever have to live in the wild, and falls in with these animals and has to give up all the comforts that he is being used to, and, like me, not good in the wild.”

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) TROY BAKER, Voice Actor
“You’re goanna see me in the movie tonight, he is this wonderful little tiger, he is goanna make you cry.”

The film touches a serious subject while incorporating lots of comedy, fitting the holiday season very well for the kids when Christmas is just around the corner.

The film will be released in theaters on Friday in the U.S.

Hispanic Lifestyle features Caribe Road “NEW WEB SERIES “CARIBE ROAD” LAUNCHES”

NEW WEB SERIES “CARIBE ROAD” LAUNCHES

NEW WEB SERIES “CARIBE ROAD” LAUNCHES

Caribe Road is an ambitious groundbreaking new action web series that follows the fictional story of U.S. Special Forces commander, Mark Caribe (Hector Bustamante), who is hell bent in starting a new life away from the military after a covert mission goes terribly wrong. But first, under the orders of the President of the United States, Caribe must accept the command of a new elite combat unit calledSFT1 [Special Forces Team One]. Caribe hopes this move will lead him to the terrorist who kidnapped his daughter.

“Caribe Road was born out of a deep rooted desire to say thank you and show appreciation for all the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect our freedom and for the dire need to show Hollywood that a Latino can be showcased in a position of prominence and a positive light (ie my character in Caribe Road heads up a Special Forces unit who works directly for the President of the United States”


“With the digital space making such a huge impact in Hollywood, I no longer have to wait for a studio or network to green lite my show; I can do it myself, giving me the vehicle to push my platform.”   Hector Bustamante

Caribe Road stars award winning actor, Hector Luis Bustamante (The Shield, Southland, Bones), Ransford Doherty (The Closer, Body of Proof), Marlene Forte (Dallas reboot, Star Trek), Jennifer Field (former Miss Asian America, K-Town), Jeannie Bolet (All My Children), Mike Pfaff (Sons Of Anarchy)and Don R Williams (The OC) as the Secretary of Defense).

PROJECT WITH A PURPOSE

Caribe Road is dedicated to the brave men and women who put themselves in harm’s way everyday to make our world and our Nation a better, safer place to live. A special 9/11 tribute episode was released honoring all the innocent lives lost that day, all our fallen heroes, and our way of remembering all the men and women in uniform and their families for their immeasurable sacrifice.

Caribe Road officially launched on 11/11/11 in remembrance of Veterans Day as a way to honor and say thank you to all the US military veterans and their families who sacrificed so much for the price of freedom. Episode 1 – Rise From the Ashes currently available now on Vimeo – http://vimeo.com/31990468

In partnership with Airsoft Evike, the largest airsoft retailer in the United States, CARIBE ROAD airs exclusively on Evike’s Official Worldwide Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/airsoftevike with new episodes releasing every 2 weeks.

 

 

Latin Heat features Caribe Road “Hector Luis Bustamante’s WEB TV Seris “Caribe Road” Bows on Net”

Hector Luis Bustamante's WEB TV Seris “Caribe Road” Bows on Net

Hector Luis Bustamante’s WEB TV Seris “Caribe Road” Bows on Net

award- winning actor who co-starred opposite Bruce Willis in the popular film Hostage, brings us Caribe Road, the groundbreaking new web television series, produced by Bustamante’s HELU Films Entertainment. Caribe Road, is the story of a US Special Forces operative who becomes a marked man after tangling with the world’s most wanted terrorist and is searching to find his kidnapped daughter. Caribe Road,launches internet-wide as of November 11, 2011 with preview episodes 1-5, series trailer and a special 9/11 tribute episode available onhttp://www.cariberoad.com

In the series, Mark Caribe, a US Special Forces commander (Bustamante), is hell bent on starting a new life away from the military after a covert mission goes terribly wrong. But first, under the orders of the President of the United States, Caribe must accept the command of a new elite combat unit called SFT1 [Special Forces Team One]. All the while Caribe is desperately searching for a way to locate the terrorist who kidnapped his daughter.

Series executive producer Louise Wu (The Ellen Show, Warner Bros) and Bustamante (CBS’s The Agency, Without A Trace, Monk) are producing the web series with an eye towards placement on a major cable network similar to the success of Sanctuary (Syfy) which started life as a ground breaking web series.

In the summer of 2011, Caribe Road series producers announced the season regulars – Bustamante (The Shield, Southland, Bones);Jeannie Bolet (All My Children) as Ms Honeycutt; Ransford Doherty (The Closer) as James ‘The Bomber’ Crews; Marlene Forte (Dallas, Star Trek) as LAPD Captain Ana Garcia, Don R. Williams (The OC) as the Secretary of Defense, Jennifer Fields (K-Town) as Ashley Belle, and Alina Herrera (Off The Map) …

 

Fan Quarterly Magazine features Actress Kayla Tabish “Kayla Tabish: Indie Films Welcome A Refreshing New Face”

Kayla Tabish: Indie Films Welcome A Refreshing New Face - Fan Quarterly Magazine

Kayla Tabish: Indie Films Welcome A Refreshing New Face

You may not have heard the name Kayla Tabish just yet, but if you’ve picked up a recent copy ofVentura Blvd Magazine or Southbay Magazine, you’ll see her beauty gracing the covers. She co-starred in “The Girl Next Door,” alongside Emile Hirsch and Elisha Cuthbert. She more recently starred in the indie hit “Loren Cass,” which screened in 22 film festivals worldwide and was acquired for theatrical distribution by Kino International. The performances of Kayla Tabish were nominated for an IFP Gotham Award, for “Best Actress” in a Wire Critic Poll, for a CineVegas Grand Jury prize, and for a Heineken Red Star Award. That’s considerable press for an actress whoserésumé is still so modest. In addition to acting, Kayla has produced three films – Goodbye (short),Loren Cass, and the upcoming Angel Falls In Love. In this exclusive interview, we yearn to learn more about this aspiring star.

Fan Quarterly: How did you first get into acting and producing?

kayla tabishKayla Tabish: I have always been drawn to acting. When I was a kid, I would try out for every play that they offered. In high school I competed for Best Dramatic Monologue and I took first place at the regional and state levels.  I guess I do love being the center of attention, but it was more than that… I just loved the sensation of being someone else. I grew up in Spokane, Washington and there just wasn’t much on-screen work, but I did have an agent up there. Everything really didn’t start rolling until I moved to Los Angeles. I actually had just moved out to LA and I was working as an extra on the film ‘The Girl Next Door.’ After the first day of shooting, the director, Luke Greenfield, came up to me and said that he had a role in the film that I’d be perfect for. That was a pretty big break at that time — I went from being on set as an extra, to the very next day sitting in my own trailer. The producing came later and I do enjoy producing, but my first love will always be acting.

FQ: Were your parents supportive? Did you ever have a back-up plan aside from show biz?

KT: Well, this is a conflicted question. Now my family is totally supportive, but I guess it wasn’t always like that. My Father passed away when I was just 16, so my Mother (who is a teacher) always was pushing for me to excel in school. I actually graduated from high school, with my two year Associate Arts college degree. I was the only student in my class to graduate from college and high school in the same week.

From there, I moved to San Diego to finish my last two years of my BA at SDSU. I was in a sorority and I totally appeared to be ‘happy,’ but something was missing. One year into it, I dropped everything and packed up to pursue an acting career in LA. At first my family wasn’t too thrilled, but they came around.

So no, I don’t have a back up plan, but for me I know I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. I’m still very undiscovered and I know that my journey has just begun. I did get a little slack from my family for leaving college, but I think that now they all realize that I’m where I should be. My Mom is my rock, and I don’t know what I’d do without her unconditional support. I now also have an amazing boyfriend of almost three years and he’s like my biggest fan. I am very blessed.

FQ: You have an interesting name. What is your background and is there any significance in the choosing of your name?

KT: My last name, Tabish, comes from my father’s side and it is Lebanese.  I get this question a lot actually, because I am a natural blonde with blue eyes, so most people can’t understand where the name comes from. I am a mix of many different ethnicities, but mainly Swedish. My Grandmother was a first generation immigrant from Sweden. Kayla Tabish is my real birth name.

FQ: You mention that “Hollywood has been a crazy road of ups and downs.” What did you mean by that?

kayla tabishKT: I sometimes feel like a Hollywood career is very uncertain. One day you’re on top of the world and the next, no one knows who you are. It’s a very unstable business, but maybe that’s what I love about it. It is such a challenge and I have since learned to embrace the ups as well as the downs. When I first started, the ball was rolling… I did ‘The Girl Next Door’ and then I starred in ‘Loren Cass’. Then it felt like I hit a brick wall. I was so young and really didn’t have a lot of life experience — and show biz can be tough, if you don’t have thick skin.

I knew I had to step away from it all for a bit and find my Zen. I threw my stuff in storage and moved to Hawaii for 7 months. I fell in love with Maui and it was just what I needed to be able to return refreshed. When I came back, I did an international film festival tour for ‘Loren Cass’. We started with our domestic premiere in Las Vegas at the Palms Hotel and Casino for Dennis Hopper’s CineVegas Film Festival. Then I left for our world premiere at Locarno International Film Festival and promoted the film in Italy and Switzerland. It was hard to return after all that madness and then I was like ‘Okay, back to reality…time to find a way to pay my rent…’

FQ: This month, you mentioned you’re shooting a celebrity Public Service Announcement to raise awareness for Teen Suicide. Please tell us more about that.

KT: It is a Celebrity PSA for the non-profit organization “My Life, My Power”. It was in support of raising awareness for teen suicide. I guess this is probably one of the hardest topics for me to discuss because it is so close to home for me. My father battled with depression for many years while I was growing up and when I was 16, he took his own life. I have since made my peace with it, but I still miss him so very much. I agreed to do the PSA so hopefully I could reach out to others and let them know that they’re not alone. Depression and suicidal thoughts actually come when the pain outweighs your resources for coping with the pain. I wanted to speak out and reassure these teens that there IS a light at the end of the tunnel and you should never make a permanent decision to cope with a temporary situation. I also wanted to let these teens know that I do care about them!

I will also be participating in a Domestic Violence PSA this week for a different organization.

FQ: You produced and starred in Loren Cass, which received a glowing review in the NY Times.What did you like most about working on this project? And why should people go see the film?

KT: Working on this film was such a crash course in independent film making. I learned so much from the talented director/producer, Chris Fuller. We were so fortunate to receive positive reviews from Variety and The New York Times. The press really understood what was at the core of the film — and that is so important for the success of an independent film. What I liked most was playing a character that was a polar opposite from myself. I just loved stepping into my character’s world and living in that moment. It is such a fun challenge when the character is so different from who I really am.

You should see the film because I believe there is something in it for everyone. It’s not your average popcorn flick; it has some pretty disturbing content. I know Variety compared it to Larry Clark’s hit indie film ‘Kids’.

FQ: What was your character like in Loren Cass… and how was she similar or different from you?

KT: Nicole was an extremely melancholy character, which is very different from me. I am usually always laughing and smiling. There were actually times on set when I remember Chris Fuller telling me during the diner scene, “No smiling.” I felt like I had a good understanding of the character, but we really didn’t have much in common. The film was about this raw feeling, rather than the characters directly. The feeling was one that I could absolutely relate to. It is a deep void or sorrow, and Fuller’s characters lived within that personal torment.

FQ: According to Wikipedia, Loren Cass took 10 years to complete. Is that true? Why did it take so long? Did you find it difficult to summons the patience to work on a project for so long?

kayla tabishKT: This is true. Chris Fuller wrote the screenplay when he was 15. He had a lengthy process of raising the funds for production, and he used super 16mm so the costs were a lot higher than digital. I really respect Chris’s motivation and dedication with this project. Post-production ate up almost two years because of limited resources, but he stuck through it all. The film then hit the festival circuit for about a year and screened at 23 festivals in 13 different countries. Then came the IFP Gotham award nomination and the film was placed on quite a few critics ‘Best of the Year’ lists. This opened doors for distribution, Kino International picked up the film for theatrical distribution and it was released on dvd in 2010. I was only involved for the last four of the 10 years.

FQ: You’ve had to play some sexually charged roles. What is your process like of trying to establish chemistry with a coworker and get through the scenes as believably as possible?

KT: I think this is different for everyone, but for me, I have to let my ‘real’ surroundings dissolve. When I am filming an intimate scene and there are literally tons of people on set, it is the only option if I want to deliver an authentic performance. We filmed on location in St. Petersburg, Florida, so I had just met everyone when we jumped into the love scenes.

FQ: What can you tell us about your latest project, Angel Falls In Love?

KT: It’s an independent that I produced with Dan Peterson and we are currently in the post-production phases. It’s a cool little story about a young girl and her personal discoveries as she falls in love. We are pushing to complete post-production and have a cut by early 2012.

FQ: What’s on your wish list for the future?

KT: I want to continue to work in independent film. I just love how raw and real the stories are. I love playing dramatic, so the more compelling the character is, the better. I really want some meaty roles with substance — you know, the kind that move you to feel something significant. On my wish list is definitely having the opportunity to work with some of the actors that I respect, like Anthony Hopkins and Michael Cain. They both are so captivating. I also adore the type of films that David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino make. I would be honored to be cast in one of their projects.

FQ: I see you do a bit of modeling for brands like Mineral Kiss Cosmetics. How did you get into that line of work and what has the industry taught you?

KT: The modeling was never my passion, but I have really grown to love it. In a way I think of it as acting for the still camera. You have to capture a moment or a feeling with your expressions. Mineral Kiss is such an amazing new brand of cosmetics, they feature only one color of makeup that suites every skin tone. It’s pretty cool stuff, it reflects and brings your natural complexion to the surface. I’m pretty excited now to be involved with Mineral Kiss, because it is so unique and natural.

I was also featured on the covers of Ventura Blvd Magazine and Southbay Magazine for August and September 2011.

I think the lesson I have learned is to just be yourself, and if people find beauty in that, then you have succeeded.

FQ: What are your hobbies and passions, aside from the obvious?

KT: I am a big supporter of The Innocence Project. We are advocating for a change and reform in the current judicial system. The Innocence project uses DNA technology that we didn’t have in cases prior to 1995 to free innocent people from prison. They are trying to show the public that there is proof that wrongful convictions are not isolated, rare events, but instead they are defects in our current system. It is their mission statement to free the staggering numbers of innocent people who remain incarcerated, because our legal system hates to admit when they make mistakes.

I am working to join their Artist Committee and I try to speak out and raise awareness for this cause whenever possible. I just could not imagine someone I love being incarcerated for 20+ years for crimes that they did not commit. I know that we didn’t always have the DNA technology, BUT WE DO NOW, so there is no reason that we can’t re-test evidence, especially if it clears an innocent person. So far The Innocence Project has helped to exonerate 280 innocent people. So if your reading this and you would also like to support this cause, please check out the website. You will find that they have template e-letters that you can sign in support of each case, most are pushing to allow DNA testing to exonerate these innocent people.

FQ: What are three little-known facts about you?

KT: I was born on Halloween.

I don’t care for horseback riding, but I LOVE watching and gambling on the horse races.

I have two Bengal cats, Titten and Fatty. They both come to their names and do tricks.

FQ: Who’s the coolest celebrity you’ve hung out with, and why?

KT: I had the pleasure of meeting Dennis Hopper and Charlize Theron at CineVegas, when Loren Cass competed in Mr. Hopper’s film festival. Charlize Theron is just so charismatic and I truly admire her work. Dennis Hopper was so full of zest and his personality was electric; the world has lost a truly gifted man with his passing.

FQ: What advice would you give to people looking to get into acting, modeling or producing?

KT: You have to follow your heart. By definition, I still have a long way to go myself… just remember that it is the journey that is more than half the fun! I love my life and I realize it is not for everyone, as it may seem a bit unstable — but I wouldn’t have it any other way. So if you know that the entertainment industry is your calling and there is nothing else that you’d rather do, then sometimes you just have to jump in head-first and hope that there is water in the pool!

To stay up to date with what Kayla is doing, you can visit her personal site at www.KaylaTabish.com, or follow her on TwitterFacebook

 

 

The Huffington Post features Grindr “18 Ground Rules for Grindr”

18 Ground Rules for Grindr - The Huffington Post

18 Ground Rules for Grindr

We gays tend to be a wily bunch. Throughout the years, we’ve demonstrated incredible resilience conjuring up innovative ways to identify and contact each other: handkerchief signals, telephone dating services, AOL chat rooms (a/s/l, anyone?), even right- vs. left-ear piercings. These all paved the way for the modern-day marvel: geolocation-based mobile applications like Grindr, Scruff, Manhunt, BoyAhoy, Jack’d and Locate-a-Gay (I made the last one up, but I’m sure it’s in development by now).

For better or worse, these applications have plowed through and parked themselves as mainstays in our culture, allowing us to be even more (anti-) social. We now have the ability to take a real-time sample of who’s around us and chat with complete strangers nearby or even miles away. Our options were once limited. Now, with the advent of these applications, we’re suddenly getting picky and filtering by eyebrow color and arm hair density.

As we delve into this new era, I’d like to propose a few ground rules for getting your grind on — some Grindr guidelines, if you will.

(Side note: Did spelling out “applications” make this article seem more high-brow? I hope so, because it’s all about to go downhill very quickly.)

  1. When in a social setting with more than two people, it’s impolite to openly grind (the proper verb form). Pocket grinding, however, is fair game. You know: signing onto Grindr on your phone then tucking it back into your pocket or murse so that you can flaunt your goodies to everyone in the neighborhood.
  2. It’s no longer funny, playful or original to say, “I don’t bite [hard/unless you want me to]” or anything else equally trite. Using this phrase screams, “I am so utterly boring in bed!” Avoid it.
  3. Resist the urge to contact co-workers. That’s creepy. In that instance, just use the good ol’-fashioned foot-tap-under-the-stall technique.
  4. Couples are required to send twice as many pics. It’s simple math and only fair.
  5. Stop using sunsets, mountains and other scenic landscapes as your default picture. At least use a picture of your ear. Gays love canals, after all.
  6. On that note, as wonderfully compelling as “hey,” “yo” and “sup” are, I probably won’t respond if you don’t have an age, picture or anything else on display that proves you’re not a cyborg. Cyborgs are the worst.
  7. There’s beauty in screen name subtlety. Ponder that one, Mr. DudeManJockBroMascLumberjackMuscStud4U_9.
  8. I have the right to block you if you’re my friend in real life. Sorry, but I don’t want you to see how much time I spend on there — nor do I want you to catch me online when I told you I’m working on my novel.
  9. Also, sorry, but I’m not into guys who aren’t into Asian guys so take that!
  10. What’s with the little Emoji icons? Cut them down to three or four max. Any more than that and it just reads, “I have a collection of Hello Kitty dolls in my room! Do you want to see them?” (No offense, Hello Kitty.)
  11. Just because I’m your neighbor does not mean I want to lend you some proverbial sugar.
  12. Stop making photo collages of yourself. Really. Please stop.
  13. Quoting Britney Spears lyrics does not make you a poet or a philosopher. I understand that you, you, you wanna go, go, go all the way-ay-ay, but this only makes me question your role as a functioning, contributing member of society.
  14. If I’m 0 feet away, either the Grindr servers are down or I’m on top of you.
  15. I like it when you call me Big Poppa. Oops, wrong list.
  16. Despite their unpopularity, I actually quite like headless torsos. They add a gritty mysteriousness to my Grindr grid. I also happen to have a Sleepy Hollow fetish.
  17. Here’s a tip for getting more messages: try adding a conversation starter to your photo — something that allows you to stand out and break the ice a bit (something other than your pectorals, preferably). A silly hat. A strategically placed puppy. For me, adding an extra bit of flair to my profile has prompted such responses as, “Is that chocolate?” “I hope that’s a wig…,” “I like your boobs” and “I can’t believe you would dress up as zombie Bea Arthur for Halloween.”
  18. Lastly, don’t put all your eggs in the Grindr basket. Yes, I still hold on to the hope that it can happen. But sometimes I feel as though looking for friends or a relationship on Grindr is a bit like going to a whorehouse and looking for a hug. Or going to McDonald’s for a salad.

So there you have it. The unofficial set of Grindr rules we all should abide by. Perhaps to make it official, we’ll have a symbolic signing in the near future, much like the Founding Fathers signed the Constitution. I’m really just looking for any excuse to wear a powdered wig.

 

 

GQ Magazine features Grindr “iBone”

iBone - GQ Magazine Sept, 2011

iBone

Are you feeling the urgent need to hump someone in the general vicinity in the next seventeen minutes? No problem! Thanks to an ingenious GPS-based app called Grindr, gay men have been hooking up with other guys by whipping out their phones when they’re horny. Now the tech visionary who founded Grindr is launching a version for straight people. Will this change the world? Or totally fail for basic Mars-Venus reasons? In an effort to divine the answer, Marshall Sella wades into the new world of “location-based” love

I was cruising for men on my iPhone. I’d been doing this for more weeks than I could count.

The mechanics of it were simple. I’d be milling around a trendy Sunset Boulevard dive, or lounging in a French Roast restaurant about a block from where I live in Manhattan. I’d take out my device and tap on the black-and-yellow tribal-mask logo of Grindr, an app that lets guys use GPS to meet other guys who are ten steps away or a hundred. The screen would blink into a checkerboard of guys’ pictures—whole armies of men who were within a mile of me, many right next door, and I could know those distances, for I was the Lord. Thirty-eight feet away. Ninety-six feet away. Four hundred forty-seven feet away. The photos came in a few varieties: guys trying hard to look really bored though super-cool; nude, hirsute torsos; guys doing that ridiculous bathroom-mirror self-portrait in which the subject always looks surprised even though he himself has just snapped the shot. Guys calling themselves “Hard” and “Hung 2 Hang” offered cheery requests pertaining to the act of love: “Top bunk, don’t be a fuckin’ girl, 420-friendly.”

The Chat, too, was of the highest quality. Someone would message “Sup.” Without even missing a beat, I’d come back with “How are you?” (I spelled it all out, eschewing the “R U,” because, you know, classy.) This spare, Pinteresque dialogue—it’s all in what’s not being said!—would often die in a quick and merciful way, but many Chats ended with an agreed-to meeting place, which was unusually convenient for both of us since, by the very nature of this whole game, we lived within a block of each other.

Grindr would also let me stare at a tiny blue dot (which represented me) sliding here and there on a map of my neighborhood. When an interesting fellow was kind enough to send me his exact location, I could see him on a map, too, in the shape of a red pushpin. I knew to expect only one thing when our dot and pushpin met: that the guy wouldn’t look much like his tiny picture. So a whole dumb show would ensue, in which we silently gestured at each other across the café or bar—first quizzically, then in some weird, fake recognition, as if, oh, how we went back, such memories, and things like that. Then I would get to the point and ask him what in the hell this app really was.

Full disclosure: As it happens, I’m straight. No one’s fault. That’s just me. But the Grindr team, in September, was launching a new app, Blendr—which was not just for gay guys but for Everybody. It’s a mad ambition, and I had no idea if Blendr would work. Is this the way straight men and women—especially straight women—want to meet and mate? The ladies certainly wouldn’t treat Chat the same way; they’d be euphemistic and vaguely lyrical (I hoped) while the males were doing something close to grunting. But hooking up with strangers via GPS? From a female standpoint, that might be seen as one romantic step away from being spirited into a van. Less darkly, what happened to the good old dinner party, the comically bad set-up date, the meet-cute fender bender?

And so I stepped into the long night of the soul that was Grindr. I wanted to see what the rest of us could expect—hope for— from Blendr. I’d soon learn that grinders weren’t always bathroom-trysting and Rusty Tromboning and doing Japanese nose-torture on each other. Some grinders were as genteel as the ladies at a book club; some wanted true love, others new friendship. This subculture was populated with all sorts of people—like any community. Together the sex-crazed and lonely hearts and the rest were building a digital neighborhood on top of their physical one. Maybe, with Blendr, it really could grow to include Everybody.

 

···

 

To be a grinder, unlike with Match.com or eHarmony or OkCupid or any of the other doddering old iDate sites, you need register no name, no password—not even a screen name. Those other sites are proud of asking for massive detail. They actually market themselves on the thoroughness of their interrogations: What are your favorite sports, your taste in movies, your eye color? They have it all down to a science, selling their sites on that old adage, “Similars attract.” On Grindr, you are permitted to write a 120-character profile and upload a photo, and that’s pretty much all you get to spark that digital First Look Across the Room. To ensure that no user of Grindr ever felt hoodwinked, I took the name “GQ Magazine” and used as my icon a collage of covers, though I was slightly worried that grinders would think I was hawking subscriptions in some kind of seedy jailhouse telemarketing scheme.

But guys did drop me a line, at all hours and in great numbers.

Chat is the gateway drug on Grindr. Though it is 96 percent inane, it’s not all sexting and Weinering pics to people. Many guys started a conversation with the aforementioned “Sup?” or the even more unforgivable “Wassup?” I admit, I looked down on them, as one would on “mole people” or Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino. My deep misunderstanding of Chat was that it was meant to be witty, an actual conversation. But eventually I realized that the “Sup” people were not cavemen. They were efficient. They were men in a rush to achieve, and that’s what men like to think they do.

Grinding is less a pastime than a palm-sized addiction. It is iHeroin. Grinders spend an average of ninety minutes on the app every day—and not just in one session. They’re online eight or nine times. In my experience, that’s an unrealistic number. It should be ten times that. I never wanted to get to the neurotic stage where I logged on while walking around, so I made a point of doing less walking around. And I checked in on my boys several times an hour. What were they up to, or at least where? The iPhone simply had to be checked.

Over the months, I learned the mysteries of this strange realm: its customs, its argot, and its social hierarchies. For instance, in my countless conversations with countless guys, only one man who ever identified himself on his page as a Bottom ever responded to me; Tops almost always did. My theory was that Tops took it as a challenge, whereas Bottoms seemed to feel they’d already come up short in our imagined duel of wits, and that was good enough for them.

It is also standard practice among grinders to steer clear of certain red flags. As any grinder knows, someone who doesn’t supply even a fake or a ridiculously old pic is to be shunned at all costs. And whoever hooks up with a guy who spends his 120 profile characters praising his own hunky looks or demanding “Whites only” gets what he deserves.

The Grindr users I knew and know had impeccable straight-dar. Even in Chats, almost everyone eventually asked me if I was gay. I was honest, yet some men still treated me like a trespasser. One guy spent a pleasant half hour at a restaurant regaling me with stories—then, learning I wasn’t gay, very politely stood, silently folded his cloth napkin, and exited the building. Another took the time to text just one remark: “My bf will beat the shit out of me if he knows I’m talking to you.” Which I found refreshingly concise, if vaguely unnecessary. Others offered interviews in exchange for a quaint variety of carnal favors, which I graciously declined, as far as you know.

I met my fellow grinders in restaurants, in bars, in coffee shops, and on park benches; we had drinks in sunshine, tea at night. There were the bland guys; the guys who made endless plans, then stood me up; the guys who met up with me just to see if I really was a reporter, then stared as if I were a penguin at the Central Park Zoo. (You know who you are.) The whole thing was confusing, mainly because one’s brain isn’t built to process hundreds of stories in a few months. I have to say, it is genuinely unnerving to wake up in a Los Angeles hotel room at 3 A.M. and read that a man calling himself “Bear 4 U” is eleven feet away from you right now, when even the walls aren’t eleven feet away.

 

 

···

 

The first time I met Joel Simkhai, the 35-year-old founder of Grindr and Blendr, he had kindly offered to pick me up at my L.A. hotel, take me to breakfast somewhere. He strolled into the lobby and swiveled his head twice quickly. This place had a perfectly fine restaurant—why move?—so we walked a few steps to a table. “I like things that are close,” he explained to me, pointedly. “Why do we drive ourselves crazy, getting in a car, doing all this travel? There are so many good things near us. Better things. We just don’t know about them.”

Get this image out of your head: that Simkhai is some kind of tech-geek recluse, spurred to create software in order to find make-believe friends who loved Star Trek as much as he did. He is not any of those things. He’s sleek and sociable. In the realm of iDating, he’s a bit of a rock star. At the NYC Pride pier dance, everyone seemed to know him, and he strode through the crowd turning heads; Grindr T-shirts, in their instantly recognizable taxicab yellow, mingled all around him.

Life wasn’t always so sunny. Simkhai was an isolated boy in Mamaroneck, New York, still halfheartedly dating girls when he started using CompuServe’s lone gay channel. It was a revelation: “I could type that I was gay! And that was part of my acceptance.”

In June 2008, when Apple unveiled the iPhone 3G, it blew the mind of every techie in this country. The app store meant that there was suddenly a new industry out there—a thousand new industries. Simkhai, then selling online magazine subscriptions, had long thought there had to be a way to use GPS to help people meet each other. “Maybe I was just selfish,”he says. “Maybe I just wanted to meet guys this way.”

Read More http://www.gq.com/news-politics/mens-lives/201110/blendr-straight-grindr-app-review#ixzz1f4ls8uum

 

 

WIRED Magazine features Grindr “Trouble Hooking Up? There’s an App for That”

Trouble Hooking Up? There’s an App for That - WIRED Magazine

Trouble Hooking Up? There’s an App for That

Love don’t come easy, and sometimes the seduction process needs a little assist. Fortunately, help is out there if you know where to look. Here’s a selection of apps for that.

  • Facebook WaitingRoom
    Lets the people on your “to stalk” list know that you are out there, patiently waiting for them to be single again.
    Also good for: Reminding people on your “to stalk” list to quit procrastinating on that restraining order.
  • Urban Signals
    Users of this iPhone app list their likes and dislikes on their profiles for people nearby to see.
    Also good for: Confirming that you have the hippest playlist on the number 5 bus.
  • The Mystery Method: How to Get Beautiful Women Into Bed
    Written by “Mystery,” the book encourages douche-y tactics like the neg and peacocking.
    Also good for: Getting fired after you tell your boss that you saw another boss wearing the same outfit.
  • Grindr
    Smartphone app that helps gay men find nearby dates.
    Also good for: Any app that gives you the option to “Load More Guys” is good for only one thing.
  • The Art of Seduction
    Robert Greene’s book suggests you use “the demonic power of words to sow confusion” to seduce unsuspecting “victims.”
    Also good for: Persuading people to give you money, power, the philosopher’s stone—whatever you desire.
  • A Good Joke
    If you can make someone laugh, you can make them do a lot of other stuff, too.
    Also good for: Pretty much anything. Did you hear the one about the duck and the monkey?

 


DETAILS Magazine features Grindr “YOU CAN BUY GAYDAR AT THE APPLE STORE”

You Can Buy Gaydar at the App Store - Details Magazine

YOU CAN BUY GAYDAR AT THE APPLE STORE

HOW GRINDR AND THE MEN WHO USE IT ARE CHANGING THE WAY YOU’RE HOOKING-UP.

Jared had just locked himself out of his Brooklyn apartment. As he stood on the street waiting for his landlord, he launched a new app on his iPhone. Minutes later, the blond-haired, blue-eyed grad student was pants-down in a nearby courtyard with the proverbial Boy Next Door. Thanks to Grindr, a GPS-based mobile dating service, the savvy stud was back on his stoop in time to meet the landlord.

“The streets were empty, Grindr was full,” says Jared (who asked that his last name be withheld). “I didn’t think it would be that easy.” Ever since the long-forgotten days of the 300-baud modem (24,000 times slower than your iPhone), guys like Jared have been hunting for the ultimate gaydar—high-tech devices that streamline the search for sex. Grindr is the latest incarnation. When you open the application, you’re greeted with 100 Chiclet-size photos, each representing a nearby John Doe. Sorted by proximity, they include names, ages, and short bios. See someone you like? Text him to arrange a rendezvous. “The first guy I talked to was 1,000 feet away, which seemed close,” jokes Jared, “until I saw someone 602 feet away.” Released a year ago on iTunes, Grindr was an instant success. “We’re at a little over 300,000 users and adding about 1,500 every day,” says creator Joel Simkhai. The service is now available in 77 countries, including Iran, Israel, and Kazakhstan, proving that wherever you find gay men in search of companionship, you’ll also find the latest in technology.

On a balmy October afternoon in New York City’s Greenwich Village, a trial run on Grindr produces a UN diplomat between sessions, a retail clerk on his lunch hour, a graphic designer working from home, an on-shift bartender, and dozens more predominantly young, affluent iPhone owners all looking for a mand8t. With their 24/7 connectivity, their fondness for tailor-made software, and even their own porn site (GuysWithiPhones.com), they are nearly a culture unto themselves. Now, with Grindr, they have a safe, easy way to hook up at virtually any place and time.

It is, one might say, a giant leap forward from the mid-eighties, when AIDS hysteria had shuttered many gay bars and sex clubs. Back then, the dial-up modem seemed like a godsend. “This was a revelation, that you could use your computer to connect with other gay people,” recalls Jon Larimore, who created an early online social network in Washington, D.C., called the Gay & Lesbian Information Board. In 1986, the year after Rock Hudson died from AIDS, GLIB had thousands of subscribers dialing in from the comfort of their homes, many from inside their closets.

AOL took the success of boards like GLIB and stretched it coast to coast. “I was able to type I’M GAY before I could say it,” says the 33-year-old Simkhai, reminiscing about his early forays into the company’s M4M chat rooms. In 2000, Time reported that 20 percent of the service’s 21 million subscribers were gay.

In the decade that followed, Simkhai and his AOL “buddies” became digital-age pioneers, boldly going where no man had gone before. They built websites (PlanetOutGay.comManhunt), invented shorthand (BTTMBBBJPnP), explored the full potential of the Craigslist personal ad, and quickly mastered the use of instant messaging, emoticons, texting, and video chat.

This is not to say that they left their heterosexual brothers in the dust. Today, of course, there are matchmaking sites for every conceivable taste (not to mention a vast smorgasbord of online porn). In fact, Simkhai has fielded so many inquiries from salivating straight guys that he’s thinking about developing a Grindr-like service for them.

And so, with smartphone dating apps like Grindr, Boy Ahoy and Twinkleboi, gay men have charged ahead into the world of mobile. Is it the male sex drive alone that makes them such early adopters? Not really. Is it the means to spend lavishly on new gadgets—the lusty, inveterate-trendsetter consumerism you see on the shopping strips in Dupont Circle, Chelsea, and the Castro?

Read More http://www.details.com/sex-relationships/dating-and-cheating/201003/gay-fool-proof-hookups-tech-savy#ixzz1f4kP5eXD

 

 

The Huffington Post features Grindr ‘Grindr To Launch Straight Version Of App ‘

Grindr To Launch Straight Version Of App

The Huffington Post By Catharine Smith

The Huffington Post features Grindr 'Grindr To Launch Straight Version Of App '

The Huffington Post features Grindr 'Grindr To Launch Straight Version Of App '

Grindr, a popular location-based mobile dating app for gay men, will soon launch a service designed with straight women in mind.

According to The Guardian, Grindr founder Joel Simkhai received “tens of thousands” of suggestions from women who wanted “a straighter, female-friendly version” of the application.

Like the current Grindr app, the new service will locate potential dates in a user’s area, based on GPS data from the user’s smartphone. Users will also be able to view other members’ profiles, photos and stats. But, Simkhai said, a female-oriented service will be more robust.

“Grindr was made for a man. If we are going to bring women in to this we have to do things differently,” Simkhai told The Guardian. “For a straight woman, a guy who is 400ft away from her? So what. It happens all the time. We have got to provide more […] Grindr is very photo-centric. Women obviously want to see someone that they might find attractive, but they need to know more than that.”

Grindr’s next iteration, unofficially named “Project X,” will accept gay, lesbian, bisexual and other users, in addition to heterosexual females. Simkhai hopes to launch “Project X” soon, though a firm date has yet to be announced.

Grindr is currently available for iPhone and BlackBerry devices, and will soon be available on other platforms, including Android, Windows and more.

 

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