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Showing posts from 2009

Our Gay Hollywood Adventures with Out & About Tours

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Last Friday, a group of us had the opportunity to attend the "Pre-Tour" of the upcoming LGBT gay history bus tour that Out & About Tours is putting together here in West Hollywood, making its debut for Halloween 2009! Offering an in-depth yet entertaining look at LGBT history and its hotspots not found in your average LA travel guide, we undertook one hell of a fun "journey" through LGBT history beginning with LA's pre-Spanish settlement era, continuing through the Golden Age of Hollywood, the gay rights movement of the 60s & 70s and ending in present day. We began in West Hollywood, continued on through Downtown LA, via Echo Park and Silverlake and then returned through Hollywood. We saw it all... from LA's first gay porn theatre to a Judy Garland performance at The Other Side piano bar in Silverlake. We even had a chance to enjoy a cocktail there as well! From their website, here are some of the tour highlights: Join Out & About Tours as they

Tennis Channel Signature Series: Martina Navratilova Give-Away

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Check out our first giveaway featured on the front page of PinkBananaWorld.com Enter to win an autographed DVD by Martina Navratilova. This DVD documentary, produced by The Tennis Channel, coincides with both the 40th anniversary of Stonewall and the US Open, of which Martina is a commentator. This DVD is a must have - not only is it compelling and moving, but it also captures Martina talking open and honestly about her "Coming Out" process. http://www.pinkbananaworld.com/

Inviting you to take a 2nd look at PinkBananaWorld.com

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Relaunched with the focus on featuring YOUR GLBT CONTENT to the rest of the world. We wanted to take this time to invite you to take a look at some of the major feature overhauls we've introduced to PinkBananaWorld.com this month. The site's design is still being worked on, so please forgive some areas where it seems functionality has definitely outweighed design. We'll get to it soon. We've placed user-generated content front and center... it's like a Facebook News Feed focused exclusively on the gay & lesbian community . We're also featuring some of the best GLBT content feeds from around the world, and we've improved the social network capabilities of commenting on and integrating this content into the social news feed as well. We're also featuring News Highlights as chosen by YOU, the GLBT Community, on Twitter! Using some of the latest Twitter software available today, we can feature GLBT news and other stories "as it happens," as

Winter in Rio for the Gay Traveler

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So it seems that prior to my arriving in Rio de Janeiro for a week in July, EVERYONE had the same two thoughts on their mind... 1) "it's winter time, how could you possibly go there when it's cold and raining" and 2) "you can't go to Rio, it's too dangerous!" Well, I can tell you that both myths are just that... myths! First, Rio in their winter is a bit like Miami in winter, but just a tad bit cooler. Most days we were there, it was a gorgeous 80 degrees and sunny. There were two days of cooler winter weather, but that meant it was windy and in the 60s, and that was just really one blustery day. So why go into all of this about the weather in Rio? Because for the gay traveler, going to a destination such as this "off season" is fantastic. There were so few tourists and the majority of hot men roaming the streets were all locals. And they are HOT! Once in a while you'll hear an occasional English or French word heard, but overall

Pink Banana World at Gay Days Orlando - June 2009

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We wanted to update you all on what a wonderful weekend we all had at the recent Gay Days 2009 event held in Orlando recently in June. The weather was mood-setting, stormy and crazy, with lightning and thunder all around. As we all arrived at the event to get set up for the accompanying Gay DaysExpo, with this tumultuous weather, lo and behold the power went out. But turning lemons into lemonade, not only did we all have a great time hanging out poolside waiting for the power to come back on, but the folks putting on Gay Days (thanks Chris and Tommy) arranged for free hot dogs and burgers for everyone waiting. Suffice it to say, hanging out poolside with our friends from Bud Light was one of the highlights of the trip... one never knows where some of the best networking can be had! Of course, the power came back and the event continued on without a hitch. The Expo itself was a success, as it is every year, since it's one of the key GLBT events held in the US where people truly

IGLTA Gay Travel Symposium in Florianopolis, Brazil

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We recently had another fantastic IGLTA Symposium in Florianopolis this past week, March 26th - 28th, 2009.  As you can see from the photos, we had a wide variety of attendees (see list below) and we were well taken care of by Clovis Casemiro and locally by Joceli and Martin Desmaras. Florianopolis is like a mini-Rio... a local summer playground for folks coming in from Sao Paolo and Buenos Aires.  Officially, it's a n island connected to the mainland by two bridges.  Gay life there is quite vibrant during this tourist season, with a variety of gay bars and clubs, one of the largest gay Carnival celebrations in the country, and a very cool gay beach at Praia Mole. I arrived midweek after an incredible overnight flight on TAM Airlines from Miami through to Sao Paolo.  Their business class service was over the top and the way the shell seats reclined, I got a good night's rest on the flight down. We began our tour on the south side of the island, hiking across a mountain trail (a

The Pink Banana Shreds @ Telluride Gay Ski Week

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It's been a long time since I've had such a good time on the slopes with a few hundred of my new favorite ski buddies! I arrived in Telluride on a Saturday, February 21st, just as the Telluride Gay Ski Week was beginning.  Flying in direct from LA made it all that much smoother, and after a relaxing evening of getting settled in, I was ready to shred the slopes on Sunday.... and shred I did, from the sunny early morning slopes to the still sunny late afternoon runs.  I couldn't believe it... the weather was absolutely gorgeous at 10,000' elevation. But as they say, no rest for the wicked, and that's the way this week began... as Sunday night was Oscar night, the folks hosting the Telluride Gay Ski Week spared no expense in making sure that everyone there had a great time.  With the Oscar party pre-show at the Apres Ski Logo Lounge to the Oscar Ball shortly thereafter, everyone arriving early to Telluride had a great time celebrating Dustin Lance Black's presenta

Budapest Trip - Feb 9-12 2009

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My trip to Budapest, although short, has been incredible as it's the first time I've been this far east in Europe.  Budapest, one of the true capitals of Europe, is a fascinating reflection of history and the blends of culture that have crossed this land both over the past few millennia and in recent history. As part of a country which is now part of the European Union and set to adopt the euro shortly, Budapest is an incredible symbol of east meets west, in this case European east meets west, with recent history thrown into the mix.  Having emerged from Communism in 1989, the buildings have only slowly been restored to their original grandeur, with some edifices reflecting their original lustor while others are still black from decades of soot and pollution, with others still displaying facades that have continuously decayed over the years and have yet to be touched. That comparison can also be seen in the attitudes of the people here.  With English being spoken more prevalent

New Gay Ski Social Networking Site

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If you're gay and into skiing or snowboarding, this site is for you... bringing together information on all of the major gay & lesbian ski weekends, as well as gay & lesbian online ski resources, this site goes above and beyond by integrating social networking features including forums, blogs and a great venue from which to meet other gay & lesbian skiiers and snowboarders out there online. http://gayski.ning.com