Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beer Holder

The area of the brain that makes us want to mate keeps functioning, no matter how much we drink, meaning that people can still assess how visually-appealing others are, says Dr. Amanda Ellison.

“We still see others basically as they are,” she said. “There is no imagined physical transformation – just more desire.”

“…alcohol switches off the rational and decision making areas of the brain while leaving the areas to do with sexual desire relatively intact, and so this explains beer goggles.”

–The Telegraph ran a story about the science of “beer goggles.” Apparently, drinking alcohol does not change our sexual perception of people around us, instead it lowers our inhibitions.

Photo: Gerard Estadella

The Queerties 2012: Remembering the Launch Party at Industry Bar in New York

The winners in the first ever Queerty awards, The Queerties 2012, have finally been revealed! We teamed up with BuzzFeed to give you the winners.

Much like the AMA’s, there were no major upsets as divas like Ms. Hillary Clinton and Ms. Willam Belli snatched the coveted titles after the quarter-million votes were tallied. Willam, unlike Clinton, ran a very successful social media campaign, Tweeting and posting on Facebook urging voters to get her good every day. She was nominated in two categories this year actually, so we now like to refer to her as the Julianne Moore of Queerty.

Speaking of successful social media campaigns, Tyler Oakley won both of his categories, which leaves the Internet’s sweetheart with nothing else to win but Celebrity Apprentice? It was great to see nominees spreading the word about the campaign, which I think was all fueled by a very boozy (thanks Absolut!) kick-off event at New York’s Industry Bar. Remember that? I still can’t believe we salvaged all the iPads…

Tyler and his twink-posse were there! Also in attendance: Sam Lansky (Idolator), Alex Goldschmidt (Karpel Group), Calvin Stowell (DoSomething.org), photographer Justin Violini, promoters Sasha Seven and Brian Rafferty, Bryan Moylan (formerly Gawker), Ben Harvey (Six Pack), Nathan Manske (I’m From Driftwood), Alex Hughes (HomoLife), Maty Chavez, Wil Gumucio, writer Jeffrey Hartinger, the fabulous Claudio Maddox, Dan Macsai (Time), Stacey Llambe (BuzzFeed), Kurt Soller (NY Mag), T. Kyle (RealityTVGifs), NOT Jonathan Bender :P

Check out all the pics by JJ Keyes:

Where were you while we were getting high?

Several weeks ago my friends and I invaded the Knockout for their Oldies Night… indie rock from 1996. They played Weezer and Oasis so I ended up getting a little out of control. I think I even kneeled on the ground in the middle of the dance floor at some point… and things got really sweaty. There was a photographer there, so here are his pictures:

Vote Your Heart Out: Is ‘Hard French’ the Best Party in San Francisco?

GayCities and Coors Light are in the final stages of promoting a three-month voting contest to determine which events, sports teams and personalities deserve to be declared the “coldest…” (brrrrain freeze).

In San Francisco, Hunky Jesus in Dolores Park, DJ Haute Toddy, The Fog rugby team and Cookie Dough have already been voted as the winners. When it came to selecting nominees for the Night Out category, we knew the contest wouldn’t be taken seriously by GayCities members unless we included the perennial powerhouse of a party, Hard French.

The other nominees include Heklina’s Trannyshack, Juanita More’s Beat Pig, Bearracuda and I Love Cochina Tonga’s. The Stanley Frank/Ambrosia Salad/DJ Taco Tuesday bastard newcomer underdog is nominated solely because anyone trying to make the Lookout cool deserves the equivalent of a Nobel Peace Prize. And if it had been entirely up to me (ok, it kind of was…), I would have also nominated Cockfight and Honey Soundsystem.

Voting closes Tuesday at midnight, so go and vote your hearts out. (Don’t live in SF? The contest is also going on in LA, San Diego, Columbus and Dallas, check it out).

I don’t know these people.

Devil worshippers.

GayCities has had a torrid love affair with Hard French ever since we sponsored the party’s first foray in New York City with director John Cameron Mitchell.

[Photos: Shots in the City]

BOY TOYS TALK BACK: What is the most iconic gay party ever?

Somebody Alert the Authorities, I Got Criminal Intent

Fag Fridays at Public Works, 2010.