This is my place.

Porn, in the more generalized sense, is that which you watch that greatly excites you. It may well be a guilty pleasure for many – but then I never intentionally do things for which I’d feel genuinely guilty. The internet is great for it. You can sit there for hours in front of the screen clicking on the next “show” until you simply must go to bed, leave for work, eat dinner, etc.

I don’t have any sexual porn. In fact, I’ve never particularly sought out video or printed materials of that sort at any time in my life. Not even when I was my horniest as a teenager. Sexual porn is usually devoid of anything interesting. A real plot or good acting would get in the way of the emotionless physical action that apparently most porn consumers seem to want. The kind of images I prefer to look at would hardly constitute porn in this day and age. I’ll get to that later. (Erotica is a whole ‘nother game entirely. If I wanted to get hot and bothered, I’d just find something written by Anais Nin.)

Some people ate into food porn. I’m not.

When I think porn, I think science. The PBS series Spacetime is the best example. I can watch this for hours and never loose interest. As a child, I wanted to be a scientist so badly it was what I dreamed about and fantasized about. Puberty added sex to my fantasies but didn’t remove the science. When I watch stuff like this, the endorphins flow.

I really love explosions. Big ones. Nuclear ones. I have always wanted to see one go off in real life from the closest “safe” distance. My father-in-law was a guard at the Nevada Test Site in the 50s and got to see a lot of them.

Rocket launch blowups are cool too as long as nobody gets hurt.

Don’t ask me why but I have a real weakness for these silly Infographics shows. Much of the time the subject matter is military in nature. I’ve been an aficionado of military history from the ancient times up thru the nuclear age since a youngster. If you want to discuss the finer points of Sun Tzu or Clausewitz or even Herman Kahn, I’m your man. If you want to get deep into the tactics of the Roman Empire, the American Revolution or Operation Iraqi Freedom, I’ll go for it. Or a discussion of how America rules the seas and why there is no other country who even wants the mantle of superpower.

These presentations have atrocious graphics, a cheesy narration and occasionally bring up points that I would contend against. I just find them incredibly fun to watch! Like this one about tanks. I already know about many of the vehicles described and their technologies but I still enjoy watching them. If you were a newb to matters military, they would be a treasure trove of interesting and utterly useless information.

Or you could watch the horrible life of a Roman slave. Or how much the President costs to maintain.

Another show I really enjoy watching is Brave Wilderness. He likes to get stung by the most painful creatures he can find just so he can show how painful it is. Nothing lethal, just painful. He does other nature programs where he doesn’t get bitten. Sometimes he gets bit when he didn’t plan on it and that’s a special treat!

You know, we have these all over the place out here. (The grey ones are almost invisible in the sand or leaf litter. Barefoot is not a good option.)

Everyone who reads my blog knows I am a big hiking fan. When I am on line I easily get hooked into Backpacker Magazine’s survival articles. I have survivalist-type friends who would completely disown me if they knew.

And I admit it. I like pictures of naked women. As a nudie I’ve have seen hundreds (Thousands? Who is counting?) of nude females of every age and body type and I still like to look at the female figure. I like to look at the male figure too but it is usually females that grab my attention. I have a couple of calendars I really adore. This is one:

Another calender that has gone out of print is Dean Fidelman’s Stone Nudes, a collection of photos of nude rock climbers, mostly female. I find the display of strength in this photo to be beyond my words to describe. Stunning, awesome, and epic don’t do it justice.

Or I can just go back and put the kiss scene in the opening of Boogiepop anime on loop. Something about her face as she is struggling to swim towards her ghost lover just grabs me. The rest of her is pretty awsome too.

And for the deepest darkest secret of all… I watch Misty Chronexia. The shame I feel is almost unbearable. As a blogger I know I should eschew such a commercial sellout. Instead, I just push the “skip ad” button as soon as it is available. I know my soul will probably rot in anime Hell for eternity for it but he is a not-quite-guilty pleasure.