LycraKeen

Thank you, and thank you all again for taking that survey. The number of responses were far more than I expected, and I learned a few things I didn’t know before.

Every day I put some time into the project. It’s competing for my energy against work and exercise (so I continue to look good in spandex). Knowing the constraints faced with any project, especially one that’s purely a hobby, I intend for things to start out simple, so that I get something in your hands as soon as possible. (It turns out that the only answer that was a clear winner was “yes I want an app now!”.) There are two features I’m working on — one that’s a fairly conventional delivery-of-content and the other a really novel use of technology.

Also, this project might be open to contributors. If any of you tight guys are interested, email me: {thisblogname} at gmail.com . There are two areas of work — tech development and content curating.

Please take the Spandex App Survey here. I got way more responses than I expected — should have used Google Forms in the first place.

Trying out some new looks for the site. Things might be changing for a while. I hope to settle on something nice soon.

(this post a work in progress as I aggregate my links and editorials)

The Internet keeps moving — changing and growing — even if any one of us slows down. Perhaps the most significant shift in the lycra-media world that has accelerated during the past year is that the conventional blog is no longer the only dominant format, but rather now there is an even wider variety, from barely-alive Yahoo! groups to the rise of Tumblr, a surprisingly robust Flickr, plus a new experiment at Reddit. And don’t forget social networks like Facebook and GearFetish.

Blogging

skintightuk.org
spandexgasm

Tumblr

I am reluctantly adding Tumblr “blogs” to my list, hesitant because I have already seen notable sites disappear, without notice, because of inappropriate or TOS violations. Tumblr makes it easy to re-post content, in essense creating a giant echo chamber. Original content is both rare and difficult to identify. This is what we bloggers are guilty of doing anyway — Tumblr just makes it much less work and much more efficient. Like most things though, this too will pass. But there is a lot of great stuff I would have never seen on my own. Check the links to the right and let me know what has disappeared already.

Flickr

This begins a special series covering the economic situation in Europe. Seen here is the Greek National Guard in uniform, featuring white tights.

[source]

In Internet time, Flickr is not a spring chicken. However they do still have a the best photo sharing website that has kept up in technology. And as far as we are concerned, extensive collections of men in spandex. I’ve been wanting a Flickr app for my Android phone, and now it’s here!

Introducing Flickr Photo Session and the Flickr Android App

Flickr Android App

A new blog: The Tight Spot. Plenty of awesomeness.

You might have to make do without pictures and media for a while. In recent months I have had a laptop or two destroyed, and I haven’t had the time to gather all my files and bookmarks. As usual, the bottleneck in producing my “content” (most of which is stuff I find on the Internet) is curating the stuff I see on to this blog.

Something else is happening that has changed my habits, and that is a new open-source software project I’ve been working on. And that follows a string of other projects against the background of a new job and other major changes. And yes, in case you’re wondering, I’m also quite the tech geek, and I do feel the pull of creating my own software projects as a product of my free time.

This hiatus reached a crisis sometime last week when Gordon of Wetsuitlads said “Hey, what happened to your website!?” It was a bit of a panic for me, since I couldn’t reach the website or even my hosting provider. It turned out, thank goodness, that it was just an old nameserver being retired. The first thing I did after that was to make a backup of this site, you know, just in case it really disappears.

I also got emails from some fans asking where the heck I am. Well, there are simply no excuses. We have seen many lycra blogs disappear, and I must hold my ground. I am considering a technological solution, in addition to willpower, to figure out how to keep spandexed crotches coming your way. I have outlined some ideas but still nothing compelling enough. I am open to suggestions.

I know that we men (and we are, mostly) are visually oriented. And nothing is as easy and stimulating as scrolling through pictures and videos. But now, even with fewer blogs, there is even more content out there than ever before. The challenge now is curating — how do we find and organize our world of hot cyclists, swimmers, wrestlers, superheroes, triathletes, dancers, etc? How often have you recalled a memorable picture, but you cannot find it, hoping that you just might be lucky enough to stumble on it again?

Until I figure out how to allow us to curate in our stretchy sexy realm, I will do this — write. I will continue on this blogging platform to share my personal experiences, the life of a real young man who wears spandex every day (yes really!).