What do you do when there's a dearth of decent queer homepages on the web to review? Start mining the straight boys, right? You betcha. And "gay" guys like you and me need "straight" guys like John Halcyon Styn to remind us of how much fun it can be to live life outside of the too-tight constraints of pigeonholed sexuality--and still love ourselves (very much) in the process.

This isn't to say that Styn's two sites Cocky Bastard and Prehensile Tales focus exclusively on sex. Although sex (as subtext) does flow merrily beneath his wry collection of journal entries, web-based performance art and groovy self-portrait pics. And that's cool. But what I find refreshing is the insouciant manner in which Styn involves his body and its libidinal components into the everyday and commonplace. Suddenly sex and nudity and, well, narcissism become as easily discussed (and viewed) as the weather.

Text book narcissists are boring because they're unconscious of their all encompassing me-me-me-ness. But Styn's form of self-adulatory is fun because it's honest, slightly self-effacing and very tongue in cheek. A nice combination of attitudes that acts as a wonderful mirroring device for the folks who visit and "participate" with Styn's site on a regular basis. I mention mirroring because really, when you think about it, who, indeed, is the most important and fascinating person in the whole world? Why YOU of course!

Spend an hour or two (easy to do) sifting through the wellspring of Styn's quotidian journal entries and weekly tales and you too might start to acknowledge that artful living and off-the-cuff introspection can be applied to just about any everyday occurrence. Plus there's enough humor and irreverence percolating throughout Styn's cyberstops to give The Onion something to cry about. I'm just counting the days until he aims his raygun on folks like Jewel or Celine Dion.

In the bonus points department, Halcyon is the same guy who took on corporate America last year and came out on top. When Fruit of the Loom issued a cease and "detest" notice (after Prehensile Tales ran a loopy parody of the company titled Meat of the Loom), Styn donned his best shit-kickin' boots, hired a lawyer and challenged the mammoth company's scare tactic. And he won.

I'm predicting big things for Styn. Maybe not within the pantheon of mainstream celebrity, but certainly within the sorry ass state of cyber exhibitionism. This is a classy guy who isn't afraid to reveal every bit of himself; including the biggest erogenous zone of all: the brain. [David K.]

Nightcharm Exclusive
Ann Will's interview with John Halcyon Styn