Castro Confidential does . . . Ibiza!

I'm forming a new online community for adventurous world travelers: Ibiza Confidential chronicles our journey to the globe's top financial, cultural and spiritual destinations. From Burning Man, to dinner at Sao Paulo's ass-kicking Ritz burger joint, to this summer's Paris Hilton Watch on our first stop, the Mediterranean party island of Ibiza. Heck: We might even see more of my friend Paulo, the Portuguese personal trainer -- and jockstrap model!

Separated at birth: Cooper vs. Power

Over-compensated CNN correspondent Anderson "Paris Hilton of the anchors" Cooper and over-endowed Rascal Video porn star Mike Power. For a most definitely NSFW photo of Power, go here. Think your puss matches a celebrity's? Check out My Heritage. [Photos: CNN and Greg Thompson]

Time to retool Castro Confidential!

Eight months and nearly 800 posts (!) after starting Castro Confidential, I've decided to take a long break while I revamp, rethink and -- I expect -- relaunch this blog with a more focused approach. I want to inject more San Francisco in this blog so it lives up (down?) to its name of Castro Confidential. That means more original, local news, entertainment and hot photos about one of the world's gayest neighborhoods.

But that's going to take more time than I can devote when I've already got a full-time job. So, hang in there with me, folks! And consider shooting an e-mail to castroconfidential@gmail.com with your contact information; I'll fire you a note back when the blog relaunches, so you won't have to keep checking back on your own.

[Photo: Power house mechanic working on steam pump, 1920, by Lewis Hine]

He's gay, and he's got a big, big, big...

. . . brokerage account! That's Peter Thiel (left), uber-investor, resident of San Francisco's posh Pacific Heights 'hood, and employer of a butler, Silicon Valley gossipeuse Valleywag is now reporting.

"By now, you've likely heard how Peter Thiel parlayed a $500,000 investment in Facebook to a stake now worth $750 million,'' the Wag says. "There's been a crush of coverage on his $220 million Founders Fund, which may well change the way entrepreneurs get paid in the Valley. We know about his mansion (he rents it -- clever!), his butler, his early-morning jogs. But what no one ever says out loud: Thiel is gay."

What are they drinking in the Menlo Park venture-capital firms along Sand Hill Road? Thiel would be at least the second high-profile outing this year of one of these famously stuffed-shirt financiers.

French men have such big baguettes!

And I speak from experience, because I've just returned from a holiday in Paris with Sparky and my father. (More on that later!) I saw the cutest Parisian firemen in the way-gay Marais neighborhood -- though none so hunky as the rugby players featured in the newest Dieux du Stade calendar (above).

[Photo: Dieux du Stade]

Castro Confidential hits the road -- again!

I'm off to Paris with Sparky and my father. See you after Oct. 14!

A day before I leave on a trip to France, it looks like I'll be leaving summer-like weather behind in San Francisco: It's going to be mostly sunny this afternoon, with highs in the 60s and 70s.

We couldn't ask for better weather for today's Folsom Street Fair: It's going to be sunny, with highs in the 70s.

Have you polished your boots, yet, for tonight's Magnitude? It's going to be sunny today, with highs in the mid-60s to lower 70s.

It's Five O'Clock

R.I.P., dancing queens?

The San Francisco Bay Guardian's homosexualist nightlife critic ponders -- and I mean ponders -- the decline of gay-boy circuit music like Out Anthems 2 (left). "The once-omnipresent, thousand-nostriled behemoth of overbearing, poorly produced circuit and 'progressive house' music has been somewhat tamed,'' the slyly named Marke B. says in this story.

Cycling into Folsom Street Fair weekend

Tonight's Critical Mass marks the 15th anniversary of the San Francisco bicycle protest event that's been copied in hundreds of cities worldwide. Plus! We love all those muscular thighs and even more muscle-ly butts. Folsom Street Fairies can navigate their way through Frisco this weekend with urban travel guide Gridskipper's handy-dandy roundup of fun places to see and be seen. Also, sex-toys retailer Good Vibrations, struggling to stay afloat amid heightened competition from online merchants, has agreed to be sold to a Cleveland company that plans to expand the chain.

The summer weather seems to have disappeared for today: It's going to be mostly cloudy, with highs in the lower 60s.

It's Five O'Clock

[Photo: That's DJ Mikie G]

Leading B.A.R.: We're getting all leather-y

What I'm reading in our little weekly today: LEATHER NATION. Folsom Street Fair weekend approaches and leather columnist Mister Marcus can barely keep a dry eye. To wit: "At approximately 12:30 p.m., the crew and spectators gathered in the area of the Harvey Milk Plaza to witness what is always an inspiring scene, the raising of the leather pride flag." (Oy.) CRIME & PUNISHMENT. A gun is seized, plus a rash of robberies and burglaries. WISH YOU WERE HERE. Florida tourism officials want a bigger slice of the gay market. KARRNAL KNOWLEDGE. Who knew? Porno producers unleash a raft of new flicks every year tied to Folsom Street Fair -- including this year's Folsom Leather, with newcomer Rick van Sant (shown above). OUT THERE. Our weekly's occasionally zaftig columnist notes: "It's such fun being clean!"

Leather? Moi? Heading closer to San Francisco's leather-ama weekend, it's looking like a mostly sunny day, but a bit cooler than yesterday: Highs will be in the mid-60s to lower 70s.

It's Five O'Clock

Love that skirt! Where'd you get it?

Super-creepy Gen. Peter Pace, who likes to play dress-up around men wearing plaid skirts (above), agrees there are "wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual serving in the military.'' But! They're still immoral, he told a U.S. Senate hearing today. Pace, thank gawd, retires next week as head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

[Photo: Pace greeting members of the Boston Police bagpipers at last year's Congressional Medal of Honor Society convention]

You talking about facial hair or Reese?

That's a Jezebel reader's response to the fashion blog's question, "Jake Gyllenhaal: Better with a beard or without?" As faithful Castro Confidential readers know, I'm quite convinced that dear Jake is only dating Reese Witherspoon so he can get that much closer to her ex-squeeze, the hunkalicious Ryan Phillippe.

Quelle surprise: The French wear underwear!

The usual suspects have condemned a Folsom Street Fair poster (above)portraying Jesus Christ and his disciples as "half-naked homosexual sadomasochists." A new book, 50 Reasons to Hate the French, cites a government survey that found 40% of French men and 25% of French women don't change their underwear daily. Australian gay glossie DNA launches its newest issue (left) with the winner of its model search, Dennis, on the cover. More photos of boxer Oscar De La Hoya in drag have surfaced; check him out in a pink miniskirt. Plus, arrestingly (har!) sexy Kent McCord, one-half of the Adam-12 cop show team, turns 65 today; more big birthdays here.