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	Cybersocket Picks

By Brian Baltin

A Different Light Books

www.adlbooks.com

Want to support a true gay true institution? ADL was one of the first (and still only) gay bookstore chains in the country. For 27 years, they've been helping enlighten on LGBT culture -- and supporting young queers by carrying, not just crap "coming out stories," but the best gay lit (Denton Welch, Violette Leduc, Ronald Firbank, Jean Genet), period. Their online store includes the usual calendars, photo books, and porn, along with lit, magazines -- and signed editions by authors who've read in the L.A. or S.F. stores, including at the moment Tab Hunter and Rick Castro!

Broke Straight Boys

www.brokestraightboys.com

There's just nothing better than when straight boys get strapped for cash (sure, that's the only reason) enough to take a cock, make out with a guy, suck and rim, etc. So the adorably direct Broke Straight Boys fits the bill perfectly, more so for all the times they try to goad their boys into taking dildos. They even feature our new favorite white boy Brad Star: "We knew he was desperate for even more money so we told him we would give him even more cash if he lets us jerk him off and play with his ass." Nice.

International Trepanation Advocacy Group

www.trepan.com

Trepanation is the practice of boring a hole into your skull. It started gaining momentum in the late '60s as a movement put forth by LSD users as a way to achieve better trips and expanded "brain blood volume." It's still regarded as a hippie/industrial music fringe, but the movement's growing, with more people being electively trepanned than ever before, and their International Advocacy Group is just plain giddy about it. Whatever you think, treppaned folks sure can ramble (lucidly yet), and it's more than a bit entertaining.

Lockergnome

www.lockergnome.com

Lockergnome is a welcome friend every time we check our inbox in the morning, offering boundless sources of Web news and ultra-necessary tech tips, all with a sense of humor that manifests in online categories from "Techno babble" to "Political Geeks." Plus, he's well balanced between Mac and PC, with help for Windows and OSX fanatics alike.

Toto Tours

www.tototours.com

We tend to shy away from traveling in tour packs, because we generally can't imagine finding a group that we'd like to travel with, but Chicago-based Toto Tours sound like just the kind of eccentric old birds that would make any trip a blast (and who won't mind when you stop to fawn over local boys). Upcoming tours include: "Le Casbah" (a Morocco/Marrakech jaunt Paul Bowles would've condoned), "Diamonds in the Rough" (taking in the "jewel of the African continent" that is South Africa), "Fado and Flamenco" ("Passionate Portugal and Sultry Spain," trekking across the Iberian Peninsula in style), "Dracula and Beyond" ("The Real Romania"), "Czars and Caviar" (wintry Russia), and, the one that sounds most appealing to us, "Indochine" (gorgeous Vietnam and Cambodia).