Sunday, 24 August 2014

Is it really the BIGGER, the BETTER? PART 1

Small or big, she looks delighted
I must start this blog by quoting a statement I once heard “Whoever says that size doesn’t matter has a small one” and I went in my head “Hmmm interesting”. But then it became clear to me that if one tries to be empathetic with all those who have a “small one”, some people will say “ah you’re being nice to them because you have a big one” and I thought “but what’s big and what’s small”? It was then and there when an idea was planted in my head and  flourished  to do some research and write this blog  called “Is it really the bigger, the better”?

For decades, we’ve been living in a society that tells us through different channels and platforms, that big represents strength, dominance and power in any shape or form. The Guinness Book of Records is full of adjectives such as “the biggest” “the longest” “the thickest” “the lengthiest” and so on, they might not necessarily be referring to the male’s below the waist anatomy, but we have certainly grown up with an “official reference” listening to all those adjectives that make us believe as men should have a big one or (female) having a partner who has a big one.

In order for me to have an objective approach to this subject matter – obviously as a gay man I am affected by those references I just mentioned above – it is important to try to have a well-informed opinion, which can be hard because at the end of the day I am a gay human being trying to compartmentalise such information to have a basic understanding of how our bodies work. As they say “education is the clue and information is power”. So let’s have a look at some facts:

Anatomically, the female G-spot is located approximately 3 inches into the vagina channel, which means that
if a man has let’s say a 7 inches penis, he will clearly be passing such important area in his female partner, and I’m sure that G-spot girl would hate to be ignored by a 7 inch lad in such a despicable  way. Passing by and ignoring her just like that it's a NO NO NO.

When it comes to us men, something quite similar can be referred to our prostate gland, but I won’t go into that this time.

As part of my informal research, I spoke to a few women who have an opinion on this, but the reaction was mixed, some girls concluded that it was important, some that it wasn’t, but I must admit that most of the girls stated that it was important, that yes size does matter. Some of them even said "Small willie...no no no"

I found very interesting that when I spoke to a few male friends and acquaintances who I know have been nicely touched by nature in that particular area, the consensus was that they do not see themselves in that way…”big”. They would regard others bigger than themselves. At the beginning I thought that they were being “humble or unassuming” but later I discovered that the reason is because the angle we look our own cocks is different to how we see others, it’s hard to say to ourselves “oh yeah it’s a big one”, because the angle does not provide us with a proper view as let’s say when you look yourself in the mirror full frontal with a full erection, to be honest how often do we men do that? Or how often do we do it and admit it?

Talking about comparing, we tend to compare our sizes with others’, so watching porn will not be in any way a “healthy” approach to form an opinion about our “small or big cocks”. We must remember that one of the requirements to be a porn performer is having a penis bigger than the average. So watching porn is not a good source if you’d like to gauge the size of yours. The porn industry is packed by big ones.  By the way, I’d like to clarify that I have never been a porn performer; I learnt all this from my research : )

One of my female friends had a boyfriend that was so big that she felt battered by baseball bat and after performing their sexual activities; she said she walked like John Wayne and she loved it. The relationship did not last because she said he never went down on her which she adores. Another friend said that your man was so big, she could not enjoy it at all and they split up. I heard the story of someone that her casual partner was so small, she could not perform fellatio on him because she felt it was like sucking off his little finger…Dreadful, the poor man. Another girl had a partner that was what she described as “OK”, but there were only certain sexual positions they could practice and both of them described their reality as “uncomfortable”. Are they still together? No! Another friend had partner who had a good 9 inches, but he was so bad in bed, that she ended up cheating on him and eventually they split up, too. I know yet another girl, whose partner is quite small, but she refers to him as “an amazing lover in bed” and they’re still together.
So it’s obvious that when it comes to penis size there is a lot of controversy attached to it (I’m not talking about a strap on) so  the big or small concept may become so subjective that it is not easy to have a definite clarification of what’s big or small. So I will encourage everybody through this writing to try to appreciate what they have between their legs and be happy to see that their appendage whatever size it is can go up and down.

Next week I will write about the statistics, sizes by countries and continents and also I will speak about the
eye-opening reality that the Asian population is huge but they are not, so size does not matter when it comes to the mechanics, so is it really the bigger the better?






Marlon/Marlife

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Why Has The Ice Bucket Challenge Gone Viral?

fallon-ice-bucket-challenge_39495.jpg
The ice bucket challenge provides a unique analysis of digital marketing
If you’re a social media aficionado, you will more than likely have come across a video of a friend or a celebrity dousing themselves with a bucket full of ice and water. Wondering whythey’re doing this? It’s a viral stunt raising much-needed funds for motor neuron disease (MND). The awareness and funds are fantastic to see – but looking at it from a social media marketing angle gives those of us in the industry an insight into what works on our favourite social networks. Why is it that throwing a bucket of cold water over yourself is gone viral?

It’s emotive

Traditionally, the most successful marketing campaigns will strike a chord with us. Something which makes us sad, happy, excited or curious will be more attention grabbing than the humdrum, run-of-the-mill marketing campaigns. The ice bucket challenge takes us from sadness to happiness. When you hear the background to the story (former sports star Pete Frates, who is almost completely paralysed with the disease), it hits home about the seriousness. Looking at the videos, though, goes to the other end of the spectrum – laughter. Focusing on emotions can be a sure-fire way of increasing the effectiveness of your campaigns.

It has a compressed time period

With the ice bucket challenge, you get nominated and you have just 24 hours to complete the challenge, upload your video and send out your nominations. This gives the campaign a sense of urgency – it requires immediate thought and action within a set time period. It not only means that the action will be completed by the nominee quicker, but it also means that the message is spread faster on social media. This undoubtedly helped the campaign go viral and gives other digital marketers a lesson to learn from.

A snappy hashtag

Hashtags are the driving force on Twitter and, increasingly, on other social networks. Keeping a hashtag short, snappy and attention grabbing is key to pushing a campaign forward. That’s exactly what the ice bucket challenge did. The hashtag? Simply #IceBucketChallenge. Who could see that on Twitter and not wonder what it was? A hashtag like this is descriptive and immediately makes you question it.

Participation

This is perhaps that bit easier for a charity marketing campaign but it gives us food for thought. The ice bucket challenge directly encourages consumer participation. Why is this useful? Like some of our previous points, it increases the likelihood that your message will spread quickly and organically. The other thing to take from this, though, is that we felt directly affected by the ice bucket challenge. Of course you will sit up and take more interest if you or your friend is nominated – it’s only natural!

A fun call to action

Okay, it’s not the most fun thing you can imagine, having a bucket of ice and water thrown over you, but the videos are entertaining. It’s a two-man job, participating in this campaign – one to throw the bucket and one to video the challenge. The group dynamic in all of the videos is apparent which adds to the entertaining value of the campaign. Having a fun CTA is something that doesn’t work for every marketing campaign – but when it works, it really works.
The ice bucket challenge is showing no signs of slowing down – and has already raised $15.6 million in the US alone – a staggering figure. It takes its inspiration from a similar campaign – the no makeup selfie one that went viral earlier in the year. This campaign looks set to go a step further than the no makeup selfie one – probably due to the fact that it’s more gender neutral. From a charity perspective, it’s raising awareness and funds. For digital marketers? It teaches us a thing or two about social media marketing. Here is one of the most popular ice bucket challenges to date; from the founding father of social media himself, Mark Zuckerberg…
Marlon/Marlife

Sunday, 17 August 2014

My beloved flaming boots.

I am sure that all of you have a favourite item of clothing?  A favourite item that even though you’re wearing it you cannot wait to wear it next time. It could be those jeans that fit you perfectly and make look your bum so nice and sexy, or for the guys that shirt or t-shirt that fits you so well allowing you to show your pecks or biceps off and make you feel like you’re a sexy man.

It could those bras that even though they’re not Victoria’s Secret, they give your boobs the perfect push-up making them look perky and - as a result – sexy.  Or those pair shoes and/or runners that when you wear them you feel you’re walking on the clouds. Or that nice handbag you just love it because it goes with everything you wear.

I bet you totally concur with me on this: It’s an item of clothing that you love so much to the extent that you create an emotional connection with.

I have my very favourite one and they’re called my beloved flaming boots. I bought them in Caracas,
Venezuela, a year before I came to Dublin so therefore they’re 12 years old and fit me perfectly. They give me the perfect height and allow me to dance comfortably. I wear them all the time on gay nights out and I just love them. I have developed an emotional connection with them for all the right reasons. They are wrecked, screaming to be thrown out, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. And the day I will throw them away, it’s going be a very sad day indeed!

Around 3 years ago, I bought a new pair online, from the United States and I like them, but the heel is higher and they just don’t feel same, because they don’t make me feel as wonderful as my original beloved flaming boots, even though I’m taller in them.

So next time you fall in love with a piece of clothing, wear them as much as you can, enjoy the feeling they give you, but remember that you will never ever be able to replace them, because when you build up an emotional connection with something, that connection becomes irreplaceable.


I will wear my flaming boots a few more times, but I don’t know if I am ready yet to throw them out, because I just love my beloved flaming boots.




Marlon/Marlife

Monday, 11 August 2014

Her name is...Cheryl O'Rourke.

Newborn Cheryl
She is one of those mysterious people in life who when you get to know her you realise she is someone  great, fantastic and amazing. She is a great human being whose main quality is loyalty. Someone who can be your friend for life, and she has a sincere smile that she unconditionally would give it to you because she knows you deserve it.

She is someone who has experienced unkindness from life, but those unkind experiences have made of her a very kind person who is very soft, very sweet and very honest.  She is someone who represents raw experiences that can be translated into the very beautiful human being she is, and I’m not talking about the outside, but the inside.
With her beautiful sister Chloe
She has a deep, beautiful, clear, transparent  inner-self – an inner world that is not easily exposed-  and I can honestly say that I have been privileged enough to get to know her rich, unique, inner world. I am happy to say that working together has given me the golden opportunity to develop a relationship that I can sincerely say it’s a friendship, a friendship that I will always treasure forever, deep down in my heart.

We have a song, or at least I have a song - that every time I play it, is because it reminds me of her. A beautiful song that I will not reveal because I would like to hold it as a private treasure for me (I  hope you remember the song I am talking about? Well If she doesn’t, no problem, I will forgive her, because I love her : ) We were working together, the song came on and she  made a comment, even though funny it was a sincere comment and I still have that moment in my mind, an especial moment to me, shared with me. And I would hold on the luxurious privilege of privacy to keep it to me and/or ourselves.
With cute brother Ciaran
I would love to finish this writing by telling her that she has no idea how meaningful she has been to me the way she has trusted in me. She has no idea how much I have valued every single conversation we have had about life and love and other stuff. She has no idea how many times she has melted my heart and this is the right indication to me to know that I care about her, that she is so relevant to me.  Someone who I will always think of as a kind, loyal and loving person who touched my heart and conquered my thoughts. Someone who I know, by all means, can be a good friend and someone who has a heart made of cotton. That cotton we all sometimes think clouds are made of.

She is someone I can honestly say is my pal, she is my friend, someone who is one of the reason I cannot wait to go to work to see and talk to and her name is…Cheryl O’Rourke.

 Marlon/Marlife

Sunday, 3 August 2014

What you don't expect while on honeymoon.

All those who know me, and now those who has got to know me through my blog, can see that I am a very positive person, and sometimes I'm a bit over the top saying that everything is wonderful, great and fabulous. Well, sometimes it's fucking NOT and as optimistic as I am, I've faced some sad eventful situations, but then again, I have learnt that to really appreciate the good we have to know the bad. That's life, Isn’t it?

And this story is part of our honeymoon. We were in Marbella and it was the last 3rd day of our honeymoon. We spent a lot of time with a family who gave us one of their apartments to stay in while in Marbella, it was part of their wedding present for us. John and I decided to go out for dinner and spent the entire evening together, just the 2 of us.
Days before we had been with friends to a place called "Locos", situated in a kind of underground parking lot, near the beach. The atmosphere is super contagious, so much fun. We had an amazing time. So John and I decided to go back to repeat our previous fun-experience.

We were a bit drunk, as we had wine and some cocktails with dinner. The place was a bit empty as it was Wednesday and we met this couple from Argentina - guy and a girl - and we got chatting to them, their English wasn't good so we were jumping from Spanish to English. John got bored and told me he was going to leave and I said Ok I meet you back in the apartment - which is only 5 minutes’ walk from where we were.
I was having a great time, talking, dancing, drinking with the couple we met but at around 1am I decided to leave, John had left at around 11 or so. I didn't have keys so I kept buzzing the bell and no answer. I thought he must be fast asleep. Rang his mobile many times and it would go straight to voicemail. I waited outside. 2 hours, 3 hours passed and no sign of anything and I started worrying. At that stage I was sobering up. Next thing John appeared around the corner, crying and screaming "I was mugged I was mugged". When I saw his face all bruised and bleeding my heart sank, I tried to hold my crying, trying to be strong to give him so sort of strength, but I just couldn't.

A Spanish family saw our discomfort, they saw me trying to call the police and the mother took my phone and gave the police the location where we were. We made a report and went to the hospital. The Police were really helpful and when they saw me so upset, they told me that that particular area was popular within muggers attacking English and Irish people because they say “they’re always drunk”. Also to give me some sort of consolation, they said “don’t feel bad, don’t feel guilty, you are on holidays, on your honeymoon. Who goes on holidays thinking that they have to count the amount of drinks they’ll have. This could’ve happen to anyone” Sometimes some situations, good or bad, are totally out of our control and that’s the core of my message today.

Click on the link for the full story written in the Mail on Sunday
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2030968/John-Compton-mugged-wedding-ring-honeymoon-Marbella.html

Marlon/Marlife