I’ve stopped using my Instagram…I miss it a little bit. He always gives me a fun time. Alas, it is like Twitter for me – I’m off it, on it – they’re my social network fun buddies (if you get my drift).

Facebook is the partner I’ve committed to. He certainly wasn’t my first: my first true love was Xanga. But I realized that blogs just weren’t what I needed for that kind of…release. I mean, she was perfect at the time, all sexy and complicated. My friends all loved her too. But it just wasn’t right.

When Facebook came along, well, he stole all our hearts, didn’t he? He was just so affable, so modern and unique. He even managed to seduce the MySpace users, leaving that poor sod bound and broken.

Then Google+ walked into my life. He was just…a god to me. He seemed to have everything I wanted. But I’ve been with Facebook so long. He’s caught me in his webbed network. I just don’t know how to leave him.

So I flirt with Google+, when Facebook isn’t looking. For awhile I threw it in Facebook’s face, you know, made it obvious I liked Google+ better. I hoped my friends would see that Google+ was the way for me. But Facebook has stolen their loyalty and if I break up with him now, I lose my social circles. Google+ keeps telling me he’s got new circles for me to join, but I would miss my old ones.

I mean, in the end, Facebook couldn’t really care less about what I do. He has his own set of lovers. I’m so insignificant to him. But I need him. I need him because he has such a grip on my social life. He fuels it. Google+ constantly wants me to break up with Facebook, always dropping hints. I can’t do it though. He knows all my friends. If I break up with Facebook, I’ll…I’ll be an outcast.

It’s just, so much drama. I can’t stand it but…but I’m entangled now. So when I can’t take it anymore, I go to Twitter, go to Instagram. I go to get away from it all. They give me such sweet serenity, if just for the night.

[Image Credit]

Google+ recently changed their profile image sizes and stuff. These guys released templates to help you adjust things as you see fit. It certainly helped us update our Google+ page!

Just the numbers: The smallest your new Google+ cover can be is 480×270 pixels, while the larges it can be is 2120×1192 pixels.

100% size template

70% size template

50% size template

25% size template

How to use these?

1. Download the Google+ cover photo template you’d like to use from the links above.
2. Open the file and insert your own photo using your favourite photo editing program.
3. Save it.
4. Upload the photo to your Google+ page as your cover photo.

And if all that sounds too confusing for you, try out the step-by-step to crop your cover photo.

Good luck! Let us know if you have any problems adjusting your image sizes. Us gay geeks are the best kind to help you: we’re geek smart and we’ve got a fabulous disposition.

[Google Plus Cover Photo]

Now I’ve never seen old Star Trek, but it’s fantastic to know that they are still giving fans a show/having fun with their show. Check out these Twitter conversations: they make you squee and your heart feel fuzzy.

It all started with William Shatner on January 3rd… and from then on the awesomeness just kept on rolling. The gallery should be in order, however it is jumpy because I haven’t put the whole conversation up.

Oh and Buzz Aldrin has now become a boss in my eyes.

The selection is proudly brought you by The Canadian Space Agency There are many more pieces of conversation, just visit their website

{Image Credits: Canadian Space Agency}

Today’s interview is with artist Ashe Rhyder, whose long-running webcomic ‘Roommates’ takes a wide range of your favourite characters from novels, games, movies and musicals and puts them together under the question: What would happen if these characters lived together in a modern day apartment block? The result, in short, is awesome.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Ashe Rhyder, and I draw a lot. I’m predominantly self-taught as an artist, and I’ve been learning for many, many years. Still am, to be honest.

What do you do?
Mostly, I draw. Sometimes I write. Under the right conditions, I’ll attempt to paint.

Do you have a secret non-artist alter-ego?
I have a secret alter-ego, but art is in my blood and breath, and nothing I do will take me very far from it.

Have you always wanted to write comics?
Write comics, make movies, tell stories… some version of these things, yes. I’ve always wanted to share stories and images.

Your long-running webcomic ‘Roommates’ takes characters from a variety of texts and places them together in a contemporary apartment complex – when did you start this comic, and why?
Way back in uni, I had a bunch of characters from various projects cluttering up my brain. A fun thing to do with them in the down time was to try and figure out how they would interact if they ever happened to meet. The logical place to set this kind of interaction was a bar, because if there was one thing any of them had in common, it was Trouble With Their Romantic Partner (Except Javert, who’s a bit of an odd duck…). Alcohol and commiseration seemed like the most reasonable setting. I would draw these short comics and share them with my friends, and we’d all laugh and come up with terribly embarrassing but amusing things to happen to them later. One of my friends suggested I post the comics on DA, and so I did, and it just sort of snowballed from there.

How do you decide what characters make the cut?
95% of the time if a character appears, it’s because they’re my favorite. Almost always, the first character to appear out of any given source is my favorite of the whole. I’ve taken suggestions or requests a few times, usually because they fit some storyline that’s planned or because I really like that character or series and just hadn’t thought about adding them yet.

Do you have any plans for projects involving your own original characters, or is it the fandom life for you?
I’ve got a number of original projects running in the background, but I doubt I’ll ever abandon fandom entirely. It influences far too much of my life.

The content of the comic has gotten darker and the story lines much more involved over the years – has there been a conscious line of decision making behind this evolution, or is it something which has happened naturally, say by the nature of the characters you choose, or as your real-world interests have changed?
A little bit of both, really. The characters themselves lend themselves well to darker stories, since they are, essentially, tragedies. I’m also inclined to run characters through the wringer. The light-hearted and comedic episodes of Roommates are more of a conscious addition than any of the darker parts.

How much of your own experience do you feel has an effect on your art?
Of my own, very little. The majority of experiences that affect my art come from other people. I find them in stories, both real and fictional, and in other peoples’ artwork. I learn by studying tutorials and pulling bits and pieces of other artist’s styles; one artist’s rendition of a nose, another artist’s application of color, the way a third uses line weight to suggest shadow. The comic is a pretty accurate metaphor: it pulls from many places, and so do I.

Why do you think people connect to your work?
I think maybe because the stories, at heart, are about making mistakes and moving on from that. The majority of the cast are villains and anti-heroes. People get attached to characters like this for any number of reasons, but let’s face it; those characters are usually defined by their flaws. These guys are going to mess up. They’re going to lose their temper, say the wrong thing, act on the wrong feeling, and generally screw things up. We all identify with that.

In the comic, these characters are given an opportunity to move past the mistakes that almost always destroyed them in their original stories. I think that’s something everyone wants, really: to be told that even the worst mistake of their life isn’t the end of the road, and that there’s a chance that the person they are tomorrow will be better than the one they were today.

Before the Internet, fan comics were published in fanzines and the like – do you feel like ‘Roommates’ could have happened if you’d grown up without the Internet?
The Internet was actually the one of the places where I discovered other people liked the same things I did, so I’m not sure the comic would have made it without digital intervention. I certainly never made the connections offline that would have allowed for it. I may have still drawn a few of comics, but a lot of my work never makes it outside the confines of whatever book in which it’s been originally drawn or written. It certainly would never have lasted this long, or gotten as complicated.

You post the comic on DeviantART – why this website?
At the time, I was already using DA to show some other work, so it was pretty much a matter of convenience. It displayed the way I wanted with limited fuss. I’m not particularly patient with computers, so coming up with my own site was out of the question.

What are you looking forward to in 2013? (films/ books/ life/ career/ weather)
There’s a Discworld convention in 2013… and the new Hobbit movie. And Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. I’m hoping for pleasant, sunny days, but also for the full spectrum of interesting (but not dangerous) weather.

In the style of Steven Moffat, can you give us three words as a sneak preview of what to expect in this year’s story arcs?
King. Changeling. If.

Do you have any final words of wisdom for our readers?
Strive. Fight for the ending you want. You are not alone. There are others out there who want the same things you do, who can connect with you and understand you, even if no one currently around you does. There are things you may have to learn. Learn them. There are places you may have to go. Go there. There are things that may scare you. Be scared. Take a deep breath. Face them anyway. There are times you will fail. It happens. Get back up. Strive.

You can read ‘Roommates’ here, and check out the associated tumblr page here.

It’s not often that a parent gets a chance to reach out and help his or her child survive bullying. Unfortunately, for the most part, it’s too late before the parents even know what’s going on.

Luckily for Noah, his mother is on the ball. On February 8, 2013 this boy will be turning 13 years old. And he posted on his Instagram about deciding to take his own life on that day. Why? Bullying.

We’ve written about how I was personally moved by the movie “Bully”, how we need to clear away the trolls from cyberspace, how a letter to stand up against bullying can make a difference. Now Noah’s mother has set up Letters for Noah, and she and Gay Geek are asking you to write a letter of a different kind: a letter of love and hope.

We can hear all we like about bullying, but there’s nothing like reading the pain in a mother’s own words:

Noah has been dealing with bullying for the past year. He has been feeling alone and left out, ostracized from old friends and a misfit among new kids. As soon as things would begin to get better, there would be another setback. He was once the life of the party, the big man on campus. Now his self esteem has all but disappeared.

Noah’s mum needs you to tell Noah that he is loved and that he does matter, because he’s not getting that from his peers. She has opened a P.O. Box and is hoping to get as many letters to him by his 13th birthday, on the 8th of February 2013.

Send a letter to him today (you can send snail mail or fill out the form on the site), like the Facebook page, read Noah’s story and let him know that he’s worth keeping alive.

If only every bullied child had someone so incredible caring for them.