I'm realizing that I didn't do any best of lists for 2009. Shit girl! What was I thinking? Good thing the boys at Pinq.ca are continuing their PINQ Top 30 segment from last year. Check it out.

If you like what you see, you should also subscribe to their email blast (check out www.pinq.ca)

TOP TUNES Load your iPod with the best songs of 2009 as voted by Vancouver’s top gay DJs. Wondering what those songs were that you heard out at the clubs last weekend? Or just want to know what the hottest tracks are right now in the gay community? Each month, Vancouver’s top gay DJs send us their most popular songs to make up the PINQ Top 30. For our first post of 2010, we’ve tallied up the votes and come up with the top 10 tracks of 2009. If your New Year’s resolution is to get back to the gym, here’s a playlist guaranteed to get your heart rate up! 1. When Love Takes Over – David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland Listen/buy on 2. Million Dollar Bill – Whitney Houston Listen/buy on 3. Bulletproof – La Roux Listen/buy on 4. I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas Listen/buy on 5. Sexy Bitch – David Guetta feat. Akon Listen/buy on 6. Celebration – Madonna Listen/buy on 7. Boom Boom Pow – Black Eyed Peas Listen/buy on 8. She Wolf  – Shakira Listen/buy on 9. I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) – Pitbull Listen/buy on 10. Bad Romance – Lady Gaga Listen/buy on PS. Special thanks to our contributing DJs: MKW, Betti Forde, Nick Bertossi, Ryan B, Dan James, Zach Shore, Del Stamp and DJ Drew. And EXTRA special thanks to Chris O – our Top 30 listmaster.

So guess who was rolling with the Pinq.ca boys on Monday night? Yeah. That's right. A little cross blogination. You heard it hear first: the Ryans know their shit including food and even--gasp!--drinking tastings.

I'm sure what I don't know about Tequila could be forgotten faster than it takes me to swallow a shot of Don Julio (nice product placement, eh?), but that's what wikipedia's tequila page is for. Seriously though, what I can tell you is that what we drank at Goldfish was closer to scotch than Jose Cuervo. And yes, I liked it more than Petron.

Does hand-roasted oven-picked agave sound good to you? Sure it does! Way better than hand-picked oven-roasted ones, no?

This guy:

is master mixologist Brian Van Flandern. While we were in secretish backroom, he busted out the 1942 reserva especial (or at least that's what I'm calling it). He also made some crazy/sexy claims, primarily that "Don Julio cleans their empty tequila bottles with tequila." That's the best idea I've ever heard and is evidence of some sort of Mexican largesse that I want...nay must!...be part of in my near future.

I don't really remember too much after that, but I'd like to tell you that I've fallen in love with Goldfish for a second time. It's just so...well lit! You know?  

That's a good question. And despite dating one for a couple months, I have no answers for you unfortunately. Despite trying to cajole sources out of my now ex, I ended up with very little aside from a newfound appreciation for vocal and circuit house.

I do, however, remember the time I would go to clubs and the music in the background was just a wash of sound. Having spent my late teens/early twenties listening to hip hop and reggae, no big surprise there. However times have changed and with that, I bring you a Pinq.ca feature that I am quickly falling in love with.

The Pinq Top 20 features a Billboard.com style hit list brought to you by the following DJs:

• DJ Nick Bertossi (The World)
• DJ Ryan Bazeley (Celebrities)
• DJ MKW (Pulse, Lick)
• DJ Zach Shore (Celebrities, Oasis)
• DJ Betti Forde (Pulse, Flygirl Productions)
• DJ Drew (Odyssey, Numbers)
• DJ Del Stamp (Numbers), and
  
• DJ Dan James (Celebrities). 

And **gasp** they provide links to YouTube for originals and remixes. How awesome is that? Pinq.ca awesome. Love those gays!

When I think of summer 2008, I think of Vancouver's underserviced queer presence online. This was before Homorazzi's big splashy debut at the start of '09, somewhere around the time a dewy-eyed young twenty-something was debating whether to sign his soul over to Xtra.ca to help build their online blogging brand in Vancouver, debating whether his saucy debut should be "Bright Lights, Big Twinky" or "Right Up Your Alley: Vancouver's Gay Blog"...oh back then. I heart you and I miss you.

Now there's a new kid on the block, a handsome young go-getter named Pinq, who has been identified in the following photo for your easy reading convenience:

Pfft. Nice jacket, Jordan.

This "Pinq" has also been known to resemble:

For those of you looking for something a little more highbrow to compliment your daily queer quotient online, check out Pinq. I like their format. Check out this posting on Sophie Ellis Bextor.

Also: send me a question, any question, and two online experts will answer it in a new video format called "Aleholes" that I'm bringing to Up Your Alley soon.