If you name your wine “Sexual Chocolate,” you’re obviously trying to turn a few heads. In fact, the wine’s website describes the vintners as “the guys who brought your daughter home late.” The 2011 edition, made in Napa Valley by SLO Down Wines, is a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah.

To publicize the wine, those curfew-breaking dudes put out a few ads. But forget most of the wine world cliches — there are no beautiful images of grapes on a vine, or a group of people elegantly sipping from a wine glass. Instead, the clips feature winemaker Brandon Allen in a bright yellow banana hammock, tight rainbow boxer briefs and assless chaps. Oh, and there are also threesomes happening, people getting high and a S & M sex scene.

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It’s Wednesday and that means Hump Day and we all could use a drink. Why not head to the Alibi and chill and listen to the sounds and people watch! Please call to confirm specials and with any other questions.

Alibi  Wilton Manors 2266 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL.Telephone:  954 565 2526

www.alibiwiltonmanors.com

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Jennifer Lopez hangs out and heats up Fort Lauderdale Beach.

She was also working her next music video during her trip to Fort Lauderdale. No stranger to South Florida as where she is used to the Miami seen.

Maybe the drive a little north has allowed her a little rest and relaxation and hopefully we will get to see more of her in Lauderdale. Rumor has it she finds it just the right pace.

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Charles Barkley has once again shown amazing support for gays by his support for Jason Collins after the 12-year NBA veteran came out as gay in a first-person article in Sports Illustrated.

“I think it’s a huge deal,” Barkley said on Monday night during TNT’s “Inside The NBA. “I’m excited for Jason.”

Barkley, who has previously stated that he believes he played with gay teammates during his 16-year career, went on to explain why he was supporting Collins’ decision to come out.

“I’m happy that he gets to be himself. Listen, we’ve all played with gay players. Everybody works with gay players. I think deep down everybody has a family member who is gay, depending on how deep down you want to reach into your family,” Barkley said. “Kenny [Smith] talks about it all the time. Us, being black, we’ve got to always be for tolerance. I never went through what the great Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jim Brown and all of those guys went through. But just thinking about it, it had to be horrific. So we got to always be for tolerance and acceptance.”

Barkley’s TNT colleagues Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith also expressed support for Collins. They joined a large contingent of NBA players past and present, including Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd, who shared their admiration for Collins and congratulated him on his decision to come out. Concluding his remarks on a milestone day for the NBA, Barkley noted that he believes NBA players will be quicker to accept Collins than the general public and also asked for tolerance for those who are not accepting.

“I think the one thing I want to be come out of this conversation though, to be honest with you, is … some people is not going to like this,” Barkley said. “I think they should have the right to express that. We should not crucify them. I disagree with them and it’s alright to disagree. But we live in this thing right now where anybody who comes out against this is going to be crucified. And I think that’s unfair.”

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LOS ANGELES — A 33-year-old West Hollywood man who felt sickened by bacterial meningitis earlier this week has been declared brain dead amid warnings to sexually active gay men about the deadly strain of illness, officials said.

Brett Shaad was declared brain dead but remained on life support Friday afternoon, said Elizabeth Ashford, a spokeswoman for Shaad’s family. She declined to release further details.

That corrected a statement made earlier in the day by West Hollywood Councilman John Duran who said Shaad had died and had been removed from life support.

Duran said later that friends who were in Shaad’s hospital room since told him that he was declared brain dead.

Duran, who saw Shaad last weekend, described the openly gay man as being “robust and healthy” prior to Monday, when he began to feel sick.

On Wednesday, he went into the emergency room. By Thursday, he was in a coma.

Earlier Friday, officials warned sexually active gay men to beware of the potentially deadly health threat because Shaad’s case was detected in Los Angeles County.

Tests were being done to see if the strain of illness is similar to the meningococcal infections that circulated among gay men in New York City and infected 22 people, resulting in seven fatalities, since 2010.

“We don’t want to panic people,” Duran said.  “But we learned 30 years ago the consequences of delay in the response to AIDS.”

The illness could be spread by sex and kissing but not by casual contact.

Shaad attended a major party for the gay community in Palm Springs the weekend of March 30, Duran said. The White Party attracts thousands of partygoers from all over the country for dancing and revelry.

However, Shaad’s brother Brian Shaad criticized some of Duran’s statements as inaccurate.

“Brett remains on life support in the hospital. No conclusions have been drawn regarding when, or how, he may have contracted meningitis. We ask for privacy during this incredibly painful period,” he said in a statement sent by email early Saturday.

At least one local business, Equinox health club in West Hollywood, confirmed Shaad visited their facility on April 6.

Equinox executive Jack Gannon said the clubs are always rigorously cleaned, and the notification was sent to members only to “ensure them of the safety of our club.”

Symptoms typically develop within three to seven days of exposure and can include stiff neck, fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and an altered mental state, often confusion.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say catching the illness isn’t always a death sentence, but bacterial meningitis is usually severe. Those who survive might suffer serious complications including brain damage and hearing loss.

In the U.S., about 4,100 cases of bacterial meningitis, including 500 deaths, occurred between 2003 and 2007, the CDC reports.

Duran said he plans to introduce an urgency item on Monday to appropriate $20,000 for vaccines, for those who can’t afford them otherwise.

“I think the county health department is dragging its feet and we don’t have the luxury of waiting,” said Duran.

The city is also partnering with gay advocacy groups to raise awareness by posting notices in West Hollywood gyms.

“For a lot of our younger community members, 35 and under, this is the first time they’ve lost a friend who is young and healthy,” Duran said. “A lot of us over 40 are having déjà vu, having lived through the AIDS epidemic.”

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Great white sharks are a rarity in Florida, so when a shark ate a butterflied bonito on a kite line Tuesday morning off Fort Lauderdale, the crew on Hooked Up figured it had to be a bull shark.

It wasn’t until almost two hours later that Capt. Greg McCauley realized that his four anglers had been fighting a great white estimated at 131/2 feet and 800-1,000 pounds.

“No one knew what it was until we got it to the boat,” said Capt. Taco Perez, who owns the Fort Lauderdale charter boat. “I’ve been fishing here since 1969 and Greg and I saw one three years ago.

“It’s so darn uncommon. We’re pretty excited about it.”

Hooked Up was fishing in 180 feet off Port Everglades Inlet, which Perez said “is less than a mile and a quarter from the beach.” Anglers Harry Andro, Josh Shailer and Jared and Tanner Elliott, who all play baseball for Tallahassee Community College, had already caught a sailfish, some dolphin and two nice kingfish when the shark was hooked.

The men took turns fighting the shark on a Penn International 80 with a 19-wire leader. During the fight, the hook pulled free from the shark’s mouth and snagged on one of its pectoral fins, which prolonged the fight. Perez said the great white was released in good shape.

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David Letterman has vented his frustration at the arguments against same-sex marriage as the issue continues to dominate headlines.

Last week, the US Supreme Court held two days of oral arguments on marriage equality issues.

David Letterman sat down with gay MSNBC news anchor Rachel Maddow earlier this week to discuss the cases and was not shy about discussing his dislike of anti-gay discrimination.

“I’m just sick and tired, and I think it has really crossed the line of being nonsense,” he said to Maddow.

“This ongoing, politically nuanced, religiously nuanced discussion of gay marriage, gay rights. It is absolute stupidity.

“Humans have the right to do what humans do, that’s it. End of  story. There’s no argument. There’s no exceptions. Humans have rights and they get to do what humans get to do. Case closed. Good night.”

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Last year, a good friend who lives in New York City asked me if I recalled he had wanted to introduce me to a certain bartender. Of course I remember, I replied. Then the shocker, reminiscent of AIDS in the early ‘80s: My friend told me he suddenly died, but from meningitis.   Kyle was only 32 years old. Then another shocker: My friend said bacterial meningitis is transmitted through kissing.

Meningitis, the Centers for Disease Control reports, “can spread through the exchange of respiratory and throat secretions.” That’s kissing. People make the mistake that the most common symptoms of meningitis (neck pain, high fever, and a rash) is the flu.

Let me share with you what The New York Times says about the NYC meningitis outbreak: “It is a variant of a disease that can go from a fever and headache to a galloping rash and then to death within hours — so quickly that some victims have been found dead in bed before they could even get to a doctor. In addition, many men who are at risk may not identify themselves as either gay or bisexual, even though they are having sex with other men, health officials said. So it is hard to reach out to them through gay organizations, and it is hard to get them to come forward to be vaccinated.”

Since 2010, 22 men in New York City have become infected with the disease, and 7 died.    More than half, 12 of the 22, were living with HIV. There’s a distinct possibility meningitis could develop into a major outbreak, NYC health officials warn, killing many more. So far this year, four men already are infected with meningitis. New York City’s health department is recommending vaccinations for men, regardless of HIV status, who regularly have intimate contact with other men. In December, San Francisco Health officials went as far as to recommend that gay men traveling to NYC get vaccinated.

Source: Dave Purdy via The Washington Blade

Dr. Jay Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control at New York City’s health department, told The New York Times, “It’s been sort of marching through the community in a way that makes us very scared.”

I contacted the D.C. Department of Health and received the following statement from Dr. Saul Levin, Interim Director: “The District of Columbia Department of Health closely monitors meningitis cases in the District. While we have not seen an increase from meningitis, as a public health official and physician, I strongly recommend people living with HIV or those that travel to the New York area frequently consult with their physician regarding a meningitis vaccination. If you develop a headache, fever or a stiff neck please seeks medical attention immediately.”

Back in the early ‘80s before the Internet, health officials would rely on fliers, many posted in bars and clubs and men’s bathrooms, to inform the gay community about AIDS. But today it’s the Internet that people depend on to meet others.

Every gay or straight social dating website and app should assume some responsibility for the health of their customers. The social media outlets could reach thousands at little or no cost and great efficiency. They could start by posting instant pop-up “Health Alerts” and provide easy access links where they can find further health information. This would help save lives.

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Anderson Cooper said that “being gay is a blessing” and he “couldn’t be more proud” of his sexuality in an exclusive chat with HuffPost Gay Voices Editor-at-Large Michelangelo Signorile.

The award-winning CNN anchor, 45, joined Signorile’s SiriusXM OutQ program from Rome, where he is covering the Vatican conclave. In what was deemed as Cooper’s only full-length interview ahead of his scheduled appearance at the 2013 GLAAD Media Awards in New York on March 16, the CNN anchor spoke at length about coming out both personally and professionally, being honored with the prestigious Vito Russo Award and the pain of his brother’s suicide.

“I’ve always known I was gay from the time I was a little kid,” Cooper, who came out in an email to Andrew Sullivan last summer, recalled. “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t aware of it, even before I knew what it was or the name of it.”

Of receiving the Vito Russo Award, Cooper noted the honor has “tremendous meaning,” adding, “I certainly don’t think I’m worthy of it, but if it helps GLAAD and if it helps have more people know who Vito Russo is, then I think it is certainly worthwhile.”

After touching on a number of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) relevant stories he’s covered throughout his career, Cooper also opened up about his brother Carter’s 1988 suicide, saying it influenced his own decision to pursue journalism as a profession.

“If you feel like an outsider, you tend to observe things a lot more,” he said. “Early on I felt very much like an observer, because I knew I was gay, I knew I was somehow different.”

He continued, “If you learn the language of loss early, I think you seek out others who have experienced the same thing, who speak that same language of loss.”

Of learning that Madonna would be presenting the Vito Russo Award to him, Cooper said he was “stunned,” noting that he was a “huge fan” of the Material Girl’s music.

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