boy culture

Fleshback

From the book When Cameras Go Crazy—Culture Club (St. Martin's Press, 1983) by Kasper de Graaf and Malcolm Garrett, Boy George with his (apparently anatomically gifted) brother Gerald. 

Beauty's Where You Find It

Australian aerialist Arian Levanael opens up to Outrate (site's ads NSFW) about his unusual occupation: 

"Beauty is all around us. It's important to find beauty in everything. So it's a blessing definitely, a blessing to be able to see it and find it...I don't look at myself and think, 'Gee I'm hot!' or 'Wow - I'm really beautiful!' That would just be weird."

I'd Rather Wear A Thong Than Go Naked

If you haven't seen Bethenny Frankel's PETA ad—complete with ludicrous PhotoShopping of her face and ass—WWTDD takes it apart memorably here. Meanwhile, above is an iPhone snapshot of the behind-the-scenes making of the photo, which is proof that too much retouching is sometimes detrimental—I can't stand her on any level, but she looks fucking fantastic. Still, if you're posing for an "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" ad, maybe you should think twice about your commitment when you're posing in a thong that will be 'Shopped out later on...

Single Prayer Health Care

The current health care bill is good, not great; but if for no other reason, it should be passed because of the people who are most passionately opposed to it. (And there are plenty of other reasons for it to pass, too.) So now that I am back on board with hoping like hell is passes in some form...will a Democrat (Nelson) keep it from doing so over religion (his views on abortion)?

A Happy And A Merry

I've been deluged with baskets filled with chocolate and savory treats for the holidays, yet Gods of Football sent the best basket of the year with their Merry Christmas e-card. More of them here.

Justify My Jewels

Thanks to Felix.

Cool Places?

Or not?

Thanks to P.S.

Eff Me Baby One More Time

According to PREFmag (Novembre-Decembre 2009), Carsten Andersson is "the new Britney Spears of porn!" I'm not sure what that means, but there is more of it to consider after the jump...

One In A Brazilian

Davi Costa Soares (all of 24) is the coverguy for PREFmag (Novembre-Decembre 2009) is a rare combination of sexy and beautiful. Oh, wait, it's not rare...it just never gets old. Many more after the jump...

It's No Stretch: He's Perfect

Roberto Bolle as seen in Italian Vanity Fair (9 Dicembre 2009):

Dying Old

I have a bad habit of thinking about people out of the blue who wind up dying shortly thereafter. Jennifer Jones made it another year after I remembered her and blogged about her with some affection here. She was 90, a ripe old age, but it's never old enough, is it?

A Single SAG

An ubersexy new clip from A Single Man is just out (see after the jump), just in time for the Screen Actors' Guild nominations (yay, Colin! aw, no Julianne...), which are also after the jump, the only gasp-inducing shocker being the absence of Up in the Air from the ensemble acting category (the equivalent of Best Picture) despite honors for Clooney, Farmiga (who was really great) and Kendrick...

"What Are You Doing?"

 

The Charge Of The Dark Ages Brigade

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Highway to Health - Last Tea Party Protest of the Year
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Note: Even if you don't read my post, please click on all the hyperlinked names for truly informative, up-to-the-second opinions on health care.

 Health care is such a clusterfuck to the sickhouse at this point and yes, I blame President Obama for tactical mistakes as well as selling out. He's all boxed in now, so I can't really blame him for wanting SOMETHING...except he's the one who boxed himself in. So I blame him more than convenient villain Joe Lieberman. And it's depressing. I'm not sure where I stand—and I'm a pretty opinionated guy!—on whether to just fucking pass it as it and hope to improve it later (smart as hell people like Paul Krugman and Nate Silver and Jay Rockefeller are in this camp), refuse to pass it until it's been further tweaked (smart as hell people like Markos Moulitsas, Howard Dean, SEIU leader Andy Stern and potentially Bernie Sanders seem to be in this camp) or kill it and start over from scratch, preferably using reconciliation, Tea Bagger distractions and fickle poll plunges be damned (smart as hell people like diarist mcjoan from DailyKos are in this camp). All have valid points.

I think if I were a senator, I'd vote for it and then push like hell to continue working on health care, because it's for damn sure not what we were promised and not enough as an ending point.

But when you realize that the people AGAINST ALL HEALTH CARE REFORM are just against it because they loathe Obama, think he's foreign Manchurian candidate Socialist and think taxpayers should be up in arms literally) over the good things the Democrats are up to, it gets hard to come down on the side of killing the bill. Like Laura Ingraham, who compares health care reform to the Holocaust (above) or Michele Bachmann, who stupidly compares its combatants to the Charge of the Light Brigade...which, um, didn't work out well (below):

Maybe this is why—even in the face of some unpopular decisions and a bad economy—voters seem to be torn between The People In Charge Right Now and the alternative, a party of buffoons, corporatists, racists, idiots and failed veep candidates who childishly black out the names of their former running mates on visors just to get press. Because the answer to the unspoken question is, "Yeah, actually, things really could get worse...if Republicans take control."

The Homosexual Gourmand

Hugh Jackman (above, in Life & Style's December 28, 2009, issue; below, from OK!'s December 28, 2009, issue) shows off his perfection why working out and having fun in the sun: 

Ryan Reynolds is one of People's (December 28, 2009) "Most Intriguing '09" personalities. Hell with that, he's just plain cute:

More after the jump...

The Year In Male Nipples

TV Notas (Diciembre 22, 2009) offers its 2009 annual, filled with events of the year. Most interesting to me are its full-page tributes to the year's sexiest stars, like Pedro Moreno (above) and William Levy (below): 

After the jump, a bulgetastic shot of Gabriel Soto...

"I Got Rid Of All My Colin Firth Movies In Case They Consider Them Erotica"

Kurt Iswarienko shoots suave Colin Firth for Manhattan's December 2009 issue. Inside, the A Single Man star, who seems bound for an Oscar nomination, says he's not too invested in this possibility:

"I'm too old to think this is some great new dawn for me. It's not. It will be what it is. Perhaps people will see this movie, or maybe they won't. Perhaps we'll win awards, but maybe we won't. If I had to make a guess, I'd say I will carry on doing what I did before. That's what happened when things felt special in the past, and it's what will happen again."

 

Balance and reason...so dreammmy!

Of the film's gay content, which has been as analyzed as a kid in ex-gay therapy, Firth says:

"You can argue that this movie is about the love that dare not speak its name, but that sounds too banal. It's really about sexual feeling; it's about isolation; it's about intimacy; it's about loss. Why differentiate between feeling and gay feeling? It's all human feeling."

More images after the jump...and caution: That man can wear a sweater...

I Need A Disguise

Funny how things come up over and over out of nowhere once they come up—during a spirited debate about Madonna's plastic surgery, a commenter pointed out that I hadn't commented on Belinda Carlisle's. My point was that while I really like Belinda, I'm not as fascinated by her so it's not going to be a daily subject. 

However, in the same way that Sophia Loren's recent comments about surgery caught my so-far-un-lifted eye, so do Belinda's in the new GT (December 2009).

Asked what question she wishes people would stop asking, La Carlisle says:

"Have you had plastic surgery? It's an annoying one. So what if I did? I mean I haven't—I have had botox of course, who hasn't and that shouldn't be any secret, but plastic surgery no I haven't."

Perhaps this is not as outrageous a statement as the same coming from septuagenarian Sophia, but it still doesn't pass the smell test. (PS: Do people really go up to her and ask???)

Less controversially, she's asked if she has a fave Madonna record and surprised me with her indulgence:

"I liked Holiday. Her first album was amazing. I mean I think she's amazing anyway but her first album was the best."

Fleshback

Can we get a "Jeers" out of TV Guide (December 21, 2009—January 3, 2010) for the Dumb & Dumber haircut on Mark Harmon, one of the hottest men alive in the '80s and beyond??? 

UPDATE: Inspired by a commenter, here are some shots of Harmon in his Speedo with noticeable bulge on the right side of the picture:

Homage To Moi

Another candidate for what past Madonna look Madonna is seemingly re-channeling (with thanks to Walter)—her 1990 overblown sexpot look, one of my faves of all time. Some commenters have mentioned "I Want You," which I can see, though the makeup is entirely different: 

Poor Judgment

Not a big fan of loser vandals, to be sure, but...EIGHT YEARS with no chance of parole for vandalizing buildings to the tune of $7,300 plus a penny-ante pot charge? Insanity.

I'm Burnin', I'm Burnin', I'm Burnin' For You

Marco Dapper's cover shoot for the new issue of Mate is pretty cool and very sexy if a bit too literal an homage to Steven Klein's work with Justin Timberlake for Arena Homme + from years ago. 

Anna Madge-nani

Now THAT'S Italians Do It Better!

Madonna's new shots for Dolce & Gabbana (how many designers can she plug? Just get it over with and endorse The Fancy Clothes Advisory Board!) are really interesting—to me, the exact opposite of her last PhotoShop till ya drop campaign with Louis V. They're definitely going for Anna Magnani (look her up, young'uns!). 

The above image is Magnani's head on Madonna's body—gotcha! UPDATE: Apparently, less Magnani and more Monica Vitti:

I can see it, of course, but I still prefer Magnani. 

Keep reading for THREE new D&G Madonna images...

Fleshback

From a 1994 Japanese-only book on the life and work of Michael Paré of Eddie and the Cruisers fame.

The Shelter Of My Mother

Belinda Carlisle poses with her out gay teenaged son, James Duke Mason, for Attitude's January 2010 issue: 

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Madonna Culpa

Credit where it's due...Madonna looked amazing at the Nine premiere! Not to mention Lourdes. I love this look, which reminds me of this:

Many more pix here. I still want to be sure she leaves her face alone from now on. But I grant her permission (<---for those unfortunate Madonna's fans who are humorless, this is an example of what you lack) to continue with what appears to be a newfound spray-tan appreciation. 

Now, a more important question: Why wasn't she IN Nine???

UPDATE: More from Broadway World:

Maybe Getty Images retouches prior to releasing images? Or it's a bad shot. 

Bonus: Hilarious UK ads for Celebration that I somehow missed when they came out last month:

My Oral History

I think I liked Reagan for a time in the '80s, but I was already a firebrand liberal by 1987, when I wrote this screed to my local paper (The Flint Journal) about Oral Roberts, who at the time was saying he needed to raise $8 million that year or God would call him home. (He later claimed to have raised $9.1 million.) 

Roberts went home today. As far as I'm concerned, it was a welcome deveopment because he'd already overstayed his welcome.

"I'm A Real [Artist]"

Love her, but hate this. It happens to ALL OF THEM. But it's still annoying. She could at least deflect the questions on her own. More here.

This is more like it:

Which so reminds me of this:

 

A Capitol Idea

Washington, D.C., now has marriage equality, thanks to an 11-2 Council vote. The only thing in the way is if the House decides to block it—which ain't gonna happen. Just another aspect of having Democrats in control that is better than the alternative. Because can you imagine if this guy were Speaker of the House???

Of course, Maggie Gallagher thinks she can overturn this one, too. She can't and won't, but will no doubt roll around naked on a bed of all the money this will help her collect.

Not So Fast...

 ...I was thinking we'd be better off accepting the Senate bill and moving on, but now Howard Dean—whose opinion I respect on this subject ahead of most anyone's—is saying we should kill the bill and go back to the House and start reconciliation. That would be the bold, "Fuck yeah!" thing to do. I'm not sure President Obama has the guts to do that at this point in time—he needs closure because he's had a year of seething hatred from the right and six or more months of incredible impatience and hysteria over dashed expectations from the left. It doesn't help him that the economy, while improving, is still considered in the dumps, something I think he's helped to improve, albeit imperfectly.

ABBA Rocks

This year's Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductees are: ABBA, The Stooges (they performed for Madonna last year, which all but guaranteed they'd win entry), The Hollies, Jimmy Cliff and Genesis. Poor Phil Collins can't drum anymore, but perhaps will sing. ABBA will be interesting...I know they have sworn off ever reforming, but do they even appear together? Ever? (P.S. Still no Donna Summer.) 

Golden Globes: Starfucking With An Accent!

The Golden Globes are always fun as quasi-Oscar predictors, and because the Hollywood Foreign Press is unabashedly pro-star. They love giving nominations (and even awards) to big names not known for their acting chops, especially when those big names stretch ever so slightly. (Case in point: Madonna was nominated for and won a Globe, though went on not to even get an Oscar nomination.)

This is why someone like Julia Roberts gets nominated for something like Duplicity (um, exactly!) and why they adore giving wins to newcomers whose shows have made a big splash (remembering Keri Russell winning for Felicity, America Ferrera, etc.)

The year's biggest shock for me was the failure of Mariah Carey to get a nomination. She was never, ever Oscar-nomination-bound, not really, but the Globes seemed a possibility for her. Guess her international profile isn't as big as her profile. (This is a breast joke, not a fat joke, and as such is an expression of my civility toward a figure—in both senses—I dislike but whom did well in a movie that was my first or second fave of 2009.)

The complete list of Golden Globes nominations—my comments, if any, follow each category...

One Of The Goode Guys

Matthew Goode of A Single Man tells The Advocate, of Weinstein Co.'s alleged "de-gaying" of the film's marketing:

"There are a lot of people around the world who are quite homophobic, so I suppose they're just trying to not put people off and get as broad an audience as possible. If it gets more people into the theater and therefore possibly changes their views, then that can only be a good thing."

On the film itself being called "not a gay film":

"I kind of agree with [Tom Ford]. He wasn't making it as a political piece, and the theme of love and loss is fairly universal...You can call it a gay film, but what's really nice is that it shows the intimacy between two adult males as absolutely normal and exactly the same as heterosexual intimacy."

I agree with the first quote, and the second is something I've come to understand if not agree with—some people seem to think of "gay" as meaning Harvey Milk and politics and protests, whereas I just think it's about being gay. And if A Single Man shows that being gay is normal and the same as being straight (and it does)...well, that is gay!

Being Less Sick Isn't Being Well, But It's Still An Upgrade

I'm pissed at the loss of the public option, I'm pissed at the loss of the Medicare buy-in, but maybe—just maybe—I'm way too pissed at the fact that one numbskull, greedy, vindictive bastard (Joe Lieberman) caused all of this. It was dispiriting reading the rage on progressive blogs over the news that the White House wanted to go along with pretty much all of Lieberman's demands in order to pass HCR. However, I think there is a point where disappointment or even justifiable anger turns back on us and hurts us much more in the end than the item causing the disappointment or justifiable anger.

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All's Faris

Superfine Sean Faris tells Men's Health (January/February 2010): 

"Anybody can be fit. But you have to be patient. Give your body some time to adjust."

It's always best to let your body adjust immediately following a big shock. But wait, is that a quote from Sean's interview or from the same issue's story "Anatomy of a Booty Call"?

More of the physically perfect Sean (sorry, I've been in love with him for a while...you wouldn't understand it...) as shot by Art Streiber after the jump...

Lard Magic

I am a fan of gross-out, disturbing commercials because let's face it—it's hard to get people to pay attention. This New York example—which isn't about what the image might suggest—is one of the best yet...

LIE-berman

Joe Lieberman was for the Medicare buy-in before he was WAY against it. Total douche.

Meanwhile, here is a funny and insightful explanation for Lieberman's actions—not cunning, but idiocy.

You Are What You Don't Eat

I just finished Jonathan Safran Foer's excellent book Eating Animals—which has as much to say about people (who are literally eating animals) as it does about the creatures we do and do not devour.

 

I've always eaten meat, and aside from occasional troubling stories about the humanity, for lack of a more accurate term, of pigs or of the presumably isolated abuses visited on cows and chickens who are destined to be din-din, my past concept of eating meat vs. going vegetarian was mired more in thoughts of taste, weight loss and health than in animal welfare. I would describe myself as being an animal lover, and as being fascinated by and respectful of the animals I don't particularly love, but as having had a sort of resignation that people are going to eat meat, always have and always will, so whatever needs to happen between the cow goes moo to pass the ketchup needs to happen.

Over the years, my thoughts on animals and our relationship to them have changed somewhat. I always thought of real fur as flamboyantly unnecessary (but still do wear leather and own a lambskin rug) and while finding the antics of PETA extreme have rooted for the serious animalistas who've soiled the mink coats of the rich with blood.

I thought a lot harder about animals once I got my two dogs. I grew up with a cat and a dog, so it's not like I didn't already love the darn things. But almost immediately upon taking home the tiny, guinea-piggish Shih Tzu whom we would name Hyphen and Sash, it seemed clear to me how bizarre it is that we care (deeply) about some animals and don't care (deeply) about others.

It makes many of us enraged to think of people eating cats and dogs, yet pigs don't get a pass despite being so close to humans in their anatomy and seemingly as smart and filled with personality as anything any human's ever taken in, fed and loved.

Spoiler Alert

"Don't worry, I'll always have your back."

Of all the things progressives bemoan about the Obama Administration's learning curve nothing—nothing—tops its early and continuing failure to marginalize Joe Lieberman. Why they haven't vilified him to the point where he has no choice but to either become the Republican that he is or cave on health care is beyond me. If he were a Republican, then at least his bullshit would not be newsworthy.

The latest? Without even waiting for the CBO score to see if the already watered-down current HRC bill is fiscally responsible, he told Harry Reid face-to-face that he is against the ghost of a public option it still contains AND against Medicare at age 55 to the point where he won't just vote against it but would support a Republican filibuster. 

At some point, one of three things is going to HAVE to happen:

(1) We give up and let the Republicans sink health care reform, then spend the next 10 months and the following two years screaming bloody murder about the party of "NO" that killed health care reform.

(2) We give up and force parts of this through using reconciliation, which I've read about and understand to be no picnic, risking the ire of Independents, then spend the next 10 months and the following two years listening to the right screaming bloody murder about the party incapable of taking "NO" for an answer.

(3) We continue giving in until the final health care reform bill passed is completely devoid of any real reform, which is all Lieberman would accept since he's corrupted by the industry and is continuing to campaign for John McCain's long-dead presidential bid.

Or someone punches him in the face. I guess that is option four.

Some Action

Eric Bana covers the new Men's Health Mexico: 

Gerard Butler stars as the coverguy for Men's Health UK (December 2009), after the jump...

No Way To Control It, It's Totally Automatic

I've blogged in the past about the band Electric Valentine in reference to their cover of Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts." Now, they're offering their debut album Automatic free. 

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Buju Bye Bye

Lowlife gay basher (both in theory and practice) Buju Banton might have just gotten a Grammy nomination, but he also just got nabbed for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilos of cocaine. Karma may be a bitch, but she's also a queen. 

P.S. Update to the commenter who said I'm an "idiot" because I used the above image of Buju Banton which is not, apparently, him, here is an image of Buju:

I've used several common pictures of this ass-clown so was looking for a different one. I Google-imaged it. If that's not him, and I take it it's not, I'm hardly an idiot for thinking it is. It's not like the differences are night and day. No, all black people don't look alike to me, but the guy in the first picture doesn't look remarkably unlike Buju Banton. But also, if an error is made, is it really necessary to point it out by calling the person who made it an idiot? I remember when people made editorial mistakes and were politely informed and they quickly corrected their errors.

hOUsTon

Houston has become the largest city in the United States to elect an out mayor (remember, I said "out"—otherwise, New York did that ages ago...and more than once?) now that Democrat Annise Parker has defeated Gene Locke. Locke had resorted to outrageously anti-gay mailers in the final weeks before the vote, but was schooled by Parker's own mailers pointing out his even darker past—as a lawyer.

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Diss Me, Guido

Thuh thinkuh.

Time says that the word "guido" is as offensive to Italians as "the N word among African-Americans, the F word among gays, the C word among Chinese-Americans." Really??? I don't think so. I don't see Italians being kept down and discriminated against, so perhaps that is why their word doesn't seem as big of a deal to me (or to most of them, Alyssa Milano be damned, I'd bet).  

Also, I would guess the N word is offensive to more than just black people, and the C word (not the one women sometimes loathe) is used indiscriminately to slur all Asians, not just Chinese. The F word, like the N word but in a much, much broader way, has more leeway when it's used by gay people and their supporters to describe themselves.

But guido? I guess living in NYC and hearing it so often I thought it was more like JAP—it could ruffle some feathers, particularly of those it's used to describe, but it's often embraced for humorous or even explicitly descriptive purposes.

To me, it's perfectly descriptive of one type of Italian guy, in the way gangsta conjures up an image of a certain kind of black character or JAP describes the princess. There are other versions of this inoffensive sort of categorization—WASP comes to mind, or queen (not faggot) for a certain kind of gay person. All could be totally offensive in context, but none are, IMHO, inherently offensive.

Not that I'd ever watch the show, but I bet a chunk of its audience are the people its critics claim it's offending.

Grin And Bear It

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