From the (UK) Daily Mail on the 6th, a feature on the Rocky Horror Picture Show, in “Let’s Do The Time Warp again! Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry reunite with Rocky Horror Picture Show cast for 40 year anniversary of cult comedy-horror musical” (a long and informative title), which begins:

It started as a quirky art-house film that was panned by critics – but grew to be one of the most-loved cult phenomenons of our time.

And cast of the The Rocky Horror Picture Show movie got together for the first time in 25 years to celebrate the 1975 camp classics’ 40th anniversary for a special issue of Entertainment Weekly.

And the stars reminisced about being part of the musical comedy horror classic in an interview with NBC’s Today on Tuesday.

A still from early in the movie:

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Camp classic: Dr Frank-N-Furter, played by Tim Curry, greets Susan Sarandon’s Janet and Barry Bostwick’s Brad in The Rocky Horror Picture Show movie, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary

A wonderful show, created by Richard O’Brien, who also plays Riff Raff in the movie (and who, not entirely coincidentally, sees himself as 70% male and 30% female, as transgender or perhaps third sex). A music comedy + horror movie — not the only one, but surely the high point of the genre.

Now a bit on the movie, which will take us (via Tim Curry) to the tv show Criminal Minds, of all places.

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From Wikipedia:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 musical comedy horror film directed by Jim Sharman. The screenplay was written by Sharman and Richard O’Brien based on the 1973 musical stage production, The Rocky Horror Show, music, book and lyrics by O’Brien. The production is a satirical tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through early 1970s.

The story centers on a young engaged couple whose car breaks down in the rain near a castle where they seek a telephone to call for help. The castle is occupied by strangers in elaborate costumes celebrating an annual convention. They discover the head of the house is Frank N. Furter, an apparent mad scientist who actually is an alien transvestite who creates a living muscle man [Rocky Horror] in his laboratory. The couple is seduced separately by the mad scientist and eventually released by the servants who take control.

Back in 2010 I was led to a discussion of the movie, via the topic of Filled Pause Insertion, as illustrated by this event during the performance of Frank N. Furter’s great song “Sweet Transvestite”:

“I see you shiver with antici …[long pause]… PAtion” — long pause for audience to shout out “SAY IT!”

On to the piece from yesterday’s Entertainment Weekly on “Where Are They Now?”, tracking the actors from the 1975 movie:

Tim Curry: Dr. Frank-N-Furter; Susan Sarandon: Janet Weiss; Barry Bostwick: Brad Majors; Peter Hinwood: Rocky Horror; Richard O’Brien: Riff Raff; Patricia Quinn: Magenta; Nell Campbell: Columbia; Meat Loaf (Michael Aday): Eddie; Charles Gray: The Criminologist; Jonathan Adams: Dr. Everettt V. Scott

A digression on Peter Hinwood as Rocky Horror, whose function in the movie was to prance about in nothing but revealing golden briefs, looking gorgeous. Here he is working out with some of Frank N. Furter’s frou-frou gym weights:

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Now more on Tim Curry. From Wikipedia:

Timothy James “Tim” Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor, singer, and composer, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film, and television productions, often portraying villainous roles or character parts. Curry first rose to prominence with his portrayal of Dr Frank-N-Furter in the 1975 cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London and 1974 Los Angeles stage productions of The Rocky Horror Show.

Curry garnered further acclaim for his film and television roles; as Rooster in the 1982 film adaptation of Annie, as Darkness in the fantasy film Legend, as Wadsworth in the mystery comedy film Clue and as Nigel Thornberry on the animated television series The Wild Thornberrys. His other stage roles include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the 1980 Broadway production of Amadeus and King Arthur in Broadway and West End productions of Spamalot from 2005 to 2007.

Curry’s been a hard-working actor on stage, in the movies, and on tv. Including taking a very creepy role in the tv series Criminal Minds:

Billy Flynn, a.k.a. “The Prince of Darkness”, was a prolific serial killer-turned-spree killer and rapist (and later an abductor) who first appeared in Season Five of Criminal Minds. (link)

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On the series, from Wikipedia:

Criminal Minds is an American police procedural television series created by Jeff Davis. It premiered on September 22, 2005, on the broadcast network CBS … Criminal Minds is set primarily at the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) based in Quantico, Virginia, and in accordance with the show’s plot, Criminal Minds differs from many procedural dramas by focusing on profiling the criminal, called the unsub or “unknown subject”, rather than the actual crime itself. The focal point of the series follows a talented group of FBI profilers who set about catching various criminals through behavioral profiling. The plot focuses on the team working cases and the personal lives of the characters, depicting the hardened life and statutory requirements of a profiler.

When the series premiered in September 2005, it featured FBI Agents Jason Gideon [Mandy Patinkin], Aaron Hotchner [Thomas Gibson], Elle Greenaway [Lola Glaudini], Derek Morgan [Shemar Moore], Spencer Reid [Matthew Gray Gubler], Jennifer Jareau (J.J.) [A.J. Cook], and Penelope Garcia [Kirsten Vangness]. For season one, Garcia was not a main cast member but rather had a recurring role despite appearing in most of the episodes.

… At the start of season three, Mandy Patinkin announced his departure from the show, because he was deeply disturbed by the content depicted in the show. … Joe Mantegna replaced him as David Rossi, a best-selling author and FBI agent who comes out of retirement.

Except for the Patinkin-Mantegna shift in the head agent slot, the male actors have been stable, but the female actors other than Vangness have churned a good bit.

Moore has appeared on this blog as a notable hunk, pleasing to look at. Gubler is also something of a hunk, who’s worked as a male model; I hope to post about him soon.

The cast from early on, with Patinkin out in front:

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Flanked by Gibson (on his right, our left) band Gubler, with, in order, behind Gibson, Moore and Vangness.

Then from later in the series (now in its 11th season):

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Now with Gibson and Mantegna out in front together, Moore again backing Gibson on the right, and Gubler and Vangness at the rear.

Now, we’ll go out on a musical note: the “Time Warp” from Rocky Horror (featuring Riff Raff and Magenta):

(A posting drenched in the contemplation of the male body and man-man sex, but with linguistic points along the way. Use your judgment.)

It starts with a Channel 1 Releasing (C1R) ad for their current fire sale on gay porn, featuring the flick Full Service:

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A remarkable photo. There’s the big-ol’ phallic symbol, that huge gas pump nozzle (in red, indicating that it’s engorged) that Brad Phillips is about to wield on Butch Taylor, both of their muscular tanned bodies drenched in sex sweat (well, covered in glistening glycerin — the film is from 1986, in what I like to think of as the Golden Days of Gay Glycerin). This shot is technically not X-rated, since Phillips’s hard cock is concealed by Taylor’s shoulder and Taylor’s fist wrapped around his own hard cock is concealed by the hoses.

On to the film, to nozzles as phallic symbols, and to various glycerin-related topics, ending up in the world of bodybuilders and fighters, all in posing oils.

Full Service. From Catalina Video in 1986 (30 years ago!), with cast of Brad Carlton, Chris Dano, Chris Ladd, Butch Taylor, George Madera, Jake Corbin, Lou Cass, Michael Britten, Tim Lowe, and Brad Phillips. The studio’s blurb:

[Director] Josh Eliot’s second feature for Catalina stars some of the hottest porn stars of the 80’s and 90’s! When the local bank threatens to shut down Brad Phillip’s [note unusual answer to the question of how to indicate the possessive of Phillips – not Phillips’s or Phillips’, but Phillip’s] gas station, his fellow grease monkeys team up to do any and everything to save it. A great cast including Tim Lowe, Lou Cass, Jake Corbin and Chris Dano make this gem a collector’s favorite.

(In #1, Phillips is above Taylor, he’s dark-haired to Taylor’s blonde, and he’s wielding the tool, so we assume that Phillips is t to Taylor’s b, but I haven’t seen the movie, and scene descriptions suggest that Taylor tops Phillips.)

Nozzles. NOAD2 on the noun nozzle:

a cylindrical or round spout at the end of a pipe, hose, or tube, used to control a jet of gas or liquid. ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from nose + –le2 (forming nouns having or originally having a diminutive sense)

So a nozzle is a little nose (though actual nozzles are mostly bigger than actual noses), and the frequent use of nozzles as phallic symbols is another instance of the recurrent nose-penis metaphor. Some previous occurrences of the visual figure on my blogs: first, with a gas pump nozzle, as in #1, then with other nozzles, in particular fireman’s hose nozzles. (Note: both gas station guys and firemen are icons of working-class masculinity, so especially suited for phallic contexts.). Another gas pump nozzle, which appeared on AZBlogX (on 9/15/10, #3 in “Phallicity: not at all innocent”):

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This is an ad for Diesel jeans, frankly homoerotic, with its emphasis on sexiness, plus “sean not included” (the ad doesn’t do caps). Meanwhile, Sean is a shirtless hunk with the challenging glare common to male models and hustlers.

On to firehoses. One nice illustration in “Phallicity: the symbolic and the real world, joined” of 9/5/10 on AZBlogX, not repeated here because it has a couple of actual penises in it. But then on this blog on 2/14/15, #2 in “A forest of symbols in a time of love”, a vintage Valentine with a fireman squirting water from his hose, oh my.

Finally, a household sprayer, the Mighty Blaster fireman’s nozzle, in a phallic-reference posting on this blog on 4/17/15.

Glycerin. The guys in #1 are tanned, which helps to show off their bodies, and they’re glistening with simulated sweat, which is supposed to accentuate their muscles and convey that they are sweating up storms in sexual arousal. This artificial, that is, fake, sweat is in fact glycerin, sprayed on them by the staff at Cataline Video.

Wikipedia on glycerin:

Glycerol … (also called glycerine or glycerin [on AmE glycerin vs. BrE glycerine, see this posting]) is a simple polyol (sugar alcohol) compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is widely used in pharmaceutical formulations.

The article goes on to catalogue an amazing collection of uses for the substance:

… In food and beverages, glycerol serves as a humectant, solvent, and sweetener, and may help preserve foods.

… Glycerol is used in medical and pharmaceutical and personal care preparations, mainly as a means of improving smoothness, providing lubrication and as a humectant. It is found in allergen immunotherapies, cough syrups, elixirs and expectorants, toothpaste, mouthwashes, skin care products, shaving cream, hair care products, soaps and water-based personal lubricants [on (sexual) lubes, see below].

… Glycerol is a component of glycerin soap. Essential oils are added for fragrance. This kind of soap is used by people with sensitive, easily irritated skin because it prevents skin dryness with its moisturizing properties.

… Glycerol can be used as a laxative when introduced into the rectum in suppository or small-volume (2–10 ml) (enema) form; it irritates the anal mucosa and induces a hyperosmotic effect [This irritation is relevant to the use of glycerin in lubes; see below.]

… Glycerol was historically used as an anti-freeze for automotive applications before being replaced by ethylene glycol, which has a lower freezing point.

… Glycerol is used to produce nitroglycerin, which is an essential ingredient of various explosives such as dynamite, gelignite, and propellants like cordite.

… Glycerol is used by the film industry when filming scenes involving water in order to stop areas drying out too quickly. [And in fake sweat, which is where we came in; more below.]

From a Lubezilla site, which is directed at women:

Personal lubricants provide a smooth glide that can make your sexual activities more enjoyable. There are many different types of lubricants on the market, which fall into the following main categories: water-based, oil-based, silicone-based and hybrid (water/silicone based). The most popular personal lubricants contain glycerin — also called glycerine or glycerol — which is a water-based lubricant that is extremely versatile.

For anal intercourse, silicon-based or water-based lubes are used, to avoid degrading latex condoms, since they are petroleum-free. The water-based lubes are also usually glycerin-free, because glycerin can irritate the anal mucosa (see above).

Now on fake sweat for filming. You can mix glycerin and water in a spray bottle for homemade artificial sweat; 1 part glycerin to 2 parts water is one standard formula, but other proportions make more runny or less runny sweat. However, some people have a contact allergy to glycerin, so film-makers inquire about this before spraying glycerin on their actors.

Commercial preparations are also available. Several sources carry Mehron brand Sweat and Tears:

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The included brush allows you to dab the stuff on to make tears. Or you can put it in a spray bottle for bigger projects.

Oils. On one discussion group, a commenter suggested spraying PAM on for fake sweat. Wikipedia tells us that

PAM is a cooking spray currently owned and distributed by ConAgra Foods. Its main ingredient is canola oil.

But the stuff has a scent, and all cooking sprays have a propellant, which has no chlorofluorocarbons, but does have some combination of food-grade alcohol, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, or propane — something many people would like to avoid.

But not to worry. That shiny look can be created by specially formulated oils applied by spray bottles, by hand, or even by roller, as in this photo of a Mexican bodybuilder getting oiled up for competition:

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Bodybuilers use these posing oils to show off the muscular definition they have worked so hard to achieve (and fighters to make their muscles seem larger and fiercer). As one bodybuilding site shouts:

POSING OILS
SHOW OFF YOUR MUSCLES THE RIGHT WAY AND CONTROL THE STAGE
WITH POSING OILS!

The site has on offer Pro Tan Muscle Juice (with a tanning preparation as well as the oil) and several versions of Organic GLO Physique Posing Oil. Elsewhere you can get Synthol:

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(Mostly about tv and handsome men, rather than language.)

Caught in a re-run of the tv series Numb3rs (season 2, episode 5, “Assassin”, originally aired 10/21/05), the soap-opera-handsome hunk Jordi Vilasuso, playing Colombian Gabriel Ruiz (the target of assassination attempts in Los Angeles):

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As it turns out, Vilasuso is a soap opera veteran, and also a muscle hunk.

(In this photo, Vilasuso isn’t quite smiling with his mouth, but he’s definitely “smiling with his eyes” — appparently known as smizing in some circles. The verb smize is of course a portmanteau of smile and eyes.)

Background on the tv show, from Wikipedia:

Numbers (stylized NUMB3RS) is an American crime drama television series that ran on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and his brother [math whiz] Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz) who helps Don solve crimes for the FBI.

The show focuses equally on the relationships among Don Eppes, his brother Charlie Eppes, and their father, Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch), and on the brothers’ efforts to fight crime, normally in Los Angeles. A typical episode begins with a crime, which is subsequently investigated by a team of FBI agents led by Don and mathematically modeled by Charlie, with the help of Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol) and Amita Ramanujan (Navi Rawat). The insights provided by Charlie’s mathematics were always in some way crucial to solving the crime.

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Hirsch is the older guy, Morrow the besuited guy on the right, Krumholtz the curly-haired dude.And yes, they’re all Jewish, which helps to make them plausible as a family.

The mathematics cited on the show is real, but Charlie’s applications of it to crime-solving are mostly preposterous. The family dynamics are intriguing, however.

(Hirsch, born in 1935, played Alex Rieger on the tv comedy series Taxi; Morrow, born in 1962, played Dr. Joel Fleischman on the tv dramedy series Northern Exposure — two shows that gave me great pleasure. Krumholtz, born in 1978, is perhaps best known for playing Seth Goldstein in the Harold & Kumar movies.)

Back to Vilasuso. From Wikipedia:

Jordi Alejandro Vilasuso (… born June 15, 1981 in Miami, Florida) is a Cuban-American actor best known for originating the role of “Tony Santos” on the CBS soap opera, Guiding Light from August 2000 until August 2003.

… Vilasuso has appeared in the movies The Last Home Run, The Lost City, Heights and La Linea. He also appeared in other television programs such as 8 Simple Rules, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Numb3rs and CSI: Miami. In November 2010 he was signed on to play the contract role of Griffin Castillo on the soap opera All My Children.

And he’s a muscle hunk, happy to display his body. Here he is on the beach, looking seductive:

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xx

Viewed yesterday on tv: episodes of the police drama Flashpoint, featuring (among others) the actor David Paetkau; the first Satisfaction show of the new season, featuring actor Matt Passmore; and the sweet comedy film Role Models, featuring actor Seann William Scott. Paetkau occasionally appears shirtless, while the other two do so repeatedly; they are pleased to display their bodies. Here I’m going to post about Paetkau and Passmore, mostly because they are physically similar, and could be taken for brothers (their faces are similar and they both have a broad-shouldered “athlete’s build”, while Scott is facially quite different and has a lean build); but also because they’re not Americans (Paetkau is Canadian, Passmore Australian), while Scott is; and because their (very attractive, hunky) bodies look, in a sense, “natural”, while Scott is a serious bodybuilder, and it shows.

Paetkau and Passmore in this posting, Scott in one to come.

But first, shirtless shots of all three: Paetkau, Passmore, and Scott:

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(That’s really close to zero bodyfat.)

Paetkau. I’ll start with the show. From Wikipedia:

Flashpoint is a Canadian police drama television series that debuted on 11 July 2008 on CTV in Toronto. In the United States, the series originally aired on CBS, then aired on Ion Television; in the United Kingdom it aired on Universal Channel.

… The show focuses on a fictional elite tactical unit, the Strategic Response Unit (SRU), within a Canadian metropolitan police force (styled on the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force). The SRU are tasked to resolve extreme situations that regular officers are not trained to handle, including hostage-taking, bomb threats, and heavily armed criminals. Although the team is seldom seen doing so, they do sometimes discuss the “day job” of serving high-risk arrest warrants. Equipped with high-tech tools and a cache of weapons and explosives, members use negotiation tactics and intuition to try to avoid the use of deadly force, which they exert only as a last resort. The outcome of a given situation is often determined by a split-second decision, hence the show’s title.

If you thought of Canadians as gun-averse, this show will challenge your preconceptions: the SRU is awash in weaponry. Here are the four main characters, from the “Who’s George” episode:

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Left to right: Amy Jo Johnson as Julianna “Jules” Callaghan (intelligence gatherer, also serves as backup negotiator and sniper), Hugh Dillon as Edward “Ed” Lane (the team’s tactical leader in the field), Enrico Colantini as Sgt. Gregory “Greg” Parker (leader of the SRU’s Team One and chief negotiator) and David Paetkau as Samuel “Sam” Braddock (the team’s sniper).

For some time, Jules was the only woman on the team; and Johnson is the only American in the main cast (all the rest are Canadians). Meanwhile, the four characters in #4 Are, in a sense, two couples. Greg and Ed are best buddies; they have each other’s backs. (Eventually I’ll post about same-sex friendships in all sorts of tv series.) And Sam and Jules have a friendship that blossomed into something more, and they eventually became (secret) lovers.

On Paetkau, from Wikipedia:

David E. Paetkau (born November 10, 1978) is a Canadian actor, known for his roles as Evan Lewis in Final Destination 2 (2003), the customs officer in LAX (2004), Beck McKaye in Whistler (2006–2008), Ira Glatt in Goon (2011), and Sam Braddock in the CTV television series Flashpoint (2008–2012).

Passmore. Here I’ll start with the actor. From Wikipedia:

Matt Passmore (born 24 December 1973) is an Australian actor. He is known for McLeod’s Daughters (2006–2009), Blue Heelers (2003), and his first American television show, The Glades (2010–2013).

(He’s really good at an American accent in The Glades and in Satisfaction.)

I was a fan of The Glades:

The Glades is a crime drama television series [but also a wry comedy, and a romance], created by Clifton Campbell, that aired on the A&E network for four seasons from July 11, 2010, to August 26, 2013.

The police procedural show starred Matt Passmore as Jim Longworth, a Chicago police detective who becomes a state police detective in a Florida Everglades community. He leaves the Chicago Police Department after being shot in the backside by his captain, who thought Jim was sleeping with his wife. He receives a large settlement from the city of Chicago and settles in Florida for the golf and what he believes will be an easy life. However, Longworth soon discovers that his new hometown is more complex than meets the eye. [He’s regularly bewildered by odd details of the cases he becomes involved in.]

… [The series co-stars] Kiele Sanchez as Callie Cargill, a thirty-something mother who leads a very complicated life. She is a registered nurse simultaneously working and attending medical school and is completely devoted to her studying and to her teenaged son, Jeff, whom she has been raising alone since her husband Ray was sent to prison. She is amused and annoyed by Longworth’s pursuit of her, but is also intrigued by him and perhaps interested in a relationship, despite her general dislike of cops. [Eventually Jim proposes to her, and she accepts.]

Passmore is a delight to watch in the series — engaging, funny, dependable, and committed to finding the truth.

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(A poster for the series, which unfortunately doesn’t serve either actor well, but I couldn’t find a better image with both of them in it.)

Shirtless shot #2 above is of Passmore in The Glades, where he manages to appear shirtless a lot. He did the same in McLeod’s Daughters, and does so (unsurprisingly) in Satisfaction, where he plays a male escort (as we say, euphemistically), so we get lots of bedrooom scenes. Here he is clothed:

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Then to Satisfaction, from Wikipedia:

Satisfaction is an original drama series that premiered on USA Network on July 17, 2014, at 10 p.m. It was renewed for a second season, which will once again consist of 10 episodes.

Money manager Neil Truman (Matt Passmore) and his wife Grace (Stephanie Szostak) confront their relationship and life issues when Neil finds his wife having intercourse with a male escort. Neil then decides to become an escort himself, unbeknownst to his wife. Neil’s experiences encourage him to then try to rekindle his marriage.

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Neil is very good at his escort job — attractive, sexy, attentive to his clients, and all that.

There are, of course, dark sides to this story, and they were very much in the forefront for the season 2 opener, in which Neil abandons his money management job.

Left over from my “Shirtless Mondays” posting, one of the three actors I showed shirtless there: Seann William Scott, grinning and showing off his really really ripped body, while doing a shirt-lifting number. (David Paetkau and Matt Passmore were the other two).

I picked these three to write about because I’d seen them all at work on a single day, enjoyed their performances, thought they deserved some notice as solid and reliable actors who were not, however, star names, and, yes, appreciated their inclinations towards showing off their bodies.

On to Scott, who I saw in the sweet comedy movie Role Models, where he shared top billing with Paul Rudd. But almost everybody who sees a photo of Scott recognizes him immediately from a comedy role he played 25 years ago: “Stifler!”

Role Models. Very briefly, from Wikipedia:

Role Models is a 2008 American comedy film directed by David Wain about two energy drink salesmen who are ordered to perform 150 hours of community service as punishment for various offenses. For their service, the two men work at a program designed to pair kids with adult role models. The film stars Seann William Scott, Paul Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jane Lynch and Elizabeth Banks.

A theatrical poster:

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Scott on the left, Rudd on the right, posed with their charges: for Scott, a foumouthed street kid played by Bobb’e J. Thompson; for Rudd, a nerdy teenager played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

On Scott, from Wikipedia:

Seann William Scott (born October 3, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He is best known for his role as Steve Stifler in the American Pie series of teen sex comedies. He has appeared in a range of genres, including the horror film Final Destination (2000), the road-comedy film Road Trip (2000), the stoner comedy film Dude, Where’s My Car? (2000), the science fiction comedy Evolution (2001), the action films Bulletproof Monk and The Rundown (both 2003), the action comedy film The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), the comedy Role Models (2008), the buddy cop film Cop Out (2010), the hockey comedy film Goon (2011) and Crash in the Ice Age franchise.

Scott is a very physical actor, always in motion, and seems to choose his (many and diverse) roles primarily on the basis of how much activity they call for. He also has a ready smile, seen in the shirtless shot in my previous posting. And he loves to show off his body. Here’s one of a set of cock-tease shots from earlier in his career, before he got really ripped — but he’s still slim and lean:

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Now for his most famous role, as Stifler in American Pie — with a name no doubt selected to suggest that he was always ready to get stiff for sex. On the movie:

American Pie is a 1999 teen sex comedy film written by Adam Herz and directed by brothers Paul and Chris Weitz, in their directorial film debut. It is the first film in the American Pie theatrical series. The film was a box-office hit and spawned three direct sequels: American Pie 2 (2001), American Wedding (2003), and American Reunion (2012). The film concentrates on five best friends (Jim, Kevin, Oz, Finch, and Stifler) who attend East Great Falls High. With the exception of Stifler (who has already lost his virginity), the guys make a pact to lose their virginity before their high school graduation. The title is borrowed from the pop song of the same name and refers to a scene in the film, in which the lead character is caught masturbating with a pie after being told that third base feels like “warm apple pie”.

A theatrical poster:

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Even from the poster — with its slogan “There’s something about your first piece” — you can see it revels tastelessly in teen sex. And so it does, hilariously. But with many very sweet touches.

In the center in the poster is Jason Biggs as Jim Levenstein, the protagonist of the film; the girl with the flute is Alyson Hannigan (of later fame in the Buffy tv series); and Seann William Scott as Stifler is at the upper right.

Yesterday’s invitation-to-explore from Daily Jocks:

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Kev, they said, short hair and facial
Scruff mean ‘butch’ to our faggot
Customers, that’s good; and a
Smooth, hairless body invites them to
Stroke it, so ditch the fur, dude, and
Bring them down to your
Treasure crotch.

So Kev suffered the pain of depilation, oiled himself lightly, and wore his skivvies down low, all to please the customers.

And now on “Depilation Row”, which will take us back to Palo Alto in the 60s.

“Depilation Row” is of course a play on “Desolation Row”:

“Desolation Row” is a 1965 song written and sung by Bob Dylan. It was recorded on August 4, 1965 and released as the closing track of Dylan’s sixth studio album, Highway 61 Revisited. It has been noted for its length (11:21) and surreal lyrics in which Dylan weaves characters from history, fiction, the Bible and his own invention into a series of vignettes that suggest entropy and urban chaos. (Wikipedia link)

Instead of giving you a Dylan performance, here’s a 7/19/89 performance (in the Alpine Valley Theatre in Wisconsin) by the Grateful Dead, with Bob Weir on lead:

On the Dead, from Wikipedia:

The Grateful Dead were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. Ranging from quintet to septet, the band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of country, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, rock, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, space rock, for live performances of lengthy instrumental jams, and for their devoted fan base, known as “Deadheads”. “

Weir (who grew up just up the road in Atherton) was a teenager when he came across the somewhat older Jerry Garcia (who grew up in San Francisco and in Menlo Park, next door to Palo Alto) playing the guitar in downtown Palo Alto, where he gave guitar lessons at Dana Morgan’s Music Shop (still in existence when I first came to Palo Alto, but now, alas, gone):

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Then came the Grateful Dead, which lasted for 30 years until it broke up in 1995. Of the original five members, Garcia and Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan have died, but Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Weir are still performing. The video above is from the band’s last great period of performing, in the late 80s and 1990..

(Mostly about the tv show, but with some linguistic digressions.)

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left to right: the characters Monroe, Nick, Hank

From Wikipedia:

Grimm is an American police procedural fantasy television drama series. It debuted in the U.S. on NBC on October 28, 2011. The show has been described as “a cop drama—with a twist… a dark and fantastical project about a world in which characters inspired by Grimms’ Fairy Tales exist”, although the stories and characters inspiring the show are also drawn from other sources.

David Giuntoli as Nicholas “Nick” Burkhardt, the eponymous Grimm. Nick is a Homicide detective [in Portland OR], whose Aunt Marie (Kate Burton) tells him that he is descended from a line of hunters, called Grimms, who fight supernatural forces. Even before his abilities manifested, Nick had an exceptional ability to make quick and accurate deductions about the motivations and pasts of individuals, which has now expressed itself as his ability to perceive aspects of the supernatural that nobody else can see.

The main characters are Nick; his police partner Hank Griffin (played by Russell Hornsby); and his friend and frequent collaborator in investigations Monroe (last name not given). Plus Nick’s girlfriend Juliette Silverton (played by Bitsie Tulloch), who dies in season 4; and Monroe’s girlfriend (and, eventually, wife) Rosalee Calvert (played by Bree Turner). And other Portland policemen.

Hank and Nick on the job:

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And Nick and Monroe in consultation:

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The Grimms (the identity is hereditary; Nick got it from his mother) have been tasked, since medieval times, with hunting down and killing supernatural beings that can take human form. But Nick is a new kind of Grimm, willing to collaborate with these beings for the greater good of humankind.

Digression on Jacob Grimm. From Wikipedia:

Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863) was a German philologist, jurist, and mythologist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm’s law (linguistics), the co-author with his brother Wilhelm of the monumental Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie and, more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm and the editor of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Back to television. And to the Wesen. From the show’s Wiki:

Wesen (VES-sin; Ger. “a being” or “creature”) is a collective term used to describe the creatures visible to the Grimms. They are the basis not only of the fairy tales that the Brothers Grimm have compiled, but also of the many legends and folklore from many cultures (i.e. Anubis, Aswang, Blutbad, Chupacabra, and Wendigo).

… When in human form, Wesen are, by all accounts, physiologically that way and thus, can pass as human. … Every creature encountered by Nick Burkhardt is Wesen (excluding La Llorona, Volcanalis, the Golem, Mishipeshu, and Jack the Ripper).

The community consists of both good and bad creatures ranging from Blutbaden to Bauerschwein to Mauvais Dentes. Individually, Wesen generally behave stereotypically in accordance to their own kind (i.e. the Blutbaden being fierce and vindictive, Siegbarste being dangerously vengeful, or Mellifers having a hive-like mentality and penchant for sending messages).

Then there’s the transformation between human and Wesen. From the show’s Wiki:

Woge (VOH-gə; German noun meaning a high, powerful wave of water; a large undulating mass of something) is the act of changing between human and Wesen form.

(When they are woged, Wesen can detect Grimm identity.)

Monroe and Rosalee are both Wesen — Monroe Blutbad (wolf-like, though Monroe is vegan), Rosalee Fuchsbau (fox-like). Wesen identities are hereditary, so Monroe and Rosalee embark on a “mixed marriage”. Hank and Juliette are both ordinary human beings; Nick introduces Hank to the world of Grimms and Wesen early on in the series, since Portland, in addition to being enormously rainy, is also packed with Wesen, who get in the way of Nick and Hank’s police work. Later on, Juliette is taught about this supernatural world.

The shows are often violent and bloody, leavened with many moments of humor and affection.

David Giuntoli. The actor who plays Nick projects charm and good humor. Here he is off the show:

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From his Wikipedia page:

He admits to not being very athletic as a child. In an Access Hollywood interview Giuntoli stated “I was like three feet shorter than I am now until I was a sophomore in high school. But I had the same sized head and ass as I do now. I was an awkward little fellow.”

Awkward no more. I don’t know about his athleticism, but he’s certainly gotten his body in shape. Here he is showing it off, in a semi-shirtless pose, against a Grimm-based background:

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(Another posting about the male body, but with some fine photography.)

From the models.com site on the 11th, a piece by Jonathan Shia, “Matthew Brookes’ Ballet Dancers”. Highlights:

Flip through the pages of Les Danseurs, the photographer Matthew Brookes’ new book devoted to the male dancers of the Paris Opéra Ballet, and you might take him for a lifelong fan of the artform. The intimate black-and-white photos offer a personal and powerful look at their bodies, shaped by lifetimes devoted to dance, combining both grace and power as the best performers do. But Brookes, a frequent contributor to various Vogues, Interview, and Vanity Fair who has also lensed campaigns for Giorgio Armani, Cartier, Burberry, and Berluti, says he knew nothing about dance before being introduced to one of the dancers through a casting director he was working with, a chance encounter that eventually blossomed into this monograph.

… The photographs, shot in a clean studio against a rough cloth backdrop, are guided by an abstract and almost sculptural sense of form. There are no arabesques or pirouettes, just shapes and compositions reminiscent of flowers and what Brookes calls his initial inspiration of “birds falling from the sky,” with hints of Rodin’s muscular sculpture thrown in. The photographer says that his driving instinct was to capture the dancers’ strength as athletes, rather than following the stereotypical ideas of classical ballet as “sensitive” and “ethereal.”

Three of the photos:

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(#2)

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(Hat tip to Chis Ambidge and Mike McKinley.)

Another in a series of postings on actors, especially on tv, whose work I’ve enjoyed. Today it’s Thomas Gibson, currently playing the central character in the tv series Criminal Minds (which I’ve posted about several times before and will post more about in a while). Gibson had a significant stage career before he broke into movies and tv. On tv, he’s had four meaty roles, playing four very different characters, and has been a dependable guest actor. His movies are all over the map; some are notable failures as movies, though Gibson soldiered on though them as an actor.

Here’s the man looking seriously FBI on Criminal Minds:

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And in a very different mood on the earlier series Dharma & Greg:

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From Wikipedia:

Thomas Ellis Gibson (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his portrayal of Daniel Nyland in the CBS series Chicago Hope [1994-98], Greg Montgomery on the ABC series Dharma & Greg [1997-2003], and Aaron Hotchner on the CBS series Criminal Minds [2005-present].

… Gibson’s first television appearance was in 1987 in a guest role on CBS’ legal drama Leg Work, followed by stints on the daytime dramas As the World Turns (CBS) and Another World (NBC). In 1992, Gibson made his big screen debut in Ron Howard’s Far and Away, in which he portrayed Stephen Chase. Chase was the villainous rival of Joseph Donnelly (Tom Cruise) for Shannon Christie’s (Nicole Kidman) affections. His next lead role was in 1993 as David, a homosexual waiter, in Denys Arcand’s Love and Human Remains. Gibson later re-united with Arcand in Stardom (2000). Also in 1993, he played the slimy misanthrope Beauchamp Day in the Tales of the City miniseries (1993 [and 1998]).

The four meaty roles: Beauchamp Day in the the first two of the three tv miniseries based on Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City stories; Dr. Daniel Nyland in the medical drama Chicago Hope; Greg Montgomery (playing opposite Jenna Elfman’s fey character Dharma, Greg’s wife) in the delightful sitcom Dharma & Greg; and Aaron Hotchner, the head of a team of FBI profilers, in Criminal Minds. (Two cast photos for CM in a 10/8/15 posting of mine; and further discussion in a 11/10/15 posting about CM cast member Matthew Gray Gubler.)

Beauchamp Day. The narcissistic Beauchamp (pronounced like Beacham) cheats on his wife (DeDe Halcyon Day, played by Barbara Garrick) with Jon Fielding (Billy Campbell) and with Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney), both of whom end up detesting him. Here’s Beauchamp with an unhappy DeDe:

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and with Jon:

(#4)

A thorough scoundrel. He dies in a car accident after putting out a hit on DeDe’s unborn twins (no, he’s not the father).

Dr. Daniel Nyland. Chicago Hope had a large regular cast, which was jam-packed with reliable character actors. Wikipedia on Nyland:

Thomas Gibson played Dr. Daniel Nyland, a promiscuous ER doctor and trauma surgeon who was later suspended due to him having an affair with a patient’s family member and later was injured in a car crash.

Sexual promiscuity and car crashes. I sense a theme here. Though Dr. Nyland was an engaging character (despite his inability to keep it in his pants) with a sweet smile:

(#5)

At the movies. Several of the movies Gibson has acted in are justly well-regarded films, but the man has also signed on to a number of ill-conceived film projects. From these bad choices, two comedies that happen to have been released in 2000: The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas and  Psycho Beach Party. I haven’t seen either of them, but just reading about them gives me the giggles.

Wikipedia on Viva Rock Vegas:

The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (also known as The Flintstones 2 or The Flintstones 2: Viva Rock Vegas) is a 2000 American comedy film and prequel to 1994’s The Flintstones, based on the 1960–66 cartoon series of the same name. Produced by Amblin Entertainment and Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures, it is set before the events of the first film and features very few of the original cast. Even though the film was a critical and commercial failure, it received slightly more positive reviews than the first film. Ann-Margret, who appeared as “Ann-Margrock” in the original series, sings the theme song, which is a slightly rewritten version of the theme song from Viva Las Vegas.

… Wilma Slaghoople (Kristen Johnston) wants a normal life and activities, like bowling, despite her controlling mother Pearl (Joan Collins) who wants her to marry smooth casino-owner Chip Rockefeller (Thomas Gibson).

Here’s Gibson as Rockefeller:

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Hot, but really cheesy.

Wikipedia on Psycho Beach Party:

Psycho Beach Party is a 2000 comedy horror film based on the off-Broadway play of the same name, directed by Robert Lee King. Charles Busch wrote both the original play and the screenplay. As the title suggests, Psycho Beach Party, set in 1962 Malibu Beach, is a parody of 1950s psychodramas, 1960s beach movies and 1980s slasher films.

A poster for the movie, featuring a shirtless Gibson and his really big surfboard:

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In the middle cameo at the top: Gibson (playing the surfing guru The Great Kanaka) and a surfer-dude character played by Nicholas Brendon, showing off their excellent shirts. In a close-up:

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Yes, Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander on Buffy; for more on him, see here.

The red-haired woman in the right cameo at the top is in fact Charles Busch in drag. Busch and Gibson together, in a thumbnail:

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Of course, we’re at the beach, so there’s plenty of shirtless Gibson:

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(Attractive body, definitely fit but not gym-sculpted.)

Alas, deliberate camp is hard to pull off, and reviewers were mostly not kind.

(Mostly about hunks.)

I’ve been catching up on the Canadian medical drama Saving Hope, which features three hunks, very different in projected persona and body type, but all three given to shirtlessness: Michael Shanks, playing chief of surgery Charlie Harris; Daniel Gillies, playing orthopedic surgeon Joel Goran; and Kristopher Turner, playing psychiatry resident Gavin Murphy.

Background on the show, from Wikipedia:

Saving Hope is a Canadian television supernatural medical drama, set in the fictional Hope Zion Hospital in Toronto. The show’s central character is Dr. Alex Reid (Erica Durance), a doctor whose fiancé, Dr. Charles Harris (Michael Shanks), is in a coma after being in a car accident. The show follows the life of Charlie in his coma state [during which he roams the hospital halls in a tuxedo, consulting with the spirits of the dead and other people in coma], and [follows] Alex dealing with patients, and hoping that he will survive. Dr. Reid is the Chief Surgical Resident while Dr. Harris was the Chief of Surgery until his accident. Dr. Harris recovers at the end of season 1, but [continues to be] able to see the spirits of comatose and dead patients through subsequent seasons. … The show also stars Dr. Joel Goran (Daniel Gillies), a new orthopedic surgeon and Alex’s former lover.

(Medical shows have long been a tv staple, ranging from soap operas to complex ensemble-cast dramas, many with special twists to them, as here.)

The three hunks in brief.

Shanks is the oldest, ten years older than Turner, with Gillies almost exactly in the middle in age.

Shanks’s character Harris projects sturdy competence; he’s a solid adult. Here he is, intent on a consultation with a dead guy:

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Pair this with a shot of Turner (left) and Gillies (right) from the show:

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Shanks is a solid beefy man, as you can see in this screen shot from the show:

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Gillies‘s character Goran is darkly, edgily handsome, projecting the possibility that he’s a bad boy:

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Gillies is relatively slim but very fit, with the body of a male model. Here he is, being playful and sexy:

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And Turner‘s character Murphy comes across as a cute, lovable kid:

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Turner is boyishly slender, and (like Gillies) he’s happy to be playfully sexy for the camera — as here, doing a pitsntits display, with his jeans down far enough to show some pubic hair:

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All three actors have significant fan followings, Shanks and Gillies especially so, thanks to other work they’ve done. To which I now turn.

Wikipedia on Shanks:

Michael Garrett Shanks (born December 15, 1970) is a Canadian actor, writer and director best known for his role as Dr. Daniel Jackson in the long-running Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. More recently, Shanks has been playing Dr. Charles Harris on the Canadian medical drama, Saving Hope.

My “Scruffilicious” posting of 4/3/13 has a section on Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson — a role he became so identified with that many fans referred to him by this character’s name. And yes, there are plenty of shirtless photos around of Shanks in his Stargate days.

Wikipedia on Gillies:

Daniel J. Gillies (born 14 March 1976) is a Canadian-born New Zealand actor. He is best known for his role as Elijah Mikaelson on the television series The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off The Originals, as well as Dr. Joel Goran on the Canadian series Saving Hope.

(Gillies came back to Canada from New Zealand through some time in Australia; in any case, he has a notable antipodeal accent on Saving Hope.)

Thanks to The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, Gillies has a huge fan following. About The Vampire Diaries, see my “Hunkville” posting of 6/11/15; the show prominently features shirtless vampires Stefan Salvatore (played by Paul Wesley) and Damon Salvatore (played by Ian Somerhalder). As I noted in that posting, “For some time now, lycanthropy and shirtless masculinity have gone hand in hand, on tv and in film.”

Finally, Wikipedia on Kristopher Turner:

Kristopher Turner (born September 27, 1980) is a Canadian actor. He is noted for his role as Jamie Andrews on the CTV teen drama Instant Star.

And now, at age 35, for his role as psychiatry resident Dr. Gavin Murphy on Saving Hope — an enthusiastic and empathetic young doctor with a really sweet smile.

The illustration:

(#1)

From a piece in BuzzFeed yesterday, “the first images of the live-action film, The Legend of Tarzan, have been released and they are quite simply [hot hot hot]” by Kimberley Dadds:

The first official stills, featuring Alexander Skarsgård as the main man Tarzan, were released on Wednesday and they’re heavenly.

(Hat tip to Mike McKinley.)

Skarsgård has always kept himself in great shape, but here his body is extraordinarily (even unnaturally) ripped, along the lines of the photo I posted a couple of days ago of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

Shirtless hunks are a recurrent theme on this blog. In fact, there is a Page on “Shirtless postings”, with the note:

excluded, for the most part: photos of men who are shirtless by virtue of their occupations — pornstars, underwear models, models for male photographers, swimmers and divers, dancers

There are some postings on the Page with photos of men in the generally excluded groups, but mostly the photos there are of actors (like Skarsgård and Jackman) and athletes other than swimmers and divers (tennis players, soccer players, baseball players, etc.).

A note: the adjective ripped in NOAD2:

informal   having well-defined or well-developed muscles; muscular: through his slightly-too-tight shirt you could see he was ripped | they’re going to the gym daily to get buff pecs, ripped abs, and tight buns.

Massive musculature is not necessarily the main point here, but a high level of fitness combined with extremely low bodyfat is, and in today’s world, abs have taken center stage (see the 8/2/13 posting “It’s all about the abs”, with 5 photos from a Hunk of the Month calendar), while in earlier days men focused primarily on their pecs and biceps.

On to Skarsgård and then to Tarzan.

The actor. From Wikipedia:

Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård (… born August 25, 1976) is a Swedish actor. He is best known for his roles as vampire Eric Northman on the HBO series True Blood, Meekus in Zoolander and Brad Colbert in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill. He is the son of Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård.

Ah, the vampire connection; these days, vampirism (like lycanthropy) is associated with intensely sexy masculine shirtlessness.

Here’s Skarsgård, displaying his body and offering an armpit, in a sexy shot from somewhat earlier in his career.

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He’s harder-core now, more developed, and scruffier too, as here (where he is, however, fully clothed):

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The Tarzan story. From Wikipedia:

Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan first appeared in the novel Tarzan of the Apes (magazine publication 1912, book publication 1914), and subsequently in twenty-five sequels, several authorized books by other authors, and innumerable works in other media, both authorized and unauthorized.

… The Internet Movie Database lists 200 movies with Tarzan in the title between 1918 and 2014. The first Tarzan movies were silent pictures adapted from the original Tarzan novels, which appeared within a few years of the character’s creation. The first actor to portray the adult Tarzan was Elmo Lincoln in 1918’s Tarzan Of The Apes. With the advent of talking pictures, a popular Tarzan movie franchise was developed, which lasted from the 1930s through the 1960s. Starting with Tarzan the Ape Man in 1932 through twelve films until 1948, the franchise was anchored by former Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller in the title role. Weissmuller and his immediate successors were enjoined to portray the ape-man as a noble savage speaking broken English, in marked contrast to the cultured aristocrat of Burroughs’s novels.

With the exception of the Burroughs co-produced The New Adventures of Tarzan, this “me Tarzan, you Jane” characterization of Tarzan persisted until the late 1950s, when producer Sy Weintraub, having bought the film rights from producer Sol Lesser, produced Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure followed by eight other films and a television series. The Weintraub productions portray a Tarzan that is closer to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original concept in the novels: a jungle lord who speaks grammatical English and is well educated and familiar with civilization.

… There were also several serials and features that competed with the main franchise, including Tarzan the Fearless (1933) starring Buster Crabbe and The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935) starring Herman Brix.

A poster for the 1933 movie, with Buster Crabbe (another Olympic swimmer, who had a long career in movie serials — as Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers — as well as in single movies):

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(I’m very fond of Crabbe, much more than Weismuller.)

The Jane is Jacqueline Wells, who later changed her name to Julie Bishop.

Note that Crabbe is hunky, but mostly in the pecs and biceps (plus big shoulders).

Then to Weissmuller, Tarzan’s New York Adventure (1942):

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Cheeta the chimp, Boy (Johnny Sheffield), Weissmuller as Tarzan, Jane (Maureen O’Sullivan)

Well-developed pecs and biceps, powerful shoulders, but no work on the abs.

Some time ago, the 2008 movie of Journey to the Center of the Earth (based on the Jules Verne fantasy) came by me. It’s a piece of fluff, a fantasy action/adventure film with comic touches, starring Brendan Fraser as a volcanologist named Trev(or) who ends up exploring the center of the earth with his 13-year-old nephew Sean and a young Icelandic woman named Hannah; Trev’s brother (and Sean’s father) Max and Hannah’s father Sigurbjörn were both Vernians, taking the works of Jules Verne to be fact and not fiction, and in the end they are vindicated, but not until the three principals have been though a series of extraordinary adventures.

Fraser is something of a favorite of mine. He’s a very physical and energetic actor, who often plays charming and agreeable (sometimes goofy) characters, and he was a pleasure to watch in this lightweight film.

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Trev studies a copy of Verne’s Journey annotated by Max

From Wikipedia:

Brendan James Fraser … is an American-Canadian actor. He portrayed Rick O’Connell in The Mummy trilogy (1999-2008) and is known for his comedic and fantasy film leading roles in major Hollywood films, such as Encino Man (1992), The Scout (1994), George of the Jungle (1997), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) and Inkheart (2009). He also starred in numerous dramatic roles, such as Gods and Monsters (1998), The Quiet American (2002), Crash (2004) and Gimme Shelter (2013).

The Mummy films are all entertaining, but the first one is one of those movies you can watch again and again and still get pleasure from. Here’s Fraser as Rick O’Connell, with his two-sided shoulder holster for two-handed wasting of mummies.

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At some point in the Mummy movies, Fraser says, “I hate mummies!”, and then the line surfaces in other forms in some of his other movies. In Journey, it’s something like “Have I mentioned how much I hate field work?”

On to the very silly George of the Jungle, in which Fraser goofs around as the title character. From Wikipedia:

George of the Jungle is a 1997 American live-action film adaptation of the cartoon of the same name… It stars Brendan Fraser as the eponymous main character, a primitive man who was raised by animals in an African jungle; Leslie Mann as his love interest; and Thomas Haden Church as her treacherous fiancé.

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Back in those days, Fraser was given to appearing shirtless.

Then a truly wnderful and moving film, Gods and Monsters. From Wikipedia, in great detail, because I really admire this film:

Gods and Monsters is a 1998 British-American drama film that recounts the (somewhat fictionalized) last days of the life of troubled film director James Whale, whose experience of war in World War One is a central theme. It stars Ian McKellen as Whale [gay as gay can be], along with Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, Lolita Davidovich, and David Dukes. The movie was directed and written by Bill Condon from Christopher Bram’s novel Father of Frankenstein. It was executive produced by British horror novelist Clive Barker.

… Whale befriends his young, handsome gardener and former Marine, Clayton Boone [played by Fraser] and the two begin a sometimes uneasy friendship as Boone poses for Whale’s sketches. The two men bond while discussing their lives and dealing with Whale’s spells of disorientation and weakness from … strokes. Boone, impressed with Whale’s fame, watches [Whale’s film] The Bride of Frankenstein on TV as his friends mock the movie, his friendship with Whale, and Whale’s intentions.

… Boone assures Whale that he is straight and receives assurance from Whale that there is no sexual interest, but Boone storms out when Whale graphically discusses his sexual history. Boone later returns with the agreement that no such “locker room” discussions occur again. Boone is invited to escort Whale to a party hosted by George Cukor for Princess Margaret. There, a photo op has been arranged for Whale with “his Monsters”: Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester from “ancient” movie fame. This event exacerbates his depression. A sudden rain storm becomes an excuse to leave.

Back at Whale’s home, Boone needs a dry change of clothes. Whale can only find a sweater, so Boone wears a towel wrapped around his waist. Whale decides to try to sketch Boone one more time. After some minutes, he shows his sketches to Boone, disclosing that he has lost his ability to draw. After Boone drops his towel to pose nude [as I read it, a move to try to help Whale recover some of his ability, by giving him the spur of sexual desire], Whale makes him wear a World War I gas mask and then uses the opportunity to make a sexual advance on Boone, kissing his shoulder. Boone becomes enraged and attacks Whale, who confesses that this had been his plan and begs Boone to kill him to relieve him of his suffering. Boone refuses [as I read this, Boone has now shifted from protective sympathy to pity, which means Whale has nothing left], puts Whale to bed, then sleeps downstairs. The next morning, Hanna [the protective housekeeper, played by Lynn Redgrave] is alarmed when she can’t find Whale, prompting a search by Boone and Hanna. Boone finds Whale floating dead in the pool

Fraser just after he drops that towel, shown from the waist up:

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More shirtlessness.

Fraser is in the odd position of once having been a major Hollywood star (the three movies above, though very different in tone, are from a very short span of time), and then he withered away in the consciousness of the moviegoing public, though he continued to beaver away as an actor; he’s always been a hard worker. Some of his early successes are great entertainments but not great film, and some of his more recent work is thoughtful and complex. But the public is fickle.

Just when you thought that the ship of bromanteaus and other brocabulary (involving the (North American) slang term bro ‘brother, buddy’, used especially as an address term) had long ago sailed into oblivion, Geico comes along with a recent ad campaign that erupts with goofy brocabulary.

It’s the “gym commercial” for Geico insurance, showing two buddies working out with weights at a gym (one of them bulking up considerably in the process). For fans of shirtlessness, here’s a still from the commercial:

You can watch the whole thing on YouTube here.

It starts with Guy 1 (the guy in the still) saying to  Guy 2, “Check this out, bro”, and Guy 2 responding, “What’s that, broheim?” (using another address term meaning ‘brother, buddy’, conventionally spelled broheim but pronounced /bròhím/ in the commercial; more on the word in a little while). And then they go back and forth about the virtues of Geico insurance, each turn introducing another piece of brocabulary:

brofessor, brotato chip, brotein shake, Teddy Broosevelt

(with accented bro replacing the first syllable in the words professor, potato, protein, and Roosevelt — all syllables that are already phonetically close to [bro]).

But that’s not the end of it: the commercial (made by the Martin Agency) appears under a number of titles:

Brocabulary, Brorritos, Bromosapien, Bronoculars, Brobot, Brozone Layer

(with more initial replacements by accented bro),

Edgar Allan Bro, Vincent Van Bro

(with replacement of the last element of a name), and

Avbrocado, Guacbromole

(with replacement of a medial element). All very goofily playful.

The item broheim. Grant Barrett on the Way With Words site on 6/9/06:

broheim n. brother; friend, buddy. Also broham, brougham, or (rarely) broheem. Editorial Note: This term was recently popularized by the movie A History of Violence. Etymological Note: The Berkeley High School Slang Dictionary (2004, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California) says that the brougham variation derives from the Cadillac Brougham, a high-end sedan; however, there is no substantiation for this and it is highly unlikely.

Other speculations on its origin. Some commenters on Grant’s posting see it as as bro plus a Germanic element seen in German Heim ‘home’.  The association of the item with Black English vernacular makes this origin story (as well as the sedan-car story) relatively unlikely. Then there were commenters who knew it in an (American) Jewish context, and took it to be from a Yiddish ritual greeting, ultimately deriving from Hebrew. In general, people were reporting information about the context in which they were first aware of it, not at all the same thing as tracing the word back to its source

Grant was unimpressed with these stories, observing again and again that working out the origins  was not a particularly useful enterprise; the real question is about who uses the word, in what contexts, and for what purposes, now, and finding the original meaning (something that’s extraordinarily hard to do for many slang expressions) tells us absolutely nothing about that.

The word bro itself certainly began life as a clipping of brother, almost surely in AAVE (African American vernacular English), but it long ago escaped into much more general use.

Brocabulary. I started posting on brocabulary on this blog on 12/27/08, in “Manecdotes and brobituaries”, reporting on a book entitled Brocabulary, which was full of invented bromanteaus and related portmanteau words. The first browords to achieve widespread use seem to have been the noun bromance and its related adjective bromantic, referring to an intense (but non-sexual) relationship between straight men. Suceeding postings:

8/23/11, “Isn’t it bromantic?” (link): a cartoon with the adjective bromantic

8/26/11, “Bromantic lexicography” (link):  bromance added to a dictionary

9/20/11, “Dubious bromanteau” (link): brony = bro + pony (as in My Little Pony)

3/22/12, “man-bro-guy-” (link): brosiery = bro + hosiery

3/25/12, “On the bro- watch” (link): brogrammer (and the bronus brotein)

3/27/12, “more bro” (link): more bromanteaus: broga (bro + yoga), brogrammer again

10/4/14, “Bromantics: Pine and Quinto, Kirk and Spock” (link)

3/8/15. “Bromancing the Bone” (link): non-sexual bromance; sexual brolovers

12/12/15, “Sex between straight men: bro-jobs” (link): and other brocabulary; bro-choice campaign (involving pro-choice bros)

By an odd and indirect route, I went searching on { silver mammoth } this morning, and found two items of interest: a Canadian coin and a Brazilian hard rock band. The coin:

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and from the band’s homepage:

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The background. I had a persistent dream last night about some very important linguistic finding about the words silver and turtle, stemming from some e-mail I dreamed I’d received. When I was fully awake, I started searching on { silver turtle }, unearthing a great variety of turtle figures made of silver, plus silver-dollar-sized baby box turtles, before I realized this was just another of my worthless dreams about linguistic analyses — always hard to admit, because the ideas in the dream seem so beautiful and also so significant.

But… while I was searching, I thought, why not check out { silver mammoth }? And there, admidst the dross, were two pieces of gold, so to speak. Or, admidst the chaff, two kernels of wheat. Whatever.

Mammoth coinage. From the Coin Update website on 7/4/14, “Royal Canadian Mint Begins Prehistoric Animals Series with Woolly Mammoth Coins” by Michael Alexander:

The Royal Canadian mint have launched a new coin series which will certainly appeal to those lovers of all things Jurassic – with coins dedicated to highlighting the prehistoric creatures found not only on the soil of what is today Canada but to those more well-known four-legged and flying inhabitants of the planet who shared their environs with pre-historic man. The two first coins are focusing on one of the continents more recognizable and the most recent occupant – the woolly mammoth! [a 20-dollar silver coin and  a 5-dollar gold coin]

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The appearance and behavior of this species are among the best studied of any prehistoric animal due to the discovery of frozen carcasses in Siberia and Alaska. The woolly mammoth was roughly the same size as modern African elephants. Males reached shoulder heights between 9 and 11 feet or 2.7 and 3.4 meters and weighed up to 6 tonnes. Females averaged 8.5 to 9.5 feet or 2.6 to 2.9 meters in height and weighed up to 4 tonnes. A newborn calf weighed about 200 pounds or 90 kilograms.

The woolly mammoth was well adapted to the cold environment during the last ice age as they were covered in fur, with an outer covering of long guard hairs and a shorter undercoat. The color of the coat varied from dark to light. The ears and tail were short to minimize both frostbite and heat loss. It had long, curved tusks and four molars, which were replaced about six times during the lifetime of an individual. Its behavior was similar to that of modern elephants, and it used its tusks and trunk for manipulating objects, fighting, and foraging. The diet of the woolly mammoth was mainly grass and rushes. Mammoths could probably reach the age of 60. Its habitat was the mammoth steppe, which stretched across northern Eurasia and North America or parts of present-day Canada. Despite the species’ extinction 10,000 years ago, the woolly mammoth continues to inspire and intrigue many who identify it with the last glacial period. With these finely detailed coins, the Royal Canadian Mint celebrates this impressive mammal that once roamed parts of present-day Canada and much of the north American continent.

The coins, both designed by artist Michael Skrepnik[,  depict] this majestic creature with two different designs. The coins feature scientifically accurate depictions of a woolly mammoth, verified by paleontologists from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. With its head raised, the mammoth’s trunk is outstretched between its famously long, curved tusks. The thick, coarse fur that enables it to survive the colder temperatures is shorter here, reflecting the moulting that scientists believe took place in the early summer. The mammoth’s extra hump of fat is seen over its shoulders. In the background, the low grasses and gentle sloping hills of the mammoth’s habitat stretches past the image’s outer rim on both sides.

The obverse includes the current portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II which is used on all Canadian coins since 2003, the portrait is the work of Susanna Blunt.

A second pair of coins, depicting the “American Scimitar Sabre-Tooth Cat”, was minted in 2015. I don’t know what’s up for this year.

The Silver Mammoth of São Paulo. You can see and hear them in action here, performing the title track from their 2015 album Mindlomania. And be transported back to the 1970s and 80s, in English but with a Brazilian Portuguese accent.

The personnel: Marcelo Izzo Jr. (fourth in #2), on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and backup vocals; Chakal (third in #2), on bass; Vinnie Rabello (first in #2), on drums and percussion; and Marcelo Izzo (second in #2), on lead vocals. Yes, a father-son rock band.

Being the sort of person I am, I googled on Izzo Jr.’s name, hoping to find a shirtless photo of the man (hey, rock musicians have been known to take their shirts off in performance). No luck there (or for Rabello, the other band member I fancied), but the Google search engine is attuned to my interests (given previous searches of mine) and though I didn’t mention shirtlessness (or of course soccer), the search engine supplied me with lots of images of shirtless footballers, some of them in their underwear (there is even a undiesboyssoccer.blogspot.com site devoted to images of soccer players in their underwear), and that led me to the Colombian footballer James Rodríguez, who is accomplished not only on the soccer field but also as an underwear model (there’s that footballer / male model thing again). Here he is, in one of a series of big-pouched photos (my favorite, because he’s smiling) of him in an item from his own J10 James line:

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Very briefly, from Wikipedia:

James David Rodríguez Rubio (born 12 July 1991), known as James Rodríguez …, is a Colombian professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Colombia national team as an attacking midfielder or winger.

Generally identified as one of the best young players around.

In 2014, he became the new face of Bronzini Black underwear (and he’s started his own line).

The menswear guy, especially coats and footwear (shoes, boots, even Varvatos Converse sneakers — high end sneakers, at $100 to $140 each), though now he’s branched out in other directions: men’s fragrances and recordings, in particular. You can view a short commercial for the John Varvatos Fall 2015 Menswear Collection here. It’s a pas de deux between two beautiful fashion models (beautiful in two different ways), Nick Rea and Jonas Kesseler, left and right in this still at the end of the ad:

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The ad focuses on their coats and, in frequent shots, their boots. And it has a haunting sound track, “Old Bones”, performed by Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown (on, yes, John Varvatos Records).

Here’s Rea looking seductively beautiful in a spread of homotography by Giovanni Squatriti in Essential Homme magazine (September/October 2011):

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From that same spread, a trio of macho-hunky models, shirtless in their underwear:

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On to Jonas Kesseler, seen here looking steamy in a John Varvatos fragrance ad:

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And back to Varvatos himself. From his website:

Ask John Varvatos to pinpoint the moment when his obsession with fashion and music began, and he’ll show you a photo of The Stooges taken in 1970. “It was all hippies before these guys,” says the Detroit native. “They showed up wearing motorcycle jackets, ripped jeans, aviators … nobody looked like them at the time.”

Oh my. And there’s a Michigan connection, Detroit and Ann Arbor; from Wikipedia:

The Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, are an American proto-punk band from Ann Arbor, Michigan, first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003. Although they sold few records in their original incarnation, and often performed for indifferent or hostile audiences, the Stooges are widely regarded as instrumental in the rise of punk rock, as well as influential to alternative rock, heavy metal and rock music at large.

Here’s a classic Stooges shot, with the guys looking disdainful and provocative (in several senses):

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You can listen to the Stooges punking out “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (1969) on YouTube here.

On Saturday I got a copy of GQ magazine — The Body Issue, for February — in the mail, with an announcement from Condé Nast that Details magazine had been closed and they were sending me GQ {for Gentlemen’s Quarterly] for the rest of my Details subscription period. GQ is, like Details, a fashion and lifestyle magazine, tilting towards fashion, while Details tilted towards the lifestyle side, and their target audiences are different: Details for metrosexual straight guys and gay guys (we’re all brothers, and we can learn from each other, or something like that), GQ very much for straight guys, with visible anxiety lest its readers be taken for queers because of their interest in men’s fashion, grooming, and the like.

So the February issue features Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, maintaining on the cover that he’s the “Nobel Prize Winner for Physical Perfection” and showing him there in nothing but trunks from CR7 Underwear (Ronaldo’s own company) — but pairing him there (and elsewhere in the magazine) with supermodel Alessandra Ambosio (who appears to be topless on the cover). The strategy is to surround a man featured in the magazine because of his physical attractiveness with really hot women hanging on to him, to convey his heterosexuality and so to reassure the readers that it’s safe for them to admire him and identify with him. In the case of Ronaldo, who could be described as a, to put it very gently, serial dater (details to follow), the effort would seem superfluous, but it’s a standard GQ strategy.

In a separate posting, I’ll look at another story from this issue of GQ, rather coyly advertised on the cover:

Super-Size Me! We Have Huge News About Your Manhood

Here I’ll stick to Ronaldo, because there’s a lot to say, going beyond what I wrote about the man in my 8/27/15 posting “On the fashion front”, where there were three photos of him: #2, in a sexy + amiable pose; #3, in a fancy composition advertising his CR7 line; and #4, an unposed shot of him shirtless and sweaty on the soccer field.

Now, in GQ, there are two shots of him without Alessandra Ambrosio, both showing off his remarkable body (oh yes, he has a handsome face, too; smiles a lot; and projects intense energy):

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I’ve reflected several times on this blog that soccer player plus male model (especially underwear model) is a natural pairing — soccer develops a body well suited to commercial display — but these two shots show that Ronaldo has gone way past such development, into some sort of stratospheric cultivation of a muscular swimmer-type body, achievable only by long hard work beyond staying in good shape for playing soccer.

#1 shows the man in those CR7 trunks from the cover, plus a chain/necklace by David Yurman and what is probably a very expensive Tag Heuer watch — Ronaldo lives high — though GQ gives the cost only for the trunks, $27; on the Tag Heuer site, men’s watches run from $1,200 to $8,500, and on the David Yurman site, chains like the one Ronaldo is wearing run from $350 to $1,050.

What’s especially remarkable about #1 is Ronaldo’s lats, like wings made of solid muscle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen lats quite like that on a swimmer-type body.

#2 shows the footballer in colorful CR7 trunks (again, $27; the Nike jacket goes for $85), sitting up a bit, so doing the beginnings of a crunch, which demonstrates that his abs are not just attractive (if you’re into abs), but are in fact masses of rock-hard solid muscle.

Now, getting past that body, I remind you that Ronaldo plays for the Spanish team Real Madrid and the Portuguese national team. He lives mostly in Madrid with his son Cristiano Jr., now 5. Ronaldo has steadfastly refused to identify the boy’s mother or to discuss the circumstances of the child’s birth. He does seem to be devoted to his son, or at least as devoted as a man with his demanding occupations and his lifestyle can be.

Ronaldo is the world’s highest paid footballer; and, by far, the world’s most recognizable athlete (thanks to the immense popularity of soccer worldwide). When you add to his soccer earnings the earnings from CR7 and the huge payments he gets for endorsements of various products, he is an extraordinarily rich man, quite an achievement for someone who was born 2/5/85, so will be 31 10 days from now.

Now, those women he’s dated and his girlfriends (one of whom people thought he was actually going to get around to marrying). The Ronaldo CR7 site lists 18 of them, but since that list was put together there have been several fresh entrants. (The Ronaldo CR7 site is written in very rocky English, with a fair number of misspellings (like Atinkson for Atkinson), so I had to do some fact-checking to put this list together.)

dated Portuguese model Karina Ferro in 2002 (when he was 17); Brazilian supermodel Jordana Jardel in 2003; Portuguese model Merche Romero 2005-06; Portuguese tv and film actress Soraia Chaves in 2006; 18-year-old Mia Judaken in 2006; callgirl or porn star Gemma Storey in 2007; British supermodel Gemma Atkinson in 2007; Portuguese Pop Idol contestant Luciana Abreu in 2007; call girl Tyese Cunningham in 2007; Bollywood actress and supermodel Bipasha Basu in 2007 (2007, when Ronaldo was 22, seems to have been an especially busy year for him); Spanish model Nereida Gallardo in 2008; seen with American celebrity Paris Hilton in 2009; seen with American celebrity Kim Kardashian West in 2010; Welsh model and beauty queen Imogen Thomas in 2010; rumored one-night stand with Brazilian model and tv personality Andressa Urach in 2013; five-year relationship with Russian model and actress Irina Shayk (which looked like a really serious thing at the time); tv reporter Lucia Villalon in 2015

In 2015 came reports of a relationship with 19-year-old Danish model Maja Darving; with 23-year-old Spanish model Claudia Sanchez; and with 24-year-old Marisa Mendes (the daughter of his agent, which at least one sports reporter has described as like “dipping his pen in the company inkwell” — wink wink nudge nudge).

Live hard, play hard, work out hard, spend as much time with the kid as you can (Ronaldo says they are trying to improve their Engish and their Spanish together). Oh, and he’s really close to his mother.

(Almost no language stuff: it’s about mythic, in one sense, performances by hunky men. Yes, I have my shallow moments.)

The appearance on my cable tv menu of the playing of the 2012 Wrath of the Titans got me to check the movie out. That brought me to a list of (relatively) recent movies and tv shows with mythological themes and hunky actors in starring roles. By actor, reverse chronologically:

Sam Worthington (film: Perseus in Clash of the Titans (2010) and Wrath of the Titans (2012))

Brad Pitt (film: Achilles in Troy (2004))

Ryan Gosling (tv: Young Hercules (1998-9))

Kevin Sorbo (tv: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995-99))

Worthington as Perseus. On the films, then on Worthington, who’s new to this blog:

[the Titans films:]  Clash of the Titans is a 2010 British-American fantasy adventure film and remake of the 1981 film of the same name produced by MGM (the rights to which had been acquired by Warner Bros. in 1996). The story is very loosely based on the Greek myth of Perseus. … it received generally negative reviews from critics and received two Golden Raspberry Awards nominations. The film’s [financial] success led to a sequel, Wrath of the Titans, released in March 2012. A third film titled Revenge of the Titans was in development but then later cancelled.

[Worthington] Samuel Henry John “Sam” Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an English-born Australian actor, best known for his portrayals of main character Jake Sully in the second-highest-grossing film of all time, Avatar; Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation; Perseus in Clash of the Titans and its sequel, Wrath of the Titans; and Alex Mason in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops and its sequel Call of Duty: Black Ops II. … He performed predominantly in leading roles in a variety of low-budget films [before moving to major studio films], ranging from romantic drama and comedy-drama to science fiction and action.

Poster for the first film:

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Worthington as Perseus:

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Haven’t found a shirtless shot of Worthington in character, but here’s one of the man at the beach:

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The man is well-built and nice to look at, but not record-breaking in physique — but he’s well-represented on the net as enormously built and muscular (thanks to software manipulations), apparently in the form his fans would like to fantasize about his having. As the mythical Sam Worthington, you might say.

Brad Pitt as Achilles. The Titans movies were stinkers from the critics’ point iof view, but they made a ton of money. Troy, on the other hand, got critical acclaim and big bucks as well.

On the film, from Wikipedia:

Troy is a 2004 American epic adventure war film written by David Benioff and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It is loosely based on Homer’s Iliad, though the film narrates the entire story of the decade-long Trojan War rather than just the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon in the ninth year. Achilles leads his Myrmidons along with the rest of the Greek army invading the historical city of Troy, defended by Hector’s Trojan army. The end of the film (the sacking of Troy) is not taken from the Iliad, but rather from Virgil’s Aeneid as the Iliad concludes with Hector’s death and funeral.

A poster:

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Pitt in costume as Achilles:

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and shirtless, but still as Achilles:

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Pitt is quite proud of the body he achieved for this role, and the net is full of postings about Pitt as Achilles, almost all of it providing advice on how to use Pitt’s rigorous workout routine to get a body like the one in #5 — if you’re a man and really really dedicated to the project.

My 8/6/13 posting “Seven Supermen and Brad Pitt” has a final section on Pitt with a write-up about him, a photo of the beautiful young man (Thelma and Louise), and one of the bulked-up mature hunk (Fight Club).

Back on 2/18/09, in “The Curious Case of B. B.”, I posted about someone who misquoted the movie title The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which stars Pitt) as The Curious Case of Benjamin Britten — which prompted someone else to post a womderful photo of Pitt as Britten with Tom Cruise as Peter Pears (actually Pitt and Cruise in Interview with the Vampire).

Gosling as Hercules. On the tv show, from Wikipedia:

Young Hercules was a spin-off series [framed as a prequel] from the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. It was aired on Fox Kids Network from September 12, 1998 to May 12, 1999. It lasted 1 season with 50 episodes and starred Ryan Gosling in the title role. The series was based on the Greek mythology hero, Hercules.

Gosling as the young Hercules in the show:

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An unusually beautiful hero, but then he was playing the young Hercules.

Gosling on this blog:

on 10/22/11, “Annals of taboo avoidance:’, about the site Fuck Yeah! Ryan Gosling

on 8/15/13, “Hollywood Sparks”, with a write-up about Gosling and shirtless photos

Sorbo as Hercules. About the earlier show, from Wikipedia:

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is an American television series filmed in New Zealand. It was produced from January 16, 1995 to November 22, 1999, and was based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles (Hercules was his Roman analogue). It ran for six seasons, producing action figures and other memorabilia as it became one of the highest rated syndicated television shows in the world at that time. Later it would be surpassed by its own spinoff show, Xena: Warrior Princess.

… The show starred Kevin Sorbo as Hercules; Michael Hurst, who had become a naturalized New Zealand citizen, first guest-starred in Season 1 to 2 as his sidekick Iolaus, and became a series regular from Seasons 3 to 6. Rotating as Hercules’ other regular companion, particularly in the first three seasons, was Salmoneus (Robert Trebor), a wheeler-dealer ever looking to make a quick dinar. In the later seasons, particularly after Kevin Sorbo suffered a serious health issue in Season 4, Michael Hurst, Robert Trebor and Bruce Campbell as Autolycus, King of Thieves, featured prominently along with the late Kevin Smith (1963-2002) as Ares, to ensure Kevin Sorbo could reduce his front of camera workload.

And very briefly about Sorbo:

Kevin David Sorbo (born September 24, 1958) is an American actor best known for the roles of Professor Radisson in God’s Not Dead, Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda, and Kull in Kull the Conqueror.

Sorbo as Hercules in the show:

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(Sorbo with a half-smile is entirely appropriate, since the show had a lot of humor in it)

and shirtless, still as Hercules:

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(in his woven leather plants).

Gosling has a very nice body, Sorbo is a serious muscle hunk (fitted for playing a Greek hero). Both fine to look at, but different body types.

I found the show immensely enjoyable, and as a bonus you get (in it and in Xena) really stunning New Zealand scenery.

(Little about language, mostly about one actor and his body. Shirtless photos, but nothing racier than that.)

It started with a Facebook posting about the new comedy film Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, with this very brief plot line, from Wikipedia:

After meeting Joe Manganiello, Pee-wee Herman leaves his hometown of Fairville and goes on the first vacation of his life to reach New York to celebrate Joe’s birthday party, before getting caught up in wacky hijinks and trouble across the country.

The movie pairs the big (6′ 5″ tall), famously muscular, and intensely masculine actor Joe Manganiello, as himself, with Paul Reubens (at 5′ 10″, and slim, even weedy) in his flamboyantly childlike character Pee-wee Herman, who becomes infatuated with the electrically attractive Manganiello at their first meeting:

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Los Angeles Times reviewer Rebecca Keegan, in a mixed notice, nevertheless praised “an adorably self-aware Joe Manganiello as the object of Pee-wee’s man-crush”.

JM has been through a series of roles in which he enthusiastically displays his body for the admiration of some of his audience (especially straight men, who would like to look like him and project his strength and easy assurance) and for objectification by much of his audience (women and gay men). He’s immensely proud of his body (achieved through considerable hard work) and revels in his viewers’ attentions — but all with self-aware good humor. A very entertaining presentation of himself.

As the title of this posting puts it, we get

Manganiello. The Huge. The body-proud.

— in an echo of:

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A characteristic photo, from his True Blood period (2010-14):

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On JM, from Wikipedia:

Joseph Michael “Joe” Manganiello (… born December 28, 1976) is an American actor, director, producer, and author. He played Flash Thompson [Spider-Man’s nemesis] in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and had various recurring roles in television … before landing his breakout role as werewolf Alcide Herveaux on the HBO television series True Blood.

… True Blood was his favorite television show before he joined the cast. He had originally auditioned to play Coot, another werewolf in the series, but was asked to read for Alcide instead. He grew a beard and trained for five months to add muscle for the role, as author Charlaine Harris had described Alcide as having “arms the size of boulders”. He also got a suntan to set himself apart from the other characters on the series and spent time studying live wolves.

[Note on the Wikipedia article, most of which must have been written by JM himself or someone very close to him. It goes through his life, event by event, listing virtually every part he played, going back to his school days. It cries out for an editor.]

In True Blood, he regularly strips off his shirt, and sometimes his pants as well. In this role most of his body is shaved smooth, presumably to be attractive to female admirers, especially young ones, many of whom are put off by furry (or frankly hairy) male bodies. But he’s also been photographed in shots clearly meant to arouse gay male viewers, as here:

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JM in a classic white jockstrap, a potent masculinity symbol for many gay men; with his nicely furry body unshaven (or maybe just trimmed some); and with a bit of nipple play with his left hand.

On to Magic Mike XXL (2015), for which he bulked up a little more to play male stripper Big Dick Ritchie. On the cover of Details magazine (now defunct):

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(On the movie, on this blog, a 7/2/15 posting “Pecs, abs, and dancing”.)

And at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards, in his fireman stripper gear:

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And then on to adventures with Pee-wee.

Bonus: Manganiello’s book:

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The photo on the cover is not, so far as I know, of Manganiello himself (though it has his face); he is bulked up, yes, but he has nowhere near the extreme bodybuilder physique in the photo. But I could be wrong.

(Acting and a fine shirtless man.)

Re-run today of a Castle episode — S3 Ep12 “Poof! You’re Dead” from 1/10/11 — prominently featuring supporting actor Jon Huertas, playing homicide detective Javier Esposito on Capt. Kate Beckett’s team. The show is an ensemble cop drama with plenty of comic and romantic touches, well directed and well acted.

The Esposito character is both solid and amiable, with lots of interaction between him and homicide detective Kevin Ryan, played by Seamus Dever. Dever and Huertas:

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But in the “Poof!” episode, we see the character Esposito’s romance with Dr. Lanie Parish, a medical examiner and a friend of Beckett’s (played by Tamala Jones), including a really steamy bedroom scene (with carefully composed nudity in a darkened room) in which we get a nice shirtless sequence of Huertas, incuding this shot:

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He’s solidly built and really fit, but with a “natural” look rather than a gym-rat, killer-abs look. In combination with his handsome face, the persona he projects in his Esposito character, and his easy, unflashy acting skills, that makes Huertas a really attractive guy in my book.

From Wikipedia:

Jon Huertas is an American actor of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for his role as Sergeant Antonio ‘Poke’ Espera in HBO’s Generation Kill, Joe Negroni in the film Why Do Fools Fall in Love, and homicide detective Javier Esposito in Castle.

… Huertas, born Jon William Hofstedt [on October 23, 1969], enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1987 and served … as a pararescue jumper and nuclear weapons technician. He participated in Operation Just Cause [in Panama] and Operation Desert Storm.

About the 2010 film and the two lead actors, who were immediately familiar to me, though I couldn’t say from where. Ultimately, this posting is about “ordinary working actors” (the phrase is based on Chuck Fillmore’s notion of Ordinary Working Grammarians) — people who get into acting (often via odd routes), practice the craft in children’s theater, college theater, soap operas, commercials, modeling, regional theater and other stage productions, whatever, and then become part of a cadre of accomplished professionals, very few of whom become stars or celebrities, but still give pleasure to audiences and are often liminally recognizable.

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(Yes, the Golden Gate Bridge gets demolished, along with lots of really tall buildings.)

Out in front: the excellent faces of the two lead actors:

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Cutting to the chase, I recognized Matchett from Leverage, Trucco from How I Met Your Mother.

Ok, the movie, from Wikipedia:

Meteor Storm … is a 2010 American disaster film with the tagline “The fury no one saw coming…”. The film was directed by Tibor Takács, produced by Tracey Jeffrey and Written by Peter Mohan. The movie starred Michael Trucco and Kari Matchett. The plot describes the attempts to save San Francisco from a barrage of meteor strikes.

Then the leads, very much ordinary working actors. On Matchett:

Kari Matchett (born March 25, 1970) is a Canadian actress. She has appeared in films such as Apartment Hunting (2000), Angel Eyes (2001), Men with Brooms (2002), Cypher (2002), Civic Duty (2006), and The Tree of Life (2011). She also played Mariel Underlay on Invasion, Lisa Miller on 24, Dr. Skye Wexler on ER, Joan Campbell on Covert Affairs, and Maggie Collins on Leverage. She is best known for her role as Kate Filmore in the cult favorite science fiction movie Cube 2: Hypercube.

And Trucco:

Edward Michael Trucco (born June 22, 1970) is an American actor known for his role as Samuel T. Anders on the reimagined Battlestar Galactica and his recurring role as Nick Podarutti in How I Met Your Mother.

Trucco became active in television in the late 1990s with appearances in episodes of Touched by an Angel, Silk Stalkings, Beverly Hills, 90210, Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, and Pensacola: Wings of Gold among others. He continued appearing in shows of similar genres like CSI, Heartbeart, Strong Medicine, CSI: Miami, and others into the 2000s.

Trucco, as it turns out, is body-proud, so we have quite a few images of him displaying his body.  As here:

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