The current ad from Daily Jocks, with an intensely reflective underwear model and an AMZ caption:
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In the ghostly green-
Blue light of the
Organometron, Brandon
Became obsessed with the
Power and beauty of
His crotch.
Image may be NSFW.
About the display of the male body, but also about gesture and facial expression.
Today, from the Daily Jocks people, an ad for products from the Pump! firm, specifically for a line of socks for working out, but with links to the company’s larger catalogue, which tends to feature underwear models “projecting steamy desirability” (as I put it in my Rafael Nadal posting) — in fact projecting a male-hustler persona while teasingly flaunting the pleasures of their bodies.
There’s shirt-lifting (focused on the abs), pants-lowering in the front (pointing towards the crotch), pants-lowering in the back (pointing towards the butt-crack), and armpit displays. The models stare intently into the viewers’ eyes, narrowing their own eyes (signalling arousal combined with dominance, rather than anger), and sometimes opening their lips slightly (another sign of arousal). They are scruffily hypermasculine, projecting not fitness and athleticism, but intense, even urgent, sexuality.
Shirt-lifting — the practice as well as the expression — has been featured on this blog a number of times, notably in a posting of 9/23/09 illustrating several degrees of shirt-lifting, but with a cleancut boy-next-door fitness model rather than a hustler wannabe. Pump! offers several degrees as well, from a modest peek (from a relatively cleancut model):
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(#2)
The Pump! Beach Hood Tank
to a going-for-the-nipple baring (combined with an armpit dislay, and really big biceps):
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(#2)
The Pump! Shockwave Tank
Then, pants-lowering (in the front), a standard cock-tease gesture; a posting, on the practice and the expression, of 11/9/09 is here. Now, the Pump! Touchdown Panther Brief:
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(#3)
On to pants-lowering in the rear, or crack-flaunting. The Pump! Iron Clad Boxer:
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(#4)
Finally, a pure armpit display (plus a great torso, a sizable basket, narrowed eyes, and an open mouth), showing off the Pump! Sonic Brief:
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(#5)
(The models in #2, 3, and 5 look very similar to one another., though close scrutiny of their bodies would suggest they’re different men. On the other hand, guys can shave their bodies, and images can be PhotoShopped.)
I’m a few hours into my 75th birthday — 75 is a seriously round number — and already I’ve gotten (electronically) two wonderful cards, both with flowers on them, both leading to another plant family, the Asparagaceae, though neither depicts an asparagus (instead, a lily-of-the-valley and a Joshua tree, which are, amazingly, in the asparagus family). As a bonus, the first card introduces (via four flowers) three more plant families I haven’t discussed in my recent postings on plant families — one of which, the Primulaceae (which comes via the pimpernel plant), I’ll talk about here. As a further bonus, the second card has a nearly naked young man with notable abs (and a woolly mammoth).
The Campbell card. Card 1, from Bonnie and Ed Campbell, a Jacquie Lawson card: an animated creation, with music, which gradually assembles a birthday bouquet of flowers:
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(#1)
The bouquet comes with a mouseover that identifes the flowers and their meanings. The flowers:
poppy (Papaver), rose (Rosa), yellow tulip (Tulipa), dogwood (Cornus), lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria), allium (Allium), cosmos (Cosmos), lilac (Syringa), lily (Lilium), pimpernel (Anagallis), jasmine (Jasminum), violet (Viola)
On the meanings of the flowers, we get things like the poppy meaning pleasure (hmm — the poppy in the drawing is an opium poppy) and the dogwood meaning durability.
In the list just above I’ve boldfaced the genus names that bring us to “new” plant families in my recent project: the primrose family (including Anagallis), which I’ll talk about in a moment; the asparagus family (including Convallaria), which I’ll defer to my discussion of card 2, since that card shows another genus in the family); and the olive family (including Syringa and Jasminum) and the violet family (including Viola), which I’ll defer to another day.
So now to Anagallis and the primrose family, the Primulaceae.
On the genus, from Wikipedia:
Anagallis is a genus of about 20–25 species of flowering plants in the family Primulaceae, commonly called pimpernel and perhaps best known for the scarlet pimpernel referred to in literature. The botanical name is from the Greek, ana, “again”, and agallein, “to delight in”, and refers to the opening and closing of the flowers in response to environmental conditions.
These are annual or perennial plants, growing in tufts on weedy and uncultivated areas.
… The flowers are radially symmetrical and have 5 sepals.
… They were traditionally classified as members of the primrose family (Primulaceae), but a genetic and morphological study by Källersjö et al. showed that they belonged to the closely related family Myrsinaceae. In the APG III system, published in 2009, Primulaceae is expanded to include Myrsinaceae, thus Anagallis is back in Primulaceae again.
[Classificatory note: APG is the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, which provides a classification of flowering plants, a mostly molecular-based system of plant taxonomy, which (however) is revised every so often in light of new evidence. Hence the frequent re-shuffling in botanical taxonomy, at virtually every level.]
[Cultural note: From Wikipedia:
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play [opening in 1903, in London in 1905] and adventure novel [published in 1905] by Emma Orczy set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The title character, Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English fop who transforms into a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking escape artist, represents the original “hero with a secret identity” that was a precursor to subsequent literary creations such as Don Diego de la Vega (Zorro) and Bruce Wayne (Batman).
There were then movie adaptations.]
Sir Percy’s emblem, the scarlet pimpernel flower, is a modest common weed, shown here in the company of other weeds and lawn/garden escapees:
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(#2)
There are hybrid Anagallis cultivars, for instance this striking Anagallis monellii ‘Blue Pimpernel’:
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(#3)
On the family, from Wikipedia:
The Primulaceae are a family of herbaceous flowering plants with about 24 genera, including some favorite garden plants and wildflowers, commonly known as the primrose family. Most Primulaceae are perennial though some species, such as scarlet pimpernel, are annuals.
Genera in the family, beyond Anagallis, include two I’ve posted on before (with photos): the type genus Primula, of primroses (aka cowslips) — Primula vulgaris and gorgeous hybrid primroses, on 4/21/13 — and the genus Cyclamen, of equally gorgeous cyclemens, on 3/12/13. And then there’s the genus Lysimachia, with (among many other species) the groundcover L. nummularia (yellow loosestrife, creeping Jenny, or moneywort):
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(#4)
And L. clethroides, the wonderfully named gooseneck loosestrife, shown here in a 1998 photo from my Ohio garden (taken by Elizabeth Daingerfield Zwicky):
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(#5)
The Temkin card. Card 2 was put together just for me by Vadim Temkin:
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(#6)
The figure in front is the fabulous Johnny Jockstrap, with his amazing abs and thighs, and with a birthday greeting for biiig arnold, that is, me (in a jokey guise from the old days on the Usenet newsgroup soc.motss). Behind him is my major totem animal, the woolly mammoth. JJ and WM are standing in a desert scene with some recognizable vegetation: the Joshua tree. From Wikipedia, with both botanical and cultural information:
Yucca brevifolia is a plant species belonging to the genus Yucca. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca.
This monocotyledonous tree is native to southwestern North America in the states of California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, where it is confined mostly to the Mojave Desert between 400 and 1,800 m (1,300 and 5,900 ft) elevation. It thrives in the open grasslands of Queen Valley and Lost Horse Valley in Joshua Tree National Park. A dense Joshua tree forest also exists in Mojave National Preserve, in the area of Cima Dome.
The name Joshua tree was given by a group of Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree’s unique shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer. Ranchers and miners who were contemporary with the Mormon immigrants used the trunks and branches as fencing and for fuel for ore-processing steam engines.
Joshua trees are fast growers for the desert; new seedlings may grow at an average rate of 7.6 cm (3.0 in) per year in their first ten years, then only grow about 3.8 cm (1.5 in) per year thereafter. The trunk of a Joshua tree is made of thousands of small fibers and lacks annual growth rings, making it difficult to determine the tree’s age. This tree has a top-heavy branch system, but also has what has been described as a “deep and extensive” root system, with roots possibly reaching up to 11 m (36 ft) away. If it survives the rigors of the desert it can live for hundreds of years with some specimens surviving up to a thousand years.
… Once they bloom, the trees are pollinated by the yucca moth, which spreads pollen while laying her eggs inside the flower. The moth larvae feed on the seeds of the tree, but enough seeds are left behind to produce more trees.
Up to the genus, with some fascinating details on naming:
Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry (arid) parts of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Early reports of the species were confused with the cassava (Manihot esculenta). Consequently, Linnaeus mistakenly derived the generic name from the Taíno word for the latter, yuca (spelled with a single “c”). It is also colloquially known in the lower Midwest United States as “ghosts in the graveyard”, as it is commonly found growing in rural graveyards and when in bloom the cluster of (usually pale) flowers on a thin stalk appear as floating apparitions. (Wikipedia link)
Another species in the genus, superficially not much like Y. brevifolia: Y. recurvifolia, the softleaf yucca, a garden plant:
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(#7)
Now up to the family. From Wikipedia:
Asparagaceae is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.
In earlier classification systems, the species involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae. The APG II system of 2003 allowed two options as to the circumscription of the family: either Asparagaceae sensu lato (“in the wider sense”) combining seven previously recognized families, or Asparagaceae sensu stricto (“in the strict sense”) consisting of very few genera (notably Asparagus, also Hemiphylacus), but nevertheless totalling a few hundred species. The revised APG III system of 2009 allows only the broader sense.
A sigh about taxonomy.
Some genera in the family, beyond Yucca: Agave, Asparagus, Aspidistra, Camassia (camass-lily), Dracaena (dragon trees, various houseplants), Hosta, Hyacinthus, Muscari (grape hyacinth), Sanseveria (mother-in-law’s tongue), Scilla (squill) — and now from the Campbell card, Convallaria. The strongly scented bulb lily of the valley, or lily-of-the-valley, a delight of the spring garden:
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(#8)
The latest offer from Daily Jocks, with an AMZ caption:
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Energized by his new gym
Shorts, Tony became a
Sexual powerhouse, and
With the ability to
Walk up walls.
Latest offer from Daily Jocks, with an AMZ caption and some references:
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In his guise as the designer
Gabrielle Marcuse.
Marcus created a unique
Line of very low-rise
Marxist swimwear.
References: Marcuse Designer Mens Swimwear & Underwear, Herbert Marcuse.
From Daily Jocks yesterday, this underwear ad, featuring intriguing tattoos and an equally intriguing facial expression (concern? puzzlement? or what?):
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(#1)
While I was contemplating a sexy caption for this photo, I dug around a bit and discovered the full-length photo that’s shown cropped in #1:
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(#2)
Now focusing on his package and his prosthetic right leg.
This is former Marine Alex Minsky, who lost the bottom half of his right leg in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan and, following a long course of hospitalization and rehabilitation, has taken up a career in underwear modeling, after being recruited by L.A.-based photographer Michael Stokes
Another photo, for Jack Adams underwear, with a different facial expression and a different prosthesis:
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(#3)
Even steamier, a major Minsky moose knuckle:
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(#4)
(There are apparently also nude photos floating around, but I haven’t seen them.)
Michael Stokes is a male photographer, with two recent books: Masculinity (2012) and Bare Strength (2014), which the publisher’s blurb characterizes as presenting
an edgy, artistic approach to the male nude with one chapter dedicated to United States Marine Veterans who lost limbs in the Middle East wars
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(#5)
(Mostly about men’s bodies and sexuality. But there’s some language stuff too.)
From Daily Jocks yesterday, a penetrating gaze:
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(#1)
The accompanying copy (reproduced here without editing):
Go interstellar with the new Astro range from Teamm8!
The form enhancing briefs and trunks are made from cotton and elastane and feature a thick metalic waistband to give you support where you need it.
Featuring striking stars and geometrics, they are bound to be your next underwear draw favorite!
My caption, using this material:
Astronaut on earth, or the
Steely cruise of the Voltron BlasterAnthony treasures his Astro time
In space, but now he
Revels in his career as the
Blaster, at $200 an hour,
Out or in.
Now there will be notes.
Note 1, on Teamm8. That’s “team mate”, Company site here. Underwear, swimwear, etc., seen with a gay eye, as here:
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(#2)
Hey, he’s on sale.
Note 2, on rentboys. Like the Blaster. Or, maybe, the guy in #2. Discussion in this posting.
Note 3, on elastane. From Wikiedia:
Spandex, Lycra or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is stronger and more durable than natural rubber. It is a polyester-polyurethane copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont’s Benger Laboratory in Waynesboro, Virginia. When introduced in 1962, it revolutionized many areas of the clothing industry.
The name “spandex” is an anagram of the word “expands”. It is the preferred name in North America; in continental Europe it is referred to by variants of “elastane” … and is known in the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and Israel primarily as Lycra.
Spandex has come up a number of times in underwear postings on this blog, usually in nylon/spandex items, but I haven’t discussed the substance before.
Spandex items can be found on many sites, most notably the Spandexman site, which seems to specialize in unitards, wrestling singlets, and active tops and bottoms, sometimes decidedly playful, as in this selection of “fantasy unitards”:
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(#3)
Note 4, on unitard. From NOAD2 on the word:
a tight-fitting one-piece garment of stretchable fabric that covers the body from the neck to the knees or feet. ORIGIN 1960s: from uni- ‘single’ + leotard
The word is a somewhat eccentric type of portmanteau.
Note 5, on underwear draw. Back to the ad copy.
You can find sites with draw underwear: from Cafe Press, referring to underwear with drawings on it; and from other sites, referring to underwear with drawstrings (that is, drawstring underwear). But in the ad copy, we’re faced with underwear draw, clearly a reduced variant of underwear drawer. And there are plenty of occurrences of this variant on the net, for instance here:
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(#4)
Even speakers who are normally rhotic might well reduce drawer, especially in underwear drawer, since the context is heavy in instances of /r/, favoring what’s been called “r-dissimilation” (as in February and a substantial number of other words; see Nancy Hall’s paper on the subject, on her website).
(Captioned Daily Jocks ads, focused on men’s bodies and the presentation of the self in photos, not on language, though there’s a small morphological note.)
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(#1)
All in his head:
In his trancewear, Rod
Re-plays his greatest
Tricks, three seconds per
Frame.
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(#2)
Travis is on offer:
You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me?
You make the move. It’s your move, faggot.
Notes on #2, which takes us into the world of Taxi Driver.
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(#3)
Taxi Driver is a 1976 American psychological thriller and drama, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Considered an early example of neo-noir, the film stars Robert De Niro as a disturbed loner [Travis Bickle]. He finds a job driving a taxi, and gradually begins engaging in vigilante activities. The film is set in New York City following the Vietnam War, and also stars Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, and Albert Brooks.
The film is regularly cited by critics, film directors, and audiences alike as one of the greatest films of all time. (Wikipedia link)
The scene alluded to in the caption above has Travis rehearsing his encounters with scum in front of a mirror. The clip:
Chilling stuff. In a transcript (from IMDb):
Travis Bickle: [Travis is trying his guns on the mirror] Huh? Huh?
[Draws]
Travis Bickle: Faster than you, fucking son of a… Saw you coming you fucking… shitheel.
[Reholsters]
Travis Bickle: I’m standing here; you make the move. You make the move. It’s your move…
[Draws]
Travis Bickle: Don’t try it you fuck.
[Reholsters]
Travis Bickle: You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talking… you talking to me? Well I’m the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? Oh yeah? OK.
[Draws]
(Linguistic note: the verb reholster ‘holster again’ is derived from the verbing holster ‘put (a gun) into its holster’ (NOAD2).)
(Mostly about men’s bodies, rather than language, and with phallicity bordering on X, so you might want to use your judgment.)
From the Daily Jocks people today, a scruffy, abs-endowed model posing in the sand in his malehustler persona and a basic b&w jockstrap and appreciating the expanding mooseknuckle display of his cute musclebuddy in briefs, posing in the shower (who came to me through Facebook friends). JockMan exclaiming:
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(#1)
And the object of his attention, MooseBriefBoy:
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(#2)
That’s one thick dick.
In my posting on Batman vs. the Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, I touched on the actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who has an important role in the film:
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(#1)
Now more about the actor, who at the age of 34 has already had a long and impressive career, in a wide range of roles, many challenging.
From Wikipedia:
Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (… born February 17, 1981) is an American actor and filmmaker. As a child star, he appeared in the films A River Runs Through It, Angels in the Outfield and 10 Things I Hate About You, and as Tommy Solomon in the TV series 3rd Rock from the Sun. He took a break from acting to study at Columbia University, but dropped out in 2004 to pursue acting again. He has since starred in 500 Days of Summer, Inception, Hesher, 50/50, Premium Rush, The Dark Knight Rises, Brick, Looper, The Lookout, Manic, Lincoln, Mysterious Skin and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
… The San Francisco Chronicle noted that [in 3rd Rock] Gordon-Levitt was a “Jewish kid playing an extraterrestrial pretending to be a Jewish kid”
… His [more recent] films include 2001’s drama Manic, which was set in a mental institution, Mysterious Skin (2004), in which he played a gay prostitute and child sexual abuse victim, and Brick (2005), a modern-day film noir set at a high school
On 3rd Rock, from Wikipedia:
3rd Rock from the Sun (sometimes referred to as simply 3rd Rock) is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet. The extraterrestrials pose as a human family to observe the behavior of human beings.
… Dick Solomon (John Lithgow), the High Commander and leader of the expedition, is the family provider as a physics professor at Pendelton (with Ian Lithgow, John Lithgow’s oldest son, playing one of his less successful students). Information officer and oldest member of the crew Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has been given the body of a teenager and is forced to enroll in high school (later college), leaving security officer Sally (Kristen Johnston) and “the one with the transmitter in his head,” Harry (French Stewart) to spend their lives as twenty-somethings hanging out at home and bouncing through short-term jobs.
… Dr. Mary Albright (Jane Curtin) is a professor of anthropology at (fictional) Pendelton State University, and many of the issues with which the four aliens struggle appear in her conversation and work.
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(#2)
Left to right: Johnston, Curtin, Lithgow, Stewart (in back), Gordon-Levitt
Then in 2003, Gordon-Levitt had a major role in the gay-themed drama Latter Days (which I posted about here). Though his character was a straight Mormon (and he is himself straight), the film was intensely sympathetic to gay men, and it was courageous of the 22-year-old Gordon-Levitt to take a role in the film.
The next year, he took one of the two starring roles in another gay-themed drama, Mysterious Skin, but now playing a male prostitute. From Wikipedia:
Mysterious Skin is a 2004 Dutch-American drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on Scott Heim’s 1995 novel of the same name.
… Mysterious Skin tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys who are sexually abused by their baseball coach, and how it affects their lives in different ways into their young adulthood. One boy becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous male prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.
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(#3)
An impressive performance in an impressive movie.
And now his playful side, as a guest host of Saturday Night Live on 9/22/12, where he led a sketch “Magic Joe”, taking off on the movie Magic Mike about male strippers, with Gordon-Levitt doing Channing Tatum. A still showing off his body, which is well-developed, but lean rather than extraordinarily muscular (and so pleasing to me):
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(#4)
A video of the performance:
Newton’s third, that is. In the most recent ad from Daily Jocks:
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Action – Reaction
In Beefcake 101 at Underwear Model U., Arthur
Mastered the one-armed pitsntits presentation, but
Nobody explained that it flattened one pec and
Expanded the other: To every action there is an
Opposite and equal reaction.
The ad is entitled “Happy Ending”, with a double entendre the DJ people have used before — in the ad in this 6/26 posting (which has a discussion of happy ending).
The caption takes some liberties with Newton’s Third Law of motion.
As for pitsntits, this is a compressed variant of pits ‘n’ tits, the name of a body display discussed on AZBlogX first in 2010 (in “Pits ‘n’ Ttts: the collage essay”) and then carried over to this blog, first in a 2010 posting (“Gay flags”). Many illustrations of the display, both two-sided and one-sided, on both blogs — on this blog, most recently on 9/3/14, showing Jordan Scott doing the one-sided variant.
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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(#1)
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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(#2)
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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(#3)
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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(#4)
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:
Image may be NSFW.
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(#5)
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):
Image may be NSFW.
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(#6)
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:
Image may be NSFW.
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(#1)
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”):
Image may be NSFW.
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(#2)
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:
Image may be NSFW.
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(#3)
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:
Image may be NSFW.
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(#4)
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:
Image may be NSFW.
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(#5)
Today’s ad for Daily Jocks:
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Jimi’s father is
Filipino, his mother Provençal, but
He’s taken for Finnish, and
His clients are hot for Finnish
Dudes, so now he knows a
Helluva lot about Helsinki, though
He’s never been there.
The DJ ad text:
Exclusive Release! Introducing Helsinki Athletica, anatomically designed sports underwear for every active man. Each pair is made from a breathable cotton and spandex blend and features white piping detail and wide geometric waistband.
The underwear is indeed handsome, in bold colors (but are there jockstraps that aren’t “anatomically designed”?). I haven’t posted any further examples, since the catalogue photos are basically just crotch shots — steely focus on the underwear! — and I need faces, human faces.
(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):
Image may be NSFW.
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(#1)
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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(#2)
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:
Image may be NSFW.
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(#3)
xx
Yesterday’s ad from Daily Jocks:
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Supaman has only to rub his
Hands together, or grind his
Crotch against a hot guy, and
Sparks will fly. His energy can
Drive a roomful of men into
Heat… Plus, he knows everything
About renewable power.
The advertising copy has its entertaining moments:
Get charged up with the new Supacharge range from Supawear! The fun and funky colours come in pink and yellow ‘Lightning’ and green and orange ‘Thunder’, featuring electrifying waistband detailing.
The form-fitting yet supportive pouch will show off your best assets while the cotton and elastane blend will keep you comfy all day long. Available in Jockstraps, Briefs and Trunks!
The colors of the items from this Australian firm are indeed intense, but I struggle to imagine what electrifying waistband detailing might be like.
(Some plain talk about man-man sex in here, but no X-rated images. Use your judgment.)
Yesterday’s ad from Daily Jocks (with my caption):
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(#1)
Rafe — solicited by Nasty
Pig at the Bay of
Pigs dance party at an
Up Your Alley — loved
Living in a jockstrap, loved
Even more the company
Pig Parties, where he was a
Pig Champ. But nothing had
Prepared him for
Decapitation.
He’s remarkably well preserved, I’d say.
Ok, snarky commentary elicited by the headless models in underwear ads. I know this presentation is supposed to focus your attention on the model’s crotch — for the underwear the firms are selling, and for your fantasies about what’s inside that underwear — but I find it creepy that we don’t get to see his face, don’t get to see the persona he’s projecting. He might as well be stuffed. (Yes, his underwear is stuffed, and maybe he enjoys getting stuffed, but there’s nothing in the ads to suggest that.)
[Digression. Oh, all right. Something about the slang expression get stuffed, which I don’t seem to have posted about before. In all of its senses, it’s originally and still primarily British (and Aussie), although in some uses it’s spread to North America (perhaps through the medium of Monty Python). It starts as a metaphorical substitute for sexual get fucked, in which use it’s just a passive of the fuck-equivalent verb stuff:
Brit. vulgar slang (of a man) have sexual intercourse with (someone). (NOAD2)
(I recall being asked by a man in an English gay bathhouse: “Do you fancy getting stuffed?”) This usage continues while others develop.
Stuffed followed fucked to the dismissive (but still vulgar) get stuffed! ‘get fucked!, get lost!, go away!’
Finally, in BrE, the vulgarity of the dismissive use seems to have washed away with time, so that get stuffed! can be used as merely informal slang, conveying ‘go away!’. As here:
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(2)
(You can find a great variety of American sandwich shops, pizza parlors, burger places, etc. called Get Stuffed, playing on the distinctly AmE adjective stuffed ‘satiated with eating’. Maximal misfit between BrE and AmE here.)]
Now the Nasty Pig company. Back in 2010, I posted this:
Through Undergear, I’ve discovered the Nasty Pig line of gear and clothes, aimed at the rough and bearish man. Including playsheets …
Things have apparently softened some for Nasty Pig. The ad copy that goes along with the image above has taken the rough edges down to a NYC style, whatever that is:
Starting out as a jockstrap brand, New York-based Nasty Pig has developed into a contemporary men’s fashion brand taking the world by storm. Showcasing a unique Big Apple style, Nasty Pig offers underwear that combines brash with subtle tones. This is a statement-making pair of underwear for the fashionable, everyday man. Enjoy a pair of Nasty Pig’s comfortable, modern underwear today.
The Nasty Pig name remains, but the piggishness seems to have vanished.
Now on piggishness. From my 9/30/13 posting about the Dore Alley Fair in S.F., whose official name is Up Your Alley (anal double entendre very much intended):
the Saturday night dance party is called Bay of Pigs — a play on the geographical name, involving pig as a sexual term, in the snowclonelet X pig, denoting someone who’s seriously into X (sex pig, involving sex in general or specifically “dirty sex” of various kinds; dick pig; piss pig) and in the compounds pig play and pig sex, referring to “dirty” sex.
And then a 9/23/15 posting with a mention of
titpig in a gay sexual context, using the snowclonelet X pig… Specifically, a gay man who’s seriously into titplay, either as receiver or giver (very often both), so a gay man especially aroused by getting or giving nipple stimulation or (in a BDSM context) pain. Titpigs are stereotypically big hairy men, bears, leathermen, and sexual fetishists.
And a fuck pig / fuckpig is someone (of either sex) who’s seriously into getting fucked / stuffed.
We don’t know what kind(s) of piggy sex Rafe was into before he was mounted (as a display). But the fact that he earned the title of Pig Champ suggests that he was all all-round player, and probably took pleasure in being mounted (sexually).
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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(#1)
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(#2)
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(#3)
(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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(#4)
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.
Image may be NSFW.
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(#5)
(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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(#6)
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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(#7)
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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(#1)
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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(#2)
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:
Image may be NSFW.
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(#3)
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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(#1)
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):
Image may be NSFW.
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(#2)
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..
