Yesterday’s offering from Daily Jocks (with a caption; notes to follow):

  (#1)

At first it was spectral, ghostly,
Visible only in blue light, at an
Acute angle, scarcely a real
Body part.

Gus stroked it into
Life, gave it color, fun color, took it
From infracorporeal to
Ultracorporeal, crackling with
Energy at all frequencies.

Power in a pouch.

Notes. First, the text of the ad:

Introducing the new Spectra Collection from Obviously! Featuring a range of fun yet sophisticated colors, each pair comes with Obviously’s signature AnatoFREE pouch that lets it all hang out while still providing superior comfort and support. Available in brief and trunk in 3 fantastic colors.

I find it hard to avoid reading the OBVIOUSLY in #1 as OBVIGUSLY, hence the Gus in my caption. The ad also provided the fun colors and the pouch.

Next, the title. Taken from “Opus 6” in Spectra: A Book of Poetic Experiments (1916), a poem by Witter Bynner under the pseudonym Emanuel Morgan. Wikipedia page about the book here.

For a spectral presence, consider (among many possibilities) the movie Ghost:

(#2)

From Wikipedia:

Ghost is a 1990 Australian/Germany/New Zealand/American romantic fantasy thriller film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Tony Goldwyn, and Whoopi Goldberg… The plot centers on a young woman in jeopardy (Moore) and the ghost of her murdered lover (Swayze), who tries to save her with the help of a reluctant psychic (Goldberg), who faked her powers.

Then there’s the electromagnetic spectrum, allluded to in my caption:

  (#3)

There are so many directions I could have have gone in my caption, playing on spectra, spectrum, specter, or spectre.

Halloween playfulness, using the Daily Jocks ad for today:

(#1)

Mark is all a-quiver
Over the sale — the
Troy quadruplets can be
Booked at half price; Mark
Wants Tom Troy so bad he
Lives in Tom’s
Signature hot
Pink superfaggy
Team8 Trunks.

The Troy boys: left to right, Ted, Tom, Todd, Tim:

(#2)

I hear that they’re offering a further volume discount.

Mark is so much into the quads that he’s been developing his. See the legs in #1.

In the November Harper’s Magazine, a fine piece by Sallie Tisdale, “Miracles and Wonders: One woman’s search for a perfect bra”, touching on almost everything bra-related. Here I’ll look at four things: variation in breasts; bras compared to jockstraps; the aura of sex that suffuses the world of bras; and Tisdale’s wardobe of bras. Along the way: analogies between female breasts and male genitals, and in line with that, analogies between bras and male underwear containing the genitals (briefs, jockstraps, etc.).

Illustration in Harper’s by Katherine Streeter:

Variation. From Tisdale:

Unmistakable, yet greatly varied, the visible breast can be shaped like a pear, melon, apricot, or orange — for some reason, produce is a common metaphor — but also like a cone, sausage, softball, plate, ham, or loaf of bread. The fibrous tissue of the breast is a kind of suspensory structure called Cooper’s ligaments that allows the breasts to move freely but gives little support. Breasts may lie near each other or be widely spaced; they may grow high on the chest or low. The nipples can point toward each other, away from each other, up, down, or straight ahead.

Mammary symbols and breast variability, analogues to two recurrent male themes on this blog: phallic symbols (also testicular symbols, like nuts and eggs) and variability in the male genitals, especially the penis (size, angle, curvature, etc.).

Bras and jockstraps. From Tisdale:

I’ve heard men say that wearing a bra is like wearing a necktie, but it’s a lousy comparison. A bra is more like a tight jockstrap that you are obligated to wear all day, every day, wherever you are, because your testicles are so large that your pants don’t fit otherwise, so large that they flap painfully against your thighs, chafing each other and jiggling conspicuously with every step. Envy that.

Contain, control, and support — that’s what bras are supposed to do, and that’s what men’s underpants and, especially, jockstraps are supposed to do,

Sexualizing the clothing.  From Tisdale:

After days of Web surfing, I hit bra fatigue. It was partly due to the endless airbrushed photographs of slim, beautiful women with unnaturally large and perky breasts. I found the scent of sex that permeates the world of bras tiring. I know that my breasts are far more than collections of fat and fibrous tissue. They are provocative and comforting; they have been stroked, nursed, kissed and slept upon, nestled and coddled and slapped with glee. My breasts, like most breasts, have been objects of love and hatred, hunger and confusion. They are like two small companions who live on my chest, whispering, demanding attention. But they are not always sexual, and looking sexy is actually the easiest thing to do in a bra. Being comfortable at work all day is the hardest, and not many companies are selling that these days. I grew tired of the breezy insistence that the difficulty of shopping for a bra was suddenly gone forever. And I got angry when I read that my nipples “should always point straight ahead.” The idea that my breasts should behave in a particular way after having proved for many decades that they will do as they please was discouraging at best.

Bra ads tend to be suffused with sex. They are aimed at both men (who find the bra-breast association arousing) and women looking to use a bra to arouse men — though as with Tisdale, women are often searching for a comfortable bra, not necessarily an arousing one.

Something similar is true of ads for men’s briefs and, especially, for jockstraps. As I’ve pointed out in my frequent postings on men’s underwear, many gay men find the underwear-genitals association arousing, and that’s especially true for jockstraps (with their association with locker-room masculinity), so that there’s a rich lode of ads that ostentatiously drip with sex — though there are plenty of men (especially straight men) who are mostly searching for comfortable underwear and for jockstraps that provide support and some degree of protection.

A wardrobe of bras. From Tisdale:

A year ago, I owned three bras. Today I own ten: a wardrobe of bras, as many people in the business have told me I must have. Which one do I wear? The Jeunique is not, after all, my favorite bra for daily wear. But it has such good support that I often wear it for exercise. I like my new Elomi, and under certain clothes I wear a seamless Bali. I wear them all, but none of them are eighteen-hour bras that I can forget are there. My favorite bra, the most comfortable bra, the one I wear when I’m home alone, is about ten years old. It is stretched and thin, so faded that I cannot read the label, and barely a bra at all.

For many men, their most comfortable underwear, their favorite underwear, is threadbare stuff that they wear until it falls apart.

(The male body, man-man sex, and roles in sex. You have been warned.)

Yesterday’s Daily Jocks ad brings us some commanding presences:

(#1)

Dominic in Dugout briefs

(#2)

Mester in an Alpha harness

Dominic’s in control, and he
Knows what he wants you to
Do; submit to him. Or you can
Serve his brother
Mester; they’re both ready to
Take you.

We’re in the CellBlock 13 world of high masculinity, doms and subs, masters and slaves, and sexual fetishes.

#1 and #2 show the top side. Then there’s the CellBlock 13 bottom side. From a DNA magazine spread of 5/16/13:

First time model Jared Newmeyer recently posed for a new CellBlock 13 campaign. Shot by Timoteo Ocampo, Jared wears the new styles from the Riot and Renegade collections.

(#3)

Jared on his knees, expectant but still defiant

(#4)

Jared tied in service

Meanwhile, we’ve seen a gayboy in an Ambush wrestling singlet from CellBlock 13. The image repeated here:

(#5)

The Ambush line comes with front and rear zippers, allowing the wearer to offer his cock or his ass, as he wishes. It’s consistent with a top or bottom presentation of the body and with a faggy or butch presentation of the self — faggy as in #5, butch in two (X-rated) images on AZBlogX, showing Ambush shorts (in yellow) and an Ambush singlet (in red).

More on ambushes in a moment. But first, some notes on CellBlock 13.

The firm has its own website here. And here’s JockstrapCentral’s description of the company:

CellBlock 13 designs jockstraps and fetish inspired sportswear is the answer to fetish meets fashion. Paying close attention to fit, comfort and fashion with consideration to how we all live, play and relax. For the guy who isn’t afraid to show off how he looks, how he feels and what he’s into.

Whether it’s ergonomically designed underwear, mesh pouched jockstraps, or wrestling singlets with the bum cut out, Cellblock 13 bridges fashion underwear and fetish play wear with bold colors and phenomenal design.

We’ve already heard about garments in the following lines from the company: Dugout, Alpha, Riot, Renegade, and Ambush. Further lines: Back Alley, G-Force, Enforcer (offering both ordinary jocks and “cruising jocks”), Ninja, Locker, Beer Bust, Deceptor, Stryker, Deviant, Cadet, Freshman, Samurai, Venom, Defender, Parolee. Unabashedly gay-oriented and offering allusions to stereotypically masculine locations and events (sports, the military, prisons, beer busts) and to force. aggression, and dangerousness. As far as I can tell, there’s no Back Alley cruising jock, but then nobody’s perfect.

On harnesses: Mester in #2 is wearing an Alpha harness (a wide bulldog harness), to show off his alpha-male power. On harnesses on this blog: a 8/10/13 posting with (cross) harnesses from Sears, of all places. And on AZBlogX, a 9/8/13 posting on harnesses, with five images, only one of them X-rated; both cross harnesses and bulldog harnesses are illustrated.

And now ambushes. The Ambush line from CellBlock 13 takes us into the military sphere, with extensions to other situations. From NOAD2:

noun: a surprise attack by people lying in wait in a concealed position: seven members of a patrol were killed in an ambush | kidnappers waiting in ambush.

verb [with obj.]: make a surprise attack on (someone) from a concealed position: they were ambushed and taken prisoner by the enemy; confront (someone) suddenly and unexpectedly with unwelcome questions: representatives were ambushed by camera crews.

ORIGIN Middle English (in the sense ‘place troops in hiding in order to surprise an enemy’): from Old French embusche (noun), embuschier (verb), based on a late Latin word meaning ‘to place in a wood’; related to bush. The noun use dates from the late 15th cent.

Following up on bush, we get:

ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French bos, bosc, variants of bois ‘wood,’ reinforced by Old Norse buski, of Germanic origin and related to obsolete Dutch bosch (now bos) and German Busch.

So there is, in a sense, a bush in ambush. This is the sort of thing that inclines people to give credence to preposterous invented etymologies.

A recent tv commercial ‘Clean Underwear’ for Charmin Ultra Soft toilet paper, featuring the four Charmin bears and their mother, skirts direct mention of feces stains on underwear (colloquially referred to euphemistically as skidmarks), while including a very slightly concrealed allusion to skids. A performance that some viewers found funny-cute and others found offensive. By going to this site, you can access a video of the commercial that loops through the thing again and again, until you shut it off.

Background. Toilet paper presents a serious challenge in engineering and design: it has to disintegrate in water, so as not to clog toilets; be strong enough to withstand vigorous wiping; and be soft enough not to irritate the user.

Meanwhile, as I’ve noted on this blog (for instance, on 12/12/12, here), underwear serves two central purposes:  protecting the body from assault by outer clothing, which is often rough; and protecting the outer clothing from the discharges of the body, especially feces and semen. (Some underwear also supplies support, for female breasts or male genitals. In addition, as clothing, underwear can serve aesthetic purposes. And underwear that encloses sexual parts can serve as sexual display.) In any case, the intersection of toilet paper and underwear is skid marks.

The commercial. In this partial transcript, I’ve given the bear cubs numbers; they probably have names in the Charminverse, but I don’t know them. Bear 3 seems to act as Head Bear, and Bear 2, in a baseball cap, seems to be the Kid. Bear 4, in glasses, has no speaking part in this ad.

The scene starts with Bear 1 bringing a pack of Charmin into what looks like a living room, where the other three cubs are hanging out. A stairway leads to a second story, where Mama Bear is.

The script:

1: Wow! This toilet paper reminds me of a washcloth!

3: New Charmin Ulta Strong, dude. Cleans so well, it keeps your underwear cleaner. So clean you could wear them a second day.

2: [some exclamation I haven’t been able to make out]

Mama [appearing on the stairway]: I did not just hear that!

3 [to Mama]: I said that you could, not that you would.

[voiceover here]

3: It cleans better. [to 2] Uh, you should try it, Skitz!

[further voiceover]

Skitz is so close to Skids as to make no difference. Apparently 2 is a Skid Kid.

(Not much about language here — mostly about men’s bodies and the projection of personas.)

Saturday’s ad from Daily Jocks, which led me to a rich collection of images from the PUMP! underwear firm. Four of them below the fold, and there are also notes.

(#1)

The lost boy

They crafted his body,
Scupted his abs, his pecs, his
Delts, his quads, pumped up a
Killer package for him, but
Nobody taught him
How to box.

PUMP! specializes in gym-oriented images (pumping iron and all that), though they also have a few pretty-boy models and a lot of models doing the slutty rentboy look, like Dan Bevan here:

(#2)

Whatever you need

Dan will be your
Bartender with
Benefits.

(Dan’s regular job, outside of modeling, is as a bartender in a Vancouver gay bar.)

Or you can get the rentboy look right there in the gym:

(#3)

Jockstrap exhibitionist

Sultry Boy
Blatantly
Displays himself.

(Dactyl time!)

In any case, PUMP!’s images lean towards the homoerotic, as in a series of shots of the Minnekhanov twins, Rubin and Reval:

(#4)

Classified

X seeks Y
For pouch play
In neon colors.

(See the Underwear Nation piece of 1/25/13, “The Twin Male Model Debate”, with three sets of twins, including these.)

Finally, here’s PUMP! model Nick Stracener away from PUMP!, in an ad campaign promoting condom use:

(#5)

Sheathed

Nick wants you –
To wrap it up.

(Nick’s regular job is as a flight attendant, based in Dallas — hence the play on Big D for Dallas and big D for big dick.)

Bonus: the title of this posting. It’s a (distant) play on Pump Boys and Dinettes. From Wikipedia:

Pump Boys and Dinettes is a musical written [premiered in 1981, on Broadway in 1982] by a performance group of the same name. The group, Pump Boys and Dinettes, consists of John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann. The members additionally directed and starred in the Broadway production.

… The musical tells the story of four men (L.M., Jackson, Jim and Eddie) who work at a gas station and two waitresses (sisters Prudie and Rhetta Cupp) at the “Double Cupp Diner,” a dinette, located somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna, North Carolina. The music is mostly from the country rock/pop music genres. They perform on guitars, piano, bass and kitchen utensils.

(#6)

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

(#1)

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:

(#2)

And Nick and Monroe in consultation:

(#3)

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:

(#4)

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:

(#5)

(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:

(#1)

(#2)

(#3)

(Hat tip to Chis Ambidge and Mike McKinley.)

On the penguin watch.

On the front page of yesterday’s NYT, a color-splash of an ad for Salvatore Ferragamo ties, one of which clearly had litte penguins on it. Ferragamo novelty ties, 100% silk, selling for $190 each (fashion doesn’t come cheap) from Ferragamo, somewhat less at fine men’s clothing stores. The fish and penguin tie, in a thumbnail:

(#1)

Another quirky themed tie, the semaphoring bear:

(#2)

Now, three things: other items in the Ferragamo novelty-tie collection; the ad; and thematic ties (especially vintage ones) in general.

Ferragamo novelty ties. Also in the collection: monkey, cheetahs, lion on surfboard, swinging monkey, sailboat, zebra and palm, fish, anchor, horse and horseshoe, alligator,…

The NYT ad. The ad was definitely eye-catching, with the colorful ties fanned out. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to unearth a copy of the photo. But here’s another ad, less artfully designed, but still colorful:

(#3)

Vintage ties. For a while now, my friend Steven Levine has been posting to Facebook with photos of his vintage tie-of-the-day, from his enormous collection of wonderful quirky ties, all bought for a (very short) song at second-hand stores, estate sales, and the like. Two with abstract designs:

(#4)

(#5)

The latest ad from the Daily Jocks company, with a caption:

  (#1)

The head-scratcher

He didn’t know
Where he was or
How he got there;
Last he remembered,
He was rocking to
“El Bimbo” at the
Blue Oyster Bar, in his
Pink and blue jockstrap,
With a really
Hot
Sweaty
Stud
Who called him
Sugar

Some notes:

Ad copy from Jocks:

Get the blood pumping with the all new Sugar Rush Collection from PUMP!
Made from quality micromesh and cotton fabric, each pair will help keep you cool while still giving you full support.
Available in jock and jogger in a funky pink and blue color combo!

Then the Blue Oyster Bar — the gay leather bar in the Police Academy films (link), where the guys dance to the song “El Bimbo” (played by Jean-Marc Dompierre and his orchestra); a Blue Oyster Bar scene can be viewed here. El Bimbo would of course refer to a male bimbo, otherwise known (by portmanteauing) as a himbo or mimbo: good-looking, buffed, focused on his grooming and his body, not very bright, and inclined to be a slut. In another variant, he’s a bimboy, as in the 2015 book Becoming the Bimboy, a male/male romance by Lance Abrusco:

  (#2)

But why Blue Oyster Bar? Well, the color blue has been associated with gay men, as in the (now-deceased) gay pornographic magazine Blueboy:

  (#3)

(plus the use of blue to refer to material with sexual or pornographic content).

Then there’s the rock band Blue Öyster Cult, but I don’t see any gay male association there, so it probably just contributed the words blue and oyster to the bar name.

As for oysters, they’ve been associated with virility since ancient times, no doubt because of the similarity in appearance of oysters and vulvas:

  (#4)

Now this is easily seen as a vulva, but it can also be seen as a (moderately complex) anus, and gay men are in any case inclined to view the male anus as a sexual organ, analogous to a vagina (with the vulva as its external part). That makes Blue Oyster a moderately subtle name for a gay bar, less blunt than, say Manhole or Tool Box.

(More common as symbolic of both vulvas and anuses are flowers, in particular roses.)

Today’s Daily Jocks ad, wishing us Happy Thanksgiving through a stud with a carefully sculptured body, wearing an Ibiza Brief in white, from Marcuse; and, as it turns out, offering gift boxes and gift vouchers “for a friend, partner, or even yourself!”

(#1)

On to a model of sad countenance showing off these briefs:

(#2)

He despaired of
Returning to Ibiza,
Having only these
Briefs to remind him of
Gay days in the sun.

He takes us to the Voucher Boys, Red and Yellow:

(#3)

The boys are wearing Rugger Jr. shorts from BCNU, in navy blue (with red trim and red-themed socks) and grey (with yellow trim and yellow-themed socks).

They’d been teammates and
Lovers for six years now, but
Hung back from talking about
Kinks: did Red’s red mean
Fist-fucking and Yellow’s yellow mean
Piss, or were they just
Color preferences?

Notes below the fold.

DJ’s copy on the briefs in #2:

Marcuse taps into Ibiza, providing the perfect themed look for our brand’s printed underwear. We reckon you’ll soak up the vibe in these classic ocean-inspired silhouette prints, fitted with elastic waistband to hug your masculine waist. Where ever you seek the sun and the pulsating rhythm of life, throw in your pair of Marcuse Ibiza briefs!

On Ibiza, from Wikipedia:

Ibiza (Catalan: Eivissa …) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea, 150 kilometres (93 miles) off the coast of the city of Valencia, in eastern Spain. It is the third largest [after Majorca and Minorca] of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain.

… Ibiza has become famous for the association with nightlife and the electronic music that originated on the island. It is well known for its summer club scene which attracts very large numbers of tourists

Ibiza has a substantial gay presence, with gay clubs and a gay beach.

Now about possible color coding in #3. This would be the famous hanky code, now mostly a relic of the past of gay cruising. In its classic form, each color signifies some sexual practice; worn on the left, the hanky marks an insertive, dominant, or top man; on the right, a receptive, submissive, or bottom man. But shorts and socks are symmetric, so the only information they might convey is a sexual practice. For the record, the colors involved in #3 are, for the body colors:

navy blue: fucking
grey: bondage

and for the trim and the socks:

red: fist-fucking
yellow: piss

I start with yesterday’s Daily Jocks ad, with a Black Friday sale:

(#1)

Knocked Down

They put him on a Black Friday
Half-off sale, he felt
Devalued

(The briefs in the photo are apparently 2(X)IST Sweats Briefs, which are in the Daily Jocks sale in Earl Grey and Very Blue — normally $28 each, $14 on sale — but not in the vivid red shown above.)

Daily Jocks offers a number of lines of what have come to be called premium brands, emphasizing not just comfort but also style and sexiness, and in cost a step up from basic brands like Fruit of the Loom and Jockey. In fact, the world of men’s underwear has undergone a kind of revolution, from the days when 75% of men’s underwear purchases were made by women to the current scene, where only 25% are; men have become fashion-conscious and are shopping for themselves these days. Meanwhile, underwear modeling has gone from just a routine specialty in male modeling to a high-fashion specialty; men with good looks and hot bodies vie with one another for modeling jobs, and celebrities in sports and entertainment are courted by premium brands (for big bucks) to represent them in advertising.

Now the next stage: from premium brands to luxury brands. On to a wonderful piece by Guy Trebay in the NYT‘s Styles section on the 26th:  “As Personal as Luxury Gets: Men’s underwear goes premium, entering triple-figure territory” (head in print), “A Pair of Boxers for $400? Men’s Underwear Goes High-End “ (head on-line).

Some highlights — well, quite a few — from Trebay’s piece:

Once, they were known as unmentionables, and it only mattered that they were clean. You never knew, after all, when you might be knocked down by a bus.

“When we were young, you would never show your underwear,” the designer Tommy Hilfiger said recently, referring to an era when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. “Now, if you don’t show your underwear, you’re just not cool.”

Mr. Hilfiger was marking one of those shifts in the culture that lurch along with a tectonic jolt. For generations, American men who were raised wearing generic boxers or Jockeys purchased in three-packs expended little thought or time or post-tax income on the foundation garments worn beneath their outerwear. The whole point of skivvies seemed to be encapsulated in the name given to the category under which they were sold: intimates.

That was before Justin Bieber, of course, before sexting and saggers and artfully lighted, half-clad Snapchat selfies. It was before baldly erotic videos of Rafael Nadal popped up on smartphones or monitors in advertisements depicting one of the world’s top tennis players doing a locker-room striptease in Mr. Hilfiger’s new line of sexy boxer briefs — images that even five years ago may have been flagged as NSFW.

It was also before a trend (most likely inaugurated by Calvin Klein in the prehistory of Marky Mark) that gained considerable momentum over the last dozen years, that of offering so-called premium underwear for men. [Language Log and this blog have tracked these developments for some time; see the “Underwear postings” Page on this blog.] “Underwear is where jeans were 20 years ago,” Mr. Hilfiger said. “It’s the new denim.”

Proof of that assertion can be found on The Underwear Expert, a startlingly comprehensive website dedicated to researching, testing, reviewing and even curating for sale underpants culled from the nearly 600 labels now crowding the field.

… Priced in a broad range from $24.99 (the figure at which men’s underpants are considered “premium”) to the $470 the French luxury-goods house Hermès charges for a pair of woven boxers are briefs whose virtues are sometimes described in terms better suited to the aerospace than the apparel industry.

… Teaming up with Frigo, a premium underwear brand developed by Mathias Ingvarsson, the Swedish entrepreneur who helped transform Tempur-Pedic from a no-name mattress brand into a global powerhouse, [Curtis Jackson III, better known as 50 Cent] last December helped close an $80 million licensing deal for a brand apparently pitched at the so-called urban market.

… The marketing of Frigo tends to favor innovation over style as a way to lure consumers to a product that costs up to $100 a pair. Like the patented AussieBum Wonderjock, or the SAXX Vibe “articulated contour pouch,” or 2UNDR’s “Joey Pouch,” or the “keyhole comfort pouch” made by the label MyPakage, Frigo briefs also feature a patented interior pouch designed to lift and display a man’s anatomical endowment to maximum benefit.

(On this blog, on pouch-enhancing underwear: “The Xmas package 2” on 12/17/10, “Bulges” on 4/17/11.)

Pouch enhancement predictably leads Trebay to material on codpieces (see this recent posting of mine, which has a section on codpieces).

Trebay’s piece is amply illustrated. The first photo:

(#2)

Matthew McGue, a model, auditioning for an event to celebrate the debut of a collection of high-end Parke & Ronen underwear. (photo by Deidre Schoo)

Back to basics. Basic lines continue, but even they have fashioned up some. The Fruit of the Loom site offers only three styles of men’s underwear — boxers, boxer briefs, and briefs — but the briefs come in several styles (in particular, there are bikini briefs, without flies, in many colors).  These are offered in 4-packs, 5-packs, and 6-packs (mostly at $18.99 per pack, which is way below premium prices). For instance,  a 6-pack of stripes / solids fashion briefs (with fly) for $18.99, a 5-pack of assorted-color bikini briefs for $15.49.

Meanwhile, Jockey has moved into fashion world. The Jockey site for men’s underwear offers eight styles:

string bikini, bikini, brief, trunk, boxer brief, boxer, midway brief (essentially a lomng boxer brief), quad short (even longer, covering the thighs)

in three fits (as described on the site):

classic fit (full coverage styles that offer long-lasting comfort), low rise (tailored underwear in fashionable colors and styles), sport (underwear designed to keep you cool and comfortable)

These are available in 2-packs, 3-packs, and 6-packs, all well under premium prices. For example: Elance String Bikini (2 for $19.50), Pouch Boxer Brief (2 for $25),  Elance Brief (3 for $19.50),  Classic Brief (6 for $36).

A different marketing strategy. While most menswear has moved in the direction of style, fashion, and sexiness, one firm, the Duluth Trading Company, has gone for a marketing strategy that elaborately pushes working-class masculinity, with pants (that is, trousers) claimed to be super-durable (even a grizzly bear couldn’t take them on), and the like. In the men’s underwear department, they offer their Men’s Buck Naked Performance line:

Boxer Briefs for $22.50 each, Boxers for $22.50, Briefs $19.50, Extra-Long Boxer Briefs $24.50

Just under premium prices (and, nice point, prices set to correspond roughly to the amount of fabric in a garment).

A commercial (obviously meant to be funny) can be viewed here. The print ads are elaborately folksy-masculine:

TIRED OF SWEATIN’ AND SQUIRMIN’? GET “BUCK NAKED!”

No sweat. No stink. No pinch! “Almost feel as if you are wearing no underwear at all!” says Ric from Richmond, VA. If you’re like most men, you’re still wearing the same kind of ‘tighty whities’ you grew up with. Our Buck Naked™ Briefs (previously known as Performance Underwear) are making working guys all across the country change their underwear. They’re stretchy, yet supportive too, for extra ease when you’re climbing or kneeling. (“Great comfort and gentle control of all my parts” as Doc from Michigan so carefully put it.) They also wick sweat far more efficiently than any cotton skivvies out there to keep you drier. Plus they’re treated to fight odor.

None of that fancy-pants stuff, but underwear for Real Men!

The most recent Daily Jocks ad, with a darkly brooding model in Jack Adams  briefs who’s performing the first step in a cock-tease show, pulling down one side of those briefs, hinting that he might be willing to give us more:

(#1)

I love my Jack Adams

When Adam delved
Into his briefs,
Seeking his identity,
He named himself —
For his belovèd
Underwear.

In its ads, the underwear firm Jack Adams (JA) — it specializes in jockstraps, but offers a full range of styles — focuses on masculinity, with an unmistakable homoerotic subtext, though its statements are tamer, emphasizing athleticism and stylishness, as here:

Jack Adams – Defined By The Man Who Wears It: Founded in 2010, Jack Adams is an underwear and activewear brand that’s defined by the man who wears it. We appeal to the athletic man with a masculine style – and a strong sense of style at that. We are one of the few brands that clearly acknowledge the confidence that can come from a fashionable, maybe even sexy pair of underwear. That’s why the quintessential Jack Adams man is self-assured, comfortable in his own skin, and even more comfortable in Jack Adams style.

The firm’s name conjures up (no doubt intentionally) a huge assortment of associations, masculine and sexual, with Jack, jack, and Adam.

JA uses a wide range of model types (though they’re all in fantastic shape), with a variety of presentations of themselves. The guy above falls pretty far out on the male-hustler end of the scale.

I’ll look at a bunch of Jack Adams models in a little while. But first, notes on two of the allusions in my caption above.

The title. An echo of the British singer-songwriter Donovan’s song “I Love My Shirt”, from the 1969 album Barabajagal, a song you can hear at this YouTube link.

Delving.  That is, ‘digging’. Here the echo is of a famous couplet:

(#2)

From the Victorian Web site, this is a William Morris illumination of A Dream of John Ball (1892), on the words of reformist preacher John Ball during the 1381 peasant rebellion (a sermon about the unequal distribution of wealth).

Previously on this blog. Two postings with JA in them. On 1/16/13, a posting on “The H fly”: the horizontal or army fly, which allows a man to fish out his penis from above with ease, illustrated by the JA Army Fly Jock Brief (in case you’ve forgotten, a jock brief is a brief in front, a jockstrap – hence open-rear – in back; sort of like a mullet, business in front, party in the rear).

And then on 9/14/15, a posting on “Alex Minsky and his underwear”, on 2014 JA model Minsky: heavily tattoed, very hot, and with a prosthetic lower right leg.

Jesse Jordan. That was 2014. The 2013 JA model was Jesse Jordan, a favorite of mine. Also tattooed, but more lightly, and given to facial expressions that suggest he might be about to smile — certainly, neither overtly seductive nor challenging. Three items. First, the JA Footballer Lace Up Jockstrap (in red and black), a preposterous but entertaining garment:

(#3)

Then a JA Army Fly Brief (with H fly), in black (and now we see the tattoing on his right pec: “Ich Liebe” ‘I love’):

(#4)

And the JA Core Boxer Brief, in grey, with a great big jutting pouch:

(#5)

From the Model Mayhem site, we learn that 34-year-old Jesse Daniel Jordan, who lives in L.A., is a big man (6′ 2″, 203 lbs.). From his sweetly enthusiastic personal statement, we learn that he’s also a hair stylist:

I [have] been very fortunate to work in many different avenues of entertainment. I have modeled for magazines and billboards, was on a reality tv show on Bravo called “Workout,” acted in commercials, and I am a licensed hair stylist. As a hair stylist I have worked with some of the top magazines and celebrities. I am open to both modeling and hair jobs. I consider myself a kind and hard working person so feel free to message me about potential jobs. THANK YOU!

Dylan Austin Scott. Male fitness model Scott was the 2012 JA model. As far as I can tell, he’s inkless, and he’s clean-shaven. Two poses, in the JA BodyFlex Mesh Jockstrap, in black, snapping a strap; and in the JA Trainer Trunk, in white, with another big jutting pouch:

(#6)

(#7)

And then, out of his underwear. showing off his muscles and smiling devilishly through cock-teasing:

(#8)

One more JA model: John Strand, shown here in a JA Air Mesh Track Short:

(#9)

One of his moods. In a wilder mood and a different presentation of self, he’s posed for a number of cock-tease shots by David Wagner, for instance:

(#10)

Assembling materials for my posting on Jack Adams underwear for men took me further into the world of homowear, premium men’s underwear brands (pricey, emphasizing athleticism and stylishness, plus comfort and sexiness, and also homoerotically tinged) and the world of the male underwear models who are used by these brands — both crowded and competitive fields these days. And there I came across this David Wagner photo of model José Parra displaying his muscular body and offering his crotch (and one armpit) in a wrestling singlet (aka wrestler) from N2N:

(#1)

I’ll be posting a few more photos of Joey Parra (as he is also known), mostly doing enthusiastic cock-tease performances, and also information about some of the homowear brands he’s worked for, starting with N2N.

Wrestling singlets. Strictly speaking, #1 is not a cock-tease performance, since this wrestling singlet is cut super low by design, so that anyone wearing it will be displaying pubic hair. The garment is not a piece of athletic gear at all; it’s a piece of homowear. Note the stylish fabric and the pouch enhancement.

Here’s a genuine athletic singlet, from a wrestling supplies firm:

(#2)

It has a U neck, like many athletic shirts, but it’s not scooped low.

An intermediate case, from the style-conscious firm Pistol Pete:

(#3)

This has a scoop neck, designed to show off the wearer’s manly chest, and it’s stylish, but it has no pouch enhancement, and it could in principle be worn on a wrestling mat (especially if your team’s colors are gold and black).

Homowear singlets are scooped way low, below the navel, to display the whole torso; they are pouch-enhancing; they’re likely to be made of sexy materials (faux leather, shiny fabrics, camo fabric, fabrics in intense colors); and sometimes they have open rears, offering the wearer’s butt as well as his crotch (the singlet in #1 does not). They are for fun and display, not athletic competition.

Of course, the attraction of a wrestling singlet, even one not homo-enhanced, is the combination of the high masculinity of  sports and the high homoeroticism of two sweaty, minimally clad men in prolonged close physical contact with one another.

The N2N brand. From the Underwear Expert site:

Designed to offer a flattering fit, N2N Bodywear offers a wide selection of men’s underwear, swimwear, active wear and loungewear specifically for gay male consumers or adventurous metro-sexuals. Founded in Los Angeles in 1997 by fashion designer, Andrew MacKay, N2N (short for “Next to Nothing”) offers an apparel line that embraces the male physique and provides customers with a number of options. N2N Bodywear’s mission is to provide the most comfortable, quality apparel to make any man feel masculine, sexy and confident.

The N2N Underwear line offers a variety of styles such as revealing G-strings or jockstraps as well as trunks or long johns that hug the body. The brand utilizes natural and synthetic fibers such as cotton, polyester and spandex to achieve a lightweight, smooth feel. The brand provides a variety of selections with different colors and prints. For a flattering contour enhancing silhouette, N2N offers its own nHANCE pouch, which lifts and supports your package. N2N Mens Underwear also provides a sensual touch with several ranges featuring see-through fabrics.

N2N underwear is in the premium range (mostly $20-$30 apiece), but they also offer some specialty items, especially in the Erotic category, where you can find

(1) The C-Strap (for cock strap), essentially a nylon/spandex cock ring, which N2N bills as a “bulge booster” and “ball lifter”. In various kicky colors, at $14 apiece.

(#4)

(2) The N2N Suede Harness, which goes for $40:

(#5)

(3) And another homowear wrestling singlet, The Liquid Skin Wrestler, which sells for $44:

(#6)

On José “Joey” Parra. He’s now in his late 20s. Lives in Montebello CA (in L.A. County, east of downtown L.A.). His entry on the Model Mayhem site says he doesn’t do nude shots… but he’s clearly an adventurous fellow. From a 12/13/13 feature in Next Magazine, “Colby Melvin, Brent Corrigan and [José Parra] model the smallest men’s underwear you’ve ever seen [NSFW]”:

Looking for a stocking stuffer that won’t take up too much space? PetitQ has taken revealing underwear to a whole new level with their latest line of incredibly skimpy products. (Seriously, you could use some of these to floss.) [with a link to an entertaining video; a screen shot from the video]

(#7)

Joey’s big break was modeling for Andrew Christian. Here he is, younger and tamer than above (but still intense), modeling an AC jockstrap:

(#8)

On the Andrew Christian brand. From the Underwear Expert:

Based in Los Angeles, California, Andrew Christian underwear was founded in 1997. Led by the brand’s namesake creative director, Andrew Christian, the brand is best known for its devoted fan base, viral video campaigns, innovative pouches and designs and, of course, the ever popular Andrew Christian models.

The brand is perhaps most well known for its anatomically correct Almost Naked range of men’s underwear. The range features a hang-free pouch designed to enhance the profile of the package and maximize comfort.

AC on this blog:

“Male vanity” of 3/30/11: the AC Shock Jock Flirt Brief (with “a soft hidden cup, sculpted into a penis shape”)

“For Stonewall Day” of 6/28/12: including “a puppy pile of Andrew Christian football boyz”

“Color and advertising your preference” of 2/27/15: ad copy for AC; photos of the CoolFlex Retro Brief Jock and the C-Ring Brief Jock (brief jock = jock brief, brief in front, jock in the rear)

David Wagner and Rufskin. In Joey’s next big career move, he hooked up with L.A. male photographer David Wagner for work with Rufskin garments (underwear and jeans), both for ads and for cock-tease play. In all of these shots, the man is sexily intense. I find these shots really hot and at the same time really funny.

Two underwear cock-teases, with Joey using both hands to pull his skivvies down to show some pubes and suggest that he might be willing to go all the way for you:

(#9)

(#10)

And then a nice sequence, with the ad first (with both armpits displayed), followed by a one-handed cock-tease pants-lowering (the other hand in use for an armpit display):

(#11)

(#12)

In the jeans cock-teases, Joey has undone his fly and pushed his jeans down to expose his pubes and (usually) also his cockroot, leaving both his hands free to do whatever he wants with them:

(#13)

(#14)

In the underwear cock-teases, Joey is naked except for the underwear, so all the muscles on the front of his body are on display. In these two jeans cock-teases he’s exposing some of this musculature, by opening his shirt in #13, by shirt-lifting in #14.

The Underwear Expert (in January 2013) on the Wagner / Parra / Rufskin shoot:

David Wagner recently photographed this series of Jose Parra Rufskin photos. Parra pulls Rufskin off like a champ – the 25 year old model really isn’t shy in front of the camera and is more than willing to give us a peek at what’s going on underneath in these Rufskin photos. We see Parra in briefs, boxer briefs, button-fly jeans and even a bow tie. The tan and muscular model reminds us just how seductive and sensual the California based apparel brand can be.

(As far as I can tell, WagnerLA has appeared on this blog only once before, in yesterday’s posting on Jack Adams underwear — with cock-tease shots of model John Strand.)

The Rufskin brand. A San Diego firm founded by Hubert Pouches and Douglas Coats. From its website:

Rufskin began with a desire to fill a void in men’s fashion, starting with the ethos of our brand: a well-cut, sexy men’s jean. The business grew from its original artisan denim line, created from a garage in San Diego, to a global menswear company encompassing swimwear, underwear and athletic wear. It is built on the foundation of being at once vintage, sexy, masculine, athletic, futuristic and above all, well crafted.

“About Rufskin: Ruf but Smooth” by Darren Styles, who interviewed the founders:

Coats: “Hubert and I met in Paris back in the ’90s, where he ran a modeling agency and I was one of the models. He’d previously worked for a couple of fashion labels there, Bernard Perris and Courreges, and after a decade together we decided to become business partners, too”

… The kick-start for Rufskin was the founders’ realisation that there was a gap in the men’s denim market, where men were going into women’s stores to find jeans with a fitted, sexier cut – as styles elsewhere had morphed into something altogether more workmanlike. “So we started with low-rise jeans with unique styling and made that our signature,” recalls Pouches.

… some of the Rufskin output has a reputation for being somewhat risqué

Rufskin came up in this blog in a 7/1/10 posting with the poem “Golden State Rufskin Tit”, based in part on a Rufskin ad — one that features, among other things, yet another homowear wrestling singlet.

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:

(#1)

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

(#2)

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:

(#3)

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:

(#6)

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:

(#7)

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:

(#8)

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:

(#9)

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

(#10)

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

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

Today’s Daily Jocks ad, offering a sale on 2(X)IST items:

Trapped between
Gymnast Dude on one side and
Sock Freak on the other, he came to
Question his orientation towards
Boxer briefs — what to do?

(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:

(#1)

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

(#2)

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

(#3)

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

(#4)

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

(#5)

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

(#6)

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:

(#7)

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.

(#2)

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

(#3)

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.

(Lots of gay sex stuff in here, so use your judgment.)

The most recent Daily Jocks ad:

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BCNÜ have launched their all new Varsity collection of sports tanks and shorts!
The slick, sporty gear has been designed for the active man, with form-fitting contouring and mesh paneling for extra breathability.
Both tanks and shorts are made from polyester and elastane fabric and come in 3 color styles so you can match up your complete workout look!

The ad inspired me to write a fantasy short story, in the form of (relatively) long-line free verse.

Bradley Chase and Charlie Nash
Fled their home towns at 19 to
Seek a life of gay porn in
San Francisco.

Both were solidly gay, loved sex with
Other men, loved displaying themselves
Theatrically, both had gorgeous bodies –
Part a gift of nature, part
Hard work at the gym – both
Enthusiastic, inventively dirty, fiercely
Energetic, versatile, and

Mostly oblivious to the indignities of
The business, surmounting the need to maintain endless
Hard-ons, meeting the challenge of being paired with
Strangers to perform a long menu of
Sex acts, no choice of their own, even
Coming to wryly enjoy douching their manholes.

They kept their initials, performing as
B.C. and C.N. and under the cheesy
Porn names Baloney Cumming and
Cocky Naked. They fell in love, thinking
No one else could appreciate them
The way they appreciated each other. They
Parlayed their porn fame into steady
Incomes as rentboys and giving live
Sex shows. They were married at
SexHawk Studios in S.F. in June 2008.

They left SexHawk a few years later to form
Their own portmanteau production company, BCN,
Churning out outrageous in-your-face flicks, starting with
Faggot Sluts, that also managed to be both
Funny and romantic.

Then they discovered BCNÜ and
Took it on as their company brand: their
Actors would disport themselves in
Prominently labeled BCNÜ gym gear, until their
Engorged cocks and balls burst out of the
Skimpy (but eminently comfortable) garments and
The boys ripped them off each other’s bodies and
Went at it like crazed minks —

A sturdy formula that earned them a small
Fortune, though they still hustled for money,
Just for the pleasure of giving their johns
What they needed.

Notes:

The referential ambiguity in the last line — does they refer to the johns or to B.C. and C.N.? — is intentional.

As far as I can tell, Baloney Cumming and Cocky Naked have not been used as names by any gay porn actors.

There’s also no gay porn SexHawk Studios (meant to suggest Falcon Studios), but sexhawk has been used as a name in several contexts, most notably as the name of a “Minnesota sleaze rock” band (link here). A thumbnail:

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Nicely sleazy album title — plus a crude crotch grab.

I don’t think Faggot Sluts has been used as the name of a gay porn flick, but  the expression faggot slut is so widely used that I could be wrong. Bonus here: a new posting on AZBlogX, “The pleasure of humiliation”, with a thoroughly X-rated BDSM image with the caption “Two faggot sluts being led by their worthless dicks”.

(Men’s bodies and practices involving them.)

The latest Daily Jocks ad is an offer of Mystery Underwear, with the model apparently about to snap the strap of his jock:

But he might be doing a cock-tease display, suggesting that he might use the strap to pull his jockstrap down — a jockstrap counterpart to pulling underwear down on one side. Or he might be about to snap the strap as a way of calling attention to the package at the center of his jockstrap.

In any case: the ad copy:

One of our Most Popular Shopping Events has started! We’re offering the first 100 people the opportunity to purchase Mystery Underwear for $14.95.

Snap up those cut-price skivvies!

Earlier on this blog, in a  December 2nd posting on Jack Adams underwear, #1 has a model lowering underwear on one side (via fingers hooked in the waistband) as a tease, and #6 has the model Dylan Austin Scott offering a counterpart play with one strap of his jock.

Out in the real world, strap snapping is a not uncommon bit of locker room horseplay by teammates, with one guy snapping one strap of another guy’s jock; it stings, but only mildly. Then there is towel-snapping in the showers, and more advanced body play, like fingering a teammate’s asshole.

The guys involved in this horseplay are usually straight; gay guys tend to do their best not to put themselves into potentially arousing situations like the ones I’ve just described. (I’ve seen strap snapping and towel-snapping at first hand, but not asshole-fingering, though there are plenty of accounts of locker room play in which fingering plays a part.) The emotional resonances of this apparently aggressive play are complex: part jockeying for dominance, part male bonding in which the targets are accorded membership in a tight group and show that they can good-heartedly “take it like a man”. The play is ritualized and almost never dissolves into actual aggression.

(It clearly takes experience and work for a straight boy to successfully negotiate this world. See Michael Kimmel’s 2009 book Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.)

But underwear ads live in a homoerotic fantasy world of their own. The guy in the Daily Jocks ad seems to be presenting himself as a (gay) muscle twink. The most common presentation in premium underwear ads is as an intense and dominant street hustler, but there’s also a more neutral (sometimes even smiling) presentation as a buddy: Dylan Austin Scott with strap in hand in the Jack Adams posting.