Two One Big Happy cartoons recently in my comics feed. Originally from 1/29, a strip in which Ruthie misunderstands “Randi with an “I””, taking it to be “Randi with an eye”. And originally from 1/25, a Sunday strip in which Ruthie misunderstands “pole dance”, taking it to be “Pole dance”.
Archive for the ‘Dance’ Category
Ruthie misunderstands
February 21, 2021Celebrating Valentine’s Day 2: the gay porn actors
February 12, 2021(This posting — with its depictions of and street-language descriptions of, sex between men — is totally unsuitable for kids or the sexually modest.)
An ad, both very carefully and pleasingly composed and also goofily absurd, for the HUNT eZine gay porn sale for Valentine’s Day 2021, plays on movie clichés of tango or flamenco dancing, in which a red rose (symbolizing sexual passion) is held between the teeth of one of the dancers in a couple, most commonly the woman, but sometimes the man. (Note: roses, of whatever color, between the teeth play no role whatsoever in actual tango and flamenco.)
The ad shows two men who are fucking, not dancing, but the top (exhibiting a fiercely ecstatic facial expression) has a red rose clenched between his teeth, as a symbol of his overwhelming desire for the bottom (whose eyes are closed and whose mouth is half open, in receptive ecstasy):
Oh Canada baby, ripple my maple leaves!
July 1, 2019Today is Canada Day, Canada’s national day, celebrated in many ways, perhaps most remarkably in this display of national pride — “hot shirtless muscle jocks in Canadian themed pants”, according to one of the many Pinterest sites on which it’s reproduced — which came to me from Tim Evanson, who thought that they might be a Canadian sports team of some kind (they certainly are fit):
(#1) The Canadian Thunder team: Bobby Ryan, Carlo Spina, Michael Scratch, Daniel Bennato, Vince Johansson and Malcolm Foster
Yes, a team, and yes, certified Canadians (I’d feared they’d turn out to be American male models hired for the photo, but, gratifyingly, not), and the men are no doubt accomplished athletes, but they aren’t a sports team.
The ballet of Mango Meshman
May 24, 2019(Mango Meshman shows off his body, to the accompaniment of mansexually suggestive lyrics. Not for everyone.)
The beauty of his buttocks
And the juicy sweetness
Of his secret parts
Tsviki from Belarus
May 22, 2019As I noted in yesterday’s posting “Das Wappen”, over the years, Zwickys have moved from Canton Glarus not only to all parts of Switzerland, and from Switzerland north and west in Europe (and then further west to the Americas), but also to the east, all the way to the Slavic lands — specifically, to what is now Ukraine and Russia. And also to what is now Belarus. Where we find the Tsviki — Цвики — family.
Two Belarusian Tsvikis, about 60 years apart in age. One, Leonid, back in Vitebsk, Belarus; the other, Julia (who came to the US a few years ago), in Hallandale Beach FL.
Great twerks of the 19th century
May 19, 2019In advertising for the Palo Alto Art Center’s exhibition Local Editions: A Celebration of Bay Area Printmaking 6/15/19 – 8/25/19, this arresting print by Judy Aoki:
(#1) (She) Twerkin’, 2014 stone lithograph with watercolor (on Aoki’s website under the title Dance Styles of the 1800’s, from her Museum of Historical Makeovers)
A note on the late 20th- / early 21st-century dance craze twerking, then more on Aoki and her work.
V me, I’m Irish
March 17, 2019Jewish gay men
April 1, 2018(Significant discussions of gay porn, men’s bodies, and mansex — definitely not for kids or the sexually modest.)
In yesterday’s “Deviant Passover rites”, a section on gay Jewish guys partying at the Sederlicious event in NYC, including a note on non-Jews who appreciate Jewish men — called bagel chasers in write-ups of the event (my 12/19/15 posting “X queen” mentioned matzo(h) queen for a man with a preference for Jewish men, and also hummus queen or falafel queen for a man with a preference for Arab/Middle Eastern men).
So in the gay sexual marketplace, there are certainly outgroup customers for Jewish men (and for Muslim men), but there’s evidence that this is a minority taste (suggesting significant implicit prejudice): while gay porn featuring Jewish men isn’t unknown, there’s not a lot of it — certainly nothing like the enormous amount of porn featuring black and Latino men as objects of desire. Black and Latino men, especially working-class men, are seen as strongly masculine and powerful (and therefore attractive as fantasy lust-objects, in what you might think of as thug porn), while Jewish men in general are not.
With the (partial) exception of Israelis. The stereotype of Israeli men is that they’re soldiers, physically tough guys, while American Jews are stereotypically businessmen, accountants, lawyers, scholars, and so on. So there’s a vein of high-end gay porn featuring actors identified as Israelis (promoted especially by Michael Lucas) and a considerable genre of amateur porn offering men identified as Israelis, but not much featuring the sort of American guys who might turn up at Hebro events like Sederlicious.
Illustrations to come from Michael Lucas porn; Israeli gay icon Eliad Cohen; and an unusual piece of amateur (but well produced) gay porn starring a man identified as young Israeli dancer Yoav Bosidan (currently dancing with the Ballet am Rhein).
Annals of sport/art
March 11, 2018Back on December 17th, my posting “Xmas follies 2017: the shirtless men of the season” featured (in #1 and #2 there) pole dancer Domenico Vaccaro, engaging in an activity that is both sport — there are competitions — and art form — performances are scored on aesthetic criteria as well as on the achievement of specific moves. Think of it as ballet with a prop, a prop that allows a dancer to fly suspended in mid-air. Male pole dancers frequently perform shirtless, so they also show off their full bodies, which are aesthetic objects in their own right.
And now, thanks to Kim Darnell, another male pole dancer, the Hungarian Peter Holoda, a great pleasure to watch in action. In a still shot:
(#1) You can watch here a piece of a stunning performance by Holoda to music from the film Schindler’s List, played by Holoda’s frequent collaborator, cellist Tina Guo