How do pencil erasers work? Such simple magic has always thrilled me.
Author Archives: Alan Ilagan
17
April
2024
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April
2024
Clouds in a Spring Sky
It’s been a while since we’ve had a blue sky. All these days of gray overcast skies have left me restless and agitated, especially with so much outside work still be done. Mercury is in retrograde motion and nothing feels quite right. My mind is all over the place… difficult to focus. Wednesday posts are like that.
Who new that Leroy Anderson wrote more than Christmas music? Listen below:
The one constant is a daily meditation that grounds me for twenty minutes, quite literally, as I sink into the floor of the living room. Feeling the points where my body touches, anything to find a focus and stop the mind from spinning its destructive yarns. Outside, the sky spins too, the clouds moving like thoughts.
16
April
2024
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April
2024
Random Shirtless Dudes
A sunny Tuesday afternoon, unremarkable for all but its simply spring beauty, just like these guys, passes like a swiftly-moving cloud. Prettiness is too often transitory, but pictures are forever. Here are a few gents who have been featured here before – a little spring collection of shirtless male celebrities to tickle your visual fancy.
We begin with Ricky Martin, bereft of tattoos for his acting role in ‘Palm Royale’, and here again in black briefs. What’s simple is true. Mr. Martin has been here before in dazzling, almost-naked form.
Any man with the confidence to pull off nail polish in any collegiate sport scene deserves all the accolades, and that’s why Jared McCain was featured in this post.
International football has brought Son Heung-Min to the world stage, and Suzie brought him to my attention during an ice storm, with a detour through Calvin Klein territory.
Ronan Farrow recently made a splash here in a sheer suit, earning him a Dazzler of the Day crowning – and here he is out of the jacket.
Last guy of the day, here’s Luke Evans, who just celebrated his birthday this week. He’s getting closer to his birthday suit here, and totally starkers in this post.
16
April
2024
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April
2024
#TinyThreads: An Insignificant Series
Sometimes the thought is enough when faced with the prospect of the aftermath.
16
April
2024
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April
2024
The Heart of a Jonquil
Tom Ford, in a rare failure, once tried to capture the elusive enchantment of the almost-tangy delicate perfume of the jonquil in one of the fragrances from his garden collection, ‘Jonquille de Nuit’. I didn’t very much like any of that ill-fated line, not even ‘Cafe Rose’ which is the sole survivor of the original effort, but I admired the attempt at conjuring the essence of Narcissus. (Ford would rebound gloriously in the floral realm with his Rose Garden collection, right on the cusp of when roses were everywhere.)
This week, the real-life jonquils have come into bloom, defying the wind and rain we’ve had of late and bravely putting on their little show. As much as I’ve been gardening over the last forty years, Narcissus have not fared as well under my hands as other more difficult-to-grow specimens have. Is there irony or poetic justice in that? Or maybe just a cruel trick of the universe, a dig at my vanity – always more perceived than real – a prettiness just out of reach. Tom Ford failed at capturing the magic of their perfume; I fail at their cultivation, easy though it is rumored to be.
Leaning down, near the ground and beside the brilliant orange trumpet, I breathe in its faint perfume – and it is perhaps the freshest thing the garden will bring us this season. It would be impossible to capture or replicate such a fragrance. Maybe Ford knew that, and there’s something heartbreaking in his making the attempt. In the same way I will plant more Narcissus bulbs in the fall. We all endeavor to make more beauty.
15
April
2024
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April
2024
Dazzler of the Day: Cody Belew
If you’re familiar to these parts, you know I thrill at being introduced to people who dazzle in all sorts of ways, and if they have a bio that speaks to such wonder, all the better. Case in point is our Dazzler of the Day, Cody Belew, who has a wonderful description of his accomplishments. See that below and witness more of his magic at his website here.
Singer/songwriter CODY BELEW has a love of the South that is in his blood. Reflecting on his upbringing in rural Beebe, Arkansas, what sticks with him most is the one-room church where he learned to sing when he was just a toddler. It’s these soulful roots that are reflected in his music which combines authentic storytelling with powerful vocals that take you to the heart of his experience. Blending raw emotion with Southern stomp, Cody’s material moves far beyond his contemporaries with a unique point of view on faith and love that he approaches with fearless honesty. Cody made his way to Nashville to pursue a music career, where he made ends meet working with fashion, furniture restoration, and music. It wasn’t long before his talents were recognized, earning him an appearance on NBC’s THE VOICE. After finishing the show as a Top 8 finalist, Cody was asked to open for Delta Rae, Florida Georgia Line, Rascal Flatts, and more, and started writing with GRAMMY Award-winning Deana Carter and Mike Reid, ACM Award winner Tia Sellers, and ascending recording artists like Hailey Whitters, Rick Brantley, and Waylon Payne.
Assembling a mix of candid originals and well-loved classics by artists who inspired him, Cody released his self-titled debut EP in early 2022. The lead single, “Rodeo,” premiered in Times Square and quickly found regular rotation on CMT. His take on the Dolly Parton classic “Here You Come Again” was a welcome reinvention, with Robert Oermann from Music Row Magazine saying “he completely reinterprets this 1977 Dolly hit, transforming it from a bouncy ditty into a cry of romantic anguish. His only accompaniment is a pianist, but his dramatic performance is so gripping that it needs nothing else.” Last year also had him reimagining the Brooks & Dunn classic “Neon Moon” with GRAMMY Award-winning producer Dave Aude. The disco-tinged cover, which recently hit the one million streams mark on Spotify, continues to top a variety of popular playlists.
Belew kicked off 2023 as a member of CMT’s coveted “Listen Up” program, which counts Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett, and Maren Morris among its alums. A long-time Nashville resident, Cody recently completed a yearlong, sold-out residency at the city’s famed Lipstick Lounge and is playing a slew of upcoming shows for a fan base he’s built with his impassioned vocals, deft songwriting, and undeniable stage presence. Belew is currently working on his full-length debut, in which he’ll traverse between his deep-seated love of Southern music and his obligation to activism.
15
April
2024
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April
2024
A Matcha-Fueled Monday Recap
Andy has come around to the magic and the majesty of matcha, so I dipped into his new bag of green glory and made a cup of it to kick off this work-week. It’s Monday morning, which means it’s time for the weekly blog recap. You know how we roll, and if you don’t, welcome! Pull up a pillow and prepare to be soundly put to sleep…
Nothing beats a cock post to start off a week of blogging, am I right?
The Wonky and the Wayward (because this sure as shit ain’t ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ or even ‘The Young and The Restless’).
A Mexican salad recipe off the cuff and for posterity.
A day I’d been dreading for years arrived, and it was time.
Felled, frail, and fighting for the future.
Yeah, I’d likely drop my dick right now if it wasn’t attached to my body.
Cleaning up my cologne cabinet was a wonderful trip down memory lane.
There may not be crying in baseball, but there was certainly crying at Trader Joe’s.
Booty-shot clickbait (forewarned is fair-warned, as they told us in the retail biz).
Everyone, and everything, wanted to hide from the wind and rain this week.
First-world problems, because until we move to a third-world country, these are the problems we are going to have.
Dazzlers of the Day included Michelle Visage, Ronan Farrow and Jacob Tomsky.
14
April
2024
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April
2024
Dazzler of the Day: Jacob Tomsky
Whenever I think that I’ve grown too old for music to touch me in the magical, primal, soul-wrenching way it did in my teen years, I’ll happen upon something like the new Cigarettes After Sex song, ‘Tejano Blue’ and suddenly the world feels fresh and exhilarating and gorgeously terrifying in the best way. Many a ‘Cigarettes After Sex’ song has had a similar effect, from the very first time I heard ‘Apocalypse‘ to the latest peek at their upcoming ‘X’s’ album. Drummer Jacob Tomsky is largely the reason I became aware of them, as I was a huge fan of his ‘Heads in Beds’ book; when I discovered he played for the band, I gave them a listen and music was once again that thing that gave me inspiration and hope in a world, and an age bracket, where those things were largely gone.
Way back then, the band wasn’t as big as it is now (they are set to play the TD Garden and Madison Square Garden on their forthcoming X’s Tour) and Jacob was kind enough to invite a swooning fanboy like myself to meet him backstage before one of those early Boston shows. Suzie joined me and we fanned out like we were teenagers again – the best thing music can bring out in anyone.
Headed by Greg Gonzalez, Cigarettes After Sex often sounds like it could be the love-child of Angelo Badalamenti and the ‘Laid’ album by James – two of my very favorite things in the whole world. And while this sort of exquisite, dreamy music doesn’t seem to rely on the drum work to make its statement, it requires the sort of consistent precision and controlled innate rhythm to potently cast its hypnotic spell. Credit Tomsky with the latter, and you have one of the many reasons he is our Dazzler of the Day.
A year or so ago, my niece Emi, by then already a teenager herself, marveled at the fact that I knew about the new favorite band she was listening to: Cigarettes After Sex. Happy to pass the torch of musical fandom to someone who shares a special and, pardon the hubris, spectacular taste in music, I shared my history of loving the band, and how one day I got to meet them before one of their early shows – and how they were just as cool as you’d want them to be. She’s going to see them in New York on their MSG date, while I’m looking into seeing them in Boston again. The world is growing up, the world is growing darker, and the world is growing older, but through it all the good music will keep us going. Thanks to Jacob Tomsky for reminding me of that.
14
April
2024
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April
2024
#TinyThreads: An Insignificant Series
With all of our technological innovations and wizardry, why am I still waging war with these wretched price stickers on items from Marshalls and TJ Maxx? Tell me why.
14
April
2024
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April
2024
Hiding Faces from the Rain
When the jonquils and other spring bulbs emerge from the muddy spring ground, and raindrops splash and sputter the dirt onto their pristine petals, nothing stays pristine for long. Spring is messy, as seen on this very first Narcissus bloom of the year. Speckled with bits of dirt and drops of rain, it screams spring in every way, holding onto a bit of winter’s discontent, ready to shake it entirely off with an ironic burst of wind.
For the past four days, the weather has been wild, even for spring. These blooms turn their faces from the wind and the rain, shyly hiding their prettiness, unbothered by whatever life-giving muck splashes up onto their beauty. Flowers, strangely enough, carry no such vanity.
The lessons of the garden are infinite.
13
April
2024
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April
2024
Like A Perhaps Hand
Three days of rain – occasionally alternating with swiftly-moving clouds and a few brief breaks of sunlight, strange sunlight ever since the eclipse – seem to have had a wayward effect on my mood. Today is due to be overcast, but without any hard rain or wind, which characterized yesterday’s rollercoaster of emotions. This will likely be the only post of the day, and so I shall pepper it with lots of whimsical links so if your day runs into any doldrums, find your way back here and click away. I’m going to step off-line and find meaning there, where meaning has always resided. In my absence, a few lines from someone far more skilled than me.
A poem by e.e. cummings, who mastered an exquisite economy of words:
Spring is like a perhaps hand
Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere) arranging
a window, into which people look (while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here)and
changing everything carefully
spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and fro moving New and
Old things, while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there) and
without breaking anything.
12
April
2024
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April
2024
Crying at Trader’s
The day had been filled with spurts of rain and quickly-moving clouds. A preliminary medical appointment to gain me entrance to my first scheduled colonoscopy left me in contemplative state of mind, and the weather did nothing to abate any vague concerns. After attempting to find a gift for a friend’s birthday, and failing, I pulled back into the rainy evening, which was suddenly much darker than the gray day that had preceded it. An end-of-the-errands stop at Trader Joe’s, mostly to pick up a bag or two of their Savory, Sweet and Tart Trek Mix, seems like the strangest place to start crying, but that’s sometimes the way grief sneaks up on me these days.
I had just left the cheese section, and was headed toward the crackers to stock up for an upcoming visit from out-of-town friends, when I saw a couple that instantly reminded me of my parents, maybe fifteen years ago. The man was quietly pushing a cart, while the woman I assumed is his wife (from the easy and loving way they had about each other) circled around picking up items. They stopped in the ice cream aisle, where I surreptitiously (at least I hope) entered their orbit and watched from a distance, as I pretended to examine a box of Green Tea Mochi. The woman picked up a box of frozen cannoli desserts and placed it in the cart with a little smile. She watched as the man made his own sweet selection, smiling a little more, and then they advanced to the next section. Casually but nicely dressed, there was something about their manners and the quiet way they moved around the store unconcerned with anyone but themselves that so vividly recalled the way my parents used to be.
I’d forgotten how long ago that was, and in that suddenly-empty aisle I felt tears come to my eyes as I thought of how much time had passed – how many years my parents lived their lives together – and how short and quick it now felt. And then I thought of how much love there had been too, and how that elongated their finite time into something that maybe knows no real boundary of time – because love, so tangibly realized in the rivulets of salty water down my cheeks, may just be the only thing that can topple time, rendering it meaningless in the end.
My Dad has been gone a long time – much longer than his final physical ending here on earth, when he drew his last breath – and I still miss him. I also still feel his love, and my love for him, and I’ll carry that with me until my last day on earth. Time won’t take that away.
11
April
2024
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April
2024
Dazzler of the Day: Ronan Farrow
An outfit as exquisite as this one would typically guarantee a crowning as Dazzler of the Day, but Ronan Farrow comes with the talent and substance to back it all up and match the beauty on the outside with a keen analytical mind. Farrow is an investigative journalist who has notably covered the case that rightfully toppled Harvey Weinstein, winning a Pulitzer Prize in the process, and his book ‘Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators’ detailed how it all happened.
Getting back to that outfit, as featured on a recent episode of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race‘: I need to know where he got it and when, and then I need to figure out how to get one in lavender. (Generally I’m a 40S in jackets for any kind benefactors out there.)
11
April
2024
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April
2024
My One True Indulgence
Everyone should have at least one indulgence about which they are passionately obsessive and lovestruck through all the days of their lives, and for me that is fragrance. My cologne cabinet – because of course I have a cologne cabinet – is one of my prized possessions, as are the contents contained within, and as silly and superficial as it all may be it still brings me happiness in a world often bereft of joy.
Fragrance can act as one’s calling card – a representation of who a person is, what they like, and how they want to be portrayed. It’s what’s left in their wake after they have left a room, or what announces their presence to someone just entering. That said, I change too much to have one signature fragrance, and there is too much variety, and too many beautiful extremes, to be bound to just one. Hence my ever-expanding collection.
Recently, upon a bathroom repainting/revamping, I succumbed to my Virgo nature and decided it was time to dust off and polish each bottle separately. It hasn’t been done in about ten years, as this cabinet is entirely closed, and not susceptible to much dust. As I took my time going through each one, I would take off the cap and bring the bottle to my nose, indulging in the beauty, and the memories each one evoked. Scent is one the strongest memory triggers, and almost all of my fragrances carry with them a seasonal memory, recalling where and when it was that I wore them. That is the truest pleasure of my cologne collection: all of those wonderful memories.
The Tom Ford Neroli line brought back many summers – happy ones from long ago and a very sad one from last year – all of them beautiful in their own way. His Soleil collection (of which I’ve amassed Soleil Blanc, Soleil Brulant, and Soleil De Feu) brought back the summer sun and all its radiant warmth. My entire Tom Ford Private Blend collection is filled with very special bottles, most of them gifts from Andy or my family that make them even more meaningful. I thought of those beloved ones, and the lovely memories they evoke, as I took my time inhaling each bottle on its own.
My trio of Creed fragrances is spare (largely because of that house’s impossible price point) but significant. Of course, Aventus is there – the powerhouse performer that is ideal for office wear as it’s so universally enjoyed, though I prefer their take on Royal Oud, which has become my Thanksgiving fragrance – recalling gatherings of family. That was a gift from my Mom for my birthday, only adding to its significance. My very first Creed acquisition, the little bottle of Green Irish Tweed pictured below, was a gift from Andy, and this is the fragrance I wore on our wedding day in the Boston Public Garden.
So many scents, so many memories, so much love… it feels less silly when I think of it this way. The Frederic Malle line comes with a number of special bottles – notably one of my very favorite fragrances, Portrait of a Lady – and there are others that conjure giddy recollections of winter nights and winter days. (See also Geranium Pour Monsieur, Uncut Gem and Outrageous! (The exclamation point is not part of my writing; it forms part of the ridiculous name! There, that one was mine.)
Lately I’v been enamored of the Night Veils collection by Byredo, of which my Mom gifted me the autumn-like Sellier and Andy got me the deliciously-resinous Tobacco Mandarin. The House of Byredo also supplied another office frag, Accord Oud, which I wear a lot in September, when things go back into the post-summer swing.
If you’re wondering what’s next, I am too – and I’m requesting the delicious Carnal Flower for the upcoming spring anniversary season…
10
April
2024
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April
2024
Dazzler of the Day: Michelle Visage
Faithful friend and partner-in-fabulousness to RuPaul, Michelle Visage is a dazzling star in her own right, thrilling with her cutting quips and dagger-like assessments and advice on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’. She originally burst on the pop-star scene as a member of Seduction, which garnered several hits as the 80’s turned into the 90’s – proof that Visage has earned her place at the judge’s table because she’s already gone through it. She is crowned Dazzler of the Day for the guts and determination it takes to last this long in the business they call show.
