An Age-Old Battle of Sexiness

Ben Cohen and David Beckham have been battling for the Sexiest Guy in the World For All Time, at least here on this venerable blog, and as we are all only getting older, it’s worth some accolades that they are still vying for this title. A brief listing of their previous half-naked appearances follows, as it’s been a while since either has appeared here. (Cohen’s last shirtless romp was in this post, while Beckham’s body was last seen in this post. Whom do you prefer? We’ll start with Ben Cohen, whose photos by Snooty Fox Images prove that collaboration is often the source of all beauty.

His first Dazzler of the Day crowning was not enough for Ben Cohen, who added a second Dazzler post here, with even more underwear poses.

His white briefs are the standard for gratuitous posts here, and his calendars are the stuff of genius. (More shoutouts to Leo Holden of Snooty Fox Images for shots like this.)

He also went naked for a good cause.

David Beckham has an equally-storied history in these parts, and the fact that we are the same age is a bit of a gut punch when I fall into the trap of comparison. I mean, his front and back beat mine easily. His backside finally got some clamored-for exposure in his latest underwear campaign for Hugo Boss.

Nobody wears short-shorts better than Beckham. We also owe his wife Victoria blessings for granting us these views of his boxer briefs.

It’s been over ten years since he was named Sexiest Man Alive, and he still merits the title.

For now, this battle rages… and Cohen lands the closing blow.

Screenshot
Continue reading ...

In Sickness and In Mess

In the midst of whatever flu-type thing I’ve had this past week, the cellar sofa is a mess of pillows and blankets and discarded robes. One moment I would be chilled – shaking and shivering and piling on a robe and blankets and cranking the fireplace – and the next I would be overheating and sweating like I was back in menopause. Oh how the jokes come when you’re sick and nothing seems funny.

The one happy note in all the sadness and frustration of being sick has been Andy’s help in making our home a comfort and a haven. We had to let our Christmas tree go after what had been a banner year for beauty, and he put the room back together, vacuuming more pine needles than any previous year that either of us could remember. More importantly, he’s been kind enough to make up the bed before I get back into it at night – there’s something so much more comfortable about a bed that’s been made and turned down for bedtime than one that is left undone form the morning. I know there is no scientific basis for this, it’s all in my head, and that doesn’t make it less moving.

Continue reading ...

#TinyThreads: An Insignificant Series

Cursive is the new print.

If we’re not teaching kids cursive, how are they going to sign their name?

Printed like a child?

Sad.

#TinyThreads

Continue reading ...

Smells Like Madonna

Madonna’s love affair with Dolce & Gabbana goes back decades, and finds further expression in her lending them a song for their promotional push for ‘The One’ fragrances. It’s her first musical release since 2019’s ‘Madame X’, and acts as an amuse-bouche for her upcoming return to dance-floor form in a long-hinted-at sequel to ‘Confessions On A Dancefloor‘.

A respectable cover of Patty Pravo’s ‘La Bombola’, sung in its original Italian, this Madonna is moody, mature, and understandably a little worn and worse for wear. At moments, it doesn’t even really sound like her, which is a bold move, as she’s not the chirpy girl of ‘Like A Virgin‘ or ‘Material Girl‘ anymore, and this is an accomplished effort. It’s not going to climb the charts, as if that even mattered at this point in her career, and it really speaks more to her commitment to creatively expansive artistry, and a wonderful evocative companion to her perfume ad visuals.

I wish she’d done something like this for her own fragrance releases for ‘Truth or Dare’ and ‘Truth or Dare: Naked’ – both of which are exquisite scents, and worth more than Madonna’s relatively lackluster promotional push at the time. A song by the lady herself would have possibly made these flagons immortal in the style of Elizabeth Taylor rather than a one-two-off adored by a selective niche.

That said, perhaps I should be glad not more have embraced these, as they can still be found if you know where to look. Like the music here, the mood is sensual, spicy, slightly carnal. If anyone knows how to whet the appetite for what is about to come, it’s Madonna. This is a gorgeous start to a year that may find her deservedly back in the pop spotlight.

Continue reading ...

#TinyThreads: An Insignificant Series

Do we slice an English muffin with a knife or pull it apart with our hands?

The literature on this is inconsistent.

#TinyThreads

Continue reading ...

Abstract Obscura

Our winter of obscura moves slowly forward, though it may not feel like it. We are somewhere near the saddest day of the year, but not wanting to dwell or get stuck in such muck, I’m not going to look it up to determine certainty. This is not the winter for that. We live in the haze; we honor the abstract. This post, and its accompanying visuals, will attest to that.

A wave crashing its sudsy body across the shore.

A ghost gradually assuming plasma form.

A microcosmic take on the edges of a crepe, more torn and fringed than our naked eye could ever make out.

Or the mesmerizing motions of a car wash.

Life is beauty, and beauty’s where you find it.

Outside, I watch a blue jay and a squirrel make their way through the winter. The squirrel has greater difficulty in getting across the yard – all that snow and ice – while the blue jay just flits and flies above the wintry wreckage. There is beauty there too. In the winter…

Continue reading ...

Blood on Their Hands

I saw the video, so if you are hearing anything other than the fact that an ICE officer shot a US citizen in the face as she was trying to drive away from them you need to seek the video out to see for yourself. She’s dead now, so the immutable fact remains that ICE has killed an innocent American citizen who was only using her 1st Amendment rights.

This is all on Trump.

This is all on the GOP.

This is all on anyone who voted for him, or chose not to vote against him.

This is all on everyone who refuses to say anything beyond this point.

In many ways, we are all complicit, but some much more than others, and I’m not going to be silent about it. When history records this disgusting period of American government, my voice will be, and has been, consistently against this current administration and what they are doing. Where is your voice? What will you tell your children? What will your actions show them?

Continue reading ...

#TinyThreads: An Insignificant Series

Overheard recently, perhaps out of my own mouth:

“You don’t have to ask us to forget what you just said. It’s the damn default.”

That there are still people who like me in this world is a minor miracle.

#TinyThreads

Continue reading ...

A Seemingly-Unadorned Bundt

I adore a bundt cake.

Somewhere in my childhood there were some very pleasant visits by my Mom’s friends that resulted in her baking and setting out a bundt cake. The specialness of the occasions, and the hint of formality to serving cake and coffee in the living room or formal dining room, appealed to my sense of drama, as well as a basic sense of healthy hunger. The bundt cakes were usually simple and lacking in fancy frosting and whipped toppings – and the elegance of such simplicity appealed to me too.

Today, I still adore a bundt, and this one is especially good. It’s a take on an Italian wedding cake Betsy recently introduced me to at DeFazio’s. Theirs was slightly more moist, so the next time I’ll use all of the liquid glaze (it seemed like too much, but in this case it’s all about too much). The only drawback in all that moisture is that the topping of powdered sugar is almost instantly soaked into the cake. More sweetness, but no tell-tale prettiness, which is not at all a bad payoff when seeking out simplicity.

Continue reading ...

Love & Sick Shit

“Even when I feel like shit, they still love me.”Madonna, ‘Truth or Dare’

The good news is that I tested negative for COVID for the second day in a row; the bad news is I have some wretched flu thing that has left me with a fever and chills and all sorts of body aches that I haven’t felt in years. It’s even left me with a headache, and I never get headaches. It’s more than a little frustrating – 2026 was supposed to be a good year for Virgos and some sort of shit, but here I type in agony and totally over it already.

And so we find solace in Madonna, who has always exhibited that age-old entertainment adage: the show must go on. In ‘Truth or Dare‘, the prototype for reality television, for better or worse, we find her high in a hotel room overlooking her throngs of fans, sipping some tea as she mutters the opening line of this post… and then she launches into ‘Vogue’, because when all else fails…

Continue reading ...

My 3 AM Vice

Some people wake up at 3 AM in a trancelike state to sleep-walk their way to the fridge for some ice cream.

I groggily reach over to the phone and start scrolling through fragrance reviews, signing up for the 15% off for joining some fancy department’s store mailing list, then ordering an expensive perfume I don’t need the very same night I just had a stern talk with myself about not buying unnecessary items.

Waking the next morning to a bunch of e-mails confirming my purchases is a chilly reminder that I’ll need to give up a few lunches and leave the credit card at home for a bit.

But the way I smell will make it all worthwhile…

Continue reading ...

For the Love of Lunacy

The full Wolf Moon almost stopped me in my tracks, quite literally as I slowed my car to a stop – so stunning was its form and color against a gorgeously lavender-blue sky. I’d just turned onto the street that led to my street when it appeared directly before me, hovering right above a house on the horizon – impossibly huge when plopped into such worldly perspective. As a child, I’d have believed in the possibility of driving toward the moon, leaping over houses and trees, climbing the most gradual and languid incline as the car made its magical nighttime journey all the way to the glowing orb in the sky.

As with so many other journeys, it wouldn’t be about what was on the moon when we got there, but all the adventures we’d encounter on the way. At night, perched seriously on the border between sleep and wake, part of me still believes in such whimsy.

Anyone interested in retaining some spark of creativity should always be able to access this path to the moon.

Continue reading ...

A New Tea Cup

When the tea comes scalding hot, it’s time for a new tea cup.
This beautiful one was a gift from a co-worker, where several of my cherished teacups have originated.
Some might balk or remain unimpressed by such a gift – I embrace any form of generosity, even the forced kind. In this instance, I trust it was well-intended. It was certainly well-received. Unlike tote bags, the tea cup will always be welcomed in this house.

It’s the time for tea in these parts – tea and contemplation.

Tea and meditation.

Tea and the slow waltz of winter days leading us into spring.

Continue reading ...

The Virgin Weekly Recap of 2026

Our very first weekly recap of 2026 has arrived, and this one included the bridge between 2025 and 2026, year in review and all. That’s an awful lot of recapping, so I won’t belabor such an onerous proposition of links any longer – have at it.

I am a clown. And no one should fuck with a clown.

Letting there be light at the darkest time of the year.

Sometimes my friend Chris is correct. This was one of those times.

A final, hopeful gasp of 2025.

The 2025 Year in Review (boooooooooooooo).

2026 begins with The Cleaving, whatever that means to you.

Welcome to Winter Obscura.

The early sounds of Obscura.

Older obscurity at last acknowledged.

Savoring selfishness and going feral for 2026.

Render me asunder with destruction.

The price of not listening to the universe is currently going for a cool $325.

Back on fucking track.

A year of 13 full moons, just what we need.

Flying by the crotch of my pants.

The next FAFO award goes to those who voted for this Peace President (LOL).

Crocheted Speedo.

Dazzlers of the Day included the stars of ‘Heated Rivalry’: Connor Storie and Hudson Williams.

Continue reading ...