Category Archives: General

Tricky month you are, April. Trying us with your incessant showers, keeping us hanging on with your promise of future flowers, why do you tease and displease so? All we want is some sun and fun, and maybe we’ll find some sooner rather than later. I’m due back from Chicago, so this post is a tidy little place-stopper until I resume real-time blogging. Hang on, little tomatoes.

Last April, not unlike this April, was all about The Delusional Grandeur Tour.

April 2015 was all about the Hunks (and a nearly-nude Zac Efron).

Minneapolis provided the backdrop for the bulk of posts from April 2014.

Cocktails, flowers, and shirtless guys – all the usual for April 2013.

April 2012 was more of the same – Madonna and bulges and the like.

Finally, all that remains from April 2011 are Madonna and Tom Ford. The way it should be.

Our first full week of April has come and gone, and if early predictions of temperatures today are correct, we seem to be skipping straight to summer. Ahh, the roller-coaster ride of the Northeast. And they wonder why I’m moody as fuck sometimes… On with the recap!

Simon Dunn exposed his naked ass to get things off to a rollicking start.

The Madonna Timeline returned with a whimper at first, with this unimpressive ditty.

4…4.

#KimptonLove.

Call me.

Zac Efron and the dreaded camel toe.

Nyle DiMarco exposed his naked ass too. (I’m sensing a theme…)

Spring in a single photograph.

Seth Fornea churned butter in nothing but an apron, and it must have simply melted.

My shirt was on, but my pants were off for a new profile pic.

Say a little prayer.

A few final tour stops.

Holding onto the delusions a little while longer.

The Madonna Timeline returned again, this time in good, old ‘American Pie’ fashion.

The ivy without the poison.

Hunks of the Day included Aaron Lee Smith, Fabio Fognini, Braeden Wright, Guillaume Cizeron, Andrew Harris and Jake Jensen.

When pressed for a tablescape for a recent dinner (an admittedly first-world problem, but since I don’t live in the third-world we’ll just have to make do), I bypassed the traditional flower bouquets and went with two small pots of ivy. We need green more than ever right now, as winter refuses to limp away. There are dirty patches of snow everywhere, and even with all the rain nothing is getting those eyesores to budge. This was a bandage on that, and it lasts longer than any ten-dollar bunch of flowers.

Soon I will see if I can force some cherry branches, or possibly a dogwood, to hasten spring along. Some things are better rushed.

On the cover of her classic ‘Like A Prayer’ album, Madonna wore a pair of denim jeans and a rope of beads. I searched for a comparable set for years – decades actually – before I simply made my own. They came out decently enough, even if they are a bit fragile. It adds an element of carefulness that I must abide if I want to wear them. I like that.

Most of us need a reminder to be more careful at times. The human mind is a sensitive receptor, and I tend to forget that. Everyone around me seems to forget that too, and I pretend it doesn’t bother me.

“The sensitivity of men to small matters, and their indifference to great ones, indicates a strange inversion.” ~ Blaise Pascal

It’s not a big secret that showing some skin gets a lot more notice than not showing skin. That’s basically what has fueled this website for the past decade and a half. When people kept telling me to put my shirt on in my Twitter profile, I scoffed at their insistence and laughed at their tens of followers. There’s a method to my naked madness. Besides, I like to transform from time to time, taking cues like a chameleon, donning different guises that include more than skin.

When I was ready to change things up, people were still telling me, in ways far from polite, to put some clothes on, so I kept the shirtless pose up simply on principle (and my own admittedly annoying stubbornness). It was more fun to ask them why they kept looking than to kow-tow to foolish supposed propriety. And again, traffic. Hits. Followers. Skin is always in. Yet I was getting bored with it, and as soon as the complaints stopped, I did it on my own. (Oddly enough, I quickly gained a couple hundred followers once I lost the nipple. Go figure.)

PS – I may have my shirt and jacket on, and even a pair of socks, but rest assured I was NOT wearing pants.

When the days refuse to yield anything spring-like, when the skies refuse to give up any glimpse of blue, and when the sun refuses to come out of its hiding place, I turn inward. I keep the days quiet, padding softly through them so as not to startle or disturb the sleeping sun. I’ve long known that threats or demands won’t work on such a giant. Why should the sun do our bidding?

A look back, then, at this favorite photo taken from my favorite place ~ Ogunquit, Maine. I find myself seeking this one out, taken as it was at the end of May many years ago, when the summer spread out before us, and the sun was not quite so timid. We will get there, I’m sure we will. For now, though, it exists in the mind, and in this photo.

The antiquated device pictured here is not even one of the older versions (you can see that it has push-button technology despite its vintage design). This was how phones looked when I was growing up – they came attached to cords that attached to outlets. It has come to my attention that a millennial or two may have wandered into these parts and have no idea how we used to live on land-lines. This was it, kids. One phone number per household. If you were fancy you might have a three-way-call option (which we did for a brief time). But when I was a child there was no such fanciness. There wasn’t even call waiting. I don’t think kids today know what a busy signal is. They have no idea how less-annoying their existence is.

Anyway, that’s all I got for a Hump Day morning post. Send nudes if you want to be Hunk of the Day. Write a Special Guest Blog if you want to be a featured guest. Do something to join in the fun. Life’s a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.

A Southern-born ginger is a much-appreciated sight for the sore-eyes who have been visiting this site since its inception. For all those newcomers, we welcome their eyes as well, as I’m sure the Hunk of the Day, Aaron Lee Smith, does too. Mr. Smith puts sexiness on the map for West Virginia, from where he hails. Congrats to him on this honor, his second after his initial crowning. PS – Bonus points for all the fabulous freckles!

The first of April came and went with its customary full-frontal male nudity moment. This time Zac Efron leaked his cock-shot, such as it was. Mostly though, the turn of the calendar page meant a look back at my time in the desert. Let’s stay in that zone for one more post.

It started in subtle style, with a damp beard and wet spike.

Hummingbirds were everywhere.

Citrus dangling in the sun.

Never overlook the light.

Raptors in flight, afternoon delight.

The desert in bloom.

A desert mystery unraveled.

The march of the saguaro.

Following a desert trail.

The fall of a saguaro.

Another desert mystery begins.

A sunset away from the boulevard.

A final desert recap with a recap.

The Hunk of the Day feature returned with Joseph Boyd and Alistair Brammer.

The Madonna Timeline feature returned with a track from her epic ‘Ray of Light’ album.

Finally, sexy came back in the form of a naked Trevor Donovan.

“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing.  Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams.”  ~ Antoine de Saint Exupery

While the desert works its wonders in recent posts, we pause for the usual Monday morning recap, in which we look back briefly on the week the clock moved into spring. A very happy week indeed…

It began with the start of spring, a glorious beginning indeed, even if it still resembled winter in sight and sound.

Winner winner, Italian dinner.

Smells like red rhubarb.

Not just the August place to be.

A breathless moon fit for a dance.

A naked Ashley Parker-Angel.

The Delusional Grandeur Tour, in full-effect.

That Zac Efron Freedom Speedo.

A desert journey that began decades ago came to fruition at last. I waited for the sun, but the rain is something special in the desert. It carried its own special perfume. Spikes and spines made for excellent architecture. There was beauty in the botany too. Angels and art soared through the air.

Hunks of the Day included Preston Truman Boyd, Will Taylor, Fred Johanson and Connor Franta.

The Delusional Grandeur Tour hits New York City this weekend with a much-heralded return to ‘Sunset Boulevard’, but as is often the case with this blog, we are time-traveling back to a dramatically different tour stop: Tucson, Arizona. This weekend begins the series of desert delusions, and it’s a story that originates way back in the dim days of my childhood. That’s getting ahead of myself, and we’ll be shifting timeframes enough without adding to the confusion. Besides, we need to get back into touring mode, which is a much a state of mind as it is an actual journey. A comprehensive look at where we’ve been:

THE DELUSIONAL GRANDEUR TOUR: LAST STAND OF A ROCK STAR

01)  Intro/Curtain – Part One, Part Two, Part Three

02)  Sunset Pool – Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five

03)  On The Road Hotel – Part One, Part Two, Part Three

04)  Rock Star Addict – Part One, Part Two, Part Three

05)  Animal Demons – Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five

06)  Steam Punk Birdcage – Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four

07) Red Riding Wood - Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five

08) Winter Top Hat - Part One, Part Two

09) Warrior Retribution - Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight

10) Cologne Glamour Fashion - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

11) Samsara Healing Water - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

12) Spring Thaw Salvation - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

13) Flower Bomb Balm - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Josie joined us last weekend, and we made a trip to Saratoga on a Saturday morning. We’d done this once before, and it’s always a good time. A little shopping on Broadway followed by a lunch at Cantina, all in the service of finding Josie some jewelry for a very special event coming up next month. If it was to be found in this area, it would be found in Saratoga, which has the most unique shops, as evidenced by a few photos I got during our excursion.

The shops along Broadway offered all sorts of whimsy and enchantment – crystals and incense and silk capes, jewelry and coffeehouses and ornate boxes for trinkets – a little of everything precious and beautiful. Not a bad way to spend the last Saturday of winter, and the company was stellar. We returned home to this previously-heralded dinner by Andy and ended the day in fine, and full, form.

I always forget how, at certain times of the day and particular portions of the year, the snow reflects the blue in the sky more than its own inherent white hue. It usually happens as the afternoon turns to evening, and in the shadow of direct sunlight. There’s a magical transformation then, something that both softens and cools the way it glows.

The light lasts longer now, staying a couple more minutes each day. We’ve broken the back of winter, but I’m sure it will throw some tail-whip lashes in before the snow goes completely. For now, I’m enjoying the way it’s been melting, and how the light so majestically moves over the afternoon. What spring wishes ride on the wind as it rises over the snow? Which ones follow the sun only to get caught on the hook of a crescent moon?