Lobster Eggs Benedict at the Four Seasons’ Bristol Lounge. And a glass of orange juice.
Across the street, the Boston Public Garden.
The best of all possible worlds.
Monthly Archives:
July 2016
10
July
2016
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July
2016
With the Spring, a Thaw, and Salvation
The Delusional Grandeur Tour is in travel status this weekend, and we are encroaching on the penultimate chapter in the Tour Book: Spring Thaw Salvation. In preparation and anticipation of that, here is a look back at how far we’ve come on this Last Stand of a Rock Star. In many ways, this tour was over before it even began, but that lesson is yet to come. For now, a glimpse of the spring amidst a glimpse at the past…
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
09
July
2016
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July
2016
A Haunting, Empty Vault
Maybe it was the fall of Day, or the ghostly-hollow aspect of the building, but the sight of this empty shell of a church was both disturbing and beautiful. I’m accustomed to seeing backless facades, but not the side-view too, which made it feel somehow even emptier. At the descent of dusk, it cast an eerie pallor to its surroundings.
Seeing the sky through the stone is a thrill. Places can haunt just as much as people. If you’ve ever gone back to your childhood home after it’s been changed and rearranged, you know the feeling. It’s unsettling and potentially upsetting. Not unlike an abandoned place of worship at night.
09
July
2016
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July
2016
Mighty Olympic Hunks
It may seem strange to recap the parade of Olympic hunks we’ve been cataloguing here before the 2016 Olympic Games even begin, but that’s how far of ahead of myself I sometimes get. It’s doubtful anyone will mind that much – as the Speedo show has always been greeted with frenzied appreciation. Here we look back at some photos of the Olympians who have doffed shirts and trousers in the name of their sexy sport.
First up is one of the greatest the sport of swimming has ever known: Michael Phelps. He’s been naked here before, but not yet a Hunk of the Day (How?! Why?!) This August he heads to Rio to see if more record-breaking gold awaits his fins.
Second is another Hunk of the pool: Ryan Lochte. A little flashier, a little funnier, and a whole lot more interesting on the superficial level, Mr. Lochte provides a little sass and sauciness to the solemn occasion of the Olympics.
Relative newcomer Steele Johnson has the name of a porn star, and the talent and body of an Olympic diver. Grace and strength, precision and agility – he personifies the best elements of a champion competitor. More of him to come, I’m sure.
Chris Mears may give him a run for his money-maker, however, especially if judging from his Instagram feed. And his naked butt. And the shirtless shot below.
08
July
2016
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July
2016
08
July
2016
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July
2016
Perfect Pool Pulchritude
The pull of the pool, in the midst of a spell of hot July days, is a siren that must always be heeded. Slipping into the water, whether morning, noon, or night, is a summer tradition that instantly quells a worried mind. Signifier of healing, of elusive passage, of comfort and succor, the pool is what quenches a variety of thirsts.
When you want calm and tranquility, you can simply float right beneath its surface.
When you want strenuous activity, you can kick and paddle your way across its distance.
When you want to lazily lounge, you can glide along on a flotation device, languidly reading a book.
When you want to have fun, you can jump or tumble in dizzying underwater somersaults.
In other words, the pool is capable of soothing any desire.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere to be.
07
July
2016
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July
2016
Afternoon Tea With Tom Ford
The iced tea is lemon verbena.
Taken together, they are the stuff of magical moments.
We need a pause like that in the day.
07
July
2016
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July
2016
Ode on a Grecian Urn
It was, rather expectedly, in a poetry class where I first read this epic work of Keats. Now, when all things are going Greek this summer, it fits in well with some statuesque posing.
Ode On A Grecian Urn
By John Keats
Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring’d legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.
O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
06
July
2016
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July
2016
Adam Lambert: The Sexy & Shirtless Show
Adam Lambert gets all shirtless and sexy, while simultaneously a little deep, in his new video and song, ‘Welcome to the Show.’ I can dig it, and would expect nothing less from this two-time Hunk of the Day.
06
July
2016
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July
2016
That Little Fire Is Still Alive
This has already been a Madonna Timeline, but I feel like there’s more to that memory, more to that time in my life, than I was able to convey that first time around. Summer days often come with a tinge of melancholy, a sense of longing that creeps in among the sunny days, leaving a mark like a water stain having dried too soon in the heat.
That summer of ’92 was a haze of confusing emotions as I struggled with unfurling my wings and clipping them at the same time. Such conflicting thoughts left me outwardly stoic and a little paralyzed. And yet I went so far – Boston, New York, Finland, Providence – and back to Amsterdam in the end, where I spent the final warm weeks of the waning summer before my last year of high school.
Madonna This Used to be My Playground [Long Version]
WELL THE YEARS THEY FLEW
AND WE NEVER KNEW,
WE WERE FOOLISH THEN
WE WERE NEVER TIRED
AND THAT LITTLE FIRE
IS STILL ALIVE IN ME…
IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY,
CAN’T SAY GOODBYE TO YESTERDAY…
As the hollyhocks reached the sky, and I plucked Japanese beetles off their leaves, I remembered where I had just been. A stone staircase leading down to a statue of bears, a wedding receiving line covered with a hand-held arch of birch boughs, a dinner backed by the first Cowboy Junkies album I ever heard, and a long stretch of dirty road bordered by the lofty ears of corn.
It’s almost corn season again.
This post was for me. So I can remember. Maybe one day each of those tales will be told, but not yet.
05
July
2016
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July
2016
Recapping a Day Late
Today feels more like a Monday to those of us who haven’t worked in four days, so let’s do that sad Monday ritual of the recap now, before another week gets away from us. I don’t mind so much in the winter, but in the summer, I won’t throw away a weekend for anything. On with the recap that represents all things patriotic, as based on the featured photo’s onesie.
The Olympians occupied most of the slots for Hunk of the Day, thanks to Steele Johnson, John Orozco, Jake Dalton, Sam Mikulak & Chris Brooks.
A summer porny read.
Speaking of nudity, this pool tease.
A pot salad.
This male model has his sight set on a Hunk of the Day post.
Who is ready for their close-up?
The innocents, poolside.
And America.
A pair of patriotic hunks: John Cena and Conor Dwyer.
04
July
2016
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July
2016
Lunchtime Salad Special
A simple salad of mixed greens (and a couple of reds), fresh pears, toasted walnuts (yes, the toasting is important) and goat cheese. One cannot go wrong with fresh, seasonal items, especially when combined in such easy fashion. A light topping of raspberry vinaigrette finishes things off nicely. A very happy summer lunch treat, ideally enjoyed in a shaded nook by the pool.
04
July
2016
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July
2016
Happy Birthday America
It breaks my heart that this beautiful symbol is being hijacked by racists, bigots, homophobes, and not-so-veiled white supremacists.
There, I said it.
This country was founded on the notion of freedom for EVERYONE.
If you can’t understand that, or if you don’t want it to be so, GET OUT.
As for the rest of you fellow Americans, Happy Independence Day.
03
July
2016
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July
2016
Why We Love Justin Trudeau
As if being named Hunk of the Day here wasn’t enough, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just marched in the Toronto Gay Pride Parade, and even took a water gun blast with bonhomie and good humor – all the while looking hotter than usual. It’s never too late to move to Canada…
03
July
2016
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July
2016
The DG Tour: Samsara Healing Water ~ Part 5
The might of the ocean.
The dark depths we can barely fathom.
Sometimes just peering in is a frightening thing.
What leviathans might surface for air?
More terrifying than that is the concept of all that water and darkness and cold.
When faced with something so vast, we can’t help but feel helpless.
There’s a kind of awfulness in that.
No matter how much time passes,
no matter what takes place in the interim,
there are some things we can never assign to oblivion,
memories we can never rub away. – Haruki Murakami
