Behold, the elegance and simplicity of the Chinese dogwood. More disease-resistant than their American cousins, these beauties offer their own enchantment in the garden, particularly thanks to their later blooming season (which is just finishing up now). They make the perfect accent tree for those of us with smaller suburban homes, where they can mimic their natural understory tendencies beside a taller house.
…And then, just like that, summer was here, as if someone flipped a happy switch and everything went bright and gay. If only every week could be such a thrill. This marks the time of the year when things go a little quiet. People are starting their vacations, school is out, and the heavy posts feel out of place and lugubrious when there is so much outdoors fun to be had. To that end, you may notice these posts  getting a little lighter too. I’m still intending to give you three-a-day, but they may be a little less dense than usual. On with the recap, because I need to get back in the pool…
After a few dismal weeks of sadness and grief, the summer sun returned, the flowers were in bloom, and the perfume of the season carried on warm breezes.
The latest in the long line of Taylor Swift toys is Tom Hiddleston, in his bulging underwear.
A happy pair: Madonna & Sex.
Another happy pair, with happy tears.
Happy dahlia, stained with rain.
At long last, a couple of Broadway reviews from this year’s trip to NYC: ‘Fun Home‘ and ‘The Humans.‘
Is there a point to prettiness?
Summer monsters at the movies.
This is the week that many of the US Olympic trials made their decisions on who was going to represent our fair country in the Summer olympics in Rio. The featured pic, in fact, is of several of our gymnasts who flipped, dove, jumped, swung, and pommeled their way to places on the team. As for those who appeared here, we begin with Paul Ruggeri III, Alex Naddour, and David Boudia. (More are on the way…)
Speaking of the Olympics, Greg Louganis got naked and nude for the ESPN Body Issue. There is a God.
Summer hunks doffed shirts and trousers, including Max Ehrich, Marc Buckner, Nolan Ritter, and Alex Crockford.
“My life is a game of strip poker. Want to play?” ~ James Whale, ‘Gods and Monsters’
I’m not sure why I always consider ‘Gods and Monsters’ such a summer movie, but I do.
Maybe it’s the pool, which plays such an integral role to the story.
Maybe it’s the rainstorm, that has such a summer feel to it.
Maybe it’s Ian McKellen’s summery suits that reek of Gatsby and light and all things ephemeral.
Maybe it’s just Brendan Fraser, shorn of shirt, when he was hot and at his most potently vulnerable.
Whatever the case, this is one movie that has come to personify summer in my warped mind, so I’m recommending it when you need a way to pass the hot nights. It has a cooling, calming effect on me, despite its occasionally dark subject matter and more than a few disturbing moments. Summer can be like that. It’s not all sun and fun and splashing in the pool. But you’ll find that out in your own time.
“I’ve spent much of my life outrunning the past, and now it floods all over me.” ~ James Whale, ‘Gods and Monsters’
In the middle of the day, a flower says more than I could ever say.
There are two things that make me cry: a man proposing to the man he loves, and flash mobs.
Which is why the following video practically melted me into a puddle, Wicked Witch style, with a heart like the Grinch that grew twice its size.
Love is love is love is love is love is love is love…
The first day of summer has at long last arrived, and though that means the days are only going to get shorter from here on out, we’ve got a full-run of the blissful season ahead of us. I’m going to do my best to enjoy the moment and live each day like I envisioned during the long cold stretch of winter. The Delusional Grandeur Tour has several upcoming stops to see us through the hopefully-sunny days, including my very first trip to Rehoboth Beach. Until then, a look back at the summer days that have come and gone.
Last summer… and again…
A semi-secret summer escape.
Even if I prefer the height of the highs…
Summer sunflowers.
Summer drama.
Summer hotness.
Summer sun.
Summer scent.
Summer booty.
Summer past… and further past.
It was a week of sadness and sorrow, hatred and anger, and I’m not sure why this recent tragedy is hitting and me in a different, more profound way than others of its kind. As is my wont to do in such situations, when I don’t know how to deal with the funk that has settled over me and the world, I turn to the simple things that ease the burdens. Family, friends, beauty and calm – and this week was the result of that.
Luckily, I had Ogunquit to look back on, its whimsies and enchantments intact.
There was also the weekend of Pride before it went dark, and this fun outfit. (With matching shoes.)
Suzie always cheers me up, and this post was proof of that.
The sweet perfume of the mockorange lent its own balm to the week.
My friend Skip is another cheering influence, as was the recap of this year’s Boston Red Sox game. (Be sure to read Part 2 too.)
As always, there were Hunks: Dalton Jackson, Seth Sikes, Josh Sabarra, Colin Cunliffe, &Â Josh Zegarra.
Monday mornings are usually the time for a recap and look back at the week that came before, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do right now. In the face of the worst shooting in American history, I am going to celebrate the same things I’ve always loved ~ family and friends, love and beauty.
Let’s start with a few flowers, at a time of the year when all they want to do is bloom.
Then there is my family – the people who usually make me feel safe and loved no matter what. My Mom joined me for a Broadway trip to New York, and I finally got around to recapping it.
Sometimes the snow comes down in June.
Some friends are even closer than family, especially when you’ve known them from birth.
A President, a Queen, and going over the Borderline.
(And proof that I don’t love absolutely everything that Madonna does.)
A GLSEN Gala, in the name of Pride, and a bright promise and challenge for the future.
Finally, there is beauty in the male form, and a celebration of our sexuality, in all the Hunks of the Day we’ve featured here. That continues with Aydian Dowling, Â Chris Spearman, Ross Worswick, Zachary Gordin, &Â Richard Hadfield.
{Note: The Madonna Timeline is an ongoing feature, where I put the iPod on shuffle, and write a little anecdote on whatever was going on in my life when that Madonna song was released and/or came to prominence in my mind.}
OH MY GOD, I AM HEARTILY SORRY FOR HAVING OFFENDED THEE…
More an act of controversy than contrition, the closing track to Madonna’s otherwise-flawless ‘Like A Prayer’ album had even die-hard fans like myself scurrying for our rosary beads and saying a little prayer to escape the wrath of God Almighty. I’ve already gone into that in excruciating detail, so won’t bother with it again. Instead, let’s get into a very brief analysis, or commentary really, on one of the strangest songs Madonna has ever recorded. (Ok, ‘Cry Baby’? I mean, ‘Autotune Baby‘… Actually, I mean ‘Bye Bye Baby‘…)
With the backing track from ‘Like A Prayer’ playing in reverse, and Prince’s avant-garde guitar licks striding hellaciously forward, it’s Madonna’s rendition of the ‘Act of Contrition’. (She would later employ it to better effect as the opening to ‘Girl Gone Wild’.) Back then, it comprised the bulk of the song, a rather tuneless affair that sounded more like Madonna freestyling her way through a remembered childhood prayer than any carefully-crafted work of song-writing.
At the end, with guitars screeching wildly out of control, Madonna dissolves into histrionic screaming, “I resolve, I reserve, I have a reservation… I have a reservation… What do you mean it’s not in the computer?!?!”
An utterly bizarre ending to one of her most powerful albums, it is somehow courageous in its raw, unpolished, amateur-like lack of grace. Still, the ‘Like A Prayer‘ opus deserved better than that, and ‘Act of Contrition’ was one of the louder thuds in Madonna’s history of atrocious album-enders.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S NOT IN THE COMPUTER?!?!?
SONG #126 ~ ‘Act of Contrition’ – 1989
Time and space.
Stories and memories.
Rumors and recollections.
A series of hallways, all leading to—
The month of June has traditionally been about the roses, and while we don’t grow very many (circulation, poor soil, and humid summers make for difficult rose-growing conditions) we certainly appreciate a few bouquets of them now and again. They provide the seasonally-appropriate backdrop for this quick early June recap – the best time of year to remember.
A coral-hued peony is a thing of beauty.
The Delusional Grandeur Tour rounded its final, albeit long, turn with the ‘Samsara Healing Water’ section, Part One and Part Two.
My mother’s dress, reborn.
You are invited to a Wonderland Gala this Friday, June 10 – and I’ll be there with more than bells on.
Nick Bateman and his nude butt.
The parade of Hunks included Vinny Vega, Vinny Castillo, Enrico Omri Ravenna, & the Mertailor, Eric Ducharme.
Our tour stop in the lands of Cologne and Glamour has come to an end, but the next segment is right around the corner. For now, a pause in silken splendor, and a look back at the entirety – thus far – of the Delusional Grandeur Tour trajectory. We have made it through the wilderness (somehow we made it through) and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s one of those all-illuminating lights, however, so the relief it offers is may be as equally thrilling as the fright that might initially result. Are you ready for the revelation?
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
You don’t always have a choice on where or how you create beauty, but even the smallest and most dismal of spaces can be made into something more. This was the small scene in the new below-ground location of the SoWa Market, a sorry shift from its formerly-expansive space in a neighboring building. There’s something sad about this in every way, and yet there’s something comforting about it too.
Maybe it’s the light.
This is always a bittersweet day – more sweet than bitter – but there’s always a sadness in leaving Ogunquit – even if it means the summer season has just begun. Most of the time, it’s the most beautiful day of the weekend, which makes leaving doubly difficult. I’ll do a quick chronicle of this year’s trip in a it – for now, the usual Monday morning recap.
A very hot start to the week, as Gus Kenworthy showed off his naked ass at noon.
Two-time Hunk of the Day Daniel Rodrigues looked in a mirror, with good reason.
A beautiful Boston afternoon. And again. Beauty in a building.
Here’s a hyphenate you don’t hear very often: real estate agent-male model Donnell Blaylock Jr.
Sweet plum blossoms.
One of the younger Hunks of the Day: David Henrie.
Diana Vreeland knows vivacious and bold.
The kind of snow you can’t blow.
The bulge and the butt of Marshall Arkley.
Nothing I can do, a total eclipse of the heart.
A Hunk of the Day whose name says it all: Rocco Hard.
Putting my butt where my mouth is. A preamble for this naked male celebrity post.
Jake Shears, shorn again for his second Hunk of the Day post.
The exquisite Sakura Cocktail, or as close as I could get.
When hunks go glam: Danny Glam.
Though the days are getting to be their longest, night still comes to New England. This is no land of the midnight sun, and dusk never goes beyond 9 PM.
Go to bed, daisy head.
