When it comes to making trouble I’ve always had one motto: you can fuck around with everyone but Andy. I mean, I’m not stupid. He is a retired police officer.
September
2019
September
2019
Hot Law Recap
The last weekly recap of the summer (not to worry, an extra-linky four-part summer recap will finish off the season in proper form come next weekend) this one gets kicked off by a fine group of finely shirtless male celebrities.
From there it gets even hotter with this post of Jude Law bulging out of his Speedo and walking in slow-motion to give a glimpse of everything.
We celebrated Dad’s 89th birthday.
Summer rains can be beautiful.
Bucolic euphoria by the Beekman Boys.
The debate of a divided nation.
Making plans, Doogie-style.
Hunks of the Day include Alec Smith, Curtis Stone, Jay Ryan, and Brooks Koepka.
September
2019
September
2019
End of Summer Reflections
“When summer gathers up her robes of glory, and, like a dream, glides away.” ~ Sarah Helen Whitman
Our end-of-summer recap posts will go up next weekend, but for now a little sneak preview cloaked in shadow and distorted by glass and reflection. Like the watery haze of a chlorinated pool, or a sun so bright it adds an impossible sheen to everything beneath its glory, summer is a heady mix of the seen and the unseen. The world grows bigger and brighter and greener before our eyes, the pace seems simultaneously quick and languid, and the air feels heavy and light all at once.
The bulk of September, lest anyone forget, is still summer. I always lost sight of that when returning to Brandeis at the end of August. I would prepare for sweater weather and cold nights, and always regret that I didn’t bring more short-sleeved shirts for un-air-conditioned dorm rooms and stuffy T rides. We are so quick to let summer go.
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” ~ John Lubbock
This year I’m making the most of it until the very end, holding onto every last ray of sunlight, basking in every day we inch back up toward the 80’s. Summer has been kind to us. It isn’t always, so I offer gratitude and thankfulness as we near its end.
“I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.” ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay
September
2019
Tiny Threads: An Insignificant Series
We are a divided nation. Especially when it comes to candy corn and cilantro.
September
2019
Fall Season Premiere of ALANILAGAN.com
Season premieres always thrilled me. If there were new clips and an updating to a show’s theme song, that was even more exciting. (Who among my generation didn’t delight at every updating of the intro to ‘The Cosby Show‘? I still remember that tropical orchestral version that turned it on its head in the best way.)
We’re changing things up a bit here for the fall season of ALANILAGAN.com – which has its own premiere on September 23 – the official first day of fall this year. Don’t worry (well, go ahead and worry in this case) there will be regular posts up until then, including a fantastic summer recap for the few kind folks who have been clamoring for some pool shots these past few months. You got to skin it to win it.
The fall season of this site will begin where I have rarely gone – into my work history with the state of New York. It’s a bit of a dry start for anyone who isn’t in the drudgery, but it has some juicy tidbits for anyone who’s been part of the state system.
On a broader scale, we are also headed into the fall and/or possibly winter of this blog. At a whopping sixteen years of age, this thing is a dinosaur among blogs, and part of what has kept it going is not commercial or popular success – it’s just a simple need to create. That won’t change anytime soon, but blogs haven’t been hot in quite some time, and to do all of this takes time and work. The latter I don’t mind, but the former is in short supply these days, and doesn’t look to expand any time soon. But that’s for me to figure out, and no sense in saying anything other than I think we’re well beyond the halfway mark of this website’s lifespan, at least in its current incarnation.
To keep things interesting in this second act, I’m going to change up the general pattern of this site. A typical day of posts has more or less included a morning piece, a midday collection of #TinyThreads, and a Hunk of the Day happy ending to finish the evening. We are reshuffling this a bit. Fall demands change.
First up, I’m easing off on the Tiny Threads series. It was, to be sure, an insignificant series for this site, but will still crop up from time to time – just not on the daily schedule it used to occupy. You should totally check in now and then and follow the long linky trail that each of those posts has within it (just keep clicking on the #TinyThreads link to bring you back to a previous TT post).
I’m also moving the Hunk of the Day to the middle of the afternoon on most days, when I can shoot out a proper promo post on FaceBook and Twitter during my lunch break. Pretty people bring in appreciators of beauty, who may then (hopefully) peruse more posts. Or they can simply enjoy the prettiness in the middle of the day, when most of us need a jolt of inspiration to carry us into the evening hours.
The Madonna Timeline is most definitely into its own winter season, with the final quarter of songs I have locked and loaded and ready for random selection. There are a few gems yet to be excavated, though the main soundtrack of my life has already been pilloried for the series. [See ‘Crazy For You‘ or ‘Live To Tell‘ or ‘You’ll See’ or ‘Secret Garden.’]
As for the rest of it – the Naked Male Celebrities, the Tom Ford, the Fashion, the Flowers, the Family, and Andy – much will continue as it always has, at least for the time being. This is the stuff of my life, and I’ll keep trying to make sense of it here, with all its accompanying foibles and follies and frills.
September
2019
Tiny Threads: An Insignificant Series
Is it really that difficult to produce an oven door that we might actually see through?
September
2019
Beekman Euphoria
It happened as I swirled the bar of ‘After the Sun’ Beekman 1802 soap in my hands and drew the lather over my arms. The shower was warm, the day had been long, and in this solitary moment of indulgence a simple bit of soap brought beauty and solace to the evening. It struck me that this was what the Beekman Boys had been talking about when they explained their vision not just for a cleaner and healthier lifestyle from their beauty products, but a happier one. As the captivating aroma of lavender filled the room and the softness of aloe and goat milk permeated my skin, I thought of the notion of happiness, and how gloriously contagious it could be. If you can be happy, do it. If you can be happy and naked and surrounded by suds, do that.
Having been a Beekman 1802 neighbor since this trip to Sharon Springs in 2012, I’ve been religiously using their products, and it’s enriched the way I take care of myself (and others, because these items make great gifts). The bar of ‘After the Sun’ soap has lasted since earlier in the summer – a glorious creation that perfectly soothes any angry bits of redness the sun may have inadvertently left on the skin. I place it back in the holder, where it leaves neither soap scum nor mushy residue, and once again wonder at the simplicity and enchanting properties of goat’s milk.
More than that, I experience a moment of euphoria – a moment of sheer happiness and comfort and joy culled from the beauty of the world, and the way in which the Beckman Boys so lovingly spread that message of happiness. It’s in the idyllic wake-up pictures of their farm that they post, in the uplifting way they give back to their local community on small and grand scales, and in the careful curation of products that eschew harmful chemicals. They leave their mark in a sustainable fashion, and share their message of happiness with neighbors around the world. There’s no better way to be a citizen of society. We are all in this together, and there’s something very poetic about finding all of that in a simple bar of soap.
{This weekend, the Beekman 1902 company will be hosting the 10th anniversary of their annual Harvest Festival in Sharon Springs and if you’re in the area you should absolutely check it out. I don’t think we’ll be able to make this one, but we will be watching their televised HSN event and being neighborly that way (while also stocking up on holiday gifts… ok, and maybe something for me because the giver needs some pampering too).}
September
2019
Tiny Threads: An Insignificant Series
My current social media mindset: I’ll vet you later.
September
2019
Sky Storm Beauty
Do you remember that now-classic Steven Spielberg scene at the start of ‘Jurassic Park’ where the suspense is built upon a single ripple in a glass of water? It portends the arrival of the Tyrannosaurus rex and is chilling in its simplicity and power. I was reminded of that when I looked out the window and saw bits of bark and leaves fluttering down from the sky. Up until then the day had been a lovely one and there was still light in the sky. But falling debris out of nowhere meant that the winds were high nearby, and strong enough to carry such lofty detritus down to the earth. A metaphoric substitution of a coming storm for the coming fall. Such dramas, if they stay so little, have always thrilled me. I went outside to the backyard to await its arrival…
September
2019
September
2019
My Father’s Birthday
Tomorrow marks my Dad’s birthday, but since this site remains silent on 9/11 we are giving him a proper post a little bit early. He’s getting up there in age, and like many of us he’s starting to show it, but whenever I’m with him I can always find some bit of spark or a sly smile that reminds me of some laugh from 30 years ago, and I’m reassured that he’ll always be my Dad.
I am now one year shy of the age my father was when he had me, and thinking of that gives a whole new perspective to my childhood. Imagining having a baby at this point in my life sends shivers down my spine, and though my father was older than most people when he had his first son, when you’re a kid you don’t always notice such things. I certainly didn’t – my Dad was all-powerful and unstoppable. He got up and went to work early each day, he would get emergency calls in the middle of the night and bolt out of bed to the hospital, he could mow the lawn and plant a vegetable garden in a single morning, and somehow have the frame of mind and delicacy to peel me grapes after dinner. But by your mid-forties, you pretty much are who you are, and adding a child to the mix is bound to disrupt even the most accommodating of people. My brother and I no doubt pushed against the orderly life of a Virgo, but we all managed to make it through, and are in many ways richer and better for it
Through hard work, stubbornness, loyalty and love, he’s been the patriarch of our family – someone who came all the way from the Philippines to make a better life for himself and his family, while never forgetting where he came from or the people he had to leave behind. He deserves more than one day to celebrate all that he’s accomplished, and all that he’s been to us over the years, and as he gets older I’ve been trying to make sure I’m present whenever we’re together, so that I can remember. Tomorrow we will have him over for a Filipino dinner and celebrate his special day.
Happy birthday Dad – I love you.
September
2019
We Need More Love, We Need More Beauty
Tomorrow this site goes dark, as it has since I first started posting things in 2003, in honor of those lost on 9/11/01. The beauty of September has been marred ever since that date, but it also marks a time to remember all the love that is still in this world. I forget about that sometimes. Here are a few posts that remind us of the capability of the human heart, and what we can do when we pause to see the beauty of the world. At least, it’s what I try to do – and what I need to do more often.
September
2019
Jude Law Bulging Out of His Speedo
Holy sacrilege! These pics and GIFs of Jude Law strutting around in a skimpy white Speedo are promotional efforts for his upcoming appearance as the Pope. I didn’t see the first series, aside from this widely-circulated nude scene, and I’ll probably skip out on this one too unless there is another glimpse of Jude Law naked. Until that glorious time, scroll down for an encore of an earlier nude Jude Law scene.
September
2019
Studly Odds & Ends
A Monday in September sometimes requires a lighter touch, and an easy-on-the-eyes afternoon post. Hence this fluffy bit of eye candy/guy candy, which gets off to a study start with a shirtless blast of Orlando Bloom. He’s not as completely naked as he was in this post and this one, but this shirtless pose is nothing to scoff at.
For a more hirsute bit of manliness, check out Ben Cohen in various states of shirtlessness and underwear-clad glory.
A great American hero in more than one way, Chris Evans had made quite a splash here time and time and time and time and time again. More than worth a double take of Chris Evans naked, or Chris Evans nude.
Jack Laugher is often seen in the company of Tom Daley, but he makes a nice solo study as well.
Another great pair is Maluma and Ricky Martin.
Finally, an arty black and white shot of Nicholas Hoult to end things on a classy note. (See naked smut here.)