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Dazzler of the Day: Aaron Pierre

My favorite Dazzlers, apart from those I know and adore in real life, are those requested/recommended by trusted friends, which is why crowning Aaron Pierre as Dazzler of the Day is such a thrill. This was a request from my dear friend Ann, who helped shape my taste in our high school and college years – clearly she still has it, as Pierre joins the vaunted firmament of those actors whose talent matches their beauty. She came to his brilliance thanks to her love of ‘The Lion King’ (which somehow hilariously escaped me all these years – apparently she’s been a huge fan since the first movie came out – who knew?) Pierre voices the title character of ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’, adding to an already-impressive resume that includes ‘Old’ and ‘Rebel Ridge’, along with the miniseries ‘The Underground Railroad’ and ‘Krypton’. 

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Porn Free

First of all, if you think the site is porn, thank you!

Second, if you really think this website is pornographic, your definition of porn is such that we will likely not be aligned in a lot of our views. To me, porn is the depiction of a sexual act – not nudity or nakedness, full frontal or not. The more literal definition, in most legal citations, is “material that depicts nudity or sexual acts for the purpose of sexual stimulation.” 

That’s never been my purpose here. Not that I am blind to the varying responses to the scantily-clad men that get posted here, but the purpose – the intent – is not to turn anyone on. 

“I am not trying to seduce you. Would you like me to seduce you?

From what I’ve experienced and seen online, too many people confuse the naked human form for pornography, and that view and attitude just isn’t something I agree with or understand. The human body shorn of its clothing is a beautiful thing, and to shame us into feeling embarrassed or shy about our natural state is one of the most damaging things society has done to ourselves. 

So if you find this in any way pornographic, that’s entirely your prerogative, but if that is in fact what you think, what exactly are you doing here? 

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A Single Candle Fells Winter

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” ~ Edith Wharton

I read somewhere that there were only thirty more days until spring. Though I trust nothing I read online anymore, I didn’t bother to do the math because it doesn’t much matter. Spring will arrive when she arrives, whether by date or by weather, and there’s not much more we can do about it

Due to the difficult weather we have had, I’ve spent the entirety of the long weekend inside our home, watching and listening to the raging winds and the clattering of branches and ice against the roof and windows. When I saw ‘Babette’s Feast’ listed on the TCM schedule, I asked Suzie if I should watch it, as it was one of her favorites from childhood. She said yes, so I lit a candle and hoped for the best.

I wasn’t expecting the subtitles, or something entitled ‘Babette’s Feast’ to be anything other than porn, but in both instances I was pleasantly surprised, and our next goal for winter will be Suzie hosting a dinner inspired by this quaint movie. We shall call it ‘Suzette’s Feast’ and instead of quail we’ll have Cornish game hens. Oh, who am I kidding – we’ll have everyone over and throw some chicken tenders on a paper plate. 

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Dazzler of the Day: Theresa Nellis

My favorite Dazzlers are those people whom I have actually met and known for years – see Suzie Ko, Karel Barnoski, Susan Brumley, Joseph AbramoWoody Woodbeck, and of course Andy VanWagenen. That’s why crowning Theresa Nellis as Dazzler of the Day gives me such great joy. As the author of the ‘School for the Magically Insane’ and ‘Keeper of the Mirror’ series, Nellis has carved out a literary name for herself, but I remember her as a sweet and quiet classmate as we navigated the grade school journey of R.J. McNulty elementary school. Reconnecting with classmates from our youth is a reassuring way of grounding ourselves with a shared past – a reminder that we did come from somewhere, that it was real, and that good people can remain as good as we remember them. Her latest installment of the ‘School for the Magically Insane’ series – ‘The Witch’s Gowan’ – is out today – and be sure to visit her website here for more written enchantment

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Snow Moon Enchantment

The almost-full Snow Moon cast its lovely light over an aptly-snow-covered earth, calling to me to step out into the cold air and brave the discomfort for this brilliance. In only a few minutes, I was chilled and shuddering, but the moon often does that, forcing us into situations and circumstances and bad ideas we never would have entertained at any other time. Its seduction is dangerous, and one follows its madness with an acknowledged risk of ruin. On this night, it was nothing nearly as dramatic as all that, merely the pesky trials of a brisk chill to capture a few peeks of the moon shyly drifting among the winter clouds and trees. 

Winter moons hold their own magic, and though their light is merely a reflection, it feels no less illuminating for that. There’s something more poignant about it – as though it’s giving up everything for the rest of us, even the stuff it doesn’t even have to give. Of course there’s another way of looking at it: who gives away something they have only borrowed? 

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A Super Bowl Recap

The Super Bowl happened more than a week go, but this is my Super Bowl – a bowl of Wedgwood from my Mom’s collection. It provides solace in any dark time, with memories of my childhood home glowing in my heart with all the happenings of our formal living room – birthdays, Christmas mornings, graduations, and visits from family and friends. Escaping into those happier times is a necessary component of current days, and looking back is sometimes a comfort. Along those lines, here’s our weekly recap

More than cocks and flowers… slightly. 

An unexpected stiffy first thing in the morning

A crotchety old man am I.

A Divine Diva’s schedule is set in sparkles. 

Visitor for the full Snow Moon.

Abracadabra: return of the Lady

The architecture of ice

A Valentine’s Day blog post!

Snow still lives

A purple-hued interlude.

Style & panache!

I just wanna dance!

A crisp style

Let me entertain you

Magnificent muted wonder

Dazzlers of the Day included Jalen Hurts, Saquon BarkleyPete Davidson and Patrick Schwarzenegger

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Dazzler of the Day: Patrick Schwarzenegger, Nude

This year’s installment of ‘The White Lotus’ promises more male nudity than even Theo James dared to bare in last season, starting with Dazzler of the Day Patrick Schwarzenegger. Despite growing up in the far-reaching shadows of parents Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Patrick has forged an acting name for himself, and ‘The White Lotus’ looks to put him on the map in his own right, a long-deserved accomplishment that sometimes gets lost in parental comparisons. Remember, comparison is the thief of joy, so enjoy and celebrate this Dazzler in the following photos and check out this evening’s premiere of ‘The White Lotus’. 

{See also Aubrey Plaza, Jennifer Coolidge, Murray Bartlett, and Carrie Coon.}

BONUS UPDATE: Scroll down for a GIF of the naked Patrick Schwarzenegger scene from ‘The White Lotus’.

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Magnificent Muted Wonder

Following up the recent string of ‘Divine Diva Tour’ posts, which evoke the colorful lifestyle I was attempting to live twenty years ago, this muted post is a more accurate rendering of the present moment, and happily for me it’s richer and more colorful in its own way. If we’re lucky, that’s the way life works – the giddy and extreme highs and lows of our youth should become tempered with reality, and finding the joy in more subtle and nuanced ways is the best way to remain entertained and inspired. A change in perspective is the easiest way to roll with the punches of life – expecting there to be more and more exciting and stimulating things every day until we die is a certain path to disappointment, if not outright devastation. I refuse to go down that path – it’s a path too often riddled with unhealthy coping mechanisms and dangerous ruses. 

Instead, I center myself, breathing slowly and deliberately in and out, and when you think of the luxury that taking a breath in relative comfort is, you appreciate it more, and it becomes imbued with something fascinating you never quite realized before. 

Take these photos for example – outwardly they may seem to pale in comparison to the explosive fire of something like our Divine Diva journey, but when you pause and fully take them in, they reveal bits of magic only discernible to the refined eye. The sparkle of the crystalline snow, the intricate patterns of the tree branch shadows, the way the background could be snow or sky – it invites more questions, more examination, more rumination, more thought – and maybe that’s lost on those of us who have become immune to such simple joys. How unfortunate for anyone that can’t access this beauty. 

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Let Me Entertain You!

In a haze of chiffon, all gauzy with lace, amid light slicing through sheer fantasy, the Divine Diva Tour’s ‘Style & Panache’ section comes to its tantalizing, teasing culmination. Not that anything in the way of release or relief is going to be offered this early in the game – it’s enough to look and never touch. This installment offers a light respite from the heavy things going on in the world right now, so indulge and inhabit this extravagant set of poses, and let me entertain you with all of the following…

“Always make them beg for more… and then don’t give it them.”

The art of the strip-tease is in carefully calculating what the audience thinks they’re seeing, and this isn’t as difficult as one would imagine given one simple and perpetually-true rule: people will see what they want to see. And if they came to see your bits and bobs, they’re damn sure going to see your bits and bobs. You don’t even have to get them out

Putting a man in a feather boa, slip, and silk tie is a wink and nod to the almost-invisible line between masculine and feminine – a line that simply never existed in my mind – neither then nor now. It always seemed so arbitrary and silly – one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, right? It speaks to deeper issues today, one that our flight of fancy never intended on addressing. You have your own minds – use them. Be inquisitive, be respectful, be accepting. If it doesn’t directly affect or harm you, what care you? Find your own style and do what you like. 

“What a stylist needs is glamour – a far more powerful force than mere prettiness.” ~ Quentin Crisp

“Glamour exists where something not clearly defined seems to be promised but never given.” – Quentin Crisp

~ The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale ~

  1. Pink Frilly Fairy: Part OnePart Two, and Part Three
  2. Homage to Herb: Part One, Part Two and Part Three
  3. A Purple-Hued Interlude
  4. Style & Panache: Part One, Part Two and Part Three

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A Crisp Style

Quentin Crisp is largely unknown to the current generation of LGBTQ+ people and it’s a shame. Our history slips slowly away, forgotten and unmentioned by the current crop of Tik-Toking dancers and eaters and time-wasters. I’m too old to care to do much at this point, and I don’t feel any obligation to enlighten people to the joys of a wit too clever and complex for most of them to understand. A lack of curiosity to look into anything indicates a lack of personality, and anyone lacking in personality is not worth knowing. Cultivate something. Research anything. Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it… 

“Style is not the man; it is something better.” ~ Quentin Crisp

“It is a dizzy, dazzling structure that he erects about himself, using as building materials selected elements from his own character.” ~ Quentin Crisp

Style is not fashion; style is not wealth; style is not learning; style is not beauty.” ~ Quentin Crisp

“Style is the way in which a man can, by taking thought, add to his stature.” ~ Quentin Crisp

~ The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale ~

  1. Pink Frilly Fairy: Part OnePart Two, and Part Three
  2. Homage to Herb: Part One, Part Two and Part Three
  3. A Purple-Hued Interlude
  4. Style & Panache: Part One and Part Two

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I Just Wanna Dance!

If there’s one thing that people who have been oppressed for years know, it’s how to operate within such oppression. If you’ve never been part of a marginalized community, count yourself lucky, and don’t be too upset if you can’t fully comprehend what that’s like. For the rest of us, you find release and fulfillment by being the most uniquely yourself you can be. And when all else fails, and you long to be something better than you are today, I know a place where you can get away…

I don’t give a fuck no more
If people think I am a whore
I just wanna dance
Oh, I just wanna dance.

Things are going bad for me
I am feeling sad for me
So I just wanna dance
Oh, I just wanna dance.

I’m tired of laughing
And I’m tired of crying,
I’m tired of failing
And I’m tired of all this trying.
I wanna do some living
Cause I’ve done enough of dying.
I just wanna dance
I just wanna fucking dance.

Nothing more for me to say
Time for me to run away
Walking through the door
Don’t need this anymore.
Now my life is calling me
Finally I’m breaking free
It’s all I’m waiting for
I’ve never felt so sure.

I’m tired of laughing
And I’m tired of crying
I’m tired of failing
And I’m tired of all this trying.
I wanna do some living
Cause I’ve done enough of dying.
I just wanna dance…

And I’m tired of waiting
Tired of hoping
Tired of failing
And tired of feeling broken
I’ve gotta do some living
Cause I’ve done enough of dying
I just wanna dance
I just wanna fucking dance…

~ The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale ~

  1. Pink Frilly Fairy: Part OnePart Two, and Part Three
  2. Homage to Herb: Part One, Part Two and Part Three
  3. A Purple-Hued Interlude
  4. Style & Panache: Part One 

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Style and Panache

THE CHARGES:

Style over substance.

Majesty over meaning.

Enchantment over enrichment

Wit over wisdom.

Finery over fortitude

 

THE PLEA:

Grandly,

greatly,

giddily guilty.

Ever since I discovered the power of fashion, and the way it shaped how everyone viewed you, then employed it strategically and deliberately, I’ve been plagued with a reputation of favoring the sartorial over the substantial. Not that I’ve ever bothered to dispel the myth, quite the contrary: when the world thinks what you put on your back is all you have to offer, they never expect to be so diabolically  outsmarted. 

Glamour can be bought,
Style… this must be taught.
I got that style.
When I walk into the room all the people turn their heads to get the perfect view.
It’s just my Style.

It’s my Style to break a heart or two. 
Charm and finesse seem to always get me through.
It’s my Style. 
Style!
A cool, cool style.
Style!

You may ask wherever did I get my sense of style.
A girl like me is just born with it. 
You know I can sweep you off your feet because baby, I am Unique.
It’s my Style.
A cool, cool style. 
Glamour can be bought 
Style ~ this must be taught. 

Here’s one last secret I’ll confess:
How do you win a stylish girl like me?
Well, since I’m always dressed to impress
Buy me something gorgeous…

~ The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale ~

  1. Pink Frilly Fairy: Part OnePart Two, and Part Three
  2. Homage to Herb: Part One, Part Two and Part Three
  3. A Purple-Hued Interlude
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A Purple Hued Interlude

There isn’t much room for subtlety or nuance these days. We want everything to be black or white, stringent binary choices with nary room for shades of gray – much less any varying hues of purple. No one wants to enjoy lavender or periwinkle or lilac – they want it red or blue, and if you don’t commit to one or the other they don’t know quite what to do. That’s an unfortunate gaffe on society’s end, one that seems to be getting worse instead of better.

Back in 2005, The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale aimed to offer some space in-between, navigating the vast expanses of beautiful gradient that exist within the extremes, where most of us tend to fall. Things could be brutal and soft at the same time, depending on any number of circumstances and perspectives. One person’s frightening idea of bondage was another’s kink and joy. 

It’s scary to live in such beautifully transient shadows of nuance, and most people want clearly defined realms in which to operate and categorize everyone else. It feels safer that way, even if you can never truly know another person. Compounding the complexity of the whole thing is the way we categorize and order ourselves. We wake up, select our clothing for the day, and, whether we want it to or not, those choices will shade however we move about the world. 

Make your choices wisely.

“It’s important to have a look. A signature. Be someone. So people will remember you. You all think you’re so special. You’re a dime a dozen.There are hundreds, no, thousands of you out there, studying, auditioning, going here, there, hither and yon. You expect people to remember you if you don’t have a look? Po, po, po! I was never arrogant that way. I knew I needed a look and I got one.” ~ Terrence McNally, ‘Master Class’

~ The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale ~

  1. Pink Frilly Fairy: Part OnePart Two, and Part Three
  2. Homage to Herb: Part One, Part Two and Part Three
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Snowy Still Lives

The story of ‘Grey Gardens‘ came to musical life on Broadway a number of years ago, and Andy and I were lucky enough to see the original cast perform their wondrous magic on a frigid January night. Near the end of that show was one of the saddest songs ever written for a musical – ‘Another Winter in a Summer Town’ – and it opines on the misery of living in a resort town on the shore during the winter months. While it’s undeniably a sad scene, there’s a spirit of resilience to it, one that embodies those who survive a winter in a place known mostly for summer.

One little leaf adrift in the breezeRefuses to fall from the skyBlown by the windIt clings to the treesUnwilling to wither and die

I think of that song whenever I see an artifact of summer covered in snow. There’s such a element of sadness and loss to it, and I don’t know why. There is always another summer to come, whether we will be here or not. Time moves regardless of people. 

Yesterday’s dreams are faded bouquets (Only a rose)Roses that died on the vine (just a memory divine)Yesterday seems more real than today (of love, when sweet)It’s difficult drawing the line (youth was mine)

The slumber of our backyard seems deceptively calm. Even in the storms and wind and endless nights, it feels quiet and still from behind glass doors. And I can remember – the splashing of pool water, the laughter of kids, the frogs singing in the humid nights – I can remember summer

My season ended (ended)A long time agoBut no one took the party tent down (alone now)The pink paper lanterns still twinkle in placeMy young Navy hero, his tender embraceThat sapphire blue ocean; oh how can I faceAnother winter in a summer town?

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Dazzler of the Day: Pete Davidson (And That Sofia Tote)

At first I thought it was airbrushed trickery, but online peeps are claiming that Pete Davidson had actually undergone a long and painful regimen of tattoo-removal, so I’m not sure what to think of these shots for the Reformation brand, other than they have granted Pete this Dazzler of the Day crowning (thanks in no small part to that leopard-pattern Sofia tote on the couch in one of the shots, available here for anyone who wants to fulfill my lifelong leopard-tote-dream). No, seriously, I want that tote. I don’t care if it’s too late for Valentine’s Day. No cap.

As for Davidson, I’ve been a minor fan ever since his skit with RuPaul. Hilarity. 

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