Events - Part 77

 University of Chicago Polar Bear Run 2009

Since 1983, the University of Chicago has celebrated a week-long festival in January called Kuviasungnerk or just Kuvia.  Kuviasungnerk is an Inuit (Eskimo) word that means "the pursuit of happiness." The festival is an attempt to chase away winter blues.

Today's photos are from Kuvia in 2009.

Each year, the festival ends with the Polar Bear Run, streaking across the university's Main Quadrangle from the steps of Harper Memorial Library (above) through Hull Gate on the other side.

The Kuvia bear mascot also participates.

Roughly half the runners go fully naked except for shoes and socks.

And a few extreme runners even go barefoot.

Another barefoot runner.

Here's that last barefoot runner after the race is over, talking to a girl painted like a Piet Mondrian painting.

Another runner after the race.

And another giving us a rear view.  Hey, guys (and gals), it's January in Chicago!  Time to get your asses back indoors!

Here's to kuviasungnerk (the pursuit of happiness)!

Daylight Savings Time

Daylight Savings Time Ends

Daylight Savings Time ends today, so remember to move your cocks back.  Or maybe move them back and forth.

But Hawaii, where I live, doesn't observe Daylight Savings Time.  So my cock will stay where it is.

Dia de los Muertos 2025

Dia de los Muertos

Today is Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico.  The holiday is traditionally celebrated on November 1st and 2nd, though it can extend to other days depending on the location.

The purpose of the holiday is to remember and pay respects to family members and friends who have died.  Holiday traditions include using calaveras (skulls or skeletons).

Today we look at a 2010 exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York featuring the works of Serbian conceptual and performance artist Marina Abramović.  One of the works was a live performance by several performers called Nude with Skeleton (above).

The performer was lying down naked, covered by a skeleton.  The performer did not move, though the skeleton might move a bit as the performer breathed.  Museum visitors could come and look as closely as they wanted to.  Although this was not created for Dia de los Muertos, it is certainly appropriate for us to view on this day.

Several performers alternated to provide coverage for the 18 days that the exhibit was at the museum and the many hours each day that the museum was open.

Another performer.

And another.

And another.

And another.  there were female performers, too, but I'm only showing the males.

If you think the purpose of the skeleton was to cover the performer for modesty's sake, think again.  Another "performance" work in the exhibit, called Imponderabilia, featured a totally naked male performer and female performer standing in a doorway between rooms, so museum visitors going from one room to the other had to squeeze between the naked performers (above).

We end by observing that in Mexico, the message of Dia de los Muertos is that death is part of life, and the dead are not forgotten.

Halloween 2025

Halloween

This year, instead of showing the usual Halloween costumes (or lack thereof), we feature some guys who got their butts painted for Halloween.

The finished result for the guy above.  Pumpkins are certainly traditional for Halloween.

A very different design being painted.

It shows old-fashioned silhouette portraits.  As Erosart pointed out, it looks like Trump and Hillary.

This design is called "Booze" because ...

it depicts a bottle and a pot of booze sloshing around.

Other butt designs depicted apples ...

candy ...

spooks ...

and superhero emblems.

We end with Candy getting together with Apples.  How sweet!

Not the Same Old Song - Part 68

I've Got You Under My Skin 

I've Got You Under My Skin was written by Cole Porter in 1936.  Frank Sinatra sang it in 1956, and it became one of his signature songs.  This is the Frank Sinatra recording, with my own interpretation of the skin that someone is getting under.

Weighing In - Part 77

 Davey Moore, Johannesburg 1982

Above is a video of American boxer Davey Moore (1959-1988) weighing in for a fight against Charlie Weir in Johannesburg, South Africa on April 26, 1982.  Moore was fighting as a light middleweight, and he was over the 154 lb. (69.9 kg) weight limit, so he stripped and got weighed again, which is what we're looking at.  There was no modesty towel for the weigh-in.  Moore said "No women in here?" before stepping up to the scale.  He wasn't concerned about men seeing him. 

Moore was still slightly over the weight limit, by less than half a pound, which he was able to lose before the fight.

Here's a screen shot of Moore from the weigh-in video.

At the time, Moore held the WBA light middleweight title.  He won this fight against Weir and kept his title.  His lifetime record was 18 wins, 5 losses.

A few years later, in 1988, Davey Moore was at home in Holmdel, NJ, when his car, an unoccupied SUV, started rolling down his driveway.  Moore tried to stop it, but he slipped on wet ground, was dragged under the car, and was crushed to death at age 28.

Poem of the Day - Part 77

 My Lady's Lamentation
by Jonathan Swift

My Lady's Lamentation and Complaint Against the Dean is a very long (226 lines) satirical poem that Swift wrote in 1728.  It has become noted for these 4 lines.  My interpretation of them may be slightly different than Swift's.

Hail, fellow well met,

All dirty and wet:

Find out, if you can,

Who's master, who's man.