Weighing In - Part 63

 Terry Flanagan

Terry Flanagan, born in 1989, is a British boxer.  On Feb. 14, 2015 he fought Stephen Ormond for the WBO European lightweight title.  Weighing in for that fight, above, he was slightly over the weight limit and had to strip off his shorts and try again.  Attendants blocked the audience view of his front, though Flanagan didn't seem to care who saw him.  After weighing in, he walked away and gave us a nice rear view, and another view as he put on his shorts at the very end of the clip.

Above, Flanagan walking away after weighing in.

Flanagan won that fight, and he subsequently won the world WBO lightweight title, becoming the first Englishman to win a world title in that weight class.

Poem of the Day - Part 62

 What Are Big Boys Made Of?

You know the children's rhyme:

What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

    Snips and snails

    And puppy-dogs' tails

That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?

    Sugar and spice

    And everything nice

That's what little girls are made of.

Of course, that's highly gender-biased, but never mind.  A while back, I came across a variant on the Internet called What Are Big Boys Made Of?  Unfortunately, I didn't record where I found it, but here it is, accompanied by some photos that I added.  And I also added one more verse of my own at the end.

*          *          *

What Are Big Boys Made Of?

What are big boys made of?

What are big boys made of?

    Balls and a tool

    And everything cool

That's what big boys are made of.

What are big boys made of?

What are big boys made of?

    Gym shorts and jocks

    And stiffening cocks

That's what big boys are made of.

What are big boys made of?

What are big boys made of?

    Sharing the showers

    And jerking for hours

That's what big boys are made of.

What are big boys made of?

What are big boys made of?

    Locker room peeking ...

    And fun college streaking

That's what big boys are made of.

(Above: Columbia University streakers)

What are big boys made of?

What are big boys made of?

    Striving for cleanness

    When washing the penis

That's what big boys are made of.

What are big boys made of?

What are big boys made of?

    Offering his butt

    To someone uncut

That's what big boys are made of.

What are big boys made of?

What are big boys made of?

    Fucking his bum

    Until you both come

That's what big boys are made of.

Artists - Part 66

Henry Scott Tuke

Henry Scott Tuke (1858-1929) was an English artist.  Above, a self-portrait, 1881.  Tuke never married and was probably gay.  In the 1880s, Tuke met with Oscar Wilde and other poets and writers called Uranians – the term referred to homosexuals, not people from Uranus.

Tuke is best known for his paintings of nude boys and young men, like The Bathers, 1889, above.

A Woodland Bather, above, was painted sometime before 1893.

And here's a photo of Tuke at work painting A Woodland Bather.

In those days, it was common for men and boys to be naked at the beach and swimming.  Tuke had always swum naked himself in Falmouth when he was growing up.  Above, young men in and on the water in Ruby, Gold and Malachite, 1902.

This undated portrait of Charlie Mitchell, one of Tuke's regular models, is an extremely rare depiction of frontal nudity by Tuke.  Mitchell also appears in Ruby, Gold and Malachite as the youth sitting on the rock.

Almost all of Tuke's other paintings show his nude subjects from the rear, like this painting of Charlie Mitchell, Charlie Seated on the Sand, 1907, or show them in a posture that conceals frontal nudity.

Tom White was another of Tuke's models.  He lived in Falmouth and posed nude for many bathing paintings from 1915 to 1918, when White was 14 to 17 years old.  Above, a photo of White posing on Newporth Beach, a secluded beach just outside Falmouth, at age 16.

Here is the resulting painting, Under the Western Sun, 1917.

Although Tuke was almost certainly gay, his paintings and photos of boys and youths were not child pornography.  He asked permission from parents before painting young boys in the nude.  The paintings are not sexual, and they almost never show frontal nudity.  They show boys and men naked on the beach, which was common behavior in those days.

That's not to say that Tuke didn't enjoy seeing naked boys and youths and being naked with them.  Above is a photo of Tuke's model Tom White diving into the water at Newporth beach.  The naked figure on the right is Henry Scott Tuke.

Tuke painted some things other than naked boys and youths.  He was known for his paintings of ships and also for his portraits.  Above is a painting of T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, at Newporth Beach, 1921 or 1922.  Lawrence is not nude, but he appears to be undressing, and we can assume he was stripping naked to go swimming.

But what Tuke loved most was painting naked boys and youths.  Above, Lovers of the Sun, 1923.

We end with a photo of Tuke at Newporth Beach with his model Donald Rolph.  In the photo we can dimly see the painting that Tuke is working on.

And here's the finished painting: Comrades, 1924, which also includes Tuke's dog Chippy.

Late in his life Tuke was in poor health.  He died in 1929, aged 70.

Beach Bums - Part 60

 Playa La Marina, Spain

Playa La Marina is on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, a bit south of Alicante.  The sign says "free beach" in Spanish and Catalan, and the picture makes it clear that it's a nude beach.

There's a mixed-gender area at one end of the beach ...

and the gay guys tend to occupy the other end.

As with most nude beaches, it's clothing-optional, so you can be clothed or nude.

You can walk along the beach ...

or play in the sea ...

or just stretch out on the sand.

As I mentioned, one end of the beach is primarily gay.

Sometimes someone puts up a rainbow flag in the dunes.

We end with another nude beach sign.  Now that's gay-friendly!

Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 57

Biblical Abominations

The Bible prohibits a long list of things, some so severely that in the King James version they are called abominations.  One of these is gay sex, but we'll get to that later.  First, we should ask: is the Bible true, or just a made-up collection of fairy tales?  To anyone looking at it objectively, it is obviously made up.

A good example is the story of Noah's Ark and the flood, which couldn't possibly have happened.  You think the kangaroos swam from Australia to the Middle East to get onto the Ark, and then swam back again after the flood was over?  The same thing for all the species native to North and South America, like the bison and the turkey and the llama: you think they swam across the Atlantic or the Pacific to get to the Ark and back again?  Not to mention more than 350,000 different species of beetles that must have ridden in the Ark (two by two, that's over 700,000 beetles).  The story is a charming fairy tale, but as a real event, it's patently ludicrous.  So, if this part of the Bible is obviously false, why should we believe any other part of the Bible?  The answer is, we shouldn't.

So, if the Bible prohibits something, please don't take it seriously.

We'll start with Leviticus, which has a huge list of prohibited things.  Leviticus 11:7-8 prohibits eating swine, which is an "unclean" animal.  So, no ham sandwiches (above).

No pork chops (above).

Leviticus 11:10-12 prohibits eating any seafood that does not have fins and scales, i.e. seafood that is not a standard fish.  This isn't just prohibited, it's an abomination.  Lobster (above) is an abomination.  So is shrimp.

Caviar (above) is the eggs of the sturgeon, a fish with a smooth skin (no scales), so it's another abomination.  The caviar above has been anointed with cum, but that's another story.

Is nudity prohibited in the Bible?  No, it is not.  Leviticus 18:6-19 prohibits "uncovering the nakedness" of a long list of relatives, starting with your father and mother, but being naked yourself is not prohibited anywhere in the Bible.

Leviticus 18:22 prohibits gay sex and calls it an abomination.  But remember, it's just as much (or as little) of an abomination as eating shrimp is.

But then, what about the sin of Sodom?  Ezekiel 16:49 explicitly says that the sin of Sodom was “pride, excess of food, prosperous ease, without care for the poor and the needy" (above).  Not gay sex.

The suit above is a combination of wool and linen, which is prohibited in Leviticus 19:19.  Some people have interpreted this to prohibit all mixed fabrics, but the Bible specifically bans only the wool-linen combo.  It turns out that Jewish priests used an accessory made of wool and linen, and common people weren't allowed to have it.  Still, it's one of the weirdest prohibitions in the Bible.

Leviticus 19:27 prohibits trimming the edges of your beard; for example, having a goatee like this guy is prohibited.

Leviticus 19:28 prohibits tattoos.  Now, I admit that Logan McCree's tattoos (above) may be a bit overdone ...

but this one is kind of cute.

Deuteronomy 22:5 says that for a woman to wear "that which pertaineth unto a man", e.g.  pants, is an abomination.  Tell that to Melania Trump (or Kamala Harris, for that matter).

We end with Exodus 20:4, the second of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth."  Exodus 20:5 goes on to say "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them," implying that the images that are prohibited in Exodus 20:4 are idols of gods.  But although that may be implied, that's not what it says.  (The Bible is not written very clearly.  God is a rather inept author.)  What Exodus 20:4 says is that all likenesses are prohibited, period.  Not just idols.

In other words, art is prohibited.  Mona Lisa?  Prohibited.

Statue of David by Michelangelo?  Prohibited.  I guess the Bible allows abstract art.  Tell that to your religious friends.

World Naked Bike Ride - Part 66

 Brighton 2023

This guy caught my eye in the 2023 WNBR in Brighton, England.  His fanny pack (known in England as a bum bag) says "Who gives a crap."

The WNBR riders gathered in Preston Park.  Above, a rear view of bum bag boy.

Our boy is somewhat of a bear.  Here he is with a bigger bear friend, but bum bag boy is bigger in a certain critical department.

And here they are in the park with some other WNBR riders, trying to get even bigger, with our boy in the middle.

And they're doing this because ...

Some guy wanted a photo.  Well, they're happy to oblige.

Here's our boy and his big bear friend, who goes by lehairyhunk on Twitter.

Then they found a more secluded spot in the park for some other activities ...

like bum bag boy getting his ass eaten ...

and sucking and getting sucked.

Then it was time for the bike ride.

The route goes through the streets of Brighton and ends at a nude beach.

Here's our boy and a friend posing in front of one of Brighton's "beach huts", which provide storage and a place for their owners to change at the beach.

"OK, now turn around for a rear view."  Happy to oblige.

We end with an unnamed rider, lehairyhunk, and bum bag boy on Brighton's Black Rock Beach at the end of the ride.

Next time, we'll see some more of lehairyhunk.