Bodybuilders - Part 36

Eugen Sandow

Eugen Sandow (1867-1925) is considered the father of modern bodybuilding.  Born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller in Prussia, he left Prussia in 1885 to avoid military service.  He traveled through Europe as a circus athlete, adopting the stage name Eugen Sandow, derived from his Russian mother's maiden name Sandov.

In Belgium, fellow strongman Ludwig Durlacher mentored him and encouraged him to go to London in 1889 and enter a strongman competition, which he won.  That launched his career as a strongman.  Above, Sandow lifting weights.

In 1893, American impresario Florenz Ziegfeld persuaded Sandow to appear in shows at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which launched Sandow's career as a showman.  Ziegfeld found that the audience was more interested in looking at Sandow's bulging muscles than in the actual amount of weight he was lifting.  Above, a Ziegfeld poster about Sandow.

In 1901, Sandow organized the world's first major bodybuilding competition in London's Royal Albert Hall.  It was a hit.  Reportedly 15,000 people saw the event, and more were turned away at the door.  The winner was William Murray, above.  He won a prize of £1050, equivalent to about $150,000 today.

There are many nude photos of Sandow.  Here's one from 1894.  It's not known whether the black-and-white original was hand-colored or colorized more recently.  I got this and the next two photos from Vintage Muscle Men.  Thanks, Jerry!

All the frontal nude photos of Sandow have a fig leaf, with one exception ...

and here's the exception.  In 1901, the curator of the British Museum's South Kensington site considered Sandow's body to be the the perfect male form, and he convinced Sandow to have a plaster cast made of his body.  Someone shot this photo during the plaster casting.

Another photo of Sandow getting "plastered", which was done in pieces. 

And the final result of the plaster casting was this nude statue of Sandow.  It was displayed in the British Museum, but some museum visitors mocked him as a music-hall celebrity, and others were shocked at the nudity (remember, this was the Victorian era).  After 3 months the statue was removed and stored in the museum's basement, where it still resides.

Above, a photo of Sandow by Napoleon Sarony, 1893, while Sandow was in the U.S.  I also got this from Vintage Muscle Men.  Thanks, Jerry!

We end by asking: was Sandow straight, gay or bi?  He married and had two children, but before his marriage, while he was in the U.S. in the 1890s, he lived with his male musical accompanist who was rumored to be his gay lover.

Later, Sandow offered private viewings of himself after his public performances.  Spectators, mostly male, could come to his dressing room for a fee to see him naked and enjoy the pleasure of feeling his muscular body.

We know that Sandow and his wife were on terrible terms at the time of his death.  She had him buried in an unmarked grave.  It's rumored that this was because he was unfaithful to her.  In 2008, Sandow's great-grandson erected a 1.5 ton gravestone for him.  Yes, he got a big hard erection (of a sort) 83 years after his death.

Testicular Self-Check

Testicular Cancer Awareness Month

April is Testicular Cancer Awareness Month.  Testicular cancer is the most common type of cancer for men age 15 to 35, but the cure rate is excellent (98%) if it is detected early, which is the reason to do a monthly self-check.

But how exactly should you check your balls?

Unfortunately, the U.S. is so prudish about the naked body that most public information on this subject doesn't actually show testicles.  For example, the illustration above is from the website of the Rio Grande Cancer Foundation, substituting a different kind of nuts in their photos.

Luckily, my friend Pat's blog Big Whack Attack is not so prudish  The photo above is from his blog.  On the 15th of every month, he reminds his readers to check their balls. (And you'll find lots of other good stuff on his blog, too.)  Thanks, Pat!

And the British are not so prudish, either.  This British YouTube video, above, shows exactly how to do the self-check (it's easy, as you'll see).

Events - Part 84

April Fool's Day

In San Francisco, April 1 is the date of the annual St. Stupid's Day parade.  The event celebrates everything stupid.  People wear stupid costumes and carry stupid signs.

Above, the Doggie Diner heads are brought in by truck for the parade.

The event was started in 1979 by Ed Holmes, who has organized it ever since.  He dresses up as Bishop Joey of the fictitious First Church of the Last Laugh.  Above, Bishop Joey addresses the crowd and tells them how stupid things are.  His name is a takeoff on entertainer Joey Bishop, who had a TV show in the 1960s.

Then Bishop Joey moons the crowd, and the parade begins.

The parade visits six Stations of Stupid, a parody of the Catholic Stations of the Cross.  The first Station of Stupid is the Federal Reserve building, where parade goers bless the Fed by throwing away their losing lottery tickets.

The third Station of Stupid is the Statue of the Bare Butt Mechanics, above (actually a 1901 bronze sculpture called the Mechanics Monument, but the figures do have bare butts).

Speaking of bare butts, this is San Francisco, so there are always a few naked parade-goers.

We end with this video clip of part of the St. Stupid's Day parade in 2016.

Ads - Part 82

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo has been known to feature nude men in its ads.  Above, a French ad from 2004 says "A car has never been so well thought through," with a model imitating the pose of Rodin's statue The Thinker.

In 2011, Alfa Romeo ran a series of ads in England for its car called the MiTo Sprint, featuring four nude British Olympic athletes who were sprinters, two men and two women.  Of course we're looking at the men.  Above, Iwan Thomas, who won the world championship in the 400 meters in 1997.

This is Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who later won gold in the 100 meter relay in the European Championships and in the Commonwealth Games.

And if you're thinking the previous ads didn't really show anything, here's one with a nice rear view of Harry.  In addition to advertising their car, Alfa Romeo boasted that they were supporting Heart Research UK with a £100 donation for every new red Alfa Romeo MiTo car sold in the month of August, 2011.

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey has been photographed nude outside of the Alfa Romeo ads.  This is as close to a frontal view of him as it gets.

But here's another rear view of Harry.

Iwan Thomas is less bashful.  This is from a video he made.

Hiking - Part 83

NinjaAndi - Harz Mountains, Germany

In June, 2025 a man who calls himself NinjaAndi visited Harz National Park in north central Germany.   It contains the Harz Mountains, the only mountains in northern Germany.  Here he is by a map at the park entrance.

This road sign points the way to the Brocken, the highest mountain in the park.

Some roadside grass and a landscape of mainly spruce trees.

Resting at a picnic table.

He hiked up to this rock formation called the Grosse Zeterklippe.  You can see him about a quarter of the way from the left side of the photo.  Click on the picture for a larger image.

We end with the view from the Grosse Zeterklippe.  The mountain in the background is the summit of the Brocken, with a radio antenna at the top.  It's only 1141 meters (3743 feet) high, but it's the highest mountain in northern Germany.  Danke, Andi!

Weighing In - Part 84

Dixon Flores

Dixon Flores is a Nicaraguan boxer.  This clip is from a longer video showing boxers weighing in for an event at Nuevo Gimnasio Nicarao in Managua, Nicaragua on July 29, 2017.  The longer video starts with the headliners for the event weighing in, not shown here.  Then the undercard boxers weigh in.  This clip shows one of them, Yamil Alcevedo, weighing in, but over on the side we see the boxer due to weigh in next, Dixon Flores, who has already stripped naked in preparation for weighing in.

After this clip, Flores weighs in nude, but the photographer aims the camera so we can only see him from the waist up, which is why I didn't include his weigh-in.  But we have already seen a nice view of him over on the side.

In this event, Dixon Flores fought Sergio Gonzalez, and the match was suspended after Gonzalez suffered a wound to his eyebrow, so neither of them won.  Dixon Flores' overall record is 17 wins and 13 losses.

Poem of the Day - Part 84

Monday's Child

Today's poem is a traditional 19th century English nursery rhyme.

Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go,

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for a living,

And the child that is born on the Sabbath day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.