Anthony 'A-Train' Ruiz (born 1977) is an American mixed-martial-arts fighter who has competed in the middleweight and light heavyweight MMA divisions. At this event, it seems nobody was ready to hold up a towel. Clearly that didn't bother Ruiz, and the spectators seem amused. As one of the commentators quips, "He's a lover and a fighter."
There are many different games that go under the name billiards. English billiards is played with three balls. Although I don't think these are the three balls that are usually involved.
This English lad goes by the nickname Ginger Pogue. But we can't tell which game he's playing because we we need to see the balls.
Well, that's easily remedied. Here he is at the World Naked Bike Ride in London in 2012. Oh, you mean billiard balls?
OK, if you insist. This guy is playing snooker, an English billiards game that uses 15 red balls, a cue ball, and 6 other balls of different colors. Sounds complicated to me.
These guys are playing eight ball, also known as "stripes and solids" or just pool, the most popular billiards game in the U.S.
Another game of stripes and solids. If you look at the table, it looks like stripes is winning. Oh, maybe you weren't looking at the table.
These Australian guys are playing blackball, an English version of eight ball that uses 7 red balls, 7 yellow balls, one black ball, and a cue ball. The location is Adam, a nude gay bar in Melbourne. How come there was never a place like this in any of the cities I lived in?
These Russian guys are playing Russian Pyramid, a game that uses 15 numbered white balls and a red cue ball.
On the subject of pool games, how about pocket pool? This is part of a video of a security guard standing near the cheerleaders, taken by a spectator in the stands at a 2016 San Diego Chargers game in Qualcomm Stadium. The original video is longer, but he just keeps doing the same thing, so we get the picture.
If you think that's funny, listen to sportscasters Brett Erlich (left) and Jason Rubin (right) on TYT Sports. After showing the pocket pool video, they launch into an animated discussion of it, which I've edited down to the best bits.
Leonard Fink (1930-1992) documented the gay scene in New York City from 1967 to 1992, including all the Gay Pride marches beginning with the first one in 1970, and street scenes and bars in the West Village. The photo above is a self-portrait called Me and the bike, 1977.
But he is best known for his photos of the abandoned West Side (Hudson River) piers that were taken over by gay men in the 1970s and 1980s. Above is Pier 48 in 1980, filled with men sunbathing; some clothed, some nude (click for larger view).
These piers were not just wooden platforms on pilings. They were huge structures extending into the river where ships as big as cruise ships used to dock. This photo is called Kenneth, 1977. As you can see, the piers were somewhat dangerous places, falling apart, that the city had condemned. But for the gay men of New York, the piers were places where they could hang out together and not be disturbed.
The piers were popular for nude sunbathing. This is Andrew on Pier 48.
They were also good for cruising ...
and for quick, anonymous sex, like the guys in the background. Note that nobody else is paying any attention to them, because it was such a common sight.
Many of Leonard Fink's photos are self-portraits, and in most of them he's naked. Here he's exploring the Railroad Piers in 1979, wearing only shoes and socks.
I have many more of his photos, so it's possible that we'll see him again.
LIFE magazine photographers covered the home front as well as the battle fronts. The third photo was used in the magazine; the others were not.
In 1941, the U.S. was still officially neutral (war had started in Europe in 1939). but everyone know the war was coming. Among other measures, the U.S. instituted a peacetime draft at the end of 1940. Those who refused to serve for religious reasons (such as Quakers) were sent to conscientious objector camps where they performed alternative service such as working in dairies and building dams and irrigation projects.
LIFE photographer Thomas McAvoy photographed some members of one such camp in the shower, above, in 1941.
Shipbuilding also ramped up before the U.S. officially entered the war. These civilian workers were photographed as part of a photo series on "Gulf Shipbuilding" by George Strock in 1941. Note that they're not using the shower curtains. Men of that era felt no need to hide from each other (or, evidently, from the photographer) while showering.
After Pearl Harbor, of course, things ramped up even more. This photo was part of a series on "Hawaii at War" by LIFE photographer Ralph Morse. The photo was actually published in the magazine (see below).
Here's the page from the May 11, 1942 issue of LIFE containing a flipped version of the photo. The article was about the military in Hawaii guarding against another possible Japanese attack. Note that showing a male butt in a family magazine was not a big deal at the time.
This is from a photo series called Surf Float Exercise by LIFE photographer Joe Scherschel in October 1942. It showed troops training in Kauai, Hawaii. Some of the men have swimsuits, but at least one, the guy at left, doesn't, and nobody cares.
Another naked rugby calendar is put out by the rugby team of King's College, London.
The college is in downtown London. These guys are in front of the college on the busy London street called the Strand, no doubt attracting attention from passers-by.
Inside the college. Going up?
In the Maughan Library. Well, some of us have to study.
Oh, come on. All work and no play ...
makes Jack a dull boy.
A calendar photo shoot in the courtyard called the Quad. They're happy about something.
Jean Cocteau (1899-1963), was a French poet, writer, filmmaker, and artist. He is pictured above, at right, with his lover, the French movie star Jean Marais, at left, in 1939. He is famous in France for his poems, novels, and films. I saw his 1950 movie Orphée, a surrealistic retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus set in modern times, starring Jean Marais, in which people travel to and from the land of the dead by walking through mirrors.
But Cocteau also produced a large number of drawings. This is a self-portrait called Le secret professionel (Professional secrecy), 1925, depicting himself half-clothed and half-naked. The caption reads "I don't compare myself to any of the princes of the earth."
Cocteau was gay, and a huge number of his drawings are of nude males, erect penises, and gay sex. This one is called Jeune homme se reposant (Young man resting).
This is Homme se déshabillant (Man undressing).
This is Jeune soldat après avoir lu ses lettres d'amour (Young soldier after having read his love letters).
This is Deux marins s'embrassant (Two sailors embracing).
This is Le cuisinier de Saint Moritz (The cook of St. Moritz), 1960. Perhaps the cook is getting ready to add his special sauce?
Other drawings are even more explicit. As I've said before, this isn't a porn blog, but in art, anything goes. Again and again, Cocteau depicted cock licking ...
and sucking ...
and rimming (Deux hommes (Two Men), 1925-1926) ...
and fucking ..
and more rimming (Deux hommes (Two Men)) ...
and more fucking (Deux marins (Two sailors), Toulon, 1931) ...
and more fucking (Deux matelots Marcel et Pierrot (Two sailors Marcel and Pierrot), 1931). And there are dozens more like these. Well, I'm sure by now you get the idea of what Cocteau liked.
The Merrie Monarch festival, named after a fun-loving Hawaiian king, is held each year in Hilo, Hawaii, on the island where I live. It's the premier competition event in the world of hula.
If you think that hula is women in grass skirts dancing to ukulele music, you're partly right, although they wear dresses, not grass skirts. That's modern-style hula.
But there is also traditional hula, based on ancient Polynesian dances, in which there's no music, just drums and chanting, and it's performed by men as well as women. Hula groups are either all male or all female. There's no mixed dancing.
The men are always bare-chested for traditional hula, but they usually wear some kind of skirt-like costume. However, occasionally a men's group will show up with more revealing costumes, like this group, Kawaili'ula, in 2019.
And here's the same group in 1994.
Even with skirt-like costumes, a twirling dance movement can give a glimpse of what's underneath, like here in 2017.
Or here, also in 2017.
This video is part of a performance that won the traditional men's hula category in 1986, with minimally-dressed men and a choreographed mock battle. It's definitely not girls in grass skirts making graceful gestures.
Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner,
Eating his Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said, “What a good boy am I!”
Die Kassierer (The Cashiers) is a German punk rock band founded in 1985 by Wolfgang Wendland (above). They sing about sex, drugs, beer, and political satire. Wendland ran as a candidate for Chancellor of Germany for the Anarchist Pogo Party in 2005 (he lost) and for mayor of his home town of Bochum in 2015 (he lost).
Wendland often sings naked, and other band members are sometimes naked, too. This is from a concert in Hamburg in 2019, with guitarist Nikolaj Sonnenscheisse and drummer Volker Kampfgarten wearing a Trump mask. Those who know German will recognize that Sonnenscheisse is a stage name (it means "sun shit"). His real name is Nikolaj Hagemeister. Likewise, Volker Kampfgarten ("fight garden") is really Volker Wendland.
Band members also perform various antics on stage. Here, Kampfgarten, standing, is preparing to have anal sex with Sonnenscheisse by putting some kind of giant condom on his head.
He then rams his head into Sonnenscheisse's ass, so the whole thing is a joke, but it looks from here like Sonnenscheissse is getting a bit excited.
The band also often lets fans come up onto the stage, especially if they're naked. Here a fan on the stage seems to be putting on his own show with the help of another fan.
And this fan is putting on his own show, too, using a dildo.
Here's Wolfgang Wendland in Munich in 2010 singing "Mein schöner Hodensack," which means "My beautiful scrotum."
We end with a short excerpt showing Die Kassierer performing at the Ruhrpott Rodeo music festival in 2015. The band members aren't naked, but a large number of fans have come up onto the stage to remedy that deficiency.
