Olympics part 15a

 2020 Tokyo Olympics, part 1 of 2

The 2020 Olympic Games were held in Tokyo, Japan.  Let's look at some of the athletes in the 2020 Olympics.  Above, British diver James Heatly.

British divers Tom Daley, foreground, and his diving partner Matty Lee, background, won gold in synchronized platform diving.

Dominican Republic baseball player Jose Bautista.  The Dominican team won a bronze medal.

French volleyball player Trevor Clevenot giving us a peek as he lifts his leg.  The French team won gold in 2020.

Spanish runner Ignacio Fontes.

Mexican swimmer Diego Balleza.

And here's Diego Balleza exercising.

Tomorrow: more 2020 Olympics.

Vintage Military - Part 71

Italian Front, World War I

In World War I, Italy fought on the side of the Allies, against Germany.  In particular, there was a front in northeastern Italy on the border of what used to be Austria-Hungary.

Above, Austro-Hungarian prisoners captured by the British Army bathing in a stream on the Italian Front, 1917-1918.  Photo by W.J. Brunell in the Imperial War Museums.

The statue above, called Monument to the Fallen in the Great War (World War I), was dedicated in Trieste, Italy in 1935.  It depicts five naked soldiers, three of them supporting a wounded comrade while the fifth protects them with a shield.

This 1918 statue in the gardens of the Villa Borghese in Rome depicts an Italian war hero, Enrico Toti, who had lost a leg before the war (hence the crutch).  Not accepted into the army because of his injury, he nevertheless served unofficially, delivering messages at the front line.  He was killed in 1916.

We end with a 1982 Italian film about World War I called Porca Vacca.  It's an Italian phrase (literally "pig cow") that means "Holy cow!" (or less politely, "Holy shit!").  The film is about an Italian vaudeville comedian who tries and fails to avoid getting drafted in World War I and his subsequent misadventures in the army.  The film was panned by critics, but the clip above is worth watching.  In the Italian army induction center, we see a line of recruits waiting to be processed.  The man dressed as a woman is the comedian, who is trying to avoid getting drafted by pretending he's gay or trans.  It doesn't work, but meanwhile we can admire the scenery.

Events - Part 68

 Dore Alley Street Artist

The Dore Alley (a.k.a. Up Your Alley) Fair in San Francisco is an annual leather and fetish event.  San Francisco has banned public nudity except for events that have a permit, but the Dore Alley Fair has a permit.  Above, attendees can remove and check their clothes if they want to be more bare.

This street artist in 2023 called himself the Dick Artist and proclaimed that he will draw your dick for free.

Here he is drawing another dick.

Here we get to see his drawing, and he's not bad as an artist.

Here's another customer seen from the front ...

and the side.  The second street artist seems to have disappeared after this one drawing.

But the Dick Artist continued drawing more dicks.

He showed up again at the 2024 Dore Alley fair, above.

Another customer in 2024.

Of course, there were guys at the event that had other ideas about what to do with a dick besides drawing it.

Performers - Part 66

 Zachary Stains

Zachary Stains is an opera singer.  He is best known for starring in Ercole su’l Termodonte by Vivaldi at Italy's Spoleto Festival in 2006, in which he was almost naked, wearing a minimal costume that exposed his penis.

Ercole su’l Termodonte (Hercules in Thermadon) is about one of the legendary twelve labors of Hercules, in which the ancient Greek hero Hercules has to retrieve the sword of the Queen of the Amazons, a tribe of fierce female warriors.

The director, John Pascoe, was also the set designer.  His design for the set of the Greek camp, above, featured giant broken stone phalluses.  He was also the costume designer, responsible for Hercules' revealing lion-skin cape.

Above, a short excerpt where Hercules (Zachary Stains), after learning that the Greek ships have been burned, tells his men that they must now conquer the Amazons.  Note what his costume doesn't cover.

Later, at the beginning of Act III, Stains doffs his lion-skin cape and sings the aria above naked.

Here's a photo from that aria.  Zachary Stains' performance in this role was superb – not just his singing, which was well done, though Vivaldi's music may not appeal to modern tastes, but the fact that Stains had the body to pull off his appearance as a naked Greek hero.

Photographers - Part 66

 J. Wayne Higgs

J. Wayne Higgs (1939-2023) was a photographer and graphic artist in the Washington, DC area.  Born John Wayne Higgs, he dropped "John" and went by Wayne Higgs.

He is remarkable for the number of nude self-portrait photos that he made during a long life.  Last year I published a post showing some of them.  Today we will see some more.  All of today's photos are his self-portraits.

Above, In the Pines, a Self-Portrait, 1966.

Kneeling Male Nude (Self-Portrait), 1968.  Note that he's quite well-hung.  However, based on the size in some other photos (see The Cigarette, later), it appears that he was somewhat excited in this and the previous photo.

Like any tourist, he took photos of himself while traveling; they just happen to be naked.  Above, Self-Portrait, Great Salt Lake Desert, 1976.

Umbrella Man is Up, a Self-Portrait, 1979, Washington DC.  Higgs is on the right and umbrella man is definitely up.

Self-Portrait in the Yard, 1987 shows another side of Higgs.

The Cigarette, a Self-Portrait, 1988.

He continued taking self-potraits as he aged.  Above, Self Portrait, Zebulon Grotto, 2013, at age 74.

Self-Portrait, Orient Beach, St. Martin, 2015, taken at a nude beach that I featured recently.

Good Morning, a Self-Portrait, 2020.  He was 81 years old.  He died in 2023 at age 83.

In addition to his self-portraits, J. Wayne Higgs also took many photos of other nude males.  We'll see some of them next time.

Calendars - Part 66

 Dieux du Stade 2008

The Dieux du Stade (Gods of the Stadium) calendar, put out by the Stade Français rugby team in Paris, is famous as one of the best calendars of naked athletes.  The cover of the 2008 calendar features David Skrela, of the Stade Français Paris team.  

Two photos were provided for each month, of which I have selected the one I like best.  Mr. January is Mirco Bergomasco of the Stade Français Paris team, above.

Mr. February is Gildas Moro of the Colomiers team.  Unlike some previous calendars, this one featured players from several different French rugby teams.

Mr. March is Vincent Clerc of Toulouse.

Mr. April is Miguel Avramovic of Montauban.

Mr. May is Guillaume Boussès of Stade Français Paris.

Mr. June is Christophe Dominici of Stade Français Paris.

Mr. July is Jean Monribot of Agen.

Mr. August is Matthieu Nicolas of Bourgoin.

Mr. September is Jean Marin Berberian of Bayonne.

October features Julien Fumat of Pau and Djibril Camara of Stade Français Paris.

Mr. November is Rémy Martin of Stade Français Paris.

December features Thomas Bartolini, Julian Hans and Romain Raine, all of Stade Français Paris.

Although the calendar photos don't show frontal nudity, previous calendars included bonus photos that did.  Unfortunately, the 2008 calendar didn't, although in this bonus photo of Nicolas Jeanjean of the Stade Français Paris, we get a little peek at his balls. 

A bonus photo of Pierre-Emmanuel Garcia and Loïc Jacquet, both of the Clermond-Ferrand team.

The back cover shows a nice back view.

Protests - Part 66

 Kennedy Center

In February, President Trump took over the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.  The Center is the home of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera, and it also hosts performances of theater, dance, jazz, folk music, and more.

Trump dismissed the board members appointed by Joe Biden and appointed replacements who then made him the chairman of the board.  Trump has cancelled performances that he deemed "woke", including a concert featuring the Gay Men's Chorus and a performance of the National Symphony Orchestra to celebrate 50 years of Pride.

There is concern that Trump will turn the Kennedy Center into an easy-listening outlet for MAGA artists.

Tavish Forsyth was the program director for the Kennedy Center's Opera Institute.  Just a few days ago, on March 19, he posted a 35-minute video on social media protesting Trump and Trump's takeover of the Kennedy Center and questioning whether he, Forsyth, should stay or quit.  Perhaps to attract more attention, Forsyth, who is gay, delivered his monologue naked.  Above is a clip from his protest video.

His question whether to stay or quit became a moot point.  Soon after he posted the video, he was fired.

By the way, in the video, he refers to Trump as "Vice President Trump," which is a put-down that implies that Elon Musk is the one who is really running the country.