Ads - Part 78

 Norway for Natural Reasons

Yesterday we saw the photo above – a guy standing naked on the Kjeragbolten, a rock wedged between two cliffs above a fjord near Stavanger, Norway, with a drop of over 3000 feet on each side.  Should naked images like this only be shared among friends and never be viewed by the public?

The Norway Convention Bureau thought otherwise.  This organization promotes Norway as a place to hold conferences and conventions.  They added the words "Norway for natural reasons", above, and ran the ad in industry publications, touting Norway as a good place to hold a conference.

At the International Congress and Convention Association meeting in 2009, this won an award for the year's best ad.

Above is another version of the ad.

And they used the image online, too.  Above is the first page of a pdf promoting Norway ...

and after many pages touting Norway, it ends with the page above.  You can view the pdf online here: Norway - Powered by Nature

Hiking - Part 79

Kjeragbolten, Norway

Previously we saw a rock in Norway called Trolltunga that sticks out high over a lake.  Today we see a rock called Kjeragbolten near Stavanger, Norway.  The rock is wedged between two cliffs above a fjord, with a drop of over 3000 feet on each side.

There's no way I would venture out onto this rock, but many people do, including a few who do it naked.

Look, Ma, no hands and no feet.

Room for two.

We end with this striking image that was actually used in advertising.  We'll see more about it tomorrow.

Events - Part 80

 Tapati Festival, Rapa Nui

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is famous for the giant statues carved by its inhabitants in ancient times (above).

In 2024 we looked at a modern day event in Rapa Nui called Tapati.  It's one of the largest cultural festivals in all of Polynesia.  Today we're taking another look at the Tapati festival.

Every February, the people of Rapa Nui divide into two camps or clans. The men strip naked and are covered with colored mud (above).

Or else symbols are painted on their bodies.  They wear a g-string for the festival (above).

Judges evaluate the men, scoring them from 0 to 10 depending on how decorated their bodies are.  The points are added into a total for the clan.  Above, a group of participants.

There are numerous singing and dancing competitions, but there are also athletic competitions, which score points for the clan.  Above, a competitor in the Haka Pei event.

In Haka Pei, each competitor slides down a hill on a banana trunk, reaching speeds of up to 80 kph (50 mph).

Another Haka Pei competitor.

Two Haka Pei competitors hug each other.

There are other competitions, including a race carrying bananas ...

body surfing ...

and spear throwing.

After it's all over, a girl from the clan with the most points is crowned as Queen of the Tapati for the year.

We end with one of the celebrants washing off the mud and paint in the ocean.  And that's it for Tapati until the next year.

You can see my previous post on the Tapati festival here: Tapati Festival

Weighing In - Part 80

Charles 'Krazy Horse' Bennett

Charles 'Krazy Horse' Bennett, born in 1979, is an American mixed martial arts fighter.  The video above shows him weighing in for a kickboxing match at the Shoot Boxing World Tournament in Tokyo on Nov. 11, 2016 at which he fought Japanese boxer Masaya.  No modesty cloth here, and no false modesty.

 

Poem of the Day - Part 80

 Hope is the Thing with Feathers
by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chilliest land

And on the strangest sea,

Yet never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

Artists - Part 83

Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassical style, perhaps the most important painter of his era.  Above, a portrait of him in 1817 by his pupil Francois-Joseph Navez.  By the way, for those not familiar with French, his last name is not pronounced like the English name David.  It's pronounced dah-VEED.

He was not especially known for his nudes, though they do occur in his paintings.  However, drawing the nude male form was part of his art education at the Royal Academy in Paris, located in what is now the Louvre.  Above, Academy Study of the Male Nude, 1764.

In 1774 he won the Prix de Rome, which funded a multi-year stay in Rome to study art and classical subjects there.  Reclining Male Nude was drawn there c. 1775-77.

Another drawing from Rome, Seated Male Nude in Three-Quarter View, c. 1774-75.

This drawing, Man Stepping to the Right, c. 1770s, has been attributed to David and would also be from his Rome period.

After his studies, David proceeded to paint a large number of paintings on classical (ancient Greek and Roman) subjects, such as the Death of Socrates, not shown here.  The painting above, Patroclus, 1780, shows Patroclus, a companion of Achilles in the Trojan War in Homer's Iliad.  David's paintings sometimes showed rear male nudity.

But his paintings typically did not show frontal male nudity, as we see in Hector's Body, 1778, above.  Hector was a Trojan prince killed by Achilles in Homer's Iliad.  Some suspiciously placed drapery blocks our view.

Another example of hiding the frontal view is Cupid and Psyche, 1817.

However, David made a precursor sketch to Cupid and Psyche in 1813 in which we see everything, but Cupid's endowment is not very impressive.

We end with another classical painting, The Intervention of the Sabine Women, 1799.  This illustrates an episode in Roman myth where Hersilia intervenes between her husband, Romulus, at right, and her father Titus Tatius at left.  Romulus was the legendary founder of the city of Rome.  We see Romulus' butt and a peekaboo frontal on Titus.  Click on the painting for a larger view.

Calendars - Part 79

 New Year's Day 2026

For New Year's Day, we present a 2026 calendar of paintings by Kenney Mencher.  This calendar is for sale in the EU and other countries, but not for sale in the U.S.

Click on each image to see a larger version.

The January painting is titled "9 AM."  February is untitled.

March is "Big Hands".  April is "Counterweighted Nude."  May is "Fallacious Arguments."

June is "Frisky Business."  July is "In the Stall Next to Mine."  August is "Out and Stout."

September is "Dress Shirt."  October is "Satyr."  November is "Summer's Last Chance."  December is "Twilight."

*          *          *

My blog is now five years old.  Happy New Year!