Weighing In - Part 82

Salvatore Burruni

Salvatore Burruni (1933-2004) was an Italian flyweight boxer.  In April, 1965 he won the World Flyweight title.  In November, 1965 he was stripped of the title when he refused to fight Hiroyuki Ebihara.

On June 14, 1966 Burruni fought Walter McGowan in Wembly, England, in a fight billed as defending the World Flyweight title, although Burruni no longer held the title.  At the beginning of this video we see Burruni weighing in naked in front of an audience.  There was no modesty shield.  At the end we see Burruni, who I think is still naked, smiling and waving to the all-male audience of sportswriters.

Burruni lost the fight.  His overall record was 99 wins and 9 losses.

Valentine's Day 2026

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, a gift of chocolate is always appropriate.  Someone gave Carl chocolates and roses.

Carl knew what to do.

He ate a chocolate.

Delicious.

That was a treat.

Now on to the next treat.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Poem of the Day - Part 82

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Artists - Part 85

Oleksandr Balbyshev

Oleksandr Balbyshev, born in 1985, is a Ukranian artist.  His art has two different main themes.  First, he is gay, and he uses art to try to understand the nature of male identity and the stigma of the male nude.  Second, he reinterprets symbols of the USSR, the empire that occupied his motherland for seven decades.  In particular, he reinterprets old portraits of Lenin and other Soviet leaders into something funny, not scary.  We will look at paintings of his first main theme, exploring the stigma of the male nude.

The Hide and Seek in the Rocks, 2016, was an early work exploring this theme.  It's quite realistic and could almost be a photograph (but it's a painting).

Catboy, 2019.  Balbyshev commented: "About 30 years ago, a group of feminist artists, Guerrilla Girls, decided to determine the ratio of male and female nudes presented on canvases exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It turned out that male nudes are only 15%. ... I would like to see our culture represent naked men as frequently as we do naked women to remove the shock value of the nude male. And this is my goal as an artist." 

I Swear It Wasn't Me, 2020.  Balbyshev's comment: "Ukrainians have always been famous for their urge for excessive decorative effects and embellishment. That’s why I have a craving for decorativeness and the use of ornaments in my artworks."

Bather with the Great Wave, 2020, copies Hokusai's famous The Great Wave off Kanagawa and adds a foreground figure plus some rainbow coloration in the background.

St. Sebastian, 2022.  Balbyshev's comment: "In this series, I integrate a male body's sensual beauty with paintings of world-famous artists ... This is a kind of reflection on how the art of the last centuries could have been if the male body had not been discriminated against."

There have been many historic paintings of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, but none of them are nude; Sebastian always wears a loincloth.

Guy on the Shore, 2025.  Balbyshev's comment: "Within queer art discourse, the male body has often been commodified or censored—either eroticized as spectacle or erased entirely. By placing this nude figure in a lush, otherworldly setting of lilies and dappled light, I reclaim his form from voyeurism and invisibility alike. He is neither passive object nor heroic ideal but a being in quiet communion with nature—an act of radical self-acceptance against cultural norms that police desire and shame the body."

Lovers, 2025.  Balbyshev's comment: "In “Lovers,” I continue my exploration of queer identity through the visual vocabulary of Cubism, deeply inspired by the groundbreaking works of Pablo Picasso. This painting portrays two intertwined male figures whose fragmented, mask-like faces symbolize the complexities and hidden realities of queer love."

The Reclining Nude, 2025.  Balbyshev's comment: "The Reclining Nude revisits one of the most enduring archetypes in Western art — the reclining figure — to question who is allowed to embody beauty, desire, and vulnerability.  For centuries, this pose has been synonymous with the idealized female body — passive, sensual, created to be seen. In this work, I reclaim that gesture through a queer lens, offering the male body as both subject and storyteller."

The River's Son, 2025, is a queer counterpart to Botticelli's Birth of Venus.

Unconventional Hearts, 2025, is an exploration of love that defies societal conventions.

We end with Kiss, 2025.  Balbyshev's comment: "Kiss is a meditation on the fragmented nature of queer love ... Two male figures intertwine, merging and dissolving into abstraction, their forms simultaneously embracing and disintegrating. The kiss itself is obscured, reflecting the forced anonymity of same-sex love in a world that still dictates who is allowed to exist openly.  Kiss captures the paradox of queer intimacy: bound yet yearning, fragmented yet whole, unseen yet impossible to ignore. It is a reminder that love, no matter how abstracted or restrained, will always find a way to exist."

My comment: this recent work is more abstract than his previous work, but it's also the only one that I've seen that features an erection, so maybe the future of Balbyshev's art is looking up.

Beach Bums - Part 79

 Cable Beach, Broome Australia

Cable Beach in Broome, Western Australia, is a beautiful 22 km (14 mile) long stretch of white sand.  Tourists can take camel rides on the beach, which can be stunning as the sun sets into the Indian Ocean.  (Note: these riders are not nude, but the camel rides go through the nude section of the beach.)

The southern end of the beach is not clothing optional, but beyond a wall of rocks near the vehicle access point, the northern 17 km (11 miles) of beach is a nude beach.

Here is the beach by daylight – a dazzling stretch of white sand.

The beach was named Cable Beach after an undersea telegraph cable that was laid from here to Java in 1889.

A beachgoer, front ...

and rear.

Although the beach looks very wide at low tide, tides are extreme here, and the beach can virtually disappear at high tide.

Another beachgoer.

The water is shallow.  However, it's best to stay out of the water in the summer, due to stinging jellyfish that may be present.

In 2024, a survey by British and German firms ranked Cable Beach the #1 sexiest beach in the world, based on things like seclusion, sunset, popularity with couples, and friendliness toward LGBTQ travelers.

Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 76

Church Signs

Churches often post a sign, usually about the upcoming church service.  Here are some notable ones.

Above, what kind of pleasures are they talking about?

Oh, rubbing one out.  Even better if a friend does it.

But you can do more than that.  Come and eat pastor Thomas Ressler, who apparently has the best sausage in St. Louis.

And for those into rear pleasures, a tongue getting into a tight place ...

can bring a man to his knees.

You may be thinking, don't churches frown on this?  Apparently not.  Jesus said, bring me that ass (Matthew 21:2).

This preacher's sermon is about having a peter in him.

And if you can both do each other, great things happen.

This church went as far as holding an anal convention, for which they thank the Lord.

(Note: apparently they meant "annual convention", but somebody couldn't spell.)

We end with this very religious question: how often do you come?

World Naked Bike Ride - Part 85

Brussels 2024

We've seen this guy before as Young Pinocchio in previous World Naked Bike Rides (you'll see later).  In Brussels in 2024, his girlfriend drew a bunch of cartoon characters from SpongeBob Squarepants on him.

On his front was painted Patrick Star, SpongeBob's dimwitted friend.  Our hero is posing with Jerome Jolibois, who organizes the WNBR in Brussels, in the park where WNBR riders gather.

And there's SpongeBob and other characters on his back.

Here he is at right posing with other WNBR riders, with Jerome in the center.

Talking to another rider.

And then the ride begins.  Our friend is in the center.

Riding through the streets of Brussels.

We end with this view of him in the 2022 WNBR in Amsterdam, showing him painted as Pinocchio.  I actually like this better than SpongeBob, because with Pinocchio, you can hope to see what happens if he tells a lie.