Better with Age?

Today’s blog is superficial, silly and just overall frivolous. But then, aren’t we all sometimes?

Our local paper’s entertainment section released a gallery of men over 40 that women love. These are men who, according to the article, are looking fine as time refines them. I personally don’t think this list represents what most women would agree are the top 10 men over 40. On this list were:

1. George Clooney

2. Patrick Dempsey

3. Denzel Washington

4. Clive Owen

5. Robert Downey Jr.

6. Rickey Gervais (okay, I had to google this one. No clue and well…not so much.)

7. Steve Carell (okay, someone’s joking now, right?)

8. Will Smith (now folks this one should fall a LOT higher on this list)

9. Daniel Craig

10. Javier Bardem (who is actually only 39)

I can't say I agree with many of these. I'll give you Clooney, Will Smith, and even Robert Downey Jr. But for the most part I just can't see it. So instead I offer you my version of the list of Hollywood's top ten men over 40 (not necessarily in order):

1. Hugh Jackman –40 years old, he just makes the list. But I ask you, how you miss 2008’s sexiest man alive on this list?

2. Will Smith-40 years old and would grab my #2 slot easy. (Get your minds out of the gutter.)

3. Antonio Banderas -48 years old and they don’t come much hotter.

4. Jeffrey Dean Morgan -42 years old (granted he and Bardem seem to have been separated at birth, but at least he is legitimately over 40)

5. Colin Firth -48 years old. Is there anyone who could resist the original Mr. Darcy?

6. Sean Bean -49 years old, this one is more in homage to my friend Jenn who would follow him anywhere. And he has certainly improved with age.

7. John Cusack -42 years old (a fact that depressed me deeply, by the way) is charming, funny and sexy.

8. Pierce Brosnan -54 years old, he is and will always be the only man who could take Sean Connery’s place as James Bond.

9. George Clooney – I’ll give you this one. He has certainly improved from his days on “Facts of Life.”

10. Gerard Butler –Okay, he won’t be 40 until late this year, but if they can stretch for Bardem, I can stretch too. And come on, the guy deserves the improved with age label. Check out Dracula 2000 sometime and you’ll see he’s come a long, long way.

Hmmmm… I wonder who would be on the list if we did women in Hollywood who have aged well, ie. are even more beautiful now. Well, let’s have your suggestions, who should have been on the guys list and who should we put on the women’s list.

Beam Me Up or Just Send Hugh Jackman

Well, October 14th has come and gone and still no UFO. What am I talking about?

Australian actress and author Blossom Goodchild announced that the aliens with whom she is in contact were scheduled to make a massive 72 hour appearance in the skies over North America beginning today, October 14th. Apparently Ms. Goodchild channeled a message from aliens calling themselves the Federation of Light announcing their impending arrival.

According to Ms. Goodchild the visitors planned to hover for 72 hours so that the media would have a chance to capture their arrival on film. Tired of speculation, evidently the Federation of Light intends to stop the skeptics in their tracks. And the site of this impressive, historic and monumental display?

Alabama. Not Washington, DC. Not New York City. Not Los Angeles. Not even Orlando, Florida where they could mix freely with the characters of the ET ride at Universal Studios. Perhaps the aliens simply picked the first state in alphabetical order.

I live in Georgia just a short distance from Alabama but for my part I’m not hanging out waiting for them. And while we're at it forget the little green men, if the Aussies are going to send something our way can I suggest this:

*Sigh* You gotta love a family man.

Of course over here in Georgia we have our own eye rolling moments. It was a Georgia police officer who was in the center of the recent Big Foot scandal. Two men claimed to have found a carcass belonging to a “big foot”. The men convinced one investor to front them $50,000 to have the necessary tests done on the body to prove it’s authenticity.

In the end all the investor got for his money was a money costume that had been filled with roadkill and stuffed into a small freezer. The roadkill certainly must have made the thing smell authentic. But it turns out that the investor is having the last laugh. The monkey suit is supposedly already up to $200,000 on eBay.

Now let’s all say it together…”A fool and his money are soon parted.”

You see, many people have the mistaken idea that Southerners are somehow less intelligent than the rest of Americans. As a transplant from the Midwest I can tell you that is simply not true. But I believe the problem is directly related to how the media portrays Southerners. Oh, it’s not the media’s fault. As illustrated by the above story and as so articulately summarized by the talented Jeff Foxworthy our entire problem in the south is that we can’t keep the stupidest amongst us off the television.

I'm done, so now swing on over and see what some of the best writers out there have to say. Visit Anny Cook, Kelly Marstad and Sandy Cox.

Sunday Out and About

We spent this morning in an interesting endeavor that will have to continue for several more weeks. We are church shopping. We’d been attending mass (not as frequently as we should) at a church in downtown Atlanta. However, with the baby coming we decided we really needed something closer to home. Besides, trying to do any volunteer work for the church was a big ordeal that was generally not possible because of time and travel. A church in our community would be more advantageous.

So we got out the local phone book (which is about six inches thick) and looked up our denomination. We noted the one closest to home and looked at the website. We made our plans and we went this morning. The church we had been going to was fairly informal. So the first change this morning was me standing with my hands on my hips as I dripped on the floor, fresh from the shower, informing my SO that blue jeans were not appropriate for a Sunday mass. Saturday evening mass, yes, but not Sunday mass.

So all dressed up we went to check out the church. We were a bit awed, and I a bit nervous because of the massive size of the church. It has a school and preschool attached and I have to admit the place was monstrously large. It had several buildings. It was clean and attractive, had a welcoming façade and the people seemed friendly to one another. We were impressed with the diversity of the congregation.

They have a variety of missions. This being the day of rededication of time, talents and treasures to the church, as the sixth Sunday of Easter often is, we were impressed by the number of ministries available for parishioners to participate in. Back home in Illinois I had been a CCD teacher, a Eucharistic minister and a Lector. I helped make altar cloths and we were very active in the lady’s society and the fundraisers. So I liked the fact that there are a variety of options.

I was feeling optimistic until the homily began. The priest was younger, maybe my age, and had a lovely Irish lilt to his voice. But God forgive me for saying it, he was dull as dishwater. He read the homily from a prepared statement and even when he deviated to focus on how much the church needed the contributions of time and talent from others, his monotone and lack of affect made it a chore to pay attention.

After church we took a trip to the local craft supply store. The SO was looking for something called fun fur. Evidently this is a long haired fur that can be cut into strips. When stroked the strips move and behave as if they are alive. This summer’s theme for the summer reading program at the library (my SO is a librarian) is “Catch the reading bug.” This means at some point I will be donning wings and six hairy legs to help chaperone the “Miss Spider’s Tea Party. My love’s library does the coolest things. We’ve done several Harry Potter parties where I’ve gotten to play Professor Sprout, do HP jeopardy and supervise the dragon egg race. They held an Eclipse Prom based on the Stephenie Meyer’s books, they did an American girl party and I got to be Felicity’s mom complete with colonial dress. Add to this pirate days and castle days and a princess party. And that was all just in the last year.

So this summer I’ll be baking spider cakes and wearing wings and antennae.

While we were at the craft store I picked up something I haven’t done in ages. Cross stitching. I felt a bit inspired and bought a couple sets of bibs to cross stitch. One set has bunnies and the other has Eeyore. I love Eeyore. He’s my favorite Pooh character next to Pooh himself. I got started while watching the second X-Men tonight. You gotta love Hugh Jackman. The man is just all out sexy. I used to have a poster of him as Wolverine on the office wall. Silly girl thing, but I figure we’re all entitled.

My other silly girl thing is something that made me squeal when I first saw it. My second favorite piece of home décor (snort) is a framed copy of the movie poster from Kingdom of Heaven. It was signed by Ridley Scott, Orlando Bloom, Edward Norton, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons and David Thewlis. I swear the day it arrived I was very much like a 14 year old girl.

My favorite piece of home décor? A print of Raistlin from DragonLance signed by Larry Elmore. We have two Elmore prints and two Todd Lockwood prints. The one that hangs in my bedroom is special because it took me three years to track it down.

I Like To Look At the Pictures.

Please note that some of the contents of today’s blog are not intended for those under 18. In fact, now that we mention it, the contents of this blog are never intended for someone under 18. If you’re under 18, why are you on this blog on a school night? Go study something.

Today’s blog was inspired by three events that involved the sharing of inspirational pictures among very serious professionals. Okay, even I can’t say that with a straight face. First a friend of mine slipped a pic into an email as part of a joke I'll explain later. Secondly, a bit back, an author I know shared with some of us that a fan had sent her pictures of rather sexy men as inspiration. This author refused to share. Hmmphf.

Today another author shared a picture of a rather delightfully formed male. It wasn’t nudity, exactly. A nice bare chest, an open pair of jeans and a strategically placed hand and you have a nice pic. I’m a firm believer in the tease. Show me a bit and my imagination will do the rest. And do it better. It won’t matter if you’re too ripped, and yes, in my humble opinion a man can be too ripped. If he looks like he spends every waking moment at the gym he’s going to be too tired to do anything else. Not to mention the over stuffed, can’t put his arms down, can touch his knees together look is not one that appeals to me. Flawed can be very good.

Back to my original intent. I seem to receive a lot of emails like the one today. For some reason people seem to think it’s a good idea to send me pictures of attractive men. I don’t know why, but they do. And no, I’m not complaining. I was asked, when I was doing my profiles on my male characters, how I came by all these pictures. That’s one way, diligent searches of Google images is another. Today, I’d like to join the ranks of the unselfish and share the pictures that I’ve received in the past. Some famous men, some not. But all very pretty so I’ll intersperse them through out this post.

I have, however noticed in these pictures, which I would assume are designed to appeal to either straight/bisexual women or gay/bisexual men, that the poses are often not quite erotic if you think about them too much. They often fall into one of three categories:

1. That can’t be comfortable
2. What exactly is he surprised at?
3. Is he afraid it’s going to fall off?

That can’t be comfortable relates to photos where the location of the shot just doesn’t look like someplace I’d find erotic. Say…oh, I don’t know…a pile of straw or hay. Straw and hay that have been baled are not soft and sweet smelling like grass. They are itchy and can smell damp and moldy if not stored correctly. So I look at those pictures and think to myself…ouch! Also, sex on a beach looks good on celluloid, but let's face it, there are too many damp crevices involved for that to be a good idea.

What exactly is he surprised at, refers to pictures where the man seems to be examining his manly parts with surprise or amusement. Exactly what is funny down there? Care to share with the class? And while we’re on the topic I have been told unequivocally by my brothers and male friends that it is never ever a good thing to laugh at the manly parts. So what is it? Someone drop a feather down your pants? You’ve been swimming in cold water and are astonished that it really does shrink? It looks different than it did yesterday? What? Share.

Often men in such “sexy” pictures are seen holding their manly parts. Now perhaps this is because he has just looked and been surprised and needs a tactile confirmation of what he saw, or perhaps it is because he’s afraid it’s going to fall off. I can’t think of a single occasion when I’ve seen a man in real life grab the merchandize that it wasn’t an insult, crude or an expression of fear. Of course if he has delayed reactions it could be a sign of pain because he didn’t grab fast enough.


I do appreciate, however, the photographers and models willingness to accept that contrary to popular belief women do like to look at pictures of male beauty. Not only do we enjoy it aesthetically, but we also enjoy it on an erotic scale. Granted we are not the visual creatures men are, but we still like an illustrated classic as much as the guys.

I was working on an article a couple of years ago on writing slash. Slash is a term used in fanfiction to refer to a same sex relationship. The purpose of the article was to help those who were writing same sex relationships without a base of personal knowledge to understand there were basic differences in arousal and reactions based on gender. It truly was fascinating.

Researchers tested the arousal of straight men and women and gay men and women using self-reported arousal as well as measuring physiological changes. Arousal does not mean reactions to actual sexual interaction and activity, but the body's “interest signals”. The beginnings of erection, the dilation of the pupils, the start of lubrication, increase in rate and shallowness of breathing, and increase in skin surface temperatures were the arousal indicators tested.

The first result was one that might be surprising. Men have long been labeled with the stereotype of being easily aroused. The truth is that men, gay and straight, had a more defined parameter of what they found arousing than women. For example, most women showed some evidence of arousal outside their sexual orientation while men didn’t. Women who had reported no interest in alternative lifestyles showed higher rates of arousal when exposed to images of said lifestyles than did men.

The thing I found most interesting in the studies I looked at for the article was how polar opposite males and females were in what senses or avenues of arousal most affected them in all but one area. Males showed significant arousal to visual and tactile stimulation (viewing erotic images and casual touch). Women, not as much. Women were significantly aroused by auditory stimulus (voices, sounds of lovemaking) and by cognitive stimulation (stories, appeals to imagination and that lovely running commentary in our heads). Men, not as much.

What did we have in common? Olfactory responses. Both sexes showed significant reactions and arousal rates to trigger scents. Not the same ones, but reactions to scents were equal.

Just a bit of useless information.

And now to the pic that a friend sent me today. It's a bit of a running joke among us. I save pics of Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale that I'll slip into emails, she slips in pics of Gerard Butler. The joke has spilled over onto one of the forums I belong to and even one of the guys teasingly works in references. I'm a moderate fan of this guy and think he's adorable and a better actor than he often gets credit for. (We won't discuss Dracula 2000, everyone's got one they need to bury.) So, for my final offering I thought I'd share the picture that Anna sent me today.