Monthly Archives: August 2009

Brian Biedul

Posted on by
Reply

It never ceases to amaze me how talented artists find new way to compose their work, especially when the subject is the human form.  Such an artist is Brian Biedul.  Here he combines an element of architecture with the human body in his Cubes and Squares series.

brian-biedul1

Brian Biedul was born in Colorado Springs in 1955. He spent the better part of his adolescence in Europe where his love of art began. While living in Paris he was enrolled in his first art class under the instruction of Siegfried Hahn. After returning to America he spent time in various cities across the United States including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles where he later settled. In 1984 he graduated with a BFA from Art Center College of Design where he later taught Saturday figure drawing classes.

brian-biedul_square-series1

Biedul’s artistic development can be divided into several periods. In his early years he began with figurative painting in oils influenced heavily by the Dutch Masters. Later he began creating works of abstract expressionism influenced by the works of Mark Rothko and Franz Kline. He followed that period with installations and earthworks in the desert where his idea of Theoretical Architecture was born. Through this experimentation he found the content that would define his future work.

brian-biedul2.

brian-biedul_square-series2 Continue reading →

Body Freedom

Posted on by
Reply

body-freedom11

Despite the significant percentage of our population that finds something disturbing about the human body; despite the fact they would have you believe there is something about certain body parts that are vulgar; despite the fact they insist nudity is overtly sexual as opposed to natural, there is a smaller percentage of us who have discovered the astounding beauty of our bodies.  They know the feeling of the sun on their skin, the feeling of a fresh summer breeze, the feeling of sharing something refreshing and invigorating and enlightening with others.

black-and-white11

.

.

body-freedom1.

.

body-freedom5.

.

body-freedom3.

.

body-freedom4.

. Continue reading →

The Edinburgh Fleshtival

Posted on by
Reply

.edinburgh-fleshtival

From Edinburgh Festivals

By Tim Cornwell

THE curtain went up this week on a Fringe show that threatens to dash Edinburgh’s strait-laced reputation for good.

In a Stockbridge church, as many as 150 local women are to take the stage in the festival – dancing energetically in the nude.

From a senior employee of Polygon – publishers of Edinburgh author Alexander McCall Smith – to a yoga instructor, and a New Town mother of four, the first batch of volunteers told yesterday why they chose to bare all in Trilogy.

“We’ve run through it clothed, and unclothed, and it felt fantastic,” said Sarah Morrison. “I am one of the many beautiful women who will dance. We are dancing energetically and vigorously and beautifully.”

Continue reading →

Labiaplasty, A Growing Trend to be Perfect

Posted on by
7

It’s important that women think twice about going for that “perfect look”, which is why I posted this article by via alternet. It’s true some women, due to extreme labia size, could reasonably be concerned about their appearance (before and after picture at the end of this article).  However, other than these extreme cases that affect self esteem, the vaginal variety from one woman to the next reflects nothing more than personality.  If you are concerned you don’t look like the young nymphs in porn movies, don’t worry, your boyfriend or husband or female lover isn’t concerned, but simply glad you’re sharing this part of your body with them.  Perfection has more to do with presentation and positive self-esteem than the specific size, shape or color of your labia.

Also see Labiaplasty: What do “Normal” Labia Look Like

Women are risking their lives to achieve an unrealistic and unnecessary ideal.

female3

Type “labiaplasty,” “vaginoplasty” or any of nearly a dozen female genital cosmetic surgeries into any search engine, and a flurry of doctors’ Web sites will pop up touting the self-esteem, sexual enhancement, comfort and fashion benefits of female genital cosmetic surgery.

These sites, typically decorated with airbrushed pictures of lovely women in various states of undress or even nude, are replete with before-and-after photos of trimmed-down labia and gushing quotes from satisfied customers.

Many of these sites promise ecstasy, plus: “Laser vaginal reconstruction can accomplish what ever [sic] you desire.”

Some patients seem happy with the results.

“When my husband and I had sex, well, it was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” a 40-year-old woman reports, six weeks after a three-hour combination labiaplasty, vaginoplasty and clitoral unhooding, costing at low estimate of $15,000 (a high estimate: at least double that). “I had an orgasm probably within three minutes. … I feel like I’ve found what I had lost … I feel like I’m 25 again!”

Her surgeon reports this case study as “Strengthening Our Love For Each Other.”

Dig a little deeper though, and you find stories tinged with grief and regret about genital “enhancement” surgeries gone wrong.

“Had the surgery 1/07,” one woman reports. “Can’t say enough [about] how much I regret it. The problems I had it done for can’t even compare to the pain and discomfort I’m having now. The surgeon, who has extensive experience, doesn’t know why this is happening.”

One of the newest wrinkles in the business of sex is the explosion of genital cosmetic surgery.

Continue reading →

Yoga in the Nude

Posted on by
1

yoga10

For me the experience of nude yoga had meaning on several levels: an opportunity to meet other like-minded men, with whom I shared a purpose and a common goal; the giddy sensations of undressing with a group of men I didn’t know, men of different ages and body types; being naked and  physically challenged with them; the strenuous positions of yoga; and the sensuality of being naked among other naked men.

It was indeed a sensual experience, but not a sexual one.  Within moments, each of us were more involved in the challenges of exhausting exercise, forgetting  our physical flaws, concentrating on our instructor’s demonstrations.  The concept of nudity and being among nude men may have been intriguing enough to get our attention, but, having gathered in that warm candlelit room, the goal of self-improvement was foremost on our minds.  This just happened to be a more interesting way to achieve it.

A similar experience from San Francisco is described in the following article from SFGate.

yoga61

Doing it in the altogether is what makes this yoga practice altogether free from distractions

From SFGate

By Carolyne Zinko

Some fitness fads require sporty gear and equipment, but the practice of yoga requires only the bare essentials: loose clothes, a mat and time to do the exercises. The latest trend in yoga requires even less. We’re not talking about aqua yoga, done in a pool, or disco yoga, set to dance tunes, or “boga,” boxing yoga, done with gloves.

yoga12

No, a San Francisco community center is offering naked yoga, where bare essentials means just that: Men and women are completely nude during the 90- minute class.

This is not the invention of “naked yoga guy” George Monty Davis, who made headlines last year for (legally) striking naked yoga poses at Fisherman’s Wharf, nor a “hot nude yoga” class for gay men, popular in Boston, Dallas and Los Angeles, or in any way connected to Internet-sold videos of voluptuous women doing naked yoga on wave-washed beaches with horses galloping by.

The new naked yoga class on Sunday mornings at the One Taste Urban Retreat Center on Folsom Street is meant to be transforming, not titillating. That’s a concept that American culture, with its taboos on nudity, might find difficult to grasp. The center, which opened 10 months ago, was founded by Nicole Daedone, also a co-founder of 111 Minna Gallery. It offers dance classes and massage, has a small cafe and an art gallery, and hosts various events.

yoga5

The class is about the challenge of yoga, and about the challenge of accepting — and even revering — one’s own body.

“It’s not a sexual experience,” said Rob Kandell, the center’s business manager. “It’s a heart-opening experience.”

On a recent Sunday morning, yoga instructor Meredith Medland, 33, gave students a sort of pep talk before entering the classroom, emphasizing the idea of the body as a vessel and getting them to calm their thoughts.

yoga7

Five women and four men entered fully clothed, carrying their mats. Many were in their 20s and 30s, but some were decades older.

Continue reading →

Born In the Wrong Body

Posted on by
Reply

Born in the Wrong Body

erotic3

Out shopping one day, shortly after I turned sixteen, I walked down a well-lit hallway that led to the public restrooms.  Rounding a turn in the hall, the two doors came into view on opposite walls.  Before turning away from the women’s room, as I stared at the door, quick flashes of a more Utopian life passed through my mind.  A middle-age woman glanced my way before disappearing inside.  It would have felt natural to follow her in, though that would have made her gasp in horror.

That’s because I still looked like a man, barely a year out of a late puberty.  Not a masculine man, a wimpy one.  Still, during puberty, my body had changed in a way that broke my heart.  When the other girls at school were looking at their new breasts in the mirror, I was looking at a penis that had gotten larger.

Call it a temporary lapse, me wanting to forget my body’s configured differently than the other women that use that room.  Given certain circumstances, I would have these fleeting fantasies of feeling normal; usually followed by memories of the day my mother, after catching me looking at myself in the mirror in a pair of nylon panties, went through every drawer in my room and threw out all the female intimates I had hidden; or those days in junior high PE class, changing into those awful gym shorts, invariably humiliated when Johnny Perkins taunted me, mocked my slender hairless body, my girlie white skin, my small boyish penis.

It was my sense of self, my feminine sensibilities that urged me to use the restroom I felt most comfortable in, instead of facing the lifelong dread of making myself go in and pee with the men.  It didn’t matter the rest of my world saw me as a man, for me it was impossible to accept.  It didn’t matter my shoulders were small and my protruding nipples sometimes felt swollen and sensitive, as if they were about to blossom into full blown breasts (but never did); I was stuck with the basic shape of a male.  It didn’t matter if I secretly shaved my underarms and legs; I still looked like a man.  But I’m not.  Not then, that day at Macy’s; not now.  I’m a woman.  Born a woman and destined to stay a woman for the rest of my life.

Continue reading →

Quick Draw Gates

Posted on by
Reply

henry_louis_gates_jr

Henry Gates can draw the race card quicker than Matt Dillon can draw a Colt six-shooter; tiresome as this kind of story is and still all too common.  Of course the news media couldn’t get on it fast enough.

It’s disturbing in this day and time, when such accomplished men still rely on the color of their skin as a dependable old standby.  I suppose, when Gates applied to Yale University to earn his undergraduate degree and wrote “As always, whitey now sits in judgment of me, preparing to cast my fate. It is your decision either to let me blow with the wind as a nonentity or to encourage the development of self. Allow me to prove myself”, the hand writing was on the wall.  Makes one wonder if his success was acquired by sucking the benevolent tit of affirmative action, or by the good graces of quotas.  Makes one cringe when you consider all the black men and women who struggle through their successes and failures like everyone else.

Even more disturbing is the fact that Barack Obama sanctioned it.  Like so many others, I thought, once elected, he would lead the United States down a new path of more enlightened understanding; show us that blacks, like so many already believe, have the capacity for individual success without relying on all the old crutches.  Looks like we may have to continue to depend on some future generation to end this kind of thinking.  In the mean time, seems a significant percentage of our black population is going to hang on to their prejudices and hatreds.

Just food for thought:  Not not ago, while driving down a New Mexico highway late at night, I was pulled over by two over-zealous patrol officers for making what they called an improper lane change.  They had roared up out of nowhere and drove along side my rear bumper for several irritating miles .  I thought it was teenagers giving me a hard time.  I eventually sped up and pulled in front of them to pass a slow moving car in my lane (improper lane change).  When they pulled me over, I told them it looked like they were goading me by tailing so close in the next lane, which led to an angry exchange.  They told me to get out of the car, searched me, decided I needed to be cited for three additional violations and threatened to haul me to jail.  I thought of this incident when I first heard this story involving Henry Gates.  Had it happened to him, it would have been because he’s black.  In my case, the whole affair ended with my apology, a handshake, and a warning to use my signal when changing lanes.

What did Mr. Gates achieve?  If the police ever spot someone breaking into his house, will they dare profile the burglar if he’s black?

Spartacus, A New Series on Starz

Posted on by
Reply

spartacus1

Damn!!!

If these eyes don’t open a man’s imagination to flights of fantasy, I doubt anything will.

Anyway, if you like looking at naked men in action scenes, this looks like a good place to be come January 2010.  You’ll also have to be prepared for a lot of gore and violence.  What doesn’t seem clear just yet, is whether or not  a quality storyline will accompany these tantalizing scenes.  Reviews from TV.COM and HITFIX.COM follow below.

From: TV.com

By Anna Hiatt

The gladiator Spartacus is coming to TV with a star-studded cast and a graphic style that makes 300 seem tame.

I am Spartacus!!

Raunchy sex and bloody violence reign in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, a new TV spectacle about a Thracian soldier-turned-gladiator. We got an exclusive look at the extended trailer for the new show, which is coming to Starz in January 2010. Trust us when we say: Spartacus is racier, more fast-paced, and more violent than any other show on TV.

How so? The sex scenes (complete with nudity) are so explicit everyone short of sex workers will blush. Every detail of the brutal gladiatorial massacres in Roman arenas is included — arching blood squirts, sliced tendons, the works. Seriously, it’s like 300 on steroids. On TV. Titillating, no?

Spartacus has the sensory impact of a sledgehammer — in a good way. For visual punch, the show is mostly produced using a green screen (meaning most of the backgrounds are computer-generated), with meticulous attention paid to visual storytelling. The result? A show that’s so realistic you’ll feel like one of the thousands of jeering Romans watching as those poor suckers get skewered in the arena. It’s hard not to enjoy.

In addition to sex and violence, Spartacus also has an impressive cast, including the Warrior Princess Lucy Lawless as the scheming wife of Batiatus (John Hannah), owner of a gladiator school. Andy Whitfield plays Spartacus.

Spartacus has all the makings of an instant hit: violent slaughters that may be too hard for some to stomach, spectacular production value, and, of course, Lucy Lawless.

Continue reading →