November 27, 2006

Self-Portrait Challenge- Testosterone Injected Glamour

All right! No more pussyfooting around. Enough is enough with the make-up, the homoerotic undertones, and the barefaced sissy-ness of my last few portraits. It is time to inject this month’s glamour prompt with a bit of testosterone. I have gotten a bit soft in my life of ease, but I can’t be blamed entirely- I live with my wife, my infant daughter, and my mother. About ninety percent of the middle school staff I work with are women, and most of my regular readers here at Intrepid Flame are too. Since I've stopped drinking, the idea of getting drunk and hanging out with the boys, even though I have no real close guy friends here, doesn’t sound too appealing, so I watch Will & Grace with my wife and dance around the house with my daughter.

Because I feel that may have been connecting too comfortably with my feminine side, I decided this week to finish this month’s challenge with a little old fashion manliness. It started on Friday when a few teachers and I participated in our first game of a student run flag-football tournament. We won our first game 27-0 and I threw two TD's and caught another one. I guess I should mention that as luck would have it, our first opponents were the 8th grade girls, but hey if you’re gonna play football, you gotta be tough. This was meant to be my all-man weekend and damned if I was going to let a bunch of little girls soften me up.

After the football game, it was time for our monthly poker game with the boys. Since we are all dads now, there is not too much talk about…well whatever it is that guys talk about when they are away from the womenfolk. We burped and farted and played cards till about 2am. It was a good time, and I won a decent amount of cash. Too bad I was sick with fatigue the next day. Man, am I getting old!

This brings us to my portrait for this week. I wanted to portray as masculine a rendition of glamour as I could. I thought of the actors of the past: Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, and Humphrey Bogart. What was it that they had that made them so captivating and glamorous? I think what made these men so alluring was the fact that they were unapologetically tough, but somehow still maintained a very subtle gracefulness and vulnerability. Although they appeared to be suave, debonair, and obviously smelled great, they weren’t the type of men you would want to mess with. They could kick your ass in a bar fight, but than get to the business of taking care of the ladies.

After several weeks of hiding behind make-up and exploring the tangential points of masculinity, I decided to make this week’s portrait be all man. In order to maintain my love of gender role ambiguity, please keep in mind that while I was taking these photos I was listening to Rufus Wainwright. There is something about his music that is very glamorous. I hope I have captured the mood. So come on ladies, give it up. Are you swooning?


13 comments:

  1. I just knew before I got to the end and saw the portrait that'd you'd be wearing a hat!
    And, hey, I was right.
    And, hey, it really suits you!

    I have to laugh, there you are surrounded by women and here I am surrounded by men!!
    Maybe we could swap some time?!

    Can't wait to see you go all RED next month!
    Vx

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  2. Fabulous pictures!! Grace & Suave are a great take on a masculine re-interpretation/claiming of Glam! Thoughtful in intent and brillant follow-through! Nice job.

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  3. Did you know that Truman Capote authentically beat Bogart in arm wrestling?

    "if you are short, you have to be tough".

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  4. Wow...that one is a keeper, I'd say. Actually, you should frame the whole series of glam you have done, just to show the evolution. You have absolutely BEAT this challenge (it kicked my ass)...I'm also looking forward to what you do next. My guys played in a football tournament on Thursday morning...not that I'm a mama-bragging or anything, but my six year old boy-o scored a touchdown and won MVP. (Okay, bragging a little). Beautiful picture...
    --D.--

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  5. Great pics & prose this month! I'd say more, but I'm busy swooning.

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  6. Hello! These pictures are incredible ~ so handsome!

    I think as a culture, we're so acustomed to seeing women glamorous, the charm is a little lost. But, when we see a man take pride with his appearance, and turn it up for a night, it's pretty shocking.

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  7. Excellent shots, excellent hat!
    And great minds do tend to think alike :)

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  8. Anonymous8:09 AM

    Nice to see a man wearing a hat not of the baseball variety for a change. You look great.

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  9. these are fabulous! you captured the classic look you were going for, my friend.

    gorgeous.

    i chuckled at the masculine fun you've had recently.

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  10. Ok, i adore these ones!!!

    And the line about burping and farting and playing cards till 2 am... You sound like my husband a his friends:)

    ~Georgia

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  11. Very handsome. Love the way you wrapped up the theme.

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  12. Do you remember the terribly kitsch song "I'm too sexy......"?

    You, my friend, are too sexy for this blog! Great shot, very suave......

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