Being human

Being Human was a surprise hit for one of the BBC's lesser-known digital channels.

It was a comedy-drama about a group of three friends who share a house: so far so Friends, except that they are, from left to right, a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost.

Delightful (and out gay) actor Russell Tovey played the werewolf with considerable (and endearing) self-effacement and charm. But he now has a rival in this role since Being Human has now been Remade For US TV:

I confess, I have not yet seen a single episode. But my appetite has been whetted by the presence of the enigmatically named Sam Witwer as the vampire:

He's one of those deliciously conflicted post-Buffy vampires, where they've gone all respectable and only drink blood from blood banks (hence his day-job in a hospital comes in handy):

I've only seen him in action once before, when he played a wannabe serial killer in Dexter (a role he played deliciously) -- although even in that grungy role it was impossible to disguise how beautiful he really is (I don't have any photos from that, so you'll have to make do with this):

His English counterpart is swarthier, long-haired and dashing. And, like all good vampires, exuding hairy-chested sexual charisma (are you listening, Twilight people...?):

Playing the Russell Tovey role, if I may call it that, is Sam Huntington:

But wait a minute -- alarm bells are now clanging furiously. That's presumably a scene where he's woken up after a hard night's werewolfery, and yet... he's still wearing his pants!

Goddamnit, why are the Americans so prissy? Here's Russell giving us the same morning-after scene:

It's not as if Sam has anything hideous to cover-up: here he is in a scene from 2004 film Freshman Orientation (originally released under the truly revolting title of Home of Phobia...):

In that film -- which, I confess, is surprisingly watchable. Almost top-notch teen crud, in fact -- Sam is put into a drunken stupor by the Frat house he's trying to pledge, and they gently put him to sleep in the middle of the campus, all romantic music playing and with another pledge (his roommate) snuggled up to him. Where he wakes up in horror the next morning, horrified that his image as a straight stud has been utterly destroyed:

For what it's worth, his roommate turns out to be a closet case who is in love with Sam's straight student (who is playing gay in order to get closer to a sorority girl who... No, you can rent it for yourself). I'll just say that his roommate, played by the delightful Mike Erwin (who, coincidentally, gave us a fantastic naked arse shot in Dexter), is lovely, and one of the most heart-warming studies of unrequited love I've seen for a long time. Very human, in fact.

Burning up

A kind reader has pointed me in the direction of what appears to be a Russian site hosting a wodge of photos from a Burning Man Festival:

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I give you this delightful selection of cowboy-hatted grungy hippies parading naked for our delectation:

No idea what's going on here, but one of my pet hates is men who wear their ties loosened. Either wear it properly or take it off. A loosened tie is a sign of irretrievably decayed moral values and an inability to resolve internal emotional conflicts:

It's a low-res image showing no cock whatsoever but I don't care: I adore it:

This image seems to me to convey the image of jolly (drug-fuelled) fun that is the central purpose of festivals such as this:

But it can all get a bit much for some revellers.

Here the chap on the left in that last image (the pink tube-sock boy) sits up for a moment and we can see that there is at least one literally burning man at the Burning Man Festival:

Ouch. That's going to smart a bit in the morning. Although I don't understand why his milky-white thighs haven't also turned purple. Mysterious.

Roll on Blu-ray

Total market penetration of HD technology can't come fast enough for me. Then, we would not be thwarted by fuzzy screen grabs such as this:

It's a complete travesty. This pretty actor has gone to the considerable trouble of exhibiting his dangly bits for our viewing pleasure, and the producers should show him the courtesy of reproducing them in pin-sharp, crystal-clear images.

Here's his face, for those interested in such thing:

You see? Very cute.

Deserves so much better.

Looking twice

I loved this photo at first sight -- very sexy:

Then, as I looked closer, I found it increasingly disturbing. Has he really buried his pet dog alive...?

Going gaga

For reasons I can't begin to fathom, a group of my lovely friends has demanded a post about gargoyles. This is that post.

You may have expected me to start with Parisian gargoyles, possibly the most extravagant and famous, but I thought it made more sense to start with Eastern Europe, where the functional purpose of the gargoyle is more obvious.

These metal gargoyles demonstrate a neat range from almost abstract beasties into "realistic" dragons. I like them a lot.

They're some way away from the closely-packed gargoyles seen on French churches.

But here's a neat illustration of proto-gargoyles and the plumbing that replaced them, all in one French church: the older buildings in the foreground have traditional jutting water-spouts, the sort that in posher and later buildings would be gargoyles. The younger (rebuilt) bulk of the church dispenses with them in favour of "modern" metal down-pipes:

Enough of that; back to the gargoyles:

Dragons are the dominant form, but there can be all sorts of very interesting alternatives -- like this stunning Spanish example:

More modern examples are often less fanciful, like this bat-iform:

Here's a rather fine heraldic winged Lion:

And this is one of my favourite gargoyles, a delightful corner piece on Pisa cathedral (this is also one of my own photos. Half the photos on here are mine, the other half obviously being other people's work. Care to guess which is which?):

Here's a rather troubling bird in Nimes, distracting attention from the moralistic Bible stories:

While here's a very late example from Toulouse:

And a close-up...

This is even later, from Javier in Spain, and the gargoyles have been reduced to simple jutting stone projections holding the down pipes:

Not a patch, I think we can all agree, on these delightful johnnies in Uzès:

And, to finish, a hint of even greater antiquity -- here on a rebuilt Roman palazzo in Toulouse (though I have no idea how much of it is reconstruction and, hence, anachronistic):

I am none the wiser about why my lovely friends wanted gargoyles, but I hope this has hit the spot.

I am in love

No time for a proper post about anything, but I stumbled across this image, fell instantly in love, and had to share it with you.

Now that's one pretty penis. Very worshipful. I am smitten. And besotted. Oh, yes.

Hello... Is it me you're looking for?

Sorry I've gone all intermittent on you. It's been a combination of work and, of all things, a social life.

Things don't look much better until Saturday, so you're just going to have to contain yourself until then. In the meantime, my apologies for abandoning you.

Just the one

Just a single image, and I have no idea where it comes from, but I am rather taken with it.

There's something so generous about the way these boys are giving of themselves. Yes indeedy.

Perfect 10

A fistful of fun from a delightful-looking man who has clearly gone to great trouble to ensure the check pattern on his shirt matches the design of the folding screen behind him.

It shows a great deal of thoughtfulness though, alas, that may well be overlooked as we focus our attention on his rude parts, which he seems so eager to expose by furiously tugging-down his pants.

I am not complaining. No sirree.

He is unable to maintain for long the standard porno blank face, and we are rewarded with a nice stare and the beginnings of a cheeky smile:

And then, far too soon, it's all over:

I am left to contemplate how completely delicious he is, a near-perfect porn star for the purposes of Top Scoff pleasure.

Level 10 Emergency

Ok, I don't feel as if we did proper justice to the sheer loveliness of Mike Vogel in that last post.

So here's a few images I had left over, to demonstrate just how sheerly, er, lovely he is.

Except -- and this is unbelievable -- some lunatic clearly thinks Mike only rates an "8" on the Universal Hotness Indicator when, of course, he is, by any empirical standard, a 10.

You don't think so? Well, let's compare those images of Mike with this of so-called Level 10 Hotty Jake:

Ok, I admit Jake looks a bit, well, mental in that photo, but even here, when he's trying to be all Clooney-fied, he is still no more than a 9. Tops:

Back to Mike, all dressed-up and ready for action:

Em... that didn't come out quite how I intended it. Let's end with Mike all blond and spiky:

Yes, I can see a weekend DVD theme night featuring Mike, coming verrry soon now.