Anyone who has done yoga, stepped on a cardio machine at the gym, or flipped a tractor tire over repeatedly at CrossFit owes a nod to Physical Culture. The idea had bubbled up previously but began coming together as a movement in the mid-1800s as people realized that sitting at a desk all day probably wasn’t that good for you. Because 19th century Europe, all of this got tied in fairly neatly with nationalism and we’ve never quite escaped a sense that the physical fitness of the people is a reflection of the health of the nation. Physical Culture and the various ways it’s been en vogue or out of fashion for the past ~175 years is fascinating and you can learn more from Dr. Warty’s paired courses “Physical Culture: an anthropology of manly strength and nations at war” T, Th 8-10am and “Squat more, fleshy thing, I am disgusted by your weakness” M, W, F at the same time. Or of course you can check Wikipedia for the ultra abbreviated version or The Art of Manliness for a sweeping gloss of the issue.
Because it’s Manly Mondays, we’re mostly here for the skin and so we turn to the case of Bob Mizer. Mizer was a Los Angeles based photographer with ready access to the burgeoning muscle culture of Muscle Beach in Santa Monica in the mid-1940s. He founded the Athletic Model Guild, which published Physique Pictorial one of the earliest beefcake magazines of the post-war period. By the mid-1950s the implication of nudity under the posing pouches he was using on his models had drawn the ire of the USPS and he was charged with obscenity and did a 9 months stint in a work camp. The obscenity charge only served to make him more well known and he became a primary source for photographic records of muscle culture in Santa Monica/Venice Beach through the ’60s and ’70s. You’ve potentially seen some of his art with old photos of the Governator showing off.
Unforutantely for you all, copyright is a strange beast and I’d prefer not to get trampled under foot, so I’m just going to send you looking elsewhere including a fairly Safe For Work Bob Mizer Foundation Kickstarter campaign from 2012 to help raise money for properly archiving some of Mizer’s work. The less safe for work, but safer-than-a-Mapplethorpe-exhibition, galleries hosted by the Bob Mizer Foundation, and of course potentially NSFW depending on your Safe Search settings: GIS or Bing Images.
Also bonus footage from Muscle Beach back in the 1950s heyday that has nothing to do with Mizer, but is part of his milieu.
Comments
151 responses to “Manly Monday”
I await the inevitable calls to pull down the statue of David as a symbol of the patriarchy. Strangely, statues to Stalin and Lenin never seem to face that criticism.
David was dicks out for Harambe before it was cool.
Say what you will about Lenin, the man knew how to pose.
It’s the lapel grab that makes the pose. He’s all business.
The Simpsons already did it.
I really should watch Goodbye Lenin again now that I’ve been to Berlin.
For the penis shot
Good film
Try this one.
Jesse, another great Berlin based film telling the story of the last days of the DDR is “The Lives of Others” Unlike the good feelings from “Goodbye Lenin” TLO will leave you enraged or depressed. The TLO was nominated for best foreign film but the award went elsewhere.
Second for “The Lives of Others” . Great film.
I really wish Schtonk! would get a DVD release in the US. It’s a biting comedy from the early 90s about the Hitler Diary hoax.
There you go. Putting unreasonable images of male standards in my head. You’re as bad as Cosmo.
*injects self with cocktail of horse steroids in vain effort to be more manly*
These euphemisms.
Pshaw, you’d need that were Warty running this post. Warty would tell you that if you don’t look like Eddie Hall, you’re not really a man.
Not many pictures can capture the emotion of the subject and relay that he could break you in half. That one does.
Break you in half without really trying and enjoy it.
9 months in a work camp.
Can you imagine what your average pornographer of today would be sentenced to under the same laws?
What’s really fun is how tame the 1950s stuff was by our standards.
What I find interesting is that they look healthy and normal. The bodybuilders of today are freakshows.
Steroids, Scruffy, steroids. Also, better dietary knowledge and diet supplements.
If you’ve ever seen a contemporary muscle mag they all have an obligatory woman-spread (heh) so that the male readers can pretend that boner they have from looking at the magazine is because of her.
But really… so. much. steroids.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Arnold at his last professional body building competition was a fucking god. Professional body builders today…would not bang with prejudice.
Li’l Rhywun once bought the Guiness Book of World Records thru the Scholastic thing they had at school, I think it was 1979? The frontispiece was a full-body shot of Arnold labeled “most perfect body evar”. I think they retired that category afterwards.
Arnold took what were considered ridiculous doses in his day, and he’s been on the juice since he was 15.
Anabolics by themselves don’t get you close to modern bodybuilding freakshow standards.
I read them for the articles.
It’s not just steroids. It’s also HGH, insulin, IGF-1, amphetamines, gene doping pretty soon…
I’ve only looked into steroid use a little. … Just a little.
HGH is an ok supplement isn’t it? I haven’t ever tried it, but I now a few people who took it.
the implication of nudity under the posing pouches
Da fuq??? Of course they were naked under those. But then again it was the fifties, the same period that prosecuted Lenny Bruce for talking dirty.
How did we become that. Did the generation that fought WW2 go crazy all of a sudden or was this the religious nuts?
Well, if I ever go on the beach with a “posing pouch” I won’t be naked under it. I am thinking a couple of tube socks at least. Maybe a winter sweater or a bath towel. That’s how I roll.
Musn’t subject oneself to shrinkage, after all!
Some people like to walk around in public naked under their clothes.
Jesse, I hope Ben Cohen is going to be the subject of a future article.
I’ve been holding off. I feel like he and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson will be perfect for when I’m running out of ideas or maybe in two weeks when I’m out of town.
Waiting for The Mountain with ‘bated breath.
Thicc.
Nazi homoerotic physical culture is a PhD thesis just waiting to happen. Check this shit out.
http://m.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-69232.html
Ted is going to hate that. Next time some asshole tries to tell me how awesome his KB workout was I’m going to congratulate him on his use of Nazi fitness equipment.
Who brags about their kettlebell workout?
Also,
While Surén was initially supported by the Nazi regime, he later became a problem for them. In 1942 he was kicked out of the Nazi party and arrested for allegedly masturbating in public.
Warty, Maxim Gorky knew all about it 80 years ago.
I saw that episode of I Love Lucy.
Love how that links to this story at the bottom.
That’s a real Nazi party.
At least he took the 9 months like a man. I remember the disappointment upon hearing that Johnny Wadd turned snitch. Say it ain’t so, Johnny.
I can’t FAP to this.
Oh ya, try being a giant reptile surrounded by sex-obsessed mammals who’s rule 34 doesn’t cover crocodiles…
Don’t you guys control the rules? just add some!
While we may meddle in mammal affairs driving your species to the edge of all out war, we cannot begin to influence your porn
We are too strong!
Me either. It just makes me feel out of shape.
You have the power to change that!
Ya, well, if I did that I would have to find a place for all the things stacked on my weight bench. I lack shelving.
*HM light is lit*
I hope she has a bodyguard.
Oh, c’mon. She apologized. Sure that will end it.
Ah, cool.
OT: Everyone in the midwest keep your eyes peeled. You have some nasty weather heading your way. Stay safe and good evening.
Is it another Twitter storm? Those can be huuge.
In western CO, I thought the roof was coming off the place at 2 am today. Impressive wind gusts. It is a good front.
The squall line spans more than half the country.
http://sirocco.accuweather.com/nx_mosaic_640x480_public/sir/inmasirNC.gif
Lighting and thunder and our first tornado watch of the year. Oh, and 66 degrees.
Weird winter.
It’s not a weird winter. It is GLOBAL END OF THE WORLD SNOW AND CLIMATE WARMING CHANGE.
Do I freak out or just change the oil in the convertible?
I think the correct response is to change the oil, and buy a new counter top appliance. Either a deep fryer or a waffle iron.
I already have a nice waffle iron, so deep fryer it is!
Thanks, westernsloper!
Another OT (Sorry, Jesse): The Hypocrisy of Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy
The guy also refers to the hijab wearing Swedish politicians visiting Iran as being “reverse slut walked”.
Nah dude, the literal patriarchal rape-cultures of the Muslim world all good. Something something tolerance, you know?
Even better OT
Read the comments on this post:
https://www.facebook.com/BaltimoreCityPolice/photos/a.277239856955.154351.58771761955/10154185854496956/?type=3&theater
Those are great
When you’re a gangsta AND a Civil War re-enactor, but can only afford one gun.
recovered a loaded hand gun
Loaded with what? Is that a real gun?
So… All the crime in Boston is gone? The department has time to Facebook?
Baltimore. And it’s a PR stunt. Probably one of the more effective ones they have.
Fine, Baltimore. What, pray tell, does the Baltimore PD need publicity for? Are they loosing businesses to the sheriff’s office?
They’ve had some… uh… negative publicity lately.
Again, why is taxpayer money being used for publicity? There is a monopoly on police work in the city, and it’s not the BPD’s money to waste.
the Baltimore PD actually rates comments for quality =
That is funny. Missed that.
Well, let’s give credit where it’s due: It is a rather good post.
OMG Such brilliant marketing!!!
Let’s go see the movie!!!
https://www.facebook.com/fox11la/videos/10158327738660553/
I was gone last week, and very busy this week, so I haven’t had much time to comment here.
I just took a glance at the other place, and Jesus Christ.
It’s a Buttplug and Dan O. fuckfest.
Hawaii?
Yeppers. Maui and then Kauai.
My hotel in Maui was overrun by a convention of midwestern tire salesmen, but Kauai was awesome.
Nice. I haven’t been to HI for a long time. I’d like to go back, but my wife was smitten by Turks (and the short flight).
Glad you had a good time!
I spent 10 days in Kauai a few years ago. Heaven.
It really is. If there were a heaven, I assume it would look like the Na Pali coast.
My kingdom for some taco poke and a bit of sea weed salad.
I’m going to Honolulu in a few weeks so my husband can wrap up his mom’s estate (she’s still alive, but in a home in SoCal now, after living all her life in Hawaii). So not a really ‘fun’ reason to be going back, but still, there’ll be some time for hanging out.
Make sure to visit a Tamura’s while you on Oahu. It is a liquor and poke store. Very fresh poke and a healthy selection of adult beverages. There are multiple locations. Try to avoid the Aiae location because the choo choo construction has jacked up the road.
Kauai’s Na Pali coast is wonderful. Molokai is nice if you want a more rural experience, also good Axis deer hunting.
lol, my husband’s a cousin of those Tamuras. He grew up in Waianae where the original supermarket was founded, and even more hilariously, the owner of the wine shop dated my husband’s cousin on the other side for a time. Hawaii has only two degrees of separation, basically, is what I’m saying. 🙂
Since moving here I have experienced the same thing. Living on a small rock has made me change some things. I was a very Wyoming driver, fast and pass at the first opportunity. A co-worker of mine (also from Waianae) advised me the chill a bit because I would see that other driver again.
The same guy said it was hard to visit a local strip club because all too often a dancer would come up and say “Hi Uncle!” to him, and it would actually be a family member.
Except for the rough family biz while you are out here, I hope you have a good trip. With your husband along we will triple the glibertarian population.
This place is blocked at work. So I go to the other place and it’s trolls and bitter sniping all the way down. Fuck that.
Dan O. and PB are actively making me wish for just another long John/chemjeff fight. At least those two are moderately sane.
VPN. Should get you anywhere you want to go.
Just when I thought CNN couldn’t get anymore hacky, I see this. That is video of a “heated argument”? What kind of idiot could see that video and come to that conclusion? Pure propaganda.
Isn’t filming through windows illegal, as well as creepy?
Yes, this reminds me of all the times CNN filmed and published President Obama and his minions in the oval office from across the street.
I think its kind of hilarious that CNN has so few actual sources willing to talk to them that they’re reduced to doing stories about “shit we saw through the window”
OT, but a decent article from FEE Why “Bash the Fash” Is a Really Bad Strategy for the Left. There’s not much here we don’t know, but I loved this comment: “Antifa seems to mean anti first amendment with this crowd…”
Imagine this, but university wimps and the social justice crowd instead of terrifying, degenerate Irishmen.
“terrifying, degenerate Irishmen”
But you repeat yourself.
Exactly. They don’t have any actual “Fascists” to oppose, so they basically run around LARPing for the purposes of shouting down their political enemies.
Further –
everything the identity-politics left *claims* about the ‘un-safeness’ of free speech…
…that its “literal violence” and that mere contrary-ideas are actually “harm”….
…appears to be stuff they’re actually willing to impose in real life on the people they oppose.
Meaning = they’re constantly whining about their imagined oppression, and pretending that they’re victims of some shadowy right-wing cis-hetero-caucasoid-patriarchy…
….but they literally become mobs of weapon-wielding thugs who assault people *merely for how they look* the very next second.
As Epi always said – everything is projection with them.
There is a fetishization of the 30’s era-Weimar era going on that is seriously disturbing. Pre-Trump, every dopey prog was content to pretend that whatever actions/activism they happened to be engaged in at any moment were the moral equivalent Selma. Now they want to fap to the idea of fighting “fascists” at the Munich Beer Hall Pusch.
Someone is going to get maimed or killed at one of these Antifa things. Just you wait. It’s the only logical outcome of the collective Prog-Larp crowd’s asinine virtue-signaling-through-violence kick.
That’s a good point.
I am reminded of how Oberlin students wanted to have their tests cancelled because of their ‘trauma’ over Ferguson
Freedom-riders, they’re not.
And regardless of what happened nothing will be their fault.
That linked video can’t be Muscle Beach.
Where are all the vagrants and gang bangers?
Rangers win!
You are in hellaciously tough division. I have a feeling these playoffs are going to be excellent!
Will the Wild get past the BHawks this year?
I don’t know. History suggests not, but I think the games have been different this year. Dubnyk has been a beast and defensively the team has been solid. I like the addition of Ryan White and Martin Hanzal, particularly for their size. Wild will likely have to get through one of the tough teams in the West before Chicago, so I think having some grinders will help.
Wild can roll 4, just like the Hawks. I would really like to see them go in the second round.
I like the Wild this year. Good to see White get some points first game too. Watched him in Major Jrs for the Hitmen. Hanzal was a beast in Red Deer and has translated well in the NHL. I think Patty Kane just destroys opposition so I think the Hawks may have the edge.
You in the Great White North?
It’s not great, it’s okay.
Southern California but a transplant. Love hockey at all levels but really love the jam in the WHL. Tough kids in that league. I like the skill of the O especially London and their ability to produce top level NHL talent too.
No kidding. Lots of NHLrs from that league.
Who’s your pro team now?
It’s not great, it’s okay.
Get out.
Kings. Long suffering fan, except for the two recent cups. Looks like we are back to that “fighting for the 8th and final spot” mentality.
Yeah, that means we likely see you in the first round. Not good.
Its good to see Zucker lighting it up. Sunbelt kid finally having some success. You have a well balanced team. I like Dumba and he should be a stud in a few years, great skater and hella shot. Solid D corp but Suter plays to much. Coach has to trust Brodien, Spurgeon, and Scandella more. Dumba can handle minutes too. Prosser and Folin are 6-8 minute guys so not much help there. Hows that Reilly kid? How about Olafson?
Coach loves and trusts Spurgeon. Suter’s minutes are way down if the core is healthy. Wild have 5 of the top 10 plus/minus guys right now, including Suter, Spurgeon and Zucker.
Dumba is frustrating because he goes from being lights-out to making mistakes a bantam would be benched for. Solid the last few games, though.
Scandella is a tough one to figure. He hasn’t been on his game this year (or last, really). He also has a cannon, but gives up a lot of chances. I think the Wild will leave him exposed for the expansion draft.
Reilly is a local kid, but doesn’t do much for me. Olofsson has a better chance, I think, because of his size. Folin also has the potential to earn more minutes.
Your D knowledge is impressive!
Great breakdown Tundra. Interesting that Scandella might be exposed for the expansion draft. I always loved Spurgeon from the Spokane days in the dub. So do you think Dumba can handle the learning curve or is he going to be a PP specialist with limited 5v5 time?
Spurgeon is my favorite player on the team, possibly in the league. On paper (and in 2017) there is no way he should even be a top juniors guy. Which is exactly why I love hockey.
I have no idea on Dumba. Last night he made some amazing plays, including a beautiful no-look, behind the back back pass to Staal, who buried it (finally). I really like his game when he’s on, so I’m hoping he can pull his head out of his ass and learn when a pinch is merited and when it is best to haul ass back.
Good luck the rest of the season and playoffs. I am not liking the Kings chances right now. Calgary is on a tear and the Blues are a better team at this moment. Kings just can’t score on a regular basis. To many passengers right now and the Bishop pick up seems odd. The GM seems to be making some missteps the last few seasons.
Yeah, the Bishop pick was interesting. Of course, a goalie out 50+ games with a groin injury will do that to a GM, though.
Good luck to you, too. Maybe the powers that be will let us have a hockey thread where the nerds can congregate and not disrupt the natural flow of things!
Entertaining for a 0:0. I knew the Rangers would at least have a chance since they weren’t playing at home.
You’re a Red Bulls fan instead of a City fan, right? Orlando’s win against NYC was a good start, although losing our captain wasn’t a great omen.
OT: Can anyone explain to me how Snap, Inc. can be worth approx 33 billion dollars? I mean they are running the biz out of some small buildings in Venice, Ca with plans of moving to a 300,000 sq ft building in the future. They have estimated 2017 ad revenue of 935 million. They have an estimated 330 employees as of 2015.
What the fuck? The IPO market is a helluva drug!
I don’t know. Find a tween and ask them?
Well, their answer would probably make as much sense as most stock analysts.
I sold all my stock in a fit of rage at the stupidity at the market in 2012. Fuck that. The whole thing should be ran by some coked up chickens picking corn kernels off a board marked with stock symbols. Granted, I will probably die penniless in the woods somewhere, but I made a statement and am sticking to it!
“The whole thing should be ran by some coked up chickens picking corn kernels off a board marked with stock symbols.”
Or in other words, retail investors!
Ya, pretty much. It may have been 2010 when I walked. I don’t remember exactly. The market is stupid, and I don’t get how companies in your question are supposed to be a thing. I chose not to play.
I know there are those here who do well at it. Just not my thing,
I’m not sure the pros get it either. Snap fell quite a bit today. My guess is that it has been awhile since the last IPO and people just get caught up in the emotion of it all. But then there is NBC Universal who just plunked down 500 million for a guaranteed one year commitment. Yikes
That’s a very large part of why a new issue is treated like a game show rather than any sober-exercise in valuation.
Also – there are known stages at which various underwriting and insider parties are given opportunities to vest. (i think its 3 mos, 6mos, 9 mos for most); which, combined with the overblown and hype-driven expectations of the first few Q reports, turns every 3 month period into an entirely new trader’s game.
because of this most advisor types are barred from recommending an IPO until its 1yr old. anyone who decides to get in earlier should be ‘suitable’, etc (consider it play money, not investment)
Did everyone check out Riven’s live webcast last night?
I was promised tits, and I was denied them.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/01/e9/62/01e962224dbf267f0de6ba519d3b1b50.jpg
The left continues to bleed its more sane members.
OT, but is there an ETA on the next installment of the secret history of Canada? It’s been entertaining and informative, and I can’t be arsed to actually learn anything about Canada on my own.
Been working on my bigger (non-site) writing project instead, but the research is around halfway done. Might be this weekend or next week depending on what my schedule is like.
Good video. They’re going to keep bleeding the more honest among them until they’re left with only the corrupt and worthless. We’ll see how that works out for them.
I guess no one in the Dem party has the balls to call out these far left totalitarian extremist. I guess they just surrender but where do they go?
Director Kenneth Longergan responds in the Wesleyan paper, after some woke kid wrote a hit piece on Casey Affleck.
I doubt he’ll extend this lesson beyond his friend and one stupid college writer, but who knows.
Damn it, I was trying so hard to make sure I did the link right, and misspelled Lonergan.
I need to grow a handlebar mustache so I don’t look out of place working out with my indian clubs.
Ever wonder what happened to cheap and entry-level housing?
If hospitals stopped feeding their patients, would they be Doctors Without Boarders?