What does Patric Michael have in common with most gay men and straight women? The answer: They love the Friday Guys on the site and Patric tells you why HE loves the guys. I never knew …. I always thought it was the hair or the face or the six pack – never mind. 🙂 In The Rocky Horror Picture Show Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-n-Furter sings about anticipation and I can understand his lyrics and their relevance to Patric’s message in this post.
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During the past month or so, dear sweet Wave sent me links to her Friday guys to cheer me up (thank you sweetheart!), and as I stared and ogled all the cuteness, I realized why I liked her guys far more
than most I see on the net, and a question occurred to me:
What does United Parcel Service, the marketing department for any manufacturing company, Christmas, and the guys on Jessewave’s blog have in common?
The answer of course is packaging!
UPS is obvious because unless she used the proper packaging, your yearly gift of Grandma’s rum filled Christmas fruitcake is going to arrive looking like it had been run over three or four times by an eighteen wheeler, or dripping rum sauce at the corners and smelling like a brewery.
The marketing department is obvious because without the proper packaging to entice you, no one is going to buy their brand new, gotta-have-it, spangly new product. Imagine what it would be like if you couldn’t see at least a picture of what’s inside before you brought it home.
On the other side of the coin, Christmas is obvious because of what you cannot see. Where’s the surprise and the joy of discovery if everything under the Christmas tree was wrapped in clear cellophane? (Knowing that squashed, smelly, drippy package the UPS guy is holding on your doorstep was a fruitcake on the other hand…. But I digress.) 🙂
And of course the wonderful array of “packages” every Friday on Jessewaves blog.
When I was younger and had only just discovered the joy of man-gazing, the Internet and it’s wealth of imagery wasn’t even a figment of anyone’s imagination. Worse yet, I went to a school that had no athletic department at all which meant all of the boys in my adolescent fantasies were endowed exactly as I was because I had no opportunity to even see another man’s junk until many years later. Put another way, I had no idea what was in the package.
And you’ve got to know that for a gay boy newly awakened to his sexuality, finding out what was behind the bulge is possibly the single most important question of all.
Now of course, one single query to any search engine will return a million images of cute men. Not to mention not so cute, young, old, large small, fit or fat men.
Whatever you are into. The point is there is very little left to speculation anymore. Now that I am older and the novelty has worn off after seeing such a wide variety of equipment, in real life and far more in pictures, I find that sort of sad. With the plethora of naked men pictures available to us comes a loss of curiosity, of anticipation. Ever wonder what a cut (or uncut) cock looks like? There are hundreds of images on the ‘net. Ever wonder if your favorite male movie star is a “grower and not a show-er?” Chances are there’s a picture of him in all his glory.
In this age of instant gratification we’ve lost the opportunity to exercise that most creative part of ourselves; our imagination. Sometimes that’s good, I admit. Sometimes imagination can go too far and reality can be like a cold slap, but it is imagination which fuels our fantasies (and our stories) and makes looking at pictures of hot guys somehow more intimate. More real, perhaps, which ultimately makes the men we fantasize about somehow more attainable.
In all honesty, and I suppose I’m in the minority, I actually prefer looking at pictures of guys when they are wearing something. Just enough to give them a bulge, a package, because like Christmas, sometimes the greatest joy is in the unwrapping.
As another gay man, Patric, I agree with you. I always thought I was the only one! Seriously, I’ve had the exact thought that rather than seeing a shirtless man I’d rather see his muscles stretched under a t-shirt. That means that in my mind I get to take it off 🙂
Great post, Patric. For me, the anticipation is almost always as good as or better than the actual thing.
On a side note, I think I’ve convinced Wave to read your story “A Voice in the Darkness,” which is one of my favorite shorts.
I do love to use my imagination 🙂 to read how your mind connects seemingly unrelated items brings a big smile to my face, Patric. Hugs.
YES!!! 5+ for the Friday Guys 🙂
And you know? Maybe you are not in the minority about wanting your guys with a touch of something. Knowing what lays under… 🙂 Well, not complaining of course 🙂 but imagination can give even more… a wrapped pic gives you the plus of even mental foreplay to star with… 🙂
I never had a doubt about prefering them with something on: mistery (of all kinds) is always a turn on 🙂
Great post. Thanks a lot 🙂
Merry Xmas!!!!
I think you’re right! A certain mystique does make the whole ‘gift’ that much more attractive. (It also lends some weight to all of the ‘mine! mine!’ we do when the guys come out. If they were naked, THEN they’d be everybody’s. But they’re not– so we can say ‘mine!’:-)
I’m on the fence about this — I love looking at naked men (99% pics, unfortunately), particularly when engaged with another naked man. For instance, the naked butts I’m staring at over on the right while writing this comment, with his hand on his partner’s back, is incredibly sexy. But that’s not to say packaging isn’t important! It wouldn’t be as sexy if we saw the fronts of these two men, and the possessive hand on the small of the back wouldn’t be the focus. So I’ll compromise with naked packaging… 🙂
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!
Nicely put Patric. I think if we don’t feel this way when we’re young, it develops as we age and have “seen it all” so to speak. At 50 (gasp) I now feel the same way. There’s something very sexy about having to use your imagination both visually and when reading. I tend to prefer the more subtle stories with a slow build up to the big payoff. Thanks for the interesting post.
I agree. I have a Tumblr, yes, it’s filled with pretty boys, but generally the key parts are covered. I love a picture of the slope of a back or an eye peeking out from under an arm. Something a bit more enticing and exotic than “woohoo, look at my monster”. Nice post.
I have to say I agree, Patric. It’s what’s not on display that makes the difference. 🙂
Patric, I’ll let you in on a little secret-straight teenage girls are desperate to see what lies behind the bulge too :D! I much prefer to ogle my men with a few clothes on but I have to confess, I do love looking a nice, firm naked butt! Happy Holidays, darlin’!
I’ve always thought that a nicely worn pair of Levi’s 501 jeans –button front of course, so the entire situation smacks of cracking a safe, makes for the perfect “packaging” for any man.
I agree one hundred percent. 😀
Oh gosh yes. A hint, a peek; a slope here, a rise there. And beautifully fitting pants over a beautifully rounded rear? Perfection!
I love the mystery of what lurks within a package. What an appropriate post for Christmas, Patric!
I’m with you Patric – though I reserve my right to ogle a delicious bum shot!
Great post, Patric. I’m with Jen, though, it depends on what the picture is telling us. The point of the picture one might say!
Well said Patric! I do agree with J P about the “bum shot” though! Great post. Merry Christmas!!
A while back, I ran across a few pictures of a fellow “in all his glory” that are particularly noteworthy. Not because he’s cute, muscular, dark haired, etc. (He’s all those things), but because his monster is a minnow. In the veritable ocean of whales I’ve seen, he is the only “tadpole.”
I would never condone anyone of any size being ashamed of their package, but without a bit of wrapping on his, he would probably never *be* one of the Friday Guys.
Which means of course that with a wee bit of mystique in his pictures, one would be able to see *him* rather than that one single attribute.
Another good reason for packaging, perhaps. 🙂
Cole: Exactly! The anticipation adds to the excitement, whether it’s real or imagined. You got it in one!
And between you and me, I hope Wave takes you up on your suggestion. Not even necessarily to review, but just to read. A Voice In The Darkness remains the favorite of all the shorts I’ve written thus far. It embodies the depth of what I believe Romance can become, in time.
Kris: Thank you, sweetheart! You know how much I like finding those cross connections. 🙂
Helena: I think you’re right. I am gratified to see so many others think similarly about a little mystery. Thank you!
Amy: Well put! With the imagination necessary to unwrap the Friday Guys, “mine” truly *is* because each of us will imagine the perfect-to-us contents. 🙂
Jen: You are absolutely correct. I was thinking solely about the front. The back is a whole other story and conversely, I’ll appreciate a naked butt-shot over “dressed” any day. (But that’s because my favorite part isn’t the globes but those two little dimples right at the top.) Grin!
Tj: Very true. At the start, I was desperate to see what the other (any other) guy had, but over time, with curiosity sated, then I could think a bit more clearly and (I’m almost 50 too) began to appreciate nuance and imagination. Somehow, the experience is richer now. Sort of like discovering the advantages of slow over fast strokes, if you will. 😀
Tam: “Look at my monster.” What a perfectly apt way to express the sentiment. As must already be evident, I too like subtlety over blatant– At least now that I have a few years on me. Thank you!
Jaime: Precisely, love. What’s not on display encourages us to fill in the blanks, and who ever imagines for themselves anything less than “just right?”
Kathy B: It’s no secret to me! Laugh. And you and I share the same dichotomy; wrap the front and unwrap the back. 😀
ZAM: Button fly 501’s hit the height of popularity just about the time I started hitting the clubs, and they remain to this day the ultimate “wrapping paper,” for me at least. Thank you!
K.Z.: Thank you! I doubt I’d have made that “cross connection” Kris mentioned if it weren’t for being so close to Christmas. Also you brought up an interesting point. Sometimes, just a curve or hint or line is more erotic than anything obvious.
J.P.: Rights granted and upheld! A delicious bum can be the centerpiece of an otherwise flat landscape. 🙂
A.B.: I’m with you and Jen, too. It’s the story of the picture which matters most. And the stories I like best are often subtle and suggestive. Grin!
Whew! I’ve just about run out of allusions to “packaging.” Thank you, one and all, for taking the time to read and comment.
Well, okay. Maybe one more: I sincerely hope everyone finds the perfect package to unwrap this holiday season; whether he’s putting up lights, sleeping off another round of toy assembly, or waiting beside the tree with a glass of wine, being one last last present for you to open. 🙂
Happy Holidays!
Patric
Hi Patric
I love your comments. 🙂
My two favourite pictures on the site are both rear views – the two guys that Jen Swanson thinks are so sexy and I agree, one with his hand on his lover’s back – so tender. The other is another black and white (can you tell I used to be an amateur photographer and all I took were B & W pictures? lol. This one is just a straight up shot of a naked man from the back. I love the symmetry of the muscles. Damn, I need to get laid. 🙂
Happy holidays and Merry Christmas Patric and I wish you the best of health in 2011.
*Hugs*
Wave
“A Voice In The Darkness remains the favorite of all the shorts I’ve written thus far. It embodies the depth of what I believe Romance can become, in time.”
Amen, Patric. I can only hope it goes that direction.
You heard the man, Wave! Get on it! ( 🙂 jk)
Cole
I heard. lol. I have the anthology on my TBR and plan to read A Voice in the Darkness over the holidays. 🙂
Hi Patric! I agree….sometimes imagining what is IN the package is so much more exciting! While I do love a good nekkid pic, I tend to appreciate the suggestion of “what lies beneath” more often. Wave gives me more than ample opportunity to use that elusive imagination of mine.
Happy Holidays to everyone.
I wish you good health and happiness in the New Year Patric!
I’m late to the game, as usual!
I know what you mean, though! I think I like it best when there’s just enough skin (or just enough of a bulge) to tease.
Well said, Patric. Also, what ZAM said (and, well, pretty much everyone else, too).
I know I’m late, but I have to wonder: is it really such an unusual idea? I thought the hint of mystery and anticipation of unwrapping is the primary reason heterosexual men love (or are believed to love) lingerie? Or is that just a marketing ploy to convince so many women to pay so much money for so little fabric? 😉
This is maybe going to sound strange, and I bet I get some weird virtual looks, ha, but for me, whether or not a man (or a woman, for that matter) is clothed really has little or nothing to do with with whether or not I see him as “sexy” or even in a particularly sexual way. In my eyes, a man’s sensuality comes from inside. He exudes it. I can feel it. I can see it in his eyes, in the curve of his mouth, in the way he moves. He could be naked or wearing coveralls, and I’d be just as likely to find him sexy either way. I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone but me, but that’s how I see it.
That said, my favorite outfit on a man is faded, low-slung jeans and nothing else. Hawt *g* And I can definitely understand the appeal of clothed over naked. I prefer surfing the Hot Guys Reading Books tumblr to pro porn sites with the endless naked pics that all look the same.
BTW, Patric, it’s great to see you on the blogs 🙂 Hope you’re doing well and having a wonderful holiday!
Wow! How thought provoking. Actually, the pictures I like best are of a nude man, lying on a bed, a swath of silk sheet hiding the good parts. It lets me fantasize peeling back that sheet, like unwrapping a present on Christmas Day. Oh yes! Anticipation is very, very nice indeed.
I’ve always been partial to leaving something to the imagination in pictures, so I agree with you, Patric. And the Friday guys are great ogling material (not to mention, often inspirational)
Thanks, Wave! Those pictures are so sexy on your site. I love all your Friday Hot Guys, too, naked or clothed. Yum, all those muscles and beautiful eyes (what I always notice first) and if they have long hair, I’m a sucker. I found a Yahoo group that just has pics of men with long hair! Gotta love it…
Hey Patric,
I can tell you you are NOT the only one who likes to let my imagination go wild now and then. That sometimes it is the mystery of it all that is intriguing and so attractive.
I mean once you open up that Xmas package and find out what’s inside the package doesn’t the excitement you had BEFORE you tore the wrapping wane?
I hope you are doing okay.
Lily
If you check my Weekly Update post which just uploaded, you will notice that there a special project for Wishing on a Blue Star, the anthology to which all of Patric’s friends contributed stories. I hope you will join us on Friday January 21