Author: Christoph

Male bonding can be a weird performance*.  It often includes ruff jokes, beer, back-slapping and bellowing laughter. Yet under that ruff exterior lies, in the ideal case, a kind core, a hidden melodious fragment of unifying emotion. 

And that’s what Male Bonding’s “Year’s Not Long” sounds like. Go get the song atPretty Much Amazing. 

*At least in case of the kind of masculinity I prefer to  perform. I’m currently working on a longer piece on this non-macho yet not entirely un-dudely kind of masculinity, for now German-speaking people interested can have a look at thismanifesto by the German Green Party, with which I mostly agree.

Good news for bearded men: 

A recent study in the Journal of Marketing Communications found that men with beards were deemed more credible than those who were clean-shaven. The study showed participants pictures of men endorsing certain products. In some photos, the men were clean-shaven. In others, the same men had beards. Participants thought the men with beards had greater expertise and were significantly more trustworthy when they were endorsing products like cell phones and toothpaste.

“In the last few days we’ve told you about Kris Sickles, aka "Pale Horse,” who in the past has posted videos urging people to arm themselves and march on Washington, […] But Sickles, who in those videos identified himself as a member of the Ohio Militia, may also have a lighter side. The accused plotter looks to have starred in a deeply Not Safe For Work movie, filled with cursing, mock violence, pot jokes, and sound effects conveying flatulence. Sickles appears entirely naked but for a mask of President George W. Bush that obscures some, but not all, of his genitalia.“

More info and excerpts from the ridicusturbing video at TPM Muckraker.