Whine & Cheese

Hunks Of Vancouver

As promised in a post earlier this week, here is my compilation... or should I say awarding the hunks of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, no surprise that I couldn't just narrow it down to three medalists.  We'll start with a couple of expected suspects, then take a walk down the proverbial road not taken.

This first one may be a bit unexpected.  While I don't like to limit myself to having a "type," I will admit it typically doesn't often include redheads or guys with really long hair.  But alas, there is always that exception to the rule and as one of the faces of the Games and of snowboarding itself, it was just too hard to ignore Shaun White. While I was quite prepared to hate him going in the games (along with fellow darlings Lindsay and Bode), I found his combination of "duuuude!-ness" and well-spoked-ness to be quite charming.  And look, despite having to wear those Winter Wonderland pajamas to "work" Shaun is showing off in the latest Rolling Stone that there is quite a nice body underneath it all.

Google: Shaun White Shirtless, Shaun White Rolling Stone

Next up is the guy that fueled W&C during the Olympics... Apolo Anto Ohno.  I had close to 26,000 visitors in February (10k more than January!) and each day during the Games, it seemed that 80% of the search hits were for Apolo, more often that not hoping to see him in some state of undress.  Thankfully, I did deliver on those goods during his stint on DWTS, which included a shirtless pic and the naked GAP ad. Unfortunately, in that same post the YouTube of his cha-cha to "Push It" (and one of my all-time favorite dances from the show) is no longer available.  You can see those pix if you haven't already clicked on the link above, but here's a "new to me" smoldering Apolo pic:

Next, is Apolo's likely heir apparent in short-track, Filipino-Polish American J.R. Celski.  How's that for mix?  If you watched him race, you probably heard about his fairly recent scary accident where he sliced his leg with his own skate and almost bled out on a track, yikes!  But he is pretty darn adorable and despite looking like jailbait he is 19 going on 20, which I realize is still ridiculously young, but...

Google: JR Celski shirtless, JR Celski underwear

This next guy was my first "Who is that?" double-take of the Vancouver Games, the Gold Medalist in 5000M Speed Skating... Sven Kramer from The Netherlands. Kramer made news later in the Games when he had the best (gold medal winning + and Olympic record!) time in the 10000M, but since his coach directed him to the wrong lane during a switchover and he was disqualified.  Needless to say this Dutch Treat was pretty pissed about it, but seemed good later in the week for the team event... but certainly not much to angry about here:

It was while I was doing The Big Picture post, that Canadian ice dancer Scott Moir provided the spark for this very Hunks of Vancouver post.  I'll say again that one of my personal highlights of the Games was their medal ceremony and joyous singing of "O Canada!" with Moir being simply adorable!  It was virtually (ha!) impossible to get a picture of him without his equally charming partner, Tessa Virtue (get it now ? Virtue... virtually)... let alone one of him scantily dressed, but we don't always have to go for the skin shots now do we?  I think this series of pictures perfectly sums up his appeal.

Finally, you didn't think I'd get through a Winter Olympics-related post without a little curling now did you?  And you didn't think I was simply obsessed with it because of.. well, the actual curling?  Ok, I was actually riveted, but having cute to hot guys yelling "Haaaaaaaaarrrrrdddd!" increased the appeal of it. !

While they didn't do very well, but ince it was NBC here, obviously the American team received a lot of air time.  But even despite their poor record, it was still fun watching the young team which included Jason Smith and Chris Plys (left photo order, than the reverse of  Plys / Smith in the right pic). Plys was definitely the hunk of the team. I was hoping to stumble upon some screen caps where he showed off his many tattoos to NBC (lifting and even taking off his shirt), but alas could not find any (and anyhow, some of them were of a religious nature, ugh!).  Json Smith, however, is just adorkable! :-)

Now, if you want some real curling hunks... yes, I used "curling" and "hunks" in the same sentence... I suggest you look no further than John Morris of Canada (left two pix) and David Murdoch of Great Britain (tho he's Scottish, have learned from tennis' Andy Murray that distinction likes to be made). But these guys had the good looks and the bods too!

I am sure I have left out plenty of other candidates.  But as Vancouver is slipping from my memory and I am now forced to try and retain the names of the kids that are still on Idol, these are the ones that left a lasting impression on me.  Though I'd be more than happy for you to play along and let me know you own hunks of the Games. 

Legal!

A side-bar only birthday stud exception today... Happy 18th Birthday Taylor Lautner!

Ok, it's still knee-deep in old-man creepiness (but young at heart!) and he was still ummm... younger... when these pictures were taken, but...

Verdasco, Rated X: Part 2

If you're just checking in this afternoon, make sure to check out this morning's post as I stumbled upong even more pix from Fernando Verdasco's Calvin Klein undie campaign.  I chatted a bit in that post, but I'll just let the pictures to the talking on this post...yowza!

Verdasco, Rated X

... or X marks the spot!

It's been July since I last used my Fernando Verdasco blog category, so we're long overdue... even if it has nothing to do with the Spaniard not quite doing as well as this year at the Australian Open.

Apparently Fernando has been doing a bit of (extra) modeling on the side and fortunately for us it's for underwear... though he hasn't been exactly shy being in front of the camera wearing even less!  If you are annoyed by the big X as I am, there is a good reason reason for it as Fernando is among the "celebrity" models for their new "X" underwear line.

Also, featured in the campaign is Mehcad Brooks who showed off his washboard abs (and a bit more than that too!) as "Eggs" on the 2nd season of HBO's True Blood.  He's also on that new ABC law firm series "The Deep End" (haven't seen it).  Here his "X" shot:

To review, for Google search hits we have:

Fernando Verdasco Shirtless, Fernando Verdasco Underwear, Fernando Verdasco Calvin Klein

Mehcad Brooks Shirtless, Mechad Brooks Underwear, Mechad Brooks Calvin Klein

That Guy From The Black Eyed Peas, Shirtless

... or more specifically, "that guy from The Black Eyed Peas, who is not will.i.am or the other black guy ... and certainly not Fergie."

While channel surfing this past weekend, I stumbled onto a Black Eyed Peas concert from, of all places, the island of Malta on MTV-HD or Palladia (or whatever it's called these days).  I received quite the surprise a few minutes in as "that guy" doffed his shirt. He has always been bit of an attractiveness enigma to me... sometimes looking quite hot, other times not so much.  Either way, I suspected his bod was pretty darn good, so I was pleased to finally get confirmation of it. 

I was too lazy to figure out a way to screen cap it myself (and beside the frenetic/quick-cutting editing was borderline nausea-inducing), so I searched the Web for photos and found this one... and this appears to be the only one of a shirtless nature... so thank you Mr. Klein, even if he has to put his credit kinda sorta in the way, but I guess that is the point w/ watermarking... haha!

I have to admit that forever how long the Black Eyed Peas have been in existence to this very day, I have no idea what this guy's name is... honestly, I feel bad for "the other, not will.i.ma black guy" too, since will and Fergie get all the attention.  But alas, the "other black guy" is... are you ready for this, apl.de.ap and... drumroll, please...

The always exotic man pictured above is... Taboo!   And even if you knew that, you might not know that his real name is Jamie Luis Gomez!   So there's you cheesy eye-candy for the day along with a bit of Black Eyed Peas triva.

Tennis Giant

On Friday, the question was asked, Can Roger Federer be topped?  I am thinking that maybe the answer is... no!  Even though I likely felt the same way when Sampras won his 14th Slam while Federer was just a bit more than a twinkle in the future of the men's tennis tour.  Over the weekend, Roger captured his record 16th Grand Slam title in Melbourne.

I always love this trophy pictures in street clothes since it almost makes these tennis superstars look like normal human beings.  One of the reasons I think tennis got my attention as my sport of choice was that they are generally not freakish physical spectacles like basketball or football.

But I did enjoy this picture in a photographic sense, thanks to the perspective. Not sure if the photographer was just forced into this position and was just trying to make the best of it (usually there are dozens upon dozens of them at these shoots), but give him (Mark Dadswell of Getty Images) the benefit of the doubt (as I know how I sometimes (over)-think when taking photos) and  love how Roger towers over the skyscrapers of Melbourne... and turning him in a true giant with a bit of camera trickery.

Rafa Shirt Change

Do I need an excuse for another Rafael Nadal shirt change post?!  I think not!  

I did include one shot of him in his official Australian Open clothes, just so I can mention how much I don't like it.  While I have come to terms that the days of the sleeveless shirts are likely over, I am still not sure why Nike is putting him in some ugly clothing.  This latest outfit looks like some neon-ized sherbet exploded all over him... orange, pink, yellow?!   Then, they're putting him in these plaid-shorts (he wore a navy version of them late last year) that look more like pajamas.

Granted if anyone can pull it off, it is Rafa.  But I can't imagine this is translating into a lot of sales.  Then again, most folks couldn't pull of the sleeveless shirts and capri pants either, so maybe it just doesn't matter... though it does look quite good when it's half-on/half-off!

As always, Rafa fans can peruse all my posts (and pictures) here.

Jerk (Off)

John Mayer, you are an enigma to me.

I am really not into the big-time tattoos and most certainly the whole "sleeve" thing, but it seems to working here.

I enjoy your music (though nothing on your latest album has yet clicked with me), but honestly you seem like a bit of a jerk... which you pretty much have admitted after reading your own Rolling Stone interview titled "Dirty Mind, Lonely Heart.  (Though it does take two, and although I don't know her personally, I think Jen Aniston needs to discuss her choice in men with a shrink)

But anyhow nice cover and certainly a provocative interview...

By quoting some of the "dirty mind" parts of this interview, I know I am asking for serious search-engine trouble!  Though I'll encourage the following searches: John Mayer Shirtless and John Mayer Rolling Stone Cover.  But heck, I need a bit of CPR on the re-boot of this blog (though it still seemed I was getting about 10k visits a month even doing nothing for the last 6 months of last year).

I was surprised that Mayer's apparent comfort in taking things into his own hand(s), so to speak, hit the mainstream media.  The whole inspiration for this post was due to a segment on Access Hollywood that airs here at 3pm (just in time for the children to arrive home from school!).  But, just in case you were wondering, John thinks his body is a wonderland as well:

"I am the new generation of masturbator, I’ve seen it all. Before I make coffee, I’ve seen more butt holes than a proctologist does in a week… I have masturbated myself out of serious problems in my life. The phone doesn’t pick up because I’m masturbating. And I have excused myself at the oddest times so as to not make mistakes. If Tiger Woods only knew when to jerk off."

He also addresses bisexuality rumors, which kinda surprised me since he never landed on my gaydar thanks to all his womanizing (tho I guess, if true, it could have been a sign of classic overcompensation)... but alas, even despite his above-mentioned penchant for "holes" ("straight guy" news to me!), he squashes it...

“I don’t care about anything other than energy. That’s why people think, ‘Is he bi? Is he that?’ I’ve never slept with a man. But I get it. I’ve seen pictures of men on the Internet that are sexier than pictures of most women.”

... though it kinda sounds like he maybe just needs to meet the right guy, ha!

Rafa Down Under 2010

The Australian Open is already underway, but over this past weekend we already had our first shirtless Rafael Nadal shirtless photo sightings of the year. 

Before we get to the shirtless pic, the other two pix are from an exhibition that some top tennis players participated in to raise money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. It looks like all involved were having some fun with a lot of smiles and laughs... and while Rafa's bod is certainly impressive, his smile is quite adorable as well... though lucky Kim Clijsters, in the middle pic, had the chance to give Rafa a bit of a massage (and we'll just leave any other thoughts in the gutter where they belong, ha!)

Finally, we have the shirtless pic.  It just cracked me up that it was described as follows:

"Defending Australian Open Champion Rafael Nadal of Spain watches the ball during a hot practice session in the lead-up to the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne."

I am sure pretty sure they were talking about the outdoor temps when the mention "hot," but it certainly applies to Mr. Nadal as well.

Hot For Teacher

Happy New Year!

My "it's not a resolution" resolution is to hopefully get back to posting a bit more here on Whine & Cheese.   My guess is that the "whine" part, but I am sure there wouldn't be many complaints if I got back to the "cheese"... even if it is just semi-regular posting of some eye-candy/beefcake!  The last time I did a non-book post was waaaay back in early October, so while again I make no promises, we'll see what I can do!  This is certainly the venue (vs. social networking), where I let it hang the most loose, well so to speak.

So the inaugural post here is this picture I stumbled on of Matthew Morrison aka Mr. Will Schuester from GLEE.  If you've googled Shirtless Matthew Morrison, you've likely already stumbled on his apparently readily available, heavily circulated photos from a past year the Broadway Bares charity event, but this is the first time I've seen this particular one, and it seems like it may be fairly recent.

I can't imagine having the balls to go up to someone and request a picture with them (unless the whole point is a photo op), infinitely more so if that person was shirtless.  I would more than likely surreptitiously take photos like this one of someone else taking a photo of themselves with famous person.  

It's pretty impossible not to have a crush on Mr. Schuester on the show and Mr. Morrison's real-life upper bod (and those abs!) pretty much on just encourage it!