When it comes to the artists and models that I profile, I could never do a 'best of'. The F in FH represents favorite, and almost all of the photographers and models that I feature, I sought out and approached due to my love of their work. Entertainment and fads however are a bit different. 2016 was an interesting year for the male form in the media. The stories below are some of the one's I found the most.... compelling.
It seems many hate the man bun, but I love it. I think the first time I truly appreciated the man bun was watching some of my favorite Survivor hunks (Joe Anglim and Malcolm Freberg) sport them in the jungle. Although it appeared well before 2016, last year was the year I saw specifically featured and used in photographs and media. If the 'right' man is wearing that bun, it is incredibly sexy. Canadian model Cameron McElroy, shot in these two images by photographer Edwin J’Lebron, wears it very well.
His chest, abs and lower stomach have been salivated over for years, but never looked better than when Nick Jonas showed them off in Decembers Men's Fitness magazine.
Milo Ventimiglia gave us plenty of reasons to watch television last year. First off, his flash of nudity in the This Is Us pilot. Promoted heavily on social media prior to the premiere, I was surprised to see the scene remain in the NBC broadcast. As a huge fan of Gilmore Girls, I was also thrilled to see Jess briefly return. When I first watched the series years ago, I was 100% team Jess. Now, like many, although I am still team Jess, he seems to have out grown Rory, and I am ok they did not have a happily ever after. But... with the recent tease of the revival's final 4 words, you never know...
I actually think Game of Thrones has done a decent job with male nudity, especially in it's first few seasons. Last season was a little more lackluster. The two highlights were a brief and darkly lit flash of Jon Snow's beautiful backside, (seen more clearly on stage HERE:)and an uncredited extra's penis. Of course I credited him in a post HERE:
I have covering, and un-covering actor Spencer Neville from his modeling days, through those Days of his lives. There, for getting to enjoy Neville's beautiful booty in The Deleted was an enjoyable Autumn surprise.
The Internet went crazy this past summer, when both Orlando Bloom and Justin Bieber were fully exposed by the paparazzi. This was not the first time (I don't even think the second) that lil Bieb has been shot naked, but was the first for Bloom. I used to excited for the odd Bloom butt crack shot, but the full monty was breathtaking.
Now I don't want to get into conspiracy theories, but Bloom and Bieber are known not to get along. Bloom even lodged a punch at the Bieb's a few years ago. If memory serves me, Orlando bloomed naked first this past summer, with Bieber's shots coming out just a few days later. Could it be Bieber wanted to pull the attention back? Most likely not, but whenever things get quiet in Bieber land, he seems to release a butt shot on Intagram or is caught naked on vacation with his current squeeze. Justin's butt even has it's own Twitter page for those interested.
Sometimes a well placed 'hunk moment' can help save a weak movie. The Ghostbusters re-boot had a great cast, a great director but a piss poor script to pull it all together. Nothing really flowed or headed in any interesting direction. But... Chris Hemsworth was a standout as Kevin and his dance during the film's closing credits made it worth watching.
Sometimes however, a 'hunk moment' cannot save a sinking ship. I love me some Chris Pratt, especially we a wet and naked showering Pratt. But the sort of nude scene in The Passenger, didn't change my mind that I just wasted two hours and twelve bucks.
Welcome to the Men's Group provided a hilarious nude scene featuring a group of actors many of us were surprised to see going completely naked on film. The films's Writer and producers Joseph Culp and Scott Ben-Yashar provided digital copies of the film to those who helped contribute financially to the films release. I did, and enjoyed my viewing. I did a piece on the film to help support it, but chose not to cap the actor's frontals. I saw them elsewhere on the net, but given the sneak peaks were to raise funds, thought I would wait until the movie was released.
Speaking of full frontals and charity, I also don't normally post penis shots from The Warwick Rowers. A difficult task at times especially with my favorite rower Will, who is back again this year. (see my post on Will from 2015 HERE:) The project raises funds to fight homophobia and although I have been supporting the project for many years, usually tick to PG shots. But... After a couple of recent posts, I received two e-mails, one from a FH reader wondering if there was full frontals in the calendar and another from someone who bought the calendar and was not happy there was not full nudity.
Photographer Angus Malcolm has organized the yearly project beautifully, featuring nude (but PG) shots for promotion and the main calendar, and full nudity in the book and behind the scenes videos. I just watched this years England and Spain films, and they were worth every penny. It was interesting watching Angus and the rowers shoot PG and full nude shots in the same set ups for use in the calendar, and for the book. The calendar and book come in the mail, but the videos are their immediately on WarwickRowers.org for download to your computer.
