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July 10, 2006
Give Us Some Manly Men...

What, you may be asking yourselves, is this nonsense all about? The Blog Princess swears she was contemplating this post before Certain Persons recklessly reopened the Cycle of Violence by waving a red flag in front of our delicate little nose.
Whilst blabbing away aimlessly with our Cotillion sistahs yesterday, the incomparable Beth pointed us to this post and it totally convulsed us. We defer to no woman in our appreciation for manly men. We were thoroughly offended by this idiotic attack on testosterone the other day and find the likes of Ethan Hawke [what the???] just too sick-making for words. So even before Tigger...err...TigerHawk's regrettable attempt at pre-emptive warfare, we had commenced upon a list of men we here at the HVES find incredibly dishy. Unsurprisingly, we noted a few common elements.
First of all, though we're not big on movie stars, we do tend to like older men. We don't care for baby faces, and we're not all that keen on some of the things guys think women like. If we had to describe our ideal man, it would probably be "the strong, silent type", as exemplified by our friend Powers Boothe, brazenly ripped off from Ace. That said, here are a few we find somewhat dreamy, at least based on some of the characters they've played:
1. Jason Stratham (pictured above)
2. Adrian Paul (but then you knew that). Not my favorite photo, but no doubt Cat will rectify that error.
3. Powers Booth
4. Gregory Peck
5. Sam Neil, for some odd reason
6. Sam Elliot (must be something about that name)
7. Robert Duvall
8. Tommy Lee Jones
9. Sean Connery
We're sure there are more, but we can only stand to think about this sort of thing for so long before our brain explodes, so we'll leave some for you ladies to fill in. Pictures to follow. We'll happily post some if you care to email them to us.
Ladies, we owe it to our gender to fight fire with fire, and cheesecake with beefcake! Speaking of which....
Better. Non?
By the way, Episode 3 of The Brawny Academy is out. A bas la Patriarchy!
Update: more proof that Cat and I have precisely the same taste in men:

Posted by Cassandra at July 10, 2006 08:36 AM
Comments
The Southern Engineer Dish on Enterprise...the one that had the hots for T'Pol. He was a Baaaaad Boy.
Ohohoho and Matt what-his-name on Sahara.
*catches drool and lopes off on knuckles*
Posted by: Cricket at July 10, 2006 10:29 AM
You know, he was kind of hot, even if he did have blue eyes. He was the kind of guy I would have secretly looked at under my eyelashes but wouldn't have touched with a ten-foot pole though :D
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 10:46 AM
LOL! Great post, Cassandra :) Let's hear it for manly men!
Posted by: Sister Toldjah at July 10, 2006 10:56 AM
I've been telling the wife for years that I'd start batting for the other team if Sean Connery was gay.
:)
Posted by: Fersboo at July 10, 2006 10:56 AM
We don't care for baby faces, and we're not all that keen on some of the things guys think women like.
So the kitten on the shoulder thing @ 19 didn't do it for you huh.
I'm devastated, just devastated I tell you.
Posted by: Masked Menace© at July 10, 2006 11:16 AM
No, but the big shoulders did :)
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 11:26 AM
Alright! That does it! You offend our new modern man sensitivities yet again. I will punch you in the camera for the sheer audacity of it all!
Time to pout now. Alert the media!
Posted by: SeanPenn at July 10, 2006 11:30 AM
I think there is just something about the fact that you guys are different from us that fascinates me.
I cannot for the life of me understand women who want to make men just like them - to emasculate them. I have seen short men who are sexy, guys with no hair who are sexy, pudgy guys who are sexy. Women are different from you guys. A man does not need to be 19 and in plastic surgery-perfect shape to turn us on. He does, however, need to be manly in some sense - not always the textbook one. A few of the sales guys in my office aren't much taller than I am (I'm between 5'4" and 5'5") but they are really attractive guys, though they are younger than I am so obviously that's out even if I weren't married. I think what is attractive is they're happy and confident and manly. I like that. And they like women.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 11:31 AM
I'm a hunk a I tell you. I even went into combat flying a P-51 for crying out loud!
'Sides, I like big butts!
I am the ultimate man!
You are so cruel. It will cost me thousands to rectify my feminine side with the psychiatrist!
I'll send you the bill!
Posted by: BenAffleck at July 10, 2006 11:39 AM
YEAH BABY!
Posted by: AustinPowers at July 10, 2006 11:40 AM
He does, however, need to be manly in some sense - not always the textbook one.
Guess that lets me out. I've been searching for my feminine side for decades and I just can't seem to find it!
Does obnoxious count? :-o
Posted by: JarheadDad at July 10, 2006 11:43 AM
What Cassandra said. It is a confidence thing. The older I get, the more a man's confidence impacts me. And the funny thing is although there are various "stars" I have a bit of a crush on, it's the real-life men I know who really make me swoon.
Especially those strong, masculine hands...
*swoon*
I think I need to find myself a carpenter, or something...
Posted by: FbL at July 10, 2006 11:49 AM
That was why I dropped you, Ben. You kept touching me. In all the wrong places and in front of too many faces...
Posted by: J'Los's Butt at July 10, 2006 11:50 AM
This is a highly sexist post. I think in the interest of justice we should begin a thread with real WOMEN!
Starting with Sela Ward and continuing with Diane Lane!
Strictly in the sense of fair play you understand! :-)
Of course the discussion on what men find attractive in women wouldn't be as highly thought provoking or even take that much brain power. A pulse will do just fine!
Posted by: UltimateAlphaMale at July 10, 2006 11:50 AM
A pulse will do just fine!
Hmmm... You sure about that, JHD? Anybody got a stethoscope I could borrow?--I can't seem to find a pulse in my wrist. ;P
Posted by: FbL at July 10, 2006 11:57 AM
You know, that's funny FbL. Though the Spousal Unit is very easy on the eyeballs, the first thing I remember noticing about him, right after he said something frighteningly intelligent, were his hands.
I can still remember staring at them in the hallway at school. It was one of the first really, well, erotic moments I think I ever felt. I just sat there and looked at his hands, and believe it or not we'd been talking about international politics or something abstruse like that, and they were so big, and all of a sudden I wasn't thinking about politics anymore and I'm afraid my cheeks got a bit pink. I was kind of shocked.
At that point, I realized I was really in trouble. And I was. In trouble, I mean.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 11:57 AM
JHD...behave.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 11:59 AM
Because this is strictly an intellectual discussion.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 11:59 AM
I'm still trying to get over the fact that Cassie made an astounding observation; men are different than women! Who'd a thunk it! he-he! Oh how I love to celebrate that difference too! :-)
Hey FbL? Does hoeing the garden reach the criteria? Woof!
So, if we enjoy opening doors, seating you at table, stand when you excuse yourself, et al that is not offensive? If we treat you different because you are and we love that fact, we are not oppressive beasts just screaming "sexist pig"?
Hmmmmm, now that's a novel concept. Have to think about that for awhile! ;-)
Posted by: JarheadDad at July 10, 2006 12:00 PM
I married a carpenter. And Cass, just like you and FbL, I noticed his hands. They are strong, gentle and able to do many tasks...soothe screaming babies, make cheesecake, and provide for us.
And uh, well, *fans face and tries to squelch a giggle or two...*
Posted by: Cricket at July 10, 2006 12:08 PM
Man! I'm losing out at all turns! I have small hands. Barely wear a medium glove. *sniff*
I'm bailing before my fragile ego gets kicked around anymore. I'm developing a real complex here! :-o
But oh how I do love holding the babies. Those midnight walks with a fussy baby in your arms? That's what life is made of right there!
Then they grow up! Heh!
Posted by: JarheadDad at July 10, 2006 12:12 PM
Oh, wow. Cassandra, I'm right there with you on that one.
There have been times when I've met someone and I've been feeling shy and am having trouble making eye contact, or when the conversation turns serious and I look away... I find I have to stare at the table or the wall because if I look at their hands (that they're usually using to punctuate their conversation) I start to worry that the next time I look up it'll be completely obvious that I've totally forgotten what they just said. LOL!
I'm not really sure why hands have such an impact on me. Maybe it's becuase I'm a professional pianist/organist. For example, during lessons in college I would often be asked to closely observe my professor demonstrating a technique with his hands--with attention to every muscle movement, strength/delicacy of touch, etc. Sometimes the best way to understand or check technique was to "play" a passage on each other's forearms to compare the weight being pressed into the keys, etc. so that I could feel the correct way and he could diagnose whether iw as doing it right (this is a common practice--among many instrumentalists--that I have used with even my most beginning students). I never talked about it openly with my fellow students, but I don't think I was unique in my reactions to hands, so maybe it's a general musician thing.
(As a side note, just imagine what the sexual undercurrents were like in a bigtime school of music complete with a ballet department, huge opera productions, professors and students from around the world, etc. I think there were pretty much two polar opposites--the swingers and those who just repressed it all because they didn't want to be swingers).
I also have a thing about wedding rings on a man. To me, that's one of the sexiest things out there. Not in a way that makes me desire the person wearing the ring, but that reminds me as an single woman of the possibilities because of what it stands for: the ideal of commitment and devotion it embodies.
Combine that with the fact that (surprisingly) most of my organ/piano professors were heterosexual married man and you won't be surprised to know that I spent many, many piano and organ lessons avoiding eye contact with my professors!
Posted by: FbL at July 10, 2006 12:15 PM
JHD,
If it makes you feel any better, I've got very small hands, so just about anybody (male or female) has bigger hands than I. ;-D
I suspect it's the same with Cassandra, as she is a petite person.
There, does that soothe your fragile male ego? *running*
Posted by: FbL at July 10, 2006 12:18 PM
Now see what you've done, Cassandra? You got me so distracted I've missed the first half of the radio show I wanted to listen to! :P
Posted by: FbL at July 10, 2006 12:25 PM
JHD,
Small hands are not a deterrent. My mother has extremely delicate hands with long fingers. She too is a musician, and all my children inherited her hands, cast in the appropriate genetic mold. My sons' hands are big-boned and long fingered, but slender with veins and muscles being prominent. My daughter's hands are feminine, with small bones and muscles that move very gracefully, while the boys'hands are capable, confident and sure.
Posted by: Cricket at July 10, 2006 12:25 PM
JHD, if it's any comfort at all, I can't tell you how many guys I dated before the Unit and I couldn't tell you what a single one of their hands looked like. I have a feeling that I was just smitten with him and it happened to be his hands that caught my attention. Which is a good thing.
Because I was very young, and the first time I saw him at the beach, I was really a goner.
*really running away*
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 12:26 PM
*looking for her fan*
Posted by: FbL at July 10, 2006 12:28 PM
That's another dead sexy thing: a man holding a baby. Gets us every time. I think it's the contrast of seeing this big guy holding this helpless infant.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 12:28 PM
...which is doubtless why JHD does it.
*...and I'm outta here!*
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 12:28 PM
No FbL, y'all have destroyed me now. I don't know how I'm gonna' face the rest of the day! ;-)
My hands are ugly anyway. All beat up, scarred, with calluses and stuff. I had an effeminate young lady actually stick up her nose at me when I opened a door for her a few years ago. She then proceeded me to ream me a new one for being a "commoner" for opening a door and the fact that my hands showed decades of usage. Something about "getting a manicure" thrown in there for good effect. Heh!
Y'all just keep killing the ego! Now I'll have to see if TLB will clean my hands up so I can face the world! Right after I give her the mandatory shoulder and back rub I'm sure! :-o
Who would've ever figgered that hands would be the deal! I wallow in self-pity now! ;-)
How about feet? I've got a great set of size 11 1/2s! he-he!
Posted by: JarheadDad at July 10, 2006 12:29 PM
Re: Men and Babies
For me, it's not just the contrast, it's that all that power and strength can be restrained and gentle, too...
*really, really looking for that fan now*
Posted by: FbL at July 10, 2006 12:34 PM
You punk. You know all the women here adore you, so knock it off. You're just lucky we're all afeared of the lovely bride or you'd be in some serious trouble from someone around this place, I'm sure.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 12:35 PM
I have a photo somewhere of the Unit holding our youngest when he was just a day or so old. He has just woken up from a nap (my husband) and his face has that kind of boyish soft, drowsy look, and my son's has the same look to it too.
They are looking at each other, and it's odd but my youngest boy would look right at you from the day he was born and he never had that unfocused gaze most newborns have - his was like a laser beam. He followed everything intently. He's still like that. He's just like his Dad - they both have keener insight than most folks I've ever seen. It's a great photo. I don't know why I have it in a box, but I can see it in my mind as though it were right in front of me.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 12:40 PM
Now look at what you've gone and done! :-o
There is nothing that I've ever experienced in my life like holding our babies. I remember how scared I was when TLB got pregnant the first time. I walked around in a daze wondering if I could do what needed to be done to support my family. Really scared the beejeezus out of me. I almost felt lost. Then I held that little fella'? Man, it just all went away for some reason. They are so tiny and helpless that it just appeals to something primeval in man I guess. Never did figure out why but there was never any doubt from that point forward. I even let them live through their teenage years!
It's all I can do not to interfere with my son having the same honor. I just want to grab up the grandbabies and cuddle them forever! Probably why the little one is so spoiled! Heh!
Posted by: BlushingMan at July 10, 2006 12:46 PM
I gotta say, TiggerHawk must be some kind of a stud that he gets to be plural.
Posted by: Masked Menace© at July 10, 2006 12:47 PM
JHD,
The marking on your hands are a badge of honor to work and play. No woman in her right mind would turn her nose up at such a poignant witness of manliness.
I sure wouldn't. The Engineer's hands are work worn and calloused, and he does take care of them, but
they show love.
The effete young lady is a twit.
And I echo what Cass said about you.
I have a photo of the Engineer holding our firstborn while he slept. It is a sweet picture, that even in his sleep, he held this tiny baby so close...letting nothing happen.
I remember trying to take Jonathan from him after I took the picture so I could feed and change him, but his hold was so tight that I had to wake him up to get the baby.
Memories....so priceless.
Posted by: Cricket at July 10, 2006 12:50 PM
Richard Dean Anderson post MacGyver.
Harrison Ford
Pierce Brosnan
Patrick Stewart
Clark Gable
Errol Flynn
Orlando Bloom
There is something about a pointy eared, long tressed blond man swinging around an elephant that just gets me...or it could have been his oh so perfect character in the first 'Pirates of the Carribean' that really got me going...he is a hottie.
heh.
Posted by: Cricket at July 10, 2006 12:57 PM
MM, TiggerHawk is a very handsome man, and quite tall. He has a very attractive smile. I was really surprised at his height when I met him. Also, he doesn't photograph as well as he looks in person, but then many people don't. I take lousy photographs unless I'm not aware of the camera. Or it could simply be that I'm a dog :D
And he's not plural - it just seems that way because he's so far ahead of me all the time.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 01:05 PM
I have been known to break cameras..
Oh..wait, that is SeanPenn. Sorry.
Posted by: Cricket at July 10, 2006 01:19 PM
For Cricket: http://www.jivemagazine.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1377
(Btw, nice list!)
Posted by: FbL at July 10, 2006 01:34 PM
""They are looking at each other, and it's odd but my youngest boy would look right at you from the day he was born and he never had that unfocused gaze most newborns have - his was like a laser beam. ""
Ahh I see we have a Scout, sniper, forward observer, or Spacefighter pilot in the making. :)
Posted by: LarryConley at July 10, 2006 01:46 PM
This post is so vile and reprehensible I think I am going to be physically ill.
Posted by: Maureen D. at July 10, 2006 01:46 PM
I am sorry maam, but due to the recent adjective reallignment you can no longer use vile and reprrehensible in the same sentence.
Posted by: The Vile at July 10, 2006 01:52 PM
You're just jealous.
Thanks FbL.
I loved Errol Flynn when I was a child. I think Orlando Bloom has that same quality of good looks, derring do and ability to charm the ladies. My daughter thinks he is just to die for.
We were reading something about Daniel Radcliffe meeting one of his fans...a small girl who burst into tears when she saw him. It sort of rattled him, but he took it in stride.
Some men just don't know what they do to us...
Posted by: Cricket at July 10, 2006 01:54 PM
Actually Larry, believe it or not he is at the moment some kind of financial analyst thingy that I don't quite understand (he just changed jobs). He used to program mortgage risk applications for PhD economists, which was interesting work b/c you have to figure out all kinds of long-term financial and statistical stuff and he has a liberal arts degree, but he's a good thinker. I'm not sure what he's doing now but it's still in the same general realm.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 01:56 PM
Yes, Cricket. The Men of VC have that same quality. Many of them possess the ability to make me burst into tears on a daily basis, and I rather doubt they know they're doing it either.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 01:57 PM
I was trying to write a military-related post (on a blog which has been sorely lacking in that arena!), but this is what happened instead: http://www.villainouscompany.com/vcblog/archives/2006/07/give_us_some_ma.htm
It's all your fault, Cassandra! ;)
Posted by: FbL at July 10, 2006 02:39 PM
Oops! Wrong link! (LOL)
http://fuzzilicious.blogspot.com/2006/07/in-praise-of-hands.html
Posted by: FbL at July 10, 2006 02:44 PM
"That's another dead sexy thing: a man holding a baby. Gets us every time. I think it's the contrast of seeing this big guy holding this helpless infant."
Ahhh....like the oh so smokin' hot, buff, dark haired, shirtless, in blue jeans, KODAK ad stud sitting in like a bay window holding a--and w/ eyes fixed on, baby--- from maybe 20 years ago. MEEEOWZA! *vapors*
My cousin in the UK has had Pierce Brosnan come out to help her with her gardening/slug problems at her flat. He's a horticultural kinda guy. I told her to be SURE and say "hey" (baby oh baby oh baby) from me, and to also tell him how much I love Dubya. BWHAHAHAHA!
Has anyone mentioned Denzel Washington in their lists of causes for 'gettin' the vapors' ??
I noticed Cass has refrained from mentioning.....that guy who she hid from like behind a tree plant at a party one time...?....I'm gonna SAY it, Cass....I know you might hate me for it, but here goes.....: BRIT HUME
And speaking of FOX foxes. Shepard Smith doesn't exactly repulse me. No no, baby!
And maybe he's just too "pretty" for some, but Matthew McConaughey (sp?) catches my long term leering sometimes, too.
I also don't mind catching glimpses of former 49ers QB Steve Young. I once had a major crush on him.
And I still say that Michael Jordan is a handsome chocolate cueball kinda guy. Great smile. Just not alotta "ruggedness", but easy on the eyes nonetheless. And Mel Gibsons still got it going on, too. He just seems a little fidgety/nervous. But perhaps that's because (when I saw him) he's not comfortable speaking on the platform at a church. (~;) [My pastor put him at ease though and joined him up there for more of a Q&A thing]
NO man has the effect on me that Adrian Paul does though. Aiyeeee....I just get a little anxious about him ever opening his mouth to speak though (outside of his acting). I don't want to risk him bursting my image bubble. *sigh*
Sean Connery is rather enigmatic, ain't he? He's like 138 years old now and still makes some of us ladies swoon. What is UP with that?
Gee, Cass...I'm really in shock that Bill Maher didn't make your list! I mean after all. Any man that has endured the ugly stick abuse he and James Carville have deserves some sort of recognition....along with Mick Jagger and his boys.
HA! that my friends is how a party is poo'd upon.
Posted by: Rocky Mtn. Manless Lioness at July 10, 2006 04:09 PM
You girls having fun over here while we manly men are hard at work? Good. We like to keep you focused on fluff so that we can justify paying you less.
Posted by: The Dead Man at July 10, 2006 04:19 PM
What a bunch of lightweights you Stepford Wife types are. How about some REAL men?:
Michael Moore
Senator Edward Kennedy
Hillary Clinton
Senator John Francois Kennedy (rightful President!)
Sean Penn
Rob Reiner
Rep Barney Frank
Cindy Sheehan
Whoopi Goldberg
Al Franken
Bill Maher
Mahatma Ghandi
James Carville
Rep Henry Waxman (that nose makes me so freakin' HOT!)
Rosie O Donnell
Jerry Springer
Usama bin Laden
Bill Clinton (best President EVER)
Ay Karamba KOS Kos, and more KOS
Posted by: MaMaureen DowdyDoody at July 10, 2006 04:20 PM
That's us... fluffy. That's why y'all get paid more, darlin'. Because you're so good.
Posted by: Cassandra at July 10, 2006 04:33 PM