Thursday Thoughts

Thoughts lately...

1) Whenever I say, "I apologize," I say it like Andy from DEADWOOD as he's dying in the woods from smallpox. This makes people not take the apology seriously. And if you have a problem with the eff word don't watch the explanatory snippet below.

2) As I tried in vain to get the front of my car clean yesterday, I wondered why glue is made from horses and not bug guts.

3) Everyone complains about carpet. Keeping it clean, how much it costs to maintain, the color fading out, etc. So I asked myself, why do people even have carpet then? And shortly thereafter I realized all these same things are true about hair.

Thursday Thoughts

Thoughts lately:

1) I've been working in a library - A LOT - as one of our buildings was closed for budget cuts and we've had to bust down one library, then re-integrate that collection into two other building libraries. I've been getting a little punchy and making call number jokes to myself as I inventory this week. For those of you not into call number humor, it's the tag on the side with the F (for fiction) and the first three letters of the author's last name. So, for example I got giggly the other day when I had picked up an F HER.

2) So it seems we may all be wiped out by a solar flare sometime in the near future. You probably know I'm pretty well set when it comes to survival techniques, but... I would really, really miss my internet. Much more than I want to admit to you right now.

3) In fact, I never wanted to be one of "those people," but today I realized I was continuing to text while my hairdresser was leaning me back into the sink to wash my hair. And I was like, "Oh no I did. I'm HER."

Thursday Thoughts

So usually I try to give you three thoughts from my head, but I'm grappling with one that has me quite perplexed at the moment. This week you just get one big thought, and I want your feedback and musings in return.

1) We know that it used to be considered attractive for women to be a bit plump, all you have to do is look at historical art to know that fat chicks used to be all the rage. I've been told this is because having some extra pounds was a sign of wealth and health. Of course we can all have a big discussion about how looking like you might die any second has become all the rage (although I sense the pendulum swinging back... oh please, let the healthy Cindy Crawford look come back in), but I'd rather talk about something else.

Men's bodies.

Actually - the historicity of men's bodies.

Here's what happened that made my thought gears click. I was watching a random movie set in a historical time and Mr. Dude Man was totally buff. And sure, he looked great in his breeches and all that, but I had to think... were guys really built like that back then? I mean... honestly.

My thoughts - anybody who was wealthy and healthy probably didn't do a lot of physical labor. Sure, some leisure sports might have kept the protein-fed in some semblance of shape, but not the finely-cut look that we're told is attractive these days.

Anybody who wasn't wealthy and healthy probably didn't have a fantastic diet. Men that had high labor jobs probably didn't have huge amounts of muscle-building protein in their everyday fare so what are the chances of them having bulging muscles? Furthermore - even those who did do a lot of physical labor - for example, a blacksmith - probably had one set of big muscles, but that's it. In this case I'm seeing a dude with great arms from manning the forge all day but a little paunchy and with chicken legs, because it's not like he's going for a five mile run after work to make sure he's well-honed all around.

So I have to wonder - did anybody (aside from The Strong Man at the circus tent) look like this dubious cinema god in breeches back then? Are we being fed 21st century sexuality along with a dash of our history lesson when we watch a movie like this?

What was considered hot for dudes, historically?