Rugby Players Kissing

I like rugby. It's one of the coolest contact sports. The men are beefy and they don't wear gigantic pads like American Footballers. Plus, they're not so self-involved as US athlethes.

Oh. And did I mention. They kiss? Yeah.

Via Jockohomo:

Following last year’s campaign to attract Londoners to Paris, the Regional Tourism Committee of Paris Ile-de-France has once again called upon a French agency, to launch a new ad campaign in Britain’s capital. The campaign uses the offbeat wit of players kissing and the Rugby World Cup to show the world that Paris is also the capital of humour. The Paris region will be hosting several World Cup matches in September, including the final at the Stade de France. Kissing rugby player wallpaper here. Thanks Ben!

"Out" Ranks the Top 50 Gays

Why the hell wouldn't Anderson Cooper or Jodie Foster appear on the cover? And when did Jodie Foster come out? I knew there were rumors, but I must have missed the memo. More at New York Magazine:

When New York did a "Gay Life Now" issue in 2001, only seven of the forty prominent New York gays asked to pose for the cover were willing. Those big shots may have been gay, and they may have been out, but it just wouldn't do for them to be gay and out on the cover of a magazine. "There was a time when the closet was a necessary safe haven," our pal Maer Roshan, who edited the issue, wrote in an angry 2,000-word essay. "But now, it exists as an anachronistic monument to shame. It's time for our public figures to stop hiding in there — and for journalists to stop helping them." Six years and a month later, maybe at least that second part has come true. Here's a first glimpse at the cover of Out magazine's "50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America" issue. (Click here for a larger image.) Those are models holding Jodie Foster and Anderson Cooper masks on the cover. Neither, of course, would appear themselves.

Bear Culture Hits the Los Angeles Times

I wonder what the general population is going to do when they figure out that bears like to flock (yes, like birds in migration) to gigantic 3,000-men-orgies in over 100 locales across the world?

At a conference of literary scholars in December, a friend was interviewing a candidate for an academic position. After answering the usual questions about proposed courses, teaching loads and scholarly interests, the candidate volunteered,

"Oh, by the way, in addition to 19th century American literature, I work on bear studies."

The interlocutors were perplexed. "Bear studies?" one asked. "Do you mean bears in literature — say, William Faulkner's story 'The Bear' ?" Someone else suggested "Winnie the Pooh" — perhaps the candidate worked on children's literature?

It soon became clear, however, that the candidate had something else in mind. By "bear studies," he meant an area of academic research that explored the subculture of hirsute, usually heavy-set gay men — burly guys who identify with a masculine style and who shun the popular image of homosexual guys as smooth, hairless, Calvin-Klein-ish blond young men.

Read more Bear-y gay at the L.A. Times.