Manuela Arcuri

Acting Appreciation

Manuela Arcuri is an Italian actress, model, and sex symbol. Born on January 8, 1977 in Anagni, a small town southeast of Rome, Manuela became a fashion model at at the age of 15.

After high school, Manuela enrolled at Accademia d'Arte Drammatica in Rome, but opted for a sociology degree. In 1995, she began taking on roles in soap operas before landing film roles in Pappi Corsicato's I buchi neri (Black Holes) and Leonardo Pieraccioni's I laureati (The Graduates). 

It wasn't until her role in Giorgio Panariello's comedy film Bagnomaria that caught the attention of Italian moviegoers, in 1999. A year later, she appeared in PLAYBOY Italy magazine October issue, which, in my opinion, took her international. My opinion in that she caught my attention.  😉 

The sex symbol not only become a TV and film star, but she also became a regular in Italian tabloids, linking her romantically with celebrities and football (soccer) players. 

In 2007, Manuela appeared in Prince's music video "Somewhere Here on Earth." A year later, she landed an important role in an Italian mini-series called lo non dimentico (I do not forget). 

Tabloids and gossip columns when crazy when Manuela married Giovanni Di Gianfrancesco, a rather private person out of the limelight, different from her other boyfriends. 

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/manuela-arcuri

https://www.italyonthisday.com/2019/01/manuela-arcuri-Italian-actress-glamour-model-birthday.html

http://7citaly1.weebly.com/manuela-arcuri.html

Cosplay is an Art: LA ComicCon 2022

via Justin Cosplay 

Fashion is DEFINITELY Art: Mes Demoiselles - Spring Summer 2023

Designer: Anita Radanovich

 

via Mes Demoiselles

Yves Tanguy

Art Appreciation

French surrealist painter Yves Tanguy was born in Paris on January 5, 1900. 

In his early 20s, at the end of his military service, he was inspired by a painting by Italian surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico to become an artist. Through his friend, French poet Jacques Prévert, he was introduced into the circle of artists around principal theorist of surrealism, André Breton. 

He developed a unique painting style which led him to get his first solo exhibition in Paris in 1927. It's said his style is immediately recognizable for its nonrepresentational surrealism of vast abstract landscapes populated with abstract shapes.

Tanguy lived a bohemian lifestyle of a struggling artist, until his art work was exhibited at Peggy Guggenheim's gallery Guggenheim Jeune in 1938. Supposedly, he had an intense affair with Peggy Guggenheim which may have contributed to his divorce of his first wife, Jeanette Ducrocq. 

Around that time, he met American surrealist artist Kay Sage, who he later married. He would follower her back to the United States where they spent the rest of their lives.

 

Mama, Papa Is Wounded!, 1927

Le soleil dans son écrin, 1927 

Toilette de l'air, 1937

Source: 

Wikipedia

https://www.surrealists.co.uk/viewPicture/233/

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/4034

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78701

My Choices for AVN Awards

Every year, during the holidays, I lock myself in my room and jackoff to porn. Okay, not really. 

I do, however, look forward for the AVN Fan Award nominees every year. Like previous years, I have a technique in selecting my choices. I look at the category that interests me and develop a tournament bracket -- similar to the one you see during March Madness but for porn. Porn Madness. 

Going through the bracket is harder than you think, figuratively and literally. Watching these great performers and figuring out how much more turned on I am over the other is hard work. But I do it because it's fun.

This year I'm excited because I get to vote for a great podcast I have enjoyed listening to this past year, Girls on Porn. Laura Ramadei and Rachel Napoleon make my 30 minute commute enjoyable as these two entertain with theme-of-the-week factoids and porn reviews in a non-judgement and open way.

Selecting favorite female, male, and trans porn stars was super hard, especially with the bracket format. But I am happy with the outcome because these are great performers. Sybil is gorgeous. Dante Colle is hot. Khloe Kay is stunning. 

It was a toss-up between Kelly Collins and Theodora Day for newcomer. But it was the elegance Kelly illuminates that attracts me.

The five-foot-two 41 year old Aaliyah Love is a MILF, and the five-foot-six 38"/34"/53"Alex Blair is a Big Beautiful Woman.

I love tits and ass, so these categories were probably the most difficult to get through. But it came down to Autumn Falls for spectacular boobs and LaSirena69 for amazing ass. But I have to admit, I do like Elisa Laurenne's 34C breasts. 😍

Finally, I've been following Bailey Rayne for a while and so it was easy for me to select her as my favorite cam girl. 

FAVORITE ADULT PODCAST

1. Girls on Porn

2. Holly Randall Unfiltered

3. The Pornhub Podcast with Asa Akira

FAVORITE FEMALE PORN STAR

1. Sybil

2. April Olsen

3. Vanna Bardot

4. Charly Summer

FAVORITE MALE PORN STAR

1. Dante Colle

2. Dredd

3. Ricky Johnson

4. Rocco Siffredi

FAVORITE TRANS PORN STAR

1. Khloe Kay

2. TS Foxxy

3. Jean Hollywood (fka Ella Hollywood)

4. Natalie Mars

HOTTEST NEWCOMER

1. Kelly Collins

2. Theodora Day

3. Molly Little

4. Ruby Reign

HOTTEST MILF

1. Aaliyah Love

2. Jessica Ryan

3. Reagan Foxx

4. Ariella Ferrera

FAVORITE BBW STAR

1. Alex Blair

2. Karla Lane

3. Rose D Kush

4. Lily Lovely

MOST SPECTACULAR BOOBS

1. Autumn Falls

2. Elisa Laurenne

3. SunFlowerB

4. Angela White

MOST AMAZING ASS

1. LaSirena69

2. Savannah Bond

3. Blake Blossom

4. Abella Danger

FAVORITE CAM GIRL

1. Bailey Rayne

2. Diney

3. Natalia Rae

4. Grace Ryan

Source: pornhub.com, avn.com, boobpedia.com

PLAYBOY: Axioms of the Mafia Manager

Digging through a trough of PLAYBOY articles, I came across one that lists management axioms, Mob style. Naturally, being in management, these axioms caught my attention and I've listed a few that I may or may not have used or witnessed. I've said too much.  

"

If you can't win by fighting fair, fight foul. Or have a third party do your fighting.

Teach your tongue to say, "I don't know."

If you must strike out at someone when you get angry, be careful not to strike yourself.

It is much better that your enemies think you are crazy than reasonable and rational.

Nothing weighs less than a promise.

If you must hurt a man, do it so brutally that you need not fear his revenge.

The only way to keep a secret is to say nothing.

In any venture, overvalue the negative estimate of your prospects by two. Undervalue the positive estimates by half.

If you must lie, be brief.

Some defeats are better than victories; unfortunately, some victories are worse than defeats.

Often you lose the bait when you catch the fish. This is a necessary loss.

The best armor is to keep out of range.

If you are forced to bow, bow very, very low. And hold that bitter memory until you take your revenge.

Never knock someone else's racket. (You never know when you may be pulling the same stunt yourself.)

You can't put a good edge on bad steel.

When you are angry, close your mouth -- and open your eyes.

Money is welcome even if it comes in a dirty sack.

If you don't spot the mark in your first half hour at the table, you're it.

Out of 15 who flatter, at least 14 lie.

If you are the anvil, be patient; if you are the hammer, strike.

For peace, be ready for war.

Let your adversary talk. When he has finished, let him talk some more.

Don't teach your soldiers all of your cunning, or you may fall victim to yourself.

Better that your enemies overestimate your stupidity than your shrewdness.

To deceive an enemy, pretend you fear him.

After a victory, sharpen your knife.

If others fold every time you bet a good hand, you play to their eyes.

No one dies twice.

Victories are always temporary; so are defeats.

The best theories often make the worst practices.

Many a difference can be resolved between the sheets.

"

Source: V. (January 1996, volume 43, number 1). Axioms of the Mafia Manager. PLAYBOY. 103.

Heinrich Rauchinger

Art Appreciation

Heinrich Rauchinger was a Polish-born painter born on January 1, 1858. He was known for his history paintings and portrait paintings.

He studied at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. After graduating, he spent two years in Italy learning landscape painting.

He lived as a freelance artist in Vienna, Austria where he participated in several exhibitions. 

Although he converted from Judaism to Catholicism, late in life, he was arrested and deported to Theresienstadt, a Nazi concentration camp.

W Katordze (1886)

Zaloty

Bildnis der MME, Mitzuko Araki (1926)

Sources: 

Wikipedia

https://www.askart.com/Auction_Records/Heinrich_Rauchinger/11063833/Heinrich_Rauchinger.aspx?lot=6279171#preview-1

https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/ZALOTY/038202432818871E