Climax No. 2

How long ago was the release of the first Climax photo book? The makers sure took their time with the second one. X-Ray Media, which also publishes the "X-Ray" titles, are by now the masters in assembling flavors-of-the-moment Filipino men for portfolios of impeccable quality and steaminess. Photography, styling, design, packaging -- all ace. Testicles, shafts, asses, pubic hair -- present and in abundance. Only the cockheads are missing.

The men of Climax 2 are collectively tagged "Indie Boys" -- actors starring in recent independent movies: Josh Ivan Morales, Kristofer King, Harry Laurel, Will Sandejas, Gabriel Del Rosario, and Andro Morgan. It must be noted that they're stars of a particular subgenre: films with sexy gay appeal. Though the guys let it all hang out (only Gabriel Del Rosario keeps his jewels encased), you may feel underwhelemed by a lack of new revelation. Afterall, we've seen more from these men in their movies and photos from the internet. Really, the only way Josh Ivan Morales can top himself is if he fucks in another hardcore porn. But that doesn't make these new sets any less hot. You'd be hardpressed to find their bodies worshipped in richer textures. Like the first edition, Climax 2 is a beautiful celebration of flesh. It feels like a liberation by way of objectification.

I'm also thankful for what is probably the first glossy spread for Kristofer King. Although the most talented, longest-running, and boldest dramatic actor of the lot, I don't think he's ever really enjoyed a full-blown, visual, sexy publicity like the others.

The copies are limited and hard to find, available only in the following stores: CV Magazine in Landmark Makati, Dongskie (below Quezon Avenue MRT and Cubao MRT Walkway), Hilom Spa Center along Mother Ignacia Avenue, and online through ManilaGayGuy. Filbars branches also sell but don't display them, so you will have to ask for it. Finding it will have to be like the minor effort before unearthing a gem.

GRADE: A-

Related Link:
Pages from Climax 2

Hubad! Striptease Sessions for the Daring Men

Johnron Tanada

The important distinction is that "Hubad" in the title is a verb, not an adjective; it means "to strip" and NOT "naked". Plenty of bumping and grinding here, but none of it gets to the point of full exposure.

Such a premise is doomed to be disappointing. Thus, the video hardly satisfies, even though it shows us quite a lot: skin upon skin of about eight lean dancing men spreading themselves all over the floor, turning and twisting, with some great, unprecedented dick-to-dick touching -- under the briefs, of course. In the final segment, there's a quick peek-a-boo of a hefty shaft followed by some charcoal-dark pumping, but it's too little, too late for a climax.

Essentially, Hubad is a conceptual dance performance. Divided into three "lessons" on the how-to's of stripteasing, a group of men will first demonstrate the dance onstage, followed by story-type suggested "applications" for real life -- one application is man-to-man (such as a man seducing a stranger on the alleyway via striptease), another is man-to-woman (such as an office guy seducing an office girl during a slide presentation), but both portions are quite gay anyway. What keeps the stage show less-than-explosive is how mechanical the performances can seem. Because everyone onstage is doing the same thing at the same time, the action doesn't gather primal steam. Robots aren't as sexy as, say, an unpredictable, spontaneous animal moving about as if possessed by his raw instincts. A truly moving sexual dance number seems to require a different kind of energy.

At least there's wall-to-wall eye candy. Johnron Tanada is a star, though his basket appears more menacing (read: big) in the Kanto Boy segment of Provoq than here. A couple of the dancers could be stars too, but this is not the video to do it for them. A star is created by packaging a solid personality, as in the strategy of Provoq, last year's video that launched instant sex idols.

The behind-the-scenes DVD bonus is dirtier and more delighftul. Models rubbing their crotches to get them hard. The camera tracking too close to a model's bulge that it actually hits it. A production staff going "Sarap!" It's the turn-on I was looking for.

GRADE: B+

Related Links:
Video Teaser

Be Bench The Model Search

Carlo and Kerbie

I didn't watch this show because I have this general notion about corporate-themed reality shows: They suck. In the past, they had been just long advertisements on toothpaste or softdrink or whiskey or whatever, without the unique personality of an actual piece of entertainment.

This currently running show by Bench (the clothing brand) was initially painful to watch. Every frame was emblazoned with the logo or the trademark colors red and white. You can see it behind the hosts, or in chargens, or while celebrities extol the brand's greatness in interviews. And when they cut to commercials, the first ad is, of course, Bench. My eyes hurt watching it. But there was reason to tune in: Aspiring male models. And man, I love those guys.

This week, the remaining bunch were asked to run through trees in only their briefs. In a speech lesson, Kerbie Zamora showed the cameras how he can twist his pink tongue in a knot. I almost kissed my TV set while he did it. I wonder what other nice things they were asked to do in previous eps. I already miss the guys who were booted out: Martin Grogaard who cried a lot, Joey who was discovered as a market vendor in Laguna, and Kerbie who was so hot in his underwear shoot, go look for it! They should have kicked out all the girls instead, and left all six guys for the finale next week. Now that's a show.

It's actually a bad show. Kill this type of reality format already, burn it, and bury the ashes. A panel of judges with expert "wise" words, the routine expulsion ceremony of one contestant every week, "humor" in the video playback -- are all yuck. Piolo Pascual's hosting has a weird, stoned non-presence. I sense he's gushing to himself everytime he has to mention the guys' names. But sometimes the bad shows are impossible to resist. Especially if the cast of boys are adorable.

GRADE: B

Related Links:
Official Site
New Bench Commercial

Cosmo Men 2007

The happiest universal timepost of yet another year gone by is not Christmas, not New Year's, but Cosmopolitan magazine's annual roundup of 69 Gorgeous Bachelors and 10 Male Centerfolds. True, it's been disappointing the past couple of years, but this year brings one big surprise: They got almost all of the men to pose half-naked in well-produced photo shoots -- not just the star centerfolds. The special featurette is finally the cover-to-cover visual smorgasbord of yumminess it always could have been. However, I get the feeling that the editors deliberately choose safe photos over risque. Not one shot is truly ball-grabbing. I'm still waiting for them to top the Paul Artadi spread back in 2003. He was an average goodlooker captured at his sexiest. Today, we're seeing a lot of hot men with unutilized potential.

Astounding to see so many models or model-slash-somethings. It's a model's world, apparently. Not one bachelor over 30. A definitive catalog of current Pinoy male beauty it is not. The blurbs about how much they love women are as boring as ever (or as unbelievable).

Special mention to Jake Cuenca, who's the one irrefutable item on the top 10. He's the only one who still feels like a fresh discovery (unlike, say, coverboy Dingdong Dantes who's been popular for ages) while at the same time seems like he's due his spotlight (unlike Bruno Folster, who's yet to prove an impact on the public). Jake Cuenca is the most exquisite man in showbiz right now. Which is really just a euphemism for I'm-madly-in-crush-with-Jake-Cuenca-and-I'd-sell-my-soul-to-the-devil-to-sex-him.

GRADE: B+

Related Links:
Cosmo Bash 2007 Photos by Vince Lopez
Cosmo Bash 2007 Photos by Jujiin
Cosmo Bash 2007 Candid Video

Red Hot Magazine - No. 4

Dave Rebolledo

The three models baring for this issue oddly look alike, with similar lean bodies and facial features. I couldn't tell where one begins and another ends. Ivan Maxwell, RG San Jose, and coverboy Dave Rebolledo, though each good-looking (I'll have sex with any of them), have unfortunately been bunched together to emphasize their ordinariness. It's as if the magazine strives to look generic.

Red Hot is one of today's "lesser" sexy male mags, even though its pages are bigger and the price is about the same as more popular titles. Red Hot scrimps on content. Only three models? I think articles in magazines are overrated too, so I welcome cover-to-cover pictures and the occassional bio, but those photos better pack some punch. The photography here is often common and unimaginative. I wished someone dangled his dick in full view just to break the monotony of the bakat (bulge). The printing, murky and flat in dull colors, does justice to neither the models nor the photography. It can be redder and hotter than this. Maybe next issue? Which I can't wait to see. Because although shots of reclining men and tight undies tend to be boring when it's all that's offered repeatedly, I'll take what I can get.

GRADE: C

Cruise: The Provocative Tour

It was basically a kind of Fans' Day.

In a Fans' Day, the celebrities show up to sing or dance on live stage, while the audience is generally satisfied just to have seen their idols in the flesh, even though the numbers are merely so-so and forgettable.

In this case, the show is a no-song, all-dance, glam burlesque of modeling, striptease, and choreography. The "celebrities" are ten men collectively known as the men of Provoq, from the title of the video erotica in 2006 that made them somewhat famous in certain gay circles. They don exotic costumes (that showcase their bodies, of course) and are backed up by drag queens, dancers, and a couple of near-naked no-name boys. I am one of the Provoq Men's aforementioned fans. I loved this show even though it wasn't really much good.

I still can't believe the lack of personality. Most of us who know the guys by heart know them well as delectable pieces of eye candy, but not much else. For one, I don't know the sounds of their voices, except maybe for Justin De Leon's, who used to host a noontime show. I know Chester Nolledo is a college boy-nextdoor, but is he really? That's the part he played in the Provoq video, and that's the image that sticks. When you think about it, each hunk is still riding on the triumph of early packaging. Cruise neither improves nor destroys their prior (successful) image as sex fantasy mannequins -- models who don't just model, actors who seemingly don't act. They're icons made by no more than a face, a body, an arbitrary label such as "kanto boy" or "yuppie", and we the hungry gay masses clutch to it like realities because there's little else offered us. We let our imaginations complete the creations. It's a reflection of today's media and myth-making and I think it's somewhat genius. I'm not complaining one bit. But this lack of deeper layers is probably the reason the show failed to make an immediate palpable connection. It needed more than surface to translate. Conventional fashion shows connect because we see the personality of the designer in the clothes, even though the models themselves may be lifeless. I had a hard time looking for the personality in Cruise. The crowd didn't even interact when they were supposed to, missing out on the chance to be lapdanced or participate in a freestyle finale. Or maybe, everyone, like me, was afraid to be filmed by the cameras for the soon-to-be-released DVD of the event.

First blame goes to the leading men. Nine out of ten were projecting the same macho affectation: with stoic face and stiffness, he's the object of desire who doesn't appreciate your staring at him that way (because he's so manly, you see), even as he's physically exploited. I never get tired of this old persona, and the guys look good in them, but it sure made for one cold, unvaried evening. The one exceptional performer is Niko Arellano, who was acrobatic and electric, a man possessed with the positive vibe of celebration. As someone who seemed to genuinely enjoy himself, Niko was the lone sex symbol with character. His number with Chester Nolledo and so-cute young newcomer Harry Laurel -- a rock-and-roll assault in leather shorts with exposed asscracks -- was the highlight of the set.

I wish they do well on their promise of a "tour". I want to see more, maybe follow them anywhere they go. It could be my favorite circus. It could also be a chance at improvement. Everyone -- conceptualizers, designers, models, everyone -- can work harder to entertain us next time.

GRADE: C+