The Naked Wine Show at Work

ENTERTAINMENT/SEX - I met today the host of The Naked Wine Show. She does 1 minute reviews of various wine bottles from around the world... in the buff, and is quite eloquent about it.

It reminded me of various other posts in which I've talked about advertising and sexuality (not necessarily on this particular blog).

The idea of doing reviews, news, tech talk or whatever in the nude is nothing new. Naked News has been doing this sort of thing for years now. (I personally prefer the Toronto Star and CBC News for my news, but to each their own.)

I've also noticed that this seems to be a largely Canadian idea. The Naked Wine Show is produced by a Canadian wine company... and so is Naked News, which is produced by 'Egalaxy Multimedia Inc.', which is based in Toronto, Canada.

So does this mean Canadians are more prone to advertising with a dose of sexuality tossed in? Or are we just more liberally minded? Not sure. There are quite a few examples of sex in advertising from all over the world.

Admittedly such a show will cater largely to men, but its also pretty savvy advertising because wine sales amongst men in going up lately so that is a market that can be exploited (or should I say sexploited?) as it continues to grow.

Don't expect to see a lot of nudity on The Naked Wine Show however. All the good bits are tastefully covered. Totally unlike William Adolphe Bouguereau's 1884 painting "Bacchus and the Nymphs". You can see more images of the wine god Bacchus at:

Achilles to Zephyr: An Alphabetical Listing of Greek & Roman Art.

Conclusions? Sexuality and wine have often gone hand in hand, only the media has changed. Take Edouard Manet's "The Bar at the Folies-Bergère" for example. Wine has long been the romantic drink of choice... unlike gin which is known as 'Panty Peeler' according to The Kids in the Hall clip 'The Relationship Lawyers'.



I personally have a particularly good memory of wine and sex... it was in 2005 when I was living in Seoul in South Korea. The company I was working for gave me a gift basket of wine around the time of a holiday. One of the wine bottles was a special gold wine, which had gold flakes in it. It was REALLY good and according to the Koreans drinking flakes of gold is good for your health. (The Koreans aren't the only ones either, there is also an European company, Gold Cuvee, that makes a similar wine with 22 carat flakes.) My girlfriend at the time and myself ended up drinking it in bed together, spilling quite a bit of it on each other on purpose and having fun kissing with wine in our mouths. Such joy!

And many other people probably have similar memories of drinking and sex... so again its really not much of a surprise to see sexuality used to sell wine. Its definitely way better than telemarketing or spam... and way tastier to enjoy wine with someone special!

See Also:
Advertising in America
Advertising Sexploitation
The Ugly Side of Beauty
Canada a Haven for Spam

Looking for Love & Romance

SEX - Is sex all that men think about?

True, I am the first to admit that men have an one track mind. Think of sex has a volume knob. If you turn the volume of sex up, men are pretty predictable. They scramble over themselves for some booty time.

However, if you turn that same knob down, what do you think men are thinking about when it comes to women? If its not sex... then it must be something else.

The answer is simple. Its love.

And compounded with love, romance, compatibility, how he feels when he is around that special someone. Men are not as two dimensional as women make out to be. There is depth and sensitivity there, sometimes masked beneath a crude and lewd exterior, but that sensitivity is there nevertheless.

I will not begrudge women the fact that some men act like insensitive jerks. That is certainly true... but the key word is "act like". Men in reality are every bit as sensitive as women, but have a strong tendency to hide it under macho bravado.

And the very reason men do that is because they are afraid of rejection, abandonment and loneliness. We (all humans) are afraid of those things, but the difference is that women tend to react to those feelings differently.

Society expects a lot from men. 'He' makes the first pass. 'He' attempts the first kiss. 'He' invites her up for coffee at 10 PM. Very rarely do we see women picking up men, planting the first kiss or inviting guys up for a bout of coffee the next morning. True, some women break with convention and that is a sign of progress, but the onus is still very much on men to time these things properly.

No relationship is perfect. There is always pitfalls.

Lets take for example the friends scenario, wherein the male and female enjoy each others company and both of them start to drop romantic signals... hugs, touching, general closeness, but also verbal gestures such as talking about romantic things such as plans for the future, going to see chick flicks together, etc.

This friends scenario really has 3 possible outcomes:

1. They manage to change their friendship into a loving relationship.
2. They fall apart and the friendship is permanently ruined.
3. They managed to stay friends, but things might be awkward for a period of time, perhaps permanently.

If they screw this up, is it because the male did the timing wrong? Not necessarily. Women and men have different priorities sometimes and sometimes those priorities get in the way of making the transition from friends to lovers.

Another scenario is just met, wherein the couple has just encountered each other, sparked their interest and are now pursuing the possibility of romance. They're confused about how much the other person likes them (please do NOT read the book "He's Just Not That Into You", that book is complete crap), they're worried about the other person becoming obsessed with them (although if two needy people meet it works out wonderfully).

The just met scenario also has three possibilities:

1. They're compatible and the relationship goes through the normal cycle of pitfalls.
2. They quickly learn they hate each other (or are just bored of the other person) and it falls apart.
3. They like each other, but the romance isn't there for one of them so they bring out the "lets just be friends" speech to try and let the other down gently.

Romance does play an important part in both the friends and just met scenarios. Add a dash of romance and everything seems to go more smoothly.

The problem however is that many men and women these days don't know HOW to be romantic. Oh sure, they've figured out how to get funky beneath the sheets, but we're talking about the whole wining, dining, picnic, day trips, chocolates, roses, etc. (We should note however that gifts are a romantic gesture, but not necessarily romantic because they can feel more like the male is trying to buy love, not earn it.)

You may quickly notice a lot of the onus for romance is on men. When we think of non-object romantic gestures we think of kissing of hands, holding the door open, pulling out chairs, holding the umbrella, waiting for the female when she gets off from work and doing all the things we expect from a so-called gentleman.

But what do men actually want out of romance? Sure, there is pleasure in giving and being nice to someone, but what do men hope to get in return?

Well obviously kisses, hugs and sex would top the list... but lets turn the sex knob down and not refer to anything involving displays of affection. What do men hope to get out of being romantic and hopefully having the female be romantic in return.

Again love is the answer. He wants the woman to be impressed by his generosity, thoughtfulness and the way he goes out of his way to help people.

But how does a woman in return express romance? Some argue that gifts and food do wonders, but I disagree. Feeding the pig doesn't make it love you. It just makes the pig want more. They could in theory do the whole opening doors, pulling out chairs and being considerate bit. The first two probably won't get a man's attention very much, but the last one in which the woman shows how nice and considerate she is will definitely win points.

In theory the woman gets to display her romantic side when the man falls sick and becomes a big baby for several days, but again that is just making food, spooning out medicine and maybe running a hot bath for him. Its just feeding the pig again.

(If anyone can think of romantic gestures women make or could potentially make, feel free to leave a comment!)

Sometimes romance happens by accident.

My most romantic moment was 9 years ago. I was friends with a girl from Guelph and she was visiting Toronto on and off because she has family and friends here. We spent the day together and then took the subway to Union Station where she had to catch the Go train.

During the day we started holding hands, on the subway she started leaning on my shoulder (we were both tired from a busy day) and I ended up walking her to the train on the platform.

It was there on the train platform she and I first kissed, waiting for the last moment as the tension grew and grew. It makes me all mushy just thinking of it.

Sure, we broke up 5 months later when she cheated on me, but that doesn't change the sense of romance that was involved in that first kiss.

So do men think about nothing but sex? Evidently not. We are sexual beasts true enough, but we are complicated and sensitive beasts and crave love and romance too.

Virgin Prostitute at Work

SEX - Romanian-born Alina Percea is 18 years old and no longer a virgin. She sold her virginity in an online auction to a wealthy Italian for $12,500. She used the money to fund her university studies in Germany.

Since then she has been called a prostitute by the German government and ordered to pay up over half of her earnings (because prostitution is legal and heavily taxed in Germany), which she claimed to have raised in order to fund her university studies the easy way.

After flogging her hymen online and then having unprotected sex with the buyer in an Italian hotel, the media attention became enormous. German authorities heard about it and pointed out that she really should be paying tax on her earnings.

Prostitution is legal in Germany, but the state takes a 50% take plus VAT. Alina Percea might end up with approx. $5000.

German taxmen say:

"It is not a moral standpoint but a fiscal one. Prostitution is not an illegal act in Germany, but not paying tax on earned money is. Consequently we are assessing her case and it looks likely she will have to pay around half of the sum she gained."

"Even if she was taxed as a purveyor of erotic moments, or whatever she wants to call what she did, she would have to pay tax on it. Prostitution is merely a means for the bureaucrats to pin her down for a claim.

"She would have been better off keeping quiet about this strange transaction.”

Had she kept quiet about it however she never would have found a wealthy virgin hunter... a 45-year old Italian businessman.

"We spoke in English as I can't speak Italian and he can't speak Romanian.
He paid me a lot of compliments throughout the day, and he was very funny and charming. We got on very well, and I was pleased he'd won," said Alina.

"We kissed, then undressed each other. I'd never done that before, so I was nervous. He laid me on the bed and started kissing my body, then we had sex. I was attracted to him, so I enjoyed it, even though it was quite painful."

"We only had sex once, then fell asleep. Next morning, we had breakfast together like any other couple, and I took the morning-after pill. He told me he'd like to see me again, and I agreed."

"I hope to see the man again - and next time I won't make him pay," she added.

Wow. Not sure what to say about this topic... I wouldn't wager any money on her future relationship and how well it will work out. After all, the kind of scumbag who would pay for that... it would just guarantee it will end badly.

Triple K Breast Implants at Work

HEALTH/SEX - We've already talked about breast implants on this blog... but when I heard about Sheyla Hershey and her Triple K breast implants (38KKK) I decided this deserved an extra post on the topic.

Sheyla Hershey already had size 34FFF after eight cosmetic surgeries, when the 28-year-old Houston Texas woman decided she wanted to go for the world record. Doctors in the United States refused to do the surgery so she went to Brazil looking to increase her bust size a couple more notches. (The US doctors said her breasts were in danger of exploding and refused to do the surgery for safety reasons.)

Sheyla Hershey says she gets frustrated when people laugh at her. She says this is her dream and she wished people would be more accepting. A housewife and 'model' says she dreams of being an actress.

"I want to look better each day, every day. Everybody's got a dream inside, you know? And, it's good when you can make your dream come true," Hershey says.

Except she doesn't look better at all. She looks like a circus freak and should be right up there beside the bearded lady lifting huge dumbbells with one hand.

But Hershey now has a tonne of scar tissue, back and shoulder pain and the extra large silicon breast implants are more prone to damage and leaking. All this to satisfy her obsessive fixation on BIGGER breasts (like Russ Meyer in a way).

"To me, big is beautiful. I don’t think I have anything to worry about," she says.

Hershey's British ex-boyfriend started paying for her plastic surgery, but she left him after he begged her to stop, saying "I loved him very much but I had to leave him to follow my dream."

So is she sexy? That is her goal after all, right? I think not. Rather skanky all things considered.

And who says bigger breasts are sexy? Sure, cleavage is nice, but I'd say perkiness is the issue really at stake, not size. Perky breasts are definitely sexy (as opposed to droopy).

Who else but an American would be so obsessed with the size of her breasts that she would risk her health? Sheer stupidity and recklessness.

FINAL CONCLUSIONS: Breast implants are for reckless skanks.

Strategy Games and Women at Work

ENTERTAINMENT - I've noticed that there's very few women who play strategy games, either online or offline.

Face it, games like chess, RISK, Diplomacy, etc. just aren't something that women seem to enjoy.

Its not an intelligence factor however, but a thematic issue.

Chess, RISK, Diplomacy and similar games have one underlying theme: War. Beating up your opponent with pewter soldiers, plastic tanks and wooden fleets.

The same goes for other games like Magic the Gathering, which uses collectible cards. Your goal is to kill your opponent with monster cards, spell cards, etc.

These games are definitely more for male nerds.

But the silly thing is that women do play computer games, and some of those games should be considered strategy games. The Sims for example, does involve a fair bit of strategy when it comes to planning out what your sims do in the game and how they spend their time in order to maximize their abilities and happiness.

Women, especially women over the age of 40 (according to AOL Games), are more likely to spend time playing a variety of online games including card games (ie. online poker), MMORPGs, games that stress social skills...

As opposed to violent computer games like Counter-Strike... or games like 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City' in which you can have sex with a prostitute and then kick her death (and get rewarded for it).

Not a big surprise women aren't lining up to play that game.

It makes you wonder what women do online for fun? (They're not downloading porn that often, in comparison to men.) And it also makes you realize there is a huge market there for women gamers that the gaming industry seems to have forgotten.

For men... playing a strategy game (usually you vs the enemy) is all about being a dick. You want to build up your forces, destroy your enemy and make them wet their pants or quit the game out of frustration. Why? Because the type of men who play these games (and I count myself as one of them) just love to prove their superiority and being a dick to other men.

Its not that men have a killer instinct when it comes to war games (I am a pacifist technically but that doesn't stop me from enjoying war-oriented game and violent games/movies), we just love stroking our egos and confirming our superiority over other men. Being the Top Dog is the goal and its upsetting when you lose.

But that doesn't mean that women wouldn't enjoy similar-such games where they get to play a bitch. That, to me, sounds like a great game to play. A game where you manipulate people, take their money, break their hearts and be a bitch to other players.

That doesn't mean however that all women are mean-spirited bitches. I don't believe that is true (although admittedly there are a few really mean women out there), but I do believe there is a market for such a game where women could work out and release some of those darker feelings.

And I'd bet money it would be an addictive game too, for men and women.