CELEBFLASH: Faith & Jimmy!

A fun though ultimately somewhat lackluster Sunday night Emmy party capped off an odd couple of weeks last weekend. The highlight of the night was getting to see two of the truly most attractive people in TV: First off was Eliza Dushku, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's ultimate bad girl Faith, who though a tad thin is simply stunning in person and radiates both elegance and confidence, though I suppose the latter shouldn't be surprising since she recently inked her own development deal at Fox. Isn't it really just time for the ultimate Buffy spin-off?

Then there was the original Jimmy Olsen, and former Special Unit 2 detective, Michael Landes, who's pictures just don't do him justice. The guy is truly beautiful in the flesh. Landes another recent Fox signer-on deserves to break through and make it big. Booted from The New Adventures of Lois & Clark for looking too much like Dean Cain, Landes was seen earlier this year in the soon cancelled Wedding Bells. I have a feeling Sunday night he thought that I was stalking him and his missus since every time I turned around there he was (or is it the other way around). Well, maybe the first two or three times, but after that it was all purely accidental.

Now a Faith-centric supernatural-fantasy show with Landes as some sort of deity/demon/sidekick, now that I would certainly watch!

Eat Sh*t!

Earlier today I got all excited by the prospect of a new Dogipot just down from the CPK/Crunch building there on Crescent Heights.

Later this evening, there I am sitting with Bentley on the couch (while I waiting for some water to boil) and I hear a rumbling right outside the door. I open the door to peak out and find that several bits of dog poo have been thrown (or kicked) at my door. Now I know the culprit was the sad lonely guy in #15 (since I also just heard his door shutting). I go and knock on his door to ask why did he just do that. The fat guy in #15 doesn't even open the door, but starts shouting at me through his peephole. Claiming that since I'm the only one with a dog on this side (all four units), the pathetic guy in #15 starts calling me an asshole because I've let Bentley take a dump in front of his door and not picked it up. Well, I start getting all wound up and let the disgustingly ugly guy in #15 have it right back, and then some.

98% of the time I take Bentley out the back way. I get excited every time I see another Dogipot on our walks. I always pick up his mess. I frown upon and bitch about those who don't (especially every time I park on the west side of Hayworth and have to dodge dog mess in the grassy verge there). I have bunches of plastic bags in my pockets. And most importantly, not only is Bentley very particular where he poos, he would never poo inside! Oh, did I mention this all took place on the inside stairwell, which opens out onto the courtyard where the other small dog owners in the complex let there little dogs roam free?

After doing the responsible thing and picking up the crap that the I-hope-he-dies-alone guy in #15 threw, I call the management company to complain (and state my case) while I'm all wound up, sound utterly distressed and am almost trembling.

The lesson of this altercation: You can mess with me, just don't mess with or verbally attack my dog!

Atlantic City Pro, Prejudging Pix

A selection of prejudging pictures from this weekend's Atlanctic City Pro, courtesy of the good camerafolk at Muscular Development.

Fouad Abiad: 5th Place's a Charm

Over the years, as I've perused the numerous bodybuilding forums (I'm thinking of Muscle Mayhem in particular here), Hoss aka Fouad Abiad seems to have been one of the constants on the boards with his training insights, supportive comments and progress pix.

In 2006 after rising up through the amateur ranks, Fouad won both his super-heavyweight class and the overall at the 2006 Canadian National championship in Saskatoon, SK, finally earning him his IFBB pro card. He quickly followed this up with a "test run" against the big boys at that years Atlantic City Pro just over a week later, but placed an unfortunate 15th.

Being one of those off season mass monsters who can really put on the pounds, Fouad regularly gets close to the 300 mark (which is a pretty fair amount for a 5'10" guy), before then dieting down to his contest weight of around 230 or so pounds, a feat requiring much determination to achieve such conditioning.

The results of his hard work could be seen this past weekend at Montmorency College's André Mathieu Auditorium where Fouad blew away some of his more experienced competion with a 5th place finish at the 2007 Montreal Pro Classic. Though narrowly placing out of a slot that would have qualified him for the Olympia (only the top three qualify), Fouad earned the respect of many, including MD's Dave Palumbo, for his "thick, dense, muscle and superb conditioning [which, Palumbo acknowledged] was enough for the judges to overlook his less than perfect symmetry." Huh? Looks pretty damn symmetrical to me!

Responding to his Mayhem fans Sunday Fouad posted the following:

"Thanks everyone for your support I could not have asked for a better outcome. Posing next to guys that I have looked up to for years was one of the most thrilling things I have done in my life and I will never forget it," while also acknowledging that "I know I still have a long way to go and I also imagine myself with more quad sweep, thicker hams and calves, fuller arms and shoulders and more thickness in the chest and back. Did I miss anything... lol." At 29 Fouad has a bright, bright future in the sport!

Up next the Atlantic City Pro at the Trump Taj Mahal.

Tony Stark is...

This year it was Spider-Man, Ghost Rider and the Fantastic Four.

Next year it's Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk. and a third, Travolta-less attempt to reimagine the Punisher.

And you thought 2007 was the summer of comic book movies?

Erik Fankhouser, North American Pro!

There's a new IFBB Pro in the house, specifically Erik "The House" Fankhouser, the 5'9" 215 or so pounder who passed on July's USA championships to concentrate on this past weekend's 2007 IFBB North American Bodybuilding contest held at the Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland, OH.

Erik brought his A-game, a fantastic taper, and those freaking fraking legs of his. Though a pre-contest favourite to win the whole shebang, he had a fight on his hand in a packed heavyweight class, though ultimately bested both Darrell Terrell and Michael Liberatore, the 2007 MD Cyber Classic champ and Dave Palumbo's actual pick for the top spot, a man who "brought a symmetrical, freaky-ripped, package to the stage and was rewarded with a deserving 3rd place."

Erik then rocked the house in his quest for overall domination taking down super-heavy Grigori Atoyan, middleweight Mexican Angel Rangel, and light-heavy Mark Perry (who's been competing at the national level since 1996).

With Erik's win I'm seriously tempted to support the guy and get one of his House Wear (as opposed to Thug Wear™ by Yanchulis) designed shirts (especially since Joe has one of Flex's tees).

Hold on a sec though... You may have noticed Erik's inability to crack a decent smile in the pix I've posted (or from clicking on through the links above), well that's another reason to go out and support this West Virginian native.












Yes, as you can see bad, bad teeth for this otherwise handsome man! Maybe he's got some British ancestry?

Suit Yourself. No More Off the Peg.

I've been needing to buy a new suit for a while now (especially since I had that little incident at work when I was showing someone how to squat), so I'd determined that this Labor Day Weekend, along with all the concurrent Labor Day Sales, would be the perfect time to search one out.

I figured Macy's would be my first stop with it's decent selection and well publicized sales, choosing to venture down Pico to the Westside Pavilion, and the store where I'd picked out my first Spago suit (formerly a Hecht's/Robinson-May branded store). After trying on a couple I figured a 42 short might work (so my movement was a tad restricted), but since I'm a comparison shopper and need much friendly affirmation I chose to continue the quest anyway. At Nordstrom the sales chap tried to put me in a couple of Hugo Boss jackets (which, given the $795.00 price tag, were thankfully too tight anyway). I left despondent and bought a Hagrid action figure and latte instead.

Joe came with me Saturday to search the Beverly Center Macy's, where he decided a 42 was too small anyway, and I really needed a 44. Now 42s come with 36 inch pants, and 44s with 38, and since I'm like a 33, that really isn't gone work is it (since the most a pair of pants can be altered in maybe 3 inches). Loehmann's followed (Ed, what were you thinking?), then Banana Republic (they don't carry jackets 42 and above in short lengths).

Today, Sunday, Joe was determined we try Men's Warehouse, so off we popped to Burbank. Greeted almost instantly by a salesman armed with his trusty tape measure, he took my measurements, lead us over to a rack and started handing me jackets. Quickly realising I'm actually a 46 short, separates were determined to be the only way to go.

The jacket still needs some major alterations to taper it, but with an instore tailor Men's Warehouse has made this simple one-stop shopping, and without being over bearing or at all pushy, the salesman told me what I'd pretty much discovered over the last couple of days, that manufactures just don't design suits for people with my "atheltic" (5'5" and 202 lbs) build.

But now it's done, I look as wide as hell, and to celebrate rather than pick up some Krispy Kremes, I got some canned snow instead (roll on Christmas)!