GQ Makes Me Laugh

I'll be the first to admit that when I'm at the airport, I always pick-up an assortment of newspapers and magazines for the flight. GQ Magazine (Gentlemen's Quarterly) is usually one of the selections because one does seem to get a fair amount of content for the sticker price.  

To be fair, the magazine focuses on fashion, style and entertainment (all of which I could probably use some help on)...and I always find articles or even advertisements that are...well, entertaining.

Recently, one could find in Glenn O'Brien aka The Style Guy's column:

Q: I'm at the age when my ears are starting to sprout hair. I'd rather let it be, but my wife says I've got to pluck. Do you trim, pluck, or let it grow?

A: Why on earth would you "let it be"? Do you think Paul McCartney, who wrote "Let It Be," does not trim his undoubtedly abundant ear hair? Ear weeds are a sure sign of an unkempt man, as is nose hair or the kind of eyebrows one saw on the Soviet Union's politburo members during the Cold War. If it's the pain you're afraid of, get one of those electric rotary trimmers that do noses and ears with equal ease. A buzz in the head holes once a week will make you hear and breathe easier, and you won't be mistaken for a secular sadhu.

Q: I suffer from flat white-boy derriere. But I've recently discovered underwear that comes with padding for the illusion of a fuller rear. Women wear padded bras - is there anything wrong with a padded butt?

A: I have seen the prosthetic bum you mention. Some years ago, I lived in Manhattan's East 50s, a neighborhood rife with antiques dealers and the sort of gay bars where men wear ties. There was a men's underwear shop that displayed in its window underwear designed to simulate "buns of steel." The trouble with anything padded is that eventually you will be naked and thus found out. But if it's only butt street cred you're seeking, why not? There's nothing immoral about enhanced briefs. They're not a lie, just an optical illusion. Personally, I don't mind my jeans falling off my heinie, but to each his own.

I also found this doozy on the pages of GQ:

Shepard Fairey at Saks Fifth Avenue

"GQ's 2008 Artist of the Year Shepard Fairey and his design firm, Studio Number One, are staging an artistic takeover of Saks Fifth Avenue in support of the WANT IT! campaign this spring. With signature countercultural style and guerrilla tactics, Fairey and SNO will infiltrate all aspects of Saks, from catalogs and store windows to in-store presentations, saks.com, and limited-edition shopping bags. But once the bags run out, they're gone.

WANT IT! features cutting-edge trends in a wide range of styles, from a wide range of designers, for a wide range of budgets."

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Like I said, GQ makes me laugh.

Shepard Fairey has been in the news lately for his use of a photo by Associated Press photographer Mannie Garcia in creating the Obama "Hope" poster. There have been suits and countersuits by both parties regarding copyright infringement in this matter. 

In the midst of all the press and hype, I want to thank Ken Johnson of the New York Times for his fair review of Fairey's work in the March 17, 2009 edition of the paper. - PS