From the category archives:

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Boys’ Testosterone Levels Before Birth Seen in Fingers and Jawline

Image credit Sonja Windhager, Katrin Schaefer

You’ve probably heard about the correlation in men and boys between testosterone exposure before birth and the relative length between their index and ring finger. Basically, if your index finger is shorter than your ring finger, it means you were exposed to more testosterone in the womb, and if your index finger is longer than your ring finger, than it means you were exposed to less.

Researchers have recently discovered that testosterone exposure in the womb also affects the facial features of boys. Boys with high exposure to prenatal testosterone typically have “manlier” faces consisting of a more prominent jaw line and smaller eyes; boys with lower exposure to prenatal testosterone will have smaller chins and larger foreheads, giving them what researchers call a more “childlike and feminine face.”

Just an interesting fyi.

Read the whole story at Live Science.

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Modern Movies Recasted With Classic Hollywood Stars

 

I think I would have preferred to see this version of The Hangover. 

See more modern movies recasted with classic Hollywood stars at Movies From An Alternate Universe on the Behance Network.

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Men Should Dress Up on Sundays

Dress up on Sunday. It’s good for shoe salesmen.

From Boot and Shoe Recorder, 1921

Men Should Dress Up on Sundays

We need a difference between every day and Sunday footware

by By O. A. Hensel, Milwaukee

The style question with the young man of to-day seems to differ very much with that of the young man of fifteen and twenty years ago. We often notice now men at the theater or ballroom, no matter what their vocation, their wearing apparel has not the distinction, it should have. To-day we see them wearing soft shirts, soft collars, and ordinary shoes for Sunday or social wear.

On the other hand the young women go to the other extremes. They buy the newest of everything for next Sunday’s wear, and when Monday comes they forget to make the change which they should.

During the World War the enlisted men and boys adopted the khaki and heavy Munson last shoes, and we know that they made a hit with the feminine sex, and they apparently are still under that impression.

Candidly speaking, I believe that if the young men of to-day could be convinced of a difference between every-day and Sunday dress the men’s end of the shoe business would be very much improved.

via Vintage Engineer Boots

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Gentlemint: It’s Like Pinterest, But for Dudes

If you’re married or have a girlfriend, chances are you’ve heard of Pinterest. It’s an online bulletin board where users can “pin up” or share stuff they find on the web with their friends. The overwhelming majority of users on Pinterest are women sharing crafts, clothes, and recipes with each other.

My friend Glen Stansberry thought the idea of Pinterest was pretty cool, but he wanted a community that was more man-friendly. So he his co-worker Brian cranked out some code and created Gentlemint–The Mint for Manly Things.

And it’s freaking awesome. It works just like Pinterest, but with stuff that guys like to look at and do. You’ll find links to all your favorite manly websites, including a few from AoM.

Head on over, ask for an invite, and start depositing to the Gentlemint today! See you over there.

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Dance Like Zorba the Greek 8-Bit Video Game

Dance?! Did you say dance?! Come on, my boy! Together! Let’s go! Again! Down! Boss… I have so much to tell you!

You’ve read about getting in touch with your Wild Man by Dancing Like Zorba the Greek, now you have a chance to take the Greek Wildman head-on in a dance battle in this 8-Bit Dance Dance Revolution style game. Press the arrow keys at the right time to make your character dance. It’s easy at first, but gets more and more difficult as the awesome Greek music speeds up. I’ve had to concede to the spectacular Wildman dance skills of Zorba every time I’ve played.

Play now!

Hat tip to Mario for this link.

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Man in the Arena: The Rise of Critics in Every Creative Journey

Last week Primer Magazine had a great article and accompanying visual graphic on the stages every creator goes through when he steps “into the arena.” As his success and audience grows, he attracts more attention and criticism, and if he listens to the criticism, his work can suffer as he loses sight of his initial vision.

I think the hard part is deciding what criticism to listen to and what to dismiss. Because on the one hand you need to stay true to your vision, but on the other hand, other people can often see where you need to improve and if you’ve gotten off track better than you can. Thoughts?

Read the whole article: “Man in the Arena: The Rise of Critics in Every Creative Journey” (@Primer Magazine)

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The Art of Manliness Guide to Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving is this Thursday here in the U.S. To help you prepare for the big day, we’ve rounded up all the articles we’ve done on how to celebrate Thanksgiving… like a man.

Thanksgiving Articles on AoM

How To Cook and Carve a Thanksgiving Turkey Like a Man

Easy Thanksgiving Cornbread Stuffing Recipe

5 Thanksgiving Traditions to Pass Along to Your Son

How to Be the Perfect Houseguest During the Holidays

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Womanly Things We Wish Women Still Did?

Last month the website Madame Noire posted a list of the “7 Manly Things We Wish Men Still Did.” I don’t recommend clicking over there, because they do that super annoying website thing where each item on the list is put on a different page and there’s a pop-up audio play ad running. So here’s the list:

  • Move Out of Their Mothers’ Houses
  • Insist on Paying the Bill
  • Dialing Our Number (as opposed to texting)
  • Hold the Door Open for a Stranger
  • Keep Us Warm (give a lady your jacket)
  • Help Us with Our Bags
  • Have a Signature Aftershave

What’s interesting, is that over the years people have sent us several iterations of this kind of article, but we’ve yet to see a list by men of things they wish women still did. Because of course, writing such a list would get you clobbered over the head with charges of sexism. This double-standard generally extends to all articles about the sexes these days–it is generally okay to complain about the deficiencies of men, but never women. One cannot imagine an article entitled “The End of Women” or “Where Have All the Good Women Gone?”

Whenever you read an article like this, in the comments there are always complaints that women want to have it both ways–to be equal and independent and be treated with chivalry. And some guy always says something like, “Well I’ll go back to doing some of these old fashioned things for women, when women start bringing back some old fashioned things too.”

So a few points for discussion:

-Are there old fashioned things that you wish women still did?

-Or do you think that neither men nor women should be expected to do any old fashioned things?

-Or do you think that men should have to still do old fashioned things, but not women?

Hat tip to Darren for this link.

 

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Retreat for Young Men Who Are Experiencing a Failure to Launch

The Associated Press recently reported on a mountain retreat in Colorado aimed at helping young men ages 18-23 who are having trouble getting going in life. Called Insight Intensive at Gold Lake, the program is not for addicts, violent, or criminally rebellious guys, but for those who are simply “depressed, anxious, overwhelmed and underprepared,” those who feel unmotivated, adrift, and lack “an early adult life plan.” Guys that may have dropped out of college or are still living with their parents. Because of the expensive tuition, these are typically middle to upper-class guys, the ones who should have a wealth of opportunities at their fingertips, but are still failing to thrive.

The camp tries to get the young men ready for the “real world” by giving them a little structure and discipline:

They have been eased into this routine. At first, the goal is to get them to go to sleep when the clock still says “p.m.” and to rise when it says “a.m.” — something most of them weren’t doing at home.

They also get used to sharing their living quarters — three-bedroom cabins housing six — and pulling their weight, by doing tasks such as their own laundry.

As they show they can be responsible, they work their way up in levels within the system. Eventually, they write a life plan, then take basic steps toward achieving it — putting together a resume’ and applying for a job or an apartment with the help of a life skills coach.

“This is practice. This is training,” David Krayeski, Insight’s program director, says, comparing it to preparing for a race. “These are guys who’ve been paralyzed, for lack of a better term. So we have to get them moving.”

Many of the young men also work — as kitchen or ranch hands, or on the housekeeping staff.

“You’d be surprised at how many choose housekeeping,” DeNucci says, recalling one client from a wealthy family who confessed, “I have to learn how to clean.”

While the retreat is supposed to help the young men get going with life, it’s hard not see it as further coddling. The young men do yoga in the morning and have therapy sessions, while living in a place that is “rustic, but comfortable with its wood-paneled walls, stone fireplace, sauna and massage rooms and outdoor hot tubs.” It costs $350 a day and lasts up to four months, and parents foot the bill. Which means it costs mom and dad an eye-popping $42,000 to teach junior basic life skills.

It seems to me that if a young man wants to turn his life around, it has to come from within, from some bootstrap pulling, not from a retreat like this. I know that reading this article would have made my Grandpa spit his coffee out in utter surprise.

Read the whole article: “Retreat Aims at Young Men’s Failure to Launch” (@Yahoo)

Hat tip to Joel D. for this link.

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The Bear

The Bear is a series of stand alone paintings done by Rebecca Dreistadt and captioned by Ryan Sohmer detailing the bond that forms between a first time father and his son, and the discoveries they both make along the way. As a new father of a son myself, I found them quite heartwarming.

See a bunch more @Behance

Hat tip to Zane J. for this link.

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