Ben Affleck vs. Nick Lachey

Did you catch Nick Lachey's sexy new commercial for Axe Click body spray? It shows Nick out and about using a clicker to count each time a woman flirts with him (and many women are flirting -- presumably because of his 1980s-style musk scent Axe body spray rather than his muscular body and cute face!). At the end his pride is ruined, though, as an unknown young man displays the count on his clicker, a number that puts the former Mr. Jessica Simpson to shame.

When I looked to see if anyone had uploaded it on YouTube yet instead I found the exact same ad starring Mr. Jennifer Garner, which apparently ran in Europe earlier this year. I found it rather funny that Ben Affleck would think that his reputation might be sullied by appearing in an Axe ad here in the U.S., but that it was OK overseas. Something tells me Ben's reputation would be better served by keeping his movies out of this country ...

That said, watching the ad (below) reminded me that I wouldn't mind making Big Ben click a few times. Whose body would you rather smell?

UPDATE: Nick's version is now viewable here.

Ben Affleck and Channing Tatum Are GQ Men of the Year

I love Channing Tatum as much as the next gay, although his morphing into Mark McGrath  (below) does not bode well for his 40s. But I'd definitely have to say Ben Affleck is the Man of the Year when it comes to movies. Look for him to walk away with a best director Oscar early next year.

This takes me back to his February 1998 cover: They called him Big Ben and truer words were never written! 

 Other "men" HERE.

Triple Feature: 'Argo,' 'The Paperboy' and 'Butter'

Despite my intense hatred for idiots, I continue to go to the movies on a regular basis. I just never got into watching films on television, so if something comes out that catches my eye, I go -- and I go quickly. (Used to be you could wait six months and "Heaven Can Wait" would still be showing at the Abbey, but those days are over.) So in recent days, Michael and I saw "Argo," "The Paperboy" and "Butter." Instead of telling you about the asshole who was texting for 30 minutes during "Argo" -- until Michael physically walked over to him across the aisle and ripped him a new one -- or how a few minutes later someone's dog came running down the aisle toward us -- I will give you a few impressions of the movies at hand.

I haven't gone through my complete list to date, but I think it's safe to say "Argo" is the best film I've seen in 2012. The best director Oscar buzz for Ben Affleck is spot-on, even if it's his body that deserves the highest award of all. (What the ...?) By now you know the plot, but let me add that Alan Arkin is a repeat-offender scene-stealer as the Hollywood producer and John Goodman is a delight as the make-up artist who both who help bring the escape plan to life. What a trip back in time, too! During the Iran Hostage Crisis, I can remember taking turns in home room at Rhodes Junior High being the kid who would go up to the blackboard and adding one to the number of days the Americans had been in captivity. The Iranians were so clearly the "bad" guys then, but as this picture reminds us, that wasn't so black and white. (Bonus points for casting Kyle Chandler as Hamilton Jordan!) This one so obviously deserves to clean up at the Academy Awards that I can almost see the backlash coming!

  People say you either love or hate "The Paperboy," but that's not how I saw it at all. I don't think it's either a brilliant or horrible film -- but one thing's for sure: It's never boring. It takes a lot to surprise most moviegoers these days, but I can honestly say I did not see a number of things coming in this one -- and I'm not referring to the much-publicized Nicole Kidman peeing on Zac Efron scene. (That's one of the more vanilla moments!) "The Paperboy" is a less-talented cousin of "Wild Things," but a fun relative that doesn't mind getting dirty in the swamp nonetheless. (Kudos to Lee Daniels for shamelessly "exploiting" Zac Efron. Straight directors have been doing that with pretty girls since the beginning of cinema, why the hell should he not?)

  Have you heard of "Butter"? I only found out about it because Jennifer Garner was on "Chelsea Lately" to promote it, and I thought it looked kinda fun. It's one of those "indie" films that still has a lot of semi-famous people in it -- a la "Ten Years" -- so you figure there's some passion behind it to get everyone to work for peanuts. Besides Mrs. Ben Affleck there's Rob Corddry, Alicia Silverstone, Olivia Wilde, Phyllis from "The Office," Kristen Schaal from "The Daily Show," Ty Burrell from "Modern Family" and a memorable bit part by Hugh Jackman, as Garner's high school ex. I try not to read too much about movies before going to see them, so despite the fact that it's called "Butter," I was surprised to realize the plot centered around a butter-carving contest in Iowa. (Garner's JFK limousine assassination scene is a sight to behold!) The film is kind of the offspring of "Election" (brilliant) and "The Perfect Family" (so-so), with the end result somewhere in between, but closer to the latter. Garner's character is a highly strung perfectionist, with a hint of Sarah Palin, who becomes obsessed with keeping the butter-carving title in the family when her husband (the "Modern Family" guy) is asked to step down after dominating the competition for more than a decade. When a black foster child who has bounced around from home to home suddenly becomes the biggest hurdle standing in the way of Garner's goal, you can start to see where this is going. But with strong performances and a quirky script, I kind of enjoyed it just the same.

Ben Affleck's DETAILS

Read HERE.

Ben Affleck is looking good in the new Details, a magazine he has covered many times over the years. Which is your favorite?

October 2012

November 2007

November 2004

April 2002

July 1998

Another good one: Vanity Fair (October 1999)

Nick Lachey Makes 'Em Sweat

Here's Nick Lachey's sexy commercial for the new Click fragrance from Axe Body Spray. Note the "click" he gives an admiring man. Be sure to check out Ben Affleck's European version of the commercial below and tell me who makes you sweat ...

Previously: Ben Affleck vs. Nick Lachey

Page 1 Consider (10/16)

Good Will Capturing: Big Ben Affleck was recently honored for his celebrity leadership on gay issues. "My cousin Jason and I have always been close, and I would hate to give that up just because he’s gay," Affleck said in a recorded acceptance speech at the 27th Annual PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian & Gays) New York City awards dinner. Affleck was honored for being one of the first celebrities to appear in PFLAG’s Stay Close campaign with his cousin Jason Fleetwood-Boldt. "Jason and I are closer than ever because he was honest about himself," Affleck said. The ads ran in New York's subway system and were very adorable. (NYB)

Elephant in the Room: This would be comical if it weren't so sickening: The chairman of the Republican Party in Brown County, Wisconsin, faces criminal charges for allegedly fondling a 16-year-old Ethan House runaway and providing the boy with beer and marijuana late last year. Donald Fleischman, 37, of Allouez, was charged last month with two counts of child enticement, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and a single charge of exposing himself to a child. (GBPG)

Survivor: Uganda: This is lovely: A leading Muslim cleric in Uganda has proposed to President Yoweri Museveni that gays be rounded up and marooned on an island in Lake Victoria until they die. Sheikh Ramathan Shaban Mubajje told reporters of his plan following a much publicized meeting with Museveni. "I asked President Museveni to get us an island on Lake Victoria and we take these homosexuals and they die out there," Mubajje told a news conference. "If they die there then we shall have no more homosexuals in the country." A reality show in the making, perhaps? (365Gay)

Catting Around: Ellen Degeneres is supposedly in hot water for giving away a dog she adopted back in September. It seems the lucky pooch didn't get along with Ellen's lesbian cats so she gave Iggy to her hairdresser, but neglected to tell the Mutts and Moms agency from which she got him by not informing them of the hand-off. She's a regular Michael Vick, that one. (AP)

13 Years Late: The prosecution in Vegas is getting its ducks in a row to put O.J. Simpson behind bars. (AP)

Uncivil Rights: Law professor Dale Carpenter makes a compelling argument for a gay-only ENDA in this week's New York Blade: "ENDA doesn't 'include' anybody if it can’t pass. Nobody knows how long it might take to educate Congress about trans issues. In the meantime, in 31 states there will be no job protection for gay people ... The opposition to ENDA is coming mostly from a cadre of articulate, politically aware and protected gay activists living in cocoons on the coasts and in large cities. They are imposing gender and queer theory on the lives of millions of gay Americans throughout the South, Midwest and West. They charge that a gay-only ENDA manifests a selfish willingness to throw trans people out of the boat." (Article)

Critical Condition: Police are investigating a hit-and-run outside the Ramrod as a possible hate crime. (365Gay)

'Girl 27': Here's a shocking old Hollywood scandal you may have never heard about. (NYP)

Bri-Guy: It would be hard to get me to sit through an episode of "Saturday Night Live" these days, but having my honey Brian Williams host just might do it. (NYP)

Dazed and Confused: As promised, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (once again) vetoed a gay-marriage bill in California. Isn't that tantamount to Michael Bloomberg doing the same thing for New Yorkers? I just don't get what the point of being a "small-government Republican" is if you're not going to practice what you preach. (GayWired)

Remembering Michael Sandy: The family and friends of Michael Sandy stood on a cold, windy Plumb Beach on Sunday to remember the 29-year-old who was chased by four men from a parking lot at the beach to his death on a nearby expressway last year. At Sunday's memorial Sandy's mother, Denise Sandy, said she hopes her son's death ends a cycle of violence toward gays: "We don't want this tragedy to happen to anybody else again." (Towleroad)

Oscar Gets Grouchy With Ben

 Ben Affleck totally would have gotten nominated for best director if he hadn't cut his shirtless scene in "Argo" down so much. Bad directorial move, Ben.

So what do we think? Ben obviously got robbed. Glad "How to Survive a Plague" got recognized, but no "Central Park Five" or "West of Memphis"? The song "Skyfall"?!!! As I made my list of the year's 10 best films, all I could think was what a weak year it's been. Normally I struggle to cut it down to 10, with a dozen honorable mentions. This year was easy sailing.

Best Picture: 
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"
"Silver Linings Playbook"
"Zero Dark Thirty"
"Lincoln"
"Les Miserables"
"Life of Pi"
"Amour"
"Django Unchained"
"Argo"

Best Director: 
David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"
Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"
Michael Haneke, "Amour"
Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Actor: 
Daniel Day Lewis, "Lincoln"
Denzel Washington, "Flight"
Hugh Jackman, "Les Miserables"
Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"

Best Actress:
Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"
Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"
Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

See the full list HERE.

Fantasy Baseball

Trades in baseball are about as exciting as, well, the game of baseball. (All those hot men in uniforms and then nothing happens.) But with news that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are attached to a film about the time Yankees pitchers Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson called a press conference in 1973 to announce that they had "traded families" -- including wives, children and pets, suddenly I'm a fan.

“Don’t make anything sordid out of this,” said Peterson, 31, who was then living with Kekich’s wife, Susanne, in Franklin Lakes, N.J. The 27-year-old Kekich agreed. “Don’t say this was wife-­swapping, because it wasn’t,” Kekich said. “We didn’t swap wives, we swapped lives.”

Page Six reported earlier this year that die-hard Red Sox fans Ben and Casey Affleck are writing the script for "The Trade" -- much to the chagrin of Yankees loyalists -- but with a film about jocks and sex starring two hot actors? That's what I call a triple play! (Via NY mag)

How You Ben?

Ben Affleck looks good on the October cover of Details. In it, he talks about "Argo," his quirky new film based on the so-called Canadian Caper, a joint secret rescue by the Canadian government and the CIA of six American diplomats who evaded capture during the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, back in 1979 by pretending to be part of a film crew scouting a location for a film (called "Argo"). I like Ben 2.0. He's kind of like a cross between Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon, directing more and acting in smaller films in sometimes smaller roles. Lots of fun stuff in the article -- like about the time Blake Lively freaked out that he "knows Jason Bourne" -- HERE.

Page 1 Consider (07/20)

So You Think You Can Jog? "Saved by the Bell" star Mario Lopez doing what he does best. (NYP)

Greener Pastures: Some restaurants and beaches are creating "kid-free zones" so that adults can have an enjoyable and peaceful experience without children around them. Have these people ever been around other adults? (ABC)

PLO-HIV: Did Yasser Arafat die of AIDS? (NYDN)

Typecasting: Rosie O'Donnell to join the cast of (212) fave "Friday Night Lights" as a lesbian soccer coach? (Advocate)

Boy4Ca$h: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami has settled a lawsuit in which a former altar boy claimed he was sexually abused by the same priest accused by former Congressman Mark Foley. (AP)

Beer Blast: Meet the woman whose face became an iconic image of Wednesday evening's steam pipe explosion. (NYT)

Times Style: Cathy Horyn says a lot has been lost in the decade since Andrew Cunanan murdered the great talent Gianni Versace in Miami Beach: "Try to imagine your wardrobe without the jolt of a print, the vitality of a stiletto, the glamorous bric-a-brac of chains and doodads. This was Versace’s doing. His influence melted and spread far beyond the sexual heat of his runway." Um, which floor is the bric-a-brac on at Old Navy? (NYT)

Big Ben Daddy: To prove that it's not all about Matt Damon on this blog, here's your Ben Affleck photo of the week. (UsMagazine)

Poker Face

It's hard for me to say which I hate more, Las Vegas or poker. (Maybe playing poker in Las Vegas?) But if Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Dean Cain -- three of the best things from the 1990s -- were going to be around, then I think I'd be "in." (Ben's haircut is so cute!)

Scenes from the 3rd Annual Ante Up for Africa Poker Tournament at the Rio All-Suite Hotel Casino

Out There

He Likes Us, He Really Likes Us! Check out Barack Obama's open letter to LGBT voters. (Towleroad)

St. Elmo's Fire Burns Out: Rob Lowe gets a $1 million for his memoirs, then decides not to write 'em. Bummer, 'cause that's a sordid tale I'd have loved to have read. (NYObserver)

Who's Your Daddy? Rugby hunk Ben Cohen recreates Spencer Rowell's iconic "Man and Baby" photo to dreamy effects. (Queerty)

It Seems to Me I've Heard That Song Before: The track list to Madonna's upcoming "Hard Candy" album is revealed and some of the titles sound awfully familiar to me. (BoyCulture) In a related story, the camel toe is back for another round of promotions too. (BoyCulture)


As you may have heard:

Sarah Silverman is f**king Matt Damon ...

And Jimmy Kimmel is f**king Ben Affleck ...

Ben Afflecks Stars in Film Version of 'Gone Girl'

I never read Gillian Flynn's bestselling novel -- you know how I feel about fiction -- but with Ben Affleck in David Fincher's film adaptation, I think I'll be visiting the scene of the cimre.

Big Ben

Damn! I'd forgotten how hot Ben Affleck was back in the J.Lo daze ...

Stars in Their Skivvies (UPDATED!)

Inspired by UsWeekly, I enhanced their celebs in underwear photo essay with a bunch pics from my own archives. (Have one you think belongs here? Send it my way!)

DAVID BECKHAM

ANDY BALDWIN BEN AFFLECK

MARK WALHBERG

BRAD PITT BEN COHEN ERIC BALFOUR EDDIE CIBRIAN RICHARD GERE

NICK YOUNGQUEST

MATTHEW BATES JIRI TLUST PATRICK RAFTERBRIAN JOUBERT

CHANNING TATUM

TIM DALY

TOMMY HAAS JAKE GYLLENHAAL (well, almost) PATRICK WILSON TOM BRADY TAYLOR KITSCH SAMUEL PAGEEDWARD BURNSASHTON KUTCHER DAVID DUCHOVNY

JOSH DUHAMEL

JESSE BRADFORD

CAUA REYMOND

CRISTIANO RONALDO

(I'm guessing this is some sort of Euro bathing suit, but close enough for me!)