Thursday, October 20, 2011

Beauty and the Feast

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Humans have always been, and I think, will always be obsessed with physical beauty. No matter how many New Age philosophies extol the virtue of inner beauty, of strong character and steadfast values, the beautiful always lords over the rest of us when it comes to a very basic human need.

Sex.

One day, Gino and I were talking about the Grindr application and how groundbreaking it is in the way it allows people to connect.

"Why don't you try it?" I told him.

"Tingin mo ba may magkakagusto sa akin? (You think they'd like me?)" he asked.

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

 
 
Gino and I chose a photo and created his profile.




The response was overwhelming. Within minutes, a flood of messages poured in and he received more than a hundred texts in less than twelve hours. Half of them within the first four hours.

"OMG! Grabe, nakakaloka!" I said to my friends. "You guys should have seen it. Nagkandarapa ang mga bading!!! It was like there was a feast and everyone wanted a piece of him."

"Eh oo naman (But of course)," Arlan said. "Yung look talaga niya yan ang bebenta talaga. (He has the look that will really sell.) He's tall and very manly. He looks like the college basketball player you always wanted to fuck but never got to."

I nodded. Gino does have that look. He's very masculine, dark skinned, lean with abs. How could gay guys resist?

"I was surprised. You know we get messages from Grindr. But, not that many. And all those guys who ignored me before… wow, they were really after him," I said. "I guess hot guys really trump cute huh."

"Well, he's got the sex appeal," Carlo said. "I mean, most people who use Grindr are looking for a hook-up. It's a different case when you're in a club or at a party, where you see the guy in person, see how he carries himself, how he dresses up, how he speaks. It all adds up to his desirability."

We were all quiet.

"Talagang dinefend ang cute no? (I had to defend cute huh?)" Carlo said, and he started to laugh.

"Tama! Hahahaha. Napaka passionate nga ng pagdefend mo eh (Uh, we noticed. Hahahaha. And you were so passionate!)," I exclaimed. "But you gotta admit, he is such a perfect addition to our group. It's like we've got something for everyone."

My friends and I were laughing but I knew implicitly that even though no one said it, we were starting to realize that Gino may be more attractive than any of us.

I think in general, my friends and I consider ourselves fairly equal in the looks department. We tend to fall into the category of the boy-next-door type; hence the usual compliments we get are cute, nice, charming, pretty boy.

But never yummy, sexy, or hot.
 

 
 
 
Days later, I was telling a friend about Gino when she suddenly said …
 

"So, nainggit ka ba? (So, did you get envious?)"

I was about to say no, of course not. But I realized that something had been bothering me about the whole experiment. The truth is; I am envious. A little perhaps.

Don't get me wrong. I am not insecure, nor unhappy about who I am and how I look. I am fairly contented. But I do wonder at times: how does it feels like to be hot?

I guess I'll never know.
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19 comments:

Mugen said...

Wag ka, wala pa yung press release mo na jumbolaki... yung puso niya sa lagay na yan. Lolz

zeke said...

ayos si dudes. sana makita ko siya sa Grindr minsan. lolz. pwede nga palang gawing stalking channel yun. hehe

Mac Callister said...

me too! siguro kabi-kabila hook ups ko nun at malamang pati ikaw mabibiktima ko! chos!

rei said...

in all fairness, hot nga siya. hehe

Guyrony said...

K, sometimes we wish we were that boy.

That we wish we wouldn't make too much effort just to get noticed.

But alas, we are who we are.

Contentment can be overrating. Or the lack thereof.

rudeboy said...

Beauty is rare and is its own excuse for being, which is why we seek it, both in others and for ourselves.

There are numerous studies outlining the biological aspects of why human beings actively seek out beauty (chief among them is that what we define as "beautiful" is merely a set of physical characteristics that sum up the health and longevity of a potential mate, and by extension one's progeny.)

Having said that, yes, Kane, it's not a good feeling to suddenly realize that there is someone possibly more attractive than oneself. Doubly so if that someone happens to be a friend.

Then again, this is only a problem for the beautiful, isn't it?

JJ Roa Rodriguez said...

put your profile on Grindr Kane and move to the US, you will be a big hit... that's for sure!

because of Grindr something very strange and weird happened to me. a month before i broke up with my recent EX, my friend also ust liked you out my profile in. He said I must get over my mind over the guy because he feels I am no OK. Never mind it.

But after we broke up, coming to Toronto just to make sure I will be meeting guys, I started checking out Grindr. This guy said hello and i replied back and so on and so forth...

three days ago, after a long hurdle of our schedule, we finally meet. Guess what happened? My recent EX and the guy I am dating now, bares exactly the same name. same first and last and same middle initial. I don't know if there is anybody else in the world that have this kind of experience.

Have fun!

JJRod'z

Unknown said...

Yummy ka naman eh. Hehe

Alter said...

but how do you know if your senses are lying to you?

(beauty, as well as) hotness is in the eyes of the beholder. :)

Like tonight. (these are the good times). xoxo

eon said...

yep. looking like that, i would expect so.

citybuoy said...

Don't worry. I think everybody has thoughts like that. Like maybe it'd be easier, yaddah yaddah yaddah.

But somewhere out there, I'm sure someone's thinking hmmm.. wouldn't it be nice to be Kane? :)

imsonotconio said...

everyone is hot in their own ways, so dont worry, ur hot too

hotness is subjective, one might find you hot, the other may not,, at the end of the day, if someone is hot but lack of sense, its still personality over hotness!

you have more sense and personality than hotness ganun n lng icipin mo

Anonymous said...

Please tell Carlo he's more than cute. At least in my eyes...ehermn..
.
.
Anyway. I don't approve that Grindr. It makes the chase too easy.
.
.
Some boys got almost everything, some will remain spectators to their deed - I'm one of them, which I don't mind by the way.

-DB

Ronnie said...

Nung nabasa ko ang "Tingin mo ba may magkakagusto sa akin? (You think they'd like me?)", gusto ko siyang kurutin. Ang cute niya para sabihin niya yun sa sarili niya haha.

Sometimes, I also think what it feels like to be a hot meat. Hanggang imahinasyon na lang ako.

Oh well, concentrate na lang ako sa market ko LMFAO.

Anonymous said...

Honestly he's really cute and habulin nga yang mag ganyang looks. Maski ako nga nagwapuhan sa kanya eh pero agree ako sa sinabi mo na iba pa rin kung sa bar mo makikita yung tao kasi dun mo makikita kung panu nya dalhin sarili nya, kung panu ba sya kumilos and makipag-interact sa iba. Added points yun sa market value unlike sa grndr o social network na picture lang ang basehan.

PS: puro pala kayo gwapings and boy-next-door and looks. Now i'm insecure. LOL :)

LoF said...

physical beauty is an epistemological thing. unless someone has severed all by the reptilian parts of the brain, it is not someone's physical beauty which attracts people to one another. it's much more subtle and in some epistemologically oriented groups, correlates with physical beauty. but correlation is not causation, as they say. our limbic brains pick up the other 98% of the emotional information signaled that our neocortex is incapable to processing...

gillboard said...

people have different definitions of hot.

no offense to him, he may look buff and tough, but he's got that aura of queerness.

matt said...

sabi nga nila, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...we create our own criteria of beauty...depende rin yan sa market...harhar

Lady Bug said...

how does it feels like to be hot?

Well, there's only one way to find out...

:)