Thursday, January 31, 2013

Favorite Pic of the Day for January 31st

I gotta have faith-a-faith-a-faith

Check out today's Birthday's HERE:

Men Of The Cloth


There is something about a man of the collar. The forbidden fruit, especially Priests who pledge a life of celibacy. There is a odd dichotomy with celibacy. On one hand, the goal is to be non-sexual, pure and morally virtuous. On the other, celibacy generally leads to an increased libido, a greater feeling of longing and desire. Although not always true, we like to imagine volcano's erupting more powerfully, the longer the lava has been boiling away.


Throughout time there has always been a connection between clergymen and sex. Not all of these connections have of course been positive, but on television, and in the movies, men wearing the collar, are often written with conflict between the man and their virtue. There have also always been women, and men, with the desire to rip off that robe and defrock.


Christopher Reeve in Monsignor

Today's posts began with one man, a vicar. Vicars always bring to mind for me, those 80's soft porn movies. Scantly clad women, running around farms and barns in olden days of yore and innocent vicars, stumbling upon the farm, losing their virtue with just a minimal amount of resistance.

Colin O'Donoghue in The Rite

When researching the dishy vicar (see next post) images of sexy men of the cloth filled the pages with the google image search. Very few sadly of the vicar I was searching for, but enough to have me wanting to expand upon the theme.

Jensen Ackles (Nightmare episode of Supernatural)

Linus Roache and Robert Carlyle in Priest

There was a time when movie ministers were mostly older and quite often portly, but these days, it is almost a requirement to have any man at the pulpit be worthy of being swooned over. After all, Church is meant to be an experience, a way of bringing on intense faith and passion.


The Dishy Vicar


Downton Abbey may have brought a few new viewers to PBS but it has been one of my favorite channels since I was a kid. Not just for the incredible children's programming, but before TV on DVD and before there were a zillion channels, it was the only place I could watch British comedies. PBS introduced me to Are You Being Served, The Vicar Of Dibley and I think my favorite, Keeping Up Appearances. Unlike the US reality show with Keeping Up in the title, this show was inhabited with people with actual talent.


The entire cast is great, but Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket (Bouquet!!!)is a hilarious and so wonderfully annoying. Most of the cast spend each show trying to avoid Hyacinth, including Michael, the towns Vicar. Michael also has to avoid Hyacinth's sister Rose, who is hot for any guy in pants, even the married Vicar.


English actor Jeremy Gittins plays the Vicar, whom Rose has nicknamed The Dishy Vicar. Gittins, most certainly dishy, has been a fixture on British television since the 80's appearing on shows like Dr. Who, Footballers Wives, EastEnders and Midsomer Murders.


The Dibbling Of The Vicar


Another of the British comedies on PBS is The Vicar of Dibley. The series features Dawn French (from French & Saunders) as The Reverend Boadicea Geraldine Granger. Geraldine, who describes herself as the babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom, moves to the small of Dibley to become the towns Vicar.


Geraldine is a feminist and strong liberal who often clashes with the crazy locals. For some reason I most associate this show with Christmas. In the UK it frequently aired around the holidays with highly rated Christmas specials, and it is during the holidays when I usually turn to PBS to watch.


Despite her size, which the show smartly basically ignored, and her career as a Vicar, Geraldine always seemed to attract great looking men.In the shows last few episodes, British actor Richard Armitage joined the cast as Harry, the man who finally got Geraldine to the alter.


As soon as I saw Armitage on the show I knew I recognized his distinctive and handsome face, not to mention his incredible body! Thankfully, with his many roles on television, the actor was given many opportunities to show it off. Currently on screen as Thorin in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit series, Armitage first popped up on British television screens in the early 90's. In addition to movies and mini-series has been in almost a dozen separate television series.


Strike Back (2010)

Cold Feet (2003)

Spooks

Between The Sheets (2003)



The Penetrating Pastors of Primetime


Defrocking some of the television's hottest men of the cloth!

Stephen Collin, Rev Camden (7th Heaven)

Tyler Jacob Moore, Pastor John Tudor (GCB)

Joel Gretsch, Father Jack Landry (V)

Joseph Fiennes, Monsignor Timothy Howard (American Horror Story)


Eric Winter, Rev Jason McCallister (Brothers & Sisters)

Nathan Fillion, Caleb (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

Greg Vaughan, Rev Eric Brady (Days Of Our Lives)