Beauty – Page 58 – Splendid Isolation

No Double Standard

November 28, 2021 Kim du Toit Gratuitous Chick Pics, Men & Women

Apparently, rent boy-lookalike actor Paul Rudd has, at age 52, been declared the “Sexiest Man Alive” by some magazine (details unnecessary).

Predictably, Teh Womyns are going all whiny, saying that no woman age 52 would be considered for the appellation in their gender (because men are pigs and ageism is eeevil etc. etc. etc. oh FFS #KillMeNow).

Really? I throw this open to my Loyal Readers, and ask them whether at least one of the following women (all of a similar vintage to Rudd) would fail to make their Top 5 Sexiest Women Alive, against the current crop of youngins (and all the pics are recent, no older than two years):

Salma Hayek (55)

Liz Hurley (55)

Nigella Lawson (56)

Caprice Bourret (50)

Nicole Kidman (54)

Monica Bellucci (57)

(I know, I know shuddup) Helena Bonham Carter (55)

And reaching back a few more years:

Michelle Pfeiffer (63)

Sela Ward (65)

Jennifer Tilly (63)

…and let’s not forget

Carole Vorderman (61)

Now I know that a lot of women of this vintage will have had some surgical restoration done — but guess what? Men do it, too — especially in show business, where most of these “contestants” are drawn from.

Feel free to add your (50+) nominations, in Comments.

Not-So-Random Totty

November 3, 2021 Kim du Toit Gratuitous Chick Pics

I know, I know: there’s been a shameful lack of Kelly Brook on this here back porch recently, so here are a couple pics just to remind you what all the fuss is about:

And for those wondering about a similar dearth of morning-TV goddess Holly Willoughby, here she is:

And even though she’s somewhat honest about her body nowadays, I still would.

I hope everyone’s satisfied.

Sunday In Belgium

October 10, 2021 Kim du Toit Beauty

Ahhh, Belgium: a flat little country sandwiched between Holland and France, and used as a military highway by the Germans twice during the 20th century.

But it’s beautiful, especially in the south where the Ardennes Forest covers the hills and valleys.

Oh yeah, and there’s Spa:

Also Bruges:

…and Brussels:

And while we’re on that topic:

And they just loves their football, oh yes they do:

For tennis, there’s former world #1 tennis totty Kim Clijsters:

…who quit tennis to have a baby, then came back three years later as a plump matron, and won the U.S. Open. Twice.

And back when there were still F1 grid girls (grrrr don’t get me started):

Speaking of delicious things to eat, there’s the peerless Belgian chocolate:

…then, and still, the finest chocolate in the world. In Belgium, it’s regarded as an art form, and supermarkets devote whole aisles to the lovely stuff.

And then there’s this stuff:

…but I have to say that while others swear by Belgian ales, I don’t care much for them. Maybe I just didn’t spend long enough in Belgium [makes note] or maybe I should just have read something like this.

But I’ve left the best till last. From Liège:

Aaahhh, you know all about their guns, so I haven’t bothered putting any pics up here. Read more

Confederacy Of Awful

October 6, 2021 Kim du Toit Architecture, Modernism

In the traditional sense, the word “awful” had the precise opposite of its meaning today; something “awful” (or “awe-full”) created awe in the listener or viewer, rather than making one want to puke.

I suspect that “awe-full” was intended in the creation of this list. But as one who as World Emperor would impose a retroactive global ban on any structure taller than twenty floors, the list simply makes me want to head for the barf bag.

As far as I’m concerned, of course, “Ten Best Skyscrapers” could just as easily be “Ten Best Snakebites”. That this is an annual competition depresses me even more. Here’s one example, taken at random:

And, to add insult to injury, the “Tour Alto” (6th place) is in Paris.

Kill them all.

Seventies Beauty

October 5, 2021 Kim du Toit Beauty, Drive Time

When looking at something beautiful, you always have to take note of the time in which the thing appeared. This is particularly true of women, of course, because what was considered beautiful in, say, the 1970s would cause snorts of derision when applied to today’s standards. Here’s a sample of those 70s fashions:

None of which are particularly bad (the lass on the right is sensational), but the style is very dated.

I didn’t come here to talk about women’s fashion.

Nope; I want to talk about the successor to the wonderful Renault Alpine A110, the A310 which made its first appearance in 1971.

Of course, in typical French tradition, they put a severely underpowered engine in the A310 (a 1600cc four-banger which developed a muscular 105hp) which, considering that Renault intended the A310 to be a competitor to the Porsche 911 (which at the time was developing about 270hp in its 2.4L flat six), must have been a joke played by Engineering on Marketing.

In 1976, Renault got the message (prodded by piss-poor sales, duh) and put in a 2.7L V6 engine which developed 148hp: still nowhere close to the 911, but with its ultralight body and excellent handling (which was a little better than the 911’s), the new model doubled sales of the A310 — but sadly, doubling nearly nothing meant that Renault was selling about 500 units a year compared to the 911’s 1,600.

Pretty much only the French bought the A310 in any numbers, and in 1986 Renault pulled it off the market.

All that said, I quite like the looks of the later A310 PRV (denoting the larger engine). Once again, by today’s standards that angular shape might be considered ugly, but frankly, it’s not horrible compared to other cars of the time.

Even in the PRV specs, though, the petite A310 never stood a chance against the Porsche 911, and still less against the massive American muscle cars, never mind the Ferraris and Maseratis.

But for a nimble sporty little runabout which according to its customers was very reliable, you could have done a whole lot worse than the A310.