Friday, May 21, 2010

The Art of Manliness

Does anyone else tend to feel like the world is lacking men? I mean real men, not these Justin Timberlake types that are more concerned with the maintenance of their manicure than their tire pressure. You look around and the scene, at least as I see it, is pretty dismal. No one knows how to do anything in they way of skills - real skills, not video game hand eye coordination, but more like cleaning a fish or handling a gun or using a compass. No one has the gentlemanly manners that used to exist. The world is full of d-bag types who treat their wives and children like garbage and are perpetually concerned with the sole idea of what they can get or do for themselves. It is kind of ugly out there. And, I think is one of the reasons for the ultimate decline of our society as a whole.

I kind of stumbled upon a website that is founded for the purpose of solving these problems.

The Art of Manliness

It has some great articles about manly things - truly manly things. Most men's magazines are concerned with your next helicopter purchase or extravagant vacation or how to finally get those 6-pack abs. This is far more practical than that. By the way, I do not intend to make the statement that I am the answer incarnate to these problems. There are many, many things that I cannot do or know nothing about. Too many to list. I just thought I would pass this along.

4 comments:

kjirsten said...

That's kinda cool . . . I think Quinn would really get a kick out of that website. I think he shares a lot of your views ;)

Kimbo said...

I totally agree. It goes for girls too though. Women are just as bad, but in different ways. I have to say Mike won me over with his manliness and doing old fashioned/polite things that guys don't seem to do anymore. I'm glad I found a good man. It's a good thing Jack has a great example to look up to. He'll be one of the good catches down the road :)

Carrie said...

you're totally right. there really aren't a lot of manly men out there anymore. it's all about looking good. that's what's most important.

Unknown said...

I think Jack and Addie and... will have a great role models in general. This is how people should act and this is how you should treat people, they will definitely be on the right track!

As for manly men, I agree 100%. It's amazing to me how many guys don't know how to do the simplest things, and how many don't want to know. A lot of them are completely content with not knowing how to do anything for themselves, they'd just as soon shell out the cash to pay someone else to do it ($90 and hour around here to work on your car.)

Yes chivalry is non-existent for the most part, but there are some of us who try and keep it alive. I could come up with a list of things that guys should be able to do/use off teh top of my head. Use a hammer, an axe, drill, chain saw, gun, circular saw, any power tool (or be willing to learn how to use it), change the oil in your vehicle, grill, cook a decent dinner, do at least one pull up, and a few push ups, winterize your lawn mower and yard equipment that uses gasoline. That stuff came to mind quickly, and off the top of my head. I think that's pretty easy stuff to learn.

Eric I think we should talk ourselves up, we are manly men! The manliest of men, probably not, but I think we should be confident in our manliness. I just replaced my front brake rotors, pads, and calipers, and repacked the wheel bearings and then bled the brake system, then I adjusted the rear brakes. Never done that before and I'm damn proud of it :-) I think it's ok to pat ourselves on the back every once in a while.

I can't wait to check out this site, there's so much I still need/want to learn.

Thanks!