an overload of cuties, an over indulgence in sweetness

"this is all so quotidian," quipped my friend, sounding more like a professor of literature at columbia rather than a fashion enthusiast.

"what is?" i said, indulging his fantasy. instead of answering me, he gestured towards the well-lit, smokey stage where models -- birds on sticks pretending to be women and women pretending to be men -- paraded the latest summer and spring collections of a well-known fashion designer, as well as the entire hotel's ballroom filled with some genuine old money heiresses, new money and no money socialite wannabes who mastered the art of social climbing.

i quite agree with my friend, himself a famous fashion designer based overseas. manille's social scene is stale, trying hard, more cosmic than cosmopolitan.

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want to try something more adventurous? i asked teasingly. before answering, he gulped a very pricey glass of shipwrecked 1907 heidseick. then we stood up and left the room unnoticed, without saying adieu to anyone, including our glamourous and gracious host.

my friend has a discriminating taste in men (they must be young enough that the skin is succulent, the limbs don't crack when folded, and the face shines even in the dark like a fresh from the oven cuccinello, a young roasted pig served in spanish restaurants). he once remarked that manila has got to be the best looking young men in asia. i agreed.

this friend, who shall remain anonymous to protect both our privacies, has travelled the world, but always makes it a point to fly to manila once or twice a year to partake of the offering, or the buffet, of young men who are just willing, able and ready, so to speak, to be conquered at the right price, or even in exchange for an expensive new gadget like a flashy car or an apartment.

every time he's in town, we would exchange notes about our conquests over cappuccino (me) and chamomile tea (him) at some lobby of a posh hotel in town. surprisingly, given the throng of beautiful young men from all over the world that he has worked with in the fashion industry, he always craves for the filipino macho man. there's nothing like them, he would coo, like an innocent colegiala at the throes of desire upon the sight of her crush.

then we would have a hearty laugh.

we happen to have the same taste for men. but we never compete. we share. there's plenty, in fact, to go around. just pick your choice -- models, actors, starlets, beauty title holders, bikini open veterans and newbies, hustlers, college boys needing a thousand or two to buy the latest iphone, a basketball player who needs an extra allowance so he can treat his girlfriend to an expensive vacation.

anyway, before this post becomes an x-rated version of myself, i am sharing with you some photos of men i found on the internet that are really tantalising. no, i am not saying they're available for a night or two. i am posting them to prove a point that manille indeed has an army of great looking young men that are visually pleasing and entertaining. who can inspire you to write a poetry or two.

"oh where ha'e ye been, lord randall my son? 

o where ha'e ye been, my handsome young man?" 

"i ha'e been to the wild wood: mother, make my bed soon, for i’m weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down." 

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these are mostly anonymous young men, not celebrities (except, well, one or two. but they're not that big yet like piolo pascual). but mind you, their looks are enough to launch a thousand commercials, photo shoots, magazine covers, movies and long queues at the box-office.  don't you think?!

there's the boy-next-door type, sweet, innocent, alluring. 

the modelisque, with dreams of conquering the picky modeling world.

the downright brave and brazen.

the painstakingly sweet, but oh so elusive.

to the downright unattainable. or as my friend quipped: the aspirational.

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that's all. may you all have a not so quotidian week ahead.

(ps:  i don't own these photos, except for the first one above. they were all taken from different websites. no copyright infringements intended. feel free to message me if you want any or all of them taken down please. thank you.)