GUY WEEK FINALE -- New Kids on the Block + pattern winners!

Friends, you've made me so very happy. I'm so glad you came into my life.  Wait, that's the radio -- yup, I'm back in the bagel shop/Wi-Fi hotspot.  Still no home internet.

And did I mention that you make me feel like a natural woman?

Joking aside, you have made me very happy during the First Annual MPB Guy Week which, sadly, ends today!  We've had such fun together -- we've laughed, cried, and shaved, shaved, oh, how we've shaved.

I know I am supposed to announce the winners of Thursday's DOUBLE men's pattern giveaway, so here they are:

The winner of the Simplicity shirt/vest pattern is....

MPB reader and shaving fan, J.C!

Let's give him (her?) a big hand and maybe a razor!

The winner of the McCall's "Carefree" pajama/robe pattern (complete with sunglasses and beer can) is....

 
Stumpton, Oregon's own Valerie S.!

J.C. and Valerie, please email me (Peterlappinnyc at gmail dot com) your respective addresses and I'll ship these treasures off to you ASAP.  Thanks for participating and congratulations again!

There is a house in New Orleans they call the Rising Sun -- whoops, sorry, the radio again and if I didn't Google those lyrics I'd never have known what they were singing about despite having heard that song for more than forty years.

As you can tell I'm a little unfocused this morning -- I'm not good with endings, I'm afraid, and that oldies station is distracting.

Bottle of Wine, Fruit of the Vine... 

Here's some real news: Male Pattern Boldness is currently profiled over at the Threads Magazine site, do you believe it?  Longtime readers won't learn anything about me they don't already know -- I mean, you've seen me shave -- but you can read the article here and please free free to click the Love it button as many times as seems reasonable and believable.

Hot Fun in the summertime!  (Hi, hi, hi, hi there...)

Equally as exciting perhaps was the package I received in the mail yesterday -- actually three.

Allan got a lovely vintage knit sweater with shawl collar.  So cute!



Next, I have added a little diversity to my doll collection.  Meet Ben (my name for him; I think he's actually Baywatch Ken based on his skimpy, Baywatch-branded original outfit.  He's (relatively) contemporary, obviously.



If you feel like giving me a lifetime of devotion, I second that emotion.

But the real prize was this package of four dolls I paid $12 for:



There was really only one doll I wanted here, but I wanted it very badly and he wasn't even listed in the eBay auction heading, just included in the photo.

Here's what I got:



A reproduction Midge in nothing but reproduction panties and gold necklace.  She's pretty but you can see that she has a matte finish to her face you don't see on the original dolls.  She's not the one I'm interested in.

There she was just a-walkin' down the street, singin' "Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do..."

Then there was this doll disaster, which looks like she was put together from odd doll parts, backwards.  I think she may be a Tammy or one of Tammy's Ideal-brand family.  Anybody know?  Obviously she was not the reason I bought this lot.



There was also another Live Action Ken in near-mint condition -- always a delight, but still not the reason I was so excited.



Friends, the doll I was truly jazzed about was...

Brad!



Patient readers and doll lovers the world over, Brad is the first-ever male African-American fashion doll, released in 1968 I believe.  This was at the beginning of Ken and Barbie's mod period, and needless to say Brad had an entire mod wardrobe all his own, arguably a bit mod-er than even Mod Ken's.  Anyway, after I cleaned him up and dressed him he looked fantastic.



I'm not going to go into the reasons why I think Brad is dark chocolate brown and "Ben" is cafe au lait, but it wasn't an arbitrary decision and I think it's part of why Brad is such a desirable doll today.  I love him.



What's best of all is that everybody gets along, new kids and old kids, though Ken remains a bit uptight compared to the others.





Friends, we're nearly out of time.  I hope today's entry is a fitting ending to Guy Week; there's still so much more I could share and will share in the weeks ahead.  It doesn't have to be Guy Week to talk about guy stuff, obviously.

BTW, I've named Live Action Ken Brett and Malibu Ken Grant.  I hope you're OK with that and thanks for all your wonderful suggestions earlier in the week.

I hope this week I've enlightened some of you and not alienated too many others.  I'm working on a groovy thing, baby and, I mean...well, you know.

Have a great day, everybody!   

Will you still love me tomorrow?