Postmasculine Role Models

[Tim]

Inspired by another thread on the boards which started to bring up some masculine role models, namely Michael Jordan and John Wooden, I thought it might be an idea to have a thread where we can mention someone who provides a role model for the kind of masculinity we wish to embody, and what trait(s) of theirs we admire.

One of my biggest role models for a long time is former French football player Zinedine Zidane. He was one of the greatest of all time without a doubt, and frequently called the greatest of his generation. Watching him play was amongst the most beautiful sights in sport.

It was his general attitude that I admired most though. His integrity on and off the pitch was quiet but powerful. He was one of the fairest players, and he only ever wanted to win by those means. When he was sent off in the 2006 World Cup final for headbutting Materazzi, and later refused to say he regretted doing so, I still admired him. I disagreed that it had been the right thing to do, but I saw that he still had integrity even in that act. To me it showed adherence to a certain morality that, even if it was different, was as equally valid as mine. I don't think I'll ever enjoy watching another football player as much as I enjoyed watching him.

[Zac]

Tim this is a great idea.

The first guy I will talk about is Tom Brady.

1. The guy went from being a 6 round draft pick joke to Tom Fucking Brady
2. He took less money to help the team despite being Tom Fucking Brady
3. Giselle
4. He does what he wants. He doesn't care that people make fun of him. He models, he grows his hair out, he wears UGG boots. I know he always jokes about how it's because his wife makes him do it but I doubt Tom Brady is out there doing stuff he doesn't want to do.
5. Thrives under pressure


Quotes

"A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don't ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren't blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart."

"I don't care about three years ago, ... I don't care about two years ago. I don't care about last year. The only thing I care about is this week.”

“I think often times when you are successful, you think, 'Oh, man, well, we must have done everything right,' but the guys who are here, we realize that we're always trying to improve and that's no different this year, ... Even in those [winning] years, we were not perfect in every phase.”

"Don't let other people tell you what you're capable of. As long as you believe in yourself and work hard to achieve whatever you set your mind to, you just keep plugging away. It may not be up to your timetable, but you can get it done."

[Tim]

Oh man, absolutely. This is my favourite video of him, talking about being the 199th draft pick. If you want a definition of power in vulnerability... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wWXsbZuncc

[Mark]

My favorite story about Brady from a few years ago:

There was this guy, an ex-felon, who had an illegal business. Basically he would drive around rich Boston neighborhoods and steal really expensive law decorations and landscaping out of their yards, drive them to Connecticut or something and sell them for a ton of money.

Well one night he stole some lawn fixtures from Tom Brady's house. The next day it was all in the paper and on the radio that someone had stolen these multi-thousand dollar pieces from Tom Brady's property. Hearing that it was Tom Brady who he stole from, the guy returned the next night and RETURNED the fixtures to his property with an apology attached.

The catch is that Tom had security cameras set up and the police were able to ID the guy who took everything and then put them back. He was arrested, but Brady told him he wouldn't press charges as long as he promised to stop stealing. And sure enough, people's lawn fixtures stopped going missing after that.

[Jani]

Sir Richard Branson is definitely on the list!!
Serving as an air HOSTESS for another airline company after losing a bet.
I don't see another billionaire doing that, although I think Bill Gates would be a hottie in a dress!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel...g-bet.html

Buying his company back after IPO what leads to losing billions of dollars, just because he didn't like the office politics.

I just love the guy, I could kiss him.
His on the top of my list of the persons I want to meet in my life.

[Tim]

Branson is an amazing guy. Reading his books though, he comes off a little bit too much of style over substance. I couldn't finish even one and I'm a big fan. There's a lot of wisdom there too though, so it's worth taking your time to find it. What he said in Tim Ferriss' '4 hour Body' about fitness being the singlest greatest thing you can do to boost productivity changed my perspective about working out from being something I made time for, to something that made time for me.

Just noticed I have more 'Likes' than Mark... *cough* hire me *cough*

[Zac]

Neil deGrasse Tyson

I'm going to take some time to add to this post. A lot of time. But I just wanted to put this guy here. This guy is one of the most inspiring men I've ever heard speak in my life.

For starters, he is an educated man who carries himself well. He can back up the things he has to say and a big part of his life's work is to push the human species to a better place. He doesn't tolerate BS and has a pretty no nonsense but friendly and honest approach when it comes to discussing things.

[Jani]

Quote:Just noticed I have more 'Likes' than Mark... *cough* hire me *cough*

Ooh and I thought you was very conflicted about the job offer.

Quote:Reading his books though, he comes off a little bit too much of style over substance.

I understand what you mean, but his attitude is f*cking crazy.

He runs a billion dollar company and doesn't know the difference between net and gross, one of the most simple terms in economics. It's crazy. He knows that economy is about people, not fancy terms. That's something those people that win the Noble Prize of Economics never gonna realize. He should win that, not some geek.

http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_branson..._feet.html

[Mark]

I'd like to announce that I'm hiring Tim, and only Tim, so I can finally learn how to get as many forum likes as him.

[Chaos]

I know this is a little unfair but if we're talking about "role models" vs "people we admire" I can't really put a famous name on the list.

I've never put much effort on either following or trusting famous people descriptions, I can only model the role of a person I know, and specially that I know well. So for me role models will be my father and grand father mostly which are very strong role models in terms of personality, charisma and passion... apart from that I've picked most of who I am here and there without any specific names, just mimicking the behaviors I found more inspiring until they became part of myself.

On the other hand, if we're talking about specific traits or specific aspects that I've (tried to) modeled then:

- Humor, story telling, face and verbal expresion: Kevin Smith


- Body Language: Ryan Gosling, Commander Sheppard (I love the body language of all the characters in that game)
- Salsa style: Juan Matos
- Voice tonality, speech cadence and passion. Obama, Steve Jobs.
- Fashion & Style. David Beckham.

By the way Tim, if you like Zidane this is a really must have: "Like a Dream", "Comme dans un rêve"

http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-20...ntary.html

[Zac]

(03-14-2012 11:15 PM)Mark Wrote:  I'd like to announce that I'm hiring Tim, and only Tim, so I can finally learn how to get as many forum likes as him.

Can the next product be an E-book on this? I've been struggling. I spend more time in forums than with girls and I need more E-cred. I'd pay $100 USD.

[Tim]

(03-14-2012 10:53 PM)Jani Wrote:  

Quote:Just noticed I have more 'Likes' than Mark... *cough* hire me *cough*

Ooh and I thought you was very conflicted about the job offer.

I am, but I'd like the vote of confidence anyway

I'll consider whether to take it if the time comes.

---

(03-14-2012 11:15 PM)Mark Wrote:  I'd like to announce that I'm hiring Tim, and only Tim, so I can finally learn how to get as many forum likes as him.

You bastard, you did that just to get the likes! Chaos and Zac; look what he tricked you into! Trying to beat me at my own game...

[Zac]

You still have the ratio Tim.

[Mark]

Back to role models. We've mentioned Michael Jordan. I posted this video back on my old EntropyPUA blog years ago, but it's just too awesome... maybe my favorite commercial ever.





And then this is kind of funny... you have to love how competitive he is, even a decade after retiring:

[Tim]

And he can pry that from my cold, dead hands.

[Zac]

That "maybe it's my fault" video has always given me chills.

His quote

Quote:I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

helped me through a lot of shit the last 2 years when I'd beat myself up over things that went wrong for me.

All this MJ talk is making me miss cable T.V. and Basketball.

How about Steve Nash? Didn't that guy used to play semi-pro soccer in the off season of the NBA? Dude is such a boss.

KG's competitiveness and ability to bring a team together come to mind also. Damn, this thread could go on for a while. I can't wait to go all crazy later on my boy Neil up there.

[Tim]

That's my favourite ad of all time. Hands down. Gives me chills every time I watch it.

That second video shows both the good and bad sides of Jordan. Super competitive, but always a little too sensitive to criticism as well.

Another guy I greatly admire is Rafael Nadal, and I think he's worth mentioning here because he's not in the same position as Jordan or Brady, in that he isn't the most loved athlete in his chosen sport. He's always been a distant number two to Federer in terms of popularity, and I think he carried that very well. He's a very emotional player, but also has a lot of grace and is very humble. It's easier to be humble when you're in Federer's position, and the world is always with you, but Nadal has demonstrated that despite not being the favourite, even when he's winning Grand Slams and is world #1. I admire that.

[Jani]

Sebastian Vettel is also definitely a role mode. Such a talent, but so down-to-earth. It's just fantastic.
He's also on my list of the people that I want to meet.

---

Will Smith is another one of my role models.
Just listen to his wisdom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSEV6O5JoPI

And for body language is Pierce Brosnan the king, best bond ever no discussion!!
Just watch one of his movies and take close attention to his body language, it's phenomenal.

[machiavelli]

Bond. James Bond.

[IdEngager]

The first that comes to mind for me (out of famous people, not just my parents or teachers that helped me out personally) was Prince.

My Prince fandom began as a young child listening to 80s R&B with my dad, and only expanded when I got a car in high school and only had a tape deck, which resulted in me spending a lot of time flipping between classic rock radio and my dad's old cassette tapes (which was heavy on 80s rap and Prince). Prince is no doubt a weird dude. I'm not sure if he's a good person or bad person. If I ever met him, I'm not sure I could have a normal conversation with him. His last good album was either the Symbol album or Diamonds & Pearls, both of which were released back in the early 90s. At this point, I'm honestly not sure if he's a real person, even though I've seen him live.

But I still admire Prince for the following reasons:
- He's a self-made musical genius: on a technical level, he's amazingly competent, he plays some absurd amount of instruments and can rip at just about all of them. On a lot of his albums, he wrote, performed, and recorded every part. He crossed genres and could dance while doing it! But what I admire most about his musicality, even though he's very naturally talented, is that he totally maximized his talent. The dude recorded and performed tirelessly when he was young. Since he didn't need anyone else to capture his vision, he could do whatever the fuck he wanted. Write a song about getting a blowjob from a bride on her wedding day? Fuck it, we'll do it.
- He's a weirdo, but supremely confident: Prince is a weird, sorta androgynous looking, 5-3 biracial guy from Minnesota. That would make you a misfit almost anywhere. I'm a weird, emo looking, 5-7 Asian guy from California, which is less weird, but I could relate. I was too weird to relate to my Asian friends and family, too different from my white & black friends, too artsy for my engineering classmates. Prince often portrayed himself as a self-conscious underdog, which I could relate to. But you see him perform, and you saw a man of supreme confidence and supreme swag. It didn't matter if you couldn't tell if he was black or white, straight or gay. And..
- He always got the girl: just look at his hit list! And I'm not talking about Purple Rain.

As I wrote this, I realized Prince rates very high on Mark's vulnerability scale. But he's been one of my heroes forever!

[Mark]

I love Prince more than his music. He's hands down a genius. Other than Stevie Wonder, I think he's probably the most talented pop musician of the past 50 years.

And when I say musician, I mean musician, not just songwriter.

[Reesays]

For me it is Cristiano Ronaldo. Ugly looking teenager, acne and everything. Went from that to being a 10/10 on the 1-10 scale and dating the finest looking women (Nereida Gallardo is a beauty, Gemma Atkinson looks good too). Soccer skills to make him into a legend, did better at Manchester United than Beckham or anyone else and led the team to a UEFA victory. Literally the example of the type of guy I want to be. Too late for me to become a professional sports star (19 and school I went to did not have sports) but I will do something about my situation.

[trader4life]

Yeah, the Jordan video is one of my favs too. "....my failure gave me strength, my pain was my motivation....". Can pretty much be applied to everything in life, including getting better with women.

*start man crush* Another guy that can't be overlooked for body language and voice is Clooney. Not just in his roles, but in real life too (at least in interviews it seems). Needless to say he does well with the Ladies. Non-homo, but while he is a good looking dude, he is not like a model type n shit, but women love that guy. I attribute this more to his presence, eye contact, BL, etc. Notice how he 'acts' in his roles where anything is semi-confrontational. Super cool and seldom loses his composure, yet super assertive and in control. At least that's my observations. *end man crush* ha!

[Reesays]

Now a sharp contrast to Ronaldo, I like Messi overall too, though I will root against him if he ever faces Ronaldo.

I mean 5"6 guy, raised on growth hormones, regardless has managed to be a dominant force in soccer.

[Schmechti]

Michael Jackson for me, hands down.

No one could have had more women. His vulnerability, magic and status was insane.