Music Compilation of this beautiful French Singer Francoise Hardy..

An hour or so before the shows the photographers and press are allowed to congregate in what some of us call “holding pens”. They are sectioned off and bouncers are around to make sure no one tries to sneak in. Even you were to get the show rooms what you would see is a whole allotment of people running around. Setting chairs, building sets, checking lights, much like what you would see before a big concert. But before we get in let’s go back to how I started this series.

The first pit stop hours before the show starts / Follow My Story Photography

There I am describing the few moments of claustrophobia hell that happens before the doors open. However before we get there we are still in the first holding pen. Here photographers are chatting about almost everything but the shows. Most photographers covering fashion week are not solely just fashion or runway photographers. The group contains people from all over the world and are everything from newspaper photojournalist to friends of bloggers Some talk about their own companies, some are trying to hit on others by talking about their accomplishments, and some are taking a quick nap before killing their feet again.

About 45 minutes before the show the bouncers allow the photographers to go to holding pen 2 right outside the door. There at times there are sorters…. Who with some crazy uncrackable random code made up of designer guest list and what name sounds fancy to them sorts the photographers in an A and B group. Often times there are some A’s that shouldn’t be A’s and some B’s that shouldn’t be B’s…. (Curse you Miss Sixty sorter!!!)

Eventually everyone is sorted and already getting kind of grumpy. Way too many people are squished together and trying to position themselves when the dividers are pulled up. Of course since everyone is holding all sorts of camera and camcorder equipment you are getting squished and poked with it the whole time. Sometime while waiting the bouncer tells everyone the obligatory “The risers are full everyone! we will try to fit all of you but don’t get rowdy”. Of course if you are in position to take a quick look at the risers it’s usually only about half full at the time… Go figure :). A group gets let in with a flurry and the dividers are closed again after B group takes the space of A. Again people position and shift and turn and poke themselves to a spot where they might be able to get in. B group is usually much larger and still filled with photographers that do this as a way to make a living (so all of you people doing it for free for fun that somehow got access PLEASE take this in consideration when you are pushing others out of your way)

Holding back the stampede of photographers right before the show

And then we’re off!! As the bouncer tries in vain to calm all the B group down he/she lets the divers up. A rush of photographers cursing in 20 different languages somehow make their way through the doors. There is no real stopping them as they enter the room. Cameras, tripods and camcorders unfortunately often collide with arms and heads before the riser is finally seen. As you reach the risers you see squares of taped off sections where media members have staked their claim days before. For some they politely move to spots where they are still able to shoot while others throw away their dignity and civility and pretend they somehow do not see the tape. On top of this there is a sort of cosmic pecking order that was established in fashion weeks gone by. The house team gets the best center spot, followed by big known publications like vogue, followed by photographers that have been shooting for years, followed by pricks that curse / yell and ignore their way into their spots… And then in last like in most situations the nice guys/girls in life.

Yes this dude's head is literally right in front of my lens / Follow My Story Photography

After you squeeze yourself a spot somehow you have to manuver around the heads, elbows, and hair by standing on boxers or anything you can get yourself a little leverage with and hope that your knees don’t give out! During this long haul to the show there are many times you ask yourself what could possibly drive you to put yourself through all this toture.

See you next time!

…. For part three we get to what everyone’s been waiting for! The shows

View from BCBG Max Azria Fashion Show - F/W 09 - William Chung / Follow My Story Photography

…A photographer looks frantically around for his missing eye piece. Another one ducks under the dividers while the bouncer isn’t looking. Yelling goes back and forth, monopods are sticking you in places you don’t want to think about and the guy in front of you probably spent the last night editing instead of bathing. An hour goes by and the thought of sitting down is like a memory of days gone by. All of the sudden, there is some movement in the front. The whole group gets wide eyed as the bouncer finally unlatches the divider… And they’re off!! Like the Encierro in Spain people are desperately trying to save their equipment and themselves from getting trampled.

Welcome to the beginning of a fashion show at New York Fashion Week. Often when friends tell me how lucky I am to be covering fashion week this is the scene plays through my head. Words such as “corraled”, “holding pen”, and “sheep” are ones that come to mind when i describe the moments before actually entering the event area. From there round 2 begins for the battle of position on the riser. Alliances are made, the f bomb is thrown like it is the word of the day, and people are balanced on top of cases that are only a gust of wind away from falling to their doom.

Fernando Colon risking life and limb to show you Jill Stuart's latest designs

Through this series we hope to give you a look into the lives of runway photographers and the things they go through to bring us the latest in fashion. Comment sections will be monitored after post and we will try to answer any questions you have about covering fashion week. So lets begin!

All roads lead to the Tent!

For the duration of event, the tent is the second home of the fashion week photographer. They vary in sizes and are built on plazas, parks and even as extensions of studios. The tents are impressive structures with a massive amount of power running through them for all the lighting at the shows. Equiped with wifi, restrooms, a/c, a cafe and free beer after 5:00pm, they are the perfect place to spend upwards to 12 hours a day covering the event. I am always amazed at how fast they are built. My first fashion week I arrived in the city a day before the event was to begin only to see the tent in a state that seemed far from finished. While many designers have shows and exhibitions that happen outside the tent around the city a majority still show within the tent.

New York Fashion Week - Fall / Winter 09 - William Chung / Follow My Story Photography

The hardest working bartenders in town at NYFW - Keep that beer coming boys!

Inside the LA Fashion Week Tent - Spring / Summer 09 - William Chung / Follow My Stor Photography

Mercedes Benz SL in side the NYFW tent

Inside the tent is where the magic happens. Mercedes Benz always has their latest and greatest strewn about the tent and a handful of companies pay big bucks to get their products displayed and distributed. You can always count on some source of caffeine whether it be coffee or an energy drink to be your lifeblood throughout the week. There are usually 2 or 3 main areas section off the in tent that the designers show at. Before and After the show the inside is packed with people from all walks of life eagerly awaiting to see what the next season will bring. Impromptu interviews are happening all over and camera flashes go off every few seconds. It’s quite a site to see and soak in, almost overwhelming at times. At any moment you can bump into a random socialite, the hot new blogger in town or even a Playboy bunny!

Playboy Playmate Holly Madison at LA Fashion Week - Peter Tsai Photography

That wraps up our first installment folks! Again leave any questions below and we will do our best to answer them! Until next time!

We’re well into 2009, but it’s never too late to look ahead at some of the new gadgets and product launches we’re looking forward to during the year. With one already-launched exception, here’s our roundup of the most interesting and/or useful gadgets that will be hitting stores during this calendar year. Just try and tell us there isn’t one here ready to pry that money out of your hand.

A Very Possible Apple Netbook/E-Book/10-inch Something

This one has been flying around the rumour sites recently, but was launched into the realm of very-possible when a source in a Taiwanese touchscreen manufacturer claimed that Apple has ordered a whole ton of 10-inch touchscreens. (the image above is a mockup created by someone at Gizmodo.)

The market is new, young, and could be (like the smartphone market of two years ago) theirs to take over. What’s it going to look like? Will there be a keyboard, or is it going to be like a giant iphone? My bet is a fantastic sort of larger iphone with a slide-out keyboard of some kind. Although to make that elegant and cheap might be kind of hard, and Steve Jobs has reportedly said that it’s impossible to ship something that costs $500 or less “without it being junk”, and thus it won’t happen.

But then… what are all those touchscreens for? One theory is a competing e-book reader, which would line Apple straight up against…

Amazon’s Kindle 2.0

This one has already launched, but will likely remain one of the top gadgets of the year. Not only did Amazon completely revamp the previously-awful industrial design of their first kindle, moving it much more towards an Apple-inspired direction (why does it always take companies that are not apple several tries to pull this off?), but they continued the free wireless service and increased the battery life to an insane level.

Until an e-book comes out that you can bend like paper and throw across the room, there probably won’t be any kind of massive revolution in the way we read, but as was argued here recently, there doesn’t need to be, as people have already proven themselves incredibly willing to read small text off woefully inadequate devices. I thought about reading a novel off my little cellphone the other day, for god’s sake.

The New ‘Premium’ Netbooks

2009 is finally going to be the year where netbooks move out of their initial phase, in which they showed up on the market, sold a ton, and began taking advantage of the internet-anywhere mentality as popularized by the iPhone.

The early efforts (as chronicled by us some time ago) were good, but lacked certain things: properly sized screens, long batteries, big HDs, etc. Towards the end of the year most manufacturers began releasing upgrades, and by now the near-ubiquitous acer aspire one has been replaced with an entirely new model. Same goes for the extremely popular MSI Wind, and the EEEPC, plus all the other netbooks coming out this year.

Battery life is constantly on the rise, and Intel is releasing the next generation of their tiny Atom chips, which will mean better performance in the same tiny packages. By Christmas of this upcoming year, you’re going to see an entirely new line of great netbooks on the market. And if Apple decides to join the fray? Look for standards to jump even higher.

USB 3

Sure, it’s hardly revolutionary, but it’s useful, and sometime in 2009 we’re going to see cable connections that will make everything much, much faster. Last year intel released all the specifications for USB 3, and in a few months we’ll be seeing the first devices featuring them.

How much faster is it? Let’s say you’ve just setup a new high-definition-equipped media center in your living room (media/streaming centers are likely to really explode this year), and you want to transfer that massive 24-gig HD movie you just downloaded to it. With a normal USB 2.0 connection, you’re looking at about 17 minutes, whereas with USB 3.0, the whole thing will take just over a minute.

It’s all backwards compatible, of course, and is one more step towards a seamless, incredibly fast data transfer between applications. Of course, back when USB 2.0 was an exciting, new thing, the biggest movies could get (if you’re talking about your standard old DIVX here) was around 700megs.

Why does that matter? Well, it may very well be possible that as we continue to invent new and exciting ways to transfer all our data, we’ll just keep getting more and more of that data, in bigger and bigger sizes. So maybe we won’t ever notice higher speeds after all.

(top image from Objectified: A Documentary Film)

This article will make you smarter. We guarantee it. Sure, it’s a big claim to make. How can one article guarantee to improve your intelligence? What are we going to offer you if we can’t? Well—not much, really. It’s not like we can reimburse you for the time spent reading this, but trust us on this one.

Reading through this article just once—even just skimming it—will completely change the way you think about certain things. Why? Because here we are going to present to you the list of the most common misconceptions many people hold, and how to correct them.

After reading this article, you can go out and cut people down to size during friendly bar conversation, becoming the rationalist curmudgeon people always knew you were! But even if you don’t impart this information to anyone else, keep this in mind—we only use 10% of our brains, we should be sure that what we add to them is actual, verifiable information.

What You Thought Was Once True Might Not Be.

That’s right, it’s time for some myth-busting, some balloon-deflating, some general puncturing of sorts. It’s very, very likely that at least one of the misconceptions on this list is currently in your head as a true fact, and therefore having it debunked or corrected is a demonstrable increase in your intelligence. Let’s go!

#1: Columbus Didn’t Believe the Earth Was Flat.

That’s right. It wasn’t that he thought the earth was flat and there was some kind of risk of falling off, he was just trying to find a passage to India. From about Ancient Greece onwards, it was generally known that the Earth was actually round.

#2: Napoleon Wasn’t Short.

Probably the main myth that still surrounds Napoleon, the idea that he was really short figures in a lot of fast evaluations of his character. Surely many short people have taken some kind of solace from all that Napoleon was able to pull off, and others have taken his lack of height as a motivation behind his striving for power. Turns out he was actually 5 feet, 6.5 inches, or 1.686 metres, so there goes that idea.

#3: Scottish Clans and Much of Its Famous History are Largely a Myth.

A huge amount of Scottish history was simply worked out after the fact, and a great deal of mythical Scottish connections to various tartans and clans has been built up, over the decades, on some pretty dubious history. A lot of it was chronicled here, recently.

#4: Cooking With Alcohol Means You Will Be Consuming the Alcohol.

Although everyone likes to say that the alcohol burns off during cooking, this isn’t the case. Some of it does, but there’s no way 5 minutes in a frying pan will somehow ‘eliminate’ the alcoholic strength of a cup of white wine. No problem, really, but if you’re ever serving dinner to a recovering alcoholic, pay attention.

#5: We Use More than 10% of our Brains.

Whoops, pure myth, the idea that 90% of our brains are just sitting there. This one gets repeated plenty. When you read it at the top of this article, did it seem like something you’ve heard so many times that it just seems acceptable? It used to be the same for me.

#6: We Don’t Lose Most of our Body Heat Through the Head.

So that episode in Seinfeld where George is wearing the big Russian hat and no jacket in the middle of winter? If you were using that as a reliable guide to how to dress in December, stop it now.

#7: Eating Late at Night Does Not Make You Fatter.

Nope. Doesn’t happen. It’s based on some kind of idea that, because we’re sleeping, our body is going to convert that just-ingested food into fat, whereas during the day, when we’re awake and using more energy, our body is going to… what, exactly? Decide to use the food for something else?

When you exercise, you are burning fat that you probably took in days or weeks ago. Same goes for storing fat: your body isn’t fast enough to convert a heavy, late-night meal into an instant belly. It’s all much slower and more complicated. The Spaniards eat at 10PM or later. Are they the fattest people in the world?

#8: The Daddy Long Legs Spider Isn’t the Most Venomous in the World.

The idea that it somehow ‘can’t bite you’ but if it could, it would kill you, isn’t true. First of all, it can bite you, and second, if it does, it won’t kill you. You’ll probably barely notice it.

#9: The Inuit Don’t Have Dozens of Words for Snow.

There are more words in English that define snow (or snow-like conditions) than there are in English. This one gets pulled out in every lazy article about languages.

#10: Being Cold or Wet Doesn’t Suddenly ‘Give’ You A Cold.

This is one of the biggest medical misconceptions ever. Being cold or wet can weaken your immune system, which can make you more susceptible to the cold virus. That’s it. Wind and cold air do not have a magic reaction with our skin that suddenly gives us a cold. We don’t suddenly catch a cold from a gust of air or some water.

This one, above possibly all other misconceptions, is possibly the hardest to shake. The amount of people who will insist that they’ve gotten terrible colds directly from gusty days or some rain is absolutely legion.

There are about 100 strains of cold virus out there, so weakening your immune system can certainly make you susceptible to them. But that’s it. Want to prevent colds properly? Every time you’ve done something that could make your immune system weaker, or something that could give you a virus (been out in the cold, shaken hands with someone, all that stuff), wash your hands with soap and warm water.

Doing this a few times a day instead of worrying about magic cold-winds will prevent more colds than putting on 20 jackets ever will.

Take This Precious Information and Spread It.

And now, go out into the world and arrogantly correct every instance of these misconceptions you stumble upon! You will be hailed as the smartest, wisest sage the 21st century has ever seen, or told to shut the hell up because you’re ruining everyone’s fun. Hey, either way.

(with thanks to wikipedia.)

The Timeless Art of Girls on Walls.

We all have that undeniable urge to put up posters and photographs of naked women on our walls. Admit it. We want them up there to greet us when we walk in, to look down on us as we sleep or partake of other in-the-bed activities, and we want them just because they’re naked and nearly life-sized, damnit.

But it’s not exactly classy to head online, order up some posters from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, or Playboy, or wherever, and just throw them up on your wall. Too fraternity-house, too “Mom finally let me put a lock on my door so I can do whatever I want in here now!” kind of thing. We’re not all 15 anymore.

But wait, wait… just because we’re also trying to act like respectable, classy men (sometimes), are we forced to never put up a large-scale reproduction of the female form? Forced to never contemplate the excellency of that wonderful creation, resigned to examining it only in small, magazine format, online, or in person?

Here’s a Very Fine Solution.

No, we’re not forced to. Societal constraints might prevent us from doing so without a tinge of remorse, but we here at ryoni.com, who know all about the importance of the female body, have discovered what is surely the classiest solution that still allows you to have nearly naked women all over your walls.

It might take a little leap in taste and tolerance, but trust us, that one day when you finally move in with your girlfriend and have to start making decorating decisions together? That day will involve you putting up a representation of a nearly naked woman designed to make people slightly excited while looking at her, and your girlfriend saying “I love it!” and it staying on the wall forever.

How is that possible? Easy: pin-ups!

That’s right. There’s a whole world of glamorous art available to go up on your wall right this very moment, and practically all of it is 100x classier than any cheesy frat-house poster you’ll find elsewhere.

The King of the Pin-Ups.

For something that’s a little less arousing than a full on 2000s-era swimsuit model but still fun to look at, check out some of the unbelievable illustrated work done by the best pin-up artists of the 1940s and 50s. Alberto Vargas is one famous name, but for my money, no one is better than Gil Elvgren.

There’s something about his colour schemes, about the gorgeousness of his women, and the fact that in nearly every piece of work, they’re being ‘caught’ by the artist’s eye in some wonderful phase of undress.

He strikes the perfect balance between the pin-up aesthetic and showing skin, never getting too boring but keeping things just on the edge of tastefulness all the same, which is why his art is perfect to adorn your walls. I’ve got three of his prints on mine.

If illustrated pin-ups aren’t your style, go for actual pin-up photos. There’s a goldmine of good stuff out there, and there’s a certain voluptuous sexiness about many of these girls that you won’t find on a modern calendar.

Curvaceous, Gorgeous Women.

Standards were simply different back then, so what might look like flaws or a more compartmentalized sexiness today (generally, I’m talking about an extra few pounds here, a bit more curvaceousness there) was not only the mainstream back at the time, but was actually celebrated.

As such it means your sexy wall posters are not only more human-looking, but if you ever find yourself in the position of having to defend, for whatever reason, the fact that you have a lot of girly photos on your walls, you’ll be on much more solid ground when it’s time to make your argument.

And If Pin-Ups Don’t Do it For You?

If you’re the kind of guy who doesn’t just put up swimsuit photos on his wall but goes all out and plasters his room with posters of completely naked women, is there a tasteful option for you? Well, yes and no.

Putting up various pieces of vintage erotica, old nudes, and Playboy shots from the 50s is probably your best bet here, but a lot of the old erotica photography just isn’t going to get the eyes of today very excited.

Partially because it’s not very well done in the first place, and second because it’s just a little weird in general. Every woman photographed looks practically the same at first glance.

So unfortunately, those of you who need (or just like) full-on nudity up on your walls are probably a little out of luck when it comes to trying forsome ‘tastefulness’. But don’t worry.

If you ever decide to dial down the erotic quota that covers your wallpaper, there are plenty of extremely sexy and wonderfully sharp pieces of work out there that can keep your desire for nudie ladies intact while saving your decorating sensibilities, too.

Girls Have Secrets.

You might think you know all about the G-Spot or the ubiquitous lower-back tattoo, but do you have any idea what the Dimples of Venus are? The Whale Tail? Do you know that buttock cleavage (there’s got to be a better name for that) has been sexually attractive for centuries? If not, never fear—we’re here to tell you about a few of the strange mysteries of the female body, the uncharted territories and places that actually have real names and concepts attached to them.

A lot of these things come into common knowledge as trends—the kind of things you hear someone mention at school or work before you realize it’s a full-fledged meme, a concept that has been known for some time but has only recently got a proper name.

You Probably Know About the Sex Moves.

Maybe you’re thinking of the sex moves: the dirty sanchez, the rusty trombone, all those non-existent and generally misogynistic myths that always involve some sort of outlandish act. No—these are something else entirely, little hidden parts on the female form that have only recently gained the proper nomenclature to go with them. Check them out:

What About the Dimples of Venus?

Dimples—those little indentations that appear on the cheeks of certain people when they smile—are generally known by everybody. So what are the Dimples of Venus, then? Simple: dimples that appear at the bottom of the lower back, just where the butt starts. For a more formal explanation, I turn to the always-reliable (well, no) Wikipedia:

They are sagittally symmetrical indentations sometimes visible on the human lower back, just superior to the gluteal cleft. They are directly superficial to the twosacroiliac joints, the sites where the sacrum attaches to the ilium of the pelvis.

Hm, sure. In layman’s terms?

The term “dimples of Venus,” while informal, is a historically accepted name within the medical profession for the superficial topography of the sacroiliac joints. The Latin name is fossae lumbales laterales (”lateral lumbar indentations”). These indentations are created by a short ligament stretching between the posterior superior iliac spine and the skin.

Guess not. But it’s clear enough from this—they’re irregular and actually pretty damn desireable. Coming, as they do, at the exact point just above the g-string or bikini line, they form a rather perfect complement to what’s down below.

Or the Whale Tail?

The exact opposite of what you’re thinking, probably. When I first heard the term “Whale Tail” I thought it was referring to some kind of strange deformation of the rear end, a kind of ass that ballooned outwards and somehow, somewhere, made someone think of the tail of a whale. No.

Turns out the actual thing itself is much more appropriate to its name: just like a whale’s tail sticking out above the water, the whale tail on a female—one who has let her pants ride down somewhat, thus exposing her underwear—looks exactly like one. You could call it a Y-shaped thong, and again, according to Wikipedia, it was worn quite intentionally by various celebrities over the past decade, apparently now having fallen out of favour.

Good, I say—who wants an intentionally created piece of underwear exposure when the improvised, happenstance, random one is really the only reason it’s sexy?

And We Can’t Forget Buttock Cleavage!

This one is 100x clearer than the other two we just looked at. You know what it is, the cleavage formed at the top of the butt. But did you know there are desirable depictions of it going back almost three centuries? Check out this Danish painting by Christoffer Eckersberg. Those old Danes were surprisingly adept at prediciting our early-21st-century enjoyments (or trends, at least) when it came to the female form.

Although buttock cleavage and the whale tail have fallen out of favour recently, they’re responsible for a couple of things: besides creating a new term that’s cool in a linguistic sense, they trained our eyes on previously unknown areas of female attractiveness. Any time a ‘new cleavage’ or erogenous zone gets ‘invented’ like this, we as men benefit, as something that wasn’t so special only days before, becomes, right in front of our eyes, yet another entry in the great catalogue of female sexiness.

Moving Our Tired Bodies Once Again

Humans, like certain hibernating animals, tend to store fat during the winter and shed it in the summer. Unlike, say, grizzly bears, we do it through a complicated process known as “getting back in shape”, but it’s generally the same thing, minus the months of sleeping and consuming our own fat.

If you’re the kind of guy who’s been going to a gym all winter, this article isn’t for you. In most places, the winter is cold, dark, and often depressing. It’s fine to hit the gym as much as possible, but oftentimes we find ourselves sitting around just a little bit more, eating a bit more, and moving around a little less.

Now that spring is on the horizon (depending where you are… sorry, Canadians), you need to start thinking about getting active again, about running, exercising, walking—whatever you gotta do.

That’s why ryoni.com is here with five ways you can stop lazing around and quickly get back in shape and back into your routine.

5. Use the Better Weather to Your Advantage.

Each day brings more warmth, right? Any time it’s feasible to get out there and go for a run (people do it throughout the winter, too, but we all know they’re crazy), try it out. Notice it’s suddenly warm enough to go for a long, robust walk without taking your hat and gloves or a heavy coat? Do it!

If you stay conscious of how the weather is consistently improving after the long stretch that is winter, you’ll appreciate every single change in temperature, and with appreciation comes a desire for exploitation. Take advantage of it.

4. Longer Days Are Your Friend.

Come this time—early March—every day is giving us about 2-3 minutes of extra sunlight. You add that up, and in one week you’ve got an extra 15-20 minutes of sun. What’s 20 minutes good for?

Hell, a run, a quick walk, a fast game of catch, or pick-up anything—every week that we move closer towards summer is like a gift of free light allowing you to exercise all the easier.

3. Do Something Every Day.

This is extremely simple but often the hardest step. When coming out of a long period of inactivity, we’re often tempted to set a big plan for ourselves, with specific workdays and all the rest.

Life doesn’t ever work out that easily, and after we miss a few of our scheduled appointments or exercise plans, it’s easy to fall off the wagon. That’s why it’s more important to measure activity in a smaller way, and on a daily basis.

Didn’t have time for your run today, but have 20 extra minutes? Throw on your coat and walk, at a fast pace, for those 20. It’s better than nothing, you don’t have to do a bunch of stretching and deal with the extra details of going for a run or going to the gym, and you’ve still burned some calories and taken some steps towards getting back to the level you want. That’s all that matters, not sticking to the exact weekly schedule you made for yourself.

2. Start Small.

Besides excessive planning, which almost everyone can be guilty of, the other big sin when coming out of a long period like the winter is to overdo it in the quantity department, too. It’s really easy to setup a thorough exercise regime at your desk, followed by a stressful week of trying to follow it, finishing with eventual abandonment of the entire project.

Make a rough outline of your plan, don’t make it too big (in terms of strict schedule but also just straight-up activity levels), and leave enough flexibility, both on paper and mentally, so that if you screw up, miss a few days, or just get caught up in whatever else life is doing, it doesn’t throw you off terribly.

1. Follow the Magic Formula: Cardio/Weights.

Once you’ve internalized all those pieces of advice above, are thinking about getting active every day but not going crazy with your planning or setting excessive goals, and are taking advantage of the extra sun and warmer weather, what exactly do you do?

Do you embark on an ever-increasing amount of running per day, measuring by kilometre? Do you figure out a ton of circuit exercises and do pushups in your basement for hours instead? What’s the best option?

Go to any gym or ask anyone how you can quickly, safely, and effectively get yourself back in shape and they’ll all tell you the quickest, simplest way is a cardio/circuit mix.

Try and get 20-30 minutes of cardiovascular work in every day. That’s running, biking, elliptical training, hell, even power-walking will do it fine.

Then, three times a week, right after you’ve done that cardio, do some weight work. Pop into a gym, or figure out a series of exercises (the internet is full of them) you can do with only your own body weight at home, or buy a set of dumbbells or a resistance band.

Don’t focus exclusively on one or the other: just running or just weights won’t get you back into shape so quickly, and when it finally does, it’ll already be October.

Why This Works So Well

Ask anyone at any gym and they’ll all tell you: for a general ‘get back in shape’ plan, nothing beats the cardio/weight split. Nothing works faster and nothing feels better: every run will feel good because of the weights, and the weights won’t feel as draining because of your cardio capacity.

Any other suggestions for how to get back into it after a long winter? Let us know!

Why We Love Alcohol

Who doesn’t love drinking? I know I do, and unless you have some medical problems we don’t know about or are abstaining for religious or moral reasons, you probably love consuming fresh, delicious alcohol too.

The wonderful versatility of this drug lets us consume it in dozens of forms, so there’s one for every palate: is wine your thing? There’s plenty. Maybe the bitter taste of beer leaves you feeling more refreshed. There’s a whole world of them out there.

Delicious, Delicious Variety

Hard liquor what you need to get through the day? No worries, alcohol’s in all of those, too! And there are hundreds! Fruit-filled drinks that taste more like sugary juices than any kind of traditional alcoholic beverage? Sure, why the hell not?

With all that’s out there to choose from, and with our homes, apartments, bars, clubs, outdoor festivals, alleys, and bathrooms as suitable and enjoyable places where we can enjoy a drink, what’s stopping us from drinking all the time? I mean, really, why don’t we?

Drunk at Work

Two centuries ago, in America, the average citizen put away an absolutely unbelievable amount of gin or other strong alcohol per day. Most people were drunk—quite drunk—by the time they started the second half of their workday. Sure, workplace accidents were legion and the health benefits were nil, but so what?

Alright, maybe my dream of an alchohol-fueled workforce is outdated and irresponsibly dangerous. Maybe drinking isn’t something that needs to be the absolute center of our lives, lest we lapse into alcoholism and early deaths by the thousands. But besides those sad possibilities, there’s a much worse consequence: the dreaded hangover.

Consequences: May Range from Mild to Unbelievably Nauseating and Painful

The sickness, occasional vomiting, general feeling of complete depression: all these things alcohol leaves us as its wonderful parting gift. Is there any way around it? Sure. Don’t drink. But what if we want to keep drinking, and yet keep our jobs, our lives, our mental health?

With just that in mind, ryoni.com is now going to give you the two most fundamental, absolute, you-must-always-follow-these rules for avoiding, destroying, or getting around a hangover.

These are not little magic recipes involving eggs and wheat germ or strange other things you’ve got to consume the morning after. These are the two (and you only need two) tried-and-true ways to actually AVOID or seriously REDUCE your hangover altogether, which is all that really matters.

Rule Number One: If You Mix Alcohol, Never Increase the Strength.

In other words, if you start with beer, which is generally the lowest-alcohol drink you can find, try and stick with beer. Everyone knows that the drunker you get, the easier it is to consume, but there are other problems, hidden ones, too, if you don’t heed this rule.

See, it’s not just that you don’t feel the alcohol content when you’re downing that whiskey at the end of the night as though it was the same as that beer you had hours before. It’s also crucial for your hangover, and for the way your body deals with the alcohol itself.

Throwing a whole bunch of different drinks and alcohol percentages at your stomach mean your liver is going to be processing them at wildly varying rates, and thus will be operating at less than full capacity.

It’s Far Too Easy to Confuse Your System

Sure, if you simply drink ‘too much’ wine you’ll get plenty sick regardless, but by mixing it up, you’re confusing the hell out of your body’s system to process alcohol, which might mean that, in switching from wine to beer to vodka, you can stave off vomiting like you wouldn’t if you threw back 10 rum & cokes in an row, but you will pay the price (dearly) the next day.

Why? Because the next day, your liver and brain will still be going through that encyclopedia of alcohol you’ve thrown at them and telling you to never do it again.

Stick with one or two ‘types’, relatively close in alcohol content. Strong beer and mild wine are a good example. This can really, really, really save your ass.

It’s the difference bewteen a mildly annoying hangover you’ve gotta ’shake off’ and one that debilitates you for the day. Your workplace will thank you for making the responsible decision.

Rule Number Two: Water is Your Friend.

You’ve probably heard about the ‘chase every drink with a pint of water‘ rule. I have never, in my life, ever, seen anyone following this maxim, partly because it’s easy to forget, and secondly because the quantity of liquid inevitably slows down your alcohol consumption. It’s simply not possible to throw back that second pint when you’ve laid down a half-litre of water just beforehand.

Ah, but you say—that’s the whole point! It slows down your consumption AND hydrates you, thus conferring a double benefit! No. That’s only a benefit if you’re being responsible and thinking about every step before you take it, which goes exactly against the image of a wanton drinker, throwing back pints with reckless abandon. We’re here to drink and have fun, not keep a drink diary and file a report the next morning, fresh as dew.

Cram that Precious Water Down Your Throat

Not to worry, though, as there’s a better way to use your new best friend, mister water. Although it’s the equivalent of studying for 15 hours the night before a big exam, we’ve all done that before, right? And this time there’s no exam, just a hangover waiting to punish you. So cram away.

All you have to do is drink about 2-3 litres of water before you go to sleep. Of course, if you are stumbling around blind drunk, on the verge of vomiting or blacking out, there’s no way you are going to get that much water down, so you’re already a lost cause. But if you’re just feeling “really drunk” and have to, say, work the next day? Get over to that tap and stay there for at least a half hour.

Should You Take An Aspirin, Too?

A lot of people also swear by the painkiller method in combination with this–something NOT containing acetominophen, which will destroy your liver when it’s already extremely busy with the alcohol, but say, ibuprofen, which will just be heavy on your stomach and kidneys but leave your liver alone.

Again, no one ever really recommends taking pills after you’ve drank a lot, so we are definitely not recommending it here, just mentioning that some (reckless) people swear by it as something to reduce any potential headaches the next day. But it runs a big risk.

Back to the water, which doesn’t have much of a risk at all: it’s the key. It’s not easy, and you’re going to have to force literally pint after pint of water down your throat when the only thing you want to do is go to sleep, but in the end, I swear, your body will thank you dearly.

The Price Your Bladder Will Pay

If you have a weak bladder, you’ll be getting up once during the night to hit the bathroom, or when you wake up in the morning you are going to be absolutely racing to the toilet, but it’s a very small price to pay for a day free of the hangover.

It’s not great for your bladder, sure, but is bombing your body with alcohol and then letting it process it all during the night any better? The phyiscal pain your body goes through during a hangover is probably just as damaging as a bit of extra water you’ve gotta hold during the night (but then again, I’m no doctor).

As for your hangover, if you’ve followed this method: it changes completely. It’s still there, somewhat, but the worst manifestation you’ll probably get is a kind of mild depression, which then gets alleviated by caffeine and other alcoholic beverages you start consuming later on in the day.

A Hangover That Actually Feels Kinda Nice, We Swear

In other words, the absolute best kind of hangover, the one that brings you just a touch down and then leaves you feeling relieved and happy every time you take yourself back up (with a meal, sugar, coffee, another beer, whatever).

A final maxim: DO NOT partake of this ‘cure’ the next morning and expect miracles. By all means, if you went immediately to sleep, drink lots of water in the morning. Regardless of anything else, that’s a good idea. But don’t expect it to work like the night-time cure does.

Why This Only Works the Night Before

So do not give your body the chance to digest only alcohol all night. By the time you wake up, your brain will have been asking for water for several hours, and your body, due to your lack of intake, will have been unable to provide it. Giving it a little bit the morning after is simply not enough.

See, after your night of alcohol digestion and processing, and a lack of water, your brain will contract slightly, giving you the hangover headache that will ruin your day.

Don’t let it happen! Give your brain what it wants, annoy your bladder somewhat, and drink water BEFORE bed. Lots of it.

We welcome any other sure-fire hangover cures in the comments!

Guys like drummers. Guys especially (myself included here) like insane drummers, legends who could pound those drum-skins into complete oblivion, who had a strange, reckless, devil-may-care abandon when it came to drumming, who seemed possessed by satan and never once apologized for it. These guys were madmen, kings on earth, usually with outsized personalities that made them near-impossible to work with but amazing to listen to when all was said and done.

We’ve thought long and hard, and have now come up with what we think are the definitive five most insane drummers in history. There might be a few more technically skilled (you can find me 20 metal drummers who can probably do more insane things than these guys) and others who we just don’t feel like putting on here (Neal Peart), so take issue all you want. It doesn’t matter.

There are plenty of tributes to those wonderful studio musicians all over the internet and in every tired classic rock magazine out there, but that’s not what we’re looking for. We want that inspirational drumming, that weird drumming, that insanley over-the-top drumming that doesn’t just make you think “wow, this guy sure is talented!” but instead “holy shite my ears are melting in the face of such thundering drum power” and other such hyperbole.

These and these guys alone would make the cut for the celestial all-star drumming team, if God were somehow forced to assemble a super all-star team of monster drummers. He will be, one day.

Gene Krupa

Benny Goodman’s drummer for a long period, Krupa started the whole drummer-with-insane-facial-expressions movement, as I like to call it. One of the most entertaining classic jazz drummers ever, Krupa isn’t the most technically accomplished, but is extremely fun to watch and brings giant personality to everything he did. Check out this youtube video for proof. Or this one. There’s nothing like a sweating, insane Krupa all dressed up in his 1940s-era band uniform, going absolutely mad on a minimalist jazz kit.

Buddy Rich

Our other jazz choice. Although I think other drummers have better recorded stuff, Buddy Rich is a classic oversized musician, with the domineering personality, the straight-A asshole behaviour pattern, and the madman drumming chops to back it all up. Here he is battling Animal from the Muppet Show (in Italian, no less). There are secret recordings of Buddy Rich’s rants against his bandmates, several of which were cherished for many years by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, who actually used direct lines of his on Seinfeld. You can hear some of those classic tapes here. A true madman.

Keith Moon

The only drummer on this list to actually be certified insane (no), Ketih Moon was a psychopathic musician who did for rock drumming what… well, what a ton of other innovators did for a bunch of other instruments. Mostly using a stripped-down kit like his jazz heroes, Moon managed to make the Who’s early recordings sound so damn full of energy and life, thanks to his insane rolls and incredible speed, that he became an instant legend. The best story ever about him: he never owned a drumset, and would only practice in studios or at other people’s houses before the Who were about to go out on tour. He’d forget most of what he knew, but by the time he re-learned everything (in a matter of days) he was better than before. See him here.

Terry Bozzio

Frank Zappa’s drummer. I guess that’s all that needs to really be said, since Frank Zappa was rather insane, thus making Terry Bozzio equally nuts when onstage with him. Check out this clip from Baby Snakes to see him in action. Youtube is full of slightly boring footage of Bozzio setting up his billion-drum set and drumming for Korn and all the rest of it, but to really appreciate the weirdness of this guy, you have to see him playing with Zappa. Just watch this clip and listen to the lyrics of this song, and try to think of another mainstream drummer who’s done stuff like this before. Ignore his later stuff and he easily fits on this list.

Jon Bonham

Led Zeppelin’s drummer was booming and massive and didn’t really play with the technical skills of the rest of these guys, but was amazing because he pounded away behind a bunch of Led Zeppelin’s heaviest, loudest stuff, and his massively long solos for Moby Dick are, instead of being technical examples of superfast drumming, big showcases for how much he could pound the hell out of his drumkit. Like Keith Moon, he died relatively young from some excessive drinking and partying, but while he was around, he was a massive force behind the drums. Check out a part of Moby Dick here, and listen to a song like Rock and Roll from the remastered How the West Was Won (youtube clip here, but you need good quality for this stuff, so buy it) to understand how loud and awesome he could get.

Thoughts, comments, other drummers you think fit this bill? Tell us! Now!

That’s right, here are some of the sexiest cities in Europe, the legendary and the newly-established hotspots where you can arrive, hit the town, and… get it on. Some are classics, some are unexpected, all are full of romantic potetntial you’d be a fool to squander.

Rome

Ah, this is my current city, and thus the one that comes first. It’s the eternal city, as they say, but not necessarily known as the most romantic place on earth—the chaos and improvisational nature of Italian life mean it’s not as easily insta-romantic as, say, Paris. But, hey, it’s Rome, so don’t worry.

If You’ve Already Got a Girl: Head out for a relaxing walk through some of Rome’s classic old neighbourhoods, ones like Trastevere and Testaccio, until you settle upon a small Osteria for dinner. Use a site like spottedbylocals to pick one that’s authentic and delicious. After dinner, hop in a cab and get back into the historical center, grab a gelato by the Pantheon, and then walk through the small streets until you’re back at your hotel/hostel. Before you go in for the night, throw back a 1-euro coffee in a nearby bar for some extra strength. Get it corretto (correct, which means with a shot of alcohol in it) and you’ll be set.

If You Don’t: It’s legal to drink outdoors in Rome, but if you’re a tourist here, it’s best not to go overboard (actually, it’s currently illegal after 9PM, but hopefully only for a temporary period). They say you’re stuck chatting up other tourists and travellers because of the inaccessible, overly protected ‘Italian female’, but that’s just an old stereotype. Head to San Lorenzo, the student district by the train station, use a site like Roma Zero to find a club night, show, or bar with a DJ that fits what you like, and go in. Drink, dance, and talk to the Italians and see what happens.

Paris

What to say about Paris.. it’s expensive, one of the most touristed destinations on the planet, but also one of the most incredible cities ever. Can you break through the cliched expectations of French romance and actually pull something off? Of course you can.

If You’ve Already Got a Girl: You’ve got it easy. Get some good beer at a Brasserie in the afternoon, hit up a chocolate shop or two and keep walking it off, eat somewhere in the Marais district (near the Picasso museum), hit up another brasserie for some more wine, take a bottle to go, and end your night on the Pont Des Artistes, spanning the Seine. Tons of young people go and sit there until 2AM, eating, drinking, singing, laughing, making out. It’s romantic, fun, drunk, and beautiful as all hell, and by the time you get back to your bed you’ll both be going mad.

If You Don’t: Head over to the Bastille district, grab a beer or two with whoever you’re with on the steps of the Opera House (the new, less beautiful one), then head up the street to the wonderful concentration of bars there. Move in and out, drinking, chatting, embarassing yourself in French, and see what happens. Far better here than wandering the now-deserted streets of the very center, wondering where all the action is. Now you know.

Stockholm

Cliches abound about Swedish women, although the fact that many of them are blonde and tall and quite beautiful seems to be relatively accurate. You’re going to spend a lot of cash here, so come prepared.

If You’ve Already Got a Girl: You need to keep just one single thing in mind. Don’t let her catch you staring at the Swedish girls walking, drinking, or dancing nearby. Seriously, this is way harder than it seems, and although the same kind of thing can happen in Spain or Italy or other countries, there’s something about Sweden (and especially Stockholm) that puts a guy into a guy of overload as soon as he arrives. If a nice vacation with your girlfriend is what you’re after, just stay alert is all I’m saying.

If You Don’t: Well, the previous portion kinda answered this question, did it not? Get your 400 euros or however much you plan on spending at the various Stockholm clubs or bars, head out to one that suits your taste (again, do your research here), and take advantage of the wonderful Swedish education system that means everyone there is already going to be speaking a ridiculously good level of English. Use their blinding attractiveness to your advantage—just pretend they’re all so beautiful and inaccessible that you might as well go for broke and just do whatever comes into your mind (within reason, of course), and it’ll work to your advantage.

Berlin

This is a different kind of vibe. Berlin isn’t a city that automatically springs to mind when you think of some great European sexy-party destination, but I want to explain why it is.

If You’ve Already Got a Girl: Make sure she’s one who’s seen and enjoyed Cabaret a few times, and then head out on a tour of Weimar-era Berlin in all its decadent, degraded, hedonistic glory. By the time you’re done staring at transexual dancers and decadent erotic paintings by George Grosz, and have thrown back a few fine German beers, both of you are going to be running back to your hotel to get up to all kinds of strange things.

If You Don’t: Here’s where you’ve gotta get specific—Berlin has a bar or club or entire scene devoted to just about every aesthetic, sexual, or lifestyle choice you could possibly imagine for yourself, so take a look at some listings and try to envision the kind of girl you find the most irresistible. Is it an arch indie-hipster type at a dance/punk club, a sort-of-gothic girl who has about 50 unbelievably amazing tattoos, or a stay-up-all-night Berlin party girl who hasn’t stopped dancing since that giant rave in the 90s? All these types and more are out there, so treat Berlin like the ultimate chance to diversify or specify.

Madrid

Ah, Spain. Long black hair and beautiful accents speaking a beautiful language and eyes that will destroy you as soon as you step off the plane. Don’t be afraid.

If You’ve Already Got a Girl: Like before—food, good drinks, walks around the town, followed by you-know-what back at the hotel. This site is just invaluable for this kind of thing. Sometimes the expectation of southern-European romance can work against you, and what should be a romantic and really nice time in a mediterranean city can get wrecked up by the common pitfalls of tourism (transportation headaches, confusion with the city, etc.). Keep a relaxed attitude and don’t try and pack too many common tourist-sites into one day. All the best times (day and night) on a trip come from the unexpected discoveries you make on the trip, not from gawking at the same thing 40 million other people have photographed that year. Remember it and you’ll be far better off in every sense.

If You Don’t: Generally, follow the same rules that you might in Rome—find where the students go and head there. If you find a Botellón in progress, try and join it. What’s a Botellón, you might ask? This is where tons of young Spaniards get together and drink outdoors with beer, wine, and alcohol bought at a supermarket or nearby store instead of going to a bar. It’s slowly being outlawed throughout Spain, so take advantage of a dying tradition, have a few drinks with some beautiful Spaniards, and use that liquid courage to start conversations with them. Spain is generally full of warm and friendly people (yeah, another stereotype, but if you’re out for a few drinks with students it’s generally true) and you shouldn’t have too much trouble.

That’s it, five western-european cities, five of the best places in the world to find some love, whether for a night or something much longer. Did we miss one? Of course we missed one. We missed about 100. Let us know which ones in the comments!

Alright, we’re back with our second part of how to take things to a physical level when you’re out on a date or just stuck, in general, in a situation that you know could be way better but so far isn’t. If you missed our first part, check it out here.

Remember the crucial things:

People are smart enough to see through most tricks, so that’s not what these are. Tricks don’t work. These are useful methods to integrate into your already-interesting personality, not pre-fab sets of behaviour you can just expect to work like magic. And so, with that out of the way, on with the show:

The Announcement

This one is tricky but works extremely well, because it can be really disarming. If you think the moment is right to, say, try and kiss her (if you’ve been doing some of the other things already, or it just seems like a charged moment and you’re face to face), but you don’t want to lean in without at least something, this is useful.

It not only cuts the pre-kiss tension (which gets built up afterwards in a different way during the kiss), but it leaves you an ‘out’ that a straight-up kiss-attempt won’t grant you.

What you need to do is announce what you’re going to do just before you do it, something relaxed and slightly ironic, like “I think I’m gonna kiss you right now” or some other silliness. And then leave about one second as you move in, which is—if you’re fast—enough time to read how she’s reacting, and also gives her a bit of time to reject it, if that’s the case.

If she says something tough like “oh, not yet” or “not… right now”, don’t fall apart. Be smart about it. Don’t say anything like “fine” or “I see” or “why?” These are all terrible. Just make another joke in the most relaxed way you can, something like “Ah.. good I announced it first, then” and move on immediately. Whatever you do, don’t dwell on what just happened if it didn’t work out. Immediately say something like “so listen” in a positive tone and start in on something else. ASAP. You’ll be fine.

Of course if you don’t get rejected, this method is a hell of a lot more charming than just a blind attempt with your head and mouth.

Using Circumstances

If you find yourself crammed into a little taxi or sharing an armrest at a movie theatre, squeezing together on a subway car or kept in close proximity by how busy the sidewalk is, use this to your advantage. But do it smartly. Don’t act like a little kid winning a prize, treating this unforseen gift of physical closeness as a kind of free pass that allows you to skip a step in moving things forward.

These situations are always really tricky: you don’t want to call too much attention to how close the two of you are for fear of seeming creepy, and you don’t want to ignore it outright, since that’s boring.

Try and walk the fine line in-between the two. If you’re the type that can make a tension-defusing joke here (ie if you can say “hmm, this is wonderfully awkward” without sounding dumb), do it. If not, good luck—this is often the hardest part.

And Sometimes You Don’t

Sometimes the best way to get physical next time is by realizing when it isn’t your time at the moment. Or maybe ever. Don’t worry. You’re a chivalrous dude, not a grunting pig.

Use your intelligence, and if it’s not in the cards, if your other attempts have been met by gentle refuffs, drop it immediately and seriously devote your attention to something else for the evening. If you can’t do that, if your expectations of physical romance can make you completely unfocused once they don’t work out, you’ve got some prioritizing to do.

But if you can move on and still have a great time, things will work out for you. And if they don’t, ultimately? So what. You were mature about it regardless. Don’t pout and you’ll be a better guy for it.

To Conclude

Of course this goes without saying, but every piece of dating/sex advice sorta requires this as a disclaimer, and although it’s a sad situation to always have to put this in, it’s necessary: if she has been rebuffing you in a not-so-gentle way and you’re still trying, stop at once. Go home and re-evaluate what the hell it is you think you’re doing as a man before going on another date and subjecting the opposite sex to your BS.

But that’s not you, right? No, and thank God. Go out there, and actually enjoy the uncertainty, that thrill at the beginning when it’s all on the line, when you’ve gotta take things to the next level and the challenge is to figure out which way (and there are many, as we’ve seen) you’re gonna do it. Be a smart man in every way you can.

Check out the first part of this article here.

Alright, it’s almost Valentine’s Day. Despite our previous article indicating the five things you should not do on this Day—whatever your feelings towards the ‘holiday’ itself—there are still plenty of you that are likely going to do something romantic that day. Hell, I count myself in among that number, even though I like railing against the entirely unnecessary existence of a ‘romance holiday’ in the first place.

How, exactly, to get physical?

But since this day does exist, and since relentless coverage forces everyone, however fleetingly, to acknowledge the concept of sex, love, and romance even for a passing second, why not take advantage of the opportunity and go over some crucial tips on how to take things to a physical level when out on a date. This probably won’t be a Valentine’s Day date, as those are usually for couples. But hey, you never know.

No, this isn’t a complicated seduction website.

This isn’t going to be some elaborate seduction seminar or complicated series of difficult-to-remember conversation moves. For those of you religiously following the ’seduction’ community, more power to you. But this article is for the guys who either a) find the idea of using a full-on behavioural/seduction manual counterproductive to being themselves, or b) guys who already have a bit of game but sometimes have trouble taking it to the next level.

It’s normal; part of the unbelievable fun of seduction and sex is the uncertainty of it all, the notion that for every big chance you might get to spend the night with someone you’ve been after, there’s an equally great chance you could screw it all up. Even—no, especially—with the best of intentions.

With that in mind, here are a few ways to go about taking things to a physical level without a) being an asshole, b) being a passive, unattractive pushover, or c) screwing it all up in the end.

First: one thing to keep in mind before we begin.

Before the list, though, I ask you to keep one thing in mind first, one thing over and above any individual pieces of advice or methods, and that is:

People are smart enough to see through most tricks, so that’s not what these are. Tricks don’t work. A girl is going to know if you’re acting against your nature. She’s going to know if you’re faking a macho personality just to try and impress her, and she’s going to know if you’re hiding a misogynistic side as you attempt to seem ‘down’ with feminism. Don’t act silly.

Now wait, you say—is a girl always going to pick up on this? Well, no. There are plenty of girls who won’t, plenty of girls who really do want that silly macho personality with absolutely nothing behind it. But put it this way: you shouldn’t be going after them, they who are woefully attracted to straight-up, brutally simplistic machismo with no charm attached. You’re an intelligent guy, right? There are millions of intelligent girls, too. They deserve your attention.

Plus: over-the-top macho dudes don’t bother reading articles like this, because they’re putting in hours at the gym, waxing their scrotums, or chauvinistically picking up a certain type of woman who can’t see even a tiny bit through the silly exterior. Leave them to it, and everyone’s happy.

So that means don’t try for women who pose for various racing calendars in skimpy bikinis. By all means, stare at them, enjoy them, all the rest—but don’t chase after them. There’s a whole squad of guys out there already doing it, and they’re spending so many sad, depressing hours on their own appearances that it’s better to just leave well enough alone.

And now, to the advice.

Ok, with that out of the way: you’re out or at home with a girl, things are going well, and you’re in that limbo zone between flirting and making a physical move. How do you do it?

Number 1: Keep it Light

This is one of the most effective methods of seduction in general. If you joke around—play little games, try and make jokes about how, say, she’s gonna be obligated to kiss you on the cheek if you finish that piece of cake first, just little, silly things like that. But keep it light.

Don’t make it obvious that you’re trying to escalate things through a desperate series of little games unless the games are actually fun, or flow somewhat organically out of the conversation you’re having.

In other words: if you suddenly propose a silly game in the middle of a depressing movie you’re both watching (probably not the best choice for a date in the first place), you’re not doing it right. It’s got to flow naturally.

That’s the thing: if any of these moves become obvious, change your course. Obvious is different than noticeable, of course. You want your moves to be noticed—hell, you’re trying to get physical here, damnit—but you don’t want obvious, because obvious is just one small step above desperate, my friend, and that we do not want.

Number 2: The Compliment-Touch

Touch her arm, hand, elbow, shoulder, very lightly, as you compliment on her on something. There are specific rules that go with this one:

• You have to be able to read very well here. There are times when it works, times when it should not be tried. Use your intuition.
• Do it with your fingertip first in an almost-unnoticable way. If it works, you’ve broken the tension and set a kind of electric charge between you.
• This sets up a pattern. Once she does it back, take that as a signal to try it again. If she has absolutely zero response or a negative response, move on.

This is one of the most direct physical moves there is, as it involves touching without many previous circumstances already in place. Read those rules over again.

They aren’t things you have to keep in your head at all times (none of this advice works if you’re constantly trying to remember it all while dating, and acting like a weird seduction-robot), but they are things that stem naturally from acting like this, things that contribute to an overall impression of charm and smoothness you’re trying to cultivate.

More to Come

Click here for part 2 of this article, the other big chunk of remaining advice (we can’t drop too much on you at once) and remember: the one rule to keep in your head above all else is naturalness. No one single piece of advice, no single move or word or gesture will ever compensate for the confidence you project when you’re acting natural, when the things you’re doing on a date look like things you’ve done before, not things you read about once on a website.

That should be at the very front of your mind—until it disappears because it’s second nature (ah, there’s that natural word again).