The Next Wave…

Last August, I posted some thoughts here on BearCentral called “From An Early Age“, where I discussed some of the popular culture hunks in media who rocked my world, as a young buck.

We thought it might be interesting to take a look at today’s popular culture landscape.

Who are the hot youngish stars of movies, music, television and sports these days? I’m not talking about Justin Bieber, Leo DiCaprio and/or those tweezed, preened and plucked Abercrombie Vampires from “Twilight”, either.

I’m talking about hairy, beary guys (throwbacks, if you will) who buck the young / smooth / shaved trend in Hollywood, and proudly display their masculine features, hairy chests and facial hair for all the world to see. Even the ones who aren’t necessarily bearded, in many cases, seem to ooze testosterone from the very pours of their being, fueling the fires of fantasy for young (and old, like me!) gay fellas throughout the land!

Can today’s hunks compare to some of my childhood crushes?

Burt Reynolds, Buck Rogers, Grizzly Adams and Magnum P.I. are some pretty tough acts to follow, right?

Well, let’s see.

Here’s a quick look at some of what might be considered Hollywood’s next wave of man’s men. And, since my previous list took us only up into the late 1970s, there are a couple of burly bruisers in here who straddle the generation(s) between mine and this current one.

Suddenly I feel sort of ancient again.

But that’s okay. If pink is the new black, then “older” is the new “hot”, and most of these hunks have that special “lucky” gene that makes ‘em seem only hotter as they get older.

Here we go…

1. Zach Galifianakis

The reigning King of the Hollywood Beard, and most famous as the grizzly star of “The Hangover” and “The Hangover II”, Zach Galifianakis is one of the burliest, most thickly bearded movie stars to come along in years.

With a stocky (by Hollywood standards) body, a handsome face and and dreamy, deep blue eyes, plus a thick head of hair and that fantastic beard, Zach Galifianakis made bear-lovers stand up and take notice immediately upon his arrival on the scene.

I’ll never forget seeing his 8′ tall shaved head, and that thick, curly beard of his on posters for “The Hangover II”.

I thought, “Woof. Now THAT’s a movie poster!”

Galifianakis is a good actor, a seemingly likeable guy and a comedic genius of sorts. But, he’s so new on the scene that his staying power as a Hollywood Star remains to be seen.

I hope he sticks around, because he’s a handsome fella; very easy on the eyes. And he looks like he’d be a great kisser.

And… that’s one damned nice beard!

2. Zac Brown

Another Zac… the adorable Grammy winning singer/songwriter and frontman of Georgia-based Zac Brown Band, Zac Brown is one sexy, talented hunk.

With a gorgeous face (those pink cheeks of his just send me), hairy chest, and thick, tattooed, stocky frame, Brown is a bear-lover’s wet dream.

… not to mention his amazing beard, which I think deserves its own ZIP code. Woof.

The first time I saw Zac Brown wasn’t in concert, or on a CD, or accepting an award from the Country Music Association, or the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. It was, in fact, before I even knew he was a singer-songwriter and award-winning recording artist.

One day, I was channel surfing, and landed on the Food Network Channel, where Paula “The Baroness of Butter” Deen was making, I think, something like “Peanut Butter Pie” for him. Zac sat there in her kitchen, with his guitar on his knee and a smile on his face, sweetly serenading Paula Deen with one of his songs, while she scooped mountains of freshly whipped cream on top of the pie.

While he sang, Paula finished topping her pie, and rewarded Zac with a huge billiard-ball sized fork full, which she somewhat seductively fed to him.

He smiled, she cackled, and I thought, “Paula… you slut.”

I had no idea who Zac Brown was, at the time. All I knew was that I wanted to learn (and see) more of him.

3. Joe Rogan

Joe Rogan, a stand-up comic known mainly as the host of TV’s gross-out “I’ll-eat-anything-including-pickled-pig-testicles-for-$50,000″ competition / reality show “Fear Factor” is hot, handsome, beefy, built and… back on Prime Time TV, now that a new season of “Fear Factor” is on the air.

Rogan, who appears to spend a considerable amount of time lifting very heavy things, is also a commentator for modern-day-gladiatorial spectacle “Ultimate Fighting Championship.” You know… it’s that thing where two guys get into a cage and beat the living sh*t out of each other.

I don’t get the fighting thing, but I’ve seen a few fights on TV. (The eye candy in the form of rough, rowdy rednecks in the crowd looks almost to be worth the price of admission. Woof.)

I get Joe’s appeal, though. He’s not exactly a furball (and – again – I don’t know how much, if any, of his body hair has been sacrificed to the Gods of the bodybuilding aesthetic). Still, even if Italian Bodybuilders aren’t your thing, Joe”s an undeniably good-lookin’ guy.

Rogan, who usually sports a grizzly, thick 5-o’clock shadow, comes from Italian ancestry with a streak of Irish (two of my favorite flavors, as luck would have it). And even though he’s less padded than I prefer, I know there’s a whole generation of masculinity-lovin’ young bucks for whom Joe Rogan represents a living, breathing fantasy in the flesh.

Different strokes for different folks, right?

4. Seth Rogen

Seth Rogen, an Emmy-nominated writer for “Da Ali G Show”, exploded onto the big screen and into the public’s eye in the films “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up”, which he followed up with other films like “Funny People”, “Superbad” and “Pineapple Express”.

Hairy, adorable and sorta geeky-looking in a frumpled, unkept, frat-boy sort of way, Rogen became an unconventional sex symbol. Walt celebrated that status with a blog called “Seth Rogen on being a Bear Icon” right here on Bearcentral a few months back.

Then, just when lots of us had fallen for him, he had to go all “Hollywood” on us, undergo a diet (or fitness plan of sorts) and lost most of his bulk.

As a result, I don’t think I find him as sexy these days.

Still, he’s a funny guy, cute and smart as hell.

Tell you what: Feed him a pizza or two a week, and check back in with me in a couple of months.

5. Frank Caliendo

Humor is hot. And Frank Caliendo is one of the hottest comics working today.

Known mainly for his work on television’s comedy sketch classic “MadTV” and then “Frank TV”, Frank Caliendo is famous for his celebrity impersonations, most notably those of John Madden, George W. Bush (spot-on and brilliant), Bill Clinton, Robert Deniro, and Robin Williams.

Blessed with a short, stocky frame, adorable and expressive baby face, Caliendo also comes from Italian roots.

What is it with me and these Italian men? I can’t resist them.

I’ve never seen photos of Frank Caliendo shirtless, but he usually has the top button or two undone on his shirts, and there are always tufts of chest hair pouring up from the neckline. Naturally, this piques my interest in him all the more, because I’ve always thought Babyfaced + Hairy = WOOF.

I have a dirty mind and a vivid imagination, so I’ve assembled a pretty adorable picture in my mind of what Frank looks like naked… or at least shirtless.

Hairy or not, I think Frank Caliendo is adorable, talented and sexy. A Woofburger Supreme.

6. Ben Cohen

Professional Rugby Superstar Ben Cohen is, by almost all standards, gorgeous.

Yeah… gorgeous pretty much covers it. Beautiful face, killer bod, hairy chest, thick butt, great legs. Again… not necessarily my type, but I definitely “get” it.

He’s also one of those unique fellas whose appeal straddles genres; straight women love him, straight men admire and respect him, gay men (bears and non-bears alike) worship him, lesbians… hmmm… I’m not sure how lesbians feel about him, but my guess is they love him, too.

On top of it, he’s a good guy; a straight man, married with children, who after retiring from rugby in 2011, has focused his energies on the The Ben Cohen Stand Up Foundation he created to combat homophobia and bullying.

All those good looks, plus a good heart and noble intentions.

It’s a good thing he’s not in politics. He’s clearly not cut out for it.

7. Jeremy Piven

Hairy-chested award-winning actor Jeremy Piven has been a gay heartthrob for over decade or so, now, and a fixture in TV and film since the early 1990s. Since 2004, he’s played fast-talking Hollywood Agent Ari Gold in the HBO series “Entourage” (for which he’s won 3 Emmy Awards.)

I’ve had a mini-crush on Jeremy Piven since I saw him in “Very Bad Things”, a dark dramatic comedy in which his character accidentally kills a call-girl in the bathroom of  a Las Vegas hotel room. The sex scene right before her death was pretty hot, and we got to see lots of Piven shirtless (and, thanks to the magic of pause / freeze-frame / slo-mo, his round naked ass, as well).

Jeremy’s the perfect guy next door type; baby faced, dimple-cheeked, hairy chested and a helluva good actor.

He’s cute, but approachable looking; solid and built, but not ‘roided out. I think if he gained 20-30 pounds, he’d look really fantastic, but that’s just me. I prefer at least a little padding.

In recent years, it appears that he’s tampered with his body hair through either waxing, trimming or manscaping, which dissapoints  me.

But, hey… it’ll grow back.

8. Patrick Warburton

Ever since he exploded (and I mean that in the dirtiest, most literal sexual sense) onto my… err… the scene as David Puddy, Elaine’s clueless, loveable (often shirtless) oaf of a boyfriend in “Seinfield”, I’ve been in love with Patrick Warburton.

Even without a beard, he’s nearly perfect. A big fella, with a fantastically hairy body, booming voice and super-hero good looks, Warburton is the most curious of sex symbols. He clearly gets his appeal, yet he teases, tittilates and plays against it with a wink and a joke, all at the same time.

He seems very comfortable naked, or at least shirtless, on screen. Thank God.

He’s got the kind of body that’s thick and beefy, but looks like it could have come from having grown up on a farm as opposed to living in the gym. The hair coverage is perfect, sprawling across his belly and chest like a soft, beautiful blanket. In recent years, his chest hair has started to turn gray, which is just fine by me.

Even when Patrick falls off my radar for a while, he’s one of the few actors who, every time I see him shirtless onscreen, elicits a “holy sh*t that man is hot” reaction.

9. Alec Baldwin

The undisputed elder statesmen of the post-80s breed of bears on film is my favorite. A brilliant actor, a temperamental soul, and the chest that launched a thousand loads: Alec Baldwin.

I really can’t say enough about Alec Baldwin. Well, actually I could. But we’d be here all day.

The hottest of the four Baldwin Brothers (Daniel is right behind him, and the other two… eh.), Alec started out as a daytime Soap Star on “The Doctors”, before quickly graduating to Prime Time television, stage and feature films.

Who can forget how, as tortured evangelist  “Joshua Rush” on the Prime Time Soap “Knots Landing”, Alec Baldwin used to whack poor little Lisa Hartman around the bedroom, wearing that tight, hairy chest-revealing wife-beater? WOOF! Or how about as Canteen Boy’s scout leader on “Saturday Night Live”, co-starring Adam Sandler?

Oh. My. God.

One of the best and most acclaimed actors of his generation. Alec Baldwin’s award-winning career spans TV, film and stage. These days, he appears on stage and in film (last year’s “It’s Complicated” with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin), while starring as as TV executive Jack Donaghy on the award-winning comedy “30Rock”.

With a gorgeous face, the most magnificent hairy chest in cinematic history, and a voice that gets deeper and sexier with each passing year, Alec Baldwin represents a lifetime of wet dreams and masculine fantasies.

His confidence, his arrogance, his “reluctant movie star” schtick… it all adds up to SEXY SEXY SEXY for me.

You could say that I’m obsessed with Alec Baldwin.

Yeah… obsessed is a pretty safe assessment.

With the passage of time, Baldwin has put on weight. His hair has started to turn grey. His fur-covered six-pack has been replaced by a small keg. Some people say he’s old, fat, bloated… that he’s nowhere near the hunk he used to be.

Hogwash.

I think Alec Baldwin gets hotter and sexier, the older he gets. I love the gray, and I love the heft.

And, with my husband’s permission and blessing (which I think he’d gladly give, just to shut me up), I think I’d still sacrifice my left nut for a no-holds-barred night in a cheap motel room with Alec Baldwin.

Whew! Is it just me, or did it suddenly get really warm in here?

10. James Gandolfini

I fell into a deep and lasting lust with James Gandolfini after only one episode of “The Sopranos”  – the HBO Mob drama on which he starred from 1999 through 2007. In it, Gandfofini played Tony Soprano, the head of a mafia crime family who found himself – against archetype – often at odds with his purpose in life and his subconscious moral conflictions.

He was often shirtless (or in those fantastic wife-beaters, which he wore so well, and which showed off his broad, hairy chest), in a bathrobe, or in sexually suggestive situations with mistresses or hookers… for which I was thankful.

The son of Italian Immigrants (his mother came from Naples, his father from Borgotaro), Gandolfini absolutely oozes masculinity and sex appeal, for me.

His size, his hairiness, his baldness, his deep voice, his lumbering stroll, his confidence and even his vulnerability and emotional shortcomings all come together in a perfect storm of sexiness, creating the gentle giant we adore. A great award-winning actor, Gandolfini played Tony Soprano to dramatic perfection; both confident and conflicted, he made you want to hit him and hug him (or – ahem! – more) all in the same gesture.

Heck, even the opening credits for “The Sopranos” were erotic for me to watch. That “Woke Up this mornin’, got myself a gun…” music played as Tony drove into Jersey, a cigar in his mouth, the sun cascading through the thick hair on his forearms and knuckles, as they rest on the steering wheel of his Cadillac Escalade.

Woof. What a man. Then he went and grew a thick, sexy goatee for his role in the film “The Mexican” and turned the adoration of bear lovers for him into full-on lust.

In fact, James Gandolfini looks to be the type of guy who could grow a full beard in about 4 days; and I just love that.

This list represents only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There are lots of hunks who crossed my mind but didn’t get listed here, because I want YOU GUYS to add to the list.

Who of today’s crop of burly celebrity hunks rocks your world, and why?