The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: The Manival Edition

Over the past few months, I’ve noticed a proliferation of man blogs and blog posts dedicated to men’s issues. Lots of these sites provide great content on being a better man. I think it’s high time we started a blog carnival for posts dedicated to man stuff. Therefore, I submit to the man blog community the creation of “The Manival.”

What’s a blog carnival?

A blog carnival is basically an aggregation of the best posts on a given topic. Each week, a different blog hosts the carnival, highlighting posts other bloggers have submitted. It’s a way bloggers can recognize each other’s efforts, spread the word about their blog, and create more conversation in their niche. Readers benefit because they’re introduced to new content from other blogs.

The Manival

I propose that The Manival be a weekly blog carnival, posted every Monday morning. I plan to host the first one on Monday, April 28, 2008. If you have a post that you would like to include in the first edition of the Manival, please use this handy submission form here. I’ll be taking submissions until April 27 at 4PM.

If you’re interested in hosting The Manival, please let me know. Hosting is a great way to bring new traffic and publicity to your site.

Now time for some links:

The 25 most difficult questions I found this while stumbling the other day. It offers suggested ways to answer some of the most difficult job interview questions you may encounter.

The 7 deadly sins of résumé design (@ life clever) Not only is the content of your resume important, but also the way it looks. Make a great first impression by avoiding these resume design mishaps.

The Cult of Abundance, Goal Autoimmune Disorder, & Abundance 2.0 (@ the growing life) This was a very thoughtful post from Clay at the Growing Life. I think he’s spot on with his critiques of the abundance cult that books like “The Secret” have created.

The Holy Trinity of Fitness (@ schaefer’s blog) Push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. These three simple exercises can give you a quick and effective workout.

10 Ways to Be A Good Husband (@ a good husband) This is a solid list of ways you can be a better husband.

The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: Chilifest Edition

Last night I attended the annual Chilifest put on by my law school. Lots of great chili this year. I definitely ate too much. An organization that I’m a part of at school was defending their two year winning streak. Unfortunately, we lost. There’s always next year.

Now for some links:

Saving face - not just for the Japanese (@ just like a man) No one wants to look like an ass in front of people. Saving face is a phrase imported from China. In China people try to avoid making the other person look bad when engaged in a disagreement. This post puts a Western spin on the concept.

25 Ways to Simplify Your Life with Kids (@ zen habits) If you have kids, this is a great resource how to make your life easier.

The First Money Talk: The When and How of a Conversation Every Couple Needs to Have (@ the simple dollar) Studies have shown that money is one of the leading causes of divorce. Do some preemption by sitting down with your wife and have a frank discussion about your finances. The earlier the better.

Powerful Networking Through Business Card Etiquette (@ just a guy thing) This is a great post from Ian on the etiquette of business card use. He also explains how you can use business cards to advance your career.

The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: Share Your Links Edition

Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails from readers sharing links to different articles that they think AoM readers would find interesting. I really appreciate this. It makes my job finding links for the weekly roundup much easier. However, sorting through all the e-mails does take up quite a bit of time. To facilitate link sharing, I have set up a del.icio.us account under the username art_of_manliness.

What’s del.icio.us? Del.icio.us is a website that allows you to keep links of your favorite articles, blogs, recipes, ect. and access them from any computer on the web.  It also allows you to share favorite sites with your friends and family.

To set up a del.icio.us account, go to the how to get started with del.icio.us page, and follow the instructions. Then, if you come across a site that you think would be good for the weekly roundups mark it “for: art_of_manliness” (without the quotes). Next time I log into my del.icio.us account, I’ll see the link. If I think it would be something cool to share, I’ll include it in the weekly roundup. If you have a blog, feel free to send me links to posts you’d like to share with AoM readers.

Now for today’s links:

RossTraining.com Blog. If you’re looking to get into shape, this is the place to go.  RossTraining offers articles and videos on high intense, low-tech workouts. Most of the exercises RossTraining suggests do not require expensive equipment or weights, but they’ll still kick your ass.

An Enduring Measure of Fitness: The Simple Push-Up (@ nytimes). Ah, the push-up. It’s an old standard that gym classes and football coaches have been using for decades to strengthen athletes. This New York Times article discusses why the push-up is the ultimate fitness barometer. Also check out Cameron Schaefer’s blog. He wrote an excellent article on the how’ s and why’s of the push-up. (@ schaefer’s blog)

5 Manly Sports That Will Seriously Kick Your Ass (@ just a guy thing) This is a pretty awesome list. I’m thinking about building a tough guy survival course in my back yard.

Stuff White People Like This has nothing to do with manliness, but it’s pretty damn funny. Everyday the author of this blog presents a product or thing that white people seriously dig. Examples include expensive sandwiches, water bottles, and having gay friends.

The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: LifeRemix and Facebook Application Edition

I’m honored to announce that The Art of Manliness has been invited to join LifeRemix, a network of excellent personal enrichment blogs. LifeRemix compiles the headlines from the best blogs on productivity, personal development, work/family balance, and organization. Some of the blogs in the network include Zen Habits, Get Rich Slowly, LifeDev, and The Cranking Widgets Blog. You can see the full list of participating blogs here.

What does this mean to you the reader? Not much really. LifeRemix will help AoM continue to grow and gain exposure to new readers who will hopefully contribute the conversation we’ve got going on here.

Also, I’ve created an AoM Facebook Application. Why? Well, I know many of you don’t use RSS readers or don’t like getting email updates. So, I wanted to provide an easy way for people to keep updated on AoM. After you install it, you’ll be able to see when we’ve updated the site with a new article.

The other reason is that a Facebok app is an easy way for people to share a favorite article with their friends on Facebook. If you see an article you like, you can just click “share” and you’ll be able to pick which friends to send it to. It’s just one more way you all can help spread the word about AoM.

OK, enough business. Let’s look at some links.

Healthy, Wealthy, and DEAD?: 5 Reasons Why Getting Up Early Might be Harmful (@ the growing life) If you read most personal development blogs, most of them discuss ad infinitum about the benefits of getting up early. Clay at The Growing Life questions this advice and argues waking up early might be harmful to you. Personally, I’m an early riser. When I sleep more than 7 hours, I’m groggy the rest of the day. I think the best advice is to just listen to your body.

Heartbreak Hotel: How to Turn Rejection Into Triumph (@ life dev) This is a great article on how to turn failure into success. You want to live a great life? Get used to failure.  As Teddy Roosevelt said:

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

What did you parents give you? (@ a daring adventure via scott h young) People are more likely to attribute their flaws to their parents, but not their strengths. First, if you’re doing this, stop. Take responsibility for your problems. Second, give your folks a call and thank them for attributes they helped you develop.

How to Beat the Competition (@ steve pavlina) Steve Pavlina reminds us what it takes to beat the competition: do what your competition won’t do.

To Revive Hunting, States Turn to the Classroom (@ nytimes) Hunting has been on the decline for the past three decades. I’m sure all the snooty urbanite environmentalists who never spend time in nature think this is a great thing. But hunting is an important part of wildlife management. In order to counter the trend many states are creating hunting classes in schools. If they had this when I was in school, I would totally enroll.

The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: New Server Edition

Today is the first whole day with the new host. Things appear to be going well. The switch was a little more rough than I wanted it to be., but what are you going to do? The new host should be able to handle the large amounts of traffic AoM has been getting these past few weeks and hopefully be able to handle the site’s continued growth.

Let’s look at some links:

Gals make passes at guys who wash glasses Married men: do you want to improve your sex life in your marriage? Start doing the laundry. Studies have shown that men who help out around the house, get more sex. The lust women have for men who do chores around the house can be seen in a new book called Porn for Women. The book features fully clothed men doing housework.

Through being cool Besides being a place to sell you’re old Bowflex, you can also find essays on Craigslist. This one was brought to my attention by AoM reader, Aidan. This short essay hits a lot of issues. What stuck out to me was the need for American men to stop caring what other people think of them (or “trying to be cool”), the need for American men to develop stronger friendships with other men, and the need for American men to learn to accept rejection. Give it a read. It’s short, but packs in a lot of good points. (@ craigslist) (via aidan)

Screw Uncle Sam - Take Your Tax Deductions! Tax Day in the U.S. is fast approaching. Have you started preparing your taxes? If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out Andrew Flusche’s article on how to keep more of your money from Uncle Sam. (@ legal andrew)

In Defense of Polygamy The author of this article argues that polygamy is to marriage is what the free market economy is to the economy. So if you believe in monogamy, you’re a Commie fink. I don’t think my wife would buy this guy’s arguments. (@ msn lifestyle)

The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: Law Review Edition

In addition to authoring this blog, I’m also attending law school. I’m on the law review at my school and part of my duties consist of checking and editing citations for articles that have been submitted for publication. It’s the most tedious, mind numbing activity I’ve ever done in my life. What makes it worse is legal professors can be lazy, and I mean really lazy, with their research. Take the article I’m working on now. The author cites a fact and what does she give me to support it? Just the name of the author. I also have one here where the author quotes a book. Yet instead of giving an exact pagepoint, the author just cites the entire book.

This is going to be a long weekend.

Let’s look at some links.

Gentlemen, 5 Easy Steps to Living Long and Well (@ ny times) The title says it all. Check it out.

The answer to the toughest interview question (@ brazen carrerist) This is a helpful resource on how to answer the question that pops up in most job interviews “How much money do you want?”

9 Tips to Clean Your Mental Palette (@ scott h. young) Feeling like your brain is fried? Check this article out on how to clear it so you can get more productive.

Investing in Yourself: Mental and Spiritual Health (@ the simple dollar) Want to get your life together? Spend some time investing in your mental and spiritual health. Trent at The Simple Dollar offers some suggestions on you can. Personally, I try to carve out time for prayer and scripture study. I haven’t been very good about it lately. When I’m really things together, I try to make time for meditation. Even if you’re not religious, finding time to mediate and ponder on your life can do wonders for clearing your head and helping you feel more together.

How to Play Well With Others: At Work (@ newly corporate) Success in the corporate world depends on how well you get along with others. This article from Newly Corporate offers some tips on how to do better at it.

The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: Indiana Jones IV Trailer Edition

This week, the trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie was released. It looks pretty dang awesome. Harrison Ford is in surprisingly good shape for a 65 year old. I can’t wait to see it.

Now for some links.

Hand-wringing About American Culture - Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge? (@ nytimes.com) Americans are getting dumber and dumber each year. A democratic republic like the United States requires a well educated citizenry. Unfortunately, according to new studies Americans aren’t just apathetic to knowledge about the world around them, they’re getting down right hostile. You see this especially among young men. The general attitude is that it’s not manly to be smart. Oh yeah? Teddy Roosevelt read thousands of books in different languages during his life time and he killed a cougar with his bare hands. How much more manly can you get?

Love is a numbers game: Crack the code (@ msnbc.com) If you want to find that special someone, you’re going to have to date a lot of women. We’ve written about this before: stop hanging out with women and start dating them.
Freerunning For Fitness (@ just a guy thing) I’m sure many of you have seen the YouTube videos of guys doing freeruning. Basically, freerunning involves running through urban settings while jumping and doing other acrobatic moves over obstacles. Just a Guy Thing has a nice write up on how you can start using freerunning as a fitness regimen.

Nine Simple Ways to Stand Out in Your Career (@ the simple dollar) Do you feel like you’re stuck in a dead end job? Well, Trent at The Simple Dollar has come up with nine things you can do today to stand out and get moving in your career.

The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: Barber Shop Edition

Photo by Alan C.

For the past few months, I’ve been looking for a barber shop to go to. Sadly, barber shops have been on the decline in the United States. Barber shops used to be a place where a man could get a sharp haircut, a clean shave and decent conversation. Because of the disappearance of barber shops men have been forced to get their haircut at salon’s by cosmetologists whose training is geared towards cutting women’s hair. Every time I’ve gone to a place like this, I’ve always walked away with a bad haircut.

Thankfully, I found a barber shop here in town. Monty’s the barber I had. Barbering has been a family tradition in Monty’s family for three generations. Everything Monty knows, he learned from his grandfather. The experience was great. I shot the breeze with the other barbers and the other clients in the shop and I got an awesome haircut. What I liked most about the cut was he used hot lather and a single blade razor to clean up the area on my neck and around my ears. Pretty damn smooth. Monty does hot lather shaves with the single blade razor as well. I’ll be going back soon to get that done.

Now for some links.

Advent of the Mustache. Mustaches are back. Get in touch with your inner Burt Reynolds. (@ msn men)

The Fitness and State of Mind of a Royal Marines Commando. The Royal Marines are hard core. This guide provides you with an awesome guide on how to workout like them. (@ just a guy thing)

Living Indubiously. This site is authored by two brothers with cystic fibrosis. These guys aren’t having pitty parties about the cards they’ve been dealt. They’re taking life by the horns and kicking its ass. Much like Teddy Roosevelt, they haven’t let their sickness get them down through grit and hard work. If you need some inspiration to get off your butt and do something with your life, check this site out. (@ living indubiously)

The Choice-Minimal Lifestyle: 6 Formulas for More Output and Less Overwhelm. Simplicity is a manly virtue. Plato, Emerson, and the Spartans all preached simplicity as the best way to develop manliness. This post from Tim Ferris is all about it simplifying so you can accomplish more. (@ the four hour work week)

Working Smarter, No Matter Your Income Level or Economic Situation. Hard work is necessary but not sufficient to get ahead in life. You also have to work smart. Trent from the Simple Dollar has given a great write up on what you can do to work smarter and get ahead in life. (@ the simple dollar)

What should I tell my children if they were to ask me “How to choose the right spouse?” Choosing a spouse is probably the most important decision you’ll ever make. I’m blessed enough to have an awesome wife. Seriously, I don’t know where I would be with out her. Read this post for some great advice on choosing a spouse. (@ father sez)

Love and Care of the GREAT KILT Kilts are manly. Ever see Braveheart? Here’s a how to guide on how to put on a kilt and how to take care of it.

The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: Super Bowl XLII Edition

Super Bowl XLII (that’s 42 for those of you who don’t know Roman Numerals) is tomorrow. We’ve got the undefeated New England Patriots going up against the New York Giants. This is a big game for the Patriots. If they win, they’ll be the first undefeated NFL team in history since the ‘73 Dolphins. With that comes the bragging rights of being called one of the “Greatest Football Teams In History.” If they lose, they’ll be remembered forever as the “Undefeated Team That Choked In the Super Bowl.” What are your predictions? Post ‘em in the comments.

Now for some linkage.

100 Great Movies Every Guy MUST See (@ just a guy thing)

NY Giants Get Some Super Bowl Tips (@ review in sports)

10 Things You Should Never Say To a Woman (@ msn lifestyle for men)

Men and Make-up: How Not to Glisten When Your Stock Plummets (@ the dermatology blog)

How To Delete Email Addiction (@ think simple now)

Relax Like a Pro: 5 Steps to Hacking Your Sleep (@ four hour work week)

The Art Of Manliness Weekly Roundup: There Will Be Blood Edition

There Will Be Blood is finally playing where I live and I can’t wait to see it. The film follows a turn of the century silver miner who becomes a self-made oil tycoon wildcatting in the California desert. The film captures perfectly what greed and capitalism taken to the extreme can do to a man. Daniel Day-Lewis plays the lead character and is up for an Oscar nomination. I hope he gets. He’s already been jipped an Oscar for his portrayal of Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York.

Now for some interesting links.

Hemingway Boxing Workout Ernest Hemingway was a boxer first and a writer second. Find out how you can develop the fighting spirit with this short boxing workout. (@ mens health)

License to Thrill: Dress Like James Bond Every man at some point in his life imagines what it would be like to be James Bond. This post provides suggestions on how you can get James Bond Look in Casino Royale. What I liked about the post is that many of the suggestions were actually affordable. (@ just a guy thing)

If You Makes These Mistakes, You’ll End Up Quitting This post discusses the various reasons people can’t stick to a workout routine. I’ve made a few of these mistakes before and every time I did it was factor in me not creating the workout habit. Thankfully, I’ve learned from my mistakes. (@ muscle circuit)

7 Powerful Steps to Overcoming Resistance and Actually Getting Stuff Done This past week I was not in the mood to get anything done. I sat in a state of inertia. Leo from Zen Habits offers some great advice to help you get out of a rut. (@ zen habits)

How Being The Perfect Gentleman Will Make Her Want You More Here at the Art of Manliness, we support resurrecting the lost art of being a gentleman. This post is a nice reminder of things a man can do to show a woman he respects her. If you haven’t already, make sure to download The Art of Manliness FREE Guide to Being a Gentleman in 2008. ( @ just a guy thing)

Generation Y: Soften Your Change to Succeed Generation Y is full bright people who like to come in and change things. However, in their zeal to be agents of change, they often shoot themselves shoot by being too zealous. The Boomers are still in charge. If you piss them off, your efforts will be wasted. This post offers a few tips on what you can do to be an agent of change without being pegged a know-it all whipper snapper. (@ newly corporate)