Celebrity Friday: List of the top 10 LGBT billionaires in the world

There is a list of the top 10 billionaires in the world, and Giorgio Armani is at the head, with a net worth of over US$8 billion. One interesting fact is that four of the top 10 are in the fashion industry: Armani, (Domenico) Dolce & (Stefano) Gabbana and Michael Kors. Also interesting to note is that there is only one lesbian Megan Ellison (daughter of Oracle founder Larry Ellison) and only one transgender person (Jennifer Pritzker).

EYE CANDY: Pietro Boselli (4th Time!)

Pietro Boselli has appeared as Eye Candy on this blog three times before (April 27, 2015, July 6, 2015, and December 7, 2015), thus with today's appearance he will become one of the rare 4-time Eye Candy models. Although my preference would be to always display pictures of phyne bruthas or hot papis, I have to admit that there are a lot of cute white boys out there. Part of the reason why Boselli has appeared so often on this blog is that he has a unique (easily googled) name and he has appeared in a lot of stunning photographs that are all over the web. And there's the fact that we have something in common: we both know (and teach) advanced mathematics!

The pictures featured above are from a new set taken for British gay magazine Attitude shot by Daniel Jaems.

Enjoy!

EYE CANDY: Pietro Boselli (3rd time!)

Pietro Boselli has appeared as Eye Candy twice before (April 26, 2015 and July 6, 2015). Boselli, you may recall, is the Italian mathematics Ph.D. student who made headlines around the world when one of his students realized their maths instructor was also a smoking hot male model and posted the news to social media and it went viral. 

I think part of the reason why the story got so big is that Boselli is so hawt, don't you?

2015 US OPEN: Women's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Roberta Vinci (ITA) vs. Flavia Pennetta (ITA) [26] 

Here are my predictions for the women's final at the US Open for 2015. Last year I correctly predicted Serena Williams would defeat Caroline Wozniacki. This year I correctly predicted 0 of 2 women's semifinals, 2 of 2 men's semifinals, 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals.

Women's Semifinals Review: How They Got Here

Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. Serena Williams (USA) [1] 2-6 6-4 6-4. Once the other two grand slam champions (Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka) were removed from the tournament in the quarterfinals, the chances of Serena's eventual victory skyrocketed. The three remaining semifinalists possessed one win over Serena in 19 matches played so in theory the American should have been able to achieve the calendar grand slam with much less than her "A" game. However, inexplicably and quite surprisingly, somehow this did not happen. Despite winning the first set 6-2 in 36 minutes, Serena was broken in the second set and was unable to break her Italian opponent's serve, despite its relative weakness. (This was punctuated by Vinci hitting a bizarre 83 mph ace in the 8th game of the second set.)  Serena was clearly nervous and stopped moving her feet and going for 100 percent on her shots. This allowed Vinci to go for her shots and play well within herself and sneak out the last two sets and complete the most stunning upset in tennis of the century, if not ever.

Flavia Pennetta (ITA) [26] d. Simona Halep (ROU) [2] 6-1 6-3.  Pennetta played some of the best tennis of her life to dismiss Halep, who never seemed to find her best tennis despite playing in this incredibly important match that would determine who gets to play in a major final. The 33-year-old Italian was able to win 15 points in a row at one point, even after the 23-year-old Romanian had finally managed to earn a 3-1 lead in the second set, only to see it disappear quickly. Pennetta ended up winning the last five games in a row, punctuated by a blistering forehand winner on mach point which barely clipped the baseline as it zoomed past the hapless Halep.  

Women's Final Preview: Who Will Win
Who would have thought that there would (ever) be an Italian women's final at a major? Pennetta was a 150-to-1 bet to reach the final while Vinci was a 300-to-1 bet to get there. And yet these two players will face off for the 2015 U.S. Open women's singles title. Pennetta has more power and leads their head-to-head 5-4, but surprisingly the two have not played since 2013. Can Vinci really get over winning the most incredible match of her and play her first major final less than 24 hours later and play her best tennis? Somehow I doubt it. MadProfessah's pick: Pennetta.

EYE CANDY: Pietro Boselli (black/white)

Pietro Boselli has been called "the hottest maths teacher in the world." He first appeared as Eye Candy  on April 27, 2015. These black and white pictures are good, but I would not be surprised if he is even more attractive in person.

EYE CANDY: Blake Sciortino (reprise)

Blake Sciortino is a smoking hot model and former athlete who has appeared on MTV and was featured Eye Candy here once before (July 28, 2014). He has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. According to his Model Mayhem profile, he is 22-years-old, 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds. Yummy!

Mancrush seems to think he is black but I don't really know (or care). Hawt is hawt!

Both 2014 French Open Champs Lose Clay Matches In Europe

The two best players on clay last year, Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova, who respectively won the men's and women's 2014 French Open have suffered surprising losses in European red clay tournaments this week.

Sharapova, lost in Stuttgart to Angelique Kerber where she was the defending champion and had a 13-match winning streak. Nadal lost in Barcelona, a tournament he has won 8 times previously. He lost to Fabio Fognini on clay for the second time this year.  (The Italian hottie beat Nadal earlier this year in Brazil.)

Both matches were relatively close, with Nadal losing 6-4, 7-6(6) despite being up a break three(!) times in the second set. Sharapova lost 2-6 7-5 6-1 against Kerber playing inspired defense in front of a partisan crowd of her compatriots.

2015 AUS OPEN: Federer(2) Suffers Upsetting 3rd Round Exit To Seppi

Roger Federer's run of consecutive semifinals at the Australian Open will end at eleven, due to a loss in the 3rd round of the 2015 Australian Open to Andreas Seppi of Italy. The last time Federer failed to make the 4th round of the Australian Open was in 2001!

Federer never looked like he was playing his best tennis throughout the match, although he pulled together a few strong points at a time, his game never gelled and he lost 6-4 7-6(5) 4-6 7-6(5).

Federer was gracious in defeat, praising his opponent's play and chalking up his disappointing result to a "bad day" at the office. Seppi had never beaten Federer in 10 previous meetings and had in fact, only won one set in all those meetings. The loss was reminiscent of what happened to Federer when he lost to Tommy Robredo for the first time in the Fourth Round of the 2013 U.S. Open (a match I saw in person from the front row).

There were signs things were not going well for the 17-time champion in Melbourne. In the round before, Federer lost the first set easily to Simone Bollelli of Italy but there he managed to right the ship more quickly and won the next three sets for a 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 win. That did not happen against the more determined and steadier Seppi, who siezed his opportunities and played well throughout.

The difference between Federer's loss to Robredo and his loss to Seppi yesterday was that the Robredo loss came after a string of disappointments in the majors that year while this loss is much more surprising since it happened at the beginning of a year following a year when Federer played well and reached a major final (2014 Wimbledon). Federer did have  a longer season than usual (winning the most matches on tour and the 2014 Davis Cup) and a busier off-season but this surprising loss could be an indication that the upside of the 33-year-old's career is not as high as some of us more ardent fans (like myself) had hoped. Can he really win another major? Andy Murray says yes. Interesting, because one of the primary beneficiaries of Federer's absence, is Murray, who would have been scheduled to meet him in the quarterfinals (followed by Nadal in the semifinal and Djokovic in the final).

EYE CANDY: Blake Sciortino

Blake Sciortino is a smoking hot find by Gorgeous Sexy Guys. According to his Model Mayhem profile he is 21 years old, 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds. He has Facebook and Twitter pages.

I'm not sure what his ethnicity is but from his last name I suspect he is Italian. As I have said before. "Hawt is hawt"!

You're welcome!

Celebrity Friday: Fabio Fognini Poses Nude!

Well-known tennis hottie Fabio Fognini is posing nude for UK Cosmopolitan to raise awareness for male cancer. I ran into Fognini in person practicing shirtless when I was at the 2011 US Open. I guess the idea of tennis players posing nude is getting more popular!

2014 ROME: Serena Wins 60th WTA Title Over Errani

As I predicted, Serena Williams was able to win her 3rd title in Rome, her 60th career title overall by overwhelming Sara Errani of Italy 6-3 6-0. Serena was able to accomplish a rare feat for her, defending a clay court title, since she won this title last year over Vika Azarenka. Many people are remarking that the two times Serena has won the Rome title (2002 and 2013) are also the two times that she won the title in Paris. Will 2014 be the third time this happens?

Fognini Wins 1st ATP Title in Stuttgart

Fabio Fognini has finally won his first ATP title, by defeating Philip Kohlschreiber 5-7 6-4 6-4 at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. Fognini, 26, is ranked #25 on the ATP World Tour and had been one of the highest ranked players not to have won a title. That distinction now falls to Jerzy Janowicz, who is at #17 after having recently reached the semifinals of Wimbledon.

This weekend 31-year-old Nicolas Mahut replaced John Isner as the champion of the grass court tournament in Newport, Rhode Island by coming back from to defeat Lleyton Hewitt. Mahut also won the doubles title, with Edouard Roger-Vasselin, becoming the first ATP player to win both singles and doubles title at an ATP tournament since Mikhail Youzhny did it in February 2012 in Zagreb.

FOOD REVIEW: Fiola (Washington, D.C.)

I had previously said that my meal at Corduroy was the best one I have had in my 20 months working and living in Washington, D.C. However, I must now announce that I have had a meal which surpassed the one I had at Corduroy. On March 19 I had a meal at Fiola which was even better. Other people think so as well. Fiola is #4 on the list of Top 100 restaurants in the D.C. Metro area in Washingtonian magazine.

We had the "four savory course" tasting menu for $95 and it was absolutely sublime. Each of the four dishes was equally delicious, with three of the four being fish-based. If forced to choose, I would probably pick the the very first pictured dish, which I believe was some kind of roe and shrimp tartare on a bed of crab. Unfortunately, I can not remember exactly what each course was, and since Fiola's menu changes regularly the website is not able to provide any more information.

I do however have pictures of everything we ate, in the order that we ate them. The glowing green drink at the end was something that I did not consume myself,  but was so pretty that I took a picture of it. I think that it  was a special (non-alcoholic) lemonade (infused with ginger I believe). After four courses we were asked about dessert but we all agreed that we were each pleasantly sated and since dessert was not included in the tasting menu price we decided to end the meal at that point, quite full. Oftentimes tasting menu portions can be modest, but at Fiola they were very satisfying.

I'm sorry that I can not be more specific about what we ate (hopefully the pictures tell part of the story) except to say that it was all incredibly delicious, the service was impeccable and the restaurant is beautiful. It is less than a half-block away from a metro stop (Archives, on the Green and Yellow lines) so it is very convenient.

I strongly encourage you to eat there; I know I intend to do so at least once more before I leave D.C., and this time I'll try and take better notes!

Name: Fiola.

Location:601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004.

Contact: 202-628-2888.

Visit: March 19, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A.

SERVICE: A.

VALUE: A-.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A (4.0/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Panzano (Denver, CO)

Ciriole alla Bolognese 
(Fresh farro pasta with a classic Northern Italian ragu
made with smoked wild boar, shaved Grana Padano; $34)

Torta di Zucchero Marrone
(Brown sugar pound cake with walnuts soaked in a stout toffee sauce,
topped with vanilla gelato; $9)

Caesar Griglia 
(Grilled hearts of romaine, anchovies, garlic, parmesan; $9.5)

I attended the 16th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education in Denver and while there I had dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant called Panzano which I found using the Yelp iPad app.

Panzano's reviews seemed very impressive, and happily was located a short 5 minute walk from the hotel conference. Happily, the reality lived up to the hype/

We ordered Cavolini di Bruxelles (fried brussel sprouts tossed with apple cider reduction, pistachios, rosemary salt and sliced green apple; $10) on the advice of our waiter but they were so good (and we were so famished) that unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them. I'm usually not a fan of brussel sprouts at all, but these were frankly delicious, with none of the slightly sour aftertaste that  I associate with that vegetable.

After that we ordered the award-winning Grilled Caesar Salad (this is not a typo--it's not a grilled chicken caesar salad). It was definitely a unique experience; the reason why you have never heard of a grilled caesar salad before is that one doesn't usually grill lettuce because it becomes soggy. The salad was tasty and slightly warm but the limp lettuce is a acquired taste.

I often like ordering very simple dishes at fancy restaurants, just to see what they can do with a staple dish. With that in mind I ordered the Ciriole alla Bolognese, which is basically pasta with meat sauce. It was astoundingly good. The meat sauce was delightfully rich and flavorful (made from wild boar!) and the pasta was completely al dente and perfectly balanced by the sharp cheesiness of the Gran Padano.

Dessert was the Torta di Zucchero Marrone or brown sugar cake. It was a great way to finish a meal, with a lovely combination of different textures and flavors. It was sweet (toffee), crunchy (nuts), moist (pound cake) and refreshing (ice cream).

I would heartily recommend Panzano anytime you're in Denver!

Name: Panzano.

Location: 909 17th Street, Denver, CO 80202.

Contact: 303-296-3525.

Visit: February 22, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A-.

SERVICE: A.

VALUE: A-.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A/A- (3.92/4.0)

Eye Candy: Clint Mauro

Clint Mauro is an American model of Italian ethnicity best known for his appearances as the face (and body) of Armani Exchange underwear. He was apparently born in Indiana in 1986 and named after Clint Eastwood, whom he describes as his idol on his personal website, clintmauro.com.

It's hard to get biographical data or physical statistics on Clint but multiple websites say he is 6'2" (and a few give his weight as 168 pounds) and he is either 26 or 27 years old. He has his own twiitter account @realclintmauro.

FILM REVIEW: To Rome With Love

As you know, the Other Half and I had our first visit to Rome, Italy this past May. The fact that we had seen the city firsthand was one of the main reasons I decided to go see To Rome With Love, the latest film written and directed by Woody Allen which is also set in the Eternal City. As with most of Allen's movies, it has a stellar and interesting cast: Alex Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg and Ellen Page. Unlike his more recent films like Midnight in Paris, Woody himself also appears in this film.

However unlike To Rome With Love which has a disappointing 44% rating on rottentomatoes.com  Midnight in Paris got near-universal positive reviews (93% on rottentomatoes.com) and earned Allen another Academy Award, his 3rd Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in his career.

If you have been to Rome you do have an extra appreciation for the film, similar to people who live in Los Angeles have a different perspective on films which are set in the city (like Speed, Die Hard, Independence Day, The Italian Job and Collateral, just to name a few). Another interesting feature of the film is the presence of several Italian actors unknown to Americans. I suspect that they must be famous in Italy, so perhaps the film would have a special resonance for Italian viewers.

The film's structure is of four stories who don't really intersect with each other, and are of varying interest and quality. The four stories are: a provincial Italian newlywed couple who are visiting the big city of Roma who get intertwined in some bizarre trysts due to some unfortunate circumstances; an American architect meddles in the life of a younger American architect student who is caught in a love triangle involving his longtime girlfriend and her actress best friend who comes to visit her after a bad break-up; the father of an American girl who finds a nice Italian boy she wants to marry tries to promote his daughter's future father in law as an opera star who can only perform when singing in the shower; and an ordinary Italian bureaucrat who suddenly finds himself the most famous man in the country with the attendant breathless celebrity media coverage.

None of the stories are very compelling, and some of them are downright silly. Allen uses unlikely coincidence and even magical events to forward the plot in several of the stories. This is definitely a comedy, unlike his previous Midnight in Paris there are some laugh-out loud moments. The problem is that because of the film's structure, and frankly, the bizarre nature of the situations which leads to some diffident acting, the audience has difficulty connecting with the characters and finding the emotional core of the film.

But for someone who has been to Rome, , or who intends to travel there soon, the film is a delightful travelogue and can be recommended just for that aspect alone.

Title: To Rome With Love.
Director: Woody Allen.
Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated R for some sexual references.
Release Date: June 22, 2012.
Viewing Date: July 15, 2012.

Writing: B.
Acting: B.
Visuals: B-.
Impact: B+.

Overall Grade: B (3.0/4.0).

Eye Candy: James Guardino (3rd time!)

James Guardino is a very famous fitness model, primarily known for his work with the Undergear Catalog. He has appeared as Eye Candy on December 28, 2009 and October 31, 2011. He is the canonical "cute white boy," although he is "half-German and half-Italian." He joins the small but growingnumber of models who have been featured as Eye Candy thrice times here at MadProfesssah.com.

These digital shots are apparently taken relatively recently (in October 2011). Still looking good!

Eye Candy: Italian Swim Team for Dolce & Gabbana

Much thanks to Outsports.com blog for these stunning shots of various Italian swimmers in Dolce & Gabbana underwear. Previously, the Italian Rugby Team had been featured in Eye Candy when they were feature in D&G underwear also.

Eye Candy: Anthony Gallo (reprise)

Hat/tip to Hoodsworld for these shots of one of my favorite Eye Candy models ever: Anthony Gallo. The mixed-race (Black and Italian) model has been featured here before, but definitely deserves to join the short list of beautiful men who have been repeat features.

Happy Memorial Day!

Eye Candy: James Guardino

Hot is hawt. Here at MadProfessah.com we do try and showcase models of color (of all races), with a penchant for multiracial specimens like Martin Elkholm and Daniel Norell, or chocolate brown brothas like JR Rolley, Chadwick Johnson, Adem Aluka, and many, many others.

But you gotta admit, the "white boy" featured above, named James Guardino is hawt. He may look familiar to some of you, because he has been featured several times in Undergear® catalogs.

James is a 26-year-old model living in New York City.