Editor’s Note: One of our most popular themes on The Hall has always been about the curse of beauty and the bonuses and penalties that come along with it. Many of us have a hard time seeing how being born beautiful can have any negative aspects but many of us agree that it does. To help illustrate the good and the bad of being born beautiful, our own Nadia Arain breaks it down in the following list: Being an attractive woman (PROS): Everyone looks at you! Everyone. Your self-esteem is usually through the roof because you KNOW you’re the center of attention. People marvel at your aesthetics! You get free stuff. Free meals, drinks, rides, AND you get served faster. Since when have you heard that gorgeous people pay for things? Compliments, and lots of them. Having a bad day? Whatever, someone’s bound to compliment you and make you feel better. Remember, you’re pretty, right? Things aren’t… [Read more]

Improving your appearance will get you more looks from the opposite sex and more looks can be translated into more dating opportunities. One of the most important reasons for being yourself in both your appearance and your attitude is because you want to attract a woman or man that will appreciate you. Many times I read forums and blogs where men are suggesting for other men to switch up their dress and “fake it till you make it” in order to attract a girl or score a date. The same can be seen on web spaces where a nerdy girl complains for lack of dates due to men not being interested etc. The problem with this “fake it till you make it” advice is that while it does work, you may end up landing a fish from the wrong side of the pond. Don’t Change Your Flavor – Improve Upon It! The best thing to… [Read more]

Hello my fellow IT nerds; one thing that I have noticed about our profession besides the loud discussions on MMORPG’s and the war of the cell phone companies is that we can be some of the most sloppy, uncoordinated dressers in the building. While I chalk this up to our attention being paid to other things that we deem important, it is still something that can be remedied… if you want to attract the attention of the new girl who you are instant messaging your buddies about behind her back… it can be as simple as taking time to adjust your wardrobe – you know, the trivial things! Let us start by discussing money… You make over $50,000 a year, you do not spend much of it (outside of video games and random hobbies) so you are naturally a “saver” that doesn’t spend too much time worrying about it. You have bread, and while a… [Read more]

I was out wallet shopping and ran into one of these beauties recently. The front pocket wallet, as it’s name states, is meant to be carried… in your front pocket. Traditional wallets are literally a pain in the ass. We sit on them, do the lean and reach to pull them out and get them snatched by pick pockets in certain areas. It has a ton of negatives but of course we own wallets to carry our cards, the receipts we receive from those cards and for some, pictures of family, animals and other items. The front pocket wallet can come with compartments for your cards and money, while you do lose out on the images of family etc. you have to realize that nobody gives a crap about looking at them outside of you (just being honest). So there’s some compromise there which means that the traditional wallet won’t die a painful death anytime… [Read more]

You mention “good smell” to a man and immediately he thinks of some super pretty boy in the mirror taking five hours to apply his “look” for the day. This stereotype leads to guys thinking that it is okay to “smell like a man”, ie: smelling like cheap cologne, sweat, or old lotion. The following paragraphs are a primer for these men in the ways of smelling good without taking a hit to your masculinity. Take it from me; these items work and you will be very pleased with the result. So what should a macho guy get in order to smell sexy for the ladies? Cologne As a man choosing your cologne wisely can make or break your ensemble when you’re out on the dating scene. When choosing a cologne what I used to do was to buy several of them and then wear each of them on different days when going into the… [Read more]

The beauty industry is the ugliest in the world, THE ugliest. No ifs, ands, or buts! I may have a biased view on this stance, but working numerous years in the beauty industry has made me realize one thing. If you aren’t attractive, you won’t be getting a job working behind a cosmetics counter or in a Parfumerie. It’s the horrific truth and all applicants are judged on their looks first. I know this because I was recruiting for “appropriate staff” for Chanel and YSL cosmetic counters and conducting interviews with applicants. One day my account manager had been off sick for a while and I had to step in and run the account myself with the leadership skills I had; for example: run figures and everything that comes along with the position. To me, when recruiting – it was about the skills and final delivery that the person presents, but my manager had different… [Read more]

I don’t know what it was that made me avoid them, maybe it was those terrible pictures that come on the packaging of a dude sans shirt in a pair, looking like nasty spandex guy. Whatever it was I didn’t want anything to do with them, them being of course boxer briefs. The ex-girlfriend used to stay on my case to “try” them and I was so hesitant and against it that I didn’t even do it, see for me swinging wild in boxer land was the place to be. As a general rule it would be boxers daily except on the days where you had to do slacks (having a “print” is not cool, despite what Meatballs 3 tried to teach you.) Now I simply don’t want to wear anything else, boxer briefs are the perfect combination of both worlds. If you have to drop trou you no longer have the risk of ass-cheek… [Read more]

Listen if you’re working out and missing sleep, you are performing like a race car that’s stuck on a road laced with oil – You are on a disastrous path, going nowhere and very unlikely to reach your perceived goal!  Let’s pretend that our bodies are machines fueled by rechargeable batteries that deplete every 16 hrs or so, your reserves are deep but when the battery uses the reserves the machine is unable to improve and instead uses sacrifice to keep it functioning. This sacrifice comes in the way of exhaustion, mood swings, complexion and of course strength. With diet and supplements we try to replace the items sacrificed and it works but the body will still refuse to improve based on the status of that battery life. As a workaholic, grinder and bodybuilder, I know all the excuses for missing sleep. Hell give me 48 hr days and I’d probably be the happiest man… [Read more]