The Barefoot Contessa (1954) is the life story of a poor Spanish woman who rises up to become one of the most famous actresses in the world. The movie does not bother to give her character traits beyond that she loves to have sex and also that she loves to run around barefoot (the fetishistic connotations are inescapable). She falls in love with a count and ultimately marries him. The big twist at the end of the movie is that her new husband had his dick blown off in the war and so they can't have sex (because, tragically, he never learned how to do hand stuff). Then he murders her for having an affair.

In 1978, Ina Garten bought a specialty food store that, for some unfathomable reason, someone had already named The Barefoot Contessa after this movie, which in 1999 became the title of her bestselling cookbook, which was then followed by a popular Food Network show. Now all of us need to deal with there being a TV cooking show called The Barefoot Contessa as part of the background radiation of our lives.

I personally find BADI one of the most beautiful and impactful gay magazines, and it's safe to say it's had a massive impact on gay visual culture. While I don't have a perfect archive that goes back to the early days, I have located all monthly issues of BADI from 2010 to 2019 and saved the covers to my hard drive. I will be scheduling them to post on my blog once a week. They will be tagged under #The BADI Archive.

This post will act as a helpful masterlist, and I hope you all enjoy the ride with me. If possible, I'd love to go back and collect vintage editions as well! Anyone who has any leads, please let me know.

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Cassia Agyeman, at around 660°, 2026

lithograph print on recycled aluminium