I tried to read on, but sure enough, the article was every bit as boring as I'd expected, and I couldn't force myself to continue. I did, however, realize what had caught my attention in the first place--it was the disturbing photo in the middle of the page. I flipped back to the cover of the magazine just to double check that it was, in fact, a copy of BusinessWeek that I was reading. Sure enough, it was. I flipped back to the article and looked at the image again, with it's caption, "On Good Terms." I'll say...
Is it just me, or does it look like Chavez and Kirchner are on the brink of a serious makeout session? If I remember correctly, I saw about six different scenes in Brokeback Mountain that started with the same longing gaze. I'm willing to bet that if I removed the caption and photo-shopped the faces of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal into the picture, Roger Ebert or even the ghost of Gene Siskel himself couldn't tell if he was looking at a photo from a BusinessWeek article or a screen shot from the movie.
There's certainly nothing wrong with two men hugging, but I think straight guys can learn an important lesson from this unusual image: if you're going to hug another man, deep, intense, emotional eye contact is not necessary. People are going to turn a suspicious eye when they see two men hugging in public, and staring into each other's eyes with what appears to be burning desire will only lead to further judgment.
Well, this ordeal has taught me that there's no point in reading outdated issues of BusinessWeek from late 2005. Thanks to the article, I now have recurring Hugo Chavez nightmares several times a week. I don't know much about international politics, but I feel justified in disputing the article's title. Based on the photo, I'd venture to guess that Chavez was trading more than just oil for influence.
shazam!
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