Link to the n*de photos
He buddied up to his Gemstone costars, male gues stars, and hunky stuntmen. And a surprising number of non-actor friends (n*de photos on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).
Beefcake, gay subtexts, and queer representation in tv and other pop culture from the 1950s to the present
Weird Science (1985) is a John Hughes brat pack comedy with a paranormal twist. Nerds Gary and Wyatt's (Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan-Mitchell Smith) are discouraged because the Girls of Their Dreams are dating a pair of belligerent, obnoxious preppies (Robert Downey Jr., Robert Rusler), and won't give them a chance. So they use a computer to create their perfect dream girl, Lisa: she is not only attractive but super-smart, plus she has magical powers.
She also summons a pack of rabid bikers to kidnap the Girls, so Gary and Wyatt can mount a daring rescue and win them.
Plus some strong gay subtexts between Gary and Wyatt and the prettyboy preppies Ian and Max. And quite a surprising amount of beefcake
Don't pay attention to the femme-half shirt and girly beneath-the-belt stuff. Ilan-Mitchell Smith, now a history professor, is straight in real life.
Anthony Michael Hall, the darling of the Brat Pack, appeared in Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Johnny B Goode, and as an adult The Dead Zone and Awkward. Straight characters, with maybe one exception, and straight in real life.
Brat Packer Robert Downey Jr. appeared in Back to School, The Pick-Up Artist, Johnny B. Goode, became famous for Chaplin (playing the silent-era comedian), and went on to play Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes. More straight characters, with maybe one exception, and....well, you get the idea.
At least we know that Robert Rusler is a gay ally: he befriended his Nightmare on Elm Street 2 co-star Mark Patton, and took him to some of the gay bars in West Hollywood (no, we never met). But his tv work, in The Outsiders, Babylon 5, Snoops, Murder She Wrote, Bones, Ray Donovan...as far as I can tell, all heteronormative. And...straight in real life.Let's try the Weird Science TV Series.
The "winning the Girl of Our Dreams" plotline appeared in just the first two or three episodes; later Lisa turns the boys into girls, clones them, turns them into rock stars, traps them in a horror movie, traps them in The Twilight Zone, transports them to the Old West, and brings a video game villain to life.
More after the break
Tenzing's on-screen acting career begins in 2012, with some shorts and guest spots on tv series. Then he appeared in The Lost Medallion (2013), a fundamentalist movie starring Billy Unger; and Super Buddies (2013), about super-powered dogs. (His character is named Buddha, which strikes me as disrespectful).
All episodes end in "a-Rooney." For instance, in "Choose-a-Rooney," Maddie has to choose between Diggie and Josh (Ryan McPartan, Lucas Adams).
More after the break.
When I was growing up in the Nazarene Church, hearing the same preacher screaming about the same topics (the Second Coming, The Book of Jor-shua, Homa-Sekshuls) three times a week for month after month got a little tedious. So twice a year we invited an evangelist in for a week-long "revival" to get us revved up again.
"It's a piece on unusual jobs, so..."
Suddenly warning lights flash, and inside the dead guy starts yelling "Let me out!" As the mortician tries to override the system, the door bursts open, and the dead guy jumps out, covered in flames. He runs around screaming. The corpses in the other chambers are screaming and yelling to be let out, and someone in a body bag sits up.
Wait -- this isn't about church revivals, it's about the dead coming back to life!
"I'm doing what's best for me and Cooper! After all we've been through..."
The Sheriff gets a phone call, but can't deal with it, because he's trying to guilt his daughter into not moving away.
But the phone starts ringing "off the hook." "You'll have to come back to work --- it's an emergency. Go see Randy the Creepy Mortician."
Scene 3: Dana drives through the rainy December night, listening to 10-33 (emergency) calls. Suddenly she screeches to a stop, staring in horror. A bunch of people in suits are walking through the cemetery toward her, asking what's going on. A n*ked man rushes by (he was buried without clothes). A little girl wants to know where her mommy is.
Scene 4: TV report: It's been about a month since Revival Day, December 18th, and Mayor Ken (Conrad Coates, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) is finally lifting the lockdown order, but the town is still under quarantine while the CDC investigates the 47 people who revived. All of them died during the two week period before Revival Day. I looked it up. In a town the size of Wausau, Wisconsin, about ten people will die during any two-week period. This is way too many.
Cut to the Mayor interviewing one of the Revivers. He felt pain in his arm, collapsed, and then he was in the funeral home, as if no time passed.
Cut to Dana taking a gross milky bath. Her friend comes in and complains that: she was supposed to visit her brother at Northwestern, not get quarantined with zombies; a girl she hates was revived; Dana never cleans up; and the lockdown is over, so get out!
Time to send her son Cooper to school. The mean, aggressive, barbaric boys make fun of the girl who revived, but Cooper thinks she's nice. (Heterosexual identity established at age 11).
Left: Hudson Wurster (Cooper) has a femme affect, but he is surrounded by girls in most of his Instagram photos, so I'm going to identify him as straight.
Scene 5: Nellie's Bar. Dana stumbles out, smooching with a guy (I can't find him in the cast list). They jump into her cop car and fumble around, trying to do it through heavy coats. Then the Sheriff calls: she has to go investigate a dead horse.
"So, can I call you?" The hookup asks. "Sure." But she doesn't give her number.
Cut to the dead horse, on the property of a rich jerk who writes books about how to live to 100 (cut out red meat, and walk a lot). There's also a dead coyote on his property, and some small objects that Dana finds disturbing. I can't tell what they are.
Dana wants the list of the Revived, but the Sheriff won't let anyone else see it. In other news, she's been assigned a partner, and Gunderson calls him "a cutie patootie." Gay identity established instantly.
Left: Mark Little seems to be straight in real life, but he is inclusive in his comedy routine. Among the phrases he suggests for "the nonchalant man" to say during bedroom stuff: "Whoa, buddy, that was awesome."
In his office, the Sheriff is arguing with the Mayor about bringing in a guy from the CDC to help investigate the Revived. Shouldn't they have done that weeks ago?
More after the break