Wrecked: Gay guy and his lesbian bff solve a mystery on a cruise ship. With a homicidal duck

Hulu's six-episode Wreck, not to be confused with the Lost parody Wrecked, has a plot icon with two boy-girl couples, and a plot synopsis about Jamie (Oscar Kennedy) and Vivian, no doubt his Love Interest investigating dark secrets on a cruise ship. But Episode 5 is entitled "Needle in a Gay Stack," so there must be gay characters around somewhere. I reviewed the first episode.

Scene 1: A girl's butt swimming underwater.  Ugh, a dreadful beginning. She puts on a towel, stares in disgust at herself in the mirror, and then argues with stalking "I can't live without you!" ex-boyfriend Danny (Jack Rowan).

Scene 2: Fielding Ex-Boyfriend Danny's hysterical texts, the girl walks through a gigantic shopping mall and some corridors.  Suddenly a knife-wielding person in a duck costume starts chasing her. Wait -- is this a comedy?  

Surprise -- we're on a gigantic cruise ship -- I count at least ten decks.  

After running and hiding for a long time, she yells "You can't have me!" and jumps overboard!  

Scene 3: Three months later, the ship is docked. Pretending to be someone named Cormac, Jamie signs his contract and then joins the others for an informational video: girls in bikinis telling us "Welcome to Velorum, where your dreams set sail."  Ugh

Their supervisors are introduced: Staff Captain Karen, Second Officer Beaker, Third Officer Sam Rhodes (Louis Boyer, right), who gets gazed at by some girls.  By the way, the ship symbol is a duck carrying a surf board. 

Grand tour: apparently there are 2,000 employees?  Crew mess hall, Little Ducks Soft Play Palace, theater, officer's mess hall, gym. promenade.  Everything is horribly regimented and authoritarian.  This is definitely not your grandpa's Love Boat.

Jamie/Cormac couples-up with Vivian, no doubt his Love Interest,  Two other recruits couple up: Jerome (Diego Andres) and Lauren.

The entertainment crew, five girls and a boy, snob past in slow motion.  Everyone gawks.  Staff Captain Karen says that they're busy rehearsing "Apocalypse Wow. Wow Wow."  Ok, so it's a comedy.  You'd never know that from the somber, deadly-serious plot synopsis.  

Asked if he's dating anyone, Jamie/Cormac says "No.  Sheffield's gay scene isn't exactly flourishing."  A gay protagonist, outed at Minute 10!  So Vivian is not his Love Interest after all.

More after the break

Kelton Dumont's Hot/Hung Photos, Part 3: Birthday biceps, bare bums, rugger dicks, and brothers for life

 

Link to the n*de photos

This is a collection of cute/cool or hot/humorous photos of actor Kelton Dumont, best known as Pontius in The Righteous Gemstones.  He's over 18 in all of them.  There are also photos of a few friends. 

1. "I've been working out."

2. "Maybe if I make a funny face, they won't notice my biceps.  It worked for Adam Devine."

3. "My 21st birthday. I'm finally bigger than my Dad."

4. "I'm finally bigger than Gavin."

5. "I'm finally bigger than...I meant taller, dude."

5. Kelton gets a homemade sign to welcome him to Leigh, a village near Manchester, England.

6. Manchester ruggers in their altogether

More after the break. Caution: explicit

"The Fullness of Man" or "A Full Man" or "Filling a Man." Whatever, it has a wild penis scene.

  

Link to the wild penis scene

While I am scrolling through my "nude photo" feed, I am shocked to find two that are extremely explicit.  In the first, an older man wearing a suit catches a young man having anal sex with his boyfriend.  So Dad didn't know that he was gay?  In the second, the young man confronts the older man -- while fully aroused, and huge!

The caption says Tom Pelphrey, whom I've never heard of, in the movie A Man in Full.  It must have a gay theme -- gay men being accused of being "not really men," and all that.

Tom Pelphrey has 10,000 photos on the internet, but he usually looks much older, so this must be a movie from early in his career.  Probably European -- what American movie would show full arousal?

More research reveals that he starred in Ozark, but I can't tell which character.  An article in People says Perry Abbott, but a Reddit feed says that he was AMAZING as Ben.  The Ozark wiki mentions Ben, "a major antagonist in the third season," but not Perry Abbott, so People must be wrong.

Here's a long shot of Ben's butt.

Next I try to look up A Man in Full, but it's such a nonsensical title that I keep searching on A Full Man and The Fullness of Men instead.   When I finally get the title right, it's not an artsy European movie from the early 2000s, it's a tv series that dropped on Netflix in 2024!  Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker, played by famous actor Jeff Daniels, goes bankrupt, and has to defend his empire. Isn't that, like, "Succession"?  

Jeff Daniels is best known for the adulation of 1990s stupidity Dumb and Dumber. Here he shows a bulge in Something Wild (1986).

Tom Pelphrey plays "Raymond Peepgrass" Ridiculous name! This guy is a voyeur of lawns?

Wikipedia doesn't say who he is, so I'm assuming from the photo, the rich guy's lawyer?  Why would he care if his lawyer is gay?

More after the break

David Henrie: The Wizard of Waverly Place re-wizards, but is he as gay-friendly and n*de as his costars?

Link to the n*de dudes

I thought lightning might strike twice, or rather five times. The Wizards of Waverly Place, which ran on the Disney Channel from 2007 to 2012, featured countless gay subtexts and about a dozen beefcake hunks who have gone on to a gay-positive adulthood.

Gregg Sulkin, left, displays his physique in gay magazines.

Jake T. Austin starred in the gay-friendly The Fosters.

Dan Benson runs a gay-friendly OnlyFans page, where he reviews adult products and shows his d*ck.

Selena Gomez is "mostly straight," and reveals that her character, Alex Russo, was bisexual, but the Disney censors wouldn't let them say so.

David DeLuise is a gay ally who has a n*de video online -- after the break.

So what about David Henrie, who played eldest wizard in the family, Justin Russo?

Since Wizards, he has done a lot of voice work, and had minor roles in movies: 

Lane in Paul Blart, Mall Cop

Rudy Isling -- Walt Disney's competitor -- in Walt Before Mickey.

Clean Cut Man in Cardboard Boxer, about a homeless man who is forced into cage matches.

Sebastian in This is the Year, about a teen road trip.  David also directed, and his brother Lorenzo Henrie starred.  

The Young Ronald Reagan in a 2024 biopic.  Ugh.

Six episodes of Underdeveloped, a mockumentary about inept producers.

No gay content here.

More after the break

Halloween Tales of Beefcake

Tales of Halloween (2015) is an anthology of 10 Halloween-themed stories.  It made the rounds of film festivals and was released on video-on-demand, and now is streaming on Netflix.

The stories all have different writers and directors, so they vary tremendously in tone, some grotesquely violent, some humorous. And in quality: clever, even intriguing plotlines juxtaposed with boring cliches.

But they have one thing in common: they cast some of the most attractive beefcake stars who ever sat on a casting couch.

1. "Sweet Tooth": A candy-seeking serial killer, with  Austin Falk as Kyle.

2. And Hunter Smit as the Killer.

3. "The Night Billy Raised Hell": a young boy eggs the house of a reclusive man who turns out to be the Devil.  With Adam Pascal as The Dentist.

4. "Ding Dong": A man learns that his wife eats children.  With Marc Senter as Jack.

5. "Trick": Vigilante trick-or-treaters.  With John F. Beach as James.

More after the break.

Jason Bradley Jacobs: From a cowboy cruising in the shower to a Kentucky cartoon Adonis to...well, isn't that enough?

Link to the nude photos

Insurance companies go to great lengths to produce clever commercials, but they rarely venture into the realm of beefcake.  That's why the Eastwood Insurance cowboy was so memorable.

In California in the 1990s, a series of at least 30 tv commercials showed the Cowboy riding up to a befuddled car owner, almost always a man, who was paying too much for car insurance, and "saving the day" with Eastwood's low, low prices.

The best commercials had him in the shower, naked except for his white cowboy hat, cruising...um, I mean talking about insurance to another naked guy, who seems more interested in his physique than his insurance policies.

Nudity in unexpected places is always stunning.

Besides, he had quite a smile.


The Cowboy was played by Jason Bradley Jacobs, who has only two acting credits on the IMDB:

A record company executive in Selena, 1997, about the Tejana singer who topped the Latin music charts and sang at the Astrodome.

Maurice Charpentier in The Feast of All Saints, 2001, based on the Anne Rice novel about "the Free People of Colour" in 19th century New Orleans, "a dazzling yet damned class caught between the world of white privilege and black oppression."  Anne Rice -- shouldn't there be vampires?

It stars many recognizable African-American celebrities, including Robert Ri'chard, Ozzie Davis, Ruby Dee, James Earl Jones, Eartha Kitt, Ben Vereen, and Forest Whitaker. 

Jason provided the voice and artists' model for a character in a comic book and animated series, Plowboy in the Cornmeal Universe, created by D.W. Newman.  It is set in the Appalachia of 1978, the era of Jimmy Carter, Hee-Haw, and The Dukes of Hazzard, and emphasizes the "raw physicality and blatant sexuality."

More after the break

Gemstones Episode 1.2: Thai ladyboys, Italian shoes, Palestinian guys, Idris Elba, and the Devil's Kiss

 

This is the censored version of the review, with no nude photos or explicit sexual discussions.

Link to the uncensored version

Episode 1.2 continues the plot arc of Jesse confronting the blackmailers who have a video of his sex-and-drugs party. 

 

Title: "Is this the man who made the Earth tremble?" From Isaiah 14.15: Everyone is amazed at the fall of the King of Babylon. Here we're looking at the fall of Eli Gemstone.

The Ladyboys of Thailand:  The red van in the deserted parking lot.  The head blackmailer, Scotty, wearing a scary devil mask, is talking with his companions, a woman named Lucy and an unidentified man.  He dismisses the  misconception that Thailand is all about ladyboys "hanging out of windows with their cocks in their panties." But: Thailand also has great food, great beaches, "and we're going to be taller than everyone else." 

The ladyboys or kathoey of Thailand have male-coded sexual characteristics but present as feminine.  They were traditionally called a third gender, but with the globalization of Western LGBT identities, they are more likely today to identify as femme gay men or trans women.  Scotty's statement suggests that he is into ladyboys, but his companions are not, so he is trying to convince them that Thailand has other attractions, too.

The siblings arrive and drop the bags of money in front of the van.  Scotty gets out to pick it up and -- Jesse attacks!  Lucy, wearing a scary baby mask, shoots at them.  They jump back into their car and run over Scotty, and then Lucy, when she rushes to his aid. The third blackmailer takes off his mask: it's a young man played by Skyler Gisondo.  

The Young Man yells "Scotty!" and runs up and cuddles him like a lover!  They are obviously boyfriends.He helps Scotty up, and they carry Lucy to the van and drive away. 

Scotty thinks that Lucy is dead, so they try to throw the corpse down a hill.  But she's alive!

Did it really happen?:  The next day, the siblings return to the parking lot.  There is no evidence of the blackmailers.  Jesse suggests that it was never real to begin with, and Judy, "a spiritual test that we had to overcome."  Kelvin thinks it was real, but the others criticize him for "projecting negativity."  

The next order of business: how should they divvy up the money Judy stole from the church: give it all back (Kelvin) or give half back and split the rest (Jesse). Why do these people need money?  Aren't they, like, rich? Maybe Daddy controls everything, and gives them an allowance.

Suddenly Kelvin jumps out of the car.  Jesse scoffs that he wants to buy a new pair of 22s, custom shoes hand-crafted by Gabe Apodaca in Italy, keying into his gay-coded fashion obsession.  But he's actually noticed a security camera: they could get the van's license plate number.

Lucy has what Scotty needs: At the hospital, Scotty and the Young Man discuss what to tell Lucy about the hill  She's "all fucked up," but Scotty  wants to have sex with her.  He waits for the Young Man to offer to have sex instead, but he doesn't.

Psych!  Scotty isn't planning on sex after all: he puts her in a wheelchair, and exclaims "We're getting out of here.!"  (Butt shot: his hospital gown is open in the back) Why did Scotty tell the Young Man that he wanted sex with Lucy?  Apparently to make him jealous, but of who?  Lucy, Scotty, or both?

More after the break

Nathaniel Choate: Gay African-American Sculptor of 1960s New York

When I was living in New York, I had a friend who lived near the  Klitgord Center,  at the corner of Jay and Tilly Street in Brooklyn, the heart of the New York City College of Technology.  Every day he, and thousands of other people, walked past its gigantic 2-story mural memorializing some of the joys of college: Art, Drama, Music, Recreation, Health, and Recreation.

"Health" was a muscular man on the parallel bars, naked or wearing a skimpy jockstrap.

The Klitgord Center was demolished in 2013.

Recently I investigated the mural, and tried to find out something about the artists.

Sculptor Nathaniel Choate (1899-1965) was one of the few African-American men to graduate from Harvard in the 1920s.  Afterwards he studied in France, and traveled extensively in Morocco and Sudan, perhaps looking for the "good place" that drew dozens of gay men to North Africa.  He returned to the U.S. in the 1930s, and taught in Pennsylvania and New York.  He never married.

His subjects were usually muscular African men, such as "Alligator Bender" at Brookgreen Gardens in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Tile artist Francis Von Tury (1901-1992) was born in Hungary, had a studio in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and was a leading proponent of ceramics as both an art form and an industrial tool.  He never married, either.

Most of his work is stylized, but there are some interesting male figures, like this fisherman on a blue tile.

I don't know if the two men were friends, or lovers, before they began their collaboration.

"Dinner with the Parents": Brother-boyfriends get pranked, and Dad is in love with his brother/son-in-law

 

Amazon Prime recommended Dinner with Parents, a 2024 American remake of a Britcom about weekly family dinners, with this photo of the adult son and his boyfriend.  

Gay characters and male n*dity: I'm in!  So I reviewed Episode 1.2, "Go There," where they are apparently caught in the act.

Scene 1: David (Henry Hall) interrupts Boyfriend Gregg (Daniel Thrasher, left) while he's going through the prank box.  There's a problem: Chet will be at tonight's family dinner.   "I thought he had midterms?" "He got finished early." 

Chet has been pranking them for years.  Boyfriend Gregg wants to prank him hard tonight, but David says no.  Too risky.  They've been burned too many times.  How long have these guys been together?  Their friend is still in college, so only a few years.  

Scene 2: Dad (David Bakkedahl), Mom, and Jane are in the family kitchen, cooking.  David comes in.  Jane says "Hi, Honey"! Wait -- I thought David was gay, with a boyfriend.  If he's married to Jane, why didn't they come to the dinner together? 

Jane is upset because her incredibly beautiful Sister is coming to the family dinner tonight.  Everyone will be flirting with her, so Jane won't get any attention.  Aren't these people her parents and brother?  She's upset because they will no longer think she's sexy when Sister arrives?  

They move to the living room, where Boyfriend Gregg has pulled up an old video to remind them of the prankster they'll be facing tonight: during David's Bar Mitzvah, Chet lit the Torah on fire!   Um...that sounds more like an antisemitic hate crime than a prank. 

Scene 3: A tour bus pulls up, and the incredibly rich, successful, and beautiful Sister Tilly emerges. The family is overcome with joy, except Jane, who hates her. 

Her husband Mitch (Karl Collins),  emerges, and Dad does some jive-greetings with him. "You know, the phrase 'Brother in law' doesn't even come close to touching this thing tht you and I have." He wants to be called "Brothers-in-love" instead.  Ok, that's a gay code, but I thought Mitch was Sister Tilly's husband, which would make him Dad's son-in-law.  

Prankster Chet, not listed in the IMDB, appears, insults David, and throws away his glasses.  David decides he's up for pranking after all.

Scene 4: At dinner, Tilly is bragging, and Mom is gazing at her like a lovesick teenager.  I guess that's the joke -- family affection portrayed as romantic love, so Jane calls her brother "honey," and Mom is in love with her daughter.

Everyone goes into ecstasies over the vegan apple crisp that Jane made -- until  Tilly gets a call from somebody famous who wants to be on her podcast.  Then they ignore Jane again.

Scene 5: While doing the dishes, Dad gets upset because his Brother/Son-in-Love Mitch has gone vegan, and won't eat the 30-pound bag of cheese he's been saving.  So I guess their bromance is the C plot.

"No, I'll eat it, but if Amy catches me with it, I'm dead!"  Ok, so he's married to someone named Amy, who was not at the dinner, and Jane's sister Tilly must be his daughter.    

"Just hide it in the RV.  She'll never know."  They came in a tour bus.  It must be Dad's RV.

More after the break

Kelton Dumont in his birthday suit, plus birthday waffles, a costume party, and some backsides

 

Link to the n*de dudes

Kelton Dumont, who plays Pontius on The Righteous Gemstones, turned 21 on October 28, 2024.  This is a collection of photos from some of his birthdays, in backwards chronological order.  The n*de dudes are all over 18.

1. Nearing his 21st, with screen brother Gavin Munn

2. His 20th, with Dad James Dumont at  a WWE expo.

3. In case you haven't seen Kelton's backside lately.

4. 19th.  Kelton's birthday is close enough to Halloween to make costume parties feasible.

5. Not Kelton, a bud at the pool.

6. The big 18

More after the break

Charles Ambrose: Civil War soldier, coast guardsman, martial artist, male model. With some risque photos

Link to the risqué photos

Charles Ambrose, real name Jason Ambrose, also Jason Charles Smith, was born in Sandwich, Illinois, 60 miles west of Chicago. He attended Waubonsee Community College and studied comedy at the Second City in Chicago.  I wonder if his standup routine is about growing up in Sandwich. 

His resume lists several local Chicago-area plays, including The Music Man, The Moon is Down, Act Your Age, The Dating Game, and Julius Caesar.  And skills including combat, archery, horseback riding, firearms, rock climbing, jiu jitsu, and motorcycles.

Plus modeling.

23 acting credits on the IMDB, beginning in 2008 with the short Hell Mary.

Then occasional guest spots on tv, one or two every year.  Most of these characters don't appear in the plot synopses:

Andy on Sons of Anarchy, featuring the backside of Charlie Hunnan

Zane on Henry Danger

Deputy Jimmy on Lovecraft Country

Donny in Hollywood Vampire

Lucas in NCIS: Los Angeles

Coach Watkins in The Wonder Years update, with Julian Lerner as Brad Hitman.

His most substantial role to date: 23 episodes of the soap General Hospital, playing Ambrose, henchman of the evil Victor Cassadine.  On Victor's orders, he kidnaps Liesl Obrecht, kidnaps Ace Prince-Cassadine, and almost kills Spencer Cassadine

Coming up: The Legend of Van Dorn, about a Confederate soldier played by Lee Wilson, who was "immensely attractive to women."  Never to men, of course.  He was murdered by a husband upset over his wife's canoodling.  Charles plays General Red Jackson, another real-life figure.

Secrets and Yards, about a small town football team with secrets.

A Union soldier in the Civil War sequence of Righteous Gemstones Episode 4.1.

More Charles after the break.