Sweet Magnolias: Southern ladies stick together, with hunky husbands, a gay couple, Aidan Merwarth, and drama club d*cks

  

Link to the n*de photos

Aidan Merwarth played Spencer, who had a disastrous first date with Finn (Faly Rakotahavana), in a 2024 episode of Unprisoned.  I've been following him since, looking for more gay or gay-light roles, and I just discovered that he has an ongoing character arc in Season 5 of Sweet Magnolias.  Shows set in the South don't usually have gay characters, but this season the high schoolers are staging a play, The Taming of the Shrew.  Where there's a drama club, there are gay teens.  Let's hope that Aidan is one of them.

I'm reviewing Episode 5.6, "Smoke and Mirrors," figuring that by this point they will be having dress rehearsals.

For reference, you should know that the Sweet Magnolias are three friends who support each other like the Steel Magnolias that they are named after.  From left to right, Dana Sue, who owns the restaurant Sullivan's, Maddie, a writer; and Helen, a lawyer.  They co-own a spa/gym. 

Scene 1: Night.  Everyone is crying and bringing toys and teddy bears out of a smoldering building.  Dana Sue and her husband learn that the fire started in the garage due to the "usual suspects": faulty wiring, greasy rags, and so on.  They divvy up who is going to stay with who.  Hey, there are no kids in the house, just Dana Sue, her husband, and their teenage daughter.  Surely regular viewers would know that, and be immune to the tearjerking of throwing out singed teddy bears.

There are different plot arcs involving each character, all interspliced, but I'll cover them separately.

Dana Sue's Story

Dana Sue and her husband (Brandon Quinn, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) are staying with Maddie the Writer and her husband.  They drink tea and cry.  Later, unable to sleep, they discuss the fire, and how "we can possibly get through this."  Don't y'all have insurance?

Husband feels guilty because the fire is his fault; as the man, he should have been taking care of whatever household item caused the fire.  Right, God forbid dainty little ladies know anything about home improvement projects.

In the morning, Dana Sue inspects the fire-damaged house.  Her Husband gets angry at her for just throwing things into boxes;  they have to check what can be salvaged and what can't be.  "I'm choosing what's important to me!" she exclaims.  "Like this old, singed cooking pot that belonged to my mother!"  Or you could look for photos.

He stomps off.

Cut to Dana Sue and her friends going to Flawed But Still Worthy, where they have an appointment with Wally himself.  To buy used clothes?  Wally (Geoffrey D. Williams), a flamboyant middle-aged black man in a pink suit, is a fan favorite for his "powerful and uplifting scenes."  He has chosen some outfits to give Dana Sue "a little joy to get through the hard times.  It's what makes the darkness bearable."  And, by the way, they are on the house.

Cut to Dana Sue going through her new stuff, and complaining that her hair still smells like smoke.  Then she goes to her restaurant and makes quesadillas for her friends. I'm fast forwarding through the "friends stick together" tearjerking. 

In the morning, Dana Sue and her Husband are discussing things, when Fireman Leif shows up (Ben VanderMey, left).   The Fire Department has donateed some food for the 4th of July Barbecue.

Isaac's Story

The morning after the fire,  Isaac (Chris Medlin, left) gets a vistor, Michael (Kyle Findley, below), who tries to hug him and is rejected.  He came a day early so he can help the people displaced by the fire.  Hey, they start kissing.  They're boyfriends!  I guess Isaac rejected the hug because they were still standing in the doorway, and neighbors might see them.

They head to the bedroom.

That night,  there's a knock on the door.  It's a blond woman, maybe Noreen, and her young child, with teddy bear.  She's surprised to see Boyfriend Michael.  He explains that he arrived early, but don't worry, they can babysit together. 

Noreen watches until Boyfriend Michael leaves with the girl, and then asks for the dirt.  Isaac is hiding it, but extremely upset that Boyfriend came early: "I work so hard to be methodical and organized, and this is how he repays me?  By being impulse and unpredictable?"  The scoundrel!  Dump him for not following the schedule!    

Plus he's trying to prepare a surprise anniversary dinner, and how can it be a surprise with Boyfriend Michael by his side every second?  I thought he was out helping the displaced family.

"No problem.  I'll help you."  Don't you have somewhere to be, which is why you needed a babysitter?

The next day, Isaac invites Michael to the coffee shop to explain where they source their beans and how he creates the staff schedules.  If I wanted to hear about that, I'd get a job.  Let's get back to the kissing. He gives him a drink called The Michael: Cold-brew, tonic, and cherry juice.  Yuck. 

That night, Isaac and Noreen set up for the surprise anniversary dinner on the high school stage, having transformed it into an Italian restaurant. Boyfriend Michael arrived; as they get their antipasto, Isaac tells him that he needs to share how he feels: "I love you."  They dance.  That's it?  I thought you were going to propose.

More after the break

Nick Vardakas: Adult toy guy, lucky f*king dude, Atari spirit, Dillon's boyfriend, IT major. A lot of n*de pics, but is he gay?

 

Link to the n*de dudes

 In Righteous Gemstones Episode 3.1, Kelvin and Keefe start a Smut Buster project with the teens, buying up adult toys (so adults can't get them?).  Nick is shown examining a toy that gay men are particularly fond of.

In Episode 3.3, Nick is one of the teens making anti-smut signs as Kelvin invites Keefe to Cousin's Night, and in Episode 3.4, he appears at the Parents-Teens United Party where Keefe is outed.

His father is Nick Arapoglou, who later confronts Kelvin about the "rumors swirling around" (after confiscating the toy from his son's room?).

Our Nick grew up in Charleston and attended Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, where the Gemstone Salvation Center is located (in fiction).  He appeared in Way Off Broadway and Dracula: A Radio Play, and participated in Army Junior ROTC and the swim team.  

He also posted a video of a school film project where he tries to get the courage to talk to a cute boy.

Wait -- talk to a cute boy?

Nick's social media up to that point consists entirely of buddies -- no girls except his mother.  No mention of a senior prom.

No girls at his graduation party in June 2021.  

Those are some interesting femme rings, buddy, and did you get your hair frosted?

But he's interested in mechanics and ROTC.  He and his buds visit a Porsche Museum.  These aren't the typical gay guy's interest.

Nick's first professional acting job, on The Righteous Gemstones, came while he was a student at Triton Technical College in North Charleston.  He also started a career in modeling (in case you are wondering, 6'0", waist 32", shoe size 12"). 

He received a certificate in cyber security in 2023, and transferred to the College of Charleston, where as of this writing he is majoring in IT.  His "About Me" page says that he has experience in acting, mechanics, cooking, IT, and customer service, and speaks English, Spanish, and Italian. Not Greek? Vardakas is a Greek name.

And three more acting credits:

In Lucky F*king Kid (2024), an ad for Lucky Energy Drink shown "on all social media," Nick plays a 23-year old "no money loser" who is paid to deliver a "totally unpaid testimonial."

The Hitchhiker (2024) was written and directed by Ben Beauchamp and Timons Flower (who directed  Spider-Man: The Dark Age with Jak Kristowski) and stars Gemstone alum Dillon Brady as the Hitchhiker.  Nick plays his boyfriend or victim (it's hard to tell from the trailer).

More after the break

Eight Biceps and Bulges of South Carolina

Link to the n*de photos

 I have relatives in South Carolina, and I had a job interview there, so I've visited a number of times, most recently in October 2022.  Here are some photos of biceps and bulges that I may or may not have seen in real life.

The nude photos are all from public websites or posted with permission of the subject.

1.Wrestlers from Beaumont.

2. Spiderman, ready for trick-or-treating in Charleston's French Quarter

3. Cadets at The Citadel.

Old City Market, Charleston

An interesting house in Walterboro

4. Yes, they have ballet in South Carolina.

More after the break

Dillon Brady: Four-time Gemstone extra, IT guy, crabber, model, polar plunger, Slytherin

Link to the n*de photos

Dillon Brady received his undergraduate degree in ecomics and his master's in health administration, and has a day job "developing system integration solutions for cloud-based services, specializing in enterprise."  In his ten years of experience, he has written 95,000 lines of code for 34 websites in 7 programming languages.  Whoa.

Frankly, I'm more interested in seeing him at a ball game with his shirt off.

Or crabbing with his shirt off.

Or at a music festival with his...well, you get the idea. 

Dillon's acting career began in 2019, when he played a cop extra during Season 1 of The Righteous Gemstones.  He returned for Seasons 2 and 3, playing a member of the church choir, a member of Peter's militia, and "Attractive Club-Goer," partying near Baby Billy and Dusty Daniels at the Y2K party in Monaco.  

More acting jobs, mostly uncredited, followed:

"Man outside Window" in the psychological drama May December (2023).

"Husband" in Mother Couch (2023), about a woman who refuses to leave a furniture store. Starring Ewan McGregor.

"Club Goer" in Suncoast (2024).  The IMDB description is too convoluted to summarize.

"War Department" (that's what it says) in Manhunt (2024), a miniseries about the aftermath of the Lincoln assassination. Starring Tobias Menzies (left) as Edward Stanton, Lincoln's Secretary of War.

A starring role as Dennis, an abusive husband, in the short Swine (2024).

Also some commercials and modeling work.

A modeling headshot?

More Dillon after the break.

Dakare Chatman: Ballroom dancer, conservative spokesperson, Christ follower, gay ally

  

Link to the n*de photos

Charleston, South Carolina resident Dakare Chatman has four acting credits on the IMDB:

1. Two episodes as an unnamed high school student on the serial-killer drama Mr. Mercedes, 2019.

2. "Youth Group Teen" in Righteous Gemstones Season 1.  He is especially noticeable in Episode 1.9, where Kelvin tells the youth group that he has transformed himself into "something dark."

3. "Kook," uncredited, on an episode of Outer Banks, 2020.

4. In Righteous Gemstones Episode 2.8, 2022, he returns as "Mr. Dukare,"who  buys Junior's defunct video arcade games.   

More about Dakare: he's a singer, ballroom dancer, Christ-follower, traveler, and optimist, active in the AME Church.  He was on the National Youth Advisory Board of the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank, and won their Constituting America Contest twice. This got him an interview on the conservative news show Fox and Friends

Dakare is now the artistic director of Practice to Perform, a semi-pro ballroom dancer, and still active in politics.  In 2024, he was the manager of the re-election campaign for Sheriff Kristin Graziano of Charleston, the first lesbian sheriff in South Carolina history. 

Wait -- Kristin Graziano is a Democrat.  Has Dakare changed parties?

Conservative think tank, AME church, Christ-follower, and gay-positive. A very unusual combination.

This photo from Christmas is rousing my gaydar.  Dakare's Instagram contains no photos of him with any ladies except some friends and dance partners.

Gay or not, I'm sure he won't mind fans appreciating his cuteness.  And that cool, campy cutlery on his kitchen wall.

More after the break

Shane Michael Parker: Soldier, stunt cock, wolf fan, gay BDSM performer?

 

Link to the nude Shane.

Shane Michael Parker was "proudly born" in 1994, grew up in Ohio, spent time overseas in the military, and moved to South Carolina in 2016, at the age of 22, to pursue an acting career. Why, was Los Angeles full? 

As Shane Miclette, he worked as a production assistant on the horror movies Separation and Scream (2022).  He filmed an appearance as Matthew in the second season of Outer Banks (2021) but his scene was cut.

As Shane Michael Parker, he played a Confederate soldier in Lessons from Ebenezer Creek, (2021), about a massacre of recently enslaved African Americans in North Carolina in 1864.

He has also appeared on stage.

His most impressive role to date is in  Righteous Gemstones Episode 2.1, a flashback to 1968, when Young Eli, the Maniac Kid, bests his opponent in a huge wrestling arena, then goes back to the locker room to talk to his manager, Glendon Marsh.   

A muscular naked guy walks from the showers across the scene. Glendon says   "Nice cock, Ernie."

There is no "Ernie" in the cast list. Either Glendon is talking about someone off-stage, or the naked guy's name was changed to Jason, played by Shane.

Glendon's son Junior gawks at Jason's dick, so overwhelmed that he trips, then catches himself and turns to peek at his bare butt.  

The gay/bi coding continues when the elderly Junior shows up in Charleston to reunite with his old friend or boyfriend Eli.

More Shane after the break