13 Diverse Hunks on Eastsiders (aka Silverlake Light)

I only got through 10 minutes and a few fast-forwards of Eastsiders, a Netflix drama about the self-involved, petty disputes of a group of post-twinks living in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

First, one of the worst names in tv history, easily confused with the British Eastenders.  Plus one ever calls Silverlakers Eastsiders.  East Los Angeles is a whole other neighborhood.

Second, Silverlake is for aging leathermen, not post-twinks.  These people belong in West Hollywood.

Third, this is not 1995. A tv program is not "must see" just because it has some gay guys in it.  Especially gay guys who are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly middle class-artist-writer, self-absorbed, shrill, and obsessed with petty problems like cheating.  For God's sake, just share him!  Why the drama? But maybe it can be redeemed with beefcake.

The Friends are:

1. Post-twink Thom (Van Hansis, a name that is impossible to write down without hearing "Van Halen."   Try it!).

Thom is an aspiring writer who cheats on his boyfriend Cal with Jeremy, then breaks up with Cal and starts dating Jeremy, but decides that he prefers Cal, and....

2. Post-twink Cal (Kit William , top right photo), an aspiring photographer  who dates Jeremy after they break up.

3. Twink Jeremy (Matthew McKelligon, left ), the third member of the triangle.

4. Their wisecrack-spewing friend Kathy (Constance Wu), the token woman, and her boyfriend Ian (John Holback, top left photo), the token straight man.

5. Quincy (Stephen Quarino), who works as a party planner (well, we did have a lot of parties in West Hollywood), who ends up dating Gomorrah Ray (William Belli), the drag-queen-next-door.

That's it for the main cast, but going down the list of 6-episode or fewer guest cast members, maybe I can find some more hunks.  And maybe one person -- just one -- who is black?

6. Trevor (Adam Bucci), whom Thom and Cal have a three-way with. 6 episodes.  Must be a long three-way.

7. Satya Bhabha as Jared, a drag queen competing with Gomorrah Ray.  6 episodes.  A non-white person, anyway, but I'm still holding out for black.

8. David (David Blue), who dates Quincey after he is dumped by Gomorrah Ray.  4 episodes.  White.

9. Paul (Sean Maher), Cal's boss at the art gallery, married to a woman but on the downlow.  White

10. Matthew Wilkas (left, with boyfriend) as Kevin, a hunk du jour.

11.  Queer Eye host Jai Rodriguez as Door Guy Jimmy. 2 episodes.

12. Veteran gay actor Wilson Cruz as Jerry.  1 episode.

We're getting some Hispanic actors way,way down the list.

13. Derrick (Leith M. Burke), whom Jeremy dates in the wilds of Season 3.  Found one!

One black guy out of over 100 in the cast.  Talk about diversity!

The Top 10 Hunks of "Dear White People," Season 3

Dear White People (2014) was a drama with comedic elements about a radio show that points out microaggressions and white privilege at an elite Ivy League college.

The first season of the Netflix tv adaption (2017) continued the story, with the Winchester students dealing with unconscious (and conscious) racism, police targeting, cultural appropriation, and so on.  Still a drama with comedic elements.

The second season (2018) was more comedy than drama, with some attention to white supremacy, institutional racism, and a conservative "why do black people complain all the time" group.  Plus Lionel gets a boyfriend.  It bogs down in a ridiculous plotline about a secret society that controls the world leaving DaVinci Code clues around the campus.

In its third season (2019), Dear White People has become a comedy.  There doesn't seem to be an ongoing plot arc, just micro-plots about selecting a film studies mentor, unionizing, dating, embarrassing moms, and a sex club. Most of the time I have no idea what's going on, and I don't really care. I'm just watching for the Lionel plotlines.  And for the beefcake.

Here are the top 10 hunks of Season 3.  I'm omitting the ones covered (or rather, uncovered) in my previous review (Gabe, Lionel, Reggie, Kurt, Al, and Kordell).

1. Mason Trueblood (top photo) as Colin, a writer for the Pastiche humor magazine (aka Harvard Lampoon).  One of the main plotlines of Season 3 involves Pastiche writers trying to find their own voices, and a female writer being ignored.

2. Kobi Kumi-Diaka (left) as  Jimiyu, a Nigerian student with a crush on someone or other.

3. Jeremy Tardy as Rashid, a member of the Black Student Union, the more conservative black organization on campus.

4. Blair Underwood as Professor Moses Brown, who left after he became rich with an app he developed, but returned because...he wants to nurture young minds?

5. Erich Lane as Clifton, Reggie's roommate, who spends his time doing whatever it is that white people do.  I liked the scene where he changes clothes in front of Reggie, displaying his package and everything (nothing seen on camera).

6. Glenn McCuen as Chet Fuckboi.  I don't remember this character, in spite of the name.


















7.  Alex Alcheh as Milo, one of the graduate teaching assistants.


8. Ryan Alexander Holmes as Nicholas.  I don't know who this character is, but who cares? The actor is hot.

9. Wade F. Wilson as Michael, who insults Lionel at the sex party, and then asks him out.

10. Eugene Ko (left) as Jesse, one of the graduate teaching assistants.  It's about time the show added an Asian character.  Racism isn't all about black and white.

Now, if they can only get him to take his shirt off.

See also:Dear White People

Chesterfield, Missouri: Obfuscating High Schools and a Gay Botanist

Marquette High School is not in Marquette, Michigan, which one would naturally assume: Father Jacques Marquette (1637-1675) was the first European to visit what is now Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois, but he never made it to Missouri.

It's in Chesterfield, but not Chesterfield, Virginia, which one would naturally assume.  Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis on the St. Charles River, formed in 1988 by the merging of an unincorported area formerly occupied by the villages of Bellefontaine, Bonhomme, Hog Hollow, and Gumbo.

Leave it to Missouri to obfuscate.  The school website leaves out any mention of the city or state.  I only found out because when you search for Tucson, Arizona swim teams on Google Images, you get the Fort Zumwalt East High Swim Team in St. Peters, Missouri, which plays against Chesterfield.

I have a question about the one black wrestler on the Fort Zumwalt team going against the one black wrestler on the Marquette team.

In March 2019 a Marquette High School student posted an Instagram photo of herself in blackface.  She claimed that it was just special effects makeup, and the school responded: "The incident did not take place on school property."

Later that month, students at Parkway Central High in Chesterfield posted a video laced wih racial slurs and threats, including chants of "slavery" and suggestions that all African-Ameicans should die.  The school responded: "The students have received consequences."

Other than its obfuscating and racially suspect high schools (albeit with interesting wrestling techniques), Chesterfield is known for its gay botanist.

Faust Park (no connection to the German scientists who sold his soul to the devil) features a historic village (open March-July), a carousel, and the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, home to 2,000 butterflies of 80 species.  It's part of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, founded by Henry Shaw in 1858.   Admission is free on July 24th to celebrate his birthday.

Henry Shaw (1800-1889)  moved from Britain to St. Louis as a young man, and became so wealthy that he was able to retire at age 40 and devote the rest of his life to his interest in botany.  Aside from the Botanical Gardens, he contributed to many other Missouri institutions.  He has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, along with Maya Angelou, Scott Bakula, T, S, Eliot, Vincent Price, and Tennessee Williams.

He never married; according to his biography, "he went to parties and balls occasionally,but he seemed to avoid making acquaintances among the girls; he avoided making female friends, fearful that he might fall in love."

Sure,that's one explanation for it

A Man Like Mobeen

As America descends into hate-fueled, border-wall,  concentration camp fascism, the racism, homophobia, and Islamophobia that we thought espoused by only a few loonies suddenly supported by half the population, it's easy to forget that hate is rising elsewhere in the world.  Britain has its own alt-right, its own isolationism, its own "Make Britain Great Again!" slogans  A Man Like Mobeen reminds us.










Mobeen (Guz Khan, center ) is a young man of Pakistani ancestry living in the small Small Heath neighborhood of Birmingham, which has been described by racist Fox news as "a no-go zone for non-Muslims."

He and his two buds, Nate (Tolu Ogumenfun,right) and Eight (Tez Ilyas, left) were previously small-time drug dealers, but they are trying to go straight so that Mobeen can be a proper role model for his 15-year old sister, Aqsa (Duaa Karim).

In eight episodes, they encounter:
1. Police targeting.  Eight is arrested on description of an "Asian male in track suit bottoms" selling drugs to kids.

2. Bullying.  When Aqsa is suspended from school for fighting back against bullies, Mobeen wonders if she needs a mother's touch in her life.

3. An alt-right demonstration.  Mobeen is arrested and placed in the same paddy wagon as alt-right leader Robbie Worthington (Jason Maza, top photo).

4. Knife violence.  While trying to protect Aqsa from an upcoming knife fight at her school prom, Mobeen is arrested yet again.

5. Microaggressions.  During the interminable wait at A&E (Britain's health care system), Mobeen encounters an "I'm not a racist, but..."  chap. Actually, it stops being a microaggression very quickly.   Hint: Don't insult the doctor who is about to treat you.

Beefcake:  None to speak of.

Gay characters:  None specified, except for maybe a guy at A&E who is bidding in an online auction on a plaster cast of Daniel Radcliffe's penis.

But Mobeen expresses heterosexual interest in only two episodes, and his buds only refer to it vaguely, once.  They all can be read as gay.

Get Out

African-American photographer Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) reluctantly accepts his white girlfriend  Rose's invitation to visit her ultra-rich family for the weekend.  They're not at all racist!  she assures him.  They have black friends.  They voted for Obama -- twice!

Chris knows that white people often suffer from unconscious racism that allows them to congratulate themselves for just saying hello to a black person.  He expects to spend the weekend hearing about black friends and becoming a spokesperson for the black condition.  But he goes.

The family, passive-aggressive Mom and Dad and crazy-aggressive "let's wrestle!" Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones), are pleased as punch to meet Chris. They say all of the things that liberal white people say to prove they are not racist.  Jeremy compliments Chris on his genetics, but...ok.   Just the usual microaggressions.

The black servants, Georgina and Walter, act like zombies, like Stepford Servants.

That weekend, the Armitages invite a lot of their wealthy white friends to a party, where they all but drool over Chris. They obviously want him -- physically.  Is this a club for black fetishists?

There is only one other black man at the party, a young guy named Logan King (LaKeith Stanfield).  He has the same vacant zombie vibe as the servants.  Plus he dresses and acts elderly, and he has a much older wife. Gigolo?  Or hypnotized?

Turns out to be much worse.  Spoiler alert:

Rich white people are transferring their brains into young black bodies, so they can be younger, stronger, more talented, more athletic, more hung, better in bed, better at practically everything.

Aha!  Black people have always suspected that white racism is rooted in jealousy.

Afterwards the old personality is still there, but stuck inside, unable to act.  That's why all of the transferred people act like zombies.

Georgina and Walter actually have the brains of Grandma and Grandpa Armitage in them.

Wait -- they wanted black bodies just so they could become servants?

Sometimes they kidnap the bodies they need, and sometimes Rose procures them by dating them and inviting them up "for the weekend."

Chris is next!  Both Jeremy and Jim Hudson (Stephen Root),  a blind art dealer (rather a poor career choice) want him.  A desperate escape attempt follows, with everyone in hot pursuit, getting offed by Chris as he struggles to Get Out!

Beefcake:  Not much.

Gay references:

Rose's previous conquests include 14 men and a woman (if each wooing takes about six months, that's a lot of work for someone of her age).

Chris calls his comic-relief buddy, Rod (comedian Lil Rel Howery), who suspects that something nefarious is going on. Remember Jeffrey Dahmer?  Some black dudes went to his house, thinking "I'm just gonna suck some dick, maybe jiggle some balls," and they got decapitated.

Gay subtexts:  Where to begin?  Every white man in the movie is arguably gay, leering at Chris, commenting on his attractiveness.  One assumes that they desire Chris's body. Only later do we discover that they want to live in it. 

Plus Chris and Rod work together to solve the mystery.  In the last, scene, Rod saves Chris, and they drive off into the sunset together, subverting the trope of male-female fade-out kiss.

Blackkklansman: Racism, Beefcake, and Bad Boys

Anytime anyone laughs in a movie, even once, Hollywood advertises it as a comedy.  Blackkklansman is not a comedy.  It is a drama.

Around 1973 or 1974, straitlaced, conservative Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) becomes the first black police officer in the Colorado Springs PD.  At first he is relegated to the sub-basement records department, but eventually he convinces the captain to let him go undercover.

His first assignment: to infiltrate the Black Student Union at Colorado College, to find out if they're planning anything violent.  They aren't, but he gets a radical girlfriend out of the deal (every movie has to have some hetero-romance).  They don't do much hugging and kissing, but they do discuss the relative merits of blacksploitation movies.  Plus we get to hear a Black Power speech by Kwame Ture, previously Stokely Carmichael (Corey Hawkins).

Next Ron infiltrates the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan to see if they're planning anything violent. They are!

To overcome the obvious problem of showing up at a Klan meeting while black, he enlists Flip (Adam Driver) to play Ron.  To increase the dramatic potential, Flip happens to be Jewish.

After a few bumps, Flip/Ron is accepted by the local Klan: subdued leader Walter (Ryan Eggold, left), loose cannon Felix (Jasper Pääkkönen), Felix's chirpy wife Connie (Ashlie Atkinson).   Flip/Ron even draws the attention of Grand Dragon David Duke, played as bumbling nerd by former That 70s Show star Topher Grace.

The parallels between the radical student group and the Klan are obvious, and deliberate.  Both are preparing to "defend themselves" against evil people who control the U.S. and plan to destroy them.  Both are amenable to the use of violence.  It's just the luck of the draw that one of the groups planted the bomb first.

The difference, of course, is that the black group's history of oppression is real.

The gay connection:  not a lot of hetero-romance going on.  Flip never expresses any interest in women, except when he is pretending to be a Klansman.

Body-by-Michelangelo Faron Salisbury in a minor role as Officer Sharpe.

And in 2003, Jasper Pääkkönen starred in the Finnish movie Pahat pojat (Bad Boys), about four hot guys who don't own shirts. It's not available in the U.S., but I think there's some shirtless robberies, car chases, and frontal male nudity.

Vidor: The Worst Beefcake East Texas Has to Offer

East Texas is just plain uncomfortable: the air is hot and damp as a sauna, it smells like oil all the time, every car is a red pickup truck with a confederate flag in the rear, and the people alternate between praising Jesus and hating. 

And Vidor, on the outskirts of Beaumont, may be the most uncomfortable town in all of East Texas.

It looks like a poverty-stricken inner-city neighborhood, all fast-food restaurants and railroad tracks. The high school is next to a building materials company. There are 14 churches (all Baptist, Pentecostal, or Nazarene) but no bookstores. museums, or taverns.

Here are some apartments for rent.  Dismal.

Vidor was once a sundown town, where blacks weren't allowed after dark.  An attempt to integrate public housing in 1991 resulted in a Ku Klux Klan rally.  It is still a Ku Klux Klan stronghold, 97% white.

 It is the home town of serial killer Dean Corli, who raped and murdered 28 teenage boys in Houston between 1970 and 1973, before being killed by an accomplice.   And the home town of several country-western musicians.

In the news:
"Threatening Graffiti Found at Vidor High School"
"Arizona Man Accidentally Shoots Himself in the Groin at a Vidor, Texas Wal-Mart"
"Jury Reaches Verdict in the Trial of a Man Who Killed a Vidor, Texas Teen"
"Billboards Outside Vidor, Texas Inspired Oscar-Winning Film"  (the billboards are maintained by local resident James Fulton, who believes that the Vidor Police Chief knows who murdered his daughter 27 years ago, but don't want to arrest him.)

Another billboard was put up in 2011 by a Vidor man named Clayt Kinard, who belonged to a group believing that Judgment Day would be May 21, 2011.  A reporter for the Beamont Enterprise interviewed several local pastors to see what they thought. Sounds like he was taking the issue seriously.

Vidor High School ("Believe and Achieve") is the home of the Pirates.  The student dress code specifies that boys may not wear earrings. 

The football team is photographed outside a horrifyingly decrepit structure.  Is that their school?







Here they're being escorted out of a monster's mouth.  Is the game plan to scare the opposing team to death?

Well, they're not going to intimidate the opposing team with their buffed physiques.

Vidor High also has a swim team.  This is the only boy.   Cute, but he could use some time in the sun (maybe the oil smell makes it impossible).


















My quest to find actual beefcake in Vidor seems fruitless.  This guy has abs, but he could also use some sun.  In Vidor, white means white.




















I was reduced to searching through the Facebook public photos of Vidor residents. The top photo shows a pasty swimmer.

Finally I found someone with a tan and abs, but I couldn't tell if he was a teenager or child. 

And what kind of swamp monster has his friend caught?

Black Lightning is Back

Black Lightning is back.

That's the premise of the new Netflix series based on an obscure DC comics character from the 1970s.  The only problem is, Black Lightning has never appeared on screen before, so the constant references to past incidents and situations are all immensely confusing.  It's like coming in during the third act of a play, except there were no first two acts.

But apparently about ten years ago, mild-mannered school principal Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) became Black Lightning, lowering his voice and putting on an electricity-funneling suit, in order to kill a bad guy who killed his father. Being a superhero caused too much tension in his family (and family is everything), so he retired.  But now he's back, a superhero vigilante who literally does nothing but beat up bad guys and people he thinks are bad guys.

As principal, Jeff promotes a "respect yourself" and "make positive life decisions" philosophy to help his students overcome the drugs, crime, and racism of their society, especially police targeting of young black men (this is definitely the Black Lives Matter era).

But as Black Lightning, he's a throwback to the 1970s "violent thug" era:  all of these problems are caused by a gang, the 100, led by big bad Lala (William Katlett, seen here in the play Heat and Hostility, about two porn stars comparing endowments).

No, Lala has a boss, Tobias (Marvin "Krondon" Jones), the "albino" big bad who Black Lightning thought he had killed.  An albino in real life, Krondon tries to ensure that the show gives factual information about albinism, and doesn't suggest that it is responsible for Tobias being evil.

But it turns out that Tobias has a boss, Lady Eve (Jill Scott).

And Lady Eve has a boss, Martin Proctor (Greg Henry).

And there are probably a few more big bads in the hierarchy.  I haven't gotten to the end of the series yet, but who wants to bet that the Biggest Bad is the school lunch lady?

Anyone can see that Black Lighting is Jeff in a mask, yet he manages to keep his identity secret from all of his friends, allies, and family.    The only two people who know are:

1. Elderly tailor Peter Gambi (James Remar; photo from a few years ago), who designed the suit and has a secret connection to the hierarchy of evil;

2. Ex-wife Christine (Lynn Stewart), who divorced him a few years ago for no apparent reason other than to reconcile now.

Other characters include:

1. Anissa (Natessa Williams), Jeff's daughter, a medical student and high school science teacher, a lesbian, and a superhero named Thunder.  She's out to her parents as a lesbian but not as a superhero, which leads to her father thinking she's a villain and beating her up.

2. Jennifer (China Anne McClain), Jeff's other daughter, a high school student and party girl, who has superpowers of her own but hasn't settled on a superhero identity yet.

3. Jennifer's ex-boyfriend Khalil Payne, who is paralyzed by a bullet meant for Black Lightning and becomes a cyborg super-villain named Painkiller.

Well, basically everyone is wandering around with superpowers, except for Billy (Damon Gupton), Jeff's friend on the police force, and I'm sure he'll get some soon.

42: Shower Scenes and Gay Symbolism, but No Doug Adams

I was drawn to a movie entitled 42, because it's the answer to "life, the universe, and everything" in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  I figured it was new adaption of Hitchhiker's Guide, or a biopic of Douglas Adams.

Turns out that it's a biopic of a baseball player named Jackie Robinson.

Who?

I had vaguely heard of him, but I didn't know in what context.

Maybe in the phrase "Before you can say Jackie Robinson," meaning "quickly"?

No -- that phrase has been around since the 18th century.

I find all sports incredibly dull, especially baseball, but I watched anyway. Maybe there would be some nude locker room scenes.

Jackie Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) was the first black baseball player to break the color barrier, playing for previously all-white teams, first the Montreal Royals, and then the Brooklyn Dodgers.  The movie doesn't cover his whole life, just the period between 1945 and around 1948, when he first joined the Dodgers.  He experiences significant resistance: hotels refuse to house the team, ball parks refuse to let them play, some of his own teammates quit, there are racial slurs and death threats.

The recreation of racial segregation in late 1940s America is interesting, but I have to fast-forward past the recreation of all the baseball games.

It's also interesting to note that the arguments used to justify banning black players are identical to arguments used against gay athletes today.  Bad for morale!  Fans won't show up!  They'll be sharing our locker rooms, showering with us!

There are lots of wives and kids in the movie, and gay people are not mentioned, but there is an interesting scene with a gay reference:  Jackie doesn't shower with the other players, to avoid causing problems.  But one of his teammates, played by Hamish Linklater,  isn't having it:  "Come on," he says, "Take a shower with me. That didn't come out right.  I mean, let's all shower together."

There's also a gay subtext relationship between Jackie Robinson and Wendell Smith (Andre Holland), a reporter who is following his career, and breaking a color line of his own by being admitted to the press box.  They have such strong chemistry and are shown hanging out so often that at one point I said "Are you guys going to kiss, or what?"





Most of the cast consists of recognizable stars, with substantial beefcake:

Christopher Meloni as Leo Durocher (teammate who gets involved in a scandal)

Alan Tudyk as Ben Chapman (racist teammate)

Ryan Merriman  (left) as Dixie Walker (racist teammate)

Jesse Luken (left) as Eddie Stanky (non-racist teammate).   I looked it up; there really was a person named Eddie Stanky!

His parents shortened it from Stankiewicz.  They must not have realized what it meant.















Lucas Black (left) as Pee Wee Reese (non-racist teammate)

Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey (the head of the Dodgers)

Max Gail as Burt Shotten (another head of the Dodgers.  Apparently baseball has a lot of bosses).


Ok, so why is this movie called "42"?

Turns out it's Jackie Robinson's team number.

What an obscure reference!   There's no one on the face of the Earth who will see the title "42" and think "A movie about a baseball player!"  How about "Jackie Robinson"?

See also: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy