Charlie M.: What can you do with a philosophy major? Actor, comedian, photographer, multimedia current affairs producer, model?

  

Link to the n*de photos

The HandJones Underwear Thread has two ads with Charlie M. modeling "Handful," posted in November 2024.  

There's an actor with his name, but his first acting roles were in the 1960s, and he spent 40 years as a casting agent, so it couldn't be the same guy. 

But I found the Linkedin, Instagram, and Facebook pages of someone who looks like our model.

Charlie M. is a Midlands boy.  He attended the University of Sheffield (2014-2017), receiving a B.A. in Philosophy with a 2:1 (which is good, I think).  He was in the swim club and the Footnotes Comedy Society.

He started a Backstage Profile as an actor/comedian, non-union, age range 17-25, but apparently the acting didn't work out: he has no listings on the IMDB or on the London stage.

We find some n*de photos during this period, also, but just selfies, so maybe the modeling didn't work out.

In 2017, just after graduating, Charlie adds his name to the "Open Comedy" website.  He says that he's been performing comedy for two years, mostly on the student circuit, including the Edinburg Film Festival twice, but he wants to break into the London comedy scene.

But apparently comedy didn't work out, either. Instead, Charlie became a "multimedia current affairs producer, turnng complex issues into clear narratives for impact."  He produced "multimedia packages on economic development" in Central Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe.

He did a photo series about formerly-nomadic cattle herders in Kazakhstan.  They are fine working outside when the temperature is -30C (-22F).

More after the break.  

Why was Bomba the Jungle Boy always tied up?

Johnny Sheffield (1931-2010) spent the first 24 years of his life being filmed in a loincloth cut to the thigh, first as "Boy," son of Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller in 8 movies (1939-1947), and then as the teenage Bomba the Jungle Boy in 12 movies (1949-1955).  After all that, it proved impossible to find a fully-clothed role, so Johnny went to UCLA, got his degree in business, and had a successful second career in real estate.

The Bomba movies were on tv constantly during my childhood, usually on Saturday afternoons when there was no game,  and now they're all available on DVD. 

I noticed something interesting: in all of the Tarzan movies featuring the adolescent Boy, and in all but one of the Bomba movies, Johnny gets tied up. 

Was director Ford Beebe interested in tie-up games?

Or is it a matter of maximizing beefcake?

Of course, Bomba was tied up a lot in the original book series.

And the original Boy was no stranger to tied-up peril.

But the constant close-ups of the young adult Sheffield straining at his bonds were quite impressive to gay kids growing up in a world where same-sex desire could never be named or even thought of.

Was that the point?

More after the break

Kobi Frumer fights the Punisher, searches for Sawyer's gold, has a toxic boyfriend, answers Question #3 (n*de photos?) but evades #2 (gay?)

 

Link to the n*de photos

Apparently I downloaded these two photos awhile back, and forgot about them:

1. Because he has a nice physique, or because he is standing on his head in a snowbank?

2.  Ok, no question: "The best way to start the day" is by lying face down in snow.   Cah-razy!  

His name is Kobi Frumer -- quite distinctive.  I've only heard of one other Kobi, some kind of sports guy.

Not many biographical details.  He was born in New York City in 2004.  He graduated (with a 3.9 GPA) from the  Professional Children's School, a high school for actors and other performers in New York (famous alumni include Macaulay Culkin, Anthony Michael Hall, Jerry O'Connell -- and Milton Berle).

His on-screen acting began in 2015, with  some shorts and documentaries. 

Then came 9 episodes of The Punisher (2017), starring Jon Berenthal as the Marvel Comics vigilante, "a tortured, angry husband and father who's living in this unbelievable world of darkness and loss and torment."  Sounds awful.

Kobi plays Zach Lieberman, son of the Punisher's partner-in-crime David Lieberman.  His dad dies (first rule of fiction); he becomes surly, rebellious, and violent; he is threatened by the Punisher, and kidnapped by Billy Russo; Dad turns out to be alive, dies again, and turns out to be alive again (is this a soap opera?).  Zach doesn't display any heterosexual interest, but really, when does he have time? 

Next we find Kobi voicing Ollie in 50 episodes of The Ollie and Moon Show (2017), a preschool toon about cats having adventures around the world: "Canadian Pancake Party," "Thinking Pink in Senegal," "A Wild Goose Chase in Berlin." 

More shorts and voice work follow. 

Kobi is most famous for The Quest for Tom Sawyer's Gold (2023).  Retired adventurer Agatha and her girlfriend are drawn back into the game when her son Ant finds a letter indicating that Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were real people, not fiction, and hid real gold somewhere in the American Southwest.   There's no Ant in the cast list, but he could be Antony (Dodge Prince).  Kobi plays one of his friends. 

More after the break

Gemstones Episode 2.2: Kelvin clenches, Keefe dances, and everybody flirts with Eli. With a n*de Texas dude bonus.

 

Previous: Episode 2.1 Review, Continued: Keefe's kiss, Kelvin's b*ner, and a thug with broken thumbs

In Episode 2.1, while we establish the Kelvin/Keefe, Judy/BJ, and Jesse/Amber conflicts of the season, Eli's old friend Junior stops by, and acts very much like an ex-lover.  They go out to dinner and beat up a tough.  Now we see the aftermath.

Link to NSFW version

Eli Gemstone indicted! Thaniel Block sits on the porch of his rental house in the South Carolina woods, reading some news stories from 1993: Gemstone Family Studios to close due to "a financial and rumors of  sexual scandals," with $4 million missing.  Another article: "Eli Gemstone indicted on charges of fraud and conspiracy." But Episode 2.5 takes place at Christmas 1993.  When did all this happen? Geezer Tim drops by to criticize him for living in New York and having a "nasty attitude." 

A Hot Piece of Tail: Judy and BJ visit Eli to ask him to officiate in BJ's baptism.  They find him asleep on the couch in the parlor. Junior enters and asks "Who's this hot piece of tail?"  He's actually looking at BJ, but Eli assumes that he means Judy and says that she is his daughter.  He apologizes and asks if BJ is her lesbian partner. BJ starts to answer, but Judy cuts him off.

There are several takeaways here.  First, Eli and Junior did not sleep together; Eli fell asleep on the couch. Weren't there any guest rooms in his mansion? 

Second, check out Junior's magenta bathrobe, jaunty hand on him, and pinky ring: he is deliberately presenting as queer.   

Third, Eli may have mentioned that one of his children is gay, and Junior forgot which.

Execretions and Hep C Loads:  After Junior heads to the kitchen to make coffee, Judy wants to know what's going on.  Eli tells her that "things got a little carried away last night," which she interprets to mean that they are having rough s*x.  He grimaces in disgust, but plays along to mess with her.  

Her main criticism is that Junior is unattractive: "I always hoped that if you were gonna yank a pole, it would be someone hot."  So Judy has considered the possibility that Eli is bisexual for a long time. 

She states that the "hookup" signifies that Eli doesn't care about his family.  Remember that Jesse likewise complains that Kelvin "popping boners" with the muscle men is "selfish, not helping the family."  But it's not just gay s*x; on this show, having a partner of any sort is framed as a betrayal.  The family is aghast when Judy wants to move off the Compound with BJ; Baby Billy is still hurt over his sister Aimee-Leigh "leaving him" to marry Eli.  

As they storm out, Judy cautions BJ to not touch anything, as there are probably execretions and Hep C loads everywhere.  This is a call back to Abraham leaving his semen everywhere in Jesse's house, plus an awareness that Hepatitus C can easily spread through s*x, so it is particularly common in gay communities.

Good Sniffer Seats: After they leave, Eli joins Junior on the back patio, overlooking the reflecting pool that leads to Aimee-Leigh's shrine.  Eli invites him to church, but he worries about the cost.  Junior avers that he's been to enough strip joints to know that you have to pay for the "good sniffer seats."  I can't find the term "sniffer seat" defined anywhere, but I guess that it's a seat close enough to the stage to smell the performers.  There are male clubs, but he's probably referencing a lady's club, being a hetero horn dog, backing off from the implication of gay activity. 

But not entirely: Eli offers to reserve a good seat for him, and the guys hold hands!

On closer examination, it turns out to be a man and a woman holding hands. We have cut to a scene involving Jesse and Amber's marital advice group. But it is so abrupt that the misdirection must be intentional.  The man is even wearing a shirt the same color as Junior's robe.

After the group meeting, Matthew and Chad ask why Jesse's old crew isn't hanging out together anymore.  This is all marital stuff, heterosexual nuclear family stuff; what happened to the band of brothers, savage and free?  Gregory explains; "I love you guys, but happy wife, happy life."

This is becoming an ongoing question in this season: how do you balance phileo and eros, the fraternal love of family and friends and  desire that creates husbands, wives, and lovers?  The Bible says that we must abandon phileo for eros, "leave their father and mother and cleave to their husband or wife."  Kelvin is trying to combine the fraternal and the erotic by forbidding romance. BJ is trying to negotiate both.

You Got a Hound Dog Here: Cut to Thaniel visiting the Salvation Center, where he admits that he has s*xual-scandal dirt on Aimee-Leigh, gathered from household staff.  Well, at least Kelvin is off the hook.

The World's Most Famous Christian: Next, Jesse and Amber visit the Lissons in Texas for a party to celebrate the proposed Zion's Landing resort. Joe Jonas, the World's Most Famous Christian, leads everyone in a line dance.  He proclaims his heterosexuality, singing about the "beautiful girls" he's been with while wearing a formless leopard robe and pink bandana, the antithesis of Kelvin's tiger jacket and club bulge. Desire for women un-mans a man, renderng him soft and sickly; only in the manly love of comrades can a man be strong and free.

More after the break