Dakota Taylor: Prom kings, soap stars, model, and ghost. Plus Justin Berfield, Justin Kirk, and the problems of searching for Dakota's d*ck pics

Link to the n*de photos

In Ghosts Episode 1.17 (2020), Jay and Samantha, the owners of the heavily-haunted Woodstone Mansion, meet mean girl ghost Stephanie.  In 1987, she and her prom date Tad (Dakota Taylor) were parking on the estate, when a serial killer murdered her. She has unfinished business, so she is stuck there (but only appears once a year, on the anniversary of her death).  We assume that Tad was murdered, too, but went to the afterlife right away.

Until Episode 4.20, when he re-appears as a middle-aged man (played by Justin Kirk, left), using the tragedy in his mayoral campaign: he announces that he bravely tried  to protect Stephanie, but was knocked out.

"Bull hockey!" Stephanie exclaims.  "He ran away like a little coward."

So of course Jay and Sam have to call him out with "I know what you did 37 years ago!"

But some of the other ghosts observed the attack, and corroborate Tad's story.  It turns out that Stephanie just wants to "get even" because Tad started dating her best friend shortly after the murder.  

Dakota Taylor (the teenage Tad) is extremely cute, and a brief internet search revealed this photo of two guys on a date.  He must have played gay  characters.  

Plus there are some very interesting modeling photos (on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).  Maybe there are d*ck shots out there as well.   

Dakota grew up in Grimsby, Ontario, near Niagara Falls.  He graduated from the Blessed Trinity Catholic School in 2017, and then studied at the Toronto Academy of Acting and York University.  His first on-screen roles came in 2017: a World War I soldier in an  episode of Canada: The Story of Us, and a teenage drug addict in an episode of Teens 101. 

He seems to specialize in proms:

Homekilling Queen (2019): Whitney will stop at nothing to be elected Homecoming Queen. Dakota plays a cute boy that she uses to catfish her chief rival, Natasha.

Fear Street: Prom Queen (2021).  Same plot.  Dakota plays the boyfriend of one of the contenders. Dale Whitby plays another.

N*de photo on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends. 

More after the break. 

Drake and Josh and Craig and Eric

This is my most popular post, with 91,000 page views, 20,000 in the last year.  It's about gay subtexts in Drake and Josh (2004-2007), a Nickelodeon teencom about two high school stepbrothers.

The scheming underachiever, Drake (Drake Bell).

And the shy intellectual, Josh (Josh Peck).  He only started getting buff in the last season.

Like The Wizards of Waverly Place and The Suite of Life of Zack and Cody, Drake and Josh was loaded down with gay subtexts.  While both dated girls, the guys shared a physicality, an emotional connection, and an exclusivity that would elsewhere mark them definitively as romantic partners.

And there was an almost-open gay couple.

Of course, network censors of the day forbade the nerds Craig and Eric (Alec Medlock, Scott Halberstadt) from being explicitly identified as a gay couple -- not on a program aimed at a teenage audience -- but they were as open as they could be without actually Wearing a Sign.

They danced together at a wedding.

They went on a double date with a heterosexual couple.

They bemoaned the loss of their pictures taken at Niagara Falls (a stereotypic honeymoon destination).

They broke up, realized how much they care for each other, and reconciled (while Drake sang “Beautiful Dreamer").

 In the series finale, the tv-movie Merry Christmas, Drake and Josh (2008), they were shown holding hands.

In a 2007 episode, Drake comes very close to saying the word "gay."   In a feeble, half-hearted attempt to Be Discreet, Eric tells Drake, “Girls are nothing but trouble.  That’s why we don’t have girlfriends.”

Drake stares at him for a long moment, a curious self-satisfied grin on his face.  He is obviously dying to Say  the Word.  The studio audience goes crazy with excitement.  Will they finally hear it spoken aloud?

It looks for all the world like the actor is trying to decide whether he should stick to the script or say something like "You don't have girlfriends because you're gay," and risk a reshoot.

But, in the end, he sticks to the script:  “There are a lot of reasons why you two don’t have girlfriends,” leaving the viewer the option of pretending not to know what those reasons are.

Update: Alec Medlock, now an attorney, and Scott Halberstadt, now a financial analyst, are both straight in real life.

See also: Drake Bell: A lot has happened since "Drake and Josh," including some gay videos

Even Stevens

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Gemstones Episode 1.1: Kelvin is in love with a Goth, and Gideon with the Devil. Plus Chengdu dudes, Scott Wolf, and a stunt c*ck

In the new year, let's go back to where it all began, or at least to 2019, with Righteous Gemstones Episode 1.1

Link to the NSFW Review

Who is More of a Man?: Chengdu, in southwestern China. Beneath an advertisement for "24 Hours of Saved Souls," a woman is singing in Mandarin, while hundreds of people file into a swimming pool to be baptized by missionary Eli Gemstone (Dan Conner of Roseanne) or his adult children.  Jesse, the oldest (Danny McBride of Vice Principals), complains that his brother Kelvin (Adam Devine of Workaholics) is dipping the converts too far, getting water in their noses. Kelvin disgrees. Suddenly someone turns on waves and disco music, people lose their footing, it's chaos!

The Gemstones return home, and are greeted by Martin, Eli's chief accountant and right-hand man, and his secretary Judy, the third Gemstone child, who complains that she didn't get to go, even though she learned "Ni hao" (Hello).  Jesse argues that missionary work is for only men, and she counters: "I'm more of a man than Kelvin is."  Jesse agrees. Is this a gay reference? 

The three men are chauffeured, in three identical cars, through a huge estate with a golf course, amusement park, and private police force.  Ok, Eli is not a missionary; he has a televangelism empire like Jimmy Swaggart's

They are dropped off at their houses. First  Eli, greeted by a staff of 15 women. Then Jesse, greeted by his wife, Amber, and children, Pontius and Abraham.  Then Kelvin, greeted by no one. So his plot arc will be about finding someone. 

Kelvin and the Vampire:  Kelvin walks into his game room, and starts sorting his mail.  Suddenly a man appears in the doorway, lowering from a sit-up bench like a vampire rising from his coffin -- next to an Egyptian mummy case. This is the Land of the Dead. 

He says "Hello, friend," more threat than greeting. 

Kelvin: "You scared the ___ out of me!"  

The Vampire: "I'm sorry, man.  I'd like to keep your ___ in." 

Kelvin didn't like China: "Jesse was riding me the whole time, fully up my ___"  Second reference to that thing that I can't mention here..

He continues to criticize Jesse for not "letting me be me." 

Is this a reference to Kelvin being gay?  Will he come out during this season, or is he already out?

After a bro fist-bump, Kelvin asks (his friend has not yet been named, but we'll call him Keefe) how the housesitting went.

It went fine.  Keefe slept in Kelvin's room one night, "But it felt odd, so I slept the rest of the time here on the couch." The huge house must have a dozen guest rooms.   Why the couch?

Kelvin: "Hey, man, you do not need to feel odd sleeping in my bed.  I told you you could."   Is he easing Keefe into the idea of sleeping with him?

Keefe didn't like being in Kelvin's room: "The energy in there is just unsettling.  It's lonely"   Very insightful.  He can sense Kelvin's loneliness.  There's no one in his life, no friends, no romantic partner.  He doesn't realize it yet, but he is, in the words of Dag Hammarskjold, "screaming for love." .

Kelvin thanks him for looking after the place: "Home-run friendship." Keefe is appreciative: "I know not everybody wanted me here."  House-sitting?  Why would the family care?

Timeline problem: Keefe was a Satanist before he and Kelvin met. Maybe Kelvin even brought him to Christ.  How long have they known each other?  In a future episode, Keefe's Satanist friends wonder why he hasn't been around lately, so just a few weeks.  But there's a faded 666 tattoo on Keefe's chest. Laser tattoo removal takes 6-10 sessions, scheduled 6-8 weeks apart.  Did Keefe start the removal long before he met Kelvin, or did the writers goof? .  

Keefe decides to return to his apartment: "I'm pretty bushed. Gonna go soak in a tub. " It's the middle of the day! You haven't seen your friend in a week or so.  Why don't you want to stick around? Are you worried about things heading in a direction you're not ready for?

"No, man!" Kelvin pleads. "Let's stay up late, play some video games, smash some Pixie Sticks."  Staying up past your bedtime?  Eating sugar?  Are you planning a romantic encounter or a junior high sleepover?

Keefe refuses politely. "That sounds good, but I really need a soak...I like to turn it up real hot."  A double-entendre. 

Kelvin asks for a hug. Keefe reluctantly approaches. "So happy you're home," he whispers.

As the hug ends, Kelvin looks devastated.  He is desperate for some kind of physical connection, but Keefe is leaving.   He's so flustered that he can't even return Keefe's "Night-night" properly.

Kelvin seems to be pushing for a relationship, but Keefe isn't sure.  He's been saved (converted) for only a few weeks.  He might find Kelvin attractive, but the power differential is enormous, and maybe he's been abused by clergy before.  It's best to reject romantic overtures, play it cool, and see what happens. 

I have gay friends:  Night.  Jesse goes into hs son Pontius's room and kisses him on the forehead. You've been home for hours, so why wait until he's asleep to kiss him?  Wouldn't a father generally do that as his son is going to bed?  I think someone goofed with the continuity, and thinks that Jesse just got home.

Pontius calls him a "f*ggot."  The first and only homophobic slur of the season.

Jesse counters that he's just doing a father-son thing, and chastises Pontius: "I got friends who are gay." Pontius takes this as additional evidence that his father is gay.  Since Danny McBride's previous characters have been homophobic, it is important that he demonstrate that Jesse is a gay ally.  But why now, directly after the first Kelvin/Keefe meeting?  Doubtless he means "a gay brother." 

Next, Pontius lays on the bad boy routine: he doesn't believe in God; as soon as he's 18, he'll run away to California "like Gideon" and never talk to his parent again.  Jesse  warns him to never mention Gideon's name. 

This has been a lot to digest.  Who would expect a show from Danny McBride, producer of Vice Principals and Eastbound & Down,  would have a major gay character?  And played by Adam Devine, who played a horny dudebro on Workaholics and fell in love with a girl in Modern Family?  

But wait a minute: if you want Kelvin to be gay, why not say so?  Say the word "gay," or have the guys kiss.  Other tv shows with gay characters do the word or the kiss in the first scene.  If you don't, the "they can't be gay!" camp is going to argue and argue to the bitter end. 

Plus, in an interview during Season 2, Adam envisions that in ten years, Kelvin will be married to a woman.  In another interview, he says that he wants to play a gay guy who doesn't go through a long, painful coming-out process, but has regular adventures with his boyfriend. It sounds very much like he perceives his character as straight. Or is he dissimulating to keep viewers guessing?

Things are going to get even crazier after the break.  And don't forget the n*de Chengdu dudes, on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends

 

Hate-watching "The Task": FBI Agent and Burglar face lost loved ones, drugs, and gang war, with a lot of n*de dudes and egregious queerbaiting

 Link to the n*de dudes

I want to start the new year by hate-watching Task (2025) on HBO MAX, because:

1. It has one of those dumb one-word titles that don't tell you anything.

2. It's about a "family  man," a trope that suggests that men who have reproduced are not only a thousand times more valuable than those who haven't, they are innately virtuous.   When a "family man" commits a crime, everyone is shocked. 

3. The "family man" is Tom Pelphrey, who showed his "big red dog" in A Man in Full.  It had to be a prosthetic, of course, but a red dog is a red dog.

4. The focus character is Mark Ruffalo.  I only knew him from The Normal Heart, where he plays a gay guy, and this photo, with a swishy femme expression and a guy hugging him, made me think that he was gay in real life.  Turns out that's actually a woman, his wife.  Nothing wrong with liking masculine women, but why the swish, unless you're deliberately trying to make people think that you're a gay couple?

Ready for the hate?

Scene 1: Juxtaposed scenes of Mark and Tom's day, not only scene by scene but shot by shot, so sometimes it's hard to tell who is doing what.  Both get up in an empty bed (dead partner!), are alcoholics, and live with a teenage girl, who hates them, plus one or more toddlers.  

The difference: Mark is respectably dressed, while Tom is extremely sleazy-looking.

They head to work:

Hey,  Tom has a picture of a guy hanging from his rear view mirror as he listens to a podcast about "learning to love again."  Dude is gay!

Mark goes to college job fairs to recruit for the FBI.  Do they need to recruit?  Being an FBI agent is the dream job for criminal justice majors; they must get 1,000 applications for every opening.

Tom and his Buddy work as garbage collectors, and on the side they pick up bagsful of loot from a scary-looking guy sitting on the steps at various houses.  They must run a burglary operation.

They stop for lunch, and discuss moving to an island in Canada together (gay couple!), and then internet dating.  Buddy has tried it, but "people" google him, find out about his criminal past, and aren't interested.  People, not ladies. Non-gender-specific terms. A standard practice for staying closeted.  Dude is gay..

Tom is planning to get into it; he's lonely, and wants a  "life partner"  It's been a year since his wife left; he's ready to "find someone."  More non-gender-specific terms!  hese guys are both gay.  That must be why the wife left.  

Queerbaiting after the break

Austin Lindsay: The casually n*de roommate on "Overcompensating" has a BFA and a lot of depressing shorts. With bonus n*de fratboys

  

Link to the n*de dudes

In Overcompensating Episode 1.1, the gay-but-in-denial Benny is trying to heterosexualize with his buddy Carmen, when his lacrosse-player roommate Trey bursts into the dorm room, knocking them over.  He glances at their n*de bodies and casually walks around them to grab his stuff so he can spend the night elsewhere. 

He returns in Episode 1.2 to be nonchalant about Carmen's pink-eye, and inEpisode 1.3, to casually walk around the dorm room in his birthday suit, disconcerting Benny (who still annoyingly thinks that he's straight). 

Wait -- Trey shows his d*ck

Twice?

He also shows his backside, but  Overcompensating is a backside fest.  We also see the rear ends of Benny, his sister's boyfriend, and the entire fraternity (below).  I'm more interested in the d*ck guy, Austin Lindsay.

Research is a bit difficult. Austin Lindsay is also the name of a University of Missouri wrestler, an actor in Boise, Idaho, a photographer in Salt Lake City, and a baseball player at TCNJ (I clicked on several home pages, and still couldn't find any indication of what it is.  A college in New Jersey?).

But I found our Austin's Facebook, Linkedin, and Backstage resume.  He was born 2001 in North Bay, Ontario, on the north shore of Lake Nipissing, about four hours north of Toronto.  

He studied dance and performed with the Performers Dance Company in North Bay.

In high school he appeared in Catch Me if You Can (2015), West Side Story (2016), and Mama Mia (2019), and wrote/directed the short Querencia (2019).  In spite of the title, it has no queer content: an elderly musician reunites with his dead wife.

 More after the break

Pilot Bunch: Unbreakable boyfriend, zombie boyfriend, teen Jesus manager. With n*de dudes from New Orleans and Hawaii

Link to the n*de dudes

I may have met Pilot Bunch, who played the best friend of the teenage Jesus on The Righteous Gemstones, at a Halloween party a few years ago.

Today he looks very much like my niece before she began transitioning. And, coincidentally, their boyfriends look similar, too.

Pilot was born in Kazakhstan, but grew up in Atlanta, where he graduated from the Woodward Academy in 2025.   His first acting role was in The Lion King, performed at his elementary school.  He got an agent at age 11, and began appearing on tv at age 14.  To date he has twelve on-screen credits  listed on the IMDB, including:

Four episodes of Drama Club (2021), a Nickelodeon mockumentary about a middle school drama club recruitng a football player (Chase Vacnin).  Sounds like "High School Musical."

Pilot plays Colin, the chem-class lab partner of focus character Mack (a girl).  In an interview in TresA, he says that he loved the character: "witty, sarcastic, and always messing with Curtis (Reyn Doi).  Reyn Doi usually plays gay characters, so we can assume that Colin is gay-subtext or gay-vague.

In 2021, Pilot played Vincent, a resident of the Alexandria Safe Zone, in  the post-apocalyptic Walking Dead.  "A reckless, immature bully," he and his friends play "chicken" with a child zombie (Augustus Morgan, son of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays antagonist Negan).  He says that the role was fun because he got to hang out with Augustus in his zombie makeup. 

He also has roles on The Wonder Years, 115 Grains, The Hill, and Red One, and some theater, including Shenandoah.  He plays Robert, who is kidnapped by Union soldiers during the Civil War (right, with Caleb Baumann as Gabriel)  Robert isn't dead; Gabriel is his best friend, not an angel.

More after the break

The Golden Girls: Homophobic Gay Favorite?

When I was livingin West Hollywood,  Saturday night meant picking up tangerine chicken to eat on tv trays while watching Throb, Mama's Family and The Golden Girls, then heading out to the bars.

The Golden Girls' theme song "Thank You for Being a Friend" still brings back memories of those Saturday nights of lights and music, checking out the musclemen, searching for Mr. Right (or Mr. Right Now), and schmoozing with friends.

It featured four senior citizens who live together in a Miami:

1.Former Southern Belle Blanche (Rue McClanihan), the s*xually active one.

2. Dimwitted Rose (Betty White), who is from St. Olaf, Minnesota.

3. Sensible Dorothy (Bea Arthur).

4. Her mother, the sarcastic Sophia (Estelle Getty).

(Their kitchen table could only seat three, so Sophia had to find some excuse to hover around instead of sitting).

The real Miami has a population of 500,000, 2.8 million in the metro area, but on The Golden Girls, it was a small town where everybody knows everybody and you run into friends on the street.

The real Miami is 70% Hispanic, but on The Golden Girls it is exclusively white.

The real Miami was the site of Anita Bryant's homophobic Save the Children campaign in the 1970s, and in spite of the generally gay-friendly cast,  The Golden Girls could be quite homophobic:

1. In 1986, Dorothy's lesbian friend Jean visits after her partner Pat dies.  Everyone assumes that Pat was a guy.  Then Jean develops a crush on Rose, who is unaware that LGBT people exist.  When she is apprised, she is shocked and horrified. 

2. In 1988, as Sophia prepares to marry Max Weinstock (Jack Gilford), Blanche cannot restrain her disgust at a feminine caterer (Raye Birk, left, photo cropping his limp wrist)

"You're about to fly right out of here, aren't you?" she asks, alluding to the stereotype of gay men as "fairies."  

"Well, excuse me for living, Anita Bryant," he snaps back, before revealing that he has an ex wife, to gales of audience laughter.  Those wacky fairies!  

He returned in 1991 to cater Dorothy's wedding.

Raye Birk, a retired professor of theater at USC, is straight in real life.  He played played a mailman on Cheers, the assistant principal on Wonder Years,  a terrorist on Due South, one of Tim's grunting, sweating buddies on Home Improvement, and a fairy.

More after the break

Joe Davidson: The gladiator, surfer, soap star, and gator poacher doesn't mind if you check out his d*ck. With bonus Thomas Jane and Takaya

Link to the n*de dudes

In Spartacus: House of Ashur Episode 1.1, Gladiator Logus (Joe Davidson) insults the dwarf trio Brothers Ferox: "My d*ck stands larger threats!" They promptly eviscerate him.

During the filming, Joe hooked up with (or buddied up with) the probably gay Mikey Thompson (Musicus).  Plus a brief internet search revealed this photo from the soap Neighbours: Joe's character apparently has a boyfriend.

Plus there are no girls and a lot of guys on his social media posts.  That's enough for more extensive research to determine if Joe is gay in real life, has played gay characters, or both.  Hopefully both.  

Born around 1992 or 1993, Joe grew up on Australia's ritzy Gold Coast, around Brisbane, and began on-screen acting in some teen series:

A diver in an episode of H2O: Just Add Water (2010), about three teenager girls who turn into mermaids (with Luke Mitchell as their human ally).

A swimmer in SLIDE (2011): A Melbourne girl moves to Brisbane and finds the requisite allies, crushes, and enemies, including a gay-ish boyfriend.

A surfer boy in Mako Mermaids (2013), with those three teenage mermaids up to new antics.  A merman (Chai Hanson) is added to the cast.

Joe also meets a mermaid while grieving over his dead father in Glass Tunnel (2013).  

Plus he worked at Warner Brothers Movie World, a theme park in Queensland, playing characters like Edward Scissorhands and Fred from Scooby Doo.

After graduating from the "prestigious three-year program" at Actors Central Australia in Sydney, Joe was cast in his first major role, playing Cassius Grady in the soap opera Neighbours (2017-2018).   He appears as a muscular mystery man at a Guy Fawkes Day party on the same night that the evil Hamish Roche is murdered.  Hamish's son Tyler is the chief suspect.

Cassius goes on to save Tyler's girlfriend from a capsized boat, start dating her, rescue a kidnapped baby, get a job as a gardener, and finally admit that he was the one who murdered Hamish (gasp) because he is the evil guy's long-estranged son (double gasp). 

Um...Cassius was straight, buddy. 

Maybe there are some gay roles in his later work?

Stranded (2018): A British soldier is stranded with a lady.  They smooch in the water. 

Abandoned (2018).  What do you think?

Sons of Summer (2023):  A surfer brings his buds on a trip to the Gold Coast town where his dad was murdered, and runs afoul of murderous drug dealers.  He's got a girlfriend.

Anyone But You (2023); Ben (Glen Powell) and Bea don't like each other, but Bea's sister is marrying Ben's friend Pete's sister, and for some reason they have to pretend to be a couple at the wedding.  Joe plays the current boyfriend of Ben's ex girlfriend, who dumps him for Bea's ex-boyfriend. It's based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, so you've got to expect some partner switching. 

Joe shows his backside to demonstrate that he's much hotter than Ben.

He shows his d*ck too (after the break).

"I Love LA": Entitled 27 year old lady and her gay best friend have boring conversations. With Hutcherson, Firstman, and some others.

 

Link to the dudes

The 11 years I lived in Los Angeles were the best of my life.  Imagine  having a job interview at Paramount Studios.  Driving down Sunset Boulevard, past Chateau Marmont and the Comedy Store, on the way to work.  Running into John Amos at the gym and Richard Dreyfuss at the Bodhi Tree.  Living two blocks from Mickey's and the Different Light.  Buying groceries at the West Hollywood Safeway, where everyone is gay.  So of course I'm going to watch a tv show called I Love LA., even though it's about zillenial ladies with influencer problems.

Plus, it stars Josh Hutcherson (left) and Jordan Firstman (who showed his stuff in Rotting in the Sun) as a gay friend. In an era where gay starring characters on tv suddenly turn straight (Dr. Who, Klaus in The Umbrella Academy, Will Byers on Stranger Things) or their shows are cancelled after one season, maybe secondary character will have staying power.

Scene 1: It's Maia's 27th birthday, and she doing stuff with her boyfriend (Josh Hutcherson); his chest visible, she is fully clothed.  There's an earthquake, but she thinks that he is being energetic, har har.

Scene 2: Maia and Boyfriend in the bathroom.  They discuss a girl in Boyfriend's class, whom Maia hates, but Josh gives the benefit of the doubt: she's only 12, entitled to be mean.

Next topic: Why Maia gets pain in her privates so often (as we know from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, that happens when your boyfriend is extra...um...capacious).

Next topic: Maia is a year older today, so does she look like an ugly old hag, or is she still as ugly as yesterday?  There's no way to answer that without getting in trouble, buddy.

And why is she still an assistant?  She should be a manager by now.  She's an utter failure! 

"You could ask your Boss for a promotion." 

"I could, but I have to time it right."  She looks at a photo on her phone of a woman gazing at the camera while shoving her finger in her mouth.  This depresses her.

Scene 2:  On the street.  Still depressed, Maia watches as her Black Friend gets out of a fancy car, runs across the street, and hugs her.  "Happy birthday!"  As they discuss how much Alyssa hates her hair style, two gay guys walk up.  Her Gay Friend (Firstman) waves goodbye, says "I love you!",  throws him a bunch of kisses, then admits to his friends that he has no idea who the guy is: "I've literally never met him before."  

He's Jason, played by Rion Fletcher (n*de photo on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).  This is his only appearance on the show.

Scene 3: The three walk down a jogging path in a part of L.A. I don't recognize.  Maia asks about Tallulah's Heaven campaign: it was months ago, but she's still "breadcrumbing it" at $10,000 per post -- a ridiculously low amount!  Plus she lives in...ugh..New York!  The friends agree that she's a joke, not worth Maia's time.

"Oh...um...we were friends five years ago, but now I hate her, of course.  She didn't even wish me a happy birthday."

"You're still in contact?" Gay Friend scoffs.  "Block her!  You don't see me hanging out with Avici anymore, do you?"

"Well, he's not alive."

Gay Friend rushes off to cruise a guy.  Maybe he didn't want to deal with the grief over his friend, or maybe he's just lonely.

Next topic:  Maia is that at 27, she's over the hill, no longer a useful member of society.

"Nonsense!" Black Friend exclaims. "My Dad won his first Oscar at age 28!  You still have, like three good years left!"

Back to Tallulah: "Block her!  You can't keep living in the past!"  He chants "Block! Block! Block!" until she does -- "and I feel amazing!"  She yells "Love you, b*tches!," and rushes away.  Is that a term of endearment now?

Scene 4:  Maia goes to work at Alyssa 180, determined to ask the Boss for a promotion.  Her assistant says "Good luck, Queen!"  Is that a term of endearment now?

She climbs the stairs to a workshop.  I don't know what they make or design here, but the staff is all women.

Left: So far the only male characters have been the button-down schoolteacher Boyfriend and the swishy stereotype Firstman, so here's Colin Woodell, who plays Ben in two episodes (not this one).

Alyssa, Founder and Principal, is getting a manicure.  "Happy birthday!  How old are you now?"

Maia tells her.

"Ugh, 27, that's rough.  Better than 28, though.  28 -33 are like 'K*ll me!'"

"What happens at 34?"

"B*tch, there is no one over 33."

Maia points out that she developed Grayson's Chipotle Bowl, which sold a lot of corn, so she should be promoted to manager.  

"Nope, sorry, I can't promote you to manager unless you have experience being a manager."  That sounds like a Catch-22, but it's actually how human resources work: you must have done this job, or you couldn't possibly do this job.

More after the break.  

"Heated Rivalry": Heavily closeted hockey player hooks up with his rival in the homophobic 2010s. With a lot of backsides and some stuff

 

Link to the n*de photos

Heated Rivalry  on MAX, features a clandestine romance between hockey players in the 2010s, when you had to be closeted or you'd be fired -- the first hockey player to come out was Brock McGillis -- in 2016, long after he retired.  It's getting good reviews, except among gay men who complain that there's no plot, and star Hudson Williams is not really gay (so what? he's not really a hockey player, either).   My main problem is, I know nothing about hockey except it's played on ice, and has the reputation for being violent.  Will I be able to understand what's going on without conducting research?    I'll review Episode 1.1

Scene 1: December 2008, Saskatechwan. The International Prospect Cup.  I don't know what that is.  Ilya (Connor Storie)  is smoking out back, when Shane (Hudson Williams) from the rival team approaches to tell him that it's not allowed.  They trash-talk each other's teams as the worst in hockey history, and establish their conflicting personalities: Shane is a by-the-books good boy, while Ilya is a rebellious, arrogant a*hole.  

Cut to a newscaster telling us that this is a Canadian-Russian prospect game.  I'm guessing that it's where prospective players show their skill?  

 The game begins: Ilya keeps looking up in the bleachers, which are empty except for a guy glaring at him.  I think he's glaring at himself.  This is never explained.

One week later: Crushing defeat for Canada, although Shane did a good job.  Wait -- were there several Canadian-Russian prospect games?

Scene 2: Six months later.  The Major League Drafts.  I'm guessing that this is where the major teams pick new players based on their performance at the prospect games.   Ilya got #1, and Shane #2. 

The Montreal Canadiens want Shane, because he's cute and Asian-Canadian, breaking down racial barriers:  "People are popping champaign all over Quebec."  As they discuss how important hockey is to Canadian culture,  Ilya glares at him from above. 

Ilya is drafted by the Boston Bruins. They don't give the names of the teams; I had to look them up. 

Scene 3: Shane in bed in his hotel room.  Nice chest, buddy.  He can't sleep, so he gets dressed, goes to the gym, and starts biking.  Suddenly Ilya is beside him.  They try to see who can bike the fastest.  It's a draw.  Then they sit across from each other and make boring small talk ("Montreal is nice." "Yes. People like it there") while sneaking peeks at each other and sharing water so they can touch hands.

Scene 4: Six months later, Ottawa.  International Prospects Cup.  Wait -- I thought they were already drafted into teams?  Brother Alexei (Slavic Rogozine) calls to ask for more money, but Ilya is tired of forking it over to support his drugs-and-girls lifestyle. Alexei calls him a "f*ggot" and hangs up.  Is that an all-purpose slur, or are you out to your brother?

Next Ilya calls his Dad, who asks him to "apologize to Russia" for losing his last hockey game.  

"Well, we lost to the Czechs, but we'll beat Sweden."

"You'd better!"

Cut to "An amazing comeback for Canada, who trounced the Russians!"  Wait  Ilya is playing for Boston, not Russia, and he said they were going up  against Sweden next.   

Scene 5:  Six months later, Toronto.  Time is passing so quickly that I'm getting dizzy.   Ilya and Shane pose for a commercial about the game.  The director complains: "Would you guys try to hit your marks at the same time?"

Cut to Shane gawking at Ilya as he practices, while his Mom talks to him about wearing sneakers.  "A lot of Asian kids will be looking up to you as a role model."  So he should wear sneakers?

Cut to the showers, with Shane and Ilya sneaking peeks at each other. Ilya wants to do stuff, but Shane says "Not here!"

As they're getting dressed, Ilya says, "If I come to your room tonight at 9:00 pm..."  "I'll answer."

Scene 6:  Shane puts on a suit, then isn't wearing it as he waits nervously in his hotel room.  Ilya tries to get off the elevator at Shane's floor, but a woman is there, so he keeps going up.  She'll just think you have a room on this floor, dude!  This reminds me of my nine horrible months in..ugh...Texas, the worst place on Earth.  Guys would not show up for hookups, then explain: "A car was parked in the driveway of a house three doors down, so I was afraid to stop."

He tries again, but now Shane has doubts: "This is such a bad idea."  They kiss anyway.  Har-har, Shane starts doing stuff before they even get their shirts off.  

He's never been with a guy before, so Ilya gives him some instructions.  Whoa, you thought Kelvin and Keefe were open about it.  These guys go as far as they can go without actually showing the act.

When Ilya finishes, he says "Ok, this was fun.  Thanks, bye!"  But he's just joking.  He does stuff with Shane, too. 

They agree to not tell anyone about their hookup, and since they both have early flights tomorrow, Ilya leaves.  Shane is upset.  Are you feeling guilty about the gay stuff, worried because Ilya belongs to a rival team, or hurt because he didn't spend the night?

More after the break

Gemstones Season 2 Finale: The Godfather, Butch and Sundance, random n*de dudes, and "My love for you will never die."

  

Link to the NSFW version

The series finales on The Righteous Gemstones are meant to tie up any remaining loose ends and say goodbye to the characters, so we should expect little or no plot development, just a lot of hugging: everyone who has had lost, frayed, or troubled relationships during the season, lovers, friends, parents and children, siblings, will be reconciled.

Hold on tight to the one you love the most:  A blackened stage. Suddenly a spotlight on Jesse.  He begins the country-western song "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend," by Don Williams.  Then Kelvin, lying on a platform, raising a finger to Heaven.  Then Judy and the choir, as she walks up stage.  Then all three siblings together. 

 Coffee black, cigarettes. Start the day like all the rest. 

First thing every moning that I do, is start missing you.

Some broken hearts never mend.  Some memories never end.  

Some tears will never dry.  My love for you will never die. 

Except this song is not about lost love, it's about mended hearts.  You're supposed to look at or point to a loved one. Kelvin starts out by pointing at audience stage left, obviously at Keefe, who points to himself and then back. My love for you will never die,

BJ waves, presumably at Judy.  Cut to Amber and the kids; then Baby Billy, Tiffany, and the baby; he looks back at Harmon, his no-longer estranged son; and finally Eli looks out at the audience. 

In the middle of love's embrace: Flashback to the Alaska Commercial Company, a grocery store chain with 33 locations in Alaska, mostly in rural areas. The Lissons, in hiding after their murders and attempts, are buying -- coffee to go?  Martin has them under surveillance.

Back in church, Eli looks at the band as the siblings sing the second verse together.  Then Jesse and Kelvin, looking up to heaven.

 Rendezvous in the night.

In the middle of love's embrace, I see your face

Wait -- they see God while their partners Amber and Keefe are going downtown?  Makes sense.

Cut to the Lissons in their cabin, watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where the gay-subtext bank robbers, played by Robert Redford, top photo, and Paul Newman, left, are trapped, with no escape, so they go out shooting. 

 Some broken hearts never mend.   Some memories never end.

Some tears will never dry.  My love for you will never die.

The Cycle Ninjas:  Cycle Ninjas on glittering metallic snowmobiles zoom through the woods.  

Lyle looks out the window and yells "Get the guns!"

Back at the church, the siblings point at each other. Eli smiles. 

The First Chorus: The congregation rises to sing the chorus.

We see Chad and his wife, who have been having marital problems since Season 1; Martin and his often seen, never-named wife; Judy and BJ;  Junior and Tan Man, Baby Billy and Tiffany, Amber and the kids.  Then the siblings again.  Wait, I thought the Tan Man was just Junior's assistant.  Is there a gay relationship going on back in Memphis? 

In the flashback, the Lissons get out their guns and tell each other that God believes in them: "God will see us through, for we are the Chosen."  Where on Earth did Lyle get that idea?  

More broken hearts after the break

Kayden Koshelev: Alkaio's Other Half plays a zombie, a boy who wears girls' clothes, and a firefighter. With Dornan and twink photos

    

Link to the not fully clothed photos

Someone named Kayden Koshelev appeared on the teen idol website: rather feminine, with lots of pictures where he's going to movies and events with dudes (here Mason McNulty)  Obviously gay.  But that's not the interesting part (after I go through his LGBTQ roles).

16 years old as of this writing, Kayden was born in Burbank, then moved to Chicago before returning to L.A. to pursue his career.  He began performing at age 7, playing the young John (Michael Dorman) on an episode of Patriot (about a dysfunctional spy).

A lot of gay-themed tv followed:

A 2021 episode of Diary of a Future President, a Disney teencom with Charlie Bushnell (left) gradually (very gradually) coming out.

Five episodes of Search Party (2022).  The dark comedy started out as a search for a missing friend, but in Season 5 the gang sells "instant enlightenment" pills, not realizing that they turn you into a zombie.  Aspen (Kayden), adopted by gay couple Elliott and Marc (John Early, Jeffery Self), soon turns evil, attacking the Gay Pool Boy (Julio Torres of Los Espookies) because he won't provide ice cream. 

He then acts like he has a crush on Drew (John Reynolds), so he will lower his defenses.  Drew asks "Why is he so obsessed with me?" before Aspen attacks. 

 

Me Time (2022) stars Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg as a responsible "family man" and his wild-child buddy.  Kayden's character is not specifically gay, but his rendition of "Hallelujah" brings down the house.  And I can post a photo of Kevin Hart (on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).

Let's fast-forward through Kayden's 21 acting credits to:

Firebuds (2023-25): Preteen first responders are paired with sentient vehicles.  Cory, paired with a helicopter, using they/them pronouns: the first nonb*nary character on any Disney Channel program.

And: Cupid's Treacherous Journey (2025). Teenage theater director Preston (Kayden, also the writer) and the girls in his cast are trapped in the theater during a storm, and decide that "the show must go on."    The girl playing the lead isn't there, so he'll do it:  "They built the sky like a glass ceiling, but I wasn't made to be grounded.  They fear what happens when us women burn too brightly."  

More after the break