Jinn: The Archie gang in Jordan, with a gay drug dealer, a Bedouin boy, a demonic being, and an ancient city.

In Episode 1 of the Netflix Arabic-language tv series Jinn (2019), a group of high school students sets out from Riverdale...um, I mean Amman, Jordan...on a field trip to Petra, the famous archaeological site.  

Nasser/Reggie (Mohammed Nizar) has just broken up with Veronica/Mira. 

"How do you spell provocative."

"R-E-G-G-I-E."

So you think he's hot, Arch?   

Fahed/Archie (Yasser al Hadi) is dating good girl Betty/Layla.  

Hassan/Dilton (Zaid Zoubi) is a frizzy-haired know-it-all.

In just seven days, I can make you a man....

Yassim (Sultan Alkhail) is a bullied good boy.  Sorry, I couldn't think of an Archie equivalent.

More after the break

Gemstones Episode 3.3: A fire dance, a limp wrist, a ph*llic sword, and Balkan muscle gods. Plus Kelvin tries to say the word.

 

Link to the n*de photos

In Episode 3, we meet Uncle Baby Billy, the Montgomery Boys join the family, and the marital problems are resolved.

Title: "For Their N*kedness is Your Own N*kedness." From Leviticus 18:10, ESV: "You shall not uncover the n*kedness of your son's daughter or of your daughter's daughter, for their n*kedness is your own n*kedness." This is a prohibition of doing stuff with your grandchild. Where, in this episode, does anyone mention doing that?  A review in the AV Club intreprets it as: the vulnerability of one member of the family is everyone's responsibility. "We're all in this together."

The Greek Chorus: The white-haired, grinning Baby Billy, dressed like a clam, sings"There will Come a Payday," while walking through the Gemstone resort, Zion's Landing.  He sings incessantly in a swimming pool area with absolutely no beefcake, while viewers grate their teeth and snarl "Get the f*k on with it."  Yes, we know he's a Greek Chorus, singing about the "payday" coming to the Gemstones.  We don't need ten minutes of it, in a show that is already squeezing in too many plotlines.

Finally, long after we put on the mute,  Baby Billy returns to his penthouse, where his very pregnant wife Tiffany and their three-year old son Lionel are watching the old game show Family Feud.  The Baby Billy/Tiffany plotline this season will be about trying to get the Gemstones to invest in a Christian-based Family Feud show, Baby Billy's Bible Bonkers.

Timeline problem: Tiffany had her first baby in the last episode of Season 2.  Now he's at least three years old.  But three years have not passed in the Gemstone universe.  

.

"We don't like you":  The Montgomery Boys (Robert Oberst, top photo, Lukas Haas) in bathrobes in Eli's house, eating breakfast, discussing Peter's militia with Eli, May-May, and the siblings:

 Peter thinks that his sons and Gemstones tipped off the feds, so now he's gunning for all of them.  May-May wants the boys to come home with her, but they refuse: "We'd rather be homeless bums living under a bridge."  Or living in a mansion with a staff of 17?  

Afterwards, the siblings go down to the Aimee-Leigh memorial, discuss how much they hate their cousins, and give them the finger as they peer through an upstairs window.  Eli insists that they have a Cousin's Night and try to get along.  

The Redeemer: Amber brings a copy of her marital-problem System to BJ, who claims to be unaware of any problems between him and Judy.  Does everyone in the church know that Judy has been withholding sex? Or did Jesse tell Amber about the affair?

Meanwhile, Jesse and his youngest son Abraham head for the Gemstone garage to unwrap The Redeemer, the monster truck he used at the 2000 County Fair.  The Montgomery Boys, who happened to be passing by, are in awe, and ask if they can drive it. Nope. "We ain't cool cousins, and we never will be again."  

A Complete Lack of Knowing How to Fit into the World: Kelvin and the teens are making anti-smut posters in the parking garage outside the Salvation Center Stage, for some reason, when Keefe drives up in the Smut Busters van.  Kelvin flitters over, laying on the femme stereotypes, and says "Hey, Bud."  Keefe calls him "Bro."  This must be facade language: they are pretending to be buddies and co-pastors in front of the kids.

Keefe drove to an adult store and bought out their inventory.  Again, almost everything we see is marketed to gay men. 

"You've been having all the fun lately!" Kelvin exclaims, wishing that he could have been there to help pick out butt buzzers.  He does his usual titty-tweak display of affection, then reveals that his Daddy is forcing him to go to Cousins' Night with the Montgomerys.  They have "a complete lack of knowing how to fit into the world around them."  

Sounds exactly like Keefe!  He tries to guilt his way into an invitation.  

Wouldn't he be invited automatically?  He was admitted to the family as Kelvin's partner back in Season 2.  But maybe, to stay closeted, Kelvin only brings him to events where a lot of people are invited, like the dinners at Jason's Steakhouse and the Zion's Landing ground-breaking.  This is a family-only event, and not even the entire family.  It's limited to Montgomery cousins by blood or marriage.  If Kelvin brings Keefe, no one will be able to pretend that they are just coworkers or platonic pals. 

Keefe's bribes are: his special sausage dip and his "flames and swords."  The dip is served with crackers on a ph*llic dish.  

Let's look more closely at the "flames and swords."   Kelvin knows exactly what Keefe is talking about: he doesn't have to say "Remember that fire dance I performed that one time?"  He must perform it regularly, but you wouldn't do it for just one person, and the family has never seen it.  We can conclude that the guys are involved in the local gay community, attending gay events with sausage dip and Keefe's "flames and swords" 

The Best Dude Friend of a Cousin Kerfluffle:  Kelvin is happy to invite him, but that's not enough. Keefe pushes him to name their relationship: "I ain't a cousin, though."  An odd way to put it; he means "not the Montgomerys' cousin."

"I know you're not a cousin," Kelvin responds.  "You're my b...best...dude...friend of a cousin."  He was starting to say "boyfriend," but couldn't say it, then tried "best friend," but couldn't say that either, since it is obviously not true. Why can't he say "boyfriend"?  Because they are in public with the teens nearby, or because he won't admit it to himself?

Notice the profound sadness in Kelvin's eyes.  He is in pain.  He is desperate to Say the Word, but he can't.  Why not?  

BJ and Judy are having problems of their own:   BJ is watching the instructional video for Amber's System. Now we see how it works: when you are tempted to say or do something wrong, you drop a blue or pink gemstone into the jar, and your spouse doesn't get hurt. But they'll know how often you've been thinking about it.   Judy enters and becomes irate over the implication that they need marital counseling.

Dig the  BJ in the photograph over the mantle. It's hanging in the parlor, where they entertain company? Compare with the man on display in Kelvin and Keefe's dining room -- no visible p*nis.

We cut to the women's group, where Amber quotes Ruth's speech to Naomi and asks the women to think about "the commitment we have made to the people we love," implicitly validating same-s*x marriages.   Judy bursts in and throws the System carton at her.  But they need the System, Amber insists, because "the decline is real," people aren't showing up, and the scandal of marital infidelity could destroy it altogether. What about the scandal of a gay youth minister living openly with his boyfriend in the Gemstone compound?

Next, the siblings, in their throne room...um, executive board room, reject Baby Billy's pitch for the Bible Bonkers game show.  

Timeline Problem: In Episode 3.2, the board room is still under construction, with Percy making rough sketches, on the same day the Montgomerys flee the militia.  Cousins' Night has to be just a few days later.  Percy works very fast!

The Night, and a lot of vulnerability, next.

More after the break

Lewis Cornay: Actor/singer meets Doctor Who and a Bear, has Daddy issues, stands on his head. With n*de Mormons and History Boys

  

Link to the n*de dudes

I wasn't happy with the Doctor Who 2023 series, on Disney Plus,  when they made the time-and-space jumping Time Lord gay for a season, then had him fall in love with his new companion, Belinda. Not only queerbaiting, but breaking 60 years of tradition: the Doctor never dates his companions.   

But I liked some of the cute guest stars, such as Lenny Rush as time-travel machine building Morris Gibbons (Episodes 1.7 and 1.8).

Samuel Sherpa-Moore as Tenzing Norgay, one of the men who reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953 (The Season 1 Christmas special).

And Lewis Cornay as Logan Cheever, a cook in a diner in 1952 Miami (Episode 2.2).   He serves the Doctor and Belinda even though it's a "white only" diner in the Jim Crow era, and fills in the back story about people who mysteriously vanished in the chained-up theater across the street. 

When the all-powerful being trapped inside is finally defeated and the moviegoers released, he greets Tommy (Cassius Hackforth).  In my head canon, they're boyfriends.

Lewis has only three other acting credits listed on the IMDB, so I'm guessing he's new to show business:

The short A Bear Remembers (2025): A boy (Lewis) seeks out a wise, elderly bear (Ciaran Hinds, d*ck on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends), who remembers.

John & Jen (2021): Broadcast of a two person play.  Jen (Rachel Tucker) and her little brother  (Lewis) grow up in the 1950s, then drift apart. She becomes a hippie, and he goes to Vietnam, where he is killed.  Years later, she names her son (Lewis) after him. 

Wait -- Lewis and Rachel performed the original play at the Southwark Playhouse, London, in 2021.

The music video Silent Night (2018), sung by Kerry Mucklowe from the BBC's This Country, joined by the cast of Just So.

Just So is a musical based on Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling.  Lewis starred as the Elephant Child, the focus character, at the Barn Theater (Cirencester, west of Oxford), in 2018. 

Doctor Who may be Lewis's first tv role, but I gather that he has had an eventful career in the theater. 

There are several biographies in the promotional materials for his various plays.  He was born around 1995, and started his career with  Mary Poppins (2005), The Sound of Music (2008), and The King and I (2009), in prestigious sounding venues: The Prince Edward Theater, The London Palladium, Prince Albert Hall.   

He received a B.A. in Musical Theater (2017) from the Guildford School of Acting in Guildford, Surrey, about 25 miles from London, and went to work in musical theater.  His first role as a graduate was in Paw Patrol Live: Race to the Rescue (three shows a day, 2017).  Then came:

The Book of Mormon (2020): Lewis plays Elder Cross, one of the Mormon missionaries awaiting an assignment in the opening song, "Two by Two."  Elder Price (Andrew Rannells in the original Broadway production) asks him where he'd like to go, and he says "my favorite place in the world."  It ends up being Japan. 

Rannells' d*ck on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.

She Loves Me (2022): Like You've Got Mail, but in 1961 Budapest, and with penpals instead of email. Lewis plays Arpad, a teenage delivery boy whose B Plot involves a gay-subtext buddy bond with shop owner Maraczek.  I don't know why he is sitting on Maraczek's bed in this shot.

Spongebob: The Musical (2023).  Spongebob.

Whistle Down the Wind (2022): A girl named Swallow thinks that an escaped convict is Jesus.  Lewis plays Amos, a teenage boy who is dangling two girlfriends at the same time.

More after the break.  .

"Meet Me in St. Louis": the movie that spawned the "Have Yourself" monstrosity. With A LOT of d*cks to get you through it, plus Adam Devine and Will Robinson

Link to the n*de dudes 

(I recommend the NSFW version. You'll need to see some d*cks).

December is the cruelest month, asserting that you must feel ecstatic every second of every day or there is something wrong with you, while overwhelming your senses with bright lights and crowds, and assaulting you with melancholic nostalgia and horribly depressing songs.  And the most depressing song of all is the "Have yourself" monstrosity.  One line is guaranteed to push my general Christmas depression into dark despair. Fortunately, singers extend every syllable indefinitely, so I'm usually able to run out of the store or shut off the tv during "Haaaaaaaaaaaaave youuuuuuuurself..."

I thought that I could expiate the demonic power of the monstrosity by researching where it began, with a viewing of Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) when I was nine or ten years old (in the 1970s!).

Opening: It's the summer of 1903, which many adults in the 1940s recalled through the nostalgic haze of childhood. 

It's the era of empires: after the Spanish American War, the U.S. occupied the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, building a colonial empire rivaling those of Britain and France.  

It is the era of the robber barons like Rockefeller and Vanderbilt, who amassed huge fortunes and transported Italian villas brick-by-brick to the new world. 

The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, The Bobbsey Twins, Kim, and The Call of the Wild are on every kid's bookshelf.

Everyone in St. Louis, the 4th largest city in the U.S., is all agog over the upcoming World's Fair, also known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.  Although a paeon to American Exceptionalism, it will have exhibits from 65 countries. They'll be able to see X-ray machines and wireless telephones, gawk at "primitive tribes," and eat hot dogs, hamburgers, and cotton candy for the first time.  And hear the song "Meet Me in St. Louis," about a man whose wife leaves him to go to the fair.  And may never come home again.

Trigger #1: Nazarenes were taught that fairs were Satanic, so this represented evil.  Also, I recalled a song about a boy who is coming home late from some other fair, no doubt the victim of foul play:

Oh, dear, what could the matter be -- Johnny's too late from the fair.

At 5135 Kensington Avenue, a trolley-ride away from downtown, fancy businessman Alonzo Smith (Leon Ames) and his family are eagerly anticipating the fair, and watching as the daughters fall in love. 

Esther (Judy Garland) is in love with the Boy Next Door, John Truitt (Tom Drake, left and top photo), who isn't interested.  She sings:

How can I ignore the boy next door?

I love him more than I can say

Doesn't try to please me, doesn't even tease me

And he never sees me glance his way

You forgot the last line: "Maybe he's gay."

 Trigger #2: I hated Judy Garland after seeing her in the horrifying Wizard of Oz (the Witch counts down the minutes to her death!).  Later, I heard that to ever listen to Judy Garland songs meant that you were gay, which was horrifying (I was extremely homophobic during my closeted high school years).

Tom Drake (top photo and right) was "a deeply closeted gay guy, given to despair." terrified that someone would find out. 

Rose (Lucille Bremmer) is in love with Warren Sheffield (Robert Sully), but he's dating another girl (June Lockhart, who would become the Mom on Lost in Space).

Left: Billy Mumy as her son.  

Danger, Will Robinson!  If you value your Christmas cheer, do not continue!

Little Sister Tootie (Margaret O'Brien) is apparently in love with the Ice Man, with whom she discusses whether St. Louis is the greatest city in the world.  But there's really no discussion; of course it is. And they didn't even have that Arch yet.

Margaret O'Brien,  only 8 years old when she was roped into Meet Me, had a career that lasted through the 2000s.  Her last movie role to date is in This is Our Christmas (2018), where a family tries to save their beloved bakery from an evil developer (Margaret) and her son (Vincent de Paul, left).

There's also another daughter, a son, Lon Junior (Henry H. Daniels, Jr.), a grandpa, and a sarcastic maid (lesbian actress Marjorie Mains)

The Farewell Party: Lon Jr. is leaving for Princeton, so they throw him a party.  The Boy Next Door is invited!   Judy Garland/Esther asks him out, but she waits for him at the trolley all afternoon, and he doesn't show up.  

Hoping to find a new beau, she sings "The Trolley Song":

I went to lose a jolly hour on the trolley

And lost my heart instead

With his light brown derby and his bright green tie

He was quite the handsomest of men

I started to yen so I counted to ten

Then I counted to ten again

Halloween: At a bonfire, Little Sister Tootie claims that The Boy Next Door hit her, so Judy Garland / Esther goes to his house and punches and bites him..  Actually, he was trying to protect her from the police. Esther apologizes, and they kiss and start dating. 

Brace yourself: depressing lyrics after the break.  And a lot more c*cks (on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).

Finn Kaifur: Icelandic college student studies ballet, takes a polar plunge, shows his stuff. With Pete White and bonus n*de model Shaun Ross

  

Link to the n*de photos

This guy drew my attention on Instagram with a photo of swimming in an ice-covered lake.  Not just a polar plunge -- he was floating in there!

"Comfort kills your dreams."  But ice water kills your body.

He's Finn B__, originally from Iceland, 19 years old as of this writing. I don't usually post the full name of non-actors, so I'll change his last name to Kaifur, Icelandic slang for "Big D*ck."

Finn notes that growing up, he was subjected to bullying and had few friends, which led to depression and low self-esteem.  He only came out a short time ago.

Wait -- bullied for being gay?  In Iceland?  Are you sure they weren't bullying you because you hang out with your shirt off in sub-zero temperatures?  Not that I'm complaining.

For someone who wants to make friends, Finn doesn't reveal many personal details.  He's attending college in the U.S., but he doesn't say which college.  Or his major.  He posts that he's in love with his philosophy professor, but also does ballet routines.  And he's on the hockey team.

Back home in Iceland, he lived with his grandmother and cat.

In the U.S., he has a dog.

He thinks American guys are handsome.  Dude, I've been to Iceland.  The guys are totally hot, although I actually prefer cut cocks (n*de Icelander on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).

His American friend, Thomas, is leaving to join the army, "So I need to spend time together in a way that makes him remember me for a long time."

Be sure to hydrate, guys.

"I've been in two relationships.  Both ended in heartbreak.  Why?"  It's not you, buddy, it's the nature of relationships.

More after the break

"Journey to the Beginning of Time": Four boys fight dinosaurs in the early years of their lives, before Jules Verne, Sinbad, and "What girl do you like?"

During the 1970s, our local afternoon kid's show, Captain Ernie's Cartoon Showboat, played a serial called Journey to the Beginning of Time, about four boys on a field trip to the Museum of Natural History in New York who find a secret passage leading to a mysterious river. They paddle down the river through different geological eras, rescuing each other from mastodons and dinosaurs, learning to survive in the prehistoric wilderness.  

Finally they pass the Precambrian Era and see the dazzling psychedelic fireworks of the Earth's creation.

The serial made no sense.  The boys' costumes and hair styles changed; they got taller and shorter; the voice-over narration didn't match the action; no one wonders how they're going to get back home again; and where did boys visiting a museum get a boat, anyway?

Still, it became one of the iconic images of my childhood, maybe because it made no sense.  It was a puzzle, a mystery to be unraveled, and that puzzle involved boys facing the world together.

  In a pivotal scene, Doc loses the diary with his scientific notes of the journey, and Jo-Jo fights off a dinosaur to retrieve it.  Their subsequent moment of emotional intimacy reverberated through my childhood.

Turns out that in 1955, Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman wrote and directed Cesta do praveku ("Journey to Prehistory"), based on Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth: four boys find a living trilobite, which should have gone extinct 251 million years ago.  This propels them to their journey through time.

In 1966, William Cayton took the river sequences and filmed then filmed new opening and closing segments in the United States with different boys, figuring that the dumb kids in his target audience would never notice.  He then chopped it into installments to rent to after-school cartoon shows like Garfield Goose in Chicago -- and Captain Ernie's Cartoon Showboat.

 I noticed, but I didn't care. I was busy watching the boys bonding with each other through science fiction adventure.

1. Doc/Petr: Josef Lukás (born 1939).  This is is only film appearance.

2. Jo-Jo/Jirka: Vladimír Bejval (1942-2011) has 17 acting credits, all between 1949 and 1957, except for a 1995 tv series, where he played a doctor.

3. Ben/Tonik: Petr Herrman (1938-2018). 14 acting credits, ending in 2009.

4. Zenda: Zdenek Hustak (1940-2015).  This is his only film appearance. 

There is little or no information about any of them online, but I doubt that they would have any gay-subtext roles in Communist Czechoslovakia.

What about director Karel Zeman (1910-1989)?

He is lauded as one of the greatest animators of the 20th century; there is a Karel Zeman Museum near the Charles Bridge in Prague.

His other works available with English subtitles are:

Vynález zkázy (1958), based on Jules Verne's Facing the Flag, translated as The Fabulous World of Jules Verne.  Some pirates capture the inventor of a fabulous weapon. who falls in love.

More after the break

Gemstones Episode 3.2: Kelvin's buddies, gay Percy, two toxic families, and some n*de soldiers

Link to the NSFW version

Episode 3.2 introduces Eli's estranged brother-in-law Peter Montgomery, his sons, and a disturbing super-macho mirror of Kelvin's God Squad.

Title: "But Esau Ran to Meet Him," from Genesis 33.4.  Jacob has tricked his father Isaac into giving him the inheritance.  Esau is furious and vows to kill him, so he flees.  When he returns after 20 years, Esau behaves as if he is happy to see him, but....

Stephen's abusive wife:  Stephen, who was fired as Judy's guitarist after her brothers discovered their affair, is trying to tell his wife Kristy that he was "laid off," not fired.  She doesn't buy it.  It's a highly abusive relationship: she calls him "an unemployed, cokehead piece of sh*twho sulks all day."  He screams "Fuck you!", and she hits him with a glass blender.  Shattered glass all over his face and head, in front of the kids!  Whoa, scary.  The Gemstones and their partners argue, but they never use abusive language or physical violence.  Except for the time that Amber shot Jesse in the backside 

Later, Judy meets Stephen at Spanky's Cafe, a real restaurant in North Charleston, and offers him $10,000 to leave her alone: "I don't want to see you no' mo'."  But he still wants her.  Judy points out that he's married, but it doesn't matter: "I'd leave my family in a second if I could have you.  I'd murder them." Say what?  This guy is a psycho. Of course, he should leave his abusive wife, but murder her...and the kids?

Kelvin's Buddies:  Jesse and Amber's adult son Gideon, who moved to California to become a stuntman, is back, lying on the veranda in a bathrobe, smoking a cigarette, holding a box of Lucky Charms cereal, and sulking.  The background song by Buddy Knox tells us: "I think I'm going to kill myself."  He injured his neck, and may never do stunt work, tumbling, or martial arts again.  At least he's displaying a nice chest.

Background alert: Skyler Gisondo injured his neck in real life in 2022, when his hair stylist gave him a "little neck massage."  They wrote his injury into the script.

In a much, much nicer parallel to the Stephen-Mandy confrontation, Gideon's parents order him to stop feeling sorry for himself, get off his backside, and go to work for the church.  But he doesn't want to preach.  Ok, so he can become Eli's driver. Remember that the long-term driver, Walker, was fired.

We cut to Gideon on his first assignment, driving Eli and the siblings to see if May-May's kids are ok.  They are living with her estranged husband, Peter Montgomery, and his militia, the Brotherhood of Tomorrow's Fires: they expect end of civilization, like Eli's Y2K scare back in 1999.   Eli calles them preppers: "They want to make sure they don't run out of toilet paper."

Usually Evangelicals believe in the Rapture, when Jesus zaps everyone who is saved to Heaven, leaving the unsaved to suffer through seven years of the dystopian Tribulation before being sent to hell.  To this day, I will not let anyone stamp my hand for re-entry into an event, because  the Mark of the Beast was drummed into my head.  But Eli and Peter apparently have a different belief system.

On the way to the compound, at the defunct Boy Scout Camp Wooden Feather, the siblings discuss their cousins, Karl and Chuck.  Kelvin says that he always found them "kind of dumb and strange."  But you haven't seen them since 2000, when you were ten or eleven.  How much do you remember?

Judy: "That's why I'm surprised you weren't b utt buddies with them."  

He gets annoyed, not because she alludes to him being gay but because she implied that he's also "dumb and strange," and therefore perfect for the Montgomerys.

Not the God Squad:  Bizarre signs like "Now we will see" greet the family, along with multiple armed guards.  They pass Jacob (Stephen Louis Grush) cutting up a deer.  Kelvin smiles at him -- think he's hot, buddy?.  Then a military-style obstacle course;  guys practicing martial arts; a guy taking a shower outdoors (no beefcake); and finally the mess hall, where about thirty militia men are having lunch.

Wait -- no women and children?  The actual far-right militia movement has many female participants, but this is a male-only space, like Kelvin's God Squad in Season 2, but with scruffy guys in military fatigues instead of flexing musclemen.  It is dedicated to phileo instead of eros, buddy-bonding instead of homoerotic desire. An article on Doomsday Preppers notes that these male-only groups "cultivate a dangerous vision of apocalyptic manhood that consummates a fantasy of national virility in the demise of feminine society."  Women are weak and fragile, their civilization doomed. Only the "manly love of comrades" can survive the Apocalypse. 

May-May's son Chuck ushers Eli and the siblings in. They are greeted by Cousin Karl (Robert Oberst), who is delighted to see them; and Uncle Peter (Steve Zahn, below), who is not.  It's time for church, so get out!  No, the siblings offer to help lead the service: Jesse will preach, Judy will sing, and Kelvin will  perform some "feats of strength" for the kids -- the only time he references his muscles during the season.  No kids around, but maybe the militia guys would like to see some masculine beauty.   

Uncle Peter rejects the siblings' offer.  They are "phony fakers," entertainers, interested in making money rather than saving souls. 

More military guys after the break

Mason Cook: The "Speechless" kid grows up, turns bohemian-hipster, builds biceps, and bares it all

  

Link to the n*de photos

You're probably most familiar with Mason Cook as Ray DiMeo, sarcastic younger brother of focus character JJ (Micah Fowler) on Speechless (2015-18).  JJ has cerebral palsy and is nonverbal, "speechless."

Ray gets a lot of gay subtext plotlines, at least in Season 1.  In Season 2, he becomes annoyingly hetero-horny, and eventually gets a serious girlfriend. 

Ray's sudden movement into hetero-horniness was disturbing not only because the gay teases were overturned, but because of the "discovering girls" rhetoric. Mason is over 18 at the time, but his character is 15.  When I was 15, all I ever heard was "You'll discover girls any moment now, and everything you love will become meaningless. You'll join clubs, take classes, choose your college solely in order to see or meet girls. Your buddies will become mere strategists, helping you find, impress, and win girls. You..."

Sorry for the rant, but I really felt betrayed by Ray DiMeo in the second season.  

So you may wonder why I'm posting a profile on Mason Cook

Not because of his gay or gay-subtext performances.

Born in 2000

Guest star in teencoms like Zeke and Luther

Son of the focus charater in the crime drama Legends

Classmate of the focus character on The Middle

 An "eccentric, devout Christian" who has sex with the focus girl, sending her rushing for a "morning after pill," in Plan B.  This was nominated for a GLAAD award because a major character is trans, but Mason is straight.

Not because of his physique.  

The few shirtless photos on Mason's social media suggest that he doesn't spend a lot of time at the gym.

Although he has developed some biceps recently.

More after the break

Easter Island: Phallic Statues and Penis Festivals

If you thought Mongolia was remote for Westerners, try Easter Island (aka Rapa Nui).  From New York, you fly to Miami, then to Panama City, and finally to Santiago, Chile (about 24 hours).  From there, only one airline flies to the town of Hanga Roa on Rapa Nui, once a day (about 6 hours).

It's a tiny island, about 15 miles long and 8 miles wide, alone in the Pacific Ocean, probably settled from the Marquesas Islands, 2000 miles away.

Once the early Polynesians got there, they became very interested in the penis.

1. Most Rapa Nui men incorporated the word Ure, "Penis," into their names, but in the 19th century Christian missionaries put an end to the practice.

2. The Moai, "Easter Island Heads," are actually complete torsos, over 800 of them, 20-30 feet high, weighing over 80 tons, sculpted and installed over a period of 300 years (1200-1500 AD).  They took so much time and energy that the islanders had little time left for other pursuits, and so many trees were felled to facilitate transport that the island is now almost entirely treeless.

The noses of the figures have often been interpreted as phallic symbols.  Indeed, some scholars interpret the Moai themselves as giant phallic symbols, representing the sexual potency of the Rapa Nui men. There's a legend still common on the island that a penis served as the model.

3. Rongo Rongo, the Easter Island script, appears on dozens of tablets and ceremonial objects.  By the time the Europeans arrived, no islander remembered how to read it, and it remains untranslated.  But at least one of the glyphs is called "Tangata Ure Huki" "Man with Erect Penis"

4. The Tapati Fesival, held every year during the first two weeks of February, is a celebration of the island's history, culture, and penises.  There are parades, dances, athletic contests like haka pei (sliding down a mountainside on a tree trunk), and a race called the Tau'a Rapa Nui: men wearing only skimpy loincloths race through town carrying bunches of phallic-symbol bananas.