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Searching for Beefcake in Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet (1603) is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays. It's heavy-laden with gay subtexts, from the tortured Hamlet's buddy-bond with Horatio to the backstage chumminess of Rosencrantz and...
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"Neon Flesh": Hustler with a Heart of Gold Opens a Brothel for His Mother
The plot synopsis for Neon Flesh (Carne de Neón), on Amazon Prime, says something about a guy opening a brothel to honor the memory of his prostitute mother, so one would expect a nonstop boob fest....
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Capitani: Scruffy Detective and a Small Town Full of Secrets. In Luxembourg
Ready for another dead girl in the woods and a gruff detective investigating the case along with a lady detective whom bicker/flirts with? Seriously, are these series written by humans or an...
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The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (1970-75) seems like an odd addition to the teen-friendly Friday night lineup that also included The Partridge Family,The Brady Bunch, and Room 222. No teens, no teen idol songs, just...
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Love, American Style
In November 1966, my bedtime changed from 7:30 to 8:00, and a dozen beefcake and bonding shows were opened up for me: It's About Time, Run Buddy Run, Time Tunnel, and My Three Sons, In November 1969,...
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"Almost Paradise": Drug Deals in the Philippines
Almost Paradise (2020), a tv series on Amazon: : When hypertension forces DEA Agent Alex Walker into retirement, he moves to the tropical beach he visited years ago. Unfortunately, it is now full of...
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Vicenzo: From Drama to Comedy, from Angelic Robot to Klutz in Just One Hour
I plugged in to Vicenzo on Netflix due to the novelty of seeing an Italian-Korean person (there are less than 5,000 Korean immigrants in Italy). Scene 1: I am spellbound. Vincenzo (Soon Jong Kee) is...
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Happy Days
Happy Days (1974-84) was a Tuesday-night sitcom about three high school boys in the 1950s, twenty years before, who concocted all sorts of wild schemes in their quest to fondle girls’ breasts. I always...
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Laverne and Shirley
Laverne De Fazio (Penny Marshall) and Shirley Feeney (Cindy Williams) first appeared on an episode of Happy Days, when Fonzie hooks himself and Richie up with two "loose women" who are sure to "put...
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Wandavision: More Sitcom than Science Fiction
For months, Netflix has been a wasteland, mostly a lot of "dead girl in a small town" cop shows and "poor boy and rich girl fall in love" Korean melodramas. So we have pulled the plug and switched...
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The Top 12 Greek Myth Mash-Ups of "Atlantis"
In the first episode of Atlantis, (2013-2015), Jason (Jack Donnelly) goes off in a submarine to search for his missing father, and ends up in ancient Atlantis (fortunately, an English-speaking...
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Why Everyone in West Hollywood Listened to Madonna
When I first moved to West Hollywood in 1985, Madonna was everywhere, part of the backdrop of everyday life, as universal and taken-for-granted as working out, drinking Perrier, and reading Frontiers...
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Frankie Says Relax
March 1985: after several years of subtext songs, the radio was booming with plaints about heterosexual sex: Madonna living in a "Material World," Phil Collins begging for "One More Night," Tina...
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Don't Cry Now: David and Andy Williams
Born in 1960, twins David and Andy Williams (the latter named after their famous crooner uncle) began their teen idol career performing on Uncle Andy's variety show -- true, no kids watched, but that's...
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"John Wick": 20,000 Hunky Guys Murdered for Your Evening Entertainment
For movie night, for a reason I don't understand, Bob choose John Wick (2014), which grossed $88 million worldwide and produced two sequels, a video game, and am upcoming series. I need a shower.1. The...
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"The Book of Sun": Saudi Arabian Goofballs Make a Horror Movie
When I was in high school a thousand years ago, the only way to study Arabic was to order the ancient Dover Colloquila Arabic, which offered 19th century advice for travelers, like "learn to sit on the...
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18 Yiddish Words for Penis
A Germanic language influenced by Slavic and Hebrew, Yiddish was spoken throughout the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe from the 9th century on to World War II.Jewish immigrants to the United...
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If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969) was advertised as a hilarious comedy about a group of Ugly Americans on a whirlwind tour of Europe, but I found it heartbreaking. In fact, I was hesitant...
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Bill Bixby: My Favorite Martian
Bill Bixby played swinging 1960s bachelors with glamorous jobs, cool pads, boss threads, and a never-ending supply of babes -- until one day something happened that changed everything, made his...
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"The Mandalorian": The Man With No Name Wanders a Heteronormative Wild West...
I am currently watching (or rather, playing with my cell phone while Bill watches) The Mandalorian, on the Disney Plus Channel. We never really understand what Mandalorians are, exactly -- an ethnic...
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