BSR

I saw The Blue Caftan, a Moroccan film about a dressmaker (technically he makes incredibly detailed caftans) dealing with his repressed sexuality. His life is chaotic because while his wife is dying, he struggles with his attraction to his young apprentice. What I didn’t like was the slow pacing, as slow as any movie I’ve ever seen. But what I loved were the performances of the three principals, especially Lubna Azabal, who plays the dying wife. What kept me engaged during the sloooooooow pacing was that Saleh Bakri (the dressmaker) is so smokin’ daddy hot. If he weren’t so drop-dead gorgeous, I would have really struggled to make it to the end. The film received much well-deserved critical praise while sparking plenty of controversy in Morocco and in the Arab/Muslim world. I think it’s worth a watch.

Contrary to its name (salt bread), pandesal is a slightly sweet yeast bread. If you splurge on a really good salted butter (my fave is the Costco version of Kerry Gold) and slather it on fresh pandesal, wow, one of life’s true pleasures!

I used to call the show Jack & Karen, because they were my only reason for watching the show.

His IG mentions his OnlyFans. He is so drop-dead gorgeous that I was tempted to break my rule about never subscribing to any OnlyFans, until I saw that he only has 13 posts in his OF, with instructions to contact him for “spicy content.” In other words, total waste of money. But my gawd, the man is beautiful.

If we can fairly assume that The Gaiety verified his age before allowing him to perform, then Jon Ramsey has to be at least 53. Mind you, if his pictures are accurate, I would totally hire him; dude’s still got it. At the same time, if he’s going to age shave, he should expect some ribbing from people who know the score.

I always rolled my eyes when hearing Mile High Club stories because every airplane bathroom I had ever seen was so claustrophobically cramped that 1 person could barely fit in there, forget 2. I’m sure people do have sex in airplane bathrooms, but they had to be doing it just for the bragging rights because there’s no way in hell it was a fun or pleasant experience. In such cramped quarters, it had to be more akin to torture. Welp, my eyes grew as big as saucers when I saw the bathroom on my Madrid->Buenos Aires flight. One (just one, the other was shoehorn size) of the business class bathrooms was big enough to easily and comfortably fit 3 people, 4 if one was OK with sitting on the toilet. There was an Argentine who looked like a supermodel (but more rugged than pretty) on my flight, but alas, he was just fantasy fodder, no mile-high fun with the porteño supermodel. For you jet nerds out there, the plane was an A330-200, and it was the starboard bathroom.

In theory, yes, but … First, make sure you download the app eGovPH and have it all filled out before landing because doing so will greatly expedite your passage thru Customs — I’m assuming you will have to go thru Customs if you’re exiting the airport. Población (the gay district in the neighboring city Makati) is only 15 minutes from the airport without traffic. In traffic, I’d figure more like 45 minutes. Mapping out a worst case, if you hit traffic going both ways (45 minutes x 2), Customs drags out (another 45 minutes), and security takes a while going back in (another 45 minutes), that’s 3 hours “in transit,” with 2 hours to squeeze in a massage. There are a bunch of gay massage spots in Quezon City, but don’t even think about it because QC is kinda far even in light traffic. If you hit heavy traffic, you’re dead. You could “order in” and host in The Wings, a transit lounge in Terminal 3 that offers private rooms. I gotta think you’d have to pay a hefty deposit since no working guy is going all the way out to the airport only to get stood up. Try the Remitly app because others like PayPal or GCash (most popular cash app in the Philippines) require a Philippine bank account. Note that you will likely have to start the Remitly transfer several days before meeting because for first-time users, they require you to speak with an agent to ensure the transfer is legit. It’ll take ~24 hours for the transfer to alert their fraud dept, then you have to speak to them during West Coast business hours, then it takes another 24+ hours for the transfer to clear. So it’s up to you whether you’d rather deal with the risk of getting stuck in traffic or of paying a deposit to an escort/masseur you don’t know. PS: download the Grab app and set up an account before landing. Uber doesn’t operate in the Philippines; their equivalent is Grab. When we were looking for a taxi to my aunt’s place, the cabdrivers quoted 1200 pesos, and my aunt asked in Tagalog! They eventually gave the “real price,” 400 pesos. I can only imagine the crazy ripoff price they’ll quote a foreigner. Also, on the way back to the airport, it’s basically impossible to hail a cab in the street. You’ll need to use Grab (which can e-hail both Uber-style private cars and metered taxis) to get back to the airport. Note that you can only tip in cash in the Philippines. 10% rounded up to at least 100p (90 cents) to your driver is fine. The currency exchange at the airport gives a good rate and charges a fair commission.

I can understand Derrick Dixon’s dilemma: it sounds like his part on The Oval was the biggest role of his career, so he kept “making nice” with Perry to keep his job, which included agreeing to invitations that would put him alone with Perry. Gawd, what an awful situation! To think, actresses and a few actors had to put up with such harassment for decades with no way out. I hope Dixon wins and wins huge.

Zoinks! Steve Grand is as scorchin’ hot as ever! His face looks like he’s barely aged in 10 years, and his body is furrier and more muscular. Thanks for the update.

Unfortunately, the writer/creator Guillem Clua confirmed in a Spanish newspaper interview that there will be no 2nd season of Smiley. I was a bit surprised to read that because I thought the series was quite popular, but alas. If you’re a fan of Clua (I certainly am), you can watch 2 other series he’s written: The Innocent (a mystery/thriller on Netflix) and Estoy vivo (a sci-fi comedy/thriller on RTVE, the Spanish public television channel, available with a VPN — watch just the 1st wildly entertaining season, the other 2 seasons suck). He’s certainly a very versatile writer because each of the 3 series is so completely different from the other 2. It’s too bad because the original play does have a sequel, so material for a 2nd season is ready and waiting.

Most states have a Son of Sam law, which allows the state to confiscate all profits (book deal, film rights, paid appearances) and hold them in escrow. The victim or their family are then notified, and they can sue for the money.

I didn’t click on his X account link, where he lists his location as Barcelona, until after I wrote my first post, just heard the accent in the first video linked above.

I’m too backlogged on other platforms to sign up this year, but I hope HBO re-offers it every Pride month. Russell Tovey blew me away with his performance in that final scene with Jonathan Groff. I’ve watched that clip on YT a half-dozen times, am left damn impressed every single time. Plus there’s the bonus of Scott Bakula, still scorching hot at ~60yo. Even though I had seen just a few clips, I was left a bit baffled by how negative the reception was on the forum because (most of) the actors were fantastic. But I’ll have to watch the whole series before I can make any claims.

I’ve heard, because I have no first-hand experience in Las Vegas female strip clubs, that the rule about g-strings staying on is pretty strictly enforced to protect the dancers. Clubs had problems in the past because too many drunk, aggressive men kept attempting to digitally penetrate the dancers. The law prohibiting full-bar & full nudity was passed in 1995, but one club was grandfathered in, The Palomino. Don’t ask me how they protect their dancers. Taking advantage of the same grandfathered license, The Palomino used to have a sister club that shared the same building, with mostly black male dancers and black female clientele. Apparently men were welcome, with the understanding that it was at the dancer’s discretion to perform for male clients. This sister club went under during the Great Recession, was revived under a new name, then closed for good during Covid. No, I never made a trip up there (way up in North Las Vegas) because I feared I wouldn’t really be welcome, regardless of what the website said. Of course I regret it now. What’s the worst that could happen? I get totally ignored and end up leaving, hardly the end of the world. If the revived Dick’s Cabaret chooses the full-nudity, no alcohol route, that’s a tough business model. If they go for full bar, who knows how strictly LVMPD will enforce the g-string rule. My guess is the police will be just as strict as with female clubs because if they give Dick’s a free pass, the female strip clubs will catch wind of it and complain.

Once I saw this, I had to find & listen to “Good Vibrations,” one of the greatest pop songs of all time. Brian Love’s falsetto is simply sublime on that track. R.I.P.

Yeah, he does have that Midwestern look, but I’m pretty sure that’s a Spanish accent I hear in the clip posted above.

Still haven’t watched the entire match but did catch a 30-minute highlights video. My gawd, both guys played at an unbelievable level, reminds me of the 2011 US Open final. This year’s Roland Garros was so predictable, but in a good way. The 4 best players in the draw reached the semis, the 2 best reached the final, and the better player (in terms of head-to-head, not ranking) won. I’ll have to find a video of the entire match because the final was an instant classic, already being talked about as one of the greatest matches of all time. Carlos should be so damn proud, so should Jannik, although I don’t know that’s how he’s feeling right now.

Wow, that ass belongs in the Louvre! I’ll start going through Mileroticos ~1 week before arrival. I was enjoying perusing through the listings this evening, until I remembered that some of these guys probably won’t be around in 6 months. I noticed that this barranquillero requires a deposit, as do a lot of the guys. Should I stick to the hard & fast US rule of no money up-front, or do I need to be more flexible in the Colombian market?

Oh sh!t, because I didn’t watch the match, I didn’t realize that Jannik came so heartbreakingly close to winning. Besides being up 2 sets to love, in the 4th set Sinner had 3 match points at 5-3 love-40 and also served for the match at 5-4. Ouch! Jannik must be shattered, while Carlos has to feel like tennis’s version of Harry Houdini.

Bear in mind that Bewitched ran from 1964-72, when the cost of a television relative to median family income was much higher than it is today. Most families had just one TV in the living room, and that was it. As much as I liked the show, I just don’t see it appealing to straight men. My guess is that straight women loved the show and asserted control over the household TV for that half-hour time slot.

Thank you both @corndog and @José Soplanucas. Once I book my flight, I'll reserve an Airbnb in Zona T/Rosa (they appear to be almost the same location, not sure what the difference is). Because I plan on staying 6 days, I’d rather go with an Airbnb vs. a standard hotel room. Not sure I’ll end up using the kitchen and washer/dryer, but it’ll be nice to have the option. Any tips on what site/platform to use for escorts? I fear that any guy I find through RentMen me vaya a costar un ojo de la cara. Gracias por adelantado.

The final was a nailbiter until the 5th set super-tiebreak, whereupon Carlos ran away with it. But Jannik was up 2 sets to love and was just 2 points away when he was up 6-5 deuce in the 5th. Amazing comeback from Carlos, he’ll need to sleep for a week after this effort!

For anyone thinking of traveling to Argentina, the buying power of the US$ has dropped significantly in recent months, by about 70%. I was expecting Buenos Aires to be a bargain, uy, not so much. While it’s certainly not as expensive as NYC, for example, the valuation of the Argentine peso relative to the US$ has taken a sharp turn for the worse for American visitors. If you’re interested in the nerdy details, here is a video explaining exactly what happened …

Unfortunately, because I can’t get a (legal) transmission of the match here in Buenos Aires, I’m left with occasionally checking in on a Spanish YouTube channel to listen to their commentary and watch their reactions. When Carlos came back from 0-2 sets down to take it into the 5th, the 3 españoles went absolutely apesh!t, might be more entertaining than the match itself. My pick of Carlos was looking pretty dire a couple of hours ago, but I think he’s the stronger of the two in a 5th set. We’ll see …

I’m bumping this thread now, even though I’m not going to Bogotá until the end of November. Airfare actually comes out a lot cheaper if I fly to Bogotá, then back to Las Vegas vs. flying direct MAD->LAS. @José Soplanucas, what part of the city did you stay in? I’m undecided between Zona T/Rosa and La Candelaria. Zona T seems to be modern hustle & bustle while La Candelaria is the historic district. I’m leaning toward La Candelaria but wanted to hear your take.