d.anders

Not sure about this one, but in the entire film they did weird things with words, attempting to possibly create their own language. I actually found this a bit annoying, and a great way to fuck with a child's vocabulary. Perhaps a bit too bah-humbug on my part.

In a professional setting, a 60-minute massage is almost always 40-50 minutes on the table, especially for first-time appointments. That has always been my experience. I can barely tie my shoes in 60 minutes, so how could I ever expect much from any other 60-minute service? The days of 2-minute hand jobs are long gone. Even when my doctor is running on time, I still end up being in the office far longer than I ever anticipate. Ancillary stuff happens, depending on the people involved. There is no such thing as a perfect clock in any service business. On the other hand, to be stuck on a table during a bad massage for 90 minutes is a unique torture one needs to experience to decide what is the best option. For me, the general rule is, when you discover a good thing, make sure to allow enough time to truly savor the pleasure.

When I think of all the money I spent on theater tickets for shows I ended up not enjoying, I think about all the movies I hated, and get depressed even further. Entertainment almost always offers no refunds, especially the illegal kind. I suppose if a provider stupidly blamed a bad performance on drugs, he deserves a sharp confrontation from his customer. Luckily for drug-using providers, most people, especially closeted gay men, will do anything to avoid confrontation. Is a confrontation ever worth the financial loss, especially if the risk of bodily harm is a possibility? How much is risk worth? There certainly are times when being cheap or insisting on financial retribution could cause you more harm than good. In situations like these, it's far better to think fast and hard about your decisions, and not play the fool. I know I can no longer defend myself in a physical fight. Until I can legally carry a gun, no amount of cash loss is going to justify the risk of bodily harm to me. I will always choose the safe path, bite the bullet and never hire the guy again. My life and health is too precious to me to think otherwise.

I was gifted with Apple TV yesterday, and I started to watch The Morning Show. I was blown away by the first two episodes of Season 1. Smart writing, good acting, great angst and tension, and terrific chemistry between Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Can't wait to see more. I'm surprised Aaron Sorkin wasn't part of the creative team. Seems like something he would have jumped on.

I finally saw the movie last night, and I managed to stay awake for the whole thing, but barely. It is an overly long movie with a simple, dragged-out plot. The visuals are a spectacle to look at, especially the last 10 minutes, but it's still a traditional musical, and not a very good one. I was pretty surprised by how slow the movie moved, and how lame and unmemorable much of the music was. I once loved the score from Godspell. "Popular" reminds me of a cheaper version of Annie's "It's a Hard Knock Life." Annie has much better songs. "Defying Gravity" is the only other memorable song, and it's mostly memorable for its vocal screaming. I was reminded what I didn't like about what I had heard about the Broadway score, songs designed to be sung by amateur screamers on American Idol. I have to say the whole movie thing is way over-hyped. Seeing this film did not change my life, and I have no desire to see it again. It's a lot of colorful cotton candy with very little substance. The concept is interesting. I could see why creators wanted to play in the background of the Oz story. But the whole endless school theme seemed like a borrowed attempt to capture Harry Potter mystique. There were a few moments, very few, when I felt the spirit of Judy Garland, and my heart jolted. But in the end, I was mostly bored, and the actors look and sound like they are lip-syncing in an over-bloated, old-fashioned, movie-musical production. The original Munchkin Land in Judy's Oz felt far more clever and creative. Even the dance numbers in Wicked seemed out of place and superfluous. The background characters mostly looked way too normal to be in Oz. I had forgotten there's a second movie to come. Good grief. I guess I'm glad the performers are employed.

I love a good horror flick, but they are seriously hard to come by. Not sure what to say about this one, other than ridiculous and preposterous. The acting is fine, but let's get real with these absurd stories. Hugh Grant is more creepy than ever. I hear the two young actresses are former Mormons? I get that a lot of people in Hollywood are atheists, but this crap is over-the-top silly, and completely unbelievable.

For as long as I can remember, I didn't take more money than needed. Never carried credit or debit cards to any appointment. Sometimes, I didn't take I.D., but I always told a friend where I would be. Some of those Craigslist appointments were a bit sketchy. There were a few times I thought about buying a gun and learning how to use it. I never hired while traveling. I never had the guts for that. This has always been a business that attracts shady characters. Always best to hire with extreme caution.

What do you mean? I'm always on the lookout for a mechanic who can provide me love. LOL.

I tried to watch The Bear when it first appeared on the scene. For some reason, I couldn't finish Season 1. I may have to revisit it and give it another chance. The Last Showgirl is barely an hour. It's a quick, small story.

An interesting small movie with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore. It's a movie about friendship and a highly-charged sensitive subject. Can't imagine it plans on making a ton of money. It doesn't seem to be your typical Almodóvar movie. The cinematography is outstanding. I wish more movies were shot like this. There is one major hole in the story. If more people see it, maybe we can discuss that here.

That only works up to a point. I have caller I.D. too, and boy do I use it. However, a lot of heath care providers are calling from a cell phone these days, and you can't predict how that number will appear on the cell's screen. There is often no name attached. The last thing I want to do is miss a call from one of my doctors or their assistants. I also can't afford to miss a call from a government agency or a goddamned insurance company. Wait until you need someone, and you have to sit on hold for over an hour before they pick up. Pure torture. There is no easy, simple answer anymore because this issue inevitably is about time and money. Most of us realists know that many guys in the biz don't take the business seriously at all. They're in it for a minute, or completely on their own terms. They don't care about a customer. They don't want to spend one minute more on the business than they have to. They just want extra money, and they want it easy, as little effort or investment as possible. I prefer the privacy and convenience of email, but that is growing more and more complicated. Not only do you need an internet connection, you have to create an account. Many of the popular services are now requiring I.D. confirmation, which makes it difficult to create an alias account. It's also an extra step. With the end of privacy, and respect for it, and the growing cost of internet hosting ads, it's difficult to imagine where this business is headed.

I've been watching some YouTube Anora interviews post Oscars. There are some good ones with Sean Baker, Mikey Madison, and Mark Eydelshteyn. Much to my surprise, Mark can barely speak English. I thought he was faking it in the movie, but his English is pretty iffy. Also, much to my surprise, he sent Sean Baker his audition tape and he filmed it in the nude. He said he knew there would be sex scenes, so before being asked, he decided to do the entire audition tape in the nude. Sean was a bit surprised by this, but then Mark got cast. So it worked. There are a few still shots on the internet from Mark's nude scene. It looks like he's quite hung for a small, skinny guy, and most likely uncut. Too bad Sean didn't insist on full frontal. I'm sure Mark would have been OK with it. Also, Mark said the naked flip was his idea. He had asked Sean if he could try it, and Sean liked it. It's also fun to see how different Mikey Madison is in real life. I was certain she was from Brooklyn after seeing the movie, but she's an L.A. native. She had vocal coaching for the Brighton Beach accent, and she got it down pitch perfect. She also trained for a month on pole dancing. It is amazing how well she did. She bought a pole on the internet and had her father install it in her home. I love hearing about how the soup was made.

I know almost nothing about Reddit. Links have come up in some searches, and I read what is there, but nothing so far has struck me as special, and I didn't enjoy the user-interface. The only social media I use is YouTube. I've completely learned how to sew on YouTube during Covid, and I absolutely love it. For sex talk, I like this board and lpsg. Lively discussion about handsome men on both. (Edit) I meant to add, lpsg often offers photos or links that no other site seems to have. I have no clue how they get away with that.

Exactly what I was talking about. I was tardy on Downton, too. For awhile there, you couldn't go anywhere in NYC and not find people talking about it. Even at the grocery counters. I had to pull myself away from all the chatter. Luckily, Matthew's death knocked me out of my seat. I could not believe his agent allowed him to do that, although in retrospect, it was a terrific event in the show.

The Diplomat is a high quality show for sure. I saw The Americans, and I thought Keri Russell was terrific. She's also great in The Diplomat, but I had a hard time buying Rufus Sewell as her husband. I did not like Sewell in this part. I thought they lacked chemistry. I also hated other casting choices in this show. I didn't buy Ato Essandoh. I thought he was terribly miscast and annoying as all hell. I hated T'Nia Miller and her whole escapade with Sewell. Made my skin scrawl. I had to stop watching. I'm glad other people can look past these things. Bad casting decisions always seem to rub me wrong. I know casting is not easy. I felt this show deserved better choices.

I had a difficult time watching this one. I tried and tried, but the first-person POV really drove me crazy. The subject is tough, an abusive reform school in 1960's Florida. I'm not sure I can finish it.

Interesting little film. Another Coppola director, named Gia. Interesting that Pamela's agent turned it down first without telling her. The story was a play first, but never got produced. I always suspected that Pamela Anderson had some acting talent. This story gives her a few things to chew on. Jamie Lee Curtis is scary good. Scary good from head to toe.

I read the show was very expensive to shoot. Season 2 was so bad, perhaps they knew the end was near, and everyone threw in the towel. I imagine actors and crew get a sense about failing momentum. It sure ended up being a serious turkey.

@EVdude Thanks for the Marie Claire link. Sadly, it didn't reveal much. When it comes to sex scenes in film, no one ever wants to reveal more than they have to in Hollywood. I get the desire to keep the plates up in the air. Without too much reveal, audiences get to speculate, and that feeds endless dialogue. Given that the two characters eventually end up in a physical fight, I thought the sex scene was a missed opportunity to exploit something deeper, more intimate in their relationship's past. It would have made perfect sense. These two guys were hot and very competitive. I instantly saw them experimenting when perhaps they were in college. I don't exactly remember the details of their story.

Narcissistic entitlement. "Mind your own damn business" doesn't work in America anymore. Social media is all about transparency. God help us all.

If someone hasn't seen a popular show, the last thing they should do is visit the internet to read about it. Many people love to spoil surprises for others, and there is no controlling that. Since I see so many things first in my circle, I often remind friends not to read about something on the internet, unless they want to kill a mystery before watching. Leo Woodall does have a full face. Some people might see that as puffy. He was only 24 when he shot White Lotus Season 2, and now he's 28. Faces can still change in the early 20's. I haven't seen Prime Target.

Not so fast. I didn't know any Russian oligarchs but I knew a few people from my early 20's who made very stupid, reckless decisions that affected the rest of their lives. I think there are lots of people around who can relate. I'm curious to see how Anora does now that it won best picture. A lot of people have not seen the film yet.

OMG, they both made my heart flutter when they removed the clothing. I wish Mike White would have gone further with their background story. Why couldn't they have played with homo sex in their past? They were perfect characters for a little drunk experimentation. When Theo hired the hookers, I wanted so badly for him to invite Will to the couch, in a nod to "like old times," to rekindle the bi-play they once had together. Not only would that have been hot, hot, hot, it would have driven us gay watchers absolutely into delirium. LOL I don't know what that means, but I'm happy to agree. Yes, Lochlan was sitting between the two ladyboys, and he said to his mother, "This is what it looks like before a Tsunami." Yes, all the analysts on YouTube are suggesting that Lochlan is searching for his sexual identity. Does Mike White dare to go Trans in this season with Lochlan? He had the balls to mention you-know-who in Ep 3, so why not push the Trans button? It didn't help Emelia Perez, but that's mostly because the movie's star went bonko on social media, and most Trans folk hated the film. I recently spoke to a friend who is very active in social media, and he asked me if I was watching White Lotus. After I said yes, he confirmed that everyone is complaining about Season 3, repeating a lot of points being made here. Unless the shit hits the fan soon, Mike White may disappoint a lot of fans.

Ep 3 was so boring. The scene of them giving up their tech equipment was so fake. Who on earth would go to dinner with Greg/Gary a second time? There isn't enough sexual tension for my liking. When Mike White decided on the spirituality theme, after so much sex in Season 1 & 2, that was a mistake. Season 3 is meandering with very little suspense or interesting mystery.