Gar1eth

I'm more enamored of Keanu now than I was back then.

I first loved him as Philip Brent on All My Children!!

Sigh -I haven't watched Episode 6 again. I will. But as I've said before, every time the scene where Shane and his mother are hugging comes up and Shane says, "I tried," meaning he tried to be straight -it brings up memories from 13 years ago for me. Even recalling it without it being in front of me, it chokes me up. How many times did I say that to myself-if only I could ... How many times did I not say anything because while on one hand I was sure my mother wouldn't reject me-but what if she did? And even when I did somewhat come out-I still had to get my sister to tell her, because I couldn't face up to it. Since then we don't talk about me being gay very often. She knows my one main (platonic) friend is gay and likes him quite a lot as do my brother and sister-in-law. And I've frequently told my Mom when I go on an occasional date. I'm not sure how things would go if I were ever lucky enough to have an actual 'boyfriend.' I think my Mom would be ok once getting used to the idea-or if not quite able to manage that -still would be gracious for my sake. I think my siblings would be ok. I'm not quite sure how a very conservative niece-in-law would take it which might bar me from family gatherings at my nephew's house and my brother's house (it's his daughter-in-law). But the chance of me getting a boyfriend will most likely occur at the same time pigs and donkeys start flying, so it looks like I'll be welcome at most family gatherings for years to come.

I can't believe how obsessed I've become with this show. But it is fading a bit. I'm probably going to watch episode 6 again, and then hopefully put it by the wayside for awhile. But there had been things bothering me for Episodes 1 and 2. I had the impression that there were long intervals between their meetings. But I didn't see how even an fbud relationship could really sustain itself with so much time apart. But apparently it did. To help me I charted their meetings in Episodes 1 to 2. Here is my summary. I obviously have too much time on my hands. ****************************************** Heated Rivalry Episode 1 Meetings 12/2008 International Prospect Cup they are 17 and meet outside the rink. Russia wins the tournament. 6/2009 MHL Draft Ilya is # 1 and Shane is # 2. They both wake up early and meet in the hotel gym. 12/2009 --International Prospect Cup. Canada wins the tournament. Shane says, "See you in October". But the next title says @@@06/2010 which is long after October-Ilya and Shane are filming a commercial in Toronto. Ilya asked for Shane to be in the commercial with him. Later they are showering together. Shane has trouble looking away. Ilya deliberately strokes himself. Shane says "F-off". But in the locker room they decide to meet FIRST SEXUAL ENCOUNTER!!! Ilya goes to Shane's hotel room. 09/2010 Ilya is playing in Montreal. Shane gets the winning goal against Ilya. No sex @@@1/2011 All Star Game in Nashville. Shane breaks the shot accuracy competition that Ilya had just set. Shane goes to Ilya's hotel room. SECOND SEXUAL ENCOUNTER!! Ilya puts their names as Lily and Jane in each other's phone. 1/2011 or 2/2011 Plans for third sexual encounter in Montreal falls through due to snowstorm. # 5/2011 or 6/2011: MHL Awards Banquet. Shane wins rookie of the year. Sees Ilya on the roof. He's upset that Ilya didn't watch him win the trophy. But Shane also says that this is the one time he's gotten anything over Ilya. That Ilya is always beating him. That doesn't make a lot of sense from what they've shown. Ilya was the #1 draft pick. But after that Shane won the International Cup, after that he won the shot record, during the game following the shot competition he won the goal after that, and his team beat Boston. So I'm not sure what else Ilya did that actually surpassed Shane. Ilya's initially upset probably about going back to Russia. But he kisses Shane in public on the roof. Shane initially likes it. But then gets scared someone may see and takes off. So over 2-1/2 years they've had Clintonian Sex twice. But Shane has yet to bottom. End of Episode #1. Episode # 2 Summer 2011 Shane in Montreal and Ilya in Moscow texting Fall 2011 Their teams play a game. Possibly Montreal wins, but it doesn't say. **So Ilya texts Shane asking what there is for a lonely girl in Montreal to do. Shane doesn't answer back. Winter 2012 **Ilya texts Shane. Shane replies back, but they don't seem to have sex. Spring 2012 Boston is in playoffs. Montreal isn't. They text. No sex. Fall 2012 -18 months since they had sex. Ilya texts Shane an address, but he doesn't go. Winter 2013 -24 months no sex. Spring 2013 -2 and a 1/4 years no sex but they do text Fall 2013 - 2 and 3/4 years since they had sex. Ilya texts Shane asking how many times he can come in an hour-but it's right before they play a game against each other. They sext. Initially Shane says they aren't meeting. But then Shane says after the game he'll text Ilya if he's lucky Montreal wins, and Shane and Ilya meet at Shane's apartment. THIRD SEXUAL ENCOUNTER (finally!!) Shane bottoms for the first time. Winter 2014 Sochi Olympics -no sex. Russia loses badly to Latvia. Shane texts Ilya, but Ilya doesn't answer back. Canada wins the Gold at the Olympics but they don't show it. Shane sees Ilya at men's ice skating event. But Ilya is upset and barely talks to Shane. Ilya says they aren't anything to each other. Spring 2014 -Shane and team watch Boston win the cup. Shane seems to maybe give a slight smile at watching Ilya hoist the cup. Summer 2014- End of year major league hockey banquet. Shane and Ilya are presenting an award together. They both look really nice in their tuxedos. After the award Shane goes to the bathroom. Ilya comes in. Shane is upset and says Ilya hasn't responded to a text in 6 months. He doesn't know what Ilya wants. Shane is furious but heartbroken that Ilya has been ignoring him. But they make up and meet later that evening in Ilya's hotel room. SEXUAL ENCOUNTER #4 But the interaction is pretty much mechanical-no affection shown. Ilya seems unhappy -possibly about going home to Russia for the summer. Shane is upset afterwards that it was a purely physical encounter with no real emotional connection. The episode ends with Shane realizing -and not liking-his emotional attachment to Ilya. ********************************* So the things that seem funny to me 1. In Episode # 1 they have "Clintonian" sex twice in 2-1/2 years of knowing each other. 2. They were going to meet for sex a third time. But there was a blizzard in Montreal, and the game was canceled 3. Several months later at the annual hockey awards banquet Shane finds Ilya on the roof. He's upset that Ilya ditched seeing Shane win Rooky of the Year. He says basically that Ilya is always surpassing him. And the one time he (Shane) wins over Ilya, Ilya isn't even there to support him But here's something I don't understand. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense from what they've shown. Ilya was the #1 draft pick. But after that Shane 1. Won the International Cup 2. After that during the playing season, he won the shot record 3. During the game following the shot competition, Shane won the goal. 3. And Shane's team beat Boston. So I'm not sure what exactly Ilya did other than Russia beating Canada in the first International Junior Prospect Tournament and being the # 1 draft pick that actually surpassed Shane. 4. Another thing that bothers me. In Episode #2 they text each other for around 2-3/4 years. But Shane consistently rejects meeting Ilya before he finally consents to having sex again. 5. And then after the Olympics -this time it's Ilya who doesn't want to meet for some reason. Ilya ignores Shane's texts for 6 months. When they finally do have sex, it's pretty much devoid of emotional content. And afterwards neither one looks particularly happy. Shane looks like he's beginning to realize how much he cares for Ilya. But that could also be inferred by how upset he was at Ilya's failure to respond to him for 6 months. I'm not entirely sure what's going thru Ilya's mind except he didn't have sex with his boyhood pal in Moscow. We don't know if that's due to his feelings for Shane or something else. I'd love to hear people's comments on the points I've made.

I saw a reel of this interview last night. I just found the entire segment on YouTube and am about to watch it.

They told me those pictures weren't going pubic-errr I mean public I'm blushing

I read an article online. And Francois Arnaud was joking around about how Robbie GK is a barista but has the best physique of any of them.

While I can't match your furniture "deja viewing", and it's possible I've mentioned this before-but over the summer and fall I started to get into the superhero shows from the CW. I saw one or two episodes of Supergirl. For some reason I kept going back to Melissa Benoist, the star's Wikipedia page. Unless it was my subconscious trying to tell me something -I didn't really pick up on anything. I just wanted to look up successive questions I had about her career. I had watched Glee. But I had never seen her in it as I pretty much gave it up after the second season. But as I said I kept going back to the Wikipedia page-sometimes veering off to her handsome ex-hubby's page Blake Jenner (who according to her committed spousal abuse and who according to him was mutual) and her just as handsome -perhaps more so current hubby Chris Wood. Her bio says she grew up in Colorado. Her parents divorced, and she was mainly brought up by her single mom. Finally after reading that over 10 times over the space of several months, i realized i knew her father. We weren't best friends or anything. But we had a couple of classes together. I possibly might have met her mother once or twice as Jim was married during school. And I might have seen Melissa as a toddler if we ever had had a family event at school. This gives me a (Kevin) Bacon Number of 3 as Melissa was in Patriots Day with Mr. Bacon-so a Bacon # of 1. Melissa's father Jim would be at #2. I'm at #3. And all of you out there in cyberland thru your acquaintanceship with me have Bacon Numbers of 4-unless you have your own closer connections to Mr. Bacon.

Oy-I'm overwhelmed.

I lived in Tacoma, Wa from 2008 to 2011. And from 2012 to 2018. The latter period coincided with Daddy living in Washington state. He was in a Seattle suburb. It may have been Renton. I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance for lunch. We met one time for sure. But we may have met twice. The reason I say twice is because I'm fairly sure I paid for lunch the 1st time. I have a vague memory he paid the second time-or maybe he had some coupons, and we only met once. We went to a nice Asian Buffet Restaurant in Tukwila, Wa.--Mizuki Buffet. I can't remember who moved away from Washington first. I moved back to Texas in early 2018. I still find it difficult to believe he's gone. I wish I had gotten a picture of the two of us together.

I can't remember how active I was on here in 2020. I don't think much. Even if I wasn't posting, I'd look in fairly often. And I remember how shocked I was that he had passed. It was almost like one minute he was there and then gone. We had a few email exchanges. I'm sorry I never had the chance to meet him in person.

I don't disagree with that ranking.

I only became aware of this song fairly recently. It was used as part of the theme music in a second cousin once removed's wedding video. (No I wasn't at the wedding. I wasn't invited. I have about 40 something second cousins. I don't even know them all in person. I didn't know the bride, but I'm Facebook friends with her mother who is one of my forty or so second cousins. I think I met the mother once or twice in my teens. And I had met her mother (one of my Dad's first cousins a few times.). Anyway beyond the family stuff, I thought the song was really beautiful. Alex wrote it as a tribute to his wife. But there's a cover by Sam Tsui and his husband Casey Breves which I may like even better. Here are two men expressing their love for each other in song. It's very beautiful. Plus I'm a sucker for harmony. Here's the original for comparison.

Why a disappointment?

A two-fer!!

The above link didn't work for me. I'm assuming this is the guy in question. https://rent.men/Brent_G

PS: As a gay male I'm also supposed to like opera, but it's not my cup of tea.

In this case it's not just gay men enjoying it but straight women, and I've even heard there are some YouTube or podcasts by straight hockey fans that really like it. I'm not sure what you were expecting, but you seem to be in the minority regarding your feelings about Heated Rivalry. This is a fantasy romance. As I said in my previous post to you, it's not Shakespeare -nor is it designed to be. It's pure escapist fare with the purpose of (I've just heard several Youtube videos on this ) having a happy ending. Possibly it's that you aren't a fan of this genre. Your dislike however is totally fine. As a departed friend of mine often said, "De gustibus non disputandum est". There are many things that are part of the cultural zeitgeist that I'm not particularly fond of either. I don't know how you feel about the show "LA Stories." I took a gander at it because one of the stars made some disparaging remarks about "Heated Rivalry. ". I understand it's reasonably popular. I watched about 10 minutes of the 1st episode and didn't like it at all. The characters seems too "LA" for me-if a majority of people in LA are really like this, I don't think I'd have much in common with them even if I were their age -and I thought the gay character was both too stereotypically LA and too stereotypically gay. I also disagree with your opinion on the acting-especially the two leads. I think they are great. But again your opinion is totally valid even if you're in a relative minority.

Old Fashioned Humor (@oldfashionedhumor) • Instagram reel WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM 187K likes, 638 comments - oldfashionedhumor on November 21, 2025: "😂 Credit: The Sketch...

I remember when (American) Queer As Folk premiered, it was all the rage back then-groundbreaking for its depiction of gay sex. But it was nothing like this. Of course the internet while also big was nothing like it is today.( I'm assuming the British QAF was groundbreaking in the UK, but things didn't crossover the way they do today. So it didn't make that much of a splash stateside.). Queer As Folk Ran So Heated Rivalry Could Skate EXILEDFAN.SUBSTACK.COM Queer television 25 years apart: what changed, and what stayed the same? I've been looking at a lot of YouTube interviews with the actors and the showrunner. I didn't realize until the interview that Shane and Ilya are only about 17 when they first meet at the exhibition game. And I think the 1st exhibition game is supposed to be a year before they go thru the draft and join the MHL (=NHL). I wonder how old on average new hockey recruits are at the time of the NHL Draft, and what percentage stay with the major club and aren't sent down to the minors for seasoning.

I agree about Connor's Russian soliloquy. Does anyone here on the Message Center speak Russian? I was wondering how well he is speaking it. SPOILER: But also the scene in Episode 6 of Shane and his mother talking outside the parents' cottage really broke me.

I think I posted this awhile back. But it just popped up on my FB Feed again. Enjoy!! 2.9M views · 139K reactions | 'Daniel Sloss DARK - Penguin Law' -... WWW.FACEBOOK.COM 'Daniel Sloss DARK - Penguin Law' - unreleased outtake To stream 'X' and Daniel's latest specials go to...

I haven't read this. But doesn't it have a rather sad ending? Heated Rivalry seems more uplifting.

It had definitely occurred to me.