Gemstones Episode 4.6: Kelvin cruises teen idols, Jesse hangs dong, and Cobb gets his cobb bit off. With Ricky Martin and the Italian Stallion

 

Previous: Gemstone Episode 4.5, Continued: Kelvin crashes, the Monkey fumes, and Eli gets a wake-up call

Title: "Interlude IV."  The Interlude is usually Episode 5, but this season started with a stand-alone.  We're halfway through the action in the present day, with Kelvin's meltdown, Judy's jealousy over the monkey, and Eli and Lori dealing with violence.

The New Parking Lot: 2002.  Eli is standing before the County Zoning Board, discussing his plan to build a 10-acre parking lot at the Salvation Center, which would involve buying and demolishing neighboring houses.   He claims that they bring thousands of people to town, who spend money, so it's a "win-win" situation.  Aimee-Leigh points out that they're also bringing in jobs.  The townsfolk growl and complain.  So am I.  Zoning restrictions?  How boring can you get? 

Cute council member Terry Cook is eating a donut.  A background player notes that they did several takes, asking him to convey anger and eat an egg.  

The cast list is not yet up on the IMDB, and googling "Terry Cook" doesn't work, but he looks like Jamie McGuire, the creepy-grin creature on "From." 

 The council president yells: "You may be able to buy out desperate people, Dr. Gemstone, but that doesn't make it right!"   She notes that the county board usually rubber-stamps their crazy plans, but not this time: "The crowd of people behind you is voiceless, and someone has to be their voice!"  

The plan is rejected, and the couple leaves in defeat. Aimee-Leigh wonders why they're even doing this ministry stuff.

Eli: "For the lake house."  That is, for the money. Um...serving God?  Spreading the Gospel? Helping people?

They walk out into a huge demonstration.  Someone shoves pies in their faces.

Writers: This sequence has no connection to the plot.  In Season 3, the Y2K scandal caused Peter's meltdown and enmity toward the Gemstones, but Cobb's enmity has nothing to do with the new parking lot.

Corey Defends Daddy: At the lake house, Lori's husband Cobb (Michael Rooker) is trying to water-ski, but Eli drives too fast, and he capsizes. His manhood challenged, he splutters and swears. 

Meanwhile, on a raft-slide, Young Judy and Jesse laugh at him, which upsets Young Corey.

Young Kelvin defends him, pointing out that at least Cobb is trying, whereas Jesse spends all his time "being bad, having sex."  This has resulted in Amber getting pregnant.  The enraged Jesse tries to attack, but Corey stops him.

A New Album: While Lori and Aimee-Leigh watch their husband in the water, posturing to see who will become the Silverback, they advise the very pregnant Amber that she should go inside and take a nap.  She refuses, so they discuss how much they dislike their kids until Amber gets tired of it and leaves.

Then they discuss recording a new album; they haven't recorded together in years. 

Cut to the studio, where they are making up song lyrics while Judy listens.  Kelvin eavesdrops from outside the door. 

More after the break

Spencer Phipps: Fashioni designer, outdoorsman, model, bear. With nude Nunez and Phipps package

When you think of fashion designers -- if you do -- you think of  Versace and Yves St. Laurent fluttering through the room in a cloud of lavender and perfume, saying "Darling, reduce the hem by a quarter inch!  This sash is hideous!  And be sure to confirm my dinner with Liza and Tom at La Petite Huître.  I had their confit de canard en feuille d'or last week."

Left: Edgar Ramirez as Versace

 

You don't think of a mountain man with a long beard and multiple tattoos.  But here he is, Spencer Phipps, changing the world of fashion with his line of affordable,  environmentally friendly, Western-inspired men's clothing.  

Spencer grew up in San Francisco and attended the Parsons School of Design in New York, where he tried to combine his interest in fashion and men to create comfortable, durable designs suitable for the no-nonsense generation.  After graduating, he worked for Marc Jacobs in New York and Dries Van Noten in Antwerp before moving to Paris to start his own brand.

Phipps Designs was a finalist in the LVMH prize in 2019 and a runner-up in  the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2024.  

Spencer doesn't use many models, preferring to model his designs himself.  Here he prepares for New York Fashion Week.

Designing and the gym keep him busy, but occasionally Spencer takes time to indulge in masculine beauty.  The boyfriend on the left is Mathieu Chevalier, a French fashion model who has appeared nude on occasion.

Here Spencer and model Timo Nuñez shoot "A Story of Shorts" at the Tom of Finland Foundation for Out Magazine.  Is that a confessional or a glory hole, guys?

More of Tino and Spencer after the break.  Caution: Explicit.

Skyler's Hot/Hung Photos, Part 5: Bathtub pic, glory hole pic, hanging with Scotty pic. With Corenswet and Hoult backsides

 

This is a collection of cute/cool or hot/humorous photos of  Skyler Gisondo, star of The Santa Clarita Diet and The Righteous Gemstones, and Jimmy Olson in the upcoming Superman: Legacy.  

1. "Another photo collection?  Haven't you seen enough of me?"

I can't help it, buddy.  You keep posting homoerotic pics.

2. And now that you're starring in Superman, we have David Corenswet to worry about, too.

3. And Nicholas Hoult/Lex Luther

4. "Hey, I thought this was a photo collection about me."

Sorry.  How about a long-hair bathtub pic?

5. "Have you met my girlfriend?"

Odd time to introduce her.

6. I don't care what you do in private, but let's get back to the homoeroticism.  Tell me about your relationship with Scott McArthur when you were filming "Righteous Gemstones" Season 1.

"We really carped the diem… from frisbee golf courses to to swamp tours to bondage... I mean bluegrass concerts to cock...I mean chasing down the best fried chicken sandwich in Charleston."

More after the break.  Caution: explicit

Jay R. Ferguson: The "obviously gay" teen idol of the 1990s moves on to play a 1960s sleazoid and the dad of gay sons. With Jay and Carter cocks

In the early 1990s, I was living in West Hollywood, and completely immersed in the LGBT community.  Media from the Straight World was suspect, if not homophobic than heteronormative, presenting men and women gazing at each other as the meaning of life.  So we chose our television programs carefully. On Monday nights, it was Fresh Prince of Bel Air (Carleton, sigh!), Blossom (Joey Lawrence, sigh!), and Designing Women (drag queen inspiration Suzanne Sugarbaker).  Certainly not Evening Shade (1990-94), with Burt Reynolds as a football coach (ugh!) in a small town (ugh!) in Arkansas (ugh!).

So when this photo of a shirtless, partying young man began appearing on all of the gay celebrity websites, we had no idea who he was. 

The photos kept coming.  We discovered that he was Jay R. Ferguson, who played Taylor, son of Burt Reynolds' character Wood.  Wood?  Really?

 Generally he was swishing it up, as in this iconic photo: apparently saying "Hey, Girl!" in a classic twink outfit, a short top. a bare midriff, and jeans with a club bulge.  Obviously gay!  

In the days when television was entirely heterosexist or homophobic,when even the most flamboyant actor stayed in the closet or saw his career fade away, seeing "one of us" was amazing.  

Unfortunately,the only way to conduct research was to buy a teen magazine -- and the Different Light bookstore on Santa Monica did not stock Tiger Beat.  

The show ended, the photo stream ended, and we forgot about the obviously-gay Jay.  .

For thirty years.

Until 2025, when The Real O'Neils (2016-2018) appeared on Hulu.  A conservative Irish-Catholic family has to deal with a number of problems: Dad wants a divorce; the daughter is an atheist; the oldest son (Matthew Shively) has an eating disorder; the youngest son (Noah Galvin) is gay.  

Yeah, I don't like "gay" being portrayed as a problem, either.  But I like Noah Galvin.

And the hunky dad is played by...Jay R. Ferguson!

Three questions:

1. What has he been doing in the years since Evening Shade?

2. Any nude photos?

3. Is he really gay?

1. What has he been doing?

Jay's first project after Evening Shade was Higher Learning (1995), which is not a teen sex comedy: Omar Epps (left) stars as a student experiencing racism at Columbia University.  But Jay did show us his butt (while sexing a girl).

And an under-the-covers erection, probably a prosthetic.

Next  Jay moved into teen horror (Campfire Tales, 1997),  sex comedy (Pink as the Day She Was Born, 1997), teen angst (Blue Ridge Falls, 1999), and dark secrets (The In Crowd, 2000), before finding his niche in television:

Glory Days (2001-02).  Oddly, it's not about soldiers, it stars Eddie Cahill as a writer who dished the dirt on residents of his home town, and is surprised when he returns to find that they don't like him.  Jay plays the sheriff.

Judging Amy (2003-4), which is not about a judge named Amy.  A woman has problems with her mother, husband, and child.  Jay plays a doctor.

In a 2005 episode of Medium, Allison realizes that her troubled half-brother Michael (Ryan Hurst) has a "secret."   One assumes that it's being gay, but it's actually that he shares her gift of seeing the future.  Jay plays his buddy.  That's as close to a gay character as he gets.

Surface (2005-2006):  Marine biologist Lake (Lake?): her "will they or won't they?" sparring partner, insurance salesman Rich (Jay), and a teenage boy (Carter Jenkins, left, recent photo) discover a "new and dangerous" species of marine life.  This one actually looks interesting.

By the way, Carter, who went on to star in Shadow Diaries, has a j/o video (after the break).

Dane's Polar Plunge: A 365 day Lake Tahoe Challenge. With Scott Gaffney, Danish dicks, and nude guys at Notre Dame

 

I don't usually do profiles of non-actors, but this is amazing.  His name is Dane, he's a student at North Tahoe High School, and he's jumping into Lake Tahoe every day for a year.   Even on Day 190: Water temperature 39.3, air temperature 32.  That's Fahrenheit. 

 

Day 173: Gray, cloudy. Water temperature 37.3, air 33.0.  Dane walked through the snow-- barefoot! -- toward his icy plunge.

On Day 184, he brought his Dad, professional skiier Scott Gaffney Water temperature 48.5, air 55.

On Day 120, he brought the North Tahoe High School Varsity Basketball Team -- at least the ones brave enough to try. Water temperature 39 degrees, air with wind chill 19.  

The Wildflour Baking Company in Tahoe donated some donuts.  How about space heaters?

I can't imagine being interested in the aesthetics of the penis after all that icy plunging, but here are some guys running naked through the snow.

More after the break.  Caution: Icy.

"Exteriors": Gay psychological thriller with cheating husbands, mistaken identities, hookups, stalking, and Pano Pancakes' penis

 

A nude celebrity site led me to some j/o photos of someone named Pano Tsaklas, nicknamed Pano Pancakes in case you can't spell Tsaklas (it actually means jackal in Greek).  

Checking the IMDB to make sure he was an actor and not a singer or influencer, I found a lengthy biography: Grew up in Clark's Summit, Pennsylvania, liked skateboarding, played the viola, got a full scholarship to Temple University, where he graduated in 2017 with a major in Media Studies.

Six screen appearances listed, the most recent a movie, Exteriors (2023), a "poetic, surrealistic" psychological thriller consisting of three stories of gay men experiencing relationship problems.  But it turns out to be a sort-of sequel to Brotherly Lies (2022), so we'll start there.

When he was a teenager, Lex (Pano) shot and killed his abusive stepfather.  The resulting trial became a media circus and destroyed his life chances: he's infamous as a killer, so no one wants to date him.  After a nervous breakdown and suicide attempt, he seeks refuge at his family's vacation home in Guerneville (on the Russian River), along with his buddy Kenny (Jose Fernando  -- not the famous Spanish actor who died in 2014, the queer activist).  Kenny is fleeing from an abusive husband.

To complicate things, Lex falls in love with Shane, the strugglins screenwriter who rents the house next door (Jacob Betts -- not the "real" Jacob Betts, a singer songwriter, the queer one).  But Shane is in love with Kenny.   To complicate things, Lex's older brother is pressuring Shane into writing about the tragedy, which Lex considers a betrayal.  Things fall apart. 

Got the three main players?  Let's look at Exteriors.  

Part 1: Wyatt

 

Wyatt (Christian Gabriel, but not the prime suspect in the disappearance of an Ohio girl or the famous Romanian chess player, the queer one.  Why do these guys always have the same name as someone more famous?).  

So Wyat is in the park, getting some headshots taken by his friend Logan (Matthew Bridges, but not the world-famous plastic surgeon or the husband and father, the queer one). 

They discuss Logan's new boyfriend, a screenwriter that he met at a SAG event: much better than a hookup app, more organic.  They drove to Santa Monica, and he talked about his hopes and dreams, what he's looking for in a lover, and his last boyfriend (who cheated on him).  They haven't had sex yet -- no gay man would think of sex on the first date.  But they're definitely in love. 

The new boyfriend's name?  Shane (the struggling screenwriter that Lex fell in love with).  Wyatt is the ex-boyfriend who cheated!

Without revealing the connection, Wyatt storms into Shane's apartment and drops accusatory hints.  What's the problem?  In West Hollywood, your friends often dated your exes.  Sometimes a guy dated everyone in a friend group, one after the other.   

Things get more and more heated and angry.  Shane rushes out -- right into the arms of his boyfriend/Wyatt's friend Logan.

Wyatt and  Logan pretend not to know each other as Shane introduces them, and suggests that they all go out to lunch. 

Nope, no way. Wyatt  walks off into the darkness, buys another copy of the book he left at Shane's apartment when they broke up, sits on a park bench to read it.  The end.  That's it?  I expected blackmail or assault.  This kind of petered out into nothingness.

Part 2: Jason

Pool cleaner Jason (Julian Goza) is hired by Kenny (Lex's friend in "Brotherly Lies," the one with the abusive husband).  He recognizes Kenny from a hookup eight years ago that changed his life forever.  Kenny remembers him, too, and apologizes that he couldn't continue the relationship: he had a boyfriend, now his abusive husband.  

Jason pretends that he has car trouble so they can spend more time together; he hopes that Kenny will dump the abusive husband for him.  But it turns out that Kenny was just pretending to remember him.  None of the details he mentions match; they've never met.  Jason hooked up with someone else!

Jason: "You're cruel, misleading me like that."

Kenny: "I didn't know. I just figured it out."

 But maybe he could pretend to be the hookup, so Jason can tell him how he feels.  They continue talking, and sleep together (literally -- no shenanigans), and part as friends, just as Kenny gets a call from his old friend Lex.  He's having a crisis. That

More after the break

North of North: Inuit lady, her gay bestie, some paranormal, some Inuk culture, and a lot of Inuk hunks. With Jay's junk and a bonus n*de dude

North of North (2025) appeared without warning on my Netflix list: a woman feels stifled in her tiny village in the Artic.  I can relate to that, so let's go.

Scene 1: While showering (only shoulders visible), a young woman  named Siaja explains that she's from as far north as you've ever been.  I think that's Calgary in the Western Hemisphere, and maybe Oslo in Europe.  Then much farther north than that: Ice Cove, Nunavut.  

A quirky Canadian small town and Inuit culture?  I'm there. 

Siaja has achieved the Canadian Dream, with a husband and child.  Only now husband Ting (Kelly William, top photo) is the Golden Boy of the town, and she's only known as his wife.

First up: he gets to drive the car to the Spring Festival, while she has to haul the supplies on a lame Ski-Doo (snowmobile).

Scene 2: She drops in at Mom's very nice house -- lots of windows -- and announces that because it's a new year, she's going to apply for a job.  Mom dispproves: you're a wife and mother.

Mom opens the store next door, which sells artisanal soap and miscellaneous stuff.  Suddenly her hookup from last night walks in, shirtless.  Siaja asks where he was in 1998 -- he could be her father!  He scrams.  

Mom criticizes her for scaring all of her hookups away.  How many hookups could she get in a town of about 2,000 with no tourist trade and the nearest neighbor 300 miles away?

Left: I think the Handsome Man is played by Jeff Roup. who shows his d*ck or a prosthetic here. 

Scene 3: Siaja leaves her child for Mom to babysit and heads for the town headquarters, which has a restaurant, some offices, and the radio station: DJ announces the seal hunt this afternoon and the naming of the festival king and queen this evening.

A blond woman named Helen, apparently the town mayor, comes in complaining about the 14-hour days that supervising the festival takes, while other town business just sits there.  Siaja butters her up with coffee and suggests other cultural activities spread through the year.  Didn't you just hear her?  And she wants to be hired as a full-time cultural manager. 

"Nope.  You have zero work experience and no leadership skills."

"But I see life and beauty in everything!"  At that moment, a guy walks in, wanting to know where to put the fish heads.

Scene 4: While Radio Announcer Colin (Bailey Poching) and a purple-haired woman are discussing how much partying to do tonight, Siaja comes into their office and screams.  Helen didn't even look at her job proposal.

Left: Bailey Poching is gay in real life.

"Why do you want a job anyway?"

"To make our community a better place...ok, I want something of my own."  

"But Inuit culture is all about community.  Your own needs are irrelevant."

When Helen comes in to order the others to get back to work, Siaja asks for a chance.  Couldn't you get a job, like, somewhere else?   Ok, a petition to prove that the town wants a cultural director.  500 signatures -- but that's a quarter of the town! -- by tonight!

More after the break

Gemstones Episode 4.5, Continued: Kelvin crashes, the Monkey fumes, and Eli gets a wake-up call. With Stefano d*ck and Beghe bottom

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Ethan Wacker: The former teen spy, Bizaardvark manager, and Vanderbilt fratboy looks good in a suit. And out of a suit.

I only knew three things about Ethan Wacker before beginning the research: 

1. At 5'7", he's a member of the Short Guy Brigade

2. He has an amazing physique.

3. He has a lot of male friends.  

A lot of male friends.

Actually, I'm getting tired of posting photos of Ethan and his male friends.  Let's check his biography.

Born in Connecticut in 2002, moved to South Korea and then to Hawaii.

His acting credits begin in 2006 (at the age of four!) with a video game called Papa Louie: When Pizza Attacks

More video games and animation followed, plus two episodes of the teencom KC Undercover (2015-18), a Disney Channel teencom about "an outspoken and confident technology whiz and skilled black belt" who becomes a spy.   Ethan played the son of the Vice President of the U.S. 

Then he appeared in Hawaii Five-0, See Plum Run, Tour of Mythicality, and 63 episodes of Bizaardvark (2016-2019).  

More after the break. Caution: Explicit.