"Run Away": Creepy Dad investigates his daughter's disappearance. With a hot hitman, a gay drug dealer, some cute guys, and Pointing's penis

  

The Netflix movie and tv adaptions of Harlan Coben's novels all have the same plot: a nuclear family starts to fall apart when a "dark secret" from the husband or wife's past emerges.  There are no gay characters, and all of the professional and friendship pairs are men and women -- no gay subtexts.   But the location shots are very pretty, there are ample hot guys wandering around the swimming pools of elegant mansions, and it's fun to watch a critique of the family structure that so aggressively erases gay people.  So I'm reviewing Run Away (2026):

Prologue: A girl walks across the campus of Lanford College, climbs a lot of stairs, and enters her room, where a guy wearing a mask is waiting.  She remember him dying, or killing someone, and screams. So she didn't run away, she was kidnapped?

Scene 1: A Nuclear Family Dad (Coben movie regular James Nesbitt) complains about his daughter spending all her time doing "TikToks," talks to his son, away at university (played by Adrian Greensmith, who is gay in real life), and gets a text from someone named Dan Divine telling him to go to the park.   Are you being blackmailed by a drag queen, buddy?

He goes to a park full of frolicking people, waits on a bench, and looks at some videos of his missing daughter, Paige.  A lady wearing a Lanford College jacket is playing the guitar, just like Paige used to.  Could it be?  Yep -- the guitar has the sticker he gave her, of a smiling bee.  Where did she get Paige's guitar?  Could it be...

Yep, it's Paige!  The "missing daughter" plotline was resolved very quickly.

But when he calls,  she runs away.  He give chase and grabs her, which doesn't look right to the crowd.  A passing hippie (what is this, 1969?) tells him to back off, so Dad beats him to a pulp.  Other guys intervene, and Dad is arrested.  Looks like aggravated assault. 

Scene 2:  In the lockup.  We really don't need all of these cringe pictures of Paige frolicking with Dad and her friends, while he sings "Kiss me like there's no tomorrow...I love your eyes."  I think this is supposed to display paternal love, but it comes across as extremely creepy.

An Extremely Elegant Lawyer visits. He was filmed, the video has gone viral with the title "Rich Guy Beats Up Homeless Man."  He's not going to get a self-defense for repeatedly kicking the guy in the balls after he collapsed.  

"But he was my runaway daughter's asshole boyfriend, Aaron." So he wasn't a random hippie -- Dad knew the guy.  He was excessively violent because he blames him for Paige's disappearance.  Aaron is played by Thomas Flynn, who was in the gay romance Red, White, and Royal Blue.

Back story: Dad last saw Paige six months ago.  She came home from college a bedraggled mess, screamed at everyone, then left with Evil Boyfriend Aaron.   Are you a reliable narrator?  

Scene 3: Extremely Elegant Lawyer got the judge to dismiss the case before it went to trial.  Well, Dad is rich.  The rich get richer, and the poor get prison.  "By the way, my fee is $2 million."

Meanwhile, a Middle Aged Woman gazes intently at a Vegan Lady walking with her dog and toddler.  She steals the dog, then calls to say that she found him.  "Just give me your address, and I'll drop him off."  Weird way to get someone's address.  How about the Internet?

They do the retrieval at Vegan Lady's restaurant.  Vegan Lady offers her a free meal in gratitude. She picks a table that allows her to gaze creepily  at the toddler.  So you're a kidnapper?  Why not just grab the child?

Phone: A second rich guy, Sebastian Thorpe, asks if she's Elena, the private investigator?  He wants help finding his son.   Big Reveal: she's not a kidnapper!  So what's with the surveillance of the Vegan Lady? 

Scene 4: Dad goes home and reads the comments on the viral video.  They aren't exactly sympathetic.  Mom and the TikTok daughter (who uses a wheelchair, for reasons that I'll bet will become important), get the word and rush home to yell at him for being so stupid -- beating up the Evil Boyfriend in front of hundreds of people with cell phones?

Left: I think this is the Evil Boyfriend's evil butt.

Then Dad goes to work, at an elegant glass office, where the staff appears to be entirely female.  They support him; in fact, they think that the video makes him sexy.  Most Harlan Coben movies have a lot of beefcake, but here it seems to be ladies all the way down.

At his desk, he looks at the reels of his daughter yet again.  Do we really need to see them again? 

Scene 5: Two detectives investigate a murder scene:  it's Aaron, Missing Daughter Paige's Evil Boyfriend! There are two coffee mugs -- he was killed by someone he knew. 

"This is how you end up when you live a life with no rules," Pompous Detective Isaac (Alfred Enoch) pontificates.  Everybody follows rules, jerk.  They're called the norms of your culture or subculture.

When he leaves, one of the investigators (they're all women) comments on how nice he smells.  That's cringe too, lady. You don't discuss people's smells.

Scene 6: Dad and Mom at a parents' event at the school. Teachers say that the daughter is doing well, in spite of the recent...um...distraction.  The other parents stare angrily.  Pompous Detective Isaac and his partner interrogate him about where he was last night, because...gasp...the guy you beat up "in self defense" has been murdered.  We already knew that.

Cut to Dad and the Extremely Elegant Lawyer at the police station, being interrogated again.  Last night he got home at 6:15, took a run, cooked dinner, and watched tv while his TikTok Daughter was in her room and Mom was at work (pediatric nurse).  Pompous Detective finds it very suspicious that he doesn't know the exact time his daughter went to her room. "Normal people know the exact time that their children do everything."  

Dad then describes the scene in the park again, finishing up with "If Aaron is dead, that makes me very happy.  I hope he suffered."  The Detectives don't like that answer -- neither does the Extremely Elegant Lawyer.

Outside the police station, Extremely Elegant Lawyer slams Family Man for saying that he's glad a guy he's suspected of murdering is dead, and he slams her for flirting with the Detective.  "Well, he's sexy."

More after the break

12 nude dudes from the Isle of Man. Plus bondage, boggarts, fun runs, and a gay god

 

The Isle of Man, between Ireland and Britain, is  named after Manawyddan, the God of the Sea and one of the queer icons of my childhood.  But Manx word for man is mannin, so there could be some connection to the masculine, too.

12 Max men and their cronnys:

1. The Manx word for penis is cronny, but it sounds silly to non-Celtic ears, so I'm going to use the Welsh word, calar

Like several other Celtic languages, Manx became extinct as a result of English dominance (and discrimination: it was stereotyped as a barbaric, "garbage" tongue).  But it's currently enjoying a revival.   There are prizes for the best Manx essay, schools offer elementary instruction in Manx, and 3-6% of the population uses it for everyday conversations.

2. A Manx speaker.

3. A rather thin Manx twink, but I'm including him because of his tree trunk.

The Isle of Man is known for its archaeological sites: the biggest neolithic tomb in the British Isles, early Christian monasteries, the Viking-era Peel Castle.

And for its paranormal activity: trolls, goblins, boggarts, banshees, and tusk-men roam the downs.  There are mysterious disappearances, time-jumps, alien abductions, haunted castles, and lots of neopagans finding meaning in the paranormal energy.

More after the break

More Alfie Williams: In the pub, in the pool, on holiday. With gay friends, a disability advocate, some grown-up dicks, and Corey's backside

 

This is a collection of cute/cool photos of  Alfie Williams, star of the zombie apocalypse movies 28 Years Later (2025) and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026), and the upcoming thriller Banquet, with Corey Mylchreest.  Plus a few photos of some adult co-stars. 

1. Corey's butt.

2. Alfie looks contemplative on the green hills of home: Gateshead, just across the river from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

3. Milking a cow (for fun, not for a part).  But it's not a real cow, and I don't think that's milk coming out.

4. The Bone Temple features a post-Apocalyptic cult where everyone is named after and dresses like 2000s English media personality Jimmy Saville.  Here Alfie and his Dad are hanging out with his two favorite Jimmies.

Next to Alfie is Maura Bird (Jimmy Jones), a nonbinary, genderfluid actor who uses she/they pronouns.  

Next to them is Robert Rhodes (Jimmy Jimmy), who is gay in real life.

Alfie is always drawn to LGBTQ people and guys who have played gay characters.  I can't imagine why.

5.Robert Rhodes is also an advocate for people with visual differences.  When he was starring in House of the Dragon, he received some hostile and derogatory comments, and the fans who came to his defense "used very unpleasant language."  Call it a scar or a difference, not a deformity or disfigurement.

6. Sorry, I couldn't find any nude photos of Robert, so what about Sebastian Rhodes? 

More after the break

Big Boys: A gay university freshman tries to make friends, get laid, and find his tribe. With a lot of Dylan d*cks

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"Hollyoakes" tackles trans bullying, with teen bodybuilder and ant Dan Hough as the bully. Plus bonus n*de twinks

 

In the spring of 2024, the British soap Hollyoakes featured a storyline where Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard) and his estranged wife Diane discover that 14 years ago a drunken midwife switched the babies, so their biological child was raised by someone else, who has since died, so.....welcome to the family, Rose! 

Rose was played by Ava Webster, but after he comes out as transgender and changes his name to Ro, the part was taken over by trans actor Leo Cole, seen here with his recast siblings, Brook Debbio and Alex Fletcher. 

Tony already had a gay son who was murdered, a daughter who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and a daughter by the wife of his kidnapped best friend, who was then murdered.  Diane had an affair with Tony's father while he was kidnapped, was a murder suspect, and saw her "we were on a break" boyfriend murderd. So a son who was transitioning?  Not a problem.

Tony's girlfriend Marie and her two adult sons were perfectly accepting of the new member of their family, but not her youngest son, Arlo (Dan Hough).  

Dan Hough began to play Arlo in March 2024, and spent his first season in a standard soap opera plotline (for Hollyoakes), being kidnapped by his half-brother (Tyler Conti), re-kidnapped by his Dad (Andrew Dowbiggin, left), re-kidnapped again, sedated,  murdered (and in a big reveal, found to be alive after all), and returned to his Mother.   His next season involved bullying.

He grew jealous when Ro befriended a girl he liked.  He tried to force Ro to do his homework, and when his future stepbrother refused, attacked.  Ro pulled a knife to defend himself, but accidentally stabbed his deaf friend Oscar, leading to his arrest. 

Arlo began a course of violent attacks, transphobic insults, and cyberbullying, with suggestions that he self-harm-- while being perfectly polite around the parents. This causes Ro to fall into a deep depression, drink heavily, skip classes, and stay away from social events.

Hollyoakes changed its logo to the colors of the Trans Pride Flag for episodes that aired during Britain's Mental Health Awareness Week, 12-18 May, 2025.  An online friend suggested that Ro join a trans youth support group.  He set out, but changed his mind and announced that he was going to end his life.  After some searches by his frantic parents and Marie and audience suspense, he turned out to be fine: he called the real-life National LGBTQ+ Helpline  (with the number displayed at the end of the episode),  talked to a trans counselor,  and wants to go on living.

Not coincidentally, the episode aired shortly after Britain's Supreme Court determined that the 2010 Equality Act did not apply to trans people, and the Health Secretary announced a ban on puberty blockers for trans youth under age 18.  Trans rights are under attack in Britain nearly as virulently as in the U.S.

What about Arlo?  When his role in the bullying came out, Mom Marie interrogated him.  He claimed that he didn't hate trans people, he was retaliating for Dad Tony's abuse.  That turned out to be a lie, so he admitted that he hated Ro because "he has everything, and I have nothing."  . 

This was Arlo's last appearance on Hollyoaks, but Ro is a continuing character.   

I wanted to researched these boys who have had such a positive impact on LGBT youth in Britain. There's not much out there on Leo Cole: he's from Manchester, came out as trans at age 12, has an older brother, and is into motorbiking.  This is his first on-screen acting role.

There is quite a lot about Dan Hough (Arlo).  He was been nominated for the TV Times Favourite Young Actor Award and the Inside Soaps Best Young Performer Award (for Hollyoakes), and the London Film Critics Young Performer of the Year Award (for Speak No Evil).  -- all  in the same month!  And...wait, what's he doing with a bodybuilder's physique at age...ten?

More after the break

Fifteen glorious Gavins and magnificent muscle Munns from Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Ohio, and Hollywood

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"A hot groin and a tricep": Nude photos of Peter Hinwood, the original Rocky Horror. With Ian McShane, Morgan Jackson, and Chord Overstreet.

 

A deltoid and a bicep
A hot groin and a tricep 
Makes me --- shake.
Makes me want to take Charles Atlas by the...hand

Every gay man of a certain age had a coming out or "I'm not alone in the world" moment while watching  The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), a science fiction-horror pastiche with the "sweet transvestite" alien mad scientist Dr. Frank-n-Furter  unwrapping his creation, muscleman Rocky (technically named Rocky Horror).

Give yourself over to absolute pleasure

Swim the warm waters of sins of the flesh

Erotic nightmares beyond any measure

And sensual daydreams to treasure forever

Gay men of a certain age have seen Peter Hinwood and his "hot groin" many, many times, in the midnight shows, on VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, and streaming on Netflix every Halloween.  But you may not know that there are nude photos of the muscle god out there.

Born in Bromley, about 10 miles south of London, in 1946, Peter Hinwood began his career as a photographer's assistant, but soon began modeling for English Boy Ltd.  By 1970 he was at the top of the industry, driving fancy cars, going on expensive vacations to Tangier, and hanging out with celebrities like director Derek Jarman and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones.

Not just fashion -- he also appeared in the physique magazines of the closeted gay subculture of the era.  He made the cover of Man's World in March 1967.

Peter began his acting career as a muscleman, naturally, playing the God Hermes in an Italian adaption of The Odyssey (1968)

Next he played Guy in Tam Lin, an adaption of the old Scottish folksong (1970).  Also appearing were British stalwarts Ian McShane (Charlie in If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium) and Joanna Lumley (Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous), and the director was Tab Hunter's boyfriend Roddy McDowall.

In the original Rocky Horror Show performed in London (1973) and Los Angeles (1974), Rocky was played by svelte, feminine, androgynous men, but for the 1975 movie director Jim Sharman wanted a muscle god, massive and inarticulate, speaking only in grunts (his singing voice provided by Trevor White).  Peter was cast after showing his...um...porfolio.

Patsy: He wanted to show me his portfolio.

Edina: How was it?

Patsy: Fantastic!

The result: 50 years of ab-so-lute pleasure.  And more to come.

I am just seven hours old

Truly beautiful to behold

But somebody should be told

My libido hasn't been controlled

Now the only thing I've come to trust

Is an orgasmic rush of lust

Rose tints my world

Keeps me safe from my trouble and pain

After Rocky Horror, Peter had a small part in Sebastiane (1976), Derek Jarman's gay adaption of the St. Sebastian mythos, with Leonardo Treviglio as the Christian seduced by and then martyred by the Emperor Diocletian.

Then he left acting, and, valuing his privacy, refused to participate in Rocky Horror events.  Also, he admittedly can't act, and "cringes" whenever he sees himself on film. He became an antiques dealer, along with his "partner in life and business" Christopher Gibbs.  They divided their time between London and Tangier.

More after the break.  Caution: Explicit.

The New Doctor Who, Season 2: The gay doctor fights robots and cartoon characters, and gets a girlfriend. With bonus Groff and Projectionist penises

The latest Doctor Who, that  time-and-space faring adventurer from the planet Gallifrey (played by Ncuti Gatwa), is the first to be black, and although there have been bisexual hints in the past, the first to be gay.  In Episode 1.6, he even gets a boyfriend, an interdimensional bounty hunter named Rogue (Jonathhan Groff, left).

At least, he was gay in the first season. 

I watched the first two episodes of Season 2, and I am sorry to report that the gay guy has turned straight.

In Episode 2.1, "The Robot Revolution," the teenage Belinda Chandra receives a gift from her sort-of boyfriend: a star.  It seems that you can "buy" a star and get a certificate stating that it's yours.  They break up soon after.  

17 years pass, and one night gigantic robots arrive to force Belinda to become the queen of "her" planet.  Apparently the certificate was a binding contract.

Left: Robert Strange plays the head robot.

To complicate things, the robots have taken control of the world.  Humans are forced into smiling servitude.  

The Doctor, stranded on the planet for the last six months, is starting a revolt with a squad of hunky humans, including Caleb Hughes and Max Parker, left.  

Soon into the revolt, the Doctor's girlfriend is killed.  Grieving, he explains that when he first arrived on the planet, she took him in and explained the situation.  "She took care of me.  She was wonderful."   The other freedom fighters tell him to buck up, they have a world to save.

The robots announce that Belinda is to marry the great AI Generator, who turns out to be the ex-boyfriend (Jonny Green, left), merged with a machine.  Belinda dumped him due to his controlling behavior, and this is the only way he could think of to get back together again. Maybe send her flowers?

So this was all about heterosexual romance?  They had an episode with an astronaut and his husband.  Two of the Doctor's companions have been lesbians.  How the mighty have fallen.

The Doctor and Belinda save the day.  Belinda asks to be taken home, but his space-and-time ship, the TARDIS, refuses to go to the day she left.  Maybe the next day?

In Episode 1.2, "Lux," some people are watching a movie in 1952 Miami.  Before the main feature, there's a cartoon featuring Mr. Ring-a-Ding, whose catchphrase is "Don't make me laugh!"  While he is busily romancing Sally Sunshine (yes, another hetero-romance), he jumps off the screen to scream at the audience.

Enter the Doctor and Belinda, taking a detour on the way home.  They notice that the theater door is chained, as if there's a wild beast inside.  

More after the break

"House of Guinness": Heirs to a beer empire in 1868 Ireland. With a gay brother, shirtless hunks, Irish hiphop, and a heck of a lot of dicks

 

I've been having trouble recently, beginning reviews of movies and tv shows and then not liking them, or when I like them, there's no gay representation or nude photos, so I can't review them here. So this time I cheated by checking in advance: there's a gay character in House of Guinness, and lots of the actors have appeared nude.  Here's a dick now.

Episode 1 Prologue: Closeup of the beer-making process, with the ingredients, water, hops, and so on.  A sweaty bare-chested bloke adds the fire.  I like this tv series already.  Then comes family, money, and rebellion.  

Scene 1: St. James Gate, Dublin, 1868:  As As Foreman Rafferty (James Norton, left) walks through the factory, a dude asks if there will be trouble today. Of course, there's always trouble with the Guinness Family.  

Outside, someone throws a beer bottle at the logo, and a gang of Prohibitionists burn an effigy of Benjamin Guinness: "A brewer of sin and debauchery!"  His funeral is today, and they are intent on preventing his procession from making it to the church.

The Temperance Movement was nearly as popular in 19th century Ireland as in the U.S., attributing almost all crime, poverty, disease, and insanity to alcohol consumption.  

Meanwhile, Fenian Leader Patrick (Seamus O'Hara) tells his followers than the Guinness heirs  are weak and divided, so this is a perfect time to free Ireland -- by attacking the funeral procession!  "Grab whatever weapons you can find, but spare the horses -- all horses are Catholic."

England occupied Ireland until 1922, forbidding the use of the Irish language, discriminating against Catholics, and promoting stereotypes that are still common today.  There were lots of revolts, rebellions, and terrorists acts, notably from the Fenian Brotherhood.

In the factory (very impressive set, lots of workers), Foreman Rafferty tells the men to arm themselves.  They have to fight to get the boss's corpse through to the church.

The battle is accompanied by the hiphop song "Get Your Brits Out," by Kneecap. Ordinarily I dislike contemporary music in a historical drama, but not when it's mostly in Irish:

Ach Stalford agus an DUP 

Gach lá, taobh amuigh de mo theach

"Go back to Dublin if you want to rap"

Anois éist, I’m gonna say this once

Yous can all stay just don’t be c*nts

 

Scene 2: Iveagh House, the Guinness family home (built 1736, now the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade).  Femme, decadent Edward (Louis Partridge) complains that his button-down conservative brother Arthur (Anthony Boyle) has been in London so long, he's lost his Irish accent.

The third brother, Benjamin (Finn O'Shea, top photo) is asleep on the couch, still hung over from one of his benders.

They discuss the hypocrisy of everyone pretending to grieve, when the Irish hated him, and the English are happy that he is gone: now they can manipulate the children.  

Sister Anne tells them to shush their bickering; it's time for the funeral, and they have to act like a civilized Christian family: "Decadent Edward, change your shirt. Drunken Benjamin, change into some clothes you haven't slept in. Conservative Arthur, just change." 

Left: Louis Partridge's butt.

Scene 3: More of the battle, while inside the church the minister praises Old Man Guinness, who brought the Catholics and Protestants together, and represented Dublin in Parliament.  The children keep eyeing each other and other people in the congregation, with whom they no doubt have a history.

Scene 4:  In a pub, Fenian leader Patrick congratulates his men on their performance in the battle.  He tells his sister about their next step: they're going to break into the cooperage and burn all of the barrels, so the beer can't be shipped out and the brewery will go under!  

Sister has a better idea: she's been talking to the maids and other staff, and three of the four children have secrets that could destroy them. One of them will be taking the seat in Parliament vacated by their father; they can blackmail him into pushing for Irish independence!

What those secrets are (and an *roused penis) after the break. Caution: Explicit.