Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
"The Other Two," Episode 1.6: Cary goes shirtless, Chase twerks, and there's enough bulges and butts for everyone
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Matthew William Bishop: Leatherman, muscleman, actor, LGBTQ advocate. With nude bodybuilder bonus.
If you saw this guy standing outside a brownstone in New York, would you
a) Run away screaming;
b) ask for his phone number;
c) just drop to your knees.
How about now?
He's Matthew William Bishop, who gave up a career in corporate public relations in 2021, when the acting bug bit. His Some Kind of Wonderful, about four gay guy looking for love in Palm Springs, won four awards for Best LGBTQ Film.
Then he hit the big time playing the silent supernatural Big Daddy, a symbol of AIDs in American Horror Story, NYC. (Set during the first years of the AIDS epidemic.)
Matthew is also a bodybuilder, obviously. He took first place at the 2023 Miami Muscle Beach Contest in the NPC Open Super Heavyweight Category.
And a philanthropist, devoted to recovery, AIDS awareness, and LGBTQ advocacy. 10% of the sales of this "Make the Deposits" shirt go to the New York LGBTQ Community Center, so it's probably not dirty.
This isn't supposed to be dirty, either, although a lot of the comments on his Instagram page were from people willing to "choke on it."
What they want to choke on, from his fitness model days.
More of "it" after the break
Northern Exposure, Episode 1.2: Progressive homophobia, three guys in a sauna, and much ado about a toilet.
We're watching old shows that we missed back in the day, like Northern Exposure (1990-95), about a young doctor forced to relocate from New York City to Cecily, Alaska, population 814. It received 39 Emmy nominations and two Golden Globes, but I never watched back then because I figured it was just another "disease of the week" drama, and because of the opening: an ear-grating harmonica plays while a baby moose ambles down Main Street.
Three episodes in, and it turns out I was correct: it's a "disease of the week" drama with laconic jokes. Trigger warning: the first three episodes feature gunshot wounds, cancer, death, and suicide. And two different old guys who refuse to follow the doctor's instructions because they've always been independent. The jokes are mostly of the "this town is so small!" and "it's so isolated!" sort.
Joel (Rob Morrow, left) thought he was being sent to Anchorage, and complains bitterly about being tricked into moving to a "hellhole" where you have to chop your own firewood and no one has ever heard of a bagel. He does this in front of townsfolk, but it's ok, many of them are refugees from the Lower 48. Some came to escape from big cities, and some came for a visit and got stuck. It's like "Hotel California": you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
Episode 2 does something unheard of in 1990, in the heart of the AIDS pandemic and homophobic backlash: it mentioned LGBT people! Actually, 18 tv episodes in 1990 featured gay characters, but they were usually AIDS patients, murderers, or making a pass at a straight person. This episode was praised for its "progressive, gay-positive" message. Let's see how well it holds up in 2024.
Plot 1 features Ed (Darren E. Burroughs), an Indian youth, who is trying to be Joels' best friend, even though Joel treats him with unabashed contempt (but Joel treats everyone in town with unabaslhed contempt, so how could he tell?).. His problem: Uncle Anku has blood in his urine, but refuses to see a Western doctor. He was a medicine man for 40 years; he believes in traditional Indian medicine.
Ed invites Joel over for dinner (KFC, flown in from Anchorage) and a sauna, hoping that he can convince Uncle Anku to get an examination. Nope. Joel visits several more times -- maybe he just likes being half-naked in the sauna with other guys? Still no. Finally he lays down the law: come in for an examination, or no more visits. Psych! Uncle Anku has seen a specialist in Anchorage! Why keep it a secret, and put Joel and your family through so much anxiety?
This plotline has some gay subtexs. Ed's interest in Joel seems more profound than "I'm lonely, and need a friend."
Plot 2: features Joel's toilet. It doesn't work, but his landlord/love interest Maggie is still in the "I hate you! You're arrogant!" stage, and refuses to fix it because what idiot doesn't know how to fix a toilet? Oh yeah, prissy, elite, entitled, arrogant, sexy...um I mean arrogant New York snobs. Joel tries to hire someone, reads a book on plumbing, and so on. Eventually Maggie gives in. Tenant law: you have to provide a working toilet.
Plot 3: Chris in the Morning (John Corbett, left), the radio DJ, tells us that when he was 15, he broke into a house intending to steal stuff, and found a book that changed his life: Walt Whitman's poetry. Later, in juvenile hall, a guard beat him up for reading it, yelling that "unnatural, pornographic, homoerotic poetry" was forbidden. Chris hadn't realized that Whitman "enjoyed the pleasures of other men," and had to rethink his habit of beating up "queers."
Minnefield (Barry Corbin), who literally owns the town, hears the broadcast, and is irate. Making disgusting accusations about America's greatest poet! He throws Chris through a plate glass window and fires him. Hey, that's criminal assault!. He takes over the morning radio himself, and devotes it to "normal" music, like the soundtrack to Kiss Me, Kate (hey, Cole Porter was gay!). Then Oklahoma! and Carousel. The townspeople hate it; they prefer Chris's philosophical musings. So the macho, homophobic guy likes gay-coded show tunes, har har.
Interestingly, a review of the episode calls Barry Corbin a "Broadway Superstar," but I can't find him listed in anything but Henry V.
At a town meeting to complain about the new radio format, Minnefield stands his ground: "Chris made a mistake, and he has to pay for it. A breach is a breach." Seriously, why doesn't anyone call Minnefield out on his homophobia? Do they all agree that it's wrong to mention gay people on the radio? They demand that Chris be re-hired. Nope!
After consulting with Joel, Minnefield gets back on the radio to explain. "Whitman was a pervert, but he was the greatest poet America ever produced," and we shouldn't try to destroy him. He mentions several other American heroes with personality faults: alcoholic, gambler, crossdresser...but we aren't allowed to discuss the terrible things they did. We need to concentrate on the positive. We need heroes. "If Whitman were standing here today, and someone called him a fruit or a queer, that person would have to answer to me." So you're saying that it's ok to know that he was gay, but not to disrespect him by aying that he was gay?
This, by the way, is a heartfelt speech, telling the audience what they should take away from the episode: being gay is horrible, but we should ignore it, because "we need heroes." From the vantage point of 2024, it seems incredibly homophobic, but in 1990 it was a plea for tolerance.
Chris in the Morning apologizes. He didn't mean to defame Walt Whitman, but now he understands that it was wrong to mention that he was gay. He gets his job back.
And the town library/general store has a run on requests for Walt Whitman's poetry.
Beefcake: Joel, Ed, and Uncle Anku in the sauna. Joel in the shower.
Gay Characters: Of course not, although in a few years, the town will host the second gay wedding on network television.
Homophobia: Everyone seems to agree that calling someone gay is a defamation. Even Joel the New Yorker.
My Grade: Even taking into account its historic context, this was a very difficult episode to watch. And that grating harmonica solo opening! D.
Above: Rob Morrow's butt in Private Resort. Left; Grant Goodeve, who plays Maggie's boyfriend (before she dumps him).
Set in the same time period:
"Sun in My Mouth": A depressed twink rides the subway, has explicit sex. And what he's been up to lately.
While looking at random cocks on AZ Nude Men, I came across Sun in My Mouth, with Artem Shcherbakov as a skinny, dissolute-looking twink who takes off his clothes on the beach while looking depressed, and then returns to his empty apartment to j/o on the phone while looking depressed. Photos after the break
Black and white, extremely washed out, amateurish, with random close-ups of body parts and nonsequiter images. It looked like one of those 1960s "stag films," or one of the early Gay Liberation movies like A Very Natural Thing. But it is dated 2010.
Extremely mysterious. Russia is a puritanical country. How was it even permitted? And what is the meaning of "sun in my mouth?" A Russian proverb?
According to the IMDB, "It's a film about how we attempt to connect and understand other people by understanding ourselves."
I couldn't find the film itself, but the trailer is very artistic/experimental, black and white. Artem rides a subway -- wait, those signs are in English -- walks on the beach, takes off his clothes, broods, goes home to an empty apartment, and beats off with a phone sex operator.
Is it even Russian? Jessica Yatrovsky has nothing else listed on the IMDB. The phone sex operator is played by Andrew Yang -- not a Russian name.
A man. So this is a gay film? So Artem is depressed because he's struggling to come out?
Artem has only one other acting role listed on the IMDB, A Four Letter Word, 2007: "hook-up artist Luke considers becoming monogamous" for the "smug and handsome" Stephen (Jesse Archer, Charlie David). He is listed as Vlad.
His Linkedin says that he is the founder of ROAR Games and Zheeshee in Brooklyn.
His Facebook says that he was born in Minsk, Belorussia. He attended Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn and Touro College, where he majored in psychology. He married Brian in 2021 and now lives in Washington DC.
More after the break. Caution: Explicit.
"The Deuce": The top ten penises of the mafiosi, porn stars, and gay activists in 1970s New York
Tbe Deuce stars James Franco as Vincent and Frankie Marino, twin brothers who run a Mafia front in New York City during the 1970s. There's an adult film studio nearby, which means a lot of naked guys. Usually while they're having sex with women, but still, a dick is a dick. Here are the top 10 contenders.
1. Gbinga Akinagbe as a pimp turned actor.
2. John Paul Harkin as an adult film performer.
3. Jarrod Goolsby as a Viking in an adult film.
4. Gary Carr as a bad-guy pimp.
5. Chris Coy as the owner of a gay club.
More after the break. Caution: it gets explicit, sort of.
Joseph Cali: Nude model before Stonewall, John Travolta's disco buddy, soap opera hunk, Adonis Male
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In 1968, a year before Stonewall, 18-year old Joseph Cali was playing chess and cruising in Washington Square Park in Manhattan when he was approached by George Haimsohn, author of Stories of the Homosexual Life, The Gay Psychedelic Sex Book, The Gay Coloring Book, A Summer on Fire Island, and the book and libretto for the musical Dames at Sea, which was currently playing off-Broadway.
Haimsohn was also a photographer, working under the name Plato, and invited Joe to model.
His first full frontal photo appears in a 1968 issue of Go Guys. The text says that Joe is a "fast shooting star on the physique horizon....well equipped to handle himself in any tight spot." Tell me more, tell me more, did he get very far?
The photo set and magazine work paid for Joe's tuition at Siena College, where he led anti-war protests, starred in the play Drunkard, and worked as a stage manager for The Gingham Dog.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1973, and continued to pose for the Model of the Month Club and Photozique, while making the rounds of auditions.
Joe's big break came in 1977, when he was cast as Joey, best buddy of John Travolta's Tony in the disco drama Saturday Night Fever
More Brooklyn-disco roles followed, including Flatbush, a tv series about a gang called the Fungos. Joe starred as Presto opposite Adrian Zmed as Socks. It only lasted for six episodes.
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He got 19 episodes of Today's FBI in 1981-82 as Nick, the "Ethnic" member of the team according to Wikipedia. I'm not sure what his ethnicity was.
More Joseph Cali after the break. Warning: Explicit
Skyler's Hot/Hung Photos, Part 4: A baseball bat, a hickey, a little dog, and a chub with a chubby
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. As far as I know, he's over 18 in all of them. He doesn't have any verifiable nude photos online, but some of his friends do, and there are some interesting chatroom and hookup app possibilities.
1. You'll never get to first base that way, Sky. At least not during the game.
2. Long-term bud Wyatt Oleff. The two starrred together in the tv pilot Middle Age Rage (2013), and stayed friends, bonding over abs.
3. And stuff. Actually, Wyatt says that he doesn't remember who he's giving a hickey to. It could be Skyler, but then, he makes out with so many guys....
4. Skyler grooving on some stars and stripes. And his little dog, too.
5. Skyler's "just guys" vacation in New York. He didn't say who he went with, but they look very comfortable together. Hanging out in their underwear.
6. And out of their underwear.
More after the break
"Difficult People": Billy pretends to be straight, Julie pretends to be Italian, and the guest star's son takes his shirt off
Yesterday on the treadmill, I watched Difficult People, a two season sitcom about two jerks, the Jewish Julie and the gay Billy (Julie Klausner, Billy Eichner. below). I've had a file of photos for a long time, so why not write a review?
Julie and Billy are trying to break into stand-up comedy as a pair. We only see snippets of their act, but it seems to involve insulting people. Plots often involve pop-culture name dropping or the pairs' crazy relatives. Among the famous guest stars are Amy Sedaris, Lucy Liu, Tina Fey, Mark Consuelos, and Kathy Lee Gifford.
Rounding out the cast are James Urbaniak as Julie's business suit-wearing husband, who works for PBS; Andrea Martin as her yenta mother; and Cole Escola, left, as the swishy queen who works with Billy at his coffee shop gig.
This episode, "Italian Piñata," begins with the pair walking past the Stonewall Tavern, where the Gay Rights Movement began: queens upset over the death of Judy Garland weren't going to take the police harassment anymore, and fought back. The Judy Garland angle has been completely discredited. These were young adults in the 60s. They were into the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, not some singer from their grandparents' generation.
Billy notes that it's National Coming Out Day, when super-hot A-gays who spend the rest of the year snubbing everyone who isn't a Greek god do their public duty by offering to introduce newly-out guys to the culture. It doesn't even matter if they're ugly or have a horrible personality -- or both, like Billy -- if you're newly out, you're in.
Julie Turns Italian: On their way to a horrible party that Julie's husband had to plan for his PBS job, in Hoboken, the pair drops into an Italian meat shop, where some ladies like Julie's jokes about "meat in my mouth." They have big hair, eat everything in sight, carry purses that "fell off a truck," and discuss what they'll do to the penises of boyfriends who betray them. Julie is in love! She announces to her mother and husband that she's coming out -- she now identifies as Italian! The two are horrified.
Mom works as a therapist whose client -- the famous Mink Stole -- has a daughter in a cult. They discuss deprogramming -- kidnapping the brainwashed girl and yelling at her until she "believes what I want her to believe." Mom thinks this would work on Julie.
Billy Turns Straight: Meanwhile, Billy and Julie go to a New Jersey gay bar, where he gets the idea of pretending to come out. He announces that he was straight until today, and Julie is actually his soon-to-be ex-wife. The gay guys, including bartender Pasha Pelosie, left, all want to welcome him into the gay community.
More beef after the break
"The Cat and the Moon": Skyler Gisondo and Tommy Nelson in love (with other guys)
The Cat and the Moon (2019) was advertised as a "coming of age" movie with Alex Wolff (left) playing an updated Holden Caulfield. So I went in expecting depression, drugs, suicide, heterosexual machinations, and rampant homophobia. I found lots of drugs, suicidal ideations, insanity, and heterosexual romance, but no homophobia, and so many gay subtexts that I couldn't keep track of who was in love with whom.
Nick (Alex Wolff) moves to New York City while his mom is in rehab, stays with his dad's old buddy (Mike Epps, who reputedly belongs to one of these cocks). He gets involved in a lot stuff. This review will only cover the gay subtext scenes.
Scene 1: Nick's first day in school. Skyler (Giulian Yao Gioello, left), hot for the new guy, befriends him and shows him around.
Scene 2: In algebra class, two stoner buds are playing a game involving fluttering their hands together.
Scene 3: Nick is in the restroom, trying to get high with a bong made of a toilet paper roll, when the stoner buds come in, bickering like an old married couple and talking like "he got into my motherfuckin' grill, yo."
One stands at the urinal; the other doesn't have to go, so he just stands nearby to get a peek at his bud's penis.
They find Nick and introduce themselves as Seamus and Russell (Skyler Gisondo, who plays Gideon Gemstone, and Tommy Nelson, who played the Young Junior in Season 2). Seamus invites Nick to a party Friday night.
"Wait -- will your girlfriend be there?" Russell asks.
"Yes."
"Fuck! You never pay attention to me when she's around." To Nick: "His balls just evaporate when she's around." That must make sex difficult.
Scene 4; The party was cancelled, so Russell (the gay one, played by Tommy Nelson, far left) invites Nick to go to a club with him and his good buddy Skyler, who cruised Nick in Scene 1. Seamus and his Girlfriend will also be there. So when they go out, it's Skyler-his girlfriend and Russell-his boyfriend, get it?
On the way, Russell and his good buddy Skyler argue and break up. The Girlfriend tells Nick not to worry: they break up all the time, but get back together again. "Honestly, I think they just secretly want to fuck each other." Ok, so it's not a subtext.
They end up partying on the roof. Russell (the gay one) and Seamus kiss. Wait, I thought you had other partners.
Later, while Russell helps Seamus with an overdose, Nick and The Girlfriend bond.
More after the break
The Sinner, Episode 3.1: Retired cop, sleazoid prof, and predatory chum, in Australia or New York. But at least we see Matt Bomer
I was recommended Season 3 of The Sinner, a crime drama anthology starring Bill Pullman as a cop drawn into different adventures every season. I'm not much into crime dramas, but there are reputedly gay subtexts, so here goes: Episode 1.
Scene 1: Jamie (Matt Bomer) a guy in a scruffy suit, sits in a toilet stall, smoking marijuana. He walks through a ritzy private school, getting drooled over by all the coeds. They need another chaperone for the LGBTQ Alliance field trip. "Sure, I'm happy to do it." So he's bi?
Then he teaches his class -- something about the Treaty of Versailles --in a small, crowded conference room. Only female students?. Is this a girls' school, or are we emphasizing that he's a hetero horndog?
After class, a girl hangs back to flirt while her friends glare jealously from the door. Don't worry, you'll get your turn. She's decided to apply to Brown, and she needs a letter of recommendation. "Sure, you write it and I'll sign it." Sleazing on co-eds, and now forgery? This guy is a jerk.
Scene 2: The Big Boss congratulates elderly cop Harry (Bill Pullman, left) on his retirement, although his replacements, Soto (Eddie Martinez) and McCafferty, are awful. They have verve and energy, but no experience.
Scene 3: A train chugging by a river. Inside, Jamie the Sleazoid Prof is staring angrily at the other passengers as they scroll through their cell phones. He gets off and chases after one, a bald guy in a business suit.
Meanwhile, Harry the Retired Cop, at the same station, greets his daughter and grandson: "Welcome to the Northern Territory." So this must be Darwin, Australia. They drive to the creepy, isolated house that he bought to retire in -- a former army barracks. Daughter disapproves -- what if he need help? Cell phones don't even work out here. "I can get bars in the front yard."
She also disapproves of her son's interest in reading. "That's all he does. He's got no friends." Especially that one fantasy novel -- he won't put it down. Plot dump: she's recently divorced, and ex Andy has vanished to London.
Scene 4: Jamie the Sleazoid Prof is barbecuing, while his wife Leela complains about the customers in her shop. Wait -- what happened to the guy he was chasing? I thought he'd end up dead. Suddenly Jamie has the urge to stick his hand onto the barbecue grill, but Wifey interrupts him. They smooch. .
Doorbell rings: Amazon Delivery. Jamie is shocked and horrified. "What are you doing here? I told you not to come here." So he prefers brick-and-mortar bookstores?
Nope, the Amazon stuff was a misdirection. It's actually Nick (Chris Messina), whom Jamie knows but hates. Maybe a downlow hookup? They argue and sputter at each other, but when Leela shows up, Nick is all smiles, and gets a dinner invitation.
Scene 5: Jamie the Sleazoid Prof and Hookup Nick glaring at each other across the dinner table, while Leela drones on about her shop. I don't really understand what she sells, but there are candles and "essential oils" Nick criticizes Jamie for forcing his wife to move to Australia, when she wanted to stay in Brooklyn. He makes more ominous, threatening statements, but Leela is oblivious. Not very smart for someone named after a space pilot on "Futurama."
Scene 6: Night. Harry the Retired Cop is asleep on the couch. He gets a phone call. Hey, no cell phone reception in the house, remember? There was an accident off Route 9, so he has to go investigate. Hey, retired, remember?
And now he's driving on the right side of the road. This can't be Australia! But the only Northern Territory I'm familiar with is in Australia. There's a Northwest Territory in Canada, but I don't think Yellowknife has that huge train station. Maybe he was riffing on the remoteness of his community, and expected viewers to have the sound on, so they could hear the accents.
Accident scene: The driver crashed into a tree. "He's ok -- at St. Emilia's getting checked out." But he got splattered all over the car. WTF? Lady, you just said he was ok! Are we watching events in parallel worlds simultaneously?
What was the driver doing on private road that leads to just one house, where the owner wasn't expecting him? The cops scratch their heads, baffled by this mystery. Harry checks out the driver -- it's Hookup Nick!
Scene 7: The other "he," the one that's ok, is Jamie the Sleazoid Prof. He sits on an examination table, looking sinister, staring at his hands.
Scene 8: Retired Cop Harry works while his replacement, Soto, glares at him. He calls a lady to tell her that the cops have some of her father's stuff. Does she want it? "No. Ok, I'll give you my home address." Now he says he's in Dorchester, New York 11332. The zip code is Flushing, Queens. I was not aware that Queens was called the Northern Territory. So when Nick got angry because Jamie forced his wife to move to the other side of the world, he meant ten minutes by subway?
Jamie the Sleazoid Prof comes in for the insurance interview. After dinner, they went out for a drink at Nick's hotel. On the way back, Nick was driving too fast, and crashed No big mystery.
"But where were you going? You were nowhere near your house or his hotel. "Um...um...we were looking for an overlook, and got lost." An overlook in the middle of the night?
Gay subtext: "I saw Nick die. It was like seeing him for the first time. The way he looked at me..." This makes Harry suspicious. So what if Nick and Jamie were boyfriends? How would that affect the case?
More Bomer after the break
"Almost Love": Almost good gay-themed comedy about rich people's hook-up problems, plus Scott Evans nude
1. Why do gay men in movies always live in New York?
2.Why are they always super-affluent, when in real life they earn on the average 20% less than straight men?
3. Why are their friends all straight women? When I lived in West Hollywood, you had straight acquaintances who you weren't out to, but friends, never.
That's just the first three questions I have about Almost Love (2019), a gay-themed comedy about a super-elitist NYC gay guy and his straight female buddies, who have trivial problems.
1.Adam (Scott Evans, top) wants to be a painter, but he's stuck in a dead-end job ghost-painting for the famous-but-nasty Ravella Brewer. Question 4: why are all gay guys in movies working as lawyers, actors, or artists?
His boyfriend Marklin (Augustus Prew, bottom) is a famous blogger who is constantly getting fawned over by fans. They're vaguely unhappy and unfulfilled, but dismiss any suggestion of moving forward in their relationship by getting married, buying a house, and having kids.
Instead they....gasp...hook up on the side, which this movie portrays as the ultimate in betrayal. Question 5: why are all gay guys in movies obsessed with monogamy? There are a lot of open relationships out there.
Left: Augustus' butt
2. His BFF #1, Elizabeth, is celebrating her 15th anniversary with Damon (Chaz Lamar Shepherd, left) , wondering "Is this all there is?" Question 6: How are these people friends? Adam is an artist, and Liz never sets foot in a museum, except for the free wi-fi.
3. His BFF #2, Haley, works as a tutor. This doesn't seem like the sort of job that would get her the big bucks, but she lives in a huge loft with bare brick wall and gigantic paintings. Her problem: the high school boy she's tutoring, Scott (Christopher Gray), isin love with her. The age of consent in New York is 17, so he's not jail bait, but he is certainly inappropriate. He threatens to kill himself if she refuses him. Question 7:in what way is this funny or endearing?
Top photo: a model who pops up when you search for "Christopher Gray nude"
4. His BFF #3, Cammie, is dating Henry (Colin Donnell), perfect in every way -- except it turns out that he's homeless! Her friends cringe. "You invited a homeless guy into your apartment? You touched him? Yuck! Gross!" Question 8: how elitist can they get? Is being homeless a disease?
4. His BFF #3, Cammie, is dating Henry (Colin Donnell), perfect in every way -- except it turns out that he's homeless! Her friends cringe. "You invited a homeless guy into your apartment? You touched him? Yuck! Gross!" Question 8: how elitist can they get? Is being homeless a disease?
Beefcake: None. Question 9: what is the point of a gay-themed movie with no beefcake?
Other Sights: New York location shots.
Gay Characters: The guys, a gay rights canvasser, a potential hookup.
Elitism: Through the roof. Question 10: Why does everyone in this movie look down on people who are poor or Hollywood poor (middle class in the real world)?
My Grade: C.
Bonus Scott Evans after the break
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