Björn Mosten: His "Love and Anarchy" nude hugeness made him a star, but he's also played a gay boarding school bully and Oddgeir's buddy.

 

In the Swedish comedy Kärlek och anarki (Love and Anarchy, 2020-22), middle aged publishing house consultant Sofia (Ida Engvoll) and young IT guy Max (Björn Mosten) fight a flirtatious "dare war,"  trying to one-up each other with increasingly drastic dares:

Dress like pop singer Cyndi Lauper.

Walk backwards for a day.

Get too drunk

Mimic people

Walk into a restaurant and pretend that you work there.

Dribble

Do everything as fast as you can

And:  Get naked in front of your family.

Whew, our boy is huge.

Frontside and back.

This was the 23-year old actor's only nude scene in the series (he takes off his shirt a few times), but it was enough to seal his popularity among gay men in Sweden and abroad.

His cuteness and his acting ability too, of course.

The cover story of Kupe tells us that he is "An Overnight Star."  

Björn wasn't planning to become a star.  He was a small town boy, from Dvärsätt in central Sweden (the nearest big city is Trondheim, Norway, three hours away).  In the summer of 2019, he was just finishing up his degree in engineering at Uppsala University, and enrolled in the master's program in Computer and Information Engineering.  Lisa Langseth was casting an IT guy for her new comedy drama.  He had done some modeling, so why not audition?

After Love and Anarchy, Bjorn starred in the theatrical play Jakten (2022), at the Stockholms Stadsteaterat.  

It means "The Hunt," as in "Witch Hunt": a grade school teacher (Henrik Norlén) s falsely accused of sexually assaulting a child in his class.  Bjorn plays Marcus, his teenage son.

Next came the tv series Ondskan ("Evil," 2023): Erik (Isac Calmroth) is expelled from public school due to being a violent thug, enrolls in an exclusive private school, becomes a bullying victim, and commences an affair with the lunch lady. 

More after the break

Peter Berlin: "That Boy" uses his physique and his cock to show us the wonder of the Gay World

His actual name was Peter Berlin, but all you needed to say was That Boy, and the old guys of West Hollywood (that is, men over 30) would remember: the Boy sunning himself on the beach, the "Dancing Queen" at the disco, the leatherman glaring from the back bar, all blond hair, bronze muscles, and hard cock.

He was not handsome -- actually, he had an unremarkable long horse-face.  Nor was he blond. And the world he traveled was more often graffiti- and gang-strewn Tenderloin than the Fire Island of the A-gays.  But that didn't matter.  You saw him half on screen, half in your dreams.

There was no such thing as a closet in Peter Berlin's world, no such thing as homophobia.  Only endless nights of cruising -- but not the meaningless, destructive tricks that the straights condemned us for.  A glorious sexual freedom that was, in itself, fulfilling enough to be the sole purpose of life.

 

 That Boy (1974) was a defining moment of my coming out, the first gay porn film I ever saw, in 1984, during my second year in grad school at Indiana University.  My friend Viju and I drove into Indianapolis to go to the bars, and someone invited us to see it with him.  There was a midnight showing in a sleazy theater near Monument Circle.

Peter is not actually the boy of That Boy.  He plays an unnamed sexual Everyman who wanders through the Castro and the Tenderloin of  a straight-free San Francisco, cruising on the street and in back rooms, looking at men, and being looked at.  He finds the gaze, being the object of desire, more glorious than the sex acts themselves.  But then he looks at That Boy, but the boy does not look back.

Could this be the one person in the Gay World who does not desire him?  No, the boy is blind!  Peter is intrigued, and invites him for coffee and conversation. They walk hand in hand through the park and sit by the pond to look at (or hear) the ducks, making a romantic connection before heading to the back room.

Peter was born Armin Hagen Freiherr von Hoyningen-Huene. the son of a baron, in December 1942, and raised in Berlin, in a family of diplomats and fashion photographers.   After secondary school, he worked as a photographer for a German interview program, met famous people like Alfred Hitchcock and Brigitte Bardot, and cruised.  

A double life, respectable by day, sleazoid by night, was a standard part of the gay experience in the 1960s, when straights and gays alike believed that we were destined to be permanent outsiders, constantly hiding, denizens of a seedy underworld.  But Armin took pride in being gay.  He cruised in outfits of his own design, photographed himself and his tricks, turned the gay sex act into a work of masculine beauty,

More after the break.  

The top 16 gay-positive science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal movies, plus two with egregious queerbaiting.

Who wants to spend two hours watching people falling in love, saving Christmas, facing injustice, or dying of cancer?  If I'm going to commit to a fictional world, it should have something you don't often see in everyday life: spaceships, aliens, ghosts, time travel, magic swords, werewolves, zombies...anything but endless conversations.  

There aren't a lot of gay characters in these movies, so most don't get reviewed here, or the review consists of  "yet another heteronormative mess."  I managed to find sixteen with gay characters and or strong subtexts from 2016-2026, and two that deserve inclusion as a warning: the queerbaiting was amazingly blatant.

Boys in the Trees. (2016).  Boy walks his ex-boyfriend home.  It's a long walk, with a downer ending, usually a turn-off for me.  But in this case I'll make an exception

The Little Vampire 3D,  (2017).  The vampire and human boys come within an inch of an open romance. All they left out was the kiss.

Get Out (2017).  A young black man meets the family of his white girlfriend, and uncovers a disturbing secret about white people.  And still manages a gay subtext.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (2018). The spineless producers came within an inch of having this spider-boy come out, but lost their nerve.  At least he doesn't get a girlfriend.

The Dead Don't Die (2019): Zombies invade a small town, with two guys who seem to be gay, but fail to actually come out due to the director's cowardice or homophobia.

Bill and Ted Face the Music (2020). The most excellent time-traveling duo, who started their career with blatant homophobia, atone for their past mistakes.  Not only are they involved in a four-way romance, they have a nonbinary daughter.

Onward (2020): A 16-year old Elf boy and his older brother, a Troll, never express any heterosexual interest.  Plus there's no bullying and a lesbian couple.  

Suicide Squad (2021). Supervillains are recruited to go on a "suicide" mission. No one actually says The Word, but there are two gay hints and only minimal heterosexual romance, and John Cena's Peacemaker would come out as bi on his tv spin-off.

The Eternals (2021).  The first open gay character in a Marvel movie, plus conversations in ancient Babylonian.  But Gilgamesh is portrayed as straight.  Sorry, Enkidu.

More after the break

Edward Padilla: "Suburgatory" short guy hangs out with Brad Pitt and Mel Gibson, plays priests and Chicano Divas, has a husband and a d*ck

We're rewatching Suburgatory (2011-2014), about a high school girl transplanted from cool Manhattan to the ritzy suburban town of Chatswin, Connecticut. I have yet to understand the opening lyrics: "Last night I had a dah dah dah dah," which the subtitles translate as "perfect nightmare."  I don't like the low-key homophobia, with several "everybody thinks he's gay, har har" plotlines.  But it's a nostalgic pleasure remembering that era -- just 15 years ago -- when everything was bright and fresh and hopeful.  Plus there are lots of cute guys.  

Today I'm researching Edward Padilla, who plays country club lackey Jauvier.  He's not as swoonworthy as Joe Mande on Modern Family, but he's cute, and 5'6".  Short is short. 

Eddie was born in 1972, and grew up in San Diego,  He received a B.A. in Theater from the University of Southern California, plus a Master of Public Health from the Keck School of Medicine.  I couldn't find any photos from the 1990s except this one, which may be of another "Eddie Padilla."

His on-camera work begins with Mr. Jones (1993): Richard Gere, years after his iconic nude scene in American Gigolo, plays a mentally ill guy who starts a romance with his therapist.  Eddie plays a bellboy. 

His television work begins in Mexico with Tales from Beyond (2003) the Spanish version of the paranormal investigation show;  Te amaré en silencio (2003-04), a telenovela about a deaf girl; and the pilot Mi Vida Lorca (2004), which has nothing to do with the gay poet Federico Garcia Lorca.

Next he played a delivery driver on The King of Queens, a baby on The Drew Carey Show,a priest on Bones , a priest on Dirt, and a judge on Southland.while pursuing a career in public health.

Eddie's IMDB page says that he's best known for Man On Fire (2004), with Denzel Washington as a CIA agent who vows revenge on those who committed "unspeakable acts."   But he only worked as "Additional Crew."  Maybe it's memorable because of Denzel.

That explains the other movies on the "best known for" list: Colombian Military Officer in Mr and Mrs Smith (2005), with Brad Pitt; Test Site Technician in Spider-Man 3 (2007), with Tobey Maguire; and Addiitonal Crew on Get the Gringo (2012), with Mel Gibson.  

The gay ally Brad Pit, the heterosexist Tobey Maguire, and the frothing homophobe Mel Gibson.  You're all over the map, dude.

I'd rather remember him for roles that actually involved acting: Jauvier in Suburgatory (2011-2014), a priest on Jane the Virgin (2015), a priest on Will and Grace (2017), a preacher on I'm Dying Up Here (2018), a priest in Pecados Ajenos (2021)...

Getting typecast, buddy?

The only queer content I can see is in Big Tony's Ballet (2020): In the 1950s, mobster Big Tony must deal with his 7-year old son's interest in ballet.  God and God's Husband appear 

And Quinceañera (2024): At the party celebrating her 15th birthday, a girl "confronts her feelings for a shy girl she met at dance practice."  Edward plays a priest, of course.

More after the break