BSR

I posted about Smiley in the "Anything good on Netflix?" thread. I liked it so much I watched it a second time just a week later. I asked the moderators to move this thread into TV and Streaming, hope you don't mind.

I didn't realize that he married another So You Think You Can Dance contestant, Allison Hollker, one of my favorites from when I used to watch the show. I can't imagine what she's going through right now. Yes, such a tragedy.

I wish you would make arguments instead of just being nasty and disrespectful. True, the government is prohibited from establishing an official state religion, but allowing a Christian (or a person of any religion) to read a book based on Christian values falls far short of "establishment." No particular faith is being established nor made official. A man simply wants to read a book (a book you have not read, correct?) that he believes spreads good values and therefore helps children. You believe that your values should be allowed in the public square, i.e., your support of drag queen story hour, but want to shut down and ban anyone whose values you don't like. That's not how the world works, nor is that your "constitutional right."

The copy & paste text of the 1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. I don't know where you picked up freedom from religion, but "freedom from religion" is nowhere in the US Constitution.

Not yet, but I'm not trying to ban Mein Kampf from public libraries nor would I ever attempt to because for any student of history to understand Nazism, s/he must read Hitler's manifesto. Your analogy fails on a number of levels. Wokety-wokes are banning the reading of Kirk Cameron's book. I'm guessing the vast majority of supposedly "enlightened" book-banners, like you, has never read it. By his own admission and by even laymen's observation, Kanye West is mentally ill. Your comparison of Kanye to Cameron fails as badly as your Mein Kampf analogy.

So you've read Kirk Cameron's new book?

I mentioned ube halaya in another thread. It's a yam pudding that we made only once a year because back then ube jam was expensive & hard to get. Even now that frozen ube is cheap & readily available, you have to stir nonstop over a hot pot for 45+ minutes, so still a special occasion dessert. For the main course our special Christmas dinner was usually rellenong manok (stuffed chicken), a Christmas tradition in many hispanic countries. No, not bread stuffing like Martha Stewart. You debone a large chicken (except legs & wings), remove most of the breast meat, stuff the cavity with seasoned ground beef and diced dried fruit (prunes, apricots, raisins), sew it back up, and roast it. Yes, it's quite a chore (how many here have mastered deboning a chicken?), which is why it's a Christmas or very special occasion dish. The Filipino version uses ground pork instead of beef (beef is super-expensive in the Philippines) and includes hard boiled eggs, Vienna sausage, and shredded carrots -- not the Spanish recipe, but I think every country has its own variation.

You don't have to be Italian to have lasagna for Thanksgiving. Mom & I used to roast a duck because a big turkey for only 2 people is just silly, but for whatever reason we felt like lasagna this year, so that's what we had. We did have ginataang mais (sweet corn rice pudding made with coconut cream+milk) and ube ice cream because those are our favorite Filipino desserts.

Netflix debuted a gay romantic comedy series today, Smiley, and yes, I binged it all in 1 day. Hey, when a series is good enough, sometimes you just can't stop. Alex is a 32yo bartender in a gay bar who works out like it's religion yet complains that his (myriad) hookups never take him seriously. Bruno is a buttoned-up architect who is 36yo but lives the life of a 60yo, and a rather dull 60yo at that. When they meet by means of a voicemail mixup (too long to explain), the attraction makes them both weak in the knees even though they're totally wrong for each other. Before you roll your eyes too much, yes, we've seen this story a zillion times before, but Smiley does put its own very clever and hilarious twists on the oft-used premise. I'm really picky about comedies because most make me groan, very few make me laugh, but Smiley had me busting a belly laugh more than a few times. We also get to see the ups & downs of Alex's biological family, his adopted family (his 2 coworkers Vero & Javi), and Bruno's adopted family (his best friend Albert). Plus we get a couple of "right" boyfriends for our so-very-wrong-for-each-other duo: Bruno starts dating Ramon, the best architect in his office, while Alex hooks up with the equally gorgeous and sculpted Ibra. The comic chemistry between Carlos Cuevas (Alex) and Miki Esparbe (Bruno) is perfection. I never really bought the sexual chemistry between the two, but maybe that's asking for too much. As long as the two kept me laughing, I was happy. All the other storylines are well-done and woven together quite skillfully. 8 35-minute episodes, mostly in Spanish with some scenes in Catalan. If you can stand dubbing, i checked out a couple of scenes, and the English dubbing for Smiley is actually really good. English subtitles are also available. 2 user reviews already on IMDb, a 9 & a 10. I'd give Smiley a 10.

Carlos Cuevas (Pol in Merlí) stars in a new Netflix series Smiley, about a gay couple in Barcelona who are totally wrong for each other but just can't help themselves. I'll write a more detailed review in the "Anything good on Netflix?" thread, but for Carlos Cuevas fans, wow! our favorite Catalan philosopher looks hella good in his latest series. Cuevas plays Alex, a himbo who belongs to 2 gyms and has the muscles to show for it. Cuevas doesn't have nearly enough nude scenes/sex scenes, but Smiley is so good that I'll forgive him just this once.

I doubt the #54 ranked doubles player has any endorsements. But Fabien Reboul is a good-looking guy with a great body. Now that he's "on the map," coming out might actually get him an endorsement or two. In any case, I wish the guy all the best.

Many women tennis pros have come out: from Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova back in the '80s to Amelie Mauresmo to most recently Kasatkina, to the point that coming out is almost a non-story on the WTA side. But no ATP player has come out, until now. Apparently Fabien Reboul and his boyfriend Maxence Broville both posted the picture on the left on their Instagrams. Although you can't see their faces (horny devils), Reboul is on the right. Reboul is also the guy in the swimsuit in the other photo. Since I can't access Instagram, hopefully someone can double-check the posts on both players' accounts. A number of years back, Sports Illustrated & Tennis Channel commentator Jon Wertheim addressed the issue of why no ATP player has ever come out, noting that the first to do so would likely get a very positive response from his fellow players. Brian Vahaly and Jan-Michael Gambill did come out but only post-retirement. Reboul is the first active player to do so. Ranked #54, Reboul still plays a number of Challengers but plays enough ATP tournaments to be called an ATP player. Broville, ranked #872, is playing Futures (kinda like playing Single A baseball).

According to the ATP website's article on Bolletieri, he coached 10 former number 1 players. I came up with Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Maria Sharapova off the top of my head. The tribute lists Venus & Serena, Boris Becker, Jelena Jankovic (a Slam-less #1), Martina Hingis, and Marcelo Rios (also Slam-less) as the other 6 number 1's coached by Bollettieri. Some Bollettieri worked very closely with, like Agassi & Courier, others he was more of a mentor than a day-in/day-out coach. Nonetheless, a remarkable resume.

Sorry for straying off topic, back to pies ... pumpkin can be yummy, but I've had more bad pumpkin pies than good ones. I've had sweet potato pie only once, and I liked it a lot more than pumpkin. I feel so un-American for saying this, but I'm just not wild about apple pie. My favorite is pecan as long as it's not too sweet. I recently saw a recipe for ube custard pie, which is basically a purple version of sweet potato pie. Definitely something I have to attempt one of these days. As for nontraditional offerings, as long as it's a good pie, I'm happy. If someone ever brought ube pie to Thanksgiving dinner, I'd be tickled pink.

Nothing beats the scent of a real tree. It almost makes me miss cold snowy winters in New England. Almost. One can buy real trees here in Las Vegas, but it just seems so out of place in the desert with all the palm trees.

Wow, you had a setup to be able to deep-fry 3 turkeys all at the same time? How many gallons of oil did you use? What type of oil? I hear peanut oil is the best for deep frying, but it's not the healthiest. Also, how many people did you invite over for Thanksgiving dinner? And how many tigers??

I'm a bit concerned that the actor's IMDb page isn't showing any current or future projects. Please tell me it's because Escamilla just needed a break, not for lack of offers. Despite the terrible disappointment of Season 6, wild horses couldn't drag me away from Season 7. I refuse to give up hope on my favorite guilty pleasure! Now if Season 7 also sucks, oh boy, we got a problem.

"Must save my human!"

Élite fans, what did you think of Season 6? I just finished it. Every other season I binged like a bag of chips, but Season 6 was actually a struggle to get through: too much wokeness, too many unlikable characters, not nearly enough skin nor sex. With the previous t seasons, I couldn't stop myself from watching one episode after another whereas this season I kinda had to force myself to get through an episode. Will Élite get its mojo back?

This dog deserves a zillion treats.

I want to meet the guy who built this water slide for ducklings.

The phrygian cap mascots look more like phrygian aliens, but I like the French revolution theme.

Yikes, talk about dodging a bullet! Glad you made it out his place safe & sound.

Lloyd Glasspool won his match today. In honor of his victory, another photo ...