BSR

Ugh, I picked 2 duds in a row. I chose a Netflix miniseries Someone Has To Die mostly for Carmen Maura, long time muse of director Pedro Almodóvar. It's called a miniseries, but it's really just a 2h15m movie divided up in 3 parts. The principal theme is the repression of Franco's dictatorship in 1950s Spain, particularly hard for the gay son of a wealthy Spanish family. The movie was filled with ugly characters doing ugly things to each other, which made for a thoroughly unpleasant viewing experience. Skip past this one.

What is it about Rafa and Roland Garros? He had poor preparation and a foot injury in the lead--up to RG, yet he comes up with some elite tennis to beat an in-form Novak. The semifinal is no cakewalk either since Zverev is playing well. If Rafa makes it to the final, it should be Slam #22, even with Marin Cilic playing like it's 2014 all over again.

I watched Ingobernable on Netflix (28 40-minute episodes). Great premise: the First Lady of Mexico is about to divorce her husband. On the night she's about to leave, they fight, she's knocked unconscious, the president is murdered, and she's framed for the crime. Unfortunately, too many plot twists and turns, some preposterous shootouts, and some really bad acting (the daughter was the worst) manage to ruin a great start. Worst of all, they ended Season 2 with a helluva cliffhanger, but since the series wasn't renewed for Season 3, you're left hanging. With so much else to watch on Netflix, don't bother with this one.

I don't think that's petty. Far from it, I think the phone-fixated person is quite rude. If he warns me ahead of time that his boss or a client might call and he has to take the call, a scenario like that, of course I'll understand. But if his phone is so much more interesting than I am, I'll do him a favor and never bore him again.

You could bring a really powerful flashlight with you to Thermas, but that might kill the mood.

Nope, I've never been a straight guy.

"Cocky" has only 5 letters. "C**cky" has 6. Yikes, I hope he wasn't implying the escort was ...

I was pre-teen, but Sam Elliott in "Lifeguard." All the boys in my grade school were abuzz over the girl in the green bikini, but I only had eyes for the beary hairy lifeguard.

I didn't like Season 4 that much, probably because they introduced some new characters I didn't like (mostly Mencía). But I got over it by Season 5, thanks to the smokin' hot Carvalhos (Iván and his dad). That gay sex scene in Episode 5 -- holy sh*t!! I was still fanning myself the next day. Season 6 can't come soon enough. Élite is the best guilty pleasure on Netflix!

I actually had the hots for Iván's dad, played by Carloto Cotta.

An old coworker like to tell Maine jokes, about her none-too-bright fellow Mainers. A Mainer planning a trip to the beach asks his friend how to impress the ladies. The friend tells him to take a potato and stuff it into his Speedo. So at the beach, the Mainer puts the potato in his Speedo and strolls down the beach. Instead of ooh's and ah's, all the women on the beach just pointed and laughed. The Mainer is very upset and screams at his friend that his idea didn't work. The friend snaps back, "You're supposed to stuff the potato down the front of your Speedo!"

Perhaps Mexican cinema is an acquired taste. I agree that it was visually beautiful. The acting was top-notch, especially Ignacio and Amada. But it just dragged waaaaaaaaaay too much for me. Amada was so miserable in her marriage that it became almost too painful to watch. Overall, it was interesting and different, but I can't say I enjoyed it.

Yikes! https://twitter.com/Tonysmithx100/status/1528070573619703808?t=0gewUnWfKLHQL10KAuxPBA&s=19

If you ever doubt the superstars' popularity, and therefore their influence over the sport, take a look at this standing-room-only crowd for one of Rafa's practices. Most early-round matches are played in half-full at best stadiums, and in doubles even the final draws at most 20% attendance.

What can I say? Marton's chiseled physique just brings out the giver in me.

2022 player entry is still done by rankings, except that Russians and Belarusians are locked out. Now that Wimbledon lost its ranking points, they can do seedings based on whatever they want, but no announcement yet. The old grass formula for men used to be a player's point total + 100% of points on grass from the previous year + 50% of grass points from 2 years ago. That grass-weighted total adjusted seedings for the top 32 players but was not calculated for players outside the top 32. For example, #40 on the ATP ranking couldn't get bumped up to #32 (and therefore get the last seed) thanks to strong grass results. Anyway, because there was no 2020 tournament, they had to ditch the grass-adjusted formula in 2021 and just base seedings straight-up on rankings. On the men's side, 4 Russians and 1 Belarusian are locked out. The women's side is worse: 11 Russians and Belarusians (WTA website erased their nationality, so I can only count the total, not how many from each country) are denied entry.

Any meaningful player boycott would have to be lead by the superstars. As a die-hard fanboy, I follow all things Novak but haven't heard even a hint about him withdrawing from Wimbledon. No buzz from any of the other big names either. So far, all the top guys are still playing. News of the loss of ranking points just came out yesterday, maybe too early still to assess sponsorship impact. My guess is that Wimbledon is so big and so prestigious that sponsors will stay put. That would not have been the case with Queens and Eastbourne, whose sponsors would have ditched like they were running out of a burning building. As controversial as the ATP's double standard is, as a pragmatic matter I have to agree with their decision to save those 2 smaller tournaments. I thought only about last year's 4 semifinalists because they will lose the most points, but 2021 quarterfinalist Marton Fucsovics is probably hurt most by the no-points decision. On his Instagram account, he claimed that his ranking will drop from #60 to #130 -- ouch! #60 means direct entry into Slams and most ATP tournaments. #130 means you have to play qualies everywhere, even the 250s. Poor Marton, I will selflessly offer him a massage to make him feel better.

The most obvious Romeo & Juliet remake is West Side Story, which copies the plot of R&J almost line for line. But the plot is almost beside the point because West Side Story's great contribution to the arts was its dazzling and original music and dance. Was there anything dazzling and original about the American remake of Queer as Folk? If there was, I must have missed it. Will there be even the faintest spark of originality in the latest remake? Pffft ...

A friend of mine took a drawing class in college (early 1980s). She was psyched one day when the nude model, instead of the flabby middle-aged man they had previously, was a fellow student with a trim physique and a sizable package. Nonetheless, she focused on her work and did the best she could. As she looked around to see how her drawing compared to other students', she noticed that the professor (very openly gay, a rarity at the time) had used his entire 20" x 30" tablet sheet to draw only the model's cock.

Half the rationale for keeping ranking points for Queens and Eastbourne is that Russian and Belarusian players still have the option of playing Halle and Mallorca the same weeks, for the same points even though Queens and Eastbourne violate the same rule as Wimbledon does -- entry based solely on ranking. Obviously, there is no equivalent alternative to Wimbledon. As for the other half of their rationale, at least the ATP (I confess I don't follow the women's side closely) was up-front about applying a double standard. The ATP stated publicly that if they had stripped Queens and Eastbourne of ranking points, those tournaments would have financially collapsed. Granted, "we can't let them go bankrupt" isn't the most noble argument for giving a tournament a free pass, but at least you gotta respect the ATP for their honesty. In contrast, Wimbledon will be flush with cash, ranking points or not. Besides the 2 ATP grass tournaments, there's a grass Challenger in Nottingham that I assume also kept its ranking points. Besides the two previous reasons, I have to think biggest reason the ATP left Nottingham's points intact is that Challenger players (the tennis equivalent of minor leaguers) so desperately need ranking points. All the players playing Nottingham had to commit by April 25 (commitment is 6 weeks in advance for all tournaments), yet the ATP made its announcement May 20, too late to back out & opt for another Challenger (3 others the same week). If the ATP had stripped Nottingham of points, that would have massively screwed the players entered.

Showtime's "Queer as Folk" was the American version of the British series. Now they're remaking it? I didn't love the 2000-2005 series, didn't hate it either. But I would much prefer that they come up with an original idea for a new gay series.

It's official: the ATP & WTA have stripped Wimbledon 2022 of ranking points. Also, the ATP will drop the points earned from 2021, no "freezing" of points like they did with Covid-canceled tournaments. The tours had to do this because the Russian & Belarusian player ban violates the rules of both tours. So Novak's point total will drop by 2000 points because the 2021 points will come off and the 2022 tournament has no ranking points. Even if Novak defends his Roland Garros title (by no means a given), he will drop to #3. If he doesn't defend, he'll drop a lot more, maybe #5 or #6. The Roland Garros draw is lopsided because 3 of the top 4 contenders (Novak, Rafa, Alcaraz) ended up in one half whereas Tsitsipas is by himself in the other. Draws will become even more lopsided when arguably the world's best player is ranked #3 or lower.

Wichita cops identify ‘poopetrator’ who defecated in middle of beauty store What on earth possesses someone to drop a deuce in a wig store??