BSR

They photoshopped an actor's face onto a model's body. The actor is Spaniard Maxi Iglesias, who does have a nice body, but not the one you see here.

Well, that didn't last long. Yikes, his wrist injury must be really serious. I really like Domi. I hope he doesn't end up like Dolgopolov (Ukrainian who felt a snap in his wrist on a return, never recovered despite multiple surgeries, ended his career).

There was some talk of casting Idris Elba as the next Bond. Elba certainly has the looks & flair to pull it off, but at this point, I fear he's too old (49 in a couple of weeks). The next Bond needs to be in his early 30s so that he can do the next 10 years of sequels while still looking the part. It'd be great to see a black or Indian/Pakistani Bond, as long as he's smokin' hot. Even 38yo Cavill might be a bit too old, but if he were willing to do plenty of nude scenes, I'd love to see him as Bond.

Still kinda pissed off at Tebow for denying me the first crack at his virgin Christian phallus.

I remember Vinci's shocking upset over Serena. The Italian hit soft, low slices that were landing short, which drove Serena crazy because she couldn't hit them with pace or topspin. On the forehand, Vinci was hitting no-pace moonballs, which also drove Serena crazy because like most players she prefers pace and struggles with floaty no-pace balls. Serena's coach Mouratoglou claimed that Serena suffered a knee injury during the match, but I recall Vinci's unconventional playing style coupled with the pressure of the occasion getting to Serena, don't remember seeing impaired movement. The scalpers' market went berserk in anticipation of Serena's possible Grand Slam, with even not-that-great seats going for $thousands. Imagine how the market crashed after the Vinci upset. Since the US Open crowd is super pro-USA, I doubt Novak's Grand Slam bid will spark a bidding frenzy. Besides, he's the redheaded stepchild of the Big 3. Rafa has his fans, especially among Latino-Americans. Roger's appeal transcends any sense of nationalism. Only die-hard tennis fans and of course Serbs will be riveted to Novak's Slam quest. The general public, meh, not so much.

Roger is officially out. He will undergo a third(!) knee surgery & will need a minimum 6 months recovery. Rafa is a wait & see, but honestly, it's not looking good. Even if he does end up playing, that pesky foot problem might come back at any time, especially on unforgiving hard courts. Defending champ Thiem definitely plans on playing, but he'll go into the USO with no tournament prep, and Domi is the kind of player who needs a lot of reps to find his game. Novak's biggest competition will be the Next Gen guys: Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Zverev & maybe Berrettini. Novak crushed Medvedev so badly in Australia that I think Daniil might still bear the scars. Tsitsipas doesn't seem to have recovered from blowing the Roland Garros final from 2 sets to love lead. Novak seems to have figured out how to get past Berrettini's monster serve & forehand and attack his vulnerable backhand. The player I worry about most is Zverev. He played god-like tennis to come back against Novak in the Olympics semi. Whether Zverev can overcome the mental issues that plague him in Slams is another issue.

I would never subscribe to Dekkoo simply because I can't imagine there are enough good gay-themed films out there to make it worth the $10/month. Maybe I've just been a bit unlucky, but I've seen way too many gay-themed films that were total shit. Also, I've found that if you're a bit patient, the gay-themed films you're interested in turn up somewhere. I had been wanting to watch "Azul y no tan rosa" ever since I saw the trailer in 2014. Lo & behold, I finally caught it when it popped up on Spanish Public Television recently. You probably won't have to wait quite so long for most gay-themed films to turn up on Netflix. If you simply must see a particular gay-themed film, there's usually an option to rent it for a night (usually ~4 bucks). You could rent up to 29 films in a year and still spend less than a year of Dekkoo. "The Blonde One" turned up on YouTube with subtitles in English, and the video quality is pretty good, just some brief freezes here & there. The good: I loved the two actors in the lead roles. The brunette is smokin' hot with helluva body, which lucky for us he's not the least bit shy about showing off. The actor playing the blond is an amazing actor who totally carries the film. Now the bad: not much plot, action, or even dialogue. Most of the film is long shots of the blond's face as he experiences hurt, jealousy, love, lust, joy, and sadness. Without such a strong actor to pull it off, the film would have been a total fail. Just as I was starting to lose patience with the film, the ending wraps things up brilliantly (I shan't spoil it for anyone). A bonus: the little girl who plays the blond's daughter is terrific. So many child actors are just cringe, but this one is a gem. I'm glad I saw "The Blonde One" and plan on rewatching all the sex & nudity scenes very soon, LOL.

Lucky for him that he advertises in Miami, where 60+% of people speak Spanish as a native tongue and many of the remaining 40% speak it as a 2nd language. I doubt his lack of English affects his business much. By the way, I recently saw a funny video of a woman who freaked out at a Hialeah Taco Bell drive-thru because she couldn't place an order. She didn't speak Spanish & not one employee on duty spoke English. ~90% of Hialeah FL residents speak Spanish at home.

I realize that except for women's gymnastics, I watched only men's events at the Olympics, mostly diving and track & field. Women's gymnastics are different from the men's and therefore worth watching. I like the innovations in the uneven bars routines, and what the women do on the balance beam makes my jaw drop. But aside from gymnastics, women's events are pretty much like the men's, just without all the nice muscles & bulges. Oh gawd, I am the most superficial Olympics fan ever 😄 Plenty of smokin' hot Winter Olympians, but as you pointed out, unfortunately they're all bundled up. Well, at least those skin-tight speedskating outfits leave little to the imagination. I'll definitely tune into the men's figure skating to cheer 'til I'm hoarse for Nathan Chen.

If you're hoping to discuss golf's US Open, gotta start your own thread 😁 The US Open starts in a few weeks (Aug 30), and a few developments are worth talking about. For me, the number one lead-up story is the health of the Big 3. As I was hoping for ever since Novak upset Rafa in the Roland Garros semifinal, all Big 3 are tied at 20 Slams apiece and will go into the USO trying to grab the lead. Unfortunately, I have my doubts about two of the three. After the Australian Open 2020, Roger underwent two knee surgeries and didn't play a match for the rest of 2020. His comeback in 2021 has been rather wonky, playing just 13 matches (9-4 W-L) and withdrawing from the two Masters1000s Canada & Cincinnati. Rafa injured his foot (a bone issue in his left foot has been a problem since he was a teenager) during the RG semi. He withdrew from Wimbledon & the Olympics to recover. He was feeling fine in practice but felt pain again during both DC Open matches. He has also withdrawn from Canada & Cincinnati. The Big 3 guy whose health I don't worry about is Novak. While he cited "multiple injuries" after pulling out of the mixed doubles bronze medal match, reports are that he now feels 100% and withdrew from Cincinnati (don't think he ever signed up to play Canada) for mental rest & recuperation, not physical. Mind you, whether Roger & Rafa play or not, Novak will still have plenty of competition trying to deny him the calendar-year Grand Slam. The much younger Next Gen (25yo Medvedev, 25yo Berrettini, 24yo Zverev, and 22yo Tsitsipas) is 100% fit & raring to go. All 4 of those Next Gen guys are very good players and (except maybe Zverev) future Slam champions. Even though I don't see Zverev winning the USO, he is very capable of upsetting Novak in the semis or quarters (then he'll choke the final). But boy oh boy, the US Open will be vastly more interesting if Roger & Rafa are healthy and contending for the title.

I've lived in two gayborhoods: NYC's West Village in the mid-1980s & Boston's South End in the 1990s. Both neighborhoods have since become so upscale that the largest demographic group shifted from gay to f*cking loaded, LOL. "Ghetto" is such a negative, depressing term, and I certainly never felt like I lived in a ghetto. It was fun to see the neighborhood get great new restaurants, shops, and cafes. It was also depressing to get priced out of both gayborhoods, but alas, all good things must come to an end.

Rafa just pulled out of the Canadian Masters1000, citing the foot injury that took him out of Wimbledon & the Olympics. Let's see if he plays Cincinnati.

Still a teenager for another week, Jannik Sinner becomes the youngest winner of an ATP500 tournament since the category was created in 2009. He jumps 9 spots to a career high #15 in the ATP singles ranking. Finalist Mac McDonald jumps 43(!) spots to #64. The way the singles rankings are determined are a little nutty right now because they still include results from 2019 (Covid f*cked up everything). A more accurate indicator of how well a player is doing is the Race to Turin ranking, which counts just points earned from the start of 2021. In the Turin race, Sinner is #10 and Mackie is #30. Unrelated to the DC Citi Open but not important enough to start a separate thread, Novak has officially withdrawn from the Cincinnati Masters1000 tournament. So either Novak enters the Winston-Salem 250 (unlikely) or he goes into the US Open without playing a competitive match in a month.

Thanks for posting about Jordan because I wouldn't have heard about his story otherwise. You have to worry about the future of any baby left at the door of an orphanage. Jordan was very lucky to be adopted by such a great dad.

Ah, my favorite TV couple ever! Both guys smokin' hot with sizzling chemistry. As over-the-top as much of Oz was, I found the love story between Beecher & Keller surprisingly understated and believable.

I agree with this one thousand percent. Moderator’s Note: Please no politics in the Lounge.

Oops, spoke too soon. When I wrote the previous post, Rafa was up 6-2 1-0 and looked like he was cruising. Then Sock came back, won the 2nd set, and Rafa eked it out in a 3rd set tiebreak. Today he got beaten by Lloyd Harris, who is having a pretty good season, but I'd still call it a pretty big upset. The DC tournament director must be bummed because Rafa's practice sessions were drawing bigger crowds than some (most?) of the matches, LOL. Ah well, not a disaster considering that Rafa is coming back from injury. He has plenty of time to sharpen his game before the US Open. Better than Federer, who just withdrew from both Canada & Cincinnati. No official on whether Fed plays the USO, but it's not looking good.

I hear the tournament is buzzing over Rafa. It's the first time Rafa has ever played DC, and IIRC the first time any of the Big 3 has played DC. Poor Jack Sock, he's getting clobbered by Rafa right now. Sock was ranked #8 in late 2017-early 2018 but suffered a thumb injury that knocked him out of the ATP rankings entirely. He is currently #192 and was lucky to get a wild card into DC, but horribly unlucky to draw Rafa in the 2nd round. The Big 3 rarely play ATP500 tournaments. They play Halle and Queens because they need matches on grass before Wimbledon, and they often play Dubai because Dubai pays them jaw-dropping appearance fees. But I don't think DC paid Rafa much if anything because they don't have much of a budget. DC just lucked out that Rafa was looking to get back into form after an injury layoff -- he skipped Wimbledon & the Olympics because of a foot problem.

As much as I'd love to see the guys in Speedos, I'd be OK with board shorts since that'll what most guys wear to the beach. But come on, could they at least lose the shirts?!

That link didn't work for me. Lets see if this one does: https://rent.men/Hazam

Zoinks! For such a fit & trim guy, Vincent Riendeau is in dire need of an XXL Speedo.

Thanks for the pic, because I had only seen Ozzie as an older man. Yeah, the apples definitely did not fall far from the tree.

In terms of physical attractiveness, Sam Mikulak & Max Whitlock are about tied for the gold in World's Hottest Gymnast (not an official Olympic event, although it should be). But then I hear Max's accent & just melt.

Totally agree about Jason Mamoa. Regardless of hair length, just not my type at all. If Ryan Gosling knocked on my door wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, OK, I'd let him in (I'm so damn weak), but why so many find him so gorgeous is beyond me. The biggest one in this category for me is Zach Efron. Granted, the body is impressive, but his looks -- just so not for me.

I don't think we add extra caffeine to coffee beans in America. The difference is that Europeans tend to consume dark roast (all espresso drinks obviously but even brewed coffee) whereas Americans drink light roast. The longer beans are roasted, the darker they get and the more caffeine gets broken down. Mind you, I think you can buy extra-caffeinated coffee in America, but it's rare.