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Well mine hasn't gotten any bigger over the last 30 years

Mine get's bigger in a second, doesn't take 30 years!

Flights from Mexico to Asia are INSANE $$$.....sometimes award mile seats available from Mexico City or Cancun, but rarely. Airlines, especially US carriers are fleecing people....so grateful of them after the FREE Covid money they got. Should've been a loan like the banks and car makers got

Whether in Thailand or Egypt of Latin America regardless, what drives young fit men who are in many cases straight to have sex with strangers,tourists, is money. It is a financial transaction and anything else is just a minor detail, money is the key that opens closed doors. The problem is that some tourists are so disillusioned that they actually think that these young men are offering their sexual services because of love and romance. The only exception to this is if you yourself are young and cute and white. Then yes you might attract sex for free.

I used to collect them. Nowadays I don’t bother and take the best deal on offer rather than being stuck with one airline.

There is by definition a plan B in place in case of Biden's incapacitation. It's almost nobody's *first* choice but that doesn't change it. Would Kamala have a harder time than a "spry" Biden, yes. Would a LOT of people line up to vote for a ebola-laced ham sandwich on fire over Trump? Also, yes (inclusive). Biden's the nominee. Kamala is the VP nominee. A vote against them (including the bullshit "no-labels" shills) is a vote against the continued existence of our democracy, as shown January 6th and by the bloviators saying right now "Trump or Death" and actively promoting further armed insurrection. I'd fucking vote for Diane Feinstein over that (only thing worse than an ebola-laced ham sandwich I could think of). More likely is Trump not being the nominee on the Republican side as his health is, as mentioned, clearly worse plus his legal entanglements and the possibility of the 14th amendment keeping him off ballots... but I find the possibility of a smarter, more capable person who's learned from Trump following in his footsteps the most terrifying of these potentialities. Which is why hope is for Biden's continued good heath and actual accomplishments continue long enough to have a definitive "blue wave" that breaks the back of the MAGA fascist wing of the Republican party and either restores the party to sanity or makes it irrelevant forever.

let's not overreact. highly corrupted country would be one where you arrive with valid visa and border guard still asks for bribe to stamp you in. Or pilot refuses to take off if passengers don't chip in. Or they tell you there's no penicillin in the pharmacy but when you put proper note on the counter and say "keep the change" it miraculously appears from under the counter. I haste to add those my personal experiences accumulated over the years.

From Pattaya Mail On the evening of September 7, a massive fire erupted at the Four Regions Floating Market in Pattaya, quickly engulfing the market due to its primarily wooden structures. The fire left a path of destruction in its wake, particularly affecting the waterside restaurants and shops, resulting in substantial estimated damages reaching tens of millions of baht. Firefighting teams from Pattaya, along with more than 20 additional firefighting vehicles from neighboring districts, urgently assembled to battle the blaze. Moderate rainfall provided some relief, aiding in the firefighting efforts. After more than an hour, the fire began to subside but was not completely extinguished. Intensive efforts persisted to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading further. It took four hours to finally bring the blaze under control. The total area of the Four Regions Floating Market encompasses approximately 19 rai (approximately 7.6 acres), with an estimated one rai (approximately 0.4 acres) affected, primarily within the zone housing restaurants and waterside shops. The exact cause of the fire remains undetermined, pending further investigation. The estimated damage is believed to be tens of millions of baht. Fortunately, there were no reported fatalities, with only one minor injury due to smoke inhalation. Established in 2008 with an estimated budget of 100 million baht, the Four Regions Floating Market in Pattaya stands as a cultural tourism destination, providing insight into the traditional Thai riverside way of life. It features various attractions, including street food stalls, paddleboats, and cultural exhibitions representing the four regions of Thailand.

I don't understand why when I press 'Quote' on your last post, absolutely nothing happens! That's totally unusual. So I'll just have to copy and paste the relevant sections. I've still never heard of Nicholas Galitzine or Mary and George! Nor do i know what TZP is. Sounds like something you gargle with! Sorry! You are probably right. And certainly there are more openly LGBTQ actors now in the business. But if they do not want to lie, then they can tell the truth. It's an issue only they can face and those of us who are not in the acting profession can't do a thing about it. Nor should we, in my view.

I don't expect anyone to "get behind" KS. As far as I've seen he's simply being left alone. If he indeed committed crimes then he should be prosecuted and I mean criminally, not just sued. He sounds like a pretty horrible person who uses his fame to get what he wants. As for the 30 people, if they don't come forward then nothing will happen. Masterson, Weinstein, Epstein, R Kelly, Harris all show that celebrities can be held to account under criminal law no matter who their lawyers are. Given that civil cases are decided on the balance of probabilities rather than reasonable doubt, the evidence must be extremely weak if no one is willing to sue Spacey.

Bit unfair on the UK, where I live. The Government may be incompetent, indeed is, but hardly as corrupt as Thailand and others. Also they will lose to Labour in the next election. PS I see the new PM in Thailand is launching an anti corruption drive!! Any advance on zero chance of success?

Wow! There is so much in that post I do not know where to start with a response. Unfortunately, I have never heard of most of those individuals and movies you mention! That aside, in principle it doesn't matter to me in the slightest if a gay part in a movie is played by a gay or a straight man. I see no reason why we should know. We are watching a movie, not a gay man acting in a movie. The case of Bernstein's nose is not quite the same. I don't care that the actor is straight when Bernstein was, as his wife acknowledged in a letter soon after their marriage, "a homosexual and will never change." The nose was an attempt to make Cooper look more like Bernstein, which to me it doesn't! Going way back in time, were average (perhaps all) movie goers aware that matinee idol Rock Hudson was an out-and-out gay when away from the silver screen? Of course not, because these were the times he lived in. Moving over to the general entertainment business, we can turn the quesion on its head. The highest paid entertainer in Las Vegas history for many years was Liberace. He did a lot to hide his status as a gay man, even suing and winning a law suit against a UK newspaper by telling lies. Yet those in his audiences were mostly middle-aged ladies who, if they did not know, surely all guessed that he was not straight. Did that affect his popularity? It probably helped it! Yet not many years earlier, the gay actor, singer, playwright, and general man of so many talents, Noel Coward, had told his biographer that he did not want to be known as gay - even though like Liberace he often seemed more gay than many gay men. His reason? He believed that most of the middle-aged ladies who would come in buses to see him in matinees - essential to the profitability of many plays in London at the time - would be put off if their suspicions were found to be true. This was the actor who had had a 20-year affair with a member of Britain's Royal Family, Prince George the Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George V. George had started one letter, "Dearest, darling Noel." The government and society of the day were determined that no word of the relationship leaked out - and not only because under UK law at the time it was an offence to be gay. After George's death during WW2, Churchill himself authorised a break-in of Coward's home to steal the letters between the two men. One of Coward's many quips concerned two other in the closet UK actors, one gay and one very bisexual. With a friend he was crossing London's Leicester Square in the 1950s and noticed the cinema was showing a movie billed as Dirk Bogarde and Michael Redgrave in THE SEA SHALL NOT HAVE THEM. "Why ever not?" said Coward. "Everyone else has!" You mention Asian movies. Given the cultures in Asian countries, the lack of gay-themed movies is understandable. I have seen neither of those you list, but am surprised that the movie made from Taiwan's most famous book about gay men Crystal Boys published in 1983 is not mentioned. This was penned during martial law at a time when there were no gay venues in Taiwan. It concerns a group of boys who sell themselves by being available in the famous New Park. This was made into a movie in 2003 and also a popular tv series. It's 20 one-hour episodes are avaiable on youtube. Now, of course, Taiwan has become arguably the most open country in Asia for the gay community. So it is hardly surprising that Your Name Engraved Herein was such a success. I find it interesting that it is set in 1987, the year when martial law was finally ended and slowly a gay scene began to emerge. In some ways, Hong Kong cinema was further ahead than Taiwan. Arguably Hong Kong's best-known gay-themed movie is the gritty and very gay 1997 movie Happy Together starring gay Leslie Cheung and straight Leung Chiu-wai as a gay couple who travel to Brazil to try and reignite their relationship. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or in Cannes and its director Wong Kar-wai won the prize as Best Director. It also received many accolades at Film Festivals. In 2016 it was ranked the 3rd greatest LGBT movie of all time by the British Film Institute. Leslie Cheung finally came out as gay during a long run of concerts in Hong Kong in 1997 when he stated he had been in a relationship with an old schoolfriend for about 20 years whom he called "the love of my life". It had absolutely no effect on his fan base - other perhaps than to increase it. His earlier gay-themed movie hit Farewell My Concubine was also a major success. It was the first Chinese language movie to win the Cannes Palme d'Or and won the Golden Globe as Best Foreign Film. That Leslie died by suicide aged only 46 was tragic. But I suggest the knowledge of his being gay was not merely a result of his being effectively a mega-star. It was a realisation among his generally young audiences that gay/straight stereotypes were gradually changing. Going back to your main theme, I am totally against outing anyone. As you suggest, the popular media will always want to know about 'stars' lives and who they are sleeping with. That's their business. If a gay man says "I have dated girls but am not ready to marry" it will do less harm to his career than "fuck off, it's none of your business." Who are we to say he is being unfair to other, perhaps younger and struggling LGBTQ actors? Acting is a dog eat dog profession. Everyone knows that. If that was not the case, there would likely have been no Bill Cosby, no Harvey Weinstein, no Kevin Spacey and no Johnny Kitagawa Japanese movie mogul raping Japanese boys for almost 50 years (see the thread Japan's Boy Band 'King' a Serial Sexual Predator under Theatre, Movies, Art and Literature). We live in an increasingly unfair world. Those who fall into the LGBTQ category have to fight just like everyone else. We need understanding. We should not expect nor ask for favours.

Point taken. 🙂

try purple 500 , then you learn what stampede is

With red 100 baht notes in hand and waving, I am definitely not shy. The boys all rush to my table.

So I'm starting this thread to put a positive spin on where we are in 2023. There are three threads that start with negatives - Spacey's court verdict, an Asian boy band predator, and an overall discussion about "wokeness" in films and plays. Tangentially, we could throw in Bernstein and Bradley Cooper as a ridiculous example of "nose-baiting," which I guess is kinda like "queer-baiting." 🤔 So this will be a long rambling think piece. But I'll summarize my two main points. First, I'm delighted that we have broader, better, and more positive representation of queers in films than ever before. I'll use Red White & Royal Blue, Heartstoppers, and Uncoupled as examples. I'll throw in Your Name Engraved Herein to make a few points, too. Second, while it's easier to be a Gay character in a film, it seems like we still have a mess on our hands in terms of whether it's actually okay to be a Gay or Bi actor. At one extreme, the concept of "queer-baiting" suggests everyone should come out, even by force, and mostly or only play roles that match their real life sexual orientation. In real life, Kit O'Connor was forced out, with this idea used as an excuse for cruelty. TZP is being outed right now, all over the world. Not for queer-baiting, but for being queer. But what that means is fans are collecting and commenting on things he posted on social media for about a decade. I would not call it cruel. But I would call it a mess. Meanwhile, we have what I'll call the Luke Macfarlane standard. Which is "just be honest about who you are." That seems to work these days. That's one of my favorite clips from one of my favorite LGBTQ films, The Celluloid Closet. So I'll use it to do a compare and contrast between three time periods over a quarter century apart: 1962, 1995, and today. When The Celluloid Closet came out in 1995, it was itself a sign that it was just becoming okay to talk about how queers are portrayed on film. I'm a fan of Lillian Hellman. But I agree with MacLaine. They had no idea what they were doing. They were totally unaware. Had they been lesbians, in real life, they almost certainly would have been more aware. And they almost certainly never would have been cast, or had successful careers. MacLaine is being a bit hard on herself, and her character. What was one supposed to do in 1962, when most people still thought being a lesbian actually was a disease? The spate of new Gay films I named, all rom coms or love stories, suggest that we really have learned a lot about representation of queers in film since 1995. There's a nice thread on Company Of Men of posters' favorite LGBTQ films. Almost all of them were made after The Celluloid Closet. This is why. I love both Heartstoppers and RWRB. I've read the criticisms of RWRB. That it's a mediocre Hallmark movie, based on fan fiction that reads like Marvel dialogue. But I think the book and film are so successful because they summarize and dramatize decades of learned LGBTQ wisdom. I'll single out one line that I've seen criticized repeatedly as Marvelesque: "Starting today I shall no longer be the prince of shame and secrets." That line, and much of the movie, could have been written as a direct response to The Children's Hour. Finally, we have Gay adults, in Uncoupled, and a Gay and Bi teen, in Heartstoppers, and a Gay prince and Bi First Son, in RWRB, who are willing to fight for their queer love. No wonder the world loves it. I'll throw in Your Name Engraved Herein. One person who posts here commented that it's one of the saddest movies he ever saw. I agree that it is sad. But I also see it as hopeful. I loved it. It is significant that it was the most successful LGBTQ movie ever in Taiwan. And the most successful movie of 2020 in Taiwan, period. I thought both the movie and its success was a recognition of how growing up in a culture like the one portrayed in The Children's Hour makes it challenging, but not impossible, to live a happy queer life with a partner. The other Asian movie I finally saw this year that I'd compare it to is Bishonen, from Hong Kong in 1999. It did prove you could cast gorgeous young Straight ABC actors, who would become friends in real life and have very successful careers. But the film was a flop. And like The Children's Hour it carried the message that these queer romances never end well. These are two examples of good LGBTQ cinema that makes it very easy to understand why audiences, especially young audiences, love the idea that we really can have queer fairy tales now. Where boy meets boy and does live happily ever after. In terms of whether boy actor can meet boy and fall in love in real life, I feel like we are at about 1995. Meaning we are just starting to be able to talk about it. In that TIME article I hyperlinked, Your Name Director Patrick Liu talked about using a trumpet as a symbol of "a sound quality of wanting to say something, but not being able to get it out." That seems to be where we still are. One anecdotal proof of concept is Kevin Spacey himself. He won his first Oscar right around when The Celluloid Closet came out. I don't blame him for prioritizing privacy, and his career. We know how Don't Ask, Don't Tell turned out in that era. So you can take that as an indicator that it was better for him not to tell the world he was Gay at that time. Kit O'Connor, 18, did not want to come out as Bisexual. He did mostly thanks to the cruelty of Twitter, in his own words. But taken to its extreme, "queer-baiting" means any actor, even a teen, should be required to declare his sexuality. Then we know whether it matches the character he plays. It's ridiculous. Polo Marin, Mexico's most popular Gay actor, was outed twice in his mid-20's. What he said in this interview captured some important nuances: Then there is Luke MacFarlane, who along with a lot of other Gay actors - like much of the cast of Uncoupled - is setting what I view as the gold standard. There's also the argument that, essentially, fans should not be fans. Or even human. We have no right to know anything about these people. One really good response I read from some actor to some question once was, "I like to keep my private life private." That's fair. That said, what both Marin and Macfarlane capture is that this does not happen in isolation. And it is a two way street. Marin wanted to be a role model for others. And now he is. Macfarlane made a pragmatic decision that he could afford to be honest to his fans. First, there's absolutely zero evidence that fans are going to stop acting like fans just because you are Gay. Second, he calculated he could be honest because his fans would love him and respect him for who he is. He was right. Plus, being honest is always easier. Out of curiosity, I Googled to see who the most private celebrities in the world are. I came up with this list. I think it is telling. If these are the most private celebrities in the world, we know a hell of a lot about them. Like their spouses, whether they have kids, their divorces. So if the idea is that fans are evil for wanting to know these things, good luck with that. I'll single out Matt Damon. Like MacFarlane, he seems to be a wise guy who figured out how to get ahead of the curve. Several friends have told me the story about how Damon is the kind of down to earth guy who would meet his wife in a hotel bar, where she was bartending. He is not so private that he didn't share with the world that his wife helped him through a period of depression. It makes perfect sense that celebrities who value privacy for their family try to manage it by curating what their fans get to know. I think they are wise. On the other hand, Harry Styles has proved you can do very well by essentially saying, I could care less what people say about me or my sexuality. He said there is going to be a set of narratives, anyway. And he feels no need to control or shape them. Although I suspect Harry can say that because it actually helps shape the Harry Styles mystique. It still means that his fans know he is dating Olivia Wilde, who wisely calls Harry's fans "kind." And now Taylor Zakhar Perez is in the global hot seat. Which is more proof that we're now better at portraying queers in film than we are at knowing how to talk about queer actors in real life. It is easy enough to blame TZP for about a decade's worth of queerish content he posted on social media. It is also easy enough to blame fans (or not fans) for caring about queerish content he posted on social media. I don't feel either are very fair to TZP, or his fans. But it does prove that if you are a nobody who becomes a big somebody on social media, keeping your private life private is next to impossible. So, like Damon or MacFarlane, it probably makes sense to think that through as early as you can. On Company Of Men I have raved repeatedly about how Galitzine finally came out as Straight in an interview with a Gay reporter at Variety when RWRB opened. It's funny that some fans on social media still think it's a ruse, and he didn't really say it or mean it. Fans will always be fans. I'm guessing that Galitzine and RWRB Director Matthew Lopez had to have talked about that interview. Galitzine kind of put Lopez on the hook by saying he wanted to discuss this with the openly Gay director right out of the gate, before he was cast. I view the interview as an honest and wise way to get ahead of any possible queer-baiting or outing adventures regarding Galitzine and RWRB. It is too much to hope that it will permanently end queer-baiting, and more cruel attacks on actors like Kit O'Connor. But it is a big step in the right direction. Even though RWRB was brilliantly scripted as a movie, and there seems to have been a script to undermine any possible queer-baiting backlash in real life, there is no apparent script for dealing with the fact that one of the two lead actors is Gay, or Bi, and married to a man. TZP could have gone to Variety and talked about being a queer actor in a queer movie. If these guys are as smart as I think they are, it suggests maybe there is a script. Like Harry Styles, TZP may have decided he is fine with fans developing any narrative they want. For now, at least. Fans are already deep into speculation about whether he shares his husband's somewhat more conservative political beliefs. That's a good reason to value privacy these days! I do hope this results in a lot more behind the scenes reflection on how Hollywood can do better. We now have lots of examples of queer actors who were outed. So it makes perfect sense that in the future queer actors should factor in that if they get their wish, and are wildly successful, they may not have a choice. The concept that curious fans should stop being curious fans is ridiculous. This is fun for me in part because it so NOT me. When I watched My Policeman with a Gay friend recently, he actually had to explain to me who Harry Styles is. I'd never heard of him. I skipped Kissing Booth 2 because I could care less about TZP, but wanted to know how the cheesy story in Kissing Booth 1 ended. Now I've been following gossip websites I've never heard of, and reading articles in magazines I never read, to see how we got to TZP being outed. So I'll point to one example of an article that is kind of innocuous, but also a perfect example of the problem. Right when Kissing Booth 2 was being released, TZP was interviewed by Glamour. Here's a few snippets: First of all, let's stop pretending that magazines like Glamour, or almost any other magazine or website in the world, are going to stop asking questions like that. So sexuality is on the table. Because they know that's what fans want to know. None of those answers are dishonest. But they are somewhat misleading, and a bit transparent. A few months later, if you Google it, there are all these articles in which TZP says he is not dating Joey King, who is a friend. And he wonders where fans even got that idea. Geez, who knows? 😉 A few people in these 100+ page "outing" discussions on TZP have speculated that Galitzine, having more experience, is more media savvy. That may be true. Glamour is clearly not doing upcoming queer actors any favors by asking these questions. I'm guessing TZP might have been thinking, "I could tell you. But then I'd have to kill my career." I'd be fine if we all just forgot about queer-baiting and instead focused on how the entertainment industry can help the LGBTQ actors who are starting to break through to just be who they are. We know Hollywood could exist for most of its history without outing queer actors. The old solution was they had to lie and be something they were not. I'm fine with the new solution being silence. At least for some people, for some time. If queer actors like Macfarlane want to tell the world they're Gay, and married to a guy, great. My bias is I'd rather they all come out. But if they don't want to, edit the question out of the interview. It's clear that a lot of this is discussed with directors and publicists in private. At least with some actors. So change the script. That said, now that TZP has gotten his wish, after what sounds like a decade or so of endless auditions, I'm guessing 99 % of the world will overlook these trivial things. If it makes anyone look bad, it should be the industry that insists on pigeonholing sex symbols into stereotypes. I have no idea what a better solution is for the awkwardness of being queer but not being ready to come out. The good news to me is that the increasingly viable long term solution is what Macfarlane did in 2008. Be honest. It did not end his career. He actually says it has helped his career. I hope he is right.

Too long!

And when all that money, corruptly obtained, and filtered up the chain to the big fish, needs to be laundered so they can buy yachts, fast cars and properties all over the world, which city do they go to? Day to day life for the average British citizen doesn't involve direct contact with corruption, sure.

And these days there are many ways to get airport lounge access where I don't need elite status from any airline. I avoid alcohol when I am on the road anyway. I am not picky on food, so I am OK with mediocre meal on economy or business class. To me, the value of business class is mostly the flat bed and the space. Most people in my age are on some sort of diet: low fat, low cholesterol, low sugar, etc. I want to live in a good health as long as possible.

Be a sweetie, and let's say we round it up to 40 %? Okay? 🙂 Since you want to talk math, I have a comment and then a math question. I'd love you to tell me how you think Trump wins. I'll go first. The comment is that I didn't start this thread to criticize Biden. Or to suggest he should not be the nominee. I started it because I think the economy is the reason Biden could lose. I'll cite Clintonista Democratic strategist Doug Sostik, who recently told this to errant Never Trump Republican Bill Kristol. If the 2024 election is about the economy, Trump has a strong case, he thinks. If it is about whether people want more crazy, Biden wins. Sostik said he thinks the 2020 and 2022 elections came down to whether people wanted more crazy. And both times Democrats did well. Asked what 2024 was more likely to be about, he said he thinks Trump will be the nominee. Which will make it about whether people want more crazy. Again. So Biden wins. I'm guessing you disagree. I know what the polls about Biden running again say. But it's not about whether Biden tops the ticket to me. It's about the economy, stupid. And, more narrowly, the inflation, stupid. What solves the economy problem, like with senile old Reagan in 1983, is if people feel the economy improves. So far Biden is selling. But the people he needs ain't buying, yet, as those articles I posted make clear. So here's my question. Right now Trump and Biden are exactly the same in the RCP favorability averages, 56 % unfavorable and 40 % favorable. Ain't that sweet? They're like two peas in pod. 😉 Even so, an overwhelming majority of Americans don't want a Trump/Biden rematch. So who do you think is more likely to be able to overcome that 40 % number, and win a majority or plurality? Trump or Biden? Call me biased, but I think Biden. Simply based on the math. I'll lay out my case, and you tell me yours. As you can see from that poll, Trump has never been viewed favorably by any more than 45 % of Americans. If we go by his approval ratings as POTUS, the very highest he reached, for a matter of weeks, was 47 %. He lost in 2020 by 46.8 % of the vote. So something like 47 % seems to be his hard limit. I can see one clear way to change that: by making Donald Trump NOT be Donald Trump. Which is what sucks about these trials, in particular. When Republicans line up to testify next year about how they told Trump he lost the election, or Mar A Lago employees detail how Trump ordered them to obstruct the FBI, Independents will be thinking, "Yup. Sounds like crazy Trump to me." Biden won with 51.3 % of the vote in 2020. Until about August 2021, his approval rating was over 50 %. Did I mention that his approval rating crashed below 50 % right around when inflation crashed above 5 %? Did I mention his approval rating hit bottom in mid-2022, when inflation peaked? Biden' average approval rating was 37 % then and 42 % now, according to RCP. Hence, whether I go by the poll numbers or what real people in those articles say, it's very clearly the inflation stupid. And the economy, stupid. So you can see where the math is headed, @Moses. Trump's chances of cracking 47 % for the first time since .................. NEVER! ........................ is pretty low. But if inflation continues to subside and the economy continues to improve, Biden has more than a 0 % chance of seeing his approval ratings improve. 50 % of Americans could vote for him, and did, not that long ago. Why might his ratings improve? The economy can and does change. Trump can't and won't change. Trump may be criminal, but he's not stupid. I think he knows that to win, it helps to run in a split field. Both in the primary and general. In 2016, Trump did worse than Romney in 2012 (47.2 %) or Trump in 2020 (46.8 %). He barely did better than McCain in 2012 (45.7 %). The reason 46.1 % was enough to win in 2016 was a relatively strong third party candidate, and the electoral college in the Rust Belt. So in addition to a weak economy, or a recession, Trump has to be hoping somebody like Manchin runs. I don't think Cornell West does it. But a recession and a No Labels third party candidate that could maybe get 5 % of the vote would open up a whole new MAGAverse. Vlad would love it, I'm sure. That's my scenario. What's your scenario? How do you see Trump winning when 53 % of Americans never have and never will vote for him?

No, not really unfair on the UK. The UK is highly corrupted. Anyone taking a cold hard look at the financial services that London provides can see that corruption is its lifeblood, and it's capilliaries spread throughout UK establishments and around the world.

I'm referring to he two actors in Red White and Royal Blue. Pictured in the GIF in my post above. TZP on the left, Galitzine on the right. Nicholas Galitzine is a British actor who has played I think about half a dozen Gay or Bi characters. So for a decade, probably starting with Handsome Devil, there has been speculation about whether he is Gay. And as much as anyone else, he's an object of all these questions about "queer baiting," or whether Straight guys should be taking so many Gay roles. As I said, he just acknowledged he is Straight, and that this is a sensitive issue that needs to be discussed, in a Variety interview. Taylor Zakhar Perez's biggest role prior to RWRB was The Kissing Booth 2, in which he played the Straight sex symbol, Marco. So in case I was assuming people knew things they don't, part of the catalyst to this post is that the film, which is a Gay fairy tale filmed by an out Gay director, is a global hit. It's not clear to me why this would not have happened a few years ago, when The Kissing Booth, also a global hit, came out. But Taylor has been outed as a Gay married man on social media. Probably one reason is that suddenly he is very hot, as a star, in addition to the fact that he has always been very hot, as a guy. And some of it is probably because of all the views about queers playing queer roles. I was clueless when Mexico's Polo Marin was outed in a similar fashion several years back. But I don't think there's any going back, even though it's all on social media for now. Add Heartstoppers Kit O'Connor, who recently came out as Bi at 18 on Twitter after being bullied on Twitter for allegedly "queer-baiting" his fans. I would not call any of these three the most prominent Gay actors ever. But they are among the most prominent Gay actors of the moment, in the US, Mexico, and the UK. And they all were outed, in one fashion or another. It's a nice problem to have, in that none of this would be happening if queers were not being represented in cinema in new ways, or the movies were just flops. My main point is I think we're just starting to be able to talk about queer actors and coming out - as opposed to the queer characters some actor, queer or not, plays.

Size is a factor but I'd take a hard. standard issue Thai dick for a flaccid 8"+ one from anywhere, anytime.

First, thanks for recommending Happy Together. I've heard of it, and knew it has great IMDB scores. It's on my list of films to watch. Second, you may have predicted Nicholas Galitzine's next Gay role - LOL. He's doing Mary & (bi) George now. Can a movie where he plays Noel Coward be far behind? I'm joking, of course. Galitzine brought up in the Variety interview that some of his friends in the LGBTQ community feel more of these queer roles should be played by queers. Others friends don't care, he said. The issue isn't going away. More important, the issues around coming out for queer actors aren't going away. I think we're going to be talking about this for a long time. The point about Noel Coward is a good one. Arguably, it was easier when the solution was simple: you just didn't come out. But that was hardly simple, for Gay actors or Gay anyone. I'm not sure any actor wants to be known first and foremost as Gay. But I think Macfarlane is probably right. Whether they've felt "tortured and ruined," which is a bit dramatic, most queer actors probably don't want to have to lie and live in the closet. I think we know that simply from the increasing number of popular and successful actors who are out. But it is very much a work in progress. Matthew Lopez said there are as many queer stories to tell as there are queer people. To use 1995 and The Celluloid Closet as one starting point, the explosion of good LGBTQ cinema since we've started talking about how queers are represented in movies proves Lopez is right. So if we use these recent awkward if not awful coming out dramas for Gay or Bi actors as a starting point, hopefully this leads to an explosion of queer talent in the decades to come. The only thing I disagree with you about is I think the world is an increasingly fair place. At least on these issues. We do have same sex marriage in many nations. We do have more and better queer cinema. Now we can even have fairy tales with happy endings. The Oscars So White pushback appears to be working - slowly. Both at the bottom, in terms of more actors, writers, and directors who are not White men, and the cherry on the cake - who is nominated for and wins Oscars. That itself raises a touchy issue. If queer actors, writers, and directors are not out, how do we know these things? Do we even want to know? Like I said, we'll be talking about this for a long time. Those numbers suggest Latino representation is a big problem. Lopez has said that queer Mexican American representation is what really drew him to RWRB. And, it seems, to TZP. I strongly agree with your point that acting is extremely competitive. They're actors, not activists. So I wouldn't begrudge a queer Hispanic actor for being more worried about what he has to say to get a role than he is about how he represents the queer community.

Quite agree. I have never actually used miles for economy tickets as they are just a waste of miles - now incresingly so. And on some airlines business class mileage tickets are starting to come with options. If you want what always used to be offered in business class along with more space, reclining seats, better food and bigger TV screens, some airlines are charging for access to lounges and seat selection.

It's been very difficult to find reasonable mileage award tickets post covid. That's why O don't care much about accumulate miles anymore. On some airlines, there are basic/cheaper economy class fares and basic business class that don't give me miles.

Like the USA and the UK, for example! 😵

you must be on wrong side of history or something

https://metro.co.uk/2023/09/07/russian-prisoners-trained-by-wagner-chief-how-to-finish-off-ukrainian-children-19464525/ Wagner paramilitary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin trained Russian mercenaries to ‘murder children and women’ by throwing grenades through the windows of their homes in Ukraine. Former prisoners from the Irkutsk region, Alexey Chernyavsky and Maxim Zelenov, fought in the Donetsk region after signing contracts with the PMC in November last year. Like thousands of others, they were pardoned of their crimes by Vladimir Putin to be deployed to villages near the eastern city of Soledar for what they described as ‘cleansing’. The ex-convicts recalled how the warlord personally taught his fighters how to kill ‘Wagner-style’ when invading.

Following my prostate cancer surgery, mine has almost disappeared! 🙃

I had never heard of that case, @PeterRS. But it took me about 10 seconds on Google to figure out who you were talking about, and what he was accused of. I agree with your characterization. There were a lot of stories at the beginning about an arrest and allegations. Fewer about when and why he was cleared. But there were some stories afterward, including in The Guardian. There is a pattern here, I think. It was one allegation. Nothing I read sounded like he portrayed himself as a victim, or blamed anybody. He did cancel events, gracefully stating that he did not want allegations against his person to cloud anything. The main sense I got is what you communicated. He was intent on clearing his name. And he did. There were statements about how the investigation helped surface a child sex ring. Whether that was true, or simply a way to defend what the cops did, I have no way of knowing. What's interesting about it to me is that it is not particularly difficult to figure out the rules as they apply to the media and the police. Or the laws around prostitution, for that matter. The more I read about Spacey, the more he seems like one of the world's leading poster children for how to do it wrong. Here's another recent example that rubs me completely wrong: Kevin Spacey appears in court and blames publicist for sexual misconduct apology I read that as a big step backward. The problem isn't that I might have done something wrong. The problem is that I apologized, thanks to my stupid publicist. For some strange reason, there are something like 30 men, many with names attached and some of them underaged at the time, who accused him. Yet in his narrative, what comes through is that Spacey is always and only a victim. When he uses words like "privacy," it is like in the context above. Somehow, vaguely, this is just about me being a normal Gay man who wants my privacy. He really has no explanation for why so many Gay men seem to feel that he really did something wrong. I hyperlinked to an article about GLAAD saying Spacey is trying to deflect from his problems by making this about principles of LGBTQ liberation. I agree with GLAAD. We know the most prominent Gay actor in Mexico invoked privacy and discrimination to explain why he only came out by being outed. By all appearances, the world believes him. TZP is in the middle of his worst nightmare right now, for the same reason. But at the same time, it's a nice problem to have. When he made The Kissing Booth, which was quite successful, nobody particularly cared to figure out whether he was Gay. Now that he played a Bisexual man in a global blockbuster, all of a sudden people all over the world care. I feel bad for Taylor. But I also feel very happy for him and his husband. As with Polo Marin, I think it is going to end well. These are two very good examples of where we are at in 2023 regarding positive discussions about privacy. And whether or not it is possible to be honest about being Gay without ruining your career. I'll start a thread on that, because I think it's a very good discussion the world is having, and needs to have. The media does need an update, I think, in terms of how NOT to create an environment where Gay men have to be afraid of coming out. Spacey has nothing to do with that. The only time privacy became important to his public life is after there was a shit storm of allegations regarding predatory behavior. There are some other very clear examples of things that celebrities shouldn't do, that most can figure out. Hugh Grant and George Michaels are two examples, one Gay and one Straight, that demonstrate why celebrities, in particular, probably don't want to be in a position where they are soliciting sex in public. There's a solution. I have or have had several friends who worked for escort agencies decades ago. I was shocked when I heard a few of the names of celebrities they had sex with. There's a lot of typical names that everybody knows, I think. There are other ones that, as far as I can tell, nobody knows. I'm guessing some of these guys, who are big celebrities married to women, are or were Bi-curious. They may have just wanted to experiment when they were young. But somehow they were able to figure out how to climb the heights of Hollywood and become beloved actors, without the stigma of being Kevin Spacey. Good for them. They deserved, and got, their privacy. There are a few countries I traveled to as an escort where I was a little worried about whether I might end up in jail there. Thailand was not one of them. So to answer the question about how social media would deal with an adult man having sex with an 18 year old male prostitute, it happens all the time. If anything, Thailand was easy. Because there are known bars and resorts and spas you can go to, in privacy, to do your thing. Or to hire other local escorts to take home for the evening. The clients I went there with were not celebrities. We could go out to a bar, hire other escorts, and take them home. Once you become a celebrity, the rules change immediately. My impression is most celebrities understand that. The person Kevin Spacey actually reminds me of is Donald Trump. Deny everything. Don't give an inch. Play the victim. Don't apologize to all these people who for some reason feel like victims. And if you do apologize to them, apologize for apologizing. It is not a good look. And, like Trump, it leads us backward. Not forward.

Chaturbate is very popular. It reminds me of the money boys that come to Thailand to earn a pot of gold. Unfortunately it doesn’t work out for most of them. Chaterbate keeps half the money that customers send the “models”, so you see a large turnover. Many don’t make as much as they thought they would and leave, to be replaced by newer ones. So that company has a great profit model. I foolishly was paying $20 a month as a member at one time, and did send tokens to some Asian and Colombian guys. Now I just browse. As with porno sites, I’m a bit weary of the malware I might be catching from that site. When I open some apps, that site comes on. I’m relying on Apples security to protect my device. I had an intruder go thru my photos that I shared with Facebook and they commented on them on my instant messenger I frequently use in conjunction with Facebook. I changed my password and haven’t noticed anything since.

Tell me what the alternative is, the rapist under four (so far) indictments who's clearly less physically (not to mention mentally) fit with an extensive record of lying about everything including his health? Or one of the sycophants who find his record of constant reaching of new lows to be inspiring?

That would make it a not well functioning democracy

Why not go even higher?

stop talking about yourself

I can confirm that, few years ago one of my boys told me I won't see him next time because he starts service ( near Pattaya of all places, forgot name ) very soon. few month later I was surprised to see him on the stage again. He told me he bought his way out but refused to say how much it cost him

nor some of their customers....

Glad to hear all is good in our gay ghetto and things are moving in the right direction. Hope new bar will be successful and will not share fate of now defunct New Twilight. With Chinese owner there's a bit of possibility that he may turn it into another Dreamboys at soi twilight or BBB in Boyztown , Pattaya with their Chinese customers marching right to the bar without paying any attention to offerings in rest of the soi but that remains to be seen. Hope boys at Hot Male are doing well and are as handsome or cute or both as always had been.

As of tonight . There is a gogo opening across from Hot Male in old DreamBoys location. Scheduled to open next week or possibly week after. There was music coming from inside, but no activity thru the front door so you couldn’t see what was going on . Told that they were having practice tonight. Owner is Chinese and reportedly paid a lot of baht for the place. Stopped by Screwboys for a few minutes. About 20 guys working and some head turners. Working the crowd, they wanted offs. Some got them just before show time. Wearing white shorts and basketball jersey tops. Good crowd. Almost full. Actually I think the crowds were pretty decent both in Soi 4 and Patpong 2 Other side of Patpong, I noticed the stalls were down to Surawong. I left around midnight but noticed the fine dining of Foodland was quite busy.

Biden has had to deal with pulling through Covid after Trump recommended Clorox, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a global gas and inflation crisis. Trump had to deal with where his next 18 holes were going to be and how to fool his supporters into believing a $1.5 trillion investment in billionaires was really a benefit to them. The latter being quite easy as his supporters have to share brain cells so they can breathe and waddle at the same time. It should be scaring people. If Trump and co fix their way through the current legal issues and somehow win, the world is in for a rollercoaster of shite. Biden is a terrible choice at this particular time, he's too old. Where are the alternatives? If the dems keep trying to play things straight while the GOP try to see if there are any laws they haven't broken yet then the US will be the largest Banana Republic in the world (and the most dangerous).

The above quote is from your opening post, but now that you have made your intentions clearer, perhaps some of us can give you more specific advice. As Vinapu said in his first reply, your best venue is Tawan Bar. They generally have several bodybuilder types though it depends also on whether it is competition season or not. If you're also interested in guys who are fit and gymmed but not bodybuilder type, then Jupiter bar might serve your needs too. From a gogo bar like Tawan and Jupiter, you can call any guy you fancy to come sit with you and you buy him a drink. He will engage in small talk with you (may depend on his language skills) and eventually, if you wish, you can ask him whether he will go back to your hotel room with you. You need to be clear whether you want "short time" or "long time". Short time is usually 60-90 minutes. Long time means he stays/sleeps till morning. The boy will tell you how much he wants for ST and LT. some boys do not do LT. You don't have to say in any great detail what you want to do within that time since your intentions are not very demanding. (If you want to top him or you are hoping for bondage, etc, then you SHOULD get his agreement beforehand.) The boy may be a bit surprised if, in the hotel room, you don't really want to proceed all the way to sex, but he is not going to insist. Remember, these guys have seen many different types of clients. Do not expect or even ask for a discount just because you don't intend to proceed to sex. You're paying for his time. Vinapu also mentioned 3 massage places with bigger boys. They are "bigger" by Asian standards, not by European standards. Very few bodybuilder types. On some days, none. I am not sure how they will respond in a massage place if you're only interested in body worship (I won't even call it muscle worship), because in a massage place, they have a certain protocol to perform a massage. If you don't want a massage, they may be confused. If you do want a massage, then that's well and fine. The massage shop will usually tell you what the shop's price is and what the expected tip for your chosen boy is. Don't be afraid to ask. Hope above helps.

you think too much. Chances they accept kiss are very high although not universal. Some may not be keen on kissing in public i.e. in bar but gladly will do in the room. Not much bravery required to ask - they heard it all and more. When I decide to take boy with me , after deal is sealed but before we go home I always ask them if they kiss. This order signalizes to them that I'm interested in kissing but they can refuse if they are not keen. One of sweetest moments of many offs was when guy who initially refused to kiss after hour or two planted kiss on me unannounced.

You still missed the point. "Let you kiss him" ??? No. If he's motivated to leave the bar with you, he will kiss you first. If you force a kiss he doesn't want, you are likely to waste your money later. If he's motivated to leave the bar, he will be smiling and looking at you from the minute you arrive. That's the boy you want!