RIP MIchelle Trachtenberg

Incredibly shocking and sad news today as we learn that Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl, Mysterious Skin and Harriet the Spy actress Michelle Trachtenberg has passed away at the far far far too young age of 39. I only started watching Buffy regularly in its fifth season (and had to go back and watch all the earlier seasons on DVD) so Michelle's character of Dawn never felt imposed on the show to me like it did to most people who watched the show from the start (of course that was part of the knowing wink of the character) -- anyway I was vehemently pro-Dawn and was always knocking back at the character's haters. I also got to interview Michelle in 2004 for the Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly -- I tried to find the interview online but it doesn't seem to be anywhere. I've only done two interviews in my entire life (the other one being Michael Fassbender because how could I say no to that) because I am not a natural conversationalist (which should read: cripplingly shy) but I remember Michelle being lovely and sweet and funny in our phone convo. Our deepest condolences go out to all the people who knew and loved her. With the possibility of a Buffy reboot ahead we now have to wonder how they'll address this. How very very sad.

Leo Woodall Five Times

I haven't watched the new Bridget Jones movie yes and I don't know if I will -- I think I only saw the first one? But I definitely appreciate the fact that it's given our former White Lotus trophy boy Leo Woodall some additional press here in 2025 (to go alongside all the hot gay action he's currently engaging in on his Apple+ series) -- if you follow me on Bluesky then you'll already know it's been useful not just for the usual (i.e. staring) but practical too since I used a recent photoshoot of this pretty boy to show to my barber for the haircut I got this morning! He's a man for all seasons, this one!  

Anyway in procuring said haircut photos last night I stumbled upon several other recent shoots I'd not seen before, but I'm only sharing this one (via) right now because.. well, it's plenty. Sleeveless tees, short shorts -- I am sated. We'll save the other ones for the rainy days when we've got nothing else to post. Hit the jump for the rest of these...

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, Gratuitous Noah Centineo

First things first that's a terrifically HQ photo above, so liberally click on it to embiggen as I know you will want to. Moving on -- a couple of weeks back I shared with you some photos from Noah Centineo's Calvin Klein campaign in 2019 that I'd (outrageously) never gotten around to posting. Well yesterday I stumbled upon the above photo and realized that I'd only ever seen a pre-crotch cropped version of it, posted here, and that also could not stand. Such horrific oversights on my part! I'd started this post off with an entirely different intent...

... which was to just share the three hot new photos that dropped from Noah's 2025 Behind the Blinds photoshoot (which had already given us three extremely hot photos a few weeks back). But I think we can all agree that that uncropped CK photo gets the top spot on any post. Maybe every post? Maybe every post I post from now on will begin with that photo -- who knows! Makes sense to me though. Anyway this Behind the Blinds shoot is turning out really good and I look forward to seeing them all once they've all been dropped, but here's the thing...

... as I was looking up those photos I found even more old ones I never posted! Also from 2019! (From this video specifically.) I was really dropping the ball in 2019 I guess. And listen -- I have currently fallen down a real Noah Hole and I kinda don't ever want to climb out. You understand. You hear me. Ever since That Scene on his show The Recruit this season the boy's been on my brain and then some! I've been doing this blog for a long time now -- 20 years come June, he types as he crumbles to dust -- and these obsessions come and they go in fits, and it's a big Noah fit we're having this month. So to get to the point I've got the other couple of photos from that Blinds shoot plus a heap of gifs from that 2019 one, plus then some bonus Noah, all after the jump! Come obsess with me on this happy Hump Day...

Arnas Fedaravičius Nine Times

I didn't intend for today to turn so White Lotus centric (see also this morning) but it's not really too outlandish either, given I have been worshipping at the altar of Mike White for two and a half full decades now, ever since his first film Chuck & Buck became Chuck & Buck & Jason Forever back in the year 2000. And this Vogue Scandanavia photoshoot of Lithuanian actor Arnas Fedaravičius, who plays the third season's hot-stuff masseur Valentin, obviously demanded its attention. I won't get into spoilers re: his character since some of you might not be caught up on the show but I think Valentin is going to turn out to be an interesting character, don't you? Mike White always gives the beefcake a surprise twist and I expect no less here. Not that I've seen any more than any of you, but the tea leaves are pointing! Anyway until then though just hit the jump for the full shoot (with a little bonus video at the end)...

Five Frames From ?

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Good Morning, World

I don't usually post gifs all in a line like that like this is Tumblr or some shit but... well who am I to judge Tumblr? But mainly those shots from this past weekend's episode of The White Lotus need to be seen like that to be properly appreciated. As explicated last week after the premiere those are the "will they or will they?" brothers (!!!) played by Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola on the show's third season...

It must be so weird for Sam Nivola to play a person who is related to a guy with such a beautiful ass that it's impossible not to stare at -- I can't imagine where he's summoning that energy from

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 10:58 AM

... and Mike White only added further fuel to that fire with that moment. (Do you think there is meta commentary going on with the fact that both actors are "nepo-babies"? I think Mike White just might be that galaxy-brained but that might just be a coincidence.) Anyway we'll see where that thread goes (watchfully, we will!) but for now let's just distract ourselves with a big brand new photoshoot of Patrick for V Man magazine after the jump...

Luca Talks

I actually haven't watched this in full yet myself but it's Monday lunchtime so the perfect moment! Over the weekend our favorite peach-fucker and sometime film director Luca Guadagnino did a video for the French YouTube channel Konbini's "Video Club" series, where filmmakers and actors and artists go to talk about their inspirations. And it already gifted us with at least the above meme, which I plan on trotting out whenever the nmoment arises (so basically once or thrice a week). Here's the full video:

Today's Mood

Five Frames From ?

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Good Morning, World

Several more photos of Cooper Koch in V Man magazine (each one hotter than the one before it) popped up on Friday but I decided to hold them off for today, just in case even more popped up over the weekend -- they've been having a good time, dribbling these out piecemeal, and I have had a good time being dribbled upon by them. See the first batch I posted last week right here. I also have the link to the interview here, and there's video of the shoot at the bottom of this post. (Seems like this post has two bottoms.) Kickin' the week off with Coopa, we dig, we dig. Hit the jump for the rest...

 

Welcome to the Theo-Crazy

In a week chockful o' Theo I don't see any reason not to ring it out the same way we rung it in -- by staring at that million dollar face one more time. If you go see The Monkey this weekend, which I reviewed right here, come tell me your thoughts -- like I said it's a lot of movie and I'm not 100% it all works, but I liked it anyway. More than I have any of Oz Perkins' movies to date, which have been a mixed bag for me (I was not a fan of Longlegs) -- this one's still mixed but the way it seizes onto a real chaos, a real sense of unhinged madness, well I think it's a good direction for him and he should continue down this road. The world is fucking out of control! Our movies should follow suit! On that note everybody... just try and stay off the internet some this weekend. Go outside, smell some dirt or something. I don't know -- whatever people do "outside." Just try to stay sane! That's my advice. And it's good advice. 

Which is Hotter?

Writer-director Jordan Peele is turning 46 today and we want to take this moment to commend him for his many accomplishments -- a string of great horror movies full of immediately iconic imagery that reflects the state of our world in truly original and unexpected ways... sure, all of that! But also -- have you noticed that the dude has a great eye for gifting us with male eye candy too? Because I sure have. (It's what I do, after all.) There are many more examples -- any time Daniel Kaluuya is on screen; Steven Yeun in his cowboy get-up -- but I've chosen my two personal favorites for today's birthday poll. Above there's Brandon Perea in Nope and down below there's Winston Duke in Us -- now you must choose!

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Happy birthday, Mr. Peele!

Sucking the Boys Dry At Home!

If you somehow haven't seen Robert Eggers' tremendous Nosferatu yet I will try not to judge you (oh wait, too late) and simply direct you to the streaming service Peacock, where the film is now available to stream from the comfort of your reclusive bubble. Here is my review of the film, which technically landed at #4 on my favorite movies of 2024 list but ask me another day it could've been my number one. Having watched it at home and in the theater (repeatedly) now I can say with certainty that the movie really benefits from the theatrical experience -- for one it's a dark movie...

People who complained about NOSFERATU being "too dark" really never watched GAME OF THRONES did they

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— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 8:22 PM

... although in a purposefully meted out way; this isn't sloppy darkness. It's painterly. But you need the screen to be large to really appreciate the detail of what's happening inside of Eggers' frames. But if it's to be at home you might be better off watching the 4K disc of the film as opposed to relying on the quality and strength of a streamer's transmission. But you do you! Just turn off all of the lights and let the mood envelope you. God I love this (sorta gay) movie. 

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

I posted so many photos of actor Taylor Zakhar Perez in his underwear on Wednesday I didn't think there could be possibly any more... and then there was more! Just the above shot, but that shot is good enough that it demands a posting. And you know what else it demands? A tag here on the site for Taylor! Actually it's y'all who demanded that in the comments of Wednesday's post, but I agree -- the boy's earned it. See -- I do listen to you! I'm not a dictator! This is a cheerocracy dammit! Anyway the above shot might be the only half-naked one I dug up but I do have a handful more, fully clothed though they might be, so hit the jump...

The Monkey in 400 Words

Although it'd be neat if he wants to hang out sometime since he seems like a rad dude (just saying) I don't personally know Osgood Perkins, sometimes actor, son of Psycho star Anthony, and the quickly-becoming-his-own-brand horror director of The Blackcoat's Daughter, Longlegs, and my til-now-favorite Gretel & Hansel. And yet it's impossible to not think while watching his latest movie, the Stephen King adpatation The Monkey, that this feels like an extraordinarily personal movie for the man. 

Like I said -- I don't know him. And yet knowing what I do -- having watched him speak eloquently in Bryan Fuller's horror doc Queer For Fear about his closeted father's tumultuous relationship with the character of Norman Bates and his death from AIDS, and also knowing that Osgood's mother, the actress Berry Berenson, was killed in one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11 -- the thematic threads of cursed familial chaos passed down patriarchally that thrum though The Monkey feel, you know, fairly pointed! Notable. Of note. Resonant. And then when planes on fire start falling out of the sky? Can you blame me? These thoughts are right there for the taking.

The Monkey also feels the closest Oz has gotten to date to his father's wild late career work -- the absurdly nasty black humor on display here is very close to the Tony-directed Psycho III, or to his father's oh let's say lurid performance in Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion. This movie is bleak and pitch-black hearted and finds the absurd pointlessness of human existence to be a ribald punchline. It's of a piece with the Final Destination movies, but if they were less Rube Goldberg and more Albert Camus on acid. 

It also might be, all due apologies to Gretel, my new favorite movie of Oz's. It'll definitely take a second viewing to decide that because The Monkey is so tonally erratic and balls deep wackadoo that it's hard to decide from moment to moment if this shit's anarchic genius or gallumphing mess. Hell maybe it's both! But in a world of so much personality-free I.P.-driven "content", The Monkey feels so bloody particular, so preposterously gonzo, that I must slow-clap it for audacity alone. (If you liked last year's Cuckoo, which I've come to appreciate more and more with distance for how by-its-own-rules it flew, this should also be your cuppa.)