Above:
Matt Cohen
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Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Happy Hanukkah!
Happy Hanukkah to all those celebrating today!
A Whole Latke Love
'Matthew is pleased to find latkes on the buffet and escapes the crowd to eat them peacefully in the kitchen, where Ethan recognizes his hunky one-night-stand immediately. Matthew remembers their night together fondly, but certainly hadn’t expected to run into the hottie with the sweet blue eyes again. When Ethan offers to make more latkes for Matthew another day, Matthew jumps to accept the invitation. But will their date be delicious or disastrous?
I often to look book covers to celebrate the holidays and was happy, and surprised to find a few Hanukkah themed gay romance novels. I've seen then for most holidays and a variety of themes, am am glad to see them expanding their scope. The description for a A Whole Latke of Love has me wanting to read more. Will Matthew and Ethan, the two Jewish employee's at their office's Christmas party find love? I'll let you know!
So much Funukkah
'Put on your yarmulke
Here comes Hanukkah'
Adam Sandler was one of my first Saturday Night Live crushes, and part of show when I first really starting watching when I was in High School. I didn't really become a huge fan of his movies, but when he was on SNL, I loved his smile. I also loved his 'The Chanukah Song' and remember watching it live back in 1994 on the December night he first sang it on the show.
Although today's posts are celebrating Hanukkah, it wasn't Sandler's The Chanukah Song that inspired me including him in today's posts. For that, we can thank Kirstie Alley... Although there was a time I enjoyed watching Alley on repeats of Cheers, her opinions on political and social issues have certainly turned me off.
Alley made the 'Twitter' news, and trended frequently during the election, frequently due to the stupid things she said about Covid. Alley is one of those who thinks we're overreacting, and that the mainstream media is just trying to scare us into complying.
On the plus side, in one of the Twitter threads that I was reading, someone posted the link to Il Cantore, a sketch from her 1991 appearance as host. In the sketch below, you can see why a closeted and awkward teenager might have a wee crush on Sandler, especially when he's in his teeny tiny black briefs.
8 Days: Matt Cohen in Holiday Date
Hallmark isn't exactly known for it's diversity, even with white people. Their plucky, overworked executives, the ones who go home for the holidays, are frequently blonde with the look of a beauty pageant runner's up. The romantic male leads are more diverse in appearance, but very similar in shared heartbreak and blandness.
The last few years, due in part to criticism, the network has attempted to branch out. Despite the fact there seems to be only one set of actors in Vancouver to play the friendly older black couple, there do seem to be more racially diverse leads. This season also marked the networks first same sex couple as leads under the mistletoe.
Back in 2012, the network dipped it's toe into Hanukkah. In Hitched for the Holidays, Joey Lawrence played an actor hired by a Jewish woman to pretend to be her boyfriend. In 2018, the network committed to filming two Hanukkah themed movies. The results were mixed. The films were still really Christmas movies with a few Hanukkah elements thrown in for good measure. One of the fist, was Holiday Date featuring former model and soap stud Matt Cohen.
Much liked Hitched for the Holidays, Cohen plays Joel Parker, an actor hired to play the leads boyfriend when she returns home for Christmas. The fact that Joel is Jewish isn't mentioned until almost mid-way through the movie and is a surprise to both the family, and the audience.
The elements of Hanukkah weaved in are a bit basic, but that might be a good thing given I'm guessing most of the films viewers are not well versed on the traditions and history of the Jewish holiday. Unlike Christmas, which you can't escape if you tried, information about Hanukkah everywhere you turn in December and unless your Jewish, you have to look to learn.
Not being Jewish, I remember knowing almost nothing about Hanukkah until I researched Jewish holidays for JR High School project. I remember being surprised with how little most people knew about the holiday and how at the time, school's and public areas like stores and commercial spaces did little or nothing to note the holiday.
I watched some of Holiday Date last year, but DVR'd it to watch fully when it recently aired again. Matt Cohen makes a engaging lead and it was nice to see Bruce Boxleitner as the female leads father. I don't watch General Hospital, and never saw Matt on the soap, but from the caps below, it appears they frequently got him out of his clothes.
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