Be ashamed, Americans. This is just godawful news: a mosque in Dayton, Ohio, was sprayed with a toxic substance during Ramadan prayers. And not just that, but the shitheads that did it chose the room where the small children and babies were waiting for their moms, who were in prayer.
Religious freedom, my ass.
On behalf of the rest of us Americans, my apologies to the Dayton Muslim community.
Kate Bornstein has gone ga-ga over WALL-E, as have tons of people. But only Kate Bornstein can talk about a robot movie and move seamlessly into a discussion of gender fluidity and butch/femme roles:
Marlene Dietrich in a tuxedo can make all our hearts flutter. So can Justin Bond in a gown or a tux… or both! Gender ambiguity—when it’s safely positioned onstage or up on a movie screen—is and always has been sexy to damn near all of us, no matter what our gender might be. All of our desires are being tickled. So how’s that happening? What is it that’s signaling sexual attraction to an audience with such a wide range of gender identities and sexual desires? I think the answer is that WALL•E is butch, and EVE is femme, two genders defined by the expression of strong, respectful, sexual desire.
She kills me.
I know this may be hard to believe for people who don’t live here, but it is illegal to dance in bars in NYC. Really. Places have to have a cabaret license in order to allow dancing. The law’s 82 years old, which means it was created in 1926, which means it was probably created in the midst of Prohibition to combat speakeasies, and we never removed it.
Well go figure, but Mayor Bloomberg is talking about looking into it.
(I’ve dated myself with the Footloose reference, no? Amazing what a huge deal that movie was at the time.)
Anyone else catch any of the July 4th Twilight Zone marathon? Great stuff. I just saw Of Late I Think of Cliffordville which is particularly cruel, and stars Albert Salmi, who also played Smerdjakov in The Brothers Karamazov in 1958.
I also caught the only Jack Klugman TZ I’d never seen - Death Ship. & I love Jack Klugman, yes, because of The Odd Couple, but mostly because of Quincy, which, imho, gave birth to all of the forensic shows on TV now (most of which I watch). But I have to go to sleep, despite the next one up being Printer’s Devil with Burgess Meredith. (It’s a good one.) I used to tape these when the marathons were on WPIX here in New York, but now they’re all on DVD, which makes it a bit easier. (& It took me borrowing the DVD collection to finally see the Buster Keaton TZ, which they never, ever show during these marathons.)
I really do love this series, and love Rod Serling - not just for The Twilight Zone, but because he fought and fought and fought the censorship that came with advertisers’ sponsorship of television, and during an era when they almost didn’t win. As he put it:
“It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.”
Now there was a fine tilt at an inexorable windmill, but at least he got a few stunning seasons of work done, which we’ll have forever.
A nice video about a 24 year old trans person who was hoping for a gender-inclusive ENDA. It does a nice job of humanizing the people who are being left out.
& I am going today, because I have to, because I did for The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe, and because I’m really really hoping that the water god looks as cool in the movie as he does in the trailer.
But Eddie Izzard as Reepicheep (well, his voice) should be entertaining, even if the Trufflehunter the Badger isn’t (though if he’s anything close to the Beavers, he’ll be fantastic).
They’re shooting Dawn Treader next, which is my favorite.
Wow. Scary. The trailer rocks. It’s like the other side of Dead Ringers. (Too bad they didn’t get Jeremy Irons to play the gyn.)
(via Feministing)
So I’ve decided my summer look this year is going to be ‘Stranger Than Paradise extra cum Buena Vista Social Club.’
My friend Guy always refers to the men he has the hots for on TV (& the more-than-occasional musician) as his “TV boyfriends.” I know there’s a guy from Grey’s Anatomy that made the list lately, but I never watch it so I don’t know which one it is. A while back it was Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day.
So since I kinda miss being with a guy sometimes, I’ve decided to have my own TV boyfriend as a way of indulging the beauty of men without risking actually doing anything with any.
Anyway, since all I ever watch is Animal Planet (& yes, Cesar Milan has his moments of hotness) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Vincent D’Onofrio - he’s the guy who plays Robert Goren - is pretty much my ongoing TV boyfriend. Out of curiosity, or some kind of erotic masochism, I found some clips of him on YouTube, but this one is - damn. It’s just about the hottest kiss I’ve ever seen. So now, even though I’ve never seen the movie it’s from, I’m not sure I can.
For those that bat for the other team, here he is in a 1998 film making out with a guy.
Betty & I went to see Stardust for its opening last weekend because Neil Gaiman asked us to (not personally, of course, but via his blog) and we both really enjoyed the movie. It’s rare for me to like a movie - I find most comedies too mean-spirited, most romances too gendered, and since I don’t like movies all that much in the first place (which is something like sacrilege or anti-American to admit, even) as either entertainment or as an art form, Betty doesn’t convince me to go to many. I don’t find most of them deliver even $10 worth of entertainment.
But Stardust, I loved. I’ve long been a fan of Gaiman’s writing, for the fantasy, the sheer power & reach of his imagination, & the breadth of his research, but what I usually like about writers above all else is voice. You know, I was weaned on C.S. Lewis. I like a narrative voice that tells me a story in a personal way, and what comes across in Gaiman’s writing is not just a kind of bemused gentleness, but intelligence, a lot of compassion, & a kind of sly earnestness and respect for his characters that all adds up to good stories, well told.
I read the book Stardust a couple of years ago and didn’t re-read it before seeing the movie because sometimes you want to see if the movie will touch the kind of memory you have of the book - and with this movie version, I found it hit all the same notes as the book did, mixing a kind of whimsy with a remarkable wisdom. But mostly there’s that gentle compassion - for the dead brothers (despite their being power-greedy fuckers), for the star, & for the somewhat hapless young man who’s fallen in love with the wrong girl.
The only part I didn’t like was DeNiro’s performance, and that’s mostly because it was one long “poofter” joke. & For that to be in a Gaiman film - who is uncommonly sympathetic to his gay & trans & gender variant characters - it seemed out of character. As “poofter” jokes go, I suppose it was more sympathetic than most.
So go see it. Put aside the arch comments, the snarky sarcasm, the cruel retorts. Go see a story about naivety, stupidity, greed, vanity & ultimately, justice. But mostly go see a story about love, told well.
Guilty confession: I like porn, & always have. So can I, um, recommend some? I don’t watch much, but I just got around to watching some of Tristan Taormino’s Chemistry Volume I, and damn. It’s seven porn stars, in a house, for 36 hours, unscripted. She interviews them throughout, about scenes they did, scenes they want to do… and for anyone who likes porn, it’s a cool “behind the scenes” but with plenty of actual porn, too.
She’s also got some how-to videos out: so far, cunnilingus & anal (of course), but I haven’t watched those yet - maybe after we put in the AC.
Do you know when everything around you seems to be trying to tell you something? I caught Spiderman 2 on TV the other day, never having seen it in the theatres (because I don’t get around to seeing anything in the theatres), and I really really enjoyed it, except for that bit about him giving up being Spiderman & then deciding to be Spiderman again because it made me think about writing.
Then we went to see Ratatouille the other night - in the theatre, even! - and that was kind of about being what you really are, what you’re really good at. you know, “everyone can write.”
I mean cook.
I was talking with another writer the other day about an essay I was having a hard time getting at & explained that you know, when writing is going well it’s horrible, & when it’s not going well it’s torture.
But the thing about writing that’s the hardest on me is the uncertainty; this freelance life just isn’t good for my body. I want the stability back of having a regular job & a regular paycheck, except then I see movies like Ratatouille or Spiderman 2 and I think that I have to write. Not because I’m a genius, but because I know it’s what I’m supposed to be doing.
I think.
Laura Albert has to pay back $110,000 - + $6500 in damages - that she was paid for the film rights to her book Sarah, because it was supposed to have been written by her alter-ego JT LeRoy, trans prostitute, who of course, does not, & never did, exist.
While we’re in Albany, the 4th Raiders movie is being filmed. (Rumor has it Karen Allen will be in it, too.)
I just happened to catch that beautiful scene in The Fisher King where love turns Grand Central into a waltzing ballroom. How fantastic a scene that is, probably one of my all-time favorites in movies. But then, it’s one of my favorite movies, too.
I don’t know about anyone else who’s watching, but I’m kind of stunned and pleased that 62-year-old Helen Mirren is, hands down, the sexiest woman at the Oscars.
From the Media That Matters Film Fest, do check out #07, which won the LGBT award. Having been a canvasser, this short’s a little too real for me.
(Thanks to Tom for the link.)
I was informed yesterday, by mHBer Barbara, that today is Ed Wood’s birthday. I think that makes it National Crossdressing Day, no?
Or National B-Movie Day?
Or National Angora Sweater Day?
You pick. Have fun. Get yourself ready for tomorrow, which is National Coming Out Day.
Today at Film Fest, Buster Keaton in The Cameraman and Spite Marriage. The Cameraman is one of the few Buster films shot in NYC, and is great for anyone interested in vintage footage of 1920s New York - it’s also one of the last best Buster Keaton performances of this era. Spite Marriage has one singularly brilliant scene, of newlywed Buster putting a very, very drunk wife to bed.
