The Right Profile.
Just Go.
NYC’s Film Forum is having a Buster Keaton film festival – and they do
them well. Most of the times I’ve seen Buster on the big screen it’s been there, actually. & For some screenings there will be live music, which is cool & groovy, but if you can’t make one of those don’t let that stop you!
The only week I won’t recommend to newbies is the week of 9/18, when they’re showing College. It’s a funny movie, they all are – but it’s not the kind that makes people into fans. But all the others – Sherlock Jr., Steamboat Bill Jr. and The General (voted one of the top 100 films of all time) are all fan-makers. (They should have picked Go West, instead.)
Just go. Eight Mondays, starting with this upcoming one, August 7th.
If my raves aren’t enough to convince you, check out what this guy said about Buster’s films.
(Thanks to Caprice for the news and to Megan for the link.)
I hate you like a sister…
Since I can only use the word companionship so many times, I decided to look up synonyms to vary my word choices.
So as I’m reading the differerent shades of meaning for companionship – like fellowship or hospitality or partnership – I come across this entry for fraternity:
Main Entry: fraternity Part of Speech: noun Definition: brotherhood Synonyms: Greeks, association, camaraderie, circle, clan, club, companionship, company, comradeship, fellowship, frat*, guild, house, kinship, league, letter society, order, organization, set, society, sodality, union
Antonyms: sorority
Source: Roget’s New Millenniumâ„¢ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.2.1) Copyright © 2006 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
* = informal or slang
and it surprised the hell out of me. Sorority is the opposite of fraternity? I’m a firm believer in the existence of mean girls but I think that’s overstating the case for them, no? Surely sororities are also about camaraderie and companionship, fellowship and society.
I’m not sure if I think this is funny or disturbing. Or both.
Whew.
I’m convinced now that deadlines are to get writers to stop doing new drafts. I could have kept going, writing, re-writing, nitpicking, trying out different phrases, but it’s goddamn hot tonight, even with the AC on, and I haven’t gotten more than 6 hours’ sleep in like a week.
I’m pleased with it. I’m pleased with Betty’s Afterword. I’m amazed that I will have to wait until March for most of you to read it. But of course I’ll keep putting previews every month.
For those of you who are curious, there’s still copyediting, proofreading; we’re waiting for the cover design, and starting to figure out who might be willing to blurb. The business parts of publishing come next, and they are much, much easier.
So now to my celebratory Chipwich! Thanks, all, for your support. I hope it won’t disappoint.
When is morning officially?
It’s going to be a long night. Or morning. Or whatever it is.
Thanks to everyone who has sent good thoughts. It’s nearly done.
Dan Savage Strikes Again
An amazing op-ed by Dan Savage in yesterday’s NY Times.
“What the New York and Washington opinions share — besides a willful disregard for equal protection clauses in both state Constitutions — is a heartless lack of concern for the rights of the hundreds of thousands of children being raised by same-sex couples.”
I’ve been embarassed to be a resident of NY State since the ruling. We can do better.
Victor/Victoria
Tonight I finished my last revision of Chapter 7, and coincidentally Victor/Victoria was on PBS, and I happened to catch it right from the beginning. People will be surprised to hear that I’ve never seen it before. (Though no-one should be, I keep saying that I just don’t like movies, and I think I saw Chariots of Fire that year instead, because I really do see only a few a year.)
I can see how utterly shocking this movie must have seemed in 1982 when it was released. But I can’t see Julie Andrews passing at all; I mean she’s Julie Andrews! The hills are alive and all that.
But the romantic subplot (or is that the main plot?) with James Garner is – well, dumb. But at least it’s not one long homophobic joke… except it is. There’s also just something creepy about the way it’s all so ‘demimonde packaged for the suburbs’ too, which is beginning to tire me. The scenes of them trying to navigate public spaces as a gay couple are hurting my brain.
“I guess the problem is that we’re not really two guys.” UGH. My crazy bet is that she’s going to choose to drop the act and become properly gendered so they can be together. Am I right? (It’s not over yet, still on while I’m typing.)
And why a Polish count? Are Polish folks just considered genderqueer or something? I’m starting to think so. I have very little idea as to how this movie was received, and I’m sure most of you have seen it, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, initial reactions, etc.
When the Media Gets It Wrong
I was researching some issues tonight concerning journalism and the proper use of pronouns and discovered that the NLGJA (National Lesbian & Gay Journalists’ Association) have a Rapid Response Task Force whose job it is to target any form of media that’s getting a story wrong about LGBT people.
From their site:
NLGJA’s members and staff work daily with our colleagues in the news industry to fulfill the organization’s mission of fair and accurate coverage. Sometimes, though, a more targeted response is required to promote greater understanding about how to fairly and accurately cover the LGBT community.
NLGJA’s answer to this is the Rapid Response Task Force. This panel of working journalists from mainstream and LGBT media answers complaints about reporting seen as unfair and/or inaccurate by readers, viewers, listeners and our peer journalists around the country. Since its inception, the Rapid Response Task Force has not only informed countless newsrooms about appropriate terminology and the appearance of bias, but has also used these contacts to spread awareness about issues facing the LGBT community.
And they encourage you to submit stories that you feel included unfair or inaccurate coverage. So you can do something besides gripe on the message boards!
Really, No Pressure
First I want to apologize to two people who know who they are.
Second I want to explain that this week has been sheer hell for me. Not long ago an author friend of mine reminded me that second books are looked at critically – you know, separating the one-hit wonders from the career types critically. That, plus the fact that I’m talking about things in this new book I barely ever wanted to talk to Betty about, and bringing up political problems between transness and feminism. Basically, I’ve got a lot on the line, and this Tuesday I hand it all in. So in the meantime I’m smoking too much and eating too much and sitting too much.
So please pardon me if I’m a little crankier than usual. I just can’t wait to weigh myself on Sunday and find out that for the first time since March, I will have missed my target weight. That’ll be a blast, really.
Study: Aeneas, Part 7
I’m pretty sure he really does know I’m taking his picture.