Wednesday, April 30, 2008

It's coming....


The 2008 Seattle International Film Festival is just around the corner...I have my first Box Office meeting tomorrow night, May 1st. The B.O. opens to members on May 8th and to the general public on May 11th. Opening night is May 22nd with the film, "Battle in Seattle" a narrative account of the WTO riots directed by the actor Stuart Townsend and starring Charlize Theron, Martin Henderson, Woody Harrelson, Ray Liotta, Michelle Rodriguez, Andre Benjamin, Channing Tatum and Connie Nielsen. It is expected that Townsend and his real-life partner Theron will be in attendance.

Go here for tickets to the Opening Gala and more info:
http://www.siff.net/presents/seriesDetail.aspx?FID=109

Little Britain invades Little America


David Walliams and Matt Lucas are in the U.S. to film an American installment of their cult hit sketch series, "Little Britain", to air on HBO. Here's Walliams as beloved transvestite, Emily Howard and Lucas in the background as a pasty cop. They're also set to reprise other favorite charactors like Vicki Pollard, fey Prime Ministerial assistant, Sebastian Love and Dafydd, "the only gay in the village" as well as create new characters, just for this series.

No word if Bubbles de Vere turns up...

I have two minds about this. Yes, these guys are funny and some of the characters are brilliant, but Little Britain is one of the worst perpetrators of the "Catchphrase School of Comedy", endlessly repeating the same characters in the same sketches saying the exact same catchphrases, over and over again. I'm guessing that the Little Britain duo of Walliams and Lucas has made about 10 times more money than the vastly more talented members of another British comedy team, The League of Gentlemen, whose plot based comedy doesn't lend itself as well to t-shirts and coffee mugs...

For more info, go here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=562917&in_page_id=1773&ito=1490

Quentin Crisp returns from the dead...


John Hurt is set to reprise his role as legendary, pioneer queer writer and bon vivant Quentin Crisp in the sequel to the acclaimed 1975 television production of "The Naked Civil Servant" which focused on the early years of Crisp living in Britain as a frank and open queer man. "An Englishman in New York" will focus on Crisp's life after the publication and fame of "The Naked Civil Servant" when he emigrated to New York and became a fixture of the downtown arts scene in the 1980's. Title of the show is from the Sting song which was written about the writer who acted with Sting in the film, "The Bride". Crisp died in New York in 1999 at the age of 90.

For anyone who ISN'T aware of Crisp and his writings, you're missing out on the work of a brilliant and fascinating literary stylist. Dryly witty and only slightly acerbic, he wrote several volumes of his memoirs and worked regularly as a movie reviewer in New York. His take on the films of the 80's and 90's is very, very funny and he isn't afraid to poke fun at movies he appears in, which is probably the healthiest way to look at the experience of making a film like "The Bride" with the likes of Sting and Jennifer Beals...

Filming for "Englishman" begins in August in London and New York.

Read more about it at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7373997.stm

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

A Public Apology...


to the Rocker/Hipster who boarded the #8 bus the other morning and who I silently berated for his apparent nasty, foul body odor. It was about 8:45am and somewhere around John and Broadway a number of people boarded the bus and headed for the back where I was seated. Tragic Rocker/Hipster guy with shaggy hair, excessive piercings and be-chained wallet sits next to me and I'm overwhelmed by a wave of body funk. I curse him, sotto voce, and wince and begin breathing through my mouth for the next 15 blocks when I can escape from his barrage of crotch odor at my designated stop on Dexter. I curse not so sotto when he, too, gets off at that stop and boards the #26 with me for a journey to Fremont, but I do not sit anywhere next to him. I pray that I never see, or smell him again.

Today, I'm sitting in nearly the same spot at the same stop where Stinky Rocker boarded the other day, when a number of people board the bus and file past me on their way to seats at the very back. All of sudden, I'm hit with a Proustian reminder of the previous malodorous trip, but it's not the scent of Madeleines that I smell. Only, this time, my Rock Nemesis is not anywhere in sight but there IS a familiar face from the previous journey: a middle aged man, neatly groomed in a trench coat and carrying a briefcase and a professorial air about him. He had been seated across from me on the previous journey, and today he was standing directly behind me and the stench of unwashed genitalia was wafting from the confines of his knock-off Burberry. It hadn't been the seemingly obvious culprit, Rockstar McHipster with the nasty hair and ratty denim jacket, but the well-combed, Professor Stinky McGaypants who had odorifically raped me with his manstench.

So, I apologize to my Linda's/ChaCha/Comet hanging out friend and instead will focus my hate and loathing to the old Grampa guy who can remember to comb his hair but can't seem to get the hang of using a little Axe bodywash to clean the cooties off his cooter.

NOTE: when you type in "Stinky" to Google Images, you will get some truly horrifying results...

Mr Waters Goes To Washington...


...again, (I've lived here for 8 years and I think he's been through 4 or 5 times). This time, he's in town to perform the dog-n-pony lecture show he's been performing and perfecting for the last 30 years as a part of the Seattle Arts and Lectures Series at Benaroya Hall on Tuesday, June 3rd. (It's also a part of the Seattle International Film Festival). For more info, go here: http://www.lectures.org/waters.html

This time, I'm going; the dude ain't getting any younger and neither am I. And I love this photo of the Maestro; I've never seen it before. Judging by the picture, it must be at least 30 years old and it's John at his sexiest. He'e probably dreaming of a nekkid, skinny, dirty, redneck hippie or an Old Reliable model he met in San Francisco...

Jim Carrey to next play Stepin Fetchit in film bio, after completing work


in THIS abomination. Here's one of the first shots from the set of the new Jim Carrey film, "I Love You Phillip Morris" where he plays a gay prison inmate who falls in love with a fellow inmate and repeatedly escapes from prison to be with his love. It's based on a true story, but reality seems to have gone out the window when it came to the costume department...Yes, all gay men look like this; no gay man would dare leave the house without his ManTan and $10k of Versace on his back. I mean, C'MON, THIS IS 2008! This tired, stereotypical shit was fuckin' old 10 years ago and it hasn't improved with age. The thought of Jim Carrey mincing it up for two hours, drooling over Ewan McGregor and Rodrigo Santoro, looking like THIS is enough to induce projectile vomiting. FUCK Hollywood and FUCK the imbeciles who came up with this shit and FUCK the asstards who'll probably flock to this by the millions, especially dumbass fags who like this kind of shit.

Yeah, I know; I shouldn't judge the shit solely based on a couple photographs. But does anyone honestly think this is going to be very good?

Legs...if you've got'em, then know how to use'em...



Chad Hunt looks a little hungover in this picture...

The legs look fine, though.

I think this picture is from Michael Lucas and I'm assuming it's a promo for some filthy movie.

Cocky and Cheeky posters offend SPD, Nazi Liquor Control Board and Mayor McCheese


Eric Grandy reports over at Line Out on the Slog that cops came by ChopSuey on April 25th demanding they remove all of the posters for the monthly dance event, Comeback. The homoerotic posters traditionally feature vintage porn imagery of the 70's and 80's with strategically placed stickers over any offending genitalia. (Occasionally, they forget the stickers...) But, this month's design, shown here, doesn't even go the frontal route, but features a rear view portrait of some retro gay porn stud; it's cheeky but hardly pornographic. Cops claimed that the posting of such imagery violates state law, as mandated by the Liquor Control Board as outlined here, which was posted by Meinert in the comments section of this posting on LineOut:
WAC 314-52-015

General.

All liquor advertising shall be modest, dignified and in good taste and shall not contain:

(2) Any statement, picture, or illustration which promotes overconsumption.

(3) Any statement, picture, illustration, design, device, or representation which is undignified, obscene, indecent, or in bad taste.

(10) Any reference to any religious character, sign or symbol, except in relation to kosher wines or where such are a part of an approved label.

http://www.liq.wa.gov/enforcement/enforcementQA.asp


This is beyond lame. The SPD is bitching that they don't have enough manpower to do their jobs effectively, (which many people agree with, myself included), yet they're out waging war on naughty posters and noisy music venues. Meanwhile, robberies and break-ins in this town seldom get much more than a token investigation. And are the cops going to straight bars that have posters of scantily clad women, usually promoting some sort of beer or hard alcohol product? I kind of doubt it...

AND, live acts are raging that they can no longer drink booze at the venues they perform in since the Nazi Liquor Board decided that performers are employees of the venues they perform in, and thus aren't allowed to drink on premises. As a good friend of mine and drummer in a band pointed out to me this weekend, most bands seldom make ANY money from their gigs, or at best, a few dollars. By this rationale, shouldn't the venues be paying the bands Washington State minimum wage? And what about health benefits?

And most irritating to me, I think the Liquor Control Stormtroopers have come dowm hard, (pun intended) on the gay bars that show porn in their establishments. Last couple times I've been in the Eagle, they were showing, respectively, a non-hardcore promo for Falcon shown on an endless loop, and a children's spelling bee subtitled in French!

Before Mayor McCheese and his henchmen are done, Seattle will be about as exciting as a day at the Seattle Center Fun Forest...

Check out the original post at LineOut: http://lineout.thestranger.com/2008/04/im_sorry_officer_are_these_penises_too_l

Chris Stain at Ad Hoc Art





Opens May 2nd in Brooklyn/NYC in a show called "The Threat of Chance"

Go here for more info: http://www.adhocart.org/

Monday, April 28, 2008

Monstrously Fat Assed Jailbird sues about weight loss...'Law & Order' immediately begin drafting a script.


Broderick Laswell is a 20 year old man accused of killing a man with a dumbell last September. He sits in a jail cell in Benton County, Arkansas and like most men in his situation, he spends his days contemplating his future, or his lack of one. But, while most men would be fretting about their loss of liberty, or the perils of being anally raped in the shower, Mr Laswell occupies his time fretting about his weight loss. In the eight months that he has been incarcerated Laswell has dropped from 413 lbs to 308 lbs. He's now claiming that the jail is starving him to the point where he has spells of dizziness and that the 3000 calorie a day diet is inadequate for his needs and poses a serious health risk. He's also unhappy that they do not get hot meals and this lack of substantial servings of deliciously hot pot roast, mashed potatoes and shoo-fly pie has led to his recent filing of a law-suit in U.S District Court, where he claims that his civil-rights are being violated.

Yes, I do seem to recall that the right to copious amounts of tater-tot casserole, was one of the aims of the Civil-Rights Movement. I think Dr King had a dream about that, as well...

check out Smoking Gun: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0427081arkansas1.html?link=rssfeed

Friday, April 25, 2008

Solving a Lost Mystery


There was a minor brouhaha in the Lost fan community when it was discovered recently that actors Michael Emerson, Yunjin Kim and Alan Dale were filming scenes of Lost in London last month. Lots of speculation on what it meant, since the series has filmed 99% of the episodes, despite the fact that scenes take place all over world, on stages and locations in Oahu, (a tiny amount of filming, mainly second unit and effects work, has been done in L.A.). It puzzled me, as well, but I did about 3 minutes of detective work to find out that actor Alan Dale has a London stage committment as King Arthur in Monty Python's Spamalot and wasn't available to come to Oahu to film any scenes in his role as the seemingly evil, billionaire Charles Widmore for the post Writer's Strike episodes of Lost, which began filming in March. Since Dale's scenes were rather important for the storyline, but not extensive, it wasn't difficult to import a couple of actors and veteran Lost director Jack Bender to London and use a small local crew to film the scenes. We saw one of them last night; Ben (Emerson) confronting Widmore in his penthouse bedroom, which means there's at least one more scene to go, as actress Yunjin Kim (Sun) was also spotted filming in London with the Lost crew. Since Lost has previously and successfully shot London based scenes in Oahu, I don't see any other hidden meaning in this unusual location shoot.

Also, I really enjoyed last night's episode, despite a couple far-fetched moments, and anything Ben related is always a treat to watch. Michael Emerson is so very good in his role and his great ham acting has overshadowed every other performance on the show.

And Alan Dale is a very sexy 60 year old man...

Blue Obama


From Juxtapoz:
They’ve done it again. The 008 and Upper Playground have collaborated with Brooklyn-based Morning Breath to create a new limited screen-print of the duo's portrait of Obama. This sweet Morning Breath poster is part of an ongoing series of artist collaborations in support of Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
The Morning Breath limited screen-print will be signed and numbered by the artists and are made at a limited quantity of 200. Because the poster is a pre-sale item, it won't ship until May 21th; however, all proceeds from the sales of the Morning Breath Obama posters will go directly to creating more campaign t-shirts, posters and stickers by other artists in support of Obama's bid for President.


http://www.morningbreathinc.com/

https://www.stonehousedigital.com/stores/upperplayground/category/Posters+%26+Prints/

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Gay Seattle Blogspot has two juicy stories:

1)City of Seattle offering grant money to orgs to help build floats for Pride, (originally posted on Alex Garcia's Blog: http://alexgarciainseattle.blogspot.com)

and, 2)Pike's Bar and Grill to open in the former 1200 Bistro location. Seattle Times columnist Nancy Leson originally reported this, which was picked up by the folks at Capitol Hill Triangle blog (http://chtriangle.blogspot.com/) who also have this to report:

1200 Bistro will reopen as Pike's Bar & Grill (1200 E. Pike) sometime in June under new management

Pike Street Fish Fry (925 E. Pike) to open in the old Frites space sometime soon - end of April?

Justin Neidermeyer, who sells handmade pasta under the Pian Pianino Pastificio Artigianale label at the Ballard Farmer's Market, has taken over the former Globe space to open Pancia Piena (1531 14th Ave.)


Also, check out Bill W.'s blog. The link is a permanent fixture over to the right; it's a fantastic info source for local gay stuff; MUCH better than the dreadful SGN!

Danielli at the Skylark with Motorik and Osaka Explosion


THIS Saturday, the 26th starting at 9pm and NO COVER!! Danielli is a great band, and the Skylark is a great venue in the Delridge neighborhood of West Seattle, (just don't miss the turnoff on the West Seattle bridge; it's easy to miss and then, you're screwed!) The Skylark has some good drinks and some great food, (tator tots and mac'n'cheese) and Danielli is one of Seattle's best bands, so get your butt over to West Seattle...no excuses!

There's a link to the Danielli MySpace page, permanently located on the menu to your right. Here's a link to The Skylark: www.skylarkclub.com

Poster design by Kerri McGar of Said Creates: http://www.saidcreates.com/

"Dining Out For Life" is TONITE!!


Just a reminder that "Dining Out for Life" the annual fundraiser for Lifelong Aids Alliance is back for its 15th year. Go to one of the 150 restaurants participating and a portion of your bill is donated to Lifelong AND you can make individual donations as well. Go to their website for a complete list of restaurants.

http://www.diningoutforlife.com/seattle/participating

Lost Geek Fest begins....NOW!


So far the 4th season of the most addictive and aggravating show on television has been pretty fan-fucking-tastic. Finally, there's some momentum building on the show and questions being answered and most of that is due to the show's new device of using Flash Forwards to show what happens to some of our Lost friends once they get off the island. Tonight, the first new, post-writers guild strike, (the first of 5 new hours) is set to air, entitled "The Shape of Things to Come" and, judging by the promos, the official announced guest star list, and Internet rumours and spoilers, it looks to be a damn, fine episode. In a nutshell, we know we are going to see the Freighter folk attack Locke's camp and there'll be gunfire, explosions and some serious implied peril involving Claire, Alex and Sawyer. The guest list includes Alan Dale as the seemingly rotten billionaire Charles Widmore, (but, does NOT include Mira Furlan as Rousseau who was last seen shot at the end of the previous episode). And Internet buzz tells us, that this will be a Ben flash forward which will include scenes set in the Middle East, and a possibility we'll learn more about Ben's post-Island life and why and how he got Sayid to act as his personal assassin. There's also talk that Ole Smokey, the mysterious smoke monster will make an appearance and we might find out some interesting info about the machinations of what makes Ole Smokey tick, AND it looks like a large chunk of Red-shirts, the background extras and Oceanic survivors who seldom get anything to say or do, will bite the bullet when Locke's camp gets attacked...Fun shit to be had, and remember that Lost has moved to TEN o'clock after the premiere of the dreadful Grey's Anatomy.

AND, to geek out some more, here's some other fascinating dope about the upcoming episodes. I'm not revealing any HUGE spoilers, (deaths or anything) but if you're super sensitive to knowing ANYTHING before hand, then stop reading right NOW.

The main news I'm going to report is listing the guest characters who will be making an appearance and there are some major surprises. I've already mentioned in another post that never aging Other Richard Alpert is back for at least ONE known episode, but the most interesting news I've heard is: Seth Norris, the pilot of Oceanic Flight 815, last seen in the pilot episode where he was killed by the smoke monster, will make a return! Actor Greg Grunberg, now best known as the fat, mind-reading cop on "Heroes" has reportedly been on the Lost set filming, what we are guessing to be, flashback scenes involving his character!! This has been pretty much confirmed, as has the rumors that Sun's daddy, billionaire automaker Mr Paik will make a return in a flashforward, AND the funeral director seen in last season's final episode presiding over a funeral attended by Jack, where we never learned the identity of the corpse, has filmed scenes as well. There's also a rumor that Dominic Monaghan's Charlie may be making another ghostly appearance, but at this point, it's a very vague sort of rumor.

And lastly, the fine folks at Hawaii Blog have reported that they are currently filming the homecoming of the Oceanic 6 which includes a huge number of extras, a major press conference scene and the presense of Lost family members like Hurley's parents, (Lillian Hunt and Cheech Marin) and Jack's mom, (Veronica Hamel). Last week, Hawaii Blog also reported the filming of another major scene involving all of the Oceanic Six which is believed to have been a scene involving a memorial service for Dr Christian Shephard, Jack's mysterious, drunken dad. For all of Hawaii Blog Lost related postings, go here: http://www.hawaiiweblog.com/category/lost

I'm done geeking out, now...back to your regularly scheduled programming.

oh, the top photo is an official Lost publicity pix from ABC from tonite's episode.
The Seth Norris picture is a screen capture I got off the Lostpedia site:
http://www.lostpedia.com

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

For the 7 people who wander to my blog, I apologize for the lack of posts...


I've felt like crap for the last couple of days and haven't felt like prattling on about little or nothing. To tide you over, and also express how I feel, here is a great piece of photography I found on Juxtapoz by a British pair of artists, Kate Friend and Rachel Freire. Here is their website:
http://www.folieadeux.net/

and yes, that really is Amy Winehouse and it's a deliberate echo of the work of that seminal artist Tretchikoff and his 1950 painting "Chinese Girl".

Monday, April 21, 2008

Austin Powers in Dead Horse Beater


Mike Myers is starting pre-production work on the 4th Austin Powers film and had this to say in the West Australian: http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=23&ContentID=68478

Meanwhile, while Mike has not confirmed the title for the forthcoming movie, he has revealed the film will be from the perspective of Dr Evil, Austin’s enemy, who is also played by Myers.

He explained: “There is a fully conceived idea for a fourth and I can just say that it’s from Dr Evil’s point of view, so if you balanced how much it was Austin with Dr Evil, it’s more Dr Evil than Austin”.

Is this movie really necessary?

Isn't Mike Myers sort of "done"?

At least it's a Dr Evil movie...I always enjoyed the bad Doctor much more than I enjoyed the idiotic Austin Powers. And please, no Fat Bastard or Goldmember.

But they can bring back Mini-Me. Verne Troyer needs the work.

Queerfest 2008

The SGN reported that the Seattle LGBT Center has announced that Queerfest will be greatly reduced from previous years and will not feature a parade or rally in Volunteer Park, but instead:

[Ivan Wright, newly elected co-president], explained the Center’s new plans for this year’s event. “What we’re trying to put together now is a Queerfest event throughout the month of June, which will be held & certainly at Neighbours—they’re one of the sponsors of the event—and beyond that I’m not sure. We’re still very early into this in terms of bringing it together, but we’re hoping to get several venues around Capitol Hill and beyond.”


Mr Savage comments on all this on Slog:

Capitol Hill and beyond? Beyond Capitol Hill? As in, “off Capitol Hill”? Excuse me for bringing this up, but the whole point of Queerfest—and the divisions it created, and the money it lost, and the community center is caused to implode—was to keep Seattle’s gay pride events on Capitol Hill where the shriekers insisted they belonged.

Hey, SGN! The LGBT Center is moving Queerfest—bits and pieces of it—off the hill! Where are the charges of betrayal and heresy? Where are the furious letters from the gay community’s outraged spokesdouches? What? No quotes from angry bar owners? No calls for the board of the LGBT Center to resign? What gives?


I also commented on Slog, part of which were replies to things that other people had posted:

1)Don't know about a Neighbor's payback. I think it's a situation where Neighbor's contribution has earned them the right to be an official sponsor of the Center's events for a very long time...
2)FYI: There are no paychecks at the center to protect or money being hoarded. They have very little money, (and could use a LOT more) and ONE part time paid co-ordinator. The Board is NOT paid, and the Center hasn't had a paid Director for months. The Board's decision to do a greatly scaled back Queerfest, was a sound decision to make, both financially and for the well-being of the community.
3)If they're ever able to put on a full scale Queerfest, I would personally recommend they DON'T do it concurrently with official Pride in June, but hold it in August and make it ARTS based instead of political. A queerer, artier version of Capitol Hill Block Party held on Pike Street and Cal Anderson Park with an emphasis on this city's vast pool of queer and queer friendly talent could be a huge success and a hell of a lot of fun.

Yes, I live with my brother.

In a nutshell: Neither one of us can afford to live alone, at least in a reasonable neighborhood, (meaning Capitol Hill) and neither one of us have any desire to live in a cheap studio apartment in Lake City or Rainier Valley.

Answers to frequently asked, and rather annoying questions:

1)yes, we are both gay. Other interesting tidbit: on our paternal side there are 8 cousins. Out of the 8, at least 4 are known or strongly suspected of being gay/lesbian.

2)no, we do not, have not and will not be sexual with each other; we didn't even play 'Doctor' with each other as kids. (I played samesex 'Doctor' with three separate boys as a pre-pubescent. As far as I am aware, all three are currently heterosexual). The gay brothers/fathers/cousins scenario seems to be a fantasy of many gay men, one flamed by excessive reading of First Hand magazine and excessive viewing of certain, cretinous porn films. As for the dimwittted straights who entertain this notion, I think a lot of them assume that all gay men are amoral monsters out casually fucking any same sex thing that gets in their path, regardless of age or biological relation. And whenever morons have raised this question with us, to our face, our standard response is, "Do you have a sexual attraction towards YOUR siblings or other family members?" The vast majority of people indignantly say, "Of course not!" The ones that reply "yes, I have the hots for my brother/sister!" we immediately shun and spit upon. To sum this up in a word: EWWWWWWWWW!!!!

3)yes, it was supposed to be a temporary thing. We moved up here at the end of 2000 and shared a horrid place in Lynnwood for a year then began looking for individual places to live in the city. Not long after we started looking, my brother called me while I was at work. He'd been looking on the Hill for apartments and had discovered that La Ocho, (a pseudonym), the fabulous old apartment building that we both loved, had a for rent sign for a 2 bedroom apartment. We had both dreamed of living at La Ocho; it was everything we wanted in an apartment; it was old and charming and had a huge courtyard and hardwood floors and a balcony and you could paint the walls and it was on the Hill but not down by noisy, dirty Broadway and it reminded us both of Mrs Madrigal's house from Tales of the City. After talking it over, we decided to go for it and put in an application and since neither one of us could afford to live there alone, and neither one of us really knew anyone in Seattle to roommate with, we'd continue to be roommates for another year until one of us could afford to move out and the other one could afford to live there alone, or find a roommate or trap a husband. Well, that was almost 6 years ago. A month after moving in, Chris lost his job. He had another within a few weeks, but still, it put us behind. A year later, I lost my job and it took a couple months to get another. These and other sundry financial disasters, have kept us about a paycheck away from homelessness for the last 6 years. I suppose the smart thing to do, would be to move out of our rather expensive apartment and find something cheaper, but affordable, attractive and convenient apartments are impossible to come by and to be honest, I'd rather live with my brother, in an apartment I love, in a building I love, in a neighborhood I love, than have to live by myself in a shitty apartment in a shitty building in a shitty,distant neighborhood where'd I'd constantly be commuting to and from. We have to make choices in life, and seldom is the choice you make free from any problems, complications or contradictions...

4)yes, it does hinder our individual romantic lives. Neither one of us is very comfortable entertaining gentlemen callers in our house while the other brother is home. (for that matter, when I've lived with non-relatives as roommates, I didn't much enjoy hearing their cries of passion in the middle of the night, either. Sex moans from strangers and film performers are amusing and/or erotic. Sex moans from relatives/friends are ooky and disturbing...) We either arrange to have the house to ourselves for such entertaining or more commonly, spend the night at our gentlemen friend's homes.

5)on the plus side, when you live with relatives, there are few secrets, you share a common bond/upbringing, and there's probably fewer problems about stuff and space issues. If you suspect a roommate of swiping your best tie, or borrowing a dvd without asking or never buying any milk, then you have to decide the best way to bring up the problem to deal with the situation. With relatives, you just break into their room and steal your stuff back or yell at them, making sure to bring up similar incidents from your common history and/or vowing to tell all your friends their deepest/darkest secrets: "Hey asshat, quit swiping my clothes without permission or I'm telling everyone about how you got sent to juvie for burning down that church when you were 12!"

6)that being said, I think we both dream of the day that we will be free of the tyranny of each others most irritating habits, like leaving bawled up Kleenixs all over the place during allergy season, or putting ridiculously large pieces of bulky trash in the bathroom trashcan, (old jeans or big shoe boxes) instead of just taking them to the dumpster/recycling bin in the alley, or the diametrically opposed ways we each do dishes or the endless piling of books all over the house or the careless stacking of loose dvds/cds next to the dvd player or computer or the irritating habit of not cleaning the frother on the cappuchino machine, or....

Friday, April 18, 2008

Flaming.


Today is the one week anniversary of our kitchen fire. I was going to blog about it earlier in the week, but didn't get around to it. My dingbat brother wanted to fry up some catfish for supper, (yes, we are Midwestern gay hillbillies who enjoy fryin' up a mess of catfish...) so he started a skillet with oil in it, and because he likes to obsessively check his Bear411 account every 10 minutes, he ran upstairs to his computer. I was quietly sitting in the living room, cozily reading a book (all right, it was an old Entertainment Weekly), with a cat on my lap, (Jasper) when I heard a disturbing whooshing noise from the kitchen, and looked up to see that delightful pattern of dancing flames silhoutted on the dining room wall. I ran to the kitchen, screamed at my brother that we were aflame and began looking for a lid to smother the fire. I finally found one, but I didn't get it completely covered so the flames were still shooting up, and the smoke kept billowing. And since the stove is adjacent to our refrigerator, which, like many refrigerators, is a personal kiosk of memorablilia and coming events, is covered with a thousand magnets, photos, recipes, posters and random scraps of paper, it seemed apparent that the fridge would soon ignite. By then, my brother, the firestarter. was on the scene and immediately grabbed some flour that was sitting on the counter, (to bread the catfish) and threw a handful on the fire to smother the flame. Naturally, the flour containing starch, had the opposite effect and the fire flamed higher. At this point, I ran outside to find the fire extinguisher that's kept next to the mailboxes in our apartment complex, grabbed it and raced back inside. Meanwhile, the fire had started to melt the flimsy lid that was half on the fiery pan and my brother had armed himself with multiple oven mitts, and had found a sturdier lid. While, I was desperately trying to figure out how to work the extinguisher, Chris had cleared the sink of enough dirty dishes to have room to put the skillet. He grabbed the pan, got it to the sink and tried to put on the new lid. It took a few tries, and fortunately we DON'T have curtains on the window over the sink, (but the soap bottle and the Windex bottle NEXT to the sink, did start to melt), and finally managed to get the lid on and the fire smothered. It seemed like this went on for many minutes, but in reality, it was probably about two minutes tops, but it was long enough to fill the house with nasty, black smoke. Once we got all the fans going and the majority of the smoke cleared out, we realized that the kitchen was rather thickly coated with a layer of smokey, grey, greasy residue. Our ceiling, normally a chalky off-white, was now a determined shade of grey. And since we are gay packrats, there's tons of kitchenware, serving ware and home decor type shit on top of the kitchen cabinets and it was all filthy. Every square inch of the kitchen had to be scrubbed to remove that schmutz; we're still not done, to be honest.

And to think, I used to think it hilarious whenever one of my dumb Sims would catch the kitchen on fire, which they inevitably did at least once a week. (Though, it STILL is hilarious to make them pee their pants...)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Trannyshack is cummin' back to town, May 10th!!!!


Run, DO NOT WALK, to Neumo's Saturday, May 10th for the return of San Francisco based punk/drag phenomenon, Trannyshack with your hostess and the founder of the 'shack, Heklina and local co-hostess Ursula Android and featuring appearances by Jackie Hell, Renttecca, Paula The Swedish Housewife, Raya Light, Ultra, Sylvia O'Stayformore and many more. This ain't your grandma's old school boring ass drag show and you WON'T see tired old queens lip-syncing to Madonna, Whitney, or Mariah and holding court as the reigning Empress of the some fucking Imperial Court. These bitches put on a balls to the wall night of entertainment and they're not afraid to get messy. I went to the last one, at Chop Suey, back in July of last year and by the end of the night the stage floor was covered with all sorts of nasty, funky shit, primarily the destroyed remains of various props used in some of the numbers. Many of the 'shack performers sing LIVE, and at the last one there were bitches doing songs by Nirvana and Bjork, not your typical drag queen fare. And note, this has moved to Neumos which has a much better/bigger stage, so they'll have enough room to go completely ballistic. I highly recommend you go see this, (and I loathe 98% of most drag, so if I like it, you know it has to be good...)

Show starts at 11pm with a $10 cover, and worth every penny.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Noel Coward: Big, Gay, Anti-Nazi Spy!!!


Stephen Koch had a great essay in the NY Times Sunday Book Review about the bon vivant actor, performer and playwright and his work doing espionage work during World War II.

“Celebrity was wonderful cover,” Noël Coward said near the end of his life. “My disguise would be my own reputation as a bit of an idiot ... a merry playboy.”


Check it out here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/books/review/Koch-t.html?_r=1&ref=review&oref=slogin

Xue Song show opens May 24 at Chinese Contemporary in NYC.



For more info: www.chinesecontemporary.com

Regino Gonzales


Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles recently played host to a sick-ass opening of Gag Me With A Toon, curated by Steven Daily. The event drew a range of people with one passion: comics! We love the work on display, including this piece, Bait, by Regino Gonzales. I mean, how can you not dig an innocent Snow White getting friendly with another kind of white? Take a peek at available works here and more photos this way…
from Juxtapoz

Nick Walker is a deliciously rude Vandal


London’s Black Rat Press gallery presents V for Vandalism, Nick Walker’s largest solo exhibition to date.
This is the guy that as a young, cocky B-boy known as Ego, wandered into the Arnolfini Gallery Bristol, and walked out with a solid agreement to host a group graffiti show.
This elevated Nick from vandal (a recurring theme in his work to date) to artist, and created the opportunity for him to paint the films sets of movies ranging from Judge Dredd to Hackers, B-Money as well as Stanley Kubrick’s infamous Eyes Wide Shut. It was during this brief movement away from street art that Nick shed his infamous Ego tag, and re-emerged as Nick Walker the Apish Angel.
from Juxtapoz: www.juxtapoz.com

for more info: www.blackratpress.co.uk

Fairey does Orwell



Penguin Books hired Shepard Fairey to do covers for new editions of Animal Farm and 1984. They look gorgeous and I want to rush out and buy them, but not to read, to hang on my wall...

Psychopainter Bruce Watford is the ultimate Pop artist.





Anyone who loves Futurama is A-OK in my book...

To check out his work, go here: http://psychopainter.deviantart.com/gallery/

Angelique Price loves Obama.



"Metamorphosis" by Angelique Price

To purchase a print, go to: http://eliq.deviantart.com/

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Tom O'Neill is a douchebag. Not really a newsflash, but thought I'd say it...


If you're an awards show groupie or devoted to E! or Entertainment Tonight, you're probably (sadly) familiar with this idiotic hack. He's been around for years writing info-tainment books related to the entertainment industry and managed to parlay that success into being Hollywood's go to guy for Oscar/Emmy/Golden Globe prognostication A few years ago, when Oscar blogs were all the rage, he managed to talk the L.A. Times into buying his blogsite, Gold Derby where he is handsomely paid to pontificate on his entertainment savvy. I've never liked this hack largely due to his shitty taste in movies and his moronic writing style but he really stuck his foot in it this time. He dedicated today's column to answering an age old question that has haunted movie fans for decades, "What film really won the FIRST Oscar for Best Picture?" Most film buffs/nerds instantly blurt out, "Wings" which is the standard accepted answer, but ULTRA film nerds/snobs and lovers of great cinema like to point out that the first year of the Oscars there were TWO best picture categories, one for production which was won by "Wings" and another labeled "Most Artistic" which was won by the FW Murnau classic "Sunrise". O'Neill decided that this burning question must be answered and since he had never seen "Sunrise" he recently watched it and had this to say:

I've seen [Best Production winner] Wings a few times and liked it OK. But now that I've viewed [Best Artistic Picture winner] Sunrise, I must concede: Wings soars by comparison. Sunrise is paper-thin, hilariously schmaltzy. All three primary characters are cartoonish clichés and their performances 3-inch slices of honeyed ham.
Mind you, I'm the kinda guy who'd normally side with the weepie. On my top 10 list of fave pix of all time are Peggy Sue Got Married and Titanic. But I just can't shed a real tear when the farmer in Sunrise decides that he just — by golly! — can't off his sweet, dimpled wifey-pooh, after all. Nor could I cheer the scenes of the couple back together, all giddy smiles and kisses, posing for photos like newlyweds, dancing a happy peasant dance, joyous once he decided not to wring her scrawny little neck and hurl her over the side of the row boat.

What corn pone! Smothered in Cheez Whiz! Wings ain't Shakespeare or Scorsese, mind you, but it's better than that!


What's the name of the bouncy, chipper film critic/gossip writer at the Onion who gushes over things but goes all Miss Malaprop over every name? I'm guessing that the Onion MUST be parodying our friend Tom...all this motherfucker's writing is smothered in Cheez Jizz. And who the fuck has "fave pix"? Didn't that kind of film lingo go out with Movietone News and Anna Q Nilsson? What an asshat!

Oh, and how did I find out about this? I saw the original post at Movie City News but didn't really get riled about it until I saw it posted at Defamer, where they went ballistic on O'Neill's dumbass. Check it out: http://defamer.com/380165/lat-oscar-blogger-rehashes-80-year-old-argument-for-reasons-no-one-quite-understands

Here is part of Defamer Editor S.T. VanAirsdale's response to O'Neill:

"Corn pone"? "Smothered in..." Oh, fuck it. Look, we've all got opinions. O'Neil can cough out whatever he wants. Nevertheless, there are some incontrovertibly great films that got movies as we know them where they are today. The haunting, technically dazzling story-in-the-shadows of a simple man's basic struggle with modernity, F.W. Murnau's Sunrise, is one of them. See Roger Ebert's extraordinary review for in-depth reasons why, BUT: Film noir? Thank Sunrise. Psychological horror? Thank Sunrise. Hitchcock, Welles, Kubrick, Scorsese? Thank Sunrise. The short-sighted, star-fucking O'Neil could very well be the main character here, which may in fact signal its most objectionable quality to his Titanic-adoring eye.


Film nerds frothing at the mouth: FUN!!

Monkey Shines star denounces Scientology.



Jason Beghe, perenial tv guest star who first came to my attention as the hunky, hairy parapalegic in the horrible 80's horror film, Monkey Shines (the one about the evil helper monkey), has publicly renounced, denounced and attacked his former "religion".

I got this from the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/15/jason-beghe-tv-and-movie_n_96723.html

In 2005, Beghe appeared in promotional spots for the Church of Scientology. But now Beghe has escaped the church after taking courses since 1994. He's made a video that's up on YouTube.

This is what he has to say: "Scientology is destructive and a rip-off." He also says: "It's very, very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional health and evolution. I think it stunts your evolution. If Scientology is real, then something's f----ed up."


Well, since allegedly so many celebrity homos take to Scientology to help them cope with life in the closet, does this mean this hottie is a 'mo?

And more importantly, when does Monkey Shines II come out?

Monday, April 14, 2008

I saw the 5th Avenue's production of Cabaret Sunday night,


starring my beloved Nick Garrison, and I've got some things to say...

Cabaret is a Broadway musical that has a lot going for it: a great setting, (a seedy cabaret nightclub in Weimar Berlin as the Nazis come to power), two iconic roles, (Sally Bowles and the Master of Ceremonies) and some brilliant Kander and Ebb songs. It's also cursed with a clunky book by Joe Masteroff, a dud of a male protagonist, Borscht belt sidekicks whose plot line drags down the show and endless comparisons to Bob Fosse's film version which solved all the issues raised by the first three problems I listed in this sentence, (they rewrote the show, reconceived the male lead and dropped the sidekicks, their dud of a B story and their not so great songs).

Sam Mendes corrected many of the original stage show's problems in his brilliant and innovated restaging of the show in 1998 and many of those improvements have been used in subsequent productions. A few of those changes are reflected in the 5th Avenue production, but sadly, some of the most vital were not.

I'm going to lay most of the blame on the production team. This production of Cabaret is a joint venture between the 5th Avenue, the Ordway in St Paul and the American Musical Theater in San Jose and too many producers might have had their hands in the pot. But, for the most part, most of the leading production and design roles are in the hands of local Seattle artists, so I'm guessing that the 5th Avenue had the lions share of power. Tom Sturge's sets and lights are ok; nothing very innovative but nothing too derivative either. Thomas Marquez's costumes, however, are more '60's era Broadway than '30's era Weimar Berlin. I wasn't thrilled by the publicity photos I saw of the costumes and compared them to A Circus of the Star's television production circa 1978, and I wasn't far off. The overuse of the color red was a bad idea thematically, (personally, I associate red with the Nazi swastika, and why would Berlin cabaret performers be associated with Nazis? Most of the cabaret stars of that era were anti-Nazi and either fled or went underground when the Nazis came to power and many of those that didn't, were imprisioned or executed.)
And the elaborate and costly nature of the costumes worn by the Kit Kat Klub performers in this production belie the fact that this is supposed to be set in a SEEDY, THIRD RATE Berlin Cabaret, not a top line/top drawer establishment. These overly designed and elaborate costumes don't serve the play, they're only there to entertain and dazzle the middle aged surbanites who paid $70 for a ticket.

While the costumes, and to a lesser extent, the sets go the over-elaborate, over-produced route, the choreography and direction of this production goes the other way. Bob Richard's bland choreography never rises above a community theater level of professionalism, and in a show ABOUT cabaret dancers and ASSOCIATED with Bob Fosse, it's pretty criminal. You keep waiting for a big dance number to break out and it never quite happens.

And as for director Bill Berry, who's the Associate Producing Artistic Director of the 5th Avenue and its Casting Director, he seems to be at a loss at how to stage scenes effectively or dramatically, and judging by the performances of the primary actors, isn't a keen judge of how to help an actor shape and create an interesting, nuanced and textured perfomance. His lumpen staging of the Nazi anthem, "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" a number meant to signify the rising power of the Nazi Party was a show stopper 2/3 of the way through Act I, but a show stopper in the bad sense of the phrase meaning that the show stops for a moment because we don't know what the hell is going on. Berry's leaden touch continues to be apparent at the opening of Act II. We get some entertaining razzmatazz from the Orchestra, and the Kit Kat Dancers and then the M.C. goes into a funny, bawdy bit intracting with the audience and then we immediately cut to a serious scene involving heartache and anti-Semitism! The segue between the two sections is awkard and clumsy and not one you would expect in a major production. His handling of the end of the show is equally leaden, with a finale that includes a very loooooong section without any dialogue, sound effects and music except for the nervous coughs of some audience members.

I can sort of forgive Berry's clumsy staging, but it's his mishandling of the actors where he is most at fault, and that I cannot forgive. Of the 5 primary actors in this production, I've seen three of them in other productions and performances and two of those actors, Nick Garrison and Suzy Hunt, who played the landlady Fraulein Schneider, I know to be excellent stage performers so I'll start with them. Garrison does a fine job as the M.C., and of the 5 main performers he comes off the best. But he does come off a little shrill in spots and can be difficult to understand; a good director would have corrected that. Suzy Hunt is a brilliant actress who specializes in grande dame type roles; she looks and sounds like a lady and is best suited for those types of roles. The problem with this production, is that Fraulein Schneider is supposed to be a lower class character; lower middle class at best. The role was originally played on Broadway by Lotte Lenya and anyone familiar with the original stories by Christopher Isherwood knows the origins of this character. Unfortunately, Miss Hunt plays the role about two or three grades above the characters station in life; she comes across as a proud Junker, the daughter of a army General when in fact she should be playing it as the poor daughter of an Army corporal or sergeant at best. Her performance is lovely, but it doesn't make much sense in the context of the show.

Her sub-plot partner is Herr Schultz, a middle aged, bachelor and fruitseller with whom Fraulein Schneider strikes up a relationship, not realizing at first that he is in fact Jewish. (They also share the dumbest song in the musical, an ode to a pineapple...) Schultz is played by Allen Fitzpatrick, a local actor I'm not familiar with, and judging by his over the top performance, not one I'm very anxious to see again. For unknown reasons, Fitzpatrick plays the part as enfeebled, quite elderly and painfully stereotypically Jewish Menschy, all actor choices that should have been kibboshed by an able director. The part is written as middle aged and not feeble and the Menschiness needs to be charming and subtle, not obvious and trite. It's the worst acting in the production and should not have been allowed by the director.

The second worst acting, of the 5 principles, is our Sally Bowles, Tari Kelly. Her one note characterization never varies, until the very end, when it flickers slightly to indicate the character's unhappiness. Her Sally is loud, icy, shallow, dull and braying. Vocally, she seems to be channelling the British actress Jane Leeves from the sitcom Frasier. Her singing is pure Broadway Belter and does no service to the songs, particularely the last number, the famous title number, Cabaret. Sam Mendes very intelligently cast good actresses who could carry a tune, but were not professional musical theater singers in his 1997 revival, a concept that made sense for a character who is NOT supposed to be a good singer. Sally Bowles is supposed to be a second rate singer in a third rate nightclub and she is supposed to be telling stories with her songs. Cabaret, the song, is a STORY, and a sad one at that and if you listen to Natasha Richardson's beautiful performance on the 1997 cast album, it all makes sense. By the end of Mendes' production, Sally Bowles was at the end of her rope. Judging by Tari Kelly's performance, the only thing her Sally Bowles is at the end of, would be the checkout line at her local Rite-Ade paying for a morning after pill, a bottle of shampoo and a copy of Hello magazine...

As for Louis Hobson's Cliff, the male lead and the stand-in for original author Christopher Isherwood, I have little to say. Mr Hobson seems to be a competent performer, but Cliff is the dullest lead in a major Broadway musical, an American doofus without dances to dance or much of a song to sing; an asexual ninny who might enjoy being a masochist. It's a miserable capon of a role to play and I pity any actor cast in it. My fondest wish for Cabaret, is that someday some Broadway bigwig has enough clout to get permission to dump the entire book for Cabaret, keep most of the songs, (but, goodbye "Pineapple Song") and rewrite it with a Chris/Cliff character who's completely out of the closet and happily sucking some German cock, one of the main reasons Isherwood moved to Berlin in the 30's...

The 5th Avenue's production of Cabaret closed last night, April 13th, and will move to St Paul, Minnesota for two weeks worth of performances at the Ordway Theater.

You learn something everyday: This is Slats, a Capitol Hill fixture and legend.


I've always just called him the Kajagoogoo guy; I wasn't really aware he was an official Capitol Hill icon. To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of his since I was walking behind him once on the street and some Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence walked by and he said something snide about their appearance to his companion, words to the effect, "look at those freaks".

I resisted the urge to say, "Pot/Kettle/Black"

To see a bunch more pictures of him, check out this site associated with the McLeon Residence: http://seattlenotables.com/

Seattle Film Crew detained in Nigeria!


I was just sent an email by Three Dollar Cinema which had a link to a site with this info: http://nwfilmforum.wordpress.com/

The Seattle-based film crew of Sweet Crude has been detained in Nigeria. The four member team was detained in the Niger Delta Saturday, and has been moved to the capital Abuja. The filmmakers are Tammi Sims, Cliff Worsham, D.P. Sean Porter, and the film’s director, NWFF advisory Board Member Sandi Cioffi.


and go here for a report from the AP: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NIGERIA_FILMMAKERS_ARRESTED?SITE=TNMEM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Seattle-based film crew held in Nigeria

By NATHANIEL IBIGOR
Associated Press Writer

WARRI, Nigeria (AP) -- Four people from a Seattle-based film crew and a Nigerian man accompanying them have been detained and accused of traveling illegally in restive southern Nigeria, officials said.

Security forces fighting militants in the Niger Delta consider much of the vast wetland region a military zone and have barred outsiders from traveling there without express consent by authorities.

Nigerian Brig. Gen. Wuyep Rintip said the group was seized Saturday for flouting the ban and were to be flown to the capital, Abuja. He did not identify the detainees.

A U.S. official in Nigeria said the detainees were being given consular assistance. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing prohibitions on dealings with the media, said no further details could be given due to privacy concerns


The image is from the ABC news website and is from the documentary.

Steven Blum Hijacked by Pornographers...STRAIGHT pornographers!! (shudder)


The adorable ex Public Intern at the Stranger has had his excellent blog, http://www.ohmygodsouthafrica.blogspot.com/ hijacked by pornographers!!!

I hope this never happens to me. Or if it does, that I'm hijacked by hunky, hairy chested, large schlonged gay pornographers.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Why the hell are you in the house on the damn Internet?


When it's finally nice outside...GO DO SOMETHING!!

Jenn Porreca


Jenn Porreca is an urban folklore artist based in San Francisco. Claiming marked influences from European silhouette and folklore artists of the early 1900s, literature, San Francisco Street Art, Manga and Art Nouveau, she paints a delicate world of intricately layered folklore. Born in England to a tombstone mason mother and classical musician father, her childhood was richly steeped creative technique and mastery. She spent her early years living and learning in places like Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and found herself in San Francisco with nothing but a backpack and British passport at the young age of 21.

from her website: http://www.jennporreca.com/default2.asp

Jenn Porreca has been painting away, and will be presenting her new pieces in two upcoming exhibits: a group show at Distinction Gallery, and at Heavy Hitterz in Manila (as in the capital of the Philippines!)
from Juxtapoz: http://www.juxtapoz.com/

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Top 50 Comedy Sketches


The websites Nerve and IFC have compiled a list of the 50 greatest comedy sketches of all time, complete with links and clips. I think there's waaaaaay too much Saturday Night Live on here, (does anyone really think that the Greek Diner sketch, "hamburger, hamburger, chip, chip, coke, no pepsi" sketch was that great?)not enough SCTV and Carol Burnett and they completely ignore both The League of Gentlemen and Little Britain. (But I'm pleased to see that they have a Catherine Tate clip on here.)

But they smartly have quite a lot of Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, Upright Citizens Brigade and Mr Show on there, as well.

Do you recognize the picture and can you name the sketch?

I think I prefer "Dirty Vicar" and "The Cheeseshop" and "Dennis Moore" and...

go here to check it out: http://www.nerve.com/dispatches/nerveeditors/50GreatestComedySketches/05/

Spartan Sparrow Sex


I just went outside for a quickie smoke and had the pleasure of viewing some hot bird on bird action. Big boy sparrow and little girl sparrow were perched on the power line outside our office. The boy hops on the girl, humps away for three seconds, then hops off. He does this three times, then flies away, appearing satiated and smug. The girl sparrow remained there, like most females, looking cross and unsatisfied.

I'm hoping one of her girlfriends gives her the directions to Toys in Babeland...

There will be some damn good acting...

I watched "There Will Be Blood" lsat night on DVD and not surprisingly, I enjoyed it and thought it was a very strong film, and certainly the best film that Paul Thomas Anderson has made. Boogie Nights and Magnolia had moments of brilliance but Anderson managed to ultimately fuck both of them up with second acts that failed to live up to the first half of both movies. His pretensions and obsequious hommages/thefts of Altmanesque characterization and story-telling have left me feeling enraged by the end of all his previous films. TWBB is his first film to feel fully realized and original and not derivative of other filmmakers. It's sense of dread and haunting despair is evident from the first frames of the film, not only due to Anderson's writing and direction, but the excellent and award winning camera work of Robret Elsit, the production design of Jack Fisk and the incredible score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood.

And of course, lavish and deserving praise and awards have been heaped on Daniel Day Lewis's performance as Daniel Plainview and there's not much else left to say about it, that hasn't already been said. There's a scene about 2/3 of the way into the film where Plainview and his brother are on the beach having a conversation and the camera is centered on Day-Lewis's profile and his big boned, muscular face fills the screen and you think there is nothing that this man could not play and he could be the ultimate film actor. When he is onscreen, he consumes the space he inhabits by his very physical presence; there is no where else to look, or really, any desire to look at anything but him embodying a character. And you have to pity any actor who appears in a scene with Day-Lewis. Leonardo DiCaprio just looks lost in "Gangs of New York"; it's apparent by the look on his face that DiCaprio knows he can't compete with Day-Lewis.

But, there is an actor in TWBB who more than holds their own with Daniel Day-Lewis. Kevin J. O'Connor appears about half way through the film as Plainview's self proclaimed, long-lost brother. It's not a huge part; he's in the film for about half an hour, but O'Connor's quiet intensity and strength as an actor allows him several moments to shine in his scenes with Day-Lewis. O'Connor's character, Harry, is a shadow character to Plainview; similar in appearance and bone structure but smaller in size physically and stunted emotionally and spiritually. He's a Plainview that has been whipped by society and has resolved himself to living on the fringes and being grateful for the crumbs he has been given. His final scene with Plainview is a soft-spoken cry of desperation and a plea for forgiveness. O'Connor does an incredible job of embuing this broken man with a sense of humanity and quiet dignity. His final moments in the film are heart breaking, and after the character leaves the plot, you miss both the presence of the character and the actor who plays him.

The Office: the Strangeways Edition

My job and my office are sources of endless irritation today. Here's why:

1)We just got annoying news about the status of our contract. It's not done, but there will be hours cut which is obviously aggravating but even more so since the Powers That Be keep hiring NEW people for our project, when there is obviously not enough hours/money/work left on our p.o.

2)People who bring in HUGE amounts of food to eat at work and hog all the shelf space in the communal refrigerator deserve to be shot. I see people going into the kitchen with large, multiple shopping bags of bought in bulk food from Costco. THIS is currently hogging half the freezer of the refrigerator. It's a fucking
SIXTY COUNT box of fuckin' Eggos. Eating two a day, every weekday, it's going to take this hippopotamus fucking six weeks to empty this box, and it's doubtful that they'll actually eat Eggos everyday, so it's likely this fucker is going to be taking up space in the freezer until July.

My other pet peeve is people who put shit on top of the ice trays. Please do NOT put your Tupperware container or Lean Cuisine box on top of the ice that I consume. Your goddamn Tupperware or Lean Cuisine box might have sat on your dirty, germ covered kitchen counter at home and be contaminated with nasty bacteria from your feces crusted hands or your cat's bunghole.

3)There's several people here I find annoying, but the most recent addition to my list of People Who Need To Go Away, is this chubby, loud, brash, blond with goldfish eyes who has the knack of saying things outloud that are best left unsaid. I've only encountered her twice, but both times she managed to piss me off. Just now, I was outside smoking by myself on the far side of the building and not in the designated smoking area closer to the front door. The reasons I choose to do this, is because I LIKE to smoke alone and think about shit, AND the other people here who smoke are morons and I don't want to make small talk with them. This morning, the smoking area was occupied by this moronic couple, young, straight and really dumb and I particularly dislike the female, who's pushy and obnoxious and wears her hair in a very unbecoming pony tail. So, there I was in my OWN smoking section, when Chubby Blond Goldfish Eyed lady comes around the corner, on her way to her car in the back parking lot, and she is one of those people who HAS to chat with everyone she encounters. The first thing that pops out of her mouth: "Why are you smoking over here and not over with the others in the smoking section?" I desperately would have liked to snapped, "Are you writing a book, hippie?" but I refrained and made my slitty, evil cat eyed, annoyed look at her. If this bitch was a character in a mystery novel, she'd be bumped off by the end of the first chapter, the classic doofus character who really doesn't know anything but says the wrong thing outloud to a killer and subsequently gets offed because of their big mouth.

How I wish that real life was like an Agatha Christie novel.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Mr Rudd


I watched "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" last night and one of the best things in the movie was a brief appearance by the Beatles. Justin Long as George and Jason Schwartzman as Ringo were very funny and had the characters down; the irritating Jack Black was a completely unconvincing Paul McCartney but the major revelation was Paul Rudd as John Lennon. He had the look, the voice, the timing. He's an amazing comedic actor and he needs bigger, better roles in films. Too often, he's the sidekick guy to bigger name actors or the bland, George Brentish male lead to bigger female stars.

And he's humpy.

I think this picture originated from Rolling Stone; I've had it saved to my desktop for a very long time and have forgotten where it came from; my apologies.

Oh, and "Walk Hard" was ok. John C Reilly was brilliant, the songs were actually good, and they did a great job with the sets and costumes. But the movie is never that funny; at best you smile at it, but never laugh out loud. And I thought the direction was lazy; there were some strange camera set ups and a lazy point of view.
A little disappointing.

Dimo Garcia





Dimo Garcia is a Colombian visual artist, currently earning his PhD in Strasbourg, France. Garcia’s artistic style has a wide range- encompassing a style reminiscent of classical Van Gogh to more contemporary pop surrealism.
from Juxtapoz, http://www.juxtapoz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2941&Itemid=50