Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon

The hot, new, fagtastic documentary hitting the gay film festival circuit this year is Jeffrey Schwarz's "Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon" a portrait of the 70's gay porn icon Jack Wrangler and his transformation from gay porn king to heterosexual husband of legendary singer Margaret Whiting and a new career as a director of legitimate theater productions. If you're a gay man over say, 40 to 45, you're well aware of who Jack Wrangler is; he was his era's Jeff Styker/Ryan Idol/Francois Sagat.

I haven't seen any reviews of this film yet; it opens June 7th as part of NewFest, the New York LGBT Film Festival and is scheduled to play later in the month at the San Francisco LGBT Film Festival. Unless it gets a national release before October, which I doubt, I'm guessing it will be a feature presentation at the Seattle LGBT Festival in the fall. The film has an interesting line-up of talking heads: Wrangler's wife Margaret Whiting, Broadway composer Marc Shaiman, columnist Michael Musto, porn directors Chi Chi LaRue and Joe Gage, and porn stars Samantha Fox, Sharon Mitchell and Gloria Leonard. Sadly, the only co-stars who seem to be in this film are the few women he appeared with in a handful of straight films he made towards the end of his porno career, (Wrangler lost his hetero cherry on film). The majority of the male actors he worked with, died of AIDS, and the only commentators from his gay films seems to be two of the directors he worked with, Joe Gage and Jerry Douglas.

I'm sure at some point in the film we'll hear Margaret Whiting's classic response to Jack's question when their romance began to heat up:

Wrangler: But, Margaret honey, how can we have a relationship? I'm gay!

Whiting: Only on the edges, dear...

James McAvoy to strap on Bilbo for "The Hobbit"?

Rumours are swirling around the net that Scottish actor James McAvoy, best known for his roles in "Atonement", "The Last King of Scotland" and "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" is close to being signed for the leading role of Bilbo Baggins in "The Lord of the Rings" prequel to be directed by Guillermo del Toro. Both Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis have already been signed to reprise their roles of Gandalf and Gollum, respectively, and Ian Holm, who played the aged Bilbo in "The Lord of the Rings" will narrate the film. There's also reports that Viggo Mortensen is returning as Aragorn, a character that does NOT appear in "The Hobbit".

This is coming from the U.K. paper, The Daily Express, which isn't always the most accurate source for information of this kind, so it should probably be taken with a grain of salt until there's some sort of confirmation from more reliable sources or the studio itself. The mystery source also claims that Daniel Radcliffe and (urp) Jack Black were being considered for the role!!! Really? Bilbo to be played by a big, fat, dumb, untalented, cross-eyed and blessed with a touch of the Downs, American? Tolkien fans would flee their parent's basements and storm the streets outside their local comic book stores in protest...

As for McAvoy, I think it's a great idea. He's a gifted actor, he's built right for the part, (ie, tiny) AND he's far cuter than Elijah Wood. Since I actually LIKE "The Hobbit" (the book) and I adore McAvoy I might actually go see this in theatres. I only made it to part one of the Rings...it was too damn long and boring.

Diederick Kraaijeveld

This was on Juxtapoz today. This piece is made out of found wood the artist collects from junkyards and old buildings.

Due to acute laziness, I'm just going to quote the excellent text from Juxtapoz:

He passed along his most recent piece, titled Black Venus. This stunner is a whopping 51” tall, and like all his other pieces is made from found wood, using the original colors of the wood to create a cohesive piece. He uses no paint in his artistic process, which is pretty impressive considering how detailed his large pieces can get. Black Venus’ afro hair is done in planks he found in the city dump. The wood has been used under a tar roof, which has seeped into the wood over the years, giving it a stained, crystallized look we absolutely love.
See more of Kraaijeveld’s work at www.oudhout.com.

Pygar est mort!

The most beautiful angel, EVER, died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. Actor John Phillip Law was 70.

Many fledging young homos were stirred by images of Law as Pygar in the ridiculous Barbarella. And we were all a bit disappointed that the fur loincloth he wore in the film was far too big for him and too high on the hips...sigh.

The adorable Steven Blum: Ex-Public Intern, is back online!

Poor Steven's blog was hijacked by nasty, str8 pornographers and he had to battle the Porno Beast of a Thousand Vajs to restore his right to blog about this kooky thing we call life in Seattle.

Welcome back...we missed you!

She's 86 and the tits are lookin' fine!

Happy 86th Bea! We love you!

Dead Duck at 35th and Stone Way

One of the Ride the Ducks vehicles seems to have bit the bullet and is stalled at the corner of 35th and Stone Way...Delighted barflies at the Pacific Inn immediately rushed out and pulled the frightened tourists off the amphibious vehicle and raped, killed and devoured them to the cheers of local residents and workers.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr and Mrs John James Preston..or not?

Fags and our hags are drooling in anticipation for this movie which opens nationwide on May 30th. We've been jonesing for a Carrie/Samantha/Miranda/Charlotte fix for the last 4 years and the opening weekend cocktail parties will be legion. Word on the street is that the movie is pretty good, a little long maybe, but packed with enough booze, beefcake, fashion, bitchery, pratfalls and tears to satisfy the most jaded SATC fan. Judging by the trailers and stills, they've done a brilliant job with the look of the film, and the soundtrack is already getting a lot of buzz as well. And, kudos for the publicity people at Warner Brothers. They've been marketing the hell out of this movie, making sure it gets non-stop attention in the media. I think it's pretty obvious that the whole, "Does Someone Die in the Movie?" rumor was planted by the studio to keep the publicity fires burning as we get closer to the premiere. (and it IS a rumor; the movie has opened in the UK and there has been numerous press screenings. No one dies, but there is plenty of relationship turmoil). And it's being rumored that Warner Brothers and writer/producer/director Michael Patrick King are already set to make two sequels, if this one is a hit. I don't see how it can not be. There's at least 10 million fans in this country alone, dying to see this fucker. If every one of those fans sees it once, that's a $100 million movie. I think we'll be seeing the antics of Carrie and the gang, until they're old enough to star in a remake of The Golden Girls...

From the About Time Department: Fraggle Rock comes to the big screen!

Variety reports that the Weinstein Company will team up with the Henson Company for a live-action musical adaptation of the beloved children's tv series, Fraggle Rock.

Pic will take the core characters Gobo, Wembley, Mokey, Boober and Red outside of their home in Fraggle Rock, where they interact with humans, which they think are aliens. The show premiered on HBO in 1983, ran five seasons and was broadcast in more than 80 countries. It posted strong sales recently when the first three seasons were released on DVD.

No word on when it will be released, or if they'll have room for Uncle Travelling Matt...

South Pacific cleans up with Tony nominations.

The Broadway revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific earned 11 Tony nominations today, including a nod for local boy, director Bartlett Sher, (his third lifetime nomination with no wins), and nominations for Best Revival of a Musical and Leading Actor and Actress, (Paul Szot and Kelli O'Hara). Sher's competition includes 90 year old Arthur Laurents for his direction of the Patti LuPone starring revival of Gypsy, which Laurents wrote the original book for, in 1959. The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, which garnered a huge amount of Drama Desk nominations earlier this month despite largely poor reviews for the show, didn't fare as well with Tony voters, only receiving three nominations, two of them for co-stars Christopher Fitzgerald and Andrea Martin. In The Heights, a hip-hop/salsa infused musical about immigrant life in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan led with 13 nominations total, followed by South Pacific. Tracy Letts Pulitzer Prize winning play, August: Osage County, dominated the play categories with 7 nominations including three for acting and one for Anna D Shapiro's direction.

The Tony award ceremony is June 15th at Radio City Music Hall.

Criterion Collection goes Blu...

from the Digital Bits website:

There's more significant Blu-ray news to report this afternoon. The Criterion Collection has just officially revealed (in their latest newsletter) that they're going Blu later this year, and that their first dozen or so titles on the format will begin to arrive in stores in October. All will feature new high-def restorations and will include ALL of the extras from the DVD editions. They'll even be priced to match the DVDs. Among the first titles will be the likes of The Third Man, Bottle Rocket, Chungking Express, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Last Emperor (available both as a special edition box set and standalone theatrical version, each on both Blu-ray and DVD), El Norte, The 400 Blows, Gimme Shelter, The Complete Monterey Pop, Contempt, Walkabout (an updated edition, also on both Blu-ray and standard DVD), For All Mankind and The Wages of Fear. Great news indeed!

There's links to both Digital Bits and Criterion over to your right.

Obama asks Clinton to be his running mate...

the funk community rejoices.

Sorry, I haven't been posting...I've been Grumpyboots

for the last few days. Our mediocre weather and the limbo state of my job, (we're waiting for them to finalize the contract) have left me crabby and unmotivated. And for those of you who personally know me, I will not respond to the charges that I am USUALLY crabby and unmotivated...

BUT, I can at least look forward to the weekend. On Saturday, I am triple booked with a Birthday gathering at 7pm, an album release party at 9pm, and Trannyshack at 11pm...I'm also guessing, I'll be comatose by 11:59pm...

Oh, and I'm working SIFF that afternoon, as well. The SIFF schedule announcement and opening day for SIFF members to buy advance tickets is TOMORROW, Thursday the 8th at the Pacific Place ticket counter, aka "Ticket Island" to use some insider jargon. It will be rather maddening the first day, so you might want to come by on Friday or Saturday. Non-members can start buying tickets on Sunday, the 11th. Oh, and I've got a little insider news for you: all the venues this year, are centrally located. There won't be any showings in the U-District or in Bellevue this year but there WILL be some screenings at the Uptown in Lower Queen Anne. If you want more info, go to the SIFF website and/or check out the Seattle Times tomorrow to get a copy of the 2008 guide.

That is all...for now.

Zexy but not Explicit!

But, what's up with those feet? Are they just dirty, or does this dude have a fungus?

And, 2Xist underwear is so 2002....

Another Beautiful DeKalb Morning by B.C. Maceachran

A serenely beautiful picture from Fecal Face.

http://www.fecalface.com/SF/

Separated at Birth, Part Deux

Jonah posted a Separated at Birth on the Slog featuring Seattle's fine mayor, Greg Nichols being compared to that fine actor, Robbie Coltrane.

I think Jonah missed the obvious comparison, though...