Saturday, March 31, 2012
FABULOUS
Today's Favorite 50 Gay Films was Number 15
The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
I saw this when it came out and it was great to see it again.
Terrence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce are three drag queens busing to Alice Springs from Sydney to put on a show and have to cross the desert to do so. In a bus. The above named Priscilla.
I am not particularly warm about drag queens but all such prejudice vanishes in this great "musical", all pre-recorded for lip synching but powerful nonetheless.
Of course, the girls encounter a lot of roughnecks, it being Australia, but, on the other side of it they also meet the heart of gold variety of people.
It is a road movie and as in all good road movies, each person finds something for him/herself at the end of the road - and along the way.
There is nothing but good to say about this film. A five five five. And it has nothing and everything to do with drag.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
CLOSE ENOUGH HERO
Earl Scruggs. Great first name. Dead at 88.
Mosst folk gotta hit 90 to make the cut but not ol' Earl.
Earl Scruggs, banjo - Glen Duncan, fiddle - Randy Scruggs, acoustic guitar - Steve Martin, 2nd banjo solo - Vince Gill, 1st electric guitar solo - Marty Stuart, mandolin - Gary Scruggs, harmonica - Albert Lee, 2nd electric guitar solo - Paul Shaffer, piano - Jerry Douglas, dobro - Leon Russell, organ - Glenn Worf, bass - Harry Stinson, drums
WEST HOLLYWOOD GAY
Today's gay film was
This is a great movie. You have to be patient.
The sex, drugs and rock and roll take back seat to serious issues about sex, love and not so much rock. Drugs pretty much leave the picture.
Clearly an attempt to break some cinematic ground, two close friends, one straight, the other gay work in a CD store. A riff, I think, on High Fidelity. Very good.
Can't tell too much.
The "hero" is sweet and attracts everyone's attention. One of those guys who can give but has trouble taking. Strikingly handsome and very thin until he takes his clothes off.
You gotta wait.
There is a lot of meat on the story bones though. Very generous. Fun and funny and dead serious.
I would happily watch it again. And will. A surprise Netflix5 drawn right out of the hat.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
FULLY PACKED
This film has a complete novel compressed in a series of short scenes. The total length is 8ish minutes.
A beautiful film. Skillfully presented.
A big wallop in a small package.
Heartland - Gay Shorts by ace4spade
Labels: films, gay films, gay life
NOTHING NEW HERE JUST MORE OR LESS OF IT
Romney has always been behind Obama in favorability. Now even more behind. People just do not fucking like him.
Americans Like President Obama and They Really Don't Like Mitt Romney
ABC monthly poll. The only one extant. Gallup only does Obama and their results are pretty close to this ABC.
Labels: general election 2012, Re-election of Barack Obama
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
MY STORY BUT I AM STILL HERE
Today's film, Fifty Gay Favorite #17, was
A christian mother obsesses about her son's homosexuality and tries to turn him to no avail.
She does, however, plant the seeds of hate and offers the curse of damnation in his head so, in fact, drives the son to an unhappy, guilt ridden early gay life and he commits suicide.
From here, we see her transformation of an activist for gay rights and the reconstruction of gay parents.
It is a very touchy theme, threatening to turn to soap before our eyes and, while it is a little wet, it does succeed in being a moving testament to acceptance and true love.
The events in this film occurred in the late 70s and early 80s but are as relevant today as then. To that extent it is timely.
I had a christian mother, full of hate. The old line about "love the sinner but hate the sin" holds little water for me. She never accepted who I was. Tore up my pictures as a kid because I told her that I was gay then. Different.
She knew it all the time and hated it. When it became true and I came out to her it became all about her.
I have never, ever had a suicidal thought and I didn't after that. But I did spend a significant part of my life trying to be what she wanted and, while I forgive her, I don't accept her actions. So "loving", so fucked up.
I wouldn't want to see it again but I did like it and happy to see it and cry again about the terrible waste of all young people who grow up under this kind of horrible silent or spoken accusation.
I had the love and support of my father. I found another Higher Power who loves me. I met wonderful people in my life. I got over any neurosis planted in me by the religious bastards who were all around me as a kid.
So the film carried a special resonance for me.
A 3 out of Netflix 5.
Labels: christist watch, films, gay films
Monday, March 26, 2012
DOUBLE STANDARDS OR IS IT HYPOCRISY?
This is presented by Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian.
A parody, it is the work of Paul Bradley who also ran/runs the Landover Baptist Church Site.
Labels: fun, republican whack jobs
SEX AND LOVE OR NOT
Today's gay film was
A gay hustler goes back with a guy to his house and when the trick is over the hustler cannot find his way out of the building. He encounters another gay situation and another then another and so on.
Each of them calls on him to play various roles to please the clients but none of them really pleases him. He is earning his pay.
One wise, older, client tells him that the house is not a maze where there is a dead end. What he is experiencing is a labyrinth in which there is an end but a set of trials to go through to get there.
The hustler gets to the end and does find himself. A spoiler that but otherwise no point to the movie.
There is a lot of R rated sex which is quite entertaining in and of itself but, like the hustler, as voyeurs we learn the same lessons as we watch. Quite nice really.
Very well told with a wonderful handsome, but not too handsome, lead and a set of familiar characters from gay life who fill in for all of us as "clients".
I saw this before and bought it so it is a 5 out of Netflix5 without even trying.
There is a wonderful interview with the star as a feature. I don't usually watch them as it spoils the film but as a theatrical actor his insights are quite interesting and we see a lot of behind the scenes stuff. Very well done. Also a short by the same director as a little dessert.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
TWO SIDES TO EVERY QUESTION
Today's gay film was John Schesinger's
with Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson and Murray Head. A triangle. And not in the usual way. Here it is guy guy and guy girl.
I saw this before I came out in 1975 so for me it was a very personal experience. Somehow the idea registered that I could be a kind of Murray Head figure, bisexual and playing both sides. Of course if you really pay attention to the film, even Murray Head doesn't manage to do it. Finch plays a purely gay physician and Jackson is very hetero. So, one sees what one wants to see.
In actual fact there are differing views on what is going on in this film and I see it as a kind of end of the empire film with a firm position about love and its variations requiring work to keep it alive. No one is doing that here.
We do have on offer a family friendly to all parties, unknown to them, who are in fact doing the work with two men and one woman and kids. We don't see this explicitly but it is very clear inferentially and that is point. No one is explaining or complaining. We even see that the wife is white and one man is black and there are no brown kids. Man on man.
The family is eccentrically off center. A living social experiment.
I make a lot of this because of my situation precisely then but Ebert sees it quite a different way and you should read his review.
The film is thoroughly enjoyable in any case. There is a beautiful bar mitzvah and other little side trips. A run through of old style telephone technology. Very good. Well composed. You do have to think and react.
It is surely a classic film of our times and I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Murray Head is a babe.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
DRAMEDY
Todays 50 Gay Favorite Film is number 19
Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom (2008)
This is the last feature length episode of one of the most popular gay soap operas, Noah's Arc which lasted two seasons, with this film an experiment to see if the show would be renewed. The feature met with some success but evidently not enough to warrant restarting the series.
Basically the "arc" (Noah is a film writer) is about the lives of Noah and his small group of friends and family.
The series and the film challenge several hurdles. Everyone is gay with a sample of most every stereotype (not a bad thing at all) and, moreover, everyone is black or hispanic or, as it turns out for Noah himself, a multiracial. No anglos. Good.
It is a dramedy in the sense that there are some great lines and there is comedy but the proceedings are fraught. But fraught in a good sense in that many many gay issues are explored such as HIV, gay marriage, adoption, fidelity or not, issues that confront gays routinely. Invariably, the wisdom of the series was educational. One of the regular friends works in a gay clinic so often has the correct answers.
I loved this film as, obviously, many gay people did. For a television remake to be #19 in a gay favorite film listing, to say nothing of being black and gay, is a testament. It has some pretty heavyweight competition in the other 49.
The story line is that Noah and Wade come to Martha's Vineyard to get married at Wade's family home. The friends come along.
Many of the complications of their lives together arise for review and resolution in one drunken bachelor party night.
It is very nicely done and quite satisfying. I can imagine that had I been involved with series from the start, I would be totally knocked out by this meta-resolution. They did not know that they were to be cancelled and so a lot of stuff was hung up and unfinished.
One advantage here is that the cast has been playing together for two years and the ensemble work is quite engaging. I found myself a little annoyed at some of the banter and chit chat but then realized that I had been swept up in the drama and the comedy and had suspended judgement.
Spoiler: The wedding is wonderfully done and is as teary as the real thing.
I think that I may rent the series just to see the prequels and then finish with this as a finale. That would make it a 5 out of Netflix5.
FOUNDATION
This made me cry:
Gay Marriage Effort Attracts a Novel Group of Donors
Read on to the second page.
See the conservatives who are doing the right thing.
See the gay billionaires who have not played publicly before getting active. Visibly.
See the number or donors and activists who are willing to put their names on the effort to make gay marriage legal in fifty states.
The time has not come yet but the time is coming. And rather soon, I expect.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
Friday, March 23, 2012
FREEDOM
We went to the vet today to get the stitches taken out of Booker's ear.
We have grown fond of his Doctor, Pattie Thongnamsap (I Think Thai, American Thai, the staff calls her Doctor Pattie). Also his technician Liz. They like him too.
I think that they like us because they have changed protocol and had the Doc meet with us every followup time. Usually, the dog is taken "out back" for the tech procedure and then brought back.
We had a front row seat for the stitch removal.
Booker is a "brave boy" as Dr. Pattie put it. We were amazed to see him use his best Airedale stoic genes. It had to at least be uncomfortable. Everything went as planned.
We were not sure if they would take the dread cone off but they did. Something of a celebration.
Funny, he seems the least impressed. It is gone, why make a big deal out of it? But he is visibly relaxed and, more important, we have not seen him fuss with the ear at all.
It is wonderful for us too. There is no way that we could ignore it. Always in the way. And, he is overdue three weeks for his bath at the groomer so he is just a bit ripe.
All in all a great day.
Yay team!!
And no more vet visits every five days.
Labels: Booker, veterinarian
Thursday, March 22, 2012
FANSTASIA
Today's gay film was the relic
Made in a Manhattan apartment with one star and two or three others for support on Super 8 film, this surreal rendering of classic gay fantasies (matador, tea room habitue, nature boy) somehow, while quite camp, avoids cliché and is quite fascinating to watch.
It is a time capsule. The quality is not great but you can see and hear everything and especially enjoy the hand made sets and props. There are a lot of sequins.
It is quite outrageous in a good way and the "hero" is wonderful to watch. He never breaks stride in representing a classic gay icon.
It is only an hour long and sometimes seems longer but then something happens and time dissolves.
I wouldn't see it again but I am glad that I saw it once. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
RECOVERY
In 2010, the IRS sent a memo to its offices from their legal department.
The department had ruled that for domestic partners in California, the partners could file as a couple. This is because California is a "community property" state. The link eludes me to this day but when we heard this we got in touch with our accountant and refiled for years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
If there is disparate incomes, the jointing helps a lot.
Well.
No one in the belly of the IRS had gotten the memo and, if they did, no one agreed on how the claims should be refiled. There was a joint property form which we subsequently filled out but as far as we can tell, when the joint claims arrived at the IRS, someone split them and the twain never met.
Over and over shit would happen. One of us would be declared delinquent, one of the Social Security accounts was garnished (max allowed 70 dollars a month) and so on.
Over and over we were hit with red tape, disinformation.
They also kept handing the hot potato to other offices. In the process we received instructions, often conflicting, from seven or eight offices.
Fast forward. In desperation our accountant got in touch with the IRS Advocates office, an internal watchdog. He also sent a letter to Senator Boxer who never replied.
Whatever worked, worked.
We have just gotten notice that our refunds will be forthcoming. We have two of the checks. Cashed them fast.
There is a lot of money involved.
Victory.
And I will be most happy when the other checks arrive and get deposited.
Labels: government, money
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
WEDNESDAY A KILLER
It has turned out that Wednesday is a schedule killer.
Today there were back to back visits with friends and a pile of other stuff to do. But I am done.
No movie though. I had a good time anyway.
I used to live wall to wall and never worked too hard as it was. I am used to a lope instead of a marathon run.
I will be tired tonight but good tired.
And not much blogging.
Labels: life
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
GOOD!!!
This is good to see, especially after all the pouting and complaining. We are coming home.
Gay Donors, Key Group for Obama, to Plot Strategy in Washington
Well, there is obviously nowhere else to go. And our hearts are always with the Democrats and Obama especially.
This is the time when the assertion that "the gays" have more money than anyone else because they don't have kids (which is patently not true) turns to our advantage because, in fact, we do have a lot of money and we put our money where our oppression can be remedied.
Obama put DODT to right and has done many things as administrative orders for and in support of gay men and women.
The Justice Department has revved up the action against anti-gay activities in the realms of oppressive state law as well as criminal activity. And so on.
So here comes the deluge of "the gays'" money. It sure ain't going to the hateful bastards in the GOP who act against us either directly or through passive acceptance of homophobic speech and such shit in their own party. Hello Mitt! Traitor to the causes you once supported.
Labels: gay history, gay liberation, gay rights, Re-election of Barack Obama
VIOLENT HOMOS
Today's gay film was
A bare knuckle fighter (human cockfighting) from the provinces, Blackpool, goes to the big city, London, and falls in love.
He is gay and is having trouble coming out. The boyfriend, a serial monogamist, falls for the street fighter and gently brings the him out.
Jealousy and the interference of business and personal friends tears at the relationship although the fighter's brother is very supportive and there is a near cataclysmic ending just saved by the "bell".
The fighter is adorable which means that he doesn't really fit the role he has been given. Big and tough might have sufficed. The interfering friends are sleazy and the conflicting loyalties of the........
Oh, never mind. There are supposed to some hurdles in finding true love but there are too many for me to get through.
The basic message is that love is love and will carry the day. I would just rather that it happened a little sooner. Maybe half an hour.
There is some sweetness. The romance is pretty. The acceptance of the brother is a great set of scenes. Even funny.
Steve Bell is very much a lover but not a fighter. But, ironically, he was a real fighter, amateurs at a high level.
I skipped through some of the rough stuff and some of the annoying antics of the "friends" who try to break the couple up.
That makes it a 2 out of Netflix5. The first time under a 3 in this series of gay films.
Monday, March 19, 2012
GROWING GROWING
The February numbers are really great. $45 million. January was $21 million.
The important thing here is the breadth of donorship. Wide. And the small amounts of the average donation. Less than $60 per person. So far, in total, over 1.5 million people have donated. Many of us are repeaters or monthly donors.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama
Sunday, March 18, 2012
WAR PLAY
You know, Airedales were bred to fight otters and other varmints.
In this case, the war has become a ritual and pretty much fun.
I love how the otter goes through the gate to "get away" and then swoops back in for some more fun.
They say that the relationship grew over a few months and the otter returns for a session every evening.
THE GAYS ARE COMING
Today's gay film was
This is a niche market gay film with very high production values, a good story and some real tension, sexual and otherwise.
A gay native of the East Side LA who is in the closet sees new neighbors moving in. "The gays" have arrived next door.
He works with his grandmother in a small neighborhood restaurant and lives with her. He has a boyfriend who, it turns out is a closet case and a real estate agent with a big investment in the rising market and a desire to be seen as straight by his clients. He is also an asshole but a sexy and handsome one. They are doing well in the fantasy laden love department but not in any other way.
The new gay neighbors are in trouble. Some people have a kid to avoid a divorce. Some gays buy a house. Did I say that one of the neighbors is nice and has eyes for our hero?
And so on. Gentrification, closet cases, the ghetto, getting a career, falling in love.
It plays out pretty well. The acting is better than normal for the niche film and the issues are serious without overwhelming the jokes and irony of the situations.
Oddly, I saw it before and didn't like it. But I remember that I skipped through it. I guess I missed the good parts that were just around the corner.
This time, it aced a solid 3 out of Netflix5.
UNDER THE WEATHER
In the last 24 hours we dropped our temperatures 30 degrees. Bam.
A big low pushed over the mountains and has dropped inches of snow down to 4500 feet. The winds they promised have not materialized but we have had a lot of rain.
Booker and I walked in the rain yesterday, it was clear this morning, and now there are drops too far apart for us to get wet.
Booker's head cone serves as a pretty good rain hat.
They promise the 80s again by Wednesday.
Meanwhile we have snow in the mountains to look at. Surely the last for this year. Surely?
The weather is very unpredictable so nothing would surprise.
View from Joshua Tree National Park.
Labels: desert, Palm Springs
Saturday, March 17, 2012
CLEANUP
My Beautiful Laundrette (1986)
is one of my all time favorite films. One of the first appearances of Daniel Day-Lewis*, it has success at many levels.
It is a NYTimes Critics' Pick. It has been recognized as one of the most clarified films about race and class in England during the Thatcher era. It serves as a metaphor of the new Great Britain, bringing a young couple together, one Paki and one underclass white thug, together in a business venture which bonds them and serves as a new paradigm for the future.
We see sides of Pakistani culture which we may never been aware of (the film assumes we know all about the white guys).
It is also about generational tension and the failure of the fathers to make good on their visions for their sons.
And it is one of the sexiest of gay films because this young, unlikely couple is gay and, first and foremost, are hot for each other and together for both bad and good times. And for the time, 1986, it was forthright and open about what that relationship involved. Public hugging, kissing, making out, neck licks (love licking necks) and a surprising level of comfort about their own sexuality. These boys are OUT.
I am sure that is the reason why Laundrette is Number 20 in the Fifty Gay Favorite Films.
Director Steven Frears (gay) works on the story by Hanif Kureishi (gay). It was a phenomenal hit. Unexpected.
I have seen it many times and still see nuance that I have missed before.
This is a 5 out of Netflix5 and I will see it again someday.
* From IMDb: My Beautiful Laundrette and A Room with a View both opened in New York on the same day, March 7, 1986. Both movies featured Daniel Day-Lewis in prominent and very different roles: in A Room with a View, he played a repressed, snobbish Edwardian upperclassman, while in Laundrette, he played a lower-class gay ex-skinhead in love with an ambitious Pakistani businessman in Thatcher's London. When American critics saw Day-Lewis, who was then virtually unknown in the US, in two such different roles on the same day, many (including Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times and Vincent Canby of The New York Times) raved about the talent it must have taken him to play such vastly different characters.
FIRST IN OUR HEARTS
Last night, the MIT men's basketball team competed in the Division III Final Four game for the first time ever in its 112-year history.
The Engineers, one win away from the National Championship round, were riding a 13-game winning streak into the showdown with the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a Division III power making their fifth trip to the Final Four.
They lost but gained.
This team has been moving forward every year in the last five.
Most MIT teams are not considered top of the line. It used to be champs at fencing. But none of the watched sports.
It is great to see this happen.
Now. Back to the books.
Friday, March 16, 2012
HALF AND HALF
Today's gay film was
Do Começo ao Fim / From Beginning to End (2009)
This beautiful film has been around all the sites on the internet, short outtakes. I wanted to see it and it has never made it to Netflix, so I bought it.
As it happens, it is a DVD that I would want to own. So it worked out.
Two half brothers grow up together and are very close. So close that it worries their families a bit. They go back and forth from one dad to the other but live with their mother.
Their bond is enduring. Partly because of the loving support of their parents. Support for loving one another.
As they mature and one dad and their mom pass on, they find themselves alone and as it turns out their love has been sexualized.
That sounds so medical.
The word is "incest". But it doesn't come off that way at all.
To me.
Some viewers got all jumpy about it though.
The film is beautiful to watch. The kids are charming. The adults even more so.
The ocean, the countryside. All lovely.
The sexuality is love soaked.
I am definitely going to see it again and that makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
FLUNKED
You may remember that every year, from late summer to the New Year, I interview kids who have applied to MIT for the following academic year.
This year I interviewed 11 kids. Not a bumper year. I had a max of 16 two years ago. Don't know the min.
One interview didn't actually apply, on my advice, and another just fell by the wayside.
This drop out effect is not a bad thing. I am one of the filters.
Of the nine that got through to the application phase none were admitted.
I just heard today.
I never take this very well but at least I don't take it personally anymore.
I have a couple of favorites, one young man who came out to me. I guess he felt safe. He had a great resumé but that is not enough for MIT.
The odds are ten to one and most, say half, are very good admits. But that is not enough for the ten to one odds. Ten thousand kids apply and one thousand are admitted.
They know this, I know this, we talk about it. And it always hurts for awhile.
The thing about it is that many of the people I saw are quite gifted and they will have no trouble getting into another elite school.
So in the five years that I have been doing this, maybe 50 kids in all, two have been accepted.
In the ten to one ratio, if it were across the board, then I "should" have seen five admits.
We are under the average.
Start with the level of the schools here and that this is a backwater in many respects. It is very hard to shine in this kind of environment.
Some kids this year were on the on-line program at Stanford. Well, two of them. They didn't make it either. That is an elite high school setup. Maybe too new to be a dependable criteria.
And, of course, my report is just one of the many things considered. A few didn't ace the SATs, average maybe. A few didn't do much in the way of outside activities. One nerded his way through without any activities.
The other consideration here is that there are no real cultural opportunities. If they do something very well, they are a big frog in a small pond.
OK. I have talked it through.
There are a few hours where I go through an "I am not going to do this anymore" phase. And then I think of the ones I saw admitted and how that felt to me. I remember that for the most part, I enjoyed the interviews and the kids.
The disappointment vanishes and I begin to think about next year.
Here is my class picture. 900 people. 6 women. We wore ties!
Labels: MIT
RULES OF ATTRACTION
Today's gay movie, not on the "favorite" but a pretty good one:
Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss (1998)
with Sean Hayes (pre Will and Grace) nudges the ball a few steps forward on the "gays are good" scale with a nicely even romantic comedy.
BIlly, unlucky in love, learns that he is not following the rules of attraction. Meaning that you really need to find someone who likes you as much as you like them.
Along the way there is a lot of fun with gay clichés and a few actually wonderful drag queens.
For those to whom this matters, there is a Hollywood ending just to make it all worthwhile.
We saw his when it came out and it is as fresh today as then. I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. I wouldn't mind seeing it again if you give me a couple of months.
UNLEASHED
This from today's Times
In Toledo, Biden Makes a Working-Class Appeal
They have turned Joe loose.
Today he named names and quoted quotes and held Mitten's feet to the fire.
There is nothing subtle about Biden and he is a joy to watch and hear. The videos of this speech are not available yet, but I mean to listen.
UNLEASHED II
Yesterday morning on the way home from the gym, I was driving along, nothing going on when, suddenly, I saw a dog, a big dog, running right toward my right headlights!
So close I could draw you a picture.
WTF!!
I was on automatic and swerved just so to miss him then realized I had swerved into the opposite lane and at that speed, doing some pretty curvy jiving with the car which, out of my vast store of reflexive moves, I did just the right thing to set things aright and get back into my lane. The Volvo's handling helped a lot. I always felt in control and hugging the road.
Wow.
I get the vision of it here and again during the last two days. Not too often but often enough to reprogram again for weird street events. Ready at all times>
Still a mystery, what was driving the pooch's death wish?
I didn't see anything in hot pursuit.
Labels: dogs, driving, Joe Biden
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
PROGRESS
Went to the vet today and came home without the bandage on Booker's ear. Still have the cone. He seems relieved and happy. But tired. This happened last time. They say that he is a very "brave boy" and they like him a lot. He takes the discomfort without a flinch. Stoic.
We are proud of him.
They may start with the stitches out on Monday. We go see every five days.
They say that the healing is going pretty well. Very healed looking where the stitches are.
NO MOVIES TODAY
The vet was our movie.
Very quiet there today. LIke a silent movie.
Labels: Booke
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
LIFTED IN ITS' ENTIRETY FROM KEVIN DRUM
"Quote of the Day: Lowering the Bar on Sympathetic
—By Kevin Drum| Mon Mar. 12, 2012 12:30 PM PDT
From Erica Grieder on Game Change, the HBO movie about the 2008 presidential campaign:
Some early reviews have suggested that the movie offers a sympathetic portrayal of Sarah Palin. Considering that she's portrayed as stupid, self-absorbed, shallow, stubborn, volatile, delusional, hysterical, and mentally unstable, "sympathetic" is probably a stretch.
Sure, but she's not portrayed as corrupt. Or a liar. Or a demagogue. Come on! That's not bad!"
Yay Kevin.
I have not seen the movie nor do I want to. I don't watch any clips with her in them either. I am entirely Palin free except when someone who is still in the swim has a really nasty thing to say about her. Rhymes with witch (Barbara Bush who actually said it about the late, great Geraldine Ferraro who was the same ilk on our side).
I won't show Palin's face in this blog either.
Labels: republican whack jobs
THE CAMPAIGN
I am not writing much about the campaign(s).
It is all "wait and see" for me.
I truly believe that the GOoPers could go unresolved to the convention. So why put any energy into it.
It is pretty boring, actually.
I have stopped even being interested in Romney's lies or gaffes. They are so routine.
And the Prez? Who does he campaign against? He is sure doing a great job of getting out there with the issues. But he lacks a focus. He has to wait also.
BOOKER
We go to the vet with Booker tomorrow. They may take out some stitches but the cone will certainly remain.
Perhaps next Monday. We go in every five days.
He is in great spirits. Yesterday, I was out on the courtyard with a friend and Booker was digging in his sandbox.
Did you know he had one?
He was scooping the sand up with the cone, digging with tools.
What a guy.
ROCKY ROAD
Today's gay film was the Korean
Huhwihaji anha / No Regret (2006)
This is a great romantic story with all the stops pulled out. Rich guy, poor guy meet in a gay brothel. Yes. Did you ever see one? That is one of the treats of the film although not by any means sexy.
The rich one falls in love or at least like. It takes a while for things to click.
All of it is rough and tough. No one gives in easily. There are some great respites of romance always broken by worldly things.
This is made in the classic Korean romantic template. Love is won hard but for keeps.
Everything about the film is well done. The cinematography, city lights, yay. The acting great by all and sundry. Especially the hooker. Sweet and sour.
The ending is a tough one to watch. No more spoilers from me.
I liked it a lot and would be willing to watch it again. A 4 out of Netflix5.
There are subtitles in the film itself.
Monday, March 12, 2012
DOING TIME
We all think about the guys in prison. Don't we?
I do.
I can't comprehend it.
Today, the big man Blago goes to prison for 14 years. 12 at best. These are the federal rules.
This is one of the most comprehensive articles that I have read about that life.
And this is easy time.
Blagojevich will find life inside a jolt, ex-inmates say.
It is hard to imagine this.
But try.
I know prison is part of the social contract. I hate that it is. But there you are. What is the alternative.
I know there is doubt about incarceration as a preventive measure. It sure works on me.
Labels: life
ICONIC
Today's gay film was the BBC television production of Christopher Isherwood's memoir
Christopher and His Kind (2011)
It is not a movie per se but a video and for some reason these are not dealt with in the same way by the media. A movie is a movie. A film of a video is not a film. Hard to find reviews.
Nevertheless, this film/video is a wonderful experience and true to the story. It avoids the trap of being identified with the musical and FILM that was made out of this material, notorious for its inaccurate and rather daintily presented homo parts.
This is a full blooded story with real men, real gay bars, real lovers and a full throated presentation of the life of a man who had more to do with the gay liberation movement than many who claim the achievement.
The rise of the Nazis is depicted along with all the decadence of Berlin at the time.
Matt Smith is Christopher in a great, laid back performance as the observing author (I am a Camera).
The cast is filled with wonderful characters (Toby Smith) and the ending is heart melting. In a good way.
I would gladly see this film again. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
FLUFF BUT GOOD FLUFF
Today's gay film was the Taiwanese
17 sui de tian kong / Formula 17 (2005)
A mature 17 year old boy meets older immature playboy with a rep for one night stands. Love strikes both but they can't get by the opening lines without a bit of help from their friends.
This tightly knit love story is sweet and no one gets hurt. Well no more than a little to make it all worthwhile. The classical arc.
The acting is great. All the types are here even an American white boy.
Frothy. Lightweight. Sexy. Unpredictable (some magical realism, watch out) and even a small look at a Taipei gay pride parade.
Quite enjoyable. I would watch it again which makes it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
BETTER
Booker went for his five day bandage change and his operation is clean and closed. He gets two or three more five day visits then out of it. Off with the collar. On with a normal life.
IRS COMES THROUGH
We have been informed that our "case" with the IRS in which we made claims for back years with a joint return has been settled.
We get the refunds in a few weeks.
This is the end of a long drawn out process where they didn't "get" what had happened. A revision of the code that rules domestic partners can file jointly in California because it is a community property state.
They still don't really get it but we appealed to the Advocate's office and won our appeal. It is a lot of money.
Just like "the straights".
TIME TIME TIME
So busy, so busy and now they are taking an hour away from me tonight. At least I got a few posts in on the blog today.
I plan to set the clocks ahead around 6 PM and go to bed an hour early.
Wish me good luck with that.
HAPPY GAY LIVES
Today's gay favorite film (#21) was
The Broken Hearts Club: A Romant Comedy (2000)
If I were going to recommend a gay film for straight people, this is it. It would show them gay life as I know it and love it. It would show the particular gay view of "the straights" in a nice way.
With a great ensemble cast, this film shows gay friendship in all its forms. If you want to see how it is different than straight guys just stay for the first five minutes. A game. How long can we keep a straight guy conversation going? They hit a record at about 6 minutes.
There are crushes, romances, problems with drugs, all that, but no self hatred, tragedy or neurosis. Well, maybe a little neuroses. The sad stuff is not there as it is rarely there in the real gay world. Just in other movies.
It is funny, tearful, and, yes, romantic.
I have seen it two times and will see it again. A 5 out of Netflix5.
Thursday, March 08, 2012
SIX MOTHS IN APT #7
Stop it and look. Slide it along. A lot of fun in this.
There is even some gay makeout toward the end.
Labels: gay fun
ROUTINE BREAKS
The very air around us is balmy and filled with the hypnotic scent of citrus blossoms.
Spring.
The sweet odor is great until it isn't when it gets cloying and pervasive. But right now it is inducing a bit of sweet spring fever.
Along with that is a shakeup of the schedule.
Yesterday, the 6 week haircut took the movie space. Today a regular meeting meant to be held another day fell into this afternoon. Tomorrow we are back at the vet to have Booker's bandages re fitted. Nothing wrong. Just a routine change.
He is doing very well. He can get up on most every couch or lounge now. He can actually do his dribble the tennis ball tricks. There is no doubt that he is using the cone as a kind of weapon to get ahead on the walk, get attention for going out, getting a snack or whatever. He rams it into the back of our legs. "Coming through".
He is a smart guy and know how to take care of himself.
The weather is on the presummer groove now, I think. Sunny, clear. No weather weather.
Warm days cool nights. The beginning of the best weather of the year.
DST this weekend. A little extra sleep. Gain an hour.
And a return to the regular routine by Sunday. Welcome.
Can you smell it?
Labels: Booker, desert, films, flowers, life
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
EPIC
I finally finished the favorite gay "film" number 22.
Which is a film made of a 6 hour HBO production based on the play and directed by Mike Nichols.
There is a lot of star power in this film and sometimes it gets in the way but, overall, it is a thrilling experience to watch and experience and I am glad that I did it.
There is a lot of stuff about and around Roy Cohn in this film and he has been in my life one way or another for many years. Al Pacino plays the role intensely of course, it is Al, and he includes a piece of humanity in it. There is a bid for compassion which succeeds at times.
The film is all gay. It is the gayest film I have seen. But the full spectrum. Gay people as people. It is nice to see this.
All of this is around the worst time of the HIV/AIDS onset. The early years. Pre AZT. I lived through that too. Friends gone. Worries that I might be infected. All that.
There is a guy who is in the closet even to himself and comes out. Familiar territory there too.
I watched it in pieces so there might have been something lost in the interruptions. The original had one "intermission". I had three. And I missed a day or two in between. My judgement might have suffered a bit.
I am glad that I saw it. I am not likely to see it again. But I could, if it came to pass that it was on the menu sometime.
Monday, March 05, 2012
ANGELS
I am three quarters through Angels in America and feeling pretty good about it. It is a roller coaster.
SMART DOG
It is interesting to watch Booker deal.
He has had the cone on his neck up to the tip of his ears for three or four days now. It seems longer.
At first the complications of the first bandage made the cone very awkward but after it was off he has been able to experiment. First, we could see him accept the situation. It was visible.
I think he needed to know that it was not a punishment, that we were with him, he got that it was going to be there for awhile and he began to "integrate" that information. He quit fighting it.
He first managed to find sleeping places that worked. He did the floor the first night and not much sleep, I think. We left the lights on dimmed and he walked around a lot. Some whining. We got up early Saturday morning (I usually sleep later, score one for me on the sacrifice board) and that helped. His peeing was out of whack and that got him back on his schedule.
During the day he walked around and got a connection between his view and how to fit the cone through narrow spaces. We went in at noon to change the bandages and that helped a lot. They were actually hurting him by holding him still. And the meds were kicking in.
Next he covered every inch of the house working out the dimensions.
By that night he had figured out how to get into his small bed in our work room/study and spent most of the night there. Then he worked out his own bed. A problem is that you can't sleep against a wall which he loves to do as the cone will be in the way.
He figured out how to sleep in the dining area, against the wall, by putting his head out in the walkway. Let Dads work it out.
Then yesterday we saw him get up on the sofa with his front feet, look around, think about it and then give up on trying.
This morning, he went to the same sofa, got up on it, found a way to get his head on a pillow and slept away for quite a while.
Just an hour ago, I saw him go to the toy box and get a tennis ball out to chew and roll around. He hasn't worked out how to dribble the ball as he normally does with the cone on but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets there soon.
Eating is working out very well. He even has the spit the pill thing down but I am always ahead of him on that.
If it is good for the patient to participate in his own care then he is well on his way to recovery.
And the bandage still holds tightly in place. A worry because it does rub on the inside of the cone some but so far so good.
Now, if I can find a way to keep his mouth and chin dry and not smelly I will be happy. I guess just a little soap and water and a towel. Same thing but more often. And clean the cone out of food and slop.
Have we learned anything? A lot. Mostly respect for his own skills and ability to ask for help when he needs it. He is also beginning to discover that hitting the back of our legs with the edge of the cone is a good attention getter.
Sunday, March 04, 2012
DAVY JONES LOCKER
I am at the age where everyone is dying. Except me, so far.
Often there is little surprise in this. The people who passed were either older than me or the same age.
The ones who surprise are the ones that I presume were younger or were, in fact, younger. In this case much younger
Davy Jones, Monkees Singer, Dies at 66
I was a fan of this show and Davy was my favorite. By a long shot.
He was funny, he was very handsome and above all, he was short.
I am a connoisseur of smaller men. I married one.
They pack a lot into a tight space. They are reachable. You can fold them, well never mind.
Davy was small.
I had a crush on him. It continues today. A post mortem crush.
He had the goods. And he had talent.
Here is the surprise. I thought he was a lot younger because that is the Davy in my mind. I never saw him as he grew up and out of cuteness and into God knows what. I did see a YouTube of him in which he is playing the guitar in one of those old star autograph shows. The clip below just turned up.
But this is not Davy Jones. This is an old, pleasant guy strumming and singing. I have had a crush on a personality stuck in amber for all these years. God, at least 40 years.
Unrequited love is a sad spectacle. So unrealistic in the first place, pathetic in the final awakening to reality.
Here he is in his last performance. A reunion tour.
You can see the young man under what is now mugging for the camera. This is why I never went back to training and quit before I became a mockery of myself.
Labels: aging, fun. music, life
Saturday, March 03, 2012
MEDICAL BULLETIN
It was a hard night but Booker is doing a lot better. They had all kinds of extra bandages on him and every time the collar hit something it would jar the sutures and stuff.
But we just went to have the dressings change and all that superstructure is off and he is a different animal.
Also, the pain meds, strong I think, kicked in and he is much more comfortable.
Every once in awhile he is seen standing looking into space but he is eating and drinking and beginning to be his normal pesky self.
So glad.
He goes back now on Friday to see the doctor and to have the dressings changed again.
How about that. It is said that he is a good patient (they tell all the clients that) and a brave boy and I believe it. The same at home.
So happy to have the first phase over, over.
They did warn that for some inexplicable reason there is sometime a second hematoma in the other ear. Not welcome news but at least we can "plan" for it.
Oh.
We are doing well too. It is very hard to have our best friend feeling bad.
I forgot to mention before that we used this out time to get his teeth done too.
I take their word for it. I have never been able to figure out what is tartar and what is not and when it is bad (always I suppose).
Labels: Booker
Friday, March 02, 2012
FAMILY EMERGENCY SORTA
Booker came up with a hematoma in his ear flap. A big bruise actually but caught between the layers of cartilage.
So they have to open it up and clean it out. They will then stitch it in a kind of quilt shape to put the layers back together and clean all the ear out.
While he is at it he will get his teeth cleaned. An anesthesia opportunity.
It is a big deal. 1500.00. But there is nothing else to do. He will have to wear the "collar of shame" for awhile and have a dressing on the ear, held down blah blah. Pills and all that. They are probably doing him right now and he will be home after supper.
They are super professional and vigilant. I have just spoken to the doctor. She is not doing the actual work but is in touch. We feel good about it all. we switched docs because the other guy goes away in the summer now and we want a full timer.
Labels: Booker
Thursday, March 01, 2012
DEATH AFTER DISHONOR
I always figured that Andrew Breitbart was driven by inner demons. He was a mean son of a bitch who left the center and went rabid for the right wing. A propagandist and bomb thrower, he depended on the hoaked up video and the hysterical rant as a medium to deliver vitriol and lies in opposition to the administration and any liberals in general.
Andrew Breitbart, Conservative Blogger, Dies at 43
This guy got my blood boiling more than a few times and I am relatively immune from that kind of thing.
So he was good at what he did. I don't even get upset at Newt or Rick. Or Rush even. But this guy really burned my ass.
Some may think it inappropriate to slam the dead before they are cold. Not me. especially if they did the same to others.
Andrew Breitbart, a Washington Times columnist who oversees Breitbart.com and BigHollywood.com, tapped into the anti-Kennedy vein in the hours after the senator’s death was announced, posting a series of Twitter messages in which he called Kennedy a “villain,” a “duplicitous bastard” and a “prick.”What goes around comes around, especially for villains, duplicity artists and pricks.
RIP and I mean it. Sorta.
Labels: republican whack jobs
SAGA
Today's gay favorite film (#22) is not actually a movie but a television production by HBO of the famous six hour drama written by Tony Kushner and directed by Mike Nichols. Kushner wrote both the play and the teledrama.
Angels in America
I never saw this as a play or a video. I was totally put off by Kushner who, despite some mellowing, I still regard as an asshole.
I also didn't go for all the ooohing and aaaahing about it.
And six hours. Puhleese!
It covers the period beginning in 1985 and so it is all about the onset of the HIV and the social reaction to it. I don't know when it ends. Six hours later, apparently.
But I think my resentments and discomfort with the material have passed its due date and it is on the list with STARS so I am watching it. In segments. 90 minutes each.
It is more or less written in one hour chapters so I am midway through the second hour.
We have seen Roy Cohn get cancer and rename it as he is not a homosexual, one member of a gay couple get infected and the other one get freaked out and run. And a Mormon couple with troubles (she a valium addict) he in the inevitable collapse of his closet walls. And one white feather has dropped from the sky.
It is OK but I am not panting to see what happens next. It is more or less at the 3 out of 5 level but, who knows, things could change.
DAY OFF
Every other week, I have a "for me" Thursday.
No visitors, no meetings, no routine duties.
John has commitments out of the house that day, all day, and Booker and I are alone. Left to our own devices. No plans.
Today is one of those days.
I often get drowsy and sort of float over the earth from one thing to another. Or nothing.
I don't worry about dressing. Here I am, still in my shorts.
I don't have any chores today. Nothing.
I dabble in the internet, sit a lot longer on the toilet reading, stare into space.
My day.
I do need to be careful. Every now and then I nod off. Face plants into the computer keyboard.
I have always had days like this even when I "worked".
I will probably take Booker out back and sit and watch the sky. Or out front to watch the birds.
Soon, I will have to take a nap. Longer than usual.
Then I will be done with it. Sometime this afternoon, the drowse will dissipate and, out of the blue, I will quit nodding out and, regaining consciousness, do some more writing (I can hardly manage this), watch a movie or make dinner. The juices will flow again and the day off will become the day on.
I have never been one who could lie in bed drowsing. I do mine standing up.
Labels: life
