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Today's film from the DVD collection is a wonderful mother son picture.

Le fil / The String (2010)

Architect Malik comes home to Tunisia to visit with his mother. He finds a surprise. The new gardener is not only handsome, he is gay.

It doesn't take the boys too long to figure this out.

The rest of the plot is somewhat predictable but the presence of the actors give it a great edge. Claudia Cardinale is the mother and she is great in this.

The usual themes of coming out to the family are here but done in a way that provides a lot of warmth and understanding. No one is nasty or unforgivingly religious. Just a normal process of acceptance that her son is gay. This is helped by the boyfriend's charm.

The film is every enjoyable and everyone lives happily ever after so don't worry about the bigots or some Arab chopping anyone's head off.

The usual theme holds. Coming out is good for everyone as it humanizes the process and allows love to enter the space.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay films

Disruption today as the house cleaners came and did their thing.

Fortunately there were three of them and they went to work quickly and were out in less than the allotted two hours.

John escapes from the house and Marcus and I move from one room to another to accommodate the workers.

Everyone is attuned to the ballet required to keep us out of the way and the cleaners to do their job.

So, I am not even behind in my "work". Such as it is.

Most of the year Marcus and I go outside while the work is going on but that is not going to be possible for the summer months.

Right now, we are still monsoonal. Humid and hot. Stay in weather.

It is our winter.

Labels: life, weather

The first feature film about healthy and normal gay relationships didn't come around until, well, the 70s.

A Very Natural Thing (1974) sand coincides with my own coming out as a gay man.

There is a lot packed in this film. There is its didactic side, an argument for gay rights. Then the very sexy first relationships of a gay man first coming out.

Finally, the fully realized love between this man and the one who finally comes along. The one.

We all have one if we are willing to wait for him. See? I am also a romantic. But it did happen to me.

There are no crosses to bear in this film. There is no fight going on.

There is some attention to the argument for equal rights but also equal opportunities for open loving relationships.

Not the same thing at all.

If someone is looking for a "I was there" kind of experience, this film will provide that feeling.

It is still as fresh as the day it was born and it is amazing to me to see how much it nails the growth of a gay sensibility.

It was great seeing it again from the present perspective. Not a single forced or false note.

The film is originally on 16mm sound equipment and is spotty as far as quality is concerned.

I have read that the original prints were lost and had to be revived from old clips and worn out film.

This passes by as a concern as the movie gets going.

Labels: films, gay films

It is difficult, I think, to mix drama with comedy.

But in this film about an Italian family with not one but two gay sons, they come pretty close. Laughs with some tears. Happy ones.

Mine vagrant / Loose Cannons (2010)

A favorite son comes home for a visit to the pasta manufacturing family.

Ready to come out to the family he discovers that his brother is one step ahead of him. Two gay sons! The father is apoplectic over the first. Who will he leave the family business to? Now what does the second son do? And his lover and friends show up mid visit.

There is a lot of fun to be had in this film about families, gay siblings, traditional marriages and all the rest.

It is a great film and as fresh as though I saw it for the first time.

Some great comedy turns by some friends from Rome who show up and flagrantly overturn the apple cart. But as most straight families do, the father and others fail to see the connection. Or even get what is going on.

Of course this is stretching it but still, it is a very good, warm and even sentimental tribute to family love. And to gay people who often show up among the straights. What did we do wrong? The first and incorrect question by the parents. More, what did we do right to help this son find himself.

This is a definite 5 out of Netflix5. The cast has talent wide and deep. Great ensemble acting. The water ballet by four gay friends from Rome is not to be missed.

Labels: films, gay films

Today, a gay film from Korea.

Huhwihaji anha / No Regret (2009)

This film is something of a melodrama saved by exquisite acting and beautiful cinematography. The snowy forest is really great. But you have to see the film to get the effect.

Two boys, one from the upper class and an executive, the other a rent-boy trying to make ends meet. So to speak.

Couldn't resist.

They meet at work, later find each other at a brothel. The poor boy needs extra income.

There is romance, there is trouble when the rich guy has to go through with his marriage to the bosses daughter.

And so on.

It is rather conventional in story line but it is sweet guys who are in love. Very nice.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5 as it is already in our DVD library.

Labels: films, gay films

Obama does not have to play nice any more.

He can call the GOopers out on their bullshit. Of which there is plenty as 20 or something hopefuls vie for the nomination.

Obama Criticizes Huckabee, Trump, Cruz and Other Republicans

The clown show is pretty extensive. Huckabee, the religious nut. Trump, the billionaire vanity candidate. Slimy Ted Cruz. The list goes on and on. A veritable parade of bozos trying to get on the bus, those ten slots which are to be doled out for the debates.

Each of these candidates are in the "outrageous claims" phase of their primary efforts. Elbowing each other for attention.

Some of it is pretty vile.

I watch this in bits and pieces at the gym in the morning.

I have three screens. Fox, CNN and CNBC. There is no sound, fortunately.

Just the graphics for the hard of hearing. Which is often truncated. And often funny.

We just know that they are not saying what the graphics say.

The ticker tape runs too fast to follow it, and the translator often shows his or her bias in converting.

Labels: GOoPers, obama

Today's film is an old favorite.

Boy Culture (2007)

An old favorite based on the novel by Matthew Rettenmund.

Loved the novel, love the movie. I have seen it many times. It is somehow perfect for me. The conjunction of the various streams of gay live. Aging gay, coming out as a teen gay, living together gay, hustling gay and becoming a committed couple gay.

Can't be beat.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: filkms, gay films

A cyclist, a racer, has an accident and becomes paralyzed from the waist down.

Morgan

took a dangerous curve a little too carelessly.

He recovers. He learns how to live on his own, more or less, and begins to deal with life's other challenges.

One of these has to do with his ability to have a relationship with another man. Obviously, if you are man, the ability to have sex, to get his equipment to work is pretty important. It would be nice to have some help.

Unsurprisingly, the efforts he makes on his own are futile for the most part. But one day he meets a guy who has more than a casual interest in him. They date. The sex thing becomes more urgent as it becomes obvious that they are attracted to one another.

I won't tell the ending but it is pretty clear that things can get better even if you think they will not.

One nice thing about this film is that it explores the importance of being able to ask for help.

I liked it a lot. The relationship is very nice.

The boy he falls in love with is just out of a long period of care taking. His mother was slowly dying of cancer. Patience and empathy are part of this guy's character. A good match for the impatient Morgan. Can they bring it off together? The relationship as well as the sex?

The whole thing is just at the edge of soap opera but I do not mind that at all. I even had some sniffles at the end.

Part of our DVD collection, this is a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay films

A controversy over a book.

Imagine.

Books are passé. No one reads them, right?

Well not as many as used to but then there has always been that despair. The minds of our youth rotting. The cheapening of American Literature.

I read, a lot. I do not write about it here because I think that reading about reading is boring as well as redundant.

Besides, I have a special taste, honed over decades of books, which is not really very interesting to others.

I do still read the NYTimes Book Review which now comes as a paid for printed supplement. Also online. And I go through it with my fine tooth comb. Not a lot get picked off the lists. I hardly bother with the Best Sellers. I am not a snob but the list is someone else's preference. I like to go as close to the bone as possible.

In any case, I occasionally succumb and did so recently in the case of Harper Lee's presumed exhumed "companion" novel to her wonderful To Kill a Mockingbird.

Up to now, Lee had been thought to be one of that host of writers who one one off successes. They can't duplicate the first flashes of genius.

When this second book, Go Set a Watchman appeared there was a genuine swell of interest. I ordered the book for my Kindle and I started to read.

It has been a long time since "Mockingbird" but this book did not fit. It is meant to be a sequel but the characters are out of synch and out of time. Boring and flat. Is that the same thing? Yawn.

I quit. Took it off the Kindle and went on with my life.

As it turns out, all of us, the Harper Lee fans, were swindled.

Here it is all summed up for you, if you are still reading.

The Watchman Fraud

It is sad really. An old old lady, Lee seems not to even be a part of this. I hope that she is not. A sad ending if she is or is not. Sometimes a bad case of the "olds" is a blessing. You miss the nasty stuff as well.

Labels: reading

Today's film is one of the best of the best.

My Beautiful Laundrette (1986)

Breakout film for Director Stephen Frears. Breakout film for star Daniel Day-Lewis.

One of the favorite favorites.

There is nothing to say about it other than it is a 5 out of Netflix5. One of the most well made films ever.

Labels: best films, films, gay films

Just when I thought I had seen enough of Christopher Isherwood's years in Berlin, this came along.

Christopher and His Kind (2011)

It is a BBC television program and original. Very good. Isherwood's life bears a lot of examination. He is a hero in many ways.

Early out and proud, he had no truck with the usual shushers who wanted him to stay quiet.

The first film was I Am a Camera with Julie Harris. That was focused on Sally Bowles. Then Cabaret, both a movie and a major hit musical.

This film is much quieter with an emphasis on gay life in Berlin at the time as well as the enclosing Nazi menace.

The cast is not made up of big stars which allows for a lot of very good ensemble acting.

Matt Smith is spellbinding as Christopher.

And, this not being a Hollywood production, the sex is honest and very hot. No euphemisms. Verbally or graphically. So much for British reserve.

Isherwood was very successful as a novelist and his many works are still in print. Even on Kindle, for gods' sake.

This film is a 5 out of 5 and part of our DVD collection.

Labels: films, gay films

A lot going on today.

The gym, a Meeting, the chiropractor and then a trip to Palm Desert to finalize the work we have been doing with our final estates. Wills and Health Directives.

We took Marcus along. He loves the rides (to and fro) and he is good company. Into the office and onto a sprawl on the floor while the Dads finish the paper work. He gets a bowl of water and occasionally a drink from a plastic cup (generous Dads who share) and takes it all in.

We have had to redo some stuff because of changes in the laws. We used to have all kinds of shit going in because we were not married but now that has changed and, thanks to recent updates in the law, we no longer have to cut and paste to cover our relationship. Oddly, we kept a lot of the superstructure anyway as some of it is useful even for married folks.

Then on back home and resumption of normal activities which include a nap, a lunch and a movie. Somehow we had enough time to do it all.

Today's movie was

Were the World Mine (2008)

which is good enough to get a NYTimes Critics' Pick review of its own.

A gay oriented story about a boys school who decides to produce and all male production of Midsummer Night's Dream.

It is a real musical! So well done. Just like in the old days.

It is very good. I always enjoy watching it because there is so much to see and there is always something new that I did not spot before or even understand. Very rich.

The sign of a good film is that it bears repetition.

The star of the show is, of course, gay and, it turns out, he is not the only one. Romance wafts through the air.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay films, life

I see that I have not written about much except for the movies we are seeing.

That is partly due to the season. Hot and summery and blessedly not humid. It has been a great summer.

But I have to admit that I have not been out or in any more or differently than usual.

Mostly that the bloggable things are not coming along at their usual pace.

I do not suppose you want to know about my gym workout this morning or my food shopping experience at Ralphs.

Or my nap.

Some reading, mostly the latest saga about Captain Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin sailing the world on the warship frigate Enterprise.

My third time through.

Then there is the afternoon web run followed by supper and the evening dog walk>

Lively stuff. But perfect in its way.

Summer, when the livin' is easy.

And there is no one else here. I would say about half occupied. Maybe less.

Here is an old photo of the pool with the previous umbrellas. We have white/tan now. Not nearly so dramatic.

But the view has not changed at all. Maybe a stone or there but that can't be seen from our vantage point.

Labels: condo, life, summer

Today's film looks back at a common phenom in the "old days".

Gay films were not looked upon favorably in a lot of places, so the way into watching the male only action was within the construct of the three way.

I don't know if it is still in the running for young fun but here is a film that would indicate that it is.

Angels of Sex (2012)

It happens to be a very good film in the bargain. Argentina I think.

I have seen it several times and cannot remember if there was a purely homo part of it. But that is the point. Homo and straight are passé in this arena.

High time.

This is part of our DVD collection and so I have seen it several times.The acting is excellent and there is a lot more going on than who will bed who. Always nice to have a pleasant recess with nice people.

Labels: films, gay films

Many gay films are about coming out.

Presumably because it is one of the most important events in a gay man's life. If he wants to live openly and free to own his identity.

So there are many many gay films about this process. This one is French. And very good.

À cause d'un garçon / You'll Get Over It (2012)

It is a sweet and gentle film and as it moves slowly, it is not afraid of a little nuance.

There is even time to see a teacher who is in the closet clumsily encouraging our young hero to be himself. Everyone is nice in the film including best friends. It helps that there is a handsome new boy in the class who was shipped out of his old school for unclear reasons. We guess rightly that he is gay too. A love interest always softens the pain of coming out.

I like this one a lot.

This one is from our collection.

Labels: films, gay films

Today's movie is a behind the scenes look at the possibility that a movie star is gay.

Bad Boy Street (2013)

Imagine that. Gay and in the movies?

Well, it is a pretty good rundown of some of the problems especially when the star in question, a very butch action star at that, falls for an older man in the streets of Paris.

The two meet as the older guy revives the kid who is very drunk and passed out in the street. Our older man has no idea who the star is.

These circumstances do not bode well for the relationship, but they do provide a good pretext for the two to continue being together after the event. Anonymity is an aphrodisiac.

This is one of our DVDs and I like it a lot. It is a little too good to be true, movie hunk, May December. All that.

But the men are good looking and very believable and then there is Paris. Always a welcome distraction even though we would never see the city from this vantage point. Perhaps that is the attraction.

Anyway, a 5 out of Netflix5. Part of our collection.

Labels: films, gay films

After the sand storm, the haboob, came rain. A monsoon.

And the rain washed the sand away. Although there wasn't a whole lot of sand in this particular storm. All dust really.

It has been a long time between showers here and I doubt there is more than a dent in the drought deficit but we are grateful.

And pleasantly pleased at the change. We do not get much weather here as it is mostly sun and moon all the time. Clear skies. A few clouds on some days.

So any change is welcome but rain is particularly good to see. And feel.

Even Marcus enjoyed getting wet and heavily toweled after a run through it. Getting toweled is really a game to him. Do it more Dad.

The humidity is gone today, at least much lower. And we will be on to the summer soon.

I was not sure that this is Palm Springs in the photo but it is. We are standing up on the Lykken Trail along the mountain side. And that is what it looks like going out east from here, the long Coachella Valley. To the near far right is the Bob Hope hilltop and beyond that Murray's Peak.

That is enough for me.

Labels: weather

I think that today's film title is meant to be ironic.

Happy Together (1997)

The last in a series of films by Wong Kar-Wai.

In which Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung try to reignite their relationship.

As expats in Argentina, they are united by place and culture. But that does not prove strong enough to hold them together.

While I was watching I wrote down the word "longing". The desire to have more, to possess more fully. That is the feeling of this piece.

It has some great tango music at its theme. When the titles played I remembered this music immediately. Tango. The Argentine variety.

The photography is wonderful here and the acting top notch. Cheung and Leung are big stars in the Asian cinema, mostly centered in Hong Kong. While Wong Kar-Wai, the director, is a wonderful film maker with limited but high quality output.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay films

It has been so nice weather wise that we got spoiled.

The weather word would be clear.

But yesterday there was a quick adjustment as we were hit with a big haboob or sandstorm which pretty much covered the entire valley. It was not the black hard sand but the finer silica so not as gritty and mean but still not very nice.

It looks like fog.

Then today, right now, there are showers and thunder from a monsoon that has drifted in.

The sand storm is the result in a "whoosh" of air that comes down in a column and scatters the desert floor. The monsoon is the effect of a swirl of weather out over the either the Gulf of Mexico or the lower Pacific which brings the moist air up and over the mountains. It has to be strong to do that. Usually we are in the rain shadow and do not get much from this kind of pattern.

It will not end the drought. But it is possible that I will not have to water today or tomorrow. A welcome respite.

This is the haboob as seen in Phoenix as it arrived at the city.

Labels: haboob, monsoon, waather

Gay life stays the same across boundaries of language and culture. This is the second film by "Scud" from our DVD collection.

Probably because so much is new that the current is adopted quickly and becomes traditional.

While today's film is made in Hong Kong and is about Chinese men, a gay theme to a pretty standard story.

It is a straight forward romance with men working through the difficulties of new love. There are many beautiful scenes of the two out in nature and finding a full life together.

Permanent Residence (2009)

The review is kind of nasty and homophobic but it is the only one I could find. Maybe I should have just let it stand that I like this film about a business man who falls in love with an author/artist. It tells their story with some very nice settings, photography and while there is some melodrama it is really a traditional romance where the odds are really not all that serious to overcome.

One is best advised to sit back and watch, take it in, and be happy that this kind of film is no longer just the province of the straights.

Labels: films, gay films

I don't know much about amphetamine.

It is speed. The opposite of what I would go for if I were using.

Today's film does go a long way to describe the dysfunction that the drug brings on. Aptly titled

Amphetamine (2010)

Ostensibly, a gay romance by the Asian director SCUD, this film shows what can happen when an out, professional salaryman courts the attentions of a hustler who uses.

Nothing good ensues.

Except for some wonderful, beautiful love scenes and a lot of handsome naked men.

This is part of our DVD collection as are several more films from the same director.

This is one where it is probably wise to just sit back and enjoy the eye candy while the melodrama rolls.

Under normal circumstances, a 3 out of Netflix5 although this is the second or third time I have seen it.

I will be looking at SCUD's other work next.

Labels: films, gay films

Some GOoPers are just nuts.

Rep. Carlos Curbelo: Trump is 'a phantom candidate recruited by the left'

On the other hand, The Donald is a gift that keeps giving. And from what I see in my limited half hour survey while on the gym bike, he is getting a lot, a whole lot, of coverage.

If nothing else he is like a siren monopolizing the sound waves so that all saner voices are cancelled out.

Of course, the whole thing is a vanity project for him but I do not think he sees it that way. He genuinely thinks that he is "the man".

He forgets that his success was off his Dad and the Trump organization. Brash and egoistic, he will cut a wide swath in the debates.

He was Number One in the field this morning on Gallup's polling.

Labels: GOP, republican whack jobs

Today was mostly devoted to seeing our lawyers.

They say it has been 6 years since we updated our wills and durable attorneys.

The laws have changed a bit. And there is some aging out that happens as the result of passing time.

So we all went off in the Volvo to Palm Desert and had at it.

Marcus helped too.

We sat and went over the details and the documents are getting revised. We will have to go back to sign and complete the process.

It is nice to do this. A way of marking our lives off by looking at the end of them.

Marcus found it wildly entertaining, in his quiet way. He loves rides and settled himself on the rug next to the work table while we did the people stuff.

Then another ride home!

He is now zonked out. I am not too far from that. It takea a lot out of me to talk of my demise.

But we had good help. Competent legal mechanics whose work is only about wills and trusts.

Labels: death, life

The DVD jacket says that this is a "modern day classic".

The compression of time is very high these days. So 1986 until today is a long time, I suppose.

Parting Glances (1986)

It is also the first major film for Steve Buscemi.

A group of "NYC gays" live their lives until AIDS enters the picture and everything changes.

Somehow this film is able to capture the gravity of these times with a light touch and a lot of humor. Really.

I remember when this came out. "The plague" was on everyone's mind and I think this film was a way that a lot of us learned to "get a grip".

I have seen the film many times and am happy to see it again.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay films

The coyotes are among us.

Of course this is their domain and we are only visiting.

Every summer for lack of food and water they come down from the mountain and in from the deserts and check out what they might be missing in the people part of the place.

We have seen them a couple of times. Handsome dudes. Marcus thinks they are a dog. High interest.

There is nothing to do about it. Just be aware and keep your kitties inside or they will become lunch. They are already prey.

We walk around where they are and try not to confront directly.

This involves changing our route a little. They won't go outside the walls into the streets although they do cross into the desert plots.

And who knows what they get up to at night.

Labels: animals, desert

This is a charming film about a young gay man coming out to friends and family.

Jitters (2010)

It turns out that Iceland isn't much different from any place else.

This kid is very sweet and his coming of age is not smooth but it is not hazardous to his health either.

This is from the DVD collection. The thing I like about it is that every trope of a teen romantic comedy is present with two boys instead of the usual M/F combination.

The whole effect is that Iceland is just a small town on a national scale. There are bigots of course but mostly they are provincials. Our hero has been away to school on student exchange and in the process he kissed another boy on the last day. Who was also from Iceland. Simple story. They want to get back together at home.

It is a part of our collection and hence is a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: coming out, films, gay films

In Germany, there is an apprentice program for farming.

It is a relic of the old East German system. But it still works very well and is an important part of the agricultural economy. We send our kids to Ag school.

In today's film, two apprentices meet as they do their daily work on a farm. We see the operation first hand.

They fall in love.

We do not see this very often. Rural gay life. But here it is, very nicely done.

Stadt Land Fluss* / Harvest (2011)

It is a favorite of mine from the DVD collection and so far there is no limit to watching it given a little rest time in between.

The cast is said to be non-professional except for the two leading men. Sometimes this is noticeable but it did not get in my way.

Some critics were not kind about this film but I enjoyed it very much.

The product is warm and sweet.

There is an indie look to some of it. The color correction is off from reel to reel and there are some sound problems.

But that is just stuff. This rates, for me, a 5 out of Netflix5.

*City Country River

Labels: films, gay films

Every once in a while I get something on the 'net that suggests I go to Reddit.

Every time I go, I find that I am totally puzzled about what is going on.

A blue font list of shit that I do not care about.

But I say WTF and try out a couple and, by Jove, it turns out that I was wrong.

I don't merely not get it, I hate almost all the content to the point that I close it up as soon as I can get my mouse in there.

Am I missing something?

I do not even like the little figure that is their trademark.

Help.

Labels: internet

From the DVD library, an old favorite.

Latter Days (2004)

Gay twin and Mormon bible boy run into each other in LA.

Romance and conflict result.

The Morms hate them gays.

But when you are one, which we know has to involve a minimum of 10% of them, there is a lot of trouble.

It does not seem to me that anything is over sold in this film. It is realistic and a credible romance. The twin comes as far through love as the LDS kid.

This is a long time favorite. It is a great melodrama with strong performances by all the cast especially Mary Kay Place as a devout mother trying her best to save her child. This would be easy to overdo but it does give a great deal of credit to the belief and the conflict.

They do not make too much of the details of the religion which many of us consider nonsense but that is none of our business until a gay man gets his balls crushed by repressive haters.

I saw this first on a wide screen at a gay film festival and had to own it.

The love scenes are outstanding which proves that even an uptight Mormon kid can learn the ropes with a good teacher.

Jacqueline Bisset is the strong sure voice of calm.

Spoiler: Happy Ending.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay films

There is a long standing belief that gay men talk differently from the straights.

Of course, this is bullshit on the specifics but what about the aggregate? I would say that I have always thought some men sounded effeminate. That is different than gay of course. Some of the straightest men I have known have been fem, as we would say.

Take a look at this though.

Who Sounds Gay?

The conclusion here is that some men, gay or straight, have some sibilance in their s's (a standard tipoff) and that there are straight men who even flutter their hands when they speak.

The whole thing is confused further by the fact that for a long time, some gay men tried to hide their homo-ness while others, figuring the game was lost anyway, let loose and adopted the queeny voice of the gay diva. A way to fit in.

For me, I think, I am bilingual!

I have a gay presentation which I came into the world with. I was certainly branded early as a sissy. Not the same thing, incidentally. Another complication.

I also grew up in an intensely straight, mountain man hillbilly, culture in which you could get beaten up for that kind of talk.

So defensively I learned to talk from my Dad who was butch for days. And more love to him for that. He took my being gay much more easily than my mother who never ever got over it.

Of course, there is a key thing. I loved my Dad unreservedly and so I took all I could from him including his speech. I rejected my mother and while I stayed as a technical son and did my duty I refused to conform to her bidding.

I do think that she formed my sissiness but then when I fought back that faded.

But did it. I have listened and watched myself for years. My profession. Talking in public, coaching others. Hours of videotape.

I should say here that I never suffered the terrible self consciousness of other people at hearing themselves speak or watching themselves on video. In fact, it was my job to provide these experiences as a valuable learning tool.

In any case, I do think there is a "gay" sound to my talk. Some of it is innate. The sissiness, fem stuff. Some of it is acquired. And in a group of sissified gay men I can hold my own.

But I am not good at being a Queen Bee. The almost professional fem personality which for years was revered by many gay men. I know a few of these and love them. But there is an unconscious attempt on their part to signal their gayness, I think. Unnecessary in fact. They are girls at heart. And that is something else again. A femme who happens to be gay.

Labels: gay life, gay talk, gender

Lord knows I have a history of vilifying Ms. Clinton.

So who am I to say when others work up a sweat to do the same thing.

The Best Way to Vilify Hillary Clinton? G.O.P. Spends Heavily to Test It

And such is politics.

But what else is there to say? So much has already been dumped on. The Clintons, house brand that it is, has figured out how to deal with all of it.

Politics is a blood sport. Roughing is allowed.

They are up to the game and if they are not, then too fucking bad.

The worse thing for them is and would be self pity. Bill sort of wore that one out.

The GoOps on the other hand choose to ignore, at their peril, that they have 20 people running and we don't know shit about any of them. Well, some, and not anything I like.

And from my point of view not one of them holds a candle to our Hillary. There I said it. Just the first name. I would rather say Ms. Clinton but they have already removed that from the lexicon. No one ever said "Barack". I suppose they figure that it is too hard to fight up hill to get it changed at this point.

Labels: GOoPers, Hillary Clinton

One forgets cooking basics at a great risk.

Well, not a great one but still a risk.

Tonight a loud noise from the oven and what should appear but an exploded potato.

A baking potato in which the cook had not cut the requisite little stabs where the steam can escape.

I was in a hurry and going from one thing to another and forgot.

There are three potatoes in this photo. Which one do you think has not been stabbed prior to baking?

Easy, huh?

I had only one and it was all over the oven but not wet and messy. Sort of dry and messy.

No harm done.

A dust pan and brush out once the oven cooled.

Thank the gods for instant mashed. Done and done.

I am just passing it on. For anyone who thinks they know it all, you probably do, but execution can be put to risk by an absent mind.

Eternal vigilance is called for.

Labels: cooking

Today's film is from our DVD library.

I have seen it several times with great pleasure.

Spinnin' (2012)

The Brazilians have it all over us. They can make a sensible, friendly, gay romantic comedy and, in this case, throw in a bit of fatherhood with surrogate mothers and all that. A delightful gay couple step up to the plate and when life happens they decide to step up even more.

This film is way ahead of its time. It deals with issues that the good old USA is beginning to grapple with.

Not that this has stopped gay men who wanted to have kids at all. Society is always many steps behind.

This is a sweet romantic comedy with wonderful people and a great outlook.

A 5 out of Netflix5 by definition since I bought it at the first viewing.

Labels: films, gay adoption, gay films, gay life, gay rights.

Today's film shows WWII France in crisis and sets the stage for later difficulties in the great film

Les Homme Libre / Free Men (2012)

Tahar Rahim is a young Algerian working in the Resistance in World War II. He gets involved because he is already a black marketeer and has his finger on the pulse of the criminal underground.

The film is almost all action and plotting. No time for romance or other diversions.

I love this film and have seen it many times.

It has spies and the Resistance and is almost all on the edge story.

It is a 5 out of Netflix5. And I will probably want to see it again.

Labels: films

It is amazing how the GOP lacks any discernible leadership.

Keep the popcorn maker warmed up. It's going to be a long GOP primary season

So far, by some counts, there are 20 candidates more or less.

The first debate on Fox, no less, will be limited to ten candidates.

How Fox and the GOoPers get from here to there without major toe stubbing is hard to imagine.

I am happy we have a couple of people trying out for the Democratic nomination. They are not too impressive and unlikely to unseat Ms. Clinton from the lead but they are there and will be debate. Unless the Clintons play their games.

The GoOpers look like they are headed for what we have often called a "goat fuck".

Labels: GOoPers

But slightly sleazy in a good way.

Those Italians. Nothing gets understated.

Adored: The Diary of a Porn Star

One of the reviews I read called it "eurotrash". Yup!

It is pretty good if you take a certain sidelong glance at the movie, a monument to an apparently healthy ego for its star and director Marco Filiberti.

He seems to rile some folks up. It is difficult to find a good review of this film as it all boils down to being a critique of him.

The truth is that I enjoyed it. It is sleazy but in a good way. Lots of Filiberti's skin which, if you are gay or not, is in pretty fine fettle.

If you do not lean towards the homo, the film is fairly safe as unfortunately there are no "good" sex scenes in it.

And that is OK. I am sure they did not need an X rating to further complicate the situation.

I am going to give it a 3 out of Netflix5 and say that I am glad to have seen it again. A guilty pleasure. Undiminished by the quality of the acting or scenario.

Labels: films, gay films

I return to some films over and over.

It is hard to explain. Critical review is beside the point.

Today and old favorite.

The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005)

A remake. From a James Toback film which has disappeared. I do not know why the reviewers bring this up but it does show that a remake can actually transform a scenario into gold.

The actors, the direction, the situation.

In this case a concert pianist with a checkered past (and present) tries to come out as a soloist.

It is quite thrilling.

Romain Duris is the star and strength of this film. Jacques Audiard the director. Neils Arestrup and Emmanuel Devos play minor but critical roles as the father and his girlfriend. The parents, as it were.

I will surely see this again. A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: best films, films

Today's film is not about gay men per se.

But it is about gay feelings and internalized homophobia.

I did not realize that Claire Denis' film was based loosely on Billy Budd, the grand opera by Benjamin Britten.

Beau Travail (1999)

It is a desert story. The French Foreign Legion. A tough non-com who starts to pick on a recruit. The attraction of the two men or of the non-com for the recruit is shown over and over again.

It is all "show, don't tell".

Very well done.

Lithe male bodies build a road in the desert. A senior officer oversees. The non-com supervises the actual work.

The senior officer warns the non-com about what he observes. The attraction or the preoccupation. Particuilar picking on a young legionnaire. So there is a narrative that helps us see what is going on.

Labels: films, gay films

It is an old adage that when I point my finger at you there are three fingers pointing back at me.

Many times, the scolds are hiding something about themselves.

Today, a judge had enough of Bill Cosby's fulminations and took him to the woodshed.

Bill Cosby and his fellow scolds just took a legal beating

His case, however, is not about Defendant's status as a public person by virtue of his exercise of his trade as a televised or comedic personality. Rather Defendant has donned the mantle of public moralist and mounted the proverbial print or electronic soap box to volunteer his views on, among other things, childrearing, family life, education and crime. To the extent that Defendant has freely entered the public square ... he has voluntarily narrowed the zone of privacy that he's entitled to claim.

The thing is that actors and comedians should know they need to watch themselves when they get into territory sensitive to other people.

Cosby used being black as a cover for all his shenanigans. As a serial rapist and assault perpetrator (drugging women) he is probably held to greater account.

But arrogance knows no limit. At least his type doesn't.

It is a shame. In his prime, the last thing he probably needed was extra help to get laid. Of course, if your partner is comatose there may be another thrill involved. A kink.

Labels: hypocrites

One of the first things you learn in any good contemporary literature class is a simple poem.

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends upon

a red wheel barrow

glazed with rain water

beside the white chickens.

--William Carlos Williams, 1883 - 1963

It says all that needs to be said about the process of modern poetry.

And then there is the content of the poem itself. Not always the same thing as the process.

Recently one of Williams' biographers found the apparent source of inspiration.

The Forgotten Man Behind William Carlos Williams’s ‘Red Wheelbarrow’

I love this kind of literary detective work. It was what was taught to me in the courses I took at MIT where such studies were called "the humanities". As opposed, I suppose, to science or engineering. Which is pretty dumb for a smart technical school. Anyway.

In our third and fourth years we were presented with optional courses and I chose American literature.

And there it was.

We read a lot of Williams. He was an original. A medical doctor who practiced the most modern kind of poetry.

They are still fighting the Civil War.

And race baiting. And all the rest.

I am not going to even reproduce one of the articles about these shit kickers who insist on wearing, flying, applying the Confederate Flag.

These are the last gaspers.

Amazing.

You do not have to go too far in the South to hear from racist bullshit.

But, that is not their exclusive province.

I can go to the north where we lived a long time. Boston.

It is the one thing that is present regardless of location.

It is just that they still fly the fucking flag.

I am personally disgusted by it. The phony excuse of tradition and whatever the hell else they come up with.

It is the same old defiance of both logic or, if I may say, even old time religion of which a lot of these motherfuckers reek.

And so on.

I am tired of it.

I grew up with it, I have lived with it and presumably it will last long after me.

And I have my own demons about this.

I am not pure. I have had and still do have racial "feeling", racist tendencies.

But as a gay man, white, I have had some taste of the unspoken bias that surrounds anyone who is different.

And so on.

I lived in the South. For awhile. It is a strange place. Losing does that. Makes otherwise nice people strange.

The plight of poor whites is somehow salved with a little hatred of other others. The well to do maintain their distance with noses raised.

As to the confederate flag. Give it up. It is not even amusing. It is not a sign of anything except retro thinking.

The South will not rise again but some unevolved knuckle draggers are still hoping for a little taste of it.

They are not called "rebels" for nothing.

Rebels, shit. They are poor excuses for Americans.

Labels: civil rights, civil war, confederates, racists

People sing to each other.

The plot moves on, well, the title explains it all.

Les Chansons d’Amour / Love Songs (2007)

Christophe Honoré directs this direct descendant from the wonderful MGM musicals of my youth. That is a long time ago.

I have watched this film many times and am still moved by the situations as they evolve from one stage to another. It is helped, of course, by the fact that the principles end up together, both men. But by this time, it is only a matter of enjoying the thing and not figuring it out. That was the charm of the old Gene Kelly vehicles and this is brought back here.

This film inaugurates a retrospective involving all the gay themed films that I have collected. It will take a while to go through them. My form of support for more of this genré involves buying the disc and adding it to the collection. And of course, playing them.

My plan for the immediate future is for a Netflix hiatus and a run through the DVD library in our house.

No better way to start than with this solid Netflix5.

Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Clotilde Hesme, Brigitte Roüan)and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet as the "other man" featured with Garrel in this outtake.

Labels: films, gay films

It is hard not to personalize films that come close enough to feel their breath on my neck.

Still Alice (2014)

gets pretty close.

Julianne Moore plays a woman who has early onset Alzheimers. Somehow they are able to do this without becoming all clinical about it. More human.

The thing that I have always feared is that I would know when this was happening to me and would be powerless to do anything about it.

The old word was "dementia". But that is a general term. Alzheimers is an identifiable genetic disease which has predictable results. Incurable, it has a downward progression which is irreversible.

I think that it must be difficult to make a film about something like this. Not make it a horror show and, on the other side of it, not to candy coat it.

I think there me a bit of candy coat here but that is OK with me. Moore does a great job in allowing us to see through the disease and to see that she is still Alice.

Alex Baldwin is great as the husband and Kristen Stewart is kinda the star as the struggling actor daughter who comes home to be with her Mom.

No soap opera here. Some tears of course. But still, warm and beautiful and, after all, human just as this whole experience is for a family.

As far as I know, I am safely beyond the point where this will happen to me. And even if it does strike, it will be something else that probably gets me first.

Another example of all the stuff we worried about happening not happening.

It is hard to rate this by my normal criteria. I will give it a 4 even though I do not think I would want to see it again if on offer. But then, I will have to bow to the system and give it a 3. Good enough. But once is enough.

Labels: aging, films

It is amazing to me that the sex police are still carrying on as though it were the 19th Century.

Teenager’s Jailing Brings a Call to Fix Sex Offender Registries

Actually, there was no precedent in those times for this. I wasn't there but I read a lot of books.

Draconian sexual offender laws and the presence of the so called "sexual registries" are a disgrace.

I know there is some serious intent about this. Protecting children and all.

But the sex police get their noses into these things and before you know it we have a vehicle for public shaming and punishment which goes well beyond the limits.

I will not argue that sexual experimentation for teens should be totally unregulated. In fact the protection of children is unassailable. But when the children are past puberty and doing what humans do which is to bang on each other there is a different consideration.

Consensual sex is not rape. And so on.

I see this as the work of the same people that dunked other people in chairs of put them in stocks.

I always think that these people, so obsessed with other people's sex lives, are the ones who need to have their heads examined. Nosey parkers, repressed humanoids.

They are, of course, the same people that hate me and my life because I am out of the hetero-norm.

I see the hand of the christers in all of this but that is another matter for another time.

Labels: christers, sexuality

Some of us are better with fireworks than others.

Marcus can take them or leave them. In fact, he is/was an unknown about it. This is his first Fourth with us.

The 'works are nearby. Less than a quarter of a mile at the ball park up the street. So there is no hiding out.

We decided that Marcus would stay home and that I would stay home with him. John would walk over and sit in the bleachers and watch the show. It is a show now. They synch it with music which John says wasn't very well done.

Marcus and I didn't notice the music part.

Marcus was reclining in "his" easy chair on the other side of the room. I went to sit next to him when the first "boom" went off. I had some FM music on. Testament of Freedom*. An old favorite actually. We sang it the year I was in the MIT Glee Club. Before I had to give it up. My marks were suffering.

I love the piece and Marcus and I sat together and listened. I pet his head. But comfort was not needed. Affection is always welcome of course.

And so it went. Nicely and gently. For a few of the big bombs bursting in air he looked up and cocked his head. No big deal.

John came home directly and I went to bed. Late for me. But then that is just fine on such a great holiday.

*The Testament of Freedom by Randall Thompson. Army Chorus & Turtle Creek Chorale. Boost your volume a little! Best played at full force.

Teen agers do not work as much or as often than they used to.

It’s Summer, but Where Are the Teenage Workers?

There are a lot of answers to this. It is evidently not a true mystery.

It seems that, today, teens have a lot more options than I did when I was a kid and, what is more, they have other things to do with their time. Like go to summer school. I did not have summer school.

I consider my teen working experience as crucial to any success I had in life. I was able to learn a lot of things that were surprising. One thing, a surprise, is how to pace one's self and not give in to a boss' expectations.

This may seem to be a bit against the grain but it is not. How many people really work full tilt. Only the manic and the ones who cannot keep up.

A harsh judgment, I know.

I had a good time from the beginning. At Williams Drug Store I learned about sex first hand. Around the older clerks who even had some homo-action going, as well as the customers. I worked in the pharmacy and (against the law) managed the contraceptive department. I was also very naive. But later, I was able to use my experience by seeing sex as a regular thing that everyone did. Also that one didn't have to apologize for it either.

Later and for a number of years I worked for my Dad in an A&P Super Market. This helped me learn the ability to keep personal relationships out of the business. Mostly to survive the suspicion of the other workers. I dug in and did the dirty work of mopping and sorting the garbaged produce. I think that I was likable and the other kids found that I was not a snitch.

I knew better and did not want to be one anyway.

I think it amused my Dad a great deal to find that his son was involved in some dubious pastimes. When I went away to college, I came back for one summer but then I was too sophisticated and grown up to return again. Or some shit like that. I grew up. Moved away.

This is a long digression on a simple observation.

I got my working papers at 14, required at the time. I never quit working until I was retired. And I loved my working life.

The stuff I do today with the condo board and all that keeps my hand in. I am a prime employee. Which, incidentally, made me a much better boss. I was benevolent and I also knew where the best hideouts were!

Did I mention that I was an usher and curtain puller at the movies? I hung out in the projection booth, illegal as shit because of the fire hazard. The projectionist was a great guy with loads of stories.

And so on. I will stop now.

Labels: work

Today's film is about the rise of a young mafia member while he is in prison.

I am not sure that it is technically the actual mafia but in this prison it might as well be.

Tahar Rahim stars as the young criminal with a career ahead of him. Neils Arestrup is the older, wiser and eventually replaceable boss.

Un prophète / A Prophet (2010)

The young man is a prophet because he does see things before they happen but this is not the real skill. He is adept at turning this bit of psychic ability from a parlor game level to the real time thing.

Actually, the film and his career does not rest on this singular ability. He is a good student and becomes the understudy who eventually "kills" the father. Hello Dr. Freud.

But there is no mistaking the quality of this film. It is very high. And what is more, believable.

I have seen it four of five times and I never tire. This may be the only film that has this repeatability for me.

I think this lies in the acting, the interplay between the older and younger man. Both actors are quite distinguished and able to play different kinds of roles in some knockout films.

I know that I will see it again. And probably again after that.

Labels: films

I am cool to most painting art and the art world that glorifies it.

But I am enchanted by personalities, of artists who dared to be different and in doing so became singularly influential on others' work as well as their own.

One of these is Sargent whose work I have seen in the original several times. Stunning presences.

There is a fine review his work and a new show at the Met in the New York Times.

Review: Sargent’s Intimate Portraits of Friends at the Metropolitan Museum

All evidence would point to the fact that Sargent was straight. This is well before the time that such distinctions were thought to be either interesting or in good taste. How we have fallen.

In any event, since we have ended up here, let me observe that Sargent's work is intensely homo-erotic in many of his commissioned portraits of men and in some of his studies that have survived.

Never mind. We gays are always looking for the plum in the pudding. It comes with being a subjugated, repressed, and now, flamboyant group of people.

You will like the works in any case. They brim with life. If nothing else click onto the art link and see for yourself.

The portraits are beautifully done and while not photographic by any means allow us to see the personalities of the people portrayed.

On the other hand, the works that involve the world at large are full of innovation and delight. This is one, simply enough, an anonymous bather.

Labels: art, artists

I have not been happy with the evident coronation of Ms. Clinton.

Sure, I will support her if she runs (?!). But the fact is that I have had just about enough of the Clintons in all forms.

As a Democrat, of course. I would never jump ship to the other team.

I am glad that Bernie Sanders is running but he is far to leftish for me and it is not a serious candidacy. And he lacks some fundamentals. Experience for one.

But now this, I could get very happy about Jim Webb.

Jim Webb: Warrior, Novelist, Senator

I could do this.

I love this photo. You can see her looking him over and seeing what we now see. Of course, I am being nasty. This is actually her quite familiar "serious look" which always ends up being a bit of a scowl.

Let's get out the popcorn. Or maybe not. I might even be persuaded to work for him!

Labels: Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Jim Webb

Republicans are so bereft that they are actually turning to Donald Trump in support.

There is a trend in the polls for people to "favor" the people whose name they know.

I heard this morning from some talking head that this is Trump's trump card.

But given any exposure, Trump remains a loose cannon, unable to button his lip and becomes a walking, talking threat to the GOP.

As Donald Trump surges in polls, Democrats cheer

as the GOP primary disintegrates into a clown show.

Well, I would like nothing better than to see Trump beat the shit out of Bushie on the way up to the vote.

The advantage that, up to now, Jeb has had is due to the stability of the brand name. And the myriad number of other candidates in the primary so far. When in a storm head for the nearest beach.

It is hard not to just enjoy this mash up.

Watching the crowd of candidates grow is a circus event. Not the headliner or even one of the acts on the bill. More in the clown category.

Speaking of which, I have not mentioned Chris Christie who doesn't even have support in his own state. Mostly, I suspect, because he is so pretentious about his ambition that the state's needs are last on his list. Me first.

Labels: GOoPers

Well, this is new.

Hillary Clinton, Loudly and Proudly, Taps Into a Vein of Support Among Gay Voters

The problem I have always had with Clinton is her stance on gay issues.

Mrs. Clinton does not have the most cutting-edge record when it comes to gay rights. She did not speak out on behalf of same-sex marriage until 2013. But what she lacks on the policy front, she is trying to make up for partly with a tongue-in-cheek recognition that in her decades in the public eye she has developed a certain pop culture status, particularly among some gay men who identify with her triumphs over adversity, her redemption, and her evolving personal style.

Well, this is decidedly "tongue in cheek".

She has not been at the front of any gay person's list because she is a tight ass on most social issues involving sexuality.

Which is natural for her. She is a Clinton, of course. And the Clintons do not take unnecessary political risks.

I suppose there is some "danger" that "the gays" would go for Martin Omalley or some other pretender to the throne but that is unlikely.

Gay people like any other people who rise against the odds and we do have to give Hill the point here.

She has certainly come up from behind in many ways.

The only problem that I see for her, really, is to keep Bill out of it. The white head bobbing behind.

A friend had a chance sighting of Bill in London the other day. White hair, extra thin body, a surrounding of gorillas. No handshaking. He is still the Big Dog.

Can he stay out of his "wife's" way. I say "wife" because I do not believe for a minute that they are still partners in anything. But that is surely none of my business. Other than the worry that Bill will step in the shit somehow. The mouth which will not stop running. The ego which knows no bounds.

Labels: gay friends, gay rights, The Clintons

The thing about the christers is that they are so naive.

Thinking themselves as having a direct pipeline to their god it never occurs to them that others might differ. Beyond the "sinners" that is.

So we have a new religious "liberty" law in Indiana and how long does it take for the jokers and, in this case, smokers to come along and have a go at it?

No time at all.

A Church of Cannabis Tests Limits of Religious Law in Indiana

I am long past my reefer days, some 35 years now, but I reserve the right of others to have their dope just as I did. I just hope they don't abuse the privilege for themselves like I did. For me, when the booze quit working so did the rest of it.

It is funny. It is a cold glass of water thrown in the face of the religionists. A wake up call for the ones who think they can slip something over other-believers (there are others than "non").

Good for these guys. Smoke on.

Labels: christers, marijuana

The years of the holocaust are of special interest to me.

I was just a kid. Eight when the War was over.

But for many, the War was never over.

I have tried to simply be a witness and read and study about it. A private regime.

It is sometimes extremely painful to see the levels to which humans can fall. But there are also heroic stories. This is one.

Nicholas Winton Is Dead at 106; Saved Children from the Holocaust

It is men like this who won the War inside the walls. There are others. Many others.

They are an inspiration.

Labels: WW II

It is hard to tell who is putting whom on in today's film.

A mild circus of SM and BD fantasies wrapped up in a bow. Or rope.

Roman Polanski returns with his patented slick porno-art.

La Vénus à la fourrure / Venus in Fur (2013)

I got this because of Matthieu Almaric who stars as the masochistic/gender bent M to Emmanuelle Seigner's top.

It is upsetting and funny at the same time. I think it is meant to turn the tables on sexual fantasies. But I suspect this is more about Polanski's fantasies than mine. But I am not of the heterosexual bent. God knows what those straights will get up to if you put them alone together in a dark room with some rope.

Actually a theater stage, season closed.

I liked this film a lot for many reasons but believability is not a part of it.

There is plenty of irony and a good dose of cross dressing in both the real and imaginary sense. An SandM textbook really that only works through the early pages.

The acting is superb. The photography exquisite. And if the attention to perverse (?) desires is expected to shock it mostly comes over as funny and twisted.

Which is enough. Very enjoyable.

It is generic I think. I could easily see the parts played by a couple of men. That would be very hot but this is hot enough.

Polanski has always played along these borders and he is very good at it. I think that it would be very easy to fall over into sensationalism or exhibitionism.

Whatever that means.

I liked it, will give it a 3 and would like to see him do the homo-version but he would be unable as he does do this work from his own heart and I suspect he is destined for straight fantasies alone.

I will give this a 4 out of Netflix 5 because I would not mind seeing it again at all. The interplay between the actors is formidable and they are really into it.

Labels: films, S&M