Monday, November 28, 2005 

Gay at Heart


"We came up with a new idea that we said that we would get married the day that gays and lesbians can get married - when that right is given to them. We've decided that we're gonna use that in a positive way, so the day that law gets passed then we'll get married."

Thus spoke Charlize Theron of her "engagement" to actor Stuart Townsend. On one hand, this seems like a really self-less, noble thing to do but upon further consideration, I just think that maybe she's just not that into him. With the current political climate, it does not look like gay marriage will be legal anytime soon, at least not during the Bush regime.

If gay marriage does become legal, I might be interested in marrying myself. Oh, wait... I already am married to myself.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 

Walk the Line

This movie is fantastic! I saw it last night and I can't get it out of my head.

Joaquin Phoenix deserves an Oscar for his portrayal of Johnny Cash. Reese is great, too and they both sing and play in the movie. I was very impressed with their musical abilities. It ain't easy to fill the shoes of a legend like Johnny Cash, but Joaquin nails it.

Very well crafted film.
Great acting.
Great music.
Two snaps up!

Saturday, November 19, 2005 

Free Courtney

After 180 days in a rehab facility, they are releasing Courtney Love to an outpatient program. The judge was impressed with her recovery, despite the fact that she wrote a song titled "How Dirty Girls Get Clean." I think it's fabulous that she's free and can't wait for the next chapter in the Love saga. Will she portray Linda Lovelace in a biopic? Will she record another solo album? Will she relapse and be taken off to Bellevue again? Who knows...

That was one disturbing thing about her recent incarceration. She likened herself to another tragic blond: "I just sort of lost faith in myself last year. Getting dragged off to Bellevue [notorious New York mental institution] in front of the whole fucking world, it can really zap a person's confidence. I don't know of anybody else that's a celebrity that's done it other than Marilyn Monroe." Yikes! I guess having certain things in common with Marilyn can be harmful to a person. Keep the hair, lose the tragedy.

Personally, I would like to see Love in more good films. Her acting in "The People Vs. Larry Flynt" was amazing and I think she could be a major actress if she wanted to. Rock and Roll, like Faith in God, is a young man's game. Get yourself a good agent and annihilate the competition. Leave self-destruction to the baby divas. Courtney Love is free again, lucky, lucky she, free again. Come back to the five and dime, Courtney Love, Courtney Love...

Tuesday, November 15, 2005 

Like a Dork


Get out of your cave, the new Madonna album is in stores! It's chock full of weird stuff to keep us wondering just how the hell that girl thinks. I haven't really had time to fully digest the album yet, but so far my impression is favorable. Madge always seems to surprise me and this time, it's by being uninventive. Yeah, yeah, dance music is supposed to be in my blood because I'm queer, but I have never really embraced the genre. You won't find me at a Kylie concert anytime soon. So, let it suffice to say that, Confessions on a Dancefloor will have to grow on me. The single, "Hung Up" is just perfect and I am quite fond of "I Love New York" and "Push" as well.

Madonna is still far better than most. The "future-disco" vibe she went after was captured and beaten into submission. I've been reading a lot about how this record is her response to the lack luster sales of American Life, which I really dug. Go figure! This new music does make me want to "go dancing" and I haven't felt that way in years. Maybe it's an illusion... The production is familiar and fresh. I quite look forward to the rush hour traffic tomorrow, as it will give me an opportunity to shake my ass in traffic as I engage in Confessions 101. Yeah, Madge got her groove back. Now, if I can just find mine.

Sunday, November 06, 2005 

Mysterious Skin

Few films dare to go where Gregg Araki takes his adaptation of the Scott Heim novel, Mysterious Skin. Now available on DVD, the film tells the story of two Kansas boys who share an experience in childhood and react in completely different ways. The subject matter is dark, to say to least, dealing with child molestation, teenage prostitution and alien abductions. As these are all things that I have dealt with in my life, I feel a close affinity to this movie. Actually, I feel close to all of Gregg Araki's films except Splendor, which I am only fond of because the male leads are so attractive.

The first Araki film I saw was The Doom Generation starring Rose MacGowen and Jonathan Schaech. I hated it. Then I wondered why I hated it so much. I watched it again. And again. And again, until I realized that I hated it because I was jealous. Jealous that Araki had made it before me. Jealous that I hadn't thought of it first. His films are to me, what I imagine Kubrick is like for straight boys. Araki reinvented my cinematic imagination and cast his spell over me. The copious amounts of absurdity, perversion, subversion, sex, violence, and whatever, were exactly what the doctor ordered.

I devoured his previous efforts, The Living End and Totally F*cked Up, with glee. By the time Nowhere was released, I was hailing Araki as a god. It has been years since his last film and I had wondered if Mysterious Skin would be worth the wait. It was. Skin is the finest film of his career and upon reviewing the DVD (twice last night) I declare it to be the best film I have seen all year. While I realize Skin may not be for everyone, I adore it and implore you to seek it out. It will make you laugh and cry and it's better than pretty much everything out there.

Friday, November 04, 2005 

How Am I Not Myself?

Ashlee Simpson has somehow managed to have her new album, "I Am Me" debut at #1 on the Billboard chart. Which means 398,000 complete idiots bought this crap in the first week it was out stinking up the airwaves.

The only response to Miss Simpson's declaration of who she is, is: "You shouldn't be." Please, please, please just stop. I'm begging you, find a Greek heir and run off to some tropical island - never to be heard from again. It's the humane thing to do.

To the mindless fools who find her entertaining: Snap the f*ck out of it! I am rethinking my whole Gwen Stefani policy. There has to be a way to avoid the brand of mediocrity Ash and her record company are shoving down our throats. Maybe stop buying her albums, write nasty blogs about her, or just ignore her entirely.

This is the future I need to see:

Wednesday, November 02, 2005 

Brilliant Felicity

One of my favorite Desperate Housewives has made a movie about transexual parenting skills. Felicity Huffman, who blew my socks off last week on Housewives, stars as a male-to-female transexual, who finds out she is the father of a troubled young man in the new indie flick, Transamerica. This movie looks great and it's about time Felicity got to show the world she is just as amazing as her husband, William H. Macy. At first, I was skeptical about a woman playing a man/woman. Why not cast a man? Or a real transexual? (I know, I know... No one is interested.) But after seeing the trailer, I was sold. Huffman is brilliant and I hope this movie does well. It's one of the first releases for the "Weinstein Company." that I have noticed.

View the trailer.

It comes out in December, just in time for Oscar consideration. The film also stars a gorgeous young actor named Kevin Zegers, as her son.