Mrs. What, Mrs. Who, Mrs Which. Screwy cherubim, mystical feathered pluralities, telepathic baby brothers. A dog named Fortinbras. And of course: tesseracts. What the hell am I talking about? The young adult books of Madeleine L’Engle (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet) who passed away yesterday at the age of 88.
- No categories
Pixel Vision
Blajeny, Ecthroi, Proginoskes
Love will tear us apart … and, uh, so will the bullets
Day one of the Toronto International Film Festival. New this year: badges with bar codes. Now, when you enter a screening room, they zap you in the badge instead of making you sign in. There’s also a lot of construction going on in the mall that envelops the main festival theater. This is my third year at TIFF, but things feel a little unfamiliar so far.
Not the case with the movies (or the ancient-popcorn smell that fills the theaters…rank, yet comforting somehow). I’ve already seen some really great ones. Been up since 4am California time (is there any other time, really?) and I’m up at the same time tomorrow, so I’ll keep this post pretty brief.
The day began as more of my days should: with a satisfying jolt of Spanish horror.
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave … amigo.
Peaches Christ explodes
“At first I was really uncomfortable that I was having a retrospective at the de Young,” Peaches Christ — filmmaker, actress, scene goddess, and queen of SF midnight movies — confided to me recently over free spring rolls and not-free wine spritzers at the Mix in the Castro. “I mean, does that mean I’ve gone legit? Should I die now? But then I heard that the de Young’s board got their panties in a twist when they heard the show was all about me, so I felt much better.”
She’s a hellion!
Who’s cruising who: William Friedkin speaks
Did Cruising director William Friedkin cruise the gay community without taking responsibility for the consequences? Was he cruising for a bruising, or careless about his film’s impact on gay men’s safety? (Is it a double standard when sexualized slasher-movie killings of gay men draw protests, but the same acts done to women on screen are treated as par for the course?) Friedkin the man may have been ignored while filming a scene from the movie at a bar’s jockstrap night, but Friedkin the director’s 1980 look through — or is it at? — a sexual underground hasn’t gotten the blind-eye from gay men, then or now. In this week’s Guardian and on this blog, you’ll find critical writing and specific history on the subject, some of it scathing.
William Friedkin circa 1970s
Cruising is not a perfect movie, or Friedkin’s best movie. It has ridiculous moments. The faux-Freudian explanation at the end parrots Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho as routinely as any Brian DePalma imitation of Hitch. But I’ve been fascinated by it since an era when it was reviled and hard to find on VHS tape. And I like it. I like Cruising‘s ambivalence and its ambiguity, which could be viewed as prophetic in a societal sense and influential in a stylistic sense. (In comparison, a lot of New Queer Cinema still seems rather, um, safe.) I like the movie’s gorgeous but scary shots of Central Park at night. I like its soundtrack. I think it’s interesting that the “killer”‘s disembodied voice — a quality that takes on new meaning the more you consider the story — might very well be the influence behind the killer’s voice in gay screenwriter Kevin Williamson’s Scream series. Today, Cruising seems most interesting to me as a movie that critiques (hyper)masculinity, straight and gay, as the boundaries between them blur.
I had a 20-minute block of time to talk with Friedkin when he came through town recently in conjunction with Cruising‘s upcoming run at the Castro Theatre and DVD release. Here’s what he had to say about Cruising — and about Mercedes McCambridge being tied to a chair, knocking back hard liquor and swallowing raw eggs for The Exorcist. (Johnny Ray Huston)
Guardian: The Roxie Cinema here in San Francisco has had a role in the changing reputation of Cruising, so I want to ask you about your relationship with them.
William Friedkin: I don’t know if Elliot [Lavine] and Bill [Banning] are still running [the Roxie], but they always ran films that I made, and I came up [from L.A.] whenever I could to answer questions from the audience. I loved what they were doing.
Now it seems the DVD is the true cinematheque.
Why Cruising Still Sucks
By Bus Station John
As a DJ who’s created a number of clubs celebrating the music, aesthetic and sexual freedom of the period during which Cruising was released, I’ve noticed that a significant number of the gay men in attendance — the twenty- and thirtysomethings in particular — seem excited and intrigued by the film’s reissue on DVD. And why shouldn’t they be?
The film offers today’s youth much more than just a fleeting glimpse of the now long-gone gay NYC sexual underground enjoyed by their elders. In fact, Cruising works best as a travelogue of pre-Disneyfied gay Manhattan, a celluloid tour of the city’s most notorious bars, back rooms and bushes, refreshingly populated by non-tweezery, pedicure-free, steroid-deficient and un-cyber-tainted denizens of the night. As the camera pans various tableaux of lusty men-on-the-make, the viewer finds himself literally cruising the screen…everybody’s lookin’ good!
Flawless Korean skin
From the spam folder of the Senior Culture Editor:
Hello Marke! I am Dr. Ramapati Singhania! I went live with my web business just last month.
Cheers, darling, congrats.
Imagine a complexion so gorgeous that men and women were stopped in their tracks! Wouldn’t that be great?
Even if I live on microwaved Orville Redenbacher popcorn from the AMCO station down the street? <Cough>.
Or picture yourself confident and dazzlingly sexy even in a pair of jeans. How would it change your life to feel beautiful everyday?
It would save me a lot of time posting for man-dates on Craigslist. I could totally upgrade from “Casual Encounters” to “Men Seeking Men”!
For centuries the glowing complexion and flawless texture of the Korean woman’s skin have symbolized the ultimate in beauty and sensuality. Would you like to unravel the mystery of their beautiful skin?
Wasn’t that, like, the plot of Silence of the Lambs?
Here’s the mystery: Well to put it simply the secret to the flawless Korean skin lies in their cosmetic formulations. Traditional Korean compositions that have been used for centuries. Visit my site and I will give you this $800 value for free!
And here I thought the secret to flawless Korean skin was rampant stereotyping. How naive! Thanks Dr. Singhania. Got anything in Vietnamese? I’m a little low ….
PS. I can’t believe I’m blogging about spam. Bring back the heady days of Larry Craig! Oh wait, they may be back ….
Water-closeted: the Q in Craig
It’s been a huge week for the gay (and, as someone hopelessly embedded in the daily news cycle, I’m queerly grateful) — Larry Craig’s water-closeted restroom fumble, gay marriage in Iowa, briefly ….
Let’s round it off on a pre-Labor Day musical high note, shall we? Ladies, gentlemen, and other — a delightful mashup of Larry Craig’s putative televised denials and Avenue Q’s poignant gut-buster (addressed to a closeted Republican Craig doppelganger puppet — prophesy!) “If You Were Gay.”
Take it away, fellas …..
Michelle Tea hits Sewdown
By Michelle Tea
Last Saturday night I went to Sewdown, a fashion party that billed itself as an alternative to San Francisco’s fashion week.
Yes, San Francisco has a fashion week, and it’s OK that you didn’t know that.
Sewdown took place at the Temple Nightclub, a place that does indeed look like a temple, for a religious sect worshipful of art galleries: the place is all white with high-ceilings and cold columns on the inside. The perfect place for a fashion show!
Me and my partner in finery, writer/filmmaker Tara Jepsen, grabbed some Cokes (no Diet Cokes? at a fashion show?) and started posing. Tara had raided the closet of an employee of Danielle Steel who gets to go on shopping jaunts to Paris, and as a result was wearing a Behnaz Sarafpour dress of silkscreened black lace and a mesh heart that framed her cleavage in a sweetly pornographic style. She also scored a knit Dolce & Gabbana purse, which we entertained ourselves with by speculating on its original price. Tara confirmed that yes undeed it does make you feel like a better person to wear amazingly fancy clothes, and I believe her because I felt like a better person just standing next to her. But this is not about me and Tara, this is about Sewdown.
I talked with a Zombie
The busiest guy with an undead name in showbiz? Rob Zombie. Like a certain mask-wearing maniac, the man can’t be stopped – at least when it comes to doing press for Halloween, his latest film, which opens Friday, August 31 (giving you a full two months to prepare for the actual holiday). I zoomed into the office after an ill-advised night out for my 8:45 a.m. interview. My phone was lit up like Vegas – Mr. Zombie was running a bit late, could I hold on for a few minutes? Yeah, I could hold on to talk about Halloween – John Carpenter’s 1978 original is my go-to favorite film citation, and I’m anticipating the remake with every bloody bone in my horror-geek body. I don’t like doing interviews before I’ve seen the film, but again – it’s Halloween, dude. A movie that – let’s be honest – needs no enhancement to be scary, even in 2007. But I’m willing to see what Zombie has to offer. Which leads me to my first question …
San Francisco Bay Guardian: What do you think makes you different from other directors who’ve remade horror films (see: The Hills Have Eyes, Dawn of the Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Fog, etc. etc.)? I know you’re a huge horror fan…
Rob Zombie: It’s hard to say. All directors are different. And for me to assume I know who they are and what they do and what their motivations are would be presumptuous on my part. But the only thing that I know is that what makes this remake possibly different from others is that it’s not just a job. If you’re gonna take on something, you have to take it on because you have some passion for the project. Because I’ve been offered other things in the past and I’ve turned them all down because I was just kind of like, “Why would you remake that? Who give a shit?” So I mean, maybe that’s different. Sometimes people just take on jobs that they really don’t have a passion for, and it shows.
Castro: Muerto?
By Stephen Torres
UPDATE: 8/27 — Castro still not officially dead. Sorry, Perez!
The poison pen of notorious blogger Perez Hilton has apparently sealed the end of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. According to the celebrity mudslinger’s eponymous website, www.perezhilton.com, the infamous leader is dead.
Rumors of his death have been circulating for awhile now, but due to Hilton’s reputation for leaking celebrity gossip before anyone else, including veterans of the gossip biz, the interest of the media and Cuban Americans alike has been piqued. Apparently, Miami is afire with the news.
Hilton is of Cuban descent and stands by his source, claiming it is only a matter of time before the Cuban government concedes the truth.
We want to know: What does it mean for the state of our world when news outlets get their tips from PhotoShop-happy celebrity bloggers?
Oh yeah, and we guess Castro (alleged?) death is important too.
The crazy part is that this “news” comes by way of Hilton instead of the AP and that people take this Hedda Hopper of the Internet as a serious source. The fact that I write about this as bog posting only continues this dubious gossip mill.
For an inside glimpse at Hilton and his thoughts on journalistic responsibility and his place in the media firmament. Check out the latest issue of the delectable BUTT Magazine on newsstands now.
Step in and look around: A talk with ArtSpan’s Therese Martin
In the Visual Art section of this week’s Fall Arts Preview, San Francisco Open Studios gets a shout out. I recently talked with Therese Martin, Executive Director of ArtSpan, about Open Studios, and about ArtSpan’s role in helping Bay Area artists. We also discussed art by ‘hood, and people who visit 75 artist studios in one weekend.
Guardian: How do you feel Open Studios is different from many art events in the Bay Area? I’d guess that while it’s larger, it’s can sometimes be more direct in terms of a chance to meet with artists.
Therese Martin: It’s definitely different because of the number of artists involved in so many different neighborhoods. It’s something you can participate in and not move beyond the 2 or 3 neighborhoods you normally go to.
The personal connection is unique. You really have the opportunity to shake the hand of a creative person. Even if you’re in a studio that’s not the living pace of an artist, it’s still a very personal space.
The great Oz speaks
By Michelle Devereaux
True, Frank Oz has made his living for the last twenty years as a director of glossy, big-budget Hollywood comedies: from the mega-hits (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, What About Bob?, In & Out) to the occasional colossal flop (The Stepford Wives). And for the discerning nerd, Yoda always he will be. But for me, it’s hard not to meet the man and think of him as anything but a pig. Oz not only provided the voices of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and the Swedish Chef, among other classic Muppet characters, he’s also a master puppeteer in his own right.
So how to “keep the Muppet questions to a minimum” as instructed by the publicist on the occasion of his new movie, Death at a Funeral? (Especially when Oz himself makes an off-the-cuff remark about going “whole hog”? Well, it helps that Funeral is actually pretty amusing. An ensemble farce about a repressed English clan attending the funeral of a patriarch with a scandalous secret, the film features British vets like Rupert Graves, Robert Vaughan, and Ewen Bremner, plus American actors Peter Dinklage and Alan Tudyk (a standout). I sat down with Oz to discuss the movie, his desire to become a master of the “dark” arts, and other things (sigh) no
Muppet.
Boom, dream, flow: A look at Independent Exposure’s animation
By Maria Komodore
The exact moment when I decided to study cinema is very clearly imprinted in my memory. It occurred three years ago while I was watching Man Ray films.
What impressed me most about films such as Return to Reason, Ballet Mécanique, and Emak Bakia was the potential they seemed to add to the film medium. Strange, almost indistinguishable forms and shapes danced around on the screen to generate equally mysterious inner associations. Though at times this colorful and playful montage of images didn’t make sense, at least not in the conventional way that films are supposed to make sense, they had deep impact on my perception.
Independent Exposure‘s Animation Edition 2007 —a series of short animations series that Microcinema Inc. has compiled on DVD and will also be showing all around the world—made me relive that moment. All fifteen shorts are exceptional not only for their subjects and the imaginative manner in which they’re treated, but also simply for their aesthetic value.
Monster Squaddin’: a mash note
By Sam Devine
So the City just killed Halloween (although, in all fairness, they had plenty of help from a few masked assailants and some assorted weaponry), but there may be hope for the haunted holiday yet. As long as you’ve got a DVD player.
What is surely the funniest and most watch-able monster movie of all time, “The Monster Squad,” (originally released in 1987) has just been dubbed a “cult classic,” and been re-released on DVD. In it, all the old-school Universal movie monsters – Dracula, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein’s Monster – return to claim a sacred amulet that can forever alter the balance of power between good and evil. And a group of Junior High kids are the only ones that remember the special ways to kill these monsters.
(Sound silly? All right hotshot: how many ways are there to kill a Werewolf? Would an accident with power tools do it? What about falling out of a window – onto a bomb? Isn’t a silver bullet the only way? The really silly thing is that a lot of us carry around arcane monster knowledge. Hell, the president couldn’t find his ass with a map, but it’s a safe bet he can help you out with your Werewolf problem: “See, whatcha do is… you get a silver bullet. It’s like the reverse of Iraq, heh. see. Where there is no silver bullet. Heh. Learned that from my buddy Lon Chaney – I call ‘im Lonny, heh, for short.”)
Strange powers: Notes on Stalker
By Maria Komodore
There aren’t many things that haven’t been written about Andrey Tarkovsky’s Stalker. Of course the film’s mysterious subject and Tarkovsky’s even more mysterious direction do open the film up to all kinds of discussions. The story, if one can say that there is such a thing, revolves around an enigmatic Zone whose creation conditions never become quite clear. The suggestion is that it was the product of a meteorite fall—but that doesn’t really matter anyhow. Within the obscure Zone there is the equally abstruse Room which is supposed to be capable of granting men’s innermost wishes. Writer and Scientist are the film’s two protagonists, who want to access the Zone and get to the Room, although doing so is prohibited to everyone. And this is where the Stalker, the film’s third main character, comes in. Writer and Scientist use him to reach the Room. The Stalker has managed to find his way in the forbidden area and navigate it safely.
Balls out: Tranny down
One of our favorite trannies of all time, Felicia Fellatio, has just informed us that she will be OOC (that’s “out of commision” for you non-TXTRS) for a while after a little necessary testicular surgery (nothing cosmetic, she informs us). But that’s not gonna stop her from partying! Below this incredibly juicy and possibly illegal pic, a message from her about the procedure — and this Sunday’s scrotum surgery celebration!
Hey friends –
So (and apologies for those that don’t know this yet) on Monday I go under the knife for surgery on my … scrotum. It’s a routine procedure, totally cool, and I will be fantastically drugged up for a week.
So mark your calendars for a BALLS OUT party next Sunday!
8:00 pm – whenever
Sunday August 12th
Truck – 15th and Folsom (they have food and a full bar!)
please bring NUTS: cashews, almonds, pecans, brazil nuts, etc
to celebrate
and no, I am not getting them removed or any sort of tranny castration surgery. (Balls and nuts are metaphors, people.)
LOVE XXOO
Access of Evil: Tweaker’s Choice!
How ’bout this for a shot of homegrown comedy — and lord knows I need some after the homegrown shot of comedy that was my night at the sex club. Gurl, remind me NOT to wear my night goggles up in there. I saw too much! Too much!
The kids from the new queer comedy public access show “Access of Evil” just popped me a couple new rough vids of their sketches, and they’re pretty bombatastic. You can catch the first “Access of Evil” installment on August 19 at 1am on Channel 29 — and then every third Sunday of the month at 1am thereafter.
Hit up Trax Bar at 1437 Haight on Saturday the 18th around 11pm for a cute viewing party of the first episode. Check it out!
Secret Prison Torture Playset
with the adorable Syphilis Schlaftly
Tweaker’s Choice
“Don’t text your dealer!”
Upcoming eps include, apparently:
– Carol Channing in “Goodbye Faggot”
– Homeless Crack-whore Julie Andrews
– Zombie Judy Garland
– Goth Richard Simmons
How can they miss? Oh, and for more info or if you want to get in on the act, contact them at accessofevil@yahoo.com
Careers and Ed: Paid to party
By Molly Freedenberg
For some of us, playing is an escape from work. But for a lucky few, playing is their work. Sound like fun? It is, say the professional partyers we interviewed. But it’s still … well … work. Below are full interviews with Juanita More, Justin Morgan, DJ Solomon, Nicole Cronin, Andie Grace, Lisa Hix, and Syd Gris — all people whose job it is to make you forget yours.
JUANITA MORE
HOSTESS, DJ, PERFORMER, ARTIST, ILLUSIONIST, MUSE, MODEL
www.juanitamore.com
San Francisco Bay Guardian: What do you do and what are your primary duties?
Juanita More: I wear so many different hats, it’s hard to throw a label on me. But, I think the persona the public most perceives is that I am a full-time party girl. In reality, I spend the majority of my time creating, supporting and developing new ideas, artwork and events.
SFBG: Is this your primary form of income? If not, how else do you make money?
JM: What money?
The cradle will ROCK
By Molly Freedenberg
Screw my red velvet duvet cover and all its soft, squishy opulence. If only I had an extra $1300, I’d redecorate my bed with a bit of bite from Quiltsryche. But since I’m poor, I’ll just have to settle for going to sleep with Ministry on my headphones.
Bangover, by Quiltsryche
Thanks to Thrillist for the tip.
Baby abuse is funny
By Gazelle Emami
Remember stoichiometry? It tells us the relationship between certain reactants and products. Like two parts hydrogen plus one part oxygen equals water. Diet coke plus Mentos equals explosion. And a baby eating a lemon equals hilarious.
The Eclipse: One Day, Two Giants of Art Cinema Gone
By Max Goldberg
It’s enough to make you wonder. Not twenty-four hours after headlines announcing Ingmar Bergman’s death at 89 news arrived of Michelangelo Antonioni’s end at 94. Both died this past Monday. They seemed on parallel tracks throughout their careers—producing strings of self-consciously intellectual films bent on existential meaning—making their alignment in death all too temptingly neat of a frame for the heavy eulogizing to come. Still, maybe they would have appreciated the coincidence: a flash of suggested meaning, the intimation of magical thinking.
Ode to Michelangelo Antonioni, 1912-2007
Matt Sussman pays tribute to the director:
1.
Monica Vitti in L’Eclisse was a revelation to me as a college freshman. I had a serious crush on her, perhaps more than any other film actress up to that point (certainly, as a gay man, more than any other woman up to that point). Her leonine blond mane and Roman cheekbones framed eyes that could dish out giddy flirtation and unexpected hurt in equal measure. In all the “Antonioni’s greatest moments” recaps that have been posted in the past 24 hours I don’t think any commentator has mentioned the incredibly bizarre scene in L’Eclisse where Vitti puts on blackface and dances amidst African artifacts. Echoes of Italy’s then-recent colonial past are immediately summoned in Vitti’s character’s tipsy performance of bored bourgeois privilege, but Antonioni also seems momentarily to take in the visual pleasure provided by the spectacle of the dancing Vitti. For a director famed for his ambiguity, this is perhaps one of his most ambiguous and unsettling scenes.
Matt and Jason on “Chuck and Larry”
Guardian film critics Matt Sussman and Jason Shamai have a few things they wanna say about the new film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Let’s listen in!
Matt Sussman’s review, as published in the Guardian: Despite passing marks from FireFLAG/EMS of the Fire Department of New York, “the nation’s oldest and largest LGBT firefighter organization,” and GLAAD assuring us that I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is not merely an excuse to trot out tired gay stereotypes and that beneath the disarming and broad humor is a strong message of tolerance, this sophomoric comedy starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James as straight firemen who pretend to be gay to gain domestic-partner benefits isn’t so much homophobic as baldly misogynistic and thoroughly unentertaining. Sure, dismissing a Sandler comedy as sophomoric is stating the obvious, but in films such as Punch-Drunk Love, he has proved that he can set aside the flatulence and fat jokes, sit at the adult comedians’ table, and still make us laugh. So let’s add regressive (along with racist, thanks to an extrapainful Rob Schneider) to our list of modifiers. While one could argue that the film sends up regular straight dudes as much as it milks laughs from the standard chain of gay signifiers, this failed reverse La Cage aux Folles doesn’t realize the extent to which it exposes the rickety scaffolding that precariously separates straight buddy love from flaming faggotry. Or maybe that’s the anxiety the film is really trying to allay by declaiming any homophobic culpability. Whatever — I’ve already spent too much brain power thinking over a frat house skit-night sketch that somehow became a film. Someone get me a cock.
Jason Shamai responds, after the jump.
Best of the Bay “Diamond” Dave snapped!
Aha! Steve Rhodes happened upon our Best of the Bay Local Hero “Diamond” Dave Whitaker last night, riding home on the Muni with a BOB in his lap. Precious.
Thanks for sending it our way, Steve! See more of his snaps here.