QueerClick

Amidst all the internationally institutionalized homophobia and violence, it pays to remember where we've been, where we're going, and what it will take to get there. Gus Van Sant's new film, Milk, is about gay political icon Harvey Milk. It'll be in theaters in November, but until then, here's the movie trailer to get you excited.

Milk appears to be a bit of a return to the mainstream for Van Sant after the Good Will Hunting director's self-imposed exile in indieland since around 2002. Milk seems ambitious and more social than Van Sant's recent offerings and is already looking like a contender for awards season. Anyone expecting a low-key character study of America's first openly gay politician looks likely to be disappointed, because if this first trailer is anything to go by, Gus Van Sant's Milk is going to be a big movie tackling big subjects.

Plus, it's also got a pretty big cast. Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk himself, with James Franco playing his life partner, Scott Smith, and the ubiquitous Josh Brolin as his eventual killer, Dan White.

Learn more about Harvey Milk.

Have you seen the film MYSTERIOUS SKIN? Watching hot young actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt whoring himself out to men was reason enough to get me to the cinema. But the film also happens to be one of the most emotionally moving, thought-provoking, edgy and stylistically beautiful queer movies of this century. The film was based on Scott Heim's first novel. This year Heim released a new novel called WE DISAPPEAR and it's every bit as startling and diabolically sexy as his first book.

In WE DISAPPEAR, narrator Scott is a frequent drug-user who is uncertain with the direction of his life. He returns to his native Kansas to care for his mother Donna who is suffering from a terminal illness. While reading the book, you'll no doubt be feverishly wondering what's based on the author's real life given that there are many obvious parallels. However, Heim saves you having to conduct a series of Google searches because there's an interview with the author at the back of the book which will answer many of the "What's real? What's fiction?" questions.

Rather than taking it easy and emotionally reconnecting with her son, Donna becomes obsessed with researching missing children — not seeking to recover them, but to understand the mechanism of their disappearances. She frantically tries to connect this with her belief that she herself was kidnapped as a child. She even goes so far as to develop a dangerously close rapport with a young man who wants to disappear. The abducted becomes the abductor. That's when Scott discovers the near-naked boy chained in the basement. And that's when the story and the narrator's psyche takes on the feeling of a runaway train.

More "Shaun Frisky Reviews Scott Heim's We Disappear"

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a modern retelling of an ancient Greek myth! Renowned international photographer, Francois Rousseau has re-imagined the Greek myth in a modern dystopia in a shoot for Out.

If you recall the myth, Icarus and his renowned craftsman dad, Daedalus, were imprisoned in the very labyrinth Daedalus built. Apparently, daddy had pissed off King Minos by giving the king's daughter a ball of string so her dumb boyfriend, Theseus, could find his way back through the maze after killing the minotaur (a badass half-bull half-man creature).

Anyway, Daedalus decides to fly the coop by building he and his son a pair of wax and feather wings. But he warned sonny boy "Fly too high and you'll get burned." Being the adventurous little scamp he is, Icarus flew too close to the sun and melted his wings. He flapped and flapped his bare arms like Wily Coyote in a Warner Brother's cartoon and fell through the sky headfirst into the Icarian Sea where he died. Wow. Great story. Happy ending.

What does this have to do with the hot men in the photos above? Well, in this imaginative, modern-retelling of the myth (how very modernist), Icarus stands outside the physical confines of the labyrinth, the barely clad Icarus and lost among a distressed alienated brood who fit him with wings and lead him to the cliff's edge— is Icarus their only hope for escape or is he a sacrificial outsider?

Everyone seems somber and worried. Icarus himself seems resigned to his fate. He flies and fails, as expected. But after his radiant wings melt onto his body, the men surround him in a sort of pieta. They all avert their eyes, too guilty to behold the beautiful, ruined boy or one another. Only one man on the right, fires a defiantly accusatory gaze directly at another.

The imagery stays archetypal but the modern twist raises interesting questions: Why all the well-dressed alienation? Why the nearly nude Icarus? Are his melted gold wings a comment on pop idolatry or materialism? Is Icarus a symbol of good-intentions gone wrong? No matter the answer, the photos above are beautiful and the men hot.

But it brings to mind other re-imaginings of the Icarus myth, namely Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and the poem it inspired from the gay writer W.H. Auden entitled, Musee des Beaux Arts. You can see the painting, the poem, and a very short behind-the-scenes look at the shoot all after the jump...

More "QCA Art: Icarus"

Think you know Jack? Well, Jack's gay and it seems like coming out's not all fun and fabulousness for the young fella.

The Kent Youth Service for the LGBT community made this three minute comedy, By The Way, I'm Gay. It won Best Film in the first Kino Kids Film Festival in Kent.

LGBT filmmaker and festival organizer, Jan Dunne said, "What's great about By The Way I'm Gay was not only that it was made by young people themselves but also that it was made with a light-hearted tone. We've been shocked that although the film was made for school's debate, it has hardly been booked by any schools because apparently it's too controversial, but all we saw was a comedy made by young people about being gay, it's quite bizarre that anyone would consider it controversial."

Know any gay artist or organization that deserves recognition? Tell QCA now!

Take Your Man is from Johnny's latest album, White Hote. It's good, raunchy fun.

According to Johnny Dangerous's website, the Minneapolis-born, Chicago-based rapper "could give two fucks what you think about him or his music." The techno in his songs features stripped-down basic drum machine grooves topped off with some old-fashioned moog-like analog synth drones. But the real pleasure comes from his bitchy foul-mouthed flows that are confrontational, comically crass, unapologetically outspoken, and empowering all at the same time.

Voted "Favorite Queer Rapper" in the NewNowNext Best of 2007 poll, Johnny has performed throughout North America and the UK and was nominated for two OutMusic awards including Outstanding Male debut and Outstanding Male Recording. He prefers to think of himself not as a hip-hop artist, but as an entertainer who happens to rap. Looking at his videos, one can see how he integrates his badboy, rap star persona and with a performance that's both cheeky and campy, yet still human.

Dirty is the New Black is less raunchy and more serious than Take Your Man but is still undeniably sexy and honest.

Dangerous' music is too triple-X for commercial airplay and some may find his shtick hateful, misogynist, or over-compensatory, but his music has an important place in gay entertainment. Hip-hop hasn't always been the gay-friendliest of places and while Dangerous' songs don't always take themselves too seriously, they do go after issues like life in the closet, censorship, gay media, and the Iraq invasion. A closer look at his lyrics from his track, Dirty is the New Black, reveal a more intelligent gay agenda than just "suckin' dicks and turnin' tricks":

"Have you ever been told
What you can't do
Because of all the shit
People hang on you?
Afraid to let it out
And let you be you
Seems a bit too much
So you repress that too
I'm here to let you know
That you ain't alone
We like the same type of things
Others won't condone ..."

For more videos, check out Johnny's YouTube page.

It takes balls to come out of the closet. Balls can be helpful, anyway, especially when you're just getting started.

This 3-minute film, The Closet (directed by Stewart Handler and written by Richard Bloom) is heartbreaking and inspiring. Yeah, the metaphors are obvious and the dialogue simple, but the images are rich and the silence unsettling. We hope you like it.

Steve Prince is a jet setter with music on his mind. Too bad for him, that's not all.

Bullets and Bracelets... and Lube
By Steve Prince

I didn't want to roll over. I didn't want to see it... taunting me. I sighed, finally deciding to turn over and look.

There it was... 2:37am. Dammit.

I'd been laying in bed for two hours now but just couldn't fall asleep, and of course I had to get up early the next morning. I didn't want to keep looking at the clock, but I had to. Unfortunately, it was getting later and later.

Finally, I decided to call it a loss. I turned on my bedside lamp and threw back my covers. I walked to my desk and grabbed my MacBook. I figured I'd bore myself on the Internet until I lulled myself to sleep. Okay, let's be honest—I was gonna look at porn and beat off.

I opened my computer, greeted by the familiar glow of my desktop. Much like a mood ring, my computer desktop usually embodies my current loves or obsessions. Sometimes it's Justin Timberlake, or sometimes it's a picture of me with my friends, or sometimes it's something that makes me laugh. I usually change it once every month or so... except for my Christian Bale phase. That was when I first moved to Los Angeles, way before Batman Begins. I happened to meet him while working at a makeup counter; I sold his wife bronzer. I remember talking to him and thinking, "On my computer desktop right now, I have a picture of you from American Psycho where you're in the shower, naked!" I left that picture up for about a year. Hey, come on... it's Christian Bale.

I looked at my clock (glowing 2:45), then back at my screen saver—Wonder Woman. Y'all already know that I love Wonder Woman. She's an Amazon princess cum super-heroine, and the fact that my last name is Prince is even more serendipitous. But not only do I love Wonder Woman, I specifically love Lynda Carter. I remember every Saturday afternoon at 6pm re-runs would air. Often, I'd be outside playing in the later afternoon, but when 5:59 hit, I'd haul ass into the house, jump in the air, and land on the couch—just in time to sing the theme song.

I moved my computer cursor to my Internet icon and paused. Hmm... I wondered what Lynda Carter was up to these days. I decided to Google her.

The first site that came up said Lynda Carter had a cabaret show. What? I knew Lynda Carter could sing, but I thought she hadn't in years (for those of you who own her album Patience, I love you). I clicked on the site and as it came up, I gasped so loud that I worried I'd wake my roommate. I blinked in the dark, focusing to see if I was dreaming.

Lynda Carter was doing a cabaret show in San Francisco next week. Shit the bed.

Sometimes things happen in life and you just act without thinking. Jumping in front of car to save a wandering child's life, donating money to starving children in Africa, doing the jock's homework just so you can suck him off in the high school locker room—these are all reasonable acts of instinct. However, I'm so gay that in four minutes flat, I'd bought my Lynda Carter cabaret ticket, booked a hotel room, and bought a flight without even realizing that I'd have to work that day. All I can say is thank God my boss is Jay Day, because she understands such matters. A week later, I was busily trying to get my work finished so I could get my ass to LAX and catch my 45-minute flight to San Francisco.

The plan was this:

My flight got into Oakland at 6pm, and then I'd take the train to San Francisco. From there I'd take a cab to my hotel, which happened to be the same place where Lynda Carter was performing at 8pm. Perfect.

Or not. I think my favorite part of the trip was sitting on the runway at LAX for 45 minutes because the plane had too much luggage. What kind of a fuckin' excuse is that? Too much luggage? Come on Southwest, be prepared! Ugh. By the time we touched down in Oakland it was 7pm. I had an hour to get to the theatre. I ran through the airport like Catherine O'Hara in that scene from Home Alone. I had to get to my Lynda on time—I didn't want to be late. I ran past a McDonalds and my stomached lurched. I was starving. Work was so busy that I didn't have time to eat. I made a mental note to stop and eat at the hotel.

More "QColumn: A Gay In The Life: Bullets and Bracelets... and Lube"

VGL Gay Boys are the hilarious comedy team of Cole Escola and Jeffery Self. The two guys have made a small hit on YouTube our of performing as friends and lovers in a variety of stereotypically gay situations. Their performances seem like improv with Escola playing the more comic (and manic) gay boy and Self playing the, urm, "straight man."

Previously, Self played himself in his Off-Broadway one-man show My Life On The Craigslist which he also wrote. The duo are currently performing their live sit-com Party 'n' Play at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater in NYC on August 31.

The boys recently did an interview in which they discuss their favorite porn studio, Sean Cody and their hardcore sexual turn-offs (prudes). They also have all their videos posted on YouTube. We've placed some of the more outrageous videos below.

Sex and the City

VGL Gay Boys with Bernadette Peters

Check out their most recent video and a trailer for Party 'n' Play after the jump...

More "QCA Comedy: VGL Gay Boys"

Brokeback Meets Broadway...

Founded in 1994, the DC Cowboys dance company is a 20-member, all-male, all-volunteer, high-energy, professional dance team from Washington, DC. Their performances span all musical genres from sexy club mixes to musical theater to contemporary country. They've performed in community events, fundraisers, pride parades, dance competitions, and now just for you in Wet and Wildon a hot calendar and making-of DVD.

2009 Calendar features full color photos of the hot, muscular dancers wet and naked on location in tropical St. Maarten. The DVD's scorching hot as well as you see the men in action, laughing and playing as photographer Ward Morrison immortalizes the handsome studs on film.

The video clip below gives you a taste of just how hot the DC Cowboys are and what's even better, 50% of the proceeds will benefit the Paul Malerba Foundation for HIV/AIDS services.

Here's a clip from the Wet and Wild DVD:

And here's highlights of the DC Cowboys in action from their DVD Exposed: On Stage & At Play:

In his upcoming film, Save Me, director Robert Cary examines a hot-button socio-political issue, where homosexuality meets Christianity.

After a long binge of hard drugs and risky sex, Mark (Chad Allen) gets placed into Genesis House, a Christian retreat dedicated to rescuing young homosexuals from their inner demons. There, the middle-aged, "ex-gay" director, Gayle (Judith Light), assigns Mark to Scott (Robert Gant, Ben from Showtime's Queer As Folk) —one of the program's advanced "fifth phasers." When Gayle notices Mark and Scott's relationship intensifying, she fights back, threatening the stability of her retreat and the potential salvation of the men in her care.

The film opens on September 5 in New York.