Chris & Don – A Love Story recounts the extraordinary relationship between British writer Christopher Isherwood and American portrait artist Don Bachardy. You can see a trailer for the film after the jump. Chris & Don: A Love Story is your not-so-typical tale of a 46-year-old man and his 16-year-old lover. Talk about a chicken hawker! British writer Christopher Isherwood and American portrait artist Don Bachardy shared a life-long relationship which lasted more than thirty years, until Christopher’s death in 1986. if you haven’t read Isherwood, he happened to be cruising the young Weimar Republic, drawn by its deserved reputation for sexual freedom, beack before Nazism became all the rage. By the time he and Don met, Chris was already 48-years-old and well established in the literary scene. He met teen-aged Don Bachardy among a group of friends on the beach at Santa Monica on Valentine’s Day 1953, at the age of 48, and they remained lovers until Isherwood died of prostate cancer at 81. you can own the DVD of Chris & Don starting February 24, 2009. It’s a beautiful story of men, romance, and mentorship. Anyone who’s ever had an older instructive lover knows the tender caress that guides and shapes a young man’s world view. Plus, Don Bachardy’s not too hard on the eyes either… we’ll be looking forward to that bonus footage of him playing on the beach! See a trailer of the film after the jump!
Are you a bottom? Do you like the bottoming out? Would you consider yourself a “power bottom”? Well, then Michigan health activist Trevor Hoppe, wants your ass story. He’s putting together, “The Bottom Monologues” which will do for manholes what “The Vagina Monologues” did for fur burgers. On his site, he’s asking bottoms of all kinds to share their bottoming experiences in six questions so that he can create “composite characters”—distillations of dozens of men’s stories all wrapped up into one package. Though they’re exploring what it means to be a bottom, they’re also interested in hearing from tops, versatile, or non-identifying guys, too. Basically, bottoms and anyone who loves bottoms are invited!
A Night at The Museum
By Steve Prince “So when are we going to that museum you talked about?”
Me and my big mouth. The last time I volunteered with Kelly I just had to suggest we should go to a museum. I mean, who really suggest that to someone they just met? I felt like it was more of passing invite, and part of me was hoping he would forget about it. Well, he didn’t because now it looks like we’re going. The problem is I haven’t exactly told Troy about this little adventure myself. I mean… I didn’t lie to him.
“He’s very sweet,” I said over the phone, “and very conversational. Smart guy.”
“Okay,” Troy acknowledged and pressed on, “Did you get a good look at his ass?”
Different is yet another take on heterosexual discrimination, this time through the eyes of a high schooler. When gay is the norm how does one young student tell the most popular guy in school that he’d rather go to the prom with a girl? No, the acting and writing aren’t amazing, bt some of the scenes are actually pretty moving. Unlike other takes on the same theme, this one isn’t all comedy and doesn’t exactly have a happy ending. But if you like rock music, here’s something to smile about at the end. The music for the school dance and closing credits is actually pretty awesome! If you’re curious, we featured another take on the same idea about a month ago called Love Is Love.
La Pequena Britney Spears graces us this week with her rendition of Britney Spears’ “… Baby One More Time.” You gotta love a little guy who cross dresses for a good time. He seems to have a genuine sense of humor and love for Britney. You gotta love the cheap DIY quality of the video as her helpers turn what looks like a bedroom office into a basketball court and high school. Furthermore, his friends are pretty easy on the eyes. He’s also played Sarah Palin, Amy Winehouse, Hilary Clinton, and Shania Twain. Hilarious!
Even though it closed on October 19th, Legally Blonde had a good short run on Broadway. Anyone whose seen the movie knows the endearing story about the plucky, indefatigable and good-natured Elle, a blonde wonder who enrolls in law school in an attempt to reclaim her boyfriend only to find she’s actually got the smarts to win a high profile case. “Gay or European” arrives in the height of the courtroom scene when the murder suspect’s pool boy is under questioning. For our European readers, the line between gay and well-cultured may be thinner than you think. Or maybe it’s just that s Americans think anyone who’s well-groomed, articulate, and fashionable must be gay or an expatriate… we don’t have such men here otherwise.
If you’re an American, your first experience with cross-dressing might have been watching Bugs Bunny put on lady’s clothing to get the best of Elmer Fudd and other unsuspecting dupes. Bugs had everything a gay boy in a dress might need: confidence, great makeup, awareness of his seductive prowess, and a mischievous sense of humor. Now you can relive the “kwazy wabbit” many appearance in drag through this montage with part two after the jump!
Happy 2009, boys! We hope you had a fantastic New Years this week. Whether you ended up balls deep into another man or just at home playing Boom Blox on the Wii with your folks, we have something to make your New Years even sweeter—a Weekender with everything you’ll need to see your way through the New Year! Whether it’s finding love and success in the stars, intelligently applying web technology to your work, or just relaxing and enjoying some beauty, this Weekender’s got you sorted. RESOLUTIONS: Fuck resolutions. Go eat some chocolate cake instead. Moving on… YOUR GAY HOROSCOPE: Don’t stumble around this year not knowing a thing about what to expect. Let the stars be your guide. This handy website not only covers work, health, and sex life (for tops and bottoms), but also how to go about falling in love, if you’re into that sorta thing. Yes, yes… we know that the horoscope is based on star charts outdated by thousands of years, but even when they’re dead wrong, they at least give you something to think about. What do you say? Was your horoscope correct? Also, if the Western horoscope doesn’t do it for you, try the Chinese Zodiac! Or, alternately, you can enter you and your special man’s zodiac sign here and see your compatibility.
The Queer Dear
By Steve Prince
“Ah,” I audibly sighed as I shut my front door behind me.
Few things are better than coming home.
My eyes burned with exhaustion. It took me six hours to fly from Oklahoma City to Denver, and then Denver to Los Angeles. Also, the airports were busy today, which struck me as odd since it was Christmas Day. I always like to fly home on Christmas. The crowds are always much smaller and because of the time change, I can leave Oklahoma in the late afternoon and arrive in Los Angeles by 11pm. Today, however proved the opposite; hence, I felt happier than usual when I finally returned home.
Instinctively, I locked the front door and dropped my bag on our couch. I plopped in a living room chair and sighed. In front of me, a pile of my mail sat on the coffee table waiting to be opened. Leave it, I told myself, but of course, I didn’t. Going through the mail is a chore and I decided to rip the band-aid and get it over with. I leaned forward and grabbed the stack, noticing how cool the paper had become in the unseasonably cold, rainy Los Angeles winter. Bill, bill, junk, junk, donation request, junk–
“Oh,” I said a loud noticing a Christmas card addressed to me. I flipped the envelope over to see if a return address was written on the back, but I didn’t need to. I recognized the handwriting; the card was from Summer. I opened the envelope. I slid out a picture of a six month old baby and read the underneath it, Merry Christmas from The Denhams.
I met Summer in 1999, practically ten years ago. Summer came to North Texas to get her masters in music, while I worked there for my undergraduate degree. Grad students and undergrad students rarely mixed at North Texas. I don’t believe the separation was deliberate, but when you go to a music school that has 2,500 music students, it’s impossible to know everyone in the department. The competition alone sometimes gave students nervous breakdowns. I quickly learned how political and stratified the music department was; however there was one part of the music program that put all students on an equal playing field: The Opera Department.
Every voice student had to take two quarters of opera. Sounds simple enough, except for the opera director was notorious for only casting favorites. Summer and I were not favorites. In fact, we were so NOT favorites we didn’t even get cast in the opera; instead we were placed in the opera scenes—shitty little scenarios that grad students directed. There were five people in my scene: Me, Summer, a tenor, and mezzo, and a soprano. The tenor, mezzo, and soprano were all friends so during the first few weeks of rehearsals, Summer and I basically just did what we were told and looked at one another blankly.
About three weeks in, I walked into rehearsal frustrated as hell. I had just gotten into a fight with my boyfriend at the time. I had left his dorm miffed, and as I walked across campus to rehearsal, miffed soon became mad and then mad soon evolved into pissed off.
“Are you okay?” Summer said as I sat beside her digging in my backpack for my music.
Long before Gus Van Sant and Sean Penn planned Milk, director Rob Epstein created The Times of Harvey Milk, an Oscar-winning documentary about the political career of Harvey Milk, San Francisco’s first openly gay supervisor. It documents the rise of Milk from a neighborhood activist to a national gay political symbol, through to his assassination at San Francisco’s city hall, and the Dan White trial and aftermath. The film finally became available on Hulu.com this week, shown here in its entirety. Van Sant’s film was recently shown to students of the Harvey Milk school and criticized by writer, Nancy Goldstein, for featuring a “pastuerized, homogenized… low-fat” depiction of gay hardships more palatable to mainstream audiences. The film above has a raw power to it and should be required viewing for any homosexual. Surprisingly, the film still has an official website where you can learn more and share your own experience.
Scream Club have been described as an “electro dance punk glam rap duo.” Sarah Adorable and Cindy Wonderful are two queer women whose work isn’t always as political as “Don’t Fuck With My Babies,” but it’s a funny video, a catchy tune, and an apt song for the closing days of the bullshit, civil-liberties stomping era of Bush. Don’t let the shoes hit you on the way out, punk mothafucker. MySpace page and YouTube videos.
Sigourney Weaver is an undeniable badass. Did you know that Ridley Scott first wrote Alien for a male lead but that the producers thought a female lead would make the film stand out in the male-dominated horror genre? It’s true. And Sigourney kicked ass through three chest-bursting sequels (last time we counted). But now she’s kicking different ass… namely that of her gay son. The above is the trailer for the Lifetime movie Prayers For Bobby set to premier January 24th at 9pm EST. But unlike most Lifetime movies, this one actually seems good. But maybe that’s just because we’re gay. Madonna could shit on a piece of toast and we’d be the first in line to gobble it up (that’s a joke, by the way, before you go and freak out in the comments). Anyway, it’s cool that the movie tackles religious intolerance, the “ex-gay” movement, and recent studies showing that disapproving parents can fuck up gay kids. But the trailer’s also so comprehensive, one wonders what surprises the movie could possibly have left? Oh, that’s right… Sigourney’s amazing acting. Duh.
Big Gay Al was among the first openly gay characters in the irreverent cartoon comedy, South Park. He’s open, comfortable with himself, and even looking to get married (to Mister Slave). In the full-length movie musical, Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, he sings the above song, set to clips from the medical drama, House. Sure the world’s going to heck in a handbasket, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feel fabulously super!
Dick the Halls
By Steve Prince
“Welcome to Oklahoma City and Happy Holidays.”
The steward’s voice crackled over the speaker of the plane intercom. I looked out the window and watched the tall prairie grass kneel to the gusting wind. Ah Oklahoma—the wind really does go sweeping down the Plains.
The last time I visited Oklahoma to see my family I ended up having a wonderful tryst with Tom. However, I don’t think that’s going to happen this time. Usually I visit my Mom in Oklahoma City, however this time I would be staying my whole vacation in the town I grew up in—Oak Grove. A town that housed four-thousand people. A town that had no mall, no coffee shops, and—let’s be honest—no fun. I expected to be bored the entire time.
As my Mom and I drove an hour-and-a-half to Oak Grove, we chatted and I took in the scenery of the state. I will say that Oklahoma is a beautiful state, at least the part I’m from. Locals call it “Hill Country.” As we drove down the interstate, rolling hills dotted with brown trees scrolled past my car window. A part of me did feel sad that I probably would never live in the state again. I would like to live closer to my family, but another part of me prefers not to be lynched. OK… Oklahoma isn’t that bad, but homophobia intermingles with the state culture as easily as the gusting wind gushes between buildings.
Hours later, exhausted, I crawled into the bed in my father’s spare bedroom. It was great to see my family, but the ongoing meetings wore me out. Don’t get me wrong. I loved that my family all wanted to know what I was up to; however, I felt like a broken record being played over and over. And the responses from my family members weren’t that diverse either: Are you ever going to come home?; Are you out of school yet?; Oh, Los Angeles seems so exciting, I’m so proud for you!… and so on.
I turned off the lamp on the bedside table, and the blinking light of my blackberry caught my eye.
It was a text from Kelly. What are you up to? Are you in LA for Xmas?
This Christmas, hug your loved ones extra tight while you still can because the end is near! Not the end of the year, but the END OF YOUR LIVES!!! It won’t come down the chimney like Santa… it won’t come tapping at your window pane like Jack Frost… it’ll come from where you least expect it… the evergreen in the corner! That’s right—turkeys are to Thanksgiving what trees are to Christmas. We’ve cut them down for centuries and it’s time for payback! What kills us most though is this is a trailer for a full-length feature at this year’s Sundance… what kinda trees are they smoking in Utah?
To get in the holiday spirit, we decided to present a festive tune from The London’s Gay Men’s Chorus singing When I Come Out on Christmas Day to the tune of Hark! Herald The Angels Sing. The lyrics are pretty funny:
I intend to drop a bomb
on my dear old dad and mom.
For this year without a doubt
is the Christmas I come out.
First, I’ll get their full attention.
Then, I’ll drop a subtle mention:
“Lovely tree and by the way,
some of my closest friends are gay.”
The rest is worth a close listen, not only for the hilarious and heartfelt lyrics, but for the truly excellent singing as well. Spend some time shocking the hell out of the ones that you love this holiday season… and tell ’em QueerClick sent ya.
