Hello there, Paddy.

I kind of ♥ you.

Joaquin . . . oh dear

I'm sorry, but you're ridiculous.

I'm sorry, but this trailer is adorable.

The Blog Where Memes Go to Die

So, I done been tagged by Vance of Tapeworthy as part of the 7 Facts Meme.

Here are da rules: Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE . . .

Fact the First: I almost never get emotional in movies, but the end of A League of Their Own always makes me cry. I watched it last night, and I got choked up about the time older Geena Davis and older Lori Petty saw each other across the room.

Fact the Second: I auditioned (and got a call back for) the lead role in THIS movie when I was a kid. I really wanted to be an actor until I got to high school and realized I wasn't any good.

Fact the Third: Until about the end of my senior year of high school, I was about 280 lbs. (give or take). I lost a bunch of weight as a Freshman in college, and now I'm about half the size I was then.

Fact the Fourth: My heroes are as follows: Roger Ebert, Matt Singer and Alison Wilmore, Bill Bryson, Sarah Vowell, Tina Fey, and Claudia Bruni and Emmanuelle Seigner and Asia Argento (really, any slightly Eurotrash-y actor/singer/model whose persona is more or less tied up in outrageousness and/or sheer ballsiness)

Fact the Fifth: I think glasses are sexy.

Fact the Sixth: The first R-rated movie I saw was Sleepy Hollow. The first R-rated movie I saw in theaters was Panic Room. The first PG-13 movie I saw in theaters was Godzilla. My parents didn't much care about violence as long as there were no boobs. (Ironic upon reflection, no?)

Fact the Seventh: James McAvoy is tied to a bed in my basement in only his underwear with a sock taped into his mouth so as not to worry the neighbors (not really but maybe if I will it into being it will happen OMG wouldn't that be amazing I would literally never leave the house because why would I need to?)
TMI . . . ?

Now, I know I'm supposed to tag 7 people, but I feel like anyone who is going to do it already has. So, if you want to do it and haven't been asked, I tag you . . . .

Now!

Our thoughts are with you, Jennifer Hudson.

Poor girl. This is really awful.

A (not so) Brief Political Thought

I was reading Perez Hilton yesterday (I know, don't give me that look!), and I came across the above picture, essentially equating Proposition 8 with the discrimination suffered by African Americans through more than half of the 20th Century.

Now, anyone who has spent more than half a second on this blog knows that I'm gay. But this comparison always makes me a little uncomfortable. I am fully aware that I'm able to live my sheltered, comfortable little gay life because of the tireless work put in by other people like Harvey Milk (look ma, a movie tie in!) who did more for me than I can even imagine, but I still think I'm qualified to call shenanigans.

When people say things like this, I think there's an inherent assumption that racism isn't a problem anymore. And, if there's anything this election has taught us, racism is still very much a reality. It may not be so out in the open, but it's been underground, waiting to come to the surface.

And maybe I'm out of line, but I don't think the discrimination faced by the gay community is even remotely comparable. All people deserve to be treated equally, but it's a mistake to assume we're coming to the table with the same background or history. We're not.

And another thing: EXCUSE ME, but when did Barack Obama become the savior of gay America? From an interview with the Chicago Daily Tribune:

"I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman."

Uh-huh.

But we're all supposed to be overjoyed that he supports civil unions?

Well, you know what? FUCK YOU AND FUCK YOUR CIVIL UNIONS! Don't give me a band-aid for a broken wrist and pretend that you're doing me a favor, mkay?

I'll admit that he's more gay friendly than McCain, but that doesn't make Obama perfect. I'm all for supporting a candidate, but this deification has to stop.

So he is against the Constitutional ban on gay marriage. So what? John McCain is too. The only one supporting it is Sarah Palin, and that probably isn't even in the top 30 ridiculous things she believes. All things considered, it's probably somewhere near the middle, right underneath that men rode dinosaurs to church 5,000 years ago.

Of course gay marriage should be legalized. I think this is one of the stupidest debates raging in modern politics. Can anyone give me a reason NOT to legalize it that doesn't invole the words 'God', 'sanctity', or 'Bible'? Because I don't think so. Separation of church and state isn't a suggestion.

But I'm still voting for Obama. Why?

Because 'gay civil rights' isn't the most important issue this election. Not even close. It's not even in the top 10. Whether or not I can get married isn't gonna make a bit of difference if the ice caps have melted or I can't get a job or we've started World War III with the Middle East.

So, no. I don't think the state of affairs for gay Americans now is at all comparable to the state of African Americans in the 1950s and 60s. Nor do I feel comfortable co opting Martin Luther King Jr. as a proponent of my right to get married. His own daughter doesn't even think he would support it.

Whether or not he would support it doesn't make him any less important or great a human being. I'm just uncomfortable with this modern tendency to put words into his mouth. How do I know what he would believe? He isn't here.

Call me a traitor or whatever, but this is what I think.

So . . . what are we all thinking about punk Dakota Fanning?

Any thoughts?

Mind if I take off my sweater?

Children are scary

Especially when they're Swedish vampires . . .

Matthew Rhys

Just 'cause.

Why am I watching this show right now?

This show is absolutely terrible. Really, I don't see a point in ranting against it since no one is forcing me to watch. But, still . . . nothing gives me less hope in the future of our nation than the fact that this was green lit. Oh, and CLARK GABLE'S GRANDDAUGHTER IS ON THIS SHOW! Why? Why?!

No Reason.

I just love this picture.

Rural's Thoughts While Watching . . .

The Apple (1980)


- I don't wanna, like, call out the emperor on his new clothes or anything, but this new BIM Mark the characters keep raving about is a sticker. You would think in a future as crazy as 1994 is going to be that we might not be so easily impressed.

- Hmmm . . . what is it EXACTLY about the protagonists that just doesn't seem right. Ah! Now I have it. They are (how can I put this?) boring, and their songs are syrupy disasters. I kind of prefer the cheesy, over produced ridiculousness of the songs produced by . . . I guess he's the devil (?)

- Also, why are they dressed in hand me down J.C. Penney fashions in a movie populated by characters dressed by the House of Ziggy Stardust?

- Actually, yeah, I'm just gonna admit right now that some of these songs are infectious. You listen to them once, and there's really no
getting rid of them.


- So the flamboyant man with the voice of a night club crooner who wears silver capes and lip gloss is fooling around with the female singer? Uh-huh.

- "Meet an actual, actual, actual VAMPIRE!" Oh, a vampire. That's . . . fun, I guess. It's hard to rhyme with 'desire'.

- From New York out to LA, everybody does it her way. Poppin' power, by the hour. SPEEEEEEEEEED!"

- Finally a music number revolving around date rape. Can't tell you how long I've been waiting.

- Bet you can't guess what the song 'Coming' is about!

- I would have chosen the hot singer with the triangle on his forehead, myself. He's a little less . . . useless.

-Ummm . . . I'm just gonna go ahead and call this the strangest recorded case of deus ex machina since the term was coined. Either I'm losing my mind, or God just descended from the sky in a Cadillac and whisked our heroes and their hippie commune off to Mars.

Turner Classic Movies showed this as part of it TCM Underground series this Friday night/Saturday morning as a double bill with another crap classic: Roller Boogie. It stars Linda Blair, but the only real reason to see it is for lots of Jim Bray in those fab short shorts they seem to have loved so much back in the day.

Who loves short shorts?

I love short shorts!

He is not, unfortunately, a great actor so watching Linda Blair come onto him so strongly in the beginning of the film comes across a little TOO . . . predatory. She just seems much more, err, EXPERIENCED than he does.

Wanna take a ride with me and my car phone, little boy? Grrrrrrrr.

Luckily, director Mark L. Lester has moved on to directing bigger and better things . . . Cameron Daddo taking on cheap CGI dinosaurs on the Sci Fi channel, for instance

Yeah, no.

I don't need to see that, Brad. I mean, thanks for donating all that money in support of gay marriage or whatever BUT, really, I don't need to see that.

And anyway, do you want your privacy or don't you? Like, go ahead and complain about the paparazzi and tabloids if you want, but don't turn around and sell W magazine pics of your wife lactating.

Thoughts While Watching 'My Fair Lady' (1964)

I do so love Aubrey Hepburn, but I finally found one thing she can't do very well: lip synch.

I suppose it's not entirely her fault. I KNOW what Audrey Hepburn sounds like, and I doubt very much that even the best synching could convince me that she sounds anything like Marni Nixon.

Anywayz . . . just my two cents.

Hello, lover.

Consider Me Intrigued