CINEMA NOSTALGIA: 2010

Saturday, December 4, 2010

fashion rage, the cutaway suit

Friday, October 1, 2010

TONY.......

It had to happen sometime! I wanted him to live forever!

AND HIS BEST SERIOUS MOVIE: NEED I MENTION "SOME LIKE IT HOT", HIS GREAT COMEDY? PHIL NUGENT'S CRITIQUE:

Thursday, September 30, 2010

THE AGONY OF "DANCING WITH THE STARS"......

Although I will watch anything that dances, and absolutely love SYTYCD, DWTS is just agonizing to view. Michael Bolton, the great singer, demonstrated that he has about as much rhythm as The Situation and Brandy's legs, oh my!, Jennifer Gray's total exhaustion.......and lovably wicked Florence trying to keep up with Cloris, as though anyone over 75 could.......The show, about half of which is advertising and "countdown to who's gonna be eliminated......you'd think a sharp blade was going to drop across the losers' sweating necks......and the other half, usually consisting of dull choreography danced by a great pro and an embarrassingly ill-prepared and anxious "STAR", leaves me bored......I think I'll wait a few weeks until the dolts are eliminated and watch the showdown between the final 3 or 4 contestants.........No predictions! I haven't a clue........yet... On the other hand, if they could only dance! Sorry Carrie Ann......

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

flowers on the grave

I was a dedicated watcher of UGLY BETTY until the program was dropped due to falling ratings........gay men as wise counselor (marc st james); the first sensitive depiction of the process of "coming out" (justin suarez) in a supportive and nourishing home environment; an "ugly" heroine that becomes an icon for fair play, even-headedness and restrained ambitions (betty suarez)......many, many firsts for prime time. Perfect casting, a great musical soundtrack, delightful editing and wacko costuming.......I wish it had gone on and on until its characters died in old age........I can only imagine Betty's new European life........a sequel is not likely......damn it.......no more of wondrous Judith Light and Vanessa Williams, flawlessly cast......Well, it was just perfect and created hope in my heart, for sure......

Saturday, September 25, 2010

PATTERNS, by Atlantan, Fielder Cook.......

Thursday, September 23, 2010

ROBERT PLANT........STILL HOT AFTER ALMOST 40 YEARS.........

AND, recently: Robert Plant with Band of Joy...........mature and complex music from a modern master........

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129992517&m=130000995

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

"A Fire Exit to the Mother Superior"

Requiem for a Dream or The Man With The Golden Arm, sickening as they are, should be required viewing for high school students, in the hope that naive fascinations with the "glamour" of drugs might be quelled by more realistic depictions of drug addiction.........

George Michael, Praying for Time....but not time in Prison!

George Michael, complex romantic idealist, has struggled much in transition from the Idol Makers' creation to emergence as a soulful singer......from his sensitive gay pop star model cocoon.......and just today, alas, he was arrested, yet another time, while driving...stoned on hemp and anti-anxiety meds........ Metamorphosing from jeaned and t-shirted butterfly to dark-jacketed moon moth, he's lost much of the faith that he told us we "gotta have"..........How naked does a man have to get?

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Glee, transformed from more repressed elements to a radioactive compound......

Like a Virgin (Cover Madonna) - Glee Cast

I'm hooked on GLEE! A far cry from Annette and Frankie duets about waxing them boards! .......hehheh............The new season should be fabulous.....the curtains are open.......are you ready?

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Jimmy Fallon and the Cast of Glee at last night's Emmy's Opening Number

Too bad that GLEE was snubbed..........T'WARN'T by ME!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Shane Mercado Dances to "Single Ladies"

Seems as though Joe Jonas, Justin Timberlake and dozens of other guys are clamoring to "do" Beyonce'.......in tights and stilettos......Symptoms of a decadent Society, as many not-so-talented straight guys are claiming? Who cares! A sign that men are loving Dance......Hey fellows, just think about how good it must feel to be able to dance like Shane!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

THE WHITE STRIPES..... IN GUY MADDEN STYLE

MY FAVORITE ARTSY-ALTERNATIVE DUO, JACK AND MEG, DO A CONCERT FOR 5-YEAR OLDS........AND IT WORKS! WHAT OTHER GROUP WOULD PLAY TO AUDIENCES OF 25 LITTLE RASCALS, IN LITTLE CANADIAN HAMLETS THAT WE'VE NEVER HEARD OF?

http://www.whitestripes.com/

Monday, July 19, 2010

EFREM & EDDIE IN 77 SUNSET STRIP

before the cool of Johnny Depp.......Kookie (with Connie)

Kool Cat Eddie, Kookie Kookson, was my car hop role model for "with it-ness".......and way uptown Efrem Zimbalist was my role model for mature sophisticate when I was a Jr. High School social rebel........I never missed an episode of 77 SUNSET STRIP; and Eddie's lingo ["I'm jazzed. They're already twistin' in L.A.! Let's split, grab our steady foxes, bag some jacked up hunk o' junk with a suicide knob 'n' ditch this bean wagon in El Segundo with some candy ass with bread!..."] was all the thing with bohemian 50's teens..... I even began to carry a comb, even though my thin, flyaway hair was hardly on par with Eddie's........and I was already mastering the subjunctive, seeing no pop future with my do.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Metroland Perfidia, the frustrations of bourgeoise morality.......

An overlooked film in America, METROLAND is a masterful portrayal of the dynamics of fantasy and relationships; youth, seeking the worlds of their dreams, returning to their once-loathed programming and the pitiable reconciliation through conventional mediocrity. The ever-complex Emily Watson, staight-from-the-heart Elsa Zylberstein and enigmatically sly Lee Ross surround Christian Bale under the brilliant direction of the highly under-rated TV director, Philip Saville, seemingly guided by the ghosts of Ingmar Bergman and John Cassavetes in a modern-day interpretation of Flaubert's SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION and MADAME BOVARY.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

GUY MADDEN'S DARK COMIC ART MOVIE.....WELL...ALL OF HIS FILMS ARE "ART" MOVIES

"sadness is just happiness turned on its ass"

Friday, June 18, 2010

Kathryn & Legacy

The season of SYTYCD is under way in its new format, which will give dancers less time to dance with one another in varied combinations. I am always overwhelmed by the complexity of the choreography that has to be learned, practiced and performed in the span of a day or two........this performance, from last season certainly gelled my confidence in Kathryn & Legacy.....

Thursday, June 17, 2010

cebu provincial detention and rehabilitation center's got talent

a really amazing production, especially considering the dancers are all prison inmates!

I finally saw THIS IS IT yesterday.......what a work of art this last MJ Opus would have been....
The film itself is a great work of art! Michael Jackson will be remembered as the monumental
talent that he was.......

McDonald's......selling gayburgers in Paris.....venez comme vous etes

Gay McDonald's ad in France:
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Matthew Morrison

I never miss "GLEE".....another vehicle for sensitive performers like Matthew.......here, singing and dancing at the 2010 Tony Awards; and a lagniappe..... the exuberant Lea Michele doing Streisand...(oops,,,it's been deleted already!)........Finally Song and Dance have received some recognition from the TV-viewers......hurrah!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Justin Bieber......Queer as Folk on Bubblegum....

Justin Bieber, still only 15, has outed himself! Well, not really....Pleeze! Celebrities of his generation are becoming much bolder and more secure about revealing their orientations....Eventually, mainstream America will accept the World and its peoples for what they are, and we can shout goodbye to the centuries of repression that has preceded and made Life miserable for so many that were compelled to wear the tissues of lies.....

AND....IN COLLABORATION WITH THE GREAT USHER:

Justin Bieber, Usher & Jaden Smith - Medley... by wonderful-life1989

Somebody @ Yahoo! Video

IS HE OUT THERE?

Thursday, May 20, 2010

ALAN CONWAY, THE LOST LOBE OF THE UNHOLY TREFOIL

Directed by Brian Cook, the world's most famous unknown assistant director.

There was Richard Gere's THE IMPOSTER, Leonardo's CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, and......under the radar...or the gadar, in this example......Malkovich's COLOR ME KUBRICK....It's worth watching not only for John's wacko wardrobe, but for guest appearances by Marisa Berensen, Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore...remember her?), Richard Grant, Robert Powell and Ken Russell! ..... How's this for a "dream" cast?

A hilarious Jim Davidson, to boot......

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Jean Harlow had his number, "Jefferson 6969"....way back then........

"For all its uptight grousing about who's 'queeny' and who isn't, the real ugliness of this argument is its suggestion that that very act of coming out is a kind of self-sabotage for which you need to atone by making sure you never again do anything that will remind anyone you're gay. On second late, don't bother—if you've come out, it's already too late." Mark Harris

So, why can't Jonathan Groff be a big star? you guessed it!! And Chris Colfer, who even has the "lisp" and the "walk"....! You can look good in lavender, but you must look butch in black.....right, Sister George? [unless you're Johnny Depp, of course....who's managed to be the keynote speaker for closetfuls of youthful wannabes] And Evan! It's time!

Colors of Spain by Daniel Estrem

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Kathryn Grayson

Kathryn Grayson was my introduction to operatic singing; in 6th grade, I had a huge crush on her.......when she died a couple of months ago, I wore black and listened to her performances in Ziegfeld Follies, Kiss Me Kate and Kismet.... At 12, she was my idea of perfection! Even when she died, at 88, she just listened to some beautiful music, went to sleep and didn't awaken......how romantic......

Friday, April 16, 2010

FRUITFLY

H.P. Mendoza's new optimistic gayish film..........more fun than Annette Funicello and Tommy Kirk.... AND... don't miss COLMA!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

WARHOL AT THE EYEDRUM GALLERY

FLESH

On Tuesday, August 5, 1969, Andy Warhol’s latest film – Lonesome Cowboys, a homoerotic satire on the Hollywood Western – was playing at the Ansley Mall Mini Cinema in Atlanta. Just before the film’s ending, Atlanta police stopped the screening, confiscated the print, and arrested the theater manager, George Ellis and his son, Michael. In addition, APD photographed most if not all of the seventy moviegoers as they exited the cinema, looking for “known homosexuals.” This week the film will be shown, with modest attention, at the Eyedrum Gallery......How could Little Joe and his good-natured sexiness offend anyone? We've come a long way, baby!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

STATIONARY AEROBICS

O.K. WIGGLE-WORMS, PLANT YOUR FEET ON THE FLOOR. LET LIBIDO FLOW. THE HEAD OF THE BAPTIST, ROLL.....

Friday, March 12, 2010

ALAS, A SEQUEL IS NOT FORTHCOMING

AND....SINCE THE VIDEO ABOVE WILL CERTAINLY BE DELETED OR REMOVED: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/12/how-hollywood-saved-god/6444/

ALTHOUGH I SIGNED A PETITION SENT TO NEW LINE CINEMA, AND WROTE A PERSONAL LETTER TO THAT EFFECT.....THAT THE SUBTLE KNIFE SHOULD ALSO BE PRODUCED.......I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF ANY PRE-PRODUCTION......IT'S NOT JUST THE INFERNAL CATHOLIC CHURCH.....IT'S ABOUT FINANCES! MAYBE PETER JACKSON WILL TAKE IT ON............WE CAN'T WAIT ON THE CHURCH'S VAST, CONSERVATIVE INFLUENCE TO DECLINE.....IT'S BEEN CALLING THE SHOTS FOR ITS BELIEVERS FOR A LONG, LONG TIME, HASN'T IT?

Thursday, March 11, 2010

JIMMY AND SIMONE....... 7th HEAVEN

Jimmy, a favorite actor and Simone, a favorite actor......both, i feel, under-rated......Not that a film about a romance between a sewer worker and a girl on the lam would take the main stage..
In a year that THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA got the statuette, they were still not in the running......in the era of Melodrama with lugubrious strings, as Art......Noir was around the corner, having been abandoned for Talkies......but not quite yet, I suppose.

Monday, March 8, 2010

THE 82nd ACADEMY AWARDS PRESENTATION

After last year's brilliant event with the spectacular Hugh Jackman......this year's production was a dull and uninspiring debacle....Alec and Steve at their most wooden, reading their cue-cards; Adam Shankman, obviously more interested in his other television activities....it was all just terrible, I think.....I was so bored during Jeff Bridges' acceptance speech that I went downstairs and made a BLT......and shut down the Theatre when Kathryn Bigelow stood, repeating herself and performing curl-ups with her pair of golden statuettes. Please, Mr. Hamilton, go back to directing Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows! Totally dull stuff, by even undemanding standards......Where's Doogie Howser? I need a doctor.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

IN THE TRADITION OF "SUSPIRIA" & "REPULSION"

HOSTEL 2...... Many would dismiss this as a "slasher" film; but, although much of the last half is gruesomely unsettling, I think the film ranks with the great "Horror Films".....insightful casting of Alan Ladd's granddaughter, Jordan Ladd; the charismatic and brilliant Lauren German; the nerdy multi-faceted Heather Matarazzo; and Bijou Phillips, daughter of John Phillips.....acting. And direction by the not-yet-40 Genius, Eli Roth...

THE REIGNING QUEEN OF CINEMA

Saturday, March 6, 2010

RADIOHEAD

my favorite Radiohead studio recording, Rainbows......is an evolution of this material by this phenomenon...Thom Yorke is the Soul of Man....something really special..

A FULL CONCERT!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

........VANCOUVER: THE DEPTH OF MEN'S ICE SKATING

After the pomp and glitz of the opening ceremony, lying back watching the phosphorescent stars of the milky way..painted on the ceiling....I considered the performance variables of ice skating, the only winter sport with which i have much familiarity at all.....or real, sustained interest. Since skaters use their toe picks to help with the takeoff on toe loops and because the skater's foot is angled, it puts a lot of torque and stress on the foot. So....in all probability Evan Lysacek will not perform a triple toe loop, due to injuries to his left foot; however, his sheer athleticism will compensate for his lack of artistic prowess and sensitivity. He does have the choreography of Lori Nichol, though...and that is great art in itself!.... On the other foot, Brian Joubert is still recovering from surgery on his right foot..Patrick Chan, a Canadian and a subtle artist, may step to the podium.....next olympic, though. Johnny Weir's been pre-occupied with his television series and all the glamour associated with being the first popular gay skating sensation and may be too cocky and self-absorbed to focus on the athletic powers that will take the top two medals, although he will surely perform a beautiful program, but....this is THE OLYMPICS, after all! He is a beautiful, if a bit sway-backed, skater, full of nuance and refinement; however, the extremely well-trained and ambitious Jeremy Abbott who trains with one of my favorite skaters, Yuka Sato, and is mentored by Paul Wylie, another perceptive and expressive skater, rides the confidence of his recent victories....BUT, his confidences sway with his interiorization of emotion, and his face is generally dour and worrisome....and this does not go unnoticed by judges. Jeremy will likely break up and finish, humiliated, out of the running.... Takahiko Kazuka is my dark horse pick, although he is still young and inexperienced. On his heels, the fabulously talented French teenager, Florent Amodio. Three other great talents from past Olympic competitions, Stephane Lambiel, always high on my list of great musical interpreters and, hands-down, the most beautiful spinner....with gorgeous positions and attitude.....if he doesn't fall....he'll be on the podium! The formidable Yevgeny Plushenko, who has been involved in politics and has even been a member of Parliament, has genius that cannot be discounted, even at the ripe age of 28! He knows exactly what it takes to do the job and has been trained by Aleksei Mishin....remember that, Johnny......and he is likely to do quad toe-triple toe combinations that will undermine the confidences of other skaters. Don't discount the Japanese skaters: Daisuke Takahashi, who...if he has recovered from last year's....has a low center of gravity and great speed and jumping ability as well as beautiful positions, and can do the job......AND, Nobunari Oda, the 17th descendant of Nobunaga Oda, who has the technique, sophistication, humility and sense of style to surprise the Western talent, albeit is young and lacks manliness, being yet a boy, still.....but, if four time Japanese National Champion, Daisuke Takahashi, my choice to win, is recovered from his surgeries, he will stand eye-to-eye with Plushenko!, both flanking Evan! Well, that's been all over the place, hasn't it? [But then, Thomas Verner could skate a program without technical errors or falls and surprise everyone, although that is not very likely.....] Not a 'shoe-in' by any calculations! Mark my words!

CD2-Bach Cello Suites by Vito Paternoster

Friday, February 12, 2010

NINO ROTA TAKES ON THE BURIAL OF EDMEA TETUA TO SHUBERT PLAYED ON GLASS HARMONICA

MY FAVORITE JONATHAN DEMME EXERCISE VIDEO

Dexter, Knife Connoisseur

I was catching up with some missed episodes of DEXTER and noticed Dexter's tastes in kitchen cutlery. He uses A samarai-edge Shun Kaji SG-2 Damascus steel knife with Pakkawood handle....what a refined connoisseur, keeping Williams-Sonoma in business....on a blood-spatter-analyst's salary!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

THE GREAT ZIEGFELD

A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody - THE GREAT ZIEGFELD
Uploaded by ActnTheatre. - Check out other Film & TV videos.

WHAT A PRODUCTION! AND ALL THOSE FABULOUS ADRIAN COSTUMES! WONDERFUL EXCESS!

JAYNE MANSFIELD in Ciudad Juárez

DURING A SUMMER VACATION FROM JR. HIGH SCHOOL, MY PARENTS DECIDED TO TAKE A LONG VACATION TO CARLSBAD CAVERNS, THE GRAND CANYON, DISNEYLAND, LAS VEGAS AND MEXICO.
MY PARENTS HAD ALREADY SMUGGLED ME INTO A JUDY GARLAND CONCERT, I HAD BEEN 'REMOVED' FROM A FOLIES BERGERE PERFORMANCE, HAVING BEEN APPREHENDED FOR BEING 'UNDER AGE' FOR VIEWING BARE NAKED BREASTS; AND I GOT TO HEAR FRANK SINATRA AT THE SANDS, WHERE MY FATHER WAS REMODELING THE RESTAURANT FOR LOUIS LEONI.....I HAD SEEN PICTURES OF JAYNE AND HAD ASSUMED THAT MY FATHER WAS GOING TO OOGLE HER ENORMOUS BREASTS, PERHAPS, ALTHOUGH HE WOULD NEVER HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED THAT.. MOTHER TOLD ME THAT THEY WERE GOING TO HEAR HER VIOLIN PERFORMANCE.....YEAH, MOM....SURE!......I WAS TOO YOUNG TO GET INTO THE CLUB, ANYWAY...AND SPENT THE TIME ALONE, SHOPPING FOR POTTERY AND HUGE, CARVED CHESS SETS....WHEN I FOUND THIS PHOTO ON THE NET, MY FATHER'S TALE WAS GIVEN SOME CREDANCE, HOWEVER. HEY....WE NEVER WENT TO ANY HEIFETZ CONCERTS!

"BEAT THE DEVIL.........."

JAMES BROWN, CLIVE OWEN, GARY OLDMAN AND TONY SCOTT do my favorite tribute to James Brown.......Get on up!

Monday, February 1, 2010

CRITERION CAST with Rudy, Ryan and Travis

Click to play

smart, barely post-adolescent film critics, emerging from puerile interests.........

Friday, January 29, 2010

COLMA

cross High School Musical with a John Water's concept musical and the little bastard musical COLMA slides out....a blue collar musical contrasting with the thoroughly bourgeoisie Zac Efron vehicle.....I had never heard of the film until it was recently shown on Sundance.......

Unobtainium!.....only Pyrite, after all...... it's always a matter of Perspective, isn't it?

I departed this awesome 3-D IMAX screening of AVATAR, satisfied not only by the visual feast, but the that Hollywood had given us a beautiful and powerful mythic portrayal of the contemporary struggle to save the natural world and that honored indigenous, shamanic wisdom under threat of being destroyed by corporate/military/technological forces. Avatar offers an evolution of the StarWars/DancingWithWolves/FantasticPlanet/TerminatorSalvation/Emerald Forest saga myths that infused a generation with a way of understanding the "Kô-k zh n" Evolution. Avatar brings in a greater sense of our contemporary struggle regarding the life of the planet and the movement towards more earth and nature focused spirituality.

In Avatar, the alien race, Na’avi, are giant beings who appear as montages of various native people of our planet Earth, attuned to the natural world of the magical plants and animals and having the ability to merge with Consciousness, aware of the living intelligence of the planet on which they live. Unfortunately, even their most intuitive shaman is incapable of seeing through the mendacity and duplicity of the gentle-eyed ex-marine human agent sent to spy on them for corporate and military groups seeking the Unobtainium. The hero falls in love with one of them, however, and crosses over to lead the united Na'avi tribes into the standard Hollywood fierce and bloody battle to save them and their moon-planet from pillage and devastation.

The Aesthetic and relevance of the eco-sensitive myth of the story is undermined by it's reinforcement of the prejudice of “dominant-race superiority”. Like Tarzan, the upper-class European who, upon being dropped into Africa, quickly becomes the King of the Negroes, the hero in Avatar, after a very short training period in the ways of the Na’avi, becomes better at their ways than any of them! American audiences just will not go to movies unless that is the way the story unfolds, of course. Avatar is a great film and worth seeing. But, I want to make a screenplay suggestion to the next great filmmaker who wants to demonstrate the beauty and wisdom of native cultures and wants to support them in their efforts to not be destroyed by “us”. Yes, have the hero/heroine fall in love with a member of the mythic “other”; have him or her learn their ways and the magic of their wisdom teachings. But NO, don’t have him become their Master of their own teachings. Let him get blessed and go back and teach his own people. Or, have her join with the tribe and be part of their efforts, in struggling against the aggression.

Maybe it’s too much to ask to have a film challenge all the destructive myths in modern Western Civilization, but this one idea (of the great white savior) has been hanging on too long. "Help us Ben Kenobi...YOU are our only hope!" "I AM the Quizzat Hadderat!"....."Hi , Jews, I'm Jesus....and these are NOT blue contact lenses, and this IS my natural hair color!" This is not about political correctness. It is a distorted prejudice about human intelligence that keeps us from each other. The indigenous peoples of the Earth are reaching out to us, calling on us to stop destroying not only them, but the Life systems upon which we all depend. Let us learn without 'kick-butt' warring, how to integrate our knowledge and that of others for an enlightened Consciousness.

Now,nevertheless, millions of Wi/Nintendo/PS4 -equipped adolescents can relive their twisted "take" on the film, purchasing the appropriate hardware and software, that they too can re-inact the murder and devastation of the film.... with their fingers on controllers, blowing up the evil Humans to save the beautiful Na'avi, when, in reality, they are only substantiating the Na'avi's claims of the violent nature and predatory instincts of Humankind........ The power of denial and rationalization rules! "Watch out, Bob!.....there's a "bug" on your arm......SWAT!.....O.K. I got it!"..........

what a setup for a jillion dollar sequel........the nice guys let the bad guys return to Earth......or whatever place they're currently trashing, in the event that Earth-living is untenable by then.......to regroup and return with that thirst for the unobtainable filler for Humankind's Great Emptiness....and they WILL come back.....with spiffier technology, bigger laser cannons and hardware designed for the newest, greatest shoot-em-up/blow-em-up multi-platinum-selling video game......"Farting Assholes of Earth vs. Tail-Fucking Blue Aliens", rated "R" for mindless idiocy and senseless violence.......and "AVATAR2.....COMEUPPANCE", with Sigourney, again brought to life from DNA, to fight for Right Science.......music by Tangerine Dream in Concert with Blue Man Group.........Tickets only $20, with a $2 online convenience fee....buy them now for the Jan, 2013 Event.....NOW!

Avatar Scriptment by James Cameron -

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

ELEANOR POWELL DANCING WITH A DOG

i had a dancing collie, Cindy, who loved to be costumed and loved to dance......but Eleanor's pup was a real talent! and, i was just thinking......movies with dancing and singing are my real favorites.....give me Busby any day!!

Friday, January 1, 2010

FIRST OF 2010 THOUGHTS

Let the heart of Amalie be an example from the many Lives from the Silver Screen......