Bigger Parts For Male Extras

An article in the New York Observer last month examined the lessening of the taboo of full frontal male nudity on film, video, and stage. Being the Observer, the article veered from the prurient reasons for it, to a polemic about how in the age of Hillary the male member is being objectified to rob it of its power. I haven't exposed mine publicly, so something else must have robbed it of its power. I've waved it every which way shouting "Petrificus Humongous!" all to no avail.

In the past I felt cheated by the abundance of cooch on the screen compared to the absence of man pole. Later, as the flashes of actors' ordinary looking appendages started to appear I felt only disappointment. The reason is clear. While breasts and the v thing look like they are supposed to even when they are being filmed on a big sound stage, the major root just looks sad and aesthetically unpleasing when it being upstaged. To look its best, it needs be center stage, fully alert and in action. It's not meant to play second banana to its owner's overacting above it.

I'm particularly tired of seeing male nudity on stage. The novelty of it has worn off. If I really want to see dick I would watch videos at home like The Ass Menagerie or the adults only version of The Iceman Cometh. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't turn down a ticket to see Daniel Radcliffe share the stage with his little buddy (now that he's 18).

Or Adam Brody. Or Bret Harrison. Or Jake Gyllenhaal. Or the cast of Heroes...

I think I'm losing my point here. Excuse me while I go dig out my copy of the original cast video of Oklahomo!

Straight As A Rainbow

As previously mentioned, there were several gay or gay relevant shows at the recent fringe theater festival in Indianapolis (IndyFringe). I saw five of them. One was Greg Haskins' Almost Walking A Straight Line, a one person comedic story telling session about the gay performer's religious upbringing. It was good but not great. The funniest bit to me was the segment on attempting to speak in tongues. Greg tells of the great effort he put into trying to do this while working on it with his religious leaders. He is finally considered "successful" when he knowingly spouts some gibberish. When he is told that that is all there is to it, he says if he had known that earlier he would have just exclaimed "Chang chang, chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop" from Grease at the start of it (with the proper hand motions).

The part that troubled me was when he mimicked a stereotypical, effeminate gay friend of his. He used the caricature for comedy but also to show how he learned from it to act more "straight". I'm uncomfortable being in a theater with a lot of straight people watching stereotypes of gay behavior being reinforced. Worse, I find it unsettling to see a macho man mincing and prancing and Greg is definitely a manly man. The incongruity of it is like watching Rosie O'Donnell french kissing Donald Trump.

Two other shows were Thanks For The Scabies, Jerkface and Somewhere In Between. Scabies was pretty much a monologue about several real-life events that happened to the gay performer. This show really inspired me. It inspired me to realize that even I could write and perform crap as bad as that. Somewhere In Between on the other hand was a powerful performance by a troupe from Israel that focused on asking what makes a man a man and a woman a woman. The actors off stage were kind of weird but I really enjoyed the performance and I loved the Israeli accent. I am reminded that on my to-do list is to capture an IDF soldier for a night of debauchery before his Day of Atonement. I want me a big Hebrew National.

Speaking of over the top performances, I have watched the following clip so many times and I'm still finding additional hysterical parts in it.

I have done the same routine many times when entering a movie theater but I have always had to do it solo.

Trick the Movie

My favorite gay movie is Trick. I first saw in 1999 during Southern Decadence, at the cozy little Canal Place theater in New Orleans. I found seeing this movie one of the best treats of my visit that year, and with all the other sights and distractions that occur during this annual bacchanalia, that's saying a lot. The movie has the spirit of romance, and finding the right guy, and the intervention of fate, and all these provided an elation from realizing that anything is possible back in my real life.

The movie is funny, romantic, inspirational, and warm-hearted. You end up falling in love with the characters and wondering what happens to them in the future because you become so enamored with them. I strongly recommend this film, and as one of the two tag lines says, "It's big, it's beautiful and you're gonna love it."

The other tag line just grazes the surface of the adventure: "A story about two guys trying to make it in the big city." One of the two guys is Gabriel (Christian Campbell), an aspiring writer of musical theater who is working as a office clerk and living with a straight roommate in order to get by. His best friend is Katherine (Tori Spelling), an aspiring actress, who tries to be optimistic and encouraging to Gabriel when he feels that he is failing in the pursuit of his ambition. She can't help him with his real problem though, which is that his his creative work lacks emotion and zest - mainly because he lacks it in his own life as well.

Gabriel answers criticism about the flatness of the characters he creates by saying, "I can't have them falling in love on the first night. That wouldn't be believable." To this, his friend Perry (Steve Hayes) retorts, "Well, not if you don't believe it." The heart of the movie then becomes Gabriel learning in a night-long misadventure how to let himself believe in such things and to find what new possibilities he can gain from opening his mind in this way.

Gabriel goes out to a club and sees a handsome go-go boy. Later, on his trip home he sees the go-go boy, Mark (J.P. Pitoc), on the subway and after some meaningful eye contact, both get off at the same stop and agree to get busy at Gabriel's place. Unfortunately, Gabriel's straight roommate wants to use the apartment for his own sexcapade and Gabriel and Mark are out on the street looking for somewhere they can spend some intimate time together. Traveling through the streets, bars, clubs, and a late-night diner, they bounce around, meeting up with several wacky friends and characters who keep them from getting together but by sunrise have provided a situation that teaches Gabriel and Mark that a little perseverance can provide something more gratifying than a one-night stand.

The movie isn't as heavy as a Brokeback Mountain but it still has some worthwhile messages: looks can be deceiving, nice guys don't finish last, and sometimes the best things in life come with a little delay.

Christian Campbell does a wonderful job of portraying the somewhat innocent and reserved Gabriel. You can feel his frustration from being stymied in his vain attempt to be a little more adventurous. J.P. Pitoc is hot, but more importantly he convincingly plays his character first as a stereotypical stripper and then as the more layered person that Mark allows Gabriel to see. Tori Spelling is Tori Spelling, but she does some great comedic work (especially during her blow-up in the diner scene). The best performance of the movie has to be from Clinton Leupp as Miss Coco Peru, in the famous "drag queen in the bathroom" scene. Coco Peru should have a star on Hollywood Blvd. for this performance.

The soundtrack CD has some good tunes on it. I especially like Erin Hamilton's version of Dreamweaver and Jessica William's I Am Woman. Steve Hayes does a funny bit at a piano bar with the song Como Te Gusta Mi Pinga?. Tori Spelling sings Enter You (Gabriel's show tune), and there is a nice reprise at the end from Christian Campbell. Be prepared after this to start spontaneously belting this song out whenever you see someone making a grand entrance. Finally there is the blissful song over the credits, Trick of Fate by Valerie Pinkerston. Love it.

I own the dvd, the t-shirt, the cd and the full size movie poster (the only one I have ever bought). It was interesting to me to see what other people thought. I created the movie list in the sidebar with Amazon's Unspun, and after 29 reviewers voted, it is #2 best gay movie. It's to be expected that nothing could beat the behemoth Brokeback Mountain. On Amazon, the movie has almost a five star rating from 201 reviewers. Eight reviewers gave it one star, but reading their comments gives a glimpse into the epicenter of bitterness and anti-social thoughts. They are more bitter than the bathroom drag queen, but without the humor of getting spunk in their eye.

See links below for detail info on the DVD and CD.
Trick DVD

Trick: Music From The Motion Picture

---

Movie trailer:

I Now Pronounce You, Adam Sandler, Out

I do not mean out, as in out of the closet; I mean out as in out of favor with movie audiences. It is a moment I have long been waiting for. I have never found Adam Sandler's comedy funny. His style of "humor" is classically sophomoric and represents the least desirable qualities of straight males. I could overlook this if he was at least attractive, but that face and that voice do nothing but repulse me even further.

Did I mention how proud I am that I have never seen an Adam Sandler movie in its entirety? There have been surprisingly many of them and for this I think Sandler does deserves a lifetime achievement award for stretching a one-note, one-dimensional routine into what feels like a lifetime of cinematic refuse. I see that a number of reviews agree with me.

Thank goodness, I finally see the sign of the end with the preview of his latest movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry. The synopsis is that two straight firefighters, Chuck (Sandler) and Larry (Kevin James), pretend to be a gay couple in order to receive domestic partner benefits, which leads to comedic results. Playing gay for laughs is fairly common in movies as a quick gag, but going full on gay as the central element of the story may be the indication that Sandler's career is heading in its long delayed downward direction.

My reasoning is based on the article "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" by Mike Albo (Out magazine, September, 2006). In the article about straight comics playing gay for laughs, Albo states

"Straight comics will usually fall back on gay when their jokes are falling flat and they are flailing, feeling the audience slipping out of their grasp. Then, out comes the word gay and, voilà, someone in the audience will laugh nervously, encouraging others to laugh, and the audience is back on track. It's like the comedian is jump-starting an old crappy car."

Though the situation is not exactly as described in the article, it is still close enough for me to believe that the club of extinguished SNL stars can now prepare to welcome its long lost initiate.

Southern Baptist Sissies

I recently saw a performance of “Southern Baptist Sissies” at Theater on the Square in Indianapolis. It was a return run for the theater but it was the first time I had seen the show (and actually the first time I have been to this theater). I knew from the preview that the show was going to be critical of religion, but I found it to be surprisingly evenhanded. There was the display of the flaws in humans' practice of Christianity, such as the misinterpretation of the Bible and the picking and choosing which admonitions to adhere to. There was also a display of the real power of faith and Andrew's attainment of the reward for his belief (although by way of a very troubled and imperfect path).

While Brother Reilly and the mothers provide a framework, T.J. and Mark a story line, and Benny a comedic reprieve, it is Odette and Peanut (besides obviously Andrew) that provide the emotional punches to the play. Odette and Peanut appear as mostly barfly caricatures in a subplot, but that stealth positioning makes the revelation of their internal struggles more wrenching for the audience when they unmask the hidden burden on their souls.

The standout performances for me were Juli Inskeep as Odette, Ron Spencer as Peanut, Dan Flahive as Brother Reilly, and Dannon Lee Crews as Andrew. Actually I was amazed at the performance by Dannon Crews. I have never seen him act before and I was really stunned by the life and believability he infused into the portrayal of the character. The expressions, the delivery, the tonal quality were mesmerizing whenever he spoke. The big shock was that he was something between a total stranger and a distant acquaintance a long time ago (is there a term for that?) and I had no idea he had this kind of talent. The revelation made me feel like Jane must have, when she said to Blanche "You mean, all this time, we could have been friends?"

The motion picture based on this play is in the works, featuring Delta Burke and Leslie Jordan.