In the News: Boys Do Confess

In the News is a new Movie Dearest feature that will take a look at breaking stories wherein the reel world merges with the real world.

Marvin Nissen, one of the two men convicted of murdering Brandon Teena and two other people as depicted in the Academy Award-winning movie Boys Don't Cry, has recently changed his story of what happened fourteen years ago.

Nissen (portrayed by Brendan Sexton III as "Tom" Nissen in the film) now claims that he was the lone killer in the slayings. Nissen's previous testimony stated that it was John Lotter (played by Peter Sarsgaard) who fired the fatal shots at Teena and the others. Lotter is currently on death row in Nebraska, but with this confession, he has asked for a new trial. The Advocate has the full story here.

Hilary Swank won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance as Teena, whose life was also recounted in the documentary The Brandon Teena Story.

Links via Imdb.com and Advocate.com.

Naked Boys Filming

What do you get when you combine the lurid thrill of gratuitous onstage nudity with upbeat musical theater song and dance? The answer is Naked Boys Singing, the hit Off-Broadway show that has been wowin' 'em (in more ways then one) since 1999.

And if the bumper crop of movie musicals this year hasn't been enough, the Boys will be hitting the big screen themselves this fall as well (and no, it won't be in 3-D). Naked Boys Singing: The Motion Picture (it isn't really called all that, but don't you wish it was?) will be the opening night feature at Out Takes Dallas, Texas' own gay and lesbian film festival, and it will be appearing at several other festivals as well prior to its limited theatrical release in October.

For a tease of the new movie, visit its official website, filled with cast pictures (sorry, no full frontal -- you'll have to see the movie for that!), video sneak peeks and a pictorial history of the global phenomenon that is Naked Boys Singing.

You can also get a gander at the movie's trailer (for once, that term is tres apropos) over at YouTube, where you can also see Under the Pink Carpet's backstage look at the New York production.

Links via NakedBoysSinging.com, Imdb.com, OutTakesDallas.org, NakedBoysSingingMovie.com, YouTube.com and UnderThePinkCarpet.tv.

Who's Cruising Who?

A lot of movies are talked about long after they come out, but those are usually good ones. Cruising, the notorious gay killer thriller written and directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino, is not a good movie by any means. Yet, here we are, 27 years later, still talking about it.

The controversy surrounding the making of the film places it in a unique place in gay history. However, aside from occasional airings on pay cable or dusty VHS tapes, it has mostly stayed buried since its box office failure back in 1980. More people have heard about Cruising then have actually seen it, and the coverage the book and film The Celluloid Closetgave it pretty much damned it in the eyes of most, sight unseen. Friedkin rarely discussed it, and as far as Pacino was concerned, he never made it (for example, it was conspicuously absent from his recent AFI tribute).

Nevertheless, the film did develop a sort of "cult" following through the years, largely due to its scarcity. It was even unofficially "remade" as a comedy, two years after it was first released, as the even more dreadful Partners. (If you really want a laugh though, skip that one and watch Boy Toys, a scene-for-scene "remake" of Cruising ... using Ken dolls. Warning: lots of gratuitous fashion doll nudity and violence.)

So now that Cruising is making its long-delayed DVD debut this Tuesday, a lot of people have been talking about it even more; Friedkin himself is particularly chatty about it. Some say it's worth another look, while others naively wonder what all the fuss was about; this being the internet, there are diverse opinions ranging from the clinical and balanced to the superficial and dismissive.

However, if you read one article about Cruising, make sure it is this superlative piece from Entertainment Weekly contributing writer Mark Harris. Harris covers all the bases regarding the film's infamous makings and deconstructs it with not just a critical eye, but with the eye of a gay man. He also calls to task Friedkin and producer Jerry Weintraub, who (in the DVD extras) try to frame the movie as "a work of art ahead of its time". Yeah, right. If anything, Cruising was a product of its time, not a victim of it.

UPDATE: For his typically laugh-out-loud take on something other then Top Chef, be sure to check out Steven Frank's irreverent look at Cruising over at After.Elton.com.

Click here to pre-order Cruisingon DVD from Amazon.com. Click here to buy Cruisingposters from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com, AFI.com, YouTube.com, eBAR.com, Cinematical.com, NYBlade.com, SFBayTimes.com, VillageVoice.com, BrightLightsFilm.com, SFBG.com, NewNowNext.com, AfterElton.com and EW.com.

Potent Quotables: Jack Twist on Commitment Issues

That exchange is from, of course, Brokeback Mountain, spoken by Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar and Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist. (Click on picture to enlarge.)

And if that landmark film is something you yourself can't quit, then you too may be a "Brokie".

Click here to purchase Brokeback Mountainon DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com and SFBayTimes.com.

Sean Penn Got Milk

Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic just got the edge on Bryan Singer's adaptation of Randy Shilts' The Mayor of Castro Street by casting two A-listers to play Milk and his assasin, Dan White. Academy Award-winners Sean Penn and Matt Damon (who won the screenplay Oscar for Van Sant's Good Will Hunting) will reportedly star in the as-yet untitled project, set to start shooting as early as this December.

Penn would play Milk, the late San Francisco city supervisor who was the first prominent US politician to be openly gay, and Damon would play White, who murdered both Milk and SF Mayor George Moscone in 1978.

White's trial, where he used the infamous "Twinkie defense" to claim his innocence, was a scandalous miscarriage of justice, resulting in a sentence of only seven years. As depicted in Rob Epstein's 1984 Oscar-winning documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, the resulting uproar over the final verdict (dubbed the "White Night Riots") was as important to the still-growing gay rights movement as Stonewall was almost a decade earlier.

In addition to the documentary, Milk's story has been told on television and the stage (including the 1999 TV movie Execution of Justice, based on the play by Emily Mann), but a narrative feature has been in development for years, with such stars as Robin Williams (himself a long-time SF resident) and Hugh Jackman rumored to play Milk at various times.

Click here to purchase The Times of Harvey Milkon DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Reuters.com, Wikipedia.org and Imbd.com.

Mighty Mormon Power Rangers

For those of you who are still carrying a torch for Latter Days' Elder Davis (and, after seeing these modeling shots of Steve Sandvoss, who wouldn't be?), you may be interested in a little project that has all the gay and Mormon websites out there atwitter. (I know, who knew that such a thing could ever happen.)

A group calling themselves Mormons Exposed has released a 2008 beefcake calendar entitled "Men on a Mission", filled with a dozen buff and beautiful "former Mormon missionaries" displaying their abs and pecs for all of god's children to see.

These marketing geniuses, who certainly know their prime customers (namely, gay men and randy Mormon women), even offer an eyebrow-raising promotional video (more Dieux du Stade then LDS) that will have you salivating over Elders Matthew, Casey, the two Brandons and the rest, in and out of their white shirt/black tie ensembles.

The creators claim (on their MySpace page, no less) that the calendar is "NOT affiliated with or endorsed by the Mormon church" (duh), although some interesting t-shirt designs for sale in their online store may make you question their insistence that they do not intend to shed a "negative light on the Mormon faith".

Yeah, OK, and while your at it, I'll take the "I'm My Own Uncle" tee in "Brigham blue", XL.

UPDATE: The completely irony-free Contessa Brewer interviews Chad Hardy, co-founder of Mormons Exposed, on MSNBC.

Click here to purchase Latter Dayson DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com, OhLaLaParis.com, MormonsExposed.com, YouTube.com, 3Couleurs.Blogspot.com, MySpace.com and MSN.com.

Great Performances: Felicity Huffman as Bree Osbourne

Felicity Huffman's brilliant performance as the pre-op male-to-female transsexual Bree Osbourne in Transamerica is a triumph on many levels.

Anyone who has seen Huffman on her television show Desperate Housewives knows that she is a beautiful woman, even with her frazzled working mother exterior. Yet in Transamerica, she is unrecognizable, and it is more then the make-up and frumpy costumes. Huffman physically transformed herself in the role, and is entirely believable as a biological male yearning to be female.

You can feel the aching to achieve what she so desperately wants, to fit in (to "pass") in the way Bree carries herself. Every gesture, every mannerism is controlled to the utmost, for fear someone may detect the masculinity buried deep within.

This control is shaken when her pending sexual reassignment surgery is jeopardized by a ghost from her past: a son she never knew she had. Toby, a scraggly street hustler, enters her life at what she thinks is the worst possible time. However, by getting to know him during their long, event-filled cross-country journey, she comes to realize that meeting him may have been the best thing that ever happened to her.

Huffman won several awards for her performance in Transamerica, including the Golden Globe and the Independent Spirit Award, and was also nominated for the Academy Award.

Click here to purchase Transamericaon DVD from Amazon.com.
Link via Imdb.com.

The Real "Soldier's Girl"

Those who have seen the award-winning TV movie Soldier's Girl know that it is a harrowing depiction of homophobia in the military. But it is also a rarity among transgender-themed films in that it shows a fully formed, realistic romance between a man and a transgender woman.

Based on the true story of Army Private Barry Winchell (Troy Garity) and Nashville entertainer Calpernia Addams (Lee Pace), the film dramatizes the events that led up to Winchell's brutal murder at the hands of a fellow soldier. The reason for this senseless act was simply because he was dating Addams, a male-to-female transgender. It is a powerful, gut-wrenching film, yet the earlier scenes where the couple tentatively approach their romance are both tender and true.

Orange County & Long Beach Blade contributor Chris Carpenter recently had the opportunity to interview the "real" Soldier's Girl, Calpernia Addams. Addams currently lives in Hollywood; her latest projects include the short film Casting Pearls (which screened at this year's OutFest) and a TV pilot.

Click here to purchase Soldier's Girlon DVD from Amazon.com.

Links via Imdb.com and GayBlade.com.

Great Performances: Tuc Watkins as Sterling Scott

I recently watched the 1997 gay romantic comedy I Think I Do because of Tuc Watkins. He was recently cast on one of "my shows", Desperate Housewives, as one half of the gay couple who moves onto Wisteria Lane this season.

I have seen Watkins many times on one of Big Edie's "shows", One Life to Live, where he plays the lovable cad David Vickers. He is unique among soap actors in that he not only doesn't mind being silly, he appears to relish it, a fact that makes him immensely watchable. That, and he is a total hunk (don't you just love it when they can actually act too?).

Anyway, my previous exposure to him on the daytime sudser added to my appreciation of him in I Think I Do because he plays a soap opera actor in it. And a gloriously vain and self-involved (yet still likeable) one at that. His comedic performance as Sterling Scott (love the name), Alexis Arquette's studly boyfriend, is the highlight of this otherwise well intentioned but typical gay rom com (it is the type of indie where you just know the actors are wearing their own clothes -- not that there's anything wrong with that). Watkins really is a hoot in it, such as when he calls Arquette his "potato bug" or recalls how he wooed him by giving him his headshot.

If you're a fan of Watkins too and want to see him "play gay" before his "househusband" stint this fall, then this movie is worth a look.

Click here to buy I Think I Doon DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com and Televisionista.blogspot.com.

Queer as Classic

In my web wanderings, I recently discovered these parody videos that aired on TV Land a few years back. Three gay faves (Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Sex and the City) are hilariously sent up by recasting them with such classic TV stars as Beatrice Arthur, Joyce DeWitt and Loretta Swit.

Of course, my twisted, pop culture-addled mind started cooking up fantasy spoofs of recent gay shows, replacing the gay characters of today with the gay characters of yesterday. OK, mostly gay-seeming characters of yesterday.

On Will and Grace, straight-laced Will Truman would now be played by Jack Coleman, a.k.a. straight-laced Steven Carrington of Dynasty, while the flamboyant Jack McFarland would by portrayed by the even more flamboyant Wayland Flowers, sans Madame. OK, Madame can be Karen.

Nancy McKeon's Jo Polniaczek of The Facts of Life would feel right at home on The L Word, as would the entire cast of Xena: Warrior Princess and the lesbian witches from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. OK, and Alice from The Brady Bunch too.

And let us not forget Queer as Folk. The dynamic duo of Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor would be the actual dynamic duo, Adam "Batman" West and Burt "Boy Wonder" Ward. Wimpy Michael Novotny would now be wimpy Jodie Dallas from Soap (Billy Crystal), while his Uncle Vic would be none other then Uncle Arthur from Bewitched (Paul Lynde). His hunky boyfriend Ben Bruckner would be embodied by Patrick Duffy of Dallas. OK, I know, Bobby Ewing wasn't gay, but he looked good without a shirt, so ...

Forever lovelorn Ted Schmidt would be played by the forever lovelorn Waylon Smithers of The Simpsons, with Lost in Space's Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) as unlucky in love Emmett Honeycutt. Lindsay and Melanie? Kate and Allie, naturally.

Some could say that proud mama Debbie Novotny was already played by a gay character (Sharon "Chris Cagney" Gless), but let's change it up with ... Jamie "Corporal Klinger" Farr.

OK, maybe I went too (wait for it) Farr with that one ...

Linka via TVLand.com and YouTube.com.

OutFest Picks 25 Life-Changing Films

In honor of their 25th anniversary, OutFest has selected 25 GLBT movies that "changed our lives" in the past 25 years.

Ranging from mainstream hits to independent favorites, foreign films to documentaries, they are (in chronological order):

• Making Love (1982)
• The Hunger (1983)
• The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
• My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
• Desert Hearts (1985)
• Parting Glances (1986)
• I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987)
• Law of Desire (1987)
• Maurice (1987)
• Longtime Companion (1990)
• Paris is Burning (1990)
• Tongues Untied (1990)
• My Own Private Idaho (1991)
• Poison (1991)
• The Crying Game (1992)
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
• Go Fish (1994)
• The Celluloid Closet (1995)
• The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love (1995)
• Beautiful Thing (1996)
• Ma Vie en Rose (1997)
• High Art (1998)
• Boys Don't Cry (1999)
• Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
• Brokeback Mountain (2005)

What is always fun about lists like these is to do a breakdown of the numbers, which provides an interesting way to look comprehensively at the films represented. Thus, OutFest's list includes:

• 9 films from the 1980's.
• 14 films from the 1990's.
• 2 films from the 2000's.
• 4 documentaries.
• 2 foreign language films.
• 1987 and 1990 are the most represented years, with 3 films each.
• Rob Epstein is the only director with two films on the list: The Times of Harvey Milk and The Celluloid Closet.
• A total of 7 Oscars were won by 5 of the films, but no Best Pictures (damn you again, Crash!).

As for the breakdown of what's G, L, B or T:

• 15 films with gay subject matter.
• 8 films with lesbian subject matter.
• 7 films with bisexual subject matter.
• 6 films with transgender subject matter.

The only film to feature all four is, naturally, The Celluloid Closet.

Links via OutFest.org.

Tag, You're It

Lines of dialogue aren't the only words written for a movie that can be quoted. A memorable movie tagline can sometimes become just as big as the movie it came from ("In space, no one can hear you scream." from Alien) or even be better then the movie (take your pick from these two Jaws sequels: "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water." or "This time, its personal.").

Entertainment Weekly recently asked their readers to name their favorite movie taglines, and their subsequent list is filled with such usual suspects as ''They're young ... they're in love ... and they kill people.'' from Bonnie and Clyde and ''Be afraid. Be very afraid." from The Fly.

Although you wouldn't know it from EW's list, gay-themed films have had taglines for years too.

Considering the controversial subject matters of early queer films, tagline writers of the day had to get creative when a film dared to broach such themes back then:

• "You don't know women until you know them without men!" - Caged
• "What made these women different?" - The Children's Hour
• "Tennessee Williams shocks you again as he transports you to a STRANGE, NEW BOLD WORLD!" - Suddenly, Last Summer

As censorship loosened over the years, and more and more realistic, adult-themed stories were being told, you still had to read between the lines of some tags to glean the movie's queer content:

• "The Boys in the Band ... is not a musical."
• "Between Ellen and Jill came Paul ..." - The Fox
• "Only his draft board and his girlfriend know for sure." - The Gay Deceivers
• "There's more to love than ... Making Love."

Others were more blatant, yet nevertheless proved to be truth in advertising - they were as offensive as the movies they were touting:

• "Benson is a cop who wants to clean up the streets ... His partner just wants to redecorate." - Partners
• "A sad gay story." - Staircase

Some just told it like it is:

• "Weird. Wild. Sexy. Strange." - Myra Breckinridge
• "An exercise in poor taste." - Pink Flamingos

Or out-right lied:

• "The Musical Comedy Smash of the 80's!" - Can't Stop the Music

While others were just downright indecipherable:

• "When you run into yourself you run into feelings you never thought you had." - Personal Best

As more and more movies with gay content were produced, taglines got better and more open:

• "An urban fairytale." - Beautiful Thing
• "For Money. For Murder. For Each Other." - Bound
• "It's not who you love. It's how." - Chasing Amy
• "School's out, so is Steven Carter." - Get Real
• "There's a first time for everything." - The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love
• "Sometimes you just have to be yourself." - Ma Vie en Rose
• "Having a ball ... wish you were here." - Paris is Burning
• "How's a guy supposed to find Mr. Right when his dad won't stop trying to help?" - The Sum of Us
• "One girl. Two guys. Three possibilities." - Threesome
• "You are cordially invited to a wedding where everybody wants to kiss the bride ... except the groom." - The Wedding Banquet

Or maybe not:

• "No one would take on his case ... until one man was willing to take on the system." - Philadelphia

Nowadays, gays are everywhere, and recent movie taglines reflect that with some of the best of the genre:

• "Parenthood is about to get a little hairier." - Bear Cub
• "Love is a force of nature." - Brokeback Mountain
• "The shortest distance between friends isn't always a straight line." - The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy
• "You can't fit in when you already stand out." - Camp
• "An actress is nothing without a meaty part." - Girls Will Be Girls
• "An anatomically incorrect rock odyssey." - Hedwig and the Angry Inch
• "When it comes to love, sometimes she just can't think straight." - Kissing Jessica Stein
• "Aaron prays. Christian plays ... Opposites attract." - Latter Days
• "Open Your Mind. And Everything Else." - Shortbus
• "Life is more than the sum of its parts." - Transamerica
• "A story about two guys trying to make it in the big city." - Trick
• "Love should never be a secret." - Yossi & Jagger

Alas, there is always a throwback to more unenlightened times:

• "They're as straight as can be, but don't tell anyone." - I Know Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Links via Portfolio.com and EW.com.

Great Performances: Jesse L. Martin as Collins

When watching Jesse L. Martin in the role of Tom Collins in Rent, one can feel the joy that this man finds in life, even if that life could be cut short at any time by his HIV- status.

Martin brings a warmth, a familiarity to his characterization that is refreshing, even surprising. One can easily see why he has the loyal friends that he does, and why his Angel would fall in love with him so completely, so easily. Their duet, "I'll Cover You", is sexy, even playfull, but ultimately rock solid romantic.

Which makes Collins' solo reprise, after Angel is taken from him, all the more heart breaking. As he stands at the funeral of his beloved, he fights back the pain, yet somehow finds the strength - the love - to lead his "family" through their combined grief.

Marin played Collins in the original Broadway production of Rent, and the time spent in the role shows. His Collins is lived in, and while Wilson Jermaine Heredia's Angel is the heart of the piece, Martin's performance is its soul.

Click here to buy Renton DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com and Ibdb.com.

What's In a (Gay) Name?

Movie Morlocks, the Turner Classic Movies blog, recently posted a collection of memorable movie character names. It is a compelling and (mostly) comprehensive list, yet, with a few exceptions, it is, well ... pretty straightforward.

I give them the benefit of the doubt though, for their stock and trade is classic films from the studio era, and we all know what kind of representation gay characters received in those times: next to none. And what there was was usually negative; for example, characters generally regarded as queer that did make their list (Mrs. Danvers, Eve Harrington, even the cross-dressing Norman Bates) are all villains.

So to give the gay perspective, here is the Movie Dearest list of memorable GLBT movie character names (including a few more villains). Also, note that I have left off any "real" people (James Whale, Brandon Teena) that were well-known prior to their appearance on film or any characters that are named in the movie's title (Chuck and Buck, Hedwig). See if you can guess what movies they are from (names are in alphabetical order):

1. Albin, a.k.a. Zaza
2. Angel & Collins and Maureen & Joanne
3. Bruno Anthony
4. Shug Avery
5. Andrew Beckett
6. Arnold Beckoff
7. Vida Boheme, Noxeema Jackson and Chi-Chi Rodriguez
8. Bree Osbourne
9. Joel Cairo
10. Cristal Connors
11. Corky and Violet
12. Roger De Bris and Carmen Ghia
13. Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist
14. Dil
15. Felicia, Mitzi and Bernadette
16. Dr. Frank-N-Furter
17. Fuzzy
18. Gay Perry
19. Jamie and Ste
20. Kitten
21. Rosa Klebb
22. Waldo Lydecker
23. Michael, Emory, Harold and Cowboy
24. Molina
25. Dolly Pelliker
26. Plato
27. Toddy
28. Catherine Tramell
29. Sebastian Venable
30. Zach and Bart

Give your guesses (or add more character names to the list) in the comments section below.

Link via MovieMorlocks.com.

It's a Scandal! It's an Outrage!

When I previously reported the reader polls that The Advocate was conducting in preparation for their 40th anniversary issue, the only categories at the time were for movies, TV and "Hunks".

Well, the polls have been updated to include music, books, theater and, yes ladies, "Women". (Shouldn't that be something like "Babes"? I mean, if the gays get to objectify men as "Hunks", then certainly the lesbians can too.)

There is one other category for "Scandals", which to me seems a bit too National Enquirer-ish for The Advocate. Aside from a surprising amount of political sex-capades, the nominees include the public outrage met by such films as Cruising, Basic Instinct and Braveheart.

You can vote here for your ten favorites in all categories now, plus don't forget to vote for the magazine's "gay heroes" too. Results for all the polls will be published in a special 40th Anniversary issue of The Advocate, at which time I will cover it right here as well.

UPDATE: If anyone has the results of The Advocate's 40th Anniversary polls, please email them to me at my Hotmail address, located in the sidebar below my profile. It would be greatly appreciated!

Links via Advocate.com.

Idol/Busch

Today's unrelated announcements that queer theater diva Charles Busch and XXX porn star Ryan Idol will each be trodding the boards in the Big Apple soon is notable for several reasons.

First, the two are both gay icons, though obviously for very different reasons. Second, they both will appear in plays well known to gay audiences. Busch will star in the Off-Broadway debut of his own Die, Mommie, Die!, reprising the role of Angela Arden that he immortalized on film in the hilarious movie adaptation. And in the upcoming Broadway revival of the comedy The Ritz, Idol will play the bit (but hardly small) part of "bathhouse patron". And thirdly: I have met them both.

Now granted, both of these meetings were of the "Oh gee, it's-so-nice-to-meet-you, I-love-your-work, good-bye!" kind, but when you brush up against fame, it sticks with you.

I will recount the less sordid of the two events first. Back in the summer of 1989, my then-boyfriend and I went to Los Angeles on vacation. Our trip coincided with the west coast run of Busch's then most-famous play, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, headlined by none-other then Busch himself. Having just acted in the Phoenix premiere production of said play, I was thrilled to be able to see the Charles Busch, along with most of the original New York cast, in what turned out to be their final performance there. As a result of a few well-dropped hints to a kindly usher, we met Busch after the show. He was very gracious and even signed my program, which I still treasure.

As for the Idol encounter some years later, my memories are a bit dimmer owing to the locale. It was at the opening of some gay bar in north Scottsdale (now long gone) where free cocktails were flowing and Idol was the main event. He performed a little strip tease dance and was then "auctioned off" to the highest bidder for the remainder of the night. But before his "dream date", Idol took the time to sign some tragically out-of-date publicity shots for the masses, myself included. Idol was trying to be clever (or, as it turns out, as clever as a porn star can be), writing cutesy sayings along with his autograph; you know, things like "Hey Nick, do you like my ....?" You get the idea.

Before I go on, let me say that I love my name. Everybody remembers it, which is nice even if I can rarely return that compliment. However, being a gay man named Kirby can have its drawbacks, considering I share the name with a certain brand of vacuum cleaner.

Yes, I have heard more then my fair share of not-so-original "jokes" alluding to the sucking power of the latest model of Kirby Vacuums. And yes, it gets old. Nevertheless, as I waited in that line to get Mr. Idol's John Hancock (as opposed to his John Thomas), I was prepared to take whatever he dished out (a night's worth of tequila helped too).

"Kirby" I said when he asked me my name, bracing myself for the laughter ... that never came. Apparently, the Idol family didn't have a Kirby Vacuum Cleaner when little Ryan was growing up, as opposed to, oh, everyone else I have ever met in my life. The reference flew right over Idol's over-moussed head as he hemmed and hawed, finally coming up with this little ditty: "To Kirby: On my derby, Ryan Idol."

Yes. "To Kirby: On my derby". He even drew a tiny top hat to illustrate his little funny, even though a top hat looks nothing like a derby. And yes, I still have that photo, although it isn't nearly as treasured as my Charles Busch program.

Click here to purchase Die Mommie Die!on DVD from Amazon.com.

Links via Imdb.com, Wikipedia.org, Playbill.com and Broadway.com.

Best of the Fests: Transgender Issues

News and reviews from around the web regarding gay-themed film and festivals:

- At what point does a transgender story cross over into heterosexuality? That is the question surrounding the rejection of Raymond Rea's The Sweet New from San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival.

- Genre Magazine takes a look at the queer offerings from this year's Tribeca Film Festival, including the documentary Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother (Arquette is pictured above, with friends, at the festival).

- Bright Lights Film Journal spotlights this year's QDoc, the first gay documentary film festival.

- The Venice Film Festival announced their first major award for gay-themed works, called the Queer Lion. And yes, its wings will be "rainbow-colored".

- And if you want to know how to get your movie into a GLBT film festival, AfterEllen.com tells you how to do it.

Links via SFBayTimes.com, Frameline.org, GenreMagazine.com, TribecaFilmFestival.org, Imdb.com, BrightLightsFilm.com, QueerDocFest.org, LaBiennale.org, Advocate.com and AfterEllen.com.

Lynch, Vilanch & Moore

Coming Soon in gay-themed films:

- Jane Lynch and Bruce Vilanch have joined the cast of Tru Loved, a coming of age dramady with a queer twist. Also starring are such faves as Jasmine Guy, Nichelle Nichols and Marcia Wallace.

- Will Michael Moore's next hot topic doc focus on gay rights, gay marriage, homophobia or all three?

- Meet the stars of OutFest favorite Kiss the Bride: James O'Shea and Phillipp Karner at Out in Hollywood and Amber Benson at Advocate Insider.

- Coming soon to a TV near you: Sordid Lives, the play and movie by Del Shores, is being made into a new series for LOGO. None other than Olivia Newton-John will star, alongside Delta Burke and Leslie Jordan. Also, note that Shores' Southern Baptist Sissies is being readied for film as well.

- Cemeteries and show tunes don't often mix, but they do in Colma: The Musical. IFC has an interview with the film's director, Richard Wong.

- Hard to believe that an 'ex-gay ministry' could find a place in the Broadway community, but there is one, according to the new documentary Gay No More.

Links via HollywoodReporter.com, Imdb.com, AfterElton.com, InsideSoCal.com, AdvocateInsider.com, Towleroad.com, IFCTV.com and Advocate.com.

The Advocate Goes to the Movies

In conjunction with their 40th anniversary poll to find the top 40 "Gay Heroes", The Advocate is also giving readers a chance to name their ten favorite queer movies from the last 40 years.

Of the 40 films nominated, such usual suspects as Brokeback Mountain, Boys Don't Cry and Personal Best are present. Sprinkled in among the foreign fare (Before Night Falls, Law of Desire) and indie faves (Go Fish, Poison) are such Hollywood pap as In & Out, The Birdcage and Philadelphia, not to mention the just plain awful Mulholland Drive. Missing in action? Latter Days, Edge of Seventeen, Victor/Victoria, Trick, Cabaret ...

My personal top ten from this list is as follows (and illustrated above):

• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Aussie drag beats American drag (The Birdcage) every time.
• Beautiful Thing: I like my young love to end happily (My Own Private Idaho, I'm talking to you).
• Bound: I admit, I need to see more lesbian movies, but this one made me want to be a lesbian.
• Brokeback Mountain: Goes without saying.
• The Crying Game: The second most well known gay movie for straight audiences, after Brokeback.
• Longtime Companion: Narrowly ahead of Parting Glances and miles ahead of Philadelphia.
• Making Love: The first Hollywood film to get it (mostly) right.
• Maurice: As British films go, more romantic then Sunday Bloody Sunday.
• My Beautiful Laundrette: See above, add Daniel Day Lewis and champagne.
• Transamerica: Regarding transsexual themes, this one was a close call with Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Click here to vote for your own ten movies, plus your TV favorites and, for the guys, the hottest hunks of the past four decades. As for the ladies, there are no ladies to vote for (as of now). Note to Advocate editors: it is wise not to anger the lesbians.

Results will appear in The Advocate's 40th Anniversary issue and I will cover it here as well.

UPDATE: If anyone has the results of The Advocate's 40th Anniversary polls, please email them to me at my Hotmail address, located in the sidebar below my profile. It would be greatly appreciated!

Links via Advocate.com.

Straight Eye on the Queer Guys

Planet Out is currently collecting your stories on how your straight friends and family have reacted to gay and lesbian characters they have seen in the movies. They pose the theory that even if you found such films as In & Out and As Good As It Gets cringe-worthy, they may have actually led to positive responses from the heterosexuals in your life.

My first thought on the subject was of me and Big Edie watching Queer as Folk together ("See ma, it has Sharon Gless in it."), but that was a TV show (and she covered her eyes through most of it). Then there was the time I forced my metal-head brothers to listen to Erasure on a long family trip. Still not a movie, still doesn't count.

Then I recalled a particular weepy night long ago when, after watching Untamed Heart ("He ... (sob) ... left her (wail) ... his records!") with my brother and sister-in-law, I thought, "hey, let's continue down this road to despair" and popped in Longtime Companion. Despite more tears, I feel that they understood me a little more as a gay man, not just as their gay brother.

Visit Planet Out to submit your story, the best of which will be featured shortly on their sister site, Gay.com. I will link to that article when it is posted.

(After further inspection and a lengthy, fruitless site search, there is no direct link to submit your stories listed in the article in question. So I say submit them via the "letters to the editor" link here, and let them now that when they ask people for input, they should try to make it a little easier to do so. And you can tell them I told you to say that too.)

Links via PlanetOut.com, Imdb.com and Gay.com.