Eating Out: Drama Camp: A Review Saturday, Oct 29 2011 

comedy and movies and queer culture thisgaudygildedstage 11:12 am

Last night PJ and I watched Eating Out: Drama Camp, the latest in the farcical series of gay movies that specialize in the sexual hi-jinks of young gay men and their lady friends.

In this fourth installment of the franchise, Zack and Casey, the leading men introduced in the third movie, Eating Out: All You Can Eat, are still together but having some problems in the bedroom: Zack, played by Chris Salvatore, no longer seems interested in Casey, played by Daniel Skelton. These problems are compounded by their heading off to a drama camp, where temptations to stray abound.

Eating Out: Drama Camp is hilariously sexy and loads of fun! This is queer, bawdy humor at its best.

The third installment of this franchise seemingly sent the series in a new, much more interesting direction: the main characters were all played by gay men, the plot revolved around Casey’s efforts to seduce Zack, another gay guy, and it all added up to a lot of heart. While maybe it shouldn’t matter whether the actors are gay, I really liked that Skelton and Salvatore were out during their promotion of the movie. I was tired of some of he earlier movies’ stars efforts to distance themselves from the plots’ gay content. Likewise, I liked that All You Can Eat was about one gay guy chasing another openly gay guy. The is-he-or-isn’t he plot of the second movie wore thin for me. And I liked the combination of sexual humor, romance, and sentiment in the third movie. It all added up to a queer comedy made for and by queers, something I both admire and enjoyed.

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Bridesmaids: A Review Monday, Oct 24 2011 

comedy and movies thisgaudygildedstage 10:05 am

Over the weekend, PJ and I finally watched Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph. We’ve been looking forward to seeing this movie since we missed it at the theater.

Wiig plays Annie, a down-on-her-luck woman who’s dating a jerk and recently lost her bakery due to the bad economy. When her best friend Lillian, played by Rudolph, announces her engagement, Annie accepts her role as maid of honor with mixed feelings: while happy for her friend, she’s also jealous of how everything in her life is so perfect. As Annie copes with these feelings and ineptly takes up her wedding duties, she also has to tangle with Helen, played by Rose Byrne, who seems wedding planning as a competitive sport.

Surprisingly, I didn’t really care much for this movie. Everyone has talked up its gross out humor, with the big twist being that its women being gross this time rather than men. But I didn’t think the movie was all that funny. I love Wiig and Rudolph, and I was ready to laugh and enjoy the jokes, but Bridesmaids just doesn’t add up to much. It’s entirely predictable, and I don’t think it really has much to say today’s woman, weddings, relationships, or anything else.

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Allan Hyde’s “Alla Salute!” Sunday, May 29 2011 

comedy and series and television and What I'm Watching thisgaudygildedstage 6:57 pm

Danish actor Allan Hyde first came to my attention in the second season of HBO’s True Blood, in which he played Eric’s maker, Godric. Alexander Skarsgård is more my type, so I didn’t really notice Hyde all that much while he was on the series. That’s all changed with my newest obsession, Hyde’s Internet series, Alla Salute!, which Hyde writes and stars in.

This hilarious series of shorts is about two friends who decide to open a restaurant in their apartment. Hyde plays Patrik, a little league soccer coach who fancies himself a ladies man. (Despite his chiseled physique, the ladies aren’t the ones trying to get with him.) Aleksandar Antonijevic plays Claudio, Patrik’s roommate and the chef of the new restaurant, which was the idea of his ex-girlfriend. Initially, Claudio thinks that opening the restaurant will get him back together with Sidsel, played by Julie Christiansen. (Patrik also hopes to hook up with her.)

All of this adds up to a smart, funny, hilariously sexy show. I can’t wait for the next episode!

Here’s episode 1, “Sidsel Left Me …”:

Patrik’s semi-nudity is featured in almost every episode, which both appeals to anyone who appreciates a hot guy and adds a comic dimension, since his efforts to seduce seem to get him no where. The food also look great! And every episode features the title phrase, “Alla salute!”

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The Honey Badger Don’t Give a Shit Friday, Feb 18 2011 

comedy and documentary and queer culture thisgaudygildedstage 6:45 pm

I saw this on a blog today and couldn’t stop laughing. I love it!

This faux nature documentary is narrated by Randall, a comic character by Christopher Gordon. You can check out similar videos on his YouTube channel.

At first I was a little nervous about this clip: using a “gay” narrator like this seems potentially homophobic — reveling in stereotypes and casting aspersions on an entire group of people, us gays. But then I decided that, as a comic piece, the creator is entitled to make us of us gays and even draw upon gay stereotypes to make us all laugh. I don’t think it’s hating on gays; it’s laughing at a certain type of gay. The sad thing is that such narration would make most nature documentaries more interesting!

Now I want a t-shirt that says, “The Honey Badger don’t give a shit!”