Role/Play: A Review Saturday, Apr 2 2011 

movies and queer culture thisgaudygildedstage 5:46 pm

Last night, PJ and I watched Role/Play from Netflix. This 2010 movie written and directed by Rob Williams stars Matthew Montgomery and Steve Callahan as divorcing gay marriage activist named Trey and a recently outed soap star named Graham who’s been caught in a sex tape scandal. These men happen to meet at a gay bed and breakfast in Palm Springs. Here’s the trailer:

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie for a few reasons. First, I have an irrational love for all things Matthew Montgomery. He’s a good actor, so I don’t want to reduce his appeal to the mere physical, but it’s also the case that I just think he’s hot and adorable. He’s definitely got charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, to borrow RuPaul’s catchphrase. And hotness. Plus, he seems to make intelligent choices in his films, by which I mean that you know that, if he’s in it, it’s going to be an interesting film even if it’s not always absolutely great.

I’ve also tended to like Williams’s movies, which include Long-Term Relationship, 3-Day Weekend, and Make the Yuletide Gay.

And finally, the plot sounded interesting: these two wounded men meet, get it on, fall in love, decide what to do next.

Overall, Role/Play is an interesting film that’s trying to do exactly what I keep saying I want a gay independent movie to do: just tell a human story without the angst of coming out or the narrative pyrotechnics of a random drug abuse or murder plot. The problem is that the script just doesn’t get as incisive or as interesting as Williams hopes it is. Consequently, I liked the idea of the movie more than I liked the movie.

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Star Wars: Death Star Sunday, Mar 27 2011 

books thisgaudygildedstage 7:00 pm

I’ve been sick the past couple of days and, apart from a day trip over to Dayton to watch a women’s regional semi-final game between UT and OSU, I’ve pretty much just wanted to stay in bed. Fortunately, while PJ and I were in Columbus earlier this week I picked up a copy of Star Wars: Death Star, which I’ve been wanting to read since it first came out in 2007.

So far, I’ve refrained from writing much about my eternal love of all things Star Wars. I’ve mentioned it every now and then, but I really come out fully, so to speak, until now.

Besides reading Jane Austen rewrites, Star Wars novels are my favorite kind of books to curl up with. I’ll admit that there are some that I don’t enjoy–I’m not indiscriminate in my love of Star Wars. I haven’t been able to get into the bounty hunter ones or the “next generation” ones. I liked the Thrawn series and some of the ones that take place between the newer movies. But my favorites are the ones featuring Darth Vader or Darth Bane. Ever since I was a kid, I loved Darth Vader, and I enjoy the Star Wars novels the most when they let him be evil, which is also why I love the Darth Bane novels. Evil is interesting; Luke Skywalker is bland (except for when he dallies with the dark side, of course).

Star Wars: Death Star takes place just before and during the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. In essence, it tells the other side of the story: what Tarkin and Vader are doing in between their scenes in the movie. But it also introduces several new characters as well as gives us more insight into some of the movie’s supporting Imperial roles.

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HotM: Daniel Mendoza Monday, Mar 21 2011 

seventeenth- and eighteenth-century 'hotties' thisgaudygildedstage 3:35 pm

In an effort to get back to my book project, I’ve been reading about the eighteenth-century Jewish boxer Daniel Mendoza (1764-1836), pictured here.

I’m interested in representations of Jewish masculinity in English literature from around 1680 to about 1820. Mendoza seems like a natural fit for such a project.

Currently I’m reading his memoirs, which were published in 1816. I’m about halfway through them. What stands out so far is the interesting mix of his sense of honor combined with his willingness to thrash anyone who he deems worthy. On the one hand, he’s very gentlemanly in his description of his life and the reasons for his fighting. On the other hand, he clearly seems to relish “trashing” his foes.

Sometimes these early fights are the result of prejudice, people calling him names or demeaning him or someone he knows for being Jewish. But often they seem the result of a general lack of civility in English culture at this time, which stands in marked contrast to my general sense of the period’s politeness and sensibility. It makes me want to go back and reread Anna Bryson’s book, From Courtesy to Civility: Changing Codes of Conduct in Early Modern England, which was published by Oxford in 1998.

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Getting Back to My Roots Monday, Mar 21 2011 

blogging thisgaudygildedstage 2:54 pm

Today I started a second blog, one dedicated to my job. Creating it made me think about I wanted to start it, which made me think about why I have this blog. I originally started this blog when I was on sabbatical. It was going to chronicle my progress towards finishing the second book project as well as record my responses to various scholarly and pedagogical works I was reading.

After teaching Tristram Shandy a couple of times, I decided to evolve this blog to include a larger picture of my thoughts and opinions. Now that I’m an administrator, it’s mostly become a record of my tastes in music and movies.

I don’t have a problem with that, but I would like to get back to my roots. I started off blogging about the eighteenth century, my scholarship, and my teaching. I want to do more of that again. I’m not going to stop writing about movies and music — I still have a lot to say on those subjects — but I also want to be more academic.

So, let’s get to it ….

 

SotW: S&M by Rihanna Monday, Mar 7 2011 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 9:58 pm

I’ve not been a big Rihanna fan apart from “Umbrella” — I tried to resist it, but it was too powerful for me — but I keep hearing her newest single, “S&M,” and again I find myself unable to resist.

It’s a fun song and video, sexy but in a funny way. And the lyrics are catchy. I love it!

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Bear City: A Review Sunday, Mar 6 2011 

movies and queer culture thisgaudygildedstage 2:52 pm

Last night, PJ and I watched Bear City from Netflix. The movie follows Tyler, played by Joe Conti, as he searches for true love among the hairy, meaty, butch men of New York City’s bear scene. Along the way he makes new friends in the community and quickly learns that bears and men in relationships with bears have their own issues to deal with.

Here’s the trailer:

Perhaps I should start by admitting that I’ve never been into the bear scene. I don’t find big, hairy men particularly sexy — but then again I don’t tend to find any group, as a group, particularly sexy (except maybe male models!). Because of my lack of interest, I wasn’t entirely sure that I was going to enjoy this movie.

However, I quickly saw that my own preferences were not going to be a hindrance to thoroughly enjoying this movie. Bear City is a delightful romantic comedy that kept me laughing and entertained. The writing is funny, the actors are engaging, and the plot is a Sex and the City-ish look at this group of friends. I definitely recommend it.

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Favorite Movies of 2010 Sunday, Feb 27 2011 

movies thisgaudygildedstage 12:41 pm

In honor of tonight’s Oscars, I thought I would finally compile my annual list of favorite movies. Living in a small college town means that many of the smaller films take a long time to get here or never come here at all.

Consequently, I can’t make my films list until well into the new year. This year I’ve been putting off making the list until I saw a few last films, one of which still hasn’t come to Athens, so I’ll just have to add it later if I want to. So, here’s my list of favorite movies from 2010 that I’ve seen to date. As in past years, I’ll include the trailer and a link to my original post about the movie.

Number one on my list is Blue Valentine, which was one of the movies I was waiting to see.

Often, anticipating a movie is just setting yourself up for disappointment. But not in this case. Blue Valentine is exquisite. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are amazing, and everything about this heartbreaking movie is perfectly designed to maximize its quiet despair. I reviewed it here.

Number two on my list is The King’s Speech.

I know a lot of the movie blogs I read are against this movie sweeping the Oscars tonight, but I think it will deserve any award it gets. Just as I love the heartbreak of Blue Valentine, I love the optimism and sentimentality of The King’s Speech. Colin Firth should finally get an Oscar tonight. I would also love it if Helena Bonham Carter won Supporting Actress. I wrote about it here.

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A Prophet: A Review Sunday, Feb 20 2011 

movies thisgaudygildedstage 7:59 pm

Early in Jacques Audiard‘s Un Prophete, 19-year old Malik El Djebena, played by Tahar Rahim, newly incarcerated on a six-year sentence for assaulting a police officer, is talking with another inmate, Reyeb. Malik is illiterate and without assistance from outside the prison; he also has no protection from the other inmates. When Reyeb realizes that Malik can’t read, he tells him to use his time in prison wisely. As he tells Malik, come out of prison better than when you went in.

Reyeb simply means that Malik should learn to read, but these words have a much greater impact on Malik than Reyeb could ever imagine. Against his will, Malik has been sent by the Corsican mafia running the prison to Reyeb to kill him. His choice is to do this job or be killed himself. With nowhere else to turn, Malik ultimately chooses survival and kills Reyeb in a bloody struggle. This “success” sets him on a path towards his goal of coming out of prison better than he went in.

Here’s the trailer:

Of the three crime movies I’ve seen this year, including The Town and Animal Kingdom, A Prophet is by the far the best. Suspenseful, action-packed, and even kind of magical, A Prophet is an excellent movie.

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SotW: This Time by Cassidy Haley Saturday, Feb 19 2011 

music and queer culture and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 10:47 am

I  saw the video for Cassidy Haley‘s new single, “This Time,” on Towleroad and love it:

Haley’s video obviously uses Fight Club as a metaphor for a romantic relationship. While this is a rather pessimistic view of romance, the concept is interesting and well done. It captures much of the spirit of the movie but also gives it its own twist.

As usual, I immediately noticed how hot both of the guys — including Haley — are: I can be just as shallow as the next gay man. But I’m also impressed by the visual contrast between the guys’ hotness and the blood and violence of the fight club imagery. This contrast creates an interesting comment about relationships, gay or straight, I think. On the one hand, romance can be beautiful and sexually hot; on the other hand, relationships can be destructive and hurtful to the participants. Something that starts so beautifully can end up being tragically wrong. By the end, the video seems to ask why we do this to each other. Why do we hurt each other so much when we should love one another instead. At least that’s how I read the sadness of Haley’s face in the final part of the video.

Of course the video is also a commentary on the queerness of Fight Club. Weren’t we all expecting Ed Norton and Brad Pitt to make out during it?! This video is what should have happened!

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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!”

 

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