SotW: Changing Your Mind by Bob Schneider Wednesday, Oct 20 2010 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 11:02 am

This week’s song of the week is Bob Schneider’s “Changing Your Mind,” which was featured in the movie Harmony and Me. Here’s a live version I found on YouTube:

This song is great in the movie, but it’s also just a great song. I didn’t know anything about Schneider’s music before now, but I definitely want to check more of it out. What I’ve learned so far is that he’s an Austin-based musician, which speaks well of him in my book. Also, his newest album includes a version of this song with Patty Griffin, also a plus.

I think the sense of sad resignation in “Changing Your Mind” is what appeals to me most. There are times in life when someone in your life makes a decision that drastically affects or perhaps even ends your relationship and there’s nothing you can do about it. This song captures that moment really well, I think.

But it’s also kind of upbeat. The last verse recalls what appealed to you about that person in the first place. And even if the person is gone, at least you have the memories of what was. In other words, to quote a song from Tina Turner, something beautiful remains.

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Harmony and Me: A Review Monday, Oct 18 2010 

movies thisgaudygildedstage 10:16 am

On Friday, PJ and I watched Harmony and Me on Netflix for Wii. This was my first time watching a movie through Wii, and I thought it worked really well. Soon, there will no longer be a need for DVDs!

Harmony and Me stars Justin Rice as Harmony, a barely employed musician whose girlfriend has recently broken up with him. This relatively short film — it’s just a little over an hour long, follows Harmony as he tries to recover from this heartbreak. As Harmony keeps telling everyone, she’s still breaking his heart, since she hasn’t finished the job yet.

Here’s the trailer:

I love mumblecore as a genre, and we initially started watching this movie in part because we thought it was a mumblecore movie, but it really isn’t. While the film clearly borrows from the techniques of mumblecore — the documentary realness of the cinematography, the dialogue, and the plot — it is more heavily plotted than the primary examples of that genre.

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RIP Marlowe (2002-2010) Saturday, Oct 16 2010 

cats thisgaudygildedstage 3:18 pm

This morning, PJ and I decided it was time to take our little buddy, Marlowe, to the vet for his final visit.

He had been diagnosed with fibrosarcoma, a very aggressive form of cancer, back in February. The cancer was growing in his right jaw and cheek. He underwent surgery in late February to remove as much of the tumor as possible. But we knew then that the chances of getting it all were slight. While the vet had done her best, the cancer returned, and the past eight months have largely been waiting for this day to come.

I can’t say enough about how much we loved him. He was a very special and loving companion for us and our other cat Paisley. He was always PJ’s cat, enjoying time almost every morning sitting in PJ’s lap while he sat at his desk. As PJ noted today, no one (or nothing else) will ever look at him with such complete adoration as Marlowe looked at him. And while Marlowe never looked at me that way, I’m glad that over these last few weeks he had begun to sit on my lap for up to a half hour at a time. I am grateful to have had this time with him.

Marlowe first entered our lives in November 2002 when he suddenly appeared in the back yard of some friends of ours. He was apparently dumped or got separated from his mother, and he decided that our friends should adopt him. They were unable to do so, so they started looking for a home for him. Due to a couple of factors, we weren’t able to take him until January. No one else adopted him in the intervening time, so he joined our family shortly after the New Year. PJ and I are incredibly grateful that he did.

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SotW: I Want to Hold Your Hand by Glee Monday, Oct 11 2010 

music and queer culture and song of the week and television and What I'm Watching thisgaudygildedstage 6:33 pm

Since today is National Coming Out Day, I especially wanted to blog about last week’s episode of Glee, which is one of my favorite shows. Chris Colfer was particularly wonderful in this episode, in which Kurt’s father has a heart attack and is left in a coma. While his father is in the hospital, Kurt sings The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in Glee Club:

This song is very affecting in this episode, but what I like most about it is its potential as a queer song. This song is all about longing and wanting to love another person in this really simple way: to hold their hand.

Ultimately, I think that’s what all gay rights issues are really about: we want to hold the hand of our beloved openly and fearlessly, to be able to acknowledge who we are and who we love and share our lives with. This song sums that up for me, especially with a gay actor singing it.

Colfer’s version of the song is so simply beautiful. After hearing it for the first time, I told PJ that someday, when we’re allowed to marry legally and have a ceremony, I want this version of the song to be sung at our wedding. I think it would be beautiful.

So, I’ve downloaded it from iTunes, and I’m dreaming of the day when I’ll get married to the man I love. I can’t wait.

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SotW: Ice Cream Truck by Cazwell Thursday, Sep 30 2010 

music and queer culture and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 6:41 pm

Cazwell’s “Ice Cream Truck” has been on YouTube for a couple of months now. It was definitely the queer song of the summer!

In general, I enjoy Cazwell’s provocatively queer sexual imagery. This video is less lyrically sexually explicit and a little more explicit in its imagery than some of his past videos/singles. But I think it’s catchy and fun! It’s also definitely easy on the eyes.

I also love this remix–makes me want to dance!

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Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion: A Review Sunday, Sep 26 2010 

books thisgaudygildedstage 7:27 pm

This past summer I read Regina Jeffers’s Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion, a retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion from Wentworth’s perspective. Originally published as Wayward Love: Captain Frederick Wentworth’s Story in 2009, this novel is a welcome addition to the ever-increasing number of Jane Austen rewrites, continuations, and adaptations.

I’ve written before about how much I like Jeffers’s previous novels, Vampire Darcy’s Desire and Darcy’s Passions. Since Persuasion is my favorite of Austen’s novels, I was eager to see what Jeffers would do with it. She does not disappoint.

Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion begins shortly after Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot’s marriage. Napoleon has escaped from Elba, and Wentworth has been called back into service to captain a ship. Anne is with him on board when her husband is wounded during an attack on a French frigate. As she nurses him back to health, he recalls their original courtship and then their reunion eight years later. Through his flashbacks, we see the events of Austen’s novel from his point of view.

Two things immediately appeal to me about this narrative method. First, I like that Jeffers constantly moves back and forth between the past and the present. This back and forth tends to build suspense as we aren’t sure of the outcome of Wentworth’s wound. And even if we assume that Jeffers isn’t going to kill off our hero, we still don’t know where this plot will take us. I like that a lot — it makes for a much more interesting read than a straight up rewrite of Austen’s tale. Jeffers then takes the story a step further by moving beyond the war, letting us know what happens to Anne and Frederick afterward.

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The Town: A Review Saturday, Sep 25 2010 

movies thisgaudygildedstage 5:57 pm

Yesterday, PJ and I went to see Ben Affleck‘s new movie, The Town, which is based on a novel, Prince of Thieves, by Chuck Hogan. Affleck directed, co-wrote, and stars in the movie, about four friends from Charlestown, Massachusetts, who rob a bank in Cambridge. When Affleck’s character decides to check up on the hostage they brief took during the robbery, he finds himself slowly becoming involved with her, which causes complications when he and his pals decide to pull one more heist. Here’s the trailer:

I really enjoyed The Town. It’s interesting that some of the movie blogs I read seem to judge every movie by its Oscar potential as if all movies are trying to win Best Picture and several acting awards. One of the things I like about The Town is that it doesn’t feel like Affleck is trying to get a Best Picture or Best Actor or Best Director nod. It feels like he’s just trying to make a good, entertaining movie. And he succeeds admirably.

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SotW: More Than This by Shane Mack Sunday, Sep 19 2010 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 9:36 pm

Recently, I saw that TLA Video was having a sale on gay-themed movies, so I decided to take the opportunity to purchase two of my recent favorite gay independent films: Shelter and Socket. I watched Shelter this past Thursday and confirmed how much I like it. I also fell in love with a song on the soundtrack, Shane Mack‘s “More Than This.” Here’s a clip from the movie featuring the song:

I subsequently purchased all four of Mack’s songs on the soundtrack. Each of the songs is great, but this one seems to be sticking with me the most. I didn’t (and still don’t) know much about Mack. He’s apparently working in Nashville and Los Angeles at the moment.

I think what appeals most to be about this song is the refrain:

If this is all, if this is all we ever were
At least I loved enough to hurt
Enough to hurt

Something about that sentiment appeals to me. It’s kind of a nice way of thinking about emotional pain, I suppose — if it hurts then it must have meant something. I like it as a way of recovering the time you spent in pain — it wasn’t a total waste. Maybe you learned something by going through the hurt, but it also means that you loved enough for it to have mattered to you. I like that idea.

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Pornography: A Review Sunday, Sep 12 2010 

movies and queer culture thisgaudygildedstage 11:34 am

Last night PJ and I watched David Kittredge‘s Pornography, a 2009 thriller in the vein of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Here’s the trailer:

Pornography revolves around a 1990s gay porn star, Mark Anton, played by Jared Grey, who mysteriously disappeared a few years after his big debut. Since his disappearance, rumors have circulated that his disappearance was due to his death in a snuff film.

The movie is in three acts. Act one depicts Anton’s disappearance in 1995. Act two jumps fourteen years to follow a journalist, Michael Castigan, played by Matthew Montgomery, who is writing a history of pornography. Castigan becomes obsessed with Anton’s story and begins to investigate what happened. The third act also takes place in 2009 and focuses on another porn star, Matt Stevens, played by Pete Scherer, who dreams the details of Anton’s story and decides to make it the plot of his directorial debut. Acts two and three become increasingly suspenseful as Castigan and Stevens become increasingly unnerved by bizarre coincidences and visions that threaten their holds on reality.

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SotW: Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons Wednesday, Sep 1 2010 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 7:11 am

My favorite song of the summer has been Mumford & Sons‘ “Little Lion Man.” It’s played frequently on Alt Nation in XM radio, and it’s become my favorite sing along!

Mumford & Sons is a London-based band that formed a few years ago. They’re associated with another of my favorites, Laura Marling. Their album, Sign No More, was released in February. I downloaded it from iTunes based on this track but haven’t had time to listen to it yet.

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