Decided to hit an estate sale on my recent trip to Chicago, but seeing all the stuff was so depressing. An old woman or man had clearly passed away and all their stuff was going for $10 a bag. These Christmas stockings, hung with care in the basement, told the tale.
Via Towleroad: Must-see TV has Jack McBrayer, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and some nasty food-service divas going head to head to head.
BOY CULTURE RATING: ***1/2 out of ****
I get a lot of tips for Kickstarter projects, but I was especially taken by one for the bullying-themed play The Rock & The Ripe by Mark Blane (pictured with me on set) and wound up contributing significantly so that it might be staged. I happened to be traveling to Chicago to see family when the show was debuting, so my sister and I caught the second show. Sitting amongst some of Blane's extended family and friends from Indiana as well as patrons attracted by the topical theme, I was wondering how the somewhat avant-garde piece was playing for them. But if you're interested in seeing a creative and emotionally charged take on anti-gay bullying, I don't think you can go wrong here—and the show has more dates in Chicago on sale now. (An accompanying book is a good buy, too.)
The show focuses on a disparate group of bullied kids (and one bully) and who are waiting outside the principal's office and their at times heart-wrenching reactions to each other, which seem to ape the actions of their tormentors. Their interplay is at turns juvenile, needy, callous and warm—just like real kids.
The above video is a tear-jerker even considering how saturated the topic if anti-gay bullying is on the Internet, showing it's not something we can let up on. Activist and writer Mark Blane's response—The Rock & The Ripe Project—sounds like a good idea, a combined political response and play, and it's one that could use your patronage. (Kickstarter here. I'm donating now.)
More info after the jump...
Doing some nostalgic surfing and found the account of a guy with some real gems, including Divine's last EVER performance, an amazing walk through Chicago's Bistro Too nightclub (the city's most famous drag queen Memory Lane makes an appearance) from 20 years ago and early Pride clips. Keep reading to see and hear Divine and to take that walk...
Loving this sexy Santa on Chicago's Time Out (December 15—28, 2011). I wonder if he's a ho-ho-ho or is harder to get than that?
I was sad to hear that director Ken Russell has died at 84. I loved his movie Gothic (1986), but have a fonder memory of seeing his (terrible) The Lair of the White Worm (1988). My late mentor/boss Jane Jordan Browne was a conservative who fancied herself a bohemian, in part due to her affection for Russell's out-there movies, so she would gather her staff to see his pictures in the Fine Arts Theatre in Chicago, which was in the same building where we worked.
I can still remember the particular taste of that theater's popcorn!
We watched the movie and giggled through it and did the same with The Rainbow (1989).
I guess these movies made Jane feel hip and gave her a chance to show she was unshockable. I don't remember much of the movies themselves (something about a dragon and Sammi Davis chirping, "Maybe there's a connection!"), but I was glad to have had the chance to see them with Jane and Sandra.
Prove it!
As of midnight last night, it was exactly six years since my first post. It's been a tough thing to keep up with a dayjob and outside activities, and just when I think I might walk away, a valuable connection or interesting opportunity or a kind word comes my way. Thank you all for reading me.
Of whom are you more jealous?
Here are my favorite 100+ posts out of nearly 11,000. Please take some time to read (or re-read!) a couple and tweet or Facebook any you like.
xoxo Matt
The pocket pool championships were intense this year
BOY CULTURE
FROM BOY TO MAN: BC B.C. (2007): The entire history of my novell and novel Boy Culture as well as the movie version; might be my ultimate post.
Jonathon Trent & Derek Magyar make an Allan Brocka sandwich
BOY ON FILM (2006): An account of the NYC launch party for Boy Culture as it played the TriBeCa Film Fest.
I was left "Reeling" by the experience
FRIENDS AND "FAMILY" (2006): The movie version of Boy Culture hits Chicago.
No one would've mistaken me for Taylor Lautner
RAPT PUPIL (2006): The final night of Outfest with Boy Culture; I was fat but on the other hand got to meet Bryan Singer.
MY ART
Construction worker (shot this week) vs. James Dean
GUYDAR (since at least January 17, 2008) & ENDS OF THE WORLD (since at least January 13, 2008): Attractive men of the world—I got your backs. Your fronts, too.
Unaltered iPhone image that still blows me away
"Your pictures suck" (2008): An art critic attacks me, but not without sustaining some hits in return.
DRAWN TOGETHER (2008): How my desire to draw related to my secret desire. One of my absolute favorite posts.
The shirtless one
LOST ANGELES (2009): My favorite photographic travelogue of L.A.
Even then, New Yorkers feared 9/11 was the beginning of the end
ART IMITATES LIFE (2006): My 9/11 and my distaste for grief tourism.
ME
Death of the party—Jeff in high school, already halfway through his life
BURNING MAN (2007): Tribute to my late high school friend and first romance.
Signed, sealed (eventually) delivered
LOST BOY FOUND (2011): There is a book in here somewhere.
Be Italian
CIAO HOUNDS: OUR TRIP TO ITALY (2011): Finally got José to Europe.
ILLINOIS DEATH TRIP (2007): Ruminations on death while revisiting a past home, and the past.
Life is short...and meaningful
PASSING BY (2008): Mourning the loss of a person I only met once.
Lots more...
Boy Culture reader Jeff chimes in with his own take on Chicago's Northlasted Market Days in response to last week's installment:
More after the jump...
From Boy Culture reader Dwight, a bevy of sometimes beary interesting beauties from last weekend' Northalsted Market Days in Chicago:
More after the jump...
