aGLIFF Staff... We're Crushin' On YOU!
Lisa Kasalek one of our many crushes of the week!
I'm writing this before a long evening of movie-ing and party-ing courtesy of aGLIFF. The Gay Place Crush of the Week has to be the organizers, board and volunteers of aGLIFF. Chief among them are hottie-bo-botties David Sweeney (Executive Director), Lisa Kasalek (Program Director), Collin Acock (Development Director), Ajae Clearway (Festival Director), and the entire Board of Directors headed up by Alisa Weldon, as well as the rest of the staff and volunteers.
Almost every film I've seen in this lean, mean festival has been of high quality. It's time gay cinema challenged its viewers to do something else besides gaze like voyeurs (gayze?) through the scrim of flimsy plots and characters. Audiences don't want the hot gay/lesbian skin flick (ok, sometimes we want that), but rather, films and characters that reflect the depth of LGBTQ experiences. This is exactly what aGLIFF gave us this year - HURRAH! Let's hope future years are filled with festivals like this one!
Did we mention the aGLIFF staff are hottie-bo-botties? Oh, we did?
aGLIFF: Drifting Flowers
Diego and Jing go for a bike ride! Woo!
Good Lord, I love a good lesbian audience. While the boys were seeing Before I Forget (Jacques Nolot, 2007), I snuck in with the ladies to see Drifting Flowers (Zero Chou, 2007), and good thing, too! Three inter-generational story lines are built around a core of characters living in Taiwan. From the precocious May to her blind lounge singer mommy and her 'drogy lover Diego, the characters in Drifting Flowers are memorable and sympathetic.
Perhaps the most interesting storyline is that of aged and Alzheimer-stricken Lily and her former "beard" Yen, who she believes to be her long-time lover Ocean. Lily and Yen need one another, even though their relationship is based on a mistaken identity. Strangely, Lily and Yen find a way to honor those sham marriage vows they took long ago.
Yet another tearjerker from aGLIFF.
Girls on Film!
Whether you are catching tonight's Foodies' sponsored aGLIFF film, Drifting Flowers 8pm tonight at the Alamo downtown or not, you still have time to hit Buzio's, the club upstairs from the Copa, 217 Congress. Foodies is throwing the Girls on Film afterparty, promising drinks, a DJ, dancing, and a den to get your flirt on. And it's all free. If you don't know what a Foodie is, email Kitty at: beatsagogo@aol.com.
aGLIFF: Like a Virgin on the Runway in Trinidad
Like a Virgin
If there is one sure thing it's this: aGLIFF this year kicks ass. I've gone to one or two screenings in years past, but I'll be darned if I don't feel like a kid in a candy store this year. There are so many tremendous films – and very few of the typical gay cinema fare – boy/girl coming out of the closet, or even worse, the perfect bodied-gay/lesbian extended sex scenes. Now, don't get me wrong, I like sex scenes, sometimes I wish that the gay and lesbian community didn't feel like there was one appropriate body-type and ethnicity to have sex with (i.e. muscular and white).
Let's start with Thursday's program.
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Heart Feels F***ed Over by GOP
Ann & Nancy Wilson
Whose doesn't after this week? Oh, yeah, not just mine. Not just yours, but Ann & Nancy Wilson's.
See, the GOP is playing their song. The song that made Heart – the Wilson sisters' band from Seattle – superstars, and the song that ironically was launched way back in their 70s heyday by Columbia Records after a lawsuit with their original record company, Mushroom, which used specific images of the sisters in a certain context without their permission.
Well, guess what? Apparently, the GOP never asked the Wilson sister's permission to use "Barracuda" (Little Queen, 1977, Columbia Records) as an image booster for their vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin (whose nickname in high school was apparently Sarah "Barracuda").
The Wilson sisters are pissed. They had originally asked their music not be used. But it was used again, so the sisters and their publishing concerns sent the McCain campaign a cease-and-desist letter. The song was originally written as a "scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women… There's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there," according to Nancy's statement to Entertainment Weekly: "I think it's completely unfair to be so misrepresented. I feel completely fucked over."
aGLIFF: Up With Dead People!
Otto loves Fleurs
Bruce LaBruce
Edge of Heaven (Faith Akin, 2007) was the perfect choice for an opening night film at the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival. It showcased some of the strengths of this year's award-winning program – a strong international representation paired with powerful characters and storylines that aren't in the slightest derivative. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Edge of Heaven won best screenplay, and deservedly so. The film plays out the connections (both real and missed) between an ensemble of Turkish and German citizens: A revolutionary, a university student, a prostitute, a bookstore owner. Each turns to another for comfort, security, love – and sometimes find their needs left unfulfilled.
The "gay connection" was not the focus of the film, which was, quite honestly, refreshing. Instead, the relationship that develops between the young Turkish revolutionary, Ayten (Nurgul Yesilcay) and her university student girlfriend, Lotte (Patrycia Ziolkowska) is but one of many complicated and provocative relationships.
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Katy Perry Is Probably Going to Hell
Hellbound and down...
... for a number of reasons, but kissing a girl isn't one of them.
Hand Jive
WilCo District Court Judge Billy Ray Stubblefield
www.wilco.org
In this week's issue (print edition, News, p.22) Patty Ruland interviews the attorneys of a man accused of making a pass – a gay pass – at a 16-year old, for which he is now being threatened with felony imprisonment.
Attorney Leonard Martinez told the Chronicle he believes that prosecution of the accused is derived from "apparently anti-gay sentiment."
Martinez has placed a motion to "quash the indictment" before Williamson County District Court Judge Billy Ray Stubblefield. If the motion fails, the case goes to court Mon., Sept. 6.
Gay-bee Elephant Walk
The Log Cabin Republicans have set up shop in Minneapolis-St. Paul in hopes of influencing their party on gay issues, especially same-sex marriage. The group's national communications director, Scott Tucker said, "It's important for the Republican Party to be inclusive on this issue, because we are at risk of being on the wrong side of history."
In a curious quest for planks… any planks… a plank…? a toothpick…?, the group has already endorsed the Repub's McCain-Palin ticket before knowing much about how the vice-presidential nominee-to-be stands on these issues.
Seems like they took their cue from McCain on that one.
aGLIFF Kicks Off Tonight!
aGLIFF: Wed.-Sun., Sept. 3-7.
aGLIFF.org
It is time!
The Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival is finally here again! This year, the festival turns 21 (which means they are full-grown and can drink legally), and the programmers and director have put together an incredible program of films (96 films! 18 countries! Oscar-nominated and Cannes Award-winning films!) representing the diversity of LGBTQI filmmaking today. Folks, this is ridiculous, and whether you are LGBTQI or something else altogether these films promise to be amazing. All screenings are at the Alamo Ritz and begin on Wednesday.
Below the jump: my dream schedule.
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Syllabi-Sexual
Welcome back to school, queers! It's going to be a great year (hurricane season not withstanding).
For the queers at Texas State University (my place of employment), just south of Austin in San Marcos there's a Diversity Bar-B-LGBTQue (cute, ain't it?) at Sewell Park on September 10, 5-9 PM. There will be noshing, game-playing (volleyball, horseshoe), and a "slammin' DJ" Don't miss this inclusive event! The Bar-B-LGBTQue is put on by Lambda of Texas State, a student-run organization. You can friend them on Facebook or Myspace.
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Austin Responds to Gustav
The governor's office and Texas Senate candidate Rick Noreiga have each already launched hurricane pages loaded with news and resources. And we are regularly checking NOAA and weather.com for the latest updates.
Locally, the Red Cross, AISD, and the city have opened up the Delco Center and LBJ High School to receive Gustav evacuees in need of shelter. Over 90 folks are already there.
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Standing in a Hurricane
photo by Kim Falgout
UPDATED: 6:58pm
It's a cruel irony to be commemorating the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with preparations for what may be as devastating a storm to the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Gustav. We're watching closely; our own guests, originally slated to visit Central Texas this weekend for fun and frolic, have officially been upgraded to evacuees.
Our friends coming in from Louisiana reported convoys of buses "in the hundreds" headed east as they made their way west across I-10 to Texas on Friday night. By now, contraflow is in effect, and the highways are packed.
We're also experiencing a conflict of emotions over news
of friends and loved ones who have chosen to ride out the storm in New Orleans.
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Hey, We're Part of the Big 4!
Obama's acceptance speech.
Abortion. Guns. Immigration.
And teh Gays.
In his acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver, Barack Obama stuck a preemptive straight pin in the rhetorical chest puffery surrounding four touchy, sucker-punch issues. At least… I guess…
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Cue the Lights; Cue the Music
The request to nominate Barack Obama by a vote of acclamation.
photo by Steve Rivas
As a gay man, I love event planning. Choosing fabrics, colors, table settings, and music. I wonder who lucked out as the contractor for the 2008 DNC? It had to have been someone with a degree in psychology. The video and still backgrounds, color, and music all change based on the theme and speaker. During a speech about the military, the lights turn red and blue. During President Bill Clinton's speech yesterday evening, the lights would go bright during applause then slowly dissolve back to a dim. The music is performed by a live band that sits at stage left. The entire event was planned with incredible detail.
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