July 2012
89 posts
7 tags
Unchartered territory
I didn’t really enjoy reading David Mitchell’s lauded Cloud Atlas, and I absolutely hated The Matrix movies too, so I’m not particularly excited about the upcoming movie of Cloud Atlas, co-directed by the co-director of The Matrix movies.
Something that I do find quite interesting though is that said co-director is Lana Wachowski, who was known as Larry Wachowski during...
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Querelle Art
OMG! That’s Warhol visiting the set of Querelle in 1982, standing right next to my shirtless boyfriend Brad Davis and assorted other cast members. Below, the director - who died of a cocaine-induced heart attack several months before the film’s release - joins Brad and Andy.
This seems as good a time as any to retrospect on the honey-bronze art of Fassbinder’s imperfect...
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Surfin' AUS
NEWCASTLE
Australia, 2008 Director: Dan Castle Stars: Lachlan Buchanan, Xavier Samuel, Reshad Strik
The final installment of the (accidental) gay surfer trilogy that started with in 2006 the execrable Tan Lines and continued with 2007’s sweet Shelter, Newcastle bobs aimlessly between sets of dreamily but not really competently rendered surf montage sequences and loosely scripted, wandering...
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One Sheet: Salo (1975)
Pasolini’s shitful flick from 1975 was banned for a generation in Australia. It’s a movie I enjoy more in the abstract than in the actual, and so these various posters for Salo conveniently lift the best of the film’s sexy weirdnesses and leave the rather unenjoyable film behind.
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A moment with Elizabeth Taylor #5
Catherine Holly awaits her injection of sodium pentothal so she can speak the unspeakable in the final scene of Suddenly, Last Summer.
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Music Theatre: Queen "These Are The Days Of Our...
These Are The Days Of Our Lives was Queen’s last single and music video. The eighth track from their album Innuendo it was released on Freddie Mercury’s 45th birthday (September 5, 1991 - a High Holy Day you should have marked in your diary); Mercury died less than three months later (on November 24). A lovely song, similar to Queen’s 1975 Love Of My Life, it won the 1992...
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Hotty of the Day: Joey Stefano
Dead and buried nearly twenty years before the dreaded Dawson and his dreary contemporaries dragged themselves onto the stage thinking they’d reinvented the wheel was the legendary, and legendarily beautiful Joey Stefano.
The Marlon Brando of gay porn, Joey (born Nicholas Anthony Iacona, Jr. in Philadelphia on the first day of 1968) could have easily had a successful career as a...
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Frightening
WAKE IN FRIGHT
Australia, 1971 Director: Ted Kotcheff Stars: Donald Pleasence, Chips Rafferty, Gary Bond, Jack Thompson
Download the original novel for kindle here
Convicts were sent to Australia for the term of their natural life and there was real truth in sentencing in those days. The journey to the ‘land beyond the seas’ took eight months and if they survived that, they could help...
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Trailer Park: Victim (1961)
“What crime links an aging hairdresser and a famous star of the theatre?” Hmm, I wonder.
Review of Victim.
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Mysteriously acclaimed
MYSTERIOUS SKIN
USA, 2005 Director: Gregg Araki Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Elisabeth Shue
Neil (Chase Ellison, later Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a precocious 8 year old who has a crush on his baseball coach (Bill Sage). Coincidentally, Coach is into young boys, and conveniently for them both, Neil’s single mother (Elisabeth Shue) is happy to let them hang out in private together...
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Happy Birthday Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger is 65 today (July 30). What better way to celebrate than to revisit the classic chariot chase scene from his first fiction film, Hercules in New York?
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Quentin Crisp - "The Art of Celibacy"
The incomparable Quentin Crisp (1908-1999) shared a birthday with Jesus and was played by John Hurt in 1975’s The Naked Civil Servant, adapted from Crisp’s memoir of the same name.
Here, in an article that originally appeared at Nerve in 1997, Mr. Crisp reflects on celibacy.
The Art of Celibacy - Quentin Crisp
Celibacy is a word most often used in connection with the priesthood. Mr. Webster,...
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Miss Davis Says #5:
Like the Pyramids of Giza or the temples at Angkor, Bette Davis’ maximum magnificence really kicked in once she became a crumbling ruin.
In 1987 Geraldine Page, the previous year’s Best Actress, was too sick with kidney disease to attend the ceremony (she passed away three months later) and so Miss Davis presented that year’s Best Actor Oscar.
A loving montage of her...
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The Immortals
THE BOYS IN THE BAND
USA, 1970 Director: William Friedkin Stars: Kenneth Nelson, Peter White, Leonard Frey
Review by Gary Morris
If William Friedkin’s grim gay thriller Cruising (1980) continues to send some queens, leather and otherwise, into seizures, The Boys in the Band (1970), by the same director, has taken on the aura of a sacred text of modern queerdom. And rightly so. This scathing...
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Quotables: Brad Davis
The German translates as:
“To be Querelle, was an adventure I needed.”
All things Brad Davis
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Grand Openings
Brad Davis (pictured above in a still from Chariots of Fire) doesn’t appear in the celebrated opening scene of the film, which is set around the 1924 London Olympics.
The opening scene lands at magnificent rather than transcendent, since the close-ups on the actors can trigger the odd cringe, subtracting just slightly from the majestic force of the sublime music by Vangelis (who duly won...
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Music Theatre: Bruce Springsteen "Streets of...
I never knew Bruce Springsteen made a commercial video for Streets of Philadelphia, the haunting song that played under the opening titles of Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia, winning Springsteen an Oscar for Best Original Song.
But, here it is:
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The nightime bluesky imagery is lovely, but Springsteen’s physical presence is incongruous, as are the various clips from the...
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Olympic Spirit: Breaking the Surface, The Greg...
Actual footage of Greg Louganis’ era-decorating moment at the1988 Seoul Olympics interrupts the handsome Mario Lopez’s method acting in the somewhat touching/laugh-out-loud hilarious 1997 telemovie Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story.
Note how the audience gasps are the cum shot for the head hit incident, played twice just to drive the point home that this movie...
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Gold, Gold, Gold!
London 2012 kicks off in less than 24 hours. There’s hundreds of events - sporting and cultural - and TV coverage will run around the clock.
Where to start?
Right here of course, with the only form guide you need:
Ben Provisor, wrestling, USA.
Alexandre Despatie, diving, Canada.
Jacob Dalton, gymnastics, USA
Jonathan Horton, gymnastics, USA
Riza Kayaalp, wrestling, Turkey
...
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Happy Birthday Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby, senior film critic at The New York Times from 1969 to 1993, was born on this day (July 27) in 1924 (d. 2000).
On being a film critic, Canby said: “The basic difference between the critic and the member of the public who attends movies on a more or less casual basis, is that after a certain length of time spent watching movies, the critic can no longer be entertained by...
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They didn't make it for you!
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
USA, 1975 Director: Jim Sharman Stars: Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick
Tim Curry often reflects on his role as Frank-n-Furter in Rocky Horror rather witheringly, saying it was little more than “a lot of fun” that “gave him a start” on his Hollywood career. It’s false modesty at best, anyway, since Curry’s amazingly charismatic Frank-n-Furter is...
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Music Theatre: Paul Lekakis "Boom Boom Boom Let's...
Paul Lekakis Boom Boom Boom Let’s Go Back To My Room (1987) was a little ahead of my time and I never really knew exactly what he was singing about, though I did love the spoken refrain “hey babe, how about comin’ back to my room for a little ‘boom boom’” which I more or less understood.
I definitely got where he was coming from just a couple of years ago,...
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Ink Storm
Here’s a personally-autographed b/w of a young Brad Davis. I’ll start the bidding at four billion dollars.
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Quentin Crisp reviews Tootsie (1982)
The incomparable Quentin Crisp (1908-1999) shared a birthday with Jesus and was played by John Hurt in 1975’s The Naked Civil Servant, adapted from Crisp’s memoir of the same name.
The Queen of interwar Old Compton Street, he starred with Helen Mirren, among others, on the London stage before moving to the United States where his dinner parties became legendary. He played Queen Elizabeth I...
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Interview With Jeff @ STR8CAM (!)
I was over the moon when Jeff from STR8Cam dropped in for an interview for a porn blog I used to run a few years back. I nearly passed out when he followed through with a set of EXCLUSIVE PICS he provided to go with the interview. Apparently, Jeff wrapped this interview then did a quick jack off show on his staircase just for me, and they’re the pics you’re looking at here! What a...
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I wonder what Madonna thinks of the Colorado...
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Happy Days
GAY SEX IN THE 70S
USA, 2005 Director: Joseph F. Lovett Stars: Lawrence Mass, Tom Bianchi, Rodger McFarlane, Barton Benes, Bob Avarez Available on DVD - order here
Gay Sex In The 70’s is a bountiful collection of information and anecdotes, replete with tales of men falling off the cruising piers of Manhattan and landing in the Hudson River and an appearance from one of the original...
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Who?
Maybe I have a bit of a one-track mind, but The Cars’ Drive always sounds to me like a song written (presciently) for HIV-negative barebackers. Listen:
Lyrics:
[[MORE]]Who’s gonna tell you when it’s too late? Who’s gonna tell you things aren’t so great? You can’t go on thinking nothing’s wrong. Who’s gonna drive you home tonight? ...
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Artistic Differences: Stills from Un Chant d'Amour...
Everybody keeps waiting for the great gay film masterpiece, which is odd since Jean Genet made that film in 1950.
Explore these smoky stills (a dozen after the jump), read Mark Simpson’s review of Un Chant d’Amour and find a very special treat at the end of this post.
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And now, the feature presentation:
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Valley of the Dolls
PAPER DOLLS (BUBOT NIYAR) Israel, 2006 Director: Tomer Heymann Stars: Sally Comatoy, Chiqui Diokno, Giorgio Diokno, Troan Jacob Libas, Efrenito Manalili, Jose Neil T Datinguinoo, Francisco P Ortiz Jr
The Paper Dolls of the title are a group of pre-op Filipino transexuals who moved to Israel in search of opportunity. However, the Promised Land is not as promising as they may have hoped, and...
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Music Theatre: Boy George "Video Games" (2012)
Boy George’s cover of Lana Del Rey’s Video Games is lovely, though he doesn’t appear in the beautiful video, directed by Mike Nicholls and starring Cesar Polini and Angel Rose:
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The Dark Knight Sings
Christian Bale’s performance as Jim in Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987) remains his best. In this memorable scene, he mimes the Welsh lullaby ”Suo Gân” (sung by James Rainbird) while saluting departing kamikaze pilots from behind the barbed wire of an internment camp.
Oh, and then he grew into this:
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Hotty of the day: Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg needs his cock sucked continuously. Even the lady wielding that noxious spray tan gun shouldn’t get in your way. A dozen more pix after the jump, then five more from the set of Mark’s new movie Pain and Gain.
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Book Of The Day: And The Band Played On
Elton John’s peculiar new book Love Is The Cure: On Life, Loss and the End of AIDS spends most of its time rhapsodising nostalgically about Ryan White. What few pages that aren’t devoted to that are peppered with fossilised pleas for brotherly love and self-congratulatory reflections on star-studded fundraising galas. Christian goodwill and shitloads of cash won’t...
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Computer Love
Still the sweetest and sexiest thing on YouTube.
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Don't rain on his parade
MADAME SATA Brazil, 2003 Director: Karim Ainouz Stars: Lazaro Ramos, Marcelia Cartaxo, Flavio Bauraqui
This Brazillian film is gorgeous to look at. From the opening titles on, reds and golds dominate, and there’s plenty of smoky 1930’s nightclubs, sailors, drugs and colored beads thrown in to keep the whole thing popping along. What’s missing from Madame Sata is a more structured narrative,...
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Czech Mate
MANDRAGORA Czech Republic , 1997 Director: Wiktor Grodecki Stars: Mirek Caslavka, Davic Svec, Miroslav Breu, Jiri Kodes, Karel Polisensky
Mandragora - or Mandrake - is a noxious plant named from two Greek words meaning “harmful to cattle”. Reportedly hallucinogenic and used in the distant past as an anaesthetic before operations, it was fabled to grow under the gallows of hung...
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Blame Canada
Take a nineteen-minute voyage into gay ghetto hell with this “documentary” that follows some Canadian dipshit’s promo tour of Australia.
Sample dialogue: ”If i wanna finger my ass I’m gonna do it myself.”
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A moment with Elizabeth Taylor #4
Elizabeth Taylor demonstrates the correct way to make up your eyes in this scene from 1974’s The Driver’s Seat.
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Book Of The Day: Kiss of the Spider Woman
Manuel Puig died on this day (July 22) in 1990, following complications from a gall bladder operation. His novel, Kiss of the Spider Woman, remains his best-known work, acclaimed long before it was made into the magnificent movie of the same name.
Puig was present throughout the movie shoot, dropping one bon mot after next including “La Hurt is so bad she will probably win an...
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Music Theatre: Judy Garland "Over The Rainbow"...
Barbra Streisand, who is not to be argued with, has said that “Over The Rainbow’ is “one of the finest songs ever written”. Appropriately then, the song belongs to one of the finest singers, Judy Garland, who of course sung it in The Wizard of Oz aged sixteen:
Harold Arlen (music) and E.Y. Harburg (lyrics) created a magnificent and timeless song, and though Judy owns...
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Movie Of The Day: Spokes (1983)
With all the hoopla about the overrated Dawson’s 20 Load Weekend, I thought it was time to revisist a real gay porn classic, back in the day when sex without condoms wasn’t such a self-conscious affair.
Spokes is the piece de resistance of early 1980s Falcon porn. Read my review here, then browse for DVD copies or stream scenes here.
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Miss Davis Says (#4):
“Gay Liberation? I ain’t against it, it’s just that there’s nothing in it for me.”
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The flying game
BREAKFAST ON PLUTO
Ireland/UK, 2005 Director: Neil Jordan Stars: Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea
Available on DVD - browse here
Review by David Edelstein
You’ll be singing along to the soundtrack of Neil Jordan’s enchanting Breakfast on Pluto, which boasts the most felicitous use of wall-to-wall pop songs I’ve ever heard. T. Rex’s “Children of the...
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A lukely story
LUKAS’ STORY USA, 1994 Director: George Duroy Stars: Lukas Ridgeston, Willie Ridgeston, Martin Valko, Johan Paulik, Filip Smirnof Available on DVD - order here
Though this wasn’t Lukas Ridgeston’s first film (he first appeared in the bizarre Boytropolis, where a tribe of Olympian youths fuck each other continuously and stay young forever by drinking from a fountain of youth; he also...
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Music Theatre: George Michael "White Light" (2012)
I don’t mind George Michael’s new song White Light. Perfect Summer song (even though it’s Winter here in Australia), the kind of track you’d hear drifting out of a bar in Mykonos, as you worry about how overpriced your accommodations are.
It’s no Father Figure, but kudos to aging gracefully, happy to surround himself with younger clubbers without having to look...
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Erik Rhodes, behind-the-scenes
Here, Bruce LaBruce reflects on his experiences working with the late Erik Rhodes on the set of L.A. Zombie, and generously shares some private behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot.
Bruce LaBruce: I was truly saddened to hear about the death of Erik Rhodes, whom I had the opportunity to work with on my movie L.A. Zombie in 2010. I wanted to cast some of the biggest names in the porn world to...
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Psychotic Episode
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Aiden Shaw revisited
These arresting new images of Aiden Shaw show the multi-talent looking almost majestic as he enters the business end of his middle age.
Photos by Philipp Mueller for Schon.
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Interview with Aiden Shaw
In the 80s, after meeting Leigh Bowery at Kinky Gerlinky while dressed as Minnie Mouse, Aiden Shaw went to LA, hooked up with Chi Chi LaRue, and became a gay porn superstar. Since, he’s posed for Pierre et Gilles, published two books of poetry and three novels. His book My Undoing talks of his recent life experiences, including being HIV-positive and falling into a coma after a 1998 car accident...
