Quill & Claw/Pen & Paw

Okay, there was this one time, ages ago, when my best friend (straight) and I were watching the Oscars in his apartment in Omaha, NE. The show goes and he squints at the red carpet preshow I was forcing him to watch. The day before he had been bitching about how he didn't care for Joan Rivers and how he found the whole thing to be quite fake and gregarious. And as he watched now, he leaned back and said something that I still laught about today. "She looks like crap in the dress." Here he was, straight as an arrow--and all his education and straightness--and he knew what looked good and what doesn't. And we think gays are shallow? Seems to be universal. But our obsession with beautiful manifests itself in slick commercials, ongoing programs of self-improvment and reality shows of the pressures of said art. Now there's a movie too. The Devil Wears Prada is a formula movie. I noticed novelty is far and few between this year. Must be because last year was so full of...

I used to hate when they lumped my issues with that of bisexuals and transgendered individuals. I really did. I was younger and could not understand how my travials were equal to theirs. Surely, discrimination is fairly universal, especially with the current government, but me--who loved men with men--could not possibly understand what it was like to feel like a woman on the inside and want to be different. As time passed and my wisdom grew, I realized that, they too, have only a handful of films to show the world their situation in a manner that is uplifting and approachable. Gay movies, when made into the mainstream, ended with violence and saddness--and films about transgendered individuals were even smaller in number--I mean, Silence of the Lambs ? Not a good example of transgendered experiences. This is the first film, as a matter of fact,that opened my eyes to several points that I have to mention. An art film of sorts, the movie stars Felicity Huffman from Desparate Housewives f...

Ever hear of culture shock? I mean, really powerful stuff, the kind where you enter a strange land with even stranger people? Happened to me once, when I went away to college. It started small enough. My friend had sent me a book called, "How to talk Minnesotan." I thought it was a joke. The kinda thing you send to people to create a sense of identity over the holidays or special situations. I read it, but I didn't really understand it. Then I arrived in Moorhead, Minneasota. Culture shock. No one hurried. Nothing was a yes/no answer--everything was a tale. And they laughed at the weirdest things. Every Sunday, my idiot roommate, blonde as the Norweign sunset would be glued to the radio, the radio , listening to Prarie Home Companion. Since he liked it, and I hated him, I refused to like it. Time passed, and with it came wisdom. I discovered that culture can be a very strong thing--and helps with pride. Think of a gay teen, struggling with his own identity, realizing that...

Before I really get into the crux of this review, I have to say something about it's stars. This movie has four major actors in the pivotal roles. Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, Scarlett Johanssen and Marq Helsenberger. I've heard of them, I know that. If you've not, well, I think you might be dead. My question? WHY AREN'T THEY FAMOUS YET? Okay, so Scarlett has done a crapload of blockbusters and noisemakers, but what of those other three? I don't know about you audiences, I really don't. Yes, I blame you all. I can't blame the filmmakers. They are just following the money. And these actors don't bring in the bucks. So why splash their names on a marquee? Because it isn't worth it to them. Here's my example. I watched In Good Company . Now in order to prove my point, I have to elaborate on the plot. It's a comedy/drama, not unlike Terms of Endearment in the approach department. Instead, you have a good man (Quaid) a pitchman for a good magazine...