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[I'm lazy so doing two posts in one.]
Saw both the film Milk and rewatched Tabula Rasa to cheer self up after Milk.
Speaking of Milk, just read that openly gay African American male writer E. Lynn Harris died of heart disease at the age of 54. In case you have no idea who this guy is - he was a literary pioneer in the mid-90s thanks to a 11 influential novels that opened a dialogue about sexual taboos within the African-American community. One of his novels - Basketball Jones hit the NY Times best-seller list, a rarity. It was a book about an African-American Man struggling with his sexuality. "Years ago, it would have caused me great pain to even write the word "gay" on paper to describe myself," Harris wrote in his memoir What Becomes of the Brokenhearted. "Writing has allowed me to change my self-hatred and doubt into true self-esteem and self-love." Sad to hear he died. Wasn't that impressed by Milk. Overrated movie that meanders all over the place like most of Gus Van Sant's films. I left it feeling like I knew very little about the characters. I did however understand why Dan White shot Milk and the Mayor - it wasn't really about gay rights so much as about power and White's increasing insecurities and the fact that he felt completely suffocated and trapped - he felt that Milk and the Mayor were responsible - because both were in his face. Of course they weren't. And it's not at all surprising to me that White took his own life a couple of years later. Scean Penn was amazing in the role, of course. But James Franco and the other actors, with the possible exception of James Brolin, barely registered. I found myself wandering about doing chores during it. I'm just not a huge fan of bio-pics, I'm afraid. Oh one thing that I found very interesting in the film - Harvey Milk tells one politician who calls him "queer" that this is an insulting term and derogatory, that he prefers "Gay" and fought for "gay". I find this interesting because I've noticed that several people online are using the word "queer".
Then I watched Tabula Rasa, after watching OMWF the day before - from Buffy. These two really need to be watched close together. One is the reveal and one the aftermath. And together they pretty much set up the arcs for each character. They also show how each character is handling real world challenges and struggling with them. I identify with this season a great deal. In some ways more so than any of the other seasons.
( Meta on All the Way, OMWF and Tabula Rasa )
Saw both the film Milk and rewatched Tabula Rasa to cheer self up after Milk.
Speaking of Milk, just read that openly gay African American male writer E. Lynn Harris died of heart disease at the age of 54. In case you have no idea who this guy is - he was a literary pioneer in the mid-90s thanks to a 11 influential novels that opened a dialogue about sexual taboos within the African-American community. One of his novels - Basketball Jones hit the NY Times best-seller list, a rarity. It was a book about an African-American Man struggling with his sexuality. "Years ago, it would have caused me great pain to even write the word "gay" on paper to describe myself," Harris wrote in his memoir What Becomes of the Brokenhearted. "Writing has allowed me to change my self-hatred and doubt into true self-esteem and self-love." Sad to hear he died. Wasn't that impressed by Milk. Overrated movie that meanders all over the place like most of Gus Van Sant's films. I left it feeling like I knew very little about the characters. I did however understand why Dan White shot Milk and the Mayor - it wasn't really about gay rights so much as about power and White's increasing insecurities and the fact that he felt completely suffocated and trapped - he felt that Milk and the Mayor were responsible - because both were in his face. Of course they weren't. And it's not at all surprising to me that White took his own life a couple of years later. Scean Penn was amazing in the role, of course. But James Franco and the other actors, with the possible exception of James Brolin, barely registered. I found myself wandering about doing chores during it. I'm just not a huge fan of bio-pics, I'm afraid. Oh one thing that I found very interesting in the film - Harvey Milk tells one politician who calls him "queer" that this is an insulting term and derogatory, that he prefers "Gay" and fought for "gay". I find this interesting because I've noticed that several people online are using the word "queer".
Then I watched Tabula Rasa, after watching OMWF the day before - from Buffy. These two really need to be watched close together. One is the reveal and one the aftermath. And together they pretty much set up the arcs for each character. They also show how each character is handling real world challenges and struggling with them. I identify with this season a great deal. In some ways more so than any of the other seasons.
( Meta on All the Way, OMWF and Tabula Rasa )