'Finding Prince Charming' Finalist Tells His Side of the Story (Video)
Brandon Kneefel shares lessons learned and exclusive behind-the-scenes insights on Logo’s gay dating show.
www.advocate.com/television/2016/11/04/finding-prince-charming-finalist-tells-his-side-story-video
Roll Call! Enroll In Bob The Drag Queen’s Free Online Course, “Advanced Humble-Braggery”
Purse first. Purse first. Walk into the classroom purse first!
RuPaul‘s Drag Race Season 8 winner Bob The Drag Queen and This Free Life have teamed up to present you a lesson in Advanced Humble-Braggery: The Art of Being a Humble Winner in Life.
Enroll now and learn to be flawless with Bob’s free four-part course. Plus, complete the full course to enter to win a trip for two to RuPaul’s DragCon 2017 in Los Angeles, CA.
See you in class, henny.
‘Doctor Strange’ Is Both Trippy and Mundane – REVIEW
Tilda gives Benedict an out-of-body experience in “Doctor Strange”. Just another Friday for her.
For a franchise sprung from the fantastic realm of comic books, Marvel movies have not been particularly exciting on a broad visual level. They’ve managed iconic little visual beats within setpieces but they’re never suffused with eye-popping aesthetics as a matter of atmosphere. (The two exceptions to this rule are Guardians of the Galaxy‘s garish cosmic cartooonishness and Thor‘s brassy mythological kitsch). The Marvel film is more likely to stage its action setpieces and earnest conversations in vast empty spaces like sterile corporate buildings, parking garages, airport tarmacs, or mountain ranges. Given this predilection, the second half of Doctor Strange is absolutely jarring in a welcome way, never failing to give you plenty to gawk at.
But that’s the second half. Rewind. Rewind.
For the first hour we’re treated to your garden variety superhero origin story. You know it by heart, whatever the hero’s name. He, it’s always a he, is designed from the following template: wealthy, white, handsome, well educated, employed with a lauded skill set before superpowers even arrive (doctor, inventor, lawyer, scientist, etcetera), and a Single Character Flaw (usually arrogance/selfishness) to overcome or learn to repress when he learns that ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. The rogue characters that don’t fit this description are generally relegated to the sidelines or, if they differ, differ in such ways as to boldly shout “this one is different!”
Doctor Strange, for all its intentions of opening up new mystic vistas within the Marvelverse, is utterly conservative about the template. In the first act Stephen Strange is permanently wounded in a car crash robbing his hands of their immense skills as a surgeon. And thus we begin our quest as Bruce Wayne heads to the Himalayas oh sorry Tony Stark heads to the Middle East argh I mean Stephen Strange heads to Nepal to seek a cure and a fresh start. We know he’ll become “The Sorcerer Supreme” in short order but they think we need origin story movies every time so first comes The Journey to Redemption (aka earnest conversations + comic relief + mini action scenes) and the Baptism of Fire (aka world-threatening gigantic action setpieces).
Strange discovers his very own Hogwarts in Tibet with Tilda Swinton in the Dumbledore role as “The Ancient One” who imparts her knowledge. Or some of it. The Ancient One is benevolent-seeming but also mysterious and shady (as superhero mentors are required to be — see Scott Glenn on Daredevil, Liam Neeson in Batman Begins, Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D, and so on back through time). She’s already lost a student to the dark side (Mads Mikkelsen plays the film’s villain Kaecilius) and now she, and her two main assistants Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Wong (Benedict Wong, the only Asian actor in a principle role despite the film’s settings which include Nepal and Hong Kong in addition to New York and London).
When Swinton was first cast there was alarm that a role always portrayed as an Asian man in the comics was rethought as a Celtic woman. This would surely have been less of a pre-release controversy had Marvel not been so slow to diversify its superhero army or if they had allowed their other far-East based hero (Iron Fist) to become the Asian character he always should have been in the less diversity-friendly America of the 1960s when he was created. Nope, he’ll stay a white man in the Netflix series.
As a Swinton connossieur but more broadly as a person with eyeballs, I cannot in good conscious claim she’s anything but the absolute best thing in this movie. Yet it remains an enraging pity that Marvel refuses to fix their diversity problem. We’re 8 years and 14 films into Marvel Studio’s explosively popular run now and they have NO excuse for this behavior. Yes they currently plan to correct this in 2018 and 2019 respectively with the first black lead in Black Panther and the first female lead in Captain Marvel but that’s embarrassingly past due.
It’s a pity that Doctor Strange gets bogged down in uncomfortable reckoning’s about Marvel’s racial problems and its absolutely generic story (it’s basically Iron Man with magic) because the film improves considerably as it goes along. There’s unexpected comedy and great visual. An early recurring visual of Strange trying to conjure magic energy before it snuffs itself out is a great unintended metaphor for the way the movie keeps trying to get started. But once Strange starts casting his spells successfully and the film starts freely globe-hopping the movie piles on the delirious visuals to jaw-dropping success. It’s as if Alice kept on falling right past Wonderland until she arrived at several crazier places all at once inside of a kaleidoscope and surrounded by mirrors.
Doctor Strange’s last act is so trippy and exciting — Marvel could well win their first Visual Effects Oscar — that you can almost forgive that generic story. But Marvel really needs to loosen up on the template reigns and let filmmakers free. They’ve got these movies down to a science but science has little room for magic.
The post ‘Doctor Strange’ Is Both Trippy and Mundane – REVIEW appeared first on Towleroad.
Finding Home: Web Series Chronicles LGBTQ Refugees
Photo Credit: Abraham Troen
Finding Home is a documentary web series following LGBTQ immigrants seeking asylum in Los Angeles. The series is directed by Abraham Troen, a Davis Peace Prize winner who has worked on previous film projects promoting human rights.
The series chronicles the difficulties of belonging in a society where love and acceptance are conditional. The refugees are impacted by discrimination based on immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, race and national origin. The unique stories that document each person’s search to find a place to call home are ultimately connected by the universal truths of love, family and peace.
“To me home means safety, love and trust”, says Stacy, a Salvadoran asylum seeker who above all desires to live her life with grace, security and freedom.
The series will be released by spring, 2017. Three to five episodes are planned along with an accompanying website which will be launched during June for pride month. The producers are currently seeking funding with the help of Kickstarter.
www.glaad.org/blog/finding-home-web-series-chronicles-lgbtq-refugees
Mexicans Soak Up Anti-Trump Satire (Video)
www.advocate.com/election/2016/11/04/mexicans-soak-anti-trump-satire-video
Golden Globe Winning Actress Lady Gaga To Play Donatella Versace
“Called it!” yelled every gay dude today when news broke that Golden Globe award winning actress Stephanie Johann Angelique Germanotta would be playing noted Italian fashion designer Donatella Versace.
Us Weekly’s shadowy, mysterious sources confirmed the casting this afternoon. Germanotta, a.k.a. Lady Gaga, will play the late Gianni Versace’s sister and the heir to his fashion empire in the third season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series American Crime Story, which will focus on the designer’s 1997 murder at the hands of gay serial killer Andrew Cunanan.
The casting comes as little surprise, despite tough competition for the role. Murphy had previously hinted that Gaga would be perfect for the role. Also, this:
So, just to recap: Lady Gaga will be vamping it up as a cartoonish fashion personality in a Ryan Murphy crime drama set in late ’90s Miami. Enjoy your weekend kids.
Anti-LGBT Robocall Attacks West Virginia’s First Openly Gay Lawmaker – LISTEN
A robocall has been released targeting openly gay West Virginia state Senator Stephen Skinner (D).
The call regurgitates the dangerous and false myth about transgender rights bills enabling predatory behavior in girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms.
The robocall seems to have been funded by Family Policy Council of West Virginia. In it, an allegedly 12-year-old girl accuses Skinner of putting “gay activism” ahead of the safety of young girls.
The robocall goes like this:
“Hi, my name’s Courtney and a man came into our changing room last night while I was getting dressed after swim practice. So the Family Policy Council of West Virginia paid so I could tell you why that scared me. I’m only 12. I’m not old enough to see a naked man. I know what a girl is, and it’s not that. My [unintelligible] said Stephen Skinner pushed the city councils to let men into our showers. She says it’s because Mr. Skinner only cares about gay activism and not common-sense safety for girls. I’m not old enough to vote yet and no candidate or any candidate’s committee authorized me to call but please vote against Stephen Skinner. I want to feel safe.”
The call ends with the girl imploring voters to cast their ballots for Skinner’s Republican opponent, Patricia Rucker (right). “Patricia Rucker has a daughter. She understands. Vote for her.”
Skinner became the first openly gay lawmaker in West Virginia when he was elected to the state senate in 2012.
The Victory Fund writes of his record,
Stephen is the founder of Fairness West Virginia, a statewide LGBT advocacy group. In 2012, Stephen became the first-ever LGBT legislator in West Virginia when he was elected to the 67th District of the House of Delegates, and was re-elected in 2014. Since being elected to office, Stephen has championed LGBT rights in West Virginia and has become a leader within the Democratic Party, raising money and recruiting candidates. Stephen attended Victory’s Candidate & Campaign Training in 2005, and has been instrumental in directing potential West Virginia LGBT candidates to Victory Fund trainings ever since.
You can donate to Skinner’s campaign, here.
Listen to the robocall, below.
[h/t Victory Fund]
The post Anti-LGBT Robocall Attacks West Virginia’s First Openly Gay Lawmaker – LISTEN appeared first on Towleroad.
Anti-LGBT Robocall Attacks West Virginia’s First Openly Gay Lawmaker – LISTEN
Cast of Transparent Thirsts for Even More Queer Representation (Video)
What would you like to see more of on television?
www.advocate.com/television/2016/11/04/cast-transparent-thirsts-even-more-queer-representation-video
Nick Jonas Teases The World With Racy Snapchat
Lest his fans forget his toned torso and patch of chest hair in the heat of Electionocalypse 2016, Nick Jonas has done the right thing by allowing a moment of nubile appreciation.
The performer sent out a racy Snapchat to all his followers, and because of a little thing called screen-grab, it’s now enshrined for all eternity.
So how’s Jonas looking these days? Well, as if there were any suspense to it, pretty good:
“Play hard. Work harder,” the caption reads, making this something of an educational moment as well as a thirst-trap moment.
“Ahh,” we uttered. “Now we see. It all makes sense.”
And if you’re wondering what sort of hard work Jonas has been up to to achieve the above results, a quick glance at his Instagram shows the sweaty reality:
h/t NNN
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