Too Busy For Love - Pride in Matching Water Angels

GOODNESS!  I'd love to go to the Greek Theatre to go see that lady who likes to give people something to talk about, or the Hollywood Bowl to see that one singular sensation, but I have too many photos to edit!!  With all of my activities, I'm still editing photos from Gay Pride, almost 2 months ago!  If I don't finish, you may never get to see the photos that go with these...

I had a nice time at Pride, but that was the day I fell into my Orlando funk...

But I also had my friends around to remind me that we shouldn't stop shining!

Don't get too excited about seeing more photos, I still have over 400 more to sort & edit.

And while I do stuff & edit, I amass more photos to get to!  You almost didn't even hear about the pool party I went to last month...

So, please be patient, because, I can't stop doing the things I love, so that I can stay home and edit photos!

Would you have had me miss one of the things I love doing most, Dennis Hensley's The Mismatch Game?

I always go to the night I'm not performing to enjoy the the amazing casts that Dennis puts together.  Saturday I got to enjoy Nicol Paone (above) as Arianna Huffington and Julie Brown (just above) as Melania Trump, as well as Rachel Butera, Kay Sedia, Felix Pire and the hilarious, Tom Lenk as Zooey Deschanel...

My night, I had a blast with Drew Droege, Maile Flanagan, Chris Pudlo, Tom Lenk (again), and another person I admire very much, Jackie Beat as Bea Arthur.

I can't tell you why I feel so lucky to share the stage with these amazing performers, all I know is that I get a great opportunity to learn from them and I while it's not a competition, I hope I can even get near to their genius.   Here's my response to the prompt "Beloved film director Garry Marshall passed away this week. To honor their breakthrough film together, Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts plans to show up to his memorial service with_______"

The answer, if you can't read it was "August Osage County on Blu-Ray.  She can do drama, Gary!"

Muh DAB, Glenn, said he liked the answer because it was fun that I yelled at a dead Garry Marshal.

Also, aside from getting to perform, learn from genius performers and have fun, handsome mens come to see the show...

And don't be thinking that  I'll be getting a chance to tackle those photos any time soon, 

I've started rehearsals for CHICO'S ANGELS FIVE-0

It's an entirely new show, so I'll actually have to concentrate on rehearsal.  We open on August 25, so I'll be really busy with that and work and meetings and other social outings.  I endure it all to bring you more of this...

(Yes, Duke is returning)

So, you'll have to wait to romance me at a fancy concert.  I'm too busy!!

Get Out of My Head - Difficult People

So, in all my single T.V. watching, I enjoy DIFFICULT PEOPLE on the Hulu; it's kind of a SEINFELD with a gay Jerry (Billy Eichnerand) and redhead Elaine (Julie Klausner).  They aren't very likable people, but I find them funny without identifying with them.   Maybe I identify with them a little.  Or maybe they're stealig from my blog!!!

Gay of A Certain Age - When I was a Goonie...

You know when I'm home alone, putzing around, editing photos, instead of out socializing and meeting my soulmate, I'm watching TV.  I have a few favorites, and I tend to be really loyal, even though a show has clearly run its course.  I mean, 10 seasons of CRIMINAL MINDS?  They find at least one serial killer a week... how many serial killers are there in the world??  But I still watch and enjoy.  It's very rare that I'll give up on a show- heck, I stuck with REVENGE even after they thought they were done!  Most shows I watch because I get a kick out of them, but some I watch because they are an emotional roller coaster and make me feel things I wouldn't get to feel, otherwise.  I love a show that makes me laugh and cry and can surprise me.  HANNIBAL was one of those shows- top notch on every level... and then some.  I've got a new show to love...

I know, I'm weeks late on this, unlike the cool kids, and only 3 episodes in, but now that I've started, I'M IN!!!   STRANGER THINGS is a throwback to the 80's; to a world where kids who already have a lot to deal with, find something amazing that gets them into dangerous situations and pursued by ominous people.  THE GOONIES, E.T., ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING, D.A.R.Y.L., EXPLORERS, and a few others are all great movies that I remember enjoying and imagining I could be part a part of.  I was delighted by J.J. Abrams' SUPER 8 in 2011, which took me back in time, to when I would go off to the movies alone and stay for 2 or 3 viewings.  Aside from the great story, I truly enjoy the details of the production.  From the great opening credit sequence that makes you feel like your HD screen is showing something off of a VCR, to the cool soundtrack featuring well chosen songs, and the fabulous score that sounds like John Carpenter got locked in a Minimoog store for a weekend.  One of my absolute favorite details is the grainy look of Jonathan Byers' photos, when he's sneaking shots at the pool party.

Certainly, other shows taking place in the 80's would have used slick black & white stills to show the images that Jonathan is capturing, but here we see the grain of a camera shooting film in low light.  I don't know why, but that just gave me a little bolt of thrill when I saw that.  LUSCIOUS DETAILS!

Of course, the cast of characters is filled with the 80's teens on bikes, their older siblings dabbling with adult things, pre-occupied parents, worried parents, bullies, troubled law folk, Government (?) agents, people in lab coats, astounding being(s), a monster, monster meat and Winona Ryder. 

Everyone seems to be clamoring for Barbara Holland...

and with good reason.  She really has it. She's that girl we were in the 80's, even if we're male.

She's terrific.  And while I came for the Barbara, I'll be staying for the Hopper!

Jim Hopper, played by David Harbour, gets my insides all squishy, like a school girl!  It's true! ...even though he's smoking a cigarette when we first meet him.  One look at him in his sheriff uniform and all is forgiven!  #yummythings    

If you have an affinity for things 80's, you MUST tune in on the Netflix.  If you just like great T.V., give this one a shot- it knows what it is and it succeeds at what it is doing.  If you're into bears (big, hairy mens) you VERY MUST tune in!  But for reals, y'alls, it is a very good show.  

As a Gay of A Certain Age, it truly is a delight to find a show like this, that catches my fancy and transports me back to a time where the danger and crazy were up on a screen and the furthest thing from real.  I only regret I have to wait 'til after rehearsal tonight to watch another episode!

Too Busy For Love - Busy as ________

I would love to have gone with you to that space movie, but this weekend I'm very busy with Dennis Hensley's The Mismatch Game at the LGBT Center!  Actually, it's one of my favorite events throughout the year.  Dennis' take on The Match Game from the 70's is a blast to do and watch.  Last night I went to watch & help.

The cast; Dennis Hensley, Rachel Butera (Rosie O’Donnell), Tom Lenk (Zooey Deschanel), Oscar Quintero (Kay Sedia), Julie Brown (Melania Trump), Nicol Paone (Arianna Huffington) and Felix Pire (Ricardo Montalban) were a blast, but Tom's Zooey is an F-ingHOOT!

Aside from getting to perform, playing a game and stretching my improv skills, sometimes the contestants are real cutey pies...

 and some of them are cutie pies who remove their clothings!

It's all for charity (The hottie above removed his shirt for a $50 bid) all the proceeds go to the Center's Homeless Gay Teen Program. To date, we've raised over $130,000 for those kids! I'm very proud and grateful to be a part of that. Mostly, I just receive so much joy when I get to do it. So, while I'll have to wait to see if that big spaceship gets blown up, yet, again, I'll be busy laughing and helping homeless gay teens.

I'll see you later, right now, I gotta figure out a way to keep Rea McEntire from showing up, so that Reba Areba can take her place!

Getting Out - Busters

Last night, instead of going home after work, sitting on the sofa and using a Ouija Board to try to bring back KNOTS LANDING, I joined my friends for dinner and a movie.  We dined & hooched at Marmalade Cafe, where I enjoyed an Italian chopped salad and a raspberry lemondrop.  After, we walked over to the Pacific Cinema at the Grove and watched GHOSTBUSTERS.  As you can see from the above photo, two of the group were of the female variety.  At dinner one of them said something that struck me as sad.  She said, "We saved this viewing with you guys, even though we really wanted to go opening weekend to support female driven movies."  It's sad because this movie can't just be a typical summer movie remake, it fails or succeeds only because there are all female leads.  It pisses me off that the industry and a lot of America still feel this way.

I enjoyed the movie because I found it funny and entertaining.  Not because it was four women making me laugh, but because what they did was funny.  Some of the laughs were big, some chuckles, some missed the mark- regardless of what sex the person delivering the goods was.  If the movie was bad because of bad direction, incompetent editing or poor story telling, it still would fail because  something "female driven" is a big risk.  Despite how many successful movies starring female casts there are, it's still a risk.  Sadly, it's not just Hollywood spewing this crap...

This election season, aside from all the typical party bashing, there are still those out there who say they will not vote for a woman president.  That's simply ridiculous.  Regardless of her many years of top level political experience and service, for some, she's not good enough to be president because she is a woman. How is this still a way of thinking?  Mortifyingly, there are some women who think this way, too.  Why should I care... I'm a guy.

Maybe I care because I love and respect my mother, who worked very hard to raise four kids on her own.  There was a time when I first moved to L.A., I was almost thirty years old and barely able to pay my bills, with exception of free rent in Van Nuys... and I thought to myself, "Cripes!  At thirty my mother had four kids to support!" I couldn't imagine having four kids at that time and I knew I certainly wouldn't be enjoying the life that I was leading. To be truthful, my bills included auto insurance, gas money, food, credit cards that I had given up on trying to pay and my regular Gay Day every Tuesday in West Hollywood.  I lived check to check working as an extra in movies & TV and doing script coverage.  Those were hardly back-breaking jobs.  How did my mother do it?  I get miffed when I think maybe she could have made more money if she was a man, making it a little easier on her.  Just knowing how hard my mother worked and a lifestyle she didn't get to enjoy because for 30 years she had someone to take care of, makes me blow my stack because people have this way of thinking that a woman is not as good, as strong, as capable or respectable as a man. 

Hopefully in the near future, people can be appreciated as individuals regardless of sex, age, race or sexual orientation.  Because of my Ma, that way of thinking was Busted for me, early on.  Hopefully GHOSTBUSTERS, will bust a few more things this summer.  

He Don't Even Know - Saturday In the Park

This is my boyfriend, "Steven"

He lets me be independent most of the time, 

but every weekend, he makes me leave our love bed

and forces me to go to the park with him.

He won't let me be lazy,

as much as I whine...

Honestly, 

seeing him all sweaty in the morning sun

is well worth the getting out of bed.

From The Interwebs - A Good Man is Horror to Find!

Getting Out - Out Festive

Last night muh DAB, Glenn and I had a nice dinner at Basix and walked up to the Director's Guild of America to catch an OUTFEST movie.

As you know, sometimes I have to battle myself to get me to leave my apartment, but this time, I was lured away by the promise of a movie based on a real murder in the gay porn world!  Exciting, no?

The movie was KING COBRA, starring an produced by James Franco, who was also the recipient of the inaugural James Schamus Ally Award.  It's the story of a porn producer murdered by two rival porn guys, all centering around porn cutie, Brent Corrigan. The movie was sexy without being gratuitous. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I was really annoyed by the really bad lighting throughout the movie.  Muh DAB, Glenn, didn't mind it and said it was prolly an effort at making the movie somewhat film noir.  Meanwhile, I was bothered that I kept seeing the well light extra behind the silhouettes of the main characters eating sushi. 

There was a Q & A afterwards, but the audience did not get to ask questions, so I remained stymied in learning what the filmmaker was thinking, or if they had a REALLY low budget.  Molly Ringwald is in the movie, but you'd hardly know it, unless you know the outline of her hair really well.   In the end, as I said, I enjoyed the movie despite the lighting.

What I enjoyed more was seeing a few folks I haven't seen in awhile, like Robert and Dyana, who generously escorted us in. Josh Schiowitz, whom I don't see much, since he lives in New York.  I  also got to see Erik, whom I haven't seen in years!  He recently joined the Facebook and messaged me when he saw my post saying I was there.  It was a really nice, if brief, reunion.  So, if I didn't see a perfect movie, at least I has a perfectly delightful time seeing old friends.  I'm glad I got out!