Monthly Archives: January 2009

Heath Ledger, We Will Never Know

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I was thinking about Heath Ledger today while watching his portrait on the Biography Channel and decided to repost something I had written on the day he died, a little over a year ago, on my now-defunct Myspace blog…I know the truth of how he died has since been revealed (accidental overdose on prescription medication) but at the time, the gossip bloodhounds had a field day, as they always do but I was just saddened by the death of a great, young actor.

Word of mouth out of Hollywood, even before its release, was that Ledger was a shoo-in for an Oscar nod for “The Dark Knight”.  Insiders reveled that not since Anthony Hopkins seared the screen as Hannibal Lechter has a film villain been so diabolical, so nonchalant in the human pursuit of evil. That the hype sustained the truth is testament to Ledger.  His Joker is an archetype, a new paradigm in cinematic villains.

Also, as of that writing I had only seen “Brokeback Mountain” once, and thought it was a fine film, but not so quick to jump on the ‘masterpiece’ bandwagon.  It is only in revisiting it do I truly understand its depth and beauty and, yes, I could see why people (Jake Gyllenhaal’s sterile performance notwithstanding) would call it a ‘masterpiece’.

 

January 22 2008

Heath Ledger
Current mood:  melancholy
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

A revelatory, astonishing performance by a soon-to-be great actor in a good-not-great film. That’s what I said when I first saw Heath Ledger in ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ So few times in my film-going life had I witnessed a performance of such visceral implosion – a man bleeding inside out from inner torment. In an improved more cohesive world, Ledger would have walked the stage and accepted a most deserved Oscar that year.

As you all heard, Ledger died a few hours ago, and I only hope it wasn’t due to drug abuse, which has been hinted at, or suicide – that would only prove his cowardice. I feel sadness for his daughter and ex-wife (especially if it were drug use), but my tolerance remains quite low for suicides and overdoses due to recreational drug use (no sympathy whatsoever for that kind of overdose, actually – you know what the risks are), especially when children are involved.

Something struck me when I heard the news. I’m not sure why it affected me – not since River Phoenix died almost 15 years ago (of an overdose, no less) has an actor’s death made me stop and take a deep breath. Here was a man not privy to the gossip hounds, nor a usual staple in the tabloids eighth level of hell. Not much on the radar in Perez Hilton’s subhuman swill pool (and he, after all, is the gatekeeper to that eighth level of hell).

Sure, the gays loved him because of ‘Brokeback’ and I often wonder how many gay men would really care all that much of his passing if he never starred in that film or if he didn’t possess such a manly beauty.

But lovers of film in general knew him as a raw talent – as an actor, he seemed to come from another time, where and when actors delved into their psyche to explore the human remains, no matter how dim-witted the film or revolutionary the project. Here was a talent that would stand with the greats in time.  Just like Marlon Brando and Sean Penn, he wasn’t transient.  He was that good.

I actually believe that. And now, I’ll never know. And that’s partly why it affected me so. I mean, actors and actresses die all the time, but so few so young. And even fewer so talented. We will never know.

What a loss for true film fans. This is a music video directed by Ledger. It’s for Ben Harper’s “Morning Yearning” and proves that Ledger also had an instinct for directing.

I will never know. We will never know.

 

My fingers touch upon my lips
It’s a morning yearning
It’s a morning yearning
Pull the curtains shut try to keep it dark
But the sun is burning
The sun is burning

The world awakens on the run
And we’ll soon be earning
We’ll soon be earning
With hopes of better days to come
That’s a morning yearning
Morning yearning

Morning yearning…

Another day another chance to get it right
Must I still be learning?
Must I still be learning?
Baby crying kept us up all night
With her morning yearning
With her morning yearning

Morning yearning…

Like a summer rose I’m a victim of the fall
But am soon returning
Soon returning
You’re love’s the warmest place the sun ever shines
My morning yearning
My morning yearning

Morning yearning…

Meet The New Pimp, Same As The Old Pimp

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Bishop Richard Williamson – Ain’t he pretty?

 

We all know that Pope Benedict XVI, like Pope John Paul before him, is a pimp.  And not in a Snoop Dogg kinda way.

Pope John Paul was the most celebrated of pimps.  While he sat on his makeshift golden throne, he ALLOWED his pedophile army to wreck havoc on millions of children around the globe.  While he rolled his fat, naked body in a cesspool of billions of dollars, his filthy hookers (those pedophile priests) raped the offspring of the clueless, blind Catholic sheep. He was a hateful, vindictive wannabe-demigod.  Rot in hell (I mean, if there is a hell).

His malevolent successor, the Nazi Pope Benedict XVI, has said and done some fairly heinous, sub-human shit since the ol’ geezer croaked, most incredibly having a mammoth hand in the cover up of  those aforementioned pederasts while he was still Cardinal Ratzinger (what an appropriate name!)  Rent the great documentary DELIVER US FROM EVIL as a starter, then research the subject – you’ll recoil in vomitous horror.

Well, heeeeeeeeee’s back and at it again!  A few days ago, Pimp Daddy Pope Benny Baby pardoned the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, the fag-hatin’, Holocaust denyin’, women-detestin’, 9/11-refutin’ (rather, he’s on the same page as the nut jobs who think the murderous fall of the World Trade Center, et al was an inside job) piece of shit who was originally proscribed by John Paul.

 

Via TOWLEROAD:

Pope Benedict has launched his very own Catholic propaganda channel on YouTube.

The Pope has also pardoned the excommunications of four bishops including British Bishop Richard Williamson, who is a Holocaust denier, a 9/11 truther, thinks women should neither be educated nor wear trousers, and is “violently” anti-gay, writes Andrew Sullivan:

“God did not wait for the founding of the Catholic Church to instill in men the horror of this sin, but he implanted in the human nature of all of us, unless or until we corrupt it, an instinct of violent repugnance for this particular sin, comparable to our instinctive repugnance for other misuses of our human frame, such as coprophagy.”

Sullivan notes that in a letter from 1997 to his friends and benefactors, Williamson goes so far as to mock gays in a passage spelled out to mimic lisping:

“Oh, but Our Lord had chawity, (unlike thumwun we know who wath tho nathty to Pwintheth Di!). Our Lord loved thinnerth, and faggotth, and tho thould we!!”

 

Freak of freaks:

My New Boyfriend

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Pic really doesn’t need a caption:

(Photo courtesy holytaco.com)

I love a good photoshopping.  Holytaco.com says “we wish the T-shirts people were wearing would tell the world the real truth about them”.  Agreed.  I say the dude’s “look” says more than he’s willing to share (he’s wearing a thumb ring on his right hand, for chrissakes), so thanks Holytaco!  I don’t know what’s more distracting, though, his douchebag haircut, his douchebag puckered lips, his douchebag fashion sense (I hate a t-shirt half tucked in) the stripper (I mean, I assume) he’s draped over, his douchebag tan-in-a-can hue, or his not-so douchebag, uhhh, low right-hanger.

Land Of The “Lost”

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I’m not one of those “Lost” fanatics who spelunk the Internet in a seemingly silly sojourn for secret clues and hints or spoilers.  I’ve enjoyed the serial over the years for it’s enthralling storytelling as much as I’ve been frustrated by its inertia during pivotal moments/seasons.  My brothers Scott and Sean (and more than a few friends) have implored me to watch the show on DVD, where the interminable breaks and repeats that have scarred it’s reputation during and since season 2 are rendered non-existent.  That is something I might do, once upon a future, but with my DVR filled, it’s an impossibility at this point.

I do have hopes for the imminent season – after all, last year’s was the best since the first.  Sometimes confounding, sure, at times curious, yet always electrifying, the flash forward plot-line was ingenious and the acting was never finer.

But, besides those reasons, and at the stake of appearing to be redundant of a million other gay blogs which feature half/near-naked men, here’s one of the top reasons I actually watch “Lost”…

…to see one of the most beautiful men on TV…

Yeah, I get lost (ha!) in his, uhhh, eyes. Yeah, those too.

(Shirtless photos courtesey Kenneth Walsh)

All Hail The Queen (Of The…OBSCENE?)

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Poor Aretha Franklin.  Not very long ago she was the greatest singer alive.  Nowadays, due to her gargantuan weight (which has grown alongside her ego), you can add punchline to the many monikers.  Her performance at today’s Presidential Inauguration will not halt the sure-to-be tsunami of ridicule and late night talk show fodder.  Not only because she’s lost her voice, but because of this:

 

 

And I’m not just talking about that hat (which has already garnered thousands upon thousands of searches on Google)…

 

…really, Aretha?  “My CUNT…(pause)…try tis of thee…”  Ew.  And HAHAHAHA!

 

To me, she’ll always be the greatest female Rock/Soul/R&B/Pop singer who ever lived, so I actually love her more for unknowingly utilizing my favorite cuss word.

Thank U, India

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Happy New Year again, one and all – it’s been a few weeks, I understand, and I thank all of you who have inquired about the lack of posts-a-plenty.  But, there’s a legitimate excuse – I’ve had the flu, missed almost a week of work, and still can’t shake this groggy, nasty head cold due to this arctic freeze we’ve been slogging through this week (at least here in NY). 

Oh, woe is me, blah blah blah.  I’ll try to update as frequently as possible, but I can’t even promise myself I will.  Especially since I’ll soon be writing my American Idol Report Card on a weekly basis. 

But, I’m meandering now.  Here is my first post of 2009 (also, see the post script below)~

 

 

If you haven’t seen “Slumdog Millionaire”, you’re missing a juxtaposition of wonderment, sadness, darkness, exhilaration, surprise, giddiness and unadulterated joy and finally, romance.  Because of its popularity and copious awards (it will be a sure-fire Oscar contender), there’s a backlash brewing already.

I say, fuck the naysayers who’ll hate it based solely on its mass appeal (don’t you hate people like that?!) ~ enthrall yourself in its magic.  Sit back, suspend some belief and relish in the amazing script by Simon Beaufoy (you’ll wonder why no one’s thought of some of these plot points before, so archetypal it is) and the natural, beautiful performances (most notably from the two leads, Dev Patel, the adorable actor who’s one of the stars in the great BBC show “Skins”, and the intoxicating, stunning Freida Pinto).

I said it before, I’ll say it again ~ it’s hard to fathom that the same man who made the disgustingly demented “Trainspotting” helmed such a tale.  But, Danny Boyle also made one of my favorite films of the past few years, “Millions”.

Here’s the last scene and closing credits of the film, where the cast dances, in grand ol’ Bollywood style, to “Jai Ho”~

Enjoy ~ because it’s only a matter of time before Fox Searchlight has it removed!

 

 

 

 

P.S.  I’m changing the format somewhat.  I won’t begin every new post with the headline “My New ____” as I used to.  I realize I’m not clever enough to continually think of a deft possessive.  Hence the Alanis Morrisette allusion of today’s post title~