Moments

It's just the little things in life:

Sex +

Quad Cinema - NYC, NY 6/12/09

Unfortunately I can't embed the trailer because the option has been disabled but here's the link to the official trailer.

Here's the official Website

And here's a little synopsis and comment from Richard Berkowitz:

SEX POSITIVE explores the life of Richard Berkowitz, a revolutionary gay S&M- hustler-turned-AIDS activist in the 1980s, whose incomparable contribution to the invention of safe sex has never been aptly credited. Berkowitz emerged from the epicenter of the epidemic as a community leader, demanding a solution to the problem before anyone else would pay attention. However, it was not Berkowitz' voice alone that sparked contention.

Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, a controversial virologist and AIDS doctor, postulated that AIDS was more complicated than just a new virus. With Sonnabend's theory in tow, Berkowitz fought, alongside beloved activist and musician Michael Callen, for safer sex practices without giving up on sex altogether.

SEX POSITIVE explores the explicit bravery of this unrecognized triumvirate, and their dire quest to save lives in the midst of unwavering dissent. Now destitute and alone, Mr. Berkowitz tells his story to a world who never wanted to listen.

Through the eyes of Mr. Berkowitz, the audience is made witness to a graphic testimony of sex, death, and betrayal, while placing the invention of ‘safe sex’ in a fresh and compelling context.

From Berkowitz:

I always hoped that my book Stayin' Alive: The Invention of Safe Sex would spark interest in a new generation--I just never expected it would come from a young guy who happens to be straight.

The Bush years have been a trying time for many Americans, but for those concerned with HIV prevention, it has been a disaster. Ever since George W. Bush took office in 2001 and replaced safe sex education with abstinence programs, HIV infection rates have climbed as reported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Unfortunately, the past two years, 2005 and 2006 have been the worst. If anything good can come out of this tragedy, it would be that we now have ample evidence that abstinence programs do not work.

The media has barely taken notice, and I'm hoping that SEX POSITIVE will sound the alarm. If the media needs a hook, here's a great one: May 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the invention of safe sex.

Unfortunately, these aren’t good times for those involved in safe sex education. It doesn’t bode well that even though everyone has heard of safe sex, hardly anyone knows where it came from. Safe sex came from activists, porn stars, sex workers and their community driven efforts. That's what we've lost over the years and that's why I'm hoping people will learn from this very timely film.

Incredible Milk

chills.

The Play about Henry

On the morning of February 25, 2000 a young man named Henry Stuart Matis drove to the Mormon Ward House in Los Altos, CA, placed a gun to his head and ended his life. This is his story.

Missa Solemnis or The Play about Henry is written by my friend Roman Feeser. He asked that I shoot and edit this teaser-trailer for his play opening on October 30th.

Mad Men's Bryan Bratt on Gay Roles

Bryan Bratt of AMC's Mad Men, which in my opinion, is quickly becoming the best.show.ever. talks to CNN about the need for more positive gay role models in Hollywood cinema.

CNN: What would you like to see Hollywood do?

Batt: Continue to reward good work and put positive role models out there. The one thing about "Brokeback Mountain" -- it was a beautifully filmed and acted film depicting a tortured relationship. The reason I thought the movie was so great is people walked away thinking, "Why couldn't they just be together?"

The more positive or interesting the portrayal of gay and lesbian characters, the better. They should show people who are living their good, healthy, responsible, productive lives as role models who just happen to be gay.

CNN: What's your view of the character you play, Salvatore Romano, in "Mad Men"?

Batt: The character basically is clearly gay to a 2007 audience, but no one in the world of 1960 is suspicious whatsoever. What a great role to play. This season, I'm married. I get stopped all the time on the street, and I get asked, "When is your character coming out?" What is he coming out to in 1962?

I asked to get married this season. I thanked [series creator] Matthew Weiner, and he said, "You asked." It provides another wonderful level to the character. That is what happened then and unfortunately still happens today.

[In a recent episode, the "Gold Violin,"] the scene with my wife, it was just so poignant and painful, someone said to me that what she loved about the episode was that we clearly did love each other. We were like the gold violin, we were beautiful but we just didn't make music.

Bryan Bratt is speaking at the NYC LGBT Community Center on Friday October 24th as part of their Out Professionasl spearker series.

If you have yet to watch Mad Men I strongly recommend checking it out. First season is already out on DVD.

Lately it seems like Hollywood has picked up the slack on having gay characters in their programming. There are gay characters all over the place these days and I like how not all of them are healthy and happy characters, since our lives, just like anyone else, isn't always sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.

Tune In, Bear Out

Send me an angel

JMG just peeped that one of my all-time favorite Bears, The Infomercial World's Billy Mays, has just landed his own reality TV Show.

Back off bitches! I loved him first.

Olympic Opening in One Minute

I love this:


Oh and um, regarding the Save the Roxy meeting: It was delayed, again. Will follow through when I have more information.

Welcome to the Gayborhood

I probably would have posted this sooner if I didn't still have AOL mail and its wonky and peculiar spam filter. Stupid AOL. Stupid Emails. (I know, I know, ok? I plan to do the Gmail conversion as soon as I can figure out how to get all my email contacts over to Gmail without losing any... Pointers?)

With that said: Welcome to the Gayborhood!

Gayborhood.tv is a new web-based media platform that is all LGBT all the time. From webisodes, to comedy, to man-on-the-street interviews to documentary, Gayborhood.tv is filled with all the Queer material mainstream media would never allow us.

I wasn't asked to pimp gayborhood.tv but after seeing their man-on-the-street interviews called "The Box" which comes with the tagline of: "Get on THE BOX and SPEAK YOUR MIND! Our cameras go to LGBT festivals, events, and hot spots around the country providing a "soapbox" for anyone and everyone to talk about what's on their minds," how could I resist?!

here's a bit from the Gayborhood itself:

At Gayborhood.tv we see no reason why LGBT programming should be limited to what comes out of our TV sets. So we got together and created a place where people can watch shows about life in our communities — shows that are reflections of ourselves — on a website that highlights each and every colorful shade of our diverse rainbow. The people who work here are our LGBT brothers and sisters, our straight allies, and just darn good friends. They’re always busy creating super fun original web series that everyone can enjoy.

But wait there’s more! Part of the site — called LGBTube — has been set aside for user–generated content. Gayborhood users can upload, view, share and post their own video clips — because at Gayborhood.tv it's all about new ideas, new perspectives, and new information.

Ok, so I know that write up above sounds a little "gay" but seriously watch the link below. It's quite compelling.
Link to gayborhood.tv's the box

Anybody over there want to hire me for some field producing? No, really- I'm serious.

Enduring ACT UP: Watching the ACT UP Oral History Project

Talk about a sit-in!

Deb Levine went back to school 4 years ago to get her PhD in Performance Studies. Now for her dissertation she is writing on ACT UP specifically focusing on how people took care of each other back in day of demonstrations and devastation. Levine's main focus is on "the ways in which those relationships became an ethical and political practice -- a topic that is not often foregrounded in other histories of the organization."

As part of her research Levine is watching the entire Act Up Oral History Project from start to finish which will take 10hours every day for 17 days. The kick-off begins on Friday May 30th and goes through Sunday June 15th. The screenings begin at 10AM every morning and will end around 10PM every evening. Visit Levine's blogsite for details or peep the info below.

I will definitely be stopping by for many of these interviews. I strongly recommend stopping by and watching the interviews with Deb and whomever else might be sitting-in with her. If you're a young person or someone interested in who and what this whole ACT UP thing is, I urge you to attend some screenings.

Complete Schedule of interviews and screenings here on Deb's Blog.
Official ACT UP Oral History Website

Details are below including a letter from Deb Levine:

As part of my research I have been watching the interviews recorded by the ACT
UP Oral History Project. Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard have most generously
made the archive accessible to me for the past few years, but every time I watch
a tape, I have an overpowering urge to turn to someone next to me and debate
many of the points made, add information to the story or just get someone else's
reaction. It feels wrong to watch this archive by myself and then try and get
in touch with some of you to discuss your interviews.

Please watch this archive with me. I will begin on May 30, 2008 at 10 am, and
watch each interview, in order, everyday, for approximately 12 hours each day,
until I have seen everyone recorded to date. Stay as long as you'd like. See
yourself, watch someone else, come alone or bring as many people as you desire.
Invite others, invite strangers. Forward this invitation to anyone you think
would like to attend (especially people who are ACT UP-curious) and post it on
the internet. Come often. Keep me company. Bring food and drink. Bring
anything you have in your archives that you think I should see or read (don't
leave originals with me – but I will take a copy of anything you think is
important). I want to hear your comments– this is a chance to respond to the
archive. I will have a computer available so you can jot down your thoughts on a
blog set up for these screenings.

Each day's series of screenings will begin at 10am and end around 10 pm for
seventeen days, from May 30th to June 15th in Manhattan at NYU, 721 Broadway,
6th floor in the Performance Studies department. You can check the Enduring ACT
UP blog: http://deblevine.blogspot.com/ for the approximate time and day of a
particular interview. Plan to attend specific interviews about or just come and
randomly watch with me if you have some free time. Everyone is welcome. To get
to the 6th floor, enter the building in the lobby and show the guard a picture
identification. If you have any questions, please contact me at
debra.levine@nyu.ed. I look forward to watching with you.

Cheers!

Deb Levine

The Day There Was No News

There's something peaceful yet severely haunting about the piece of media below:
Entitled "The Day There Was No News"

When Good Christians Take Digital Photos

"She's a Christian- She's a good kid...She just made a 7-figure deal..."
Loving how they sell "Christian."

Cute Little Consumers

"Analysts"

Well if you made it through all the Pope coverage over the weekend you may have landed upon a front page spread of The Sunday Times where they exposed the linkage between FOX News US Military "analysts" and their linkage to The Pentagon.

In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants.

The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.

Not that I am really surprised this is happening and even moreso by Fox News but I can't help but feel this is exactly what they had up their sleeves the whole time. Duh.

The Pentagon as well as the 24/7 News Networks view the American public as nothing but a bunch of cute little consumers whom they keep happily and ignorantly satisfied and distracted by telling us about their "honest and trustworthy" reporting. But we've been duped and duped the whole time. Yet our distraction has become too common and we've grown apathetic if not entirely accustomed to these lies and behavior. Shrug on America, shrug on.

Since It's Such a Hot Topic...

Same-Sex marriage is all over the news lately and it always reminds me of this piece of media made by my wildly talented and creative friend, David Daigle, for the 2004 GLAAD Media Awards. Since it was made in 2004 some of the shows are dated but the issues presented are as valid and relevant today as they were then.

I've seen this piece of media a gazillion times and every time, no joke, it always brings a tear to my eye.

Rainbow Vision

Michael Crawford over at Bloggernista just put up his list of "10 Films Every Gay Boy Should See."

I have yet to see The Times of Harvey Milk but the clip below is already stirring up tears and anger inside me.

12:05 Showing

Cloverfield screen shot

Last night Eric the Roommate, Gwen, Nikki, Gruber and I stepped out of dinner and spontaneously bought tickets for the 12:05AM screening of the much anticipated Cloverfield. It felt incredibly cool to be part of the very first wave of people seeing this film, which began its audacious marketing campaign as early as last spring, and will no doubt be rampaging the box-office for weeks to come.

I won't give too much away but I'll say it's 8 out 10 for the monster/disaster genre and I definitely recommend seeing it in the theaters. I hear there are screenings at IMAX and imagine that would be quite an experience.

If you are a fan of the 1970's disaster flicks: The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, Avalanche, Towering Inferno, etc you'll enjoy this film for employing all the old classic conventions in a modern and technologically souped-up form.

In the Life TV Rocks another Doc

In The Life TV, a documentary film company committed to illuminating the gay experience, cranks out another riveting hour long doc entitled Wide Stance. Broken up into segments the appropriately named Wide Stance straddles everything from an interview with queer-based comedienne Margaret Cho to gay rappers to the always on-going subject of homosexuality and the bible, and with a historic background, delves into this year's hot topic of public sex and police entrapment as well as many other stories about the gay experience.
In particular, Scott Miller Communications Officer over at In The Life, has this to say about the public sex/entrapment segment,

...when people see it, it’ll get a lot of conversation going on a number of levels. On a broader one, it touches on issues around public-sex laws, systemic inconsistencies in how they’re enforced from state-to-state and among various groups, and how – depending on where in the country they are – what might be treated as a minor offense, can snowball into a felony.

Click here to view the Wide Stance trailer.
Click here to watch the educational and profound Public Sex/Entrapment segment.

New Cloverfield Ad

I don't know how "new" this 30 second Cloverfield ad is but I caught it last night on TV. I am huge fan of zombie, horror and monster movies and this one produced by Lost creator JJ Abrams has received a lot of my attention.
If you're wondering what that killer track is they use behind the ad it's Surface of the Sun from the Sunshine soundtrack. Which is another movie I highly recommend.

Oh and just FYI to any producer or director making any films like this in the future or any dreary, depressing indie films- please consider me. It's with life long regret that I missed the boat to be in something like The Goonies or Larry Clark's Kids and Bully. OH! and I'll take any lead role in Holleran's Dancer from the Dance if/when that ever gets made. Thanks!

Christmas Vacation

Speaking of...

Clips from my one of my all-time favorites:

Viacom Listens to MTV Freelancers

MTV Freelancers Protesting outside MTV/Viacom building

Photo- (ugh.) Perezhilton.com

In a wonderful display of a megacorporation listening to their employee's needs and demands, Viacom has changed their original benefit cut plan which would have affected freelancers and "perma-"lancers alike.

Viacom/MTV plans to turn many long term freelance positions into staff jobs and offers freelancers a choice between their old healthcare plan and an entirely new one. Also, the deadline to decide on the plan has been extended from this later this month until February '08. Way to take a stand freelancers.

"We've implemented a process for evaluating freelance and temporary employee positions for possible conversion to staff positions," reads the announcement from JoAnne Griffith, MTVN's executive vice president for HR. "This process is currently underway." Freelancers will now have the choice to continue with their current health plan—including dental!—or sign on to MTV's Aetna plan. Either way, they won't have to make the decision until February of next year, nearly three months after the original deadline set by the company last week.

MTV Freelancers Walk Out!

I work in television and I am also a freelancer. In the freelance world there are two types of freelancers. Freelancers and perma-lancers. Perma-lancers are people who have held the same "freelance" job for a long time, if not, several years. For whatever reasons, (healthcare benefits, 401K plans, taxes) companies like Viacom and many other production companies keep employees as "freelancers" opposed to making them staff. This is something I've come to accept years ago and have managed to get benefits through other, often overwhelmingly bureaucratic means. Those at MTV who have been perma-lancers for a long time are suddenly getting their health care providers switched and changes to their 401K plan. From what I hear there is still a lot to be explained both by Viacom (owner of MTV) and the payroll company MTV deals with. Many of the perma-lancers I know over at MTV are upset this bad or head-achey news is coming right before the Holidays and right before the New Year, a time when the production world is notoriously slow or frozen.

It would be nice if a company were to offer me benefits, but I'm a freelancer and in television one can only work from project to project. Once that project ends, whether it's a week, month, or a few years, there is no more work- you must find the next project.

However, had I been with MTV for a long time- if I were a perma-lancer this would directly affect me, the benefits and 401K plan I've been acquiring and yes, I'd be upset and have a feeling of employer disloyalty. The people affected by this have a right to walk out. I guess we'll have to see what new deals and plans Viacom can come up with. In the mean time this should be a lesson to all freelancers. Don't depend on anyone but yourself. Cover your own ass. You never know when or if the job you've been hired for will fall out from under you.

Check out freelancersunion.org for freelancer health insurance information.
For more information read this Gawker.com article. Photos also courtesy of Gawker.