Theater, Movies, Art and Literature

I just watched Hello Again on Prime. If you enjoy Tig Nitari, I recommend it! The image is from a Vulture article, at the link. https://www.vulture.com/article/tig-notaro-standup-comedy-best-closer-jokes.html

Extraordinarily buff Stephen Mark Lukas is performing in the male lead, as Nick Arnstein, in Funny Girl at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. https://www.instagram.com/smlukas/

My fiance and I just watched the Austrian movie Eismayer, a true story about a recruit who falls in love with a far older (and bald) Sergeant Major. The gorgeous recruit actually proposes to the NCO. As it turns out, the recruit (before marrying him) gets accepted for officer school. I presume at this point the younger man is earning more. Quite an amazing story. Both the actual younger soldier (now presumably a 2nd lieutenant) and the actor playing him are gorgeous. As you might guess, the real soldiers are in uniform, actors on the other side: According to those uniforms, their ranks are now Warrant Officer I for the older Falak-Eismayer, and Officer Ca…

I also felt that Emma Stone was hands-down the best actress in a leading role. A lot of pundits thought they'd give the Oscar to Lily Gladstone, since no Oscar has yet gone to a Native American woman, and it seemed there was political pressure to make history. However, I think there was little question but that ES's role was far more challenging than LG's character, and ES showed a wider array of emotion and talent. LG did fine, but I definitely felt ES outshone her competition. Kudos to the Academy for doing the right thing (at least IMHO).

Don't be put off by the awful title of this film. This is one of the best movies about sex workers to come in a long while. Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack are brilliant actors with oodles of chemistry. The script by Katy Brand is superb. Sophie Hyde's direction is what gets movies awarded. It's a simple movie that's deep and complex. There is something here for every adult to chomp on, especially those among us who struggle to find sexual happiness and fulfillment. Sadly, it's only available on Hulu at the moment. If and when you get a chance to see it, run. It's fabulous. And, yes, Daryl McCormack is quite delicious naked.

I just had a gay friend told me he just watched a "brilliant" gay movie set in a London high rise called All of us Strangers " Any reviews on this ?

Any of you bothered by some movies being snubbed by the Motion Picture Academy this year? What's up with no nominations for Saltburn? How about Rosamund Pike for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, or Cinematography or Production Design? Or even best Actor in a Leading Role for Barry Keoghan?

Feel free to put your favourite YouTubers here or Gay related up to you I guess These ones though are "Thailand" related and I just realised there are many other Countries forum on here so they may not be a interest to others that are not into Thailand ...still I would love to see any YouTubers in other gay countries such as Africa etc if there's any Don't ask me to provide links ,I have no idea how to do it😀 But, I have been watching " Steve Rosse " every Friday, he is not gay but retired to a place several hours near Phuket , Turtle Beach ,in which he spends his days making cardboard ......what else ....turtles !🐢🐢🐢 Another one is "native farang" …

http://www.shenyun.com Well seems the SHEN YUN are coming to my City My partner has asked me to take him. Described as "Chinese culture dance before Communism" PS- Just looked at the ticket prices!😳😳

https://playbill.com/article/three-time-tony-winner-hinton-battle-dies-at-67 Hinton Battle and I go way back. I was nearly a baby when I first met him during his Wiz years. We worked together on several projects through the years, and he was always generous with his introductions. I probably know more about him than I should. He was an intimate guest in my home on several occasions. I'm going to save most of what I know for my memoir. Details you won't find coming from Debbie Allen. Hinton was multi-talented, but he led a complicated life. He was guarded and secretive, which made it difficult to get and stay close. I hope and pray he has found peace.

I just had a gay friend told me he just watched a "brilliant" gay movie set in a London high rise called All of us Strangers " Any reviews on this ?

Has anyone seen it. Filmed in Poland. English subtitles or dubbed? The trailer looks great though that doesn't always mean a rewarding watch.

Well, I do. But, this Beef I am referring to is Netflix. It is amazing and was a suprise. Many friends suggested I watch it and it kept getting recommended to me so I gave it a try. And, it was a truly delightful dark comedy drama trainwreck. It was about roadrage initially but the stories were developed in such beautiful detail that you keep hoping and wishing the main characters would choose the right path at least once. But, as luck haves it, the show was additive and I'm so glad I watched it. It has a 99% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

A second movie came out recently, Killers of the Flower Moon, which is well over 3 hours long, as is Oppenheimer. Neither my fiance nor I feel comfortable holding our bladders for that long, so we'll wait until they come out on a streaming service to which we subscribe, or perhaps will see them on a long plane flight (we'll be on a very long flight LAX to DOH on Qatar Airways in late January). If it's really necessary to have movies that long, I feel they should have intermissions. Anyone else here agree with me?

The Steven Spielberg/Martin Scorsese co-produced movie Bernstein is due to open with much fanfare in cinemas at the end of the month and then on Netflix. This true tale about the love affair between the acknowldged gay orchestral conductor Leonard Bernstein and his wife will almost inevitably throw the spotlight on to other gay men and women partcularly in the world of classical music. That world has tradtionally been closeted when owning up to some of its personalities who are gay and still not out. It is almost as though the older generation who tend to make up the audiences for most classical concerts still do not want to believe that their idols are anything but avera…

If you're looking for something to do this weekend and still have the option, seeing Godzilla minus 1 IN A THEATER is probably WORTH IT! If you're bored out of your mind but too lazy to leave the house... Zach Snyder's Star Wars (and Seven Samurai and 5 other better movies), Rebel Moon... is visually interesting. Basically combine the disappointments of Valerian, Jupiter Ascending, and John Carter of Mars, though better than maybe all three of those movies. But for fuck's sake stop letting Zach have any input into writing or the story!

So I'm starting this thread to put a positive spin on where we are in 2023. There are three threads that start with negatives - Spacey's court verdict, an Asian boy band predator, and an overall discussion about "wokeness" in films and plays. Tangentially, we could throw in Bernstein and Bradley Cooper as a ridiculous example of "nose-baiting," which I guess is kinda like "queer-baiting." 🤔 So this will be a long rambling think piece. But I'll summarize my two main points. First, I'm delighted that we have broader, better, and more positive representation of queers in films than ever before. I'll use Red White & Royal Blue, Heartstoppers, and Uncoupled…

It's the next big blockbuster from one of the great directors who has not yet won an Oscar. Ridley Scott's 2 hrs 38 minute Napoleon opened in Paris this week to decidedly mixed reviews. The French, perhaps not surprisingly, did not like it much. Le Figaro wrote it should be renamed "Barbie and Ken under the Empire". CG France said there was something "deeply clumsy, unnatural and unintentionally funny" in seeing French soldiers from 1793 shouting "Vive la France" with American acents. American critics have been equally mixed. The entertainment bible Variety claims it is "turgid grime-encrusted spectacle," although adding that it is an undeniably impressive techn…

Outside the world of pop, I cannot think of any artist/musician whose recordings continue to sell better year after year even 50 years after his/her death. I guess Frank SInatra must be up there somewhere but then he's only been gone for 25 years or so. In the classical sphere, Pavarotti will surely be up there for many years to come, but again it's only been 16 years since his death. The one who proves us wrong died 50 years ago this coming Saturday. Since then the recordings of soprano Maria Callas continue to outsell those of any other EMI artist before and since. Extraordinary, the more so when you realise she was only 53 when she died and had spent many of her …

I asked my domestic partner if he'd be interested in this new production of Oklahoma! they're putting up in Los Angeles: MADE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY... The Oklahoma! that's coming to the Ahmanson Theatre next month is Oklahoma! as you’ve never seen or heard it before. Without changing a word of text, this visionary 21st-century reimagining allows the classic musical to be seen in a whole new light. Among its themes are hotly-contested conversations about gun violence, Native American land rights, climate change, xenophobia, and toxic masculinity. He wasn't interested because he felt it was too woke and PC. Althou…

Those of us interested in opera or just the vocal arts will certainly have their favourite singers. The discussion in the Boy's Penis thread concentrated on castrati and mezzo-soprano voices. So I want to add a couple of favourites of my own, to add to the wonderful Teresa Berganza who passed away a couple of years ago. I had seen her as Cherubino in Salzburg and also at the Edinburgh Festival where a few years later she had a stunning triumph in her debut in the role of Carmen. But sometimes we come across voices that we have not heard before and which make us wish we had. During the pandemic I heard one which I have raved about ever since. The Staatsoper in Munich …

Flipping through today's on-line Guardian, I was attracted by an interview. It focuses on questions sent by a variety of readers, including Elton John and mostly movie directors, actors, musicians and writers. The subject of the interview is an actor named by The New York Times as "one of the greatest actors of the 21st century". Yet she is almost a chameleon-like character on screen and I expect few will recall many of her many movies. My two favourites are very different - as the distraught, questioning mother in We Need To Talk About Kevin and as the elderly Madame D in Wes Anderson's hilarious The Grand Budapest Hotel. Yet she also appeared along with Leonardo di Capr…

For decades there has been an old joke about Queen Elizabeth, the late Queen's mother. Widowed in 1952, she went on to live for another 50 years, mostly at the elegant Clarence House not far from Buckingham Palace where she had her own staff. Once after waking up from her afternoon nap, she was pissed off that her early evening tipple had not been brought upstairs. She went to the balcony and shouted down, "I'm not sure about you old queens down there, but this old queen is dying for a gin and tonic!" Given the dear lady's liking for gin, it is probably true. Even more so given that gay men made up quite a number of her staff. One in particular, William Tallon, had e…

It is one of the great contemporary dance companies in the world with a corps of stunning dancers. The men are young, tall and with incredible bodies. I have seen several performances of the Cloudgate Dance Theatre now celebrating its 50th anniversary. All have been quite wonderful. For those in London, there is another chance to see them at Saders Wells Theatre in Rosebery Avenue from November 30 to December 2 with performances of Lunar Halo. One of The Guardian newspaper's weekly video picks this week is the streaming of another Cloudgate production Rice on Marquee TV. This includes music from a variety of sources including Hakka Traditional Folk Songs, B…

A new play Cowbois is already previewing at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan Theatre in Engand's Stratford. It's set in a sleepy Wild West town where a handsome bandit known as Jack Cannon, a trans masc cowboy, swaggers up to the saloon and inspires a gender revolution. The play is presently undergoing previews and officially opens on the 24th. It is scheduled to run until November 14. If successful it will no doubt be transferred to London. The Observer newspaper got an early look at rehearsals. Today's paper offers a series of photos, of which these are just three. Vinnie Heaven as Jack Cannon does look cute! Vinnie Heaven being fitted with his costu…