Pete1111
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Posts posted by Pete1111
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On 9/8/2021 at 3:26 PM, JKane said:
Also for fans of Dune who may want to re-read it before the premiere, it is one of the only books I've re-read repeatedly and each time I got something more out of it. I especially enjoyed the latest time where I was part of an online book club, these videos are the discussions and they are very in-depth:
@JKane,
How fortunate you connected with that book club. The Internet knew to find you!
I'm glad you commented on the book. I definitely wanted to know if you'd recommend reading it.
Thank you!
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On 8/11/2021 at 9:15 PM, TotallyOz said:
LOL I loved it. "The Plane. The Plane."
I also think part of it has to do with family. I grew up with 3 channels and this was one of three choices at the time and my family loved it. So, we always watched it. It was either that or homework. Yuck!
I watch reruns of Love Boat and am always amazed how many old stars they scooped up to come aboard!
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I'm not as well read on Afghanistan as some of you but the thread omits the CIA went in to lay the groundwork for getting Bin Laden. But the US missed getting him there.
What we know for sure is years later the CIA figured out where Bin Laden might be, and President Obama ultimately agreed to attack.
Two Black Hawk choppers flew from Afghanistan into Pakistan and got Bin Laden.
To me, it seemed the original mission was then achieved.
But the mission morphed into other causes, perhaps based on unfounded information.
Troops on the ground in Afghanistan originally suggested seeing no clear reason to be there.
After 20 years, I expect most of us agree.
Man's inhumanity to man will continue around the world. Innocent people will suffer. But our role in Afghanistan is over, or should be soon.
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The Trump backed candidate lost to the alternate GOP candidate tonight in a Texas special election for a vacant House seat, a black eye for Trump. Another test case for Trump's influence is coming up next week in Ohio, where Trump is backing a candidate in another special election for a vacant House seat.
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On 10/9/2020 at 10:17 PM, Pete1111 said:
Just watched The Good Lord Bird epi 1 on Showtime.
Ethan Hawke is amazing. Perhaps an emmy or two.
Received no Emmy nominations (and Bridgerton got 12????).
For me The Good Lord Bird was MUST SEE television. Showtime just ran it again.$%&@ the Emmy's. Vulture ran a great opinion piece on this.
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On 6/20/2021 at 9:42 PM, vinapu said:
I can always watch again "Together with me" or "Manner of Death" with Max/Tul for muscle dose, LOL
What platform is streaming "Manner of Death"? I am in the US. Maybe not here.
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On 6/10/2021 at 5:26 AM, Lonnie said:
MAURICE (1987)
Two years after the first British film to depict two men kissing in a positive light, My Beautiful Laundrette, came out to critical acclaim, business and romantic partners Ismael Merchant and James Ivory released an adaptation of E.M. Forster’s posthumously published gay romance, Maurice. The story, set in early twentieth-century England, follows Maurice Hall (James Wilby) from his days at Cambridge University through his young adulthood and charts his different romances, first with the upper-class Clive Durham (Hugh Grant) and then the lower-class Alec Scudder (Rupert Graves). Throughout the 1980s Merchant and Ivory made a slew of period films adapted from Forster novels, usually to great acclaim, upon its release, Maurice did not fare as well as previous Merchant Ivory films. Despite that, it has gone on to be considered a classic film.
The Cambridge Years
The first third of the film is devoted to Maurice’s time as a student at Cambridge University. One night while going to visit another student, Risley (Mark Tandy), he runs into the charming Clive Durham. The two develop a tight friendship almost immediately. Soon Clive recognizes a sort of kinship in Maurice and professes his love to him. Initially, Maurice rejects Clive’s advances but soon realizes that he is in fact in love with him. One night, as Clive turns about in bed, Maurice climbs in through Clive’s window and professes his love as well. Thus begins the first love story of Maurice’s life, a love that will span years, but will remain unconsummated.
source: Cohen Media Group
In early twentieth-century England, homosexuality was still criminalized; in fact, it wasn’t decriminalized until 1967. So Maurice and Clive have to continuously work to hide the true nature of their relationship. While Maurice is more willing to take risks and longs for physical contact with Clive, Clive insists that they must remain chaste with each other, or else they would sully the purity of their relationship. Clive’s own internalized homophobia and extreme repression only grow throughout the film. This is not Grant’s only time playing a self-loathing gay man, he also played real-life politician Jeremy Thorpe, who tried to have his lover murdered rather than be outed in the Amazon miniseries A Very English Scandal, which was directed by Stephen Frears (who also directed My Beautiful Laundrette).
Post-University
After Maurice leaves Cambridge early to become a stockbroker, he and Clive continue their relationship through writing and frequent visits to each other’s homes. As they continue to age, Maurice wants more from Clive, but Clive continues to pull away. Finally, when it is reported that their friend Risley, now a Lord, has been arrested for homosexuality, Clive can no longer handle their relationship. He breaks it off with Maurice and marries Anne Wood (Phoebe Nicholls), a woman he met while traveling in Greece.
source: Cohen Media Group
Although the romantic nature of Maurice and Clive’s relationship has ended, the two remain, friends, albeit not as close as before, but Maurice still goes to visit Clive’s home frequently. It is during those visits that he meets the Durham’s under-gamekeeper, Alec Scudder. Scudder is a couple of years Maurice’s junior, and though uneducated due to his class status, he is not unintelligent. He is also a complete contrast to the repressed Clive. Where Clive was unwilling to take their relationship to a physical level due to his own fears, Scudder is unashamed to sleep with Maurice. And, one night while Maurice is staying over at Clive’s, in a scene that parallels how Maurice professed his love for Clive earlier in the film, Scudder climbs in through Maurice’s window, and the two spend the night together.
The Open Bisexual
One of the most fascinating things about Maurice is that Scudder is bisexual. This fact is made explicit in the novel (to which the movie sticks almost completely), however, scenes that made his bisexuality more explicit in the film were cut for time, and instead, it is only referenced once. In one scene in the book, Scudder tells Maurice that his brother has gotten him a job in Buenos Aires so he will be leaving England, maybe in Buenos Aires, he’ll get married. Maurice asks him how he can bear the charade of pretending to be straight, and Scudder responds it wouldn’t be a charade, he’s been in love with both women and men.
This only serves to place Scudder as even more of a contrast to Clive. Where Clive’s marriage to Anne is a sham designed to hide his true sexuality at the cost of his own happiness, Scudder actually has the ability to fall in love with a woman and yet, at the end of the movie chooses to risk it all to spend the rest of his life with Maurice. Where Clive is a coward, Scudder is willing to risk it all to be with whom he loves, even though he knows choosing to be with Maurice means life will be even more difficult, he believes that risk is worth it because Maurice is the person with whom he wants to spend his life.
source: Cohen Media Group
It is also worth pointing out that Rupert Graves, who plays Scudder, has taken on roles in many LGBTQ+ themed films. While other actors, both LGBTQ+ and not, have shied away from doing more than one queer-themed film, Graves has embraced them. Not only has he embraced queer films, and theater, but he has also been incredibly open about his own sexuality in interviews. Many other actors have toed the line of pandering to the LGBTQ+ community, while also keeping quiet about their own possible queerness, but Graves has in multiple interviews discussed his past relationships with men, and while he veers more straight, he has been attracted to and in relationships with men in the past.
The Real Maurice and Scudder
As I previously mentioned, the film is almost a scene-for-scene adaptation of the Forster novel. Aside from changing a couple of minor details, and cutting a couple of scenes for time, the film is an incredibly faithful version of the story. No discussion of Maurice would be complete without also touching on the real-life couple who inspired Forster to write it. Forster, who was gay and open about his sexuality to his friends – but not the general public – wanted to write a gay love story that didn’t end in tragedy. The characters of Maurice Hall and Alec Scudder were inspired by his friends, the upper-class poet Edward Carpenter and his partner, the working-class George Merrill. Despite their vastly different class and education statuses, Carpenter and Merrill met one day while traveling in 1891, fell in love, and spent the rest of their lives together. Despite English attitudes and laws towards homosexuality at that time, Carpenter and Merrill lived openly as a couple.
In Conclusion: Maurice
The Merchant-Ivory film Maurice is an epic romance that spans years. It is also a period piece about a gay man that ends not in tragedy, but with a romantic happily ever after. With a stellar cast and the beautiful cinematography, a benchmark of the Merchant Ivory productions, on full display, Maurice is well worth the watch, and also, be sure to read the book.
I did not realize Rupert Graves had discussed having M/M relationships, or, as it was called in Maurice, "the unspeakable vice of the Greeks"
Interesting!
I love in Room with a View how his character, the young and pretty Freddy Honeychurch, was absolutely smitten with George Emerson and convinces to join with Mr. Beebe, go for a bathe where they have a naked romp in the pond.
James Ivory said that good looking actors only make a film better. I expect it was his direction to have the handsome Graves naked in both films.
He was so sweet and natural in both love scenes in Maurice. The full frontal must be why the R rating. Worth it I must say. <3
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19 hours ago, Lonnie said:
I have a feeling you don't like Mr. Trump.
I'll like when he's doing time.
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On 4/7/2021 at 2:45 AM, Lonnie said:
Call Me by Your Name author ‘humbled’ by Lil Nas X’s unapologetically gay tribute
(Photo by Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images/YouTube/Lil Nas X)
Call Me By Your Name author André Aciman says it is “gratifying” and “humbling” that his gay novel could have the “slightest influence” on how Lil Nas X decided to name his hit song.
“Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” has taken the world by storm, inspiring countless memes and classic TikTok videos. The unapologetically gay song drew 46.9 million US streams and sold 21,000 downloads in its first week, according to MRC Data, and attracted 1.1 million radio airplay audience impressions in the week ending 4 April.
Lil Nas X’s hit has also reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts on Monday (5 April), less than two weeks after its debut.
The hit song shared the title of the 2007 gay romance novel by Aciman, which led to the subsequent 2017 film starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet. The song doesn’t take its direct inspiration from the Call Me By Your Name novel or the film, but Aciman said it was “humbling” that Lil Nas X used the phrase.
Them contacted André Aciman last year when Lil Nas X first teased about “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” in July. Aciman sent Them an emailed statement heaping praise on the Grammy-winning rapper.
“If Call Me by Your Name had even the slightest influence on Lil Nas X’s music, then that’s beyond anything I could have ever imagined or hoped for,” Aciman said. “It’s gratifying, it’s humbling and it reminds me that how others relate to and interpret this novel is often more meaningful than the actual words on the page.”
Aciman told Them that his son had introduced him to Lil Nas X after he “kept hearing” about this song – “Old Town Road” – “at the gym”. He said: “I wanted to download it on Spotify.
“After a series of bad imitations and descriptions, he was finally able to figure out what I was talking about: ‘Old Town Road’.”
Aciman is not shy when it comes to lust and desire.
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I fired Wells Fargo about 10 years ago. IMO they were a bunch of rude f*ck ups that didn't care. Not long after that came all of their customer rip off scandals. That made me smile, to see their dirty laundry aired. I do not miss Wells Fargo and will never return.
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Thank you for sharing your blog. That is a lot to chew on.
I'll always remember reading about the last two gay dudes that were hung by the neck until dead in England for the crime of buggery, after which the death penalty for the "crime" was abandoned for some reason. What I remember about these two fellows is that they accepted their fate, and that they were sick with grief over their sins, and how their destiny was likely hell. At the end, they wrote letters to their loved ones pleading forgiveness. One of them had a wife and family.Isn't that the ultimate in internalized homophobia, accepting you are so bad that you deserve such an awful fate?
English common law and the practice of killing gays spread all over their empire to such places as India which only recently has begun to lighten up on LGBTQ people. Sadly in much of the world, gay people are still demonized and suffer death at the hands of the State or their own families.
Homophobia is still a big problem in the United States today. Religious and political leaders use it as an emotional hot button to fill the collection plate and to prompt campaign donations. In light of that, the idea of gay pride continues to make a lot of sense to me. Many still need to remind themselves that they are worthy, that queer, gay, etc. is not bad.
Queer and questioning is good, yes! I especially realize now how all those straight guys in college that flirted with me and made comments about my body were part of a bigger population not as queer as me, yet needing to question themselves and be OK with the answers.Just because all the answers don't fit me, or don't fit them, is not reason enough to ignore the need to have pride in ourselves, including our sexuality.
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Trump University
Those ties.
The steak I didn't finish at Trump National Golf Club.
Made America Great Again
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Renault and her partner had a circle of gay friends in Cape Town.
She was an old school Brit that lived a very spartan life early on. I can understand how someone like her would shy away from being outspoken. She didn't have a taste for politics and movements.
Times change. I recall 30+ years ago some older gays would poo-poo the idea of gay marriage. For them, that was going overboard!
That Renault wrote about love between two men or two women back then was enough for me to hold her in high regard. Getting some of the material published during those times was a worthy fight that she thankfully pursued.
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Is he one more example of the long line of talentless, shallow hacks that talk themselves into joining Republican politics?
I will always remember his argument that you can't call gay marriage "marriage", because that would be like saying a paper towel and a napkin are the same thing, when you can clearly see they are not.
Republican whizdumb.
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On 8/31/2013 at 7:55 AM, TotallyOz said:
I did read the Persian Boy but only because a friend gave it to me. I agree, it is a great book!
I have not read the other one but will order it! Thank you.
Here I go again responding to an old post. Sorry
But it's Mary Renault!
My first sample of Renault's writing was The Last of the Wine, which a friend gave to me to read, about ancient Athens, and the love between Lysis and Alexias, champion athletes, who served in the cavalry and were friends and students of Socrates.
Publishers in the 1950s were not easily persuaded to included sex scenes between men. However IMO there are places in the book where she gives symbolic clues it is happening, for anyone willing to admit it. Some readers will not.
Some tidbits about her. She left England behind as many gays and lesbians that could afford to did back then, and settled with her partner in Cape Town.
In college J.R.R. Tolkien was her professor. I wonder if that had any influence on the direction her writing went, especially The King Must Die.
It is a remarkable and to some a shocking book, what goes on in this story, back in times of antiquity where the matriarchy still held power. I loved this book.
Lastly, Mary Renault was JFK's favorite author.
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A while back I saw on television a Chinese woman doing ear cleaning in a shop in LA Chinatown.
Looked interesting. Something I might want to try.
Today I noticed a similar shop on a travel Vlog, linked below. This shop is near Chinatown in Bangkok, according to the Vlogger.
He seemed to enjoy undergoing the procedure!
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Liza (with a Z
) is played by Krysta Rodriguez. I saw her in Deaf West Theater Spring Awakening, a remarkable show IMO. Loved it, 4 times.
I also love Ewen McGregor, now more than ever.
Photo, PATRICK MCMULLAN/NETFLIX
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Way too many daytime talk shows with audiences full of nitwits.
I am not too concerned about her situation and I won't miss her show.
New "Dune" Trailer
in Theater, Movies, Art and Literature
Posted
Ah, good point, JKane. I'll put Dune in my reading queue.
That has been true for me with a recent LGBTQ movie that people were wild about. I already loved the book. But the movie was a "miss" for me.