Without Men

It came out yesterday... I see myself being offended repeatedly...

No Look Pass

No Look Pass is an identity quest film that follows Emily Tay’s transition into adulthood between her senior year at Harvard (where she ranks 23rd nationally for assists thanks to her signature move, the no look pass) into her first year playing professionally in Europe. Emily’s Buddhist parents risked everything to emigrate from Burma in 1980 to Los Angeles’ Chinatown and expect Emily to return home after graduation and comply with an arranged marriage. But Emily must follow her own American Dream, which means moving to Germany and falling in love with a U.S. servicewoman living under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. After feeling like an outsider her entire life, Emily struggles to become a leader, not just a star and faces the terror of telling her parents who she really is.

Check out No Look Pass at Outfest in West Hollywood on July 17th.

And on a sidenote: Sheryl Swoopes is engaged to a man.

The Gender Ambiguity of Lisbeth Salander: Third-Wave Feminist Hero? [Dissent Magazine]

by Judith Lorber

STIEG LARSSON’S Millennium trilogy describes a series of crimes that involve the violent abuse of women, and it also exposes not-so-fictional Swedish corporate and state crimes. But the novels are named, in English, for Lisbeth Salander, the “girl who,” and the second and third books in the trilogy in particular, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, are her story. Salander seems to be the source of the trilogy’s popularity. But why is she so interesting? I think that it’s her gender ambiguity that pulls in different readers, women and men, young and old. I don’t mean an androgyny of masculine and feminine traits, but a mix of attributes within her identity as a woman. She is both victim and avenger, abused child and iconoclastic rebel, punky teen in appearance and competent woman in behavior. 

Feminists might best describe Salander as a third-waver. She often decides how she will look for shock value—punk clothes, piercings, tattoos, bizarrely cut and dyed hair. She has bisexual relationships, sex with friends in non-exclusive relationships, recreational sex. As in third-wave “girlie culture,” she revels in sexual openness, outrageous gender self-presentations, and emotional coolness. But Salander never identifies as a feminist, nor does she use her (criminally acquired) wealth or her computer skills for any institutionalized activism. Third-wave feminists fight against restrictions on procreative choice and against racism, homophobia, and economic inequalities. By contrast, Salander’s personal, physical battle is against violent, sadistic men; her political battles, where she uses her investigative and hacking abilities, are against sex trafficking and international crime. She fights alone, mostly to defend herself or to get revenge on those who have harmed her. Once or twice, she fights for others (Erika Berger, when she is being cyber-stalked, and Mikael Blomkvist, to restore his journalistic reputation). But she belongs to no movement.

FULL ARTICLE

Blue Crush 2

Nope. Neither Michelle Rodriguez nor Sanoe Lake is in it... Sigh.

Pariah

FINALLY!

BuskFilms

I think I just had a heart attack. BuskFilms is queerly original and... ya know... Netflix on some serious lady-gay crack. That's right folks... there's a website out there that streams independent lesbian films. What? You heard me. You can watch lesbo movies til your heart's content. Or... if you're an independent filmmaker... get your ish watched  (and get paid at the same time)! The movie-lover in me definitely just had an orgasm. The films are available for rent online with a price comparable to On-Demand. Not exactly cheap, but it is in support for a community that's ever gaining ground. The shear accessibility of these films is nothing like I've seen in the lady-gay community before. Perhaps I'll finally get to see Pariah, or the many other indie flicks I couldn't get my hands on no matter how hard I tried. HOOZAH!

This video is NSFW.

BuskFilms - Promo from BuskFilms on Vimeo.

Lenny Kravitz to play Cinna in The Hunger Games Movie

There's been some "controversy" about Lenny Kravitz being cast for the role of Cinna (read: because he's black). Director Gary Ross said that it was Lenny’s performance in the movie Precious that impressed him and that's what landed Lenny the quiet, understated role of Cinna in the upcoming movie The Hunger Games. I was never into teen book series until I got into The Hunger Games, courtesy of NPR. But first, a look at Lenny Kravitz as (sexy) nurse John in Precious:

Nurse John
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire at MOVIECLIPS.com

I'm tempted to pat the casting director on the back, and am kind of relieved someone learned from the hoop-la surrounding The Last Airbender (what a effing disappointment), but then I remember it's ridiculous that race is still a big issue in movie casting. Last I checked, lots of white people watch Madea. Lots. And movies with black stars for leads aren't written off as black movies for black people (you need at least two black people for that and a plot involving a stuck-up black woman who needs a man...*insert sarcastic face*). Anyway, I'm excited for Lenny, and this movie! I still haven't finished the final book of the trilogy, but it's officially on my list.

P.S. Thank goodness they had the sense to get Rue right. Like all characters in the books, her race wasn't designated. But her complexion was.

P.P.S. When you're reading a book and a character's race isn't specified, do you automatically picture them as white?

Movie references in Kill Bill

I knew Kill Bill was chock-full of spoofs and references, but this vid breaks it down really well. I'm a huge Kill Bill fan, so I had to share.

Everything Is A Remix: KILL BILL from robgwilson.com on Vimeo.

Hanna [*****]

I thought the action flick was dead to me. Female heroes and villains doomed to be violent, bitter sex symbols in really uncomfortable-looking "clothing." And so my hopes for Hanna weren't especially high; I make it a point to set low bars for Hollywood, so as to make the experience seem like it was worth the $11. But Hanna did me a service, and said yes to blockbuster and no to formulas. It also doesn't seem to be a remake (I did a little IMDb research). But, however, in addition and MOST IMPORTANTLY! It meets Alison Bechdel's Bechdel Rule: 

(1) It has to have at least two women in it, who (2) talk to each other about (3) something that isn’t a man.

This flick boasted two of my favorite actresses, Saoirse (pron. seer-shuh... beautiful I know) Ronan and Cate Blanchett, some satisfactory action, and a little Sapphic splash. It's quirky and bad-ass all at once (which in retrospect isn't all that surprising. It's a Focus Features film; I tend to love those). Anyway, go see it.

Our Idiot Brother [AKA My Idiot Brother]

I've officially had a crush on Rashida Jones the last two days. I didn't much care for her in The Office. But I've since discovered that Ms. Jones (swoon) has that looks-funny-in-a-sexy-way look that I absolutely cannot resist. Ya know... that God-broke-the-mold look. A male example would be John Legend. And I also dig her name. When I marry, I plan on keeping my last name, unless of course my fiancée is a Jones...

Anyway, mega-monstrosity-of-a-blog AfterEllen informs me Rashida will be playing a butch lesbo in the upcoming comedy Our Idiot Brother. And can I just say, look how cute she is!!!

 

I'm digging the specs mighty hard, too. The film releases August 26th, just before my birthday (someone best be writing that down). That is all.

Reproductive Rights and All That Jazz

The Daily Show - Deadliest Snatch
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

This reminds me of Freakonomics [***] and reasons why crime rates dropped in the 90s. But here's what conservative groups are saying now:

“Welfare has destroyed the African-American family by telling young black women that husbands and fathers are unnecessary and obsolete. Welfare has subsidized illegitimacy by offering financial rewards to women who have more children out of wedlock. We have incentivized fornication rather than marriage, and it’s no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits.” – American Family Association spokesbigot Bryan Fischer

They must not care about credibility.

Spike Lee Protege Takes Sundance by Standing Ovation

I've wrote earlier about the short film Pariah that I was (and still am) dying to see. Well, the extended version made it to Sundance 2011, got 4.1/5 stars on the Sundance site and went so far as to receive a standing ovation. 

At the club, the music thumps, go-go dancers twirl, shorties gyrate on the dance floor while studs play it cool, and adorably naive 17-year-old Alike takes in the scene with her jaw dropped in amazement. Meanwhile, her buddy Laura, in between macking the ladies and flexing her butch bravado, is trying to help Alike get her cherry popped. This is Alike’s first world. Her second world is calling on her cell to remind her of her curfew. On the bus ride home to Brooklyn, Alike sheds her baseball cap and polo shirt, puts her earrings back in, and tries to look like the feminine, obedient girl her conservative family expects. 

With a spectacular sense of atmosphere and authenticity, Pariah takes us deep and strong into the world of an intelligent butch teenager trying to find her way into her own. Debut director Dee Rees leads a splendid cast and crafts a pitch-perfect portrait that stands unparalleled in American cinema.

-Sundance

New Lesbian Short Film: Sara [****]

It's premiering today (now) on Autostraddle.

Gay Glory at the Golden Globes

Go Magazine

A brilliantly brutal Ricky Gervais on Sunday hosted what many are calling one of the most memorable—and gay-glorifying—Golden Globes award ceremonies in recent history. 

Gervais’ scathing jokes at the expense of celebrity nominees and presenters alike left the star-studded audience squirming and viewers at home snickering at the British host’s unapologetic, Tinsel Town-affronting gall. Despite a smattering of stuffy critiques that Gervais “went too far,” the ceremony proved refreshingly entertaining and veered as far as possible from the forced-polite banality of many glitzy awards evenings. It also racked up quite a few accolades for “Team Gay”—from individual winners to films and TV shows teeming with LGBT themes. 

The night was filled with Glee—and we’re not just referring to the ebullience exhibited by the lucky celebs lugging home statuettes. Fox’s uber-popular, chock-full ‘o gay show Glee scored three big wins, including Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical, a Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for TV accolade for openly gay actor Chris Colfer, and openly lesbian fan fave Jane Lynch’s grab at a G.G. in the counterpart category.

In his acceptance speech, Colfer denounced the current epidemic of bullying—very apropos considering his Glee character’s struggles with anti-gay harassment and Colfer’s own orientation.

"Most importantly, to all the amazing kids that watch our show and the kids that our show celebrates, who are constantly told 'no' by the people in their environments, by bullies at school that they can't be who they are or have what they want because of who they are. Well, screw that, kids," Colfer said. An effortlessly charming and jokingly self-aggrandizing Jane Lynch made it a point to thank her wife and children in her speech. 

The Kids Are All Right—in which Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a lesbian couple whose children meet their sperm donor, and for which both thespians earned Best Actress in a Motion Picture nominations—did “all right,” as well. The film won the GG for Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical, and Annette Bening took home the prize for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical.

Natalie Portman received the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama for her jarring and complex portrayal of a ballet dancer spiraling into insanity in Black Swan (complete with frenzied [and pretty damn hot, if we may say so] lesbian sex scene with costar Mila Kunis).

Pakistan's Lesbians Live In Silence/Unveiled [****]

NPR did a short piece on a lesbian Pakistani human rights lawyer. Check it out.

Also, since we're on the subject, check out the German film Unveiled (Netflix). In terms of lesbian flicks, I find it to be one of the better ones. It received 7.4/10 stars on IMDB:

After the Iranian authorities threaten to prosecute her for loving a woman, Fariba (Jasmin Tabatabai) assumes a dead man's identity in order to survive. Denied asylum in Germany, Fariba is locked in a detainment center, where her male cellmate commits suicide -- and she spies a window of opportunity. Assuming his identity, she takes a job in a small country village, where she struggles to keep her secret from a well-meaning female friend.

Women Artists Sweep Best of 2010 NYC Arts

Still from Shirin Neshat's Women without Men

 Huffington Post

G. Roger Denson

For at least a decade, arguably two, there's been ample evidence that an avant-garde not only still exists in contemporary art, but that it's comprised almost exclusively of women. If women's art provokes the strongest reactions, pro and con, it's largely because women have made sexuality and gender not just the subject and context of their art, but the medium to be modeled to suit new social realities and identities. Certainly the strongest work exhibited in New York in 2010 was overwhelmingly by women and reflecting feminist perspectives on sex and gender, to the extent that in every contemporary category I could summon to mind, work by women stood out commandingly.

What y'all know about that?  Shirin Neshat's flick Women without Men has a viewing on Jan. 22nd at the High Museum of Art. I need to work at this place...

Between Women

What do you think of when you hear Between Women... ?

The show "Between Women" brings to life all of the events that altar our lives as individuals, as friends, as lovers and partners... the drama, lies, mystery, friendship, betrayals, secrets, passion, loyalty, and love that comes within any group of women. Based in Atlanta, the circle is comrpised of a variety of women that weave an intricate balance to each other's lives. Between Women showcases the tests and trials that can infiltrate on a circle of friends and their strength and will to go thru it and maintain a level of trust, honor, and commitment with each other.

Brought to you by Mad Studio Productions, Between Women provides an honest look at love and friendship laced with humor, sexiness, and fun. Go there if you dare... Between Women! 

See also, Broken Silence.

Precious [*****]

Paula Patton as Ms.Rain

I was late seeing Precious. I know a lot of people who couldn't get through it. It is hard on the emotions. Personally, I'm glad I got through it. Precious was somewhat of a gay movie, and after seeing it the first time, I watched it at least once a week, every week, for the entirety of last summer in my homegirl's basement. It's a favorite; one of those favorites I never think of when someone asks me what my favorite movies are. Last summer was definitely peppered with fantasies about Ms. Rain and Jermaine. Between Paula Patton and Amina Robinson, I had not a damn clue what to do with myself. It's a DVD worth paying for, most definitely.

Amina Robinson played the part of Jermaine

The Girl Who Played with Fire [****]

I FINALLY got to sit down and watch The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second installment to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. Decidedly, not as good as the first. But still good. It flirted a little with over-the-top this time around. And over-the-top action flicks don't sit right with me. In fact, they annoy the hell out of me unless done ridiculously well. Anyway, the best part about this sequel is you get a satisfying girl-on-girl scene between Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Miriam Wu (Yasmine Garbi). That's right! The Swedes had the courtesy to write a Swedish/French speaking, bad-ass Asian into the plot. Not to mention there's a little martial arts, too! If you're in the mood for some martial arts, queer, criminal, mystery, action flick, I highly recommend The Girl Who Played with Fire (after you've watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, of course). Lady gives this one four stars out of five.

Stream it with Netflix!

Beautiful Boxer [****]

I wasn't expecting to like Beautiful Boxer. I watched it because I was interested in Nong Toom's story, I love the martial arts, and Netflix has been insisting that I see it for years. And so I did. I usually don't enjoy bio-pics, mainly because in every life worth making a movie about the main character undergoes some sort of severe depression. And when I watch hours worth of severe depression, I get depressed. Who knew? But Nong Toom's story truly is a beautiful, empowering one. And though the movie went a little overboard with the dramatic music in the beginning, it finishes strong. Unlike some bio-pics, this one gives the viewer a satisfying ending, with a sense of closure and optimism.