We had a server crash the other day and they backed up to an old version of this site and blog. Apologies to all who made comments that were lost! I will be rewriting the old entries today and adding some backdated new ones.
Casting Pearls London premiere on 5 April
My narrative short directing debut is scheduled to have its London premiere on 5 April. My star Calpernia will be at the screening (as well as at the Beautiful Daughters screening the day before) for those who would like to meet her. From Deep Stealth News:
Deep Stealth Productions’ short film “Casting Pearls” will have its London premiere on 5 April 2008, as part of the 22nd London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
The Role I Was Born to Play
Transgender artists challenge Hollywood with stinging media critiques.Casting Pearls (Dir. Andrea James | USA 2007 | 7min)
A punchy series of Hollywood auditions reveals the stereotypes faced by a transsexual actress.The Role I Was Born to Play (Dir. Lukas Blakk | Canada 2007 | 9min)
A clever and heartfelt deconstruction of mainstream Hollywood genderbender flicks.F. Scott Fitzgerald Slept Here (Dir. Jules Rosskam | USA 2007 | 25min)
A white FTM poet and a Black gay physicist question the limits of their intimate friendship during a weekend trip.Godspeed (Dir. Lynn Breedlove, Jen Gilomen | USA 2007 | 16min)
A punk bike messenger’s devotion to his drug habit rivals the intensity of his relationship with his girlfriend.
Miggy n Lil (Dir. bug Davidson | USA 2006 | 17min)
A Texan butcher’s dreams come true when a sexy thief stops by for some steak.Also playing on 4 April is Beautiful Daughters, about Deep Stealth’s 2004 all-transgender performance of The Vagina Monologues.
The empowering process of constructing and performing an all-trans version of The Vagina Monologues forms the basis of this uplifting documentary. Making the point that ‘queer issues and women’s issues are our issues’, the new monologues draw clear links between sexism, homophobia and transphobia.
The play featured in Ariel Jordan and Josh Aronson’s film was produced by creative duo Andrea James and Calpernia Addams, who together with the creator of the original monologues, Eve Ensler, work collaboratively with a diverse group of trans women to make an entirely new piece. As the day of the performance draws near, big life decisions get made, a vibrant piece of theatre is formed and a community finds a strong collective voice.
Beautiful Daughters is screening with the short “Whatever Suits You”:
Beautiful Daughters (Dir. Josh Aronson | USA 2006 | 61min)
A group of trans women collaborate to form a vibrant piece of theatre.
Whatever Suits You (Dir. Ashley Altadonna | USA 2006 | 7min)
The transformation of a suit to a dress reflects one woman’s physical, mental, and emotion transition.Deep Stealth’s Calpernia Addams is scheduled to appear at both screenings. Please check Calpernia’s blog for the latest updates.
22nd London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival website:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/llgff/
Transamerican Love Story episode 5 tonight
From Transamerican…
OK, so how did the guys and Calpernia look so good in their western wear, while I looked so ridiculous? Mine was the most costume-like, I guess. At least I didn’t have to dance…
After a week off, Transamerican Love Story returns tonight with what starts off as a fun country/western challenge with the fellas and ends with a lot of unexpected intensity and drama. It got so bad that Calpernia was thinking about quitting by the end of the night. I have to say that with these kinds of shows, they are very contrived situations, but the emotional investment you make during filming is very real! So check it out, and I’ll have a full report tomorrow.
Casting Pearls named to Logo’s Click List Season 4 winners
My narrative short directorial debut just earned a nice accolade! From Deep Stealth News:
Deep Stealth Productions’ short film ”Casting Pearls” has been named a winner of Season 4 of The Click List: Best in Short Film.
Directed by Andrea James, Casting Pearls illustrates the difficulties transsexual women face in Hollywood via a hectic series of auditions endured by Cassandra, a transsexual actress (played by Calpernia Addams). Cassandra weathers the horrible, funny and cruel things said by various Hollywood professionals with plucky determination and professionalism, showing that decades of bias can’t hold back the real contributions of transgender people to the arts and media.
• Full list of Season 4 winners
Casting Pearls is available to watch free online at logoonline.com. Click List Season 5 starts soon, so tune in to Logo or go to Logo online for the latest in LGBT short film.
Casting Pearls named to Logo's Click List Season 4 winners
My narrative short directorial debut just earned a nice accolade! From Deep Stealth News:
Deep Stealth Productions’ short film “Casting Pearls” has been named a winner of Season 4 of The Click List: Best in Short Film.
Directed by Andrea James, Casting Pearls illustrates the difficulties transsexual women face in Hollywood via a hectic series of auditions endured by Cassandra, a transsexual actress (played by Calpernia Addams). Cassandra weathers the horrible, funny and cruel things said by various Hollywood professionals with plucky determination and professionalism, showing that decades of bias can’t hold back the real contributions of transgender people to the arts and media.
• Full list of Season 4 winners
Casting Pearls is available to watch free online at logoonline.com. Click List Season 5 starts soon, so tune in to Logo or go to Logo online for the latest in LGBT short film.
Obligatory pet picture filler entry #1
I am busy working on mapping out our next project, so I thought I’d share a picture of one of my cats instead of writing a proper entry.
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| From 2008 miscellany |
She is a Tonkinese mix, but what’s interesting is that she seems to have a bit of domestication-induced partial albinism, as you can see on her back toes. I remember reading about these two rodent populations in Russia that were artificially selected by scientists for aggressiveness and gentleness respectively since the 1950s, and the super-gentle population began to get a lot of white tufts and partial albinism. Well, this cat is the most gentle cat ever, and I think a little off mentally (even for a cat), which often makes me wonder about these kinds of genetic predispositions.
Did you know Siamese and Tonkinese cats are pure white as kittens and then get their dark markings? I’ll look for some kitten photos soon. Anyway, back to work!
Apple TV report 1: TV
It seems fitting to do my first report on my new Apple TV by showing how it handles TV shows.
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| From Apple TV |
It comes with a remote about the size of a lighter, which I am sure I will lose at some point.
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| From Apple TV |
The TV Shows option organizes shows by six options, including a search feature.
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| From Apple TV |
If you pick a network, it lists all the shows and provides details and viewing options.
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| From Apple TV |
Then let’s pick a random TV show.
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| From Apple TV |
You can buy individual episodes, a season pass, add it to your favorites, etc.
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| From Apple TV |
Most shows have a preview option as well as a list of other shows you might like.
The interface is very elegant and intuitive, as would be expected. Anyone who has used an iPhone or iTunes device will see similarities in the look and feel.
For almost all television, I will still use my DVR to record shows, but if there’s something I really want to keep, I might buy it. Rentals and purchases are deducted from your iTunes Store account on file. The two main reasons I got it was to pipe my iTunes library into the living room (which is perfect) and to rent HD movies (which is great but has limited selection). An unexpected joy has been watching YouTube videos on the huge screen, all of which I’ll discuss in upcoming reports.
Transamerican Love Story news/blog roundup, 13 March
OK, more TLS news for those who need a fix till next Monday’s new episode:
A couple of new folks have joined the cavalcade of commentaries:
• Transamerican Love Story (dan4th @ monkey clubhouse)
• Looking for Love on Logo (waymom hudson @ the homo politico)
We also have the inimitable Shawn with a double entry (and a Cowboy Junkies reference in the title):
• Episode 4: Misguided angels, Part 1 (shawn @ transameriblog)
• Misguided angels, Part 2 (shawn @ transameriblog)
I should add here that I checked out the new Cowboy Junkies album after reading Shawn’s blog. I have all of their albums and saw them in one of the best concerts I have ever been to. Outdoors at Ravinia, third row center, in about 1999 or so. Even said hello after the show. Maybe I hold The Trinity Session as too personally important to me, but I was a little disappointed by the revisiting of that material. The original is so spare. This version feels, for lack of a better word, comfortable. Trying to catch lightning in a bottle a second time if you ask me. Still, like the concert, you get a sense of how they have aged and developed since then.
Finally, pageant-winner Calpernia talked about the show on Pageant Soup podcast, which has the best intro song ever.
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Boston ivy ends hibernation
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| From Garden photos |
The boston ivy sprung back to life almost overnight. Most of it looked like the vines on the far right just last week. The leaves are super-soft at this stage. Have I mentioned I love trailing plants?
Lenny (1974; dir. Bob Fosse)
OK, it had been a while since I saw the 1974 Bob Fosse masterpiece Lenny, but it was on HDNet a couple of days ago, so I thought I’d catch it in HD. Now, I should say that this film has one of the all-time best actors (Dustin Hoffman) directed by one of my all-time favorite directors (Bob Fosse) in a biopic about my all-time favorite comedian (Lenny Bruce). It’s like a perfect storm of coolness.
Lenny’s book How to Talk Dirty and Influence People is one of the most important books I have ever read. I believe in the power of “obscenity” as a tool to point out hypocrisy, as a way to cut through a lot of nonsense and get right to the point. What’s great about the film is that you really get a sense of his trajectory as a person, not just as a comic, but as one of the most important figures of the 20th century.
Is that enough hyperbole? Probably not. Just go see it if you haven’t. Or at least read his book.