President's Day
Published"Loggerheads" screened in Scottsdale, AZ, over the weekend at the OUTFAR Film Festival (the gay and lesbian festival). I had the opportunity to attend the Saturday screening, which was in a mall (essentially), albeit an upscale, shiny, and rather packed mall. I couldn't believe how many people were there. The screening went well -- terrific sound, decent projection, good Q&A. My cousin, Rick, his wife and daughter, and Rick's parents, my uncle Worth and Aunt Mary, were there, which was great. Rick draws the wonderful syndicated comic strip "Baby Blues," which was once an animated series on The WB.
My two favorite articles in recent days lack thematic cohesion -- at least to me -- but here they are. The first is about the myths of marriage from The New York Times. Writer Stephanie Coontz presents a pop quiz for readers to see how much they actually know about modern marriage. My favorite fact is that the Bible Belt states have the highest rates of divorce in the country. Interesting, especially from a region that has tried so hard to "protect" marriage from people like me. Other favorite discoveries? "Born-again" Christians have about the same divorce rate as atheists and the overall divorce rate has fallen 25% since 1981.
My second favorite article was sent to me by Caitlin Dixon, the film editor of "Loggerheads." It's an essay by Sarah Vowell that ran in Sunday's New York Times. Sarah Vowell's work always entertains me. Her books, "Take the Cannoli" and "The Partly Cloudy Patriot" are two favorites. I have not yet read her latest, "Assasination Vacation," but it's on my list. I first heard her read on Ira Glass's "This American Life." Her wonderfully squeaky voice is unmistakable. You might recognize it if you sawthe animated film "The Incredibles." Sarah is the voice of daughter Violet. The essay, "The Pessimism Deficit," is here in PDF form, if you want to read it. It's worth the minute and a half it takes.
In more news, Amazon still does not have the artwork posted for the "Loggerheads" DVD page. I can't explain why. They're slow to post information.
Happy President's Day. In honor of the esteemed position, here's one of my all-time favorite parodies: Andy Dick as the White House "Speechalist."
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Julia Sweeney's American Life
PublishedOne of my favorite performers is Julia Sweeney, perhaps best known for her portrayal of the ambiguously sexed "Pat" from NBC's "Saturday Night Live." I always look forward to her sporadic appearances on Ira Glass's "This American Life" radio show. And her wonderful monologue, "God Said HA!" (that is a terrific book, as well as a movie ) is a beautiful, funny, loving memoir of her brother Mike's (and her own) struggle with cancer. I highly recommend it. Incidentally, Julia was also the voice of Wanda in my cousin Rick's animated series, "Baby Blues," based on his syndicated daily strip.
What I love about Julia is how she fuses her curosity in a confusing, frustrating world with an exemplary kindness and warmth for it. Julia asks the difficult questions. Her work is deeply philosophical and personal and I'm in awe of her ability to balance humor and sadness. Julia is performing her most recent work, "Letting Go of God," at the Groundlings Theater, 7207 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles. I can't wait to see it.
Julia's website has a great blog. Fair warning: it's easy to spend hours of an afternoon reading her thoughts. But it's worth it. If you go there, don't miss the eulogy for her father, Bob Sweeney. Along with Lee Smith's moving tribute to her son, Josh, Julia's letter to her father is... I've been sitting here in front of this computer for ten minutes trying to find a word that will do justice to these pieces. I give up. See for yourself.
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"Bubble"
PublishedMy friend and fellow Writers Room member, Coleman Hough, wrote the new Steven Soderbergh film, "Bubble." You have probably read a lot about the film because of its unusual release plan: theaters, DVD and television broadcast happening simultaneously. I'm excited to see the film and watch how it performs with this release schedule.
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Chad Allen
PublishedPoor Chad Allen. Now he's the bizarre subject of a right-wing Christian group's attack on a film company that made a "christian" film in which he stars. The film, "End of the Spear," produced by Every Tribe Entertainment, an evangelical film company, hired the openly gay actor as the lead in the film, a decision that has some evangelicals upset. According to the New York Times, Will Hall, director of the Southern Baptist Convention's online news service BPNews.net, believes that young Christians who see the film might question their views of homosexuality and "every other sin."
I can only hope.
Here's a link to the article in the Times.
Speaking of gay stuff, here's a pretty funny "Brokeback Mountain" parody.
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